Player is Waiting... (Ultimate Clan Wars)

by Wells, JB

  “Tetracell!” The computer voice screamed in fear.

  The skull stopped laughing and his mouth hung open in shock. From the outside the cadets were watching in horror as their friend and fellow cadet was about to be taken.

  “He’s only made a Tetracell!” One of the cadets shouted.

  “No way, that’s not possible,” Richard cursed and barged his way through them all. As he reached the front he saw the screen and the silver light that was coming from Kieran.

  “He’s done it, go Kieran!” Thomas and many other cadets shouted in delight.

  Inside Kieran had his eyes tightly shut, he could feel his hands trembling with the force that erupted. He couldn’t understand why nothing had happened yet, why hadn’t Adam attacked him. He opened his eyes and saw what he was doing. Pied-Piper was still there but he had been pushed back across the room, he was firmly pressing against the stream of power Kieran had produced. All of a sudden Kieran felt hands on his shoulders and he was being pulled through the air.

  12

  It was dark and quiet. Kieran could only hear the pounding of his heart rushing through his ears. There were many hands on him and he thought that was it, Pied-Piper had got him and his evil minions were pulling him apart.

  Kicking and thrashing around he suddenly felt his legs being restrained. A hand appeared in his and it squeezed his reassuringly. Slowly the tight grip of the helmet started to relax and undo, the strap around his chin unclicked and released. His helmet was slid off and Kieran opened his eyes to see red lights flashing around him. The room was alive with sound, sirens were screaming and cadets were chatting, sounds of shock and exasperation could be heard as he looked at the many faces.

  “Are you alright?” Megan asked. “I came back as soon as I heard the siren.”

  “He’s fine, aren’t you Kiwi,” Dexter was standing over him looking down. His fingers were bitten to shreds and he was still nervously biting them.

  “I…I think so,” Kieran sat up and shook his head.

  “Kieran Kealey!” A voice shouted. “You do that again and I will feed you to the zombies myself!” Isabelle barrelled through the crowd and hugged him tightly. “I mean it, I will ring your mum!”

  Kieran laughed and let her hug him before freeing himself from her grasp, “I’m ok.” He rested his arms on his legs and looked around at all the surprised looks. “I wasn’t expecting that you know.” Using his teeth he undid the Velcro straps around his wrists and slowly pulled off the gloves.

  “Everybody, to your barracks. Now!” Alpha One’s gravelly voice boomed around the room. His arms were crossed, pulling his coat tight across his back, and as usual his face showed no emotion only that in his voice.

  Ex and another officer helped Kieran up. The first thing he saw was the devastation that had been caused. The massive window panes had been smashed and the door that entered the room, was off its hinges.

  “What happened?” His breathing was so fast and his heart sat in his mouth. He tried to rub his palms on his trousers trying to draw the blood back into his fingers, they were numb.

  “They had to…” Thomas started but Alpha One approached him and gave a stare.

  “Cadets, you can fill him in soon. Off to your rooms, now please. The staff and I need to have a chat with Cadet 191.”

  “Sir,” the friends nodded in chorus, offering their friend a sympathetic smile before they left.

  Kieran’s head hurt and his hands were tingling, his shirt was drenched with sweat and it clung to him like a second skin.

  Ex helped Kieran to one of the sofas and gave him a reassuring wink. Kieran bit his lip as he rubbed the palms of his hands together, they were starting to hurt so much.

  Three men entered the room and started to clear up the glass, tape off the area and measure up the door and windows.

  “Kieran,” Alpha One’s long black leather coat floated around him as he sat on a chair opposite. “Can you walk me through exactly what happened?” His hair sat slightly out of place but he smoothed it back with one swift hand movement. His brow was furrowed more with confusion, yet still his brown eyes gave away no hint as to how he felt.

  Professor Wing clumsily rushed into the room, “There were Biters in the system, hundreds of them, North. I don’t know how they got in but we’ve changed the sequence of the antivirus software, and we had to send in The Hunters.”

  “Understood,” Alpha One turned to Ex. “Can you get hold of Lieutenant Pimley, find out how The Hunters are going? His guiders should be with them.”

  “Yes Sir.”

  “How’s the cadet doing?” Professor Wing asked placing a pen back into his ink stained lab coat pocket.

  “How do you feel, Kieran?” Alpha One asked.

  “I’m okay, I’ve got a bit of a headache and my hands are tingling like crazy.” He rubbed his palms together once more and flexed his fingers.

  “That’ll be the game,” Wing interrupted, “the user interface draws on the player’s energy. If I hear correctly, you created the Tetracell.” There was a look of admiration on the professor’s face that filled Kieran with a sense of achievement. “That will have drawn a lot of your energy and therefore the sensation should go in a few hours.”

  “Sir,” Ex sat back down next to Kieran, “The Hunters have extinguished all the biters, and they are patching the hole in the software. Encryption is back up and running.”

  “Please continue, Kieran. What happened?”

  “We were playing. The other team got knocked out so Dexter and I were going to leave. Dex stepped out of his red box and took his helmet off. I went to leave but then a game started, I couldn’t take off my helmet or gloves and then he appeared.”

  “Okay.” With a heavy sigh, Alpha One placed his hand on his chin and was lost in distant thought for a few seconds. “Do you wish to continue your training here at the Institute?”

  “Yes sir.” Kieran answered without a doubt.

  “You need to be sure. We’ve been compromised and I doubt it’ll be the last time.

  “Why is he after me? Out of all the cadets he could take, he came after me.”

  Alpha One didn’t answer. He stalled for a minute and looked to Ex and Wing. His brow wrinkled once again as he became lost in thought.

  “On the plus you managed to outrun him again. Not many have had that luxury – hence our job here. As far as our records show, we have over two thousand people in the UK alone that need returning and the numbers are still growing. Adam was a promising cadet, he would have made a great programmer with Wing, but instead he got sucked inside Plantranet. Adam wasn’t the strongest or the brightest here, but he had a bright future. He could control everything if he wanted to and that’s what we need to stop. If he has his sights set on you,” Alpha One looked Kieran square in the eyes, “he will stop at nothing to get you. We do not have the man power to protect you anymore than your clan. They will be all you have.”

  “That’s fine, I belong here. I can help take him out, if I get the opportunity.”

  “Oh, I believe you probably will,” Alpha One mumbled to the shock of both Professor Wing and Ex.

  “Will we be training on the Invirtuwear tomorrow? I mean, will it be safe?”

  “It should be…It will be.”

  Professor Wing was fumbling with his phone, “Blasted things, can’t use them.” He huffed and threw his phone back in his pocket. “I need to get back to the lab, the hole will be patched in five minutes and we’ll be back to one hundred percent security.”

  Alpha One nodded as Wing bowed his head to them all, Kieran nodded copying the leader’s reaction. “I don’t know if it’s safe enough for you…”

  “Sir, I have friends and even some teachers that have been taken by him. I belong here.”

  “Well…”

  “If I’m here or at home I’m still facing the same threat, I want to be here, Sir.” Kieran looked at Alpha One pleadingly.

  “Alright.” There was a wry smile on Alpha One�
�s face. He looked pleased with Kieran’s determination. “You have training early so you’d best get to your room. If your hands don’t feel any better by the morning, make sure you go to see Dr Satchell.”

  Kieran jumped up and started to leave.

  “Cadet,” Alpha One called.

  “Sir?” Kieran turned but Alpha One was still facing away from him.

  “I will talk to Cadet Thistle about you joining the Intracell team; they need a player with your skills.”

  “Yes, sir.” With that Kieran ran from the room and tried to navigate his way back to his barracks.

  The corridors were empty and his footsteps bounced around the glass covered tunnels. Some of the corridors lead him through the deep underground caverns, the glass being all that protected him from the hundreds of metres of earth between them and the top-side world. He walked through the second year barracks, hoping to find a short cut to his own room. The sound of laughter and chatter could be heard seeping through the doors and drifting along the hallway. It was only eight in the evening and usually the cadets would spend all their free time in the Commons room until lights out. Tonight was different. They had all become caged birds. He felt bad. It was because of him that they’d all been locked away. No one knew the Pied-Piper had broken in, and Kieran certainly hadn’t planned on being his target. Confused and questioning everything, he carried on weaving and turning the maze of corridors. Why, as he’d managed to get in, hadn’t he gone after everyone else? Why had he gone just after him?

  He stopped at a glass bridge, the one he’d noticed that ran around the top of The Arena. He walked a few steps inside and found he was above The Arena and under the balcony that lead to the control rooms. As he turned to leave, he saw a monitor above all the chairs. Pressing his face against the pristinely cleaned glass, he watched what was happening within Plantranet.

  “Donkey, take the first door on the right and then the second door on the left. There are more biters in the system.”

  Kieran watched as the armour clad cadets ran through the doors and into a large room that was black with purple lines running vertically and horizontally. At the end of the room was a mass of creatures eating through the scenes, leaving holes in their place. All he could do was gasp as the camera panned closer. The creatures hissed and snapped at Rewdy. The things were the size of large cats with ant type robotic bodies and heads that belonged to a dog.

  “They’re the Biters,” A voice said.

  He pulled his face off the glass, leaving behind a messy mouth and nose print. Megan had swapped her jeans and jumper for a onesie with the Institutes emblem on it.

  “Sorry?”

  “Those creatures are the Biters. They eat their way through Plantranet so Pied-Piper can come through. He has been sending them into the network for ages. The cadets playing,” she pointed at the ones in the Invirtuwear chairs, “they are part of The Hunters. There’s only a few of them on, they take it in shifts, if the threat isn’t too great. They’ll have them gone in a few minutes.”

  “I thought they’d already cleared them?” Kieran was worried again, he thought they’d gone.

  “The ones inside our security walls have been, but these are outside. The Hunters are clearing as many as they can.”

  “We’ve got a hundred or more biters here Selsus, need back up and more ammo.” The cadet called from within Plantranet. His voice echoed around the room as it bounced out of the speakers.

  “That’s Donkey. His real name is Donny Kelsey but we all call him Donkey,” she pointed at him in the Invirtuwear chair. Kieran stared at the lifeless cadet while he ran around Plantranet. “Selsus is one of The Guiders.”

  “Roger One. Donkey, ammo drop two doors behind and Hunters are being called in. Waiting for clearance to destroy biters.”

  Kieran gazed at the Arena, he watched as more cadets marched their way in and took up their seat to enter Plantranet.

  “It’s all quite boring really,” Megan laughed.

  “No, this is amazing.”

  “Well, I guess I was like you in my first year. Anyway, how comes you’re out over this way so late? You do know that if anyone catches you, you’ll be demoted time on gaming.”

  Kieran shrugged, not wanting to admit he got lost. “I was talking with Alpha One and decided to clear my head.”

  “How are you after that? Seriously, we were all so worried. None of us have ever seen him up so close before. The closest we get to him, is his minions or army of monsters.”

  Kieran didn’t want to be known as the freak. Richard had already made a point of that. “I’m fine.”

  “Well, you should get back, there’s only ten minutes before lights out.” Megan smiled and walked towards the beginning of the glass bridge. “If you go back out of here, turn right and then keep going straight, you’ll be back at Churchill barracks in no time.”

  “Thanks,” Kieran grinned awkwardly.

  He waved and followed her directions back to his room. He was gutted. He wanted to fit in here, he wanted to be part of the group like his friends, but he was worried that he would be known as the freak.

  Kieran made it back to the room, where he was confronted by Richard and his new group of friends.

  “Speak of the freak!” Richard sneered, his lips twitched into a sly grin.

  Kieran’s hands started to twitch with anger, the tingling forming into pain in the ends of his fingertips. He took a deep breath and tried to make his way through the group, but they closed in around him.

  “Going somewhere, freak?” Richard laughed. “Where’s your friend?”

  “Oh I don’t know Rich, somewhere behind me. Maybe I can set him on you,” he smirked, and pushed past him.

  Richard looked at him and brushed his black hair out of his face, “Is that a threat?”

  “More like a promise. I won’t rescue you if he does come for you!”

  The door opened and Lieutenant Frost looked at the group angrily. “What is going on here?”

  “Nothing, sir,” Richard answered abruptly, “we were just making sure that Cadet Kealey was okay after his run in with Pied-Pooper.”

  Everyone in the little space laughed apart from Kieran and Lieutenant Frost. Richard looked like butter wouldn’t melt and he was arrogant thinking he could do no wrong.

  “Do you think this is funny, Cadet?”

  “No, Sir,” Richard looked at the Lieutenant in shock.

  “Well, it sounds like it to me! I’ll tell you what, if you think it’s funny being taken from your family and friends to live a life you can’t control, if so then I will personally hand you over to Adam myself. He’s called Pied-Piper because he lures kids in, and stupid boys like you are his prime target. Now, do you want me to lead him to you?”

  Richard mumbled something. He had been backed up against the wall as Lieutenant Frost angrily shouted at him.

  “What did you say, Cadet?” Frost screamed at him.

  “No, sir.”

  “Right, to your rooms, now!”

  Kieran opened the door and fell into his room, happy to be surrounded by his friends at last.

  “Kiwi, are you ok?” Thomas was the first to jump at him, his head scratching at an all-time high.

  “I’m fine Curly, honestly I’m fine.” Kieran’s smile didn’t reach his eyes, or sparkle like it normally did. This false look had given him away instantly.

  Every occupant of Churchill Barracks was surrounding him, crowding him, and almost making him feel more like a spectacle. Even the girls had been allowed to sit with the boys to await his return.

  “Settle down.” Officer Seal made them all move so he could get to his bed and sit down.

  Isabelle was full of worry. She was twirling her hair round and round her fingers. Dexter and Owen leant over the low wall around Kieran’s bed space, and Thomas followed Kieran like a shadow, still clutching his folder.

  “Ex called me and informed me about what had happened. As soon as the alarm is raised all officers are inf
ormed as to what is occurring and where.” Seal crouched down beside Kieran’s bed, “How are your hands?”

  “They’re okay,” Kieran, smiled weakly again.

  “Let me see them.”

  He opened his hands to show a thousand tiny little red dots all over his skin. They all gasped.

  “Ouch, does it hurt?” Alfie asked taking a puff on his inhaler.

  Kieran shook his head and shrugged his shoulders.

  “The marks will go,” Seal smiled but there was caution behind it. “You will get some tingling in your hands tonight, but by the morning you should be fine again.”

  “What is that, Seal?” Isabelle enquired.

  “It’s the Intracell game. Its virtual software that feeds on energy, that’s how you create the Cells. Kiwi created a Tetracell and that would have drained all the energy coursing through his hands at a top speed.” Thomas hugged his folder.

  “Well done, mate!” Dexter leant over the wall and patted Kieran on the back. “I heard Sebastian Thistle saying that only one other had been created before.”

  “Yes,” Seal snapped and stood up. She paced across the room and started to tidy books that had been left out.

  “Who was it, Seal?” Owen quizzed. She seemed to ignore the question. That in itself was the answer.

  “It was Adam,” Thomas said over his folder, looking at Seal’s reaction. “Pied-Piper was the only other person who’s been able to create them.”

  “Great,” Kieran groaned and threw himself back on the bed. “So it’s official, I am a freak!”

  “No, you are not!” Isabelle shouted and finally let go of her hair.

  Officer Seal sighed loudly and turned back around to them. “Izzy’s right, you’re not a freak and I’m afraid I have no answer as to why you could do it. All I do know is, when Adam was first brought here they noticed something about him. He created Intracell, he was the lead player and top of all the clan matches, but it never made him anymore popular with his fellow cadets.”