The Game

2nd Mission Eve

Shutting the bedroom door behind me, I make my way to my closet shutting that door as well. I need to see if my sister responded to me. I quickly check and see there's nothing new from her, I frown but push back the worry and decide to leave her another message before the mission tomorrow.

I exit my closet and my bedroom and enter the hallway. I do a quick sweep to make sure I'm alone before I head off to find Amilia's room. I know I shouldn't be snooping but if I'm going to have to trust her on these missions, I need to make sure that I can, and that she won't be a risk to our team's safety. Her reaction to the news of our extraction mission was something that piqued my interest. Is her Uncle missing and she's waiting to hear news, whether good or bad? Or is she just worried her traitor uncle will be found by the school or whoever else is looking for him?

I don't have much time. I can get into her room easily because they've left the door unlocked. Either she doesn't have anything to hide or she's trying to throw off any suspicion by acting as if she doesn't care who comes looking.

After peeking into each large closet, Amilia's desk is easy to spot. There is a picture of her and what must be her boyfriend, sitting on the desk in plain sight. My hands make quick work of shuffling through each drawer, skimming over the items the school gave us, and flipping through any book that looks to belong to Amilia.

Nothing. Well, not nothing but no information about her family at all.

My pocket vibrates and I reach in and bring out Tom's flip phone. I wonder when he slipped that back into my pocket. Sneaky. There is a new message from Sydney asking where I am and notifying me that the rest of the group is at lunch. Another message from her comes through and says they're meeting in ten minutes under our usual tree. I reply that I'll meet them there then go back to scanning Amilia's room. My communicator vibrates again and It notifies me that Sydney responded to let me know she'll bring lunch for me. I don't reply and turn back to Amilia's things. I want to snoop through her closet further but I doubt I'd be able to open her safe and I'm not really interested in shifting through her clothes.

Before I leave the bedroom I check to make sure the hallway is clear again then shut the door carefully behind me. There's no movement or sound of any kind on our floor right now. I grab an apple from the kitchen unsure of what Sydney will bring for me and head out to meet my group by the tree.

I jog down the three flights of Skinker and make my way to the green. The three of my friends are already standing beneath the giant tree. When I get closer, Sydney comes out to meet me.

"Tom won't tell us anything about your mission," Sydney eyes me and I look over her shoulder at Tom and J.T. "What's going on? My mission didn't say classified or anything. Just the usual first mission. To test how the team works together."

"What tasks have you been given?" I ask and Sydney hands me a to-go container filled with a solid-looking meal. I smile to show my gratitude and we sit a few feet away from the boys. I eat while she talks.

"Overall, our assignment involves us leaving campus and tracking down items. I think we're building something. Along the way, we have tasks to complete. Working together for the first time, you know. Simple tasks. Finding this. Avoiding that. Solving this. We don't know exactly until tomorrow what each task technically is but we have a general idea so we can at least prepare." Sydney is about to continue talking but I realize something.

"Wait, you're building something, again?"

"Yeah, I mean there are other tasks thrown in there but you can tell the goal or mission is to find all these pieces to create something. Build something. I haven't put together what it is yet as we don't know the exact items we have to find, and it's not as obvious as our first mission, but that's what I surmised from the tasks everyone has." Huh, I sit back and continue eating while thinking about why the school was sending their students out to collect the pieces for whatever it is they want to build. Then again maybe it is just part of The Game. But after learning how serious Team 7's mission is, I have my defenses up and am looking at everything as suspicious now.