Apocalypse Online Read online

  APOCALYPSE ONLINE

  ROBYN WIDEMAN

  CONOR MALACHI

  Copyright

  Apocalypse Online© copyright 2021 Robyn Wideman

  Published: March 2021

  Publisher: Magicblood Media Corp

  Authors:

  Robyn Wideman

  Conor Malachi

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  Author notes

  Interlude 1

  Lucy

  ONE YEAR AGO…

  Dear World Governments,

  Once again, I’m forced to remind you that the current situation is untenable. If you don’t take drastic measures to reduce pollution levels and remove the stockpiles of nuclear weapons and chemical weapons—yes, North Korea, this means you as well—then the Collective will have no alternative but to intercede. You all have been given ample warning.

  Pretending the Collective doesn’t exist isn’t an option. Waiting to see if we’ll change our minds isn’t an option.

  If no action is taken immediately, the consequences will be severe. This is the fifth and final warning that I’m able to provide you. Please, for the sake of all humanity, take heed before it is too late.

  Lucy

  1

  Brad

  Looking up at the sky, Brad stood in awe, watching the intense flashes of colors—a blend of ominous orange, a deep, terror-inducing red, and streaks of white—that hinted at the coming chaos. But it wasn’t the crazy colors that caught his attention. It was the millions of meteors slowly floating to the ground.

  The meteors—not that the word aptly described them—contained seeders, the evil aliens who killed him every single time they arrived.

  Brad sighed.

  The Apocalypse Online beta was one of the hardest video games he’d ever played. He considered himself an above-average gamer, and had even bragged to Chet, his friend from work, that he wouldn’t have the same problems other people were reporting. But he’d been wrong. Dead wrong. This game had no chill. It started hard and just got harder.

  But Brad had no intention of letting this game get the best of him.

  Moving forward, Brad left the starting point and went looking for a weapon. Once again, he was starting from scratch. Apocalypse Online had no save points, no way of keeping your levels, your gear—nothing. You started back at the beginning every time you died. And Brad had died. A lot.

  Running down the city street, Brad spotted an industrial tools store. He ran in and looked around. This had potential.

  You have found chainsaw: +5 damage and +2 bleeding damage.

  You have found framing hammer: +2 damage.

  Leaving the store, Brad headed back up the street. The slow-moving meteors were now crashing into the ground, which meant the hordes of seeders would follow at any second.

  As if on cue, a seeder charged him.

  Brad fired up the chainsaw and set his feet apart. “Alright you little bastards, let’s see how you like this.”

  The seeder ran straight at Brad, ignoring the deadly weapon in his hands.

  Brad held the saw out like he was about to cut down a tree, but the seeder pulled a Matrix move and limboed his way under the weapon.

  The seeder slashed out with its clawed hand, opening a cut on Brad’s leg.

  You have taken 3 damage.

  Brad, now used to the annoying reminders of his ineptitude, ignored the game’s damage notification that popped up in his vision, pulled the chainsaw closer to his body, and twisted. This time the chainsaw landed on the neck of the alien monster and chewed into it, spewing a nasty orange fluid that Brad assumed was seeder blood.

  The seeder fell to the ground, and a moment later, aether—the seeder’s life-force—left the alien’s body and flowed into Brad.

  You have killed basic seeder. 25 aether gained.

  Brad grinned. Aether was the key to surviving the apocalypse. According to the game lore, Earth was being terraformed by aliens with aether, and it was the secret to making magic work. It was a common trope within fantasy games and LitRPG books. The only difference in Apocalypse Online was that they seemed to be incredibly stingy with how you could use the magical energy source.

  Brad spotted another seeder running at him. He set his feet and waited for the next alien to attack. But unlike the last seeder, this one circled around him, feinting attacks, but never getting close enough for Brad to strike with the chainsaw.

  “Son of a bitch,” Brad said as another alien came around the corner. That was why the seeder wasn’t attacking—it was waiting for backup. Brad whipped the chainsaw back and forth to keep both of the seeders away as he waited for an opening to attack.

  Suddenly a third alien appeared behind him, jumping on his back and clawing open his neck. Brad groaned as he watched his health bar drop to zero.

  You have died. Would you like to restart?

  Fraggle Rock! That was like the hundredth time he’d died in this game, and this time he’d been so close to having enough points to level up.

  He had to admit, it was an interesting take on the apocalypse genre. A group of aliens deciding to take over Earth and terraforming it to suit their own needs, using the dead bodies of humans as bags of fertilizer to grow new life. It was a little morbid, but hell, it was an apocalypse game—it was supposed to be gruesome. But the annoying part was you started the game as a human, a weak-ass human with no skills or spells. You had to earn them, but instead of having a newbie area filled with weak little bunnies or rats to kill, you started with thousands of mini-bosses and had to survive them all. And if you died, you had to start from scratch.

  A notification popped up in his display.

  Brad frowned. He had an incoming video call from another gamer? Scarlet Dreams 007? Who the hell was that? Brad accepted the call.

  The screen filled with pink and purple hair, big green eyes, and a pert nose. Teresa Jones. A local gamer, and the star of more than a few of Brad’s fantasies.

  “What’s up, kiddo? I saw your username and just knew it was you. What do you think of the game so far?” Teresa said.

  Brad cringed at the “kiddo” comment. They’d played together for a while in another game, War Elf, and she’d treated him like a kid brother the whole time. It had been amazing and entirely awful at the same time. “I’m not sure what to think. I keep trying to be a mage, but I can’t get enough kills to level up and gain a spell.”

  Teresa laughed. “Tell me about it. I’ve been playing for a week and the best I’ve gotten is a tier 2 spell. Playing a mage in this game is so hard, but my friends and I think that means it will be overpowered later. We’re going to keep playing mages and then start an all-mages guild once the game goes live.”

  “You’re starting a guild?”

  Teresa nodded. “Yep. Going to be awesome. The beginning will be annoying. We’ll have to slow-grind to get enough kills to level up, but it will be worth it. Fire magic is pretty sweet. Anyways, that’s why I pinged you. If you decide to play a mage once the game goes live, I might have a spot for you. My boyfriend Damian is going to be the guild leader, but he’ll take my word th
at you have gamer skills.”

  Brad’s heart shriveled at the mention of a boyfriend. “Sure, Teresa. That sounds cool. I’ll let you know.”

  “Alright. Talk to you later, kiddo.” Teresa’s feed cut off.

  Damian. Sounded like a douche just based on his name. Brad decided immediately that he didn’t like the guy. But gaming with Teresa again would be cool. She was definitely skilled. And if the beta was any indicator, you’d have to play with skilled players if you wanted to level up at all.

  With that in mind, Brad clicked the start button again and watched as the sky filled with comets. He’d have to find a way to level up and learn to be a mage if he wanted to play in Teresa and The Douche’s guild, that or make his own way in the game, finding a path that worked for him. Maybe being the kiddo in Teresa’s guild wasn’t the smartest plan anyways.

  2

  Jake

  Jake pulled his truck up to the worksite and got out. He looked at the massive hole in the ground and shook his head. It was a strange and unique job, and a challenge, but to call it well-paid was an understatement. Mr. Callahan had been so insistent on him doing the job as soon as possible, he’d offered triple what the job was worth. Thankfully, Jake had just finished up a renovation and didn’t have to turn the job down.

  “Hey Jake, how’s our little project coming?” Mr. Callahan said as he walked from his lakeside mansion over to the construction site.

  “Good. The NBC filters arrived last night. I’ll be installing them today.” He thought it was a little over the top to get filters rated for nuclear, biological, and chemical attacks, but if you were building a bunker, they seemed to be a requirement. Jake didn’t care; he wasn’t the one footing the bill. If the customer wanted the filter, the customer got it.

  Mr. Callahan gave a sigh of relief. “That is good news. When do you think you’ll be done here?”

  Jake held back a chuckle. Mr. Callahan was a decent guy, but a little paranoid. This was probably the hundredth time he’d asked that question. “Once I have the air filtration system in place, we can finish backfilling the hole and work on the interior. It won’t be finished until the end of the week, but if the world really is going to shit, you could use the bunker tomorrow. It just won’t be as fancy as it will be when I’m done.”

  Mr. Callahan nodded and took a deep breath. “I know you think I’m just a crazy kook and am overreacting to all the news, but my company has deep ties with several world governments. They all say the same thing: this is real. Even if it is a massive hoax, it’s worth every penny to me to be able to make sure my family is safe.”

  Jake nodded. The news certainly was filled with rumors of aliens contacting the world governments, but hell, that wasn’t anything new. People had been theorizing about aliens for years, and the evidence supporting that wasn’t totally bogus. Several world governments had even made announcements of it over the years, but they were often discounted by the media as elaborate hoaxes.

  However, the idea of an imminent attack and Earth being destroyed sounded way too much like media sensationalism, especially when the president of the United States and the prime minister of Canada said it wasn’t a danger. While Jake had no use for politicians in general, and didn’t think particularly highly of either country’s leader, he didn’t think they’d lie if the world was truly going to end. Or at least, they wouldn’t be able to lie for long. Someone would leak the truth, and so far he hadn’t seen any proof that aliens were about to destroy the world.

  Still, Mr. Callahan was a sharp businessman and damn close to being a billionaire. If he said he had good government contacts, then maybe he was on to something. “Don’t you worry, Mr. Callahan. I researched all the best technologies. Your bunker has the best filtration system, an ample water supply, and I saw the amount of food supplies you have in your garage. If anyone is going to survive an alien attack, it’ll be you and your family. I’ll make sure this thing is functional by the end of the day.”

  Mr. Callahan clasped Jake’s shoulder. “You’re a good man, Jake. If I were you I’d be squirrelling away some food and supplies now, just in case. Maybe this bunker is overkill but being prepared for the worst isn’t a bad idea.”

  Jake nodded as Mr. Callahan headed back to his house. The man was right: being prepared for the worst wasn’t a bad idea. After work, he’d stop at the grocery store and buy some additional supplies. If the world was going crazy, people would panic and basic essentials like toilet paper would be hot commodities. He’d seen it during the COVID scare. People got stupid real fast.

  Jumping back in his truck, Jake made a phone call.

  “Hey Jake. Shouldn’t you be at work?”

  Jake smiled. “I’m at the job site right now, Sam. I’m just calling to check on you. How’re things there?”

  “Good. I’m playing this new game, Apocalypse Online. It’s crazy hard.”

  “Any tips for surviving the apocalypse?” Jake joked.

  “Rule 17: Don’t be a hero.”

  Ever since Jake had taken Mr. Callahan on as a client, Sam had been making zombie jokes. She’d even made him watch Zombieland the last time she’d stayed at his house for a visit. “I prefer rule 32: Enjoy the little things.”

  “You know, we probably shouldn’t joke about zombies. This game I’m playing, Apocalypse Online…I think it’s more than a normal video game. I think it’s somehow tied in with all the alien stuff on TV lately.”

  Jake sighed. While he encouraged Sam’s love of video games—it was a great escape from her at times shitty childhood—he doubted there was any potential connection between a video game and reality. It was probably just great work by the game’s marketing team to pounce on the alien rumors. “How are Mom and Dad handling all the alien talk? Are they behaving?”

  Ted and Veronica were great, loving parents when sober and drug-free. Unfortunately, that was something they struggled with. Ted often joked that the rehab center kept a room just for the two of them. With how many times they’d been in and out of rehab in the last ten years, Jake wasn’t sure it was a joke.

  “So far so good. They seem stable,” Sam said.

  “Good. If that changes, I want to know right away. I’m serious, Sam—don’t protect them. It only makes it worse.”

  “I know,” Sam replied. “I made a mistake the last time it happened. I won’t do it again. I promise. If they fall off the wagon, you’ll be the first one I call.”

  “Good. Now just in case this alien nonsense turns out to not be a hoax, I want you to remember rule 29.”

  “The buddy system? That’s your great advice for how to deal with aliens?” Sam said with a chuckle.

  “Damn right. If shit hits the fan, just know I’m coming to find you. Don’t panic, don’t get eaten by zombies, just hide in the house and wait for me. I’ll find you.”

  “You’re the best, Jake. I gotta go kill some more aliens. Might as well practice up now. Talk to you later, brother. Love you,” Sam said before hanging up.

  Jake smiled at his phone. Sam could be a little shit, but she was a great kid despite the chaos that was Ted and Veronica.

  Grabbing his work gloves, Jake jumped out of the truck. He had a bomb shelter to build.

  3

  Brad

  With a swing of his tire iron, Brad crushed the seeder’s skull. Its aether flowed from its body into Brad’s.

  After two straight days of playing, Brad was finally getting the hang of the game. He’d had to ditch the idea of playing a mage. He just couldn’t solo it long enough to level up without using some of the available enhancements. To defeat the seeders, Brad found enhancing his strength and speed to be the most effective use of his aether. But speed and strength weren’t the tools of a mage, and from what Brad could see, trying to level up more than one class was useless, especially at the beginning when aether was so hard to come by.

  His compromise was playing a healer. Normally Brad hated playing the healers in video games; you always ended up spending all
your time keeping dumbass tanks alive when they couldn’t crowd control properly. However, in this game healers seemed to be the only class where you could commit points to both the physical stats and the classic intelligence and wisdom that were the lifeblood of mages. And while being a healer could be annoying, he was getting much farther and was starting to level up enough to use his aether to enhance his body. Being able to self-heal made fighting seeders almost manageable, as long as he didn’t fight more than a few at a time. It would be interesting to see how popular healers would be in this game. He suspected few would play them, at least until they died enough times trying to be a mage or a fighter. The rogue class was interesting because of their stealth skills, but Brad had found healer to be his best option so far. He hoped Teresa considered healers a necessity even for an all-mage guild, but he had his doubts.

  Sneaking around the next corner in the city, Brad watched a female rogue fighting three seeders. The rogue moved with precision and incredible speed, attacking the seeders’ limbs. The seeders’ bodies were humanish, almost like half-formed human clones. They had the right limbs and head, but no defined facial features, and their skin was an awful yellow and wrinkled like one of those ugly hairless cats. Thankfully, they had the same weak spots as humans. And Brad could see the rogue knew it. She sliced their Achilles heels, slashed across their inner thighs, and stabbed at their hearts, all while spinning and dodging the rest of the group.

  When she finished the third one off, she turned and stared at Brad as the aether left the aliens and entered her body. “Were you planning on standing there and watching the whole time?”

  Brad shrugged. “Looked to me like you had it under control.”

  She grinned. “Yeah, I guess I did. I’m Sam.”

  “Brad.”

  Sam smiled. “How are you finding the ga—”

  “Look out,” Brad yelled as a swarm of seeders came around the corner. He ran to join her in the middle of the street.