The moment we heard the word ‘kill’ Tara had her pistol pointed at Marco. “No one is killing anyone around here.”

Marco as usual, didn’t look the slightest bit afraid. “Either we kill you or everyone in Unet kills us for ignoring the rules. Maria saved you Alex. When she turned that pistol at her it automatically becomes a threat against an Elite player. I was the one who took the sniper shot at your hand. As you can tell, I’m very good at sniping.”

He had a crooked grin on his face. And when I fixed eyes with Alyssa she was frowning, without speaking a word. No, there was a look in her eyes. A look that wasn’t angry, but something that almost felt…lost.

“Do you understand Alex?” Marco spoke slowly, his eyes moving to the laptop. “The Unet mods, they can spot and hear all of our moves. The right option now is to kill you.”

Tara gritted her teeth. “And I won’t let it happen.”

No, there was something else. Marco was telling me something. I gently lowered Tara’s hand and looked at the laptop.

“I’m sorry Alex, you shouldn’t have heard about us,” Alyssa said. “You should have kept your stupid ass downstairs.”

I grabbed the gun from Tara, and aimed at the laptop.

The Asian girl panicked. “What are you-”

I fired twice at the screen. She screamed and threw the thing away. The plastic casing broke off, revealing slight electric crackles on the green circuits. I shot the remaining three bullets into it and just to be sure, walked over and smashed it with my foot.

“Phew,” Marco gave a dramatic sigh. “It’s really great you have much of a brain than your girlfriend.”

“Very funny,” Tara grumbled. “But I still don’t understand what the fuck is going on.”

Alyssa hung her shoulders. The tension was gone from her face. “The Unet mods were listening to us from the laptop. And the rules told that if a player found out about us our choices were either to kill them or die by their hand.”

“But rules can be cheated on,” I smiled. “If I was to suddenly grab a pistol, threaten one of them and then smash the laptop, Unet will have no way to monitor us. They won’t know what the fuck will go on here.”

Tara looked at me and Alyssa. “Oh, genius siblings. I’m sorry if I’m taking my time processing what the fuck is going on.”

“We don’t have much time,” Marco was smiling, but his eyes were out of the lighthouse. They were aimed straight at the ship floating on the horizon. “The Unet mod still has our GPS signals because of this damn thing,” he pointed at the watch. “And when we move they’ll know we’re alive. So plan something. Fast.”

He looked over at Alyssa, who had her hands folded. “No plan. These two stay hidden somewhere. We say they threatened us with their guns and escaped. We take the time to find them till the morning, but we actually would be going searching for Maria.”

“And what do we do?” I asked. “Keep running around the island?”

“As far as we know there are only eight or ten players remaining through the whole island,” Alyssa tapped her watch. “I’ll give you a spot to stay hidden. Go there and wait till dawn.”

And there it was again. Those stubborn eyes.

I looked around the room. “Marco, Tara, and…Asian chick, can you give me and my sister a few minutes?”

Marco looked at his phone. “They have our GPS signals Alex. It’s not going to be easy.”

“What if we destroy our watches as Alex did with the laptop?” Tara suggested.

The Asian chick cleared her throat. “No, even if you don’t notice it each of those wristbands has a tiny needle connecting to your veins. And in that needle is an enhanced small amount of Paraquat Dichloride. One tiny injection to your nervous system and you die. It has been set up to automatically trigger in case you decide to be smart and destroy the watch.”

“How do you all even know so much?” I grimaced. But it didn’t matter. Maria knew it too. “I’ll take my sister hostage and leave out of the room. Then on my signal, I keep her there and run away with Tara. Tell Unet I kidnapped her then she struggled free while Tara and I escaped.”

Marco whistled and looked at Alyssa. “Your brother is smart.”

Alyssa didn’t look proud. Instead, it looked like she wanted to shoot everyone in the room. “There is nothing for us to talk Alex.”

I grabbed her hand. “Yes, we do.”

I dragged her along, and despite a fierce tug or two at the beginning, she resisted.

“Wait, I can’t come along?” Tara asked.

I gave her an apologetic look. “Just a minute Tara.”

When we were out of the room I slammed the door and dragged Alyssa to a dark corner.

“You are not pushing me away again,” I snapped, almost in a whisper. “This is exactly what you did after Mom and Dad died.”

“And it helped,” Alyssa glared back. “You were living a perfect life for two years until that bitch Tara came along.”

“I wasn’t. After you left me all I had was some high school friends of mine. When high school was over they all went on their separate paths. Then I spent most of my time jerking off alone in my room while watching porn actresses get banged by random guys. Sure I earned a lot, but what was the fucking point? And then Tara came along, and she changed my life.”

With each word I said, I realized I was speaking the truth. Sure, that change included death games, a sniper on your back, wild car chases, and even grotesque monsters after me but if I had to choose between sitting on a couch with a limp dick or getting chased by a grotesque monster with a big dick and then fucking my girlfriend later on, I’ll definitely choose the latter. The more I stayed in Unet the more I realized I wasn’t bored. I might die tomorrow, but at least I won’t die a virgin.

“You don’t understand the gravity of the situation,” Alyssa warned.

“I just spent the last few hours getting chased by an abomination while running away with an angry topless woman, I perfectly understand the gravity of the situation. Please Alyssa, let me help you. If the two of us put our minds together we can plan a way to get the fuck out of this mess. I don’t want to lose you again.”

Alyssa’s eyes softened, but then she frowned again. “Stop with the emotional talk Alex, that isn’t going to get to me. Yes, you love your sister very very much but now that big sister has a job to do.”

I had one last card. “You are right. I love you.”

“And I don’t need brotherly affections right now.”

“It’s not that love. It’s the love that wants to throw you into a bed, kiss you till you choke, and make love to you until next morning.”

Alyssa stared at me. And I loved it. I loved the look of surprise on her face. She had that same look when I beat her at chess when I was twelve, but this time there was a faint blush on her cheeks.

After a few seconds of silence, she snapped back to reality. “I don’t know what you are talking about.”

“So you don’t want me to fuck you?”

Another silence. This time she wasn’t even meeting my eyes.

“I had a crush on you,” I said. “I even loved you, but back then I couldn’t figure out my feelings. But I still love you.”

“I don’t know-”

I cupped her face in my hands and kissed her. It was nice. So nice I didn’t know she was responding back. At first, it was her soft lips, with my tongue probing inside her mouth, and then she responded, her tongue lapping mine. Her hands wrapped around me, pulling me close. It lasted for a few seconds, and when I pulled back both of us were panting. Alyssa’s eyes had grown soft.

Then we were both silent. A very awkward silence. I thought of something to say, but now that the truth had jumped off me I felt like a shy high schooler on prom night.

“Jerk,” Alyssa said after a while. She wasn’t angry, and her voice looked more innocent than I’ve ever heard it. “If you want to know something, I love you too.”

“What kind?”

“The 'go to bed and make love whole night' kind.”

“Then the feeling is mutual,” I smiled. “And I won’t let you face problems alone like before. Unlike last time, I’m not going to cry and bawl out asking you not to leave me. If you decide to leave I’ll chase after you, and then I’m going to help you get the fuck out of this mess. And then…”

“Then?” Alyssa probed, keeping a finger on my chest.

“Then we’ll fuck.”

She gave a thin smile, then a chuckle. “You should turn your convincing skills to a job. That really works on girls. Alright, do you have a plan?”

Truth is, I didn’t. But I had an idea. It was time to improvise.