Chapter 2. new provider

A Chapter by Nick

My phone went off the next morning….well not my phone exactly. It will make more sense if I continue. I figured it was my alarm on my phone so I pulled it out to turn it off but when I pulled my phone from my Jeans pocket it was already off. Not the alarm but the entire phone and it wouldn’t turn on. I figured it was dead, thought I’d charge it later so I threw it on the desk with the TV. I looked around everyone else was still asleep. Figures I’m always the first one up I looked around for a clock the digital one on the desk read 10:37. we slept for eight hours not bad. I opened the door slowly its creaking noise sounded louder then it actually was. I stepped outside then went back in. Without a phone how would they be able to reach me? I slowly opened the door again the creaking noise managed to get Fish to turn; I thought he was waking up. I froze. When jack finished turning over onto his side I slid the door a few more inches open it wide enough for me to get through. I opened the drawers and found a pad and pencil inside. Lucky! I thought in my head as I wrote a note reading I was going for a walk. I exited through the door and when I finally got it shut began walking down the hall when a vibration coming from my coat pocket caught my attention I reached into my pocket and what I found made me mad.

Not mad, but disappointed that I didn’t notice the girl at the bar had slipped her phone into my pocket when I was focused on the greasers. It was a strange looking contraption. The main screen rotated from portrait to landscape and folded on top was a square with a camera on it attached to a circle. Under the camera was a screen displaying the time battery and how much battery I had; it was full. The circle was the strange par the outer rim was silver with strange symbols written into it. The circle itself had a strange picture on it, a sword pointing downwards with a scale over top. I flipped it over. On the back of the screen was another camera and the number seven in roman numerals in a shield on a silver surface. I flipped the circle up. On the other side the circle was the keyboard. The numbers one through nine, zero, and clr were shown. Above the circle of numbers was a center button a black circle with a grey ring around it. The phone itself was black and white. It began vibrating again I received an email.

“Nice it gets-“ I stopped the title read ”please read Mr. Marreck”.

I told my self not to open it and put the phone in my pocket. That worked well till the next email arrived. Its title “read now”. So I went back to the first email and opened it all it read was answer the phone. As if the phone knew it began ringing the second I finished reading. It was still on vibrate. Wanting not to piss off the person obviously watching me I answered. An old man was on the phone his voice old and raggly

“Welcome number seven how nice of you to join us finally.”

“Us?” I asked

“Yeah there’s eight of us in total” a younger voice answered. Sounded like the person was around his twenties. At this point a woman started talking

“kid must be new to the game. What a loser!” she mocked

“IM GONNA LOOK FORWARD TO RAPING YOUR WHITE A*S!” A deep voice rang out. I had to move the phone away so not to blow an ear drum. I started laughing, I couldn’t hold it in. The phone went silent. When I finally calmed down I put the phone to my ear and the old man from before started again.

“you’ll have to excuse them number seven, most of them have criminal priors.”

I got serious.

“I chose you for this game because I wanted to add someone who didn’t want in on this game. Let me explain.” He coughed.

“This “game” as they call it is simply this; your phone has ten billion dollars on it. Simply scan the phone past anything that would scan a credit card and the phone will take care of the rest.

“T-ten billion?” I froze I could retire for the rest of my life with that much, or at least live happily for quite some time.

“Yes if you need something you can’t buy normally simply press the center button on your phone and a concierge A.I. will take care of your request.

“I’m starting to like this game.” I said

“That will change.” The twenty year old said chuckling.

“May I continue number three?” the old man cut in. “As I was saying the A.I. will take care of your request. The rules are simple.

Eliminate all other numbers from the game.

“What do you mean eliminate?” I asked he just continued

“if you run out of money you are eliminated”
“if you go to the police you are eliminated”

“This doesn’t sound fun anymore.”

“One of the eight work for me and that number will stop at nothing to eliminate you all.”
If you do anything I deem inappropriate during the game you will be eliminated

“Are eliminated or will be eliminated” I asked again

“You may not by any means leave the city of New York until the game has ended.”

“That’s going to be a problem”

7. “You can check what others buy using the history menu”

“And finally number eight. I, Mr.0 can change the rules at anytime to fit my needs”

“That seems kind of unfair” I said.

“My game number seven, my rules” he paused “Any questions”

“Yeah, what’s this phones number?” I asked, the woman came back on

“Wow, he really doesn’t know anything does he?”

“Your old phone’s data was drained to this one. Your pictures, ring tones, the whole shebang all loaded onto your new phone. A new voice mentioned. He was definitely around my age.

“And when one of us wins?”

“You’ll be invited to see me where ill give you your reward the greatest prize in all the world. With nothing else I wish you good luck and may you enjoy the hunt” immediately after he finished the sentence the phone hung up. I folded it and placed it in my pocket. My room door opened Brett stepped out.

“Oh, hey! Lucky I caught you the three of us are gonna get some breakfast and Fish is paying.” I looked up from my phone at Brett

“you all right?” he asked

I wanted to tell him to explain how I had inherited 10 billion dollars. Just the idea of that much money made me shiver. Tell him tell fish and Matt and have a night out on the town. Just say Hey guess what if I kill 6 other people I get a s**t load of money!

“no….no I’m fine where we going? I’m Starving.”

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