Deep Dive Ch. 05 - Solo

And they flew right over me, and away.

I collapsed to the ground, breathing heavily. Was this just a coincidence? Maybe they changed the course on their own and activating the scan had nothing to do with it. Maybe that was their usual patrol route.

A cold sweat ran down my face. Maybe they wanted to find an open field to drop the troops. Like the one where we set up a camp. I pressed on my comm, not caring about the dangers of using an open channel right now, but all I got was a piercing static.

The distinct sound of gunshots came from further up, where the rest of the team was resting. Where the drop ship flew. I threw myself into a dead sprint. It wasn't that far away, but time flies differently when you're being shot at. The forest ahead of me thinned out, just a moment and I will be able to see the camp.

When I did, it was nothing like I imagined.

The drop ship hovered above the field, with two ropes dangling from each of its sides. Down below I saw scattered remains of what I suspected was our camp, but more importantly, five people were standing in the open.

People was the wrong word. They looked only vaguely humanoid, but after taking a second glance it was impossible to mistake them as such.

All of them were fairly short, maybe an inch or two above my current height. They wore full body armor, leaving only their silhouette visible, but that was enough to ensure they weren't human. Legs were just slightly too short compared to the rest of the body while the arms were too long, and the head was placed too close to the chest, while at the same time sticking out forward too far.

One upside of not seeing any humans was that I could still hope that my teammates escaped the ambush. Considering three bodies of the same species as the ones standing near the edge of the field, I was almost certain that once the attack began, my squad took out the first wave and slid down the rocky wall, to hide in the forest below.

I took a step back, since the fight moved elsewhere there was no point in me giving away my position. My curiosity stopped me when I saw another four units descending from the ship, one of them being bigger than the rest.

The one that caught my attention released the rope early, and fell the last few feet to the ground, making the landing look easy. It stood much taller than all the rest, easily over seven feet tall, maybe pushing close to eight. It was covered in heavy, blue armor, that made him look more like a walking slab of metal than a living being. Its silhouette was similar to the smaller ones but without as much exaggerated proportions, it looked much closer to being human.

I was ready to move back into the woods when the head of one of the smaller enemies exploded after he came too close to the ledge. So my team was alive and kicking, or shooting rather, from the forest below. The drop ship opened fire, but from the movement of the turret, it looked like they didn't have a pinpoint location, and were just laying down some cover, giving their allies time to regroup.

No point in staying here any longer. I opened my minimap to check how long of a detour I would have to take to not be spotted when crossing the open strip between the tree line and the ledge. A few hundred feet at most, the edge was slightly curved inwards, which would let me slide down unnoticed.

I looked up one last time to see if the situation changed. The ship ceased fire, while the smaller aliens prepared to go down the ledge. Only their leader was standing still, looking at me.

Wait, what?

I froze, not certain what was happening. How did he spot me? I dismissed the minimap and my hiding spot dimmed just slightly.

Fuck. The map was glowing.

I took a cautious step back, and the leader turned my way. Yeah, he saw me, but at the same time, he didn't attack. I took another step back, and just as I did a heavy rifle materialized in his hands.

I cursed the game not only for giving NPC access to the inventory system but also because his gun was bigger than mine. I tapped on my quick access display, grabbed my rifle, and aimed with a single, practiced motion, pulling the trigger as soon as I saw his blue armor in my crosshair.

The shot struck the left side of his chest plate, making a dent. Didn't even make him flinch. I hesitated when he looked down and traced his four-fingered hand over the impact point. Then swiftly raised his rifle and I saw a flash.

The impact slammed me against the tree behind me, and I fell to the ground.

[Shield 0]

I rolled onto my back, gasping for breath. My shield gave out after a single shot. This game is messed up. The tutorial wants to kill you, the first area wants to kill you, and the updates want to kill you. Fuck it, I may as well go down in flames.

I picked myself up, using my rifle to support myself. I saw the leader looking back at me, but he didn't rise his weapon. Even despite his not-quite-human physiology and being fully covered in armor, I could read his body language. He was waiting, curious about what I would do.

I leveled my gun and took the shot, hip-firing. By some miracle, it scraped against his pauldron instead of missing him entirely. I smiled at him. No scope, bitch. Let me see you try that.

He raised his rifle for the second time. I knew it was pointed dead straight at me. Damn, he was good. Then a second passed. Another one. He turned around and shouted something to the grunts, pointing in my direction.

I blinked once, twice. I saw him taking a glance at me before he jumped down the ledge, going after my team. Just like that, he was gone.

Wait, am I alive?

A volley of bullets flew right over my head, and I noticed three of the smaller aliens running toward me, one of whom was getting ready to send a second burst my way.

Yup, alive, now move if you want to keep it this way. I braced the rifle against my shoulder, getting ready to return fire, and got shot.

[Health 33]

Just one bullet out of the burst hit the mark, landing on the protective plating on my arm, but that was enough to break my concentration and rethink my strategy. They outnumbered me three to one, had automatic weapons, and were quickly closing the distance between us. I couldn't fight them up close and we both knew it.

I swung my gun onto my back, tightening the sling, and run back into the forest to the accompaniment of gunshots coming from behind. Dodging and weaving between the trees gave me enough cover to focus on putting as much ground between me and the pursuers as I could, even when a few stray shots landed dangerously close.

I thought I was making good progress when I felt a sharp pain in my left calf and fell to the ground, tumbling behind a collapsed tree trunk.

[Health 26]

Swearing, I propped my rifle on the tree and blind fired in the general direction of the enemies. The incoming fire stopped, but I knew it was only temporary, and I couldn't lay day effective suppression with seven round magazine. Speaking of which, I swapped in the full one and sent another two shots flying, just for a good measure.

Checking my leg I saw no wound, which was only partially surprising after getting shot. Almost every DDVR game I knew didn't bother with visualizing serious injuries. First, it saved a lot of work, and second, players suing the developers over PTSD was bad for business. Thank god for capitalism.

I emptied the magazine, forcing the pursuers to take cover, and resumed my escape. I was close to my destination, and I needed a bit more breathing room before the very end since there would be no trees to provide cover. I broke the tree line and sprinted through the courtyard overgrown with tall grass.

Before me stood a large, wooden house, almost a mansion. If it wasn't in such a miserable state, and I wasn't being chased, then maybe I would take a minute to take a better look at it, but right now all I saw was the front door, and how breakable it looked.

I slammed against it with my full weight, smashing the rotten wood into pieces. Immediately I felt the difference in my surroundings. It was dark, humid, and smelled of decay. I turned onto my back, swapped mags, and aimed through the doorframe, not letting myself get distracted. I saw movement between the trees and that was good enough for me. I pulled the trigger again and again until the gun clicked empty.

The first part of my plan was a success, even if I had no shield, was down on health, and had only, let's check, two magazines left. Shit, I thought that I had more. Doesn't matter, now onto the second stage.

I jumped to my feet and scanned the room I was in, searching for the stairs. Luckily they were just on the opposite side, and I run up, thankful that the wood didn't brake under my weight. Now to find a large window, I could turn the courtyard into a proper kill zone. For as long as I had ammo. I just hoped my previous shots kept the enemy in place long enough to set it up.

I braced my rifle against the frame and saw one of the aliens running toward the entrance. Either they were testing their luck or were suicidal. Both worked for me just fine. The first shot took down its shield. Shame that they had one, but at least it was weak. The second shot stopped it in its tracks, but it was still alive. The third shot fixed that. Still four more bullets in the magazine, with one full spare.

How many of them were there? Three? I was pretty sure it was just three of them. That is if they didn't get any reinforcements. But if they did I would be fucked anyway, so no point in making a plan for it.

I hid behind the wall as the short burst hit the wall of the building on the other side of the window. Good thing that they guessed wrong where I was hiding since the bullets went through the old wood like through wet paper. They wouldn't protect me, but I was fine with just the concealment.

I took a step back, cautious not to stick the barrel of my rifle outside of the window, and scanned the tree line with my scope. Now, where are you, little fuckers? Show yourself, I won't be mad, I promise. Oh, I think that's an elbow sticking out. Come on, don't hide. Just like that, perfect.

I pulled the trigger and something hit me in the ribs.

The only thing that saved me from taking another hit was my now unconscious instinct to never let go of the rifle, which I used to block the metal baton that was on a collision course with my head. In a perfect world, the enemy would give me enough time to shoot them after I parried its attack, but this one lunged at me instead, taking us both to the grounds.

From up close they weren't so short after all, seeing them in a crosshair is entirely different from wrestling with one. I knew I had to get out of this as fast as I can, he wasn't strong, but I was miserable.

I let go of my rifle, making him stumble backward in surprise. Without missing a beat I took out my pistol and fired aiming at his center of mass. First shot, shield. Second shot, wait, shield again? This time it went down for sure, I saw the shield projector on his armor powering down, but that gave him enough time to attack me again with his melee weapon.

I rolled to the side, dodging the downward swing, and kicked him in the shin, bringing him down to one knee. Bringing my pistol up I wasn't taking any chances, and triple-tapped him, making sure to hit the same spot. His body fell backward with a thud, hitting the wooden floor.

I pushed myself up and collected my rifle, but then heard the sound of someone running up the stairs before it abruptly stopped. When I looked in its direction I saw another alien, with its gun pointed at me.

This was the first time I got directly hit from a close range with a firearm, and that piece of shit was not sending just a single shot my way. My back hit the wall as the impact threw me to the ground again.

[Health 11]

I hip-fired in the direction of the enemy, forcing him to take cover, but I doubted that I managed to score a hit. Despite the pounding pain in my chest, I somehow had enough strength to get back up onto my feet and stagger into the adjacent room, breaking the visual contact. I looked out of the window and saw another two aliens rushing across the courtyard into the building. Reinforcements.

Think, think! You can't go back. You can't fight. You don't even know if they would understand if you surrendered. You must run. You are on the right side of the building. That side is the closest to the tree line. But you are on the second floor. Still better chances than getting shot.

I run through the room as fast as I could, heading straight to the window on the opposite wall. I strapped the rifle to my back and tightened the sling. I covered my head with my arms and jumped.

The glass shattered into pieces, which followed me on the way down. Instead this time, the ground was not as close as I would like it to be. The fall was short enough that I didn't have the time to be properly scared of the landing, but long enough to badly hurt once I hit the grass.

[Health 3]

The whole world was spinning, I barely managed to stay conscious. With sheer force of will I forced myself to stand up and limp away from the house and into the forest. My left leg felt a little slower and stiffer than the right one and I saw some notifications pulsing near the edge of my vision but I didn't pay any attention to it. As long as I could move I was good.

My plan ended when I crossed the tree line, so when I saw a bright path leading away from the mansion, I followed it without thinking. I heard shouts from behind me and was expecting to drop to the ground at any moment after getting shot in the back. Each step took me further and further from ending up dead and closer to the unknown.

I couldn't have walked for more than a minute when the path stopped at a dead end, in the middle of the indent in a rocky wall. I was about to give up and just lie down right there, but I spotted a metal hatch in the ground. Good thing that once I pulled at the latch it had some sort of hydraulic support system, or I wouldn't be able to open it by myself. Before me was a steep stairway leading down into a dark.

Once I reached the midpoint of the staircase the hatch closed behind me with a whiz, locking me inside, but I didn't care. It was just another thing between me and my pursuers. I leaned against the wall and slowly continued down, now in almost pitch-black darkness.

Once I reached the bottom I could see only the shapes of the objects inside, dimly lit by the single, red LED light shining somewhere on the ceiling. Maybe there were traps here, maybe there were other dangers, but I couldn't care less when I spotted what looked like a bed.

When I came close the pop-up screen appeared, hovering in front of me, saying something about the rest timer. Yes, rest, I want that, all of it, as much as you have. I clicked the option with the biggest number, and let myself fall forward. I fell asleep even before hitting the mattress.

------------|V|------------

I always hated waking up.

Sleeping was great. Being awake and full of energy was great. But right after waking up you weren't sleeping anymore, but at the same time weren't fully awake, not to mention the absolute lack of any motivation to get up and start doing things.

I slowly opened my eyes, just to still see nothing at all. Maybe it's still the middle of the night, but at least street lights should be on outside of the window, and right now it was pitch black. Eh, probably another blackout. Might grab something to drink since I am already awake. Drinking water at 3 AM is the best thing in the world. I once even tried filling a bottle with 3 AM water to store for later, but it didn't taste as good in the morning.

Standing up felt a bit weird, but I couldn't tell exactly why. It wasn't a hangover, that I was sure, but everything felt lighter than normal. I tried navigating the room from memory but decided against it after kicking some boxes. There were no boxes on the ground in my room. And I still had boots on.

Oh, I must have crashed at some friend's place after a party. That would explain everything. Except for the lack of hangover, but that could easily be fixed if only I could find a fridge. Let's see if 3 AM beer is also better than the normal one. That sounds like a stupid idea, let's stick to the water. Now just follow the wall until you find the light switch.

Damn, this wall is cold, was I sleeping in a fucking basement? That would be the first. Hause party at Mike's last year doesn't count. Oh, got the switch.

The room I was in looked like a bunker, with gray, windowless walls, and was packed full of things that screamed "army surplus". I looked around, confused, trying to remember which one of my friends was a military nut, but then I looked down, seeing a different body than I was used to, and all the memories came rushing back. I wasn't surprised, angry, or sad, so I stood there for a moment, trying to decide how to react. Finally, I decided to give up on trying to feel about it in any particular way.

I walked back to the bed and fell face-first onto the mattress. My chest got squished uncomfortably under my weight. I flipped onto my back and just laid there for a few minutes, not thinking about anything.

My hand somehow ended on my breast, feeling it through the suit.

- Whoa - I pulled the hand back and jumped out of the bed - calm down dude, we are not going there.

Focusing on the room once again I took stock of everything that could be useful. First was a comparatively high-tech-looking console in the back, with a bit of luck I could get some info about the area or something like that. Or I could fuck up and call more enemies on my position, so I decided to leave it alone for now. A collection of boxes was stacked against the wall, and a few were scattered on the floor. I was hoping to find some ammo or med kits in them.

Speaking of health, I checked my HUD and was pleasantly surprised when it was back to full. Turns out James wasn't as all-knowing as he thought he was.

There was also a corridor leading further in. My first reaction was to take out my pistol before going in, but I figured that if someone, or something, really was there, they would have killed me in my sleep. It calmed me down in a morbid way.

The corridor wasn't long, maybe ten feet from end to end, and it lead to the second room of similar size as the first. This one was divided into two parts, one with industrial shelves filled with rows of pots, and the other one was taken mostly by a huge tank filled with water.

The right part wasn't of any use to me, the pots had soil in them, but no plants were growing anywhere, and the lamps above were turned off. Good to have if I wanted to spend a whole year here, but that wasn't the plan.

The left part was more interesting. Except for the tank of water, there was machinery with a lot of pipes and cylinders, my spotter talent informed me that it was a filtration system, and two separate cabins near the wall, each one closed off with a set of doors. One of which was a toilet, and the other was a shower. The second one especially looked out of place. In a survival bunker, I expected it to be as minimalistic as possible, but instead, it was fairly spacious and both the walls and the floor were finished with white tiles. Weird, but who am I to judge? I don't have my own underground hideout near the private mansion in the forest.

I walked back to the main room and started going through the boxes. A task that should have been easy, but proved a challenge thanks to my pathetic strength. It not only went infuriatingly slowly but to make matters worse, none of the boxes were labeled, and most of them contained absolutely useless items. Like, what am I gonna do with forty pounds of rice? Then there were semi-useless items, like water filters, clothes too big for me, spare electronics for all various installations, sets of tools, and things like that.