Mike looked around. The darkness was long gone, for good. To his surprise, he saw a forest around him. A snow covered forest for miles and miles ahead of him. 'Mike- The Executor' is now terrified by the view.
"Am i dreaming?"- mike said loudly. He pinched himself. No, he is not dreaming. "Why is everything covered in snow? where am i??"- he thought. Soon he knew that if he wants to be alive, he has to do something. Mike gathered courage and ran as fast as he could. "What the hell is going on?"- his panic stricken voice and footsteps reiterated in the dark, empty forest.
Suddenly he heard a muffled sound, more like a voice. The voice is following him. Mike tried to run faster but his leg slipped on the slippery snow and he landed on his back. He felt a pinch on his neck. He tried to get up, but in vain. His body is getting numb. He can't move his arm or legs now. "Help me"- he tried to scream, but his throat felt choked. His eyes are closing, its getting darker. He saw a man approaching from the corner of his eyes. He heard nothing but a voice before passing out-
"KID, YOU RAN 103 MILES PER HOUR!!??"
Its morning now. Mike woke up by a loud thud. Its warm and pleasant. He looked around. "Its some sort of camp"- Mike thought. Around 50-60 people doing various tasks. Some are chopping woods, some making tinder, and some even have their pets.
"He is up doc"- someone screamed from behind. A man dressed in trenchcoat and hat appeared from behind a shed. Mike tried to get up, but tripped. The trenchcoat guy grabbed him by his hand and jolted mike back on his feet.
"How's the pain?"- The guy asked. "What pain?"- Mike responded. "Ah com'on, let me see"- he took some piece of technology, which looked like a barcode reader and stuck it on mike's neck where he felt the pinch last night.
"Aaahhhhhhh"- Mike screamed in pain. "What the fuck are you doing man?"- He said furiously. The guy seemed calm and responded- "Saving you, moron" and pulled a small enclosure from his neck. "Its a radar blip transmitter, you know, just in case you wanted to slide away"
"Where am i?"- mike asked. "The second base of Trident"- the guy replied. Mike finally took a closer look on everything. A vast mountain range with a jungle under the rock formation, clouds are far beneath them and a glimpse of ocean thousands of miles away.Two biggest peaks are on each side of the camp, no wonder why its called "The Trident".
"Hey Gameboy, care to help me?"- a female voice came from behind. Mike turns and saw a beautiful woman, not more than 20 years old. She has some kinda angelic beauty that words can't define. She was chopping wood blocks. Mike smiled at her.
"No chance freshmeat, all of us tried. Even some girls tried their luck on her too, but na-da...she is something else....you're newbie, just eat-sleep-work or you will be thrown from the cliff; and just for your knowledge, its 32000 ft. high"- a guy with an axe in his hand whispered in mike's ear.
"Don't worry, he is just messing with you"- the trenchcoat man returns. "Hello kid, I am Dr. Jim Stangras and this is my team, we rescued you last night from the E.Hole and brought you here. Now I wanna introduce you to my team.
First up- Joy the operator. He runs missions, mod the environment and co-ordinate camps data.
Second one- Matt the supplier. He can arrange everything. From needles to tanks, anything.
Third man on the job, sorry woman- Becky the medic. She did miracles on O.T table. Rumour has it, that she can even revive the dead.
Last one, the beauty with brain- Trish the chief. She is "The" crush of every guy within 300 miles radius and head-of-operations of this base. Nothing on this base happens without her permission.
and that concludes our introduction session"- Dr. Stangras smiled.
"So, i'm inside the game? i guess"- Mike asked jim. "Its not some Jumanji type shit kid"- Jim chuckled. "Are you in the game? yes, you are. But you are not inside the computer or any kinda programming. Its projected over the real world like..." -Jim was about to finish but Trish intervened - "Like a super imposed picture. You said it like, what? a thousand times now, but we are still, STUCK"- Trish stomped angrily and left.
"What's wrong with her?"- mike asked jim. "Get stuck in a computer simulation for more than 50 years, you'll know"- jim replied with a painful smile on his face.
"You should join Matt" jim said. " You are a natural runner, that'll come in handy for that job."
"I'm starving man, do you guys have something to eat?" Mike asked. "Hell yeah we do, not every one of us is a npc" Matt replied from a distance. "Come this way kid, i'll get you some beans and salads" Matt pointed towards a tent nearby.
" Wait wait wait, hold on a sec. What do you mean by npc?" Mike looked surprised. "Well, npc- Non Player Character or Non Playable Character. Characters that are there physically but computer generated" Matt answered. "I know what NPC means, mr. google, but how exactly am i gonna identify one? You could be one of em' " Mike said.
" Well NPC's don't bleed" Matt took a knife and slit it around his palm. " Oh god, you're bleeding" becky jumped into the scene. "Ohh mom is here, now i'm gonna be fine in no time" Matt sarcastically said. "Mom?" Mike asked. "She looks after us like our mother, that's why. But my mother never looked like thirty in her fifties".
"Oh, where is your mannerism Matthew, you should never talk about age when it comes to women" becky replied.
Mike took a can of beans and some salads and sat on a bench near the cliff. The view was mesmerizing. Blue sky, white snow everywhere, different shades of greenery down the cliff. He lost track of time.
Suddenly, something moved on the horizon. Mike noticed. Then it moved again. Before he could call anyone, a loud roar turned the heavenly atmosphere into nightmare. Sky turned blood red in a matter of seconds. Forest became pale. Mike turned around and ran towards the tent.
"Its a code-3, everybody inside tents, Now" Trish screamed orders. "Everybody, follow chief's orders" It's Jim on a makeshift P.A system. "Joy and team, cloak us" he announced.
Mike found a tent and went inside it. It was the med bay of this base. He was shaking because of fear. The roar is coming closer and getting louder every second.
"Hey Gameboy, stop shaking. It's a code-3". "Aaaahh" Mike screamed and jumped.
"Geeeez, you scared the shit outta me Trish" Mike saw Trish behind, sharpening a long blade. "Watch your mouth big guy, Its chief".
"There is something roaring outside and we're still arguing about what i should call you" Mike replied.
"Relax, its just a code-3.They go all the way upto code-11". "What are these things?" Mike asked. "See for yourself" Trish replied.
Mike opened the tent just to see an unbelievable sight. He saw just a leg, a leg bigger than the whole base. It carved its footsteps on the nearby mountain and caused a mini earthquake. Then it turned right. Now its visible. A huge monstrous creature, even bigger than the mountain. It has a body of humanoid but with a spiked tail. It stopped, and roared. The sound was so loud that it caused the medical equipments to fall down. Mike zipped up the tent.
"And that's a code-3, are you kidding me" Mike asked in a fearful voice. "Then how big is a code-11?" he added.
Trish stopped. She puts her knife away and said
"That's the problem, gameboy. We don't know yet"
..
..
The dust cloud settled. A loud siren indicated that the camp was out of danger. Mike came out from the tent and rejoined the group.
"Aren't we gonna talk about that crazy-ass monster which was about to kill us?" Mike screamed hysterically.
"Stop whining, that's just a code-3." Becky replied
"Yeah, be a man; like Matt" Matt said.
"Oh, you are a big boy now huh matt?? what about that time when a code-1 made you shit your pants?" Trish joined the conversation.
"Enough chit-chat guys, now back to work everybody" ordered Trish.
"You are the boss" sighs Matt.
Mike took one canned tuna and sat on a bench. Dr. Stangras showed up and joined him.
"Wassup kiddo? still having your lunch?" Jim asked.
"Yeah, last meal session was terminated by a Brobdingnagian monstrosity" Mike replied sarcastically.
" You mean a Deathhowler?" asked jim.
"Strange monster with human body and a tail, and he forgot his id at home. So, i don't know what it's name is" Mike said to Stangras. "and yeah, everybody told me it was a code-3" Mike added.
"Hmm, twice in a week. Strange" Jim exclaimed.
"What was that?" Mike asked.
"Well, Hybrid of a godzilla and a human. Actually, a antagonist from a japanese video game "Huzilla". The makers of the whitetomb saga reached out to them for a collab and all hell broke loose. Code glitched and their numbers got multiplied by 6.27. And now they are a lil short of 3279.76". Jim explained.
The base wasn't in pretty shape. Well, a base which was stomped by a monster as tall as Burj Khalifa a few seconds back won't look like a picnic spot.
"WTF is happening man"- Mike thought in his mind. "I'm inside a game, which isn't a game but a super imposed picture onto the real world; huh, should've played grand robbed auto"- mike chuckled.
"What made you all giggly gameboy"
Mike turned and saw Joy-The operator. He looked like a guy in his mid twenties, dark hair, brown skin. "Maybe Indian"- Mike thought.
"Ofcourse I'm Indian, where else are you gonna find this kinda awesomeness?"- Joy laughed.
"Hold on, how did you read my mind?"- Mike was surprised.
Joy tapped on his wrist watch and it transformed into a tablet. He replied - "I didn't, you told me".
"No I didn't, quit messing with me dude; I've had enough for today"-Mike responded.
"Look above yo head, freshmeat"- Matt joined the conversation. Mike looked up.
"What the f**king shit"
No, Mike actually said *fucking shit. But the speech bubble over his head censored it. Yeah, Mike saw a speech bubble over his head which was displaying his emotions, stats, abilities and his thoughts.
"Not surprised, I've played The sims"- Mike said.
Joy pressed something on his tablet and said- "Try jumping "
"Why, and why the hell should I listen to yo....aahhh?"- Mike jumped up involuntarily before he could finish, and he jumped HIGH, really HIGH.
"Can your Sims do that?"- Mike heard Joy as he was rocketing through the clouds.
Mike came down with a thud and he looked curious.
"How am I jumping so high? Or running at 100+ miles an hour?"
"Dude, you're a runner; running, jumping and scaling is your forte"- Joy replied
"English, joy; English"- Mike said
"Well as Dr. Stangras previously said, some error in the code made all the stats multiply by crazy numbers; it made the threat bigger, faster and stronger. But it also did the same for us"- Joy said while walking towards the canteen.
Mike realised how he was so fast. A school sprinting champion better be fast; and this stupid game made him faster. He felt a tingle on right palm. His closed fist is glowing.
Mike looked at his hand. It's a notification displayed over his palm. It said-
INTRODUCTION COMPLETE
+73 XP
NEXT CHAPTER PLAY AGAIN
He sat on a nearby bench looking at the vast terrain up ahead. His palm is still glowing. "What is going on? why am I here? I'm just a school kid, i should quit"- Mike thought.
He looked at his palm for a good thirty seconds. Praying it to turn out as a bad dream. But no, it was as real as those diddy parties. He closed his eyes, took a deep breath and said-
NEXT CHAPTER