“This is not good,” she whispered in her tiny voice. “This is really not good.”
Lilli knelt down and put her hands on the little NPC’s shoulders. “It’s going to be okay,” she said. “I promise it’s going to be—”
ROAR!
Ikumi screamed as a zombie leapt out from a doorway, teeth bared and arms raised. She wrenched out of Lilli’s grasp and started running down the hall.
“Stop!” Lilli cried. “Ikumi!”
The zombie caught the movement and charged after her, cutting her off from us. We could see Ikumi trying desperately to run, but the hallway had changed again, and she hit a dead end. She was crying and screaming at the top of her lungs as the zombie reached her, grabbing her by the arm and yanking her to it, hugging her little body against its rotten, decomposing chest. Its sharp blackened teeth chomped greedily; its lips dripped with slimy yellow goo.
Lilli’s eyes bulged from her head. “We have to help her!” she cried.
“No we don’t!” I argued. “She’s not real! She’ll die and just respawn! We can’t risk our lives to—”
But my sister wasn’t listening. She raised her crossbow, charging toward the zombie, a look of rage on her face. The zombie whirled around, its teeth gnashing as it caught sight of bigger prey. It dropped Ikumi like a hot potato and stomped toward my sister.
“No!” I cried. “Lilli, get out of there!”
Lilli ignored me, trying to get a shot off her crossbow. But the zombie was too quick, knocking the weapon from her grasp. She screamed in frustration and tried to dive after it, only to have the zombie dodge at the last minute, causing her to go crashing into the next room. I could hear her slam against something large and scream with frustration. The zombie huffed, then returned to its original prey: Ikumi, who was still on the ground, crying.
“Help!” she cried. “Help me, please!”
It was up to me now. I drew in a breath, raising my sword. “Come and get me, ugly!” I called out to the zombie, trying to distract it. But the creature only had eyes for Ikumi now—probably part of the quest. If she died, we’d fail. Which I didn’t really care about. But at the same time, seeing the little girl—who looked so real—begging me for help with pleading eyes was tough to ignore.
I braced myself, ready to charge. It was only one zombie. I could do this. I started forward—
Suddenly, the zombie stopped. It turned away from Ikumi to look at me, its lips curling in a ghastly grin. As I watched in horror, the creature’s face seemed to swim in and out of focus, then morph before my eyes.
No longer a zombie’s face.
But Atreus’s face.
Somehow the zombie now had Atreus’s face!
Well, well, tiny human. You ready to face me again?
I dropped my sword. It went clattering to the ground.
“No!” Ikumi cried. “Please don’t let him eat me!”
Her voice sounded a million miles away, muddled with mud. I tried to will myself to grab my sword, but my hands refused to work. I couldn’t move. I couldn’t breathe. I could only stand there, literally paralyzed with fear, watching the Atreus zombie lean over Ikumi once again…
WHOOSH!
Starr’s throwing star zoomed past me, driving straight into the zombie’s skull. It screamed in pain and staggered back to its feet. Lilli, seeing her chance, burst out of the other room, diving for her crossbow and pointing it straight at the dragon zombie’s head. She let loose her bolt, and the head exploded, the smell of burnt flesh permeating my nose.
“Awesome,” Starr declared. “Now come on. I found a place where we can hole up and regroup.”
“Not until we help Ikumi!” Lilli protested, dropping to her knees and scooping the little girl up in her arms. I realized Ikumi was no longer moving. And her face was extremely pale.
Like, zombie pale…
“Lilli!” I cried. “Put her down! Now!”
“What are you talking about? We can’t just leave her here!” Lilli’s voice took on a frantic tone.
“Look at her, Lilli. Look at her face.”
My sister obeyed, thankfully, glancing down at Ikumi. The little girl’s eyes began to open.
They were bright red.
Lilli screamed in horror, dropping her to the ground. She landed in a crumpled heap, then started to rise again with jerky motions.
“Come on!” Starr cried. “We need to go. Now!”
Lilli let out a wrenching sob. She started toward us, and we turned to run, following Starr down the hall till we reached a small room. We ran inside, and Starr slammed the door shut behind us, wedging a chair under the doorknob to secure it. My sister collapsed on the ground, burying her face in her hands.
“Oh my gosh,” she whispered. “Oh my gosh.”
“Are you okay?” I managed to choke out.
Her eyes shot up to me. “What were you doing?” she demanded, her voice rich with rage. “You just stood there! You could have saved her!”
“You don’t understand,” I tried. “It was…”
I trailed off. How did I explain? She didn’t know Atreus was in the game. If I tried to tell her he’d taken over the body of a zombie…
She’d never believe me. She’d think I was crazy.
“You shouldn’t have gone after the zombie in the first place!” I shot back, trying to deflect my rising guilt. “We don’t need to be risking our lives on stupid quests.”
“What was I supposed to do? Just let a little girl die?”
“She wasn’t a little girl!” I protested. “She was just a computer program.”
Lilli’s eyes locked on mine. He voice turned to ice. “So is the real Ikumi. You want to let her die, too?”
I staggered backward, as if I’d been shot. “That’s not the same, and you know it!”
“What are you guys talking about? Who’s the real Ikumi?” Starr broke in.
I clamped my mouth shut, realizing we’d said too much in the heat of our argument. Of course Starr had no
