Ultimatum: The Proving Grounds (30 page)

She pulled out her phone. “I looked up the channels I could remember from last night. They’re showing Krull. Can you believe that?”

He chuckled. “I haven’t seen that in years.”

“Well hurry it up then, it’s probably already started.” She picked up his backpack and held it out to him. “I mean, yeah, I could probably try to watch it on my phone or something, but the wi-fi at the motel sucks and I get like two bars there, so old school TV it is.”

He took the bag and they started for the door.

What had happened inside kept running through his mind… but there was no fix for it. And he couldn’t find it in himself to fault Paul for it, either. It was a resource. They were fighting impossible odds and, in a way, they had caught a lucky break.

It just sucked that their lucky break involved other people’s misfortune.

Claire headed to the elevator and waved for Toby to follow.

“I’ve only been up stairs the once.”

She shrugged. “We haven’t been up there much of late. It’s kinda weird. I really don’t make it down here that often under normal circumstances.” She leaned closer. “The break room up on four is much nicer.” She nodded.

The doors opened and they ventured in. It didn’t take long to reach the fourth floor.

She nodded to the right and he followed her. Up here the wall decorations where much more elaborate than downstairs. Concept art. Posters for their game as well as a few for others. “The first floor is kinda drab compared to this.”

“We actually only got it about six months ago. We used to do our pit setup in the motion capture lab since it was so open. The animators are happy the rest of us found a better space. The company that was downstairs moved to building C once it opened up. I’m sure some money changed hands to convince them, but that’s not my department.” She stopped at a wooden door surrounded by glass panels. All the offices seemed to be visible from the outside.

Good for productivity, probably.

At least, it would be if staring at your monitor goofing off on the internet didn’t look just like actually working to a casual observer.

She opened the door and flipped the lights on. “Welcome to my home away from home… that is inside the building, not the one across the street. That’s actually kind of a luxury we don’t get all that often. Feel privileged.”

She hadn’t been kidding about having a couch in her office. There was a folded blanket resting on one arm.

Claire sat down at the computer and moved the mouse. “Oh, good. One hundred and twenty seven emails. Hmm.” She stood up again and grabbed a bag from the floor. “Off we go.”

He chuckled. “Not going to answer any of those? I can wait. There’s a couch.”

She shook her head. “Krull awaits. Those aren’t going anywhere. And… sadly… I can answer them on my phone.”

“I can accidentally lose it for you, if you like.”

“Aww, you’re sweet.” She shooed him out the door and flipped the lights off.

They met Jesse on the way back to the elevator. Claire waved. “Krull?”

Jesse stared and blinked a few times. “What?”

Claire shook her head and lowered her brows. “Krull.” She nodded and looped her arm through Jesse’s.

“Kay?” The other girl looked aside at Toby, who gave her a shrug. He didn’t know how to explain Krull to someone without sounding like a crazy person. One just has to experience it.

It was a nice couple hours of peace.

Jesse left after the movie was over citing a lack of “crashing” space. She wasn’t exactly wrong. The couch folded out to become a couch with cushions on the floor since there wasn’t a bed inside. It didn’t help that Claire used the space to organize her wardrobe.

Nobody used the dressers. Toby didn’t know why. He didn’t either, so he didn’t have any room to talk. The hangers? Sure. Dresser? Nope.

Claire flipped the TV over to news once Jesse was gone.

Toby laid back on the bed, his feet still on the floor.

She laid back and rested her head on his shoulder. “You’re awfully quiet. What’s wrong?”

“Heh.” He smiled a bit. “That obvious?”

“We’ve spent a lot of time together the last few days. It’s pretty uncommon for you to actually shut up.”

“Perhaps I was just lost in the narrative.”

“Lost
because
of the narrative, I might believe.” She draped an arm over him. “It’s okay, you can talk to me.”

No he couldn’t. He’d said he wouldn’t. Well… about that specifically.

“I’m mostly thinking about… how we’re progressing. Fast, sure, but it’s all about fighting. I mean…” He shrugged a bit. “I sometimes get the feeling that if we found killing players to be faster than killing monsters, we’d switch over.”

“That’s silly. Paul wouldn’t stand for that, and he’d
never
suggest it.”

“No?”

“I know he can seem harsh, but that’s not who he is.”

Toby stared up at the ceiling. Claire had faith in the man where Toby’s was failing. She’d known him longer. Knew him better. Amos hadn’t questioned him either.

Maybe he was in the wrong here. It was certainly possible.

“I think maybe you’re more concerned about what happens when all of this is done, hmm?”

He hadn’t considered it much of late. “Maybe.”

She shook her head. “Don’t fret it. Things will work out. I could move closer to you, you could move closer to me… something.”

“Mmm.” He nodded. That was a problem for another day.

Of course, her being employed by the company was a problem for
today
. It was the problem Paul was grappling with. For himself, but also for everyone else.

Toby could understand that.

More, he could support it.

He glanced aside to see Claire already breathing slowly with her eyes shut. It had been a long day. He wasn’t exactly comfortable. He still had his shoes on… but he didn’t want to disturb her.

He laid his head back and tried not to think.

There was darkness followed by a piercing green light. He stood in the graveyard once more, the broken old tree before him. The glowing book sat upon his pedestal. It called to him.

Zombies and skeletons burst from the ground, but he ignored them, and they ignored him in turn. He walked toward the book with a deliberate pace as the slow undead milled about aimlessly.

He stared down at the book as he approached. Green light escaped the cover around the edges. Runes on its cover glowed the same color, as if the leather binding was barely keeping the contents from exploding outward.

There was no fear. All of this was perfectly normal and to be expected.

He opened the cover. He could barely make out anything for the bright green light escaping. Each word bled light into the night. But these were no incantations or recorded histories.

They were names.

Every paged was filled with names. It was a compendium of those that had fallen along the way.

Leslie. Wayne. Bulorn. Mitchel. Tim. Countless others. Page after page.

Until they stopped. There were empty pages at the end.

Room for more.

A distant horn cut the still air. Toby lifted his head to see all the undead looking toward the source.

He moved back outside and shadow stepped onto the roof of one of the buildings nearby. He knew this place well.

In the distance were armored men with torches and bared weapons.

They were coming for him. They would end Tobin Ironblood.

He drew Soulbreaker from his back. Green light played along the black metal as he lifted the sword and gave a cry in return.

The dead answered with their own voices as they charged to fight… for him.

Toby’s eyes opened. The same roof was overhead. The TV was showing an infomercial. The clock said it was 6:48 a.m.

Well, he beat the wake up call, anyway.

Claire was still lying beside him, her head resting on his arm, her own arm draped over him. She was a sound sleeper. He managed to slip out from under her without waking her up.

He stretched his neck a bit.

What the hell had that dream meant?

Not that it mattered. Dreams were usually meaningless. Maybe it was an endorsement of Paul’s plan. It sort of seemed like one.

He stared ahead bleary eyed as a man with a silly mustache tried to sell him a glorified blender for a few minutes. He took the phone off the hook and set it down when the appointed time rolled around.

Claire could use a few more minutes.

His phone’s battery was in the red. He wasn’t sure why he was going to need it today, but he might. He plugged it in before wandering into the bathroom. He washed his face. He looked tired. And his hair was sticking up on one side.

A soft groan came from the other room. He dried his hands and wandered back out.

Claire was sitting up and rubbing at her eyes. She’d hung the phone up.

“Good morning. Tried to spare you the phone ringing.”

“The beeping might have been worse. Random dreams of trucks backing up.”

He grinned. “Sorry.”

She turned and held out a hand to him. He sat down beside her. She wrapped her arm around his and laid her head back on his shoulder. “Just another few minutes.”

“You’re getting kinda clingy.”

“Tell me you don’t like it and I’ll stop.”

“Nah, I couldn’t lie to you like that.”

She smiled. “Good boy.”

“Awesome, now I’m on par with a dog.”

“That’s not a bad thing.” She let go and stood up. She stretched her arms out. “Agh.” She slumped a bit. “Well, at least it’s going to be a good day.”

“Oh? Whys that?”

“The way we’re going? We hit the level cap today. Then begins the path to the raid.”

“And how long does that take?”

“Eh, the gear can be tricky to come by. But we have crafters doing their best. Another day or two, I’d think. We’ll be cutting it close to the week deadline, but I can’t really think of a faster way to do it.”

Toby frowned.

She smiled and patted him on the cheek. “It’s okay. We’ll get it all sorted out. Now go on, shoo. Don’t take this the wrong way, but you could use a shower.”

25

There were donuts in the break room again. Apparently their progress the day before was worth rewarding. Toby wasn’t about to complain.

The pit was humming when they wandered over. People were at every work station. A few more screens were being projected now, though they were hitting a normal painted wall that was throwing the color off and stretching the image a bit with the projector sitting at an angle. They’d run out of room where the initial projectors had been set up.

Paul was watching the screens beside Tim and Jerry. He already had his vest and gloves on as he pointed and made comments to them.

Tim waved when they came in. The others looked aside.

Toby had Claire and Jesse with him. The latter was still munching on a donut.

“Good morning.” Paul nodded. “This is it. We hit the cap today. We have an itinerary we’ve already plotted out with the help of scouting members of both guilds and a few unincorporated volunteers. Public opinion is swinging to our side.”

Tim leaned back in his chair. “The fact that it’s easier to garner rewards from our side might have something to do with it.”

Paul shrugged. “A little incentive never hurt.”

Jesse gave a thumbs up while her other hand stuffed a chocolate donut into her mouth.

“See?” Paul nodded.

Toby set his things down and looked up at the projections. Once more most of it was gobbledygook, but he could follow some of it. Their town was continuing to grow. Most of the map they showed was filled in with color now, indicating people had some form of dominion on those places. Miller had started them in the safe haven of the church in the Morblina ruins, and they’d run with it. The “safe” region there even stretched a little beyond the town they had built now.

But other towns were just as large, or larger. And for all their helpful head counts, the Kingsmen Reserve Corps didn’t control much in the way of ground. They had gotten a late start. The game seemed set up for land to be won and conquered after it was claimed the first time, but they really didn’t have the time or the manpower.

So, no politicizing or warmongering. They just had to follow the XP train. And that path was laid out on the map.

Paul nodded to it. “We should hit fifty without much trouble. Faster if we find an event or two along the way.”

Claire tilted her head. “But then what? We need to gear up for the raid, but there aren’t any events for that sort of thing yet. We hadn’t planned to start them for a month at least, last I heard.”

“True. And randomness is definitely not on our side, but we have some thoughts on that and crafters hard at work. For now, we just need to be concerned with leveling.”

Tim nodded. “And not getting killed. I have experience.”

Jerry patted him on the shoulder. “You just wanted a cushy desk job.”

“Oh, yeah. Totally.”

“Okay people.” Paul turned for his own station. “Lets do this. The sooner we get moving, the sooner we get done.”

A pair of craftsmen in matching uniforms covered by leather aprons were waiting inside when Toby logged in. A new suit of black armor was laid out. He still didn’t really care for the idea… but he had no better ones, either. He swapped into the new armor, which looked identical to the old set, and handed over his old armor to the waiting craftsmen.

“Good luck out there, sir.” One of the craftsman bowed and the other gave a thumbs up.

They were players. Huh.

“Thanks. I’ll probably need it.”

“Nah, everyone is sure you’ve got this. Just being polite.”

He smiled. “Wish I had your confidence.”

The other craftsman shrugged. “Outside looking in versus inside looking out. Can’t tell you how much trouble you’ve had, all we see is your successes.” He tapped the armor Toby was wearing. “It’s the same for us, and for everyone else that isn’t fighting with you. You win, that’s what we hear about.”

The first craftsman scoffed. “That makes it sound all dire. Fuck that. He’s got this. That sword of his is downright scary.”