We pointed our guns into complete darkness. I could not track a single movement in the corridor. We switched on our lights to find the corridor empty, the doors on both ends of the corridor sealed shut. The only way out was the same tunnel we used to enter the palace.
I walked over to the place where the tunnel was supposed to enter. It looked the same as the other parts of the wall, explained by the special hologram which makes the entrance undetectable. I could identify the entrance without any difficulty, as it was directly below the air duct. I walked right into the wall, expecting it to disappear and the tunnel to appear, but all what happened was me hitting the wall. There wasn't anything except the wall, a rock solid wall. A few soldiers who were standing there stared at the wall with panic. One of them stepped forward and touched the wall with his hand, and it had the same result. Either we were wrong about the location of the tunnel, or the Kenjah had found a way to prevent us from entering it. I could feel the panic rising inside me as I tore into the holding rooms calling out for Montwik and Holder. I found them making their way towards the exit. "I can't get through the tunnel!" I exclaimed as I looked at him with a look of fear stuck on my face. "I'm pretty sure you were looking at the wrong place. Let's hurry up." Montwik said, as he led the way to the exit. I saw as Montwik walked over to the place where I was a few moments ago and pressed his hand against the wall. My worst fear came true. I saw Montwik and Holder furiously try to make their way through the wall, but it proved to be unfruitful.
The Kenjah had outsmarted us on this one. "Hurry up and check if they have it in their body." I said, as Gofr took the device out of his bag and set it out on the ground. Anna and Konrad came and stood beside me. The soldiers positioned themselves near the two doors and at the same time set traps which was capable of taking out the first wave of people who enter through those doors. And before doing this, we took out all the cameras which gave us a bit of relief, knowing that we Kenjah didn't have eyes on us. The both of them put their arms forward, following Gofr's orders and he takes the device towards Anna's wrist and inserts it into her. He looks at the reading, and does the same to Konrad. He turned to me and asked "I have good news, and I have bad news. Which one do you want first?". "Give me the bad news first." I asked him, preparing for the worst. "They have it in them." He replied. Anna and Konrad gasped and tears started rolling down Anna's eyes, but Konrad managed to keep himself together. "Then what the hell is the good news?" I asked him. "Well, the thing in their body is not active yet. It makes no sense that the Kenjah would keep it off if it is working, so the only logical reason for this is that the nano chips needs a few days, or probably weeks before it is active and can take control of the body, which explains the situation. "So that means there is no way for us to know when the chip would go online?" I asked. "Unfortunately, no." Profus replied. "Well, at least we have a bit of time on our hands." I said, trying to be optimistic. "Keep scanning them at regular intervals to make sure the chips aren't online yet. But as a safety precaution, I'm afraid we have to cuff them." Montwik ordered. "No! You cannot cuff..." I protested, but Montwik cut me off before I could complete my sentence. "Please put aside your emotions and think, Rithvik. Those chips in their bodies can go online any second. Trust me, it is better for everyone, Anna and Konrad included." He said, gesturing one of the soldiers to cuff them. Anna and Konrad showed no sign of protest. "You know? I still can't decide on whether I should trust you or not." I said to Montwik, recollecting how the Kenjah accused Montwik of being the spy. But now that clearly Profus is the spy, there is a chance that the Kenjah could have just been bluffing. But still, I wasn't going to take chances. I looked over at Montwik, whose face along with the grave expression looked almost ghostly in the light of his torch.
Meanwhile, the Kenjah's men made absolutely no attempt to make contact with us. The corridor lights were still off, but the temperature and the humidity inside the corridors started sky rocketing. They probably must have cut off the air supply too. It almost was an hour since we made our escape, and roughly half an hour ago, the door connecting the corridor with the holding room shut, trapping us in the corridor, without lights and air. Any attempts my Montwik to establish contact with the base was unfruitful, but if what the _______ said was true, our forces should be here any moment, of course, unless they suffered a major defeat. Once in a while, Holder would try to get through the wall into the tunnel, but without any success. The wall was rock solid, as if the tunnel never existed.
I stood up, walked over and sat beside Anna, who was fatigued by the events which took place in the past few days. I then stood up and was walking over to discuss some stuff with Reneesh when the first explosion threw me off my feet. All the soldiers stood up immediately and turned off their safeties, but this explosion, it was not from anywhere on our level. It felt more like a surface explosion. If it indeed was a surface explosion, it definitely meant one thing- the Vortex and the Crux armies made it to the Kenjah's palace. It explains why the Kenjah didn't send his men to take us out. He must have diverted all the resources to stop the attack on the palace. Two more consecutive explosions rock the palace and the vibrations showed that these two were directly above us. The ceiling and the walls started to crack after a huge explosion, which was followed by alarms blaring.
"Attention all civil personnel. This is not a drill. All civil personnel are required to head down to the bunkers on level minus fifty immediately according to the orders issued by the Kenjah. Please stay calm and find your nearest staircase to head down to level fifty. Please help out your fellow citizens. Rations will be issued inside the bunkers. Blast doors will close in three minutes. This is a mandatory evacuation order. The palace is shut down under code red."
Just then, I hear the doors on both ends of the corridor hissing open but the lights do not come back on. "Where are we going to go? Up or down?" Reneesh yelled at Montwik, his voice barely audible over the sound of several small explosions from the surface. "Going down would be suicide! They'd kill us even before we make it to level minus fifty. I'd say we find our way to the surface." Holder shouted back. "I agree with Holder." Montwik said, as he started to assemble the forces.
"Blast doors will close in two minutes. This is a mandatory evacuation."
We made it to level minus ten with the help of an old abandoned staircase which nobody was using, before an explosion ripped through the ceiling, blowing the staircase apart. Two soldiers died in the explosion while the rest of us moved around level minus ten, trying to find another staircase. The explosions seemed closer than before. Smoke started to fill the corridors in the matter of seconds when we heard voices. We moved closer to these voices, thinking that this would be the best chance of us finding a staircase to the surface. We had no idea what we would do once we get to the surface, but one thing was clear. If we stay in the building, we're dead. Montwik's satellite radio was getting faint signals, but not strong enough to make contact with base. Just as we took a left turn, we saw hundreds of people pushing each other, trying to make their way to the bunkers. There was no way they were going to reach the bunker on time for the blast doors to close.
"Blast doors are closing in thirty seconds. This is a mandatory evacuation."
A cry of panic erupted as people pushed each other, leading to a stampede, as the security personnel stood there, helpless. We stayed out of sight from the military personnel. "We have to make a run for the staircase." Reneesh said. "What? How are you going to make your way up? Look at the number of people coming down the stairs. Considering you make it past the security personnel, what will you do?" I replied. "He's right. We can't make it up. We are atleast thirty people." Holder agreed. "We have to find another way." Montwik said. I moved closer to the edge, to check the number of people making their way down when I felt a click above my head. I looked up to see a security personnel, with the regular outfit for the Kenjah army, with his gun pointed at me. Everyone behind me raised their guns, aiming their guns at the guy above me. His face suddenly showed an expression of recognition. "Montwik? Sir, is that you?" He asked, the grip over his fun softening up a bit. "Yes it is. I know you, soldier?" He asked him. "I worked for you a long time ago, sir. I'm in-charge for the evacuation now." He replied, lowering his gun. He then looked at me and said "I've heard a lot about you, sir." "You're not going to shoot us?" I asked him. "I'm supporting the Kenjah, because the lives of our families are in his hands." he said.
"The blast doors are now closed. All remaining personnel are required to head down to level minus forty nine and minus forty eight and follow standard attack protocol and brace themselves. This is a mandatory evacuation ordered by the Kenjah."
I heard people shouting, hooting and screaming as they realized that the blast doors were closed. The smoke was getting thicker every minute. "We need to find a way out of here to the surface, Soldier." Montwik said to him. Just then, another huge explosion rocked the surface, as a bit of the ceiling collapsed just a few feet away from where we were standing. "Follow me." The soldier said, as he walked towards the crowd. gesturing us to follow him. I hesitated for a moment, but soon started following him, knowing he is our only hope of getting out of here. Meanwhile, the whole situation in the palace could be described with one word, chaos. It is evident that the people here never actually faced a situation like this. I heard occasional gunfire and gas being fired by the security personnel as they tried hard to bring the situation under control, but without success.
We made our way through the corridors, with the soldier from the Kenjah army in front of us. He told us that the Vortex-Crux Army had taken control of the Capital City and all the other major cities on Photrox. He also said that Beta Three was destroyed during an offensive by the Kenjah army, and that the Vortex-Crux army, although is powerful as of now, had suffered huge losses. He told us that last he heard, fifteen squadrons had entered the Palace Airspace around fifteen minutes ago, in which twenty aircrafts were taken down by the defense system. And there is an aerial fight going on right now over the palace. He also said that ground units were not far away from the Palace borders and that the Kenjah had ordered huge deployment of ground forces on the borders. I knew that this was going to be a bloody fight. When inquired about the main weapon of ours, the incinerator, he replied that the weapon was kept under hiding after it suffered a direct blow from one of the Kenjah's fighter jet.
We had reached another abandoned staircase. "Go on, and you be led straight to a tunnel built by the rebels on Ground Level, right next to the staircase you presently are on. Tunnel 15 if I'm right. It must lead your straight outside the palace borders. Good luck. I cannot come beyond this point." He said, as he started to walk towards the area where we came from. "Thanks, soldier. Is there anything we can do for you?" Montwik asked him. "There is one thing. ZR342PL/2b1sd. That is the citizen code of my wife. Please make sure my wife and my kids make it to safety. I may not make it through this war. Please tell them I love them." He said, as he walked away.
A huge explosion resulted in the ceiling and the walls caving in, in the direction which the soldier went. And I knew there was no way he had survived the explosion. He had sacrificed his life for us, and we didn't even know his name.
______
This is a long chapter! Hope you guys enjoyed it!
Vote if you like it, and comment your suggestions!
-Rithvik/LPS21.