By the time Pete had limped into the car, sliding into the front seat as Coop jumped in after him, the hobgoblins had finally realized what was going on and had decided the best response to the interruption was to hurl their axes at the newcomer.
The woman with the trucker’s cap slammed her foot against the accelerator pedal and twisted her head around to look through the rear window as the truck shuddered and then bolted back the way she’d come. The sound of clanging metal followed them as the vehicle chewed up the road and shot at speed down the street.
With no time to put on a seatbelt, Pete grabbed the handle above the window and held on for dear life as the truck swerved left and right. He watched as a huge axe bounced off the road just ahead of the vehicle, narrowly missing cleaving the bonnet in half. The four remaining hobgoblins were all running, waving their fists in the air and shouting. After a few seconds, they stopped running, turned around, and started heading back to their own vehicles.
Pete turned to the young woman and was about to ask her name when the truck was wrenched around violently, sending him smacking against the window where he cracked his head against the glass and cursed loudly. The truck turned around, tires squealing as a small white ferret went flying through the cabin and slammed against the windshield with a breathy squeak.
The vehicle rocked and steadied itself as the woman in the trucker’s cap whipped the steering wheel around and slammed her foot against the accelerator pedal again.
“Yeeehah!” she yelled, grinning from ear to ear. “Now that was God damned exhilarating!”
“Speak for yourself, you crazy wench!” Coop snapped, crawling up off the dashboard and jumping down onto Pete’s lap.
He flinched in response, unsure exactly how to respond to an eighty-two-year-old woman being that close to his genitals, even if she was inside the body of a ferret.
“Your name’s Pete, right?” the driver asked, turning to face him and flashing him a broad smile.
She was pretty, in a tomboy kind of way, with curly blond hair tied up in a ponytail at the back of her neck and tucked under a nondescript trucker’s cap up front. She had vivid green eyes, freckles on her cheeks, and wore denim overalls and a white t-shirt, slightly tanned arms sticking out as though she’d spent a fair bit of time in the sun. She also exhibited an odd kind of nervous energy, which was a little disturbing given that she had a revolver sitting in her lap, which just so happened to be pointed at Pete.
“Yeah,” she replied. “My name’s Pete. But how did you know that?”
She nodded towards her right wrist, and a small holographic screen showed up, displaying what looked like a map of the area with buildings marked out by boxes, streets and other items all simply drawn with orange lines, and various landmarks highlighted by green ‘x’ marks.
“It’s all on the Novice Area Map. Haven’t you checked yours yet?”
He shook his head. “I’ve been kind of busy not getting split in half.”
She nodded. “Yeah, that was bad luck. A gang of hobgoblins right out of the gate. That’s a real kick in the teeth. Here, check it out.”
She flicked her other hand across the front of the screen, and the display shifted over to Pete’s gauntlet, hovering above his wrist. He tried to focus on what he was seeing and noted the small green car shape moving down the center of the map with three name tags hovering just above it.
Pete squinted, wiping sweat from his eyes and wincing with the effort as his chest and shoulder ached in response.
“Your name is Samantha?” he asked, reading the third name tag hovering above the vehicle indicator.
“Sam,” she corrected. “Everyone calls me Sam, if they know what’s good for them, that is.”
She shot him a smile and leaned over, pointing a finger at the green arrow pointing at the top of the display.
“See that? It points to the closest novice arena. That’s where we’re supposed to go. Apparently, we don’t have to be there for a few days, but if we don’t arrive on time, we’ll get wiped out. Turned to dust like the poor bastards that got caught outside when this whole thing started.”
Pete pinched his fingers on the map, shrinking its scale so that he could see further. Wherever the arena was, it must have been at least twenty miles away, but there was another item of interest that appeared relatively close by. A cluster of golden coin symbols shone brightly to the northwest of their position.
“Yeah, that’s one of those Tongsly Belch kiosks. Given how banged up you are, I’d say we should head there next. Pick up a medkit so you don’t drop dead on me before those hobgoblin bastards catch up to us.”
Pete frowned, looking down at the map. She was right; there were four vehicles coming up behind them, all indicated by red boxes that flashed angrily.
A case of content theft: this narrative is not rightfully on Amazon; if you spot it, report the violation.
“Shit! How the hell did you know they were following us?”
Sam grinned, tapping her head. “Because I’m smart and I figured out how to display the mini map in the corner of my HUD so I don’t have to keep looking down at my gauntlet all the time. This shit is customizable as hell if you take the time to work it out.”
Pete snorted. “Honestly, I’ve been running my ass off since the first moment one of those obelisk shits trashed my car. Haven’t had time to do anything but keep my ass alive.”
“And you’re doing a great job of that, princess,” she replied with a broad grin. “Looks like you’ve been fed through a wood chipper the wrong way round.”
“Girl,” Coop said, eyes narrowed, “you got a mouth on you the width of the Mississippi.”
Sam frowned, looking over at the ferret. “So, you chose a soul companion or whatever, huh?”
Pete nodded. “Yeah. Mrs. Cooper was in the wrong place at the wrong time, and it kind of just happened.”
“Mrs. Cooper?”
“She’s my neighbor. She lives across the street. Well, lived across the street, I guess.” He grimaced in pain, his leg throbbing and every breath feeling like he was taking in a lungful of hot smoke.
“Just hold on,” Sam said, steering the truck sharply to the left and cutting a corner. “I’ll get you to that kiosk as quick as I can.”
“I’ll be fine,” Pete lied.
Sam turned back and frowned down at Coop. “So, there’s a human inside that little critter, huh?”
“A woman who’s lived more in her life than you could imagine, girl,” Coop spat. “Eighty-two years I’ve been on this earth, and while I don’t expect much, I think I’ve earned a little respect, for surviving that long if nothing else.”
“EIGHTY-TWO?” Sam barked. “Holy shit, so you put a geriatric in a ferret?”
“I didn’t do shit,” Pete insisted. “It just kind of happened.”
“And just as well,” Coop added. “Petey boy would have been dead ten times over if old Coop wasn’t around to save his ass.”
That brought a burst of laughter from Sam as she turned down a side street and shifted the truck left and right, skillfully negotiating a street with parked cars on either side.
“Well, good for you, I guess. I ignored that option.”
Pete’s head whipped around. “Wait, so you don’t have to have a companion?”
She shook her head. “Nope. You can choose to, and if you do, you split your class skills with the companion. I figured I’d rather just keep everything for myself.”
Pete felt bile rise in his throat. “Nero? Why the hell didn’t you mention that?”
[Nero] I’m afraid it was too late. You selected the gauntlet and a soulbound companion so swiftly that there was no time for the System to advise you of your options. Sam, on the other hand, was a little more cautious when she first approached the obelisk and asked far more questions before accepting the gauntlet and joining the Dominion Ultrimax Contest.
“Always read the instructions,” Sam said with a grin. “One of the many lessons my dad taught me. Right up there with ‘buttons aren’t toys,’ ‘measure twice, cut once,’ and ‘beer only makes you fat if you drink it too fast.’” She shook her head. “They weren’t all diamonds.”
“Hang on,” Pete said, trying to work through everything he was learning. “You could hear Nero just then?”
“Of course. He’s the one that told me about the mini map thing and said that I could find other contestants close by. All you have to do is ask a bunch of questions, and you’ll get the answers you need.”
“You know about the Belch Bucks then and that everything costs money in this game?”
“Yep. So, the first thing I did after I stole this truck was start gearing up with as much crap as I could carry.” She threw a thumb over her shoulder. “The back is filled with as much as I could find. I figure some of it might come in handy, and if not, we can sell the garbage off at a kiosk and make some coin.”
There was a lot to unravel there, but Pete found that the word ‘we’ did wonders for his health. Whoever this chick was, she seemed to know her shit, and having an ally like that on his side could only increase his chances of survival. Judging by the look on Coop’s face, the old woman wasn’t so convinced.
“Okay, I think we’ll be there in five minutes or so,” Sam said, looking back in the rearview mirror. “Thankfully, those hobgoblin bastards can’t drive for shit, so they’re not gaining on us. But we’re gonna have to hustle when we reach the kiosk; otherwise, they’ll jump us while we’re out in the open.”
“Got it,” Pete said, trying to tally up everything he currently had to determine whether he’d have enough money for even a single medkit, let alone a Loot Lure or anything else that might come in handy. “So, what’s your class?”
She shrugged. “I don’t have a class. Not yet, anyway. But I’m hoping if I can sell enough stuff at this kiosk, I might be able to… Wait, you’ve already got a class?”
“Penny Pincher. I had to go into debt to pick it up, but I didn’t really have a choice.”
He spent the next few minutes outlining the key class components and abilities, as well as those Coop had picked up. When he asked Coop to elaborate, she refused, still clearly unwilling to trust Sam despite the fact that she’d saved both her life and Pete’s.
“Penny Pincher, huh?” Sam mused. “Damn. Seems like that one put you on the back foot pretty early.”
“Yeah, but it seems like it could do well later on, once I figure out how to use up everything I’ve gathered with thrift. Before that, though, I need to pick up some basic attributes and figure out how leveling works with this class.”
“And you need to stop bleeding all over my truck,” Sam added with a stern scowl directed towards the fresh blood that was dripping down from Pete’s leg.
“Shit! Sorry about that.”
“It’s fine,” Sam said with a chuckle. “This isn’t even my truck. I stole it from the misogynistic prick who lives next door. Yanked the keys out of his pocket while he was standing there scratching his ass and staring at one of those obelisks.”
Pete looked over at the revolver still sitting in her lap. “Did you steal that from him as well?”
She looked down at the gun. “The shooter? Yeah, it was in his glove compartment. Damned thing wasn’t even locked. Some kid could have grabbed it.” Sam looked over at Pete. “When you think about it, I did the world a favor by taking this truck.”
“Is it even loaded?” Coop asked as she reached across the seat and pawed at the gun.
“Well, that’s the thing, see,” Sam replied. “It doesn’t even need to be loaded to be effective. You just point the damned thing at someone, and they tend to do whatever you ask.” She turned to Pete. “I mean, look at you two. You jumped into this truck pretty fast when I waved the gun at you.”
“Imagine that,” Pete said dryly.
The truck suddenly shuddered, then Sam wrenched the steering wheel sharply to the left, and the vehicle veered off the street.
“Shiiiiiiiiit!” she shouted as something large and black leaped out in front of them. “Shitting shit!”
