JANE

Jane and Quill hovered at the edge of the bed, tense and worried sick, not just about what might be happening to their new friend but to themselves as well.

She couldn’t help but wonder with every yawn if she was experiencing the same problems Aarush was. When she realized that felt a little thirsty, she had to fight a surge of panic that it was a sign of her own imminent death.

Quill looked even worse than she felt. While she was fairly certain that, despite their differences, there was at least a chance of her family learning about her entrapment and helping her, he seemed entirely without hope. He sat on the edge of the bed in silence, facing away from her. He was yawning a bunch, too. Were their brains shutting down? Was this the end?

Aarush drifted in and out of semi-consciousness for the next half hour. At last, he rallied and was able to speak. He formed a weak smile. “I am dying. But I do not think I am going to reincarnate this time.”

Quill quickly turned, his eyes sad.

Jane’s heart hurt. She squeezed Aarush’s hand, wanting to reassure him. “Don’t talk like that. We don’t know what’s really going on.”

Aarush’s hand twitched. He was too weak to do more. “It is ok. We knew this was going to happen once we got locked in the game. I am sad. But I am also happy to meet you both. You are the first friends I made here. I’m glad it was you. My last day was very fun.”

Tears welled, and Jane tried to force a smile. “I’m glad I met you, too. I had a lot of fun playing with you.”

“Me, too, Aarush.” Quill put a hand on the other man’s arm. His eyes had gone red as well. “One strength club. You can’t die yet. We have to get stronger. Together. We need you, man.”

“I’m sorry, Quill. I…” His eyes went vacant for a long moment but focused again. He rapidly blinked. “I’m sorry, Quill. I would have liked to spend more time…in your…party.”

Jane leaned forward. “Aarush!”

“I…wish…” He yawned, then chuckled. “Take my things. I give them to you both. Sorry I don’t have more.”

Quill shook his head. Tears fell openly now, triggering Jane’s own. “We can’t. You’ll need them. We have to turn in that quest and then take on that rare spawn.”

But Aarush didn’t seem to hear the words. He stared at the ceiling. “Thank you.” At last, he, too, cried. His smile wavered, and drops of water streaked across his dark cheeks. As if it took every ounce of willpower he had, he lifted his free hand just slightly off the bed and pointed upwards. “To infinity…and beyond…” Then his hand fell, his eyes closed, and he lay there, breathing irregularly. A minute later, his breathing stopped.

She focused on him, her heart skipping a beat.

His name faded to gray, and a skull and crossbones appeared next to it like a debuff but indicating true death.

Jane couldn’t take it. She stood so fast the chair toppled. Whirling away, sobs overtook her, and she leaned against the wall, unable to control herself.

Behind her, she heard Quill stagger away from the bed. “This can’t be happening. This can’t be happening!” A loud bang sounded as if he’s punched or kicked the door. “Why? Why?”

She sagged to her knees, head bowed. This wasn’t fair. Aarush didn’t deserve to die. None of them did. Those horrible, corporate, narcissistic jerks! She hated them!

Was she next? She was bone tired, and her mind had fogged. Was it stress and exhaustion? A late night? Or was she going to die, too?

Quill seemed lost, and she half-heard him rambling in the distance, his words distorted by all the pent-up fear and sadness pouring out of her. His voice was thick. “This isn’t right. All it should take is one person to care. One person to see us hooked up to these stupid game machines to get us help, to save us. Billions of us on this planet. How can we be so alone? How can we die alone like this? A hundred different social networks and phones and unparalleled technology. It’s all garbage.”

She thought of her life before this. A hundred hours a week, she spent online for work and fun. Yet she rarely saw anyone in real life except at the grocery store or running an errand. Her family had rejected her and cut ties over stupid disagreements and selfishness. Her friends had disappeared.

And maybe some of that was her fault, but how much? After all, wasn’t her career all a desperate cry to connect with others? Her love of costumes and anime and games and art, the way she shared and interacted with people online, wasn’t that her trying to be a part of something alongside others?

Did anyone know she was trapped in here? Would anyone care? Would that legion of followers she’d painstakingly built up over the years even notice if she wasn’t online? Would they care enough to alert someone to the fact that she’d bought this game and could be trapped inside? The idea was laughable. She was just another tart on the endless scroll of their social media.

What would her sister do if she found out? Would she come to Jane’s rescue? Would her parents turn their back on their daughter a second time, saying Jane deserved to die for her so-called sins? Would any of her old friends come calling and check up on her?

Quill was right. No matter how populated the world, no matter how fancy our electronic devices are, none of that really connected us. The connections were superficial and ephemeral. They were a lie. We are alone.

She must have cried herself to sleep because Jane woke up with the sun shining in the open window. Body sore, she rose from the floor next to the wall and looked over at the bed.

Aarush lay there, sightlessly staring at the ceiling.

Seeing his open eyes, hope flared, and she raced to his side. “Aarush! You’re ok!” She took his hand. It wasn’t cold.

“He’s not alive.”

Jane glanced around at the hollow voice.

Quill sat with his knees up and his back against the door. It looked like he hadn’t slept at all. “His eyes opened on their own. But he’s not breathing. He doesn’t respond. The permanent debuff is still there.”

Jane focused on Aarush. It was true.

“He’s…empty. Like a doll.”

She swallowed a painful lump in her throat. Her eyes stung, but she was too cried out for more tears. “What do we do now?”

“I don’t know.”

They both lapsed into silence.

She couldn’t think. She felt empty inside. Still… “We can’t leave him here.”

“What do you want to do with him? Carry him with us?”

His bitter tone annoyed her. “I don’t know.”

“Give him a burial? Prepare a mass grave for the rest of us?”

She snapped, “I don’t know!” His negative attitude suddenly pissed her off.

Affronted by her tone, he glared at her with resentment. Then he looked away. After a while, he stood and came to the bed. “Help me with him.”

“Why? What do you want to do?”

“I want to remind everyone that this isn’t just a game. I want everyone to know just what’s at stake. And if those idiots are watching us in here, I want them to see what they’ve done.”

Carefully, they lifted the body from the bed and left the inn. Outside, the sound of sobbing could be heard again. This time, it was everywhere. Players stood or aimlessly wandered in the streets, expressions lost and forlorn. Some were panicking. Aarush must not have been the only one who had died recently.

They carried their friend through the sombre streets to the main plaza, the one filled with class statues and the now-closed portal to the other player city. Gently, Aarush was laid next to the city wall lining part of the plaza. His eyes continued to stare.

Quill stood over him. “Ashes to ashes, dust to dust. You were a good person, worth our friendship and trust.”

Jane fumbled for something to say. She knelt and reached out but couldn’t bring herself to touch him again. “I hope this is all some big lie and we meet again. On the outside. Safe and alive.” Her fingers brushed his eyes, closing them.

But the moment her touch left them, the eyes flicked open again like a doll’s. Sightless. Empty.

Someone must have seen them carrying the body through the city because a young man came up next to them and placed a small, blanket-wrapped bundle on the stone beside Aarush.

Jane saw the size of it and gasped.

The other player must have heard her. He looked up from kneeling next to the body, his eyes red and voice choked. “He was my brother. He was only ten.”

Jane’s chest hurt, and she spun away. Face in her hands, she half ran out of the plaza, leaving Quill behind.

He didn’t follow.

Over the next few days, the player population of Stormstadt came mostly to a grinding, shocked halt as more and more people died of hunger and thirst in real life and the reality of this experience really set in. Following the example set by her and Quill, thousands and thousands of bodies were placed in the plaza. There were so many that only a narrow road was left between the dead, bodies stacked up so high you couldn’t see over them. Flowers appeared, even some woven into wreaths. Someone made a large sign and somehow strung it between two statues so that it hung in the center of the plaza.

In bold, white paint, the first part read:

We promise to carry all your hopes and dreams.

Watch over us.

In angry red, a second phrase had been added below:

We will avenge you.

Players avoided the plaza like it was filled with the plague, for it was too powerful a reminder of what could happen to them, too.

Jane strode the streets alone, doing daily fetch quests and finding food, trying to keep herself distracted from her grief and the situation. She didn’t turn the gold crusade quest in. It somehow felt wrong to do it without Quill, even though she didn’t know where he was and was. She’d only seen him once since leaving Aarush’s body, at the adventurers guild, and the two had blown up at each other outside the front doors. She couldn’t even recall why, though strong feelings of annoyance remained.

Since she was still in the game and not suffering from tiredness or thirst or anything, it seemed clear that she was one of the people who’d been saved by being put on life support. Most people had been. She wondered if governments had sent people door to door or tracked down purchases or something, trying to find people. Had some cop or government clerk come by her apartment to put her on life support, or had her family cared enough to act?

She kept one eye out for Quill as she walked the streets. It was annoying that there was no chat feature in the game, so she could contact him. There was a mailbox function, but it hadn’t been completed, and the mailboxes placed at important buildings around the city were just for show.

When she wasn’t annoyed with him, she was worried. And afraid of turning a corner and finding his body lying in the street, his eyes staring at nothing, another corpse. That made her both scared and angry. Why the hell hadn’t he stayed with her? Why were they angry with each other? She had no idea what was going on with him right now or if he was even alive. Her player menu still listed them as in a party together, but that told her nothing because Aarush’s name was still there as well.

In fact, she checked on her party status so often that she couldn’t take seeing the dead man’s name there any longer. It hurt too much. Though she felt sickeningly guilty for it, she removed him from the party. “Sorry, Aarush. It doesn’t mean I’m going to forget you, though. I won’t. I promise.” The sight of yet another player carrying a body through the street caught her eye.

A nearby trio of adventurers watched the corpse passing. One muttered. “It’s only a matter of time before we’re all like that.”

Another was unmoved and dismissive. “Hmph. I don’t know why everyone’s pretending to be so emotional about it. They’re strangers, not family or something. And why’re so many sitting on their asses. Losers aren’t going to beat the game thinking like that.”

The last darkly chuckled. “Just imagine the stink in that plaza if those things start to rot.”

The other two laughed.

Jane hurried on. While she felt like punching them all in the face, she was outnumbered and likely out-levelled from what she could see of their gear.

After finishing the local city quests, she wandered into the adventurers guild, half-hoping and half-anxious she would run into Quill, or see no sign of him. It was busy, as usual. About half the players were sitting about, dispirited. The other half had returned to levelling and were doing business with the clerk, looking at bounties, or shopping. The death of others was sad, but you couldn’t mourn forever. Not when there was a race to get out of here alive.

Raised voices caught Jane’s attention from a group of adventurers standing around in the tavern.

“Oh, piss off, Miss Cares-a-lot. No one wants to see the dead. They should be taken out of the city. Thrown in a pit or something.”

“You need to see it!”

Hearing the second voice, her heart leapt. That was Quill! He was alive! She rushed over, pushing through a small crowd to find him apparently drunk and arguing with one of the pay-to-win types in expensive gear. She paused.

Quill was furious and highly emotional. “We all need to see it. To see the dead and be reminded of why they died. This isn’t just a game; it’s life or death. What we do here matters, just like in real life. Those people are victims of heartless cruelty. Of selfishness and greed. A couple of materialistic narcissists did this to us. Why? Because we wanted fairness. Because we wanted to be treated like people, not stats on a financial report. Because we wanted to be treated like human beings, not farmed for cash. But all they wanted was to be adored while they got rich off the backs of others, then got pissed when we stood up to them. So they lashed out at us, and now thousands are dead. Maybe more will die. We can’t afford to be selfish in here too. Or bury their heads in the sand. We can’t afford to let people do whatever they want. We have to stand up for what’s right. We have to be better in here. We have to work together so we all get out alive.”

His verbal opponent was having none of it. With an arrogant smirk on his lips, he laughed in Quill’s face. “Go kill yourself and join the pile out there. I’m not giving up my money or sharing it with anyone. I’m not wasting my time helping others. Don’t you dare threaten me with your commie crap. It’s everyone for themselves, and you know it. The strongest survive. You’re just bitter because you’re poor and not good enough to win this game. Loser.”

Whether it was the drink, Aarush’s death, or his own fear of dying, Quill lost it. He punched the other man in the face so the other’s head flew back, and he fell onto his ass, mostly out of surprise more than anything, given Quill’s low strength.

Other people, mostly male, immediately jumped in, attacking Quill.

“Hey! Prick!”

“You wanna throw punches? Take this.”

“Screw you!”

Quill covered his head, but fists and feet railed against him, driving him back up against a table.

Others stepped in to try to control the fight or take his side. The tavern devolved into a fray, with desperate, fearful, angry, and jerk players all attacking one another. Tables were pushed, chairs toppled or were used as weapons, and people started flinging dishes. All the stress people had been under since arriving in the game boiled over and exploded. Anyone not getting hit in the face was shouting.

“Get off me!”

“Quit shoving!”

“Friggin pay-to-win pig.”

“Shove it up your tailpipe free-to-die.”

Jane, caught in the middle of it, ducked and covered her own head. She warily watched the chaos around her, bodies crashing into her, some falling to the ground to be kicked or jumped on. Seeing an opening, she darted forward, stepping over a body, though she got knocked around along the way. Finally, she reached Quill and grabbed him by the arm. Without a word, she yanked on the arm and pulled him towards the nearest edge of the fight.

When they emerged, she towed him to the center of the foyer and erupted, half-shouting. “What the hell are you doing?”

His eyes were slightly unfocused from the alcohol, and his skin was flushed. He looked half-embarrassed and half-angry. “What’s your problem?”

“My problem? What’s yours?” She jabbed him in the chest with a finger. “Why are you in here getting trashed and starting fights?”

Annoyed, he slapped her hand away. “I was trying to make a point.” He gestured towards the mayhem in the tavern. “Those guys were talking about competing against other players. I was trying to get them to understand—“

“Understand what? Why would you even bother?”

“Because they were bullying other players.”

“So you decided to engage with the trolls? Are you stupid?” The word was out of her mouth before she could stop it, and a part of her wished she hadn’t said it. But she didn’t apologize either, too incensed.

At the insult, he looked hurt, then his eyes narrowed. “What do you care? Didn’t you ditch me?”

She looked at him in disgust, which is exactly how she felt right now. “Ditch you? Are we still listed in the same party or not?”

“You walked off!”

“I was grieving!”

“What do you think I was doing?”

“Getting plastered, apparently.” She huffed. “So is this the real you then? This is who you are? Falling apart, acting like a loser, just like that guy said?”

“I guess so. I’m just a weak little screwup. Aren’t you glad you found out before wasting any more time with me? Well, here’s your chance to walk away. Again. Go find someone better to play with.”

She stepped forward, challenging him. “Seriously? Again? How many times do I have to say I don’t care about your stats?”

He stepped forward in response until their faces almost touched. “You’re lying! I’m just dragging you down. Whether you say it to my face or not I know you’re thinking it.”

She sneered. “If that’s what you think, then I guess you really are stupid. And insecure. And just as weak as you seem to think you are.”

He pulled away, looking sickened by her words. “Go to hell.”

“You first.” More furious than she could ever remember being, so much that her whole body shook, she opened her menu, clicked party, then hit [Disband]. “There. Happy now? That’s what you wanted, isn’t it?”

He didn’t answer, just stood there, swaying a bit, anger and pain in his gaze. Unable to meet her gaze anymore, he looked away then shook his head and pushed by her. Kicking the doors of the guild hall open, he disappeared.

For some reason, his departure only enraged her even more. It was just further proof his his idiocy and lame give-up attitude. She clenched her fists so tight her nails cut into her palms. A growl formed in her chest and she just needed to scream. So she did, letting out all the negative feelings.

It brought the brawl to an abrupt halt and, in silence, every head in the place turned her way.

Panting from the long-winded effort, body vibrating from emotions and adrenalin, she glared at the crowd. Then she she turned around and headed for the door. When she left the building, she turned the opposite way Quill had.