Specials

Chapter 16- Glitch

Night fell quickly after the tussle with the Children of the Lake. The night in the forest was not just darkness. As the sun set, the moon rose, filling the midnight sky with thousands of stars. More stars than any of the team had ever seen, as this was a place mostly untouched by humans, no pollution hiding the stars from view.

Even more gorgeous than the sky was the trees. Some chemical packed into the leaves caused them to glow like fireflies, in brilliant colors like green, gold, purple, pink, blue, and more. It was the most beautiful sight they had ever seen. Even Sarah admitted it.

The team found a place to sleep, the trees serving as nightlights. Kia decided to take first watch over the sleeping group, as she couldn't sleep very well. The group settled down for the night, using each other as pillows and banding together for warmth. The night wasn't very cold, only slightly lower in temperature than during the day, but without any blankets and laying against the ground, it felt quite a bit cooler.

It wasn't that long after Kia had started watching when she heard something stir behind her. Kia's heart leapt up into her throat, before she turned and saw it was just Sarah. Sarah stumbled up and sat down next to Kia.

"Couldn't sleep?" Kia smiled at Sarah.

"James keeps stroking me in his sleep," Sarah complained.

"Ew," Kia shuddered, and shot a glance over at the sleeping figure of James, who was cuddling Dawn.

The two sat in silence for a long time, staring around at the glowing trees.

"This all feels so real," Kia said, after a long time.

"What does?" Sarah replied.

"Like... This whole simulation. This feels so real, it doesn't feel like we're strapped to a machine right now," Kia clarified.

"I know... What if it is real? What if they drugged us and sent us out to some remote area to do their dirty work?" Sarah wondered.

"Well, that's a good idea, but how many places in the world have glowing trees?" Kia replied.

"Hm. True," Sarah sighed. They sat in silence for a long time. "We should test how real it is." Sarah smiled mischievously.

"How?" Kia asked.

And suddenly they were kissing.

*

The night passed without any danger, and morning rose with the singing of birds.

Literally. Singing birds.

"Shut UP!" Chameleon moaned up at the sky. The birds sang with renewed vigor.

The group had continued their walking for a while, feeling a bit hungry (Sarah was looking paler than normal), when they came across a group of bushes with small teal berries on them. Everyone stopped dead in their walking, staring at the bushes.

"Should we eat them?" Jaina asked.

"They might be poisonous," James replied.

"Yeah, but how will we be able to fight without eating anything?" Dawn wondered.

"Hm," Chameleon huffed. "We could have Kia try them, since she can't die again."

"If I die, I'll get sucked back into death. Not a spirit, not living, not anything," Kia shook her head.

"Well, they're not red or white," Sarah shrugged.

"I think I remember enough of my survival class to test it out," Jaina volunteered. She gently took one of the berries from the bush, and rubbed it on her wrist.

The group waited for a long time, and no rash resulted on Jaina's wrist.

Jaina split the berry, and squirted some of its purple juice on her wrist.

Again, everyone waited. No rash, no pain resulting on Jaina's wrist.

Jaina rubbed the berry over her lips, and after waiting, there was still no rash or pain.

Jaina put the berry on her tongue, then waited, and nothing bad happened. Finally, Jaina bit down, chewed, and swallowed the berry.

Everyone waited for a long time, hardly daring to breathe.

"Okay, I think they're safe, but if you feel anything, any sign of sickness or not feeling well, stick your finger down your throat. Got it?!" Jaina looked everyone in the eye. They all nodded and murmured their agreement, then started eating the berries.

It was a short while after everyone had started eating the berries, sitting on the ground in a semicircle and chatting, when suddenly, Jaina saw something in the corner of her eye. A glimpse of bright blue, nothing more, and a temporary high pitched noise. She dismissed it as the light reflecting off Dawn's hair, and her ear ringing a bit.

A few minutes later, everyone cried out as a figure appeared in front of them. Humanoid, laid out in an electric blue grid. The person's mouth was open, eyes wide in shock, nothing but a high pitch squeal coming out that sounded like the interference on a TV when the signal goes out. The figure appeared for a few seconds, then blinked twice and disappeared. Before it left, it stared directly at Jaina, a searching look in its eyes.

Dead silence fell for a few minutes, then, "Did anyone else see that or should I stick my fingers down my throat because I'm hallucinating?" Chameleon was a shaken shade of gray-blue.

"I'm pretty sure it's impossible for us to have all seen the same hallucination," James slowly put his arms around Dawn.

"What the hell was that?" Sarah threw down the berries in her hands.

"No idea," Kia shook her head.

"A system glitch?" Jaina suggested.

"The system isn't supposed to make glitches! It's supposed to be perfectly safe!" Dawn cried.

"We should get moving," Sarah decided, and everyone agreed.