The Beyond: Dystopian Survival Fiction (The Breeder Files Book 4)

by Eliza Green

  Outside, one of the wolves growled. She looked out to see the others fighting against a second wave of Copies. She rushed outside and added her efforts to take the new threat down. But when she fired, nothing happened. She checked her Electro Gun; it was out of charge.

  Anya tossed it away and patted her waistband for her revolver. She couldn’t feel it. It must have fallen out. Cursing, she ran back inside the Learning Centre, plucked up a discarded weapon, checked the charge and made to leave. The sight of someone down one corridor stopped her cold. Dom’s Copy guard had her revolver and was pointing it at the head of one of the soldiers.

  Nobody else had noticed him threatening the boy.

  ‘Step away from him,’ she said, holding her gun to the side.

  ‘Let me go and you can have him,’ said the prisoner.

  His eyes shifted, like he was nervous.

  ‘There’s nothing out there for you. Where will you go?’

  The Copy’s eyes shifted again. ‘To find the Collective.’

  ‘I thought the group was here.’

  He shook his head. ‘The Ten wouldn’t risk staying with the barrier down. They just wanted you to think that. I know how they think.’

  She didn’t understand. ‘Why attack us then, if they’re not here?’

  ‘It was the Collective’s idea. If you thought we were protecting something of value, you would not give up. The Collective wants you to find what it cannot.’

  ‘Again, that doesn’t explain the show of force. If you needed us here, why try to stop us a second time?’

  ‘Call it a survival instinct. Originals are disease ridden. We are simply keeping that disease from our doors.’

  ‘Even though the Collective wants us here?’

  The Copy sneered. ‘The Ten aren’t susceptible to your filthy biological germs like we are.’

  The guard backed up into a corridor. He shoved the soldier towards Anya. She put her hands up to stop the boy’s momentum. By the time she looked up again, the Copy had disappeared inside a room at the end of the corridor.

  She raced after him and jerked the handle down. What she saw sent a chill down her spine. On one wall was an array of screens. In the middle of the room were close to one hundred Copies, all standing, all deactivated.

  She searched the room for the Copy guard. A door at the far end opened and closed. She cursed and closed the door with a tight shiver.

  Back in the lobby, the fight was under control. Nobody had been injured.

  An out-of-breath Dom strode over to her, eyes wild. ‘Where did you go?’

  ‘The prisoner, he got my revolver. He got away.’

  ‘Shit, where?’

  ‘Through that door.’ She pointed. When Dom went to follow, she stopped him with a hand. He stared down at her. ‘He’s gone. I checked.’

  Jacob entered the foyer. ‘What’s going on?’

  ‘The prisoner escaped,’ said Dom.

  Carissa appeared next, hugging her middle, her wide eyes combing the space. This place must have meant more to her than it had to the humans who lived in this city.

  Anya pointed at the room. ‘What’s in there?’

  ‘The Great Hall.’ Her voice was barely a whisper. ‘It’s where the Collective lives. Or lived.’

  ‘Not anymore.’

  Dom focused on her. ‘What did you see?’

  ‘About a hundred inactive Copies, but looking like they could be activated at any time.’

  Dom dragged a hand down his face and looked around. ‘We should search every inch of this place, leaving that room till last.’

  He nodded at the Great Hall.

  The Learning Centre wasn’t big. In fact, they checked it in five minutes flat. All they found were a few empty rooms, none of which led to the back of the Great Hall and the supposed corridor. Otherwise, there was just a locked door one down from the hall. Carissa confirmed it was a download room and likely to have Copies inside.

  They approached the Great Hall with caution. It was the only place left to try. Dom opened the door to reveal the scene that had stolen Anya’s breath away. The Copies were all in sentry mode, eyes open, as if waiting for a command. Anya spotted Julius and one of the blank-newborn foot soldiers who’d kidnapped Jerome and Alex.

  She nudged Dom and pointed.

  ‘At least we know where they are,’ he said softly. ‘Okay, let’s see what happens when I enter the room.’

  Her breathing turned shallow when Dom stepped inside. The second he did, the Copies activated. Their eyes trained on him. He stumbled back out of the room. The Copies went into deactivated mode.

  ‘We can’t go in there.’

  Jacob looked down at Carissa. ‘Can you try?’ He explained to the others. ‘They may be programmed to keep humans out, but they might not react to one of their own.’

  Carissa nodded once. She licked her lips and opened the door, then stepped inside. The Copies didn’t activate. She hesitated, looking at Jacob.

  He encouraged her with a nod. ‘Check the room, Carissa. Check for panels. You know it well.’

  She looked unsure. ‘I’ve only ever stood before the screens. I’ve never been allowed to do more than that.’

  ‘Now’s your chance.’

  The girl turned back, her borrowed military boots squeaking on the white-tiled floor. She froze when she reached the first Copy, checked it visually, then walked the perimeter of the room. The taller Copies made keeping a visual on her small frame impossible. Anya heard the girl knock on the walls and press panels.

  A hidden panel. Could that be their way out? Carissa arrived at a door, the one Anya had seen Dom’s Copy guard leave through. She opened it, then closed it. She continued her search, arriving back at the screens, where she became visible once more. She hurried past the Copies to return to the start.

  ‘There’s a door, Jacob,’ she breathed out. ‘It leads to the outside. But there is another way out. I almost didn’t see the panel. It’s to the left of the screen. It appears to lead down.’

  ‘That must be it!’ said Dom. ‘The way out of this city and to the Beyond.’

  But Anya saw one hundred problems with that prospect. And they were all staring ahead of them.

  18

  Dom

  Anya thumbed inside the room. ‘How do we get past them?’

  Dom studied the Copies, who were focusing ahead of them. He entered the room a second time, putting one foot inside the space. The second he did, the Copies blinked and refocused on him. He stepped back out and their faces and stares returned to their vacant state.

  Their response to him lifted tightness in his chest that had been lodged there for days. He carried tech inside him belonging to the city, but it wasn’t enough to trigger a response. That small test gave him hope that he was still human.

  He pushed past the others in the corridor and returned to the foyer. The farther away from the room he got, the better. He turned to see all eyes were on him to solve another problem.

  So far, he’d been useless as a leader.

  Both Vanessa and Charlie looked concerned and he considered handing the reins over to them. They had more experience than him.

  ‘Let’s talk through the options,’ said Anya.

  Her soft voice snapped his focus to her. He noticed the group had gathered loosely around her. Carissa was sticking close to Jacob. Rover and his mate sat outside, their tongues lolling to one side as they watched the gathering inside.

  ‘Can we destroy them?’ asked one soldier.

  Carissa shifted nervously, then drew nearer to Jacob.

  ‘Can they be destroyed, Jacob?’ Dom asked.

  The old man rubbed his chin. ‘I suppose so. I’ve never looked into it.’

  Carissa fidgeted with the hem of her top. ‘There’s another way.’ All eyes were on her. ‘We can disable them.’

  Thomas nodded. ‘Of course. The Copies are basically computer programs. We might be able to hack them, disturb their most recent command somehow.’
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br />   Anya asked Carissa, ‘Do you think they know about the secret passage?’

  Carissa shook her head. ‘The exit isn’t on any maps I have—or had—access to.’

  ‘So, why is there an army in that room?’ asked Anya.

  Carissa glanced back at the space. ‘The Copies might be there in case of an attack. It’s hardwired into all Copy programming that the Collective must be protected at all costs.’

  That gave Dom some encouragement. ‘So we might be on the right track with disabling them?’

  Carissa nodded.

  Their priority was getting inside that room.

  To Thomas, he said, ‘How much do you know about computers?’

  ‘Enough to deliver a hack.’

  ‘How can we access the Copies’ programming on a wider scale?’

  Jacob answered, ‘As long as their neuromorphic chips are working, the Copies retain a link to the city network. That means any console should give us access to them.’

  Carissa clenched and unclenched her fists, as though the idea didn’t sit well with her. Then, her eyes widened and she gasped. ‘The tagging stations.’

  Jacob frowned at her. ‘What about them?’

  ‘The Collective had the ability to terminate us from any location. The tagging stations or the upload consoles were its main routes to do so.’ Her eyes flicked to the corridor. ‘Wait...’

  She raced halfway down and tried one door. It wouldn’t budge.

  She looked back. ‘The download-upload rooms are in here. If we can get in here, we might be able to disrupt the programming.’

  ‘You also said Copies could be waiting for us,’ said Jacob. ‘Miss, I think we should try the tagging station first.’

  Carissa gave up with a sigh. They walked outside, where Rover went from sitting to standing. He trotted over to Carissa, his head low. She patted the top of his head. His mate gave the group a low growl, as though she didn’t trust them.

  Anya took the lead. The others followed her, like she was their natural leader. Dom would follow her anywhere.

  The nearest tagging station wasn’t far, positioned between Zone A and Zone B. He had no recollection of this city. He’d been out of it for most of their escape.

  Carissa ran to catch up with Anya. She pointed to an area; Anya nodded.

  The group arrived at the station. Thomas muscled his way to the front and, with Jacob’s help, got the panel off the station.

  He peered inside and frowned. ‘We’re going to need some way to analyse the data.’

  Jacob clicked his fingers. ‘We can use the diagnostic machine in my lab.’ He glanced back at the building. ‘I’m going to need some strong men to get it up here.’

  Dom volunteered. He flexed his good arm. ‘Might as well put this to some use.’

  Ten minutes later, he had hauled the machine out of Jacob’s workshop and up the stairs. With Rover’s help, they pushed the machine to the tagging station. His mate looked on curiously.

  Jacob opened up the panel of the diagnostic machine and extended a set of wires connected to the back. He used them to connect the machine to the tag station console.

  ‘The machine should be able to read the data.’ He frowned at the screen, set low enough that he had to bend down. ‘What kind of hack should we do?’

  Carissa stepped forward. ‘I have one.’

  It worried Dom that the young Copy had been keeping back information about how to escape this city.

  She stepped closer to the machine that Thomas and Jacob examined.

  ‘All hacks are temporary,’ she said, her eyes flicking between the pair. ‘But you’ll only be able to do it once.’

  ‘What one should we try?’

  She swallowed. ‘An overload hack should do it. A DOS attack—denial of service.’

  ‘How does it work?’

  Her voice went quiet. ‘It sends too much data to the Copies, burying their hardwired commands so deep that it will confuse them.’

  ‘How long will the confusion last?’

  Carissa shrugged, her eyes wide. ‘I don’t know.’

  Jacob bent down to her height. ‘Carissa, if you were still connected, you’d have attacked us already or you’d be in sentry mode, like the Copies in the Great Hall.’

  A look of relief washed over her face. Dom finally understood her hesitance to put forward ideas. Whatever damage they did to the Copies could risk disabling her systems, too.

  ‘Jacob’s right; you’re not connected,’ he said. ‘Quintus knows that. It’s why he’s contacting you.’

  Carissa nodded and took a quick breath. Then, she turned her attention to the diagnostic machine.

  ‘Type in the following exactly as I say,’ she said.

  Thomas stepped aside. ‘Do you want to do it?’

  She shook her head. ‘I’m not able to interfere with the Copies’ programming. The system will deliver a shock to me. Hurry—we don’t have much time.’

  A bout of nerves hit Dom. He chewed on his thumb while Thomas typed in exactly what Carissa called out. A stream of information filled the tiny screen.

  She stepped back. ‘That should do it. We need to move before they figure out the hack.’

  Dom motioned to the group. ‘Everyone, back to the Great Hall.’

  Frahlia was hiding behind June’s leg, but she looked more curious than scared. He still didn’t know what to make of the child, but he would save everyone who belonged to their group, rebel or city-made.

  He ran ahead of the others and made it to the Learning Centre first. From there, he raced to the door to the Great Hall. Opening it a crack, he peered inside to see the Copies alert and looking disorientated. He stepped inside the room, but they didn’t seem to notice him. It was like he was invisible.

  ‘Hurry—we don’t have much time.’

  He ushered the others through the open door, pointing to their destination on the far side of the room.

  Anya waited back with him. She grabbed his hand and together they dodged the alert Copies. His arm brushed one. It grabbed him, as if the action were an automatic response and not anything intentional.

  Anya stopped to help him.

  ‘Go on ahead,’ he said. ‘I can deal with it.’

  He used his strong arm to peel the Copy’s hand off him. The guard returned to its state of disorientation. Anya kept going, smashing herself into the walls and away from the outstretched limbs. She made it to the panel and Dom dodged and ducked new attempts to grab him to join her. To his relief, the others had gone on ahead. He peered through the newly open panel; it revealed a dark stairwell.

  ‘Here goes nothing.’

  He took Anya’s hand and entered the stairwell. They eased the panel back into place behind them. If the guards came out of their disorientation, hopefully they wouldn’t spot anything was amiss.

  He concentrated on the way down. The stairwell was dark, like the one leading to Jacob’s workshop. He used the rough walls, made of cold, compacted earth to steady him. One floor down, the others had gathered in a larger area to the left. Ahead of them appeared to be a dead end with no obvious way out.

  He relaxed his grip on Anya’s hand.

  ‘This can’t be it,’ he said to her.

  Carissa was alone at the dead end, feeling the wall of compacted earth.

  Anya walked up to it next. A blue light appeared out of nowhere and scanned her. She jumped back. Carissa, too. A grinding noise sounded in the wall.

  Anya was panting. There was only one other place that produced such a noise: the third floor in Arcis, where a pair of cutting discs had killed Frank and injured Anya.

  Her hands became fists as she waited. Dom stood closer to her, ready to pull her back. A scissor pattern appeared in the wall before them. The wall separated into two parts and disappeared partially inside the existing structure.

  ‘Holy crap!’ said Thomas.

  Nobody moved. Not even Vanessa and Charlie. The gap showed a new tunnel excavated in the same rough way as the re
st of the area.

  ‘Is this the way out?’ asked Vanessa cautiously.

  ‘Let me test it.’

  Dom inched forward, worried that the second they passed through the door it would slice them in two. He stuck his strong arm in the gap. Nothing happened. He stepped through fully, keeping his arm in the entrance, just in case. The way stayed open, even when Carissa and Frahlia walked through. Although he suspected the child was more flesh, blood and bones than Carissa was.

  The new opening hadn’t responded negatively to Carissa.

  This had to be it—the way out. It must have been programmed to disguise itself from any Copy attempts to open it. No wonder the Collective had found zero evidence of the Beyond before now.

  The way ahead took them five hundred metres to another dead end. To the right was a large, steel door.

  ‘What the hell’s this doing here?’ said Vanessa. She ran her hands over the smooth metal. It had no handle. ‘It looks... modern.’

  Dom stared at the possible exit to the Beyond.

  Thomas checked Janet’s book. ‘The tunnels match the drawing.’ He removed one of his maps and checked it. ‘The map for this place shows the way out as far as the false wall.’

  Carissa looked around her. ‘This place wasn’t on any maps I had access to.’

  ‘Because the Collective never knew it existed, miss,’ said Jacob.

  Hope bloomed in Dom’s chest. They’d found the way out. But a fear of the unknown rooted him to the spot. Every false door in Arcis came rushing back to him. This could be another trick. Another third-floor, gold door with the potential to kill whomever opened it.

  A new, blue light coming from the top of the door scanned the group. Dom jumped back from it and pulled Anya out of its glow. June stepped up, allowing the scanner to check her. A loud click could be heard. It was coming from the other side of the wall. Some giant mechanism turned.

  The door opened a crack.

  ‘Everybody back!’ Dom said.

  He heaved the giant door open with his strong arm and peered inside. Ahead was a nondescript tunnel made of more compacted earth, with steel structures at intermittent points to keep the ceiling from caving in.

  Dom pointed to the rebel soldiers, who stepped up first. The blue light scanned them, then turned off. They stepped through the door. Sheila and Imogen followed them, their guns raised.