Kill Code

by Justin Sloan

  He reached out his free hand, waiting, and choices popped up. Apparently, he couldn’t see them, but I could and they made me laugh.

  They were:

  Tell him to blow his own head off.

  Kick him in the nuts.

  Tear out his throat with your teeth.

  Silent.*

  With the asterisk next to silent, I had to imagine this was telling me something. Rivera was still out there, watching, contributing. Honestly, I didn’t feel this scumbag deserved a response, and I was done with the violence. So I reached out, not to take his hand as he seemed to think, but to select the silent option.

  I pulled my hand away and grinned.

  “Something funny?” he asked, confused as he clung on for dear life.

  Again, I opted for silence, and then he was losing his grip, shouting for me to help him, to do something, anything.

  “We can own this world!” he shouted. “Whatever we want, it’s ours! Togetherrrr…”

  He fell with that last word, landing in the bubbling lava below and being consumed by it, and I finally understood—the ring, while destroyed by us, had been more than the respawn point. As far as I was concerned, the ring that would keep all of this evil going had been him, and I’d just destroyed it.

  With that thought in mind, I turned and walked out of there, to head back and find Rivera and the others and get the hell out of this sim. Sure, she’d fallen into the lava, but I had to believe she’d find a way back.

  At the exit, though, the doorway became a white, shimmering portal. Words flashed up before me, floating there:

  Ryan's party stands victorious!

  21

  I stepped through the portal, expecting to be reunited with my army, to find Rivera standing there with a grin on her face, maybe hands behind her back like the monk had often stood. Maybe she’d run to me and I’d take her in my arms and kiss her, true identity be damned. We had been through so much, I knew the feelings I was starting to have for her were real and couldn’t be ignored.

  Only, that wasn’t what happened at all. The moment I passed through, I was coughing, blinking and taking in the dim light of the command room. Three other Marines were coughing and groaning too, and I suspected that would be Lau, Williams, and Kline.

  A doctor was at my side a moment later, then General Fukui. They were asking me what happened, but I had no answers for them, not yet.

  My sight was blurry at first, my head pounding, but then I looked up and it all became clear. I took in the screen that had been meant for displaying the war, or the coverage of it. The screen was still blank. Then something was blinking, and it cut to a news announcer, a lady in a blue dress with sleek, blonde hair that was probably often well kept, but right now looked like she’d been rushed onscreen.

  “This just in,” she said, and as she spoke the image behind her changed to one of General Omarav falling into the lava, as if captured from my vision. But that’s all it showed. The newscaster went on to explain that, while the World Council and the rest of the world’s governments were at a complete loss for what had happened, one thing was clear—victory had gone to the Great Americas.

  Cheers rose up around me as more Marines and doctors flooded into the room, the word spreading that we’d returned, that it was over.

  In the days that followed, I packed up my apartment, determined to move. I would always love my wife deeply, but I now realized it was time to really live my life again, not continue in a perpetual state of always trying to hide from myself and my past. Of course, I remembered to call my mom and tell her I loved her, and even promised to come visit as soon as I could.

  There was just one more thing I had to do before going on my way, and that was the awards ceremony the president had set up for me and the other three victors. We were put up on stage, nice things said about us, and were handed medals that were supposed to somehow make us feel appreciated.

  All I wanted was to get off that stage, grab my suitcase, and hop on a jet. But as I turned to shake the hand of General Fukui, I noticed someone in the crowd. A young woman was staring at me with her hands behind her back. There wasn’t a doubt in my mind about who she was—I saw it in her eyes, in her smile. The woman I’d known as Rivera grinned as I approached her, leaving the general standing there with his hand outstretched. This was more important.

  When I walked up to her, she held a finger to her lips, smiled, and then motioned me forward. Without a single word, she kissed me. Warmth flooded me, all of the stress and worries from life vanishing, and nothing but that moment mattered. If I could have my way, that moment would never end.

  “Rivera,” I said, my whole life going forward starting to reshape itself in my mind.

  “It’s actually Yukiko,” she said. “Thanks to you, I can travel the world again. I can be here, with you… if you’ll have me.”

  “Of course I will,” I replied, and then pulled her back in for a kiss. Neither of us cared that the cameras were on us, that the world was watching.

  From that moment on, we were in our own world. A world that nobody could take from us, that nobody could alter or adjust. Or so I thought.

  As we were leaving in the car the military had arranged to take me to the airport, I realized not everything made sense yet. Maybe it never would, but I had questions that, at least for now, could be a start.

  “Wait, so all those moments, tests…” I frowned, trying to grasp this. “They were just to see if you could trust me?”

  She bit her lip, then shook her head. “I wish. It’s worse than that… so much worse.”

  “What do you mean?”

  “I didn’t want to tell you back there… I’m still not sure I should even ask. It’s too much.”

  “What, Yukiko?” I asked, taking her hands in mine.

  With a deep sigh and look that told me I’d regret this moment, she said, “The Eastern Ascent Company, they’ve created worlds like that one, virtual prisons to lock away the minds of anyone who stands against them, and worse. There are some of us out there who have joined together to fight it, but… we need more. We need a champion to go in and take out the systems from the inside.”

  I stared, unable to say anything for a long moment, until I finally cleared my throat. “You’re saying you want me to go back into sims, in some ways like the one we just left, in many ways way worse. You want me to voluntarily do this?”

  She took a deep breath. “It’s more that I don’t want to be doing it alone.”

  “Oh.” The fact that she would do it with or without me certainly changed the situation.

  “If you say no, well… I’m not sure. When all of this started, I didn’t know that I’d find this with you, this… feeling. But I hope to the gods you won’t say no.”

  “It’s a lot to process,” I said, racking my brain for a way to answer this.

  She held a finger to my lips, then leaned in and whispered, “Think about it. We can find special areas, invite Glider and Banshee… If you know what I’m saying.”

  “Wait, so are they NPCs or…?”

  She winked. “Maybe you’ll find out someday, maybe not. We’ll see.”

  To be honest, I wasn’t exactly sure I understood or ever would, but I leaned in and kissed her. All of this was too fresh in my mind, too much for me to deal with. Yet, with her at my side, I was fairly certain there wasn’t anything I couldn’t accomplish. I wasn’t committing yet, but I was leaning heavily into the idea.

  The thought made me laugh, and then we turned back to the cameras that were following our car. We waved and smiled, as if saving the world wasn’t that big of a deal—or the fact that she wanted me to do it again. Then I rolled up the tinted windows so we could have our privacy.

  “Let’s do it,” I said, and she leaned into me, her head on my shoulder and arms squeezing me tightly.

  With her at my side, maybe it wouldn’t be so bad.

  THE END

  Author Notes

  Sometimes I just have a fun i
dea and need to explore it, ignoring the idea of series and everything else. That's what this is--a fun passion project. It's also personal at points, in that I was in the Marines and left. Eventually I ended up working in games, just like the protagonist of this story, but for very different reasons.

  When I got out of the Marines it was in 2004, and people were getting recalled left and right. It was scary, because I had just been accepted to the University of California, San Diego, and was spending my senior year in Japan (I had done two years while still enlisted). So yeah, the idea of being recalled terrified me. Luckily, it never happened. I was able to go to Japan, then went to Korea for a summer and Italy for my first year of graduate school. Fun times!

  Even though it didn't happen to me, the idea stuck with me all these years and I've had a lot of fun exploring this alternate version in my story. You can probably guess I was 'inspired' by Ready Player One, though the story is quite different. I won't even try to compare the two, though won't be offended if you do.

  Thank you for reading, and please remember to leave a review!

  About the Author

  After serving five years in Marine Corps Signals Intelligence, Justin studied fiction at the Johns Hopkins MA in writing program and screenwriting at UCLA. He went on to work in games and screenwriting, where he has optioned several screenplays and written on such games as Game of Thrones and Tales from the Borderlands.

  Justin has presented on writing at the Austin Film Festival, San Francisco Writers Conference, the San Diego State Writers Conference, Gen Con, and more. You can hear his interviews with authors on the Creative Writing Career podcast.

  His books are available in audio and print editions, and he has sold Turkish and French rights to several of his series, with the Blade of the Sea series being published under Hachette Publishing Group (under the shared penname with PT Hylton of Jesse Nethermind).

  Justin loves to hear from you, so please feel free to visit www.JustinSloanAuthor and JOIN THE NEWSLETTER to receive a free book, receive free giveaways, get the latest exclusive news, connect on Facebook and Twitter, and stay in touch!

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  Star Forged - Sample

  Nothing could’ve excited Trent Helms more than the gateway as it opened in the stars above. This was it—the moment he’d been training for, the moment that pulled his entire future together. He and the other Space Fleet Marines gathered with officers and senior NASA officials, watching as purple and blue light flowed through space like a door to heaven.

  They’d opened this particular door before for testing and probes, and while no images had made it back, readings had. Results indicated at least one potentially habitable planet in what they’d named the Krastion Galaxy. This information was enough that, on this night, Trent and the other teams would be the first humans through. They’d be the first to investigate the other side, to learn if there was indeed another option for expanding beyond the Solar System.

  And maybe, if they were lucky, they’d discover signs of life.

  “I hope you have your big-kid undies on, Gunnery Sergeant,” Colonel O’Donnell said, a grin spreading across her normally stern face as she slapped Trent on the shoulder. “I almost shat myself just looking at that thing. Imagine actually flying through it.”

  “An image I’m sure to carry with me through the gate, sir,” he replied with a chuckle. “But we won’t have to imagine flying through the gate for long. I want to be the first ship through.”

  “Damn right,” she said. “I take care of mine, just remember that. You and me, we’ll shove the rest of them aside if we have to.”

  He laughed. “Whatever it takes, sir.”

  She nodded again before moving off to schmooze with one of the politicians in attendance. The woman had high aspirations, which were really the only reasons she had signed up for this mission, Trent assumed. As fun as she could be, he knew it was all part of the role she played. All part of the job. He had aspirations, but only so far as they allowed his advancement with the Space Fleet Marines. He longed to explore space, to be a part of history, and to make a difference.

  He imagined they wouldn’t need to continue terraforming Titan and Mars if this worked out. Stopping such operations would mean a wealth of resources unspent and much earlier colonization if there were inhabitable planets out there. Not that it was all bad. Such operations on Mars had led to the discovery of this gateway, for instance.

  The light finished forming in the sky and a cheer rose up from the crowd, causing Trent to glance over to the media representatives who were capturing it all. Seeing them reminded him of all the people around the world who’d be watching as the teams went through the gate—his dad, for one. He loved the man but hadn’t seen enough of him lately. And thinking of his father got him wondering who else might be watching. Perhaps old high school buddies would be among the crowd, as well as the ones who’d always looked down on him, but not so much anymore! And, he thought, maybe a certain woman he’d been through so much with—too much, perhaps—would be watching. Shrina Collins was the woman who, in some ways, was largely responsible for him being there today.

  Years after their initial meeting in Quantico, she’d shown up one day at an embassy in Rome and gotten him involved in the takedown of Space Station Horus and their super-soldier program. If not for their involvement, the united governments wouldn’t have been able to take over the program, and this mission might have been deemed too risky. Sending regular men and women through a gateway to the stars was one thing, but sending genetically engineered warriors capable of enhanced speed, super strength, and healing—that was another matter altogether. Even if the situation went south, they had a better chance of survival. Hostile aliens, if they existed, would have a tough time against these devil dogs.

  All of that had to do with his breakup from Shrina years ago. He hadn’t had it in him to tell her that he intended to volunteer for the enhancements, and he knew she wouldn’t approve, especially since her sister had seen first-hand how those early attempts at modifications had failed. When Space Station Horus was being run by New Origins, they’d created super soldiers that not only had their minds partially wiped but suffered from periodic loss of control. The government had since revamped the program, seeing to it that these attempts at control and loss of freedom were taken away, and that no rage-related faults continued.

  Two Marines approached, laughing, but slowed at the sight of him standing there alone. He wished they’d keep moving, especially considering that one of them was Enise, his most recent fling and, yes, a rebound after realizing he wasn’t quite over Shrina. The relationship had helped him, and he’d begun to think that maybe he’d moved on. He’d even considered that she could be the one.

  That all changed when he’d found out she was sleeping with Staff Sergeant Mercer—the asshole standing with her now. Mercer was grinning at Trent as if all of that had been erased simply because they were going into space together.

  “We’re finally making it happen,” Enise said, beaming.

  “Into the great unknown,” Trent replied with a polite nod to Mercer. A punch to the throat would’ve been more appropriate and satisfying, but he knew better than to assault his fellow Marines, especially when he had such high hopes of rising up in the Space Fleet Marines. Besides, this was for the best, he often told himself. Why distract himself with relationship issues when he wanted to be the top of the top? Instead, he focused on his training and preparing for their journey.

  And he was ready.

  “You tell your pilot to stay out of our way,” Trent said with a grin. “I plan on being the first person on planet. I’m gonna be the first to taste that sweet air and take a piss on its soil.”

  “A lovely sentiment,” Mercer said, his smile fading into a frown as if he’d just remembered who Trent was. He was likely drunk, as he often was.

  Trent had confronted Enise about the man’s drinking probl
em more than once, but she waved it off, as if doing so could make it go away. She was smart, though, and knew what she was involved with and what she’d done. Trent imagined it might even be her way of dealing with her guilt over cheating on him, like she deserved no better. It wasn’t Trent’s place anymore, so he left it alone. But if the son of a bitch ever hit her, Trent would be waiting to throttle him.

  An awkward silence passed between them and Trent thought they were about to walk off, giving him freedom, when Captains Aarol and Thomas approached, all grins. Both were pilots, and the blue-wing symbols on the shoulders of their space fleet armor were prominently displayed. This reminded Trent of his ultimate goal—go the officer route, become a captain, and fly in the next mission. All of that, of course, would come after he’d proven himself in this first mission through the gate.

  Aarol had that quarterback confidence to him, with his perfect hair combed over in a wave. Thomas was African-American and had a nerdy look to him, one that he often overcompensated for by hanging out with Aarol.

  “Tell her no, Helms,” Aarol said with a chuckle, seeing them together. “Three-ways with exes? Never a good idea.”

  “Trust this guy; he knows,” Thomas added with a laugh, then gave his buddy a quick nut-check. They both laughed as his metal glove clinked against Aarol’s metal crotch.

  “We get it, sir, nut protection is great,” Trent said, annoyed at their joke at his expense and the way these captains acted like young teens. It was the way they were, though—two frat boys who’d never grown up.

  “Great until you try to have that three-way,” Aarol said with a nod back to Enise. “These suits are a bitch to remove.”