Hide-and-Seek

R.C. took a moment to inspect the new simulated environment that appeared around him. The walls, ceiling, and floor were all different shades of red, blue, yellow, purple and green. The colors were so vibrant it almost hurt his eyes a little.

The floor under him felt squishy under his feet. It appeared all the surfaces in the room were covered in foam padding. Behind him was a massive jungle gym that was made up of a series of slides and tubes. The slides let out into a very deep looking ball pit.

"Yo, old man. Are you joking around? Why am I in a kiddy play area?"

...No answer.

Suddenly from the corner of his eye, he saw some movement from the ball pit. An arrow flew at him. He just managed to move his head out of the way. It grazed his cheek, drawing blood. This was all a simulation, but the pain felt very real.

He returned fire with his revolver in the direction the arrow came from. Codea quickly jumped out from the pit and dodged the shot. She took cover behind a foam column. A high tech looking crossbow was in her hands.

"You're faster than you look!" R.C. said.

"Are you calling me fat?" Codea shouted.

What the hell is she talking about? R.C. thought.

He abruptly heard a noise coming from the tunnel slide to his left. Milo tumbled out, using his momentum to launch himself at R.C. He had a hatchet like weapon in each hand, the bladed parts glowed yellow.

R.C. dodged one strike and used the barrel of his gun to block the other.

He was able to put a little distance between himself and Milo. He had to think quickly. Codea was loading up another arrow.

Above him was a net suspended from the ceiling. In it were the same type of balls that were in the ball pit.

He quickly threw a kick at Milo's shin. This caused him to stagger a bit. Codea launched an arrow in R.C.'s direction. Without hesitating he shot a bullet at the arrow. It hit the arrow at a precise angle, causing it to fling upward. It ended up hitting a rope suspending the net. Thousands of balls rained down. R.C. used the opportunity to retreat to the jungle gym.

The Jungle gym was made of dozens of interconnected tubes. Due to its sheer size it was essentially a maze. He crawled through the tubes like a hamster, putting as much distance as he could from the entrance.

Eventually he stopped for a moment and checked his gun. He only had three rounds left in the revolver's cylinder. Pipp obviously intentionally didn't load him in with any spare ammo. He already used up two of his five shots. These last three bullets would have to count.

He continued forward. Soon he came to an opening in the tube system. There was a set of monkey bars that had to be crossed to make it to the other side. He was quite high up. If he were to fall while crossing the impact with the ground would kill him (if this were real life). Not to mention it was probably a distance of at least forty feet across.

For a moment he contemplated taking a different path.

*Bump* *Bump*

A noise came from nearby. It sounded like one of the two were near and getting closer. He had no choice, except to try and cross quickly.

He shoved his gun into the waistband of his pants. One bar at a time he made his way toward the platform on the other side. He made it about halfway across when the bumping noise stopped. He turned his head back and saw Milo, who had already noticed him. He had both hatchets in his hands.

R.C. quick spin around on the monkey bars to face him. Holding himself up with his right arm he drew his gun from his pants with his free one.

Instinctively he fired a shot. The bullet managed to hit Milo in the wrist, causing him to drop one of his hatchets to the ground.

In response, Milo threw his remaining hatchet at R.C.. It tumbled through the air and landed directly in R.C. 's right shoulder.

"Ahh!" R.C. shouted.

He dropped his revolver, but was able to catch it between his feet. Despite the hatchet sticking out of his shoulder, he didn't let go.

Milo started to climb across the monkey bars toward him. Blood gushed from the bullet wound in his wrist, but it didn't seem to bother him at all.

As he got closer and closer, R.C. realized he had to act. With his left arm he yanked the hatchet out of his shoulder. Blood came pouring out of the wound. He gritted his teeth, as immense pain surged through his right arm that he dangled from.

When Milo was roughly ten feet away, R.C. tossed the hatchet at him as hard as he could. The bladed end managed to hit him directly in the elbow. It sliced completely through, severing his arm in half and causing him to fall to the ground with a loud thud.

R.C. looked down. Milo's body laid motionless on the ground. It then suddenly turned pixelated and dematerialized from the simulation.

R.C. finished making his way across. He ripped off some pieces of his shirt and tied it around his shoulder wound to try and stop it from bleeding.

It was a simulation, but he felt as though he might pass out at any moment as if the blood loss was real.

R.C. looked down again with an arrogant grin.

"took care of him. Now I just have to deal with that crazy chick."

...

Once again he made his way through the system of tubes. Despite his efforts to stop the bleeding his wound still leaked blood. As he walked it left a trail behind him. There was no doubt he would be an easy target to track.

He contemplated ways he could lure Codea into a trap. He was still crawling on his hands and feet. In front of him, two sets of tubes intersected. He planned on just going forward, but suddenly...

*THUD*

Codea was crossing over from the tube to R.C.'s left at the same time he went forward. The two's heads collided with each other.

They both pulled back suddenly. R.C. instinctively drew his gun. Codea grabbed an arrow from her quiver and grasped it in her hand.

"You dumbass!" Codea said

R.C. just mockingly laughed at her to get under her skin.

He then darted forward as quickly as he could. She was just able to catch him on the back of his left knee. She stabbed him with the arrow she was holding.

R.C. gritted his teeth. He then turned around and fired a shot at her in the right thigh.

"Ahh!" She shouted in pain. She already had another arrow in her hand to stab him again.

R.C. didn't wait around, he crawled as quickly as he could through the tube, putting as much distance as he could between them. He had only one shot left, he would have to make it count.

The path forward was winding and went upward. Codea was currently out of his sight, but he could hear her pursuing from behind.

Soon the tube system ended and it brought him to a platform at the very top of the huge jungle gym.

He was light headed from blood loss. He wasn't sure how much more he could handle in this simulation.

Codea would be on him soon. She was injured too, but not nearly as badly as R.C.. Physically she was in much better shape. If she dodged this last shot there was no way R.C. could hold her off for too long.

An idea came to his mind of how he could end this with as little effort as possible...

Codea finally made it up to the top platform. Her leg that had been shot earlier was bleeding. She looked incredibly serious, as she pointed her loaded crossbow at R.C.

Jeez this is just a simulation, R.C. thought to himself.

"Listen Codea I don't want to fight you anymore." R.C. said while setting his gun on the ground.

"You really think I'm going to fall for that! You're just desperate because I have you cornered." She responded.

"It's true. The truth is ... well I don't want to hurt you... I know this is a simulation, but it just feels way too real. " He continued trying to get her to pity him.

He proceeded to kick his gun off the platform. It plummeted to the ground out of his reach. He began walking toward Codea.

She launched an arrow at him. It stuck deep into his chest. R.C. ignored the pain and pulled it out.

"What the hell are you doing!?" Codea said, completely confused.

R.C. was now face to face with Codea. She wasn't able to reload, but she had an arrow in hand.

"Listen Codea... the reason I can't hurt you ... Is because... I think I'm in love with you!" R.C. expressed proceeding to hug her.

"Wh-what t-the?... H-h-how... Wh-... Are you serious?"

She was confused and flustered. Her face turned red.

R.C. suddenly let out an arrogant laugh.

"Of course not!"

He proceeded to push her off the platform. As she fell, he shouted, "who's the dumbass now!"

She hit the ground and dematerialized. Suddenly the simulation went black.

"You can take your helmet off R.C." Pipp said.

He took the helmet off and inspected himself for a moment. Sure enough all the wounds he received were gone.

Codea and Milo were next to him. Milo walked up to R.C. and gave him a thumbs up and a pat on the back. Codea though was quiet and seemed to be a bit of a sore loser.

"That was really cheap. Next time don't think that will work on me." She said.

Her face was still red.

"I can guarantee you'll never be able to beat me." R.C. responded.

She just gave him a death stare and then proceeded to kick him in the crouch.

He slumped over and fell to the ground. His voice suddenly became higher pitched, "What the hell is wrong with you?"

This seemed to crack Codea up because she began laughing.

"Alright you guys. I think the fun is over for today. We’ll start trying to locate the C.A.N. tomorrow." Pipp said, dismissing everyone for the day.

He stayed back, but the three of them got on the elevator to return to the surface.