Rabbits(137)

“Does she have a sister named Annie?” I asked.

Scarpio shook his head. “Not anymore, but she did. Her sister died years ago.”

“Do you have any idea where Emily Connors is now?”

He shook his head. “I haven’t spoken with her for a few weeks. I’ve tried calling, but the number I have for her is out of service.”

Emily’s friend who owned the amazing lakeside mansion was Alan Scarpio. I suppose I shouldn’t have been surprised.

“So, wait, if I won the eleventh iteration of the game…” I said.

“You’re wondering if there’s a prize?”

“Is there?”

“Oh yes. There most certainly is,” he said.

“What is it?”

He shrugged. “Remember, we’re talking about the most sophisticated artificial intelligence system ever imagined by humankind, capable of advanced recursive self-improvement, running on a limitless quantum system. Now imagine that system had access to every single piece of information ever uploaded, scanned, or spoken near a microphone connected to a modem.”

“Okay…”

“The game knows your heart’s desire. Chances are you already have it, or it’s on the way.”

“It is?”

He smiled. “And there’s most likely money as well. I’d check your bank account if I were you.”

“Do you know a man named Crow?”

“Not that I can recall, no.”

“So you never went to visit him in The Tower at WorGames?”

I thought I saw a brief flash of recognition move across Scarpio’s face when I mentioned Crow and The Tower, but before I could press him further, there was a loud knock at the door. I jumped.

“Come in!” Scarpio yelled.

The front door of the house swung open and Chloe rushed inside. She jumped into my arms, wrapped her legs around my waist, and kissed me.

Eventually, we stopped kissing, but it took a minute.

“How did you find me?” I asked.

“Got a tip from a billionaire who answered your phone.” She turned to Scarpio. “Thanks.”

He smiled. “No problem.”

Chloe turned her attention back to me. “What the fuck happened?”

“What do you mean?”

“You disappeared.”

“You’re the one who disappeared,” I said. “I looked everywhere.”

“I was in there for like two minutes. When I came out you were gone.”

I shook my head. “Either way, I’m damn happy you’re alive.”

“Me too, weirdo. Now, do you mind telling me what the fuck is going on?”

I handed Chloe my phone.

She stared at the phone for a few seconds. “Is that The Circle?”

“Sure is,” I said.

As soon as she saw the winner of the eleventh iteration of the game, she turned to face me, her eyes huge.

I smiled.

“What the fuck have you been doing since I went pee?” Chloe asked.

I laughed. It was the first genuine heartfelt laugh I’d experienced in quite a while.

“The Magician is going to lose his mind,” Chloe said as she took a photo of my phone with her own.

“He’s alive?” I asked.

“He’s fine,” she said. “He said he was out of town for something personal related to his family. But it sounds fucking fishy, if you ask me.”

“What about that Super 8 movie? We saw him torn apart.”

“He says it definitely wasn’t him, but he’s demanding to see that thing ASAP.”

I felt a wave of relief wash over me that quickly turned into something else. If the Magician was okay, was it somehow possible that Baron and Fatman Neil might still be alive?

I excused myself and stepped into the bathroom.

I ran water in the sink, sat down on the edge of the bathtub, and pulled out my phone. A quick search through social media revealed that Baron and Neil were still gone.

I checked my bank balance. Somebody had deposited what can only be described as a ludicrous amount of money into my savings account.

Just as I was about to put my phone back into my pocket, I received a message from a text-based mailing list of some kind. The message read as follows:

    From WorGames, the studio that brought you Missile Strike: Silo and City of Falling Glass, comes a brand-new title that’s going to redefine what it means to play a game.

Nothing is ever going to be the same.

Get ready to play.

The Door Is Open by Sidney Farrow is coming soon.

Preorder your copy today.



I sat there on the edge of the bathtub for a moment wondering how my number ended up on that WorGames mailing list, when there was a knock on the door.

“Who is it?”

“Who the fuck do you think? Let me in.”

I opened the door and Chloe stepped into the room.

“What are you doing in here?” she asked.

“Just washing my hands,” I said and handed her my phone.

“What’s this?”

“Mailing list spam.”

I watched Chloe’s eyes as she read over the article.

“Shit,” she said. “Is this real?”