The sound of a door slamming echoed like a cannon shot through my room.
— Father… Please, I'll get better. I know you're angry because of the company project, but don't give up on me yet. I swear I'll do better in school.
My hands were shaking. He held the disciplinary report: a seven-day suspension for breaking a boy's nose. My parents were facing a lawsuit, and my father — the important man, the beloved pillar of the family — was about to unbuckle his belt. The leather snapped in the air, cutting through the oxygen.
— NO! — The scream tore through my throat.
I woke up with a jolt. Fear still chilled my blood, but the room of my trauma was gone. I was in a jeep. The vehicle roared as it bounced over the uneven road. Ren was at the wheel, Kai in the passenger seat. In the back, Penny and Chad flanked me.
Chad stared at me with an expression of pure boredom. — Man, you okay? You're sweating like crazy!
I ignored him. My gaze went straight to Penny. She was there, bandages around her head and arms, breathing heavily. Someone who knew what they were doing had treated her wounds. Chad noticed my interest and snorted: — You did good saving her from those crazies. She's stable now; let her rest.
— Hey, Arata! — Kai's voice called from the front. — You blacked out again. You're really messed up, huh? You trashed our whole hideout. Dammit, man, that took a hell of a lot of work to set up.
My mind tied itself in a knot. I shot back immediately: — What do you mean?! I was fighting the Corrupted Woman. I smashed her face in! I knew I hadn't destroyed the core; I thought you guys were going to finish the job for me!
An uncomfortable silence filled the jeep. Kai exchanged a quick look with Ren before answering: — There was no Corrupted there, Arata. Just you, unconscious and thrashing on the floor. I think those five doses of drugs did permanent damage to your brain.
Confusion and distrust fought inside me. I leaned my head against the cold glass, watching the destroyed streets pass by, overtaken by mutant vines that looked like veins of the earth itself. How could the System have deceived me like this? I felt the pain. I felt the strength. If it hadn't forced my limit, I would have died... or was the limit I forced only against ghosts in my own head?
Ren interrupted the whirlwind of thoughts. — Anyway, moving on... We're heading to Classes City.
— WHAT?! — The shock nearly made me jump out of my seat.
— Let me finish? — Ren growled, adjusting the rearview mirror. — We already got the fake IDs and swapped your shredded clothes for these new ones.
I looked at my body. I was dressed like a lunatic who understood nothing about fashion. Utility fabrics, strange layers. — Kai dressed you, and Chad helped with your wounds — Ren explained. — But the matter is serious. Classes City is close. Listen well, Arata: that's no place for games. You've seen the three classes, but we still don't know what we'll find in the heart of that city. Just follow me and we enter in silence.
Hours passed and the urban landscape died, giving way to a vast and hostile desert. Immense holes, like impact craters, dotted the sand around us. The horizon shimmered with heat and, in the distance, the towers of Classes City emerged like black needles against the sky.
The two towers rose like the fangs of a metallic beast, splitting the entrance of a wall that pulsed with sterile white energy. Ren stopped the jeep. The silence of the desert was replaced by a high-frequency hum coming from the city's foundations. We got out. The gatekeeper awaited us; his voice came out without modulation, a hollow sound from behind an opaque visor.
— Identify yourselves. IDs or death.
Ren handed over hers. The mechanism groaned, releasing the heavy barrier. She turned, handing us our remaining cards with a sudden haste. — Take them. Meet me at the highest tower. Now, get inside!
Kai passed through. Penny followed. When Chad crossed the portal, the air around me simply... stopped. The desert dust froze. The ringing in my ears became a shrill scream of an error message.
[ALERT: HOSTILITY IDENTIFIED.][SOURCE: UNKNOWN. DISTANCE: 0.00m][PROTOCOL 0: EVADE NOW!]
I didn't have time. There was only a vacuum. I felt an absurd heat in my sternum, followed by a glacial cold. An object pierced my lung and exited through my chest with laser precision. The taste of iron flooded my mouth. My knees buckled.
The world began to "glitch." The blood on the ground transformed into lines of binary code. Another blast cut through the air, but it wasn't aimed at me.
Chad had thrown himself in front. — If you're going to kill him, kill me first! — His battle cry was cut short by the sound of tearing flesh.
The hole went right through Chad's heart. He didn't scream; his body simply obeyed gravity. He collapsed to his knees, hands fumbling at the void in his chest. Blood painted the Classes City ID he still gripped tightly. I tried to move, but my legs weighed tons. My eyes met his. His usual mockery was gone, replaced by a terrifying, childlike clarity.
He coughed, a scarlet streak running down his chin. He grabbed the collar of my new shirt with desperate strength. — Arat... — His voice was a hiss. — Please... Don't let the System... control you. Be... human... for both of us.
His hand slipped. His body hit the concrete with a dry, final thud. His identification card slid through the pool of blood that began to glow with the blue static of my own eye.
[Warning: Team member disconnected.][Status: Deceased.][Sync with Reality: Failing...]
I looked at his body. Chad was never heroic; he complained about everything. But in the end, he asked me to be who he couldn't be. The hatred I felt for the System surpassed the fear of death.
A figure approached, pulling back his hood. He was a young man my age. Almost a twin, but I knew I was an only child. In place of a right arm, a mechanical prosthesis hissed hot smoke from its barrel. He smiled, a sickly glint in his eyes.
— Hey, little brother — he said, his voice clear and cruel. — I guess Dad wasn't the only one with problems. Our mother had a despicable past too.