Shadow greeted Katie with a nudge to her hand, and she obliged with a friendly pat on the head. Liam locked the front door and pulled a recliner in front of the door for added security. They entered the kitchen and dropped the bags.
She grabbed her nose and waved her hand to fan the air.
"Oh, sorry. Guess I got a little on me." Standing in the light of the kitchen, he saw the mess the zombie made on his shirt. It was so wet with goo that it clung to his skin as he pulled it away from his chest. "I'll go clean up. Make yourself at home."
A few minutes later, Liam rejoined her in the kitchen. "I'm starved. All I've had was a drumstick. Got anything good to eat in that bag?"
"Yup, I heated up some canned spaghetti."
Liam took the bowl, "You're a lifesaver."
They scarfed down their makeshift dinners in silence. He couldn't help but wonder why her house had plenty of food when his fridge had gone empty over night. When he was done, Liam pushed his bowl aside. "Fighting zombies makes me hungry." He patted his now satisfied stomach.
Katie set her fork down. "What the heck were those things?"
"Zombies, I guess. They sure smelled like death," he said as he sniffed his freshly bathed arm. It still had a tinge of zombie funk on it.
"Where'd they come from?"
He almost said what was on his mind, that he knew the zombies had come from the game, but without real proof he knew he wouldn't convince Katie.
"I dunno, but we should stay upstairs in my room tonight. I figure stairs will be a problem for them."
Katie nodded.
They rinsed their dishes and then grabbed Katie's bags and carried them to Liam's room.
"You can have my bed. Shadow and I will make a pallet on the floor."
Katie took a few minutes to arrange her bags and get settled in. It wasn't the first time she had ever spent the night with Liam. They had been friends since elementary school, but it was the first time she would do it without any parents being around. Still, she felt perfectly at ease.
"I'm sorry for snapping at you earlier. I was a jerk."
"Yes, you were." She smiled and continued, "But I forgive you."
As she approached the bed, she pointed at the wall. "Oh, cool! You finally hung it!"
On the wall hung a replica laser gun from one of Liam's favorite games. They had gone to a gaming convention together several months ago, and he had hoped to get it signed by the game's developer, but the developer canceled the appearance at the last minute.
"Yeah, I didn't want it getting broken in my closet." As he said that, he noticed the bulging closet door from all the mess inside and pressed his back into it.
"That was such a fun show. Next time, I'm cosplaying as a Valkyrie warrior. With a big sword." She sliced through the air with a pretend sword. "Who will you dress as?"
Liam thought for a moment. "I dunno. Maybe an undead creature of the night."
She pursed her lips. "We've got to work on your creativity." Then she changed the subject. "Show me what your HoriZon is doing. You said the graphics got all weird."
Liam turned on the HoriZon and started up a familiar game they had played many times. He just knew that she would see that things weren't right. Normally, the HoriZon had life-like graphics and textures.
She shrugged. "What's wrong with it?"
He stared at her wondering. Did she not see the pixelated, old-school looking graphics? Or, if she did, was it normal-looking to her? "Doesn't it look... odd to you?"
"What about the zombie game? The one I gave you? How does it play?"
Liam started the game. The previous night when he first started it, it had asked him some questions about what he was afraid of. Now it just showed a black screen with the text: "ENJOY YOUR GAME".
Katie cocked her head. "What a dumb game. It's gotta be broken. We need to talk to that old man."
Liam chewed his lip. There was something eating him alive that he needed to know.
"Do you think those zombies are real?"
Katie looked at him. "You smashed one's head in. Don'tchu think it was real?"
"I do." He took a breath. "I also think this game is real."
"What do you mean?"
He let the air exhale from his lungs. "I think we're living in it."
4
Liam’s alarm blared. He suddenly had second thoughts about setting it once he opened his eyes and realized how early it was. After rubbing his eyes, his room still looked the same. Nothing had changed. He was starting to believe, at least from the looks of things, that he was living in a game world. Would he ever wake up from the nightmare?
Liam knew Katie would have a tough time processing the thought of them living in a video game world. An alternate reality. Just the thought of that would make anyone's brain hurt. The zombies, the color and texture of the world around them, it was all too surreal. He only hoped that she would have an open mind enough to not think he was totally crazy.
He glanced over at his bed. He smiled. At least he would face the day with his best friend by his side. She could think he was crazy if she wanted, but at least she was there with him.
Katie stirred. "What time is it?"
"Seven thirty."
She flung the covers off and was on her feet in two seconds flat. "We're gonna be late!"
Liam stood up and pulled the curtains away from the window. "Don't think we'll be going to school today."
He held the curtains open so Katie could see. Two zombies shambled down the street. One of them looked to be in his forties. He wore a suit, like he was on his way to work but never made it. The other one was a lady dressed in a business skirt. Their clothes were filthy, like they had literally climbed out of the ground, and their faces and exposed skin were rotted.
"No school again? This is nuts," said Katie. She went into the bathroom.
Liam continued to watch the zombies wondering where they had come from. Then he remembered something else - his parents had never come home. Where could they be?
Katie walked back into the room. She had changed clothes and put on a fresh pair of shorts, tee shirt, and sneakers.
"Are you leaving?"
"Well, yeah. We need to go figure out what the heck is going on."
Liam was surprised. "I didn't think you believed me."
"I'm not sure what I believe. Something odd is going on, no doubt, and if you think it's related to that game I gave you then we need to find out more about it."
He smiled like he'd never smiled before. She didn't think he was crazy. And even better, she was willing to go along with whatever he had to do to make things right.
"So, what's the plan?" she asked.
"First, we need food. Breakfast, then we should pack a light," he glanced over at her over stuffed backpack and then gave her a look, "a light bag and then go find that old man."
A short while later they walked out of Liam's house. As he locked the door, he noticed Katie staring at her house. He felt that she was finally starting to notice the odd things around them.
"Where do you think they are?" she asked.
"I don't know."
It was an odd feeling to be on his own. Neither of them had an explanation for their parents being gone. File that one away until more evidence presented itself.
The closer they got to Maple Street, the butterflies started. Liam didn't get a good vibe from the guy who had answered the door the day before. "Hey, I thought of something else. Let's run by Gamer Haven. Maybe someone there has heard of the game." He was thankful she didn't question him, or object.
It was only a few blocks away. They had walked there many times, mainly on weekends. It was still early enough that they could get there before the crowd.
The shopping center where Gamer Haven, the local game store, was located backed up to a field. Liam and Kate cut through it for a shortcut. They climbed down the grass hill into the alley behind the strip of stores about halfway to the game store. Garbage cans and empty boxes adorned the all
eyway. A young guy, late teens, was propped against the wall smoking. Liam watched the guy as they walked by. He never saw Liam; his eyes were glued to Katie.
The clerk greeted them as they entered the store. He was also a young-looking dude with spiked hair and a piercing that made Liam flinch just looking at him. It was only nine fifteen, but the store was packed with other kids. That's what happened when word got around about no school. Oh, and zombies roaming the halls.
"We got this game from a yard sale and it has no manual. Got any idea where we can find more info?"
The cashier looked over the game. There were no identifying markings on it. It looked like a homemade disc. Even the title "Zombie Game" was handwritten.
At the same time, the smoking guy from the alley walked behind the counter to join his co-worker. He made eye contact with Liam that time. He seemed awfully interested in his game.
"Sorry, little dude. Probably some home brew code or something. With a title like that, it'd be a hot item for sure if you wanna sell it," said the spiked hair guy.
The cashier handed the game back to Liam and then asked to help the next person. The kid behind Liam had an armload full of games and pushed Liam out of the way as he set the games on the counter. He was gonna make the best of the zombie apocalypse.
"You don't have like a master book of games somewhere?" Liam asked.
But it was no use. The store was too crowded and he was pushed too far away from the counter by a steadily growing line of kids waiting to make their purchases.
"Let's go," Liam said as he opened the door for Katie.
From the moment they walked into the store until they left, the one word that kept popping up was 'zombie'. Everybody wanted a zombie game to play. Liam thought it odd that no one seemed to care where the zombies had come from, or who was gonna do anything about them, only that their being there meant no school.
Liam spotted a zombie on the other side of the street. A group of kids stood outside the ice cream shack eating their tasty treats and paying no attention to the world around them. "No one seems to care that zombies are walking around."
Even Katie shrugged when she looked up to see what had Liam's attention.
When they rounded the corner behind the line of stores, Liam froze. Thomas and Caleb were both headed their direction.
"Come on, let's go the long way."
Katie didn't want to. "It'll be fine."
But Liam knew better. His gut was telling him that it knew better, too. He had never had good luck being around Thomas, alone or otherwise.
Once, Liam had to go back inside school to retrieve a book from his locker and Thomas was coming down the hall. All the other kids had already rushed out the doors and the teachers were either outside or still in the main office. As Liam passed Thomas, Thomas pretended to trip and tossed his fruit punch drink all over the front of him. When Liam walked outside again, a group of kids were there waiting and laughed. Walking down an alley toward Thomas was less appealing than spending an hour fighting a game boss only to have his mom come in and power off his console for not answering her request to wash dishes.
Sweat formed on Liam's forehead as they grew closer.
When Thomas was close enough, he tapped the bat that was sticking out of Liam's backpack. "Going to the park with your girlfriend to practice hitting softballs?"
"Nah, he couldn't even hit a wiffle ball," Caleb teased.
Liam didn't acknowledge the two bullies and kept walking.
Caleb called out, "Hey, Liam, think fast!" He pretended to throw a baseball toward them and Liam ducked.
The two boys busted out laughing. "Careful, your girlfriend may go looking for a manly man to walk her down alleys."
"Ignore those two creeps," Katie said as they turned to walk toward the hill they needed to climb up in order to reach the field.
It was at that moment that Liam noticed the smoking guy standing outside Gamer Haven's backdoor. Great, him again.
Smokey called them over to him. "I heard you asking Kevin in there about your game."
Liam didn't trust him and only inched closer.
"Look, I shouldn't be telling you this, but I know someone who can help you."
Liam and Katie glanced at each other.
"There's a gamer. He hangs out at the arcade. He never shows up until after dark though."
"He can help us?"
"He's supposedly played every game. Even the home brew ones. I don't know how he keeps up with everything, but he does. If it can be played, he's played it. By the way, the name's Duane."
"Thanks," Liam said and they turned to walk away.
"Hey, kid. Don't let that punk give you any crap." He nodded in the direction that Thomas and Caleb had walked. "He probably still pees his bed."
Katie choked on her gum. Her laughter drew the attention of Duane again.
Liam was grateful for the information but was eager to put some distance between them and Duane. The guy liked to stare at Katie too much for his liking.
They walked across the field and then Liam saw Burger Attack. "I'm starving. Let's grab a burger on the way back to my house."
Liam ordered his usual cheeseburger fully loaded with extra pickles and a large cheese fries. Katie ordered a regular hamburger with mustard only.
The young lady behind the Burger Attack counter said, "That'll be ten orbs."
Orbs? What? Liam didn't understand what the lady meant. He handed her a ten dollar bill and she just looked at him like his face was purple and he had antennae growing out of his head.
"We don't take play money here. That'll be ten orbs."
"But... this is all I have."
The lady could have easily been a total jerk about it, but instead, she leaned across the counter. "If you bust those barrels outside beside our building, I bet you'll find some orbs."
Did she just say what he thought she said? Liam couldn't believe it. He had done that a million times before while playing a game, but that never worked in real life. But he wasn't exactly in real life anymore either. He didn't say anything. He just went outside and did what the lady suggested, and sure enough, he found his first green orb. It hovered above the ground waiting for Liam to take it.
"Whoa!" said Katie.
After busting another barrel, he found a red one.
Having too much fun, Liam also tried whacking some tall grass beside Burger Attack. He uncovered several more orbs. "This is too cool! Earning yard cutting money would be easy like this!"
The two of them went back inside and showed the burger lady the orbs he had collected. She smiled and took the red one. "This one's worth ten," and she pushed the others back across the counter to him.
He grabbed the orbs and their food sack. Liam shyly smiled and left without saying anything. As he and Katie walked along munching on their burgers, all Liam could think about was how everyone was acting. Everyone was so nonchalant. He had to figure out what was going on. Had everyone been brainwashed? If so, why was he immune?
5
Liam and Katie stood beneath the glow from the neon Arcade Dungeon sign. They had no idea who they were looking for, no name or description. If the all-knowing gamer guru was as special as his reputation said then they figured it shouldn't be difficult to find him.
The inside was packed. No school meant kids were out in full force. Beeps and dings filled the air. Smells of buttery popcorn and freshly baked pretzels called out to them from the concession stand. But they weren't there for leisure. Liam was a man on a mission.
The two of them walked down the first aisle carefully side-stepping kids of all ages who were competing with each other in racing, fighting, and shooting games. A small boy, around seven or eight, stepped out into the aisle with his hands full of tokens. Liam ran right into him. Tokens scattered all over the floor.
"Thanks a lot, ya big goober head!"
Liam bent down to pick up the tokens, "Sorry, kid. You shouldn't run out in front of people like that."
The
kid smacked Liam's hand away. "Don't try to steal my tokens!"
Liam held up his hands as he stood up. He looked over at Katie. "Sheesh."
They continued walking down the aisle and turned to the left to go down the next one. It was a row of nothing but stand up arcade cabinets, all traditional games with joysticks and buttons. Every one of them taken over by a zombie-killing or alien-zapping gamer. Some of them were even stacked two deep, with quarters on the arcade machine, waiting for their turns.
"Any idea what he'll look like?" Katie asked.
Liam put his hand up to his ear and leaned in closer. "What?"
She repeated her question but had to yell over all the noise.
He shook his head. As much as he hated what he was about to say, they didn't have any other choice. "Look for Duane. Maybe he can help."
She nodded, and they continued down the sea of arcade machines to the other end. Several more rows of machines awaited their traversal, but something else caught Liam's eye. In the back corner of the place sat a lounge area. It looked very VIP, complete with waitresses and pool tables. Older teenagers hung around that area.
Liam scanned the crowd for anyone who might pass for a gaming guru. No one like that immediately grabbed his attention, however, upon a closer look, he spotted Duane. He motioned for Liam to come over.
A burly hand pressed against Liam's chest. That hand was attached to an equally burly dude with blond hair who had halted their progress. He shook his head at Liam and pointed to a sign. It read: 18 and Over Only.
Liam's shoulders fell.
Blond burly dude said with a smile, "The lady can go in if she wants."
Katie pulled Liam to the side. "I can do this."
Liam shook his head and tried to walk away, but she stopped him. "It may be our only option. Do you trust me?"
"You? Yes. It's him I'm not too sure of."
She blew it off like it was no big deal, but it was to Liam. The two of them had never been officially boyfriend and girlfriend, but it was no secret that he had had a crush on her since he could talk.
Liam watched as she walked over to Duane. He couldn't hear what they were saying, but every now and then Katie would turn and look at Liam. Duane patted the seat next to him, and Katie sat down. Liam paced. He didn't like that one bit. Images of Duane and Katie walking through the school holding hands flooded his thoughts. Then he heard a most unwelcome voice behind him.
Zombie Boy: Press Start (Adventures of Zombie Boy Book 1) Page 3
