Recovery Days

A gunshot pulled Josh from his thoughts; Ashley stood next to him with her gun pulled. The second unconscious newbie now had a hole in his head and a beep from their watches confirmed her death. Ashley looked at the corpse as tears ran down her cheeks, but her eyes were set with conviction as she looked at Josh.

"You're right Josh, we have to do whatever it takes to survive" she spoke, wiping the tears from her face. Josh blinked at her statement; he hadn't realized he was speaking out loud. The last few minutes were fuzzy in his memory, up until he pulled the trigger and determined how far he'll go for survival.

"Josh!" a voice yelled from behind the two. Lance and Steele were running towards them both had their guns drawn. Lance ran up to his stepbrother while Steele stopped a few feet away scanning the surroundings.

"What are you…" Lance stopped his question halfway through as he noticed the two corpses in the truck. He saw both Ashley and Josh had their guns pulled, it wasn't hard to determine what had happened. He froze, not sure what to say or do. He was saved from trying to figure out his next move by Josh moving first. He didn't speak instead he just stepped forward and put his hand on Lance's shoulder. Without saying another word, the two stepbrothers nodded and then turned and began making their way back to the factory, their fellow newbies following behind them.

Back at the factory they found Gwen and Matt standing over an unconscious Logan. Everyone had heard the notification that another member of East Africa was killed so they assumed Logan had won his battle. To their surprise the team leader was still injured, a multitude of bruises covered all visible skin.

"Why didn't you heal him?" Lance questioned "Are you out of spells?"

"No I still have enough heart energy to cast some spells" Matt explained "but the way my spell works is it injects people with a large mount of healing energy and a small amount of neutral energy that the users body will then process into their own natural energy, in this case it would become Etherano"

"So, after being hit with your healing spell someone can use their magic again?" Lance asked for clarification.

"Correct" the semi-Mamodo agreed "Logan has already had a lot of energy processed through his body. If I used my healing spell now it might do more damage to his body than heal him. Better to let him heal naturally for a little while" He then continued and gave a general run down of Logan's abilities and dragon force.

"A dragon slayer?" Josh spoke for the first time "that'll be useful in some fantasy movies"

"What's our next move?" Steele asked, she was still constantly looking around them.

Gwen took a look at her watch before responding "Well between the battle here and the death of the two newbies we are still at a score of negative one" Josh also looked at his watch to confirm what she said. Logan and Toby had killed the gun nut and one newbie, that was plus two. Then Matt and Gwen killed the water bender and Logan finished off the team leader which was another plus two. Along with Josh and Ashley's contribution totaled them plus six points. Which would have put them at a score of zero if not for the death of Toby which put them back to negative one.

"So, we have to track down the left-over enemies" the sniper concluded.

"No," the gamer shook her head "when we got Logan from the factory, we could hear the rest of their newbies locked in the basement."

"Once Logan wakes up, we'll decide what to do with them" Matt stated.

Josh tensed at the mention of other newbies but didn't speak, at this point it wasn't really his life on the line. With the rewards from killing the enemy newbie he had 2000 points so could afford the penalty from the negative score. As could Ashley, Logan, and Gwen who had gotten the killing blow on the waterbender. Matt, Steele, and Lance were still at risk of being eliminated by God.

The team separated to rest, Matt and Steele stayed with Logan while Gwen Ashley and the stepbrothers say on the hill. Toby's body was laid a short distance from Logan, the enemy bodies had been moved to the other side of the factory before the newbies had returned.

"I wish I had gotten to know him better" Ashley said sadly looking at the fallen teammate.

"He was a good guy" Gwen said with a nod "never was much of a talker even before he put on the armor"

"Logan told me there's different people brought here" Josh spoke up "he said Toby was a normal guy who just had an unlucky life"

"Yeah you could say that" the gamer agreed "apparently he was an assistant principal at a school before he came here"

"Were the student that bad they drove him to come here?" Lance joked but no one laughed

"No, his fiancé cheated on him with several of the teacher" Gwen continued "a lot of his friends knew and didn't give much comfort when he found out. He always said he would get back at them when he returned." The information of goals that would never be accomplished left the newbies no longer in the mood to chat.

It was a few moments later that Logan woke up and got the full story of the team battle. After the explanation Logan had Matt give him a heal, saying his body had healed enough for it. After being impaled with the healing sword Logan got up and declared it was time to deal with the enemy newbies. He and Matt were the two to go down and evaluate the numbers before dividing them out.

There were five enemy newbies left in the basement, meaning Team East Africa started with thirteen members in this movie. Logan had each one come up separately and be killed by one of his team members. The first went to Matt as he was a veteran and still hadn't had a kill, this finally put the team back to a zero score and made them safe from the elimination. The next went to Steele and Lance since neither had a kill and needed some points. This left just two newbies to be executed.

"One is going to Ashley" Logan explained before calling them up "As a psyche force user she will need the points and rewards. The second will go to Gwen"

"Why not Steele" Lance asked "she is a former military sniper, the extra points and C rank reward could probably go a long way"

"Typically, yes I would give it to Steele" Logan explained "but with Toby's death we need to grow our strength across the team. Gwen has only survived one movie and hasn't set herself to one form of enhancement path. She only has one support skill and one mid-range attack. With two C rank rewards and 4000 points she would be able to choose from a wide selection of skills she could purchase."

"Do you intend to have her fill Toby's spot as a front-line fighter?" the teenager asked, looking at the relatively thin gamer.

"Not necessarily but if you've read the Gamer webcomic you know the amount of skills available to her. If she wants to become a frontline fighter that's her choice. I don't decide what anyone trades for, that's not how I run things." The leader responded

"Honestly I'll probably stick to a mid-range or support role" Gwen added "and I could really use the rank rewards. My next exchange will be the Inventory which costs a C rank reward on its own"

"Any problems with that?" Logan asked one last time, when no one spoke up he moved into the factory with the two women. Lance watched him go carefully, he hadn't really had a problem with Gwen getting the rewards he was just trying to improve his understanding of the leader's thought process and leadership style. He didn't see anything wrong with the man's logic, the only real concern Lance had was that it was a convenient lie and the leader was trying to hoard the points and rewards for the veterans. This could be true but if that had been how Logan was, he could've just let the veterans split all the rewards and said the newbies could make do with just the points given from the team score.

Lance for the most part was very happy with this leader, feeling he and his brother had been very lucky to end up on this team. Logan was clearly very powerful and had some tactical sense. Though his battle planning would need some work. They were very lucky the battle had gone in their favor; any little change would have ended with more casualties if not a full wipe. If the ghost man had decided to fight Gwen or Matt definitely would have died or if the mage had fought instead of run. They would need to work on battle tactics for future team battles.

With two more gunshots the executions were over and West America was at a score of positive four points. So, if everyone survived the last few days, they would all be rewarded an extra 8000 points. Which according to Matt was a good amount for a first movie. After the last executions were finished the team made their way back to the cars, choosing to leave the truck there they drove back to the motel they had been staying at for showers and more rest.

Logan had chosen to stay in the men's room and was just getting out of the shower when Lance approached him.

"Should we hunt down the surviving members of East Africa?" the teen asked him.

The leader thought for a moment before responding "Honestly I would like to; the ghost man definitely poses a threat to us but without Abuya we have no means of tracking them"

"Maybe we could stake out the factory" Lance suggested "They might return to their base now that the fighting is over."

"Maybe but not likely" Logan shook his head "they would've been alerted of the death of all their newbies and the team members left behind. There's not much to gain from going back there"

"So, we have to go the next three days hoping they can't find us?" the teen questioned

"For right now we should be fine" the leader tried to relieve the newbie "They're hurt just like we are and will need to rest. Tomorrow well talk with everyone and make some plans" This was enough to subdue the teen for the night and the two parted to rest.

The next morning found the team meeting up in the girl's room to discuss their plan for the rest of the week.

"Before we begin," Lance spoke before Logan could "has anyone had any contact with Abuya?"

"Why do you ask?" Gwen asked when no one spoke up.

"I'm concerned that she's not trying to get us to finish the job" the teenager explained.

"You think shed want us to track down all her teammates?" Logan questioned

"It would be the smart choice" Steele voiced her thoughts "Otherwise there would be fighting after the movie"

"Maybe she thinks they'll be erased due to the negative score" Matt theorized.

"Maybe but they could also have stones that will save them like she does" Lance argued "Or she has an extra one"

"You think she's planning on saving one of them?" Logan asked

"From what you've told me its not easy getting reliable teammates" the teenager explained "If she has the option of saving one more, I think it would be worth the risk."

"If she wanted to ally with someone why didn't she do it before?" Matt questioned.

"Allies are a lot easier to trust when you hold their key to survival" Steele stated

"She wanted to wait till they were desperate before recruiting them" Logan summed up "With their negative score the only way to survive would be for one person to kill all of us and that's still going to take a big reduction"

"If I was her Id go for the ghost man" Gwen added "I was able to get an Observe off him before he ran away. He has a unique potential like me. That's how he has his ghost powers."

"What about the mage?" Ashley pointed out "he seemed easy to get on your side"

"If I was her" Logan said "I'd go for the ghost man first then the mage if there's an extra stone"

"Could she have three?" Lance wondered.

"It's possible if she used all her points and rewards to plan for this" the team leader confirmed.

"Should we prepare for an attack from them?" Steele asked

"I don't think so" Lance answered "right now they should be at negative ten points if they managed to kill all of us that would still leave them at negative three. If Abuya could kill Logan and then split us evenly between the other two they could still lose all their points to the deduction except for Abuya who would still have 1000 points left over."

"She should have some idea of our level of strength" Logan continued "they would have some casualties its not worth the risk"

"Could the rank rewards be a big enough temptation?" Ashley asked

"No rank rewards without points won't get much in the exchange system" the team leader explained.

"So, we should assume Team East Africa is no longer a threat" Gwen declared

"At least we can assume we won't be attacked by a team" Logan corrected "either the mage or the ghost man may attack alone out of desperation."

"If it's just the one we can take them as long as we stay together" Matt said confidently.

"On that note we should discuss the plan for the rest of the movie" Logan changed the subject back to what they had gathered for.

"With the defeat of Team East Africa our biggest threat is The Creeper" Gwen began "I've seen all the Jeepers Creepers films and one thing the creeper always does is try to keep himself a mystery."

"Just like what he did with the newbies" Logan continued "the Creeper kills and destroys everything that may lead to information getting out about him."

"So, what we should do is before he gets the ability to track us is move to a large city" the gamer revealed their plan "Someplace where he wont attack since there would be too many witnesses and cameras"

"That could work" Lance said digesting the plan "do we have a city in mind"

"I bought a map on our first day" the gamer explained "there's a city about a two-hour drive from here"

"Today we'll go around town and find some of the fastest cars we can get" Logan elaborated "then tonight we grab them and tomorrow we make our way to the city"

No one had any problems with the plan, and they made their way into the town to start it. They spent all morning going through the town and the small neighborhoods nearby noting any particularly fast cars they could use. Logan and Gwen were the most knowledgeable on this end and really did most of the work. Around noon they decided to break for lunch and made their way to a small diner.

It was just after eating that things took a dark turn. Steele had excused herself from the table but had taken a long time to return. Gwen was the who noticed first and went to check on the older woman but couldn't find her anywhere in the bathroom. Suddenly a strong feeling of unease came over the gamer and she rushed back to the table. At the same time Logan and Matt stood up suddenly, both feeling the same thing Gwen was. Before they could move a regal voice sounded in their minds.

"One member killed. Team East America minus one point. Currently at 6000 points. Members with negative points at the end of the movie will be erased…"