Gamers - Amazon (15 page)
The effort and the lack of air were getting to Gabby. Black spots started forming at the edge of her vision. Her arms shook with exhaustion, but she kept swinging.
Her dizziness was affecting the neural shaping calculations and her Two Moon Sweeps were less effective. Avony seemed to be doing even worse on her side. Gabby had to help her to her feet more than once.
Gabby sensed the whole group beginning to fall apart. Unthar waved his sword around drunkenly, hardly killing any wraiths now. Avony's kicks barely came above her knees and Stephan's blasts sputtered.
The wraiths sensed their weakness and rolled in at double their previous speeds.
"Come on!" she yelled. "Only to the end of the tunnel! Then we'll be out."
When Avony gave her a questioning stare, Gabby offered a nod and a smile. Gabby didn't know if the end was soon, but she had to give them hope so they could keep going.
The group tightened their moving assault and snapped out of their stupor. The wraiths continued their frenzied assault as if they thought their prey just might escape. It seemed every ounce of oxygen was being sucked from the room.
Slicing a wraith into silk ribbons, a shout erupted behind her. They'd broken through the wraiths.
The team sheathed their weapons, tired from the constant swinging, and sprinted away from the wraith horde. The air tasted clearer immediately and its freshness gave Gabby new energy.
When Avony, who'd not yet recovered from her previous bout with the wraiths, tripped over an upthrust rock, Gabby helped her to her feet.
Avony muttered, "Thanks."
Their legs weren't as tired as their arms, except for Avony, so they ran for as long as they could. When Avony grew tired, Gabby gave her a shoulder to lean on.
Cutting through a chamber filled with stalactites, they stumbled upon a body in light chain facing the floor in a stretched pose.
Stephan rolled the boy over with his foot.
"That's Jacob," he said.
Gabby knew the boy, but not well. Since they didn’t compete against the boys, they didn't bother to get to know them unless they were dating material. Jacob had a hook nose and always wore the digital fashions three months old.
Avony got down on her knees and put her face over his mouth.
"I don't think he's breathing," she said.
Gabby poked the boy's body with her foot. It was like pushing on a bag of flour.
"Is he really dead?" asked Mouse.
Unthar surprised them all by laughing. "It's just a game. You all are such fools."
Avony shook the body. "I'm not sure. He feels dead to me."
"They probably brought in a corpse from the morgue and put the Jacob skin on it to freak us out," he said. "I've seen much worse in a horror immersion."
Gabby shuddered. Horror immersions were sick games that upped the gore factor to realistic and disgusting levels.
"Maybe," Avony said, clearly unconvinced.
Gabby didn't like hanging around the body, and Unthar's ghoulish grin as he pushed on the body with his foot bothered her.
"We should get moving, the wraiths could still be pretty close. We're not that far away yet," said Gabby.
The others nodded and then continued their journey, each of them visibly affected by Jacob's body. Except for Unthar, who had resumed his aloof demeanor.
Chapter Eighteen
As the team came to splits in the tunnel, Stephan led them left and right, claiming he could sense direction within the game. None of the others had the strength to argue, so they followed his lead.
After about two hours of traveling, they entered a massive cavern. Sensing Avony's complete exhaustion, Gabby called for a break. Plus, she didn't want to chance any new encounters while they were tired.
They camped in the tunnel and rested. While they waited, Gabby caught Avony studying her.
Gabby was used to the proud eyes, high chin, and general look of self-importance that always was forefront in Avony's demeanor. What she assumed was doubt crept across her former friend's face.
"I need to stretch my legs," Avony announced. "Gabby, can you come with me?"
When Gabby hesitated, Avony continued. "Strength in numbers. My legs are still too tired to defend myself."
"Sure," the words stumbled out of Gabby's mouth, incredulous at Avony's sudden change. "I could use some stretching myself."
They walked back up the tunnel, doing idle stretches along the way, clearing the acid from their muscles.
When they were a little ways away, Avony checked the tunnel as if she was worried they were being followed.
Then she moved up close to Gabby. Too close by Gabby's personal space standards. When Avony reached out to take her hand, Gabby had to restrain the urge to flinch.
"Avony?"
Avony massaged her hand. Gabby wasn't sure what to make of it.
"Gabs," she said. "I just wanted to say thank you for helping me back there when were escaping the wraiths."
"Um. Sure," Gabby said.
Avony continued to massage her hand, glancing up furtively. Gabby wondered if Avony was working up the nerve to kiss her, which didn't make sense at all.
"I really thought we were going to die," Avony said. "Knowing that we'd both lose LifeGame and never see each other again, made me realize how much I missed you."
Gabby choked on her words. What was going on? It'd been years since they'd been best friends. Was this a trick or was she telling the truth?
When Avony placed her hand on Gabby's shoulder, she was sure a kiss was coming next. It wouldn't gross her out or anything, but Avony wasn't her type. Her thoughts flitted back to Michael and his ice-chip blue eyes.
As her archenemy moved closer, Gabby realized Avony was squeezing her hand to get her attention. Gabby glanced down to see a program marker concealed within her grip. Gabby only had to take it and squeeze the marker to activate the program.
Avony seemed to be indicating for her to take it. She really wasn't sure if it was a trick or not. And she didn't know how Avony had smuggled the program into the game. LifeGame was supposed to be pretty exploit-proof during raids.
Was she trying to get her disqualified? But something in Avony's face, told her that she should take it. Plus, their noses were millimeters apart. They were going to have to kiss if they played it out any longer.
Gabby squeezed the program. A chill trickled across her body like she'd been dipped in mint.
Avony smiled and ran her fingers through Gabby's hair and pulled her into a hug.
"I missed you, Gabs," said Avony.
"I...," Gabby hesitated, still wondering what the program had done. "Miss you too."
Gabby wasn't sure how to answer until she realized an interface had formed in her vision, similar to a mind-text program
The two girls were still locked in a hug, so Gabby broke free, and started walking back toward the others hand in hand with Avony.
said Avony.
Avony leaned her head on Gabby's shoulder as they strolled.
Gabby remembered then that Avony's parents were programmers for LifeGame. Not a Coder like Mr. Johnson, but low-level functionaries that did the grunt programming.
Gabby gave her a questioning glance, so Avony continued.
They were nearing the others, so Gabby stopped.
"Let's do some stretches. It's a wider area," Gabby said.
Avony took her lead, and the two sat on the floor and started with a runner's stretch.
Avony broke into the splits, bending her head to her knee.
Now Avony's previous actions made sense to Gabby. She'd thought she had insider information.
said Avony.
Gabby nodded.
Gabby didn't have to think long.
Gabby knew what she was going to say next so she finished it for her.
Avony stared down the tunnel.
Avony adjusted into a hurdlers stretch and began making grunting noises as she put her face to her knee. Gabby matched her.
Gabby let out an aggravated grimace. She hoped the stretching would hide her disgust.
Avony gave her an eye roll which she interpreted as "don't be so dramatic."
Avony shook off the words, her eyes hardening.
Gabby could sense the resentment so she let it drop.
Gabby pulled out of her stretch, unable to concentrate on it. Her chest felt tight.
said Avony.
Avony shrugged.
Gabby thought about all she had learned with the Frags. She couldn't dare tell Avony about them, in case she double-crossed her, but she could pass along what she knew about the wall.
Gabby explained what she had seen on her FunCar ride. Leaving out the details about the Frags, making it sound like her trip was a solo one. She even told Avony about the two bodies she'd found in the tent.
Avony was silent for another long period before she spoke again.
Gabby met Avony's gaze.
Avony nodded.
The mind-text came back so fast, Gabby could feel the weight of it.
Avony had tears forming at the corner of her eyes. Gabby nodded, and the two got up and returned to the others.
Chapter Nineteen
"Is girl time over?" Stephan smirked when they returned as he perched on a rock shelf. "Sorry again, Mouse."
Mouse glared at Stephan, resplendent in his blue robe. While the others were haggard and smudged with dirt, Stephan didn't have a speck on him.
Stephan threw Gabby a pouch. It sloshed with liquid.
"Water," he said. "Good and probably fresh from the school water fountain."
"Where'd you find it?" Gabby asked as she unstoppered the pouch.
Stephan pulled brown rods from his waist pocket and threw them to the girls. "Jerky, too," he said. "Unfortunately, they debuffed the taste. Only a rank above stick in my opinion."
