Finn Lennoy - March 2121
Saying goodbye to Kai is harder than I expect it to be. Maybe because when I look at him, all I can see is Noah's face staring back at me, and for one painful moment it feels as though I've been given one last chance to keep someone I love alive.
I know that's not what this is, though. Kai is standing there with the same determination I've seen in him a hundred times before, and I know there's nothing I can say that will make him change his mind. He has already made his choice, just like I have made mine. If I let myself think about it for too long, I'll turn around, run back up those stairs and drag him out of this place myself, whether he likes it or not.
So I force the image of Kai's face from my mind and push Noah's face even further away. I can't think about either of them right now.
I make my way down towards the basement, but unlike the last time Noah and I came down here in the middle of the night, sneaking through the facility like a couple of idiots who thought we could get away with anything, I don't bother hiding.
I kick the door open and march inside with my rifle raised, the sudden noise making several members of staff jump in their seats. Confusion spreads across their faces as they look towards me, and I recognise a few of them immediately. I've seen some of these people during my time here, people who probably never expected to see me walking through these doors again.
Their confusion quickly turns to fear when I aim my gun at them.
"Leave. Now."
Nobody argues. Chairs scrape against the floor as the staff scramble to their feet and rush towards the exit, some of them staring at me as they pass while recognition slowly dawns across their faces. I don't care what they think of me anymore. They can hate me, fear me or remember me as the officer who turned against them. None of it matters now.
I keep moving.
The corridor seems longer than I remember, every step taking me further into the place that destroyed Noah and Kai's lives. The fluorescent lights flicker overhead, and the distant hum of machinery follows me through the corridor until I finally reach the main computer system. I stop in front of it, and for a moment, everything goes quiet.
I reach into my pack and carefully pull out Noah's seed.
It looks so small in my hand, which makes it difficult to believe that something this tiny could bring down an entire facility. Especially when the person who created it should be standing beside me right now, explaining how it works and complaining that I haven't understood some ridiculously complicated part of the process.
I run my thumb gently over its surface, wishing Noah could see this. I wish he could see me standing here with his creation in my hand, knowing that everything he worked for is about to be used against the people who took him from us.
My throat tightens, and for one stupid second, I imagine Noah walking through the door behind me, telling me I'm holding it wrong and probably laughing when I threaten to shoot him for correcting me.
Then reality comes crashing back.
Noah is dead.
My grip tightens around the seed as anger pushes through the grief. I will never forgive GeneX for taking him from me, and I will never forgive myself for failing to protect him.
With shaking hands, I connect the seed to the main system. The device immediately flickers to life, an amber light pulsing across its surface as the computer begins to recognise it. I stare at it for a moment, waiting for something more dramatic to happen, but nothing does.
"Come on, Noah," I whisper. "I know you can do it"
I'm not sure how long it's supposed to take, and I have no idea whether I've done everything correctly, but there isn't exactly anyone here left to ask. I step back and raise my rifle again, scanning the room as the faint footsteps of approaching security guards echo down the stairwell.
They're coming.
I turn towards the doorway just as the first guard appears, and I recognise him immediately. I've worked a few shifts alongside him during my time at GeneX, although I never bothered learning his name. He recognises me too because his eyes widen the moment he sees me standing there.
"What are you doing here, Officer Finn?"
I don't answer. I can't risk anyone getting near Noah's creation, so my finger tightens around the trigger and the gunshot echoes through the basement as he collapses. I barely have time to register the movement before more guards begin rushing down the stairs.
I dive behind one of the computer banks and open fire whenever one of them steps into view. The confined space makes every shot thunder through the basement, and the guards struggle to advance without exposing themselves. One drops, then another, and I quickly change my magazine before glancing towards the seed.
Still amber.
"Come on."
More footsteps thunder down the stairs, but then I hear something much heavier. A deep thud shakes the floor beneath me, followed by another that makes me freeze. The sound is too heavy for a normal person.
I slowly lean around the computer bank and my stomach drops.
A huge man ducks beneath the doorway as he enters the basement, his shoulders almost filling the frame.
A Guardian.
"Shit."
I quickly reload and bring my rifle up. Fighting a Guardian is difficult enough under normal circumstances, but this basement is cramped, surrounded by expensive equipment and filled with the one thing I absolutely cannot afford to damage. The system. Noah's seed. Everything depends on keeping it intact.
I aim at the Guardian's head, but before I can fire, his eyes snap towards me and he smiles.
Then he snaps his fingers.
A horrible sensation washes over me. My entire body suddenly feels wrong, my stomach twisting violently as a wave of nausea rolls through me so hard that I stumble backwards and catch myself against the wall.
"What the hell..."
I look down at my hands, but there's nothing there. Then I notice it. A red X has appeared on the back of my hand.
The Guardian sees my confusion and starts laughing. He raises one fist before punching himself in the stomach, and pain explodes through me so suddenly that I crumple against the wall, struggling to breathe as the impact tears through my body despite the fact that he was the one who threw the punch.
I stare at him in disbelief.
He hasn't moved.
Instead, he raises his fist again and drives it into his jaw, sending another wave of pain crashing through me and forcing me to stumble sideways. That's when I finally understand what he's doing. Whatever that mark is, he's somehow transferred his pain onto me. Every injury he inflicts on himself becomes mine.
The Guardian starts walking towards me, clearly enjoying the realisation dawning across my face. I try to raise my rifle, but my hands are shaking too badly to aim properly. Then something tightens around my throat.
I claw at my neck, but there's nothing there and my lungs refuse to fill. I look at the Guardian and see him gripping his own throat.
He's strangling himself and I'm feeling every second of it.
My vision begins to blur as I desperately try to breathe. The edges of the room darken, and I can hear the Guardian's footsteps getting closer through the ringing in my ears. He reaches me and kicks my legs from underneath me, sending me crashing onto the floor while he stands over me, still choking himself as I claw uselessly at the invisible pressure around my neck.
The red X on my hand burns against my skin.
That's it, that's the connection. Whatever he does to himself, I feel.
Which means I need to get rid of the mark. I look down at it as an idea begins to form. It's insane, probably suicidal, but at this point that seems to be the theme of the night.
My hand reaches towards the knife lying beside me. The Guardian watches curiously as I grab it, but I don't give myself time to think before driving the blade into the marked hand.
I expect pain, but instead, the Guardian screams.
His hand jerks violently towards his own wound as he stumbles backwards, releasing his throat. The invisible pressure around my neck disappears instantly, and I drag in a desperate breath, coughing as air finally fills my lungs.
It worked.
I stare at my hand. I don't feel the injury, not properly, but the Guardian does. And suddenly I understand. I can't hurt him directly, but I don't need to.
I scramble to my feet and close the distance between us, swinging the knife towards him. He raises his arm to block, and the blade cuts deeply across his forearm. Blood appears, and so does the pain, slamming back into me hard enough that I drop the knife and clutch my own arm, teeth clenched as agony tears through my body.
"Damn it."
I stagger backwards, trying to steady myself. I can't fight him like this. Every time I hurt him, I hurt myself, but if the pain works both ways...
I look at the blood running from my hand. I don't feel any any pain from it. Not from that injury.
My eyes widen as I slowly look back at the Guardian, and then it clicks. If I can feel everything he does to himself, then he must feel everything I do to myself.
I smile.
The Guardian's expression changes, and I know he has figured out what I've realised. I raise my fist and punch myself across the face and the Guardian staggers sideways.
I stare at him.
He stares back.
So I was right.
I hit myself again, and then again, each strike making him stumble further as panic slowly replaces the confidence on his face. Blood begins to run from my lip, but I barely register it because the pain isn't mine anymore. For the first time since he walked through that door, he's afraid.
I laugh, not because anything about this is funny, but because Noah would probably call this reckless and Kai would call it stupid. I can practically hear them both telling me I'm going to get myself killed.
Maybe they're right, but I keep hitting myself anyway.
The Guardian drops to one knee, but before I can do anything else, the sound of footsteps reaches me. More security are on their way. They're coming down the stairs.
I glance towards the computer system but the seed is still flashing amber. It's not ready yet, I need more time.
I look at the Guardian struggling to stand and then down at the knife lying on the floor. I know exactly what I have to do, so I pick it up. The Guardian's eyes widen, but I don't hesitate before driving the blade into my stomach.
The Guardian screams and collapses almost instantly, clutching his own stomach as the connection transfers the injury back onto him. I stumble backwards, but I force myself to stay standing long enough to draw my handgun and aim it at his chest.
I pull the trigger and his body drops sideways. For a second, I think it's over, but then the pain hits me.
It feels like something has reached inside my chest and squeezed my heart. I slam backwards against the wall, dropping the gun as I clutch my chest. The Guardian is dead, but whatever his ability did to me hasn't disappeared with him yet.
I can barely breathe. Blood rises into my throat and I cough it onto the floor before my legs give way, sending me sliding down the wall until I'm sitting on the cold concrete.
I can hear the security guards approaching. They're getting closer.
I look towards the staircase, then towards Noah's seed.
Amber.
Still amber.
"Come on..."
I reach for one of the grenades attached to my vest, my hands shaking so badly that I almost drop it. I pull the pin with my teeth and wait, watching as the first security guard appears at the doorway, then I throw it.
His eyes widen as he realises what I've done, but he tries to retreat and there's nowhere to go. The explosion tears through the doorway, sending debris crashing down and sealing the entrance beneath a mountain of rubble. Dust and smoke fill the room, forcing me to cover my face as another wave of pain rolls through my body.
Then everything becomes quiet.
Almost peaceful.
I stare at the destroyed doorway and let out a weak laugh.
"Guess this is how I go out."
Another cough wracks my body, and this time more blood stains my lips. My vision is narrowing now, the room becoming nothing more than blurred shapes and flickering lights, and I know I'm running out of time.
I turn my head towards the computer system. The seed is still there, still flashing, so I force myself to focus on it.
Amber.
Amber.
Amber.
Then the device beeps and the light changes to green.
My breath catches as one by one, the lights across the rows of motherboards begin to disappear. The machines shut down in sequence, their humming fading into silence, and the alarms suddenly cut out, leaving the basement almost completely silent.
The system is dying. GeneX is losing everything.
Everything Noah built this for is finally happening.
I smile despite the pain.
"You did it, Noah."
My head falls back against the wall, and I can barely keep my eyes open anymore. My hand moves weakly towards the seed. For the first time since Noah died, I don't feel like I've failed him.
I close my eyes.
"I'll see you soon."
And this time, when the darkness comes for me, I don't fight it.