Furnace 3 - Death Sentence

by Alexander Gordon Smith

  ‘Here they come,’ said Simon. ‘Forget it, Alex, let’s just go.’

  But I kept pulling, even when I felt the vibration of an electric current running down my arms, even when the drizzle of sparks became a monsoon. I pulled until that cable came loose, sliding from the wall and thrashing in my hands like a snake. I could see the copper wires beneath the plastic insulation, spitting at me.

  Nothing happened. The elevator continued to rise.

  ‘Come on!’ screamed Simon. ‘Dump that thing and let’s get out of here.’

  Dump it. I wrenched the cable further from the wall, ignoring the charge that pulsed down my arms, which made my entire body want to fold in on itself. It wouldn’t stretch far but that didn’t matter. The elevator shaft was close enough.

  I launched the cable towards it, throwing myself back in the same movement. It bucked and lurched as the bare copper made contact with one of the lift gates, then it literally exploded.

  The room was plunged into darkness and silence, so deep that I might have been electrocuted. Then I saw the odd spark from the direction of the lift shaft, heard the shouts of distress from beneath us, from the black-suits in the cab, smelled the acrid tang of smoke and, under that, something else which made me want to chuck my guts up again.

  ‘Nice going, Alex,’ came Zee’s voice, and I wasn’t sure if he was being serious or not. ‘Now what the hell are we –’

  Something rumbled a long way beneath our feet, the steady growl of machinery powering up. The ceiling lights blinked once, twice, then fluttered on like candles, their pale light illuminating the room. Gradually, one by one, the monitors on the wall came back to life, and even in their tiny screens I could see the panic erupting behind the cell doors in gen pop.

  ‘Emergency generator,’ said Zee. ‘Must be.’

  ‘Doesn’t matter,’ Simon responded, walking to the elevator shaft and peering down, careful not to touch any of the exposed metal in case there was still a current running through it. ‘They aren’t going anywhere. Hell, Alex, I think you fried them.’

  My stomach churned again as I watched Simon hawk up a spitball and launch it into the shaft. The charge might have given the blacksuits in the elevator some nasty burns, but it probably wouldn’t have killed them, would it? And did it matter if it had?

  Something black and heavy began to pull itself over my thoughts, a hood that shrouded my vision. I slumped back against the wall, feeling the nectar in my veins pumping through my system and trying to pull me back into the darkness. I groaned, shocked to hear the deep growl that crawled from between my lips. It was the same feeling I’d got when I’d killed Ozzie: the guilt, the horror, turning me into a monster. It’s what the nectar wanted, what it needed. Because the only way it could control me was if I was one of them, a killer.

  I thumped a fist against my head, shaking the fog away. When I opened my eyes again Simon was in front of me.

  ‘Fight it,’ he said quietly. ‘Take a couple of deep breaths and think about something good, okay? Think about getting out of here. Nectar can’t have power over you if you don’t let it.’

  I listened to him, dreaming about the outside world, about the rain that was falling even now. I imagined it on my skin, running down my face and slaking my thirst. Gradually the impenetrable mist drew back from my mind, leaving me alone with my fantasy. I opened my mouth, let the air flood into my lungs, then pushed myself up from the wall.

  ‘Thanks,’ I said. He patted me gently on the shoulder.

  ‘Don’t mention it, I’ve been there, like I said. Gets worse before it gets better.’

  A medley of scraping sounds was rising from the elevator shaft, almost masking the symphony of groans beneath, and more to escape the noise than anything else I walked to the control panel.

  ‘That will hold them back for a while,’ I said, studying the array of electronic equipment before me. ‘But not for long. When they find out what we’ve done they are going to be pissed. We’ve got to get out of here now before they think of a way to climb that elevator shaft.’

  ‘I hear that,’ said Simon. He had walked to the immense door that led into gen pop and was examining the locks. ‘First things first, let’s get this open.’

  A quick scan of the controls revealed two switches labelled AIR LOCK. They could both be set to either 0 or 1, and both were currently pointing at 0. I grabbed one and turned it, and from somewhere close by I heard a single long blast of the siren. The floor trembled, as though a huge door somewhere was opening, but the one in this room stayed tightly shut. I tried the other switch, but it wouldn’t turn.

  ‘Look,’ said Zee, pointing up at a screen on the wall. We followed his finger to see that the vault door in gen pop had swung open. A blacksuit was walking towards it, the expression of confusion on his face visible even on the tiny monitor. ‘Air lock,’ he went on. ‘It must be like in a submarine, two doors that won’t open at the same time.’

  ‘Huh?’ grunted Simon.

  ‘For security,’ added Zee. ‘If the outer door and the inner door open together then prisoners could walk right through. If they open one at a time then anyone who breaches the outer door will get stuck in the middle before the inner door opens. Close that one.’

  Zee reached over me and switched the first dial back to 0. There was another blast on the siren and we watched the screen as the door swung shut. The blacksuit walked up to it, and all three of us burst out laughing as he scratched his head, obviously mystified.

  When we heard the locks slamming shut on the outer door, Zee turned the other switch to 1. Sure enough, the sound of metal bars sliding back filled the room and the door to our side swung smoothly open.

  ‘You are a genius!’ said Simon, grabbing Zee’s head and kissing him on the forehead. We walked to the door and saw a wide, short corridor ahead. Mounted on the ceiling, and thankfully facing away from us, was a machine gun. At the end of the tunnel lay the vault door, a mist of dust billowing in front of it from where it had just closed. ‘So now we just open the big bastard over there and we’re home free?’

  We all saw the problem at the same time, but it was Zee who said it aloud.

  ‘We can’t open the main door from in there,’ he said, nodding at the corridor. ‘It can only be opened from the control panel, right?’

  ‘Right,’ Simon and I said together.

  ‘So …’ Zee said, leaving the statement unfinished. It didn’t need to be said.

  One of us was going to have to stay here.

  PAPER, SCISSORS, STONE

  ‘There must be a way of blocking it, tricking the system, wedging it open, anything!’

  Simon spoke as he paced back and forth, rubbing his head so hard I thought his hair was going to fall out. The inner door still stood open, the exit to gen pop so close and yet so far away.

  ‘Blocking it won’t work,’ Zee explained, his eyes focused on the controls. ‘If the computer senses that one door is still open then the other remains locked. Makes perfect sense.’

  ‘I don’t care if it makes sense,’ Simon screamed, turning on his heels and charging across the room like a battering ram. He raised his hand and for a moment I thought he was going to lash out at Zee, but then he thumped it down on the array of electronic equipment, hard enough to leave a dent.

  ‘That isn’t going to get us anywhere,’ Zee spat, holding his ground against the bigger kid. ‘Gotta use our heads for this, not our fists.’

  The next words out of both their mouths were two streams of profanities that echoed off the walls like popcorn in a microwave. I stepped between them, and it took more of my strength than I thought it would to push them apart.

  ‘Zee’s right, Simon,’ I said. ‘There’s no use in us all staying here until the blacksuits arrive and kill us. Or until we kill each other. One of us has to stay, operate the doors while the others look for a way out of gen pop.’

  I didn’t point out the obvious: that by then whoever was left in the control room would be noth
ing but a stain on the sole of a blacksuit’s boot.

  ‘Well I ain’t doing it,’ Simon said, holding up his hands and backing off towards the door. I could hear the fear in his voice, the terror of a trapped animal. ‘I’ve gone through too much to die in here. We can make it out, I know we can. We’re so close. I … I have to get out.’

  ‘We draw straws,’ I said as firmly as I could, making sure I locked my gaze to Simon’s. I was bigger than him now, but he’d been in a lot more fights than I had and I knew he was more than a match for me. ‘We draw straws or something. Got to keep this fair.’

  Zee started to speak but his soft voice was overpowered by Simon’s barked response.

  ‘I told you, I ain’t doing it.’

  ‘Paper, scissors, stone, then,’ I suggested, ignoring Zee as he attempted to speak again. ‘Worked before, when I went out as bait for the rats. You remember that? You were happy to do it then.’

  ‘That was different,’ he said, pointing at me with one overstuffed finger. ‘Whoever did that had a chance. This is certain death.’

  ‘Guys –’ said Zee, but I didn’t let him finish.

  ‘It’s paper, scissors, stone, Simon,’ I said, still not breaking eye contact. ‘You don’t play then you automatically lose.’

  ‘Guys –’ Zee repeated with more force.

  ‘Fine,’ Simon interrupted. He stared me out for a few more seconds, then put a hand behind his back. ‘Me and you. Winner plays Zee. On three. One, two, three.’

  I pulled out scissors, but my view of Simon’s hand was blocked by Zee.

  ‘Guys,’ he whispered, putting his hand on my fingers and pushing them down, ‘I’m going to do it.’

  ‘But –’ I started to protest. This time it was him cutting me off.

  ‘Do either of you know anything about electronics?’ he asked. ‘No. Do you know how to bypass a circuit? No. Do you stand any chance whatsoever of being able to trick the system into opening both doors at once?’ He laughed weakly. ‘There’s more hope of the warden coming up here and kissing my ass.’

  ‘But –’

  ‘But nothing, Alex. You gotta trust me, I can do this. It’s the only way.’

  ‘Then we’ll stay with you until you can break the system,’ I said, but he shook his head.

  ‘We don’t know how much time we’ve got. Get out there, stir up the prisoners. Maybe if we can cause a big enough distraction in gen pop then they won’t notice us looking for an exit. I’ll join you as soon as I can.’

  I looked over Zee at Simon, both of us too ashamed to hold eye contact. There we were about to screw each other over to be the first to get out while Zee was volunteering to stay behind. And he was the only one who still looked like himself, the only one who hadn’t had the procedure. The only one who had any right to return to the real world.

  He was right, though. Neither Simon nor I stood any chance of rerouting the circuits so that both doors would stay open.

  ‘Alright,’ I said eventually. ‘But you be quick, okay? Is there anything we can use to slow them down?’

  Zee’s eyes ran across the control panel, then looked at the television monitors.

  ‘I don’t need them,’ he said. ‘And if the suits do break through then it’s better if they can’t see what’s going on. Lob them down there, it might slow them up.’

  Simon and I did as we were asked, pulling the bulky screens from the steel brackets that held them to the wall and chucking them down the elevator shaft. There was a good few seconds of silence before we heard each one hit. By the time we were finished Zee had already dismantled the top of the control panel and was examining the wires underneath.

  ‘That can go too,’ he said, nodding at the pile of metal he’d pulled loose. I picked it up, chucking it down into the darkness. The elevator was too far below to make out, and even if I could have seen it I knew it would be buried beneath electrical equipment. It wouldn’t stop the suits from finding a way up, but it should keep them back for a little longer.

  ‘I hope you can still let us out,’ Simon said.

  Zee nodded, his breath a long, stuttered sigh that made my heart bleed.

  ‘Find a way to the surface,’ he said. ‘I’ll try and work out the controls for the main elevator too. And I’ll be with you before you know it, you’ll see.’

  ‘I know,’ I replied, although I didn’t truly believe it. ‘Be quick, though, yeah?’

  I stepped forward and wrapped my arms round him, feeling his own on my ribs, too short now to reach my back. I was glad my tears had dried up earlier because it was all I could do not to break down again right now. After everything we’d been through, after everyone I’d already lost, the thought of not seeing Zee again was worse than death.

  ‘We got here together, we’ll get out of here together, I promise,’ I said, my voice trembling. ‘I promise, Zee, I won’t leave without you.’

  ‘If you can go, go,’ he replied, the words broken up by another sigh. ‘You might not get another chance.’

  He turned back to the control panel and flicked another switch. I felt rather than heard the sound of thousands of cell doors grinding open.

  ‘That should keep the guards in there busy for a little while,’ he said. ‘Now move your backsides before I change my mind.’

  ‘Thanks, Zee,’ said Simon, before running into the tunnel. I cast a nervous look at the machine gun over my head as I followed, but Zee shouted after me.

  ‘The armed response has been deactivated,’ he said. ‘That shouldn’t even move.’

  I stopped by the main vault door, looking back the way I’d come. I wanted to shout something else to Zee, but the only thing I could think of was ‘goodbye’, and I couldn’t bring myself to say it. Even if I’d wanted to, I doubt I could have forced words up past the lump in my throat. I felt like it was a piece of me I was leaving behind.

  But I would see him again, I told myself. I would.

  The inner door began to swing shut and I automatically started moving towards it, Simon’s hand on my arm the only thing that stopped me.

  ‘He’ll be okay,’ he said. ‘He’s a hell of a lot smarter than either of us. He’ll find a way through.’

  Zee suddenly appeared in the closing crack of the door, his skinny hand waving and his pale face doing its best to form a smile. He looked tiny, insubstantial, like he was already dead. A ghost of himself. I pictured the blacksuits flooding in behind him, a dark tide drowning an insect. He wouldn’t last five seconds in the face of their wrath.

  I shook myself free from Simon’s grip and ran towards him again, shouting his name. But the door was too quick, locking his tears behind a metre of solid steel. I felt my ears pop from the change in pressure, the air inside the tunnel suddenly too hot, like we’d stepped into an oven.

  ‘Here we go,’ said Simon, and I made my way back to him, doing my best to put Zee from my mind. I pressed my hand against the outer vault door. There was a series of clicks, then with a thunderous groan and a bonebreaking shudder it began to grind open. Behind it I could make out the shouts of a thousand inmates as they escaped from their cells. ‘You ready for this?’

  ‘Ready as I’ll ever be,’ I said, clenching my fists and preparing to run.

  The door swung out, revealing the football-pitch-sized yard that made up the base of gen pop. There were already inmates congregating there, and when they saw us staggering out they erupted, shouting and screaming and barging past each other to see what was going on. There were three blacksuits at the front of the crowd, guns cocked, but their attention was taken up by the heated populace.

  ‘Home sweet home,’ I said, grinning at Simon. ‘It’s good to be back.’

  Then we put our heads down and charged.

  RIOT

  I can’t imagine what we looked like as we burst from that door, but it must have been a terrifying sight. As soon as they saw us the inmates started to run, darting in all directions as they fought to get out of our way, a shoal of fish parted by
sharks.

  Their panic provided the distraction we needed. One of the blacksuits fired his shotgun in the air to try to control them and the other two were barking orders at the fleeing kids. They never even knew we were coming.

  ‘Get back in the circle, you freaks,’ bellowed one,pointing the barrel of his gun at the huge yellow ring painted on the yard floor. ‘Or next time –’

  It was as far as he got. I watched Simon thump into him, sending the guard flying. He hit the ground awkwardly, his gun discharging into the crowd. Another of the suits levelled his weapon at Simon but I was on him before he could pull the trigger. I grabbed the barrel with one hand, driving my other fist into his ribs.

  The blow was hard, but he didn’t seem to feel it. He retaliated like a viper, his forehead connecting with my nose and causing the whole world to explode in white light. I staggered, desperately trying to keep hold of the shotgun as he aimed it at my head. More from luck than skill I kept the barrel vertical, even when he fired it and the cool steel turned red hot.

  I blinked away the tears, ignoring the pain in my nose and throwing myself at the suit. This time I aimed a little higher, lashing out at his neck. I could see the confusion in his face, being attacked by one of his brothers.

  ‘You don’t have to fight,’ I tried to say, but adrenaline tied my words in knots. I don’t think he’d have registered them even if they had been spoken. The nectar was in his blood, morphing his face into a twisted mask of rage, turning his eyes to cold fire. It was either him or me. One of us had to die.

  One of my punches caught him on the ear and he staggered back, dropping the gun. I didn’t relent, my blows like jackhammers. Another shotgun blast ripped through the air and I ducked instinctively, putting all my strength into my brutal attack. The blacksuit tripped on his own feet, tumbling onto the stone.

  I was about to finish him off when I saw the other guards bounding across the yard. There were six of them, heading from the direction of the chipping halls, all with guns. Another four were leaping down the steps from the upper levels. Several of them fired together, not seeming to care that there were other blacksuits in the way. They were still too far away for the shots to be deadly, but they wouldn’t be for long.