S.W. Tanpepper's GAMELAND, Season One Omnibus

by Saul Tanpepper

  Except now I know for sure we won’t be. Not anytime soon.

  …ding…

  “Jessie, what are you looking at? Hey!” She shakes me.

  “What?”

  “The boys are coming back. We’ll be able to leave.”

  …ding…

  I blink stupidly at her, the half-formed thought in my head quickly fading. I feel like I was right on the edge of understanding something very important.

  “What?” I snap, irritated.

  “What are you looking at?”

  I turn my eyes back to the opposite side of the room, to where the men are still talking. Matthew rubs his shoulder and there’s that scar again. I can’t stop staring at it. I’m sure I’ve seen something like it before, but where? It looks—

  For some reason Kwanjangnim Rupert comes to mind.

  “What are we going to do about Jake?”

  Not Master Rupert, but Brother Nicholas. It’s the same odd, circular brand that’s on Brother Nicholas’ hand.

  …ding…

  “Who’s going to do it, Jessie?”

  I turn to her and say, “Nobody, Ash. He’s not going to die.”

  Because what I’m looking at isn’t a brand, it’s a bite.

  Chapter 7

  “Why didn’t you tell me you already had a cure?” I demand, pushing Brother Nicholas aside and confronting Matthew.

  He looks over at me in surprise.

  “What makes you think we have a cure?”

  “Don’t bullshit me!” I grab Brother Nicholas’ hand and hold it up so everyone can see it. “This is a bite. A human bite! Just like the one on your shoulder. Don’t even try to tell me it isn’t.”

  Brother Nicholas yanks his hand back. “It doesn’t matter. Even if we did have a cure—which we don’t—we still wouldn’t be able to help your friend. I’m sorry, but we just can’t help him.”

  “Can’t or won’t?”

  “If it were possible, we would, but—”

  “You were infected, weren’t you?” I demand. “You were bitten, and yet you’ve survived. How else could you have if there’s no cure?”

  Behind me, the elevator dings one last time and the doors open. I ignore them.

  “Where is the cure?” I shout.

  Brother Matthew looks away.

  I turn to Brother Nicholas. He opens his mouth to speak, but then Ashley lets out a wail of despair. I spin around and find her collapsed on the floor, the three boys surrounding her. Reggie is on his knees with his arm around her shoulders. I hurry over and ask what’s going on.

  Kelly’s eyes lock onto mine. His face is smeared with soot and grease. He gives me a quick shake of his head.

  “You didn’t get her Link?”

  “I couldn’t reach it.”

  “Bullshit!” I march over to the door and look down through the crack in the floor. “There has to be a way. I can see it. It’s right there!”

  “There’s a cage, but it’s padlocked.”

  I stare at him for a moment, completely dumfounded. “Really?” I finally say. “What about the bolt cutter? Remember? Do I have to do all the thinking around here?”

  Kelly shakes his head again. “Would if I could, but there’s not enough space down there. The angle’s all wrong.” He holds his hands about a foot apart.

  I shake my head and anger flairs up inside of me. “No! I don’t believe it. There has to be a way.”

  “We’ll keep trying.”

  I raise my hands to my face and hold them there for a moment. I want so badly to cry, to just crumple to the floor. I can’t do this anymore.

  But I have to.

  I drop my hands and take a deep breath. “I’m sorry. I shouldn’t have freaked out like that.”

  Kelly waves it off. “It’s not hopeless. We can see her Link. It’s just not going to be as easy as we thought.” He turns and points at the men. “I thought I heard someone say something about a cure.”

  “They have one. They’re denying it, but—”

  “Now hold on,” Brother Matthew says. He comes over, Brother Nicholas trailing behind. “We don’t have a cure.”

  I reach over and grab his shirt and yank it down. Brother Matthew doesn’t try to resist. He sighs and shakes his head and turns away.

  “What am I looking at?” Kelly asks.

  “The scar,” I tell him. “What does it look like?”

  He shrugs. “I don’t know. A nasty burn or something?”

  “It’s a bite. From one of the Infecteds.” I pull up Brother Nicholas’ hand. “This is, too. They’ve been bitten—ages ago—and yet they’re fine.”

  Both Reggie and Ash look up, startled. Ashley sniffles, her tears completely forgotten. “Is it true? Can you cure Jake?”

  Micah shakes his head angrily. “There’s no cure!” he stubbornly insists. “Everyone knows that.”

  Reggie nods hesitantly, even though the proof is right there in front of their eyes.

  I turn to Kelly. I can see the turmoil on his face. He wants to believe me, but he refuses to hope.

  “It’s too late for your friend,” Brother Matthew says.

  “Why?” I demand. “Why is it too late?” And then a horrible thought crosses my mind: Maybe he’s right and they really don’t have a cure. Maybe what they have is a vaccine, just like the one Stephen had. In that case, it really is too late.

  No! my mind shrieks. It has to be a cure.

  Brother Nicholas sighs. “There’s not enough time to get it and come back, that’s why. Your friend will have already turned.”

  Nobody speaks for a moment. We all just stand there blinking like idiots.

  “There— Are you saying there really is a cure?” Kelly asks, his voice a whisper.

  “No! You’re not listening! It’s not a cure. It’s a…a treatment. It doesn’t always work, and there’s a significant risk.”

  “What kind of risk?” Micah asks.

  “I don’t care,” I say, waving him off. “He’s dead either way, right? If we don’t try, he’ll die. If we do and it doesn’t work, he’ll die. We’re out of options.”

  The two men exchange a grim look.

  “I don’t care if you think we don’t have enough time. Where is this treatment? Where do we have to go to get it? Is it somewhere in Gameland?”

  “Outside. It’s too far away.”

  “I just told you I don’t give a god damn horse’s ass about that! Tell me this fucking minute where we have to go!”

  “Jessie,” Kelly says, placing a hand on my arm. I shrug it off.

  “Tell me now!”

  “It’s pretty far, but—”

  “Nick!” Brother Matthew exclaims. “I thought we agreed. What are you doing?”

  “They’re kids. They’re scared. And if we can help, we should. You know what Father Heall says.”

  “We can’t help!”

  I push my way between them. “How long will it take to get there? Can you take us? Where?”

  “Don’t say anything,” Brother Matthew warns. “We can’t risk it!”

  Brother Nicholas doesn’t answer at first. When he does, Matthew throws his hands up in disgust and walks away.

  “It’s outside the arcade.”

  “Gameland, you mean? How do we get through the wall?”

  “That’s not the problem.”

  “Then what is?”

  “It’s at least thirty miles from here.”

  I flinch at the number. Thirty miles. Maybe on a bike it would be doable, but not with Jake. There and back, sixty miles? How long would it take?

  As if he can see me figuring out the logistics, he says, “You’d have to leave him here.”

  I shake my head and pace. “No, I know, but that’s okay. I can ride thirty miles on a bike in a couple hours. I get the treatment and come back. I could be back before dark.”

  “No!” Kelly says. “It’s too dangerous.”

  I whirl on him. “Too dangerous?” I grab his arm and drag him over to
the table where Jake is lying. “Look at him! He’s dying, so don’t talk to me about dangerous. What’s dangerous is giving up even trying!”

  “What good is it trying if you die?”

  It feels like the same conversation I’ve had with him before, back after we first escaped Long Island by swimming through the Midtown tunnel. We’d all barely made it back, all except for Jake. He’d gotten stuck behind a wall of storm wash. And when I’d announced I was coming back for him, Kelly had been the one to deny me that chance.

  Not this time, though. I won’t stand for it.

  He frowns and considers arguing, but knows it’s useless. “Then I’m coming with you.”

  “No. You need to stay here and help get Ashley’s Link back. I’ll take—” I look around. The options aren’t very good. Reggie’s the best bet. Instead, I say, “I’ll take Micah.”

  Understanding instantly settles over Kelly’s face. Understanding and resignation. He knows I’ve just outmaneuvered him. He doesn’t want Micah anywhere near the mainframe computer, not now. By taking him with me, it neutralizes that threat to us all, although it raises the risk to me.

  “I could take Micah,” he offers.

  “Sorry, but I’m in better shape than you are. Even with my shoulder, I’d still be able to out-bike you. Sixty miles is nothing to sneeze at.”

  Reggie snickers. Kelly gives him a dirty look.

  “It’s me, Kel. You know I can do it. I’ll go. You stay with Ash and Reg. Try and get her Link. We’ll be back before sundown.”

  Brother Nicholas steps forward. “You won’t be back before late morning tomorrow. By then, it might be too late.”

  “Why tomorrow?” I snap.

  “Because it takes time to prepare.”

  “Then we had better leave now, hadn’t we?”

  Chapter 8

  I still don’t understand,” I complain, as Brother Matthew accompanies me and Micah through the woods on our way to the edge of Gameland. “Why are you coming with us and not Nicholas?”

  “Brother Nicholas has more business inside the arcade.”

  “What, he likes it in here? Is he—?”

  “Jess.”

  “What, Micah? I’m just asking.”

  “Not that.” He chuckles and points behind us. Shinji steps out from behind a tree and lopes toward us. “Forget someone?”

  “Shit.” I crouch down and wait for the dog. He comes over and licks my face, as if we’ve been friends forever instead of just for a few hours. “I’m sorry, Tuna Breath,” I tell him,” but you can’t come with us.” Yet even as I say it I know there’s no way I’m going to be leaving him behind. He’d follow whether I want him to or not.

  Without a word, Brother Matthew turns away from us and continues on down the path. He’s clearly resenting having to do this.

  “You going to teach Shinji to ride a bike?”

  I roll my eyes at Micah and don’t answer. It’s something I’ll have to rethink, now that there’s four of us, one of whom isn’t anatomically built for pedaling. And while Shinji might be able to run along beside me for a couple miles, he won’t make the full thirty, much less sixty. Not that I’d even want him to try.

  We step through the last of the trees and reach a clearing. A grassy field stretches out before us, sloping down to a road covered in muddy wash and leaf litter.

  “Looks like we’re in for more rain,” Micah muses.

  Half of the sky is deep blue, but behind us thunderclouds are beginning to erupt, breaching the tops of the trees we’ve just emerged out of. The air is still and strangely dry. The weird cloud I’d seen yesterday is still there, brown and dirty-looking. It looks like smoke.

  Matthew is already halfway down the hill and to the road by the time I move again.

  “Not much of a conversationalist, is he?” Micah asks, tipping his thumb at Matthew.

  I shrug and step gingerly onto the slope, trying not to slip. “What’s there to talk about?”

  Betrayal?

  “Where we’re going. What to expect when we get there. Aren’t you even a little bit curious?”

  “Of course I am, but first things first. Right now I’m focused on getting out of Gameland and finding some bikes. And a trailer for Shinji. There’ll be time enough for questions later. Thirty miles is a long ride.”

  “A trailer? That’s actually a good idea.”

  I stare at his back as he descends. How can I deny what Ashley saw in the failsafe program? If she says there are too many similarities between his hacks and the code to be a coincidence, then I believe her.

  He steps out onto the road and sets off after Brother Matthew, who’s widened the gap between us. I start jogging to catch up. Shinji matches my pace, that undeniably stupid grin on his face that doesn’t fail to make me feel better. I can’t help it: I find myself smiling back at him. “Put your tongue back in your mouth,” I whisper. He looks up but ignores me. Why? he seems to say. You should try it some time.

  When I reach the men I ask, “How far to the wall?”

  Brother Matthew looks over for a moment, then turns back, his jaw set in a hard line. After several seconds pass in silence, he answers: “Three miles. We’ll reach it at this pace in an hour.”

  “Wouldn’t it be faster if we look for some bikes now?”

  He shrugs. “No. You can’t take them through the wall. I know where there are bicycles on the other side.”

  “How about trailers? You know, for kids?”

  He eyes the dog. Sighs. “Yeah. Maybe.”

  The three of us walk for several minutes without speaking. I watch Matthew as we go, noticing how his eyes constantly scan around us, even as he keeps his head held resolutely forward, like he’s afraid if he actually turns it that an IU will see us. He walks quickly and quietly, avoiding stepping on twigs and such. A cool wind blows from the east, which is the direction we’re heading. It feels good, but it portends the rain Micah had mentioned earlier.

  Sure enough, storm clouds tower into the sky, now to our left, building and spreading like time-lapse movies of flowers blooming. The sky everywhere else is brilliant blue and clear. Except for that dirty streak.

  Micah’s impatience gets the better of him and he asks about the treatment that will help Jake. He uses the word ‘supposed,’ as if he still refuses to believe it will work. For me, the scar on Brother Matthew’s shoulder is proof enough. The scar on Brother Nicholas’ hand just makes me doubly sure. They’ve got something that will prevent the infection from running its course. Maybe it’s not a cure. Maybe it doesn’t get rid of the virus entirely. But if it keeps Jake from dying—if it prevents him from turning into an Undead—then that’s huge. We can deal with the rest later.

  Matthew sighs and rubs his shoulder where the scar is—a nervous habit, I’ve decided, one that he’s entirely unaware of. “I wouldn’t get your hopes up too much. Your friend is in serious condition. He doesn’t have much time.”

  “Yeah, so you’ve already said.”

  He glances at the sky and scowls. “And it looks like rain.”

  “Then I guess we better hurry.” I start jogging.

  “Better to walk,” he tells my back. “Save your energy. It won’t make any difference. We’ll still have to wait once we get there.”

  I slow back down. “You said it takes hours to prepare the treatment. Is there any way to ping ahead and let them know we’re coming?”

  He shakes his head. “We don’t use your communication devices here. They’re too easily traced.”

  I bite my tongue, not because it’s a moot point, but because Arc is probably already tracking us, even as we speak. Bringing that up now will only make Brother Matthew turn right around.

  “You know,” he says, “for a bunch of kids not with Arc, you seem to know an awful lot about their activities.”

  I want to tell him to stop calling us kids. “We were with this guy for a while—not voluntarily.” I glance at Micah, but he’s staring at the road. “He said he was
a scientist.”

  “That guy was a freak,” Micah spits. “Totally nuts. He was doing this experiment and ended up getting attacked. Serves him right.”

  “An experiment?”

  Micah nods. “A new form of the virus that could bypass death and turn a person into a living Undead. Supposed to allow our implants to be activated without rejection.”

  “But it killed him?”

  “Yup.”

  I give Micah a sharp look for the lie—the experiment didn’t kill him, we did—but he ignores me.

  Brother Matthew shakes his head. He looks troubled. “Maybe it’s better that we’re going to see Father Heall, after all. He’ll want to talk with you.”

  I give him an encouraging smile. “Quid pro quo,” I say. “We help you, you help us.”

  Brother Matthew rolls his eyes. “We’ll do what we can. No promises.”

  “Yeah, well, we’re not promising anything, either,” I reply. “We’ll talk to this Father Heall guy, but I’m not sure how much we know is all that reliable. Like Micah said, Stephen was crazy, a chronic liar. He had us all fooled and—”

  “Stephen?” the man asks, stopping in the middle of the road. “Did you say his name was Stephen. What did he look like?”

  I describe him, and Brother Matthew’s frown grows all the more troubled. “Why? Did you know him?”

  “Know him? If it’s the same person I’m thinking of—and it sounds like it very well might be—then we knew him as Enoch.”

  Enoch? The name sounds familiar.

  “He used to be one of your friends?”

  “He used to be Father Heall’s son.”

  Chapter 9

  “I think we’re screwed,” Micah whispers. He keeps an eye on Brother Matthew’s figure twenty yards ahead of us.

  “You’re the one who blabbed about how crazy Stephen was.”

  “You agreed. And then you added that he was a chronic liar.”

  “Well, he was. But now I’m actually glad you didn’t say it was you who had to kill him. We might want to keep that between us. If it’s true that Stephen is this Enoch guy, Father Heall’s son—”

  “He-all,” Micah corrects. “Like hee-haw.”