Filed to story: Outplayed Story (Brooklyn & Ethan) Book PDF Free
Outside, it was daylight. They were in a clearing, and a path led away from it. Above them a glowing wayfinder diamond in the sky showed them which way they had to go.
‘Path?’ said Brook.
‘Path,’ Blaze agreed. He set off, not waiting for her. He was narrating what he was doing, for the benefit of his channel. She knew this was how he always played – rush in first, think later – but they were supposed to be a team here. She felt like she was being babysat.
The path ahead forked, but the wayfinder was in the middle. They had no way of knowing whether left or right was the correct path. He stopped and glanced one way, then the other, one hand always on the hilt of his sword. ‘Which way?’
‘I don’t know,’ she snapped. ‘I only have the same information you have.’
He turned to look at her. Was that a hint of a smile? ‘Touché,’ he said.
Both paths led into deep woods.
‘In that case, let’s go … left.’ He strode down the path into the trees.
Brook bit her lip and followed him. What other choice was there? She had almost caught up with him when something landed on her. She hit the ground with a crunch. Turning her head, she saw a confusion of legs and claws. These things looked like sloths, with long arms and cruel claws, but unlike the real thing, they moved fast.
A movement at the corner of her vision. She rolled. A claw raked the ground where her face had just been. She scrambled to her feet and pulled out her weapon. The creature attacked. She was nowhere near fast enough. It caught her shoulder. Her health bar flashed up in front of her at less than half and dropping. The creature turned to charge again. She looked around for something to climb or run to.
A few metres away, Blaze was fighting three of them at once. As she watched, one of the creatures fell. She ran for the cover of the trees, but something caught her from behind. She turned her blade around and plunged it backwards under her arm. The grip loosened. She did it again. It must have made contact because the creature dropped and stopped moving. But it had already hurt her – her life bar flashed red. She stared, aghast. Was that it? Her one chance to play alongside Blaze and she was going to die in round one?
‘For heaven’s sake,’ Blaze said.
She looked up and saw the disgust on his face as he whirled past. That guy was fast. No time to feel sorry for herself. There was a small health potion in her inventory. She grabbed it just before her health bar reached zero and recharged it halfway. Back on her feet, she turned to help Blaze, but there was nothing left to fight. The creatures were on the ground, already fading away.
‘What was that?’ Blaze shoved his blade back into its sheath. ‘Did you practise at all
?’
Bravura said nothing. No. This was harder than she was expecting. She hadn’t practised. She didn’t deserve this chance she’d been given.
‘I-‘
‘Never mind,’ he said, wearily. ‘If they don’t want us going that way, then it must be the right path. Come on.’ He set off.
She wanted to cry, but she was here in the game. Where one goes, you both go. She followed him, trying to keep focused.
She turned to look at the ground where the murder sloths had been. All that was left of them was a few black claws, big, curved things that could tear through anything. She picked a couple up. You never knew.
‘We are judged on how long we take to complete this task,’ Blaze said, his voice tight.
He wasn’t telling her off exactly, but he sounded like he was keeping a rein on his anger. Brook caught up with him. He was narrating as he went again, so at least she didn’t have to compound her humiliation by making conversation. She walked along in silence.
This was a disaster.Brook took off her headset. They’d paused the game so that they could take a ten-minute toilet break. Once the headset was off, Brook realised just how tense she was. Plus, she really needed a wee. When she got back, she asked Niro how she thought things were going.
Niro made a face. ‘You’re still alive …’
Brook rolled her shoulders, trying to loosen them. ‘That bad?’
‘I get that meeting this guy is your dream, but you’re not really putting your back into it, are you?’ said Niro. ‘I’ve seen you play video games before. You’re not normally this bad.’
‘The game’s new to me. And he makes me nervous.’
‘I can see that,’ said Niro. ‘Plus, he’s talking all the time and you’re not saying anything. Perhaps you should try some banter.’
‘Banter?’
‘Just talk to him. Chat. It might make you less stiff and awkward. It would make watching it a bit more entertaining for the rest of us.’
‘That’s the thing. Whenever I say something, I’m horribly aware that millions of people will see it.’
‘So what?’ said Niro. ‘No one knows it’s you. It’s just some blue chick with pointy ears. She could be nothing at all like you. Get in there. Live a little.’
Brook picked up the headset, which was one of only thirty-two like it. Niro had a point. She should live a little.’Look!’
They were back inside the game. There was a monolith visible through the trees. The wayfinder hovered directly above it. Clouds moved across the sky, making the light shift. Something gleamed at the top of the monolith.
They ran through the forest until they were standing at the foot of it.
‘I guess we have to figure out how to get up there now.’ Brook approached it. ‘It’s not going straight up. There’s a slight incline.’ She reached out to touch the surface, which gave her no information whatsoever.
They walked around it. There was a furrow, a bit wider than the width of a person, running all the way up. ‘I wonder if you could use that to brace yourself,’ said Blaze.
‘Like climbing up a door frame?’
‘Exactly.’ He tried it. He made it up only a few feet before he slid back down again. ‘Nope.’
‘It’s too high to jump,’ said Brook. ‘But what if you threw me? This character is light and agile, right?’
‘Let’s give it a try.’ Now that things were happening again, Blaze seemed to have cheered up. He cupped his hands and crouched. She took a short run and vaulted upwards from his cupped hands. She got higher than she expected, but she was still a long way off. She twisted and landed on her feet.
‘Perhaps we could rig something to catapult one of us up,’ she said. She opened up her inventory and scrolled through. The claws. Hmm. She took one out.
‘Where did you get that?’ he asked.