Red Zone

1930

The Spartan looked very intimidating up close. With his size and armor, the Scav Boss resembled much of a modern knight or likely for the Spartan he was named for. Marcus wondered whether the two of them even had the chance of taking them on or just that Arthur had a death wish.

Pulling his head back from the window, Marcus took stock on the building they chose to fight in. The building was built with thick walls resembling the old 1950’s architecture spiced with modern amenities recessed into the walls. The walls were a foot-thick concrete with a built in brick facade, the floor was even thicker, giving them good cover from all sides. It would protect them from small arms, but against the heavy machinegun cradled by the Spartan, it would only buy them time.

The column moved again, the trailing Scavs leaving what's left of an electronic store on the other side of the street. The undersized squad of 9 moved about in a staggered formation, the Spartan taking up the rear of the column. Marcus gripped his rifle tight, they were coming up on the spot where they were best exposed.

“Just like the plan, when they get to the front of the building, take out as much as you can. Make double sure that they are eliminated, not just wounded.” Arthur whispered through the radio, Marcus looked to his left to find Arthur looking at him a few windows away and nodded.

“Yeah. I got it.” Marcus replied on the radio and waited, his rifle held low while being able to put it to bear at a moment’s notice. Tense, he fiddled with the rifle, making sure that the safety was engaged, holographic sight turned on, and that it wasn't snagged on any piece of gear he had with him.

Marcus still wondered why he had to go along with this move. The gear they took from the group of raiders was enough to make it worth getting out. Despite the 1 in 10 chance of the Spartan appearing in an already ongoing raid, trying to get the raid boss with just the two of them was extremely risky. Add the fact that they are already loaded up with loot, was greedy. His thoughts fell on the MDR he managed to get dibs on and sighed. “Better not die.” He whispered.

From his position in the window, the leading Scav got into view, his back turned to him and was leisurely scanning his sector from side to side. He didn’t try to look behind, which left him open for a clean shot. Slowly pulling the rifle up and holding it to his shoulder, Marcus aimed at the leading Scav. From his position, he wouldn't be visible from anyone else on the street looking up except his target, which had already gone past, and was unlikely to look back at him. He aimed at the back of the Scav’s head, his reticle hovered about an inch high to compensate for the sight’s height over bore and ensure a clean shot.

The Scav wore no helmet, but the plate carrier he wore had the rigid shape of a plate underneath, making it vital that he hit him where he was not armored. He was armed with an AK rifle, its stock wrapped in some cloth with a rubber butt pad on the end of the wooden stock. On the front, he had a railed handguard that extended over the dust cover where a sight was attached.

The second Scav on the column popped into view, armed and armored almost the same, to which Marcus waited for it to walk further into the kill zone before squeezing the trigger.

Marcus’s job was to take out the leading edge of the column with Arthur taking up the middle. From Arthur’s experience and word around the ship, the reason the Spartan was infamous around the player circles was not only that he carried with him a heavy machinegun like a rifle, nor that he was extremely armored head to toe, but that he was extremely aggressive and that anyone who managed to take out a large chunk of his team would find themselves being hunted around the red zone until they manage to extract or they were killed.

The leading Scav fell on the first shot. Not willing to risk him getting up, Marcus followed his target with two more rounds as he fell into the ground before shifting his aim to the second Scav on the column. A burst of fire erupted next to him, Arthur’s M249 raining down automatic hellfire to the targets below.

Marcus ignored it. Firing from a prepared position, it bought them precious seconds as the targets below spent that time turning towards the direction of fire.

Marcus held his breath, steadying his sights at the second Scav who was looking up at him. The 5.56’s minimal recoil allowed him to keep a sight picture at the target as a small round hole popped in the middle of the Scav’s forehead followed by a spray of blood on the concrete.

Return fire erupted from below, pelting the brick side of the building and showering them with flakes of brick and bullet fragments.

Rounds snapped overhead and Marcus had to stand away from the windows else it would be his turn to take a bullet on the head. He looked over to Arthur who took a second too long in pulling himself back into cover and watched as his shields, supposed to soak up one to a few bullets, depending on the quality, shattered as he ducked back into cover.

“Downed two. You good?” Marcus said.

“Still in the game. I got three for sure.” Arthur replied, moving over to the stairs leading up the floor to which they would have to take their stand.

Shouts sounded below and the two crouched in their positions, both their rifles ready and up to meet whoever was to come up the flight of stairs.

Silence fell, as they two sides stood on their positions. A Scav slowly came up the stairs, rifle up only to receive a barrage of bullets headed his way and fell on the far wall in a peppered heap.

One of the other reasons they took the building as a place to fight was that because the building only had one way up and down the floors. It being a wide winding stairway that opened up to a foyer down below. The Scavs wouldn’t be able to climb up the floors through the windows since the ceilings were built 20 feet up. Jumping out the windows would earn you a broken leg, an injury that would take too long to heal, especially in the middle of a firefight.

It was a common tactic to cover a chokepoint and let your targets come to you. But since they couldn't afford to wait, they brought out some rope.

As it had been tested before, the game gave allowances for people with already prior skills in playing the game. That meant that players who worked in jobs relating to any action in the game could come in and have the same skills they have in real life.

Arthur could still call on his Army training, which is why he always carried five hundred feet of paracord. For Marcus, he had amateur skill in rock climbing. He never had a chance to fight while rappelling but that was why they laid and anchored the rope on the far side of the windows, allowing him to rappel the 20 feet distance to the ground with little chance of injury.

“Step two.” Arthur declared. “Go.”

Marcus tapped Arthur shoulder as he went past. He headed towards the far window where he found the rope waiting by the window sill, anchored to a nearby pillar. Machineguns fired as Marcus took the time to tie himself properly, looping the rope around his body and testing it. It was uncomfortable with the lack of harness and climbing gear, but with only a floor to get down, he could take the pain.

Climbing out the window, Marcus leaned out and tightly grabbed the rope. His grip and the friction between the rope and his body worked as his own belay as he walked down the wall of the building and finally down on the ground.

Without skipping a beat, Marcus unwrapped the rope as his feet touched the ground and ran to the entrance of the building, counting the corpses on the the road and confirmed five total KIA. Add one for the one they took out on the stairway and they should be fighting only the boss itself and two other Scavs.

Carefully, Marcus snuck back inside the building, rifle held up and breathing fast. Despite him only running a short distance, the adrenaline pumping through his veins made him take panting breaths. He could hear the blood rushing in his ears, almost as loud as the heavy thumps of the heavy machinegun. He kept his aim up and tried his best to locate the rest of the Scavs by the gunfight happening ahead.

Automatic fire, light, and quick, Arthur’s Minimi and followed by the loud chugging sound of the Spartan’s Kord. He got into view of the stairs and saw the Spartan’s form between the marble banisters. He was slowly moving up, pushing Arthur back with his superior firepower and armored bulk.

Marcus raised his rifle and centered his dot where it was least armored, which was unfortunately, the Spartan’s groin. He flicked his selector to automatic and fired. Armor piercing rounds ripped through the Kevlar fabric, missing the interceptor plates which were tied down with lengths of canvas and rigging, hitting the Spartan’s legs and making him stumble and fall to his back.

Bolt locked back, Marcus ducked into cover dropping the mag and fished a fresh one off his vest, taking a split second to tap the magazine and look down the lip to make sure the bullet tips had the steel penetrator and not the full metal jacket. Confirming it, he quickly slammed it up the magazine well before sending the bolt back into battery. Two seconds, and he was online. Looking back out of cover, he saw the Spartan’s head turned towards him with the machinegun already swung his way.

Eyes wide, he hit the deck just as rounds ripped above his head. One round found its mark and shattered his shield while the rest splintered the wooden desks into toothpicks and scattered the piles of stacked papers left abandoned. He crawled away while looking at his health. He was fine, at full health but with depleted shields.

Taking cover behind a marble column, Marcus took a knee and peeked around the cover to see the Spartan was still on the ground, unable to move. He then reached over his pouch and pulled out a flashbang. Pulling the pin, he tossed the stun grenade to the Spartan and ran to the side, away from where the Scav Boss could shoot him. He hit the wall next to the stairs as the flashbang exploded. He then turned the corner and ran up, taking two steps at a time, shouting at Arthur to stop shooting as he reached the laid out boss.

The stun grenade did its job, the Spartan's head lolled in confusion and he weakly swung his oversized gun towards him. Marcus simply kicked the weapon away, looking straight down to the Boss’s eyes as he looked back at him with a dazed but still determined stare. Marcus lowered the barrel of his gun by the man’s armored visor and pulled the trigger, holding it until the rifle ran out.

The body fell limp. There were no notifications for a confirmed kill. That information was saved for an after action report during extraction or elimination. Still, he let go of his rifle, letting it dangle on its sling and pulled out his secondary, unloading all 8 rounds from his m1911 for safer measure.

Slide locked back, with a faint trail of smoke coming out the breach, Marcus was panting as he kept the pistol pointed down at the Spartan . The armored head now a bloody mess. Three other Scavs lay next to him, tallying the 8 Scav minions and the boss himself. Looking up, Marcus yelled in triumph, as he felt the adrenaline rush reach its peak.

“Were clear.” Marcus yelled and looked up the stairs to see Arthur’s bloodied form peek over the lip. He grinned, gave a thumb's up, and threw down the bags.

“You know what to do, I’ll keep an eye out.” He said to which Marcus nodded. He knelt down at the armored man and couldn’t help but look back at the short skirmish between them. All of it happened in just a few minutes, starting with Marcus taking the first shot and now he was busy rifling through the Scav boss hoping that the heavy machinegun would be part of the available loot.

Marcus knew they were lucky, 2 against 9 with firepower heavily weighed against their side was a losing proposition. It was just that they managed to leverage their advantages and stack them well enough that they came out still alive, if just barely. They made sure that the aggressiveness of the boss group would lure them from one disadvantageous situation and further to a shittier one.

Would the same happen if they were going against a group of players? Marcus wondered, and thought it unlikely. they would likely find out that they are out of position and would only lose if they keep pushing. If they have people nearby, they would likely play for time and if they don’t they would lurk around and try to ambush them back or take them on some other way.

Credit Chit (15,000c)

12.7x108 mm belt (50/50)

12.7x108 mm belt (50/50)

12.7x108 mm belt (50/50)

Lvl 4 Plate

(?) Combat Stim

...

Marcus sighed as he looked down the loot table. The Kord wasn’t among them, which was the reason they try to take the Spartan on in the first place.

“Any luck?” Arthur asked.

“No.”

“Well shit. We need to double time it then, just take the valuables and leave the trash. Fuck our luck right? That would have been a couple hundred MRC for the both of us if we did manage to snag one.”

“It cost that much?”

“By how much its going around right now, yeah. It’s one of the largest guns at the moment, and with the lack of RPGs in the game, the only way you can reliably take out vehicles is with one.”

Marcus nodded and looted up while Arthur tried his best to cover and patch himself back together. He went around the corpses and looted whatever was valuable while considering weight. Ammo was a no brainer to take, especially the large calibers and armor piercing rounds. He came up with a few magazines worth and showed them to Arthur who nodded approvingly.

Finished, they ran out the doors and over to another building. Inside, they picked up their stashed loot and were about to head out when gunfire erupted nearby, likely other players looking to check up at what was going on and meeting each other. Marcus and Arthur shared a look.

Arthur led the way out of the building, both keeping to the back alleys, rarely crossing the road and headed directly to one of the nearby extracts where they finally heard the sound of engines idling. They rounded a corner to find a parked M113 Armored personnel carrier with the back open.

They were the only ones present. But with the APC supposed to hold up to half a dozen armed men with their gear and loot, they would have to pay for the rest if they were going to be able to use the APC extract and have it taxi them back to the ship.

“Relax. I can pay for all of it.” Arthur said, stepping inside. Marcus dragged their well earned loot to the center of the APC and he took his seat with a sigh. There, they found a card receiver to which Arthur pulled out his credit chit and placed it on top. A few button presses later, a pneumatic whine sounded as the rear ramp raised to a close. The vehicle then rumbled to a higher pitched growl and lurched forward. Marcus looked over to Arthur who was absently nodding with a grin.

Extraction

After action report.

Elimination exp...

Headshot bonus...

Looting exp...

Extraction multiplier...

Congratulations!

Level up!

You have reached level 10

Congratulations!

Achievement earned: Sprinter!

Life is a marathon, but you take it as fast as you can.

Requirement: Reach level 10 within 24 hours of your character creation.

Fame +10

“You got it?” Arthur asked.

Marcus nodded. “Even got an achievement. What does fame do anyway?”

“Affects pretty much everything; NPC relations, quests, contracts. Pay.” Arthur shrugged. “The higher you get it the better. You could also get infamy, but both don't cancel out as they are independent of each other. Some factions actually prefer players with some infamy. Think if it like not being just a goody two shoes, making them trust you more that you'll be able to do the job, willing to do whatever it takes.”

Marcus nodded. With nothing to do, he leaned back with the rifle between his legs and simply looked ahead. With Arthur sitting opposite, both looked at each other, saying nothing to which Marcus noticed a growing amused expression from his friend. “How was it?” He asked.

“It's alright.” Marcus shrugged, then thought more about it. He never had the chance to think as he was just moving through the motions. Still, the adrenaline was there and despite the lack of danger, he took it as seriously as he could, like his life was on the line. “I’m seeing why this shit can be so addicting."

“You’ll get used to it sooner or later. The shit that makes your heart race right now would just be another day. My advice is to go out and take a break once in a while. Take a walk in the park. Make it so that you don’t mistake the VR to the real world, otherwise, VR protection would trip and forbid you from playing longer hours. That’s bad for business. Anyway, how about you and I run together again? Maybe we could try looking for PVP for you to cut your teeth in. Give you a taste on how other players fight.”

“Sure. Maybe tommorow.” Marcus shrugged. “But how about giving me something like a review right now?”

Arthur looked away to think. “You're fine. Better than me even on my first time. You didn’t freeze up, kept your head on your shoulders, didn’t break down, and most importantly, you followed orders. I’d say the first time I’d been in the firefight here, I thought I was back on the sandbox.” he said just as the APC lurched up and tilted to an incline followed by the engines revving.

“That's the ramp. I guess were finally here.” he said. Soon the APC levelled and the rear hatch opened with a whine. “Oh, and here’s an advice, since your level 10 now, don’t take the first Character class offered to you. Better for you to save up your main until you finish the job you had with our guy. Keep on holding on until you manage to get a chance of a unique class that can get you a lot of money."

“Which is?”

“Mercenary. No questions. No morals. Everything for a price. If you manage to get that, you’ll be able to write up some job contracts, like an NPC. It’s less than useless to casuals but are a godsends for players running a company, or a guild, and it could be the first things you can get. The contracts are guaranteed by the game itself and would lend a lot to your credibility along with people wanting to jump in for a ride along. Add that to my network, we can get a lot of money.”

“And the job?”

“I’ll forward you the details.” Arthur said. “Don’t fail. Also, I have work tomorrow IRL, so I wouldn’t be able to vouch you personally but a message should be enough. I might be able to squeeze in a few hours after work to help you out with PVP, but we'll see.”

“Thanks.” Marcus replied, looking as a message pinged in his inbox. “If you don’t mind, I’m going to get off. Getting close to my max hours about now.”

“Actually, wait on that for a bit.” Arthur said, sighing.

“Why?”

“I need to confirm something. Come on. Let’s go drop by the armory.”

“Alright.”

The two of them headed down to the armory, carrying their loot. As they entered, Marcus caught Stoner look over towards them and gave a brief nod. Arthur flashed a sign to which Stoner looked down at his bench and flashed back three fingers.

Arthur led the two of them to the range and gestured for the booths on the side. “I need you to show me something.” He said.

“What do you need?” Marcus asked, laying the stuff on the benches and turning towards Arthur.

“Get your gun out, I need to see you shoot. Rifle, pistol, whatever.” He said to which Marcus simply followed. He unslung the rifle and aimed down the range. Arthur stood in front to his left, watching his hands.

“I’m guessing that you're not admiring how pretty my hands look?"

“Yep.” Arthur answered. “They're pretty big and with your thin arms, you look like Mickey Mouse. Just hold it like you always do. Take a two shot reload drill, will you?”

“Alright” Marcus answered and looked down the range. He centered his sights on the target 10 yards away. Following exactly, Marcus took two shots and let the magazine fall off the gun, at the same time, he reached over to his vest and palmed the bottom of the magazine, gripping it tight and pulling it out to swing forwards and slot it to the magazine well. Reloaded, he aimed back down the range and sent a couple of shots, both hitting center mass.

“How’s it feel?” Arthur asked.

“Alright. Fine, I guess.” Marcus shrugged, not knowing how to answer.

“Like natural? Doesn’t feel spongy at all?”

“Like how I always remembered it.” Marcus replied.

“Not like feeling through a thick glove?” he prodded and Marcus nodded.

"Is that good?" He asked.

“You got a thing called Super saturation.” Arthur replied, a sudden conflicted look on his face. “At least I think. You being able to take accurate shots that fast, was it because you turned off the aim assist and relied on raw muscle memory for accuracy?”

Marcus nodded.

“Okay. I’m going to keep it simple. The thing is people are pretty much numbed on everything in the game. Like, every sensation is halved on their effectiveness through filters but yours were just something else, something in the wirings of your brains just bypasses that and allows you to feel everything, sometimes even more. That’s why you’re going to have a great time once you boot up one of the porn games in the market. But it’s going to be a bitch here since you’re also going to feel everything when you’re shot. Don’t get your ass burned, or fall into lava or some shit. If you do, make sure you have a way to log off or instantly PK yourself since you’re going to feel everything while your skin melts and shit.”

“Fuck. That sounds bad. I didn't sink so much cash just for porn.” Marcus muttered, already thinking back on how much he spent on the pod. Maybe he could still get a full refund if he returned it quickly.

“On the flip side, everything wouldn’t be filtered. That means you get better tactile feel on everything, compared to everyone else. Every respectable guild in every game has their own supersaturated player, working as guild crafters and are paid a lot. The level of cash that can have you buying your own apartment on the upper blocks. Unlike back then, guilds aren’t just run by people in their mom's basements, they're run like a company now."

“I’m not crafting shit like a sweat shop slave.”

Arthur shrugged. “It’s a job. You don't have to like it. With some luck and practice, you’ll get paid a lot for your time and effort. You’ll be like an artisan; the only difference is that you’ll have more work than you can handle.”

“And the other option?”

“There ain't none.” Arthur shook his head. “At least nothing as lucrative and promising. Go get tested and you’ll have something of a well-paying job in no time. Might not be the lottery, but you still hit gold.”

“What about you saying about me getting mercenary.”

“Forget about it. I’ll just take in the next guy on my list.”

“Okay. I’ll think about it.” Marcus said. Looking down at his hands and noticed a slight burning on his palm. He took off his gloves and noticed rope burns from where he rappelled down the side of the building. “Look, I know you’re trying to look out for me and I thank you for that, but the job is still on.”

“You don’t have to do that.”

“I gave you my word. I’d rather not go back on it. Besides, you could be wrong.”

“Wrong on what?”

“I might have had my career as an engineer back then, but I’m never that good with making shit for other people.” Marcus said, shaking away the memories. “How the fuck did you even know all this anyway?”

“Guard duty. Best way to spend a boring night is to try and get smarter.”

Marcus yawned, Arthur raised an eyebrow. “Yeah, we’ll for me. I’ll be spending this night in bed. Good night Arthur. And get me that connect, you and I both know that I'm the best you got, else you wouldn't have told me about it in the first place.” He said, and started gathering everything.

Arthur nodded. “Don’t forget. Get yourself tested. You haven't been shot yet and I know you wouldn't be one of the few able to tough one out. No offense.”

“I won’t. Thanks for looking out for me.” Marcus replied. "Goodnight." He said, then logging out.