The Mall (Evenstad Media Presents Book 2) (9 page)

JOURNAL 10ALEXA

ENTRY 005

DATE: 1/22/2075

I'm sitting around here, wasting time. I could be trying to
make the bookstore more secure, or maybe trying to actually play this game
somehow. Instead? I'm reading books. I'm checking out, and worse is that I'm
lying to myself about checking out. I'm telling myself that I'm reading all
these books on self-defense and survival and doomsday prepping, because those
are going to be useful to me once I absorb all the information.

The problem is that's complete bullshit. You can't learn
self-defense from a book, the survival stuff is all about getting along in the
wild, and I don't have the skills to do any of the stuff in those prepping
books. Or the supplies. Which brings it back around to me just sitting here,
wasting time, trying to ignore what's happening around me. And that's a much
bigger problem than telling myself I can learn something from a book even
though I clearly can't. It's a systemic problem, and there’s not a damn thing I
can do to fix it. Not unless I really want to go read one of the self-help
books. Really, though, that would still be me, sitting here, wasting time.
Different lie, same results.

ENTRY END

TO: Frederick Evenstad

FROM: Niels Evenstad

SUBJECT: Hacking

SENT 1/21/2075 AT 8:16 a.m. EST

I wish to borrow someone from your company, Brother. Our
game servers were hacked and I need someone trustworthy who can find and repair
the holes we apparently have in our security systems, and preferably do it
quickly. When you have someone, send me their credentials and I'll contact them
personally.

Niels Evenstad,

Chief Operating Officer, Evenstad Media

JOURNAL 05EVAN

ENTRY 004

DATE: 1/23/2075

There's really only one way to bear the evils in the world and
survive. It's the same way you survive anywhere, but I've subconsciously
resisted the truth for too long, now. It won't be easy, but I have to let
myself assimilate, be a real part of world society. Now that I'm here in this
mall, it's more important than ever. Too important to ignore any longer. The
only way to make it out is to become the cruelty, become the evil around me.
And here, that evil is death. That evil is murder.

That's what I need to become. I need to become evil. A
murderer.

I saw this as another turn of a cruel world, when I got
here. But really, aren't all turns nasty? What matters is how you make use of
them. The worse it is, the greater the chance for change. By resisting, I
allowed myself to fall deeper into the role of victim. But not this time. I
don't believe in any kind of God or universal spirit or whatever, but if I did,
I'd say this was given to me. I'd say this was a final chance put before me to
make the changes I've been ignoring for so long.

So I'm off to join the world. No more of these guarded
little steps I’ve been toying with since I woke up here. It’s time to run.

ENTRY END

JOURNAL 06TESS

ENTRY 005

DATE: 1/23/2075

Another package got dropped off for me. I didn't question
this one. Someone out there’s trying to help me through all this, which is just
plain weird. I'm not going to complain, but it doesn’t make any sense to me
that someone would do that in a place like this. Unless there's someone I know
from outside in here. It's possible, I suppose, but then they'd probably come
in and show me who they are. Not to mention I just don’t want anyone I might
know having to go through this, anyway. So it's got to be a stranger, which is
what makes it just so odd. It's not like anybody would want to curry favor with
me in this game. I wouldn't be much good to anyone, even if they managed to.

Best as I can see it, there's just someone who's a genuinely
good person. And if that's the case, I hope I get at least one chance to say
thank you, if nothing else. Without their help, it's a pretty good guess that I
wouldn't have made it even as far as I have. Three weeks in. A lot longer than
I ever figured I’d stay alive in this place, and it’s thanks to my stranger
friend.

ENTRY END

TO: Marta Evenstad

FROM: Frederick Evenstad

SUBJECT: Niels

SENT 1/23/2075 AT 8:46 p.m. EST

Sister,

I think we can't afford to ignore whatever's going on with
Niels. He's already irate with me over everything after my last email. Perhaps
I went too far, but it was only over worry for his well-being. Lately, more and
more of our family have noticed the changes in Niels, and more and more of them
are concerned. We could, as a group, confront him in person. I'm not sure it's
a good idea, given how much stress he's already under, but I'm running out of
options.

Let me know what you think. I'll still be over for dinner
Friday night, so we can discuss it more there, if you'd prefer.

Frederick Evenstad,

Chief Operating Officer, Evenstad Technologies

—

TO: Frederick Evenstad

FROM: Marta Evenstad

SUBJECT: Niels

SENT 1/23/2075 AT 9:19 p.m. EST

I don't think a confrontation would be a good idea for
Niels, right now. As much as I want to help, or at least find out if there's
something to help with, I agree with you that anything like that could end
badly. We should give him some time to get through everything. With the servers
being hacked on top of everything else, he's had a very rough time lately. But
I do think that we'll have to do something, before too long Even Uncle Magnus
is concerned. If we let it go too long, he'll take action on his own, which I
personally don't want to deal with, and I'm sure Niels doesn't want to deal
with. Magnus isn't exactly a delicate man, after all.

I need to get to bed, but if you can wait a few days, we'll
discuss it at dinner. The girls are excited to see you. It's been a long time
since we've gotten together.

Marta Evenstad,

Chief Operating Officer, Evenstad Farms

JOURNAL 09YESENIA

ENTRY 005

DATE: 1/24/2075

Well, I'm personally just done with having these gun-toting
idiots in this shop. It's basically my home, and I don't let strangers run
around my home. It's really close to their next shift to run through, if I’m
guessing time right at all, so I'm just going to take them out. I've still got
some of the knives I brought with me. I know the patterns they follow, and they
always split up at the same spot. So I can get them one by one. As long as I
cut deep enough into the carotid artery, they'll be dead in a few minutes, and
unconscious for most of the wait time. If I can do the same on the other side
and open the jugular, all the better. Once they're incapacitated, I can go back
through and finish up with anyone who might have survived. I don't want them to
suffer more than necessary. Just to die.

A few minutes, I think. Then I can get started. And maybe
with this, I can get back home and see my Rosa. I still have my wallet on me,
and I’ve still got that picture of her in the little sundress, but it’s not the
same. I need to be in the same room as her. I need to hold her. Then everything
will be all right.

ENTRY END

TO: Frederick Evenstad

FROM: Niels Evenstad

SUBJECT: Concept for The Park Season 2

SENT 9/17/2074 AT 11:19 a.m. EST

Brother, I think I have something that's going to do well
for both of us.

The board decided it was well worth the money to do a second
season of The Park. I wasn't going to bother with it, but I was outvoted, and
thus here we are.

The concept is to put it in an abandoned mall. We have eyes
on a few that are slated for demolition at the beginning of next year. The
enclosed space will make the gameplay much faster, in theory. But I want to
take out an insurance policy, just in case the contestants are too pacifistic.
We got lucky with The Park and they were willing to kill each other.

I know that you made a number of household robots, several
years back. I'm hoping beyond hope that you have some still in storage, because
I think this might be the perfect place to use them. The plating was
insufficient, if I remember, but it won't make any difference for what I have
in mind.

I'd like to use them as guards. They'll carry guns so that,
even if the contestants don’t want to cooperate, the tension will always be
there.

And, of course, if you could start working on a new plating
for them and begin production, we could try to replicate some of what you had
with the CESUs. If people see them in action, and see what they can do when
pushed to the limit, even if they are defective, you could bring in another big
surge of income. Not as household servants, obviously, but there are people who
pay quite a lot for a programmable bodyguard. It would have to be subtler, of
course, but I think it's very doable.

I'm getting ahead of myself, though. Let me know how many of
the robots you have left in storage, if any, and if you think they could do
what I have in mind. And, of course, if you'd be willing to donate or sell them
to the cause.

Niels Evenstad,

Chief Operating Officer, Evenstad Media

JOURNAL 08QUINN

ENTRY 006

DATE: 1/24/2075

I found out why I’ve never seen the guards change shifts.
It's because they never do. They don’t fucking have to. I just watched a few of
them go into the Mitchell's on a patrol, and this crazy lady jumped on one of
them and stabbed him in the neck with a big old cooking knife. The guy went
down, didn't even get a shot fired off. But there was no blood. She would have
hit his jugular or his carotid. I can't remember which side is which. But
whichever one, there should have been a lot of blood. Like, a lot. But he
didn't bleed at all.

He sparked and crumpled. Like a machine. I don't want to say
the R-word but… like a robot. If I had to guess right now, I'd definitely say
robot, though I’m not really qualified to make that claim. I'm going to take a
look at the body or whatever it is. But not until after things calm down over
there. I don't need them coming after me instead of that psycho bitch in there.

If they aren't human, though, that makes this shit a lot
more difficult, on the technical side of things. But morally, I feel better
about going down and killing a bunch of them. Or decommissioning them, I guess.
You can't kill something that isn't alive. But I don't really know for sure
what's going to kill them, other than a knife to the neck. And I can't count on
that being an option every time.

I did make one trip out, just not very far. The one she
stabbed dropped a gun and it skidded. It was too close not to risk it. A few
seconds in and out and I had my hands on some actual firepower. Only a dozen
rounds left, but it's better than what I had. This could make a real
difference, and I'm not going to turn it down. Not for any reason.

ENTRY END

WHO IS GOING TO WIN THE MALL?

POLL 2

1: Evan (30%)

2: Bill (22%)

3: Quinn (17%)

4: Imran (7%)

5: Kim (6%)

6: Tess (5%)

7: Marcus (5%)

8: Alexa (4%)

9: Yesenia (1%)

10: Dana (1%)

11: Lia (1%)

12: Ned (1%)

(Information Collected by The Cruise)

JOURNAL 01MARCUS

ENTRY 006

DATE: 1/25/2075

Last night, after the lights went out, I heard something. It
woke me up. Not that it's hard to do that, anymore. I sleep so lightly, now
that I'm in here. But I'm rambling. I went to the door to see what it might be,
which is completely stupid. I should have hidden rather than put myself in a
straight line of sight with someone who might want to kill me. But nobody did,
so I suppose it was the right choice.

The woman that skulks around here sometimes made the noise.
She was maybe two yards from the cluster of guards directly across from me.
They've been there, keeping people away from the employees only door. I brushed
it off as one more thing we weren't supposed to do. Otherwise, they would have
let us back there. But I guess that wasn't a good enough answer for her.

Somewhere, she'd gotten a gun. The only ones I've seen so
far are the ones those guards carry, so I suppose she disarmed one, somehow.
The sound was gunfire. She shot one of them right through the head. Sparks came
out of the wound instead of blood. So there's that, too. They're machines of
some sort. Machines who were shooting at her, now. Not until she fired on them,
though. I ducked down to avoid getting hit by any shrapnel or missed shots. I’m
not stupid.

When I dared to peek up, she still stood there. I could just
barely see her in the light coming in through the windows and doors, so I don't
know if she got hit. If she did, it wasn't enough to keep her from fighting.
She shot two more of the guards down and moved forward. When she got in the
middle of them, she dropped the gun and pulled a knife. Two more fell. She was
so fast. I prayed she wouldn't turn on me, because I'd be dead for sure. I'm
not proud of it, but I wished, just in that moment, that the final guard would
kill her. At least then, there'd be one less threat.

But my wish didn't come true. I suppose it's a good thing.
Machines are more expendable than a human life. She struggled with the final
one. It disarmed her and the knife slid across the floor. She kicked and it
tripped back. Not much, but enough for her to grab one of the guns and shoot
that one, too. The guard clattered to the tile, and it was too clear, then,
that it was made of metal. Only metal made that sound.

The other guards were shifting around like they might move
in on her. I wanted to shout, but my voice didn't work. It didn't matter,
either. She noticed, grabbed a couple more guns, and pushed through the double
doors. I don't know where they lead, but she must have thought it was worth it
to risk her life that way. I'm glad no one else had to die, but I'd be happier
about it if she wasn't terrifying.

ENTRY END