Chapter 12

  The math on this one was easy. Even if this worked out how we wanted it to, with Bear and I riding off into the sunset with Coot and the Gladiat0rZ, the soldiers and Redbriar Detective Agency would be right behind us. With the conflagration that the tents had become, we just became second priority.

  And sure, I was still thinking they were somehow working with The Colossal Paynes and burning down their beds might have sent a message.

  Bear’s tonic and Jemmy’s gum sure changed Bear's demeanor. He went from bleeding out of a hundred different little holes to being his most powerful self.

  As we ran up the stairs at the back of the war room, Jemmy and I stood back as Bear drew a hatchet for each hand and charged at the still oblivious soldiers shooting from the top of the wall at our companions.

  I almost felt bad for the soldiers closest to us. They didn’t even know why they were falling.

  That was about as far as we got before an explosion that we all felt as well as heard echoed across the battlefield. In the midst of the gangs attacking the back of the fort, a large pile of dirt and bodies flew into the air as a cannonball hit among them.

  That was when that thing that had been gnawing at me that Hayes had said finally clicked.

  “Wagons,” I said to Jemmy. “He said they had to call in the wagons. That must be cannons.”

  I drew my bolt action rifle and looked down the scope across the horizon. Sure enough, there they were. Just up a ridge that overlooked Fort Pine Hollow. The soldiers must keep the cannon wagons up there to pinch any attacking forces. With them playing Ewan MacGregor to my Haydens, this fight might be over sooner than I needed it to be.

  “They are going to get slaughtered,” I turned to Jemmy. “What do we do?”

  She ducked as bullets started slamming into us. We pulled away and ducked and pressed against the wall of the second floor of the war room. Bear was still pressing ahead, but more noticed now than before.

  Jemmy nodded to my rifle. “Snipe them or blow them up. That’s what we got.”

  I spun on the spot, looking for anywhere I could go that would give me a better shot on the cannon. Another boom told me that time was running out, at least for the flanking members of Gladiat0rZ.. There wasn’t much aside from the war room itself.

  “Boost me,” I holstered my rifle and pressed against the wall before lifting my leg. To Jemmy’s credit, she didn’t ask any questions, instead making a stirrup with her hand and lifting as soon as my foot touched her.

  I rolled onto the roof and stayed low. This might be the highest ground I have, but I was as much a sitting duck up here as I hoped the cannon would be for me.

  The roof had nothing on it and the lip of it mostly only existed as an afterthought. I had no real cover up here, so I stayed flat and tried to center my scope on what I could of the cannon.

  My party chat, as well as my individual chats, were blowing up. I mentally pushed them away to focus. No matter what they were saying, it wouldn’t affect anything I was doing up here except to distract me and let other folks die.

  I had several problems taking aim, with the first being that it was night. The world, even fictional, of the Wild West wasn’t one of light pollution and LED lanterns. This was the kind of night that made witches like Linda tell scary stories.

  My other problem was more personal. At my current level, I couldn’t purchase too many upgrades to my weapons. I only had the most basic scope on my rifle. EdtheMund’s rifle was likely high enough quality to make this shot a piece of cake, but even with my scope the cannon looked almost a mile away.

  Unfortunately, with limited visibility, I had to wait for the next cannonball to be fired.

  Someone figured out what my plan was, if the commotion below me was any indication. Jemmy was fighting someone up close, and it sounded like Bear was nearby as well. I needed to do this soon.

  “Come on,” I mumbled. I stared through my scope at the blackness of night trying to make out objects. The edge of the ridge was visible and I had a general idea of the placement of the cannon from the previous shot, so I kept looking in that area. Finally, I started to make out the outline of the wagon when they fired.

  Boom!

  The entire area around the wagon lit up, my auto-aim pulled the rifle only barely. I tugged up, and I tugged up just a hair.

  Then I fired.

  No notification came in.

  This text was taken from Royal Road. Help the author by reading the original version there.

  I tried to see any indication of the person behind the cannon and started to cuss as another explosion lit the night. I tried to use it to see my target before I realized it had been aimed in my direction.

  Throwing myself flat, the building rocked as the cannonball hit the wall beneath where I was standing. It would have wrecked this building in the real world, but here it only shook us and the force of the impact sent me sliding across the rooftop and almost back down onto Jemmy.

  It wouldn’t take long until the next shot, so I needed to move fast, but I still couldn’t see him.

  A flaming arrow sailed across my vision and landed in the ground about twenty feet in front of the cannon. It wasn’t much, but I could finally make out the silhouette of the cannon’s shooter.

  Alright, nothing fancy this time. I slid the bolt out and then back, reloading a round and then let the auto-aim take hold again.

  No playing around this time. I pulled the trigger.

  A red X appeared in my sights.

  +10 XP Kill

  No time to celebrate, I shifted my perspective and looked over the edge. I hadn’t been wrong. For some reason, Jemmy was grappling with a Redbriar agent right below me. I couldn’t see where Bear had gone.

  I put away my rifle and hung my pistol over the side. Two shots later, Jemmy was freed.

  She helped me down and we took cover behind the wall.

  “What now?” she asked me.

  “I’m mostly playing this by ear,” I admitted. “They are attacking the fort to get us out. We should do our best to make it easier on them. How’d you get in?”

  Jemmy pointed back toward the front of the fort. “Ed gave us cover while Ken threw a few sticks of dynamite at their main door. The door didn’t go down, but the dumb NPC’s weren’t expecting a full assault so the door wasn’t barred. We pushed through. Our group split up and I saw the door to that building so I ran in there to see if you were there.” She shrugged. “You weren’t, so I looted.”

  I tried to peek back toward the front, but couldn’t see a way to do that that didn’t blow our cover.

  I opened the party-only chat and ignored everything before what I needed to type now.

  Sammy#0421: I’ve got Jemmy with me. Lost Bear. We need an exit.

  D0C70RC007: It’s about time. Just shoot yourself and let’s get out of here.

  Panda_Bear_Polka: I’ve wasted at least 5 potions. Save us, or buy me new ones.

  D0C70RC007: Work toward the front. We’ll pinch their remaining group and exit. Cover your butts. Sending someone your way.

  Sammy#0421: Bear, where are you?

  Panda_Bear_Polka: On your left.

  I looked left and jumped almost right out of the entire game. While I had been distracted by the chat, Bear had rejoined us and was standing right next to me.

  I smacked him.

  Just as I smacked him, I was startled again as Winnie appeared to my right and just past Jemmy.

  I cursed and then smacked my granddaughter’s leg before hugging her. Anyone watching on any StreamTime’s she had going would see me hugging nothing, or Eve would cut it out. Likely the latter.

  Winnie was all over the place with the excitement of battle. She was a wartime journalist that couldn’t be killed by the war.

  She was rambling. I heard her say that when she logged back in we were already in shackles at Pine Hollow and Coot was already gathering our friends. She had been mostly managing the feed and checking on Bear and me. She couldn’t say anything to Coot, per her contract as our StreamTime manager, but she also didn’t need to. Coot knew where we were thanks to his minimap and it wasn’t like Winnie could talk to us when we had the shackles on.

  Either way, it was interesting to know that she could get between us with seeming ease. If we could figure a way around her communication clause in her contract, that could be invaluable on future missions.

  Geeze, I thought. Was that the kind of gamer I was? Trying to figure out how to get my granddaughter to pass me the cheat codes?

  It wasn’t the same, though, was it? If you felt and experienced everything going on, and had an opportunity for an advantage why wouldn’t you take it?

  Now wasn’t the time for more of my digital existence philosophy.

  Bear led the way back down, through the war room and out to the courtyard where horses were bursting through the open door to Pine Hollow.

  I let out a sharp whistle and was rewarded by a horse icon running across the map just outside of the fort.

  Horse skidded to a halt just past me and near a wall for cover. While I might have not always appreciated that my horse was also an intelligent person, moments like these outnumbered the others.

  My companions had the same idea and their own horses had began skidding to a stop next to us as I mounted Horse and pulled out my pistols.

  “You steer,” I shouted to him. “I’ll shoot.”

  “No, me steed,” Horse chuckled through wheezing breaths before taking off.

  My eyes didn’t have time to roll as a sudden weight landed behind me on Horse and arms wrapped around my waist.

  “What the -” I started and then saw that it was Linda.

  “Not her,” Horse started shaking his head in that wobbly way that horses did. “She stinks worse than I do.”

  “Shut up and get,” Linda shouted at Horse.

  I aimed my gun over my shoulder at her and eyed her as best I could. “Only I get to tell him to shut up. Say another rude word to my friend and your ride ends here.” I turned back to Horse.

  “We gotta go, bud,” I said. “She helped me, let’s get her out of here and worry about it later, alright?”

  He huffed but didn’t say another word.

  I sent a quick chat to my boys and then Horse galloped through the flaming doors of Fort Pine Hollow and into the night.

  I fired a few shots, but there wasn’t much to do as we escaped.

  Instead, I wondered back to that notification that I had seen when Dalton Hayes had died.

  It had given me credit for a Player Kill.