1
Michael
Restricted duties.
Damn right they’re restricted. I’ve barely received enough food to feed the rat that shares my quarters. I have to hand it to the fella: this place is meant to be impenetrable – an iron fortress – yet he’s managed to find his way up nine hundred storeys and sought out one of the few humans in the Tower that wouldn’t kill him instantly.
I assume it’s a him. Or could this be the Eve of the rat population, kept locked away up here for her own ‘protection’?
I throw him a scrap of bread, although I’m surprised they even call it bread, the artificial crap they created when all the wheat died out. He sniffs the crumbs but turns away without eating it.
‘I don’t blame you,’ I scoff, chucking what’s left into my mouth. I wash it down with a swig of water and it still sticks in my throat.
After what I’ve done I’m lucky to be alive, let alone allowed to stay in this building and keep my job. We are the Final Guards, the highest level of security. We have one objective: protect Eve. Not only did I fail at it, but I put her in direct danger by taking her into that lift.
If the situation was different, if Ketch and half the team hadn’t been caught in that blast at the sanctuary, I’d have been … Well, Ratty here wouldn’t have a friend no more.
The fact is, though, the Extinction Prevention Organization need me right now. Security is thin and times are tenser than ever. Not that the EPO would ever admit that. It’s not in line with the façade they present to Central, the barely beating heart of what’s left of this world. Sometimes I think this place is all just one big show, an illusion. And I guess I’ve seen too much of the truth for them to let me go now.
The lab.
The blood.
The experiments.
Eve.
I clench both fists and dig my nails into my palms until all my knuckles click. Her face flashes in my mind again. It was the first time we’d properly met – I’d seen her countless times, of course, as one of her Final Guards, but we’d never made eye contact before. That was drilled into us all from our first day on the job. She was terrified, I see that now. Trapped with me in the lift, like a metal prison.
Trapped with a man.
What the hell was I thinking?
What are you going to do to me?
I shake my head violently, trying to rattle away the thoughts. The thing that scares me most is that I don’t know what I was going to do. There was no plan. I just knew I had to pull her from that room, from that maniac Potential. He’d already murdered Mother Nina, believing her to be Eve. I had to get her to safety.
Before I knew it, we were alone and …
The lights in my quarters burst into a blinding cold white, snapping me from my memory. Emergency sirens scream through the concrete corridors and punch my eardrums until I’m on my feet.
Ratty scampers away and my door swishes open.
‘Turner!’ booms Guard Ryan from the doorway, with a look of urgency. ‘Final Guards, we’re needed immediately.’
‘But I’m Restricted!’ I shout over the deafening sirens.
‘Not any more.’ He gestures at my bare torso and I follow his gaze down to my tag – the small circular implant sitting under the skin on the left side of my chest. The subtle red glow that I’ve seen for the last few days is now replaced with a refreshing blue. I’m back on full active duty with no explanation.
Something’s happened.
I grab a vest and slip it over my head as I follow Guard Ryan out into the corridor, where the rest of my fellow Final Guards are gathering. They shoot me curious looks and I shrug. I’m as surprised as they are that I’m here, but I’m glad to be reunited with them.
The metal sphere opens. We climb inside and look to Ryan, our temporary commander.
‘This is a real-world scenario. We have reason to believe the Tower has been breached,’ Guard Ryan says, placing a matt black helmet on his shaved head. Eve’s golden emblem catches in the light as the chinstrap self-fastens and automatically tightens. ‘I know it’s not ideal that I’m here instead of Ketch, but we’ve gotta work together now.’
The sphere closes and begins to glide.
‘Wait, we’re going up?’ I blurt out. ‘We’re on the nine-hundredth floor. Where the hell’s the breach?’
YOU HAVE ARRIVED AT THE DOME, the automated voice of the lift announces within a few seconds.
We all glance at each other.
The Dome?
A breach in the Dome?
That’s impossible.
Ryan raises one eyebrow in confirmation as he backs out and heads to the Gate – the invisible barrier that separates the Tower and the Dome. I follow and instantly feel the tag in my chest vibrate as I pass through the transparent beam of energy, which scans for any unauthorized personnel and would induce instant paralysis. Temporary, of course, but I still wouldn’t want to go anywhere near the Gate if my tag was still glowing red. Even my rat companion wouldn’t get this far.
My heart skips at being back in action. Guard Ryan passes his hand over a plate on the wall and a hidden hatch slides open with a hiss. These hidden armouries are plotted all around the Tower. Only the commanding guard knows their location and can access them. For obvious reasons they can’t have weapons fall into the wrong hands in here.
We suit up and arm ourselves in a matter of seconds. We’ve drilled these scenarios hundreds of times.
‘Guards,’ Guard Ryan barks.
‘Ready, sir,’ we chant in reply and fall in line.
I take second position behind Guard Ryan. Of course, I would be first if it weren’t for the lift incident, but there’s no time to dwell on that now.
Red strips of light suddenly illuminate along the metallic corridor, guiding us to the emergency.
‘They must have located the intruder,’ I say, and we all pick up the pace.
EMERGENCY. ASSISTANCE REQUIRED IMMEDIATELY IN THE DOME, a voice announces, making us all explode into a sprint, following the red hallways as all others have been blacked out.
‘This can’t be right,’ Guard Ryan’s voice mutters, through the earpiece inside our helmets.
We all know what he’s talking about. The lighting is guiding us towards the garden zone.
The harshness of the concrete and steel softens as the doors unlock and slide open, allowing us into Eve’s world.
Our weapons click gently as they automatically adjust to non-lethal mode.
Eve must be close.
We steal looks at each other. I know their hearts will be thudding, just not as hard as mine. They don’t know Eve like I do. What she looks like up-close. What she feels like. What she …
‘The Drop. Now,’ commands a sharp voice we don’t hear very often: Miss Vivian Silva’s. I spot her ahead of us, radiating impatience.
‘Yes, Miss Silva,’ Guard Ryan replies instantly, and signals with his hands for us to follow at pace. Her sharp gaze studies us as we pass and I sense an undertow of anxiety that she can’t hide behind her angular features.
Her eyes meet mine and the moment seems to linger.
I read the look.
This is my chance to redeem myself.
‘Holy shit,’ Guard Ryan’s voice hisses in my ear. ‘We have a situation.’