Kill Switch: Chapter 31
The Panic Room
We turn into a cavern. Stalactites (or is it stalagmites? I can never remember) hang from the ceiling, beautifully layered. A square of light shines harshly in the distance.
“Watch your step,” X says. “I slipped earlier. Took a nasty fall.”
We make our way toward the square of light. A head surfaces. A neck crooks. Cosmo’s profile – the side of his face, I mean – flashes.
X’s flashlight illuminates a rickety plastic table. Atop the table, an olden time computer.
“Water proof,” Cosmo says, tapping the side of the computer. “Bullet proof, as well. That’s why we keep it in the panic room. Pretty clever, huh?”
“Panic room?” I ask, looking around the cavern.
“That’s right.” Cosmo stands. “This is where we hide whenever The Withouter Hunter strikes.” Cosmo crosses his arms. “Although, after what you did last night, this panic room might very well turn into a war room.”
“I don’t understand,” I say.
Cosmo gestures toward the computer screen. “Take a look.”
I lean forward, squinting into the light.
A grid of news articles covers the screen.
Vonn Sr. Meets with Advisors, Says Retaliation Against The Withouter Hunter Killer Will Be Swift
Memorial Service for The Withouter Hunter Takes Place Tonight, Auditions For His Replacement Already Underway
What To Stream Now That The Withouter Hunter Is Off Air
The articles are punctuated by advertisements for Daft Designs, Vonn Industries, and Elysium.
Narcissist that I am, I click on an article entitled Who Is the So-Called Withouter Hunter Killer? The Top Five Things We Know About this Inbetweener Terrorist
The article is a simple list:
1. We don’t know that much
2. The killer reportedly escaped into The Without through a rope ladder system in Pod 57, located in a rarely visited sector that consists almost entirely of an ancient server farm. Footage of the killer’s escape, which was captured by simulBots, can be viewed here.
I click on the link. A video pops up, dark shadows in a narrow shaft, lasers shooting every which way, a blur slipping into a bright light.
I return to the article.
3. Enhanced footage could not confirm the gender of the killer, not that we would assume such things anyway.
4. The Killer has two accomplices. Footage of the three Inbetweeners was captured by a drone on the night of the assassination. Watch here.
I click on the link. Grainy drone footage of a raging fire, a field of tents, and a bunch of little dots, antlike, running toward Lookout Mountain. The footage pauses, then zooms into an even grainier image of a horde of people. A red circle appears over a body. It’s Yide, I think, or maybe X. Hard to tell. But definitely a Withiner, given the bald pate. Another image flashes, this one of a slack body being carried into the foothills. That’s when I remember that X said that Cosmo had carried Yide up the mountain. Which means that the first image was of X, and this one is of Yide, although you can’t make out her face, since it’s buried in Cosmo’s chest. An advertisement flashes on the screen. It’s Cad Man, the tech genius who invented doseMoon. He’s pitching a new crypto, something called Half Moon. I glance at X.
“Is this guy serious?” I ask. “Didn’t he just rug pull Dose Moon? Who the hell would invest more coin with this joker?”
X shrugs. “I don’t know, looks pretty cool to me. Every day the supply gets cut in half, thereby raising demand. Basic Economics 101, bro. Seems safe to me.”
Footage of Cad Man at High Times, drinking Vodka Sauce in a private area with influencers. Footage of Cad Man in a huge persy with all the latest overlays. Footage of Cad Man riding a tricked out scooter bot through a crowded stretch of Vonn Way; he sticks out his tongue, does the sign of the horns, and then runs his scooter into a coin handler, who falls to the ground with a moan, leading Cad Man to laugh out loud as he speeds off, the words halfMoon streaking across the screen, followed by the claim: 1000% Daily Gains Guaranteed.
“Who cares if the supply is cut in half?” I ask. “Half of nothing is still nothing.”
X shrugs again. “All I know, the minute we get back to The Within, I’m buying a bag. I need me one of those scooter bots.”
I run a hand over my head as the advertisement for Half Moon ends, leading into footage of me scurrying into the tent. Luckily, all you can see are my feet jutting out.
I return to the article.
5. Mr. Vonn Senior has called for the death of The Withouter Hunter Killer and his two accomplices. Want to get hella coin? Vonn Industries is offering rewards for any credible information pertaining to The InbetweenThree. Text 2545433 for more details.
I click out of the article. “I think that’s enough doom scrolling for me. Where’s Yide? I’d like to see her.”
“She’s resting,” Claudette says, stepping out of the shadows, “but Elijah wants to meet with the rest of us.”
We follow Claudette through a narrow corridor before coming to a candlelit chamber. Elijah is on a cot, sitting up, sipping on a glass of water. He waves me over. Claudette, X, and Cosmo stand behind me. Bunnfield is sitting beside the cot, his eyes averted from my gaze. Elijah gestures with a finger for me to draw closer. I lean down, my face almost touching his.
“You’re an idiot,” he says.