by Paul Teague
President Delman kept his weapon trained on Damien Hunter, meeting his opponent’s stare directly. Teanna looked uneasy. She was standing between two dangerous men, she’d colluded with both.
‘You don’t understand anything, Damien. You’re too caught up in your power games and dreams of the presidency. You need to let me pass, you’ll have to trust me!’
‘That’s not going to happen Mr President – or should I call you President James Morgan?’
Delman’s face went white. All of the Justice Seekers saw it. Clay and Lucy were looking for an opportunity to strike, waiting and watching. There would be a moment of distraction, a chink of light. When it came, they would take their chance.
‘Damien, it doesn’t have to be this way. Do I need to remind you about your lovely family?’
‘I know exactly what you did to my family, President Morgan, and I’ve reversed the process. My family are alive. I discovered what you were up to.’
Delman looked to Teanna who was checking her WristCom data. She gave Delman a small nod. Inside she cursed, that had been her bargaining chip if she got into a tight spot with Damien Hunter. This was exactly the crisis she’d been dreading.
‘What’s the thing you want most, Damien? You want your family back, don’t you? If you allow me to pass through, I will release your family. Teanna, open up the control console. Let me pass, Damien, and you will get your family back.’
Hunter searched his face, looking for an indication of deception. Delman didn’t flinch. He was certain this was for real.
‘But what about Catharsis and the destruction of The City? I think you knew about it all along,’ said Hunter, looking at Joe and Lucy. Clay observed the opportunity. If they could draw his glance from left to right, they’d get their distraction.
‘I promise you, Damien, that if you let me pass on my way, I will release your family and you can all follow me to The Core.’
Clay wondered if Hunter would meet the same fate as Miron. Was Delman setting a trap? There was no way Clay was going through that elevator door, not after what had happened to his fellow Justice Seeker.
It was obvious that Hunter was tempted by this offer, he was quite clearly thinking it through.
‘Let me see you activate the release codes, as an act of faith.’
‘You must let me pass you and wait by The Core, then I’ll activate the codes,’ replied Delman.
Damien Hunter nodded. He was running out of places to cover his back.
‘Join your friends!’ He motioned to Talya who got up and rushed straight to Lucy. She held her daughter tightly in her arms, she never wanted to let her go.
Delman moved towards the area which he believed to be masking the exit to The Grid. There was no visible way out, but he seemed to know roughly where he needed to be.
‘Okay, now activate the release codes.’
Teanna sent some commands from her WristCom. President Delman handed her the weapon and he entered his data, performing a retinal scan and a DNA confirmation.
‘It’s completed, Damien, your family will be released from the Umbilica. You should go and fetch them now, they’ll want to see you when they wake up.’
‘I want a feed of their life signs and a two-way video link to their chamber. Can you do that? You try to trick me, Delman, and I swear you’ll be taken out of this place in tiny pieces.’
‘There’s no trickery, Damien. I promise. Your family will begin their awakening now. Teanna, give him the feed and pass the override controls to Damien. I want him to have full access now.’
Damien Hunter’s WristCom buzzed. He looked at the screen, glancing from his device to Delman, to the Justice Seekers, distrustful of all of them. He saw a video feed of his family. The awakening process had been activated. They were kicking and jolting in the liquid of the Umbilica which had begun to drain. Their conscious minds were being restored. If he rushed back, he’d be able to see them once again. He would be there when they awoke. But how could he exit The Grid?
Damien Hunter had blindly followed President Delman into the arena, that was simple enough. He had followed the painful path which had been taken by so many Justice Seekers before him. Inserting the implant had been excruciatingly painful, he’d made Talya go first, to make sure he carried out the process correctly. He was doing it for his family, it didn’t matter how much it hurt. He was their guardian, without him they were dead.
Hunter hadn’t thought beyond apprehending Delman. In his anger, he’d followed his nemesis into hell with little thought as to how he’d get out again. He’d assumed Delman would know the way. He’d done it before, after all.
For a moment he panicked. He was in reach of what he’d always wanted, yet suddenly it had taken another leap away from him. He needed Delman still. He couldn’t let him leave The Grid without knowing that his family was safe. Hunter raised his gun and shot Teanna in the leg.
‘That’s for deceiving me, Teanna. Delman, walk away from the exit!’
That had taken Delman by surprise. Teanna dropped to the floor, the bone in her leg shattered by the shot.
‘Don’t shoot her you fool!’ Delman screamed at him. ‘Without Teanna we’re all dead. She has to come back alive!’
Seeing his chance at last, Clay ran at Damien Hunter, managing to deflect his second shot at Teanna. The concrete walls to the side of them began to pixelate and the door to the elevator re-emerged.
Joe saw it first. It wasn’t just the entrance area that was changing, the entire Grid was transforming. Surely not now? Was this Ascension? They would be finished off in no time. Whatever followed their final Mode would be fast and violent.
Joe was half correct. This was to be the most brutal challenge they’d face, but it was not Ascension. Ascension was the final stage of The Grid when, if the Justice Seekers survived, the entrance would open before them and The Justice Walk would be their gateway to freedom. Nobody had ever seen that – only Delman had walked out of there alive.
This was The Cleanse. It had been preordained a hundred years beforehand. When Catharsis finally began, the citizens of each city would be locked in and anybody trying to exit The City via The Core would be cleansed. This was as brutal and violent as Ascension. The difference was, there was no way out. It was there to clear all life forms from The Grid prior to Catharsis.
The sound of huge grinding machines could be heard in the distance. There were several of them. The city ruins pixelated all around them and vast iron walls replaced the ruins and tower blocks that had stood there before. The Core was gone, the door was no longer there.
Everyone froze. This was The Grid, they all knew that something terrible could happen next. They got the answer they were looking for in seconds.
‘Run!’ shouted Joe. This was the endgame, this was how he was going to die. It was how they were all going to perish.
A giant metallic machine, with a sloped front and enormous, grinding teeth roared towards the centre of the Justice Seekers. Joe pushed Jena and Lucy out of the way, feeling a sharp pain in his heart as he did so. Max and Hannah saw the approaching object and ducked to one side, but it ran straight into Julia who never saw it coming. As she fell against its shining metal blades, her arms were caught in the grinders which lay behind them. The machine pulled her in, arms, head, body and legs. It ground her up and spat her out, taking less than a minute to complete its terrible task.
‘Spread out!’ Clay called. He was still looking out for the group. There was no time to mourn in The Grid, survival was the only option.
There were several iron-clad corridors to run down, each one completely clear and offering no shelter and no weaponry. It was a funnel, a way to contain and kill them. Everybody spread out as Clay had commanded, but it was obvious that this was the end. Three more machines emerged, as if from nowhere, their cogs, blades and wheels grinding away ominously, ready to take a life.
Joe ended up in a tunnel with President Delman and Clay. Delman had picked up Teanna, but was struggli
ng to carry her so Clay had taken over. The three of them took the nearest corridor and ran as fast as they could. Joe’s heart throbbed painfully in his chest, he was weak and faint, but he had to press on, they had to get Delman out, if they could. If he died in the process, fine. He had to push his aching body as hard as he could.
Hannah, Lucy and Jena ran in a different direction. Damien Hunter took yet another corridor and, for a moment, Talya considered whether to follow her daughter or to pursue him. She chose Hunter, and Max followed her too. They’d come this far, there was no way he was getting out of there without facing justice. Preferably, it would be a trial by the citizens, but if not they’d settle for the judgement of the grinders.
Each iron corridor led to another, it was impossible to tell them apart. All around the sound of the grinders could be heard. They were in no hurry. There was nowhere to hide, nothing to fight with, it was simply a process of clearing The Grid. All life would be eliminated by The Cleanse.
This is how it had been conceived a hundred years previously. It had never been anticipated that there might be some way of escaping The Cleanse. But outside The Grid a small group was watching, and they were going to do everything they could to get those people out alive. When the end came, it was Wiz, Linwood and Jacob who would signal its beginning.
The Cleanse
When the end came, it was fast. Wiz, Jacob and Linwood had been monitoring developments on their live feeds. Linwood had hesitated for a moment when he saw that Damien Hunter had entered The Grid. He didn’t know it was Hunter, his pixelated view concealed that to him, but Wiz and Jacob did not have the same limitations, they could see exactly what was going on.
In any conflict, there is always a moment as you stand on the precipice when you know it is time to jump. It was Linwood’s moment to jump. When he allowed the images of Damien Hunter on the screen with President Delman – as had been expressly forbidden by Hunter – he knew he had signed his own death warrant.
The entire live feed was being streamed directly to The Climbs and Silk Road. Every Fortrillium employee and every member of the Centuria could access it.
News spread across The City fast. Their leaders had been seen threatening each other in The Grid. Delman was trying to escape and there was some terrible event looming which threatened the destruction of The City. Delman had imprisoned Damien Hunter’s family, denying him access to them for several years. The men who were supposed to be in charge of their city were no better than the rats which infested their homes. And there was Talya Slater, the woman who had promised to bring them freedom and real justice, at the mercy of Hunter.
There was a stir on both sides of The City. Those in The Climbs, inspired already by Talya’s words, strengthened in their resolve to overthrow Fortrillium. On Silk Road, where the rebellion had remained a secret, the explanation for increased Centuria activity on their streets instantly became apparent. They were all now fighting for their lives.
Many stayed glued to the screens, watching with horror as Julia’s mangled body had spattered across the camera lens. Others began to grow restless, wondering what could be done to save the city. It all seemed to be in the hands of the Justice Seekers. The last battle would take place in The Grid.
Wiz, Linwood and Jacob watched in disbelief as events unfurled. They understood that they were the only chance that anybody had of making it out alive. Jacob could partially control The Grid, and Wiz was accessing it via his link, but Linwood was cut off now, he had no ability to influence events. Jacob and Wiz worked fast to reroute access to Linwood. It went from Jacob to Wiz, and Wiz was then able to form the bridge between the two.
W: They have a WristCom in there, they have Tom Slater’s WristCom.
L: Get a message to them, tell them we’re going to help.
J: We must get Delman out of there. We have to take a leap here, I’m not betting on Hunter, that’s for sure!
L: Jacob, open up the exit if you can. Wiz, you and me, we keep them safe and steer them to the centre.
W: Agreed.
J: Will do.
And so began a race against a program that had been created a century beforehand, its sole purpose to destroy every living thing that entered The Grid. Wiz and Linwood worked at a furious pace. As the Justice Seekers ran blindly through the iron corridors, they opened new exits and placed concrete blocks in the way of the grinders.
W: It’s adaptive, it’s learning as we challenge it.
L: We need to work faster, get them towards the centre. I’ll deflect the grinders, you create the corridors.
J: Got the exit cleared. Get them there asap. I’ll work on the WristCom.
The grinders adapted quickly to the concrete blocks. As Joe, Delman and Clay paused to draw breath, the nearest grinder stopped in its tracks. Its wheels retracted and it began to hover above the floor. The front blades parted to become aerofoils, revealing an open mouth packed with sharp, rotating cutters. Julia’s clothing could still be seen caught in the jaws which were dripping with her blood.
Joe was exhausted. He felt as if his heart would give way any moment, but he had to press on. As the grinder began to move towards them, a corridor opened to their left. They ran through it, pursued by the airborne device.
‘The elevator exit is up ahead. It’s open, run for it!’ shouted Clay.
‘Are you an Immune? … you can’t get in if you’re not … you’ll die on entry.’
Delman was an old man. He puffed through the sentence, trying his best to warn Clay.
‘What’s an Immune? I don’t know,’ Clay replied, startled by the question.
They ran as fast as they could along the corridor. There were no side turnings, no diversions. There was now a single path, one way only, directly to the exit. Joe could barely move himself forward, Delman’s aged body was struggling to keep up. Only Clay still fought with a fury, carrying Teanna and determined to save one more life before the grinder took his own.
Clay arrived at the exit first. He placed Teanna at the door, not daring to cross the threshold as Miron had attempted earlier. Joe and Delman reached the elevator, the BioSweep scanned their bodies and they climbed inside, pulling Teanna close as the grinder made its rapid approach towards them.
‘Thank you, Clay, thank you,’ Joe said. They were the only words that came as the grinder raced up the corridor directly towards Clay’s head. It was moments away, the elevator doors were about to close. His WristCom beeped, followed by Wiz’s voice.
‘You’re an Immune, Clay. Get in!’
Clay didn’t know who was calling him on the WristCom he’d been carrying. It had once belonged to Tom Slater, it had been procured by Josh Delman, hidden inside Jay, discovered by Max, and discarded in The Grid. It saved Clay’s life. He took his chance. He ducked through the narrow gap in the doors, just as the BioSweep completed its scan. The elevator began to descend as they heard the crash of the grinder above. The machine had not stopped in time and had hurtled into the roof above in an attempt to avoid the exit. The explosion was the last thing Joe heard as his heart finally gave way and he slipped into oblivion.
Chapter Thirteen
Escape From The Grid
The events in The Grid were seen by everybody on the screens. If anybody was in any doubt about who the real leaders should be, it was evident from those final moments. Working together at great speed, Wiz, Linwood and Jacob had managed to create the environment which allowed the crucial elements to be put in place.
Wiz had heard Delman remark to Clay that he might not be an Immune – it had been fed through the audio feed in The Grid. He’d immediately checked Clay’s personal data in the Fortrillium files to discover his plague status record. Clay was Immune. He’d thought there’d be no way to get that information to Clay in sufficient time to save his life, but then he remembered the WristCom they’d spent so much time trying to get to Joe and Lucy. It had paid off in the end, giving Clay the information he needed at precisely the right time. Without it, he’d have per
ished, another victim in the direct path of the grinder.
As the elevator made its way below ground, Clay looked at Delman and his friend Joe, who was still and lifeless on the floor next to a wounded Teanna.
‘You’ve got until those doors open to convince me not to strangle you right now!’ Clay seethed at the President.
Sixty seconds later the elevator doors opened, and Delman was still alive.
‘You make sure Joe gets help straight away, then do what you have to do!’ Clay shouted.
‘Where are you going?’ asked Delman.
‘There are still people alive up there. I’m going to do what I can to help them. You just make sure that these two live!’
Clay helped Delman move Joe and Teanna out of the elevator, then headed back up to The Grid.
Linwood had been steering the others to the exit all along. By the time the elevator doors opened, Clay could see Hannah, Lucy and Max running up the long, iron corridor, pursued by a wheeled grinder. They stood more chance with the wheeled machines. The airborne devices were much harder to beat.
Wiz’s voice came back on the WristCom.
‘Thank God, Clay. I thought we were going to lose our Comms. Lucy and Talya are clear, Max is not, Hannah I’m checking. As for Damien Hunter, I can’t get into his files, they’re not open like everybody else’s.’
‘Get in, get in,’ Clay motioned to Lucy. Max, you can’t cross over the threshold, it’ll kill you, you’re a plague carrier. I’m sorry. I’ll help you. We’ll survive it together. We’ll work with whoever it is at the end of this WristCom.’
‘It’s Wiz, he’s good. Wiz, thank you! What about Hannah?’ Lucy spoke breathlessly. She was safely inside the elevator, she’d made it through the BioSweep. Hannah was outside, the grinder was getting closer and closer.
‘I can’t get into her files, they’ve been given an additional security level because she’s been working as a Gridder.’
The grinder got closer.