Chapter One Hundred and Eight: Planning a Run

Chapter One Hundred and Eight: Planning a Run

Antoine went to find Chris.

“Has he told his brother anything?” Dina asked Kimberly.

Kimberly shook her head. “He really doesn’t like keeping secrets from Chris, but if there’s a chance this can get us out, he’s willing to. We just better hope this storyline is the right call.”

I certainly hoped it was.

Eventually, Antoine returned with Chris. Chris was carrying the Carousel Atlas.

“I hear you all can’t get enough of the action,” he said. “I figure since you survived so much already, it’s time you got a formal introduction to the Atlas.”

He held the enormous binder out for us to ogle.

“Antoine tells me you didn’t look at any of the storyline spoilers when you stole it before,” he said.The origin of this chapter's debut can be traced to N0v3l--B1n.

“Nope,” I said. We had been warned about spoilers in general, after all.

Dina shot a glance at me. I hadn’t caught her up on our previous conversation with Chris.

“It all starts with the map,” he said as he set the binder on the table and opened it up to a page that contained a large map of Carousel. This one did not contain much information. It was more like a table of contents for the rest of the book. “You look at the section of Carousel where the storyline you're looking for is. You guys want this area over here to the east so you go to page 84.”

He flipped to that page and it had an enlarged map that only contained the area to the east of Carousel where the parking lot and Benny's corn maze were. We had seen a similar mini-map of the mall area when we took the Atlas earlier.

“Then you find the individual storyline you're after, ‘Permanent Vacancy’ and you look for the numbers below it. The first number is the page where all the spoiler-free information is. The second number is the page with all the information we have in total, including spoilers. That stuff is good for when you're planning a run on a storyline you've already been through. Maybe if you're trying to get perfection or look for loot or, recently, find secret lore.”

He flipped through to the spoiler-free page for the storyline and held the page out for us to see. There was more than I expected.

Title: Permanent Vacancy

Omen: A woman approaches the players from the other side of an iron fence and screams to be helped.

Location: Olde Hill Road, gated drive.

“Now this top section can be one of the most useful sections on the entire page. It tells you which archetype you should ask for scouting information from for this specific storyline. Lucky for us this type of information is not considered a spoiler as long as you obtain it from the player yourself. As you'll soon find out scouting tropes can give you a lot,” he said.

He pointed to a short list that read as follows,

-Bounty Hunter

-Damsel

-Sheriff

Psychic’s Charmed Forecast: The Omen Appears at 7:23 PM, Every day.Athlete’s I Have Practice Later: It’ll be quick, an hour tops.Film Buff’s Suitability Rating: Adults Only, Graphic Content.Antiquarian’s Preliminary Appraisal: Garbage--wouldn’t even take it if it was free.Final Girl’s Rise to the Occasion: It won’t be easy, but we can take it! (~PA 23).Doctor’s Crime Scene Triage: Two dead, two injured. (First and Second Blood require deaths)

“What happened to the Scholar?” Kimberly asked.

“He wasn’t here when I got here, so who knows,” Chris answered. “Might be a missing poster of him near the Diner. He might not even exist. Could be a story Adeline made up, who knows.”

He looked us over. “So who are you bringing with you? Can’t just go out with four players. It’s not safe.”

I had the same concerns. An Athlete, an Eye Candy, an Outsider, and a Film Buff is not a complete team. But anyone we brought would be let in on our secret.

We were missing two players—one of them our Final Girl. Our most important player.

“We hadn’t figured out who to bring,” Antoine said.

Chris breathed deeply. “You might consider inviting Bobby. He’s around your level range and I hear he’s not a bad Wallflower. Bit chatty, but he has some good tropes and I’m sure he’s looking for something to do after his plans with Carl were interrupted.”

I was dreading he would say that. I wasn’t sure if Bobby would want to do a run with me. It did make sense though. Bobby had come to Carousel with us. If there was anyone that our Friends might be okay with being told the secret, it was him.

“It’s a thought at least,” Chris said. “You don’t have to go right now, you know. We still have some time, after an Apocalypse. There’s no rush.”

There was no way I was going to wait. Not with the chance to finally figure out what it was our Friends in High Places wanted.

Chris grabbed the Atlas and took it back with him wherever he was when Antoine found him.

“Dina, how well do you know Bobby?” Antoine asked.

She shrugged. “No better than you. He's talked to me before. He likes to talk.”

Antoine and I looked at each other.

“Maybe it's best if you go invite him on the storyline,” he said.

Dina did not look thrilled, but she obliged.

There was a nervous energy between us. We were either about to finally move forward in the mystery or we might just end up disappointed. Whatever the case, I was ready to know.

"What do you think we're going to find?" Kimberly asked. "And how are we going to find something that none of the others found?"

I thought for a moment.

"We aren't going to do anything on our own," I said. "I know that sounds cynical, but I just get this feeling that someone is moving the pieces into place. I think we might get to find out what they've been planning. I can't help but notice how many invisible hands have worked to put us in this place. If this theory is correct. If we really are supposed to go on this storyline, how many variables had to be accounted for to get us to this point? And why?"

"You always talk like that," Antoine said. "We've sacrificed a lot. We're going to get through this. I don't care who had been messing with us. Eventually, something has to shake loose. We can't keep running in place forever."

That must have been the first time since the Straggler incident that Antoine had been optimistic about our situation, even if it was forced. I hoped he was right.

After all, we were about to find out.