Slowly the darkness began to fade. And as he first became aware that he was still alive, he realized that at least he was still breathing. Slowly, but surely, air entered his lungs, and then as slowly, exited. As he began to rise in awareness to consciousness, Jericho also became aware that he was being carried. Opening his eyes, he could see the ground beneath him as it moved past, and though slightly disoriented by the view, he was able to determine that he was draped over the shoulder of a Guardian. The Guardian’s hard metallic body dug into his abdomen with ever step. As he fought to come to full consciousness, he did not move, but just observed. The Guardian came to a stop. Faced backwards as he was, Jericho couldn’t see why the Guardian had stopped. He heard a sound, like that of rock as it ground against another rock, and then felt a wash of cool air come over him. Darkness enveloped him. As Jericho’s eyes began to adjust, he heard the rock against rock sound again, and the brightness of outside was suddenly extinguished. It seemed they were in some type of hallway now, the outside door had now been shut. With every step taken by the Guardian, Jericho became more and more awake. He had no idea how long he had been unconscious, but he could clearly hear the last scream of Gabrielle in his mind, as she had yelled his name. He had to find her, he thought. But what could he do? He was groggy, and was being carried by a Guardian to some unknown destination. He began to take stock of his situation. He did not know where he was, or where he was being taken, or what would happen to him once he got there. He did not know where Gabrielle was, or if she was okay. The only thing he did know was that she had scanned positive for the plague, which would probably mean she had been taken to Quarantine, wherever that was. What was he to do? He thought. But even as the Guardian continued forward step by step, a plan began to form in his mind. And the first part of that plan meant that he had to get away from this Guardian.
After several turns through the darkened hallway, the Guardian came to a part of the hallway lined with doors. Jericho immediately recognized this as part of the control center. This was the area where he had been interrogated, and then released. He had no need to see into any of the rooms, because he remembered in detail the stark interior of the one he had occupied all too well. The Guardian stopped partway down the hallway and turned toward the wall. Jericho heard as the door unlocked, as he heard the faint click, and then heard the door slide open. The Guardian carried him through the threshold, and across the room. Jericho braced himself. As he judged the distance that he was now away from the open doorway, he thought that the Guardian was about to place him in the chair. Jericho remembered that in his interrogation room, the chair had been up against the far wall. As the Guardian began to make the slightest movement and tilted forward as if to gently place Jericho in the chair, Jericho shot out his legs behind him, and hoped against hope that the wall was were he thought it was. His feet slammed against the immovable stone wall, as he grabbed the Guardians head awkwardly with his right arm, and he pushed with all his might.
For what seemed like an eternity, he struggled to straighten his body, as he pushed against the wall until his legs trembled. He pulled against the Guardian’s head with all of his strength until his fingers began to slip. And then suddenly it happened. He could feel his body become completely straight. He could feel the Guardian begin to tip backwards, and with one last push, he desperately struggled to free himself from the mass of the Guardian as it fell. He rolled to his left, and pushed against the Guardian’s head to give himself leverage to get away. He hit the stone floor and rolled away, inches from where the Guardian slammed down onto its back. He saw with amazement that its control stick was still in hand. Jericho jumped to his feet, and ran to the back of the chair and grabbed the chains that would be used to bind a person for interrogation. He pulled them free from the loop bolted to the floor, just as the Guardian’s arm reached out and grabbed for him. He backed away as the control stick swung at him, and brushed the cloth of his pants leg. Jericho swung the heavy chain towards the base of the control stick, and it glanced off of the Guardian’s hand and dislodged the metallic stick and it clattered across the floor. He did not wait to see if the Guardian tried to rise. Jericho clambered across the floor and dove for the control stick. He turned back to the Guardian, just as its arm shot out and reached for his ankle. Jericho kicked out, and knocked its hand away, and then quickly shoved the control stick up against its head. Blue light arced. The Guardian began to convulse, and smoke began to roll out from its neck joint. Jericho jumped to his feet, control stick in hand. He reached down and kicked the chain away from the Guardian’s body and then grabbed it and ran for the open door. He quickly looked out into the hallway. It was clear. He stepped outside, and paused briefly at the control panel of the doorway. He was unsure which of the many buttons to hit, so he began to hit several until suddenly the door slid shut and he heard the lock engage. Now what, he thought. I’ve escaped the Guardian. I have a control stick. But where do I go? Where is Gabrielle?
He reasoned that if he continued down the hallway, away from the direction that they had come, it would lead into the control center, which was the last place he wanted to be. That left him one option. To go back the way they had come. He wasn’t sure if he could remember which turns the Guardian had taken as it came in, and even if he made it back to the doorway to the outside, he was unsure if it would open for him. But he knew he could not stay here. He had to find Gabrielle. And if he stayed here, it would mean punishment, or worse. Now, he had attacked a Guardian. He had never even heard of anyone that had attacked a Guardian. And until today, as he had witnessed the trouble in the meal room at the factory, he had not even realized that it could be done. His mind ran in overtime as he began to retrace the path towards the outside. He came to where he thought the first turn had been made, and cautiously peered around the corner. The hallway was empty. He turned the corner and quietly made his way to the next turn. Here, as he looked around the corner, he could go left or right. Though he was not positive, he thought that the Guardian had come from the right. He chose to go to the left.
The hallway remained clear as he headed through the gloom, which was lit occasionally by an overhead light. When eventually the hallway ended in a dead end, he noticed the faint outline of a doorway set into the wall, but he could see no control panel to operate the door. Then, barely visible in the gloom, was a single square recess. He reached out and touched the indentation, and was startled when the door suddenly slid open. He jumped back and shut his eyes against the blinding light. As he squinted, he stepped forward and peered through the doorway. It was another hallway with smooth floors and walls, with light that beamed down from the overhead ceiling panels. It was something Jericho had never seen. He glanced down to the left, and then to the right. He turned left. As he still squinted at the brightness of the light, and felt naked in the brightness of the overhead light, he stayed close against the left side of the hallway as he moved. He tightened his grip on the control stick in his right hand. The chain in his left hand, tightly wrapped around his wrist, dangled nearly to the floor. He was all too aware that he had made a commitment when he had attacked the Guardian back in the interrogation room. If he was stopped now, he thought, if they caught him, he would never see Gabrielle again. He would be unable to help her. He might not see anyone again. As this thought ran through his mind, a panel suddenly slid open in the wall just in front of him, and a Guardian stepped through into the hallway. Jericho reacted instantly, and shoved the control stick into its side. The blue sparks exploded from the contact, and as he pulled the control stick back and readied himself for his next attack, smoke began to billow from the Guardian. It had never raised its control stick. Jericho realized that it had not even known he was there. It had not yet had a chance to realize that anyone was there. It stood immobile as it smoldered.
Cautiously, with the control stick pointing out, Jericho made his way around the disabled Guardian, and once past, he ran farth
er down the brightly lit hallway. He glanced back occasionally to make sure the Guardian had not moved. As he moved he began to think that maybe he should have pushed the Guardian back into the pathway from which it came, instead of having just left it to stand there in the hallway. Or maybe he should have tried that pathway to see where it led. It had been dark like the original pathway that he had come down, which might mean that it led back to the control center, or it could have led elsewhere. Regardless, he had chosen this direction, and had in fact left the Guardian to stand there. He could not go back now. He knew he had to continue to move. To not do so would mean that they would catch him and this would all be over before it began. He turned the corner, and the hallway came to an abrupt end. Here, the door was plainly visible, as was the control panel to the right. But as he approached, he knew that he didn’t know how to make the door open. He looked closely at the panel, which contained a series of numbers and characters, some that he had never seen before. There was nothing like an ‘Open” button, or even the color coded buttons like at his station. No red, no green. He moved the control stick into his left hand, and placed his right hand on the panel. Maybe, he thought, I can feel the code.
He slowly moved his hand across the pad, his finger tips just grazing each of the buttons in a systematic pattern. Seconds passed as he began to feel as though his fingers were being drawn by an unseen force to certain of the buttons. He pressed one of the buttons, and a green light lit up at the top of the panel, but the door did not open. He let his hand continue to drift across the pad and pressed a second button, and a second green light lit up at the top of the panel, but again the door did not open. His finger tips brushed across one of the buttons on the bottom right of the pad, and he almost pressed it, but stopped just before he did, and moved to the one just above it, pressed it, and now a third green light lit up. Once again the door did not open. He pulled his hand back, and wiped his palm on his pants, then reached back towards the panel, as he tried to feel what the next button may be. He closed his eyes, and concentrated. He felt the layout of the panel. He saw the buttons in his mind, and the sequence of the buttons he had already pressed. Rapidly they all began to blink off and on in his visual image, as the images blinked though the sequence he had already pushed, and finally ended with a single button which remained illuminated. Top row, third from the left. He opened his eyes, and reached out to touch this button. Before his finger made contact with the button, the door slid open. The open door revealed the huge metallic figure of yet another Guardian. Its control stick came up even as its presence still registered in Jericho’s mind. His eyes went wide.
Chapter 13