1 Returning to the City

Isaac Day was sitting in a crowded plane, a screaming kid to his left and a rambling grandma to his right. He watched the small electronic screen in front of him displaying the plane's flight path.

'Only five more hours to go…' He thought to himself. The screen couldn't be changed to anything else, so he ventured for another avenue of entertainment.

His eyes narrowed as the slyest of grins appeared on his face for a fraction of a second. He turned his head to the left while the kid was preoccupied with screaming at his mother.

Isaac slowly brought his mouth close to the kid's ear and whispered a soft, "Boo."

Instantly the kid swapped from screaming to panic, then crying. Isaac leaned back and chuckled to himself. Apparently, he enjoyed annoying others even at the expense of himself. You do know that ear drums don't last forever next to crying and yelling children, right?

While the child was crying, he leaned over to the grandma and listened to her talking. She droned on and on about her wonderful grandson. Then as if a brick fell on his head, Isaac turned to his left and looked at the crying kid.

'Oh.' He chuckled again, this time in defeat. He was stuck between one big family it seemed. It was easier to mess with a kid than an old lady. He also didn't mind messing with an annoying kid, but an old lady was a different story.

She was defenseless! What if she had a heart attack? He wasn't going to be held responsible for that, so he just sat in his seat with a content face.

Then he turned to the grandma and asked, "Excuse me miss, I need to use the restroom. Do you mind moving a bit?"

"Oh, not at all Sonny." She said with a smile as she began moving her legs out of the way. Then she stopped and looked at Isaac's face for a moment and said, "Ah, you remind me of my grandson!"

For the next two hours, Isaac was stuck behind the old lady, trapped by the karmic justice of the world. Eventually he stood up and forced his way past her. At first, he was just saying it to stretch his legs but now it was an emergency.

He got to the restroom and well… did his business. Afterwards he looked at the mirror as he washed his hands, staring at his reflection. He had a decent face if it wasn't for the shrapnel that tore his skin apart near his cheek to the back of his head.

After studied the scars for a moment, he groaned and opened the door stepping out. He looked back at where his seat was and shuddered involuntarily. Eventually, with a expression akin to an undead, he returned to his seat and zoned out.

The rest of five hours passed, and the plane finally landed. He got out the seat and began walking forward and out. He entered the air-conditioned building and saw everyone walking to and fro without a care in the world.

He began making his way through the building and got past the security to find a short guy looking up at him.

"Damn, you weren't kidding. You really did get fatter." It was his friend Roscoe Egerton. He was a small and funny guy, or at least he tried to be.

"It's muscle, not fat." Isaac corrected because he knew his friend was coming to terms with the scarred face and was bringing attention away from it.

"Well either way, I'm getting bigger!"

"I hate to break it to you, but you stopped growing in middle school." Isaac said with a grin.

"I meant fatter then." Roscoe said as he turned away with a humph.

Isaac chuckled as the two began to leave the airport. They exited the building, revealing a dark sky. They made their way to the crowded parking lot and went up a few floors. As they entered Roscoe's car, he finally found the courage to ask the question on his mind.

"So… how'd it happen?" He asked with his face turned away.

"IED."

"…" Roscoe remained silent as he turned the ignition and started the car. As they were driving, he muttered, "I'm sorry."

"It's fine, I'm over it." He truly was, or at least he had convinced himself that. After the brief exchange, the atmosphere became awkward, and they became silent.

Another hour passed and they entered a large city. The interior of the car was dyed by the vibrant neon colors covering the endless skyscrapers. Floating holograms appeared everywhere advertising various idiotic and unethical products. Expensive gold and silver cars could be seen floating in the sky weaving their way around the glass giants.

"It's good to be home." Isaac muttered in sarcasm. His eyes drifted down, away from the neon lights and flying cars and saw all the homeless and trash covering the streets. The powerlines haphazardly connected to the dilapidated buildings.

Roscoe turned into a massive building and entered a large parking lot. They parked and stepped out of the car, heading deeper into the building. They entered an elevator littered with cans and random scraps of trash. They left and made their way to Roscoe's apartment.

"I spoke with the building manager, he say's there's a slot open and that he'd reserve it for you. You got lucky man; the most basic living conditions are becoming scarce these days." Roscoe placed his wrist on a glass panel next to the door and the door unlocked.

The two stepped inside showing an apartment barely livable. A mattress in a frame and a mattress on the floor. A small bathroom with barely enough room to enter and finally, a small computer seemingly only made of glass on a small desk. There wasn't even a kitchen.

Isaac stepped inside and dropped his duffle bag on the floor before collapsing on the mattress that was likely a bedbug breeding ground. Roscoe walked over and sat on his bed, looking down at Isaac.

"So, what're you gonna do man? I'm sure someone would hire you as a bouncer on the spot, but I don't want you to get shot by some random chromeskull."

"I don't know, maybe I'll become a mercenary for some corporation. They always need bodies."

"Yeah, cuz' the bodies they hire always get shoved into body bags. Hence the name bodies."

Isaac shrugged, causing Roscoe to sigh.

"Look, you know SurgeSystems?"

"The corpo that makes computers and stuff, right?"

"Yeah, look." He tapped a button behind his ear and pulled out a data crystal. "Play this, it came out a week ago."

"What? Look, I'm tired dude. I don't want to play any games." Isaac waved his hand dismissively.

"Hey, it's not just any game. You can get money from playing this."

"Uh-huh, is that what SurgeSystems told all you? Bet the fine print reads, 'We are not required to hand out any earning from the game if you aren't a super-gold-platinum-silver-diamond-emerald-blah-blah-blah member.'" Isaac said with a voice filled to the brim with skepticism.

"I've made three grand from this game." Roscoe said simply.

"So do you need an up-to-date jack or no?" Isaac said as he grabbed the shard with zero hesitation.

"You should be fine, just jack the crystal in and you can play."

"Hell yeah. What's it about?"

"It's a super realistic wild west game. You've got the normal jobs, which get you a middling amount of money. But the big bucks are lawmen and bounty hunters. Finally, the best class for making money, the outlaw. But without risk, there are no rewards. Outlaws are the easiest to die as since you've got two groups of people gun-"

"Yeah, yeah, yeah. I get it. You said it was realistic?"

"Well, my character contracted tuberculosis and slowly died… so yeah."

"…Oh. Is there a punishment for death?"

"You lose all your money and gear. If you have a hundred grand in your bank account and die, well, you better hope it's not all from the game."

Isaac brought the data crystal to behind his ear and slid in into a gap commonly called a jack. Once it was in, a screen popped up in front of his eyes and started filling his vision.

"Just remember, it's not a replacement for a real job!" Roscoe said as Isaac was slowly pulled into the game's world. Eventually, all other sounds faded, and Isaac found himself in empty space.

A menu styled with wear and tear appeared before him. It showed four sets of people and a brief description of each.

Civilian.

Civilians are the common folk out here. They do the jobs others don't want to! Work in bars, general stores, and more. But be wary of the Outlaws coming, because you might just get more than your money stolen. So, try not to agitate them or else you might lose your life! Civilians make a small, but reliable amount of money.

Lawman.

Lawmen are those valued few who investigate and stop Outlaws. But they are bound by jurisdictions and more. Because of this, Outlaws might be able to slip through the cracks. If that happens, you'll have to rely on Bounty Hunters. Lawmen make a lot of money, but any fights between outlaws will either end in their death, or yours…

Bounty Hunters.

Bounty Hunters are the men and women who say screw the law, but only enough to get some money! They hunt down the criminals that the Lawmen can't. They are quick and might hunt a target for days. Much like the police, they make a lot of money, but fights usually end one of two ways. Bring in targets alive to make even more money, but beware, Outlaws are crafty and might just kill you when you aren't looking!

Finally, Outlaws.

If Bounty Hunters say screw the law, Outlaws aren't even aware of the rules of civilization. They create grand schemes to rob everyone blind. Be careful though, you are a wanted man or woman in most scenarios. If you want some time to relax though, why not pay off your bounty? Be warned however, if it's too high, you won't be able to. Outlaws make the most amount of money by far, but also have the highest mortality rate among players.

After reading through everything, Isaac grinned and pressed outlaw without hesitation. Another menu appeared though.

[Enter Your Username:] It had a small blank box underneath it.

Isaac clicked on it and thought for a moment. Then a smile came to his face as he typed away.

[Welcome Black Coyote!]

Another box appeared.

[Enter Your Character Name:]

A sigh escaped Isaac's mouth. He just typed his name in and clicked next.

Then a duplicate version of him appeared. His annoyance was replaced with awe of the level of detail it exhibited. He scanned his body from top to bottom and noticed it was the character editor. You could change a lot of the character and it was grounded in reality, but Isaac didn't change much.

Instead he just changed his face slightly and clicked the [Next] button.

The menu faded away and Isaac found everything fading to black. A moment later, he opened his eyes and found himself laying down looking up at a brick ceiling.

*Dink*

He heard a metallic noise to his left and saw a large man with a moustache. The man was chewing some tobacco and as he stared at Isaac. He spit on the floor and spoke slowly with a sigh.

"Alright, get outta bed. Seems you were just in the wrong place at the wrong time."

Isaac noticed he was in a jail cell, so he got up as the man opened up the large metal gate. Isaac walked out and he slid it closed again. He brought Leo to a table and put some things on it.

A dirty revolver, some ammo, a knife, and a lasso. The man obviously didn't want to give them to Isaac, but Isaac picked them up anyway.

As he lifted the revolver, a small menu appeared showing some stats.

.45 Revolver [Single-Action]

Clip Size: 6

Reserve Ammo: 12

Power: Low

Range: Low

Rate of Fire: Medium

Isaac whistled slightly making the man glare at him. Isaac turned and went to exit, but not before the man said, "Now hold on there. I better not catch you in the 'wrong place, wrong time,' again. Or there WILL be trouble."

Isaac smiled slightly and left the building. Since he didn't have any money, what was there to fear? As Isaac stepped outside though, he immediately found something to fear.

It appeared to be a zombie.

Before he even had time to think however, a flaming arrow flew through the air and exploded the zombie's head entirely.

"Realistic my ass!" Isaac blurted out.