Room 508, Tuesday Afternoon

[spin_kick_snap]

Kathy was hunched over her computer, muttering to herself. "Raven, what the hell? Don't wander off! No, get back--Dante, how do you have dysentery? Again?! No, I am not stopping this car, there are too many--Dammit, Ringo, how did you break your arm?! Were you AT-ing during the zom--DANTE YOU ARE NOT ALLOWED TO DIE, YOU JERK! Anders, you're a goddamn magic-user, heal somebody! OH MY GOD, DON'T MAKE ME TURN THIS CAR AROUND AND DRIVE BACK TO THE NUKES, SO HELP ME!" A moment of quiet and then, "Hey! Somebody stole my last battery!"

Someone had discovered Organ Trail on Facebook. And had foolishly decided to play using the names of her friends. And had nearly decided to give up on this carful of people and try again. Surely Kira and Ezra would be more sensible during the zombie apocalypse.

"Raven! I said not to wander off! Great! Now you're dead and I have to start over!" Kathy didn't believe in leaving anyone behind. Even in the pixelated apocalypse.

[Open! Link to the conversation with Dante]

Comments

[spin_kick_snap]

"I have," Kathy said, chin up. "Multiple times."

Like...as many as six.

[soniaroadsqueen]

"Out of how many attempts?" Ringo sounded awfully suspicious there.

[spin_kick_snap]

"You can start worrying out of how many when you make it to one," Kathy declared.

[soniaroadsqueen]

"Yeah. I think that answers my question." It was a million, wasn't it, Kathy? Maybe even a bajillion.

[spin_kick_snap]

That wasn't even possible Ringo! And bajillion wasn't even a real number!

"Yeah, what number attempt is this for you?" Kathy countered.

[soniaroadsqueen]

"Three?"

More like six or seven, Ringo.

[spin_kick_snap]

"You are such a liar," Kathy said, laughing. "You got to three before I finished explaining that you use the space bar to shoot!"

[soniaroadsqueen]

"Those totally don't count!" Ringo insisted. Which was a great strategy. Just don't count all of the failures! Don't you wish you'd thought of that, Kathy?

[spin_kick_snap]

It was only a great strategy if it worked! And this one had not!

"Those absolutely do count," Kathy informed her. "Stop trying to weasel out of this, nobody believes you."

[soniaroadsqueen]

"Alluka believes me," Ringo insisted primly.

Which was totally unfair.

[spin_kick_snap]

"Alluka's not even here," Kathy reminded. "And besides, Alluka believes in playing fairly. She'd laugh you out of the room for this nonsense." Kathy nudged Ringo. "Try again. We'll see how far you get."

Because while getting across America was tough by itself, the final run to get all the gas cans was a real killer.

Yes, pun intended.

[soniaroadsqueen]

"I don't have to justify myself to someone as insubordinate as you." It was clearly time for a change in tactics.

But she started a new game. And remembered to get starting supplies. And didn't immediately get everyone killed. So, that was a start?

[spin_kick_snap]

It was! EVen Kathy had to agree. "Better," she said, giving Ringo's shoulder a gentle, friendly sneeze. "You still have to make it across all of America, but better!"

Kathy was going to let experience show Ringo that random incidents were just that: random. It didn't matter how well she provisioned; people were still going to get sick, injure themselves, or wander off. It was just how the game ran. But at least now, she was in a position to handle most of it.

Except for the wandering off bits. There was no way around losing someone when the game decided that.

[soniaroadsqueen]

Ringo managed to deal with a couple of random events, and even made some actual progress. She was starting to figure things out.

But when "Kathy" randomly wandered off, Ringo stopped and stared at the screen, then burst out laughing. "I'd totally forgiven you for this run, and now you decide to go off and disappear into the wilderness?"

She rolled her eyes and looked at Kathy. "You're so fickle."

[spin_kick_snap]

"Maybe I thought my odds were better vanishing off in the wilderness by myself." Kathy said, failing to keep a straight face. "Or I'm injured somewhere, having scavenged food for us, but you're in such a hurry to leave me behind, you won't even look for me properly."

[soniaroadsqueen]

"Well, if you show me the button to press to go find you, we'll see about a rescue mission." She grinned.

Well, Kathy?

[spin_kick_snap]

"The Escape key," Kathy said.

Which would, of course, restart Ringo's whole game. But she was going for a perfect run, wasn't she?

[soniaroadsqueen]

Ringo frowned. "I thought that restarted the game. Does it also let you do rescue missions?"

Someone did not play very many video games.

[spin_kick_snap]

"There is no rescue mission," Kathy admitted. "You can either start over or continue on without me."

If she continued on, the line that held Kathy's name and information would be replaced with a bright red DEAD message.

[soniaroadsqueen]

"Maybe we should just go on, then," Ringo said slowly. After all, she was doing so good!

Then she sighed, and reached up to reset.

Apparently, despite her earlier claims, she couldn't just leave totally-fake-pixelated-Kathy behind to die.

[spin_kick_snap]

The struggle was real.

"That's the one you can't avoid, sadly," Kathy said with an understanding smile. "Everything else, if you play your cards right, you can keep from ending in death. But wandering off--oh, and getting bitten, but that only happens if you're not careful--leads to death no matter what."

[soniaroadsqueen]

"That's not fair," Ringo pouted. Things being not-fair was what life was for, not games!

[spin_kick_snap]

"It's a zombie game," Kathy said, totally not smirking. "It wouldn't be properly terrifying if there wasn't some kind of immediate death."

[soniaroadsqueen]

"Wait." Ringo looked slightly confused for a moment. "It's supposed to be scary?"

[spin_kick_snap]

"Well, this one? Not really," Kathy conceded. "But there's still got to be some form of insta-death."