3:30 P.M.

At the West Gate, the portcullis had been lowered, and the fire outside had burned down to a significant but controlled blaze. Rachal and Volta sat together behind a concrete barrier. Elias had left to find a bathroom to clean the blood off his face and see the extent of his head wound. Pixie was talking with some of the NPC officers in the gatehouse. Tantalus was speaking to various players and NPCs who had played major parts in the defense of the West Gate. At that moment, Tantalus was speaking to a player who had stolen an orc's sword and used it to kill six Deluvians. Three corpses were laid out in a line next to a nearby concrete wall.

There was an atmosphere of solemnity at the Gate. Most of the defenders had been present at GM’s speech, and they knew that this incursion, which they had barely survived, was the result of a passing whim of their deranged robotic jailor. For the first time since they had logged in, many people were starting to realize that their lives were seriously in danger.

Rachel and Volta had both sustained injuries during the fight. Rachel had been shot in the chest, and Volta had been shot in the shin. Volta was rubbing her leg where she had been shot as if she was reliving the pain of the wound.

“Did you hear?” asked Volta. “It apparently went even worse at the other two Gates.”

“It’s a good thing we had Tantalus then,” Rachel said with a faint smile. Once again, she was trying to look at the bright side.

“Eight dead at the East Gate, six at the North Gate,” said Volta. “Think about it. That fight we just survived was a success. I don’t even want to imagine what it was like at the other two Gates.”

“I wonder how Dendrite, Enzo, and Redgrave are doing,” said Rachel.

Volta stared blankly into the middle distance for a few moments before saying, “Rachel, you were hit during the fight, weren’t you?”

“Yes.”

“What did it feel like for you?” asked Volta.

“It was the worst pain I’ve ever felt,” said Rachel, “but it went away as soon as I healed the damage.”

“When I was shot, I could feel the bullet shatter my bone. It felt like the world had ended. The pain was the only thing that existed. It hurt so much that I completely forgot I could heal myself. It must have been more than a minute before I healed myself. If I had been shot somewhere more vital, I’m sure I would have gone into shock before I could heal myself. That’s probably what happened to Bebop,” Volta said. “At that moment, I realized just how fragile our bodies are.”

“That sounds terrible,” said Rachel. “I’m sorry that happened to you.”

“Thanks,” Volta said, holding back tears. “It’s just… I feel like I’ll die if I stay on the front line for much longer. It’s only a matter of time before I take a bullet to the head and die instantly.”

“You don’t have to keep fighting if you don’t want to,” Rachel said kindly. “I’m sure plenty of players will make their way as non-combatants.”

Elias, Tantalus, and Pixie approached the two women. Elias’s left eye had fused shut, and it was clear that the socket no longer held an eyeball. Tantalus’s expression was grave, and the other two members of his entourage looked worried.

“Tantalus says he has some information, and he wants us all to be together when he tells us,” Elias said. Elias’s voice betrayed a barely-suppressed anxiety. He knew that the news could not be positive. Rachel and Volta stood up from the ground and prepared themselves for Tantalus to speak. A pit formed in Rachel’s stomach, and a moment later, her fears were confirmed.

“Enzo and Dendrite are dead,” said Tantalus without fanfare. “I just received the message from Redgrave.”

A look of shock appeared on Eias’s face, and Volta put her hand to her own mouth like she was about to throw up. Rachel had frozen in place as if the weight of the world around her had suddenly become too much to bear.

“Are you sure? Did you retrieve their bodies?” Elias said loudly. There was an accusatory tone to Elias’s voice, as if he was accusing Tantalus of telling him false information.

“Redgrave says he’s sure that both of them are dead,” said Tantalus. “He’s on his way here now. You can ask him for the specifics once he gets here.”

“Well…” Elias said. “When will he get here?”

“Less than five minutes,” said Tantalus, “assuming he took a car.” Within a few minutes of saying this, Redgrave appeared from behind one of the many cars trapped in the pileup near the West Gate. “Speak of the devil, and he shall appear,” Tantalus whispered to himself.

Redgrave approached the group. His blue uniform was stained with red. Evidence of bullet and sword wounds marked Redgrave’s outfit from collar to ankle. It was clear that he had been hit nearly a dozen times, and the amount of blood on his clothing confirmed the tale. Redgrave slowly approached the group while using the various concrete barriers on the way over as support. Tantalus ran over and used his shoulder to support Redgrave on the latter half of the trip. Elias looked like he was ready to explode in anger before Redgrave had appeared, but his anger fizzled considerably upon seeing the state Redgrave was in.

Upon sitting down, Redgrave began to speak, “I’ll explain what happened as long as nobody has a problem with that…” After a moment of silence, Redgrave continued to speak. “So, here’s what happened. Mander showed up about a minute into the fight, and he said we should burn the buildings near the Gate. VK, Dendrite, and I volunteered to do the job. While we were gone, they hit the towers to each side of the Gate with artillery. Enzo was on one of the towers. Enzo survived the bombardment, but he lost so much blood healing himself that he couldn’t heal the next injury he took. The Deluvians launched an attack immediately after the bombardment, and that’s where Dendrite died. Dendrite got hit too many times. He lost too much blood. I was there when he fell. The last thing he did before he died was hand me his dog tags.”

At this, Redgrave held up Dendrite’s dog tags. Redgrave said, “VK and I had to leave him there.” Redgrave’s voice broke as he told the story. “We had both lost so much blood that we could barely stand, and the fire was almost on us. We… we couldn’t retrieve the body.” Dendrite's dog tags read:

ꦕꦞꦗ’ꦕꦜꦗꦖ

“You just left him there!?” Elias shouted.

“Elias…” Volta gasped through tears.

“He could have still been alive!” Elias continued to shout. “And you left him there to burn! He relied on you, and you left him to die! Did you view him as so worthless that you couldn't even bother dragging him a few yards?

Redgrave opened his mouth to explain himself, but Tantalus interjected. Tantalus shouted, “You’re out of line, Elias! If Redgrave could have saved Dendrite, he would have. If Redgrave had tried to save him, they both would have died. As it stands, I’m happy that Redgrave had the good sense to get out of there while he still had the chance.”

“You’re happy that Dendrite is dead!?” Elias shouted. Elias then took a few quick steps toward Tantalus who did not move from his position. Tantalus looked up at Elias whose face was now a mere foot from his own. Elias’s fists were clenched, and Tantalus’s body language indicated that he was ready for a fight.

“Are you about to start swingin’, cyclops?” Tantalus said, throwing fuel on the fire. “If you are, I can tell you right now that the fight won’t end the way it ended with Enzo. Come on, hit me.”

Tantalus was smiling, trying to provoke a response from Elias. Tantalus had been feeling a deep anger ever since he had heard the news that seventeen people had died at the Gates. Ashcroft had told all of Osiris that Tantalus was the Great Strategist who would create a perfect strategy that would allow the players to beat the game easily. Now that the situation turned out to be more challenging than originally anticipated, Tantalus knew that he would be blamed. Another part of Tantalus wondered what he could have done to prevent further deaths. Maybe Tantalus could have prevented a few deaths at the North and East Gates if he had thought to micromanage the defenders at those Gates. Tantalus welcomed the opportunity to alleviate his anger and sorrow by viciously beating someone in an act of justified self-defense.

“Stop it,” said Volta. “Hasn’t there been enough fighting for one day?”

“But…” said Elias, but he was cut off.

“Both of you just stop, please,” Rachel said.

After a tense moment, Elias and Tantalus broke away from one another.

“I think we all need a break,” Tantalus began. “I’ll stay here to hold down the fort, and Redgrave will stay here with me ‘cause he can barely walk. The rest of you go get some food or… just do something other than fighting for your life.” Tantalus’s back was turned to the group as he spoke.

Elias opened his mouth to speak but stopped short. Instead, he squared his shoulders and walked away from the group. Pixie began to follow Elias, but she was stopped short by Tantalus speaking.

“Pixie,” said Tantalus, “could you bring back some food for Redgrave and me? Preferably something with a lot of iron.”
“Will do,” said Pixie, turning back to Tantalus for a moment before following after Elias.

Rachel and Volta followed soon after Elias and Pixie. None of them were in a particularly good mental condition as they left. Rachel was catatonic, Volta was inconsolable, Elias was apoplectic, and Pixie was worried.

A minute after the last of them disappeared behind the car pileup, Tantalus punched a concrete wall as hard as he could. A loud crack could be heard as one of Tantalus’s finger bones broke. Some of the damage was quickly healed, but some bruising remained as Tantalus only healed himself half of the way. A lingering pain remained in Tantalus’s hand.

Tantalus took several deep breaths as he tried to get his emotions under control. He turned to Redgrave and said, “Let’s go find somewhere more comfortable to sit.”

Redgrave gratefully accepted Tantalus’s shoulder as the two wounded men began to hobble toward the officers’ quarters of the West Gate.

[Elias777]