“Alright, well, additional rewards and challenges are a good thing," Thiago said. "Although, I doubt we’ll be able to handle a Predecessor even if we manage to defeat the Haxlards. It looks like the Haxlards will be arriving by ship, thus they’ll need to dock or unload somewhere. All of us will meet the landing party on shore, while you snipe at them from afar, with Kitana as support if they manage to get past us.”

“Alright, sure,” Alan said, and they headed out.

Chapter 8

As everyone emerged from the bunker an unnaturally thick mist greeted them. It had appeared out of nowhere, in the middle of the afternoon, shrouding everything beyond a couple of feet. It was eerie. As the sounds of battle in the distance were gone, it suddenly seemed as though all of civilization had vanished, leaving them alone surrounded by a grey wall that disintegrated into nothingness.

Kitana and Alan split off from the main group, making their way slowly to the center of the Golden Gate Bridge. Eve had determined this was the most defensible position, as their enemies would need to enter one of the entrances before they fired upon them, and it gave a view of nearly the entire coastline. Although it would be difficult, Eve told Alan that she could assist him in making a shot by triangulating an enemy's likely location using only sound. As a result, Alan kept an open communication channel with Thiago so he could hear everything Thiago could. Unfortunately, Eve had been permanently banned from directly accessing another player’s vision, and there weren’t any portable cameras for sale.

As they walked next to the main road towards the bridge, Alan kept expecting a car to appear on the road, yet none ever did. In fact, there weren’t any signs of another living being. More and more, Alan had the peculiar feeling that he was leaving the last vestiges of human society behind him. He mused that this might be one of the last moments he had on Earth for a while. Earth in the Game, at least.

The silence continued.

***

They reached the center of the bridge shortly. Alan fired a test shot to determine how large the gap was, and based upon the time until the shot struck something, Eve calculated it to be at least 300 meters long. This made things slightly easier though, as Kitana could simply guard the entrance to the bridge while Alan set up a few hundred meters away.

A minute later, the timer for the third round disappeared, though Thiago let Alan know that they hadn’t engaged the enemy. They had no idea where along the coast the ship might have landed. Squinting his eyes, Alan tried to make out something in the distance, yet all he could see was the grey wall of fog.

A few more minutes passed as Thiago split the group up to scout along the edges of the coast, trying to find the Haxlards before the Predecessor arrived. Although Alan couldn’t see the rest of the group, Eve displayed blue silhouettes showing their location. Suddenly, Alan heard a yell, along with a sickening thud. Weapon fire sounded off in the distance.