“I appreciate your candor,” he replied. “But they’re just a couple-three IUs. Nothing we can’t handle.”
She stopped and turned. “Three? How many have you seen since we left the church in Melville?”
He shrugged. “Including the one on the road and those three? Ten, eleven. A dozen at the most.”
“First of all, there are at least five over beneath that tree.” She swiveled her arm slightly counterclockwise and pointed at an old school. A set of rusted playground swings hung motionless on metal chains, weeds reaching past them. A plastic jungle gym with its colors faded nearly completely away had been overtaken by vines. A solitary school bus stood between them, its front end protruding through the perimeter fence it had crashed through. The back door of the bus stood open, the windows smashed out. The roof was blackened by a fire long since gone out.
“I don’t see anything.”
“Exactly.”
“I’m not following.”
Jessie walked over to the side of the road and appeared to be searching the ground for something. Grant waited, his hand on the gun. Finally, she bent down and picked up a couple walnut sized rocks. She set her feet and hurled one as hard as she could. It landed in the grass about ten feet shy of a rusted van on the frontage road. The second one shattered the windshield.
“Down,” she whispered harshly, and crouched behind the guard rail.
He joined her and waited.
Within minutes a dozen Undead had appeared, as if by magic, emerging from places he would never have thought could hide them.
“It’s the sun,” she told him in a low voice. “I think it dries them and they don’t like it. They hide during the day unless something draws them out, some sound or smell. That bus is probably full of them, inside and underneath.”
“Hide?” he said, doubtfully.
“How many IUs do you think there are here, on the island?”
“Not many. The outbreak took less than—”
“Twenty thousand people,” Jessie finished for him. “Yes, I know. That’s the official line. And supposedly most of them were later removed, reclaimed by families, cremated. But it’s not true, just like everything else Arc has been telling us. I’ve met people who were here when it happened, as well as people who stayed here afterward. The population of the island was almost ten million when the outbreak hit. One man told me that they blocked the exits and prevented anyone from getting out. Another woman told me there were probably over a million still here when they bombed the bridges.”
“A million?” He shook his head. “I don’t believe that.” But neither did he disbelieve her.
“I’ve seen hundreds of them come out of the woodwork,” she said, standing back up. “I’ve seen them hiding underneath cars and beneath pieces of wood and inside garbage cans you’d think were too small for them. They’re everywhere out here. All they need is a reason to come out, like you yakking away. Yes, we could fight our way through a whole bunch of them, but I’d rather save my energy for other things.” She pointed down at the seven or eight Infecteds gathering around the van. “So please, try and keep it down.”
“Fine, but at least tell me where we’re going,” he whispered.
“I told you— the wall.”
* * *
A half hour later they topped a rise in the road and caught their first glimpse of the eastern part of the Gameland wall. From the distance, it appeared like the gray fringe of a green ocean, the permanent crest of a wave perpetually rising over a sea of untrimmed trees. The mold-covered roofs of abandoned houses bobbed like flotsam through it.
“We’ll be able to start feeling it pretty soon,” Jessie told him. “The wall. That is, if the network’s still up.”
“Still? I thought it was down.”
“It came back on about a half hour after we left the church.”
“How could you tell that? I thought you had to be close to that Player to, you know, hear its thoughts.”
“Micah. His name was— is Micah.”
“Right. So, how?”
“It’s just a feeling I have.”
“Uh huh.”
The truth was, she’d been hearing whispers for a while, the voices of other Players. Despite Micah’s insistence that it wasn’t possible, she knew what she heard. There had to be some sort of leakage or something, because otherwise how could she explain hearing Master Rupert before she ended him but not after?
In any case, she hoped that once she reached the wall and got through it, they’d stop.
Which meant ditching Grant.
She thought about his daughters, which he’d only mentioned in passing the day they’d met back at the training facility. For their sake, she didn’t want to kill him. She knew what it was like to grow up without a father. She didn’t need that on her conscience.
Eventually, the wall dominated the horizon, rose above it, blotted out the sky. She could definitely feel its effects on her now. And it was clearly affecting Grant, too. She caught him shaking his head and rubbing his ears like they were ringing.
At the end of the road, which disappeared straight beneath the wall, she found a portal. Several temporary concrete road barriers were stacked haphazardly beside it, the only objects within a hundred feet, with the exception of the trunk of a dead maple tree. “We’re here.”
“I can’t let you go through.”
“Why not?”
“Because I can’t. Or, if I did, I wouldn’t be able to come back in again,” he told her. “I’d be finished with all this. I’d lose everything.”
Jessie sighed and shook her head. He was still thinking about this as a game. “You’re not going through. You can still play your silly game, make your money, just not by killing me.”
He didn’t move. “You think I’m just going to let you walk out, let ten million dollars slip through my fingers?”
“Yes. You let me live this long. You’re curious.”
“That’s an awful big assumption. Maybe I was testing you. Or waiting for the Stream to come back online.”
“If that was the case, you would’ve done it ten minutes ago.”
His eyes flicked to the sword in her hand. She let it fall to the road, then spread her arms out, giving him a wide open target. He could shoot her where she stood. His hand was just inches away from the pistol on his hip. He’d have it out and a bullet in her head or heart before she could reach him.
His hand jerked and moved toward his side. Jessie tried not to flinch. But he reached into his pocket and drew out his Link instead.
“Yes?” he said, placing it to his ear. His frown deepened as the person on the other end spoke. “Now?” he asked and looked around them at the desolate scenery. “Here?”
Jessie watched as he disconnected. “Who was that?” she asked.
He thumbed the Link off, then unclipped the pistol and drew it out of the holster. “I’m sorry. I was going to let you go. Really.”
“Who was that?”
“My partner.”
PART TWO
FOR IMMEDIATE TRANSMISSION
FROM: Qi Jacque Ma, Chairman and Founder, Abalila HG
TO: Padraig Harrison, President, Arc Properties
DATE: September 14, 2043
SUBJECT: RE: Gameland Long Island
Dear Mister Harrison;
Our test audience was highly impressed with last month’s exhibition of the gaming arcade at Long Island, but your skillful manipulation of the current live demonstration is especially remarkable. As such, I would like to invite you to meet with our executive team in Xanghou so that we may move forward with negotiations.
Yours truly,
Jacque
Chapter 24
“Negotiate?” Jessie whispered. She didn’t dare raise her head above the barrier for fear they’d shoot her. “Are you out of your mind?”
Grant shrugged. “You convinced me, didn’t you? And I’m not the most reasonable person around, either.”
“More
reasonable than them!” She flung her hand in the direction of the arcade, where three more Live Players, including Grant’s former partner Rosie Haycock, lay hidden from view. “They’re not interested in anything I have to say. All they’re thinking about is how ten million divided four ways instead of three is only two-and-a-half each!”
“Two-and-a-half is still a lot of money.”
She looked at him in shock. “So, what you just said about letting me go, that was a lie?”
He winced. “No.”
“Trust me, Grant. They’re not interested in letting me escape. They’ll stop me at any cost. If you go out there, you won’t be coming back.”
“I don’t think so.”
“You were wrong about them teaming up.”
Another wince. “They’re gamers, competitors, not murderers. They won’t do anything to me. And I know Rosie; she’s a decent gal. Let me talk to them. I’ll explain what you told me.”
“Not murderers? Really? You were willing to murder me.”
He opened his mouth to protest, then shut it without saying a word. It was true. He had set out to be the one to collect the reward for her head, to take the prize away from the others. They’d do the same if given half the chance. But would they resort to killing each other for a bigger slice of the pie? That seemed a lot more likely than letting her go.
He lifted the Link to his ear and thumbed off the privacy setting and activated the speaker. “I’ll meet with Rosie, but only on your word you all keep your distance until we agree. I see anything suspicious and I’m doing it myself.” He put a finger to his lips. “And you all will get nothing.”
“Fine.” It was a female voice, though it didn’t belong to Rosie Haycock. “We understand. You want the girl for yourself. But there’s enough to go around, isn’t there?”
They could hear her laughter across the infertile ground.
“Tie her up.”
“That’s not necessary, Jo. You’ve got her surrounded. It’s a hundred feet of open ground in every direction. She can’t escape.”
“Tie her up. Take her weapons. Check to see if she’s still got her EM pistol. Then send a picture so we can be sure she can’t escape.”
Jessie shook her head.
“All right,” Grant replied. “As long as you keep your distance.”
“Now you’re talking.”
More laughter.
“I’ll speak with Rosie only,” Grant said. “Which way is she?”
“Look south.”
A hand emerged from behind a rusted truck, waved once, then quickly disappeared.
“No funny business,” Grant warned.
“Just do what we fucking tell you!” Jo shouted from the opposite side.
“Okay, okay,” Grant said. He thumbed the Link and murmured, “That woman is going to bring every Undead within a quarter mile of here.”
“Not as long as the network’s up,” Jessie reminded him. “Not this close to the wall.”
“Well?” Jo screamed. “Hurry the fuck up!”
“Of course, I could be wrong.”
“Give me a minute to tie her up,” Grant said into the Link. “I’ll ping you back with the photo. And keep it down.”
“After you do, leave your camera propped up where we can keep an eye on the girl.”
He stowed the device into his shirt pocket, then reached into his pack and drew out a length of cord.
“You’re not actually going to do this, are you?” Jessie asked.
He nodded.
“They’re not going to let you talk them out of anything.”
“Gimme your wrists, Jessie. Don’t argue. And sit down— no, not this side. Back up against the other barrier there.”
“No, Grant, please, don’t do this.”
“Keep your voice down!” he hissed. “I’m tying a slip knot. You’ll be able to undo it by pulling one end with your teeth. Same thing with your feet. First chance you get, you take off through the wall.”
“How? I don’t have a key.”
“There’s one on my Link.” He showed it to her. “Press this and hold it against the wall.”
She stared at him as he made the knots. “Why? Why would you do this for me?”
“Not for you,” he said, though he didn’t elaborate.
When he was finished, he showed her which end of the rope to pull, then he took a picture of her bound and sitting in the dirt, her back against the barrier and sent it. “Do you still have the EM pistol?” he whispered.
She nodded. “But—”
“Good. You got Jo and Rosie on either side, which means Andy Emerson, Jo’s partner, is somewhere behind me off the side of the road, probably hiding in the brush. Remember, he’ll have the sun at his back.”
He picked up the sword, her staff, and her pack and made a show of throwing them away, right up against the base of the wall next to the portal. Then he stood up and reconnected his Link. “Don’t move,” he told her in a loud, gruff voice.
“Straight up the road,” Jo instructed. “Toward Emerson.”
“I said I’ll speak with Rosie. She’s—”
“Straight up the road. And no funny stuff. He gets trigger-happy and I know he won’t hesitate to put a bullet in her skull. Slowly now, pistol holstered and your hands where we can see them.”
“I’m on your side, Jo. Remember?”
“Funny, I forgot that for a second. Guess I’m not perfect. Then again, none of us is, right?”
Grant glanced down at Jessie. There was no fear in his face, no regret. “Sorry about keeping you in the dark like this.”
“You’re the one who’s in the dark,” she spat. “About everything!”
He shrugged and looked up, shielding his eyes against the late afternoon sun. “Few more hours of daylight,” he said. “Let’s not waste it.”
“No! Grant, don’t.”
He stepped out from behind the cement barrier and strode down the road, just as the sun began to burn the tops of the highest trees.
* * *
The minutes passed with inexorable slowness. A half hour, then an hour.
What the hell do they have to talk about for so long?
Jessie sat and glared at Grant’s Link, which he’d set on the ground propped up against the other barrier just past her feet. She could feel them watching her through it. She didn’t want to jeopardize Grant’s safety, so she didn’t move.
The shadows lengthened, rising from her feet and progressing up her legs while the stone of the concrete barrier at her back blazed with orange light. She could feel the heat coming off of it, baking her skin.
Grant had warned her to watch out for Emerson: He’ll have the sun at his back. But in Jessie’s mind, the ones she distrusted even more were the women. Maybe it was because Grant was a man that he thought they were less of a threat.
For such a good player as he said he was, he’d sure gotten a lot wrong.
One thing he got right was the sun. It was shining straight into her eyes, blinding her. She tried to squeeze herself down, to get away from it, but a shout came from her right: “Sit the fuck up, girl!”
So much for untying her bindings. Now she wished Grant had switched her position with the camera’s. At least then the sun would’ve been shining right on it and blinding the bitch.
Except they wouldn’t have let him do that, would they?
The shadow rose to the middle of her stomach.
She twisted her bound hands on her lap and gave the camera a double-fisted one-finger salute.
Nobody shouted, which only made her angrier. She raised her hands higher in fury, up out of the shadows, and repeated the gesture.
“Who the fuck told you to move?”
Jessie lowered them, but kept the glower on her face.
“Move again and your friend gets nothing, chicka,” Jo shouted, not bothering with the Link.
What did she care if Grant got nothing? What did she care if they killed him?
He’s already
a dead man.
She started to lift her fingers again at the camera in defiance, glancing down to make sure they were pointed at the Link. But the sun was right in her eyes and she couldn’t see a thing.
And that’s when she realized that they couldn’t see, either. That’s why Grant had insisted on her sitting right where he’d pointed. Her top half was lit up like a Christmas tree, while her bottom half was underexposed to the camera’s sensor.
Sorry about keeping you in the dark.
He’d known there was no way he was going to talk them out of this. He’d known and had provided her with a way to escape, even as he knew there was a very good possibility they’d either kill or hurt him badly.
So why were they taking so long?
She slowly drew her feet toward her hands, all the while keeping her eyes glued to the camera. She needed to hurry, as too much time had already been wasted. Once the shadows rose too high, the camera’s sensor would adjust its exposure setting and let in more light. They’d be able to see the part of her in shadow again.
Her legs were stiff from sitting after the long walk, and it was an effort to pull her ankles close enough that she wouldn’t have to stretch out to reach them, but she finally managed. Her fingers found one end of the knot. She wasn’t sure if it was the correct one, and she couldn’t see it.
“What’s taking so long?” she asked the Link.
“Soon, chicka,” Jo replied almost immediately. She sounded pleased. “Just sit tight.”
Jessie tugged on the rope, pulling with just her fingertips. It wouldn’t give. Now the shadow was almost up to her shoulders.
She tugged again, still to no avail.
“Okay,” Emerson shouted. “We’ve come to an agreement. I’m sending Grant back to tell you what it is.”
Jessie stopped pulling and jerked her head up.
She strained her neck to see over the top of the barrier and was promptly shouted not to move. But what did it matter if she did now? She fell back against the cooling concrete barrier.
He was coming. She could only see his silhouette against the sun, but she knew it was him. None of the other Live Players was as large as he was.
S.W. Tanpepper's GAMELAND: Season Two Omnibus (Episodes 9-11) Page 91