Mavis charged forward, knocking Brodie over. Rolling under the robot body, Brodie kicked upwards into her torso, but with no effect. She scrambled away from the rampaging legs, picked up another rock, and hurled it, hitting Mavis’s right eye. This time the creature hesitated, blinking as she tried to decide who to attack next.
By now, Chad had picked himself up. He fired a blast of ice at one limb, freezing it, as Ebony grabbed another, turning it to carbon. Mavis swung a limb about, smashing Ebony down. Dan slammed the metal disk into Mavis’s neck—and her head flew off.
But it didn’t stop her.
She charged at Dan, trampling over him as Chad fired a super-hot blast at her torso. Boiling hot metal flew off her as he increased the heat, cutting straight through. Mavis ineffectually waved her remaining limbs about before taking a last shuddering step—and expiring.
Brodie picked herself up, groaning. She hobbled over to Ebony, helped her up, and they raced over to Dan. He lay on his back, staring up at the sky.
‘Dan!’ Ebony cried. ‘Are you okay?’
‘As good as can be expected,’ he moaned, ‘considering I’ve been run over by a robotic spider.’
Chad joined them. ‘What on earth was that thing?’ he asked.
‘I’ve got no idea,’ Brodie said. ‘But I hope there’s only one of them. Let’s just get back to Liber8tor. The sooner we’re out of here, the better.’
They ran through the woods. Minutes later, they reached the ship. Brodie let out of a sigh of relief. It seemed like years since they had last seen Liber8tor. They climbed aboard and took their positions on the bridge.
‘Ferdy!’ Dan yelled. ‘Initiate engines! We’ve got to get out of here.’
But there was no response. Glancing at a control panel, Dan said, ‘Liber8tor’s power levels are critically low!’
‘Can we get out of here?’ Chad asked.
‘Yes, but it looks like Ferdy’s offline.’
‘Let’s go,’ Brodie said. ‘We’ll reactivate Ferdy later.’
Dan started the engines. As they warmed up, the ground started to shake violently under the ship.
Ebony frowned at her controls. ‘I’m getting something on the radar,’ she said. ‘Something’s moving under us. Get us out of here!’
‘The engines are sluggish,’ Dan said. ‘Not sure how fast we can go.’
They lifted off. The viewscreen showed the landscape, violently shaking as if struck by a massive earthquake. Then it seemed to fall away entirely, revealing an enormous hole in the ground with a slithering shape moving about at the bottom.
‘Go!’ Chad shouted.
The engines surged, but then a vast tentacle reached from the pit. It slammed into Liber8tor, the vessel slewed sideways, and Brodie heard the smashing of branches as they scraped the tops of the trees.
‘I’m giving the engines everything,’ Dan said, ‘but we’re still not—’
Crash!
Brodie was thrown from her seat and across the bridge. Whack! Her head hit a console, and she saw stars. The next thing she knew, Chad was dragging her across the floor.
‘What...what’s happening?’ she slurred.
‘That thing slapped us down,’ he said. ‘We crashed.’
Groaning, Brodie struggled to her feet. The bridge was in near darkness except for the view screen that showed a close-up of the creature. It appeared huge.
‘Are the weapons still online?’ she asked.
‘Only just,’ Chad said.
‘Then target the middle of that...thing and shoot!’
Chad settled behind his console. Swiping a few controls, he said, ‘Readying missiles,’ he said. ‘And...firing!’ Liber8tor shook as the missile left the ship. There was an explosion. ‘That’s a direct hit!’
‘Is it dead?’
Extricating herself from beneath a shattered console, Ebony examined her screen. ‘I think so,’ she said. ‘Unless it can get through life without a head.’
Dan appeared from behind another console and joined them as they climbed from Liber8tor. The ship had crashed inside the pit. A support leg was broken, and part of the hull badly dented. On the other side of the pit was the monster, a beast with razor-sharp teeth and tentacles.
Brodie shuddered as she peered at it. There were no eyes visible. It must have had some sort of internal radar system.
‘Where do the bad guys get these things?’ Dan asked. ‘There must be a monster version of eBay where they shop.’
‘We do seem to run into a lot of weird creatures,’ Ebony agreed. ‘It’s a good thing you made a direct hit on its head—or what passes for a head. Taking out a tentacle would have still left it with another seven.’
‘An eight-armed monster,’ Chad said, shaking his head with disbelief. ‘Great.’
A chill went through Brodie. ‘What did you say?’ she asked.
‘What?’ He stared at her. ‘I was just saying it’s got eight arms...or legs...or whatever they are.’
‘Eight,’ Brodie said the word, her mouth dry. ‘Of course, there’s eight. What else would there be?’
The others were staring at her. ‘Are you all right?’ Ebony asked. ‘You hit your head pretty hard.’
‘I’m fine,’ she said. ‘But we’re not.’
‘What do you mean?’
‘Have you noticed how many times we’ve encountered the number eight?’ she asked.
‘Uh, not really,’ Dan said.
‘The dining room back at the Cooper house had eight chairs,’ Brodie said.
‘Nothing weird about that.’
‘And the guy back at the diner—Eric—had owned the place for eight years.’ Brodie thought hard. ‘Dan, didn’t you say those dogs that chased you had—’
‘—eight legs.’
‘And the ship I was on,’ Ebony said, thoughtfully. ‘It was named The Eight Hands.’
‘Chad?’ Brodie said. ‘And you?’
‘There wasn’t anything...’ His voice trailed off. ‘It can’t mean anything,’ he said as if trying to convince himself. ‘But a lady at the supermarket was buying a jumbo pack of cereal for eight dollars...and the supermarket had eight aisles.’
‘And it was an eight-sided wall surrounding Targo,’ Brodie said. ‘And what did Mavis turn into?’
‘An eight-legged robot,’ Dan said, puzzled. ‘But what does it mean?’
‘It means the program has an error,’ Brodie said. ‘An elementary, almost unnoticeable error, but still an error.’
‘What are you talking about?’ Chad said. ‘We’re out of the program.’
‘No, we’re not,’ Brodie said. ‘We didn’t wake up in a lab under the house. We didn’t fight Mavis or get smacked down by an eight-armed monster. We’re still inside the program.’
Chapter Thirty
‘How very clever of you.’
Brodie and the others looked around. The voice had seemed to come from everywhere at once. Then the pit, Liber8tor, and the dead creature shimmered, paled, and then they were standing in Targo’s main street. The walls still surrounded the town, but there was no sign of the populace. It looked like it had been abandoned for years, leaving it a ghost town.
The ground shook. They looked at each other in alarm as it shuddered again and again as loud thuds grew closer.
‘Look!’ Ebony said, pointing behind them.
A man—a hundred feet tall—was walking across the landscape towards them, making the ground shake with every step. He destroyed everything in his path, crushing houses, trees, and cars.
He wore a pale gray suit, shiny business shoes, and round-rimmed lenses. But it was his face that was most frightening. Burnt in a fire, his hair was completely missing, and his eyes wide. His nose had been reduced to a melted nub of flesh, and his ears were gone entirely.
‘And here are the children,’ he said, staring down at them. ‘The ones who thought they would destroy my life.’
The man had a faint German accent. Brodie thought it sounded oddly familiar. Sh
e knew that voice—but from where?
The giant slowly shrunk. Within seconds he stood before them, a little taller than themselves. He nodded to Brodie. ‘You have done well, little one,’ he said. ‘There was a glitch in programming which we hoped you would not notice.’
‘Who are you?’ Brodie asked.
‘It makes no difference who I am.’
‘She asked you a question,’ Chad snapped. ‘What’s your name?’
‘Ah,’ the man mused. ‘The boy speaks. He does not remember me, but I remember him.’
Chad stared at him in confusion.
‘Oh no,’ Brodie said. ‘Doctor Ravana.’
Not long after she and the others had been modified, they’d been captured by an organization called Typhoid. Doctor Ravana, an insidious doctor, had tortured them for information. While escaping, Chad had fired a blast of fire at him, enveloping him in flames. Later, Ebony had turned him to zinc.
Somehow, he had survived.
‘But I killed you,’ Ebony said. ‘How can you be alive?’
‘I cannot die,’ Ravana said, mysteriously. ‘That explanation will suffice—for now.’
Chad had heard enough. Without warning, he pointed at Ravana and fired a blast of ice at him. The doctor merely laughed as the ice stopped inches away from him and dropped to the ground.
‘We’re not in your world now, boy,’ Ravana said. ‘You’re in mine.’
Chad’s powers failed completely. The others tried their powers, but they didn’t work. They couldn’t move either; their feet were stuck to the ground.
‘You will move when I allow you to move,’ Ravana said, ‘and not an instant before.’
‘Why are we here?’ Brodie asked. ‘What’s going on?’
‘Surely, that is obvious. This is about revenge. A kind of revenge from which there is no escape. When your friend, Chad, destroyed my appearance with fire, I decided to pay you back for what you have done.’
‘What are we doing here?’ Dan asked.
‘After the collapse of Typhoid, I was left with little in the way of money or resources,’ Ravana said. ‘It was necessary for me to acquire partners with whom I could work to bring about your downfall.
‘Your friend, Axel, believes he is living with his newfound family. They are, of course, completely bogus. Their mission is to gain his trust and encourage him to join an organization be believes is called Rescue Prime. They are actually a band of mercenaries. I know not of their plans for him. My ambitions would have been complete if I could have destroyed him too, but, alas, it was not to be.’
He’s completely insane, Brodie thought.
‘I was able to broker a rather more favorable deal with an organization known as Force-One. My proposal to them was simple. The adrenalin created by your brains can be synthesized into a potion that can give people superpowers.’ He paused. ‘Certainly, those powers would not be as powerful as your own, or as long-lived, but in that lies the advantage. Many people will pay vast sums of money to buy your powers. Their short term effects will enable people to rob banks, murder those who have stood against them, and carry out their heart’s desire. At one million dollars per shot, it is a small price to pay for such power.’
Brodie’s mind was reeling. Ravana’s words made sense. There were plenty of people who would pay big dollars to have superpowers—even if they were temporary.
‘So...what is this place?’ she asked. ‘And where are our bodies?’
‘Your consciousness is inside a program called Terminal Fear,’ Ravana explained, ‘whereas your bodies are held in a lab, sedated, connected to machines that monitor your vitals. Nutrients are fed into your bloodstreams. Waste matter is removed. When you sleep here, you sleep in the real world. When you wake here, your brains awaken to a new day.’
‘How long will we be prisoners here?’ Ebony asked, aghast.
Doctor Ravana chuckled. ‘For as long as you live,’ he said. ‘Theoretically, you could be kept alive for decades, possibly even centuries—’
‘You monster!’ Brodie yelled.
She struggled to move but was held fast.
‘Please don’t bother,’ Ravana said, smiling. ‘You’ll only hurt yourself. Oh,’ he added, ‘you can hurt yourself. As you’ve already discovered, you can be harmed here. Killed, even, although if you should die here, you will be brought back.’ The smile broadened. ‘We have invested a lot in you. We intend to milk your adrenal glands for many years to come.’
Brodie wanted to tear him limb from limb.
‘Doctor,’ Chad said. He had gone pale. ‘If it’s me you blame for your condition, then...I’m sorry. Let the others go—’
‘That’s very noble of you,’ Doctor Ravana said. ‘But your friends will pay for your misdeeds for some time to come. Stress, excitement, and fear stimulate the adrenal gland. You can expect to receive plenty of that in the years—and decades—ahead.’
Ravana turned and, walking away, disappeared into thin air. At the same time, Brodie and the others found they could move.
‘What a horrible man,’ Ebony said.
‘He won’t be on my Christmas card list,’ Dan muttered.
‘How will we get out of here?’ Brodie asked.
‘I don’t know,’ Chad said, his chin quivering. ‘We may be stuck here for the rest of our lives—and it’s all my fault.’
Chapter Thirty-One
‘So how do we get in?’ I asked.
We were in an abandoned house opposite Wilson Electrics. Three vans were parked outside. Quinn had said there were never less than a dozen men there at any time. I could launch a full-scale attack on the complex, but I didn’t want them to know I was privy to their scheme. Quinn and I had already gone into town where I’d left my watch at the movies to make it look like we were catching a show.
‘The place is heavily guarded,’ Quinn said. ‘I thought about disguising myself as one of the staff, but I didn’t know where they were keeping my dad.’
A truck drove down the street towards the front gates. ‘There,’ I said. ‘We’ll hitch a ride.’
Racing after the truck, I used my powers to levitate us onto the roof. Landing gently, we heard the truck slow as it reached the main building. It stopped. Two men left the building as a group of teenagers climbed from the rear.
Quinn and I exchanged glances.
What’s this all about?
I nudged her. This was our chance. We floated down the other side of the truck and joined the group. No one seemed to notice our presence. It was apparent these people barely knew each other.
‘Welcome to Processing,’ one man said. ‘I’m Commander Shaw. I’ll be taking you through the first stage.’ He indicated his companion, a stocky man with a mustache. ‘This is Sergeant Tanner. He’ll take you to Induction.’
Tanner stepped forward. ‘If anyone’s having any second thoughts,’ he said, ‘now’s the time to drop out. No-one will think any the less of you.’
The crowd was motionless. Then a skinny guy, a little older than me, cautiously raised his hand.
‘Your name?’ Tanner said.
‘John Henley,’ he said. ‘I don’t think this is for me. I—’
Tanner produced a gun. Without hesitation, he trained it on Henley and shot him. The crowd cried out as the youth flew backward onto the dusty ground—dead. Pocketing the weapon, Tanner turned to everyone.
‘That’s what happens to quitters,’ he said. ‘You’re either completely with us, or you’re completely against us. There’s no middle ground. Does anyone have any questions?’ No one did. ‘Good. Then follow me.’
We trailed him into the factory. It had once been used to manufacture radios and televisions, but hadn’t been used for decades. Passing benches with pieces of old wire and tools on them, I wondered why they had decided to use this factory as their base of operations.
It didn’t take long to find out. Leading us down a flight of stairs, Tanner flashed a badge at an ID scanner, and the door slid open. We walked onto
a mezzanine level overlooking a vast chamber. People were working on flying ships, similar in design to the Flex craft owned by The Agency. Others were test-firing weapons at targets.
What is this place?
Tanner led us to a meeting room. Stepping onto a small stage to speak, we settled behind desks. Staying near Quinn, I saw her hands shaking. I gave her a small nod.
Everything will be fine.
I hoped.
Glancing over the top of Tanner, I saw a logo on the wall, an ‘E’ surrounded by a circle. Wait a minute, I thought. This is—
‘Welcome to E-Group,’ Tanner said. ‘Today begins your training that will help enable us to retake the earth from the EDs—economic dictators—that have stolen it from the common people.’
It seemed like a lifetime had passed since we had encountered the terrorist group on the Sydney Harbor Bridge. Considering they were against the modern world, they didn’t seem to mind using every modern technology they could get their hands on.
‘You have arrived at an exciting time. Our attacks against the EDs have grown in intensity over the last few months. All it will require is a single good push, and the capitalist countries of the world will once again fall back into the hands of the people.’
This guy’s an idiot, I thought.
The world was a big place. Attacking famous landmarks wouldn’t topple governments. If anything, it united people, making them more resolute against E-Group. The other people in the room, however, seemed intoxicated by his words. They broke into rapturous applause. Exchanging glances, Quinn and I followed suit.
‘Power across the globe has been held by those with money. Working with governments and organizations like the newly revealed Agency, their aim is to stifle the common people, to crush us beneath their boot—but that’s about to change.’ Tanner paused dramatically. ‘Soon, unbridled power will be in your hands. Soon the world will falter as we unleash our fury upon it.’ He turned to Shaw. ‘Turn on the monitor.’
Shaw crossed to a console and pressed a switch. A television screen flickered on, showing static, then an image of a man sitting in a cell.
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