by Azalea Ellis
Guards walked around atop the outside of the walls, on constant patrol. They carried large guns strapped to their bodies, as well as handheld radios and binoculars. The whole place was well secured, and easily defensible on all sides.
My team crouched at the top of a hill, hidden among the trees and underbrush at the base of a nearby mountain.
"This place isn't on any official map," Adam murmured. "We've definitely found NIX." He pointed to the river. “That runs through the bottom of the mountain they’ve built into. They must be using it as an energy source to keep this place running.”
“What’s that?” I jerked my head toward the huge ball elevated above the courtyard. Bands of different colored metals spun around it, in all directions, as if in moving orbit.
“No idea.” He shrugged.
"I didn't expect NIX to be quite so…big," China said in a small voice. "How are we supposed to…?" she trailed off.
"Yeah. I hate to say it, Eve, but how does this help?" Sam asked. "Now we know more about them, but that only makes us more of a threat to them, and gives them a reason to kill us."
"They already try to kill us every ten days in the Trials, so not much has changed, then, huh?" Adam said.
"Sam, do you know what the casualty rate is for Players?" I said.
They were all silent for a few moments as the weight of my words settled on them.
"High. Over fifty percent. But once you've survived a few times, the survival rate goes up," he whispered.
"Does it? What about our last Trial? Even if every one of those Players had been able to solve the puzzle, half would still have died. Because that's what NIX wanted. They don't want us all to survive.” I placed emphasis on every word. Otherwise they wouldn't put us into the Trials. How long till one of us slips up and dies, or we’re sent to a Trial where we're forced to work against each other? We can't keep this up forever.”
He was silent, so I continued. "So, like I've said from the beginning, we need to escape. As soon as possible. And I've got an idea. I had an interesting conversation with you-know-who." I lifted my eyes skyward to indicate Bunny, without saying his name and drawing attention to our current situation. "He told me that when Players commit suicide, NIX takes them off the list of active Players—the ones that enter Trials."
Adam twisted onto his side to face me, the weaving tattoos on his arms making him blend into the darkness like camouflage. "I know you're not going to have us kill ourselves. So what's the plan?"
I grinned. "That's where you come in." I could feel the weight of everyone's anticipation for my next words. "It's only logical that they keep records of all their past Players, right?"
"Right."
"And as you-know-who's the only one that watches us enough to know who we are, if suddenly we disappeared, no one would notice as long as nothing drew their attention to our absence?"
"Probably not...but—"
"So, if suddenly Adam Coyle's status changed to ‘dead for the last six months,’ and somehow also happened to be the exact same information as Joe Schmoe, some random guy that actually did die, and already had the cleaners erase suspicion on him..."
"Whoa. That might actually work. Of course, they probably have tracking and audit programs in place to find discrepancies, at least they do if they're smart. And I'm sure they've got a backup, too. But they’ll likely be digital, for security purposes, and even if not, I’d bet there’s a self-destruct protocol for invasion or takeover scenarios. But if I could write a program designed to spread like the zombie apocalypse and wipe out our real information and any traces that it had been changed…plus set off the backup self-destruct…" he trailed off, and lay in silence for a few minutes. "I'm going to need to level up some more to be able to create something that robust. And I’ll need a direct linkup. But I can do it. If I can get in there," he jerked his head toward the compound, "for long enough for the program to work undetected."
"I've got some ideas for that, too," I said.
Chapter 23
We are what we pretend to be, so we must be careful what we pretend to be.
— Kurt Vonnegut
My mom called us into the kitchen, and sat us down for a particularly fancy breakfast. She rubbed her manicured hands together with a mixture of excitement and nerves. “I’ve got something to tell you,” she announced.
I bit back my smile.
“I’ve received a job offer from the marketing department of one of our sister companies. They’re expanding into some products with high profit potential, and they want me to lead the team. They’re willing to compensate for our relocation, and the pay is high enough—”
“Relocation?” Zed interrupted. “What are you saying?”
“The decision is already made, children.” She met moth our eyes challengingly. “It would mean a higher standard of living, less hours of work for me after the initial push, it’s got a significantly better enforcer presence, and the school is top notch.”
Zed looked to me for help.
Sorry, brother. I won’t be giving a hand with this one. I shrugged. “I’m out of school anyway, so it doesn’t matter to me.”
My mother smiled and subtly relaxed. “There are some wonderful opportunities for secondary education, Eve, as well as job opportunities if you can’t pass the entrance exams…”
Zed glared between the both of us and stalked out of the room, leaving the elaborate meal untouched.
My mother sighed.
“He’ll come around,” I said to her, piling my plate with his abandoned food. Wouldn’t want any to go to waste, now. I snickered to myself.
“At least I have one reasonable child,” she sighed.
I smiled at her around a mouthful of melon. If only she knew. If all went well, the others in my team with families to protect would all be having similar discussions. Blaine’s wealth could create connections and opportunities seemingly out of thin air.
* * *
Three days later, the power went off as I was lying on the floor in the living room with Zed. I sat up in vague curiosity, and let the indirect sunlight through the window wash over my body in the now-darkened room.
"Power's off," Zed stated the obvious, putting down his school pad.
"I'm sure it'll be back on soon," I frowned down at the small chain I’d been fiddling with while quizzing him for his year-end test. I couldn’t see well enough without the light, and obviously couldn’t activate my Huntress Skill to improve my night vision while in a civilian’s presence. “Probably just a rolling blackout.”
But then I heard faint musical tones, and my insides started to vibrate harmony. "Oh, shit. Shit, shit, shit," I muttered, launching myself off the floor and sprinting to my room.
“What’s wrong, Eve?”
“Uh, nothing!” I called back distractedly. “I just forgot I was going to go to a friend’s house tonight. I’m late!” I grabbed the pack that I kept always prepared and nearby from my closet. I lifted the edge of my mattress and fumbled for the Seeds hidden within, tossing them into my pack. I barely remembered to strip off my link and toss it on the bed so it didn’t get scrambled. "This shouldn't be happening. It's only been nine days, not ten. It's not time yet!" I hissed. Were the others going to Trial, too? Or was NIX singling me out, sending me off-schedule to see if I would die by myself? Before I had time to even put on shoes, my bones shivered me into my fifth Trial. I was understandably distracted, and didn't feel the eyes watching me in secret through the crack in my doorway. If I had, maybe things would have been different. But I didn't notice.
I found myself transported into mid-air and falling fast, and any thoughts beyond the moment quickly blew their way out of my head. I landed hard on a knobby brown tree limb, bruising my knees, scraping my hands, and half knocking the air out of my lungs.
I was sucking at the shockingly warm air, disoriented by the huge, huge distance between myself on the limb and the tawny ground far below, when a warning shout from above caused me to rear back,
just soon enough to have my face smashed into the branch as something large landed on me from above.
My nose flattened, my bottom lip got caught between my teeth, and the little air I'd managed to retain after the first impact was forced from me.
"Oh goodness. I'm so sorry," Sam's voice came from above. "I just got transported right into the sky and fell on you. Are you okay? I’m going to move. Nucking futts, this is high." He’d obviously been picking up some of Jacky’s language.
I twitched my fingers and nodded slightly, unwilling to respond further past the pain of my face and the sick feeling of fear you get when your lungs temporarily stop working.
Sam inched awkwardly off me and helped me to sit up. He put a hand between my shoulder blades and started to cough, and I was suddenly able to pull in a small breath. I used that to fight for more, and finally said, "God. How many times am I going to get the air knocked out of me?" I gathered up the bloody saliva in my mouth and spit. Some of the pink liquid landed on one of the tree’s knobs, and was absorbed immediately.
The knob unfolded, spreading large, pale petals wide as if seeking more moisture. The petals were almost translucent, and I could see my spit running through their veins, being sucked into the branch. As my bloody saliva traveled, the branches around me stirred as if in anticipation.
I raised my head slowly, and took in my surroundings fully. I was straddling a tree branch, probably a thousand feet above the desert ground. In the distance, reddish rocky buttes jutted from the sand, throwing a shadow towards us from the harsh light of the setting sun. Except for the stone cliffs reaching toward the sky and the patch of trees we’d been dropped into, everything lay barren. The sand stretched out for miles around us, rolling in hills and rippling waves like a dry ocean in the midst of a storm. The heat was enormous even all the way up in the sky, and the air below shimmered unceasingly, like a second layer of ephemeral water above the sand ocean.
Someone screamed as they were dropped from the air a few yards above us. They didn’t catch on our level, and with each foot they fell, their chances of grabbing one of the ever-fewer branches decreased. They screamed all the way to the ground, though their voice grew thin and distant after a while. Finally, their body became just a bug-speck of red splatter, half buried by the sand.
The body lay there for only a few moments before something dark and tapered shot out from the sand, arced through the air, and swallowed the entire red-stained area, while disappearing back beneath the surface.
Sam shuddered. “Sand sharks. I’ve heard of them.” His face was pale, despite the beads of sweat already plastering his hair to his forehead.
The trees around were thin and slender, with limbs reaching horizontally out of the trunks at similar intervals. Their pale branches wove together, making individual trees into an interlocking copse, with levels at each interval. The branches grew more plentiful up higher. I looked upward, and realized I couldn't see through the branches more than a few levels above my own. "You'd be able to walk around up there," I said.
Blood from my just-smashed nose dripped into my mouth when I spoke, and I instinctively spat again. The petals all along the limb beneath us unfurled, faintly pink with the blood.
I heard a sound overhead, and jerked my gaze upward.
The limbs above my head had shifted themselves to create a tunnel of visibility to higher levels. I didn't get a good look before they shifted back into place, but I caught the glint of reflective eyes far above. And I definitely heard the scratchy roar that followed afterward.
"Crap. Something's up there, Sam," I said. “Watching us.”
"But it hasn't even started yet! Where's the Examiner? Is this another mental Trial? Where's the cube?" He looked at me accusingly, as if it was my fault.
I let my claws out and scanned the surrounding trees with my improved vision. I could see better through the branches than he, and noticed the cube floating on the level above us. “Cube’s right up there.” I didn’t know about the Examiner, but I hoped to god this wasn’t going to be a repeat of the last Trial. “Let’s go.”
I found it easy to climb higher, and my lack of shoes helped me grip the bark. I helped Sam a few times, and we quickly reached the next level of branches. It still wasn't quite stable, but the chance of falling was less. I kept an eye toward the higher levels, but our growling watcher didn't reappear.
Other Players appeared below, popping into mid-air one by one, the rest of my team among them. We called them upward, and sat waiting.
A couple Players were talking about the early start of the Trial. "Nine days? This is getting really short. It's like they're trying to see how far they can push us before we break."
"I remember when it used to be twelve," the other said.
I turned to Jacky, who had been a Player the longest of our group. "Do they do this often? Change the length of time between Trials?"
"Every four to six months it happens, from what I've heard and the shifts I've seen. But it hasn't been ten days for long. We should’ve had more time before it changed again."
Adam pulled out his butterfly knives and started to twirl them around in both hands with a distant frown on his face. "I wonder why they're doing that. Interesting."
"It is," I agreed.
After even more waiting, our Examiner, a baby elephant with the voice of a five-year-old, explained the Trial.
There was to be a battle between monsters, and we were to choose sides and fight in the battle. If we could stop the side we picked from being annihilated, or if our side completely defeated the other side, we won. If we didn't die, of course. "Yep, I think that's it. Good luck!" The creature said, letting out a comical toot through its trunk.
Out of the buttes in the distance, dark dots started to appear, jumping off the cliffs and flying in our direction.
I heard their distant roars. "Damn. It's started." I said aloud.
The branch under my feet jerked, as the tree it was connected to shuddered. Down below, the sand-sharks, as Sam had named them, were attacking the base of the trees, smashing into them and gnawing away at the wood.
Adam sighed. "And that's the requisite time limit. No matter what happens with the battle, as soon as they topple this structure, we're dead."
"So we just have to win before that, right?" Jacky said, and they all looked to me.
"Yeah. One group of monsters is a few levels above. I say we go up and see what we're dealing with." I spoke loud enough that the other Players could hear. None of them seemed to be low-leveled newbies, which I found interesting. That could be bad, if NIX thought only stronger Players would be fit for this Trial. The upside was none of them looked helpless enough to trigger my guilty need to protect them.
We started climbing, and some of the Players followed.
Each level grew increasingly thicker, until it was hard to squeeze through the dense weave of branches. A few levels up, a large slanted tunnel led up from our level to the next.
China and I both listened and smelled for anything or anyone on the other side of the tunnel, or traps within it, but noticed nothing, so we walked through.
Same thing on the next level, though there were huge piles of feathers, obviously used as beds or nests by something huge. On the next level we heard snuffling, soft growls, and the pad of feet walking around above.
The others looked to me expectantly, and with an internal groan at the danger, I waved them back and walked into the tunnel.
Light from the setting sun streamed into the opening, blinding me as I reached the end. I stopped before exiting and squinted out.
Something smashed into my back, and I stumbled forward. I immediately fell into a fighting stance, knees slightly bent, lips drawn back in a snarl, and claws ready to rip and tear.
This level was open to the sky, at the top of the little patch of trees. All around me huge, winged cats sat and stood and crouched as if ready to tear my guts from between my ribs. Each was as big as a medium-sized horse, and some were b
igger.
One large, dark brown, heavily muscled creature lunged forward in a feint and roared straight into my face, its hair and feathers all standing on end. The force of the sound blew my hair back from my face like a wind tunnel, and almost forced me back.
Instead, I dug my toes into the woven floor and leaned into it.
When it was over, I wiped away the spittle that had landed on my face and tried to ignore the dizzying ring in my ears. "You sound like a kitten," I said. "Maybe if you took up smoking you could deepen that voice a bit." I knew it couldn't understand me, but if it had wanted to kill me, it would have attacked. It wanted to scare me, so I couldn't let any self-doubt show. I hoped it couldn't smell the fear, because there was nothing I could do to stop the emotion running through my veins and prickling along my skin.
Other cats around us leaned forward, eyes trained on me. A low rumbling growl started from one, and was picked up by the others, like the chant of an audience. They harmonized together until I felt like I was standing in a massage chair made of air and sound.
Behind me in the tunnel, Adam and Jacky were calling my name, and I heard thuds like they were pounding on the wood, for some reason unable to get through.
I was just about to attack, so that at least I could go down fighting, when a shadow blocked the sun and something plummeted out of the sky to the floor in front of me.
It was another of the creatures, bigger than the others, and with the more slender build that I associated with females. Its wings were spread wide and protective in front of me, and reached several yards in each direction. It roared back at the dark brown male, and stared down the others until they stopped growling and backed away.
She made growling sounds at them, mixed with coughs and the occasional yowl.
