Chapter 54

The Meeting

“Gentlemen, ladies,” Mr. Osmond said, once the group's electronic devices had been put away. “Thank you all for coming on such short notice. You may not know each other, but I know all of you, and I've called you here for a reason. Since we are all implant wearers. I'll start the introductions.” He held up his left wrist and made it glow violet. “Mr. Osmond. Mentalist.”

Angie was next. She wiggled the stump of her left arm. “Angie. Berserker.”

Liam did the same. “Liam. Airmage.”

Howie raised his left wrist. “Howie. Cook. I'll be honest. I'm not sure what I'm doing here.”

The girl Leo hadn't met put down her book and raised her left wrist with a shy smile. “Charlotte. Assassin.”

Leo raised his own wrist. “Leo. No character class.” Then it hit him. “I know you!” he pointed at Charlotte. “I know you from the previous future!”

“In case you haven't heard already, Leo claims to know the future,” Mr. Osmond continued. “And after a bit of investigation, I've concluded he is legitimate.”

Charlotte put down her book and looked at Leo, curious. “What did you see?”

“You were the youngest implant wearer, aside from me, to make it to the refugee camp at the city stadium. You were the only one close to my age. That's why I noticed you. We never spoke or anything, but I saw you around. I think you get eaten by monsters two and a half weeks post-change, so be careful.”

Charlotte looked at Leo for a long moment with a nervous smile. “Okay.”

“According to Leo, I didn't live past the first day, so it could be worse,” Mr. Osmond said.

“Are you sure you didn't see me?” Angie asked, “or these guys?” motioning to Howie and Liam.

“Not a thing, sorry,” Leo said. “I have no idea what happens to you.”

“This is ridiculous. How is any of this possible?” Liam asked.

“It's not,” Mr. Osmond responded. “But in case you haven't noticed, we are living in impossible times.”

“And you've brought us all together to save the world?” Liam said. “What's the plan?”

“The plan is a lot of things,” Mr. Osmond said, “but the reason I called you all here is that we believe aliens helped make the game School's Out, and because of this, the game contains hidden messages and opportunities to gain Demon Tears. Hopefully, these hidden messages will tell us what we need to do to prevent Leo's future from happening. The fact that School's Out is one of the most banned games in the world gives credence to this belief. And because the game strongly encourages playing together as a six-person team, I've found five people who I believe are willing and able to form a team with me to play this game.”

“You realize two of us are amputees, right?” Liam asked, wiggling his left stump for emphasis.

“The new gaming pods connect directly to the brain, so that won't be a problem. You will have two hands in the game,” Mr. Oswald said.

“Neat,” Angie said.

“And who's providing us with these expensive gaming pods?” Leo asked.

Mr. Osmond smiled. “Leave that to me.”

“Again, really not sure what I'm doing here,” Howie said. “I don't play VR games and I have a restaurant to run.”

“A lot of common character classes have useful skills,” Mr. Osmond said. “I suspect, as a cook, you have a rapid-movement skill and superior knife-wielding abilities, either of which could be useful for both gaming and the future Armageddon.”

Howie sighed and stood up. “I'm not saying I believe Leo or that I don't, but I worked hard to get where I am in life, and I've got my restaurant to run. When I was young, I lost three different jobs because of the time I spent gaming.”

“But this is to save the world, Howie,” Angie said, pleading.

Howie shook his head and looked at the rest of the group, “If you want to, come by my diner for something to eat, or if you want to meet up to train, that's fine, but I don't want any part of this 'saving-the-world' nonsense.”

“Think about it, at least,” Mr. Osmond said.

“Already have. Sorry.” Howie squeezed Angie's shoulder and left, shutting the study door behind him.

“Well, that was disappointing,” Mr. Osmond said.

“Howie can be a drag at parties,” Angie said. “Like the time me and a friend tied firecrackers to the neighbor's Chihuahua. Should have heard him chewing us out.”

This content has been misappropriated from Royal Road; report any instances of this story if found elsewhere.

“That is cruel,” Charlotte said.

“We never actually lit the firecrackers,” Angie said, defensive, “and that Chihuahua was mean.”

“I happen to know the guy to take his place,” Leo said. “Jason Young. He's not an implant wearer, but he wants to be. And I know he's spent a lot of hours playing School's Out, and he's very good.”

“Are you sure he can be trusted?” Mr. Osmond asked. “Keep in mind, your friend could make quite a bit of money by turning us in.”

“I'd trust him with my life,” Leo said.

“I'll let you bring him on board then,” Mr. Osmond said with a sigh. “It will be Saturday at the earliest before I get the pods installed. In the meantime, I want you to get to know each other and do what you can to familiarize yourselves with the game. Once those pods arrive, I expect us to play together like a well-oiled game-playing machine.”

“Is our team getting a name?” Charlotte asked. “Like Osmond's Demons?”

“How about Imp Insanity,” Liam said.

“I'll let you guys work on that,” Mr. Osmond said. “But first let me stress that the five of us getting together, two of whom are known ex-implant wearers, will ensure we are investigated by the authorities. Drones may follow you. Assume you are being watched at all times and everything you say is being recorded. My hope is any investigation will be a low priority and that they'll leave us alone during our three-week time frame.”

“A drone followed me here,” Leo said.

“Us too,” Angie said.

“Not me,” Charlotte said, “but now I'm with you guys, I'm sure they will.”

“Yes.” Mr. Osmond looked over at the group to make sure they were paying attention. “To that effect, I'm going to ask you to never say the B-word, or the I-word, but especially the B-word.”

“Bitch?” Angie asked.

“'Bitch' is fine. I'm referring to the other B-word. If government police overhear us talking about the end of the world, they won't care. People talk about the end of the world all the time. But if they hear you saying B-word-users will turn into monsters and eat everyone, they will care a lot. They will arrest you. They will subject you to lie-detector tests and enhanced interrogation techniques to determine the source of this no-doubt terrorist-linked rumor. Do I make myself clear? I, for one, don't want to experience the end of the world from a jail cell.”

“Oh shit,” Leo said. “We may have a problem.” He told them about Trent, Trent's anti-Bio-Blessed-church, how Trent had made a bet with Tagert about Leo's predictions, and Tagert's prediction website. “When the police paid Tagert a visit about his website, he immediately named Trent as his information source.”

Mr. Osmond sat down. “This could be a big problem. It's possible they dismissed Tagert as a lone crazy person. But if a bunch of people start making the same predictions, they're likely to take him more seriously.”

“That would put Trent on the spot, and endanger the people close to him,” Leo said. What if he had saved Trent from committing suicide in the future, only to get him or his family thrown in jail, or even killed by the police?

“Which would lead the police to you.” Mr. Osmond's eyes became distant. “It would appear Tagert, as well as Trent and his family, are liabilities. Leo, have you ever killed anyone?”

“Are we going to kill somebody?” Angie asked. “Neat.” But she looked nervous. It was clear that for all her tough talk, she'd never killed anyone.

“No. I mean, yes, I have killed people,” Leo said, as an influx of memories made him sick, “but I think killing Tagert is a bad idea. It's apt to draw attention. And killing Trent and his family is not an option. If I have to be jailed or executed to get the word out, then so be it. This is bigger than all of us.”

“If we don't do something, Trent, along with friends and family, will be arrested, and this time they'll be subjected to a lie-detector test and intensive interrogation. If we can eliminate Tagert as a source of testimony, I might be able to lay a false trail. What if some crazy implant wearer from China or the Middle East made all these predictions a month ago? It would only be natural for us to learn about it now.”

“What if Tagert accidentally overdosed on a drug that messed up his memories, preventing him from being a reliable witness?” Leo asked. “From what Trent was telling me, that seems like something Tagert would do.”

“Serpent Jelly might work,” Mr. Osmond said. “It's a psychedelic substance that alters memories and causes memory loss, but it's secreted by a tree toad in a remote African country and isn't exactly sold on street corners.”

“I might know of a source,” Leo said.

Mr. Osmond looked skeptical. “Keep me updated. In the meantime, I encourage you to communicate with each other and prepare for the end of the world, but never say the B-word in relation to these preparations.”

Leo nodded and sent Trent a message via his implant concerning what they'd discussed with Tagert and the possible danger.

I may have a solution on my end. Talk to you later. Trent, or Pyro Mage 43:2 responded.

"How did you become an assassin?" Angie asked Charlotte. "Did you kill people? How many people have you killed?'

Charlotte shook her head. “I've never killed anyone. I got Assassin Uncommon, because I'm always sneaking around school to avoid notice. Plus, I poisoned a couple of jerks with Ex-Lax cupcakes.”

“Cool.”

“Oh, before I forget,” Mr. Osmond walked up to Leo and touched Leo's left wrist with his own.

A message popped up on Leo's implant.

Teach requesting contact. Yes/No

Leo selected Yes. Then he, as--Future Man 10/16, requested contact with Mr. Osmond and felt it accepted.

Teach appeared in his short list of contacts, under Mr. Al and Pyro Mage 43:2.

Mr. Osmond left the study.

Leo made implant contact with the rest of the group.

Angie was Zrrkr #1

Liam was Air-Mage 87

And Charlotte was Spider-007.

Teach: I'm using my networking skill to set up a private group connection among the five of us so we can stay in touch. Implant communication is the most private and untraceable communication system we know of. Please use it.

Sure enough, when Leo pulled up his contact list, he saw a group connection with the four names together. For the first time in either life, Leo was part of an implant group.

Angie threw a doughnut at Leo, like a ninja's shuriken, smacking him in the face. “Come on Leo, let's spar!”