Exodus: Guns & Gore - Chapter 11

Chapter 11






Breeze was sitting in QJ's desk when he walked into the classroom. She was chatting with Lotte, they both looked up when he came in.

"Speak of the devil." Breeze bounced up and stepped to one side.

"Talking bad about me?" QJ plopped down and opened his hud, he zoomed in on the top floor of the tower they had just left. "There are three 15 level sub-bosses at the top of this tower. Take those out and the Tower boss spawns. Check out this loot table."

"What's with all the slinger drops?" Breeze frowned at the lack of tanking gear.

A knock on the classroom door drew their attention. Two students wearing the green jacket of third years stood respectfully in the doorway. "I bet your pardon, are you QJ?"

Breeze smiled, "Twins... handsome too. Hey guys, yes I'm QJ. What can I do for you?"

Both QJ and Lotte laughed at her serious expression.

"Ignore her guys. What can I do for you?" QJ had never seen either one of them before. "Oh... IM badges, you're from Iron Mount?"

Breeze smiled pleasantly at them as they walked in. "Sword users? That sounds fun."

"I'm Lox and this is my brother Coltrane." The one name Lox wore a black armband signifying that he was the class leader.

"Nice to meet you, I'm QJ, this is Breeze and Lotte." QJ couldn't help but smile at the brothers, they were exceedingly polite for two such large guys. They were nearly as tall as his dad and thick as oak trees. Their black hair was trimmed short, muscles bulged out of their uniforms.

"Let's get right to it, we'll both give you a hundred points if you'd look something over for us." Coltrane brought up his hud for QJ to look at.

QJ glanced at the hud, "This some sort of War Game?"

Lox nodded, "we aren't the best at developing strategies, but we can follow them seamlessly."

"150 points each, Bring me a few VRPs of real matches. As well as a briefing on the standard tactics." QJ smiled up at the two behemoths.

Lox nodded. "Done, when and where?"

"Half an hour, Songbird Tavern."

Breeze watched them walk out and then whistled, "300 points to watch a few matches? Let's split it!"

"Denied."

Slowly the Freshmen GnG class started to filter in, everyone was talking about their morning. Ringo was the last to arrive.

"Great job this morning." She brought up a 3-D map of the Exodus Academy and highlighted a sparsely wooded area. "For those who haven't been to our Equestrian center, it's located here. We'll meet there after lunch, bring your mounts if you have one."

***********

Lox, Coltrane and a girl QJ didn't know were waiting near the back of the line at the Songbird.

QJ waved when he saw them. "Sorry, the class ran a bit late today."

Lox waved it off, "are we eating here?"

QJ nodded, "yep, follow me."

Robin was on door duty again, her face lit up when she spotted QJ. "Hey QJ!" She stood on her tiptoes and kissed him on the cheek, before glancing at his group. "Four for lunch?"


"Yep, thanks Robs." QJ lead them inside and sat down at the reserved table near the bar.

Coltrane was staring at the stage where Ren was playing something soft on her flute. She still used the one that Q had given her years ago, a simple silver flute made by Bo Jangles.

"What can I get for you guys?" Lark had arrived suddenly at the table, QJ suspected that she had been stealthed. The quiet Songbird changed her hair color every month, this months color was a pale green.

QJ looked up from the brief Lox had sent him. "Just bring a pitcher of Beer and a bunch of cheeseburgers please."

Lark stared at him, her arms crossed in front of her impressive chest. "Should you say something to me?"

"Sorry, heya Lark." Ever since she had started dating Ren, Lark made it her mission to get to know QJ better. She had taken him quite a few places in Exodus over the past few years.

Lark nodded, "that's a bit better. Your order will be right up, enjoy your lunch."

QJ studied the layout of the War game, "this is called Captured?"

The girl who hadn't spoken nodded, "I'm Fora. This is a team game with two teams of 10 players."

"Wait." QJ interrupted her, "did you say your name is Fora?"

The blond haired girl nodded, she wore two pigtails that made her look very young. "My mom used to play TAP quite a bit, apparently I was named after a place there."

Lark had come up with a pitcher of beer and was pouring while the girl was talking. "I love that. Fora you are welcome in the Songbird anytime."

Fora blushed slightly, "thank you."

"Okay so two teams of 10, what else?" QJ grabbed his beer and took a long drink.

"The field is diamond shaped. On the north and south ends are the team HQs. In the center, east and west are the contested bunkers. During matches, they are regularly called middle, east, and west."

QJ was looking at the rules, "oh... this is a pvp match?"

"Fora nodded, "you respawn immediately at your teams HQ if you are killed. It's normal to die a half a dozen times during a single match."

"If I understand it, hold your HQ. Losing that is an immediate loss. The center bunker is worth 20 points and the side bunkers are 15." QJ opened a match on his hud, fast forwarding it so he could watch the different strategies. "This is one of your matches?"

"Yes, that was against the GnG class." Fora frowned, "we never beat them."

Lox put a hand on her shoulder, "we've come close a few times. Just bad luck, that damn Nina loves to rub our faces in it when she wins."

QJ grinned at the mention of her name. "Nina runs the game for the GnG class?"

Fora frowned, apparently the purple haired girl wasn't too popular with the other classes. "Yes. A match lasts 15 minutes. The points are tallied at the end."

QJ scratched his head as he considered it, "why not wait until the end to make your move then?"

Lox zoomed in the hud they were watching. "The middle, east and west bunkers have automated defenses. These engage once you assume control. The longer you have control, the more effective the defenses become."

"How does the academy mitigate the differences between the game classes?"

Fora brought up the weapon loadout for the game. "DPS can be range or melee. Range dps use a rifle or bow. Melee dps uses a Bataan. They have the exact same specs. Tanks equip shields and use a club weapon. Two players from each team can use stealth generators and two players from each team can deploy drones that are capable of crowd control (cc)."

"What about the heal classes?"

Fora switched back to the match they had paused. "Heal classes assume either dps, stealth or cc."

"Is there a requirement for team structure?"

Fora nodded, "one dps, one tank, and one cc. The rest is up to your preference."

QJ watched the matches while they ate their lunch and talked. "All three of these matches are with the third years from GnG?"

Lox nodded, "the purple-haired fiend is our nemesis."

QJ laughed at the term. "She uses one of three strategies every time, depending on what you are doing."

Fora closed her hud, "any ideas?"

"Well... I can tell you how to beat her one time. The strategy won't work after she knows what you are doing."

The three students from Iron Mount all smiled at him.

***********

"You have a talent for making horse biscuits Scorch." QJ wacked him on the hindquarters with his open hand. He could hear Lotte laughing from the next stall.

She peeked the top of her head over the stall. "You have been feeding him too many carrots."

"Huh? I never give him carrots. He likes snowcones actually, the red ones. He hates the blue ones."

Lotte flung a handful of hay over the wall. "You don't feed him snowcones."

"Don't I?" QJ closed the stable gate and waited for Lotte to catch up. "Want to come over for some barbeque tonight?"

Lotte pursed her lips, "okay, but not too long. Those damn slingers from Old Skool are crazy levelers."

They crossed the courtyard and made their way to the front entrance. Lotte pointed toward the clocktower, "she's getting ready."

"Hmm? QJ turned to see Maya mounted on a sleek brown filly. "This is her last chance."

When they entered the class, Ringo and Dessi were chatting next to the open windows. Their teacher waved them over. "Watch with us, we'll head over to the Equestrian center after."

Dessi was watching her student. "I hope she makes it this time."

QJ crossed his fingers. "Me too."

The courtyard was filled with shouts of encouragement. Many of these students had seen at least one of her prior attempts. Unlike QJs run, there were no catcalls or name calling. Maya was a student that most people liked and looked up to.

QJ heard the start and watched as the brown horse took off. "She has great acceleration."

All the students were hanging out the windows of their class cheering as Maya approached the first turn. She leaned in nicely and recovered her pace quickly. Coming off the turns is where Scorch dominated, his raw power enabled him to attack. It was this power more than anything that enabled him to finish with more than a bell to spare.

QJ pounded on the window ledge when they flew by. "Two turns left, she still has juice. Let her run Maya."

The brown horse accelerated in a long curve coming off the tight turn, Maya kept the reins loose, the filly straightened out and flew down the straightaway toward the last turn.

Dessi gripped the window sill with both hands. Maya had been her student for three years. "Come on Maya... "

Ringo watched calmly, listening for the bells. At this time during QJs run, it was already obvious that he was going to make it. "It's going to be close."

Maya leaned into the last turn, keeping low she let her horse drift slightly as the filly gave one last burst of speed closing on fast on the finish in a blur of brown.

The 12th bell seemed to sound right when they flashed past the tower. Silence followed the end of the race.

Dessi's eyes were wet with tears, "did she make it?"

Maya froze for an instant and then raised both hands over her head in victory after she received notification that she had won the 12 bell challenge.

The courtyard erupted in cheers. The students clapping and cheering wildly for the third year GnG student.

"YES!" Dessi raised her hands in victory, she hugged Ringo while jumping up and down.

QJ and Lotte were still clapping when Maya rode up. Her skin was flushed with excitement, a wide grin plastered on her pretty face. She stopped to high five Dessi who had climbed half out of the window. She bowed slightly at QJ, "thank you, Quinn."

QJ felt his eye twitch again, the dreaded first name. "It was all you Maya. Very nice job."