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“I can’t believe this!” a voice cried in my ear.
I rolled my eyes. “Oh, stop complaining. Just watch my back, ok?”
There were maybe 20 armed men right outside our door. The rest of our friends had abandoned us. It was just me and Benny.
“What are you gonna do?” He asked into my headset.
I sighed. I was going to have to take one for the team. “Just cover me for as long as you can.”
“Y/n-“ he started.
“Now!” I yelled. I heard him suck in a breath as I burst through the front door, ducking behind the planter, and shooting at every moving thing in sight. A truck to my right suddenly blew sky high, and I knew Benny hadn’t let me down.
I was hit twice by some lucky sniper, but before I could find him and return the favor, Benny got him with a clean shot to the head.
No matter how many men we took out, there just seemed to be more and more filling in their place.
“Benny, I really don’t know what to do,” I said, taking a shot at the roof of the building across the street where some men were preparing to throw grenades our way.
The grenade was dropped, and all five of them were goners.
“There’s too many of them! Are you sure you couldn’t get a hold of Ethan?” I turned my attention to a group of soldiers hiding behind the flaming truck that Benny had blown up.
“Nah, he said he was studying for next week’s chem test. I don’t think he’s gonna make it, but I texted him anyway,” I could hear the unease in his voice.
“So, just us then?” I asked through gritted teeth. We were goners.
“I dunno, prob- wait! Do you see that?” Benny exclaimed.
“See what?” I asked, scanning for something more dangerous than the already surrounding armies of men.
I heard the screams first. The yells of the enemies crying out in fear and pain. Then I saw the 20-foot spider charging through their ranks.
“Y/n, what the heck is that thing?” Benny yelled in my ear.
“Benny,” I said, already directing my character to safety. “Run!” I saw Benny’s avatar following behind mine. We sprinted, barely outrunning the spindly legs and twitching mandibles of the spider who was stopping every so often to devour new victims.
“I can’t believe we had to leave our base behind,” Benny groaned. “Ethan and I spent weeks perfecting everything! Do you know how long it took me to convince him to buy the green throw pillows? And then some stupid video game spider’s gotta come and ruin it? It’s just not fair!”
“Don’t be such a crybaby, you can design a new base, just keep running.”
“Your mom can just keep running,” Benny mumbled into my headset.
I cleared my throat. “What’d you say about my mom?” I asked.
“Nothing.”
“Uhuh, that’s what I thought.”
We’d finally made it to the woods where our safe house was hidden, finally free of the spider.
“So I guess that’s the next level, huh?” Benny could be so dumb sometimes.
“Oh, you think?” I teased.
He laughed. “You know what? I don’t have to help you right now.” I rolled my eyes at his bluff. “I could just end it right now, sleep safe and sound in my real-world bed.”
“Ah-ah-ah! But you won’t,” I said.
“And why do you say that?” He asked.
“Because I’m just a helpless little girl who doesn’t know how to play video games. You don’t want me to get killed, do you?” I asked with a pout.
“I have had my butt whooped by you enough times to know you can handle yourself just fine,” he replied.
“In the game or out of it?” I grinned.
He laughed. “Both.”
I threw my feet up on the couch. “You know it!”
“But seriously, I’m heading to bed.”
I readjusted the headset. “Why? We were having so much fun!”
He chuckled, sounding tired. “Yeah, yeah, but you’ve worn me out.”
“Boohoo, you can sleep this weekend.”
“Y/n, it is the weekend. In fact, it’s been the weekend for two hours!”
I checked my phone. 2:34 A.M. Good. “Two and a half hours actually.”
“Whatever. Goodnight.” His name dropped off my screen.
“Night,” I sighed, wishing that one day Benny wouldn’t have to say goodnight.