Tower Climber (A LitRPG Adventure, Book 1) Jakob Tanner (reading comprehension books TXT) 📖

Sakura tilted her head, confused by the change in topic. “Since yesterday evening. Why?”

Max stood up off the hospital bed, ripping out the medical wires attached to him.

It had been a full day since Mr. Grimes had thrown him into the tower. Who knew what horrible things he was getting up to now!?

He moved towards the door.

Sakura flashed into a blur and before Max could reach the door, she was standing in front of it with her arms crossed.

“I need to go back to the outer-rim,” said Max. “My friends. The other orphans. They’re in danger. They need my help.”

Sakura shook her head.

“I’m sorry, but I can’t let you do that.”

9

“What do you mean?” said Max. “Didn’t you just give me a choice whether I wanted to be a citizen of the tower-zone?”

Sakura did not budge an inch from the door. There was no way he could get past her without her letting him.

“Even if your answer was to stay as a citizen of the outer-rim,” said Sakura firmly, “There’s still legal procedures you would have to go through before you’d be allowed to leave the tower-zone.”

Max took a deep breath.

This wasn’t a battle, he thought. It was a negotiation.

“The man who threw me into the tower-zone is currently going about his life without consequences. If he thinks he can get away with throwing a kid over a wall, full of monsters on the other side, he might start doing worse things. In fact, I know he will.”

“We can notify the outer-rim police,” said Sakura. “There are channels set up between Zestiris’ two zones for situations like this one.”

“They won’t do anything!” shouted Max. “No one ever does anything. This man. You don’t know him like I do. He’ll blackmail the orphans to speak positively on his behalf. He’ll do whatever it takes. He’ll get away with what he did to me and—”

Max thought back to that night—only yesterday evening—when the orphan manager drunkenly pawed his hands on Sarah’s door.

“He’ll do much worse,” he sighed.

Sakura was frowning at him.

Maybe he was getting to her.

“You said we would’ve both been dead if it weren’t for me,” he said. “Doesn’t that mean you owe me a favor? Is there no way I could leave the tower-zone for an hour or two? That’s all I need. Please.”

Sakura scratched the back of her head.

“Aw, geez,” she said. “Okay, I think there’s something we can do. I’ll have to blindfold you as this passage is top secret and you’ll have ninety minutes tops. By that point, people will start asking questions and we’ll both be in big trouble. Any chance of you being a climber will be over if they catch us. So ninety minutes, got it?”

Max nodded his head.

“Thank you, Sakura.”

“Don’t mention it.”

Mr. Grimes sat in his office, smoking a cigar and drinking a glass of whiskey.

He was celebrating.

Celebrating getting rid of that little cockroach, Useless.

That boy had always been a nuisance. Always asking questions all the time, watching the group home manager with his irritating nosiness. Then there was his damn disability that meant regulators showed up to check on the group home’s condition more often.

The stupid brat had always been more trouble than he was worth.

He took a long sip of his drink and contemplated how glad he was to be rid of the boy.

He placed his glass down and pulled his feet off the desk. He opened up his laptop and went to an online electronics store.

Now that Useless and his damn nosiness was gone and less inspectors would be coming by, he could finally proceed with his long-wished for plan.

He scrolled through the different small security cameras available on the electronic store.

He grinned. He’d be able to set these cameras up in the girls’ room and in the showers too.

He couldn’t wait to see the girls.

And then there were the profits to think about too. He could sell the footage on the underground market. Probably make a small fortune. People would pay top dollar for this sort of thing.

Mr. Grimes licked his lips, unable to decide what he was more excited for: the footage or the money.

He already had a few pictures he’d snapped on his own, the old-fashioned way when no one was looking. He opened the folder on his computer where he stored them all. Yet when he clicked on the folder, he found none of the pictures inside. The folder was empty.

What!? Where were they!?

CRASH!

Something in the corner of the room fell to the floor, shattering to pieces.

Mr. Grimes’ head perked up.

“What was that?” he said, looking forward.

He thought he saw something flicker in the shadows in the corner.

He stood up.

“Who’s there?”

A figure was cloaked in darkness. Stepping halfway out of the shadows was a face he recognized.

Red hair. Blue eyes.

“What’s wrong, Mr. Grimes?” said the figure, still partially hidden in the shadows. “You look like you’ve seen a ghost?”

Impossible!

There’s no way he could have survived in the tower-zone.

And he was walking too.

What the heck was going on?

He looked to his whiskey bottle. No, he hadn’t drunk enough to hallucinate.

“You...you...” said Mr. Grimes, his voice quivering. “You should be dead!”

The figure smirked. “Too bad for you, I’m not.”

Mr. Grimes reached for his whiskey bottle and smashed it on his desk.

“Don’t you take another step towards me, you hear?”

“You’re threatening me, Mr. Grimes?” said the figure in the shadows. “Are you sure that’s wise? As you can see, I’m walking, standing up straight. Do you want to see whatever magical abilities I’ve gained since entering the tower-zone?”

Mr. Grimes realized then that he was a dead man walking. He didn’t know how it all worked in the tower-zone, but he knew that there were those beyond the walls with unbridled power. If Useless had somehow gained his ability to walk again, who knew what else he had gained.

Mr. Grimes dropped the bottle, smashing it on the floor, and then fell to his knees, bowing in front of Useless.

Tears streamed down his face.

“Please...” he sobbed. “Don’t