Outside was chaos. There were more of the cloaked men roaming around, attacking everyone they came in contact with.
"To the guild," Carla said, tugging Megan along.
"I'm injured," Megan moaned. Her breath made a weird hitching sound.
Carla glanced around. Noah and Alma were still nearby, staring at Megan with scared eyes. The other guests had long since fled.
"Megan," Carla hissed, throwing Noah and Alma a forced smile. From the looks of it, it looked worse than it felt, she thought as the two took a step backwards. "Get up."
"Carla," Megan moaned, though she did slowly straighten. Her eyes narrowed as she watched the chaos around them. "They're everywhere."
"Just go," Alma said, not flinching when Noah jabbed her with his elbow. "The fight isn't here, after all."
Carla pursed her lips. She'd heard that tone before. With a jerky nod at Noah, she dragged Megan away.
"Did she?" Megan asked, trying to look back.
"Don't give her the satisfaction," Carla muttered.
She made a mental note to blacklist the little café if it survived this fiasco, whatever it was. She was here to enjoy a game, not experience pseudo-reality, after all.
"That was a new and novel experience," Megan huffed, her steps staggering.
Carla threw her a worried look. Megan was pale and shivering, what little color she usually had fleeing at the onslaught of the wound.
Carla frowned and shoved her into another alley as a knot of fighting swept past them. She thought she saw one of her guildies in the fight, Charmaine grinning as she dished out damage with her double-bladed daggers. Carla couldn't figure out just how Charmaine didn't cut her fingers off.
"Carla," Megan groaned.
Carla bit her lip and then pried Megan's hand from her wound. She frowned at the flaking black dust before ripping the shirt Megan was wearing open.
The wound was there, but it was different. The initial slash had spread open, slowly growing like mold on a tomato. Carla shivered at the mental comparison. There was nothing she hated as much as mold; it just sprouted out of nowhere and spread furiously.
It didn't help that it was so cold that she had to let her faucets drip to prevent the ancient pipes from bursting. Her family didn't have the money to replace them; metal was precious commodity after all. What she earned from the game was just enough to cover the rent and utilities.
With another four mouths at home, her parents worked to put food on the table and keep their house in livable condition. As it was, Carla was slowly saving a little at a time for another capsule for her little brother. Her other siblings would toss the occasional odd credit her way, but it was still a long slow slog, even with the guild bonuses.
Carla looked up at Megan who was leaning against the wall, her eyes closed as she struggled to breathe. Then she looked again at the wound which was now stretching from her side to almost all the way across Megan's stomach. The edges were dark and stretching upwards towards her throat.
Carla felt her gorge rise. She could see the faint glimmer of bone through the blackened flesh. Then she took an involuntary step backwards as she realized where the black dust was coming from.
"Carla? I don't feel so good," Megan breathed, and then she vanished.
Carla stared at the spot Megan had been and swallowed hard. Then she turned towards the mouth of the alley and the chaos still swirling outside.
***
"Code Blue! I've got a Code Blue!" The nurse shouted as she sprinted past Brittany.
Brittany and Keisha watched as a stream of medical personnel flooded past them. Keisha awkwardly juggled the vase of flowers in her arms as she made way.
"What do you think that's about?" Brittany asked, frowning a little.
"We could go take a peek," Keisha suggested. "It wouldn't hurt none."
"Only you would want to look at someone's medical emergency," Brittany mock scolded as they sauntered after a crash cart.
They stood in the hallway, peering through a crack in the door as a girl was levered out of a game capsule, tubes being unceremoniously disconnected from her by nurses as they maneuvered her to a nearby bed.
The girl's skin was a pasty color, and her limbs were wasted looking. Her head had fuzz instead of flowing locks. The only spot of color on her were her pale pink lips.
"What happened?" A doctor demanded as he strode in.
"We don't know. The screen went black for a bit and when it came back, she'd logged out," one of the nurses said, working frantically.
"Do you think it had something to do with the game?" Keisha whispered to Brittany.
"I hope not," Brittany whispered back. "I bought Austin one in hopes it would help him."
"Then it's obviously some sort of medical thing," Keisha immediately replied. She tugged on Brittany's arm, jouncing to keep the flowers in her arms from falling. "Let's go before visiting hours are over."
"Sure," Brittany agreed. She glanced back as they started walking towards the ICU. "It really wasn't the game, right?"
"Right."
Behind them, the room became a bit busier for a second before the patient drew a hard, painful breath and blinked open dazed green eyes.
"Hey, there! How are you feeling?" The doctor asked, mustering up a smile.
"Like I got hit by a truck?" The girl managed a weak smile. She glanced around. "I must've been auto-logged out, huh?"
"Looks like," one of the nurses said, cleaning up the crash cart.
"Well, no gaming for you until tomorrow," the doctor said with a relieved sigh. "Looks like you had a heart spasm of some sort. Really sort of common with cases like yours."
The girl rolled her eyes and shook her head just a little.
"I had heart cancer. It's gone now," she said firmly.
"As far as all our tests say," the doctor agreed. "Now, you just need to get stronger so you can go home."
"And I am getting stronger. I promise." The girl let the nurses plump her pillows as she stared at her capsule. "The game helps pass the time, though."
"And while it's good for you, helping you socialize, you also need some reality time as well," the doctor said.
"Reality time, Dr. Weil?"
This time all the nurses paused to glance at Dr. Weil who shrugged.
"You can't stay there forever, can you, Megan? It's just a game after all."
Megan closed her eyes, gesturing weakly.
With a smattering of laughs, the medical personnel filed out of her hospital room. Once they were gone, Megan opened her eyes again and stared at her capsule, frowning.
Her hand stole to her stomach, finding nothing but unblemished skin.