But his body wouldn’t shut up. He thought he would be released immediately. Had he entered virtual limbo?
An uncomfortable sensation on the back of his neck made him jolt. It was water, trickling down. He turned his head round and worked it out – he had plunged into a snow drift against the castle wall. He was still alive!
Zak so wished he wasn’t.
As he moved, he wondered how it could possibly be. Besides the pain, he sensed his right arm moving in the opposite direction to what he intended. Now he could tick off broken bones!
He tried to heave himself up, as much to try and break his own body as get out. He hooked his left hand into the snow wall above him.
The snow gave way, and he collapsed to the bottom of his hole.
Zak’s groans were by now barely audible. Would anyone ever find him here? Maybe if he stayed put, Van and Tom would get bored, and end it.
He curled up.
Two shameful attempts to quit. He might rather stay here, in his misery, than face the others. Did he really want to do this for a living? True-To-Life was nothing like the junior version. Skye was right, he would never play it again.
He had heard the warning, but the message didn’t get through. How many others rushed to play True-To-Life, and suffered the same fate. Well, Van for one – he begged to quit also. Maybe this happens to everyone, but they can’t all be giving up.
Could he bring himself to have another go? Could he learn to cope? His whole body throbbed, as if to make its feelings known. But the sensation had numbed slightly, losing its edge. Perhaps deep in his subconscious, his mind knew that it was not his real body crumpled in a heap, despite the Mind Mat feeding it all the correct signals.
For every person he could outlast, he would rise a place in the world rankings. And once a game was over, there would be no harm done.
