Blues and Reds

A Story by ava KH

A bright icon flares up on my screen. This game has no advertisement like so many others I play. Only the words Blues and Reds in a boring font. I know I'm supposed to be studying the fall of America in the 5th World War, but I can't resist. Everyone on Earth is plugged into a game most of time. What's one more person giving way to the control of the machines?

Just as I plug in my virtual reality gear and plop into my zero-gravity chair my mom calls out," You are studying right Oshea?"

"Of course that's what I've been looking forward to all night," I retort as I roll my eyes and start the game.

My avatar lands in the middle of a desolate city. From the looks of it something blew up and drove all life out with it. I don't get any commands but the game does give me a story line.

About 15 years ago the national leading lab in neuroscience went kaboom. The chemical and gases released changed the structure of people's brains. The catch was only some were truly affected by this. The brains that were changed gave those people powers. Powers of mind control and telepathy. The ability to alter perception and read thoughts. These humans were labeled Red and those without powers were called Blue. These colors were assigned because people with red blood gained abilities and blue blooded people didn't. However, when the Blues were controlled by Reds their blood turned red too.

At first there were wars and the Blues held out against the Reds. After 12 years the Reds had successfully developed a device to ensure the Blues could be controlled. Now in the present the Reds could do what they wanted with Earth and they left the Blues in virtual realities thinking they were living normal lives. A miniscule Blue resistance force still held out in the desert and my character was one of their fighters. My mission was shut the central power source off in the old lab where the explosion happened. Only then would the machines be turned off and the Blues would become aware of their condition. If I succeeded, the Reds would be facing a war that would determine who would have control.

I'm kind of freaked out by this prompt. In my life, people are also plugged into games. Do we have no control? Are we slaves to others without knowing it? I brush these thoughts that tangle in my mind like weeds away. It's just a game, and I can quit anytime.

The demolished lab is only a couple miles away. I set off towards it, but duck between buildings and cover my face. I know the Blues are all shut up though the game never said where the Reds are. I'm astonished by the simplicity of this mission. No monsters, snipers, or militaries ambush me. That scares me more than the thought of being attacked.

The lab is only 50 feet away. No cameras, guards, or Reds around. I creep past the blown out doorway into a concrete tunnel. Graffiti on the walls tell stories I don't understand. There is a long stream of numbers in dripping blue paint: 114531. My heart leaps into my throat as the leaves by the wall stir in the wind. I just want to leave this tunnel, leave this story, leave this game. I try to hit the close icon on my dash but an image of a lock comes up. It seems I have to finish this to get out.

Trying not to think what will happen if I lose this game, I continue down the passage. My footfalls echo as I sprint to the end where a red light flickers. As my short choppy hair hits my ears I wish I'd never clicked on this icon. However something seemed to beckon me to this story since it first appeared on my screen.

I find a door that looks like it’s been forced open before. More blue paint is splattered across the metal handle. With my eyes shut I picture the blue numbers in the tunnel: 114531. I remember the drips and think how much it looked like blood. Not blue paint. Definitely not blue paint. Swallowing back vomit, I push into the room behind the door.

The crypt-like room is filled with control panels of buttons and switches; I don’t know where to look. The room glows red like hot coals. Then, I see more Blue blood in drips on the floor. Someone must have tried this mission before and failed. No, not just one person. One person couldn’t have made all the blue puddles staining the floor. On wobbly legs I stumble towards the panel with the most dried blood.

The panel has an alphanumeric code with six digits. I struggle to recall the numbers in the tunnel. There’s no way I’m going back there now. My fingers punch in two ones and an alarm begins to blare. Pounding footsteps in the tunnel reveal the first sign of life in this game. A life form I'm sure I don't want to meet. With my eyes closed in concentration I remember three more numbers, 4, 5, and 3. As I key in those three I realize what they spell: SAVE U. In blind panic I hit the 1 button to enter an S.

Right when the code is entered the room is bathed in blue light. The footsteps I heard fade but I don’t feel the familiar disorientation of exiting a game. Instead of the sensation of my stomach flipping like when your car heads down a huge hill, I feel as if I’d fallen asleep and woken up at night. That feeling of everything being wrong, backward, and seeming as if the whole world’s been changed.

I’ve just arrived in my bedroom when it flickers before my eyes like a mirage, turning into something I've never seen. A stone room with a headset and leather manacles binding me to a chair. Cold is radiating off the concrete floor and my mouth has a strangely metallic taste. With effort I wiggle out of the cuffs and release my body from the cold medical chair.

Not knowing what to do I pound at the inside of the cell door. No it can’t be. Outside my plexi-glass window is the room with control panels shining with blue light. I’m still in the game. I have to be. Crumpling to the floor I let out a shrieking wail. With my fingernails I dig into my forearm only to confirm what I already fear. My blood runs blue.