by Wells, JB
“Box!” Ellis shouted.
Kieran spotted it, the train had gone but there were still people moving around. A Cell sat ready and waiting in his hand, he saw a gap in the crowd and he launched his cell at it. It fell short of the platform.
“Open the box.” The computer called. Suddenly the ordinary people became mixed with zombies.
“Take them out!” Someone yelled.
Kieran concentrated his hands and sent out burning blue cells, the zombies fell with ease. The attackers took out the ones that flanked on the left and right, Kieran focused on the ones in front of the group.
“Nicely done Kealey, keep it up guys.”
A TakeDown cell appeared, it jumped over the zombies and flew around the group. It was hard to tell where it would land, they couldn’t afford to watch it they had too much to look out for. The cell picked up speed as it zoomed around them, it dragged up dust with it, causing a storm.
“Tornacell!” shrieked the crazy voice.
Kieran swallowed his nerves as he continued to take out zombies, but they were coming thick and fast. It was hard to miss the civilians but he was trying his best.
“Someone take that thing out.” Sebastian was up and down like a yoyo, he was sending a cell out every few seconds along with the others. “Kealey?”
“Cover the front,” Kieran called back. He crouched down and allowed the feeling of the energy to rush through his hands. The tornacell was flying around them so fast it was dragging them from their platforms. Kieran created the cell, his mind continuously aiming at stopping the Tornacell. He threw it in the opposite direction in the hopes he could take it out. The fire ball flew anticlockwise and stopped the tornado of dust, it then circled the grey cell. The scene was clear and there were too many zombies, the Hunters started taking them out but few civilians got taken out too.
“Minus three. Minus twenty one. Plus five.” The voice was constantly calling out the scores which were up and down all the time. Kieran tried to block it out.
“What is that cell doing?” Seb shouted as he kissed the floor to dodge TakeDown’s fire.
“I don’t know,” Kieran yelled back, shooting zombies with one hand and deflecting grey cells with the other.
“Well, stop it.”
Kieran gestured his hand towards his cell, it stopped circling the tornacell and crashed in to it. A wave of pixels faded into the scenery.
“Tsunacell!” echoed around the station.
“Oh my…Get ready to jump!” Sebastian shouted.
The people from the train had filtered away, and a large wave of the scenery rose in the middle of both teams. Within a second the wave rippled out and crashed towards them simultaneously. Kieran and the Hunters managed to jumped the four large waves, the zombies weren’t so lucky.
“Nicely done Kealey,” Lee puffed.
The ripples stopped and two of the TakeDown members were clinging onto their platform which, like their own, had disintegrated to only their podiums. Kieran watched as one of the cadets climbed back up, Thistle sent out a cell and it knocked off the other player.
“Score, Hunters!”
“Yes!” Cara yelled with delight.
“Five to go.”
Two more trains appeared along with three boxes, Melissa and Lee hit two but the third was taken by the opposition. Kieran braced for more zombies when a cell flew right towards his face. Sebastian crouched and Kieran dropped to his knees, the grey sparkling light flew around him and back towards Lee. It landed in the back of his legs, Lee lurched forward and all Kieran saw was him turning into pixels as he fell out.
“Score, TakeDown.”
Boxes were falling fast, they were all aiming for them but the Zombies were appearing like a flood, the ones that were taken out were replaced instantly.
“I can’t keep up.” Melissa was tired and she wasn’t the only one.
“Watch out!” Ellis yelled but it was too late, three zombies were draining her and she screamed as she turned into pixels.
“Score, TakeDown.”
Kieran took a deep breath and created a cell, he pulled his hands apart and realised that he could split his cells. With both hands loaded, he and Ellis took out the remainder of the walking dead. TakeDown were suffering from the unwanted attention of the drainers so Kieran and Ellis sent out a shower of blue cells, they curved around the scene and exploded in the air behind the players. Sebastian and Cara managed to take out two more distracted TakeDown members.
“Double score, Hunters.”
A wall of cells was heading towards them, “Take Cover!” The wall was thick and there was nowhere to hide. Cara Gray leant to the left and then dodged to the right, but she leant too far and her hand breached the blue line, she exploded into pixels. Ellis turned to see what had happened but got hit in the chest, then his legs and a final hit to the head. It was three on three, and the platforms were shrinking in size.
The score was 65 - 70 to TakeDown, the players were tired but there was to be no let up. More and more trains arrived, for every train there were three or four boxes. They had been playing for nearly an hour, Kieran was struggling to keep up with the flood and his hands were starting to tingle in pain.
“Kealey, take them out!”
“I’m trying, but there are too many of them.” A Zombie turned towards Kieran and threw something at him. A lump of florescent gloop landed on his chest, Kieran touched it and it disappeared.
“Hidden item!” The computer laughed.
“Strange,” Kieran said, looking to where the goo had been.
Ellis looked back and nodded, “Very!”
“Ellis, send a cell to the left, Kealey the right and we’ll try to net the Zombies.”
Kieran concentrated on the energy that rushed through his hands, the tingle grew to almost a vibrate. He looked to Ellis and waited for a sign that he was ready, Ellis gave a nod and they let their cells go. Two large shining cells left the Hunters and floated in opposite directions around the surge of Zombies. Sebastian raised his hands and sent out a fast large cell, it was almost square in shape. Kieran and Ellis’s cells circled the lifeless creatures and Sebastian’s met them in the middle. The cells formed into a pixelated golden net of fire that engulfed the zombies. The cloud of Zombies flew into TakeDown taking out Emily and another player, leaving Richard. Just as Emily started to pixelate, she quickly threw the cell she had made at Richard and it absorbed into his own cell. He was on his own with an extremely large cell. He didn’t seem to move, Sebastian launched at Richard but he absorbed everything that was sent.
“Score, 75 – 90 Hunters!”
“Boxes!” Ellis yelled.
Seven boxes crashed into the middle platform and the computer screamed, “Ultracell!” Richard used the Ultracell on all of the boxes at once.
“What on earth!” Sebastian puffed.
“Nice move,” Kieran grumbled.
A force field of zombies flew towards the Hunters, all three of them were firing rapidly to take them out but it was impossible.
“Now, would be good Kealey.”
“What?”
“Tetracell.” Sebastian’s hands were firing rapidly.
Kieran concentrated but nothing happened, he tried hard but he could not create the illusive Tetracell. The ceiling suddenly turned bright, lights appeared to be falling from it.
“Watch out!” Sebastian screamed. He turned to Ellis to see if he’d heard his warning. A cascade of cells crashed through the Zombies, hitting an unsuspecting Ellis and taking him out.
“Ellis!” Sebastian yelled.
Kieran was still firing at zombies and dodging Richard’s fire. He heard a scream, it was a garbled call that sent shivers down his spine. The scream erupted again. Kieran spun around on the spot searching for the source, but he couldn’t see anything. Sebastian was rage firing constantly, a gravelly roar in his voice as he shot each cell out. The scream happened again. Kieran looked up and through the crowd of walking he caught sight of one zombie
who was running.
“Runner, Seb, over there…” Kieran started to warn him but he heard a ‘hush, hush, hush’. Kieran gasped and turned to see the most unsightly face staring back at him. Its mouth wide open as it absorbed his energy. Kieran created a cell and used it like a weapon to bat the unearthly creature away. “That was close,” he said looking down at the train track where the creature lay before it pixelated, and dissolved into the ground.
“There’s too many.”
Kieran returned his attention to help, but there were too many. Within seconds a sea of zombies engulfed Sebastian and he burst into a wave of pixels.
“Last player standing. Score 95 TakeDown, 90 Hunters.”
Kieran was shaking, the Zombies had started to peter out, and Richard was waving at the camera again. With his fists tightly balled, Kieran felt the power surge, he opened his hand and found a Soniccell glowing brightly. Richard stopped playing up for the camera and saw what Kieran had in his hand, he quickly generated his own.
In the brief moment before they attacked, their eyes met and neither was going to back down. The trains were fast approaching the station, their breaths were echoing around their helmets and both were shaking with adrenaline. The cells were released towards each other at exactly the same moment. Kieran crouched down and watched as the cell crept through the open space, Richard’s glistened and matched the speed of Kieran’s. The boys braced themselves on their podiums, the ground around them crumbling away with the rumbles from approaching trains. Kieran could feel the sweat beading down his forehead and his knees were trembling.
“Double trouble!” The computer cackled.
A train pulled in and Kieran watched as everything slowed around him. Both sets of eyes were fixated on their glowing orbs but for a moment they looked at each other, determined. The cells met and there was a flash of white light. Unexpectedly Kieran was thrown from the podium, his body slammed into the wall and all he could see was black.
After a few seconds Kieran came too, he loosened his helmet thinking that Richard had defeated him. But over the far side Richard was also picking himself up off the floor. The door opened.
“Did we win?” Kieran asked Sebastian who was waiting with the rest of the team, at the side of the room.
“It’s too close, we have to wait for the computer’s decision. You knocked each other off at the same time.”
There wasn’t an inch of space left in the commons area, everyone who could be there was, and they had all been watching the match. There were cheers and applause as the teams made their way out.
“Playback.” The computer called and the room fell into silence. Cadets and officers watched monitors nearby. The Hunters all shuffled around a screen at one end of the Intracell room and TakeDown gathered at the other end. The computer played back the last few moments as Richard and Kieran were blown off of their posts. The footage was played, rewound, slowed even more and replayed once again. They watched with baited breath. To them they looked like they disbursed at exactly the same moment. It was slowed even more and replayed one last time. It was clear for all to see once the screen zoomed in over fifty times. The tips of Richard’s shoulders started to pixelate first.
“Hunters win. Hunters win!” The computer echoed all around.
“No way!” Emily stormed across the room, “I demand a recheck!”
“The computer clearly shows Cadet Walker hitting the red line first, that makes it 100 – 95.” Alpha One was at the far side of the room, watching from his tablet.
“Emily’s face dropped, she hadn’t noticed Alpha One hidden in the shadows.
“Well done Hunters, you are through to the league. You will be representing our Institute in the Intracell league this year. With hope, we can bring home the Oblyx for the first time in twenty years. You also get to choose maps for your first games, along with the high ground position for the first match in Nalos Fair.” Alpha One looked at the losing team, who looked very bitter. “Better luck next time TakeDown. You can still support your Institute in the task of winning the league.”
Every screen and projector changed to say ‘Hunters Win!’ Holographic confetti rained down from the ceiling across the room. Banners changed to say the winning team as the room erupted with claps and cheers, people patted the players on their backs as they left the room to get changed.
“So what does that mean?” Kieran asked Sebastian. Kieran smiled at the people who cheered as he passed.
“It means that our first match is our choice. Once the teams are drawn we can play which ever map we want.”
“Not Rumble Underground then,” Melissa sighed stretching her aching back.
“No,” Sebastian agreed.
“Well done, Kealey,” Lee slapped his shoulder before he headed for his room, “looking forward to our next match.”
Kieran waved and said goodbye to the others while his friends caught up.
“Well done, Kiwi,” Isabelle grinned and waved her banner.
“Do you think all weekends will be this interesting?” Kieran removed his chest plate and looked at his friends, “I’m so tired.”
19
Sunday had been the relaxing day that Kieran had been hoping for. After the win yesterday, he was still trying to recover from the match. The friends enjoyed all the activities WIPI had to offer. One thing that only ever happened at the weekends was the Institute tuck shop opening. It was full to the brim of chocolate, sweets and films that the cadets could rent using tickets they earned throughout the week. Every cadet had an entitlement of four tickets, they could then pool them together with friends to get different kinds of games. If they chose to watch a movie, they spent one ticket on a holopad. This is when the vending machines came in to play. Kieran had watched as cadets took a token to the vending machine, place it in and a microchip fell out into the tray at the bottom. The rest of the room was filled with really futuristic looking games like Operation, Battleships and more. There were mini screens around the shop showing adverts for how the games work. Kieran had watched as Operation was advertised. A life size holographic person lay upon an operating table. The players then picked up the virtual tweezers and carefully tried to remove the items that were lodged in the body. If the player touched the sides of the body a loud buzzer went off and the body jumped into the air, his nose lit up and he screamed in pain. It was just another game the group were definitely going to play in their time at the Institute. But the one that stood out for the boys of the group was Project 5.
Isabelle and Kaitlyn sat with their new friends watching a movie. Alfie and a few other boys had elected to spend their time practising in Plantranet’s training room. Kieran had been playing Project Skate in the garden. After an hour the boys decided that this was their favourite game next to Intracell. Five little machines projected ramps, half-pipes, rails and more in an area as big as they wanted. They then stood on a Smarx Board, which also took a while for them to learn to use. The Smarx Board was a hover board that reacted with points on the holocourse. The idea was to get around the course pulling as many stunts as possible, the winner was the person with the highest score. Kieran, Dexter, Owen and Thomas had been having a laugh with many other cadets. They had made a lot of friends in that one afternoon of gaming. Quite an audience had grown to watch the competition unfold. Kieran wasn’t the best at the game but he had fun playing it, even when he tried to grind the rails and ended up going face first across the grass. It was getting dark and the cadets were becoming tired and clumsy.
“What’s the score?” Lewis puffed and panted jumping off a Smarx board.
Thomas pressed a button on one of the projectors, the park disappeared and a board sprung up. “You’re in second.”
“Who’s in first?”
“Erm…Biscuit?”
“Who’s Biscuit?” Joey asked looking around.
“I don’t know.”
Kieran and Dexter walked over, both too tired to communicate properly with each other.
�
�Alright?” Kieran asked between gulps of water.
“The winner is someone who’s playing, by the name of Biscuit.” Thomas said curiously.
Dexter snorted, “Biscuit, who calls themselves Biscuit?”
Kieran looked around, “Beats me.”
A figure strode up behind him, “Yes I did!”
“Rich?” Dexter gasped.
“Yes, and I beat all of you losers. Don’t worry though I wouldn’t cry about it. I am after all, the best in this whole place, so it shouldn’t be that much of a surprise.” The smug grin on Richard’s face couldn’t have grown any bigger.
“Couldn’t win at Intracell,” Owen mumbled louder than he meant to.
“And we all know why, don’t we.” Cadet Walker looked at Kieran with a glare, “The freak is always shown special treatment.”
“Nah, I just won fair and square,” Kieran shrugged.
“We’ll see about that!” With that Richard and his friends left the garden, walking through the projected leader board making it flicker.
“Oh, how I would love us to wipe that grin off of his face!” Dexter sniped.
“Yeah, and I would love to see him bottom of the LP board. It would be easier if his dad wasn’t General Walker though.” Lewis replied through gritted teeth.
“What, who is General…” Kieran started to ask but he was quickly distracted.
Over the far side of the Institute gardens, the many dignitaries that had attended the lengthy week-long meeting in the vault were finally leaving.
“That’s General Walker,” Thomas pointed out and then looked away sheepishly. “They’ve been having a tactics meeting, we think we may be in for an attack.”
Kieran quickly remembered the officer who gave him the creeps just before their first time in Plantranet.