Jacob Burns and the Order of the Algorithm #Wattys2017

Chapter 10: Out of the Park and Under the Wire

At the order, the stadium began to shake once more. Ancient gears hitched and ground against the bare metal as it struggled to comply. I couldn't believe it. Something was jamming the system! I thanked God, or Atom or whoever was up there, but perhaps a little too soon. A terrible groan echoed throughout the stadium as the gate strained against itself until finally, something snapped. The gates slammed shut.

Ilya and I doubled back as quickly as we could, but there was no where to go. All around me, I could hear a fearful murmur traveling through the already agitated crowd, all huddled together and whispering to one another. It seemed the threat of a synth was enough to subdue the savages within them, a few were even talking to the guards now as suspicious glares were being cast in our direction. I kept my head down as we waded through the waves of refugees, mentally kicking myself for wearing such a brightly colored disguise. We ducked down an alley as soon as we had the chance.

"What do we do now?" Ilya whispered. "We're surrounded, everyone's looking for you, and now we'll never make it out of that gate! There's got to be another way out..."

"Afraid not, this place hasn't survived this long in the middle of Boston by having holes in the walls," I said as I paced up and down the street. This was bad. This was really really bad. I peaked around the corner and saw it was packed with refugees, the guards questioning each with the promise of residency for information, a tantalizing offer for any Outfielder. I dashed down the alley only to find a patrol coming up that way, leaving us with only one other choice.

"Up! We have to go back up!" I yelled as one of the guards finally spotted us. We quickly found a ladder and raced across the rooftops once more, only this time, the guards were coming at us from all sides. I fired my gun, nailing one in the chest and another in the face, breaking the mask hiding the synth beneath. I could barely breathe as we climbed higher and higher until at last, we found ourselves standing on the Wall itself and staring over a fifty-foot drop into a writhing sea of panic and confusion.

"Now what?!" Ilya cried as she looked back at the guards, gaining on us with every passing second. For a brief moment, I thought we were goners until I spotted something tied to the highest point of the wall. An old power cable that connected to an apartment building across the way. If we timed it just right, we might be able to land on one of the balconies... I whipped off the orange suit jacket I'd been wearing and swung it over the cable, and hollered at Ilya.

"Grab on!"

"Are you serious?!"

"It's either this or get turned into a synth, your call sweetheart." She gave one last look at the men coming after her and grabbed on.

"Hold on tight," I said, and with that, I kicked off the wall sending us flying through the air. We whizzed above the mad scene below, the entirety of Outfield clamoring to get inside the Wall. People looked up and pointed at us, their mouths open wide in surprise and fear as they all started to yell.

We were about halfway down the line when I finally understood why they were yelling.

Rrrrrrrppp

The fabric suddenly gave way and we were falling once more, Ilya screaming at the top of her lungs as we tumbled through the air. Luckily, we landed in a cart full of razograin and, quickly ignoring the irate shopkeeper, we got to our feet and ran down the first alley we saw. Soon the chaos was behind us, but it wouldn't take long for the synths to figure out where we'd gone.

It was then I'd realized exactly where we were. We had landed right next to an old passage of mine, one I'd used on those nights when I would come to the city in secret.

"I know a way out," I hollered back at her, "But you're not going to like it," I said as I lifted up the vine-covered manhole. Ilya looked as if she wanted to protest, but we could hear the dogs barking as security started to catch up. She pinched her nose and climbed down carefully, before I jumped down after her, closing the cover behind us.