S.W. Tanpepper's GAMELAND: Season Two Omnibus (Episodes 9-11) (8 page)

“No.”

“Stoned?”

His eyes flicked to her backpack. “I figured you wouldn't mind.”

“Mind what?”

“I helped myself to a couple of your Zoners.”

Jessie frowned. “What are you talking about? I don't have any—”

She whirled away from him and thrust her hand into her bag and scooped the contents out again. Buried in the middle of everything was a small baggie of little pink pills. “That bitch!” she sputtered. “These aren't mine, Reggie.”

She watched him stumbled to the couch and sit back down. He didn't speak for a long time, just stared off into space in front of him. Finally, he raised his hand and banged his fist against his temple, as if trying to dislodge something. “What time is it?” he asked again.

“It's after seven-thirty, and we're going to be late for school.”

He took in a deep breath and let it out. “It's the strangest thing, I connected last night to try and get to Jayne's Hill. Everything was going fine, no other Players around. Tons of IUs, but they weren't bothering me. It was kind of boring, so when I saw the Zoners, I took a couple. Washed ‘em down with some Red Bull.” His eyes flicked over to her. “Next thing I know, the sun is out and I'm standing underneath the bridge over on Yale Drive.”

“Wait.
Our
Yale Drive?
Here?
”

“Yeah. For just a second, I had this sense that I was inside my Player, like it was here.
Physically
here. Then it was gone and it was just me there, Jess, underneath the bridge.”

He
is
stoned.

“How many of these did you take?”

“Just a couple. But that was last night. I'm not zoning now, Jess.”

“So, how do you explain the muddy socks then?”

He looked down with a start. “What the— ?” His feet were sloppy with mud past his ankles. He wiggled his toes. “What the hell?”

“You honestly don't remember leaving here? You need to lay off the pills.”

“I'm not stoned, Jess!” He sat down and began peeling the ruined socks off his feet.

“Bleach is never going to make those white again.”

Reggie grunted and tossed them out the door into the sunlight. His feet were pale and pruny.

“And you really need to clip your toenails. That's totally disgusting.”

He leaned back against the couch and closed his eyes, and the two sat like that for another hour before either of them spoke again.

“Jess?” he finally said, looking over. “Do you ever feel like you're losing your mind?”

‡ ‡ ‡

Kelly exited from the eastern entrance of the main school building and surveyed the exodus of tech-track students below him. He stood in the narrow band of shade against the wall, and it was only when he was certain Jessie wasn't among them that he stepped out.

A trio of younger boys — freshmen, probably, or maybe sophomores — cut him off on the stairs in their rush to leave the building. They shoved a girl out of the way, and she shouted indignantly at their backs, but they were laughing and jabbering on about something that had happened over the weekend and took no notice. Kelly waited for them to pass, then made his own way toward the street.

The tablet in his backpack was full of his college-track homework assignments. The straps cut into the sore muscle under his arms. The wound on his side had been especially deep and it still harbored a bit of an infection. The antibiotic pills in his pocket rattled quietly as he walked.

It was only the third week of classes and he was already way behind in his schoolwork. Between helping out with Kyle's slow recovery from surgery and babysitting Reggie with the gear, he'd barely had any time for himself, much less for Jessie. In fact, they'd only spent one full night together at her place since they got married.

Their
place. It's your home now.

Except it didn't feel like home at all to him.

He felt his Link vibrating in his pocket and he drew it out. Seeing who it was only heightened his unease.

“Yes?” he said, perhaps a bit more sharply than he'd intended.

“Just checking in. Is everything all right, honey?”

Kelly nodded. “Yes. I'm on my way home now.”

“Good.”

He swallowed, and his throat made a clicking sound. “I'm not sure I can keep doing this.”

His heart thudded in his chest as he waited for her to respond. His temples throbbed from the force of it and it was making him dizzy.

“What's the problem?”

He leaned in the shade against a tree, grateful for the respite from the glare of the afternoon sun. A car slowly passed him. He looked over and it suddenly sped up and turned a corner. A child was looking out the back window.

“I've done what you said,” he spoke. “I want to be told the truth now. Everything. I think I deserve that much.”

“You already know more than you should. Knowledge is a liability right now. You need to be careful. There are people watching.”

Kelly's eyes darted down the street in the direction the car had gone. The sidewalks were empty of pedestrians. Several automobiles were parked along the curb, but as far as he could tell, they were empty. The windows of the houses around him were shuttered against the heat.

“What aren't you telling me?” he demanded. “I want to know everything you know.”

“You need to be patient. What happened on Long Island was never supposed to. Everything has changed now.”

“Don't tell me something I already know!”

“Look, sweetie, we've been working too hard and too long to throw it all away now. You need to trust me on this.”

“Like I trusted Micah? Now he's dead— conscripted, I mean. Do you know what it's like to watch someone you've known like that, someone you've trusted, get turned into one of them?”

The woman hesitated, then nodded. “Yes. I do, actually. Why do you think this is so important to me?”

Kelly pushed himself away from the tree. He was feeling ill. His body was shaking. He needed to get back, check on his little brother Kyle before heading over to Jessie's.

Home.

“Focus,” the woman was saying. “That file on Jessica's Link is our greatest concern right now.”

“She's bound to notice it sooner or later,” Kelly told her. “I'm surprised she hasn't already. After what Micah said—” Images floated through his mind, scenes from the conscription chamber inside the city hall.

“Just make sure she doesn't have a reason to remember that, okay?”

He chuffed. “She's not going to forget what he said. He called it the Jacker's Code. I want to know what he meant by that.”

“I honestly don't know. You need to forget about it.”

“How can I forget about it?” Kelly cried. “Jessie heard it, clear as day. He told her he loved her. How can she not wonder?”

“There's nothing to be jealous about, honey. Look, I've seen my share of conscriptions. People babble right before the end. It's all nonsense. You make sure that's what she thinks happened.”

“I'm supposed to forget he said he loved her?”

“What does that matter now? As long as she believes you love her.”

He wasn't sure she did anymore.

He sighed heavily. “We got the system set up and we're back in. Reggie's taking the Player up to Jayne's Hill first.”

“Good. Keep Jessica away from there.”

“What happens if she finds out?”

“Tell her what we talked about. Just keep her out of the system. The more time she spends on the Streams, the more likely she'll know that something's wrong with her Link.”

Kelly looked up from his own Link and was surprised to see that he'd walked all the way to Reggie's. Both of the Caseys worked in the state capitol, and they were rarely home before six in the evening. The house stood empty and dark in front of him. If Reggie was home, he was most likely out in the garage. Kelly shook his head at the lie he'd told to get him to accept the gear. He had to know that looking for Ashley was a hopeless cause.

He swallowed, unsure how much longer he could keep pretending like this, holding the secrets in. Lying to the people he cared about.

As if reading his mind, the woman said, “It won't be much longer. We're very close to getting what we need. Once all the pieces are in place, everything will become clear. That file is everything, Kelly. Remember that.”

He squeezed his eyes shut for a moment as he tried to control his anger.

“You just have to be patient and trust me a little longer. Can you do that for me, hon?”

He wanted to tell her to stop calling him that. It made him uncomfortable.

“I'll try,” he finally conceded. He was too tired to fight her anymore.

“Good. Because I—”

“Kelly?”

He spun around at the sound of Jessie's voice, the skin on the back of his neck prickling. How long had she been standing there? How much had she heard? He quickly thumbed the disconnect and turned to face her.

“Who are you talking to?” she asked.

He glanced down at his Link and was relieved to see that it showed nothing but his home screen. He gave her a tentative smile. “The hospital. Just checking in on some blood work for Kyle.”

The tension remained in Jessie's face. She looked dubiously at the Link in his hands, then back to his face. “Is everything all right?”

He sighed and turned and started walking, trying hard to act like nothing was wrong. “As good as can be expected,” he said. He wanted to draw her away from Reggie's house, away from the gaming equipment. Away from questions. “The new kidneys are holding, but they have to keep a close watch on his white blood count while they suppress his immune system. They don't want him rejecting the transplants or coming down with an infection. And the dialysis is really doing a number on him.”

“Still?” Jessie asked. “Shouldn't it, I don't know, shouldn't the kidneys just work right from the start?”

“It's all the medicines they're giving him. They don't want to put a lot of strain on the kidneys just yet.”

They walked along in silence for another block, standing close to each other but not touching.

“Any word from your mom?” he finally asked, hoping to change the subject.

He heard her take in a sharp breath, and immediately regretted asking. Even at the best of times, Jessie's complicated relationship with her mother was a touchy subject. And this most certainly wasn't the best of times. Not even close.

She shook her head.

“It's been almost a week,” he mused. “I wonder—”

“I know how long it's been,” she snapped at him. “You don't have to remind me!”

He couldn't stop himself. He wanted to help. “Maybe you should try pinging her.”

She didn't answer.

“Look, Jess,” Kelly said, his recent Link conversation still playing in his head, “I'm sure she's fine. It's just that everyone's having a tough time right now. Telling you who your real father is couldn't have been easy. She's probably just ashamed that it happened, that she didn't mention it sooner.”

Jessie seemed to consider this for a few minutes. Then she gave him a thin smile and grabbed his arm and pulled him closer until they were forced to stop walking or else trip over each other's feet. She lifted her chin to his face and his heart clenched inside his chest. She had grown so pale and thin, and there were dark circles under her eyes and new lines in the corners of her mouth. She looked so much older than she was. He supposed they all did.

“Tonight,” she whispered as she leaned into him. Her breath on his neck sent a shiver through his body. “Tonight I think we should celebrate our marriage. It'll be our honeymoon night.”

Kelly's heart fluttered loose from its bindings. It was the first either of them had made any mention of sex since returning. He thought he'd never again be able to think about anything but the death and dying he'd witnessed and been a party to while in Gameland. But now he felt a stirring inside of him, the trace of something old and familiar and good. He wanted nothing more than to take her in his arms and hold her tight against him.

At the same time, the thought terrified him like nothing he had ever experienced before.

‡ ‡ ‡

Jessie hummed to herself while preparing dinner. It was a simple casserole of mixed frozen vegetables and hamburger thawed in the microwave. A little grated cheese sprinkled on top and two mismatched half-boxes of pasta. So what if the cheese was moldy (carefully shaved off, of course) and the pasta stale? It was the first meal she'd actually enjoyed since their return, and the first time she didn't feel like puking afterward.

“Eric was supposed to go grocery shopping,” she told Kelly, apologizing as they sat down to eat. “There wasn't much to choose from.”

He smiled at her over the steaming plate, his Link sitting beside his drink glass on the table.

Both her grandfather's and mother's chairs were empty, and Kelly was sitting in Eric's place. The dinner progressed in an agreeable silence.

Later, when he was rinsing the glasses in the sink, Kelly observed, “Your brother's been working an awful lot lately.”

“He insists it's nothing, but Reggie seems to think it's
not
nothing,” Jessie answered. “He says there're stories going around the black streams—”

Kelly's head snapped up and he turned and gave her a stern look. “When did you talk to Reggie?”

Jessie frowned, stunned for a moment by the intensity in Kelly's eyes. “I— In school?”

He turned away. “The black streams are dangerous. You shouldn't be messing around in them, Jess.”

She pursed her lips and didn't say anything.

“I just mean that they're not reliable,” he clarified.