Van wasted no time following the instructions. He headed left to make his way round to the South side, using the trees to stay hidden. Tom waited for the moment at which all the guards were facing away from them, then broke cover and hurried towards the East gate. He climbed down at the edge of the moat, hung off the drawbridge, and sidled along. Some guards turned around, but none saw him. Zak watched carefully, waiting to see if Tom would be spotted, as he didn’t want to kick up a fuss sooner than necessary. Inevitably, one of the guards became suspicious, and moved towards the drawbridge to investigate. Zak knew he had to eliminate him, and lifted his rifle to take aim.
Suddenly, Zak’s vision went blank. He opened his eyes to find his mum standing over him, having pulled his head off the Mind Mat by grabbing hold of his ears.
‘Ow!’ wailed Zak, as she let go.
‘I do not appreciate waiting around while you play games,’ she said loudly.
‘But I’m in the middle of a mission. I can’t just drop out,’ he pleaded.
‘You knew we were waiting before you started,’ she said. ‘So that’s tough.’
Zak spotted Skye standing in the doorway, arms folded.
‘Okay,’ said Zak. ‘Just let me sign out. Please?’
Mum reached forward and swiped the Mind Mat off the gaming chair. She clutched it to her chest and glared at Zak.
This was serious.
Without another word, he leapt out of the chair, and followed her as she turned and marched out of the room.
Skye winked at him. Had Mum not been so furious, Zak would have delivered a kick to Skye’s backside.
He co-operated because he’d pushed Mum to the limit. If he pushed too far, she was not afraid to dish out the ultimate punishment – confining Zak to his room and denying him access to the computer. No computer meant no entertainment, no information, and no communication. There would be nothing to do but stare out the window of a grey room.
