Jake lay exhausted amongst the corpse of the Maws. His skill had ended. It would take only ten minutes for his health to restore. Just an hour for the exhaustion to pass. He would be fully recovered from using his ability, physically at least. While he waited for at least some of the exhaustion to pass he drifted back into his memories.
When he had awoken after the battle. It hadn't been in the tunnel or the log out room. Instead, it was a hospital room. He instantly knew it was a hospital room because it was just like the one his mother had spent her last six months of life in. Seeing it brought back the memories of her frail form laying there with that pained smile as she tried to convince him it was all going to be ok.
Awaking there did not help his mental state. He started to get out of bed, his body felt fine but his head was a mess. It didn't hurt or anything. But the images and memories of the fight in the tunnel wouldn't go away. He needed to call Cass. To hear her voice and to apologize. He just needed to hear her voice more than anything.
When his feet touched the cold tile floor everything had changed. The bright light overhead and the white room around him flickered. In its place was a darker room, of old polished wood with a table. There were three older adults he had never seen before sitting at the table. No, he realized he vaguely knew one of them. The man in the middle was the Mayor. They had seen him on tv before.
He looked around. "I'm still in the game? What... I need to log out. Let me log out."
"Please sit." The mayor said and pointed to a chair at the table.
"I need to log out. I need to call my girlfriend." Jake just repeated not moving.
"Please sit down, we need to talk. Then you can log out right away if you want." The old woman with grey hair sitting on the left of the Mayor spoke up. Jake stiffly moved to the chair and collapsed in it. His body was fine but his mind was a mess. The game was too real. He would never log back in he told himself. The experience of brutally killing his friends had been terrifyingly authentic.
Jake sat and listened to them talk. His brain only half understood as they explained what they called "the truth".
That the life, town, and world Jake knew wasn't real, but was the actual fake reality. A pocket dimension created and fueled by the Power Cores he had been gathering. That every volt of electricity, breath of air, drop of water and inch of space was made by a machine that consumed the Power Cores. They explained how the Power Cores were a condensation of some radiation that poisoned the real earth. How only some people could survive that radiation and they were sent back to reality as gamers to farm the necessary cores to keep the town together.
They explained that Jake was one of these special people that could withstand the radiation. That Cassandra was one too. How their time playing the game was actually keeping the town alive. Ensuring the peaceful lives of everyone in the town. Of Jake's father and Cassandra's family. Of all his friends.
Jake just stared at them dumbly, he didn't believe any of it. This was too strange. He said so. Then asked if that was the truth why pretend it was a game. Why not let people know the truth.
The mayor smiled sadly. "We have lived like this for thousands of years. The world you have lived in was crafted from a simple peaceful era in our history. One where humanity enjoyed many conveniences yet was unburdened by what was to come. The founders shaped the hub worlds so people could live happy peaceful lives. They didn't need to know this world wasn't real. That they couldn't return to the true Earth without dying of radiation or worse becoming a monster. Nor did we want to burden those few who could return to reality to farm the needed cores with the truth. Had we approached you. Told you that you must enter a devastated wasteland. Fight monsters to collect power cores to sustain the world you once believed was reality. Or everyone you know and love would die. How would you have reacted?"
Their tone was gentle as if he was filled with sorrow for what he was having to reveal to the teen. "What about Cass? Ella? Gadget? And Aero?" His voice sounded flat. He refused to believe anything they were telling them but somehow he couldn't refute it either.
"We have a vast area that is safe for you to hunt within. There are areas beyond the safety net though. If you die beyond them. You truly die." The Mayor's tone was soft but firm.
"The Perma Death Zones?" Jake's voice wavered as he spoke.
"Yes. They are a warning that you are beyond the reach of our safety systems." There was a pause then they added. "Your friends all died outside the reach of our safety systems. They are… gone, truly gone."
Jake vomited on the table. Bile rushed up his throat and erupted from his mouth before he could even consider stopping. There wasn't much but it tasted bitter and terrible. The older woman got up and quickly returned with a rag in each hand. One was damp and warm she used to wipe the unmoving Jake's face off. She then cleaned the table. No one spoke while she did.
She hugged him for a while then returned to her chair. Jake still hadn't moved. Tears were running down his face. Several times he opened his mouth to deny them. To accuse them of a horrible joke. But, somewhere inside he knew they were telling the truth.
He started to hyperventilate as reality came crashing in on him. "We really are sorry. But you are the only one in our entire town that can return to Earth. We need you to go back." The third person spoke, he was younger than the mayor and the other woman. Probably in his mid thirties, his dark hair was cut short in a military buzz. Jake glared at him, anger helping to push back the panic.
"Captian Greger! Let the boy at least come to terms with reality. We don't have to push him out right away. They have been turning in an incredible number of Power Cores. We can function for a long while on what we have. It isn't like last time." The older woman rose out of her chair in anger as she spoke to the man.
"Engineer Leru, I understand your motherly intuition is to coddle the boy. But now that we have revealed the truth there is no reason to delay. The longer we wait the harder it will be for him to go back. We don't have any other prospects. Unless you want to send a toddler into that hellscape. If he doesn't the pocket dimension will collapse around us soon enough. He will survive when he is forced back out there but everyone else won't. If they are lucky they will simply die of radiation poisoning. That includes his father, friends, and anyone else he might have left to care about. I don't think he wants that. Do you boy?" Captain Greger turned to face him.
"That is enough. We need to give him time to process. Only then can…" The Mayor started to talk but was interrupted.
"I'll go back." Jake spoke, softly but it froze everyone in surprise.
"If I don't. Everyone will really die?" He looked up, his gaze falling on the woman.
"Well. Yes. But we have probably a year before that happens. We can cut back on things. Reducing our energy use is the easiest. Food rationing and shrinking the space. You don't have to rush back out there." Engineer Leru spoke softly and kindly.
Jake shook his head. "No, I don't want to cause anyone else any suffering because of me." He looked up. "They are really dead?" Before she could answer he shook his head. "Yes." He lifted his hands and looked at them. He could still feel what he had done.
"We will of course provide you with every comfort we can. You won't have to go to school. Your father won't have to work. You will live a life of complete luxury whenever you are not back on Earth." The Mayer said, his tone still kindly.
"No." Jake said after a short pause. "I don't want… I don't want my father to know. Let him keep thinking the world is… good. I don't want him to know the truth. I don't want anyone to have to know the truth." He looked up and the three adults nodded.
Things had happened fast after that. He was returned to the hospital room. Since the "real" world wasn't actually real they could move him with in it freely. His father came in shortly after to find him sitting up on the side of the bed. His old man had embraced him without reservation and hugged him so tightly it would have hurt before. Apparently, when he returned from the other world his physical body was put under a type of suppression. It limited his now super human attributes. They said it wasn't needed anymore to keep him from realizing the changes were really happening to him. He had found himself crying and laughing at the same time. Cass and he had been right after all. Raising their intelligence in game had been helping them.
His father blubbered about how glad he was alive. That he couldn't believe he was ok after surviving a bear attack of all things. The mayor and the others had told him that was the excuse they were using for Cassandra's death. And his wounds when they had retrieved him after he emerged from the tunnel. They had warped Cassandra's corpse and his body back. Returning from Earth to one of the pocket worlds would heal many of their wounds. It was why they never noticed any wounds when logging out even if they were injured before. But his were so extreme they had left marks. Cassandra… there was nothing they could do for Cassandra.
A fake story was made up about a rabid bear attacking the teens while they were on a weekend stroll. Jake had survived but Cassandra hadn't. Jake thought such a crazy story wouldn't convince anyone but huge claw wounds on Cass's body seemed to be evidence enough for everyone.
That had been more than a month ago. Summer was mostly over with. Soon he would have to go back to school. Laying in the bloody dirt he dreaded it. But picturing his worried father's face he couldn't bring himself to let the truth be known. Standing up he exhaustedly went about butchering the monsters.