100 Systems Invasion

23. The Hidden Elimination

Invasion Day 2

Dillon Nature Center, Hutchinson, KS

Systemist 38, the wounded man who, according to the System, was called Chief of Kaiser Hunt, was probably one of the managers at 4Games HQ. He was surely dead, as the System told her, and Beatrice supposed his death was the sole reason why she was still alive today.

Beatrice was consciously aware that she had not yet caught up emotionally with how absolutely not alright she was. But she knew that when reality hit, it was going to come down hard on her.

After locating the Chief’s car with the key, she drove away from the newly-risen 4Games HQ. She stopped at a small parking lot inside a state forest.

A curving concrete path led from the parking lot to a log structure. Above the building’s doorway, a flat piece of rough wood hangs. The words ‘NATURE CENTER’ are written across its surface. A decal that reads First Aid Station stuck to the upper left-hand corner of the door.

There were no other cars in the lot. The doors to the Nature Ce