The Simulation - Book 1

Chapter 4

Here's the next chapter of The Simulation! I hope you guys enjoy this chapter... and I'm sorry for not updating it sooner. I was super busy... with homework and exams and the usual IB problems... I hope you guys enjoy this chapter and please continue to try this story even though you might not be major fans of this story yet. Picture of 

Chapter 4

The rest of the journey back was torture to Laurel. Sleep was no longer an option for her. She found herself chewing on her nails every five seconds, no matter how many times Gavin tried to get herself to stop.

After the communication on that radio channel had stopped, Laurel panicked. She fired a dozen questions at Brandy, questions about which channel it was, who was talking, who was Dean, anything and everything she could think about to do with her brother. Viktor's reaction was more silent; he didn't say a word the entire time.

Brandy either did not have the answers for her or could not tell her. That did not stop her from trying, at least for the first hour. But when all of the Enforcers remained silent, she finally gave up and worried in silence.

Brandy flipped radio channels and finally managed to get in contact with the regular Enforcer channel. He relayed a simple a message as possible; he told them about the explosion, the lack of a vehicle and sent a request for a car to pick up the other Enforcers walking back to the city. When that was done, he turned off the radio and dropped it onto the floor. Although he didn't have a connection to Niko, Laurel and Viktor's younger brother, it was pretty sickening news to hear over the radio.

At about seven in the morning, Hayes stopped the car for a bathroom break. He was afraid that if he switched off the engine, it would never start again, so he stayed in the car and left the engine running while everyone else used the non-existent facilities. When Laurel had finished, she headed back to the car. Suddenly, she was yanked behind a tree by someone.

She squealed, but it was just Jennings.

"Jennings, what the hell!" she snapped. "You frightened me!"

Jennings' expression was urgent and somewhat anxious. "Laurel, listen to me," he said. "Dickinson was right. The job of the Enforcers is to take away people who know anything about the AR tech and the VR virus. Most people don't, at least not anymore, so the Enforcers mainly defend the city, which is why no one knows about that other job of theirs. If the Enforcers have your brother, you won't get him back."

Laurel was more pissed now than worried... at least for now. "Jennings, why are you telling me this now? Why not earlier?"

"It's breaking our code to tell you," he said. "I'm a Nose; I don't go by the exact same rules as the Enforcers do, but I was one of them once. Hayes and Brandy would literally kill me if they found out that I was telling you this."

Laurel swallowed hard against the sudden lump in her throat. "Seriously? They seem so... normal."

"Being normal doesn't prevent you from being ruthless," Jennings said seriously.

Fear flared up in Laurel. "What about Gavin and Viktor? Do they know too?"

"No," Jennings said immediately, much to her relief. "They don't know anything about it, not yet. Interns are trained and put through harder and harder situations until they are finally ready to know about the real mission of the Enforcers. Some don't make the cut. Every Enforcer has the ability to kill and has done it, at least once. We're trained to do everything."

"How come no one knows about this?" Laurel asked. "My brother is an intern, my boyfriend-" She cut herself off when she realized that she had called Gavin her boyfriend. Was that what he was to her? She had no idea and her mind was already spinning with enough emotional turmoil as it was.