Dead End – Chapter 1: Night Games

Posted on by Paul.E.Bailey

I’m not sure why I always do this to myself. To say I’m knackered is an understatement. What time is it? What does it matter? I can’t come off the game while it’s at such a critical point, otherwise I’ll have to start it all again; I won’t get the chance tomorrow as I’ll be out all day at work. The less said about that the better! Andy Bruce: working-class hero! Yeah, right! No, I’d better power through or I’m just going to procrastinate over it.

Remember the sniper. Stay in cover until he pops his head up, let him take his shot and then do him. There he goes. Damnit! Missed!

Second time’s a charm. I’ve got my eye in now. There he goes again. Wham! Down he goes! I’m good at this game. Even when I’m tired I can pick my way through like a pro. Now that Mr Sniper is taken care of, I can head down the stairs and tackle his mates.

I really need to get to bed. I’d better make this quick.

This seems like a good place for cover. I’ll camp here and see where all the enemies go when they tip into the area. The red dots are appearing on the outer edges of the mini-map. Bloody hell! That’s a lot of baddies. For a moment, I wish there weren’t as many because I could do with this being over as quickly as possible, but I can see they’re just lower level rebels as they filter in. I could kill twenty of these in a minute with one hand tied behind my back and a blindfold on. One by one, they take up their positions. One by one, they get sized down. It’s so simple I even get an opportunity to look at my phone between kills.

How did it get to be half past midnight? I could swear it was only ten the last time I looked. I’ve got to be up in six hours.

Right, that’s those jokers taken care of. What? Oh, come on! There are more red dots appearing. You mean to tell me that what I just did was only the first wave? Great! There’s a helicopter inbound too. Back into cover, regroup, and reload.

The guys coming in are the intermediary rebels. At least now I know to expect the higher-level rebels after this. If a chopper is coming in on this second wave then that means there’s either going to be a tank or a jet accompanying the third wave.

Intermediaries take a bit more effort to put down. I despatch a few in quick succession before the chopper starts shooting at me. It forces me to break cover and now I’m getting peppered from the rebels. Switch weapons and take that sucker down with an RPG.

It never fails to amuse me how I can choose from about ten different weapons and they all happen to be on my person at all times. You have to love the realism of videogames.

Helicopter down; now I need to finish off the rebels. This vantage point is better than my last in terms of offense. The problem is I’m getting hit more here too and I’ve got a feeling I’m going to need as much health and armour as I can get for the last wave.

The rebels are decreasing in number; their arses are mine! Okay, there’s one more rebel left. I’ll take this time to bolster my health and armour. I quickly take down the last rebel; now I wait for the third wave.

I rub my face because I don’t need heavy eyelids right now.

The dots appear at the edge of the mini-map and, sure enough, approaching from behind is a jet fighter. This game can be so predictable at times. I’ve got a nice little surprise in wait for the incoming rebels. The jet flies overhead and I can hear the rattling of the guns. I’m in decent enough cover that they can’t hit me on a flyover. It’s the rockets I need to worry about.

Hello rebels. As expected, it’s the big guys. This is going to take some effort. Luckily, there’s a good three or four clumped together as they come into the area. Eat RPG! Down they go. That’ll definitely make life easier. I won’t be able to stay in cover for long because these guys love to throw grenades and their aim is so accurate that Oh Jin-Hyek would applaud them (don’t know who he is? Look him up).

Lucky stroke! The jet fighter just crashed. That could be the difference maker here.

The rebels are ruthless and the barrage is relentless, but I’m slowly working my way through them. Armour and health looking good so far. I think I’m going to get away with this. Another one takes a dirt nap and I’ve got just four more to take out now. The one closest to me can have a taste of his own medicine. The grenade lands near him, but it doesn’t kill him. What kind of bullshit is that? Not to worry. As he’s grounded, I pump a few rounds into him and finish the job.

I’m out in the open now and their guns tear lumps out of me; so much for looking good on the armour and health front! Back behind cover and time to get using the heavy weapons. I throw a grenade in the general direction of one rebel before switching to my RPG again and sending a rocket in the direction of another. The latter dies, but the former is still alive, just like the guy who copped for a grenade earlier. He’ll keep; I’ll concentrate on his mate for now.

He pops his head above the parapet and one well-aimed bullet from my SMG removes his helmet before he ducks back down again. I take this opportunity to end his compatriot who survived the grenade.

Time to throw caution to the wind and end this.

I break from cover and run towards the guy whose helmet I just shot off and ready myself to gun him down. Up he pops and I open fire. I move the cursor up towards his unprotected head and a spray of bullets hits him in the face. Job done! Once again, I reign supreme. Finally, I can go to bed.

The only problem is that I can’t. There’s a cut scene. Now I’m going to have to fight the “squadron leader”.

I don’t need this. I’m so tired and all I want to do is go to bed; however, if I turn off now then I’m going to have to start this whole sequence again and I can’t go on it tomorrow. It’ll have to be Thursday. No way am I waiting until then! Screw it; let’s do this!

The cut scene ends and I’m thrown straight back into the action. I need health and armour pickups. That’ll be difficult as this dude is straight onto me without missing a beat. Straight into cover as I’ve really no other option. He’s carrying a damned minigun. Picking my moment to hit him isn’t proving easy either as he’s firing for great lengths of time with only short gaps between. I persist to pop a few rounds into him whenever I can and chuck a grenade or two; nothing I try does little more than slightly slow his pace for a few seconds.

I’m getting frustrated now. This guy seems impenetrable; all the while, the occasional volley of fire that hits me depletes my health. I return to cover and see if there might be anything else I can do. Nothing is coming to me and he’s getting closer and closer. My grenades are depleted and he’s too close for me to consider using my RPG.

Sod it! I leg it for cover elsewhere and somehow avoid a volley of minigun fire. Maybe making it to higher ground would help. I go for it, legging it back to the place where I first came into the area.

I’m hit along the way and my health bar is teetering on empty. The frustration is growing now. How do I kill him? Maybe an opening will present itself now I’m on higher ground.

I let him do what he’s got to do while I remain in cover. During his infinitesimal break in fire, I poke my head up and hit him with all I have. I might as well be hitting a rhino with a flyswatter!

Frustration then becomes anger as the minigun erupts again and, before I can get back into cover, I’m hit by bullets and the screen goes sepia. I resist the urge to throw the controller at the TV and perform some weird, high pitched groan instead. The game reloads back to where the minigun guy came in. I can’t justify going for it again; I have to get to bed.

Reluctantly, I turn off my console; annoyed at the fact I’ll have to wait until the day after tomorrow to do that whole sequence again. Oh well!

The TV comes on; some news report. I leave the room to go to the toilet and brush my teeth before bed. When I return, the news report is talking about some terrorist group called TDN that plans to launch an attack. Oh, whatever! Heard it all before! I hate the news. It’s always telling us to be scared of one thing or another that’s apparently going to happen and never does. Who the hell is TDN anyway? I have no interest in finding out. I’ve got less than six hours to grab myself some kip, so I turn the TV off and head for my bedroom.

I strip out of my clothes and climb under the covers before turning the bedside lamp off. As tired as I am, I always have to spend at least five minutes thinking of my girls: my ex-girlfriend, Caroline, who I’m still hung up on after several months, and our daughter, Eloise. The desire to have them both back here with me is so intense it drives me to tears sometimes. Caroline and I have been talking recently and things sound good now the arguing has stopped. Who knows? Maybe there’s hope for us. Should I text her? No, I’d better not. It’s time for me to get to sleep. A long day awaits me tomorrow.

TO BE CONTINUED
Image Credits

Image header from in5d.com

Read Chapter 2: Rude Awakening now!

54 thoughts on “Dead End – Chapter 1: Night Games”

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    1. Yes, was definitely thinking of my own gaming experiences whilst writing it. I had a mixture of GTA and Enter the Matrix in my mind with trace elements of shooter games.
      Got another top five to come and one other before the next chapter.
      Glad you enjoyed it buddy 🙂

      Liked by 1 person

      Reply

  9. What a manly beginning. All guns, war, and video games. Haha Your writing was really spot on. The description was great and you did well introing into the next chapter. I am interested to see the next chapter, which means the first did it’s job. It gave a clear picture of what kind of dude your main character was also.

    Liked by 1 person

    Reply

    1. That was pretty much the plan. I love it when people get the undercurrent of what I’m writing about because I always worry I make it too subtle. The first chapter will actually become sort of poignant as the story goes along. Really glad you enjoyed it 🙂 I’m just about to read Mixed Wilding

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      1. I was thinking this sounded very much like a man… haha it made me smile. Though, of course we women, at least I do, also justify staying up way too late to just get past a certain place/good stopping point in any of our hobbies too ☺️

        Liked by 1 person

      4. I don’t know. I might be a little too innocent to hear what shenanigans you get up to of a night. I’ve read your blog 😉 Haha.
        I worked at Manchester Airport for five years with alternating day and night shifts. My body clock is likely irreparably damaged from it

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      5. Hahaha …I have NO idea what you might be referring to 😜 I worked Critical care wards at a huge hospital in Nashville, TN for about 3 years… but did the 12 hour night shifts on the weekends and then school during the week days. It’s fucked me up for sure lol

        Liked by 1 person

      6. Yeah, I feel the pain on the 12 hour night shift front. My shifts were 7-7 at the airport, days and nights, four on four off. It was intense, but I can imagine you had it much worse working at a hospital.

        Liked by 1 person

      7. I did 6:45 to 7:15 3 nights a week… usually that meant Friday, Saturday, Sunday… but every now and then I’d have random midweek shifts… I also lived about an hour away so that was especially heinous in the mornings lol

        Liked by 1 person

      9. It was pretty hard at times. Sometimes I carpooled and got to sleep on the way home lol… there was also a lot of coffee and dragon energy drinks… one day a car exploded in the parking garage where I was parked …couldn’t see the multilevel garage through a wall of smoke… anyway, firies wouldn’t let us in to get our vehicles until they said so… I didn’t get home until like 10:30. That day sucked so bad lol

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      10. Yes, coffee and energy drinks were a regular feature for me too. Especially around 3-4am when the real tiredness kicked in.
        That sounds like a very sucky day! I’d have been fucking furious in that same position

        Liked by 1 person

      11. I was more pissed at the salesman that came to my door (and jiggled the handle before knocking!!) just as I lay down and when I politely told him the situation and I had no interest etc and he kept pushing me… I slammed the door in his face.

        Liked by 1 person

      13. I know, I wasn’t so sure what his real intentions were… but I do try to be polite to sales people and Jehovah’s witnesses etc lol and all that… but that day I wasn’t having that shit. It was a Monday too and I ended up sleeping through my alarm and not getting to class

        Liked by 1 person

      14. I’m the same. I don’t really do being rude unless I’m really tired and cranky. There was the odd occasion I’d shout ‘die’ at customers as they were leaving, but obviously it sounded like bye. Haha.
        Did you get in trouble for not attending class? Did the tutor give you a damned good spanking? Haha

        Liked by 1 person

      17. I meant your language was very saucy for an open forum LOL… no… sadly that’s a fantasy… but I have had crushes on professors before that I wouldn’t have minded there hands on my I suppose 😳 I actually have written about one in particular before… I’ll find the post for you…

        Liked by 1 person

      33. I worked on valet, which later became known as Meet & Greet as the term ‘valet’ was misleading. I basically parked people’s cars up or put up with their shit on reception. It was actually an enjoyable job in the early days, but became an utter clusterfuck as time wore on

        Liked by 1 person

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