Division Zero: Thrall (6 page)

The blade passed with a whiff; a mild tingle ran through her body. She peeked in time to see a yellow 22 hanging over her. Below the number, a stripe of color was green for about nine inches and red for one.

“Asara’s tough. You have more hit points than I do.”

Evan went over backwards as the other creature smacked him with a sword; the critical hit knocked him flat and sent him sliding several feet. His health bar was almost all red now. Shani blinked at the red 67. The digital “bruised and battered” effect added to Evan’s face was comic enough to keep it from being scary.

Her creature attacked again, but this time she leapt away, firing at it twice. Her face was far from confident, more startled by how fast she was able to move in the virtual body of an elf. Both shots stuck in its chest, 28 and 31. The monster collapsed and disintegrated into a small purple gem. She aimed at the second beast-man threatening Evan just as it slid away from him, shoved by an unseen force. Monwyn the Small fought his way standing and planted the staff in the ground before him. He chanted something about Pyrden, Lord of Flames, having a near-tantrum as he howled. Red lightning came from above and hit the staff, making his hair stand up. Seconds later, a three-foot-wide sphere of flaming magma fell from the sky and drilled the furry beast-man into a crater. The ground shook hard enough to make Shani stumble. The number 222 hung in midair amid the smoke cloud.

A blue line appeared above Evan’s head, rapidly shrinking away from eight inches to only a half of one. He fell on his butt, rummaging around his belt for a water flask.

“222 damage? How did you do so much? Are you cheating?”

He held up a finger, chugging from the flask like a famished infant on a bottle. The blue line crept back toward being full. Shani stared at it, folding her arms.

“How does drinking water give you magic back? Water’s not magic. That’s the silliest thing I’ve ever seen!”

Evan gasped for air, re-corking the bottle. “I dunno, it just does.”

She pointed at the crater. A smoking black-furred arm jutted out of it as if to ask what the hell just happened.

“Meteor Doom,” he said. “I’ve played Monwyn games so much I remember the words to the spells, even though I’m not high ‘nuff level to have it yet. That’s why it ate my whole mana bar.”

“What’s mana?”

“The blue line, magic power.”

“Oh.”

“If you want to stop, we can stop.” He stood and dusted himself off. “This game is so realistic it might give you bad dreams since you’re so little.”

“I’m not too small. I’m
seven
,” she said in a huff. “Besides, I have more hit points than you!” Shani pivoted on her sandaled heel and stormed off down the road.

By the time they reached the Caverns of Woe, Shani had gotten the hang of using her bow, and had even figured out how to call Asara’s spirit wolf companion. They came to a halt in the shadow of a foreboding grey wall covered in gargoyles. At the center, a stone door bore carvings of skeletons and ghouls. He peeked at Shani to make sure the images weren’t bothering her too much, and grinned at her attempt to ignore it. Evan plodded up to the door and set his staff into the ground.

“Spirit of Earth, I call on you.” Evan flung his arms at the gate. “Kel’Gurin, Lord of Stone, hear me.”

The entire wall rocked as though struck with great force, sending a curtain of dust sliding to the earth and dozens of ravens into the sky. The ground trembled, Evan grunted, and the door slammed open. He led the way through thirty yards of moss-covered tunnel that ended at a long stone staircase. At the bottom, the cave opened into another forest. Unlike the last, the trees here seemed warped and twisted, their bark gnarled into the likeness of wailing souls.

“What’s more outside doing in a cave?” Shani frowned. “This is silly.”

“We’re not at the Cavern of Woe yet, we just went through a zone transition.”

A pack of road-weary bandits emerged from the shadows, daggers at the ready. The look of desperate greed on their faces faded away to terror as the four-foot tall wizard readied the Staff of Dragons.

“Crimony, that’s Monwyn…” gasped one, just before he turned and ran.

The sight of a dozen grown men fleeing in panic at the “intimidating” nine-year-old in a robe made them both laugh.

Evan sat in black stillness, a low whine building out of the silence until his voice echoed within the inert helmet. “Aww, we weren’t done yet.”

“Half hour’s up kiddo. I can put you back in the queue.”

“I don’t think we’ll be here long enough for that, let some other kids have a turn,” said Kirsten.

He reached up and pulled the helmet off. Fresh air felt cold. Shani had already shed hers, and leaned into the pod from outside.

“It felt like two hours,” she whispered, rubbing her legs. “I’m tired.”

Kirsten picked her up. “Time is different in the net, sweetie. You’ve actually been in there for about forty minutes. They gave you a little extra time.”

“Do we haveta go yet?” Evan poured himself out of the pod, reluctant to relinquish his favorite game, trying to move with muscles weary from sitting still so long.

“It’s only noon. We can stay another hour.” She winked. “But, you do have to eat lunch now. You worked up quite a sweat in there.” Kirsten gave the attendant a worried look. “You should play some games where you’re not just lying still. It’s not good for you.”

The teen in the Sector D shirt waved her off. “It’s fine, he just gets into it. Best score I’ve seen in a long time. The body doesn’t realize the muscles aren’t working. That’s one of the reasons we limit ‘em to a half hour.”

Evan followed her back to the table, taking a seat by a waiting plate of chicken bits and fries. Shani leaned on Kirsten’s side, as interested in sleep as she was in her food. He attacked his meal, eager in his recounting of his adventures as Monwyn.

“The game has an AI running it, so it knows when you say the spells right.”

Kirsten nodded, as if she knew what he meant.

“The home version isn’t as powerful; you gotta find spellbooks before you can use each spell.”

“Is that so?” she said, smiling. “Guess they had to come up with some reason to come play this one instead of staying at home.”

“There’s a GlobeNet client, but you gotta have a plug to play it.”

Kirsten shivered. “Helmets won’t work?”

“It’s ranked.” He paused to slurp down some iced tea. “Past level fifty, it’s too hard. Helmets are too slow. Can I play Orbs?” He stood on his chair to point at a booth.

“Shani wanted to play that car game next.” Kirsten glanced down at the sleeping child in her lap. “But, she’s napping. When she wakes up, you should play what she wants to play.”

“‘Kay.” He jumped off the chair and ran over to the Orbs game.

Evan joined a row of other kids lined up in stalls facing a large, dark, cube-shaped area filled with blacklight. Neon-hued orb bots of various sizes and speeds darted about, targets for a toy laser pistol. Based on a combination of accuracy, how long it took a player to hit targets, and the size of the ones hit, an alien-invasion holovid playing in the background changed outcome. One could either save the world, or watch it burn.

He spent a moment chasing a tiny green ball that zipped about at great speed; his target fixation allowed too many slow ones by, imperiling the virtual humanity behind the target field. When he realized he had missed enough to doom the city, he tried to hit as many basketball-sized creepers as he could in as little time as possible.

Alas, MegaCity burned.

The start button was an inch from his hand when Sleepy Shani stumbled out of the crowd. He tossed the toy pistol back into its holder. “Cloud Cars are on the other side.” He took her hand.

“Okay.” She wiped her eyes, and yawned.

Evan decided to avoid the bulk of the crowd by following the outer wall. Rather than wade through lines waiting for the various amusements, game stations, or vending booths, he followed a carpeted path along rows of largely ignored vendomats. Older teens lurked there, clustered in groups. Some kissed, some groped each other, and several gave him territorial glares. He got the distinct impression the back-end of Sector D was not for little kids. He wondered if the guy in the giant mouse costume out front knew what was going on back here.

At the midpoint of the room, shouting echoed from a connecting hallway that linked the amusement place to the mall. Evan slowed, curiosity drawing him toward it. Shani set her heels in the rug, pulling against his arm.

“No, don’t,” she whispered, “not without your mom.”

She cringed when the voice shouted again.

“How many times you think you can pull this shit? Huh?”

“Come on, Zee, you know I’m good for it. I just gotta work some stuff out,” said a voice trying at the same time to be quiet, yet still audible over the crowd.

Evan let go of Shani’s wrist so he could get closer. He peered around the corner, stalled by her grabbing his other arm. One man in a black jacket with spiked red hair had another man, skinny to the point where his bones showed through clothing, pinned to the wall between the bathroom doors. People wandered past them, going from the mall concourse to Sector D or the other way around.

“You said that last week, you little shitbag.” Zee punched the thin man in the gut. “You owe me two grand already and I don’t think you’re gonna get it. You’re so damn strung out you can’t even stay on your fuckin’ feet without a wall to lean on.”

“Evan, get your mom.” Shani tried to pull him away from the corridor, but he held fast.

Zee pulled a gun, stuffing it under the other man’s chin. “I oughta just get this over with, right here.”

“Zack, please…” the man whined.

“Yeah, too many eyes here.” Zee backhand-pistol-whipped the druggie, knocking him to all fours. “Get the fuck outside.”

“Leave him alone.” Evan took a step, raising his voice.

Zee ignored him.

“I said, leave him alone.”

Shani whirled back and forth, unsure if she should stay there or run shouting for Kirsten.

“Fuck off, kid.”

“You don’t have to kill him,” said Evan.

Evan, no. You don’t have magic in the real world. He’s gonna kill you!
Shani screamed into his mind.

The boy froze, staring up at Zee. Shani ran to his side, trying to pull him back into Sector D. The gang punk pointed his gun at Evan while the skinny guy coughed up blood and puked on the floor.

“Only sayin’ this once, cowlick. You―”

Shani wrenched the gun away from him; the telekinetic yank severe enough to break his trigger finger. The weapon slapped her in the chest with a hollow thud, and she clamped on to it.

“What the fuck…” Zee had no reaction to his ruined digit. “Little fuckin rugrat wants to die, don’t you?” He pulled a knife from the back of his belt and stomped toward them.

Shani shoved the gun at Evan, somewhere between not wanting to touch it and giving it to him. He fumbled it into a firing position with both hands.

“Freeze, scumbag.”

At Evan’s yell, people finally noticed what was going on.

The high-pitched electronic chirp of the firing circuit arming caused Zee to stop. For several seconds, Evan’s adrenaline kept his hand steady. When the tip of the gun wobbled, Zee grinned and took another step.

“That’s my gun you got, kid. Let’s have it.”

“Don’t get any closer. I mean it.” Evan took a step back.

“You ain’t gonna shoot nobody. You’re shakin’ like a scared little brat.” Zee took another step. “Even if you fire that thing, you’re gonna miss. You don’t give it to me now, I’m gonna break your neck.”

“Evan? Shani? Where are you?” Kirsten’s shouting pierced the panic in the crowd behind him.

“Here!” screamed Shani.

“My mom won’t miss. She’s a cop.”

Zee’s eyes went right to the silver E90 in the hand of the blonde forcing her way through the fleeing people, the one person trying to get
closer
to the kid with a gun. The sound of Kirsten’s voice eased Evan’s trembles, and he found some of Monwyn’s confidence again.

“On the ground, now. Hands behind your head.” Evan used the gun to point at the floor.

After a glance over the boy’s head, Zee broke and ran in the direction of the mall. He shoved a teenaged girl face-first into a water fountain and knocked an elderly couple to the ground. Evan sighed, letting his arms fall slack.

“I’m not shooting him in the back.”

At that instant, Zee’s jacket flipped up and over his head. He twisted, losing balance, and careened into a wall of rental lockers ten feet shy of the mall concourse. Shani grunted, pulling one hand through the air. Zee’s pants dropped about his ankles and he fell over. The little girl kept her focus on him, holding the cloth in place about the squirming thug.

Evan laughed, pointing. “He’s got Space Ranger boxers!”

Kirsten skidded to a halt by the kids, swiping the gun away from Evan. “What the hell are you doing?”

“He was gonna kill that guy.” Evan pointed at the whimpering semiconscious man lying in a puddle of vomit and blood.

“Drop it, lady!” shouted a voice from behind. “Hands in the air, kid. You’re under arrest. Smith, Protocol 2 the little girl.”