James Dashner - The Eye of Minds

Michael spoke against the wind, to a girl named Tanya.

I know its water down there, but it might as well be concrete. Youll be flat as a pancake the second you hit.

Not the most comforting choice of words when talking to someone who wanted to end her life, but it was certainly the truth. Tanya had just climbed over the railing of the Golden Gate Bridge, cars zooming by on the road, and was leaning back toward the open air, her twitchy hands holding on to a pole wet with mist. Even if somehow Michael could talk her out of jumping, those slippery fingers might get the job done anyway. And then itd be lights-out. He pictured some poor sap of a fisherman thinking hed finally caught the big one, only to reel in a nasty surprise.

Stop joking, the trembling girl responded. Its not a gamenot anymore.

Michael was inside the VirtNetthe Sleep, to people who went in as often as he did. He was used to seeing scared people there. A lot of them. Yet underneath the fear was usually the knowing. Knowing deep down that no matter what was happening in the Sleep, it wasnt real.

Not with Tanya. Tanya was different. At least, her Aura, her computer-simulated counterpart, was. Her Aura had this bat-crazy look of pure terror on her face, and it suddenly gave Michael chillsmade him feel like he was the one hovering over that long drop to death. And Michael wasnt a big fan of death, fake or not.

It is a game, and you know it, he said louder than hed wanted tohe didnt want to startle her. But a cold wind had sprung up, and it seemed to grab his words and whisk them down to the bay. Get back over here and lets talk. Well both get our Experience Points, and we can go explore the city, get to know each other. Find some crazies to spy on. Maybe even hack some free food from the shops. Itll be good times. And when were done, well find you a Portal, and you can Lift back home. Take a break from the game for a while.

This has nothing to do with Lifeblood! Tanya screamed at him. The wind pulled at her clothes, and her dark hair fanned out behind her like laundry on a line. Just go away and leave me alone. I dont want your pretty-boy face to be the last thing I see.

Michael thought of Lifeblood Deep, the next level, the goal of all goals. Where everything was a thousand times more real, more advanced, more intense. He was three years away from earning his way inside. Maybe two. But right then he needed to talk this dopey girl out of jumping to her date with the fishes or hed be sent back to the Suburbs for a week, making Lifeblood Deep that much further away.

Okay, look He was trying to choose his words carefully, but hed already made a pretty big mistake and knew it. Going out of character and using the game itself as a reason for her to stop what she was doing meant hed be docked points big-time. And it was all about the points. But this girl was legitimately starting to scare him. It was that facepale and sunken, as if shed already died.

Just go away! she yelled. You dont get it. Im trapped here. Portals or no Portals. Im trapped! He wont let me Lift!

Michael wanted to scream right back at hershe was talking nonsense. A dark part of him wanted to say forget it, tell her she was a loser, let her nosedive. She was being so stubbornit wasnt like any of it was really happening. Its just a game. He had to remind himself of that all the time.

But he couldnt mess this up. He needed the points. All right. Listen. He took a step back, held his hands up like he was trying to calm a scared animal. We just metgive it some time. I promise I wont do anything nutty. You wanna jump, Ill let you jump. But at least talk to me. Tell me why.

Tears lined her cheeks; her eyes had gone red and puffy. Just go away. Please. Her voice had taken on the softness of defeat. Im not messing around here. Im done with thisall of this!

Done? Okay, thats fine to be done. But you dont have to screw it up for me, too, right? Michael figured maybe it was okay to talk about the game after all, since she was using it as her reason to end itto check out of the Virtual-Flesh-and-Bones Hotel and never come back. Seriously. Walk back to the Portal with me, Lift yourself, do it the right way. Youre done with the game, youre safe, I get my points. Aint that the happiest ending you ever heard of?

I hate you, she spat. Literally. A spray of misty saliva. I dont even know you and I hate you. This has nothing to do with Lifeblood!

Then tell me what it does have to do with. He said it kindly, trying to keep his composure. Youve got all day to jump. Just give me a few minutes. Talk to me, Tanya.

She buried her head in the crook of her right arm. I just cant do it anymore. She whimpered and her shoulders shook, making Michael worry about her grip again. I cant.

Some people are just weak, he thought, though he wasnt stupid enough to say it.

Lifeblood was by far the most popular game in the VirtNet. Yeah, you could go off to some nasty battlefield in the Civil War or fight dragons with a magic sword, fly spaceships, explore the freaky love shacks. But that stuff got old quick. In the end, nothing was more fascinating than bare-bones, dirt-in-your-face, gritty, get-me-out-of-here real life. Nothing. And there were some, like Tanya, who obviously couldnt handle it. Michael sure could. Hed risen up its ranks almost as quickly as legendary gamer Gunner Skale.

Come on, Tanya, he said. How can it hurt to talk to me? And if youre going to quit, why would you want to end your last game by killing yourself so violently?

Her head snapped up and she looked at him with eyes so hard he shivered again.

Kaines haunted me for the last time, she said. He cant just trap me here and use me for an experimentsic the KillSims on me. Im gonna rip my Core out.

Those last words changed everything. Michael watched in horror as Tanya tightened her grip on the pole with one hand, then reached up with the other and started digging into her own flesh.

Michael forgot the game, forgot the points. The situation had gone from annoying to actual life-and-death. In all his years of playing, hed never seen someone code out their Core, destroying the barrier device within the Coffin that kept the virtual world and the real world separate in their mind.

Stop that! he yelled, one foot already on the railing. Stop!

He jumped down onto the catwalk on the outer edge of the bridge and froze. He was just a few feet from her now, and he wanted to avoid any quick movements that might cause her to panic. Holding his hands out, he took a small step toward her.

Dont do that, Michael said as softly as he could in the biting wind.

Tanya kept digging into her right temple. Shed peeled back pieces of her skin; a stream of blood from the wound quickly covered her hands and the side of her face in red gore. A look of terrifying calmness had come over her, as if she had no concept of what she was doing to herself, though Michael knew well enough that she was busy hacking the code.

Stop coding for one second! Michael shouted. Would you just talk about this before you rip your freaking Core out? You know what that means.

Why do you care so much? she responded, so quietly that Michael had to read her lips to understand. But at least shed stopped digging.

Michael just stared. Because she