mutated

chapter thirty four: i wished i lived in a virtual reality simulation

"Holy shït this is cool!"

Yes,  swearing is unacceptable you should wash thy mouth with soap but I DON'T CARE. This was really, really cool. And nothing was changing my opinion on that.

What was cool, you may ask? Well, Maxim had upgraded the virtual-reality goggles to have different settings and sensitivity and had uploaded a new program into them. Currently, Lily was making us edit the virtual reality avatars that we each had, and we were calibrating our abilities so that the VR goggles could detect the different energy output we gave off as we used our powers, and how that could be rendered into the digital world. 

For my telekinesis, it manifested in the digital world as silvery strands of energy, while Lily had specifically told Maxim not to include a program that could sense my telepathy as that would be counted as cheating. Rude. Currently, I was forced to stand in the corner of the room lifting up boxes that the instructions told me to lift for calibration. I couldn't see what the others were doing (Maxim had disabled the 'connect-with-others' function for now), but from the occasional crackling sound of electricity and the roar of flames, I assumed that everyone else was also calibrating their VR goggles.

What was this activity for?

"Team building." Lily had said. "You'll be put into pairs, different from your old ones, and see how well you will be able to work together. Unlike the prison break scenario, in this program, you will be against each other. Team killing is not allowed and may lead to disqualification, but sacrificing a team member and accidentally leading to their death is allowed. Of course, alliances may be made, but you will not be able to see who you are up against unless you recognize their avatar. Otherwise, you must stay vigilant and be ready for anything."

Stay vigilant. Yeah, easier said than done when you disabled my telepathic abilities. I had relied so much on them for the past few months that it seemed so strange when they were disabled. It's like phantom pain: you lose an arm, but you still feel that it's missing and out of reach. It sucks.

By now, most people had already finished their calibration process, and after I edited the last details for my VR avatars, removed my goggles and watched Lily for our next instructions. Our psychic senior had redyed her hair several colors, the upper brown layer still remaining, but the blonde streaks underneath her plain hair now dyed with rainbow patterns. When I had asked her about it, she had replied with three words. "It's pride month."

Do conjugations count as one word or two words? 

Nevermind. Off topic.

"Goggles back on, Phoenix Squadron," Lily announced in a clear voice, and a series of fumbling ensured as everybody put their goggles back on. I struggled to do this, before ending up having to carefully maneuver the goggles over my glasses. The moment I put them back on, I stifled a scream. Everyone else was now visible in their characters now, but that wasn't what had surprised me. 

In the middle of our assembled circle was a zombie. Now, this wasn't what I was expecting. Sure, it looked just like what I had expected a zombie to look like, with decaying grey peeling flesh and all those gruesome details, but what I hadn't expected was to actually see one. And with the quality of these goggles, I was so sure they were real.

A few screams echoed in the room as some other avatars began to pop up, and I picked out one avatar that was directly opposite me. She had long curls that cascaded down her side, an ombre from rose to rose-gold. Her eyes glittered a similar gold, and it took me a few seconds to realize that this was Karyn. 

Lily's voice remained sharp even though headphones covered our ears. "I'm guessing you all see the zombie?"

Cue chorus.