Prisoner 3-57: Nuke Town (24 page)

A
metal pole stabbed straight through my back. The tip came out through
my stomach. I spat blood. The pain was incredible. I could feel the
power of the voice fading. We dropped several feet, as our ability to
fly subsided. The voice turned our head slowly. Horror consumed me.
The sky behind us was filled with debris. There was glass, lamp
posts, hover cars, boulders, knives, filing cabinets, fridges and all
sorts of different things. Rose really was better than us. She had
distracted us long enough to create a wall of weapons behind us with
her telekinesis ability. Her mental strength to fully utilise the
power of her mind was far greater than ours.

‘
Shit...’
cursed the voice.

We
instantly set off like some kind of shooting star.

We
flew through the air at our fastest possible speed.

The
voice placed its hand on the metal pole through our abdomen. It
instantly disintegrated into sand and fell away from us. A knife shot
by and sliced my right ear. We glanced back. Rose was flying about
thirty feet behind us. Lightning crackled in the air above her. The
makeshift weapons she had lifted from the city were flying straight
at us. The voice ducked, dived, twisted and spun like some kind of
jet doing Ariel acrobatics. A filing cabinet nearly busted my right
knee, as a sink struck my left shoulder. A chair crashed off my
skull, as a drain cover broke my left wrist.

‘
We
have to get out of the sky.’

‘
I
know.’

The
voice dived down from the sky.

We
were finally out of the city.

A
burnt out forest awaited us. A river of lava consumed the landscape.
The forest was falling into the ground, as large chucks of the earth
were raised into the air. We landed a little bit heavier than I think
the voice intended. Black ash billowed into the air all around us. We
breathed heavily, as the voice cradled my stomach. The wound had
ripped me open. I could feel our strength fading. Rose grabbed us
from behind like some kind of bouncer. I wasn’t even aware she
was there. My face was smashed into the trunk of a tree. It happened
once, twice, thrice and then I lost count. My nose was broken, my
front teeth gone and my lips were shredded. The world blurred, the
world spun and numbness overcame me.

‘
No...’
muttered the voice, as it faded into the darkness.

Rose
picked me up, lifted me over her head and slammed me down onto the
ground.

The
wind was knocked out of me.

I
coughed and groaned.

I
was back in control of my body. I arched my back and cradled the pain
centre.

‘
That
was a good show,’ said Rose. ‘You put up more of a fight
than I thought.’

‘
Don’t
do this, Rose.’

‘
Don’t
do what?’ she asked.

‘
Kill.
You don’t have to kill any more Don’t you want peace?’

I
spat blood.

‘
What
would I do with peace? You think there is a way back for us?’

‘
We
can be free. Stop this. I will get IO to give you freedom.’

Rose
laughed. ‘You really are a dick, you know that?’

It
was then that I saw a way out.

I
know a way to defeat her.

I
could do this.

‘
Is
that all you exist for then?’ I asked her. ‘You just want
to kill and hurt? What about our time together. I know you love me.’

‘
Are
you fucking kidding me? I used you. You are a tool.’

‘
I
protected you for all those years!’ I yelled.

‘
That
wasn’t real, you little prick. I let you believe I was your
sister.’

‘
That
isn’t true. You were my sister.’

‘
I
let you think that. I needed you to keep on the move. I needed you so
that I could continue to kill, and rape and have as much fun as I
possibly could. It was your fucking fault we got caught. It was
because you were such a pussy that we went to jail. I spent six years
locked away within your mind. Those fucking meds nearly killed me! I
will never be silenced ever again. I want to be free. I want to live.
I will get out of this game and I will fulfil my own dreams.’

‘
You
are fucking sick.’

‘
You
are sick, Brother. You always were. You loved your sister so much.
You did everything in your power to protect her. You even killed
those cops because you thought they raped me, but they didn’t.
You raped that girl. I tricked you. You then went on a rampage and
killed those fucking cops. Everything you thought I did, you did. You
think I am an evil sickness, but I am you! You are me. We are the two
sides of the same coin. You are just a sick and twisted as me. I am
your dark desires. You saw that girl in the shop. You wanted to fuck
her. You wanted to rape her, but you didn’t have the courage.
So, you turned a blind eye. You let me take over. You watched, you
felt and you enjoyed, as I gave it to her good.’

‘
YOU
FUCKING LIAR!’

‘
Ha.
You’re the liar. If you try hard enough you will remember. You
will see the truth. You will remember your urge to be inside her, to
touch her, to have her. You just switched off and created a nice
little story that allowed you to think you didn’t do it. You
did the same with the psychiatrist. You hated that cunt. He asked
questions, he poked and probed. He pissed you off. So, you convinced
yourself that he touched me and that is why I killed him, but I am
you. You did all those things.’

‘
My
god...’

I
looked up and Rose had changed.

She
looked identical to me.

She
was me.

‘
I
am you,’ she smiled, ‘and I have won.’

‘
No,
bitch,’ I smiled back. ‘I have.’

The
demonic skinless creatures that Rose had created jumped onto her
back. The sickening indestructible alien zombies were as violent as
they were gruesome. They were in human form, but a walking mesh of
tendons and muscles covered in acid like blood. Fangs replaced teeth,
as claws replaced nails. Eyes dangled down from open sockets. They
were ruthless killing machines. Fangs ripped large chunks out of
Rose’s shoulder, as another creature bit into her thigh, a
third zombie, which was practically a torso, with half a face,
slashed away at her Achilles tendons.

Rose
screamed painfully.

Hordes
of zombies rushed out of the shadows of the forest.

I
got to my feet.

My
knees were weak. I had lost a lot of blood.

I
turned and ran.

I
didn’t know where I could go. I didn’t have any weapons.
I just did what any normal person would do in this situation. I
turned away and I ran with every last bit of energy I had. An
agonising death rattle followed me. I allowed myself a brief smile. I
had done what I came here to do. I had defeated Prisoner X. I had
finally defeated my own sickness. It was only a matter of time before
those creatures caught up to me, but I would give everything I had
until that point.

Chapter Seven: No
Way Out

I
cradled my stomach. Warm blood trickled between my fingers. The pain
was immense. This was it. This was my limit. I could take no more. I
could go no further. I fell to one knee, as the planet shook. Lava
spewed into the air, as part of the dead forest collapsed down into a
sea of boiling red death. Lightning crackled across the sky, as
thunder rumbled overhead. This alien world was dying. It wouldn’t
be long until it took me with it.

How
many people had Rose just killed?

How
could she do something so evil?

Fear
gripped me.

I
could hear movement behind me.

I
dreaded to look.

‘
Get
up,’ I told myself, ‘Get up.’

I
got to my feet and stumbled forwards.

I
used what was left of the trees to steady myself.

The
ground bounced and rocked. It was like being on a bouncy castle.

Unconsciously,
I glanced over my shoulder.

A
dozen of those damn creatures were scurrying through the shadows.

‘
Where
are you?’ I directed my words towards the heavens. ‘I did
what you asked. I killed Prisoner X. Get me out of here. Do you hear
me? GET ME OUT OF THIS FUCKING GAME!’ The creatures released
their frightening cries, as they charged me down like the pack of
mindless animals that they were. And then it happened. A white light
appeared. It was like something out of the bible. The black clouds
parted and a beam of pure white light shone down upon me. A smile
split my lips. The light began to glow brighter and brighter by the
second. I closed my eyes.

I
fell.

I
opened my eyes, but all I could see was white.

A
strange sense of weightlessness came upon me.

What
was happening?

The
pain in my abdomen disappeared.

The
deafening noise of the dying world ceased.

A
strange sense of peace washed over me.

Was
that it?

Was
it over?

Had
I won?

Was
I finally going to be free?

Chapter Eight: Back
to Reality

Bright
lights shone down from the ceiling. I had to squint to make anything
out. I tried to raise my hands to shield my eyes, but leather straps
bound my wrists. Unconsciously, I attempted to move my legs, but
they, too, were also strapped to the bed I was lying upon. Voices
argued in the room next door. I couldn’t even turn my head. It
felt like I was wearing some kind of metal hat. I struggled to look
down. I was in some kind of metallic tube. The part in front of my
face was open like a fighter jets cockpit. Hundreds of wires were
coming out of my torso, arms, legs, neck and face. They were linked
to a complicated looking computer on the inside of the metal tube. I
attempted to take in my surroundings. I was in a room of some kind.
It wasn’t very big. I could see a few more metallic tubes
around me. Inside were men and women. These tubes were standing
upright against the wall. I recognised one or two people from the
moon prison I had escaped from. Was this where they stored the
prisoners in the virtual reality game? Was this metal tube my link to
the game? I looked out the corner of my eye to the left.

‘
My
god...’ I gasped.

I
could see out through a window into the interior of a great room.

The
room was enormous.

Huge
metallic spiral pillars stood like man-made mountains.

The
sheer size of these structures was astounding.

They
went on for miles.

There
had to be hundreds of them.

They
were so tall I could not see the top or the base.

I
watched in awe, as things that looked like robotic dragonflies
flashed through the air. They were the size of hover cars, but I
could see no pilot. Were they really robots? Had humanity been able
to develop such a thing? The robots were flying amongst the pillars,
stopping occasionally to investigate something, as if they were
babysitters watching a classroom of children. Only now did I see it.
Only now did I realise what the pillars actually were. The pillars
were like trees, which were covered in millions of tiny metal
branches, from each branch hung a small metal gaming tube. They
looked like seeds from this distance. This was the gaming centre? All
these tubes were full of gamers playing in the virtual reality world?
It was too big. It was too incredible. This was not something human
kind was capable of doing. Yes. We could travel to the stars and we
had done some amazing things, but this was too much. I have never
heard of something on this level. How many millions of people are out
there? And how many are still alive? Are these the people I was
fighting for? How many did Prisoner X kill?