Then in the distance there was a faint outline of the Serva that had saved their lives. They started to run towards it.
They heard voices ahead of us as they rounded a corner and before they knew it they ran straight into a group of people. They were not their people either. Hadley was starting to get frustrated at running into unfriendly people in the streets. She wished they had slowed down in time to not let them see them.
RFE’s, she thought at last. She could tell by their colourfully eccentric clothing, which was a mix of bohemian chic and eco-friendly.
The pair stopped in front of the group. The rain was pouring down and a thick musky fog was settling. The rising sun cast an eerie glow on the pavement between us.
Hadley looked at one in particular, a heavy set tattooed man. He was easily a foot taller than the rest around him, he was tanned and rugged.
Their eyes locked for a split second, Hadley could see the grey in his eyes.
“Hey!” one of the RFE’s yelled.
“GOVS,” another one shouted.
Pax and Hadley started to back up; trying to go up the street they had come from. It was too late. The street was filled with RFE’s. Who were looking more unfriendly every minute.
Chapter Twenty-Two
“What are you doing here Gov’s?!” the tattooed man said stepping out from the crowd; he had a bun tied on the top of his head. He was amazingly tall and built. His face was covered in scruff but you could still see his sharp features and high cheekbones.
“Wrong place, wrong time,” Pax said lightly, trying to ease some tension.
The tattooed man’s face remained cold as ice. A few men and women around unlatched their guns, and it was almost instantaneously that Pax and Hadley had twenty pointed straight at them.
“Just kill them already,” a woman screamed in the crowd.
Hadley made eye contact with her and saw her curly hair drenched, her bones poking through her skin. She looked on the verge of death. Her eyes sunk into the back of her head.
Arms grabbed Hadley and Pax. They struggled to get free but couldn’t. Paxton was struggling against four of them. He took a swing at the closest and a fight erupted. Limbs started to fly and punches were thrown. Pax seemed to be keeping up and more men and women started to go at him, until he was lost in a sea of people. Hadley stood watching in horror.
Then a gun shot rang out.
When it settled, Pax was laying on the ground unconscious. Bleeding, luckily from his bicep. He wasn’t dead, yet.
The man with the bun came closer to Hadley. He stood less than a foot away. His height was menacing this close.
“How long have you been at the complex?” He breathed into her face, studying. Calculating. His eyes were making rapid movements though his jaw remained set. There was a gleam in his eye. But before she could analyze it further it was gone.
“A few weeks now—” Hadley whispered. She glanced downwards and saw he was holding his gun a few inches from his side. His hand was shaking but he was holding it as still as he could.
“Did they give you the injections?” He got closer than she ever thought possible. Hadley tried to back up but couldn’t move; there was a small army behind her. The closeness and disruption of personal space was making her head dizzy.
“Yes,” she whispered looking down. A pain rushed through her chest at the thought of the injections. His warm damp breath tingled on her cheek, his eyes ablaze.
“There’s nothing we can do!” He threw his hands in the air and walked away. Without even looking at Hadley he hissed, “Hang them, we need to send a message. Hemmer thinks he’s too powerful.”
“Stop!” Hadley yelled fiercely. She didn’t know what she was going to say next but the thought of the hangman’s noose lingered in her mind. The man did pause for a moment, but he didn’t look back.
The guards threw her to the ground. She felt the knife she had stashed in her sock dig into the side of her leg. Though she didn’t dare move until she saw an opening. She knew she would have just one chance to get herself free.
The two guards closest to her were having a conversation, obviously not thinking Hadley was much of a threat and she wasn’t realistically. She was surrounded by twenty people all of whom were carrying guns. One pull of a trigger and it would all be over.
Hadley moved slowly, making small unnoticeable movements as she brought her hand to her ankle. She held her breath hoping no one would spot it. She moved slowly to bring her knee up and her hand to her ankle. It was a tedious and painful process, moving slowly enough to not be spotted. She stopped every time there was the smallest glance her way. Fear driving her every movement.
Two men tied two nooses in perfect circles made of thick hard rope. The thought of having that tied around her neck before making a hard fall would lead anyone to feel nauseous. They got another two men to help and the ropes were strung up. The nooses were left on the floor. One-man drug unconscious Pax directly beside the noose. Hadley watched in horror and they kicked him repeatedly trying to bring his around. His face was unrecognizable. The rain-washed away some of the blood but he was still bleeding heavily. A pool of red formed around him on the shattered concrete. His nose was a crushed blob on his face.
Finally, Hadley grabbed hold of the cold handle of the knife. Without contemplation she jumped up and grabbed the woman closest to her, who happened to be the thin woman who was screaming for her death. She was small and Hadley had her knife at her throat. She pressed just hard enough to not puncture her skin, even though a piece of her wanted to draw blood.
The RFE’s were around them immediately but Hadley was already making her way to the edge of the circle. There was no one behind her now.
“Hey!” The woman screamed, obviously terrified. Hadley felt a pang of guilt, she didn’t like hurting anyone. But it subsided when she remembered they meant to hang her.
The man with the bun was obviously impressed. Though also thoroughly annoyed.
“You are going to let us go or I swear to god I will kill her,” Hadley said looking him dead in the eye. She didn’t blink and she held her ground.
“You’re a fighter,” he said nodding his head. He walked up to the pair.
“Stay back.” Hadley took a step away from him, and his eyes never left her face.
“Let’s make a deal gov. You let her go and I’ll let you go.” He shrugged.
“I’m not going without Pax.” Hadley stomped her foot stubbornly. Childish move, she thought as she did it.
“Oh princess,” he mocked, “You are not in any position to bargain. You see if you kill her, then I’ll just kill you.”
He made a good point. Hadley was going to have to save her own skin. “Fine.” She pushed the woman forward and started to back away. But the man walked past the woman and towards Hadley.
Before she could turn to run he grabbed her arm and kicked her feet out from under her. Hadley landed hard on her back, the wind knocked out of her stomach. He put his entire weight down on top of her. The knife fell from her hand and he grabbed it bringing it to her neck.
The rain came down even harder. Sheets of it surrounded them. Lightning flickered through the morning sky. The mud and water Hadley was lying in were creeping over her neck and face. She struggled to breathe as he pressed his large frame into her chest.
“What’s your name princess? I want to know who I’m killing today,” he said with a devilish smirk. Constantly mocking.
“Hadley, Hadley Evans,” she spat in his face.
Chapter Twenty-Three
The tattooed man was stunned, completely and obviously. Hadley was confused as to why.
“Had?” he whispered, he thought he was imagining her. The face beneath him wasn’t real, just a figment of his imagination he tried to reassure himself. A cruel trick by the govs.
“You know me?” She gasped under the weight of his massive frame.
It was as though they were frozen in time for a split second. Then he had the knife right back at her thro
at, pressing so hard that it drew blood.
“You’re not real, you’re just my imagination,” he hissed through clenched teeth, looking away from her face.
The blood was starting to drip down the side of her neck, diluted by the rain it ran into the cool mud she was sinking into.
“Do you know me?” she screamed at the man.
He slapped her, hard. So hard her mind went dizzy.
“You’re not Hadley!” he screamed into her face.
His blood was boiling and he was losing focus. He kept blinking trying to figure out what was real. He recoiled slightly bringing the knife off her neck.
Hadley took the chance to bring her knee up hard into his groin. She used every bit of strength she had and the man rolled onto his side in a ball, tears in his eyes.
Hadley scrambled up, pushing herself out of the mud which had suctioned her into it.
She looked around frantically for Pax, for the Serva, for the rubble. For anything.
The rain was coming down harder and harder, and the fog had created a low cloud. It was so misty Hadley could barely see a few meters in front of her.
Then she felt a hand on her ankle. The tattooed man had grabbed her, she tried to kick him off, but his hand wrapped around her leg as he tried to pull her down.
She struggled not to fall. Then from out of nowhere someone kicked the man in the face. His grip loosened enough for Hadley to start to run; she felt a hand on her arm.
“Let’s go!”
She looked back and saw Pax, or what was left of his face. It just looked swollen and broken beyond recognition.
“Are you ok?” Hadley yelled as she ran. She saw the pile of rubble and ran up it.
Neither said anything as they searched for the spot where Pax had pulled her out. They finally found it, in a stroke of good luck.
Hadley reached down into the nook, and didn’t feel anything. She looked at Pax, almost defeated.
“What?” he sputtered through his broken teeth.
“I—” Hadley didn’t know what to say, they had almost gotten killed trying to find something that wasn’t there.
“Maybe it shift…ted?” He continued to sputter, blood still pouring from his demolished nose.
Hadley had no choice but to jump into the hole that had been her tomb. She peered around in the dark, wet cavern and looked. She reached her arm into the nook and felt around. Just as she was about to pull her arm out and give up, her fingertips brushed against something soft and smooth.
“Anything?” Pax yelled down.
Hadley reached as far as she could, practically putting herself into the nook, and grabbed. She brought her arm out and saw the dress, wadded up over a small wooden box.
She stuffed the thin fabric into her jacket pocket and looked at the box. In the dark, she could barely see it. It has what looked like tiny dots carved into the wood in a tiny zigzag pattern.
The latch opened with no problem. Inside the box was a thin silver chain. On the end were a key and a ring. The ring was the one she had remembered wearing when she was in Kane’s class.
The key was engraved, but in the dark Hadley couldn’t read it. She clambered out of the hole and sat trying to make it out.
“What did you find?” Pax asked sitting beside her.
“A key, and a ring,” Hadley said showing him the box and its contents.
Pax just nodded, he was in so much pain and talking wasn’t making it any better.
Hadley grabbed her coinet out of her pocket and turned on the light function. It illuminated the key and she could see that what the engraving said.
1908 Evvelynn Street. Box 96.
“What are we waiting for?” Pax hissed.
Hadley got to her feet, and typed the address into the coinet. It was only a few blocks away.
Hadley and Pax stumbled down the rubble in the fog and started to walk, following the map on the coinet since the fog was so heavy.
The rain started to lighten, but that just made the fog worse and worse. It got to a point where they couldn’t see anything around.
Hadley’s heart almost jumped out of her chest as she was notified they were there.
1908 Evvelynn Street. It towered into the air above them, completely made of dense dark stone that was intricately carved.
It was an old bank, a historic building. A little sign attached to the cement block in front of it that read it was established in 1902.
One of the marble pillars was broken in two and laid spread across the doorway. They hurdled themselves over it. The room was dark and the sunrise cast a spine-chilling glow over the cracked white marble. They ran up the marble stairs and through the teller’s door. The gate was hanging by one last hinge and gave an unnaturally loud creak as they opened it.
Hadley paused and looked around. There was a spiral staircase leading into the floor and a half wall surrounded it. She took a leap of faith and charged down the stairs. The metal stairs clanged as they hustled down them.
They were in the vault, and it was filled with safety deposit boxes. Hadley ducked through the open vault door and into the crumbling room. It had obviously been hit by a bomb and raided. They both frantically searched for safety box 96. All the boxes were tarnished metal. Hadley spun around casting the glow of her coinet over as much as possible as fast as possible.
Then she saw it. It was on the bottom row tucked away from the rest. It had no damage whatsoever and was a gleaming sterling silver, as though it had been placed there after the bombs. Hadley took the chain out from around her neck that held the key and the ring slowly, and looked at it. She walked to the safe and knelt down. She ran her palm across the cold metal. She brushed her wet hair off her face.
She fumbled to try to get the key into the lock.
It was quiet, besides the fiddling of a key against the metal.
“Hurry, sun is coming up” Paxton urged not helping her nerves.
Then the sound started, it was loud, and droning.
“Is that…” Hadley muttered, trying to open the safety deposit box faster.
“Helicopter,” was all Pax could get out.
She finally got it open. She turned the key slowly and opened the door. She pulled the safety deposit box out. She pulled the top open, and saw the last thing she’d ever expected.
A picture says a thousand words.
Then there were lights behind them coming down the stairs. Hadley thrust the entire contents of the box into the inside pocket of her jacket, there wasn’t much. Then she stood up and threw the safety deposit box into the far dark corner.
Arms were on her, and they were being led out of the bank before they knew what was happening. Kane stood in front of a helicopter looking disapprovingly at her.
“This was a bad choice Had.”
“But it was the right one for me,” Hadley retorted as a man pushed her into the helicopter.
They watched the city disappear below them as they flew higher over the city.
Chapter Twenty-Four
2228
Hadley had been pacing back and forth and back and forth in her room for almost 5 hours. The walls were looking surreal, as though she was being dragged into another world. She was seeing shapes in the generic grey paint that clearly weren’t there.
She studied the way the light made the shape of a man and woman on the wall. As she got closer, the light changed and they disappeared. She placed her hand on the wall where they had been a moment ago.
She was frustrated. She was more than frustrated; in fact, she was livid. She couldn’t believe she had been so stupid. Subconsciously she must have known what she had wanted the simulator to show. She must have known this was what she was trying to create.
Hadley slammed her fist into the wall. The outline of her fragile hand made an impression in the drywall.
She was at the lab before she knew what she was doing. She walked in and it was eerily quiet. Every computer was shut off.
Hadley looked at Biobot. “Hey wak
e up!”
“Hi Hadley. I can’t do anything for you—”
“I know. But you can tell me what they have saved and printed.”
“The genetic coding and the virus statistics, along with all the results. They have almost everything saved in various places.”
“Did they copy or take the control key?” She held her breath for his answer.
“They never asked for it—”
“So they have it?”
“They don’t even know there was one.”
Hadley smiled beside herself, absolutely relieved.
“Can you help me hide it?”
“Yes Hadley. That is in the scope of things I can do. They forbade me from letting you change or delete any of the viruses.”
“Loophole, I love it!” she chuckled.
“Hadley, I know what we created and I know what they will do with it. So I don’t want it getting out either.”
Hadley smiled at the Biobot as they began working. She started a long process of hiding the control. She needed it in a place she could find it but they never could.
She had no choice but to leave clues: lots and lots of clues.
She spent hours and hours with Biobot hiding everything to do with the control in a place she would find it and erasing his memory with his help. Finally, she sat in a chair and Biobot was scanning her brain. It was tedious and completely experimental. But they highlighted the exact pinpoint in her brain where the memories of the control lay. All except the starting point.
She walked into their living quarters and Anna was cutting her apple into eight perfect slices like she did every time she ate an apple. She had exactly a tablespoon of peanut butter in the centre of her plate. Hadley just smiled at her when she saw it.
“Same as always,” Hadley joked.
` “You know it Hadley.” She returned a genuine smile.
She placed the apple slices around the plate and picked it up. She walked to the table and sat down. Hadley sat across from her at the table. The complex had been empty these last few days since the missions had gone out. Anna and Hadley were the only ones left in the complex by sheer dumb luck.
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