Speed Run (a X33N and Alien: Isolation fanfiction)

Chapter 8

Bright light was the first thing I was aware of. The second was someone holding my eye open to shine said light into it. I squinted and tried to turn my head away, raising an arm to shield my eyes. "Finally coming to. Sir, please stay still."

The light left my field of vision, and I felt a hand on my shoulder. Was I lying down? What happened? Owwww, why do I have such a headache? I thought, moving my hand to rub my head. I felt a twinge in my left arm as I moved it. Wait. Didn't I hurt that arm?

My eyes shot wide as the events that transpired in Alien: Isolation came back to me. I tried to sit up, but the hand on my shoulder remained firm, keeping me down. It took me a moment to realize how small the person attached to that hand was. Well, petite. The EMT put a surprising amount of force into keeping my shoulder in place, though she couldn't have been more than half my weight. I blinked at the blonde in surprise and gave up.

"Sir, can you tell me your name?" The EMT asked, letting up on my shoulder once she decided I wasn't going to move.

"X33N. What's going on? Where's Meza? Gwen?" I asked, craning my neck to look around. Meza and Devon were talking to a cop a short distance away, and Gwen was leaning against a rolling cart of VR equipment, answering questions from another EMT. We were still at the Alien VR booth at the convention. The rest of the exhibit hall looked abandoned, and I wondered if it had been cleared out for the crime scene or if we'd just been in the game that long.

We made it out. I relaxed at the realization, letting my head rest on the carpeted floor again.

"You would know the answer to that better than I would," the EMT admitted. She shook her head, making the curls in her ponytail bounce. "This all strikes me as more science fiction than science; murder and attempted murder by hacking a video game? I don't envy the cops that have to write this one up."

I laughed despite myself. That did sound pretty ridiculous. "So what's your part in this?" I asked.

"I'm supposed to make sure nothing up here," She said, tapping my forehead with the penlight she'd shone in my eyes earlier. "Got fried. Also need to check you for a concussion; your friend says you hit your head on your way down. Cooperate, and we'll get this out of the way quickly."

"Yes, nurse," I said submissively, earning an amused eye roll from the EMT.

Gwen got cleared to go before I did, and she was spirited away by police to give some statement or be interrogated as to why her invention had killed her brother. I hoped it wasn't the latter. She'd had a bad enough day. As entertaining as the thought of her going postal on a police officer was, I knew that wouldn't end well for anyone involved.

As the EMT finished running me through a series of coordination tests, I caught sight of two cops leading a handcuffed Caden out a side door. Good. They'd caught him. He had a lot to answer for. "Alright, X33N. Looks like you're all clear to go. Just need your signature here and here showing you declined transport to the hospital and further testing and treatment," She said, handing me a pen and a clipboard with papers on it.

After giving my signatures and a quick statement to the cop who was still present, I joined Meza. Devon had disappeared when I wasn't looking. "Well, that was...something," Meza said tiredly.

"Yeah. It's a thing. At least you have a good story for when you get back," I pointed out.

"Hmm." Meza hummed noncommittally. "And you? Going to tell anyone what happened?"

My initial reaction was yes, but the more I thought about it, the more hesitant I was. "I'm never going to hear the end of this if my discord finds out. Saved by chickens!" I groaned, rubbing a hand over my face. That was only part of the reason though. Another part of me was worried what this story would do to Gwen's career and the launch of the VR tech. The only reason it was dangerous was because someone on the production team sabotaged it. I could bet there would be more safeguards in place before it hit sales, if it ever did.