Gamer (Gamer Trilogy) (13 page)

From the start of Simulator to now, so much had changed.
Tangibly, to start with one of the most insignificant details,
the majority of us had lost our weapons.

Then there was the fact that we’d all been subjected to
some kind of torture or another.
Frankly I was surprised that nobody was dead yet.
Nobody seemed to be able to commit to physically
eliminating the competition.
It was hard for me also. Even when we were escaping the
cell and Stefanie, B3ast and myself all had the opportunity
to kill Grace we couldn’t. We just weren’t killers.
I shuddered. That cell had nearly driven me to the edge of
insanity. Even though I’d been through pain a hundred
times worse than that, the fact that I could hear my
tormentor’s thoughts added a new element of sadism to the
experience.
But then when Stefanie and I got to that window – I just
knew that we had to jump. Inside me, I got an
unexplainable feeling and the air outside just felt so light – I
felt so light.
And so I climbed up onto the ledge, took Stefanie’s hand
and together we jumped.
When we began to drop, I felt only slightly nervous. But
then, as we continued to drop, I grew terrified. For some
unjustifiable reason, I’d jumped out of a tower window. I’d
made a life-threatening decision based on a feeling; if the
orphanage ever saw this, I’d be disgraced.
But what worried me more was the fact that I had brought
Stefanie with me as well. I looked to her and saw plain fear
displayed on her face. The two of us were about to die but
to be honest, it felt almost freeing.
And then all of the sudden we rose up into the air, like a
parachute that had just been released.
It was such a strange yet exhilarating feeling, being
weightless in the sky. We both let out a cheer and while
holding hands, we zipped around the treetops.
Flying higher, however, Stefanie tapped my shoulder.
“What?” I called out over the torrents of air.
She pointed into the distance and I stopped flying, floating
on the spot.
It was Xander, his silhouette contrasting against the paleblue sky.
I looked back to Stefanie with the intention of questioning
her about our next course of action. She was a step ahead,
however, and I watched as Stefanie turned us invisible, the
sound of crackling fire surrounding us.
“Fly us to him,” she spoke into my ear, “he still thinks you’re
evil and that I’m going to try and kill him. We can’t let him
know we’re coming.”
I happily obliged and made a beeline for the now retreating
Xander.
As we descended through the trees, I had a flash of unease.
It was like the feeling I had right before Grace attacked me.
I slowed down our descent.
“What is it?” asked Stefanie, giving me a questioning look.
I just shook my head and focused my power. Searching out
the area around us, I attempted to channel any thoughts
that I could.
Riphis throat out. Lap up his warmblood. Prey. Kill. Die.
The thoughts I was getting through were so inhuman that
I almost discounted them – until I saw an image of Xander
flash before my eyes. He was in trouble.
“Stefanie,” I whispered, “Xander’s in trouble.”
She looked alarmed and my only response was to fly faster
to where I could hear his thoughts.
Victor’s unconscious body had carried itself off
somewhere… Victor. The wolf. Xander.
Realisation dawned on me - Victor was the wolf and he
was about to attack Xander.
I saw Xander between the trees, seemingly safe, yet not for
long. Stefanie elbowed me to try and get me to go faster.
Suddenly a creature unlike any I’d seen before, leaped
through the trees into the small space around him. To say it
was a wolf would be incorrect. It had paws like a wolf and a
head like a wolf but the resemblance stopped there. The
creature had almost red fur, with intermittent patches of
yellow and pale blue. Down its back were a line of bony
shards and its tail was at thick as my torso. It was huge to
say the least.
And as if it weighed nothing, it pounded Xander to the
floor, took one swipe at his chest and then turned to run off.
Stefanie let out a scream – out of anger or fear I wasn’t sure
– and she charged after the wolf, body blazing.
Xander was losing heaps of blood. It would be more
strategic for me, at this point of the game, to let him bleed
out and die – but again, I couldn’t. I’d lived with the guilt of
killing Eliza for years now and to do something like that
again would push me over the edge.
I sensed another person in the area and just as I
acknowledged them, they materialised in front of me.
I was shocked, but they weren’t a threat and there were
more pressing issues at hand, namely Xander bleeding his
guts out onto the floor.
Working together, this stranger and I both huddled over
Xander to assess the damage. Luckily I had undergone
some very in-depth medical training at the orphanage and so
it was easy to see that this wound could be healed – that is, if
we had a hospital.
With the current tools available, there wasn’t much
anybody could do. It slowly dawned on me that Xander was
dying… dying.
I found my eyes filling with tears that I couldn’t explain.
Xander had been the first of the people in Simulator to
show me kindness. We had ventured through the lethal
forest before Simulator and we’d formed a relationship
unlike anything I’d experienced before… I realised for the
first time, that I had feelings for Xander.
Now as I watched him bleeding out, however, I knew
something had to be done. Trying to turn my emotions off, I
pressed down on Xander’s chest and tried to stem the blood
flow.
The strange man looked to me and shook his head,
“There’s only one way you can help him…”
I searched his face desperately for answers, trying to find
the one way I could save Xander.
In the background I heard the monster whine with pain as
Stefanie yelled out a cry and advanced on the beast.
It was then that it was clear to me. If there was one thing
that I wanted the most in the world, it was to be able to fix
Xander. And so that’s exactly what I needed to do.
Taking a deep breath, I felt a tickling deep within myself.
It was almost imperceptible, but present nonetheless – and I
called on it, harvested it, grew it into something substantial,
something that I could use.
“Lily,” the stranger voiced, “you need to let go.”
Let go. I needed to let go.
Removing the barrier between reality and emotion, I
opened up my mind and listened to Xander’s dying
thoughts. My consciousness washed over 3’s mind, the man
whose name and story I’d just discovered and along with
Stefanie and Victor’s thoughts, I located the seemingly
infinite source of energy that would facilitate my intentions.
Leaning into Xander’s ear, I whispered my healing words.
I kissed him on the forehead and sat as the energy around
me was transferred into Xander.
Silence. Waiting. A feeling as if I was being drained.
Then the blood flow slowed then stopped altogether. The
small scratches on Xander’s face turned into scabs, then into
scars and then into nothing at all as if they had never existed.
Xander’s chest did likewise and knitted itself back together.
I sat and waited, tears streaming down my face. It was
irrational, illogical but that was the definition of feeling.
Xander coughed, his body stirring. Xander coughed again
and I began to gently shake him. His eyes fluttered open
and for the first time, I realised how green they were.
“You’re alive!” I called to him but he didn’t seem to register
anything that I’d said. He tiredly rubbed his eyes, flexed his
chest and looked around.
He jumped back.
“What happened? Where’s the wolf? I need to-“ he began to
ramble.
“Xander, the wolf attacked you and nearly killed you,” 3
spoke in a serious tone. “Lily here saved your life.”
Xander looked at me with a look I’d never seen before. “Ththank you,” was all he said.
A roar erupted from somewhere nearby and everybody
jumped to their feet, looking for the source.
“Stefanie,” Xander said in an undertone.
Rising himself into the air, he shot himself in the direction
of the noise. Likewise, I did the same – flying over to
Stefanie. 3 just vanished and reading his thoughts I knew he
was also heading over to help.
When I got there, it was absolute carnage. Stefanie had
several slashes on her arms and a cut on her cheek. The wolf
was missing chunks of singed fur and was attempting to
escape.
“Stefanie! STOP!” I yelled out. She didn’t know who the
wolf was. “The wolf is Victor! It’s Victor,” I yelled out
continuously.
Stefanie went still. In the lapse of concentration, Victor’s
wolf-form darted in-between the trees but as Xander
touched down, I realised the fight had just begun.
Driven by a sense of revenge and also by the energy
reserves of 3, Xander pulled the beast back into the small
clearing and flung him into one of the glass trees. The tree
shattered and Xander levitated the glass shards
momentarily, before driving them into the wolf’s torso.
There was a moan of pain from the wolf that sounded all too
human and Stefanie stepped in front of Xander and
attempted to stop him – “This isn’t what you want!” she said.
As if coming out of a trance, Xander blinked twice and
then registered what he was doing. He paused for a
moment, pinning the wolf into place.
“Fine,” he said.
Lifting the wolf high up into the air, he whirled it around
and then sent if flying above the trees’ uppermost branches.
In our minds, we all heard Xander’s warning
‘Don’t come
back.’
In the distance there was a faint crash as Victor hit the
ground and Stefanie let out a sob. 3 patted her shoulder.
There was a momentary silence.
And then a ball of fire erupted behind Xander, flaring up
before disappearing. Everybody spun around, alert and
waiting. The residual smoke subsided and as this happened,
B3ast materialised, stepping forward almost dramatically.
“Grace has a new wand, an army and a hell of an agenda.
She’s on her way here, now – and she’s going to kill you all.”

INTERVIEWER: “So at this point, did you think you
were going to die?” Eva Silvers’ face was solemn.
ME: “No. Never at one point in a game that relied on
killing others to win, did I think I was going to die…” I let
the sarcasm register.
She emitted a fake laugh and then shot me a look that was
clearly intending to remind me that I had organised this
interview.
INTERVIEWER: “Of course, of course. But tell me how
you were feeling when this was happening. Better yet, we
have some footage taken from the lab – would you like to
watch it?”
I closed my eyes, already knowing what was going to
happen. I didn’t need to see this.
*
*
*
As Lily healed me, I felt a warmth spread throughout my
body. As I discovered the wolf was Victor, the lingering
warmth turned into a tangible heat and I’d used that feeling
to throw him through the air. As B3ast told us that Grace
had come back, that she had a new wand and somehow had
an army, that heat became an inferno and I wanted to kill
her. Right now.
“Xander, please,” Stefanie pleaded. “She’ll come to us, we
know that. It’ll make it easier for us to prepare this way. You
know this.”
I shook my head. The time for waiting was over. Venting
my frustration, I pointed at B3ast with conviction.
“Why did she let
you
come here? Are you working for her?”
B3ast jumped back as if he had been stung and I realised
that I’d subconsciously used my power. I was not sorry.
“Grace,” B3ast began condescendingly, “enslaved me to do
her dirty work and forced me to use both my hacking
knowledge and my powers, to create an army and wand for
her. I escaped at the first chance I got.”
I reached out with my mind to B3ast and then felt him
mentally attack me. He wasn’t going to let me in again.
“Don’t make me do anything I’m going to regret,” was all
he said.
‘Xander, he’s lying.’
I heard Lily’s voice in my head.
She’d already updated me on everything that had gone on,
flooding me with images, words and feelings about what
had happened since she had gotten here.
I felt bad for doubting her and I knew that she had been
my strongest ally from the start.
What do you mean?
‘I mean,’
Lily replied
‘that he promisedGrace that he’d
come here on her terms and deliver the message.’
I tensed up.
‘But,’
Lily continued,
‘he planned on ditching her and
integrating himself with us. He likes us more, well he likes
everyone but you more.’
Typical.
So can we trust him?
‘Probably not,’
was Lily’s response.
‘But,’ she added on
afterwards, ‘we could probably use his help to defend
ourselves. If he tries to do something, 3 will be more than
willing to facilitate his destruction.’

I blinked. It was logical and sneaky at the same time. B3ast
did intend on fighting with us but also intended on taking
us out during the process. By making him think that we
trusted him, we could use him until he decided he wanted to
die, by betraying us.

“How did you do it?” I asked B3ast. “How did you manage
to gather an army and get a new wand for Grace?”
When I saw Lily’s image of Grace’s wand being singed by
Stefanie, I felt immensely satisfied. B3ast may have just been
the messenger, but when I heard that he was responsible for
getting Grace a new one, I wanted to shoot him.
B3ast began to explain. “I used my computer, to hack the
system, like I did when-“
“YOU!! IT WAS YOU!” Lily jumped forward, scrabbling
to get at B3ast. Stefanie and I both had to hold her back.
“Lily!” Stefanie called out. “Lily! STOP IT!”
Seething with anger, Lily became still.
“B3ast. Was. The. One. Responsible. For. Trapping. Us.”
“What?!” Stefanie and I both exclaimed in sync.
B3ast flushed red and seemed to be contemplating running
away.
“I don’t think you’re going anywhere,” I spat. “Tell me what
you’ve done.”
“W-well, the first time I used my computer to hack the
system,” B3ast looked terrified, “I found out I could give
myself powers and while I was experimenting I thought… I
thought…”
“WHAT DID YOU THINK?” My voice came out at
maximum volume. I was sick of dealing with this. The
temptation to kill him right now was mounting by the
second.
“I thought that because I could control the game, I could
kill everyone and then never have to leave,” his eyes became
watery. “You don’t understand how cruel people are to me.
Here, when I found out I could build my own world, I
never, ever wanted to have to go. Why would I want to? I
wanted this to be my new reality. I just wanted to have a
place where I belonged.”
I felt no pity. In creating a world for him to control, he’d
condemned us all to death, or worse and now we all had to
suffer the consequences.
Stefanie, on the other hand, saw this as an opportunity to
be a humanitarian – and she walked up to him, hugged him
and said, “Don’t ever think that people don’t appreciate you.
One day you will be very successful and people will be
envious, never forget that.”
I was so confused but as Stefanie turned to walk back to
us, she winked and Lily mentally said
‘Don’t worry, she’s just
as pissed as you. But she’s clever, she just won over his
trust.’
Perfect, I thought sarcastically, B3ast was on our team.
“So how did you build an army, then?” I asked, trying to
keep my tone neutral.
“I-I found a ghost file in the system that generated NPC –
non-player characters,” he added in response to my confused
expression. “In this particular environment, Simulator hasn’t
generated any people, but in different arenas, obviously
there would be different variables. With a couple of simple
lines of code, I activated the file and designed a couple of
different characters. I then…”
“You then what?” 3’s input was totally unexpected; in fact, I
had forgotten that he was even present. It didn’t help that he
sometimes vanished, only to reappear moments later.
“I then assigned the characters powers and replicated
them.” B3ast’s eyes dropped to the floor.
“YOU GAVE THEM POWERS? HOW COULD
YOU-” 3 was enraged and for the first time since he’d
revealed himself to me, he became nearly entirely opaque.
“Leave him alone,” Stefanie called out. “He was only doing
what he had to, to survive. Isn’t that right B3ast?” B3ast
nodded. “Tell us B3ast,” Stefanie was a very good actress,
“how many people did you make?”
“I-“
Suddenly the ground began to rumble. The glass trees
around us shook.
“Well,” I gritted my teeth, “doesn’t matter now. We're
about to find out.”
Please don’t let us die.