Ready Player One Fanfiction: Zompocalypse.

Chapter 5: Oasis

You thought I wasn't alive anymore huh? Well, I mean - based off the time that had elapsed between the last chapter and this one - you would think so. But here I am. Let me know what you guys think. Sorry for the wait.

Wade jolted when he heard the sound of a gunshot. He had heard many before, but this was different. It was succinct. It made the hairs on his arm and neck stand up. It was real.

He tore the headset off in a frenzied pace as his heart began beating rapidly, funneling adrenaline out from his chest to the tips of his fingers and toes.

"Max, Off! Slant Humor!" He called and the cords attached to his suit were ripped off in an instant. The harness de-clamped off his waist and without a single word, Wade could move freely in the blink of an eye without Max crippling him with a joke. It was their safe word to allow Wade instant reprieve and full seriousness.

Suit off, he bolted towards the bar, his mind and his muscles firing off faster than he could think. Wade pushed open the door leaving his office and felt his stomach twist itself into two.

The glass on the opposite side of the hall had shattered in two big panels. Empty shell casings of bullets, and still wet blood were scattered all over the ground. Several men in tactical gear laid on the ground with rifles beside them.

Anton sat on the ground next to one of the Oasis bays, holding a bloodied hand over his thigh as he groaned in pain.

"Anton! What happened!?" Wade called from the door, poking his head out from his office. Anton spotted him, and Wade felt a sudden chill run up his spine by the wild look in his eyes.

"Get back in your office, and lock the door! We're being attacked!" He cried out. Through the broken panel, Wade blinked hard at something that briefly shined at him from the building on the other side. What could that have been? His game sense suddenly attacked him, the same phenomenon he had experienced in the Oasis. The shine of the light reflecting off of the optics of a scope.

Wade dove back in his office as something exploded passed his head, smashing into the office wall with such explosive force that it sent shrapnel everywhere.

"Sniper!" Wade yelled out to Anton. Anton grunted, and raised his arm to his mouth to speak into his watch.

"Authorize Testudo! Code Black!" He cried. The watch chimed in response before flashing a black shield on a white background. Alarms blared through speakers hidden in the vents, and reinforced steel curtain walls dropped down from each window before locking into place. Dim red lights turned on as the entire floor was swallowed in the dark. The protocol ran down the entire building, forcing the building into a protective shell. The layer of metal was layered several times over, enough to prevent anything less than a military grade missile from punching through.

"Clear?" Wade asked, praying for Anton to answer him. There was a brief moment of silence, before he could hear the shuffling of clothes and some heavy footsteps. Anton burst through the door, hand clutched on the side of his stomach, and was breathing heavily.

Anton hissed, clicking his teeth once.

'That's a no' Wade thought to himself, feeling his heart sink into his gut.

The Oasis and reality were two incredibly different things. The Oasis primed his muscle memory, got him to think how to fight, but in the real world, your body just didn't move the same way. Wade was heavily educated on this phenomenon and knew that if he fought someone with the intent to kill him, he would be heavily outmatched despite the fact he was a good fighter in the Oasis.

It was quiet outside the room. Wade carefully leaned closer to his watch.

"Max, inverse-in." Wade whispered, enabling the clouded window walls to instantly become translucent but still blocking vision from the outside. Wade gasped at the carnage he saw. There were bullet holes everywhere in the lobby, with pieces of the room scattered everywhere. Five bodies laid by the front of the door, two of them still moving, one was a security guard, the other was an intruder who had a hand on to their ear and looked like they were communicating to someone. Throughout the room, there were bodies of other intruders.