Chapter 1 - Jackson

Some of the most life changing and world shaking events begin with the seemingly innocent or mundane: An American plane flying high over Hiroshima during World War II, a flea bite during the Middle Ages, or a crowd of torch-lit people working their way through the Garden of Gethsemane late one Spring night.

“Mom sure is in a hurry today.” My voice was muffled with toothpaste as I looked out of the second story bathroom window. Mom looked harried. She threw her laptop bag over the console of her Camry and into the passenger seat as she scrambled in after it. The car started a moment later and smoothly backed out before pulling forward into traffic. Rushed or not, she was always an incredible driver. Sometimes frustratingly so when you needed to get somewhere fast.

“They’re probably pushing her pretty hard to have everything ready for launch. There’s a lot riding on it.” My twin sister Jane said.

She was twisting her hair up in some kind of elaborate bun in front of the double sink we shared between our rooms.

“It’s going to change everything. Have you gotten any more news on the forums?” I said, pausing to spit and rinse, and finally reaching for the hand towel hanging next to the light switch. “That contact I have at Prometheus mentioned a few things. He made me digitally sign an NDA if you can believe it.” I chuckled. “Still thinks I’m an angel investor on the fence. He said that they’re shipping the headsets this week! I guess they’ve been producing them non-stop in three giga-factories across the world to meet demand.”

“I still can’t believe they’re shipping them out for free. Who does that? How are they even going to make any money doing something like that?”

I paused to look over at her for a moment. She was tilting her chin down and twisting to get a good look at her hair. She had mom’s wide blue eyes and small upturned nose. Her high cheekbones and hair were all dad, though—a light and wispy auburn color. I can’t really say whether she was pretty or not. I’m just not wired that way. Jane was Jane and she hadn’t changed much growing up.

“That's a great question. He explained it all to me, and I still didn't really get it. They’re looking at the long game. You’ve heard the same rumors I have. We chose different points of contact for a reason and they’re all saying the same thing: Infinity Online is going to change everything. They’re selling the fully immersive capsules to the highest bidders and that’s only one revenue stream.”

“Jackson?” I turned to her fully at the concerned tone in her voice. “Don’t you think this is going to change everything? Like this is finally an opportunity to grab hold of something bigger and brighter?”

I groaned loudly. “Alright, Jane. Which one is it?”

“Which one is what?”

“Which Disney song are you about to break out into? Because I don’t think I can stomach any more right now. The world isn’t a fairy tale.”

She huffed indignantly and punched me in the arm.

“We’re only seeing the very tip of the iceberg here. If you read between the lines, it’s going to be a culture shift for the entire world for generations.” Jane practiced her pout in the mirror. “I sure am ready for a shift. I’m not getting any younger.”

I threw the towel in her face and laughed. “You’re sixteen Jane. I think you’ll manage.” She threw the towel back at me, along with a scowl and chased me out of the bathroom.

“Jackson!” A voice shouted from downstairs. “Jackson! Do you know where the medium, flat nosed pliers are? The ones without the teeth on the tip. They scratch the chain mail and I need to fix a few spots here before I can show my face in public.”

Jane leaned out of the doorway and rolled her eyes, one hand on the door frame and the other working her toothbrush in her mouth. I waved her away and smiled as I took the landing to the downstairs. I hooked the last post on the stairs to whip myself around the corner and into the living room. Sir Lionel the Brave was in the middle of pulling a stainless steel European 4 in 1 weave chain mail shirt over his head. He was having a tough time of it, though. The sword and scabbard he had belted on were keeping it cinched down tight agianst his body.

“Sir Lionel Lee! Is that you in the flesh? Why don’t you let me have a shot at it? It’s what squires are for.” I quickly stepped over to him and deftly unclasped the belt mechanism, grabbing up the pliers on the mantle of the fireplace as I moved past. The buckle was relatively simple for me to take off. I guess it should be. I’d made it.

“Oh, come on lad. You haven’t been a squire in what, ten years?” He had finally gotten the heavy garment over his head and unceremoniously onto the coffee table.

“Eight.” I said, handing him the pliers and the bag of stainless rings that had been sitting next to them. “I was a slow learner, remember.”

“You’ve earned your sir name, make no mistake. It won’t be long now until you’ll be off on your first real adventure and become a knight in truth. ‘Slow learner’.” He scoffed, setting to work on the small rent in the otherwise flawless vest. “Faster than your sister. Never could get that girl to see reason. Takes after your lady mom. Going to rule the kingdom with that brain of hers.” He glanced up at me with a smile. “Guess that makes you the muscle and steel.” In a rare moment his hands stilled and his face turned serious. “You take care of her, you hear me, son?”

The smile slid off my face too in the suddenly serious silence. “You know I will, sir. She’s my little sister.” Lionel’s smile returned with a chuckle as he started back on his repairs.

“You know the lass hates when you point that out.”

“I doooo.” A faint voice called out from upstairs. I looked in the direction of the voice and smiled fondly.

“Yeah, I know.”

A knock brought my attention, and my feet around to the front door. I swung it open with a smile as I saw who it was.

“Kaylin, hey!” I said, stepping forward and extending my right hand across her shoulder and pulling her to my side in a brief hug. “Everything alright? We were just about to head up to see what the lunch ladies are feeding the rest of the prisoners this morning. Come on in.”

“Hey Jack,” she said, returning the hug and stepping inside. “Yeah, I was hoping I could catch a ride with you guys. Mom’s got to use the car this morning and the bus doesn’t show for another hour.”

“Um, yeah, sure. No problem.” I swept some clutter up out of the recliner. Mom had forgotten her corporate name badge; it was sitting on top of the mess. I remember her mentioning her yearly picture and I.D. replacement when she was fretting about what to wear last week. Her strawberry blond hair was cut in the pixie style that she liked. Her blue eyes mirrored Jane’s and were open and honest. Her big smile accented the small crows feet and laugh lines of her face. The name Susan Lee was written in bold print below the picture. Watermarked behind the name was the Prometheus Corporate logo: a burning torch held in a clenched fist. I set the stuff up on the bar between the kitchen and the living room and offered the cleared seat to Kaylin. She stayed standing, awkwardly holding her backpack in front of her.

“I’ll just… take this into the smithy.” Lionel said, his eyes tracking between me and Kaylin.

“It’s fine. I can even help you out here.”

“No, no. I think I’m going to need my blacksmithing tools. This is a little more complicated than I thought it’d be.” His greaves and sabatons clanging against each other as he precariously grabbed up the pliers, chain mail shirt, sword, and belt into an untidy pile in his arms.

Complicated? It was dead simple. His steps sped up as he glanced back and noticed me watching. Was he running? What was up with him today? I turned back to Kaylin as the door to the garage slammed shut behind him.

“Sorry, he’s LARPing tonight and he’s just excited that he doesn’t have to Game Master this time and can actually fight something.”

“It’s okay. Um, I think you’ve told me what that was before. LARPing? It’s like some kind of real life video game, right?”

“Yeah. It’s pretty cool actually, if you can get past the nerd factor, but my bar is set pretty high at this point. It’s called Live Action Role Playing. You get into character like you’re in a game or a story and you go on an adventure. There are rules and Game Masters that keep people honest and keep the story moving so everyone’s having a good time. Everyone says dad’s the best GM, so he doesn’t get to play as much as he’d like.

“Oh, I remember now. There’s even magic and stuff right? Are there princesses and dancing and stuff like that, too?” She seemed to have gotten a little glow in her eyes at the thought.

“Um, I mean yeah. You can pretty much do whatever you want. It’s about stepping outside of your small world and pushing the borders back to become whatever you want to be. Kind of poetic, really. Most groups seem to focus on the adventure; the sword and sorcery part of it, though. But if you talked to a GM, I’m sure they could work in a ball scene so you could feel like a princess and dance around.”

She had a delighted and shy smile as her hands wrung the grip of her backpack. “That’s pretty cool. So um, speaking of danc—”

The doorbell rang, cutting her off.

“Hold that thought.” Jogging to the door, I opened it.

A man in his late twenties was standing at the door with a clipboard in hand sporting a uniform with the Prometheus Corporation logo.

“Excuse me, is this the… Lee residence?” He asked, double checking his clipboard.

“Yeah, but mom already left a little bit ago, you just missed her, actually.” I was a little confused at what was going on.

“Actually, is Jane Lee here?” He asked. As weird as this was, I called up to her and she came running down the stairs, giving Kaylin a smile and a small wave.

“What’s up?” She said, bouncing to a stop at the door.

“Hello, miss Lee I’m Jeremy Stevens with Prometheus Corporation. My paperwork says here that Jane Lee was entered into our Golden Ticket lottery for a state of the art Immersion Rig. It's for the celebration of our subsidiary—Infinity Entertainment’s new flagship game that’s going to be released this week. It’s called Infinity Online. But I’m sure you know that already.” He chuckled smoothly. “Just under a million people entered into the drawing and you were the winner. Congratulations! We’re here to deliver and install the system. One of our PR staff will come by after hours or tomorrow and talk with your parents about allowing a small news interview. The winning of this lottery is a big morale boost and, not to sound to mercenary, but its great for the company image.”

“I’m sure it is.” I growled. I wasn’t jealous or anything. Well, okay of course I was freaking jealous. I was going to have to settle for the wimpy visor while my sister got a top of the line capsule. I don’t consider myself a material kind of person, but why God? We’ve spent hours together and separate, researching every nook and cranny of information about this game. We researched all of the hardware, tips, leaks, everything. With all of that, we knew how much these rigs cost and that we’d never be able to afford one. Unbelievable. I glared at her. “Did you sign up for this?”

“No, I thought maybe you did. This is crazy.” Her eyes were wide.

“If you wouldn’t mind signing here and if your boyfriend can hold the door, we’ll get this thing loaded in.” He finished with a smile, waving two uniformed men over that had been pulling the capsule out of a large box and loading it up on a dolly. It was the size of a refrigerator and that was only the bottom half.

“He’s my brother. I’m her brother.” We said in unison. “We’re twins, actually.”

“Identical?” He asked as his head snapped round like a puppy with a new toy.

We looked at each other and barely managed to keep from rolling our eyes. Every. Time. Goodkind was right. People are stupid.

“Um, no.” I said calmly. “By definition.”

“Twins.” He drew the word out thoughtfully, not listening. A gleam had appeared in his eyes. “Twins… That could be interesting. Keep it up boys! I’ve got a call to make.” Jeremy shouted back at the two workers, pulling out his phone. A rapid and confusing conversation happened then. Especially since we were only getting one side and only when his pacing brought him close to the door. “Yeah, man, freaking twins. Think of it… The saps down at the news station will eat it up… Then get me the VP!… That’s what I said, this is pure gold!… Perfect. Thank you sir. Thirty minutes.” The last he said as he was walking back up to the door. He put his phone away. “Okay.” He clapped his hands, and then rubbing them together. “I’ve got great news guys. It somehow slipped by our analysts, but we didn’t know you had a twin. What was your name…?” He took the pen from the clipboard he had tucked under an arm and clicked it once.

“Jackson… Jackson Lee.” I said, as if wandering into a trap.

“Jackson. Fantastic. The alliteration is really going to sell… Well, Jackson. When my bosses heard that Jane here had a twin, they immediately offered to match the Golden Ticket winnings for you. A truck is already on their way to deliver everything in good faith.” He smiled magnanimously. “What’s the catch? I' sure that's what you’re wondering.” The guy was reading my mail. “Well, the catch is that your parents have to consent to allow some media coverage of the event. We believe that this story will do considerably more for our opening week than the cost of doubling the prize. What do you think of that?”

I stood, stunned. “I… think that you’ll get your story if I have to tie my parents up myself.” I said with a shaky laugh. Holy crap. I couldn’t believe it. I wouldn’t believe it, in fact. At least not until a second truck pulled up and they unloaded a second rig, clam shell style, like the first. Also like the first, they had to transport the top half and the bottom half in separately and assemble them in the guest bedroom. I practically just threw the guest bed into the garage in my excitement to make room. They were about the same size as a tanning bed, but what was strangest of all was that it wasn’t a model I was familiar with, and I knew them all. It was much cleaner, with smooth lines and soft curves. My head was spinning as the reps shook our hands and congratulated us again before pulling out into the street and driving themselves back. It seemed that not all angels flew.

“I’m gonna check them out.” Jane squealed, running into the room and then shouted a few seconds later. “I’ve never seen anything like this, have you?”

“I was just thinking the same thing. There’s nothing like it on the market.” I called out, heading to the room when I noticed Kaylin still standing there awkwardly. How long had she been there? I stammered an apology. “Kaylin, jeeze, I’m sorry. This has been a crazy morning.”

“Its okay,” she smiled nervously. “I was just about to leave. I just wanted to ask you if you were taking anyo—”

Dad burst in through the garage door, tripping over the empty scabbard he had belted back on for some reason.

“Zulu-Alpha-Niner! We’ve got to find her!” He shouted, picking himself up off the floor and sprinting at an awkward run to the side closet. He had the, “no bull, this is a real emergency” military grade sat phone in one hand as he pulled out three bug-out bags and threw them onto the love seat. My heart froze in my chest.

“Oh god, dad. Zombies?” My hands were shaking. I knew the day was going too perfectly. He stopped his mad dash around the room, grabbing odds and ends and turned to me, confused.

“What? No, no. Keep up, boy. The castle guards aren’t zombies. We just need to make sure they don’t catch us. They’re out of their league on this one. They’ll just end up getting in the way of finding her.”

“You’re not making sense.” I said slowly. “You ran in here and shouted an apocalypse code.” Lionel paused for another long second, his brow furrowing in concentration.

“No, I think you’ve got it wrong. That’s ‘Alas, Babylon’. Or is it Whisky Tango Foxtrot… I… I can’t ever seem to keep it straight” My shaking subsided and I huffed out a laugh. Thank God. I did not need a Z.A. to start my day.

“‘Alas, Babylon’ is a general emergency. Zulu-Alpha-Niner is one of the Zombie Apocalypse codes. Biological; Viral; Active; Pandemic; Recently Detected; Media Suppressed; Violent; Blood-borne; No Vaccine—to be exact.” I knew all of the Z.A. codes by heart. It was my worst fear and my secret wish at the same time. I glanced over to see Kaylin’s mouth agape. Her wide eyes darted between us. I gave her a sort of ‘what can you do’ shrug and turned back to him. “Dad, uh I mean—sir, what’s going on?”

He unhooked the belt in a clumsy motion. It fell to the floor with a clatter as he gripped the sat phone tightly in one hand.

His brow cleared. His awkward demeanor and frantic movements shed like a second skin.

Lionel Lee’s eyes locked onto mine with a deep clarity and purpose.

“I just got a call from the police. They found your mother’s car in an accident and refused to give me any details. They want us down at the precinct for questioning in an hour or they will be sending someone here to take us in.” The cold ball of ice doubled down in my stomach.

“But, where’s mom?” My voice shook.

“Your mother’s gone, son.”