as much as I do.
Jeremy’s expression is as deadpan as ever. “Of course I’ll go, Claudia.”
I feel myself nod. “I’ll find a good spot, then.” I am still turned toward April, and she gives me a tight-lipped smile.
I go into Olivia’s head. It takes a few tries and a lot of concentration since she’s playing me and I can’t lay my head down, but I manage it.
Next time I do this, I’ll gain access to her mind on the first try, I swear to myself.
Olivia checks the display with all my information first. Doesn’t seem to notice that my sustenance level is at fifty-seven, not on forty like she left me three days ago. Next time, I’ll have to be more careful and exert myself just a little more so she doesn’t catch on to what I am able to do.
If there is a next time.
Olivia holds her palm out and moves it to the left, as if she’s waving at someone. This drags another page onto the main screen—the long list of supplies.
“Anything in particular you want to find?” April asks.
“Not really. Well...I’d like to stock up on winter gear. I’ve got a source that says it’s setting in soon. But you didn’t hear that from me,” I say, and Olivia changes the display again.
Summer is nearly over. But the days are still so hot they nearly char your flesh, and I usually return from our forays with blisters on my scalp and neck. How is it possible for winter to come soon? But then I think of the snowstorm just a few months ago and how it had come right after a scorching hot day. I think of the 110-degree day we experienced last winter, in the middle of January. Maybe the change in the weather is just another element of the game.
Another way to torture unsuspecting characters, challenge our gamers.
“I hate the winter,” Jeremy says, and I’m curious if the boy or girl behind his lifeless face is speaking as a character or from personal preference.
“West End,” April says. “We haven’t raided there in a while.”
At last Olivia pulls up the game map. I’ve waited for this since I pushed myself into her thoughts, and I watch carefully. One flesh-eater is already on West End, but there are four Survivors surrounding him. Prey stalking the predator. Strength in numbers.
Less than a month ago, three flesh-eaters came after me as I was leaving a solo rescue mission at one of the record stores on Broadway. They’d cornered me behind the sales counter, backing me into rows of yellowed, autographed photos of smiling people wearing wide-brimmed hats. “Strength in numbers,” one of them had said, leering at me as they began to close in.
I killed them all. One with the jagged neck of a guitar just after he smashed it in an attempt to knock me out, another with his own weapon and the last by wrapping my belt around her neck, pulling it taut until she stopped breathing. But the entire time I’d fought them off, and even as I took their belongings after they were dead, I’d wanted to run and hide.
I still want to do that.
I return my attention to Olivia. She spreads her thumb and index finger apart, then snaps them together in a swift flicking motion. The map expands, revealing hundreds, thousands of the little photos. Whatever is happening on West End no longer matters to me. I am more interested in the area to the left of the screen.
It’s not like the rest of the map.
The space beneath my picture and surrounding it is a deep green color. It extends to the right, but even though the left of the screen is still in the shape of a landform, the green stops. And here, the land is shaded black. There are no photos with writing beneath them on this side of the map, nothing but a dark void. I’m not exactly sure how far away it is from my current location. Maybe fifty or so miles? I examine the map carefully, wanting to ensure I haven’t missed any other dark areas, but the one to the left is it. Is there a possibility that it’s the way out of the game?
I try to draw myself away from looking at
Jeremy’s expression is as deadpan as ever. “Of course I’ll go, Claudia.”
I feel myself nod. “I’ll find a good spot, then.” I am still turned toward April, and she gives me a tight-lipped smile.
I go into Olivia’s head. It takes a few tries and a lot of concentration since she’s playing me and I can’t lay my head down, but I manage it.
Next time I do this, I’ll gain access to her mind on the first try, I swear to myself.
Olivia checks the display with all my information first. Doesn’t seem to notice that my sustenance level is at fifty-seven, not on forty like she left me three days ago. Next time, I’ll have to be more careful and exert myself just a little more so she doesn’t catch on to what I am able to do.
If there is a next time.
Olivia holds her palm out and moves it to the left, as if she’s waving at someone. This drags another page onto the main screen—the long list of supplies.
“Anything in particular you want to find?” April asks.
“Not really. Well...I’d like to stock up on winter gear. I’ve got a source that says it’s setting in soon. But you didn’t hear that from me,” I say, and Olivia changes the display again.
Summer is nearly over. But the days are still so hot they nearly char your flesh, and I usually return from our forays with blisters on my scalp and neck. How is it possible for winter to come soon? But then I think of the snowstorm just a few months ago and how it had come right after a scorching hot day. I think of the 110-degree day we experienced last winter, in the middle of January. Maybe the change in the weather is just another element of the game.
Another way to torture unsuspecting characters, challenge our gamers.
“I hate the winter,” Jeremy says, and I’m curious if the boy or girl behind his lifeless face is speaking as a character or from personal preference.
“West End,” April says. “We haven’t raided there in a while.”
At last Olivia pulls up the game map. I’ve waited for this since I pushed myself into her thoughts, and I watch carefully. One flesh-eater is already on West End, but there are four Survivors surrounding him. Prey stalking the predator. Strength in numbers.
Less than a month ago, three flesh-eaters came after me as I was leaving a solo rescue mission at one of the record stores on Broadway. They’d cornered me behind the sales counter, backing me into rows of yellowed, autographed photos of smiling people wearing wide-brimmed hats. “Strength in numbers,” one of them had said, leering at me as they began to close in.
I killed them all. One with the jagged neck of a guitar just after he smashed it in an attempt to knock me out, another with his own weapon and the last by wrapping my belt around her neck, pulling it taut until she stopped breathing. But the entire time I’d fought them off, and even as I took their belongings after they were dead, I’d wanted to run and hide.
I still want to do that.
I return my attention to Olivia. She spreads her thumb and index finger apart, then snaps them together in a swift flicking motion. The map expands, revealing hundreds, thousands of the little photos. Whatever is happening on West End no longer matters to me. I am more interested in the area to the left of the screen.
It’s not like the rest of the map.
The space beneath my picture and surrounding it is a deep green color. It extends to the right, but even though the left of the screen is still in the shape of a landform, the green stops. And here, the land is shaded black. There are no photos with writing beneath them on this side of the map, nothing but a dark void. I’m not exactly sure how far away it is from my current location. Maybe fifty or so miles? I examine the map carefully, wanting to ensure I haven’t missed any other dark areas, but the one to the left is it. Is there a possibility that it’s the way out of the game?
I try to draw myself away from looking at
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