Chapter 5: Ready Player Two
In which a bystander gets in way over his head.
BrainsBrainsBrains: does sunday night work for you guys?
xXCrashNebulaXx: i'm good
MaximumCarnage: works for me
FluffySockPuppet: saturday better
FluffySockPuppet: but sunday ok
BrainsBrainsBrains: all in favor then?
MaximumCarnage: except knight
BrainsBrainsBrains: knight you up for sunday?
BrainsBrainsBrains: knight you there?
BrainsBrainsBrains: knight?
FluffySockPuppet: knight?
MaximumCarnage: knight?
xXCrashNebulaXx: knight?
Dragon_Knight1337: wHAT
MaximumCarnage: he lives!
FluffySockPuppet: its alive! ALIVE!
xXCrashNebulaXx: lmao
BrainsBrainsBrains: knight. sunday for dnd
Dragon_Knight1337: sry. cant make it
BrainsBrainsBrains: aw come on! i just made new dungeon
MaximumCarnage: blood rvvver?
MaximumCarnage: *river
BrainsBrainsBrains: yea
MaximumCarnage: cool. i remember your notes on that location
Dragon_Knight1337: sry guys. bday party for my sis. cant miss it
xXCrashNebulaXx: damn. we gonna be slaughtered without a tank. reschedule?
FluffySockPuppet: saturday
MaximumCarnage: i cant
FluffySockPuppet: oh so we either lose our tank or our main dps? come on cam!
MaximumCarnage: sorry. busy
FluffySockPuppet: cAmeRoN
FluffySockPuppet: dont be lame
MaximumCarnage: put a sock in it, sock! i have work
xXCrashNebulaXx: lets try to pick time that works for everyone
MaximumCarnage: later. gotta run or miss my copy of goldeneye
BrainsBrainsBrains: lol. bond fanboy 4ever
Dragon_Knight1337: then why r u still here? godspeed bro!
MaximumCarnage has left the chat.
He really should start paying more attention to time, Cameron Adams thought as he ran to the game store.
Being late for classes was one thing. College professors were far more lenient about attendance than school teachers had been, so as long as he got decent grades and completed all his assignments, the occasional tardiness was fine. And working as a freelancer in computer repair, he was paid for the finished job, so he didn't need to worry all that much about schedules.
But missing on a game that he had been waiting on for ages just because he lost track of time chatting with his friends? Unforgivable.
He glanced at his watch and cursed under his breath. That particular store always closed early and he had only ten minutes left! He would never get there in time!
Except… Wasn't that alley right next to him a shortcut that led straight to the store?
Cameron bolted into the narrow dirty alley, hoping that he was remembering it right. Running into a dead end was the last thing he needed…
Unfortunately, a dead end was far from the worst thing to be encountered in a grimy, deserted place like this.
Cameron turned around the corner and skidded to an abrupt halt. He felt his stomach drop at the sight of a very unfriendly-looking gang, all of them armed with knives, who had surrounded a teenage girl, probably intending to rob her.
He should leave. Run away before the gang noticed him and attacked him too.
Cameron was scrawny and not very tall, looking much younger than his real age of nineteen. He had no experience in fighting other than some self-defense classes, which would do him no good when he was completely outnumbered and outgunned.
But running away would mean leaving that girl alone to her fate. Cameron would never forgive himself if he let someone get hurt when he could've helped instead.
No matter how much it terrified him.
"Hey! Leave her alone!" Cameron shouted. He wasn't a fighter, but he could at least be a distraction.
The four thugs turned towards him as one, but the girl didn't use that chance to escape. She remained leaning against the wall, with her arms wrapped tightly around her chest and stomach.
Was he too late? Did that gang already hurt her?
Cameron could see something between the glossy black folds of her jacket. Something disturbingly red.
Was– was she bleeding? Did they stab her?!
"Go away, moron!" one of the gang members sneered. "Run back to your mommy!"
"Drop your wallet first!" another ordered.
"You think this brat has any money?" the first one scoffed. "He's probably still in school."
"Why don't we check anyway?" the third one asked.
"Run!" the girl gasped out.
"I'm not leaving you with them!" Cameron shouted back.
His voice trembled in fear as two thugs approached him. Both were taller than him and far bulkier.
It looked like all he did was give them another victim, Cameron thought bitterly, because the girl seemed in no state to run away, especially when two other thugs remained next to her.
One of them scoffed, "Who do you think you are? Spider-Man? Stupid brat."
Spider-Man dropping by would've been really nice, Cameron thought hysterically as he slowly backed away. But, apparently, the hero was busy at the moment.
It was just the two of them: an injured girl and a guy who had no idea what he was doing.
His back hit the wall and Cameron froze. He– he didn't even notice when he had backed himself into a corner.
"Well, brat?" one of the thugs demanded with a nasty smirk as he twisted a knife between his fingers. "Are you gonna keep playing hero like an idiot or are you gonna give us your money, so we don't have to cut ya?"
He should've complied. Cameron was clearly no match for them and losing money was better than losing his life. But then the injured girl groaned in pain and slid down to her knees, reminding Cameron that he wasn't there alone.
And that she needed help far more than he did.
Cameron lunged forward, taking the man in front of him by surprise, and kneed him straight in the crotch. The man doubled over with a howl of pain, dropping his knife, and Cameron bolted past him.
But the other one was faster. He grabbed Cameron by the collar of his shirt and yanked him backwards, slamming him into the wall.
"I'll make you regret that, you little fucker!" the first man yelled, raising his knife again.
But before he could bring it down, a loud, animalistic roar cut through the air.
The injured girl rose back to her feet. Her black jacket writhed like a living thing: it crawled and dripped like tar to envelop her entire body in a glistening mass of oily black. When it covered her face, the mass lightened in two spots, forming white eyes. And then it split open to reveal a wide maw full of sharp fangs and a long tongue dripping with saliva.
"…What the fuck is that thing?" Cameron heard one of the thugs whisper in horror.
The monster roared again, then grabbed the two closest to her and tossed them away like yesterday's trash.
"I– I ain't dealing with that!" the third one screamed and tried to run.
The monster caught up to him in a single leap and bashed his head into the wall, knocking him out.
Then she doubled over and fell to her knees with another groan of pain.
There were drops of red on the glossy black surface of her skin. And those drops were growing.
"If it can bleed, it can die," the remaining thug hissed.
He tossed the knife into his left hand and pulled out a gun with his right, aiming straight at the already injured monster.
"No!"
Cameron lunged at the man, throwing off his aim, and clutched his arm, trying to twist the gun out of his grip. That girl, whatever she was, had saved him. He wasn't going to let that guy shoot her!
He had forgotten about the knife.
The pain blazed in his stomach, worse than anything he had ever experienced in his life. It hurt so much, Cameron couldn't even scream. He only wheezed, struggling to draw air into his lungs.
His legs could no longer support him and he fell to the ground, staring in horror at the blood soaking through the front of his shirt. He pressed on the deep wound in his stomach with a sob of pain, but the blood refused to stop.
He was going to die, Cameron realized with cold dread.
He was only nineteen and he was going to die in this dirty alley just because he had wanted to do the right thing.
The pain was unbearable, but V lunged forward with the last drops of their strength. They crushed the gun in their hand and tossed away the last thug, knocking him out too.
Then they collapsed, melting off Leslie's body in a shapeless puddle.
They had no idea how they had found the strength to transform in the first place, but it was gone now.
"Leslie, get us closer," V whispered, staring at the teenager bleeding out in front of them. "We have found a host for the child."
"Are you sure?"
"Yes. He wanted to help us, despite the danger. He will be a good host. And if he doesn't bond with the child, he will die."
Leslie raised herself on trembling arms and crawled closer, staining her hands in blood. "Can't you heal him yourself, V?"
"No, I won't be strong enough. Not so soon after separating. The child is his only hope."
V could feel the child, who was almost completely separate, writhe in distress. If V had been currently capable of smiling, they would have. Their child was not even bonded yet, and they were already worried about their host.
Leslie pulled herself over the unconscious teen. Her chest and stomach were dripping with the red mass of the new symbiote.
And with the last stab of pain, they separated fully and plunged into the wound, melding with the body of their new host.
His entire body seized, then relaxed. The bleeding stopped as the newborn child began their work.
"We can't stay here," Leslie whispered.
No, they couldn't. But with the child separate, V was no longer in debilitating pain. They would need more time to recuperate before they could pull off anything more complicated, but they were quite capable of getting all four of them out of this alley.
V wrapped themself tighter around Leslie, cradled the child and their new host in their tendrils, and quickly climbed to the roof.
No one would disturb them here and they could finally get some much needed rest.
Fate was a strange thing: a string of choices and accidents, intertwined together in a tangled web of coincidence and inevitability.
A flutter of a butterfly wing could cause a hurricane. A single snowflake could bring down an avalanche.
A right person in the right place at the right time could change everything.
Madame Web smiled. The future was looking brighter than ever.
