S.W. Tanpepper's GAMELAND, Season One Omnibus (16 page)

We all look up. Micah's off about fifty feet away, standing and staring off into the distance. He slowly turns to us, then raises his hand and points.

We all get up and walk over.

About a quarter of a mile away is a solitary figure. It doesn't move.

“
Is that what I think it is?”

We strain our eyes, but it's too far away to tell. “Looks like a tree,” Reggie says. “Or a statue.”

“
Or maybe it's a homeless guy,” I say.

Jake reaches into his pack and withdraws a pair of binoculars. He trains it on the figure and adjusts it.

“
Sorry, Jess. It's a zom. Naked. It's skin…” He shivers. “Now I know what standing outside in the sun every day for thirteen years will do to you.”

“
Is it…dead?” Ashley asks.

“
It's not moving.”

He scans with the binoculars all around us before announcing there aren't any more.

“
We'll just keep an eye on it, then,” Micah decides. He comes over to me and asks if I'm okay. I nod.

“
I don't know about the rest of you,” Ashley says, “but I'm starving. I think we should eat.”

“
Beef jerky?” Reggie jokes. Everyone groans. But then he pulls a Slim Jim from his pack and laughs. “I was sort of hoping we'd see one just so I could do this.”

“
You really are a disgusting pig.”

I grimace and clutch my stomach. It's still a bit touchy. “Not for me.”

Kelly pulls out a Red Bull and opens it for me. “At least drink something then.”

“
It's warm.”

“
Drink.”

I notice that nobody teases him for mothering me.

When we're done eating and resting and Jake has confirmed that the zombie hasn't moved in the last twenty minutes, Ashley jumps up and exclaims, “Pictures! We need pictures.”

She whips out her Link and hands it over to Micah, ignoring Jake's outstretched hand. Jake gets this embarrassed look on his face and pretends he was reaching for something else. I can't help but feel a little twinge of guilt for him. He's trying so hard, but he's so obviously not figured out how to be a part of the group. I doubt he ever will.

Ashley plucks the umbrella from where she dropped it and starts parading around with it over her shoulder. She twirls it and says, “I feel like one of those flappers from a hundred years ago.”

“
More like a hundred and twenty years ago,” Kelly says.

“
Dude, do you have to be so freaking—I don't know—
literal
all the time?” Reggie says, then quickly adds, “Just messing with you, brah. Chillax.”

Micah snaps a couple pictures of everyone in various poses, including a few zombie poses that strike me as both amusing and vaguely unsettling. Then he announces that he's got things to do.

“
You guys go ahead. I'm going to try a few quick computery things. He pulls the old tablet from his pack, and a tangle of wires trails out.

“
Still think you can hack into iVZ?” Ashley says.

Micah shrugs. He presses a button on the side to boot it up. “It's worth a try.”

I frown. “Why? It's already coming on noon. We've only got a couple hours or so before we should get ready to leave.”

“
Um…because.” He looks around us, as if it's obvious why. “We couldn't get into
The Game
before, but now that we're inside the ArcTech firewall…” He shrugs and points to a spire in the distance. It's one of many that rise from the top of the wall every quarter mile or so. They're supposed to prevent implanted zombies from breaching the perimeter by frying their L.I.N.C.s if they cross it. It's also there to keep hackers from breaking in. Hackers like us.

Because of the intervening buildings, we can't actually see the wall at the moment, but we can see the EM towers poking up above the buildings. The air around them glimmers, almost as if we're looking through water. I know it's just an illusion, but it sure seems real.

Micah taps a few things on the screen and holds it up for us to see. It shows a map of where we're at and a cluster of tiny red dots. He zooms in and the dots assume labels. We all gasp.

“
Hey, that's us!”

“
You hacked our implants?” Ashley cries. Her hand instinctively reaches behind her head, as if she could block whatever connection Micah has made to it.

He shakes his head. “Actually, not directly. It was easy to hack your Links, and from them get your L.I.N.C. numbers. Once I had those, I coded in our implants into this old tracking app and embedded it within a geolocator.” He points to the tower again. “The signals ping off the towers within range and triangulate back to me.”

“
Subtitles, please?” Jake says, looking bewildered.

“
It means he can track wherever we go,” Kelly says.

“
W-why?”

“
Wait a minute,” I say. “Does that mean
anyone
can track us? At any given moment?”

Micah frowns at me. “Like the government isn't tracking each and every one of us already?”

“
So, they know we're here?”

Micah shakes his head. “No one outside the wall can track us in here. The EM masks our signal, preventing anyone on the outside from seeing anyone inside. That's why nobody can hack the Players' implants. The only way to connect with them is through ArcWare's iVZ codices, which are tuned specifically to their nodes.” He points to the EM spires. “And I'd be willing to bet you there's a node in each and every one of those towers.”

Jake's still looking totally lost, but the direct implication of Micah's hacking is easy for the rest of us to calculate: another chance to access
The Game
and actually play it.

“
It's simple, brah,” Reggie patiently explains. “If you break the iVZ programming language, you can read
The Game
. But you still need to be able to connect to the Players. That's what the tracker does. That's basically what the ArcWare codex does. It's just a device. Anyone could build one, but without being able to speak its language, it would be useless. ArcWare uses a proprietary coding format written in interweaving layers, but now that we're inside, the entire language architecture is completely exposed.”

“
Meaning?”

“
Meaning after we return,” Reggie exclaims, “we'll be able to build a descrambling device and play
The Game
!”

Micah holds up his hand. “I still need to see if I can actually find and track Player signals. That's why I needed to hack your L.I.N.C.s. First, to prove the concept, then so I can subtract them out as background.”

“
I don't care about
The Game
,” Jake declares. “And I don't want you tracking me!”

Micah chuckles. “I'll wipe all your numbers after we get back. Don't worry. It's only temporary.”

Reggie slaps him on the back and says, “What are you doing standing around for, then? Get moving!” He rubs his hands together. “I can't wait to get back and wreak some havoc on some real zoms. No more
Zpocalypto
for this guy.”

Ash's face lights up too, at the prospects. Even Kelly looks a bit more excited than a moment ago.

But something bothers me. If Micah is able to hack and track the Players' implants, then obviously the next step is learning how to control them. That's essentially the point of all this. So, if he's able to do that, what's to stop him from doing the same to us? Other than his promise not to, I mean.

I try to dismiss the thought. He said he'd get rid of our implant numbers. Besides, if it were even possible, then surely someone would've tried it already. As much as I distrust the government, they wouldn't allow something like that to happen, would they? Our implants are supposed to be inactive until we die. That's what the
latent
part of their name means.

Nevertheless, I keep my thoughts to myself. I don't want anyone else thinking it, or worrying over it. Or getting any ideas. Micah's not the only one of us with the skills to accomplish such a thing.

I turn around to retrieve my backpack and find Jake watching me. Our gazes lock. There's worry on his face. Despite his admission of technical ignorance, somehow I suspect he's made the connection. The same thoughts and fears are going through his head, too.

‡

Micah repacks
his bag and heads for the closest EM tower. “I'll ping everyone once I get in,” he says. “And I'll send your Links the app so you can track each other, too.”

“
I don't want to track us,” Jake says, still protesting. “And I don't want anyone to track me!”

“
Think about it like this, Jake: This way, we'll be able to see any implanted zoms too. Not saying there are any here, but wouldn't you want to know if there were?”

“
Lot of good it does us.” He points at the lone zombie and says, “You still can't track them. IUs don't have implants.”

Micah shrugs. “IUs are harmless.” He shoots me a look and winces. “Well, maybe with one or two exceptions. We still don't know if that one was a rogue escaped from one of the work details back on Manhattan, right?”

Jake frowns, obviously not convinced. “How about some company then?” he asks. “Besides, you'll be safer with someone watching your back.”

Or watching over his shoulder
.

“
No, but thanks, Jake. You'll just distract me. Don't worry. I'll be fine. Go have some fun. You'd just be bored if you came with me.” He checks his Link. “Let's plan on meeting back here around…two. If not sooner. Ping if anything comes up. We should leave by two thirty so we don't have to fight the current again.”

Ash and Reggie are standing off to one side whispering to each other. I'm about to ask what they're planning on doing when she giggles and slaps his arm. Reggie glances over at us and grins.

“
Ash and I are going to check some things out,” he says. He looks around and his gaze stops in the direction of an old Holiday Inn. “Over there.”

“
Want some company?” Jake asks, again.

I roll my eyes.
He really is that clueless!
Then again, could Ash and Reg really be that horny? We've got a couple hours to explore the abandoned city and they're going off to mess around.
Really?

Reggie shakes his head. “Naw, brah.” He wraps his arm around Ash's shoulders. She looks so small standing next to him. “I think I can handle this alone.”

Ash cocks her head up at him and smirks. “A bit overconfident, are we?”

Jake realizes too late what they're talking about. He turns to me and Kelly, his face red.

“
No,” Kelly snaps, before he can say anything.

“
Why not? I said I was sorry about the zombie thing back there.”

Actually, he didn't. But while I may be willing to let that slide, Kelly clearly isn't. “I don't remember hearing any kind of apology from you,” he spits. “And even if I did—”

“
Kel.” I frown and tell him to cut the guy some slack.

He sighs and says, “Fine, you can tag along with us. Like a little puppy. It's not like I wanted to spend a little
alone
time with my girlfriend or anything.”

“
Really?” I say. “That's what you want to do?” I jut my chin out at Reggie's and Ash's receding figures. “Is that all I am to you is a sex toy?”

“
That's not what I meant! I got something else in mind.” He pats his pack. “But don't ask, because as I said, it's a surprise.”

“
Ooh, I can't wait.”

He rolls his eyes.

There's a cluster of high rises due south of us a couple blocks away. Kelly points in that direction and says he wants to see how high up off the ground we can get. “Maybe we can see over the wall from one of the windows. Wouldn't it be cool to get a pic of Manhattan from here?”

“
Pictures? That wasn't the type of surprise I was expecting,” I say, but he just smiles like he already knows that.

Jake looks doubtful. “Shouldn't someone stay here and make sure our stuff is safe?” he asks.

“
Safe from what? Look around you. Do you see anything that's going to mess with our equipment? Pigeons?”

“
Zombies?”

We all turn and look at the solitary figure in the distance. It still hasn't moved.

“
Are there two?” Jake says, squinting.

“
Shut up.”

“
No, seriously.” He lifts the binoculars and looks through them. “There are two of them.”

“
Let me see,” Kelly says.

He looks for a moment, then shrugs. “There's two. But maybe the other one was standing behind the first and moved a little. At that pace, they'd reach us in, oh, about six weeks.”

Despite what happened in the tunnel, I have to laugh. Besides, Jake's concern is misplaced. What would a couple of zombies want with a bunch of diving equipment? The only thing that drives them—drives their ‘life force' or whatever you want to call it—is human flesh.