Chương 62: Escalation

The next day, Enforcer McDouglas called me to debrief.

"We've been monitoring the Discord, and it doesn't look like Sebastian or Smash suspect you as being CDM," he said.

"I don't know how many more crashes you'll get invited to because we are going to press this incident. Nico is pissed two crashers abandoned Larry to die and wants to know how many other crashers have gone missing because they were abandoned by teammates.

"Maybe there were CKers in their midst. As far as Nico is concerned, leaving Larry to die was no different from murder. Hopefully this shakes loose some more specific intel about missing crashers."

"Wow," I replied.

"Is Larry still doing okay?"

"So far. His lungs are pretty weak, so he needs a ventilator right now, but the doctors are hopeful. Life is going to be tough when he wakes up."

"Because his lungs are so weak?"

"Because he's going to jail," McDouglas said.

"He was rescued in the midst of committing a crime, you know."

"Right." I sighed.

"It was all so stupid." That last thought just spilled out. I hadn't really meant to speak.

"I watched the video, and I agree. They weren't coordinated enough for that level of challenge. Well, you made good choices out there. Get some rest." The events from the crash replayed over and over in my mind. The majority of our problems wouldn't have happened if we moved methodically, but the pickings were small as it was. Moving more slowly would cost crashers XP and mana crystals. In their minds, it was better to take the risk and go fast. Jonathan crawled like that. My sister crawled like that.

Like every other crasher, they were desperate for a taste of what the system could provide. Unlocking bow proficiency to support her bowyer aspirations made total sense to me. One hundred XP and then one hundred hours of practice, and she would accomplish what would take thousands of hours if practiced by hand. That would for sure be good for her new career goals of becoming a bowyer, so while I was mad at her for lying to me and risking her life like that, I understood why she went for it.

Jonathan may have been a little less practical than Beth in his aspirations, but he was a kid with a dream. He wanted to help, to better himself and Beth, and to move on to bigger things. Along the way, my talks about crawling might have emboldened him, making the dream feel even more irresistible. I turned on a playlist of videos dedicated to spelunking, doing my best to avoid the videos that focused exclusively on how terrible it was to die in a cave.

Whether this trip to Chestnut Ridge or the next, I knew Megan and I would get to Domonkos' cave very soon. I needed to prepare for whatever tomorrow might hold. Every trip to Domonkos' property had been uneventful so far, but I found myself tossing and turning the night before our next run. The more I thought about how important rest was, how much I needed to be sharp and agile for a goblin encounter, the further away it seemed. My phone buzzed after midnight.

"Nico got invited to fill in for a crasher. All new party members. Gear up and head to the address I'm sending you now." I expected to be benched from crashing for a while. If I spent the night working the case, no way would I be any good to Megan as a party member with no sleep and battered from runs.

"I'm sorry to cancel on short notice," my text to Megan began.

"I have to work."

"Ok," she replied, adding nothing else. Reading the tea leaves of short texts was my least favorite pastime. If she was upset, I didn't blame her. There was nothing I could do at that moment to address it, though. Rubbing the sleep from my eyes, I hopped off the couch and dressed as quietly as I could. Beth was probably still at work, but Nathan was definitely asleep. I had tested the limits of our friendship far too much in the short time we knew each other.

If I could avoid pushing that luck a little more with dumb stuff like being loud at night, I hoped he would find a little more patience to stick around. I met McDouglas, wearing a salmon polo today, and another batch of investigators, though I was still not introduced to any of them by name, and confirmed my hidden helmet camera was charged and functional. We knew the name of the mod I was meeting, BipBop, but knew little else about them and nothing about who was joining us.

"Remember," McDouglas coached, "You're pissed about what happened to Larry. You've expressed those feelings in Discord already, so no need to play it up or say much more about it in person. Stay quiet, aloof, and suspicious. That's our best chance of someone coming to us with more intel."

"Yes, sir."

"Sorry to toss you back in so quickly."

"I don't mind," I said, and I wasn't lying. I was tired, sore, and angry, but those feelings weren't directed at the CDM.

"Keep playing things smart. You're doing good." With that, I drove Nico's car to the meetup point, the loading docks of an abandoned strip mall.

"Faptabulous?" a man my age asked out the window of a rusted sedan. Of all the crashers I had met thus far, his outward appearance was the most crawler-like I had seen yet. He was taller than me, exceptionally fit, and had a Prince Charming jawline.

"BipBop?"

"Bip or Bippy is fine," he said, opening the door to shake my hand.

"Good to meet a crasher who isn't a total idiot."

"Yeah?"

"I didn't believe Smash and Sebastian would bail on Larry like that, but they outright admitted to it when I called them on it in private. Strange times that I trust a brand new member more than our veterans." I nodded.

"I'm spooked about it too."

"Yet you came?"

"Juicy and Larry spoke pretty highly of the group," I answered.

"I felt like I could trust them, so this is me seeing if they were right and if it's worth staying." Love this novel? Read it on Royal Road to ensure the author gets credit.

"I'm moving on, I think," Bip said.

"Yeah?" He shrugged.

"This is messy enough without worrying about assholes stabbing you in the back."

"Well, if I pass your sniff test, I wouldn't mind moving on too."

"I hear you. We can see how it goes." A dusty SUV pulled in. An older man, maybe late fifties, got out of the driver's seat, followed by a young man and woman. They looked to be Beth's age, if that.

"CitizenAbel," Bip said to the older man, "Meet Faptabulous." Abel shook my hand.

"My kids, Cheddar and Mr_Biceps." Confusingly, Cheddar was the young man, and Mr_Biceps was the young woman.

"Thanks for getting Larry to the hospital," Abel said.

"I heard he's awake. He's got a family who can't be here to say thank you, so I don't mind saying it for them."

"If you want someone to help you when you're in trouble, I figure you have to help other people when they need it," I replied. Bip and Abel both nodded.

"We've got four fighters and an archer then," Bip said.

"Shall we go fishing?" Just like Larry would do, Bip opened a laptop, connected it to a hotspot, and pulled up the CDM portal. Larry made more of an effort to hide his screen, but I already knew these crashers didn't rely on third-party leaks.

"When does someone teach me that trick?" I risked asking. We still weren't sure exactly how crashers got into the portal, and I felt like I had enough goodwill to get away with probing. I imagined McDouglas sitting in the van somewhere and cursing me for being reckless.

"You can buy dead crawler credentials if you know where to look," Bip answered casually. If he was suspicious, he hid it perfectly.

"So you use the account until their membership runs out?" Bip shook his head.

"The CDM is shittier than every other government agency out there, and that's saying something. On a normal crawler account, the license expires after nonpayment, but dead crawler accounts are bugged. When they assign the 'Deceased' status to crawler accounts, it turns off the need for payment but doesn't actually disable access."

"For real?"

"Shouldn't surprise you. Idiots and assholes run all of it." I laughed.

"Still. Seems like a giant oversight."

"Oh, you have no idea," Bip replied.

"This is one of their smaller fuckups."

"Really?"

"Yeah. If you end up being cool, I'll show you the tricks."

"That would be great." With an arm pump, Bip suddenly exclaimed, "Fuck yeah!" He read an address out loud for the rest of us to scout from our phones.

"This is a D-ranked gate," Bip added.

"Forty-five minutes is a little far, but I'm okay with it if you guys are."

"We're in," Abel said.

"Me too." With a nod, we hopped in our cars and sped out to the gate. I trusted that McDouglas and his team were close behind, like always. This particular location was entirely rural, and we had to park a bit farther away than usual. The isolation of the gate was a comfort, though, so no one seemed concerned about adding a ten-minute jog to our forty-five-minute drive. We paused at the gate, two red curtains tied shut in front of a double doorway, to catch our breaths. My phone dinged.

"Pizza night incoming! Explore pizza deals in your area!" My heart jumped. Someone had purchased the gate rights, which meant a chance at encountering crawlers on our way out. That was unlikely, but knowing it was a possibility sent adrenaline surging through my system. Bip cut the knot on the curtains and went inside. The rest of us followed. The inside of the dungeon was a mine of some kind. Wooden supports were spaced every dozen yards.

A set of minecart tracks ran down the middle, past a few piles of scrap wood and spools of dry-rotted rope.

"What kind of gate is this?" Abel yelled as we jogged deeper.

"Don't know yet," Bip answered.

"Fap, you recognize this?"

"I don't."

"Probably goblins," Bip added.

"Stay sharp." We reached an intersection in the mines. Bip didn't hesitate to continue running straight ahead, so the rest of us followed. A familiar fragrance reached my nose, like a mix between wet dog and laundry left to sour in a washing machine. But why was it familiar? Another intersection was ahead.

"Wait!" I yelled. I was too late. Bip and Abel crossed into the intersections as I called for them to stop. A blur of fur burst from a side passage, tackling Bip. A second darted at Abel, and the extra moment he had to react was enough for him to get his mace and shield up. He was still bowled over, but he was aware enough to defend himself and roll through the tackle and back to his feet. Bip, on the other hand, was blindsided. His body bent sideways at the hip from the force, and he dropped his sword.

"Dad!" Mr_Biceps screamed, not seeming to care about Bip.

"Werewolves!" I shouted. Two more monstrously sized wolves came out of the shadows. One came at Abel from behind and went low to sink teeth into his thigh. The other had a more humanoid form and pounced on top of Bip, joining the first werewolf that tackled and pinned the crasher. The one werewolf was still trying to get to Bip's throat, but an armored forearm was in the way. The second wolf met no resistance, however. Its yellow fangs bit into Bip's left triceps.

I put two arrows into the second wolf with Dual Nocking. Both sank into the meat of its thick neck. The pain got its attention, but it moved more like it was annoyed than injured. Shit. I continued pumping arrows while Cheddar and Mr_Biceps launched themselves at Abel's attackers. The wolf scratching at his throat took a sword to the back of the neck, caught entirely unawares. When it recoiled away, giving Abel a little bit of space, he brought an underhand strike with his mace up into the beast's jaw.

The crunch it made was like stomping on a glass cup. The monster crumpled to the ground. The two siblings ganged up on the second wolf gnawing at their father. It released Abel's leg to defend itself. Instead of a frantic lunge, however, it snapped its mouth shut at a distance, posturing, looking for an opportunity to strike. Abel, panicking, lurched to help Bip, who was down but still alive. His forearm was shredded, but he had kept one werewolf at bay. My arrows stalled the other.

Abel smashed that wolf in the back of the head and then yelled in pain as a werewolf bit down on his shoulder. The very first werewolf, the one that took a mace to the jaw, was still in the fight after all. I raised my bow to help, but the werewolf was smart. It put Abel in the path of my arrows and jammed sharp claws into the man's side, slipping through the seams of his platemail. Cheddar and Mr_Biceps, cut down their wolf when I wasn't looking. Now, I saw them hesitate.

They couldn't get to their dad without risking slicing him up in the process. Even in hindsight, I still can't tell you what gave me the idea. I activated Piercing Shot and aimed at Abel's shoulder. The arrow punched through the old man and into the mouth of the werewolf. Gagging and sputtering, it released Abel to try and pull the arrow free.

Instead of attacking the werewolf at his back, Abel threw himself forward, using his shoulder to knock the werewolf off of Bip while his children swung over his head to finish the wheezing monster. Abel bashed the last wolf in the face with the pommel of his sword, not stopping until its skull caved in on itself. All the werewolves were dead. If your only knowledge of werewolves comes from folklore, you might believe that lycanthropy is contagious.

While it's true it is an actual virus, it isn't compatible with Earth humans, so no crawler has ever caught it.

"We need to go," I said. No one argued.

"I can run," Bip said, squeezing his wounded forearm. I guess some pressure was better than no pressure, but his hand barely covered a third of the damage. Blood flowed freely, already forming a puddle. Cheddar ducked under his dad's shoulder to help him walk.

"Should we grab the crystals?" Mr_Biceps asked, looking at the werewolf corpses.

"Shouldn't take what isn't yours," a voice behind me bellowed. I turned. A party of crawlers blocked our escape.