"Laura, what are you doing here?" I asked.
Laura smirked. She threw her jacket open and put her fists on her hips. She opened her mouth to say something, but was interrupted.
"Ahhhhh!" yelled Jay. I turned to look at her, and to my surprise, so did everyone else. She had her hands on her head, and she looked at us, shocked by her own outburst. She then went and ran up the stairs. Patti followed after.
"What was that about?" Laura asked. Her arms went down to her sides, and she had given up on the cool pose she was going for.
"That's my game manual, Jay. I made her visible to everyone." I said. I rubbed the back of my head, and my hair felt matted. I found my Zippo and switched back to Bone Ranger. I looked less like me when I was a skeleton, but at least I didn't gross myself out as I did with the zombie form.
"Can you see my Lucy?" Laura said. She turned to her right and was looking at her own game manual, I think.
"Should I go check on her?" Church asked. I nodded, and Church went after her.
"Do I need to get my chancleta to beat some sense into you?" Laura said. Her eyebrows were furrowed, and she had a stern look. The fists were back on her hips. "You don't just get to decide stuff for people. Lucy thinks you're a prick for doing that."
"Chancleta?" I asked. Laura threw her head back and heartily laughed. I took a look at the information surrounding her. There was no settings button, but I could see extra information like her stats, thanks to whatever Jessica had done to me. I only looked at her basic information for now.
Laura Bautista Vale - Contestant - Age: 29 - Current Race: Human - Class: Hexarchist - Level: 12
"Whoa, you're level twelve?" I said. "How the hell are you so high? I'm…" I checked my screen. "Level five? Holy shit, is that bad? Do I need to level up?" Laura had her head tilted as if listening to Lucy before she addressed me.
"Lucy says it's not good, and that she can see you still haven't gotten any quests. She wants to know why." Laura said. I shrugged my shoulders at the question.
"I just don't really give a shit about quests because this is dumb," I said before adding, "Also, I don't know how to get one."
"What's dumb?" she asked.
"Quests. This maze. Everything."
"I'm doing a quest. Am I dumb?"
"No, not at all! You're smart! It's just…" I trailed off. She caught me off guard with that. I also noticed she was beginning to look a bit fired up. I didn't need Jay and Laura both upset. I decided to back down. "Hey! Thanks for, you know, protecting me, but why are you here? Are your friends here too?" Laura's eyes narrowed at me. Shit, what did I say? She crossed her arms in front of her.
"Those Nordic pendejos are not my friends." Her face became serious and dark before she threw her head back and laughed. She was kind of scary. "I'm here because I turned around and left them. I'm trying to get to Tulsa, but the maze led me here. That's when the world flashed red, and some monsters appeared. They ignored me and were trying to break into this house, so I killed them. When they were dealt with, I came inside to see what they were trying to get at, and I found you. I thought you were dead because you had a huge hole in your face, but Lucy said you had to be still alive because of the spawns. Since they kept coming, I kept farming." Laura beamed a proud smile at me.
"Lucy also says you should check in on Jay." The world outside flashed red, and Laura checked her watch. "It's almost time. I'll take care of them, and you get ready for us to leave, okay?"
"Us?" I said, but she was already out the door, screaming in Spanish. I really need to learn another fucking language! As the door slammed shut behind her, I heard the sounds of undead masses and angel zombies being spawned in. I peeked out the door and watched Laura run and jump off one of the flesh balls before coming down on top of a zombie, smashing one of her potions on it. This bottle was orange, and it was melting the ghouls' flesh into… what the fuck? Was that… cheese? There were maybe a dozen monsters out there, but she seemed to have it under control.
I went up the stairs to look for Jay. At the top, it was a mess from when Church was being chased around. It looks like nearly everything had been overturned during the chase, and I carefully stepped over the mess. I heard noise coming from the back of the hallway. As I got closer to a bedroom door, I could hear it was Patti panting.
I walked in and saw Jay scratching Patti behind her ear while Church was unconscious on the bed. His room was about what I expected. There were some posters on the walls, an old TV, and all the other makings of a young bachelor's room. Jay looked to me and gave a half-hearted smile. Patti straight-up ignored me. Patti turned around, and her ears went back. Damn, even Patti was upset at me. I sat in a computer chair opposite Jay.
"I shouldn't have done anything without asking you first, and I'm sorry." Jay just kept looking at me. Her stare felt heavy, and it made me sad. "I'll change it back now."
"Max, I'm not upset that people can see me. It's… actually kind of nice. Church and I got to talk for a moment before he passed out." She stood up and walked over to the window to watch the fighting outside. Laura was letting out battle cries that were interrupted by maniacal laughter. She really liked killing these things. "I'm scared more than anything. You almost died because of me, and I haven't even sat with those feelings yet before I became visible." She turned to face me. "I'm going through something that isn't easy for me to understand, and it's like you turned on a camera that shows me to the world in that moment."
I stood up and joined Jay at the window before saying, "I don't know what came over me. It was like I was on autopilot as I changed that setting, and I don't even know how I knew there was a setting for that. Things are weird since I ate Jessica's hair, and it's hard to explain. It's no excuse, though, and I will change it back." Jay fluttered her tentacles out at me.
"Oh shut up, Max, and just listen. It's okay, really. Just remember that you can't decide stuff for others, and that includes him." One of her tentacles pointed to Church. I looked out the window to see Laura roundhouse kick an angel zombie before smashing one of her bottles on its head. She looked around, and there were no more monsters. She straightened her coat and started heading back to the house.
"I… I don't know what I'm doing, but I think I'd like to rest." I said. I heard a groggy voice from behind us as Church sat up.
"You're fucking telling me, dude. I want a break," said Church. He was sitting up and stretching. He had cuts and blisters, and bumps from the beating he had taken today. I looked to Patti, who still had her leg bandaged. Then, finally, to Jay, who, in her row of tentacles, one was still clearly missing from when Othryn ripped it off her. This was all too much, and we needed a break.
My thoughts were cut off by approaching footsteps as Laura peered her head inside. "Que mas, companeras?" she said. She had some blood and guts on her, but she looked remarkably full of energy still. I was about to ask what that meant when, instead, Church stood up and took a bow.
"Estamos viendo qué hacer." Church said. What the fuck? He speaks Spanish?
Laura had a big smile and began speaking to Church in Spanish. This went on for almost a minute, with both laughing at what was being said by the other. Laura looked at me and said, "I like this one! You keep him around, you hear?"
"That's the plan," I said with a nod before continuing. "We need to take a break, Laura. We need somewhere safe to figure out our next steps." Laura shook her head no at this.
"I need to get to Tulsa, remember? This was just a friendly stop. Now that you're awake, I'm going to head out. Lucy has an idea for finding Tulsa, and I'm going for it. I want to finish these quests and be done, I'm not interested in just trying to survive until 80% of you all are dead." She turned back to Church and said a few more words in Spanish. They shook hands. I, too, walked up to Laura and held out my bony hand. She took it without hesitation and shook it. I didn't want her to leave, but Jay was right. I can't be deciding what others do.
"Thank you for everything, Laura. If there is anything I can do to repay it, name it." I said. Laura got a sly smile on her face.
"Come with me, then! I could use the company!" she replied.
That would bring us into danger, and it would be another nineteen hours before I could send Church and Patti back to the jail cell in case we got attacked. We needed rest. It would be safer in a big city, I thought. I was about to say I wasn't sure when Church bent down to pick up a yellow coin from under his bed. He held it in the air for all of us to see.
"Dude! I found my game token!" he said. That's when we heard a bear roar outside.