by AJ Eversley
I had no way out.
I had no moves left.
I was caught before I was even able to reach the surface.
I felt a weight on my chest; it was heavy. I saw my mother’s face again, and I was ashamed of myself, that I couldn’t be more like her. That I couldn’t save her.
My hand was shaking, and I realized I wasn’t ready to die. Not this time.
I was trying in vain to find some way out of here, but there was no clear option. The only way out was through that Carbon behind the door.
I didn't have much time. I gritted my teeth and turned to launch myself at the Carbon as the door creaked open, but I was stopped quickly.
The Carbon that stood before me was Brent.
“You can’t beat us, Sawyer. There is no turning back now. It will happen with or without your help,” he said and reached for his gun. I was taken aback by his voice, so normal and…human.
I scrambled out of the way just in time.
“Brent, stop, this isn’t you. They’ve changed you!” I tried to reason, but it was no use. He wouldn’t listen.
He charged for me, and I had barely enough time to stand. I swung wildly with my right arm and knocked away his gun, but he was too quick for me to grab my own. He was on top of me in an instant, his fist pounding on my already broken ribs. I gasped for air as I brought my knee up to his side. The impact did nothing.
Brent had always been a skilled fighter, but this Carbon version of him had amplified what he was already capable of. My attempts were like a fly hitting a window. I was doing no damage and running out of time and energy.
I kicked him off of me only for a moment, but that was all I needed. I reached for the gun to my right, just as the floor began to shake beneath me. We were both blown back as the first of Kenzie’s explosions detonated. The ground quivered below us again, and a large crack formed under my feet. I jumped back up, diving at Brent’s legs as he was momentarily caught off-balance. I took my knife and jammed it into his leg. He screamed in pain.
I was running out of time. I took off toward the stairwell, climbing over the rubble that had already formed.
Kenzie said the upper levels were built to withstand a collapse of any of the sub levels, so I needed to make it up a few more levels, and then I’d be safe.
I was at the stairwell when I felt something grab my ankle, and I fell hard.
I turned around to see Brent holding on. His body was half buried by debris.
I tried to shake him off, but it wasn't working no matter how hard I pulled. I reached for my gun and took aim.
Two shots, and I had severed his hand from his body. His hand still remained clinched around my ankle, and I used my other leg to kick it free.
I was stopped at the scream of pain Brent let loose. I chanced one last look back before he was covered in rubble as the ground around me began to break free.
Carbons couldn't feel pain, could they?
I had no time to waste.
The floor groaned below me as it cracked and swayed.
I made it up the first flight of stairs before the stairs disappeared out from under me. A gaping hole was all that was left. I grasped the wall as I surged up the last flight. I put all my energy honing in on that last door. The floor shook violently, and I was bucked backward as the roof above me broke open. I rolled out of the way before I was buried in debris. The main door wasn’t much farther, but the stairs to it were gone.
I lunged out of the way as more debris shattered down around me. It was all going to collapse, and I was going down with it.
I stood and took two last powerful strides. I felt the floor drop out from under me. I reached out toward the remaining wall where a steel rod was jutting out, and I grabbed it just in time as there was nothing left but a pile of dust and a black hole.
I looked upward. Just above me was the door I needed to get out of there. I wedged my foot into a crack in the wall and pushed myself up to where I could reach the door handle. I turned the knob and pushed it open. My shoulder seared in pain, and I felt the bullet wound ripping open. I swung my arm over the ledge, and with great effort I pulled myself up and through the door. I had made it.
I fell onto my back, panting.
Suddenly, I had a feeling someone was watching me.Slowly, I sat up and turned around. Three dozen Bots hovered over me, all with their guns trained at my head.
Chapter 33
Kenzie
The bullet wound had already clotted before the first set of survivors arrived. Kenzie stood with a little weight on his leg, but he knew that in another hour or two, he’d be back to normal. For now, he was having a hard time standing.
As the first group arrived, he ordered them to head into the tunnels and go south to the first station. The path was straight all the way there, so they’d easily find it. Over sixty people made their way down, many more than they had expected.
The last one through was Kyle, and Kenzie was glad to see he was alive. A little worse for wear but still standing.
“She said to seal it up,” Kyle said.
“Where is she?” Kenzie knew the answer.
“She went up.” Kyle shrugged.
“Argh!” Kenzie growled and stood back up, a little stronger. “Stupid girl,” he mumbled to himself.
“What’s the plan?” Kyle asked, following behind him as he walked over to set the charges.
“We’re going to blow the place. Make sure everyone is clear of the tunnel. We only have thirty seconds once it’s set,” Kenzie said, walking over to the next charge and making sure it was good to go.
“Wait, what? Sawyer is still in there. We can’t demolish the place.” Kyle grabbed his arm and spun Kenzie around to face him.
“We aren’t demolishing the place, only the lower levels of Sub 9 will collapse. Sawyer knows how much time she has to get to street level. She’ll be fine,” Kenzie explained as he moved back to set the charges.
Kyle dropped his hand, but he still didn’t look convinced. “But what will she do when she gets up there? They’ll kill her the minute they see her, and she’s definitely outnumbered.”
“I’m going up to get her back,” Kenzie said, motioning for Kyle to go down the hatch and into the tunnel with the others.
“I’m going with you,” Kyle argued, standing his ground.
“No, you’re not. You will get the people to safety,” he shoved him out toward the hatch.
“I said I’m coming,” Kyle stated and puffed out his chest.
Kenzie saw there was no arguing with him. “Fine, but we still have to get out of here and blow the place up. They’ll have discovered us by now, and it’s only a matter of moments before they break through.”
Kyle nodded and eased his way down the hatch into the tunnel. Kenzie set the charge and followed, wincing when he landed.
They had thirty seconds to clear the tunnel enough to avoid being caught in the debris. Kenzie’s injured leg slowed him down, but he kept up with Kyle.
Kenzie set two small charges as a warning to Sawyer and to break the supports. She’d know she had less than a minute to get to the top. The larger blast sounded deafeningly through the tunnel and the ground shook, dust and rocks falling above them. Kyle helped Kenzie the rest of the way as a cloud of dust roared from where Sub 9 once was. They made it to the station as the shaking stopped. Kenzie prayed Sawyer was fast enough.
Kyle and Kenzie decided it was best to leave everyone in the station where they were safe, until they came back with Sawyer and could direct everyone through the complicated tunnel system. Kyle left one of his guys in charge, and then they took the ladder up to street level. What they saw up there was the last thing they expected.
There were thousands of Bots marching out into the city. They dropped quickly, expecting to be spotted at once, but the Bots didn’t even glance their way. Kenzie lifted the hatch and peered out, readying his gun for when they’d turn on them, but not even one looked their way.
“That’s not g
ood,” Kyle mumbled.
Kenzie agreed. This wasn’t right at all. They had to move fast. Kenzie motioned to Kyle to move, and together they took off toward the main entrance of Sub 9, using the exiting Bots as cover and hoping they weren’t too late.
Chapter 34
They carried me to the elevators because I couldn’t be trusted to walk on my own. They stripped me of my guns and anything they thought may look like a weapon which was everything on me aside from my clothes. The elevator took us up so high that my ears popped, and I knew where they were taking me.
The door opened and there sat the man who started this all, Coleman. He was sitting behind a large desk, hands folded on top. He was smaller than I imagined. Not much taller than me, but he commanded the room. His dark hair had speckles of gray, showing his age, but his confidence gave the illusion of the young, fit man he once was.
My dad was standing off in the corner. Rather, he was cowering in the corner like a scolded puppy. I glared at him.
“I’m very disappointed in you, Sawyer,” Coleman said calmly. A guard forced me into the seat in front of him, gun still trained at the back of my head. “Your father seemed to think you would be a perfect subject. The face of the new world. It seems he was wrong.” My dad looked to the ground under Coleman’s irritated glare.
“The impressive part is how you managed to turn Kenzie. That, I must admit, I didn’t see coming.” Coleman stood and walked over to the wall of windows overlooking the city. “He was like a son to me, you know, and I like a father to him.”
He turned back around, smiling. “That is no worry, however. Cytos has lost its usefulness to me, and I no longer have need for the people of this city, however few there may be left.”
It sickened me the way he smiled, revealing how he enjoyed the idea of ridding himself of all these people he deemed useless.
“Do you see what this city has become?” he asked, gesturing out the window across the city. “Nothing more than a pathetic pile of rubble. This city is not even worthy of the plans I have. I would be doing Cytos a favor by putting it out of its misery.”
He chuckled. “Come see what I have planned.” He motioned me over. I stayed seated, only my glare moved with him.
The guard behind me grabbed my shoulder. Pressing hard into the bullet wound and forcing me up, he shoved me toward the window.
“You see all my soldiers entering the city?” He pointed down to the street where thousands of Bots marched out from Sub 9 and filled the city streets. “They are not looking for survivors, oh no. They are placing themselves around the city, and in less than an hour each one will explode, taking what remains of Cytos with them, including the underground rail system you seem to think I don’t know about.” His smile was cold, making a shiver travel down my spine.
I tried to reach for him, but I was frozen. My limbs wouldn’t move, just like in the room with my dad. Coleman had the power to stop me.
He chuckled. “Please, don’t insult me with your petty attempts on my life.” He walked away from me, and my body released. I dropped to my knees.
The guard was behind me, reaching to lift me up, and I only had one chance. Only one shot.
“So that’s it then? Goodbye, Cytos. Hello, new world?” I said, taking a step back toward the guard whose gun was trained on the back of my head.
“In a manner of speaking, yes. And you could have joined us, Sawyer. You could have had it all.” Coleman turned his back to me, and this was my only chance.
My elbow connected with the guard’s nose in a sickening crunch, causing him to drop his gun into my waiting hands behind my back.
Two shots fired in less than a second before Coleman had a chance to take his last breath. The red strains grew larger across his back, right where his heart lay silent.
I was tackled from the side, and the gun flew from my hand as my side erupted with pain. I lay on the floor, two guards pinning me as I waited for Coleman’s lifeless body to drop; only it didn’t.
He turned to face me, an amused smile on his face.
“Ha, silly girl. Clearly you have underestimated me. You are not as smart as I was led to believe you were.” He removed his jacket, examining the two bullet holes.
How was he still alive?
“I am sure you have seen Kenzie’s abilities in action. He can regenerate his cells at ten times the speed of a regular human, but that is still limiting. A serious injury could take hours to heal, or even kill him. Even my Carbons have their flaws just like Kenzie. He is still human after all.” He sneered at the thought.
It took a minute until I caught it.
“You aren’t human?” I asked.
“Ah, you’re finally catching on.” He winked and waved me forward to follow him again.
The guard to my left pulled me to my feet as his counterpart readjusted his broken nose. They didn’t take any chances this time as they twisted my arm behind my back, causing me to wince at the pain in my shoulder. I followed Coleman to the far corner of the room where a large pod sat with smooth round metal on the bottom and glass on the top. It looked oddly familiar. As I stepped closer, I gasped and paused. Inside the pod was Coleman, kind of. It was a withered version of him, skin and bones with cables and tubes coming out of him. He looked like he’s sleeping, and I thought he was dead until his chest slowly rose and fell.
“Yes. That was me. The old me. The weaker me. A version that is susceptible to pain, disease, injury, and even death. But I have made myself whole. I have made myself immortal.” He turned back to me. “You could have had this too. We were offering you a chance to live forever, in a world of peace and equality.”
“At the expense of my humanity! It’d only cost me my free will!”
“Minor things, childish even. You must make sacrifices if you wish to be complete. They are sacrifices for a better world and a better life. We could all live as equals. There would be no war or jealousy, no more loss or death,” Coleman said.
“If you truly want that, then why not stop this war? Why kill all these people just to say you want peace?” I shook my head.
“They did this to themselves. They don't deserve to live in this world I am offering.”
He motioned to the guard behind me, who pulled me back to the window. The guard sat me down in a chair and tied down my legs and arms so I couldn’t move.
“I want you to have a front row seat for the show. I want you to see that no matter what you do, or how hard you try, you will never win.” He stepped in front of me. “Any last words?”
I looked him in the eye and said, “Go to hell.”
He was still smiling. With a wink, he said, “Not possible.”
“Wheels up in ten!” he commanded, and the room scrambled to attention.
I heard the door behind me creak open, and the sound of gunfire erupted.
Chapter 35
Kenzie
The guard behind Sawyer fell first. He was left lying face down in a pool of his own blood. Diving to the right, Kenzie eliminated two more. The fury inside of him was welling up, and it took all his control to stay calm and focused. He couldn’t get to Coleman without going through them first.
Another guard fell, writhing in pain, but a second bullet silenced his screams.
Coleman was surrounded by guards, shielding him as he edged out of the room toward another door at the back. With each guard eliminated, another quickly took his place. They fired back, but Kenzie was too quick, too focused. One by one, they fell until there was only one guard left. Kenzie took him out and trained his gun on Coleman—and then he hesitated.
“Shoot him!” Sawyer screamed, but Kenzie could barely hear her.
Coleman had taken hold of him. His arms felt weak and heavy.
“He will not shoot me,” Coleman responded calmly. “Will you, my boy?”
Kenzie’s body shook with effort, and sweat dripped down his brow. The gun was still aimed at Coleman, but his stance had loosened, his body defeated.
“Y
ou can fight him, Kenzie. I know you can,” Sawyer urged.
His eyes flickered at hers for only a second before they were pulled away. She fought against the ropes tying her to the chair, but her struggle was in vain.
“Shoot her!” Coleman commanded.
Kenzie turned to Sawyer, the gun pointed at her head.
“No,” she begged, “fight it.” She tried to break away from the ropes, but they were too tight.
A bead of sweat rolled down his forehead. He tried to shake his head and clear the thoughts.
“Do it now!” Coleman bellowed.
Kenzie blinked.
Sawyer blinked.
The gun fired.
Chapter 36
Coleman gripped his arm as blood flowed from it. His eyes were wide, but he was still smiling.
It took a moment to register what happened, that Kenzie hadn’t shot me, but Coleman. Gunfire roared behind us. Kenzie ducked and dove toward me. I looked up to see Coleman stepping through the back door, taking his pod with him.
“Go after him!” I yelled at Kenzie as he crawled toward me.
“They will kill you. And I can’t beat him. We stand a better chance together.” He grabbed his knife and cut me free. He handed me a gun.
I crouched down behind the big desk as more guards flooded in. We took them out.
Two more entered, but I sensed they were different. I took two shots, but they didn’t go down. Carbons. They were the new breed of Carbons. They were like Coleman but not immortal.
One Carbon reached the desk, and I lunged for her. We tumbled down, and I threw my good shoulder into a punch to her head. It did nothing, and she tossed me across the room like a rag doll.
Kenzie tried to run to me but was taken out at the ankles, and he fell to the ground.
I gasped for air, trying to stand up, but she was already there and quickly swept out my feet. I fell hard.
She was on top of me, and her cold hands around my neck squeezed. I gasped for air, clawing at her, but she didn’t budge. Stars filled the corners of my vision as I flailed my arms in an attempt to get her off me, but my efforts were futile.