Team Deathmatch

The Secret

I liken large plans to a game of Jenga. Pull out one important piece, and the whole thing comes tumbling down.

-James Woodrow, Esquire, 2026

The goggles rose off my face, and I was greeted once again with the sight of the soundproofed room in Horizon HQ. Leland and Bowbridge were watching me, and Leland walked over to me. I got up our of the chair by myself, not interested in his help. But, as I walked past him, he grabbed my shoulder. I whirled around and glared at him with anger in my eyes. "What?!" I said in a voice that was almost a yell.

Leland looked back at me with a stare that was one of shame. I didn't care how sorry he felt, I wasn't going to listen to him spout the same lies that Woodrow did. But instead, he sighed. "Sam...I'm sorry. No person on this Earth, especially you, should have to go through what you're going through right now. But you can get through this. You'll be able to beat this game, then you'll be able to go back to your normal life...and see your family again."

I jerked my arm away from him, and gave him an icy gaze. "I don't want your sympathy. You're just as bad as he is. All of you are. And you can tell him I said that." I was about to turn away again, when he took my hand, and shook it. I was perplexed by this strange action, but then, I felt something in my hand. As I looked back at Leland, he was staring intensely at me. "Alright then Sam...I will." He gave an almost imperceptible nod, and I realized he was making sure that Ms. Bowbridge didn't see him. I looked back him, and closed my fingers around the object, then nodded back. I walked out of the room, behind Ms. Bowbridge, shoving the object into my pocket.

I closed the door to my hotel room, and only then did I allow myself to breathe out. I reached into my pocket, then finally looked at the object that Leland had handed me. To my surprise, it was a small, silver USB drive. I wondered why he wanted me to have this, but then I realized that every single Optik Duo had a USB port to download information. So the real question was, what was on here that was so important that he had to keep it a secret?

At first, I wanted to take a look at this information on my own, but I realized that I couldn't keep all this to myself. Everyone else who was playing this had a right to know. But, I couldn't risk all of them getting punished for seeing whatever was on here. In the end, I made a compromise. I would show this to the only person I really trusted. Yumi.

I went to my phone and sent her a text. "Hey, meet me in your chat. And make it private." A few seconds later, she responded. "Ok, see you there." I walked to my chair, and saw the small USB port by the armrest. I plugged it in, and sat down, slipping on the visor and sensors. Then, I laid back as the chair activated, plunging me into the digital world, where I would hopefully find out what this all meant.

I went through the main menu, and found Yumi's chatroom. I sent a request to join, and a few seconds later, I was teleported into the pink room that I now knew so well. Yumi was sitting on the bed and waiting for me. As soon as I teleported in, she ran to me and hugged me. At first I wondered why, and I realized that this was the first time I had seen her since the game ended. I hugged her back, and mumbled into her hoodie. "Hey." She looked up at me and gave a small smile. "Hey...I'm glad you're ok." I smiled back at her. "Yeah...I'm glad you are too."

We both stood looking at each other. I could feel myself blushing, and she must have seen it, because she was too. Desperate for a way to break the silence, I cleared my throat. "So, something weird happened to me after the game." Yumi looked at me, curious. "What?" I opened up my menu, and saw the code for the USB embedded in my files. I tapped it, and small, virtual version of the key appeared in my hand. "You know Leland Powell, right? He's the Director for the Horizon HQ in Canada. He's running the show, and is in cahoots with Woodrow."