It’s clear to me that something significant walked through here, and that it was tangled in a bunch of stuff that was dragging behind it. There’s a large pile that starts in the middle of the walkway and leads out to the left edge, sort of in an arrow shape. An electrical cord wrapped in and out of the trash connects it all together. The cable must have been attached to a bug leg or something.
Either way, the shape of this particular pile means I have to get off the walkway and go through the once neatly trimmed hedges on either side. I jump over the scraggly branches, aiming for a spot that has a chunk ripped out of it, one leg, then the other, like a hurdler in a race. My front leg makes it okay, but my back leg catches on something in the hedge, a particularly stubborn stick or something. I trip and fall, landing on my face in the grass, and it takes me a second to right myself again.
“Nice going, Princess Grace.” Thomas says.
“Hey, not helpful, bruh!” I say back. “The walkway has too much stuff on it. I’m just going to run along the grass. At least that way I won’t have to jump over that stupid hedge the next time something gets in my way.”
“Alright, I’ll back the truck up so you can jump in from the grass.” he says.
I slow my run a bit since the piles of junk are getting thicker as I get closer to the street. I’d rather not trip and fall again.
My slower pace and my newly made decision to keep my eyes peeled means I have no problem spotting it when I see a flash of movement off to my right. I stop, standing perfectly still. I don’t think it was a bug, but if it is, I don’t want to be a moving target.
“Why did you stop?” Thomas looks down at me, over the railing of his bed.
“Something is moving in the trees.” I tell him, putting my face right up to the screen and squinting, as though it’ll help.
“What? Where?” he asks.
“It’s on the other side of the walkway, a little past, about 10 feet, right in the tree line.” I start moving again, keeping up my slow jog, but my head is now almost invariably turned to the right, trying to see what the thing in the trees is.
At first, it’s hard to make out, just a dark blur keeping pace with me as I go. I slow down even further, hoping whatever it is will slow down as well. It works.
“It’s a girl.” I tell Thomas.
‘A girl?”
“Yes, I’m almost positive.”
“I don’t see anything.” Thomas says.
“What do you mean you don’t see anything? She’s right there….” I break off, mid-sentence, as I look at the screen again and realize she’s gone.
Okay, well maybe that was all in my imagination.
“Come on Jed. This is taking too long!” Thomas is getting frustrated with me, so I break into a run again, swinging wide around the worst of the mess. In just a few more seconds, I’ve made it to the edge of the grass.
As I get within shouting distance of the van, I see Thomas leave the front seat. He pulls the sliding door open then sticks out his hand, waiting for me to grab hold so he can pull me in.
He’s half kneeling in the van bay, like a man getting ready to propose to a woman, or a football player taking a knee. The sight of it makes me laugh. He’s got one foot flat on the ground. His knee is bent at a 90-degree angle. The other leg is behind him, the tips of his toes on the floor, and his knee almost touching the ground. It looks effective though. He’s bracing himself to pull me aboard, and I think he’s got the right idea.
I put on a burst of speed. There are no bugs around. I’m in the clear!
Making one last jump, I propel myself off the curb and into the metal safe zone when I hear the staccato of fast footsteps off to my side. There is a blur of shiny black, and I feel a rush of wind before I’m walloped straight in the chest.
As quick as you please, I’m knocked off my feet and toppled to the ground by the GIRL that Thomas didn’t see coming.
I knew it wasn’t just my imagination.
“Whoa!” Thomas yells from his bunk, “What just happened?!”
“The girl you said I imagined just knocked me on my butt!” I reply, testily.
I (once again) start to haul myself up off the ground, plucking grass and leaves out of my mouth and hair. My character is a mess.
I’m not taking long in my effort to put myself to rights, but apparently, the girl thinks I am because she wastes no time grabbing me by the arm and all but shoving me into Thomas. We both topple back into the van.
She jumps in after us, slides the door shut with a “BANG!” and yells: “Get us out of here, now!”
Thomas gets all indignant, as only a 12-year-old can. “Hey, who does this chick think she is!?”
As though she can hear our conversation, the girl turns toward Thomas, her exotic black eyes pinning him in place. “Your ridiculous amount of noise has brought the bugs, so unless you want to DIE soon, I’d suggest you get in the driver’s seat and get us out of here.”
“What does she mean? There aren’t any bugs.” He says.
I toggle my screen, looking out the window of the van and sure enough, the commotion has brought the bugs. Two antennae protrude from behind the library and are quickly followed by a giant, flat, brown head, beady eyes, and enormous, razor-sharp mandibles dripping with some sort of venom.
I do NOT want to find out what that venom does.
“Yep, the bugs are here, she’s right, so stop arguing and let’s go.” I tell him.
Thomas doesn’t waste any more time. He scrambles up the center of the van, slides between the driver and passenger seat, yanks the gear shift on the steering column to put the van in drive, and takes off down the street.
I say “takes off”, and that might give you the idea that he’s going fast, but he’s not. There is junk EVERYWHERE, especially on the street. It might be easy enough for a person to move through, but driving a large vehicle through it is much more problematic. He has to either turn the van around so we can head back to the pizza place, or he has to drive around the block.
Neither is a very good option, but he goes with rounding the block since he’s a terrible driver when he’s going forward, let alone moving in reverse.
“Who are you?” I ask the girl that just took five years of self-esteem off my life. How does a guy get over being tackled by someone 6 inches shorter and 20 pounds lighter?
I might need therapy.
“I’m Julia, who are you?” she asks.
“I’m Jed, and this is Thomas.” I tell her, pointing a thumb at my chest and then a finger in my brother’s general direction.
She nods as though we’ve just confirmed something for her. “I thought you must be.”
“What does that mean?” I ask. Then I change my question. “Why’d you tackle me, could you not have just waved and said “hello”?”
“Well, I could have, sure, but unlike you two noobs, I was trying to keep quiet, so as not.to.attract.attention.” She enunciates the last part of her sentence in that way people do when they think you might not get the idea.
All she’s missing are finger motions and big arm gestures.
In my head, I mime how people talk to someone with whom they don’t share the same language. “Can you tell me how to get to the store?” You know how they walk their fingers in the air and open their mouths extra wide, as though that sort of speaking will get the point across.
People are funny.
I turn back to Julia. She’s scowling at me.“Yes, well, sorry about that. It’s not like we knew they’d come if we made noise.” I say.
“How could you not know?! They’ve been here for five days!” she shouts, throwing her hands up in the air like we’re unruly (and incapable) children.
Five days…..wow, yes it has been five days since the Titanic, since Thomas saved me. It doesn’t seem like that much time. I didn’t even stop to think about how long this game has been wrecked because of us.
Have all of those people in the pizza place been in there for five days? Has Jak
e been here for five days? I know he’s some sort of Jumper? What if he jumps like me? Won’t he eventually starve to death if he can’t log out?
“How have you managed to stay alive so long?” I ask her.
“I’m good at hiding. The only reason I came out was that I wanted your van.” she looks around the metal bay. “It’s way better for transportation than walking, and it’s the first working vehicle I’ve seen since those nasty insects got here. It’s just a bonus that you two are the guys I was looking for, to begin with.”
“Why not just log out, or...I know you can’t log out, but why not just quit playing until the game is reset?” I mean, it makes sense to me, why go to all of this trouble.
“And wait, back to the other part. Why were you looking for us?” Curiouser and curiouser, this girl.
“To answer your first question, the game isn’t going to reset until you remove the beacon, is it, Jed? Since you haven’t bothered to show up until now, I had no idea how long that was going to be.”
I’m silent, Thomas is silent. How did she know about the beacon?
“How do you know about the beacon?” Thomas asks her.
“Oh goodie, now I can answer two questions at once, this should cover them both. I know because Kat told me, which is also why I was looking for you. She asked me to help you find it and remove it, so that’s what I’m trying to do.” She looks at me, again with the unspoken “duh” easily visible on her face.
“Wait, you know Kat?” I ask.
She turns again and looks at me, apparently getting exasperated with my questions. “Yes, I know Kat, we’ve played together for years. She needed a hacker, and I’m the best there is.”
“A hacker? What’s a hacker?” I ask. I mean I’ve heard of hacking, and I’ve complained of people “hacking” when things aren’t going my way in the game, but I have never met an actual hacker.
Thomas seems to be unconcerned with her hacker status, he settles for getting another dig in, probably to soothe his bruised ego.
“And you’re so humble, too.” he smirks.
She’s unphased, doesn’t even blink at his comment. “I don’t need to be humble, Thomas. I’m awesome, and I’m about to save your butt.”
“Okay, super smart hacker, tell us the plan then.” Thomas says as he continues the shifting, stop and start drive to the pizza place.
“I’m so glad you asked, it’ll be all the easier if you actually have a clue about what you’re doing.” she replies.
I swear Thomas’s face turns so red I think his head might explode. He needs to be thanking his lucky stars that we don’t have any sisters. I don’t know how he’d deal. He starts to reply, no doubt with more sarcasm, but Julia cuts him off.
“No, shhh, I’ll just imagine you said something witty and scathing, so consider me chastised, and let’s move on.”
Ha ha ha ha! Oh man, I like this girl so much! I wonder if she lives nearby, we could be friends, united in making Thomas angry. Good times.
“I have memorized every single gear code in the game.” she tells us. “I know things about this place you will never know, even if you went looking for them you probably couldn’t figure them out.”
“How do you know all of this stuff?” I ask. “I mean, is there some website that tells you the gear codes?” I’ve found a few of them, but they’re super hard to keep track of.
I tried writing them down once. I even tried putting them in the notes program on my computer. It was just too time-consuming, too hard to find an individual code when I needed it.
“Let’s just say that my brain is particularly suited to the task. I don’t need a website. I don’t need to write them down. They’re in here,” she taps her head twice with her forefinger, “and I never forget them.”
Apparently, Thomas has been silent for as long as he’s able at this point. “So, what, you’re going to hack us in some gear to use to kill these bugs? It seems pointless since there are only 3 of us, and about a hundred of them.”
“You’d know how many there are, wouldn’t ya Thomas?” she says, and I get a sinking feeling. “I mean since you’re the one who let them in here and all.”
Yep, the sinking feeling was dead on.
“I let them in here because of Kat!” Thomas says, angrily. “She was testing my abilities! I did my best to stop it!”
“Julia, stop, that’s not cool, it’s not his fault, he did it to save me.” I say, giving her a hard look. I mean I like this girl, but she’s hitting below the belt now.
Thomas abruptly stops the van, putting it in park. He hunches his body forward and puts his head on the steering wheel, arms hanging loosely at his side. They scrape against the cracked vinyl seat.
He sighs, heavily, and voices what I’ve been thinking about ever since we got into this mess. “What if I can’t stop it, guys? What if we never get rid of these bugs and the game never resets, and we can’t find the beacon?”
“And Jake dies.” I say. “Don’t forget that part.”
As soon as the words leave my mouth, I wish I could take it back. Like he doesn’t have enough on his plate. Stupid, Jed, stupid!
“What do you mean, “If Jake dies”?” Thomas asks.
Urghhh! Me and my big mouth!! I guess he wasn’t thinking along the same lines. Jake is a Jumper, and he hasn’t left the game. The only reason I can think of for him not leaving the game is that he can’t, which must mean he jumps like I do.
“Nothing, it’s nothing,” I say, rushing to reassure him, “I’m sure he’s here because Kat needs him to help us, just like Julia.”
Thomas sits up and looks at Julia in the rearview mirror, “Are you a Jumper? Is that why you’re here?” he asks.
She meets his stare, and her face softens like she understands now just how hard this is for him.
“No, I’m not a Jumper. I’m just a girl with a great memory.” she smiles at him. It transforms her face from serious and butt kicking to radiant. “I can help you, Thomas, I promise I can. We’re not going to lose this fight.”
I reach over and squeeze her hand, silently thanking her for doing what she can to reassure him. She squeezes mine back, briefly, and looks at Thomas again.
“Tell me why we’re going to the pizza place?” she asks him, getting us all back on track.
He puts the van back in gear and resumes driving, back straight, chin high, his posture making up for his failing confidence. “There’s a guy in there, his name is Jake, and he’s a Jumper, we know that for sure.”
I pick up the story for him so he can concentrate on the road.
“Jake sent me a message a little while ago asking me to come to the pizza place. He told me that he knows where the beacon is, and that if I can get to where he is, he can help me get in and get it. Once I get in, I can have my friends Adrian and Carina come in. They can port me into the game, I can grab the beacon, and they can port me back out.”
Julia looks at me for a few minutes, processing everything I’ve told her. “So, when you get ported into the game, you’re really here, not sitting at home, but here.” It’s not a question, but I find myself nodding anyway.
“If there were another way to do it, we’d do it,” Thomas says, “but, as far as we know, Jed is the only one who can take the beacons out of the game. If Jake had the ability, and he’s already near the beacon, I’m sure he’d do it himself.”
We’ve just about reached our destination now. Thomas starts to slow the van, stopping close enough to the giant window that we can see the people inside, and they can see us. We're far enough away that we’ll have a running start when the bugs take notice of us, and they will. I have no doubt.
I move up front, to the passenger seat, pressing my face to the window, scanning the people for Jake’s familiar blonde hair.
I send a message to Jake in the game:
MyNameIsJed - Okay, I’m here, what do you want me to do?
AnonymousJake - Hang on, let me go back up to the window. I can only do this on
ce, so I want to get it right.
MyNameIsJed - What are you going to do?
AnonymousJake - You’ll see, I’m almost there.
“What’s he doing?” Thomas asks. “What’s taking so long?”
“He’s not at the window, he just needs to get there, and then he’s going to create a diversion, maybe he’s going to toss something outside or something, I don’t know.” I tell him, shrugging.
We sit there for a few minutes, waiting for Jake to show up. The crowd at the window starts to shift around like they’re making room for someone jostling them, and Jake’s face appears at the window.
I wave to him.
He waves to me.
I hear Thomas and Julia yelling.
And my world goes black.
“Jed! Jed! Wake up!” Julia is yelling at me, slapping the side of my cheek, and it hurts!
Oh no.
It hurts.
“He ported me in!” I say in a panic, “He ported me in!” My breathing is fast and shallow. I think I might be sick. I am not ready to be in this game with these bugs that could actually EAT AND KILL me! My gosh, I hope it’s not in that order!
“He ported me in!!” I say again, and this time, Julia slaps me for a different reason, trying to instill some sanity back into my brain.
“Enough, Jed!” she says, snapping her fingers in front of my face. “I get that he ported you in, but you’re here now, and we’re just going to have to deal with it!”
She lunges forward in the van and grabs Thomas’s sleeve just as he starts to push his van door open. “Leave me be! I’m going to kill that little twirp!”
“Thomas, stay here, I mean it, do not make me restrain you!” she yells at him.
Thomas isn’t listening, he’s got murder in his eyes, and if he gets ahold of Jake, I have no doubt he’ll kill him. If Jake is a Jumper like me, it could be really, really bad.
“Don’t say I didn’t warn you.” Julia says.
In the next moment, she’s got a gun in her hand.
The World Keepers 7 Page 6