"Since I have no idea how to drive anything in this game, I'll do it." Kolya got into the car and nudged the mouse to rotate her view of the game environment. It appeared to be a sparsely-populated area outside a big city, with lots of hills and valleys, dirt, grass, and trees. "The best way to learn is to jump right in."

Donovan got into the passenger seat and tapped buttons, apparently just to find out what they did. His avatar stuck her hand out the window, holding a grenade. Donovan's eyes nearly popped out and he yanked his finger off the button. The character pulled her hand back inside.

Kolya laughed and shook her head. "Don't blow us up before we even get started, you fucker!"

He blushed but laughed along with her. "Sorry, just learning my way around."

A waypoint appeared in the mini-map at the lower-left corner of the screen and Kolya pushed the W key. The car launched across the landscape, off the edge of a short cliff, and slammed onto the gravel road below. She giggled as she fought to regain control of the car.

"Wooooo!"

Lorkis yelped. "A mugger just pulled me out of my car!"

Cora snickered a split-second before a notification appeared above Kolya's mini-map: The mugger sent by Cora to steal from Lorkis has been killed.

"Hah!" Lorkis grinned.

Kolya giggled and continued accelerating toward the waypoint, ignoring the roads and driving straight over the hills and valleys. Blips on her mini-map showed the rest of her team staying close behind her. Moments later they reached a cluster of small shacks, trailers, and sheds, all of which appeared to be falling apart. Here and there she spotted a mixture of non-player characters dressed in overalls and biker jackets.

The "package," a glowing briefcase, rested on top of a beer keg in one of the shacks off to the right.

"I see it," Donovan said. "I'll grab it."

His avatar threw the door open and bailed out -- right into the path of Lorkis's monster truck.

"Huaaaah!" Lorkis swerved, but Donovan plowed face-first into his grill, spun like a propeller, and landed under the rear tires.

Ka-thump!

Donovan released an uproarious laugh.

"Dork." Kolya reached over to whap him on the arm.

"Uh, sorry," Lorkis muttered while blushing.

Donovan managed to shrug while he continued laughing.

"I'm on it." Kolya stopped the car, jumped out, and grabbed the briefcase. On the way back to the car, Cora's van barreled out from the edge of Kolya's screen and plowed straight into her. She tumbled across the ground and dropped the briefcase.

Cora hopped out of her van, blasted Donovan with a double-barreled shotgun and finished the job Lorkis's truck had started. She grabbed the briefcase, returned to her van, and roared off.

"Oh, you'll go easy on us, eh?" Kolya chuckled, picked herself up, ran past Donovan's dead character, and jumped back into her car. "Now it's on."

Dylan's car zipped past and she caught a glimpse of his arm poking out the window and lobbing a sticky bomb. The explosive stuck to the roof of her car.

Kolya squeaked and bailed out. She bolted straight away from it before the bomb detonated. The explosion knocked her off her feet and dropped her health level down to sixty percent. She popped up her weapons menu as she scrambled for cover, and selected the rocket launcher. She found Dylan's car, locked on, and fired. The rocket streaked into the distance and then a tiny fireball and cloud of debris erupted from behind a hill. Dylan yelped and twitched.

"Holy shit!" He collapsed in laughter and applauded. "Bravo."

"That's what you get for killing my guy." Kolya smirked as the rest of the opposing team's vehicles passed by.

"Hey, that was Cora, not me."

"Guilt by association." She grinned, met Donovan's gaze, and winked. "And I'm just getting started."

"As I said during lunch, you're my hero." Donovan batted his eyes at her.

"By Grabthar's Hammer, by the Suns of Warvan, you shall be avenged!"

Donovan slumped back in his seat and dissolved into a fit of laughter.

Kolya pulled up another menu and searched through the options while everyone else roared into the distance. Let's see, mugger, mugger, mugger, mugger … ah-hah! She selected the option and targeted Cora. Payback time.

"Well, now that I'm 'spectating,' I can see some vehicles on the road," Donovan said once he'd caught his breath. "Uh, kind of southwest of your position."

"Thanks." Kolya climbed up a hill and spotted three cars passing slowly by. She ran down the slope, crossed in front of one, and waited for it to stop. She yanked the door open, pulled the driver out, and hurled him away. He staggered into oncoming traffic just in time to catch a face-full of Pißwasser truck.

"Haha!" Kolya sped off in his car.

"Not bad," Dylan said with a chuckle. "For a beginner."

"This is fun!"

"I could use a lot more practice," Donovan said. "I think I know what we'll be doing over the next few days." He gave Kolya a lascivious smirk. "Well, among other things."

She gazed back at him and almost drove into a ditch. She laughed and took a slow breath.

Hoo, boy.