by J C Lane
“Amanda. The Rules state that anyone you involve in knowledge of the Game will be vulnerable to the same fate as yourself. Do you really want that for those innocent people surrounding you?”
“What makes you think there are people around?”
The Referee laughed. “Use that big brain of yours. Or is your potential exaggerated? I can hear them. More than that, I can see them, just like I can see you.”
“Oh. Right. But what fate are you talking about? You’re not really going to kill me.”
“Amanda, you must go someplace more private if you want to save those around you.”
“But I’m so close to Home Base. I can win within a minute.”
“Home Base has changed locations. The Grainger Sky Theater is no longer a safe zone.”
“But it’s the middle of a Game. You can’t change the Rules. The Rules say once a Game is started it can’t be stopped. And I’m here. I won.”
“The Game has been upgraded. There’s a difference.”
“How is that different? It’s not fair.”
The Referee laughed again. “Not fair? Are you seven years old? You know by now that life isn’t fair. It’s not going to be fair for those people around you, either, if you don’t go somewhere they can’t hear you.”
Amanda glanced at the young mother, and the toddler who happily munched on Cheerios. “Fine. I’m moving.”
Amanda took a detour past the theater, where a line was gathering. She’d been so close. “Home free,” she muttered.
“Excuse me?” The person closest in line looked at her, but Amanda didn’t respond. Instead, she took the stairs to the ground level and went outside, where she scanned the area for anyone familiar or suspicious. Too many people to tell if one stood out.
She trod off the path into the grass, where she stood with her back to the lake so no one could sneak up on her. “I’m outside. No one’s within twenty feet.”
“Back to something you said a few minutes ago,” the Referee said. “You wouldn’t have won, even if the Game had stayed the same.”
“But I was right there.”
“And It was right behind you. It wanted a major challenge. That’s why you were chosen. Instead, you’ve led It on an uninspiring jaunt around the city of Chicago. Not what It was looking for.”
“Why do I care what It wants? I don’t even know who It is.”
“I was hoping you would want a good Game, as well. I know how hard you struggle to find adequate opponents. Apparently, that was not enough motivation for you. We had to use harsher methods.”
“Murdering PG13.”
“Yes. But even that failed to provide what was required. Now it comes down to your life, instead of that of an avatar.”
“You can’t be serious. Who would want me dead?”
“No one, previously, but since you refused to play along, the stakes have been raised.”
Amanda paced, watching everyone around her. “Is It here right now?”
“Not anymore. Once I convinced It I would take care of getting the Game back on track, It left.”
“So It’s not going to kill me while I’m talking on the phone.”
“There would be no sport in that. Rather, this will be like the start of a new Game. You will have a thirty-minute head start. After that, It will receive transmissions every half hour, as before, pinpointing your location. If It finds and Tags you, you will die. Is that enough motivation?”
Amanda stared at the people crisscrossing the sidewalks. They were completely unaware that her life was being threatened. Would they care? Would they believe her? A pair of police officers strolled into view, casually surveying the area. They might not believe her, but they had to take her seriously, didn’t they? She looked young. She was young. They would protect her.
“Remember,” the Referee said, “you may not involve anyone else in the workings of the Game, or they will be vulnerable to the consequences of the Game. The skateboarder from earlier is exempt, since you were in the Deluxe version of the Game at that time. Now that you have been upgraded, anyone who learns the details of what we are doing will be a target.”
“Not a street vendor I buy a hot dog from?”
“No. Although he should be, for selling that disgusting mass of chemicals and by-products. You should buy something with more nutritional value.”
“So I can be healthier before It kills me?”
The Referee smiled. “You are such the clever girl.”
Amanda’s stomach burned. “Where is Home Base now?”
“It’s on your smartwatch.”
Amanda navigated to the map and found her next destination. “Wrigley Field? Why?”
“A good place for both of you. A lot of people, and it will take some time to get there with today’s traffic, giving you both a fair chance.”
“Nothing about this is fair. I don’t have any chance.”
“Who knows? Perhaps you will be the one to end the Game. Now, I’m going to begin your thirty minutes. Get ready, get set—”
“Wait! I have more questions!”
“Go.”
Amanda went.
11:30 a.m.
Tyrese
Once Tyrese’s eleven-thirty signal transmitted, he decided to make a change. He was restless and needed food so he could wash down more ibuprofen and stop the hunger pangs rolling through his stomach. Besides, Robert would probably catch up to the trolley at any minute. Tyrese climbed off by a downtown mall called Water Tower Place, and went in to see what he could find. He soon realized nothing was appropriate for a guy with dirty sweats and a broken arm. Too upscale. And half of his five hundred dollars was gone, stolen by the idiot rednecks, so he needed to think frugally.
He sidestepped a huge man in sunglasses, a suit, and an earpiece—what was Secret Service doing in a mall?—and went back outside. A vendor sold him a couple of overpriced hot dogs. He ate them around the corner, in a little alcove behind a tree. It was hard to eat with one hand, but what were a few ketchup stains in addition to sweat, dirt, blood, and whatever else he had on his shirt by that point?
The smartwatch’s GPS found the most direct route to Wrigley Field, north 4.57 miles. A ten-minute car ride. An hour run if he were in good shape. He figured he could zigzag all through town by walking, and still make it in time for the Cubs’ afternoon game. Or he could catch a cab.
He tossed his trash in the nearest can and stepped onto the sidewalk. Robert Matthews stood in front of the mall, talking to the huge man Tyrese had seen earlier. Robert’s Challenger idled by the curb. Tyrese backed into his alcove, his heart hammering. Robert had discovered the trolley and followed it, as Tyrese suspected. How could he not, with that valet ready to talk to anybody who came out of the hospital? Tyrese checked his watch. Twelve minutes until the next transmission. He needed to be far away when that happened.
Keeping out of sight, he turned the opposite direction from Robert, from Wrigley Field, from Home Base, and started walking. Fast. Staying to the left he dodged around corners, skipping behind crowds of tourists and trees and buildings. By the time his location transmission went, he was all the way out on the Navy Pier, where he hid in the full crowds.
He hadn’t wanted to see Robert. Had hoped he would never see him again, even once they got home. Yet there was also something freeing in knowing exactly where he was. So this time Tyrese waited. He didn’t walk out past all the boats and restaurants and theaters and whatever, because the last thing he wanted was to get trapped on the far end of the pier. Instead, he found a bench against a building, where parents sat with small children eating ice cream and spilling drinks. He could tell the parents weren’t so sure about him, but he smiled, and nobody called the cops.
Finally, Robert’s head, half a foot higher than a normal person’s, showed over the crowd. Tyrese eased behind a large dad and waited
until Robert moved in his direction. Robert kept looking at his wrist, pushing something.
Tyrese’s heart about stopped. Robert probably had an app that would tell him exactly where Tyrese was, now that he was this close. Panicking, Tyrese slunk into the knickknack store behind him. Hiding in the far corner behind a stack of Chicago T-shirts, he watched out the front for Robert to pass.
“Hey, mister, what’d you do to your arm?” A little boy stood beside him, sucking on a lollipop and looking about as sticky and dirty as Tyrese felt.
“Broke it,” Tyrese told him quietly.
“How?”
“Got in a fight.”
“Really?” The boy’s eyes went wide. “Did you break their arms, too?”
“Don’t think so, but I got someone’s nose.”
“Cool.”
Tyrese shook his head. “Actually, dude, it’s not so cool. This hurts a lot, and I never would have gotten into a fight if they hadn’t come at me first.”
The boy frowned. Suddenly Tyrese wasn’t so special. “Well, I would’ve broke their heads.” He turned up his nose and stalked away.
Now Tyrese wasn’t sure where Robert was. Had he gone past while the boy was talking? He wasn’t in the store. Tyrese skimmed along the side of the room, spying out the opposite door from the one he’d entered, closer to where he’d seen Robert.
Now he couldn’t see him anywhere. But Tyrese couldn’t stay, not if Robert’s watch said exactly where he was. Inching his way out, watching for that blond head above the others, Tyrese trekked across the sidewalk, praying he didn’t have crosshairs on his back. Back at the main street, he stopped to catch his breath and look behind him. Was that Robert’s head? He couldn’t tell, but he wasn’t waiting to find out.
Tyrese ran to the nearest El entrance and sprinted down the steps.
Amanda
Amanda raced toward the street, dodging families and tour groups, determined to get away as quickly as possible since she now knew that DarwinSon1 was watching her. The Ref said It had taken off, but Amanda had no reason to believe that. She took no time to consider where It might be, or if she could see It. She only ran.
By the time she reached Michigan Avenue she was out of breath, sweating, and freaked out. She ducked down a side street, then an alley. With maybe fifteen minutes before her location was transmitted, DarwinSon1 would know she was close. It wasn’t like she could get far on foot. She hunched over, hands on her knees, gasping for breath. She wasn’t used to this running stuff. Sure, PG13 fought for her life all the time, but that didn’t do anything for Amanda’s cardiovascular system.
“Hey, sweetheart, you need something?”
A greasy man of indeterminate age approached, cornering her beside a Dumpster. His toothless smile and vacant eyes left her no hope that he could give her anything she needed.
“No, thanks.” She darted around him.
Hands in her pockets, head down, she speed-walked along the street. She had to think. Think. She wasn’t allowed to contact her dad. The Ref made it clear the entire Contact list on her phone had been hacked. The unisex Asian dudette, as Nerys had called it, had every phone number she used.
Except Nerys’.
Amanda never called Nerys. She played games with him. She messaged him. But she’d never contacted him with her phone. No doubt the Ref had also hacked her gaming system, and knew everyone she communicated with there. But how far back would the Ref have gone? How deep into her system? Would the Ref be able to find Nerys through his gaming profile?
She wondered again about this unseen Ref and its capabilities. Was the Ref one person, a computer program, or a bunch of crazy people? Was she playing this Game against the It, against the Ref—or against a computer? Or all three?
Amanda swiveled her head, hoping for someplace she could get on a computer. A coffeehouse? A library? Nothing close. She couldn’t sit down anyway, not with her location being transmitted in—she checked her watch—four minutes.
Taxis lined up in front of a hotel down the block. Amanda ran to get in line, and checked her watch for possible computer labs. Wendy’s. Starbucks. The hotel behind her. And…She smiled.
“Help you, miss?” the young attendant said.
“Yes, please. I’d like a taxi.”
“Here we are.”
She held up a finger, counting down seconds to her location transmission. Five…four…three…two…one…ready. She slid into the taxi.
“Where to?” the driver asked.
Laura
“Holy crap,” Sydney said. “That’s her, isn’t it?”
Brandy Inkrott and two of her thugs stormed into the Sears Tower at the same time Sydney and Adam’s loud, laughing tour group emerged from the elevators. Laura and her new friends merged with the rest of the bunch, first out the door. The bus met them at the curb, where the three re-took ownership of the big backseat. This time Laura scooted to the end so Sydney and Adam sat next to each other.
All three watched out the back window, waiting for Brandy and her men to come running after them, but the bus took off before any bad guys emerged. Laura sank into the seat, exhausted all over again.
“We need a plan,” Sydney said.
“Lunch,” Adam said.
“Duh, after that.”
“What’s next on the itinerary?” Laura asked.
“After lunch, you mean? Museums. One after the other—aquarium, planetarium, Field. They keep us moving.”
“But longer than thirty minutes at each one.”
“An hour. Enough to see maybe two exhibits. It’s dumb.”
“The point is,” Adam said, “an hour is too long for Laura to be hanging in one place.”
“Right,” Sydney said. “So we don’t. We grab lunch, which according to the schedule is supposed to take an hour, but that shouldn’t be an issue. When will your location be sent off again?”
“Twelve minutes.”
“That should work. Our tour is eating on some river cruise, so your GPS thing will catch you when you’re moving.”
“But she’ll realize I’m on a boat if it goes while we’re on the water.”
“Let’s see when we get there.”
Her watch buzzed before they got to the launching site, which was good news, since It wouldn’t have the specific spot. The other plus was that there was a small fleet of boats. “They’ll never figure out exactly which one we’re on,” Sydney said.
Laura wasn’t so sure. The other boats’ tour groups weren’t obvious choices. Old folks. People speaking Spanish. Families.
“What do you want to do?” Adam asked.
Laura shrugged. On the one hand, the cruise would be a moving target. On the other, a lot of people could get hurt. On the third hand, if there were such a thing, once she boarded a boat, she’d be stuck. No running away from that.
“There’s a ton of them,” Sydney said. “It’ll be fine. And look, she’s not supposed to hurt innocent people, right? There will be gobs of us on board.”
“You’re not innocent anymore, remember?”
She waved her hand. “Everyone else is. Adam and I will be fine. We’ll settle down right in the middle. As soon as lunch is over we’ll get back on the bus and travel around a little bit. She’ll never find you.”
And Laura would never get to Home Base. She would be running forever. She couldn’t stop to think about that right then, though, and before she went back to Water Tower Place, she needed a plan. “Fine. We’ll get on the boat.”
Sydney clapped. “Great! Let’s go.”
They boarded with the rest of the group. Again, Laura worried that people would ask what she was doing there, but the tour guide just counted her and let it go. One more kid than necessary was better than one less. Sydney picked a table in the middle of the cabin, as she’d promised, and put Adam by the window with Laura
beside him. She sat across from Laura. “You shouldn’t sit by the window, in case they’ve got binoculars, or whatever.”
“Or sniper rifles,” Adam said.
“And this way one side of you will be buffered by innocents.”
“It sounds like we’re at war,” Adam said.
Laura huddled beside him. “I am at war.”
“Yeah, I guess so.” He looked down at her, then around the cabin.
Sydney caught the look between Adam and Laura, and met Laura’s eyes. Laura had the first niggling of unease about how Sydney might feel with her sitting next to Adam, and on his lap in the taxi, and in his arms when he was carrying her around.
“Why are you looking so serious all of a sudden?” Adam asked Sydney.
“I’m thinking.”
Exactly what Laura was afraid of.
hic
Sydney’s brother and a couple other guys sat by them, talking loudly about how awesome the Sears Tower was, and showing off the pictures they took. Most of the photos were funny, and they’d already posted them with quotes that had nothing to do with being on one of the world’s tallest buildings. They asked to see Adam’s pictures, but he said his phone was out of juice, and Sydney claimed she forgot to take any.
“Hey, that’s one of those new smartwatches!” Sydney’s brother grabbed Laura’s wrist and twisted it so he could see. “Can I try it on?”
Laura swallowed. How could she get out of this gracefully, without disclosing the fact that the watch was basically welded to her arm?
“Cut it out, doofus.” Sydney smacked him. “You can’t go around asking girls to take off their stuff.”
“It’s just a watch.”
“A really expensive one she just got. Go try one on at the store.”
“Geez. Don’t jump all over me.”
Laura waited for more arguing, but Sydney’s brother rejoined the conversation with the other guys, laughing about a comment one of them had already received on a post.
