It's Complicated: A Zombie Romance Novel

End of the Line

I kicked the stupid treasure chest. Pain shot through my big toe. I sat down to nurse it.

"Stupid zombies. Stupid game. Stupid house!" I cried. There was no way to win if I couldn't get Michael patched in, and the only way to do that was to find the control box. I'd failed. We were all going to die for nothing.

"AHHH!" I screamed. Who cared if the zombies could hear me, I was done for anyway.

"Can't find the key to the treasure?" Headset Guy teased. I thought you were getting smart by now."

"Just shut it," I said into the headset. This game kept you running on pure adrenaline, but I'd only survived this far by thinking through things.

"I know it's here," I said. 'I remember it on the map.' I thought. Let Headset Guy think I was trying for the next key while in fact I was looking for the control box.

Something made a sound by the door. Was that a thud? My screaming must have caught the attention of something nearby. Great, I'd closed my own window to think.

"Please don't let that be a thud." I scrambled to get up onto my feet. The chest snagged my pants. I fell forward over the top of it.

"Clumsy little mouse, aren't you." I said into the headset as I picked myself up. It was a poor imitation of Headset Guy's accent, but hey, I girl can try. The chest slid forward under my weight. That's when I saw it.

I paused to make sure I wasn't hallucinating. There, behind the treasure chest was what I'd been looking for this whole time: the control box.

"At least you didn't leave it out in plain sight," I stupidly laid it on. If Headset could hear me hopefully he'd think I was talking about the prize and not the box. Having it behind the prize chest would make it easier to hide the external link device.

I pretended to fall again. This time though I conveniently shifted the treasure chest over just enough to place the USB drive Michael had given me into the control box.

"Michael, you online?" I asked. No answer. Great, it hadn't worked. My only shot now was to figure out all of this on my own. Yay me.

I looked at the room again, but there was literally nowhere to hide a key. There was the door I came through, the door I needed to leave through, and the treasure chest. Was I supposed to pull up the floor or something? I decided to ask.

"Are you expecting me to pull up the floor?" I said into the headset. No answer. I looked at the treasure chest again. It was identical to the last one, with one notable difference.

"Wait, seriously?" I said. "You didn't put a lock on this one?" I opened the treasure chest and inside was a key. I grabbed it and went to the door.