by Eliza Green
‘What do we do?’
He searched Anya’s eyes for the answer, and to borrow some of her strength. The fire in them had died a little after Agatha’s chat.
‘I don’t know, Dom,’ she said, meeting his gaze hesitantly. His hope flittered away. ‘I... don’t know what to think right now.’
‘Should I tell the others?’
‘Yeah. You have to.’
He took her hand. Her grip was weak, unsure. But when he looked down at their hands she gripped harder, as if she didn’t want him to know she was struggling.
‘Let’s go,’ she said.
They entered the dorm they’d left twenty minutes ago. Everyone was still asleep. Anya closed the door softly.
‘We need to wake them,’ she whispered in the dark. ‘This news can’t wait.’
‘Agreed.’
Anya flicked on the light and they went around the room, gently rocking the others awake. Dom woke Sheila last.
She groaned and looked up at him through two slits. ‘What are you doing?’
‘Sheila, I need you to get up.’
‘Get up?’ She nestled deeper under the covers. ‘Leave me alone, ass munch.’
He ripped the covers from her. She bolted upright. ‘Hey! I could be naked under here.’
She wore her clothes from the day before; the pair of borrowed pyjamas was still folded on the end of her bed.
‘Please, Sheila. This is important.’
Sheila huffed and sat up properly. Imogen, in the bed next to her, became alert.
The others shook off their lethargy with collective groans. Dom saw some of the younger soldiers had opted for the borrowed clothes. It must have given them a sense of normality to wear something other than rebel gear. Seeing everyone enjoying their newfound freedom ripped his heart in half. He wished he had better news to share, that he and Anya weren’t about to shatter their hopes.
‘What’s going on?’ asked June.
She had Frahlia in the bed with her. The strange, little girl stirred and stretched. She made no sounds, not even a whimper or a cry. He wondered if Agatha knew the truth about her.
Alex stirred in the next bed. Jerome was on the last bed at the end of their row. He sat up with a frown.
All eyes were on Dom; it quickened his pulse. He had no idea how to do this. Anya stood in the middle of the room. Her hands were two fists, as though she were using them to keep her true emotions back. When he rejoined her, her fists unclenched and her hard look softened.
How had Max managed to do this, to speak to a room full of people relying on him to keep them safe?
Dom cleared his throat. ‘We had a chat with Agatha just now.’
Jerome stood up. ‘And? What did she say?’
Dom told them what the Beyond and the Region were, according to Agatha.
Jerome frowned. ‘What does that even mean?’
‘It means she could be lying to keep us here.’ said Anya. ‘Or she could be telling us the truth.’
June said, ‘What’s wrong with staying here? Why would we want to go back to the Region anyway? The machines were trying to kill us.’
Sheila had that look on her face, the one that said she didn’t trust people. ‘And Agatha just blurted it out?’
‘Yeah.’
‘Why?’
Dom blinked. ‘I don’t know.’
Anya said, ‘She told us after we demanded she open the door and bring the others across.’
June frowned at Anya. ‘I don’t understand. She promised it would open today.’
‘And she said just now it wouldn’t be opening again. That it was too risky.’
Alex stood and jabbed a finger at the room. ‘That’s bull. We have to open it again!’
Dom looked at Frahlia. The little girl was staring at Alex, slightly pulled back from him.
A hardened soldier stood up. ‘What do we do?’
Dom shoved his hands into his pockets and answered honestly. ‘I don’t know.’
‘You can’t leave them in the Region. We barely got out alive.’
‘It’s possible they haven’t survived,’ said one of the younger soldiers.
‘So we leave them to die without knowing for sure?’ Sheila growled at him. She turned to Dom. ‘We have to get that door open. You know we do.’
‘I’m with Sheila,’ said Jerome.
He’d been quiet up until now, not offering much of an opinion.
Dom sat on the edge of the bed and buried his face in his hands. Around him, the others discussed their predicament. Their strained voices made it hard to focus. The bed dipped beside him. A familiar, warm hand on his calmed his racing heart.
Anya bent her neck and looked into his eyes. ‘It’s going to be okay, Dom.’
Her beautiful, blue eyes. Their time at Arcis came rushing back to him. The tests, the trials. The battle in the landscape. They’d almost died. But they hadn’t. Against the odds, they’d survived. Max had given his life to save them. Jason had, too. Their deaths had not been in vain. They’d found the Beyond. But they hadn’t all made it. And that was on him.
‘Charlie and Vanessa doubted I could do this. Maybe they were right.’
She shifted round to face him. ‘Charlie and Vanessa are stuck on the other side. They’re relying on you to help them.’
He kissed her lips, needing to feel more than her hand. She sagged against him.
Pulling away, she said, ‘You’ve got this, Dom. You always have.’
With a nod, he stood. ‘We need to find a way to open the door.’
Alex smiled. ‘I might be able to disable the security in this place. I found a backdoor into their program last night.’
They could do with all the help they could get.
‘Do it.’
Anya’s brief nod at Dom gave him the reassurance he needed. This was the right call, despite what Agatha had said. For all he knew, she could be lying. And one thing was certain: He would not leave the others to die.
Ω
Before Alex had slipped out of the room, he’d told Dom that disabling the security wouldn’t take long. Dom had sent one of the soldiers with him.
But it did take long. An hour longer than Dom had been prepared to wait.
The soldier had returned ten minutes ago, but without Alex. He’d said Alex was right behind him, but when the Breeder didn’t show, Dom readied to go after him.
Preparing to leave, he told the others to wait. At the door, he’d barely touched the handle when it moved on its own and the door opened.
Finally.
Except it was one of Agatha’s men.
‘This room is on lockdown.’
Anya stood up sharply. ‘Why?’
Dom backed up to the bed and caught her wrist.
‘One of you was caught trying to disable the security system,’ said the base soldier.
Alex.
‘That makes all of you a threat.’
Anya pulled out of Dom’s grip. ‘Please, let us speak to Agatha. We can straighten this out.’
‘No.’
The soldier closed the door. Dom heard the clunk clink of a lock being turned. Anya rushed to try the handle. The door wouldn’t open.
Dom rounded on the soldier who’d made it back. ‘What the hell happened?’
His eyes were wide, his face flushed. ‘Alex was in the control room. I-I was keeping guard. He told me to head back, that he was right behind me. He must have triggered an alarm.’
A worried June pleaded with Dom. ‘Do something. He was trying to help us.’
He squeezed her arm. ‘I will. I promise.’
But Anya had an odd look on her face.
‘What is it?’
She looked up at him before her gaze flicked to June, then away. ‘I saw Alex last night. He was in the control room doing the same thing he said he would today. Except, then, he didn’t trigger any alarms.’
‘They must have different security during the day, that’s all,’ said June hotly.
The door opened again and an irate Agatha entered the room. Her furious gaze landed on Dom.
‘You and you’—she pointed at Anya—‘come with me.’
Dom took Anya’s hand. He glanced back to see June was glaring at Anya. Dom gave her a reassuring smile.
They followed Agatha and her soldiers out and into the corridor. All he could hear was the beat of his heart and the thick, echoing thud of military-grade boots pounding the concrete floor. The sounds changed to sharp clanging when those boots hit the steel stairs leading to Agatha’s office.
Agatha entered the room first, but one of the soldiers stopped Dom from following.
‘When she’s ready, not before.’
After a minute, Agatha called out, ‘Send them in.’
They entered the room. A visibly distraught Agatha paced the room.
She stopped at the desk and turned to face them. ‘What the hell have you people done?’
‘What are you talking about? We’ve done nothing.’
‘We’ve just had a security breach.’
He played dumb. ‘I’m not sure what that has to do with—’
‘The one called Alex?’ Agatha glared at him. ‘He was in the control room. At your insistence, I presume?’
Dom said nothing.
Anya spoke up. ‘If something’s happened, it’s your fault. We told you we needed to open the door to the Region. We have people trapped on the other side.’
Agatha folded her arms. Her lips thinned. ‘You don’t understand what’s happening here, do you? A security breach is a big deal in this place.’
Anya smiled. ‘Open the door and we promise not to touch your security again.’
‘You’re not listening to me, girl. You never were good at listening. Your Alex has uploaded something extra into our systems.’
‘What?’
‘A virus.’ Agatha perched on the desk’s edge. ‘You brought something back with you, something that could destroy this base and our city.’
‘Alex did that?’ said Dom.
Other than Frahlia acting strange around him, he’d seen nothing odd about the former Breeder.
But when Anya fell quiet, his blood ran cold.
‘What is it?’ he asked.
She looked up at him with round eyes and he suddenly felt sick.
‘When Thomas and I freed Alex in the medical facility, I thought there was something off about him. Then Frahlia didn’t take to him.’
His breath caught in his throat. ‘In what way was he off?’
‘He was too excited by Frahlia. I put it down to my not knowing him all that well. I’m sorry. I should have said something.’
He rubbed her back. ‘It’s okay.’
‘No, it’s not,’ said Agatha. ‘None of this is okay.’
There had to be a way to fix this. ‘What can we do?’
Agatha pushed off from the desk. ‘We need to evacuate the base, cut the systems off from the rest of the network. Find a way to fight this enemy again.’
Enemy? Again?
His stomach flipped. ‘You think it’s Quintus?’
‘I know it is.’
‘Let us open the door. We have people on the other side that can help. We have the man who was the Inventor for Praesidium. Please.’
‘No, it’s too dangerous.’
‘At least let us try. We didn’t bring Quintus across willingly.’
Agatha pursed her lips. ‘The damage is done. The one entity we wanted to keep out is now here. We can’t risk rebooting the security to open the door.’
Dom had another idea. He held up his arm. ‘If you agree to it, we may not need to reboot your system.’
Agatha’s eyes widened. ‘What are you going to do?’
‘You wanted to study my tech? Well, here’s your first chance. I’m going to open the door with it.’
But Agatha looked unconvinced. ‘Then what?’
‘You let the others pass and you can ask me whatever you want. Study me however you want.’
Anya turned sharply. ‘Dom, no!’
He smiled at her. ‘It’s okay. I’m not afraid anymore.’ He looked at Agatha. ‘What do you say?’
‘Do you really have someone who can help?’
He nodded.
Her expression relaxed. She strode over to the door and opened it, to speak to the soldiers. ‘Get a team to the door. We’re going to try opening it.’
‘But it’s on lockdown,’ said the wide-eyed soldier.
‘I know. Just do it.’
She turned back to Dom. ‘Let’s see your tech in action.’
Agatha led the way and Dom followed, taking the stairs two at a time to the ground floor. He heard Anya’s lighter, hesitant steps behind him.
This would work. He would use Quintus’ technology against him.
Agatha moved fast and he was tempted to outrun her and reach the door first. But he stayed back; he couldn’t risk losing this opportunity.
They arrived at the heavy, steel door. Five armed soldiers guarded it. They parted when Agatha approached them.
She turned to Dom. ‘The door is shut tight. You’re going to need all the power you can muster.’
Behind him, more soldiers filled the area. One held a grappling hook. He glanced back and saw the wire led back to the bay area. Probably attached to one of the trucks there.
‘If you can get the door open partially, the grappling hook and truck will do the rest,’ said Agatha. She paused. ‘Are you sure you can do this?’
Dom held up his arm. He hadn’t tested the strength all that much, but he couldn’t think of a better reason to use it.
‘No, but I’m going to try.’
He tugged on the handle of the door and leaned back into it. His body quivered with the force. The door groaned, but he felt it shift, if only a few millimetres. A pain radiated up into his shoulder socket and lit his muscles on fire.
‘Dom, you don’t have to do this,’ said Anya.
‘I’m okay.’
He kept tugging, because his body was all he really had control over. If Quintus was here, Dom would make him pay for everything he’d done to him.
The door loosened a little more. One of the soldiers wedged the hook in the crack. The slack wire snapped tight and instantly lightened the load. Despite the blaze in his muscles, Dom continued to add his effort to it. With one last heave, the door creaked open.
On the other side was the Inventor. His white hair was dishevelled and he had a wild look in his eyes. He held Carissa in his arms.
‘How did you get the door open?’ Jacob said.
Dom stared at an unconscious Carissa. ‘What the hell happened?’
‘She sacrificed herself to save us.’
Agatha blocked the new gap, which was getting wider.
Dom said, ‘He can help you.’
‘But he’s holding a Copy.’
Dom readied to shove her back if necessary. ‘If you want to solve your problem, this Copy and this man are the answer. But first, we need to help her.’
Agatha stepped back with a huff.
Jacob rushed forward through the gap and into the Beyond. Charlie followed. Vanessa and Thomas carried a medic Dom hadn’t seen before. Last, Rover poked his nose in.
‘No, absolutely not!’ said Agatha.
Dom said, ‘It’s all of them or none.’
She pursed her lips, then waved her team back. Rover pushed his shoulder against the door to widen it. The soldiers in the corridor cringed back from the beast that squeezed into the corridor. Rover growled and assessed the strangers. Jacob said something to him and he whined.
Agatha blinked in surprise.
‘He controls the beast,’ said Anya.
‘How?’
‘He built him.’
All eyes were on Jacob and Carissa.
The Inventor looked like he was losing his grip on her. ‘I need to get her help.’
Agatha resumed command. ‘Dom tells me you’re the only one who can help us with our problem.’
‘What problem?’
‘Quintus is here.’
Jacob looked down at the limp body in his arms. ‘She can speak to him.’
Agatha ordered her soldiers to alert the doctors. ‘In that case, follow me.’
The wire for the hook slackened. Dom heard the door suck shut behind him.
Jacob carried Carissa while Thomas and Vanessa followed with the second Copy. Dom took her from them and slung her over his shoulder.
Anya gasped. ‘It’s my medic. The one who helped us to escape.’
‘She helped us to kill the Copies,’ said Vanessa. ‘We owe her and Carissa our lives.’
‘All of them?’ he asked, wondering about his former Copy guard.
‘As good as dead,’ said Vanessa.
Dom carried the female medic down a corridor and into a room that Agatha gestured to, setting her down on a bed. It was the same room he’d been in for his examination with the doctor. Men and women in lab coats watched nervously as the new group took over.
Agatha clicked her fingers at the doctors, pointing to Jacob. ‘Give this man what he needs.’
The people in lab coats rushed over to the table with Carissa on it. ‘What can we do?’
Jacob looked frazzled, as though he didn’t know where to start. ‘Get me a diagnostic machine. I need to see what’s going on in her brain.’
‘Does she have an NMC?’
He nodded. ‘It’s been disabled. But it could still be working.’
One of the men pulled a machine over. Dom stood back, not wanting to get in the way.
Anya slipped her hand into his. ‘It’s going to be okay. They’ll get her working and she’ll help to fight Quintus.’
Dom shook his head. ‘I should have picked up on what Alex had planned.’
‘I spent a week with him. I knew him better than most. The second I picked up on his odd behaviour, I should have said something.’
Dom didn’t want to think about Anya’s week with the Breeder. It had been an intimate one. But he understood they had both been under the influence of Rapture, a powerful attraction drug. And none of that mattered now.
He turned his attention to the table, stepping closer. A new machine was beside the bed. Wires from it had been connected to Carissa’s discs. He released Anya’s hand. ‘Will she be okay?’