Chapter 85: Roads

A geographically inclined person might suggest that halfway through the first day of our trip to Florida, we’d traveled about as far east as when we visited Benji’s house. They might point out, not unfairly, that if we were still planning to visit Lena’s parents in Kansas – and we were – that maybe I-70 would have been a better starting point even if we wanted to roam off the beaten path to scout parks and little towns.

They might have gotten annoyed when, after a nerve wracking hour poking along at the helm of Donica’s Yukon, I turned right off the evocatively named Colorado Rd 17 and headed back toward the mountains.

I wasn’t lost! Honest!

Under other circumstances – say, if there had been more than one turnoff every ten miles – maybe I would’ve gotten lost. Or if I hadn’t had an SUV full of people with GPS apps open to chart a course for me.

I turned west for two good reasons.

“It’s okay that we don’t get to Colorado Springs until tonight?” I asked. A straight trip down I-25 would have gotten us there in two hours, tops, even with me at the wheel. Our “scenic route” would get us there after dark.

“It’s fine.” Donica’s voice was always clipped, which made it hard to say if she’d put frustrated energy into that “fine.” “The practice I’m supposed to scout is tomorrow.”

Erin and Michelle were supposedly going on the trip as part of their schoolwork. I’d seen a copy of the email Erin had sent from Matt’s account. “Matt” thanked his boss, the Dr. Yeboah that Gerry had complained about, for approving a trip to a rising game studio on such short notice, and regretted that they couldn’t persuade the devs to accommodate the whole class. Erin believed that Dr. Yeboah left enough of the admin to Matt that the professor wouldn’t question Matt rubber-stamping such a trip. Of course, that wouldn’t hold up if the trip dragged on, and it sure as hell wouldn’t if we couldn’t rescue Matt and Gerry.

Lena, Zhizhi, and I had quit our mundane jobs entirely. If we couldn’t keep growing Lena’s channel, or she couldn’t win the tournament and collect an actual prize, or we couldn’t find a way to turn Third Eye into paying work, or Zhizhi couldn’t transform our story into some kind of career-making journalistic achievement, we were all some variation of professionally fucked.

Donica, on the other hand, was still at least nominally doing her job. She’d sold her boss, Erin’s father, on a cross-country scouting trip of college basketball players. Apparently, this kind of travel wasn’t anything unusual for her, and the only reasons she hadn’t set out already were her broken ankle and Erin’s involvement with Third Eye. Donica would legit be doing her job, even if it just happened to get her out of town exactly when people might start asking questions about where Erin had gone.

Of course, since Donica had apparently fabricated the scouting report that interested her in a player at the Air Force Academy on the outskirts of Colorado Springs, she didn’t seem to care about doing her job well.

Her schedule could have constrained our trip, except that basically every town in America had a college basketball team.

Donica’s scouting wasn’t the only reason we were headed back toward the Springs, though.

We had a prime scouting location of our own to check.

After another twenty minutes of my excessively cautious driving, we saw the Black Forest. It was a big span of piney woods, almost all public land, lightly traveled, open to people and their dogs and their horses. Open to Third Eye players and their Daimons, but if none had ventured this far off the beaten path to scout it...

“Holy shit,” Lena said.

“That,” I said, “sounds positive.” I risked glancing at her in the side view mirror. I knew I should check those regularly, anyway, right?

Lena had her head and phone out the window and was staring at something in the forest. Between her enthusiasm and the way her red hair blew in the breeze, she put me in the mind of an Irish Setter. She said, “Mmhm!”

“Anybody want to clue me in?” I asked.

Erin began, “It’s –”

“Nope,” Lena said. “Cam’s got to see for himself.”

Erin laughed. “Okay.”

I rolled my eyes. Instead of hitting the gas – I cruised about ten miles per hour under the speed limit – I slowed even more.

Lena flicked a glance my way, but I couldn’t be checking my mirrors all the time. Had to watch the road.

The trees closed in around us. We’d seen more foliage, more hills, as we got further south. Real terrain. It made me feel better, more like I was within the bounds of reality, but it also meant turns I couldn’t see coming from miles away.

One last time, I fished for a hint. “Seriously, what’s got you bouncing?”

“You’ve waited this long,” Donica said. “Park and have a look for yourself.”

“Fine.” I eased her Yukon into a gravel parking space. Against all reason, the monstrous vessel obeyed my commands. When I pushed its gear shift into park and turned the key, the titanic rumble from its engine subsided.

God, I wished we could’ve taken Zhizhi’s Neon instead. I could still do a lot of damage if I screwed up with it, but it wasn’t as viscerally terrifying as being in command of this civilian tank.

I’d made it through my first turn at the wheel, though. It could only get better from here. Right?

I pried my sweaty hands off the wheel and handed Donica her keys. I’m not sure anyone but she and Lena caught my expression; Lena smiled at me, while Donica rolled her eyes.

The story has been stolen; if detected on Amazon, report the violation.

Freed from the responsibility of controlling over five thousand pounds of metal, I couldn’t help but chuckle.

Lena cocked her head? “Sup?”

“Just thinking about responsibility,” I said.

Her head tilted further to the side.

“Sorry.” I opened the door and stepped out onto the gravel. “Driving puts me in a weird mood. Let me get my phone out so I can see what’s impressed all of you so much.”

While I waited for the phone and the Third Eye app to boot, I thought about Erin and Zhizhi comparing Keys to a car. The way Mask used his Key was scary, and if it really allowed for teleportation I would rather have it than any vehicle.

Unless, however, it had offensive applications we hadn’t seen yet, or the environment it opened doors to was far worse than made sense based on what he’d said and done? It wasn’t even close to as dangerous as the SUV I’d just been allowed to drive, despite everyone on the team agreeing I was rusty as hell.

The point was, with one exception, we had seen nothing in the game that even came close to the destructive power of a device that anyone in the country could acquire if they were willing to stand in line at the DMV every few years, then go into a lifetime of debt.

How many units of Earth would someone need to erect a shield that could withstand the Yukon slamming into it? How many HP would I lose if it hit me at full speed? More than I had from the attacks of the creature at the construction site, far more than from any attack we’d seen a regular player use.

Once again, I found myself wondering how much Third Eye could change the world. We’d picked up some useful tricks, seen some scary shit. The scientific implications were staggering, way above my pay grade. It seemed to me that on a societal level, though, access to the game might prove less impactful than the automobile, and a hell of a lot less dangerous.

Of course, the exception I’d thought of was the firestorm Albie used to finish off the creature. We hadn’t seen it happen, but we’d gotten a real good look at the aftermath. She’d turned a huge, space-distorted warehouse to slag. If that kind of power was something ordinary players could eventually obtain, Third Eye access was closer to owning an attack helicopter than a car.

Only one way to find out. Keep getting stronger.

I raised my phone and swept it over the parking lot.

The lot offered spaces for a dozen vehicles but only one other was present, a dusty F-150 almost as big as the Yukon. There were two trails that Google Maps suggested formed a big loop, but tracks led off in all directions.

And from where I stood, Third Eye already showed me:

A duplicate of the metal drum garbage cans near the trailheads.

One of those strange stone mounds we’d seen all over the southern outskirts of Denver.

Just at the edge of my vision, a cluster of unnaturally green undergrowth.

In the opposite direction, a wooden sign marked with Third Eye runes.

And most impressively, in the distance, a single towering pine tree that rose at least twice as high as the surrounding canopy. Somehow, I suspected it was that last that had excited my teammates.

How much Wood did it represent? One, because it was ultimately a single tree? Ten, because it was ten times the height of the city trees we’d occasionally collected Third Eye versions of? A hundred, because that was how much greater its volume was?

However much Wood the tree ended up giving, it was an unambiguous sign that no Third Eye player had come within miles of the Black Forest before us. No one would have ignored it.

“Wow,” I whispered.

Lena touched my elbow. “Right?”

“I want to go straight there,” Erin said, “but we should be thorough.”

“Clearly,” Donica said, “we should split up so we can cover more ground.”

Lena spun on her. I couldn’t see her expression, but I could imagine it: eyes wild, lips curled. And fists balled. Those, at least, I could see. Anyone who tossed off a cliched horror movie line drew her ire.

All of which Donica had clearly anticipated. She smirked.

Erin, who was still gazing up at the tree, missed the entire interaction. “No, we need to stick together so we maximize our total XP.”

Donica pursed her lips. “Mm, point.”

Lena hunched her shoulders and turned back to me. I was so impressed she hadn’t taken Donica’s bait that I bent over and kissed the top of her head. Well, maybe I didn’t need an excuse. Either way, it seemed to calm her.

“I’ll get your chair,” Erin said.

“I don’t think I’ll need it,” Donica said. “I would’ve been perfectly capable of driving today.”

Erin frowned. I didn’t think it was because of the veiled shot at my skill behind the wheel.

Donica, from what I could see, made a terrible patient.

“If all goes well,” I said, “we’re going to be walking for hours. By the time we’re done, you won’t feel better anymore.”

Donica locked gazes with me.

Was I pushing back because she’d provoked Lena? Maybe a little. But I also didn’t want to have to slow down our scouting trip to accommodate her injury. Frankly, we’d have been better off if we brought wheelchairs for her and Zhizhi both.

“How are you going to feel,” Donica asked, “if you have to push a wheelchair up and down a dirt trail all day?”

“Just fine, obvs,” Lena said. “Unlimited stamina, remember?”

Donica took a long, deep breath. Flatly, she said, “How could I forget?”

I reminded myself that she’d lost Third Eye access in part because Lena and I had pushed ahead at the construction site. We owed her a little patience.

Not unlimited patience, though, especially if she was going to abuse it to hurt herself worse. I helped Erin and Michelle unload and unfold her wheelchair.

“I can push it,” Lena said.

Donica raised an eyebrow. “Pass. I’ll start off walking.”

Her resolve lasted until she realized just how uneven the terrain was. Maybe if we’d stuck to the trails, she’d have managed more than fifteen minutes, but soon, she was in the chair and Lena was trying not to hum as she pushed it along.

Donica kept shooting worried looks Lena’s way, but as far as I could tell, Lena didn’t get up to any shenanigans. I’d never understood why pushing someone around in a wheelchair appealed to her, but clearly, it did. She’d wanted to when we got Miguel out of the hospital, too.

I tried to figure it out, but soon enough, Third Eye distracted me.

We took a wide, looping path in the general direction of the giant tree, and everywhere we went, we found more Materials. Wood in abundance – extra trees indistinguishable from their neighbors through the app, as well as unnaturally green underbrush –, intermittent Stone in the form of mounds or outcroppings, occasional Iron when we neared the trail and found signs. No Glass or Plastic, yet, and none of the advanced resources we really craved.

Still, the density shocked me. I thought there might be as many Third Eye objects per square mile as in the heart of Denver, and unlike in the city, there were no property lines to keep us from claiming them. The XP flowed in. Every Material we gained was something we could practice with. And if we obtained Gold, and it worked like Erin suspected, a potential source of Tickets.

I’d pushed hard for this plan, but only because we hadn’t had a better one. We’d all taken some huge risks to make it happen.

We’d take plenty more if we got our way. Tonight, Lena and I would turn the team’s notes into wiki posts. Tomorrow, while we waited for Donica to do her scouting, we’d work with Zhizhi to edit a video documenting our trip.

For now, we’d leave a delay. Soon, though, we’d start updating the wiki in real-time.

If he didn’t already, Mask would know exactly where Lena and I were.

If we were lucky, he wouldn’t know we weren’t alone.