YouTube: Dream Gamers: Book 3: The Humatronics

Chapter 13

Mark towered above Dan with his head down and blood on his hands. He had been cutting at
Dan's arm for ten minutes, trying to get him to speak, but Dan had kept his mouth shut, for the most part. There was the occasional begging for mercy, and short scream, but Dan was still not giving anything important. He definitely still had fight in him, but Mark was determined to get the job done.

"You've been putting up a fight for the past few days," Mark commented. He placed the knife on a tray nearby and picked up a small metal rod by its handle. "Maybe we should finally put an end to that."

Mark pressed a button and short sparks of electricity burst off the rod. He could hear Dan start heaving in fear, but for once, he didn't say a word. Maybe he was too afraid of giving Mark any answers as to who was behind the malfunctioning A.I.s? That was probably it. Mark's mind drifted for a bit, wondering if it was only static electricity that caused hair to stand. This thought was provoked by how fluffy Dan's "jew-fro" was. His hair stood up anyway, so would electricity do more? Mark shook the ridiculous thought from his head and focused on the present. His good side wanted him to get distracted from the torture of his friends, but he couldn't let that get in his way.

"Tell me who's behind this," Mark started. He opened Dan's mouth and held the rod against his inner cheek. "Or I will electrocute you until your brain is fried," he finished.

Dan began sweating profusely, dreading the outcome if he refused once more. It was obvious he'd had enough, and was too scared to go on. Arin, beside him, was shaking in terror of losing his best friend, but remained silent.

"Well?" Mark prompted. "I don't want to do this, Dan, but I will if you refuse. Can you please tell me who's behind this?"

Dan spastically nodded his head, and Mark removed the rod. He allowed Dan to catch his breath before prompting him again.

"It... it was Jack."

**********

Jack had been listening in on the conversation through the hacked security cameras, and as soon as Dan revealed that he'd been behind this all along, Jack began to feel lightheaded with fear and panic.

"Oh, shit shit shit!" he said with clenched teeth. Immediately, Jack opened the A.I. manager, and set the Humatronics to activate at 12:00 sharp at max 20 A.I. Jack heard footsteps approaching his door, so he quickly applied the command and minimized the windows he had open.

Suddenly, the door slammed open to reveal Mark, and he was pissed.

"JACK!" he shouted at the top of his lungs. Mark forcefully grabbed Jack by the collar of his shirt, pulling him out his chair, and lifted him off the ground, holding him close to his face.

"I should've known that this whole time, YOU were the one who did this!" Mark yelled at Jack. Jack began hyperventilating as adrenaline rushed through his system. Jack grabbed Mark's wrists with both hands, desperately trying to free himself from Mark's tight grasp.

"I should've been able to put two and two together!" Mark continued. "I was the one who gave you full access to the A.I. system! How could I be so stupid?!"

Mark slammed Jack against the wall, winding him. Jack was helpless in this fight, but he still fought to free himself, even if it was hopeless. Anything to get him away! Anything to keep Mark from badly injuring him! Fight or flight had been activated long before, but to no effect. Mark then threw Jack against the ground and pinned him with a knee to the chest. Jack continued to struggle, but to no avail. Jack noticed Mark reach into his lab coat pocket and pull something out. It was a syringe, and it was full of a clear liquid. Jack's eyes widened in fear. Was Mark trying to drug him with something?

"W-wait! Please, you can't do this!" Jack shouted. He was in a full-on panic, and began struggling again, fearful of what the mystery substance was. Mark held Jack's forehead, and brought the syringe to his neck. Jack immediately stopped moving, knowing that if he struggled, Mark might stab him in the neck.

"Good boy, Jack," Mark smiled, maniacally, and slowly injected the substance into Jack's neck. Whatever this substance was, it stung going in, and Jack clenched his teeth to fight the pain.

Suddenly, Mark released his grip. Jack took this opportunity to push Mark off of him and make a run for it. Jack dashed to the exit, which was proceeded by a long dark hallway. Jack made it about ten feet down this hallway before he began to feel the effects of the drug. His body grew tired, and his vision grew blurry, even though he was wearing his glasses. Jack began getting increasingly weaker, and at first was confused.

What's going on? Jack thought, worried. Then, he figured out what the drug was.

Wait, did Mark inject me with a tranquilizer?! Jack began to panic. He wasn't going to be able to escape. His running slowed to a stumbling walk, hung up against the wall, breathing heavily.

He couldn't keep going, he was losing consciousness. He grew drowsy, his muscles got tired. Suddenly, Jack collapsed, asleep and unconscious.