Of Hard Stops and Dead Ends

A simple, blue SUV sped down the streets of Springfield, blowing past a red light. The few cars it passed screeched to a halt around it, honking their horns indignantly at its jerky, reckless movements. The car’s driver thanked the universe for the streets being relatively quiet at this time in the morning. A flash of brilliant amber light shone from the back of the vehicle as it swung around another corner.

John Newman was having a really bad day. Maybe his worst day. He was so far beyond scared and panicked and stressed that he had almost begun to circle around to a strange state of zen… or maybe it was just a level of dissociation with the events going on around him. Part of him idly wondered how he’d gone from his worst concern being how he’d afford the next set of skins in his gacha games to speeding down the streets of Springfield away from edgy magic gangsters while a paladin called forth holy magic in the back seat.

That sobered his mind tremendously.

Despite the healing magic of the Shield Warden, Ela had yet to wake up. Her health remained a simple “critical” indicator in the corner of his vision - a constant reminder of the urgency that drove him. He spared a quick glance in the rear view mirror to check on them. The pained expression on the blonde’s face had begun to ease somewhat, though her skin was still cracked and blistered with burns.

He still bristled with anger as he looked at what she’d suffered on his behalf. It should have been him instead… but he’d do everything he could to repay that.

The faint ringing of a phone drew his eyes to the other woman. Moira Brighton held her phone in front of her, an almost **** look of focus in her eyes as she waited for her call to connect. John turned his eyes back to the road as he pondered the redhead. For almost the entire time he’d known her, she’d been this intimidating, stern woman who he’d tried to avoid almost as much as his bullies.

Now, they were fighting for their lives alongside each other.

’Life is strange…’

His ears perked up as the Warden’s phone call connected.

“Daddy- Father,” she started, her voice cutting between her usually collected calm and the softness of a child. “There was an ambush waiting at Ashcroft this morning.”

There was a pause as something loud was exclaimed from the other side, though The Gamer couldn’t make it out.

“I’m alright. Knight Grzmot and John Newman were trapped with me. We’ve managed to escape for now, but need assistance. Knight Grzmot’s condition is critical; she requires medical attention as soon as possible.”

More shouting from the other side.

“The enemy has a mage capable of holding us in a barrier. We are on-”

John’s focus was taken back to the road as a black hummer came screaming out of a side street. It would have t-boned them if he hadn’t swerved hard to avoid it. The Gamer swallowed hard, praying his instincts were wrong as he looked back in the rear view mirror.

They weren’t.

The car had lined up behind them, gaining ground as it accelerated towards them again. Through its tinted front window, John could just barely make out the nasty sneer of one of the gangsters. Almost immediately, a black truck joined the hummer in the chase. A chill ran down his spine, and The Gamer floored it, desperately trying to keep away from them.

“John! What is going on?” Moira called from the back seat, having been unceremoniously thrown around by the sudden, jerky moves.

“That’s them behind us!” he yelled back, eyes darting rapidly between the road and the mirrors. “They’re gaining on-”

A sudden lurch in his stomach told John that the Firebard was close enough to try and pull a barrier over them again. He bit his lip and held his breath, holding the nausea down and trying to keep the car on the road.

“THE LADY’S LIGHT GROUNDS US! WE CANNOT BE MOVED!!” the Warden shouted, a wave of holy magic rolling over the vehicle.

The Gamer’s stomach settled as her magic held the enemy’s barrier at bay. He called a quick thanks back towards his companion as he blew past another red light, trying to keep away from their pursuers.

“They are still chasing us, Father,” Moira said, reminding John that she was still on the phone. “We need any knights in the area to head towards us. I cannot keep us out of their barrier much longer.”

The shouting from the other side of the call seemed to only grow, enough that The Gamer could just barely make out an affirmative from the other side. Before he had any time to think about it, his attention was pulled back to the road again. John’s eyes widened as a third car, another truck, pulled out in front of them, parking in the middle of the traffic to block the next intersection.

He swerved to the side, hopping the central barrier to head down a different street, away from them. “Moira! They cut us off on Main Street!”

The car jumped and shook as it bounced over the curbside. Screeching metal and squealing tires resounded inside the SUV. John nearly bashed his head into the top of the wheel trying to hold on. The vehicle’s entire frame shook as its shocks tried to stabilize themselves. The Warden yelped in the backseat as she shielded Ela, holding her onto the seat.

“Who taught you how to drive?” she muttered.

“I’m sorry, but my parents taught me how to drive like a normal person, not a Fast and Furious character!” John tried to bite back his frustration as best he could, but the trio of vehicles were back on their tail again. “Where do we go now?”

“Take another left around to the mall!” the redhead shouted at him from the back seat. “It will be hard for them to open a barrier on top of us with all the shop barriers present. We can turn back towards the bridge on the other side!”

John had no time to question what she meant, spinning the steering wheel over in his hands and veering hard again, turning towards the Springfield Mall. It took the gangsters giving chase some time to turn around and head towards them again, allowing him to gun it and try to gain some distance as he passed into the shopping center’s parking lot.

The open space in front of the complex was more free than the roads, at least, allowing John a moment’s reprieve from the intense focus he’d needed to maneuver through the streets. He realized that his hands hurt from how hard he’d been squeezing. His heart beat like drums in his ears. His breathing was shaky. The last couple hours had taken a decade off his life, he was sure.

Taking a deep breath, The Gamer tried to ease his nerves, to no avail. Something seemed inexplicably wrong with his body at this point. Every fiber of his being was just uncomfortable existing, despite [Gamer’s Body] ensuring that he was uninjured. He really needed to just stop, to rest, to drink some water and eat some food and pass out.

’But I can’t… I just have to keep going. I just can’t think about anything like that yet.’

“Why the bridge now?” John asked his companion, trying to take his mind off his own weariness. “Isn’t it faster to get to your manor going through downtown?”

“Yes, but the closest Order patrols are just on the other side of the bridge. My father is directing them towards us now. Besides, the downtown area is going to be filled with day traffic. We’ll end up blocked in.”

He nodded, turning back to the road in front of him as he spotted the gangsters entering the parking lot behind them. One by one, The Gamer wiped his hands on his dirty Ashcroft jacket before locking his fingers around the wheel. Ela’s plain, practical SUV groaned as he **** it to accelerate again. Mustering all the reserves he had, John shot back out of the parking lot on the far side of the mall complex, racing towards the bridge that the Order was supposed to meet them at.

The black motorcade of their pursuers was not far behind, their unmarked vehicles clearly faster than Ela’s civilian car.

John scowled as he turned onto a long straightaway. The road ran parallel to the river that cut Springfield in half, lined with bodegas and restaurants on its inner side. Unfortunately, the lack of traffic and turns meant that he had no way to try and throw off or slow down the goons chasing them. The Gamer slammed the pedal to the floor, pushing the poor SUV’s speedometer farther than it had probably ever gone before.

He allowed himself a moment of optimism. ’On the bright side, the bridge is just a couple miles down. Almost there.’

John’s brief mental respite was cut short by an ear-splitting bang. Metal split metal, and a whizz bounced all around the cabin. A second bang - the shriek of shearing metal. His eyes widened as his mind caught up. A third bang caused his driver’s side mirror to explode into bits of metal and glass.

’They’re shooting at us!’ he screamed internally, starting to weave back and forth on the road, hoping beyond hope that his mediocre driving could make them a hard enough target to shoot. For a moment, the hideous scream of steel scraping on steel blanketed the world as the SUV bounced off the riverside guardrail.

“John!” Moira shouted from the back. “Get your head down!”

The Warden had pulled her shield back out, laying almost on top of Ela to use it to shield both of their heads. Another shot deflected off the holy armament, ricocheting back and shattering the trunk window, sending glass flying backwards over the street. Another half dozen bullets clattered in and around the car. The front windshield splintered, spiderwebbed with cracks after two shots popped through it.

He found a new level of panic as his vision of the road was ripped from him momentarily. ’Keep pushing… keep pushing,’ he chanted to himself as he leaned forward to use one relatively whole piece of the windshield.

Through it, a beacon of hope seemed to arrive. The bridge was in sight. From in front of it, he could see a pair of sleek, black, armored vehicles pull out of parking and start driving down the road towards them. He’d seen the same kind parked in rows by the Brighton Manor the previous day. Salvation was so close he could almost taste it!

“I think I see them!”

Another bang. Moira screamed. Blood splattered across the windshield in the moments before it shattered, spraying shards of glass all over the inside of the car. The Warden’s holy blessing began to fade. John’s stomach whirled and spun, terror creeping in as the familiar feeling of a barrier pull overtook him. He looked up in horror as the world, and the cars full of Order knights, melted away.

He turned around, finding Moira nursing a pair of gunshot wounds, one in her side and one on her leg.

’No…’ was the only thought he could muster.

The sky was gray in the world they were now trapped in. Color sapped from life. Another volley of shots rang out behind him. Most pinged off the steel of the car or Moira’s shield, but one snuck past her, slamming into John’s arm. The scrap armor he wore folded like tissue paper. Heat and pain and twisted nausea were all he could feel as his upper arm all but exploded next to him, his blood joining his companion’s on the dashboard.

The car began to spiral out of control. With the only shred of sense still within his brain, he swerved away from the river, turning the car inland. The shocks moaned and popped as the vehicle bounced up the curb, crashing through the automatic doors of a small grocery store. Steel and plexiglass shattered over the dented hood of the car. With a final crash, they slammed into the checkout aisles, brought to a dead stop.

Outside the store, three black vehicles parked one by one, letting out a dozen nasty looking passengers. Slowly, the gangsters regrouped, preparing to storm the building. As they armed themselves, a ripple hit the side of the barrier. Along the edges, distortions began to appear, faint traces of red and gold magic carving into the colorless wasteland.

“Boss! Them Order knights are coming in!”

Their leader stepped forward, dragging his wounded phoenix by a clump of razor wire. Fresh blood spilled along the lines, and the mystical bird groaned in pain. A guitar hung from a strap around the man's neck. Unceremoniously, he yanked a broken amp cable from the instrument, discarding it.

“Stall them,” the Firebard growled. “Just give me five minutes in there. I’ll bring the Brothers her corpse.”

Everything seemed surreal to John as he weakly stumbled from the wreck of Ela’s car. He held his arm where the gunshot had hit him, the memory of the pain lingering far beyond the wounds, thanks to [Gamer’s Body]. Fresh blood ran down his face from where the airbag had broken his nose.

He was completely in a daze, all sense lost. Nothing processed anymore. He looked up at the muted colors of the ceiling in the building they'd crashed into. The light slowly faded from his eyes as he accepted that he was going to die here. Silent tears streaked from his eyes.

“John! I need your help!” Moira called from the side of the vehicle. “We need to move Ela.”

Lethargically, he turned to meet the redhead’s gaze. It took him a moment to even understand that she was talking to him. Entirely on autopilot, he moved to follow the Warden’s instructions, slinging one of the Bookworm Knight’s arms over his neck again. Together, the pair weakly dragged Ela towards the back of the store, leaving a trail of blood behind them.

They didn't make it far.

“Ah-” Moira gasped, stumbling over herself. “It burns…”

She lost her footing, and the trio collapsed into a pile on the floor. Slowly, uncertainly, the redhead sat up against a shelf next to them. Bringing a hand to her side, she tried to call upon her Blessing to heal herself, but only faint embers of her once radiant magic answered. The Shield Warden was finally at her limit.

John laid on the floor, sprawled out next to Ela. As he turned to her, he thought about the previous day. They’d spent time like this then, after his barrier, just resting. That had been nice. Then they’d gotten to eat such a nice meal. She’d wanted to go back again, he thought. He would have liked to take her.

There were a lot of things he'd have liked to do. He wanted to make dinner with his mom again and to see his father when he got home. Happy memories of his family offered a little warmth to help the cold inside him.

“John…” Moira muttered, almost imperceptibly. Rolling his head towards her, he noticed just how much blood she’d lost from her wounds. “Listen to me… You two need to go.”

He tilted his head in confusion, his addled mind struggling to understand what she was saying.

“They’re… they’re after me. If you take her and go out the back, you might be able to get away long enough for the Order to get here.” She failed to bite back tears. “I- I will buy you time to get away.”

Piece by piece, he dragged the meaning of each word from the sludge of his mind. The haze that had settled on his brain parted ever-so-slightly as he formed her sentences in his head. Realization of what Moira was saying dawned on him as The Gamer painstakingly recovered a semblance of understanding.

A sob caught his attention as she lost her composure, tears flowing down her face.

For the first time, John saw the weakness behind the Warden. She wasn’t the impossibly stern school president he’d thought, nor the unwavering bastion of light that she tried to be. She was a girl, only just older than him, doing her best to try and do the right thing. And everything had come up empty for her today.

Despite all that, despite barely knowing him, really, for less than a day, she was trying to protect him still. She wanted him and Ela to live.

Somewhere, deep within him, something seemed to click.

She continued to speak, but he had stopped listening.

A gear ticked within his brain, and the machine began to move again.

He rolled over, putting his hands on the floor and pushing himself to his knees. Ela had been willing to die for him, so why was he still sitting here? Mustering all the strength he had, The Gamer got back to his feet. Moira was trying to give her life for his, so why should he be doing any less? He didn't think he deserved their sacrifices, but he could try to repay them, if nothing else.

Ela and Moira were worth it.

An expression somewhere halfway between agony and confusion came over the Warden’s face. “Leave me… please. You don’t have to die here.”

John took a deep breath, wiping the tears from his own eyes and looking back to her. “Fuck. That.”

He turned to the shattered entryway, watching as the Firebard strode over the ruins their crash had strewn about, dragging his mutilated phoenix along with him.

The Gamer swallowed. He was exhausted - more exhausted than he’d ever been before. If his body touched the ground, he knew that he wouldn’t be able to get back up again. He was hurt. The echoes of his wounds still lingered in his mind. He was afraid. Terror crept up his spine. Chills ran along his muscles as he trembled at the sight of the man in front of him.

All the hair on his body stood on end, but he just didn’t care about any of that anymore. This was important to him. He finally knew what it meant to have something he wanted to fight for - something he needed to fight for.

“What are you doing?” Moira muttered from behind him, hissing as she held the hole in her side, glimmers of golden magic flickering along her hand.

John drew the Radiant Gem Refinement Orb from his inventory, running his hand over the cool metal at his side. Then, he clenched it, squeezing all the morning’s pain and anger and suffering into the item. He grit his teeth as he seized a resolve that he didn't know he had.

“I’m going to buy enough time for your knights to get in this barrier,” he stated, swallowing his nerves. ’Or I’m gonna die trying.’