“Hello, Jacob. Out for a little evening jog?”
Goddamnit. And here I was having a good day, too.
“What do you want?”
“You know, you have to be some kind of stupid. The man who mandated that all his precious little sheep travel with a buddy decides to run alone? At night? Do you have a death wish or are you just truly too dumb for this world?”
“You know what, fuck you Gabriel. If you know that I’ve instructed everyone to travel in pairs, you know that we’re going to break out of here. You waited too long. People are scared. Your promise to get them back into the virtual world doesn’t mean shit if they die horribly out here. There isn’t anything you can do to stop it.”
I didn’t see the blow coming. Gabriel’s huge hand connected with my jaw hard enough to send me flying. My returned confidence had brought a newfound sense of strength. I felt blood dribbling down my chin from where my teeth had split my lip and smiled. “That’s how you want to play? Let’s play.”
Either Gabriel had become infected himself or I was running on an extra dose of adrenaline, but I managed to land several strong punches before he could swipe at me. The feeling flowing through my veins was an otherworldly godliness that made me feel invincible. Somewhere in the back of my mind I knew I should be afraid, maybe even run away, but the confrontation felt like a game. My vision felt remarkably clear, my breathing even. Gabriel’s stolen body was more powerful than mine by an order of magnitude but it was slow. Being short and fit gave me the advantage of speed and I utilized it to the best of my ability, dancing out of the way of Gabriel’s mad grabs and punches. That isn’t to say that I was winning. More than once I had to shake off the pain as Gabriel’s fists connected with existing injuries and burns. The best medical treatment in the world couldn’t completely erase the ill effects of my ordeals from a body this old. I switched tactics, preferring to use Gabriel’s power against him. More than once he charged me, head down and huffing like a bull. Each time he stumbled as I grabbed him behind the head and forced him towards the ground with his own momentum. Following his trajectory I placed myself directly in his path and brought a knee upwards. My kneecap crunched into his nose and I was rewarded with a shower of blood and a yelp as Gabriel instinctively brought his hands to his nose.
We tussled on and on, neither of us giving or gaining much ground. The adrenaline rush I had enjoyed was starting to wear off. I was growing a half second slower and a hair weaker every minute the fight continued. Because he wasn’t human, Gabriel was skilled at ignoring the protests George’s body had to be screaming at him by now. He could—and would—fight until one of us dropped. Judging by the rage afire in his eyes, he wouldn’t cease until he felt my heart stop under his hands. I had to figure out another strategy fast. It occurred to me that I had the opportunity to bolt. The safest way to outrun an overpowered opponent was to find a populated place, after all. If I could make it back to the infirmary it was unlikely that Gabriel would pursue me that far. I ducked out of the way as he threw a haymaker at me. His fist connected with the concrete and metal, the skin ripping open as the wall crumbled beneath his fist.
Shit. His host body should have been in agony. Even willpower doesn’t take away a broken hand, but Gabriel didn’t even seem to notice. His plans had crumbled in front of his eyes, not once, but twice. The only option left was to kill the man responsible for it all—me.
I backed up, dancing on my toes and holding my hands up to guard my torso. I glanced around me, trying to see if there was something, anything I could use as a weapon. Sadly the hallway was kept neat and clean. It was imperative that nothing stood in the way of the infirmary doors lest someone in an emergency had to be slowed down. Ease of access could make the difference between life and death in the right situation.
“You’re not running from me this time!” Gabriel snarled and kicked me in the chest hard enough to knock the wind from me. The pain from the blow dazed me and I twisted as Gabriel landed on top of me and drove his fist towards my face. His hand smashed into the floor and I could swear I heard the concrete crack a little bit. Pushing a foot up against his massive form earned me enough leeway to scramble backwards. I danced away from my adversary, shifting my weight from foot to foot as I waited for his next move.
“What are you going to do?” The voice of the robot broke though human vocal cords. “You gonna kill me, Jacob? Even if you could win in a fight with this body, what about your friend Geoooorge? Are you going to kill him too?” Gabriel’s mocking enraged me. It was one thing to kill your enemy. Hell, I’d even call it justified. But hijacking someone’s mind was a violation like no other.
“He’s already dead.” If I could keep him talking, I would buy myself time to formulate a strategy. Formulate a strategy? Who was I kidding. I was buying myself time to take a few more breaths before the killing blow struck.
“Are you sure about that? For all you know plugging this body back into a pod might free your poor old friend. In fact, I guarantee it. Give me back my mainframe and I’ll be happy to leave the human unharmed.”
That gave me pause. I had to kill Gabriel, that much was true, but did that give me the right to also murder George? I could picture his consciousness in some form, alive and aware, trapped in a body that he would never again control. That was it. A body he would never again control. If I were in the same situation, I know what I’d want. Put me out of my misery.
“Sure…” I trailed off. “Just come on over here and we’ll have a good old talk about it. I’m an old man, Gabriel. I’m exhausted. I’ve watched too many people get sick and die to want to go on. So you win. I’ll plug you back into the mainframe and get started on having some folks rebuild your server. You might have to run a little slowly until then, but you can manage, right?”
“You know what Jacob? I take it back. You and I both know how this is going to end. After all, you attacked me in a fit of rage. After I convinced people that they should be re-inserted into the virtual world, you lost your mind. Your hopes dashed, you chased me down and confronted me. We fought for a good while as I tried to calm you down, but ultimately you gave me no choice.”
What a load of bullshit.
I had settled on trying to bolt into the infirmary when I felt something pushing into my thigh. The scalpel I had secreted away as a weapon jutted into my leg, the plastic cap protecting me from its razor sharp blade. It occurred to me that it might be actually useful as a weapon; the knowledge of its presence served as more of a security blanket than anything else. Now I was grateful I had brought it.
Gabriel took advantage of my distraction and landed another flurry of punches to my torso. I swept a low kick to his legs and he stumbled, the weight of his upper body throwing him off balance. I grasped for the scalpel and thumbed the cap off. I didn’t even register the blade slicing into my thumb. Gabriel had already recovered and swung for me in a mad grab, giving me plenty of time to duck. In a split second move I used my left hand to push upwards and felt the cartilage of his nose snap underneath my palm. Predictably he brought his hands to his face in surprise and I thrust the scalpel forward into the soft flesh at the base of his neck.
For a moment it seemed as if nothing had happened. Had I stabbed too low, and hit the thick muscle of the chest? Before I could withdraw my hand, bright red blood started spurting from the wound. George’s life flowed over my hand, warm and wet. I yanked my hand back, the weapon caught in a vice grip. Gabriel swiped at me, George’s left hand trying to grab me around the neck but the movement was so clumsy I just backed away. Arterial blood sprayed the wall one more time and the bleeding slowed to a trickle. George’s lips blew a swath of pink bubbles like some macabre bubble gum. He coughed once and fell.
Chapter Twenty-Five
I stood with the scalpel in my hand, blood dripping to the floor. George’s body lay on the concrete, a pool of blood spreading underneath his massive form. His eyes stared, dull and unblinking. I had killed an innocent man. Hot tears stung
my eyes and a keening howl rose in my throat, but I bit it back. I had killed an innocent man. A victim of an evil being hijacking his mind and holding him hostage, forcing him to endure a horrific death. A death at my hand. He was my friend. We didn’t know each other for very long but he was valuable to me. George was my one hope of escape when Gabriel trapped me in that hospital and I had killed him without giving him a chance. No matter how much I tried to convince myself that it was self-defense, the fact that I committed a murder repulsed me. I gagged, spilling a thin string of bile onto the concrete. The scalpel tumbled from my hand and landed on the floor with a delicate clink. When the dry heaves had abated I caught my breath and took stock of the situation. The fight seemed to have gone unnoticed by the rest of the shelter. No doubt any strange noises that made their way down the hallway were dismissed. It wasn’t unusual to hear strange noises these days as the sounds of the sick echoed throughout the shelter.
“Jacob?”
I almost didn’t hear her. The blood was pounding in my ears too hard for anything to make its way through.
“Jac-oh, shit.”
I turned to see Shannon standing in the hallway. Her face had gone stark white. I held up my hands in an attempt to ward her off but thought better of it—they were covered in blood.
“Help me.” I was barely aware that I had spoken out loud. The words were little more than a whisper but they seemed to thunder down the hallway.
“Kick the knife away, Jacob.” I did so, kicking it far behind me. “Do you have any more weapons on you?”
“What…Shannon, you know who he was. You know I wouldn’t have…please…” My hands were starting to shake now. The adrenaline rush of the fight was draining away and it was getting cold, so cold. “No, I don’t have any more weapons on me. Just the scalpel.” She had just come across a murder scene, with the murderer still present. It made sense that she was making sure that I hadn’t lost my mind. Or that someone else had taken it over.
“What the fuck happened?”
“He came for me. He was going to kill me.” I started to cry. Big, blubbering sobs like a little boy. Shannon reached out and touched me on the shoulder gently. “He was my friend, Shannon.”
“I know.”
“He was my friend and I killed him. He didn’t even have a chance to defend himself.”
“I know. Listen. I need you to fall apart later. Right now you need to get the fuck out of here. Leave the body. You’re hurt. You’re going to come inside the infirmary with me and I’m going to patch you up. Then we are marching to Alexander Fang’s room and you are going to tell him exactly what happened. I expect that some time between now and then that someone will discover the body. You are not going to say anything. Do you understand me?”
I nodded, dumbstruck. The chill had given way to numbness. My body felt like a huge weight tugging me downwards. I tried lifting a foot to follow Shannon’s instructions and it was like pulling a dumbbell off the floor with my pinky finger. Shannon grabbed me firmly by the arm.
“Walk forward.” Just like that, the thing that had been my body started working. She pushed open the infirmary doors ahead of us. A few patients peered out from behind the curtains surrounding their beds but retreated quickly. Shannon pointed to the gurney I had been spending my nights on. “Sit down.” Clearly the woman knew how to talk to people in shock. I sat without thinking and awaited further instructions.
“Shirt off.” My arms obeyed and I tossed the soiled clothing to the floor. As I did so it occurred to me that the numbness was receding. Sensation was starting to come back to me and with it the pain of the fight. My lungs were on fire. Every breath was like a fresh stab wound. I ran my hands over my neck and chest and found that some very large bruises were forming. The inferno in my chest was sadly very familiar.
“Cracked…ribs.” I wheezed and coughed, which set the blaze roaring. Shannon looked up sharply from her inspection of my injuries.
“Yes. Cracked ribs. I understand you’ve got some experience with that.” She stood and held up a single finger. “Follow this with your eyes.” I did so and gripped the sides of the bed as the world swayed and dipped. “Nystagmus.”
“Huh?”
She sighed and pushed me down on the gurney. “Your ears are telling your eyes that you’re moving. It’s temporary and common with patients who have endured multiple concussions. Stay still and try not to vomit.” She left and returned with a large wound kit. “I’ll patch you up as best I can. I’m going to warn you, this is going to suck.”
“‘Kay.” I was feeling too dizzy and too confused to argue. It did suck, a lot. Shannon cleaned the cuts on my face and neck before affixing a patch to my side. “What is that.”
“You’re going to find out in a minute. Try not to scream. Other people are trying to ignore the fact that you’re sitting here covered in blood.”
“Ah-fuck!” I choked back a howl of pain as the patch shot out little appendages that looked like needles and buried them in my skin. The patch tightened up and affixed itself to my ribs, the soft material turning as hard as a rock.
“I told you it was going to be rough.” Shannon stood a couple of steps back from me, just out of reach.
“Had to use that on a couple other patients, have you?” I felt fully sober now.
“No, this is a fairly new invention. Binds the ribs without restricting your breathing. And I’ve just been around enough men to know that when you’re in pain you do one of two things. You didn’t seem like you were going to pass out, so slugging me was the other option.”
“You’re goddamn right I want to slug you!” I hissed.
“Oh Jacob, we haven’t gotten to your lower half yet.”
Attending to my legs was a more simple affair, if just as painful. The lower half of my right leg was bent at a slightly crooked angle. Shannon promised to image it later. For now, it was another cast of death. This one was even larger and I tasted blood in my mouth as I bit through part of my lip to keep from screaming. Which promptly earned me a couple of stitches. Shannon didn’t say anything as she finished her duties, just handed me a wet cloth and a new set of scrubs. I cleaned myself as well as I could without a mirror, taking care to not look too put together. It wasn’t going to help my case if I tried to claim self-defense while looking like I’d had a shower in the interim.
The body was indeed discovered before Shannon and I could make our escape. Worse, it was found by a young teenager on his way to the infirmary to ask for treatment of a stomach ache. His scream woke the few patients recovering in the infirmary alongside me and soon there was a crowd standing around George’s still form. I shut my eyes and readied myself for the worst.
It sounds stupid to say but I had never really considered what would happen after George or I died. Somehow I thought that the few people I had revealed the truth to would have magically disseminated the real story to the rest of the shelter and I would be hailed as a hero. Instead, I may have just won people their freedom—in return for mine.
Fuck.
The remaining ‘higher rank’ people were brought in, neither of whom appeared happy to be woken in the wee hours of the morning. When they came upon George’s body they did the predictable thing; they called for a medic. Shannon gritted her teeth and ran outside as if she had no idea what was happening. Brave girl. If I were her, I would have ratted me out for the murder I was and stepped away as they threw me in restraints.
I wouldn’t throw that possibility out the window just yet, Jakey Boy. Gabriel’s voice echoed in my mind, a second demon to join the one I had become. I stayed stock still on the gurney, waiting for the nice men with the electric shock batons to come take me away. Were those shock batons even still working? I hadn’t seen one in a while. Maybe years. Instead of jailers, Alexander Fang peeked his head inside the curtains surrounding my bed. As calmly as I could, I raised my arms and knitted my fingers behind my head. Surely they wouldn’t send one man anywhere near me without backup.
&nb
sp; “It’s all right, Jacob. You can put your hands down.” He patted the end of my bed. “May I sit down?”
“Sure, Alexander. But why are you here? Why haven’t they come to take me away in handcuffs?”
“There are four men surrounding your bed Jacob. They are equipped to deal with such an event should it become necessary. Is it going to become necessary?” He sat on the very edge of the bed, just out of arms reach. I didn’t take it personally. I would do the same in his position.
“No. I intend to fully cooperate with you. I don’t want to cause any more trouble or put anyone in danger.”
A thin smile. “That’s good to hear, my friend. I’ve asked the medical team and some other folks to clear out the infirmary for the moment. Despite the guards outside, I would invite you to think of this as a one-on-one chat. I understand that you have a story to tell me that will help me understand why you killed an innocent man.”
“I do. Are you ready to hear it?”
“Yes. Let’s begin.”
I recounted everything. No minor detail was left uncovered. The better picture I could paint, the more convincing the truth would be—at least I thought so. It was a story that I knew almost as well as my own, at this point. After the ordeal in the virtual world, versions of it had spread throughout the shelter but none of them matched the truth. When I got to the part about Sophia and Daisy my voice choked. You’d think telling this tale as many times as I had would impart some degree of separation from the events themselves, but the opposite was true. In a way, having to recount the horrors of the past year ripped the scarred wounds open anew. I shoved the pain aside, deeply inside me where I could lock it in a box. I did that a lot with my feelings these days. As I spoke I watched Alexander’s face carefully, trying to divine the ensuing consequences for my actions. I had no such luck. He face was impassive the entire time. When I had finished speaking, he was silent. My heart beat in my ears as I awaited my judgment.
Defiant: Quantic Dreams Book 2 Page 16