To Be A Warrior

Chapter 56: Trapped

I put my gun in my holster as we run, grabbing my axe from my back and swinging at the leather baby as it tries to lunge at me again, seeming confident now that it's managed to spill blood. Its confidence is misplaced, since the blades of my war axe slices its head off in one quick swing. I'll have to send King Jaime a Roufflenet message thanking him for letting me keep this when we went through one of his mansion's battle room when I was eighteen.

Has it really been two years already?

Blood spatters on the wall, although its blood looks more of a brownish color than red. But it's forgotten as more babies come after us. When Janine and I reach the top of the stairs, we run out into the labs, heading for the doors. The babies scream as they claw after us, and I ignore them as best I can as we run, run, run!

The second Janine and I reach the door at the end of the room and head through it, it slams shut. I send a silent thank you to Veronica as I gasp for air.

We're in some sort of warehouse space now, with concrete floors and high ceilings. I can hear a fan whirling up above, and I look down at my bleeding arm that's already heeling quite well. It'll be nothing but a burn scar within in the next five minutes. Thankfully Janine hasn't taken the time to get a good look at it and I'll be able to convince her the leather baby only gave my a small scratch and mostly just ripped my clothing.

There are sounds of footsteps above us. Amelia is up on a gantry way with Target Five chasing her. It's maybe twenty-five feet behind her, and she's running out of gantry, with the giant fan being at the end of it.

"Amelia!" I shout, and she glances down, a look of relief appearing on her face.

"Oh, thank God you're here. Now get this bloody disgusting thing away from me!"

"Ms. Spens, you are running towards a very large fan," Janine states, and Amelia scoffs.

"Yes, I can see that. It's the size of a bus. I'm running out of gantry. I shall have to jump. Five, break my fall."

"What?!" I ask, my voice going up an octave. There's no way I could catch her, not without breaking my arms, and I already did that-along with breaking many other bones in my body-less than a week ago. I'd rather not do that again.

"Do not jump," Janine commands. "You would not survive. I have a theory, Ms. Spens. I remembered. A.N.N.I.E. called that thing Target Five."

"Yeah, so?" I ask. "She placed a target on my back, so it makes sense."

"Exactly. We each act as we are. The entity is patterned on Runner Five. There is no reason for an entity modeled on her to chase you."

"And yet it is chasing me," Amelia replies in exasperation.

"It is not. Stand still."

My eyes widen at her command, but they widen even more when Amelia actually does it.

"Good grief, you're commanding." Amelia looks back at Target Five which is still barreling towards her. "I've stood still and it's still coming!"

"Keep very still, Ms. Spens. Wait."

"Still coming, Janine!"

"Don't move. Don't frighten it."

"Frighten it?" She chokes. "I can smell it from here. It smells of sickness, and runner's sweat."

"The runner's sweat would make sense. A.N.N.I.E. is programmed to protect you. She can lie, she can scare you to encourage you to do what she says, but I believe she cannot hurt you. And why would there be an entity modeled on Runner Five in that pile? Because the Glass Protocol hunted her. This entity is not a hunter. It is used to train the hunter. Target Five! It is not chasing you; it is fleeing the Glass Protocol."