Prisoner 3-57: Nuke Town (8 page)

‘
Shit,’
muttered Fiona.

We
looked into the room.

A
pretty young blonde woman was lying face down on the floor.

A
pool of blood was gathered around her body.

A
knife was protruding out the back of her skull.

Her
skirt was hitched up over her hips, as her panties hung around her
knees.

She
had blood under her fingernails.

Someone
had attempted to rape and then killed this woman.

A
second scream came from the corridor. Fiona and I headed towards the
source.

Chapter Seven: The
Hunt for a Killer

I
stepped over the body and walked out into the corridor. The lights
were out. Only darkness awaited us. A muffled grunting sound could be
heard from the doorway to our right. Fiona moved with stealth. I
approached the doorway and pressed my back up against the wall. My
gun was brought in close to my chest, as I prepared to move in. The
naked angel of beauty was shoulder to shoulder with me.

We
exchanged a look.

She
nodded.

I
moved in.

It
was done like some kind of military operation.

My
gun was aimed forward, but level with my chest, ready to put down
anyone that awaited us. A second body was slumped up against the
wall. This time it was a male. A machete was buried in his neck. It
was a dull blade, but was swung with enough force that the man’s
head hung the wrong way. It was like a beheading gone wrong. Only
half of the neck remained. Blood oozed out of his body and covered
the floor. I could feel its warmth between my toes, as I moved
further into the room. Fiona went left, scanning the shadows for any
movement. Still a muffled grunting sound could be heard from the next
room. I could feel my heart pounding. We had those demonic creatures
outside, but we had our own monsters to deal with in here.

The
door to the next room was slightly ajar.

It
led into a small gym.

I
wasted no time in kicking it open.

What
I saw sickened me.

A
man in Earth Force military uniform was forcing himself upon a young
black woman. The man was clunky chest armour, with bulky shoulder
pads, and an American football style helmet, but in military colours.
His trousers were around his ankles. A strong hand was around the
woman’s mouth. His bodyweight had trapped the woman to the
floor. Her eyes pleaded with me to save her. Instinct took over. I
grabbed the man by the scruff of the neck and pulled him off of her.
I swung him around with all my might and slammed him into the wall. I
could hear the woman releasing the scream she had been trying to get
out. I could have just shot the bastard, but my anger took over.
Memories of what those fuckers did to my sister flashed through my
minds eyes. She had been gang raped. Unconsciously, I grabbed a
dumbbell from a weight bench and swung it hard. I wanted to inflict
as much pain on this cunt as possible. It crashed off the man’s
helmet. I doubted it did much damage. Those things were designed to
stop bullets. The force of the blow sent the guy spiralling and he
landed with a painful grunt on the back of a rowing machine. I
stomped my foot down on his lower back, but his armour took the brunt
of the damage. I still had the bolt revolver in my left hand. I
raised it up to the back of his shoulder. I was going to blow his
limbs off one by fucking one. Suddenly, the man swung around and
slapped my wrist away from him. It was done with martial arts
expertise. He rolled onto his back and kicked out a leg. A hard boot
hit my shin. Pain ignited up my leg, as my feet were kicked from
beneath me. I landed on top of the guy. He forearm smashed me in the
side of the head. I fell backwards onto the cold gym floor. He dived
on top of me.

And
that’s when I saw it.

I
knew this man.

I
could see the distinguishing markings on his face.

The
man had a white skull tattoo painted across his face.

It
didn’t look right against his dark brown skin tone.

It
was Prisoner 3-92.

It
was my sister’s accomplice.

This
was the man that raped Lena.

It
was Skull.

He
pulled a knife from his belt and raised it up into the air. Fiona
kicked him in the side of the head. Skull fell to the side, but
quickly recovered and staggered to his feet. Fiona was on him like a
wild dog. She kicked him square in the chest in an attempt to create
some distance between them. Once again he bounced off the wall. She
took aim with her gun, but Skull reacted quickly. He grabbed it and
forced it up. The muzzle flash of her sub-machine gun illuminated the
darkness, as the entire magazine was fired up into the ceiling. Fiona
cried out, as Skull slammed his head into her face. The top of his
helmet smashed against the ridge of her nose. She fell away from him,
as he pulled up his trousers and ran for the door.

‘
You
okay?’ I asked.

‘
Yes,’
she moaned, blood was flowing down her face and in between the
fingers. ‘Get him. Kill the fucker.’

I
didn’t need telling twice.

I
set off after Skull. It was time to get some answers.

Chapter Eight: Skull

My
heart pounded within my chest, as my leg muscles began to burn. Skull
was fast. He sprinted through the corridors like a rat abandoning a
ship. We ran up flights of stairs towards the observation level above
ground, bounced off walls, knocked over people that didn’t get
out the way quick enough. After a minute of running I finally caught
up with him. He was cornered by one of the airlocks that led back out
onto the planet’s surface and to the thousands of demonic
creatures waiting just outside the door.

My
gun was aimed directly at his chest.

It
was like my father always taught me, aim for the centre mass of the
body.

‘
Rose,
why are you doing this?’ asked Skull.

My
stomach twisted.

‘
My
name isn’t Rose,’ I told him.

‘
It’s
him again, isn’t it? It’s 3-57! Where is Rose?’

‘
ROSE
ISN’T REAL!’ I screamed at him.

‘
He
is real. Rose is real. You are Rose. You must believe me.’

‘
What
the fuck are you?’ I asked, as I took steps towards him.

‘
I’m
your friend, but they tricked you. They put you back on the
medication. It is why you can’t remember me. They are trapping
your real personality. This isn’t you. You are Rose. They are
trying to create a better you for a greater society. This isn’t
you. This person that you are is because of their experiments.’

‘
Bullshit,’
I replied, ‘my sister is in the game. Rose is real.’

‘
No.
That person isn’t real. They want you to believe she is real.
They are messing with your brain. They want you to think that Rose is
your sister, but Rose isn’t your sister. You are Rose. You
always have been Rose.’

‘
I
should have killed you when I had the chance.’

‘
I
am your friend.’

‘
No.
He isn’t,’ said Jane.

The
beautiful red head appeared by my side. She had an Earth Force
assault rifle aimed directly at Skull. Skull looked nervous and
confused. He glanced at the big red mushroom shaped release button on
the wall. It would automatically open the airlock. It would allow
those things back inside.

‘
He
is an AI,’ said Jane.

‘
He’s
a what?’ I asked the obvious question.

‘
He
is an artificial intelligence. It is like a computer game character.
The game creates them to help move stories along and force you to
make decisions that will alter the world around you.’

‘
That
isn’t true. I am real. She is the AI.’

I
glanced at Jane and then at Skull. Was this possible? Could one of
them be an artificial intelligence? It made sense. Skull’s
sudden appearance in the last game had caused me to do all sorts of
extreme things, but in many respects so did Jane. I loved her. I
never loved anyone before. I fell for her. She was incredible. I
tried my best to protect her and Lena. I fought so hard for them. My
journey would have been drastically different had it not been for
her. A thought occurred to me. Did any of this matter? I was here on
a mission. I was here to kill Prisoner X. I had lost Jane already.
She was with someone else. She hated my guts. Skull was insane. If he
was real, I didn’t care. He had to die.

He
inched towards the release button.

‘
Don’t
move!’ Jane ordered.

‘
You
are going to kill me,’ said Skull.

‘
You
just raped and murdered two people,’ I replied.

‘
I
had to. The voices told me to.’

He
had voices in his head? It was just like the last game when Rose
spoke to me.

Jane
fired. Skull’s armour took the brunt of it, but Jane walked
forward on full auto. Skull spat blood, as he fell backwards. His
hand struck the red release button. An alarm was instantly sounded,
as yellow warning lights began to flash within the corridor. The
doors hissed open. The terrifying screams of the demonic monsters
roared into the interior of the base. They came in like a tsunami of
bodies. The blood creatures were climbing over one another, as they
scrambled into the narrow corridor. Skull disappeared within the
scrum, as they came directly at us. They were running along the walls
and ceilings. The creatures were of all sizes and shapes. I grabbed
Jane by the shoulder, spun her around and pushed her down the
corridor away from the creatures. We only had one option. We had to
get to the train. We had to get out of the base.

‘
RUN!’
I screamed.

Chapter Nine: Lost
and Alone

‘
This
way,’ I grabbed Jane by the hook of her arm and dragged her
into the stairwell. The sound of gunfire and agonising screams echoed
throughout the corridors. Jane followed closely behind, as we took
two or three steps at a time. We bounced off the wall and continued
down to the third floor. I tripped and fell onto the cold bleached
floor of the medical level. Jane pulled me to my feet.

‘
Where
are we going?’ she kicked the stairwell door closed.

It
automatically locked behind us.

‘
Follow
me,’ I instructed.

I
ran down to the room Rose was in.

The
room was empty.

‘
Rose?
Clay?’ I stepped out into the corridor. ‘Rose!’

No
reply came back.

‘
Where
has she gone? I just got her back. I can’t lose her now.’
My voice was full of panic and sheer terror.

‘
3-57,
come quickly, look,’ Jane was knelt down between some cabinets.
Urgency was written across her face. I knelt down beside her. A small
child was cowering in the tight space with her back to the wall. She
was hugging her knees to her chest and rocking back and forth. I
recognised the girl instantly. Fiona had been cleaning the blood off
of her earlier in the day. ‘Hey, little one,’ said Jane,
‘why don’t you come out of there. We won’t hurt
you.’ She extended a hand towards the girl, but the girl just
pulled away. Suddenly, something heavy thudded into the stairwell
door that we had just come through. It was numbing to watch. A large
dent was embedded into the thick metal door. A moment later long
claws began to cut through the metal. Is there anywhere we could hide
from them?

‘
Shit,
we got to go.’

‘
We
can’t leave her,’ replied Jane. ‘Sweetie, we got to
go. You have to come with us.’

Still
the girl pulled away.

‘
Just
grab her.’