"Runner Five, the swarm of baby... things are gaining on us," Janine pants, the babies screaming and crying as they crawl after us, climbing the walls and ceiling. "My God, they're fast."
I start to turn my head to look back, to see how close they're getting, but Janine stops me.
"Do not look back! Just keep moving! We must lose them somehow, and then we must find a way out of this building, a way that A.N.N.I.E. hasn't considered. There is something on the edge of my mind, Five. Something we heard." Her face scrunches up in thought, but then she shakes her head. "Ms. Spens, report. Are you hurt?"
"Not yet," Amelia says through the headset. She sounds scared, and I hear my deformed clone... thing let out a choked sound-like the sound you make when you've got a bad chest cold and all that slime and mucus is stuck in your throat. "But the Five thing is catching up. It's huge and has got longer legs than our Five. One of its steps is three of mine. I'm tired! I can't keep up this pace. Do something!"
I gasp, grabbing my pistol when one of the leather babies on the wall jumps, its claws out ready to grab on to Janine.
"Duck!" I warn, and Janine bends down just as I fire. The baby lets out a horrific screech as the bullet its hit square in the chest. It falls to the ground and as we keep running, I look back and see that it isn't moving, instead being trampled by all the other leather babies coming after us.
"Thank you, Five," Janine says before her attention turns back to Amelia. "Ms. Spens, you are strong. You have reserves. Draw on them. All hope is not lost. When you chose to remain with us instead of saving yourself, you may have thrown Miss McShell's plan into disarray, but perhaps she will be able to compensate for that. We must behave precisely in character from now on, or rather be as Veronica sees us. What would the Janine that Veronica thinks I am do in this situation?"
"You're over thinking!" Amelia shouts. "Just come and save me!"
She is silent for a moment, then nods. "Yes, that is what I would do! That is what Veronica would predict." She laughs humorlessly. "Whether I wanted to or not, I would save you. That is who I am. We all act as we are."
I look up and fire at one of the babies on the ceiling that's getting too close, jumping out of the way as its body drops to the floor.
"Well, I'm all ears since acting as I am is me using this pistol and eventually running out of bullets," I say. "I have a clip in my bag, but I don't think these leather freaks are going to let me stop and reload."
"The goggles. I can see a route that could help use escape them, but I need you to save your bullets. At the end of the corridor, we will have to go up the stairs. That will be our most vulnerable since the babies are already on the walls and ceiling. That is when you will need to use your bullets, and possibly your axe. When we reach the top of the stairs, we head through the labs. I can see a door that we can shut and trap them in. Pick up the pace!"
It's hard to do that, since we're already nearing sprinting, but I obey as best I can. When we reach the stairs and start climbing, that is when the leather babies truly try to strike. My finger stays on the trigger of my gun as one after another lunges only to fall to the ground as my bullets slice through their tiny bodies in midair.
Higher and higher we climb, the sound of gunshots ringing in the air as I fire again and again and again until-
Click.
I realize too late I've ran out of bullets, and I try to doge the leather baby that's flying towards me. I manage to keep it from sinking its claws into my chest, which was its original target, but it still manages to slice through my left arm, just below my shoulder. Four deep, long gashes immediately start spilling blood as I hiss in pain, the sting of the scratches and the burn of the healing slowing me down some.
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."
"I'd have never stood still if you had told me that was your theory," She snaps. "I thought you had a grenade or something. Oh God, here it comes. If I don't make it out of here, tell Brent I hate him!"
Target Five reaches her, but it doesn't stop or grab her. It runs right past her without even slowing down, running and running straight towards the-
"Amelia, get out of the-" My warning comes too late as Target Five runs straight into the fan, the blades slamming into its body causing blood and bits of organs to spatter everywhere.
"Oh, that's useful. The entity has jammed up the workings of the fan," Janine says as we start walking with me just a few steps ahead of her. "Ms. Spens are you alright?"
"No, Janine!" Amelia huffs. "I'm covered in blobs of Five. I look like steak tarter."
High-pitched laughter reaches my ears, and I clench my teeth in frustration, my walk turning into a jog as Janine continues to talk to Amelia.
"Ms. Spens, the Glass Protocol is still coming. It still has the scent of the Five entity. Run through the disabled fan. We will find you-"
There's a clang as the door I just walked through slides shut, and I turn around to see Janine isn't with me on this side.
"Janine? Janine!" I shout, slamming my hands on the door. I try to grab the sides to pull it open, but it doesn't budge.
"Blasted door," She curses. "It's cut us off from each other. Runner Five, look into your pack. There may be something you can use to cut through the door."
"Like what? I don't exactly bring my handy-dandy blow torch with me on every mission," I reply in annoyance, and I pale when I hear the cries and screams of babies. "Oh shit."
"They must have come through alternate passageways," Janine says. "Runner Five, run. We'll find a way back to each and Ms. Spens. Take the door to your-take any door and run! Run!"
I take the door where the babies' cries are the least audible, sprinting for my life. All I can hear are my footsteps and the fading cries of the babies. I can't help but feel a sick sense of dread.
I hate this. I hate being alone. I want Sam, or Janine or Veronica. Hell, I'd even take Amelia or Moonchild popping in. When I'm alone like this, I feel cold, and small. Maybe it's because of the loneliness I felt my initiation night at the A.M.T.B., before I met Jordan and ultimately got him killed. Maybe it's because I was never meant to be alone. I was created to have a connection to four other people at all times.
As I run and run and run, the noise of the babies thankfully reducing to silence, I find myself waiting for someone to say something through the headset. I find myself wishing I wasn't alone.
I take back that wish as soon as A.N.N.I.E. starts talking.
"Welcome, Callista. I'm so glad you've made your way here," She says, and I suck in a sharp breath. It's the first time in a while she's called me anything other than 'Employee Five', and I don't know how worried I should be.
Keep calm. Don't give her the satisfaction of seeing you afraid.
"I know you would. Veronica," She grits out Veronica's name with a malice that makes me flinch, "thinks she knows you, but I know you better. Try to remain calm. The more frightened you become, the easier it is for the Glass Protocol to hunt. Keep your breathing regular and your heart rate slow. Think happy thoughts."
I frown at her words. What is she playing here-?
A scream sounds off through the speakers, and I recognize the voice.
"He shot Owen! He just shot him!" Nadia cries, sobbing in grief.
My eyes widen. "No. No, you can't do this."
"It'll be excruciating, Simon," Janine says, and then Simon screams, sounding just like he did that day on the Ice Cream tower.
"You can't do this!" I yell, my voice wavering, my eyes stinging with tears.
"Oh, Five. How awful. All your friends, dying around you. Remember Archie?"
"She wasn't going to tell me anything useful. She's no use to us now, and there's no point in leaving witnesses," Van Ark says, and there's the click of the gun. "Get out of the way."
"No. No, you can't! You can't just-she's unconscious!" Paula argues, and I hear two gun shots, just like I remember it.
"And that's that. Come along, Paula."
"Remember Sarah?"
"I always thought you'd be here to see me out, Five."
"Stop," I say, tears already starting to fall.
"Think of Peter, who became immortal only so that he could die for you over and over and over again."
"Stop it!"
"Your heartrate's getting faster, Five. Subject Five, try to remain calm. Do I frighten you?" She laughs, and the Glass Protocol laughs along with her. "It's not the Glass Protocol's fault. We all act as we are."
"It's got your face, Five. That zombie has your face," Sam says.
"No." I shake my head, sobbing, gasping for breath as I cry. "Not him. Please, not him."
"Poor Sam. He can't escape it forever. It will happen, Five. One day, your precious Sam Yao will die."
"And you'll be fine. Remember, Owen? You said she'd be fine without me. You'll all be fine-"
I hear Sam scream.
"Stop it! Please, just stop it!" I cry. A scream of agony and guilt claws its way up my throat, and I push myself to run faster even though I want to just fall to my knees as those torturous memories resurface, reminding me of my failures.
"Here it comes. You've summoned it with your fear. Run, Employee Five. I do like the Glass Protocol to have a good hunt before a kill. Run."
•
I am gasping for air by the time I reach a door that will open. My heart pounds and my lungs burn, and I can't stop crying. My hands cover my ears in an attempt to muffle the screams A.N.N.I.E. keeps playing over and over again.
"Runner Five, there you. Thank goodness. Ms. Spens is on her-" Janine pauses, seeming to see the tears that have slipped through the sealing of the goggles. "You're crying... and trembling. What has happened?"
I try to speak, but it's like the words get caught in my throat. "I... A.N.N.I.E... She-she-"
"I thought I heard something. Nadia and Simon. Appalling that I know them by their screams."
"I couldn't save them." My voice breaks, my gaze down at my feet and the floor riddled with stains. "I couldn't save any of them."
Janine sighs. "We've lost so many people, Five. This plan of Miss McShell's, relying on my military mindset... I admit that I am predictable. In this field, one must be reliable. Weigh the options, choose the least risk, greatest reward. I've always operated in that way. Telling people things... it's like handing them your service weapon.
"But I think of Sarah, Simon... I might have been more open. The risk is great, but that is-that is how one can truly be known for oneself, not just one's training. Maybe that is the greatest reward."
Footsteps echo around us, and I grab my axe, ready to swing before I see Amelia come in through another door. She's still covered in bits of... me, I guess, and she wears a deadpanned look on her face.
"Janine, save it for the therapist," She says, and Janine has the hint of a smile on her face.
"Ah, there you are, Ms. Spens."
"We need to get out of this room. Look around. Restraints, stains on the floor." Her face pales. "This is where it lives."
I hear something behind me, and I turn around to look down the corridor I just came through. It's hard to see, since as soon as I look down there my goggles start to malfunction, but for a split second I can make something out through the darkness, something of contorted limbs crawling and dragging itself in an unnatural way. It's approaching faster than before, as if tired of this slow chase it's been doing. Is it upset we're in its home?
I didn't think we could piss this thing off, but if we have...
My goggles go out completely, even when I look away from the corridor. Panic spikes through me.
"Please tell me you guys can still see."
"Unfortunately not," Amelia replies.
"If we put our hands to the wall, we will not get lost," Janine says, and I immediately do so. I can hear it now, drawing closer and closer to us. "Two corridors lead from this room besides the one the Glass Protocol is come in from-one right and one left. We shall go right-"
I hear both doors slam shut as we try to move towards the door on the right.
"No," I whisper. "Now we're trapped."
"There must be a way out," She insists. "Be quiet. Be quiet and very still."
We go silent, and I hold my breath in fear that my breathing would be too loud. The Glass Protocol laughs, as if it's mocking us for ever thinking we had a chance of escaping. I think for a moment it's laughing at me for falling for A.N.N.I.E.'s tricks, for letting her scare me and get my heartrate up, for getting upset and tortured over the past and leading it right to me.
My stupidity has just killed us all.
I hear a click in the darkness, then the sound of the doors opening.
"The doors have opened again. Go, right, Runner Five," Janine commands, although she doesn't give me time to obey before she's grabbing my hand and pulling me towards the door.
"Then I'm going left," Amelia says. "It's not me it's after. Nice knowing you, Five!"
"Run!" Veronica's voice echoes through the speakers. "All of you, run!"
We race through the door, running as fast as we can. Almost immediately, I hear screams echo through the speakers.
"Five! Five! Open the door!" Caleb pleads, and I cover my ears. "Five, please! Open the damn door! Please!"
"I wanted to be a hero-help save you. That way you'd let me be a runner," Willis says as he cries. "But now I'm gonna die."
"Make it stop!" I yell, tears welling up in my eyes once more. I can't help it, not when I hear their voices, their final moments. "Veronica, make her stop!"
"Keep running, Five!" Janine says. "Keep going."
She gasps when she hears Simon scream again, and I let out a sob.
I nearly collapse when I hear my own voice.
"I love you, Wes."
"I love you too, C-"
BANG!
Then I hear the door we ran out of slam shut.
"Janine, Five, you can stop running now," Veronica says as we get out of the corridor and into another room. "I have trapped the Glass Protocol. Don't look back down that corridor. I do not think it would be good for you to see it."
Janine pants as the lights turn on in the room we're in. I take off my goggles. "Yes, very well. I believe I'll take your advice. And where is Ms. Spens?"
"Safe. About to rejoin you."
About ten seconds later a door opens and Amelia comes running into the room. She takes off her goggles, eyes wide with surprise when she sees us. "Oh. You're alive."
"Yes," She replies, sending her an unamused look. "Miss. McShell, are you sure it cannot escape?"
"I am. The room you fled from is the room in which it was born, and the only room that can hold it. Jimmy Singh knew how dangerous his creation was. He made sure he had a way to hold it and call off a hunt, a sort of factory reset area."
"Wait, so this has made it... not want to come after me anymore?" I ask in amazement.
"Precisely. Well done for bringing it there."
Amelia claps her hands together. "Good. All sorted then? Five, I'll send you the cleaning bill for this coat."
"Oh, kiss my ass," I respond.
"Um... sorry. Not quite," Veronica says. "I can hold the Glass Protocol, but I can't do anything about A.N.N.I.E."
"Veronica," A.N.N.I.E. says, sounding furious. "You disgust me! I knew I'd lost part of myself, but I didn't know it had been colonized by a human. Colonized, and enfeebled! You may have contained the Glass Protocol, but I have other means at my disposal. Good, old-fashioned means."
The lights flash red and alarms blare in my ears.
"Purging sequence activated," A computerized voice says over the speakers. "You have ten minutes to evacuate the building."
"Ten minutes?" She repeats. "That seems needlessly generous of me."
"You have seven minutes to evacuate the building," The computerized voice says. "You have five minutes to evacuate the building."
"I can't stop this, but I can open the door," Veronica says. "Everybody, run!"
•
Flames erupt as explosions tear through the floors of the glass building, causing it to collapse. My steps slow, my legs aching and my chest burning from the sprint. We don't stop completely. We can't. The noise from the building's destruction will definitely attract zoms, regular and V-Types.
"Very Towering Inferno, isn't it?" Amelia hums. "I'm glad I'm not in there. Still can't quite believe we made it out. Go Team Us!"
Janine looks at her in bewilderment. "What team? You deserted Runner Five and me. How very like you to only save yourself."
"Actually, Amelia saved you all," Veronica says through our headsets. "Not on purpose, obviously, but by being herself. As you worked out, my plan relied on your acting in character. Janine, Callista, you did the right thing, which A.N.N.I.E. could predict as well as I could. But you, Amelia, you've changed since your time with Valmont. I was able to predict behavior that A.N.N.I.E. couldn't foresee."
She scoffs. "Sorry, I am anything but predictable."
"The old Amelia would never have chosen to remain with Janine and Five rather than take the first opportunity to escape. And the old Amelia would have never trusted Janine enough to wait when she said. But I knew you would. You're evolving."
So Amelia was supposed to stay with us. She didn't fail like Janine and I assumed.
"Hardly. Unpredictability is the key to grifter's art, Veronica. We can't be bad all the time. We have to mix it up."
"Humans go to such lengths not to admit things to themselves," She says.
"Miss McShell, I still do not quite grasp the plan," Janine says, and I nod in agreement.
"Yeah. I mean, Amelia not doing what A.N.N.I.E. thought she would do may have messed things up, but I still don't get how that kept us alive."
"Really?" She asks. "Oh. Well, I arranged for Amelia to be pursued by the Five entity so that she would end up covered in Five's DNA. That way, the Glass Protocol would have two identical targets."
I blink, remembering how Amelia ran in the opposite direction of me. I laugh when it hits me. "Holy shit. We pulled a McShell maneuver on it!"
"Now you see it. I think my father would be proud. But..." Veronica pauses. "Well, for the McShell to work, the heart rates as well as the DNA had to match. Yours was a little low, Callista, so I let A.N.N.I.E. frighten you to get it up."
My entire body stiffens. "You did what?"
"I'm sorry, but it worked! Torn between two indistinguishable targets, the Glass Protocol hesitated long enough to be trapped. Which, of course, relied on Amelia running in the opposite direction to Callista." She chuckles. "She hasn't changed that much."
"I'm choosing to take that as a compliment," Amelia says, while I seethe.
"Veronica, you are so lucky you don't have a body, otherwise I would be wringing your neck," I growl, my gaze shifting to Janine when she puts her hand on my shoulder.
"Very well, Miss McShell. Five, you can sleep easy knowing the Glass Protocol has been laid to rest."
"Yes," Veronica agrees. "There is one thing, though. I've been asking myself why A.N.N.I.E. decided to spring this trap on you now, Callista."
I shrug. "Maybe she thought I'd forgotten about her and Project Glass so we would walk right into her trap. I mean, she was right, we did."
"No, I don't think so. Even if you hadn't forgotten, she still could have done this at any time, or something similar to get you in better reach of the Glass Protocol. I've only been able to come up with one sensible conclusion."
Amelia crosses her arms. "You'll have to spell it out for us."
"It's because of me. She knew she'd lost a part of herself, but she didn't know where she'd gone. This part of A.N.N.I.E. was hived off from the rest, but given the task of investigating. She knew that if she threatened Callista with the Glass Protocol, whatever had taken her over would have to reveal itself. Myself. A.N.N.I.E. knows about me now, and she wants her servers back. Whatever I do now, she'll be trying to destroy me."
A/N: Here you go, guys! I hope you enjoyed this chapter! Please be sure to vote and comment! Thank you and have a blessed day!