Free The Witch Hunter's Gauntlet by Bret Schulte Page B

He had a radio controller in his hand.
    “That isn’t your chair , is it?” the boy asked, a bit annoyed.
    “Uh, no, ” Lucas answered. “I’m Lucas. I’m in room 312, right next to yours.”
    “Ah, you’re the one with the massive TV I saw earlier. Very nice. I’m Jerry. Jerry Little,” he said, stooping down to pick up his robot.
    “So did you build these?” Lucas asked excitedly.
    “No,” Jerry scoffed. “I couldn’t put a toaster back together if my life depended on it. But Esteban, the guy who did build them, challenged me to a match. It seemed like a lot of fun. Too bad I’m really bad at it.”
    The scorpion robot scurried down the hall. The boys walked along behind it.
    “Well, it was your first ti me and you were fighting the guy who built the things,” Lucas said kindly.
    Jerry just shrugged in response.
    Lucas noticed that the radio controller had a small screen in the middle that gave the operator the robot’s view from the little camera mounted on top. That would explain why he never saw either of the operators in the hallway; they had been controlling their machines from their dorm rooms. It looked like a lot of fun.
    “So where does Esteban live?” Lucas asked, but just then he stumbled across the answer.
    They had reached the only closed door in the hall, other than the bathroom, of course. But this door was different from all the others; it was solid steel. There was an eye slot in the middle of the door much like a dungeon door would have, and a doggie door at the bottom just big enough for the robots to slip inside.
    Jerry pushed his robot in through the flap.
    “The controller too,” came a muffled voice through the door.
    “I know, I know,” Jerry said, slipping the controller through the flap. “Maybe we can have a rematch sometime.”
    “Sure thing,” the muffled voice said.
    “And that would be Esteban,” Jerry said with raised eyebrows as he and Lucas walked back to their rooms.
    “When did you meet him?” Lucas asked.
    “I still haven’t,” Jerry said as he stopped next to the door to his room. “I was dared by my roommate to knock on the door. He had that door specially installed, I guess. He sent the robots out to greet me.”
    “So you haven’t seen him?”
    “Nope. And I don’t think we ever will,” Jerry said wistfully. “There are cameras in every classroom of the school and he is tapped into all of them. He says that he plans to take all of his classes from his room.”
    “ Well, that’s weird beyond weird.” Lucas suddenly imagined Esteban as one of those six hundred pound guys who need the fire department to come cut a hole in the wall so they can get out of their house.
    “You think that’s weird? You haven’t met your roommate yet , have you?” Jerry asked with a grin.
    “No,” Lucas answered slowly. “Why?”
    “No reason. I’d better let you get to that,” Jerry said slipping into his room.
    “Later. ”
    He wasn’t sure if Jerry was setting him up or not so he decided to peek into his room before entering.
    “People of Earth! Kneel before the might of Natch, Emperor Supreme. Give me your lives, your wealth, and your pizza rolls.” A black-haired boy sat in a high-backed office chair, hoisting a globe in the air like a trophy.
    “Ahem,” Lucas said to announce his presence.
    “Who goes there?” the boy asked angrily. “Identify yourself.”
    “I’m Lucas Fry, your roommate. I’m-”
    “Yes, I know,” the boy said, clasping his hands together under his nose. “The big-screen TV and boxes upon boxes of video games were a dead give away. You’re the guy who won the Gameco National Video Game Championship this summer.”
    Lucas still hadn’t gotten used to the fame his championship win had given him. Granted , he was only famous within the gamer community, but it was still embarrassing.
    “So you are a gamer?” Lucas asked.
    “Not really.”
    “ Okay. And you are?”
    “ Natch,” the boy said proudly. “Future