Disclaimer: See part 1
Author's Note: Just think of "Virtual" and "Reality" and the halves of a two-parter. This one picks up where virtual left off. The next chapter will be the last.
S is for Spy: Reality
They said Virtual was the hardest game yet.
But it wasn't a game. Not even close.
I don't even remember walking through the door to the outside. But I must have because one minute I was in the red hallway and the next the world had gone black. I spun but there was nothing. All of a sudden my head and arms felt heavy. Almost too heavy to hold up.
Had I been shot?
Red letters flashed in my eyes that said to remove my gloves. I tore at my hands. There were gloves there. I had forgotten. I scratched my face and pulled out some hair trying to get my headset off.
I dropped all the gear. I wanted to hear it smash on the floor but an adult was there waiting for it.
It hadn't been real. Just another game. Like Timmy's brother's that made me sick.
I realized then that my hands were curled up in fists. I opened them shakily telling myself to calm down.
There was something sticky on my right hand.
Blood.
I stared at if so horrified it took a while to notice the stinging by my ear. The blood was mine I'd scratched myself pretty good.
All around the room kids had taken off their headsets. I was one of the last to finish. It was very quiet. A lot of kids had tears running down their faces but no one made any sounds.
I found C2 or she found me because was walked together to the other end of the room. C24 was there. He looked the best of anyone.
Kids had started grouping around him. They all looked lost and pale as milk. And he at least still looked like he knew where he was. Who he was. He broke away from the group to talk to us. "They- they got shot." He said in the quiet voice people use at funerals.
"I killed him." My voice didn't want to work.
C2 nodded. "T-two." Was all she said before turning around and throwing up. I rubbed her back like mommy does for me. C24 held her hair.
"Two." He agreed.
They said it might be hard to sleep that night.
At first it was. Every sound was footsteps of men with guns. Every breath was too loud and the room was too dark.
I counted sheep until they ran out. There just weren't enough sheep in the world to make me fall asleep. I looked over at C2. She was awake too and looking at me.
She pulled back her blankets and waved me over. I started to get up. But getting out of my bed wasn't obedient. I rolled over and shut my eyes.
There was a clean dress at the foot of my bed in the morning. Either it was a new one or someone had managed to get the vomit and blood stains out of my other one.
We were back in the small room again today. A lot of the kids looked scared. But Sir said we were playing a different game. Only this one didn't have a name, it was "reality".
Sir said it was almost the same as Virtual. We were lined up again same as yesterday. Sir gave us our guns from the lanes and grownups came around and put heavy gray vests on us with lots of filled pockets.
Yesterday the men in the black suits had been the enemy. But Sir said the enemy always looked different. Sometimes he said, the enemy was an old man who had crinkly eyes like my grandpa or a woman who smiled like my mom.
They said "the enemy of my enemy is my friend."
But they had it backwards because today my friends were the enemy.
Our objective was to get outside to safety. But the doors would only open up for the last kid standing.
Only one of us would get out. This was the test Sir was talking about. Who would pass? Who had the capacity to kill?
We left the room one by one. There was a grown up at the door. I recognized the woman from the shooting lanes. "Spare ammo's in the vest." She said. "Wait until the bell to shoot." I nodded and walked past her. "Don't spare anyone, he'll know."
I swallowed and ran off for the playground room. My perch atop the rafter was empty. It was a good place to start. If C2 ran by I could always close my eyes. If I didn't see her Sir couldn't say I spared her.
Only one of us could be left.
When you ran around a building with 25 kid- shaped guns did it matter which one shot you first?
A loud ringing filled my ears exactly like the fire alarm at school. I was still clinging to the bottom of the rafters and I almost fell. After that I swung myself up pretty quickly to lie on top. The game had begun.
I didn't have to wait long for someone to try and cross my room. C16 was slinking across in the shadows. I didn't want to kill her.
A picture of my family and my house flashed in my mind.
Aim and pull.
The gun didn't crack like usual. It kind of whistled and C16 fell silently. I made my way back down the ladder toward C16. Mom always crossed herself when she saw a dead person. Sir said the dead could tell you things.
Mom's never killed anyone before. Me and Sir have.
I shook C16 lightly. How was she supposed to tell me anything when she was dead?
I put my ear down to listen closer. Her heart was thudding. She wasn't dead.
I looked for the bullet, maybe my aim was off. There was no bullet. It was a little dart stuck in her stomach. She sure looked dead though. I guess she was dead and her heart just hadn't figured it out yet.
C16 was heavy but I pushed her further into the shadows. There were still twenty- three against me.
C4 came next. I clenched my teeth pulled the trigger and ticked him off my list. C21 and C11 slumped to the floor. My finger was starting to feel numb. C12, and my arm was numb too. By the time C15 and C25 fell I was numb all over. C7 came in and my Dead Dart hit his arm. He staggered but didn't fall. I hit him two more times and he was down.
The next time the door opened it was C2.
I curled up smaller on the rafter. The bad guys never look up. They just don't. They just don't. They just...
But C2 wasn't a bad guy. She looked up.
She raised her gun and shot up. The Dead Dart missed me by a mile. She shrugged and walked away, pausing in all the shadows. I knew she'd seen me.
The rafter didn't seem like such a good hiding place any more. I was swinging from the ring to the ladder when the door opened. My fingers jumped apart and I fell...
My feet hit the ground first but my ankle rolled over. There was a pop as loud as a gunshot. I fell the rest of the way to the ground next to C16. Somehow my gun had ended up across the floor. It must have hurt because tears kept getting away from me but I was still numb. Who had come in?
C24 emerged from behind a big foam block, silent as a shadow. "C5?" He asked.
"Yeah." I couldn't run anywhere and this was the boy who shot two men in Virtual with no reaction. "Come and get me."
He didn't shoot just walked towards me. He didn't lower his gun either. "You're hurt." He still didn't lower it.
"Maybe," I said, searching the dark behind me. I found C16's gun. "But you're dead." 'Maybes' did get you killed.
C2 was back. She looked down at C24 and she was crying too. I told her I shot him. She said she saw.
We just looked at each other. Guns don't care who they kill. I did.
The door opened for the last time and Sir came in. He walked over and took the gun right out of my hand. He told us we were disobeying orders. Said we were the last two left. He looked at C2 and told her to shoot me.
We both looked at C24. I waited for the shot.
"Why?" She said.
Sir got angry red. He pointed the Dead Dart gun at her. "I gave you an order C2! I have the authority!"
I snatched Sir's gun from his hip. It was too big. "That's not authority. It's just a gun." I told him. He spun on me. "I have one too." We pulled at the same time and the world turned black again.
I hoped the bullet hit his heart. If he had one.
Author's Note: Just think of "Virtual" and "Reality" and the halves of a two-parter. This one picks up where virtual left off. The next chapter will be the last.
S is for Spy: Reality
They said Virtual was the hardest game yet.
But it wasn't a game. Not even close.
I don't even remember walking through the door to the outside. But I must have because one minute I was in the red hallway and the next the world had gone black. I spun but there was nothing. All of a sudden my head and arms felt heavy. Almost too heavy to hold up.
Had I been shot?
Red letters flashed in my eyes that said to remove my gloves. I tore at my hands. There were gloves there. I had forgotten. I scratched my face and pulled out some hair trying to get my headset off.
I dropped all the gear. I wanted to hear it smash on the floor but an adult was there waiting for it.
It hadn't been real. Just another game. Like Timmy's brother's that made me sick.
I realized then that my hands were curled up in fists. I opened them shakily telling myself to calm down.
There was something sticky on my right hand.
Blood.
I stared at if so horrified it took a while to notice the stinging by my ear. The blood was mine I'd scratched myself pretty good.
All around the room kids had taken off their headsets. I was one of the last to finish. It was very quiet. A lot of kids had tears running down their faces but no one made any sounds.
I found C2 or she found me because was walked together to the other end of the room. C24 was there. He looked the best of anyone.
Kids had started grouping around him. They all looked lost and pale as milk. And he at least still looked like he knew where he was. Who he was. He broke away from the group to talk to us. "They- they got shot." He said in the quiet voice people use at funerals.
"I killed him." My voice didn't want to work.
C2 nodded. "T-two." Was all she said before turning around and throwing up. I rubbed her back like mommy does for me. C24 held her hair.
"Two." He agreed.
They said it might be hard to sleep that night.
At first it was. Every sound was footsteps of men with guns. Every breath was too loud and the room was too dark.
I counted sheep until they ran out. There just weren't enough sheep in the world to make me fall asleep. I looked over at C2. She was awake too and looking at me.
She pulled back her blankets and waved me over. I started to get up. But getting out of my bed wasn't obedient. I rolled over and shut my eyes.
There was a clean dress at the foot of my bed in the morning. Either it was a new one or someone had managed to get the vomit and blood stains out of my other one.
We were back in the small room again today. A lot of the kids looked scared. But Sir said we were playing a different game. Only this one didn't have a name, it was "reality".
Sir said it was almost the same as Virtual. We were lined up again same as yesterday. Sir gave us our guns from the lanes and grownups came around and put heavy gray vests on us with lots of filled pockets.
Yesterday the men in the black suits had been the enemy. But Sir said the enemy always looked different. Sometimes he said, the enemy was an old man who had crinkly eyes like my grandpa or a woman who smiled like my mom.
They said "the enemy of my enemy is my friend."
But they had it backwards because today my friends were the enemy.
Our objective was to get outside to safety. But the doors would only open up for the last kid standing.
Only one of us would get out. This was the test Sir was talking about. Who would pass? Who had the capacity to kill?
We left the room one by one. There was a grown up at the door. I recognized the woman from the shooting lanes. "Spare ammo's in the vest." She said. "Wait until the bell to shoot." I nodded and walked past her. "Don't spare anyone, he'll know."
I swallowed and ran off for the playground room. My perch atop the rafter was empty. It was a good place to start. If C2 ran by I could always close my eyes. If I didn't see her Sir couldn't say I spared her.
Only one of us could be left.
When you ran around a building with 25 kid- shaped guns did it matter which one shot you first?
A loud ringing filled my ears exactly like the fire alarm at school. I was still clinging to the bottom of the rafters and I almost fell. After that I swung myself up pretty quickly to lie on top. The game had begun.
I didn't have to wait long for someone to try and cross my room. C16 was slinking across in the shadows. I didn't want to kill her.
A picture of my family and my house flashed in my mind.
Aim and pull.
The gun didn't crack like usual. It kind of whistled and C16 fell silently. I made my way back down the ladder toward C16. Mom always crossed herself when she saw a dead person. Sir said the dead could tell you things.
Mom's never killed anyone before. Me and Sir have.
I shook C16 lightly. How was she supposed to tell me anything when she was dead?
I put my ear down to listen closer. Her heart was thudding. She wasn't dead.
I looked for the bullet, maybe my aim was off. There was no bullet. It was a little dart stuck in her stomach. She sure looked dead though. I guess she was dead and her heart just hadn't figured it out yet.
C16 was heavy but I pushed her further into the shadows. There were still twenty- three against me.
C4 came next. I clenched my teeth pulled the trigger and ticked him off my list. C21 and C11 slumped to the floor. My finger was starting to feel numb. C12, and my arm was numb too. By the time C15 and C25 fell I was numb all over. C7 came in and my Dead Dart hit his arm. He staggered but didn't fall. I hit him two more times and he was down.
The next time the door opened it was C2.
I curled up smaller on the rafter. The bad guys never look up. They just don't. They just don't. They just...
But C2 wasn't a bad guy. She looked up.
She raised her gun and shot up. The Dead Dart missed me by a mile. She shrugged and walked away, pausing in all the shadows. I knew she'd seen me.
The rafter didn't seem like such a good hiding place any more. I was swinging from the ring to the ladder when the door opened. My fingers jumped apart and I fell...
My feet hit the ground first but my ankle rolled over. There was a pop as loud as a gunshot. I fell the rest of the way to the ground next to C16. Somehow my gun had ended up across the floor. It must have hurt because tears kept getting away from me but I was still numb. Who had come in?
C24 emerged from behind a big foam block, silent as a shadow. "C5?" He asked.
"Yeah." I couldn't run anywhere and this was the boy who shot two men in Virtual with no reaction. "Come and get me."
He didn't shoot just walked towards me. He didn't lower his gun either. "You're hurt." He still didn't lower it.
"Maybe," I said, searching the dark behind me. I found C16's gun. "But you're dead." 'Maybes' did get you killed.
C2 was back. She looked down at C24 and she was crying too. I told her I shot him. She said she saw.
We just looked at each other. Guns don't care who they kill. I did.
The door opened for the last time and Sir came in. He walked over and took the gun right out of my hand. He told us we were disobeying orders. Said we were the last two left. He looked at C2 and told her to shoot me.
We both looked at C24. I waited for the shot.
"Why?" She said.
Sir got angry red. He pointed the Dead Dart gun at her. "I gave you an order C2! I have the authority!"
I snatched Sir's gun from his hip. It was too big. "That's not authority. It's just a gun." I told him. He spun on me. "I have one too." We pulled at the same time and the world turned black again.
I hoped the bullet hit his heart. If he had one.