The Caterpillarian

Chapter 1

I lifted my thumb from the analogue stick and Clive came to a stop outside the door. Someone—or thing—was behind it banging incessantly away. I'd found the key in the basement, the police report in the bedroom and ammo in the kitchen. The room behind this door was the only place left to explore. The bangs were in sync with the ones in my chest. My thumb returned to the stick and I eased it forward. Clive took a single step and I pressed the action button. He reached out for the door handle and opened the door. And then . . .

The lights went out.

And I don't mean the lights in the video game—those had gone out during the storm. I mean the lights in my bedroom.

I leapt a few inches off the ground. An impressive feat considering I was sat down.

"What the flip?" I heard Jasper's distressed voice to my right.

"Open the curtains!" I yelled to him.

He did so, filling the room with light.

I placed my hand on my pounding chest, a smile forming on my face.

"The power went out just as you opened the door!" Jasper laughed, flopping backwards onto my bed. "What were the odds of that?"

"I think I've had a heart attack," Alison said, her voice muffled by her hands; her face was buried in them, her purple locks draped over her fingers.

"When did you last save the game?" Jasper asked, sitting back upright.

I paused for a moment, my eyes staring blankly into the television screen. And then I remembered.

"It'll have autosaved."

"But you were playing on hardcore difficulty," Jasper said. "You've got limited saves."

My guts somersaulted. When did I last save? When?

I wanted to cry.

"I've got to do all that again," I said like I'd given up on life.

"I hate when that happens," Alison said.

The red light that indicated the television was on stand by hadn't come on yet. The power was still out.

"Now what?" I said, placing the controller down, my hands all sweaty.

"I'm starved," Jasper moaned. "Can you go and get something from downstairs?"

"Why don't you?"

"It's your house."

Now that I thought about it, I was hungry, too. We'd been playing this game for how long? Two hours straight? It had lived up to the hype.

With a groan, I pushed myself up to my feet. My butt was sore, my back ached and my legs were tingling. But it had been worth it.

"Do you want anything?" I asked Alison, who was sitting on my bed fiddling with a scab on her knee. One of several.

"She's gonna eat that," Jasper said, and my lip curled.

"I am," she said with a grin that told me she meant it. "Yeah, bring me whatever."

I yanked on my bedroom door handle and it dug into my fingers when the door didn't budge. I tried again. And again. And again.

It was fused shut. What the heck was going on?

"The door's stuck," I said to my friends and they looked at me like I was having them on. "I'm serious. Look." This time with both hands clasped around the handle, I attempted to open it again.

"Let me have a go," Jasper offered, taking my place.

I wouldn't say it to his face, but he was smaller and weaker than me, so what chance did he have?