Jeannie St Sunshine looked down at her hulking arm cannon as if just as stunned as Connard and Neena were. Panicked, she’d yanked the trigger and blown a hole straight through Connard and his suicide vest.
Connard still had the remote detonator raised. As he stumbled forward, Church trained the gun on the side of the terrorist’s head and squeezed. The blast tore half of Connard’s head off and blood streaked across the wall behind him. Before his body could tumble to the ground, the man hit the switch on his remote detonator. Rather than explode right away, the detonator on Connard’s chest trilled, growing rapidly in pitch. There was still enough of the vest left to destroy the room. Church and Jeannie backed up but there was too much trash creating obstacles to make a run for it.
“Oh, my God!” Neena said.
The kill switch on Neena Twist’s wrist wailed. Needles entered her forearm and she writhed, muscles tightening like she was about to be ripped open.
“It burns! I don’t know what this is, but-, oh, God, I don’t want to die like an animal!” Neena said.
The detonator was still whining on Connard’s chest. Neena threw herself into the French-Canadian terrorist, wrapping her arms around him, and tackled him into the open window. The two of them tumbled down the side of the building toward the street and exploded. The remains of the suicide vest tore the two of them apart, spraying them across the building, and what was left crashed to the sidewalk below. Glass shattered in the building’s remaining windows from the shockwave and dust billowed off the ruins, swirling in a whooshing cloud.
“I didn’t mean to! I’m sorry, I just saw the thing and I panicked!” Jeannie said.
Jeannie was close to hyperventilating, and barely kept a grip on her smoking pulse cannon. Church stood over the assault rifle and bricks of explosive that he’d forced Connard and Neena Twist to give up. The explosion outside had shaken the floor but both of the contestants were unharmed. A fine, red mist had sprayed across the open windowsill that the others had disappeared through.
“It’s okay, you did the right thing.” Church said, “We couldn’t just-, let them go, that’s not what this game is about. If you hadn’t reacted the way you did then we might both be dead.”
Chapter Ten.
“Flying cars have done wonders in reducing congestion in our major cities. Combining the comfort and convenience of commercial air travel with the safety of traveling on a six-lane superhighway suspended hundreds of metres off the ground. However, here are a few safety tips to reduce the airway road toll this Slayerz public holiday long weekend.”
Dials and instruments clutter the dashboard of a highly modern flying vehicle.
“Remember to watch your speed and leave a safe braking distance between you and the car in front of you. What would only be a minor fender bender on the ground can quickly turn catastrophic when flying. Check your altimeters and make sure you’re maintaining the correct height for your lane. Failing to keep the correct distance from the cars above and below you can cause mid-air pileups with devastating results for you, the cars around you and anybody directly below. Ensure you have enough fuel to complete your journey and watch your gauges while in flight. Running out of fuel can cause your vehicle to plummet suddenly from the air without power for safety systems or the ability to glide.”
A young woman circles around her flying vehicle before setting out. She watches the sky as grey clouds gather and holds out her hand to check for sprinkles of rain.
“Check all available weather services before setting out on your journey. High velocity gusts of wind can cause your vehicle to careen into the cars alongside you while sudden changes in air pressure might cause your vehicle to drop abruptly into oncoming traffic traveling below. Watch for obstacles such as smaller vehicles, jetpacks and birds. A single bird strike can easily wipe out your engine, windshield or navigational control of your vehicle and send you spiralling blind and without the ability to steer through traffic. And always check your blind spots, behind you, above you, directly below, and diagonally in all directions, before merging. Merging incorrectly could lead to you dropping through eight vertical lanes of flying freeway traffic in a meteoric ball of twisted metal and fiery death dragging down dozens of other vehicles with you.”
“This message brought to you by the Department of Flying Motor Vehicles and Jetpacks. Arrive at your destination safe and in one piece or at least only as many pieces as modern medical science can still save.”
Layla and Thao carefully approached the mall where the minigame was located. Sweeping the rooftops and street corners with her G36C assault rifle, Layla kept her eyes open for the other teams that might also be attracted to the same position. There was a honeycombed parking structure next to the mall. The front of the main building looked faded in the grey light, neon signage dead and broken, and drifts of trash surrounding the entryway. Thao now kept automatically watching for traps with every step he took.
“Once we get inside, be ready for anything.” Layla said, “Traps or-, more bots, or something. They’ll have something in the way of defences for us to beat.”
The mall was dimly lit, some of the lights on but turned low. Dozens of old advertisements surrounded the pair as they walked inside. The stores were open and looked like they had been looted after the quake. A twin pair of twisted escalators spiralled upwards in the centre of the massive entryway.
“I’m guessing we go up?” Thao said.
“Maybe, or maybe we should just take it slow and look at our options.” Layla said.
Suddenly, a hum of machinery seemed to fill the walls. Layla jolted, looking for something to take aim at. There was a thundering sound from several of the empty stores on either side of the nearest corridor. Waves of a black, tarry substance started to spew from the storefronts, rolling and slapping against the linoleum tiles.
“What is that?” Thao said.
“I don’t know, run!” Layla said.
The black substance was thick and moved slower than water but still spread across the main corridor. The machinery they had heard started up in the other direction as well. Like tar, the black substance pooled around Layla and Thao, filling the entryway and moving across the doors. With a whoosh, flame suddenly raced across the black liquid. The black substance was obviously flammable and burned brightly. It circled around them and left the spiralling escalators as their only escape.
“Move!” Layla said.
Layla ran for the escalators. Thao followed behind her, running as hard as he could. Layla was still carrying her Heckler & Koch G36C assault rifle. The black substance closed in, surrounding and sucking at the base of the escalators with flames burning brightly. It was like a pair of stairways into Hell.
They were half a story up on the escalators when there a clattering noise behind Thao. The metal steps were folding in on themselves and creating a sloping ramp behind the pair of contestants. Flames from below climbed the handrails as if they’d been soaked in gasoline, making them impossible to grip. Thao and Layla kept running past the entry to the second floor, which had been blocked. Fire tore past them on the handrails to both sides and the steps behind them kept folding up faster and faster, creating a twisting slide to the bottom. Thao couldn’t move around his partner, the heavily muscled cyborg, but he could feel the stairs almost nipping at his heels. If he tripped and fell he would slide all the way to the hungry flames at the bottom where the thick, tarry substance covering the floor would cling to his skin and clothes and burn him alive.
“Layla!” Thao yelled.
Thao sprung forward as the steps disappeared under his feet. The entry to the third floor was just ahead of them at the top of the spiralling escalators. Reaching the top of the escalator, Layla turned with a look of frustration as she heard Thao cry out. She braced herself and gripped one of the burning handrails, her mechanical hand unaffected by the flames. Dropping her G36, Layla lashed out and grabbed Thao by the coat. The gun slithered down the ramp under Thao, around and around the spir
als of the escalator to the flaming bottom. Layla hauled Thao up and swung him around, throwing him clear of the ramp and across the landing of the third floor. She stepped back and watched her gun disappear. They were left unarmed except for Thao’s electrified stun baton.
“Fantastic.” Layla said.
“Thank you.” Thao picked himself up.
“What does your map tell you? Where do we go?” Layla said.
Layla did nothing to hide her irritation at being caught unarmed. The stapled and painful-looking gashes on the side of her face were pulling her features into a sneer. Breathing hard, Thao checked the map on his sleeve.
“I think-, I guess it’s along this way.” Thao said.
Layla peered over the railing at the flames below but so far they didn’t seem to be eating away at the building. They started across the floor in the direction of the minigame icon. It led them to the entrance of a large multiplex theatre. Past the ticket counter and snack bar the lobby was cluttered with decades-old arcade games such as VR simulators, tri-dimensional air hockey tables and boxy claw games filled with toys. Only the lights in the claw games were on, flickering and buzzing like a couple of bug zappers. Sensing movement, the stuffed toys in the claw games switched on and started to squirm and coo.
“Win me! Take me home!” One of the tiny bots said.
“I used to be pretty good at this game when I was a kid.” Layla said.
Layla stopped over the flickering case for a moment with her face lost in a memory. Thao looked inside hoping it might spark something for him too, like the park had done, but he felt no connection there.
Several overhead lights started to glow in the hallway that led to the theatres. Knowing they were being herded, Thao and Layla followed the lights into the corridor. Old movie posters from around the time of the earthquake were framed along the walls. Layla pointed at a series of cardboard cutouts, their animatronics worn down and still.
“Furiously Fast Eighteen: Orbital Slingshot, you ever see that one?” Layla said.
“Don’t know, don’t remember, remember?” Thao said.
“Right, too bad, was wondering if the series was still any good after they had to write out Vin Diesel’s clone.” Layla said.
The theatres were dark and closed off but there was a lit stairwell to one side of the hallway. Thao and Layla followed it up to the projection booth. Although she was unarmed Layla still led the way, pushing the booth open with her purring mechanical arm.
The projection booth was long and dimly lit with pools of darkness around most of the digital projectors and the windows to the theatres they overlooked. Another cardboard cutout had been placed near the doorway in an attempt to startle them. Layla knocked it over indifferently. Dust had settled thickly across every surface in the room.
“Keep your eyes open.” Layla said.
Only one window was glowing with white light down the far end of the booth. They approached the window carefully peered into the theatre below.
“What the heck is that?” Thao said.
The theatre was brightly lit, almost painfully so after their eyes had adjusted to the darkness. Most of its seats had been ripped out. They’d been replaced by dozens and dozens of giant teddy bears with fur in a whole range of colours, all of them more than man-sized. A series of tracks and an enormous, three-fingered claw dangled from the ceiling. The entire room had been transformed into a giant version of one of the claw games they’d seen in the lobby. There was a conveyor belt over by the entryway. A desk with a large joystick jutted from under the window.
Sensing the humans, the dozens of giant toys craned their heads toward the observation window in unison. Glassy eyes staring blankly, they started to squirm and wave their arms, just like their smaller versions had done. Their voices were picked up and amplified by a speaker below the window.
“Pick me! Win me!” Several of the bears cried.
“What the fuck are we supposed to do with this?” Layla said.
At the front of the theatre the screen suddenly flashed and came to life, “You have three attempts to win a weapon supply crate from the floor below, by picking one up using the claw and moving it to the conveyor belt at the side of the room.” A droning, genderless voice said, “The room is boobytrapped so that if you fail, you walk away with nothing. Each attempt will give you only thirty seconds to position the claw. Your time starts now.”
The screen became a brightly coloured backdrop and loud, irritatingly cheerful music started to play. Bright red numbers began to count backward from thirty. Thao pointed as the claw started to shudder and move. Dark green, coffin-sized containers had been placed randomly around the room, between the brightly coloured giant toys.
“Those big boxes down there!” Thao said, “Those must be the weapon crates, you’ve just got to avoid the bears when you grab them.”
“Okay, let’s do this.” Layla said.
Layla flexed her mechanical hand and grabbed the joystick. With every movement of the joystick the dangling claw swung across the ceiling. The fine motors in Layla’s wrist whirred with precision as she angled it around. The loud music and movements of the bears was all deliberately distracting, and on the screen the numbers counted down constantly. Trying to position the giant claw over one weapon crate, Layla waited until the last second and then punched the button on top of the joystick. Arm extending downward, whirring, the claw reached and came down between several of the toy bears. One of the prongs scraped across the top of the box. The claw closed on the end of the crate, lifting it about half a metre of the ground and then dropping it. Layla swore as the claw retreated back to the ceiling. The screen blared and flashed with the message ‘FAILURE’.
“I thought you were good at this game?” Thao said.
“Shut up, the arm’s good for precision work too but it needs a little time to calibrate.” Layla said.
“Only kidding, promise.” Thao said.
The claw retreated to its original position and the timer started again. Layla hurriedly moved the claw back to the same spot, giving herself longer to adjust its exact position over the crate, and then pushed the button. The crane lowered over the crate, claws spread, and this time it all looked good. At the last second, however, one of the giant toy bears squirmed and threw itself sideways. The blue-furred bear covered the crate with its body as if protecting it and the claw closed around the bear instead, lifting it into the air. Layla smacked the window with her right hand.
“Oh, bullshit!” Layla said.
“I have been chosen!” The man-sized bear toy said.
The bear waved its arms and legs as it was lifted. The crane carried the bear to the conveyor belt at the side of the room. Dropped onto the belt, the giant toy was wheeled out of the room below and out of sight. The screen blared and appeared with the message ‘FAILURE – FINAL ATTEMPT!’
“Are you sure you want to take it?” Thao said.
“It’s fine, more of an art than a science anyway.” Layla said.
Layla circled the table and grabbed the joystick with her flesh-and-blood right hand instead. The brightly coloured bears squirmed with renewed vigour. Layla aimed for a different crate across the room below, separate from most of the robotic creatures. The rails that crossed the ceiling buzzed, positioning the giant claw. Squinting, Layla adjusted the claw until it was right above the crate and then pushed the button. The claw whirred down from the ceiling and scuffed on the carpet before wrapping around the crate. Layla pumped her fist in triumph as the claw carried the weapon crate across the room to the conveyor belt.
‘VICTORY!’ The theatre screen flashed. The word was replaced by an animated conga line of weapons and bullets, their cartoon faces affixed with frozen grins. A bright and cheery showground tune filtered through the speaker.
“Let’s all go to the lobby, let’s all go to lobby, let’s all go to the lobby and get ourselves some guns!” The music chimed.
“No! Don’t leave us! Don’t leave us!”
A chorus of screams started from the bears that were left behind, clawing at their faces as if in grief. More of the black, tarry substance from the bottom level of the mall started bubbling up through hidden drains in the theatre. As soon as it surrounded the bears and weapon crates there was a spark. A wall of orange flame moved across the room. The bears continued to scream and claw at their faces as their brightly coloured fur was consumed by fire, never changing pitch.
“What the fuck is wrong with the people that come up with this stuff?” Layla said.
The two of them returned the way they had come, down the stairs to the corridor between theatres. The weapon crate Layla had won was waiting for them in the middle of the hall. There was no smell of smoke or any sign of the inferno burning in the nearby theatre, sealed off from the hallway. The crate hissed open revealing a pile of weapons and ammunition. Thao hung back, uncertain of what he should do. Layla pulled out a compact, black handgun, loaded it, and handed it to Thao.
“I don’t know what to do with this.” Thao said.
“Yeah, well, we’ll figure that out as we go along.” Layla said.
Layla pulled out more ammunition and three black cylinders that looked like some exotic kind of grenade to Thao. Reaching deeper into the crate, Layla removed an FN P90 personal defence weapon. A combination between an assault rifle and submachine gun, the weapon was lightweight and futuristic with a stubby barrel, round body and a hefty buttstock. Layla retrieved several magazines of ammunition from the crate as well and loaded one into the bullpup weapon’s stock. Thao looked around at the roof and walls, wondering where exactly the crate had come from.
“Wait a second, if the crate is out here then where is that bear?” Thao said.
“You chose me and I love you.” A mechanical voice, saturated in artificial affection, said.
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