My System has a Glitch

William and the others moved as fast as they could and as carefully as they could. They hadn't been very far from the fog so they could see that it was no longer there.

They could see dense jungle in the distance, brimming with trees and plants of several colours and nature. They could also see that the jungle ahead was completely water logged.

They saw many trails of blood on the trees and many bodies that had been dismembered and half eaten. There were also many corpses just peeking out of the waters below.

"It ate them and spat them back out," the old man said. "You can see some of them have been digested. What a waste."

They did their best to look away, not to feed their mind those horrible images but everywhere they looked there was a body lying lifeless on a branch or organs resting on leaves, bodies on the brink of falling off.

The night before had been a massacre and no one was optimistic about what the day held in store for them.

Ingrid kept using her tracker, she could see there was no one else in their radius, at least for now. She had lost a bit of faith in the tool ever since the man with the glasses had attacked them, it was still fresh in her mind, like his hand was still wrapped around her neck.

She wanted to be prepared as there could be much worse people out there and with less safe houses to fight over, the competition was bound to be extreme.

There's no one around she said as they watched from the tree tops, they were close to one of the safe houses and they could see it had completely crumbled, it was ruined.

"If everyone's left, we have to catch up to them," William said.

"Yes, we have to get to the loot boxes before your time runs out."

"I've still got even time left, don't worry."

"What?"

"The time actually stopped counting down at night, something the guide called recess, it stopped for about six hours."

"Really?" Ingrid said. "Why didn't you tell me? I was so worried."

"You were sleeping so I didn't want to wake you up."

The old man and Nod watched as they continued their back and fought. "Jezz pops," Nod said in a whisper. "They're starting to sound like an old married couple."

The old man nodded and said, "It's crazy how fast things change."

"Yeah, either way I hate feeling like a third wheel."

******

They crossed the other between the two sections which was made but the destroyed safe house. Instantly they felt a change in the air, it was far more humid here and that came with its own danger as the bodies of the tree was far more slippery, with the body of most trees covered in mosses, even some of the ladders and bridges were covered with them.

"These trees are quite slippery," willaim said. "Be careful everyone." He stood in front of them with Ingrid behind him and Nod died last.

"I wonder who made him the leader of this outfit, did you vote pops? Cause I'd like a recount."

"Would you like to lead?" The old man asked him.

"Not really, I was only making small talk but still, I'd like to live in a fair system."

"Wait,nobody move!" They all stopped dead in their tracks at the call of Ingrid. They couldn't see it but she was looking into her tracker with her hand held out in front of her.

"Are there people around?" Willaim asked.

She nodded and said, "yes a number of them, four so far."

"So we're even?" Nod said.

"Not anymore," Ingrid said .

"Oh, the old man takes two," nod said.

"Where are they coming from? Which direction?"

She pointed to her left side and said, "three that way. Wait, no that's four."

"Huh?"

"Someone else just joined them."

" Wait, is it even or odd?" Nod asked, then she pointed to the right and said," there's one that way but there's good news."

Nod lightened up a bit and raised his head again, the old man looked at him and grew worried the news might be double edged and could even leave his head lower than before.

"They're all converging at a point."

"And what, pray tell my dear sister, might this point be"

"It has to be the loot."

"And this is good news, how?"

"Oh sorry, did I say it was?"

"Damn you, a potentially deadly meeting at a point to kill and conquer and somehow you mistake that for good news," he sighed and said. "Will I ever find some peace and quiet in this new life?"

William chuckled and said, "How about last night?"

"Last night? The old man almost drowned us in digestive juice, he pulled the wrong cord the first time then when we found another one I couldn't sleep."

"Why?" The old man asked

"Cause you were snoring."

"I was?"

"Yes and when you try not to, you drool, which is much worse." William and Ingrid laughed.

"Quit laughing! +" Nod screamed at them then he let out a deep breath and seemed more relaxed than before then he said, "how do we do this one, Ingrid?"

She smiled as she realized he was now in a more serious mood. "We do it just like we did it before."

"What did I tell you about your assumption, you'll get yourself killed again! You've got no idea how things will be set up now. The last time the loot was hanging off a branch, you think it'll still be that easy?"

"Trust me."

"No not again, I'm not jumping in half cocked, I've already lost a couple inches!"

"Huh?" Willaim wasn't quite sure what they were talking about anymore. The old man on the other hand had pulled out his rifle and was now peeking through the scope.

He kept his over the other end of the scope, so the glass wouldn't reflect much light so it wouldn't give away their location.

With Horus totally deactivated this was one of the only ways they could keep track of their surroundings.

"They just doubled," Ingrid said.

"What?" Nod cried.

"We have to get out of range, one of them is guaranteed to have a tracker."

"I can see them," the old man said.

"What are you waiting for, shoot pops,"Nod said.

"Don't get so paranoid they look like normal people."

What do you want from them? Should they have horns on their head before you know they could be dangerous.

"I'm afraid he's right pops," William said. "Looks can be deceiving." Willaim had remembered Ingrid's warning from last night.

"That's true," the old man said." But holding such preconceived notions will blind you to the true nature of things and people."

William paused for a moment as he soaked the old man's words in.

"There's no time for this," Nod said." How about we all agree to disagree, better yet let's all meet half way. Now how about we get out of sight?"

********

They ran through the tree tops and made their way out of sight.

"Out of sight out of mind," Ingrid said as she looked at her tracker and saw they were all out of range.

Now they relied on what the old man could see through his scope and with that little knowledge they cooked up a plan as best they could.

When all the desperate groups converged the battle began, gunfire, grenades and the like were being tossed about like confetti . Those who had weapons for close combat paired them with boosters, so they could attack the enemy as quickly as they could without getting hit.

"This is going to last for a long while, every single one of them has got a shield , don't they?" Nod said.

"They'll just eat away at each other's life span, " Ingrid said.

"Yeah but not everyone has that sort of time," William said.

Then they heard a loud explosion and what followed that was the sound of brushing leaves and beaches clashing against each other and that gave William an idea for a distraction, the missing piece to his plan.

A tree had been badly damaged and before it fell, Nod sped in as planned. Using his kite he covered a great distance, while Ingrid and William ran through the tree tops to cause distractions.

The old man watched them through his scope and unexpectedly he saw something that made him shudder..

He saw something no one else had seen since they had all been blinded by their grenades and gunfire and it only made him wish he could warn them.