Wandering through the night, we returned to the car, and Victoria opened the trunk of the Buggler once more. She reached in, rummaging through the boot of the car, as she pulled out a six-pack of blue coloured vials. She tore one from the packet, and handed it to me.
"That's a mana potion, it'll give you back about 50 points if you're running low," Victoria said. "I'll get you a health potion while you're at it. I don't bother buying stamina potions; if you're running low on stamina, then stop running around."
"Wise words," I replied mockingly, taking the mana potion from her grip. Staring across the grassy plains with the light from my lapel, the languid wind blew through the dying wildgrass, the grass slowly rustling with the whistles of the cold night air. It was peaceful, almost tranquil. It was kind of hard to imagine getting torn to bits in this ataraxic place, and yet the dog carcass still sat lifelessly, about two hundred metres behind us - a visceral testament to that very possibility. The serenity of the fields was like a siren's song, as it lulled you into a false sense of security: lulling you into the arms of death. As I stood there, looking out at the fields, Victoria thrust another bottle into my arms.
"There's the health potion," she said.
I stowed them both in my inventory, waiting with a sigh as she continued to rummage around in the back of her car. Finally, after a moment of searching, she pulled out three large pen-shaped objects with an orange top on one side and a tapering green end on the other. She handed them to me.
"Those are antidote auto-injectors," Victoria said. "If you're poisoned, pop the orange bit off the top to arm them, and slam the green bit into your leg to use it. Use them as quickly after you've been poisoned as you can; every point of health you lose is a dollar down the drain."
I grabbed them, putting them in my inventory with a nod. Finally, Victoria pulled out a large vest - throwing it over herself. Black and lined with pouches, it didn't seem like the sort of thing that would stop bullets, but with all the magazines sticking out of every part of it - I was damn sure it could hold them. She pulled a pair of submachine guns, cocking and loading them - before slamming the boot shut.
"Don't we get any armour or anything?" I asked. "It seems a little counter-intuitive, going out in the field with no protection like this."
"You got a spare five-hundred gold you wanna splash on that?" Victoria responded. "Because I sure as hell don't."
Victoria wandered with her submachine guns into the grass, and as I groaned, I followed along behind her - gripping my baseball bat closely. Our footsteps crunched against the dirt road, and as we stepped into the grass, we waded through the knee-high thickets as we stood alert. As we moved through the grass, I heard a faint rustle off in the distance. I pivoted to try and illuminate it with the clip-on light.
"You see something?" Victoria asked.
"I think," I replied. "I heard something off to the left over there, but I didn't see much."
"Well, go and kill it then!" Victoria replied. "Do I have to hold your hand for everything?"
I sighed, pushing through the grass as I looked down at my feet, careful that I didn't end up treading on any snake that was possibly lurking beneath the undergrowth. Victoria seemed to have a very strange definition of "holding my hand", I thought to myself, especially considering the fact that she was sending me out to be bloodied up by some snake - offering me literally only one potion to save me from being mauled to death. In my mind, there's a fine line between being frugal and stingy; Victoria seemed to fall firmly into that latter category.
As I grew closer, I could hear the rustle of the grass as something shifted about ten metres away from me, the grass displaced in a curving, snaking line as a long creature moved through it. It must've been one of the Serpentines. I readied myself, as Victoria stood back.
"Make sure to take it by surprise!" Victoria called.
That was kind of the plan, I thought to myself.
Gripping the bat, I slowly moved forward, brushing aside the browned grass stalks. I readied my bat, standing motionless. I waited, waited, waited for the perfect opportunity - and as the creature snaked closer, I slammed my bat down into the grass as it impacted with snakeskin.
The creature hissed horribly, raising its head from the grass as it arced its head up to face me. With yellowed eyes and thick brown skin, its head reached up to my eyeline - its horrid face staring into my own. Venomous fangs dripped with dark-green liquid as it opened its mouth, and from where I was standing, I could see down its throat. The inside of its mouth was painted with blood. It caked the inside walls of its mouth, down to its throat. As it loomed over me, I was reminded of what Victoria had said back when we saw the dog corpse.
She was right; it was a big fucking snake.
As it lunged toward me with its venomous fangs bared, I quickly fade-stepped through it, standing on its tail as I teleported to the other side of it. Tearing through the creature, it let out a loud hiss as I found myself behind it - queasy once more from the whole experience. I was not used to teleporting. As I turned, I quickly sent my baseball bat flying into the upright section of the snake's arcing body. It did little to faze the creature. Slithering around, it charged toward me - and as it went to bite me, I raised my baseball bat as if to parry it, and as its jaw lunged forward - its teeth impacted with the bat's metal surface. Staggered for a moment, I went to run forward and strike it once more with the bat, but as it reeled back - the snake regained its composure quicker than expected, and quicker than I could react, sunk its teeth into my arm.
"Holy shit!" I screamed, as I felt it clamp down upon the muscles in my left forearm. With its bite, I could feel a burning sensation creep through my arm as a green damage indicator snaked up into the air, the number 22 fizzling into existence before vanishing as soon as it arrived, dissipating into the air. As I stood there - I looked up at my health bar.
██████████ 85/107 HP (Poisoned ☠)
It hadn't taken too much out of me yet, at least, but I didn't want to stick around too long and see what that poison did.
I gripped my baseball bat, smacking it once more in the chest before fade-stepping once again through the creature. Landing shakily on the other side of the beast, I sprinted forward as I tried to escape it.
"Victoria! Distract it for me!" I screamed.
"Sure, whatever," I heard her groan.
Raising her right hand sub-machine gun to the beast, I could hear the repeated cracks of gunfire as she unloaded a clip into the beast... or, rather, around it. As she burnt through nearly half a mag and landed about three bullets into the snake, I got the distinct impression that she wasn't a very good shot. That didn't matter though; suppressing fire still worked a charm. As Victoria held the snake at bay, I reached into my inventory.
Item Retrieved
1 Antidote
Clutching the autoinjector with my snake-bitten hand, I tore off the safety cap with my teeth, and brought it down hard against my leg. I felt a slight pricking sensation as the needle entered, and a faint 1 fizzled up into the air from the impact point. I tossed the auto-injector aside as I turned my attention back to the snake. I took a brief moment to stare back up at my health bar.
██████████ 81/107 HP
The poison was gone, at least. That was a good sign. I looked over to Victoria, as she continued to strafe around the snake, firing her left hand gun as she ran.
"Oscar, get this thing off me!" She puffed, running. "I need to take a breather!"
"Can't you use a stamina potion!?" I yelled back mockingly.
"Fuck you!" She screamed. "Hurry up and get over here!"
I sighed, running back with my crimson-tainted bat in hand, charging toward the beast. The cracks of gunfire billowed across the field as the scent of gunpowder permeated the air, the muzzle flashes like firecrackers from the barrel of the gun. The beast looked worse for wear now, with puncture wounds streaking across its body. As I stared up at it, I reached into my inventory.
Item Retrieved
1 Empty Beer Can
Pulling out the beer can, I threw it into the air - and as it careered back down once more, I smacked the can with the bat, firing it like a projectile off the side of the beast. It pinged off the beast's flesh, doing little more than making it mildly discomforted, but that was all I needed. It turned its attention away from Victoria, instead looking toward me.
"Yeah, that's right!" I exclaimed, staring down the snake. "I'm not done with you yet, you son of a bitch!"
As I charged toward the snake, it went to lunge at me a second time - and as the creature struck forward, mere inches from impacting with my chest, I dissipated into the aether once more - reappearing in the air above it. As I fell, my momentum gathering, I gripped my bat tightly as I raised it above my head. The chilly midnight air rushed past my cheeks as I brought the baseball bat down, colliding with the snake's head. It let out a horrid hissing sound as it collapsed against the dirt, and as I fell, I landed flat on my face against the white skin of the snake. I groaned from the impact.
Fuck, that hurt.
Laying over the beast, I slowly brought myself to my feet as I brushed off my jacket. I felt pretty worse for wear, and I was already down one of my two Antidotes. I sighed. I'd only killed one snake, and yet, we had about fourteen to go. Considering how badly even just the one had bloodied me up, killing another fourteen seemed like a Herculean task.
"How the hell do you expect to kill fifteen of these things in one day?" I asked Victoria.
Staring out across the grassy field, her hair blowing against the wind, she looked out at the grass as she watched the rustling of the field - raising her finger as if to shush me. As I followed her eyeline, I saw the faint trace of three or four long figures, slithering through the grass, headed straight for us. They'd probably heard the gunfire before - but now, they'd caught the scent of blood from both me and the snake, and they were coming for it. They were charging straight toward us. As Victoria holstered her sub-machine guns, she extended her arms forward. Her hands glowed as she stood there, concentrating, aiming her palms toward the rustling of the grass.
"You're about to find out," Victoria replied.
