Z 2134 (21 page)

“They said she was with the Underground,”
Egan shrugged. “Isn’t that…
interesting
?”

Jonah stared at the screen, his mouth
wide open as Ana hopped on top of a kid and began to bash his skull in. Jonah
was equally horrified and relieved as Ana screamed, slapped her hand on the
button, then took the elevator to the forest above.

Egan raised his eyebrows.

“Congratulations,” he said. “Looks like
the apple doesn’t fall far from the rotten tree.”

L
iam finally arrived at the end of the
Fire Wall and was about to double back on the other side to search for Ana.
Then one of the network orbs hovered down directly next to him.

He turned, wondering what the orb’s
screen was going to show him. As the orb took a moment to do anything other
than hover, a sense of dread began to fill him, certain he was going to be
shown a recording of Ana being slaughtered.

The screen flickered on, and Liam
swallowed, preparing for the worst.

Kirkman’s face filled the screen. “Well,
well, well, it’s Underground Scum, Liam Harrow.”

Liam kept his tongue in check, waiting to
see what Kirkman would say next.

“Liam Harrow is one of the oddest
competitors in The Games, folks. Most people try to avoid The Darwin Games, but
Crazy Liam practically begged to be put in, isn’t that right, young man?”

Liam grit his teeth and lied. “I don’t
know what you’re talking about.”

“Really? Maybe this will refresh your
memory.”

Kirkman’s face faded from the screen,
replaced with a recording of Liam storming into Keller’s office. A recording
that Liam had no idea even existed.

“What the fuck?” Liam shouted, swiping
his gun at the orb.

The orb zipped up, then back down, just
inches above Liam’s reach, forcing him to watch the recording.

Liam had stormed into Keller’s office.
“I’m done. I want out.”

“What?” Keller said.

“I’m through spying for you! You got — ”
the video conveniently lost audio when Liam accused Keller’s goons of killing
the woman and child in the church. “I’m not gonna be your spy anymore. It’s
over.”

“No,” Keller said, standing up, glaring
at Liam. “You’ve got a job to do, and you’re gonna get your ass back out there
and do it.”

“Find someone else,” Liam shouted,
swiping at Keller’s desk, violently knocking his paperwork and mug of coffee to
the ground.

Keller jumped from his chair and slammed
Liam against the wall, barking into his face, “Are you out of your fucking
mind, boy? You get your ass back out there now, or I’ll hold you for treason!”

“Do it!” Liam shouted.

“Don’t tempt me, child.”

“I’m not tempting you, I’m daring you!
Because otherwise, I’m walking out right now, and the first thing I’m gonna do
is tell everyone that I’ve been spying for City Watch. How do you think that
would affect your operations?”

Keller spun Liam around, slapped
handcuffs on his wrists, shoved his face into the wall, and then the video cut
back to Kirkman.

“What the hell were you thinking, kid?
It’s almost like you wanted to be in The Games or something.”

Liam ignored Kirkman and kept walking,
closing in on the end of the Fire Wall.

He raced to the end of the seam and then
turned back up on the other side of the Fire Wall, searching for any sign of
Ana.

“Who are you looking for?” Kirkman asked.
“Oh, wait a second…you’re looking for Ana Lovecraft, aren’t you?”

Liam ignored the carnival barker and kept
walking north, searching for any sign of Ana. The orb floated behind. “Ah, I
think I know what’s going on here, ladies and gentlemen. Our young Liam was
spying for City Watch and had infiltrated the Underground, where he met the
lovely Underground traitor, Anastasia Lovecraft. And when she got picked up,
our young lover decided he’d get himself arrested to be with her.”

The audience oohed and ahed as Kirkman
tried to play up a possible romantic angle.

Liam spun toward the orb, raising the
pistol and taking aim at it. “You don’t know the first fucking thing about me,
so back the fuck off!”

 “Ah,” Kirkman said, syrupy sweet. “I
think we found a love story here at The Darwin Games! Of course, as we all
know, the only romances in The Games are tragedies.”

Liam kept walking, and Kirkman finally
shut up. The orb floated back up to its usual spot, 40 or so feet in the sky.

After 15 minutes of walking, Liam
wondered if it was possible for Ana to have beaten him to the seam.

She wouldn’t have kept going, would she?
She would’ve waited, I’d think.

He stopped, looking in both directions,
seeing nothing but fire on one side and darkness on the other.

She ran into trouble. She’s out there
alone, with no weapons, and she ran into zombies or other players!

He thought about calling out to her, but
with no bullets left in his gun, he didn’t dare risk drawing zombies to him. He
was no good to her if he were dead. He began running north, never straying more
than a hundred or so feet from the seam, desperate for any sign of her, hoping
that each new shadow in the woods would be her emerging.

Liam was running so fast, he failed to
notice a large rock that caught him off balance and sent him straight to the
ground so hard it knocked the wind from his chest.

He rose slowly, gasping for air, and was
about to continue his search when he saw that he was no longer alone.

Liam was surrounded by a trio of players:
A blonde-haired girl with a crossbow; a six-foot-six guy with a unibrow, a
large hanging jaw, and a metal pipe; and — a foot in front of the other two — a
skinny, dark-haired guy, sleeved with tattoos running up and down his exposed
arms where he’d cut his coveralls away. Blood covered most of the ink. The
tattooed guy held a long, curved blade and a smile that said he knew how to use
it.

Liam pulled the gun from his waistband
and aimed it in a circle.

The man with the pipe said, “I’d put that
down if I were you.”

L
iam turned in a circle, gun drawn on the
three players, all with their own weapons ready — a pipe, a sword, and a
crossbow. The man with the pipe was a giant with teeth like broken rocks in his
open maw. His throat birthed a thunderous roll as he stepped forward, pipe
swinging in slow arcs, readying to dispatch Liam’s head from his body.

Liam, instead of retreating, stepped
forward, gun right in the big man’s face. The chamber was empty, but Goliath
didn’t know that.

“Back off!” Liam shouted, stepping into
the giant’s space and forcing the man to take three tentative steps back.

As the big man stumbled back off balance,
Liam quickly darted past him, then spun around, putting all three of the
players in front of himself. He took a few steps back, his gun still on the big
man.

The blonde, her crossbow still trained on
Liam, said, “Think you’re gonna shoot all three of us?”

Her snarl was so sexy Liam wanted to lick
it. He tried to shake the image, surprised he could be turned on considering
the danger.

Blondie was short but seemed especially
so standing a half-step to the side of Goliath. She could have been nineteen,
or twenty-nine; it was tough to tell under the makeup, which she’d somehow
maintained despite the conditions. She wasn’t just a knockout, the blonde was
Medusa, turning him to stone.

Liam couldn’t remember the last time he’d
seen a contestant appearing so confident or wearing her sexuality so obviously.
In a game with criminals where rape was an ever-present threat — and practically
a selling point for the premium-priced “uncensored version” of the show — women
usually tried to fly under the radar, not call attention to themselves with
makeup and shirts unbuttoned to show off cleavage.

There was something admirable about such
raw confidence.

Blondie played to the three orbs hovering
above her as if she were trying to woo the viewers back home. “You can try
pulling your trigger,” she purred. “But the second you flinch, I’m squeezing
mine. You
might
get a shot off before my bolt slams into your forehead,
but I doubt it.”

Her icy eyes were still on Liam’s,
absorbing every detail. Liam knew the look well, and had his own polished
version. Back in City 6, in a place like The Social, that first look would be
followed by fast banter and teasing heat, followed by a long night of lust and
thrust.

But he wasn’t in The Social, or even
behind The Wall. He was in The Barrens playing The Darwin Games, where thinking
with your dick got you killed more often than not. While he hadn’t seen many overtly
sexual players, he
had
seen many femme fatales eliminate far stronger
players by slithering into their best intentions, then striking like a serpent
once the players’ dropped their guard.

Knowing the other players was how you
stayed alive in The Games. Even the best of alliances were temporary and ever
shifting. No way Liam would be dumb enough to let any player get the drop on
him, but that didn’t mean Blondie had to know he was onto her game. No reason
he couldn’t play the dumb guy to buy himself a few minutes.

Liam grinned, ignoring Goliath and the
tattooed skinny guy with the sword, while giving Blondie the same well-worn
smile that had worked so well back home.

“Nope,” he shook his head. “You’re right.
There’s no way I can hit all three of you, and my daddy taught me to never be
stupid when it’s easy to be smart.” His grin went wider. “But I sure as shit
will
shoot one of you, and since I’ve been practicing out in the hunting yards
since I was six, I’m certain I’ll manage to get two shots off before I’m
finished, and positive I won’t miss either one.”

As Liam expected, the men shifted
uncomfortably on their feet. Neither wanted dialogue, and both wanted him dead.
But they were following Blondie’s lead, and she was clearly calling the shots,
even if the men hadn’t realized it or were lying to themselves that they were
in control.

Liam laughed as Blondie held her stare
and the two guys beside her blinked in confusion, wondering what sort of crazy
bastard would be laughing while surrounded by three armed players.

Goliath moved in, pushing Blondie gently
to the side as he stepped up to Liam, grunting and twisting the pipe in his
hand as if readying another go at Liam.

Liam should have retreated, at least a
step, but he didn’t. Instead, he moved forward.

“Did you forget the gun already?” Liam
screamed, thrusting his empty gun into the giant’s face and freezing Goliath in
his steps.

“Ha,” Liam said, testing fate and holding
Goliath’s eyes.

Tattoo looked back at Blondie for
direction, but she was looking straight at Liam, her crossbow trained right at
his head.

Liam laughed out loud, further confusing
his attackers. “Which of you is calling the shots?” he said, daring Goliath to
claim the title. When he didn’t, Liam turned to Tattoo: “Call off your dog, or
I’ll blow his head off!”

The giant snarled, took a step back
without being ordered, then said, “It’s cool, Keb.”

Keb, the man with the tattoo sleeves,
nodded at the giant while keeping most of his gaze pinned to Liam.

Liam nodded at Keb and said, “Thanks. Now
if y’all don’t mind, I’m gonna get outta here before shit gets ugly.”

Liam took two long steps back, keeping
his gun steady so everyone understood he was being smart rather than retreating
— hoping the trio would see the wisdom in parting on friendly terms. He kept
holding Blondie’s eye like it was her hand, wanting to wink but feeling safer
with his crooked smile. He took another couple of steps back.

“Wait,” Blondie called, exactly as
expected. She turned to her teammates. “He has a gun. Maybe he can help.”