Sandrine only had a few seconds to understand the situation and react accordingly. The other player's vehicle was fast, way faster than Paquerette, and its metal shell seemed especially solid, meaning that it had probably been upgraded at least once. Nothing that Paquerette couldn't kick through with her 15 strength stat, but it would still cause tremendous damage if they were run over.
Without knowing it, a smile crept up on Sandrine's face, curving her eyes into two crescents.
She grabbed the wooden part at the front of her saddle and leaned forward, encouraging Paquerette to accelerate towards the other's vehicle. The mare's ears flattened against her neck, but she didn't protest, she went faster into a mad gallop.
Both sides were going fast. The collision seemed inevitable.
Gribouille was shaking against Sandrine's torso, not even daring to look. In front of them, the player had a mad look in his eyes, eyeing Paquerette like she was a delicacy, and even his glances towards Sandrine betrayed immense greed. That man wasn't right.
But Sandrine looked even worse. A laugh was escaping her throat, sounding halfway between a dying goat and a creaking door in a horror movie.
It took only two seconds for both sides to almost reach each other. Just as they were about to collide, Sandrine suddenly threw herself to the side, leaning so far on the left that she was completely hidden by Paquerette, only her leg on the opposite stirrup visible.
The mare, feeling the shifting balance, reacted immediately and jumped to the side, avoiding the collision by a hair. The speeding jeep sent a raging wind as it passed next to them, almost knocking them over. However, how could a vehicle compare to the agility of a horse ? The other player couldn't react in time and kept driving past them.
It would take him time to slow down and then turn over to try and run them over again. Sandrine had a few seconds to think.
That crazy man wouldn't give up. For him, Sandrine's group and especially Paquerette were way more enticing than the chests. So what, running away ? His vehicle was faster than Paquerette ! She could outmaneuver him and prevent getting run over, but that would only work for a time. Eventually, Paquerette will get tired, but a car never will. This wouldn't last.
There was only one real solution.
Sandrine took out the tamer's pitchfork, and her laugh turned even more creepy, like nails on a chalkboard or a fork on a plate. Even Paquerette shuddered under her, sending worried glances her way.
"Gang, let's show the bad guy how wrong it is to covet our family !"
The pets didn't seem as enthusiastic as she was, but Paquerette turned around with determination and Gribouille slowly poked his head out, looking ready to bite but also very glad if there wasn't any need to.
"So cute, my baby !"
Sandrine fawned over him quickly before looking back at the player.
The jeep went away quite a bit in the time it took for the guy to realize he hadn't hit anything, slow down, see where they were, and then turn around to try and run them over again. In fact, he was still trying to turn around right now. The double road was very large, as wide as a highway, but a jeep isn't the most agile vehicle and he had to try several times to finally turn around.
Sandrine didn't give him that chance.
She once again leaned forward, giving Paquerette commands with her body weight, keeping her eyes on the target while the mare suddenly leaped forward, going from a full stop to a gallop in a second. Before the player could understand what was going on, suddenly a full size horse was upon him.
Paquerette leapt atop the jeep, her bodyweight and her aggressive landing completely folding the metal roof, gracing the interior of the vehicle with protruding growths that almost hit the guy's head. Unfortunately, he was lucky and it missed him.
The mare didn't stay on top, jumping down on the other side. Now, the jeep that had almost finished turning around was facing the wrong direction.
"Shit !"
The man's swearing was so loud and grating, somehow it made Sandrine laugh even harder. She took the tamer's pitchfork and stabbed it through the driver window. Between the glass of an evolved vehicle and Sandrine's strength above the average human, plus the bonus of the tamer's pitchfork in combat bringing her towards the human limit of 10, the window didn't survive. Shards of glass came flying inside the jeep, cutting the man's face. Unfortunately, Sandrine missed his head, the guy reacted too quickly and dodged the teeth of the pitchfork.
Paquerette had already galloped away, Sandrine didn't have a second chance. However, the player now was looking very ugly. He seemed to have understood that his vehicle couldn't equal the agility of a horse and he wouldn't win that way. Now, he had to take out his plan B.
This guy wasn't an amateur, he knew how to fight. Sandrine noticed it immediately when he came out of the jeep and weapons appeared in his hands. He also had a backpack.
In his hands, a spear and a kind of bow appeared. No, this wasn't a bow, this was an automatic weapon attached to his left hand.
"A crossbow ? Shit !"
It was a wooden one, with limited power, but it was still a threatening long range weapon for a horse with a big body, easy to target.
No wonder he could upgrade his vehicle and get strong enough to kill other players, with such weapons he probably did well in the offroad event and got a lot of rewards !
Sandrine pressed her heels against Paquerette's flanks.
"Stay on the move !"
The mare leapt forward again, dodging an arrow that almost hit her neck.
"I'll kill you, bitch !"
The guy was starting to lose his mind, loading another arrow in the crossbow. Paquerette continued to move, zigzagging to avoid the arrows. Sandrine was already pressed against the mare's body, leaning one way or the other to dodge and protect Gribouille, very grateful for the stirrups and the saddle that offered her some hand and footholds and made the acrobatics easier.
While zigzagging, Paquerette continued to slowly move towards the player. When he realized that the horse had almost reached him, the guy suddenly raised the spear in his right hand, stabbing towards the group.
"So annoying !"
Sandrine burst out laughing. This man was a real pain to deal with. Thankfully, she was very annoying herself !
She also stabbed forward, countering the spear. With the man's weapon between the pitchfork's teeth, Sandrine twisted her wrist, sending the spear flying away, disarming the player.
The guy's face suddenly turned pale and he scrambled to load another arrow. But he was already just in front of Paquerette, how could the mare let him do as he wanted ?
She didn't even bother turning around to kick, or rearing high to fall on him. She just ran him over, as he would have done with his jeep, and made sure to step on the crossbow and break it.
There was a loud sound and then some screaming. Sandrine's whole body was shaking in laughter, her smile so wide it seemed to reach her ears. She couldn't close her mouth at all, and the drool was starting to trickle down her chin.
But she wasn't really feeling happy, it was more like something was breaking within.
Yes, just like the player's arm, that was bent at an awkward angle after Paquerette ran him over.
Sandrine suddenly had an urge to go, to run away. But she couldn't. She had to finish what she had started. Those types of guys would absolutely want to get revenge. If she left any loose ends, it would come to bite her in the butt later.
An insane looking girl slowly got off her horse and walked towards the blonde man that was crying, screaming, and writhing on the ground. Her fingers tightened around the pitchfork, but her steps seemed unsteady.
She was about to kill someone.
"No, please, stop, I'm sorry !"
The agonizing man heard her footsteps and immediately pleaded for his life. However, when he turned to look at her, he froze.
"What the…"
From afar, he had seen a girl on top of a horse. She had long brown hair tied in a ponytail, a gray shirt atop black riding pants, and black riding rubber boots reaching her knees. There was also a black leather vest tied like a pouch around her torso, containing something wiggling. Since that girl kept moving around on top of the horse, he hadn't seen her face. However, now that she was just in front, looking down at him, he could see her smile. That disgusting psychopathic smile.
It was even more terrifying than the night monsters.
Her face was slightly round, tender, soft, making her seem gentle and young, no more than 25, but it was distorted by this very wide smile showing all her gums, stretching from one ear to the other, leaking transparent drool that soiled her chin and her shirt. From it, a creepy laughter escaped, like the sound of bones crushing, life escaping. It gave chills to the one who listened. And those brown eyes, with the even lighting of the infinite road coming down from the sky, were hidden in the shadows and appeared black, curved into crescents, almost looking happy and friendly, if one ignored the contracted pupils and the tears flowing from them, wetting the long eyelashes.
How could such a beautiful girl look so terrifying ? How could such a monster look appealing ?
It was the last thought the guy had before he saw the pitchfork plunging through his chest, stabbing through his ribcage, and impaling him on the road. He didn't die immediately, but the pain made his brain go blank. He could only watch himself die, just as the creepy laughter filled his ears, turning into words.
"I'm sorry. But I'm not so sorry. You shouldn't touch my family, alright ? Not so sorry. But still a little bit ?"
It didn't make sense, he thought. And then he couldn't think anymore.
Sandrine stayed in front of the man for a while. Maybe a bit too much. It had been almost an hour since the player had last moved, his throat shaking a bit. Eventually, it was Gribouille who poked his head out and liked her drooling chin. Only then did the girl slowly blink.
"Bestie ? I feel like I'll puke. But also I don't feel as bad as I thought I would. I don't know. It's weird."
Paquerette had been guarding her human during this time. When she heard Sandrine address her, she walked to her side and nudged the girl with her nose.
"Yes… Acting first. The day is made to move around. I can process everything at night."
This was a death game, not a vacation. She could regulate her state of mind later.
There was a buzzing sound filling her ears, but she didn't know if it was because of messages from the game, or her own brain was overloaded.
Anyway, Sandrine searched the body, taking out a cigarette pack and a swiss army knife. She could have also taken the clothes, but honestly she didn't want to touch those at all. Then she went towards the jeep and opened it. The only food she found were bloody pieces of meat. However, considering what she had seen on the server chat, she didn't touch those at all. The smell of blood made her sick.
Except for this, there were a few daily necessities, washbasins, scrap metal, pots, but nothing interesting except for the spear. Everything else might have been in his backpack. However, since the backpack is linked to the player, it wouldn't drop after death. His whole inventory had now disappeared with him.
Leaving an evolved jeep like this was such a waste, Sandrine tried to see if she could link with it, but as expected she couldn't. So she took out her crafting table and went into the 'Disassemble' tab, breaking down the car.
She obtained quite a lot of materials, glass, metal, rubber, wood, leather, fuel, wires, electric components… Sandrine stuffed everything in her inventory and also went to both sides of the road to take both chests. Only then did she climb back on Paquerette and completely shut down.
It was then that she realized her smile had disappeared. She was crying, her hands were shaking, and she didn't have any strength in her legs.
"I think I'm gonna puke…"
Paquerette snorted, stopping immediately and turning her long neck to look at Sandrine with half concern and half disgust.
"I know, it's bad manners to puke in someone else's car… Do you have any vomit bags ?"
The mare looked about to rodeo Sandrine out of her back.
"Sorry, sorry, I'll take care of myself…"
She took a bucket out of her inventory and passed the handle around her neck.
"Here, happy ?"
Paquerette eyed her suspiciously for a few seconds, but eventually picked up the pace and started galloping again.
This whole interaction had been absurd, but it somehow made Sandrine feel a bit better. She had regained some strength in her legs, but her face still looked a bit pale.
"Well, I killed someone… It's normal to feel strange. Still, I thought I would feel worse. For now, it's still only physiological reactions, but psychologically I feel more or less normal. Well, as insane as usual, but not worse."
Maybe it was because she hadn't processed yet, but it didn't exactly feel that way. It was more as if two different versions of herself were fighting for dominance. There was her corporate slave version that was quite rational but also had been greatly shaken by today's events. But also her mad, laughing when in danger, trying to throw herself backwards when she felt herself falling, strangely knowing how to fight version, who was a bit too calm after killing someone.
A bit like a dual personality ? But not exactly either, because those were not independent versions, both were somehow herself. She could feel it.
As always, her amnesia was the problem, she had no idea where this duality came from.
The day continued more or less normally, there wasn't any more double road after that. When night fell, the whole gang was a little downcast. Gribouille was extra shy and clingy, hugging his worm plushy tightly, Paquerette wasn't as sarcastic and cynical as usual, and Sandrine was still in her strange dual state of both fine and not fine.
While taking a shower to wash out all the drool and tears off her face, something suddenly came to her. It felt like she was just about to remember something. She was in a car and it seemed like she was talking to someone, but there wasn't anyone in the passenger seat. Was she on the phone ? She was driving and then the road stopped but she still went up the little rocky pathway. She drove forward, arguing with the other person, and…
A drop of water fell from her eyelashes directly into her eye. Grumbling, she rubbed it. The memory was gone. She had been so close to remembering something, it was a bit disappointing.
Sandrine sighed and went out of the shower, drying herself roughly before wrapping her hair with the towel, ignoring the hungry stares of the night monsters behind the outdoor tent. She had grown so used to them that she sometimes forgot they were here.
She grabbed her frog onesie and opened the game screen. She had felt the buzzing in her brain earlier, but she still wasn't sure if it was psychological or an actual game message.
She got her answer quickly. It was indeed a game message and… She had leveled up her job ?