The Seventh Glitch

by Ronel van Tonder

  He lifted his snout, howling up at the sun. From behind, two growls chased him. The cottage was gone, replaced by another meadow, at the edge of which a few trees speared the sky, dark green leaves blanketing thick branches perfect for climbing.

  “Go right!” Lucy yelled.

  William banked, leaping another picket fence.

  Then he saw the chicken.

  . . .

  Lucy came to a stop, shaking his head until his ears snapped straight. He heard soft paw-falls behind him and glanced back.

  “So, this is William?” Lucy asked.

  Kitty growled, but it was a soft sound, hidden in the back of her throat. She sat down, lifting a paw and swiping at it with her tongue. She ran it over her ear, cleaning off glitter. Lucy had managed to get rid of most of his by a quick roll in the grass. Kitty’s face was still covered in it, from her lustrous lashes to her dark, wet nose.

  “You were expecting what exactly?” she replied.

  “Hadn’t really thought about it.” Lucy turned back to watch William.

  The wolf was avidly chasing a chicken. The poor thing squawked and fluttered, every failed attempt at flight causing more feathers to explode from it. William’s tongue was a vivid red against the silver-gray of his fur, his ears pricked forward, his blue eyes intent as he skidded and tumbled in his chase.

  Lucy stretched, tail curling over his back. “We don’t have time for this. Get him under control, will you?”

  “What?” Kitty came to Lucy, her tail flicking from side to side. “You think you can just order us—”

  “I don’t give a fluff, Kitty.” Lucy grimaced. “You guys need to get to the Arena, and I can take you there. But I didn’t sign up to watch him chase fluffing chickens. So you either get him under control, or I leave.”

  “Good!” Kitty’s fur puffed out in a ridge along her spine. “Leave again. You’re so fluffing good at it, aren’t you?”

  Lucy forced his blunt nails to retract. He studied Kitty, trying to imagine the girl this lioness’s face belonged to. She’d changed when William had arrived. Shrivelled, almost. But now, now that he was out of earshot, absorbed in ending the chicken, she was the player he’d met in Chimera: passionate, determined, and peed off as all heck.

  But what had happened in the car? Back there in Torque, William had mocked her and she’d just wilted. He hadn’t thought for a moment that she was so weak. So dependent.

  “I did what I had to do,” Lucy said. “I thought Ilyena and Borris could do a better job of babysitting you.”

  Kitty’s jaw opened, her snout wrinkling with anger. But then the fire in her eyes was doused and her stiff frame slumped.

  “Jeepers,” she whispered. “With all this—” she broke off, looking away and hanging her head. “Lucy, your friends…”

  Lucy’s tail slashed. “What about them?” he asked, getting to his paws.

  “There was… an accident. They went into the sea. I waited, but they didn’t come out again.”

  “What did you—” Lucy began.

  Kitty’s head reared up. “No, it wasn’t—” she shook her head. “There was another car. I don’t know who it was. It hit us. I was thrown out, but…”

  In the distance, a chicken squawked in abject terror.

  Lucy sat down, putting his paws methodically next to each other in the grass. He studied them for a moment before lifting his eyes.

  “They were on their last lives.” He glanced away. William was trotting toward them with the lifeless body of the chicken firmly in his jaws. “They’re in whatever place it is a player goes to when they lose their last life.”

  Lucy stood.

  “I’m sorry—”

  “Drop it,” Lucy said.

  “But—”

  He glared briefly at her. “I wasn’t talking to you.” He turned back to William, who’d dropped the chicken at their feet and was panting through a blunt-toothed grin. “Are you quite finished?”

  William’s tail wagged. “Yeah,” he breathed.

  “Good,” Lucy said dryly. “Then let’s go. And this time, I’ll lead.”

  He leapt away, knowing they would follow. He tried not to let his thoughts turn to Ilyena and Borris, but seemed powerless to stop them once they did.

  They knew what they’d signed up for. All the seeders did. The glitch proved they’d done what they needed to do, but could he blame them for resisting? For wanting out? The Game wasn’t supposed to be a prison. They should have been able to leave when they were done, happy in the knowledge that they’d contributed to one of the greatest political causes of their time. But instead… instead they’d balked.

  Perhaps they’d paid the price of cowardice.

  What happened to players when they went into the void? Nick the Dick had freed Lucy of the misconception that dying here was a quick and dirty way of getting back into your body. Back into the real-world. So what then? Everlasting blackness until someone disconnected you? Or instant, mind-rending insanity?

  Perhaps it was death on every level: your real-world body unable to cope with the sudden loss of everything that told it that it was still alive. Maybe Ilyena and Borris, trussed up in The Game’s kit in the Pirate Party’s bunker, had just slipped into a coma.

  As the meadow streamed past and the distant line of trees sped closer, Lucy thought on Billy the Kid’s face. His grudging question, one that had plagued Lucy relentlessly ever since the second glitch, was a hard pill to swallow.

  What if they were all already dead?

  Trapped in a land of make believe?

  Perhaps the pain they felt, supposedly induced by The Game’s suit in the real-world, was just a relic of their mind’s fixation on a bygone reality. What if… after that first glitch, their connection with reality had been severed, abandoning them here?

  “…Lucy…”

  If that was the case, then going through all this fluff was all for nothing. There was no purpose to anything anymore. Then they might as well just enjoy The Game for the distractions it provided. Fight monsters, complete quests, level up. What else would matter? If they could never exit, then there would be nothing to go back to. Ever.

  “Lucy!”

  The fear in Kitty’s voice snapped his thoughts away. Lucy slowed down, his eyes focusing on the pack of wolves clustered a few metres away. Here, the meadow had thinned out to a carpet of brown pine needles, tossed down from the trees lining the edge of the forest.

  “What do we do?” Kitty asked, padding up beside him.

  “It’s okay. Let me—”

  William raced past them. “Wassup! How’s it hanging, bros?”

  “William!” Lucy called out, but the wolf ignored him.

  The pack turned to watch William approach. They spread out, forming a rough half-moon. William came to a sliding stop, head whipping around as he tried to focus on every one at once.

  “Who you?” a baby wolf asked, voice warbling.

  “Will.” William slammed down a paw, kicking up some pine needles. “You guys been to the middle of the forest? W-w-we’re looking for the witch. Gonna get her to help us. You been there? Y-y-you been to the forest yet?” William yapped out his words in an excited stutter, head flashing to stare at every wolf.

  Some of them backed up, glancing at each other uncertainly.

  “William,” Lucy called. “Get back here.”

  “Found some friends,” William yelled over his shoulder. “They can help us find the witch.”

  “Did ‘e say witch?” A wolf with pale blue fur asked.

  A handful of the wolves burst into tears.

  William stared at them, nose dipping to his chest. “Hey, don’t cry. I’m sorry. I was just… hey, why you crying?” He began backing up.

  A wolf with blazing white fur stepped forward, baring his teeth.

  “Stranger danger!” it yelped. “Stranger danger!”

  “Jeezy creezy,” William mewled. “I was just—”

  “William! Run!” Lucy bolted forward
. “Run!”

  . . .

  Already scrambling around to head back to Kitty, William stared at Lucy in surprise as the tiger rushed past. Lucy slammed into the white alpha wolf, jaws snapping. His teeth closed over the wolf’s throat, but the wolf shook him off, barely staggering.

  “Sherbet!” Lucy spat out some of the wolf’s fur. “These guys are at some hectic high level.” Lucy glanced over his shoulder. “Get Kitty out of here.”

  Lucy sprang at the leader again, receiving what felt like a steel bar wrapped in fur crashing into the side of his head. He fell, rolling until a tree trunk halted him. His health bar was less than half full when he shook himself and tried to stand.

  “What the fluff?” Lucy said, trying to get his paws under him.

  The white wolf advanced on him, a growl emanating deep within his throat.

  “Stranger danger,” the wolf said.

  “We don’t want to hurt anyone.” Lucy’s leg crumpled under him. He glanced at one of the over-sized icons on his HUD. The wolf had infected him with a debilitating poison.

  “Stranger danger,” the wolf repeated. “Now you die.”

  There was a yelp. The wolf glanced around in time to see Kitty flying through the air. She knocked into the wolf, her teeth sinking into its shoulder. It shook her off with the same effortless movement as it had Lucy and turned to her, moving sluggishly. A frown warped the fur above its brown eyes as it turned to glare at William, dangling from its back leg.

  The wolf kicked out, but William’s teeth remained locked around its ankle. Kitty jumped at it again, her teeth finding purchase in the wolf’s mane. Lucy staggered forward and bashed his paw against the wolf’s head. Its health bar dropped a fraction. He hit it again, watching as another sliver of health was shaved off the player’s vitality.

  “We’re not strong enough,” Lucy called out.

  His paws felt clumsy and his legs wobbled when he tried to move.

  “Get out of here!” Lucy shouted.

  William and Kitty gaped at him.

  “Now!”

  The wolf shook Kitty from its back. Kitty scrambled up, swinging around to fix Lucy with another disbelieving stare.

  “We can’t just—”

  “I wasn’t asking!” Lucy glared at her. Kitty took a step back, one paw dangling in the air, uncertain.

  “Lucy—”

  Lucy bared his teeth and snapped at her: “Now.”

  Kitty’s tail fluffed out, her ears flattening. She glanced at William and took another step back, her eyes shifting to the circle of wolves drawing closer to them.

  “Will,” Kitty said, her voice trembling. “Leave him.”

  “But I—”

  “We have to go,” Kitty said.

  Lucy nodded at her, his eyes moving back to the alpha. The white wolf tried bashing William off its leg. William released him, backtracking to avoid the wolf’s paw. Lucy watched as Kitty and William retreated, every wolf in the pack turning to them. At the edge of the meadow, they both turned and bolted. Their bodies disappeared between the long grass a few metres later.

  Alpha twisted back to Lucy. “Now you die,” the kid repeated.

  It had to be a kid.

  His level of fixation asserted that. Lucy tried scrambling up, but the poison was still in effect, rendering his avatar weak and uncoordinated.

  “I don’t think so, kid,” Lucy said. “Howsabout I send you crying home to your mother, instead?”

  The alpha wolf paused, his brown eyes widening. “You can do that?”

  Lucy opened his mouth, but closed it again without speaking. The tone sounded hopeful, almost yearning. The alpha wolf padded closer, and sank down on its haunches, head dropping.

  “We wanna go home,” the player said.

  Lucy forced himself to hear just the voice, trying to ignore the big head of the shaggy, baby wolf.

  “We wanna…” The alpha wolf burst into fitful sobs.

  How could players this young still be in The Game? It didn’t make any sense. Surely they would have been supervised. And that meant they would have been disconnected after more than an hour or two in The Game. What kind of parents let their kids hook up to a game for this long?

  “How long have you been stuck here, buddy?” Lucy asked, trying a soft, reassuring voice.

  The alpha wolf sniffed, his voice breaking when he replied. “Fuh-four hours.”

  “Where are you? In the real-world?”

  The wolf’s eyes narrowed. “Stranger danger,” he said, but with less enthusiasm.

  Lucy shook his head. “I mean, where are your parents? Why haven’t they disconnected you guys yet?”

  The alpha wolf looked away, head dipping even lower. “I don’t know. We were at a sleepover. My mom said we could play for an hour before bed. But it’s been forever, and I’m scared and I just wanna go home!” His words trailed off into a howl.

  His pack echoed him: some sobbing, some howling.

  Lucy pushed himself to his feet. He opened his inventory and used one of several vitality potions inside to get his health back to full strength. Then he drank a wolf’s bite antidote too, just for the heck of it.

  “Maybe your parents fell asleep before checking in on you,” Lucy said.

  He approached the kid cautiously, and laid a paw on the wolf’s shoulder.

  “I’m sure they’ll wake up in an hour or two and realise you’re all still plugged in. Then they’ll disconnect you guys, no problem.”

  “All of us?” someone at the back of the pack called out.

  “I’m sure,” Lucy said.

  “But I’m in London.”

  Lucy turned, watching a dusky-coloured wolf approach.

  “And you’re not?” Lucy asked of the alpha wolf.

  It sniffed and shook its head. “Poland.”

  “I’m from Tokyo,” another wolf said.

  “Kazan,” someone called out.

  Lucy backed up, getting them all in his field of view. “You guys aren’t in the same place? Then how… why would…”

  There were too many questions, and not nearly enough answers to go around. Lucy shook his head, clearing the flutter of thoughts.

  “Okay, listen. I’m sure wherever you are, your parents will be disconnecting you soon. I have to go and find my friends, okay?”

  “What about this?” Alpha wolf slapped down his paw, holding a scrap of parchment on the ground. “It says we gotta go to the—” he dipped his head “—a-ree-naaa. Where’s that?”

  Lucy stared at the wolf. He ran a tongue over his top lip, flattening his whiskers.

  “I can’t help you, kid. I’m already helping someone else.”

  “But where is it? Can you show us?”

  “Please, mister,” someone called out. “You can help us.”

  “Take us with you.”

  And then they all began speaking at once.

  “—we don’t—”

  “—wanna go—”

  “—scary out here—”

  “—leave—”

  “—why did they—”

  “—go with—”

  “—don’t leave—”

  Lucy bounded away. For a moment, he thought he would hear the padding of paws behind him, but the only sound he could hear was his thundering heart.

  The darkness of the forest began cooling him before he stopped. He spun around, panting as he stared through the mass of tree trunks. Shade had grown into deep shadow, but he knew he was alone. The kids hadn’t dared to follow him into the forest.

  He sat down, sinking to his side a few seconds later, tongue lolling on the mossy ground as he panted. Lucy glanced around as best he could, waiting impatiently for his stamina to replenish.

  Lucy tried sending a message to Cherry, hoping that being in the same rift as her had somehow restored their communication. It hadn’t. That, or she wasn’t willing to reply.

  BAD_KITTY_69: WHERE R YOU? SAW U RUN AWAY

  Lucy stared at the message for a few sec
onds before answering.

  LUCY_FUR_666: IN THE FOREST. STAMINA LOW. WILL FETCH U NOW

  BAD_KITTY_69: WE CAN COME 2U

  LUCY_FUR_666: KIDS MIGHT SEE U

  BAD_KITTY_69: WELL BE CAREFUL

  And then the console closed again. Lucy considered opening it and writing Kitty a scathing message telling her to stay put, but he had a feeling it would just encourage her to reach him faster.

  So he lay on the moss-covered floor of the forest, listening to the repetitive sound of chirping birds, forever hidden water, and tubular bells while he waited for his stamina to replenish.

  . . .

  Lucy was washing himself when the other two arrived: William with his tongue lolling out, Kitty with wide, concerned eyes.

  “Jeepers, but those kids were creepy,” Kitty said, glancing around the small clearing Lucy had chosen to wait in. “Wasn’t surprised when they went all ‘Children of the Corn’ on us.”

  “More like ‘Children of the Corn Syrup’,” William said. “So we going to see the witch now?”

  Lucy nodded as he rose. His avatar stretched lazily, making an unpleasant purring sound as it did. William was at his side a moment later, padding alongside him with bouncing steps.

  “So you been here before, right?” William asked.

  “Yeah,” Lucy said.

  Kitty followed them, her footfalls almost silent on the mossy ground. She was watching him, of course. Little seemed to interest her lately other than his history with The Game. And he knew that, even if he told her everything, she would never be satisfied. He’d lied to her, and for some reason this was considered an offence too great for any possible action to atone for. Lucy resisted the urge to glower at her.

  “So like, why?” William yapped.

  “Why what?”

  “Why do you just keep going back and forth?”

  Lucy sighed, his head dipping briefly. Which was more infuriating: Kitty’s sullen silence or William’s overenthusiastic persistence? Both sloughed at him, and his patience had almost entirely eroded away.

  “Why’d the chicken cross the road?” Lucy snapped. “To get away from me,” he finished, before William could open his jaw.

  The wolf stared at him, brow furrowing. “You don’t strike me as the good Samaritan type.”