Thag and Cheezus had been hacking their way through a forest in what had once been the City of Berkeley. Thag brought her Demon Sword up and smashed another mutant into the ground while Cheezus finished the creature off with a split-second feint and underhanded strike of his knife through its jugular.

The two of them had volunteered to take point on their way out of San Francisco after the Misfits had been attacked. With the Misfits constantly under attack, the two of them hadn’t had any chance to talk much since they’d hung out at the Lagoon. Heck, that wasn’t even much of a vacation considering that they had fought crocodiles the entire time and had to rescue a gnome.

Nearly losing Cheezus this morning had given Thag a renewed perspective. While she had previously been content to continue their friendship, and see how things went, seeing him nearly die had spurred her to suggest they take point together. She was afraid and a bit confused. There had been a spark of something back there at the lagoon and she thought she might eventually try to see where it led. Being reminded of the fact that they were on a nearly suicidal mission had finally helped her get over the indecision.

As Cheezus wiped the blood off his blade, she gave him her best come-hither look. She knew she was terrible with this and bad at love in general but desperation gave her some confidence. Cheezus put his dagger away with a bit of a confused look. Damn, men were stupid, she thought. Still, she fought through her awkwardness and continued to give him the doe-eyed look. Or at least she hoped that was the right look and he wasn’t thinking she was about to stab him.

Fuck it, here goes nothing, she thought. She reached up and pulled him down to her and kissed him awkwardly. Kissing someone while you were both armored and still kind of in combat was difficult at the best of times and Thag wasn’t exactly good at this. But something about her ardor must have gotten through to him because he started to respond quite eagerly. He continued to hold her and their kiss deepened for a few seconds longer. She was just starting to get over the strangeness of the sensation and began to enjoy herself when he pulled away. Did she do something wrong? Suddenly, she heard a gargle from behind her.

Turning around she saw that one of the mutants had snuck up on her and Cheezus’ dagger was protruding from its neck. She had to admit that was kind of hot. It was disgusting and at the same time a turn on. What was wrong with her brain right now? She needed to be ready to fight but instead all she could think about was this hot guy who was holding her. Ruefully, she smiled and said, “I guess this wasn’t the best time or place, huh?”

He smiled back at her and replied, “I’m not complaining, but I think you’re right. There are about a dozen more of them only a few yards away.” The way he looked at her made it difficult to concentrate. “Maybe we can continue this once we find somewhere safe to camp for the night.”

Where would things go from there, she wondered? Was he asking to see if she was ready to sleep with him? If he asked her would she say yes? All these questions and few answers spun through her head over the next several hours as they continued fighting their way through the forest. It seemed unending but eventually they made their way to a clearing.

Human bodies lay like kindling in an area of the forest that had been cleared by something recently. Looking around she could see that trees had been snapped in half by whatever had killed these people and it had left a large swath of destruction in its wake that headed north of here. The rest of the Misfits and Rygor’s guild, the Survivors, arrived moments later. Thag could see the stunned looks on their faces and knew right away what had happened here.

After the fight in San Francisco, the Misfits had learned that the Survivors were all player characters like themselves. However, that was where the similarities stopped. Apparently, Mr. Tiel wasn’t the only one with Gears and another company had been distributing a similar type of technology called Units to various hardcore gamers all over the planet. They used an AI technology similar to Aeon to power their game and apparently their AI had been assimilated by Precious One.

Each of them had stayed alive during the apocalypse by adhering to the tried and true gamer code – don’t go outside. They’d continued to use their Units to bring back useable rations and water or they’d had self-contained replication units similar to what the Misfits had back at the bunker. Nonetheless, the radiation and outside world had caused hundreds of them to lose power, access to safe food and water, or otherwise become something other than human in the first couple weeks. Those that made it were the remaining Survivors. The fact that anyone in the guild was still alive was a testament to human ingenuity and perseverance.

Thag looked more closely at the scene of destruction that surrounded them. The bodies she’d glanced at earlier became a bit more real to her as she saw that these were fellow adventurers and all of them had been Survivors prior to this point. Rygor recovered first and tonelessly said, “Setup a pyre. We don’t have time to bury them. Let’s keep them from the scavengers of the forest and save our mourning for later. We have a mutant to kill.”

Smashit nodded and the Misfits quickly moved to assist. Thag was lost in thought as she gathered wood from the forest. Was it possible that one creature could mow down an entire patrol of twelve player characters like that? Assuming they were of a similar level to the rest of the Survivors the creature must have been nearly level 100. At an intellectual level, she’d known that this was no longer a game like the one she’d played with her friends before. She’d always thought she was pretty elite but back then there had been no consequences other than perhaps a bit of frustration or a delay in leveling up or getting new gear. That innocence had died when Shelly was killed but it had seemed isolated – a freak accident caused by one of their guildmates going rogue. It wouldn’t happen again, she’d convinced herself.

However, this was a massacre on a much larger level. She knew that if she lost her Gear she wouldn’t be able to help the Misfits but it wouldn’t be the end of her life. This was different. Each of the Survivors most likely lived alone. Without their Unit they would be stranded in this hostile world without any way to obtain water or food. Looking at the dead Units on the ground she realized that the players behind them would still be able to see what was going on. She remembered dying that way when they were on the Asteroid. They were going to see their guildmates burn their own bodies and say a prayer for the dead – and yet they were still sitting somewhere in a dark room watching the entire thing helplessly. Would it be the same for her? Would she watch as they burned her in a pyre saying a prayer for the fallen? And what would happen back at the bunker should they all fail? Somewhere in the back of her mind she’d known this was a possibility but the reality of it hadn’t come into focus until just now. This creature had slaughtered a small army and it was very possible that it was tracking their every movement. If they all died here it would only be a matter of time before the outside world came knocking at their bunker’s door – and they would be powerless to stop it.

They finished gathering the wood for the funeral and Rygor’s people moved the bodies. She had moved to assist them but Smashit had placed a hand on her shoulder and shaken his head. Right, she thought. She wouldn’t want anyone other than her guildmates to carry her to her final resting place. It was only right that Rygor and the rest of their guild completed this grisly task.

After the prayers were said, some of the Survivors couldn’t hold back and broke down crying. Rygor stood stoically through it all and said nothing. Eventually, he brought everyone back together to push forward. “We have a mutant to kill. I won’t accept anything less than that from this group,” he said. “Let’s go.”

She and Cheezus took point again but there were no fun and games this time. It was purely business and Thag intended to cover his back as well as he had covered hers. Although she’d been anxious earlier she was glad she had expressed her interest to him. She only wished that they’d had more time to get to know each other better. While they’d gamed together frequently over the past two years, she knew that they’d really just been acquaintances. They were two gamers playing games but passing in the night. She knew his attacks and preferences for what raids he liked but had no idea about his personal aspirations or anything about his family except that she’d once met his brother online when he’d first joined the guild.

She knew he also didn’t know very much about her: that she liked to tank, was super opinionated and outspoken about strategy, and thought that armor ought to be optimized rather than for show. For two years of playing together, usually dozens of hours or more a week, that was a pretty short list. She hoped she would get a chance to find out more but the enemy they were going up against was likely to end them. This game seemed to just get smarter at every turn – even though they had gained levels at a rapid pace and even though some of the Misfits had found some clever work-arounds such as using real world items as weapons and special modified spell and detection abilities it seemed to be no match for the intelligence and ingenuity of their opponent. Wasn’t this just a game or had they been pulled into a new world that was even more unfair and difficult than the old world before the apocalypse?