The Grid 2 Page 6

  Joe looked over to Clay. He was still lying on the ground, his eyes open. He saw that Joe was gazing in his direction and smiled.

  ‘You okay, Joe?’

  ‘Yes, bad dreams, though.’

  ‘Me too. I don’t think any of us are getting sweet dreams in here.’

  Joe laughed. He liked that Clay could make him smile, even in that terrible place. They sat up in silence for a while. Some of the others were still sleeping.

  Joe wondered what Wiz and Mitchell were up to. They were taking their time. Surely they’d get a message to him and Lucy soon; he had to trust that they were still free and working on the data they’d discovered.

  He cursed that they’d been caught. They knew the risks, they always had. If only they’d had a little more time. Joe hoped his friends would be working hard to secure their release – it was the only way they were walking out of The Grid alive.

  He hadn’t even considered how the information might be used. He’d been so intent on trying to find what his father was doing. There had never really been a big plan. They’d not thought much further than hacking in and getting to the truth.

  And what of Hannah? They hadn’t heard from Hannah in a couple of days. Joe didn’t even know if she’d been successful in the contest. Would she be able to help, even if she’d got closer to the Gridders? He didn’t know, none of them knew what would happen if Hannah won, they just had their theories. Nobody outside Fortrillium really knew how The Grid operated – it was all conjecture.

  Joe tried to lift his spirits. He was desperate to find out what was going on back in The City. Surely, Talya would be working on their behalf too … they wouldn’t just be abandoned there. Would they?

  ‘We need to think about food.’

  Clay’s voice brought Joe out of his brooding. It was easier for the people who lived in The Climbs, they were used to doing without. Having no food for a few days was never easy, but they’d all done it at one time or another. The Silk Roaders would struggle though; they’d soon weaken without meals.

  There was always a way to eat in The Grid, but Fortrillium didn’t make it easy. Justice Seekers usually had to look to the environment for the solution. They’d been placed in a wood, and they had water nearby. It wasn’t close enough to save Zach, but at least they’d been able to drink. Joe thought back to the fire the night before; he could still taste the dirt from the trench and the smoke in his mouth.

  Joe looked over at Chris. He was chatting to Miron and Ross and seemed much more settled, certainly less anxious. Why had he even been sent to the Institution? He seemed fine.

  Then it clicked. Where was Lucy? She’d gone to sleep close to Chris, but she wasn’t there anymore. Joe sat up and looked around the group. Marjani and Rick, but no Lucy.

  ‘Anybody seen Lucy?

  Did she go to the stream?’

  There were blank looks all round.

  ‘Chris?’

  Chris looked guilty, as if he’d forgotten all about his friend, the person who had immediately taken him under her wing and protected him. He hung his head but did not reply.

  ‘Lucy!’ Joe shouted. He thought she might have gone looking for food – as a Silk Roader she’d have been feeling the hunger.

  ‘Lucy!’

  No answer. Joe looked over to where Schälen had taken shelter for the night.

  ‘Have you seen her, Schälen?’ he called.

  Schälen shrugged.

  ‘We need to find her,’ Clay began. ‘We must stay together for when they change the Modes.’

  ‘I don’t trust Schälen,’ Joe muttered. ‘He’s going to be trouble.’

  ‘Forget him for now, focus on Lucy.’

  Clay had a knack of being able to see what needed to be done. Those who were sitting stood up and they split off into informal groups. It struck Joe how much their numbers were already depleted. He needed to find Lucy; he was angry with her for walking off unannounced.

  As Clay started to send out the search parties in their separate directions, they were suddenly surrounded by darkness. The morning light, which had seemed such a positive start to the day, was gone. Joe wondered if this were another of his bad dreams – perhaps he’d imagined that Lucy had disappeared. This was real, though – it went icy cold as soon as the light disappeared.

  ‘Clay? You still there?’

  ‘I’m here. Stay still everybody!’

  ‘Hell, they’re changing the Modes already,’ Ross cursed.

  ‘Give us a breather, won’t you?’ he shouted out.

  Joe felt rapid breathing by his side, a menacing presence, but it was too dark to see who it was.

  ‘Get ready everybody – here comes our next treat.’

  It was Schälen. He’d moved over from his tree some distance away to join the main group. Joe shivered, but this time it wasn’t the cold. How had Schälen done that? It was way too dark to move.

  ‘Lucy!’ called Clay. ‘Where are you?’

  No reply. Just silence and blackness.

  ‘If she gets caught in the Mode change it could kill her.’

  Miron’s voice cut through the darkness. Joe knew what it meant: they needed to be in the circle when it changed.

  ‘Lucy!’ he called again, but he knew it was useless. Wherever she was, it wasn’t within shouting distance. He felt himself beginning to panic; the rising sense of anxiety was shocking to him. It wasn’t helped by Chris who’d begun to sob again. He understood what was coming.

  A light appeared in the darkness. Joe and Clay looked around, making sure they were all together and hoping to see Lucy. It was the holographic image of Damien Hunter. Joe felt the snarl as he spoke.

  ‘Justice Seekers, you have survived the first Mode in your quest for justice.’

  Ross threw a stone at the projected image. Joe only saw it as it flew into the light, but it made him want to laugh. He tried to master his feelings – he knew it was just a reaction to the fear.

  ‘Now you must move into the second Mode.’

  ‘Here it comes …’

  It was Marjani’s voice.

  ‘Stay close everybody.’

  More reassurance from Clay, just when they needed it.

  ‘Don’t worry, I will.’

  Schälen’s voice again. The man couldn’t speak without it sounding as if he was about to tear your throat out.

  ‘The way of The Grid is to take an eye for an eye, a tooth for a tooth, a life for a death.

  May you find your justice in The Grid …’

  The light was back again, albeit very dim. Joe had a moment to take everything in. The woodland was gone. He could no longer hear the water from the stream. They were in a dark tunnel. The only available light was given off by the flames of the burning torches lining the walls.

  There was the roar of a beast from deep within the maze of passages. It was like nothing they’d ever heard before. Then a scream. A human scream. It was Lucy’s voice. And it came from the same direction as the creature.

  The Second Mode

  Hannah had barely had any rest before they were roused from their brief sleep. When she’d arrived for her first day at Fortrillium, she hadn’t anticipated becoming incarcerated there while the trial took place. She hadn’t even expected to become an integral part of the trial so early.

  Her fellow Gridders were full of praise for her. She’d set them off to an excellent start. But it was all through gritted teeth – they knew it only increased the pressure on the rest of them. The stress was palpable.

  She hoped her parents knew what was going on. Hunter had assured her they’d been informed, but being kept away from home was not something she’d planned for.

  There were many rumours about the Gridders. Nobody knew who they were, and it was believed that they walked among the inhabitants of Silk Road. They were only known on the screens by their gaming names, and as such they became celebrities if they made dramatic kills. Already, the buzz over this latest trial was about Janexx2. Hannah didn’t know
it, and the residents of The City would never discover her true identity. The City had observed the work of this new Gridder and they understood that this trial was going to be fierce.

  97TRaider joined Hannah for food, and she felt relieved at least to have somebody available to talk her through what was going on.

  ‘Why are we up so early?’

  ‘That’s my doing, sorry. If you hadn’t made such a good start last night, I’d have gone a little softer on them. I’ve decided to change the Mode early. They won’t be expecting it.’

  Hannah looked at 97TRaider.

  ‘Did you sleep last night?’

  ‘I skipped it, I’ve been working on my gameplay all night. They won’t want the engagement score to drop now. I’m afraid you set the bar a bit high.’

  ‘Sorry, but I’m new to all this, you know!’ Hannah snapped at him.

  ‘Woah! Take it easy. I’m not the enemy here.’

  ‘Sorry. I’m just a bit tense.’

  ‘I understand, but if you think it’s bad now, wait until we get past the Modes and on to Ascension. It becomes unbearable.’

  Hannah doubted herself once again. Was she really up to this? It had seemed so easy when plotting with Lucy, Joe and the others. Now she hadn’t heard from them in days, and she wouldn’t be able to see them until the Justice Trial was over.

  They’d never anticipated what it would be like when they decided to get her in among the Gridders. She felt foolish when she recalled how she’d just thought it would be like a Fortrillium office job. How much more wrong could she have been?

  ‘What have you got planned for today?’

  ‘Well, I hope you don’t mind, but I’ve requested a team play with you. We both get to count the kills. I thought it would be a great way for you to cut your teeth.’

  Hannah looked at the piece of food on her fork and didn’t feel like eating anymore. That feeling of sickness was back in her stomach. She was already responsible for three deaths. Three faceless people for her, just pixelated images. But, nevertheless, three human beings from The City. And now she was going to have to kill more.

  ‘What’s the gameplay?’ she asked, deciding not to eat any more food. She’d need to get through that day on an empty stomach if she wasn’t going to let herself down again.

  ‘It’s a labyrinth,’ 97TRaider began, his eyes lighting up. ‘They’re going underground, in darkness, and I’ve put something nasty down there.’

  ‘You do get that we’re killing people, don’t you?’ Hannah snapped at him again.

  ‘Shh!’ he urged. ‘Look, I know, but what can we do? I bet you came here like me, thinking that you’d just create and play a few games and then see yourself idolized throughout The City?’

  ‘Not quite, but I wasn’t expecting it to be like this.’

  ‘Well, neither was I. Nobody thought it would be like this, but here we are. If I could get out of it, I would – but I can’t. Neither can you, by the way. You make your kills and you don’t leave until you do.’

  Hannah knew that 97TRaider was right, but he’d had much more time to get used to it. She was trapped, they all were.

  ‘These people will die anyway, it won’t stop when we get out of here.’

  Hannah nodded – she didn’t like it, but it was true.

  ‘At least we can finish them fast. I never let them linger. The kindest thing we can do is to make it swift and dramatic. That way Fortrillium gets what it wants and the Justice Seekers make a fast exit.’

  He was right. 97TRaider had been on the same emotional journey as her. All of the Gridders must have reconciled it in a similar way. You’d have to be crazy for it not to bother you. But Fortrillium had them cornered. You always felt cornered in The City, whoever you were. It didn’t make much difference whether you lived on Silk Road or in The Climbs.

  That’s why she’d taken on this challenge in the first place. Lucy, Joe, Wiz and Mitchell all had their tech skills, but nobody could get close to her when it came to gaming. Wiz and Joe didn’t have that luxury in The Climbs, but Mitchell and Lucy wouldn’t have been able to take her place – they simply didn’t have her level of ability. It had to be her. They’d all committed to this, it had been part of the plan.

  Maybe she wasn’t alone after all. 97TRaider seemed to be somebody she could trust – maybe he could become an ally?

  ‘You’re right,’ she conceded. ‘I know you’re right. I wish I’d thought about that too – it makes sense to go for a fast kill. I don’t know what I was thinking when I used fire, it’s a terrible way to die.’

  ‘We all make mistakes like that. Try not to let it eat you up, because it will if you let it.’

  ‘It is eating me up already. I thought if I killed the first Justice Seeker in the fire the others would figure out how to make it out alive.

  Fortrillium would get their big dramatic start and the others would get away.’

  ‘Not bad thinking, Janexx2 …’

  97TRaider paused and searched Hannah’s face. He wondered if he could trust her.

  ‘Can we use real names?’ he asked. ‘You mustn’t tell anybody if we do.’

  Hannah looked back at him. Could she trust this person? He seemed honest – it was he who’d made the suggestion, after all.

  ‘I’m Linwood Carley. Care to share your real name? If you do, we’ve made a pact, we can’t undo it.’

  Hannah’s mouth opened before she’d even decided to share her name. She figured that she needed help if she was going to navigate the dangers of Fortrillium, and 97TRaider had already shown himself to be a friend.

  ‘Hannah James!’ she said quietly. ‘I’ll keep my mouth shut, don’t worry, I’ve already heard enough about this place to scare the life out of me.’

  Linwood chuckled at that.

  ‘We live in fear here – it’s how Damien Hunter likes it.

  But don’t worry, Hannah, you can trust me. We’ll both be in trouble now if they know we shared real names. Just make sure you don’t slip up, always use 97TRaider.’

  Hannah nodded and asked what he had planned for the labyrinth.

  ‘We have to make some fast kills. They only have a three-Mode trial, and we don’t want too many Justice Seekers in at the end when we move to Ascension. I reckon we need at least three kills, maybe even four. It’s going to have to be good today.’

  Hannah’s heart sank, and she was pleased she hadn’t eaten any more food. She felt sick all the time, it was the thought of what they had to do.

  ‘Can we make them fast then if we have to kill?’

  ‘Yes. This is going to be good, Hannah. Fortrillium will love it. I’ve created four beasts in the labyrinth; they’re all contained at the moment.

  I need to do a bit more rendering work on them – I need your help on that. We need to scare the life out of the people watching on the screens.’

  For a moment, Hannah was distracted by a sense of excitement. The gamer in her saw the potential for this scenario. She checked herself – these were real people they were planning to kill.

  ‘They’re in the labyrinth right now. I put them in early while they weren’t expecting it; it’ll confuse them and frighten them. But here’s the thing, Hannah. Something great happened last night.

  We’ve got a psycho in there – did you read the profile notes?’

  Hannah had. She’d clocked it too, but stored it up for later. A psycho might come in handy for some later gameplay.

  ‘Last night he abducted one of the Justice Seekers, a female. He separated her from the main group – I think he had plans to torture her.

  ‘Normally she’d have got caught when we re-rendered The Grid for the second Mode, but I saved her for later. I’ve put her right at the heart of the labyrinth. She’s going to be the first to die, Hannah. The beasts will get her first, and then they’ll start on the others.’

  Chapter Five

  Glimpse

  Talya had an uneasy feeling that somebody was following her, but every time she
stopped to check there was nobody to be seen. In the end she put it down to her paranoia. There was a lot going on, and she’d scared herself by what she’d done to Max. Although there was no way that anybody could possibly have known how she’d tortured him, her own sense of morality goaded her. She felt she deserved to be caught and punished.

  Talya went through Fortrillium’s security checks and was surprised to hear that Damien Hunter would be escorting her to her meeting with the Gridders – she thought he’d want to stay out of her way. But the lawyer in her saw an opportunity. They were like one of her warring couples, spiteful and vindictive, trying to get the better end of the settlement deal on a marriage break-up. In such cases, she always urged negotiation and dialogue. Would it work with Hunter? She would try. An opportunity to talk about things away from the public gaze might be what they both needed.

  While she was waiting for Damien, Talya checked her WristCom for trial updates. She got her second shock of the day. The Modes had changed, Lucy had gone missing, and the Justice Seekers were in some sort of labyrinth. This was all news to her since she’d eaten breakfast. Talya hadn’t expected that – she thought they’d be safe until 20:00 hours. Her mind raced as she thought about what might be happening to Lucy. How had she gone missing? What did that mean? At least the updates confirmed that there had been no further deaths. She cursed Hunter but resolved to keep her anger in check. If she could open an exchange of ideas with him, perhaps she could help Lucy. At least she was in the right place to see how The Justice Trials operated. She was going to meet the Gridders very soon.

  Damien Hunter arrived, late as usual.

  ‘Law Lord Slater, good morning!’

  He greeted her as if it was just a normal day at the office. He held her daughter’s life in his hands; she wanted to beat him to death.

  ‘Good morning, Mr Hunter …’

  ‘Call me Damien, please. We should be on first name terms now you work with Fortrillium.’

  ‘Damien then. Good morning. Thank you for agreeing to show me around this morning.’