Grid Seekers (Grid Seekers Book One) (20 page)

“It’s strange how quiet it is here. Even back home, in the city, it’s never really quiet, is it? There’s always some kind of noise, whether it’s traffic, sirens, family members, or just random street noises. I’m not sure I’ve even ever heard true silence, at least not that I can remember,” Liam said.

I stayed quiet, listening to the reverberating silence, realizing that I hadn’t ever heard it either. Sure, there were some branches swaying and some leaves blowing, but it was quiet. No cars, no sirens, and most eerily of all, no other people. They could’ve been nearby, maybe even within a minute or two of us, but we didn’t hear them, that was for sure.

“I wonder if we’re being watched,” I said, looking up to the trees in vain, as I wouldn’t be able to tell if anything, or anyone, was up there.

“Probably. I have a feeling you’re not going to be able to sneeze without someone seeing,” Liam said.

“At least you took care of the problem earlier, even if Peter was a little uptight about it. I really appreciate it, you know. You took action, you protected me from it, and that means a lot,” I said.

“Was just doing my job,” he said.

“What job?” I asked curiously.

“Protecting you,” he said.

“I’m a big girl, Liam. It’s not your job to
protect
me.”

“Sure it is, just like it’s your job to protect me. We’re partners, Alexia, not just two random people in this for ourselves. We’re supposed to take care of one another out here, and I want you to know that I’m going to do that. I’ve told you that I’m here for you and I’ve got your back, and I mean that, in every way,” he said.

I smiled, my cheeks heating up a little, as I nudged him with my shoulder. He pushed back gently, neither one of us saying a word. He was a sweet guy, the kind you never worried about, and I was glad I was here with him, even if we were cold, in a forest, and without any real comforts.

I yawned, my hand covering my mouth, as I felt my eyes water a little, exhaustion taking over my cold body. I clasped my hands together in my lap, my legs closing, trying to keep myself warm.

“Tired?” Liam asked.

“Just a little,” I said, yawning again.

“Go to sleep. You’ll need your rest for tomorrow,” Liam said.

“What about you?” I asked.

“I’m going to stay up a little while longer. I’ve been thinking about some stuff, and I want to make sure we’re alone here before letting my guard down,” Liam said.

“Thinking about what? Want to talk about it?” I asked, yawning as I spoke, my eyes getting a little heavy.

“Maybe another time. Just go to sleep and get some rest,” he said.

I closed my eyes all of the way, my back up against the dirt wall, my mind not able to shut off as I kept fidgeting around, trying to get comfortable, though it wasn’t happening. The ground was too hard, the air was too cold, and every time I started to doze off my head leaned forward, the sensation of falling waking me up and making me jerk back.

“Come here,” Liam said, after one of those times.

“What?” I muttered.

“Use me as a pillow. You’re never going to fall asleep that way,” he said.

He leaned back, forgoing being comfortable and sitting straight up, and I leaned up next to him, crouched down as my head fell to his shoulder, nuzzling it just perfectly as I felt the heat of his body against my cheek.

“There. Now sleep,” he said.

I bit my lower lip a little, feeling a calm wave of security as a couple leftover butterflies tickled my tummy, my hands still in my lap, getting slightly warmer as the minutes ticked by.

With my eyes shut and my head stable, I drifted off to sleep, stupidly hoping I would wake up from this dream in the morning. With one day down, I hoped we didn’t have many more in here.

•••

My eyes slowly opened the next morning, my vision a little blurry, taking a few seconds to come back into focus. I had slept well enough considering the circumstances, Liam and I staying fairly huddled up for most of the night to try to escape the bitter cold. As my vision came back, though, I noticed Liam was still asleep. I looked just barely to my left, pushing back in fear, waking Liam up, as I saw two people standing there.

“Relax,” the woman said.

It was Jamie. She and Matthew were sitting there; they’d been watching us sleep for who knows how long. My escalated heart rate started to tone back down, as I remembered that we had a pact with them and they wouldn’t hurt us. Besides, wouldn’t they have gotten us easily in our sleep if they wanted to eliminate us?

“How did you two find us?” Liam asked.

“Our hacker. He’s pretty good at that kind of stuff,” Matthew said.

“Well, he didn’t know it was you two, just that two people were close. We just, well, found you both as we walked further,” Jamie said, touching her arm.

It looked cut open, gashed, though it wasn’t bleeding, at least not anymore. Matthew looked a little banged up as well, with the early makings of a black eye. I could tell they both were tired, hungry, and worst of all, hurt.

“I wish I had something to help,” I said, pointing towards Jamie’s arm.

“Oh, no, it’s okay. It doesn’t hurt too badly anymore. Thank you, though, for your kindness,” she said, looking down.

“We’re actually pretty happy we found you two. Running into some friendly faces in this place is a godsend, if you ask me. We haven’t had the best experience so far,” Matthew said.

“What’s happened?” Liam asked.

“Well, it was that one group, the ones from Los Angeles. What were their names?” Matthew asked, looking at Jamie.

“Jason and Bridgette,” she said.

“Yeah, them. Jamie and I were just minding our own business, resting a bit, and they came out of nowhere, demanding we give them our cards or they would eliminate us,” Matthew said.

“You didn’t do that, did you?” I asked, in shock.

Giving away your cards, while not against any rules, was the stupidest thing you could do in here. They were our lifelines, our tickets out and for an overall easier time, especially if you had any good ones.

“No, we didn’t give them anything. They attacked us, though, when we stood our ground and told them to get lost. I think that Bridgette had something sharp, because she sliced Jamie open pretty well. I got into it with Jason, but we were able to run away, luckily. They chased us for a little bit, but ended up giving up. I’m hoping we can find one of those survival packs, if only for the first aid kit. I really want to get her healed up,” Matthew said.

“We haven’t found one, either,” Liam said.

“Dang. I was really hoping you had one and could let us use it. We really need it,” Matthew said with a discouraged tone.

“Maybe we could find one, though. Our hacker is pretty good,” I said.

“I don’t think you should,” Peter said, in my ear. “Don’t let them know I’m talking to you guys, but I just don’t trust them fully like you two seem to. I think they want something more than just a first aid kit. One rule of the grid is to never trust anyone who isn’t your own partner.”

“He’s telling us right now that he’d love to help,” Liam said.

“No! I’m not!” Peter exclaimed.

“He says we should get moving right now, actually,” Liam said.

“Fine, I’ll help you find a survival pack, but only because I want you two to have an easier time in there! You better not give it away to them, though. There’s only six, you know,” Peter said.

I smirked, Liam looking back at me and doing the same, before I gently shook my head, trying not to laugh at Peter. At least I had some form of amusement in here.

We stood up. I opened my card pouch, making sure everything was in there. I had my five cards safe and sound. There was a little bit of dirt still on the terraform card, but I didn’t take it out to clean it, not wanting to show it off or cause a rift with Jamie and Matthew. I had no idea what kind of cards they had, and I felt like they would’ve told us had they picked powerful ones. It almost seemed like a source of pride to know you were well off.

“I was already hacking in and found something about half a mile from your location, if you want to go to that. Can’t promise it’s a pack, but I guess even a card would be a good way to start the day,” Peter said.

Chapter Eighteen

There were
no trails where we were, the hilly terrain of the forest steep and unpredictable. Small rocks jutted out of the landscape, making us pay close attention so that we didn’t trip.

The hills were hard to traverse, with only a sparse scattering of thin trees there to hoist ourselves further up, though the loose dirt played against us, our feet slipping as the tumbling clumps brushed against the person unlucky enough to be behind you, them having an even harder time getting up with the foot holes worn away.

It took us almost forty minutes, having to stop every now and again for Peter to guide us further, since Mathew and Jamie’s hacker wasn’t contributing anything to the quest. In fact, they didn’t even talk to him once they were with us, for whatever reason.

Matthew had a tougher time than the rest of us, saying he’d sprained his ankle a little when he was running away from Jason and Bridgette, something that made me feel a little sorry for him. Your ability to walk was your only true lifeline in this place, and being incapacitated would practically write your prison ticket.

“Okay, guys, you’re coming up near its general area,” Peter said, a few minutes later.

“There’s a lot of shrubbery. I don’t even see any trails or a cleared area,” Liam said, looking around, his hands on his hips.

“Well, it’s around there. It
could
be northeast of your current position,” Peter said.

I looked at Liam, shrugged, and we started walking, looking all around for anything helpful we could find. The ground was covered in green overgrowth, the plants growing one to two feet high, moss present on the sides of a few trees. It was hard to focus your eyes on the ground, if you could even see it at all.

“Alexia,” Peter said.

“Yeah?” I asked, stopping in place.

“Take like, five steps to your right. It’s near,” Peter said.

I turned to my right, taking five fairly normal-sized steps, not running into anything besides a bunch of overgrown plants.

“I’m just standing in the same type of stuff as before,” I said, as Liam, Jamie, and Matthew all kept looking around not too far away.

“I’m seeing something and it’s almost right next to you. Can you see the ground at all?” Peter asked.

“Well, not too well. There are some gaps between the plants, but nothing significant,” I said.

“Try getting down there then. Maybe push them away,” Peter said.

I hunched over, my hands rotating back and forth, in and out, as I scanned the ground with them, hoping I’d find something. Though it wasn’t impossible, I knew it would be difficult to find any type of card this way.

“I’m not feeling any—” I said, before stopping.

I hit something, the side of my right hand bumping into it, before I pushed the brush aside, uncovering whatever it was. It was a survival pack. The green canvas blended in perfectly with the surroundings; the four of us likely would have never been able to find it without Peter’s help and skills. I lifted it up in the air, calling for Liam. He looked over, a look of shock on his face, before they all came rushing over, ready to see what I had found.

“You found it!” Liam exclaimed.

“Please let there be a first aid kit in there. Open it up!” Matthew said.

We walked over to an area that was a little clearer, all of us kneeling down, before I unclasped the top of the bag, which was held together with two clips. I reached inside, finding a treasure trove of goodies, and started pulling some of them out for all of us to look at. There was a Mylar heat blanket, a canteen, and better yet, a first aid kit.

I thought that Jamie had almost started tearing up a little bit when I pulled it out, handing it over to them, both of them opening it up and going through it together. Matthew gave Jamie an antibiotic and wound healing accelerant cream, which she hastily applied, a soothing look of relief on her face as the cream touched her gash.

I gave Liam the bag and he rummaged through it. I caught him sneaking something out, a fire starter, and into his pocket. I didn’t know why he’d bother to hide it from Jamie and Matthew, since it was a fairly insignificant part of the survival pack, even though it would be useful. Since it was our bag, you’d think he’d just keep it tucked away in there for safekeeping. I soon forgot about it, though, as I knew if he had a reason for doing that, then I should just trust his instincts.

“Is there anything else in there? Like food?” Matthew asked.

“Uh, no, there isn’t,” Liam said, as he looked through it more.

“I’m so hungry,” Jamie said.

“Yeah, we haven’t eaten since yesterday morning. I’m too old for that kind of stuff,” Matthew said.

“Why don’t we use my feast card? It’s been well over six hours since last night,” I said, looking at Liam.

“Yeah, we could definitely share that with you guys. Besides, my stomach is growling a little as well,” Liam said.

“You have one of those? Oh man, we would appreciate that so much! I’m so glad we ran into you guys, for more reasons than one!” Matthew said excitedly.

I opened my pouch, scanning through my cards, before coming across my feast card and pulling it out, Jamie and Matthew looking on intently.

“Modify,” I said, before swiping the card.

Out of thin air, a smorgasbord of a feast appeared before us, bottles of water for all of us to enjoy, steam floating off the top of a shepherd’s pie, and a beautifully roasted and glazed ham sat there as well, the sheer aroma enough to make you drool.

“It’s…beautiful,” Matthew said, before swallowing his spit.

“Dig in,” I said.

Jamie and Matthew dug in, ripping off pieces of bread, a carving knife appearing with the feast. They used it to slice off chunks of ham, chewing everything as fast as they could so that they could get even more down their throats. None of us were the fastest of eaters, generally, but with only five or so minutes on the timer we had to hurry before it disappeared.

Liam and I went in as well, though not as crazily as them, since we had eaten a little late last night. I was hungry, but not starved, and after all they’d endured thus far, they deserved all of this even more.

A few minutes later, the five-minute mark for the card being up, the feast started to glitch a few times, coming close to disappearing completely as Matthew and Jamie started grabbing food off of it before it fully disappeared. They got some just in time as it went away, though the food they had picked off stayed around for them to eat.

After they had finished, Matthew rubbed his stomach, belching loudly, as Jamie leaned back, completely bloated and full of food.

“Good?” I asked.

“Great,” Jamie said.

“Thank you so much for sharing with us, guys. I’m glad we have this pact,” Matthew said.

“It really has been helpful for both teams. This is what the competition is all about. Some people are crazy and take others out, but it really doesn’t need to be that way at all. We can have a healthy competition without hunting each other down,” Liam said.

“We
definitely
agree,” Matthew said, smiling.

The four of us sat around talking for over an hour, going on about home life, the perils of training, and the annoyances of the competition. Making that pact with them on the first day in training was one of the best things Liam and I had done, if not for the fact that we didn’t have to worry about them. We didn’t hurt them, they didn’t hurt us, and even though I didn’t see us traveling together for very much longer, it was still nice to run into some friendly faces and talk for a little bit, if not to remind ourselves that we were still human.

“I wonder how we’re doing,” Jamie said.

“Well, nobody has found any talismans yet or anything,” Liam said.

“Not in here, I mean out there—in the real world. Our bodies are all hooked up, and we’ve been in this place for so long now that I’m almost starting to wonder where the true line is between reality and digital reality,” Jamie said.

“I know we’re in good hands. Our woman was really nice. She said she was going to watch over us,” I said.

“Yeah, but we’re going to be in here for a long while, potentially. Waking up from all of this, if you could call it that, is going to be a much different change of pace. What if something happens in the real world? What if we go crazy, unable to see the blurred line between real and fake?” Jamie asked.

“I think you’re looking too far into this,” Matthew said.

“Yeah, we’re going to be fine. No competitor has had any problems before,” Liam said.

“That you know of,” Jamie said, pointing her finger.

“We should get going soon. We need to keep moving and make a camp for tonight. I’m sure Peter is going crazy out there in the real world waiting for us to stop messing around,” Liam said, looking at me.

“Yeah, we should. Well, it’s been really awesome running into you guys, but I think we should probably part ways for now,” I said.

“No!” Jamie exclaimed nervously.

“Calm down, Jamie,” Matthew said, looking at her. “I think she’s just a little on edge after being attacked last night. Maybe we could stick together for
just
tonight? Break up in the morning and go our separate ways then? I know it would really make her feel better.”

I looked at Liam, and he looked back at me, both of us saying a lot without saying anything at all. I could tell he wanted to ditch them, not because they were rude or annoying or anything, but because only he and I were a team and it would get messy with two more bodies around us. I gave him a look, wanting to just give in to their request no matter if it were a strain or not. They were nice enough people, and after all, they did just recently get attacked and ambushed. I would be rightfully nervous as well.

“Okay, but just for tonight,” Liam said, after I didn’t back down with my stern looks.

“Do you mean it?” Jamie asked, perking up.

“Yeah, it’ll be fun,” I said, smiling.

“It sure will,” Matthew said.

•••

We had finally decided to get up and moving after another twenty minutes, all of us still a little full and fairly tired, nobody seeming like they had gotten that great of sleep last night, especially Jamie and Matthew. When Jamie and Matthew patched into their hacker, he told them about an area on the map about a mile from us where there was a large hill. He said we should be high enough there to see where we were, since there wouldn’t be many trees up there to obscure the view, as it overlooked a large portion of the map, and we were already near the edge of the arena as it was.

The hill was steep, its sides covered with loose dirt that was far from stable. It crumbled under our weight, our feet sinking a little into it, the energy needed to even get up it far outweighing any true benefits their hacker could have for us. We got to the top, which was expansive, a plateau, and started forward, Peter saying there were a few hundred feet until the edge.

Jamie and Matthew walked behind us, Matthew not able to move quite as quickly because of his ankle, before we saw something, someone, who we had no desire to ever see in here.

“Well, look who it is,” Jason said.

He and Bridgette stood there, their arms crossed, as they smiled sadistically, like they had planned this. Liam and I stopped in our tracks, Jamie and Matthew doing the same, as we were all a little nervous and on edge. I tried to think of what they could want, since their skills weren’t quite up to par with Liam’s and mine, though I knew they wanted to knock us off ever since we were in training. Jason had even told us to watch our backs, and here we were face to face, a showdown feeling almost imminent.

“What are you doing here?” Liam asked.

“Just looking out over the forest. Beautiful place, wouldn’t you say? The better question is what
you
are doing here,” Jason said.

“I’m just helping my friends and partner. We’re trying to figure out our next moves, which don’t concern you,” Liam said.

“Friends? I don’t see any friends,” Jason said, looking around.

Liam looked back quickly, past me, before looking back at Jason, an un-amused expression on his face.

“Don’t be stupid, Jason. They’re right there,” Liam said.

“I see two people, another group, but they aren’t your friends. Nobody in here is your friend,” Jason said.

“Maybe not for you, but things are a little different for me,” Liam said.

“Bridgette, do you think that Jamie and Matthew here are their friends?” Jason asked, looking at Bridgette.

“Why no, Jason, I don’t. I do think they’re something else, though,” Bridgette said.

“And what might that be?” Jason asked.

“Opportunistic and smart,” Bridgette said, smirking.

I looked back at Jamie and Matthew. Their stances were different; Matthew wasn’t favoring his ankle anymore. He was standing normally, something very different than before, as Jamie and he fanned out a few feet, both of them standing a little aggressively.

“What are you guys doing?” I asked.