Our characters are frozen while the final countdown to begin gets near. I adjust the view so I can look around. We were dropped at the docks, where there are half sunken ships and abandoned aquatic vehicles. The six of us are grouped together in a loose gaggle.
“Everyone have a scuby?” Horny asks, referring to scuba masks.
“No,” Hilt says. “I lost mine when you got us killed last game.”
“I didn’t get us killed,” Horny says.
“You drove off the map,” Caulder says. I grin because he’s not even playing. Though I can hear him clearly, so I think he’s jacked in with a headset and watching beside Lo, but he’s not a character in the game.
“I said to jump!” Horny exclaims.
My eyes meet Arush’s just as his flicker to mine. He’s sitting in the puffy chair perpendicular to the couch I’m on. We share a smile. Have I ever acknowledged how much I love his smile?
“Or you could have just turned away,” Keno points out. “Just saying.”
“I have an extra mask,” I interject. “Here.” I drop it from my pack and Hilt’s character stops beside mine. The mask disappears from the ground.
“Let’s check out the wreck first,” Keno says.
I jump into the water and hit the button for the scuba mask. It extends the time I have underwater. In the distance, a series of shots go off, the sound muddled by the water.
“Bots,” Etna says. “They’re at the gas station.”
“I pinged the helicopter,” Horny says.
It’s not always easy with six people on a platoon. It’s easier for us to get split up and end up off playing separate games as we work on our own missions or simple miscommunication as we move around and some end up going in a different direction. More times than not, the commander’s voice from the game telling us we’ve split up is when we realize that not everyone is together.
I open various cartons and containers within the sunken hull of the ship before swimming up through a hole in the deck. Most of the things you can open just give you XP. Like every other game, XP allows your character to level up.
Climbing out of the hole, I head for the higher end of the ship and climb to the very top of the captain’s station. With a periscope in hand, I search the area.
Out of nowhere, I’m shot. A single bullet takes me out. Through the plates I have in my armor vest and I’m down.
“Bullshit,” I mutter. “Sniper got me. Coming from somewhere over by the airport. I didn’t see.” I scoot my dead body off the top where I’d been so that I’m under cover when someone can resurrect me.
“Wow. That’s not a ridiculous distance or anything,” Hilt says.
“I’m right here,” Etna says.
“Found them,” Horny says. “They’re wearing bunny suits.”
I sigh in irritation. The sign of a hacker is that they’re almost always in some ridiculous animal suit, more often than not, a bunny. It’s really fucking stupid.
Etna’s character is over me and the blinking aqua medic sign turns green as he injects health into me. When it’s filled, I get to my feet just as a deep explosion goes off.
“I Jokered them,” Horny says. “They probably survived since they’re cheating, but, eh.” I can see him shrugging in my head and smiling.
My eyes flicker to Arush’s again. He’s watching the game, though I’m not sure he’s very entertained. I’m not sure if he looks at me often or if we’re just attuned enough to catch each other’s eyes from time to time because he looks at me just then, too.
Is this considered making eyes at each other? I grin and look back at the game.
“Go to the helicopter?” Hilt asks.
“Yep,” I say and jump off the side of the boat. It’s more difficult to be killed in the water. Our little arrows over our heads on maps and heat signatures disappear, so I swim in the water for most of the distance toward the helicopter.
“Daddy?” a quiet voice says.
“Hey, baby doll. What do you have?” Hilt answers, his voice getting muffled. “Oh, look at that. Beautiful. Nice job, Anabel. Are those rainbows in your hair?”
