The lights in the cavernous server room blinked in the darkness. A few were green, a lot were amber, and the lights on one server were a solid, unblinking, red. There was a problem in The City, and it was Beverly’s job to fix it. She couldn’t fix the problem without clearing the server, and she needed higher authority to approve a shutdown. Management wasn’t answering her calls. But she hadn’t become the Chief Server Admin for The City but not adhering to rules, and secrecy. So in her little office in the secret physical home of Midas, she waited.
The City: 111: Beverly
March 2, 2015
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The City: 110: Duncan
February 27, 2015
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Duncan watched panic and shock spread through the crowd. He folded his arms and kept his expression neutral while Jenkins appealed for calm. He welcomed it, personally. Not only because as Assistant Commissioner he’d be on the short list of candidates to take the job. Jenkins had been wrong for the job. He didn’t really understand The City, or the what their job really was. He relied on physical world tactics. He led with his passions. And he never made nice with The Board. Duncan had a chat with the new CEO. Things would be smoother when the dust settled.
109: Serena
February 26, 2015
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Serena clapped along with the the rest of the squad at Jenkins’ praise. But this was just the opening lines. Something more was coming. He was right. They weren’t done yet.
“This morning, CPD activated its mandate to occupy Midas Tower. The reason for this occupation was to prevent an application of malicious code by an unknown source. We were interfered with in this duty by Midas Security forces. While we were eventually able to take control of the building, we were unable to stop the malware trigger. I take responsibility, and will be stepping down as Commissioner of CPD.”
108: Wallace
February 25, 2015
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Jenknis stepped to the microphone. He coughed, once. He was not used to public speaking, and relied on his blustery presence to carry the day. After the events at the tower, and the infection, he was all out of bluster. Wallace watched him sweat from the crowd. He is exhausted as any of us, he realized. What would the big man say? He leaned forward.
“My fellow officers. Today was a bad day. The worst in CPD history. Let me first commend every single one of you. This was not what you signed up for. But today isn’t over yet.”
107: Janice
February 24, 2015
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In the back of the hall, Janice stared at the leader of CPD with contempt. She’d been out in the field all day, running from zombies and trying to lead Citizens and Daytrippers to safety. There had been very little safety, and very little heroics today. The boot guns had done nothing to the zombified avatars, and the exits to The City were all locked down. Shortly afterwards, the lines to the outside world had gone down, too. And since Midas was a banking AND major telecom provider, most users had their net and phone bundled. They were all prisoners.
The City 106: Andre
February 23, 2015
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Commissioner Jenkins gathered the remaining City Police forces in the lobby of the stately and imposing headquarters building. The force was significantly less imposing. Andre was in the front row. He’d been behind a desk all day, coordinating the efforts. It was a mess out there, but his father, and the whole force, had stepped up in ways they had never been called upon before. The ‘paper tigers’ of The City were usually tasked with ticketing parked cars and avatars that broke The City’s Immersion Policy. Today they had done real police work. He had never been prouder of him.
The City: 105: Joan
February 20, 2015
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Ingmar was nearly finished when the door gave way and a pair of zombies tumbled inside. Joan took a rope stand that was sitting in a corner and used it like an improvised club, waving it in front of her. The zombies retreated, but didn’t seem to be damaged at all.
“What are you doing?” Ingmar asked.
“You can get people out with those guns, right? You should go do that.”
“But we’re the ones robbing the bank.”
“Go help people. There’s a manager’s exit out the back. You should be able to use it.” Renee, Mina and Ingmar ran.
The City: 104: Zombie
February 19, 2015
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Zombie was hungry. Zombie was always hungry. Zombie hunted. There were other zombies, too. They were not tasty. Zombie ignored them. Zombie knew there were tasty people on the other side of the wall. Zombie could see them, hear them. Zombie heard voices, arguing. Loud noises. Other zombies heard, too. Zombie wasn’t strong enough to get people. Zombie was worried that other zombies were stronger. But they couldn’t, either. But maybe two zombies were twice as strong? Zombie grabbed his neighbor and pushed him to one spot on the door. Zombie hit the same spot. The door began to splinter.
The City 102: Mike
February 17, 2015
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Ingmar shook his head. More patrons followed and someone slammed the heavy oak door shut. “I don’t understand. Why would you want me to shoot you?”
“Because it’s a clean logout,” Mike said. “A boot’s a mark on a user’s system privileges, but this zombie thing’s a virus. He looked at the gun, and looked at the people huddled behind the counter. Zombies rammed the counter and banged on the glass. The barrier held, but he could hear more zombies shambling in, and the infected avatars climbing to their feet. It was only a matter of time.
“Who goes first?”
The City: 101: Katie
February 16, 2015
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In the lobby, Katie watched the zombies pour in through the shattered door. They attacked indiscriminately, clawing and biting at robbers and hostages alike. One of the robbers shot at them repeatedly, but the boot gun had no effect. Finally, she pulled the receptionist girl and the kid with the robbers back behind the counter. Two of the tellers were there, hunkered down behind the oak and glass. They waited for the sounds of carnage to die down. She looked at the gun.
“Can you use that thing?” she asked.
“It doesn’t work,” Ingmar replied.
“Not on them, on us.”
Hugh J. O'Donnell 