Michael glanced over at Bryson to gauge his reaction, and the expression on his friend’s face gave him pause. He was leaning forward, squinting at a spot on the wall across from him. Michael tried to find what he was studying so intently, but the wallpaper didn’t seem any different from what they’d been walking past for hours and hours.
“Hey,” Michael said to him. “What are you doing? Did you find a weak spot?”
Bryson’s face relaxed, and he met Michael’s gaze. “Yeah, I think so. Well, not really a weak spot, just maybe a clue in the code on what we’re supposed to do. But I’m telling you—I’ve never seen anything like this before. The programming in this place is nuts.”
“No doubt,” Sarah agreed, just as Michael was nodding. “Whoever built this place is about a thousand times more advanced than I could ever dream of becoming. Makes me wonder more and more about this Kaine guy. He must be some kind of prodigy genius.”
Bryson shrugged. “Like I said, it’s nuts. None of us could do this. That’s for sure.”
“But I thought you found something,” Michael said, his hopes falling.
“I did. It might be some crazy-advanced coding, but we’re not so stupid ourselves. Check this out.”
He stood up and walked to the facing wall. He leaned his head up against it as if he was listening for something and glided his hands up and down the surface.
“Hear that?” he asked, looking back at Michael.
Michael’s only thought was that maybe Bryson had won—he’d been the first of them to crack from walking down an endless hall.
“Sounds like a guy rubbing his hands against a wall.”
Bryson grinned. “No, my friend. That’s a magic sound. It’s hollow.”
“Magic?” Sarah asked.
Bryson stood straight again. “Have some faith, my bestest of friends.” Then he reared back with his right foot and kicked the wall hard. A pop was followed by a splintering crack as the toe of his shoe disappeared through the wallpaper. He yanked it back out, along with a section of dry-wall, and there was a shower of white dust.
He glanced at Michael over his shoulder. “No door? No problem. We’re supposed to make our own.”
4
Bryson guided them to see what he’d spotted in the complicated cyclone of code, and sure enough, there was a clue there. It was just clear enough that they agreed the only way to slip into the next portion of the Path was to go through the wall.
Michael and Sarah joined Bryson, and they all went at it. Starting where Bryson had so graciously begun, they tore at the wall, pulling out chunks of chalky material and ripping off the loose bits of decorative paper. The skin on Michael’s fingers started to rub raw, but an excitement built inside him, and they worked faster and faster as the hole got bigger.
A breeze blew past Michael’s back, along with the same dreadful whisper, but he paid it no mind. He was getting out of that place.
Soon they had an opening large enough to go through if they crouched down.
“Who’s first?” Michael asked. The other side was so dark it looked as if a black drape had been hung there.
Sarah nudged Bryson. “It was your discovery, Bigfoot.”
“Fine by me,” he muttered. He bent over, gripped the torn sides of the makeshift entry with both hands, then stepped into the darkness. On the other side he stood up and Michael could just make out his pants as he turned in a circle.
“See anything?” Michael called out.
“Not a thing,” he responded, his voice slightly muffled. “Not a single thing. But it’s open and airy. Come on in—we’ll hold hands and sing songs while we explore.”
Sarah hunched down and exited the hallway, and then Michael followed. Bryson was right. The air was cool, and there wasn’t anything there.
“It’s creepy in here,” Michael said. “Anybody have a flashlight?”
Bryson clicked his EarCuff and his NetScreen appeared in front of him. He adjusted the settings, and soon they had a nice bright square to light their way.
“Brilliant,” Michael said. He and Sarah did the same.
“I know,” Bryson responded.
The only problem was that even though they now had a pool of light around them, it didn’t reveal anything. Michael could only see darkness—nothing else.
“It’s like we’re on the moon,” Sarah whispered.
Michael squeezed her elbow. “Except that we can breathe, there are no stars, and there’s still gravity.”
“Yeah, other than that, it’s like we’re on the moon.” She stepped farther into the darkness and looked in both directions. “Which way?”
“Forward,” Bryson answered, pointing straight ahead. “The code sure seemed to suggest it.”
“Plus,” Michael said, “I don’t want anything more to do with that stupid hallway.” For a moment, he wondered whether it was the right decision and why nothing was trying to stop them. But it seemed to be their only choice.
“Let’s do it, then,” Sarah said.
So they walked into the darkness.
5
It was weird and quiet and spooky. They moved across the black floor, their footsteps, their breath, and the rustling of their clothes the only sounds. Michael looked back, and the hole into the hallway was now just a tiny spot of light in the distance. The programming for this place was so incredibly solid, he thought, because the perspective felt real and stayed consistent. In lesser locations you could feel the weaknesses in the coding—the surroundings might subtly shift, the colors change, or you might get skipping in the light source.
“What’s the purpose of all this?” Bryson whispered. They were all whispering now, as if something in the darkness might hear them.
“It’s the Path,” Michael answered. It was starting to make more sense to him. “Kaine knows he can’t keep everyone out of his secret place. And he knows the good ones will have hacking skills. So he has us playing into his hands. It’s a lot easier to funnel people into a series of firewall programs that’ll scare them, make them wanna go back. Or kill them and accomplish the same thing. Man, I hate this dude.”
“He’s not a dude,” Sarah said. “He’s a madman gamer.”
Michael changed his line. “Man, I hate this madman gamer.”