Virtual Reality: Dark Days

Final Attack

Shamar had fallen onto his bed, ready to log off after such a stressful day. He really had no idea how things were going to play out after the conversation he had with Tabitha. She seemed surprised to see the footage he showed her of all the people being targeted by the same gamers hunting Alex. But Shamar knew it didn't change a thing. Tabitha had left his apartment with the intent of arresting Alex. He was aware of that fact. But he didn't understand why she still wanted to pursue Alex when she saw the evidence for herself. Did she truly not care? That idea was not something Shamar wanted. He wanted Alex to succeed but he also didn't want the kid to go too far. He believed in what the kid was doing and thought it would fix whatever was wrong with this game. But he's killed people and the law has taken notice of it. The law may allow certain things to happen, but killing people was definitely not a certain thing people can get away with. While they would often do far worse things to certain people on this planet, the amount of time going into arresting Alex was insane. It was only a matter of time before Alex was found and arrested for his crimes. He wasn't sure how far along Alex had gone with his mission, but reports of Jason Callahan's murder hadn't appeared on any news outlets. Shamar hoped that he’d at least be able to kill Jason and move on with his life.

Just as he was ready to press the ‘Save Data’ button, there was a knock at his door. Talk about bad timing. But maybe this person knocking brought some good news. Shamar believed that it was Tabitha. He got out of his bed and rushed to the door until he thought of the fact that someone else may have been at the door. While he was excited about seeing Tabitha, he knew he had taken some risks lately. He stopped. Shamar mentally prepared himself for an attack. Maybe they found out about his hacker and sent someone to kill him. But why would the killer do something like that? Shamar believed that they wouldn’t be as obvious as to knock at the door. Wouldn't they rather just be flamboyant about it and make big flashy explosions? Then again, this was a game of life, they could do whatever they wanted here.

With the gun from his arson in his hand, Shamar approached the door slower. The fear was enough to make him want to turn away and make a run for it, but he couldn't. He placed his hand on the door knob and prepared himself to open and meet whoever was on the other side. There was a lot of tension built up within Shamar at that moment. Before opening the door, Shamar took in a deep breath and swung the door open, only allowing a second to recognize the face. He knew this person very well, since he helped him prepare for this mission. It was the kid! Alex Huang made it back into the game world alive! Shamar sighed with relief, knowing that it wasn’t the law and it wasn’t game murderers.

“Whoa!” Alex said with his hands up. “What’s up?”

“Get in!” Shamar grabbed Alex by the collar of his shirt and pulled him inside his apartment. He looked around for any suspicious gamers around and closed the door soon after.

“What’s going on?” Alex asked the very agitated Shamar.

“I dug up some s**t that could get me killed by your former employer.” Shamar revealed as he placed the gun back in his digital arsenal of guns.

“Like what?” Alex asked curiously.

“Like about the people he’s killed before.” Shamar said. “People that were hunted down and killed for some reason.”

“Why?” Alex asked. “Why would you do that?”

“Because people have been dying now for nearly a year!” Shamar shouted. “And I had to find out more. So I gave all this information to a friend of mine.”

“What?” Alex asked, feeling worried about whoever else knew about this. “You shouldn’t have! What if Callahan comes looking for them?”

“It’s fine.” Shamar tried to assure the young gamer. He wasn’t sure himself, but he couldn’t get freaked out during a time like this. “Besides, your boss killing someone other than you shouldn’t be the basis of your worries.”

“I’m sorry?” Alex asked. “What’s that supposed to mean?”

“It means that the police are coming for you,” Shamar revealed. “They don’t yet have your identity but they’re coming for you. If you don’t stop what you’re doing, you’ll be arrested or killed.”

“So?” Alex asked without any fear of his own life. “I can barely remember who I am. My life doesn’t exactly matter to me anymore.”

“What?” Shamar was shocked to hear such a response. He believed the kid was going through some type of mental crisis. “Are you out of your f*****g mind? You’re still young. You don't know what you're even saying. Your life has just begun. Just because one person wants you dead doesn't mean you just get to throw your whole life away! Why waste it on someone that’ll just turn around and pin this s**t on you? No matter what you do to Callahan, it will not matter! The whole world will just see you as a murderous monster!”

“Maybe they’re right.” Alex began to get flashbacks of his encounters with Gregory, Cody, Branden, and Oliver. All of those lives didn’t need to be taken, yet he took them anyway. “Regardless of what people may think, I'm going to kill Callahan. Tonight.”

“You’re going to do what?” Shamar asked Alex, confused by his ambitions at the moment. “Do you have any idea who’s guarding him?”

“No.” Alex couldn’t care less who Tobias was. All he wanted was to finish this and disappear. “But I think you do.”

“I sure do!” Shamar prepared himself to spook Alex enough to get him to stand down from the mission. “He’s part of the Bureau! One of the best agents they’ve got! Skilled to the brim in hand to hand combat! That man has marksmanship abilities that I’m nowhere near. Smarter than any agent I’ve ever laid eyes on! That’s who’s guarding Callahan. You think he’s just going to let you kill him?”

“Sure.” Alex was worried about that type of obstacle. He believed he could just get past Tobias without having any type of confrontation, but that would be way too easy. “Which is why I’m here. It’s clear to me that you’re an ex-military officer or something. Your skills may come in handy during all of this. I need your help. You can handle the agent while I go after Jason. Once I’ve gotten the job done, we disappear.”

“Are you kidding me?” Shamar felt insulted that the kid would even suggest he take on Tobias. It wasn’t something he feared, but it also wasn’t something he wanted to do today. “What on God’s green earth makes you think that I want to join you in this suicide mission?”

“You don’t have to,” Alex said, making his way out of the apartment. “I just figured you wanted to see this through. No matter how dangerous it gets.”

“Stop.” Shamar stopped Alex from leaving his apartment and doing this journey alone. “I’ll help. But you have to promise me that once you’ve killed Callahan, you will run and forget all of this!”

“Promise.” Alex stuck his hand out for Shamar to shake. Even though Shamar hated this, he couldn’t let Alex go out there and die. He saved his life for a reason. Shamar didn’t want this all to be for nothing. He shook the kid's hand and set forward the plan to kill Jason.

Shamar drove toward VR Headquarters in Manhattan with Alex sitting in the back seat holding a handgun. They both got themselves prepared for this assault. On the seat beside Shamar laid a loaded rifle. Of course, it wasn't going to be easy, but luckily they had a plan for this very mission. The plan was to storm through the parking garage and make their way to Jason’s office. Both of them were going to play different parts of the plan. Shamar’s part in the plan was to take care of the security officers so that Alex could slip past them. He was definitely good enough to take on something like this with his history of combat skills. Tobias was the part they worried about the most. He was deadly and could easily kill them both if he wanted to. If Alex were to come into contact with Tobias first, he’d have to hold him off long enough for Shamar to come through and distract him while Alex pressed on. Just considering that fact that he'd probably have to face Tobias shook him. Alex mentally prepared himself for the battle ahead. Someone like Tobias was not going to make it easy for him. He would need as much rage and skill as possible to avoid being killed too easily. But he was currently committing a crime tonight, so no matter what he feared, facing Tobias had to be something he was prepared for. It was going to be dangerous but they believed in the plan. They also took into account how much things have changed since Alex first drew blood from Branden. As a matter of fact, since Alex has been on the hunt for revenge, the number of security officers must’ve grown. Once again, they took this into account when considering how skillful Shamar was. Shamar was going to need to get rid of them fast before either the police showed up or, worse, Tobias killed Alex.

They neared the entrance to the parking garage under the headquarters. The headquarters triggered both of the gamers as they came near it, but they couldn't focus on the past right now. A security officer had the gate arm down so that they could stop. This was also something they took into consideration. Shamar wasn’t stopping for no one. They planned for this and knew the only way to get past the security officer was to literally go past him. He pressed his foot on the gas pedal and blasted straight. Shamar's engine roared as he came speeding toward the entrance of the parking garage. The security officer saw his speed and tried waving him down. He even stepped out in front of the car in hopes that they'd stop for a human life. Shamar didn’t want to hit the officer, but he was currently in the way.

The security officer noticed Shamar wasn’t going to stop and jumped out of the way before he could be hit by the fast moving vehicle. This was a relief for Shamar as he wanted to avoid killing as many people as possible tonight. The car drove through the gates of the garage and Shamar stopped just right in front of the elevator. The first phase of the plan was complete and they both felt good about it so far. Shamar looked at Alex and gestured to him to leave. Now it was time for them to go their separate ways, with Shamar staying behind to keep as much heat off Alex. Alex had felt very thankful for this chance given to him by Shamar and left the vehicle.

Alex pressed the button to bring the elevator down to his level. He was very anxious and wanted to avoid as much violence as he could. What he didn’t notice was the elevator on the other side of the garage now opening. With Shamar preparing himself for the massive amounts of security officers storming the garage, he looked over to see if Alex was gone. Shamar was the first to notice this and shouted for Alex to get down!

Bullets flew at the two from numerous security officers. This caused Shamar to jump into action as he reached for his rifle. Shamar grabbed his rifle and stepped out of the vehicle to take cover.

The elevator doors opened and Alex snuck in. Alex was now more anxious than ever as bullets flew in his direction. He pressed the button to take him to the top floor and as the doors closed, he watched Shamar blast bullets at a large number of security officers trying to kill him. It was a scary sight to see, since he wasn't sure how well Shamar could handle himself in a situation like this. He hoped the only person that believed in him wouldn’t get killed. The man had helped Alex through all of this without many questions. Of all the deaths, Shamar’s would be one he’d regret for the rest of his life. But now wasn't the time for that as Alex was inching closer to his target. The elevator began to take him up to the floor Jason was on. Everything about the young gamer was intense. He looked down at the gun he held, feeling the intensity surge through him. Alex felt some relief knowing that this nightmare he'd experienced would end soon. All of this fighting was now going to be over. The head of all his pain would soon be cut off. No more worrying about who is hunting him anymore. Alex found himself getting excited about this. A life free of misery and fear. He needed that right now. Jason and the company had put him on the run for too long. It all needed to end tonight. The attempted murder of his life would be avenged with just one bullet. As intense as he felt, he also felt some relief in what he was going to do. It felt unreal for him at the moment. Alex, somewhat, didn't even care if he died tonight. Even if there was a highly trained agent waiting on the floor to kill him, he had this weird optimism that it would all work out today.

The elevator stopped and the young gamer felt his body go numb. Suddenly, all of the relief he felt disappeared at the sight of what he saw ahead of him. There was a great amount of fear seeping within him. The fact that he had no idea what was going next got to him very much. The entire floor was empty and dark, leaving him worried about what was waiting for him with every step he took. He didn’t know where the agent would strike but he had to be on his toes. He examined the entire hallway before even stepping outside. A long and dark hallway filled with office rooms on each side. Each room was dark enough to make the outside look bright. He couldn't fear death this entire mission. Alex stepped out of the elevator with his handgun pointed forward. There was no telling when someone would pop out and attack him but he had to be ready. With every office he went through, the fear grew. But that's when he finally noticed something strange up ahead. He saw Jason’s office with a light on and the door closed. This was definitely a trap, Alex knew that much. Maybe they were in the office waiting for him. He couldn't let his guard down with this sudden sight of a trap ahead. Alex continued checking each office for signs of Tobias. With each room he checked, he found no person to be in there waiting to kill him. They were all empty. Tobias and Jason were definitely playing with him since there was only one room with a light on. He only had one more door left to check and it was the door leading to Jason’s office.

Alex placed his hand on the door knob and swallowed whatever lingering fear he had left within him. He shook off all the fear he had within him. It was time to end this!

The door was pushed open by Alex and the first thing to happen was a blade piercing his upper left chest. This was actually happening right now, Alex had been attacked without even having a second to defend himself. Alex gasped for air as the federal agent, Tobias Dunn, lunged at him and stabbed him near his heart. He couldn't believe it, after all this preparation he was going to die like this. Alex looked at the knife in his chest and looked into the eyes of Tobias. It was all over and Alex gave up on any motivation to kill Jason. He fell to the floor, weakened by the attack.

“You’re not as smart as I thought you were.” Tobias admitted to Alex. “What made you think he’d be waiting for you in his office?”

Alex stared up at the agent with such angered contempt. He felt so stupid. He should have known that Jason would do that. This was way too easy and Alex had spent too much time getting to Jason. Leaving at the first sign of danger. Plus, he had been alerted by the time Alex and Shamar busted into the garage nearly ten minutes ago. It was too easy. This should have been well thought out before being executed. Alex failed and his life was going to be taken because of it.

“It’s too bad.” Tobias approached Alex to finish the job he first started. “Callahan really wanted to see this. Oh well. At least I get to leave you a message from him… in the next life, just go with it.”

Tobias removed the blade from Alex’s chest and held it up to deliver the killing blow. With the sudden pain from the knife being taken out of him and the words Tobias spoke, Alex felt something click in his head. A bullet flew clean through Tobias's hip, causing the deadly agent to hit the floor in pain. It wasn't over for Alex yet, he'd been saved! Alex looked for his rescuer and found Shamar standing in the elevator, wounded and nearly covered in blood.

Alex rose to his feet and slowly made his way over to check on Shamar. Shamar hadn't died down there. He felt so relieved to see him. But it didn't seem like Shamar was looking so good. The wounds on him must’ve meant that the battle didn’t go quite as easily as they hoped. However, the wounds were the last thing on Shamar's mind currently. Shamar kept his eyes on Tobias the entire time. He waited for the slightest movement from the man. The moment Tobias stood up to retaliate, another bullet would wound him. It would make Shamar feel so honored to have ended this man's life after what he's done. But so far, Tobias remained on the floor in pain.

“You good?” Alex asked the wounded Shamar.

“f**k no.” Shamar said tiredly. “Let’s get the hell out of here before the police get here.”

Shamar and Alex entered the elevator together. With only a few seconds of them having their backs turned to Tobias, they turned back to him quickly. Both of them kept their eyes on Tobias as the doors closed to take them back down to the parking garage. The entire way back, Alex had run the entire situation over and over again in his head. Alex wasn’t free yet. Death on him. He had to worry about Jason. He was still out there waiting and possibly watching him. With his escape, the mission wasn’t over. He had to continue his pursuit of Jason, even if he'd done some extreme things. The police have become aware of what he’s capable of and who he is. While they succeeded in breaking into the place, they didn't succeed in the technological aspect of this place. The camera footage from all over the building would reveal their identities. So all the covertness Alex had been through was over, he'd become a wanted man within hours. Things have only gotten worse from here on. As much as he wanted to continue his fight with Jason, he now had to consider avoiding the law. The two of them had to worry about getting as far away from this as they possibly could. They are in a lot of trouble with two different factions now and even if one is out of the way eventually, the other won't forget what they've done here. The end was far out of their reach…