“You like that, bitches?” she growled as they dropped with fatal hits to the head. “Does it tickle?”
When the last of them had fallen, she glanced, beaming, at Horatio, but the robot was looking at Will, who returned the gaze with a worried look on his face.
“Sorry,” Rhea said. “Guess I got carried away.” She turned back toward the hollow, only to find a bandit she hadn’t noticed before standing straight up, his pistol pointed directly at her.
Her foe unleashed an energy bolt, and she turned white.
“You’re out,” Bardain said.
Will fired at the exposed bandit, eliminating him.
“Rule of thumb,” Bardain told Rhea, “never look away until you’re sure you’ve got them all. At the very least, you should have dropped into cover first. Do your best to track enemy numbers. Your HUD and overhead map can help with that. If you’d paid attention, you would have realized there was still one left.”
Bardain reset the map, and they did the scenario again. This time, Rhea’s team won without any causalities.
The next couple of hours were spent battling bandits in multiple scenarios. Sometimes the combat would take place at a distance across a rocky wilderness, and other times, it would occur within the tight confines of a partially collapsed skyscraper.
Finally, Bardain announced: “All right, that’s enough practice against bandits for one day. It’s time to try small unit tactics against bioweapons! Are you not excited?”
“Very much so,” Will said sarcastically.
“Well, I am!” Rhea said.
“Yeah, I noticed you seem to like combat a little too much,” Will said. “Especially the killing part. I’m not sure what to make of that.”
“None of this is even real,” she said. “It’s only a game. And I can’t help it if I really get into a game.”
“It won’t be a game when we get out there,” Will told her. “And you have to kill for real.”
Rhea opened her mouth to reply, but she had nothing.
The realization that he was right hit her full force, and she lowered her weapon. She started to sit down on a boulder, but at the last moment realized it was an illusion, and instead sat cross-legged on the ground beside it.
She held the inert pistol in her hands and stared at it.
“What is it?” Will said, sitting down beside her.
“It’s not a game,” she said softly. “Not a game.”
“No,” Will said. “None of this is.”
“I’d almost forgotten why I was doing this,” she told him, still gazing at the weapon. “So I can survive the Outlands.”
“You know, maybe it was a bad idea to make you sign that contract,” Will said. “Maybe I was a bit too hasty. I figured…” He glanced at her forehead.
She touched the region above her brow, where the so-called “mark” had been sanded away. It no longer felt tender to the touch.
Will continued before she could say anything. “If you don’t think you can do it, there are other ways to pay off your debt. It will take longer, of course, but you can always find work in Rust Town, or maybe even Aradne, and transfer some of your monthly income to my account. I can be flexible in that way.”
“No,” she said slowly, forcefully. “I can do this. I can. I won’t give up.”
Will rested a hand on her knee. “Rhea, if you can’t—”
“I can,” she insisted. “I can. I just… well, okay, I admit it: I’m not sure I’ll be able to kill someone for real. Bioweapons I won’t have a problem with… like squashing bugs. But bandits?”
Will nodded. “Maybe you won’t have to. Maybe we won’t encounter any during the couple months you work for us. Or if it comes to it, perhaps you can stay back, lay down covering fire.” He shook his head and turned from her to gaze into the distance. “I look at it like this: the bandits and highwaymen I encounter out there certainly won’t hesitate to kill me, so I refuse to hesitate in turn when it comes time to strike them down. In the Outlands, there are some good people out there, this is true. You’ll know them right away. But there are also bad people—the bandits, the cannibals—who’ll attack without any provocation, and usually when you least expect it. The way I look at it, you’re not even killing, not really, when you delete these bad people from the world. You’re doing society a favor, in fact, by making the roads a bit safer for the next group of travelers that happen to pass that way.”
Rhea nodded slowly. It made sense, in theory. In practice…
She cocked her head. “Wait, did you just say cannibals? There are cannibals in the Outlands?”
“Whoops,” Will said.
Rhea glanced at Bardain, who shrugged. “Food can be scarce in the Outlands. And not everyone has an appetite for Kargs and Werangs. Speaking of which, can we move on to the bioweapon training now? Assuming you still want to go through with this?”
She glanced at Will and Horatio. “I do. I’m a salvager now. I won’t let you down.” She sighed. “I hope.”
“I hope so, too,” Will said. “Like I told you, maybe we’ll get lucky, and won’t encounter any other humans. Maybe you won’t get tested.”
“Yeah.” She glanced at Bardain. “So, the bioweapons?”
Rhea was caught completely off guard by the first battle that followed. She had become accustomed to digging in against opponents who fired from afar, so it was quite the change of pace to have creatures rushing her the instant she and her party were spotted. Her first instinct was to run and hide, as Bardain had taught, but the creatures were far enough away that she had time to evaluate other options. They were fast closing, however…
They were all Kargs. Only twelve. Between herself, Horatio, and Will, they should be able to deter the lot of them without too much difficulty.
Target the tentacles.
She aimed between the legs of the
