Alex Reynard
The Library
Alex Reynard's Online Books
--Chapter Thirteen--
The sound of classical music.
Cody came awake with his heart pumping so frantically he thought it might bash its way right through his ribcage.
Fear held him in a grip so tight it was like being crushed in a trash compactor. His breathing was uncontrollably fast. He had never been so scared of a nightmare in his entire life. Never. Absolutely never.
Cody was lying in his bunk with the blanket pulled way up over his head. He was clutching it so hard he didn't think he'd ever move his hands again. His eyes were open so wide they hurt.
He looked around. He was in the bunkhouse. Kids getting out of bed. Changing out of old uniforms into new ones. Going to the bathrooms. Talking. Everything completely ordinary.
He forced himself to blink. He could still see everything from his dream. That fox girl's face. The butchering machine. The bright light. The mirrored room. He could perfectly hear the cruel glee in Miss Vera's voice as she described how he'd be killed and served as lunch to the Predkids on the other side of camp.
He reached down to his crotch and felt around. No pain. Not even any numbness. Everything seemed just as it should be. He felt his cheek and his ear. No scratches. He was perfectly fine.
'I wasn't real,' he tried to convince himself. 'It was just a dream.'
But...
Wait.
No. No, it couldn't be.
His rational mind started buzzing. Something was wrong here. Deeply, intensely wrong. That hadn't just been a nightmare. It was too real. Too structured. No dream he'd ever had in his whole life had ever felt like that one. His dreams were hazy, haphazard brainfarts. He'd never remembered dialogue from a dream before. At least not more than a sentence or two. He'd never felt real pain in a dream either. He'd even remembered the smell of that fox girl, and the medicinal odor of the salve Vera had rubbed on his face.
He was meant to think it was a dream!
Suddenly a new fear enveloped Cody St. John. The ultimate fear of Not Knowing. Something completely impossible had just happened to him and he was helpless to explain it.
He had died. He had FUCKING DIED. He had felt the laser cutting through his neckmeat. He had felt himself getting dizzy and lightheaded from lack of oxygen. His vision had gone black. And he'd seen Petra die too.
Then all of a sudden he's waking up in bed? What the hell did it mean? How the hell was it possible!? Cody clutched his pillow and felt his mind pick up the problem and inspect it from every angle. Test it, toy with it, shake it. There had to be an explanation that made sense. Hypnotism? No. He remembered every moment that had led from this bed to the tower to beating up Walter to the medical building to his death and back here again. It couldn't have all been fake.
Just to be sure, he dared to glance down past the foot of his bed. The vending machines were still smashed.
Okay, so his little guerilla raid had really happened yesterday. What other possibilities did that leave?
An implanted memory, he suddenly realized. A scripted, falsely-generated memory, downloaded right into his brain. He didn't know of any technology in existence that could do that.
But maybe it was possible with a Newbrain.
Maybe... oh fuck no please no... maybe they had given him one without him even realizing it!
Cody sat bolt upright, clutching his head. He felt around in the back for any trace of where they might've made a hole. He didn't feel one, but they might've filled it in when they were done. NO! This was impossible! When was the last time he remembered a gap in his memory? He searched back through the previous day. He'd taken a nap in the observation tower. But that couldn't be it, could it? Vera had implied that she and the GPA had known where he was all along and that she'd lobbied to just leave him alone until he came down, right? Or was he misremembering that part? Could they have possibly snuck up on him while he was sleeping, hoisted him down to the ground, stuck a Newbrain in him, then put him back in the exact same position as before? No, no. Too complicated. There had to be a simpler method. But that meant the last time he'd been unconscious before that was when... When he'd woken up yesterday morning. Holy shit... Maybe someone had told the Preds about what he'd done to Frank and that maned wolf guy. Maybe they'd decided that they were tired of his shit and had just replaced his brain that very night?
And if that were true... How many of the others had they done it to also?
"...Cody?"
"YAAAH!!!"
Kenny leapt back and nearly hit his head on the nearest bunk. "Shit!! You scared the living piss outta me!"
Cody forced his heart to stop thudding. It was just Kenny. That was good. Kenny was normal. Kenny was his rock of sanity in this fucking nightmare hellhole. "I'm sorry! You just startled me! I'm sorry..."
"It's okay. I figured you might've just had a nightmare from the look on your face. Your eyes were all buggin' out."
Cody very weakly laughed. He wasn't in a humorous mood though. He felt like if he had one more shock to the system today, his mind would snap and go bye-bye.
He turned to get up, but then he noticed something wrong with Kenny. Something he couldn't quite put his finger on. Something wrong with Kenny. He watched his bunnyfriend stretching. Something wrong with his arm. Something red with Kenny's arm.
Cody felt all of his blood drain out of his body. He felt the ground underneath him melt.
He pointed wordlessly at the red Pred Helper armband Kenny was wearing.
Kenny saw the shock on his friend's face and realized this might get ugly. "Oh, this? No, don't worry! I haven't gone over to their side or anything. It's just, y'know, all the chicks in this place have been getting into it. It's for them, that's all, I promise."
Cody slowly shook his head. He didn't believe it. Not one bitty bit. "You're one of them," he whispered.
"What? No. Man, I just said-"
"GET THE FUCK AWAY FROM ME!!!" Cody shrieked.
Everyone in the entire bunkhouse turned towards the sound. It was hard to believe a screech like that had actually come out of someone.
Cody backed himself as far up against the wall as he could. "TRAITOR! FUCKING TRAITOR!!"
Kenny held his hands up. "No, Cody! Calm down! I promised you I wouldn't!"
"LIEEES!!!" the chipmunk screamed.
Other kids were crowding around now. Cody's eyes darted around at all of them. He saw all the red. They all had armbands. All of them. How many of them had Newbrains? How many were all wired up for the GPA's control? "STAY AWAY FROM ME, ALL OF YOU!! I'LL KILL YOU!!"
Tycho, looking utterly terrified, stepped a little closer. "Hey, whatever's going on, it's okay."
"YOU'RE WEARING THEIR UNIFORM, MOTHERFUCKER!!!" Cody was screaming so loud his voice was starting to go hoarse. Other people could practically hear his throat muscles tearing.
"Cody, you're scaring us!" Kenny pled.
The chipmunk let out a shrill scrape of laughter. "I'M SCARING YOU!? THAT'S HILARIOUS! YOU FREAK SONS OF BITCHES! YOU'RE NOT GONNA MAKE ME LIKE YOU! NEVER!"
Tycho reached for Cody's arm to calm him down. This was a bad mistake.
Cody didn't even know who it was he saw in his peripheral vision, he just knew it was an attacker. So he attacked first. No thought, just action. But this time, rage was not in the driver's seat. Pure, blind panic was.
Tycho screamed as three of his fingers snapped.
"TAKE THAT, SHITBRAINS!!"
Cody leapt, pushing off against the headboard and tacking the gerbil to the ground. The crowd gasped, screamed and tried to scatter. Like a demon, Cody twisted himself around and jumped again, nailing Kenny to the floor.
"TRAITORS DON'T NEED TEETH!" he howled as he started punching Kenny's face into ribbons of red.
Two larger boys tried to shove him off the rabbit. Drunk on adrenaline, Cody lashed out and took a piece out of one of them. Behind them was the open door. Escape. Cody made a break for it.
He ran but heard them chasing him. "YOU'LL NEVER GET ME! NEVER! NEVER!"
Just before he reached the door, he remembered a nifty trick Petra had tried on him. With a strength possible only from insanity, he grabbed the closest bunkbed and pulled. He grinned like a shark as he saw it start to tip over, blocking his path.
Cody had no way of knowing that someone was still asleep in the upper bunk.
He skipped out the door, giggling at the sound of the massive crash. He was down the steps in a flash, leaving behind him the anguished screams of a young mouse whose leg he had just broken.
*****
The tower. Yes. The tower again. It was safe. Vera didn't know about it, she was just bluffing. That bitch. He'd do her good for lying to him. Cut her face right in half. He just had to get to the tower and rest. Snacks were already up there. He could hide all day. Hide and spy on all of them. Fuck them all.
Cody tore through the camp with incredible speed. A rictus smile was slashed wide across his face. His teeth ground against each other so hard it hurt. His eyes bulged, tears flickering at the corners.
Panic, it seemed, could feel almost as good as rage. He just had to give in and let it drive.
Someone was in his path up ahead. All he saw was an orange uniform. A traitor's uniform. He shoved it out of the way, heard a shout, and kept on going.
Past the school, past the food place, past the beheading building. To the woods! That's where the tower was! His little treehouse! He'd be safe there! Oooh, and maybe he could stop by the storage shed and go bow-shopping too! Pull that string back and fill some fuckers with nice pointy arrows.
Oh shit, complication. The Great Predator Assholes were wise to him. Two big burly fucks were on the path ahead of him, advancing fast. This was not like with Rick. There was no way in hell they were not on an intercept course.
But they couldn't catch him. Nope! They had no hope! Cody was faster than God. He skidded suddenly to the right, ducking behind another classroom building. It seemed they did know about the tower after all. Oh well. No problem. There were other places here to hide. He knew there was.
But where? Cody punched some poor dumbass out of his way as he vaulted past a patch of bushes. Where wouldn't they expect him to go, not in a million years?
Oh, how obvious! Predatorville!
He had never been to the Pred side of camp. He'd been too scared before. But not in the state he was now. Now, if a Pred so much as looked at him funny, Cody would grab two handfuls of the bastard and tear him in two right down the middle. Rrrrrrrrip! Just like a newspaper! Black and white and red like a fire hydrant full of goddamn blood!
Cody doubled back along his trail, hoping to throw his pursuers off the scent. He had no idea which direction he was going now, but he was certain somehow that he would end up Predside. Fear was a helluva crazy driver, but it did seem to know where it was going.
He looped around the pool, then started zig-zagging across the camp towards his goal. Past buildings and trees and screaming people. None of them mattered. They were nothing more than obstructions. Roadblocks. Speedbumps! Before he knew it, the Pred bunkhouses were in sight. Ha HA! Accurate as an arrow! And he hadn't seen a hair from those two brutes who'd been chasing him. Home run number two!
He leapt up the steps of one of the bunkhouses and crashed headfirst into the door. He saw pretty stars for a second. 'Pull, dummy!' his mind reminded him.
Once inside, plenty of Predkids shrieked at his obviously batshit appearance. "Don't mind me, you murderous fucks! Just passing through!" he shouted.
What he needed... what he needed... A-HA! There it was. He snatched a Predator blue uniform off somebody's endtable. Camouflage!
Some doberman kid twice Cody's size tried to stand in his way. He soon got a faceful of Cody's shirt. "Orange you glad I don't have time to punch your lungs out?" Cody sang as he swept by.
Shirtless and still high as a kite on adrenaline and pure craziness, Cody barely slowed down long enough to pull the blue shorts up over his own pair. He ended up hopping rather acrobatically for a few steps. He tugged the shirt over his head, then started looking around for a place to hide. The gate was somewhere near here. So he should hide someplace where he could keep it in his line of sight. 'Good idea, brain' he thanked himself.
His head swiveled around in every direction. He smelled breakfast. Breakfast. Their cafeteria! It might have some kind of little alcove or something he could squish himself into for a few hours! He ran towards the scent of bacon, wishing he had time to run in and grab some. Not caring whether it was made out of nonevs or classmates.
He circled the building, observing everything in a frenzy. Whoopee! Up there! There was a second floor to the place, probably storage space. There was a window! An open one!
The front and back of the building had a porch-like area where the sloping roof overhung. Without an instant's hesitation, Cody ran towards one of the roof supports and started shinnying up. He swung himself up and over. This was the back of the building. Everyone else was going in the front way. No one would see him. This was genius!
Cody ran along the roof to gain momentum. The window he'd seen had a ledge that jutted out a bit. Cody did not think about what he was going to do, he simply knew he was going to do it. Was already doing it. Could not back out of doing it. He ran to the far edge, then looped around, back towards the window. He hoped the distance was as short as it had looked from the ground. If not, he was about to find out!
With all his speed, Cody ran towards empty air. Then jumped.
His hand caught the edge of the roof and his claws dug in.
Centripetal force slung him around in a circle and he found himself flying through the open window, banging the shit out of his head, lower back and left leg as he did so.
And that didn't even cover all the stuff he hit when he crashed into the floor and all the stored food.
Cody ended up a knot of scrambled pain crumpled on the wooden floor with pancake mix pouring down on him from where he'd tore open one of the big cardboard boxes. He was giggling insensibly.
'Now, if by a miracle no one saw me do that, and no one downstairs heard me crash as loud as an airplane taking off, and if none of my bones are actually broken, and if I'm not bleeding to death right now and don't realize it, I should be fine!'
*****
The cafeteria staff downstairs had heard a WHUMP from up in the attic, soon followed by a crash of glass. A coyote went up to investigate. She checked all around but didn't find any intruders. She did find a bigass mess near one of the windows and grumbled to herself as she swept it up. Considering the trail of floury footprints leading to the opposite window, it seemed like their vandal hadn't stayed long. She went back downstairs to report the incident to the rest of the staff.
Shivering all over, Cody pushed open the meat freezer's top and crawled out as fast as his numb limbs would propel him. He shuddered on the floor as he sucked in deep breaths and blew on his hands. He hoped none of his fingers were gonna get frostbite and fall off. Or his toes, or his tail. His extra pair of shorts had probably helped prevent him from winding up with a pair of permanent snowballs.
When he'd heard someone approaching the stairs a moment ago, he had scanned the entire attic for a place to hide. First though, he ran through the pancake mix towards the window, stopped, pulled his shoes off, and walked in socks over to the only cover he could see. There were five freezers lined up against the wall. Luckily, the first one he'd opened was half-full of nothing more gruesome than frozen pizza. He thought he might have gone permanently insane if he'd had to hide on a pile of Prey body parts.
The all-consuming madness he'd been swept up in a few minutes ago was gone now. But the fear was still there. All the time he'd been peeking at that coyote woman sweeping, trying to force her telekinetically to just go the hell back downstairs, his brain had kept pestering him with the question, 'am I real or not?'
Was there a metal replica of himself up in his skull? Was he thinking with nanobots right now? And did that mean the real Cody was dead and he was nothing more than a robot replica?
The worst part was that there was no way to tell. Well, there was one way. But he wasn't quite ready to drill a hole through his skull to see what color leaked out.
Once he was able to move his extremities again, Cody weakly pulled himself up and sat on top of the freezer until he was able to stop shivering. He pulled his shoes back on, giving his fingers something to un-numb themselves with. He looked around, trying to figure out if anything up here was actually edible. He was hungry and thirsty as hell. But everything in the little storage attic was just pre-food: mixes, concentrates, canned goods, individual ingredients. He guessed all the fresh stuff was kept downstairs.
The first thing found that he could actually eat right away was a case full of bagged chocolate chips for baking. He ripped one open and gobbled a mouthful. The sweetness was wonderfully calming. He went to go sit in the corner and nibble on them. Damn, he wished he had something to drink with these.
After a brief 'breakfast', he tied a knot in the chip bag and scouted around more thoroughly. There was stuff in here he could potentially eat, but he'd have to be pretty desperate. Raw sugar? Soup mix? There were probably better stuff in some of the unmarked boxes, but he didn't have the energy to go around ripping open every single one.
The attic was dim and cool and that was nice. Cody dragged a pallet of boxes over to the window so he could sit comfortably and keep an eye on the gate. It had to open sometime.
*****
Time passed, and Cody's mind wandered.
He watched Predkids running by outside the window. Laughing and talking just like his friends. He imagined their shadows stretching out behind them to reveal the monsters they'd eventually become. Breaking through the Fences with wire cutters at midnight to go grocery shopping in Prey families' homes. Looming over sleeping furs with moonlight reflecting on their knives and their drool.
Cody's hands itched. He didn't know if it was from being in the freezer so long or if it was a side effect of the Newbrain which might or might not have infected his head.
He thought about Kenny. Had he really punched his only remaining friend's lights out just a few minutes ago? Apparently he had. His knuckles definitely felt like they'd been impacting something recently. Cody tried to ignore guilt's insistent pull though. Like with Rick, friendship mattered nothing when that red armband went on. If someone marked themselves as the enemy, they had no right to not expect an attack. This was war.
Cody had to pee. That meant Cody had to wait an excruciatingly long time for breakfast to finish and the cafeteria to clear out before he could venture downstairs in search of a toilet. When everything was silent below, he eased himself down the steps in slow-motion, wincing at every creak. Thankfully, the place was empty except for two janitors sweeping the floor. Cody easily eluded them and located a bathroom. Liquid cargo was unloaded successfully.
Then it was time to explore the kitchen. He checked all the fridges until he came upon a goldmine. He stood with the door open, enjoying the pleasant coolness, as he downed an entire soda in a matter of gulps. He grabbed a few more for later. In another fridge he found some fresh produce and started gnawing on a raw green pepper. He figured he might be missing nutrients or something from having consumed nothing but snacks the day before.
He also found some items that might potentially be very useful. One was a long-nosed lighter for starting barbecues. The tip produced a dancing flame whenever Cody gave it a click. The other thing he found was a knife. Not too long and not too short. Just the right size for his hand. Just the right size for making people get out of his way.
He snuck back upstairs and resumed his post at the window. For a moment he was consumed with certainty that the gate had opened and closed again while he'd been downstairs. But looking closely, he could see that the sand in front hadn't been disturbed. Not one grain. 'Get it together, brain,' he warned himself.
He drank another soda and thought about the foxgirl from his 'dream'. Had she been real? The obvious answer was no. For starters, she was too much of a caricature. He knew exactly what the Preds had done: create someone whose hatred for the other side went even beyond his own. Set him up to fight her, then terrify him into seeing the 'error' of his ways. And it had worked. Briefly. For a moment there, he had seen her not as Pred, or as an enemy, but as someone who was as real and alive as he was. Ha. Then again, the Preds might have based her on a real furson. Cody had seen a foxgirl who looked like her before, but couldn't place where. The soccer game, maybe? It was hard to tell; all foxes looked alike.
Wow, he'd actually forgotten until just now that he'd crushed Tycho's hand! He wasn't sure he remembered why either.
A bird flew by the window and landed on the sill for a moment.
Cody ate a few more chocolate chips. His stomach was starting to feel all knotted up and twisty.
How many days had he been here? Cody blinked. For the life of him, he couldn't remember. Five? Eight?
Cody wondered if there was some way to counteract the Newbrains. Maybe an electromagnetic pulse? Obviously, he didn't have one just gathering lint in his pocket. But maybe the military could set one off. Shut those living drones down from the air. Of course, that would mean that everyone who had one would keel over dead. They'd fall down like dominoes. Motionless kids and adults scattered all over the grass everywhere. And if Cody's suspicions were right, that'd include him too. He gulped. 'Better than the alternative though.'
Cody's back was starting to ache. How long had he been sitting in the same position? He scooted over some boxes behind him to lean against. He thought about maybe resting his legs on the windowsill, but thought someone might spot him if he did.
Outside, he thought he could see the tippy-top of the rock-climbing wall, over behind some classroom buildings. His heart hit him with a pang of regret.
Would it be possible to sneak out of here sometime after lunch and get back to the tower? Maybe not to stay there. The Preds definitely knew about it now. But his books were still up there. He wanted to take at least two of them with him when he left. Could he possibly justify taking that risk though? They were just books after all. Hell, he could just find them and buy them at a store when he got home.
He wondered how the GPA had managed to break into every signal in the country on Broadcast Day. Did they just have a really, really big antenna somewhere?
Dad had let Cody help him fix the car once. Cody had tried his best but still managed to spill motor oil all down the driveway in a long black snaky trail. Dad had gotten pissed for a moment, then just laughed good-naturedly and told Cody to clean it up. Embarrassed as hell, Cody had done an extra-good job, making sure there wasn't a drop left in sight. He ended up utterly filthy from head to toe. He'd accidentally left a black footprint on the livingroom carpet as he walked in to wash off. He could still faintly see it there every time he came home from school.
Shit, it was really scorching this afternoon. Cody felt like someone had upended a trough full of hot mashed potatoes right into his skull. The breeze through the window was nice, but not nearly enough. He wished he had a little fan up here, but someone definitely would have heard that downstairs.
'Does this uniform smell different than the ones we got?' Cody sniffed it. There was a hint of Predstink on it. Or maybe he was just imagining it.
'How long am I going to be able to sit up here before someone finds me?' Maybe when they did, they'd just take him directly into the kitchen and feed him face-first through a deli slicer.
As second class started, Cody watched the good little Predkids all going to class to receive their lessons. He imagined one of the GPA members standing at the front of the room, pointing out choice cuts on a butcher's chart. And the meat wasn't a nonev cow: it was him. Or Kenny or Frank or Yolanda. He wondered if the Predkids really did have Prey teachers, like that mousewoman in his dream, or if it was just another lie they were trying to put into his head.
Cody finished off the bag of chocolate chips. Then he became violently nauseous. He ran downstairs and upchucked until his ribs were sore. It was a miracle no one spotted him, as the place was full of cooks getting lunch ready for hungry Predkids. Cody gulped water from the sink afterwards, trying to get the taste of chocolate, bile and green pepper out of his mouth. It took all his courage to open the door a crack and peek out to see if the coast was clear. It was, and without hesitation the young chipmunk bolted back upstairs. He hid in the pizza freezer for five minutes just to be sure no one would come up to investigate. After how overheated he'd been prior to puking, the total cold felt kind of nice.
Back at the window, Cody stared at the gates so hard he imagined twin flamethrowers growing from his eyes to just burn the goddamn things down. He wondered how many weeks it'd take to carve through those huge logs with just the dinky knife he had. He tried that trick where you stabbed between each of your outstretched fingers, getting faster and faster as you went back and forth. He quickly gave it up though. The cut wasn't big, but tasting blood after throwing up is mighty unpleasant. He drank his last flat, warm soda.
'That's the biggest grasshopper I have ever seen.'
He wondered if the Preds had gotten the Newbrain chair operational yet. He'd seen them working on it last night. If nothing else, he must have at least delayed them a little.
Sweet fuck it was hot up here...
He saw a kid walk past whose species he was completely at a loss to identify. He wasn't sure if the guy was from another part of the world or if the heat was just making him drowsy.
Aunt Cherise's backyard was enormous. Full of trees and little hills and a creek with this great big rock he could sit on and dangle his feet in the water. He could catch frogs there. He usually let them go. But one time when he was little, he'd squeezed one really hard to see what would happen. What Cody remembered most about that next moment of horror was the colors that had come out of that thing's insides as it died.
'I'm so thirsty, I think I'd drink someone's piss if they offered it to me.'
Cody thought of one way to test if he had a Newbrain or not. He could just slap a refrigerator magnet on his forehead and see if it stuck! He laughed and it hurt his dry throat.
What time was it?
Someone downstairs had their radio on too loud. Or maybe they were buffing the floor. Some kind of bass vibration. It was annoying as hell.
What if, when he escaped, as soon as he got a hundred yards from this place, he ran into some Pred hikers? What if they caught him and made a campfire and had a cookout? Cody pictured them roasting his feet and hands over the flame like marshmallows.
Cody saw a mosquito on the windowsill and took great delight in destroying it with his thumb.
When he was little, there was this fair Daddy had taken him to. And the horses on the merry-go-round had had these wide, staring eyes and huge open mouths and it had given him nightmares for days.
Outside, a bunch of Pred kids were playing soccer. It looked like fun. Until Cody had a brief hallucination that they were kicking around someone's skull.
His sweat ran in sticky, gummy lines down through his fur. He could smell his own sour flesh.
If he had a machine gun, he could just run right through this place, mowing down Preds like picking dandelions. Wait. What did that even mean?
Cody risked taking his eyes off the gate for a few minutes so he could go lie in the freezer for a while again. Ahhhhhh... Relief...
There was a poster hanging on the wall inside the building directly across from his window. Cody couldn't read it. Something about shoes? No.
'Sometimes I hate myself so much I want to cry.'
What month was it?
His mosquito bites were itching like mad. Cody scratched and scratched and wished he could just carve the damn things out with a potato peeler.
Was that the foxgirl down there, walking past one of the bunkhouses? Naw, couldn't be. She was a scripted hallucination.
The smell of Cody's blue shirt was starting to make him want to puke again.
Cody's mom had only been around for a few years while he was little. If Cody remembered her face at all, it was more from photographs than from actual memories. He did remember the fighting though. Long, long arguments he'd overhear in his bedroom at night. His mother didn't like how Dad was always having to travel, how he was gone for months or years sometimes. Finally, she left him. Walked out. What the hell kind of stupid bitch would give up on a guy like Dad? What kind of a cunt could do that to him?
Cody felt like the mosquitos were biting him from inside his skin now.
He saw a truck coming down the road towards the gate.
He wondered if there was anything in the kitchen he could wrap himself in and wiggle through the holes in the wiredome without getting paralyzed like last time. Tinfoil maybe? Nah, he'd look like a space potato.
He wondered if he could sneak back downstairs again and get a drink. Fucking hell, he was thirsty.
Something about that fox woman teacher Vera he was trying to remember... Something she'd said. About what? It seemed important but his brain just wasn't letting him-
Wait.
WAIT.
Cody had been staring out the window for hours now without seeing a goddamned thing. But that! That was a TRUCK! It was driving TOWARDS THE GATES!
That meant the gates were going to OPEN!!!
He had to move fast. He had to move FAST, FAST, FAST!!! Not caring at all who saw him, Cody pounced from his box seat and practically flew down the stairs. He passed several startled cafeteria workers, one of whom dropped an armload of plastic trays all over the floor, making a hell of a racket. Cody ignored everything unimportant. He jumped over tables, making a beeline for the door. He had to get to the gate in time. The truck had been a few hundred yards away when he'd first seen it, but now it was far too close. He only had seconds to spare.
Cody burst through the cafeteria door and found himself outside. For a moment he was utterly disoriented. His head swam in the bright light and heat. Which way was the gate? Shit! He forced himself to stand still for a moment and collect his thoughts. He'd been sitting upstairs, looking through... he scanned the cafeteria's roof... THAT window. Which meant-
THAT way! He took of running again.
Most people who saw him only registered a blue blur is it went flying past and assumed it was just another Predkid. His decision to swipe a uniform had been a good one. Cody detoured around a classroom building to avoid a GPA guard he saw up ahead. He wasn't sure, but he thought he'd seen a gun on the guy's belt. Cody knew his brain was in a bad, weird place right now so he'd need to be careful. And quick. Quick was more important than anything right now.
Where was he!? Oh shit, was he lost? He couldn't be lost! SHIT! 'No, no. Wait. You turned left, now just turn left again and then again and you're back on the path. Right.'
Cody saw the wiredome coming closer. He just had to get past a few more buildings and he was free.
FREE. It seemed impossible. He'd been trapped in this camp for weeks. As soon as he got past those gates, he was going to run all the way back home and call the government and get them to fly the army out so they could firebomb this place to a crater full of black glass!
Cody turned the last corner. The gate was in sight.
And it had already closed.
The chipmunk skidded to a stop. A little cloud of dirt dust swirled around his feet. He stood there, staring, looking like a horrified mannequin.
From the tracks in the sand, the truck had already passed through. He could even hear it snorting away somewhere down the path. He'd never had a chance to get here in time. He had run himself ragged, making his lungs feel like old, brittle deflated balloons, and it had all been for nothing.
"No..."
It wasn't fair. He'd run as fast as he could. He'd done everything he could. He'd been waiting for this moment for days on end. It wasn't fair. It wasn't fair.
Still standing, still staring, Cody began to scream as he felt fate laughing at him.
*****
'Well, fine,' he decided as he snapped back to reality. 'If I can't escape, I'll just do what I can to make them wish I had.'
Cody patted his pockets. He felt the lighter on one side and the knife on the other. He'd wrapped the blade in clingfilm to keep it from gouging his knee. Now, he took it out, unwrapped it, and let the transparent crumpled plastic tumble away in the breeze.
The knife felt good in his hand. He could think of nothing more in this world he wanted to do than to use it. He felt the beginnings of a searing headache poking him in the side of the skull and he tried to ignore it.
From behind him, he heard a shout. He looked to see that the GPA guard from before had spotted him. He was even a Prey in a Pred's uniform. Disgusting. Cody's knife hand twitched. But even though the 'gun' on the man's belt was only a walkie-talkie after all, Cody had just enough sanity left to realize that this wasn't the time or place. He was standing out in the open with no cover. If he was going to go to hell and drag someone else down with him, better to find a way to make it really count.
All this flashed through his mind in the instant before he started running again. Despite the crackly pain in his throat, despite the swimmy nausea of possible heatstroke, his brain had instinctively turned to follow the path the truck's tracks had made in the dirt. 'Good boy, brain,' Cody thought. 'You're not completely melted yet, I see.'
The tracks. The truck. Obviously it had to be carrying something important. If the gate stayed closed that often, it meant the Preds restricted their deliveries to the barest minimum. So what could be that important?
Cody leapt to the side and rolled behind a group of bushes as he heard the shouting guard approaching. Out of sight (and glad for the momentary shade) he watched the stupid bastard run right past him.
He didn't have any problem finding the tracks again. The truck's fat tires had sculpted intricate geometric patterns into the path. For the tracks to be that deep, Cody guessed the truck had to have been loaded down pretty heavy.
Cody had a lightbulb moment.
It all made sense now. Weapons. The truck was full of weapons. This whole time, all the nice Pred teachers had been pushing the message of acceptance and tolerance. But only to the Preys. On the Pred side, they had been teaching combat. They were training little soldiers. And now it was time for target practice. That truck was full of guns. They would be passed out to all the Predkids and they'd swarm the Prey side of camp. The blood would be waist-deep by the time it was all over.
Cody forced himself to run a little faster.
'It all makes sense now. It all makes sense.'
Cody was so focused on the enormity of this new knowledge, and on keeping his eyes glued to the tracks, that he nearly went toppling into a half-cartwheel faceplant when someone behind him shouted, "HEY!!"
That VOICE! It was IMPOSSIBLE!
Nevertheless, he heard delicate footsteps running towards him before he could get himself turned around. And when he did, there was the fur like red velvet and the eyes he had stared into as he'd died.
Cody immediately dropped into a fighting stance. He remembered what this girl had done to him. To his balls. Even if it had been just a dream, he sure as hell wasn't letting that happen again.
Petra held her paws up, dead terrified of that knife the Preyboy was holding. "Calm down! What the hell are you doing here? Why are you dressed like us!?"
"Shut up!!" Cody snapped. "You're not even real!"
She tilted her head sideways. "What!?"
The chipmunk's eyes slowly widened. Assuming he wasn't in the midst of another implanted memory right now (which seemed unlikely, since there was no way the Preds could have known about some of the stuff he'd been remembering as he sat by the window), this fox really was standing right in front of him. Which meant she was real. Which meant...
Cody suddenly grabbed her shoulders, looking straight into her eyes. "You're here and you recognize me? What happened the last time you saw me!?"
Petra was scared more than a little shitless. Especially to have that blade so close to her. She'd been skipping class to sit in the shade and do some hard thinking, when suddenly that chipmunk boy had run past. Even though the look in his eyes unsettled her, she understood his confusion. She hadn't been totally sure he was real either. "We were on the table. They cut off our heads and we died together."
Cody nodded. "Right. So they gave you the same memory they gave me."
"Wait, what?"
"Implanted memories," Cody insisted. "It's the only explanation that makes sense."
Petra wasn't so sure about that. "You didn't answer me. What are you doing out here?" Her eyes kept darting to the shiny little knife he held.
"I was trying to escape. Trying to get the fuck out of here before the gates closed back up. But I was too late. See the tracks? A truck got through here and I know what's on it."
"What?"
Cody looked behind her. He didn't see the guard, only a few other Predkids who were staring at him warily, but that didn't mean the guard might not show up again at any second. "I'll explain on the way. Come on!" He grabbed her hand and started running.
Petra almost tripped. She barely managed to keep up with the crazy chipmunk boy. "LET ME GO!"
"Be quieter and I will," he snarled, flicking her hand away. "Just listen. If they fucked with your head, then you know. They're our biggest enemy in here. Not me, not you. Them. And what's on that truck is gonna make a whole bunch of people dead."
She gulped. "How do you know that?"
He groaned at having to explain everything to her. "I've been watching," he said simply.
The tracks finally forked off the path and turned towards a warehouse-looking place just beside the cafeteria. He could see it parked at the entrance; a big six-wheeled military transport with GPAs crawling all over it. Cody backed up a bit to hide behind the side of another building. He took a moment to catch his breath. He was panting like a motherfucker. "Keep still," he told Petra.
"What's in the truck, Cody?" she whispered.
He was surprised she remembered his name. "Guns, I think. Definitely weapons of some kind. I think there's going to be a massacre later."
"Are you sure? I mean, all Mrs. Lyubov does in class is talk about how we all need to get along and respect everyone's right to life and blablabla."
Cody turned his head to give her a 'don't question me' look. He risked a quick peek around the corner. He could see GPAs unloading crate after crate from the back of the truck. "I don't have time for this. Listen, I'm going to go do whatever I can to destroy whatever they've got in those boxes. They've put you through the same shit they did to me, and I'm taking a chance that you're the only one in this camp who understands me."
She didn't. She sure as hell didn't. But the urgency in his voice seemed sincere. He seemed to really believe this was a matter of life and death.
Cody faced her, pleading with his eyes. "Can I trust you?"
She gulped. "I... I guess so."
Cody held up the knife. The implication was clear. "I need a 'yes' or a 'no'. Either help me or run away, but if you lie to me, I'll cut you open right here right now."
The foxgirl backed up a step. "Put that down. P-please."
"YES or NO," Cody repeated. "Like I said, you can run if you want. Or you can help me. Which is it?"
Petra had serious doubts that he would let her simply walk away. The thought of turning her back on him for even a second seemed like a really bad idea. Agreeing seemed smarter. "Okay, fine. Yes. You can trust me."
He nodded and lowered the knife. He didn't smile, but he felt relieved. Being surrounded on all sides by hundreds of enemies is not a good feeling, but at least now he had one ally. "Allright then. Thank you. Now I'm gonna need you to be my lookout. And I'm gonna need a distraction." He checked around the corner again. "The Preds are still there. I need them gone. Can you do that?"
"I think so."
He tilted his head warningly.
"I will!" she quickly corrected. "I will, okay!?"
Cody nodded. "Good." Petra started to run past him, but he grabbed her arm again. A little more roughly than he'd intended. He relaxed his grip. "What are you planning? We've gotta be on the same page."
His touch sent icicles of fear rippling through her. "I'm just gonna tell them the truth: that I saw some crazy Prey kid with a knife running past. But I'll lead them over towards the athletic field, then try to circle back around."
"Good. Excellent." This girl was smart and adaptable. He'd made a good choice taking a chance on her. "Go on, and good luck."
"Good luck to you too," she said. Her heart was split into jagged fractions. That knife he was holding scared her, and the haunted, unstable look in his eyes scared her worse. But he didn't seem consumed with rage. He seemed to be thinking at least somewhat clearly. He was acting like some action movie guy about to go off on a mission he knew he wouldn't return from.
Cody watched her skitter off in the direction of the Preds and the truck. He took deep breaths. His headache was worsening. It felt like someone had drilled a hole in his head and was now slowly inserting their fingers. He kept his back flat against the wall and kept his ears open.
"HELP, HELP!!" Petra shrieked.
Around the truck, three GPA members, Pred and Prey alike, stopped what they were doing to look in her direction.
She didn't have to work hard to fake a state of panic. "I saw this Preykid! He had a knife and he looked like he was gonna kill someone with it!!"
"Where!?" a skunk asked her.
"Over there!" she shouted.
Cody resisted with all his might the temptation to peek and make sure Petra wasn't pointing right where he was. He hadn't seen a lie in her eyes just now. But he'd been betrayed so many times already.
He made sure he had a strong grip on his knife despite how sweaty his hands were. If he heard anyone about to come around that corner, they were getting a metal surprise right between the ribs no matter who they were.
But Petra had been true to her word. Cody let out the breath he'd been holding when he heard the soldiers' booted feet tromping away in the opposite direction. 'She did it.' The little Pred hadn't switched sides and fucked him over. She'd been true to her word. That little moment of loyalty felt like an oasis in the desert.
Cody looked around the corner. The truck was unguarded. Perfect.
He sprinted towards it, looking around in all directions to make sure no one else was watching. When he reached the truck, he skidded to a stop, ducking down beside one of the back wheels. He panted for a few moments. He could feel his head throb with every breath. Out of a sheer desire to destroy something, he jabbed his knife into the tire. He knew it didn't matter much, but it felt good.
The warehouse beside the truck was absolutely packed with wooden crates. Pallets and pallets of massive, shrink-wrapped boxes. 'They can't all be guns,' Cody thought with disbelief. 'They can't possibly need this many.' But, oh god, what if they did? What if this wasn't just a training camp for Pred soldiers, but a stockpile!?
Cody's heart swelled. He might not just be saving the lives of his friends and the other Preykids. He might be saving a hell of a lot more than that.
He started looking around for an accelerant. A can of gas, a can of motor oil, anything. He was so, SO glad he'd thought to grab that lighter from the kitchen! He gave it an affectionate pat within his pocket.
There on the floor. Drips. Little black circles. The truck had parked here before and leaked some kinda fluid on the concrete. Cody knew from a science show he'd watched once that it was the fumes, not the actual liquid, that ignited during a gasoline fire. Maybe he could make more.
He darted back to the truck and started scanning around underneath. He was aware of every second passing. He had no idea how much time Petra had bought him, or if another GPA might just stumble upon him by pure, dumb accident. He spotted what looked like it had to be a gas tank. He steadied his grip on the knife. It was a dinky little kitchen knife, and he was about to try to cut through a truck with it. There were all sorts of ways this could go wrong. But the knife seemed sturdy for its size. It might do the job.
Cody shuffled himself into a position where he could get the maximum leverage into his arm. He drew it back, holding on tight to the knife. He mentally prepared himself just in case the blade snapped and took off half his hand.
He swung.
SHUNK.
He blinked. 'That was way easier than I expected.'
Cody's aim was true and, luckily, the GPA had not skimped on quality food preparation utensils. The knife had slid through the gas tank easily and little drops were now running down the edge onto Cody's wrist.
'I am going to end up rolling on the ground engulfed in fucking flames,' he realized. Oh well. It was worth it to save the world.
He let the gas puddle for a bit. He took out the lighter and realized it had a little switch on the bottom. 'PERFECT!' he thought in jubilation. The button could be locked in place! He gave it a click, flicked the switch to the side, and the flame stayed right there on the tip when he released the trigger. Oh, this was working out better than he'd ever expected!
He heard footsteps. Running footsteps. 'Shit. No time left.' Cody backed up as far as he could while still allowing for an accurate throw. The friendly little flame was still dancing on the tip of the lighter. Gasoline was drip, drip, dripping in a glistening yellow pool beneath the truck. The makers of the footsteps would be upon him any second.
'Now or never.'
Cody threw the lighter.
For a fraction of a second he thought, 'That was anticlimactic,' as the lighter touched off a bright but relatively small fireball. Then it spread. So fast and so fiercely that half the truck was a blazing ball in less time than it took to blink.
Cody found himself sprawled on his ass in the grass, blinking in pain at the searing heat and intense light, and laughing at the top of his lungs.
'No time to celebrate!' he reminded himself. He had to get the fuck out of here. The soldiers would be back any second.
He lunged to his feet and started running. It was too bad he'd sacrificed the lighter, but at least he still had the knife. Maybe he could get to the Preyside cafeteria and find something else to start a fire with. Maybe burn up that medical building. Or Miss fucking Vera's classroom!
As soon as he turned the corner, rough hands grabbed his shoulders.
"NO! NO!!!" Cody howled. He fought like a wildcat. He screamed and twisted and threw punches in every direction.
The skunk guard had a hell of a time holding him down. "Gordy, Help me with this little pyromaniac bastard! Devin, find a fire extinguisher NOW!!"
Another GPA, a panther, reached for a pouch on his belt. He pulled out what looked like an oxygen mask. Cody's eyes widened in terror as he realized that the Pred meant to use it on him.
The chipmunk doubled his ferocity. He tossed his head back and forth, screaming and trying to find something to bite down on. He kicked the skunk's shins repeatedly. He tried to make a grab for the knife in his pocket, but the bastard was holding his arms. If he could only get the knife! If he could just get in one good swing!
The panther grabbed onto Cody's neck and held the mask-thing in the general area of the struggling kid's muzzle.
"NO! NO! NO! NO!"
Cody thrashed and fought, knowing he'd be dead in seconds if he didn't.
But then the mask was on him. He couldn't smell or taste what came out of it, but he heard the hiss of gas being released.
"BE STILL!" the panther roared at him. "BE STILL, DAMMIT!!"
Cody tried to fight it, but to his overwhelming horror, his body went still.
The gas. The kidnapping gas. The obeying gas.
He remembered fighting against it before, that first day. How utterly helpless he was to resist it. They had him. He was caught. They were going to take him away to kill him now and he had no chance of resisting.
Tears ran down from the corners of Cody's eyes.
'At least I stopped them,' Cody thought, trying not to let despair destroy him. 'At least I burned their damn truck. At least I must've gotten rid of some of their guns.'
The panther held the mask to his face for a few more seconds, just to make absolutely sure. "Stand up straight," he ordered.
Cody obeyed.
"Now start walking, kid."
Cody obeyed.
'Goodbye, Dad,' he thought. 'I hope if you ever find out what I did here, you'll be proud of me. I miss you. I love you. I wish I could have seen you one more time. But at least I hurt them back before they got me.'
As the two soldiers marched him away from the sounds of fire and people desperately trying to put it out, Cody saw Petra up ahead. She was standing with her tail between her legs. Another GPA guard was by her side. And just behind her, hand on the girl's shoulder, was Miss Vera.
He felt something collapse and die inside his heart. He had trusted the fox. And just like all the others...
He was unable to disobey the first command to be still, so he couldn't even look in the foxgirl's eyes as he passed. He couldn't glare at her with all the hate she deserved for backstabbing him when he needed her most.
The look she gave him was one of aching sadness. 'I'm so sorry,' she said without words.
Cody knew she couldn't hear it, but inside his mind he sent her a message. 'More people will die because you betrayed me. If I ever get free, you'll be one of them, I promise.'
Cody did not speak a single word or put up the slightest resistance as the two soldiers led him all the way across the camp. All the way to a familiar schoolroom, where a familiar chair was waiting for him.
The Newbrain chair. Fixed up as good as new.
With all his heart, Cody wished he could at least scream as they strapped him in.
*****