Save a Wish (Hartley’s Nest #6)

Chapter One

Beckett

“Once upon a time, you ruled these lands,” I growled at my monitor, “but today, you are going down, mutt.” My thumbs hit the controller buttons without me having to think about it and I blasted a mutated street canine.

I could play Apocalypse Attack in my sleep, having defeated the video game several times already.

Today was about proving to several of my online gaming buddies that if they followed me into the city sewer tunnels, we could escape the radioactive pigeons in the park and bypass a swim in a contaminated river.

Seeing the flesh melt off our game avatars was cool because the graphics were sick, but if that happened, we wouldn’t progress to the abandoned shopping mall to fight the zombies.

And if we didn’t fight the zombies, we didn’t get to hitch a ride on the last bus out of town.

If we wanted to win, we had to get on that bus.

“Nice shot, Beck,” my friend Zia said as I eliminated another rabid dog. Her avatar ducked out of the way of a snarling pooch with green ooze dripping from its jaw. She narrowly escaped its bite by jumping up to the top of a brick wall.

“Great maneuver,” I said. “Now everyone get up on that wall for a short jog to the tunnels.”

“I don’t know about this, Beckett,” Melvin said. “Someone told me the tunnels are a decoy route.”

I shook my head, though they couldn’t see the actual me at the moment. Right now we were just our on-screen avatars and voices in our headsets as we moved through the game’s world.

“Trust me, guys.” I led them over the brick wall and toward the tunnel opening. “I’ve done this before. It’s the best way.”

“I’m willing to give it a go,” Zia said. “All the other routes I’ve tried have ended in disaster and I’m dying to see the next level of this game.”

“Me too,” Leif said. “I always die in the explosion at the dilapidated convenience store because I’ve lost too much flesh from the river pollution. If we can avoid that by going through the tunnels, we might have a chance.”

“You will have a chance,” I reassured them. “I’ve succeeded with this strategy. It’s a proven way to beat this game.”

Conversation fell away as we all focused on sending our avatars into the tunnels. The metal let loose echoing clangs as we ran toward a flickering light at the end.

“Are you sure nothing is waiting to ambush us out there?” Melvin asked.

“Positive,” I said. “It’s a straight shot to the shopping mall with one quick stop to pick up some smoke grenades.”

We emerged from the tunnels, picked up the grenades from behind a dumpster, and I took the lead again.

In a quick-moving line, we headed for the shopping mall and when the first zombie showed up, we were ready.

With me barking out commands, our team moved as if we’d rehearsed this assault a thousand times.

Those zombies didn’t stand a chance, and soon our avatars stood among scattered zombie parts in a haze of smoke, our chests heaving and sweat dripping off our virtual brows.

“That was incredible!” Zia shouted, her voice super loud in my headphones.

“I can’t believe that worked!” Melvin yelled.

“Way to go, Beckett!” Leif’s avatar navigated over to me and held up a hand to high five.

My avatar slapped his palm and then all four of our avatars engaged in a celebratory jumping around the mall parking lot before heading to the bus station and the next level of the game.

I settled deeper in my gaming chair, my gaze glued to my over-sized monitor and ready to conquer the next level—a forested realm where all the wildlife had been genetically altered to be vicious.

It was my favorite level in the game because, unlike the animals that were sometimes residents at Hartley’s Nest, my family’s wildlife rehabilitation center, I could tame and ride some of the critters in this level.

Hopping on the back of a moose with glowing antlers and fire breath and having it march through the forest like an army tank was definitely an experience.

A virtual one, yes, but this game was so life-like that sometimes I forgot none of it was real.

“So, now we have to—”

“Hang on,” Melvin interrupted. The game paused and my monitor showed our real faces on-screen.

Melvin pushed the left side of his headphones off his ear and cocked his head.

Some mumbling sounded off-screen and he rolled his eyes.

“I gotta go, guys,” he said. “Michelle needs me to give the baby a bath while she tackles the laundry.” He gave us an apologetic shrug, waved, then his screen went dark as he logged off.

I was about to suggest we continue the campaign without him because we often did that when someone had to leave, but Zia’s girlfriend slid up behind her. She gave us all a smile before wrapping her arms around Zia.

“Sorry, guys,” she said, “but I have to steal my girl away for a date night.”

“What time is it?” Zia asked, her eyes squinting at a spot off-screen.

“Time for date night,” her girlfriend said. “Say goodbye to your gamer chums.” She reached around Zia, her index finger darting toward the screen, aiming for the power button. They both were gone in the next second.

Leif and I blinked at each other for a few moments before the glow of a cell phone on Leif’s desk lit up the underside of his chin. He glanced down, his brow furrowing.

“Shit, I have to jet too, Beckett.” He held up his phone. “My wife is texting me that she needs help unloading the groceries. Suggest some times that the four of us can regroup to continue this game in progress, yeah?”

In other words, Don’t play without us.

“Will do.” I saluted him then he disappeared, leaving my image as the only one still up on the screen in front of me. Normally, that wouldn’t have bugged me so much. I’d hop off and search for one of my five siblings for some social interaction, but each of them was otherwise engaged today.

Otherwise engaged with a significant other.

My sister Vanessa had her husband Spencer, her adopted teenage son Hunter, and her baby boy Little Ben.

They were all involved with helping Vanessa set up a showing of her art at a small gallery in town.

Well, technically, Little Ben wasn’t helping.

He was most likely hanging out and looking adorable.

My brother Logan, and his wife Ashley, were over at Ashley’s rental property getting it ready for some new tenants moving in this week.

I could drive over there and help them, but I was feeling particularly lazy today and the two of them moved in high speed when they were on a mission.

I’d probably only hold up their progress and then Logan would bust my stones.

My other brothers, twins Isaac and Joshua, had mentioned something about a hiking trip up Mount Jeffries in Granite Cliff National Park with their respective fiancées, Carina and Sylvie, along with Isaac’s five-year-old daughter Amelia.

Darius, my oldest brother, and his fiancée Flora were over in Canville, helping at a wolf sanctuary. They’d actually asked me to tag along before they’d left, but I’d spent last night with Logan and Ashley and I’d had enough of the third-wheel situation.

I, of course, was happy for my siblings. We teased each other, but deep down, we wanted the best for all of us. And my brothers and sister were finding the best, getting married or engaged, making plans for their own families. It was all good.

Even my mother, Beth Hartley, was involved in a relationship.

She and Jimmy Slater were together all the time.

Some people in Greenridge believed Jimmy to be a serial killer.

Some people in my own family believed that too, but I didn’t.

The guy may have been sketchy before dating our mother, but he wasn’t anymore.

He’d ditched his grisly appearance, gruff personality, and hermit lifestyle to be with Mom and they appeared to be having a great time with each other.

I’d basically accepted Jimmy’s role as our mother’s boyfriend, but even I had been a bit panicked when Darius, Flora, and I had spotted the man down on one knee in front of Mom.

It had been after a dedication ceremony for a nature trail at Hartley’s Nest last month.

I’d been prepared to call Jimmy Papa right up until I’d thought he was actually trying to become a part of the Hartley family.

I’d deemed myself open-minded when it came to the potential serial killer attaching himself to our mother, but seeing him in a proposal stance had brought some protective instincts racing to the surface.

Fortunately, Jimmy had only been wiping some muck off Mom’s shoes after walking on the nature trail. He hadn’t been proposing.

But would he soon? If the number of proposals issued and fiancées waltzing around Hartley’s Nest was any indication, yeah, he would soon. The question was whether or not Mom would accept.

We’d all have to stay tuned to see how that unfolded, and I’d try my best to be the first to congratulate them when it happened.

For today, however, even Mom and Jimmy weren’t available to hang out because they were picking up lumber for some benches slated for installation along the new nature trail.

Jimmy and Logan were hoping to get them built and installed before the weather grew snowy.

They’d most likely hit that deadline because they were both skilled woodworkers and we had a few weeks before Vermont got dusted with the white stuff.

Taking off my headphones and setting them on my desk, I rocked back in my chair then swiveled to face a window in my office.

The October autumn colors were in full swing out there with orange, red, and yellow painting the landscape.

Hartley’s Nest sported natural beauty no matter the season, but fall was definitely my favorite.

I liked running on wooded trails in the early morning, and seeing sunshine quietly illuminate the harvest colors was a real treat.