Ultimatum: The Proving Grounds (13 page)

“Dang.”

“It does give me an idea, though…” Paul scratched at his beard and nodded a few times. He opened the main menu. “Wow, didn’t realize it was so late.” He glanced about. “Level ten… not bad. Not bad. Means we’re catching up with the power curve.”

Jesse reverted to her human form. “Wait, you mean we’re calling it?”

He nodded. “It’s already pushing midnight.”

Claire’s jaw dropped. “No way.” She opened her menu. “Holy shit.”

“Back to the church for now. We’ll start up again first thing.”

The trip back to the church was uneventful. A few random wolves, a bear, and a handful of bandits. Nothing they couldn’t handle now. All of it together didn’t move their experience bars much.

The church was even nicer than it had been. Most of the roof was covered now, though it was rough wood. There were new buildings going up outside. Mostly wooden skeletons at this point, but the area was growing. And Toby received the message about being in a safe area when they were still more than ten yards from the church. The safe area had grown.

Still, with a character that was going to be vulnerable while he slept, he would take his chances with four stone walls around him.

The interior of the church had some furniture now. Chairs, tables, shelves… people were stockpiling papers and books inside the game the same way the staff was collecting information outside.

All of their hard work made his occasionally swinging a sword less impressive. He seemed like quite the slouch.

Characters began to vanish around him one at a time. He sat in a large chair opposite the entryway and brought up the logout menu.

His hair was a mess when he took the headset off. It was matted to his head. Sweaty. Maybe they needed some fans or something.

Claire appeared to take the headset and help him out of the rest of his gear. He collapsed into a seated position where he had been standing. He was more tired than he would have thought.

She gave him a nod. “Good work in there. We’re making solid progress.” She glanced aside at the projections. “We should catch the power curve tomorrow, start breaking away, get out ahead of it. Make it harder for people to come after us.”

“Cool.”

She smiled. “It really is. It’s the only way to pull this off.”

“Right now I’m more concerned with finding a quiet corner to sleep in. Maybe under a table. Don’t want to get kicked.”

“Hardly.” Paul’s voice closed in from behind. He had a phone against his head. He glanced away from the pair. “Uh-huh. Good. You’ve got us on record, I’m sure we’ll have a few.”

Toby turned his head up to Claire.

She wiggled her eyebrows.

“Alright, thank you.” He pulled the phone down and tapped it with his thumb. “Rooms across the street for whoever wants them.”

Toby blinked. “Eh?”

Claire held out a hand and helped him up. “I told you, we can have some crazy hours. When that happens, we can either stay in our offices, which is okay if you’ve got one, or sometimes they offer to put us up at the motel across the street. We’re on good terms and get a bit of a discount. They get paid, fill empty rooms, makes them look more busy, and we get a hot shower and a place to sleep.”

“Seems warranted.” Paul nodded. “You all did well, and they’ve got space.”

Tim was shaking his head as he approached with Carol. “Nuts to that. I’ll take my own bed.”

Carol shrugged. “He’s my ride.”

“Fair enough.” Paul tapped his watch. “Back here at eight.”

Tim rolled his eyes. “Yeah, yeah. We got this.”

“Confidence is good.
Over
confidence is bad.”

Carol shrugged. “He’s not likely to change, I’m afraid. His mother tried to warn me.”

Claire waved. “Good night.”

Jesse was wrangling her hair as she appeared. She waved to the pair as well. “Night.”

Carol waved back as they left the pit.

Jesse looked at Claire hopefully. “Rooms?”

“Rooms.” The other woman nodded.

“Awesome. I’ll get my bag.” She started toward the door.

Toby glanced down at his own bag. “And here I thought I was special and super prepared.”

Clarie shook her head. “As I keep saying, long hours.”

Paul nodded as he flipped through his phone. “Certainly some sacrifices. Though I assure you they are appreciated, and I work to ensure you’re compensated.”

“Pfft.” Claire shook her head. “Suits me that you’re here. But you really shouldn’t be. Your wife is going to be pissed.”

“Nah… she’ll be pissed tomorrow when I get up at six and come back.”

“That too.”

He sighed. “I’ll… try to explain the situation. She won’t like it.”

“Sorry boss. Have Sandra call me. Character witness.”

“She doesn’t trust my ‘minions’ to be honest with her.”

“I’m a minion? That’s rad.”

Toby had his bag slung over his shoulder. “What does that make me?”

Paul turned his eyes to the younger man. “More like a hostage.”

“But I like it here.”

Claire shook her head. “Stockholm syndrome. So sad.”

“Yeah, yeah.” Toby stretched his neck. It ached. “What’s the plan here?”

“We’ll meet up at the elevator in a few minutes then walk over. No reason to try to find a parking place over there only to drive back across the street and try to find another one here tomorrow morning.”

He nodded. “Aight.”

Paul glanced up from his phone. “Don’t stay up too late. I already told the front desk to do wakeup calls.”

Claire sighed. “You monster.”

He shrugged. “Business.”

Toby waited by the elevator. He didn’t have reason to head upstairs like everyone who had to grab things from their offices.

He awoke to find Claire shaking him.

“Hey, more comfortable soon. I promise.”

He yawned and stood up. He didn’t recall falling asleep… or sitting down, for that matter. He recognized a few of the people. Claire, of course. Jesse. Jerry. Bill, one of their alternates. And a number of faces from the break room.

They moved as a herd. A group of migrating desk workers. There was no traffic to speak of at this hour, so they had no trouble crossing the four lane street.

It was a nice motel. It didn’t really seem “open” so much as not closed. There was only one woman working behind the desk who handed over a number of key cards.

Toby managed to stay conscious and upright the entire time, though it was a near thing. Walls were leaned upon.

He ended up on the third floor with a number of familiar faces turning in in rooms further down and across the way. Claire was next door. That made him feel a bit better… he’d have a better chance of running across her in the morning. He didn’t have a card to get into the building, and he didn’t know the rest of them very well. Hell, they might have no idea who he was.

Well, Jesse knew. And Jerry. And Bill. A few anyway.

Worrying over nothing.

He plugged his phone in and dropped his things on the bed. He made it through the shower before turning the TV on, but that’s all he remembered.

11

His head shot up when the phone rang. Who could be calling at this hour? Goddamn rude. He’d just gotten to sleep and…

“This is your 7 a.m. courtesy wakeup call.”

He set the phone down gently.

“God damn it.” He slumped out of bed. His feet were unsure beneath him. It took his muddled mind a few moments to recall just what had happened. It all seemed strange. He’d wanted to play the Proving Grounds for years… now he was, with developers no less, but Miller’s threats and the feds picking him up had turned it from entertainment into something of a chore.

Granted, it wasn’t that bad. He was starting to enjoy the barbarian class, and his clearly broken weapon was entertaining in its own right.

He ran his comb through his hair… though he didn’t spend much time on it. The headset was just going to screw it up anyway.

His phone was charged. No new messages. He shoved all his things back into his backpack and headed downstairs.

He was about two seconds shy of falling asleep again when he smelled coffee brewing. The machine was unguarded and had cups set out beside it.

The fools.

Two cups later he almost felt human.

He was the first of the party from across the street in the dining area. He stuck his head out into the lobby. No one there either. He stepped forward and looked out the large front windows. No one was crossing the street. The building was crawling with suits, but none of the more commonly dressed folks.

Hmm. He rang the bell at the desk. “Have you seen any of the Brave New World folks from across the street head over yet?”

The woman shook her head. “They aren’t usually very punctual. I’d give it a half hour.”

Heh. He nodded. “Thanks.”

He gnawed on a bagel and watched the TV in the dining area while he waited. They were talking about the explosion downtown. Which was only a few streets over at the moment. The authorities were claiming it was caused by faulty wiring on a recently replaced air conditioning unit for the building.

He liked that take. It involved less crazy people. Just a few lazy ones.

The BNW people began to trickle down right around the half hour mark. The lady as the desk clearly had them figured out.

Jesse was among the first down. She ignored the coffee and drank orange juice.

Weirdo.

“Well look at Mr. early bird.” She sat down with her juice and a croissant. “Sleep well?”

“I’m not sure I did. Phone rang at 12:30 as far as I could tell you.”

“Mmm.” She nodded. “I’m afraid it’s going to get worse before it gets better.”

Jerry collapsed into one of the nearby chairs. “That is the motto of my pit. Of course, we’re still waiting for the day it gets better. Someday though, right? I’m betting on February.”

“Not in the sweatshop you run.”

“Hey now, that’s just unfair. We have air conditioning.” He stood up again. “Need coffee. Protect my chair like the fingers of an angry god.”

“Okay?” Jesse glanced around at the numerous empty chairs.

Toby took out his phone and checked it. No new messages.

Phooey on you too, Mitchel.

“Hey, what’s your number?” Jesse had her phone out and was tapping at it with her thumbs. She looked up when he didn’t respond. “We’re not going steady or anything, but you can’t get into the building. And you might get lost if we all go to lunch or something, which we do a lot.”

He nodded. “Wasn’t denying you, just don’t call myself much.” He lied. He flipped through the settings on his phone to double check anyway. He didn’t give the number out much.

She typed it in and sent him a text that read, “Add me,” and ended in a yellow smiley face.

“Oh god, is that what I’m in for?”

“Punctuation of the new age, grandpa.”

Claire sat down, both hands wrapped around a coffee cup. She took a few sips before glancing around. “What are we doing?”

“Number exchange.” Jesse held up her phone.

“Oh. Okay.” She set her coffee aside and pulled out her phone. Jesse gave away his number before he could object. Not that he wanted to, but… it was his. And he sort of liked peace and quiet. And giving his number to Jesse had clearly been a mistake if he intended to keep enjoying peace and quiet.

Claire sent him a text that read, “Hello from the next chair over.”

He smiled and added her.

“Okay, seriously, what the hell?” Jerry shook his head. “I gave you one job.
One
. And you done fucked it up. You are the worst disciples.”

Jesse tilted her head. “I thought we, collectively, were the angry god?”

“Whatever you are, you have failed me.”

Toby shook his head. “Now I’m sad.”

Apparently they were supposed to keep their keys. The rooms had been paid up for the week. The notion of not going home for a week felt a bit… odd. But then, he had accepted it the night before. It just… seemed more real now.

The herd of nerds proceeded back across the street in short order, though at this hour they had to make use of the crosswalk. It took several green lights before they were all across. No one waited, though. The group just spread further and further out. He hadn’t needed to worry about not being able to open the door. It was standing open for nearly twenty minutes between the people coming, going, and the feds moving about.

The downstairs break room across from the pit had donuts.

Toby shook his head. “Are you just all diabetic? Is that how this works?”

Claire shook her head. “Discipline. You must work on discipline.”

Jesse grabbed a chocolate one. “If you don’t eat them, someone else will.”

Jerry shrugged. “This sort of thing isn’t all that common, really. Usually after days we do good on something. Keep in mind we have some silly hours sometimes, but this whole sixteen hours a day thing isn’t normal, even for this place.”

Toby nodded… and took a donut. “Well, we did do good, I mean…”

Jesse nodded at him as she chewed.

Claire rolled her eyes. “Heading up to my office. Back in a few.”

Jesse waved, her mouth clutching the donut as she picked up another.

Toby finished his in short oder and headed across the hall. The door was open. The three GM stations were still humming, and a number of the other computers were already manned as well.

He set his bag down by the station he had used the day before and glanced up at the projections.

Most of it was still gibberish… but he could make out some of it. The area around the church that was a safe haven for them had grown again. The new square shapes around the church ruin would be the buildings they were constructing. But their little town wasn’t alone. The world was shifting, changing. Their guild was on top of the list of largest guilds, but there were certainly contenders for second place. Their sheer numbers were probably what was pressing their construction projects forward so swiftly.

The highest character level was twenty three. Pretty high, given that his was ten. But not so far as all that. He had obtained all his levels last night. Granted, there was an event involved, and those were unreliable… which is why they had a crew working to make them
more
reliable.