Play Dead 5
Chapter 5
Madden was in love with Shaunie. This entire time he was in love with Shaunie. How did I not see that coming? Madden was one of Shaunie's best friends. When Shaunie was alive Madden didn't even give a second look. When Shaunie was alive Madden could care less about him. Madden followed Shaunie everywhere. Shaunie was god to Madden.
How could I be so dumb to assume Madden liked me instead?
“Oh,” I state.
That's all I can say. What else can you say when you misread someone's signs? What can you say after I literally declared my love for a guy who didn't feel the same way about me? I want to give myself someone kind of digital virus right now and just crystallize into a million pieces.
“Damn. Damn. I'm sorry.”
“No...need. I should go.”
“Wait,” he says stopping me, “It's nothing against you. I was just always in love with Shaunie. It was just always him for me. He got me into playing games. I fell in love with him and my feelings are still there. I'm sorry that you thought----fuck...”
“It's not your fault.”
“No it is. I had no idea that you felt, how you felt,” he explains, “I know the feeling. Believe me. Your brother had no idea how I felt about him either. I can't believe I did the same thing to you that your brother did to me.”
I feel stupid. The man of my dreams was gay. He was fucking gay. And he was in love with someone else. It wasn't just anyone. He was in love with my dead brother.
How could things get anymore awkward?
“I should leave,” I state.
“Killian--- stop. Can we at least still be friends?” he asks me, “You look so much like him. It's nice just...I don't know. Seeing you.”
That's why he wanted to be around me. He wanted to be around me because I looked like the guy he was in love with. I feel sick to my stomach. There is so much pure jealousy that I'm feeling right now. I want to cry.
Did Shaunie get everything? He got things he didn't even want. Here he was a straight guy...who also happened to be dead and he was still winning.
He was still the better brother.
I force a smile so hard it hurts the sides of my cheek, “If I leave before you get up, I'll make sure to send you a message.”
I'm crying by the time that I leave him. I attempt to dry my tears by the time I get to the room I'm sleeping in for the night with my friends.
Sarafine, Demona and Noah stare at me when I walk into the room.
“How'd it go?” Noah asks with all this excitement.
He is clueless. I ignore him. I attempt to hide the tears as I jump into the nearest free bed and throw my covers over my heads. I hear Noah taking a few steps towards me but Demona tells him to leave me alone thankfully.
I'm not in the mood. This hurts more than finding out that I'm stuck in a virtual game.
I don't dream that night but I wake up feeling like I'm in a nightmare. A hand is over my face! I'm grasping for air and struggling to get the hand out of me. I feel like I'm being smothered! Was someone trying to kill me in my sleep!
I attempt to scream but I see the person standing there.
It's the black assassin. It's the same black assassin that saved Sarafine and me before. He puts a finger to his mouth to tell me to be quiet.
I'm confused. I shut up and notice the others in the room are sleeping. It's the middle of the night. The black assassin is so quiet I barely hear him. I stand there for a second and watch as he points towards the door.
I follow him into the hallway.
“You scared the shit out of me.”
He doesn't respond.
I get a little annoyed, “Who are you?”
He finally responds, “You can't trust Tiger. You can't trust him with Sarafine...”
“How do you know?”
“Follow me. It's easier for you to see.”
I follow the black assassin down the hallway. As a rogue I am naturally quiet but no where near as quiet as an assassin. Archers had good agility but our strengths were our perception and accuracy. Assassin players were silent and deadly. I attempt to be as quiet as I can as I follow this silent guy down the hallway through the corridors of the Warrior of Light Keep.
We end up standing outside a door.
“Stand still,” the black night says, “I'm going to cast use an invisible skill on us. It just lasts a minute...so hold my hand.”
“Why should I trust you?” I ask him.
“Because I'm a guy that wants to help.”
“Why do you want to help?”
“Listen. You can ask me a million questions or you can do what I say. I saved your life before and this is me saving your life again. It's your choice. I can leave right now if you don't trust me.”
I think about it. I had no reason not to trust this guy. He followed me into Warrior of Light territory. It's clear he didn't belong here by how he's sneaking around. If he got caught they'd put an end to him really quickly.
It'd be pointless to open my menu and read his stats or even his name. Assassins were able to hide that information from others.
“Do it,” I say.
“INVISIBILITY,” he casts his skill.
The skill comes over me and the Black assassin like a dew. He grabs my hand at that moment and leads me into the room. We are quiet as we sneak into him. I can see him but as we walk into the room I notice Tiger is there. Tiger doesn't seem to see us even though we are just a couple of feet away from him. We are completely invisible.
The Black assassin stops us in the room and we stand there.
He points to the people Tiger's with and he mouths the words, “Moderators.”
I look over and realize what the Black Assassin is referring to. There are moderators in the room. They are dressed in all white. I'm confused. Why the fuck would moderators be here? I'd never seen them outside of a city. They never came out into the game. Why the fuck were they on a guild's territory? Why were they meeting with Tiger?
This all seemed really weird.
“What's the point of us being here Tiger?” a woman in white asks.
“I need you to reach out to Mr. Manolo,” Tiger explains, “Tell him that I found the girl he was looking for.”
“Sarafine?”
“Yes.”
The moderators whisper loudly among each other. They are excited. It's something strange about just how excited these women in white are about this girl. It's strange that they seem to care at all about Sarafine.
“Tiger. She is the key to this all. Is she secure?”
“She's here in a room with some players,” Tiger explains to them, “I think this has something to do with Hunter.”
I'm confused.
Whose Hunter?
“Have you located Hunter?” the moderator asks.
“No. I haven't.”
There is silence.
“Kill the girl. Find Hunter and bring him to Mr. Manolo.”
My heart races. They wanted to kill Sarafine.
“Guys! Get the fuck up!”
Me and the Black Assassin are in the room at that moment. The Black Assassin grabs the bed I was sleeping and pushes it towards the door.
Sarafine, Demona and Noah wake up. Noah looks like he's in a bad mood when he does.
“What the fuck is your problem?” Demona asks me.
“We don't have much time. They are coming for Sarafine,” I state.
“What the fuck does that have to do with me?” Demona asks.
“Demona. Get the FUCK up now. That's an order...”
Demona rolls her eyes. I'm shocked that it actually works at that moment. Noah and Demona gather around me. Noah's eyes are on the Black Assassin.
“Whose that?”
I don't know how to answer that question specifically.
“We have to go,” I explain, “The moderators are here. They just asked Tiger to kill Sarafine for whatever reason.”
“Tiger works with the moderators?” Noah asks confused.
“Tiger IS a moderator,” the Black assassin says, “And he isn't just going to kill Sarafine. He'll assume that she's told us something and he'll kill the rest of us as well.”
I'm beyond confused. We all turn and look at Sarafine. Who the fuck is this girl and why the fuck did they want to kill her?
“I'm confused,” Demona said, “Where'd you find these fucking people from Killian?”
That was a good question. I seemed to attract drama to me.
Suddenly there is a knock on the door. A few knocks at first but the knocks get harder and harder.
“Fuck. They're here,” the black Assassin says, “Go to the window.”
I run to the window. The knocking at the door gets harder and harder. The assassin opens his inventory and pulls out a gun.
I look down. We are three stories high.
“It's too high.”
“Jump! You have no choice!” The black assassin says.
“We'll lose all our health points,” I state.
“No...we won't,” Sarafine says.
I'm not sure how she knows that but the girl just jumps out of the window at that moment. She falls to the ground. She gets back up. She hasn't crystallized. Sarafine is still alive. How the fuck did a level 1 player jump from a 3 story window and not lose all her health points.
“Fuck it,” Noah says jumping after her.
“You better have a damn good explanation for this,” Demona tells me before jumping after Noah.
The Black Assassin is at the door holding it back.
“Go!” he tells me.
“I'm not leaving without you. You saved me multiple times. I'm not going to just fucking abandon you,” I tell him.
The Black Assassin gives me a hard look, “Fuck.”
He runs after me and as soon as he lets the door go it flings open. I watch at that moment as Tiger is behind the door. The Black Assassin is running towards me but Tiger throws his axe across the room at the Assassin.
It swipes the Assassin hard in his arm costing him almost 25 percent of his life points.
“No where to go,” Tiger says, “Where's the girl?”
I ignore Tiger. I run over to the Assassin. I grab him and pick him up. Tiger's men are after me in a matter of seconds. They are fast for warriors but not fast enough. I'm able to get the Assassin off the ground, swing him over my shoulders and jump out of the window.
I land on the ground and Sarafine was right. I've only lost a few health points from the jump.
“Keep going,” the assassin tells me.
I look around for my friends. I can't see them. It isn't until the warriors are jumping down after me that Demona comes out of no where. She is swinging her battle axe like it's the end of the world as the warriors who have come after us.
Demona fights like a bat out of hell. I watch as she swings her sword upward knocking one of the warriors into the air. Another one approaches her and she casts a spell where her axe lights up with a flame. She throws the axe across the courtyard hitting multiple objects! The axe rematerializes virtually into her hand after her area of attack skill.
“Demona what the fuck?” I ask shocked that she's able to take down so many warriors so quickly.
“Go...she's ok. She has a buff,” Sarafine says next to her, “We'll catch up.”
A buff was a skill that White Mages had. Only high level white mages learned the skill though. It basically increased the attack of other players. The fact that Sarafine was able to cast a buff on Demona meant that Sarafine's skills were way higher than any other white mage I'd met in the game so far.
The guild bells ring! It's Tiger. He's standing at a bell tower in the distance. With my archer eyes I can see him even though he is far away. He's alerting his guild to wake up. He's alerting his guild to attack us! Demona is still holding them back luckily but more and more warriors are coming out from the keep. I want to help Demona but something is wrong with the Assassin. For some reason he can't work after Tiger's attack. I'm not sure what it is but then I realize his legs aren't moving. Somehow Tiger's axe must have given him some sort of paralysis status.
“Over here!” a voice says.
I turn and notice that Noah is there. He's stolen one of a horse and carriage. It definitely helped to have a thief on hand when we needed one.
I jump into the back of the carriage, lay the assassin down and take out my arrow.
“DEMONA! SARAFINE!” I scream out.
Noah already has started moving the carriage. I have to cover them. I watch as Sarafine and Demona make a run for the carriage. The warriors are running after them. If Demona or Sarafine were rogues they could easily outrun warriors...but they weren't. They were lagging behind.
I had to do something. I had to do something quick.
I start shooting my arrows. Not enough to kill the warriors chasing my friends but enough to slow them down. One arrow. Two arrow. I've never shot so much in my life. I manage to get the guys off Demona and she jumps into the carriage. I realize one guy is gaining on Sarafine. I keep shooting him but he must have some sort of shield up or something. It has a minimum effect on him.
I am panicking. I keep shooting the guy. One arrow after the other. That's when I realize his shield goes down. The arrows start doing damage and then all of a sudden the guy is almost dead.
“Do it,” Demona tells me.
I have no choice. I've never killed a player before but it's either this player or Sarafine.
I had to choose Sarafine.
I shoot my last arrow and the player crystallizes at that moment right in front of my eyes. Demona reaches over the carriage and pulls Sarafine up. We are riding through the outer courtyard now away from the others. I fall to my knees in the carriage.
I just killed a player.
I just fucking killed a player.
I couldn't believe this.
“Guys...we have a problem,” Noah states.
“It's Madden...” Demona tells me.
I look over to see what they were talking about. Right in front of the draw bridge was Madden. He had his shield in hand and a sword in the other one. He's isn't going to let us through. It's clear that he doesn't plan on letting us through.
“Shoot him. Shoot him dead,” Demona tells me.
I look at my arrow. I don't pick it up. There was no way in hell that I was going to shoot Madden. I didn't care what the fuck we had to do.
“He's not moving,” Noah tells me, “What should I do?”
I don't know.
I don't fucking know what I should do! I'm panicking. After killing that one player I am just fucking panicking. I don't know what I should fucking do and this is getting a little weird.
“Killian! Killian he's about to attack! He's attacking us...Killian! What should we do?”
I don't know what to do at that point.
Madden jumps. It's an amazing jump. It has to be some sort of unique skill or something. He lands in the back of the carriage. He looks over Sarafine.
“Madden don't!” I scream out.
Madden is struggling. He looks at me. He looks at Sarafine. He doesn't move. He seems to be stuck on what decision to make.
He doesn't get that far because all of a sudden he's shot...by the Black Assassin.
“We should be back in Origins in about an hour,” Noah says.
The day is going by fast. We decide to avoid the road because we think there may be a chance we are being pursued by the Warriors of Light. The warriors would assume we'd take the road to avoid monsters. It was a longer journey not to take to take the road but it would be safer. It would be hard for them to track us through the deep forest route we were taking.
“You said that an hour ago,” Demona complains.
“Do I look like Marco – fucking- Polo?” Noah asks me.
“Next time you steal something, can you at least steal something useful?” Demona asks, “Like a map?”
“Guys can you stop arguing...” I ask them.
I am sitting over Madden. He's knocked out.
“He'll survive,” the Black Assassin tells me, “I used a knockout bullet. He'll should be sleeping until we get to Origins.”
The Black Assassin has been quiet for hours. Poor Sarafine has been healing all of us for the entire trip. She was working on the Black Assassin now healing his paralysis. She doesn't complain about it but I know that using the same skill back to back like she was could be annoying.
“That shot was pretty bad ass,” he says.
“I'm not as accurate as an archer, but I do my best,” the black Assassin says to me.
“You should of used your real bullets,” Demona argues shaking her head, “When he wakes up he'll lead his guild right to us.”
“I'll talk to him,” I say, “I'll explain things to him...”
“Explain what? You don't even know what's going on,” Demona argues.
She is being rude as usual but she also has a point. What would I tell Madden about why we went into his guild house and got into a fight with his guild members? All I know is that we were being attacked and that the moderators wanted Sarafine dead.
“Who are you Sarafine?” I ask.
Sarafine looks over at me.
“I don't remember...”
“Why would they want you dead Sarafine?” I ask.
Sarafine's bubbly eyes get wider. She shakes her head as though confused even more now then when people were actually chasing us in an attempt to kill her.
“I don't know,” she explains.
“She's fucking lying,” Demona explains, “We need to just ditch her right now. This girl is nothing but trouble. Maybe they'll stop hunting us if they know that we don't have her.”
Demona was right again. I hated saying it because she was so blunt. I had no doubt that the Warriors of Light were tracking us. They wouldn't just let this go. The longer we were outside of a city the more dangerous it was. The only safe place was a city. We had to get there. I had to get Sarafine there.
The Black Assassin grunts a little bit under his metal mask, “Leave her alone. She doesn't know remember.”
“How the fuck do you know?” Demona asks.
“I just do.”
“And exactly who are you?” I ask the Black Assassin, “Besides a guy that wants to help that is.”
“I'm a gamer. Just like the rest of you guys,” he explains, “I found out what Manolo was up to. I came across some files that the Manolo Corporation had. I overheard Manolo talking about trapping people in the game...and killing them off.”
I'm freaked out by that.
“Why?” I ask.
The Black Assassin shrugs, “If you know Phineas Manolo you wouldn't ask that question. Why does he do anything that he does? I don't know. It's some sick game to him. He's a billionaire with a god complex. And what does a man do when he thinks he's god?”
“He creates,” Noah calls out from the front of the carriage.
The Black Assassin nods underneath his mask.
“He sure does. He creates and he destroys.”
“So you logged in to stop him?” I ask, “You wanted to do this?”
The Black Assassin nodded, “I felt bad for the players. I found out that he was going to trap people in this game of his. So I joined as well.”
“Why not call the cops?” I ask.
The Black Assassin shakes his head, “I tried in the past. No one believes me. People trapped in a virtual world? No. They won't believe me.”
“People will notice we're missing...” Demona explains, “It's been over a year. People will come looking for us.”
The Black Assassin shakes his head, “No they won't. If you think they will you don't know the Manolo Corporation. They are masters at cover-ups. People disappear everyday and a lot of times it's because of the Manolo Corporation. And if people go looking for you...they'll probably disappear too.”
I'm sick to my stomach.
“What about Sarafine?”
“I'm not sure who she is. I'm not sure why they want her,” the Black Assassin says, “All I know is that they want her and because of that I plan on keeping her safe.”
Something clicks at that moment.
“Hunter...”
“What?”
“The moderators said something about a Hunter. You're that Hunter aren't you.”
He laughs, “Actually Hunter is my name. But yes. You're right. They know I've been looking for Sarafine and keeping her safe.”
That was interesting.
“So you weren't trying to keep me safe after all? It was all about Sarafine.”
“Actually I was doing a little bit of both,” the Black Assassin says, “I mean it's not everyday you run into a sexy guy like yourself...”
The way he says it just reminds me of someone. Someone bold and confident. That's when the Black assassin takes off his mask.
I see who Hunter is finally.
It's the guy I met when I first logged into the machine. It's the guy with the locks. It's the guy with the dimples. He's standing right in front of me and looking back at me.
“Oh. Shit.”
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“This way. It's not safe to be seen,” Hunter explains.
We are walking the city. Noah is carrying Madden. The rest of us surround Madden in an attempt to make it not look suspicious. I'm not sure why we are sneaking around. We are in Origins. Even if the guild is here they can't kill us in Origins.
“Anyone wondering why we sneaking around?” Demona asks with the same annoyed attitude as she normally has as she flicks her hair across her shoulders.
Hunter gives her a harsh look, “We have to avoid the moderators in this city. It's not really safe for me or Sarafine. We can't die in cities by other players but moderators are different. They can override the program if they have to. It's probably not safe for any of us...even in safe-zones.”
My heart is racing.
Demona shoots me a look. I know what she's thinking. After this year I can read her pretty well. I know when she starts tossing her long jet black hair that she is heavily annoyed. Noah seems to be thinking the same thing but he doesn't express it as much as Demona. When Noah is quiet though I know he is annoyed. They are both wondering why we are involved in this situation with Hunter and Sarafine.
“Well maybe it's time we parted ways,” Demona finally suggests.
“I figured you would want to,” Hunter explains, “I'll take Sarafine.”
“I'm going with Killian,” Sarafine explains, “I'm joining his guild.”
“Girl no you aren't,” Demona argues.
I step in front of Demona at that moment. I'm not going to let her speak for me. I look at Hunter. I look at Sarafine. For some reason I feel like Hunter has a reason to want to keep Sarafine alive. He doesn't know it yet. I don't know it either.
“Sarafine we don't have time for this,” Hunter explains.
“She's staying with me,” I state.
Hunter gives me a hard look, “Listen. We are in Origins now. Thank you for your help so far but from now on I'll take care of this. I don't need help. I'm a solo gamer. I prefer doing this alone.”
Hunter definitely doesn't seem concerned about it. He has that confidence. I remember the first time I met him how he disappeared. It's been a year since I saw him. He's still as sexy. He's still as sharp. He's still as anti-social clearly.
He reminds me of me. He wants to be a loner. It's easier that way.
It's not better though.
“I can help you,” I tell Hunter, “We can help you.”
Noah looks over at me, “Can we trust this guy?”
Demona adds in quickly, “Do we want to get involved with this shit?”
“Listen...the Manolo Corporation fucked with us,” I state, “We are already involved. The Guild leader of the Warriors of Light knows who we are. He won't stop coming after us. He'll let the moderators know who we are. The corporation won't stop coming after us. They took us from our homes. They trapped us in a game. They tricked us to sign up for this shit. If we die in this game we die in real life. You know what I think? I think that's foul. I think if we have the chance to hurt the Corporation somehow...we should take it.”
I don't know how motivational the speech is. I wonder if I sound stupid when Hunter puts on his mask and so that I can't read his expression.
It's Noah that sighs though, “Georgina and me are here for you...even if this is a mistake...”
“Speak for yourself,” Demona says, “I don't trust this Hunter guy.”
There is laughter at that moment.
My friends don't trust Hunter. Maybe it's more fear. For some reason I trust him completely though. When the laughter breaks out I'm surprised. I think it's coming from Noah at first but then I notice it's coming from the guy on Noah's back.
The laughter comes from Madden.
“You guys should avoid him if you knew what was best for you,” Madden says.
I look over at Madden.
“Do you know something?”
“I've researched the Manolo Corporation for years. Hunter. Why don't you tell them exactly who you are and stop lying to them,” Madden says.
We all look over at Hunter. He has his arms crossed at that moment. Madden damn near spits the accusation at him.
“What's he talking about?” Demona asks.
“The name Hunter sounds very familiar to me,” Madden explains, “If this guy is indeed Hunter I think you'd all be very interested to know exactly who he is before you decide to follow him blindly.”
Hunter remains quiet.
“Hunter?” I ask.
He doesn't say anything.
“Fine. You don't want to reveal your identity, then I will,” Madden explains.
“Shut the hell up. You don't know me or my story,” Hunter tells Madden, “I don't give a fuck about what you read on the internet.”
“Who the fuck are you Hunter?” I ask.
Madden smirks, “Let me help you out. Hunter...Manolo.”
There is a gasp at that moment. I don't think any jaw isn't dropped.
Hunter takes off his mask again, “Phineas Manolo is my adopted father.”
To read the next chapter go to www.crushedcrown.com