Chapter 19
One Last Move
Ezekiel sat back with his eyes widened, his hands shaking violently, his heart beating at a fast pace that it could pierce out of his chest, and shaking his head in a state of fear and denial.
Just now, in front of the screen before him, a five year old video was playing. An old video that seemed harmless and innocent in every way.
And it was directed towards him.
As Ezekiel stared at the screen, daring not to blink, his mind went into a state of insanity as he watched the Mad Man on screen smile sadistically, chuckling lightly after just addressing Ezekiel by his old title 'Stranger.'
He could not make out what was going on. A half-a-decade old video by the Mad Man, completely unknown to him, and now, after activating the program to exit him and the Tree Friends out of the world, it suddenly appears, and, the most baffling fact of all, was directed towards him? It was startling and horrifying, a situation Ezekiel never found himself in.
His attention now completely taken by the video playing on screen, Ezekiel kept his eyes on the Mad Man on the old video.
"Oh, I'm sorry Stranger. Did I scare you? It must be shocking to see me after waiting all this time, and to be directing towards you in a video that is God knows how old now, depending how well your skills are at finding a file in a massive storage of billions of others. I hope the wait wasn't too much of a bother, though I'm sure you decided to let the computer handle the workload instead of manually doing it yourself. That's okay; I'd do the same thing if I were in the same situation as you."
"But that's completely irrelevant now; you found the file! Congratulations! You are now one step away from earning your freedom after all this time of captivity! Can you smell that fresh outside air, that cool breeze being felt against your body, and see the beautiful rays of that yellow golden sun in the sky already? Ah, must be such an amazing thought to have, to know that, in such a short time, you'll experience that for real once more."
"Though to be honest, I think right now you are more curious of the fact why a video like this would be playing before the program actually starts. In fact, I think what you are even more curious and concerned about is why this video features yours truly… and is directed towards YOU. A big surprise, I suspect, and one you probably never expected coming. If you did, well, you're smarter than I thought. Though I think we both know this is just a total shocker."
"Anyway, you might be grasping your hands in a fist out of rage, or hyperventilating to a point of a heart attack. Now, I need you alive and focused here, because I did not make this video for you to wait this long and die before I even get a chance to speak, so calm down and pay attention for a bit, will you? Once I'm done, you'll understand everything, be caught up to speed, and earn your freedom. It's like attending a seminar or something before earning your free vacation, so roll with it, will you?"
Ezekiel, not even thinking about it, nodded his head towards the screen as he leaned forward.
"So… why is this video playing… and why is it directed towards YOU? Even after my death, and this video being recorded in the past, it's still addressing you now. So why is that? Why is any of this happening, and why now?"
"Well, Stranger, I'm going to be completely honest here, something I wanted to say earlier… though with the fighting and everything, you might have been dead set to kill me, so there was obviously no time to have this discussion. Preparing ahead of time is always a key priority when being in the position of the Administrator! So why is all of this happening? Well, it is quite simple…"
Ezekiel kept his eyes and ears opened, and waited for an answer.
"I purposely let this happen; every bit of it. Your victory, my death, this very moment now to escape, I planned every miniscule detail of it, and let it roll out as my plan attended. If you've made it this far, with everyone else completely intact and your body still young and alive, than my plan has been a complete success, and I got you to thank for carrying it out alongside me."
Ezekiel shook his head in disbelief. All of this was on purpose? The entire battle, the victory, all of it was intentional; planned?!
"Now, you may be thinking 'Wait, this was planned from the start?' Why yes, yes indeed this was planned from the start. All of this was meant to happen from the beginning, and it went by as I wanted it to be. It was a little bumpy now and then, but it achieved its purpose."
"So why was all this planned in the first place? Well… I'm sure during your time waiting for the computer to find the file, and performing your basic duties as Administrator, you took the time to read through my past logs, detailing personal accomplishments, yearly reports, and all the usual bullshit. If you have, then you must have seen that I was getting bored over time staying here."
"Well, Stranger, that's the biggest reason why this all happened: I was bored. Stranger, when you seclude yourself inside a virtual world for over a decade, living inside a giant tower no one knows about, doing the same routine over and over, running out of ideas on how to kill your subjects, even as God, it can get boring and tiresome. In fact, it can get so boring, that it just wants to make you pull the plug and end it, call it a day, and leave without looking back. Boredom is an annoying part of existence, and is completely dreadful when it happens."
"Stranger, before your arrival… in fact, just a few days before you arrived, I was intending to just end it and activate the Failsafe, killing everyone and walking away. I was done with this world, and this old machine. It could only do so much with the same subjects after a decade, and I just could not take the boring routine. I'm old, Stranger, and just getting older by the day. Even if I wasn't aging in the machine, I could still feel these old bones aching, and I just did not want to waste my remaining years inside a metallic casket. So, I was going to kill off everyone, blow up the facility I designed to house everyone, and spend my final years out in the world."
"But then… YOU came along. Someone new, something different… and something undeniably special. I wanted to kill you off in a heartbeat because I did not have the time or patience to deal with some outsider, and only wanted to leave now… but your appearance… and your overall traits you came in my world with gave me an idea."
"A man, unaffected by the world's main traits, one that could make its own choices and do its own work on its own time, one who retained memories every day, one who could die and never return; you had all the traits of something completely opposite of all my subjects. You had no similarities to the original state of these subjects or generics, and could act freely without my consent. You were something that I could not control…"
"And Stranger, that was exactly the kind of thing I needed to eliminate my boredom. A new challenge entering my world: a man whom I cannot control directly. Someone that, with the right mind, would rather fight me than work with. One that would go off and do the stupidest of things and try to take me down, to act as some kind of hero, to rebel and fight no matter how hard I tried to stop you. It was just what I needed to entertain myself again, a new toy to play with. Stranger… I used you only as an object for fun, and everything you did is exactly what I wanted you to do."
"That is, of course, what I thought would happen all smoothly from the start. It was fun messing with your mind, sending you into a state of insanity… but the moment I saw you contemplating suicide, I knew that I may have gone too far. If you died, you would not return. And if you did not return, what would I do then? I'd have no one to play with, and the boredom would hit me harder than ever. I needed you dearly for entertainment, and you killing yourself was not an option."
"Thus the tower was a perfect opportunity to set up the rest of your actions. It was were I could perfectly set up the events that would change your attitude and give you a reason to keep playing. That red little porcupine girl… Flaky I believe her name is, was just the subject I needed to persuade your mind in order to change your outlook. Of course, with a little inspiration from an exploding truck I summoned, the scared and shy look of Flaky was bound to have an effect on your choices."
"And indeed it did. By using her exaggerated anxiety and fear, your internal instincts to act as a hero could not stop you from promising her to you would save her, and to continue the fight. The moment you rescued her from the tower was proof enough that, with a little push, you could do anything to fight and entertain me, no matter what I threw at you. I'm glad I captured that red head from the outside; without her as a subject, I would never stop you from ending your life. Crazy how a woman like her can have such an effect on your mind. Ah, love is a mysterious and manipulative thing, isn't it?"
"So, everything else from there was just a game of throwing shit at you and seeing how you fought against it. Setting up random situations every other day, sending in Flippy after a long time placed on hold, just throwing anything at you to direct your path to keep fighting forward. The longer I kept you inside the world, the longer I could stay as God and enjoy playing with you."
"But the moment you surprisingly defeated Flippy… actually stopping his internal monster… the most devastating weapon I have ever devised… I was burnt out of ideas. He was my last tool I could think of as an ultimate challenge to stop you. And yet you beat him. It was an awesome battle for sure… but it was the last battle I could think of stalling you. I mean, with Flippy on your side, there was absolutely no way I could stop you from saving others every day and reclaiming back their memories to a conscious state."
"It was then where I realized my time was up. I got the last minutes of entertainment out of you, and I could no longer direct you down in the world. The game was over and I was out of moves… at least, moves to keep playing with you down there. Once I ran out of moves to keep your attention on the ground, it was time for me to pull out and leave."
"Though the idea of just leaving was… well, boring; unoriginal. I could have walked out of my Stasis Pod, marched to the server controls on the outside, and activate the Failsafe just like that, but that would be so dull and boring that it just would not have been worth it. I've been locked up in this world for over ten years, and I'm going to make sure I go out with a bang."
"So once you gathered everyone up in one large group, with their minds set to the best possible level of consciousness, it was time for the big reveal; the evil god of the world! Ohhhhhh, spooky and scary and everything! And to top it off, make some stupid Shadow minions to frighten off everyone and get you all roused up emotionally. You honestly looked a little pathetic being all babyish and down, but of course, it takes a woman's touch like Flaky to pick you up. Oh, and of course your new bud Flippy, who seemed to have taken a liking on you. Maybe because you're a goody two-shoes or something."
"Anyway, you get all riled up, make a militia army, march to town, and go into a major fight, which should happen just about any minute now actually. I wonder how it will pan out. I've got the server running thousands of calculations with the many summoned A.I., so it's going to be stressed to its limits. Still, I'm sure it'll be fun watching a big war take place, with you at the helm."
"But we all know that, at the end of the battle, it's going to be just you and me; two men fighting for the fate of everyone's lives. It'll be the fight of the century, and I'm sure it'll be a big one to talk about when it's over. It is also here where I say my final goodbyes and call it quits. Yep, the moment you walk through those doors that will be my cue to end this, pack up and end it all. I'm sure we'll have a big and epic brawl, and I will look like the big boss who will win, though I'll make sure not to kill you until you finally made yourself Administrator. I'll also have to make sure Flippy doesn't bleed out and makes it to me in time to stop me; perhaps I'll fix all this up when I summon some kind of fire wall to conceal all of this."
"And after that's done, it's over. You'll take command of the world as the new Administrator, kill me out of rage, be stuck in this world for a decade at most waiting to get the file, and I'll wake up back in my Stasis Pod, clean as a whistle, and walk free back out in the world. An epic death and escape, going down fighting; just the way I like it. I wonder how the world has changed since I left it. It'll take time getting used to walking on my real two feet again, but I'll get used to it once I'm up and about in the real world again."
"So yeah, that's how this will end. You killed me, and I'm up in the world waiting for you. Sorry to burst your emotions if you thought you killed me; I'm sure it was a great thought to have, though, like I said, it's always best to prepare for the future!"
As Ezekiel continued to watch in horror at the video, he could hear the sounds of fighting behind the Mad Man, with swords bashing against each other. The Mad Man himself looked behind him and chuckled softly.
"Oh, it seems you have arrived. Quicker than I expected, but that doesn't matter now… actually, before I leave you, Stranger, there is one last thing I want to talk to you about, something rather important and one big reason why I left this video for you…"
Ezekiel blinked slowly as he took a few deep breaths, the Mad Man turning around to face the camera again, his smile dropped to a serious expression.
"Stranger, do you recall when I asked you the question 'If you were given the choice to free yourself or the Tree Friends, who would you choose?' I hope I did ask that and didn't forget it, as it's quite important. Stranger… I wasn't bluffing when I was asking that question. I really wanted to hear what you would do in that situation. You proclaim yourself to be a hero, and promised them that you would free them. Well… now's the time to prove if you really are the hero you call yourself."
"Upon activation of this video, a virus was sent out into the firmware of the server. By the time this video ends, the virus will have reached the Failsafe automatically, hacking through the security walls and breaching the center. At this point in time, the Failsafe has been activated, along with everyone's Stasis Pods, including your own, sent into Lockdown. As of now, the Failsafe is charging up an Electromagnetic Pulse, in which, once released, will be sent out into each occupied Stasis Pod, sending any subject inside into a painful cardiac arrest. In 24 hours… everyone will die."
"Now, though supremely sadistic I may be, I decided to give you the big opportunity of a life time: I am giving your chance of freedom… at the cost of others. Once this video ends, you will have a command prompt shown on screen, giving you two options to choose from. The first option will unlock your Stasis Pod, giving you access to escape before the Failsafe launches the EMP. Though upon unlocking your Stasis Pod, everyone else's will be locked permanently, both inside this world and out. There will be no possible ability of saving them; if you walk out, they will stay and die. But who cares, right? Your plan from the start was to escape this world on your own anyway, they just became an obstacle you brought along with you to help get you here today. Your own life is more important, and you should look after yourself first before them, just like the selfish bastard I know you are."
"But… if you really are hell bent on proving yourself a hero, which we know you aren't, I will give you a second option. If you decide to choose option 2, all the subject's Stasis Pods will be unlocked, freeing them and giving them the escape time needed to avoid the EMP. They will be freed and back out into the world after a decade of imprisonment… but at a slight cost. First, their memories will be completely wiped of this world; they will have no memory of you, if they survived, and will not remember the lives they had in this world; it'll be like waking up from a bad dream."
"Though most importantly… it'll cost your life. Your Stasis Pod will be locked, and you will stay your last minutes alone in the virtual world until the EMP launches, killing you in an instant. The last thing you will ever see is the outside virtual world, with no one around you to see your death, or remember your existence. Your actions will be forgotten, and it will have been all for nothing. But… you DID promise that little girl of yours that you would free her no matter what, right? You're a hero, you're supposed to keep your promises… though we know you're not strong enough to go through with it."
"There's no shame in killing them off, Stranger. Your goal was to escape, and here's your chance. You'll win your part of the game by escaping, with just a simple click of a button. You're almost there, Stranger. All you have to do is make the choice. One last move, Stranger, that's all it takes now. Oh, and… if you fail to make a decision in 24 hours, I'll choose for you by killing all of you, so it's best to make your choice sooner rather than later."
The sounds of war behind the Mad Man were getting louder, which caught his attention briefly before nodding his head to the battle behind him.
"Well, I won't keep you long, Stranger. You have a big choice to make now, so I'll leave it to you to choose. Ah, and, when you inevitably choose to free yourself and kill the other buggers, do meet up with me. When you escape the pod and underground facility, you'll find yourself outside of an old wooden shack on the side of a mountain path. Take the left path; it'll lead straight to the top where I will be waiting for you."
"Oh, and Stranger… I just want to say… it was fun playing this game with you. And it feels so great to have won!"
And with his final words said, the Mad Man clicked a button on the keyboard beneath him, sending Ezekiel's side of the screen to turn pitch black for a brief second before a few words of light-green color appeared on screen. Taking a close inspection of the words, it came out as the following:
Choose:
-Option 1
-Option 2
Underneath the possible choices was a small clock, slowly counting down from the beginning.
24:00:00
23:59:59
23:59:58
23:59:57
As Ezekiel watched the clock slowly tick, he leaned back and noticed the large monitor behind the computer had the same enormous clock, replacing the original screen concerning server data. It counted the time the same as the one on the computer screen, slowly tracking the time until the unescapable death of everyone who remains inside the world.
His eyes never looked away from the doomsday clock on the screen. He didn't have the strength to look away at what was happening and what was finally revealed to him.
This entire time, this entire fight, was nothing more than a fun game from start to finish. Every challenge, every death, was meaningless, for it was just another round in a sick, demented game in the eyes of the Mad Man.
And no matter how hard he fought, no matter how strong-willed or determined he was, no matter how much he wanted to finish the fight and win…
It still wasn't enough.
Ezekiel had lost.
As he stared at the screen for a few more seconds, he leaned forward and rested his elbows on the desk, resting his head on the palm of his shaking hands. His eyes showed a state of trauma, his breaths were beginning to become rapid, and his mind weak and feeble as he tried to comprehend the tragic situation.
A tear slowly ran down his right eye as he stood up slowly, doing his best to prevent himself from collapsing to his knees. He turned around and walked a few paces away from the computer, trying to push the sound of the ticking clock on the screen out of his attention.
Ezekiel stopped in the middle of the Control Room, and, with one deep depressing breath, softly murmured to himself.
"No… no… I… why… this… it is just…"
Suddenly, his hands formed a tight grasp, turning into fists of rage as his body tightened up in anger. Ezekiel looked to the side to see the many pieces of technology ticking away just like the clock. Without second thought, Ezekiel ran up to the machines and began to violently smash and throw the metallic tools around, sending bolts, circuits and metal cases to fly across the room.
As he destroyed the one side of the room, he instantly ran to the other and performed the same violently act, screaming at the top of his lungs as he destroyed all the machines in the room, excluding the main computer sitting quietly at the front.
While working on destroying the remaining pieces of work, Ezekiel took the last piece of working technology and repeatedly smashed it against the metal floor, yelling at a volume that could possibly be heard even outside the tower.
"FUCK! FUCK! MOTHERFUCKING FUCK!"
Once the last piece of machinery was finally smashed to a point of being far beyond repairable, Ezekiel dropped to his knees, his eyes sending out a waterfall of tears to the floor. He laid in a pile of computer parts, while the broken machinery on the sides of the room let out small electric sparks, the room flickering the lights as the power slowly dimmed out.
He placed his palms in front of his eyes, hiding away his depressing expression while he cried away every emotion from his eyes. His breaths were broken as he tried to calm down, his voice crackling while he tried to speak whatever was on his mind, but couldn't get a single word out.
Ezekiel then looked up to the dark ceiling above him, and yelled out while trying to hold in enough oxygen in his lungs to avoid passing out.
"You want me to say it, huh?! You want me to say it, you fucking cunt?! YOU WIN! YOU WON THE GAME, AND I LOST! You happy?! You goddamn son of a bitch! You win… you win…"
With one last breath, Ezekiel collapsed to his right side, holding himself tightly as he continued to cry away the mental pain resting in his mind. His eyes, blurred from the tears, looked at the clock in front of him before coming to a close, his ears now the only thing paying attention to the sound of a ticking clock.
As he sat alone in his tower, with broken machinery and tears dropped to the floor, he whispered to himself.
"What do I do…?"
With the party bound to start any time now, Flaky was frantically running around her house setting up the remaining pieces of decoration and festive items for the event. Her face showed a worried expression as her heart started to beat out of her chest, the adrenaline and fear to make sure her first time hosting was pitch perfect the first try.
She went back and forth between the kitchen and the living room, where most of the party was intended to be held. She had tables arranged for seating, food and a spot for the guests to drop off their gifts in time to open and share. Flaky had everything planned from start to finish. Now all there was to worry about was executing it correctly.
Her usual social anxiety and paranoia that plagued her earlier years wasn't helping.
Flaky grabbed a few pieces of decoration, and rushed to the walls to start placing the final touches to spruce up the room. She, however, spoke to herself in a rapid and worried manner, trying to calm herself down.
"Oh, I should have started this hours ago! They're going to show up any minute now and I'M not even ready! They're going to think the place looks awful, the decorations are stupid, I look horrendous, and-"
"Need help with that?"
Flaky stood in shock as she made a silent gasp, her hands completely filled with the wall decorations. But then she placed a shy and happy smile as she turned around to see a familiar face enter through her front door.
"Oh, hi, Flippy! You're here early."
Flippy chuckled as he laid a small bag by the door and brush the back of his head, his face turning a tad red. "Well, I did say I would be the first to show up, and here I am."
Flaky kept her smile as she nodded her head. "Well I'm glad you did… especially in this… situation here."
"You started a little too late to set up the decorations, huh?"
Flaky blushed as she turned around instantly to return back and place the final wall decorations. "Hey, I've been very busy getting everything together! As the host, I have to make sure everything's perfect, and it isn't easy when you have to do it alone."
Flippy smiled as he walked behind Flaky, placing his right hand within the clump of decorations in Flaky's hands. "Well, now that I'm here, you won't have to work alone now."
Flaky smiled as she faced Flippy, brushing her hair aside while embarrassingly shaking out a few flakes of dandruff. She could feel her cheeks blushing, and noticed Flippy snickering as he watched her. To avoid looking embarrassed, and to keep up with the schedule, she grabbed a handful of the decorations in her hands and placed them in Flippy's open right hand.
"Y-Yeah, that's right! Now… u-umm, just start placing the decorations where space is available. Cover as much as you can, but keep it even and… stuff, yeah."
Flippy shook his head as he kept his grin on his face. "Yes ma'am, you're the boss."
As time passed, Flippy and Flaky easily cooperated together to place the final decorations all around, as well as setting up the furniture and tables to provide optimal space for the large number of expected guests. Flippy used the back of his left jacket sleeve to wipe off the small droplets of sweat from his forehead, stretching his back after moving the heavy pieces of furniture.
"That… that should do it now, right?"
Flaky took one last peek around the room, using her index finger to point out every part of the room. After a close observation, she smiled and nodded her head. "Yep, that should do it! And I think we still got a few minutes to spare."
Flippy let out a tired sigh as he continued to stretched his aching bones. "Oh good; I can use a good few minutes of relaxing."
Flaky looked over at Flippy and crossed her arms in front of her chest, giving a stern look at Flippy. "Now hold on; there is still one more thing you haven't done yet."
A confused expression appeared on Flippy's face. "And what is that?"
In an instant, Flaky pointed her left index finger to an empty table, showing little significance by appearance. It only took Flippy a second, though, to realize what its purpose was for.
Flippy snapped her fingers and nodded his head quickly. "Oh yeah!" He got to his feet and marched over to the bag he left by the door, and carefully pulled out a small box, wrapped in a colorful decorative paper and a red tie attached, as well as a small tag attached to it. "I have it right here."
Flaky looked at the box curiously and with envy, trying to get a clear view of the name on the tag from her spot though could not make it out as Flippy held it close to him.
Though knowing it was wrong to ask who the gift was addressed to, Flaky couldn't help but question Flippy. "So… who's it for?"
Flippy shook his head as he placed the small box on the table. "Can't tell you. Don't want you spoiling the surprise to the person that will get this amazing gift here."
Flaky blushed a little, wondering what the gift was inside the box… and wishing it to be hers. As she stood still with her hands lowered in front of her, Flippy turned with a smile on his face and spoke calmly. "So you think this will be a great Christmas party?"
Flaky looked away for a moment, trying to find the words to respond to Flippy's question. "Well… I hope so. I want it to be good, but I don't-"
Flippy's small laugh cut off Flaky's answer. He walked over to her slowly as he spoke out. "Flaky, I'm sure it's going to be great. People are going to have fun, the place looks festive and fantastic, and you're completely fine and beautiful. It'll be fun, Flaky. Just stay calm and collect, and you'll be an amazing host. Besides…"
Flippy wrapped his arms around her, holding her tightly by surprise. "It's Christmas. It's the time to be happy and celebrate. We'll all have fun with smiles on our faces in the end, you'll see."
Flaky smiled widely as she wrapped her arms around Flippy, holding him gently as she held back a happy tear. "Thanks, Flippy… Merry Christmas."
"Merry Christmas, Flaky."
As the two held each other briefly, they were suddenly interrupted by a knock at the door. They broke their close hug, both blushing after knowing what they were doing. A second wave of knocks was heard at the door again, this time more rapid. Knowing it was possibly party guests, Flaky ran to the door excitedly, Flippy standing in place as he kept a smile on his face.
Opening the door, Flaky saw two figures: one an athletic looking blond, and standing next to him while wrapped in his right arm was a smiling woman with long pink hair.
Flaky smiled as she gave room for the two to enter. "Cuddles! Giggles! Glad you two could make it!"
As the three all said 'Merry Christmas' and conversed, Flippy stood back away from the crowd, and marched into the kitchen alone. As he secluded himself away from Flaky and the others, he pulled out his phone from his right BDU pants pocket, opening his contact list in an instant.
"Better say it to the guy before I forget. He deserves to at least hear it from someone on this day."
Scrolling down the names under his contact list, he found Ezekiel's name just near the bottom of the list. Nodding his head, he tapped the name and placed the phone next to his ear, hearing the dialing sound of a phone going through his speakers.
As he stood still in the kitchen, his face gave a concerned expression as he heard the phone stay on a dialing tone. For anyone else, this would not be a bother. But for over the five years he has known Ezekiel, he has never once avoid picking up the phone. In fact, hearing the second dial tone was a rarity.
His concern would turn into worry as the final dial tone came on, and the recorded message played on the speaker.
"I'm sorry, Flippy, but I can't reach the phone right now. This could possibly be due to an emergency protocol in the system that I just have to handle now, or perhaps the signal's busted or something and I need to fix it. Just leave a message and I'll get back to you as soon as I can!"
This was the first time he ever heard the message, and, for some reason, Flippy felt a terrible thought flow through his mind. Something must have happened to make him avoid picking up the phone, and whatever it was, it had to be serious.
Flippy ended the call on his phone and placed it back in his pocket, turning around to see Flaky speaking to more guests entering her home. Starting to breathe at a faster pace out of worry, he nodded his head as he made up his decision.
His heart beating faster as he kept the thought of Ezekiel and whatever situation was going on, he marched up to Flaky and rudely interrupted her conversation with a tall blue-haired man, who had an off appearance on his face.
"Hey, Flaky, I need to speak to you."
Flaky turned around swiftly to see Flippy, having a tad unsatisfied look on her face. She turned back to the tall man before her. "Can you excuse me, Lumpy?" She received an "hmm, hmm" and a nod as an answer.
As Lumpy walked off to the others, Flaky spun around to face Flippy with a slightly irritated expression. "What is it, Flippy?"
Flippy rubbed the back of his head while nodding his head. "I, uh, left another gift back at my house that I completely forgot to bring, and I want to get it before we start sharing the gifts. I'll be back real quick, I promise!"
A disappointed look appearing on her face, Flaky sighed and shook her head. "Just be quick, Flippy. I don't want to tie up everyone."
Nodding his head with a smile, Flippy weaved through the crowd and rushed out of the front door. As his feet crunched through the thick white snow, he found his old green truck parked by the side of the road with the rest of everyone's parked vehicles.
He quickly ran for the driver's seat and hopped in, instantly starting the ignition, placing on his seatbelt, and brought himself onto the road at a speed noticeably above the speed limit.
As he drove down the road, he looked up to see the tall tree in the center of town, keeping one thing on his mind.
"Ezekiel, you better be okay up there…"
The clock never stopped ticking as Ezekiel kept his eyes on the counter. Leaning forward on his seat and resting his arms on the desk, he could never spend a waking moment looking away from the remaining time he had before everyone's ultimate demise.
He stared blankly at the screen, watching the clock tick away every second to the 0 mark.
00:30:25
00:30:24
00:30:23
Ezekiel quenched his fists tightly, sobbing quietly as he watched the remaining minutes given to him to choose whose life is more important tick away. Every second his mind went back and forth on a question that should have been given a straight answer from the start. It should have been completely simple for a man like him.
But it wasn't.
As tears dropped onto the desk beneath him, he opened his right fist slightly to reveal the small red quill resting in his palm. It was miniscule in size compared to his normal sized human hands, but still laid nicely against him.
He looked at it carefully and deeply, more tears rolling out of his eyes as the small object he kept reminded him of her, and all the events that happened up to this point. Every day, every second, every moment that occurred, he was reminded of in clear detail. Flaky's lone quill reminded him of everything.
Including the most important memory of all…
His promise.
"30 minutes to Failsafe activation."
The sound of the computer's built-in voice made Ezekiel snap his neck upward to see the clock now beginning to tick away the last half-hour of their lives. Time was running out, and a choice had to be made.
After a few solitary moments of thought, Ezekiel closed his eyes and gently placed the red quill aside on the desk, just away from his reach. He formed his hands into tight fists of rage and emotion, with a few more tears dripping from his eyes.
Ezekiel then reached his right hand out to the keyboard, gently pointing out his index finger to reach the top end of the keyboard. His hand was trembling violently and his heart pounding rapidly as he slowly reached for the button, prepared to make the choice.
His hand hovered over the number. He took in one deep breath and-
"Ezekiel! Hey man, you up here?"
Ezekiel's eyes opened widely from the sound of Flippy's voice in the other room. His heart almost came to a halt as he slowly tilted his head around to look behind him.
He suddenly caught full view of Flippy, opening the double doors and walking inside. Flippy sighed with relieve as he placed his hands by his sides.
"Oh there you are, man. I was worried about you, maybe something happened. I tried calling you but you never picked up, which is really unusual of you to do that. So I just came here to see if you…"
Flippy paused and looked up with a confused look, his eyes gazing at the clock on the large screen in front of Ezekiel. His mouth dropped a little as he tried to comprehend what his eyes were seeing before him.
With his curiosity reaching its peak, Flippy pointed his finger at the screen. "Ezekiel, what does that clock mean? Why is it counting down?"
Ezekiel immediately brought his hand away from the keyboard after hearing Flippy's question. He could feel sweat rolling down the side of his head, frantically thinking what to say.
He swiftly stood up onto his feet, and forced a smile on his face. "Oh, it's nothing Flippy."
Flippy shook his head. "It sure as hell doesn't look like nothing to me, Ezekiel. What's that clock counting down to."
Ezekiel swallowed his throat silently and spoke as calmly as he could. "Well, there's just a minor inconvenience that has occurred and I'm just working on fixing it right now."
Ezekiel's answer only made Flippy become more curious. "Inconvenience? What kind of inconvenience?"
"Flippy, it is okay. I've got it under control."
"That doesn't answer my question. What has happened? Just tell me."
"I said it is okay. You don't have to worry about it."
"I'm not worried, I just want to know what's going on."
Ezekiel walked forward, reaching his hand out to Flippy. "Well there is no need for that. Now just go back to Flaky's and I'll-"
Flippy pushed aside Ezekiel's stretched out hand angrily, giving a stern look at him. "Seriously, what is going on?! I want to know!" He leaned over to the side, getting a view of the smaller computer screen behind Ezekiel. "Does it have something to do with that computer there?"
Ezekiel shook his head as he tried to push Flippy away. "Just go back, Flippy. I don't want-"
Flippy forcefully pushed Ezekiel to the side, and marched forward to the computer. "No, I want to see what the problem is. If it is not a big deal, than you wouldn't have a problem with me taking a look. So what is the… deal… here…?"
Unable to speak any further, Flippy observed the computer screen in shock and confusion. Before him simply laid two selectable options, as well as a smaller version of the same clock above him.
Flippy stared at the screen blankly for a few seconds, analyzing it and trying to make any sense of it on his end. After taking some time to think, he spoke to Ezekiel while still keeping his eyes on the screen.
"Ezekiel… what is this? What does this mean? I don't understand what's going on here."
Ezekiel sighed, lowering his head as he did not want to break the news to him in person. There was no easy possible explanation to tell Flippy… which means he had only one way to tell him.
"Flippy… something… something terrible has happened."
Flippy instantly turned around to face Ezekiel, a tad expression of fear on his face. "What?! What has happened?!"
Ezekiel walked up to Flippy slowly, taking small steps while approaching him. "Flippy… yesterday, just after you left… the computer found it. The file. The one file that contained the key to freedom… our freedom. And with this here… that choice of freedom is available to us. The chance to return home… is just a button press away."
Flippy smiled while shaking his head a little, his mind both enthusiastic and confused. "Seriously?! W-We are going home?! Tonight?! This is unbelievable! Ezekiel… how is that bad in any way? And if you found this out yesterday, why didn't you just set us free?! We should be home right now!"
Ezekiel placed both his hands up in front of him, trying to calm down Flippy's eagerness. "I know, and I would have done it if it where that easy. But… something else has come up… something that… won't be easy to fix."
Flippy tilted his head in confusion. "What can seriously be holding you back right now to stop us from getting home?"
Ezekiel stared at Flippy for a moment, then spoke softly. "Flippy… he planned this… all of it, from the very beginning. From the beginning of the fight, all the way up to this very moment, he planned it all."
Flippy shook his head, becoming dumbfounded by Ezekiel's every sequential response. "Who? The Mad Man? What do you mean he planned this? We killed that bastard years ago."
Ezekiel shook his head. "No, we didn't. It was a setup for just a fun sadistic way for him to exit the world. He was prepared to lose and leave us behind. He's as alive as ever outside, leaving us here to rot away in this world."
Flippy placed his right hand on his forehead. "Well no shit… wait a minute, how does this fact prevent you from getting us home? In fact, how did you find this out?"
Ezekiel nodded his head as he looked at the large screen. "Before I opened up the file, a video played… a video of the Mad Man, who made it during the time we were on the ground fighting our way to the tower, and addressed it to me. He wanted to lose and knew how to let it happened, so he left the video detailing everything to me, including setting up this very situation. That's how I know."
Flippy looked down in shock. "Damn, that's… that's something right there… but, what do you mean he set up this situation? What exactly did he do?"
Ezekiel was silent, taking in deep breaths before speaking out in a depressed tone. "Flippy… the reason why I could not make the choice instantly is… is because not all of us are going to be able to return home. Someone… has to stay."
Flippy dropped his jaw, baffled by the answer. "What do you mean someone has to stay?! Why does that have to happen?"
"Upon opening the video, a virus was released into the world. Right now, all of our pods are completely sealed tight, no way of escape… and… just under thirty minutes from now… when the clock strikes zero… anyone still inside this world… will die."
Flippy's heart was beating faster the more he knew the details of situation, and the more he regretted showing up to Ezekiel. He was shaking his head violently, horrified by the tragic truth of their situation. "Dear God… we're going to die if we stay here… but, why does someone have to stay behind in order to leave?"
Ezekiel sighed as he looked down. "Because, as evil as he was, the Mad Man left me a choice. Either I stay and you and the others leave, or I leave and you all stay. Either me or you must stay behind in order for the other to leave. If a choice is not made in time, we will all die. It is that simple…"
Flippy stood in absolute horror, his mind sent into a state of shock and his heart bursting out of his chest. He looked over at the smaller computer, watching how their lives were all about to come to an end. One second, they will stand tall and alive with smiles on their faces. The next, dead on the floor in a blink of an eye. And no matter what could be done, someone had to die in order to save the other.
Flippy placed his hands on the desk before the computer, and closed his eyes as he let out a depressed and horrified sigh. "This… this is awful. Not all of us are going home… someone has to stay and… and… wait…"
Slowly, Flippy dropped the scared expression on his face, and dawned a rather confused and curious one. Without looking at Ezekiel, he spoke in a worried tone. "Hey, Ezekiel. You… you said you found this out yesterday, right?"
Ezekiel nodded his head. "Yes, Flippy, just about 24 hours ago."
Flippy nodded his head in acknowledgement. "Okay… and you were up here all this time… right?"
Ezekiel was getting confused by Flippy's questions… and also worried. "Yes, I did not leave this room since I saw this timer on screen."
"So… all of this time… instead of making a direct answer on the spot… you spent your time… thinking… if you should go, or if we should go?"
True to Flippy's worst fears, Ezekiel failed to answer his last question. He stared blankly at the screen, swallowing his throat as he nodded his head again. "Ezekiel… I saw your hand… over this keyboard… you were going to choose who was worth living, weren't you…?"
Once again, Ezekiel failed to answer Flippy's question. Flippy stood up tall, still keeping his eyes on the computer, and spoke in a serious instead of worried tone. "Ezekiel… I… I want to know…"
Flippy turned his head sharply, facing Ezekiel, who had a depressed expression, his eyes showing worry and pain. Flippy took in a deep breath, and spoke at him directly.
"What… what were you going to choose?"
Ezekiel stared into Flippy's worried eyes, and took a tiny step back, ignoring Flippy's question all together. Flippy, who was turning his hands into a fist, gritted his teeth and spoke in a darker tone.
"Ezekiel, answer me. What were you going to choose? Who were you going to choose to die here? WHO?!"
Ezekiel stared at his one and only friend, giving him a look he did not want to see as his last. With a deep inhale of air, and tightening up his body, Ezekiel nodded his head.
"Flippy… I'm sorr-"
"YOU FUCKING TRAITOR!"
Before Ezekiel could make a rebuttal, Flippy lunged his right fist towards him. He dodged to the right, barely evading the killing blow of Flippy's strength. He then ducked and hopped back as Flippy repeatedly swung blow after blow in a fit of rage, knowing now his one friend was going to leave him for dead.
As Ezekiel walked backwards while Flippy ran forward to attack, he placed his hands up in a surrender pose. "Flippy, listen, I'm-"
"SHUT UP!"
Before Ezekiel could move out of the way, Flippy swung his lift fist to hit Ezekiel's gut, making him cringe in pain. Flippy proceeded to use his right fist perform an uppercut, hitting Ezekiel's face dead center and making him drop to the floor, his nose now broken and bleeding.
As Ezekiel wiped his face to remove the dripping blood, Flippy hopped onto him and placed a tight grip around his neck, slowly choking the life out of him.
"How can you do this to us, Ezekiel?! I trusted you! We all trusted you to save us! And you were about to just leave us to die, after all this time?! JUST LIKE THAT?!"
Instead of answering with words, Ezekiel used his knees to kick Flippy off him, getting his tight grip to be removed from his neck and received a large sum of needed oxygen. He rolled to the right and got to his feet in an instant, just in time to dodge a rapid fire of punches from Flippy.
Ezekiel brought his arms up, using them to deflect Flippy's attacks while doing his best to avoid harming his friend.
"Flippy, I'm sorry, I really am. I didn't want this to happen!"
Flippy, getting angered hearing Ezekiel respond to him, yelled back at him, his rage-filled tone sending shivers down Ezekiel's spine as he violently attacked Ezekiel.
"And you think WE DID?! You think WE wanted this shit to happen to us?! This captivity, this torture, this madness, all of it?! NO! We never asked for this to happen, and we're not about to ask for it now!"
As Flippy continued to vent his rage on Ezekiel, Ezekiel felt himself losing energy of trying to fight against Flippy's superior strength and stamina. Seeing how he was going to falter any second, Ezekiel bailed and used his ATC, quickly making himself teleport to the other side of the room.
Flippy spun around, and charge forward at Ezekiel. "Oh, so now you're going to cower by using your fancy tool that we practically gave you. You son of a bitch, you were always a cheating coward, weren't you?!"
Ezekiel shook his head rapidity as he spoke in a frantic pace. "That's not true! I do care for you guys!"
"BULLSHIT!"
Flippy lunged forward at Ezekiel, who jumped to the side and almost tripped on his feet. Flippy rolled across the floor and got to his feet, quickly making a dash towards Ezekiel with his hands in a tight fist.
Ezekiel once again brought his arms up in an attempt to block Flippy's attacks, deflecting some but now all, and the hits he failed to hit causing massive damage to his body.
"Flippy, this isn't easy for me! All I ever wanted was to go home, not all of this insanity with a virtual world and shit. I have no choice!"
As Ezekiel attempted to block one last blow from Flippy, he failed to evade the counter-attack, Flippy hitting Ezekiel's left side with his fist, and swiftly forming a chokehold around his neck when he was injured.
Flippy kept his grip tight around Ezekiel, and could hear the bones in his neck move the tighter his grip got. He brought his face up to Ezekiel's, and yelled angrily at him.
"No! WE don't have a choice! We NEVER had a choice in what to do! We were always forced to live here in a false reality, to live everyday in the bodies of something we aren't, to never have a say in what we want to do! For our entire lives we were always being controlled, watched over by someone and never given true freedom. Everything done was nothing more than a lie controlled by a god, and we could do nothing about it!"
Flippy threw Ezekiel on the metal floor hard, continuing to yell loudly at him. "But YOU did! YOU had the ability to choose! You were never forced to follow the rules or listen to some maniac. You could do what you pleased! You could do something about all of this! You could fix everything and help us! And you can certainly do something NOW!"
As Ezekiel slowly pushed himself up on his hands and knees, Flippy looked at his friend with sorrow, his eyes slowly dropping a few tears that rolled down his cheeks. He took in multiple deep breaths as he stood tall over the man he considered their savior.
"Ezekiel… I… all of us, trusted you with this. We looked at you as someone important, who could make a difference on our behalf. You had the ability to change things, to end this for us, something we could never do on our own. You were a hero to us, Ezekiel, a man that we never expected would come and save us."
Flippy walked around Ezekiel and stood in front of him, watching Ezekiel look up with the same saddened face that was covered with multiple spots of blood. Ezekiel pushed himself up to his feet, taking a few step back away from Flippy, who only stared coldly into the eyes of Ezekiel.
"And… and you promised me. You promised me that… that if something ever happened, no matter what… you would save us. You would do anything to set us free, after all of this time in captivity. You promised me… you promised them… you promised Flaky… doesn't that matter to you? Doesn't a promise like that matter to you… don't I matter?"
Ezekiel looked away from Flippy, closing his eyes as he faced his head down to the floor beneath him. He stayed silent as he tried to hold back the guilty tears building up in his eyes. He really was, at this time, planning to break his promise to his friend and everyone he worked alongside to set free.
But worse of all to him, he was going to break his promise with Flaky.
He shook his head, and spoke softly under his tired breath.
"Flippy… I'm sorry it had to come to this. I didn't want this to happen, to you, to Flaky… to anyone. I-"
In an instant, Ezekiel looked up and noticed Flippy quickly reaching into his coat and pulling out his signature knife, clean and sharp, ready to slice open any victim it met with. Ezekiel raised his hands in the air, shaking violently in fear as Flippy marched slowly towards him, the knife raised and pointed forward at Ezekiel's neck.
"You… you are a traitor… a cheater… a liar… a fucking selfish coward. We worked by you every step of the way, got you up here, and now you decide just to leave us all behind, after all we have been through together?! Ezekiel… you're not a hero. You are just like that sadistic son of a bitch that we took down together. You only cared about yourself, and made us a secondary objective on the way. We meant nothing to you, you selfish bag of shit, and you deserve to rot in Hell like the monster you are."
Ezekiel tried to speak, but could not find the words to say. He shook his hands and head as Flippy got closer to him, his knife still raised and ready to kill him. As the tip of the cold steel blade touched the neck of Ezekiel, Flippy shook his head while speaking calmly.
"But I'm not like you, not anymore. I'm better than you. I think what's best for others, and watch out for them now. I am not the same type of selfish monster you are, and I will not make myself that way."
Flippy turned his head around, and noticed the computer was still active and ready to choose. He nodded his head, and made a fast march over to the computer, raising his knife high in the air while making a tight grasp around the handle.
"So if we are not worth saving, if WE are useless to you, that WE don't deserve to be set free, than NO ONE is leaving!"
Ezekiel's eyes widened in fear as Flippy ran for the computer, ready to strike at machine and ruin the chance for anyone's possible freedom. He reached his left arm out and cried loudly.
"NO!"
In a flash of light, Ezekiel teleported from the opposite end of the room to directly in front of the computer. As Ezekiel came out of the flash of light, he looked up sharply to see Flippy's knife heading straight towards him, his skull blocking his path.
With quick reflexes, Ezekiel brought his left hand up to grab onto Flippy's wrist, halting his attack mid-way. Flippy struggled in Ezekiel's grasp, trying to break free from the hold and destroy the computer in front of him.
His eyes widened in shock the unexpected happened to him. Unable to react in time, Ezekiel moved out of the way and brought his other hand to meet the backend of the handle on the knife. Ezekiel pushed forward hard, with the sharp end of the knife heading for Flippy's stomach.
And just like that, there was the sound of skin being shred open, and flesh being punctured deeply.
Ezekiel blinked slowly as he stared at Flippy, who was blankly staring back without any movement. Flippy then took a few small steps back, still staring blankly at Ezekiel while his right hand rested over his stomach.
Flippy blinked once, and slowly looked down to see that his knife was inserted deep into the flesh of his stomach, blood pouring out in a large waterfall, dropping to the floor and forming a small puddle. He gagged at the sight, blood starting to drip from his mouth.
He helplessly brought his hands to the black handle, and tried all he could to pull it out. But the pain was too severe, and his strength was weakening by the second. He coughed a few times, blood still spitting out of his mouth.
Suddenly, Flippy lost all of his strength, the loss of blood too much for him to handle. He collapsed to his knees, the knife wobbling in the center of his stomach. His eyes continued to look at the tragic sight of how his death was to become. His own blade killing him slowly, with his one friend being the killer.
Ezekiel watched in horror as Flippy sat on his knees, bleeding out fast as the pool of blood underneath him covered the floor. He gasped as Flippy, with all of his might, lifted his head up slowly, his eyes barely opened as his face began to turn white.
He smiled slightly, coughing a bit before he spoke softly.
"I… hope you find happiness out there, Ezekiel… God knows we never could have it."
Flippy, with one last breath, fell to his right side, and was dead before his body even hit the pool of crimson blood beneath him.
Ezekiel took one close look at Flippy, and shook his head at the sight as he stood in horror.
He killed his friend.
"No… no… no, God please-"
"15 minutes to Failsafe activation."
Ezekiel jolted his head behind him and saw the clock had just reached the 15 minute mark, the world now on the brink of destruction and everyone who still remains to die with it.
There was no time left.
A choice had to be made.
And in the mind of Ezekiel,
There was only one choice he could make.
He took a glance at Flippy's dead body one last time, and shed a lone tear from his right eye. He turned around and faced the computer, looking at the keyboard with no emotion on his face.
Ezekiel reached his right index finger out, hovering over the number on the keyboard.
He pressed the button.
And a flash of light was made.