My Virtual Darcy 🏆 2021 Wattys Shortlister

27 - The World's End

Without a word, Amy helped me out of the car. My gaze then grazed the two silhouettes flanking her. "Bahiriya? Theo? I don't understand..."

My voice trailed off as I spotted the glint of a silvery disc on each of them. "Impossible."

Despair filled me. How could fate be so cruel as to use friends and family in my demise?

When was Theo captured? When the NPCs had cornered us in Pemberley portrait-gallery, he had sacrificed himself to let me flee back to reality. The characters had pinned him to the ground during my escape. Did he manage to log off afterwards, and did he look for me with the same anguish as I did? Or did Victoria's claws close in on him and lock his mind in-game? It did not matter anymore. He was now under his mentor's control. Bile rose in my throat. At least, she had not killed him, which meant she would not kill me either.

Bahiriya had a bruise on her cheekbone. Was it her girlfriend's doing? Did Kimani attack her to apply a Bridge, like the zombie in the mall had attempted on my person? In all cases, Bahiriya had baited me via texts to learn my location, and I had carelessly disclosed it. Amy was right: I was too trustful.

Oh, no... Amy... I could not wrap my head around her involvement in my kidnapping. Did she try on Edward's Bridge? I thought he had gotten rid of it after his accident. How foolish of her to come near this wretched device!

"Where are we? What are you going to do with me?" My voice quivered pathetically.

They ignored my questions and pushed me in the direction of an elegant manor. Two-story-high, with a classic beige stony facade and brownish slate roof, it featured an octagonal tower and a tasteful porch, upon which the four of us traipsed.

Theo knocked on the massive entrance door. When Victoria appeared, I recoiled, and made a run for it.

In two strides, Bahiriya and Amy were on me and had tackled me to the ground. I whimpered while Ames held me with an armlock, her knee jabbing between my shoulder blades. Beside Victoria, Theo observed us without saying a word.

"Guys, please, she's manipulating you..." I coughed, my face digging in the dusty gravel alley. Sobs shook my body as they pulled me back to my feet without ceremony.

"Why the hell are you here? Urgh, never mind." Victoria's fingers twitched when she brushed the Bridge on her temple.

Theo, Bahiriya and Amy snapped their heads in her direction like trained animals. Like one being, they straightened up and marched towards the house, the girls dragging me relentlessly through the door until Victoria slammed the door behind her.

A ghost of a person. That was what crossed my mind as she turned to face us. This morning, in the gloomy Batcave, I had only caught a glimpse of her inanition. Her once plump cheeks were hollow and ashen. The bun she was sporting was messy, and her roots, oily. As for her clothes, they hung miserably on her feeble body.

Under my inspection, Victoria crossed her arms over her chest, and raised her pointy chin up with bravado. "Look what the cat dragged in."

I crushed the pity that had arisen at her dreadful appearance, and returned her animosity. "Look what the cat asked the mice to drag in because the cat is a frigging coward."

She blinked. "I'm no coward."

"How would you call someone who sends other people to do the dirty job?"

She scoffed, then trudged to the living room. The girls followed her obediently, and lined up against the wall after shoving me inside, but Theo bumped into an armchair. He took a step back, and bashed into the furniture again. And again. And again.