Cross My Mind

FINDING THE TRUTH PART 3

“Garba! I was the one that turned her location monitor off, when I alter the data flow, there is a firewall in the servers of Neuraface that detect it and try to pinpoint the cause. When I streamed Mila’s vision into your Neuraface, I was merely duplicating her visual data signal and sending it to your brain, translated into visual information which is part of the norm. To allow you to send your Thoughts into her head is a deviation of the norm because I am actively redirecting data from one Neuraface to another. To do that, I needed to put off her location so the system wont find her on time”. MEDULLA’s voice said in Garba’s head and because the Neuraface uses bone conduction technology, none of the other players heard it.

“anyway, this is a prerecorded massage and I wanted to tell you that you are currently surrounded by seven players” MEDULLA added.

Garba who was initially sitting with two daggers in his hands suddenly stood up.

“we need to move right now, I don’t trust this place since these two guys may have team mates tracking them before we finished the off”. He Said.

Before all the team members could stand up, they all watch as a dagger came flying from out of nowhere towards Sarah, none of them could react on time because they did not see or hear anyone nearby. Sarah managed to use her hand and blocked the dagger from hitting her on the head, in exchange, making it impale the palm of he right hand and getting stuck there.

“it is an attack, be careful guys” Fred shouted and all members of Garba’s team pulled out their daggers at once and prepared for a fight.

From behind them, Sarah suddenly felt a hand on her face from behind her, she tried to scream but the hand has gaged her just enough for her voice to not reach the rest of her team. in an instant, Sarah felt a sudden sharp pain in her lower abdomen to the right and in an another instant, the pain exploded agonizingly all over her abdomen that she quickly bit the hands gagging her and screamed at the top of her lungs.

Garba, Mila, Lucy and Fred turned around just on time to witnessed Carson pull out a dagger from the side of Sarah’s abdomen. She fell on the forest floor with blood gushing from her side and the team watched as she died in vain, making her icon on the map to disappear. Garba finds himself charging at Carson but Lucy and Fred held him and stopped him.

From behind Carson, six other players in military uniform emerged with ropes and knives, ready for a fight. In that split moment, Garba could tell that they would lose the fight if they engage.

“we are making the run for it, throw your extra daggers at them and use the time interval between when they dodge to run towards the center of the forest on my mark” Garba said in the team chat and all members got ready.

As soon as Garba sent the next massage to the team chat, all four of them took aim and threw one their knives each and in that moment without hesitation, all four of them bolted in the opposite direction with Garba taking the lead. Carson and his team realized what was going on a little late and Garba’s team has already put up a bit of distance between them already.

“After them at once” Carson shouted

“yes sir” the six other men said and all seven of them started running after Garba and his team.

A few meters ahead, Garba and Mila are now running head to head, behind them followed Lucy and then Fred who is the heaviest of the four of them on their back.

“so, what is your plan?” Mila asked Garba and without catching her breath continued to run.

“to use the snake and eliminate them of course or in the worst case scenario, avoid a battle of attrition with them. We fight them one or two at a time” Garba said and the team continued to run until they arrived at the last location that they encountered the Boa constrictor.

Once they arrived, they saw even more dead players on the scene scattered around the floor and as if that was not weird enough, Garba noticed a very frightening fact and immediately asked all his team mates to quickly climb the trees as fast as they can.

A split second later, the team heard screams and crashing of leaves all over them and a group of more than thirty salt water crocodiles marched through the forest, devouring every single one of the dead bodies. It took the group of crocodiles about twenty minutes to finish picking, dismembering and eating up all the dead players and as if that is not confusing enough for Garba’s team, the watch, the boa constrictor shows up and just remains at a distance until the large group of reptiles passed.

Then from behind it, another larger boa emerged, it looked right in the direction of Garba and his team mates before making a loud hissing noise; the other boa quickly looked up the trees and also made an even louder hissing sound.

Garba’s team immediately realized that they are in imminent danger. Dealing with one Giant snake is to much for them but making the number of the snakes two and the second one being bigger makes their chances of survival even more slim.

“this is only a game so remember that twenty million dollars hang on the line, it is not like we die for real in here, we still have guaranteed two million dollars even if we fail so go all out and escape these two giant snakes” Garba said out loud to the team members and as if by a touch of magic, Garba’s team is saved yet again by the arrival of Carson and his team.

Immediately, the entire team froze with the exception of Carson who instantly fell flat on the floor and barrel-roll his way out of sight as the two snakes start to attack the six remaining members of his team indiscriminately. The larger constrictor quickly formed the death coil around two of the players and crushed their bones with its long and massive body and at the same time picked one more of the guys by his leg and flinged him up in the air enough for the fall to kill him instantly.

On the other hand, Garba and his team mates used the arrival of Carson’s team and the confusion they caused to flee even deeper into the forest towards the first dormant volcano.

After about three hours of sneaking around in the big forest, the team finally arrived at an abandoned cabin on the top of a gigantic tree. The team climbed aboard the tree with their knives out in case there is anyone or anything inside.

They searched all over and the cabin was empty.

“do you think someone built this” Fred asked

“definitely! A person built this but I cant think of anyway that person will be a player because we don’t have the tools necessary.” Mila responded but Garba took a hard long look at the wood and called their attention to how the wood has already started breaking due to decomposition.

“whoever must have built this, did so more than a year ago. We should use this as our base for now. The two of you should stay here, Fred and I are going to fetch some pears, actually any fruit we find on this side of the forest.” Garba said.

Lucy checked the number of players left and it has decreased to the last thirty players.

“there are only thirty of us left in the game, only the top dogs are left. I know this is just a game and Sarah is probably back in her facility laughing at us, but it was painful watching her die so please be careful” she said.

Garba was moved by her concern so he held her hands and said

“we will be as discrete as possible and if anyone surprise us out there, Fred is strong enough to protect both of us Right Fred?” Garba said, turning his head to look at Fred now.

“I will try my best” Fred responded.

The two climbed down the tree and begin to sneak around the thick forest from tree to tree. After they have covered some significant distance, they finally found an avocado tree with very large and ripe fruits.

“climb up and drop some for us, I am sure you hear the crashing sound of water too, I’ll check around for the river and wash up” Fred said and walked away.

“Garba climbed the tree and started gathering ripe avocados for the team until he was sure that he has gathered more than two people can carry.

On the other hand, Fred walked only a short distance from the avocado tree before he found a natural waterfall with fresh water that has an explosive number of fishes in it.

‘I cant wait any longer, be it a game or not, I want a bath’ Fred murmured to himself and proceeded to take off his clothes, then entered the water and stood against the falling water and started washing up. Although combined with the sound of the crashing water, Fred heard an unfamiliar sound approaching him but he cannot tell from which direction. He turned around in all directions but he was the only person standing in the water.

Without warning, a rope was wrapped around his neck and he was pulled into the falling water even more to reveal a natural cave with what Fred saw flashed his sight to be at least ten bodies of dead players.

Fred tried to see who or what was strangling him but he passed out before he got the chance to do so.

Garba has just climbed down the avocado tree and packed all the fruits he dropped in his shirt which he took off to use and carry the avocados. He searched for Fred all over the area, including the river side for over an hour but cant find him. Just when he was about to leave and search elsewhere, he saw Fred’s shirt, pants and shorts in a small bush near the river. ‘he must still be nearby” Garba reassured himself and almost in an instant, he heard screaming that looks like it was coming from inside the falling water of the waterfall.

He quickly ran across the edge of the river and entered near the water fall. He heard Fred shout again and it is coming behind the waterfall. 'could there be a cave here?’ he wondered and just as he thought, he walked through the natural shower to find an entrance to a cave. Inside the cave, he saw the dead players bodies lying on the cave.

Garba brought out his dagger and proceeded carefully into the cave. When he reached the innermost part, he had counted about twelve bodies so he knew that whatever is in the cave is very dangerous.

He sneaked behind a large rock and peeked. To his surprise, he saw Fred tied up with a rope and multiple cuts on his hands. A tall bulkier man than Fred stood from within the deepest part of the came talking.

“This is not a game I am telling you, this is real and if you all still don’t believe me, I will make you believe it one way or another” the man said as he brings out a knife and started heading towards Fred.

Garba quickly jumped into action, sneaking closer to the man and Fred, upon getting close enough, he aimed his knife at the man's throat and said,

“If you so much believe that, why not try talking instead of tying my friend and torturing him just to agree with your beliefs”

The man turned around with visible shock on his face that not only has someone sneaked into his cave, but also managed to get close to him without him noticing.

“I am not joking, if you don’t believe me, let me ask you then. How are you certain that this is not reality?”

Garba was suddenly struck by the question, as if he has blindly agreed that this is a game without proper reasoning. But he knows that this is not the most important thing at the moment because if he cannot deal with this man somehow, he will not be able to save Fred or even leave the cave alive.

“What makes you sure that we are not in a game then. If you want to get answers, you must be ready to give answers yourself” Garba managed to utter.

“When I played the first game, it felt different, although it is extremely realistic, there are things that the simulation could not replicate properly such as player strength and mentality. When I was playing the virtual game, strength was an illusion. The higher and stronger your intent is, the stronger you get but right now, it is not the same” the man explained.

Garba was again taken by surprise at how much of what the man is saying is making sense in his head. He knows that he cannot believe the man but he, more than any other player remembers clearly how he concentrated on levels he cant normally achieve and just before he threw his dagger towards Carson at the end of the last game, he vividly remembers how the blade generated some sort of electric sparks and zoomed out when he threw it with incalculable speed to cleanly cut off Carson’s hand.

“for you, it may be true but you are only speaking about your own experience, how can you impose your own experience on the rest of the players just like that, isn’t that just your delusion and selfishness?” Garba asked.

The man becomes enraged and charged towards Garba with his knife and Garba quickly climbed on a large rock near him and jumped up, gaining enough speed and kicking the other player in the face. The player fell down tumbling and Garba quickly used his knife and cut the rope restraining Fred, setting him free.

By the time the man got up again, Fred was already standing next to him and without warning, the man was sucker punched by Fred, making him to fall on his knees. Garba approached the man and used a rope he picked from one of the dead players bodies in the cave and tied the man up.

“Why hasn’t any of the bodies here disappeared?” Garba asked ?

“Forget this man, the cave is probably a bug that stops the bodies from disappearing after a while.” Fred interjected.

Unknowingly to the two of them, the bulky man has already loosen his hands and removed another Knife from his pocket.

“If this is not real, this ought to wake me up” the man said and proceeded to aim the knife at his neck and stabbed with all his strength before Garba or Fred could stop him.