by Atkins, Dawn
He held out a straw in a cup and she sipped warm water. “Feeling better?”
“Hard to say.” Her body felt bruised, like after a terrible Dome battle. “How long was I…?”
“Just about three days,” he said. “It’s Tuesday.”
“And I’m okay?” She paused. “Yeah. I’m okay.” She felt shaky, but all right. Her mind felt washed, like after a rain, every thought crisp and clear. She felt wide open, ready to think and know and decide. She hadn’t felt like this in forever. Before she started drinking, for sure. She tried to sit up.
“Take it easy.” Gage pushed her back down. “No rush.”
“What about the Lounge? Did anyone get suspicious?”
“Nope. I sent texts from your phone saying you’d arrived, how your visit went, and that you’re on your way back. They’re too busy with the launch to think twice about your trip.”
“Good. That’s good. I had some weird dreams.”
“You kept mentioning your uncle…”
“Yeah. I played computer games in his basement.”
He watched her, waiting for more. He was always doing that, paying too damn much attention to stuff she preferred to hide.
“He was not a good guy,” she said finally, absently rubbing her scar.
“Something tells me you fixed him but good,” he said. “He walk crooked for a while?”
“Yeah, but he deserved worse.”
Gage grinned. “You’re something else, Rena, you know that? You’re smart and you’ve got guts. You could be anything you want to be.”
“What, now you’re my dad?”
“I’m just saying…”
“You said you were sticking and you stuck.” She felt a rush of tenderness for him.
“I’m not always a lying sociopath.”
“Maybe not.” She realized she’d begun to trust him. For real. “We’ve got to get going.” She pushed up and dropped her feet to the floor. “There’s a lot to do.”
“Eat something at least.” He nodded at a tray of food beside her bed.
“You think I can slurp Jell-O while Lifers suffer?”
He looked at her. “Probably not, but at least eat the sandwich while I find someone to sign you out.”
She started to argue, but Gage had this look in his eye. The guy had stuck around while she raved and moaned and puked her guts up. The least she could do was eat a sandwich for him.
…
A few hours later, Rena stepped into the Lounge, clean for the first time since she’d entered the Life, since that first drink of Electrique from Nigel’s reserve, which she realized had been drugged. That had been the source of her smeary excitement, the reason the air had seemed to vibrate on her skin, the colors so bright they hurt and Lifers seemed to glow.
The peach tea that burned her lips had likely been drugged, too, something to mix with the chemical soup of mind control already in her system. Nigel had waited for the tea to hit before he proposed her Quest, or convinced her to beg for money from her father. Maya always waited for the E to take effect before she told Rena the next wild lie.
Now that her head was clear, the Lounge looked different to her. She still loved gaming and the arena, but she no longer felt the insane rush, the leaping joy she used to get just walking into the place. Nothing gleamed or glowed and the Lifers on duty seemed kind of dazed.
She felt a stab of sadness, but pushed it away. She had too much to accomplish over the next three days to moan about lost dreams. She had to run the Dome and act like a good Lifer while she launched a plot, planted bugs, formed alliances, and convinced key Lifers to risk everything they believed in on her word alone. That wouldn’t be easy.
Gage was doing what he could from the outside—scoping out the Electrique plant to learn what he could about the formulas, breaking into Body Artist to swipe more ink while Day-Day was with his band.
She liked having Gage with her, like a healing wizard at her side on an EverLife quest. Whenever she thought about him, she felt this huge ball of warmth in her stomach. I’m sticking.
She liked that. And she wasn’t going to kick herself about it. Maybe when the fight was over, the Life set right again, she’d lose the feeling, but right now, whenever she thought of him, she felt steadier.
Now she had to find Zeke. She crossed the arena, looking for him, finally spotting him on duty outside Blood Electric. She needed him to neutralize Mason’s Watchers when things heated up. “How’s it going?” she asked when she got close. She forced herself to stay cool, though her pulse pattered like rain in her ears. His help was critical.
“’Sall good.” He looked her over, wondering what she wanted.
“When you off?” She tried a flirtatious smile, but her breath was shaky.
“In ten. Something up?”
“Stick around and we’ll have a drink, just you and me.”
“You big-time managers have time for us lowly folk?” But his eyes held hers, asking her what was wrong.
She ducked the question. “I always have time for you, Zeke.” She gave a wink that ended up all spastic.
“You okay?” he whispered.
“I will be.” She’d have to manage her twitches better when she talked to Maya and Mason or she was dead before she’d begun.
In the bar, she noticed four of her Recruits drinking together, laughing, cheerful, completely unaware that NiGo had taken possession of their brains, their bloodstreams, their lives. Hell, she had to keep reminding herself of that fact. It seemed so unreal. Here she was, back in her home, her haven, but she’d never been less safe or at ease.
“Hey, Rena,” James called, catching sight of her. “How was Sacramento? We missed you in the Dome. Lionel is no Rena, that’s for sure.”
“I’m back now.” She smiled, imagining dropping her bomb into their trusting laps. The Life is a lie. NiGo tricked you, drugged you, and stole your will. When the drugs fail, you’ll be kicked out, maybe killed. None of them would believe something so outrageous. She barely did and she’d seen for herself, lived through the pain of detoxing from the chemicals eroding her mind and will.
“Oh!” Holly put her hand to her mouth, dropped from her stool, and ran toward the john.
“Again?” Rachel said to the others. “You’d think she was pregnant with how much she pukes.”
“Holly’s been sick?” Rena asked.
“For the last few days, yeah,” Rachel said.
“Since she got her new status tat?”
“Yeah, I guess so.”
Holly was reacting badly to the mood drug she’d gotten through the ink. Her file would go black and she would be evicted. The idea angered her all over again.
“Listen, Rena,” Rachel continued, “you won’t believe this. Zeke asked me to apply as a Watcher!”
“God, not this story again,” James said.
She slapped James’s arm. “Shut up. This is the revolution, boy. So Zeke had, like, a vote with the other Watchers and it was close, he said, because of some of the macho jerks. And God knows how many points he gave away as bribes, but they won. I won. We all won. All I have to do is pass the physical. They were impressed by what I did in the Dome battles, and that’s all thanks to you. Viva Girl Power!” She lifted her glass and they all echoed her cry.
“It’s what we’ve been working for,” Rena said, her chest squeezed tight. Her Girl Power Project was making headway just as their world came crashing down around their ears.
“Plus, Holly put in for bar manager and Baker’s going to write a recommend e-mail,” Rachel said. “And, she recruited that blonde from ASU who’s always in here. I think Bull kinda helped. He’s all hot for her, but anyway, here’s to girls!” Rachel lifted her glass for everyone to tap again.
“God,” James groused. “I feel like a lesbian trapped in a guy’s body.”
“We love you, Jamie boy.” Rachel pinched his cheek.
Jamie rolled his eyes.
Holly returned to them, shaky and very pale.<
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“Your tattoo still making you sick?” Rena asked. This might be a way to plant some doubts.
“My tattoo? I don’t know.” She shrugged. “I guess it started then.”
“Does it make you wonder? Maybe the inks are dangerous to us.”
“Dangerous?” Holly half laughed.
“Some Lifers get really sick, you know. That’s why they leave.”
“You mean the Lost Lives?” James asked. “You think they’re allergic to their tattoos?” He laughed. “Is this a joke? They leave because they don’t fit.”
The Recruits exchanged looks over her head.
“Are you okay, Rena?” Rachel asked. “You look…different. Your eyes look funny.”
You mean clear and alert? “I’m great. Actually, I haven’t felt this good in a long time.” You will, too, once you’re clean.
“Sacramento did that?” Rachel asked, puzzled.
“You know I care about you, right?” Rena leaned in, gathering them together with her gaze. “I recruited you because I believed the Life was how to be happy. You know I would do all I could to keep you safe, right?”
“Sure,” James said uneasily. “What’s going on, Rena?”
The others looked equally freaked.
“Just remember what I said if things get crazy.” She paused. “At the launch party, say?”
“It better get crazy.” James laughed. “I’m counting on it. All those out-of-town Lifer girls high on EverLife II. Sex-points central.”
“We won’t get that wasted, Mom,” Rachel said. They all laughed, relieved to have an explanation for Rena’s strange words. “Cassie’s right. You worry too much.”
“I miss Cassie,” Holly mused. “I don’t know why she left. She got wasted a lot, but still, she fit in just great.” She shrugged.
I miss her, too. Rena couldn’t say the words and looked away to hide her emotions. She spotted Zeke heading over. “See you guys,” she said and went to meet him, leading him to a back booth.
He slid in and sat. “What’s up? Is this about Cassie?”
“Partly, yeah.”
The waitress arrived and took their orders. Zeke asked for a beer and Rena an E she wouldn’t touch. So much depended on Zeke agreeing to help, she could hardly think for the thud of her heart.
“It was a good thing you told me about Gage the other night,” she started.
“Yeah?”
“I went out to his place and found him at the bottom of a ravine. He’d been run off the road by someone who intended to kill him.”
“He’s okay?” Zeke’s eyes dug in.
“He got banged up pretty bad, but he survived.”
“Who did it?”
She took a deep breath. “The same people who did this.” She opened her phone and showed him Cassie’s dead face.
“God!” He jerked away from the sight, then leaned in and hissed, “Cassie’s dead?” He tightened his fists, his jaw muscle jerking.
Rena nodded. “Shot up with drugs.”
“Who did that to her?”
“Can I trust you, Zeke? If they know I know, I’ll be the next one killed.”
“Tell me who did this.” Zeke’s warrior soul gleamed from his dark eyes, a bright flame of honor shimmering in each one. That was enough for Rena.
“A witness described him as a man with armband tattoos and a red, angry face.”
“Roland?!” Zeke hit the table with a fist. “I knew that evict was bad. That son of a bitch, I’ll kill him with my bare hands.”
“Keep it down.” She gave the area a quick survey, but no one seemed to be paying them any mind. “He’s one of Mason’s Watchers, right?”
“Cassie never hurt a soul but herself, dammit.” Zeke wanted to go, move, hit something, she could tell.
“Stay with me, Zeke. Is Roland one of Mason’s guys?”
“Yeah, sure. He got one of their lightning strike tattoos added to his armband tat. They’re a bunch of motherfuckers with hard-ons for trouble.”
“We think they’ve killed others. A girl and her boyfriend in Seattle, maybe more.”
“Why? What possible reason could they have?”
“We’re figuring it out.”
“Who’s we?”
“So far, Gage and I—the girl in Seattle was Gage’s sister—and you, I hope, once I tell you what we know.”
The drinks came and Zeke inhaled his to the bottom, slamming the empty stein to the table. “Go,” he said, his eyes tight on her face.
She ran down the basics about the secret accounts, the drugs they were being loaded with, the fate of Lost Lives and her own detox experience.
“That’s pretty fucked up,” he said. “And damned hard to believe.”
“I know. That’s why I want to confront Maya and Mason at the launch party so everyone can hear the truth. I need you and your friends to neutralize Mason’s Watchers so they can’t interfere.”
“We’ll cover the pricks, no prob. What else?”
“Can you talk to any of them? Find out what they’re up to, what their orders are? We need evidence of the killings, a witness who’ll talk.”
“They don’t mix with the rest of us, but I’ll talk to my guys and see what they know or have heard. Whatever you need, Rena, I’m there.” He gave her the Lifer salute.
She returned it. “That means a lot, Zeke.”
He left and Rena blew out a long, slow breath of relief. Zeke believed her. If he did, others would, too. She had to hope so.
She looked out at the arena, where her Recruits were whooping it up at an EverLife station. They were so happy in the comforting hug of the Lifer home she was about to destroy. “It’s for you,” she said softly, lifting the glass of untouched Electrique. “I’m doing this for you.”
And for the Level Ones cleaning the toilets and killing boars for team points, for the Level Threes and Fours working in the computer lab and the charter school, for the Koreans laboring 24-7 to improve the game, for Zeke and Bull and Baker, for the girls fighting for their place as equals, for them all.
And for herself. For what she believed in. For the truth of it. Because there was truth. There had to be.
We will sobreviver, as the Spanish say…survive. The many loyal, loving members of the NiGo Interactive Family remain strong. Nigel had said that on their first meeting and she had to believe it was true.
She fought a sob. She was losing all Lounge Life had given her—home, a place, love. She would fight for the good that remained with all she had in her.
Her next step was to get Maya and Mason to do what she needed them to do. She had to fight her fury and her hurt. Maya, her friend, her sister, had betrayed her.
Now that Rena was drug-free, feelings struck hard and clear, not soft and blurry as before. She had to stay focused and in control. For that she counted on Astra, growing stronger within her every clear-minded minute she breathed. As Astra, she would learn the truth and fight for what was right.
Chapter Eighteen
The day before the launch party, Rena stepped into the Lounge, which was buzzing with the talk and energy of the out-of-town Lifers who’d begun to arrive, stacking their bedrolls in the break room, though they’d be too stoked on E and adrenaline to sleep, she’d bet. Everything had been building to this day and the excitement made the air electric for Rena, too, even without Electrique in her bloodstream.
All around the arena, Lifers were stringing up decorations and setting up equipment for the party. Eleven tall stands would hold plasma monitors to bring the skeleton crews at all the Lounges to the party. On top were tubes for the giant sparklers that would mimic EverLife II’s fireworks.
Fog machines would pump out the mist of Aragon Forest. Huge posters of screenshots from the game had been hung, along with yards and yards of black tape draped to look like castle-spider webs that filled Abbey Castle, an EverLife II quest. Before she’d learned the truth, she would have been in the middle of the preparations, having the time of her life.
“It’ll burn if you leave it there,” someone said behind her.
She turned to see Baker setting a ladder against the wall so he could climb up. He held out his hand and she gave him the strand of tape, though she could have easily reached the spot on the wall where he tacked it. “Sorry.”
He smiled. “The last thing we need is to enact the bonfire from the Level Two revelry scene.”
She walked away. Would Baker be with her? She hoped so. She hoped all Lifers would see the truth and believe. Nervously, Rena ran her finger over the lens of the tiny camera she was testing today.
It looked like a button on her shirt, the camera a thin box beneath the fabric. The transmitter was tucked behind her belt. Her laptop would receive the signal and broadcast it via the Dome system at the critical moment. To keep Lionel from getting suspicious, she would say the extra laptop was for backup.
Gage was bringing her a bigger transmitter and a stronger listening device to try to plant up in the control room of the penthouse. The ones she’d slipped into Maya’s quarters and Mason’s office hadn’t been powerful enough to pick up anything but muffled voices.
Her other backup was a mini tape recorder she would hide in a pocket. If the video transmission failed, and the bugs didn’t work, she would find a way to play the tape recorder into the Dome microphone.
Now she had to set the bait with Maya and Mason, who were in the conference room planning tomorrow’s managers meeting. If they went with her plan, she’d be set. If not, things would be complicated.
Stopping in the hallway to steady herself, she took a slow breath, then shook the tension from her arms and legs. Cool and easy. You’re one happy, eager Lifer, Rena. Maya never missed a blip of mood, so Rena had to nail her performance, no mistakes, no hesitation. She ran her speech through in her mind, planted a smile on her face, and headed for the open doorway.
She spotted the pair tucked into a semi-secluded corner, head-to-head, Mason’s arm across the back of Maya’s chair, while they studied papers. Huh?
Were they together?
“Rena!” Maya shifted away from Mason, who dropped his arm. Yep. Definitely together. How creepy. “How was Sacramento?” Maya’s tone was edgy. Did she know Rena hadn’t gone? Had she talked to the GM?