Doomed (8 page)

He doesn’t answer, so I wait a second before I type:

Then I close the messaging, cutting him off. I know it’s rude, but I’m losing it and the last thing I need is to deal with someone else who is obviously freaking out. So far, Eli and Theo have managed to keep me calm, but dealing with someone else as weirded out as I am might send me completely over the edge.

“You ready to keep going?” Eli asks, placing a warm, comforting hand on my back.

I stiffen a little at the contact. Sure, things are messed up, but he’s still a guy. And his hand is
resting
on the small of my back.

I shrug off my concern, try to keep my eye on the prize as I wonder where this is going to end—or if it is.

“Hey, think positive,” Eli says.

“How’d you know—”

“Are you kidding me?” He nods toward Theo. “You and my brother seem hardwired for the whole doom-and-gloom thing.”

“It doesn’t get much more doom and gloom than this.” I gesture to the screen, where we’re all just standing around, looking lost.

“Yeah, well, we’ll pretend that’s not the case.” Then he makes some goofball face at me, and I can’t help laughing. I’m not sure how Theo does it, because, for me at least, it’s pretty hard to stay depressed when Eli’s around.

Back in the game, we walk for what seems like hours but is probably only about five minutes—everything with this stupid game feels like it takes forever—until we get to the huge fields where one of Austin’s biggest music festivals, Austin City Limits, is held every year. I was just in these fields last month, rocking out to Muse, Sonic Youth, the Flaming Lips, and about two hundred other bands, but the fields of Pandora’s Box are as different from the fields in those three fun-and-music-filled days as modern-day America is from ancient Greece.

Lining one edge of the gigantic fields are tents, hundreds of them, six or seven deep. These aren’t your typical REI state-of-the-art mobile camping units, either. These are worn-out, worn-down ragtag pieces of canvas that look like the weakest Austin storm could blow them straight to oblivion.

“What is this?” I whisper, as thousands of people pour from the tents into the clearing. They are as dilapidated
looking as the tents they’ve been cowering under—maybe more so—and I feel my breath hitch in my chest. Who are these people and why are they here, in this game?

We walk closer, and as we do, I realize just what bad shape they’re in. The little ones are running around in ripped T-shirts, their ribs poking through their skin in stark relief, while many of the adults seem so weak that they can barely stand.

“Are these people real?” I ask, so horrified that it doesn’t register that if they don’t have food, they probably don’t have computers to suck them into this virtual reality.

“I don’t think so,” Eli answers. “They look like NPCs to me.”

“They are NPCs,” Theo agrees. “And I think this is our first task.” He reaches into his pockets and pulls out the packets of seeds. “My guess is that we’re supposed to feed them.”

“Are you kidding me?” Eli scoffs. “That’s too easy, isn’t it?”

“We’re at level one. It’s supposed to be easy.”

“Yeah, because Campe was just a barrel of laughs.”

“Either way, I think we need to feed these people to level up,” Theo says, holding out some seed packets to one of the girls standing behind us.

She grabs three packets of strawberry seeds.

Theo looks at the players behind us, gestures for them to come closer, which they do, eagerly. I can understand why. Even Theo’s avatar looks like someone who’s used to being in charge. Though he’s young, only a senior in high school, he has that indefinable way about him, and that translates
to the game. There’s none of the brooding now, and as I watch him get things organized it’s easy to forget what happened this morning.

Especially since right here, right now, I’m more than willing to do whatever he tells me, just so long as I don’t have to make the decision myself. Fighting Campe as I feared for my digital life took a lot more out of me than I first suspected.

“To beat the game, obviously, we need to advance through the levels. To beat this level, I think the task is to put these seeds in the ground so that all these NPCs can get some food.” He walks over to a clear, unmuddy patch of grass and squats down. But when he tries to empty the seed packet into the ground, nothing happens.

“What’s going on?” I ask. “Why isn’t it working?”

“I don’t know. You try,” he tells me.

I follow his lead, try to dump out the seeds. Again, nothing happens.

Eli tries, with the same result, as do all of the other players.

“Why won’t it work?” I ask again, frustrated. How are we supposed to beat the game if we can’t complete the task?

Theo shrugs, presses a few buttons and tries again—to no avail.

“We’re missing something,” Eli finally says.

“We defeated the monster, got our reward. This is obviously our task, right?” I shove my computer away, stand up, and walk to the sliding glass door that leads to my backyard. Everything out there looks so normal—the grass is green, the trees are swaying lightly in the breeze while a squirrel
scampers past a light, a nut clasped in its little paws. So how can everything in here be so screwed up?

“I don’t know. But we need to figure it out. Go back over the places we’ve been and try to see what we missed.” Eli retraces our last steps.

I start to tell him I’m out for a while, that I just can’t do any more right now. But before I say anything, Emily comes flying through my front door.

“Major change of plans,
chica
.”

Now that the action is over, the game lets my avatar drop out. I turn to my best friend, who—despite the beginning of technological Armageddon—looks as fresh as she did when I drove her home from school this afternoon.

“Obviously.”

“So you know?” she asked. “I tried to call you, but my phone’s out and so are all the ones in my neighborhood.”

I can’t help it—I start to laugh. It’s not funny, but I laugh until tears roll from my eyes. Hysterical much?

Theo, Eli, and Emily are all staring at me like I’ve lost my mind, although Emily keeps stealing glimpses at the guys, like she can’t believe they’re sitting in my family room. Of course, if the last two hours hadn’t happened, I wouldn’t be able to believe it, either.

“I take it that means you already know?” she asks, when my hysteria finally calms down.

“You could say that.” I point to Eli and Theo, introduce them to Emily. “They’ve been helping me try to figure out what’s going on.”

“Good luck. Someone in the government contacted my dad an hour ago. He’s working on it but can’t seem to get
anywhere yet. Whatever it is, it’s a huge mess, some kind of blended threat. He’s using words I haven’t heard since he helped map out the Stuxnet worm.”

I exchange uneasy glances with Eli and Theo. “So this thing is really bad, then?”

“That’s the impression I get.” She leans back against my couch and blows a bubble with her trademark strawberry gum, looking completely relaxed. Like we’re talking about what shade of lipstick she should wear instead of a worm that has shut down nearly every form of communication we’ve got. “Close to an hour ago the game opened up for everyone, and my dad tried to slip through the matrix to get a handle on it, but he said he couldn’t get through. There’s something blocking him and all of the other government hackers.

“He says this is unlike any worm or virus he’s ever seen, that it’s some weird amalgamation of both that’s taking over everything it comes into contact with.”

“How many people are infected at this point?” Theo asks. “Are there any estimates?”

“I have no idea. I just know it’s a lot.” She looks at him curiously. “Are you coming to dinner with us?”

“Dinner?” Eli asks, just as his stomach rumbles.

“To celebrate Pandora’s birthday. We’re going for pizza. You should come.”

“I thought you said there was a change of plans?” I ask, suddenly not so crazy about the way Emily is looking at Eli and Theo. I feel stupid for letting it bug me, especially since I barely know either one of them, but I can’t help it. I’ve spent the last couple of hours with them, and even with all the Pandora’s Box stuff, it’s been kind of nice to have them
on my side. Paying attention to me. Which makes me selfish as well as moronic and the cause of all things Armageddon. Fantastic.

“My dad says I can’t stay over if there’s no phone. Plus, he doesn’t want you here on your own, either. He didn’t say anything else—my mom started losing it—but I think this is going to end up being a pretty big deal. So pack a bag for a couple of days, and after we have dinner, we can head to my place.”

I don’t bother arguing, largely because I’m so relieved that I don’t have to stay here alone with no phone and spotty electricity.

Emily waits for a beat, but once she realizes I’m on board with the new plan, she turns to Theo. “So, Othello, do you two want to come or not?”

I blush wildly at her reference to what happened in my English class, but Theo takes it in stride.

Eli laughs. “I do.” Then he winks at her, and I’m struck, not for the first time, by what a charmer he is. And even more, despite his fan club of legions, how he’s really just a nice, sweet guy at the heart of it all.

I can’t help liking that about him.

Which is so not what I should be thinking about right now. To keep myself distracted, I shove off the couch and head for the kitchen. “Do you guys want something to drink? The fridge is pretty much empty of food but I’ve got soda, water, and iced tea.”

Right on schedule, Eli’s stomach growls again, and he smiles in good-natured embarrassment. “I don’t think a soda’s going to hold me for long,” he admits.

“I guess we can leave the game for a little while.” Theo stands up reluctantly, as if he expects the world to end while we’re at dinner, and heads for the door. “Just let me run next door and get my wallet and the car.”

“I’ll go with you.”

Emily and I watch as the guys head out. She smiles sweetly when they give us small waves, but the second the door closes behind them, she’s on me. “Oh my God! They are even hotter up close.” She fake swoons. “And they both seem pretty cool.”

“They are.”

“So have you decided which one you want? Eli, right? Because of the whole …”—she mimes strangling herself—“Othello thing with Theo? Oh, please say Eli. He’s hot, but Theo is
gorgeous
. And I totally felt a connection between us …”

“They’re not candy, you know. We can’t just divvy them up.”

“Sure we can—one for you and one for me! We don’t want to crush on the same guy, after all. And if they were candy, I’d bet Theo would be the kind with the hard chocolate shell and melted caramel center. Yummy.”

“I think you mean
nutty
center, don’t you?”

She sighs heavily. “Could you be a little more of a wet blanket?”

“Sorry, but the world is falling apart, in case you haven’t noticed. Now’s not exactly the time to be worrying about hot guys.”

“My dad will fix it—he’s the best at this stuff. Besides, there’s
always
time to worry about hot guys. Speaking of which …” She sends me her wide-eyed, pleading look.

“Don’t worry. I’m
so
not crushing on Theo.”

“I knew it. He’s a little too much for you. Plus, Eli’s got that dimple, and I know how you are—”

“What is that supposed to mean?” I interrupt, insulted. “Theo’s not too
much
for me!”

“He’s a little intense, Pandora.”

“I can do intense.”

“So you
do
want Theo?” Emily says with a grin and an eyebrow wiggle, both of which I ignore.

“I don’t want either of them! You’re the one who brought up the whole ridiculous subject.”

Rolling her eyes, she grabs my hand and starts dragging me upstairs. “Come on, girl. You look like hell, and that just won’t do for your first date with Eli.”

“It’s not a date. It’s
pizza
.”

“Trust me, the way he was looking at you? It’s definitely a date.”

Emily bulldozes around any and all of my objections, even going so far as to insist that I change my clothes. I start to argue, but there’s no winning when she gets like this. And besides, it’s nice to spend a few minutes doing something normal—or, at least, normal for her—instead of freaking out about that stupid game.

About what’s going to happen next.

By the time Emily’s satisfied with my appearance, the shell-shocked-survivor look is gone. My choppy haircut has been ruthlessly tamed into submission, and even I have to admit that the shimmery purple tank top Emily found at the back of the closet looks great on me.

“So, are you still determined to go to Little Nicky’s for your birthday?” she asks as we head downstairs, my backpack filled with extra clothes slung over my shoulder. “Or can we try somewhere a little more sophisticated?”

“I want pizza.”

“Of course you do.”

We start to settle on the couch to talk—it’s not like there’s anything else to do right now—but then the doorbell rings. It’s Eli, and he’s changed as well. His wild hair is tamed a little, and he’s pulled on a cool South By Southwest T-shirt. It makes me smile, because I have the same one upstairs in my room.

He grins when he sees me. “Hey, you look great!”

“Uh, thanks.” I’m not sure what else to say, because the way he’s looking at me is so flirtatious that my breath catches in my rib cage. Which is stupid. And all Emily’s fault. If she hadn’t gone on and on about him, everything would be like it was earlier instead of my practically swallowing my tongue while trying to make conversation with him.

“Theo’s in the car. Are you ready to go?”

“Sure.” I slide my laptop into my backpack with the rest of the stuff I packed, and then sling it over my shoulder, ready to go straight to Emily’s house once dinner is finished and the guys drop us off. My own feels kind of strange now. Haunted, almost.

I lock up, then we climb into Theo’s fully loaded Range Rover (could he get a little more yuppie-in-training?)—Eli and me in the back, Emily in the front—and head toward the shopping and restaurant area where Little Nicky’s makes
its home. The three of them talk about Pandora’s Box and school and a bunch of other stuff, but I don’t participate. Though it’s my birthday, I’m tired and my head hurts and I just don’t have it in me to try to keep up.