Z 2134

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,