Endgame 2.0

“Please don’t do it.” His voice was high pitched as he spoke. Fear resonated in his voice, terror mirrored in his eyes. 

It was only a game after all, wasn’t it?  It was just like all the others that I had spent God knows how much money for a few hours of entertainment.  

I had spent over two hours at the mercy of the bad guy in my newly purchased game called Endgame 2.0 in which I had used every trick I knew to outfox him.

It all came down to pressing one button and once I did there was a possibilty that I would obliterate Earth.  There was also a possibility that it was all just some fancy gimmick used to sell more games.

I glanced at Brad who begged me not to press the button that could end life as we knew it on Earth, but I would not let this monster take over the planet and turn us all into mindless robots.

“Don’t do it.” Brad pleaded as my finger hovered over the button on my controller.

For five years, Brad and I had spent most of our time playing these sci-fi games.  We owned top-of-the-line speaker headsets so we could communicate as a team as we faced an assortment of antagonists, foes, enemies that were not even human, created for one purpose and one purpose only, to challenge our gaming skills and ability.  Most of the time we met the challenge.  We had become known in the inner circle as a couple of top dogs in the world of sci-fi gaming which meant more to me than any grade I could have earned at school.  

“Hey Bufford.” Sal Vantelli called out to me from behind the counter of Game-a-Million where I spent a lot of time and money to find new challenges in galaxies far beyond any known reaches of the universe. “We just got in Endgame 2.0.” 

I had played Endgame and found it quite invigorating until I mastered the thirty sixth level.  I put it on the shelf with all my other games that now took over half a wall in my bedroom on makeshift shelves.  My father would come in to speak to me and leave shaking his head when he saw my growing collection.  I seldom had time to pay any attention to what he was saying since most of my time was devoted to mastering the newest game from Game-a-Million.  

Sal handed me the latest edition of Endgame.  It had a warning label printed on the cover just like most of my games: “Warning, this game is rated for Adults only.  No one under the age of 18 may purchase this game.”   

I had just turned seventeen and had begun my senior year of high school.  I only needed a couple of classes to graduate so I had filled in my schedule with easy A electives.  I could put my academic brain on autopilot and spend my senior year with my speaker headphone permanently attached to my ears. 

Grandma had sent me some birthday money, forgetting that my birthday wasn’t until three months from now, but it was enough to get this game.

I paid Sal for the game and skipped out of the store ecstatic with my latest purchase.  When I got home, I called Brad.

“Yo dude.” His voice lit up my cell phone.

“I just got Endgame 2.0.” I said as I unwrapped it from the plastic covering. 

“Holy crap!  I’ve been reading about that in the magazine.” He sounded excited.  Brad Dumphey had a subscription to Gamer World Magazine which reviewed every video game that was getting ready to hit the market. “It got five stars.” 

Five stars was the ultimate rating given by the staff of Gamer World.  

“I’ll be right over.” Brad said as he ended the call.  Since he lived a couple doors down, he was at my front door in a few short minutes with his big old goofy smile on his face, “Here I am.  Copilot reporting for duty.”  

He gave me a mock salute as he walked in.  

“My parents are out shopping for a lawn mower.” I informed him as we walked down the hall to my room.

“Didn’t your dad buy one a couple weeks ago?” He asked.

“Yeah, and he complained about it for two weeks.  Mom took him to the store just to shut him up.” I nodded as we sat in the gaming chairs I had set up in front of my flat screen monitor with surround sound speakers. 

“Your dad is really fussy about his yard products, isn’t he?” Brad laughed.

“Yeah.” I turned on the computer.  All the lights lit up on the keyboard.  

Suddenly writing scrolled across the monitor screen.  I moved the cursor to “agree to terms” and clicked.

“Look at the graphics.” Brad’s eyes went wide.

“Awesome, dude.” I picked up my controller and handed him the other one.

“Two players it is.” I nodded, clicking on the two-player box on the screen.

Suddenly a masked face appeared on the screen.

“Hello.” His voice was automated with a hint of creepy, “My name is Xeron and I have the power to destroy you puny humans.”

“Sounds like he means business.” Brad shuddered. 

“Just for effect.” I laughed, but then I felt my controller tingle with electricity.

“Do you think I am joking?” His voice raged. “I assure you, this is no joke.”

I nodded.

“I may be the most fearsome enemy you have ever encountered.” It seemed as if he was looking directly into my eyes even though he wore an opaque visor. “I will do things to you no other game has ever done, so please do as I say.  Do you understand?” 

“Maybe we should turn this off.” Brad whispered to me, “This is pretty intense.” 

“I will NOT be turned off.” He was raging once again.

“Alright.” I could feel myself shudder a bit. 

“Xeron, we are only playing a game.” Brad said in a halting voice.

“Game?  Is that all you think this is?” Xeron laughed. “This is much, much more than some video game.”

“What is it, then?” I asked.

“World domination.” He answered.

“It’s a heck of a lot more than I had paid for.” I hissed

“At this time, I have collected thousands of worlds, many more powerful than this rock.” He pointed at me.  This was much more than I had bargained for.  I wanted to take the game from the player and take it back to Games-a-Million.  It would mark the first time I had ever done such a thing, but this game seemed to have rules of its own, rules I was not very fond of at the moment. 

I reached over to the player, but a bolt of electricity snaked up my arm. 

“Do you think I was joking? How many times must I train you that removing Endgame 2.0 is futile.” He sneered. “I suggest you do as I say.  The game will end once I have gained control of your world.”

“You are just a video image made by some programmer somewhere in another country.” Brad stood up.  Suddenly he groaned and fell back in his chair.  It looked as if he had been punched.

“How dare you call me a video image.  I figured by now you had been properly trained by now.” Xeron proclaimed boldly as Brad tried to catch the breath that had been violently knocked out of him. “What you have played up until now were games, but this is not a game.”

My room began to rock back and forth.

“I will put on the thrusters so we can break free of the gravity and set a course for plunder.” 

He appeared as a video image.  He wore a mask with a visor and a cape.  He resembled a quick sketch taken from the desk of a graphic artist including his deep tenor voice that seemed to permeate and reverberate from inside my chest. 

My skin was tingling from the electric shocks he had given me when I tried to disconnect him from my gaming system.  

“Hey dude, I’m scared.” Brad whined.

“There must be a way to beat this guy, just like we beat ones just like him before.” I assured him.

“There haven’t been anyone like him before.” Brad shook his head. 

I must admit that Brad can be a bit of a whiner at times.  In more than a few games, Brad was ready to quit when things got a little challenging.  He can’t help it, he’s an only child whereas I have two older brothers to contend with, one is in college and one is married with two small children.  Both of them were avid gamers who taught me the love of playing video games, granted most of their games were from the previous generation when Nintendo still ruled the world.  Brad never traveled through the world of Mario or Donkey Kong or Tetris.  

“We will beat this guy, Brad.  Promise.” I said as I took a hold of the controller again.

“Foolish you are, Bufford.” Xeron warned.

“He knows your name.” Brad's jaw dropped to his chest.

It was true, Xeron called me by name.  How did he know my name?

I began pressing buttons on my controller.

“Useless!” Xeron mocked me. “You will either join me or you will perish.” 

I had never played a video game that threatened me.

“We shall see.” I muttered to myself as Brad sat frozen in place.  

I had scanned the instructions prior to installing the game and knew a couple of the tricks that would help me defeat this Xeron, but it would call on my entire repertoire of skills.  

For the next two hours, I single handedly fought for the safety of the planet against this evil foe as Brad sat there unable to move.

“You will not win.” Xeron scorned me, but my strategy was beginning to weaken his power.  Desperation began to tug at his sleeve or whatever garment he was wearing.  

“I will do what I have to in order to save my planet.” I gritted my teeth.

“Save your planet?” He laughed, “It’s hardly worth saving.” 

“I doubt that.” I spoke through my clenched teeth.

“In thirty years, Earth time, your planet will be nothing more than a dry desert, like your neighbor, Mars.” He sneered, “I remember when Mars had oceans and lakes.  I remember snow capped mountains.  I have pictures of my vacations there, but all that changed just like it will here. Will the inhabitants of this solar system ever learn the lessons of others who have gone through similar events? You play this game like you are going to win, but the sad truth you won’t.  You can’t.  You are fighting a losing battle and you don’t even know it.”

“What about your planet?” I jabbed my finger on a button.

“My planet?  My planet is long gone.  We felt that war was much more worthwhile until all we had of value was destroyed.” Suddenly his voice became a whisper, “Now I am doomed to travel the universe as a nomad in search of a place I can call home, but it seems any place I find that I find suitable is in the process of self-destruction.” 

“I did not know…” I turned my head.

“I have a little bit of time here once I have conquered this planet before it becomes uninhabitable. He sighed. 

“I can’t let you take over our planet.” I insisted. 

“I know.” He sighed again, “We must fight to the end.  This is where the game gets its name.” 

“So be it.” I lifted up the controller and we began to battle. 

Our battle for the next hour became intense.  Speaking into my microphone, I told Brad to join in, but I knew that he was lost, frozen in fear.  

I thought about my science class when we discussed climate change and global warming.  Mr. Hartly, an ex-hippie of the 1960’s spoke of how glaciers had melted and the permafrost in Alaska was melting.  Polar bears were drowning in the Beaufort Sea as the ice cap was melting. We watched videos of places that were once wet were becoming deserts as the lakes were drying up.  Mr. Hartly wiped a tear or two as we watched these videos.  We also saw the island of plastic floating in the ocean.  We saw sea creatures being choked with some of the discarded plastics.  Mr. Hartley asked why when our planet is being choked by these plastics, we choose to drink out of water bottles we discard that joins the floating island of plastics.  

I was losing.  My fingers were not correctly responding to the controller.

“Alright.  Press the button and you will win, but the earth will be obliterated.” Xeron explained, “It won’t matter.  You might save a few years, maybe decades, but you will destroy me.  My journey will come to an end.  It shall be a relief actually.  Press the button.” 

“No, please don’t do it.” Brad seemed to wake from his catatonic state.

“I must.” I responded. 

“No, please don’t press that button.” Tears were in his eyes.  

I hesitated.

“If you don’t do it now, it will not come to pass.” Xeron interjected. 

“Please don’t do it.  It’s a trick.” Brad put his hand on mine.

All the thoughts went racing through my head.  What if I pressed the button and the world ended at that moment?  What would happen if I did not press the button and hope that we could stop the inevitableness of climate change?  Mr. Hartley's words went racing through my head along with the images of the polar bears drowning because the ice caps were melting. 

I pressed the button.

The screen went blank.

The evil image of Xeron disappeared from my screen.  

The earth did not blow up as Xeron had foretold.

Brad was sitting next to me with his eyes closed tightly. 

I got up from my chair, opened the console and removed Endgame 2.0.  Without recourse, I promptly placed the game into the garbage.

“That was it?” Brad managed to speak.

“That was that.” I nodded.

I heard my parents burst through the front door followed by my mother’s voice, “Sweetie, you father got a ride-on mower.  He is very happy.  Did anything happen while we were out?”   

“Nope, me and Brad just played a video game.” I answered.

“Oh, you boys and your video games.” Dad’s voice sounded slightly amused.  He was in a good mood now that he had talked mom into buying a ride-on lawn mower.

I did not want to tell them about how the world nearly came to an end.  It’s not like they would believe me anyway.