Alt+Control Chapter 34

Which of course comes a lot sooner than we expect. We go through some more hallways, just impulsively deciding which way to go when we come across a crossroad. It appears we’re going in the right direction, as we come across a section accessible through only a card chip.

“So what now?” I ask Marc and Gerad. We can’t break down the door, as it looks like solid metal. I kick it, and my suspicions are confirmed as I feel no give, and my ears are met with a dull thud.

“Calm down, Kaya. Here, let’s try this,” Marc says, searching his suit’s inner pockets. He hands me a card.

“Where did you get this? And how do you know it’ll work?”

“I picked it out of one of the guard’s pockets. Thought we might’ve needed it.”

I smirk at him. “Sounds like you’ve broken in to places like these before. Do you have a criminal life you’ve been keeping secret from us?”

He winks. “Maybe…” He leans against the wall in obvious exhaustion.

I slide the key card through, and lights around the door flashes green. The door slides open, revealing even more hallway. This time, however, the hallway is cement.

“So we’re definitely in a different section,” says Gerad. “I think this is where Chronos and Lukas is, at least according to the blueprint.”

“Marc, do you think you’ll be fine?” I ask. I don’t want him to collapse in the middle of the journey.

“Yeah, totally.” He pushes himself off the wall, and shuffles towards us. He stumbles, but thankfully, Gerad manages to catch him. He helps him into the cement hallway, and the door closes.

“Marc. Sit down and rest, honestly. I don’t want you to keel over and die!” I help Gerad set him down on the cold cement. “That android must’ve done more damage than we first thought.” I peer down the hallway. It’s brightly lit in the part we’re in right now, but as the hallway goes down, it gets dimmer and dimmer. The hallway is arousing my curiosity, and I just have to check it out.

“I’m going ahead. Gerad, stay with Marc.”

“No you’re not!” shouts Marc violently, and he tries to get up. Gerad pulls him back down. “It’s not safe!”

“Marc, stop it!” I shout back. “I can take care of myself, and I don’t need the two of you hovering around me. You need to take care of yourself, ok? So trust me, please?” I plead with him.

Marc looks at me, and for a second I’m afraid he’ll get up and insist on going with me. Instead he just closes his eyes. “Fine,” he tells me.

I don’t even reply. I just stand up, and start walking down the hall. For the first few meters, it’s as bright as where I started. But as I go farther and farther down, the darkness starts to swallow me. Goosebumps start to crawl up my skin as I distance myself from the safe light. With no light to guide me, I make my pace slower and slower.

I glance back at Gerad and Marc, and they’re still exactly where I left them. Good. I turn back, and spot a large, glowing red button. I reach out to touch it, and then push it.

All of a sudden, a tsunami of emotions and images ran over me. Images of a funeral, of Gerad and Marc lying in a pool of blood at the feet of shiny polished boots, of Drew in a hospital bed taking his last breaths as the coma overtakes him, all mix and jumble in a brew of horror. Pain, regret, anger, disgust and shame flood into my mind, accompanying the horrifying images. I can’t move, and I can feel eyes on me, several pairs, fixating me to the floor. Oh god. I close my eyes, hoping I can shut them all out.

The images repeat themselves over and over again, with voices whispering to me, “It’s all your fault. Your fault, Kaya Song!” Hoover’s face appears, which morphs into Gerad’s, then Marc’s, then Lae’s and Nella’s… every single one of those familiar faces have identical looks of revolt… Stop it! Please! Somebody stop it…

I’m surprised that the scream I heard belongs to me. It was so ethereal, as if it belongs to a banshee, or the whistling wind. I didn’t think it could’ve wormed its way out of my tight throat.

Suddenly, I feel two warm arms pick me up and carry me out of the darkness, away from the madness. The faces and images fade, along with the emotions that made my heart race and throb. I managed to stop screaming. I open my eyes to see Marc’s face with an extremely concerned expression.

“I told you it wasn’t safe, you dummy,” he scolds me, but it was gently.

“Marc, what are you doing up? You should be resting…”

“I couldn’t stop him. As soon as we heard your scream, he was up faster than you could say, ‘Help!’” Gerad tells me. Marc sits down with me still cradled in his arms.

“But Marc, didn’t you feel that too?” I ask. “It was a nightmare. Please tell me you didn’t.”

“No, don’t worry,” says Marc, but his face betrays him. He obviously did, as his facial expression changed when I asked. I decide not to call him out on it. I just give him a shake of the head.

“You’re a bigger idiot, don’t you realize?”