Inadvertently, or maybe not so inadvertently, she found Adam in the crowd. She wanted to see his face, wanted to look at him before she moved towards her goal. Their eyes connected. One, single, crystallizing moment. She knew what he was thinking. He wanted her, but she didn't know what that meant. He started to run, tearing up the ground in front of him as he dashed towards her. He was coming to her, to save her. Sam's heart leapt.
More explosions, this time one right after another, rippled all around them as hot steam shot out from the walls and surged into the assembly hall. Chaos resumed with the steam's arrival, accompanied by the clangor of machinery. Barely seen through the swell of vapor, the room's floor started to move. Sam didn't know what to make of it.
An incredibly strong hand grabbed onto her bag. With one sharp heave of an arm she was thrown onto a shoulder. She couldn't fight back. She couldn't move and she didn't know why. Her rescuer navigated effortlessly through the maze of steam, students, and lab techs. Before she knew what was going on, Sam and her savior were at the locked door. They went right through it with no problem. The clouds of steam billowed out with them, but after a few steps it no longer impeded her vision. Sam looked down at the sprinting legs that were carrying her. She reeled with shock.
Doughboy
Time: Current day, mid-afternoon
Scene: Hallway in Academy City 676
Sam gawked at her savior in complete and utter disbelief as he moved effortlessly down the hall with her in tow.
It was Richard. He was holding her with such incredible strength that she couldn't move. No. That wasn't right. It wasn't strength; it was something different than just strength. It felt as though he was restricting her joints, somehow holding her in a way that locked up every major joint in her body. Was that even possible?
Richard didn't say anything as he navigated the halls. Sam tried to speak to him but found that her words disintegrated against the precipitous change in circumstances. With his weakened heart, Richard shouldn't have the strength to carry her for more than a few feet, let alone down hallway after hallway. Yet right before her very eyes he was doing just that. Not only that, but his whole demeanor had changed, the way he carried not just her, but himself as well. She couldn't articulate what she felt coming from him, but it was different. Maybe it was fear. The adrenaline could explain his strength. She knew that people did strange things when they were afraid. Sam herself had just tried to do something out of the ordinary. That Green woman had opened fire on an assembly hall full of students and Sam had been ready to confront her! What was she thinking?
The sound of rapid gunfire echoed off the walls, creating in Sam's mind the momentary image of a trench-dug, enemy-infested battleground. She could hear the gunfire and the lingering screams from the assembly hall but couldn't see anything. Richard continued to move with Sam on his shoulder until they were a good distance away from the assembly's main door. He put Sam down and she found she was able to move again.
"What the hell, Richard?!" Sam bellowed. "You don't just go picking people up and throwing them over your shoulder--"
Richard shuffled to Sam's side and placed his hand over her mouth.
"If I'd thought you were going to start screaming like a wounded hippo, I wouldn't have given you this."
Richard showed her the most miniature of accelerator pins. Sam's stared at it wide-eyed. What was Richard doing with an accelerator pin? They were old military equipment, very old in fact. They were used during the Third Great War to counter bio and chemical weapons, but nobody used that stuff anymore. It was easily counteracted. Why did Richard have old military-grade weaponry?
"I bought this on EarthBay. You'd be amazed at what you can get on the interweb. Anyway, I gave you a dose of a rapid paralyzing agent while I was carrying you. I had to get us out of there before we got caught in the crossfire. This is the antidote. I assume from your outburst it worked."
Sam was angry now. Richard had just scooped her up without asking, drugged her twice, and was now trying to convince her to run.
"Richard, we can't just run away. Our friends are in there; Cammie, Coda and --"
She stopped herself. Adam. Oh, to all the gods, real or make-believe, she hoped he was all right.
"You're wondering if Adam is ok."
Sam didn't answer.
Someone began yelling from just ahead of them, effectively ending the conversation. Richard grabbed her wrist and ran. The previous strength wasn't there, and neither was Richard's apparent change in demeanor. He was back to how she remembered him, back to the Richard she knew. She was beginning to think that the drug, whatever it was, must have done a real number on her, making her see and feel things she knew had to be incorrect. She tried not to think about it. Richard was Richard, and if she knew him at all, he had a plan to help everyone survive this. That is, if they could stay alive in the process.
Richard was scanning their surroundings. Sam could hear the voices getting closer. They ducked into one of the secondary connection hallways that the administrators used in case of an emergency. They sprinted down it and were just about to round a corner when chaos reared its ugly head.
A four-way fight had laid waste to the western main hall. Two of the groups Sam recognized – MESA's men and the school's security forces were readily identifiable. But who the other two were Sam had absolutely no idea. The first group was wearing the most peculiar collection of equipment, like they had found their tools of destruction in a junkyard. The second was just as unrecognizable but dressed much more like a military unit. Their weaponry was slick, like nothing she had ever seen in the Vii-R shows or games. Each of these men where wrapped in a strange blue hue, like they were being protected by an invisible field that wasn't quite invisible. The one weapon that Sam did recognize was the unmistakable glare of Light Shivs. The sight made Sam's throat go completely dry. An image of Rob, the human trafficker, popped into her head, making her recoil slightly. Who were these men?
Scraggly Unit, that's what Sam decided to call them, was boxed in between MESA and the Fancy Uniform Unit. With seven or so men, Scraggly Unit fought off thirty plus soldiers from the combined force of the Fancy Uniform Unit, MESA, and the school's security force. Sam and Richard remained hidden in the secondary hall, undetected.
"Should we go back?" Sam was relieved to find that her voice was quite stable. "We can't just walk out there; we'll both end up dead."
The word came out of Sam's mouth. Dead. They would both end up dead. Actually, compared to the way she was feeling now, the prospect of being dead wasn't as scary. At least she wouldn't have to worry about being sold to a plantation owner in the Plains.
But Sam rebelled against the thought. She had people that cared about her and that she cared about. She couldn't give up now. Did she really want to end up like the Principal or one of her classmates?
Another mental image wormed its way into her mind, this one seeming to move at the speed of snail. She watched as her classmates, friends, and teachers were mowed down like cattle. She could see Ms. Green's face through all of it. That evil woman would pay.
Richard's voice brought Sam back. "No. This is the quickest route to the mainframe room, and that's were we need to go."
"Why do we need to get to the --?"
"Not now Samantha, I'm thinking."
Sam's jaw dropped in surprise. Did Richard just hush her?
Richard was back on his tablet and muttering under his breath. "Oh, this would be so much easier if I could work unfettered. Why isn't he answering?"
Richard shut his mouth as he rolled his neck. Sam heard the muffled crack of bone and joints pop. Another one of those unfamiliar expressions crept onto Richard's face. Sam really had trouble placing this one. Stress, from what it looked like. Richard paused as he studied some sort of gauge on his tablet. He spoke but more to himself than to Sam.
"We've got to get out of here. These fools are going to kill each other. It looks like we've got just enough power to get there."
<
br /> Sam was about to ask what he was talking about, but before she could Richard touched the upper left hand corner of the tablet and then took a step back.
The sounds of battle were overpowering, but still not enough to cover the sudden onslaught of clacking that accompanied the pitch and grind of shifting gears. One compulsive step later, Sam retreated back and was now standing next to Richard. She watched as the floor in front of her started to shift.
The moving floor startled every soldier in the western hall. The walls started to retract, rotate, and move while the floor folded over itself. Carbonized steel lowered from the upper reaches of the ceiling, covering the windows. Sheets of the same steel stretched out in front of the combatants, blocking their line of sight and boxing in groups of soldiers. Richard touched two more buttons on his tablet and then touched the wall to their left.
"Get ready to run," he said simply.
"Why do we have to--?"
Steam burst through one of the few walls that was not covered in the carbonized steel. Richard caught Sam's hand and stepped into the gushing vapor. They navigated almost completely blind, Richard guiding Sam, stepping lightly and shifting through the soldiers, security officers, and MESA paramilitary. Sam closed her eyes as they went. The steam was hot and stung her. Even worse was the fear she couldn't shake, the fear that the warring factions within their school would just start randomly shooting, taking her and Richard with them.
Stepping out of the steam was like stepping out of a sauna microwave. Relief rushed over her. They were past the soldiers and moving into another hallway. They were going to make it. They were going to get through this. She and Richard rounded another corner.
"Duck!" Richard pounced on Sam, driving her hard to the ground. A conglomerated ball of super-heated plasma passed less than a half-meter above them. Back draft and a concussive wave came next, followed by the rush of rapidly retreating air. Screams of terror pierced her eardrums. Sam and Richard, still on the ground, were pushed back by a backlash of wind. She didn't know what was going on.
A few more seconds ticked by then additional plasma balls sped down the hallway, aimed straight for them. The balls missed their mark and instead hit the walls to either side. Panicked, Sam tried to scurry away from the burning walls. She was unsuccessful. A pinch of charred material landed on her arm.
Pain erupted across her skin, and without realizing it she started screaming. She couldn't see. She couldn't think. She felt someone tug on her person, but it was disembodied, not real, a dream in which she was merely a spectator. She felt her consciousness slip farther and farther down a hole filled with nothingness. She didn't know if she would return from it…at least the pain was going away slowly… slowly… slow--
***
Beeping…where are those sounds coming from? Oh the pain!! Is that my body that hurts so badly? Where--where am I?
Sam opened her eyes, but nothing was in focus. Everything was out of whack, like her brain could not process what her body was telling her. She let her concern fade as she took inventory of her senses. Taste. Ugh, she had blood in her mouth. Smell? Sweat and fear. Touch? Even worse than the nasty taste of blood, every inch of her body hurt. Sight? She already knew that one. She couldn't see, but that particular sense was making a comeback. All that was left was her hearing. She couldn't really hear anything at the moment, except for the stupid beeping. She decided to sit up.
Nausea swept over her and she had to lie back down twice before she could sit up properly without feeling sick. She looked around. She was sitting on a table in a room full of servers and six-by-six holo terminals. This was the type of room that came right out of the Vii-theaters, a place so high tech it was alien. She knew this room; well, of this room at least. This was where the central mainframe was located. This place acted as the brain of the entire city complex. Why was she here? Sam moved her attention back to the holo terminals and saw one of them alive and kicking.
Richard was standing in a glowing space, moving screen projection after screen projection around as he scanned each of them. The glow of the conductor's hands, a special glove used to interface with the holo terminals, was making him look like some sort of raver at a party. Programming codes, vid feeds, gauges, and charts of all kinds swirled around him as he called out commands in a knowing and authoritative voice. He moved about, inputting and taking information at light speed through hand and voice.
Sam got to her feet and instantly felt woozy. She stumbled and was saved from a full crash only by catching the corner of a nearby desk. Once she felt right again she moved forward.
"Richard?"
Richard didn't turn around. He simply answered, "Sam."
Sam paused. He had just called her Sam. He never called her Sam. What was going on with him?
"Richard, what are you doing?"
Again he didn't turn around. "I am clearing out some very sloppy security jamming protocols and hiccup routines within the school's anti-terrorist shield program. No one is going to know what's going on unless I can cut off their communications expert; otherwise our chances of calling in the cavalry are close to zero. If I can re-route the system the security protocols will trigger, and the state police will be alerted. I need to enable at least one more interface so I can hack the system remotely again. At the moment it's keeping me and at least two other hackers out of the system. I'm fighting with them and the system. Now, Sam?"
"Uh--yes?"
"Shut up. I need to concentrate."
Sam's jaw dropped. Again. He just told her to shut up!
"You just told me to shut up."
"Yes I did. Was I unclear as to my meaning?"
"No but--but you never talk to me that way."
"And look where it's gotten me."
"What's that supposed to mean?"
He didn't answer her, and once again she was left in bafflement, at a loss as to what to say next.
Richard. What happened to you? she thought.
Something in Sam's peripheral vision caught her attention and she turned. Vid feeds from various parts of the building played on the few screens that were still active. One particularly large screen showed the Western Hall. Sam crept closer. The hall was unrecognizable. Sam inspected the image on the screen, running a keen eye over it. The hall was destroyed, mangled beyond belief and repair. How did that happen?
"That part of the Western Hall was pressurized."
Richard's voice didn't sound like it was talking to her, but to the empty space in front of him. She answered regardless. "And how do you know that?"
"Because I pressurized it." Richard finally looked at her, moving one of the screen projection boxes out of his way. "The school has a locking and pressurizing system in case of biological attacks. Using that system was the contingency in case we were spotted and attacked. It's quite difficult to maintain battle formations when you're being sucked through holes in walls. "
His gaze bored into her like it never had previously. The look scared her slightly. "So what now?"
Richard moved the screen projection back impeding her view of his face. "Now we get out and run like hell."
"Why?"
"MESA."
Boom.
The room started to shake, tossing Sam and Richard causing them to stagger.
"What was that?" Sam braced herself. "Do they have an earthquake machine or something?"
Richard steadied himself on the rails of the holo terminal. He almost laughed an ironic sort of laugh. One more thing Sam wasn't sure how to take.
"Richard, you're scaring me. They really don't have an earthquake machine, do they?" Sam asked again.
He went back to his work. "It doesn't matter. We're getting out of--Yes!"
A surge lit up the room, actually making the dome light above their heads brighter. Sam didn't know what it was, but whatever Richard just did collected around them. She could feel it on her skin. The gauges on Richard's screen projections skyrocketed upward from black to yellow, orange, and finally red.
A bunch of equipment around the room sprang to life and went to work doing unknown tasks. The area buzzed with artificial life.
Harmonics: Rise of the Magician (Harmonics Series Season One) Page 17
