A Blank White Room

Willow closed his eyes as he slid the blue headphones over his ears. As he did, the outside world became dampened, faded. His practiced fingers tapped a few keys, and without opening his eyes, he began to sway in time to the mellow music that completely shut out the rest of the world. He pulled the long, thick wire that was coiled up and attached to the side of his computer out to his right, in order to release some of the tension, so that he could move freely, and plugged it into the small port in his neck, just below his right ear.

A small shock accompanied this, as usual, and his left eye twitched involuntarily. He opened his eyes wide, and swiveled his gaze over the blank white space that surrounded him. This VR program that had swept the teenagers of Amerika by storm had become Willow's whole life. Here, he didn't have to be himself. He could be anyone he wanted to be. Do anything he wanted to do. The best thing was that there were no repercussions. He extended his right arm, and gripped the long repeater rifle that appeared out of thin air, before slinging it over his shoulder. "I think," he said aloud to noone in particular, "That today will be a western day."

As he finished speaking, a wild west boom town materialized around him. His hair, ordinarily died a shock of different colors, faded to a dull brown, grew shaggy and reached down for his shoulders. A worn cowboy hat formed around his head, matching the rest of the outfit that began to wrap itself around his body. Dark leather gloves, and heavy boots, thick denim pants, and a thick hide jacket. "And today," he continued, as the process finished, "Will be a good day."

Rose sighed softly as she entered her room and threw her bag aside. She slid into her computer chair and jiggled the mouse, the soft hum of the computer filling the room. She tugged at the wire that had been shoved into a corner under her screen. It didn't bother her that it had gotten tangled up a bit, it was still long enough for her to move freely with. She brushed aside her hair and plugged it into the port just below her right ear.

Rose winched at the small shock that came with plugging in, no matter how many times she plugged in it still got her. She blinked and opened her eyes wide, welcoming the blank white space that now surrounded her. The VR program was Rose's way to escape, she could be anyone or do anything she wanted and no one could tell her anything about it. "I think" She took a step foward as boots started to appear on her feet "today I'll kick the asses of a few cowboys"

The wild west materialized around her, the sun beating down, and she smiled half-heartedly. Rose's legs became clad in men's denim pants and her torso by a tight fitting men's shirt. Her normally black hair began to lighten becoming sun bleached as it also grew in lenght,stopping at her waist. She tied back her hair using a strip of leather before heading into the town before her. "Let's see what these boys got"

The boom town was empty, thanks to the glaring sun. A warm breeze drifted down the main avenue through town, and tumbleweeds rolled listlessly along, pushed by the wind. Joshua trees poked up through the sandy earth in various places around the town, and creosote bushes spread into the distance on the outskirts of the main road. Willow walked slowly, his boots crunching on the dirt. It was eerily silent as he walked past the saloon. A sign, worn around the edges, and covered in dust, hung outside of the door. Burned into the old pine wood was the name of the old saloon. "Descanso del Cazador."

Willow didn't know what it meant, and he wasn't terribly concerned about this lack of knowledge. According to this zone's files, many people had met their end both inside and just outside the saloon. As he walked past, Willow tightened his grip on the old repeater rifle that hung off his shoulder. He wasn't about to become another name on that list. Fortunately, though, his tension was for naught, because there was no incident as he passed. "I wonder if I'm the only one here." said the boy, out loud, and again to noone in particular. He then shrugged, and made his way into the wilderness outside the town.

Rose walked along the empty road, enjoying the quiet. The air was a mixture of scents, a blend that only the desert could create. She figured that most people would not venture far from the town fearing the sun and natives. She took in her surrounding, her hand lightly fingering the hilt of her knife, ready if someone decided to sneak up on her. "I wonder how long until something happens?" She spoke to the air, a part of her hoping someone else was around.

Silence surrounded her for a few moments longer before the soft crunch of dirt called her attention. Her footsteps stopped as she listened, they were coming from the left. Rose stiffened and waited for the person to appear, cursing not having remembered to give herself a gun. A man appeared, staggering towards her, drunk. He spotted her, an evil leer appearing on his face. "Now why is a little lady like you traveling alone...and dressed like a man. I think you need to be taught your place" Rose let him move closer before pulling out her knife. She landed a switch punch to his stomach before slidding her knife between his ribs. "I think it's about high time you learned yours" She let his body drop, her head shaking as she turned to go.

As the boy walked down the path, his boots crunching in the grit, he kept a wary eye on the hills surrounding him. This was one of the most dangerous user-created zones in VR, and he'd rather not experience being shot or stabbed, or injured in any way, really. He pulled his rifle off his shoulder, the lever action being his preferred choice for this zone, simply because of its point-and-shoot capability. While normally he'd use a scoped rifle, bolt action or semi-auto, it simply didn't give him the ability to shoot quickly enough to survive here.

Willow smiled as he crouched down under cover, watching a group of banditos crest the hill far in the distance. His Marlin Model 95 resting on the reddish boulder facing northwest, aimed just above and just to the east of the banditos. Adjusting for wind and for the drop of the bullet, he swiveled the barrel of the rifle, exhaled slowly, and squeezed the trigger. The stock, with thick cloth wrapped around it to minimize impact, thudded against his shoulder, and after about a second, the head of the band dropped with a spray of red mist, a quarter-sized hole in his chest.

This was the same band of NPCs that the zone had ride down Jack mountain every day at quarter to three. They were missing one of their members, which led Willow to believe that they had encountered some newbie that either didn't know enough to stay out of their way, or some badass that didn't care. The boy pulled the lever forward, pushing the hammer back, and chambered the next round. Yet again adjusting for wind, and this time the movement of his targets. Another shot, another bandit down.

The boy sighed. The same routine as ever traveling up this path. He needed something new. Click-clack, BOOM, pfft, thud. The last bandit down, and Willow shook his head before turning back toward the town, already tired of this place.

Rose walked along, listening to the crunch of dirt under her boots. No one had appeared yet making her wonder if she was alone. She didn't mind being alone but a part of her had hoped to come across someone she could talk to.

The silence was broken by the crack of a gun causing Rose to jump. She grabbed for her knife as another shot filled the air. She wasn't along after all but who ever was shooting was not in the immediate vicinity. One more shot was fired before complete silence once again fell. She wasn't sure but she was willing to bet that the shooter had gotten all their targets.

Rose continued to walk, her knife in hand. She knew it would be useless if pitted against a gun but she didn't care, she was used to getting into fights and if she died it would only mean one less person in the world.

He lifted the hat off his brow and wiped away the beads of sweat that were beginning to appear there. It frequently rose above 100 degrees Fahrenheit in the Mojave, and it seemed it would today. Willow had always wondered what it'd be like to visit the great desert in his RL body, but he knew that was an impossibility. The mojave, like the rest of Amerika, was a ruined wasteland. Inhospitable and treacherous and likely filled with radiation. It was no place for an out of shape teenager.

The boy turned back north toward the town, and slung his lever-action over his shoulder. Thinking about RL made him depressed, made him want another change of scenery, so he would move back to the Sub, and go back to his own Zone, which he kept clear of any obstruction, just to make it easier to move in and out of the VR system.

VR was the most commonly used entertainment device in the world, it had very quickly eclipsed T.V. because who wanted to sit down and WATCH something when you could plug in and experience it? The system was connected by a series of 'Hubs' and 'Subs.' A Hub was the center of that region's server, able to connect to any Zone in that region, or to any of the other Hubs. A sub, on the other hand, was created when one user moved into another zone, and it was a route directly back to his or her own zone.

The only sound was the wind blowing and Willow's boots crunching quietly, his heart thumping in his chest and his breath huffing in his lungs. And of course behind it all, back in RL, his headphones still blared that quiet music in his ears, blasting away that horrible word. This was his life. This was what he lived for every day. The world be-damned.

Rose stopped her walk and sat under the shade of a tree. The steadily raising temperature and the lack of people were making her debate if it would just be better to get off and deal with her family. She rested her head against the tree trunk and closed her eyes. She had a few hours before her family realized that she was home and not doing her chores.

The VR had become Rose's escape from the choas of her family. There were just so many kids around that it was to much for her. Her parents were in charge of a foster home, in the process she was pushed aside for the needs of the others "Best of intentions they had"

Crunch. Crunch. Crunch. Crunch.

Willow turned his music off, knowing that high noon was dangerous in this zone, because of the deceptive quiet. The creaking of the saloon doors, and the boy whipped his head around, his rifle immediately pointed toward the entry-way. It seemed as though a ghost had made its way into the building, but in reality it was the wind. The warm breeze flowed through the empty town, caressing Willow's cheeks and pushing his hair into his face.

Crunch. Crunch. Crunch. Crunch.

The noise of the sand under his feet provided a constant rhythm, and the desert created a mournful tune to accompany it, the drumbeat of his soul. A tumbleweed bounced its way across his path, solemnly spreading its life's blood around the desert, making sure that its death was not in vain. A few jackrabbits chattered amongst one another on the edge of town, seemingly not noticing the huge glowing doorway in the air at the end of the main road. And still his boots crunched in the sand, marking his passage through the Mojave.

Crunch. Crunch. Crunch. Crunch.

Rose got up and started heading back in to town. She hoped that maybe someone had shown up while she was on her walk or maybe they were all hiding from the sun indoors. Rose hurried along debating about heading into the salon or getting off VR. "I'll stay if I meet someone but go if I'm really alone" She voice was carried by the wind. The town looked as alone as it had before.

Rose raised her head towards the sun when she noticed a white light further ahead. Someone was here with her after all, the question was were they leaving or just arriving. She started moving again her pace faster then before, her footfalls faintly echoing through the town. Rose was able to see the outline of a person a head of her a moment before she was on the floor. She had managed to trip over her own feet and quiet possibly missed the only other person on the server. "I'm so stupid"

Willow walked up to the sub and held his hand out to it, speaking a chain of numbers and letters, the unique code required to enter his sub. As he was speaking, though, he heard a quiet thud and muffled cursing. As before, when the saloon door startled him, he whirled, his rifle at the ready, to see a girl lifting herself to her feet in the dust.

"Well, looks as though someone had an accident." he mocked quietly, slinging his rifle over his shoulder and treading forward with a hand outstretched, making to help her up. "I'm surprised to see anyone on here. This zone is usually rather dead, nothing but NPCs. I mean, those will get you sure enough if you're not careful, but still."

He knelt down, his hand still outstretched, but his other resting on the large hunting knife on his belt. "And don't try anything, girly. I'm ready if you do. Name's Willow."

Rose lifted her head as she heard the appoaching footsteps, the person had turned back or she was about to get into some trouble with the NPCs. Whoever it was had a hand held out towards her, not surprisingly it was a guy.

Rose watched him wearly as she pushed herself up and into a sitting position. "I noticed. I ran into one not to long after entering" She eyes his hand unsure if to take it or not. Her decision was made with his next statement. She gave him a smirk, placing her hand in his and allowing him to pull her into a standing postion "Rose.Oh and don't call me girly" She let go of his hand quickly and proceeded to dust her pants off a bit. "I know I don't need to do this but it's a habit"

Rose squinted a bit, eyeing the male slowly. Her hand twitched to her knife but she decided against it, he would probably stop her and she didn't want to lose the company of another person so quickly. "So what brings you into this lovely town?"

When the boy spoke, it was with a distinctly southwestern american accent that he tried very hard to hide. Despite his efforts, however, it still managed to slip through. He was embarrassed that he couldn't get a hold on it, ashamed that he couldn't hide his heritage. The people born after the invasion, or the people that moved to America after den' yedineniya all looked down on him. They saw him as a child of the resistance, as a rebel, a revolutionary, when he was none of these things.

"This town?" came his response, answering a question with a question as he did so often, much to the annoyance of others, "Oh, no particular reason. I just kinda felt like going to the desert for the day."

He shifted smoothly, almost imperceptibly, into a stance as a result of seeing the girl's twitch toward her knife, but seeing her hesitation he acted not. "How about you then? Why here? Surely there are plenty of preferable places to a young girl such as yourself than this rotted out ghost town full of dangerous, if not outright deadly things in the middle of a lonely desert cluttered with tumbleweeds and corpses." The corner of the right side of his mouth twitched up into a crooked sort of half smile. "Most folks, including myself, tend to stay away from places like this."

Rose watched the guy in front of her. His speech seemed slow, like he was concentrating on it. She understood why once his accent slipped through. While it was uncommon where she was from she had come across it multiple times through the VR. Her parents had warned her when she was younger, before they started taking in special kids, that they were not to be trusted. Like with many things she ignored their words once she saw their ignorance. She didn't like judging people, being judged in the past she knew that it could only end in disaster. If the person was truely not to be trusted then something else should lead to that conclusion, not their accent or appearance.

"That's way I'm here" She gave him a small smirk. "The danger. Sure there are other places girls might like to be but I was never a normal girl. You might think I'm stupid but I came here looking for a fight. Why spend my time pretending to try on shoes when I could be beating the crap out of a bandit" A half smile formed on her lips in response to his smile. "That would explain the lack of people around here"

Rose placed her hands on her hips. He seemed like a nice guy but most people started off that way, they changed after they got to know her or got what they wanted. She eyed him warely hoping that maybe this would turn out to be a friendship. "So if you don't mind me asking, where you from? You don't have to lie and you don't have to tell me if you don't want."

Her fingers danced across the keys in an almost ghostly way. They seemed to drift from place to place without touching anything, and yet the haunting refrain issued as the hammers struck the strings in response to her actions. The hairs stood up on the back of my neck and a shiver ran down my spine as I shut my eyes and swayed in time with the music. 'Wow, Ma, I didn't know you could play the piano.' he said without opening his eyes as the music stopped.

"I'm the son of a family of survivors. We came from what the Amerikantsev called Texas. I live in Zima now. Go to a normal school, and live a normal life." came his reply, each sentence short and staccato. Every word was carefully measured out and not a hint of his accent poked through. Seamlessly, he moved onto another point.

As he moved to punch in the series of numbers and letters again, he spoke without turning his head, "Anyways, I'm going to head into my sub. You can come with, if you wish, but it's nothing much. I keep it mostly empty so as to more easily reach the hub. The passkey is 1a0n2n4e2t1t1e6."

Finishing up he stepped into the gleaming doorway and vanished from sight. Immediately afterward he found himself in the same blank white expanse that he entered every time he activated the vr. Back to his regular appearance, short, thin, pale, and miserable looking. Frown lines were beginning to show, and he wasn't even twenty yet. He shook his head and his hair swished about him as he waited to see whether the girl would follow him into his own little world.

Rose listened quietly. She lived in Zima as well but unlike Willow it was the only place she remembered living in. "I'm from Zima, well that's what my parents tell me." Rose let out a huff of breath, she wasn't sure she believed anything her parents told her anymore.

Rose hesitated after receiving the pass key. She was curious about this boy, she had never met anyone who willing admitted that they had come from a family of survivors. "Come on Rosie, stop being such a chicken." She took a deep breath before reciting the key. She stepped into the portal, her western gear disappearing. She silently hoped that she had made a new friend.

The bright white of the room temporarily blinded her. She blinked a few times as her stormy grey orbs adjusted to the light. She looked down at herself as her hands when to her hair. It was black once again, the ends barely reaching her chin. Looking up she spotted Willow, he looked different but that didn't really surprise her. The VR was filled with people that changed their appearances. He looked ordinary, it made her feel comfortable

"Hi" Rose spoke softly and offered a smile, it looked like he needed it. "So um thanks for letting me into your sub."