Randomers

by Alexis Dogman

  As the files download, he raps his fingers onto the tabletop impatiently. Once the download is complete he pulls the thumbdrive out and slips it into the pocket of his pajama pants. Looking around one last time, Zero's fingers rapidly hit the keyboard to enter his last sequence of codes and finally he hits the Enter button. The computer starts to run the instructions and upon completion, his screen blanks out into a countdown scheduling a shutdown of the mainframe in nineteen minutes and fifty four seconds, fifty three seconds, fifty two seconds....

  Zero grabs his leech and puts it on. Activating the leech with his thumb, the screen on his workstation immediately blacks out. Zero slides his chair back and makes a dash for the pods but alas, he is stopped by his fellow rival programmer - Pita, a tall and lean thirty six years old Indian man with a receding hairline of wavy black hair and a mustache over his lips.

  "Hey pal, I heard you spoke to the Architins. Getting a promotion?" Pita says with a wide grin and slaps his palm onto Zero's shoulder like long time friends.

  "I have to go. Sorry," Zero apologizes and slips his shoulder away from Pita's palm.

  "What's the hurry. Me and the boys are thinking of grabbing a drink. Come join us," Pita continues to pester. They have been rivals since forever but once he hears rumors about Zero's imminent promotion, they have somehow become shoulder-rubbing pals without Zero's knowledge.

  "No thanks, I really need to go," Zero scowls pushing Pita aside, running out of patience and time.

  "No hard feelings for the past right?" Pita grabs Zero by his arm, stopping Zero from leaving.

  "We're not friends okay? Stay away," Zero tells to Pita in the face as he flings his hand away from Pita's grab.

  "Come on, lets wipe the past clean. Start over," Pita takes Zero's hand and starts shaking it but Zero pulls his hand back and ignores him, turning around to leave.

  With all eyes in the room now turned towards Pita, his face turns red with embarrassment. Pita strides forward and grabs Zero by the shoulder and pulls him back as he shouts to the Zero, "So you think you're a big shot?"

  Zero has run out of patience and time. Without even thinking, Zero turns around and delivers a punch from his right hand onto the left side of Pita's face. This is the first time he has actually hit someone and he stands looking at the fallen Pita cupping his cheek in agony, looking astounded and angry.

  Pita recoils like an animal, letting out a growl as he lunges at Zero causing Zero to topple backwards onto the carpeted floor. With Pita over Zero, he sends a punch onto Zero's face. Zero grabs onto Pita's collar and knocks his forehead onto Pita's nose. He swears he can hear a loud crack as Pita groans in pain but Pita isn't going to let go.

  Pita puts his hands over Zero's neck trying to strangle him while the rest of the room watches the brawl in awe. Zero uses all his might and pushes Pita off him, coughing for air as he immediately climbs onto his feet. Luckily, Zero is fitter in physic and faster in action. He jumps onto Pita before he can gain balance and starts beating him up like a sand bag. Bruised and swollen, Pita screams for Zero to stop, "Stop! Stop!"

  Zero halts his fist in the air, coming back to his senses that he has something much more important than this fight. Zero immediately gets up from Pita and runs for the pods. On the floor, Pita sits up watching his enemy dash off. He swears he will get his revenge.

  Zero takes the pod back down to Level 04 and races for his crib. He looks at his leech - 4:23 a.m. That asshole has taken so much of his time he has only seven minutes left. He races into his room and heads straight for his closet. Zero removes his passport, IDs and remaining cash he brought in with him six years ago and throws it onto his bed. He then takes his tank top off and puts on a plain, black, lightweight, round neck and long sleeves archery training shirt. He takes off his pajama pants, grabs a pair of boxers and quickly puts it on. He then pulls a pair of camouflage print cargo pants and puts it over his boxers. Zero looks at his leech - 4:28 a.m. - two more minutes to go. Zero reaches for his pajama pants and takes the access card. His fingers then fumble into the pocket again to remove the thumbdrive but his heart drops when his fingers fail to locate it.

  Zero pulls the pocket out and staring at the empty tongue of a pocket, he throws the pants onto the far end of the room before dropping onto his knees to search the floor. The thumbdrive is nowhere to be seen. He must have dropped it during the scuffle with Pita.

  Zero looks at his leech again - 4:27 a.m. In another three minutes, the doors will open. He has no choice but to change his plan. Zero pockets all his important documents and the access card into the side pocket of his cargo pants and secures the buttons.

  Zero then heads into the bathroom with a pair of scissors and a bottle of Korean soju. Taking his straight razor from the shelf, Zero gets prepared for the removal of his chip.

  With the scissors in his hand, Zero starts by cutting a hand towel into long strips of bandages. He then douses the soju onto some tissue, sterilizes the sharp blade of the straight razor, and puts it down to dry.

  Zero takes a look at his leech - 4.29 a.m. - one more minute. He takes a deep breath to calm the surge of nervousness inside him. Looking into mirror, there is the reflection of a man of sheer determination to protect the woman he loves.

  -BEEP-

  Zero's leech lets out a beep. Countdown over. He can hear his room’s door slide open. Zero immediately takes the blade between the fingers of his left hand and with a deep breath, presses it down hard into the center of his right palm. The sharp blade slices through the flesh of his palm and blood starts to bleed through with piercing pain. Zero immediately runs the raw wound under the tap water and lets the cold water flush the wound clear of blood. Holding his wound under the gushing water, Zero pinches the sides of the painful wound with his fingers as though popping a pimple, trying to extract the chip, which is supposedly embedded just a little below the skin. Zero can feel the tiny bump with his fingers and when he pulls the wound wide apart, he can even catch a glimpse of the silver little device but he just isn't able to squeeze it out. He is running out of time. Zero unwillingly takes the blood stained razor and uses the tip of the razor to part the wound open, gritting his teeth in pain. When the tip reaches the chip, he wedges it out as he lets out a shout of excruciating pain.

  The tiny device drops into the sink and washes down the sinkhole before Zero can catch it. Having got rid of the chip, Zero immediately grabs the cut strips of towel and bandages his wound tightly. Taking a few gulps of the soju in hope of curbing the pain, Zero folds the razor and pockets it along with the scissors before dashing out the already opened room door of his crib. He runs for the pods, pass all the opened doorways and confused owners of the cribs who are guarding their little homes along the corridor. A second later, Zach is in Level 03.

  Meanwhile, with a full two hours of notice, Ada is well-prepared for her own little surgery. With the bottle of local anesthetic she sneaked off from the piercing saloon plus some first aid supplies she got from the pharmacy, she manages to extract the chip without much pain, merely a sting through a careful slit before wrapping the wound up with proper bandage.

  With all her important documents in a small little body bag that slings over her torso under her shirt, she looks out into the hallway. The hallway is filled with confused and sleepy crib owners, all looking at each other for answers as to why are the doors opened by themselves. Leaving her leech in her room, Ada puts on her most indifferent face as she walks out of her room quickly, wearing a black short sleeves lightweight running top and a pair of moss green khakis with her gray sneakers. Her hair is twirled into a neat bun as usual. She takes the pod and goes one level down to Level 05. Once the door of the pod opens, she slips down the corridor to the direction of the maintenance section. The long, curved, silent corridor echoes of a continuous humming and as Ada nears the end the humming becomes louder. Ada is more than delighted to see the door opened at the end of the corridor and slipping through the doorway, finds herself in a dark and musty plac
e. She can now understand that the loud humming actually comes from the large electric generators inside the maintenance section and at the far end are huge tanks which she supposes are the septic tanks and sewage system. Large pipelines neatly crawl over the floors and walls in different colors of red and blue. Facing the corridor on the far end of the maintenance area is another opened door.

  "That must be it," Ada mumbles to herself as she quickly treads over to check. Under dim, single yellow lights stretched out too far apart, Ada can see a narrow crawlspace that is just about Ada's height. Zero will have to bend his way through the crawlspace. On the walls of the crawlspace is a network of pipework and wiring.

  Having found the exit, Ada goes back towards the entrance of the maintenance area and hides herself behind one of the generators, impatiently waiting for Zero to appear, her eyes keeping watch for security guards and maintenance staffs.

  Meantime, Zach is already at Level 03 and amidst the chaos in the programming department to understand the lock down of the mainframe, he is on all fours looking for the thumbdrive.

  Just as he is about to give up, he spots the red little device beside the entrance. Zero gets up onto his feet and makes a beeline for the thumbdrive as Pita's voice echoes from behind.

  "I have found the problem. Undoing it now," he announces proudly to the floor, claiming credit before anyone else can. If Pita is on it, it means that there will only be a few minutes left for him to make it to the escape. Zero tries to maintain his calmness as he hurries out to the entrance towards the pods. Entering the pod, he reaches Level 05 and he darts down the corridor. To his relieve the door to the maintenance section is still open.

  Seeing Zero running towards the maintenance area, Ada eagerly runs out from behind the generator to wave at him.

  "Go! Now!" Zero shouts from afar and Ada obediently makes haste for the crawlspace.

  Zero runs into the maintenance section and races after Ada. Safely inside the crawlspace she turns around to wait for Zero. Zero is about five meters to the doorway when suddenly the door releases a soft hiss and starts to slide close. Horrified, Ada tries to delay the door from shutting by pulling it back with all her might, crying out, "Quick!!" However, the door's closing mechanism is just too strong. She can only slow it down by so little.

  Determined to make it, Zero sprints towards the half-closed door and makes a leap for the gap. Ada screams as her fingers looses grip on the door and falls to the dusty cement floor watching helplessly as door slides to a smooth shut. Ada is about to cry but to her relief she sees Zero slipping in through the gap just in the nick of time.

  Ada immediately jumps up to Zero and hugs him tight.

  "I thought I'll never see you again," Ada utters and Zero pats her back a little before backing up in a hunch.

  "I won't leave you. We have to hurry now," Zero turns around and leads the way through the low crawlspace, hunching all the way.

  They make their way towards the very end of the crawlspace and there is a metal staircase. Zero leads the way up the staircase heading straight for Level 01.

  However, traveling up to Level 04, the stairs become increasingly dark and upon reaching Level 04, they are in total darkness. The lighting in the upper levels have somehow malfunctioned and without their leeches and not even a flashlight, they can only carefully walk up the stairs with their hands and feet as their guide, like a blind man trying to find his way without his cane.

  About three floors up the stairs, the sudden trampling of a third pair of footsteps on the stairs starts to echo up the staircase. Zero stops immediately and reaches his hand back to stop Ada from advancing. Quieting down, they can hear clearly that the footsteps are coming towards them from below, and pulling her to a race upwards. Running in the dark, suddenly Zero lets out a cry and he stops. Ada halts immediately, bumping into Zero and he lets out a further cry of pain.

  "What's wrong?" Ada asks, worried.

  "I stepped on something. It pierced through my shoes," Zero utters, biting his lower lip in agony as he feels warm blood soaking the sole of his shoes wet.

  "Come on, I'll help you," Ada urges and places Zero's arm over her neck and shoulders. With Zero injured they can only move that fast and whoever it is coming after them is gaining on them rapidly.

  "Go Ada. Leave me. Go!" Zero knows he is just slowing them down and it is better for one to die than both.

  "I won't leave you!" Ada cries, stubborn as usual and continues to drag Zero along. Zero is honestly happy to hear that but seeing her die is the last thing he wants. He pulls his arm back from her support and pushes her away.

  "Go! Don't waste my efforts. You still have to avenge your brother," Zero pushes Ada harder, away from him.

  "I won't leave you! Not now, not ever," Ada grits her teeth saying and in the dark she reaches her hand back to Zero.

  "You're so stubborn," Zero sighs.

  "Let's go," Ada ignores him and continues to drag him further up the stairs.

  They continue to trudge towards Level 02 but after about a minute, the stairwell starts to brighten up. It is the light from a leech from behind them. There is no way they can outrun their hunter now and they know it.

  With the stairwell brightening up slightly, Ada can finally see Zero's face again. Knowing that they might not have a chance to leave these walls again, Ada looks up at Zero in the eyes and whispers, "Thank you for everything." She then plants a kiss onto his cheeks, surprising Zero.

  Before they can go any further, their hunter has arrived. They turn around to anticipate death. The white light from the leech is more than blinding. All they can tell is there is only one person behind the light.

  "I wished I was wrong but I am right," the man says in his hoarse voice and Ada immediately recognizes him to be Goda.

  The hunter instructs the light to shoot up to the ceiling and the stairwell gently brightens up. Staring back at them is indeed Goda and he has a gun in his right hand, aiming at them.

  "You fucking bastard! You killed my brother!!" Ada screams at him, unable to contain her emotions. She let’s go of Zero's arm and almost throws herself down at Goda but Zero catches her arm in time and pulls her back towards him. Zero then wraps his arms around her waist as tightly as possible, trying to calm her down.

  Goda only stares at her indifferently, which makes her all the angrier. "Shoot me! What are you waiting for? Kill me!" Ada spits.

  "I knew this will happen if you ever found out," Goda finally says, his voice as unemotional as always but Zero can tell there is a slight softness to his tone, like he actually feels remorse.

  "You remind me so much of the daughter I had. I wanted you to be by my side," Goda reveals.

  "You motherfucker!" Ada continues to curse.

  "Yes. I arranged for your brother's mishap and I trained you well so that you will remain in the Hive with me. Everything was under control until you found out," Goda tells. Hearing the truth is just equally as painful as seeing her brother die. He had become the sacrificial goat for Goda to lure her in and the thought of that makes her feel one hundred percent responsible for Hiroto's death. Ada instantly breaks down into a wail.

  With his gun still aiming at them, Goda starts removing something from his pocket with his left hand. With her knees on the steps, Ada cries, facing Goda. Zero kneels down behind her, hugging her tight as he watches what Goda is about to do.

  Goda pulls out a small plastic zip bag containing two grain-like chips still in their plastic casings and throws it onto the steps before Ada. The bag flips onto the steps causing dust to rise into the air. Zero immediately recognizes it and leans forward to sweep it off the floor. Those are new and unused chips. Without personal information in them, they cannot use it for most of the functions in the Hive. However, boarding the sub and the coach back to the city won't require these information, just a valid working chip will do the trick. With these chips, they can leave the Hive unnoticed by the security at the exit checkpoint.

  Indeed Zero knows about
the one flaw in his escape plan - the security checkpoints at the exits. Without their chips they will have to sneak their way out which is extremely risky. He does know about these kind of chips but it is only accessible to higher levels, not him.

  Zero pockets the chips and turns his attention back to Goda to ask, "Why are you helping us?"

  "What are you talking about?" Ada asks Zero, unable to comprehend the situation.

  "Now we are even," Goda says to Ada and she finally gets it. He is letting them go as compensation to her brother's life.

  "After today, I owe you nothing and I will come after you to finish off what I did not finish today," Goda warns.

  Grabbing Ada's arm, Zero drags her onto her feet and tugs for the woman to leave. Ada understands that she is lucky to be given a chance to live and avenge her brother but to be spared by her brother's killer is the worst feeling ever. With loath and despise in her heart, she helps Zero climb further up the dark staircase.