Grid Seekers (Grid Seekers Book One)

by Logan Byrne

  The hackers came in, twelve of them in all. They all looked different, and I couldn’t tell what their home megacities were, as they didn’t have any bracelets or other identifying information on them.

  “These are your hackers. They have everything to gain by helping you and your partner navigate through the competition and helping you find cards and gifts along the way. If they lose, or you and your partner are eliminated, they will face the same fate as you. If they help you win, they also get a wish, which I know they all want. Even though your hacker will be your lifeline, they don’t have all of the answers. They don’t know the locations of different cards or gifts that have been planted, and most importantly, they don’t know where the talismans are. They have to use their hacking skills to break down the walls that confine them and give you information as you go along. Before we pair you up with your hacker and let you talk with him or her, I’m going to commence with the team selections. For this, I’ll need a friend to help. Gordana, are you there?” Quinn asked.

  “Yes. What can I help you with, Quinn?” Gordana asked, as Quinn looked at the screen in the front of the room.

  “Will you please list the competitor team assignments on the screen?” Quinn asked.

  “Certainly. Here are your results,” Gordana said, and the pairings came up, each of our faces next to another person from our cities, a gold trim boxing in each pair of two so that we knew exactly who we were with.

  I scanned the screen, looking for my face. It was the same picture they showed on television for the lottery drawing just two days ago. I looked to the right of the picture and saw Liam’s face next to mine. I held back a small smile, both knowing that he was a great competitor who would give me the best chance of winning out of the three I could’ve had, but also because, let’s face it, he was cute.

  I looked over, seeing him look down at me a few feet away, two bodies separating us, and I nodded.

  “Now that you have your assignments, we are going to pair you with your hackers. This will work the same way as your partner assignment,” Quinn said, before asking Gordana for help.

  The twelve hacker faces matched up with the twelve teams. Our hacker looked very distinct in comparison to the other hackers, who were mostly well dressed and cleaned up. I looked back up at the lineup and saw him there, smiling and waving to us. He looked a little disheveled, though not dirty, and he had messy brown hair, a little bit of acne, and a chubby waist, which was fairly typical of hackers. He looked nice, though, which I knew would come in handy, considering some of the hackers looked ticked off to even be up there right now.

  “Teams, please meet with your hackers and introduce yourselves. We will reconvene shortly,” Quinn said.

  Liam and I got together, and our hacker walked over to us, smiling from ear to ear, extending his hand for us to shake.

  “Hi guys! My name is Peter. I’m so happy to be teamed with you two. I know we’re going to have a lot of fun,” Peter said.

  “Well, not too much fun. I don’t plan on making a vacation of this,” Liam said, before shaking his hand, and I did the same.

  “I know this is hard and stressful, but we’re a team! I know we can still make this fun and exciting if we want,” Peter said, still smiling.

  “I love your enthusiasm, but I plan to win, and by any means necessary. I hope you can get us the goods when we’re inside,” Liam said.

  Liam was cute, and he seemed like a good teammate, but I still had the strange feeling I’d had about him earlier. I felt a little uneasy, like he wasn’t entirely trustworthy. I didn’t know if he would throw me under the bus or anything, but I didn’t think he would risk himself for me, though I would do it for him. The one thing I had learned from past competitions was that you didn’t have to use the talismans with your partner to win. That exact thing happened two years ago. A competitor from one team had one half of the talismans, and a person from an entirely different team had the other half. Their respective partners, who were unlucky enough not to have a half, duked it out and fought while the two just used the talismans together and combined them, getting themselves out and winning, even though they weren’t together in it at all. I was going to make sure something like that didn’t happen to me.

  “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.