"If someone played it before you, then maybe we've been sucked into someone else's game. But whose?"
Liam looked over at Katie. "Did you play it before giving it to me?"
Her eyes dropped to the floor.
"You did!" Liam pounded the counter top with his fist before burying his face in his arms on the counter. "Why'd you have to play it?"
Katie was used to Liam looking out for her, but she was a big girl. "I think I've come in pretty handy so far."
He looked up at her. "No one else I'd rather be stuck in a zombie apocalypse with than you."
The need for working internet outweighed the desire to not have to fight off any more zombies, so Liam, Katie, and Caleb grabbed their bags and made their way across the street to Katie's house. All he needed to do was sign into his account using her HoriZon console and retrieve the message.
The message was from Dark Storm and it read: "Meet me at the Dungeon tomorrow at seven. Don't worry, I'll find you."
7
It was fifteen till seven. Liam and his friends paced back and forth under the neon arcade sign.
"They're not gonna let us in," Liam said as he adjusted his ball cap. It was the best disguise he could think of without looking too peculiar.
"Have faith, peewee."
Liam pulled his bat from his backpack and stuck it in Caleb's face. "Don't call me that."
"Yeah, yeah, I get it. You saved me from being zombie meat." Caleb waited until Liam had retracted the bat and then continued, "But you still can't hit a baseball."
Katie stepped between them, "Boys, while y'all duke it out, I'll be inside getting some answers."
"I was just kidding, dude, lighten up," said Caleb as he playfully slapped Liam on the arm.
Liam grabbed the door handle. He took a deep breath. "Be cool."
They didn't get ten steps into the arcade before blond burly dude met them with crossed arms.
"Oh, come on. Look, we're here together tonight." Caleb put his arm around Liam and smiled a big goofy smile. "We're friends."
Blond burly dude just shook his head and pointed toward the door. Liam rolled his eyes at Caleb's antics and headed for the door.
Katie touched Liam on the arm. "Wait outside. I'll go."
Liam didn't like the idea at all. He was about to protest when Katie glared at him. "Liam, you're my friend, not my father. I'll see if I can't bring him outside."
But as soon as Katie turned around to walk back inside, blond burly dude was there with arms crossed.
"Oh, come on. I didn't cause any trouble last time."
He leaned in close. "No, you were the cause."
There was no pleading her case with him. She turned and Liam was there waiting at the door for her.
Across the street from Arcade Dungeon was a city park. Liam sat down on the grassy hill that overlooked the street and the arcade. Katie and Caleb stood on the sidewalk discussing going back home to get different disguises. Liam stared ahead. There was a shuffling noise behind him, so he turned around. He scrambled to his feet. A zombie walking straight for him nearly gave him a heart attack.
Caleb rushed up the hillside with the hockey stick at the ready.
"No, don't!" Liam yelled.
He had an idea.
"Help me lure it down to the arcade."
Katie said, "This is a bad idea."
"No one's gonna get hurt."
Liam slowly backed down the hill motioning for the zombie to follow. When they reached the street, the zombie turned to the right, away from the arcade, so Caleb nudged it with the hockey stick to get it back on course. They played the game of nudge and follow a few more times until reaching the front of the arcade.
"Now what?" Caleb asked.
"Quick, put your hat on it and we'll open the door."
"No way, dude, this is my favorite hat!"
Liam didn't want to get too close and have the zombie grab him, so he flung his own ball cap at Caleb. "Use mine."
Liam held open the door. Caleb stuck the hockey stick in the zombie's back once more to guide it inside.
Liam rushed to the metal newsstands that sat outside against the arcade's wall and hunched down. "Be ready to sneak in."
It only took a few minutes before the front doors flung open and kids of all ages rushed out into the street screaming.
Liam smiled. "On my mark."
As they snuck up to the doors, a small kid wearing a blue shirt with tears streaming down his face came running out. He was six, maybe seven years old. He stopped in the doorway crying for his mom. All the other kids rushed by not paying him any attention.
Suddenly, Liam spotted his baseball cap in the doorway headed straight for the kid. His eyes grew big. "Hey, kid!"
But it was too late. The zombie was right behind him! It leaned down to take a bite out of the boy's shoulder. When it raised up, blood was dripping from its face. The boy fell to the ground screaming.
The crowd screamed louder and scattered while the zombie munched down on the little boy.
Katie yelled, "Do something!"
Liam pulled his bat from his backpack like He-Man drawing his sword. He stepped up to the zombie and swung down hard on its skull. Zombie goo splattered everywhere, and it fell into a gooey pile.
It was too late for the little boy. His lifeless body lay under the oozing zombie.
"Oh, God." Katie covered her mouth and buried her head in Caleb's embrace.
Liam lowered the bat and let is slide down to the ground. It was like someone took the breath right out of him.
Patrons from the arcade rushed by him without a second thought. The body of the little boy lay in a pool of his own blood and gooey gunk from the zombie. Liam's heart pounded so hard he felt it in his ears. The noise around him began to fade in a dizzying wave. He glanced up at Katie and Caleb. A second later, everything went black.
Liam slowly opened his eyes. The first thing he saw was purple and blue neon glowing in the background. Next, black walls came into view. Then the familiar sound of beeps and dings from the arcade filled his ears. He raised into a seated position.
"Not too fast," said Katie's familiar voice.
He focused on her beautiful blond hair. He let the warmth of her presence envelop him.
"You passed out. Do you remember anything?"
Liam rubbed his forehead. The pain was dull but persistent. He slowly moved his eyes around the room. He immediately recognized the VIP lounge despite everything still looking pixelated, but he could only focus on one thing at a time. Any sudden eye movement caused a sharp jolt to his head. He leaned back on the black leather couch and closed his eyes.
There was a boy. Wearing a blue shirt. Crying. Scared. Terrified. A zombie. Blood everywhere. Washing over him and everything around him.
Then, Katie. Wrapped in the security of Caleb's embrace.
Liam fought the images and jerked his head side to side. His eyes flung open. He stared at her for only a second, but it was enough to see deeper than he ever had before. "Yeah. I remember." He leaned forward and propped his head in his hands.
"Here," Katie handed him a bottle of water.
He saw the sadness and disgust written all over her face.
"Hey, dude, there's someone here you might be interested in meeting." Caleb's voice had never been so welcome. Anything to get out of seeing the disappointment in Katie.
Someone wearing a hoodie that covered their eyes stepped closer to Liam. "I'm Dark Storm." Removing the hood allowed her long brown hair to fall to her shoulders.
Liam locked gazes with her. Not only was it a surprise that Dark Storm was a girl, but that she was more beautiful than he ever expected.
"I'm Katie," and she offered her hand to Dark Storm.
Her voice snapped him back into the moment. A pang hit Liam's gut. The thought of Katie and Caleb made him sick, but there was a twinge of excitement knowing that Katie noticed him looking at another girl.
"Please, call me Rhonda." Dark Storm gre
eted everyone. It was her first time meeting other gamers in person. She had played online with a pseudonym, and since using a real name was frowned upon, no one had ever met Dark Storm as Rhonda.
Caleb stared so hard, his tongue was practically wagging. Katie elbowed him in the ribs and he almost bit it. "Oww!"
"Were you expecting someone else? Surprise."
Liam cleared his throat. "No, it's totally cool. I'm Liam. I'm who you were playing online with last night."
"I see you've gotten yourself into quite the predicament."
That was an understatement. Add murder to the list of crazy things that had gone on lately and it was a trifecta of looney bin landing stuff.
"Do you know anything about this game?" Liam handed Rhonda the Zombie Game disc.
She nodded. "Yeah. I'm happy to see you still have it. Usually by now whomever played it last would have dumped it for some other schmuck to find."
Liam glared at Caleb.
"I said I was sorry," Caleb said.
Rhonda handed the game back to Liam. "Since you are the last person to play it, you should hold on to it." She leaned in close, "And keep that little secret to yourself."
He took the disc and slid it into a hidden pocket inside his backpack. "So, is it true? Am I inside a game?"
"Pretty wild, huh?"
Liam slouched back into the softness of the couch. As much as he wanted affirmation as to what was going on, that's not the one he had hoped for. "How do we get out?"
"Easy. We have to find the original player." Her sarcastic tone did not go unnoticed.
"Well, we were told you are the end-all-be-all when it comes to gaming. Got any leads?"
"Not a one."
Caleb asked, "Where'd you find the game?"
"I won a game in an online auction and as a nice bonus, it was stuffed inside the envelope, too. I tried to track down the seller, but the account's been taken down."
"What'd ya do with it after that?"
Rhonda suddenly looked uneasy and turned away from them.
Liam shot Caleb a look that said, 'Good going.'
"I thought it was broken, so I gave it to a friend to try. He must've given it to someone else, and from there it has obviously spread around." She turned and looked dead into Liam's eyes. "That's why it's so important to keep it safe."
He swallowed the lump in his throat. That was a big responsibility. Bigger than doing math homework. Bigger than remembering to feed Shadow every day. He moved around in his seat. The thought of being in charge of something so important, so powerful, terrified him.
Rhonda must have known Liam needed a little reassuring by the look on his face. "The kid out front? He's not really dead."
Even though he didn't understand how or why, it was instant relief. Liam had been hoping someone could say the magic word and make it all better. He never believed it would actually happen. Air escaped his lungs so fast he almost smiled. He ran his hands through his hair. "Thank goodness."
Katie asked, "What do you mean not really dead?"
"When you die in the game world, you don't really die. Not in real life, anyway. But you're different. When you meet that person again, they're not the same."
Caleb joked, "Are they a zombie?"
Katie glared at Caleb. "Zombies only exist in video games and TV."
Rhonda continued, "They're a totally different person. Usually with no memory of the game... or you." Sadness washed over her face.
Caleb responded the only way any of them knew how. "Whoa."
The silence gave Liam a moment to let Rhonda's information sink in. "How long has it been? Since you played it?"
"Seventy-seven days."
They were shocked.
Katie said, "That's over two months!"
"Have you made any progress?"
Rhonda said, "I've used my online contacts to put out feelers. I tracked down a few coders, but they've all been a bust. For whatever reason, people don't realize this isn't real life. Those other guys we played with online? No clue."
Liam and Katie shared a look.
"Which is why I was interested in meeting you. You're the first person I've encountered that has even mentioned a zombie game. What made you realize it?"
Liam didn't know what to say. None of it made sense. He just woke up one day and things looked different. Felt different. "Uh... well, when I went to bed the night I played it, there weren't zombies roaming around."
"That's just it. Everybody behaves like the zombies have always been here. No big deal. What about you?" She looked at Caleb.
"I... Uh... I overheard these two talking to some old dude about a game." Caleb looked as if he was realizing something for the first time. "It was like at that moment I suddenly saw the world differently. Like the world itself was different. I followed them to Liam's house to find out what they knew."
"So, it took someone else planting that idea for you to come to that conclusion?"
"Yeah, I guess so." Caleb scratched his head. "Guess that makes me sound kinda dumb, huh? So, what makes you two so special?"
Liam looked at Rhonda hoping she would have the answers. He shrugged.
Rhonda continued, "This old guy. Where is he now?"
Katie was quick to not be left out of the conversation. "He lives on Maple Street. That's where I found the game. At his yard sale."
"How old is this guy?" Rhonda asked.
Liam said, "We haven't gotten a good look at him yet. But he appears to be pretty old. I'd guess... eighties?"
"Eighty years old?"
"Yeah. Why?"
"If you haven't noticed, there aren't any adults running around. Just us kids. If he's that old, he might be the original player."
Liam jumped up. "I knew it! I knew he was suspicious."
"And if he really is the original player, we've gotta get to him before he dies."
A feeling of doom washed over the room and a chill ran down Liam's spine.
8
Liam turned off the hot water. He grabbed a towel from the rack and wiped a streak through the steam on the mirror. He recoiled in disgust. His reflection was too much to bear.
Walking through the house to his bedroom, it suddenly felt empty. Liam and his friends had each gone their separate ways after the arcade the night before. He didn't blame Katie for not wanting to be around an almost murderer, but he hoped she was safe.
He pulled the curtains back and looked out across the street at her house. The sun was shinning and more importantly, no zombies roaming around. He sighed. He could relax for a moment.
Shadow nudged his head under Liam's hand. Liam was happy to oblige and scratched behind his ears.
Unsure of his next move, he thumbed through a comic. After a few page turns, he felt a surge of energy course through him. The comic fell to the floor.
"Whoa!"
He felt stronger. He looked at the front of the comic. The cover had a nerdy kid on the cover holding a monster above his head as if he had super human strength.
Wanting to test a theory, he opened a computer book from his desk. He flipped to the bookmarked page and once again, after a couple of pages, he felt a surge of energy. That time, he felt smarter. Like he had gained new knowledge and perception.
"Could it be?"
It was too weird to not be true. After everything else that had gone on, why wouldn't comic books give him increased skills? It was a video game after all!
He read through several other comics he had laying around. One gave him intelligence and another gave him more strength. Finally, he made it to the end of one. In the back was an advertisement for random, goofy things like X-Ray vision glasses and life-like scary ghosts to scare friends. He shook his head. Fortunately, his parents saved him from the eventual disappointment, as they would not let him order any of those things.
Then he saw an ad for a real working laser gun. 'Great for zapping aliens or the heads of zombies!' the ad suggested.
Liam turned around and looked at the las
er gun hanging on his wall. A prop from one of his favorite video games, Zap 'em in the Head. Could it really work? He smirked. Nah, no way.
After he had exhausted his supply of new comics, he paced back and forth, every now and then glancing out his curtain. No amount of skill points gave him the courage to go and talk to Katie. He couldn't get the image of Katie in Caleb's arms out of his head. Plus, he missed her.
He decided to do it. Go see her. The door opened and Katie stood before him, her hand in a fist ready to knock.
Liam smiled. "Hi."
"Hi," she said back. "You gonna let me in or stand out here and get eaten by a zombie?"
"Oh, sorry," he said as he moved out of her way.
"I told Caleb and Rhonda to meet here. I hope that's okay."
Liam stuttered. "Yeah. Su.. sure."
'Caleb,' he thought. Why was he around anyway? He followed them, eavesdropped on them, and what? He thought he can magically be their friend? Her friend.
"Were you... going somewhere?"
"Uh... no. Just checking for zombies."
Neither of them knew what to say. Liam gazed at the floor and Katie stood there twirling the strap on her backpack.
Liam took a deep breath and popped his knuckles. "Look, we should probably talk about what happened last night."
"Yeah."
They both spoke at the same time.
"I'm so thankful that kid will be okay," she said.
"I don't trust Caleb," he said.
The disgusted look on her face said it all. He would have to hide his jealousy.
Caleb could be heard calling for them, so they rushed outside. "Check this out, dudes!" In each hand he held a wooden bat, one with nails sticking out of the end and the other with two saw blades attached. "Pretty cool, huh? I made one for each of us!"
Liam took the nail bat and touched the sharp tip. "Very... violent."
"I know right!"
Katie looked disgusted. "You'll really get covered in zombie goo with that thing. I think I'll stick to my hockey stick, thank you very much."
"Are you going zombie hunting?" Liam asked.
"If that's the game plan for today," Caleb replied.
Zombie Boy: Press Start (Adventures of Zombie Boy Book 1) Page 5