Game Time

• Prithuvi Mithulananthan, Grade 6
• Short Story
• 2020

The bomb became heavier in my arms as I approached the massive warehouse. The landscape flew past me, as the dry grass crunched beneath my shoes. The vast doors of the building loomed before me. Looking down at the signal tracker in my palm, there was a tiny dot marking the rendezvous point. This had to be it. With my modified D-676 rifle at hand, I moved into the building. There was no one inside. There was the sound of a sniper being reloaded. My body spun. I crept up the long rows of boxes, turning around at the slightest movement. There was a crack as the first bullet punctured a hole in the box next to me. The noise broke into gunfire.

Bullets were fired all over the place, changing the warehouse in a war zone. Snipers collapsed like rag dolls. Guards fell to the ground as if they were puppets with their strings cut. Machines were destroyed. Catching a glimpse of the power box, my body edged towards it. My sneaking movement broke into a run as the line of fire went behind me. I rummaged in my pocket, until I found the master key. My hand jammed it into the lock, and turned it until a match was found. The power box swung open, and I placed a lock chip in and activated it. The system performed a reboot, and I could control it.

Grabbing a lens, I examined the advanced security microchip. Using my computer, the system’s firewall was nothing compared to my hacking skills. Moving quickly, the bomb was connected by me to the power. The manual override was activated. The LCD screen started the bomb’s countdown. It echoed in my radio headset. 30… 29… 28… Turning around, the world became unrecognisable, as the warehouse doors were in the distance. 24… 23… 22… My feet became a blur as they thudded on the ground. 15… 14… 13… The grass became asphalt, as the helipad came closer. My feet were caught in a small hole and my body fell to the tarmac. 9… 8… 7… I felt warm liquid trickling down my leg like water. 5… 4… I crawled over to the helipad. Just. 3… One. 2… More. 1… Step!

The world went quiet, and then… Boom! A bright orange mushroom cloud stretched into the atmosphere as chunks of concrete came raining down as hot, burning debris. A visible shockwave spread out from the blast’s epicentre. Fear tore at my chest. I grabbed the blast protection shield from my pack and placed it around me. The force could be seen as a yellow aura, as bright as the surface of the sun. Reading the white analog text, it showed on the screen, “Exceeding energy shield limits”. Suddenly the shield imploded, blasting me away from the explosion. Taking advantage of the situation, I scrambled to my feet. The aftershock threw me to the ground. Out of the corner of my eye, I saw my mission partner climbing out of the jet, searching for me.

There were scratches and cuts all over my body. I looked down, and the sight of my own blood made me dizzy. My head spun. Ignoring the stinging pain, I reached for the SOS button on my suit. The air rippled with waves of energy. My heart thumped against my chest, beating harder than ever before. I stood up for a second, knees shaking, only to fall again. A man sprinted toward me, just as my vision blurred and faded into never ending darkness. The sound of a plane’s engine starting woke me up as I jerked violently from unconsciousness. The man healed me, until I was strong enough to run. The controls were in front of me, ready to be piloted. As the bay doors were closing, I heard my mom through the headphones. “Jack, time for dinner!” I took off my headphones and shut down my console… before I had finished the level!