Cyber Mortality

Chapter 2:

I have never met someone so frustrating! My hand clenches into a fist and I scowl at Flint. Who is he to tell me what to do? Stupid, stuck up, son of a-!

"Alright sit down," Flint points to a wooden chair and I grudgingly oblige. "Take your jacket off." My eyes drop down to my jacket and I glance back up at him with a confused look.

"Why?"

"We have to attach some electrodes to you," he rolls his eyes.

"Electrodes? I knew this game system was whacked! Why do you need those?" my nose crinkles up when he presses the first cold electrode to the base of my neck. 

"They stimulate feeling in the game," Nyle shrugs and presses another one lower on my spinal column just above the edge of my tank top. "Without them, you won't feel sensations. You can even feel the wind on your face!"

"Really?" I raise an eyebrow. Perhaps this game was more than just technological mumbo jumbo corroding the minds of youth. 

"That's why the electrodes are on your spine. They send electrical messages to your nerves so you feel everything just like you would in the game. It is similar to real-life, but instead of your nerves sending a message to your brain, your brain tells the nerves how to feel." Nyle explains.

"Is that safe?" I question with a raised brow. 

"It is," he nods. "They've even found it beneficial. In cases of great injuries or where someone is comatose or unable to do normal daily life, they can enter Cyber Mortality and live normally. Even people who couldn't walk in the real world can walk in CM. Of course, they wouldn't be able to feel pain in areas that nerves are so severely damaged they don't receive signals anymore." 

"Wow," I nod at the thought. "But won't people without nerve damage feel pain then?"

"Yes, but the pain you feel in the game is nothing like what you would feel in real life. They tone it down to keep gamers safe. It is still not fun the first couple times you die though," Nyle purses his lips in thought. "Plus you lose all of your gear. Well unless if you have something to store them in for safety."

"I guess that makes sense," I sigh. "If you die in real life you lose everything, so why not in the game too. Now what?"

"Now you put this on," Flint holds out a black helmet with a dark visor. "Once you do just say 'Start' and you will be pulled into the startup for the game. Better start thinking of a good gamer tag. We will meet you at the terminal once you go through."

"Okay," I whimper and take a deep breath. The black helmet is padded like a motorcycle bike but there are metal circles all over the inside. "So it sucks your brain basically into the game?"

"Correct," Nyle nods and pulls his own helmet on. "See you inside." The helmet settles over my head gently and when the visor is pulled down no light trickles inside. I blink in the darkness before uttering the word.

"Start."