The Watch – Part 168:

Find the key. It’s as simple as that. What can go wrong? The answer to that question is that I could very easily be taken out by any one of the many enemies that are apparently roaming about the place. From the looks of this abandoned city, the key could literally be anywhere, and I mean anywhere: In a drawer in some office somewhere, in a bin, under some weeds, the list goes on and on and I can’t keep standing here thinking about what to do. At least I now have some ideas that I can take action with.

I started forward with extreme caution, making sure that I keep one eye on my surroundings just in case anything or anyone decides to pounce. I only have two more chances before it is game over, and that terrifies the heck out of me. I’ve never been this scared about what’s to come. The fact that I could be taken out any second, from behind, without warning, and without the use of my watch, I’ve never felt more vulnerable in my entire life. My heart is racing, my breathing is heavy, my mind is racing; I just cannot think properly.

That’s not what I promised myself. I promised to myself that I would never give up. I would always find a way out of any situation, no matter what. I am not going to break that promise, especially considering that Amy and Tom are at stake. I can get through this, and I will not let him get the better of me. I closed my eyes and let all my unwanted thoughts flush out of my system via a long deep breath and all the helpful thoughts flow naturally and easily.

Like I said before, for all he knows, I can be an expert at many skills. Just because I cannot physically use my watch, doesn’t mean I cannot communicate with it from within my head, because he doesn’t know that’s one of the watch’s awesome features. I can do anything with my watch, and I will do just that to make sure Amy and Tom are safely back home, resting, with all of this behind them.

With the knowledge that I can do anything pushing all the worry and fears I have from my mind, an idea developed. It was an incredible idea. I would never have thought of it if I were too busy worrying about what’s to come. The key can’t be a hologram like the city for it wouldn’t be able to unlock the door, so why don’t I just use the watch to scan the area to pinpoint the exact location of the key? That way, I won’t have to waste so much time searching for it when instead I can just go straight to it, then to the door, unlock it and escape this place. I will obviously have to make sure that the watch scans the area in secret so that he above doesn’t know.

I talked to Interface, explaining what I would like him to do and he did exactly that. A couple of minutes passed as Interface scanned every inch of the city before giving the information to where the key is located. I would never have thought of putting it there. Of all the places the key could have been within the entire city, it had to be there. Technically, it’s not even in the flipping city. It’s sitting within the lock of the door. I would have searched left, right and centre for that key without knowing that it was in the lock all this time. I mean, he does like misleading you like that, making you believe the key is somewhere in the city. Well, it is and it isn’t. I can’t help imagine there actually being an identical-looking key hidden somewhere within the city only to be a hologram. Can you imagine my reaction if I went to pick up the key only for my fingers to slip right through it? That would have been a confusing situation to say the least.

Now that I have found the key, all I need to do now is make my way through the city, from one end to the other. I have no idea what is the best route to take, what enemies I will encounter along the way, or what will happen in general. I doubt I would get away with just walking down the road that runs through the middle, I would have to do some zigzagging at some point or another so I don’t alert any enemies. Well, I just have to do what I do best: Make it up as I go along. That way of thinking may have landed me in this situation, but that way of thinking is going to get me out of it as well, I can be sure of that.

I am now ready to venture into the city and retrieve that key. I don’t care how many enemies will stand in my way, I will push them aside. Amy and Tom, just wait a little longer, I’m on my way.

He, the person behind the microphone and behind this elaborate testing facility, may be clever, he wouldn’t have thought up and created any of this, but he is blind as a bat when it comes to estimating people’s intelligence. When I get out of here, I will make a mental note to myself to never come back here for as long as I possibly can. This all started because of those meteorites. If it weren’t for them, then I wouldn’t have had to select the random button to go to any parallel universe. OK, there was probably a better way of dealing with that situation, but I would like to see anyone think of anything rational when four great big rocks are hurtling towards you, hell-bent on destroying everything.

TO BE CONTINUED…

Thanks for reading

Antony Hudson

(TonyHadNouns)