Ultimatum: The Proving Grounds (18 page)

“We’re doing exceptionally well. We’re on track despite a few setbacks. And it’s not like Wayne and Leslie are
dead
. They were still in the room with us. They just can’t help us inside anymore.”

He frowned. “And what happens when it’s one of you? I’m not expendable, so everyone is supposed to go out of their way for me. But I don’t want to be surrounded by corpses, or swapping out new team members every day. I like you guys.”

It was a dour thought… be he looked up to find the two women smiling.

Claire shook her head. “I don’t think you’re giving the rest of the team enough credit. They’re all good, or at least
decent
people. None of them will let you down.”

Jesse grinned. “But it’s nice to hear we’re not just piles of meat to hide behind, too.”

He rolled his eyes. “I’m serious.”

“So are we.”

Claire nodded. “Uh-huh.”

“But don’t let Paul hear you saying that sort of stuff. The emphasis is on you to make it. Not all of us. But obviously he would prefer it if we did.”

He could understand. It was a logistics problem. Numbers to be broken down. It had to be if it was a problem they were going to solve. “How many people do we need?”

“For the raid?” Claire shrugged. “Twenty four. Four full groups of six.”

Jesse ran her finger around the lid of her massive cup filled with orange soda. “We’re still up four people, but that does mean we’re getting low on how many fuck ups we can make. We’ll need to be more careful, for sure.”

He nodded. “I’ll do what I can. But I also want to see you there at the end with me.”

Jesse smiled as she stood up. “Back in a minute. We should probably head back soon.”

“Right.” Claire nodded.

Jesse gave her a few pointed looks as she walked away. Claire shrugged in response.

Toby lifted an eyebrow. “What’s all that about?”

“Nothing.”

“Uh-huh.”

Toby bussed the table while they waited. It certainly didn’t look like anyone else was going to get around to it, the only visible staff were in the kitchen.

Jesse returned a few minutes later and raised an eyebrow at Claire.

“What?”

Jesse’s face melted into a mask of disappointment. “Oh you suck.”

Toby glanced back and forth. “I’m confused. Did I miss something?”

“Yes.” Jesse nodded. “And you’ll probably be confused for awhile at this rate.” She pulled her hood up as she opened the door. It wasn’t exactly cold outside, but it was chilly enough with the wind blowing.

Claire’s parking spot was gone when they got back. The otherwise nice lady Toby had come to know cursed like a sailor as she drove across the street and parked in front of the motel. She continued to grumble as they climbed out of the car and made their way across.

Toby didn’t say anything. He was afraid to. He glanced aside at Jesse, who just shrugged.

Claire and Jesse headed for the elevator while he turned down the hall leading to the pit. His things were there.

Paul was the only one present. He was sitting at the center looking up at the projections once more. He glanced over when the door opened.

Toby waved. “Just need my bag.”

Paul turned his eyes back to the screens.

The bag was where he had left it. He slung it over his shoulder and turned, but stopped and turned back.

“How we doing?”

Paul shrugged one shoulder so little Toby barely saw it. “Could be better.”

“I guess.” Toby nodded. “But it could be a lot worse, too. We’ll just need to be more careful going forward.”

Paul shook his head. “It was Tim being reckless and running off with you that saved us. Hard for me to tell him he needs to straighten up and fly right when he’s the reason we’re still in this at all.”

“I think we all did our parts.”

Paul scoffed. “Sure. Maybe.”

“I mean it. Even those who didn’t make it. They knew their jobs, and they did them. From what Jerry said in there, that wasn’t a normal event. You can’t plan for things you’ve never seen.”

“That’s exactly what we have to do. It’s only going to get worse from here. He co-opted the worst raid in the game to use against us. If he can swing this sort of danger out here, I can’t see a snowball’s chance in hell of us making it through there.”

“That’s fair.” Toby sat down and looked up at the numbers and charts. They kept moving and playing across the wall.

Miller had access to everything, and he had been part of the development. How could they hope to out think him?

“Uhh… hmm.” Toby scratched at his chin. “When did Miller get fired?”

“About ten months ago.”

“Okay. Have you only been in testing mode since then?”

“No.” Paul shook his head. “We’ve been modifying things the entire time.”

“Have you… added anything since then?”

“Sure. Of course.”

“So those are things Miller doesn’t necessarily know about, unless he went looking.”

Paul’s eyes shifted about as he considered it. “Maybe.”

The door opened to reveal Jesse and Claire. “Hey, you ready?”

Paul inclined his head toward the door. “Go on. Get some sleep. We’re not beaten yet.”

“Of course not. We’re stubborn as hell.” He hopped up and made for the door. Paul seemed to be lost in thought.

Claire leaned aside as she shut the door. “What was that about?”

“He’s not happy, but he’s more mad at himself, I think.”

She frowned. “He couldn’t have seen that coming.”

“I know. Tell him that.”

Jesse shook her head. “He’ll be fine in the morning. Let him ponder it out.”

Toby nodded. “Did what I could. His mood seemed to change a bit.”

“See? Nothing to worry about.”

Claire didn’t seem convinced as she shook her head.

Toby really wasn’t either.

Toby stopped outside the door to the same room. Claire was only one door down again. Well, of course. Same rooms. He didn’t know where his head was. Jesse walked on by, stopping on the other side three doors away.

He opened his door but glanced up when Claire waved at him. She was looking down at Jesse’s closing door.

“Umm.” She shrugged as she looked back. “I just wanted to say…” She turned her key card over in her hand a few times. “Have a good night. I know it’s been a long day. And tomorrow might be as bad, or worse. But…” She shook her head. “That’s it. Try to not think about it, okay? I’ll see you in the morning.”

“Okay. Thanks. You have a good night, too.” He pushed the door open. “If you need anything, you know where to find me. And you have my number.”

“Yeah.” She nodded. “If I need anything.” She opened her door and closed it again behind her.

Well that was weird. He wandered into his own room and shut the door behind him.

“Stupid stupid stupid.” Claire’s voice carried softly through the wall.

He scratched at an ear as he wandered in and put his things down. Was she blaming herself for today? What more could she have done? She kept her own group alive and well. Granted, they were down two members at the time, so maybe it was easier. And Jesse and Paul could help some, but the healing was still on her. The other team did their best, and it just didn’t measure up.

If anything, he still felt like the failure was his for not ending the event fast enough. He should have just destroyed that stupid book.

He made sure his phone was charging before showering and crashing as he had the night before.

15

The clock was his enemy. He saw it several times that night as he awoke, tossing and turning.

Doubts ran through his waking mind. He tried to banish them and sleep… but they followed him to that shadow realm.

He found himself among the zombies again. They begged and pleaded for forgiveness even as they tried to murder him. He had no weapons. No armor. It was not Tobin Ironblood that faced them, but Toby the scrawny print shop employee.

And yet, their pleas were preferable, really. The voices behind began to speak accusations instead. He was too slow. Too weak. Foolish. Ignorant of the world.

Unable to save them. He dreamed himself powerful when he was nothing of the sort.

The worst part was… they weren’t wrong.

He had never been a person of wealth or means. He wasn’t strong, or particularly capable. He was nobody. A face in the crowd. Yet he sought outlets, worlds where he might be something more to hide how weak he truly was.

His feet stopped. He didn’t see a point in running. He turned to face the creatures moving in his wake. He was not surprised at their faces. He had recognized their voices. Tim. Carol. Amos. Jesse. Paul.

Claire.

All of them rotting away, shambling to reach him. All of them giving voice to raspy accusations.

He stood before them, just waiting for them to catch up. He spread his arms wide.

Electricity arced across the air before him. He shielded his eyes from the light. The hairs on his arms stood up from the electricity in the air…

When he lowered his hand Soulbreaker was in his grasp. The steel black save for where it shone with bright light.

The creatures lumbering forward wore faces he didn’t know. Not his friends. Not his people. Just some trick.

He gritted his teeth. How dare they seek to mislead Tobin Ironblood.

The phone blared its infernal ring.

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

“Thank you.” He mumbled as he mashed the receiver back down. He realized it was probably a recording as he sat up and swung his feet off the bed. He had slept on top of the covers. It wasn’t cold enough to bother burrowing in.

He was the first one downstairs again. It was rather nice to drink his coffee in peace.

The TV was still talking about the explosion, though it was losing time to other stories. They mentioned federal law enforcement was investigating the incident, but that’s as far as they went.

Other guests came and went, but no one from across the street. He shifted a bit in the chair to get comfortable and propped his feet up on a chair across from him.

His eyes shot open. Jesse was standing in front of him, shoving his feet that were in the other chair. He sat up and shook his head as she took the chair over.

“Long night?”

“Kept waking up.”

“Need more coffee?”

“Doesn’t seem to be helping.”

“Clearly.” Her eyes had shifted to the side.

He turned his head to find Claire asleep in the chair beside him. He stretched his neck. “Not the best way to start the day, especially when it’s likely to be a long day.”

Jesse nodded as she returned from the counter with juice as she had the morning before. She held out a small box of cereal to him. “Sugar. Wake you up a bit.”

“Maybe.” He nodded his head politely. The stuff inside definitely had sugar. Flakes were caked in it. He just tipped up the box, no time for silly things like bowls or milk.

Jesse nudged Claire’s foot. The younger woman was having none of it, shaking her head before letting it fall again. She ended up leaning against the arm rest with her head resting on Toby’s shoulder.

He tried not to move around as he ate his breakfast.

Jesse rolled her eyes. “We’re going to need to head out soon.” She kicked the toe of Claire’s shoe. She didn’t respond, so Jesse kicked her foot again. And again.

Claire lifted her head with a groan a few moments later. The assault upon her shoe had been relentless. “You suck.”

“Good morning to you, too.”

“Bleh.” Claire sat back in the chair with her arms crossed. Her hair wasn’t as neat as usual.

“You didn’t sleep either?”

“Going to unhook that fucking phone.”

“Hardly professional.”

Claire shook her head. “This isn’t my job. I miss my office. I miss my desk. I miss filling out stupid reports and answering emails to people who have no idea what we’re doing but insist on telling us how.” She sighed. “You’d think
playing
a game for hours on end would be fun.”

Jesse shrugged. “Bad situation. Up to you to make the best of it.”

Claire stared at the other woman for a few moments. “It’s entirely too early for that kind of shit.”

“Speaking of which.” Jesse hopped up and stretched her arms up over her head. “We should be going.”

Claire grumbled.

Toby stood up and held out his hand to help her up. “Can’t make it through this without you.”

She nodded a few times. “That’s certainly true. Buncha scrubs.” She took hold of his hand and lurched to her feet.

The morning went better than the day before, but was still unremarkable. A few fights here. A few more there. They stumbled upon more crafting materials than anything. They made notes of the locations and sent them to members of the guild dedicated to that sort of stuff.

Things started to shape up in the afternoon, though that’s not to say it was free of irritation. The last event had cost them, so Paul had spent the morning avoiding the subject and just looking for appropriate mobs to fight.

“God damned… motherfucking…” Toby turned his head swiftly left and right, his eyes trained low as he held his sword aloft.

They were somewhere nearby.

“Shh.” Amos had forgone his bow, wielding a short sword instead. He was watching closely. He had the tracking system on his side. Toby couldn’t see what Amos saw, but he had described it as glowing footprints with each target in the area having their own color. Toby was supposed to get access to tracking late in the game, though even then it would probably be more limited than what Amos was using right now.

Jesse was looking at the footprints too. She stood still a moment before green light and smoke washed over her leaving only the form of a sitting wolf. Her nose moved about as she turned her head left and right. “Got something.”

Amos scoffed. “That’s bullshit. Rangers are supposed to be the best trackers.”

“I’m not
tracking
. Beast forms can follow scent trails.”

“That’s tracking.”

“Except it’s not. Tracking is sight based and uses footsteps. Scents float and use little bright clouds.”

Paul shook his head. “Argue the semantics later. What do you have?”