SEAN WALKED OUT TO the parked car and picked up the food from the delivery driver. Before heading back inside, he glanced up and down the street. While not as quiet as it had been earlier, the people he saw out walking were all from the neighborhood and familiar to him. Happy that things were as they should be, he took the food inside and placed it on the table in an alcove just off the kitchen. “Come and eat,” he shouted through to the living room.
The girls came in and positioned themselves at the table, passing Styrofoam containers back and forth and dumping the contents onto the plates that they had set out in preparation for the meal. The laptop still sat on the island, but it was angled towards them so that they could see if anything changed. The cursor continued to blink, almost begging them to type in an answer.
“You know what makes me nervous?” Kayleigh asked, breaking the silence. “What is going on in that basement when we can’t see? What’s the guy in the robe doing? Was it Terry that dropped off the balloon this morning, or has that masked freak visited us?”
Sean laughed and said, “They’re probably taking a smoke break and hoping we don’t solve the next clue too quickly. Maybe it’s Terry in the video?”
“It can’t be,” April said.
“How so?”
“You solved that first clue quickly. Terry had no sooner left than we got access to the video. Unless they are camped out next door, I don’t see how he gets dressed up and into the shot.”
Getting up from the table, Sean headed into the kitchen and picked up the paper, scanning it a few times before slamming it down on the counter. April and Kayleigh jumped, not used to seeing their friend lose his cool.
“What? What is it?” April asked.
Ignoring the question, Sean picked up the laptop and returned it to the table. He minimized the browser window and started typing at a furious pace, a look of grim determination on his face.
“Are you going to tell us what is going on?” Kayleigh asked.
“Checking something.” He continued to pound away at the keys and finally sat back, looking concerned. “This laptop, and probably all of them, have been hacked.”
“Hacked how?”
“They are seeing and hearing us through the webcam. It’s not that hard to do. As soon as we opened up the URL they sent us, the infection was uploaded.”
“No,” April said. “The little light doesn’t come on. It always does when I use the webcam.”
“Easy to bypass.”
“How did you know?” Kayleigh asked.
“That fucking note. It mentioned three of us, but it was only you that signed up for the game. They ended it with TikTok, which was what April said she was going to be doing yesterday.”
“Fuckers,” Kayleigh said.
“I thought that it was a little too convenient that the girl in the video pissed herself shortly after we talked about watching her go to the bathroom.”
They all stared at the computer as though it were a piece of excrement dropped into the middle of their meal. It returned the look and went Tap-Tap-Tap.
“What is that?” April gasped.
Tap-Tap-Tap.
Sean bolted into the kitchen and pulled open the junk drawer. Tossing old remote controls, pieces of string, and other items on the floor, he eventually found what he was looking for, a roll of Scotch tape. Placing a finger to his lips, Sean motioned for the girls to hush before tearing off a piece of tape and covering the camera on the laptop. He maximized the browser and found that the video feed had begun again.
The robed man’s hand was in view, tapping on the camera in the basement. “Ah, there you all are. A little fuzzier than I remember. Remove the tape and allow me to drink you all in. Such a lovely group.”
“I didn’t give you permission to hack into my fucking computer and spy on us like some dirty fucking peeping Tom,” Kayleigh yelled, ignoring Sean’s request for silence.
“You did, though, Miss Barnes. You absolutely did,” the man replied, moving away from the camera and back into the center of the pentagram. “It pays to read things before you sign them.”
Fuming, Kayleigh slumped down in her chair and crossed her arms across her chest. She wanted to rail at the man and unleash a torrent of vitriol, but she also knew that he was correct, so she said nothing.
“Are you all still there? It has gone rather quiet.”
“We are here,” Sean said calmly. “Get used to being in the dark, chief. I’ll have your virus wiped clean in minutes and make sure that nothing else gets through.”
The man dismissed the statement with a wave. “It does not matter. Falyn sees all. Each eye that he consumes grants him greater access to this world and those that lie beyond the known universe.”
“Yet he had to install a virus to see us. You might need to work on your script before releasing this game to multiple universes,” Sean jabbed back.
“Do you wish to continue the game?”
“Of course, we do,” Kayleigh said, finding her voice again.
“Very well. The clock is ticking.” Stepping forward, the robed man reached up to the camera, and the screen went black, save for the flashing cursor.
“How the hell did they break into our laptops, mister IT guy? I thought you had them all secured,” Kayleigh roared, turning her anger towards Sean.
“Don't you dare put this on me. I didn’t sign that stupid contract.”
“PLEASE STOP,” April yelled, tears streaming down her face. “Please.”
“I’m sorry, baby,”
“Me, too, Apes. Christ, why are we getting so fired up over a stupid game? We need to keep our shit together. I’m sorry, Sean.”
“Don’t worry about it. I’ve been a little slack in updating the computers and the network. I’ll have that shit tied down tight, tonight, I promise.”
“Group hug,” April said, standing and spreading her arms.
“You are so lame,” Kayleigh replied as she stood and went in for the embrace, closely followed by Sean.
“We still need to figure out the number for this clue,” Kayleigh said.
“As soon as I get the laptops sorted. Not until then.”
WHILE SEAN UPDATED the security on all the computers, Kayleigh and April went over the new message line by line, trying to figure out what number they should use. They debated the pros and cons of each potential answer, failing to agree on a definite answer that they both felt confident about using.
“This should not be so complicated. I need a break. My head is splitting,” Kayleigh said.
“I hear that. I’m going to go upstairs and check on my man. I’ll bring the Tylenol down in a couple of minutes.”
Leaning back into the couch, Kayleigh sighed contentedly as the soft cushions supported her pounding head. She closed her eyes, trying to relax, but numbers danced behind her eyes, like the green digits filling the screen in The Matrix. They flashed past, one by one, making it impossible to switch off and relax. “Dammit,” she said, getting up from the couch and heading into the kitchen to clean up the mess they had made when eating earlier in the day.
The table was awash with empty containers, pieces of food, some of which had spilled onto the tile floor, and little pools of water surrounding the plastic drinks cups. Reaching under the sink and finding an old carrier bag, Kayleigh dumped in the larger pieces before using a paper towel to sweep the remaining crumbs off the table. The food on the floor was going to need to wait until she had the energy to get out the broom. It was at times like these that she wished there was a family dog to clean up that sort of mess.