Collision Course [+ Additional Levels]

Level Eight - Broken Rules

He looked at the last two in the list, and shook his head at both. No... no... He froze when his eyes landed on the note to the side of the list, scribbled out of pure desperation.

-Moe was bitten by Coily.

Andrew groaned again, and thumped his head on the night desk. Then he thumped his head on it again. And again. With each thump, the laptop rattled. The pencil rolled off of the notebook, and rested dangerously close to the edge of the desk. Andrew sighed. Why did the craziest idea have to make the most sense?

****

Someone walked through the forest. His breath was ragged, and his head pounded painfully in his skull. Everything was too bright, too loud. He winced at every snap of a twig beneath his feet. He suddenly staggered, and landed on a tree. He grasped it, holding himself upright. He couldn't understand what was going on. He grimaced in pain, and set his forehead on the slightly jagged tree bark. How is this happening? He groaned through his teeth, and squeezed his eyes shut. Numbers and code were racing through his head at a throbbing rate. He couldn't keep track of it. Dammit. When this passes over, he thought, I'm going to find him. And, oh, when he got his hands on him. That writhing little purple scaled hopper. That squiggly violet worm. That, that—

He suddenly hissed in pain, and he felt his knees buckle beneath him. Gasping for air, he brought his right arm up against the tree bark, and rested his head on it. His sleeve began to soak sweat from his forehead.

"Dammit!"

He started shaking.

"What have you done, Coily?"

QBert pressed his forehead against his arm.

"What have you done?"

****

Andrew turned his head to the sound of the sharp inhale. Moe grimaced, and pressed his head into the pillow. He was distinctly pale, and a sheen of sweat lined his brow. He groaned in his sleep.

Andrew looked at him with concern, not lifting his head from the night desk. Moe was getting worse. He was talking less, and his breathing was becoming ragged. Andrew scowled, facing downward again. He started thumping his head on the desk.

"Come on Andrew. Think. Think."

He heard the pencil clatter as it rolled off and hit the floor. He ignored it.

"Think," he muttered. "There has to be a reasonable explanation for Moe's condition. I mean, how in the world would pixels on a screen be able to come through and actually bite Moe?" he asked himself. "So stupid..."

"Brown........ respawn........... Q.....bert......"

Andrew froze. "Did... he just....?" Despite all of the references to the game, the character names, and descriptions of Coily that Moe had given, he hadn't once actually said 'Q*bert'. Without which, had left his suspicions unconfirmed.

"Q... bert...."

Andrew turned his head, startled. And now he just repeated it.

****

QBert faintly heard voices. They were calling his name. His head pounded harshly, and he slumped to the ground, at the base of the tree. He rolled forward, and clutched his head, his eyes tightly squeezed shut.

"Coily...." he murmured.

****

Moe moaned, and whipped his head to the left side. He whipped it back again, his eyes tightly squeezed shut, his left hand shaking. "Coily...." He groaned, pressing his head into the pillow. His right hand grabbed a fistful of blanket. Beads of sweat ran down his face. "Coily.... stop... stop...."

Andrew straightened, eyes wide. Now he was actually speaking with a directive. "Moe?"

"Coily..." Moe grimaced. "Please.... Coily, stop... make it stop....."

****

QBert felt hands grab his shoulders. The faint voices that he had heard earlier had become louder now. He could only groan from the ground, feeling too immobile to even look up at them.

Coily had broken the rules.

He had inflicted physical injury to a human.

And now, QBert knew, it was still affecting the human. And him. Break the rules, and there were repercussions. He could only imagine how Ugg and Slick could be feeling from this. He didn't know quite what had been actually done, but he felt worse than ever. And Coily was the one behind all of this—whether he realized it or not.

QBert whimpered a little, and curled further into a ball, holding his head. "Coily..."

He knew that Coily had inflicted harm to a human, but what did he do to the human? What had he done, kill him?

Numbers shot through his head, too many to compute. He grimaced in pain.

"Please.... Coily, stop... make it stop....."