For my money that was the best installment of all of them to date.  Great stuff.

Great stuff Rev.

Intriguing stuff revel.

CHAPTER 3



Skade was no longer in the corridor when Lonely and Blu stepped out of their room.

They made their way through to the front door of the hub. Forumites were stopping in their tracks as Blu and Lonely passed. It was obvious they had been the source of a lot of discussion in the last couple of days around the camp.

When they reached the front door, they both stopped for the briefest moment to stare out to the sea in front of them.

It was still.

Blu and Lonely shared the briefest of looks with each other, and made their way down to the No Subject campfire.

They passed Workid and Skade on the way down. For some reason, Workid was carrying two bottles of Vimto that were opened and fizzing slightly. He looked bitterly disappointed when he saw Blu.

Lonely heard him mutter to Skade something about ‘You said get them ready!’



G.man was waiting down at the fire. He shook Lonely’s hand warmly and beckoned them both closer to him.

‘Brooks is over at the church with Wookie and Daviedigi and our two new arrivals. I suggest you get over there as soon as you can. So we can get this mess sorted out as quickly as possible.’ said G.man

‘You aren’t being socially awkward with me considering I held you against you will in your own thread’ said Blu, bluntly.

This took g.man by surprise. He fumbled the words around his mouth before he answered.

He moved closer to Blu. He appeared slightly hypnotised before he spoke. Her silver eyes were mesmerising.

‘He trusts you.’ he said pointing towards Lonely.

‘He’s young and probably a bit naïve but he’s a lot like me so I’m giving you a chance. Please be aware though I have a temper that would need restraining by an elephant tranquiliser if I kicked off. I’m giving you the benefit of the doubt. More than you gave anyone else here. Please don’t abuse it.’

G.man smiled as he said this. The smile didn’t quite meet his eyes.

‘How are you?’ This was directed at Lonely.

‘I’m learning I guess. I haven’t smoked in days and I have a cough. My knee is playing up. I’m happy though.’

‘Good about the fags. Sorry about the knee’ g.man replied.

There was a satisfied silence between them.

This was the cue for Blu and Lonely to leave and they headed along the path towards the church.

Lonely looked back at G.man for a brief second as they left the camp. He had sat back down and was staring at the fire.

He wondered how g.man had coped with being locked away. He had sat in the chair in the same small and cramped room and shut the door to see if he could even begin to imagine what it would have been like. It was dark.

There was no magical enlightenment.

Blu had asked him what he had been doing. It was impossible to explain to her why he had done it.

‘Before I knew what I was, I was part of something, a piece in a puzzle that made sense to me. Now I know what I am, I miss being G.’

She shook her head.

‘I don’t understand the need to be inferior to who you are.’ she had said.



‘Will you hold my hand Lonely?’ asked Blu.

This snapped Lonely back to path. He realised he had been day dreaming.

‘You’re frightened?’ asked Lonely.

‘No, I’m worried if Brooks is rude to me. I might just kill him again. You seem to keep me calm…’





The church was receiving the least attention from the forum. Apart from some bullet holes and a few broken windows, the structure was as solid and intact as it had ever been. No matter how much Facewon had head butted it.

Wookie was standing at the entrance, he moved to the side as Lonely and Blu went in, giving a slight bow.

In the middle of the pew on the right hand side at the front, Elmea and Goober were sitting with their arms behind their back. Daviedigi stood in front with a gun trained on both them.

Brooks stood next to Davie and he looked towards the pair as they entered and obviously muttered something under his breath. His hair was very short and receding on top and he looked like he hadn’t shaved for a couple of days. His hands were behind his back.

He looked extremely annoyed. He also didn’t take his eyes off Blu for a second.

Lonely felt Blu’s grip tighten round his hand.

‘Okay then.’ She said.

She wasn’t saying it to Brooks. It was the final word on the half second conversation she had finished with Lonely.

Brooks walked up to within two feet of Blu.

‘I just want to know if I have to shoot these two or not’ he said.

‘Why don’t you just shoot them anyway? If they are forumites then they will log off. If they aren’t then you have two less problems to worry about.’ Blu answered.

‘We don’t know if that’s the case. I have to be sure.’ replied Brooks.

‘Why ask me?’ said Blu

‘You know why.’ Replied Brooks

‘What if I’m lying?’ asked Blu.

‘Then I’ll shoot your boyfriend.’

Blu and Brooks were standing nose to nose at this point. It was only when Blu broke her gaze that she noticed that Brooks was pointing a gun at Lonely.

‘Brooks man, what are you doing?’ It was Davie that said this.

‘Making sure.’ said Brooks.

Blu looked at Lonely and seemed to make a decision.

She slowly walked towards Elmlea and Goober and touched each of them very briefly on the face.

She held on to Elmlea a touch longer than Goober.

‘I never really did you justice did I?’

She turned to Brooks.

‘They are fine. Both certainly more of man than you are.’

Brooks lowered his gun.

‘I had to be sure. Davie, you can let them go. Take them back to the hub. Apologies gentlemen.’ said Brooks.

Davie untied Goober and Elmlea and led them out of the church.

‘Good to see you g.man. You’re looking amazing.’ said Elmlea.

‘What about Lonely? Are you going to apologise to him?’

Blu was back in the face of Brooks. Her silver eyes were glowing slightly with rage.

‘I had to be sure.’ said Brooks and he sat down just in front of the altar.

‘I had to be sure.’

Blu and Lonely walked out of the church hand in hand.

‘I had to be sure’ said Brooks to the empty church around him.

He threw the gun to the side and wrapped his arms around himself.

It wasn’t to keep out the cold.



Several shadows that weren’t caused by the sun, followed the pair out of the church…

Am enjoy.

g.man wrote:

Am enjoy.

+1

Just caught up, that's some damn good writing Rev.

You like the vimto reference then?

Good stuff rev. Keep it up!

Very happy, Rev, very happy.

can i buy the film, tv and game rights please?  i'll give you £20, payable on release of said tv/film/game thing....

i would also require all character likeness, names etc to be part of the deal.  don't worry though forumites, i'll set up a website where you can rent back the use of your avatars and forum names for a reasonable fee!

revelthedog wrote:

JJ is directing the first film. Morgan freeman is playing brooks.

Really?  I'd promised that role to Calista Flockhart...

any excuse for you to piss on that lamppost, eh?

CHAPTER 4

Blu and Lonely made their way back to their room. Elmlea and Goober made their way to the No Subject campfire where they sat with Davie and caught up on the events of the island so far.
G.man joined them and so did several others as the hub was finally repaired, the thoughts of the day turned to how Elmlea and Goober had managed their escape.
It actually turned out to be more down to luck and being at the right place at the right time than the battle most people expected. Both had logged in within a couple of feet of each other and had noticed the only other human being on the whole control floor. They had made a bee-line for each other even though they were both aware they were grasping at strangers.
The spambot masses had been concentrating on the hole in the roof above them, where Yoss and the other Halols had stationed themselves. The spambots robot heads had been looking up and droning at the group and so had completely ignored the two at their feet.

Elmea in a moment of rashness stood straight up and waved, which gained a couple of bullets in his direction but caught attention of Afgavinstan, who waved back in surprise and alerted Yoss to their visitor.
Elmlea told his story as almost thirty forumites looked on.
'He must have remembered my ugly face from Regstock, because he nudged Yoss, who was next to him. Then Gav reached into his jacket and produced a rope, which was tied off and lowered down to us.
Yoss held a sword next to it, ready to cut it if the spambots tried to climb. None of them did though. Gav would have almost chucked us a gun, but Yoss shook his head wildly at this. Of course, I had no idea what had gone on before so I thought he was being a Muppet. I thought he might have let us both die.'
'We climbed up as far as we could and then were pulled up the rest of the way. I can't say I was too happy with how we were treated. It’s not the welcome I expected, a gun in the face and the rope you escaped with being used to restrain you. I understand now though.'
'I guess I should thank Blu? For confirming I'm real so I can maybe help you guys out. It looks like you have your work cut out for you. When I looked back down from where we had climbed, looked like you guys hadn't made much of a dent in their numbers.’ said Elmlea.
Goober sat in silence. He looked completely bewildered and confused. It was clear he was used to a slightly less realistic place to discuss games.

‘I think we need to look at dealing with this situation another way. I want to see some of you in the church in about twenty minutes. I've called Yoss down already, Workid is away collecting him.'
It was Brooks that said this. Everyone stared at him.
He lifted his head to look up as he finished his sentence and the bowtie he was wearing started to spin like a Catherine wheel.
It wasn't that funny. He looked frightening.
He looked the same as he had in the church, same hairstyle. Something wasn't right. He looked drained and exhausted.

'I have no idea what any of you are talking about.' said Kow. He continued to drink his tea and read his copy of Hello Magazine.
Everyone stared at Kow for ten more seconds than he deserved. He looked up again from his magazine.
‘Duchess of Cambridge baby bump special, she’s so neat!’ he exclaimed.

Brooks walked over and spoke to g.man. He spoke quietly.
‘We’ll get Decorum together. Elmlea and Goober might want to tag along. Some of the gamemakers like Gunn and Ram. I was thinking maybe Wookie, Paul, Sasukekun, and MK if he is here. Make sure Petey comes along too. I haven’t seen him for a bit.’
‘What about Lonely and Blu?’ asked g.man.
‘We can let them know what we decide after we have had our meeting.’
G.man said nothing.’ I’m not stupid. They’ll be involved. I just think we should maybe decide how much.’ said Brooks.
His gaze was strong and cold. G.man didn’t want to get into an argument with him in front of the rest of the camp.
‘I’m not happy with that.’ said g.man
Brooks looked out down to the beach.
‘The sea has stopped. Did you notice that? He started to walk towards it. G.man followed along beside him.
They didn’t exchange a word until they reached the still of the sea.
G.man went to light a cigarette and then stopped halfway through. Maybe it was time he quit. He wasn’t really smoking if you thought about it. Virtual smoking.
‘I think you are making a mistake keeping her out if this if you ask Me.’ said g.man.
‘I think you are making a mistake trusting either of them and I’m not asking you. Someone has to take charge.’ said Brooks.
‘Since when did that become you? She could help us, she knows this place. Lonely trusts her.’ said g.man
‘He’s part of thread in a forum. I don’t care for his opinion either; he thought he was you for goodness sake! I don’t understand the sudden loyalty. He isn’t your son.’ stated Brooks.
There was silence between them. G.man caved and lit a cigarette. He exhaled loudly.
‘That was uncalled for. I expect reason from you, not below the belt comments.’ said g.man.
‘I expect you to remember who are the real people and show a bit of loyalty. I’ve watched you. Your face lights up when you see him. You’ve only known him three days. You need to focus! You can’t trust him! He’s a line of code! Wake up!’ and Brooks was almost shouting.
More silence.
‘I don’t know what happened to you but you’ve changed. I don’t know you.’
‘You should try dying. You should then try to smile and wave while the person that murdered you is tricking everyone around you. Elmlea thanked her? Elmlea thanked her! If I knew I could leave I would be taking Yoss’ gun and ventilating my head.’
‘You’ve changed your tune. It sounds like you’ve had more time to think about Reg and the possible repercussions for us.’
‘Maybe I have. I’m sorry. I didn’t think I would be so deep and thoughtful this time. I’m really turning into the flawed hero with the troubled past.’ said Brooks.
‘I’m not going to give you a cuddle and say it’s going to be ok.’ said g.man
Brooks smiled.
‘I’m also aware you’ve called a meeting and a closed meeting at that. Blu and Lonely aside, I suggest we let anyone get involved that wants to. It’s the way the forum has always been. I’m not happy about creating an elite clique that decides what everyone else is doing.’ said g.man
‘I suppose you have a point’ conceded Brooks.
‘That bowtie was awful just so you know.’ said g.man.
Brooks ignored that comment completely.
‘Shall we make our way to the meeting? It’s like being on an episode of Dawson’s Creek. All chat and no action.’
Brooks and G.man walked back up the beech towards the path.
In the still sea, a bottle bobbed to the surface containing a note sticking out of its neck.
The sea around the bottle slightly rippled.
A few seconds later, this was joined by another bottle, with a similar looking note sticking out of the top.


Workid hovered some twenty feet above the roof of the Control Floor roof and far enough away from the Halols as not to blow any of them accidentally off.
The copter jumped a couple of times as it landed.
Yoss ducked as he approached the still spinning blades and jumped into the back of the Bell 212 UH-1N.
‘I didn’t ask you to come back up!’ shouted Yoss
‘Brooks is wanting you down at the church, he wants to talk strategy’ Workid replied
‘Tell him I’m busy!’
‘Why don’t you tell him yourself?’ said Workid.
‘I’m not leaving here! They have started pile up the bodies to try to reach the opening. Billy and Nexx are running low on grenades, Lester needs the toilet and Fentonizer is due to have a break. Have you heard them? Shut your bird down and listen.’
It took a couple of minutes for the blades to finally stop and for the noise to die down. In the background though, the spambots could be heard. Workid walked over to where the rest of the halols were. Some of them were shooting into the Control Room, the rest were either standing or sitting away from the opening.

‘Do they ever stop?’ shouted Workid.
‘Not ever!’ shouted Roujin.
‘I still think you should just let me drop in there with a couple of laser swords, I’ll get the job done!’
This was said by Nexx.
Workid looked in to see the spambots couldn’t be much more than fifteen feet away from the opening.
They were plain looking. They were looked like they were made of various metallic parts. Their frames were thin, their arms and legs were spindly. It was only their heads that seemed to have any weight. The top part of the head had two small shining silver eyes. The head itself was white. There was no nose. The mouth looked human. They constantly chattered and spoke.
Workid could only hear snippets of what they were saying there was no way of hearing a full sentence.


It’s always just me in solution representation she remarked at the glazed cat
You should always buy the best in Thomas sabo to make the most of the offers. He can become Norway delivered from the middle regarding the 1960’s
We are a Delhi based NCR development company the specialises in optimization and keywords.
Join Ruby Palace today and you’ll qualify for a staggering 200% Match Bonus on your
There was a sudden movement below their feet.
‘What the hell was that?’ shouted Yoss.

I think you're getting better and better the more you write these Revel.