‘Mum, I don’t feel well…’
‘That’s not going to work with me, you sneak. You’re coming home now!’
‘Mum, I think I’m going to be…’ He would have said ‘sick’ but it wasn’t sickness he felt, exactly. The world was spinning like a demonic merry-go-round, but he also felt as though he was being squished from every direction at once. If he’d been able to raise his hands, he would have pulled off his headset, but in real life, his arms wouldn’t move.
He started shivering uncontrollably, his teeth chattering like a machine gun. Griff looked at his mother, afraid, and dropped to his knees. The gamers standing around took several paces back and Paula gave one sharp scream.
As though Griff were attempting to pull a very tight jumper off over his head, the rareio was squeezing itself out of him. It hadn’t been used up in the battle with the Zen destroyer, the way it should have been. Griff’s face squished together as the tail end of the creature escaped, and he felt his body being pulled like a sausage as the rest of it worked its way out. Finally, the rareio’s elongated body plopped on to the grass beside him, where it glitched uncontrollably. No one spoke, no one moved a muscle.
The rareio raised its head and looked at Griff through its metallic mask, which was back in place. It gave a hideous, hate-filled snarl, as though it wanted to kill him. It tried to rise several times, but kept dropping to its knees, panting. Griff didn’t feel ill anymore, but he didn’t know what to do. He was terrified.
‘See!’ shrieked his mother, breaking the awful silence. She pointed at the rareio with a shaky finger. ‘You should never have taken it, Griff. It was too strong for you.’
The rareio lifted its head and looked at Paula. Something about the way it slowly rose to its feet suggested it recognised her. It was still glitching as it moved towards her, still glitching as she called out ‘Collector!’ and raised her double fist to her heart. Its awful smile stretched out beyond the edges of its mask. Paula’s thunderbolt was too late. As the rareio dissolved over the top of her, it was still glitching.
‘Mum!’ yelled Griff. He tried to run towards her, but Lyle and Boom held him back.
‘Don’t be stupid,’ said Boom.
‘Your mum’s a level-21 player. She can handle it,’ said Lyle.
‘But it’s doing something to her. Look!’ Griff stared.
Paula was frozen with her fists clasped to her chest.
Almost as quickly as it had leaped into her, the rareio leaped out again and everyone could see the difference. It was full strength now, pumped with energy and not glitching at all. It spun around to face the crowd and they all backed off.
A brave gamer dressed as Mary Queen of Scots stepped forward and cried ‘Collector!’ but the rareio was too quick for her. It jumped in and out of Mary Queen of Scots, leaving her frozen, absolute shock on her face.
Everything was happening so quickly. Everyone could see that the rareio was growing. After leaping into and out of another gamer, it had practically doubled in size. It wasn’t leaping into everyone, it seemed to choose its victims carefully. One or two of the high-level gamers tried shooting thunderbolts at it, but they just bounced off.
‘It’s sucking up the gamers’ power,’ gasped Boom.
‘I can see that,’ said Griff.
‘But it’s only choosing really high-level players,’ said Lyle. ‘That’s why you weren’t frozen like…’
They all looked at Paula, who still hadn’t moved.
‘I guess they just stay like that for a few moments before they start playing again,’ said Lyle. ‘I think we’d better run, guys. It really hates you, Griff, anyone can see that. Come on!’
The rareio was clearly delighted with its new power. Its laughter sounded like sewage gurgling down a drain and it was literally sparkling with a nasty kind of glee. It enjoyed scaring the few players who didn’t run away, chasing and clawing at them. The air was full of screams.
Griff didn’t know what to do. He hated leaving his mum there, frozen. He also knew that Lyle was right. The rareio hated his guts.
‘Sorry, Mum,’ he called, not knowing if she could hear him or not. The three boys turned and ran.
In games, you are sometimes frozen out of the action for a while and it’s no big deal. Griff was sure the effect upon his mum would be temporary. His mum was a brilliant player. He would catch up with her later and then he would give her a proper apology. When she calmed down again, she would feel proud of him because Griff had still won the whole competition for Westford Abbey. Someone would get the rareio under control and then they could all celebrate together. Griff was still the hero of the hour.
Griff didn’t realise that, in real life, all around the park, Paula and the other frozen gamers were standing still as statues and no one could get a word out of them. In real life, the St John Ambulance team were already at work and an emergency call had been made to the paramedics. The sound of sirens blared in the distance, racing through traffic, as more ambulances headed straight for Jubilee Park. The nearest hospital had been warned about a major incident and were expecting casualties to arrive soon. In real life, panic was setting in.
11
Real Life
Ant was glad he’d taken his backpack along, because half an hour into Ray-Chay in the Park, he was thoroughly bored. Perhaps it would have been different if he could have kept up with the dolphin. He’d seen her a couple of times but she was always tackling super-strength enteos. At his low level, there were very few enteos that he could take on and the novelty of watching all the other gamers
