Virtual Reality: Dark Days

Target: Gregory

Tobias had logged off the game in order to contact Jason in the real world about what he had just learned. He found all of this to be quite odd. The boy he had been tasked with killing had moves that surprised someone like Tobias. Jason's details on the target were nothing compared to what he had just seen. Tobias, at one point, even considered Alex Huang to be a useless case. The kid didn't even look like much of a threat. From the looks of him, Tobias could have possibly ended this entire case with a single punch to the nose. Huang was not a violent man. The records Tobias pulled up even told him that much. Yet, he was capable of so much more than what Tobias read. From the way it seemed, Huang was a normal human being. Tobias was completely under the wrong assumption now. There was no telling how much trouble his current employer was in. Tobias was in a more frightened state than he was before accepting this job. For all he knew, Huang may have been a step ahead in getting at Jason. No matter, he couldn't let him reach anyone.

"Gregory is his next target," Tobias moved fast to get to Alex's next target. He knew fully that the kid would likely still be at the location now. "Call your friend and get him out of there. Send me his address. I'm going there now."

At this point, Jason was probably going to need an army of people to hunt down the kid. Tobias leaped into his car, taking a look at the address Jason sent to him, and set a course for the apartment. He was determined to find the target before Alex did. Time seemed to be moving a lot faster than he was used to.

Gregory was a slender built man who lived with his boyfriend, Oliver. They were a pretty happy couple that were living nicely off the finances coming in from the Virtual Reality game. Gregory had been with them for nearly a year now, while Oliver worked as a veterinarian. Gregory spent most of his days in the video game world, while Oliver took on the role of making sure Gregory was happy with anything he wanted. Whenever Oliver was off and Gregory was busy working on the game, he made sure that Gregory was the happiest person in the room.

Oliver had always envisioned his life being this way. At one point, the young man had dreams of being something big. With his boyfriend making more money than him, it was clear that Oliver had to pick the side of taking care of Gregory. Oliver was nowhere near making the same amount as Gregory. It would take him four more jobs to match his boyfriend's current position. All of that in mind, Oliver knew it was in his best interest to keep his man happy, no matter how he got.

While he definitely loved Gregory with all his heart, he knew that staying at the man's good side would keep them afloat in the city. Gregory worked as a game tester. Game testers are individuals that get paid money for testing out new additions to the game as well as new games in general. The company of Virtual Reality had gained most of its fortune off of the current game they had, which Jason had produced some time ago. Virtual Reality, as a game, had made the company so famous that they went along and titled the company after it. No other VR game in existence could ever live up to what Jason Callahan had created. So, instead of making a sequel, Jason made it so that the same game could get updates every now and then to keep the players coming back. It had never failed in all the years since its release. There were a lot of different ideas for Virtual Reality-esque games that Jason had come up with, but none of them would likely give them the success they had now. So, in Jason's mind, it was only right to continue updating their current game until players would eventually stop logging in to play. Their numbers didn't seem to show any decline and that's why Gregory has remained in his position for so long.

Jason would often send Gregory updates to see if they met up with what gamers would like. Sometimes Gregory wouldn't always like what he did and would have to give Jason his honest thoughts. In the beginning, he hated being honest with a man as powerful as Jason. But eventually, he got used to it. Jason didn't hold grudges when it came to criticism of his game. He actually welcomed harsher critiques of his game. If Gregory found it satisfactory, then Jason would update the system.

With a new update coming in every month, Gregory was about to prepare for his monthly gaming test from Jason. He would often get excited, since the updates were usually fun to play. The company was getting good at knowing what these gamers wanted. Especially with Gregory being a gamer himself. He was nothing special. Just your typical, play all day, lazy gamer. As he placed the headset on, he glanced at his monitor only to look harder after seeing something or someone in the reflection. It looked like a person. He wasn't sure, since he spent so much time in front of the monitor. After rubbing his eyes, he saw the truth before his very eyes. In the reflection, he saw Alex standing in the dark corner of his gaming room. He recognized the face but didn't expect him to be there. Last he heard, Alex was still stuck in the game with no way out. Gregory froze. There was only one way to get out of a situation like this. He had no weapons in the room. Since it's his gaming room, he figured having a weapon in there was useless. Boy, he regretted that thought after seeing Alex hiding in his room. But there was a used fork sitting at his desk. Gregory thanked God for giving him the idea of eating a snack before starting to test out the game. He reached for it slowly but the movement was too irregular for Alex not to notice. Alex realized that Gregory was on to him.

"I wouldn't do that if I were you." Alex warned Gregory with a gun now being pointed at his hand. "You know me?"

Gregory turned to get a better look at Alex. While he recognized the voice, his face was almost a blur on his screen. He saw his face and recognized him as one of the engineers for the Virtual Reality company. It was him. Alex Huang. The same kid that Jason wanted dead. Gregory wasn't sure what to think at that point. He was now seeing the very same kid that his boss requested to be dead. In all the years that Callahan had people murdered in this game, Gregory knew one day someone would survive. Unfortunately, this was the day he would regret not reporting Callahan. To see that one of the hits Jason put out finally didn't get killed was humorous to him. No matter how much he loved his job with Jason, there was always a part of him that knew that one day this would happen. But even still, there was something not right about this.

Gregory had begun to wonder how this was even possible. How did the kid manage to get free from the game? The fact that he wasn't already dead meant that he was different from the previous people Jason had killed. But it didn't make him invincible.

"What are you doing here?" Gregory asked. "You're supposed to be dead."

Alex noticed how loud Gregory was speaking and came to the conclusion that there was someone else there. This was a perfect moment to get information. He and Gregory both knew that for a fact. Alex feared what might happen if someone else in the apartment learned of what he was doing. He didn't want too much attention to him, as this was supposed to be an in and out sort of situation. If another person were to get involved, Alex would have to make sure that none of them reported this back to Callahan. Killing someone involved in his attempted murder was easy. However, killing someone that was innocent would not sit well with Alex. He had to make sure this entire interaction took place with no one else finding out about it. He walked over to the door and closed it, keeping the conversation very low for the person or people outside of the room. There was no one to stop him from this.

"You won't be taking this chance from me." Alex said, pointing the gun at Gregory's chest. "Now, get me a meeting with Jason!"

"What?" Gregory asked, wanting to stand up. "You must be crazy! Do you have any idea what he'll do to me if he finds out that I helped a traitor? He'll do to me what he did to you!"

"You didn't seem to have any problems with that while it was happening to me!" Alex said to Gregory, becoming upset over the fact that he was another person well in to what Jason was doing. "I need to make sure that what happened to me doesn't happen to anyone else!"

"You're crazy!" Gregory laughed. "He's bigger than you. He's bigger than me! He's bigger than his own game! Do you know how many people will come after you if you kill him? There will be nowhere for you to hide!"

"What makes you think I'm worried about that?" Alex asked. "I don't want to keep this up for very long. Please, just email Callahan and arrange for us to have a meeting."

Gregory's cell phone began to buzz. Alex wondered if it was Jason. They both looked at the phone and saw Jason's caller I.D. at the top of the screen. This was his chance. If Alex were to get near Jason without him even knowing it, this was the chance to make that happen. Gregory looked at Alex, hoping he wouldn't make a move for the phone. His hopes were squandered.

"Answer it." Alex ordered.

Gregory grabbed the phone and answered the call. He hoped that since the phone had rang so many times, Jason had just decided to hang up. But no. Jason was adamant on speaking with Gregory so that this very moment would not happen.

"Greg!" Jason was relieved to know that he had answered the phone. "You need to get you and your boyfriend out of that apartment now! Alex Huang is alive and he's coming for you!"

Gregory didn't say a word. He wanted to give Alex up, but the only problem was that he was closer to death than ever before. Alex didn't want to speak, believing that Jason would hear him. He kept his breathing low and made no weird movements. When Jason noticed Gregory's silence, he ended the call immediately. The plan failed. Jason was aware that Alex might have gotten to him and prepared to get Gregory out of there alive. Alex knew that this had alerted Jason to what was happening. It was only a matter of time before someone would come for him. And within no time, someone was coming. Alex had already taken into account that someone lived here besides Gregory, but the fact that this person was home hadn't been a variable he was sure of. Now, he was sure. Rushing footsteps began coming to the door. It was Oliver.

The young man had been alerted of what was happening to his boyfriend by Jason. That had been all the information he needed to hurry and save his man. Oliver thought of nothing other than saving Gregory. He was willing to risk his own life for the man he loved. Whoever this person was that was attempting to hurt Gregory would regret ever stepping foot into their home. Gregory would not die on this day. As long as Oliver still lived, he'd make sure this intruder was stopped at all costs. With him reaching the door by every second, Oliver feared what he'd find behind it. He hoped with all his might that the person with Gregory in the room hadn't already done the worst.

Alex, in a moment of error, turned his attention to the door after learning that someone was coming. Gregory had hoped that this moment would present itself to him. He could now stop Alex from taking his life and end this whole thing. He rushed at Alex. He had to get out of this situation before Alex made a stupid mistake. Alex saw this from the corner of his eye and accidentally pulled the trigger on the gun. He was afraid. No part of him wanted to do it. But Gregory had intentions of stopping Alex from doing something he truly believed in.

Alex froze when he saw Gregory standing on his feet with a bloody bullet wound in his stomach. He had made a mistake. Gregory looked up at Alex. Alex was ashamed of himself. Not so much for killing someone. But more so that he had lost his one true way of finding Jason.

"You're going to die," Gregory said. "I hope you know that."

By the time Oliver arrived in the room, Gregory had already hit the floor with no life left in his body. With a sight that Oliver now saw before him, most people would avenge their fallen loved one. But Oliver wasn't a vengeful type. Oliver ran to his boyfriend, hoping that he was alive enough to say good bye. But he was too late. His boyfriend was bleeding out on the carpet. Gregory had lost so much blood that any chance of survival was slim. Oliver had come to this conclusion as well and realized that the man he loved was dead. He didn't understand why it had happened, but he knew that the person who did it was still in the room with them. He didn't do anything to change what had just happened. All he could do was wish he'd known that something was going on in this room before he had. A lot had run through Oliver's head at that point. He tried thinking of how he could have saved Gregory from dying.

He turned Gregory over and saw the blood dripping from his mouth, the man he loved was no longer there to show him love back. Oliver was alone all over again.

Alex knew he had made a mistake, but he also knew he'd made a bigger mistake by letting Oliver walk out of that room knowing his face. Oliver might not want revenge today. Maybe some time down the road, things will change. Oliver realizes that his best friend is dead and the person that did it is still alive. Alex couldn't let another obstacle get in his way of moving forward. He pointed the gun at Oliver, who noticed Alex making this move on him. Oliver knew exactly what Alex had intended to do. As much as he felt alone, he didn't want to die.

"What are you doing?" Oliver asked, hoping that Alex wouldn't pull the trigger. "You already got what you wanted! I won't tell anyone you did this! Just don't kill me!"

A bullet pierced the chest of Oliver. The trigger was pulled. Alex had shot the young man without hesitation. This was the one death he regretted most of all. He didn't want this to happen, but Gregory forced his hand. Oliver was innocent in all of this. But innocence can only last so long when death is involved.

"Why...?" Oliver only asked that one question before dying over the body of his boyfriend. While dead, he was alone no more.

Alex leaned against the wall, taking a moment to piece together everything he'd just done. He hated this new life Jason was putting him through. Murdering Gregory was a mistake that kept him from killing Jason, but murdering someone who had no knowledge or connection to the company was different. Some part of him wondered if Oliver was even capable of revenge. He was basically a crazed killer at that point. Visions of Jason being proud of him for this came to his mind. Visions he hated to even think would become true. He had to leave quickly before the police arrived.

Alex rushed toward the front door, but he stopped in his tracks once the very door he ran to was kicked open by Tobias. Tobias had finally arrived and he wasn't going to let Alex go free. Alex froze, staring up at the intimidating agent that entered the room holding a handgun. Questions ran through his head about why a man like him was even here.

The moment Tobias locked eyes on Alex, he pointed the gun with intent to kill the young gamer. Death was written all over the agents' faces and Alex eventually read it well. Alex jumped from where he stood and hurried to get away from Tobias. Tobias wasn't far behind Alex with his gun aimed at the young gamer.

Alex wasn't ready to take on someone like this. There was an aura about him. He could tell this guy was on a different level than Gregory. If Alex were to even pull what he did on the couple, Tobias would break him apart with his bare hands. Alex found the nearest window and jumped through it. It was high from the ground but didn't damage Alex too much upon landing.

When Tobias arrived at the window Alex jumped from, he found no sign of Alex. Jason would not be too happy that he lost Alex. But he did see blood on the broken pieces of glass, meaning that there would be traces of blood coming from Alex. The boy was injured. Injuries often cause people to go to the hospital or pass out from the pain. Now, all he had to do was find Huang. Tobias had a lot of experience when it came to killers. The things that Alex had done on this day changed his mind on the outcome of this mission. Alex had no skills. He was sloppy. Tobias knew that one day, the kid would make a mistake. And when that day would come, he'd quickly send the kid to his own death. Now everything was starting to seem right. The file was correct. Alex was no more than a normal human with a gun. There wasn't enough training in the boy to mark this mission as a failure.

Alex had nearly died twice on this day. Escaping Tobias and jumping from an apartment window a few feet from the ground. From the height he jumped, contact with the ground would have killed him. But he had managed to land in some bushes down below. He was alive, for now. Unfortunately, the sticker branches did hurt him. It was a fairly safe landing. Once he saw that Tobias was gone, he began to head off. But where could he go? He had murdered an innocent person and the police would see Gregory's murder as a crime as well. Alex was now being hunted once more and now there was someone with greater skill than he'd ever seen coming after him. If the young gamer doubted his chances against workers of the company, a man like Tobias definitely told him that he was way too far into this game. Maybe Gregory was right. If someone like this was chasing Alex before he could even get a chance to kill Jason, then it's very well possible that greater forces than Tobias would hunt him down once Jason had been murdered. He now had to decide whether this was all worth it.

Deep thoughts clouded Alex's mind as he began to question if his quest for vengeance was even the right path anymore...