“Amy, my child,” he called out in a mournful, slobbery voice. “I’m sorry, I’m so sorry.”
He reached out with his hand, and scowling, Keene turned to the direction that the old man was staring at. There was nothing for it. Without stopping to think, Amy shoved open the lid of the laundry basket and propelled herself out of it. The Chill Cadaver lashed out to grab her and she spotted his shock baton hanging from his belt. She snatched it and pressed the button on its side, sending an electric charge through the monster. The Cadaver staggered backwards and she made a run for the door.
Keene though was quicker, and he blocked her way, meaning to take her down with his size and own baton. He let out a yelp of pain though, as the thing that passed for Doctor Calladyce reached forward and bit him hard on the leg. The vile thug dropped his baton and struggled to get the old man off him. Amy bolted past them, not stopping to help. All of this was insane and she wanted to get away as fast as possible.
Outside, in the corridor again, ice and snow were beginning to form, and the dread intelligence from the screen in the server room welled out from the walls like a noxious stench. Fear overwhelmed the girl and several Chill Cadavers were lumbering down the corridor from the direction she had come. They were all prison guards, except the monster leading them.
Amy stared at the thing that had once been her boyfriend for several pain-wracked seconds and then turned away and ran for her life. The corridor turned left and she spotted a backdoor leading to the outside world. She put on a burst of speed and used her pass card to open it. Behind her came a high-pitched inhuman scream, followed by the frantic sobbing of a child.
Warm night air hit her face as she sprinted out of the backdoor and she ran blindly, not knowing where she was going. The stark glare of a search light swept towards her and she pressed herself against the wall to avoid being caught in its sights. As it went by, it illuminated a row of storage sheds and she bolted for them. They’d be locked at this time of night, but she slipped through the gap between the two nearest to her and crouched down in the pool of shadows, clinging to the darkness that the sheds provided.
Breathing hard, she hugged herself as she tried to process what had happened. As the panic subsided slowly, she started to figure out what to do next. There was no sign of any Chill Cadavers coming to look for her and the alarm sirens hadn’t gone off. It bought her some time to plan her escape. She had to get out of the prison grounds. That was paramount. But the only way out was through the main gate, and how was she going to get there in one piece? She could just go and find a prison guard who hadn’t transformed or even one of her friends amongst the programmers, but she daren’t take the risk. If Keene and Calladyce were involved in all this, then chances were everybody else was too. This whole place was now a death trap.
She hunched down in the gloom, lost in despair. The searchlight swept past again, filling the gap between the sheds with light. She blinked against it and an idea suddenly bloomed in her mind.
“The airfield,” she whispered to herself.
Apart from the small harbour located outside the prison walls, the only way on and off the island was the airfield to the rear of the penitentiary. Planes brought personnel and prisoners, and took staff away when they went on vacation. Doctor Calladyce’s private plane was there, as well as two helicopters that were used in case of a prison breakout. Amy had never flown a plane before, but she had taken lessons in a helicopter. It had been a requirement when she was first hired to be part of the project here, in case there was an emergency and she had to get off the island for some reason. Well, this was certainly an emergency by anyone’s estimation.
She got slowly to her feet and edged along the gap to the open. Peering out, she worked out that the airfield was to her right, just behind the admin block. It was a short journey on foot. Waiting for the searchlight to move on, she hurried back toward the building she had just raced out of and moved parallel to it toward her destination.
The journey was the most longest and terrifying of her life. She expected Chill Cadavers to jump out and grab her at any moment, or for Keene or his thugs to emerge like devils from the dark. She was sure she could be spotted on the security cameras, but she couldn’t worry about that now. She kept to the shadows as much as possible and stayed out of the path of the searchlights.
Eventually, she spotted the airfield and her heart thundered in her chest as she headed towards it. There were two helicopters on a nearby landing pad and she scurried over to the nearest one. It was sealed by a DNA lock. Fortunately, she had clearance to open it. Climbing aboard, she put in the security code that allowed her to access the helicopter’s holo-controls. They glowed with a shimmering blue light and she scanned them to work out how to start the engines.
She had just figured it and started the main rotor above her head when the sound of metal being ripped apart filled the cockpit. Amy turned round in her chair and let out a startled cry when she saw Shane pulling off the door of the helicopter and clambering inside.
“No! Leave me alone!” she screamed and scrambled to lift off. She stabbed at the controls and the helicopter shuddered as it slowly began to rise. Shane let out a low growl and tried to pull himself aboard. Manipulating the holographic cyclic stick, she managed to get the helicopter to rise, and she fumbled to put on the headphones. She shot a look at Shane and her heart skittered when she saw that he was almost completely inside the cockpit and was getting to his feet.
Amy forced herself to look ahead and the helicopter started to climb. The whumpa whumpa of the spinning rotor blade filled the air and the ground fell away. As soon as she was clear of the airfield, she banked sharply to the right, just as Shane’s icy fingers dug into her shoulder. Amy recoiled and kept listing to the right, and the helicopter lurched violently. Shane let her go as he lost his balance. He slid across the floor and went tumbling through the hole he had made in the side of the helicopter. Amy shuddered with relief as he disappeared into the night.
Suddenly, the ground came lurching up to her and she had to act fast to avoid crashing. She pulled up just in time and managed to straighten up before rising higher and higher into the air. The half-remembered lessons she had taken ages ago began to surface again and she started to get a hang of the controls. She concentrated on where she was going to go now, and headed towards the direction of the harbour. She had no idea what the closest landmass was after the island or how much fuel the helicopter had, but she had to just pick a direction and go that way and hope for the best. She had a vague feeling that England was located somewhere ahead, though she doubted she would get that far.
Nevertheless, she kept going, flying past the silver spire of the Calladyce Tower. It was lit up like a Christmas tree and, as she glanced at where their office was, she saw the flash of blue light.
Amy stared in alarm as a laser of stark blue light shot out of the tower straight at the helicopter.
She manoeuvred to avoid the laser beam and went at full speed away from the penitentiary. The cockpit shuddered as something hit it and, suddenly, the holographic console flared with dozens of angry red lights. The smell of burning came from the rear and the helicopter lurched and spun uncontrollably. Amy clutched at the stick, trying to regain control, but to no avail. The helicopter was spinning like a top, and the dark earth rose up to engulf her.
Chapter XVIII: The Game of Life
Harsh light speared Matias’ closed eyelids, forcing him to open them. For a moment, he was blinded by an aquamarine glare, until his gaze adjusted to it. Rubbing away the blurriness, he took stock of his situation. He was lying on a hard stone floor looking up at a glowing mouth lamp. He heard a groan next to him and sat up quickly.
Looking round, he noticed he was in an empty stone chamber, and Jhondey and Jaggen were lying a few feet away from him. Jhondey groaned again and sat up.
“Uh, what happened?” he mumbled. “I feel like I’ve just drunk a whole bottle of Sour Root’s homemade newt win
e.”
“I told you to stay off that stuff after what happened last time,” Jaggen growled as he straightened up, rubbing his head. “But I feel like I’ve had a slug of it. My wits are scattered. We must have been knocked unconscious by the fall.”
“No,” Matias said, climbing to his feet. “Something else made us black out. Someone or something took all our equipment too,” he added, irritably. “My goggles and staff are gone, and so are our rucksacks.” He checked his sleeve and growled when he saw that his precious stiletto was missing as well.
Jaggen’s hand went instinctively to his sword belt, and he realised his blade was no longer there. “Curse the Forest Powers! A gnomish trick,” he snapped, standing up, and worked out the kinks in his limbs. He grimaced in pain as he rubbed his lower back. “I am too old for such nonsense.”
Matias looked round the chamber and up at the ceiling. Apart from the mouth lamp set in its centre, there was nothing else in here, not even a door. Jhondey was frowning and he pointed straight ahead.
“What’s Shunz doing?”
The three of men headed towards the construct that was now standing with his back to them and facing the wall. Jhondey reached up and tugged at his large gauntlet. “What’s the matter, friend?”
Shunz did not respond, and Matias snorted under his breath. “Heap of junk has broken down.”
“He’s not a heap of junk!” Jhondey retorted. “He never breaks down either. Shunz, what’s wrong? Is there something in the wall?”
“Can you break the wall down, Shunz?” Jaggen put in, looking at the construct expectantly. “Can you get us out of here?”
Shunz remained unresponsive for a few more moments and then, unexpectedly, took a step backwards. The three men watched in surprise as the wall started to move, sliding upwards and revealing itself to be a secret door. A second, identical and brightly lit chamber was on the other side, as featureless as the first one they stood in, with one notable exception.
“Wow, would you look at that,” Jhondey gasped, heading into the second chamber and walking straight ahead. “We got to climb up that?”
Matias looked up at the sheer rock wall that dominated the opposite end of the empty room. It was about ten metres high, and its craggy face provided handholds stretching up to the flat ledge at the top. Matias could just about see the archway that the ledge led to and the wooden door that seemed to be the only means of getting out. He grimaced at the wall again, not failing to miss the chaotic network of grooves which had been scoured deep into the rock, making it harder to see the best way of getting to the top.
“I’m not climbing that,” he said, stepping back. “Neither will you if you’ve got any sense.”
Jhondey looked aghast. “But, why not?” he said in his whiny voice that set Matias’ teeth on edge. “It’ll be real fun!”
“What other choice do we have?” Jaggen added. “There’s no other way out of here?”
“That’s what they want us to think,” said Matias. “Look, I don’t know much about these crummy role playing games, I’m more into the first person kill and blow up everything that moves kind of games, but I do know this is some kind of trap. We’re being forced to climb up there, which means something real nasty is gonna happen.”
Jaggen shrugged his shoulders. “That’s a given. This place is riddled with traps, but what are we going to do?”
Matias looked around him. “Try and find a secret door or something. The wall in the other room was fake. So, chances are one or more of the other walls are. We just need to find a secret switch or something. I mean, what caused the wall to open up in the first place? Did Shunz do something?”
“Um, Matias, I don’t think we’ve got time to do that,” Jhondey said. “Look over at the floor.”
Matias and Jaggen looked at the floor in the first chamber. The flagstones were sliding apart and disappearing into the walls. As they did so, they revealed a pool of bubbling lava underneath. Matias stared in alarm as the floor in their chamber quickly did the same. Before long, there would be nothing to stand up.
“Up the wall,” Jaggen said, pushing Jhondey along in front of him.
“Good idea,” answered Matias, following after them.
The four of them started to scale the wall, grasping onto the easily reached handholds, and they hoisted upwards without a problem as the floor disappeared quickly, giving over to the carpet of seething lava.
Matias moved swiftly, going from one protruding to another. Despite his speed, Jhondey was faster, scampering up the rock like a monkey. Jaggen ambled up below like a sloth and Shunz was even much slower, and took up the rear.
Matias was just reaching for a crag a foot or so above him when he heard the ominous rumbling of machinery from inside the rock itself. He caught the flash of metal to his right and turned to see a pristine circular saw about two metres wide rise up out of one of the grooves bisecting the wall. It began spinning at a tremendous rate, becoming a blur, and rushed towards him. It was then that Matias became conscious that his torso was lying against the very same groove and he was going to be sliced in two if he didn’t pull himself up as fast as he could.
He heard Jaggen let out a shout of alarm and looked around to see more circular saws emerging from the other grooves and spinning into life. The rock wall had transformed into a trap of metal death.
Blood pumping, Matias hauled himself up to the next handhold, just heartbeats before the circular saw rushed past, narrowly slicing off his feet. He clung to the rock and glanced down. The saw reached the end of the groove and shot back the way it had come. Looking up to the ledge now, he saw several more saws moving back and forth along their allotted grooves at different speeds. If he was going to make it to the top, his timing had to be spot on or he’d be dismembered in the blink of an eye.
Another saw raced along a groove that ran in a vertical line a few inches next to him, and he felt it slice through the air next to him. Matias lay ramrod straight against the surface of the rock, keeping his arms and legs as close to his body as possible. Looking up, he discovered another handhold just a foot above him and, very gingerly, he heaved himself up to grab onto it.
The exertion made his chest burn and sweat slaked his skin. Reaching the handhold in one piece, he found purchase for his feet and clung to the rock, taking slow steadying breaths. He was aware of Jhondey somewhere up above him and Jaggen and Shunz below, but he didn’t take any notice of how they were coping. He was too busy trying to save his own skin.
When he had got his breath back, he started to figure out his next move. There were no more handholds going up on the section of wall he was currently on. Instead, he had to go sideways along a narrow crevice. This crevice was intersected by three more vertical grooves that were spaced out evenly. Matias watched as three spinning circular saws moved up and down the grooves at differing speeds. He focused on the saw nearest to him, timing its movement. He had to reach across from the handhold he was clinging to and grab onto the edge of the crevice before the saw sliced him in two. Easy enough, he thought sourly to himself.
Counting the seconds, he waited until the circular saw had reached the top of its respective groove and went for it. He reached over with one hand, and his fingers gripped onto the crevice. With a grunt, he brought his other hand over until he was standing sideways against the rock wall. The circular saw above him came down at lethal speed and he let out a sharp cry as he got himself over just in the nick of time. There was another small ledge lower down which he could rest his feet on, and he pressed his body hard against the wall as if it was his lover. He closed his eyes and breathed through his nose, counting to three and then releasing a long exhale of breath through his mouth that lasted five beats. He’d been taught that trick by one of the councillors at the many anger management programs his High School had forced him to go on to avoid expulsion. Back then, he had thought it was a waste of time but, right at that moment, it was proving to be an absolute lifesaver. He
carried on with his relaxation exercises for a few minutes more until he was ready to face the second groove.
He was just about to clamber across to the second safe area when the shriek of metal being cut through nearly made him lose his balance completely.
“Shunz!” Jhondey’s voice screamed in terror from somewhere above.
Matias looked down and saw the construct climbing up the wall in the same way he was, although now he was missing a good chunk of his left arm. This hadn’t caused him too much of a problem though as he moved swiftly along, only just avoiding the circular saws by a hair’s breadth. Jaggen was much lower down, only a few feet higher than the lava pool in fact. He moved with agonising slowness, as ponderous as a turtle.
“Matias!” Jhondey called down. “Matias, up here!”
Matias glared up at the boy, who was hanging off a spur of rock with one hand and waving frantically with another. Circular saws rushed to and fro all around him but he seemed oblivious to the danger. “Be very careful,” the boy warned, “these saws are really sharp.”
“Thanks for the heads up,” Matias said in a caustic drawl.
Ignoring the three of them again, he turned his attention to getting past the second circular saw. Like he did with the first, he timed how long it took to get from top to bottom and used just the right window of opportunity to edge along the crevice to safety. It was a bit easier this time and didn’t leave him utterly exhausted.
“Matias,” Jhondey called down. “Matias, can you hear me? Matias? Matias?”
Matias gritted his teeth and glared up at the boy. “What?” he snapped.
Jhondey gave him a thumb’s up. “Well done, my friend.”
Matias ignored him and looked back at the third saw. If he did get to the top alive, he was going to hurl that annoying little freak straight back down into the lava. Cherishing that more than pleasant task, he timed his crossing just right and got to the far end of the crevice. As his feet moved along the ledge below, a portion of the rock suddenly gave way and he nearly lost his grip.
The Alchemy Worlds: Enter T(he)rap(y): A LitRPG Adventure Page 18
