Authors: Stuart Keane
Kieran dropped to his knees and placed a finger on Abel’s neck. The pulse was very weak, almost non-existent, in fact. Kieran tried rolling Abel over. As he did so, the suffering man’s body convulsed again and arched in pain. Veins stuck out on his skin. Every muscle seemed to stand out, as if they might explode at any second. Kieran heard Abel’s teeth snapping against each other, was aware of a squealing rasping sound as if they were breaking. He saw foam on the man’s lips. Then Abel’s body went limp. Kieran knew that he was gone.
If he had possessed eyes, Kieran would have closed them out of respect. He lowered his head. Heather climbed to her feet. She staggered over, rubbing her chest. “What happened?”
Kieran just shook his head. Heather’s hand came up to her mouth. “Poor Abel,” she said, bending down to look at the body.
Neither of them said anything.
Several minutes passed. Heather felt tears running down her face. Kieran stood up and breathed deeply. He turned to Heather. “Are you okay? Can you breathe okay?”
Heather tried to smile. “Yep, I should be fine. What do you think happened?”
Kieran shrugged his shoulders. “A side effect of the drugs, I should think. It came on very quickly. I don’t think it could be anything else. Unless it was a delayed reaction to the mutilation.”
An awkward silence followed. Heather started breathing rapidly again, as Kieran looked down at the body. “I suppose he wouldn’t know what happened. They just dosed him up. Used him as a human guinea pig.” He stepped over to Abel and rolled the body onto its back, as a sign of respect.
Heather shook her head, to try and dispel the horror she’d witnessed. “What sort of a human could do this to another person? Experiment or not, this is manslaughter. Do you think they call this science?”
“I don’t think there's a name for it. There are some fucked up people in this world and Abel just happened to work for some of them.” His words trailed off.
In silence, they both moved towards the plastic-draped doorway. Not once did they turn back and look at Abel. Kieran placed a hand on her shoulder as Heather wiped the tears from her eyes. They stepped through the door. As they did so, Kieran turned to Heather. “If I get out of here, these people, ‘The Company’ are going to pay.”
Heather lowered her head. “Who says we are going to get out of here? Like Abel said, we are being watched, our every move is being monitored.”
“That’s right. That means they know we are coming. Let’s see what the fuckers throw at us next.”
***
Delta started to relax. Initially, the shock of his team being slaughtered had put him on edge. He still hadn’t discovered the cause of the chaos. A rogue clone, maybe?
Surely not
, he reasoned,
they obey me. They don’t have sentient feelings.
He pushed the problem to the back of his mind.
He organised a replacement team to go in, for he would need one regardless. He didn’t care for the old team, they were disposable, easily replaced. Losing them was an occupational hazard.
When he saw Abel die, he was delighted. It was at that moment that he realised his team had provided him with a unique tool. He had instructed them to go into the facility, create a group of clones in order to provide entertainment and to use them as they thought best. It seemed that they had done more than this.
Delta smiled. He was one step closer to being able to turn humans into mindless war machines. Abel’s death confirmed that there were chinks in the process. He would need to iron out the imperfections. Abel wasn’t the first and wouldn’t be the last who had sacrificed their lives for the greater good.
The man sitting at the desk had been assured that the clones would be provided with intelligence of their choosing. If he wanted them to kill anything on sight, they would. They could react if threatened, after all, soldiers had to, but he was calling the shots. He could call them what he wanted to. In fact, he could do anything to ensure that their previous identities remained lost. He had seen enough movies to ensure this was vital in the clone process. He didn’t want old memories returning. He was pumping millions into this. He wanted maximum rewards and no fuck ups.
His Choices were on the run. Abel’s death would put a spring in their step. Every second more they were in The Game, the closer they were to snapping, going crazy. Which is when he would step in. Delta sipped his drink.
He leaned forwards and watched. Phase Four was due any second. The Game, for him, was almost over.
THIRTY-THREE
“So what’s it going to be, Kappa?”
It had been ten minutes since Sputnik and Genghis had taken over the roof.
Neither Kathryn nor Iain had moved, not wanting to tempt their pursuers to gun them down. They were so close to their goal and yet so far. Running now would mean the entire evening’s efforts had been a waste, so they didn’t move. They had one pistol between them. The urge to use the gun was kept in check by the knowledge that they were short of ammunition, so they had held fire and kept out of sight.
Sputnik and Genghis hadn’t moved from their positions. As big as they were, and despite their advantage in firepower, they didn’t approach their foes. Although they were big men, they only needed one pistol shot to the head to bring them down. Yes, they were big and possibly dumb, but not plain stupid. Until the two attackers were sure of their prey’s location, they too would hold their fire. Both groups were at a stalemate.
An impasse.
Nobody moved.
Iain shouted, “No thanks.”
This was in response to Sputnik’s earlier request for him to join their ranks and hand Kathryn over to them so that they could then split the prize. He'd declined. Sputnik had repeated the question to him again, and, once again, he'd declined. This time, the prize had not been discussed. Sputnik knew The Game was now over. There was no Control, no more money, and no more prizes. Most people in his position would have given up by now.
But not Sputnik. The grudge was personal.
These people had killed his brother and Sputnik wanted revenge.
Joining Sputnik’s ranks would mean certain death.
Iain knew that he and Kathryn had just one option. One dangerous, suicidal option.
They would have to come out shooting. Firing against men with better, faster weapons. Suicide.
Kathryn looked at Iain. “We're going to die out here, aren’t we?” she asked, not wanting to hear the answer. The whirring sound of the generators drowned out their conversation, muffling their words. Sputnik gave no indication he could hear what they were saying.
“I’m not going to die unless they shove a knife in my heart and get it over with.” Iain displayed confidence, almost arrogance.
“You have a plan, then? If you do, please feel free to share it.” Kathryn hadn’t taken her eyes off Sputnik. Iain didn’t respond. He knew Kathryn was right. If they didn’t play this correctly, their night would soon end. He looked around him for a possible inspiration, a possible exit, anything that could help them. He saw nothing. For the first time in a long while, he felt helpless.
“Shit, this is hopeless,” Iain muttered despondently.
Kathryn looked at Iain angrily. “What do you mean? For heaven’s sake, we aren’t dead yet!”
Sputnik started to holler from the other side of the roof: “I grow tired of waiting, Kappa. Sure, I haven’t got a date this evening, but wasting my entire night on this fiasco is a fuckin’ liberty!”
Iain said nothing.
Then an idea suddenly came to him.
Something which might just work.
He grabbed Kathryn’s arm and she looked up in surprise. “I have a plan that might just work,” he said, handing the pistol to her. “I need to pretend I’m turning on you. That I'm going to hand you over to them. But it won’t get that far. I need to walk you out there, hands behind your back. You take the gun and when we get close, BAM. You need to take both of them down with the pistol. Think you can do that?”
Kathryn gulped. She thought the practicalities through and agreed there could be a slim chance of success. But it was the only chance they had. It would give them a clear shot at Sputnik and Genghis without being fired at. Possibly. “I’m not sure,” she wavered.
“I know it’s risky, but if we can take these guys down, we're home free. It just needs two clean shots. You walk out with the gun behind your back, I pretend I have you hostage and then you unleash your fire. I can distract Sputnik while you take out Genghis, then you take out Sputnik. It won’t work any other way.”
“But he’ll kill you.”
“Not if I tell him that
you
killed his brother. I can make him believe it. I just need a few minutes to persuade him.” Iain was sweating, but his ear had stopped bleeding.
“You realise that I’ll be in the line of fire?”
“I do. And I don’t like it, but it’s the only way we’re going to get off this roof. Unless you’ve got any other ideas?”
Kathryn was stumped. She knew it was the only option they had. “Okay. Let’s do it.”
Iain nodded. He wiped his forehead. “Get ready, Kathryn, the gun is loaded and ready to fire.”
Kathryn nodded.
Iain sighed. “Sorry, but I’ve got to do this.”
Then he slapped Kathryn across the face, hard. Kathryn’s eyes widened, taken by surprise. “Ow,
you fuck
!” she yelled out.
Iain nodded encouragement, and Kathryn realised why he had done it. She gave a tentative smile.
“
Get the
fuck off me. What are you doing?
” she shouted out.
Playing up the drama, sowing the seed.
“Hey, Kappa,” yelled across Sputnik. “What’s going on over there?”
Iain gave Kathryn the thumbs up, her mouth was a hard line of defiance. Her cheek was throbbing from the slap and she hoped there would be some marks on her face for them to see. Convincing them that the charade was real would be crucial.
He raised his voice to shout, “Hey, Sputnik!”
“Kappa? What happened?”
“Listen, about your offer. I am willing to deal. On one condition.”
Sputnik smiled. “Name it.”
Kathryn’s protector swallowed. It was the moment of truth. “I join your clan and we kill the girl. I just handcuffed her. You know how prepared I am. I’m willing to hand her over, but I want a promise that I live and join your guys. I didn’t kill your brother, it was her. It’s only fair that you get your revenge. I can give you that. The bitch deserves it.”
Silence from Sputnik. No response.
“Do we have a deal?” Iain repeated, more determined this time.
“Sounds like a deal, Kappa. I knew you had the balls to do what is right. You know how The Game works. You have my word.”
Iain smiled. He looked at Kathryn. She was placing the gun in her rear waistband. His hand brushed her bare back, soft and warm, and Iain felt a sudden ache in his heart. He swallowed, shaking it off. He leaned in close. “Kathryn, if we don’t get out of this tonight, I'm sorry for everything. I want you to know that it was a privilege to meet you. It was an honour playing with you tonight, if you know what I mean.”
Kathryn patted Iain on the shoulder. “Likewise. Now, let’s get off this roof together.”
Iain’s eyes glinted as he prepared himself. “Ready?”
Kathryn stood up, still concealed by the generator. She placed her hands behind her back and practiced removing the pistol. It was easy enough to pluck it from her waistband “Yep,” she replied. “I’m ready.”
Iain climbed up and placed his hand on her back as she momentarily closed her eyes. They both realised that this could go horribly wrong. Kathryn took a deep breath as Iain wiped the sweat from his brow. “Let’s do this, then.”
“I’m waitingggggg!” Sputnik hollered.
Kathryn stepped out from behind the generator, her eyes still closed. As she opened them, she saw Sputnik and Genghis. They stood a few feet apart, Genghis holding the shotgun by his side. Sputnik held the machine gun in his hands, aiming it at the ground, looking calm and collected. Genghis had his shoulder strapped up with bandages, and he still wore nothing but his thong.
Iain was standing behind her. He had his hand on her back, pretending that he was holding her arms immobile. Kathryn breathed out, her lips pursed. She walked forward slowly, with Iain right behind.
“Ahhh, justice prevails as always,” Sputnik called out to them. “I’m glad you changed your mind, Kappa. This makes things a lot easier.”
His opponent smiled and continued walking forward. Kathryn was two steps ahead at all times, her face was still stinging from the unexpected slap. Kathryn realised that the gun was slipping in her waistband, which could be a big problem. She stopped, and reached up to try and move the pistol. She found that she couldn’t grasp the gun with her hands in their current position. She hoped that Iain would notice and adjust the weapon so she could reach it. But he didn’t, he continued staring ahead, his eyes focused on Sputnik. Kathryn took one more step. They were now clear of the generator.