Only A Shadow

Chapter Six

After an increasing whirr, the doors glided open and in the process letting blinding light into the lab. I felt like I was being sucked into a vacuum, a very strong vacuum.

"Liv!" I squealed as my legs were quickly taken off of the ground and my entire body was thrown through the doors and into the virtual world. 

I landed hard on my back. The first thing I noticed was they sky. It wasn't ordinary. At least, it wasn't your normal baby blue color. It was a light grey with little black specks, probably birds, floating around in it. I then shifted my eyes quickly back and forth, getting up from the dusty cracked ground. It apparently had not seen rain for at least several months. Behind me was a wide and deep forest. I walked up to one and touched it,expecting to feel rough bark. Oddly enough, wherever I had touched my hand turned clear. It was solid, but with glowing green grids on it. It looked like it was in a CGI computer. Then it hit me, that's because we're in a computer genius. 

I looked around some more and saw before me a vast, flat, dry desert cracking everywhere. Aside from an occasional insect, no life appeared. Except of course for the massive titanium tower with a metal barrier, inside a chain fence with barbed wire barrier, inside a barrier of twenty men. Easy, she says. Where is Liv anyways. 

As if planned, Liv signaled me with a 'psst'. "Artemis!" she whispered loudly. I looked around swiftly and noticed her, behind a tree in the forest. She motioned for me to go to her. I ran to her side. Once there she quickly corrected, "You can't be standing front and center in the middle of an enemy's territory!"

"Sorry." I mumbled. 

She sighed in frustration, "It's alright, just-use your head a little more next time."

"Okay." I nodded quickly. "What now?" I asked. 

"Well, you'll notice there's about twenty guards standing watch. Thankfully they didn't see you because it's on the easiest setting. What do you think we should do?" She asked like a mother asking her learning child. 

"Um..." I racked my brain for answers. We have gadgets... "We have computer contacts. What do they do?" 

"They're just like a computer, except loaded with all of the information from base." 

"Okay, how do we look up something?" I asked briskly. 

She smiled and replied, "Just say what you want it to look up. Say, 'Liv', your's would be Artemis, 'look up gaurd avoidance.'" 

"Okay, Artemis, look up guard avoidance." 

I then saw in front of me a screen, but if I moved my hands "in front of it" it wouldn't do anything, like a 3-D movie. A list was on that screen titled, 'How to Avoid Guards.'   

"It says, there are many ways to avoid guards. One is to use camoflauge. This is best when in deep wilderness such as the jungle or sahara. Another is to created a diversion. That one sounds best." I affirmed. 

"Indeed. I agree." Liv nodded. "Use the zeypher pen to create a robot plane which is lifesize with darkened windows that lands over there. Make it have a foreign flag."

"Like, Japan?" 

"That works. Now hurry!" She ordered. "You make the flag, I'll do the rest."

"Okay." I agreed. 

Only about a few minutes later and the plane, which looked somewhat like a helicopter, was complete. After extracting it from the glowing lines that had been drawn, Liv drew a controller for the plane. A simple one, it appeared, but it was very crucial to our plan. 

"I'm going to fly it over to the back left of the tower. Stand back!" Liv directed. 

I obeyed, and soon the propeller on top began spinning wildly and thus lifting it into the musty air. It eventually was about a hundred feet above the ground, and it began making it's way towards the skyscraper. 

The guards, all large and dressed like those in the United States army, began shooting at the plane with the machine guns they were all armed with. Thankfully, whatever the zeypher pen created was virtually indestructable, so the bullets ricocheted off of the plane and into the vast desert. 

"Come on men!" The captain shouted forcefully, "Take her down!" 

"We only have three minutes to get across the desert, since I've set it to land slowly. Get your gun in hand." Liv ordered, setting her remote controller down in the leaves on the forest floor. 

I did so immediately. "Ready?" I asked.

"Always." She replied. "3...2...1...Go!" 

Together we darted as fast as we could across the small peice of crumbling desert in front of the massive tower. Once there, Liv used a laser to get through the metal fence and wall. She pulled out a square-shaped gadget that unlocked doors once at the tower. It was succesful and the doors, much like the elevator's, hissed open. 

Inside was bare, except for a short winding starcase. "Go, go, go." She whispered hurridly. We darted up the stairs to the next level. Before I knew it, a 'bang, bang, bang' commenced by Liv. I opened my eyes to find three well dressed men holding guns lying lifeless on the metal floor. My eyes were wide. She just killed all those people, without a second thought. 

Liv saw my confusion and hurt and came over to me, laying her hand on my shoulder. "Hey, we can't let our emotions get in the way of the mission. We're here to get the files as quickly as possible." 

"But, they-"

"They would've gotten in the way, and possibly killed us. Besides, have you forgotten this is computer generated?" She explained. 

"Oh," I huffed, "I guess. 

Liv smiled, "Well, you'd best remember, especially since you're going through the next level by yourself." 

"What?!" I cried.

"Shhh!" She held her finger infront of her lips. "He's still up there."

"Who?!"

"The president of this establishment. You just go up there, shoot him, grab the files on his desk and come back. Simple as that."

"I've never shot a gun!" 

"Okay, pull back here." She ordered. I obeyed nervously. "Now it's cocked and loaded, all you have to do is pull the trigger. Now go! We haven't much time."

"Um, Okay?" I muttered. I stepped one by one my dusty sneakers one by one on the slick stair steps. My head soon poked up into the next level. The level was a simple, sleek and modern office. A typical, high backed leather swival chair, set in front of a glass topped desk on which was a widescreened computer, was turned away from me. 

"Miguel, is that you?" He asked with a french accent.  His black chair slowly turned. 

Now's your chance, just do it! Go on! Pull the trigger!  A shot was fired. A man slumped over on his desk. Beathing heavily, I grabbed the files under the man's limp hand. On the file was the usual red stamp: classified.  I can't believe it. I did it! I....killed....my first guy. I then looked at the dead man's cold face. Lifeless, of course, and yet, I felt as if I had taken something from him...his life. It's just computer generated. Seriously Artemis, pull yourself together. 

I raced down the stairs and handed the file to Liv. She smiled, "How was it?"

"Stressful." I sighed heavily. 

"Oh, darling, it'll only get more stressful from here." Liv remarked, patting me on the back. Soon after, she pulled from her belt a device which looked like a  walkie-talkie. "Mission complete." She said into it. As everything around us whisped away, I had a feeling that my mission had only begun. 

 (c) doveseyes 2015