006 – Three Percent

Time to Seal: 06:21

Jamie stood at the door between the pawn shop and the corridor, holding a baseball bat. He faced Lucy, who was still in the shop.

“Did you try to beat up my devil guide with a baseball bat?” I asked.

“Ah, uh, no. I wanted to ask you if you wanted something more satisfying to trash the inventory with. Sometimes when you need to blow off steam it helps to have that weight to your blows.”

“That’s honestly very sweet of you, thank you. But this stupid place gave me the pep talk I needed.”

“Proud of you,” Gabriel said. Her voice had softened from the hard edge Lucy had awoken in her. “Sorry, I had trouble reaching you in there.”

I pushed past Jamie and Lucy back into the room.

“Apologies if I pushed you too hard, Eve. I do mean to assist in your survival. At least you got your first breakdown out of the way now. The next won’t come as easy,” Lucy said. If I wasn’t convinced they were full of shit, I would have nearly bought the excuse.

“You sure about that? Usually trauma doesn’t actually make people harder. Just vulnerable in wonderful new ways.”

“Ah, but you see, now you get experience for all that shit. Eventually that’ll harden you. If you ever make it to a sanctified space that is.”

“As soon as the bugs are gone. But first. You mentioned odds. You can’t lie, so you have to know about them. Hit me with the odds for the next seven hours.”

Lucy exchanged a glance with Jamie and then the open air again.

“You sure about that, kid? They are grim.”

“Hit me. I gotta know what I’m up against.”

“Gabriel, will you? I’m fairly certain you are better informed than I am. And know the odds of those in your protection.”

“Alright, Eve,” Gabriel said. “Lucy is right. I’m well aware of the odds. One to three percent make it out of the first eight hours. One in ten of mine make it. You, though? You already leveled up twice in the first hour. That puts you at close to one in five.”

“And with two guides?”

“Nearly fifty percent.”

“Eve?” Jamie asked. “How bad is it? How bad is it for me?”

“You really want to stick with me, Jamie.”

“Come on. You got a hard number, right? I’m a big boy.”

“One to three percent. Though odds obviously constantly increase due to circumstances.”

“Fuck.”

“Yeah. Fuck.”

“Not too late for my offer, pretty boy,” Lucy purred.

Jamie glanced over at them, then back at me.

“Do you think I should do it? Three is really grim.”

“Gabriel said you shouldn’t. I… I don’t know. Not a call I can make for you. But they themselves said it was good you didn’t. If the bandwidth thing is true, you might get your Blessing any minute.”

His jaw tightened. “Or in seven hours.” He looked at Lucy and back at me again. “Eve, why did they say you did nothing but cheat? Are you a con artist?”

“Oh. Oh, no. I’m a hacker. But the internet is haunted—”

“Possessed,” Lucy interjected.

“Possessed. Thus I’d say that profession is firmly dead.”

“Well. Guess we’re both stuck with useless skills now.” He nodded as if he’d made up his mind and faced Lucy. “I appreciate the offer, but I will decline again. I’ll take that three percent shot over giving up now and accepting your offer.”

“And if it was free?” Lucy asked.

“We both know that would only be a technical truth.”

“Fair point. No take-backs though. You say ‘no’ now and it’s done.”

Stolen story; please report.

“No, thanks, Lucy.”

I had to admit, I would have taken the offer. Those numbers would have devastated me, and yet here he stood, calmly accepting his nearly inevitable fate.

The ‘Presence of the Damned’ debuff in my UI flickered and then just vanished, along with the new bar.

Lucy looked around and, considering their previously calm, controlled demeanor, seemed frantic.

“Aww, really? Well, it’s time to say my farewells, pretty boy. Hold onto that hope, it’ll—” and mid-sentence they simply vanished, with the popping sound of rushing air.

Along the walls the red demon-script curled up and away from the walls as if burned by invisible flame.

“Huh,” Gabriel said.

“I think you just uncursed this place, Jamie,” I said.

“What does that—” Before he could finish, his eyes went unfocused and he slowly sank to the ground.

“Jamie? Gabriel, what is going on?”

“Give us a minute, Eve. I need to help out Jamie really quick.”

And with that Gabriel, too, was gone and I was alone in the no-longer profane pawn shop. I knelt down next to Jamie. His eyes were flickering under the eyelids, like he was experiencing REM sleep. Had his time come to get his Blessing? In retrospect it seemed obvious he wouldn’t get one in profane space.