Chapter 1

There’s a sensation that I hope you never have to experience. Given the state of our society and the unstoppable march of technological progress, I doubt my hopes are anything but shouts into the void.

A little while ago I died. That isn’t the sensation that I’m referencing. I don’t remember that part. My mind was digitally uploaded into a video game called Wicked West. Lots of murder and ole-timey fun, but otherwise, just another violent video game.

No, the feeling is two-fold. First, I just found out that my granddaughter has entered this damned video game. A video game that I know you can’t enter unless you’ve died. So there’s that horrible feeling, but also another.

The moment I made this realization, I was filled with rage, terror, and my soul left my body through my feet and in that same moment, the overlord, god, or bored ruler of our little slice of digital afterlife paused the fucking game.

So, I sat there with all of those emotions, staring at the digital avatar of my dead granddaughter—the very reason for my existence—filled with every possible emotion, and I couldn’t even blink my eyes to shed a tear.

Aside from my own tears being stopped mid-fall on my cheek, the entire scene before me looked like everyone was just taking a moment to decide how to react. We were still in camp and dusk was settling. The sky had an orange hue that would have looked attractive in an Ansel Adams picture. Joan Cremont, our hired cook and camp manager, was bent over by the supply wagon with her hands in a crate. My posse was standing by the table, where they had been when the representative from EveNet stopped by. D0C70RC007, or Coot, had his thumbs behind the straps of his dirty coveralls while he scrutinized the representative and her guest. Panda_Bear_Polka, or Bear, stood behind him. His face was completely devoid of expression.

The representative was the namesake of the company, Eve. For whatever reason, she had taken an interest in me and would show up from time to time by possessing other people’s avatars. The world freezing into place forced me to notice her for the first time. Whoever’s skin she was wearing this time must have been chosen based on proximity. Eve looked like a farmer in a blue shirt with suspenders and brown pants. His hat was straw and rested on his head at a slant. I knew that Eve was a woman, and while she hadn’t introduced herself it was easy to see who this man really was. It was Eve’s eyes. Every time she took over someone new, you could see it in her eyes. They were softer, as if she actually cared about the people who lived in this world of hers. Nobody in Wicked West had eyes like that.

Not for long, anyway.

Next to her was a woman about the same height as myself. I still wasn’t comfortable seeing myself at the age I was presenting, but this woman looked comfortable in her skin, and she should, as her age didn’t need to be adjusted for this afterlife.

And the face was unmistakable.

That was Winnifred. That was my granddaughter.

To my surprise, the entire world was not actually frozen. The man that was Eve stepped past Winnie, past my boys, and came up to me before crouching so that we could be at eye level.

Her voice came out of his mouth.

Eve shook her head slowly before casting a quick glance back at Winnie.

“We should talk.”

***

The world vanished in a blast of white light. Slowly, images began to come into focus. Eve had transported us to some new spot. It still looked like we were in Wicked West, but instead of being at camp at dusk, we were at a small mountain cabin with fog moving around our ankles. It was calm and quiet.

Until I drew my pistol and shot Eve in the head three times.

My entire situation had been an exercise in getting over my shock as quickly as possible if I was going to make any sort of progress in this new afterlife. Eve surprising me with my granddaughter was a bit bigger than I had dealt with, but getting transported to a new place with nothing but my violent emotions and an entirely new set of confusing details? That had become the norm with a very standard response: Shoot everything.

My hand was empty after the third shot. A quick glance at my belt showed me that Eve had made the gun return to its holster.

“Stop shooting me!” Eve shouted.

“What the fuck was that?” I shouted back at Eve.

Instead of looking angry or even mildly annoyed, Eve looked sympathetic as she shouted over me.

“She’s not dead!”

My thoughts were a hurricane of emotion more than any single, coherent message. I drew my gun and waved it in Eve’s direction as hope became a lighthouse in my storm. I let out one final grunt or roar or something of emotion before I found my voice.

“What?”

Eve sighed and lowered her own hands. “Have you checked your mail at all?” She shook her head. “No, that’s not fair. I know you have and this one came in when you were streaming.” She looked up and to the left, at a screen or something that I couldn’t see. “Looks like a few people are a little freaked out right now.” Eve turned her man-face back toward me. “Mass notice went out a few hours ago. Good news for a lot of people, and a little frustrating for some.”

I continued to stare at Eve while she spoke.

“EveNet and all the digital environments, the technology to upload people to video games, all of that was a product in beta testing, but that was awaiting final approvals before we could open it up to the world. One of the millions of documents that you had to sign to get here was a Non-Disclosure Agreement. It was put into place to protect you, of course, but to protect us, there was also a waiver. We personally vetted anyone who was offered this opportunity. Everyone here fit a specific profile so that we could get our numbers and prepare for the official launch, which was today.”

Stolen from its original source, this story is not meant to be on Amazon; report any sightings.

“So, more people are coming?” I still didn’t understand how this explained Winnie being here and being alive.

“Way more. The worlds are going to have to have multiple servers just to keep up with the influx. We have also lowered the cost, so that this becomes the norm. Anyone can join, barring legal oddities.” She frowned. “For obvious reasons, we wouldn’t be mixing death row inmates with players in FarmTree Hillock.”

I was more annoyed than anything. Eve was clearly distracted, as she kept checking her own screens. Whatever it was, it was leading to her burying the lead.

“How does this explain Winnie being alive and being here?” I demanded.

All of Eve’s distraction disappeared and she turned her focus entirely on me and smiled for the first time since I had seen Winnifred.

“The rules have changed. Almost all of them in some way or another have been altered with the announcement. EveNet and its world, including Wicked West, aren’t for just the dead anymore.” She shrugged. “This is more like a fancy retirement home. The living can’t live here, but they can visit. One of those new rules is tied to account access. Normally, when a person dies their online accounts are handed off to a secondary so that they can be managed. Because of the unusual nature of our product, we could not do that. Now that we’re public, we can. Family members get the list of people in their families that have taken part in the project and are given the option to sign up and create their own account. They can’t join the actual gameplay until they pass away, but they can visit relatives for therapeutic reasons as long as it doesn’t become too disruptive for the user.”

“Family can visit us?” I wasn’t sure how I felt about that from my family’s perspective, but on a selfish level it sounded too good to be true.

Eve nodded. “Family can visit and even do some in-game grinding to add some levels to their characters before they join on a more permanent basis. As long as neither of you make things difficult, I’ve assigned Winnie as your StreamTime Media Manager. This gives her a few more freedoms than most visitors would.”

“Why me? What’s so special about me?” I asked. Eve was personally visiting me, and this wasn’t the first time. Now she was here to deliver my granddaughter to me, personally, and she was getting some sort of special role. It didn’t add up.

“Nothing,” Eve answered. “If a person is using StreamTime then one family member can be designated as the Media Manager. There’s a few other roles that have some benefits, but that’s the one that best fits yours and your posse’s needs.”

“That’s not what I meant and you know it.” As happy as I should be, I was starting to get angry. “I spoke to my boys and they’ve never met you. I’ve barely met anyone who’s met you directly, but you visit me like I’m your sick aunt. I’ve been getting special treatment. Why?”

There was silence that stretched on for a while before Eve answered.

“I am like you,” she waved her hand in the air, “and them. I was human first, then I died, and I was here. My world changed that day and it had nothing to do with this and my being here. A person very close to me decided that day that the world could be better if he sacrificed for it. He didn’t know it, but I was one of those sacrifices. And you know what? He was right. A little bit of blood, a whole lot of tears, and sitting down and working and he did his part. He made this world so much better than it was. Then things got complicated. I wanted to do something with my new life and I started making all of this. It was an idea that grew out of what he already knew.” She let out a slow sigh. “That was years ago, though, and to get things done, you sometimes get lost in the weeds. I am very good at putting my head down, running ahead, and not seeing where I am until it's too late and I did that with all of this. I spent so much time building this place that I didn’t think about the actual quality of life for people when they get here.” Eve’s eyes lit up with excitement. “Then you showed up and it was like I was staring right at him again. You saw this place and your first thought was ‘I can make this a safe place to live.’ You decided that this world could be better.”

“You like me because I remind you of an old boyfriend?” I asked. She was right, though. Since coming to Wicked West, I had done some shitty things, but even those shitty things had been to make it easier for new people to come here without being shocked back to life by the instant violence.

“He was my brother,” Eve said. “And yes, but no. Today I like you because you’re a good person who’s doing good things, even if it costs you. Tomorrow is another day for both of us, but you have the look in your eyes of someone who doesn’t get affected by tomorrows.” Suddenly Eve’s eyebrow shot up and she smirked. “Besides, haven’t you been doing all of this for a little girl?”

It was my turn to sigh. I had been. I wanted to help the people of Easter, where most new players spawned, come into this world with a gentle hand, not a bullet, but I was streaming everything I was doing specifically to earn money for Winnie.

“Alright,” I decided to look for the catch. “You’re saying that if I keep my cool, Winnie and I can hang out regularly?”

Eve nodded.

“What about The Pink Flamingos?” I asked about the gang. “That’s going to be a lot of media managers in camp.”

Eve shrugged. “Camps are scalable, which you would know if you visited your allies or had gone all the way to RadicalLarry19’s camp. Either way, Winnie was the first to sign up. She has been hounding our company for a while now over a suspicion that you were in here.” Even smirked again. “It turns out that no matter how well you hide a user’s StreamTime details, it doesn’t change the fact that you just talk and act like you, even to someone who’s only ever known, well, old-you.”

A bit of pride almost made me cry at that. Of course Winnie recognized me. She was my partner in crime. She’d recognize me anywhere.

“She can only visit you because she created an account with EveNet and signed up for our plan. No one else in your family has done that yet.”

That was mildly disappointing, but whether Eve thought their service was cheap or not, the fact that only Winnie was here told me everything I needed to know about their payment plan.

“What about Coot and Bear’s families?” I asked.

Eve took a moment before she answered and visibly collected her thoughts.

“I am not allowed to provide any personal information about residents within the EveNet gaming properties.” She let her shoulders slump a little. “I am sure that Bear and Coot will read their mail now that all this has happened, so they can provide that answer for you.” It was impossible to read Eve’s emotions on the boys and their families maybe joining us, so I gave up trying. Either way, I suspected it wasn’t the best news.

“So,” Eve asked, “are you calmer now?”

The short answer was no.

The timeline for all of this was bothering me. They became a federally approved product more than a day ago, or else that wouldn’t explain Winnie being able to get signed up, or all of the other player’s family members. Contracts would need to be reviewed, announcements in the news to gather an interest, marketing would be all over the place, and then a launch party paid for by all the new users signing up. Even if they skipped the launch party, that’s still weeks of work and marketing. So, why would they send an email an hour before adding everyone to the game and create so much turmoil? Turmoil was definitely the right word. Even as Eve had been talking to me, she had almost entirely been fixated on a screen I can’t see that likely had the reports from all over the many games of EveNet judging by her expression. For all the heads up they should have had, this was looking like a very unsuccessful launch day.

I was sure-as-hell not going to say any of that though. I was one “Yes, I’m fine,” from spending quality time with my favorite person in all of existence.

“Yes,” I answered. “I’m fine. Now, take me to my granddaughter.”