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The stream of the Overtaken intensifies to the point where they seem to show up faster than the guards can shoot them. The moat is completely filled up now, and one of the newly arrived Overtaken takes advantage of this and lunges at the closest guard with a knife.
The guard shoots the attacker, but it’s too late.
The knife is in his throat.
In my periphery, Bebe grimaces, muttering a name.
Seeing one of their own killed seems to bolster the rest of the guards. With grim efficiency, they gun down the Overtaken killer and his comrades.
But more Overtaken take the place of the fallen ones, and another round of slaughter ensues. Then another.
Bebe rubs the back of her neck. “Do you understand now?”
“The Overtaken came for me,” I say, my voice catching in my throat.
“They came for all of us,” Bebe says darkly. “I’m going to fast-forward so we can see what’s happening right now.”
She fiddles with controls, and the video of the battle speeds up until all I can make out are waves after waves of Overtaken arriving and getting shot down. When the recording resumes playing at normal speed, it’s to show the guards putting down yet another score of attackers.
Except the gun of one of the guards doesn’t fire when it should—costing him his life.
“Chigi.” Bebe’s face is a mask of horror. “He’d just joined the guards. What am I going to tell his mother?”
“Why did his gun not shoot?” I ask over a lump in my throat.
“Ran out of charge.” Bebe pushes back her white curls. “I was afraid of that.”
A man limps into the room.
We all give a start. Given what’s happening on the screen, we half-expected him to be one of the Overtaken.
But no. This man’s eyes aren’t fiery. They do look familiar, though.
“Here are the weapons you requested,” the newcomer says and dumps a heap of guns that look just like the ones the guards carry. There are also strange non-shiny swords that clank more like ceramics than metal, and a bunch of wicked-looking machetes.
“Thanks, Idi,” Bebe says as I figure out whose eyes Idi’s remind me of: Kojo’s.
Now that I think about it, they share other features as well.
As if to confirm my theory, the newcomer faces my sister’s husband. “Hi, son. Good to see you awake.”
Kojo solemnly nods. “I wish we were meeting under better circumstances.”
Idi limps over to the only chair in the room and sits with a wince—something is clearly wrong with one of his legs.
On the screen, another guard’s gun loses charge, then another.
“We need to do something. Let’s take those”—I gesture at the heap of weapons—“and get over there.”
Valerian steps in front of me. “It would make more sense to dispatch additional guards.”
Bebe rounds on him. “You think that wasn’t the very first thing I did?”
She did? That almost makes it sound like she’s in c—
A large green figure steps out of the gate on the screen, and my heart rate doubles as I realize it’s an orc with fiery eyes. A big specimen that looks like he’s been caught in a blast of gamma radiation and now no one likes him when he’s angry.
The surviving guards react admirably.
Raising their guns as one, they shoot the orc.
Yes!
Except nothing happens.
Asha gapes at the screen. “Maybe the guns aren’t designed for something that big?”
Whatever the reason, the orc rushes the guards, breaking through them like a linebacker from hell as Bebe gasps in horror.
All the nearby Overtaken use the opportunity to leap at the knocked-down guards.
Four people die.
Bebe looks on the verge of weeping as she recites each of their names under her breath.
A new group of guards emerges from the forest, each armed with two guns and either swords or machetes. They begin to fire at the Overtaken, and once they’re done with them, they help their surviving comrades to their feet.
The guards then form a wider perimeter around the gate and gun down the next wave of the Overtaken.
Bebe manipulates the controls again, and a smaller square appears on the screen, showing the Escapist side of Soma—with a green figure of the orc running through it.
“Someone put me under.” Kojo lies down on the floor. “If the Escapists don’t wake up, he’ll kill them.”
Asha immediately gestures at him, and I feel him entering REM sleep.
Meanwhile, another orc—a smaller specimen—rushes out of the gate with a bunch of elves, gnomes, and a couple of ubers. The guns don’t work on this orc either, but four of the guards attack him with their swords and machetes.
A few bloody slashes later, the orc is dead—and I exhale a breath I didn’t realize I was holding.
Meanwhile, the guns of the other guards work just fine on the elves, gnomes, and ubers.
On the smaller screen, the big orc runs at a nearby building, but a guard steps into his path, shooting in desperation.
