Lockdown Nation

by Lim, Candice

  Vaxine bounced back and swung her fist at his face but the bigger man acted faster. He caught her by the wrist and flung her down to the bottom floor. She hit her back against the edge of the steps as she tumbled downstairs in an awkward pile. Insane pain burst through her spine. For a second, she couldn’t feel her limbs.

  “Vax!” Axon reached out to catch her but missed her by inches. He shot daggers at Cooper, whose mouth quirked up into a mocking sneer. “What you gonna do, pretty boy? Running away like a coward you are?”

  A snarl ripped from Axon’s throat. He threw his punches at Cooper, who dodged left and right to avoid him.

  Vaxine peeled herself off the ground and popped her dislocated shoulder joint back in. She looked up at the men exchanging fists and looked around for a weapon when she spotted the floor number. It was where they needed to be.

  “I’ll be right back!”

  “What?” Axon perked up.

  Vaxine pushed through the door into the hallway where she looked through the glass walls into the lab. She searched through the faces. Her heart leaped with joy when her eyes fell on Ronin. She made for the double door but it didn’t budge. Even after she tapped the ID. She took a closer look at the scanner and realized it was facial recognition.

  “Prof. Ronin!” She slammed on the reinforced glass and realized later it was either soundproof or the inmates in the lab were deaf.

  But the ruckus she caused wasn’t heard.

  The growls coming from behind her bristled the hair on her nape. She fought a rising panic as she turned around meeting the incoming horde. She staggered back until she flattened her back against the glass. “Blot my gel.”

  Vaxine was reaching for the Zapper when the emergency door burst open. She leaped in shock expecting more Infected pouring out from every door. But it happened to be Axon and Cooper in a bodylock. The men slammed themselves against the floor where they writhed and grunted, oblivious of the imminent danger.

  “Uh, guys? We have a bigger problem.”

  The men dropped apart. Once they realized what was going on, they sprang to their feet and took Vaxine’s sides.

  The dazed look on Cooper was replaced with a smirk. “Looks like they’re coming for you guys.”

  “You’re not immune either, idiot!” snarled Vaxine. “Can’t you see what Adenine Cash is up to now?”

  “Of course I can. You’re the ones blinded by the truth,” sniggered Cooper. He grabbed Vaxine by the arm and threw her at the Infected.

  Vaxine’s side connected to the ground with a painful thud. The growls echoed in her ears. She swore she could feel the Infected’s breath on her neck, sending a chill down her spine.

  Vaxine let out a grunt and squeezed her eyes closed as the shadows of the Infected loomed over her. Another thud hit the ground. She opened her eyes to the Infected jittering next to her. She looked up, her anger raged harder through her veins when she noticed Cooper had disappeared down the other end of the hallway.

  “Vax!” Axon had pulled out his Zapper and fired at the Infected. He swooped to her side and extended out a hand for her.

  Vaxine grabbed his hand and hauled herself up from the ground. She whipped out her Zapper but the battery bar flashed in red. “We can’t hold them all back. We need to get outta here now!”

  Axon stepped back slowly, covering Vaxine as she made for the emergency staircase.

  37

  ROXY

  Mandy Berger cursed out aloud and kicked at the emergency door. “All these Community people are of all of a piece! Can’t be counted on at all!” I shared her sentiment though I didn’t let it show on my face like she did.

  I swallowed the hurt swelling in my throat. I could go on about it for the whole night but it wouldn’t get us anywhere. “Sam, can you tap into the security—?”

  Sam Maximoff, already on his tablet, shook his head. “They added a couple of extra layers of security to their system since the last time. It will take a few hours to crack.”

  “Let’s just get outta here.” Mandy grabbed my arm and looked into my eyes.

  “What? And leave them alone?”

  “We don’t have a better option, do we? At least some of us will live to tell the story,” said Mandy.

  “Mandy’s right. Combing them out in this facility is like finding a needle in the haystack except the haystack’s on fire. We have to get outta here now,” said Sam.

  I glanced at Carlisa Choo, who subtly nodded. With a sigh, I threw my hands up in defeat. “Let’s get outta here then.”

  Taking the lead, I went down the stairs followed by Sam, Carlisa, and Mandy taking the rear. Our hollow footsteps reverberated through the walls.

  “I can’t believe Tameera turns out to be such a fickle.” Carlisa’s voice submitted the silence. “I was hoping she was going to help us end the pandemic.”

  “Technically, she did except she tried to do it at our expense and probably going to claim all credits herself when we’re dead and gone.”

  I tried to focus on my steps and drown the sorrow gnawing at me from inside. I wasn’t even sure what hurt me more—Tameera wanting to sacrifice me for credit or Axon and Vaxine leaving us at the mercy of the Infected?

  “You just can’t trust anyone nowadays.” Sam’s words were raw with anger.

  “People are so volatile nowadays. For all we know, Adenine Cash might be the innocent one who will end the pandemic,” scoffed Mandy.

  “No, she’s not.” I broke my silence. The voices dropped at once. “I shot her with the upgraded anti-Cranax gene. She’s still a psychotic bitch and she even jabbed me after as a thank you.”

  The last fickle of hope I had for Adenine Cash extinguished along with the sigh I exhaled. I expunged the mental images of her out of my head and thought about the times when I did without her. When I went to save Axon and Vaxine at the ORF. When I connected the dots to Robert Tan. When I figured out the major players of Project Hive Mind.

  I didn’t even realize how much I’d achieved until now. Until Sam told me I should believe in myself. I didn’t even realize all the while I’d done so much without looking up on anyone for moral support. I did it all myself.

  The thought put a smile on my face. I sucked in a deep breath and reveled in my glories when the door burst open ahead and startled us into a halt. All four of us sprang into our fighting poses and whipped out the gene guns.

  Vaxine hopped back and threw her arms in the air. “Geez! You guys survived!”

  We retracted the weapons. “Did you hope we wouldn’t?” Mandy remarked.

  Axon popped in and slammed the door closed. Sweat dripped off his pale face. “There are too many of them!” His face lit up a little when he noticed the rest of us. “Hey, you guys made it!”

  “Too many of what?” The chill crept down my spine.

  “Infected.”

  “Let’s get our asses outta here then.” Mandy shrugged and spun on her heels.

  “No, Ronin’s here! We have to get him outta here tonight!” cried Vaxine.

  A fraught silence fell over us. My eyes bounced between the faces expecting one of them to come up with a plan.

  “So…what do we do now?” muttered Carlisa.

  Vaxine and Axon traded looks.

  With a sigh, I reached for my backpack. “You know what, screw this. We’re ending this tonight.” I pulled out a Gene Blast and set it up. No one protested this time. I nodded at Axon, who swiftly opened the door. I tossed the Gene Blast through the crack.

  Axon shut the door and held it back with his weight. The muffled explosion that followed trembled the earth. He glanced at us once and opened the door slowly.

  Bodies piled up on the floor. Some stirred and groveled as they regained consciousness. The siren pealed, ringing in my ears. The warning lights painted the room red.

  Vaxine shot out the door and made for the glass door she tapped hard. It didn’t budge and she cussed. “Blot my gel! I thought all
the doors would automatically unlock during an emergency!”

  “It could be only opened from the other side as an emergency measure.” Sam pulled out his tablet trying to hack into the system. “It’s secured with facial recognition. I think I can handle that.”

  Though the siren was screaming in our face, the lab inmates seemed unperturbed and absorbed in their tasks, oblivious to the unrest on the other side of the glass wall. My eyes fell on Prof. Ronin Yamashita who was speaking with the other two scientists. A hollow hole burned in my stomach to watch a man who pledged his life to the Ethics forced to turn his back on the nation and everything he’d stood for.

  The evil Cash committed against Ronin overweighed all the anger I held for Ronin. All I felt for the vile woman was abhorrence. I cringed at the thought of younger me idolizing and putting up the posters of her in my room. Wait…speaking of posters.

  I pulled out my phone and scrolled through my photo album.

  “Geez, thanks for your help, Roxy. Good to see you’re here playing with your phone rather than pulling your weight.” Vaxine crossed her arms over her chest.

  A smirk curled my lips when I found Cash’s poster. Thanks to all the works she’d done to her face, she stilled looked the same as a decade ago. I put my phone on the scanner and the light turned green. The door clicked open.

  Sam looked up, slack-jawed. “I didn’t know I could love and hate something at the same time until now.”

  “Who’s not pulling their weight now?” I swung the door open.

  The inmates snapped their heads in our direction as if someone flicked the switch. They bared their teeth and hissed at us as their eyes turned blood red. Venomous black veins crawled over their skin where their muscles tensed and bulged.

  I looked across at Ronin, the only one who had remained constant and unfazed by our arrival. “Prof. Ronin, we’re here to save you.”

  Ronin turned around to us taking his usual poise with his hands at his back. “Good to see you again, Roxy.” He clicked his tongue shaking his head. “If only you were as committed to your education as you are chasing displaced vengeance, you wouldn’t have to live such a low life right now.” The corner of his lips quirked up into a mocking smirk.

  Though I was positive the man talking to me was no other than Professor Ronin Yamashita, something about his general demeanor had nothing on the National Counsel I knew. Perhaps that’s why his words had no bearing on my feelings and I didn’t experience any of the emotions he wanted me to.

  “Contrary to popular belief, you don’t have to cling to your mistake for the mere reason to prove yourself to be something.” I dipped my hand into my pocket. The lab bench in front spanned half my height and blocked under my torso. Another perk of being petite. “Especially when those you were trying to prove aren’t even worthy of your time.”

  Ronin’s face turned grim. “Then, Ronin Yamashita must be a worthy enough man for you to risk all your lives to save him. Have you forgotten what he’s done to your folks, who could’ve been alive today if it wasn’t for him?”

  I pulled out the vial of the stronger anti-Cranax gene and quietly slid it into the gene gun. Reaching into my backpack, I grabbed a Gene Blast and passed it to Sam. I sucked in a deep breath. “You’re right. But I wouldn’t be alive if it wasn’t for him.” I pointed the Genex at Ronin and fired. The shot cut through the air and struck Ronin in the chest.

  Ronin’s face twisted as a snarl ripped from his throat. The impact knocked him few steps back before connecting his back against the wall.

  The growls rumbled through the room at once as the Infected launched themselves in our direction.

  “Duck!” Sam threw the Gene Blast at the enemy line.

  The rest dropped behind the bench and threw their arms over their ears. The blast ripped through the room but I bounced back faster. I peeked up the bench and seeing the bodies on the ground, bolted across the lab. “Prof. Ronin!”

  Ronin slumped in the corner with his head propped against the wall. He clutched onto the edge of the bench and hauled himself up. The wave of fear for his safety sent a chill down my spine. His face crumpled with a pained look I thought he might have sustained some blast injuries.

  The splinters of guilt lodged in my heart. “You okay, Prof. Ronin?”

  Ronin snapped up with widened eyes. “Dr. Tameera is in trouble!”

  I stared at him in confusion. “How did you even know about Tameera?”

  Ronin massaged his temples and shook his head. “I don’t know how but I could probe into traces of Tameera’s mind. She was captured and threatened by Cash to give up the program of her creation and decided to play along. But Cash discovered her ploy.”

  Vaxine muttered a cuss. “That means she’s infected!” All heads turned to her. “Everyone’s experience with the virus might be different but with Cranax’s telekinesis capability, the minds of the Infected will be interconnected like a computer network. In other words, they could probe into the minds of the Infected.”

  I racked my brain to remember my experience but it drew a blank.

  Ronin shook and hung his head low. “We gave the virus intelligence and now it has turned against us.”

  “Shoulda expected it when you tried to exploit something, don’t you think?” muttered Mandy.

  “Where is Tameera now?” asked Vaxine.

  Ronin pinched the bridge of his nose. “No idea. I saw her being dragged into a vessel. Titanium wings, silver body. Maybe a private jet.”

  “It’s the Moon Rider,” said Axon. “She bought that ride with her first paycheck as the CEO of MAD.”

  “But where is Cash taking her?” I thought out aloud.

  “Peyton!” Vaxine slammed her fist on the bench. “If she takes the program to Peyton before we could stop her, it’s going to be the end of Asia Nova!”

  “She can’t do anything with it.” I dove into my pocket and retrieved the probes. “I’ve still got the probes. She can’t do anything without the probes.”

  The group stared at me.

  “How good are y’all at business negotiation?” I said.

  Ronin picked up the phone and put it on speaker.

  “In reason we trust, Prof. Ronin,” said Cash in a singsong voice that made all of us roll our eyes. “How’s it going there?”

  “Adenine Cash, you’re forgetting something?” I said.

  A brief silence hung over the line. “Roxy Riley? Why is it so hard to kill you?” The anger evident in her voice somehow pleased me.

  “Perhaps I’ve unfinished business to take care of.”

  Cash scoffed, then her voice calmed. “So you think you have a bargaining chip? You should listen to this.” The muffled sobs grew louder as Tameera’s voice came online.

  We exchanged a wary look. My worry spiked but I pursed my lips.

  “Guys.” Tameera panted between her words. “I’m so sorry I ditched you guys. It was a spur-of-the-moment fit of anger and I never meant to hurt anyone. Please get out—” Her scream cut her off. “No!”

  Cash cleared her throat. “If you want your friend alive, bring the probes to the helipad right now. Then, maybe we’ll see if we could come to an agreement.” She hung up.

  The group traded looks when the grunts rose from the bodies stirring on the floor, snapping us into attention. The ruffling of hands against fabric submitted the silence as we groped for our weapons to only realize that the Infected had regained consciousness.

  “Let’s go?” Axon checked his Zapper and took the lead.

  “What’s going on?” muttered one of the lab staff as we stepped over them to the door.

  “You’re welcome, guys.” I exited the lab last and shut the door behind.

  The 88th-floor button lit up as we stepped into the elevator. My stomach shrank as we shot skywards. The giddiness caught up with me. I reached for my backpack and set up a Gene Blast lest we needed one. I already committed grant fraud obtaining them so why
not?

  “We’ll end this tonight.” Vaxine broke the silence.

  Axon nodded. “We will.”

  The elevator eased to a stop and the door opened up to the helipad. The cold gale blustered in our direction warning of the imminent danger. The seven of us marched towards the edge of the helipad where the silver jet waited.

  The top of the MAD building commanded a 360-degree view of Corn City. The lights of the awakening city scattered across the horizon.

  “Finally, we’re here.” Cash clicked her tongue as she emerged from the side door of the jet. Her cashmere coat rolled down her length and dragged along the floor behind her. “Well, I hope you brought the things I want.”