Glitches

Chapter 2 - Hidden messages

I walked into my own room and over to my laptop on the messy table. It was filled with post its, different kind of batteries and crumbled drawings. Just more stuff I needed to clean in the next few days. I glanced at the clock on my wall to check the time.

11:47 pm.

I knew that sleep wouldn't get to me before around one hour or so. So, I decided to take a seat in the old devasted chair in front of the table to play some games on my laptop in a way to kill time. The laptop was quick to start up, the western inspired home screen of my favourite game, In-FernØ, immediately popping up.

In-FernØ is a simple game. It's an old- styled loota-shooter game like Battlefront, Warframe or R.I.P.-oste. But with co-up play.

I clicked start and got placed in a lobby where I waited for other players to join. When we were the right amount of players in the lobby, a countdown appeared in the middle of my screen, counting down to the first match.

When the counter reached 0, the lobby disappeared and got replaced with the familiar desert I had seen so many times. On my screen was there written with thick blue letters: Keeper or Treasure Stalker.

I quickly clicked on 'Keeper'

Being a Keeper is the most tough role to be. It's your job to carry your team's treasures. And also, to stay alive. Because if you die, the game is cut short and your team loses. That means that everyone is trying to kill you.

You are armed with a weapon of your choice. But the more treasures you carry in your inventory, the slower you get. And at one point, when the game is about to reach its end, the Keepers loses their weapon and is left without defence.

The blue letters disappeared from the screen and the desert came in fully view.

In front of me was there a treasure chest. My avatar picked it up automatically. Around me, my teammates were getting ready, some of them already on their way to the other team to get treasures to our treasure chest.

I quickly checked my arsenal, making sure that I had everything ready. I stood ready, a loaded shotgun in front of me as my weapon. Ready to shoot everyone who came close.

Not long after the match started, I heard someone running at my direction. I quickly turned around, pulling the trigger to the shotgun instantly. A player from the other team fell limply to the ground, a text popping up at the top corner of my screen.

Headshot!

If I wasn't a keeper, that guy could have given my team more treasures to the treasure chest. Keepers can't collect treasures, only kill opponents to protect the chest. The player I had just killed would respawn at his own base, ready to fight and steal again. Nothing stolen from him, except time.

Quickly, I recharged the shotgun, making ready to shoot again.

I looked to my right and saw that one of my teammates had just respawned.

But just as his avatar spawned, he was on the run again. I watched as his avatar slowly got smaller, when I spotted a player from the other team aiming at his running figure. Without thinking, I pointed the shotgun at the player and pulled the trigger, taking 25% of his life.

This went on for a while. My team was in the front. However, the other team was not far behind.

In the left corner I could see that there was only two minute left of the match. And I watched my shotgun getting removed from my inventory.

I laid myself flat on my stomach, making the target smaller for the enemy. And I waited for one of my teammates to run back to protect me. But a whole minute went by, and nothing happened.

Fuck.

I heard footsteps beside me. I looked up and a guy from the other team came into view.

Fuck!

This was it. Game over.

He would shoot me, and my team would lose. Why hadn't my teammates come back to back me up?!

But the guy didn't shoot me.

He just bent down beside my character, pulled out a scroll and handed it to me, before sprinting back to his own team.

I looked at the scroll, that was now in my inventory. I frowned.

What just happened?

It was strange that he hadn't shot me, but the scroll surprised me the most. Scrolls do not exist in In-FernØ.

How? You can't mod this game. So, how could he do it?

Suddenly, the countdown filled the middle of my screen, red, thick numbers counting down from ten.

In a panic I opened the scroll and took a screenshot, so I could read it when the game was over. The counter reached zero, and the desert disappeared. My team was now placed inside of a pub, in-game characters clapping and congratulating us with our victory. But I wasn't really paying attention.

I just wanted to read what was written in that scroll. A scroll that shouldn't be possible to exist in the game.

The second I was back at the main menu, I logged out of the game and clicked on my photo library.

I clicked on the screenshot I had taken, but not long after I had clicked on it, the screenshot disappeared.

"What the hell?!" I exclaimed in a whisper.

A text came up in the bottom left corner of my screen. It was my virus program telling me that it had found a threat and had deleted it. A chill ran up and down my spine.

My computer had been quick to delete the screenshot, but I had still been able to read what it said on the scroll.

It's Time For The Truth To Come Out. Meet Up At Westbury Ave 12 London. It's Important. Everything Will Make Sense.