Virtual Reality ✔

A Second Game?

(The picture above is how I imagined Duncan and Grace, but you can imagine them the way you like)

I stood in our orange box and waited, stumbling backwards a little when a built guy with pitch black hair purposefully bumped into me on his way to a blue box. I soon recognized him as the one I'd killed from D3, it seemed he'd hold a grudge. After looking at me coldly for a moment long enough for me to get the point, he walked to his group who were already congratulating each other. He and one other person were left out of the celebration.

"He giving you trouble?" Duncan asked as he approached me from behind.

"No, just a bad sport. That's all," I replied, looking back at him fondly. "You did pretty good," I said.

"Not as good as you and Victoria," he retorted. "She seemed unfazed by it all!" He looked astounded and I couldn't resist the laughter that welled inside of me. "What?" he asked again in a somewhat defensive tone, but mostly filled with humor.

"Unfazed by what? The pain, hunger, thirst, and exhaustion? Was it not as great as you expected it to be?" I asked jokingly.

"No, that was pretty good. Just a little intense at times, but she didn't seem to notice," he clarified.

"She's pretty hardcore," I noted. Someone rested a hand on my shoulder and I spun to see who it was.

"Glad to hear you guys have such high thoughts of me," Victoria herself commented. I flushed at my ignorance, she was right there. What if she'd taken our comments the wrong way? I tried not to overthink all the 'what ifs' because she hadn't seemed bothered.

Before I could apologize, a representative walked towards us and instructed us to follow her. We fell in line with the other groups who'd dropped like flies at each building. When we reached the building labeled "D" us and the three other groups followed to our respective buildings. The first floor was just a cafeteria and living space, we reached the third floor and claimed our rooms. Parker and Amberline walked off to a large room with only two beds, it figured that they weren't the most social people ever. That left Duncan, Victoria, and I to the last room available. Our stuff had been dropped off into our living room and we were now unpacking.

"You didn't have to risk yourself for Parker, he would have gotten ahold of himself after a respawning," Victoria told me.

"If I hadn't, both he and I probably would have been eliminated sooner," I replied swiftly. I wasn't one for leaving a member behind, and I truly couldn't have made it as far as I did without him. He proved to me he was a decent player, he had just become nervous.

"She has a point," added Duncan. "Plus it was the right thing to do, both for our team and Parker himself." He had just finished unpacking and pulled himself onto the top bunk. I quickly finished and followed his example, choosing the bed under his because it seemed Victoria had already claimed the other one.

"Whatever," said Victoria. "Was just saying." She shut off the light and we all drifted into sleep, getting some rest after a long day.

*  *  *

I woke in the middle of the night from a dream about the competition, still fatigued from the simulation. Although we only felt the pain hunger and thirst in the game, we were still moving around in our cubicle; the exhaustion was inevitable. I got up and quietly made my way to the bathroom to grab a small plastic cup of water.

This place was like a really good hotel, it was fancy but still had only the basic necessities of a home. The flat seemed brighter in the dark because everything was white, I made it to the small living area and was surprised to find Parker sitting on the plush white couch. His face buried in his hands, I could tell he was distressed.