"Look after her."

Nick bit at those words but he didn't really know what to make of it. There was a vituperative unease behind that statement. How could he look after her when he could barely look after himself? And didn't classic Stephanie say it best? That he was irresponsible and didn't take life too seriously? Well, are you just going to repose her confidence and shoulder those words? What was the whole point of you being in this game? To change your life. So change and take those words to heart. Nick's blood-dried face tautened. But what if I don't adhere to those words? Why should I? I don't know her and I barely knew her brother. I came here to play for myself and for Jonathan. I came here to follow a damn dream. Then another sneering voice crawled into his head. Classic Nick. Always after your purple heart. Oh, you're going places alright...

Nick sniffed in the evening air. He couldn't ignore that heavy, dolorous weeping. It undulated in his ears, in and out, like a watery cavalcade of misery. It distracted him from the tuna pink shade of the sky. Even the little slithery figurine of A.I. cars that drove below him didn't seem to inject any form of escapism. Nick turned behind him, and surely enough, as honest as the doleful purple painting could be, Mila was still shaking in tears. His head was crouched to the hard tiled roof, face covered. Diana was standing a couple of paces from her, arms crossed, lips creased into a frown, and her wide blue eyes as resolute and focused as ever like a maternal snake. There were two holsters with long Colt revolvers strapped to her leather pants that she had scavenged from a dead player, as well as a cowboy hat. Nick smirked, the player was surely a hardcore Texan. But on Diana it made her look like a gothic cowgirl, if there was even such a thing.

But still...Nick couldn't help but feel an insurgence of umbrage at the situation. Ever since they had arrived back to the roof of the glassy skyscraper, Mila couldn't stop moping on about Mekkis and Diana couldn't relinquish that incriminating look that she was giving him. Was it really his fault that Mekkis had died? Why was he looked at as if he was the leader? He was by no means the closest person to such a nominal position. He was just Nick. Simple, sybarite Nick. And yet...

Nick traipsed toward Mila. The words didn't come out easily, they were forcibly extracted. Blunt. "He was alright."

Mila rose her gleaming face and forced a tender smile. "It's ok, Nick. This wasn't your fault."

"I never said it was," Nick spurted out defensively.

Mila continued to hold her smile. This made her look strangely more Asian. "People die all the time, especially in this game. I just didn't expect him to be gone so soon. W-We went through a lot together, he was my best friend."

Nick tried to find the words to say but they all seemed to be invisible. He resolved to keep his mouth shut. He felt a tug on his arm.

"What?"

"We need to talk," came Diana's concrete words.

Nick stared into those sharp witch eyes, and as if entranced, followed her aside.

"What's your plan," she said, almost in a whisper, as if they were talking about diffusing a bomb.

Nick looked at the digital billboards that were flashing across the gleaming multistoried buildings. They had five minutes left to make it to the Office. The flashing died and was replaced with the pictorial movie of faces being split open by bullets, bodies falling down, mayhem and screaming everywhere, and crackling and white explosions disrupting the air. Before long the carnage of kids was replaced with the usual red timer.

Nick shrugged. "We go to the Office and we play the first game."

"That's it? We need a long term plan, Nick. These players are smart. They're going to weed us out. Especially us, because we're American and we always win everything. Are frightened at all in that thin little body of yours?"

"Ouch," said Nick.

"I'm serious."

"Would you stop being so paranoid? We just fucking started. What are we gonna do, form an alliance with only–(He mock pointed at the invisible figures around him)–three people? One of which is barely capable of playing the game? We need time to gauge the direction of this game."

"We need to keep our eyes peeled. And yeah, maybe there's a place to start. This could be the longest fucking game we've ever played. Long term strategy's important."

Nick stared at Mila. Maybe his only strategy at the moment was protecting Mila. Mekkis might've not been the most extraordinary of a character but he was himself and he lived a short game span life. He deserved at least to be honored for keeping his sister safe. Nick would try, but he couldn't guarantee success. His own trajectory of victory in Chaos was looking pretty bleak anyway.

A weird panting sound filled the air and a white blonde figure wearing a brown rainjacket with a scarf infiltrated their presence. He had a glowing, playful Scandinavian look.

"I thought I saw you guys go up here," he said. Nick picked up on his foreign accent, but he was too late to react to the opposing figure.

Diana however took no preamble and tackled the player to the ground and pointed the long silver barrel of her revolver onto his soft, glowing feathery forehead. She was lying on top of him.

"Who are you and who sent you? Talk or a silver bullet will be the last thing you'll see."

The blonde player chuckled. "You're too hot to be holding that."

The revolver clicked, and Mila stirred, moving closer to Diana.

"Talk or she'll shoot," Nick bellowed firmly.

The laugh misted into a clear cough. "Relax, ok? I'm one of the good guys."

"I don't remember there being a good and a bad side," Nick said.

"I don't either." Diana punched the player in the mouth.

The blondie chortled. "A bit overboard, but ok. You stink, but you can kiss me."

Diana stared. "In your million other dreams." She punched him on the ground and stood up. "He may be a perv but I don't think he'll hurt us."

"Then what's he doing stalking us?" Nick asked.

The blonde Swedish player known as Felix Larsson stood up. "I came to join your ranks. I'm Felix."

Nick frowned, Mila shuddered, and Diana's lips curled.

"Keep hunting, we're not looking for an alliance."

Felix smiled and nodded. Nick seethed. He was too friendly and ladylike for his taste. Or is just because he's better than you in every way? The looks, the confidence, the geniality...

"You said there wasn't a good and a bad side, but you're wrong," said Felix. "I've been hearing word that the Germans and the Mexicans have already started forming alliances. And I don't know about those malicious Germans and their plans but if we don't wanna fall behind or get attacked then we better go where the wind is blowing."

Diana gave Nick a look that read "Do you have anything smart to say now?"

Nick grunted. "That still doesn't mean anything. They sound like watery alliances to me."

"Visst, gör som du vill. There's something else," Felix said. "Have you noticed the Ais that are in this game?"

"Yeah," Nick shrugged. "So what?"

"Well some of them talk."

"Talk about what?" Mila said, piqued by the veiled words.

"Well that's just the thing," Felix said with a veneer of coquetry. "You'll just have to find out."

"Well, we don't have time to find out. We have four minutes. So it's either you tell us or get out of our way."

"Nick..." Mila said

"Nick's right," Diana said firmly. "I think we can't afford to dawdle. It's now or never, Felix."

Felix stole a ceremonious bow. "This way then."

They followed him down the silver poles of the building and walked down the potholed street. They arrived at a bright neon colored secluded building called the Deja Vu. They passed the dazzling pink lights of the signs, the cold marble pillars and entered the glass door. The building was a dancing picture show of lights and poles with bars on each side of the building. There were several cherry symbols and lip animations on the walls. They were met by a naked Asian woman with dark glimmering eyes. She was giving them a warm smile, culpable of ambiguity and duplicity. Her forehead flashed with the classic anarchy symbol.

"My my, we usually don't get so many visitors. Would you guys care for a dance?" Her voice was slow and slithery, ut her mouth was wet. Nick for a moment thought he could've seen red saliva.

"We didn't come to dance," said Felix.

"Oh, so you just want a quick job."

Diana raised her eyebrows while Felix and Nick's faces flushed deeply..

"No," said Felix, resolutely. "We want you to tell us about the game. I heard A.I.s like you hold secrets so..."

The A.I. held Felix close to her, so much so that he could see every grain of her lipstick. He played with his zipper with utmost dalliance. "Who said that it was free? We usually tend not to run our mouths to outsiders you know..."

"How much will it be?" Nick asked.

"Oh, I'm not too needy. Just ten credits.'

Nick checked his watch. He had zero credits in his monetary bank. But what had he been expecting? It's not like he'd done anything remarkable in the game. He hadn't killed anyone or found some cheat code to the game.

Felix held out his hand. His watch popped out the golden +20 hologram. The A.I. touched his hand and swallowed the points to zero.

Felix stood aghast. "You said only ten!"

Mila giggled.

The A.I. licked her lips but didn't smile. She squinted, making her look helplessly more Asian. "Words are abstract in this game, that's the first thing you should know, little Felix. Yo probably know what I'm talking about."

Diana stared closely at Felix's hand and nodded, soaking in the veiled knowledge. "You didn't kill anyone Felix, the credits for that are plus fifty. How did you get those credits?"

Felix raised his eyebrows, taken aback. Incriminated. Nick tried to look like he knew what they were talking about and nodded while Mila made a small yelp and said "Oh!"

The A.I. lips broadened. Nick was reinvigorated by how many crooked teeth she had. "You should put a ring on her," she said.

Felix chuckled nervously. "I would, but she'll probably blame me for that too."

"This isn't a game Felix," Diana said with iron force.

"Oh, on the contrary, it is," said the A.I. "And your friend seems to be playing it better than you all by any metrics I've seen." The A.I. licked her hands like she was a cat. Nick couldn't stand fidgeting as the symbol glowed more every time she did that. He grimaced when she touched her boobs and milk started to ooze out of it. "It seems your friend has discovered a secret cheat code to the game he hasn't told you yet. They award credits to those you know. I'm Amber Ree, by the way, thought you should know."

"Well let's just poke one secret at a time then," said Nick. "What do you know that Felix told us? That Felix dragged us all the way here for?"

"The game's founder isn't who you think he is," said Amber.

Nick, Felix, Diana, and Mila exchanged nervous looks.

"Who's the game's founder?"

Amber giggled. "The evil one. Satan of course. He wants to destroy you guys one by one. It's been his initiative since day one."

Felix snorted. "Ok, sure. I'm not very religious so..."

"I'm not sure you understand. There isn't going to be a winner," said Amber. Nick's face tautened, she was becoming more and more creepy with that mark on her head. All of you guys are going to die in this game. He's been trying to lure kids into this game by tampering with their desires for fame and fortune and seeing by the number of kids that have died and are projected to die, I'd say he's succeeding."

"Well, why doesn't he just do this on earth?" Diana asked. "Why hide it behind a simulation?"

"Oh, he has. But it's easier for him to manipulate kids in a game than in the real world. With Chaos, it's easier for him to put his experiments on you guys before using it as a model in the real world.

Felix and Nick exchanged dubious looks.

"I still feel like you're pulling my legs," said Felix.

"I don't know..." said Diana as if she was juggling her options.

"Oh come on! Where should I start? The part about Satan or the silly experiments."

Mila squeaked, eyes shaking. "Guys, look!" She pointed at the A.I.

Amber mark seemed to have bled on her face and she started to levitate. Her feet rose and rose into the air and she was laughing, exposing her red teeth and bloody saliva. Her body started to twist and turn like a convulsing maniac and then her head burst open. Two more crunching booms filled the air and the headless and armless A.I. fell to the ground.

The group stared at the body, electrified with shock.

"Well," said Felix, wiping the dots of blood off his lips. "It doesn't taste like metal."

Nick looked at his watch. "We have one minute to get to the Office. Fuck! We'll probably blow up like her."

"Don't worry about that," Felix said, snickering. "Remember that cheat code she was talking about earlier?"

They followed Felix out of the strip club and went behind the building. Strangely enough there had been a black cat sitting there staring venomously at them. Felix went up and kicked it. The cat screeched and took retaliatory scratches at him. But before anyone could blink, the cat exploded and it what replaced it was a swirling purple orb floating in mid-air.

"They're usually not so willing," said Felix.

"How do you know it will take us where we want to go?" Nick asked.

"Just think about where you want to go and it'll take you there."

"What if I want to go back home?" Mila asked.

"You'll probably die," Felix said.

"How do you know?" Mila asked accusingly.

"I don't. But something tells me the game doesn't like cheaters.

"Well, let's go," Nick hovered his hand over the portal, The others followed suit. "On the count of three. One..two...three!"

Nick dug his hand into the orb and felt his arm and then his body being absorbed, Everything was black and loud. There was a cacophony of crippling crying and blinding flashing lights of what appeared to be younger versions of Nick. Nick suddenly hit the ground and then found another weight plummeting on top of him.

"Sorry," Mila said, getting to her feet. Felix and Diana fell right behind them. In front of the was a tall glass skyscraper with the silvery metallic branding of the Anarchy symbol on the front of the building. It reminded Nick of the orientation building he had gone to after he had gotten his ticket.

"It looks bigger than I thought," said Felix, getting up.