Contents
Dear GAMELAND Fan
Episode 3: Deadman’s Switch
(chapter index)
Author’s Note
Tanpepper Tidings Subscription Link
Get notified of updates, releases, & other news
Copyright notice
Acknowledgements & About the Author
The Insomnia collection by Saul Tanpepper
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S.W. TANPEPPER’S GAMELAND
Episode 3:
Deadman’s Switch
by Saul Tanpepper
http://www.tanpepperwrites.com/gameland
Deadman’s Switch
S.W. Tanpepper’s GAMELAND: Episode 3
by Saul Tanpepper
Copyright © 2012 by Saul Tanpepper
All rights reserved.
1st Published July 1, 2012 by Brinestone Press, San Martin, CA 95046 at Smashwords
Cover design K.J. Howe Copyright © 2012
PUBLISHER’S NOTE
This book is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places, and incidents either are the product of the author’s imagination or are used fictitiously, and any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, business establishments, events, or locales is entirely coincidental.
SMASHWORDS LICENSE NOTES
Without limiting the rights under copyright reserved above, no part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in or introduced into a retrieval system, or transmitted, in any form, or by any means (electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording, or otherwise), without the prior written permission of both the copyright owner and the above publisher of this book. The scanning, uploading, and distribution of this book via the Internet or via any other means without the permission of the publisher is illegal and punishable by law. Please purchase only authorized electronic editions, and do not participate in or encourage electronic piracy of copyrighted materials. Your support of the author’s rights is appreciated.
http://www.brinestonepress.com
Tanpepper, Saul (2012-07-01). S.W. Tanpepper’s Gameland: Episode 3: Deadman’s Switch
Brinestone Press Digital Edition (rev 130205)
For more information about this and other titles by this author:
http://www.tanpepperwrites.com
A Heartfelt Thanks
Dear GAMELAND Fan:
Wow, is it time for the third installment already? I’ll be honest. This one was a tough one to write. So much is happening to the characters, both externally and internally, that I sometimes found myself wanting to give them a break. I resisted, of course. If they’re going to reach their destinations—whatever and wherever those may be—they’ll have to do it by the sweat of their brow and their own wits. Things are only going to get tougher and coddling them won’t help. But existing in dystopia like the world in GAMELAND is a messy prospect. As a result, the characters are being asked to make some very difficult decisions and to do some terrible things.
Horrible, unthinkable things.
But they are not horrible human beings (not all of them, anyway). They’re fallible, and fallible people, when thrown into extraordinary situations, make rash decisions, sometimes with dire consequences. It’s what makes us human. Remember this when you observe them acting in ways that seem infuriating or inconsistent. Ask yourself: How would I react if I were thrust into this situation, without the benefit of time and perspective to inform my decisions?
Also keep in mind that not everyone in this story is entirely who they appear to be. There are both heroes and villains, and if you can sort them out before the end of Episode Eight, then kudos to you. It’s my job, however, to keep you guessing.
I want to thank you for continuing to show your support. In this new installment (newly revised and updated), as with the previous ones, I hope I have met the quality of writing you have come to expect. I reiterate my pledge to always strive to write the most entertaining stories in the best way I know how and to render them to you as free of errors as possible. I’ll be more than happy to redress any errors and accidental inconsistencies if you should happen to find any. I hope they will be minor and few.
If GAMELAND is your only experience with my work, I encourage you try my other works of speculative fiction. In any case, thanks again for coming back for more.
If you haven’t already and you’d like to be notified of future releases and other news, just shoot me an email to authorsaultanpepper@gmail.com and ask me to add you to the GAMELAND mailing list. Or subscribe to my newsletter, Tanpepper Tidings, at https://tinyletter.com/SWTanpepper.
The GAMELAND fan page on Facebook is growing. Please stop by. I provide update notifications, answer questions, post news, hints, contests, and other items of interest. I’d love to see you there!
One final reminder: I always value the opinions of my readers and so encourage you to offer your thoughts on this work, positive or negative, publicly or privately. I want to know what you think. I always give any feedback serious consideration. Note that I do not engage reviewers or their posted comments in public. I want my readers to feel comfortable expressing their honest and thoughtful views in an open forum without fear of being stalked by me. If you choose to post a public review, you’ll find a helpful link at the end of this book.
Now, sit back and enjoy the third episode of GAMELAND.
See you in The Game!
And, once again, my deepest gratitude for your support.
Saul
San Francisco, CA
February 5, 2013
[BACK TO CONTENTS]
GAMELAND
Episode 3: Deadman’s Switch
PART ONE: Promises Made
Chapter 1
Chapter 2
Chapter 3
Chapter 4
Chapter 5
Chapter 6
Chapter 7
Chapter 8
Chapter 9
PART TWO: Everything Can Change in an Instant
Chapter 10
Chapter 11
Chapter 12
Chapter 13
Chapter 14
Chapter 15
Chapter 16
Chapter 17
Chapter 18
Chapter 19
Chapter 20
Chapter 21
PART THREE: Promises Kept
Chapter 22
Chapter 23
Chapter 24
Chapter 25
Chapter 26
Chapter 27
Chapter 28
Chapter 29
Chapter 30
Chapter 31
Chapter 32
Chapter 33
Chapter 34
† † †
PART ONE
Promises Made
Chapter 1
I wait for the tram to pick up speed, but it just clicks quietly along at a steady pace, no faster than a jog. At this rate, it’ll take us an hour to get to the mainland.
Must be low on power,
Reggie says.
See if you can figure it out.
The darkness of the tunnel envelops us and we’re left in the meager glow of the safety LCD lamps shining down on us from the ceiling of the car. They turn Reggie into a pale ghost.
Let me know if you see anything strange.
I point at the grainy black and white image showing the leading end of the tram and the tracks that lie ahead. He nods. Give us a couple minutes warning before we get to the mainland side. I want to make sure we’re prepared for whatever might be waiting for us.
What do you think is waiting for us?
I don’t know, Reg.
I also have no idea how he’ll know when we’re getting close, but I trust he’ll figure it out.
I open the compartment door and head back to the main car where the others are seated. Nobody talks or moves. The door slides shut behind me.
I wish I could shake this feeling of unease, or at least understand what’s causing it, but the stress is making me even more lightheaded than I already am. I can feel it in the back of my head at the base of my skull, a dull pressure, radiating toward the front. It feels like a caffeine headache, the kind I get when I drink too much caffeine too fast.
Kelly stands up and walks over. When I gesture for him to sit, he settles into the hard plastic seat next to me.
I’m sorry about back there,
he says. I was just so crazy worried about you, and then, when I saw you, I just about lost it.
I sigh and try to rub the tension out of my neck. I don’t say anything. I can’t even think straight right now.
I want you to know why I did what I did, Jess.
I think I already know,
I say. It’s all right. Micah told me. He said it was for love and responsibility. He said you did it for Kyle.
For you, Jessie. I did it for you. I wanted to protect you.
I’m tired of that old argument. It doesn’t hold water with me anymore. You see,
I tell him, that’s the part I don’t understand. Your brother Kyle? I get that. You needed money for his hospital bills, so he can get the treatment. What I don’t get is all the rest.
You figured that out then, the part about the bills and needing money.
Kelly exhales heavily and looks away, pinching his nose. Yes, the first time we went, that was more about Kyle. But it’s not what you think.
What I think? What I think is that I can’t believe you kept it from me. You ask me to spend the rest of my life with you, and then you turn around and keep secrets from me. How am I supposed to trust you?
"It’s because I love you that I kept these things from you. I love you, Jessie."
What did Arc want you to do in return? Be a Volunteer?
What? No! I would never do that!
Kelly sags away from me, holding his head in his hands. For a moment I think he’s crying, but then quickly dismiss the idea, so I’m surprised to see his face is wet when he looks up.
I was supposed to get Micah’s hack,
he admits. I’ve been selling them to Arc.
"All of them? Even the light saber fix Micah wrote for his avatar in Zpocalypto?"
He nods. Yeah. I sold that one, too.
I stare at him for a moment, then a bubble of laughter rises up inside of me. I try to stifle it. He smiles at me, confusion on his face.
But, okay, then why go back for Jake? What does that have to do with Arc? Or Kyle?
Nothing. That’s what I keep trying to tell you. That part was for you. And Jake too. A tiny, little bit for Jake. Mostly it was for you. And…okay, maybe a little bit for me. You really poured on the guilt back there. I mean, you were right: Jake didn’t deserve us turning our backs on him. I didn’t want to spend the rest of my life not being able to look at myself in the mirror and hating myself because I’d left him behind.
You should’ve let us help.
I figured it would be a simple rescue. Get in quick, get out quick. The fewer people involved, the better. Christ, I was wrong. And then, when those two guys from Arc found us, I was, like, cool. But I knew something was wrong, almost from the start. Sure enough, they betrayed me. They betrayed all of us.
Why? What could they want with a bunch of kids?
We’re not just kids, Jess. We’re hackers and gamers. And we’re nobodies. Who’ll miss us?
We’re not nobodies.
He leans into me. The fatigue suddenly etched so deeply in his face that I’m afraid it’ll never go away. I take his head in my hands and pull him close. He hesitates at first, his eyes studying mine, looking for something that I’m not sure he’ll ever find in them. Maybe if he looks hard enough and deep enough he will. Maybe. I hope he keeps trying.
And then we kiss.
Oh God, I want so badly for this to be a dream. A nightmare fading into a harmless dream. I want to wake up from my life and just be with Kelly.
When he finally draws away again, his eyes are closed. Marry me,
he whispers.
If we get out of this—
If? Don’t you mean when?
He smiles thinly, but it still manages to light up his face.
I smile back, even as a deep sense of foreboding falls over me. I’m not as certain as he is that we will succeed in getting out of this.
He sags against his seat until his head rests against the wall. In less than a minute, he’s asleep, his body finally yielding to his exhaustion.
I wish I could sleep too, but I can’t. The throbbing in my head is worse. My stomach roils unhappily. I stand up to stretch. With one last glance downward at Kelly, I step toward the back of the car.
Stephen looks over at me. This isn’t about Arc,
he quietly says. It isn’t even about you. It’s much bigger than that.
Jake gives him a quick shake of the head, a warning look in his eyes, silently telling him to shut up. But there’s something else in Jake’s face, too. Pain, I think. He looks like he’s desperately trying not to cry out.
I go and stand in front of Stephen, blocking him from Jake’s view. I don’t need anyone to freak out like he did back there in the terminal. For a moment there I was sure he was going to lose it and murder someone. I can’t let that happen. I may have blood on my hands, but the rest of them are innocent. I’ll do what I can to make sure it stays that way.
The tram rocks slightly and my body responds sluggishly. My brain feels like it’s sloshing around inside of my skull. My head pounds from the combination of tension and Kelly’s kiss, from fatigue and hunger. I wait for the pressure and the nausea to pass, but they only intensify.
What do you mean bigger than Arc?
I mumble.
Stephen’s face swims before me. He laughs again and his voice sounds low and warped in my ears.
What the hell is wrong with me?
Across the aisle, Jake suddenly bends over and pukes between his shoes. I turn, startled by the sound, but the scene sweeps past my view and keeps right on spinning; it doesn’t stop. I catch a glimpse of Ashley slumped awkwardly in her seat. Tanya cries out, grabbing her head. She tries to stand, but crumples to the floor, writhing and making choking sounds. The scene spins and spins: Kelly, Jake, Micah, Ash, Tanya.
Kellyjakemicahashtanyakellyjake—
Stephen laughs and laughs.
And then, from some deep place inside of me, I suddenly know what’s been eating at me. It was what Miss Novak had said about us not being able to leave. And then, earlier, in my room during the fight with Nurse Mabel, the words that so enraged me that I’d had to—
That I…
I…
You’ll never escape.
I had to kill her.
I had to.
Now I finally understand exactly what they’d meant: There’s something about the new implants they put in us. They’ve done something to them so we can’t leave.
I hear Stephen’s voice cutting through the fog of pain: Our failsafe.
He sounds so far away now, like he’s been whisked away, flying over the hills and into the clouds. I can almost see and feel those same clouds between us as my knees give way. He comes and hovers over me, as if the floor has lost all its substance, smiling like a manic angel.
You didn’t think we’d just let you go, did you?
he asks. That’s why we have contingencies such as these.
He goes over to the cart and pulls out a pair of scissors and manages to cut himself free of his bindings. I watch helplessly from the floor, my muscles quivering like jelly, not responding to my commands.
Yet, somehow, with an effort that feels both torturous and not my own, I find myself incredibly lurching to my feet. I smack into a pole and grab it to keep from falling, but I slide down. I rise again, pushing, straining against the mighty grasp of gravity. I need to make it back to Reggie. I need to tell him to stop the tram. To turn it around. My mouth doesn’t work. My lips are cardboard.
I bounce between the poles, off the seats. Two more steps and my brain registers that the engineer’s compartment is empty. Reggie’s not standing at the controls. His body lies limp on the floor of the compartment, half through the open doorway, rocking with the movement of the car.
I slip to my knees. They won’t carry me any longer. Leaning back against the seat feels so good. I’m tempted to just lie down and sleep.
Stephen watches me with amusement in his eyes. I couldn’t care less.
