Fade (Walker #74033 fanfiction) Book 1

Chapter 7

#94511, #74561, #439, #19992, #58234, #9601, #81-

"Jevden!" Margrethe said in exaggeration.

Jevden looked up in a daze, "What?"

"I've been trying to get your attention for the past five minutes. You were just staring off into space."

Jevden ran a hand through his hair, "I'm sorry, I..." His eyes swept around the lobby again. "It still amazes me that so many people are here."

Margrethe glanced around. "Yeah, well, where else is everyone going to go? Sure, they could go out on their own, but how long would it take before Red Nexus finds and captures them? Their influence has been spreading all over the world, and it's only a matter of time before every major city is under their control."

"To that note," Jevden replied, voicing the growing concern that'd been in his head all day. "Is there any way they could track us here? I mean, the Compound isn't all that far from the city where I was living. If they reach that location, then how long will we have before they come here?"

"It's nearly impossible," Margrethe responded reassuringly. "As I'm sure you saw yesterday, the Compound has cloaking technology that activates when you're roughly about half a mile away. And even if they did get close enough, it would just look like a normal building from the outside. And the only entrance they could get through is the same one we took and it's pretty inconspicuous. Plus, the entire Compound is invisible on satellites and heavy security to ward off any unwanted guests. And even if they wanted to hack the online network, they'd never be able to; it runs on its own internal system that's completely untraceable in the outside world. Trust me when I say that we're safe from them getting to us for quite a while."

Jevden found himself at a loss for words. "That's pretty impressive."

She grinned at him. "I assure you, you haven't seen anything yet." She looked back toward the game stations and found that one of them was vacant. "Looks like we got an opening," she exclaimed, getting to her feet. "Come on before it gets taken."

Jevden followed her, hastily passing the areas that were crowded over to an empty section where Margrethe was standing on a black platform. A blue screen was hovering in front of her, where she was selecting the settings for her drone. He hesitantly climbed up next to her, and a similar blue screen appeared in front of him. Jevden watched it in awe as an animated title displayed itself across the screen.

The Aviation Game

He clicked start when it appeared, revealing multiple level options to choose from. His hand moved over several, unsure of which one to pick. Margrethe glanced over and directed him. "Choose Beginner for now. Seeing as you've never played before."

"Right,"Jevden said, rolling his eyes. Upon selecting it, a short instruction video played out, showing him how to maneuver the drone past obstacles using the touch screen. Once it finished, it went dark, only revealing a blue outline. Jevden looked confused for a second before he glanced up at the large TV screen in front of them. There it showed the AVI-8 drone he'd be using, as well as various customization options. All of them were filled out, presumably because he was starting out with the Beginner level. He touched the blank screen in front of him, moved it toward the start button, and tapped. A small cursor appeared on the TV and followed the movement. A second later the screen changed to the environment he'd seen before. The drone floated at the bottom idly.

"Move your hand up on the screen."

Jevden turned to watch how Margrethe was doing it and saw her moving her hands around the screen to keep her drone out of harm's way. He obliged, and just like the cursor, the drone started flying forward. After a few seconds, a red block appeared at the far end of the path, but rapidly grew as the drone got closer. He swiped his hand to the left and the drone flew over in the same direction, narrowly avoiding the obstacle. A little way ahead, were a trio of miniature drones outlined in aqua. Curiously, Jevden allowed his drone to run over them, and he saw that the number on the top right side of his TV screen, which had originally been a zero, increased to three. He grinned, understanding the basis of the game, and switched his mind into strategy mode as more red obstacles popped up on the path.