Virtual Reality: Dark Days

This game isn't like any video game you've played. It's a world that may look familiar, but isn't. There's something deep in this system. A darkness that would very well shake a regular gamer to their core. People die in this game. A death that comes to them through other players. They make you feel the pain. A pain that should only be felt outside of the game. If you feel your own death in the game and in real life, You must stop yourself from dying or else... Or else it's already over... A strange feeling of pain surrounded the head of a young boy named Alex Huang. He rubbed his head, wondering what was the cause of all this. It was a feeling that made him feel woozy. There was something going on that he didn't like but couldn't tell what it was. He laid on the wet ground as rain fell on him. The area around didn't even look familiar to him. His mind wasn't helping him either. He truly had no idea of where he was. The only memory he had were these moments here and now. Not even the area around him was familiar to him. This was all brand new to him. It was the cold drops of water falling on his wound that even woke him. If he hadn't been for the uneasy comforting feeling of the cold drops, he might've still been out cold. He looked around the long dark alleyway hoping that there was something near by that would help jog his memory, but there was nothing. Just the usual things that people often see in alleyways; puddles of water, lamps hanging from the walls, and dumpsters. Alex tried standing up on his own but whatever wound he got to his head caused him to stumble and fall backwards. The wooziness set in even more. It worked its way from his head to the rest of his body. He felt vulnerable and this was definitely the worst situation to feel it. He leaned against the nearest wall, dizzy as ever, and looked up at the dark and rainy sky. There had to be some type of way to get out of this. He couldn't be stuck here waiting until some helpful person decided to come along. Oddly, he wasn't afraid. Alex knew something would happen soon. A person would get him home or to the hospital. No matter how dire things look now, eventually they'll turn up for good. He was confused, if anything. How on earth did he end up like this? Was there something he was doing that caused him to end up on his back with a bloody wound on his head? Did he fall from one of the buildings? Why would he even be up there in the first place? Confused of his predicament and how he got into an alleyway, Alex began working his memory harder than he ever had. He started asking himself things like, was he running and tripped over something? Someone couldn't have possibly pushed him off, right? Alex wondered how this even happened. He looked to his right and saw people walking about normally through town. He tried walking forward in hopes that someone would help him. Walking was the hard part. Alex began sliding against the wall he leaned upon. It was working. He was actually getting close to help. "Found you!" A voice shouted out. It was so random and aggressive. Alex could notice that the tone wasn't good with his confused mind. He wondered if the person was screaming at him or someone else. None of his thoughts even made sense. He was the only one in the alleyway. There was three them. Three different individuals making their way down the alleyway. Both them carrying themselves in a way that meant danger. They were coming for Alex and the injured young man didn't even know it. While there was no indication to Alex that something good or bad was going to happen, he figured it was best to find out himself. If he ran, there possibly would be no one else that could help him. But he feared that staying would cause more damaged than just the injury to his head. "Please," Alex stopped to speak with them. "Please help me." The three individuals began to pull out weapons. Now it was for sure, Alex was in danger. They weren't going to help him. Murder was possibly in their minds right now. At this point, he had to run. As much pain he was in from the wound on his head, there were now three people coming to kill him. With every little step he took, the people behind him took bigger and broader steps. Hope was lost. Screaming for help probably wouldn't even do much good. One of them wrapped his hands around his mouth and tossed him to the ground. It was if the situation was just getting more dire by the second. All three of this men didn't look to have much speed, but due to Alex's current condition, there speed was more than he could handle. For bit of strength Alex used to free himself, the three of them would send it back on top of him. The young man was pinned down with no real way of getting free. The men soon realized that they had Alex. Even if he were to somehow overpower them, he couldn't get very far. But they couldn't get too careless. While victory seemed like a for sure thing right now, any random person with good eyes would notice what was going on. Only one of them could make the next move. Hidden within their jackets were hand guns. These hand guns were specific brought to end Alex's life. With their target now down in front of them, it was time to finish the job. The gun was removed from their jacket pocket and pressed down onto Alex's back. Alex held the pressure of the metallic object pressed against his back. His memory worked help him to understand that his life was now in more danger than he could have thought. There would be no words to get these men off him. There was no strength he could use to save himself. They were going to shoot him dead and Alex had no clue why. At this point, he accepted his fate. He was going to die and that was that. As he braced for whatever type of pain the gunshot wound would inflict on him, a gun was shot. But he was not on the receiving end of it. Alex shielded his face as blood splashed everywhere. Someone had shot all three men. This person ran over and began helping him get on his feet. Alex was curious as to who this person was. Why would this guy, of all the people that had passed by, save him? "Can you walk?" The man asked Alex. Alex shook his head and the man began leading him out of the alleyway with the three bodies remaining on the ground. Alex had been rescued. While he should have felt safe, he didn't. There was something off about this man. He seemed worried. Not of Alex, but of something else. Every now and then he'd glance over his shoulder. The grip he held on the gun he used to shoot those three back in the alleyway was tight. There was so much speed in his movement that Alex nearly hit the ground. Never has he ever moved with such intensity before. Something wasn't right. Why would he be so worried if he'd already taken care of the threat? Was there something bigger going on here? Were there more of them coming? "Why?" Alex asked his rescuer. "Why did you do that for me?" "Because you aren't the only one this has happened to." The Rescuer said. "And I'm getting tired of watching it happen." Alex was confused as to what his rescuer meant. How many times has this even happened, he wondered. Why is this even happening to Alex? He wondered why he couldn't remember these men chasing him down. "Thank you," Alex said. "Thank you very much." "Don't mention it, kid." The Rescuer said, "Let's just get you out of here before someone notices you." Alex looked ahead and caught the eye of a man walking toward them. But he wasn't alone. There were more, lots more. Alex realized the connection soon enough. They had to have been working for the three that tried killing Alex a few minutes ago. He wondered if the man helping him even noticed this. Unfortunately, his rescuer was too busy trying to get Alex and himself to safety. Alex then looked around for an escape route as the group of people began to get closer. Just as Alex's eyes fell behind him, he found the same number of people with the same look in their eyes doing the same thing as the group in front. This was an ambush and they were likely to be killed by a number of people storming toward them. "Hey," Alex spoke to his rescuer. "We've got trouble." The Rescuer couldn't hear him through the sound of rain, cars and people. Something had to happen. He had to do something before they were killed. Alex used his instincts and suddenly a semiautomatic gun appeared in his hands. Alex pulled it up, staring at it oddly. Did he do that? How? Was that something people could even do? The Rescuer eventually noticed the gun randomly in Alex's hand. Before he could even ask, he was pushed away by Alex so that he could start unloading the bullets into the people coming after him. The Rescuer watched Alex, wondering what was going on, until he looked to his right and saw a group of people rushing toward Alex. It was too late. Whoever they were running from caught up with them and were ready to kill them. The Rescuer pulled up a digital list and went through every gun he owned until he found the right gun for the situation. There was no other way out than to kill them all. He pulled it from the digital list and it morphed into an actual life-sized gun in his hands. The people intending to hurt Alex were blasted by his rescuer. He wasn't going down without a fight! As it began to become clear that it was getting hard to kill Alex, the group retreated. But this wasn't over. They'd be back to finish the job they were given. Alex watched them disappear and turned around to see his rescuer experiencing the same thing he was. Whoever these people were, they had learned their lesson for the time being. He turned to Alex, wondering if he was okay, and suddenly began to notice something was off. Alex grew pale all over. His body movements weren't regular. He was losing too much blood and all the action he was experiencing didn't make his wound better. If he didn't move quickly, the wound Alex had on his head would possibly become worse. Before Alex collapsed to the ground, his rescuer caught him in his arms. He took him away from the area to a safe location. Some place no one outside his circle of friends knew about. Fear clouded Alex's thoughts. Visions of never being free caused him to awaken. He was on a couch in the living room of an apartment he'd never been in before. It was the apartment of his rescuer. He was standing in his kitchen drinking a bottle of whiskey when Alex came back to consciousness. He placed the bottle down to speak with Alex. "Finally," The Rescuer said, making his way toward the couch. "I was wondering when you were going to get up." Alex had bandages wrapped around his wound. He rubbed his head and was still very confused. Why did this guy risk his life for him? "You sure got mixed up with some bad people," The Rescuer said as he sat down in front of Alex. He was examining the young man to see what made him so valuable. "That's just the thing," Alex said. "I have no idea who those people are." "What?" The Rescuer asked. "How do you not know them?" "Because," Alex said. "I just don't remember." The Rescuer then looked at the bandages he wrapped around Alex's head and put them together. Alex must have suffered a head injury so great that it messed with his memory. He has no idea what is going on or how he even got into this mess. The Rescuer sighed, knowing he'd have to do a lot of talking. He wasn't exactly a fan of talking, but in this case, an exception had to be made. "Look kid." The Rescuer said. "You're clearly involved in some deep s**t and I can't be a part of it. I got you fixed up but you're going to need to log off and get to the hospital. Better yet, call the people and inform them of what's going on in this game." Alex only focused on the word 'log off' and stopped his rescuer. What did he mean by that? Was there something he had to do in order to be free from all of this on the computer? "Wait," Alex said. "What do you mean by log off?" The Rescuer looked Alex in his eyes and saw that he was very serious. He really didn't know how to log off the game. He sighed once more over the thought of talking. "You're not aware of any of this." The Rescuer said. "Are you?" "Aware of what?" Alex asked. "What are you talking about?" "This is a video game!" The Rescuer yelled. "This whole world you're in right now is a game. Your real self is outside of this world, sitting in a chair, hooked up to a headset. But since you don't even know this is a game, you probably don't know how to log off." Alex was very afraid now. He was stuck in a world that he was now a target of. There was no way out. That would make it very easy for whoever is trying to kill him to get what they want. It made him wonder if this was all planned out. What if someone knew by hurting his head that he'd be unable to use his memory the way he wanted to? "How?" Alex asked. "How do I get out of this?" The Rescuer rubbed his chin trying to think of a way to help Alex. There was no real good way out of this. If someone wanted him dead, he had to get to the police, but they don't exist in this world due to the police having no knowledge of the engine gamers use to do their dirty deeds in the game. That's when he thought of a plan. If there was anyone that could help him learn how to get out of this game, he would have to talk to the creator of this game; Jason Callahan. He stood up and opened up a digital map of the city. He zoomed in and scrolled around looking for a certain icon with a picture on it. He found the face of the creator and the location he was at. He was partying that night. The Rescuer slid this map over to Alex. As Alex looked up at the map, it disappeard into his forehead like a snake slithering into the ground. Alex now had knowledge of the location his rescuer was sending him to. He was one step closer to finding a way out of this game and making a certain person pay for trying to kill him. "What is this?" Alex asked. "That is the location of the man that can help you." He said. "This guy is the creator of this entire game. Jason Callahan." Alex stood up, ready to head to this location. But it was too far to walk. He'd never make it before sunrise. The Rescuer knew this very well and reached into his pocket to grab an item. It was an orb that had a description of the item within it. He tossed it to Alex. He stared down at the small orb with the description 'Motor Bike'. "What's this?" Alex asked. "It's one of my bikes," The Rescuer said with a bit of unhappiness in his voice. He won the bike in a racing event he participated in nearly a year ago. He wasn't ready to part from it. "Use it." Alex smiled at his rescuer and wanted to thank him. However, there was a certain air about the man that made him believe he wasn't much of a hugger. He stuck his hand out and the man shook it. "I wouldn't be here without you," Alex said. "I hope we meet again in the future." "I hope not kid." The Rescuer said as he was shaking Alex's hand. "This whole encounter may have cost me my life." Alex knew that he was right. It was a dangerous thing getting involved in a hit like they had experienced, especially a mob hit. They saw his face as well. They know what he did. He wasn't going to live very much longer in this game or even in this world. His deed was done and now he had to focus on staying alive. Alex turned to leave his apartment and as he opened the door, Alex turned once more to ask him a question. "What's your name, anyway?" Alex asked. "Shamar." He said. "Shamar Lee." Alex nodded and introduced himself as well. The two parted ways as Alex now began setting off to find Jason Callahan, the creator of Virtual Reality. Outside, Alex looked at the Motor Bike orb he held in his hand and some part of his memory told him to toss it on the ground. It was like moving his finger. He just did it. Alex did what his mind told him to do. Was it something he questioned? Yes, but now wasn't the time for questions. He had to get out of this game before he was killed. The orb touched the ground and immediately opened up with a motorbike growing out of it. Alex stepped back, confused by what he had witnessed, and walked over to sit on it. This world worked in the best ways possible and Alex was beginning to like it. The bike was already on. There was nothing Alex needed to do other than ride. It was as if it knew he was on a mission and had to be ready from the start. Alex used his memory once more to ride the motorbike forward. Somehow, it worked. There wasn't any struggle at all. As soon as he was ready to ride off, he did it. It was like putting on a sock. None of this made any sense to him since he didn't remember being able to control a motorbike, he also couldn't help but just ride. It was very fast and out of his control at first, but eventually Alex got the hang of it. He blasted off along the road toward the destination the man gave to him. The location was a strip club. Alex stepped off the motorbike and it instantly turned back into an orb. He bent down and picked it off the ground, still amazed by the artwork of this game. Whoever this guy Jason was, Alex definitely needed to give him his gratitude for the awesome work. He entered the strip club and looked around at the people enjoying the half-naked women and men dancing in front of them. It wasn't something Alex worried about too much since he was on a mission, but he had to admit the people dancing around him would have attracted him any other day. Luckily, it wasn't hard to find Jason. Alex found Jason sitting in the V.I.P section of the club, which was his biggest give away. He had no idea that it was restricted to non-associates of Jason. This was going to make things difficult for the young gamer. He was stopped by two security guards immediately upon arrival. Jason allowed Alex through only because he recognized him. The security guards allowed Alex to step toward Jason and his friends. "Have a seat." Jason said to the familiar face. Alex sat down across from Jason and quickly got to the point. "Hi, I'm Alex Huang," Alex said. "I don't know how or why, but for some reason I'm being hunted. I woke up with this bruise around my head and now I'm just trying to get home. I was told you could help me log off the game since I have memories of learning how to do it." "I see." Jason leaned forward. "So you're in need of going home?" "Yes," Alex said, excited over Jason's understanding of his situation. "Can you help me?" "Well," Jason said, leaning back. "I'm a little busy at the moment. But my friend Branden here can help you get your mind right." Jason patted a well dressed man beside him. He nodded to Alex and Branden understood what he meant. Branden got onto his feet. "Follow me," Branden said. "I'll show you how to log off." "Thank you!" Alex said. "Thank you so much!" Alex rose to his feet and began following Branden. The backdoor to the club was pushed open by Branden. Alex stepped out first and as he turned to thank Branden, he found a gun being pointed at his face. Alex froze at the sight of it and looked into the eyes of Branden. His eyes were different than before. They seemed more menacing and untrustworthy. "What is this?" Alex asked. "This is what happens when you survive an assassination." Branden said. "You were never meant to walk away and now that they've failed, I've got to get my hands dirty." "Please no!" Alex pleaded. "Don't kill me!" "Sorry kid." Branden said. "But it looks like your luck has run out." As Branden began to pull the trigger, Alex got a sudden urge to kick Branden in his shin. Wherever this urge came from, it was at the perfect moment. The gun was shot but Alex wasn't killed due to his fast reflex to move before the trigger was pulled. He grabbed the arm holding the gun and elbowed Branden in the face. Branden dropped the gun and hit the ground. Alex was quick to grab the gun from the ground and point it at Branden. He didn't want to shoot the man, but if he continued to try and kill him, a deadly choice would have to be made. Branden soon realized what was going on and before he could even speak, Alex shot him through the neck. Branden fell onto his back, bleeding out but still alive. He knew that if this man survived he'd come after him. Alex walked above him and shot him in the head, blowing a hole through his brain. Alex stood over the dead body confused and scared. This wasn't the choice he wanted to make, but there was no other. He knew he had to escape from this location before Jason went out to look for him. But that's when he realized that this man was a friend of Jason's. Jason sent Branden out to help him. This could only mean that Jason, the creator of this whole game, was the reason for Alex's attempted murder... Shamar was about to lie in bed to log off from the game for the night when there was a loud rushing knock at his front door. Shamar stopped, wondering who could possibly be knocking at his door during this time of the day. A part of him hoped it was one of the women he was directly messaging coming to get started on some s****l activities. Shamar got out of bed and walked toward the door slowly and cautiously. He had just gone into a massive gunfight with multiple people. Maybe they learned of his whereabouts and went looking for him. A picked a hand gun to protect him from his digital arsenal of guns he'd collected throughout the game. The door was opened and Shamar found Alex standing at his door completely out of breath. He was afraid and whatever caused him to be in this state couldn't have been good. Shamar allowed Alex inside, where they sat on his couch, opposite from one another. Shamar looked into Alex's eyes and saw how scared he looked. He wondered if Alex even made it to see Jason. From the way he looked, someone must've got to him before he could get help. "What happened, kid?" Shamar asked. "It's Jason," Alex said. "Huh?" Shamar was confused. "Jason." Alex went on. "He's the reason why I'm being pursued by these people." "Why?" Shamar didn't understand. "How am I supposed to know?" Alex said. "He didn't tell me shit." "This doesn't make any sense." Shamar rose to his feet. "Why would the creator of this game be after you? Who the f**k are you?" "I don't know!" Alex said. "I don't know anything about myself in this place. I just want to escape and never come back!" Shamar could tell Alex was really scared. Screaming at him would only cause the kid to want to go back out there and get himself killed. He calmed himself down, trying to think of why Alex might be targeted by the creator of the game. This could also mean that Jason has been behind all the other murders happening in the game. But why would someone as big as Jason be killing people giving him money? All these thoughts clouded the head of Shamar. He began to head back to his bedroom. Alex noticed this, hoping that Shamar had something up his sleeve. "Where are you going?" Alex worried that Shamar was going to leave him. "I'm going to log off." Shamar said. "There's someone in the real world that can probably help me get an understanding of what's going on." Alex understood and hoped he could trust Shamar during these confusing times. Shamar nodded goodbye to Alex as he stepped into his room. Logging off was often done when you went to sleep, to make it seem like the gamer was putting their character to sleep when they would be leaving the game world. Shamar laid down on his bed and pulled up a digital diagram. The diagram gave him the option of wanting to save and log off. Shamar pressed the yes button and was zapped out of the game and his consciousness was reawakened in the real world. Shamar opened his eyes to the real world. He was sitting in his gaming chair in the living room with a gray headset over his eyes. He removed the headset and looked out the window with disappointment on his face. He knew it was time to do some research. But first, he needed to grab a bite to eat. He's been in the game for nine hours now and hasn't eaten since. A Mexican restaurant was Shamar's go to place to eat. But he wasn't just dining in, he was meeting with a friend. A friend that works for the NYPD. Tabitha Waller, an officer on the force, entered the restaurant and sat down in front of Shamar. She smiled at him, not having seen his face in a while. "I didn't expect your call so soon." Tabitha said. "What caused you to wanna bring me here?" "I've got some questions for you," Shamar said. "But they're not without their rewards." Tabitha was intrigued. She leaned forward. "Go on, excite me." Tabitha was interested. "There's a boy named Alex Huang. He got mixed up with some people in the game," Shamar said. "I need you to do some background checks on him." Tabitha didn't like doing work of this kind. It made her feel like she was doing shady stuff. "And what do you have for me?" She asked. "Jason Callahan tried to kill this kid." Shamar tried to be as quiet as he could. Tabitha suddenly became very interested. "You mean to tell me that the creator of that game tried to kill Alex Huang?" Tabitha quickly became skeptical. "Yes, now I know what you're thinking and I thought the same thing. But there's never been a lead like this ever. I just so happened to have sent the kid straight into this guy's hands and luckily he survived." Shamar got tensed up just thinking about it. "Well, if what you say is true, then this goes bigger than we thought. I'll do some digging into Alex, but you need to keep your eyes on him. He may still be in danger." Tabitha warned Shamar. Shamar quickly thought of what could be happening at this very moment with his avatar and left Tabitha at the table. Just when the waiter arrived to grab their order. Tabitha smiled with embarrassment and looked up at the waiter with no food options in her mind. Tabitha paid off the food she bought and began to make her way back to the precinct. Once there, she quickly began doing background checks on Alex Huang and found out where he lived. But she also learned something more interesting. Alex apparently works for the Virtual Reality company that Jason created. But why would Jason have Alex killed if he worked for the company he created? What was the purpose of having him dead? Was Alex a danger to the company? Or was Jason a terrible person with the intent of murdering Alex because he saw Alex as a threat...