Chereads / Zombies In Deep Dive. / Chapter 12 - More basebuilding and looting the surrounding area.

Chapter 12 - More basebuilding and looting the surrounding area.

WE'RE GOIN RAIDIN BOYS! SO TRY NOT TO START A FOREST FIRE, PLEASE?

DAY 14.

DAYS IN GAME: 13

QUARTERS: 500

LEVEL:12.

SUNDAY

ATTRIBUTES: STRENGTH: 15. DEFENSE: 15. STAMINA: 20. AGILITY: 15. DEXTERITY: 15. INTELLIGENCE: 15

Tyler woke the next morning to find Bird firmly smuggled into his chest with his arms holding her small back possessively. He smiled as he felt the long scar running along her side that led to her belly...and kissed her awake.

"OH. MY GOD. YOU are a ROMANTIC BASTARD!"

Her green eyes opened with a snap and he chuckled as he ran a soft hand along her scar, making her shiver.

"Mornin Birdy. Tasty this mornin!"

"Cocky prick....hoild still!"

He did as the now arroused and smirking girl went down below for her morning drink. When it went limp she popped back up with a smirk.

"Better?"

"Arer YOU?"

"Oh nope! Down ya go!"

"HAppy to pleasure you madam."

She laughed at that one as she was eaten to her own orgasm before the pair went to the makeshift shower for a rinse off....and Tyler smirked as he had an evil idea for the ice cold water in a cup...and Bird saw it.

"Oh come on don't be THAT kinda dick!"

"Ha. Sure"

CLeaned up the friends relit the fire as a smirking Yuna came out with the girls.....and the blonde was quick to fix Tyler with an alluring liplick.

"YOU. MY pussy. TONIGHT."

"JEsus, Yuna. Ha. Sure."

Bird smirked.

"I'll just enjoy a girl-snuggle."

"Win-win."

The ladies laughed at their arrogantly cocky friend as the amazed guys joined them. Jaria and Yuna were decked out in their makeshift body armor and Tyler loaded his 45-70 after breakfast was eaten.

"Alright. Raid crew in the jeep. Order a the day is supplies. Benni, you guys keep working on the cabin."

"Gotchya Gore. When'll you be back?"

TYler looked at his map.

"We'll leave town for high noon. If we're not back by sundown, we're stuck in the town. If we're not back in three days, or Yuki appears with messy makeup, you know what happened."

A now VERY pissed off Yuki appeared on the screen.

"I DON'T use MAKEUP you smug bastard! I am ALL NATURAL!"

"Oh good to know."

"Someone kick him in the balls before it all goes to his head?"

Yuna chuckled at that plea.

"But Yuki! When it IS all in his head WE drain it!"

"Jesus FUCKING Christ. Ugh. I am so glad I-"

"Got the real deal?"

Tyler's sweetly voiced callout had the delta sniper wearing a dark glare now....and Hannah was heard chuckling in the background.

"I wondered when you'd turn into the raunchy playboy. HA."

Tyler smirked.

"Did you record it then, doc?"

She smiled sweetly....and he got a ping on his interface that made the teenager smile.

"I'll be SUREa to inspect this MOST intensely with the ladies, Hannah!"

"Ha. Oh you're gonna be famous for being a sex addict. I swear to god."

TYler chuckled at that before switching gears.

"How's the streams?"

Yuki sighed as she let her rage go.

"They are THRIVING. And yours has started gaining revenue from the sheer number of religious viewers on a daily basis. Eric'll be along to discuss some promos for Disney but that's about it really."

The Survivor nodded.

"Alright then. I'll get back to my job."

The screen went out and Yuna lifted her loaned M16A1.

"Locked and loaded, boss."

He nodded and the trio went to the jeep. JAria climbed into the open trunk as Yuna claimed the passengar seat while Tyler turned the key. Benni waved as the raid crew rolled out and Tyler smiled as he hung the map beside him.

"Alrighty. I got the bare minimum of supplies on me so heads on a swivel. See anything weird, cool, or freaky we'll poke it."

Yuna nodded as she looked out the small port in the steel paneling as they left the woods for the highway.

"Anything SPECIFIC we're looking for, Gore?"

"A flat top trailer. Something we can use for hauling bigger stuff."

JAria nodded as he scanned the rear. Tyler smiled as he rolled along at 25 miles an hour later they were rewarded with the sight of buildings rising up in the distance.

"Alright. We'll find a house with a garage to hide the jeep in and go from there."

They nodded and Yuna went to pull her gun's charging handle back,

"Not yet, Yuna."

She smiled at the expert as he slowed to 5 miles an hour,

"Hey Gore. Left hand side. That's a duplex."

The Survivor looked and sure enough a large garage was seen between two twin story homes.

"Good eyes, Jaria. We'll hit them first."

Tyler backed the jeep into the garage and the friends hopped out. Jaria shut the door while Yuna kept watch as Tyler looked around. Then smiled.

"THere's a gas can over there. Looks like this guy liked to tinker with cars."

A large mechanic's workbench sat at the back of the garage with a smal chainsaw, 10 gallon gas can, 10 pound clamp, a collection of steel tools, a bright red tool box 5 feet tall, and a weedwacker. The trio took all of it and loaded the jeep with the stuff. Tyler then led the way to the door on the right as the other two pulled heavy bats tipped by steel balls. Tyler had his own out...and yanked the door open. The door opened up into a carpeted living room that gave off a VILE stench from something bleeding onto it. Tyler led the way inside and they were rewarded by the sight of a disgusting blob of rotted flesh pulsating on the floor. The thing lay in what was once the living room and was 5 feet across. In color it was a bright pink with a disgustingly slimy exterior...most disturbing off were the set of fleshy tentacles extending from it's gelationous bulk. Tyler shuivered as he saw the wriggling mass pulsating on the floor like a heart.

"I've seen enough hentai to know where this is going."

Yuna shuddered as the tentacles seemed to quiver in a new energy, as if detecting the presence of a female.

"Can you just KILL IT before I get raped by hentai tentacles?"

Tyler lit a molotov cocktail and smashed it on the body of the creature. A bubbling bellow of agony was heard in a FEMALE voice as the orange flames took. In seconds the creature burned to death and the flames went out to reveal a long item beside it that made Tyler blink.

"Wait. Did it just give us what I THINK it did?"

The trio walked over and were stunned to find a frigin TORPEDO sitting on the rug! TYler smiled a wide smile as he took a look at some inscriptions along the side of the nearly 6 foot long weapon.

"550 milimeter armor piercing. THIS is a torpedo of the IGN Harekazi. A Japanese destroyer fropm world war 2. That warhead is live and I wanna do something with it."

Yuki appeared with a new smirk on her face as Tyler lifted the nearly 100 pound piece of ammo.

"So creatures drop large ammo types as well. Be very careful with it Tyler. If it explodes it'll take the entire flor with you."

"Sounds like a blast."

Everyone groaned at the bad joke as the Survivor carried the powerful torpedo to the jeep...as Yuna sighed.

"Okay. So your JOKES are what suck the most. I can accept this."

TYler chuckled at that one as Jarvia shivered.

"And let's just FORGET we saw a hentai monster in there. I do NOT want the scars."

THe heads nodded before they headed back to the loot. This time the house was empty of life as the friends looted everything from the kitchen, cupboards, bathrooms and bedrooms. The trio looted a god number of household goods, chemicals and even some cast iron cookware that made the Survivor smirk.

"Okay. Next run we're looting car batteries and headlights."

Yuna smirked knowingly now.

"And I can ASSUME you'l take BIRDY?"

"Well YAH. Only right she get her fair share of fun too."

"Oh my GOD you are getting cocky...and I am finding I LIKE it."

TYler chuckled at that one as they headed to the second door of the duplex. Tyler was on point again with a smirk as he tore the door open...and the friends were rewarded with the sight of a group of naked men laying on the floor with a SINGLE, naked little girl in the center of the pile...firmly afixed to the groin of one of the men. The trio blinked at this perverse discovery and Tyler sighed.

"That girl could not be older then 12 and HE is CLEARLY well into his FIFTIES. Jesus FUCKING Christ."

Yuna and Jarvia shuddered and Tyler sighed again.

"And we HAVE to check it out since they're MIGHT be something really awesome inside. Come on."

YUna nodded with another shiver.

"I am going to need some SERIOUS booze tonight I SWEAR to GOD."

Jariva wasn't in much better shape as the trio walked into the house of dead perverts.

"And here I thought that ghost girl was fucked up. Jesus."

Tyler nodded as he stomped on the heads of every man as he went.

"People are evil at times. Watch yourselves. There has GOT to be something big, mean and ugly in here."

The friends crushed every man's head until Tyler removed the girl from the flaccid groin of the dead man under her...and a soft sigh of relief as heard in a little girl's voice.

"Thank you."

The friends nodded and moved to loot the house as quickly as possible. And it did NOT take long and they were awarded another mass of food before they locked the doors and garage door to explore the town proper. Tyler had his 45-70 up with a sigh while they walked along the silent street. Yuna and Jarvia were also rather subdued by the horror they'd witnessed....and the Survivor smirked.

"Okay we need something fun."

Yuna perked up at that one as the friends approached a large brickwork building that was CLEARLY the town firehouse.

"That looks like it'll be fun, Gore. Should be some good stuff we can lot in there."

Tyler smiled as they approached the closed garage door of the firehouse.

"Oh yeah. At a BASE-FREEZE."

The duo behind him froze and the Survivor's usually brightly teasing eyes were now ICE COLD as he looked at the door.

"YOU two get back. Cross the street and be ready to bolt. I am on edge and my gut is telling me to get AWAY from the door. The LAST time I felt on edge, I was jumped by one a those hulk muthafuckas comin out an ambulance."

The Survivor flipped the rifle's lever before reaching into his backpack to retrieve a set of tin cans stuffed with gunpowder which were then placed in a semi circle around the 16 foot tall door.

"Alright. I'll knock, YOU stay back and snipe."

"Roger boss."

"Got you, Gore."

The two others backed across the street and took aim with their own guns as the more experienced AND powered player approached the door now at a cautious pace...and slapped a tin can with duct tape to the thing. His makeshift doorkicker in place, Tyler backed up out of the blastzone....and aimed the silenced M1911. His eyes were ice cold and a wry smile spread across his lips.....

"Circumstances arose,"

HE fired the gun and the can blew a nearly 4 foot hole in the garage door....before a VERY gutteral bellow of utter RAGE announced the arrival of a new boss. The steel door was pierced by a trio of horns just before ANOTHER armored triceratops coated in more steel plating came barreling out. TYler smirked as he lifted the 45-70.

"Circumstances ensued."

He fired at the tric with the bullet taking it clean in an exposed knee on the right hand side as it went to take a step, tripping it. It shook the ground as it landed with a screech of metal on cement before Tyler noted it was laying beside a set of cans and he fired at them. The first can blew a hole in it's underbelly, the second can opened a hole in the leg and the last was RIGHT between the horns on the forehead. THIS blast both severed a horn entirely and stunned it completely. Tyler smiled as he walked over to the nearly helpless beast, placed the gun barrel against it's exposed forehead, and his smirk darkened.

"Circumstances were overcome."

He pulled the trigger and the tric went limp from a spattered brain. The Survivor chuckled as he slotted fresh bullets into the rifle and looked to where the stunned watchers were waiting.

"Clear!"

Yuna had friggin STARS in her blue eyes as she came trotting over all bounce and gold.

"OH. MY GOD you are a BADASS!"

Jarvia merely fistbumped him.

"I suck, you rock. I know. And DAMN dude."

Tyler smiled and looked at the dead creature.

"Thanks I work at it. Alright. We'll butcher it and see what it dropped for loot THIS time. This is my second tric and third mid-tier elite I've come across."

They nodded and JArvia went to retreive the jeep as Yuna searched the firehouse. Tyler skinned the armored undead triceratops....and noticed something sitting behind it. And he tilted his head at the utterly BIZARRE drop he had recieved.

"Well. THAT makes ZERO sense....and yet I am HERE for it."

Sitting on a four wheel trailer was a Flak 88 artillery gun from world war two! The iconic weapon even came with a full 360 degree rotation access, 85 degree vertical axis, easy use sight, modern hitch for towing and even had braces for rapid deployment. Tyler smiled as he looked at the artilery piece.

"We have artillery now. AND an antiair battery in this."

A VERY impressed Yuki appeared onthe floating screen now.

"THAT is an IMPRESSIVE find, Tyler. I've sent for an expert in world war 2 equipment now. Since they are NOT as easy to fire and reload as the games made them out to be. Any shells?"

"I am looking....gottem."

Five of the nearly 30 pound shells were found sitting in curved rings by the dead dinosaur zombie and Yuki frowned now at the glyphs inscribed on them.

"It's in german. I'm not fluent in their-"

"It read airburst 1,200 meters antiair shell."

Tyler looked up from the lettering and Yuki lifted an eyebrow.

"YOU know German?"

"I got bored for a week during a world war 2 project few years back."

"Ooooof course you did. So you have 5 antiair shells."

TYler nodded as he spotted Jarvia returning with the jeep.

"Yup. This we'll set up SOMEHOW in the clearing, but not sure WHERE yet. Hey JArvia! We got somethin cool!"

THe darker skinned guy whistled as he saw the artillery piece.

"Damn, Gore. How many shells?"

"Five sadly. But we'll keep an eye out."

"Ih damn RIGHT we will! Aight I'mma turn it round."

"Gotchya."

THe two worked together to guide the jeep's ball hitch under the 88's clamp and Tyler nodded as he hooked it up.

"Alright. We'll fill our carry capacity and head back to base."

Yuna came up all smiles and baring gifts.

"I got four full firefighter equipment sets, nearly seven full oxygen tanks, several masks, five of their axes, and there's a full fire engine inside the garage in good condition, Gore."

TYler smiled at this news.

"I'll take a look then. See if we can take it back as mobile loot. YOU two load the jeep."

"On it boss."

THe Survivor headed into the firehouse now and spoted the engine in question. The bright red vehicle sat silent as Tyler inspected it.

"OKay. It's a WATERtank on wheels. MEant to connect to a hydrant and work as a pressurizer. GAs tanks are full, the WATERTANK is full, all the tires are set, and the keys are hanging on the wire. Alright. There's enough material on it's bones we can repurpose to set ourselves ahead a the game."

He returned to find the duo had finished loading loot into the jeep.

"We'll take the engine. It's a mobile watertank so that's a plus. Freshwater too."

Yuna smirked.

"An upgraded SHOWER, RIGHT?"

"We'll get there, Yuna. We'll fill it's bays with loot too. See anything pretty?"

And like on alert birds the friends' head started swiveling seeking anything of interest,

"Hey Gore, there's a gas station over there."

JArvia pointed and Tyler smiled as he saw it.

"That works, Jarvia. We'll fill the tanks and see if they got any barrels."

YUna smiled as she looked at the Survivor while they walked to the gas station.

"So what's the plan when we get back, Gore?"

"MOre working to get the base set up, Yuna. We got the mats for some of the major projects like new floorbeams and spears. Time being we'll be doing raids to gather materials and once we have a liveable hideout situated....we'll go from there."

The friends reached the gas station without any issue and Tyler noted a lack of broken glass or even blood on the door. Seeing this, he lifted his 45-70 with a smirk.

"Station's pristine. So there SHOULD be some really good shit inside since it shows no one's been here yet."

The pair behind him nodded and Yuna smiled as she hefted her M16A1 which was set to semiautomatic and Jarvia lifted his 30-30. The Survivor pushed the front door in to show an empty storefront with loaded shelves of food and drinks. Tyler smiled.

"Stripmine the place. I got the backroom."

They nodded and split. Yuna went for everything drinkable and Jarvia walked along the shelves with his bag open and his arm sweeping everything into it. Tyler walked to the secured backroom before pulling a small blowtorch he'd taken from the firestation to melt the lock clean off the door and it burst open as a male zombie tackled the Survivor off his feet. Since the door opened OUTWARD, such an ambush was easily setup. Tyler gritted his teeth and stuffed the gun sideways in the zombie's face as he hit the floor with a heavy thud and his head bounced twice, stunning him. But he STILL had the wherewithal to hold the zombie off his torso as the thing fought to bite and claw him. Tyler growled like an angry dog before he gripped the creature with his legs and jerked UPWARD with his lower body strength. Due to his videogame enhanced strength he was able to LAUNCH the full grown zombie over him. Tyler was back on his feet the next instant with the muzzle of the rifle stuffed into the stunned zombie's jaw.

"HAnds off the goods."

The trigger was pulled and the zombie died. Yuna threw a wolf whistle and Jariva slumped at this newest badassery.

"Guy gets JUMPED and is STILL a friggin badass tank. Okay. I SUCK and need to suck LESS."

Tyler smiled as he dusted his gear off...and noted he wa bleeding.

"AGAIN? Ugh."

When he'd hit the floor he had landed on a mess of raw glass from some broken bottle, and the shards were now buried into his back. He sighed and looked at a blinking Yuna.

"I got a medkit in my pack. I'mma need you to help me out here since I can't really reach."

Hannah appeared with a smirk as the gulpi9ng blonde player took the kit.

"Nice counter, Tyler. And Yuna? YOU got this girl. So relax."

Hannah walked a fighting to remain relaxed Yuna through the process of removing the shards of glass, cleaning the wound, and bandaging it all the while Tyler didn't make a single sound. JArvia kept watch as the opperation progressed and Yuna smiled in utter relief as the Survivor stood tall flexing his back muscles.

"I'mma look like a freakin patchwork quilt by the time this friggin game ends. Thanks Yuna, HAnnah."

TYler donned his battered T-shirt and smirked.

"I'll bust out some proper armor at the forge later. Kinds HAVE TO now."

Yuna smiled warmly as she packed the kit up.

"HAppy to help, Tyler."

Hannah chuckled.

"It's become a habit."

"Yeah, yeah."

The trio returned to their prior tasks with Tyler now holding the rifle up as he approached the office. Inside was a man sitting slumped over in a chair with large chunks of his body having been ripped off in a clear feeding frenzy. Tyler slammed the butt of his rifle into the man's head....and got no reaction. The room was laid out with your usual security cameras watching the store, safe, and some paperwork for the store. Tyler set his ear to the safe and smiled as he had it open in only a few clicks.

"I still got it!"

The thing opened and he was rewarded with a folder containing a set of plueprints....that made Tyler smile WIDELY.

"THESE are schematics for rewiring a house from SCRATCH using HIGH GRADE MATERIALS! WSe can completely rewire the entire cabin with these and it'll be FAR easier to do now. Sick!"

Also sitting in the steel safe was a small box of parts that made Tyler tild his head.

"Gunparts? Cool. We'll look tghem over later."

"Hey Tyler. Store's empty."

Yuna poked her head in and the Survivor nodded.

"Alright, nice work. Safe's empty too. Some schematics on how to rewire a cabin."

"Oooh nice! Jeep's full."

"I got the firetruck."

YUna smiled as she got the jeep keys.

"I got the jeep."

The trio headed to their vehicles and the Survivor smiled as he climbed into the cab of the red engine.

"Okay now THIS is cool. I get the chance I WILL drive my own steam engine."

He turned the key and the beastly engine rumbled to life WITHOUT a siren wail OR the lights flashing. Tyler manuvered the immense vehicle out of the garage to take up a spot behind the jeep pulling the 88mm antiair artillery gun trailer. Tyler noted a pulldown map inside the cab and evena HAM radio that he was going to repurpose into something as the miniture convoy rolled back along the highway. Tyler smiled as they pulled into the forest at the end...and the fire engine fit surprisingly. Everyone working on the cabin looked over in shock at the loot the raiders brought back as they parked. Tyler went and parked the fire engine beside the Halftrack with a scary precision while the 88 was placed in the middle of the clearing. Once the vehicles were situated the friends unloaded everything and reconvened around the campfire. Benni chuckled as he looked the artillery piece over.

"Gore this thing is SCARY. I'l get it set up since they stil use them for trainings."

"We only have five shells, Benni. But good. I'd LIKE to carve a section in the forest out specifically for it."

The Marine unrolled the map and tapped a spot on a nearby hilltop. MAybe 50 yards from the rim of the perimeter.

"Here would work. Conventional shells can reach up to 10 miles from the gun itself. And if we drop every tree in a ring around it, we can increase the field of fire that much more. We'd need working radios and better landmarks pointed out PRIOR to using it though to be accurate."

TYler smiled.

"We'll set it up right. And we ALSO found an armed torpedo."

"Now THAT there's not much we CAN use it for on land. I can disarm it for storage, but that's about it anyway."

THe Survivor smirked wickedly now.

"Actually? We'll set a trap with it. Remove the warhead and attach it to say a well placed boulder in view of a sniper and BAM. Makeshift C4 charge."

That got a mass of chuckles from the group as Bird sat beside him.

"So you killed something ELSE big and mean....and I MISSED IT?"

"You're coming with me tomorrow, Birdy...and are with me tonight."

"Yay! Better!"

He patted the dark haired girl fondly before Benni looked to thge firetruck.

"And the fire engine, Gore?"

"It's the water tanker varient. Not sure if I wanna use it to transport mass amounts of fresh water or try to rework it into a water pressurizer yet. Tanks are full of gas AND fresh water so that's why."

"We COULD turn it into a mobile artillery truck."

Tyler frowned as he looked at the engine.

"Good idea but if we're going THAT far I'd prefer we rework the halftrack into it. Otherwise the force of the 88 would bend the frame."

"True. We'll figure something out."

Ronny smiled as he perked up now.

"Upside is the cabin has been completely demolished...and we got this."

The red headed guy passed Tyler a folder and schematic.

"Seems dismantling the entire building like we did unlocked the schematic to BUILD it back. We're already collecting higher grade wood and stuff. All we need are the tools to do it."

"Nice work, everyone. I got a schematic on rewiring the entire thing from scratch. So that'll be a help."

Ronnyt took the papers over and looked them over.

"Oh wow. Oh yeah. With this setup we can basically put like 15 outlets in each room and it supports up to five full floors. The build schematic also has an expansion upgrade for up to 5 full floors each with 3,500 SQ feet. And the basement can be fully finished into whatever."

Tyler nodded as he looked at the construction expert.

"We'll figure that out when we have enough mats to actually BUILD the damned thing. We're really well supplied on food, water and medical supplies. And we're still well situated on ammo too. All we need are more raw materials and equipment to work those materials. Tomorrow I'll take Birdy and Benni on a raid to the next town of Ronbury. We'll try to not hit the same town twice in two days and see if the loot respawns and when."

TYler took the map over and used a looted marker to X out various buildings in the town of Tubury they'd visited.

"Once we completely X out a town we'll leave it alone and move in a different direction. Reason I picked this spot to build in particular was it's easy access to several major cities, several dozen towns, and even a few villages all within a 40 mile radius. We'll leave the port city of Portsmouth until we've completed three full circuits of the 40 mile radius. By that point we'll have fully built our base, have more weapons, tools, tricks, and supplies for such a heavy raid. And HOPEFULLY by then we'll have a definite answer on whether the rest of the playerbase is able to be trusted or not."

Yuna frowned.

"If they CAN'T be trusted, Tyler? What then?"

He sighed.

"We go it alone and HOPE for the best. If that's the case, Yuna? We find ourselves an aircraft carrier or something else big that floats and shove off.....and NEVER return to the shore unless absolutely nessecary."

The group sighed at that depressing possibility and JArvia crossed his arms.

"So what's the next project Gore?"

"Looting still. We have the means to defend this spot and enough food to hold out for a while. We'l loot for three solid days. THe morning of the 4th day we'll throw ourselves into building our defenses."

They nodded and Tyler smiled.

"We have a lot of work ahead of us everyone. And it might just be the...10 of us against this entire videogame world. I'm perfectly okay with that. It'll be rough and at the same time exhausting. But we'll get there. LOng as we don't give up and keep fighting we STILL have a fighting chance."

The friends smiled at that sentiment and Benni nodded.

"I'm in. This is easy shit compared to the Marine Corp."

YUna smiled.

"So am I. Tyler's so awesome and sweet and I am having fun in a glorified death machine. Plus Bird's hot."

Bird chuckled at that endorsement.

"What Yuna said. Here we have a PURPOSE and a way to REACH that purpose. Tyler might be the overwhelmingly badass one here...but I still feel like a badass for being able to HELP at ALL!"

Ronny smiled with a chuckle.

"I'm just here to look cool. Gore's the MAN and I am SUCH a sidekick. Sides. What ELSE can we do?"

JArvia chuckled at that solid point.

"Gore has a plan for our survival AND how to ENSURE IT. He may have the girls' wrapped around his finger like he does, but I know he's still got my back when I need it."

And so it went with everyone making some form of pledge to keep their spirits up...and Tyler smiled.

"Thanks for making me out to be some kinda superhero guys. Means a lot. But I'm not Captain America. Most a the stuff I can do you can do too. Just a matter of practice, experience, and improvising. You'll get there."

The friends smiled proudly at the as some beers were passed around. Once the caps were popped Tyler lifted his.

"To the Survivors! We're HERE. We're STRONG. AND WE ARE NOT GOING DOWN WITHOUT A FIGHT!"

"TO THE SURVIVORS!"

THe friends clinked bottles and threw em back with smiles on their faces and a warm hope in their hearts...as Yuki chuckled in the real world watching the moment on the screen.

"Tyler's turning into more and more of a Survivor Camp leader every day."

Hannah nodded with her own fond smile.

"And the others respect and admire him in equal measure. I can see him becoming QUITE influential in there, Yuki."

THe Delta Soldier nodded as she watched the friends roasting marshmellows over a fire now while discussing the next day's plans.

"Tyler doesn't know it yet, but he's already been made the de facto leader of the surviving playerbase in the New England region of the ingame world. From what the latest player counts say, there's nearly 150,000,000 people trapped inside the game due to the higher population countries not getting the warning in time. And the ingame world is nearly the same size as the entire planet earth! New England has about 1,000,000 surviving players alone while AMERICA itself has about 10. If the rumors are to be BELIEVED, the number is expected to hit 500,000,000 in a few weeks because of the overwhelming hype surrounding the experience....while the deathtoll continues to rise."

Hannah sighed as she sat back in her recliner.

"That game is NOT going to be cleared any time soon. If EVER. The devs are STILL missing and now the livestreams have become immensely entertaining due to moments like that. Tyler is only going to get MORE popular as time goes on....and more people join his camp."

Yuki sighed.

"I've kept the exact location of his camp hidden from the livestreams AND the world using the delay playback. This way he has the time he needs to situate his fortress."

"Smart. And OUR end?"

"We keep his body safe. And be ready to deal with the fallout of any issues in the gameworld."

"Gotchya."

Tyler smiled as dinner wound down and the friends headed for the camper.

"We really should try to track down an RV or something. Camper's nice an all....but i kinda feel bad the dudes are stuck on the floor."

The dudes chuckled at that one and Ronny smirked.

"We're working on it, Gore. Plenty of animals been running through and we made some rather decent bows. Some nails glued to shafts work well as any arrow."

"SMART. I'll craft you all some proper arrowheads tomorrow."

The guys nodded as Bird waited patiently in her bed for her snugglemate while Yuna was in a pile with the other two girls Tyler smiled as he snuggled up with the sexy girl and Bird was quick to press her head to his chest.

"Night, Tyler. Best snuggle!"

He smiled as he kissed her lovingly.

"Good night, Birdy. Bezst TEDDYBEAR."

"Ha."