Rush The Game

glance around reveals little. My field of view is restricted by the light of Jackson’s glow stick. I can make out walls and a floor of stone. I’m guessing the ceiling is more of the same, but I can’t see it. The light fades away into claustrophobic darkness before it hits the top of the cave. Cavern. Tunnel. Whatever. The hamster cage smell takes on new meaning. Is that bat guano?
    In a distant recess of my brain I hear a whisper, just as I did in the alley in Las Vegas: enemy . Something’s out there, hiding beyond the ring of light. Instinct tells me far beyond it. The threat isn’t imminent, the feeling of horror just a whimper rather than a roar.
    I make a hand motion at my lips, asking if it’s safe to speak. Jackson leans close and I whisper against his ear, “Where are we?”
    He turns his head and whispers back, “In a cave.” He’s smiling. I can hear it. Pushing my buttons has become one of his favorite pastimes.
    I take a deep breath and clench my fists by my sides, but at the same time, the knot of tension inside me eases a little. He wouldn’t be teasing if we were about to be attacked. “And where is this cave?” I whisper, syrup sweet.
    “Puerto Rico. It’s one of the largest cave systems in the world. We’re in an isolated part of the system that hasn’t been mapped.”
    Getting that answer was easier than expected. I gesture at the glow stick. “Won’t the light give us away?”
    “Our arrival gave us away.” He’s not whispering anymore. “We might as well be able to see.”
    Well, that’s comforting.
    “Our arrival gave us away, like it did in Vegas?” I ask, remembering what Tyrone told me that first night.
    “Yeah,” Tyrone says. “But there aren’t a lot of people here to mask us, so we’ve been dropped farther. Less chance the Drau’ll be able to pinpoint us. And once we’re here, the con scrambles our signal. Makes it tough for them to get a lock. But we’re in for a bit of a hike.”
    I look over at Jackson. “Why not just drop us right on top of them? The advantage of surprise, you know?”
    “They don’t publicize their exact location,” he says. “We know the general vicinity. Our cons don’t get a lock on them until we’re dropped in.”
    “So we’re dropped in blind? Sort of knowing where we’re going, but not really?”
    He shrugs. “Once we’re here, the con figures out the rest of it.”
    Yet more comforting information.
    “In Vegas, if the Drau knew we were there even before we went inside, why didn’t they attack?” I ask. “Why didn’t they come out into the alley to get us?”
    “They don’t want to risk being seen. Not yet. They aren’t ready for humanity to know they’re here. They’d rather face us in confined spaces and”—he sweeps one hand before him, indicating our surroundings—“underground caverns where there are no human eyes to see them and alert the world.”
    I frown. “Why?”
    “Humanity will be easier to kill if they don’t know what’s coming.”
    I shudder, horrified by that. “Why don’t we tell someone then?”
    “Like who?”
    “The police. The government. I don’t know.” I glance at Luka and Tyrone for help.
    “Who’d believe us without proof?” Luka asks. “And, trust me, the game won’t let us bring out proof.”
    “How do you know?”
    “Been there, tried that. Brought my weapon back once. Shoved it in my pocket to make sure it came with me. Only, it disappeared at some point during the respawn. Took pics with my phone. When I got back, there were no pics.”
    “You mean they didn’t turn out?”
    “I mean there was nothing there. Like I’d never taken any. And before you ask, I tried more than once. So trust me, trying to tell anyone isn’t an option. If I came to you a week ago and told you I was part of a game that really was fighting off an alien invasion, would you have believed me?”
    He has a point.
    Jackson tosses a glow stick to Tyrone. Then he turns back to me, offers an easy shrug, and says, “We’re it, Miki. We’re the defenders. Don’t you get that?”
    I’m starting to, and I can’t say I like it.
    “We and the other teams,” I say, and glance at Luka to see if he’s surprised to hear that. He isn’t. So he does know there are others even if he can’t see them.
    Jackson tosses another glow stick to Luka. They snap the sticks, then attach them to their harnesses so their hands are free. I wait, but Jackson doesn’t offer a light to me.