“What a pleasant surprise!” His voice held a confidence it hadn’t had before. “Great to have you back, Coyle. And these are your friends, Aedan, and Jamie?” He nearly extended his hand out to shake their hands.
Angelfire came over my earpiece, “Coyle, they’ve ramped their crap up. They’ve got a firewall to end all firewalls, nearly impenetrable. It’s going to take me awhile to get in.”
I couldn’t respond, and it seemed Angelfire knew it because he didn’t say another word.
“Coyle? Are you with me?” Mr. Collins asked, noticing my inattention.
“I’m here Mr. Collins. It’s good to see you.”
A slight hint of recognition, or maybe satisfaction, crossed his face but then quickly disappeared. “It won’t be, I promise.” A menacing grin developed on his lips. “I’ll frisk them. See what they’re hiding on their persons.”
“Can I frisk AM1? It would be an honor,” one of the clone guards asked. Mr. Collins’ eyes shot to mine as if to ask, “anything on you?” I shook my head ever so slightly, and he responded with an equally slight nod.
“Yes, of course. You both can.” He pointed to both guards. “Frisk him thoroughly, don’t miss a single nook or cranny of his body. I’ll search the regulars,” he said and turned to Jamie and Aedan.
Crap, he’s going to find the cell jammer on Jamie’s arm, I thought. The cell jammer! How did the jammer not block Medital’s phones in our ear canals?
They frisked me with overt roughness, sneaking in a few jabs to my sides. The guard even jostled my arms so that the ties cut deep into my wrists. Crimson drips from my own wrists joined Aedan’s on the floor.
Mr. Collins came over to Jamie and started slipping his hands over her legs, up her torso, to her armpits and then down her arms. He paused ever so slightly at the cell jammer strapped high on her right arm, but he didn’t say anything. He repeated the task on Aedan, pausing at the syringes in his pocket, but continued again.
The guards extracted the two cellphones I had in my pockets and slammed them to the ground. They burst into a shower of plastic. They also found the cash I had in my back pocket. Gratefully, I had destroyed the message from the pastor’s marquee. It had become clear they didn’t have him here and likely didn’t grab him; there was true surprise in their faces with our arrival.
“Officers, please call corporate and let them know who we have in the belly,” he motioned toward the door. The guards looked confused. “Sooner the better, officers. Return in ten minutes. I need to interrogate our prisoners.”
All but one left the detainment area.
“Sir, I don’t think it’s wise to leave you alone with them, considering AM1’s potential.”
“I understand your hesitance. Please restrain AM1 in the holding cell. These two can be restrained to the wall.” He pointed to the closest cell and the adjoining wall. This seemed to appease the guard. He smiled, dragged me into one of the cells, and cuffed me to a bolt on the floor. The cuffs weren’t police style; they were actually thinner and appeared to be a steel alloy. I didn’t dare pull against them as they were attached to the restraining ties around my already bloody wrists. He pushed Aedan and Jamie against the wall and attached their ties to bolts as well. The cell door closed, and we all heard it lock.
“Thank you, officer. Please analyze the evidence in the front yard from our visitors. You may recruit others to aid you. Return in ten minutes.”
The clone guard marched out of the room without another glance at me or my friends. Mr. Collins walked over to the door and checked the handle. He then stood in front of my holding cell and whispered at a barely audible level, “Coyle, I’m not who you think I am. I’m the third iteration of Mr. Collins, you knew the second. But, I’m still a friend. The Mr. Collins you knew left a message before he died. One that told me of my true nature and that you, the chosen one, someone who will need my aid, may return.”
“Mr. Collins died?” I whispered back.
“Yes, as will I in a few months. Now, Coyle, we have only a few minutes, six to be exact and soon much less. I’m going to free you, but you’ll be on your own to escape. They’re watching, and once they see I released you, you’ll have only thirty seconds to get to safety.”
“Then you’re coming with us.”
“No, Coyle. I’ve accepted this fate; I’m prepared for it. Just as the Mr. Collins you knew.”
“I’m not going to let you die for me. I can protect you.”
He shook his head slowly and placed his hand in his pocket. “Get ready, Coyle. I’ll free you, and then you free Aedan and Jamie. You’ll need to exit this door in under fifteen seconds before they lock us in.”
He stepped tentatively towards the door, his heart beating wildly. One, two, and three he mouthed and pressed on a device in his pocket, opening my cell door. He dove toward me with wire clippers and made short work of the restraints. Once released, I lunged for Jamie and Aedan, who had turned to face away from me, and Mr. Collins tossed me the clippers. Snip. Snip. The restraints fell to the ground, and I grabbed my friends, pushing them toward the door.
“Mr. Collins why have you let the prisoner out of his cell?” A calm voice came over the radio.
“Because Coyle Murray will end this all,” he replied with confidence in his voice.
Click. A large magnet on the ceiling adjacent the door activated. I pushed on the door with all my strength, but it didn’t budge. We were too slow and now were captives. I pushed again and then kicked and slammed on the door with my fists.
I turned back from the door. “Mr. Collins, what can we do?”
“You’re the chosen one, Coyle. Mr. Collins said you’d know how to be the savior.”
I shook my head and glared at him as if to say, “not helpful.”
“Coyle, I’m almost in. Where are you?” asked Angelfire over my earpiece.
“We’re in the detainment area.”
Above us on the ceiling, the electrical orbs charged, and I knew we had only a few seconds before we’d all be fried.
“AG hurry, we’re about to be unconscious, convulsing and likely dying.”
We all scooted to the far corner of the room away from the orbs, but I knew the bolt would arc and take all of us out. I had to divert the bolt to save my friends. I jumped to the middle of the room and extended my arms up above my head to absorb the charge that would’ve probably killed them.
“I’m in, Coyle—” AG’s voice came over my earpiece, but he was cut short.
The crackling sound followed the burst of light as the bolt crashed down on me. My extremities shot out, and my back muscles went into spasm. That all-too-familiar suffocating oppression came over me, as I couldn’t drop my diaphragm or expand my chest to breathe.
“Coyle!” Jamie yelled and jumped towards me. Aedan yanked her back and held her by the waist out of harm’s way.
The stream of electricity cut off just as fast as it started. I collapsed to the ground in a heap of spasms, and my head smelled of burning hair and skin. Jamie and Aedan rushed to me and checked my pulse. I felt the pressure on my neck, but my eyelids locked shut.
“Coyle? Coyle, are you there?” Angelfire yelled over the earpiece.
“He’s alive, but we’re trapped in here. Can you let us out?” said Jamie.
“Working on it.”
My muscles began to relax slowly, one after another, but the searing pain remained. Gratefully, my heart still beat strongly in my chest, albeit a bit faster. All I could hear was high-pitched ringing, everything else sounded muffled and distant.
“Hurry, Angelfire, we’re sitting ducks in here,” said Aedan, his voice distant.
“Done,” Angelfire said and the magnet disengaged.
The ringing in my ears finally subsided, and I heard the clear sound of boots closing in on the room.
“AG, can you lock the door in the hallway coming from the entrance? We’ve got visitors coming in hot,” I whispered as my vocal cords wouldn’t respond.
&nb
sp; “Gotcha, but I don’t see an exit going the other way.”
“We need time. You gotta do it.”
Aedan and Mr. Collins helped me to my feet, and we stumbled toward the door. My muscles refused to coordinate movements. Instead, they moved in strong awkward jerks. I reached out to the door handle and ripped it back, my muscles acting beyond my control. The door flung open and slammed into Mr. Collins to my right, knocking him to the floor. The blood immediately began to flow from his busted nose, and he rolled on the ground in agony. Jamie crouched down next to him and urged him into a sitting position.
“Sorry, Mr. Collins. I’m all jacked up right now.” I grabbed my shirtsleeve, meaning to tear it off for Mr. Collins to quell the bleeding, but, my entire shirt ripped off. I tossed it to Jamie rather than apply the pressure myself; I likely would’ve crushed his face with the unpredictable force my muscles exerted.
“We better move, guys,” said Aedan while looking down the hallway. We all could hear the banging on the doors only a few yards away.
“Guys, help Mr. Collins, I don’t trust myself right now,” I said and shuffled into the hallway.
Aedan and Jamie slung Mr. Collins’ arms over their shoulders, and we started moving down the hallway, through three sets of reinforced doors. We passed multiple rooms with open doors but no exits or windows.
“We’re headed to the living quarters, aren’t we Mr. Collins?”
“Straight to them, Coyle. There may be alphas or betas in there, they had training in the death field, but could’ve returned. We’d be no match for all of them.”
“We’re going to have to risk it.” I started sprinting down the hall, my muscles finally coordinating their movements. I rammed through the doors of the living quarters, wanting to face the other clones alone but, with a quick scan, found the courtyard empty. Aedan and crew made up the distance and helped the out-of-breath and bleeding Mr. Collins to a couch in the middle of the courtyard. Dorms surrounded the glass-covered courtyard, including my prior cell along the far wall. I scanned the room, looking for a weakness, a potential escape, but found none.
I was about to ask Mr. Collins about a way out when a familiar and particularly annoying voice shot out into the silence. “Ooo la la, Coyle, did you finally come back for more? I’ve been waiting.”
Nevaeh, the annoying Somatotech poster-girl who forced herself on me, slowly stepped out from behind one of the courtyard pillars, extending her legs with near knee-high black leather boots. A tight black athletic suit, zipped in the front, extended up to her neck, hugging her curves. For a second, I remembered why I had slipped with her, but I pushed the thought out of my mind. Jamie sensed my gawking and jabbed me in the side.
“Oh! You brought your little girlfriend! Looking for a ménage à trois? How exciting! And, you already took your shirt off? Oooo!” she said as she strutted to the center of the courtyard.
“Shut it!” Jamie yelled, her face bright red.
“Well now, Jamie Anderson has some fire! So cute. You take after your mom.” She cocked her head and winked at Jamie.
Jamie shot a look at me. “What is she talking about?”
“I don’t know,” I told Jamie then turned to Nevaeh, “If you touched her—,”
“Not a single finger… yet. But we will if Coyle doesn’t come with us.”
Five masked women stepped into the courtyard from Nevaeh’s room. They walked in a straight line over to Nevaeh and removed their masks, whipping their hair in the air like models.
“Hello Coyle,” they said in unison.
Five exact copies of Nevaeh stood before us in identical outfits. They wore the same sexy smirk as they glared at Jamie and me.
“Oh sh…” Jamie let out. Aedan looked at me with a look of “what are we going to do?”
I let down Mr. Collins, leaned him against the wall, and walked out in front of them.
“I am pleased to introduce you to my ‘me team.' They are so excited to meet you, Coyle; they’ve heard so much.” All five of them licked their burgundy lipstick-covered lips in unison.
“Mmmhmmm, we sure have,” they said. “We don’t want to hurt you, Coyle, or your little girlfriend, but maybe we could have some fun?”
“Dude, we have a problem. One crazy former acquaintance and five of her crazy clones in the courtyard,” I whispered in my ear cell phone to Angelfire. They all stood there watching in amusement.
“Crazy? Coyle, how dare you!” Nevaeh’s eyes burned, and she took a few smooth steps in our direction. “I’ll show you crazy,” she said, as her lips curled up revealing perfectly white but menacing teeth.
“I’m working on it; they’ve stepped up their security and if I had more time…” Angelfire said. I could hear frantic typing in the background. “Scrumples! Coyle looks like you’re on your own for now. I’ll update you as soon as I can.”
“Hurry AG!” I whispered.
Nevaeh’s eyes widened, “Oh? Can't your hacker break through? What a shame, it would have been a more interesting fight.”
She stepped closer, as did her clones. They were now only a few feet from me. Aedan and Jamie slipped behind me, and Jamie gripped my arm with a nervous squeeze. We had to get out. I scanned the room, but I didn’t need to. I knew there was only one way out, the same door we had entered, which sealed behind us.
Sensing, or maybe even reading my thoughts, one of the clones jumped in front of the door with ease, covering at least fifteen in a single hop.
I took a small step back, trying to stall, to let my mind come up with a plan. I looked at how the clones were configured, in a V with the far one on the side out of formation by the door. An idea came to me in the milliseconds of thought. I backed up to the wall and pushed Aedan and Jamie to the side of the courtyard, away from the door.
“You versus all of us?” Nevaeh and her clones cackled.
I jumped; using all the force I could muster, using the wall as a brace. I flew forward, switching in the air to put my feet first. I landed on Nevaeh’s shoulders. She grabbed my legs, instinctively trying to bring me down. I let her. I came tumbling down on the three on the right, swinging my fists hard and fast. I knocked out the first and second and stunned the third as I fell. Nevaeh yelped loudly as we came down. Her leg locked over the first clone and snapped in two just below the knee. We crashed into the ground in a heap, me on top of the still-conscious clone. She tried to head-butt me, but I easily dodged in time, knowing this would be her only move. I swung down with my elbow on her face before she could move. Stunned, she shook her head and shoved me back onto the ground.
The other three pounced on me as I landed. They pummeled me with seemingly hundreds of punches and kicks. I blocked half of them but the ones that connected ripped shallow gashes in my exposed skin. As one of their fists came down on my arm, I could see the glimmer of small blades on their black, matching gloves. They were going to shred me to pieces. Tiny droplets of blood from my wounds filled the air like a light rain.
I rolled to the side just as the clones started focusing their beat down on my face. There were too many of them, I couldn’t predict all of their movements at once. I had to absorb some strikes and focus on one crazed clone at a time. I began focusing on the one directly in front of me. Being that she led with the blades on her fingers gave me the advantage. For maximum effect, she had to hit in a certain way, with her wrist bent down. This weakened her punch and opened her up to counter moves. With her next punch, I dodged left and grabbed her fist. The blades cut into the palm of my hand, but I used the positioning of her wrist and exaggerated it, folding it over on itself. I felt a few bones crack under the force, and she recoiled back in pain.
“Ahhh!” she screamed and stumbled back. The other two stopped for a split second, in shock. I rolled to the pillar and jumped up behind it. I then ran to the corner, hoping to isolate one of them. Sure enough, only one approached me while the other two stood back by a pace, grinning. I blocked a few of her swipes, but she moved too quickly and
many made contact. The stinging pain spread across my face with a particularly targeted strike. I put my hand up to my face and prodded the gaping wound extending from my upper lip to my ear. She stood back for a second and took stock of her handiwork. I took the opportunity to try the only tried and true fighting tactic I knew, diversion. I knew it’d work; she flinched when I led with my right shoulder. I raised my right hand forcefully as if a strike from that side was eminent. She chuckled and adjusted to block the blow. I jabbed with my other fist, aiming for her throat as Roxanne did. I missed as she turned in response but made solid contact with her shoulder, sending her back and she collided the other clones. They remained upright but stepped back. Time to run.
I sprinted to the other side of the courtyard behind the pillar. Blood spurted from my face and onto the ground as I did, the squirts getting larger as I contracted my legs. They must’ve severed my facial artery, I thought.
“Ooo, a cat and mouse game. I like it,” said Nevaeh. “Do you really think you can outrun us in here?”
I glanced from behind the pillar. Nevaeh and the clones stood in formation at the center of the courtyard.
“I’m planning on denying you again.”
“Ha! Deny me? You didn’t tell your lady friend how much fun we had together?”
“You’re a liar.” I shot a quick look to Jamie as if to say, “Don’t believe a word out of this witch’s mouth.” Jamie nodded and huddled down with Aedan and Mr. Collins in the corner.
“Humph, you really shouldn’t have betrayed Somatotech. They’ve been improving things around here, especially healing. Remember pain is temporary. But, in your case, it will be permanent.”
They converged on me from both sides of the pillar just as Angelfire came over my earpiece.
“I’m in; get to the center, now!”
Aedan and Jamie inched towards the middle with Mr. Collins in tow. The clone by the door looked confused but stayed by the door on guard.
The ravenous women collapsed on my position behind the pillar, as I wedged myself between the pillar and wall. I looked like a spider monkey, inching myself up to the ceiling. Two of the clones collided with each other as they came around, and the rest stopped and laughed at me.
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