In The Zone

I awoke with a start in the "recovery room" of what passes for a hospital in the free zone... free of government monitoring. Sitting up slowly, I took in my surroundings: grimy white walls dotted with faded medical diagrams and the standard Do's and Don't's that patients have been ignoring forever, a few medical tables on wheels and another half dozen or so cots besides the one I was on, all empty.

I'd never been here before but I knew the story well enough. Hell, most school kids today know it! The Free Zoners operated this facility, and a few others like it, and you'd damn well better know where each one was if you wanted to last very long. It wasn't just that they'd patch you up - although they would - but more importantly, you were off the radar while you were inside a MedFac like this one. Not that hiding out was something I really wanted, but I'd take a few precious minutes of it right now, while I got my bearings.

As I climbed off the narrow bed, a nurse walked into the room, saw me, and came over toward me. The name tag on her chest said, "Shirley", but she didn't look like any Shirley I'd ever met. The ones I knew didn't tend to have the rack this nurse had, or the full, red lips and knockout eyes, but go figure.

"How are you feeling?" "Shirley" asked, the tone of her voice very convincingly full of professional compassion and concern.

"Fine, thanks, I'm... I'm good," was all I gave her. This area was supposed to be government-free, but how could I be sure? I had no way of knowing what kind of programming she might've had, and I wasn't about to do something stupid. Like saying the wrong thing, or turning my back on her, for example.

"Well, that's a relief!" she replied. "We were all very worried about you. But you look like you're good as gold again. Can I help you find anything? Would you like a tour of the facility?"

"No, thanks. I'll find my own way around, thanks." I was probably being paranoid, and "Shirley" was probably exactly what she seemed to be, but something about her was just freaking me out. I knew I needed to get out of there. The clock was ticking, after all. As soon as the nurse lost interest and wandered away, I bolted for the door.

In the next room, I saw a few hypodermic needles that I knew would come in handy, so I scooped them up and shoved them into my pocket. I scrounged around for a couple minutes but couldn't find anything resembling a weapon. Not that I'd really expected to, in a MedFac. It was worth looking, though, as you never knew what you might come across, inside a box or tucked away in a corner. I hated going outside unarmed, but it seemed like I didn't have any choice in the matter.

Heading out of the facility, I followed a broken road that lead to the north. I'd only gone a few hundred metres when I saw the signpost: "You are now leaving the free zone!" I felt a burst of adrenaline hit me as I passed it. All around me, Hunter-Seeker Units would be registering a new blip on their screens, and that blip was me! I knew it wouldn't be long before the first one showed its grotesque face, a hideous hybrid of flesh and metal, long beads of saliva and motor oil dripping from its lips. If an HSU found me like this, I was hound-kibble! If I was to make it past them - or better yet, through them - and find my way into the GovAdmin office, I needed more than a pocketful of syringes!

The landscape in front of me was pretty barren, which wasn't good news. The ground was scorched every metre or so, and I wondered what heavy ordnance had accounted for each pockmark in the road, each burning, dead tree and even the shattered glass dome off in the distance. My survival probably depended on knowing the answer, but I hadn't taken the time to complete my training before being sent in. About thirty metres ahead of me, though, I saw what I'd been looking for: a storage shed off to the right of the road.

Inside the small structure, my heart skipped a beat as I saw what had been left behind for me. On the dirty floor rested a six-hundred-round-per-minute machine gun, along with two thousand-round belts, each screaming out to be slipped over a shoulder and carried into battle! Feeling dressed for the first time since I'd woken up in the hospital, I stepped back outside.

And came face-to-face with an HSU, all snarl and claws and teeth! Flipping up my new toy just as my finger squeezed on its trigger, I laughed in spite of myself, as I blew that ghoul's face into a million bits of blood and scrap metal!

God Damn, even at a hundred bucks a minute, this was still the best Virtual Reality game yet!!