Michael Ford: Z

“Hold on,” said the girl. “I haven’t guessed yet.” She closed her eyes and scrunched up her eyebrows. She made a series of faces, moving her mouth around and seeming to get more and more frustrated. Finally she opened her eyes. “That was hard,” she said. “But I think I’ve got it. You have the eight of pentacles.”

Josh shook his head. “Nope,” he said. He held the card up so that she could see it.

“The tower,” the girl said. She shook her head and sighed. “That one always tricks me.” Then her face brightened and she smiled. “But that means you win,” she told Josh.

Josh smiled. “All right,” he said. “So what do I get?”

“How about I tell you where your friend is?” the girl said.

Josh laughed. “You don’t even know who I’m waiting for,” he said.

The girl looked at him, her eyes sparkling. “Charlie,” she said.

Josh stopped smiling. “How did you know that?”

“I know a lot of things, Josh,” said the girl.

“How—” Josh started. He stared at her for a moment as his brain put the pieces together. “Wait. You’re Charlie?”

“Not quite what you expected?” the girl asked.

Josh nodded. “Yeah,” he said. “I mean—”

“I know what you mean,” said Charlie. “You were expecting someone taller. Now come on. Let’s go somewhere we can talk.”

Charlie led the way back through the park. When they came to the statue of Drax Jittrund, she stopped and fished some coins from the pocket of her jeans. She tossed them into the water. “For good luck,” she told Josh.

Outside the park, Charlie walked about a block before pushing open the door of a small noodle shop. Josh followed her inside. The air was crazy with the sound of a language he didn’t understand. But Charlie spoke to a woman in the same language, and the woman pointed to a table at the back of the crowded room.

“I hope you like dumplings,” Charlie said when they were seated. “I ordered some for us.”

“Sure,” Josh said, shrugging. He couldn’t help staring at Charlie.

“What?” Charlie said. “You don’t like dumplings?”

“No,” Josh said quickly. “It’s just that I still can’t believe you’re a girl.”

Charlie rolled her eyes. “Get over it,” she said. “That whole ‘girls don’t game’ thing is so 2010.”

Josh blushed. “I know,” he said. “It’s just a surprise, is all.”

A waiter set a small cast-iron teapot and two small cups on their table and scurried away. Charlie poured tea into the cups and handed one to Josh. The steam that rose from it smelled like oranges. He held the cup in his hands and breathed it in.

“It’s easier if people think I’m a guy,” Charlie said. “It might be 2032, but boys still don’t like to be beaten by girls. And anyway, I like being invisible.”

“Why?” Josh asked.

“It has its uses,” said Charlie. “Anyway, I didn’t ask you here to talk about me. I want to talk about you. I’ve been watching you. I like your playing style.”

Josh snorted. “Apparently you haven’t seen my last few missions,” he said.

Charlie nodded. “You had some problems,” she said. “It happens. It’s not like you have the best partner.”

“Firecracker?” Josh said.

“The guy has no style,” Charlie said. “He just bulldozes his way through the missions. If you weren’t around, he’d be demoted to noob status in no time.”

“I don’t think he’s that bad,” Josh said as the waiter returned and set a steaming bowl of dumplings on the table.

“He is,” said Charlie, picking up some chopsticks and using them to pluck a dumpling. “But you, you’re good.”

Josh tried to pick up a dumpling, but it fell. He tried again and failed. But the third time he managed to catch the slippery dumpling between the sticks and raise it to his mouth. He popped it in before it could fall.

“See?” Charlie said. “You’re a fast learner.”

“Thanks,” Josh mumbled as he chewed the dumpling. He didn’t know what else to say. Had Charlie really asked him to come down here just to compliment his playing style?

“I have a little proposition for you,” Charlie said.

Josh raised an eyebrow. “What kind of proposition?”

“You’ve heard about the IRL games, right?” she asked in a low voice.

IRL. In real life. Of course I’ve heard of them, Josh thought. Everybody had. Everybody who played the game, anyway. Supposedly there were gamers who got together and played the game for real. The story was that there were still some places in the country where zombies turned up from time to time. When they did, gamers who were in on the secret would go and hunt them down. Only it was an urban legend, like the rats the size of dogs that supposedly lived in the sewers.

“Sure,” Josh said. “I’ve also heard of the sandman and the tooth fairy.” He started to pick up another dumpling, but it fell onto the table.

“What would you say if I told you the games are real and that I’m inviting you to play?” Charlie asked.

Josh poked at the dumpling, and it slid away from him. “Right,” he said, laughing.

Charlie reached out with her chopsticks and expertly scooped up the dumpling. “I only ask once,” she said, and put the dumpling in her mouth. “Yes or no?”

Josh stared at her. “You’re serious,” he said. “You play in the IRL games?”

“Keep it down,” Charlie ordered. “You might think no one in here understands you, but you’d be surprised who’s listening.” She cast an eye at the waiter who was shuttling bowls of noodles from the kitchen to the tables. Then she looked back at Josh. “The games aren’t quite what people say they are, but they’re pretty close to it. And like I said, I only ask once, so what’s it going to be?”

Josh hesitated. He was already pushing things with his parents by playing the online game. What would they say if they knew he was playing it in real life? But how can you pass this up? he asked himself. Before he could talk himself out of it, he spoke. “Yes,” he said. “Absolutely.”

Charlie smiled, although for a moment Josh thought maybe he saw something in her eyes that said she wasn’t completely happy that he’d accepted. But then it was gone. “Great,” she said. “I knew you would.” She stood up. “I’ve got to go. Meet me in the park tomorrow. Same time.”

“Wait,” Josh said. He wanted to ask Charlie just how real the game was. Like where did the zombies come from? But that was a dumb question. Of course they didn’t hunt real zombies. “What should I bring?” he asked instead. “I mean, I don’t have any gear or anything.”

“Don’t worry about it,” Charlie told him. “I’ll take care of you. Just show up.” She turned to go, then turned back. “And don’t tell anyone,” she said. “About me or about the game.”

Something about the look she gave him chilled Josh. Her eyes were hard, and she wasn’t smiling. He nodded quickly. “No worries,” he said. “I won’t say anything.”

Charlie’s friendly grin returned. “Great,” she said. “I’ll see you tomorrow.”

Josh watched her go. As soon as the door closed behind her, the waiter came over and slapped down a bill. “Pay up front,” he said, frowning.

“What’s with you today?”

Josh looked up from his lunch. “Sorry,” he said to Firecracker, who was looking at him as he chewed a bite of his sandwich. “What did you say?”

“I said we need to get busy on our planetary geography project,” Firecracker said. “Our presentation is tomorrow.”

Josh groaned. He’d forgotten about the project. He and Firecracker were supposed to do a report on how Antarctica was becoming a rain forest because of global warming, then do a presentation to the class. But they’d done almost no work on it. Every time they started to, they ended up playing the game instead.