Free Dream Killing by Magus Tor, Carrie Lynn Weniger Page B

he was a kid, but the sound was so much louder than normal to Drew.
    Drew took cover, once again, behind the
bushes. There are children in this game. What kind of a monster does this to
kids? Drew moved away from the playground. He no longer wanted to be a part
of this game. He knew the only way out was to win or lose. He had to win…and
fast.
    As he made his way through the park, he
found himself wondering where Max was. He also wondered if she had ever
encountered children in the game. She never mentioned it to Drew, so he was
hoping she hadn’t had the misfortune. All of a sudden, out of the shadows he
heard a bird call. It was the first sound of nature Drew had heard in the game
and he quickly realized that it was made not by a bird, but by a person. He
looked toward the area the sound came from and saw Max, peeking her head out
from behind a water fountain.
    Drew looked around, making sure he had a
clear path and ran over to her. He had to make sure she didn’t go towards the
playground. He just wanted to get her to safety. He then realized that there
was no place truly safe in this game.
    “Drew!” Max whispered when he reached
her.
    “Thank God you’re okay. We need to move.
This place is too out in the open.”
    “I went to the library, but the robot
was there. It was almost as if he was waiting for me. I don’t know where to
go.”
    “Anywhere will be better than here.
Follow me.” Drew grabbed her hand and tugged her along. At the far end of the
park the path came to an end. “We’ll hide in there,” Drew said as he pointed to
the harbor.
    Just as they reached a boat towards the
end of the second pier, Drew knew this is where they needed to hide. The name
of the boat was “Safe Haven”. They climbed aboard and quickly went below deck.
Once down there, they both took stock of their weapons and ammunition. Drew
told her about the children knowing that it was better she heard it from him.
After a moment of shock, she spoke.
    “I wish I could say it wasn’t possible,
but after what we’ve seen in this game I guess it shouldn’t surprise us.” Then,
as if in denial, she stood straight up and said, “Let’s end this game,” and
picked up two handguns that were large even for Drew’s hands.
    Drew almost felt proud of Max’s
determination; surprised but proud. He readied his weapons and they went over
to the steps leading topside. When above, they both settled low on the deck.
They could see all around them. It was the perfect place to pick people off,
one by one.
    In the distance, a small group of men
were making their way towards the end of the path Drew and Max had just left.
Both aimed their guns, and when the men worked their way closer, they both
fired. It was almost as if they were in sync with each other’s minds. There was
no hesitation. The men went down without a fight.
    The gunfire obviously alerted others to
their location, so they found themselves ducking bullets and returning fire. As
Drew reloaded, he realized that Max was quiet. Afraid of what he would see when
he turned, he did so slowly. She was gone. In her place he saw nothing but a
pool of blood. No!
    Drew went below hoping Max was just
wounded. She was nowhere to be seen. Aahh! I hate this game! He knew he
had to make his way to the library. The trick would be getting out of the
harbor alive. He stood back and thought for a minute. He searched through a few
cabinets and found what he was looking for. Being trained had its advantages.
    Drew put all of the weapons into the
waterproof dive bag he found, strapped it to his back and made his way to the
back of the boat. It would be tough, but he knew that if he took it slow he
would be able to swim and pull his way along the boats to the other end of the
pier without being seen.
    Once he made it to the other end, he
looked around and pulled himself from the water, careful not to make a sound.
Once comfortable that he had gone undetected, he worked his way to the tree
line of the