CHAPTER 1

Canterbury, England – six days until the Exodus

I could swear it wasn’t the alcohol in my system that was making me dance like a lunatic, that what I was doing to this unsuspecting dancefloor was 100% pure proof Matthew Blake, but we all know I’d be lying.

The club wasn’t as full as it usually was — probably because better ones had come out this week — and it didn’t take me long to get served. I wrenched the four sambuca shots from the sticky bar and held them tightly between my fingers as I turned and weaved my way through the crowded dancefloor. Bodies slipped past me, gyrating and moving to the thumping music, everyone locked into their own worlds. I reached the corner table I had left my potential conquests sitting at.

Two pretty but scowling young ladies turned and regarded the offering with interest, but then turned and looked right beside me instead, and their eyes grew three sizes.

“Hey … you’re that guy, from the ad!”

My puffed out chest deflated like a balloon and without looking to see who had just joined them, I instead jerked my chin upward once in greeting. “Hey, Luke,” I said. “I got you a shot.”

“Shit, Matt, you can have any drink you want, and you choose sambuca?” my best friend asked with a low chuckle, but relieved me of two of the shot glasses anyway. The girls tittered at his comment. Luke handed one of the women — the prettier one, I noted bitterly – one of his shots, leaving me to hand the other girl my extra one.

“So, what do you girls—” I began.

“What was it like meeting Cormoran Lake?” the prettier girl asked Luke loudly. “You looked like you were such close friends!”

Luke chuckled again. Even his laugh was more handsome than me. I regarded my best friend up and down in the strobing light of the club. Luke hadn’t even needed to enhance his looks before going out, what kind of bullshit was that? All he did was add a tattoo or two to his skin. One was obvious now as his fingers casually brushed the girl’s: the Japanese character for ‘power’ on his wrist, which just looked a little like a big ‘K’. Somehow, it still looked cool on him.

I was tall, but Luke was two inches taller, and though he was less broad-shouldered, he was well-muscled and had very little body fat. His eyes were a grey-blue and his hair a muted ash blond. I, on the other hand, was a little wider, a little shorter, and had the most boring combination of brown hair and brown eyes.

That, combined with the fact that he was a fast-rising actor with charm for miles, was why girls never noticed me when I was out with Luke.

But what was I going to do about it? No one had ever been more understanding, or offered more than my stupid best friend had, so I wasn’t exactly going anywhere.

I guess I just decided a long time ago that I was going to have to get used to being second best. At the very best. At whatever I tried. I was never going to be first while Luke was around. And I had no particular interest in life without a friendship as good as this one. So I was stuck.

Things could be worse.

We all tilted our heads back, and I could almost feel the burn of the liquid in my throat. This thing was so close to being realistic; I could hardly believe it. I tried to pull one of the girls over to dancefloor, but she giggled and shook her head, which was a disappointment. That was all I had over Luke: I was a pretty good dancer.

So, obviously the universe had felt it was important to take that away from me a few years ago, so that again I would have nothing.

I was starting to get really bitter, as I often did after a night out in one of these bars, so I turned to Luke and gave him the eyes. The ones you shoot to your buddy when you’re really not feeling it and you’re thinking of taking off. Around us, music thumped and people bobbed. Not a single unattractive person in this joint, and yet I just didn’t feel any semblance of self-confidence. I wasn’t going to get laid or anything, so I thought I may as well go back.

“You thinking of heading off, man?” Luke asked, away from the girls. I shrugged a little.

“Maybe, don’t know if I’m feeling it. Sorry.”

“Don’t be sorry. You came out for a few hours, that’s all I wanted. Thanks for celebrating with me.”

“It’s an amazing accomplishment. Your second ad campaign, and this one you’re right beside a full-fledged A-lister. It’s amazing, dude, congrats.”

He grinned at me. “Thanks,” he said again. “Feels great. I feel like running a mile, you know?” His face paled as he realised what he had just said, and I waved him away as we strolled towards the big double doors to the bar.

“Don’t worry about it, I’ve told you things like that don’t bother me,” I said. But Luke wasn’t the kind of guy to say things without worrying they might upset other people. He was good at getting what he wanted without stepping on anyone’s toes, that was for sure. That was probably why he had chosen that ‘power’ symbol tattoo for his wrist. Discreet, unassuming, but very much there.

“Is something bothering you, Matt?” he asked.

“I’m just bummed out I haven’t been able to find a job and we graduated, what? Four months ago?” I shrugged again as if to pretend I didn’t really care, but I obviously did. Why couldn’t I find any work?

“Have you thought about the paths you’re trying to go down?” he asked, raising his voice as the music changed and became even more oppressive — normally I love club music, but I was really not feeling anything that wasn’t my bed back home. “You know technology and computer stuff is just so saturated right now.”

I nodded slowly. He was right. Everyone was in tech, and everyone was a computer genius. I wasn’t special. I hadn’t thought I was. “What should I try to go into?” I yelled over the drum beat. “Acting?” I joked.

“Labour or something is always hiring,” he said leaning against a wall, and then he screwed up his face with guilt.

“Dude, I told you, it’s fine,” I was quick to assure him.

“Yeah, sorry, it’s just seeing you like this…”

“I know.” I smiled. “Anyway, I can’t do labour even if I were able. My muscles are purely aesthetic.” I pushed up my shirt to expose my six pack and he rolled his eyes good-naturedly. “I’m off now,” I said. “I’ll talk to you later.”

“Course, thanks again for coming out,” he said, raising his empty shot glass to me and smirking.

This story originates from Royal Road. Ensure the author gets the support they deserve by reading it there.

“See ya,” I said, needlessly repeating goodbyes as I scrolled through the menu screen. I reached out and tapped on the floating ‘Log Out’ and my haptic glove in real life vibrated to make it seem like I was touching something real, as ever.

Everything went black, and then I slowly opened my eyes.

My real eyes.

They were dry and uncomfortable and I groaned audibly as I hauled myself out of bed and onto my chair. I needed some water. When it came to virtual reality I always found myself caught in the dilemma of being too thirsty when I returned, or risking staying too long and wetting the bed. The latter hadn’t happened to me yet, but I already had issues with the nerve endings in my lower body.

Once securely in my chair I ran my hands over the wheels and glided smoothly through the dark and dingy one-bedroom flat so conveniently close to the university I had already graduated from, and into the kitchen. I always liked the way the wheels clicked over the threshold and made a different noise on the linoleum.

I reached up high for a glass and rolled my way to the tap. I hadn’t always been in a wheelchair; I wasn’t born this way. Luke and I had had an extreme sports phase, and I had tied a knot wrong when rock climbing one day. I’d landed with my spine squarely on a goddamn rock. I can still remember the pain. Sometimes the memory keeps me up at night — it’s the kind of pain that transcends time itself.

But when I went into my VR games, my brain could happily pretend I had fully working legs again. It was pretty miraculous, I had to admit. In some more advanced software I could even feel below my waist again, if a little … dulled.

The Afterlife was my favourite game because it was the closest I had ever come to feeling like I truly had a working lower body since my accident. Bryson Mayer was a goddamn genius. I had posters up, and I spent most of my time in the game.

If was going to be honest with myself — just for a moment — then a big reason I didn’t have a good job yet, despite having a great degree and a repertoire of relevant skills … was because I just couldn’t stomach the thought of being outside The Afterlife for too long. I would apply for a job and reward myself with six hours in the game. Then I’d finally feel a little guilty, or worry that I might need to piss in real life, and I’d come back and eat and apply for another. Repeat forever.

I scooted to my VR hub and tapped on it to check my credits. 800 left. I blew out some air. I actually needed some money soon or I wouldn’t be able to afford in-game luxuries like shots of sambuca. And if I did buy things like that, I shouldn’t just immediately port back to reality where I would no longer feel the effects of any alcohol. I was wasting my life. I had no more spare cash to transfer into credits.

I leaned back and readjusted my feet before typing a message to Luke to apologise. He came back instantly, so I figured he had unplugged and gone back home too. I turned to look out the window to give the real world outside a scowl. It was, in a way, the pollution that had crippled me like this. My oxygen mask had slipped while we were climbing that mountain and I hadn’t had the time or the hands to fix it. My vision blurred, I slipped, and the knot wasn’t tied right. I could have died.

I was lucky I hadn’t. I had to remember that sometimes, instead of blaming everything in the world but me for what had happened.

‘I have to stop spending money until I find a job,’ I tapped out to Luke, and hesitated before pressing ‘send’ because I knew it would just upset him, but I felt I had to make the point anyway.

‘Why not move back in with the mother?’ he asked.

‘Because of the stepfather. He still hates me.’

‘Pfft.’

I let myself smile at his reply, then tap out some more. ‘Maybe should start to prioritise real experiences over virtual ones, anyway??’

Luke lingered over his response but it came through after a minute. ‘Virtual experiences are just as real as reality if they feel real. My uncle has a great spiel about all that shit.’

I smirked. His uncle was a coder for Mayer Enterprises. That was, of course, the only reason I had been able to get a copy of The Afterlife at all. There was no way I’d be able to get my hands on something that expensive otherwise.

‘Legend,’ I typed noncommittally.

‘Smog looks a bit clearer than it did yesterday.’

I heard this a lot from people, but to be honest I never saw it. It was always swirling, circling, or lifting into the sky in plumes. It was horrific. I didn’t respond, and he sent me another message.

‘Have I mentioned I’m freaking out about those S&S beta reviews?’

I sat up straighter. ‘They’re out??’ I responded with a smile on my face. He had talked about literally nothing else for months.

‘SERIOUSLY THOUGH? Shit is INTENSE. It’s so realistic that people actually cried in his arms when he pulled them from the beta. People are saying it makes the real world look like it’s in greyscale. Omg. I cannot wait.’

I wondered how best to put this. I hated the thought that Luke might think I was ever using him, but … it had to be said, there were some serious perks to his friendship. ‘I need this game.’

‘I’m on it. I heard someone was giving out free codes like candy on some forum but the poster deleted his account and my uncle can’t seem to get any.’

‘I mean…… lean on him,’ I said. I had heard some seriously crazy things about this game. That the game world was actually bigger than the Earth, and there was stuff to do in every nook and cranny of it. That the creators hadn’t physically placed each object, but set the world in motion years ago and watched it grow. How incredible is that? My heart pounded every time I thought about it. People were saying that it made The Afterlife look like Space Invaders.

‘Could just save up for it I guess,’ I wrote, though I knew it would cost me half a month’s wages at any job I was likely to get, at the very least. It’d be a blow, but I was one hundred percent sure it would be worth it.

‘Did you look up how much this one costs?’

Aw, shit. No. I headed over to search for the answer on another tab and the figure was bold at the top of my screen. I nearly retched. I nearly fell out of my chair. Not half a month of a graduate salary. No.

Try fifteen fucking years of a graduate salary.

I covered my mouth and shook my head, then went back to type to Luke. ‘Noo,’ I said. ‘Why?’

‘Because dude … it’s not a game. It’s a new life.’ There was a long pause where I hoped he was happy about what he had just said. Because it had made me mad for some reason. ‘The money goes to fund the x3 planet shit. Your body goes into storage. So you’re giving up your life savings or life insurance, I’m not sure. Then when you come back from living in the game you go back to your body and they fly you all to join the rest of the people over on x3.’

For a life outside of this one — living in the hell humanity has created on Earth — I would pay all that money and more. If I had it.

Shit.

‘Listen. Listen. I just got an email back. He says he might have a way we can get in!’

‘For ten years?’

‘No dude just to test it. Poke around. For FREE.’

I chewed on my lip hard. Just poke around? I knew myself. I was going to spend the next week in that world, coming out only to eat and drink and go to the bathroom. I couldn’t wait. If I could have, I’d have been squirming in my seat.

‘Everyone who pays gets to test it for a bit. Then if they hate it they get a full refund, and have a week to opt out and go back to reality. We can just go for the week and opt out but without paying the upfront fee he says.’

I read and reread his message. It was too good to be true. But just a week? Of the greatest experience any of those testers had ever had? Ever?

I knew one thing: it was going to be really, really hard to unplug myself when the time came.