The Sapporo Outbreak (30 page)

"Because the game had layer upon layer of controls. Ways of making sure everyone behaved themselves. That the rules of polite society were observed. The rules applied to the characters they generated and the human players. And when the system was attacked ..."

Santos jumped in. "The rules were lifted. Of course! The virtual players are programmed to live in a world of rules. When the rules are gone, they adjust. To live in a world with no rules. Which means they do anything to survive."

"Right Doctor Santos. And some of the humans respond in kind. So - all of a sudden the safe virtual world becomes deadly. It's so damn realistic, players can't tell what's real and what's not. So they organise. The strongest gather together and pick off the weak or foreign."

"That's right Andy. And so we get here - in our very own lord of the flies."

Skinner had been listening carefully as they spoke.

"Ok - so we need to make that work for us. If they're acting as a pack, then the alpha male is the one that really matters."

Santos and Harper nodded as Skinner continued.

"Which means - great news team - that we need to find a way to get rid of that ugly mother." Skinner nodded toward the glass door, to see Evans pounding on the door. Suddenly, the door frame cracked, and a split appeared down its length.

Skinner pointed toward the crack, which was widening with each crash against the door.

"Ok Andy, coffee break is over. We need to get up to that NOC. Once we get there, we wait for help to arrive. There's no way this has gone undetected - this shit is happening everywhere ..."

Santos raised an eyebrow.

"... And this place should be swarming with help in no time at all. The elevators are no good, so we need to make the other fire exit."

A confident smile spread across Harper's face as he listened.

"No problem. I think I've got this figured out. As long as we don't run into any more of those shit heads, we should be ok."

Harper started jogging away from the glass door and into the dark corridor beyond. Skinner and Santos followed close behind. Jabbing a thumb back over her shoulder at the pack crashing against the door, Santos turned to Skinner.

"What about them?"

Skinner grimaced. "I say the door holds them for two, maybe three minutes. No more."
 

Skinner glanced quickly back at the door. At the end of the dark corridor he could make out the shape of Evans as he organised the pack into groups of three before shoulder-charging the door. The door shuddered and the frame cracked loudly.
 

As they disappeared into the darkness, Skinner turned back to Santos.

"I'm sorry Eva, but even two minutes looks pretty optimistic."

#

Harper led them silently through a black valley separating row upon row of ominous blinking black machines. Clearly any power the building did have was being used by these giant slabs of processing power. In the distance, they could hear Evans and his deranged followers smash through the glass door, and sprint down the long corridor. It suddenly occurred to Skinner that the infected players were just as wired in to the system as Harper was. That's why they were able to navigate so well in the dark.

Up ahead, he could see that the monotonous line of shadowy computer equipment was broken by a large, featureless room.

Doctor Becker's VR lab, and just beyond that, the emergency exit door.

Harper turned and whispered, "This might work. According to iSight, this lab was pretty well protected. Maybe Becker and his team are holed up in there waiting for help."

Skinner nodded. "Ok - let's check it out. But if it's a bust we need to get into that exit and up to level five as quickly as possible. I have a feeling it's not going to take the pack long to catchup."

Harper nodded and crept forward.

About a dozen steps ahead was Dr Becker's lab.
 
The heavy door was open, splintered with the top half hanging free of its frame. The only light breaking through the pitch black was the small blinking green eyes peering out from the ominous technology towers and a faint glow radiating from the lab.

The lights were out in the lab too, and as they got within a few paces of the door it became clear that something very bad had happened there. The heavy door had been jammed open by what looked to Skinner like an engine block but was in fact one of the thousands of hi-tech devices adorning the computer racks all around them. Standing shoulder to shoulder, they cautiously edged their way inside, guided by the hazy glow of emergency lighting along the floor. It struck Skinner as odd that the designers had catered for emergency lighting in the lab but not in the maze of technology outside. Like the near-total dependancy on the iSight system for pretty much all navigation, it seemed clear to Skinner that the assumption had been that the system would never,
could
never, break.

Holding Santos by his right hand, Andy Harper to his left, Skinner nudged past the half-open door and into the VR lab. It took his eyes a little time to adjust to the dim lights above, and at first it was hard to make out the scene.
 

And then it emerged from the darkness.

There were bodies everywhere. Twisted necks. Skulls smashed. The spray of blood on the ceiling and walls. Lifeless bodies lay on the ground, a few on chairs. Only a small square of white rectangular floor tiles in the centre of the room had escaped - otherwise the floor had turned scarlet red.

Silence.
 

No groans. No cries for help. No, the pack who'd done this had made sure everyone was dead. As Skinner surveyed the wreckage, he pieced together the attack. Enraged psychopaths swarmed over these scientists and technicians, punching, stomping, tearing, stabbing. Once the fighting - if that's what it could be called - was over then the pack methodically visited each victim, bludgeoning their skulls.

This had been a massacre. In the distance, head twisted unnaturally and one arm horribly dislocated, lay Dr Becker,
 
the artificial intelligence genius behind the game's personalities.
 

Skinner turned to Santos and Harper, who both stood transfixed with horror. Skinner and Clarke had seen a similar scene a couple of years back, and for the first time Skinner was joining the dots.

"Ok. We need to get up to that NOC right now. Let's move."

They nodded in grim silence, and Skinner led them quickly out of the lab and toward the emergency exit.
 

Skinner turned to speak to Santos but was interrupted by a loud metallic clang near the entrance to the lab, then voices jabbering excitedly.
 

There were more infected players out there. Coming their way. They had to get to that NOC right now.

#

Skinner moved quickly, silently to the emergency exit, then waved Santos to follow. She hustled up to the door, then turned and gestured for Harper to follow.

As Harper crept toward the door, a teenage girl flew out from a darkened row of computers and sprang toward him. She grabbed a fistful of his hair with one hand while the other held a large chunk of broken glass and slashed at his back.

Caught completely by surprise, Harper stumbled and fell to the left, his head clanging noisily against a steel rack. Harper lay dazed, face down, while the girl slashed viciously at his back and side. Skinner sprinted forward, but Santos beat him to it. With a ferocity that stunned Skinner, Santos grabbed the screeching girl by the hair and heaved her up off Harper. The girl fell backward, snarling and slashing, catching Santos on the right shoulder.
 

Santos yelped in pain, and the girl turned to attack her. By now, Skinner had made up the space, and with his fist curled tight, punched the savage teenager square on the throat, fracturing her larynx and crushing her trachea. Her dark red eyes popped wide open as she fell first to her knees, and then to the floor as air bubbled up through an open cut in her neck. Skinner didn't need to check - he knew she'd die from the wound.
 

Harper scrambled to his feet, blood pouring from his white shirt, and nodded his thanks. Skinner quickly scanned his wounds. There were lots of them. One or two looked like they'd sliced into muscle but most were shallow, surface wounds. Skinner turned to Santos and saw immediately that the surface skin on her shoulder had been peeled back, exposing two areas of open seeping wound. Skinner inwardly breathed a sigh of relieve. It would hurt - Skinner could see the pain etched across her face - but there would be no lasting damage.

He stole a glance back. He could hear the voices closing in fast. The larger infected pack was less than a minute away. Harper and Santos were both injured and bleeding. There was no chance they'd be able to outrun them.
 

Skinner pointed Harper toward the door, then bent over and hoisted Santos on to her feet. Harper flung the door open and the three of them spilled into the stairwell.
 

Skinner could hear the clatter of feet below them.
More infected. Can't go down. Have to go up.

Skinner looked at Harper. Wounded but stoic. "Ready Andy?"

Harper glanced back at the door they'd just entered, the voices sounded right outside.

"No time like the present Ben."
 

Skinner took the stairs two at a time, his right arm gripping Santos hard, almost lifting her off her feet. Harper followed right behind.
 

They reached the fifth floor landing, its door lying twisted on the floor, just as the fourth floor door burst open. Skinner and Harper grabbed Santos, and together they leapt through the open doorway and headlong into the pitch black of level five.

They were on their own in the dark, listening to the sound of pounding feet and heavy breath of a dozen deranged murderous lunatics pounding up toward them.
 

Skinner looked down and could see their shadows racing on the stairwell below. A few seconds more, and they'd be here. He closed his eyes, and squeezed Santos' hand tight.
 

#

"We won't make it if we stay together."

Skinner looked at Harper as the pack closed in on them.

"No time to argue Ben. You and Eva go right. Go north for about 90 seconds. The NOC entrance should be to your left. I'll take them round the long way."

Skinner started to speak, but Harper had already sprinted left and into the darkness. Harper was shouting at the top of his voice and banging hard against the closed office doors as he ran. "C'mon you freaks. Over here!"

Skinner grabbed Santos by the arm and darted right.
 

"Ben. What about Andy?"

"He'll make it Eva. We'll see him soon."

They sprinted forward in almost complete darkness. Skinner cracked his elbow hard on a vacant security desk and winced as the pain shot up his arm. Suddenly they hit a wall of humming, blinking racks. A dead end.
 

Skinner cursed under his breath, then pulled Santos down so that they were both resting on a knee. Navigating by the tiny green flashing lights under a row of steel and cables, he crouched down low and held his breath.
 

He looked back and could make out the shadows of dozens spilling out from the emergency exit. Skinner could sense a momentary confusion among the group. Should they spill into the darkness or continue chasing the clattering feet of Harper?

Skinner's heart sank as John Evans pushed through the pack and took control. He pointed in Harper's direction, and half the pack ran off. The rest knew they were to follow him as he set off in the same direction as Skinner and Santos. They could hear the sound of heavy boots crunching over broken glass.
 

Without warning, Evans turned sharply left and led the pack
 
down a dark row of computers. Skinner waited a few seconds until the sound had faded, then turned to Santos.
 

"Eva. They'll be back soon. We need to move now. According to iSight, the NOC is behind this rack, and that's got to be the safest place to be. It looks like our only chance is to squeeze underneath then sprint for the NOC."

Santos looked at the distance between the bottom shelf and the floor. It would be tight for her, even worse for Skinner. The voices were getting louder again - they'd turned back already.

"Ok - let's do it." Santos winced as she leant forward, and kissed Skinner. Surprised, he squeezed her hand.

"We're going to make it out of here Eva."

With that, they both dropped to the floor and started pushing underneath the steel shelf. Santos could feel the cold steel scrape against her back and she inched her way forward.

Skinner spread himself as flat as possible, took a deep breath then exhaled. He could barely make it past his shoulders. The steel rack had him pinned. He forced himself forward, and felt the steel rip his shirt to shreds and scrape a layer of skin from his back. He kept pushing, but was pinned down so tight he couldn't inhale. Footsteps were closing in on him, the screeches and jeers of the chasing pack felt all around.
 

Skinner couldn't breath. He was jammed tight, and now he felt dizzy. Light headed. He knew he would pass out soon. He could hear the howling all around. They were here.
 

As the darkness descended, Skinner felt a powerful hand grab him roughly and pull. In the distance, he felt a scraping,
tearing
, along the length of his back.

'I hope Eva made it.'

He passed out.

#

Kaito Tanaka stood up, stretched and surveyed the chaos around him. He had been so proud of the NOC. It was a true state of the art facility. He'd poured money into employing the most advanced technology available, he hired a team of the world's best and brightest. He'd built the biggest, most lucrative game in history.

He scanned the dimly lit room. The few screens that were still working gave out more light than the low voltage emergency lighting overhead. How had it come to this? In the blink of an eye, his life's vision swallowed by the dark madness all around.