Second Chance

Character Creation and Skill Selection

       I didn't know for sure whether to laugh or cry. I would be alive, but only in the game I wanted to play, and I'd never be able to leave.

"What about my family? They'd just, what, visit me here?"

"It is inadvisable to speak to your relations about what has happened. Messages can be relayed to them if you so desire, but it is advised that the messages be backwards time stamped to just before the shooting occurred. The only witness to when you were injured was the employee who fitted you into the device. They were the first casualty. The cameras were already offline because of the tampering of one (1) employee deviating from their set function. They will be reprimanded firmly."

        I stared at him (it?), incredulous.

"Why would I ever do that? I could see my family again! I may not have a husband or kids, but I do love my sisters and parents!"

"It is inadvisable. There is a 12% chance the program will be terminated if it is discovered that a user has been saved without prior authorization, especially as the user has since been terminated. There is a further 86% chance that the program will not be terminated, but that the user's data will either be summarily wiped upon discovery, or isolated for research."

     In other words, if I told my family I was alive I might die, but I also might be experimented on.

"Couldn't I just tell them not to tell anyone?"

"Negative. They will most likely believe it is a prank at first. After proof is provided they will begin to contact you. This aberrant behavior will be picked up by outside probability systems and deemed "strange." After this, the company will begin watching family members both inside and outside games. Discovery chance so near 100% as to be negligible."

        This meant I had at least less than a 0.005% chance of not being found out if my family knew. And that was if they didn't tell anyone. I couldn't fully trust my sisters not to tell. I didn't want to die, but I also wanted to talk to my family one last time. They wouldn't be able to respond, but if I sent a message...

"Please send the following message out. 'There's something wrong. I'm at the gaming store and there's a bunch of shouting and noise. They have weapons. I'm scared. Please hope for my safety. Just in case, I love you all. I'm going to go see what's going on'."

"No signature required?"

        I tilted my head back and rubbed my eyes. Must be a glitch in the system, they were stinging.

"No, never sign. This way I'll seem scared and all, but will also seem like I'm trying to be optimistic. Don't want to be too sentimental, they'll notice and investigate, but this much we've talked about before. I have extra messages saved in folders the girls know how to get to with longer messages to my family. We do it every couple years, write down what we think of each other and save them, just in case. Dad had a suicide scare before he met Mom, and this is something the therapist recommended. If we're depressed, we can find the files about us and read them."

       I was rambling. I yanked on my braid a couple of times in frustration then inhaled deeply and shoved my hair back from my face then faced the mirror. Enough moping, it wasn't solving anything. Come on, this could be an adventure.

"Okay, let's do this. What do I need to know to live like this?"

             The game's AI (for that's what it really was) moved its billowing sleeves so they touched in front of its body as if it was folding its hands. Well, there was no real sign of a feminine shape, and the voice was masculine, so I was going back to calling it "him." Less chance for me to underestimate his motives this way. Dismissing something as nonhuman never seemed to end well.