“Another day Rusting,” Furiosa said.

“Dude, all I do when I get back home is Rust. This game consumes you,” BobLee said.

The Dojo was all on. BobLee was busy showing Killic how to mine and interact with the boxes and furnaces. Since he was new they did not expect him to do any fighting. But he would have to learn, and soon. Rust is a dangerous place.

“I have a bow and a revolver with me. Is that ok?” Killic asked sheepishly.

“That’s fine,” BobLee replied. “If you get into a scuffle spray them with the revolver and then switch to the bow. The revolver has high damage but its accuracy sucks. The is much better at accuracy but is slower to reload.”

“Alright,” Killic said. “Is a stone pick axe ok?”

“Only if you are just starting out and don’t have a base yet. Since we have access to better tools we should always be using metal hatchets and pick axes. They harvest more in a shorter amount of time. Don’t forget to use hatchets on tress and pick axes on rock nodes. If you do the reverse you will collect less and the tools will break faster.”

Killic took a moment to absorb this. “Alright. Seems simple enough.”

“Just keep bringing in the goods. We will go on a battlefield server later to train your shooting,” Furiosa added in. “In fact, we all should be training.” He was busy tending to the furnaces and crafting.

“I agree,” Kaiser said. “I am terrible when it comes to fighting.”

“Hence the training,” Furiosa said.

Zodd laughed. “Speak for yourselves. I am probably the only one in the group who doesn’t need training.” The sound of chopping wood could be heard on his side of the call.

“Then perhaps the Master of War would like to instruct his students,” Kaiser said with a smile.

“Perhaps I will,” Zodd replied.

Kaiser had been crafting for the past hour – making large stone walls out of stone. The only problem here is that they were still missing the stone gate. Their base would be easier to defend with the addition of walls, but without the gate the base was still incomplete.

“Guys we really need the stone gate blueprint,” Kaiser said.

“I’m working on it,”” Tsurgi responded. “I’m doing a barrel run. I think someone got to the barrels already though. They have not respawned yet.” Tsurgi broke open another barrel. “And… nothing again.”

“Get anything good yet?” Kaiser asked hopefully.

“I got a waterpipe shotgun and five high quality metal out of fourteen-ish barrels,” Tsurgi reported begrudgingly.

“Meh…” Kaiser responded. If crafting and building was not reliant on him on the moment he would be out there harvesting as well. But alas, someone had to stay indoors.

“I’m heading out. Kaiser, watch the furnaces,” Furiosa said.

Kaiser smiled. “Good, bring us goodies.”

“Mmmm,” Furiosa responded.

“Being attacked guys,” Tsurgi responded quickly.

“Where are you?” Furiosa said.

There was no response.

“Dude, where are you?” Furiosa repeated. Already heading out of the base with a waterpipe shotgun in hand.

“Down the road but the guy is already dead. He had a pump shotgun but he wasn’t good with it. Killed him with arrows. Looting his body now,” Tsurgi said. “Guess what I just found.”

“What?” Kaiser and Furiosa asked.

“Stone gate, bolt action rifle, mid-level raider gear, a rocket, and the pump shotgun,” Tsurgi report.

“Hell yes,” Kaiser called out. “The base is-“

Pow!

“What was that?” Kaiser demanded, now worried.

“Fuck! Guys, I just got crunched. I’m dead. Headshot,” Tsurgi informed.

“Dude! Where?” Furiosa called out.

“Down the road to the right of our base,” Tsurgi cried out.

“Did you get a name?”

“I didn’t catch it.”

“Damn it, Tsurgi.”

Tsurgi respawned at the base, grabbed a bow and some leather armor and ran out immediately. “If we go quick we can get our stuff back.”

“I’m getting strapped and heading out,” Kaiser said, canceling is crafting queue. He emptied the materials and grabbed whatever offensive gear he could. Just my luck, he thought, we find what we need and it gets stolen.

Kaiser ran out of the base, the code lock beeping as he opened and close the front door. “BobLee, Killic, are you guys coming?”

“We are following Tsurgi,” BobLee stated.

“I see your body,” Furiosa informed. “I don’t see anyone else. Where did the shot come from?”

“I don’t know. I didn’t see the shot,” Tsurgi responded.

“The body is empty. Damn it!” Furiosa informed as he searched through Tsurgi’s body.

Kaiser’s heart started to race. Damn, he thought. “We have to find him fan out!” He watch ahead of him as they all took different directions with Killic staying close to BobLee.

“I see a runner!” Killic called out. Already running towards the attacker.

“Where?” Tsurgi asked.

“Heading towards the beach,” Killic said as he drew back his bow. He fired. He missed.

“Everyone on Killic!” Furiosa ordered.

They all saw the man running. He was fully geared in raider armor: metal chest plate, metal face mask, road-sign kilt, and holding a bolt action rifle. They saw where he was headed. Just before the beach was a large, rust colored base. This could only mean that the base was made out of sheet metal.

If he gets in we are not getting our stuff back, Kaiser thought.

They all started shooting at him. Kaiser fired his bow at him, knowing the waterpipe shotgun would most certainly miss. The others were doing the same but they could not land a hit.

The raider turned around and aimed.

“Watch out!” Kaiser called out and began strafing.

Pow!

BobLee dropped to the ground. “Dude, what?”

“How-“ Kaiser started.

Pow!

A shot buzzed right by Kaiser’s head.

That was close, Kaiser thought. “Be careful, he is really good.”

“Good, is that what that is?” BobLee said, wanting to insinuate something.

Everyone was drawing bows and firing. All their shots missed. They were not close enough.

The raider was running backwards, popping shots off.

Squelsh!

“I’m hit!” Tsurgi called out, taking out a bandage to stop the bleeding.

Killic drew back his bow again and loosed an arrow.

Squelsh!

“I hit him!” Killic cried out.

The raider turned and ran. He pulled out a bandage just as Tsurgi did.

Killic loosed another arrow.

Crack!

“Holy shit! Again!” Killic said with excitement. It was a very long distance and it was impressive that he had him once – not to mention twice, and a headshot.

The raider dropped and laid thrashing on the ground, pinned with Killic’s arrows.

Furiosa got to the raider first. “Guys, stay out of his view. Don’t let him see our names.” The raider thrashed as Furiosa looted his body.

The raider let out one last scream as he died.

“I got his stuff. Let’s get out of here!” Furiosa ordered.

Everyone turned and ran back to the base. They headed through a forest adjacent to the field they had just fought in.

Kaiser turned and saw no one. No pursuers and now sentinels on the roof. They were free and clear as long as they kept out of sight. Then Kaiser thought of BobLee’s body. “BobLee, did you have anything important on your body?”

“Dude, yea. I had a whole mining run in there!” BobLee called out.

“You guys head back. I’ll get his body,” Kaiser said as he split off from the group. BobLee’s body was not far and he was already coming up on it.

He started to loot the body. High quality metal ore, metal ore, sulfur ore, stone, mining equipment.

Pow! Squelch!

“I’m hit!” Kaiser called out. He turned and what he saw dismayed him.

“We are coming back,” Furiosa said. “Where are you?”

“Belay that. I have four fully geared raiders on me,” Kaiser replied. “We stirred the hornet’s nest.”

Pow! Pow! Pow! Squelch!

“Damn it! They hit me again,” Kaiser said.

“Dude…” Tsurgi started saying.

“Keep going. We aren’t getting the stuff that I have,” Kaiser said, bandaging and dodging as best as he could. An idea struck him. “They haven’t seen you guys yet. Keep to the forest and take the long way home. Do not go on the road until you are right next to the base. I am going to lead them away. I’ll run in the opposite direction of our base. Make them think that’s where we live.”

“Good luck, soldier,” Furiosa said a patriotic tone.

Pow! Pow! Pow! Pow!

“I’ll need it,” Kaiser responded. Luckily, Kaiser had plenty of bandages with him. He used as much as he could to get as much health back as he could. I’ll only survive one more shot. Two if I am lucky, he thought. He kept strafing from side to side and jumping every now and then. Doing this made you a harder target as it is hard to predict where your next move will be.

Pow! Squelch!

The problem with that is sometimes there are some people who are just too good.

Kaiser’s health dropped to ten health. Nine health. Eight health. He was bleeding. Seven health. He used a bandage. Six health. The player avatar started to bandage himself. Pow! Miss. Five health. He was almost done. Pow! Miss. Four health. The bleeding was stopped. Kaiser’s heart was pounding. This was a suicide mission and he knew he was going to die but getting shot at – even if it was virtual – was a dreadful experience.

Pow! Pow! Pow! Pow! Rat-tata-tata-tata!

Well they are getting annoyed, Kaiser thought. He saw a tree line and ran through it. He used trees and bushes as cover. Another idea came to him. The bushes! He ran inland as much as he could, into one of the bushes, and crouched down. His heart was pounding and his hands twitched ever so slightly. He could hear them coming. Their approaching footfalls barreling towards him… and past him.

“It worked!” Kaiser exclaimed out loud.

“What worked?” Furiosa and the other asked.

“In a sec. Trying not to die,” Kaiser responded.

“How are you not dead yet?”

“I don’t know. Grace of God?” Kaiser said laughing.

Kaiser proceeded to walk crouched through the forest and towards the beach, travelling from bush to bush. He believed that if he got to the beach then the cliffs that line them would shield him for view of any prying eyes. The leaves rustled as he moved through the bushes but he was sure that the raiders were far enough now so that they could not hear it. He just needed to stay out of sight.

He could not believe it had worked. Not only did he get them to chase him and search for their home in the wrong place but he also out ran them and survived!

Kaiser was starting to feel a bit lucky. He kept moving between bushes until he came to the end of the forest and looked upon a downward sloping hill that led to the shore.

Bark! Bark! Bark!

“You have got to be kidding me…” Kaiser said out loud.

"What happened?" Tsurgi asked.

Kaiser sighed as the wolf charged and killed him. His screams were cut short by its teeth and barks. “Oh, nothing. Just playing Rust.”