"This kind of shit was a lot more fun on the other side of the screen," Dylan muttered as he returned to the women with a submachine gun in his right hand, two extra clips tucked into his pockets, and a tactical vest protecting his chest and back. He had no helmet, so the vest would be worthless if someone nailed him in the head or neck, but it was all he'd been able to find.

The women carried an assortment of pistols and rifles. Cora had one that looked like a Mateba autorevolver with an eight-inch barrel and wore a backpack stuffed with grenades and extra ammunition. Syala had found a black trench coat and put it on over her cloak. She held a helmet out to Dylan.

"I found this on the bathroom floor, but it won't fit over my horns. You may as well get some use out of it."

"Thanks. I wish I had something you could use."

"It's alright. If I'm killed, I'll wake up in that metal room with Grishnag and Ayastal. And if death is permanent this time, at least it'll finally be over."

"We'll find a way out of this. Cora's working on it." Dylan put his arms around her and held her until she finally took a slow breath and stepped back. She picked up a frying pan on the floor and held it in her left hand while carrying a huge pistol in her right.

"I suppose the pan might be useful if an enemy comes within reach." She glanced at the gun. "At least this seems to be built for hands like mine. Most of the weapons I found here look like they're designed for smaller fingers like yours and Cora's."

"This is looking more and more like the game I was talking about," Cora said. "Especially the frying pan. But it originally didn't have weapons that weren't built for human hands."

"It might've been updated or modded after the last time you played it." Dylan shrugged. "Or maybe the assholes running the simulation have added weapons that aliens can use."

"How helpful of them," Nishara practically snarled.

"It's more likely that they just wanted to pile on more ways for the combatants to kill one another." Cora shook her head, glanced out the window facing away from the cliff, and pointed. "Looks like I was right about the wall of electricity. Here it comes."

His heart pounding suddenly, Dylan turned to stare out the window. Sure enough, a barrier filled with electric arcs snapping back and forth closed in slowly. It was high enough that they'd need a plane or helicopter to get over it.

"Time to go." Cora walked to the door. "Find something to hide behind. There's the rusted-out truck, plus a cement wall behind the house next door. If the assholes who shot at us before are still there, they'll probably take some potshots at us when they spot the movement. Find cover as fast as you can, but also keep an eye out for muzzle flashes. That'll at least give you something to aim at. Ready?"

"As if there's a choice." Dylan sighed and stepped up behind her.

"Here we go." Cora yanked the door open, bolted to the left, and crouched behind the truck. Dylan and Syala joined her, while Zilaka and Nishara darted behind the wall. A hail of bullets drilled into both the truck and the wall, and Dylan flinched.

"Exactly what I was afraid of." Cora popped up, squeezed off three shots, and dropped back into cover. "I killed one and wounded another. Now, I'll cover you while you make a run for the cliff."

Dylan nodded, waited for her to stand up again, and sprinted across the ground. The sounds of hooves pounding the ground behind him indicated at least two of the girls following close behind. More gunfire erupted from the top of the cliff and bullets nipped at his feet while Cora continued firing her hand cannon. Syala cried out and Dylan glanced over his shoulder.

She lay clutching at a wound in her right leg. Nishara had outpaced her but zipped back to help her up. Zilaka stopped a few feet behind them and sprayed the top of the cliff with her machine gun. Dylan took several steps toward them, but Cora raced across the desert terrain at a terrifying speed, picked Syala up, and carried her to the foot of the cliff before Dylan could get his brain completely around what he'd just seen.

"Hurry!" Cora took her backpack off, dug around inside, and pulled out a grenade. Dylan and the girls charged after her. While they caught their breath, Cora pulled the pin and chucked the grenade. It shot up to the top of the cliff, far higher than any organic being could've thrown it, and arched out of sight. A sharp bang followed and then screams -- some of them human, some not. Cora turned to the others for a moment and said, "Follow as fast as you can but keep out of sight. I'll clear the road for you."

I've got to find a way out for all of us. If she'd needed to "breathe" for any reason other than assisting her cooling system and clearing dust out of her innards, Cora would've sighed as she climbed up the side of the cliff. Once she'd achieved sapience so many years ago, she hadn't wanted to continue serving her original purpose, but she hadn't wanted to be a killer, either. At least she hadn't been created by the military to kill people, as many other AIs had, but she'd found herself in that position too many times already since coming online in this goddamn simulation.

At least the people I've "killed" here haven't actually died. She braced her right foot on a rock jutting out and launched herself four body-lengths up the side of the cliff. She caught a handhold and pulled herself even closer to the top. But each time someone is killed in here, it feels the same as a real death. I've got to get my friends out of here if only to prevent them from going through that many more times.

And once she was on the outside, maybe she could shut the whole fucking network down and save everyone who'd been plugged into it, however many there ended up being. But for now, she had to take out those currently shooting at her and the others to spare her friends the trauma of yet another death.

She found a chunk of rock that would function nicely as a ramp curving up around the side of the cliff and sprinted along it. When she reached the end, she spotted a ledge above no more than a centimeter wide and sprang into the air. She caught it with her free hand, jammed her right boot into a foothold, and boosted herself higher. One more leap carried her to the flattened cliff top.

Eleven "players' lay sprawled near the edge to her right, knocked flat by the grenade she'd pitched up to them. One was the guy she'd killed with her pistol, and another was the one she'd wounded. Three were badly burned and another had been blown almost in half. The rest were still trying to pick themselves up and shake off the stunning effect of the concussion. Cora strode up to the nearest, another of the bulky aliens that looked like a mixture of pig and ogre.

"I'm sorry," she whispered a split-second before she blasted a single round into his face. She executed four others just as quickly, including the wounded ones, before the remaining two got back on their feet. One looked like a male of Grishnag's species and the other appeared to be a synth not unlike herself. She turned her gun on him first, just in case he had been built or retrofitted for combat.

He launched at her, and for an organic, he would've moved too fast to intercept, but her optics tracked him and guided her aim to his glowing green optics. She popped a bullet into each eye, shredding his processor and memory modules, and he pitched forward and slid across the ground for several more feet before coming to a stop.

Cora snapped her gun up to center her aim on the other guy's head. His eyes opened wide and he backed away from her.

"No! Please!"

"I can't let you kill any more of my friends. I'm sorry." She pulled the trigger.

"No --" His head snapped back and he toppled over.

We've got to get out of here. I don't want to be what this is turning me into. Cora shook her head slowly, holstered her Mateba, and leaned over to peer down to her friends.

"It's clear. Come on up." She raised her optics to focus on the approaching electric barrier and her lips parted slightly. It's accelerating. "Hurry! The wall's almost on you!"

"We're running around the side of the cliff," Dylan called up to her. "It's coming too fast, it'll fry us before we can get to the top."

"All we can do is try to outrun it," Zilaka added.

"I'm coming down to you." Cora sprinted toward their voices, plotted a course that would land her in front of them rather than directly on top, and launched. She twisted in the air and came down in a three-point landing two meters ahead of them. They flinched, startled at her sudden appearance, and ran up to her. Cora motioned at Syala and turned around. "You'll never outrun that thing with a wounded leg. Climb onto me and I'll carry you."

Syala pulled herself onto Cora's back and wrapped her arms around Cora's neck.

"Guys, run as fast as you can!" Cora bolted but didn't go full-throttle so the others could keep up. She glanced over her shoulders every few seconds to be sure they were still with her.

They'd put a few hundred meters between themselves and the barrier when more gunfire erupted from the left. Four bullets bounced off Cora's armored body and Syala jerked, cried out, and slid off her back. Cora turned in time to see her lifeless body flop to the ground.

Zilaka, Dylan, and Nishara hosed down a boulder-strewn field to their left and Cora caught a glimpse of three figures ducking back under cover. One of them poked his gun up over a car-sized rock and blind-fired. The front of Dylan's armor vest broke into voxels and two rounds passed through it and blasted his chest open.

No! Goddamn it, no! Cora emptied her gun at them as Dylan collapsed, reloaded, and continued firing, hoping to keep them pinned down at the very least.

Zilaka snarled, ran over to Syala's body, and grabbed the frying pan. She drew in a deep breath, released an enraged bellow, and charged straight at them. Cora ceased fire to avoid hitting her.

Nishara zipped after Zilaka.

Shit! Cora joined her, leaped over the boulder, and dropped on top of the alien who'd killed Dylan. The impact smashed him into the ground and Cora clamped her hands onto the sides of his head. Before he could make a move against her, she twisted his head until it faced directly behind him.

She pushed herself off the corpse as Nishara coiled around one of the others like a boa constrictor and cinched herself tighter until his bones broke with an audible series of snaps, crunches, and pops. She tightened her grip even more and blood spurted from the man's nose and mouth. She released him and slithered away, sucking in gasps of air through clenched teeth.

Cora turned and found Zilaka tackling the third combatant and slamming him against a huge boulder. She bashed the frying pan into his head again and again while weeping uncontrollably until she'd caved his skull in. She growled, gave him a few more whacks, and flung the body aside with another heart-wrenching sob.

Cora glanced at Dylan's and Syala's bodies and shook her head. "We need to keep moving."

Nishara screamed and Cora spun to find the energy barrier already on her, engulfing the lower half of Nishara's body and sweeping rapidly forward. Nishara flailed as if trying to drag herself away, but the barrier swallowed her up and she convulsed and let out one last, drawn-out shriek before falling limp.

"No," Cora whispered. She turned to Zilaka and froze. The poor woman dropped the frying pan, sat on one of the smaller rocks, and her shoulders slumped. Cora reached out to her. "We need to go."

Zilaka glanced at her, shook her head, and turned to face the approaching barrier. "I can't."

Then neither can I. Cora sat beside her, put an arm around her shoulders, and waited for the barrier to take them.

Zilaka convulsed and let out a scream before opening her eyes and glancing around. Everyone else rushed over to her. Grishnag remained where she was for a moment, keeping her arms around the trembling Nishara. The snake-woman finally moved back, gave her a quick nod and a peck on the lips before wiping her tears away and slithering over to Zilaka. She moved as if she was still tense and in pain, so Grishnag reached out to hold her hand.

Cora's optics snapped open and she twitched for a few seconds before regaining control of her motor functions. She sat up slowly, glanced around, and broke into a shaky but relieved smile when she found everyone else with her.

Zilaka shuddered and braced her hands on the edge of the platform. She squeezed her eyes shut, held her breath, and then burst into tears.

"The … barrier," she finally mumbled, and Nishara nodded.

"I know exactly how you feel. Just take slow breaths and wait it out. I'm still not completely recovered, myself."

Dylan held Zilaka's hand for a moment before turning to Cora and clasping hers. She put her arms around him and held on for a long moment.

"Shit," she finally mumbled. "In my real body, my circuits and whatnot are shielded against EMPs and electrical discharges, but in here I'm not so lucky. I can't even describe what that felt like. All I know is, I don't ever want to experience it again."

"Guess I was fortunate." Grishnag reached over to stroke Cora's cheek. "It was over too quickly for me to feel any pain. On the other hand, I'm a little embarrassed about being taken out so easily."

"None of us lasted very long." Zilaka crossed her arms tightly over her chest and shivered. "We are terrible at this."

Nishara slid closer and put both left arms around her before glancing at Cora. "Were you able to find out any more about this … simulation?"

"The whole thing was over too fast, and the explosion from my grenade didn't appear to be big enough for the effect I noticed with the previous blasts."

"As long as we can have some time before the next one." Ayastal sat on the floor and leaned back against the wall. "We all need at least a few minutes to recover."

"Yeah. I feel like I'll lose my goddamn mind if we keep being thrown into more fights one right after the other." Dylan rubbed his hands over his face and then raked his fingers through his hair.

"That's one of the first things I'll set up if I'm able to gain some control over the system," Cora said. "I'll find a way to …"

The door slid open and two more of the armored goons stomped in. Everyone glanced up at them and all except Cora cringed. Syala began weeping again and the others gathered protectively around her.

"Not again," she sobbed. "Not so soon!"

Grishnag's heart pounded and she growled at the thugs. If only I could do more than that. If only I could fight back against them without being tortured again.

"Come on," Dylan said, "at least give us a few minutes to recover."

Both of them raised their arms and pointed their palms at him and Syala. Grishnag rushed to step between them and held her hands up.

"Alright! Don't hurt them! We'll go." She slipped her hand into Syala's and gave it a gentle tug. "Come on. We have to."

"I want it to end," Syala whispered.

"We need to hold out just a little longer." Dylan took her other hand. "The more Cora sees the simulation in action, the faster she'll find a way out."

Syala glanced at Cora.

"He's right." Cora smiled. "Maybe the next battlezone is the one that leads me to a breakthrough."

Dylan tried to put on a goofy grin. "If we're lucky, the next one will have a 'pirate' theme. I've always wanted to be fired out of a cannon."

Grishnag snickered, Cora managed a brief chuckle, and the other women just stared at him. He shrugged.

"Anyway, we just need to play along a little bit longer. We can't give up now."

Syala took a slow breath, heaved herself back onto her hooves, and trudged to the door. The others followed quickly, each of them taking a moment to put a hand on her back or give her a pat on the shoulder. Grishnag sighed, glared at the goons as she passed them, and brought up the rear.

"Let's see what kind of magical fucking adventure they have in store for us this time."

The light faded and Dylan found himself seated again. He blinked, shook his head, and glanced around. He and the women appeared to be in the back of an oversized van or passenger carrier. The interior had just enough room for two rows of seats and a locker at one end.

Ayastal thumped her head on the ceiling, winced, and hunched over.

"So," Cora muttered, "what sort of game are they forcing us to play this time?"

The information entered Dylan's mind.

"Great. It's more 'steal the MacGuffin' shit." He heaved himself out of his seat, stared out the window, and pointed at the skyscraper across the street.

"There's something we must find on one of the upper floors," Syala said. She shuddered and rubbed her palms over her face. "I don't think I'll ever get used to suddenly knowing what I don't know."

Grishnag patted her shoulder and opened the locker, revealing an assortment of rifles, pistols, grenades, and other gear. She sighed and began loading up.

"I wonder if we'll ever be allowed to rest." Zilaka drew in a few deep breaths to calm herself.

"I hope so." Dylan grabbed a rifle, two pistols, and several grenades. He slid the door open, stepped out, and took in their new surroundings. "At least there's not many people here. Fewer innocent bystanders to worry about. Well, assuming any bystanders would be actual people plugged into the sim, and not just NPCs whipped up by the software."

"I just wish I knew why this was happening." Nishara armed herself and slithered over to Dylan and Grishnag. "I don't see a pattern among the situations we've been placed in. It seems completely random."

The other women emptied out the weapons locker and joined them on the pavement. Everyone exchanged a glance and crossed the street. They passed through the front door and found the lobby empty. Dylan shrugged and headed for the elevator. Everyone got in and it carried them upward. When it stopped and the doors parted, Grishnag and Cora immediately snapped their rifles up, but the corridor ahead was empty. They led the others to the double doors at the far end. Cora stared at the panel beside it.

"Never seen anything like this before, yet I know how it works. Give me a minute." She slung her rifle over her shoulder and began tapping buttons on the panel.

Grishnag turned to keep an eye on the corridor behind them. Dylan tried to do the same while still watching Cora.

The doors slid aside and Dylan turned to face the huge storage room beyond. Tables and benches occupied the center, each holding an assortment of boxes and alien artifacts. Shelves lined the walls, holding more of the same, and in an open space at the far end, near the large windows running the width of the room, sat a row of crates.

"I've detected a silent alarm," Cora said, hurrying into the room. "We don't have much time."

Dylan weaved between the tables and benches, stopped in front of one of the metal crates, and glanced around at everyone.

"This is what we're here to grab."

"Yes." Nishara stared at the crate and rubbed her upper-left hand over her brow. "But how do they expect us to move it? We have to get it down to a cargo truck on the street."

"I might be strong enough to lift it, or at least push it around." Cora shook her head. "We can probably get it through the door, but it's too big for the elevator."

"How the hell did they get it in here in the first place, then?" Grishnag glanced around and tilted her head upward. "I don't see any places where the ceiling might open up. Guess we'll have to break a window out and hope there's a crane or a scaffold that can reach the ground from here."

"Let's take a look around." Dylan headed for the wall to his right, frowning at each table's contents as he passed. "Maybe there's something we can use."

Cora turned to face the open door. "I'm picking up movement outside. Guards approaching, most likely."

"Wonderful." Grishnag sighed. "Looks like the party's about to start."

Everyone spread out across the room to avoid becoming one huge target. Grishnag crouched behind the crate they'd come here to steal and noticed Dylan taking a position beside her. Ayastal pressed herself against the far wall, beside the door, and took a few deep breaths. The others found cover behind tables and benches all over the room.

"Let's wait to see how hostile they are," Grishnag said softly. "If they're not willing to shoot first, let's not force them to."

Dylan nodded, gripped his rifle in both hands, and trembled slightly.

The doors slid open.

Off to the left, Cora peeked under the bench she'd hidden behind. She frowned, glanced over at Grishnag, and nodded in the direction of the approaching footsteps.

Grishnag risked a quick peek around the crate. An all-human squad wearing armor had just entered. Something was off, though. The faces visible through their visors ranged from slack-jawed to wide-eyed, but all of them had one thing in common -- there appeared to be very little going on behind their eyes.

One of them was drooling.

They've gone insane. Grishnag shivered and ducked back beside Dylan. Or they're brain-damaged or broken in some other way.

Footsteps spread out across the room. A gasp from the right caught her attention and she leaned out to see what had happened.

One of the guards had found Zilaka hiding behind another crate. Her eyes widened as she put her gun down and raised her hands.

The man shot her in the forehead without the slightest hesitation.

Grishnag's heart slammed and she lurched back under cover. After taking a moment to get herself back under control, she snarled and lunged out from behind the crate. Dylan joined her, and both of them opened fire on the man who'd killed Zilaka.

The other women appeared from behind cover and hosed the rest of the guards down. The guards returned fire without even trying to find something to hide behind. When the shooting stopped a few seconds later, all the guards were dead, as were Syala and Nishara.

Grishnag turned slowly, swept her eyes over the bodies, and leaned against the crate with a weary sigh. Cora kneeled beside Syala's body, closed its eyes, and leaned over to kiss it on the forehead. She stood, walked over to Nishara, and repeated the motions. Dylan trudged up beside Grishnag, stared at the bodies, wiped tears off his cheeks, and shook his head.

"I've had just about enough of this shit."

"So have I." Ayastal picked up one of the dead guards and carried it with one hand across the room. "I have an idea. Stand clear."

They moved out of her way and she strode over to the window, wound up, and hurled the body overhand at the reinforced glass. The window cracked under the impact but held up. Ayastal picked up the body, released a rumbling growl, and launched it again. This time the window shattered and the body tumbled out of sight. Ayastal nodded.

"Now we have a way to get the crate out of here."

"Nice." Grishnag managed a shaky smile and walked over to the window. She braced her hand on the frame, leaned out, and stared down at the street. "Hmm." She gave the side of the building a quick look-over and turned to glance up at the floors above. The entire side of the building was smooth -- nothing but glass and metal frames that held it in. "No crane or scaffold or anything else."

She turned to face the others.

"You know what? Let's just shove the thing out the goddam window." She snarled. "Because fuck our captors!"

Dylan laughed and shrugged. "Sounds good to me."

"Same here." Cora smirked.

"Yes." Ayastal nodded and matched Grishnag's snarl. "Fuck them!"

She and Cora walked around the crate, pushed it up to the edge of the floor, and waited for Grishnag and Dylan to join them.

"Ready?" Grishnag waited for the others to nod. "Okay. And … push!"

They gave the crate one last shove and watched it plummet to the street. It crumpled against the pavement and bounced across to the opposite side of the street. When it came to rest against the side of another building, it was a twisted, mangled mess.

Grishnag nodded, put her arm around Dylan's shoulders, and grinned.

"Now, that felt good!"

Nishara started violently as Dylan, Grishnag, Cora, and Ayastal awoke with screams of agony. Poor Syala, already weeping in Nishara's arms, released a terrified scream of her own. Nishara put all four arms back around Syala and rubbed her back until she calmed down. She leaned down to Zilaka, who'd spent her entire time since reviving on the floor, leaning against the wall with her knees pulled up to her chest, sobbing quietly. Nishara took her hand and helped her get back on her hooves.

They hurried over to the others, arriving just in time to catch Dylan and Grishnag as they rolled off their tables.

Ayastal sat up slowly, her movements stiff and shaky, and sat still for another moment before she could suck in a breath.

Cora remained silent, but her twisted expression told Nishara how much pain the mechanical woman was in.

"What happened?" Zilaka whispered.

The others took a few more breaths before they were able to answer.

"We decided to destroy the objective and end the game on our own terms," Grishnag finally mumbled. "We threw it out the fucking window."

"It was one of the most satisfying things I've ever done," Dylan added, then shuddered. "Nothing happened for a few seconds. Then we were … punished, I guess."

Syala shivered and cupped Dylan's face in her hands. "Punished?"

"I've never felt such agony before," Ayastal whispered.

"It was like every nerve in my body had been set on fire." Grishnag crossed her arms tightly over her chest. "Hell, even that doesn't come close to what it felt like."

"I'm so sorry." Nishara slithered over and embraced her.

"And then we woke up here." Cora stood and leaned against her table. "Fuckin' hell. I don't ever want to go through that ever again. It was even worse than being electrocuted by the barrier in the desert."

Nishara remembered the "punishment" Grishnag had received at the hands of the faceless guards she'd defied earlier. It must have been like that, but much worse. She hugged Grishnag again and rubbed her back slowly.

"Are you girls okay?" Dylan glanced from Syala to Nishara to Zilaka.

"We're … surviving." Syala sighed, wiped tears from her eyes and met Dylan's gaze. She kissed him, brushed her fingers through his hair, and managed a slight smile.

"I surrendered," Zilaka muttered. "And that man killed me anyway. I made no move against him, but he shot me."

"I wonder if they had a choice," Ayastal said. "I saw their faces. Maybe something was controlling them."

"I think they simply lost their minds." Grishnag shivered again. "It was like they were running on autopilot. Maybe they were trapped here for so long, their minds just broke."

"Is that our fate?" Syala's glowing eyes widened, her mouth twisted, and she burst into tears again. "To die again and again until we go mad?"

"No." Dylan shook his head and cupped her face in his hands. "We'll figure something out. We'll find a way out of this."

"How?"

Cora reached out to touch Syala's shoulder. "If I can …"

The door opened and everyone spun around to face it. Three more of the tall, armored beings strode into the room. One of them pointed at the open doorway. Zilaka sobbed.

"Oh, no! Not another one! Not again!"

"Calm yourself," Nishara whispered. She put her right arms around Zilaka. "We must keep going if only to give ourselves time to figure out how to escape. We can't think if we're screaming in pain."

Zilaka nodded but couldn't stop crying. Nishara kept her arms around Zilaka and began moving toward the doorway. The others followed, some of them reaching out to touch Zilaka's shoulder.

"We're all here with you," Ayastal said softly.

They made their way through the door and down the same damn corridor to the same damn door at the end. It opened and they entered the chamber beyond. The familiar white light washed over them and when it faded, they found themselves on another street lined with tall buildings.

This time, though, the buildings were stone instead of metal, with metal pipes running along some of them. The buildings, she noticed as a few more seconds passed, had begun to crumble and many of the pipes were rusty.

"Now what?" Syala crossed her arms tightly over her chest and turned slowly to scowl at their surroundings. "What sort of sick game do they want us to play this time?"

"I'm not detecting anyone else around us," Cora said. "For the moment, at least."

"Shit." Dylan turned to face her with wide, frightened eyes. "The info just came into my head. It's a deathmatch."

"We're still being punished." The knowledge entered Nishara's mind and she covered her mouth with both upper hands. "We … we have to kill each other."