Gamer (Gamer Trilogy) (3 page)

Adrenaline was still coursing through my veins and now I
was standing to back to back with Lily, drenched in sweat
and straining my senses for the sound of huge amounts of dirt
being shifted. Nothing. The onslaught seemed to have
ceased for the time being and both Lily and I collapsed to the
ground, already exhausted.
The trees had blocked out any light from above and for the
second time, we were shrouded in complete darkness as well
as silence.
“Thanks,” I managed to say between breaths.
“No problem,” her voice sounded hoarse.
We sat for a moment and just waited.
Slowly a pulsating ball of light formed above us, bobbing up
and down. Lily immediately jumped to her feet but I was less
concerned than her. I climbed to my feet at my own pace and
curiously observed the ball swishing and swaying and the
darkness.
In the small area of grass it lit up, I could make out a path
that was slowly forming itself. Silently, stones emerged from
the earth, along its edges flowers budded and stones became
borders. It flourished into something quite picturesque and
as the light rose to reveal further into the distance, the
pathway seemed never ending. It began to look inviting but
we were reluctant to move without having to, especially
down a path that could be very well leading us to our deaths.
I looked over to Lily and she looked back, then mulled it
over and nodded. We both began to follow the path, which,
conveniently, didn’t have any trees within a meter of it. I
seemed hypersensitive though, already my body had begun to
adjust and at the smallest noises, I leapt into the air. I raised
my arm and tried to touch the light but it swooped out of my
reach.
I then squinted and tried to look into the distance but I
couldn’t see anything past the light. We really had no choice
but to walk along with it now and when the light seemed to
climb higher, we could see that the path still seemed to be
unfurling itself, like it was only here because we were.
My pulse slowed a little, I began to breathe normally and I
noticed that Lily’s hand was clutching mine, she, who had
kept a level head throughout the entire forest eruption ordeal,
now looked traumatized.
“The silence,” was all she said.
I nodded in acknowledgement and understood.
Grimly I took note of her temporary, aware that it might
help me eliminate her later on.
I was about to point out to her that the path was
disappearing behind us but we emerged into a clearing.
The light rose even higher into the air and my heart beat
harder again. We were standing in a circular patch of dirt,
surrounded by glass trees. Glass trees. Exact replicas of the
ones from my dream.
The light dimmed again and I could just make out the trees
around us melding back into the ground. The sound of
things quietly shifting became more pronounced and then,
the light became yellow and it now hung from within a light
bulb.
The forest setting had been completely replaced by a room.
Lily’s grip on my hand tightened a little and I looked around.
The room was hexagonal in shape, with a platform placed at
each of the room’s six corners. Standing on those platforms
were the other Testees. I almost exploded with relief when I
saw Stefanie. All this shifting of forests and fighting for my
life had scattered me in the last hour, I’d felt like I was on
another planet. Stefanie was something real and familiar. I
had known her for so long and now she was something that
could tie me down to reality.
Stefanie smiled at me and Victor’s nostrils flared a little. I
tried to meet his eye but he looked away and stared at the
wall. It was going to be fun working things out with him over
the next couple of days.
Then a man just appeared. He was the one whose face had
been used for the illusion of all those staff in the lab. Straight
away my guard went up.
In a tinny voice he exclaimed, “My my, Lily and Xander,
you’re almost late! Not to worry, I was just about to give
everyone a briefing, take your platforms please.” He seemed
very theatrical and overly happy but for some reason I
couldn’t help but think he was insincere. There was
something not right about him.
“So you all know why you’re here,” he began, “this speech will
be just a brief outline of my line of work. You’ve all already
seen, in your own ways, the power of Simulator,” Lily and I
both kind of shrank back in sync, remembering the trees and
then the following darkness. We gave each other a look; there
was definitely some sort of bond formed between us. Stefanie
on the other hand seemed pleased with whatever illusions
had brought her here and Victor puffed out his chest, as if
overcoming giant trees trying to spear him made him feel
manly. B3ast and Grace just remained neutral, yet both
looking a little dishevelled.
“And I’m sure you’ve heard, er, rumours about the going ons
of the ISIM corporation,” at this his face turned sour and I
saw his façade had slipped away… only to return a
millisecond later, “but rest assured, you’re about to embark on
a wild adventure. Upon your entry, boys and girls, you get to
select a weapon or a tool and while inside, Simulator will
randomly assign you either one or more, er, superpowers.”
He danced around as he spoke and it was really off-putting
but all the same, I couldn’t help but linger on the thought of
superpowers…
Sensing the increased interest in his speech, Tech
elaborated, “We have over three thousand individual abilities
stored in our databases. From teleportation to superstrength, to telekinesis to time travelling. Some of you will be
instantly aware of your powers, while others will take some,
hmm, prodding to reveal theirs.” He paused. What was that
supposed to mean? “Whether you decide to ally or kill, know
that there may only be one winner and that regardless of how
much you enjoy one another’s company, the time will come to
fight or flee.” I started to become nervous. His speech was
nearing its end. “Be weary, be cautious and remember, keep
your friends close, but keep your enemies even closer.”
With that his speech finished and as we put on our goggles
and selected from the list of tools and weapons – I chose a
waterproof bag of supplies – we raised our hands, one by one,
indicating that we were ready.
Finally, just waiting for Grace, she murmured her apologies,
selected her item and then raised her hand too. Now that we
were all ready, a jolt of anxiety pierced me, I was genuinely
fearful for what might come.
Without any time to meditate on that thought, my screen
went white and suddenly, instead of looking in on the world
through the goggles – I was inside it.
I was standing in a clearing full of knee-high, golden grass
and lit by brilliant sunshine. Straight away it was sensory
overload, the sounds of birds chirping, the bright coloured
plants, the strange, intoxicating smells and… the glistening of
glass trees. It was literally a nightmare come true but the
unnamed emotion – irony, perhaps - lasted for barely a
second. Instantly we sized each other up, made up our minds
and then the clearing erupted into action.
The last thing I thought before I launched myself from my
standing position was kill, or be killed.

“Good morning all, I’m Stefanie Jones, and I want to be a
model for your company.” I took a deep breath to calm my
nerves, and went on, “Don’t get me wrong, I love acting, but I
think it’s time I broaden my horizons. I believe I have the
look to be a model as well as a personality that sets me apart.”
I scanned the room and saw the looks of barely impressed
faces. A solid resume and a family friend had gotten me this
meeting but I needed something to blow the panel away –
they’d heard the ‘I have the look and personality’ speech too
many times to even feign interest. As the company’s head
yawned, I realised the situation was worse than it seemed.
Grasping at straws I said, “Also, I currently attend Elitus
Academy,” a few people’s heads raised, “and I’ve been
nominated for the Omega Award.”

Instantly the entire room snapped to attention. They all eyed
me up and down, looking at me with a newfound respect. It
was kind of like taking off a fat-suit and then carrying a
thousand dollar handbag, these people noticed.

Ms Kaltimore, the lady sitting directly in the middle of the
judge’s table, eyed me from over the top of her glasses. She
was wearing them at the bottom of her nose, as if it was a
fashion statement of some sort. Either way, her decision
would be do or die for my career and every word she spoke
rang with power. She was the head of Edge Designs and I
was applying to become one of her models.

It was a big leap, going from acting to modelling, made even
bigger by the fact that this was one of the top couture houses
in the world, but I was going for it anyway.

“Well, Miss Jones,” her voice was clear, stern and piercing –
yet also poised and eloquent, “if you were to come through
with that nomination, we would be more than happy to
facilitate for you. In fact, I believe our spring campaign is still
lacking a suitable leading candidate…” I barely resisted the
urge to squeal with excitement. “However, let me make it
clear that if your nomination falls through,” my heart stopped
“well, I suggest you leave modelling to those more
experienced than yourself.”

The tone of finality that followed made me want to kind of
bow and walk out without turning my back but instead I just
nodded, smiled and turned away as she yelled out, “NEXT!”

And that was the first time I’d applied for a modelling job.
Fast forward two weeks and here I was standing in a
hexagonal room, mentally preparing myself to try and not get
killed while looking good doing it. There’d probably be video
footage of the whole event and the last thing I needed was to
have to explain to Kaltimore why I looked hideous. In her
own words – there was never an excuse for ugliness. Harsh,
but true.

My journey to the hexagonal room was actually quite
pleasant. Upon opening the elevator, the lab just formed a
nice simple field of solid, pinkish clouds and we walked along
a path to the building. We held hands, of course, and nuzzled
a little. It was cute, romantic even. I was disappointed when
it ended.

Lily and Xander, on the other hand, looked like they’d
trekked through a storm. Their clothes looked kind of, well,
destroyed and Lily’s hair was all over the place. Xander had a
gash on the side of his face. I’ll admit it did make him look
kind of… hot.

I liked Xander. We’d been going to school together for
about eight years now. I thought he might have had a crush
on me but I pretended to not notice. I didn’t want to make it
awkward for him and I kind of had a boyfriend too.

Oh Victor, he must’ve been one of the most obnoxious
people on the planet. But there was something about him I
just couldn’t stay away from and it wasn’t the abs. I knew
there was the real Victor, somewhere deep inside. Sometimes
he’d open up and let his guard down, showing how caring
and compassionate he actually was. I understood the position
he was in – he had to put up appearances, he was quite
literally the king of the school. Likewise, he understood me.
Understood why I had to be so shallow sometimes and
understood the struggle to keep the mask from becoming the
person. He understood being popular and because of that,
we clicked. At least that’s what I told myself.

See, being the most popular people in school did have its
drawbacks. I knew that some people would do anything to be
in our position but it wasn’t as glamorous as everybody
thought it was.

It hurt sometimes to have to cut people down so that others
around you would respect you. Telling girls off for wearing
their crossovers crooked or hideous, last-season, probably offthe-rack clothing, was something I did almost daily – it was
what allowed the hierarchy of our school to be upheld.
Without hierarchy, there’d be no order; everybody had a place
– just like the animal kingdom.

Just a few years back, I was one of the many hopefuls who
looked at those girls at the popular table, wishing to be them.
And yet now the hopefuls watched and attempted to imitate
me in every which way they could. Flattering, but also a little
annoying. Maybe there was a part of me that did enjoy
running the Academy…

Anyway, I hadn’t actually applied for a spot in Simulator. I
didn’t really care about it at all to be honest, not even when I
knew the Omega was being offered. However, it mattered to
Edge Designs, and so it had to matter to me. If I could buy
the award, I would have already. But I couldn’t, so now I had
to win it fair and square… ew.

Without an application I obviously wasn’t eligible to get in but I did. Several years of exemplary behaviour and fulfilling
the role as the Academy idol does get you some favours with
the headmistress…

So I went to her and was immediately given a spot, no
questions asked.
Unfortunately, it was only afterwards that I found out
Victor had applied. It was a spot of tension between us for a
while. But then we came to the agreement that we would
help each other right up until we couldn’t. Killing my
boyfriend could get a little awkward but in the end, I’d have
to do what was best for me.
Now, as I stood in the hexagonal room, I inhaled deeply. I
listened to Tech’s speech and thought a little about which
powers I’d get. I realised I’d need a game strategy and
decided that my biggest threat was probably B3ast.
I myself would probably be the most underestimated out of
the group - who’d expect the shallow blonde girl to win?
I also predicted that Grace would probably be the smallest
threat; in fact she’d probably be willing to help Victor and I
out and then we could get rid of her once we were done.
In my head those words shocked me a little – this Omega
was slowly but surely turning me a little insane. It was like a
chant: Omega equals model, Omega equals model and now I
was planning the deaths of my friends.
It did hurt on the inside to be planning out friendships
knowing that eventually I’d have to betray them. But that’s
what it came down to – winning at all costs.
The room itself was quite pretty. Polished, black
floorboards, metallic walls and evenly spaced out square glass
platforms, with sleek monitors on top of metal, flat-topped
cylinders. I naturally soaked up design details.
I looked down at my little screen/platform thing, and started
selecting my weapon. I scanned past supplies, grenades,
bows and arrows, guns and even what looked like a wand.
Each weapon had its own description too, but it didn’t take
long for me to settle on a giant, damaging, futuristic-looking
laser launcher. Incineration on contact could be very useful.
I raised my hand to signal that I was ready and looked
around at my fellow contestants, sizing them up in my head.
Victor would be my ally and Grace probably wouldn’t be a
threat. B3ast would be determined to win, but wouldn’t have
the confidence to openly attack anyone. He’d find some other
way to win, like poisoning us in our sleep. Either way, he also
seemed like the one most susceptible to turning crazy in
Simulator…
Lily, on the other hand, was a big grey area. To me she
seemed dangerous, wild almost. But maybe it was just the
ripped clothes.
Either way, she looked set up with Xander, together they’d
probably be hard to defeat. Then again, I’d be more
interested in allying with Xander rather than trying to defeat
him – for now. He was under the radar, not so much a threat
or a friend – just a presence and it could pay off to be nice to
him.
I vaguely wondered what weapons they’d all choose, the
only one I could definitely pick was B3ast’s – I’d passed over a
laptop but didn’t think it would be useful at all. He’d find
some way to use it I was sure.
Going in the arena, my plan was a simple one – kill, not flee.
I didn’t want to spend the whole time running from people –
that’s not the type of girl I was. My career was a huge
motivation. I would be a killer model… no pun intended.
So dispatch B3ast if possible, and sort the rest out whenever
I got to it. That was my plan.
Finally Grace raised her arm – trust her to take the longest.
Tech murmured one final goodbye and my body flooded with
a surge of adrenaline. The room blurred as I put my goggles
on and then something completely different came sharply into
focus. Suddenly I found myself in broad daylight, in the
middle of a clearing ringed with trees made of glass and gold.
Everyone stood frozen for just a split second – then the
fighting began.
*
*
*
My first reaction when I appeared in the clearing was to just
take it all in. The cascades of rainbows reflecting off the glass
trees and the heavy aromas of exotic flowers momentarily
knocked the breath out of me. The grass looked like - and
probably was – stringed gold and it reached up to my knees,
rippling with the slight breeze. In the distance I could hear a
river flowing, this world could only be described in one word
– beautiful.
We were each standing an equal distance apart around the
clearing. In that first moment we all just looked around at
each other, extremely tense to see who would make the first
move… Lily.
Out of the corner of my eye I saw her lunge at Grace. I
dropped into the golden grass and watched as Lily fastened a
cloak around her neck – her weapon.
Suddenly her skin turned to metal and spikes erupted from
random spots along her new armour. Grace had no time to
react. She looked so small and fragile in the path of the
attacking Lily.
Looking in my hands, I saw the laser beam. Adrenaline
coursed through my body again and I aimed at Lily as
quickly as I could. It was hard to see her while lying down in
the grass – it was completely obscuring my vision.
I frowned with concentration. I didn’t like her from the start
and now she was about to kill a little girl. Rising a little out of
the grass, I pulled the trigger of the gun - a beam of blue and
green light shot out the end. The recoil jarred my shoulder a
little but it hit.
I heard a clang and rose again into a half crouching position,
watching as Lily was thrown violently into the closest tree –
she’d been mid-air just as the beam collided with her. The
tree instantly shattered, almost exploding with the force.
Little pieces of rainbows flew through the air, the shatter
stunned everyone and there was a second of silence. But then
she came back for more.
Shaking herself off, a look of determination was on her face
and she readied herself for a second charge.
I looked around to see what everyone else was doing and
saw only Xander standing in the clearing, looking a little
stupid with a blank expression, holding onto a backpack-type
object.
B3ast had opened his computer, seen something that
seemed to make sense to him and then run off into the forest.
Victor on the other hand, was nowhere to be seen – maybe
he’d run off too.
I then realised that my gun, which was supposed to
completely incinerate anything on contact - hadn’t even left a
dent in Lily’s armour.
I watched as for the second time she lunged violently, but
this time, Grace pulled out a narrow strip of wood from her
pocket. It was the wand that I’d scanned past.
Suddenly Lily’s armour turned to a jelly-like substance and
then began to ripple and crawl. There were maggots
squirming around on the cape, crawling into Lily’s ears and
mouth.
Lily yelled out as she tore at her cloak, trying desperately to
take it off. Grace just stood there silently, a look of
determination plastered on her face but looking a little stupid
with the stick in her hand. Lily sprinted off into the glassy,
golden scrub, still screaming.
I looked over to Grace and a stab of uneasiness came over
me. Her eyes were fixed absently on the space between the
trees that Lily had run through and yet a dark look, too dark
for the girl I thought Grace was, was etched into her face.
Her expression looked twisted and full of hatred. But just as
quickly as it came, it passed, and so I let it be, she must’ve
been a little shaken up…
Either way it was all over in seconds. One attack, three
people had run off and weapons had been used.
I ran to Grace.
“Grace,” I asked softly, “are you okay?” She looked a little
rattled but besides from that, there was no physical damage.
“I’m f-fine,” she mumbled. Back to her fragile self.
I don’t know what the school was thinking, putting a tenyear-old in Simulator. This was ridiculous. I pulled her close
to me and attempted to comfort her – Lily would pay.
The reason and logic part of my brain, however, processed
this as a good opportunity to take advantaged of the situation
– and attack Grace. She’d never see it coming and it would
make one less threat in the game. My grip tightened on the
laser gun in my hands, as I contemplated ending her.
Bouncing around my head was just a simple phrase: one
down, four to go… If I killed Grace, it would be one down
and four to go…
“Stef!” I spun around, releasing Grace and gripping my gun.
“What just happened?” It was Xander, awake and out of his
stupor.
I smiled and released the tension in my clenched hands, glad
about the distraction. “Well Lily just attacked Grace and then
ran off… B3ast and Victor are also gone,” I glanced around.
“So, I guess not too much really.” He smiled a little at my
attempt to be funny. “But what happened to you? You
seemed a little brain-dead.”
Xander nodded, “Yeah, I was just kind of overcome by this
whole place I guess…” He shrugged it off but I had a feeling
there might’ve been something more to it… Who just stands
in one spot unmoving in the middle of a situation that could
potentially kill you? I’d bring it up again later.
“What about Victor?” I asked, “Do you know where he
went?”
“Not a clue, I was completely zoned out,” he smiled
apologetically – wow, I never realised how straight his teeth
were.
We shared a brief moment of eye-contact that seemed a little
more intimate than it should’ve been and I broke it off,
blushing a little, as I pulled loose blades of golden grass from
Grace’s hair.
There was… chemistry between us. Great.
“You okay sweetie?” I asked Grace in a soft voice.
She really wasn’t that young, but I’d taken a bit of a shine to
her. She was actually just in the year below me, having
skipped a couple of grades and she looked mature enough to
nearly be my age. Her combed red hair and pale, porcelainlike face reminded me of well, me. I mean we didn’t look alike
but she was so poised and mature for her age.
“AGH!” Something had grabbed me. I spun around and hit
out at whatever it was as hard as I could.
I swung out with the metal laser and heard a solid thud. I
pulled the trigger but watched the beam go astray as Xander
tackled me to the ground. Was he the one that grabbed me? I
struggled even harder.
“Stef, stop!” Two people yelled out in unison.
I paused for a second, startled, and realised that the mystery
groper had been Victor – “what the…?”
Xander looked too happy about what had just happened
and even Grace chuckled a little. Victor was nursing a
swelling bruise on his left upper-arm and I pierced him with a
look that plainly said ‘explain yourself’. I was furious but also
realised how tense I’d become in just the first ten minutes –
maybe I’d be the first to go insane.
Victor chuckled a little as well but he started to talk. “Well, I
just learnt this really cool trick… I’ll show you!” He looked
really excited and a look of concentration crossed over his
face.
A faint popping sound and suddenly he was standing at the
other end of the clearing. Several more pops and he went
from the ground, to the top of a tree, to just a few meters in
front of me and then back behind me again. It took me a
second to process everything - and then I realised he’d
discovered his power.
Even Grace and Xander looked shocked. “How do you do
it?” Grace asked meekly.
“I don’t know,” Victor said, “I just do.” He went on, his voice
as masculine as ever, “When I realised Lily was going to
attack Grace,” he grimaced a little, “I was slow to react. But
then I saw Stefanie drop to the ground and fire her laser, the
sound just made me want to get away… So I did.”
An expression of realisation dawned on his face. “I can
bloody teleport,” he cheered. Bewildered and yet as cocky as
ever. He puffed out his chest and then hugged me from
behind. I went a little red considering Xander and Grace
were right there and so I pushed away a little.
Xander began to talk, pretending not to notice what had
just happened. “Um guys, we need a plan. We can’t just stay
here until night falls or Lily comes back, so I think we should
set up a camp somewhere.” His eyes dropped to the floor and
I processed what he just said. It was true.
Untangling myself from the suddenly very grabby Victor, I
asked, “Where do you think we should go?”
Xander looked up, looking a little surprised that I’d actually
listened and both Grace and even Victor were watching him.
He cleared his throat and stood up a little straighter, I
couldn’t help but think that the light was hitting his face very
well… “Actually, I think we should camp right here,” he said.
“It’s an open space that we could probably easily defend - in
case Lily or something comes back, there’s a water source
somewhere in that direction,” he pointed to where the sound
of running water was coming from, “and, in case you haven’t
noticed, the grass really retains heat… it’s perfect.”
I couldn’t help but agree, not only because I didn’t actually
have any better suggestions, but also because it made sense.
I started to ask what we’d use to build the shelter when
suddenly the entire world shook. Not just the ground, but
the whole thing. All the trees were vibrating, then everything
went out of focus, a blanket of static covered everything and
for a second, I was scared. I yelled but no sound came out.
Then it was all over as quickly as it had come. The clearing
came back into focus.
All four of us had fallen to the ground, and I was a little
dizzy. As the world steadied I only had to look over to
Victor’s face to see that I wasn’t the only one who’d seen
static.
I opened my mouth to speak but suddenly, as if on the inside
of the Simulator goggles, big red letters appeared.
MALFUNCTION.
It was like looking through a window with the word pasted
over. Then it flashed just once and disappeared.
Now the sun felt hotter, the colours seemed more vivid and
the world around us seemed more real.
One word pushed its way into my mind, as if placed there by
something beyond my power.
In what seemed like unison, the four of us murmured the
one word, like robots - “trapped.”
A wave of panic rode through me and for some reason, this
didn’t feel like just a game anymore.