by Cooper Eaton
I was taken aback! Wait, what did she just say? She has to be lying, right? She’s just trying to capture me and use me for her personal gain; I won’t fall for her tricks again!
“You're lying! You’re just saying that!” I said more for myself than for her. “And you know what, I don’t want to hear any more of your lies. I’ll never trust you again. You stabbed me in the neck, but it might as well have been in the heart! I don’t want your love, and I’ll never feel the same!” I yelled trying to contain my inner self that desperately wanted to believe her.
Tears were now flowing down her beautiful face and carrying with them mascara. My words had found their mark. She was a burst dam and I was the cause. She looked at me briefly with her stunning shimmering eyes, and without a word she stood and fled. “Wham!”The door flew shut behind her!
She never looked back.
Chapter 18: Final Mission
I felt terrible, but eventually hunger took over and I headed downstairs for dinner. Seeing no one to sit by; I sat alone. A plate was immediately brought to me, but everything felt weird. Just a few nights ago I’d sat at the same table with a dozen others, all of us talking and full of life. Now I was by myself, alone and empty inside. The once full dining hall was now barren and all I could think about was how many more people the secret room below now held.
Jessica was nowhere to be seen as I’d expected, which made me surprisingly made me feel even worse. Chris was at another group with a girl, which I couldn’t really blame him for because of how gorgeous she was. Unexpectedly, Rasben, like Jessica, was nowhere to be seen.
I was in the midst of my own thoughts, eating slowly when Mr. Blackwood entered the room. He cleared his throat and flipped on his small ear amplifier. “Ladies and gentlemen, I hope that the food is satisfactory and that you are enjoying yourselves. I’m here to talk to you about your mission tomorrow.” This piqued everyone’s interest. “Tomorrow will be your final test, and only a handful of you will make it through. However, those of you that will do have a very big surprise waiting for you! You must be prepared for tomorrow. It’s do or die, and I mean that quite literally.” He said with a smirk. “Tomorrow’s mission will be different than you last missions. You will face this mission as a collective group. I suggest that you all try and get as much sleep as possible tonight, you’re going to need it.” Mr. Blackwood turned and left abruptly.
It’s strange that we’ll all be in on this mission together. There has to be at least 30 of us left, how can this possibly be our last mission? It doesn’t feel like this is the end. Tonight feels just like many other nights. How strange that the end snuck up on me. I wish I had paid closer attention, now everything seems slightly out of control. Jessica hates me, Chris is with girls all the time, Rasben is always studying, Jack is out, and Matthew is dead. Things have spiraled out of control. I wonder what will happen next. Well, if I die, I might not ever see my parents again. I must win at all costs. If not, I’ll end up like Jack and Rachel, far beneath the floor I now stand on.
Walking back into my room after dinner concluded I was welcomed by Rasben and a enormous book sitting on his lap.
“Hey, what’s up?”¶“Nothing much, what are you up to? We missed you at dinner.” I asked nonchalantly.
“Oh really, you and who else?” He, immediately picked up my lie and tore it apart. “Most of our group is gone now and since you and Jess had your falling out, and Chris has been with Miss. Gorgeous, I’ve been your one and only friend.”
I have to admit he’s right. I am pretty lonely. Rasben is the only one that’s still hear for me, which surprises me since we didn’t exactly started out on the best foot. I never thought we would grow to be this close.
I was just about to thank him for everything in case I didn’t get to, when I saw the slip of paper nestled in the crevice of his book in an attempt to hide it. I reached out and grabbed the paper! “Hey, what’s this?” My voice turning annoyed in an instant. I knew right away what it was, it’s Matthew’s suicide note!
“It was laying on the floor; I just wanted to see what he had to say.” Rasben tried to pretend like he had been doing something noble. ¶“Keep your dirty hands off my property. I can’t believe you’d do that!”
Rasben cut me off. “Would you just let me explain what I found? I think I might have figured out what he meant!”
“What are you talking about?”
“It might help you understand what exactly is happening to you, and if what I learned is right, then, what you told me about seeing colors isn’t as outlandish as I thought!”
“What is it?”
“Well, in his letter Matthew mentions that he talked to some people who referred to the colors as electricity. That got me to thinking, so I grabbed some books on new technology and on the human mind. What I found was incredible. You have to promise not to tell anyone what I’m about to tell you. Do you promise?”
“Yes, yes, tell me what you found!”
“Well, you said you’ve been seeing colors which made no sense. But if what you’ve been seeing is electricity? What if your mind is somehow seeing the different wavelengths and presenting them to you as colors? I know it sounds far out, but human minds use electricity! What if what you're seeing is actually different frequencies of electricity people are using to power their brains?”
“Whoa! That’s awesome! But why now, why didn’t I start seeing the colors until I got to the test? Shouldn’t I have been able to see them my whole life?”
“I don’t know everything yet. That’s why I’m still reading. I’m trying to piece together what’s exactly happening.”
“Also, what was up with me escaping from my body and floating around?”
“The first conclusion that came to my mind was that you’re crazy, but with this new information you might not be. I don’t know how you left your body, but I’m betting it has something to do with electricity. Hopefully, I can figure out what is happening before the competition ends”¶“Thanks Rasben, your help really means a lot. I feel like I’m stuck in a giant jigsaw puzzle and can’t get out. Knowing just a little bit more really helps.”
“You’re welcome, and since I so graciously helped you, maybe you can explain to me what is going on with you and Jessica?”
“Maybe some other time man, I really don’t feel like talking about her right now.”
“Come on Will, I helped you and you can’t even share a little bit?”
“Fine, if you really must know, she’s responsible for my memory loss.”¶“What? No way!”
“Let’s just say that neither of us feels like talking to each other.”
“But, did you talk about it?”
“What’s to talk about? She betrayed my trust, and now she’s pretending she doesn’t know what I’m talking about. If she would fess up, I might be a little less angry. ¶“Are you sure it was her, this doesn’t sound like the type of thing she’d do.”
“Without a doubt, and I don’t want to talk about it anymore. I know what she did and I won’t forgive someone who lies for personal gain.”
“I know you feel like you could never forgive her, but I honestly think you need to talk to her about it again. You two were perfect for each other. Anyone who saw you could see the way you guys looked at each other. I wouldn’t let something like this get between you without looking at it from all angles. Maybe Jess had a different motive.”
“I’ll think about it. But not right now. The feelings are too fresh. I need some sleep.” And with that I turned abruptly, ended our conversation, turned off my lamp and crawled under my covers.
But even in the darkness, I couldn’t shake off the thoughts of Jessica. Why did she do something like this? Maybe her feelings have changed for me and she really does love me now? No, I can’t let her off the hook that easily. She broke my heart and I won’t forgive her for that. I won’t ever be able to trust her again.
The next morning passed quickly. Rasben and
I ate quickly and headed into the big simulation room that was only used for deciding games.
Once we all laid on our individual beds, we entered the simulation world. Entering the simulation was almost a routine now, and no one complained about the nauseating effect once they reached their simple bodies. However, this landing was different than the rest.
The feeling of being in another body was the same, but there were quite a few new faces that surrounded me. This is gonna be very different than being in a group of four.
We’d been dropped into a valley surrounded by towering mountains on every side. The meadow we were in was beautiful. The grass was green and warm sunlight seemed to warm me to my very core.
Just as I began to study those around me; it happened. Just like the feeling of putting on glasses, like the flip of a switch, the colors appeared.
Colors swirled amongst the throng of testers’ avatars around me. There were about 30 men and women around me filled with the remaining testers.
A man in the front spoke up. “Hey guys, it’s me, Jason. I’ll be in charge of this mission, so, if you could all listen up for a moment that would be awesome.” He paused, waiting for the few conversations to stop. “Alright then, our target is just over this ridge in front of us. We need to stay together and move fast. We’ll converge on a town, and if we don’t move quickly we’ll be susceptible to ray fire. Once the firing starts we’ll need to break into our individual groups, so, please find the remaining members of your group and stay with them. Any questions? None? Alright then, let's find our groups and head out.”
Out of the crowd a tall man and a women appeared and walked over to me. “Is that you Will? It’s me, Rasben, and this is Jess.” I acknowledged them with a nod but refused to speak.
When the crowd ceased moving, Jason waved one hand, turned and began leading us to whatever lie ahead.
We came over the ridge at full speed and into a small ghost town, but no one was there. Jason pulled up short as did everyone else to look around in wonder. “I don’t understand, what is this? What’s wrong?” Jason asked, as nervous mumbling began to spread throughout the ranks.
The town looks kind of like the one Rasben had been in in his dream. The town’s western looking, complete with old saloons, old hotels, and wooden sidewalks just like Rasben’s. The streets are dirt without a hint of hover surface in sight. Wow, this place is old. This couldn’t be right, why are we here? What’s going on?
“Zing, zing, zing!” ray guns opened fire!
“Scatter!” Jason yelled just as a ray tore into him! “AHHH!” Leader down!
People were going down left and right! “Zing, zing, zing, zing, zing!” Machine guns opened fire and the ground around me began to melt!
A hand grabbed me and began pulling me backward! “Ahhh!”
“Shut up, it’s me!” A woman's voice I didn’t recognize shouted in my ear!
She pulled me into what looked like a saloon where I lost my balance and went tumbling to the ground! “Everybody get down!” she yelled.
I looked up to see my savior only to realize it was Jessica! Dang it!
Two other men, presumably testers judging by their lack of animosity stood with us. I scrambled to my feet looking for a weapon. “It’s on you belt.” Jessica commanded irritably
Much to my embarrassment, it was. Drawing it, I flicked the safe switch and turned to one of the open windows.
“Ahh!” One of the African American avatars screamed out as a ray burned through a wall, penetrating deep into his chest! His friend turned to help him but by the amount of blood pooling underneath him, there was nothing he could do.
Why do we only have pistols, while the bad guys have machine guns? We’re going to get mowed down! “These pistols will never be any match for those machine guns!” Jessica yelled to everyone.
“We have to try!” I yelled back. “We can’t just stand here and do nothing!” ¶“I agree with you!” Yelled the man who was tending to his friend. And with that he stood and began firing!
“Fwap!” a ray slammed into the man’s chest almost instantly and threw him backwards! His body lay still!
“Another one of your brilliant ideas William!” Jessica shouted over to me.
I chose not to respond but instead peeked out the window. “Zing!” A blast whizzed past my ear at lightning speed!
I quickly ducked back, holding my pistol and fired blindly!
“You’re just wasting ammo!” Jessica complained.
“What do you suggest?” I asked.
“Me and Rasben should spread out and fire from the windows in each corner. That way they can’t focus their fire on one area.” ¶Her idea made perfect sense. I hated to agree with her, but she was right. “Then, why are you still here?”
The two of them moved quickly staying out of sight as they rushed towards firing positions. I began firing once more, mostly blindly, every now and then peaking over but I couldn’t see anything! Where are they shooting from?
I just started to reload when a man dressed entirely in black ran in! He raised his gun and, “Zing!” he fell to the ground!
Behind him stood Jessica, ray gun sizzling, looking just as sexy as the first time she’d saved my life. Our eyes met and something seemed to pass between us when “Fwack! Splat!” A ray smashed into Jessica’s avatar’s head exploding it everywhere!
“Jess, nooooo!” I screamed sprinting to her!
I got to her lifeless, bloody body wanting to look away, but unable to. She’s gone! It’s over, she’s dead! I couldn’t tear my eyes from what was left of her until I heard the shooting start to intensify outside. The sound of firing increased to a fevered pitch before suddenly dying off.
All shooting ceased entirely. I heard a man yelling something from the street but couldn’t make out what he was saying.
Then a group of men burst into the bar! I raised my gun as two giant men entered followed by an older looking man.
He had no body armor or uniform. He had a white gray beard sprinkled with grey, and when he took his dark sunglasses off I instantly recognized him!
He’s the leader of the group who ridden in on horseback and stolen the little black book from my team! Because of him Jess had been forced to fight in a deciding game! His face was clearly the one I’d seen, but why was he here?
Probably to kill me! Well, I wasn’t about to go down without a fight. I pulled my weapons trigger, or at least I tried but nothing happened! I looked down to see blue electricity running across my hands and then flowing back into the man's hand! Oh crap, this isn’t good!
“Hello Mr. Rose, we’ve been looking for you.” The man said coolly as he studied my eyes.
I didn’t know what to say, am I about to die? Just as I was preparing for everything to end, it did! My consciousness was ripped from my body, and flung into the air! What’s happening, where am I going?
Boom! I slammed back into a familiar body. Am I home? Am I alive? Phew, this is a relief. I slowly sat up and looked around. As did only six other testers.
Dr. Madstein burst into the room! “Is everyone okay? What happened out there?”
Dr. Madstein had been very fearful and had insisted we tell him everything. Which we had. We told him that everything had gone awry and we’d been blindsided. More than half us had been killed and those of us remaining had been about to. Dr. Madstein took this news with absolute surprise and immediately called Mr. Blackwood who arrived shortly with Mrs. Nasdin at his heels.
After being briefed by Dr. Madstein, he turned and addressed us. “It seems as though the simulation went slightly worse than expected. However, not to worry. Those of you that survived will be moving on to next round. I know you all must be very shaken up, so the rest of the day will be yours to relax with. Tonight at dinner I will be giving a very important announcement so, everyone must be there. Is that clear? Good.” And with that he left.
I proceeded to follow the other few testers ups
tairs and back to our hallway. The mood was quite dark. No one’s friends were alive and their absence was visibly felt. Everyone was in a very foul mood.
I split from the group and headed back to my room followed closely by Rasben. Upon entering our room, I flopped onto my bed welcoming any sleep that would come. However, none would.
Rasben also exhausted didn’t speak, and so we lay there completely silent. I can’t believe she’s gone. I think I may have felt something for her before she died. She’s always been there for me. She’s always helped me except for that one night. Why would she do that to me? I still can’t believe it. Maybe I should have listened to what she had to say? No, I must not think that way. She attacked me; I have nothing to feel sorry for. I need to stop thinking about her.
For the next few hours I slipped in and out of sleep. The light from outside darkened and the announcement came shortly that it was time for dinner and tonight it was mandatory. Begrudgingly, Rasben and I pulled ourselves up and stumbled to the dining hall.
The hall felt so empty. Everyone was gone. Sitting through dinner felt similar to a funeral. Everyone sat quietly staring emotionlessly at their food.
I wanted to stand up and shout what I knew about the testers being kept beneath us, but I couldn’t. Not if I ever want to see my parents again. And so, I just sat and ate my dinner like everyone else until Mr. Blackwood marched through the big double doors that swung silently aside to allow him entry.
“Good evening everyone!” he said cheerfully. “Why all the glum faces? You are the final competitors. Now, there all only 7 of you competing for the grand prize!” He waited a moment as a few faces managed to muster smiles. “And tomorrow, we’ll be traveling to the Capital!” His voice rose with excitement!
People began to whisper, “No way!” “That’s awesome!” “I’ve always wanted to see the Capital!”
Mr. Blackwood waited for the whispers to quiet a little before he continued. “Not only will you get to visit the Capital, but you will all get to meet Prime Chancellor, Sebastian Neo!”
