Resistance
Wiz felt a sudden urge to leap off the side of the tower block. With three Centuria pointing their weapons at him, things were unlikely to play out well.
He was about to make a run for it when one of the Centuria dropped his weapon and pulled off his helmet. He held out his hand.
‘Leo Bachus. That was a close call.’
Wiz stared at him. He’d never been offered a handshake in The Climbs before. People there tended to have more interest in where their next meal was coming from.
Leo realized his mistake and apologized.
‘I’m sorry, I should have thought.’
The other Centuria lowered their weapons but remained helmeted.
Wiz studied Leo. He was young, not much older than he was. The Centuria were always anonymous, their helmets protecting their identities – it tended to keep things simpler in civilian life. It was difficult to stay friends with the neighbours if you’d arrested somebody on their street and they ended up in The Grid.
‘There’s no need to be afraid, we’re not going to hurt you, Shen.’
They knew his name. Not the one he liked to use. Wiz guessed they were all searching for him.
‘Call me Wiz. I never use Shen Li. It died with the rest of my family.’
‘No problem. Do you want to put your bag down, Wiz? You’ve had a bit of a fright.’
Wiz put his bag down.
‘Why do they have their helmets on?’ he asked.
‘I don’t have family, Wiz. I’m like you, they’re all dead. One of my friends here has family; she has more than just her own life to lose, she needs to hide her identity for now. I took mine off as a sign of trust, Wiz. You can trust us, we won’t harm you.’
Wiz wasn’t so sure. He’d rather have seen their faces.
One of the other Centuria spoke. It was a woman’s voice. That startled Wiz; he’d never thought there might be women concealed beneath the masks. Brutality wasn’t just a device used by men, he knew that, but it still surprised him to hear a young female speaking.
‘Leo, we need to move fast. They’ll want an update soon.’
‘Okay, okay Jody. You’re right. Let’s get things moving.’
Jody removed her helmet – she felt it might help ease the tension a bit. Unlike her friend, she had no family to worry about.
‘Wiz, we’re a small group of Centuria looking for our chance to strike back at Fortrillium. There aren’t many of us. The Centuria are controlled by fear and threats just like everybody else. We’ve been trying to track you down since the arrest alert went out – we want to work with you.’
Wiz wasn’t so sure about that. Yet they’d saved his life already, he was still breathing.
There was a sound on the WristComs of all three Centuria, and the third spoke. It was another woman, she also sounded young.
‘Leo, we need to give a report.’
‘Jody, I’m going to step behind the aerials with Wiz. You file a full video report to HQ and tell them I’m checking the top five floors with Julia.’
‘Will do,’ she replied. ‘Julia, send a follow-up report from two floors down in five minutes – confirm that the top five floors are clear.’
Julia hesitated, then moved off.
Wiz and Leo moved out of the way of Jody’s camera, and Jody replaced her helmet before filing the report.
‘What’s with all the youngsters?’ asked Wiz. He’d been surprised at how young everybody sounded.
‘We have less to lose. The Centuria with partners and children, they’re much less likely to risk joining us, even if they want to. Julia has lots of family on Silk Road; her hand was forced when she joined us – sometimes you have to take sides. Jody is like me, no family.
‘We met in the Centuria, got talking on long overnight shifts. We all think the same way: there needs to be change in The City. We have to move carefully, though. If they discover us, it’ll be the shortest resistance movement in history.’
‘Wiz, I’m going to give you a WristCom. It’s not secure yet, you’ll need to get it reconfigured, but it won’t be traced. It’s from a dead man.’
Leo handed the device to Wiz, who hoped it wasn’t an omen.
‘A clever guy like you can get this fixed. I’ve read your profile.
I want you to carry on what you’re doing here; we know this rig must be connected to whatever you were doing in the sewers.’
‘Don’t tell me what it’s for now. If they catch us, it’s better that we don’t know. But if you need help, get that WristCom sorted and give us a call. We’re stationed in The Climbs for the next two weeks of shifts – that should easily cover your friends’ trial and whatever you’re up to. We’re all in this together, Wiz, and if we can help you, we will.’
He held out his hand again but withdrew it immediately. Wiz didn’t need any more reminders of the differences between them.
Wiz concealed the WristCom in his pocket. Whatever Leo and his friends were up to, they had just saved his life and given him the most useful piece of equipment he could have asked for. It wasn’t a bad start to a new alliance. He didn’t even have to share any information with Leo; it seemed a safe bet. He’d discuss it later with Talya, see what she thought.
Leo could hear Jody finishing off her status update to Fortrillium. He placed his helmet back on his head. Immediately he looked more sinister and threatening.
Wiz and Leo walked around the corner when Jody had signed off.
‘We’re leaving now, Wiz. We’ll report this area clear. Finish off whatever you’re doing and get out of here – there won’t be any new patrols in Pegasus block tonight.’
Wiz nodded and watched as Leo and Jody left the rooftop.
He looked around for his bag so he could start work on the aerials once again. He’d move around to the other side of the scaffold; it had looked more secure there when he’d been speaking to Leo. He scolded himself for not having taken more care the first time.
As he picked up his bag, a thought struck him. His new Centuria friends were away, it was too late to call back to them. Only minutes previously he’d heard Jody signing off her video update and reporting that all was clear at the top of the tower block. She’d had her camera pointing towards the edge of the rooftop, exactly where Leo had taken his hand earlier and pulled him to safety. But she’d overlooked something. His bag must have been visible on the video feed. It was right there, aerials and all, just waiting to be spotted by Fortrillium.
Missing
Joe woke in a sweat. He’d had a broken sleep, teased all night with thoughts of the past forty-eight hours.
In his dreams Lucy had fallen from the cage. Clay had almost caught her, but he’d lost his grip and she’d plunged to her death on the hard floor below. He’d been too indecisive; when Lucy had needed him, he hadn’t been there.
He’d jumped out of his sleep as her body hit the ground. It was still dark, everybody else was still. Eventually he drifted back to sleep, but the nightmares continued.
This time, it was Zach. Joe was holding his hand as his blistered body burned in front of him. In the dream, Joe couldn’t release the hand. Zach’s body writhed and contorted as he was tortured by the fire, and all he could do was to hold on. As Zach’s body finally went limp, he kept saying the same words over and over again to Joe.
‘You could have saved me if you’d tried harder … You could have saved me if you’d tried harder … ’
Joe woke again. It was light, or at least getting there. The others were beginning to move now. He dozed a short time, thinking about what lay ahead of them.
Things would change soon; their present environment would be moved on to suit whatever trial challenge was coming next. It could be anything. Joe knew enough about The Grid to understand there was no point trying to guess. The horrors inflicted upon the Justice Seekers were as diverse as the minds which devised them. There was no point worrying. The Mode would change at a time of Fortrillium’s choosing. They needed to eat, stay strong and work together. The trials always lasted longest with a strong leader and a team which stuck together.
Joe looked over towards Schälen, but he wasn’t there. He was nervous about that man. Joe had seen it before. The commentators of the screens called them ‘wild cards’. ‘Sociopaths’ would have been a more accurate description.
Every now and then you’d get someone like Schälen thrown into a trial. There weren’t a lot of people like him in The City – most crimes were related to survival and self-preservation. Schälen’s crimes were vindictive and violent. They had nothing to do with staying alive, they were motivated by a hatred for humanity. That made him dangerous and unpredictable.
The other Justice Seekers just wanted to survive. They all knew how the trials ended, yet there was still that glimmer of hope every time. You could see it on the faces of whoever was in The Grid. They should have all given up in the first Mode, but they kept fighting and fighting. Even when all seemed lost, they would continue to fight. Joe understood it now he was there. He knew that none of them were getting out of The Grid, it was an evil game run by Fortrillium. But like all the others, he would fight until the end. He refused to lie down and die.
Their leader was Clay – he was strong and knew what to do. More of them would be dead already if it hadn’t been for Clay; he’d saved lives and shown he could make quick decisions. They all accepted it too. There was no doubt that Clay would lead them as far as they were going to go in this trial. They had two Modes left, two more challenges before the final trial.
They’d done well. At least the end would not be far off. If they’d drawn ten Modes, it might have gone on for weeks. Joe wasn’t sure he could have taken that. You tired quickly in The Grid; he’d seen ten-Mode trials when all of the Justice Seekers had been dead by the halfway point. The second Mode was likely to follow that evening, and they’d need to be ready when it came.
Joe looked over to Clay. He was still lying on the ground, his eyes open. He saw that Joe was gazing in his direction and smiled.
‘You okay, Joe?’
‘Yes, bad dreams, though.’
‘Me too. I don’t think any of us are getting sweet dreams in here.’
Joe laughed. He liked that Clay could make him smile, even in that terrible place. They sat up in silence for a while. Some of the others were still sleeping.
Joe wondered what Wiz and Mitchell were up to. They were taking their time. Surely they’d get a message to him and Lucy soon; he had to trust that they were still free and working on the data they’d discovered.
He cursed that they’d been caught. They knew the risks, they always had. If only they’d had a little more time. Joe hoped his friends would be working hard to secure their release – it was the only way they were walking out of The Grid alive.
He hadn’t even considered how the information might be used. He’d been so intent on trying to find what his father was doing. There had never really been a big plan. They’d not thought much further than hacking in and getting to the truth.
And what of Hannah? They hadn’t heard from Hannah in a couple of days. Joe didn’t even know if she’d been successful in the contest. Would she be able to help, even if she’d got closer to the Gridders? He didn’t know, none of them knew what would happen if Hannah won, they just had their theories. Nobody outside Fortrillium really knew how The Grid operated – it was all conjecture.
Joe tried to lift his spirits. He was desperate to find out what was going on back in The City. Surely, Talya would be working on their behalf too … they wouldn’t just be abandoned there. Would they?
‘We need to think about food.’
Clay’s voice brought Joe out of his brooding. It was easier for the people who lived in The Climbs, they were used to doing without. Having no food for a few days was never easy, but they’d all done it at one time or another. The Silk Roaders would struggle though; they’d soon weaken without meals.
There was always a way to eat in The Grid, but Fortrillium didn’t make it easy. Justice Seekers usually had to look to the environment for the solution. They’d been placed in a wood, and they had water nearby. It wasn’t close enough to save Zach, but at least they’d been able to drink. Joe thought back to the fire the night before; he could still taste the dirt from the trench and the smoke in his mouth.
Joe looked over at Chris. He was chatting to Miron and Ross and seemed much more settled, certainly less anxious. Why had he even been sent to the Institution? He seemed fine.
Then it clicked. Where was Lucy? She’d gone to sleep close to Chris, but she wasn’t there anymore. Joe sat up and looked around the group. Marjani and Rick, but no Lucy.
‘Anybody seen Lucy?
Did she go to the stream?’
There were blank looks all round.
‘Chris?’
Chris looked guilty, as if he’d forgotten all about his friend, the person who had immediately taken him under her wing and protected him. He hung his head but did not reply.
‘Lucy!’ Joe shouted. He thought she might have gone looking for food – as a Silk Roader she’d have been feeling the hunger.
‘Lucy!’
No answer. Joe looked over to where Schälen had taken shelter for the night.
‘Have you seen her, Schälen?’ he called.
Schälen shrugged.
‘We need to find her,’ Clay began. ‘We must stay together for when they change the Modes.’
‘I don’t trust Schälen,’ Joe muttered. ‘He’s going to be trouble.’
‘Forget him for now, focus on Lucy.’
Clay had a knack of being able to see what needed to be done. Those who were sitting stood up and they split off into informal groups. It struck Joe how much their numbers were already depleted. He needed to find Lucy; he was angry with her for walking off unannounced.
As Clay started to send out the search parties in their separate directions, they were suddenly surrounded by darkness. The morning light, which had seemed such a positive start to the day, was gone. Joe wondered if this were another of his bad dreams – perhaps he’d imagined that Lucy had disappeared. This was real, though – it went icy cold as soon as the light disappeared.
‘Clay? You still there?’
‘I’m here. Stay still everybody!’
‘Hell, they’re changing the Modes already,’ Ross cursed.
‘Give us a breather, won’t you?’ he shouted out.
Joe felt rapid breathing by his side, a menacing presence, but it was too dark to see who it was.
‘Get ready everybody – here comes our next treat.’
It was Schälen. He’d moved over from his tree some distance away to join the main group. Joe shivered, but this time it wasn’t the cold. How had Schälen done that? It was way too dark to move.
‘Lucy!’ called Clay. ‘Where are you?’
No reply. Just silence and blackness.
‘If she gets caught in the Mode change it could kill her.’
Miron’s voice cut through the darkness. Joe knew what it meant: they needed to be in the circle when it changed.
‘Lucy!’ he called again, but he knew it was useless. Wherever she was, it wasn’t within shouting distance. He felt himself beginning to panic; the rising sense of anxiety was shocking to him. It wasn’t helped by Chris who’d begun to sob again. He understood what was coming.
A light appeared in the darkness. Joe and Clay looked around, making sure they were all together and hoping to see Lucy. It was the holographic image of Damien Hunter. Joe felt the snarl as he spoke.
‘Justice Seekers, you have survived the first Mode in your quest for justice.’
Ross threw a stone at the projected image. Joe only saw it as it flew into the light, but it made him want to laugh. He tried to master his feelings – he knew it was just a reaction to the fear.
‘Now you must move into the second Mode.’
‘Here it comes …’
It was Marjani’s voice.
‘Stay close everybody.’
More reassurance from Clay, just when they needed it.
‘Don’t worry, I will.’
Schälen’s voice again. The man couldn’t speak without it sounding as if he was about to tear your throat out.
‘The way of The Grid is to take an eye for an eye, a tooth for a tooth, a life for a death.
May you find your justice in The Grid …’
The light was back again, albeit very dim. Joe had a moment to take everything in. The woodland was gone. He could no longer hear the water from the stream. They were in a dark tunnel. The only available light was given off by the flames of the burning torches lining the walls.
There was the roar of a beast from deep within the maze of passages. It was like nothing they’d ever heard before. Then a scream. A human scream. It was Lucy’s voice. And it came from the same direction as the creature.
The Second Mode
Hannah had barely had any rest before they were roused from their brief sleep. When she’d arrived for her first day at Fortrillium, she hadn’t anticipated becoming incarcerated there while the trial took place. She hadn’t even expected to become an integral part of the trial so early.
Her fellow Gridders were full of praise for her. She’d set them off to an excellent start. But it was all through gritted teeth – they knew it only increased the pressure on the rest of them. The stress was palpable.
She hoped her parents knew what was going on. Hunter had assured her they’d been informed, but being kept away from home was not something she’d planned for.
There were many rumours about the Gridders. Nobody knew who they were, and it was believed that they walked among the inhabitants of Silk Road. They were only known on the screens by their gaming names, and as such they became celebrities if they made dramatic kills. Already, the buzz over this latest trial was about Janexx2. Hannah didn’t know it, and the residents of The City would never discover her true identity. The City had observed the work of this new Gridder and they understood that this trial was going to be fierce.
97TRaider joined Hannah for food, and she felt relieved at least to have somebody available to talk her through what was going on.
‘Why are we up so early?’
‘That’s my doing, sorry. If you hadn’t made such a good start last night, I’d have gone a little softer on them. I’ve decided to change the Mode early. They won’t be expecting it.’
Hannah looked at 97TRaider.
‘Did you sleep last night?’
‘I skipped it, I’ve been working on my gameplay all night. They won’t want the engagement score to drop now. I’m afraid you set the bar a bit high.’
‘Sorry, but I’m new to all this, you know!’ Hannah snapped at him.
‘Woah! Take it easy. I’m not the enemy here.’
‘Sorry. I’m just a bit tense.’
‘I understand, but if you think it’s bad now, wait until we get past the Modes and on to Ascension. It becomes unbearable.’
Hannah doubted herself once again. Was she really up to this? It had seemed so easy when plotting with Lucy, Joe and the others. Now she hadn’t heard from them in days, and she wouldn’t be able to see them until the Justice Trial was over.
They’d never anticipated what it would be like when they decided to get her in among the Gridders. She felt foolish when she recalled how she’d just thought it would be like a Fortrillium office job. How much more wrong could she have been?
‘What have you got planned for today?’
‘Well, I hope you don’t mind, but I’ve requested a team play with you. We both get to count the kills. I thought it would be a great way for you to cut your teeth.’
Hannah looked at the piece of food on her fork and didn’t feel like eating anymore. That feeling of sickness was back in her stomach. She was already responsible for three deaths. Three faceless people for her, just pixelated images. But, nevertheless, three human beings from The City. And now she was going to have to kill more.
‘What’s the gameplay?’ she asked, deciding not to eat any more food. She’d need to get through that day on an empty stomach if she wasn’t going to let herself down again.
‘It’s a labyrinth,’ 97TRaider began, his eyes lighting up. ‘They’re going underground, in darkness, and I’ve put something nasty down there.’
‘You do get that we’re killing people, don’t you?’ Hannah snapped at him again.
‘Shh!’ he urged. ‘Look, I know, but what can we do? I bet you came here like me, thinking that you’d just create and play a few games and then see yourself idolized throughout The City?’
‘Not quite, but I wasn’t expecting it to be like this.’
‘Well, neither was I. Nobody thought it would be like this, but here we are. If I could get out of it, I would – but I can’t. Neither can you, by the way. You make your kills and you don’t leave until you do.’
Hannah knew that 97TRaider was right, but he’d had much more time to get used to it. She was trapped, they all were.
‘These people will die anyway, it won’t stop when we get out of here.’
Hannah nodded – she didn’t like it, but it was true.
‘At least we can finish them fast. I never let them linger. The kindest thing we can do is to make it swift and dramatic. That way Fortrillium gets what it wants and the Justice Seekers make a fast exit.’
He was right. 97TRaider had been on the same emotional journey as her. All of the Gridders must have reconciled it in a similar way. You’d have to be crazy for it not to bother you. But Fortrillium had them cornered. You always felt cornered in The City, whoever you were. It didn’t make much difference whether you lived on Silk Road or in The Climbs.
That’s why she’d taken on this challenge in the first place. Lucy, Joe, Wiz and Mitchell all had their tech skills, but nobody could get close to her when it came to gaming. Wiz and Joe didn’t have that luxury in The Climbs, but Mitchell and Lucy wouldn’t have been able to take her place – they simply didn’t have her level of ability. It had to be her. They’d all committed to this, it had been part of the plan.
Maybe she wasn’t alone after all. 97TRaider seemed to be somebody she could trust – maybe he could become an ally?
‘You’re right,’ she conceded. ‘I know you’re right. I wish I’d thought about that too – it makes sense to go for a fast kill. I don’t know what I was thinking when I used fire, it’s a terrible way to die.’
‘We all make mistakes like that. Try not to let it eat you up, because it will if you let it.’
‘It is eating me up already. I thought if I killed the first Justice Seeker in the fire the others would figure out how to make it out alive.
Fortrillium would get their big dramatic start and the others would get away.’
‘Not bad thinking, Janexx2 …’
97TRaider paused and searched Hannah’s face. He wondered if he could trust her.
‘Can we use real names?’ he asked. ‘You mustn’t tell anybody if we do.’
Hannah looked back at him. Could she trust this person? He seemed honest – it was he who’d made the suggestion, after all.
‘I’m Linwood Carley. Care to share your real name? If you do, we’ve made a pact, we can’t undo it.’
Hannah’s mouth opened before she’d even decided to share her name. She figured that she needed help if she was going to navigate the dangers of Fortrillium, and 97TRaider had already shown himself to be a friend.
‘Hannah James!’ she said quietly. ‘I’ll keep my mouth shut, don’t worry, I’ve already heard enough about this place to scare the life out of me.’
Linwood chuckled at that.
‘We live in fear here – it’s how Damien Hunter likes it.
But don’t worry, Hannah, you can trust me. We’ll both be in trouble now if they know we shared real names. Just make sure you don’t slip up, always use 97TRaider.’
Hannah nodded and asked what he had planned for the labyrinth.
‘We have to make some fast kills. They only have a three-Mode trial, and we don’t want too many Justice Seekers in at the end when we move to Ascension. I reckon we need at least three kills, maybe even four. It’s going to have to be good today.’
Hannah’s heart sank, and she was pleased she hadn’t eaten any more food. She felt sick all the time, it was the thought of what they had to do.
‘Can we make them fast then if we have to kill?’
‘Yes. This is going to be good, Hannah. Fortrillium will love it. I’ve created four beasts in the labyrinth; they’re all contained at the moment.
I need to do a bit more rendering work on them – I need your help on that. We need to scare the life out of the people watching on the screens.’
For a moment, Hannah was distracted by a sense of excitement. The gamer in her saw the potential for this scenario. She checked herself – these were real people they were planning to kill.
‘They’re in the labyrinth right now. I put them in early while they weren’t expecting it; it’ll confuse them and frighten them. But here’s the thing, Hannah. Something great happened last night.
We’ve got a psycho in there – did you read the profile notes?’
Hannah had. She’d clocked it too, but stored it up for later. A psycho might come in handy for some later gameplay.
‘Last night he abducted one of the Justice Seekers, a female. He separated her from the main group – I think he had plans to torture her.
‘Normally she’d have got caught when we re-rendered The Grid for the second Mode, but I saved her for later. I’ve put her right at the heart of the labyrinth. She’s going to be the first to die, Hannah. The beasts will get her first, and then they’ll start on the others.’