Tires spun out, slinging mud as well as throwing Kenneth and Byrd forward. Kenneth's chest connected with the dashboard hard and he gasped, sensing the air knocked from him without any pain. He gulped down a breath fast and gripped the frame of the truck tight. It's just a game, we can still breathe. His breaths came in ragged, though as the world turned before their eyes. Hills spun out of view as they skidded, up and down. He threw a pale-faced look at Byrd. Somehow she was managing not to get thrown around as she spun the wheel with her tongue curled over her lip in determination.

The truck bounced and Kenneth bit back a yell. It's a game, it's a game, it's a game...

The landscape spun again. He glanced out the window and saw the offending NPC's behind them now. The bouncing slowed, but his fingers still dug into the frame of the truck. He held his breath a moment, then glanced forward. They were, slowing down?

"No!" Byrd slammed a fist against the dashboard. She jabbed the start button and then smacked the wheel again.

The truck halted. It rocked a little from side to side and Kenneth exhaled slowly. He could still feel his muscles buzzing beneath his skin with the energy of their wild ride. His mind spun, but he sank back into his seat and unlatched his fingers from the steel frame. "What the hell," he whispered.

"It's dead," Byrd cut him off. She opened the door and hopped down. Her arms crossed over her chest as she scowled at the truck. "Stupid thing." A sigh escaped her lips and she looked down. "Sorry."

Kenneth glanced over at her, hugging his arms against his body quietly. "Apology accepted," he whispered. Carefully, he opened the door and extracted himself from the seat. "I'm driving next time," he muttered to himself. Planting his feet safely on the ground, he closed his eyes and bowed his head. Safe. His shoulders slumped, releasing the tension built up. Mental or not, it felt real enough.

He opened his eyes and then squinted, frowning. The screen was overlaid in red. Something that only happened if he died or--

Quest Failed.

Byrd yelled something from the other side of the screen. Kenneth sighed and rubbed his face before walking over there. She looked up at him sheepishly and her chin sank into her shoulders. Eyes cutting away, she rubbed at her arms.

"Sorry..."

With a glance at the dead truck, Kenneth watched the boxes vanish. It wasn't the first time. There was no exact science to quests. He looked back and shrugged. "It's fine. It's a new quest. You don't get them all on the first try. Just...can I please do the driving in the future?"

"Oh," her face flushed mildly. "I suppose so, yeah."

Kenneth nodded and stuck his hands in his pockets. His gaze fell on the open road, now empty of all obstacles. So those thugs had been related to the quest. He'd figured.

"So, I assume that means you'd be up for another quest? Maybe a second try?" Byrd cut in, shifting from one foot to the other. She lifted one eyebrow, smiling innocently.

Looking back over at her, Kenneth blinked. "Oh. Um..." I wasn't going to do more than one, but do I really have anything else to do? His eyes trailed to his skill bar. He couldn't level up any more skills without an actual level up. Dual quests did provide more XP for levels. "Sure," he said. "I'm up for one more. I need the level anyway."

"Perfect! I um, promise I'm not this bad all the time. My technology handling skill is not all that great..." She grimaced and moved away from him, towards the road.

"Mine isn't great either," Kenneth admitted. "Say, what level are you? Main levels I mean." He followed her up to the edge of the road, scanning. They had to be at least ten or so miles from the settlement they'd come from. Regardless, he'd played through many of those quests already. Replays didn't offer as much XP as new quests did.

She looked back. "Oh, main levels?" her face flushed with a mild grimace of embarrassment. "I'm only level 21, not very high at all. I just started about a year or so ago...so I'm still working out some of this. My buddy was helping me, but he hops around all the time."

"21 is pretty good. I'm only level 27, so we're not too far apart. You have a specific skill set you're going for?" Kenneth asked without looking back at her. He squinted, trying to spot any caravans or players coming up. Vehicles weren't too rare in this game and plenty of players would caravan, but not everyone was a good samaritan. 

"Grafter skills mainly. Tech, code, all that stuff. You?"

"JOAT," he answered then hesitated, catching his mistake. "Sorry, I meant Jack of All Trades."

She laughed. "I know what a JOAT is. I have played somewhat."

Kenneth's face flushed and he looked down. "Right. Sorry." He turned around and pointed at the road. "I was thinking we might walk along until we find a ride to the next settlement. The last one doesn't have the best quest pool, at least for me. Probably not for you either if you're looking to level up. Unless you'd rather swing back and find your buddy."

She waved it off and shook her head, her hair bouncing on her shoulders. "Nah, he's fine on his own. Leveling up would be nice. I take it you know a good spot for that?"

Dipping his head, Kenneth stuffed his hands in his pockets and settled back into one hip. "I do, but it's a long way to walk. I imagine something will come along if we wait, or we can start walking. Up to you."

"I'm fine with walking." Byrd smiled and turned around, shading her eyes. In the shadow of her hand, Kenneth saw they did glow, although not the same clear blue most grafters had. Probably cause her eyes are brown, he thought. Then shook the distracting thought from his mind.

 He pointed down the road to the left. "That way. There's a larger settlement I haven't been to yet. I hear they have good quests for all levels." 

She lowered her hand and nodded. "Perfect! Lead the way?"

"Sure." Heading out, Kenneth took the slight lead down the road. He internally sighed. The games no-cut scene rule on travel could make for great conversation between players, but it got annoying when the distances were this long. He frowned, regretting selling that bike several towns back. Even if he had been hard up for coins, he missed having a good mode of transportation.

Byrd kept pace beside him, staring dead ahead. After a couple of silent moments, she glanced over at him. "Wait, what's your real name?"

Eyes lifting to her, Kenneth cocked his head. He paused, letting her words sink in as he stared into her eyes. Then he broke the gaze. "You realize you asked that just a few minutes ago? Literally just before we crashed."

"Oh, yeah! I...forgot it already," she rubbed the back of her neck. "I'm very bad with names."

He flushed a little and looked down. "Oh, right, it's Kenneth."

"Right. Nice name, by the way," she nodded, stuffing her hands into her pockets as they walked.

He furrowed his brow and looked up at her but shrugged and glanced back down. "Thank you?" 

She looked back ahead and smiled. "Welcome. Second question, weird one this time. You're not by any chance some old dude, right? I mean I know that the game matches avatar appearance as close to natural features as possible, but just checking."

He raised both eyebrows in bemusement and then chuckled softly. "No, I'm not some old dude. I'm 19." Then he squinted at her. "What about you? You're not some old cat lady are you?"

A laugh burst from her lips and she shook her head. "Goodness, no! Though, maybe someday..." she stared off expectantly with a playful smile on her lips. Then she shook her head and looked forward. 

"Really?" he asked, shaking his head. 

She shrugged. "What's wrong with being an old cat lady?" A wide grin spread on her face as she bounced with each step, watching him curiously.

"I suppose nothing..." he admitted. "Still, you're weird."

"Thank you," she said and smiled brighter, squinting her eyes at him. Then she relaxed back into a normal gait and fell quiet. 

Kenneth looked back ahead and shook his head a little more at her comment. An amused smile played over his lips. A laugh bubbled back up in his chest, but he kept it to himself. Weird or not, she had a charm to her. He didn't know what, but it was there and there was no denying it. He looked up. The CGI sun beat down heatlessly upon them. He slipped off his jacket anyway, feeling a spike of heat regardless. That's probably not a good sign...he thought, realizing it wasn't mental. Probably something relating to his COPD, but nothing he could do about it for the moment.

He sighed and tied the jacket around his waist, hooking his thumbs into the waistband. He set his sights dead ahead, swallowing. The heat wasn't fading much, but he wasn't really sure if it was heat anyway. He resisted the urge to press a hand to his chest as his eyes flickered over to Byrd. No, not again, he told himself. His lips compressed tightly as his skin crawled with cold pins and needles. That he knew for sure was outside the game. He inhaled slowly and exhaled slowly. 

Byrd's eyes flickered over to him and she slowed down. "You okay?" she asked, cocking her head. Her brown eyes squinted as her brow furrowed.

Slowing, Kenneth stopped at the side of the road. He looked down at the ground, taking slow deep breaths like the doctors always told him to. They weren't coming easy, but he could feel bits of air making it to his lungs. It wasn't enough and even inside the game the pain in his chest persisted. He closed his eyes. "I'll. Be. Okay. In a. Minute." He lowered himself onto the ground. 

"You sure?" Byrd knelt down beside him and sat down. When he opened his eyes her face was there, peering worriedly at him. "Is this something outside the game? You can log out if you need."

A cold chill gripped Kenneth's whole body. He nodded and swallowed hard. "I think. I might. Need. To." he panted. He lifted a hand to find the menu. His eyes scanned the quickly blurring icons and then he dropped his hand back down. Laying back, he stared up at the sky. "Hold. On. Need a. Minute..." 

"Kenneth, you good?" Byrd's voice faintly reached his ears. He blinked but didn't answer her. The wave of exhaustion tugged at his eyelids and while he could still see the sky through the eyes of his avatar, he knew it would all fade to grey quickly. He didn't have the energy to lift his hands, though. He didn't have the energy for anything. His lips parted to answer when he registered his name called again. Then he closed his mouth and just closed his avatar's eyes. 

Once more the screen disappeared, removed by robots. Kenneth closed his eyes to the faint buzzing in his head as he felt the cold plastic of a mask placed over his face. The clicking of the oxygen machine faded into the background. His lips parted again as cold oxygen flooded his nose and mouth. He inhaled thinly. 

"Be. Right. Back..." he murmured to no one. Then he passed out.