Four Bleedings and a Funeral - Kate & Beastie Adventure #3

Chapter 8

"It's the damn Greens," the red warrior muttered loudly, charged-particle crossbow shifting dangerously in his arms. "Should we shoot? They weren't cleared to be in the center of the map."

The contingent of green reinforcements had just come into view, two of them on each side of the eastern second floor hallway, slowly picking their way through the various obstacles and traps intended to turn the place into a killing field for any massed attack.

The other red, a mage, looked them over, and replied, "Let's see what they're here for." She liked being in command, even if it was just command of a scrub player left behind to guard a chokepoint while the real team went off to work on the final challenge. Neither of them had any seniority in the guild, but there's always a pecking order, and at least she wasn't at the bottom.

She called out, "Hey. Stop right there. This is Red territory. What do you Greens want?"

The lead green held up his hands to show he was unarmed. "We here to guard place, you get to join rest of Red team on third level. We not allowed to fight now. We do something wrong, is guess."

Inwardly, the red smiled to herself at the thought of being allowed to end this thankless assignment. To the Greens, she scowled and said, "We're not allies. This is Red territory. On whose authority do we just hand it over to you?" She hoped they had a good answer, because she really, really, really wanted to go join the front line team and be part of the victory.

"We don't know. Maybe you go ask?" was the unhelpful response.

The red warrior was fidgeting, which was never a good sign. "There's something wrong with their faces," he said, studying the three Greens as they waited. "At some point we'll have to kill all the other teams, you know. These are all that's left of the Green team. How about we just shoot them as trespassers?"

"No. Their turn will come, right after all the Blues are dead. Our leadership has said that's how it will be, over and over, since the event started. Do you want to explain how you couldn't follow a simple order like that?" There was no response. "As far as these guys go, I'll.." she paused, gathering her nerve with a gulp, "check with the team lead."

"Better you than me," said the first red, again watching the Greens for any false movements. He waited for the go ahead to be given, either to open fire or hand over the position. The greens stood carefully, making no sudden moves that could be used as an excuse to kill them. This was taking too long. Really, really too long. Okay, how long does it take this woman to ask a simple question?

"Hey, what di-" he said, turning towards her, his voice going still once it had become clear that something very bad had happened.

Something so bad, in fact, that it was about to happen to him, too.

The Greens watched quietly as the events quickly unfolded in front of them. After a few moments, the elevated stand where the two Reds had previously monitored their approach was now home to a single bovosaur, smiling evilly as he snapped a bloody garotte.

"Way to go, Beastie!" I yelled, dropping the yellow corpse I had been carrying, and returning my nametag to its normal blue.

Grovenk dropped his, as well. "No one said the corpses would be able to talk to me!!" he yelled angrily.

"I'm sure Myst didn't know," Chalis said lightly, an additional yellow corpse appearing at her feet. She was wrong; I knew. "Let's forget it ever happened, shall we? Mine said the most awful things. Thank heavens for my profanity filter."

To be honest, my corpse had been kind of funny. Might look her up later. "As long as we're complaining, Gro, that "stupid monster" act was very offensive. You should be ashamed. Only full Ogres get to make fun of themselves, you know."