Status Updates From The Atlas: A Horror Movie L...

"It goes back to 1989." Players had been in Carousel since
1989?

“I would assume so,” Jack said. “Messy situation that was, huh? If they had learned our secret,” he said, looking back at me, Kimberly, and Antoine, “who knows what bad things could have happened? Secrets are funny that way.” We all looked at each other. It sounded like our friends in high places didn’t want us to talk about Dina’s quest.

With this trope equipped, a player can sacrifice themselves in order to help their team escape. To activate, the player must devise a reason that their death or abandonment will help the other players in their escape efforts. If successful, a buff equivalent to the player’s Plot Armor will be distributed among present allies’ Hustle. However, the player is guaranteed to suffer whatever fate they attempt to flee.

Reggie was up ahead of me. I could see him shuffling through his tickets. He apparently found what he was looking for because they went back in his pockets. Then he fell. I could see his knee hit the pavement hard. I stopped to try and help him. “Leave me! Go!” He shoved me away, hard. I did as he asked and ran to catch up with Camden. But it was all for show. My Hustle rose twenty points. So did Camden’s.

As I watched, Anna and Camden’s team ran toward the big blue plane that held the Omen for Preservation. They made it to the door just as the other team had loaded in. Travis climbed inside, then Bella and José. Then the door closed. The storyline must have hit its limit. The airplane started taxiing away from Anna, Camden, and Reggie.

The intrusion of the NPC was a little odd, as they usually kept to themselves, but as I glanced back to see who had spoken, I noticed that he was wearing a uniform. A bus driver’s uniform. He was just an ordinary NPC. He had parked a bus right there in the street and gotten out to look at the cloud right where we were. The bus was empty and still running. Was this more help from our friends upstairs?

I told them the name of the storyline. “I’ve never even seen an Apocalypse level of difficulty,” I said. The veterans looked at each other. “It can’t be an Apocalypse,” Travis said. “The next one isn’t due until December.” Due?