Chapter 97 Sixty Seconds

Chapter 97 Sixty Seconds
Marcus

My heart hammered against my ribs like a trapped bird. The world shrank down to that single red button under Grand Marshall Vane’s thumb. One press, and we would all become ash in the furnace below.

"Get off me, you metal trash!" Vane shrieked.

She kicked back hard with her free boot, the heavy heel smashing into Julian’s exposed mechanical eye. The blue glass shattered with a loud ping, and a spray of tiny sparks rained down onto the stone steps. Julian didn't let go. His silver fingers dug deeper into her ankle, bending the metal of her boot plate.

"Jax, the gun!" I screamed, forcing myself up from Sarah’s lap.

Every muscle in my legs begged me to collapse, but the image of my home sector being turned into a graveyard pushed me forward. I stumbled, my feet slipping on the slick marble glass, but I kept my eyes on the silver master controller in her other hand.

Jax didn't hesitate. He brought Mason’s heavy rifle up to his cheek and pulled the trigger.

BOOM.

The loud shot shook the entire mall lobby. The high-caliber bullet didn't hit Vane’s chest; Jax had aimed for her arm. The impact ripped through her left shoulder, spinning her body around and tearing the black detonator right out of her hand. The little plastic box went flying through the air, skidding across the upper escalator platform.

"The loop!" Sarah yelled, already running toward the stairs. "Marcus, she’s still dropping the signal!"

The blue light on the master controller was blinking faster now, turning into a solid, angry line of light. The satellite link was almost complete. Forty seconds left.

Sarah

I ignored the sharp, burning knives in my ribs as I scrambled up the broken escalator steps. My fingers scraped against the sharp metal edges, but I didn't care. Below me, I could hear Lily crying, her little voice echoing in the massive, smoky space.

I have to save them, I thought desperately. I can't let this old monster kill everyone we have left.

Vane was on her knees, clutching her bleeding shoulder, but her face was still twisted into a horrific, triumphant grin. "It’s too late!" she laughed, blood bubbling at the corner of her lips. "The core code is automated. Even if you kill me, the transmission cannot be stopped from the outside! The lower sectors belong to the fire now!"

"Shut up!" I roared, reaching the top of the platform.

I lunged for the silver master controller that had fallen near her knee. But before my fingers could wrap around the cold casing, Vane threw her weight forward, slamming her good shoulder straight into my stomach.

The air rushed out of my lungs in a painful gasp. We both tumbled over the side of the escalator rail, crashing hard onto the lower floor in a heap of tangled limbs and torn fabric. The silver controller bounced away, sliding right toward the edge of the massive hole we had crashed through earlier.

Marcus

I saw the controller sliding toward the abyss. Below that hole was nothing but three stories of empty air and the glowing, orange light of the central water lines. If it fell in, we would never get the drive back.

I threw my body flat against the floor, sliding on my stomach across the smooth marble. My hand shot out, my fingers brushing against the cold silver plastic just as it tipped over the edge.

I caught it.

"I got it!" I gasped, pulling it back against my chest.

The blue light was blinding now. A tiny digital timer on the small screen read: 00:12. Twelve seconds until the signal was broadcast across the entire city grid.

"Julian!" I screamed, looking up at the escalator. "How do I turn it off? It’s locked!"

Julian’s single remaining eye flickered weakly. The silver plates on his chest were completely black, and a thick, dark oil was leaking from his neck joint. He looked at me, and for a split second, the mechanical coldness in his face disappeared. He looked just like the brother who used to share his bread with me in the dark alleys.

"You can't turn it off, Marcus," Julian’s speaker whispered, his voice cracking with static. "The code needs a terminal loop. It needs to feed on a live cybernetic core to burn itself out."

He looked down at his own exposed chest plates, where his glowing blue heart battery was pulsing in a frantic, dying rhythm.

"Put the drive into my chest," Julian said softly. "It will fry the signal. But it will fry me, too."

"No!" Tears spilled over my cheeks, hot and stinging against my cuts. "I just got you back! I can't kill you, Julian!"

"Marcus, look at the timer!" Jax roared from below, his hands holding Vane down as she struggled like a wild animal.

The screen read: 00:05.

00:04.

"Do it, brother," Julian whispered. "Save our people."

My hands shook so hard I could barely aim. With a loud, sobbing cry, I slammed the silver controller straight into the open, sparking gap in Julian’s metal chest.

The moment the metal prongs touched his battery, Julian's entire body went rigid. A massive, blinding wave of blue and white lightning erupted from his chest, throwing me backward across the floor. The master controller melted instantly, the plastic running like liquid wax over his silver ribs.

Julian let out one long, mechanical scream that echoed through the entire shopping mall, and then the light in his blue eye went completely black. The timer vanished. The city grid outside the broken glass roof flickered once, twice, and then stayed bright.

The lower sectors were safe. The signal was dead.

I crawled over to my brother's still, metal body, my forehead resting against his cold shoulder plate. "Julian..." I whispered, my chest aching with a pain so deep I couldn't even breathe. "Julian, please."

He didn't move. The machine was empty.

"Marcus," Sarah’s voice came from behind me, low and terrified.

I didn't want to look up. I wanted to stay there with my brother. But the sharp click of a heavy weapon safety mechanism made me tilt my head back.

Standing in the main doorway of the mall weren't Mason’s soldiers. It was a line of six identical women, all dressed in the same dark red military coats, all holding heavy black rifles aimed straight at our heads.

The Grand Marshall Jax was holding began to dissolve into silver dust, her dying laughter echoing through the speakers.

"I told you, child," the six women said at the same time, their voices perfectly in sync. "The shadow is everywhere. Welcome to Phase Three."

The woman they fought was just another fake clone! Surrounded by an army of identical Grand Marshalls, how will Marcus and his bleeding friends survive the real Phase Three?