Chapter Ninety: Unintended Consequences

Chapter Ninety: Unintended Consequences

“You know where the airfield is?” Chris asked Travis.

Travis nodded. “I remember the place,” he said. “Over by Pit Boulevard.”

"You got it."

Chris turned to the bus. “We have a lot of players around or below level thirty. That’s dangerous. Omens at the airfield can be higher level than that. Grace will divide us into teams to try to make us more balanced and ensure there are higher-level players in each team. No complaints, people. This one is for real.”

Grace took out her notebook and pen and started creating team lists.

“Antoine with me,” Chris said.

“And Kimberly,” Antoine added.

“I can do that.”

Grace scanned the bus and started pairing everyone together in an attempt to create well-rounded teams and to distribute lower-level players as well as higher-level ones.

After a minute or two, she had the list together and read it all for us.

The plan was to find three separate Omens of the appropriate danger level and create three teams to beat each one.

The teams were divided as follows:

Team 1:

1. Grace: Detective, Plot Armor: 41

2. Chris: Athlete-Sport, Plot Armor: 58

3. Antoine: Athlete, Plot Armor: 19

4. Kimberly: Eye Candy, Plot Armor: 17

5. Riley: Film Buff-Filmmaker, Plot Armor: 22

Team 2:

1. Tory: Final Girl-Scream Queen, Plot Armor: 29

2. Mark: Scholar-Strategist, Plot Armor: 30

3. Vernon: Bruiser-Bully, Plot Armor: 31

4. Dirk: Bruiser-Brute, Plot Armor: 38

5. Jesse: Outsider-Newcomer, Plot Armor: 41

Team 3:

1. Anna: Final Girl, Plot Armor: 21

2. Reggie: Bruiser-Gentle Giant, Plot Armor: 40The original appearance of this chapter can be found at Ñøv€lß1n.

3. Camden: Scholar, Plot Armor: 18

4. Bella: Bruiser-Bully, Plot Armor: 37

5. Travis: Outsider-Criminal, Plot Armor: 32

6. Jose: Soldier, Plot Armor: 30

Anna and Camden looked apprehensive about being separated from the rest of the group. Grace appeared to notice this.

“Reggie is going to make sure that both of you are safe,” she said. “Right, Reggie?”

“I’ll take care of you,” he said.

Everyone moved around to sit near their teams except for Travis, who was driving. We discussed our strategies.

“Which of you is First Blood?” Chris asked.

I was about to volunteer. I would have probably been forced into it anyway because of my artificially low plot armor. Before I could, Kimberly raised her hand.

“I can do it, but I left my Looks Don't Last trope at the Lodge,” she said.

Anna and Camden were going for Headhuntress Reborn.

The team with Jesse was going to Preservation.

Finally, my team was going for The Strings Attached.

As we pulled into the parking lot before we disembarked from the bus, Kimberly hugged Anna.

“See you guys on the other side,” Camden said.

“We’ll be fine,” Antoine said. “We just have to run the story. We’ve done it before.”

Camden nodded.

After pulling away from Kimberly, Anna came toward me with her arms outstretched and hugged me.

As soon as the bus was stopped and we unloaded, she and Camden ran behind their team.

Travis held onto Tory, his girlfriend, and teammate, and gave her a kiss as they left for their separate storylines.

“Come on, Riley,” Antoine yelled, snapping me out of the weird moment I was having as I realized that many of the players, even the vets, weren’t sure whether they were coming back.

I ran toward the limousine.

“Conner Party, I presume,” the driver said as we began piling into the back of the limo. “As requested, I have fetched your evening wear.”

As I took a seat and looked around, I found that the limousine had five available seats. There were clothes hanging from a bar next to the small refrigerator. It was a luxury car, through and through.

As soon as we were all loaded in, the driver quickly took his seat and put the pedal to the metal. Even though he had to play his part as the Omen, it was clear that he was aware of the coming danger.

“How is this thing supposed to get us to safety?” Antoine asked. “If there was a road out of town over here, why didn’t we just go there on the bus?”

“If there wasn’t a way out, the Omen would have disappeared like all of the others,” Chris said. He didn’t sound sure.

I started to suspect there were other reasons he put himself and his little brother in the limo instead of the other options available.

If you had to choose between getting caught by the storm in a car or an airplane, the choice was pretty simple.

As the limo headed north, I looked behind us toward the airfield, hoping to see a plane taking off from the runway.

What I saw froze my blood in my veins.

Headhuntress Reborn had disappeared from my view. The helicopter was still there, but the Omen was gone. So was the Omen that was so strong I couldn’t even read the storyline title.

The only Omen left over there was Preservation.

“Turn around!” I screamed.

The others turned and struggled to see what I was looking at. The driver didn’t listen to me in the slightest. He was still speeding away.

I beat my fist against the window.

As I watched, Anna and Camden's team ran toward the big blue plane that held the Omen for Preservation. They made it to the door just as the other team had loaded in. Travis climbed inside, then Bella and Jose.

Then the door closed. The storyline must have hit its limit.

The airplane started taxiing away from Anna, Camden, and Reggie.

Everyone in the limo started screaming for the driver to turn around. He ignored us. I could see his face in the rear-view mirror. He looked like he understood exactly what was happening. His face was grim.

I tried opening the car door, but it was locked. We were stuck. Our storyline had begun. We had passed from Omen to Choice. It was too late.

Anna, Camden, and Reggie were stranded.

The limousine continued to head north, skirting around the edge of the storm. Eventually, we turned onto a road that I had heard of before. It was called Turn Around Rd.

A sign said "Dead End," but the driver continued.

We came upon a bridge.

I heard Chris and Antoine begin to talk as we went along. Apparently, the bridge that we crossed was usually out. This road was unpassable unless you happen to trigger an Omen for a storyline on the other side.

Kimberly was crying inconsolably.

I leaned my head against the window next to my seat.

I wondered who, if any of us, would survive.