Page 41 of Cyn
Now, though, in the soft quiet of the very early morning, Cyn pulled up the list on her computer and began to read through it again. About two-thirds the way to the bottom, an address caught her attention. It hadn’t been visited all that often, but when it was, the time spent on it was significantly longer than any of the other sites.
Curious, she opened a browser, checked her security protocols, then brought the site up. In a flash, her screen was filled with the name of an online gameSerrated Serpentoverlaid on top of a plethora of graphical images that included scantily clad women, Thor-like men, and all sorts of creatures that reminded Cyn of the bookThe Island of Doctor Moreau.
She considered doing a little more investigation into the game before joining, but it looked like a pretty straightforward single-person shooter game. So, opting to jump in, she created an avatar and started to play.
An hour in, she was already on level five and had five other players now on herteam. Judging by their handles, she’d guess they were men, but there was no way to know for certain without additional research.
“You’re pretty good at that,” Joe said from behind her. She was so caught up in the game she hadn’t heard him enter.
“Situational awareness and how to shoot multiple guns is part of the foundation of my education,” she said, throwing him a smile over her shoulder as she took out another monster, this one a brown, reptilian sort of thing. “I hope I didn’t wake you.”
“I woke up and the bed was empty. I got curious,” Joe answered, pulling a chair over and taking a seat beside her. “Is that any fun?”
She chuckled at the dismay in his voice. Like her, he had more experience with real guns than probably most people. She’d never asked him if he’d killed anyone, but she had, more than once in her life. And yes, after experiencing the real thing, the concept of death being turned intoentertainmentwas a little nausea-inducing.
“No, it’s terrible. But it’s a game Harrow, Waters, and Persons all play. I actually thinkNotallpersons,” she said, pointing to the name on the screen of one of the players playing with her, “is actually Travis Persons, judging by some of the things he’s said.”
“What’s the point of the game?”
“Watch for ten minutes and see if you can guess. I don’t mean to be annoying, but I’m truly curious if you come to the same conclusion I did.”
He nodded, and they fell into silence, except for the sounds coming from the game and the players chatting with one another. Seven minutes and a move up to the next level later, Joe sat back, the chair creaking under the movement.
“All the human players bear a striking resemblance to Hitler youth, don’t they?” he commented. “And the monsters are definitely monsters, but they all have some sort of stereotypical aspect to them representing different ethnicities. Is this a game subtly promoting white supremacy?”
“Look at the name,” she said.
“Serrated Serpent. Ah, nothing like the good ole SS to impersonate.” He remained silent as she and the team, which had grown by one more member, navigated their way through a forest. “Do you think this is more than a game?” he asked.
That was the question. “I don’t know,” she answered. “It’s possible there are different layers to it—deeper layers—that you have to be invited into and where the people might get to know each other a little better. If you asked me to bet on it, I’d say it’s more than a game, but I don’t have any evidence of that yet.”
“Can you get that tonight?”
Surprised by the question, she looked at him. “Probably not. I joined a few hours ago. If there are other layers, or if it’s being used for recruiting, I’m not someone they’d trust yet.”
“Then leave them wanting,” he said, settling his blue eyes on her. “Based on what I’m hearing, you’ve impressed the hell out of several of the players. Walk away now and come back tomorrow.”
There was some truth to what he was suggesting. She’d been playing her first session for a little over an hour, so it would look natural if she called it a night. “You just want me back in bed,” she teased, even as she assessed how to exit the game.
The left side of his mouth tipped up. “I certainly won’t complain about that.”
She took a few more shots, then saw they had one more minute to make it through the forest. Judging by the way they were playing, though, it wouldn’t take more than thirty seconds. “Make it worth my while?”
Joe’s deep chuckle rumbled through the room. “I’d like nothing better.”
Chapter Fifteen
At eleven the following morning,Cyn closed the door of her university office and leaned against it, drawing in a deep breath. She’d left the door open for the past few hours while she worked on a research paper she’d been toying with, but now she was getting hungry. Scratch that—she wasn’tgettinghungry, she was starving. She and Joe had gotten a little carried away in the shower that morning and both had rushed out without breakfast. Thankfully, the coffee machine took no more than a minute each, so they’d at least been able to caffeinate.
But that coffee and the small protein bar she kept in her bag weren’t enough to tide her over, and the idea of a couple of slices of pizza from Antonia’s Pizza in town had her reaching for her coat and hat.
She was almost out the door when she remembered she needed to shut her computer off before she left. Taking a seat behind her desk, she started saving her open documents before powering down. She closed the last of her files and her mind had started to drift to thoughts of pizza when two voices in the hall caught her attention.
The conversation was about their next class that started in thirty minutes, but what gave Cyn pause was that she recognized the two voices. Travis Persons and Michael Harrow.
The second her mind recognized an opportunity, a little devil perched on her shoulder. If they were on campus with a class at eleven thirty and then had her class at one o’clock, they probably wouldn’t be heading home for lunch. But what about Waters?
She debated for approximately two seconds before bringing up the student course database. Typing in Waters’ name, she saw he was in a lab from ten o’clock to noon.
