Extraction
Page 20
Oliver comes over to Ariadne and me. He looks a bit shaky. For a second I freeze up, afraid he isn’t better, afraid he’s still emotionless, even though Ariadne is normal again. But when his eyes meet mine, they’re wide and blue behind his glasses. “Did you sleep well?” he asks.
Ariadne shakes her head.
“Not really,” I say.
He looks at his feet, his hand moving automatically to the arm he hurt two days ago. “Me neither,” he says.
I want to ask him and Ariadne about what happened earlier, to see if they remember how the hub gas screwed them up. But I’m afraid to say anything here, in front of everyone. People are talking, but someone might hear.
I glance at Ariadne. Her wide eyes are fixed on a spot in the sky.
“Hey, can I talk to you guys for a second?” I ask quietly. “Alone?”
“Um, sure,” Oliver says.
Ariadne frowns. “About what?”
“Just come on.” I grab her hand and Oliver’s, and pull them with me a few feet away, over to a machine with fake guns and a screen for shooting lasers. We can still see the other Extractions, the instructors, and Cadet Waller, but they shouldn’t be able to hear us.
“Do you two remember what happened earlier?” I ask.
“What happened earlier?” Ariadne asks.
Red lights flash on Oliver’s pale face. “You mean after the intelligence session?” he says.
I nod.
“I do.…” He swallows. “I mean, I don’t remember, and that’s the problem. I remember going into the hub and taking the test, and scoring a ninety-eight, but everything’s hazy after that. I thought it must’ve just been me, though. Everyone else seemed normal.”
“No one was normal,” I say. “Your eyes were glazed over. You were all acting like robots.”
“But you weren’t?” he asks.
“I was sick, or something. I don’t know. I was messed up too, but it was different.”
Ariadne’s looking at us like we’re crazy.
“Do you remember anything?” I ask her.
“I took the test, same as you,” she says. “Got a ninety-six. My Promise was seventy-five. What else is there?”
“So they did something to all of us.” Oliver’s voice cracks. “It just affected us each differently.”
“Seems like it,” I say.
“What do we do?” he asks. “What if it happens again?”
Cadet Waller blows a whistle over by the Phantom entrance. “All right, Extractions, let’s pay attention now.”
“Come on, we’d better go,” Ariadne says.
“If it happens again, we’ll fight it,” I say, grabbing Oliver’s hand and following Ariadne. “We’ll be fine.”
He doesn’t say anything. But the creases around his eyes tell me he doesn’t believe me.
All of the Extractions are here outside Phantom now, and more adults have come too. They form a perimeter around the group of us sixteen-year-olds. I’ve never seen most of the adults before, but I recognize Colonel Parker and a few of his lieutenants.
“Welcome to your final training module,” Cadet Waller says, her eyes sweeping the crowd of us with purpose. “You’ve all increased your intelligence and physical strength since you arrived in the Core, and it has done wonders for your Promise. Tonight, your training will focus on one final quality that is necessary for all citizens to exude: obedience. In other words, trust and loyalty. This exercise will focus, specifically, on trusting a Developer to help you find safety from danger. Notice the dome behind me.” Cadet Waller gestures to Phantom.
She starts to explain how it works, for the benefit of the kids who haven’t been inside, which is most of them.
My pulse hammers. This isn’t so bad. Working with a team, this will require strategy, but that’s something I’m good at.
I might actually have a shot.
Cadet Waller’s words snap me back to the present, and all my relief fades. The rules have changed.
“You will each enter Phantom on your own, and you can’t carry any weapons with you,” she says. “Whatever or whoever you meet inside Phantom won’t be entirely pretend; they will be linked to real life forms. In other words, whatever injury you cause them, they will feel it. I must warn you, we’ve also set Phantom on a very high level of play, which could kill you if you aren’t careful.”
My eyes are wide, and my heart’s beating 140 beats per minute. The last time I was in Phantom, I met Unstables I was stupid enough to think might actually feel my gunfire, even though they were fake, nothing but an illusion.
This time, whatever is in there will feel everything. I will still have to kill.
“As I’ve mentioned before,” Cadet Waller continues, “eighty is the Promise score you must obtain. That is a requirement for Core citizenship. Fortunately, most of you have already reached that score or are very close to reaching it. There are, however, one or two of you who need to show exceptional Promise in this final module to raise your score that high.”
Cadet Waller’s standing a ways away, but her eyes focus on me. I swear Colonel Parker looks at me too.
Of course, they would’ve seen my test results by now.
“Those who don’t reach eighty,” Cadet Waller says slowly, her eyes still locked on mine with not a hint of kindness, “will face permanent removal. We regret that this is necessary, but there is no alternative.”
She didn’t say removal from the Core; she said permanent removal.
Death.
I clasp my hands behind my back so, hopefully, no one will notice how much they’re trembling.
“You will each enter the game in a random order,” Cadet Waller says, finally looking away from me. “You will receive further instructions once inside.” Behind her, the entrance to the dome opens. She steps aside so we’ll be able to walk past her.
Closing my eyes, I concentrate on the air flowing in and out of my nose. This is a test, just something I have to do to stay alive. I can do this. I can do this.
She lifts her tablet. “First up is Clementine.”
I don’t know if I can do this.
Ariadne’s eyes meet mine, wide as ever. “Be careful,” she whispers.
Oliver glances at me and gives me a pained smile.
I close my eyes and squeeze my hands into balls. This isn’t just for me; it’s for Logan. He is everything. He’s always said I’m clever and fierce and brave, that I deserve a place in the Core. Now I have to make Commander Charlie and everyone else believe it too. So they’ll listen to me. So I’ll get what I want.
Raising my chin, I clench my fists at my sides and walk past the eyes that are burning holes in my skin into the dome, where my future waits.
*
Two people stand on the Preparation Deck beneath the flickering fluorescent lights. One is unfamiliar, but I recognize the second, with her nose stud and her hair spiky black. I taste something sour in my mouth again. This time, I swallow, and it goes down.
Sandy breaks into a smile. “How you doing, sweetie?” she says.
“Okay,” I lie. “What are you doing here?”
“We’re here to give you the rundown before you get in there,” she says.
“What’s your job?” I ask her, because I don’t even know. She seems to pop up everywhere.
Her brows furrow a little. “I’m a weapons instructor, among other things. It’s not important right now.”
“This is a trust exercise,” the other instructor says. “There will be a Developer in a control dock overhead telling you exactly how to combat the danger.”
“Understand?” Sandy holds my gaze, like there’s something she’s trying to tell me but can’t say in front of the instructor. “All you have to do is listen and follow his instructions. This is an evaluation of your level of trust.”
I nod. My memory replays the sounds of gunfire and screaming Unstables from the last time I was in here. The memories play over and over, reminding me of what I’ve done and am capable of doing.
“Good luck,” she whispers in my ear. “Trust, and obey.”
The door to the arena slides open, revealing darkness.
I want to ask her if she knows how they kill people who fail citizenship training. In case I—
Stop it, I tell myself. I won’t die. I won’t. I’ll do anything.
Sandy gives me a light push, and I force my legs forward. The door slides shut behind me, and I’m alone.
*
Darkness presses in on me. Silence.
When I was in here last time, red lettering appeared overhead in a couple seconds. The rules have changed, but what’s taking them so long? I want to get this over with.
I turn in a slow circle and flex my fingers. I’d feel so much safer with a copper in them.
There’s a zap, and I jump. A speaker comes on.
“Clementine, can you hear me?” It is a hoarse, cracking voice, one I’ve heard before. A shiver slides down my spine.
Commander Charlie is the one I have to trust. He’ll tell me to do something, and I’ll have to do it, no matter what.
“Y-yes.”
“Excellent. We will begin in a moment.”
I squeeze my eyes shut. I need to prove my loyalty to him anyway. What better time than now?
“I will guide you,” Commander Charlie says. “Listen to me and do exactly as I say.”
My heart races. I start to imagine what I’m going to be up against, then force those thoughts deep down, tuck them somewhere far away. I have to pretend this is only a game, that it’s all in my head. Because if I don’t get through this, Commander Charlie is going to kill me.
I clench my fists and grit my teeth, as if that’ll calm me down.
“Are you ready, Clementine?”
I nod. No point in prolonging the inevitable.
There’s a hollow, whining electrical noise like a machine powering up.
Dust fills my lungs. I cough and choke, waving it away with a hand until my eyes clear.
I stand in a desert beside a chain-link fence. The sky is dark, filled with storm clouds. The fence stretches on and on, and I can’t see where it ends, or what it separates me from.
I take a step toward it, listening for the low hum of electricity. But the fence is quiet. I turn around, press my back against it, and slip my fingers through the holes.
Tumbleweeds sit half rotting between cacti and rocks. Wind rustles my curls, but it doesn’t rustle the plants. There’s no movement here. Not a bird in the sky, not a song to be heard. Like the world ended and I’m the only one left.
I squint into the clouds to where I imagine Commander Charlie sits in some game control room, observing me.
“What am I waiting for?” I shout.
Thunder rumbles in the distance, but he doesn’t answer. My heart skips a beat. Maybe he lied. Maybe he abandoned me in here and will leave me stuck forever until I go mad or drop dead.
Or maybe that’s how I get my Promise up—I find a way out.
I release the fence and walk forward, still scanning the horizon. The whole world is a desert. I wonder how far it goes. I’m in a dome, after all. If I keep walking, will I slam into the wall, or walk in circles and never find anything?
Thunder rumbles, louder this time.
I notice something new: two tiny dots in the distance. People.
A krail caws in my ear, so loud I spin around and bring my fists up to defend myself. I’m not sure what I expect, some giant bird with black feathers staring at me with beady eyes. Some devilish device of the Developers ready to claw me to bits.
But it’s not a bird, not a krail.
It’s Logan.
21
Logan with his hair scraggly, his lips cracked, and his skin stained with dust. His eyes widen as they take in my face, like he can’t believe it’s really me.
“Clementine?”
My heart slams against my rib cage. A drop of rainwater hits my nose.
He’s not really here. He’s a fake, simulated body. But he’s connected to a life force that can feel pain and knows he’s in here, and I can’t breathe because that means they have him. They have Logan, and I might never see him again because what if he gets hurt in here? What if he doesn’t make it?
I swallow. “What are you doing here?”
He takes a step toward me, and his fingers brush my jawline where my scar used to be. “I didn’t think I’d see you again,” he whispers.
Another drop of water hits my hand. A krail caws behind me.
I glance over my shoulder to check on the other figures. They’re much closer.
I turn back to Logan and clench my fists tighter. “You have to get out.”
“I missed you.” His fingers skim my clavicle, leaving tingles of fire on my skin. Lightning flashes in the sky.
“Who are they?” he says softly, and cocks his head at something behind me.
They’re men, I see now. They wear the black armor of Surface officials, and each of them holds a thin staff with a sharp, curved blade at its end. They move toward us, closing the distance at a much quicker pace than I reckoned.
They must be the danger.
“Come on, let’s go.” I take Logan by the hand, but he pulls away.
“Go where?”
Rain drips on me and wind tugs at my hair as I take in the desert again. There’s nothing for miles and miles but tumbleweeds, cacti, and the chain-link fence.
The fence. On the other side of it, we wouldn’t be completely safe, but I’d feel safer. That’s better than nothing.
“Clem,” Logan says.
I turn to see the men break into a run. Their boots pound, leaving a trail of dust. The distance between them and us is closing fast. When they reach us, they’re going to slice those blades through our necks—they’re going to kill us. Cadet Waller said we could die in here.
I shove Logan toward the fence.
“Don’t climb the fence.” Commander Charlie’s hoarse voice rings through the dome, echoing off walls I can’t see.
Thunder roars, and rain lashes against my face.
I want to scream and punch something and cower all at once. The officials are close now, so close. And I won’t stop moving, but I hear the voice and can’t move an inch.
This is a test, and I have to follow orders.
But the men will kill me.
But I have to pass this.
But Logan will die.
But Sandy said to trust and obey.
“Don’t climb the fence,” Commander Charlie repeats.
The men come closer.
“Logan, climb it!” I ram into him.
His brows furrow. He doesn’t move. He doesn’t say anything.
What’s wrong with him?
“Use your friend,” Commander Charlie says. I swear I can hear the smile in his voice.
“What?”
“Use your friend as a shield.”
Logan’s lips part, and even though he doesn’t touch me, I feel his fingers brush my skin again, in their perfect way.
Still, he says nothing. The real Logan would say something. He would help me figure out what to do instead of just standing there, not doing anything.
I shake my head and blink rain out of my eyes. “No.”
“Do it.”
“Logan, climb the fence.”
“Do it, or you fail.”
I can’t think, can’t breathe, can’t do anything, but I have to do something. The men are mere feet away now—mere feet and they’re going to beat me, they’re going to kill me if I don’t follow orders.
Whoever this fake Logan is connected to, it’s not the real Logan, so I can do what Commander Charlie wants—
But what if he’s real?
He’s not real—
What if I’m wrong?
He
stands beside me and does nothing. His eyes don’t even water.
Boots splash in mud. Blades glint in the torrent as the men raise their staffs over their heads to slice through my skin. To end my life.
A strangled cry bursts from my throat. Logan is not real.
I grab him, and he doesn’t fight me. He lets me grab hold of him. I want to keep holding on to him and never let go, but I don’t. I throw him into the path of the men and their weapons. The slice and crunch and crack echo through the dome. They don’t slice his neck—they slice into his arms and legs and hands, reducing him to bloody limbs.
Logan screams, and my heart shatters. Glass fragments in the dirt and dust.
Rain pelts my body, making puddles in the dirt at my feet. I shove my fingers into my ears and squeeze my eyes shut, but it does no good. I can’t stop hearing him. I can’t stop seeing him collapsing in his blood. The tears won’t stop streaming down my cheeks.
It’s not him—not really—no way—they’re just pretending—they won’t hurt him—
It’s only a test, only a simulation, and he’s fake—I hope—but I can’t stop sobbing. Because all of this could be real as life, real as moonshine, and I might have killed the boy I love.
*
When I open my eyes, I’m ready to scream and claw my nails into Commander Charlie’s face, or maybe collapse and never get up, but it’s not over.
I stand on the edge of a cliff, and night has fallen. The rain has stopped, but I’m drenched in water. Far below me, so small I have to squint to see them, waves froth on a sandy shore. The moon hangs over me in the sky, giant and terrible, shimmering pink through the shield.
My hands tremble as I run them along my arms. My teeth chatter from the cold. I wonder what they’re going to make me do next.
pew-pew
p-p-p-p-p
Black and white lines flicker across the sky.
I stop breathing.
ZAP
A flash, and the acid shield wipes out across the sky. There’s no barrier between me and the moon’s poison.
There’s no way. There’s no way.
I want to turn and run as far as I can, and I’d do it right this second if my legs weren’t shaking so badly. They said I could die in here. That acid can really kill me. So why include it in this test, unless they want me dead?
My heart pounds so fast I can’t think straight.