by Matt Moss
“Are you saying you can’t help me? That I’m stuck here forever?”
“I cannot help you right now. Again, I’m sorry about your situation and I hope you can find a way out. To ease your mind, I’ll investigate this further and see what I can do to free you from the outside. If there is foul play in all of this, we will seek justice and right what’s wrong. I must go now before they find out that I’m communicating with you. Hold fast and don’t give up.”
After a moment of pause, I see if he’s still there. “Deakins?”
He’s gone. I’m alone again.
I think about logging out for good and selling the console along with Alterlife because it’s useless to me now if I can’t get out of this cell to even play the game. Who knows how long I’ll be locked away down here? I’m not going to stick around to find out.
“Well, so long Alterlife,” I say out loud and go to log out. “We had a good run.”
“Giving up so soon?” a shrill voice calls from the dark of the adjacent cell.
Startled by the sound of his voice, I nearly jump backwards and feel my skin crawl as I thought I was alone.
“Who’s there?”
The old man comes into the light, similar to a ghost by the rags on his back, and stands in front of the bars that separate us. “A prisoner, like yourself.” He pulls a pick from his pocket with a shaky skeletal hand wrapped in thin, white skin, knuckles three times the normal size. “But perhaps, by working together, we can be more. We can be free.”
I step closer to him. “I’m listening.”
He continues. “My hands are too old to work the pick on the lock, but a younger man such as yourself should have no problem.” He offers me the pick. I go to take it, but he snaps it back. “Promise me you’ll let me out after you free yourself.”
I can’t believe this fortunate twist of fate. “Fair enough. Though, I must say that I’ve never picked a lock before.”
“You will gain skill. Enough to unlock it if you keep at it. Now, promise me you’ll set me free and I’ll give you the pick.”
“I promise.”
He gives a toothless grin, reaches through the bars, and hands me the pick.
Something about him looks familiar, but I can’t quite place what it is.
“Thanks.”
Immediately, I go to work on the lock. “How long is this going to take?”
He slides over next to me and takes a seat on the stone floor, leaning up against the bars. He coughs and it sounds like a man who’s smoked cigarettes all his life. “Depends on the quality of the lock. For these cells, probably five to six hours until your skill is high enough.”
That’s an entire day. I’m missing work as it is and don’t have that kind of time. “Can it be done any faster?”
He grins. “If you’re lucky. There’s always that factor to consider.”
“Sometimes, I’d rather be lucky than good,” I tell him. “Let’s just hope this is one of those times,” I say, my arm reached around the bars, my hand working the lock-pick.
He shifts on the floor and turns to me. “In a hurry to get somewhere, are you?” He laughs.
“You could say that. Hey, my skill just went up.”
His eyes light up. “Good, good. Keep going.”
The Amulet grows warm against my chest and starts to glow. My lock-picking skill starts to increase at ten times the normal rate. My eyes go wide, and so does the old man’s as every time my skill levels up, a swirling, golden light surrounds my hands.
He stands and watches in awe, wordless.
Three more minutes and I hear the tumbler click; the door opens with a squeaking sound.
“Who are you?” the man asks as I attend to his lock.
“Ace.”
“Yes, I’ve heard of you. Just before I got locked up, your name was widespread throughout Alterlife.”
I bare my teeth as I concentrate on the lock. “Afraid you got me mixed up with someone else.”
“Ace the Great. Commander of the Black Knights, you are,” he states, and points a long, slender finger at me.
I pause to regard him. “There’s no way you could know that unless you just got locked up down here yourself. I’ve only been online for a week.”
“Aye, and that’s what’s so impressive about you. I even had the pleasure in trading with you once, but I’m sure you wouldn’t recognize me.”
I gaze into the man’s eyes and then it hits me. “You’re the one from the forest,” I gasp. “Outside of Eden. You gave me the cloak.”
“And its bad luck has transferred to you, it seems.” He laughs again, and in a way that could be confused with either joy or craziness.
I return to the lock. “You could say that. I was betrayed.”
“Men lust for power and things they don’t have. And they’ll do anything to obtain them.” He grips the door bars and leans in closer. “Remember when I gave you that cloak, I said that I would require a favor from you to recoup the balance?”
Oh, hell. I do remember. But I don’t have time for this. “Yeah, I remember.”
“Well now’s the time, and I’m cashing in on the debt.”
“What do you want?”
His eyes shine bright in the torch light as he leans in closer, pressing his face against the bars. “I want you to kill someone for me.”
He’s lost his damn mind. Crazy old bastard.
“Listen, I owe you, and I always make good on my promises. But killing someone? I don’t think I can do that.”
The door unlocks and I swing it open.
The old man stands there but doesn’t walk out. “I have something that can make you the most powerful man in Alterlife. And I will give it to you. All I ask is that you do this favor for me, as agreed upon in our prior engagement.”
I knew this guy was crazy the first time I saw him. Lurking around the woods with a sack full of random junk. I didn’t think I would ever see him again. Small world.
“Sorry, man. Look, I’ll do just about anything to repay my debt, just not that. Now I’m sure we can come to some sort of agreement on...”
Quick as a cat, the old man lunges forward and takes hold of my hand. Something burns red-hot and I jerk away from his grasp.
“Ow, you old son of a bitch! What the hell was that?” I look at the small mark that’s burned into my hand. A red, glowing glyph of some sort. A computer chip?
The old men steps back and lets his shoulders slouch, hands held out to his sides. “You left me no choice. And now, you have a choice to make. Kill, or be killed. If you do not kill who I am asking you to, you will die in ten days.”
“You’ve gotta be shitting me. I’ve already died in the game once. What’s one more time, right? Piss off,” I tell him and turn to leave.
“I’m not talking about the game,” he says.
I stop. No way. “Impossible. I don’t believe it.” I storm up to him and draw my fist back, ready to strike the old man down. He stares at me with a gleam in his eye and doesn’t even flinch.
I take a breath and lower my arm.
“Think of it as a virus, or a computer hack that’s attached to your physical body. Now, you can bypass the six hour time limit in Alterlife and play as long as you like. That should level the playing field a bit, don’t you think?” He cocks his head at me. “Oh, and don’t even think about cutting your hand off or anything like that. It won’t work. The mark has already made its way into your bloodstream. The only way to keep it from killing you in ten days is to do as I say.”
I shove my finger upon his chest. “This is a bunch of shit, and I’m not buying it. I’ll see you later. No, better hope that I don’t. Because the next time I do, you’re a dead man.” Again, I turn to leave.
“Don’t go that way,” he warns. “Guards will catch you.” He takes the torch from the wall and leads us through a secret passage in a deeper part of the cells that leads through the city’s aqueducts and to the river. It’s at least an eighty-foot jump down, but w
orth the risk.
Before I leave, I have to know. “Like I said, I’m not killing anyone.”
He tosses the torch into the river below, then turns to me. “That is your choice.”
“But for curiosity’s sake, who is it?”
His lips curl into a grin before saying the name. “Gamemaster Deakins.”
Before I can link two coherent thoughts together, he jumps.
I shake my head, count him insane, and jump. The fall only takes half my health, and I swim the river to get away from the city. Spinning around to see where the old man went, I realize that he’s gone.
Drowned, hopefully. Crazy old bastard. I mean, there’s some real nut jobs that play this game.
Five minutes later and needing a break, I sit on the bank of the river and contemplate my situation. It’s peaceful here and I can do to take a rest.
I could really use someone to talk to, but I’ve no friends. No one that I trust. Maybe Eldra, but I’ve already broken her trust and am sure she doesn’t want to see me.
And nobody wants to be friends with a fugitive on the run. Guess I can say that I’ve been locked up now.
After wallowing in self-pity for the better part of the next hour, I stand up and find my courage to continue on. The thought of my family drives me.
I’ll figure this out and make it work. I always do.
I log out of the game, far outside of Condren.
Back at the house, a quick look at the clock tells me I’m good. It’ll be another thirty minutes before the wife and kids get home, so I’ll just go cruise for a bit and show up around five-thirty. After that session, I could do to go for a drive to clear my head and get some fresh air. I grab the keys and lock the front door. As I go to crank the engine, something in the palm of my hand catches my eye.
It’s the glyph mark.
No, it’s just a game. I’m hallucinating. This can’t be real.
I scratch and tear at the mark, but it’s not coming off. In fact, the more I agitate it, the more it softly glows.
“Oh, no. God, no.”
I slam my head back against the seat and close my eyes.
The old man was right. And if what he says is true, I’ve only got ten days to live.
“I don’t have a choice.”
I’ve got to kill Deakins.
“Honey, I’ve got to go away for the week. Got a job down in Asheville that needs to be done by next Sunday.” I stand behind Jenny and wrap my arms around her.
She puts her hand on mine and turns her head to the side to speak to me. “Oh, alright. Not too far from home, I guess. That’s good money, at least.”
“Yeah. And we could sure use it right now. Especially with the kids’ birthdays coming up.”
She turns to face me. “Promise me you’ll be careful, sweetheart.”
“I’ll call you every night.” I kiss my wife goodbye and give my kids a hug at the door. “Be good for your mom while I’m away.”
“We will, pop,” my oldest says. “I love you.”
“Love you, too, son.”
“Daddy, don’t go,” Carla says and tugs at my pant leg.
I pick her up and hold her tight. “Daddy will be back before you know it. And everything will be better when I return. I promise. I love you.”
I get into my pickup truck, throw the packed duffle bag in the back, and crank the engine. My family—my world—is waving at me from the living room window.
I hang the picture of them from the rearview.
Reversing down the drive, I can’t believe I just lied to them again. Driving on the highway, tears well in my eyes and make the yellow-dotted lines blur.
When’s it gonna stop?
Soon. Everything will be made right soon. I’ll see to that.
I glance at the NueView that rides in the passenger seat.
Knowing that I have infinite time in the game, and less than ten days in the real world, I’ve gotta shake things up a bit and get my ass to work.
If you want to live like nobody else, you have to live like nobody else.
And it’s going to take all the preparation I can get because I’m sure it’s going to be no easy task to kill a Gamemaster, if killing one is even a possibility.
I flip my hand over to stare at the mark.
I’ll be damned if I go down like this. No video game is going to take me out of this world.
You’d have fared better in robbing a bank.
Shut up.
A quick stop by the job site before leaving Johnson City.
“Two hundred,” Bobby says inside his makeshift tent that’s used to cut and weld pipe. Bobby’s known to be able to get anything, at anytime.
I pay him in cash. “This never happened,” I sternly tell him.
He holds his hands up and goes back to work.
I pull up to my cousin’s house, tires kicking gravel as I barrel down his driveway, leaving a cloud of gray dust behind. I barely put the truck in park before I cut the engine and jump out.
Cousin Kenneth steps out of his farm house carrying a box of supplies that I requested. Supplies that I need.
“Thanks man, I really appreciate it. How much do I owe you?”
“Take it. With my wife being a paramedic, we get this stuff for free. Should I even ask what you’re going to do with it?”
“I wouldn’t.”
He looks away. “I didn't think so.”
I shake his hand. “Thanks again. I gotta run. Talk to you soon. Maybe get the families together for a cookout in the next couple weeks.”
“That sounds good, just let me know and I’ll…” he says, but I’ve already slammed the truck door shut and cranked the engine.
“I’ll call you,” I yell to him out the window then tear back down his drive. I check the rearview and see him standing behind the dust, hands on his hips and shaking his head.
I check the box of supplies to make sure everything’s there. It is.
A cheap hotel in a bad part of town is my work space for the week. It’s the kind of place that should be shut down due to code violations and lack of common decency, but somehow still runs because it’s probably funded by drug deals and prostitutes. Cops don’t patrol the neighborhood, and especially don’t come near the hotel. Thirty bucks a night is all it costs. Should leave me enough money to live on if I eat cheap.
But I don’t plan on eating much.
After getting the keys from the front desk, I cautiously make my way back to the truck and avoid contact from the stragglers who are standing about the parking lot and outside the rooms. A few look in my direction in the early morning hours, but I don’t feel threatened by their glances.
I take my supplies and the console into the room and lock the door.
It smells like piss and cigarettes. There are stains on the floor, stains on the walls, stains on the queen size bed. I don’t care. I’m here to work.
I go to the bathroom and unpack the console. After laying a towel down, I begin to spread the medical supplies that I got from my cousin onto the floor.
Stains on the toilet, too.
Extra pillows go into the bathtub, and I lay inside, making myself comfortable.
I take the IV and hang it from the shower curtain. With a syringe, I inject liquid cocaine that I got from Bobby into the bag to keep me awake. Not too much, but enough to do the job.
I’ve never experienced a catheter before. First time for everything. Beats pissing all over myself.
I lube the tube up, but it still feels like fire going in.
I just hope I don’t shit on myself. Didn’t really plan on that.
Also, first time sticking a needle into my veins myself. But I need the IV and the drug to keep my body going while I’m in Alterlife.
This isn’t a game anymore.
I put on the NueView.
Before I log in, I hold the picture of my family near to my face. I’m in the photo, too. I fold the corner over me, leaving only my wife and kids.
With t
he contacts in, I fight back the tears that would fill my eyes.
“I love you.”
11
TIME TO GRIND
With Thal’s Amulet increasing my skills tenfold, it doesn’t take long for me to seek out more creatures that give me more experience points. Right now, I’m slaying trolls by the hundreds and leveling up like crazy.
I’m moving onto Elder Gazers next. Hideous one-eyed monstrosities, they’re supposed to have good loot, on top of giving some of the best XP.
As a child, I was scared of monsters. Not imaginary ones, but real ones like wolves and bears that ravaged me and my home inside of my dreams. Hordes of snakes that moved like the sea towards me as I stood alone in a field. Imitations and exaggerations of terrors in the real world.
But this is a game. These monsters aren’t real. I do not fear them.
And yet, I feel monsters inside of me, hungry, clawing to get out. The darkness growing, all consuming, wanting to be set free. The desire to prove myself. To gain respect. To have everything at the snap of my fingers.
My monsters are real.
And their hunger grows. Ready to ravage those who betrayed me. Prepared to destroy anyone who stands in my way.
I take a break from hunting and go back to town. I have collected enough loot that I won’t have to worry about missing work for the week. Or the week after that. As I put the money in the bank, I shake my head at how I can make this much in twenty-four hours of gaming, when it would take me eighty hours over the span of eight days at a real job.
I’m in a town I’ve never been to before, wary to step foot near Eden or Condren for the sake of being seen. As far as the world knows, Ace the Great has disappeared. But I know that the ones who imprisoned me will be on the hunt after they see that I’m not in the cells. No doubt they’ll be looking for me. I’m an outlaw on the run.
Damn that old man for cursing me with the cloak, the mark, the impossible mission to kill Deakins. If I ever see him again, I’ll end him without thinking twice.
