The date was May 12, 2352
"Put your hands up! You are under arrest!"
I held my green and white backpack close to me. I backed away and was covered in the red dots of the guns that pointed at me. It was slightly later than midnight and ominous shadows seemed to cast over my surroundings.
I quickly turned and hopped over the wall behind me. I instantly heard the barking of dogs and firing of weapons. I just couldn't believe my friends had left me to take the blame. They had suddenly fled from my side, leaving no traces behind.
I wasn't going to jail.
I was born a very fast runner so the police had lost sight of me, but not for long. I climbed a nearby tree and held onto the branches for dear life. The air was stale and I could hardly breathe. I looked around and noticed I had found my way into a graveyard. Tombstones were scattered about the land as I heard the chains of German Shepherds. I held my breath as they walked right by me.
I sat completely still.
Nearly an hour later, a rock hit my head with an excruciating amount of force.
"Psst, Scott! They're gone!" a familiar voice whispered.
I hopped down from the tree, obtaining a few splinters as I did so. Standing before me was my friend Xavier. Now, Xavier was a man of wisdom. He was 23 and his family had nearly raised me. He was unemployed but he had a lot of potential. He was born in Japan (and Xavier wasn't even his real name) and raised in the United States. He dyed his hair bright red and always had it swept to one side. He wore a green and black vest and dark blue jeans. He had a squarish pair of glasses on his face.
"Xavier, where's Josh?" I questioned. Josh was the tough one of the three of us so it was odd for him to be missing.
"I don't know," Xavier replied with a shrug. "I haven't seen him in the past hour or so."
"Okay. Do you have it?"
Xavier's eyes widened.
"I thought you had it!"
"No, I gave it to you! Xavier, you lost a twenty thousand dollar-"
"No, no, don't say that! It has to be around here somewhere! Just...start looking. Maybe we dropped it!"
I got onto my knees and began to search through the dry, moist grass. I couldn't help but feel we were surrounded by death. It was a graveyard, after all.
I felt my eyes water.
"It's gone," I sighed. "We lost them."
"Looking for something, bros?"
Xavier and I instantly turned to see Josh. Josh was your typical bad boy. He lied, cheated, stole, and did drugs. He was a 26-year old with blonde hair and he wore a blue thief bandana over it. He often carried a gun or weapon of some sort and wore a denim vest, a white shirt, and jeans. He smiled and handed us a box. But it was the contents of the box that were worth so much.
You see, Josh, Xavier and I had something in common. We were gamers. We considered ourselves to be "elite gamers" at that. Nearly a year ago, a project called the "Virchips" was done. The virchips were small devices that would install gaming software into your brain. They say it can teleport you to any video game of your choice. But at the time, it only worked on old games because they had much simpler programming than the modern games. Since they were only prototypes and still under development, they were never released to the public. They were placed in the "Universal Gaming Museum". Even though I was only 18, my friends and I had the balls to steal it.
"My god, Josh! Where have you been?" Xavier asked.
"Evading the cops! What did you think?"
"Okay, you guys have the virchips and I have the disk. Let's go!" I exclaimed. We hurried into Xavier's car and got onto the freeway to go home.
"Josh, Scott, I think this was a bad idea," Xavier said shakily.
"You're such a wuss, man! Ain't nothin's gonna stop us now!" Josh chuckled. "Besides, the cops can't get us if we're bendin' laws of reality!"
"Yeah, dude. I know where you're coming from but live a little!" I added. "Virtual reality gaming was just a dream until now!"
We parked in the lot of my Dad's house and rushed into the basement where my nine-year-old sister kimi was reading a book and sitting on my rugged white sofa. The basement smelled of cigarettes and everything else we smoked in there. Kimi had unbelievably curly brown hair that was tied into pigtails and blue eyes that matched mine and our mother's. She was wearing her blue nightgown. She looked up from her colorful book and beamed as she saw me.
"Big brother!" she cried, running up and hugging my legs. "I missed you!"
"That's nice, kiddo," I said, messing up her hair playfully. "I missed you too."
Xavier ran over to our Xbox 3000 Deluxe and inserted what appeared to be a blank disk. He took three of the seven virchips, synched them to the system and handed one to Josh and me.
"They go in the back of your neck. It might bleed a little but it only takes a few seconds to install," he said simply.
"Wait, guys, can't I go too?" Kimi pleaded. She knew all about the virchips and also wanted to use them.
"Sorry, kid. This is for the grown ups. But we'll be back," Josh said.
"Yeah. We have left over macaroni and salad in the fridge. There's twenty bucks in my drawer if you want pizza. We'll be back soon though so don't worry," I smiled, cupping her freckled face in my hands. She nodded and looked down.
The three of us put the chips into our necks and slowly drifted from consciousness as information was downloaded into our subconscious minds.
As I opened my eyes, a colorful and bright world surrounded me. Around me were giant blocks and walking mushrooms. I saw a shadow and lifted my head expecting to see one of my friends. Instead I saw a man in a red shirt and hat with overalls with a big smile.
"ITSA ME, MARIO!"
