Game On

Chapter 8

Chapter 8

And the world holds its breath

" Channel 7 , all the news all the time , Good morning  America, this is Travis Townsend bringing you some breaking news , reports are coming in of an explosion on the twenty third floor of Paradiso Tower ,  home to  two of the largest video game manufacturers in America , there are no details at present so we will go to our roving reporter who is at the scene , Polly Jones , do you have any more information for the viewers at home "

" Thank you Travis , No information seems to be available at present but there has definitely been an explosion of some sort , as we can see there is smoke pouring out of the twenty third floor windows and it would appear that all the security shutters are locked down tight , as of two minutes ago rescue services have been unable to make contact with anyone inside the building and so far they have not been able to gain entry to the building , we will bring more details as we find out what has happened but for now , back to the studio ."

The fire department had been the first on the scene , closely followed by several ambulances and many police cars , the officer who had noticed the shutters earlier was on the scene canvassing passers by in the hope of gaining information but to no avail . fire crew with cutting equipment were attempting to remove the steel shutters from the main entrance , as the first side was cut clear many people in the crowd of onlookers suddenly screamed , the fire crew looked at the glass door in horror , several bodies were pushed up against the glass as if they had tried to escape but they were encased in some sort of foam and it looked like they had suffocated . they quickly put the steel panel back in place and shouted to the police to clear the area of civilians " There's bodies in here and it doesn't look good , clear the area and tape it off right back to the road , NOW!" .

John stepped out of the elevator and into the decadently plush office of the C.E.O. , there was a well dressed man in his thirties sat behind an expansive desk , he appeared to be praying . He opened his eyes to look straight at John , he reeled in surprise . " Who the fuck are you ?" he said

John just stood there watching him , his gaze devoid of any emotion until he eventually spoke . " do you know what nemesis means ? "

" do I what ? , what the ...?"

" I said do you know what nemesis means ?" this was John's all time favourite movie quote , he continued , " A righteous infliction of retribution manifested by an appropriate agent. Personified in this case by a 'orrible cunt... me. "

"what the .... who the fuck are you ?"

" You might want to get that " said John , he tapped his control screen twice and the phone on the desk rang

The man grabbed the phone , " Hello , who is this ?"

" this is the New York city police department , who am I speaking to ?" .

" My name Is Joshua de la Croix , I am the C.E.O. of Rock Bottom Games , Can you tell me what the hell is going on and who the hell is this guy in my office talking about inflictions ?"

John tapped his screen once more and the phone went dead

" Hello , ... hello , are you still there ? Hello "  he stared at the phone in disbelief " what in the hell is going on here ?" he said almost pitifully

John tapped his screen a few more times and one single shutter opened .

" How are you doing that ?" said Joshua , clearly alarmed now and certain that the man in front of him was not at all friendly .

John opened the window and leaned out . " My name is John Davis and I think you need to see this "

" Oh Jesus what now " said Joshua approaching the open window , he looked down and saw the panorama of emergency services scurrying around on the ground " Christ on a fucking bike , what the hell is going on here ?"

" Everyone between here and the ground is dead " said John calmly

" Now why in hell would you say a thing like that ?"

" Because it's true "

" How do you know this?"

" because I have killed them all...... personally " replied John

" Jesus shit why would you say that ?"

" Again , because it is the truth , what is wrong with you people , all I have done today is tell people the truth but they don't seem to believe me and now they are all dead "

" Oh my god , you've taken everything from me , what did I ever do to you ?"

" a caring employer would be more worried about his staff not his losses "

" But you said they are all dead , how can I be worried about dead people with a mad man looking straight at me ?"

" a fair point and one I will rectify immediately " at this John simply pushed the man out of the window " now you need not worry any longer " he closed the window and tapped his control unit twice , the shutter closed itself again .

Joshua de la Croix hit the floor face first , everyone within thirty feet got sprayed by bits of him . he never knew why this total stranger had done this to him and in the few seconds it took for him to hit the sidewalk he never figured it out .

Now John could hear helicopters outside , at least four , he counted . " right on time " he said as he sat in the extremely comfortable chair behind the huge leather toped desk .

"Channel 7 , all the news all the time , Good morning America , This is Travis Townsend bringing you an update on this morning's breaking story at Paradiso Tower , we go live to Polly Jones at the scene of what could turn out to be a terrorist attack . Polly what news ?"

"Thank you Travis , this is Polly Jones reporting live outside The Paradiso Tower where not long ago Fire crew uncovered several bodies seemingly suffocated behind the main doors to the building , I am stood next to fire crew man Peter Gordon , Peter what can you tell us so far ?"

" Well Polly when we removed the security shutters form the front entrance we discovered several dead bodies that appear to be encased in some sort of expanding foam , we are not sure yet how many people are still trapped in the building but it is believed that over 500 people work in this building "

"Has there been any contact with anyone inside the building yet ?"

"It is my belief that the NYPD are in contact with someone believed to be Joshua de la Croix , the C.E.O. of Rock bottom Games as we speak ...."

There was I sickening thud followed by several screams ....

" I'm sorry Peter I have to cut you off there , Travis , it appears that a body has fallen from somewhere in or on the building , It's difficult to tell at the moment but whoever it is seems to have fallen from above the smoke line , I will have more news for you as we find out ourselves , for now though it's back to the studio ".

"Well folks you heard it here first , there are bodies inside and outside Paradiso Tower , we'll update you as soon as we have more information , Now over to Brad Richards on the sports desk , Brad ."

"Thank you Travis , well it certainly seems that Friday the 13th is attracting some serious bad luck for some today , all our thoughts are with the families as we try to find out exactly what is happening in down town New York . In other news the New York Jets are hoping for a win tonight  against the New England Patriots, Good luck boys , here at channel 7 we all wish you good fortune. That's it for now , we'll be back at one with the lunch time round up .

" Thank you Brad and we are all rooting for the Jets , I'm Travis Townsend signing off as the eyes of the world are watching down town New York , More news as it happens ."