Barcode: Legend of Apollo (15 page)

Kode mostly maintains their outburst. The girls are struggling to assimilate back into society and often lash out at teachers and students for various reasons.

Neither of the ladies speak, but they do whatever they can to assist Kode. Though Monte initially resisted their company, he began taking advantage of the benefits that come along with having slaves to do his bidding. Kode often raises his hand in disgust when he feels Monte’s gone too far. Sometimes his brother listens, other times he doesn’t.

Stephanie and Trinity even spar openly with Monte. The two fight well in unison as they’d obviously done to defend themselves against whatever atrocities dwell within the dungeon. Still, he manages to defeat both each time.

At the end of each match, Kode adjusts their fighting stances and shows them workouts that will strengthen their defense against his brother. They’ve come close to beating him twice.

My relationship with women hasn’t been as positive. Hannah and I have spoken less since the incident in the cave. I’m well aware that I’m to blame for our distance, but there’s a certain guilt I feel for sneaking around to workout with Michelle. I’m also upset with myself for putting her life in danger.

Fifteen

Six weeks pass with intensive training. Luckily, classes get a bit easier with each day. Initially, I assumed Kode and I would get into more clashes, but we hardly speak. It’s actually Monte and I that professors have to pull off of each other each week. There’s something about him that I just don’t like. In fact, I think I respect Kode more.

Monte seems to hide behind fake smiles and prince like qualities, but I’ve seen him come to school with heavy eyes and bruises on his knuckles on many occasions. There’s as much mystery surrounding him as there is with Kode. With both of them on my mind, I find myself working a lot harder.

Michelle and I have intensified our workout regimen to lift the fourth marble. It takes over a month for me to get there, but I manage.

I thought she wouldn’t be able to keep up with the weight, but Michelle’s pretty strong for a girl. I accidentally said those words to her and a huge weight 
accidentally
 fell on my foot. Never again. She’s still a pest, but no longer my nemesis, I’ll leave that to Kode.

Sadly, I’ve reached a plateau in my training. After two weeks with the fourth marble, nothing has changed. In spite of our push and pull methods, no exercises we innovate or modify drive me any closer to lifting the next weight.

Michelle works so diligently that she can hardly walk after some exercises. The piggy-back rides are no longer a pleasure trip for her. If I didn’t help her to the car, she’d never leave the classroom.

She has reluctantly skipped two days of school in the previous three weeks, though she always manages to show up to the training room. Whenever I talk to her about taking a break, she barks at me, 
Rest is for the weekend.
 I’m sure that’s something she learned from her overgrown, barbarian father.

Sore and somber, I limp through the door of Professor Gonzales’ class caressing my throbbing arms. I’m regretting my decision to not cancel our workout today. The pain aches enough for me to imagine my biceps falling to the ground, crawling away, and crying, 
no more
.

As though the pain weren’t enough, I have to suffer smelling the dirty scent of these domesticated monsters.

Animals are trapped in cages all around her massive room. The more dangerous ones are suspended in glass prisons on the furthest end. The smaller ones are aligned against the walls and displayed like they were in a zoo.

Dennis once asked if she’d consider using her animals as an attraction for tourists during the summer. She nearly quit after yelling at him for an hour. She wanted Dennis to know that her pets aren’t circus animals and she’d prefer if they could roam the classroom freely.

I can understand why Dennis would consider making these beasts an attraction. She displays some nasty looking ones near the entrance in order to scare the hell out of students when they first walk in.

As I walk in pain, Professor Gonzales’ head follows my every step. I see her mind constructing some evil plot. The creature in a steel cage on her white Colt Stone desk with a hawk’s body and a monkey’s head scrutinizes me as well. 
Does it know who I am? 

“What’s wrong with you?” Hannah asks as I flop into my seat.

“Muscles hurt.”

“Poor baby. Need a massage?”

“I’d cry like a baby if you even tried.” Stretching my arms I say, “They’re so tender.”

“Your flirting is losing its edge, you know?”

“I’m out of practice.”

“Are you trying to blame me for your weak game?”

“Yes. You should go on a date with me tomorrow after school when my arms don’t feel like they’re about to fall off.” Leaning closer to her I whisper, “I’ll bring a tablet and take notes on everything you’re willing to teach me.”

Hannah scrunches her nose. I watch as the adorable wrinkles curl around her brow before her lips softly roll into her first syllable, “You know I would, but you never choose a good time. Try again when I’m not busy sexy.”

“You know 
again
 means tomorrow, right?” I add while leaning away, but she’s not ready to separate yet. Hannah grabs my forearm tightly, and I grit my teeth in pain while enjoying the feeling of her warm hand. I even activate my codes to increase the sensation.

“I know that means tomorrow. I look forward to it.” I inhale the sweet scent from her skin as the bell rings and Professor Gonzales begins screaming at the entire class.

Our wicked witch instructor wouldn’t care if I were on my deathbed. To her, pain and pleasure are lovers. She speaks romantically about wounds her creatures inscribed on her body. Her scarred face acts as a living testament to the pleasures they’ve shared with her.

“In today’s lesson, we’ll discuss how you 
marvelous 
students should use your brains instead of your fists. Gladiators are often too stupid to think through tough situations. Your main goal is to kill,” she says while staring directly at me. Well, I think she’s staring at me. Gonzales has very light gray pupils that never look directly at one person. “I don’t understand the significance of being a gladiator, I never have. Soldiers are more tactical. They think about what moves they will make instead of simply slaying someone. Generally, they try to subdue their targets and avoid killing. Unlike some of you.”

Professor Gonzales calls my name so loudly I almost want to turn around to see if she’s yelling for someone else on the other side of the two-hundred yard room. I reply anyway, “Yes?”

“What is ammunition?”

“It’s a term soldiers use to refer to the amount of power someone has stored in their barcode. I guess it’s like...”

“You guess?”

“Well, it’s a quantifiable power. A weapon.”

She twists her lips. I don’t think she’s happy I got the answer right.

“What was ammunition in the twentieth century?” Nervously, I rub the back of my head. I know I’ve heard this before, but I’m not sure. “Go figure, the Colt men have never been big on history, despite of how significant it is to guide us through the future.”

“I apologize.”

“You should. Ammunition were supplies of bullets and shells. They were what humans dumber than gladiators used to fight in wars. It was still measurable, but in a much simpler manner. All you had to do was count the amount of bullets in your possession.”

Professor Gonzales silently glares at me for a few seconds. The awkward silence makes my classmates uncomfortable as well. Eventually, she returns to her lesson.

For the rest of the class, she attacks other students with questions before announcing that we no longer have to spar with her pets. A cheer echoes through the room before being interrupted by her next statement.

“After a bit of experimenting, I’ve actually learned how to create a two layer labyrinth that spans across the entire classroom.” The crazy witch calls the first students to enter her death trap.

I’m not surprised to hear my name called along with Kode, Selena, and Angie. She even licks her lips after saying, “Colt.”

Obviously, trapping me in a maze is her opportunity for payback, but I’m not worried. After yelling at students for an hour, she lost track of time. With only five minutes left in the class, we’ll only have to survive for a minute or two before the bell rings.

The room shifts quickly. The floor, walls, and ceiling are divided into one square-foot tiles that have undergone MMIBS processing. The buttons at her terminal activate barcodes inside of each square, changing their width slightly and their length drastically. The white sectionals can rise and resemble the durability of Colt Stone, or at least that’s what Leonardo told me.

I imagine Professor Gonzales experimenting with a few buttons to crush all of her students. Luckily, Leo said he heard about the wicked witch and made every precaution to prevent such a thing from happening. The stones can never harm a human.

I’m almost positive that she’s tried to squeeze one of her monsters with the force, and was disappointed when she discovered the truth.

Ever since our bloody scene in her classroom, she’s stayed after school to modify her room and test various settings for her mazes. Gonzales is one of the only instructors that utilize every aspect of her new classroom. Because of her pets, she was given the largest space.

Again, more buttons are pressed on her podium. What does this lunatic have in store for us?

The villainous woman raises several cages of her experiments, and releases the beasts into the forming structure. She 
accidentally
 drops two cages prematurely, and two massive sized monsters fall in the same pit. The class shrieks at the blood splatter that shoots above the walls. I don’t want to cross whatever beast won that fight.

I remember when the purpose of our 
Applied Battlefield Strategies
 class was to learn about ancient war techniques and apply them in a controlled setting. Now, we have modified battlegrounds where we’re put in actual life-or-death situations, and must react accordingly.

Dragging my feet to the start of the maze, I wonder how long it will take to solve the puzzle. Professor Gonzales starts the timer. We watch the demon-woman drop several more creatures with a nefarious laugh. Great. Her revenge will obviously taste like my blood.

The bell rings. We’re safe.

The four of us sigh in relief. Even Kode seems pleased.

We all rush to exit, but we find ourselves shut in. As the rest of the maze continues building around us, we hear Professor Gonzales dismissing the others.

Selena shouts, “What about us?”

The loudspeakers in the class take a few seconds to activate. Then, we hear, “Since you’ve already entered the test, this has become a part of your assignment. If you’d like to go home, just shout 
I quit
 and the maze will let you out, but I’ll happily fail you. Oh. And this is worth ten percent of your overall grade.”

This was her plan from the beginning.

The wall blocking us from exiting the labyrinth retracts and we can see an elaborate maze forming across the entire room. She’s increasing the difficulty of the assignment with every passing second.

Another floor forms above us, and we all stare at each other, dumbfounded.

“I want an A,” I say to encourage the rest. The others nod and agree.

Sixteen

Determined to ace this assignment, we make our way back down the hallway, but again, we’re stopped dead in our tracks. This time it’s our fault. Selena points left, but Kode points to the right.

Selena’s a beautifully pale girl. She keeps her hair cut short with red highlights, which only increases her Gothic appeal. I’ve never seen her dressed in any other colors than black, purple, and red. Her barcode tattoos run behind her ears to the bridge of her chest.

Most guys know she has a strange, sexy appeal, but she keeps herself guarded from the rest of the school unless relaying information like which professors are dating or what pop quizzes are being planned.

With her tattoos, she can hear fifty yards in any direction. They radiate with a purple hue when she’s eavesdropping. Someone always sits in front of her to distract the instructors.

We’ve all grown accustomed to listening to Selena, since she’s never steered us wrong. But Kode refuses to follow.

I head left, but return as Selena and Angie try to convince him to trust Selena’s ability. Before I can offer my opinion, I smell rotting flesh worse than when Leo and I drove through Griffith Park. The others cover their noses as we all stare down the path ahead of us to notice a creature more monstrous than the ones we fought earlier this year.

The monster has the body of a bear, a large and whipping rat’s tail, and elephantine skin. It makes the twin behemoths look like chew toys. If it stood up on its hind legs the beast would be three times my size. The sharpness of its eyes are similar to a snake, and I’m not the best with snakes. At all.

Its feet paint the ground with blood as it stomps towards us.

Over the speakers, we hear, “I forgot to tell everyone. I was given permission to bring nine of my 
other
 pets to replace the ones killed by some of 
my favorite
 students. Don’t worry; they are trained to avoid killing, but these cuties can do quite a bit more damage.” The demon nearly sounds like she is laughing near the end. Though her voice drips with hostility, there is a hint of pleasure in the announcement.

Some instructors say that Gonzales was once a sweet girl that didn’t do too well when she attended Colt Academy. Her grades were decent, but a lot of students made fun of her. The few that were close to her, like Professor Gardezi, noticed she always found liminal beings to talk with outside of the school.

A year before she was hired as a teacher, she supposedly took a trip through the desolate areas of the East Coast. She’s rumored to be the only person to do so. That’s where she learned to experiment on various animals and create the monsters we see in class today.