Into the Game

I hated hearing that phrase.

I tried not to flinch and smiled at him. "Yes, mister-?”

“Oh.” He shuffled the papers so he could stick out his hand. "Labelle. Jean Labelle.”

I shook his hand, ignoring the weak grip and sweaty palm. I wiped my hand on the side of the chair as soon as he turned back to his papers.

“It says here that you want to enter the game as a late tester.” He looked at me over the paper. "Why?”

“I need to find my brother.” I wanted to scream. They were wasting my time.

“I see that.” He put down the paper. "What do you think you can do?”

“Make sure he stays alive until you shut it off in a month.” I leaned forward. "Your Chair has killed almost half of its users.” A tear started to creep into my eyes. "I can’t let it kill him.”

He winced. "Our system is not a method of execution. It is the next step in human evolution.”

“It kills people. A lot of people.”

“Accidents.” He shuffled the papers. "No one has died in a few days.”

“But they can.” When he didn’t answer me I leaned forward and pulled down the paper so he had to look at me. "My brother can die in there.”

Mister Labelle just looked at me.

“I won’t let him go alone.” I shook my head. "I’m all he has.”

“What about you?” He turned the file around and dropped it in my lap. "What if he lost you?”

“He won’t.” I promised

He pointed at the file. "Your results came back.”

“I see.” I scanned the first page. "It says that I’m healthy and would be a good candidate.”

He flipped the page over and pointed at the second page.

The candidate is emotionally unstable and not well versed in the concepts of the game. While physically capable, she is not likely to progress far into the game. The likelihood of her survival is minimal.

I looked up at him. "They don’t think I’ll make it?” When he didn’t say anything I threw the file on the floor. "THAT’S MY BROTHER!”

He held up his hands. "I know.” He got up and took a step back. "We will still let you go in, but you have to understand.”

I glared at him. "Understand what?”

He sighed. "The game is full of criminals. Not just any criminals either. Every one of them was on death row. The game was designed to test the limits a human brain could be pushed.”

My heart started beating faster. "So?”

“Everything in the game is as real as we could make it, especially the violence. If your brother has gotten far into the game…” His voice trailed off

“What are you saying?” I demanded. "Are you saying that you turned my brother into a killer?”

Mister Labelle held his hands up. "No. Nothing like that.” He nibbled on his bottom lip. "But there is a level of violence that you will have to accept, because that is what you will have to do to progress through the levels. Are you prepared to do that?”

My hand was shaking, so I grabbed the arm of the chair. I thought it would just be some game. Just some cartoon that I could run through until I found Billy and then we’d sit on a rock somewhere and wait for the month to end. It wasn’t supposed to be real, none of this was, but that didn’t change what I wanted. It only made it more urgent that I go in.

“I’m doing it.”