Skye was visibly stunned, and took longer than her usual pause to respond.
‘But True-To-Life has no pain threshold. It’s as if it were real,’ she said, then laughed with incredulity. ‘Only professionals are allowed access to that – don’t you realise what it’ll be like?’
‘Course I do. Proper weapons and human enemies. We get shot and feel real pain. It’ll be great,’ said Zak, ending with a huge grin.
Skye swung a fist and walloped him on the arm.
‘Wha!’ yelled Zak, as the force almost toppled the chair.
‘You don’t know what pain is,’ she said, mocking him.
Zak recovered his composure once the chair stopped rocking.
‘I know it’s going to be tough, but I’m ready for it,’ he protested seriously, while conscious of his throbbing arm.
‘No you’re not. You won’t last five minutes!’ said Skye.
‘I’ll do better than that,’ said Zak defiantly. ‘But when I do get killed, I’ll get to experience death.’
‘Death!’ cried Skye with derision. ‘You think you’re going to enjoy that do you? Your body getting ripped to shreds by bullets.’
‘I’ve been told it’s the best thrill in the world.’
‘By your mentor Tom? I wouldn’t trust him. He’s full of it.’
‘But you said it yourself. I’ll never become a professional if I just play the kids’ version.’
‘Oh come on! You’re not still dreaming about that are you.’
Skye stood with her hands on her hips, which Zak recognised as her sign of contempt for him. But he had an answer to that. He turned back to the wall, and swiftly presented her with a huge table of names, one of which, near the bottom right hand corner, was highlighted.
‘Yeah. And why not? I’m now ranked 249th in the world at junior level,’ he said with pride.
Skye took that in for a moment.
‘That’s rubbish,’ she said dismissively.
‘What!’ said Zak. ‘In the world! Considering I’ve still got nearly four years left at junior level.’
Skye again took a moment to respond.
