by Wells, JB
The impact forced Kieran to puff out quietly in pain. He bit his lip trying not to yell. Zoe ran past him yelling in fear, her green armour glistening under the slowly fading flapper. The Zwerm stopped thrashing around after every movement and chased her. Kieran seized his opportunity and painfully lifted himself up. The pain in his ribs was searing, not from the blow of the unsightly animal, but from the impact his body took bouncing around inside his armour. He held his side and hobbled and slipped towards the wall at the far end of the room.
Leaning back he caught his breath for a few seconds while all around him everyone panicked. He suddenly realised that his nearly squashed gun was not in his hand, but back over the other side of the room.
The place was mayhem, people were screaming and running in every direction as two Zwerms thrashed around the centre of the space. There was no way he could get to his gun from where he was now.
Kieran grasped his side and stood up. He noticed the three people that had been trying to climb the walls, were still clambering up them. They were in all black, Kieran knew it was Richard and the other TakeDown boys. Walking forward slowly he said, “Everyone, this is Kieran.” Taking a gasp of air in though gritted teeth he carried on, “Stop running, they are blind and they chase the movement. Stop running and move to the edge of the room. Stand with your backs against the walls and stay still!” Some cadets, mainly his friends, had taken his advice and made their way to the edge of the room. The eyeless worms still chased noise and let out screams as a way of communication.
“Stop moving!” He screamed. The cadets all froze. “Get to the edge of the room and stay still.” His orders were so loud and demanding that it was a voice that was alien to him.
The room grew quiet, cadets lined the walls of the room and the Zwerms paced around sniffing for vibrations. Apart from the tremors they created, Kieran could hear each cadet breathing.
“Now,” he whispered so very quietly, “don’t move. If they come towards you just hold your breath until they leave.”
A few panted replies of ‘yes’ came through his helmet. “Fenton?” Kieran whispered again but there was still no reply. He looked at his arm plate and Fenton’s name still appeared there. “Travis?”
“191, I’m your acting guider until Fenton can be traced.”
“I need the map of the room.”
“On your screen in five.” Travis clicked off and the room stayed silent.
The map appeared and Kieran could see his mark showing where he was. It was a large area and the walls were thick with no cavities, so there would be no escape there. Above his head he could see a ledge which formed part of the second floor and in the far corner was a ladder that led to it. The only way out would be for some to climb the ladder whilst others were hoisted up onto the ledge. Out of the corner of his eye, Kieran could see one of the TakeDown members starting to fidget as the Zwerm grew closer to them. He couldn’t tell who it was due to the light which had faded to little more than a candle light glow, but the other two cadets were standing firm. Kieran watched as the larger of the two worms slowly felt its way around their feet. It grew closer and closer, its screams turned to dolphin like calls. Kieran was in no doubt that it was informing the other one that it could feel the movement of the cadet and that it was Richard whose armour was clinking as he shook.
“Stand still,” Kieran grumbled under his breath but Richard was too busy shaking in his boots. “Rich, don’t move!”
It was too late, the Zwerms had gathered together and they were following every clank that Richard made.
“No,” Richard whimpered as the eyeless podgy head of the Zwerm moved nearer and nearer towards him. “No,” he called again and then, “Agghhhh!” Richard screamed and ran towards Kieran.
“Not good, this is not good!” Kieran yelled.
The Zwerms were close behind him as they flumped their way across with him, their skinny legs carrying them at lightning fast speed. Richard hit the wall behind Kieran and started trying to scramble his way up. The Zwerms were in hot pursuit as they charged across the room. Kieran knew he was in their pathway and he would end up hurt. Thinking fast he ran past Richard and hid behind the wall again.
“Everyone stay still. Richard, stop moving!”
But Richard continued to scramble up the wall and the creatures continued to stampede towards him. Kieran jumped up, ran over to Richard and tried to hoist him up so he would be on a higher level and safe. The Zwerms were close and the ground was shaking again. Richard scrambled up Kieran’s armour, and Kieran noticed the TakeDown issue Pulsar shining in his belt holder. Richard hoisted his left leg onto the flat roof and Kieran jumped up to take the Pulsar from his belt. Falling back down, he found the switch and clicked it on. The candle light dimmed and the flapper had run out, the light was gone and they were immersed in complete darkness. Not sure what to do, he threw his arm towards the creatures and closed his eyes. The rumbling had stopped.
He slowly opened his tightly clenched eyelids and saw a brand new flapper that someone had created. Lying on the floor centimetres from his feet laid one Zwerm, frozen. Its face was so close, it had a huge gaping mouth that had thousands of tiny razor sharp teeth, where eyes should have been were nothing more that slight indents in the skin. The other Zwerm had been blocked, it shrieked as it tried to manoeuvre its way around the frozen creature.
“Hey!” someone shouted and began clapping their hands.
Kieran looked up through his sweat covered visor, his heart was racing.
“Over here!” Someone else called.
“Hey ugly, over here you overgrown maggot!” Isabelle screamed.
The Zwerm turned and headed towards the growing noise. Kieran picked himself up to see all of the cadets banging the walls, stamping their feet and making as much distraction as possible. He knew this was his chance. He had to get out there and stun the creature whilst it was distracted. The creature was on the move and Kieran jumped out behind it, following in its wake. Its gruesome tail swung erratically and he jumped whenever it headed towards him. The Zwerm stopped and lunged for one of the cadets, its back was a clear shot and its tail was still. Kieran seized the moment and jabbed the Pulsar into its side. A brilliant light flashed and it fell to the floor, frozen.
“Travis?” Kieran panted and dropped the Pulsar on the ground.
“191.”
“Medics to clear up two Zwerms at current location please.”
The creature lay still on the floor, its skin moved and the gelatine like insides wobbled as it took in laboured breaths. Kieran removed his gloves and ran his hands along the creature’s skin. It felt so real, the texture was like that of a water balloon. Kieran could almost feel the heartbeat of the creature, but then he remembered where they were, and this creature could not have been real. It was a created animal made up of binary. But driving it would be a real person. A human from the real world had been sucked into this world of terror and they were turned into a faceless worm.
“Nice going, Kiwi,” Owen walked up to him and patted him on the back.
“You really saved the team,” Isabelle sighed with relief.
“You stole my weapon!” Richard hissed and snatched his Pulsar from the ground. “Alpha One will be hearing about this!”
“Oh shut up, Richard!” Isabelle screamed, making everyone in the room stare. “You were crying again, and you ran. You left your team and ran to get away. Kieran helped you escape, we all saw it, Richard. Even your two little girlfriends over there!” Richard’s two friends looked at her in confusion.
“I was saving my team.” Richard placed his Pulsar back in its holder and beckoned his two friends over. “I had a plan, and I was trying to draw the thing away from them. He stole my idea and stole my weapon, I will be reporting this!”
“Oh report…report…report your face for being such a stupid one!” Isabelle hissed and turned her back on him. At that moment the door slid open and Ex walked into the room.
“Well, that was a
performance. Some of you ran more today than you probably have in your whole life. The only problem being, you were all running away and not trying to capture the creatures. Cadet Doolie,” Ex picked him up off the hard concrete floor, “has spent more time today eating the ground, yet again.” Some of the cadets giggled, Simon took off his helmet and blushed.
“Others have shown great promise and a brilliant ability to work as a team.” Ex glanced in Kieran’s direction.
“Sir,” Richard ran towards Ex, ready to tell tales.
“Yes?” Ex asked in a reluctant tone.
“Cadet Kealey stole my weapon.”
“Really?” Ex walked towards the Zwerms and requested them to be removed. “You do know we have been listening and watching all of you in here, don’t you?”
“Yes, I…”
“We can hear every whisper said when you’re wearing your helmet.”
Richard hung his head down and stepped back towards his friends.
“Good, right then. Some big points have been earned today. Off to the transition room cadets.”
“Yes, sir!” The cadets called and started to filter out.
“Some serious points mate,” Dexter said, nudging him.
“Way to go, Kiwi,” Alfie shouted.
“Way to go,” Richard mimicked and barged past them all. “You’ve not got away with this, Kealey.”
Dexter snorted and looked at Richard sideways. “Well, I had my own plan.”
“What, running away from the Zwerm, screaming like a girl?” Kieran laughed.
“Well…yes.”
“As you can see it was working perfectly.” Isabelle scoffed and got on the transition pad. “I’ll stick with you next time!” She smiled sweetly at him and then stuck out her tongue just as she was downloaded.
Dexter jumped on the pad angrily, “That girl is getting deer droppings hidden in her shampoo!”
Kieran, Owen and Alfie laughed as they jumped on the pads next to him. Dexter was grimacing like he’d been chewing sprouts.
“I wouldn’t pull that face, Cadet Price; they’ve been known to stick during upload.” Ex coughed away a laugh.
“Huh?” Dexter shouted just as he downloaded.
Kieran smiled and started to download, the last thing he saw was Richard’s snarling face glaring back at him.
The cadets stepped out of their chairs and drank the gallon of water they were handed. Kieran went to move and his side hurt, it hurt a lot.
“That was quite a fall you took,” Julie said sympathetically.
Kieran liked Julie, really he liked all of his watchers, but Julie was very much like his mum. He smiled, “Yeah, it hurt a lot in there.”
“Yup,” she smiled again and placed her tablet down, “we all saw it.”
Kieran felt his cheeks turning a deeper shade of embarrassment.
“Have a look for Transference later on.”
“I will do.” He placed the statutory glass back on the table.
“That’s fine, just let your next watcher know about the bruising before you go in again, okay?” Julie picked up her tablet again and started to reset all the monitors.
“Thank you.”
“Kieran!” Owen called from a few chairs down. “Look.” He pointed to a commotion happening on the bridge.
“Who’s that?”
“Alpha One and…I don’t know.”
“That’s Fenton Collins,” Megan appeared by their side.
“What are you doing down here?” Kieran blurted out and seemed quite rude. “Sorry I meant, weren’t you in Main control?”
“I had to go and check on The Repo…I had to check on something.”
“Hang on, Fenton was your guider wasn’t he?” Owen asked.
“He was supposed to have been.”
There was shouting from the bridge, all cadets within ear shot couldn’t help but stare. Alpha One was blowing his lid, really screaming at Fenton. Lieutenant Pimley was behind Fenton holding him by the scruff of his collar.
“What did he do?”
“He disconnected his pod from the network.”
“I thought he had connection issues,” Kieran nodded.
“No, he purposely disconnected from the network. So you couldn’t hear him, no one could get through to him. Apparently Lieutenant Pimley had to use the Manual Override to open it up and get him out. When they opened it, he was in there with food and watching a movie.” Megan rolled her eyes and gave a disapproving head shake.
“Why would he do that, surely that’s got to be a dismissible offence?” Owen couldn’t believe it.
“Everyone knows there is a dislike between Hunters and TakeDown, and it’s also obvious that Richard Walker doesn’t like you very much.” Megan held a tablet in her hand. She tapped some things into it.
“But I haven’t done anything to him.”
“Someone’s trying to prove something to daddy. I have to go but I’ll see you later.” Megan smiled and rushed off.
“Sure…” Kieran was taken aback watching Fenton Collins being told off to the extreme.
17
Ex was ready and waiting by the door, “I am taking you to control centre to watch Adam in action for this afternoon’s lesson. I thought it would be best for you to see how he scouts out his targets for his army. Off we go then, bring your pads with you to take notes. I hope you all remember that next week is the G.E.S.T exams.”
“Oh great, what are these tests?” Dexter snatched his pad from the table.
“They’re the Gamer Excellence Scoring Test.” Isabelle smirked, “Come on Dex, you must have learnt something from copying my work.”
“Hey,” Dexter pretended he was hurt, “I’m just checking that you are getting the right answers.”
“Did someone say they had an opening in the toilet cleaning department?” Owen laughed.
Isabelle was angry, Dexter never read what he was supposed to and she always had to explain things to him. “They’re the exams that check how much we’ve been learning. If we don’t pass them then we are deemed to be not meeting our requirements. Therefore,” a devious grin spread across her face, “more lessons with Chumly.”
“I’m not being funny, but I’ve stomached about as much of Chumly as I can take.” Dexter shuddered.
“Definitely a job prospect for you, Dex.” Owen giggled to himself and walked ahead.
Kieran, Isabelle and the others all sniggered and left the room following Ex through the confusing maze. Dexter was left at the back of the group still trying to work out what Owen said and why it was so funny.
The control room was noisy, with cadets typing at computers and some were running with files. The massive wall that was a screen had pictures continuously scrolling across it.
Kieran stopped just inside the doorway when he spotted Megan working away at one of the computers.
The class were ushered through the mass of computers and cadets to the end of the room. They were standing at the foot of the screen and had to tip their heads back to see the full effect of the screen.
“Okay, I want you all to move back, you need to watch the whole screen to see how he works.”
“Attention!” was yelled in the room. Every cadet stood to attention until Alpha One gave the command to be ‘at ease’ with a simple hand gesture.
“You know when your mum says she’s angry but she doesn’t look it?” Dexter asked.
“Yes,” Owen laughed.
“Well, that scares me more than when she’s shouting at me. That’s how he makes me feel.” He nodded towards Alpha One.
“He scares you?” Kieran asked.
“He does. You never know what he’s thinking or what mood he’s in.”
Alpha One approached the class and joined Ex. No words were spoken between them, just an authoritative nod from one to the other.
“Pied-Piper stalks his prey for a while before he attacks. He has access to every morsel of information on the internet, and believe me when I say that he looks over
it all. Now, we think he starts off by watching leader boards. He watches for the highest scorers, the longest players and people who prefer to play rather than do homework.” Ex’s eyes scanned the room and pinpointed onto Richard and then Dexter. “Adam has no preferred game that his targets use. Those who play football games will be targeted for their speed.” Ex turned and looked at the screen, hundreds of faces appeared on the wall like a collage. “This is just some of the players that have been taken, they range in age from nine all the way to seventy nine.”
Kieran studied the wall, there was no one there he knew.
“Cadet Hill, show…” Ex pondered at what face to pick, “number 128 please.”
“Confirmed, Sergeant.”
All of the other faces disappeared and picture 128 filled the screen.
“This is Mr Anthony Sales,” Ex took a step to the side so all the cadets could see. “Mr Sales is a thirty three year old male, he was a player on all of the major football games and he played for numerous hours.” Information popped up at the side of the picture. “As you can see, up until a month ago Mr Sales had racked up over three hundred hours of playing time on a football game. This is Mr Sales a week ago.”
The picture shifted to the far left hand corner and a video started to play. There were a group of cadets, each had wings engraved into their back plates, and they were walking through a dark tunnel.
“The footage was filmed by Rewdy as the guiders helped lead the cadets through the tunnels. Their mission was to make it through Gimsbub Armageddon to clear the underground route, and make it to the rear entrance of Tulsars Castle in sector W point 7. There are hundreds of Taken in that sector. As normal with Hunters they were to help the medics get through. We believe Adam’s CPU is stored in that castle, we need to infect it to return him and stop him for good.”