Chapter 8
Spare copy
They walked the marbled hall, trying to look calm. Security officer followed them with his gaze, but didn't say anything.
“Why is he staring?” Silver muttered. “Spots on the floor were cleaned up long ago – how long can one live in the past?”
“Don't judge the others. We seem to depend on the past ourselves, thought until recently we had no idea we do,” Evanford said, referring to his own thoughts.
They've approached the door that used to open into the dark room and the psychiatrist's office. Selena turned the handle just in case – closed, as expected. She took the key out of her purse and put it into the keyhole. It went in smoothly, like it was made for this lock. With a deep breath, the girl turned it and pushed the door... But it didn't budge. Before she could think anything, Kevin came closer and turned the handle. Selena smiled nervously, placed her hand on his and opened the door.
A strange view emerged before their eyes. There were quite authentic-looking ruins, cracked stone slabs on the floor. But the door they came through was in the usual painted wall. The wall was stretching further in both directions, but it was impossible to walk along it – the path was obstructed by ruins. Ceiling was about ten meters above them. It felt like a piece of ancient world got transported into a huge hall.
“Why would anyone make a setpiece like that?” Selena took a few cautious steps on the stone floor. “What's that?” she froze and strained her hearing. There was a barely audible growl, and a couple of seconds later some creature jumped from behind the semi-collapsed wall.
It resembled a dog, but one with a very long neck and disproportionately massive paws. Animal was unhealthy – chapped red skin could be seen through the hairless patches in its fur. With a roar, the creature threw itself towards Selena.
The girl didn't have time to consciously recall what SE lessons taught them about protection from dogs. She instinctively put forward her arm bent in elbow – let this creature rather chew on her arm than on her face... To her surprise, creature didn't jump and knock her to the ground, but stopped and closed its jaws on the arm. Its teeth punctured the cast and began to sink into the skin. Selena was about to stab the dog's bloodshot eye with a key she was squeezing in her hand, but didn't have time to – something whizzed and hit the animal's ribcage.
Creature unclenched it jaws and growled loudly. Another bullet – that was most probably a bullet – got buried in the fur. After the third one the dog dropped dead. Selena wanted to look where the shots came from, but a female voice yelled:
“Eyes on the floor! Hands up!”
Silver slowly raised her hands. She had a guess about who was giving the orders, but didn't want to argue with someone who holds the gun.
“Look at the floor!” the voice replied harshly. “Don't look at me!” the second she said it Silver raised her gaze. There was a girl in yellow dress standing in the cover of a wall, about a meter above the floor.
“Well of course, forbidding has the opposite effect on you,” the girl smirked and jumped down, her light dress rising to her hips.
“Who the hell are you?” Silver finally asked.
“I'm Gelia Gold!” the girl smiled radiantly.
“Is this all you can say?” she frowned. “Why were you running around me? Why do you look so much like me?”
“I'd say that you are the one looking way too much like me. You're my pathetic copy,” Gelia muttered with irritation, but her twin didn't hear her any longer.
“What's with your hand?!” Selena asked in shock.
“My faithful helper,” her new acquaintance grinned.
“May I?..” without waiting for the answer, she approached, took her twin's hand and started examining it, both disgusted and mesmerized.
The girl's right hand was deformed beyond recognition. It seemed like under the thick layer of skin bones were forming a clenched fist with the pointing finger stretched out – but to the touch the small lumps didn't feel like bones. There was an orifice at the tip of the finger, making it look like a gun barrel; it was a bit moist, almost completely covered with soft skin that seemed elastic. The “barrel” had slightly wider spots that were marking the joints. Selena cautiously pressed it – feels hard, like there was metal inside. Gelia was reluctantly but patiently putting up with her twin feeling her pistol hand, but when Silver tried touching the exit hole, she immediately jerked her hand away.
“No-o, only those I like may touch this! Everyone else will deal with this at a distance... And what about you, wanna examine me?” she pointed at Evanford, almost sticking the barrel into his chest.
“No, I can see everything from here,” Kevin shook his head. Selena's double was different form her in many ways – even physically, let along in her behavior. In comparison to this lady, Silver seemed modest, almost refined. Even before, even though he didn't particularly like his uncle's student, she grew on him a bit during those few days, and now he saw her positive qualities in even better light. Cognition comes through comparison. Those girls were completely different... If not to say “opposite”.
“Are you shooting from it?” Silver had her eyes glued to the weird limb.
“Naturally,” Gelia stroke her hand gently. “I'm calling it 'gunhand'. Doesn't have the greatest range, but at a close distance it's the best, and I love getting close. Its power depends on what it's loaded with, and on the mood, of course.”
“So how do you load it?” beside the barrel, Evanford didn't see any other holes.
“Oh, it's a bit unconventional,” the girl blinked. “Come and I'll treat you to some sweet berry. I also need to fill my charger,” she slapped a small empty sack hanging on the rope around her waist. “Let's take the upper route. Those animals are primitive, all they can do is running and biting, but I've got no time to waste on them,” grabbing the rocks with her left hand, Gelia quickly climbed up the ruins.
“And where's the dog?” Selena suddenly noticed that the dead animal is gone.
“Did you ever play computer games?” the girl rolled her eyes. “Ok, move it, I'll tell you on the way.”
Stone blocks turned out to be surprisingly smooth and clean. Kevin and Selena climbed up and followed Gelia, trying to keep up with her pace. Collapsed walls were forming a labyrinth of their own, but the girl obviously knew where she's going. All four surrounding walls could be seen from this height – the room they were in was about the size of a football field. In half a minute the pair got used to walking on the stones and almost didn't fall behind their guide. Upper route was more convenient indeed – beside a multitude of dead ends, there were many animals down below, exact copies of the first dog. They were standing completely still, like statues. Creatures didn't react at people, even though sometimes they were passing right before the animals' vacant eyes.
“Don't they notice us?” Selena asked quietly.
“We're outside their trigger zone,” Gelia was talking in such a tone like she was explaining this for the tenth time to someone mentally challenged. “Those dumb furries exist in a plane, in two dimensions. They come to life only when the enemy appears nearby.”
Distracted, Selena failed to watch her step and quickly paid for it. Her foot slipped, and the girl slid down, her back rubbing against the stones. Fortunately, it wasn't that high here. Selena fell on her knees.
“Do you have noodles for legs or what?” Gelia wrinkled her nose painfully. It looked as if her twin's clumsiness didn't just irritate the girl, but was making her suffer. Suddenly her eyes narrowed, and Gold abruptly stretched her right arm forward.
A dog that jumped from behind the ruins was rapidly approaching its target. Gunhand made a quiet squelch, and something flashed in the air. Judging by the projectile, the bullet must've hit the creature's muzzle, but it seemed to disappear. Silver raised her gaze from the floor, looking right into the hellish dog's gaping jaw, and heard the second bullet whizz by her ear. Animal dropped dead in the same pose as the first one.
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“Next time you won't be as lucky,” it was unclear by Gelia's voice if it's a warning or a promise. She jumped to the ground. Selena was vacantly looking at the lifeless animal lying before her.
“Are you all right?” asked Kevin, also coming down. His voice pulled Selena out of her stupor.
“I'm alive,” she raised to her feet. Knees and back were aching, but there wasn't a slightest scratch on the skin. “I recalled how I fell once on the stone stairs. It almost didn't hurt at the moment, but it turned out that my pants are torn, and there is a big, though superficial abrasion on one knee... It was oozing with ichor for almost two weeks, and took a long time to heal. And those stones don't seem to work the same way,” Selena kicked the ground with her heel. “But you know what's weird? In this memory, I'm about twelve or thirteen years old – at the time I was supposed to be in a hospital, not run around. I'm starting to lose any idea what's true, what happened to me, who I actually am?” she shuddered.
“I also start having doubts,” Evanford replied pensively. There was no particular proof, but it was easy to guess that something is off with his own past, too. Now when Kevin came to think about it, he couldn't clearly recall a single episode from his childhood. Save for the fear of the closet, but only the feeling itself, no specific images. He couldn't visualize faces of his parents. Adding up all events in his life will do little to explain how he grew into the person that he is. There's an important component missing from the equation, some logical link...
“I see that those dogs will have a treat today – snails in their own juice. Hurry up!” Gelia yelled. After walking around a few more walls they came up to a door in the wall. The girl opened it, announcing: “Welcome to my garden.”
It was an actual garden – alive, fruit-bearing cherry trees were growing from the floor. Gold walked between them, looking for something.
“He did what I asked, good boy,” she picked the cutting pliers from the floor and gave them to Kevin: “Help her get rid of that damn cast.”
“Yeah, it seems like it's of no use,” Silver agreed. Kevin clumsily cut the cast gave the pliers back – Gelia took them and immediately threw to the floor. Selena rubbed her hand:
“First the cut, now this... Everything heals so quickly recently. I'm not complaining, but it's still weird.”
“Don't you worry, it won't last long,” Gelia muttered under her breath and spoke louder: “I see that you decided to play seriously. It's time to tell you something,” she opened her bag and started collecting cherries. “Once upon a time there was a man. That is, he existed, but it was hard calling it a life – no TV, no dog, no religion, no favorite t-shirt, no sex, no cup of freshly brewed coffee in the morning. All he did was programming, and he was so obsessed with it that he became one of the top professionals. He even went as far as considering himself a god of programming, though he never told it to anyone, because he didn't like interacting with people. His only entertainment were video games, and he was obsessed with the idea of creating a perfect game. The one that would combine all genres, with dynamic, nonlinear plot, powerful artificial intelligence and hyperrealistic graphics. But this man was way ahead of his time. Hardware that could run such a game didn't even exist back then – and even if it did, it certainly wasn't for sale.”
“So he decided to built his own machine,” Kevin continued and turned to Selena: “When you were in a coma, my uncle mentioned an obsessed programmer. And you knew his name, though I can't recall it now.”
“Proggod?” the girl frowned. “I've read an excerpt where she entered his room and gave him some small part that he was looking for, and in return, asked to cheat! And I think she was scheming against us,” Silver glanced at Gelia from under the brows. “Why did you steal the car anyway? And why were you chasing me? Why do you look so much like me, and where did you get a hand like that?!”
“You'll get the answers if you finish the game,” Gold grinned. “Are you going to listen to me or interrupt me with stupid questions? So, a certain event has changed everything. Proggod and a few more people got a chance to bring their secret wishes to life. What you see around is a collaboration, a mixture... If you'll put a few unhealthy brains into a blender and push the button, this is the cocktail that you'll get. Proggod has set the main style. His fantasy was way more detailed and large-scale than the others'. Key objects, auxiliary characters, trigger principle and many other elements of computer games...”
“Trigger?” Selena repeated, baffled.
“Well, yes. Certain things that put characters or events in motion. For example, each of those dogs had a specific zone that you have to step into to make it react. And this is the general rule – you can't move forward before you perform the right action. You didn't try all that hard, of course... But you were lucky thus far,” she tied the bag.
“Which event did you mention? The one that took place on October 12th, 1996, when time stopped in Jeremy Lace's office?” Evanford gave her a searching look.
“Uhh, you just can't stick to the subject, do you... I'll never finish this briefing,” Gelia rolled her eyes. “Well of course, what else do you think this could be about.”
“Then who are those 'other people' that you've mentioned?” Kevin went on. “Who was there? Jeremy Lace, me, Selena, Proggod... Who else? You? My uncle?”
“I could only hint that six people were present,” the blonde smirked.
“Maybe also Tenko?” Silver blurted out without even thinking. Gelia shook her head. “Well, then maybe... That creepy guy that grabbed me in the corridor! He must've confused us, sunny,” she winked sarcastically. “Who was that? What relationship do you have with him?”
“A-ah, Pet,” Gold shrugged. “I call him that, this is shortened from Pervert. He's no one to me. Just blows sometimes, that's all.”
“B-blows?” Selena raised her eyebrows. “So, after all, you are...”
“No,” Gelia sharply interrupted her. “Me? And this sobby sack? Who are you taking me for? He's so repulsive that I can hardly imagine even you with him,” she shuddered in disgust.
Selena sighed. Granted, her double's appearance is hardly the worst thing that has happened these days. But Silver twitched every time she looked at her living reflection. The girl detested her twin from the moment she saw her first – maybe partially because she felt Gelia's enmity towards her. Whatever was the case, Gold was irritating her more and more.
“Tenko? Pet? Who are they?” Kevin have never heard those names before.
“Tenko is a clerk in 'Obsidian' store, and your girlfriend's old flame,” Gelia said. “As for Pet... It's too long to explain, and I don't want to anyway. We know each other, that's what I can say.”
“Yes, Selena mentioned that the clerk mistook her for his friend,” Evanford remarked. Selena nodded, looking at him almost gratefully – at least someone sees her as herself, not as some girl from the past. “Either way, this man wasn't there when the event took place, so we're not taking him into account. And the one you called pervert, was he present, after all? Who is he, what is his real name?”
“That's his name now,” Gelia shrugged. “Now we all have names that suit us. Those we deserve...”
“So, let's see... Me and Selena were certainly there on day X. And Jeremy Lace – that was the moment he got stuck in time. Proggod also participated. There are reasons to think that my uncle was there too. Gelia also, probably. And, as we found out, there was someone named Pet. And don't forget Haurot Sputkee. Did I miss anyone? Doesn't seem so... Who are the extra ones, then?”
“No one,” it looked like Gold was smiling at a joke that only she knew. “All of them were in the circle.”
“In a circle?.. But you said that six people were present, and I counted eight,” Evanford frowned.
“Different math is at work here,” the girl cunningly winked.
“Another rules... The laws of psychics?” Kevin cautiously asked, recalling Haurot's words. Gelia smiled in agreement. “I assume you're acquainte
d with Sputkee?”
“O-oh, more than acquainted,” she grinned. “We ended up close by accident, and this close relationship lasts to this day,” Gold unwittingly cringed. It seemed like she wasn't too satisfied with that relationship.
“And you know my uncle, too?”
“Yup. A born analopsychotic,” she said it with almost an unironic respect. Selena turned away. She couldn't stand seeing her own mouth spitting out things like that.
Kevin would also gladly get rid of her company – Gelia was arrogant, crass, unpredictable, and didn't give an altruistic impression at all. Nevertheless, she saved them from dogs and now readily answers the questions. This was obviously suspicious.
“Why are you helping us? What's your benefit from this?” Evanford asked straight. Gelia jockingly raised the gunhand barrel like a scolding pointing finger and said with a smile:
“Well, you got me. Yes, I'm saying all this not because I enjoy chatting with you. Plot has to be moved forward. I also want to get to the finish line, and ending the game, unfortunately, depends only on you now,” Gelia began examining a tree branch.
“And what will happen in the end?” Selena's eyes widened with curiosity.
“A miracle,” Gold picked a big cherry and put it into her mouth. “When the wishes of those people came true, they didn't become completely healthy. There were still bugs in their brains, they've just crawled into the corners. And if you fail in the game, they'll grow and munch on you till the end of eternity... Of you'll just die. But the one who will make their way through all the trials will get out clean, and will help those who were before him. That's why stakes rise with each new player.”
“And you're also one of the players?” asked Evanford.
“No-o, I'm a Joker of this deck. I've got no problems, no fears. But saying that I don't give a fuck would be a lie, because sometimes I do,” she winked suggestively. “Yes, I do care how this will end. And I'm actively participating, as you've already noticed. By the way, I'll travel with you a bit,” she obviously wasn't going to check if they're on board with it or not. Picking a few more berries, she offered them to Kevin, licking her lips: “Want to treat yourself to something juicy?”
“No, thank you,” professor's nephew shook his head.
“Are you squeamish about taking food from someone's hands?”
“It's not about that,” he replied calmly. “I can't check if they're wormy or not, so I'd rather not eat them.”
“And what about you?” Gelia looked at her twin.
This was one of the few things they had in common – Silver did like cherries. All berries looked exquisite – glossy, meaty, without a single spot. Under another circumstances she would've taken them without a second thought, but now she was suspicious, especially after what Kevin said. Selena took one cherry and tore it in half with her nails. Inside the juicy pulp, she saw a fat worm squirming. Shrieking in disgust, she threw the cherry away. Terrified by the realization that was building up in her head, the girl took another berry and opened it a bit. Catching a glance at something white inside, she slowly put the cherry back into Gelia's palm.
“Are they all like that?” she asked in horror.
“Sure,” Gold bit through the juicy pulp, licked her lips and started chewing. “That's a nuisance, but I'm willing to pay this price... It's a full course meal right there,” she smiled wryly and swallowed.
“You said you don't have any problems. But it seems that you're not too happy with this situation. You contradict yourself,” Evanford noted. Gelia ignored him.
“Wait a second... To pay the price for what?” Silver asked.
“For this,” the girl threw her hand out. Soft skin that was covering the barrel hole stretched. A cherry stone flew out at great velocity, whizzed by Selena's ear and smashed against the wall. Silence fell.
“So, your body doesn't digest them, just spits them out immediately?” Kevin finally spoke. “That's a curious way to function.”
“If I don't shoot, they get dissolved within a few minutes,” Gold replied.
“I see,” Kevin nodded. He guessed the gunhand's principle of operation back when their new acquaintance didn't spit out the first cherry stone. It's obvious that it was her visiting his mansion and leaving a note. It's unlikely that this lady will explain why she did this. That episode might have no significance, perhaps she just wanted to screw with him, there's no better way to put it. It seems like Gelia enjoys pranks and practical jokes.
“If you'll ever decide to visit me again, at least call. Intruding like that is simply rude,” Evanford remarked dryly.
“Ok, next time I'm about to come, I'll let you know,” Gelia winked. “Alright, enough chilling. It's time to find some new adventures,” she headed towards the door. Exchanging glances, Kevin and Selena reluctantly followed.