by Logan Byrne
I looked at my right wrist, seeing my skimmer there, the dark metal barely reflecting any sunlight from above; it seemed to soak it up more than anything.
“Ten,” Gordana said.
I felt my hand bump against my card pack, a metal pack holding all of them inside. It wasn’t especially big, though it was big enough to fit more cards in.
“Nine.”
“Eight.”
“Seven.”
“Six.”
“Five.”
“Four.”
Liam and I looked at one another, him using his head to nod to the left, which I took as a cue to where he wanted to run once the timer struck zero.
“Three.”
“Two.”
“One.”
There was a quick pause, Gordana not saying a word, our legs still frozen in place, though everybody looked ready to sprint.
“Begin,” Gordana said.
My legs unlocked, the ice around them vanishing, and I sprung to the left, Liam doing the same. We ran into the trees, my heart racing a mile a minute, as Liam hopped over small rocks and sticks embedded in the ground. I took note and did the same, mimicking his every move. I tried stay attentive, listening to hear if anybody was behind us, following us, but I didn’t notice anything, my eyes too busy on the trail in front of me to look back, as I knew I’d fall and risk getting injured.
I heard a few people yelling, their voices almost fully muffled by the distance, as Liam and I kept running. He led the way, though I wasn’t sure he knew where he was going.
“Where…are…we…going?” I asked, gasping between words.
“Somewhere safe,” he replied, his speed almost too much for me to keep up with.
“Where’s that?” I asked, my lungs burning.
“No clue,” he replied casually.
The smell of pine needles was overwhelming, the indescribable allure of the dripping sap tantalizing and toying with my senses for the first time in my entire life. I couldn’t believe how real all of this was, that while my body was safe and secure in that room, with Nina looking over us, I could feel the impact of the terrain on my knees and feet while we ran. My lungs were burning, a consequence of never really getting any physical activity. It wasn’t real, though…or was it?
There were rows upon rows of trees, mostly pine, the shrubs and bushes lining the path we were on. It was worn down, like it had been used for centuries. I could even feel something tickling the inside of my nose, like I was going to sneeze, but I didn’t; I wasn’t even sure if I could in here. It was sad that something so beautiful had to have something so evil and deadly attached to it. We could have all of this in the real world if they’d let us go, let us free, but instead we could only experience these things, these beautiful things, artificially. It really was a disgrace, and as Liam started to slow down, stopping in front of me, I began to truly realize it.
“Why’d you stop?” I asked, stopping behind him, my hands on my hips.
“I think we’re safe. We ran at full speed for a few minutes, and I can’t imagine anyone is following us, at least not this far into the forest. I don’t see anyone, anyway,” Liam said, peering behind me.
I looked behind me, almost scared that someone would jump out, even though Liam was already looking in that direction. I knew most of these competitors weren’t fighters, and they didn’t want to get into any confrontations, but what about the few who were craving it, like Bridgette and Jason? They were crazy, bloodthirsty, and worst of all, likely somewhere nearby.
“We should check out our cards. We don’t even know what we have,” I said.
“Not here,” Liam said.
“Then where?” I asked.
“I don’t know. Let’s look for somewhere nearby, maybe. I don’t want to be on a trail, out in the middle of the woods, just in case somebody comes near,” Liam said.
Liam and I went off of the trail, pushing our way through some brush as crisp leaves and hard sticks cracked and crushed under our weight. Thin branches and thorns scraped against my legs, my pants protecting me, though I still felt them rubbing against my already tired calves.
“Do you hear that?” Liam asked as we continued walking, a minute later.
“It sounds like—” I said.
“Water,” Liam said, stopping on the edge of a small ravine, a shallow creek flowing through it.
“There’s something,” I said, pointing to the right.
There was a large tree growing on the bank, its roots jutting out into the opening as water trickled past it, feeding the tree as it flowed. Most of that area was obscured from view, the thick roots and mud packed between them providing a bit of cover, which was perfect for us to hide next to. Nobody coming from this side would even see us.
We walked over, Liam helping me down, my feet sinking into a small glob of mud, a squishing and slopping sound emanating every time I lifted my feet. Liam hopped down, sinking a little into it, before he brushed the dirt off of his hands and onto his black pants, it rolling off instantly.
“Okay, what do you have?” he asked.
I reached down, opening up my little metal holster and pulling out four cards, their brushed metal backs showing before I flipped them over, seeing what I had picked. I had a feast card, a plasma shield card, though it had a gold front, which I wasn’t familiar with, a carbine rifle card, and a canteen card, which seemed a little worthless. I wasn’t overly thrilled with all of my selections. The feast card looked the most valuable, but the gold front on the plasma shield card intrigued me, even though there was no writing on the card at all indicating what it was or why it was that way.
“Decent,” Liam said, nodding.
“Let’s just hope that yours are a little better,” I said.
Liam opened up his pack, all five cards in his, before flipping them over and fanning them apart so we could see them all.
“A duplication card, a camouflage card, a half health card, a staff card, and last but not least, a radar card. They’re okay,” Liam said.
“Better than mine. I just hope we don’t need these weapon cards, because I have a rifle and you have a stick,” I said.
“A staff,” Liam said.
“You can call it whatever you want, but it’s a giant stick,” I said.
I smiled, teasing him, before he perked up, looking past me, his eyebrows furled.
“What’s wrong?” I asked, my nerves coming back.
He put his hand up. I stopped talking and I looked around also, my heart rate starting to pick up again.
“I hear something,” Liam whispered.
“Like what? People? How were we followed?” I asked, whispering.
“It sounds like…buzzing or something,” Liam said.
I listened carefully, hearing what he was talking about, something that sounded like a humming motor, and it was close. We both looked all around, even peeking over the edge we had hopped off of to get down here, but there was nothing in sight. Where was this coming from, and better yet, what was it?
As we both looked around, the sound getting louder and louder with every passing second, it appeared, flying in front of us, floating really, a small propeller on top of it spinning incessantly. It was an orb, a lens in the front moving in and out. No other sounds came from it besides the sound of the buzzing propeller. It was filming us, and I couldn’t say that I liked it.
“How did it find us?” Liam asked.
“They know our locations at all times while we’re in here. Something like this is going to get us spotted, and fast. Wouldn’t be hard to hear or notice one of these things flying around, following us, if you were another competitor,” I said.
“Then we should take it out so it can’t follow us,” Liam said.
“We can’t do that,” I said.
“Why not? I’m not going to risk your safety or mine because of some stupid floating camera,” Liam said.
Liam reached down, picking up a few rocks, holding them in his hand. The camera st
arted to move a little, though not leaving our immediate area.
“What are you going to do? Hit it?” I asked, in shock.
“That’s the plan,” Liam said.
Liam chucked a rock at the camera, missing, though coming very close. It moved, panning us, as he kept throwing, each one missing, before finally, a rock hit the propeller’s edge, knocking it out long enough for it to fall to the ground, planting itself camera-side-up into the mud, the creek running all around it.
We walked over to it, the lens still moving in and out, and Liam stood over it, looking down towards the lens. He grabbed a large rock from the mud, a group of bugs scurrying underneath as they were exposed to the elements, and without skipping a beat, started to smash the camera, sparks flying out of it, the front becoming totally smashed, cracked, and broken before he dropped the rock, letting it fall on top of the orb.
“There, that takes care of that,” he said, looking at me, before wiping his nose with the top of his hand, his palm brown and muddy.
I smiled, looked around, and began to wonder if we’d be as exposed as I had originally thought. Maybe they wouldn’t bother coming after us with cameras anymore after all.
Chapter Seventeen
“
We need to find somewhere else to go,” I said, when Liam and I were back hiding behind the tree roots.
“I don’t know where,” Liam said, his hands up.
“Wait, they never told us when we’d get a hold of Peter. We could really use his help right now,” I said.
“Yeah, where is he?” Liam asked.
“I’m right here, guys,” Peter said.
“…Peter?” Liam asked.
“It’s me. I’m just getting into the grid now. They didn’t have us ready on time. I think it was set up like that,” Peter said.
“How long have you been listening to us?” I asked.
“Just a minute or so. I was going to say something, but you guys sounded, well, busy and all with that camera,” Peter said.
“Oh, yeah,” Liam said, smiling.
“They definitely aren’t going to like that, not one bit. Let’s just hope they don’t send something in to punish you guys. They don’t play nicely when their cameras and video feeds are compromised,” Peter said.
“How could they do anything to punish us? We’re already here,” I asked.
“Yeah, that’s the thing, you’re there, in the grid. Did you think only you guys could alter the source code?” Peter asked, the sound of him typing tapping in the background.
“Well…yeah,” I said.
“You’re wrong…very wrong. They can alter whatever they want, whenever they want, to whomever they want. If they wanted to toss in a fifty-foot man-eating dinosaur that could fly and shoot lasers from its eyes right now, they could. There’s no limit to their powers when you’re inside of there,” Peter said.
“So, maybe we shouldn’t have broken that camera then,” Liam said, scratching the back of his head.
“Was probably a bad way to start the competition. What’s done is done, though, and there’s no going back. I’ve linked into your profiles, and I can see you have some decent cards. I have your health and location on my screen, so I’ll be able to keep tabs on you two,” Peter said.
“What about anyone else? Can you see them?” I asked.
“Negative. I might be able to, but it isn’t going to be anytime super soon. What I can tell you, though, is that I’m seeing something on the map close to your location. I’m trying to hack further in to get a better sense of the direction, but it’s difficult,” Peter said.
“What is it? It’s not a survival pack, is it?” I asked excitedly.
“Not sure what it is, but it’s about a hundred to two hundred feet to your right,” Peter said.
Liam and I quickly turned, looking right, before looking back at one another, our attention soon going back to the wall of dirt the tree sat on, before we climbed out, dusted ourselves off, and began slowly walking, Peter guiding us the entire way.
The problem with these random items was that we had no idea what they were and we had to find them ourselves, two annoying things that proved to be more of a challenge than they let on during training.
“Stop!” Peter exclaimed, after we had walked a good distance from the ravine.
“What? Is it here?” Liam asked.
“It’s there, but I can’t tell where exactly. It looks like it might be obscured or something,” Peter said.
“There’s nothing here but a few trees. There aren’t even any real bushes or anything,” Liam said.
“Look around, then. I’m seeing that it’s hidden somehow. You aren’t going to see it just lying around,” Peter said.
Liam and I split up, each canvassing the area slowly, watching the ground closely for anything that stuck out. I didn’t see a survival pack anywhere, that sort of thing being fairly large and unable to be hidden too easily. It looked like the chances of finding one of those were slim.
“Alexia,” Peter said, causing me to stop dead in my tracks.
“What?” I asked.
“Look to your left. What’s there?” Peter asked.
“A tree. It’s like five feet away from me,” I said.
“It’s there somewhere,” Peter said.
I moved in closer, inspecting the tree, trying to see if it was stuck onto the bark, hanging off of a branch, or anywhere else that would make sense. There was nothing, the tree’s limbs being devoid of any helpful items, unless you counted leaves as helpful.
“There’s nothing,” I said, as Liam walked over.
“There has to be. I see it there, right in front of you. It’s literally right in front of your body as we speak,” Peter said.
I leaned in closer, my eyes two feet away from the tree, as I scanned up and down, slowly kneeling down to see if there was something, anything, that a card could be stuck in or hiding in.
I kept going, my eyes slowly scanning down, before I got to the bottom, where a small part of the tree jutted upwards, like it had been uprooted a couple inches.
“There’s an opening here,” I said, reaching my hand down, my small wrist just the right size to slide in, my hand patting around on the dirt as I tried to feel for the prize inside.
I felt something, what felt like a card, lodged back there. The tips of my fingernails scraped against it, trying to nudge it loose, before it fell forwards into my hand, and I slowly pulled it out, making sure my bracelet didn’t get snagged and lost for good.
“It’s a card,” I said.
“Awesome! We’re barely in this and I’ve already helped you find something,” Peter said.
“Which one is it?” Liam asked.
I turned the card over; it was covered in dirt and dust, so I wiped it off with the front of my shirt, revealing the picture, name, and description.
It was a terraform card, which I thought was sort of fitting considering I found it almost buried inside the earth. I smiled, looking at Liam as I held it up, my count now up to a perfect five cards, and the two of us now having an overly powerful one at our disposal.
I put the card in my pouch, the metal clanking against my other cards, and made sure my pouch was clasped as tightly as it could get, so none of them were able to fall out, especially if we had to start running again.
As Liam and I looked around, trying to plan our next step, a chime went off.
“What was that?” Liam asked.
“A modify alert. It means that somebody in the competition used a card,” Peter said.
“Can you find out who? Does it say?” I asked.
“The scope of my ability and powers in here right now is very limited. I’m afraid I can’t help out there. It could’ve just been somebody using like a food or water card,” Peter said.
Just as he ended his sentence, a blood-curdling scream echoed throughout the forest, like it was reverberating off of the trees, sending shivers up and down my spine. I looked at Liam.
“Or not,” Peter said.
“Group two from Chicago has been eliminated by Los Angeles group one,” Gordana said overhead.
“Wait, what just happened?” I asked, panicking.
“That was fast. I didn’t expect them to take people out this soon,” Peter said.
“What does she mean Los Angeles group one?” Liam asked.
“Each megacity, as you know, has two groups, and they’re identified with either a group one or two label. It’s just for tracking and announcements,” Peter said.
“Who was in that group? Who took them out?” Liam asked.
“Uh, it looks like it was a guy named Jason and a girl named Bridgette. They’re the two members of Los Angeles group one,” Peter said.
Liam and I looked at one another in shock, our mouths open. The two people who we disliked the most had already started off with a literal bang, taking out two other competitors like it was nothing. We hadn’t even been here half an hour and they had taken out one of their eleven groups of competition. Were we next? Was Gordana going to announce our demise soon?
“They place a beacon on our maps when someone, or a group, is eliminated,” Peter said.
“Is it close to us?” Liam asked.
“No, not super close. You’re about ten minutes away, I’d reckon, but only because the terrain is rocky and difficult to walk on,” Peter said.
“How did we hear her scream from that far away?” I asked.
“You’d be surprised what sounds the human body can make when your life is on the line,” Peter said.
•••
Night had fallen on Liam and I faster than either one of us thought possible. We had lost track of time, the first day in the grid being a challenging one, both of us now walking around the forest, looking for a suitable place to make camp. We hadn’t found any more cards, or better yet, a survival pack, but Peter led us around, cracking the codes for a lot of the map around us. We found a secluded spot, the back of a hill with a steep drop-off, causing a five-foot high wall.