Into the Game

Mei reminded me of my mother.

It may have been that she was in her early forties, or maybe it was how she talked about my brother in such a caring way, but I instantly felt at home.

Mei didn’t know much. Billy had organized the raid and had met with everyone there. After the raid he had took his cut and left. There wasn’t much more she could tell me.

The scary part was that this was before the raid on the Ogre camp. I didn’t know how Billy was moving so fast, but he had made a name for putting together raids, then moving on to the next zone.

Mei told me that some of the other players were concerned that Billy was going to scoop up all the resources at the lower levels. Also given his age, he was a target for PKs who wanted the loot that he had acquired.

It made me worry more. I wanted to get to him as fast as I could. He didn’t need to be alone with all the dangers that he was running through.

Michael showed up with my sword and my bag. I had forgotten that I had dropped it when I had run to help Mei.

“Thank you.” I said when he dropped my stuff net to me.

He eyed Mei. "Did she behave?”

Mei grinned. "Just for you.”

Michael grunted. He took out his dagger and started skinning the hyenas.

“Do you have to do that?” I asked

“We’re going to need more supplies.” He answered. "Which means we need something to trade.”

“You could go on a raid.” Mei offered

“No.” Michael said. "It’s too dangerous.”

“For you?” Mei flashed a wicked grin

“No, for her!” He pointed at me. "She hasn’t even been playing for two days. She can’t go on a raid! Do you even remember how many people died in the first raid?”

“Four hundred seven.” Mei answered without hesitating. "I was there. I helped bury the bodies.”

Michael’s next comment died on his lips. "Oh.”

“Where were you when the raid was going on?” She demanded. "Off playing hunter in the woods alone? Where were you when people were dying?”

Michael didn’t say anything. He just hung his head.

I turned to Mei. "What happened?”

“There are raids where a group of players will attack a bandit camp, pirate ship, spider nest, or even a dragon horde” She glared at Michael. "There are also raids where the monsters attack the cities.”

Michael poked the fire. "Two weeks into the game, most of us were still at the starting town. Some had moved on to this zone, but no one had gone any further. The system decided that too many people weren’t playing. To encourage us to move on, a bunch of dragons hit the town.”

“Over five thousand players.” Mei spat. "Only fifty six tried to fight the dragons while the rest ran.

Michael got up and walked away.

I watched him go. I thought about going after him, but I stayed. He wanted some alone time. That’s what I was going to give him