Gamer (Gamer Trilogy) (8 page)

Anger welled up inside of me. This was not happening
again.
The letters went away after a brief pause and I considered
my options.
I summoned 1 and 2.
“Eject them,” I said simply.
I bored my eyes into the two henchmen. They flinched
beneath my gaze, 1 quivered.
“W-we would,” 1 said shyly, “but we’ve been locked out of the
system.”
“You mean to tell me,” I hissed, voice full of cold fury, “that a
twelve year old has, in at most twenty-five minutes, locked
you out of a system that’s been in development for three
years?”
“Yes sir,” they squeaked.
There was a lapse in conversation. The only sound was my
heavy breathing. I clutched the bridge of my nose, deciding
that I had no other choice.
“If you would like to avoid spending your life behind bars,” I
smiled, gritting my teeth, “then you will do as I say. We have
zero control over the system now, 3 will do what he can but
that’s not much. I will continue to watch the game play out,
hopefully they kill each other before… you kill them.” They
stared back at me, puzzled. I spoke slowly, condescendingly
enunciating every syllable, “You two,” I paused, “are going to,”
I stopped again, “remove. Simulator’s. Power. Source.”
They exchanged a look of surprise.
“Pull the plug,” I said emotionlessly.
They immediately knew that I meant business and that I
therefore intended on destroying any record of any of the kids
ever setting foot in Simulator.
1 and 2 ran off, eager as ever to please me, and I set my chair
to deep massage.
It was a waiting game now. The Testees had until
Simulator ran out of reserve power - to either kill each other
or find the exit. Neither seemed probable and I resigned
myself to the fact that they were all just going to die. ‘
Too
bad,’
I thought.
A pop-up window announced the turning off of the power
source and as if to ensure that I knew what was going on, a
small timer began to count down in the upper-right hand
corner of the screen.
Exactly 24 hours they had – 1 week in Simulator time. 7 days.
No one was going to stand in my way. Not this stupid
machine or these stupid kids. I would be rich and famous and
whoever stood in my way would be trampled over.
I relished my sudden sense of anger. The pretence of my
friendliness and tolerance was gone.
Sadly, these kids were just obstacles. After they died, I
would invite their parents in and have them… dealt with.
I planned to make new modifications to the code, work on
making the system stronger and run more tests.
This test had failed. Even if the Testees did come out alive,
we’d have to dispose of them.
I was going to be a billionaire and if six kids had to die, then
so be it.
I cursed under my breath.
Keep your friends close, but keep your enemies even closer.

I watched as Stefanie stirred. She was lying in a heap in the
middle of a clearing I’d teleported to. I was in a section of the
forest where the trees were solid silver, instead of
transparent.

It made me uncomfortable to see her hurt, but it had to be
done. Stefanie was going far in life and I was just using her. I
was a bad person, but not bad enough to drag Stefanie down
with me, if I could help it.

My plan was to push her away, slowly at first and then do
something to make her hate me. It wouldn’t affect me, I didn’t
love her, I hardly even liked her but I’d become used to her
and it was something that I couldn’t change. Regardless, our
relationship – if you could call it that – was over, there were
heaps of other hot chicks at our school and Stefanie wasn’t
even the best looking.

She opened her eyes, rubbed her throat and then looked
around. An alarmed expression lit up her features. She
attempted to stand, but couldn’t support herself and fell over.

I plastered a lovesick expression on my face and regretted
not killing her when I had the chance – I hadn’t been able to
bring myself to do it, but in hindsight it was a poor choice.

I briefly thought about my mean-looking battle-axe – I’d left
it at the cave – and contemplated abandoning her…
“V-victor?” She called softly, her voice cracking from disuse.
I couldn’t be cold to her, not while she was like this. I
extended a hand forward and helped her to her feet.
Her face went pale and she leaned against me. I noticed that
the scab above her temple was oozing a clear liquid; it looked
infected almost.
“Water,” she rasped.
I nodded and gently placed her on the ground. She looked
confused but didn’t protest, it was a scary sight to see
somebody on their deathbed – maybe I wouldn’t have to kill
her after all.
I focussed on moving myself through space, pushing every
fibre of my being to the cave where Xander’s water jerkin lay
abandoned and opening my eyes, I saw myself standing
exactly where I had wanted to go.
I bent over and picked up the tub, still full from where
Grace had knocked it out of Xander’s hands and I teleported
back to Stefanie.
Upon my appearance she seemed to struggle again but
realising it was me her body softened.
I handed her the container and waited as she drank.
I was better than this, I thought. I was standing in the
middle of a bullcrap forest, at risk of dying and yet I didn’t
even need the Omega. I’d been pushed by my father to do this
and when I refused, he had me placed on the list anyway.
One day I would inherit his property empire: hotels, casinos,
skyscrapers and prime-view apartments were all awaiting me
the day I turned eighteen. Along with that, nice cars, hot girls
and a limitless supply of alcohol were the things I looked
forward to most. I wouldn’t get a thing, however, if I didn’t
win the Omega.
Stefanie coughed a little and it sickened me to think that
maybe it was her who was holding me back – I didn’t want a
girlfriend, that wasn’t how I rolled. I could have any girl I
wanted if I was single – but something stopped me from
dumping her. Maybe it was the sex, or maybe it was
something more…
I lifted her roughly off the ground, not meaning to harm her
but venting my frustration.
She stood on her own now and if not for the gash on her
face, she looked perfectly fine. Her eyes were bright, she had
colour in her cheeks and her chest was looking as perky as
ever…
And then I thought about Grace. I was just using her too
but cheating was almost a thrill. We hadn’t done anything –
she herself was so young, it seemed borderline kidnapping –
but I was using her affection for me to my advantage. In this
scenario, I’d asked her to help me take out Stefanie, both
because I couldn’t do it myself and because her and Xander
had been getting a little too friendly for my liking.
Xander. I was going to kill him myself – not because I
wanted to win, but because I wanted him to lose. He was the
all round nice guy, but he was a goose and it would be fun to
watch him squirm – unless Grace had already killed him…
“I don’t think we can get hungry in Simulator,” Stefanie said,
breaking the silence. “Only thirsty.”
I nodded, the soft flowing tone of her voice washing over
me… What was happening to me? Soft flowing tones – I
wasn’t a chick.
“What happened?” Stefanie asked, feeling her wound.
This was the tricky part of my plan. I needed to destroy any
chance Xander had with her. When I got her to dump me, he
was the last person I wanted her to hook up with and I
needed to make sure she wholeheartedly believed that he was
a threat. If she killed him herself, he’d feel betrayed enough to
never want to talk to her again – simple.
“This might be a little hard for you to hear,” I began,
feigning sadness.
Stefanie gave me a questioning look.
“Xander attacked us.” I said.
Stefanie’s body went rigid and I began speaking quickly.
“When I sent him off to get the water he must’ve doubled
back to the camp. When we went into the cave, he attacked
you from behind, hitting you with the butt of your own gun.”
She looked down as if to confirm her weapon was missing.
“You fell to the ground and so I teleported you away.” I
watched her reactions closely, she looked upset and even
betrayed – but she wasn’t disbelieving.
“I don’t know why,” I said, “but it was probably to get at me.
I think he wanted to be alone with you…”
For a moment I thought I’d pushed it too far, Stefanie gave
me an odd look in reaction to what I had suggested, but then
she nodded and seemed satisfied with my explanation.
“And where’s Grace?” She asked.
I made my expression even more grim and said, “she went
after him, on your behalf, but she hasn’t come back…”
Stefanie understood what I had implied and she sobbed.
Getting a grip on herself, she stared into the distance for a
long moment.
Manipulating her was so easy, almost too easy. She was so
ready to believe anything I said and I admired her loyalty. I
wanted to console her, genuinely, but then I remembered
why I was deciding to break it off – I needed to be a free man.
I’m sure she’d understand…
She pulled herself upright and stood with what seemed to
be a renewed sense of direction. “Why didn’t he shoot me?”
she asked.
“Sorry?” I responded.
“Well you said he attacked me with my own gun, why hit me
with it when he could’ve just vaporised me?”
I ignored the question, having no way to respond, instead I
said, “Stefanie, you can’t keep dwelling on the past. The main
thing is you’re safe now and we now know that Xander is a
danger.” It seemed to work and as an after-thought, I pleaded
gently, “Be grateful?”
She looked at me and smiled, moving in for a kiss.
I hesitated; she sensed it straight away, taking a step back.
“What’s wrong?” She asked me, searching my eyes with hers.
“It’s nothing,” I answered. “I’m just tense from everything
that’s happened.”
She didn’t seem too satisfied with that answer and she shook
her head, “No, it’s something more – something you’re not
telling me. What’s wrong?” Her voice was soothing, calming,
coaxing.
“I-“
Footsteps.
We both tensed, alert for any sign of danger. At the edge of
the clearing, a silver bush rustled.
Before I could even exchange so much as a look with
Stefanie, we found ourselves surrounded by a sea of men.
Silently, they had materialized out of nowhere and I could
feel Stefanie begin to panic as she stepped into my arms.
There was something odd about the people however. Aside
from being completely silent, they seemed almost unreal.
Attempting to focus on any one individual proved impossible.
Every time I looked at one face, it would seem to just meld
into the crowd. The fact that they were wearing all black
made it even harder to individually set them apart.
The mass rippled, the first sign of movement since its arrival
and out from the ranks squeezed Grace.
Ah great.
I wasn’t exactly sure what this meant for me but I could tell
that Grace wasn’t just going to let Stefanie and I skip happily
out of this situation. She probably thought she’d be doing us
a favour by taking Stefanie out of the picture - what had I
done?
I watched as Stefanie beamed at her, obviously elated that
Grace was still alive and that she’d managed to rally help.
Grace removed the hood from the cloak she was wearing and
glared back at her. The shift in Stefanie’s stance alerted me to
the fact she knew something was wrong.
Stefanie looked up at me and I could tell what she wanted
me to do. Hoping Grace would understand, I held Stefanie
close to me and felt as the world began to shift. We were
floating momentarily and just as we were about to be gone, it
stopped.
Opening my eyes, I was surprised to find we hadn’t moved
an inch. A wicked smile was plastered across Grace’s face.
She laughed sourly; evidently satisfied we’d failed to
teleport. I looked at her, attempting to seem love-struck – I
received a playful wink in return. She had no intentions of
harming me, I realised, but for some reason, that didn’t
entirely appease me.
“Today,” Grace’s voice pierced the silence, “only one person
can teleport out of here at a time. Too bad you need him to
teleport,” she said to Stefanie.
Stefanie was still tense as she realised what Grace was
suggesting.
Grace had played us all, appearing sweet and innocent but
scheming to win all along. I realised that my alliance with her
would only get me out of so much.
Without warning, the men circled around us and began to
close ranks.
Stefanie clutched me tightly and I realised that it was now I
had to make a decision.
On the one hand, girlfriends were not my thing. Having her
around was stopping me from doing what I wanted. But
even now, just the fact that I had hesitated to abandon her,
showed me that I did have real feelings for her – however not
cool that was.
I squeezed her in return and then weighed up my options.
The men were getting closer.
I tried to teleport us again but just like the first time, it didn’t
work.
The men were still getting closer.
I looked around for a way to escape, refusing to let Stefanie
go.
A few seconds and the men would be on top of us.
As I saw one of the soldiers draw a grisly looking, mace-like
weapon, my heart raced.
I was in danger. I panicked.
Looking down into Stefanie’s eyes, I made myself cold,
indifferent and unfeeling.
It was either stay here and inevitably be killed or drop
Stefanie and survive.
I pushed her away from me and I watched emotionlessly as
her eyes filled up with tears.
We were pulled further apart.
Our fingertips were barely touching.
I looked into her eyes.
She stared back.
I let go.

I lay barely conscious in a shallow pool of water. Around me
lay chunks of rock big enough to be small mountains. Along
with that, shards of glass, silver and gold littered the
clearing. I barely registered that it was still raining and
slowly picked myself up off the floor, a changed person.

I forced myself to remember how I escaped B3ast’s prison,
to anger myself enough to fuel my movements.
I remembered the water, nearly covering my whole body.
The vines that stopped me from moving away. The
unintelligibly thick and talk outcrops of rock that became
my prison. And I remembered passing out.
But then when the water washed over my head, I awoke,
unfeeling of my pain, resisting the urge to breathe.
In that moment, I felt a rush of power swell inside of me.
Somehow I was being flooded with energy – energy that
wasn’t mine but energy that I realised I could use. It felt like