S.W. Tanpepper's GAMELAND: Season Two Omnibus (Episodes 9-11) (153 page)

“What are you doing?” Abrams asks. He looks confused.

“I can't let that happen.”

The scalpel slashes through the air, a quick silver streak that completes its arc in a spray of crimson.

“Why?” Abrams whispers, as he sags to the floor, his hand pressed futilely against his severed jugular.

“You think you're the only one who knows the torment of watching a loved one die and feel helpless to do anything about it?”

“Who?” he asks.

But he dies before Constipole can answer.

The former aide to the former senator plucks the Link and tablet off the table and turns to leave.

 

 

 

 

Jessie pulled into the crowded parking lot and threaded her way past the stalled vehicles until she was back near the exit. After setting the parking brake, she turned the engine off. They'd been driving for nearly six hours, ever since leaving Syracuse, and her whole body felt as if it was still vibrating from the road. But as she cracked her window, she realized that it wasn't just her. The very ground beneath her rumbled, and the air itself thrummed in resonance.

“We're here,” she announced, turning in the seat and glancing back into the interior of the RV. Kyle popped his head out from where he was watching a video and gave an excited whoop, which was immediately met with a stern look from his mother.

Jessie smiled and winked at him and he smiled and winked back.

“Are you sure this is what you want to do, honey?” Jessie's mother asked from the passenger seat. She unclipped her seatbelt but didn't move.

“Yeah. It's what he would've wanted.”

Together, they gazed out through the insect splattered windshield at the devastation which lay before them, the abandoned and burnt out cars, the shells of bombed buildings. The throngs of people milling about outside the gift shop.

Sightseers
.

That's what they made Jessie think of. But then she felt guilty for doing so. She knew they weren't here for the view. On the other hand, what better place might one spend eternity than this?

“Ready?” Her mother handed her the shoe box. Her hands still shook, but not so much anymore, now that she'd fully recovered. And she'd actually put on weight so that she didn't look so gaunt. “Be careful.”

“You should come with me.”

Her mother shook her head. “I'll follow after with the others.”

“No killing, Mom.” She gestured at the back of the RV. “Remind them.”

“No promises.”

“Fair enough.”

Jessie clipped the short-range EM transmitter to her belt, then stepped out of the vehicle. She could feel the others watching her as she made her way slowly around the empty cars and wandering corpses. The sidewalk was no better, littered as it was with abandoned bicycles and overturned food carts. The food that had spilled out of them was long gone.

She passed a stroller but didn't look in. She'd learned a long time ago not to, much the same way she'd learned not to look at the kittens and puppies put up for adoption at the pet store across the street from her old dojang.

The smell of rot was in the air. It always smelled of rot, wherever she went, but at least it wasn't so strong anymore, now that a second month had passed since the Stream went down. That's how long it took for the uninfected dead to stop decaying and start petrifying where they lay.

As for the Discorporated, they had never started to rot. They just smelled like burnt plastic. And here, where the air was so moist and constantly churning, neither smell was all that strong.

Her heart was pounding, but the roar drowned it out until all she could hear was the sound of her breathing. It even muted the whispers she'd begun hearing again over the past few days. She didn't know what it meant, but they troubled her, and though she tried to hide her concern from the others in the group, some noticed. It was one of the reasons she finally decided they needed to leave Connecticut.

That, and the book of code Brother Walter had been carrying when he died.

But the whispers only grew stronger.

She wiped sweat from her forehead. It was a longer walk than she expected. If she'd known it was going to be so far, she might have parked closer.

Finally, she arrived at the overlook. The wooden stairwell was still intact, and it appeared to be unoccupied, so she began to descend. She was extra careful not to fall on the moss-covered boards; she didn't want to hurt the baby.

She was soon soaked to the bone by the mist from the falls.

Ten minutes, that's how long she stood there without speaking a single word, alone with only her thoughts and memories. Then she held the box out in front of her. “You were a good brother,” she said. “I miss you so much.”

As much as she missed Kelly.

She pulled off the lid and upended the dust of Eric's remains into the cataract.

After she returned to the top of the stairs, her mother wiped the mist from her face. “You okay?” she asked, and Jessie was glad they hadn't seen her cry. They would see her tears and just think it was Niagara water. After all, crying was so unbecoming of a leader.

“You ready?” Reggie asked. He whistled once for Shinji, who was scrounging through a trash bin.

Jessie placed a hand on the slight bump above her belt and nodded. She didn't know what would happen to them now. All she knew was that they had to keep moving. She wasn't even sure they were heading in the right direction.

And the whispers kept whispering, telling her to listen, that maybe it was starting all over again.

 

 

FOR IMMEDIATE TRANSMISSION

FROM
: Qi Jacque Ma, Chairman and Founder, Abalila HG

TO
: Edmund Constipole

DATE
: November 2, 2043

SUBJECT
: RE: Gameland

Dear Mister Constipole;

Thank you for your prompt response to our request for proof in support of your claims. As you can imagine, we were initially skeptical about your proposal, but we have since confirmed its legitimacy. Our board has voted to acquire all assets now in your possession. In exchange, we are granting you and Miss Sandra Abrams full access to our treatment facility and chemotherapy drugs. Travel arrangements to Beijing will be sent once we have confirmed transfer of all assets into our hands. We wish you and Miss Abrams the best of luck and a speedy recovery from her illness.

(signed)

Qi Jacque Ma

Chairman and Founder

Abalila Holding Group, Xanghou, China

 

DO YOU WISH TO TRANSFER ALL ASSETS TO ABALILA HG?

YES || NO

 

 

Thank you for confirming. Transfer complete.

Initiating global network expansion…

Reinitializing system hardware…

Reconnecting to neural implants…

Game program rebooting…

Congratulations. All systems now on line.

Level One Play will begin in…

…3…

…2…

…1…

WELCOME TO GAMELAND

–

NORTH AMERICA

‡ ‡ ‡ ‡ ‡

END OF
JESSIE'S GAME: DEAD RECKONING

and Season Two of GAMELAND

‡ ‡ ‡ ‡ ‡

 

 

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The Last Zookeeper

 

The boy pressed his forehead
against the paint-chipped railing and stared at the old man as he hobbled along the walkway. He moved with extreme care, avoiding the cracks in the uneven cement. Occasionally, one of them would catch his toe, and he would stumble, let out a pained grunt, then recover and continue on. The dented metal feed bucket in his right fist swung ponderously, banging against the side of his knee. He bore these insults without expression.

The bones in his hand, the gnarled knuckles, ropy tendons and veins, stood out from the effort of carrying the heavy weight. The tissue-thin skin was mottled with liver spots and inhabited by the ghosts of forgotten injuries, wounds whose secret stories the boy would never know.

He wondered what it would feel like to hold that hand in his own, to touch the baggy covering and feel it slide over the brittle bones beneath his fingers. The time-withered muscle. The cables of sinew within their loose translucent sheath.

 

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My thanks to the devoted staff of Brinestone Press, who helped put this book together and get it out to you.

Saul Tanpepper is a writer of speculative fiction for teens and adults. A former molecular geneticist originally from Upstate New York, he now calls Northern California home.

If you enjoyed the GAMELAND series, please try Saul's other books at his:

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‡ ‡ ‡ ‡ ‡

Signs of Life (Jessie's Game, Book 1)

Copyright © 2013 by Saul Tanpepper

A Dark and Sure Descent

Copyright © 2014 by Saul Tanpepper

Dead Reckoning (Jessie's Game, Book 2)

Copyright © 2014 by Saul Tanpepper

All rights reserved.

Jan 24, 2015 by Brinestone Press, San Martin, CA 95046
Cover credit K.J. Howe Copyright © 2013, 2014, 2015
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.

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http://www.brinestonepress.com
Tanpepper, Saul (2015-01-23). The Season Two GAMELAND Omnibus

Brinestone Press Edition (rv150124)

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