Outlive (The Baggers Trilogy, #1) by Chad Leito Read Free Book Online Page B

wrist! Look, I did a lot for you as far as rescheduling when you couldn’t play, so don’t use a tone with me, or you can get the hell out of here! Got it?”
                  Baggs swallowed. His mouth was dry. He thought of the McKesson family. Greggor had a temper, and if Baggs made him mad now, he’d be out of work for good. Greggor didn’t need Baggs, but Baggs needed Greggor. “Yeah. I understand. Just, ahhhh, if something comes up, maybe you could pass it along to me. Like, I don’t know, if someone breaks their wrist or something like that.” Baggs smiled. He had meant it as a joke, but Greggor was scowling at him.
                  “I’ve got work to do, Baggs. Do you need anything else or are you just here to chinwag?”
                  Baggs wanted to say, you weren’t busy when Jacque was here, chatting you up, touching your upper thigh, but he held his tongue. He said, “I actually wanted to get some practice time in.”
                  Greggor went behind his desk and typed a few keys on his keyboard. “Just opened room 14. Go on ahead.”
                  “Thanks, Greggor.” Baggs opened up the door to the staircase and began to walk upstairs.
                  As he was on the lower steps, he heard from the HoloVision Box: “If you’re interested in a 20,000 CreditCoin reward, and would like to enter into the next episode of Outlive, contact us online at www.Outlive.com/applicants , or stop by your local media studio and meet with us in person.”
                  Baggs thought, I bet most applicants just show up. I bet that not many people with internet would want to enter into such a lethal agreement.
                  Baggs continued to climb. Greggor called angrily behind him: “And I’m going to listen to you before I send you away to this birthday party. You’ll lose your spot if you can’t play with that hand of yours.”
                  “Sure,” Baggs called back.
                  He was perspiring lightly as he opened the door to room 14 and entered.
                  The piano rooms had always been a place where Baggs found himself relaxing. The plastic black and white keys had always felt good under Baggs’s fingers. He had always had good associations with the smell of disinfectant. To Baggs, it had always felt and smelled like home.
                  Now, the keys looked threatening, like the exposed teeth of a feral dog. The smell stung his nostrils.
                  He pulled back the chair, squeezed his body in between the seat and the keyboard, and sat down. The keyboard rooms were no bigger than closets, and they filled the hallways of the building’s second floor. Each of the compartments was sound proof, which Baggs was thankful for. He didn’t know if he would be able to experiment on the keyboard if he thought that Greggor might hear.
                  He was also thankful that the room was soundproof so that he didn’t hear any more noises from the Outlive rerun drifting up the stairs.
                  Baggs looked behind himself to see if the door was shut properly and then, knowing that no one could hear him, began to talk to himself. He sometimes liked to do this in the keyboard rooms; he found that it helped him to gather his thoughts.
                  “Okay, before I start, am I seriously considering signing up for Outlive?”
                  The big man just breathed for a moment, thinking. He recalled the terrified expression on the hairy man’s face as they ripped him apart with their blades. He kept his hands on his lap, as though if he put them on the keys the keyboard might bite him.
                  “How much will the birthday party pay? Greggor didn’t say. Maybe fifty. Maybe less. Enough to eat for ten days, probably. But that’s in two months!