Del turned on his laptop and connected to the internet browser. He checked on several websites looking for jobs in the credit card industry. He also made a few profiles of his application and experience. It took several hours. He was getting thirsty. Next to the motel was a small liquor and he had made alcohol runs there. He left his room and grabbed a six pack of beer, a pint of rum. Del wanted to buy more but his funds were running low. After exiting the liquor store. He saw a black SUV parked across the street. It had black tinted windows. He thought it was odd seeing a car like that in this part of town. He also sensed that somebody was watching them.

Walking faster, he moved into the motel and quickly entered his room. He wasn't sure why he felt this way but it seemed somebody was watching him. He was breathing heavy and he stood for a few minutes at the front of his doorway and listened to the door. Moving toward the rough ugly brown drapes, he looked outside. He didn't see anything that looked suspicious.

He shook his head and dumped his alcohol on his table. Grabbing a beer, he opened it and took a long drink. He felt better. His laptop was still on with his screen saver on the monitor. He shook his head. He should had hid his computer before he left. He burped and sat down. Glancing at the time, he knew he had several more hours before he could see his daughter.

He scanned a few more job websites and didn't see anything promising. He gave up. He couldn't see anything that he was qualified for or wanted to do. He became despondent. He grabbed another beer. His mom always told him to work for the government but he knew that those jobs take a long time to get any had to take a test. He found a city government site and he was typing in his on line application. His computer turned off for a second and came back on. Del shook his head. His laptop never did that before.

"What the hell?"

Something was wrong. He felt it at the pit of his stomach. Grabbing another beer, he looked at his laptop and had it scan for virus and spyware. He also defragmented it. There was no viruses. Laying on his bed, he closed his eyes and then he awoke. The time was nearly 3:00 o'clock and he thought he could see his daughter tomorrow and he also realized that he was intoxicated. He looked over to his stash of alcohol and realized he drank all his bear. He needed to sober up.

He decided to play Striker Blast. He clicked on the icon and went into the game world. When his screen opened, he was in world. The barracks look different. He was in a small city, but warriors and military people around. The Battle Sergeant. He was dressed in a different uniform with more metals on his shirt. He came up the top of the screen.

The Battle Sergeant said, "Welcome new recruits. You are now the new Elite battle class Marine. We welcome you to the new Macros base. Also, with your new class, you get a type of new enforced shields and also new type of guns and ammo. Head over to the service supply depot, when you're done looking around. And will get you suited up for your next mission."

The Battle Sergeant disappeared. A chat box came up. It was on the left of the screen and semi-transparent. Del was about to close the chat box. He usually only talk to John when he was playing but he was at work.

But the chat box read, "Hello Del, we like to welcome you to this new area of the came. We had a representative of the Striker Blast game talk to you. We invited you to the new type of game. You could earn money if you if you decide to play. If you're interested you have the card."

Then the chat box disappeared. Del was intrigued. He walked around the new base which looked nothing he saw before. The city was more futuristic looking with bright lights and other new areas to explore like a sci-fi bar with beautiful robotic women serving drinks to an arcade with old 2d arcade games. He walked to the new supply depot. The soldier behind the counter was a gorgeous redhead.

The soldier said, "What do you need marine? If you want to buy some guns and ammo your came to the right place."

She winked out of him. Del clicked on the weapons. The guns also looked futuristic with fascinated name like machine blast or the barrel destroyer. There were futuristic blasters, lasers and submachine guns. Yet, the prices of the weapons were too high for his blood. He barely had money to buy ammo.

He also scanned the armor. The gear was also futuristic with headgear and armor for the chest and legs. All the prices were too high. Del even though he finished the game and received a lot of credits and money. He was only a beginner here in this new part of the game. There was armor that could make the user invisible or so powerful that the user could essential be a tank and good boost the defense thousandfold. The credits to buy these new gear was astronomical. He wanted to get something but was not sure what he should buy.

He thought the monsters in this game would probably stronger and more powerful than he was. So, he bought the best pricing rifle and armor that he could buy with his money. He equipped them. He clicked on the the story line module.

The Battle Sergeant appeared and said, "A whole year has gone by and we destroyed the alien monsters in the planet ***, but the creatures had powerful allies who was ready to wage war against the Earth conglomerate. We have a have a new mission for you."

A prompt appeared. It read, "Are you ready new recruit? Yes or No?"

Del clicked on the Yes button. The screened changed to show a map of planets and space. It showed the battle lines were the war was waging and the mission he could start with or play. It showed the Earth's solar system was under attack by a horde of aliens. The battle lines were getting closer to the home planet, Earth.

The Battle Sergeant appeared and said, "You gotta help us, new recruit. We are losing the battle and we need you to strike a blow. You need to go to the next galaxy and stop the killings there on Prime* planet. We have an civilian outpost there with scientists trying to create a new formula to destroy the creatures and weapons. Are you ready?"

Del clicked on the button to engage and the screen change showing a flight of ships flying through space. Then it showed him inside a ship and sitting next to him were other soldiers. They all looked like NPC players. He could tell if they were players because they would have a different colored status bar. Del could tell the NPC players all had heavier guns and armor. They nodded to him. The screen changed and a reddish brown planet appeared.

The Battle Sergeant said, "Since you are a new recruit, we don't expect you to be in the front. I know you're owned your stripes on other battles, but this fighting is different. The monsters are a lot stronger than you encountered. Stay in the back."

Del didn't argue. He was ready and he wanted to just start fighting to get more money.

The space marine next to him said, "Hey new grunt, I hope you hold your own. We don't want to hold your hand. Forget, what you had learn before."

A prompt box opened. It read, "Respond? Yes or No?"

Del clicked on Yes. He wrote, "I can hold my own."

The marine nodded with respect. The marines next to him stood. They moved to portals located at the end of the ship. Del was not sure what they were doing.

"Follow me, Grunt," the space marine said in front of him. The marine moved toward this portal and stepped inside. He smiled and then he disappeared.

Del was next. He stepped inside the portal. A glass sphere surrounded him and then he was thrusted downward. He saw the darkness of space and then he saw his capsule fall down toward the planet. It shook and rumbled. At his feet, he saw intense fire building up on the capsule but it didn't effect his health. The capsule struck the ground and he was let out. It was only ten seconds but the view Del saw on his screen made him awed at the detail and complexity of this new section of the game.

Del stood on a long stretch of sand dunes. The other marines were waiting for him. They nodded and started to march down a sloped. Del was on the back of the group. He watched his back and made sure nobody were going to attack. He noticed the sky was a deep crimson and the sun was high in the sky. He saw swirls in the far distance.

The marine said, "Those are mini tornadoes. If you get caught he those storms, you would be ripped apart."

Del understood and stay away from those storms. The tornadoes were creating a dark fog filled with sand. It was getting hard to discern what was in front of him. Del used his sensors to follow the marines but there was something wrong with his machines. It couldn't show all the marines.

The NPC marine said, "New recruit, don't try to use your sensors. The atmosphere messes up with our sensors. Just follow me. If you get lost, shout out where you are. Keep your eyes peeled."

A winged creature came out out of nowhere and attacked them. Del yelled in fright in his chair. He was about to fire his guns when the marine before him shot the creature. More winged leathery creatures came at them. It was hard to see them in the gloom. He took out his old trusty rifle and shot at the monsters. He scored several hits but the wing creatures didn't die. He took out his rocket launcher and shot at a mass of creatures. The beasts exploded in a mass of blood and entrails coating his screen with blood for a few seconds then the screen cleared.

"Good job newbie! Good shooting," the hardened marine said next to him.

The creatures disappeared. Del felt like he passed some type of test.

Another marine said, "Ok Marines enough talking. Out destination 1 click southwest from here. We all have a map of our destination. Ok, stay sharp."

They started moving forward. A few times they were attacked by more winged creatures and also large rock monsters. His weapons besides the rocket launch killed the creatures but the marines weapons were amazing. The marines killed anything they came close to them with large cannons, fire blasts and magical thunder.

They traveled up a high sand dune. The gloom of the sand storms dispersed and Del could see far away in the distance. He saw their destination on the valley below. It was a small city with squat gray buildings. Over the top of the city was a clear dome.

The Marine Lieutenant said, "Okay soldiers, we will go into the Mabel city. We gotta go into D section and is marked on your map. It looks like there the dome is still intact. So the atmosphere should be still intact. Got that. New recruit, we need to get you new armor and weapons. Your equipment is strong enough for this atmosphere. We will find the supply depot and set you up."

The moved down the slope toward the city. They reached the valley and saw lizard creatures blocking their way. The monsters attacked them.

"Ok Marines," the Lieutenant said, "we need to get to the city. We need to destroy the creatures."

They ran shooting at the monsters, destroying and killing. Del was leveling up. He saw on his stats that he had gain several levels. The screen said, "Update." Del clicked on it and the game stopped. Del moved most of his new points toward strength and health. He saw another new section called magic. He added some more toward this magic and he gain spells.

It seemed the Marines were letting him level up. He resumed the game. They reached the outer doorway to the dome. The Lieutenant produced a key and a door opened. A light shot out and blinded them for few seconds.

"Access granted," a ladies voice said.

They walked inside. The door closed behind them. It was very quiet and dark. The lights didn't work on the street. The marines turned on their flashlights on their helmets. Del didn't see any of the civilians and scientists who was supposed to inhabit this city.

The Lieutenant said, "There should be one hundred people, civilians, scientist and soldiers at this command post. We need to find any survivors and secret information. There should be some nice guns and armor near the supply area. Let's go there first."

They walked down the street and took several lefts and then a quick right. Nothing attacked them. They stopped at a round metal building. They entered the structure.

Lights came up as soon as they walked into the interior. Del saw thousands of weapons and armor.

He said, "I can any of these!"

"Yes. But you level is high enough for most of the supplies."

Del looked around and noticed the guns were too high for his levels. So, he get the lowest guns, ammo and armor that he could equip.

"Are you ready, new recruit?"

He clicked on the yes button.