I Am Alive 2: Increscent

by Cameron Jace

  I do and keep running, the boy's weight tiring me even more. I can see the final point in the distance. The winner's point. It's about half a mile away.

  I don't have time to really look, but I think the sum of all teenagers is much lesser, now that most of them have been crushed by the balls. A tear threatens to escape my eyes when I think about it when I think about the boy on my back. At least I have a reason to win now, to save the boy. As for me, I realize I am trapped here forever.

  But then I hear something crush hard nearby. It's too near I think.

  Then blood starts to trickle on my shoulder.

  Dear God, No!

  "Were you hit?" I cock my head slightly up. I have to run as I do it.

  The boy doesn't answer me.

  "Hey, you!" I manage to reach for his face with one of my hands. "Don't die on me."

  I think he was hit by the side of a crushing ball. The higher you are, the easier it is to get hit by the protruding side of the sphere.

  "Listen," his voice is shattered as he hands me his iAm. "Take my iAm. I am not going to make it."

  "No," I take the iAm spontaneously so he doesn't drop it. "You will. If you were hit, I will mend you when we win. You hear me!"

  "I-I-feel very bad," he stutters. His voice is fading as if we're a thousand miles apart.

  His blood trickles down my face. I still can't see his face, unless I twist my body and slow down.

  "It's going to be alright kid," I stare at the winning point. Almost there. "Say after me, ‘I Am Alive!’ Say it!"

  "Ah—Ah..."

  I don't even know if he tries to say it, or if he is only moaning in pain.

  "Say 'I Am Alive!'" I demand.

  Another boy tries to push us to the side so he can run in our spot. Spontaneously, I hit him back to get him away, realizing too late that I was partially hitting the boy on my back.

  I can't even apologize. All I can do it run.

  "I programmed..." he tries to whisper in my left ear, his bloody head dangling off his shoulder now.

  "Don't speak yet," I pat him, and check his pulse. It's notably low.

  "Thank you," he pats me feebly on my shoulder.

  "Thank me for what?"

  "You have been kind to me. Usually, no one is."

  I tighten my grip on him as I run. "Hang in there. I won't let you die!"

  "I programmed the iAm so you can use it," he says in one final breath as if he has gathered all his strength to tell me. I know what he is talking about. Like I said, an iAm user can sacrifice his iAm for the benefit of another if they so choose. In ordinary circumstances, this option designed by the Summit is nothing but a joke; no one would ever sacrifice his iAm for another in the games unless they are dying, and when they are dying, they aren't usually that close. The boy on my back wants to save me because he is dying. The world of Faya, including his parents, made a joke of him for twelve years, yet he has the heart to want to save me.

  I'll be damned.

  "No," I squeeze his hand again. "You'll live. We're almost there."

  It's true. I can win. We can win. I can save him.

  "Just breathe with me," I say, and run as fast as my legs will allow. I think I am gaining some celestial power in those last hundred meters.

  I am almost stumbling before reaching the winning point. But I hold on tight. To what? I don't know. I guess to the mere probability of saving the kid’s life.

  I am there.

  A few paces away.

  A huge ball rolls behind me. I can hear now that most of the screaming has stopped. Most of the teenagers have died.

  I step to the right to avoid it. Another ball shows up.

  I have no choice. For the last few steps, I am going to take a leap of faith—Faith in what, Woo? In such a world, what is it that you have faith in? I have no answers for this last thought. The Breakfast Club has always taught me that they have faith in Decca, and I do too. But right now, I need to have faith in something I have never seen.

  In a leap of faith, I decide to jump the last few steps needed. In the air. So the ball doesn't reach me.

  The problem is I can't stretch out my hands with the boy on my back. I cling to him harder and do it anyways. It's do or die. For both of us.

  The air slaps my face as I leap. I feel the coldness of the ball on my back as if it wants to reach for me.

  Then the world seems upside down for a moment before my face, and body hit the ground.

  The impact makes me dizzy like I have been hit by a train. More blood spatters. Maybe mine this time.

  My cheeks feel numb. My lips are swollen. I try to open my eyes.

  Did I cross the winning point? Since no balls have crushed me, I must have, but I need to see for myself.

  I prop myself up, the weight of the kid on my back. On all fours, I look for the winning line on the ground. Have I landed before or after?

  As I do, I glimpse the Battlefields before me, with thousands of dead kids on the floor.

  I almost vomit. But I see the line. We've made it. We landed behind it.

  "Hey, kid!" I turn as he has slid onto the ground. "We made it." I shake him. "Take the iAm. Scream it!"

  It takes me a few seconds to realize the kid is cold.

  A few seconds more, and I realize he is dead.

  I sit on the ground, lost in space. I run my hands over his eyes, close them, and wonder why no one in Faya has ever taught me a prayer for the dearly departed. Were dead people so mundane to our flashy, television-infested society?

  I have won the game with the bitter taste of loss. I haven't felt such loss in all my life. Even if I have known this boy for only a few minutes, he was my responsibility, and I failed him.

  "If you have won but haven’t said I Am Alive, it will not count," I hear Caleb Crux, the Monster Games' host, declare on the kid's iAm, which is now registered as mine.

  I stare at the iAm in my hand.

  My hand is almost numb. My eyelids are frozen from the tension in my forehead, and my cheeks are tight from the stiffness in my jaw. I promised myself a long time ago I would never cry. And I never do.

  Today, I want to so badly.

  "You only got thirty seconds," Caleb Crux announces, the audience cheering behind him in the studio, amazed by the entertaining game. "If you don't scream from the top of your lungs..." he makes the audience say the words, 'I Am Alive.'

  If they only knew what it costs to stay alive. But how can they know, while sitting back at home in front of a TV screen with popcorn in their hands?

  I grab the iAm, my eyes on the kid. "This is for you, kid," I stutter and near the device to my lips.

  "Twenty seconds," Caleb Crux cheers.

  A few survivors scream 'I Am Alive' into the device. Most of them are too tired to even say it.

  "Ten seconds!"

  My grip on the kid's iAm is too tight, and I am afraid it will turn to dust in my hands. I take a deep breath and say it, although I feel so dead right now.

  "I AM ALIVE," I say it flatly.

  "Brilliant"! Caleb Crux chirps. "One hundred survivors in the first round of games. Let's see how many Monsters will make it to day three!"

  In my sadness, I scroll the iAm's screen to learn the name of its previous owner.

  I scroll down to read the kid's name:

  Lewis Van Ark.

  I repeat his name on my bitter lips.

  The last name Van Ark strikes me as familiar. In fact, someone famous has that last name, I am sure of it. I am just too exhausted to recall it at that moment.

  I press the iAm's button again and say, "I Am Alive."

  The audience laughs at me, and Caleb Crux reminds me there is no need to repeat it. He even calls me 'dear.'

  "I know," I say. "I just want all of you in Faya to know that I Am Alive, and always will be. When all of this is over, I will kill each and every one of you in the name of the twelve-year-old you just killed." I
say it without hesitation. The normal tone of my voice. I never make promises and not keep them.

  "There is no twelve-year-old boy in the game," Caleb Crux masters a shivered laugh. "You're lying."

  "There is. His name is ...."

  The Summit cuts me off. I am disconnected. I didn't expect them to let me expose them anyways.

  I stand up and tuck the iAm in my pocket. If I had any intentions to win the games, it has been multiplied to infinity now. If not for me, then in the name of the kid who gave me a second chance to live while he died on my shoulders.

  I pull the kid's corpse into the forest surrounding the Playa and bury him. Then I kneel down and, instead of saying a prayer, I promise him I will not die.

  A lost feather swirls in the air around me and sticks to my cheek. I like to believe it's a sign, or the kid's spirit from another world—surely, a better world.

  As I stand and prepare for the next game, I happen to spot a photo of the kid with another taller boy, probably his brother, laying on the forest floor. It must have fallen out of his pocket. The two boys look happy, and I realize I know his brother. He is a famous young musical prodigy. I remember the family name 'Van Ark.' Beneath the photo, the kid had written, 'Brothers forever. Leo and Lewis Van Ark."

  This kid is probably Leo Van Ark's younger brother. I owe him my life.

  I am not sure how to feel after I finish reading this. It explains Woo’s mixed feelings about Leo. Sometimes he hates him, others he silently appreciates him. It had always puzzled me. But is that all it is? Is there something else I should know between the two of them?

  I can’t help but feel sorry for Leo’s younger brother. Oh, Leo, have I been tough on you? Why have you never told me?

  And then when my emotions are at their peak, right when I’m attempting to call Leo, light go out in my room.

  It’s not just my room.

  It’s the whole place.

  What’s going on?

  18

  Truth

  Power outages rarely happen in Faya. Nothing is working, no TV, no refrigerator, or clock. Spontaneously, I find myself calling Leo, not Woo, this time. Do I find Leo more reliable than Woo?

  Dialing his number, I discover that there is no signal. This never happens in Faya. The iAm is always connected. When it’s not, like now, it’s like God is telling us he is on vacation and you should deal with things on your own at the moment. The Summit worships this iAm. How come there is no signal or electricity?

  I am starting to worry.

  I get out of bed and look through the window. It’s still dark outside. It’s two in the morning. I can tell because, although the iAm is not connected to the network, it’s still charged. I don’t know how long before its battery will die on me.

  Walking through the halls of my mansion, guided by the light from my useless iAm, my hearts speeds up.

  What is going on?

  Am I dreaming?

  My whole mansion is dark and silent. I summon for the Malikas but no one answers me.

  I walk to the main door and step out. Still, there is no one there. I start running through the garden to the main gate and reach the main street. No light. No sound. It’s like the land of the dead, and I am here all alone in the dark, in an abandoned city.

  I can’t be dreaming. This feels so real.

  No. I am wide awake. I know it.

  I walk into the empty street, barefoot, wearing jeans and a tank top. The appalling silence stops me from even uttering a sound. I can hear my feet clutching at the asphalt. Who should I call for? Where is everybody?

  The cars are parked at the sides of the street. In the distance, a lamp light flickers every now and then. What’s going on?

  Someone’s approaching me in the dark, walking slowly toward me.

  “Decca?” The voice shines in from the dark.

  “Woo?” I wonder. “What’s going on? What are you doing here?”

  “I came to say happy birthday,” He says and steps into the light of my iAm. It’s really Woo, and he looks as puzzled as me.

  “Well, it’s about time,” I mumble. “So why is there no one here? I am not dreaming, am I?”

  “No,” Woo says firmly, grabbing me by the arm, still looking for whatever danger is lurking in the dark. “Why do you think you’re dreaming? Didn’t you just send me a message half an hour ago, saying you need to see me?”

  “No,” I say. “I didn’t,” I say. Woo shrugs. Something is wrong. “And since when do you even bother with my messages?”

  “We don’t have time for this,” Woo drags me across the street. “We need to hide. This is insane. We’re being ambushed.”

  “Who’s ambushing us?”

  “I have no idea,” Woo breathes heavily. “I have a feeling that we’re going to have to start running soon.”

  Suddenly, a gun fires in our direction. And another.

  “I hate it when you’re right,” I say and run along with him as the gun-fire lights up the night like fireworks here and there. “Are they really shooting us, whoever they are?”

  “Stop asking questions and do what you do best,” Woo says, pulling out a set of knives he intends to use.

  “And what’s that?”

  “Surviving, Decca. Surviving,” Woo pulls me hard until I pick up speed with him. We’re both barefoot now. I feel closer to him in all this mess. “I know an abandoned industrial building where we could hide. Follow me—“

  I can’t believe I just dodged a bullet aimed at me and Woo. What is going on? Where is everyone? “Could it be those who want to steal my eyes?” I ask.

  “I promise you I will ask them if we live,” Woo says mockingly and throws a knife into the dark. Someone, that I can’t see, screams behind us in the black night. Woo is an incredible knife thrower. It puzzles me though when Woo runs toward the man he just killed in the dark.

  “What are you doing?” I am panting behind him.

  “I am picking up my knife,” Woo whispers, standing over the body of the man who tried to shoot us. “Look at him. This is a soldier. A Six.”

  “What? Has war started in Faya?” I wonder.

  “Wars never happened without people. We’re being ambushed. We need to get to that building where we can hide or we will die.”

  “Decca!” Another familiar voice calls for me in the dark. It’s Leo. Really, what’s going on?

  “Don’t answer him,” Woo presses on my hand. “It could be a trap.”

  “What trap? It’s Leo,” I say. “I am here, Leo!” I wave my iAm in the dark.

  “You just told the soldiers where we are—“ Woo says and bullets starts raining again. We duck behind a car.

  “Don’t tell me this is a rendezvous?” Leo’s sarcastic voice whispers next to us suddenly, crouching behind a car. He has a gun in his hand.

  “Let me guess,” Woo say to Leo. “Decca messaged you too?”

  “How do you know that?” Leo asks.

  “Let’s not talk about this now,” Woo says.

  “Here, take this,” Leo hands me a rifle, disregarding Woo. “I took it from a soldier. It’s a poison rifle with poison bullets.”

  “What are poison bullets?” I take the rifle.

  “Small pointed arrows that don’t kill you but poison you,” Woo says.

  “What’s the point if you’re going to die anyway?” I ask.

  “The point is the bullet poisons you. There is an antidote for it. If you don’t get it within an hour or so, you die,” Woo explains. “I wonder why they are using it on us. The army usually uses it as a threat to get information from someone.”

  “Woo,” Leo screams. “Look out!”

  Two soldiers approach us suddenly. Before they can shoot us, Woo throws his knife at one of them, and Leo shoots the other. Since I haven’t done anything, I feel I should clap a couple of times like cheerleaders do.

  Even though the soldiers are hurt, Woo approaches them and finishes t
hem off. His aggression is unbearable.

  “Why did you that?” Leo shouts. “You didn’t have to kill them.”

  “Shut up,” Woo says and jumps on the top of the car then onto the street. Like a werewolf on a full moon night, Woo turns into a killing machine without a gun, only his favorite set of knives. He runs at another set of soldiers and God knows what he does to them. All I hear are screams and Leo’s arm is around me.

  “Run to the building,” Woo shouts, pointing in the direction. “I’ll follow in a second after I kill each one of them.”

  “You heard him, Decca,” Leo says. “Let’s hide there until we figure out what the heck is going on.”

  Hesitating, I follow Leo toward the building. While we’re running I hear Woo scream. I turn around without even thinking, my hand slipping from Leo’s grip.

  “Stop it,” Leo calls for me. “He will be fine.”

  “Didn’t you hear him scream?” I say.

  “Don’t you worry about him, Decca. Save yourself. He didn’t have to fight those soldiers in the first place. Woo has some kind of a death wish or something. If you go back, you might get hurt.”

  I pull my arm away. “You go, Leo,” I say. “I need to go back and get him.”

  “What is wrong with you?” Leo starts yelling. “We’re going to die if we go back. I am trying to save you. Don’t follow him. He is nuts.”

  “I can’t,” I say. “I just can’t,” I run toward Woo’s voice. “Woo,” I shout. “Where are you?” I know I shouldn’t be screaming around, telling our predators about our location, but I can’t help it.

  Woo is moaning on the ground. He has finished off the soldiers but someone hit him real hard in his ribs or something. I kneel down next to him. “Are you alright?” I ask.

  “I’ll be in a minute,” He pants. “I just have to breathe through the pain. I’ll be alright.”

  When Woo raises his head to look at me, he looks like he has seen a ghost. His eyes are locked directly above my head. I get it. It’s too late. There is a soldier behind my back, pointing his gun at me. I messed up. Woo and I are going to die. There is no way I could turn around fast enough to face the soldier, and Woo has no more knives left. We stare into each other’s eyes for a tiny moment. It feels like a lifetime, though because Woo finally looks at me. Really looks at me, without that masked personality he wears on his soul all the time. His eyes glitter, reminding me of when we were younger. It’s the way I wanted him to look at me all year long. That look is definitely going to get us killed. I am so hypnotized by it.