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going to enjoy taking out Mal-X again. “Doctor Numb-nuts would approve,” Hector mumbled to himself.
    Beneath Izaak was an image of Vera and across from it, Mal-X’s nexus blade. He was able to wield the blade and examine its stats. The thought of Mal-X pawing Vera made Hector’s skin crawl, though, and Hector pledged it would be the last time Mal-X would touch her.
    Vera had been built by a sergeant in his dad’s unit – an actual sniper with confirmed kills over 1,000 yards. Almost anything could be constructed in Omega Wars ‘ dedicated fabrication mode which let you get the very most out of the game’s raw materials. Everything from microchips and computers, to jet engines and anti-gravity generators could be found in the sprawling, destroyed cities of post-apocalyptic Earth. It was like the real world but without the limitations of time and money. And laws. And parents. And school. And getting dead. Vera, a sniper rifle like no other, had been the sergeant’s pride and joy in Omega Wars , a game he played only because of Hector, who had showed his father Omega Wars when he started playing. The Special Forces lieutenant colonel had been so impressed with the game’s realism that he had ordered his entire alpha team to sign up. Hector used to put together teams from his clan to go up against the soldiers who said it was better than their top-secret, high-tech simulator on base. And since it was a digital copy of Earth they could train in actual places, many of which – like Afghanistan and Iraq – were post-apocalyptic in real life.
    Hector and his father had spent hours wandering the blasted wastelands together battling thorks, scarobs, rouges, ruffians, and scoundrels. Hector thought back on happier times. In Omega Wars , Hector looked out for his father, and many were the times Izaak had come to C0L0N3L W35T’s rescue in the nick of time. Iraq had been different. Hector never had a chance to save his father, nor Vera’s previous owner who died with him. And when MegaSoft honored the request in the sergeant’s will that Vera go to Hector, he knew he needed to use the weapon to avenge their deaths whenever possible, even if it was only in the virtual world.
    Still, in ten kills the nexus blade could be his. He paused for an instant, thinking. Seventeen kills to none in the last match. What could go wrong? He pressed ACCEPT .
    The game opened a voice line as it linked them across cyberspace. “So now,” came Mal-X’s voice, “we find out who truly is the best.”
    An American voice, and for a moment, Hector wondered if Mal-X’s owner really was a Muslim or if he just thought dressing like one was funny. But the voice didn’t sound right; it was stilted somehow. A shiver flew up Hector’s spine. “I think we already know that one, Mal-X.”
    “It’s easy when you’re a griefer,” the disembodied voice shot back. “Let’s see how you do when I can see you coming. Face to face.”
    The screen went blue and then cleared, and Izaak found himself atop a stone tower with a crenelated parapet – like something from the Dark Ages. It was then Hector realized he’d failed to check the location selection. In one direction stretched a rubble-strewn courtyard studded with short, twisted trees surrounded by a crumbling stone wall. Behind him was a cliff with the ocean far below. An island? He spied some Islamic-style minarets in the distance. It almost seemed real until he heard a gunshot and Izaak fell dead. You Were Killed by Mal-X flashed in his HUD.
    “I am a sniper, too,” came Mal-X’s voice, and Hector forced his rising emotions back down. There was no reason to get angry.
    Izaak spawned and immediately activated his refractive camouflage. This time he was on the ground in the courtyard and time-worn walls with the same notch-like crenelations stretched in either direction. There was a tall spire off to one side: the minaret. In the other direction was more of the same wall with towers and ramps