Chaos Theorem

Chapter 17: The Voice In My Head

Within good time, we'd arrived at everyone's favourite feature of a theme park; an apartment complex.
  Don't even ask. I hardly understand this place anymore.
  I also would never understand my friends' views on this whole vote thing. They were just desperate for double points, and of course I'd reluctantly gone along as I didn't want to be a pain as I always found I was. It wasn't that I hadn't tried to convince them, I just knew it wasn't worth arguing.
  I swear that I wasn't just going to vote for that option for myself, but rather for everyone playing this game. I'd even told them that, but they couldn't help but criticise my view, and even had the nerve to ask for my real motive!
  ...Which I didn't really know, but that was besides the point.
  "It'd probably be best if we voted now." Nate muttered as we sat on the complex's balcony.
  I made a last ditch effort, "We could totally use that system to find Null and Elise again, you know."
  They all stared at me in disbelief. Here we go again...
  Nate put a patronising hand on my shoulder, "You have to let Penny go, Kat! It's not fair that you're doing this to yourself."
  "He has a point." Tricky agreed, stroking her fuzzy chin. Will nodded as well.
  "Guys, you know that's not what this is about!" I groaned.
  I guessed that this was what it was like to be in denial. It was horrible. Haunting. Would not recommend. But what if she was still alive? What if she was out there, alone and scared?
  And, even worse, what if Nate was right?
  "Fine, I'll do double points. But if I regret it, it'll be you who I'll be complaining to." I grumbled, narrowing my eyes and kicking the ground idly.
  They all nodded, and then Will decided to join in for once, "It's for the best. For all of us."
  "Quick, let's vote now before we second guess." Nate demanded, eyeing me suspiciously.
  And so I looked at the vote.
  You could even see what people had voted for, and slightly more had voted against me, for double points. No, for us! They were on our side!
  Not that anyone would know if I voted the other way...
  I scanned their faces. They each tapped their phone screens, and the devices emitted small 'bloop' sounds as they did so. It sounded almost robotic, and it made my spine go cold. Was it guilt? Or was it something else that was eating away at me?
  I had to act now.
  They would never know.
  And so I closed my eyes and clicked the button, making me pray in Penny's name that... that...
  ...That the others wouldn't blame me when they heard that different sound. However, Tricky winced straight away and I was soon to follow. Everything felt numb as I realised that I'd screwed up yet again.
  "Oh, Kat..." Tricky sighed, running her paws across her face.
  Nate didn't bother waiting for me to apologize, "Can I just say that I've never met anyone as stupid as you, which means a lot considering I've met a goddamn ton of stupid people!"
  My glare shot to steel, feeling angst against his flares.
  "Hey!"
  "We're supposed to trust each other!" Nate yelled, slamming his first on the concrete wall.
  Will looked like he was about to say something; impossible to tell who to thanks to the mask. However, it was clear that he'd given up as his face drooped to the ground.
  "Guys, it's one vote! It means nothing!" I reassured them hastily.
  "THAT'S NOT THE POINT!" Nate bellowed.
  And then he shook his head. He was disgusted. Quite frankly, I couldn't blame him. What was worse was that he started to storm away.
  "Please, Nate! Stop!" I begged.
  He didn't stop. Now, I followed.
  "Na-"
  "What's that sound?" he interrupted. He then forced his head towards me sharply, "Kat, stop moving, now!"
  As if on queue, lasers started to appear everywhere in a horrific flash. My eyes widened and I almost doubled back into another one.
  Our phones sung their funeral chorus, as always, " _Game. Attribute: All-Rounder. Avoid the lasers and escape the apartment complex._"
  "Th- they're everywhere! Tricky, what do we do?" Will gasped, turning this way and that, anxiety setting in.
  "I don't know!" Tricky squeaked.
  We... we were trapped! Will tried to break the game's logic by shuffling towards the balcony edge, to what, jump off? It didn't matter - all that greeted him was a wall of lasers. The boy in the plague doctor's mask returned to safety, whatever that was.
  "So, uh, what do we do?" I gulped, glancing at the hellscape of scarlet, buzzing snares.
  Tricky shrugged, but in a muted sort of way to avoid getting zapped, "Get out."
  I tried to follow in Will's footsteps, accepting Tricky's statement as the truth. However, my plan was only to see how high we were; only one floor up, but still. Would've been better to be towards the bottom. We didn't have a choice. It appeared that it was time to thread ourselves through these lasers, hopefully without further incident.
  "Is there a timer?" Will gulped.
  Tricky and Nate both checked, but it was Tricky who responded with, "No, I don't think so."
  I shrugged, "Well, technically time runs out when we starve to death."
  Nate glared at me spitefully, "Ugh, what's wrong with you?"
  He then sharply turned right, wishing to face away from me. He started to move, not wanting to reach my imaginary timeout, moving between beam after beam at record pace. I scowled with confusion as to why he was being weird (yet again) but also with anxiety; there was no way this was safe. At all.
  "Hey, you might want to slow down..." Tricky grimaced, flinching every time he passed a beam by.
  Nate rolled his eyes, shrugging like a guilty schoolchild, "Oh my god, chill!"
  It was here that his finger touched a beam. It didn't fire instantly, rather just barely giving him give to swipe his hand back before it radiated the area around his face. Everyone screamed, but I just closed my eyes tightly and smacked my face with my palms; this was so goddamn stressful.
  "The beams are linear! Just be careful to dodge." Nate scowled at the haze that had been left behind.
  Apparently, that was enough for Will, as he was next to move, being extra careful with the mask he was so reluctant to remove. My heart was in my throat as I watched him slide between what could be a death sentence, but he seemed alright.
  When he passed me, Tricky became the third to move, seemingly sick of just standing there. Now I was stood there instead, like a fool.
  My foolish gaze landed on Will as he swiped his beak towards Tricky's face. I widened my eyes as I saw the mask pass straight through the beam. As it fired, Will dodged, but it only made Tricky and Nate flinch, making them hit beams too.
  Still not casualties, though. A good start.
  The first death might even come from my incoming heart attack rather than a laser...
  _Guess I should go..._
  My path was slightly cleared thanks to clumsy acts from my allies. It gave me little comfort, but even a little comfort meant a little to me. As I moved, it allowed me swerve by with less effort.
  As I focused on angling myself, we all were distracted by the ding of the elevator. The elevator that had been out of order when we came up before. I turned to Nate and saw that he was on the edge of the stairs, next to this shaft. My anxiety peaked like a cannon shot as Nate slid himself through its humble doors.
  "Nate, that was out of order before. It's definitely a trap." I frowned, trying to move faster.
  I knew he'd ignore me.
  "Wait..." Will mumbled.
  Him and Tricky started to dodge seemlessly towards that unwilling adversary of mine, and to my horror they joined him there. Well, now I couldn't just leave them! Great. Survived acid rain and a crazy pirate ship to be killed by an obvious trap.
  There was a moment where I thought he was going to leave me, where his finger hovered over the button, but he didn't. And I was glad he didn't. I think.
  Contrarily, my mood shifted darkly as the doors shut with the four of us now all inside.
  Nobody uttered a word. Nobody seemed to have anything to say to me, or to anyone for that matter.
  It was funny. We all suddenly had a lot to say when the floor turned to glass, but we now had no time to say it. Oh, and look! More beams. It was a trap. Duh. What else could we do, other than dodge and pray that the floor would hold?
  But one of the first beams hit me, and I had to jump to dodge, which only sent me careening into another beam. We all gasped as the beam singed the tip of my hair, but I'd made it. What a lucky duck I was.
  "Don't get sloppy now." Nate grumbled.
  I cleared my throat passive-aggresively, "I'm not trying to, don't worry!"
  He didn't respond.
  "You were going to leave me before in the elevator, weren't you?" I added, a bitter tint in my tone. I pressed against the wall to avoid another beam.
  Once again, he didn't respond.
  The awkwardness dissipated a little when the doors opened and we were allowed to flee what could have been a human (or lynx) blender. There were only a few beams now, each one closer than the last to our tired, twisted bodies.
  But Nate wasn't just avoiding beams, he was also avoiding the conversation. A hateful look bled through his awful vision, and we all felt the burn from the silent threat: don't talk to me. Unfortunately for him, I didn't listen.
  I knew that he knew that I knew that he was going to leave me. It was the worst part. Why didn't he just relent, for once?
  Nate was the first to escape. But from me? Not that easily.
  I grabbed him once I escaped too, "Hey, stop! What are you doing?"
  Without a beat, he thrust my hand away and jabbed a finger into my chest, "I'm so embarrassed that I trusted you!"
  And that was it! I pushed him roughly and argued, "Well, I'm so sorry you're the first human in ages that hasn't tried to kill me!"
  Nate scoffed, "What's that supposed to mean?"
  I stared at his pale, soulless blue eyes.
  "I knew."
  "About what?"
  "About your multiverse theory. From the start. I know it's true, because this isn't the first time I've been sent spiralling through it. This is how it feels! At least people had morals in the last place. But here? All I have is you! And you SUCK!"
  Are you surprised?
  You should be. See, even you can't trust me. Why are you even here? Who even are you? The voice in my head?
  "I'm the only human left!" I sobbed, "There was one other, but she evil and I had to kill her! Do you realise how fucked that is? You're the first human in a whole year who has taken a non-malicious interest in me. Suprise, Nathaniel. Enjoy your life, I'm out."
  For the final time, I turned away from all three of them and stormed into the darkness of the night, not bothering to look back at my shackles. I unsheathed my phone and saw that I had been allocated my five points.
  Or I would have gotten five. The double points had won.
  "By the way, you won the vote." I swallowed dryly, "I hope you're proud of yourself."
  And I kept walking, each footstep tuned to the grim beat of my heart. I was done. With all of them.
  But not yet.
  Behind me, Tricky yelled in pain.

To be continued...