Wendy didn't know if she wanted to scream, cry, laugh, or just collapse on the ground and forget everything that had happened in the last 24 hours. Fantasizing about doing each of these things helped her stay lucid as she put one foot in front of the other, following behind Peter as he guided her through a complex system of tunnels.
What have I just agreed to? She thought wearily. This guy might be leading her to a death cave. Or he could be luring her into some horrific trap. He seemed too innocent to be knowingly escorting her to danger, but then again, he was completely nuts. He could throw her into a snake pit thinking it was a fantastical lake. Regardless, this had just seemed like a better option than trying find her way through the labyrinth of dark passageways by herself. Her best bet was to make it to this so called 'Neverland,' proclaim that she hated it, and hope that Peter kept his promise to take her back.
"We're getting close!" Peter called back cheerily, interrupting her thoughts. His tiny lantern provided sufficient light to see about 15 feet in front of them, but since she was walking behind him, the area immediately in front of her was dark and she often stumbled over roots and rocks.
"So, what's this Neverland like?" She asked, not because she was interested, but because she wanted something to distract her from her crazed thoughts.
"It's incredible," Peter replied. "There's so much to see and you can do almost anything you want. It's nothing at all like the Grey World."
"Grey World?"
"The place where you live."
"Oh." Wendy was a bit put off by the name he had given to her city, but after she considered it for a few moments, she could see why he called it that.
"So, you live in Neverland?"
"Of course."
"How long have you lived there?"
"Forever," Peter said simply, as if this were an appropriate response.
"How old are you?"
"I don't know. I can't remember."
"Do you have any other family?'
Peter scratched his head. "Well, there are the other boys; Slightly, Curly, Nibs, the twins..."
"Are they your brothers?"
"No."
"Do you have any parents?"
"What are those?"
Wendy huffed. "A mother or a father. Your mother gave birth to you. Your parents are adults that are responsible for you, they take care of you."
"Oh, no, I definitely don't have any of those."
"Well, you had to have had a mother sometime."
"Maybe. I don't remember."
There seemed to be a lot of things this boy didn't remember. The most unnerving thing, though, was that he didn't seem to care much about it. They walked a few more yards in silence, and then Wendy tripped on a rock and lurched forward. She grabbed at Peter to keep herself from falling, and found herself hugging his back. He peered at her over his shoulder and raised his eyebrows. She quickly straightened up.
"Would you like me to carry you again?" Peter offered.
"Absolutely not," Wendy responded, a little annoyed that for a split second she had considered it. "But maybe I should walk in front of you."
"That'd be nice. I like to look at your hair."
"Ugh, never mind."
As they continued weaving through numerous tunnels, Wendy thought she could hear some kind of static humming, and she imagined electrical wires sparking beneath the tunnel walls.
"This is it," Peter called back suddenly, shining his light on a large door that looked completely out of place in the dingy tunnel. It was sleek and shiny and had a numeric keypad on it. Wendy drew in her breath. It was just a door, but this was already far more bizarre than she had imagined.
"Are you ready?" He asked, giving her an intense look that made Wendy want to turn and run. But her curiosity won out. Peter punched in a long code, and the door slid open, revealing a huge, well-lit cavern full of computers, controllers, scientific-looking instruments, and a massive screen that covered the far wall. Wendy was intrigued and horrified at the same time. How did they get all this stuff down here? Her eyes wandered to some kind of lab set up in the far corner and she shuddered as thoughts of being dissected ran through her mind.
There was a scraping sound and Wendy whipped her head to the side as a group of boys approached them from the left. She shrank back. Not that the boys were all that intimidating, they were just completely unexpected. They seemed to be about as old or younger than Peter, and they were dressed in.... what were they dressed in? Tight, metallic body suits adorned with leather belts and vests that held all sorts of foreign contraptions.
"Peter! You're back!" The foremost of them shouted.
"We were worried you'd been killed!"
They crowded around Peter, apparently not noticing her, which Wendy didn't mind one bit.
"What are you all doing?" Peter asked, a trace of disappointment in his voice.
"The pirates locked us out," two boys replied at the same time.
"What?" Peter gasped, as if this were the most devastating thing in the world.
"Yeah, we came for some supplies, and they reset all the codes."
"How long have you been locked out?"
"All night. We tried a couple times to get back in, but without everybody here it's been impossible to coordinate an attack. They've been stealing all of our tokens."
Peter's face grew dark. "Turn on the consoles," he commanded, "we have to get them back."
The boys scurried to their stations behind the computers and began outfitting themselves with items from their belts. They put on various goggles, earpieces, and visors, and stuck sensors onto their foreheads, hands, and feet.
Wendy watched as Peter shed his sweatshirt and jeans, revealing a similar bodysuit that showcased a rather impressive physique. She scolded herself for staring. "This is the lunatic guy that just kidnapped you, remember?" She muttered.
Peter held up the small figurine he had retrieved from her a few hours ago. All the other boys followed suit, each holding their own metal piece in the air.
"Everybody ready?" Peter shouted. "Now!"
They all connected their figures into a small stand at the base of their computers and simultaneously the screens lit up, including the massive one on the wall. The huge picture was pixelated, and the image was constantly changing, but Wendy could make out some kind of a forest or jungle filled with bizarre creatures and men dressed in worn and dirty clothing with matted hair and yellowed teeth. The stereotype was so extreme it was almost comical, but there was no mistaking who they were supposed to be. Pirates.
Wendy groaned. This was it? This was Neverland? A bunch of boys hiding in a huge cave playing high tech video games? She was absolutely livid. This is what Peter had dragged her hours through wretched tunnels to see. She prayed that they would reach whatever their objective was soon so she could convince Peter to take her home.
"I've unlocked the Weather Tree, but Starkey's on my trail," someone yelled.
"I've got you," another answered.
Wendy watched the screen as a golden hawk pounced on a rotund pirate, knocking him to the ground.
"Thanks Nibs! Now come help me get the treasure chest."
The boys' fingers flew over keyboards and controls, and every once in a while they would jump up, run around, and punch or kick something in the air. They looked, on the whole, supremely ridiculous. Peering over at Peter's screen, she saw that his avatar would at one moment be a bobcat, and the next a bear, and the next a snake, and so on. It seemed all the boys were doing this, becoming different animals on their screens to attack their enemies and navigate this virtual world.
"Alright, the Pit of Uncertainty is unlocked."
"Good work, Curly."
"They've surrounded the rock on the lagoon," Peter shouted. "They must know that's the last one. Let's fake them out with the aerial attack!"
Except for Peter, all of the boys' animals changed to birds as they soared over a pristine body of water. They circled around a group of shoddy looking men, then dove at them. The pirates focused on the sky above them and took aim with an assortment of high tech guns and swords. But just before the birds came into range, a massive shark leaped out of the lagoon, spraying the pirates with water and diverting their attention. The rock was momentarily unguarded, and a small blue jay landed on top and pecked at a small button. The rock glimmered and the birds flew away, leaving an irate group of buccaneers. Wendy almost cheered, but then stopped herself and looked away. She refused to be interested in any of this nonsense.
She may have been largely unimpressed with Neverland, but she did have a thousand questions. Did all of these boys live here? Where did they sleep? What did they eat? Where were their parents? Who were these pirates? Were they just characters in the game, or was there another cavern somewhere housing an additional team of video gaming addicts?
"Now we just have to make it to the portal without getting disabled," a gangly boy announced.
"It looks like Captain Hook has barricaded it with rocks and mines," someone answered back.
Wendy rolled her eyes. Captain Hook? Please. It sounded like just the kind of name a gamer would give themselves.
"I'll take care of it," Peter answered, jumping out of his seat. The screens focused in on a man with curly black locks strutting in front of a pile of sharp rocks and devices obstructing the entrance to a cave. His regal garb made him look very out of place, but Wendy supposed authenticity wasn't the most important element in this virtual world. Peter began wriggling around, almost as if he were dancing. Wendy saw that his avatar had become a small lizard with a bejeweled head, and the creature was maneuvering expertly through the rocks. Between Peter and the lizard, Wendy had to admit that the spectacle was quite entertaining to watch. Finally, the lizard came to a large console and scurried around to punch in a code. A rectangular box with several shapes hollowed into it emerged from the ground, and Wendy gasped when she saw than an identical one had slid out from below the massive screen.
"Is everyone still active?" Peter called.
There was a chorus of affirmations, and Peter ran back to his computer.
"Disconnect in three, two, one, go!"
They all pulled the figures out of their stations and ran to the rectangular box, fitting them each into a unique hole. The screen went blank and the lights shut off, leaving them all in complete darkness.
So is this what they get for winning the game? Wendy wondered. A power outage? She tried to make out the shapes of the other boys in the cavern, but she couldn't see a thing. Suddenly a loud grinding noise erupted all around her. She yelped, but as far as she could tell, nobody else seemed to be concerned by it. Just as she was beginning to panic, the wall in front of her split open.