“Yeah – otherwise you’d have Drogar coming back and trying to kill Eric over and over again.”
Daniel laughed darkly. “Yeah. Maybe they should suspend the rule every once in a while.”
They calculated the time when the others would most likely appear. Then they logged out, waited, and logged back in.
But when they arrived, there was no sign of the barbarian, the goblin, and the droth.
“What do you think we should do?” Mira asked.
“We can’t wait forever. We’ll leave them two horses and supplies… that’ll get them back.”
The two of them climbed into their saddles, then urged the horses onward.
“Too bad we don’t have a dragon to ride, huh?” he asked wryly.
“That was pretty slick,” Mira admitted. “Did you even see him do his – whatever he did to bring it back to life?”
“I think he just possessed it,” Daniel said, and an involuntary shiver ran down his back as he remembered the dim vision… the voice whispering in his head… the feeling of not being in control of his own body…
“Hm. You unplugged him – do you think he’s just flying around up there on auto-pilot?”
“Probably.” Daniel grinned. “I hope it rains on him.”
“And sleets, too.”
“Maybe he’ll even get hit by lightning.”
“Or a flock of birds will smack him in the face…”
They laughed and devised another hundred punishments as their horses began the long trek home.
71
Eric
Eric sat and stared at the chipped, dirty paint of his bedroom wall.
Inside him raged a hurricane of emotions – some rising for a time, only to fall and be replaced by others.
Mostly he felt rage and hatred for his so-called best friend.
That ASSHOLE – lording it over me, judging me, deciding to play God by cutting me out –
And Mira. He swore to himself he would make her pay a thousand times over for that arrow in his shoulder.
Then there was his urgent longing for the game. Though his body didn’t show any outward signs, his mind raced feverishly. What are they doing now? Did the others respawn? Are they heading back to Blackstone? What did Daniel tell them? Are they LAUGHING AT ME? I’ll make them pay, I’ll make them ALL pay –
And then it was back to the hatred.
Soon enough it was replaced with anxiety and fear. The idea that he could be cut off forever terrified him. There was no way his parents could afford the game system.
Maybe I can get a job – I could work after school –
But even that was futile. At minimum wage, it would take him a couple of years to save up enough to buy it.
Sure, the company would eventually come out with a cheaper model – but that could be a year or two from now. And by then they would have upgraded the top-of-the-line system, so all the little rich assholes could have the very best available while he was stuck with a shabby imitation –
Rich assholes like DANIEL – giving me something and then taking it away on a whim, just because he CAN.
He considered for a second that if he apologized, if he begged, if he groveled, maybe Daniel would let him back in – but everything inside him rebelled at the idea, was utterly repulsed by it.
I DIDN’T DO ANYTHING WRONG! IT WAS ONLY A GAME!
Which, of course, reminded him of Daniel throwing back those very same words in his face – which triggered his rage and hatred all over again.
He finally couldn’t stand it anymore. He needed to distract himself, so he took out his cell phone to browse the internet.
But he couldn’t escape.
Blockbuster video game breaks all records! the headlines said. One hundred billion dollars in global revenue the first weekend!
Social media was filled with people raving about Shattered Lands and showing clips of their of their in-game exploits – which looked more like Hollywood movies than a video game.
He threw the phone across the room in frustration, then went to go get something to eat.
In the kitchen, he stewed over the nearly bare cupboards and the crappy leftovers in the fridge. Nothing like DANIEL’S house, he thought bitterly.
He could hear his father in the living room listening to a Sunday news program.
“Initial figures are in on this new video game Shattered Lands, and it’s astounding. $100 BILLION dollars grossed in game platform sales in the first weekend – which is understandable, as the gaming device itself costs $20,000. The company behind the game, Varidian Incorporated, has reported a staggering five million devices sold across the world. Most of those were pre-ordered over the last year, and the corporation is counting the entire amount for the first weekend’s opening grosses, but STILL – that figure is the first weekend alone. Imagine what the totals are going to be six months from now.
“The company is reporting surging demand for the product based on overwhelmingly great word of mouth. CEO Robert Johanson believes that orders over the next couple of years could potentially reach 100 million users worldwide – or potentially TWO TRILLION dollars in sales. That’s not even counting the monthly access fees it costs to play the game, which at their current levels will bring in two billion dollars monthly for the corporation…”
Eric gritted his teeth.
There was no getting away from it, not even in his own damn home.
The constant reminder that he was shut out… that he wasn’t able to join in…
That Daniel was probably in the game right now – after kicking HIM out.
His ‘best friend.’ Who threw him over for some girl and a bunch of losers they’d never meet face to face.
Eric shook with silent rage.
And right then and there, he decided to do something about it.
No matter the cost.
72
He got up the next morning before daybreak. He dressed quickly in jeans and a hoodie, ate a bowl of cereal with slightly sour milk, and caught the city bus near his parents’ condo. There was no driver: almost all transportation, public or private, was driverless now. But renting a driverless cab cost more money than he could spare, so he just took the bus.
He rode as close as he could to where he wanted to go, then walked another fifteen minutes to his destination.
On the way he texted Daniel, Not going to school today. Don’t pick me up.
Sixty seconds later he got the reply, Come on, Eric – don’t be like that.
When Eric didn’t answer, another text arrived: You’re not sick, you big faker.
When he made no reply to that message, his phone buzzed.
Daniel was calling him.
He hit DECLINE on the screen.
Thirty seconds later, another text came in: Fine. Whatever.
Yeah.
Fine.
Whatever.
By that point he was where he wanted to be: across the street from Daniel’s house.
He’d had to sneak in through the woods that bordered the community’s swimming pool and tennis courts, since he couldn’t exactly go through the front gates (and the guard who was on duty 24/7). But now he just hung out on the side street catty-corner to Daniel’s house and watched, his hood pulled over his head so no one would recognize him if they saw him.
The garage opened at 7:05AM and a Mercedes sedan pulled out. That would be Daniel’s mom, going off to her corporate lawyer job.
The garage door didn’t close. A minute later, a Tesla SUV pulled out and headed in the opposite direction. That would be Daniel’s dad, going off to work at his job at Varidian.
This time the garage door did close. Eric had to wait another five minutes before it opened again.
Finally, at 7:15, Daniel’s Tesla sports car pulled out into the driveway. Daniel was staring glumly out the window.
Eric turned around and acted like he was just out for a morning stroll – at least until the car was far enough down the road.
&nb
sp; Once he was sure Daniel was gone, he walked across the street and went into the Lauers’ backyard.
When he reached the back door, he pulled off the hoodie and looked up at the security camera.
“Hello, Eric,” the automated entry program said as it recognized him.
“Request entry,” Eric said.
“Entry granted.”
The deadbolts unlocked and he pushed open the door.
He’d known this part would be simple. As Daniel’s best friend for the last six years, he’d always been welcome in the Lauers’ home. As long as Daniel didn’t suspect anything, he shouldn’t have locked him out of the system.
Now came the hard part.
Every house had a security access port, usually in a central location on the first floor. The Lauers’ was in the kitchen pantry.
Eric walked. The screen glowed in the wall with a steady stream of numbers.
“Access keyboard,” he said.
The keyboard slid out from the wall.
“Access security logs.”
“Access denied.”
Eric smiled.
He knew the password for overrides. The Lauers trusted him, after all.
Maybe this wouldn’t be so hard after all.
He began to type and bring up the necessary files.
Within five minutes he had made himself an administrator, wiped all video and digital records of him entering the Lauers’ home, and set it up so the house would not report his presence to anyone accessing the system.
There, he thought. That should be enough.
Just then the screen flashed – a phone call was coming in over the system.
Daniel.
73
Daniel
Mira stared at him in the hallway before first period. Dozens of students walked around them in a flow of human traffic as they hurried to their classes.
“Are you serious? He’s not coming to school today?”
It was odd talking to her like this. For almost four days in the game, he’d been hearing the same voice come out of an indigo-skinned dark elf. It was hard to reconcile the female archer in chainmail and leather with this person in front of him – a normal high school girl wearing black plastic-frame glasses and a red flannel long-sleeve over a t-shirt.
Daniel shrugged. “That’s what he texted me.”
“Jeez – he really must hate our guts.”
“My guts, mostly,” Daniel said.
She got a strange look on her face. “You don’t think…?”
“What?”
“I mean… he wouldn’t…”
Daniel stared at her. “Break in and play while I’m gone?! No!”
Mira arched one eyebrow. Are you sure?
“I can check on my phone,” he said, exasperated that she would even suggest it.
“Go ahead,” she challenged him.
“Fine,” he snapped as he pulled out his cell and hit an onscreen icon.
“Hello, Daniel,” the familiar voice of the house’s security system said over the phone.
“Hi – has Eric dropped by this morning?”
“Eric is not in the house.”
Daniel frowned. That wasn’t exactly what he’d asked.
“Okay, but did he come by this morning?”
“No. Eric’s last presence in the house was yesterday, Sunday, at 10:17AM.”
“Okay – thanks,” Daniel said, and closed the app. Then he looked at Mira. “See?”
She gave him a look. “I think maybe you oughta go talk to him after school.”
“That’s probably a good idea…”
“And let him back in the game.”
“So soon?”
“You know what they say – ‘keep your friends close and your enemies closer.’”
“He’s my best friend, not my enemy,” Daniel said crossly.
“Not right now he’s not,” Mira said.
Daniel was about to reply when the bell rang for first period.
“Gotta go. Meet you in the game after school?” she asked.
“Yeah,” Daniel agreed, and watched her go.
It bothered him that she was so distrustful of Eric.
It bothered Daniel even more that she had briefly convinced him to doubt Eric. No matter how angry they might be at each other right now, Eric was his best friend. All this would blow over, probably by this afternoon.
But what bothered him the most was the nagging feeling that something wasn’t right…
And that the doubt he’d felt about Eric hadn’t completely gone away.
Then, ignoring the second bell for first period, he pulled out his cell phone once more.
And – hating himself a little bit as he did it – he accessed the app again.
74
Eric
Eric’s heart hammered in his chest as the system showing Daniel’s telephone number and identified his voice.
He quickly typed a few commands that allowed him to eavesdrop on the conversation, and joined in mid-sentence.
“ – Eric dropped by this morning?” he heard Daniel say.
The computer answered in its soothing voice, “Eric is not in the house.”
Shit – that sounded weird. He’d been a little too literal when he’d reprogrammed the computer’s response… and he could tell Daniel thought so, too, by the pause before he spoke again.
“Okay, but did he come by this morning?”
“No. Eric’s last presence in the house was yesterday, Sunday, at 10:17AM.”
“Okay – thanks.”
Click.
The call-in program shut off, and gradually Eric’s heart slowed down.
His emotions were a mass of contradictions.
On one hand, he felt bad about deceiving his friend. Inside the game was one thing, but this was real. He’d broken into Daniel’s house and reprogrammed the security system to lie to him.
On the other hand… his best friend obviously didn’t trust him.
Bastard…
Although he couldn’t help but note the irony: here he was, angry that Daniel didn’t trust him, after he’d gone and betrayed that trust multiple times in the last ten minutes alone.
He felt really bad about that. For a moment, he even considered ditching the whole plan and just walking out. The game, as incredible as it was, wasn’t worth their friendship.
Suddenly the computer beeped again.
Daniel’s phone was accessing the system through his cell phone app.
Eric stared at the screen as commands came up:
Lock Out Physical Entry: Eric Richards
Lock Out Electronic Access: Eric Richards
Alert If: Eric Richards attempts system access
Alert If: Eric Richards comes on property
Then the app signed off.
Eric stood there, stunned.
When the shock wore off, all that was left was hatred.
That entitled little asshole TOTALLY doesn’t trust me!
This time Eric didn’t note the irony.
His phone suddenly buzzed in his pocket and he jumped.
He pulled it out to see who was calling –
Daniel.
ASSHOLE.
He immediately sent it to voicemail and slipped the phone back in his pocket.
Thirty seconds later a voicemail notification buzzed on his phone, but he ignored it. He was busy typing on the keyboard.
Because the security system was programmed to not recognize his presence in the house, it wouldn’t alert Daniel. By the same token, the computer also didn’t realize that it was Eric now at the control terminal.
Which meant he could do everything he needed to.
First he overrode all of Daniel’s commands, making it like they’d never happened.
A text message buzzed on his phone, but he didn’t look at it.
Probably that dick again, harassing me some more…
Then he removed Daniel and his parents from the approved entry list. If they tried to
physically walk inside, the house wouldn’t let them.
Then he changed all the passwords and disabled remote access for reprogramming the core. Daniel and his parents could still check on the house’s security system (which would lie to them about Eric’s presence), but they couldn’t change anything about its functioning.
The only people who could get in now were representatives of the security company – and they would have to do it onsite, not remotely. Which would take a couple of hours even if someone alerted them right now.
Eric needed privacy for what he was about to do, and he didn’t want anyone interrupting him.
Especially not Daniel.
He went upstairs to the spare bedroom and opened the door.
There was the game unit, still unplugged.
He plugged it back in and turned it on.
He could have used Daniel’s headset, but he didn’t want to even touch it.
While the system was booting up, he pulled out his phone and looked at the text.
Please listen to my voicemail.
Eric scowled.
Yeah, RIGHT. Screw you, asshole.
He shut off his phone. Nothing would disturb him now.
Once everything was ready, he slipped on the headset. All the anxiety, all the fear that he never would be able to do this again – all of that left his body.
But not the anger and hatred.
Those remained.
75
Daniel
Daniel immediately regretted reprogramming the house.
Yeah, Eric would never know… but it felt symbolic of some bigger breach of trust between them.
Ignoring that he was the only one left in the hallway, Daniel dialed a number on his cell. It rang once, then went immediately to voicemail.
“You know who this is. Leave a message,” said the recording.
Despite his trademark snarkiness, Eric’s voice sounded so upbeat. So full of fun.
So different from the last time they’d spoken.
Shattered Lands: A LitRPG Series Page 31