Grid Seekers (Grid Seekers Book One) (7 page)

“I’m definitely going to help you guys the best that I can. I’m a pretty good hacker, and besides, I wouldn’t do well in a labor camp. I’m not meant for that,” Peter said, grasping his belly.

“What do you know about the other hackers? Who poses an absolute threat to us?” Liam asked.

“Well, I think only
one
other guy is like, really good. He’s about the same level as me, and the other people up there are good, but he and I are miles ahead of them,” Peter said.

“Who is he?” Liam asked.

“Him. The guy in the black shirt over there,” Peter said.

I looked over, seeing the super cocky guy from orientation, who was from Los Angeles, standing with the hacker Peter pointed out, the two of them together making a toxic cocktail for Liam and me. The competitor was already thinking he was going to win, that nobody was going to stop him, and now he had a great hacker to lead him and his partner through the competition. I knew he would stop at nothing to take other people, myself included, out. This wasn’t a battle, but he was going to make sure he won, even if it meant turning this into one.

“And you’re sure he’s the only one?” Liam asked.

“I’m a hacker. Knowledge is my game. I’m sure,” Peter said.

“Then we’re going to need to keep an eye on him. You can’t be afraid to take him out if need be,” Liam said, looking at me.

“I’m not in this to ruin lives or hunt people,” I said.

“I didn’t say that. It’s just that you can’t let him get you before you get him. We have to keep our eyes peeled, and if it’s us or him, he’s going down,” Liam said.

“Fine, I can agree to that, but
only
if we do it strictly in self-defense. Our lives have to be on the line,” I said.

“Agreed,” Liam replied.

“Listen up!” Quinn said.

We turned, seeing her in front, the back wall opening as a dimmed box came out of it and stopped right behind her. It looked like it was made of some kind of glass or transparent material.

“This is one of many simulators we have here for your training. You may be asking yourself how it works, and that’s a great question. You will wear a headset that will transfer you into a digital setting without putting you into WorldNet. You move normally, the ground moving with you and expanding as you go, making sure you never run into the walls or even come close. You will be guided by your hacker, both of you, as you look for a small item that will be in there, completely hidden from view. Gordana will now scramble the groups and pick the first one to go,” Quinn said.

The picture on the screen moved quickly, slowing down as the seconds wore on, before the first contestants were chosen. It was us. I wasn’t as nervous as I was annoyed, hating going first and having to set the standard, so to speak, for the rest of the groups. I knew they’d all be watching us, and I really didn’t want to go so slow that I looked stupid or weak.

Liam and I walked up to get fitted with our helmets. Peter went around to the side, where a computer was waiting for him. He put on a headset to talk to us through. I felt the door open to the box, and a soft, plastic-smelling breeze hit me as my helmet was put on. Everything was black except for when I looked to my right, where the box sat alone in time and space, the inside looking rather expansive.

I put my hand on Liam’s shoulder; walking in with him, looking around at the gigantic warehouse. The item we were looking for was probably the size of a hair inside here. The floor was cold, a polished concrete, with hanging pot lights that were fairly dim and did a horrible job of lighting up the place. There were large wooden boxes everywhere, stacked ten at a time, lining the warehouse like a maze.

“Ok guys, can you hear me?” Peter asked.

“Yes,” I said.

“Yup,” Liam replied.

“Okay, I know this place looks confusing, so I’m going to do my best to guide you through it. Looking through a screen and walking on the type of platform you’re on can be a little disorienting, so I want you to keep holding onto Liam, okay Alexia?” Peter asked.

“I can do that,” I said.

“Great. Now, do you see an opening about ten feet ahead of you? On the left?” Peter asked.

“Yeah, I see it,” Liam said.

“Walk towards it and take the turn,” Peter said.

Liam and I started walking, the ground shifting as we did, no matter which direction we went in. I stumbled a little at first, though Liam stayed pretty stable, the absence of the real ground causing a little virtual dizziness.

Liam and I got to the turn and took it. The maze looked a little more intense. We continued to walk forward, taking Peter’s orders, as he said he was decoding the surroundings to try to find any foreign objects that weren’t the stacked boxes all around us.

“I’m scanning the areas around you as you move, so it’s important you keep moving unless I tell you to stop. I’ll inform you of any turns you should take,” Peter said.

I could smell the cracked pine boxes, my hair bouncing as I walked, my right hand firmly on Liam’s shoulder, even though he was a little tall, at least compared to me. I looked up at him. He kept his eyes forward, the mask still on his face, the simulation not removing it to make it just a little more realistic. As I looked I noticed something, something I hadn’t seen before. It was a scar, a fairly faint one, just below his sharp jaw line.

I wondered what it was from, maybe a childhood accident? I couldn’t believe I hadn’t noticed it before, as it was all I could see now. Wait, what was I doing? I needed to get my head in the game and stop looking at a stupid scar, especially when I was doing a simulation in front of
everyone
.

“Stop!” Peter exclaimed.

“What is it?” Liam asked.

“It’s around you. I’m not sure of the exact location, but it looks like it’s to your left. There should be some shorter stacks of boxes, much shorter actually,” Peter said.

“No, they’re pretty high,” I said, looking to my left.

“I see it,” Liam said.

“You do? Where?” I asked, as I looked around.

“There. There’s an opening, though it’s pretty small and narrow. I can’t get through there. You’re going to have to,” Liam said.

“Me?” I asked nervously.

“I know you can do it,” Liam said.

“I can see the object. It’s about fifteen or so feet up. It looks like it’s on top of a stack of some boxes, but you’ll have to go through that opening to get to the stack,” Peter said.

“
Fifteen feet
?” I asked in shock. “I can’t do that. That’s too high,” I said, feeling my heart rate pick up.

“You have to go, Alexia. I’m too big,” Liam said.

“I don’t know. I don’t think I can,” I said, eyeing the opening, the rather
thin
opening.

“Hey,” Liam said, grabbing my hand, causing me to turn my head and look at him.

“What?” I asked, as his grip tightened on my hand.

“I know you can do it. I didn’t get teamed up with you for no reason. I did because we’re going to win this. I wouldn’t ask you to do something I didn’t think you weren’t fully capable of,” Liam said.

I looked back, eyeing the opening one last time, the thought of climbing fifteen feet up a bunch of rickety boxes like a sharp knife in my mind, holding me back from finishing this, not wanting to look like an absolute fool in front of the other teams.

Without saying a word, I let go of his hand, walking up to the opening and turning sideways, and sliding myself through, the pine boxes periodically snagging against my shirt, pulling it a little before the snag let go. I got through the opening into a space barely large enough for me to comfortably stand. The boxes were stacked up, making steps for me to climb.

I took a deep breath, looking up. The top box appeared to be a mile high, and I felt my palms get sweaty and my knees shake ever so much. I knew this wasn’t real, that it was virtual reality, but for some reason I couldn’t shake it. I couldn’t just brush it off. The reality of the virtual reality was too much. I knew I had to just conquer this silly fear and end this so that we could leave this plastic box and hopefully never come back.

I grabbed onto the box, hopping up, staying slightly crouched, never standing fully up, as I was afraid of getting vertigo like I did in the fifth grade when I had to climb to the top of the bleachers in school. I climbed the boxes one by one, making sure to not get any splinters, though I wasn’t sure they’d translate out of the box or even really hurt me. Were they really even here?

After a couple minutes I got to the top, hearing Liam shout words of encouragement, and I looked around, trying to find the object.

“There it is,” I said, looking at a small, shiny statue.

“Can you get to it?” Peter asked.

“Yeah, I just need to crawl along some boxes. It’s a few out,” I said.

I carefully crawled, going at what seemed like a turtle’s pace, before I reached out, extending my arm and overextending my reach, my fingers scraping on the metallic silver surface, trying to pull it in closer.

“I can’t…I can’t reach it,” I said.

“You have to go in a little bit more,” Peter said.

I inched closer, the large stack of boxes under me wobbling. My forehead and upper lip began to sweat as I tried to reach out further. How could something so close be so incredibly far away?

With one final breath I reached forward, my right hand slipping on the edge of the boxes, pushing me flat on my face, the force of my weight tipping the boxes over. The statue rolled to the side, and my hand grasped it just as I fell off, my body falling through the warehouse, my eyes clenched shut as I grinded my teeth, getting a knotted feeling in my stomach like I was falling off of the top of the world.

Before I hit the ground, it stopped. The feeling was gone, the boxes were gone, and most importantly, the falling…gone. I looked forward, looking out of the box, as I lay on the black floor, the other teams looking on. That cocky guy was smiling, though not for me, for himself.

I pulled off my helmet. Liam came over and helped me up, and we walked out, handing our helmets to the technician. Quinn clapped, the rest of the competitors chiming in and doing the same, and Peter came around. We took our place to the side of the crowd as the next players were chosen, the cocky kid and his partner taking center stage, of course.

They flew through the course, shaving a few minutes off of our almost twelve-minute time, even though the location of their object was different than ours so that it would be a fair challenge. I couldn’t believe it. The guy walked out of the simulator, smiling, as we all had to clap for him. I knew he was soaking it all up as he grinned from ear to ear, so happy that he bested us and made us look weak in comparison.

And, in some weird way, it made me feel a little defeated.

Chapter Seven

I sat in
my room later that night, unable to sleep. I lay back and fell into the cushioned cocoon of the crisp, white sheets, but even with my eyes closed my brain wouldn’t turn off, not allowing me to get the rest I needed. There was too much to think about, and I knew I wasn’t going to go down anytime soon.

I sat up on the edge of my bed, feeling the luxurious sheets between my fingers. I looked to my right, the screen on though slightly dimmed. The picture shown was of stars, hundreds of them, maybe thousands, twinkling like I hadn’t seen before, at least not in person. I knew they weren’t real, or at least I didn’t think they were, but they were the best I was ever going to get, so I was happy with them.

I got out of bed, my black socks keeping my cold toes as warm as they could, the pads of my feet a little sore from our training today. I was on my feet most of the day, something I didn’t always have to do, as it took seemingly forever to get through each group throughout the day.

Remembering what Christian said about our lobby outside, that it was available to us to just hang out in, I walked towards the door, figuring I’d get out of the room, sit around there, and maybe get to clear my head a little. It was worth a shot, at least.

I pressed the circular black button next to my door, and it made a release sound before sliding into the wall. I looked at the sea of couches and chairs filling the lobby space before I casually turned my head, seeing someone sitting on one of them. It was Liam. He was the only person out there, the usually bright overhead lights a little dimmed. The massive screen up front was still of the city, though the night sky painted a different landscape than I had seen before.

There were no stars, it was far too bright, though the lights from inside the buildings painted the twinkling sky that lit up like the heavens. I guessed there was some beauty to the city, even if most of it was ugly.

“Hey,” Liam said, as I walked towards him.

“What are you doing up? Can’t sleep?” I asked.

“Yeah, just thinking a lot I guess. What about you?” he asked.

“The same. Being here really makes you think, especially about the things you don’t want to think about,” I said.

“Want to talk about it?” he asked.

“I don’t want to bore you with my problems. We only have so much time here and we should probably keep our heads in the game,” I said.

“We do have a limited amount of time here, yeah, but we‘re also partners, and I want you to know that I have your back, both in the competition and outside of it,” Liam said, looking at me, my body turned on the couch to face him.

“I guess I’ve just been thinking about my family—my mother and sister. I never thought in a million years I’d get picked for something like this. Nobody in our family has ever even come close to being in the competition, and now that I’m in, everything feels like it’s going downhill. I thought I’d work at the restaurant for a while, get a better job later on, and move on with my life like everyone else does. This just…ruins everything,” I said, with a melancholic tone.

“It does. I feel the same way. I had to leave my family behind, and I feel guilty about it, like I shouldn’t have left,” Liam said.

“It isn’t your fault, though. You didn’t choose to leave them behind. Even if you decided not to, you’d still be whisked away to compete. You can’t beat yourself up for something you can’t control,” I said.

“I have to, though. They need me, they need the small amount of money I bring in, and most of all, I need them,” Liam said, stopping, as he put his hands in his lap and looked down.

I could tell this issue was much more than just him feeling guilty about not bringing in income or helping out around the house. He felt lost without them, the same way I felt lost without my mother and Saraia. They were my life, and without them here to guide me, to encourage me, I felt almost lost, like I couldn’t find my way.

“I just miss them, I guess,” he said, clearing his throat.

“I know they miss you ten times more. What are they like?” I asked, seeing his face light up a little.

“They’re great,” he said, smiling. “My mother is our rock, my rock, always there for us when we need her, even if other things try to stop her from doing that. I have a brother and a sister, my brother’s four and my sister’s twelve. I don’t have a
real
job, working I guess what you’d call odd jobs, helping out neighbors and businesses nearby whenever they need it, so I’m not technically an employee anywhere or whatever. I’d love to work on cars or something, something mechanical and physical, but that takes training, an apprenticeship, and the no or low pay I’d get from that, in addition to how long it would take to get done, prevents me from even trying,” Liam said.

“What about your dad? What does he do?” I asked.

“I wish I could tell you. He left three years ago, when my little brother was just about to turn one. There was no note, no money left, and no explanation. He might as well have been a ghost,” Liam said.

“Oh, I’m sorry to hear that,” I said, feeling a bit awkward.

“Nah, don’t be sorry. It isn’t your fault, and besides, we don’t need him anyway. My mother works extra hard and I try to pick up the slack. We’re fine. It’s fine,” Liam said.

“I haven’t seen my father in a long time either,” I said.

“He a deadbeat too?” Liam asked, interrupting my sentence.

“He’s dead, but not a deadbeat,” I said.

“Oh, I’m sorry to hear that. I hope I didn’t offend you,” he said, with a sincere tone.

“No, it’s fine. You didn’t know,” I said.

“If you don’t mind me asking, how did it happen?” Liam asked.

“Just a work accident. It’s been hard, but I guess we’ve managed. It’s been years, though, so sometimes I forget it happened. Not that I don’t love my dad or miss him, but he’s been gone for a while,” I said.

“No, I understand completely. Life goes on and sometimes you just…forget. It isn’t that you’ve forgotten about that person, but you just have to keep moving, keep working. My mom once told me that life goes on even if we want it to slow down,” Liam said.

“I guess you’re right. I just hope he knows, if he’s out there somewhere, that I’ll never forget about him,” I said, as I twiddled my thumbs.

“You said you have a mother and sister, though, right? What are they like?” Liam asked.

“My mother is a little strict, but I don’t think she necessarily wants to be. I think she just feels she has to be tough to take care of us in an environment like this. When I was a kid I used to think she wasn’t fun, but I think she was better than being fun, because she’s prepared me to be ready for anything,” I said.

“Sometimes the parents who seem the most strict are just the ones we need, even if they seem like the worst at the time,” Liam said.

“My sister is my shadow, as I like to call her. She’s definitely got a kind of exuberance to her that I hope never leaves her. We also share a room, so I’m always around her, though I don’t mind it. Sometimes I wish I had some personal space, but as I’m here, going through all this, I’m realizing that it isn’t always fun being alone,” I said.

I looked forward at the screen, some cars driving down below, their headlights illuminating the streets, the monstrous buildings up above shimmering like diamonds in a bed of dark sand.

“It’s beautiful, isn’t it?” Liam asked, looking at the screen as well.

“Yeah, it is. It makes me think, though. I think the buildings and lights are great, but what else is there?” I asked.

“What do you mean?” Liam asked, a confused look on his face.

“Like beyond the city, beyond the walls. What’s out there? What do real stars, and not the fake ones manufactured by giant skyscrapers, look like? What’s it like to look around you and just see…
nothing
?” I asked.

“I don’t know. Maybe you can find out,” he said.

“Oh, yeah? How?” I asked.

“Your wish. You said before you hadn’t thought of anything to wish for if we win, so wish for that. Wish to see the country outside the megacities,” Liam said.

I thought about it for a second, thinking that it would be nice to see the open country, a place nobody ever went to, and know that there wouldn’t be buildings, rats, and sewer gases bubbling up from the grates on the sidewalks to pollute my view. I could run through wide, open fields, the grasses whisking along my bare legs as I filled my lungs with preciously sweet and clean air, the kind that I’d only ever heard and dreamt about. It would all be great, but I knew I’d have to do it alone, and I wasn’t sure being out there by myself would be so much fun, even if seeing the rest of the country was a dream of mine.

“It’s a good thought, but it wouldn’t work out,” I said.

“Why wouldn’t it work out? You’d get a wish,” he said.

“They’d never let me bring my mom or sister, and going out there alone wouldn’t exactly be fun. What is it going to be, me and some guards all prancing around together?” I asked, smiling.

“I’ll go with you,” he said.

I looked at him, a puzzled look on my face, as he continued looking at me, both of us sitting in utter silence.

“They wouldn’t let you. I just said that they likely wouldn’t let me take anyone with me,” I said.

“I’m your partner, Alexia. I’d get a wish too, you know,” he said, smiling, like I should’ve known.

“But you said you wanted to use the wish on your mom,” I said.

“Yeah, but I’ve always wanted to see the country as well, and if I have the perfect opportunity and chance to go, why not go with you? It’d be fun,” he said.

To say I wasn’t flattered would be a lie. Liam was proving himself to be a sweet guy, even if he first came off a little rough and crass. He really was the type of person you shouldn’t judge by their cover. I knew he was just being sweet, and kind, and supportive of me, but I’d never take him with me or even expect that to happen if we did win and I did decide to use that as my wish. I was just here to win and go on with my life, just like he was, and everybody else here as well. It wasn’t to say that I didn’t like him or think he was nice, but I had my own life already, and I needed to worry about my mother and sister, not some guy I knew for a couple weeks.

“Maybe. We have to win first,” I said politely.

“That’s true. I’m pretty confident in us, though. We have a good chance of winning,” Liam said.

“Oh, yeah? How do you figure?” I asked.

“We have a great hacker, we have chemistry and mesh well together, and most of the other teams couldn’t find their way out of a brown paper bag, let alone through the competition,” Liam said.

“I guess you’re right. Just don’t get too cocky. The last thing we need is arrogance, like that Los Angeles guy,” I said.

“He won’t be a problem, don’t worry,” Liam said.

“How?” I asked.

“I’ve got your back. He won’t come near us,” Liam said.

I yawned, covering my mouth, as my eyes watered a little bit, before I stretched my arms back, my sleepiness starting to come over me a little bit as I felt myself getting close to wanting to crawl back into bed.

“Yeah, I’m tired too. I think I’m going to get in bed. I’ll see you in the morning,” Liam said, smiling, before getting up and walking off to his room.

I continued to sit on the couch, looking at the screen, seeing some movement below on the street. That area looked much busier at night than my neighborhood. I didn’t know why, but seeing those people, those giant buildings, made me think even more about the competition. What happened if I lost, if
we
lost? I knew I’d thought about the consequences before, but this picture and my talk with Liam just made me think how imperative it was that I didn’t lose.

My mother and Saraia wouldn’t have enough money to scrape by, nobody would be there to take care of Saraia before and after school when my mother was busy and preoccupied with work, and not only that, but I’d miss everything. I knew I should be nervous and scared about three years of hard labor, my body on the line every single day without even one day of rest, but I couldn’t even bother to think about my own predicament…only theirs.

Saraia would be eleven when I got back, a pre-teen, and I wouldn’t have been there to guide her through the problems she might have in the meantime. She’d be getting into boys, she’d be changing, and I’d be wasting away before coming back and not knowing if I would even be the same person as I was now. I’d heard stories about how you come back a completely different person, your body worn down, bags under your eyes, and worst of all, defeated. I couldn’t come back defeated.

This competition could either be the best or worst thing to ever happen to me, and with eleven other teams, twenty-two other competitors, I had a feeling that no matter how hard Liam and I tried, it would end up being the latter. It didn’t seem like the odds were on our side.

Another yawn escaping me, I stretched my arms, feeling all of my muscles loosen and relax, before standing up, shuffling my feet over to my room as I wiped my eyes, yawning so large that a tear dripped down my cheek. I pressed the button near my door, and it opened up as I came inside. The door closed behind me, and I climbed into my bed, crawling up under the covers, pushing my hands down on the fluffy comforter, looking at the stars on the screen in front of me.