"Who needs a strategy? Haven't you ever seen a prison break film? We slip out like ninjas and disappear. Poof!"

  I rolled my eyes. "Sure, great idea."

  Tyler's scheming confidence shattered, his baffled expression less than encouraging. "Okay, admittedly I’m still refining details. What do you suggest, whiz kid?”

  “Seriously? This was your idea.”

  “You’re our Stinking tactician, remember?” He countered. “You always have a plan.”

  I sighed, but my disappointment at the beginning of this escapade paled in comparison to what awaited me if I canceled the shenanigans. Besides, I couldn’t stop my brain from working on the problem, and any thoughts that weren’t of my parents or the crash were welcome right now.

  “First, we need to get past the nurses’ station. Then we have to get to a stairwell. Once we reach the ground floor, we can slip out a side exit.”

  ”But why use the stairwell when the elevators go right to the parking garage.”

  “They also have cameras. We don’t want to be discovered, at least until it’s too late for them to stop us.”

  “Good point. That’s why you’re the plan man.”

  “Divide and conquer,” I said. “Go out past the station, pretend you’re hitting up a vending machine or something. Text me when the coast is clear to the stairs. Meet me there.”

  “Damn, this is like Ghost Recon in real life. Okay, I’m on it.”

  He went out the door again, and I picked up my phone, going to the door to wait for his text. The focus was enough to keep my mind off the trauma, and when Tyler’s message popped up on my screen, announcing it was go time, I hurried out the door, fast-walking past the momentarily deserted nurse’s station, turning the corner just before I spotted Judy and another nurse pop into view at the end of the hall. Running to the sign for the stairs, I ducked inside, met by a grinning Tyler.

  “Nice work. Let’s get out of here.”

  We hurried down the steps, two or three at a time. No one stopped us. No blaring alarms. No phalanx of orderlies. Not one authority demanding our peaceful surrender across a bullhorn. Every hacked-together thriller and suspense-laced video game I’d seen left those cliches burned permanently into my brain, we made it to the parking garage without incident.

  The relative serenity of our escape felt ironically disappointing.

  Tyler pointed me toward his ride, a fifteen-year-old KIA that was too beat up for anyone to even want to steal. “Are you sure we can make it to Des Moines in that thing?” I asked, needing to wait for him to push the passenger door open from the inside.

  “I could quote Star Wars, but I’m not gonna,” he replied. “Get in.”

  I froze in place, anxiety mainlining into me at the moment of truth. Staring at the torn pleather of the front seat, visions of Mom in that position, her body broken, her bloody head lolled to the side, nearly derailed my sanity. Nauseous and dizzy, I turned away from the car. “I can’t do this,” I said, afraid I was going to puke. Breathing deeply, I bent over and braced my hands on my knees.

  “There’s only one way past it,” Tyler said. “And that’s straight through the fear, full speed ahead.”

  He was right. I didn’t plan to spend the rest of my life riding a bus. I took one more deep breath and turned back toward the car, practically throwing myself into the front seat.“Hell yeah, Noah-san!” Tyler shouted as I pulled the door closed and buckled my seat belt. He fumbled to connect an aging iPhone to the sedan's stereo. “I’ve got the perfect song, too.”

  He finished establishing the Bluetooth connection, quickly browsing Spotify and hitting play. Starting the engine and throwing the car into reverse, the unfamiliar tune immediately brought a smile to my face. The beat was lively, and while they were singing about drinking, the part about getting knocked down but always getting back up really resonated with me.

  “This song is crazy,” I said while Tyler guided us to the exit, moving to the automated payment lane to avoid the attendant in the other.

  “An oldie but a goodie,” Tyler remarked. He finished paying and we headed for the exit.

  I let exhaled tension ease tight shoulders, consciously trying to relax my sore, exhausted muscles as my queasiness evaporated into thin air. “It feels strangely normal to be moving again instead of treading water back there. Honestly, I can't believe we made it without security tackling us at the door."

  Tyler's face scrunched thoughtfully. "For real, I expected way more fireworks. Figured we would have to hack some keycards or fake a toxin leak or maybe rappel from the third-story ledge on tied together bed sheets.." He leaned across the narrow gap to nudge me playfully. "But you seemed to know where Big Brother might be napping. I bet that divide and conquer trick works killer for taking out zombies or creepers too, huh?"

  I huffed a weary laugh. "I wish real leveling went that smoothly. Especially lately. I was two seconds from bailing back there. Your advice was exactly what I needed. So, thanks for that."

  "Hey, don't sweat it! I promise you won’t regret this.”

  The weight of my pain lifted off my shoulders, hopefully for at least the next few hours. I grinned back. “I’m sure I won’t.”

  CHAPTER 4

  The glowing sign for VR Awesome! stood out like a beacon of hope against the gloom of the rainy Des Moines skyline. Even after midnight on a weeknight, the parking lot remained half full, a testament to the futuristic fun that awaited gamers inside. My foot tapped anxiously against the floorboard as Tyler wheeled his rust bucket Kia into an open space near the back corner of the lot. I knew better than to question whether showing up unannounced in the middle of Alyssa's shift was truly smart.

  For once, spur-of-the-moment poor judgment felt totally warranted despite what awaited me come morning. Tyler killed the sputtering engine while I gawked silently through smudged glass at the square building that looked as if it had possibly once been a Bed Bath and Beyond. Giant waterproof-framed posters plastered on exterior walls depicted intense virtual battles between humanoid mechs, sword-wielding elves, and laser-toting space marines. Any one of those immersive game worlds offered guaranteed respite from the desolation I wanted so much to escape.

  I made myself focus on electric anticipation rather than my tragic memories while Tyler punched buttons on his iPhone.

  “You owe me for this,” he grumbled in my general direction as he put the finishing touches on the missive he hoped would convince our Stinking Badger teammate to let us inside.

  “This was your idea,” I reminded him.

  “Confessing my crimes was your idea,” he countered. “And you owe me for following your lead on this one.”

  “I am the tactician, remember? We didn’t come all of this way to be left out in the cold.”

  He sighed as he hit the send button, foot tapping the floor at a thousand RPMs while we awaited her reply.

  You’re outside?

  Yeah. I told u I want to apologize.

  This had better be good. Meet me around back.

  Tyler glanced at me. I shrugged. “At least she’s still talking to you.”

  “How do I know some Zangief muscle-head won’t be back there instead of her, waiting to pile-drive me into a dumpster?”

  “If that’s the case, you’ll probably be getting what you deserve.”

  “Maybe, but what I won’t be getting is us into VR Awesome.”

  “Only one way to find out,” I said, needing three shoves to get the passenger door open.

  “Be careful,” Tyler complained. “It’s liable to fall off.”

  Rolling my eyes, I exited the car, hoping for the best when I gently pressed the door closed and it held. Avoiding puddles, I hurried as fast as my sore muscles allowed to catch up to Tyler. Together, we crossed the parking lot, navigating along the side of the building to the rear. Since the place had once been a retail store, there was a red fire door at the back corner next to a pair of delivery bays.

  So far, neither Alyssa nor Zangief were out there.

  “Option C,” Tyler said. “She leaves us standing out here in the cold for the next two hours, satisfied to have taught me a lesson for being a privacy-intruding asshole.”

  “Playing against her, I never got the impression she was dishonest. Unlike you. If she said she’ll meet us, I think she’ll meet us.”

  “Let’s hope you’re right. And I’m not dishonest. I just stretch the truth a bit too far sometimes.”

  “Sometimes?”

  We were almost to the red fire door when it swung outward, spilling yellow light across the cracked pavement. The woman standing in the doorway didn't match any of the mental images I had built of Alyssa after hearing Tyler’s modified version of her general appearance. This woman’s brown hair—in her picture she was a redhead—was cut to the ears, not flowing down her back in long curls. The pair of oversized gold-framed glasses sitting on her unexpectedly sharp blade of a nose magnified brown eyes that were supposed to be green. Her thin lips weren’t kissably lush. And where were her curves? Her tan VR Awesome sweatshirt hung over her skinny jeans like an oversized gunny sack, showing no figure at all. Either she’d used fake images on her alt-adult accounts too, or the woman eyeing us with open skepticism wasn't Alyssa.. The only thing that was the same was her pale skin.

  “Alyssa?” Tyler regarded her with a furtive look. Clearly, he was trying to resolve the discrepancies between this woman and the voluptuous redhead pictured online.

  “You must be T-Bone,” she said. Her eyes stayed locked on him like a velociraptor hunting prey. “Start explaining. Now." Her tone was more angry librarian than enraged barbarian.

  Tyler reddened with embarrassment. “I… I wouldn’t really call it stalking. More like, I don’t know…basic curiosity? Just some typical online stuff trying to figure out more about someone I kinda like.”

  “Someone you like?” she scoffed, incredulity deepening the harsh lines of her scowl. “You don’t know anything about me.”

  “That’s not true. We’ve been gaming together for the last two years.”

  “You know my online persona. One of them, anyway. A social construct designed to maintain my personal privacy while still participating in something I enjoy. You don’t like Alyssa, the twenty-one-year-old college dropout who works at a VR arcade. You like Alyssa, the seventeen year-old hottie who likes to dress as her favorite anime character while she kicks your ass at, well, everything.”

  “That’s kind of the point,” Tyler shot back. “I was trying to find out who you are. The real you. Social construct or not, the mind behind that Alyssa is still yours, and I was and remained intrigued by it.”

  Tyler’s Ryu smashed Alyssa’s Zangief anger with a solid shoryuken. Her mouth opened, but no words came out. Showing no mercy, Tyler kept talking.

  “You’re right. I got wrapped up in my interest in a teammate. Started digging without considering boundaries or privacy. It was thoughtless and immature and I apologize wholeheartedly. Please understand I meant no harm.”

  I glanced at Tyler, surprised by both the formality and sincerity of his apology. It wasn’t what I expected from the brash guy I had just spent the last two hours in the car with. But it was like the guy who had inserted himself into my tragedy with kind words and a big heart, and brought me on this crazy adventure.

  Alyssa appraised him skeptically another moment without speaking. I tensed, uncertain if she would read Tyler the same way I had, mentally preparing myself for a long, painful car ride back to the hospital.

  “Okay then.” Alyssa's frosty veneer thawed marginally as she thrust a finger at him. “But let’s get a few things straight. One, I’m still mad at you.”

  “Understood,” Tyler replied.

  “Two, whatever romantic notions of us you had when you started prying into my personal life, you can forget it."

  “I kind of tabled that concept after I found out you were twenty-one, not seventeen. But now that we’re meeting in real life, maybe we can find common ground as friends?”

  “Three, I don’t want to be your friend. And I can’t let you into the shop. I know you came a long way, but that’s not my problem. As far as I’m concerned, you’re T-Bone, I’m All-red, and that’s the beginning and end of our interactions with one another. Goodbye, T-Bone.”

  She turned to go back inside, stopping when her eyes lit on me for the first time. Not that I minded. I was glad to have avoided her attention while she took care of business with Tyler. But now, her eyes meeting mine before quickly giving me the once-over, her stiff expression vanished, a hand going to her mouth. “Are you okay?” she asked. “What happened? You look like you were in some kind of accident.”

  Her unexpected concern caught me off guard. I touched self-conscious fingertips to the gauze wrapped like a headband around my forehead and then down over the bruise on my cheek. Swelling emotion constricted the explanation in my throat.

  "This is Noah. Katzuo,” Tyler intervened gently as my tears again threatened to fall. “He was in an accident this afternoon. A bad one." I regained some of my composure as he summarized events in the same calm, sympathetic tone that had eased my anxiety hours earlier in my hospital room.

  Alyssa's perplexed expression had shifted to empathetic sorrow by the time he finished. “I am so very sorry, Noah. I can't imagine anything worse happening to someone.” Without hesitation she left the red door hanging open and came to me, enfolding me in a consoling hug that lasted several seconds. I stiffened instinctively before relaxing into her unexpectedly genuine hug. When she released me, her eyes glistened with tears. “I hate to meet you like this, Katzuo. Noah, I mean. Of course I'll help any way I can. But shouldn't you be at home with your family instead of here?”

  “It’s...complicated,” I said. “The only place open this late was either here or Wal-Mart. And given the...situation, I didn’t think wasting time shopping for socks was going to make me feel better. My descent into a waking nightmare can resume tomorrow. Tonight, I just wanted to pretend everything’s normal. Maybe even better than normal.”

  “I guess that’s understandable.” Sympathy further softened Alyssa’s sharp features. “Everything will seem less awful in time, I’m sure, and it’s not for me to judge how you process your grief. For now though, let’s get you inside before you run out of playtime.”

  Maneuvering through the maintenance area in the back, Alyssa left us there while she went up front to get us a pair of open-play bracelets. I didn’t ask her any questions about how she’d acquired them when she returned, and from her expression when she handed them over, I was pretty sure she wouldn’t have answered anyway.

  Guiding us to the double doors leading out onto the game room floor, she paused ahead of them, turning to me with a huge grin on her face. “Are you ready for awesome, Noah?”

  “I could use a little awesome right now,” I replied.

  “Then follow me.” She pushed the doors open ahead of us, and we stepped out into Wonderland.

  VR Awesome felt bigger than any Bed Bath and Beyond I had ever been in. It was probably because all of the non load-bearing supports had been removed and the ceiling tiles ripped out. They had been replaced by hundreds of multi-colored LEDs that flashed and shifted in accordance with the changing game environments. Those environments were clearly separated by glass partitions and wide aisles, which themselves were split in half by classic arcade games. I spotted Pac-man, Galaga, and Dig Dug right off the bat.

  I gawked like the starry-eyed tourist I was while Alyssa led us down one of the aisles. I had seen all of this in TikTok walkthroughs and Youtube videos, but being here in person was a totally different story.

  On my left, a dozen encapsulated pods occupied the floor, wires rising from their backs to the ceiling where they vanished, likely to a massive server farm somewhere in the back. A sign at the entrance advertised the game as Mech Jockey, and huge screens both inside and out of the game’s footprint displayed the gameplay. Two teams of six mechs each crossed a desolate cityscape, hunting one another. It looked cool, and I wanted to play, but I already had my mind set on a specific game. I figuratively had both my fingers and toes crossed, hoping this VR Awesome location carried it and that it wasn’t out of order or booked for a private party.

  To my right, a dozen patrons occupied all the available omni-directional treadmills. Each person had a helmet visor over their head, the faceplate opaque to prevent the outside environment from bleeding in. Wires snaked out from the glove each player wore, connected to different parts of their dominant arm which allowed them to manipulate the virtual world. Each treadmill also had a rack on either side, carrying different props that went along with the gameplay. In this case, a machete, a short rope, and a shotgun among other plastic stand-ins.

  “Jungle Invasion,” Tyler said, pointing to one of the gamers and his screen. Dark aliens rushed him, pouring through the thick jungle vegetation like molasses. The player struggled to hold them back, picking them off one after another without slowing them down. When he finally decided to retreat it was too late. The aliens caught up to him, the screen turning red as he expended his last available life force. “I want to play that one.”

  “Bug hunts aren’t really my thing,” I replied. “Too much shooting, not enough thinking.”

  “I don’t know,” Alyssa said. “If he had tried thinking more and shooting less, it might not be game over for him.” She pointed to the player as he removed his helmet and slinked away from his treadmill in defeat.

  “Maybe. I don’t want to start with that one though.” I craned my neck, trying to see further down the row of games. “I really want to try⁠—“

  And then I saw it. Gleaming like Excalibur, it was the crown jewel anchoring this virtual paradise.

  Star Squadron.

  CHAPTER 5

  "Star Squadron!" I shouted, earning sideways glances from a few of the other gamers. I didn't care, hurrying toward the entrance to the futuristic space dogfighting simulator. Tyler and Alyssa rushed after me as I entered the staging area, my eyes immediately drawn to the monitors displaying the current match.