by Wells, JB
They were in the darkness which was called the shadows. There was nothing just an eternity of darkness waiting for them. Many hidden creatures lived in barren blackness, and the silence was unnerving, not even their footsteps made a noise.
They had been running for a few minutes when Kieran saw a blue florescent glow in the distance. The glow began to fill the sky as they grew closer, Kieran ran faster and caught up with Benson, he kept up with him until they reached the edge of a cliff.
“Wait,” Benson ordered. “Sierra One Niner, this is Clan leader Duster, are we clear for approach?”
Kieran tentatively stood at the edge of the cliff. Below in the distance was a glowing blue orb, it shone so brightly it hurt his eyes. In the centre of the orb was a box made up of millions of little boxes. It wasn’t on the ground. It was suspended in mid-air; all the little boxes that made up the cube were continuously moving around still keeping the cube shape.
“Roger that, beginning descent now. Keep Crusty on point until we are back in the safe.” Benson turned to Kieran, “Get back from that edge, damn you.” He tutted and pulled Kieran in the direction of a hidden slope. “Turn on your visor blackout, and for Pete’s sake don’t open your visor up!”
“Erm…okay?” Kieran ran behind Benson, he slipped his way carefully down the slope and tried to work out how to find this blackout thing. He pressed the button at the side of his helmet and his range scope appeared on his screen, he pressed it again and his visor flipped open. “Oh-oh,” Kieran said to himself, hoping that Benson wouldn’t notice.
“What the…don’t tell me that Ex didn’t show you?”
Kieran didn’t answer, he didn’t want to get Ex in trouble.
“Shut your visor up now!” Benson could see Kieran struggling so he stopped in his tracks and grabbed Kieran’s helmet as if it wasn’t attached to his head. “This button!” He snapped and pressed a little button above the removal button.
“Yes sir, sorry sir.” If it wasn’t so desperately dangerous, Kieran would have burst out laughing.
They slid down the final part of the slope and Benson signalled that they were going to sprint. Kieran nodded in agreement but in reality he wasn’t best pleased. His back was painful, his bum was tender and he wasn’t much keen on the great Duster himself.
They sprinted for around a minute when the true extent of The Wall became apparent to Kieran. It wasn’t just a cube that was magically holding itself in mid-air, surrounding it was a brick wall. Kieran stopped for a second in disbelief.
“Crusty,” Benson yelled, “if there are any more coming through the portal before shift change, block the blasted door!”
“Copy that sir,” Crusty replied.
“Hey, fresh meat. Over here!” A voice called.
Kieran was still some way from the wall itself, but he could see a faint figure to the right waving him over.
“Yes, go with them.” Benson grumbled and shook his head with frustration. “In future, know what you are doing. It’s not like I want to be down here, fighting some kid who doesn’t have anything better to do with his life!”
Kieran didn’t need telling twice, he ran off with a, “Yes sir, thank you sir.” It only took a few seconds for him to make it to Trevelli and the others.
“Hey, fresh meat, good to see you again!” Trevelli jumped forward and patted Kieran, hard on the back.
“Wall going up!” A voice shouted.
“Wall?” Kieran asked, looking at the brick wall.
Trevelli grasped Kieran by the chest plate, which was an action he was now used to. “I’d step this way, unless you want to be fried meat!” he laughed, “Here Jackson, you hear that, fresh meat would become fried meat!” The group laughed.
A siren sounded and a sudden heat emerged from the floor, Kieran took a step back and watched as fire began to rise around them like a second wall. The flames were high and lashing, the light from them was brilliant and they were as tall as The Wall itself.
“Firewall,” Trevelli said.
Kieran nodded, even he had to admit that made sense.
“Right, let me give you the guided tour of The Wall.” Trevelli pulled him along and turned him. “To start, that’s Jonesy, Pugs and Franklin.” He pointed out the other soldiers from earlier but all had the blackout visor down to protect their eyes, so he couldn’t see any faces. “This is The Wall, it is a brick wall. Behind that is sensitive information stored and used by the military and government bodies… blah, blah, blah.” It was like Trevelli had said the spiel so many times, he sounded like a bored museum tour guide. “The brick wall, aka The Wall, uses several different encrypting processes and a few Spyware applications. If you see something in the wall move, it’s one of the Spy’s blocking something. Right, data comes in and out as per usual, but anything that tries to come through will be sorted by The Firewall or The Wall. Anything else that comes through is ours to destroy.”
“So…” Kieran tried to speak but Trevelli had not finished his tour yet.
“Now, over there is the mess where you can get ammo and ReGens.”
Kieran looked down to where he was being directed. There was a table with a few crates on top but nothing more.
“So, what we do for the next twelve hours is talk, sleep and watch the Darkness.”
“Twelve hours?” Kieran squeaked and Trevelli nodded.
Trevelli sat his back against the wall and gestured Kieran to sit with him and the others. There was an awkward silence as they sat there.
“How did you break that cadet’s nose?” Trevelli asked.
“I didn’t, he ran into a door and said I did it. His father is General Walker and the footage mysteriously went missing, so I was kicked out of Clan for two weeks.”
“General Walker?” Trevelli crowed.
The other lads made a loud noise in unison, like a dog bark.
“Yep, his son Richard is in TakeDown.”
“We have our own thoughts on Walker!” Trevelli said with a sneer and as soon as he said the name, the soldiers made the noise again.
Kieran laughed, “Why do you hate him?”
“We’ve been on The Wall for nearly two years. It started out as a twelve month job.”
“How did you get recruited?”
“All of the soldiers here were offered a chance of special ops work. I was in the Royal Artillery and the opportunity to do something else was brilliant so I took it. General Walker,” the howl echoed in the background, “interviewed us all and placed us here. We want to get out, back to normality. Two years is a long time to be away from family and friends.
“You can’t go back?”
“Not if that kid messes more up, we have to be close in case we are deployed.”
“How old are you?” Kieran asked outright.
Trevelli laughed, “I’m 24, same as this lot. How old are you?”
“Almost thirteen.” The extra month made all the difference.
“My youngest brother is the same age as you. How were you recruited?”
“We were told it was a Gamers summer camp, but that was a lie.”
“Wait, Kealey? Is that your name?” Jonesy, who had been the silent member of the group, finally spoke.
“Yes.”
“Wasn’t there something about him in the briefing earlier?”
Kieran sank back, he was so happy they couldn’t see his face. This was the first group he had met that didn’t know him as The Locator or The Freak.
“Yeah, because I was listening,” Trevelli laughed.
An hour had passed and still nothing had happened. The data packages flying in and out had become second nature to Kieran now. He liked watching the bad data because as it hit the Firewall it burnt up and it was like bonfire night. The other fun thing was watching computer Hackers. Every now and then someone would be clever and manage to get through the Firewall; Trevelli was a pro at spotting Hacker data. Their envelopes were white with a faint red face marked on them, it was like a jokers face so they wer
e easy to spot once he knew what to look for. Trevelli would call ‘hacker’ and they’d sit and watch it fly through the Fire. Then as it hit the wall, it slowly started to disappear through the brickwork until a little thing in a black coat and black hat jumped out. The spy would then chase the hacker data, pull it out of the wall and sometimes there was a struggle, so it was more entertaining. Once the data was pulled out, the Spy would open its mouth to show a row of rotating teeth like a shredder. The data went into its mouth and was destroyed.
Kieran was sitting watching the soldiers’ playing cards when he saw Sergeant Benson making his way up the wall. He walked past the group, if his eyes could be seen through his visor, Kieran was sure he’d have given him a telling look.
“Looks like you have a fan there!” Trevelli laughed.
“Yeah, I don’t know what I did wrong. Cyberus kept me talking for ages and I know I was late but I couldn’t open the door.”
“We saw you,” he laughed.
“Huh?”
“When you approached the portal, an alarm went off so we knew you were up there.” He pointed to a spot in the dark, “Up there.”
“Personally,” Franklin laughed, “I thought it was highly amusing to see your arm waving around. It was like a game of guess where the rest of the body is. Your fall, oh,” he started laughing creasing over as he spoke, “you fell just like a doll. You just fell!”
Kieran rubbed his back, the pain still there, nagging every now and then.
“We watched your arm for about two minutes and Sarge got up. You were disturbing the shadows, things come out to play if you disturb them.”
“Oh,” Kieran was embarrassed at the thought of them laughing at his arm flailing around.
“We can’t afford to be attacked, today of all days. The General repositioned most of our boys just after the start of shift.”
“But why? I thought Cyberus would have made sure there was enough to cover The Wall?”
“General Walker is his commander too.”
“But that’s crazy,” Kieran couldn’t work it out. “We’re an open target.” Alarm bells started ringing in the back of his mind. They were definitely a target that would struggle to defend themselves. The familiar feeling of needles in his fingers returned. “Not now,” he whispered and instantly the static noise began to hum in the back of his mind.
“It’s after all this bank stuff. He’s trying to keep The Board happy.” Jonesy only ever seemed to speak if he had something relevant to say.
Kieran could tell that Jonesy was trying to work him out. His visor was more often than not pointed towards him.
“How did Sarge get the scars?” It was something that had puzzled Kieran because if their Avatars were injured in Plantranet, the scientists would repair the damaged data.
“Oh god, please why would you ask him that?” Franklin groaned and hung his armoured head in his armoured hands. Pugs laughed.
“Well, it was a night like tonight and we were on shift. Out of nowhere came a pack of biters, and shift had only just changed so not everyone had their weapons loaded and ready. The Firewall went down and I was sent to go and check the error. There was a data package stuck in the grate on the floor. So I bent down to release it and a Biter caught me in its mean old jaws.”
“Were you infected?”
He shook his head, “No, but it threw me aside, towards the pack of biters. Sarge charged in and dragged me to safety but a biter went for him and caught his face. He chose to keep it as a warning to all, so they left the damaged data in his Avatar.”
“Cool.” Kieran sat back and imagined it happening but another alarm went off.
“Laggers!” Someone shouted.
“Laggers?” Kieran called to the soldiers but they were already up and armed for action.
“Fresh meat, stay hidden okay? If they get you we can’t save you!”
27
“If what gets me?” Kieran yelled.
The once calm scene had turned into one of extreme panic. All the soldiers were in position by the Firewall; the flames flickered so high that Kieran couldn’t see the incoming enemy.
“What’s going on?” Kieran screamed and ran to private Trevelli, he pulled at his arm. “What’s happening?”
Trevelli pulled his arm away and pushed Kieran to the ground, “Stay in cover, we’re under attack!” Kieran laid on the floor and Trevelli looked over ten feet tall as he shouted down to him.
“Dusters, ready,” Sergeant Benson yelled, loud and proud. “Crypt shield up!”
A huge bubble shaped dome appeared around them, the black sky in the distance was now covered by a film of translucent lights that protected them. Kieran scurried backwards and rested against the wall as screams came from the outside of their shield.
“Incoming on the right, Sergeant,” Crusty called for everyone to hear.
“Open lines of communications, inform The Arena.” Benson commanded, “All soldiers stand your ground and take out those…”
There was a loud explosion and soldiers screamed in a frenzy. Kieran was shaking. He pushed himself backwards against the wall until he was standing. He tiptoed to try and see over the flames but he couldn’t. The dome was under attack, something was firing at their shields and it seemed to make it weaker. Looking up at the top of the shield, he could see the lights beginning to fade. The shield was failing.
“Shield at forty percent, Sarge!” Crusty called. Every word that was said from each soldier, Kieran could hear in his own helmet.
“Chloe? This is Kealey 191…” There was no reply, “Chloe, come in. Do you read me?”
“They won’t hear you,” A voice whispered in his ear. “You’re in my domain now.” The voice faded and all that was left was the laugh that Kieran had heard and hated so many times. It was Adam. The Pied-Piper was talking directly to him. The hissing in his ears started again, the sound growing in strength until Kieran shook his head to make it disappear.
“Shield at ten percent!”
“No!” Kieran screamed and ran to Jonesy. A dip in the flames showed him exactly what it was they were fighting, and his eyes couldn’t pull away from them. “Laggers?” Kieran whispered, his eyes wide with exasperation and fear.
Emerging from the darkness was row upon row of little dolls. They had blue baseball caps, blue dungarees and little feet that were on wheels, they could have been no more than a foot tall. They wheeled forward at a slow and steady pace; all had exactly the same expression: a smile painted on a porcelain face and big round eyes. Although they looked like something Kieran’s little cousin would play with, they looked evil and then he noticed their hands. They had none. On the end of the little white shirt sleeves that sat under the dungarees, were the barrels of guns.
“Laggers,” Jonesy replied with a nod, his gun firing rapidly along with the other soldiers. “Keep out of the way of the pulse, it will cause a lag and the Trolls will get you!” Jonesy gripped Kieran by the shoulders, “Stay out of the way of the pulse, yes?”
Kieran nodded.
“I know who you are, but I need to protect The Wall. You need to stay back”
Kieran nodded again, the inside of his helmet was hot and he was sweating. The explosions and gun fire were so loud as they grew closer, they made him jump. With every breath his visor misted up more.
“Stay here!” Jonesy jumped up and ran to the mess table to retrieve more ammo.
Kieran pulled out his gun and took aim at the weird and dangerous toys that were growing closer to the edge of the diminishing shield. He watched, still and silent as the toys touched it, the first row blew up and disappeared into clouds of data as they breached the shield. But that last assault was all it could take.
“Shields are down, Sarge!” Crusty’s voice was shaky.
“Take them out, Dusters. I repeat, take out the dolls!”
Gunfire started, Dolls were falling but as fast as they did new ones appeared. Kieran watched as they crossed where the shield had once covered. Thei
r handless arms started charging and then releasing a pulse.
“Stay behind the Firewall,” Benson screamed.
The first few pulses hit the wall and extinguished against it but then more appeared and more behind that. Kieran fired his gun and took a few out, every time one fell from his shot, his arm vibrated, but points were the last of his worries right now. One appeared in front of him. It carried on until he took aim and destroyed it.
“Nicely done, Fresh Meat!” Trevelli called and held out his hand for a high five.
Kieran lifted his arm to High five back but a pulse ruptured through the flames and Trevelli was left hanging there.
“What do I do?” Kieran shouted at him. He grabbed hold of Trevelli, a man three times his size and tried to move him, but he was stuck.
“I’m done, fresh meat,” he said with sadness, “I’m lagging.”
Kieran looked around for help. He saw soldiers that were running for cover get caught. They were suspended mid-air and their avatar was slowed. There would be no time for them to move before the Trolls came in and took them. Kieran could see those lagging, their legs flickered every now and then like they were running. He could hear the screams and the cries for help, but there was nothing he could do.
“Run!” Trevelli whispered, his arm flickering down and back up, his body moving slower than a snail.
“No!” Kieran yelled back. He turned towards the flames and began shooting relentlessly at the dolls. The cells on his gun started to flicker yellow, and then red when it was depleted. His ammo pack had run out, he looked around for some more but there was none.
“Take mine,” Trevelli ordered. His arm was now halfway back to its original position.
Kieran yanked the Antigen ammo from its chamber and placed it in his. With a clink the bars began to fill up on his gun, he waited for five seconds and the Cells were green. He fired and took out the nearest of the Laggers, his arm vibrating continuously until it began to ache.
“Ammo!” Jonesy yelled and tossed him a new vial.