Tower Climber

by Jakob Tanner

  The soldiers kept my head in their crosshairs. Army boots smacked against the floor, getting louder and louder. Security had sent out reinforcements.

  Two new armed guards took position in front of the bioscan and started processing people.

  The guard at my back patted me down and confiscated my phone, wallet, and passport.

  “Hey! I need those—“

  “Not where you’re going,” muttered the guard, patting me down.

  Once finished, the other soldier said, “Follow me.”

  He spun around and marched forward. I stood still, frozen with fear. Paralyzed. What was about to happen? The guard behind dug the barrel of his gun deep into my skin. A sharp pain ripped across my back.

  “Move it.”

  I caught up with the marching guard while the other one followed behind, making sure I didn’t run for it. We entered a back stairwell and headed down the steps. A cold draft swept through. My teeth shivered and my shoulders shook. At the bottom was an open door, leading to the tarmac.

  Waiting for us there amongst the airplanes and runways was a green army van, engine running. The guard opened the back door and climbed in. Behind me, the soldier kicked my back with his boot, knocking me into the van.

  “What the hell?”

  “Shut up,” said the soldier, climbing in after me and shutting the door. He signaled the driver, “Take us to the quarantine facility.”

  I got up off the van’s floor and sat down in the corner seat. “What are you guys planning to do to me? What exactly have I done?”

  The guard who wasn’t a complete dickhead turned to me and lifted his gloved hands to his head. He fiddled with his gas mask and pulled it off. The man behind the mask had a boxy head with a square jaw. He had a standard army buzz cut and blue stoic eyes. He blinked and a string of numbers and code fell along the side of his right eye. No wonder this guy didn’t give a shit. He was an android.

  “Passenger 1307-b,” he said. “Clay Hopewell, aged twenty-four years old, citizen of United North America. Arriving from Charles de Gaulle airport, Paris, France. Flight number: 248. You’ve been put under immediate arrest for breaking international law by the decree of—”

  “Breaking the law! How so?”

  “Isn’t it obvious, dumbass?” said the jerk guard, who kept his gas mask firmly on his head. “You got ZERO. You’re a ticking time bomb now bud. I’m sure those French fucks are real happy with themselves for kicking out all the foreigners.”

  My arms shook, my shoulders shuddered. If what they said was true: I only had a few days to live.

  “I was fine a few hours ago,” I said. “How is this even possible?”

  “You’re asking the million-dollar question,” said the guard.

  We drove along an empty runway towards a large airplane hangar. Surrounding the perimeter of the building was a scaffolding of barbed wire, armed guards, sentry towers, and machine gun turrets. We slowed down at a parking gate. The driver poked his head out and spoke with another masked soldier. They exchanged a few words and then the barrier lifted. We drove on towards the hangar.

  The army vehicle halted beneath the shadows of the large building.

  “We’re at your stop,” said the jerk guard. “C’mon—out ya get.”

  He grabbed my jacket collar and dragged me out of the van. All the turrets from the different sentry towers pointed down at my section of the tarmac.

  The guard led me over to a small shed-like building attached to the hangar. He punched in key commands and a metal door slid open.

  “You enter the quarantine zone through here,” said the guard. “We’ll lock the door behind you.”

  “Is there a phone in there? How will my family be alerted of my whereabouts?”

  The guard shook his head. “Don’t worry. That’s all been taken care of.”

  I clenched my fists and swallowed my anger. I brushed past him, heading into the quarantine zone.

  “Okay,” said the guard. “We’ll open the next door after we’ve sealed this first one. If you don’t enter the hangar, we’ll come in there and exterminate you.”

  He punched in the key commands again and the door slid closed, sealing me off from the outside.

  The room was a cold concrete square. A metal door slid open, granting me entrance into the airport hangar. The open doorway revealed a pitch black room. The darkness was impenetrable. A stench wafted out from the hangar’s entrance. It was like a mixture of rotten meat and shit combined. The smell made me not want to go any further. The guard’s voice cut through my thoughts: we’ll exterminate you. I lifted my t-shirt above my nose and stepped into the room.

  The metal door slid closed behind me. The lights above flickered on and the sight was unbelievable. Horrible. This was the quarantine facility?

  The floor was a sea of corpses. A few wrangled on the ground in their own vomit, moaning, but the majority of them were dead. In the furthest corner across the hangar was a heap of bodies, the mound like a pile of garbage at a scrapyard. Instead of rubber bags and broken bottles, there were bloated limbs and the occasional head, frozen in its last contorted gasp of life. They were empty husks, their skins saggy and hollow like deflated balloons. A snapshot of my future.

  My stomach churned. I spun around and banged on the sliding door. “You have to let me out of here!”

  I banged on the steel door with my fist until it was red and aching. “Shit!”

  I leant my head against the wall. What the hell am I going to do?

  An odd gurgle echoed from behind. I turned around and scanned the bodies. “Is someone else in here? Hello?”

  Emerging from behind the tent was a pale dismembered hand clenched between the mouth of a wrinkled old lady. The woman had long sweaty gray hair with patches of red blood stains. Her eyes were yellow and her nose was scrunched like a vicious wolf. She crouched on the ground, her arms hanging between her legs. She dropped the limb from her mouth, swallowing back a piece of flesh. She pulled her dinner closer to her and growled at me.

  “Trust me,” I said. “I don’t want any.”

  She growled louder this time and then barked. What was wrong with this woman? I got the sense she was telling me to get lost. To leave her to her tasty human limb. Fine by me. I stayed where I was, halfway across the hangar from her. But she didn’t stop staring. She didn’t blink. She growled and bared her teeth.

  “I don’t want any trouble,” I said. “I’m going over this way. I’ll leave you alone, if—”

  She hissed, spit flinging from her teeth. She rushed towards me and jumped, fingernails out, ready to claw my face off. I lifted my foot and kicked her right in the stomach. She fell onto the pavement. She rolled over on the floor, got back up, and ran at me again. This time I kicked her in the head.

  “Screw off lady,” I said.

  I ran from the door. The woman’s heavy panting encouraged me to run faster. I spun round and she was already halfway in the air, claws out. She dug her sharp nails into my shoulders and pushed me on the ground. Her sweaty blood drenched hair fell into my face along with her spit and bile. Drool dripped onto my cheeks as her lips opened wide for a big chomp of my flesh. I grabbed her neck and pushed her away.

  She caught hold of my arm and pinned it to the floor. She did the same with the other. The woman’s strength was overpowering. I kicked her, but she used her feet to keep my legs down. She had me trapped. Her hot breath poured down on my face. She licked her teeth with her tongue, readying herself for her fresh meal.

  I was zombie chow-mein.

  I closed my eyes, waiting to be eaten alive when a burst of machine gun fire echoed across the hangar. The deranged woman wailed in pain, shrieking. She collapsed onto my chest. Her body was sticky and warm. I pushed her off and scrambled to my feet.

  What the hell was going on?

  Back by the hangar entrance was a guard in a gas mask holding an assault rifle. I recognized his rough voice straightaway.

  “Mr. Hopewell,” said
the guard. “Someone very important has alternative plans for your future.”

  (Continue Arcane Kingdom Online: The Chosen below! Click the image or link below to see more!)

  Arcane Kingdom Online: The Chosen available now!

  Join The Chosen (Jakob Tanner’s Reading Group) on Facebook today!

  If you’re looking to connect with other fans of my writing. and want to stay up to date with all my book news, join my author facebook group here.

  Join the LitRPG Group on Facebook!

  To learn more about LitRPG, talk to authors including myself, and just have an awesome time, please join the LitRPG Group.

  Join the GameLit Society for more GameLit and LitRPG!

  If you want to hang out with other GameLit fans and authors, consider joining the GameLit Society Facebook group here.

  More LitRPG/GameLit Groups

  If you’re looking for more places to chat about LitRPG and GameLit, consider joining these facebook groups and forums as well.

  LitRPG Books (Facebook Group)

  LitRPG Forum (Facebook Group)

  r/LitRPG (LitRPG Subreddit)

  The LitRPG Store

  If you want to find more great LitRPG Books, check out the Amazon store - https://www.amazon.com/litrpg