Chapter 53

The Escape

18:19 Ship Time

Seeing that they were dead, Anja leaned her arm around the doorway where Mason and her sister could see it, and then gave a thumbs up. After that, Ben and I immediately got to work dragging the two bodies down to the second floor, while Anja gathered up their guns. Unfortunately the roof the idiots were on wasn’t as sloped as the one on the factory was, so the blood pooled under them, rather than away from them.

It wasn’t all bad. The man we assumed as Idiot Number One had a submachine gun reminiscent of an MP5 or UMP in terms of looks, but was firing another unrecognizable caliber. He also had a spotter’s scope, which was like my monocular scope but more sophisticated, so I handed it over to Anja. With it, she would be able to spot for Mason or her sister in the future.

As for Idiot Number Two, he had quite a bit more on him. He only had only one weapon which was a suppressed bullpup-style gun, with the magazine behind the pistol grip rather than in front of it, as was common with the majority of firearms. It also had a nice-looking variable-zoom scope attached to it, but it was hard to test it out inside of the building.

Unless there was some chemical that could easily remove blood from fabric, the rigs the two idiots wore were now useless. They did protect the armored vests the two of them wore, so we grabbed them as well. The best item they had on them, however, was the radio they used to talk with the rest of their team. I grabbed that and stored it in the duffle bag that Ben was carrying, for now. Mason would have to decide what to do with it later.

“Did they not have any backpacks?” I asked, noticing that neither of them was wearing one.

“Maybe on the roof?” Anja asked. “They could’ve taken them off up there while they were waiting. The noise we heard up above might’ve been them going to grab them before they came down here.”

“I’ll go check,” I whispered. “You two go down and secure the entrances. If they had any backpacks, I’ll bring them down so we can sort through them, and then we need to search for the tunnels they were talking about.”

They both nodded, heading downstairs while I headed back up. I grabbed my monocular and peaked my head up high enough so I could check the treeline before moving out in the open. Not spotting anything, I moved onto the roof while staying low. Just because I didn’t see anyone didn’t mean that no one was there.

I found the two backpacks in a corner, and grabbed the two of them before heading downstairs. Anja kept an eye out with her new spotter’s scope while Ben and I went through the backpacks. There wasn’t a whole lot there, there only being some cigarettes, food, water and ammo, but more ammo was always good. The backpacks were relatively small, anyways, so I rolled them up and put them inside of Anja’s backpack.

Ben took up his position again and then I looked around the house for the entrance to the tunnels. We had thoroughly checked all of the buildings on this side of the street except for this one, so it was either here or it was nearby. It wouldn’t make sense for them to set up on this building unless they had a quick way to escape in a hurry.

I didn’t find anyone on the first floor, and nothing in the basement by the time I heard movement upstairs. Heading back up, I saw that Mason and Sonja had arrived.

“Nicely done,” Mason said. “I assume you’ve sorted through the bodies already?”

“Yeah,” I nodded. “Each of them had a single gun, one with a submachine gun and the other with a bullpup-like gun. We stripped their armor off of them, along with all their magazines and anything else they had. So we’ve got two additional vests and backpacks, along with some spare weapons. Ben, you wanna give him the radio?”

Nodding, he reached into the duffle bag and handed the radio to Mason. “They were talking to someone else before they stood up and got taken out. Nice shooting, by the way. Apparently there are tunnels nearby that lead to wherever the guys they were talking to were holed up. We don’t know where it is, but Jonathan was searching the building before you two arrived.”

“Unless there is a secret door, it isn’t in here.”

“I think I know where it is,” Mason replied. “Did you get an idea of how many more guys there were still alive?”

“Nope, just the one guy spoke on the radio, but he is probably part of a group that is watching the front of our base, waiting for us to return.”

“Well this is going to suck,” Sonja said. “How are we going to come and go with a team watching the front of our base?”

“By making it not worth it for them in the slightest. The front of our base is facing out of the forest, so we shouldn’t run into anyone on our way back,” Mason said, taking the map out of one of his pockets and spreading it out on the floor. Grabbing a flashlight, he turned it on and began going over the map.

“So our base is at the edge of the forest, facing away from it, which is good for us. It means that there shouldn’t be anyone else waiting in the forest. There are some buildings within half a kilometer though, as well as some hills, so we’ll want to check those out as soon as we’re in line of sight of them. I’m really regretting not buying a thermal scope now because it would make this a lot easier.”

Mason went over the plan for how we would approach the situation. We were going to head directly to the forest to loot the first two people we killed, before using the forest to provide cover as we moved up. We wouldn’t be taking our original route through, however, because it would be easy to spot us as we were moving through. Instead, we would be heading about one hundred feet deeper into the forest and only move to the edge occasionally, to look around.

Once we got close to our base, we would be moving really slowly, meaning that we would be lucky if we killed the guys before it got dark. We would absolutely push to get it done before then because none of us had night vision, nor did we want to bumble around in the night waiting for the sun to come back up.

As a result, exploring the system of tunnels would need to wait. If the leader of their group tried to get in touch with the two idiots and they didn’t respond, then he would probably know that the tunnels were compromised and have someone watch them. They could be trapped or someone could be watching them right now, for all we knew.

Once everything was sorted and Mason had looked over our two new guns, we rushed across the street into the very first building we had searched when we first passed through. The car battery was gone, as expected, but we figured it would be after over three weeks had passed.

We were extra vigilant this time since we knew another team was hunting us. Mason set up his rifle where he could watch over us like he did when we were heading over to the factory. When he was ready, we all ran across the open until we got to the other side. Once there, we spread out making sure no one was around, while Sonja set up her rifle on a fallen log and covered his approach. We didn’t hear a thing and soon we were back together as a group.

We headed over to the two guys we killed next and proceeded to strip them of everything useful. Like the idiots on the roof, these two guys were wearing rigs that were soaked in their own blood, so we tossed those after gathering any ammo or anything else. We found two grenades on one of them, in addition to his magazines, but not much more than that. We also got the radio that one of them had, finally giving us the means to communicate over distances.

Mason put his radio in the special pocket made for it, and then helped Sonja put the other in her pocket. For now, the two snipers in the group would be the best options for the radios, as it would allow them to split up and cover different angles, while still coordinating with one another.

Aside from those items, we also received another spotter’s scope, and another long range sight. Instead of having a submachine gun like Idiot Number One had, this spotter carried along an assault rifle with a red dot, rather than a scope. As for the sniper, he was carrying a suppressed sniper rifle, similar to the one that Mason was using. Both barrels were chambered in the same round, so Mason swapped his sniper rifle for the silenced one, giving his to me instead. Now all of us had three guns a piece, though we would probably be dropping most of those off, assuming we got back. Mason took a few minutes to make sure that his new sniper rifle was zeroed properly before we moved, taking a couple of shots at the buildings we had just come from in the process.

We moved quickly for the first portion of the trip before staying put as Mason moved towards the edge of the forest to take a look around. After he was set up, he radioed us to continue moving for about fifty meters before stopping so Sonja could do the same thing he did. This way we would slowly advance forward while someone was watching for opposing snipers. If we did end up getting spotted, then either Sonja or Mason would be able to provide covering fire so we could get into safety.

We waited for Mason to catch back up to us before we moved another fifty meters closer to our base. Mason had gone to set up, and we were wondering what took so long for Sonja to catch back up with us. It hadn’t taken long at all the previous time, but it had reached the five minute mark before we started getting worried. Until we heard the shots, that is.

While they timed it perfectly when they took out the two guys in the forest and then the other two on the roof, this time it was easy to determine that two snipers had fired. Mason’s new rifle sounded much different than his old one did, primarily because of the suppressor. A suppressor works by reducing the speed and pressure of the gas generated whenever you fire, using baffles that run the length of the suppressor. The heated gas is captured by those baffles, which slows and cools it, both quieting the weapon while also eliminating muzzle flashes.

Confident that they had taken out another two man team, we sat knelt down on one knee before waiting for them to return. That took another ten minutes or so, as they were probably watching to see if anyone was flushed out by the shots. Apparently none had, because there were no more shots and they appeared one after the other.

“We took out another team up on a hill about five hundred meters away. There could be more though, so we’re going to continue doing this until we’re a few hundred meters past our base. We’ll make sure to drop off our backpacks nearby though, just so we don’t need to carry the extra weight around,” Mason said.

“We’re not going to loot the two bodies?” Ben asked.

Mason shook his head. “Nope, it’s way too open. Maybe we could head out after nightfall if we had night vision, but right now we would be spotted too easily. Sonja is actually the one who spotted them. They were using bushes for cover, and only the barrel was sticking out of the bush.”

Once we knew what was going on, Mason set back up while Sonja moved with the rest of us for fifty or so meters before moving off to find a place to set up. Over the next four hours, we slowly crept forward a little bit at a time, stopping whenever we were far enough for either Mason or Sonja to set up and scour the area for targets. We had ditched our backpacks after about two and a half hours, which made it easier to move, but it was still slow going.

Eventually Mason called it because we were about three hundred meters away from our base, and hadn’t found anyone else. We made much better time heading back, only taking about fifteen minutes or so at a slow walk. We easily could have made it back within five minutes, but there was always the possibility that we had been followed.

Mason did end up setting up in a good spot about one hundred meters to the West of our base, while Sonja stayed with us so we could stay in contact. Once he had spent around five minutes there, he told us to move as a group and head for the base. If there was anyone else lying in wait, then it would draw them out and Mason would be able to kill them.

Being so close to our base, it also wouldn’t be the worst thing in the world if we died, because we would spawn close enough to gather all our stuff, after the cooldown period. It took a minimum of one hour to respawn, but if you died too many times too quickly, that could increase up until a one week respawn.

“Okay, not seeing anything so you guys should be clear. Start heading towards the base and let me know when you’re inside.”

“Affirmative,” Sonja replied, and we began moving.

As soon as we were within ten meters of the treeline, each of us started running. We wanted to get inside as quickly as possible, just in case we did end up missing someone. It turned out that we did, because as soon as we exited the treeline, shots began impacting the trees and the dirt around us. We kept running though, as it was too late to turn around and we were already halfway to the entrance.

They proved to be extremely lousy shots, however, because they were firing for a good ten seconds or so and didn’t hit a single shot. Soon there was one quiet shot followed by another, before everything went silent.

“That was fucking scary, but we made it,” Sonja said before chuckling nervously. “Those guys definitely need to work on their aim though.”

“I bet,” he replied. “I think we can get their stuff, actually. Drop off your rigs and backpacks and weapons inside the base, and then split up into two groups. Sonja, lead whoever goes with you to the first two bodies, and I’ll lead the other two to the others. Worst case is that you four need to wait to respawn, best case is we get some additional weapons and armor.”

We ended up doing that. It was Ben and Sonja and Anja and myself as we ran across the open ground to get to the bodies. Two of them were on a hill that camouflaged the snipers well, while the other two were in a building even further back. The two in the building were rather stupid about things, which is probably why they missed their shots.

Each of them had semi-automatic rifles with scopes and bipods on them, but neither of them elected to actually use the bipods. The worst part about it was that there was a big conference table in the middle of the room. If they moved that into the right spot, then both of them would have been able to lie down and extend the bipods while looking out the windows, giving them the best possible accuracy. As it was, they were probably trying to hold their rifles up and snipe at targets that were hundreds of meters away.

Thankfully they weren’t completely stupid. Their backpacks were on the conference table, along with a few other items which included a radio. We didn’t bring anything with us, so the backpacks would be useful for bringing stuff back. Before investigating the backpacks themselves, we began going through one guy’s equipment before moving onto the other.

One of the men was a Kukawu, which were bigger and stronger than Orks, giving us an incredibly hard time as we attempted to roll him over. We ended up doing it though and removed his rig and armored vest. The rig was bloodsoaked, as was usual, but the vest was in perfect shape, Mason having hit two more headshots.

Once we had everything gathered, we switched channels and radioed Mason to let him know we were on our way out. The other two bodies were much closer to the base, so the other group had already made it back. We ran back as quickly as we could, wanting to get back into cover. Anja was carrying less weight so she made it back and started down the steps while I was still twenty meters or so behind her. When I finally got to the entrance, everything went dark.

You have died.

Time Until Respawn: 00:01:00:00.000

“Oh goddamnit!”

Things got bright again a moment later, and I saw that I was back in the game lobby. It turned out that we didn’t get all of them after all. If I had to guess, the last ones remaining were the boss that we heard on the radio and whoever he had with him. Since the maximum team size was five people, that meant that we were dealing with two or three full groups.

Thankfully the timer seemed to be based off of in-game time, so it wouldn’t be long before I could head back in. Ben appeared about five minutes after I died, letting me know what was going on.

“Mason ended up finding the guy that killed you, but he was about a kilometer away in a dark room on the top floor. He wasn’t able to kill him, but he definitely got him to move. Right now he and Sonja are coordinating so he can get back to the base. She’ll set up her rifle on the steps in our base and then provide some cover fire so he can make it back. It will be a bitch leaving our base next time we play though.”

“Maybe not. I can’t see each base only having one entrance. It would be way too easy to grief people if they can only come out of one entrance. I’m betting that we’ll find an escape hatch, or access to the tunnels, once we break into the next portion of the base. If not, I’ll see if we can get some help from Retsas. Now that we have a radio, we’ll be able to contact them. It might take a while to find the right channel, but they’re probably monitoring at least one unencrypted channel.”

“That’s true,” he nodded.

We continued to chat while we waited for the countdown to reach zero. With about twenty minutes left, Mason and the twins appeared alongside us.

“So, how was dying?” Mason asked.

“Just an immediate black screen,” I replied. “I was expecting it to be worse, but maybe it was too traumatic for people if it was more realistic.”

“Or it could be the fact that your head almost exploded,” he said. “The guy shot you in the back of the head with a pretty big bullet. It went right through and then embedded itself in the sloped concrete ceiling.”

“So everyone else is safe back in the bunker?”

“Yup. You were pretty much there already, and your body fell all the way down the steps. Almost crushed Anja, but she got out of the way in time.”

I nodded. “I was talking with Ben, but I’m thinking that we’ll have access to a secondary entrance once we get into the main part of the base. I just don’t see there not being one, as a group could easily wait for a team to leave their base.”

“You’re probably right, but this team knew about the tunnels, so they could’ve had a guy down there watching it as well. It’s a lot easier to clear a tunnel than it is to push out of a small entrance, so that isn’t an issue though.”

“So how did the rifle fare when I fell down the steps? Not well, I imagine?”

“Oh, the rifle is fine. The scope, on the other hand, is totally fucked. They’re not made to have over two hundred sixty pounds of dead weight fall on top of them.”

I laughed. “I imagine not.”

As soon as the countdown had expired, the five of us logged back into the game. I went over to the main hatch to look at my body, but found that it had completely disappeared.

“Huh. I didn’t know that was a thing, but it makes sense. Rotting bodies and skeletal remains would be all over the place,” Ben said. “It is odd that the blood remained though.”

Before going through all of our loot, we had one more thing to do. Mason went over and grabbed his backpack and began pulling out the charge that Olnain had made for us. It was in four different pieces and would create a two foot wide by four foot tall rectangular hole so we could access the rest of our base. Olnain assured us that it wouldn’t do damage to anything on the other side, but we were still a little worried about that.