GAME
Chapter 5
Gameplay

"Life is a video game. No matter how good you get, you are always zapped in the end" ANON

Kevin moved through level two – poisonous gas – onto level three. He began by checking his inventory – antidote syringe, bottle of water, bottle of poison, a bar of chocolate from the 'food' box on level three. He hadn't used anything yet.

Morgan and Rossi stood behind him as he stepped into the next level of the virtual world.

'So what happens here?' Rossi asked impatiently. He had just had a video sent to him and had watched helplessly as Hotch drank down a bottle of something marked poison, and collapse in agony on the floor. That was all he had seen. He was unaware of what had happened since.

Kevin's avatar stood in the centre of the room. The key this time was on a high shelf above the door it unlocked. There was a box at his feet. This box had no markings on it.

'I am not going to open the box.' Kevin said. 'I am going to use it to stand on to get the key.

He dragged the box to the shelf, stood on it and reached for the key. He pushed the key into the keyhole and the door to level four opened. He stepped through.

'What is in the box?'

'It's not a good idea to open it. It's not marked.' Kevin said. 'Pen wouldn't open it.'

'But Hotch might. I need to see what's in the box.'

Kevin had his avatar turn and go back into the level he had just left. He opened the box and the creature in the box jumped at his face. On the screen they watched as the dragon like creature tore into Kevin and his life reading dropped to nothing.

GAME OVER

'I hope neither of them opens it.'

Kevin started again at level one.

-0-0-0-

'You are hurt, Garcia. What happened?'

Garcia stopped limping towards the box and looked back at her boss.

'It's nothing, really. I fell back there. I'm ok though.'

Hotch walked up beside her and knelt by the box.

'I don't know. It might be ........'

Hotch began to pull back the lid. The creature trapped in the box pushed its way out and flapped leathery wings in Hotch's face. He sat back in surprise, turning to pain as the bat sank its teeth into his neck. He clawed at the creature and Garcia grabbed at its flapping wings. Hotch had hold of the creatures body and pulled at it but all that did was tear at his skin. He closed his eyes to protect them from the claws, his hands over his face. Garcia pressed the bat's mouth to try to open its teeth, to no avail.

Then she remembered the poison.

She felt her hands shake as she got the syringe which was now empty and filled it from the poison bottle. She saw that half of it was gone, and she hoped that there was enough left to kill the bat.

Hotch was lying on his back, not fighting any more, just trying to protect his face. The leathery wings were beating the air and Garcia could see a pool of blood on the floor beside Hotch. The stepped forward with the syringe and stuck it firmly into the creature's back and pressed down the plunger.

Almost immediately the animal released Hotch and turned to Garcia. Its claws caught in her hair and she screamed as it beat its wings in her face. Like Hotch the first thing she did was protect her face. The bat's movements gradually became sluggish, and suddenly the wings became quiet. It hung from her hair and she pulled it off and threw it aside with a shudder.

Hotch was sitting with his knees bent up, his hand over a ripped hole in the side of his neck. It was bleeding but it was not arterial. He pressed his hand on the wound, and blood ran between his fingers.

'I guess I should ask in future before I open any boxes.' he said. 'Did it hurt you?'

'Just some scratches. Nothing much.'

'Let me see.' Hotch wiped his bloody hands on his tee shirt and stood up. His legs were shaking and he felt very foolish. He inspected a deep scratch on Garcia's scalp. 'I am so sorry Garcia.'

He picked up the body of the animal.

'I'm sorry I had to kill it.' Garcia said. 'I hate killing things.'

'Well I'm glad that you did. It could have killed one of us. If it had bitten an artery.....'

Garcia smiled weakly. 'Let's get out of here.'

Hotch dragged the now empty box to the door and stood on it. He reached up and took the key from the hook, and passed it down to Garcia.

'You or me?'

'My turn.' she said, and slid the key into the door.

-0-0-0-

We need to track down this UnSub.' Dave said. 'I've had the clips put on a disc so that you can watch it on Garcia's computer. I need to find the place where they are being held.'

'The UnSub calls himself Gamagic.' Morgan said. 'We need an address.'

'Get Kevin onto it.'

-0-0-0-

As the door into level four closed behind them, Garcia suggested they have a rest before touching anything in the next room.

'I'm feeling a little shaky.' she said and sat against the wall. It was with a profound relief that Hotch sat down beside her. Garcia took the bar of chocolate from her pocket and broke it in half, giving a piece to Hotch.

'Thank you. Where did this come from?'

'It was in the box marked food. That was all of it though. I hope we get some more soon. This won't last us long.'

'I don't know how we are going to get the key this time.'

'Garcia looked up. This time it was attached to the ceiling. Even with the box it was too high to reach. She looked around the room for clues, but there didn't seem to be any.

Hotch was holding his neck stiffly sideways, trying to slow the bleeding still. It was bleeding more slowly now, but the pain was making him dizzy. He noticed Garcia had blood running onto her face from the cut in her scalp. He reached out to her and touched it.

'I'm ok Sir... um Hotch.' she said, feeling self conscious using his name.

'Are you sure, because......... what is that sound?'

Garcia stopped eating chocolate and listened. A distant rushing sound. It sounded like..........

At that moment a vent in the ceiling opened and water rushed into the room. They quickly got to their feet. In seconds the water was up to their knees.

'At least we know now how to get the key.' Hotch said ironically.

The water was ice cold and seemed to suck the warmth out of their bodies. As the level rose, Hotch began to shiver. He noticed Garcia was also.

'Get ready to grab the key.' he said. 'We need to get out of here quickly.'

The water was six, seven, eight feet deep and still rising. They swam in the freezing water to the centre of the room and Garcia reached up for the key. There was only a few inches of air left as she pulled it off the ceiling. Her fingers were shaking and as the water closed over their heads, the key fell from her frozen fingers and sank to the floor.

Hotch swam down and picked up the key in shaking hands and swam back to Garcia who was floating near the top. Hanging onto her dress with one hand and the key with the other he swam to the door. He desperately needed to breathe and his chest hurt like hell as he fumbled with the key in the lock. He saw shapes dancing before his eyes and knew he had seconds left to live.

He finally managed to push the key into the lock and the door slid upwards.

He was forced through the doorway with the pressure of the water and was thrown across the room. He kept hold of Garcia as he crashed into the opposite wall. More water was rushing through the open door. He let go of Garcia's dress and waded through the water. Standing firm against the pressure of the water still rushing through the doorway, he put his fingers around the top of the door and hung all his weight on it. Slowly the door slid down into the torrent and cut off the water. The water started to drain away through vents in the floor.

Hotch waded back to Garcia. She was lying on her back, white faced and freezing cold. Hotch knelt beside her and listened at her chest. She wasn't breathing.

'Garcia! Don't do this to me!'

He tilted her head back and breathed into her lungs, then compressed her chest. As he did this he prayed to his long neglected God that she would breathe.

-0-0-0-

Dave Morgan and Kevin watched the latest download on the computer screen.

As Hotch went to open the box, Kevin said, 'No!' under his breath. They watched in horror as the bat flew at Hotch and bit into his neck. They watched as blood spurted across the room and ran down his neck into his tee shirt. They saw him trying to pull the creature off and the tear at his throat get bigger as it hung on to him. They watched as he weakened and fell backwards with his hands across his face.

'Sonofabitch!' Morgan punched the wall. 'Where the hell are they?'

The video ended with Hotch lying on his back bleeding onto the floor.

Kevin swivelled his chair to another screen and tapped at the keyboard.

'I have an address.' he said triumphantly. 'And a name! Harry Lomax. Hang on, the name is flagged.'

'Flagged?' Dave said.

'Yes. He works here. He's on Maintenance.'

Morgan was on the phone. 'Maintenance please........... Do you have a team member named Harry Lomax?........ Thank you.' He put the phone down. 'Lomax is on the maintenance team, but he's not been in for three days.'

He took the address from Kevin who got up to follow them out. Dave put up his hand.

'I need to come. He has my girl friend!' he said.

'You are not a field agent Lynch. He doesn't know we have the game.' Rossi said. 'That has to be an advantage. I want you to stay and work on it. There may be clues in it that we would miss.'

Kevin looked back to the game that was on pause at the end of level three. 'I'll keep working on it, and I'll take notes.' he said, and sat down in front of the console. 'Don't forget I'm here though will you?' But they had already gone into the lift.

Lomax lived outside Quantico in a small town off the interstate. They pulled up outside the shabby bungalow in an equally shabby area. They stood at the front door.

'Harry Lomax? FBI. Please answer the door.'

Dave stood back as Morgan kicked the door off its hinges. They found themselves in a small hall, a fugitive from the seventies, bold brown and orange wall paper with an orange paper lamp shade. There were three doors. Dave stayed in the hall, gun drawn, as Morgan cleared each room.

'No one here.' Morgan said, and the two of them began to search the rooms.

The main room was a kitchen living room in one. There was an old table with drawers under that Dave went to. Morgan busied himself with the kitchen drawers.

'There has to be something here to give him away.' Dave said in frustration as he slammed shut the second drawer.

'I may have something here.'

At the back of the drawer, hidden in the centre of a roll of cling film, was a drawing of some kind. Morgan pulled the paper out and unrolled it onto the table.

It was obviously the plans for something, but what?

'Look at this, the front elevation.' Dave said. 'What does that look like to you?'

'It looks like a hangar.'

'We need Lynch on this.'

-0-0-0-

Garcia coughed suddenly, and Hotch sat back on his heels, sighing with relief. She blinked up at him.

'Did you just........?'

Hotch gave her a dazzling smile, but didn't answer her question. He helped her to sit up. They were both shivering, and Hotch put his arms around her to warm her.

At first she sat stiffly, embarrassed to be so close to him, but when he didn't release her, she realised that she actually liked it. She put an arm around him and they hugged each other, both hoping that they would have a little time to recover before the next level started.