Undead Online
Chapter One
Storm clouds covered the sky, lightning
crackling in a spray of digital wonder, illuminating the forest.
Three shadows were revealed darting through the trees. As thunder
sounded and the lightning came again, one peeled away, taking his
position. The others continued, hunting their target.
Carrion Carriall stopped, leaning on a
tree as he caught his breath. His friend and fellow Hunter, Sasa, did
likewise. Carrion jerked his head toward a clearing, got a nod in
response. They crept closer, peering through the darkness and trees.
A mass of bodies swayed in the
clearing, an occasional collective moan breaking the silence. It was
the usual mob of zombies that accompanied their real targets, the
Rogues. A single one would be nothing, but at least thirty milled
about the open patch, shuffling in randomized paths. Clothes hung in
tatters from their bodies. For the most part, they were plain enough.
Undead Online didn't focus on the horror aspect of the zombies,
preferring that the regulars, as most players called the randomly
spawned zombies, remain cannon fodder. It gets scary enough, mind
you, when you're trapped under a pile of them. But they weren't
terrible to look at.
“I'm ready.” The voice came through
perfectly clear over their comms application. Frosty, their sniper,
was in position. Carrion and Sasa didn't know where, exactly, but it
didn't matter. Frosty knew what he was doing.
“Got it.” Carrion replied. “What's
the plan?”
“Kill things?” Sasa replied
sarcastically, fumbling a cigarette from his pocket.
“Well, obviously. But I don't think
you can just walk in there.” Carrion waved at the spear hanging
from Sasa's back. Six feet long and ending in a brutally curved
blade, it was the only weapon he used. Of course, it isn't the kind
of weapon you want if you plan on fighting in the middle of that many
enemies, even if they are only zombies.
“Yeah, yeah.” Sasa mumbled around
the cylinder of tobacco. A cloud of smoke drifted into the air.
“Fine. Usual thing?”
“Yeah, sounds good. Can you handle
that many?” Carrion asked.
“Sure. Shooting's hard, kiting's
easy.”
Carrion was tempted to point out that
that wasn't true at all, but he didn't. “Whatever. Break in five.”
They took their positions just inside
the line of trees. Carrion counted the seconds on his fingers.
On the third, lightning flashed.
On the fifth, the thunder struck,
rumbling through the clearing as, with a hellbent scream, Sasa tore
into the clearing.
Carrion had to admit, it was a pretty
sight. Sasa handled the spear with ease, cleaving through one of the
zombies with a single swing before spinning to bisect another. But
then his presence washed over the mob and they turned toward him.
They began their strange shuffle-walk, slowly ambling toward him
before picking up speed. Sasa was forced to retreat, running away
from Carrion, half the crowd following him while the other half
remained in place. The lot of them disappeared into the trees. In
just a few seconds, the number of zombies in the clearing had been
halved.
“Going in.” He
said to thin air, knowing Frosty and Sasa could hear him. No reply
came, so he took it as a sign to start his run. He grabbed his MP5K
submachine gun with its shorter barrel for more maneuverability and
walked into the clearing, pulling the trigger in short bursts.
The gunfire was
loud in his ears as his bullets tore into the remaining regulars.
Blood sprayed from them as they fell, the fluid turning to sparkling
pixels like water in sunlight. Dropping any zombie that came too
close, he made it halfway through the clearing toward his target, a
copse of trees where he knew the Rogue was waiting. The entire time,
the boom of sniper-fire echoed through the trees as Frosty let loose,
hitting zed head after zed head without a single miss. Carrion
reached the middle of the clearing.
And a new wave of
zombies ran from the copse, vectoring straight toward him. He brought
his gun around, jamming his finger down on the trigger, a withering
stream of bullets ripping into the crowd. But it took only a second
for his gun to click dry.
“Fall back,
Kerry. Get out of there!” Frosty shouted over the comms, his
gunfire doubling as he tried to thin the crowd.
But there were just
too many. Carrion spun in place, trying to find a way out. But the
two groups of zombies had him sandwiched, and he had nowhere to go.
He was still looking for escape when a zombie ran into him, throwing
them both to the ground.
“Dammit!”
Carrion shouted, slamming his fists into his attacker, trying to
throw him off. But before he could even budge the zombie that was on
him, the others were piling on. Desperate sniper fire echoed through
the forest, but it didn't stop the horde. A dozen pairs of teeth
scissored into him, pain flaring as a dull tingle across his entire
body.
It took what seemed
like an eternity, but seconds later the world of flailing limbs was
replaced with darkness as Carrion Carriall died.
2034, The City
Kerry
Ascher slapped the TruDive helmet off his head, his neck length brown
hair flopping into his eyes. He let his head fall backward onto his
bed as he groaned. His heart was still pounding with adrenaline as
the visions of teeth biting into him
slowly faded, game over never a fun experience.
He grabbed a chunky
keyboard off the floor next to his bed, flicking the on button and
selecting a name from a menu.
I'm so bad at this game.
He typed in exasperation.
The reply took a
second to filter in as his brother, Dallas, 'Frosty' in-game,
thought-typed a response. still inside UO.
Gimme a sec. I got you.
Undead Online was a
game with two main things to kill. You had the usual zombie fare,
obviously, but you also had Rogues, zombies born when a player dies.
Rogues are controlled by a specialized AI that spends its days
watching the player, learning how to play, think, and fight exactly
like them. These are infinitely more dangerous than the cookie-cutter
crowds of zombies, and as a result are important targets. Kerry,
Dallas, and, to a certain extent, Sasa were Rogue Hunters, players
who do nothing but hunt down other players after they die.
Kerry
could imagine the scene as his Rogue rose from the ground, a groan
falling from its lips. He could feel the crosshairs on his head as
Dallas sighted, heard the boom of the sniper rifle and the
THRACK-SKASH as the
bullet tore through him.
You're good to go. Log back in.
Kerry sighed and
settled back onto his bed, putting the TruDive back on. The whir of
fans and processors was loud in his ears as he thought-clicked Undead
Online from a list of games. Another half second passed, then the
world slipped away.
Chapter Two
