Deadman's Switch & Sunder the Hollow Ones

by Saul Tanpepper

  Contents

  “Dear GAMELAND Fan”

  Deadman’s Switch

  (chapter index)

  Sunder the Hollow Ones

  (chapter index)

  Author’s Note

  Tanpepper Tidings Subscription Link

  Get notified of updates, releases, & other news

  Copyright notice

  Acknowledgements & About the Author

  Insomnia: Paranormal Tales, Science Fiction and Horror

  * * CARE TO SHARE? * *

  S.W. TANPEPPER’S GAMELAND

  Episodes 3 and 4

  Deadman’s Switch

  Sunder the Hollow Ones

  by Saul Tanpepper

  http://www.tanpepperwrites.com/gameland

  Episodes 3 and 4 of S.W. Tanpepper’s GAMELAND

  by Saul Tanpepper

  Copyright © 2012 by Saul Tanpepper

  All rights reserved.

  1st published Aug 2, 2012 by Brinestone Press, San Martin, CA 95046 at Smashwords

  Cover design K.J. Howe Copyright © 2012

  PUBLISHER’S NOTE

  This book is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places, and incidents either are the product of the author’s imagination or are used fictitiously, and any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, business establishments, events, or locales is entirely coincidental.

  SMASHWORDS LICENSE NOTES

  Without limiting the rights under copyright reserved above, no part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in or introduced into a retrieval system, or transmitted, in any form, or by any means (electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording, or otherwise), without the prior written permission of both the copyright owner and the above publisher of this book. The scanning, uploading, and distribution of this book via the Internet or via any other means without the permission of the publisher is illegal and punishable by law. Please purchase only authorized electronic editions, and do not participate in or encourage electronic piracy of copyrighted materials. Your support of the author’s rights is appreciated.

  http://www.brinestonepress.com

  Tanpepper, Saul (2012-08-2). Episode 3 (Deadman’s Switch) and Episode 4 (Sunder the Hollow Ones) of S.W. Tanpepper’s Gameland series

  Brinestone Press Digital Edition (rev 130205)

  For more information about this and other titles by this author:

  http://www.tanpepperwrites.com

  A Heartfelt Thanks

  Dear GAMELAND Fan:

  A couple of your diehard colleagues commented to me the other day that the first couple episodes are quite long. “Not a complaint,” they assured me, “just an observation.” It left me wondering if they thought I was planning on keeping up the pace for the second half of the series.

  Many of you know by now that I cut my teeth as a writer by penning short stories. When I set out to write the GAMELAND series, my plans were to have each episode run roughly twenty thousand words, which is about the size of a short novelette. Beyond that, I gave the thought of length scant attention. In my mind, a story will have its natural length. Worry about telling the tale in a compelling way, and the length will find itself.

  Of course, the GAMELAND series is really a series of nested stories within a larger framework. Sort of like real life, eh? It turned out that each episode’s story arc required a more…comprehensive treatment. Twenty thousand words just wasn’t enough. Thirty seemed more reasonable. Thirty five, maybe.

  But story arc is only one determinant to a book’s length; other necessary minutiae that support the arc, such as backstory and character development, as well as the planting of details to be used later, all provide additional constraints. Rustling it all into each of the first four episodes required considerably longer tellings than I had foreseen.

  Not that I’m complaining :o)

  With the publishing of episodes 3 and 4, we’re now halfway through the series and pretty much all of the backstory has been written in. All that will be left is to step back and allow the characters to make their fateful way to their preordained destinations.

  (rubs hands evilly and laughs bwah ha ha ha)

  This means that the second half of the series will be a bit leaner. It’ll have more action and more revelations and less of that…that other stuff.

  Episode 3: Deadman’s Switch, is roughly 52,000 words. Episode 4: Sunder the Hollow Ones, at 44,000 words, is the bridge between the two halves.

  For those who have been with me now for a while, another heartfelt thanks for your continued support. In this new installment, as with the previous ones, I hope I meet the quality of writing and storytelling you have come to expect. I renew my pledge to always strive to write the most entertaining stories in the best way I know how and to render them to you as free of errors as possible. The entire series was recently revised and updated on 5 February 2013. I’ll be more than happy to redress any errors and inadvertent inconsistencies if you should happen to find any. Just email me and I’ll fix them in the updates. I hope they will be minor and few.

  If GAMELAND is your only experience with my work, I encourage you try my other works of speculative fiction—paranormal fiction, science fiction, satire—and, new this month, a non-fiction collaboration with my publisher that provides guidance in setting up and growing a profitable book review blog.

  If you haven’t already and you’d like to be notified of future releases and other news, just shoot me an email to authorsaultanpepper@gmail.com and ask me to add you to the GAMELAND mailing list. Or subscribe to my newsletter, Tanpepper Tidings, at https://tinyletter.com/SWTanpepper.

  The GAMELAND fan page on Facebook is growing. Please stop by and introduce yourself. Like the page if you wish (I’d greatly appreciate it). I provide update notifications, answer questions, post news, hints, contests, and other items of interest there.

  One final reminder: I always value the opinions of my readers and so encourage you to offer your thoughts on this work, positive or negative, publicly or privately. I want to know what you think. I always give any feedback serious consideration. Note that I do not engage reviewers or their posted comments in public. I want my readers to feel comfortable expressing their honest and thoughtful views in an open forum without fear of being stalked by me. If you choose to post a public review, you’ll find a helpful link at the end of this book.

  Now, sit back and enjoy the third and fourth episodes of GAMELAND.

  See you in The Game!

  And, once again, my deepest gratitude for your support.

  Saul

  San Francisco, CA

  February 5, 2013

  [BACK TO CONTENTS]

  GAMELAND

  Episode 3: Deadman’s Switch

  PART ONE: Promises Made

  Chapter 1

  Chapter 2

  Chapter 3

  Chapter 4

  Chapter 5

  Chapter 6

  Chapter 7

  Chapter 8

  Chapter 9

  PART TWO: Everything Can Change in an Instant

  Chapter 10

  Chapter 11

  Chapter 12

  Chapter 13

  Chapter 14

  Chapter 15

  Chapter 16

  Chapter 17

  Chapter 18

  Chapter 19

  Chapter 20

  Chapter 21

  PART THREE: Promises Kept

  Chapter 22

  Chapter 23

  Chapter 24

  Chapter 25

  Chapter 26

  Chapter 27

  Chapter 28

  Chapter 29

  Chapter 30

 
Chapter 31

  Chapter 32

  Chapter 33

  Chapter 34

  † † †

  PART ONE

  Promises Made

  Chapter 1

  I wait for the tram to pick up speed, but it just clicks quietly along at a steady pace, no faster than a jog. At this rate, it’ll take us an hour to get to the mainland.

  “Must be low on power,” Reggie says.

  “See if you can figure it out.”

  The darkness of the tunnel envelops us and we’re left in the meager glow of the safety LCD lamps shining down on us from the ceiling of the car. They turn Reggie into a pale ghost.

  “Let me know if you see anything strange.” I point at the grainy black and white image showing the leading end of the tram and the tracks that lie ahead. He nods. “Give us a couple minutes warning before we get to the mainland side. I want to make sure we’re prepared for whatever might be waiting for us.”

  “What do you think is waiting for us?”

  “I don’t know, Reg.”

  I also have no idea how he’ll know when we’re getting close, but I trust he’ll figure it out.

  I open the compartment door and head back to the main car where the others are seated. Nobody talks or moves. The door slides shut behind me.

  I wish I could shake this feeling of unease, or at least understand what’s causing it, but the stress is making me even more lightheaded than I already am. I can feel it in the back of my head at the base of my skull, a dull pressure, radiating toward the front. It feels like a caffeine headache, the kind I get when I drink too much caffeine too fast.

  Kelly stands up and walks over. When I gesture for him to sit, he settles into the hard plastic seat next to me.

  “I’m sorry about back there,” he says. “I was just so crazy worried about you, and then, when I saw you, I just about lost it.”

  I sigh and try to rub the tension out of my neck. I don’t say anything. I can’t even think straight right now.

  “I want you to know why I did what I did, Jess.”

  “I think I already know,” I say. “It’s all right. Micah told me. He said it was for love and responsibility. He said you did it for Kyle.”

  “For you, Jessie. I did it for you. I wanted to protect you.”

  I’m tired of that old argument. It doesn’t hold water with me anymore. “You see,” I tell him, “that’s the part I don’t understand. Your brother Kyle? I get that. You needed money for his hospital bills, so he can get the treatment. What I don’t get is all the rest.”

  “You figured that out then, the part about the bills and needing money.” Kelly exhales heavily and looks away, pinching his nose. “Yes, the first time we went, that was more about Kyle. But it’s not what you think.”

  “What I think? What I think is that I can’t believe you kept it from me. You ask me to spend the rest of my life with you, and then you turn around and keep secrets from me. How am I supposed to trust you?”

  “It’s because I love you that I kept these things from you. I love you, Jessie.”

  “What did Arc want you to do in return? Be a Volunteer?”

  “What? No! I would never do that!”

  Kelly sags away from me, holding his head in his hands. For a moment I think he’s crying, but then quickly dismiss the idea, so I’m surprised to see his face is wet when he looks up.

  “I was supposed to get Micah’s hack,” he admits. “I’ve been selling them to Arc.”

  “All of them? Even the light saber fix Micah wrote for his avatar in Zpocalypto?”

  He nods. “Yeah. I sold that one, too.”

  I stare at him for a moment, then a bubble of laughter rises up inside of me. I try to stifle it. He smiles at me, confusion on his face.

  “But, okay, then why go back for Jake? What does that have to do with Arc? Or Kyle?”

  “Nothing. That’s what I keep trying to tell you. That part was for you. And Jake too. A tiny, little bit for Jake. Mostly it was for you. And…okay, maybe a little bit for me. You really poured on the guilt back there. I mean, you were right: Jake didn’t deserve us turning our backs on him. I didn’t want to spend the rest of my life not being able to look at myself in the mirror and hating myself because I’d left him behind.”

  “You should’ve let us help.”

  “I figured it would be a simple rescue. Get in quick, get out quick. The fewer people involved, the better. Christ, I was wrong. And then, when those two guys from Arc found us, I was, like, cool. But I knew something was wrong, almost from the start. Sure enough, they betrayed me. They betrayed all of us.”

  “Why? What could they want with a bunch of kids?”

  “We’re not just kids, Jess. We’re hackers and gamers. And we’re nobodies. Who’ll miss us?”

  “We’re not nobodies.”

  He leans into me. The fatigue suddenly etched so deeply in his face that I’m afraid it’ll never go away. I take his head in my hands and pull him close. He hesitates at first, his eyes studying mine, looking for something that I’m not sure he’ll ever find in them. Maybe if he looks hard enough and deep enough he will. Maybe. I hope he keeps trying.

  And then we kiss.

  Oh God, I want so badly for this to be a dream. A nightmare fading into a harmless dream. I want to wake up from my life and just be with Kelly.

  When he finally draws away again, his eyes are closed. “Marry me,” he whispers.

  “If we get out of this—”

  “If? Don’t you mean when?” He smiles thinly, but it still manages to light up his face.

  I smile back, even as a deep sense of foreboding falls over me. I’m not as certain as he is that we will succeed in getting out of this.

  He sags against his seat until his head rests against the wall. In less than a minute, he’s asleep, his body finally yielding to his exhaustion.

  I wish I could sleep too, but I can’t. The throbbing in my head is worse. My stomach roils unhappily. I stand up to stretch. With one last glance downward at Kelly, I step toward the back of the car.

  Stephen looks over at me. “This isn’t about Arc,” he quietly says. “It isn’t even about you. It’s much bigger than that.”

  Jake gives him a quick shake of the head, a warning look in his eyes, silently telling him to shut up. But there’s something else in Jake’s face, too. Pain, I think. He looks like he’s desperately trying not to cry out.

  I go and stand in front of Stephen, blocking him from Jake’s view. I don’t need anyone to freak out like he did back there in the terminal. For a moment there I was sure he was going to lose it and murder someone. I can’t let that happen. I may have blood on my hands, but the rest of them are innocent. I’ll do what I can to make sure it stays that way.

  The tram rocks slightly and my body responds sluggishly. My brain feels like it’s sloshing around inside of my skull. My head pounds from the combination of tension and Kelly’s kiss, from fatigue and hunger. I wait for the pressure and the nausea to pass, but they only intensify.

  “What do you mean bigger than Arc?” I mumble.

  Stephen’s face swims before me. He laughs again and his voice sounds low and warped in my ears.

  What the hell is wrong with me?

  Across the aisle, Jake suddenly bends over and pukes between his shoes. I turn, startled by the sound, but the scene sweeps past my view and keeps right on spinning; it doesn’t stop. I catch a glimpse of Ashley slumped awkwardly in her seat. Tanya cries out, grabbing her head. She tries to stand, but crumples to the floor, writhing and making choking sounds. The scene spins and spins: Kelly, Jake, Micah, Ash, Tanya.

  Kellyjakemicahashtanyakellyjake—

  Stephen laughs and laughs.

  And then, from some deep place inside of me, I suddenly know what’s been eating at me. It was what Miss Novak had said about us not being able to leave. And then, earlier, in my room during the fight with Nurse Mabel, the words that so enraged me that I’d had to—


  That I…

  I…

  You’ll never escape.

  I had to kill her.

  I had to.

  Now I finally understand exactly what they’d meant: There’s something about the new implants they put in us. They’ve done something to them so we can’t leave.

  I hear Stephen’s voice cutting through the fog of pain: “Our failsafe.” He sounds so far away now, like he’s been whisked away, flying over the hills and into the clouds. I can almost see and feel those same clouds between us as my knees give way. He comes and hovers over me, as if the floor has lost all its substance, smiling like a manic angel.

  “You didn’t think we’d just let you go, did you?” he asks. “That’s why we have contingencies such as these.”

  He goes over to the cart and pulls out a pair of scissors and manages to cut himself free of his bindings. I watch helplessly from the floor, my muscles quivering like jelly, not responding to my commands.

  Yet, somehow, with an effort that feels both torturous and not my own, I find myself incredibly lurching to my feet. I smack into a pole and grab it to keep from falling, but I slide down. I rise again, pushing, straining against the mighty grasp of gravity. I need to make it back to Reggie. I need to tell him to stop the tram. To turn it around. My mouth doesn’t work. My lips are cardboard.

  I bounce between the poles, off the seats. Two more steps and my brain registers that the engineer’s compartment is empty. Reggie’s not standing at the controls. His body lies limp on the floor of the compartment, half through the open doorway, rocking with the movement of the car.