The Game landed on the three Guardians. Each of them took in the dark, swampy scene in a glance. "Dead Before Dawn," they said simultaneously. They exchanged a brief look.
"Are you sure Doctor MacHewlett made it into the Game?" Matrix asked Bob.
"Algernon and Binky picked up Wayne's medical kit right outside the Diner," Bob told him. "He had plenty of time."
"Why would a doctor enter a Game?" Matrix's eyes narrowed, and he took his gun off his hip. "That's not the kind of thing a doctor would do."
"Wayne's not exactly an ordinary doctor, Matrix," Bob said.
"And he might have the infection that's driving the entire Net random," Davic added.
"Wonderful," Matrix growled. He tapped his icon. "ReBoot!"
Bob glanced at Matrix's Game character and winced. "Uh, Enzo, your eye's hanging out."
"Happens every time I play this Game," Matrix muttered as he popped his right eye back into his head.
"I've never understood what kind of sick creature would come up with this kind of Game," Davic mused. He tapped his icon and rebooted into a rotted zombie dressed in rags.
"Me either," Bob agreed. He rebooted, then looked down at himself. "Yuck. I'm glad Dot—whoop!" His head fell off a mostly-rotted neck and landed in the mud with a splat.
Matrix picked up Bob's head and set it back in place.
"Gee, Bob, I've never seen you lose your head in a Game before," Davic teased.
"Very funny," Bob said sourly. "We should split up. Davic, you go find Wayne while Matrix and I deal with the User."
"Right." Davic swung Caen. The keytool tugged its Guardian into the swamp. "Stay frosty, Bob."
The Game sprites tightened their circle, and their moans took on a more urgent tone. Bony fingers brushed Wayne's jacket.
Wayne laughed hysterically. "That tickles!" He backhanded one of the skeletons, then grabbed another and swung it around in a mad jig. "You know what?" he told his macabre partner. His face was suddenly solemn. "I hate being tickled." He jerked the Game sprite off its feet and sent it tumbling into another pair of Game sprites.
"Doc!" Someone interrupted the dance.
Wayne stopped his dance to look at the intruder. "You spoiled it! That wasn't very nice."
Davic stared. "Doc, your eyes…"
"I've got two of them! Isn't that wonderful?" Wayne picked up the fallen skull of a Game sprite. "More than he's got, anyway." He tossed the skull over his shoulder.
"Caen! Restraint field." Davic pointed Caen toward the green-eyed sprite.
Wayne leaped, and landed in a crouch on top of a tall monument. "Can't catch me! Can't catch me!" He bounded off across the cemetery, throwing himself from headstone to mausoleum to fence in a series of airborne somersaults.
"Doc!" Davic swept a few Game sprites out of his way, and charged after Wayne.
Matrix hefted a box of ammo to his shoulder. "This is the last one, right?"
"Should be," Bob replied. "Once we get rid of that one—" he broke off as Glitch squealed. The keytool clicked and squawked. "What? Oh no. This is bad."
Matrix's heavy brows lowered. "How bad?"
"The User found the bonus level."
Matrix's eyebrows shot back up in surprise. "What bonus level? I've played this Game dozens of times, but I never found any bonus level."
"It's only accessible if you have the cheat code. He can get three more lives and the Bottomless Ammo Box down there."
"What?"
"When he gets up here, the User will have five lives and unlimited ammunition," Bob said bleakly.
"I guess we don't need to worry about getting rid of this stuff, then." Matrix set the ammo box down.
The tracks ended on the bank of a murky, gray-green river. Davic muttered a few curses that would have made Captain Capacitor's crew blush, then closed his eyes and stepped into the water. His feet slid on the slimy river bottom, and Davic reflexively jammed Caen into the mud and dragged himself back upright. Caen buzzed. "Hey, if I have to wade through this stuff, so do you," Davic growled. He probed the bottom of the river with Caen, testing his footing. "If you have a better idea, I'm listening,"
Caen jerked in Davic's hands, retracting. It folded itself into a neat T shape, then extended the arms of the T into two flattened rotors. A pair of handgrips unfolded from the leg of the T. The rotors began to spin slowly.
Davic grinned. "Now why didn't I think of that?" he asked as the spinning blades picked up speed.
Caen clicked a reply, then yanked its Guardian free of the mud and into the air.
"Be nice," Davic chided as the two of them soared over the river.
"Groovy," the User said as it clomped down the covered bridge.
"He really needs some new lines," Bob commented to Matrix. The two of them were crouched beside the rotten timbers that supported the end of the span.
The bridge creaked alarmingly as the User came closer.
"Now!" Bob said.
Each of them delivered a solid kick to the bridge supports, which snapped. The sprites leaped for the bank as the bridge gave way, dumping the User into the gray-green, greasy water that flowed sluggishly beneath it.
"Groovy," the User said again. It floundered in the water.
Several pairs of eyes rose from the water, and glided swiftly toward the splashing User.
Bob shoved his head back on straight, then turned to watch as the crocodiles attacked. "Ooh, that's gotta hurt."
"That's the idea," Matrix replied.
A wild shriek interrupted the conversation. Wayne leaped from a dead tree into the water, yelling, "Tally Ho! Tally Ho!"
Bob turned a little too fast, and his head fell off again, rolling down the bank toward the waiting crocodiles. "Matrix! Help!"
Matrix scrambled down the slope, narrowly escaping the snap of reptilian jaws, but his fingers closed just short of Bob's hair as Bob's head rolled into the water and quickly disappeared in the mud.
"Bob!" Matrix cried. He dodged another lunge from a crocodile and plunged into the river.
There was a great deal of splashing and hissing, then a mud-covered form rose from the water.
"Alas, poor Bob. I knew him well." Wayne gestured theatrically with his left hand while Bob sputtered in his right.
"Doc!" Davic dropped out of the sky, Caen folding back into a staff before the Guardian's feet touched the mud.
"Wayne?" Bob said, blinking filthy water out of his eyes.
A crocodile lunged out of the knee-deep river, and Wayne jumped aside. "What a naughty crocodile!" he said delightedly.
Matrix resurfaced, gasping for breath and struggling to hold a second crocodile's jaws shut.
The User reappeared on the bank, and glanced at the four mud-covered sprites. "Groovy," it said. Then it took off at a run.
"Bob! The User!" Matrix yelled as the crocodile dunked him again.
"What do you want me to do? Bite its kneecaps off?" Bob demanded.
"I'll get it!" Wayne sang. He dropped Bob's head and sloshed his way to the bank.
Davic dove, and caught Bob's head before it hit the water. He jabbed a crocodile in the side with Caen, then got to his feet and waded up the bank. "You owe me big time for this one, Bob." He put Bob's head back on the Guardian's body.
Bob put his hands on his face and twisted. "Davic, if we get out of this in one piece, you can borrow my car for a whole second if you want."
There was a wet smack and a yell. "I could use some help over here, guys!" Matrix bellowed. The crocodile rolled, plunging the sprite back into the frothy water.
"Glitch! Energy pulse!" Bob aimed the keytool on his left arm while supporting his head with his right.
The pulse hit the tussling pair as the crocodile threw its head sideways. Matrix jumped clear as the crocodile fell back into the water. The reptile's thick tail slapped uselessly at the water as the creature fought to throw off the effect of the energy pulse.
Matrix crouched on the muddy bank, panting hard.
"Matrix! Are you hurt?" Bob asked.
"I've been better," Matrix rasped. He put a hand to his side and breathed carefully. "I think it got a few ribs," he ground out.
"Bob, I hate to interrupt, but the User's headed for the cabin." Davic looked off in the direction the User had gone.
"And so is Wayne. This is bad."
"Very bad," Davic agreed.
"Let's get it over with, then," Matrix growled. He rose to his feet.
"Davic and I will handle this, Matrix," Bob told the cadet.
"You going to argue with me or go after the User?" Matrix staggered off toward the cabin.
Bob sighed. "Come on, Davic." He sprang into a run, quickly leaving Matrix behind.
Davic matched Bob stride for stride, and asked, "Why in the Net did you make him a cadet?"
"It seemed like a good idea at the time," Bob answered.