Gamer (Gamer Trilogy)
Page 14
With that, the army closed the gap and without any other choice, we began to fight.
Searching out pieces of glass with my mind, I flung them forward at the mass of attackers. I collapsed trees, threw weapons, crushed people’s insides and constricted people’s airways - all with my powers.
To my left, Stefanie was literally blazing as she cut down fighter after fighter with her hands alone.
To my right, Victor was mauling at whoever got too close and soon enough, we realised that their powers were minimal and that their strength was only in numbers.
Twice the three of us narrowly avoided losing our ground, the first time when Grace attempted to bring to life the illusion of cages around us – which I managed to stop and the second time when a squadron of men from Grace’s army banded together and shot these blinding lights out of their hands.
However, the men weren’t very clever and after a short time it became apparent that they were relying on brute strength as opposed to tactics.
If we managed to keep up our current efforts, we’d eventually get them all.
A well-built man, donned in a green cloak and with the typical leather hides of a bowman jumped forward, a thirdeye tattoo etched into his forehead. Reaching out with my mind I could feel this man building up power and before the eye began to glow anymore, I snapped his spinal cord with surprising ease. He exploded, just like all the others, into a scattering of pixels that eventually faded away.
“HELP!” Stefanie yelled out.
She had turned invisible and infiltrated the main body of soldiers, probably with the intention of getting to Grace. But it was no use. Now she was entirely surrounded and couldn't find her way out.
Grace looked to me and realising that I was about to intervene, she raised her wand and disappeared into a pinkish glow of light.
Suddenly she appeared next to Stefanie and in this moment, my entire life changed.
Raising her wand again, Grace laughed at what sounded like a magnified volume and as if in slow motion, her and Stefanie disappeared in another pink light.
She was gone.
There were a few more screams and then a growl, followed by a whine. Looking to my right I watched as Victor was impaled by several spears, collapsing to the ground, blood quickly spreading around him. He turned back into a human, still impaled and evermore vulnerable.
At this point, the entire army just vanished and I was left standing there, alone.
B3ast was dead, Lily was dead, Victor was dying, Stefanie had been taken and Grace had escaped.
Lily. I needed Lily to wake up. I needed Lily to fix all of this, to bring everybody back to life - including herself - and I needed Lily to help me like she’d helped me in the very first minutes of Simulator.
I looked around for 3 and saw that he was nowhere to be seen. The sky dimmed temporarily, almost as if in a power surge.
I rushed over to Lily, hoping that somehow she had survived. Victor had placed her lying face up on the floor. I looked down at her. Her lips were blue.
Calling on my power, I did the only thing that I thought would help – I began to transfer my energy into her. Whether or not it was working, I couldn’t tell but I found myself wanting this to all be over. I wanted to go back to the Academy, back to Jacob, back, even, to Stefanie not knowing I existed, if it meant that none of us had to die.
But that’s what it came down to. We did have to die, unless we found the portal. The way out in which more than one of us could survive. It was our only hope of making it out of here alive.
“DAMMIT LILY, WAKE UP!” I yelled into the sky - at which point I could’ve sworn her eyelids fluttered…
TO BE CONTINUED… ACKNOWLEDGMENTS There aren’t enough pages in the world to list all the people who have helped me on the way to completing this book. But here’s
just a few, whose acknowledgment goes without saying. But I’m going to say it anyway…
Annalise: the best sister in the world. Matina: endless support.
Kathy
James B. for his tireless, Steve Jobs-esque work ethic. Romeo, Juliet and Zack and, of course
Chrolilicianiel Skorg.
Take note of the missing chapter fifteen…