by Dustin Brady
Ohhhhhhh. OK, now that I thought about it, Pizza Boy did sound a lot like Pac-Man. Now it made sense why Max would be so upset. He felt like he’d invented the most popular game of all time only to have it stolen by his best friend.
“I fought for years to get my creation back, but nobody would believe me. Eventually, I learned the lesson that I hope to teach you: If you want something, you’ve got to get it yourself. As a warrior, you have no friends. You only have allies. You and your ally have used each other to get to my castle. That’s good. Now, it’s time to be great.”
Floating balls appeared with an old arcade BLOOP sound effect. Just then, Eric sprinted around the corner. “The computers are set up in a maze!” Then his eyes got wide when he saw the floating balls. “It’s the Pac-Man maze!”
“Your final test is Pizza Boy the way it was meant to be played,” Max said. “In this game, the ghosts are not your enemy. Your partner is. The game only stops when one of you dies. And just so you know, I’ve programmed death by ghost to be the most painful thing anyone could ever experience.”
BLOOP-BLOOP-BLOOP!
The sound of ghosts started closing in.
“One more thing,” Max said. “I’ve added a small mercy to this version of the game. If you’re having trouble pushing your partner in front of a ghost, simply drink one of the Dr Peppers on the table. Your partner will die instantly and painlessly. OK, warriors. Claim your prize.” With that, Max disappeared.
Eric and I stared at each other in shock for a second. Then, Eric dove for the soda.
Chapter 19
Pizza Boy
“WAIT!” I jumped out of my chair and grabbed for the glass before Eric could drink.
Eric snatched the glass away. “I’m not gonna let you kill me!” he said as he dumped it out.
I stared at him dumbfounded. “You actually think I’d drink that?”
Eric dumped the second glass too. “I don’t know anymore.”
“Eric, I would never . . . ”
BLOOP-BLOOP-BLOOP!
A red ghost cut my explanation short when it emerged from the computer maze to my left. I pushed my rolling chair into the ghost to slow it down, but the chair went straight through because—duh—it was a ghost. I joined Eric and ran through another opening in the maze.
“You have to know I would never do that to you,” I tried again.
“You’re all about following his rules, right?”
“Come on, Eric.”
“The rule is that one of us has to die. Well, who’s it gonna be, huh?”
BLOOP-BLOOP-BLOOP!
A pink ghost emerged in front of our faces. We doubled back, then turned down another hallway.
“He’s lying again, you know,” Eric continued. “There’s another way out.”
I nodded, even though I knew in my heart that Eric was wrong. Eric hadn’t heard Max’s story. He hadn’t seen the emotion. The Pizza Boy thing meant a lot to Max—maybe more than anything that had ever happened in his life. The whole Warrior Challenge had been building to this moment. Max had designed his challenge for teams because he needed to teach this
one final lesson.
Suddenly, Eric slammed on the brakes. “I have an idea! Give me a boost!”
I boosted Eric on top of the computer towers, then he helped me up just as the blue ghost arrived. Soon, the other three ghosts joined up and started circling our location. It was creepy, but at least the four ghosts were too short to reach us. While I caught my breath, I took a moment to check out the room. It was a big square just like the room with Mr. Gregory’s computer tower from the real world. Actually—maybe it was the room from the real world.
Eric interrupted my thoughts by pointing to the blue ghost, which now had one arm. “We’ve got a problem.”
I watched in horror as the ghost sprouted a second arm that grew long enough to reach the top of our tower. “GO, GO, GO!”
Eric and I took off just as the blue ghost pulled himself up. We raced along the towers until two more hands appeared ahead. I grabbed Eric and tumbled to the ground just as the pink ghost pulled itself up. Then I stood up, took two steps, and—“OOF!”—tripped over one of the extension cords snaking along the ground. Eric turned to help me up, but the pink ghost jumped between us.
“SPLIT!” Eric yelled.
I ran left, and Eric ran right. The pink ghost chose me.
BLOOP-BLOOP-BLOOP!
Even though I was running as fast as I could, he was still gaining. I put my head down and pushed harder. My chest felt like it was on fire.
BLOOP-BLOOP-BLOOP!
Tears started coming when I realized that we were out of options. One of us had to die, and that was that. I decided that it would be me. Just as I was about to give myself up to the ghost, I tripped over another cord.
“OOF!”
BLOOP-BLOOP—
Silence.
I looked up. The ghost was no longer pink. Instead, it was bright blue and had a scared face. Behind the ghost was Eric. Wearing a chef’s hat.
“PIZZA BOY TO THE RESCUE!”
Eric easily overtook the ghost and tackled it. The ghost disappeared with a BLING!
“That was unbelievable!” I said.
“Pizza Boy never leaves a soldier behind.”
“What happened?”
“I picked up a slice of pizza and got this sweet hat.”
Just then, the hat started blinking. Another blue ghost peeked around a corner.
“Get back!” Eric yelled. He dove at the ghost, and it disappeared with another BLING just before Eric’s hat vanished for good.
“So we just find more pizza and kill all the ghosts!” I said.
“The pizza doesn’t kill them; it just sends them back to the middle of the maze,” Eric said. “Haven’t you ever played Pac-Man?”
I ran alongside Eric for a few seconds before speaking up again. “You know one of us is going to have to die, right?”
“Stop talking like that!”
The orange ghost rounded the corner in front of us. We turned around. The red ghost appeared behind us. Eric ducked down a side hallway and reappeared with the chef’s hat. I waited patiently while he ran after the two ghosts screaming and waving his arms. “I want it to be me,” I said when he returned.
“Pizza Boy never . . . ”
“Eric, come on,” I interrupted.
Eric grabbed me. For the first time, he looked truly scared. “There’s another way, OK? You can’t give up.”
“You’ll have a better chance against Max. You’re better at . . . ”
“STOP!” Eric clenched my arm tighter. “I’m not letting go until we get out of here, do you hear me?” He got two steps down the hallway before tripping over a power cord. “These stupid, stupid . . . ”
My eyes lit up. “Power cords!”
“They’re the worst,” Eric said as he kicked at them.
“No, I have an idea! The power cords need to go somewhere, right?”
“Yeah. The wall.”
“No, I mean, there are a ton of cords here. You need something big to handle all that power.”
Eric shook his head like he didn’t get it.
“I think this room is a replica of the one Mr. Gregory is in right now. Remember how he said he could shut down the power?”
Eric’s eyes lit up. “That electric box!”
“Right! I’ll bet we can shut this whole thing down if we just find it!”
“YES!”
BLOOP-BLOOP-BLOOP!
The pink and orange ghosts rounded the corner in front of us, while the blue and red ghosts cut off the route behind us. They were starting to work together.
“Boost me!” Eric said.
I shoved Eric on top of the computers, then he helped me up just in time. We had onl
y a few seconds to scan the room. Come on, come on, come on . . . “There!” I pointed to the metal box in the far corner.
“And there’s a pizza slice!” Eric yelled, pointing down below.
We hopped off the tower and made a beeline for the pizza slice. Eric grabbed it, turned, and karate-chopped two ghosts.
“HIYA! HIYA!”
We immediately climbed another tower to scout out the next pizza slice. Eric grabbed it and covered us long enough to get to the next slice. We worked our way across the maze like that. By the time we got to our fourth slice of pizza, the ghosts were mad. Like, really mad. By now, they were flying around the maze at least twice as fast as we could run. We climbed on top of one more tower, and I mapped out a path to the breaker box. “I can make it!” I yelled to Eric. “You got the pizza?”
“Uh . . . ”
No time to discuss. Ten pink fingers appeared next to Eric. We jumped off the tower, and I sprinted toward the box.
About halfway there, I realized I’d made a huge mistake.
The breaker box was way too far to reach in one run, and the orange ghost was catching up fast. “ERIC! WE COULD REALLY USE A PIZZA RIGHT NOW!”
BLOOP-BLOOP-BLOOP!
The orange ghost could smell blood. It seemed to speed up. I rounded the final corner and stumbled over a cord but didn’t fall.
BLOOP-BLOOP-BLOOP!
The breaker box was about 15 feet away. That was 10 feet too far. I could feel the ghost behind me now—it felt like static electricity. In about five steps, it’d all be over. Time started to move in slow motion.
BLOOP!
I sucked in a sharp breath and tensed up.
BLOOP!
Something slammed into a tower at the far end of the hallway.
BLOOP!
Eric.
BLOOP!
Our eyes met, and Eric instantly recognized that I was about to get swallowed by the ghost.
BLOOP!
Without hesitating, Eric used all his might to push off the computer tower.
BLOOP!
I had a moment of confusion, then started screaming when I saw the red ghost round the corner behind Eric.
BLOOP!
Eric launched himself directly into the belly of the ghost.
Chapter 20
Emergency Exit
“AHHHHHH!”
Eric started screaming the most ear-piercing scream I’d ever heard. With the scream, the orange ghost behind me stopped in its tracks.
“ERIC!”
Eric’s face froze, even as he continued screaming. His body turned gray and developed jagged cracks, just like the suit on the dinosaur planet. Then, his scream reached higher and higher pitches until it sounded digitized—like one of those auto-tuned songs.
“AHHHHHH!”
I sprinted toward Eric with tears streaming down my face. What was I supposed to do? Tear him away from the ghost? His arm would break off. I looked away. That’s when I noticed the breaker box.
Of course.
It was probably too late, but I skidded to a stop anyway, threw open the metal door, and flipped every switch to “OFF.”
The yellow lights immediately turned off. The computer hum went away too. Even the ghosts disappeared. The only thing that remained was the sound of Eric’s scream. And that eventually faded too.
“AHHHHHHhhhhh . . . ”
After a moment of silence, I called out, “Eric?”
No answer. I crept forward, my eyes adjusting to the dim red glow from an emergency exit sign. “Eric? Come on, buddy.”
I stopped walking and listened. I heard ragged breathing.
“Eric! Talk to me!” When I reached my friend, I gasped. Yes, he was still alive, but he looked like he shouldn’t be. Every inch of his body trembled. He had his hands balled into fists and his eyes squeezed shut.
I grabbed one of Eric’s fists. “Eric, it’s OK. They’re gone. They’re all gone.”
“It . . . hurts.”
“What hurts? Tell me what hurts.”
“Hhhhhhhead.”
“OK, I’ll . . . ” I stopped when I looked at Eric’s head. I don’t know exactly how to explain this, but his head looked like one of those clay projects you do in art class after it’s been baked in the kiln. It was all lumpy with a bunch of hairline cracks. I gulped. “We’ll get you bandaged up, OK?”
“Ch-ch-ch-ch . . . ” Eric’s teeth were chattering, but he finally got it out. “Chest.”
“Your chest hurts too? That’s no problem. We’ll . . . ”
Suddenly, Eric’s eyes popped wide open. “FIRE! IT’S ON FIRE!” He started beating his chest.
“Stop! There’s no fire!”
Eric wouldn’t listen to me. He kept whacking his chest harder and harder until something cracked. Eric started moaning. “Ohhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh.”
My tears dripped onto Eric’s body. “Just lie still, OK, buddy? I need you to lie still for me.”
I looked up to collect my thoughts and noticed a security camera pointed at me. “Hey!” I yelled. “Hey! We solved your challenge!”
Nothing happened.
“You have to let us out!”
The camera continued to stare.
I stood up, snapped a knob off the nearest computer, marched to the camera, then threw the knob so hard my elbow hurt.
“YOU HAVE TO FIX HIM! DO YOU HEAR ME?! YOU HAVE TO!”
I was prying off another knob when I heard a click. I looked toward the noise and saw the door underneath the emergency exit sign creak open.
“Wait here!” I called to Eric as I marched toward the door. My body was overflowing with so much rage and adrenaline that I felt like I could punch through a wall.
“I’M HERE!” I yelled as I strode through the door.
Click. Click. Click.
Overhead lights flickered on to reveal a large office, empty except for a treasure chest, an oversize desk that held a laptop, and two figures—Max and the Hindenburg.
Max smiled. “Welcome, warrior.”
Chapter 21
Supreme Ultimate Warrior
I ripped a page from Eric’s playbook by marching up to Max, winding up, and punching as hard as I could. Just before I connected with his stomach, Max grabbed my fist.
He was finally real.
“That’s not very nice.”
“Fix him,” I growled through clenched teeth.
Max tsk-tsk-tsked. “You made this much harder than it needed to be.”
“We figured out Pizza Boy! Now you have to fix Eric!”
“What did you figure out exactly?”
“The breaker box! We shut down the whole thing.”
“Oh, you thought you did that? Noooooooo. No, no, no. You didn’t shut down anything.”
“Yes, we did. All the lights turned off. The ghosts disappeared.”
Max patted my head like I was a toddler. “That box doesn’t do anything. My world doesn’t need electricity to work. All it needs is my permission. See?” Max snapped his fingers, and the orange ghost reappeared 10 feet away and started charging. I didn’t scream or flinch. Max waited until the ghost got an inch from my nose and snapped again. The ghost disappeared. “I shut off the game so we could have this little chat.” Max leaned in a little. “See, I control everything here.”
“Not the temperature,” I shot back.
“Excuse me?”
I pointed to the sweat stains forming under Max’s armpits. “The Reubenverse is overheating, isn’t it? That’s why everything’s so hot.”
“You’re hot?” Max asked. “Why didn’t you say so?” Suddenly, the room felt 20 degrees cooler. “Is that cold enough?” Everything turned to ice. “I can make it colder if you like.” I tried to remain still, but I couldn’t stop myself from sh
ivering. Max snapped his fingers again, and the ceiling folded back on itself to reveal a raging blizzard. Wind whipped around the room, and snow started piling in the corners.
I shivered uncontrollably, and my fingers turned blue. I tried my hardest not to give Max the reaction he was looking for, but I finally gave up. “STOP!”
Max shrugged and snapped. Everything went back to normal. “If you start getting uncomfortable again, please let me know.”
“Unnnnnnnnnng.”
I spun around to see Eric shakily crawl into the room. In full light, he looked 10 times worse. Once he made it all the way inside, he collapsed and moaned again. “Unnnnnnnnnng.”
“Oh my,” Max said. “Is he well? He doesn’t look well.”
The sight of my best friend reenergized me. I wound up to punch again. This time, Max simply held up his hand, and I couldn’t budge.
“Don’t. Do. That,” Max said. Then, he put down his hand, and my fist fell to my side.
Eric tried to stand, but something cracked, and he fell back down. “Unnnnnnnnnng.”
“Shhh, shhh, shhh, just relax,” Max said. He walked over to Eric and circled him twice. Then he looked
at me. “You really did a number on your friend, didn’t you?”
“You did this!”
“No, I didn’t. I told you how to do this nicely. Remember? This is on you.” Max touched Eric’s head, and a bunch of hair came off in his hand.
My adrenaline went away, and I felt like collapsing. “Just make him better. Please. That’s all I ask. Make him better and we’ll never bother you again.”
“You want to make things better? I’ll give you a second chance.” Max walked to his desk and pulled another glass of Dr Pepper from a drawer.
My breathing quickened when Max set down the soda on the desk—right next to his computer. This was my opportunity. I played along. “So—so if I drink that, Eric goes back to normal?”
“Oh, no no no. He’ll never go back to normal,” Max said. “Our actions have consequences. No, this will kill him. But it’ll do it without pain!”