October 17, 2005
Week 25 - The Quest 4
Episode 1
Hal sits at the computer in his family's home office. Chuck stands behind him.
"I'm so loving this!" Chuck says. "A duel to the death with Murray Rosen, supergeek!"
"F--king loser narc'ed me..."
"And now you're gonna spank him!" Chuck shivers. "Oh! I'm getting hot just thinking about it!"
"Shut up, shithead. Where is that freak?"
"How are you supposed to link up with him anyway?"
"Anyone who wants a Death Zone match just logs onto the Zone Central Server. We're supposed to play on a level called The Green Fields of Carnage. I'm in the lobby for that now. I just gotta look for the punk's handle. He calls himself 'Crusher'. Have you ever heard anything so lame? You're supposed to use something cool like 'Entrail Lad' or 'Kill Ravage'."
"It says 'Crusher' down there in the corner of the screen..."
"That's the little shit!" Hal clicks the mouse and the screen soon changes to an image of a lush forest.
A line of text appears at the bottom that says "Message From Crusher: I'm ready if you are. Five frags to win."
Hal grins and types "Message From Entrail Lad: Prepare to die, punk!" He points to a button labeled "Begin the Match". A bell rings and the forest unfreezes. Hal grips the mouse with one hand and places his other over the keyboard. He moves his player in a circle, surveying the territory.
"Where's Murray?" Chuck asks.
"The game spawns you at random areas. He could be anywhere. But my first priority is getting some weapons. I know where I am. There's, like, a little stream near here where I can grab a rocket launcher."
"You go, girl!"
Hal's player runs through the thick foliage. Soon, a small clearing appears. A dangerous looking weapon floats in the air near a pool of shimmering water. Hal maneuvers over it and it disappears. "All right! Now to hunt me some geek." He turns the player around. "Jesus!" he yells and his body lurches back in his chair. Standing directly in front of his player on the screen is the image of a very large space marine, carrying a futuristic laser cannon. The marine opens fire at point blank range and the monitor fills with a burst of light and blood. Hal's player falls down dead.