One Up

Chapter 8

I walk into the glass box feeling anxious. Grabbing the Virtual Reality headset, I place it on my head and grab ahold of the controls. I look at my weapon options, relieved that you can't change it to anything beyond a handgun before clicking the 'ready' option. After a few moments, all players are in the ready position and the clock ticks down.

The game begins and I quickly dart away from the gunfire. The arena is the same as always, and having the advantage to watch the eighteen rounds before me, I am able to naviagate the map smoothly. I find the door that Sage had entered, before running up the steps and waiting by the window. A player tries to enter the building but I quickly pick him off.

Another player in a building across the road from mine starts firing at me from the ground. I duck around the window. Firing a few shots at him, I anticipate his movements as he too, ducks behind the open door at his building. I take that moment to run down the steps. Again, I duck behind my doorway and watch as he waits for me, aiming at the window. I smile, before aiming and firing at him.

He didn't anticipate that I would move, and his character dies. From a few boxes away, I hear a loud "f**k". I almost start to laugh when a player rounds the corner. She starts firing at me but gets killed by a player behind her. I aim and fire at the player before ducking into the door and running back up the steps.

The player follows me inside. I run and jump out the window quickly right as the player enters the upstairs room. Another player had just entered the building and I fire at them through the door. They die immediately.

The player that had followed me flies out the window. I shoot at them quickly as they fire at me. I take a lot of damage but they die before me. I look at the lives indicator and see that there are only two players left, me included.

I start wandering down the map, trying to find the other player. Keeping my character near walls, I scan the area around me. There seems to be no sign of intelligent life anywhere, I joke in my mind.

I turn around and catch movement on the second story floor of the house I'm near. Someone went by the open door. I quickly run to the first floor door and enter. I'm just about to go up the stairs when the character appears, firing shots at me from the top railing on the flight of stairs. I take some damage before running into the other room.

I hide on the side of the door and wait. After a few moments, I know that they are waiting for me to exit from behind the door. They were smart enough not to chase me. I look around my surroundings and find a door leading outside from the room I'm in. Hitting the sprint button on the VR control stick, my character sprints out the door.

Quickly looping around to the door I entered, I wait outside. My character's peripheral catches sight of the other character closing in on the door I had been hiding at. Without giving much thought, I quickly enter and shoot at the character. He turns and tries to fire but he is too late. The screen goes blank and I am proclaimed the winner of the nineteenth round.

Mark Love announces my victory and I stand with the other players in the Winner's Line-up. Many of them congratulate me. Sage looks at me with approval, but I know he's still worried.

The next and final deciding round ends after about thirty minutes. When the final victor is grouped in with the Winner's Line-up, Mark gestures to the far side of the wall, where ten more glass game spaces are revealed.

"Players, you may enter your cube in correspondance to the round you claimed your victory. This final round will decide who the winner of the winners is in the Winner's Line-up!"

I quickly hurry to my cube, number nineteen. When I enter my name, I enter the cube and put on my headset. I'm excited to prove Sage wrong. I am not predetermined and there is nothing to fear.

As soon as we enter the larger arena, I am shot and killed. My killer?

Sage.