Game Alive: A Science Fiction Adventure Novel by Trip Ellington Page B

maybe even earlier. Back to when he, Kari and Des had been happily exploring Xaloria and he was in control.
    He knew he couldn’t escape the facts. Real life wasn’t VR, and he couldn’t fiddle with the settings. Jake opened his eyes, wiping tears away with the back of his hand. There wasn’t anything he could do about his mom and Gerald – that much was painfully obvious – but maybe there was something he could do for Kari.
    Virtual, recorded “projection” or not, he and Des had seen her yesterday. They had been the last ones to see her the day before as well, before she fell into this coma. Surely that meant something. Why would anyone go to all the trouble of fooling him and Des into believing she was in the program yesterday if she was actually in the hospital. That didn’t make any sense. A thought struck him, and he stood up and moved to the center of the room.
    “Com to Des,” he ordered the system. A low tone sounded twice before being replaced by Des’s voice, distorted slightly by the digital speaker.
    “Hey, Jake.” Des sounded sad.
    “Des. What are you doing?”
    “Nothing,” was the reply. “What are you doing?”
    “Going to look for Kari,” said Jake with grim determination.
    “Huh? What do you mean? Her parents didn’t want us to visit her at the hospital, remember?”
    “I’m logging in to Xaloria.”
    “Jake, don’t be stupid. You know she’s not there.”
    “She was there last night, wasn’t she?”
    “Yeah, I guess…I mean…” Des trailed off, confused.
    “So maybe she’s still in there, Des. Maybe if we can find her in Xaloria, we can find out what’s wrong with her for real. Did you ever think of that?”
    “That doesn’t make any sense,” protested Des over the com line. “Even if we do find her in the VR program, Kari’s in the hospital. The hospital, Jake. That’s not her in Xaloria.”
    “Maybe not,” Jake allowed. “Maybe somebody else made her appear in the game. But why would they do that? And even if that’s what happened, then they’d have to be the same person who’s messing with my game. So the answers are still in Xaloria.”
    “I don’t know, Jake,” said Des uncertainly.
    Jake hesitated. He didn’t believe someone else had projected Kari’s image. He just couldn’t think of any reason to do that. But he was afraid to tell Des what he was really thinking, because Des would probably say he was crazy. But it might be the only way to convince Des to come with him. It looked like Jake didn’t have a choice.
    Go figure, he thought bitterly. Then he took a deep breath and told Des about his theory.
Chapter 11
    A windblown plain replaced the blank VR room walls. Jake stood confused on a bare patch of earth, looking around at the tumbled stone ruins surrounding him. Hidden by the low grass around him, he could see a few blackened cobbles. Half a scorched wall stood to his right, and before him a single shattered window remained in another broken wall. Nearby, he saw further ruins – stones, broken pottery…even bones. He shook his head as if to clear it, unable to comprehend what he was seeing.
    Des materialized beside him, brown leather armor snug over his skinny frame. His face registered the same confusion Jake felt. “Where are we?” he asked, peering around at the destruction.
    Jake reached into his pouch and took out the magical map he always carried. It was actually a part of the game mechanics, and never failed him. He unrolled the map and then stared at it in shock. Two orange dots glowed below a title inscribed next to a sketch of a broken tower.
    “Myrrordom,” Jake breathed in disbelief. “This is Lord Ryden’s castle, right where we left off last night.”
    Des snatched the map from Jake’s hand, running his eyes rapidly over it. “It can’t be. Where’s the castle? What about the people, Lord Ryden and his guards and…everything?” Des trailed off, lowering the map and looking around again at the tumbled stone