Chapter 74

Back to the Game

Leo lay down, enjoying his real bed in his real bedroom. He knew he should exercise despite losing his red pills, but he was tired and couldn't bring himself to care.

He fell asleep quickly, only to be awakened by horrible nightmares. In addition to being waterboarded by monsters, a memory from his previous life gave him chills.

“Has anyone been able to contact The Professor?” an unknown implant wearer asked a small group of people Leo didn't recognize.

“I've been trying for days,” someone answered. “Nothing. I think we can conclude he didn't make it.”

“Shit,” was the first man's response. He looked sick. “God help us all.”

***

Saturday, October 4th, 2059

12 days to Armageddon

After a restless sleep, Leo got up early, skipped breakfast, and headed for Mr. Osmond's place.

Mr. Osmond let Leo in. There were dark circles around the man's eyes. “I told everybody to leave you alone, Leo. I know you had a difficult week. If you need more time, or anything else, just say so.”

The place smelled like unwashed bodies and old coffee.

“So what did I miss?” Leo asked.

Mr. Osmond led him to the kitchen. “A number of things. I submitted to a lie detector test, telling them I've had no contact with any current implant wearers and am working on a secret formula to track the price fluctuations of certain stocks.” Mr. Osmond helped himself to some coffee and looked over at Leo. When Leo nodded, he poured the boy some coffee as well. “I passed the lie detector test, but I suspect they didn't believe me.”

To any outsiders, it looked like Leo and Mr. Osmond were quietly drinking coffee as they continued speaking via implant.

Teach: I can't believe you went through what you did to protect me. If I had a choice, I would pay one million dollars to not go through what they did to you.

Leo laughed.

Future Man 10/16: You owe me one million dollars then.

Teach: Hardly. But I want you to know I'm grateful. What's disturbing is why the aliens got you released. I'm convinced they see this as a game. Humans pulled you off the board and the aliens took steps to get you back into play. But to what purpose?

Future Man 10/16: I wish I knew. Oh yeah. What's the story on the Serpent Jelly my sister helped score for you?

Teach: Not much. We were considering dosing Tagert, the guy who was snitching on Trent. But The Professor's connections revealed the agency already knows about Trent's connection to you. Trent's been confiding in one of their undercover agents investigating his church for cult activities.

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Future Man 10/16: Uh, oh.

Teach: My thoughts exactly. I gave Trent a heads up. Hopefully, his church can avoid getting shut down or busted before October 16th.

Future Man 10/16: So who's The Professor?

Teach: Some idealistic Ivy-League idiot. He helps freedom fighters around the world by connecting them to other like-minded people and providing instructions on improvised weapons and bombs. I don't like him, but he's well-connected and one of the first people I turned to, to help with our end-of-the-world situation.

Future Man 10/16: A few days after the Change, I remember some implant wearers talking about someone they referred to as The Professor. They looked upset. I assumed they meant someone from the local college. Of course, I didn't know The Professor existed. I'm pretty sure he didn't survive the Change the last time around.

Teach: I see. I'll be sure to pass that along.

Future Man 10/16: Thanks. Ironic that the agency thinks we got our information from The Professor, rather than the reverse. Hold on to the Serpent Jelly. If the Change happens, I have some ideas for how to use it.

“Well, Leo, with the possible threat of prison looming, we've been playing as much School's Out as possible,” Mr. Osmond said, reverting to regular speech. “I talked to Howie, the guy who wouldn't join us last week. He agreed to replace you as Joseph after I offered him money, and it turns out he's an excellent player. We've made some progress in the game. Though there was a major setback when Angie got killed and we had to start over again.”

“Hey, I was trying to protect you guys,” a tired-looking Angie stomped into the kitchen and grabbed an energy drink from the refrigerator. “How was I supposed to know Byron couldn't tank a Boss attack.”

“Well, now you know,” Mr. Osmond said, looking tired and grumpy. “Unfortunately, we have yet to gain any useful information. To make matters worse, the game's two programmers supposedly committed suicide. By hanging themselves, while locked up in a mental institution, and wearing straitjackets. In addition, all the notes and records the two programmers were keeping mysteriously vanished. So the game is all we've got.”

Teach: I contacted our new connections in the agency to see if they kept any of the notes and records from the programmers. They claim the agency burnt it all and that nobody bothered to read any of it first. Assholes.

“You told Leo about Howie right?” Angie asked. “That guy's an amazing player, not that you're a bad player, Leo, but Howie is amazing.”

Jason trudged into the kitchen, looking exhausted. He grabbed an energy drink and stuck some frozen waffles into Mr. Osmond's toaster. “Welcome back, Leo. In the game, we've almost made it to where the two of us rescued the General's daughter.”

“Hey, Loverboy,” Angie winked at Jason.

“Shut up,” Jason said, face turning red.

“We got to that kissing cut-scene Jason kept complaining about,” Angie said. “You want to know what it was? A quick peck on the cheek. Teresa runs over and kisses Gavin on the cheek and runs off again. The game didn't even censor it.”

“Well, how was I supposed to know?” Jason protested.

Leo couldn't stop himself from laughing.

Liam, Charlotte, and Howie came in next, saying sleepy good mornings and filling up the kitchen.

“So with Howie playing, do you guys really need me here?” Leo asked.

The other players looked at each other.

“If you want your place back, you got it, Leo,” Mr. Osmond said. “Howie gets paid the same, regardless.”

Howie nodded. “Up to you guys.”

“Howie's doing a great job,” Jason said, looking nervously at Leo. “We're really kicking butt out there.”

The other players nodded.

“Sounds like I'm not needed,” Leo said, feeling hurt. “Anything you want me to do while you guys play?”

Mr. Osmond tried to take another sip of his coffee, found out his cup was empty, and put it down. “I'd like you to look over the game footage, Leo. I'm convinced there's something obvious I'm missing, but I don't know what.”

Leo nodded, trying to suppress his disappointment. “Will do.”