The Henhouse

Video

Justin flew back to the computer, drawing the attention of everyone in the room. He double-clicked "JML2" and was greeted with a list of video files. He selected the top-most, then waited for it to load.

"What's that?" Ella asked.

"Don't know. The folder had my initials on it."

"EAS..." Ella peered at the desktop. "Those are mine."

"JAL," Jonah added, "That's me."

"DEC," Dany mumbled.

Justin shushed them. "Wait- wait."

The video was starting. He looked down on himself in a small room, rubbing his arm. The text in the corner read JML - 10Jun2019.

"This was yesterday," Jonah murmured. "I think. When you...."

Justin couldn't bring himself to close the window now– like he was about to see something so terrible, he couldn't pull his eyes away. As he watched himself put on the helmet and enter VR, an inset appeared in the video's top left – a first-person feed of the simulation. They all watched him dip, roll, duck and run around the room, finally floundering like a fish out of water at the last Wave, sucking in air before his body gave out. He watched his arm bleed, overriding the tiny bandage he'd applied. It ran down down to his palm in an inch-wide river, and spilled to the floor in a tiny puddle.

He'd never even noticed....

Ella gasped behind him, and the others shuffled where they stood. The sight of more blood now hit closer to home.

Justin shook the mouse and looked at the scrollbar below. He fast-forwarded until Ivy dashed into the room and kneeled by his side, Peter and Jonah close behind.

"11 minutes," he said, as neutrally as possible. 11 minutes, no one did a thing....

"Any later and you could have been dead," Ivy snapped, less at him than the screen.

"That test doesn't even make sense," Dany said angrily. "I mean, you're Interpersonal, right? Talking to people? How was that supposed to help at all?"

"It's not about talking to people," Ivy said, "it's about understanding them. Justin could predict their movements, their attacks, their thought processes...."

"Jesus. Couldn't he just play chess, or something?"

"Apparently not. ...I think they needed something more intense." She stared at the screen. "Life or death...."

"I think it was the same," Peter said. "You know, for my test. My workout that day... it wasn't normal. They made it sound like- like something was chasing me...."

"And for mine," said Dany, "stuff kept jumping out at me, and I had to press this button whenever they did, but if I didn't press it quick they'd give me this shock-"

"Casper," Justin thought. He turned to the others. "We should be looking at his folder."

"I think we've spent enough time here," Gabe argued. No one answered, or even listened. Instead, they watched Justin's mouse fly across the screen, tapping a folder labeled "CJC3" and pulling up its first file.

The copper-headed figure of Casper slowly walked into a testing room. The date read 07Jun2019, clock ticking from 10:01 to 10:02. Justin thought back. This was the morning after the two had found Ivy, just before he told Justin about his brother....

A woman greeted him: "Take a seat, Casper." He obeyed, settling into a chair much like Testing Room #5 – a dentist's chair with a maniacal twist. It was good to see Casper's face again.