The Mall (Evenstad Media Presents Book 2) (14 page)

JOURNAL 06TESS

ENTRY 009

DATE: 2/16/2075

Quinn says we're safe. I want to believe her, and believe
that she's going to keep me safe and keep me alive, just like she did the whole
time with her food packages. But I know full well that there's not a chance we
can both stay okay. I brought it up to her, the rules of the game, and she
didn't want to talk about them. I don't know how she can be like that. They're
important. Really important. It says right in that letter that only one of us
can leave this place, which means we can't both stay alive. Eventually, one of
us is going to die. We'll run out of food or something like that, and then
that's it. All that work to probably end up with both of us dead? It just doesn’t
make any sense.

I can see why you wouldn’t want to talk about it. I know I
don't want to, but sometimes that's the way it works. Sometimes things aren't
easy like you think they should be. And sometimes, at times like this, things
are just plain nasty. Quinn's stronger than I am. She's a stronger person, but
she's avoiding it because it's not something nice to deal with. I'll try my
best to respect that. I owe her my life, after all, so it’s really the least I
can do for her. But eventually, one time or another, it's going to have to come
up again, and she's going to have to not brush it away. Personally, I think
that’s coming awfully soon, too.

ENTRY END

JOURNAL 05EVAN

ENTRY 011

DATE: 2/16/2075

I've been through all the shops looking for anyone, even
Mitchell's. Neither of them are out here, which means they're probably both in
the back room. It's a stupid move, camping out together. Unless she killed the
blonde one. Or the blonde one's a lot more dangerous than I was giving her
credit for. That would make for good TV, a sleeper hiding out the whole time
just to take out the biggest threat in the whole damn game.

But more likely than anything else, they're both hiding out.
They're both trying to escape reality. I know what that's like. I fought
against the true nature of the universe and the true nature of humanity for
years before coming here. But not anymore, and especially not now. It’s a
stupid risk to take at this point.

I doubt there's any way to escape, for them. Not from back
there. If there was, I can't see the scary one not taking it. She seems smarter
than that. And more importantly, the TV company seems too smart to let there be
any kind of exit. They probably think they're safe, holed up back there, away
from things. They think it will give them time to figure out their next move,
their escape.

In reality, they're just trapped. I intend to go make sure
they don’t slip out of that trap.

ENTRY END

JOURNAL 06TESS

ENTRY 010

DATE: 2/16/2075

Quinn saw someone coming on the screens. She told me to just
stay put and not leave, then she left me alone in the room. I don’t know what
happened, then, but I heard more gunshots. I know she has a gun. It was
probably her doing the shooting, not her getting shot. It had to be her gun
going off. It had to. But if she could get herself a gun, that means whoever
was coming could probably get one, too.

The security cameras. I could look over at them and see. All
I have to do is find the right one. Just a quick look.

It was her gun. He's on the floor.

ENTRY END

The Mall: Sick Game or Unjust Punishment?

Posted 2/15/2075

I say it's both of the above. See, there's no denying that
The Mall and The Park are both sick, twisted games. Anyone who's paid the
slightest bit of attention can tell you that much. But now, with the new
information that one of Evenstad Media's uppermost executives, Niels Evenstad,
has a terminal autoimmune disease, the punishment explanation rears up and
can't be ignored.

A sick man, a man with no real chance of survival and angry
at the world. But not just any man. A man with huge power, huge money, and now
very little time left to have to deal with the consequences of his actions. He
creates a show, a show about death. About killing. Not just one person. No,
this man is angry at the world, wants the whole human population to feel his
pain, deal with his problems. But he starts with twelve. Twelve people in a
trailer park, and only one can leave. True, the victor wouldn't die. That would
make for a pretty awful game show, after all. But would they really be much
better off, after the things they would have to do?

And then he does it again, and he's allowed to do it again.
And now, when people are starting to really wonder about this, to question it,
we get the revelation of his illness. Because it's okay, if he was sick, if he
was dying. We can let him do that, right?

I say no. Not at all. We can't let the powerful and the rich
continue to use the rest of the world this way, no matter their sob story.
We're not there to serve as mere objects or, in the case of Niels Evenstad,
toys he can crush, little plastic army men to pit against one another. Because
where does it stop? With one city razed? A nation brought to destruction? The
world eaten to nothing, all because one man got sick?

Feel bad for him, if you want to. He's terminally ill, and I
wouldn't wish that on a single soul. But don't support his vendetta against the
living. Don't let us be his therapy.

JOURNAL 08QUINN

ENTRY 014

DATE: 2/16/2075

It's done. I finally got rid of that bastard. I can’t undo
the damage he’s done, but I’ve kept him from doing any more. Now it's down to
just Tess and I. I don't know how we're both going to get out of this place. I
haven't made it quite that far, but I'm sure there's some way to do it. There's
always a way, even when it seems impossible. Or almost always, I guess. But
this time around, I'm sure there's a way. I know it. There has to be, because
I'm not going to kill Tess.

She seems to think that's the wrong decision, on my part.
It's not that she wants to die, but she doesn't want me to have to die. She
keeps telling me how I saved her life with that food, as though it's some kind
of justification for killing her. I would have done it for anyone, but
apparently she thinks I'm some kind of saint because of it. I don't know why.
Well, I do, given what I've seen of everything else in this hellhole mall. But
I can't see any way that my life is somehow worth more than hers, just because
I helped her out. It's what I do. It's what I've always done.

Her whole obsession with this is putting me in a tricky
situation. I need to figure a way out for both of us quick, I think. Otherwise
I don't know what she might do to try and pay me back. Stupid, but I guess it's
kind of flattering. In the stupidest way possible.

ENTRY END

JOURNAL 06TESS

ENTRY 011

DATE: 2/17/2075

Quinn finally fell asleep. I think it's pretty relaxing for
her, things being this peaceful. She knows I won't kill her, and that we're the
only two left. At least, that’s what she tells me. I wasn't here to see it.
Which is why it wouldn't be right for me to be part of winning this game or
getting out of here or anything else. I didn't do a damn thing to earn it. Not
like Quinn did, or any of the others who died. They all played the game a lot
more than I did. Even if I had tried, I wouldn't have made it this far. I wish
I could call it a strategy, could say I was doing my best to look helpless
until the end. But I wasn't. That's the honest, helpless me. I was a debutante,
and I never did figure out much about real life, let alone whatever you want to
call this nightmare.

Quinn's a good person, though. She's a soldier. Protecting
people is what she does, no matter what anybody has to say about the army. I'm
sure there are plenty of bad people in the army, just like there are anywhere
else. But I wouldn't call them soldiers. They're just bad people with guns, and
that's that. I've spent time with Quinn and, before that, she took care of me
even though I was just some scared stranger. So I can happily say that she's a
soldier, and one I can respect. The country and everyone living in it needs her
back. The world needs her back, and it needs a whole mess of people just as
good and kind and giving as her, too. I can’t do much about that, but I can
damn sure do something about getting Quinn back out there.

The world doesn't need another rich girl with too much time
on her hands. So I'm going to do something useful. The last useful thing I can
really do. Maybe the first useful thing I’ve ever done. Useful for the world
and for the country and for Quinn.

I'm going to let her win. Which means I have to let me lose.

I was worried I’d get buried in the wrong place, that I
wouldn’t end up with my family. Now? It doesn’t really matter to me so much.
I’d rather have something come from my death and not be with Momma and Daddy
than waste more time out in the world.

So goodbye, I guess.

ENTRY END

JOURNAL 08QUINN

ENTRY 015

DATE: 2/17/2075

Damn it all. I shouldn't have fallen asleep. I was going to
work something out, and I didn't do it in time. I was going to keep Tess safe,
keep her alive. But I was so tired, after everything, and I could just… I just
fell asleep. And now she's dead. The gunshot woke me up. I should have pulled
the magazine or something. Anything. There were so many things I could have
done to try and prevent this, but instead I just fucking slept.

It's not the blood that got me. I've had blood. It's not the
body or the big hole in her head. It's… this whole thing is just wrong. There
are some people who should die, people like that asshole I killed in the
hallway out there, or the guy with the baseball bat. They were killing for
themselves, and that's never the right reason. Their deaths were heavy. All
deaths are heavy. But not like Tess' death. That's a heavy weight hanging from
my neck, choking me out. I can barely draw breath because I know she shouldn't
have died. She could have stayed alive and we would have figured a way out
eventually, damn it. We would have. I would have.

Now there's no hope for her. All I could do was cover her
with my jacket. She deserves a little respect, even in death. I may not agree
with it, but she died for me. She killed herself for me. For some fucked up
reason, she thought I was worth it, even though she only met me a few days ago.

If she thought I was such a wonderful person, then that's
what I'm going to be. I owe it to her to try, if nothing else. I’m making a vow
here and now to be the person Tess thought I was.

ENTRY END

TO: Niels Evenstad

FROM: Magnus Evenstad

SUBJECT: Update

SENT 2/16/2075 AT 12:38 p.m. EST

Niels, I'm very sorry to hear about your health, as is your
Aunt Hilde. Please, let us know if there's anything we can do for you. I'm sure
it's a very trying time, particularly with this show in the works. You're
starting in on the third season soon, correct? You’ll have quite a lot of work
to do to make up for the reviews coming in on season two. Very unhappy people,
unfortunately. They thought the guards made it a very unsportsmanlike game, and
it was generally just not as well put-together as The Park.

But that’s not important right now, of course.

I'd actually like to meet with you in person. I know it's
been a while, and I realize we haven't always had the most peaceable
relationship. But we're family nonetheless, and I do care about you. You're my
nephew, after all. But not only that. I understand the stresses you go under,
trying to maintain a company. Before my promotion, I was in your exact
situation. Leading Evenstad Media on to where it was, preserving the glory of
our family name, moving us into a new stage. And I'm in a unique position to
help you in what promises to be a trying few years in your life.

I hope you'll join me at my house over the weekend. I'll be
inviting as much of the family as I can, but we can find time to slip away and
talk in private, I'm sure. If nothing else, though, come for the celebration.
For another successful show on your end, and the launch of what promises to be
a wonderful new product by your brother. The robotic guards were something I
and my generation could barely have dreamt of, and yet here they are, on the
cusp of release. It's truly a glorious time to be alive.

Magnus Evenstad,

Chief Executive Officer, Evenstad Enterprises

The Park: Renewed Again?

Posted 5/20/2075

It’s no secret that I’m a huge fan of The Park and even The
Mall, as hard as that might be to believe to some people. I mean, when you do a
search for ‘The Park Blogger,’ I’m the first one who comes up. It wasn’t my
intent, but there it is. I’m not about to complain about the extra traffic.

I’m also a realist, and being a realist, I was pretty damn
sure this was it. The Mall would end the whole thing. It had some appeal to
die-hard fans, but I don’t see where it would be terribly exciting for a
newcomer. At least not compared to The Park. If I’d seen this one first? I
wouldn’t even have really cared.

So, to have Evenstad announcing that they’ve got a third
season in the works… well, it’s a shock to this viewer, let me tell you.
Welcome, but definitely a shock. I mean, even I thought it was dull, by
comparison. Evenstad went too far in turning this into a commercial., and those
damn robot guards are priced way beyond most people’s capabilities, anyway. It
just felt messy. Which I guess makes sense, given what was going on in the
creator’s personal life. I do think that the information leak was a bit too
conveniently timed, but whatever it takes to save ratings, I suppose?

Would the show still be getting renewed if this wasn’t the
COO’s brain baby? I can’t honestly say for certain. What I can say for certain
is that I’m damn happy we’ll be getting more in 2076.

Phil Boggs