Chapter 21: A Bit of Loot

We set the corpse down by the elevators. In the open, with both our lights on the body, it was easier to see how worn out the leather cloak was. Dry, shredding in parts, it must have been here a long time. Oddly, the leather sword belt and scabbard was smooth, even glossy, as if it was made yesterday.

“Look at this.” Marci touched the shoulders of the tunic. Each had streaks of light brown a couple of centimeters wide. “Whoever this was, they had a backpack on.” She pointed her light down the hallway, “Did you see one there?”

“I didn’t,” also shining my light down there and letting the rest of the room slip into darkness. Nothing lay behind. “Someone or something must have taken it.”

“Or she lost it before dying there.”

“She?”

“See the mesh? It’s made for women.” Marci’s hands moved over the metallic fabric where it bulged outward at breast height. It seemed to change color as I moved the light across it, from darker grey to lighter, then silvery, and back again as the armor passed into darkness.

“Huh. That’s some interesting armor. Are you sure you don’t want the sword? It also must be made for elves.”

“Yeah. Help me remove this armor.”

I held the body, Marci pulled the pants off. We struggled more with the mesh shirt. Getting the arms out was tricky as they were tight and didn’t want to bend. When we forced them to bend, they cracked, dust floating up in little eddies.

“Yuck, I think I inhaled corpse.” I breathed in my mouth, blew hard out my nose to dislodge the yuck. And that meant I now tasted corpse. I turned around and spit into the darkness. “Gross!”

“Let’s hope she didn’t die of a fungus then.”

“That would be super not fun.”

“It would definitely suck for you. And for me watching the fungus slowly sprout out of your skin.”

“I, too, hope she didn’t die of a nasty fungus.” I gave her a look, but she was smiling. “But, like, are you sure you want to wear these? It didn’t save her life.”

“I’m going to give it a go. It’s either that or store it in my backpack while wearing this disgusting, smelly leather armor.” She held up the mesh pants, “This stuff is more flexible, too.”

“We really are adventurers now. Looting the dead. Changing armor during a dungeon.”

“Using a new, radioactive sword.”

“You said it wasn’t radioactive!”

“It’s not. Probably not. Unlikely to be.”

“Then how is it glowing?”

Marci brushed her blond hair back, looked me in the eyes, an evil grin on her face, “Magic.”

After picking up the silvery pants, she moved to the corner and shook and shook them, dust scattering everywhere. We moved to a new part of the room, more dust-free. But only for so long, as she passed the pants to me, saying, “Shake away.” Marci lifted the tunic to do the same.

“I’m a little worried we’re making too much noise, but if something was here, it would have come already.”

“You’re right about that.” Marci undid her belt, pulling off the troglodyte armor, pushing them down her slender, hairless legs. Even in the darkness, she had a warm, golden hue to her skin.

I turned around, to watch the hallway. It remained empty. Then, shook the pants vigorously, backing away from all the dust and hoping it wouldn’t follow, soon passing them back. “On second thought, they might be too large for you.”

“Maybe. Let’s see.” Marci passed me the shirt to shake, which I did while she pulled her new pants on. They came up easily, too baggy for her, then tightened, shrinking to her size.

“Holy crap!”

“You were right. They were too big. But, uh, they fit now.” She undid the upper leather jacket, tossing it onto the ground. Her undershirt was sweaty, grimy in places because of that awful armor.

I passed her the shirt. “I hope this one doesn’t squeeze you too tightly.”

“Me too.” Again, it was too big for her little body. Pulling it on, it was big enough to look like she was wearing a boyfriend’s shirt. Yet after pushing her arms through the sleeves, tugging it into place, the metal fabric contracted to fit her perfectly.

She smiled, “This feels so much better than that gross armor.”

“It really must be magic.”

“It’s the nanotech.”

“But still. It looks stunning on you.” It caught the light and as she walked, seemed to show an image of the sun moving across the sky.

“Thanks, River. It’s easy to move in. I like it.”

It happened so fast, I wasn’t sure I saw the little sparks dancing around Marci’s blue eyes. Then a second time, streaks of lightning outlined her pupils.

“Huh. The armor might have been holding you back. Your electricity back. The trog armor, I mean.”

“Not just that.” She looked around, gesturing with her hands at the ceiling above us, “I think it’s being underground. I wish I could run this by Bentley, because he knows game logic.”

“What do you mean?”

She took a deep breath, looking embarrassed, “Ok, I’m an air sorcerer. Sorceress, whatever. Air should be outside. It’s the opposite of earth. You know, air, earth, fire, water, that sort of thing. The Ancient Greek elements. Because we’re underground, I think I’m not as capable as I would be outdoors.”

“That kind of makes sense. Plus, I guess, the whole elf thing.”

She looked at me, blinked a few times.

“Elves, you know, don’t like being underground either. They’re woodsy types. We need to get you a tree or something.”

“Well, I really am wishing we didn’t come down here. But we had to. Anyways, let’s get back to looking for the generator.”

“That’s my line.” I smiled, “As leader.”

Marci swept her hand toward the hallway we’d just come from, “Lead on.”

As we neared where we found the body, I had that bad feeling again. “Wait. There has to be a trap or something here.” I shone my flashlight on the walls and slowly and methodically moved the beam across them, finally spotting it. “There, down at the bottom. I couldn’t see it before because it was hidden by the body. A small opening.”

“Where? Oh, I see it now.”

I knelt down beside it. The hole was small, too small to shoot out darts or some projectile. Getting up close, putting the beam into it, there was a nozzle inside. “I think it sprays gas or something noxious.” I put my face next to the floor, then swept the light horizontally along it. Sure enough, one of the tiles, throwing a shadow, was uneven with the rest. “I think there’s a pressure pad here. Step on it, gas fills the space, we die.”

“Let’s, uh, avoid that then. I’m not overly fond of poisonous gas.”

“Deal.”

“Is it strange, suddenly knowing how to find traps and avoid them?”

“Probably as strange as you being unnerved by being underground. But, yes, yes it is.” I stood up, moved around the pressure pad, “How much further do you think the nanotech will modify our brains? Will our personalities be lost like the villagers and troglodytes? How much time do we have left to being ourselves?” I put my hand out for Marci, to guide her around the pressure pad.

She took it, jumping lightly toward me. “Jesus. That’s a frightening thought. Maybe seeing the hotel’s video feed will give us some clues. Or maybe we should head to a big city after this, try to learn more about this world, see if anyone remembers anything. It’s possible that adventurers like us – player characters I guess – retain their memories.”

“God, I hope you’re right.” We got to the door. I began sweeping my flashlight across every conceivable space. “It does come in handy, though. Being able to avoid traps.”

“Your sword is glowing more brightly.”

“Huh?” Looking, it was. As I drew it, the hallway lit up almost as if it had functioning lights. “Why, do you think?”

“Pretty useful in a cave. But you said elves don’t like being underground?”

“We should honestly ask Bentley or Dylan. They know more about this than we do. Just a sec. I’ll crack open the door.” I sheathed the sword then very slowly pushed down the door handle, pulled it open just a bit.

The door was forecefully pushed open, squishing me against the wall, groans of the undead and footsteps shuffling into the hallway. Marci shouted, “Zombies!”

I pushed back with all my strength, trapping a zombie in the door frame. It reached for me, grabbing my arm and pulling me toward it. Lodging my foot against the door to keep it shut, I stuck my vibrantly glowing sword up through its neck and head. It’s arm dropped, body going limp.

A sudden flash filled the hallway. No time to look, more zombies were pushing the door in. I pushed back, bracing it as best I could, then snuck a quick glance in Marci’s direction. She was backing up to avoid a zombie grabbing at her.

“My electricity doesn’t seem to bother it much!” She hefted the axe over her head, taking another step back.

“You gotta stop backing up! The pressure pad!”

Marci brought the axe down into its shoulder. It ignored the axe and grabbed her left hand, pulling her toward it. She pushed against the monster, retreating a little further, her feet too near the pad.

Fuck it, I thought, yanking open the door, and pulling the first zombie through roughly. It fell onto its stomach, I stepped on its back, running toward the zombie accosting Marci. Just then, a loud click sound, followed by the rush of gas. I shouted, “Hold your breath!” and brought my sword down into the zombie’s head, dropping it.

Grabbing Marci’s hand with my left, pulling her forward, we raced for the open door. The zombie I’d knocked down was pushing itself up when we both stepped on its back and barreled into two more coming into the door. My glowing sword cut into one’s chest cavity and we pushed it to the ground, stepping over it.

Marci tore herself out of my grasp, kicked the other one just as it was turning around to get us, and yanked the door shut, resting her back against it and taking a deep breath.

Pulling my blade out of the zombie on the ground, I ran through its head and the thing stopped moving. My arms were shaking badly. “Jesus H. Christ.” Put my back against the door, breathing hard. The dead man was pounding and pounding on the door on the other side.

“That was awful.”

The glow from my sword lit up the room we found ourselves in. Rectangular, bigger than we could see, metal air shafts coming into the room, angling along the ceiling heading off to somewhere, machinery around us.

Marci dropped to the floor, tearing at the unmoving zombie’s clothes. “I’m going to block up the door. We don’t know how much gas that’ll produce. Sorry about that.”

“I gotta hold the door. It’s still pushing. Hey, does that one have a belt? Maybe you could pass me the pants. And don’t worry about it, we’re still alive.”

“Yeah, belt. Here. But the door opens into the hallway, so I’m not sure that’ll do any good.”

Taking it, I tied it around the handles as tightly as I could. “Just in case. We don’t want that thing breaking the doors down.”

“But it’ll slow us down if we need to get out of here quickly.”

“Let’s not give the nanotech any ideas.”

Marci soon finished shoving the rest of the clothing into the gap under the doors. We were effectively trapped in the basement. After standing, and facing me, darkness all around, she asked, “Alright, Leader, where to?”