Sword Art Online Alternative – Gun Gale Online - Volume 7 - Chapter 6

CHAPTER 6 
Betrayal and Trust 
“Bwehhh…” 
She emerged from the river soaking wet, feet squishing in the muck up to her shins, trudging through grass that rose to chest height. 
“You did it, Llenn!” Fukaziroh cheered through the comm into her ear. 
“Yep, I did it. Ugh, I’m so tired. Thanks for the backup.” 
The ends of her favorite cap were floppy from the water, and her bangs stuck to her forehead. The mental exhaustion was written clearly on her face, but at least she was smiling. 
Thankfully, in GGO, all wet clothes and skin dried very quickly. Before she knew it, the ends of her cap would be perky again. 
Llenn checked her watch and saw that it was still only 12:34. From the scan to their charge over the bridge to the explosive showdown, those four minutes had been very eventful. 
“Nice one, Llenn! Now, I know you’re tired down there, but do you think you could find M wherever he’s buried? Come back on the left side of the bridge. Our left, I mean.” 
“Yeah, help me out…,” M chimed in over the comm. 
“You got it!” 
Pitohui continued doling out orders. “Fuka, when you’re done reloading, watch out for monsters. If you see one, punch it to death.” 
“Can do.” 
“Clare, will you inspect the motorcycles they were using? See if they have gas, if the clutch isn’t broken, and if the steering still works. If any of them are usable, stand them up.” 
“What? I don’t know the first thing about motorcycles… What did you call it…? A clutch…?” mumbled Clarence, uncharacteristically nervous. 
“Then I’ll do it,” offered Shirley. “You focus on helping out M. Do you need a rope for that, Pitohui?” 
“Yes, yes, thank you!” 
As Llenn trudged through the muck in M’s direction, listening to her teammates talk, she thought, Oh, I’m so glad I was able to keep them all alive. I’m glad we’re still together. 
DOOM had been a fearsome foe unlike any she’d faced before. Llenn’s strategy had been an absolute gamble, one that could easily have ended in her death, but thanks to some excellent backup, they’d all made it through more or less unharmed. 
Even the toughest battles had a silver lining: They bred confidence if you emerged victorious. 
Here we go! Just you wait, Boss! Just you wait, SHINC! She raised a clenched fist toward the sky and quickened her pace. 
“Stop!” 
She’d very nearly kicked M in the head. 
“Enya Totto! Enya Totto!” 
“What is that, Fuka?” 
“Dunno. Felt like saying it, that’s all.” 
On top of the bridge, the plan to extract M from the swamp was in progress. 
Next to the overturned semitrailer, they were using Shirley’s mountain-climbing rope to haul him out, with the other end tied around his shoulders and the guardrail acting as a pulley. 
Everyone aside from Llenn and Shirley was doing the pulling. They’d easily towed little Llenn up first, and now she was at the ready with her knife for when the first monster showed up, which would be soon. It was 12:36. 
Shirley was checking the bikes. She stood up one that was still rideable. It had belonged to the second man Llenn had sliced up. The handlebars were a bit bent, but not to the point of making it impossible to ride. 
Next, Shirley went to the first corpse who’d gotten his head cut off—now back in one piece with a DEAD tag floating over his body—and ripped his backpack off him. Until the bodies disappeared, you could procure any items on their person, so this might prove useful. 
“Enya Totto! Enya Totto!” 
Pulling M out of the swamp was difficult given that he was firmly stuck and heavy to begin with, but thanks to the absurdly high strength stats of Pitohui and Fukaziroh, he came squelching out. After that, it was just a steady tug to get him up the thirty feet to the bridge. 
“I bet it would be really funny if we let go right now.” 
“Fuka, no.” 
Enya Totto, Enya Totto. Eventually M reached level with the top of the bridge, and he was able to grab on to the guardrail himself. 
“Thanks, everyone.” 
He pulled himself over at that point. His body and M14 EBR were completely covered in sludge. It spilled and flew off him when he stretched. But this was GGO, so it would eventually dry and go back to normal. 
Shirley twisted her hands around and around as she rolled up the rope. Pitohui said, “Thanks. You’re pretty handy with that rope. You use them a lot?” But Shirley ignored her. Pitohui hadn’t used the phrase “in real life,” but that was the obvious implication. You couldn’t be too careful around her. 
Shirley stashed the rope in her inventory, then picked up the R93 Tactical 2 off the ground. She switched out the magazine and ran the bolt back and forth, catching with her bare hand the explosive round that popped out. 
At 12:37, Llenn called out, “There it is! Up above!” 
About ten feet in the air over the center of the six players, a bundle of glimmering lights was forming. That was a scout monster being generated, indicating they’d been stationary for five minutes. Apparently, if there wasn’t soil under their feet to break through, they could appear in the air. 
“I’ll get it if it comes down,” Llenn said, approaching the spot beneath it, her knife-wielding hand poised behind her back, ready to strike. 
Three seconds later, what appeared to be a monstrous, nasty-looking koala materialized. The lights vanished as soon as it was complete. 
“C’mon, back to the forest…,” Llenn murmured, timing her chance to slash it. 
“Sorry.” 
Kablam. Shirley fired her gun. 
The ordinary bullet the R93 Tactical 2 fired blasted through the koala’s torso and vanished into the sky beyond it, turning the creature back into a bundle of floating lights. 
“Huh?” Llenn blinked. 
“Hey! What’s the big idea?! You’re not supposed to shoot ’em!” fumed Fukaziroh. 
Shirley spun around, hung her long sniper rifle from the sling over her chest, then rushed toward the motorcycle she’d just propped up, leaping over the seat and pressing the starter button that breathed life into the engine. 
“C’mon!” 
“Here I am!” replied Clarence. She hauled the backpack of explosives over her shoulders, then hopped onto the tandem seat behind Shirley. She circled her arms around the driver’s torso and clapped to give the signal. 
Shirley let go of the clutch on the left. The motorcycle squealed into motion, pulling the front wheel off the ground, and they began zooming away into the distance. 
“Huh? Hey! What? Why?” Llenn gasped with shock. 
“Wah-ha-ha, sorry! So long, suckers!” shouted Clarence as they raced away. The comm clicked as she turned it off. 
“What the…?” 
“So this is where they made their move! Motorcycle and bomb thieves!” Fukaziroh ranted. She pointed the MGL-140s toward the receding bikers but didn’t fire. Soon, they were off the bridge and out of sight. 
As quiet returned to the bridge, Pitohui suddenly burst into laughter. “Ah-ha-ha-ha-ha-ha-ha! Next time we meet, we’ll be enemies! Let’s be wary of snipers and explosives, team!” 
M’s clothes were somehow dry and clean already. He lifted the M14 EBR, checking to see that it was still loaded. “We’ve got bigger problems to worry about now.” 
“That’s true,” said Pitohui, her photon swords back in her hands. 
The four of them were now surrounded by a great mass of twinkling lights atop the bridge and in the air overhead. They would begin coalescing into a swarm of monsters momentarily. There was no escape. 
“Dammit!” 
Llenn pulled her P90 out of storage and yanked the bolt handle. 
The audience in the bar watched as the team of four shot and sliced the swarm of monsters descending upon them. They were enjoying the safety of their seats. 
“Oh no, you’re in trouble now!” 
“Good luck with that.” 
The number of monsters appearing may have increased with time or according to the strength of the squad they were attacking—or perhaps both. The creatures shot up from the ground like grass after rain, and the players had to keep fighting for their lives without a moment to breathe. 
The 12:40 scan came and went, but they didn’t have a second’s peace to stop and look at the results. 
 
“I’m…so…tired…” 
At 12:45, having just shot what seemed to be the last of the creatures with her P90, Llenn let her arms fall to her sides. 
Tendrils of white smoke were rising from the muzzle and body of the gun, which had fired and fired and fired over the last several minutes. Many empty magazines lay at her feet. 
“Fifteen minutes until we get our ammo refilled… I don’t want to do anything…,” she grumbled. She crouched and materialized all her remaining ammo magazines to count them. 
“I can’t believe I only have this many…” 

Eight packs left. That was only four hundred rounds. She’d brought twenty-two, meaning she’d used up over half her stock. 
Part of the reason for her blowing through her ammo so quickly was that she had to protect Fukaziroh, who was a terrible shot with her own pistol and couldn’t use her grenades because the enemy was so close. 
“Gosh, sorry about all that. I’ll remember this favor you’ve done me for the rest of my life, or maybe not that long,” said Fukaziroh guiltily, stepping out from her hiding spot behind Llenn’s tiny back. 
She’d been firing her M&P pistol as best she could, but her best was objectively awful. Every now and then, she’d actually hit a monster in the head, to Llenn’s delight, only to say, “That’s weird… I was aiming for the one next to it…” 
“Did anyone see the scan at forty minutes?” Pitohui asked, checking the remaining energy level on her photon swords. 
“Nope.” 
“Nah.” 
“I couldn’t,” said Llenn, Fukaziroh, and M in order. 
“I was keeping an eye on the bridge, just in case, but I didn’t see any enemies approaching. That’s a good thing, at least… We’d have been screwed if they’d ganged up on us then,” said M. If even he was confessing to potential defeat, then it really had been a bad situation. 
“This Squad Jam’s a tough one,” Llenn admitted. 
“So what do we do now?” asked Fukaziroh. “And I’m not asking what you’re going to do with the rest of your life.” 
The first answer came from Pitohui. “I’d like to avoid any serious battle until we get a full ammo refill at one o’clock.” 
M added, “Agreed. But we can’t stay here the whole time. We need to get across the bridge. Let’s get ready to move. Llenn in front, then Pito, then me, then Fuka.” 
Ah yes, I should have known, Llenn thought. 
“Load plasma grenades in one of your launchers, Fuka. Destroy them before Llenn makes contact. I don’t care if the bridge collapses. We’ll escape down the river if it happens. Maybe I’ll be too slow and die, but the rest of you can get away.” 
M’s plan put a thought in Llenn’s head, so she asked, “W-well…what if Shirley snipes at us as we try to cross the bridge…?” 
He replied truthfully, “Let’s pray that doesn’t happen. There’s no way for us to defend against a no-line sniper with explosive bullets.” 
Daahh! She groaned. She’d have to suck it up. 
But even then, she couldn’t help but admit, “Man, I don’t want to die here…” 
“Of course you don’t. M, how can a man like you put such delicate young ladies through this hell?” 
“But there’s no other—” 
“Stop. Listen to my idea.” 
12:49. 
The group was moving down the bridge. 
They were right next to the guardrail on the leftmost lane. In the lead was M, who wore his backpack over his front and held a plate of his shield in either hand. To his right was Pitohui, who had two shield plates together for defense. To his left, Fukaziroh, with just one. 
And behind them, almost completely surrounded as they slowly proceeded, was Llenn. 
“Are you sure about this…?” 
“Yeah, it’s fine! Everyone needs to be a pampered little princess from time to time!” Pitohui said as she stood guard in front of Llenn. 
“Well, I appreciate it, but…” 
It was true that Llenn wasn’t going to take any instant deaths this way. But the rest of them were sitting ducks, and even with the shields, it was a risky strategy. 
“If anyone shoots at us, you jump into the river and get away. As we defend, you try to circle around from under the bridge and hopefully get the drop on them. If that’s no good, run away on your own and do your best from there.” 
“G-got it…” 
Fukaziroh added, “And if you do get away, tell my girlfriend how much I loved her…” 
“Stop making up weird stories.” 
M ran slowly, so it would still be a while before they crossed the last thousand or so feet of the bridge. Before them was the residential zone along the far bank of the river, the highway bridge, and the airport’s control tower. 
The sky was clouded over now, swirling with a mixture of crimson and leaden gray. It felt like the wind was picking up, too. 
Llenn checked her wristwatch. “Forty seconds to the scan.” 
“It’ll take two minutes to get to the end of the bridge. You watch it come in, Llenn.” 
“Got it.” 
“Speaking of the scan,” Pitohui said, remembering something, “we might have made it across the bridge if we hadn’t stopped to watch it at 12:30, but they’d have caught up to us in the residential area. They had motorcycles, after all.” 
“That’s…true…” 
“Then they would have blown up right next to the trailer and possibly killed us all. It was a huge pain, but we’re all alive right now, which means that luck and good decisions were on our side. Let’s stay optimistic until we’re dead, whatever might be coming!” 
I feel like it’s rare for Pito to talk this way. Is she trying to cheer me up? Llenn wondered. She took her Satellite Scan terminal out of her pocket and switched it on. 
The fifth scan started from the east and headed west. It was moving very slowly. Would it be a good thing or a bad thing that they’d be among the first to show up? 
“Don’t worry about numbers. Focus on the area around us, then look for SHINC and check the results of the battle in the center.” 
“Roger that.” 
The scan reached their bridge, and Llenn squinted. 
“Nothing! No one within over a mile of us!” she announced, savoring their good luck. 
Of course, there could be a leader-mark trap in place, where other members who wouldn’t show up as dots on the map were in hiding, but at the very least, there clearly wasn’t a swarm of squads waiting for them to finish crossing the bridge. 
“One at the airport!” she announced gleefully. That was very likely SHINC’s location. Once they were across the bridge, they could charge north toward the airport and maybe get a chance to fight. 
She tapped the dot, feeling her heart soar. 
“…!” 
When she didn’t say anything, Fukaziroh asked, “Who is it?” 
“Uh…it’s MMTM… The one on the runway on the north side of the airport is MMTM… But why…?” 
“Dunno. Don’t get left behind, Llenn.” 
She’d stopped walking to think and had to hurry to catch up. 
“As for the middle…” 
The scan passed the center of the map, revealing a number of gray dots indicating fallen teams around the northern part of the frozen lake. But nearby, though it was difficult to tell against the white color of the lake, there was still a large number of surviving teams. 
“Northwest of center, in the middle of the frozen lake, there’s, uh, one, two, three, four…seven teams all together! That has to be an alliance!” Llenn reported. 
“Another one this time. I’ll reduce them to plasmic ash,” Fukaziroh said with a grin. 
“Give me the names,” said M. Llenn zoomed in the map around the grouping and tapped all the dots, one by one. 
“WEEI…V2HG…PORL…,” she read. Since she didn’t know the official names for the tags, she had to read off the letters individually. 
“Don’t know these ones.” 
“RGB…WNGL…SATOH… Aaaaah!” She suddenly let out a scream. That stopped even M. 
“What’s wrong?” Fukaziroh asked, turning around. Sure enough, Llenn was rooted to the spot. 
“Ughhh…,” she groaned, device in her hand. 
“Hey, is it…?” prompted Fukaziroh. 
“Oh no, is it?” repeated Pitohui. 
“Oh boy,” groaned M, anticipating the answer already. 
To the team in the middle of the screen, the rivals with whom she’d sworn a rematch, Llenn shrieked, “Whyyyy?!” 
The last of the clustered teams presumably forming an alliance was SHINC. 
“Why?!” Llenn wailed to the sky one last time—but she got no answer. 
A mighty gust of wind blew across the map of SJ4. 
“I’m counting on you,” said a tall, handsome man in a tracksuit, white teeth gleaming as he smiled. 
“I know. Just leave that little pink one up to us,” the gorilla woman said with a grin. 
The gust that blew across the frozen lake swung her braided pigtails. 
To be continued…