Prisoner 3-57: Nuke Town (15 page)

The
streets of Central City were as still as a museum. You could hear a
pin drop from a mile away. I had been in libraries with more noise.
The place was a ghost town. It was a fully function city, but without
a single soul in sight. It had roads, shops, hospitals, schools,
apartments and homes. It just didn’t have any people that lived
here. It felt eerie. It felt wrong. It put me on edge. It was like
something out of one of those horror movies. Cars should be driving
by, people should be rudely shoving into me, and the place should
have a certain buzz and atmosphere to it. This place was still. It
felt unnatural, but then again I also got the feeling that I was
being watched. That might be where this unnatural feeling stems from.

I
examined my x-com.

The
small touch screen computer built into my left forearm was currently
down. All players in this war game have to be fitted with their own
personal x-com. It is our link to the game and the only way to buy
better weapons, equipment, skills, armour, medication, ammunition and
information. The touch screen was completely black. It had been like
that for the last few hours. Prisoner X was somehow blocking our link
to the game creators that fed us the information we needed to
complete our missions. That wasn’t overly surprising. Prisoner
X had put up some kind of science fiction style force field around
the city. We could walk through it unharmed, but those sick monsters
that ruled this chaotic world were killed instantly if they touched
the force field. Not a single one of the demonic indestructible and
disgusting aliens could get inside. This was the safest place on the
planet, but it was also the most dangerous. Prisoner X was here. I
had been sent back into the game on a mission. That mission was to
kill Prisoner X. It seemed straight forward. I went into the game, I
killed him and then I got out of the game. A full pardon was on the
table. If I killed the most hated terrorist in the history of earth I
would be allowed to walk free, but that’s if I survived this
game. I was starting to believe this mission was a one way trip.
Prisoner X was god of this world. My entire time in this game has
been one long bloodfest. I had managed to kill nothing, waste all my
ammo, and lost several old friends.

Prisoner
X might be one step to far.

This
was his game.

The
virtual war game was originally created as a form of punishment for
convicted murders and rapists. It was a virtual world. The prisoner’s
own subconscious mind creates a living nightmare for them. The idea
is that they created their own punishment on a mental, emotional,
psychological and physical level, but somehow Prisoner X turned all
this around. They gave him too much power. He took control of the
game and he now has the lives of four million players in his hand. He
has removed all the safety protocols. If you die in the game, you die
in the real world too. Yes. We were safe from the monsters outside,
but the worst monster of them all was in this city with us. My next
move would be to kill Prisoner X, but I had no weapons apart from the
remote link to the tactical nuclear weapon sitting in orbit. That was
no good to me now. Fiona, Jane and my sister were three of the
thirteen survivors in this city. I could level the whole place and
kill Prisoner X, but in doing that I would kill all my friends, too.

‘
I
was caught in the game when Prisoner X took over,’ said Levi.

Levi
was wearing a seven foot tall dark blue deep space combat suit. The
thing looked like it could take a missile to the face and still keep
moving. All sorts of different weapons, guns and explosives were
built into various compartments of this suit. The suit was so big it
would need a foot stall to climb into. It looked like something out
of a Japanese science fiction comic. I had met Levi in the safe
house. From my short time knowing him I knew he was a good soldier
and someone you wanted close by.

‘
Are
you Earth Force?’ asked Sly.

‘
No,’
replied Levi, ‘I am one of the five game designers. I work for
IO. I was finishing off some coding for a new multi-player planet
when Prisoner X locked me out. IO and the other game designers sent
me my suit and weapons. I was supposed to help keep alive as many
players as possible, but nobody counted on Prisoner X creating such a
terrifying horde of zombie aliens. He made it nearly impossible.
Hundreds of thousands of players are already dead.’

‘
What
are you going to do now?’ Sly followed up with another
question.

‘
I
will support 3-57 on his mission. We will kill Prisoner X.’

‘
You
know about that?’ I countered.

‘
IO
informed me of your entry into the game. I think it is a good move.
Prisoner X is enjoying tormenting the civilian players. He is
ignoring the other prisoners. He might relate to you, thinking of you
as an ally. This will give you the opportunity to get close enough to
him to end this whole nightmare. I will come with you and back you
up.’

Sly
laughed.

‘
With
your weapons and armour I am sure you can take him down.’

Levi
stopped in mid-stride and turned to face us.

His
big metallic body loomed over Sly.

‘
Don’t
underestimate Prison X. He is a monster...’ Levi never got to
finish his sentence. The tip of a fix foot sword stabbed through the
top of his helmet. A sickening crunch reached my ears. It carved
through the armour like it wasn’t even there. The blade burst
out beneath his jaw. Blood dripped down the silver metal blade. Fear
gripped my heart, as I looked up at the figure standing upon Levi’s
shoulders. It was a man in black. He was dressed head to toe in a
ninja suit. It was like something out of an old martial art movie.
The man wore no armour. He had no protection. He didn’t even
have any guns.

The
ninja back flipped like an Olympic gymnast and landed elegantly on
the floor.

Levi’s
armoured suit fell to the floor with a god almighty thump.

Fight
or flight was kicking in.

I
had to make a choice.

Did
I run or did I fight?

I
clenched my fist into a tight ball.

‘
Don’t
do it, brother...’
whispered
the voice of my sister. I gave my head a quick shake. This wasn’t
my sister. This was the sickness. It only took the form of my sister
to fuck with my mind. This personality had taken over my body and
killed all my friends in a previous game. It was a curse. I wouldn’t
let it do the same thing again. I had to ignore it. I had to be
mentally stronger. That is what it did. It rattled me, confused me
and forced itself into the forefront of my mind.

The
ninja extended out a hand to his right.

What
happened next was beyond belief.

A
shop window exploded out into the street, as a chair flew through the
air. It looked like it had just been fired from a catapult. The chair
landed perfectly behind the ninja, who sheathed his sword upon his
hip, and sat down. Did he have some kind of telekinesis mind power?
Was that even possible? If he could do that, what else could he do?

‘
Hello,
gentlemen,’ said the distorted voice. The person sounded like
they were talking through an old radio that couldn’t quite get
the signal. ‘I am Prisoner X.’

Sly
and I said nothing in reply.

What
could you say to that?

‘
Prisoner
3-57,’ he pointed a finger at me and started to laugh. ‘They
sent you to kill me. Good choice. Good choice. I see IO still has a
sense of humour.’

‘
Why
are you doing this?’ asked Sly.

‘
Eh?’
replied Prisoner X. ‘You ask why? Isn’t it obvious? It’s
fun!’

‘
You’re
fucking mental,’ I told him.

‘
That
is a possibility,’ conceded Prisoner X. ‘You are one to
talk. You still hearing the voice of your dead sister?’

‘
My
sister isn’t dead?’

‘
Are
you sure about that?’

I
hesitated. I didn’t mean to, but it was there. I honestly
didn’t know if Rose was real or not. I wanted her to be real. I
wanted my childhood memories to be true. They were not all bad
memories. I want the good ones to be true, if they aren’t, then
is anything in my life real? Rose was such an instrumental part of my
development, growth and life experiences. If she was not real then my
life was nothing more than a lie. I wished she was real, but I wasn’t
sure what was real any more They had convinced me that my sister
never existed and that I was a paranoid schizophrenic. I had killed
all my friends when the bad Rose had taken over my body. I then awoke
and was sent back into this game. This time I find my sister alive
and well. I don’t know what to believe. I was starting to think
she was real, but the voice inside my head is back.

I
don’t know what to believe.

‘
How
about we make this interesting?’ said Prisoner X. ‘I am
going to turn the AI characters against you.’

‘
What
AI characters?’ I asked.

Prisoner
X laughed. He was enjoying this.

‘
You
didn’t know that three members of your group are artificial
characters created by this game? I can make them do anything I want.
You had thirteen players in your party at the time of entering this
City. I just killed the shitty game designer. No need to thank me by
the way. He is one of the reasons you are in this fucking game. You
have twelve friends left. Three of them are AI’s. They are
going to come for your head, 3-57. You get to find out now if your
sister is real or not.’

‘
You
son of a bitch,’ I growled through clenched teeth.

‘
If
you manage to survive this little game I will be waiting for you up
there.’ He pointed a thumb over his shoulder. In the centre of
the city was a towering skyscraper. A big red neon X was spread out
across thirty floors. ‘I think you are going to be surprised by
the things you are going to learn today. I look forward to our final
showdown.’ He laughed. And then with a single leap he took the
sky like some kind of superhero.

He
could fly too?

How
in the hell was I supposed to kill a super human man with no weapons?

Chapter Two:
Confusion

Three
of our group were AI’s?

I
glanced out the corner of my eye towards Sly. He was giving me a
similar distrusting look. Was he real? I hadn’t met him until
we fled the train. Unconsciously, I looked him up and down. He looked
real. The fear behind the windows of his soul almost made me believe
he was real, but then I thought of my sister. They convinced me that
she wasn’t real. They convinced me that I was sick. If they
could do that then they could easily create a realistic artificial
intelligence.

Sly
drew the combat knife from his belt.

‘
Hey,’
I told him, holding up my hands. ‘We don’t have to do
this.’

‘
You
have to kill him,’ whispered the voice within my head.

‘
I
don’t want to die, man,’ said Sly.

‘
No
one is going to die. Prisoner X is just trying to fuck with us.’

‘
You
can’t trust him,’ said the voice. ‘He isn’t
real.’

Damn
it! Why wouldn’t she just shut up?

‘
I
don’t know you.’

‘
I
don’t know you, either,’ I told him.

‘
I
know him,’ said the voice. ‘He is here to kill you,
Brother.’

I
tried to block out her voice.

Sly
looked around the empty street, as if searching for some place to run
off to.

Was
he really thinking of running?

Was
it a trick?

Was
he feigning fear in an attempt to catch me off guard?

If
Sly was really an AI he would come at me, but I can see he wants to
flee.

‘
It’s
a trick. The moment you look away he will stab you in the back.’

Fuck
you!

She
is trying to mess with my mind. I have to ignore her.

‘
You
can run if you have to. I am not going to chase you.’