“Minigun,” I say, raising my head to look in the direction it came from.
Brandon stares at me.
“It’s a weapon. Rotary barrel and an insane rate of fire.”
“How the fuck do you know that?”
“Movies. They’re popular in action movies with explosion and high death toll. I actually don’t know if they’re real or an invention for them. When I brought them up to Grandmother, her answer was more cursing than anything else.” Which raises a question.
“Is it safe to stand?” Silver asks before I speak.
“If it obeys any laws of physics,” I reply, “then it needs to be reloaded before it can fire. Brandon, you said ruins are built around a theme. Can this one be around the theme of an amusement park? Like that Disney place you mentioned?”
“You didn’t say anything about an amusement park here before. I thought you said it was a military place and stored gold.”
“But that doesn’t mean there wasn’t an amusement park. It would explain the oddness, wouldn’t it?”
“Maybe? Disney follows all the rules about ruins, even if they are interpreted in crazy ways.”
“Are we staying on the ground talking about what this place is?” Helen asks, “or getting on with this?”
“Give me a minute.” I crawl to the end of the corridor. The panel that hid the mini-gun is on the floor. Peering in the feed belt is empty. “All clear.” There’s even the crate that had contained the ammo belt.
“We should check the rooms,” Brandon says, opening a door. “That was clearly a trap, which means there’s a cache.”
“And you can look for it when you come back. We’re going up.”
“How are we doing that?” Silver asks. “The stairwell’s blocked.”
“There’s probably another one.” I look around the corner. No panel at the other end.
“That’s not certain,” Brandon says.
“Then there’s going to be another way up.”
He narrows his eyes at me.
“You said ruins are made to be explored. If we can get in, then it makes sense things are going to be set up in a way the lets up explore it, right?”
“Yes.” He stretches the word; probably looking for a way to use that to convince me finding that cache is more important.
I head to the end before he speaks. The left and right corridor there end after three doors. No signs indicating there are stairs.
“I guess we need to check all the rooms,” Brandon said, smirking.
“For a way up,” I remind him.
“For a way up.” He turns to Silver and Helen. “Be careful when opening doors. The odds are some of them will be trapped.”
“How about we let you deal with them, then?” Helen offers.
“I’d rather we speed this up,” I say. “Just stay on the side of the door when you push it open. The traps should be set to catch the person in front of it.” If I’m wrong, someone’s going to get hurt, but this definitely feels like it’s built on the theme of science fiction war movies, and those are usually straightforward.
I ignore Brandon’s stare and go to the closest door, stand to the side and push it in. When nothing happens I glance in. The ruin of a meeting room. I move on to the next door, and the others go to theirs.
My third door causes an explosion that pretty much obliterates the facing wall.
“You okay?” Brandon calls.
“Yeah.” These traps are merciless. A glance inside shows an overturned stand that would have held the explosive. I can’t remember what they’re called, but I’ve seen them pulverize soldiers in movies. No string as a trigger, but I don’t think ruins need them.
As I ready to open my fourth door, fighting starts elsewhere. No one calls out for help, so I wait for it to end. “You good, Brandon?”
“A couple of level tens,” he replies. “No sweat.”
I open the door. An office in surprisingly good condition.
There’s an explosion, then Helen curses angrily and a few more. “I swear. Whoever went and made those things fire resistant, I am going to burn.”
“The ruin isn’t changing things just to piss you off, sis.”
“Sure it isn’t, Bran. Sure it isn’t.”
“It’s a ruin, Hel. Not one of your spurned lover.”
“I’ll have you know I don’t have any spurned anything. Unlike you, I actually care about the men I sleep with.”
“I think I have something,” Silver calls, and I join her.
I can’t tell what the room had been, but the ceiling’s fallen at an angle, and opens to the other room, is a clear way up. There’s even handhold from pipes that were between the ceiling and floor.
“Let me go first,” Brandon says, as I reach for a pipe. “I can take whatever’s up there.”
He quickly pulls himself up, then reappears. “It’s clear.”
I make it up without assistance, then we help Helen and Silver. No idea what this room was, either. The door’s no longer there, and I peer left and right.
I swear the automaton only starts moving when I look at it.
“It’s level one,” I tell the others. “I’ll take care of it.”
I step to it as it mops the floor with the metal handle that’s all that’s left of the mope, and equip my sword. My swing misses as it jerks out of the way, then the handle hits me and sends me flying.
That costs me a tenth of my health. What would it have done to me without my armor? I push through the pain and get to my feet. It’s advancing, whirling the handle about like it’s a staff and it’s a master staff fighter.
I have my shield equipped to block it, then I shove it back and attack. It’s fast, either dodging or blocking most of my swings and thrusts, but when I connect, I cut deep, exposing sparking circuits. Not that it slows it.
Brandon rounds the corner, but doesn’t join the fight.
I mostly block the quick staff attacks, then get my opening, and off the head goes. The smirk is forming when the staff hits and sends me through the wall.
That cost me two tenths.
Come on. Cutting off the head of a robot always stops them in movies.
I’m up and blocking more attacks. This time, when I get my opening, I plant my sword into its chest and ripe it out the side, and then stay alert for it to continue fighting.
It tries, but its mobility’s impaired now. Cutting it down is quickly done.
Brandon is looking in from the hole I made, frowning.
“How the fuck was that level one?” I demand.
“I take it you failed your perception check.”
“It’s just—” I check “—level twenty-two. I pretty much always fail them.”
“It said. ‘Surprise’.”
I stare at him. “What does that mean?”
“Fuck if I know. Nothing about this ruin makes sense.”
“If we can’t trust what the system tells us, we need to be a lot more careful.”
“If we can’t trust what the system tells us,” he says, “the whole fucking world’s fucked, Dennis. Everything we do relies on the information the system gives us. If it lies about this, what else is it lying about?”
“We don’t tell Silver or Helen,” I hurry to whisper, hoping they aren’t close enough to hear. “This place is confusing enough as it is. We aren’t adding to their stress.”
“My sister’s tougher than you think.”
“I’m not having only Silver be in the dark about this. Keeping it from both of them is me trying to make things easier on them. If it’s only Silver, I’m not trusting she can deal with it.”
If you come across this story on Amazon, be aware that it has been stolen from Royal Road. Please report it.
“For someone well aware of the consequences of this action, you are still making a pretty stupid decision. You sweet on her? I’ve seen that make people idiots.”
“I’m not sweet one her. She my friend and I don’t—”
“Want her to know how dangerous this place has just become?”
“How dangerous the world has become. You said it. If the system lies, we are fucked.”
“And you don’t think she has a right to know?”
“Right to know what?” Silver calls out.
Brandon looks at me and mouths. ‘Your call.’
‘Asshole,’ I mouth back.
She looks in. “I thought you said it was level one.”
I almost tell her I made stupid mistakes to explain it. But Brandon’s right.
“It’s what its description said. But it was a lot tougher than that.”
“I didn’t realize that could happen.”
“It can’t,” Brandon said.
“The information lied,” I add. This felt tougher than the level tens we fought outside.
“How can the information be wrong?”
“It can’t,” Helen says. “Dennis misread.”
I bring up the log and double check.
“He didn’t,” Brandon said. “I checked it too while he was fighting it. I made my perception check, and that said ‘surprise’. This was definitely intentional.”
“Bullshit. The system doesn’t lie.”
“Says who, sis?”
That throws her. “It can’t be,” she finally says. “We’d have noticed by now.”
Silver looks at her. “Surprise, sounds like intent. Like the system waited this long to drop this on us.”
“Okay, then why us?” Helen demands. “No offense to any of you, but who the fuck are we for the system to notice and do this? Wouldn’t it do it to…. I don’t know, someone important?”
“Maybe we’re more important than you think,” Brandon replies, but without heat.
“In your dreams.”
“Okay, that’s enough,” I say before this escalates. “I’m with Helen that we aren’t that important, but,” I add as she opens her mouth. “This did happen. Whatever the reason, the system revealed it’s playing us.”
“Maybe it isn’t happening just to us?” Silver offers.
“That makes a lot more sense,” Helen says. “Maybe today is when the system reveals this to everyone and they’re all dealing with it.”
“What do we do, then?” Brandon asks, looking at me. “You’re the leader,” he adds when I’m about to protest.
“Doesn’t mean I’m qualified to make that kind of decision.”
He smirks.
“Okay,” I say, since he’s not going to bail me out. “What happens if we rush back to Louisville?”
“If we’re the only ones to which it’s happening,” Silver says, “We get called crazy, and ignored.”
“Until it starts happening to others too,” Brandon adds.
“What if it’s already happening to them?” I ask.
“Then we get there and the city is in chaos,” Helen says.
“Will us being there make a difference, then?” I ask, and she shrugs.
“We also need to remember we’re five or six days away,” Brandon says. “By the time we get there, it’s going to be well on its way, no matter what’s going on.”
“Okay, so we won’t be believed if we try to warn them. And if it’s already going on, we won’t make much of a difference.” I look at them and get shrugs and non-confident nods.
Thanks for the help.
If we can’t do much to help in the short term, how does this affect my situation?
“Brandon. Do you think this will knock enough sense into Xander for him to call off his bounty hunters?”
He snorts. “I don’t think the system sending him a personal message telling him to fuck off would do it. Obsessive is mild when it comes to describing him when he decides on something.”
“Okay, then we continue with this ruin. The absolute worse situation I can envision this way is that we get what Xander’s after and we return to our world having collapsed, which we can’t influence no matter how early we get back. But if it’s still there, we can hand it over to the club, get him off my back and then figure out what to do about this discovery.”
“Feels like we should do more,” Helen says.
“If you have a way to make us going back now matter, I’m listening.”
It doesn’t take long that she’s shaking her head.
“Okay. The main way this is affecting us is that we can’t trust the creature’s descriptions. That means we treat each encounter as if it’s deadly. Me and Brandon in the front, you and Silver providing cover. No more letting me and her handling something so we get the experience. That could get us killed.”
They all nod, and we move on.
Treating each encounter like they are deadly means we make quick work of them. We make it to the stairwell, which takes us up two floors, then we check the rooms until we find another collapsed ceiling to reach the fifth floor. Then it’s just about finding the roof access.
Which we find, guarded.
As soon as we spot the large automaton, we rush into a room. No gunfire, no tremors as it advances in our direction. It doesn’t seem to have seen us.
Or, more likely, we haven’t crossed its detection threshold.
My glance is furtive anyway. I’m not taking any chances. The impression I get matches the previous one. Massive. Twice Brandon’s height, barely build on a humanoid design. Thick legs connected to a squat torso that might double as its head, with arms attached to that with multiple barrels instead of hands.
I glance at it again, trying to work out why it feels familiar.
“This is going to be a problem,” Brandon says, looking longer. Long enough, he got its description.
I look around and fix my gaze on it.
The ‘feet’ are only extended prongs, which are going to make it stable. The arms are thick, which means a lot of ammo, probably, and the torso is elongated. The top looks to be some partially transparent material, but I can’t make out anything through it. But there’s the feel that someone could fit in there.
I lean back into the room. “I’ve seen that thing before.”
Brandon stares at me. “You, I’m from a small town, have been somewhere with a copy of that thing in it?”
I shake my head, then lightly bang it back against the wall. Come on Dennis, where there fuck can you have seen something like that before.
No, that exact thing, before?
“In a movie.” I can’t remember much about it. A robot that enforced the law. A corporation trying to control it. That thing designed to replace it, but going out of control.
“There is no way a ruin is based around a movie,” he says.
“Maybe it’s based around where they made movies?” Silver offers. “That was a thing before the system.”
“There’s one on the west side of the continent,” Brandon says. “But I’ve never heard if this kind of things out of it.”
Except that a movie doesn’t fit. I don’t remember automatons in that one, or a computer rebelling. I can think of a couple of movies that match that, but those don’t have something like this in them, I don’t think.
“Can we trust the description?” Helen asks.
I look at Brandon.
He shrugs. “Failed my perception check. But if it’s higher level than it says, we are screwed. I’m good, but I’m only level twenty-three. Helen’s Twenty-seven. I’m sorry to say that with both of you being under fifteen, you don’t matter in that equation.”
“That’s not to say you aren’t going to be vital to winning this,” Helen says, glaring at Brandon, “if we decide to take it on.”
Another glance at it.
More nagging that none of this adds up. Way beyond this being weird for a ruin. Whatever it is, can wait.
“Brandon, how likely is it that if we attack it and things don’t go our way, we can run away?”
“We’ve cleared everything getting here. So long as we don’t do anything stupid during the fight, and are mobile, we can run off. Even if it chases us, it’s going to be impeded by the walls as it enters the corridor. And we’re going to have time.”
“Then I saw we give it a try.”
“Didn’t Brandon say ‘so long as we don’t do anything stupid?’” Silver asks.
“He didn’t say it was a lost cause, but we’re only doing this if we all agree it’s worth the risk.”
“That’s clearly a boss,” Brandon says. “Even split four ways, that experience is going to be significant.”
“Of course, that’s all you’re thinking about,” Helen grumbles.
“Does that mean you’re against it?” I ask.
I can see the conflict. I think there’s excitement hiding behind that. Makes sense. She’s still with us, after all. I don’t think her ‘I’m only here to make sure my brother doesn’t get himself killed’ would have lasted after everything we’ve been through.
I mean, I’m looking forward to that fight, and I keep telling Brandon this life isn’t the one I want.
Her sigh is heavy. “I’m in.”
“You are?” Brandon asks.
“Go ahead, get the mocking out of your system now, so you’ll be able to focus on the fight.”
“Sis, this expression’s got nothing to do with mocking. This is pure respect.”
She glares at him like that’s even more offensive.
“Silver, it’s your decision. We’ll respect whatever it is, no matter how eager Brandon is to test himself against it.”
She smiles. “I’m terrified.”
“Okay, then we—”
“But I want to do this.”
I stare at her.
“I’m not going to live stories I can sing about if all I do is go in the opposite direction of what scares me. I trust you to make sure that if the fight turns bad, we all get out of there. But yeah, I want to try beating this boss.”
Okay.
I guess I need to come up with a plan, after all.
Author's Notes
The ruin.
Reaching the roof, a mini-boss is in the way
More exploration, unexpectedly tougher fights. The exploration, the things that don’t quite add-up. A mini-boss?
Thank you for reading this chapter.
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