Project Alpha

by R. A. Mejia

  The horn blows, starting Wave 3 before we can drop any floor traps, but the wall and floor enhancements are automatically applied. This time, portals appear on the east and west sides of the coop. In addition to kobolds with axes and picks, we also have kobolds with bows and arrows.

  The trap hallways still take out a significant portion of the oncoming monsters but more make it through this time and even though Lillian takes the ones on her side out like a champ, she can’t be in two places at once. Covering the monsters on the east side falls to John and I. Between the wide damage range of my grenades and Johns accurate shooting, we manage to survive the round with the coop taking minimal damage from the kobold archers.

  Round four, John immediately begins laying down floor traps, Lillian and I gather additional resources. We face off portals from the north and west. Orc warriors are added to the mix this time. They do more damage and have more health than the kobolds, but aren’t as agile or quick. The new floor traps stack damage though, and few orcs make it through our trap hallways.

  Each new round is basically a repeat. We gather resources. We use upgrade points to enhance our walls and unlock or upgrade our traps to counter the new types of monsters that come through each round.

  Round 5 we get orcs with shields that take less damage from frontal attacks, so we install wall traps that shoot arrows to hit them from behind.

  Between rounds 5 and 6, we figure out that we can recycle the metal tools and weapons left behind for the steel resource. Allowing us to enhance the walls and make better traps.

  Round 6 we get a new type of speed kobold that runs faster than most of the traps can activate, so we add floor traps that have tar and slow movement down.

  Round 7 adds Goblins that have big barrels attached to their backs that explode when they die, causing durability damage to the walls and traps around it. So, we replace all the wooden walls with stone or steel ones and replace the destroyed traps. It costs us more resources, but that just means we have to gather more in between waves.

  Round 8 we start to get into trouble. Winged bats join the monster mash and fly right over all the walls and traps. My grenades aren’t designed to explode in mid-air, so I don’t have any offensive option except to use my hammer as they dive and attack the coop.

  Round 9 really sucks. Ogres that simply bash through the weaker walls join. Lillian races ahead through the traps to kill the Ogres, but she’s overwhelmed by the sheer number of other monsters, and we lose her. John and I survive the round, but our carefully designed trap hallways get destroyed. We repair them the best we can, but we don’t have the resources to repair the walls or replace all the traps.

  Round 10, long-range magic casters join the fray and just bombard us from near the portals, breaking down our steel coop and destroying our golden egg.

  After that John and I get teleported back to our locker room. Instead of being disappointed that we lost, Lillian is ecstatic. It turns out that everyone is defeated eventually in that contest. The contest is more about how long we lasted than any expectation of surviving the infinite number of waves that were possible. Our little team made 1st place, surviving longer than any other team. Many teams never even discovered the option to build fortifications and just tried to kill the waves of monsters with brute force.

  Chapter 46

  The base defense game ends the first day of the System Games. Lillian, John, and I are supposed to meet my mom and Marie outside our locker room, but when we try to leave we find a large crowd. The moment the crowd spots us, a cheer erupts, and people start to chant our names. A tall, good-looking man in a suit presents Lillian with a bouquet of flowers. She’s stunned at the attention and the gesture right up until the point that he gets down on one knee and proposes. Then she turns bright red and hits him with his flowers until he scrambles back into the crowd. After, she pushes her way forward through the crowd of fans; John and I follow closely behind.

  It’s kind of weird to hear women call out my name and tell me they want to have my babies, but what’s even weirder is being grabbed as I pass through the crowd. Even though security pushes back the crowd, hands reach out and grab my clothes. I feel hands tug at me as envelopes and packages are pressed into my hands as I pass. I don’t want to get left behind, so I simply take all the packages with me as I run after John and Lillian. I spot my mom and Marie trying to talking to a security guard. I hear my sister yelling, “Of course he’s expecting us. He’s my brother!”

  I tap the security guard on the shoulder, and he turns around. He looks annoyed at first until then a look of recognition comes over him. “Contestant Tinoco? Sir, these women say they’re related to you. I’ve already turned away half a dozen others claiming to be your girlfriend or relative. Would you like for me to have them escorted out of the building?”

  A truly mean thought passes through my mind. I momentarily imagine my sister being dragged away by security kicking and screaming and thrown out of the building. That’ll teach her to tell embarrassing stories about my childhood. Then I remember my mom’s with her, and it sours the thought.

  Smiling, I look up at the guard and tell him, “Yeah, it’s ok. They really are my mom and sister. You can let them through.”

  With a simple nod, the security guard lets the two pass. My mom hugs me, but my sister scowls at me like she knows what I was thinking a few seconds ago. The three of us have to jog to catch up to Lillian and John who are waiting for us at the stadium exit. The stadium exit takes the five of us to a random location in the U.S., and from there we use Lillian’s home base key to get us home.

  Wow. Did I just think of the office as home? Walking through the front door to Monster Squashers Inc., I realize that even though I’d only lived there for a few weeks, the place has started to feel like home. Especially with my mom and Marie being there so much. Sure, I’d been busting some pretty long days training. Yet, no matter what time I got in, my mom was waiting for me, usually with a meal. Sometimes Lillian or Marie would join us, and we’d all talk about what we did that day. Is that what makes a home? Having the people you love around you?

  Someone snaps their fingers in front of my face, breaking me out of my train of thought. I look to see who’s attached to those snapping fingers and find Marie looking up at me.

  “You ok there, bro? You were spacing out for a while there.”

  “Uh, yeah. Just got lost in my thoughts.” Smiling at my sister, I continue, “So how did you like the System Games? I only got to see the parts I was in.”

  My sister’s eyes light up, and she spins around with her hands raised in the air. “It was amaze-balls, bro, there were so many cool events, and people with amazing powers. There was even one girl my age that could shoot rainbows from her butt!” She laughs at the memory so hard that she snorts. “It was both the most disgusting and adorable thing I’ve ever seen.”

  I hear my mom sigh. “Marie, you shouldn’t talk about things coming from…there so casually. It’s not lady-like.”

  “But Mom, it was so funny. Why not?”

  My mom’s eyes widen at being questioned, and I know she’s about to go into a lecture about the merits of being a lady. So, I cut the argument off at the pass and ask my mom, “Mom. What did you think of our team's performance today? Did I make you proud?”

  Yeah, I know I’m pandering to my mom’s pride, but it’s worth it to avoid listening to her and Marie argue about gender stereotypes and generational differences. The two have gotten into screaming matches about it before.

  My mom raises an eyebrow at me and gives Marie a quick glance. She likely senses that I’m trying to divert her attention, but she still can’t help but take the bait. She pinches my cheeks and tells me, “Oh, Anthony! It made me so proud to see you in those games. You beat all those scary monsters and helped your friends win. All those people in the audience were yelling and cheering for you. The lady that sat next to me didn’t believe I was your mom until I showed her a picture of you when you were a little boy. You
know, the one where you were tucking you pee pee between your legs and pretending to be a girl.”

  “Wait, what?”

  I hear the loud snort of laughter and look behind my mom to see Lillian covering her mouth with her hands, trying to hold in her giggles. John has conveniently turned away, but his neck is all red. Marie is just sticking out her tongue at me and making faces.

  Turning back to my mom, I see her looking proudly at me. “Mom, I’ve asked you not to show people that picture before, It’s too embarrassing.”

  “But you look so cute, mijo.” She pulls a small wallet out of her purse and flips to the offending photo to show it to me.

  I hear a crashing sound and see Lillian leaping over an overturned chair rushing towards my mom. “Oh my god, I have to see this!”

  I can feel my face turning red as my mom shows Lillian the photo and the two laugh together. I walk away in an attempt to salvage my pride and ignore the situation. I put the small notes that were shoved into my hands onto Lillian’s desk and start to open them.

  John walks over to me in a sign of manly solidarity. “Got some fan mail already I see.”

  “Uh, I guess. A bunch of people just shoved things into my hands as I walked past them. That crowd was kind of crazy, wasn’t it?”

  He nods and notices a pink string among the paper notes. John tugs at it and reveals a pink g-string. My eyes bulge at the sight of the underwear dangling between his fingers.

  “Woah, I have no idea how those got there.” I try to think back to who could have handed those to me, but the entire crowd is just a blur in my mind. “I wish I could remember who handed those to me.”

  “Oh, do you?” a voice behind me asks.

  Turning slowly, I see Lillian standing behind me. There’s nothing I can say that will get me out of trouble, so I just smile at her and shrug. I go back to looking through the notes. Most are well wishes and congratulations on doing so well so far. A few are offers for dates and phone numbers. One has a rather racy photo attached, but Lillian quickly grabs that one and tears it up.

  One of the last pieces of paper gives me pause though and sends a shiver down my spine when I read it.

  Anthony,

  You may have thought you escaped me, but I’m still watching you. This is your last warning. Quit the System Games now, or you’ll regret it.

  I turn the paper over, but there’s no signature. My mind races, trying to remember when I got this note and who gave it to me.

  A hand touches my arm, and I jump. Lillian is beside me and asks, “What’s wrong, Anthony? You look like you’ve seen a ghost.”

  Instead of answering, I hand her the note. She quickly reads it, then asks, “Do you think it’s him? Do you think it’s the man in the mask?”

  I nod mutely. He was there. The man that kidnapped and killed me was there in that stadium somewhere. He may have even been watching my mom and sister. All the potentially sinister things he could have been doing race through my mind. Each thought worse than the last.

  “Good.”

  I startled out of my thoughts by the statement. I look down at a determined looking Lillian. “It’s good that this creep was there? How?”

  “It means that we have a shot at seeing his face and tracking him.” Seeing that I don’t understand what she means, she continues, “That stadium is covered in cameras. The face of whoever handed you this note will be on one of them.”

  Oh, I get it now. This is some of that CSI stuff. I’m going to ask Lillian if she’s going to use a spectral analyzer or something, but she’s already walking away talking on the phone with someone. When she finished talking, Lillian tells us that she called the agent from the Oversight Committee that is handling our case. He should be right over.

  Within ten minutes, Lillian gets a notification and lets Agent Smith into the office. He’s still wearing the same black suit as the first time I saw him. He takes the note as evidence and promises to have it tested for fingerprints and trace DNA. He also says he’ll have his team look over the video footage from the System Games and the security cameras in the stadium. He’s gone moments later, and we’re all left worried about tomorrow.

  I assure Lillian that I won’t be quitting just because some lunatic was able to pass me a note. But there is still a concern in her eyes as we all go to sleep in our separate beds that night.

  Chapter 47

  The next day, I’m up early, hoping that news has come that the man in the mask was identified and caught. There’s news, but it’s not what I want to hear. There were no trace elements or fingerprints on the note beside mine and Lillian’s. Agents at the Oversight Committee are still going to through footage identify everyone in the crowd yesterday. However, everyone identified so far has been a dead end.

  I know it was a long shot that he’d be captured so soon, but I can’t help but feel disappointed. Still, no point in dwelling on what isn’t.

  I shower, change, and eat with my family and Lillian. My mom makes my favorite breakfast, chilaquiles, for good luck. After an unusually quiet and tense breakfast, the five of us join John in the office. Together we all take off for the System Games.

  Once more, we port a few times through different cities to get to the stadium. Once through security, which seems to be heightened, my mom and sister kiss me for good luck and go to their seats. Lillian assures me that the two of them will be safe and that she’s made sure that private security is keeping an eye on the two. The news gives me some assurance that the man in the mask won’t be able to get to the two.

  Joining Lillian and John in the locker room, I’m surprised to see the two of them with broad smiles on their faces.

  “What’s up, you guys?”

  “We have a gift for you. We know that you got a new ability yesterday but that you can’t use it because it’s meant for technology-oriented creatures. So, John and I scoured the System Store last night and found something that may let you use your new invisibility ability.”

  John presents me with a package wrapped in tissue paper. I take the item and rip off the wrapping to reveal a long black cloak. There’s a glitter in the fabric, and when I take a closer look, I can see gold circuits woven into the material. I examine the item.

  Techno Cloak

  A cloak that has integrated circuitry that allows a User to program in special effects; as long as the cloak has access to a level 2 power source or higher.

  The part about needing a power source bothers me a little, but I hope that my new ability Camouflage works that part out on its own. I equip the cloak and mentally activate the ability. The world around me loses its color, and everything is now in tones of grey. The sound seems to be muted too, and even though I can see Lillian talking, her words seem muffled. Lillian and John look overjoyed, and their eyes search the room for me.

  I pull up my character sheet and see that the ability costs 5 TP per second of activation. I have 350 TP, so that means I can activate the ability for a max of 70 seconds.

  I deactivate Camouflage, and the world returns to normal.

  “Sweet, it works!”

  The two clap me on the back, happy to have been able to help their teammate out.

  Before we can get too excited, there’s a chime, and a portal opens up in the locker room, signaling that the System Games have started again.

  After making sure all my ammo replenished, and my new tech cloak is in place, I walk through the portal after my teammates.

  There’s a bright flash of white, and I find that we’re in the middle of the stadium. In the seats above us, a crowd of spectators cheer and scream. The noise is almost deafening.

  Out on the field are the top players continuing into the next round. Now that there are so few of us, I catch a glimpse of a familiar face on the other side of the field. Was that Auden Arschloch? Is he competing? I mean, I knew that the Arschloch Corporation would have a team here, but I didn’t think the heir to the throne would compete.

  The screens floating above the stadi
um come to life, and an announcer's voice begins talking over the speakers, “Ladies and gentlemen, welcome to the grand finale of the System Games! Today we have a fine show for you. Six teams have made it through to the finals and instead of having them run some race or fight in another dungeon, we’ve decided just to have them fight each other for the honor of being crowned winners of this year’s System Games.”

  The crowd cheers even more loudly and several groups start to yell for their favorite team. After a moment, the announcer continues, “This will be a single elimination tournament. Losers will leave the field, and winners will keep fighting until only one team remains.”

  Another cheer from the crowd, but the announcer just talks over them, “Opposing teams are chosen at random as are the playing fields. We’ll begin in 3…2…1.”