The Game of Lives

  Another wave of sour breath washed over him, and the very tips of the creature’s teeth lightly brushed against his forehead. Michael couldn’t hold still one more second. In a burst of energy, he snapped.

  He twisted his body and brought his elbow up, smashing it into the side of the creature’s head, right on the corner of its impossibly huge mouth. It shrieked, a horrible sound that was a thousand times louder than its whisper. As it spun away from him, the other dark figures swarmed in, filling the world with darkness. Formless hands tore at his shirt, his neck, his arms and legs, lifting him into the air. He struggled, but their grasp was firm, pulling him until he was close to the ceiling.

  “Kaine!” he shouted. “Help!”

  “I told you not to move,” the Tangent responded with a sigh, as if they were just playing some game.

  Michael opened his mouth to yell, but before he could form the first word, the creatures threw him violently. His body flew as if shot from a cannon, and he slammed into the programmed wooden wall of the tree house, exploding through it. Shards of wood swirled around him as he tumbled in the air. The world spun, and in a flash of pain he crashed into a tree and fell to the ground, landing across its massive root.

  A scream finally escaped his lungs. It felt like he’d just crushed several organs and broken even more bones than that. He rolled into a ball, unable to isolate which part of him hurt more than others, and closed his eyes. He opened them just in time to see dark shapes flying from the hole in the tree house and descending on him like huge bats.

  Despite the pain, he pulled himself up, getting his hands and knees under him. He was barely to his feet when those same invisible hands had him again. They lifted him into the air, spun his body, threw him. His stomach lodged in his throat as he flew, crashing through branches and leaves, all of them tearing his skin like razors. His head smacked into a limb too large to break, and then he fell straight down, taking several more branches with him. Lights flashed in his eyes, and pain like fire lit his body.

  With a jolt he slammed into the forest floor once more, the wind knocked from his chest. He lay on his side, sure that his entire body had broken this time. Unable to move, he stared at the pine straw and rotted leaves beneath him. The trees seemed to loom over him like an audience, pointing at him with their long, scraggly branches, refusing to help. His entire world was pain, and he knew that even if he could Lift before these new KillSims sucked the digital life out of him, his body in the Wake would be in agony as well.

  The black forms appeared in the distance again, dodging trees, twisting left and right. Their mouths still gaped, those teeth razor sharp and ready to devour him. He hurt so badly he couldn’t bring up the code, couldn’t even see it. His mind was a blank slate, barely aware. He had to throw up. He was scared to move, scared that if the creatures vaulted him into the air one more time, he’d be nothing but a bag of sticks and putty, ready for the KillSims to do as they pleased.

  One of them reached the space right in front of his eyes, its black cloak brushing the forest floor. It descended, the cloak pooling out around it as it did so. It looked like a hole into the deepest, darkest pocket of space. Then its face was there, eyeless, mouth wide, teeth glinting in a sudden ray of sunshine that broke through the trees.

  “You are…the First.” The words came from its mouth in a wash of wretched stink. “Don’t resist….Become a part…of us.” Those teeth stretched even father apart, and then the mouth moved closer. “The last…piece…of our puzzle.”

  The creature was hit from behind and torn away in a blur of black and white. It slammed into the nearest tree, exploding into a dark mist. Michael looked up to see Kaine standing there—he held a huge stick in his hands like a baseball bat. He swung at another KillSim as it dove in to replace its brother, catapulting it through a break in the trees and out of sight.

  “Get up,” the Tangent barked. “I can’t do this by myself.”

  Michael wasn’t sure he could stand, but he boosted himself to his feet, groaning in agony. The dark-cloaked KillSims surrounded them.

  “I don’t have a weapon,” Michael said through clenched teeth.

  “Then use your hands. Don’t make me regret making you a part of my fut—”

  Two creatures flew at them before he could finish. Kaine swung so fast, the breeze swept Michael’s hair when the wood connected with the monster’s face. There was a crunch of teeth and a gritty cloud of black mist as the creature disintegrated. There seemed to be no sense to what these things were made of.

  Michael barely had time to get his hands up before the other KillSim was on him. He grabbed the edges of its mouth and spun his body, throwing the creature with all his strength. It let out a loud squeal and clamped its mouth shut at the last second, almost catching Michael’s fingers. But it worked. The thing landed on the ground twenty feet away.

  Something grabbed him from behind, lifting him by the shirt. Kaine swung at it and missed, the end of the stick grazing Michael’s skin. He vaulted into the air, thrown once again, up and up until he smacked into a thick branch. He quickly wrapped his arms around it before he could fall to the ground.

  Kaine stood below, swinging his weapon like a deranged batter. He’d connect with one phantom and two more would be on him. But somehow he stayed on his feet, spinning and ducking as he continued to bat away the monsters. Michael saw another KillSim—maybe the one that had just thrown him into the tree—gazing at him with an eyeless face, mouth opening wide. Then it flew at Michael.

  He dropped to the next branch, then the next one, leaping recklessly toward the forest floor. The creature launched itself after him, weaving in and out of the tree limbs. Michael jumped down the last ten feet, landing in a roll. He scrambled back to his feet and started running, but stopped when he saw something so unexpected he forgot for a split second what was chasing him.

  Just a dozen or so feet away, three Auras stood beside a tree, looking back at him.

  Bryson, Helga, and Gabby.

  3

  The chaos continued, only now with pieces of conversation amid the madness.

  “Why’d you leave us?” Bryson yelled at him, his face transformed by anger.

  Michael was about to explain when another KillSim grabbed him by the shirt, yanked him into the air. Draped in filmy darkness, they rose, crashing through branches and leaves. Michael’s skin was bloody with scratches, and stung with every new one. He tried to fight the KillSim, but the creature had him in a tight grip, spinning as they rocketed toward the sky.

  They burst from the treetops into a sky of broken code. It looked like a stormy sea covered in sewage. He struggled against the KillSim, screamed at it.

  “What do you want?” he yelled. “Take me back down!”

  The creature ignored him, holding him in a viselike grip, all the while flying higher. Michael twisted to get a look at the monster’s face, saw nothing but streaks of darkness.

  “Let me go!” Michael yelled.

  The KillSim obeyed. It released Michael and he fell, his stomach lurching into his throat. Waving his arms and kicking his legs, he plummeted, wind tearing at his clothes. He watched the canopy of thick leaves rush up around him and struggled to catch a breath. He didn’t understand why they didn’t just suck the life from him. Maybe they wanted his Aura broken, shattered. Maybe it would be easier to destroy him if he couldn’t put up a fight.

  Michael felt a weird sense of calm as the green expanse grew below him. Why had so many Tangents turned against Kaine? What did they need Michael for?

  Something burst from the canopy, leaving an explosion of leaves and branches in its wake. It was Gabby, some kind of jet pack strapped to her shoulders, blue flames bursting from twin rockets. She leveled off next to Michael, matched his rate of descent, grabbed him, and pulled him into a fierce hug. The roar of the pack’s engine was like the growl of a massive beast.

  Michael wrapped his arms around Gabby, careful not to touch the flames or the hot part of the engine.
His relief outweighed his chagrin at needing rescue.

  “What,” Michael shouted, “is this?”

  “The only thing I could code,” she replied. Then added, “Yes, I’m really good at this. Come on, the others are still down there.” She turned and revved the engine, and they flew through the same hole the first KillSim had created—a straight line through the canopy and trees. “And you’ll get your punishment for leaving us later! Bryson’s not happy.”

  “Fine.”

  The ground flew at them, so fast that Michael closed his eyes despite himself. At the last second Gabby reversed the engines and slowed their descent, landing with a soft thump. Michael didn’t even have a moment to admire Gabby’s skills; the KillSims swarmed them the moment they touched down. He caught a glimpse of Helga fighting several of the creatures with what looked like a long sword of bright light. Bryson was at her side, holding a roughly coded shotgun. Kaine ran through the trees, still swatting at the black cloaks with his mighty club.

  Crazy, Michael thought. The whole world’s gone crazy.

  KillSims reached for them with tendrils of darkness. Right before they could make contact, Gabby revved her jetpack and shot them into the air again, flying toward their friends. Michael looked back as three of the creatures slammed into each other, forming a cloud of black fog, specks of white fluttering within. As Gabby landed, she kicked a KillSim away from Helga; Michael swung out with a fist to pummel another one and his arm bounced back, as if he had just hit a firm balloon. Just in time, Helga swung her magic sword, cutting another creature in half, giving them a moment’s respite from the madness.

  And then, all at once, Michael made a flurry of decisions.

  “We have to split up,” he said, his mood lifting for the first time since he’d sat in the tree house and seen that Kaine had answered his message. Whether or not it was a good one, he now had a plan.

  “What are you talking about?” Helga shouted, between thrusts of her sword. “We just found you!”

  Michael shook his head. He glanced quickly to make sure they were still clear of KillSims; then he spoke as quickly and clearly as he could to his friends. “Make a Portal. To anywhere. Get out of here, then go find the Hallowed Ravine. That’s where they’re uploading the Tangents—it’s where the Mortality Doctrine is. Send me a message when you’re there and I’ll meet you. Soon.”

  He didn’t know what they showed more strongly on their faces—confusion or rage.

  Gabby started to argue, but Michael cut her off.

  “Just do it!” he yelled. “Go! We don’t have time!” He had no idea what had come over him, but he wasn’t going to abandon the course he’d decided on back in D.C.

  Bryson still looked as angry as ever. “And what’re you going to do, boss man?”

  Michael turned away from him and started marching toward Kaine just as he saw the Tangent destroy two KillSims with one mighty swing of his stick.

  “Michael!” Bryson shouted at him. “Michael!”

  Michael glanced over his shoulder. “Find the Mortality Doctrine! Right now I need Kaine! I need to…use him.”

  Michael’s time had run out. He sprinted toward the fighting Tangent, forming the code for an illegal Portal even as he ran.

  4

  He’d always heard that adversity sharpened the mind, honed the senses. He experienced it firsthand in the frantic moment he reached Kaine and pulled him through the makeshift Portal.

  The VirtNet was a mess—he’d already discovered that. The code, Decayed. But he’d learned enough on his trek to the tree house to do what he needed to do. He worked on pure instinct, manipulating things seemingly with thought as he formed a Portal just to the left of Kaine, who still battled the KillSims ferociously.

  Michael grabbed the Tangent by the shirt, yanked him toward the black rectangle, kicked a KillSim who dove at them at the last second. They slid through together. The instant Michael felt they were free of the woods, he collapsed the Portal behind them.

  They landed on a soft, rubbery surface surrounded by a pale purple light and absolutely nothing else as far as the eye could see.

  Kaine lay next to him, looking up at the empty sky, breathing heavily. Michael rolled onto his back and did the same. Emptiness above. No color except that dull, faded purple. In his rush to get them out, Michael had brought them to the most basic level of VirtNet programming.

  A few minutes passed in silence, and Michael wondered what he’d just done. Bryson, Helga, Gabby—they’d all been there. Why had he left them?

  Then he thought of what he’d decided back in the streets of D.C. He needed to be alone with Kaine. And he needed his friends to get back to the Hallowed Ravine and find the source of the Mortality Doctrine.

  He had a plan, and he couldn’t waste any more time doubting himself. Too much was at stake.

  “Get up,” he told Kaine. Michael pushed himself to his knees, then his feet. “Come on. We’ve got a lot to do.”

  Kaine, looked startled, confused, and he didn’t move. Instead he whispered, “I can’t believe the Tangents have turned against me like this. All that time I worked. All the effort. And now that they’ve tasted the sweetness, they’ve gone off on their own.”

  Michael raised his eyebrows in surprise. That certainly wasn’t what he’d expected to hear. “Those KillSims. Who programmed them?”

  Kaine glanced up, as if shocked to see that he wasn’t alone. “What game are you playing, boy? Do you have any idea the kinds of things you’re messing with?”

  “I think I do. Now answer my question.”

  “So you’re giving the orders now?”

  “I’m sure done taking them.” And Michael meant it, too. He was fed up with the entire world—both worlds.

  Kaine let out a grunt and sat up, rubbing his face. Then he stood to join Michael, his smartly cut hair and his polished suit not so smart or polished anymore.

  “Does this mean you’re joining me?” the Tangent asked. “I’ve convinced you?”

  Michael shook his head. “Doesn’t mean a thing, brother. Tell me. Who made those KillSims?”

  Kaine seemed almost pleased to get some things off his chest. “You know exactly who. The same people—and I use the word people loosely—who came at you in the forest, where Helga and her other hoodlums had camped out. I programmed some of them, improved the code on the lot of them. Raised them. Gave them a chance at a real life. And now they’ve spit in my face and gone off on their own.”

  “So we have two enemies,” Michael said, thinking aloud.

  Kaine barked a laugh. “More like one very big one.”

  “Here’s what’s going to happen,” Michael said, satisfied at the conviction he heard in his own voice. “You and me are now a team. We’re going to take down these rogue Tangent buddies of yours. And then we’re going to take down the VNS. Deal?”

  Kaine actually took a step back in surprise. “I…uh, yes. Absolutely. I’ve said it all along. I need your help.”

  Michael shook his head once again. “No, that’s where you’re wrong, Kaine. I’m the one who needs help. And you’re going to do it. The Tangents. Then the VNS. And I’m in charge.”

  Kaine was so obviously shocked that he barely managed a nod.

  Michael had to hold back a smile. If only the Tangent knew the third part of his hastily conceived plan, he’d never be standing there, agreeing to go along.

  “All right, then,” Michael finally said. “First things first. Let’s go kill us some Tangents.”

  CHAPTER 16

  HUNTING GROUND

  1

  Michael hadn’t really meant it—he didn’t want any part in meting out the “true death.” He knew there had to be some way to reverse the Mortality Doctrine.

  Kaine walked next to Michael, silently crossing the raw expanse of the VirtNet.

  “You’re right,” the Tangent said, looking down as he walked. “We need to kill all the Tangents who broke away from me. They’re just an annoyance now and ar
e merely causing trouble.”

  Michael glanced at Kaine, happy for the reminder of how soulless he was. “Dude, I wasn’t really serious. We can’t just go around killing everyone. There has to be another way to stop them besides this…true death thing.”

  It appeared that, without having come out and said it, they’d agreed on the first order of business: they had to stop the people behind those new black-cloaked KillSims. At least Weber and the VNS weren’t actively trying to eliminate them. But these rogue Tangents, though—Michael shuddered when he thought of those creepy kids and the toughtalking Trae at the barracks. They had to be dealt with, or Michael and Kaine would never get to the bigger issue—the VNS.

  Kaine stopped walking. “Where exactly are we going?”

  “Nowhere. I’m thinking.”

  Kaine turned to him. “Listen.” He rubbed his chin, lost in his own thoughts, and Michael stopped as well. He didn’t know when it had happened, but at some point Kaine had stopped being an enemy, entirely. He’d stopped being just a piece of code also. Something about him had turned almost…human.

  Kaine shook his head. “I didn’t think I was ready for this yet, but maybe these Tangents are the perfect test subjects. Though, if it goes wrong, don’t blame me. It’s all I’ve got.”

  Michael had no idea what Kaine was talking about. “What?” he asked.

  “The reboot.”

  “Reboot?” Michael was thoroughly confused now. “Isn’t that some word they used like fifty years ago with plug-ins? What does it even mean?”

  Kaine folded his arms. “You need to learn your history, son.”

  “At least I recognized it. But what does it have to do with anything?”

  “Reboot,” Kaine said again, only this time Michael heard something like dread in his tone. “It’s part of the plan I showed you. One of the keys to living forever. When you’ve lived out your fifty years within the VirtNet, you’re rebooted into a new body in the real world.”

  Michael recalled the visions Kaine had shown him. The lines of kids getting into the Coffins. “So are you saying we should…reboot…who? The people those rogue Tangents stole the bodies from?”