by Wells, JB
Ultimate Clan Wars series
Player is Waiting…
By
JB Wells
Ultimate Clan Wars – Player is Waiting…
Copyright © 2014 JB Wells
JB Wells asserts her moral right to be identified as the author of this book
All rights reserved.
This book is sold subject to the condition that it shall not, by way of trade or otherwise, be lent, resold, hired out, or otherwise circulated without the publisher’s prior consent in any form of binding or cover other than that in which it is published and without a similar condition including this condition being imposed on the subsequent publisher.
First published in Great Britain 2014
Cover Designed by Hasnul Karami http://hasnulkarami.deviantart.com/gallery
This is a work of fiction. Names, characters, businesses, places, events, incidents and dialogues are either the products of the author’s imagination or used in a fictitious manner. Any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, or actual events is purely coincidental.
For Kieran, stop playing and start reading.
**News Flash**
The news reader sat facing the camera, along the bottom of the screen scrolled the words: ‘Breaking News: Unknown virus outbreak affecting countries around the world. Hospitals in state of emergency. President of America holding talks with nations hosts. More details to follow’.
“Good evening, I’m Nunie Ganeena. Breaking news just in. The World Health Organisation has declared that an unidentified virus is sweeping the nations, and it is being classed as a pandemic. It is unclear how it is spreading, but the environment agencies are testing hotspots to see what is causing the virus.”
Images of busy hospitals from across the country flashed on the screen. “Hospitals everywhere have had to close their doors or redirect non-emergency cases. There are reports that health organisations had been warned of this virus in America, China, Mexico, and Germany as early as three weeks ago. A number of children have been spotted arriving at schools up to an hour early. The main signs of the unidentified virus is said to be self-imposed and an aversion to technology. There have also been reports of eye and throat problems with the virus.” Nunie put her hand to her ear, her face went white. “We are getting word through now, that riots are spreading throughout the country. Looters are destroying shops and stealing…No, no, destroying every piece of electrical equipment they can.” Nunie placed her hand to her ear harder. “Crisis talks are being held between game and console manufacturers’. If things continue, they could see the companies going out of business within months. Shops, landfills and recycling centres are being flooded and have had to close their gates. Our reporters are on scene…
1
It was a hot summer day and twelve year old Kieran Kealey had barricaded himself in his stifling room playing on his console. The curtains were closed and the blind behind them was down, he sat in near darkness all but for the light from the TV screen. The day was so hot that even his mum, Nicola and six year old brother Max had taken to playing in the garden to keep cool.
“He’s messing with the game.” Dexter yelled in Kieran’s ear.
“Who?”
“This dude, erm… his gamer tag is Pied-Piper. He keeps disappearing and then reappearing. Look…Look Kiwi, he’s in the air,” Dex started laughing. “He’s flying.”
Kieran’s avatar ran through the house he had been guarding and towards the abandoned bus that sat in the deserted streets out front. There he could see one of the enemy’s avatars running in mid-air.
Kieran and four of his friends were in the middle of one of the greatest matches their clan had ever played. ‘Ghost Snipers’ was the team name for Kieran, Isabelle, Dexter, Thomas and Owen. They had only played together for a few years, but in that time they had raced their way up the leader boards on most games. But at this game they ranked third in the country in a matter of months, which even to them was unbelievable.
The current match would see them bumped up to second place. All that was standing in their way was ‘Red Wing’ clan. Capture the flag was the last match they had to play and the points were tied.
“What the….” One of Angus’s team shouted.
“Kiwi, what’s going on?” Isabelle squealed. Her avatar in a dirty pink armour appeared at Kieran’s side.
“I have no idea…Our flag!” he screamed. Kieran’s face was pushed against the TV as he ran with his avatar back to base, his fingers turning white with pressing the run button over and over.
“It’s gone,” Thomas whispered in disbelief.
Kieran was thinking what to do, as everyone was talking loudly in his ear. “Dex, Ziggy, Izzy, Curly, Angus, everyone to the bus out the front. The weird character appeared in the sky again.
Owen’s avatar accidentally dropped a grenade and it sent him flying, within five seconds he had re-spawned and was jumping around Izzy’s avatar.
“Trust you,” Isabelle laughed.
All the avatars were in armoured uniform, the game was Planet Protectors Space Federation and Kieran’s team were the protectors. The aim of the game was to help stop other planets being invaded by Zombies, Aliens and any other evil beings that tried to capture what they could. The uniform was standard issue battle armour, each had the logo of the Protectors on their back. An eagle surrounded by two rings that formed into an X, and underneath the logo were the letters PPSF which stood for Planet Protectors Space Federation. They had full head and face helmets, chest plates, iron-like arm and leg protection.
All of a sudden Pied-Piper’s avatar appeared in the middle of their group and he ran at one of Angus’s team. A scream came down their headphones making them all jump.
“Angus?” There was silence. “What’s happened?” Kieran called, his body had lifted from his stool.
“I don’t…” Is all Angus could say before Kieran’s TV went black. A laughing skull appeared on the screen, its eyes were rolling and then words started to appear saying:
Player is waiting for you.
2
"They said he just freaked out. He walked to the computer lab and smashed everything up."
"Then what happened?" Kieran hooked his fingers through the wire fence that surrounded the school grounds, his white blonde hair blew in the wind. He swept it out of his face with his hand and then gave up, leaving it to bounce around over his eyes. He now agreed with his mum that it was time for a haircut, he should’ve gone when she took Max. He and his friends stared silently at the school that was usually busy and they should have been in there today. It looked cold and grey.
The gates of the school were closed, thick chains held them tightly shut with four large padlocks bolting them in place. They wanted no one to go in and no one to leave.
“That’s a lot of vans.” Thomas muttered. They watched on as thirty white vans filled the car park and people swarmed the building each wearing a chemical hazard suit, mask and gloves.
Owen’s house faced the school and he had seen everything as it happened. “Mr Duggan, the caretaker, called the police. They came, arrested Mr Rogers and took him away. My neighbour, Trudy, is a teacher's aide in year seven and she told mum everything. She said he must have had a breakdown.” The group silently stared at their school while it was tested for the mystery virus Z.
“Is he one of them now?” Kieran’s fingers clutched at the wire fence harder turning his knuckles white. His palms were sweating as the severity of the situation started to come to light.
“I think so,” Owen whispered.
“He was a good head teacher,” Thomas groaned, his nails nearly non-existent from where he was biting them
so much. He tried to busy himself by untangling his mass of knotted curls on his head.
“I don’t get it, it’s just weird. Have you seen the news flash they keep showing about the virus?”
“Yeah, mum’s been checking me every ten minutes for signs of a temperature. I told her that the minute I throw my Xbox out, is the minute I’ve lost my mind. I couldn’t get rid of it; the thought makes me feels ill.” Dexter shuddered, his hair waved around in the air. He was the tallest out of the five friends and his chestnut hair stood straight up on his head, making him look a foot taller than the rest.
"What's he doing?" Isabelle called. Her long blonde hair whipped around her face as she stared through the fence, it was so long it usually rested on the small of her back.
They turned and saw Mr Duggan just pacing the field with his rake in hand. “Is he...” Dexter mumbled. Kieran and the others all nodded as they spotted his attire. His hair was in perfect place, he had a suit on and he paced in the zombie like fashion that they had seen on the TV.
"I didn't know Dirty Duggan even owned a suit!" Owen laughed. Owen was the smallest of the group. He stood on tiptoes to see over the hedge that blocked his view. Although he was the smallest, he was the oldest and also the quickest, earning him the nickname Ziggy. His auburn hair was messy, he never combed it and it hung very closely over his green eyes.
"I don't think I've even seen him clean." Isabelle gasped open mouthed.
The doors of the school flew open. "Here come the Hazmat’s," laughed Dexter. Dex, to his friends, was the youngest of the group and the sporty one out of all of them.
Four people ran across the school field to catch the caretaker. He didn't fight them, he just tried to walk past them but they rugby tackled him down to the ground. "Ouch," Dexter chuckled, “that would've hurt, but nicely done”.
Mr Duggan was lying on the floor as they checked him with all types of different machinery; one of the scientists used a scanner on his face. The awkward silence was broken by Mr Duggan, who opened his mouth and let out the loudest high pitch scream. Windows all around started to shake, some cracked and the streetlight casings popped open all along the road.
"My mum’s going to go mad!" Owen cringed looking back at his house, most of the windows either cracked or smashed. His neighbours left their houses and all crowed in shock at the state of their now distressed double glazing. “I’m not hanging around to find out what she does.” He laughed and ran off. The friends followed all running until they stopped outside of the shops.
"What was that all about?" Isabelle panted and clutched her knees.
“Maybe they don’t want people exposed to others with the virus. Maybe they would have taken us in and scanned us too.” Thomas began scratching his head, a sure sign he was worried.
"I dunno," Dexter shrugged, looking at the shop. "I'm hungry, anyone else want something from in there?"
"You ate like half an hour ago," Isabelle grunted.
Owen was staring at the shop window, he hadn't moved in a while.
"I'm a growing boy, my mum says so."
"No you're a..."
"Have you seen this?" Owen shouted but no one listened. Dexter and Isabelle carried on their little argument. "Sorry to interrupt but, shut up!" he bellowed. The group turned and looked at him stunned, even the people leaving the shop stopped in their tracks. "Look, summer camp."
"My mum’s been going on about me going to a camp." Kieran groaned.
"Mine too," Owen replied, “I think they said something about not wanting us to catch the Virus.”
"I've asked if I can go to one." Thomas was the smartest and quietest of the friends. He had a mop of dark curly hair that sat on his head and the darkest eyes that matched. Everyone who knew him called him Curly because of his hair and his surname, Curel.
"I want to go to that one." Owen pointed
In the shop window was a big A4 poster, greens, reds and blues all swirled on the page with four symbols, one in each corner. In bold black letters it said:
Gamers Summer Camp - have you got what it takes?
Learn and play all summer long, playing and trialling some of the hottest new games set for release. Come to the local library to meet the team and sign up. Spaces are limited, enlist now, your country needs you.
“Enlist now, your country needs you. It all sounds very dramatic don’t you think?” Isabelle read the poster over and over.
"What's this, gymnastics club?" Dexter laughed to himself and peered at the classifieds in the window.
"Up there you plum." Isabelle tilted his head so he could see.
"Ohhh, I want to go!"
"Me too," Kieran nodded. “I haven’t played since last night, I haven’t even plugged the machine back in. My computers been hacked, the skull is always there.
"Well I reckon we can get our parents to sign us up."
"I doubt mine will Izzy, she said she wants me off the machine." Kieran rolled his eyes and caught sight of Dexter practising his begging face.
"No, see it says learning and play. I can't see them saying no, it does say learning before the play." She looked at her watch, "When is it at the library?"
"Erm," Thomas leant in to read the small writing, "this afternoon from 3pm."
"I’ll get my dad to take me." Isabelle grinned.
"Well our mums are shopping at the moment, but I'm sure they'll take us." Owen looked at Dexter and Thomas for agreement.
"Yeah they'll take us, you know I’ll sweet talk them around." Dexter grinned sweetly and fluttered his eyelashes, “My mum can’t say no to this face.”
Where better to be? His mum wanted him to go to summer camp and this one was perfect. "Three it is then," he agreed with a smile.
3
For a small town library it was busy, there were people in there that Kieran had never seen before. It was five past three and it looked like the whole county had turned out to sign their children up for the summer. The shelves that housed the contents of the libraries collections had been pushed to the edges of the room, and tables had been set up in their place. Kieran slipped through the crowds of people looking at each table. The first table was called Mathletes. He shook his head. Double maths in school was horrible so a whole summer of maths would be torture. He slipped to the next table where Dexter and Owen were sitting; they looked up and shook their heads.
“Cooking camp,” Dexter shuddered.
Clinging together the three of them made their way around the room passing up several amazing summer opportunities. It was a polite no to Crafty Campers, where they could learn to sew, knit and stitch. They ran past The Green finger gang, which hosted six weeks of planting, garden care and one week on topiary. Isabelle and Thomas had made their way anticlockwise around the tables and the group met halfway.
“Did you find it?”
Thomas shook his head at Owen, “Did you?”
“No,” Dexter grunted.
“It has to be here, surely?” Kieran tiptoed and tried to see if there was anything they could have missed.
“We checked each of the stalls, the most interesting was The Tech Team. A summer full of building robotics and things like that, you even get to design things for competitions.” As Thomas spoke, his eyes wondered back to the table.
“No Curly,” Isabelle tutted. Her mum was waving from the other side of the room. She linked arms with Owen and Kieran and led them in the opposite direction. “Please, we have to find it. My mum has signed me up for band camp!” Gritting her teeth she mumbled, “I do not want to go there!”
They had made their way back towards the main entrance. Just outside of the automatic doors, Kieran spotted someone near the door. “Why is Blaine the pain here?” A confused look spread across his face as he turned to the others.
“I have no idea,” Owen said as confused as he was.
“Good afternoon,” a voice called cheerily from behind.
“Hello, Mrs Ledbetter,” Thomas replied in an equally cheery and courteous man
ner.
Mrs Ledbetter was the librarian and she had been for almost thirty years. “What are you all doing out here, I thought you’d be in there signing up for camp?” Her grey hair was tied back into a perfect bun and her glasses hung around her neck on a gold chain. She wore a floral shirt and a long green skirt, she was the typical librarian.
“We can’t find the table we were looking for.” Dexter glanced back into the room, “Look, she’s looking at that Garden club.” He started to mock cry, “I won’t go,” he used Thomas as a shield, “she can’t make me!”
Mrs Ledbetter laughed, “What table are you looking for?”
“Gamers camp.”
“Ah yes, that has proved to be very popular indeed. So many people turned up that it was over-crowding the library. Anyway, in fairness to the other camps, we moved them into the exhibition room. Be warned, it is still very crowded in there, but some of the people are…well…odd.”
They moved towards the room, which as Mrs Ledbetter had described, was heaving with people. Dexter slipped into the room and he disappeared amongst the crowds.
“Where’s he gone now?” Isabelle shouted trying to see through the people. She marched forward and disappeared into the mass. Kieran, Owen and Thomas joined her and found themselves in the middle of the room. A man stepped forward from a table. He wore a black t-shirt and brown combat trousers. Across the front of his t-shirt it said: WIPI – Be The Elite. The man turned and picked something up from the table, across his back were a pair of wings and the word Ex was above them.
“Hey, guys,” he smiled.
There was a noise from the corner, Kieran turned to look and saw a line of people standing outside of the window.
“Zombies,” Isabelle whispered and Kieran nodded.
“Don’t mind them,” Ex stepped in front of them and distracted their attention. “They were moved outside because they were blocking up the room. My name is Exeter Chain, I am second in command at the Camp. Anyway, are you all looking to sign up?” Ex was tall and had a lot of muscles, he had a short dark army-style haircut. Kieran noticed tattoos just sticking out from under his sleeve as he stood with his arms crossed.