Paranoia

Day 2

Players and Reapers

We were both confused.

“Um, we were just standing by the fountain, right?” Sara asked me.

I nodded.

“And now we’re standing in the Gallivan Center,” Sara said. “Without having taken a step.”

I nodded again.

Sara flipped through her pins. “Did one of these like teleport us somewhere?” she squeezed one in her hand. “Funny, I can’t get it working. I hope I didn’t break it.”

I pulled out the pin with the flame and squeezed. Nothing. Using them outside of the Noise dimensions must have been impossible for all save the Player Pin. It made sense, even though I had no idea why. Sure, why shouldn’t some stupid little trinkets give you psychokinetic powers to battle two dimensional frogs not work in one plane as opposed to another? Then there was the entire plane deal. If there were indeed different planes, which there had to be due to the Noise, they weren’t far apart. I had never left the fountain area of the Gateway Mall when we had fought the Noise the other day, but I had felt a shift. Was the world we were in now another plane, just a fraction above the world we were used to living in?

It hurt my brain to consider it.

“Mail,” Sara said, flipping over her phone. “Free the fountain of Noise. You have 60 minutes. Fail and face erasure—The Reapers.”

We both jumped as pain shot through our hands. The timer again. We were now on borrowed time. The fountain, could they be referring to the Gateway Mall again? They had to be, but that was a distance away. We had to get out of this area and fast. After all, getting to the fountain was one thing. ‘Freeing’ the fountain was another.

“The date changed on my phone,” Sara said. “So… did we just blank out for an entire day?”

I shrugged. One mission a day, it made sense. They can’t issue us another mission if a day hadn’t passed. Besides, we’re dead, who says that time passes by the same way for us as for them? Speculation was interesting but useless, such as speculating how they would pop us back into our lives. Would people know we had died and returned from the dead, or would we resume our lives from where we had died? Interesting, but useless. Besides, thoughts have to be ranked when you only have so much time on your hands. Could I trust my partner?

The Sara I knew was nothing like the girl before me now. This girl was freed from her inhibitions, totally lax and carefree. The feeling I had, it was almost betrayal. It didn’t make sense either. I shouldn’t feel as though she lied to me, I never expected anything from her. Teammates at most, I didn’t care at all, not until now that is. Although, maybe it was less betrayal and more envy that drove the rift I felt. She was completely free from herself. I wanted that, but I felt as though my locks had been doubled, I was tenser than ever. This whole second shot at life, I wanted it badly, I wasn’t ready to die yet. Though, I also wasn’t ready to live again.

Her sudden change of heart struck another thought in me. What was my entry fee? Maybe I had lost a part of my memory as well. I certainly wouldn’t know if it did, and it made sense. I should know what I lost if it wasn’t part of my memory right? I might’ve lost the memories of a loved one, I wasn’t sure, but I wanted to find out. Six more days until I did, if I made it that far. If I didn’t… I would forfeit it. Not that I would really mind, I wouldn’t exist anymore either. Can’t miss it if you don’t exist to miss it.

“Let’s get going,” I said. “Back to the Gateway.”

“I don’t think that’s going to be possible,” Sara said.

“Why is that?”

“There’s a wall.”

“You can see it?”

She pointed. “It’s completely surrounding the square.”

I looked about. There, with the sun high, you could see it. The glimmer, there was a wall completely surrounding us. There was no one else in sight though, were we already the only two Players left? The thought made my stomach turn in on itself.

“We’ll be fine,” I said as I walked towards the wall.

“How do you know that?” Sara asked.

“Our friend is back.”

I pointed to nearby wall, there was the man in the red jacket again, standing next to it. He’d opened the wall yesterday, he could no doubt open this one for us as well. But who was he? As far as I knew, there were several pieces in this game: Players, Reapers, and Noise. Noise were the crazy things that were constantly floating around. Reapers attacked Players via Noise to erase them because they had to, but they didn’t seem evil, not upfront anyways. They seemed to just be running the game. No duh, the Reapers’ Game, and if they ran it maybe there were a few here to help us Players. Besides, as I squeezed my Player Pin, I couldn’t scan him. He had to be a Reaper.

The moment we approached him he spoke.

“Want past this wall?” he asked.

We nodded.

“Erase these Noise then,” he said, calling down three sets from the air.

“Fantastic,” I moaned.

These were not the same as yesterday. The two dimensional symbols that came down weren’t small like the ones that the frogs had popped out of. As it turned out, these were not frogs. Wolves emerged from these Noise symbols, but like their frog companions they weren’t entirely whole. Their front legs were made of the same two dimensional figures that the frogs had their back legs made off. Their tails too. They were snarling.

“Sara,” I said, but she was already gone. Away to the other plane. It was just me and the Noise now.

I gripped the flame pin, immediately focusing the fire on them. It worked for all of two seconds. The wolves were much faster than the frogs, and easily avoided it. Even as I chased them with the flames, they avoided them. Then, they came charging right at me.

I was ready to move, wanting to avoid the soul wrenching pain again, but something struck me. I hadn’t been touched by any Noise yet, and yet there was pain. It was Sara, she had been struck by the Noise. We truly were one pair, feeling each others’ pain. If we could share pain, though, we could share strength.

As I ran from the wolves, dodging their deadly charges, I thumbed through the pins. I dropped another one with a lightning bolt in my hand and squeezed. Immediately I dropped to the ground, pain racking my mind. Clenching two pins at once was not a good idea. I dropped the fire pin into my pocket, focusing all strength on the lightning one. There, I felt it, and soon a cloud of electricity began to surround the wolves. They were shocked, and effectively slowed down. Flipping back through the pins, I grabbed the fire one and let loose on them. I kept the flames focused for as long as I could, but I was growing weary, I needed a break. I let the flames go for a moment, and they charged at me once more. However, during the charge, they began to slowly fade until finally they were gone.

“Sara,” I panted.

“Right behind you.”

I turned to see her. She was sweating, the mental strain had taken its toll on her as well. Still smiling though. As we turned our eye to the Reaper, he was gone, and so was the wall. We had met his demands and were allowed passage onto the streets.

“You need a moment?” I asked.

“Please,” she said. “I run cross country. I can endure a lot.”

I knew, but she didn’t know I knew.

“Alright, let’s get going then.”

Talking while you run without losing your breath is a special talent among us runners. As we ran to the Gateway Mall, we brainstormed what the mission might entail. Free the fountain, perhaps there was Noise to erase. It seemed to make sense to both of us. It sounds simple though, which leads us to believe that we’re wrong. Still, we won’t know anymore until we get there, and getting there isn’t as easy as running.

Walls, they were everywhere. Whether it was the same guy in red or an entire crew of them, I don’t know, but all I know is that there were a lot of them. Each had their own task. Erase Noise. Read minds, answer these questions. None were out of our power to fulfill, but they consumed time. We were down to fifteen minutes when we finally reached the fountain area. Whatever the task required of us, we would have to act upon it fast.

Sara squeezed her Player Pin. “There aren’t any Noise here.”

I groaned. “Then what does free the fountain mean? It’s not even a fountain really, just a bunch of small spouts of water. Could it be we ran to the wrong fountain?”

“I hope not,” Sara sighed. “There’s no time to go searching for another fountain.”

“I think we’re in the right spot,” I said after awhile, holding my Player Pin. “There’re usually a ton of Noise symbols floating all around the area, but there aren’t any. This area’s been altered, it has to be the right place.”

Sara stared at her palm. “Ten minutes.”

I glanced around for any of the Reapers in red. There weren’t any in sight. Frustration overtook me, and it took all my might to not just burst out cursing. That wouldn’t help us, but what could? Ten minutes left and we had no idea if erasing Noise would even be considered freeing the fountain. What was there for us to do?

“Gotcha punks now!”

We both turned to see people running towards us. Immediately I tensed, were the Reapers on the attack? I know they could send Noise after us, but what if they challenged us directly? It didn’t matter, these couldn’t be Reapers, they didn’t have wings on their backs. Four people, three boys and a girl, both oddly paired together.

“Other Players?” I said aloud. “But no one else completed the mission the other day.”

Sara took a step backwards. “They look ready to attack.”

I rolled my eyes, stepping towards them. I held out my Player Pin towards them as they advanced. “We’re not Reapers.”

The four Players came skidding to a halt. The first duo, the boy and girl pair, walked up to us first. Tall guy, short girl, and I didn’t care to examine them much. Time was of the essence.

“Hey, they’re Players,” the guy said.

They weren’t going to be much of help, I could tell.

“Of course they are Jim,” said the girl. “They don’t have wings.”

“Ah, right Rachel,” Jim said. He turned to us. “Sorry man, I thought you were going to jump us like those Reapers did the other day. They’re some tough customers, man.”

Sara shrugged. “The Reaper that we met wasn’t that bad to us.”

“Well they’re evil! Don’t go trustin’ them or anything,” Jim said.

The other pair caught up to us. Two guys.

“We don’t have much time,” said one of them. “With all six of us, we should be able to get this done in no time.”

I cocked an eyebrow. “Did you guys get a message we didn’t?”

“We’ve been snooping around,” said the other of the boy pair. “Apparently the Noise only appear when the fountains burst. If you’re not scanning at the right time you’ll miss them. They should be in each fountain, it would take one team a long time, but with all of us we can take them in one go.”

I turned to Sara. “I guess we have to believe them.”

She nodded, then she turned to them. “Alright, we should divide this up.”

We divided the fountains among us. Three teams would take on three sets of Noise. Jim and Rachel, Mark and Evan, and then there was Sara and me. Then we waited there, hoping for the fountains to shoot. We only had five minutes left to solve this mission. Time was counting down…

There! The fountains shot, and then we each clutched out Player Pins. The Noise appeared, just as our fellow Players had said. Still, it bugged me. How had they survived without completing the mission the other day? Were the missions Player specific? No, that couldn’t be it. Sara and I had received our missions before forming a pact. If we all had the same mission though, how did they manage to live?

Could one team completing a mission complete the mission for all of the teams? It made sense. There was only one way to free the fountain, and I doubt it would reset for each team to complete, not in that small of a time frame. Each day and I was learning more about the Game, but there had to be more than this. I needed to know about my fellow Players, whether I could trust them or whether they were my rivals. One team, saving everybody, could we all just ride on one team’s shoulders? It sounded too easy. And in this Game, anything that seemed easy was far from it.

“Jared, pay attention!”

The Noise came at me. Frogs and wolves and even what appeared to be ravens, though instead of their typical heads they were replaced by the usual two dimensional ribbon structure. We went to work immediately. There were only three of us left in the area, the other three were on the other plane. So we each fought, fighting to erase the Noise as quickly as possible, all was going well until.

“Ah!” Mark leapt away from one of the wolves. “My pins, they won’t work… no, wait. Did…?”

Pins could only work when you were a team. If his pins didn’t work, did that mean his partner was gone?

“Jim!” I shouted. “Our load just doubled!”

Jim, who was quite a pro at erasing these creatures, turned and together we both leapt at the nearest Noise. My heart beat quickly, pounding in my mind. So little time left, would we make it? I squeezed each pin, switching through them for the most effective psychokinesis powers. Then, just as the one minute mark passed, the last Noise was erased. Just as I had expected, only two other players, Rachel and Sara, returned to join us. Evan had been erased.

“No!” Mark yelled. “Evan, you can’t be gone man!”

None of us really knew what to say to comfort him. What was there to say? Without a partner, he was powerless, easily erased.

“Don’t worry,” Rachel said as she walked to his side, putting a hand on his shoulder. “We’ll watch out for you. You won’t be erased.”

“If I were you, I wouldn’t make promises I couldn’t keep.”

We all turned to see two Reapers watching nearby. I stared at my hand, the timer was gone, but I knew this day wasn’t over just yet.

“You see,” said one of the Reapers, which turned out to be none other than our friend Jessica. “If a Player’s partner is erased, the remaining partner only has seven minutes left to live. And no, you can’t form a three way pact. So sorry, but it looks like your little pal is just about gone.”

We all stared in horror.

“You can’t do that!” Jim said, charging at her.

She smiled. As Jim came at her, she waved a hand, and she must have activated some sort of power because Jim was sent flying backwards at the slightest motion. He fell to the ground hard. Rachel immediately ran to his side. He was hurt, but not enough to get erased. I stared at the Reapers in awe. They were so strong, no doubt able to erase us with ease. If that was their job though, why not do it? They had to erase us to live, why sick Noise on us rather than challenge us directly? Unless… they couldn’t…

“Is that legal?” I asked, staring at Jim. “Attacking a Player.”

Jessica turned to me, winking. “There’s my smart boy. No, we Reapers are not allowed to attack you Players directly, but that’s not to say we can’t defend ourselves. If I were you, I wouldn’t attempt such a fight. Your chances of winning the game are slim as is, they’re pretty much nil if you do choose to attack us.”
“The missions,” I said. “Do you issue them?”

The other Reaper stepped forward, laughing. He was a guy, tall, dark and gruesome who looked a little too thrilled for this confrontation. “Reaper issued yes, but only by one Reaper, this week’s Game Master. He decides the missions, we just swing around and do what we can to erase you all and score points.”

“This is all just a game to you!” Jim cursed, and he rose to his feet, but Rachel held him back.

“Yep, and easy points are hard to come by,” he glanced at the defenseless Mark. “So, if you don’t mind…”

Sara ran in front of Mark. I stared at her, questioning. Why was she trying to save a guy that was doomed anyways? Getting in the Reapers’ way was only going to lead to more trouble for us. Apparently I was the only one who realized this though, because the other two moved in to defend him as well. I didn’t exactly not move, but I held my ground, just a short ways in front of the Reapers. Natural born leader, I guess, and obviously the smartest of the bunch.

“You can’t have him,” I said.

The male Reaper walked towards me with an angry scowl on his face. “Step aside kid, or else you’re going to be the one getting erased. You still have a shot of a future, don’t throw it away defending someone who doesn’t.”

Sara ran forward, coming by my side. I looked at her, examining that fire within her eyes. This wasn’t about the smartest course of action to her, this was about doing what was right. Her thoughts of coming back to life, I knew she clung to them, her meltdown at the end of the first day had shown that, but she was truly willing to put herself at risk just to do what was right. How had I never seen this before, and why would her entry fee be memories of me? Here was a girl that had passion and determination, a strong sense of right and wrong. I had none of those things. I didn’t know where I was going in life. In fact, life scared me. I didn’t want to die, but did I really want a second chance? Seeing her, I wasn’t so sure… but I knew one thing. I wasn’t going to screw her chances of that second chance.

“We’re not moving,” Sara said.

The Reaper raised his arm. “Fine, here’s a special Noise, just for you!”

Sara looked back. “Protect Mark!”

Mark shook his head. “No, abandon me! I don’t have a chance anyways. Just let me die!”

“And give them the satisfaction, not a chance!” said Jim as he and Rachel took their positions around Mark. “Make them see it man, make them see what their own dirty hands have caused. Live life to its last moment, do it for your partner!”

Mark gave a sad laugh. “Life… is only a minute longer.”

“Then make it one hell of a minute,” Jim said.

It certainly would be. The Noise symbol that floated towards us was like nothing I had ever seen. It was much larger than the other ones, and for good reason. The moment the symbol came near, and enormous bear emerged from it. Like its Noise counterparts, most of it was full, but its arms were two dimensional. Worse than that, they were much larger than the bear should have had. As it stared at us, silent, I nearly melted.

It lunged forward with its enormous claws, shaking the ground beneath us as its paws came in contact with the earth. I shook away, and I glanced around. I could still see both Rachel and Jim. They were only on this plane, they hadn’t been sucked into the Noise plane like Sara and I, they were useless. It was up to just us now.

We’d certainly make it one hell of a minute, just for Mark.

I ran backwards, but the bear came at me. This called for a long distance tactic. There was a pin with blue sphere on it, looking as though it was fired from somewhere. Clenching it, I reached out my hand and blue bullets began to fire, made of telekinetic energy. It kept the bear at bay for awhile, but I had come to learn something about pins. Some needed to get charged up, you had to concentrate on them for awhile to use them. Others were able to be used immediately. Both types, however, would weaken after a time even if your mind hadn’t. They required further concentration and power to recharge, and that was a dangerous time for us. That is, unless I staggered them.

I just pinned the few that I had to my jacket. I could feel each manifesting its powers to me, and it was draining to have so many pinned on. After pinning the sixth, I stopped. Another pin and my brain felt like it would explode. That was enough though, and the time that had passed, they were all fully charged. Now, to show this bear just how tough I was.

Stagger it.

I focused my thoughts on the lightning pin, and use its electricity to stun it and slow it down. It moved much slower, and I was easily able to walk backwards to keep out of its clutches.

Strike it.

The fire pin. It took much more concentration than the others, and I had to stop where I was in order to unleash the pyrokinesis kept within the pin. The bear groaned as the flame surrounded it, too slow to get away from the fire. Still, it drew closer, swinging its claw backwards…

Bay it.

The bullet pin. I fired the bullets as I stepped backwards, all to keep it away from me. Once the bullets ran out, I began the cycle again. Lightning, fire, bullets. The Noise was resilient, but eventually it let out a large cry and vanished into a burst of light. I breathed a sigh of relief, having managed to remain mostly unscathed. As Sara reappeared beside me, I was glad to see she too looked fine. She had a strong spirit to her, how could I have wanted anyone else for my partner?

Jessica applauded us. Whether it was sincere or not I couldn’t tell. Her companion, however, looked as though he was about to have a stroke. His face was red in anger, and wrinkles crowded his forehead, veins stuck out on his neck. Then, his face relaxed, and he treated us with a very sadistic grin.

“You know, I’m glad you made it,” he said. “We’ve still got five more days. I’m going to enjoy erasing you.”

I glared at him. “Bring it on.”

He threw back his head and laughed, then he turned away. “Come on, Jessica. There’s no time to erase their pal anyways.”

Jessica smiled as she turned around, but she shot me a wink as she did so. There was something off about that Reaper. She was… nice. And yet here she was, trying to destroy people, erase them from existence. It didn’t seem to fit her. Didn’t they realize they were actually destroying lives, or was this another trick? Did we really die if the Noise got us? I didn’t know, but I wasn’t about to risk finding out.

Mark was gone when Sara and I returned to where he was. The girls immediately began crying, but Jim and I held it together in a way. Jim was too busy pounding the ground with his large fist, even until his knuckles were bloody.

“It ain’t fair, he still had fight in him,” Jim said. “They should’ve given him a second chance.”

“It’s part of the test,” I said. “You have to protect your partner as well as yourself.”

He growled as he stood up, grabbing me by the collar of my shirt. “Whose side you on anyhow?”

I glared at him.

“Put him down!” Rachel said. “It’s pointless to fight.”

He did so.

“Besides,” she said. “it’s better if we all work together.”

“Is it?”

Everyone was surprised by my question.

“You guys, you were supposed to get to the fountain the other day, weren’t you?” I asked.

They nodded.

“But you didn’t.”

Another nod.

“You weren’t erased though, and I’m betting the reason why is because it only takes one team, hell maybe even only one Player to complete each mission,” I said. “Completing the missions probably puts you in higher standing at the end. I doubt this is a game that everyone can win. As far as I know, you’re my competition.”

“Jared!” Sara hissed at me, but in her eyes she could see it too. This was not a kind game, it was ridiculous to think we could all go skipping back to our lives afterwards.

“Man…” Jim said. “AH! Forget about that man! We gotta pull through together. We’d all be gone if we hadn’t worked together just now. Don’t go trying to tell us otherwise.”

“That’s true, this time,” I said. “But we never know.”

“So what, not only are we competing against the Reapers, but against each other as well?” Rachel asked.

I didn’t answer, mostly because I didn’t know the answer, but part of me knew I was right. These Reapers had hardly told us anything, and that lack of information had cost us dearly. The only way to win this Game would be to think like a Reaper. It was mindset I chose to take on, and one that I would find very difficult to remove.