Lovely Warfare

Chapter Two

After wasting two weeks outside of the game store and eating to-go meals dropped off by her mom, Emma finally stood outside with her hands on a brand new copy of Assassination Domination.

"Geez, the things you kids go through to get your hands on a new game," Her dad commented, having spent the past two weeks waiting with her.

"Let's go home."

During the entire ride home, Emma stared at the game in her hands, the words limited addition, written in clear golden letters beaming up at her. Her wish had finally come true, for the price of 1700 dollars.

"Thanks Dad," she said, hugging the game to her chest.

"Your welcome," he answered, pulling into the driveway.

Emma didn't wait for him to come to a complete stop, instantly throwing open the car door and darting out of the vehicle. It was a dangerous move but Emma was too excited to care.

Opening the front door she raced towards her bedroom and burst inside, instantly grabbing hold of the system and putting the game inside.

Vitro was a small contraption which had several small wires that hooked up to the computer and fit around the fingers and was attached to a headset that was the size of a headband.

Sitting down, Emma slid her fingers into the designated holes and put the headset around her head, making sure that it was comfortable and that it covered her eyes.

Pulling her chair close Emma laid back and relaxed, releasing slow and steady breaths as she pressed the side of her headset and turned it on.

Instantly, a blur of color flashed before her eyes and she could clearly see the big bubbly words of Vicro flash before her. Underneath it, tiny words texted out, Please insert your immersion set.

The immersion set was a pair of sound blocking headphones that, once attached to the headset, allowed the player to be inside of the game. Together, the two items blocked off certain signals and shock-waves sent out by the brain and made their own shock-waves that tricked the brain into thinking the game was reality.

Emma was prepared, and slipped on the immersion set that was sitting to her left and waited. The Vicro logo vanished to be replaced with the Assassination Domination logo; images of two assassin's, one male the other female in the act of killing two unsuspecting victims.

After the logo, the new game image popped up and the sound of intense battle music filled Emma's ears.

Without hesitation, Emma reached out her hand and touched it, her slender palm completely visible out in front of her.

A mod screen popped up asking her to choose her type of weapon. Naturally an in game sharp shooter, Emma chose a sniper riffle. After selecting her gear and receiving a few in game extra content for purchasing the game fresh off the shelf, Emma was finally able to play. She connected to the internet server and waited. 

Once the loading screen was complete,  her avatar was finally placed in the game and Emma was instantly amazed. Assassination Domination lived up to the hype it had received. The graphics were breathtaking and it took her a moment to take it all in. The sky was blue, a blue that seemed a hundred times more vivid than Emma had ever remembered and the surrounding buildings gave the atmosphere a much more ancient feel to it. When Emma looked around, she could tell that the other players were just as amazed as her. 

It seemed that everyone on the online server started out in the same place. From what Emma remembered from the book, Assassination Domination was about killing as many other assassins as one could before reaching the target; The king of Hira, Montio. The player who killed the most would be crowned winner of the game and would be given an unlimited amount of money, as well as the ability to become the king Montio themselves. By becoming king, their mission would be to protect their own life and get rid of as many assassins as possible to be given the golden achievement. 

As Emma looked around she was slightly annoyed about the lack of female players. Although she had expected there wouldn't be that many, she had hoped at least ten girls played along with her. She hated the idea of being the only girl since she would naturally be one of the first to get picked off. With that in mind, Emma retreated towards the back of the area hoping to remain hidden and give herself an advantage over the others by being able to pick them off instead. 

As Emma retreated, a quick glance around alerted her to the fact that other players also seemed to have the same thoughts as her and hid in very low places close to the ground. Most of them had close ranged weapons and a few had guns like hers. To avoid conflict with the smarter players, Emma entered one of the buildings and climbed up the stairs to station herself high where her sniper would best work. 

Setting her sniper up, Emma looked through the scope to scan the area below to make sure she had a clear sight of everyone. As she scanned the faces, she began counting. The game hadn't started yet but Emma felt it would be better for her to at least  have an estimate of the amount of competition she would be facing against. It took her twenty minutes to count two hundred and thirty. Emma knew that the limited edition copies only sold three hundred copies which left seventy others unaccounted for.

Emma clicked her tongue. That meant that the others must have hid like her and occupied the other surrounding buildings, or worse, her own building. Emma wanted to smack herself for forgetting a basic military tactic; secure your base and prepare for an ambush.

Moving from her spot, Emma turned around and began heading out slowly, descending the stairs carefully. Although the game hadn't started, if more people occupied her base of operation, when the game did begin they could kill her while she's preoccupied with the ones down below. She would have no choice but to make a temporary alliance. 

As soon as she came close to the bottom of the stairs, footsteps alerted her to another's presence, their feet moving back and forth as they paced the floor. 

She froze, her sniper held up. Then, she leaped out and pointed her weapon. Without warning her sniper was quickly grabbed and forced to the ground and before she could even react, a blade was thrust against her neck as a sweet voice said, "Even amateurs  know not to bring such a bulky gun to a knife fight." 

Emma's eyes widened as the girl's blue eyes did the same. 

"Emma?"  "Charlotte?"