World Of Karik: A Game Of Villains 10 Behind Enemy Lines

"Shh!" Baldy hushed me and grabbed my arm.

With a gesture, he ordered me to lay low and be quiet. Maybe he saw something, maybe he was overreacting. No matter how hard I tried, I failed to notice anything suspicious. The strangers seemed to have left.

Quietly, like a jaguar, Igor moved to the "crime scene" and beckoned me to follow him. I walked as quietly as I could, but failed to be stealthy. He looked at me as if he wanted to kill me.

"Stay!" he mouthed and disappeared into the bushes.

Knowing that there were armed people walking about, I couldn't enjoy my solitude. Every sound coming from the forest made me turn in panic. I was waiting to be attacked at any moment. Baldy returned as silently as he had disappeared. His content face made me think that he was up to something.

"Eight people," he quietly said. "That's how many I counted. They have a lot of stuff, so there are possibly a few more people out there. They're probably wandering around right now. So be careful."

"Got it," I thought I was being quiet, but Baldy's unhappy expression made me question that.

"We're going to find these 'wanderers'," he said. "Don't rush ahead, just cover me."

I silently nodded. Compared to him I was as noisy as an elephant in a cook pot falling down a flight of stairs.

"Come on," Igor moved his head, nodding in the direction we were to head in.

We walked along the river bank hiding in the foliage which, in my opinion, was no different from the one in our world. A river rapid was rumbling nearby. The air was humid and filled with soft voices. I cautiously looked out from the dense vegetation and saw our recent offenders. Igor was right; there were eight of them, all quite tall and st.u.r.dy. All of them were dressed in the same attire: dark green camouflage overalls, woolen hats, body armor and heavy combat boots. Each had a gun in their hand or on their shoulder. The firearm looked like a strange modification of the Kalashnikov I've never seen before. Glancing at them I noticed that they were all level 20 and above. They were going to be tough opponents.

They cut their conversation short as if they were saving words. I spotted ten khaki backpacks on the ground; there were two other people wandering around.

I felt a light touch on my arm. Baldy signaled to me that it was time to get a move on. We went past the group and deeper into the forest. The river rapids were still noisy, but the sound was noticeably m.u.f.fled.

Igor suddenly moved aside; gray lightning flashed between the trees. There was a short shriek, but it quickly died down. A machine gun fell onto the carpet of rotting foliage. Baldy was struggling with keeping the enemy down. He was sitting on top of the man, one hand twisting the stranger's arm, the other covering his mouth to prevent him from screaming. I rushed to help him, silently asking him what to do. Instead of answering, he slammed his opponent's head against a protruding root and jumped to his feet. The man in the khaki jumpsuit jerked and fell silent.

Alexey Bondarenko

Level 21

Age: 58 days

Not bad, I thought.

"Tie his hands," Baldy commanded, and threw me some rope. I wondered if he always carried it around with him or did he bring it specifically for this task.

In the meantime, he made a complex knot with another rope and tied the man's legs.

"What are you doing?" Baldy suddenly exclaimed.

"What?" I asked in confusion, having already made an artful knot.

"Get his hands behind his back!" he barked. "He can hit you even with his hands tied like that."

Realizing what Igor meant I undid the knot—luckily, I hadn't tightened it yet and put our prisoner's hands behind his back and twisted the rope around his wrists.

"That's better," Baldy nodded approvingly. "I'm gonna gag him.…"

The man stirred and groaned. Igor reacted instantly, putting a dirty rag into his mouth. He then sprang up and lifted the stranger to his feet with one mighty move.

"Get the gun," he ordered me.

I located the gun, picked it up and hung it around my shoulder, remembering how they held weapons in movies. It was very different from the plastic replicas at the training camps. Recruitment for military service was canceled long ago, the army was now purely professional, so the only combat experience I had was a week spent in the woods near Moscow with reservists like myself. The gun was heavy and uncomfortable as h.e.l.l, but I looked impressive with it. At least I really wanted to think so.

"Go!" Baldy ordered and shoved the prisoner forward. The man jerked, tried to hit Igor with his shoulder, turned around, but got tangled in the rope around his legs and fell to the ground.

Baldy lifted the prisoner from the ground and got him back onto his feet with one mighty swing. What the h.e.l.l was he doing before he got here?! The stranger tried to say something, but he could only growl because of the gag in his mouth.

"You better take your scythe," Baldy told me. "It will be more useful. You can't handle the gun anyway."

"Yeah, I just wanted to remember what it's like," I lied. I didn't know why.

"What?" Igor frowned.

"How to hold the gun," I explained. "I've tried it once..."

Why was I lying? I've never held it in my life. However, 50 experience points were added to deception's bar.

"Remember?" Igor asked and went on without waiting for me to answer, "All right, put it on your shoulder and summon the scythe. You can only waste bullets with those skills of yours. We better save cartridges. In case anything happens use your scythe. Don't be shy, enjoy yourself."

The guy heard our conversation and growled bitterly, but Baldy hit his shoulder, forcing him to move.

"Look out, there should be another one," Igor said quietly.

I nodded, lost in thought. These guys were strong. Fighting a group of level 20 players would be silly. We could only hope that they would simply leave. Fortunately, if I understood Baldy's explanation correctly, we were safe at our base. Sure, we could wait for the storm to blow over, but what then? Were we just going to keep leveling up? Were we to stay in this strange world forever, dying and resurrecting time and time again? Baldy had been here two years already, and had no intention to leave. Who the h.e.l.l was he, anyway? David Jones pretending to be Igor reminded me of old spy films.

"Vasily, stay alert," Baldy interrupted my train of thought. "According to their level, they've started to kill only recently. Let's not take them for fools, however. They change their guards, so our new friend's absence will soon be noticed. I wouldn't be surprised if the alarm went off at any moment."

Our enemies, as it turned out, were not that experienced. My partner was right about one thing, however; we wouldn't get far with a bound prisoner and nine fighters pursuing us. Who knew what they would do with us. I wondered if they'd torture us to find out where our base was. I shuddered and stopped thinking about it.

Baldy led us down some strange paths. We were no longer walking, but practically climbing a steep slope covered with trees. I heard the sound of running water nearby. Igor chose this route so that the pursuers couldn't track us by sound. Judging by the distance we had covered, we made a huge detour.

Half an hour or so later, we finally stopped near a cliff's edge. The water underneath us roared, and the occasional wind gusts brought the cries of the seagulls with them. Driven by curiosity, I walked over to the edge and carefully peered down at the water from behind a thick, twisted tree. The river below was wide and stormy. Further ahead it fell from the cliff into a wide lake or the sea. In the distance, leaden clouds rose above the horizon, and lightning flashed here and there. I could even see rain. We were far from the storm, and there was a chance that it would pa.s.s by us. I was so enthralled with its power and beauty that I didn't hear when Baldy took the gag out of the prisoner's mouth and began to talk to the man.

"Level five," he said with a smile. "I must admit you did well, Igor."

"Who are you and what are you doing here?" Baldy either didn't pay attention to the mocking tone or simply pretended that he didn't care.

Our prisoner was clearly on edge, not knowing what to expect from the two low-level men who had somehow managed to capture him. On the other hand, it seemed that he thought that he could deal with us since he hadn't made a single attempt to commit suicide.

"We're going to the exit point," the prisoner said ignoring Baldy's first question.

"Is your unit alone or are you cooperating with someone else?" he asked calmly, even casually.

"You really think I'm gonna answer your questions?" the Bondarenko guy burst out laughing. "I admit, you've tricked me, but that's all. You can shoot me or cut my head off, I don't know what you practice here."

"Don't worry, we'll come to that," said Baldy with what sounded like pleasure.

"Feel free to start," said the prisoner.

In response, Baldy summoned his sword, sized Bondarenko up and slashed his left shoulder. Something crunched, blood splattered all around, and the prisoner shrieked. I grimaced involuntarily. A half-cut, dangling arm and exposed tendons weren't a pleasant sight.

"How many more of you are there?" Baldy asked, bringing the sword closer to the other shoulder.

I felt chill go down my spine. If one were to think that the past events had made me cold-hearted, they'd be wrong. It was one thing to see someone killed by monsters, knowing that you'll see them safe and sound back at the base, or be trapped by some lunatic whose threats were hard to believe, and quite another to observe well practiced and meticulously planned torture. Who was this David?

"You know it's pointless," Bondarenko stood his ground, but I could see that he was in great pain. "I'll suffer, but I'll tell you nothing, and then I'll resurrect back at the nearby base."

The word "nearby" made my ears p.r.i.c.k up. If he was telling the truth, their base was somewhere near ours. That changed everything.

"Vasily, smack his legs," Baldy said out of nowhere.

I turned around and looked at him in disbelief. To tell the truth, I didn't really want to hit a living human being. How odd; just until recently I've been vividly imagining how I'd be fighting enemies and gaining experience, but reality was vastly different. Hitting a tied enemy with an iron scythe would be a difficult task. "Come on!" Baldy said.

"Yeah, Vasily, don't be a wuss," Bondarenko chimed in. "Smack me so I can kick the bucket and wake up at the base. When I find you, you sc.u.mbag, I promise not to break your tombstone. Unlike yours," he glared at Baldy.

I felt bad as he seemed to be sincere. I even began to regret agreeing to come here.

"Come on!" Igor barked.

I swung and hit one leg, and then the other one, automatically casting Weakness. He howled in pain and swore; even the most experienced of sailors would've been jealous of his vocabulary.

"b.a.s.t.a.r.ds!" he muttered through clenched teeth and then yelled: "We have one unit, just one! We got to the exit point!"

"I see," Igor nodded. "Come on, Vasily."

What did he figure out? Why were they killing people if they got to the exit? Was I missing something?

"And what about him?" I said, voice suddenly strained.

"Leave him," he replied. "Or do you want to let him go?"

"Be a human, let me resurrect!" Bondarenko shouted.

"Leave!" Baldy ordered and marched back in the direction from which we came without waiting for me.

I hesitated, but followed, Bondarenko swearing behind me. Why couldn't I kill him? I knew he'd be back at his base in a second. I probably wasn't ready for it yet. Actually, this would also give us some extra time.

Bondarenko's scream pierced through the air, making me turn around. I was taken aback by the scene unfolding in front of me. Bondarenko, screaming in unbearable pain, leaned onto the tree with his remaining hand, rose into a vertical position, and then threw himself off the cliff. Unable to hold his weight, his broken legs gave in, causing him to lose consciousness, but he did what he wanted—his dead body was falling down.

The noise made Baldy turn and swear under his breath.