Yvvaros: The Clash of Worlds (31 page)

Katrina nodded and left the hall. Luke turned to Tess, finally giving into his emotions and pulling her into a tight hug.

“I believe in you, Luke,” she whispered. “We’re going to be okay.”

Luke remembered his waiting attribute points and quickly assigned them using his character record. Kaoru looked out the window at the sun, nearly set over the horizon, and then looked back at Luke.

“It’s almost time,” she said. “We’ll be nearing our destination in the real world.”

“Right,” said Luke. “I should just… check in with everybody, first.”

He grabbed Tess’s hand and squeezed it.

“I still remember our promise,” he said. “Once this is settled, once we have control over Yvvaros, I’m looking forward to us having a chance to be happy.”

Tess smiled.

“You know we probably could have found a way to be happy without having to instigate a rebellion.” She winked at him. “Not that it hasn’t been fun…”

Luke laughed.

“Yeah, well, I guess I’m a bit of an overachiever.”

He walked out through the door of the guild hall. Tess and Kaoru followed next.

All of the allied players were gathered around the oasis. They turned as Luke approached and broke out into applause.

“Ka-To, Ka-To, Ka-to!” Their voices all chanted his name in unison, many of them clapping and cheering alongside. Luke smiled and scratched his head as he walked toward the group.

All of their hopes, and many of their futures, lie with me. I can’t let them down!

“We’re going to do it!” Luke’s voice was barely loud enough to be heard over the noise, but he didn’t care. “This is Yvvaros! This world belongs to us!”

Kaoru grabbed his hand and pulled him aside.

“It’s time,” she said. “We have to get back to the real world.”

Luke nodded and waved to the crowd.

“I’ll be back!” He shouted to them, as much for his sake as for theirs. “I’ll be back, and we’ll settle this!”

He looked to Tess. She met his gaze and blew him a kiss as he pulled out his character journal. He playfully caught it as he signed his name to log off.

The sensation of the bus seat rumbling underneath him, and his warm laptop sitting on his legs greeted Luke as he returned to the real world. He pulled off his headset and looked over at Kaoru, who was already calibrated and composed, as always.

“We timed it perfectly,” she said. “We’ll there in a couple of minutes.”

Luke looked out the window of the bus. It was almost ten o’clock. Outside he could barely decipher fields and what might have been a farm. It was hard to tell, thick clouds blocked the light from the moon and stars.

“So we’re just going to walk?” asked Luke. “How far is it, exactly?”

“Not far. A few miles.” Kaoru fit her headset and laptop back in her backpack and then set it down by her feet. “We’ll leave our bags behind and go slow for the last half mile or so, to make sure we aren’t spotted.”

This almost feels like a spy movie, except we have no equipment, and no training.

“And you’re sure that we’re going to be able to get in?”

“No, of course I’m not.” Kaoru’s face was expressionless. “I bribed one of the guards to leave a door unlocked for us. That should give us a way in, but there is a security system that’s active. We have to be careful to avoid being detected.”

“Well, we’ve made it this far…”

The bus drove for several more minutes, before turning into the station. It made a slow lap around the parking lot before finally coming to a stop. Luke and Kaoru were the last two to get off. Stepping down onto the concrete lot felt very symbolic to Luke.

I can’t lose faith, not now.

“Come on,” said Kaoru. “We have no time to waste.”

Luke followed her. They were on the outskirts of a small town, but Kaoru wasn’t leading him into it. Instead, they headed away from the buildings, away from civilization, and away from the street lights.

It was only a minute before the two had to resort to navigating by the light of their phones. They walked on the shoulder of the road. Cars passed by only rarely, but Luke was still concerned about the risk they were taking by walking so late at night.

Five minutes passed in silence, then ten, and then twenty. The only sounds that Luke could hear other than their footsteps was the wind blowing fallen leaves, each of them scraping across the road like the rattling of bones.

“We’ll duck off in into the woods here,” said Kaoru. “It’s at the end of the next turn ahead of us on the right, but walking along that road would probably give us away.”

“Alright,” said Luke. “Uh… Kaoru?”

Luke wanted to say something to her. He wanted to thank her for everything she’d done, for her role in what was happening. She was getting as much use out of him as he was out of her, but Luke felt like he’d found a friend as well as an ally.

“If it’s not about the plan, just hold on for now,” said Kaoru. “We have to keep moving.”

Luke smiled.

Straight to the point, as always.

Even with their phones, navigating through the darkness of the woods was more difficult than following the road had been. Tree branches jutted out, looking like sinister arms in the darkness. The ground was wet and muddy in some spots, and covered with prickly bushes in others.

Eventually, Luke could see lights ahead of them. He was able to make out a building, single story and a few hundred feet long. The sides were constructed of corrugated metal sections that reminded him of storage rental units. Kaoru held out her arm, signaling for him to stop. They both crouched low and hovered at the edge of the tree line.

“This is it,” she said. Luke was surprised. Her voice was slightly hesitant. He had never heard Kaoru doubt herself or their plan before.

“Which door did you have your contact leave unlocked?” asked Luke.

“The side one.” Kaoru pointed over to the right. “We’ll have to stay in the woods while we sneak around, and then find a way to get in close while still staying out of sight.”

They spent another minute moving along the tree line at a snail’s pace. Luke felt like they were making too much noise, and creating too much movement in the brush. They traveled toward a part of the forest that jutted out the farthest onto the building’s lawn. This meant they’d have less distance to cover without the protection of the forest, but it also meant that it would be easier for anyone listening to hear twigs breaking and trees rustling.

“We’ll leave our bags here,” said Kaoru, once they were in position. “We can come back for them once the job is done.”

Luke nodded and let his slip to the ground.

“Alright,” he said. “I’ll go first.”

Kaoru, surprisingly, didn’t object. Luke summoned all of the knowledge he had from years of watching spy movies and playing stealth games. It felt useless to him now, and it probably was.

There. That’s a security camera, above the door. It’s angled toward the parking lot.

He moved away from the cover of the trees and slowly made his way across the neatly trimmed grass. With each step he held his breath expecting an alarm or a motion sensor light to go off. He moved at a diagonal, heading toward the back of the building. The whole time his eyes were trained on the camera, afraid it swing in his direction.

It didn’t. Luke made it to the door after about a minute, his heart racing faster than his legs. He raised a hand and motioned for Kaoru to follow, and she did, following his route to the step.

“Alright,” she said, her voice almost inaudible. “It should be unlocked.”

Luke swallowed hard, and then slowly turned the door’s handle. It gave no resistance, and the door swung open easily. He smiled at Kaoru as he stepped inside, his heart still beating like a drum.

“We’re in.” Kaoru scanned the hallway ahead of them, and then started walking forward quickly. “Come on, I know where it is from here.”

Luke hurried after her, trying not to think about what would happen if one of the unbribed staff members had decided to work late. Kaoru led him forward, past an intersection, and through another door.

“Here we are.” She reached her hand out and set it on Luke’s shoulder.

They were standing in a room the size of an Olympic swimming pool. Most of the floor was sunken about a meter into the ground. It almost looked bigger than the facility had from the outside. The center of the room was filled with row after row of black two meter high boxes. Luke knew this was what they’d come for.

“Wow…” He shook his head. “You made a copy of this?”

Kaoru was already hurrying across the floor toward the control station on a raised dais in the back of the room. Luke followed her, admiring the set-up, listening to the hum of the servers, and feeling the climate controlled air cooling his skin.

“It will only take me a minute to get this set-up,” said Kaoru. “Watch the door, and don’t touch anything.”

Luke nodded and started to turn back to the door they came in through. Scanning the rows he saw something move below, in between the black server shells. He hurried down the metal staircase, slowing as he approached the figure. Sudden panic rushed through him.

“Luke…” The voice was familiar, too familiar for Luke to be able to mistake or ever forget.

“…Dad?”

Chris Smith stepped out from the servers and into the light.

“I’ve been waiting for you.”

CHAPTER 34

“What…?”

Luke stared blankly at his father, too shocked to respond. Chris Smith stepped forward and moved to walk right by him.

“Luke, stop him!” Kaoru yelled. “I need more time.” Her voice jarred him back to reality.

Luke grabbed his dad’s arm and tried to pull him back. Chris Smith hesitated for only a second before reeling back his free arm and slamming a fist into his son’s stomach. The wind was instantly knocked out of Luke’s lungs and he sank down to one knee.

“I wish you’d listened to me from the beginning,” said his dad. “You don’t understand what’s going on, Luke.”

There was no anger in the man’s voice. Rather, Luke could hear a controlled quality in his authority. It was that attribute of control that had been missing from his dad’s personality for years.

“How… did you find us?” Luke ignored the pain in his stomach and pulled himself to his feet. Chris Smith stopped to consider his question. Luke was surprised he didn’t immediately continue toward Kaoru and the control panel like he’d been expecting.

“I’ve been tracking your laptop,” said Chris. “I’ve had the software installed for years. When it reported that you were in Plattsburgh, it wasn’t hard for me to figure out where you were-”

Luke lunged forward, his fist connecting with his dad’s chest. He was surprised at his own ferocity. He knew it came from desperation.

This is my real battle. I’m not fighting my dad, I’m fighting for Tess’s life.

“Stop, Luke!” Chris Smith pushed him away, but Luke again threw himself toward his father. Chris Smith threw a jab at Luke’s chin, and he couldn’t get his guard up in time. Stars exploded into his field of vision and he stumbled to the side.

“I won’t stop!” said Luke in a measured tone. “People are counting on me, Dad. I don’t think you understand what that feels like.”

Chris Smith looked away from him. He let his arms rest at his sides. He appeared completely unconcerned by Luke’s worries and the danger the situation posed to the people relying on him back in Yvvaros.

“I can’t let you tamper with Yvvaros, Luke,” he said. “NPCs aren’t counting on me. The world is counting on me.”

Luke kept his fists held high this time as he moved forward. He swung at his dad, who blocked the punch easily. He swung a second time, this time striking a glancing blow on the man’s shoulder.

“I understand,” said his dad. “I know where this is coming from. You think of you and your friends as the noble rebels, and me and the government as the evil aggressor.”

He’s talking down to me, as always.

“There’s so much more to it than that, Luke. We summoned the demon. None of us realized… We thought it was just a game, a complicated one, one that could learn, but still one that we could-”

Luke launched a kick, trying to sweep his dad’s legs out from under him. Instead, he threw himself off balance, and his dad moved forward and easily pushed him away.

I’m pathetic. My real body is useless in a fight.

“Listen to me, Luke!” Chris Smith raised his voice over the sound of the servers, yelling loud enough to echo through the entire room. “Put everything aside, and just listen to me!”

Luke glanced over at Kaoru at the control station. She caught his eye and raised her index finger.

She still needs more time. I have to keep him distracted!

Luke scrambled to his feet and lunged at his dad. Chris Smith was in mid-step, and because of that, he was caught off balance as Luke smashed his shoulder into him. He toppled backwards, and Luke tightened his fist as he stood over him readying his next attack.

“Stop! Don’t move!” A new voice entered the fray. A night security guard was standing in the doorway, aiming a pistol at Luke. Luke turned to dodge, and as he did, a terrifying sequence of events unfolded.

The security guard fired his gun in Luke’s direction. Luke froze, anticipating the bullet, but simultaneously, Chris Smith had leapt from the floor and slammed his shoulder into his son, pushing him out of the way just as the bullet arrived.

“No!” Luke fell to the ground, his dad on top of him. He heard sounds of a struggle from the walkway, and looked up to see Kaoru on top of the security guard.

“Luke!” she screamed. “Get the gun!”

He clawed his way out from under his father and ran toward the stairs. The security guard was faster than he was though, and by the time he’d made it to help Kaoru, he’d already scooped up his weapon again.

“Don’t move!” yelled the man. “Don’t you fucking-”

He let out a scream of pain. Kaoru was lying at his feet and had bitten his ankle. The man hunched forward in pain. Luke attacked him, swinging his leg forward with all the speed he could muster, kicking the guard directly in the face.