Read The Game for Free Online

For once, Georgia agrees. With the exception of Rob’s
body and his physical surroundings, the participants of the
upcoming battle are only going to appear within the program. The
only way for them to see it is to watch the action is the video
feed as it blends with the software within the computer
program.
    They move away from the window and take their
seats. Somebody dims the lights and a projection screen slowly
retracts from the ceiling. An image appears—a first-person
perspective through Rob’s eyes—the same view the boy sees a
thousand miles away.
* * *
    “ Eliminate enemy targets,” says a
female voice. Paul checks his gun. There does not appear to be any
cocking mechanisms to load bullets—the only moving part appears to
be the trigger. Multi-colored graffiti covers the plywood
buildings. One wall, about twenty yards away, sports a man’s black
silhouette. He pulls the gun to his shoulder, aims, and then
fires.
    The gun does not move, but a heavy force pushes
against his shoulder as if it really did fire. A flaming streak of
purple light flies from the gun’s barrel and strikes the silhouette
center mass. Chips of wood splinter away from the point of impact
and a wisp of dark smoke curls from the newly formed
hole.
    A quick shadow darts from one side of the alley
to the other. Paul tenses and brings the gun back to his shoulder.
He waits. There’s a doorway about ten feet away on the right side
of the alley. He darts into it. It’s a single story structure, but
he sees light streaming in from the back. There’s another door back
there.
    Paul slides out the rear door into another
alley—and there in front of him is an armed man. He’s facing away,
staring intently down another alley. The man stiffens as if
suddenly realizing someone is behind him. He begins to turn,
swinging his rifle around toward Paul.
    But Paul is ready.
    He fires and the projectile strikes the man
just below the sternum. It makes a tiny entrance hole, the uniform
barely scorched—but the mass of flesh and blood that sprays onto
the far wall tells a different story concerning the man’s
back.
    “ Eeww,” Paul says. As the man falls
toward him, he ducks back into the doorway and scrambles back to
the other end of the building. He storms out the door, into the
main alley, and then shoots through another doorway on the other
side. Weapon’s fire peppers the wood somewhere behind him but he
keeps running, ducking from one building to another in an attempt
to keep the enemy guessing as to his whereabouts.
    He comes to his first multi-storied structure
and scampers up a sloped ramp to the second floor. He tucks himself
into an outside corner and peeps through a window to his left. It’s
more of a rectangular hole cut into the wood than a window—there’s
no frame and no glass, just the hole. He doesn’t see anyone so he
moves to the window on his right.
    This window’s line of sight is long, stretching
the length of six or seven buildings. As he watches, another man
steps out of a doorway and, hugging tightly to the wall, begins to
make his way toward Paul. Paul shoots and the man slumps into the
wall.
    Paul rushes down to the first floor and
scampers again from building to building.
* * *
    What’s going on here ? His body moves
from building to building, seemingly of its own will. All Rob can
do is watch. He finally catches a glimpse of his left arm and
solves the mystery as to why it feels so cold. It’s made of
polished metal. There is no hand—it’s been replaced by a built-in
weapon, like some sort of automatic assault rifle.
    He scampers from one plywood structure to
another, a passenger in his own body. He’s not sure what is
worse—consciousness of his surroundings but unable to move; or
being able to move, but unable to control it? Again, he’s reminded
of a puppet.
    If that’s the case—then who is the puppet
master and where are the strings?
* * *
    Potter fidgets. “This is moving too slow. Can
we turn up the