Black truck

"He's still in the game!"

Joji's face went cold and pale, "no!" He said, realizing what it meant

"I'll be on my way, Bass "

The call cuts and Joji wondered if he had heard him. He took off running to the street, he got a and he drove off to Bass's place.

*****

Joji knocked on the door, there was no answer then he knocked again.

"Who's there?" Bass screamed. He sounded in distress

"Hey Bass! Open up it's me"

"Joji?"Bass said he seemed to have calmed down a bit. Joji could hear him run up to the door. He heard it click, and then the door swung open

He saw Bass covered in sweat; his eyes were swollen, and it was clear he had been crying. There were cookie crumbs all over his face and a bit of ash, too.

"Are you alright," Joji says.

"I'm fine, I'm fine, I'm okay, it's my brother"

"Is he alright?"

"No," he shakes his head. "He's still in the game, I don't know why he's still in the stupid game."

"Bass, is he breathing?"

"What?" Bass looked around like he was thinking about it, he scratched his head and looked Joji in the eyes. Joji could tell he wasn't sure then he took off running and Joji chased after him.

He darted through the door of the bedroom, and there was a little boy at the end of the room sitting on a game chair with a white shirt on and the goggles on his head, the lights from them were still flickering.

Bass ran up to him, and he stopped. He was breathing heavily, and Joji made it to the room; he stood by the door and watched Bass. Bass began to cry just looking at his brother, the boy looked so still, so pale, so frozen.

Bass stretched his hand, but his hand was shaking; tears rolled down his cheek as he got closer and closer to the little boy's chest.

His hand and Bass waited for the beat but he could only hear himself breathe then turned to Joji and with tears in his eyes he said,

"It's beating"

Joji lets out a sigh of relief, bass dropped on the ground, exhausted and joji follows lead. Joji sat by the door then he looked at a table and saw another VR Goggle

He turned to Bass and said, "Bass! Bass was lying on the floor, then he turned his head and looked up to Joji

"Bass, tell me, were you in the game?"

"Yeah," Bass said, looking away from him. Then Joji said, "How did you ever find one?"

I spent my life saving on it, Joe; I'm broke, but…." Bass exhaled and just stopped talking.

Joji fell back on the door, and after a few moments of silence, a thought occurred to him, and then he turned to Bass.

"Hey Bass, how did you get back?"

"What?"

"How did you get out of the game?" Bass looked at Joji, but he could tell Bass was recalling something.

"The light," Bass said. "I got into the light, there was another guy with me. The raptor took him, but I jumped in at the last moment."

"So that's it,"

"What's it, Joe?"

"I was just thinking maybe the people still in the game haven't made it into the checkpoints yet."

Bass sat up and turned to Joji, "you think so?" he said, Joji shook his head, "yeah"

"How about Amy?" Bass said. "do think she made it out"

Joji felt his heart stop, he could feel a coldness wrap around him like a blanket,

"Are you alright, Joe?"

Joji had begun to sweat profusely, and then he said, "I'm alright. I just, I just gotta go"

"What? Where are you going?"

Joji quickly got on his feet, and said, "I'm going to check on Amy,"

"Alright men.Good luck." Joji ran out the door and into the street and got a cab

*********

Joji ran up the stairs of Amy's apartment. He got to her door and knocked on it and waited a moment, but there was no reply. He knocked again and waited a little longer but there was still no answer, he knocked this time and screamed

"Amy! Are you in there?"

There's no answer. He hurried to the window, put his face against it, cupped his hand, and held it by the side of his face to block out the light, but all he saw through the window were white curtains.

Joji grumbled, "damn it," he said. Then he tried calling her again. He'd been calling her all through the drive up to her apartment, but it failed to connect.

"Damn it," Joji said as the call failed to connect. He runs down the stairs and looks around for someone, anyone, he sees the old man from before.

He runs up to him, "Hey, you remember me, right?"

"Hell no!" The man barks, "Who the hell are ya?"

"Remember, three days ago I came here, no wait, scratch that, it was yesterday, I…"

"So which is it! Three days ago or yesterday?"

"Yesterday," Joji said, the man nodded, and Joji continued, "Well, I came here looking for Amy; I was just wondering if you've seen her today?"

"Naah never heard of her."

"What?"

"I've never seen her; get off my back, you little blockhead."

"What the hell…" Joji got interrupted by his phone this time, he pulled it out of his pocket and saw that it was the manager,

"Yo! Joji where the hell are you? You're late"

"I'm coming, I'm coming I'm on my way"

"Better hurry up." The manager screamed

The call cut and Joji looked around and realized the man had already run off somewhere.

"How did he move so fast?" what do I do, he thought, where can I find Amy?

"Hey, kid!" The old man called out to him, he turned and saw him standing on the first floor of the building,

"How did he get up there so fast, Joji thought."

"Weren't you the kid from three days ago, yesterday?"

"What?"

"Are you looking for Amy again?"

Have you seen her? Joji said eagerly. "No, not recently," the old man said. Joji got sad. "but I did see her today"

"What?" is this man senile. Do you know where she went?"

"No not a chance, they were too many, I couldn't fight them off"

"What? What are you talking about?"

"The men! They took her, they took Amy with them in that black truck, at the end of days they'll be black trucks raining down from the sky, cats and dogs, cats and dogs, poodles and German shepherds, German poodles"

"What the? This man's nuts." Joji turned and ran off; the old man screamed at him, "Don't let them take you too!"

"Crackhead" Joji said under his breath as he ran off to the road. He got a cab, and through the ride, he fidgeted, constantly worrying about Amy.

He got to work and stood before the giant supermarket; it never looked more mundane than it did to him now; he exhaled and walked towards the entrance.

As he walked, something in the parking lot caught his eye. It was a black truck, and the words of the senile old man echoed in his head. Joji brushed it off as he tried to stay calm.

As he walked into the building, he had his head down, "Hey Joji, you're late!" Joji slowly raised his head, "I'm sorry," he said. "Sorry? Sorry? Is that all you've got to say for yourself! The manager screamed. "Joji we're so short-staffed right now,

I can't get a hold of Bass, Rita's out of town and Amy just left…. "

Joji raised his head and grabbed him by the collar, the man was m shocked. "Amy was here?" Joji said eagerly

"Yes," the man nodded.

"Where did she go?"

"I don't know she left with a couple of friends"

"Were they men?"

"Yeah"

Joji slowly let go of his collar as he began thinking over what the old man had said. Men, fight, black van

Then he heard a screeching noise, he turned back and saw a vehicle leaving the parking lot, it was a black truck

"Amy!"

Joji ran out of the store

"Joji!" he screamed as he straightened his collars. "where the hell are you going? I need you here."

Joji kept running.