The Inn (Evenstad Media Presents Book 3)

by Voss Foster

  ENTRY END

  JOURNAL 11LENA

  ENTRY 001

  DATE: 1/2/2076

  My back hurts, my ass hurts, and, God, what was the other thing that’s gone wrong? Oh yeah, I’ve been kidnapped and locked up in some stupid-ass hotel. Of course the first thing I did was try the door. Well, I threw crap at the door. Trying to get out didn’t turn out so well in season two. It was electrified. No sparks or anything, so I risked it. Just in case that was some secret they were putting in, that we could escape whenever we wanted. All we had to do was trust or think outside the box or blah blah blah.

  Short story? It didn’t work. Long story? It didn’t fucking work.

  I’m alone down here in the lobby. There’s supposed to be eleven more, but I guess they’re all somewhere else. Works for me. I can set up down here. There are some nice, secure spaces tucked away behind the counter. Back offices and closets. Empty closets, which sucks ass. I was hoping for some caustic chemicals or shit that might explode. Guess the TV bigwigs thought that wouldn’t be fair or some bullshit like that.

  They still make good places for me to hide, and not the kind of room someone is probably going to actually be looking into. I mean, first instinct for most people is going to be to go and find one of the actual guest rooms. A little too obvious. I’ll sacrifice a little comfort for not getting killed right away. It’s a damn good trade-off in my book.

  Plus this is pretty easy to defend. The lobby is nice and open, but I can stay behind the counter. At least until I run over to the weird little vending machine across the way.

  Still need to try out that gun, too, but I want to make sure that everyone is well away before I do any of that. Don’t need anyone figuring out where I am. I figure if I don’t see anyone for a while, I can take the risk.

  Until then, I’ll just sit behind the desk and think about how I could spend that twenty-million. I’m going to need some big plans for that kind of prize money.

  ENTRY END

  JOURNAL 09HIKARU

  ENTRY 001

  DATE: 1/2/2076

  I’m not surprised by this at all. I could be. In the eyes of many, I should be. If my own reasoning were to be raised against me in any other situation, I would discount it totally.

  I dreamed of this hotel. I can’t say for certain if it was a vague memory of arriving here, or if it happened before this. I only remember the dream. My ability to remember time is off right now. I hope that it’s only temporary and not indicative of anything more serious.

  Either way, while I can’t say that I expected this, it was not a surprise for me to see this hotel when I realized I was not at home. The letter, I didn’t see or expect. I initially railed against it and panicked, but I came to the realization soon enough that there was no point in that panic and worry. It wouldn’t change my situation. All I could do was weigh my options with the way things were.

  I don’t know whether I’ll make the choice to play by the rules of this game or attempt to remain at peace and in line with my morals. The question is not simple. Either I value my life or my clear conscience more. Neither is easy to part with, but one must be sacrificed, and fairly soon.

  For now, I wait here. I’ll take stock of my surroundings and the items provided for me. I can only hope that an acceptable solution presents itself to me. Otherwise, I may well die before I can come to a conclusion.

  ENTRY END

  TO: Eddie

  FROM: Laurie

  SUBJECT: Newsletter

  SENT 12/24/2075 AT 9:19 p.m. EST

  I hope the holidays are treating you well. At least as well as is possible.

  The first round of newsletters went out today. I realize tomorrow is Christmas, and I wouldn’t ask this of you if there were anyone else I trusted as much with computers. I need you to monitor and make sure that no one traces the emails back to their source. We can’t afford to have our accounts compromised. I hope you understand.

  If there’s any hint of trouble coming through the line, send me an email and I’ll flush the account that’s in danger. We sent the message out to the list of contacts you got from the files at Evenstad. It’s overly paranoid and I’m aware of this, but the chance remains that one of the recipients could have the capacity and the desire to come back against us. Especially with the heavy publication of the Evenstad hacking, I can’t help but worry that someone could put the pieces together.

  Thank you for this, Eddie. As always, don’t reply to this email. Chains are too noticeable.

  TO: Undisclosed

  FROM: Undisclosed

  SUBJECT: Evenstad Media Update

  SENT 12/24/2075 AT 9:14 p.m. EST

  ATTENTION EVENSTAD MEDIA CUSTOMER!!

  Did you enjoy The Park? The Mall? Are you looking forward to The Inn come January? Maybe you play The Park: Live and Breathe?

  Stop. You need to stop right now. Evenstad Media hides behind complex legal jargon and twists the intent of US law beyond any recognition in order to cover themselves for the production of their MURDER MACHINES.

  You’re a part of it. You’re an accomplice to murder. And there’s a way you can stop it. Stop supporting Evenstad’s new shows and projects. Use the power of your wallet. Stop giving Evenstad money now and let them know your displeasure. Let them know that they can’t KIDNAP people. They can’t DRUG people. They can’t MURDER people.

  You’ve helped them so far. The contestants in these shows are DRUGGED and convinced to sign contracts in a compromised state of mind. They are signing over their lives without full use of their capacities.

  Don’t let this continue. Don’t allow GREED to continue to rule in what should be an advanced age. Stop the systematic MURDER of our citizens. Act NOW before it’s too late.

  JOURNAL 01DEB

  ENTRY 002

  DATE: 1/2/2076

  The girl woke up for a while. She’s pretty weak. Should I have filled her in on everything? Maybe not, but I felt like it was the best option. I got information from her first. Her name’s Shelley. She lives in Northern Michigan. She’s supposed to start at U of M later this year. Will that happen? I hope so. I hope she manages to survive all this. Not right for a kid her age to have those kind of opportunities robbed from her.

  Should I have let her read the letter on her own? I don’t know. I can’t know, because I already took that choice from her. Is it ironic? I don’t know. I wanted to do it right, let somebody break the news to her instead of having her learn it from a cold, lifeless letter.

  She went right back to bed after we covered everything and I showed her the gun and the knife. Is that a normal reaction? I’m not a psychologist or a psychiatrist or whoever would be the type to know the answer to that. I can’t blame her for that reaction. I wish I could have just gone to sleep after that. Is it good to let her sleep when things are this dangerous? Maybe not. But I can carry her pretty easily if anything goes wrong. Will it stop a direct attack against us from another player? Of course not. If that happens, both of us are probably dead. But I’d rather have her here where I might be able to do something to protect her. Maybe I can, maybe I can’t, but I might.

  Would I be able to live with myself if I didn’t make the effort? Absolutely not.

  ENTRY END

  JOURNAL 11LENA

  ENTRY 002

  DATE: 1/3/2076

  I gave it a good amount of time. Nobody showed up, so I went for it, decided to test things. The black oval things are the flash grenades. I’m guessing they’re some sort of light. Like a flashbang. I’m working on that assumption. It could come around and bite me in the ass, of course, but with only six I don’t want to waste anything that could help me out. The lighter works the same way as any other damn lighter, and that thermoblade is kind of a joke. Just a knife where the blade heats up. The only lethal thing in the whole damn pack, so that’s just great. Heat’ll just cauterize the wound, won’t it?

  That three part gun is something el
se. Once I’m out of here, I might have to get one for me. God knows I’ll have the money for it. Three triggers, three barrels, three different things it can do. I tested them out and I have to say I’m impressed. It might not kill anything, but I damn sure wouldn’t be looking to get hit by this thing for kicks. The one barrel is like a shotgun, but those plastic crowd-control bullets. I don’t know what that would feel like, but I’ve seen that shit on TV. Rioters don’t seem to like it. One of them sprays some kind of liquid. Just getting close to it burned my eyes. So some kind of pepper spray, but with some actual range on the damn thing.

  The third one’s still throwing me. I didn’t see it do anything. It would figure they gave me the busted gun. It could just be invisible, I guess, but what the hell kind of shit would that be? Still might try it out once I take someone down with one of the other two barrels. Just to see.

  When people see it on TV, it might make me look like a bitch. Like I’m heartless or a bad person.

  I really don’t care. They can cry about it while I count my money.

  ENTRY END

  JOURNAL 08BILLIE

  ENTRY 002

  DATE: 1/3/2076

  I’m heading into the third day. Not having a clock or a calendar or anything is really throwing me. I have to guess based on the date on the tablet and what light’s coming through the windows. It was nighttime when I first woke up, but not for very long. It’s getting lighter, now, so I’m assuming I’ve been here about two days in total.

  Nothing seems to be going wrong with my body yet. I’m sure it will, but I have enough of the right hormones in my system that I’m fine. My biggest issue is in my head. At least I hope it’s in my head. I think I’ve convinced myself that I should feel worse, and now I feel almost sick. Definitely not right somehow.

  I’m really, really hoping it’s just a mind over matter thing. I know it won’t be very long before my body chemistry gets all screwy again, but I’m not in a rush to get to that point.

  Need to think about something else. Anything else. That alarm went off yesterday. I hope everyone was okay. How long would we really have to all survive before they decided to pull the show? I’m sure the ratings would drop way too far down if nothing exciting happened for enough episodes. Then I guess they’d either cancel it or make something happen. I’m sure they have some sort of contingency plan. They have to. Why wouldn’t they?

  I know that there’s no way out of here. Well, there is for one person. But there’s no way we can all get out. It’s a simple fact. The sun rises and sets and we’re stuck in here until we’re down to just one. That one probably won’t be me, either.

  I never wanted this. I just want my life. Nothing more, nothing less. My own life that I can live the way I need to. All this murder isn’t part of that plan.

  ENTRY END

  TO: Niels Evenstad

  FROM: Frederick Evenstad

  SUBJECT: Email Fiasco

  SENT 12/25/2075 AT 3:12 a.m. EST

  Brother,

  I take it you’ve already been informed of the email that went out last night. Given that it went out to the addresses on file for your subscribers, I can’t help but think it has to be connected to the hacking. We didn’t think they’d gotten any personal information from anyone, but we all must have been wrong. My techs included, which means the people behind it are very proficient.

  Luckily, the email went out to several employees. I have them trying to track it back to a source account or an IP address, but so far there’s no luck, and I’m only working on those who could volunteer. It wouldn’t be right, forcing anyone to work on Christmas. First thing tomorrow, I’ll have a full team working on it again.

  I want you to know that my people can handle this. You have enough to deal with right now. I’m here to support you, Brother. As soon as there’s any information, I’ll let you know, but if things continue on this way, we might not be able to find anything. But I’ll make sure this is a top priority.

  Merry Christmas,

  Frederick Evenstad,

  Chief Operating Officer, Evenstad Technologies

  —

  TO: Frederick Evenstad

  FROM: Niels Evenstad

  SUBJECT: Email Fiasco

  SENT 12/25/2075 AT 4:16 a.m. EST

  Brother,

  Thank you for your help in this. It warms my heart to know that you care so much.

  I’ve informed Stian and he’s working up an email to cover this. I don’t know what he’ll come up with, but I’m sure it will be much better than anything you or I would have written.

  At this point, there’s not much I can do. The content of the message isn’t a concern, but the breach in security is. Particularly since they were assured that no personal information was leaked in the hack.

  But I’m planning on enjoying Christmas in spite of all this. I hope you’re coming, and the kids. If you decide you can’t make it, I understand. I can ship their presents just as easily. But it would be nice to see them. And to see you and Marta.

  Be well, Brother,

  Niels Evenstad,

  Chief Operating Officer, Evenstad Media

  JOURNAL 05SHELLEY

  ENTRY 001

  DATE: 1/4/2076

  Deb told me I needed to start writing in this journal. She said it would help me out getting through everything, that it wasn’t healthy for me to just lay there so long. But writing about this isn’t going to help me out. I know that. My life is over. Done completely, and I’m just eighteen. I’m not the kind of person who can make it out of this show. I tried not to watch it the last couple years, but it was hard to avoid it. Neither of the winners were anything like me. They were the sort of women I wish I could be, that I want to try and become, but they aren’t me. Not at all.

  I don’t feel safe here, even with Deb. She’s nice enough, but I think she’s being too protective. There’s no point in trying to protect me in here. It’s just going to get her offed, and then I’ll have to deal with that. It won’t be good for either of us.

  But I don’t want to be alone. Even if the responsible thing to do is for me to go out there and leave her to be a little bit safer, I just don’t think I can manage it. I’ve never been really alone in my life. Not for longer than a few hours, and never in a strange place like this. Never with people out and around who want me dead, either, but I guess that’s a pretty universal thing. It’s not every day that people are out to murder everyone they see.

  And it’s definitely crossed my mind that Deb might be looking for just that. Maybe I’m still useful to her and she’s just waiting for a good time to take me out of the picture. Or maybe she’s a genuinely nice person. She doesn’t seem evil. Just some redhead about my mom’s age. But what do I know? It could go either way.

  All I want to do is hide. I shouldn’t do it, but I want to do it. And I’m going to, no matter how bad it’ll probably turn out. I gave Deb everything but the knife and this tablet. Just in case something does go wrong and I have to do the worst to her. I don’t know if I’d have it in me, even if she attacked me head on, but I’d rather be prepared for it.

  Well, that’s not entirely true. I’d rather not have to be prepare for an attack. I’d rather be safely back home, getting ready to head off to college next quarter. But that’s no longer an option for me.

  Instead, I had to get ready to defend myself.

  ENTRY END

  JOURNAL 06RAY

  ENTRY 002

  DATE: 1/4/2076

  No alarms going off lately. I would’ve noticed. Been paying close attention, just in case. I mean, I’m probably being targeted, so may as well try to make the most of what I know. Or what I think I know. Whoever’s controlling these hazards or whatever you want to call that shit, they turned one on as soon as I got set up in 2106. I don’t know what the plan is as we all keep going, but I’d imagine we’ll be easier to track one by
one. I don’t think they’ll stop until they get me with one of their stupid traps. Of course, this is assuming that it wasn’t random, still. That’s always a possibility.

  I’m ready for them, though. They can try, but I don’t plan on letting them get me down. Maybe I’m wrong and they won’t be targeting me. If the next alarm that goes off isn’t anywhere close to me, I might be able to relax a bit. I don’t know, but I might. That doesn’t even matter right now, though. It’s not an issue until something else actually happens. So I’m waiting until then. And I’m still holding out a little hope that I’m wrong, and that they don’t plan to target me. I’m leaning on that two percent chance that I was just in the wrong place at the wrong time. Leaning hard.

  ENTRY END

  JOURNAL 07DANIEL

  ENTRY 002

  DATE: 1/4/2076

  Well, if you’re reading this, you can scratch what I said in my last journal. If this journal suddenly stops, it’s definitely because I’m dead. Just to see if I could, I tried to take this tablet apart. I guess they thought of that already. I can’t figure any way that I can safely get into this thing without wrecking whatever might be in there, which would defeat the purpose. Even if I missed whatever part I might have been hoping was in there, it would destroy the tablet. I’d personally rather have something I’m sure about than a chance at something that may or may not work. I wouldn’t even have a use for it right now, so there’s no use in giving it more thought.