“It’s registered to go off whoever opens it!” The man cried as he shielded his face from Frey, fearing she might hit him again. “No one is allowed to leave or enter this floor since that Hole person got out! I promise, I didn’t set it off!” He was on the verge of tears, huddling on the floor.
Frey ignored the man, dismissing the alarm as well. Tina motioned two from their team to go behind them, three to scout ahead and one to stay with them. The man lifted his gun and shot the whimpering Dome personnel through the head, blood and brains splattering up the wall behind him.
Frey swallowed, gripped her weapon as she followed Tina. Two more scientists saw them and the woman screamed, dropping her glass screen. It smashed into a thousand pieces, scattering over the floor. The man turned and ran. One of the men in front of Frey shot him in the back.
Up here, people knew what Hole was and exactly what was going on inside. But she still turned her head away when the second one shot the screaming woman. She heard the splatter over the alarm and wondered why she wasn’t enjoying it… these people knew what was done to the people in Hole. Hell, they were there doing it together with the government! Frey hoped the resistance people working in Dome had gotten the message in time and run for cover.
Three more people crossed their path and were killed before they could utter one word. Tina turned left in the glass corridors, four people just disappearing into the control room, locking the door behind them with some kind of code. The door was thick, and she suspected bullets wouldn’t break it.
Two from their team pulled out some equipment while the rest scouted for danger. But Frey suspected that whoever had been alive on this floor was now in there. The sound of shooting and screaming must have warned every single one, and they clearly thought the control room would protect them.
Frey was watching the room. There was a big window running along the entire front of the room, overlooking Hole. The digital dome was faintly grey and a bit hazy, but otherwise you could see right down into her city…
Frey hadn’t realized how high up they were, or how incredibly vast Dome actually was… Her mouth had gone dry, and she had a hard time forcing a swallow down her throat.
The blast went off and glass shattered. People screamed and the group went inside, silencing them. Frey looked away as they dragged the bodies outside. She tried not to see the blood as a crime. How much blood hadn’t these people spilled together? How big an ocean hadn’t they gathered from all the killing?
Frey looked at the familiar view of her city. Far from all of it was visible from this point of view, but the screens made up for that. They showed every single camera placed down there. As one from their group touched an image, it came up in the middle, enlarged. He muttered under his breath and someone else shook his head. Tina snapped her fingers and motioned four of them to keep lookout, the other two to help them find the main server.
“You know it can be done?” Frey asked her. “Lower the walls, I mean? I’ve walked around the whole length of The Wall, and there’s no door, no gate…”
Tina looked at Frey and cocked her head a bit. “Didn’t I tell you?” She asked. Frey just frowned. “The gates were built to raise straight up from the ground. A magnetic force was used to press the walls upwards,” she said as she jammed her thumb up. “So when everyone was hoarded into the middle, no one saw the walls, and no one suspected what was going to happen… When everyone was in place, the walls came up, closing everyone inside.” Frey didn’t know what to say to that. Tina gave Frey a slight push. “No time to waste.”
She didn’t have to be told twice, and scanned the glowing keyboards for any sign of interacting with the bloody dome. The vast keyboard rested under all the tiny camera recordings, and she tried not to look at the live images as she focused on her task.
The glowing buttons seemed increasingly alien instead of getting more familiar and she felt the stress build. Jin was down there somewhere, maybe lying in a gutter, yellow froth bubbling out from his mouth and nose, the Yellow Pill eating him alive… She was ready to try about anything when she spotted a miniature projection of the digital dome. It was about as large as a basketball and glowing blue. She reached over and touched it. The globe rotated with her fingers, and her eyes snapped towards the real dome covering Hole.
It started to glow. She realized she had turned it towards daylight.
Frey jerked her hand back as if burned. She looked at the city below, clenching and unclenching her hand. Shivers of fear ran up her spine at the whole situation. Here she was, at the very place where a push of a button adjusted the world she had lived in her whole life…
Tina swore, spitting the words out. She had an ancient looking laptop on the desk, hundreds of wires running to and from it. “Cutting the power should make the walls come crashing down in their makeshift holes,” she said as she saw Frey looking. There’s no time to find the main server, so I’ll have to hack inside…”
“But didn’t you say-“
“I know, but I don’t have a choice!”
Then the Three Houses will know what we’re up to…
Frey again moved her hand atop the Dome, turning the daylight on in Hole.
“I’m in!!!” Tina yelled.
“Can you shut the dome off?” Frey asked her, eyes snapping towards Tina.
“Yes, but-“
“Do it!”
Tina turned her head back to the screen, her fingers speeding over the computer.
Frey could see the digital dome fading, the screen flickered away in a matter of seconds. It felt unreal, like a hazy dream where she was bound to wake up any second.
The dome was gone, and Frey was staring down at Hole, trying not to think of how lives had been played with from up here.
Jin… please, oh please, be alive…
Chapter 21
They were up on the roof as usual. There was still some food, but Jin and Father Patrick both knew it wouldn’t last for much longer… Jin had started making plans to go out and get more. Problem was, the old man seemed to see and hear everything. Even when I’m thinking them.
“Don’t you even think about it, Jin. There is no food out there, and I won’t have you risking your life for it. That’s my job as a father!” He had been so angry. Jin had never seen him loose his temper like that before, but the effects had been what Father Patrick desired.
“And we still have food left, Jin. Its not over yet,” the old man had reminded him.
Father Patrick was staring to live up to his nickname. He looked worn and had lost weight. There hadn’t been much on him to start with. Jin knew he was barely eating, trying to be one less mouth to feed.
“If you come down sick or weak with hunger, you’ll only be a burden to the rest of us.” Jin hadn’t meant to say the words out loud. But he was counting on the old man to be there, and realized he was scared at the thought of not having his foster father around. “It’s as you told me. We’re not out of food yet.”
“We only have the brown powder left…” He man reminded him.
“Which is food,” Jin reminded him back.
Father Patrick chuckled; a deep sound Jin almost felt in his chest. It felt good to have him laugh again, even if it was only for a while.
Father Patrick patted Jin on the shoulder. “You’re right, Jin.” He leaned his head back against the wall.
Then the sky lit up… The digital dome prepared for daylight like it normally did by letting the darkness fade. That would have been fine normally. Problem was, it was in the middle of the night…
The digital dome was unmistakably preparing for daylight. The sky grew almost as bright as day before it quickly faded back to night again, as if it had just noticed its mistake…
Jin could hear the pause in the gunfire and chaos, as if every single person was looking up at the dome. Now the silence felt almost painful. Jin could feel the entire Slum City holding its breath. Never before had something like this happened. Never had the dome malfunctioned in any
way. He hadn’t realized he had stood up, and saw the old man do the same.
This hadn’t been a dropping. There was no way anyone could have mistaken it for one, or dismiss it as such. The difference was way too great. This had been daylight at night.
The reaction was more frightening than the marked pills had been. Everyone was dead silent… Jin didn’t know how long he had been trying to understand what had happened when it happened again…
The sky lit up for longer this time, holding daylight as if to prove to everyone that was exactly what it was…
The sky fade again, much slower this time, and he knew without a doubt that the silence was like one before a storm.
He clutched the edge of the walls, his knuckles white as he felt his stomach clench. The people down there had fared much worse than he without the pill… He was in control of the normally aggressive behavior that followed if the craving was left to fester. The others however, had not been so lucky.
That was why the utter silence frightened him more than the killing had done. It was abnormal behavior… He racked his brain thought all that had happened lately. First Frey had disappeared, then the markings on the pills, and now the dome… There was something going on, and Jin wasn’t the only one thinking that.
The digital dome suddenly shimmered, and then was gone. It didn’t take more than a few seconds. The projection that had been above him his entire life, the thing that had covered them from the real sky was gone…
Jin was staring up at something he couldn’t believe was there. His brain wasn’t able to process what he was seeing and he felt it go blank. There was nothing to fall back on…
There was a groaning, like a deep rumble in the ground that made them cover their ears. Then the shaking began, and boiling clouds of dust filled the air where The Wall met the ground.
Jin gripped the edge of the roof, Father Patrick falling to his knees as the shaking grew. There were groans as unsecure buildings twisted, the structures bending under the strain of the earthquake.
The crash of collapsing buildings was lost in the rumble from The Wall.
Jin clutched at the railing, staring wide-eyed at the looming black shape that had acted as a shelter as well as a prison for Slum City. He held his breath as he stared at the walls, coming straight down with an almost painful slowness.
Already the dust had reached them, and Jin blinked away tears, not knowing if they were from the grit or from awe. Father Patrick pulled Jin to shelter behind the railing as the storm hit them. Sand, junk and metal flew through the air from the force, the two of them huddling behind the wall as the storm raged. It blew over the roof like a tide, pulling at them from every direction.
Small rocks and dirt fall down like rain as the wind died away. He opened his eyes.
The dome was gone, and so was The Wall… Jin saw, but he didn’t believe…
How could he, when what he saw was so unreal?
“Frey was right all along…” He heard someone whisper next to him. Father Patrick was holding himself upright, his knees shaking. His voice quivered as tears ran down his cheeks. “She was right all along…” He managed before he broke out in loud sobs, letting his knees buckle.
Jin turned his head back to the sight before him. “Frey was right…” He heard himself whisper, as the pieces seemed to fall into place. “Frey was right.”
The roaring filled the air, and it took a while before Jin recognized what it was…
The people of Slum City were making the noise as they charged the world beyond The Wall. Jin didn’t know if it was merely the craving for the Yellow Pill and their aggression that made them like a hoard of mindless beasts, but whatever the reason, they charged. Thousand upon thousands of humans ran towards the soft green glow as they let their primal screams fill the air, their enemies within Slum City forgotten as they directed their attention toward a new one. As he gasped for breath, he realized he had joined them. He ran to the edge and pushed off from the building.
He barely heard Father Patrick yell’s behind him.
Jin tucked his shoulder in as he landed, softening the impact with a roll and came up on his feet without stopping. He jumped from building to building, not caring that he barely made some of the jumps. His mind was gone, and the only thing he saw was that green glow, and the settling dust from The Wall.
People were running in every direction, choosing the exit closest to them. He tore his mask from his back, not slowing as he fastened it around his mouth and nose, thinking of Frey as he did so.
These bastards took her… he was sure of it now. They took her!
The sentence seemed to echo in his mind, fuming his fury and feeding his primal side, making him loose himself in the rush of adrenaline.
Jin slid down a water drain as he neared the boarder, and snatched a discarded gun from the ground. He ran past blood and garbage, yellow foam, weapons and bodies as he closed in on the alien sight.
The stench of the Slum City was soon left behind, and if Jin hadn’t been in the hands of his instincts, he wouldn’t have been able to cope with the sight they as they broke out from the strange building.
All that filled his mind was the urge to find the ones responsible for having taken her…
Chapter 22
Frey saw the walls fall, and when the earthquake started, many of the buildings in Hole collapsed under the strain.
There was no time to worry about the people down there as glass shattered above. Tina tossed herself to the side just as a panel smashed into the computers. Frey grabbed her arm, and the two of them stumbled for the exit. One man screamed as a panel hit him. The rest made it out in time.
Frey pulled her bandana up as their small group bolted for the exit, trying not to fall from all the shaking. Even if the actual structure held, the glass above them certainly wouldn’t.
Tina crashed into the black door as more of the roof fell around them, shattering and spewing shards in every direction. Frey reached out to pull the last man to safety just as big shards of glass smashed down where he’d been a second before.
They bolted down the stairs as the building, Tina screaming at them all to hurry.
People ran everywhere in panic on the street. White robes tangled between legs, many falling because of it. She had prompted them to dark and worn clothes. The crazed eyes from the people of Hole seemed to overlook them as they flickered around, picking targets.
Frey reached the street outside, running towards the park as humans flooded out of Dome. She looked hopelessly into the sea of humans, trying to spot Jin. She knew as well as the others what danger they were in.
“Tina!” Frey yelled. “Where’s the Three Houses?!”
“Not far-“
“Let’s lead as many as we can there! We won’t get a better chance of tearing it down!”
Tina signaled the men closer. “Take the cars, meet us at the main street! All lights on, and get the riot your attention. You heard her! Let’s bring a bit of hell to the Three Houses!”
The press from the furious mob was behind them. There were thousands of them that had spotted the three vehicles. Now they were charging after them like starving dogs.
Tina and the others had kept the pace low enough for them to always be in sight of the procession. Frey clenched her hands tight around Tina’s midsection as the big woman tilted this way and that. If she were to fall, their disguise wouldn’t stop the crazed humans from ripping them to pieces.
The motorbike twisted left and right, following huge roads that were surrounded by parks and low buildings. It all looked extremely expensive, even for Alya standards.
Frey could see The Three Houses, and she knew without having been there that it would still be guarded, even as the rest of the city burned. The government would protect their own hides, even at the cost of Alya.
Tina didn’t have to tell Frey which of the constructions were The Three Houses… The one that opened up in front of them was without a doubt the one. The massive gate were
closed, the white building immense in its size and built. Compared to the other buildings, this one seemed almost ancient. There wasn’t one scratch on it, not one crack, but it still seemed almost sacred, like it had been standing here before all the other buildings.
One of the trucks drove straight through the heavy gates, smashing through the metal bars, the nose of the car flattening. It smoked and hissed as the engine died, the driver stumbling out just as guards came running.
The two remaining vehicles sped inside, heading straight towards the great doorway.
Three big machines stepped into view on their mechanical legs, their nozzle pointing out towards the approaching riot. Frey touched the side of her helmet. “Ram them!” She yelled at the two truck drivers, hoping they wouldn’t hesitate to do so. She knew they had to take out the metal monsters, or there would be little but minced meat left from any of them. Neither hesitated as they drove straight into the machines, taking them inside the building from the force. They disappeared in a cloud of rock and dust, and Frey could feel Tina shift in front of her.
“Includes us!” She yelled as she drove her bike straight at the middle machine. She tore her throttle to the bottom, flipping the bike up on its back tire.
Just before it hit the stairs, she fell backwards, taking Frey with her. The air was pressed out of her as, and they skidded over the grass, bike exploding in a ball of flame.
Frey flipped around. She tore the helmet off, facing the crowd. They were almost upon them. She felt a strong hand under her arm, pulling her to her feet. Tina was bleeding from the shoulder.
“This way!” Tina yelled, dragging her over the rubble and into the building, the wild cries just at their backs.
Chapter 23
Jin was caught up in the frenzy. If he was to get shot in the leg, he wasn’t sure he had even notice. The tumult and bloodlust around him was contagious, and he felt himself roar with the rest as they charged anything and everything. Nothing else registered. Not the buildings or the sights. Not even the real sky above made his mind snap back. He was lost in the pure primal desire to kill.
The Yellow Pill Page 13
