Prisoner 3-57: Nuke Town (18 page)

‘
She
was always an AI?’

Jane
nodded.

‘
Lena
died...’ she struggled to get out her words.

‘
She
did this to you?’

It
was hard to believe. Lena loved her mother, or at least I thought she
did.

‘
What
about Iaso and Saul? Did they do this...?’ I didn’t get
to finish. Jane closed her eye and nodded. Hatred erupted like a
nuclear explosion within the core of my body. How could they do this
to her? They were supposed to be her friends.

‘
Please,
don’t kill her...’ Jane breathed her final breath.

Stillness
overcame her.

‘
Jane?’

Numbness
swept through me.

I
shook Jane’s shoulders.

‘
Jane!’

A
sad emptiness consumed me.

‘
Jane?
Stop fucking around.’

I
wiped away tears with the back of my hand. Was I crying?

‘
Jane!
Wake the fuck up.’

I
shook her harder.

‘
WAKE
UP!’

I
slapped her across the side of the face. Her head fell limp to the
side.

‘
WAKE
UP, JANE!’

Rose
grabbed me by the wrists. ‘Brother, she’s gone.’

I
looked across at my sister. My brain searched for words, for
something, but I couldn’t think, I couldn’t feel. I felt
confused and hurt. It wasn’t physical pain, but an internal one
within my heart. The fire within my stomach grew greater. It was the
fire of hatred. Rose was looking straight into my eyes. Concern was
etched across her face. Suddenly, laughter echoed across the rooftop.
I clenched my jaw, as I turned my fists into tight balls. I knew
these voices. It was Lena and Saul. They were enjoying this.

‘
You
know what you have to do,’ said the voice in my head.

‘
Yes,’
I replied.

‘
Good,’
said the voice. I could feel the sickening smile. ‘I can feel
your hatred.’

‘
I
will kill them.’

‘
What
did you say?’ asked Rose.

‘
I
will kill them. DO YOU HEAR ME? I’M COMING FOR YOU. I WILL RIP
YOUR FUCKING THROATS OUT.’ I roared loudly into the air.

The
voice within my head began to laugh.

Chapter Seven: God
of Death

We
crept through the clothing store. Rose was about twenty foot to my
right hand side. We kept low, attempting to stay out of sight. The
design of the shop was something of a maze. You had to weave through
the various circular clothes stands. It was a good camouflage to
conceal our movements, but wouldn’t do much to stop a bullet.
We were on the second floor. A balcony looked down onto a café
and food shopping area. Escalators led up to the third floor, which
directed customers to male clothing ranges and the toilets. We knew
they were in here. They didn’t attempt to hide their movements.
The glass doors into the building had been smashed, so had various
glass jewellery counters. They wanted us to know where they were.  

I
wanted to make them pay.

I
wanted to be the first the fire, but Jane’s death was crushing
my heart.

It
was hard to concentrate.

I
just wanted to stop moving, stop breathing and stop existing.

She
was gone.

She
was really gone.

And
then it happened.

I
saw movement above me and to the right.

Someone
was on the third floor.

Shit!
I hadn’t been paying attention. I had walked straight into
their trap.

‘
Get
down!’ I yelled, a moment before the gunshots.

‘
Well
done, dickhead. You just got us killed.’

I
dived down beneath the clothing and scrambled on all fours. Several
dresses were blown off a stand in front of me. Bullets sliced through
the fabric. I quickly turned back and went the other way. The person
couldn’t seem to get a good shot at me, as they were firing
randomly through the clothing. Each gunshot echoed throughout the
silent store. It sounded like I was in a church tower. Adrenaline
rushed through my body, as I searched for something that would grant
me cover. My heart was practically in my mouth. I could hear bullets
whizzing by me. A few were only a hair length from hitting me. My
eyes locked onto the other side of the central aisle, which lead
through the centre of the store. On the other side was a till area
with a wooden counter. That might offer me some protection at least.
I went to move forward when someone dropped down in front of me. One
moment the path was clear and the next a pair of legs were blocking
my way. I looked up as Iaso. The blue skinned beauty looked
different. It was like her face had changed. There was no emotion.
She held her twin swords in each hand. The design on the hilt wasn’t
human, but the blades themselves looked like something from the
samurai era.

I
got to my feet and stumbled backwards.

The
blades swished through the air.

Unconsciously,
I grabbed a clothing rail and pulled it down in front of her.

I
slammed my back into a stand behind me.

‘
Shit...’
I looked down at my right hand. The tips of my four fingers had been
completely removed. Blood poured from my hand. I glanced at my chest.
It was still covered in the horrible burns from the fire on the
train, but now I had a long slash right across my solar plexus. Not a
single ounce of pain registered with my brain. The medicine that Rose
had given me on the train was still flowing through my body. I don’t
know what it was, but I couldn’t feel any pain. It didn’t
mean I couldn’t feel fear. I turned to run, but Iaso was
faster. The alien flipped over the top of me with her superior leg
strength. It was like watching a gymnast dismount the balance beams.
She landed on the other side of me with the elegance of a cat. Her
swords were already pulled back across her left hip, primed to cut me
into three pieces.

‘
Fuck
off!’ Rose tackled her from the side.

Time
stopped.

My
sister hit Iaso with great force.

It
was like something you would see out of a Rugby match.

Both
women smashed through the glass barrier of the balcony and
disappeared over the edge. I went to move forward, but a bullet
whistled by my face. Wide eyes looked over at Saul. He was on the
same level as me, but about thirty foot to my right. He took aim with
a black side arm of some kind. The core of my being wanted to see if
Rose was okay, but I couldn’t die here. I needed to survive. I
wanted to live. I dived for cover. Instinctively, I reached for the
gun on my hip. It was difficult to remove it without my fingertips.

‘
What
are you doing?’ asked the voice.

‘
Not
now,’ I replied.

‘
You
are going to die. You know that right?’

I
looked up at the third floor. Lena was there. She was slamming a
magazine into an AK-47. I was well and truly screwed. I had no cover.
Lena had a bird’s eye view of my situation. The AK-47 would
carve me up in seconds. If I attempted to run for it then Saul would
put a bullet in my head. My gun hand is destroyed. There is no way
out of this situation.

‘
You
couldn’t save Emily. That poor girl died right in front of your
eyes. Do you remember? Do you remember the frightened look in her
eyes?’ asked the voice. ‘You’re dear old father is
dead. You mother killed herself. What about all your friends? You
couldn’t save Al. You killed Jackson and the others. What about
Stephanie? She was your friend. You put a bullet in her chest. You
are a monster. Everything you touch turns to shit. And now your baby
sister is dead.’

‘
Fuck
you.’

‘
She
is dead because you are weak.’

‘
She
isn’t dead.’

Lena
leaned over the balcony and took aim.

‘
Perhaps,
but unless you get out of here she will be.’

‘
I’m
trying.’

‘
You
are too stupid to survive this, but there is a way.’

‘
Tell
me how?’ I asked.

I
needed to know. I would do anything to stay alive.

Horror
was spreading through my body, as I looked at the barrel of Lena’s
gun.

‘
Let
me out to play,’ said the voice, but this time he spoke through
my mouth.

‘
No.
Not again.’ My voice echoed within my own mind.

I
couldn’t feel my body.

I
couldn’t move a muscle.

He
had done it again.

He
had taken over.

He
had switched places with me.

He
was back.

‘
LET’S
DO THIS, BITCHES!’ He laughed.

Suddenly,
I was up on my feet and running towards Saul. My handgun was now in
my left hand. Lena’s AK-47 roared into life. The voice didn’t
flinch, the voice didn’t care. He was heading straight for
Saul. The long haired man of muscle was aiming his gun right at us.
He fired. The bullet struck me in my left shoulder. I felt the force
of the blow, but felt no pain. The voice fired back, as he continued
to run in a straight line towards Saul. His laughter was as loud as
the machine gun fire. He truly was a madman. Saul was hit in the arm,
but stood his ground. I was hit in the upper chest. Saul took two
rounds to the stomach. By this point we were already out of the line
of shot from Lena. She had missed her chance. A bullet pierced my
left thigh, which caused us to fall forward, but it didn’t stop
him from putting two more rounds into the centre mass of Saul’s
giant frame. We both hit the ground at the same time. The voice was
relentless. He dragged himself forward and climbed on top of Saul.
The butt of the pistol was smashed into the big man’s face. I
don’t even think Saul was alive any more, but the sick and
twisted demon that lived within my body didn’t care. He loved
violence. He struck Saul over and over. Blood, teeth and gore covered
my one good hand, my armoured trousers and my chest. Saul’s
face caved into his skull. His head was a bloody pool of blood and
wet tissue.

He
examined his handy work.

‘
THE
GOD OF DEATH IS BACK!’ He roared like some kind of wild
predator. ‘WATCH OUT LITTLE GIRL. I AM COMING FOR YOU NEXT.’
He picked up Saul’s handgun and tucked it into my pants.
Prisoner X had turned our friends against us, but now they had to
deal with the most psychotic human left in the universe. The hunt was
on.

Chapter Eight: What
happened to you?

‘
I
want you to stop.’

‘
Are
you still fucking bitching?’ said the voice. ‘You should
be thanking me. I just saved your life. You owe me.’

‘
I
owe you shit,’ I snapped.

‘
You
owe me more than you know,’ it replied. The escalator carried
us down to the next floor. I had no control. I felt helpless. I would
not have gone this route. The voice was exposing us. It was too
cocky. There were so many concealed positions that our opponents
could snipe at us from. I could only see what the voice was looking
at. My eyes were darting left and right, high and low, exploring all
the possible locations. Did it think it was faster? Did it think that
it would shoot them before they shot it?

‘
Interesting...’

Glass
covered the cold hard floor.

Drops
of blood were here and there.

It
looked up at the broken balcony. That was where Rose had tackled
Iaso.

The
voice supported the base of the gun with its disfigured right hand.
We crept forward. Benches and little islands of flowers ran down the
centre of a long open mall. All sorts of various several shops ran
down the left hand side, a café was on the corner to the
right, which joined into a video game arcade. The voice followed the
trail of blood across the floor. It wasn’t from a major wound,
but someone had been hurt. I just hoped it wasn’t Rose.