Page 91 of The Shade of Things
Ian had regained his color and was much steadier than the last time I’d seen him. He was still quiet, but calm, only hesitating a second when said I had a few more questions for him.
“Did you go into a high school gym in the game?” I said.
“Yes, near the beginning.”
I rubbed my chin. “Where did the game end?”
“A cemetery.”
They’d flipped the game in the past five years since Ian had played.
“What happened when you got there?”
Ian clenched and unclenched his fists. “There were open graves everywhere. The three of us still alive…” He swallowed.
Rodrigo placed a steadying hand on the man’s shoulder.
Ian took a deep breath. “Vamps arrived. We were told to pick a grave.”
I gasped.
“Fumiko and Lukas fought back. They…” He dropped his gaze to the ground, scuffing his foot against the concrete. “I was a coward and I jumped in a grave.”
“You saved yourself,” I said gently but firmly. “There’s no shame in that. You shouldn’t feel guilty.”
“I thought I was dead anyway because they threw dirt over me.”
I closed my eyes against the horror of it. “How did you get out?”
“I begged them to stop, then one of the vamps said that I’d won and I could live. Not just a normal lifespan but forever. All I had to do was choose it.”
The timer went off.
“We’re done,” Rodrigo said.
Ian slumped in relief.
“Just one more—”
Rodrigo led Ian off with a “don’t even think about following” glower.
Whatever, dude. I had other places to be.
I drove back to Tatiana’s home for our meeting with Ryann, unable to get Ian’s experience out of my head. Being buried alive trumped the darkness I’d experienced for worst nightmare ever.
Even thinking about it while sitting in my locked sedan in broad daylight made my skin crawl. The thunk of the shovel, the feel of the dirt raining down on my face, everything growing smaller and more enclosed.
I rolled my window down, taking huge gulps of air.
Ian was only offered hope in the form of immortality at the end, whereas my players had it dangled over them from the start.
And as scary as that darkness inside me had been, it wasn’t the pure terror of Ian’s experience. Both versions of the game involved violently stripping away the perception filter and a terror campaign. Given how broken Ian ended up, did the game designers decide they’d gone too far with him?
I drummed my fingers on the wheel, waiting for a light to change. The experiment as designed with Ian’s group hadn’t worked, so they’d changed it. This information might not help Ryann find this Consortium, but it couldn’t hurt. I prayed the Lonestars took these fuckers down hard.
When I got to Tatiana’s, Emmett answered the door in a chic silk dressing gown and ascot.
“How are the Sapiens?” I said.
