“Ok.” Sherman looked uneasily across at Barn. The boy was making a strange gurgling sound, tears streaking down his blackened face. Blood was smeared across his forehead where a shard of flying metal from the door had grazed it.

  “You all right son?”

  Barn shook his head slowly, his shoulders heaving.

  “I killed all those people,” he moaned, rocking backwards and forwards. “I’m going to hell.” He looked around at the drifting smoke and dead bodies. “I’m in hell now!”

  He began convulsing, gulping in huge mouthfuls of air.

  “Barn?”

  “He’s havin a fit!” Dave ran over and grabbed his friend by the shoulders. “C’mon big man! Keep the heid, eh? Ahm here. Dave’s here!”

  Barn’s eyes began to roll back in his head.

  “Aw no! Somebody dae something!”

  Sherman took a shuddering breath and crawled over to them.

  “Barn,” he said loudly. “Listen to me. You didn’t kill anyone.” He pulled the shaking boy towards him and held him tightly. “Nobody is dead. Not a soul.”

  He gripped Barn as tightly as he could, rocking him back and forwards. Eventually the boy’s shuddering abated and his breathing became normal.

  “I didn’t kill anyone?”

  “You didn’t,” Sherman repeated. “This is just a simulation. None of it is real.”

  19.22

  “Sherman!” Darren’s voice was strident. “You can’t tell them!”

  “Tell us whit, man?”

  “Yeah. Why not?” Nulce piped up. “What difference does it make?”

  “Will you be all right? Sherman asked Barn. “I need to talk to the others.”

  “I think so.” The boy looked at him tearfully. “I trust you.”

  Sherman swallowed hard.

  I’ll be back in a minute.” He wiped the boy’s tears from his leather jacket and signalled to the others. “The rest of you over here with me.”

  They gathered round him. Barn sat on the floor a few feet away, lost in his own misery.

  “This is a bad idea,” Darren griped in a low voice.

  “Putting this guy in charge was a worse one,” Nulce mumbled.

  “Ehm… look…. none of this is actually happening.” Sherman told the children. He opened his arms to take in the room. “Like I said, all of this is a simulation.”

  “Dinnae be daft, man.”

  “He’s right,” Darren said resignedly. “This whole base is fake and…eh… here’s the hard part… so is everyone in it.”

  The children stared uncomprehendingly at him.

  “I know you won’t understand, but… oh how do I tell you this?”

  “You’re not children,” Madrid broke in. “You’re characters in a virtual simulation. Computer programmes.”

  “You trying to tell us we’re not real?” Jimmy gaped incredulously.

  “You’re capable of independent thought,” Darren said. “But essentially, yes, you’re programmed to think and act as children. Incredibly smart children. But you’re actually pieces of very sophisticated circuitry.”

  “Oh aye. An I bet you leave oot eggs fur the Easter Bunny.”

  “I do not believe I’m hearing this!” Simon’s face was bright red behind the dirt. “Are you completely insane? Of course this is real! I mean, right now I don’t want it to be real… but it is.”

  “Ahm wi Simon on this one.” Dave held up a bruised arm. “This is way too sair tae be imaginary.”

  “Calm down you two.” Jimmy narrowed his eyes and jerked a thumb towards Barn. “You want him to have another fit? Anyway, we’re scientist aren’t we? Shouldn’t be scared of weird ideas.”

  “This isnae weird, man,” Dave hissed. “It’s pure mental.”

  “Think about it.” Darren brushed ash from his shoulder. “We suddenly appear from nowhere, in a top secret base, just at the right moment to save you.” He pointed to the handcom. “We know all about your plan to escape and we’ve got technology more advanced that anything you’ve ever seen.”

  The children pondered this with a sinking feeling.

  “So why are you here?” Jimmy said. “Supposing you’re telling the truth.”

  “Because of May-Rose.” Darren said. “She’s a rogue programme. Started off like you, but somehow she’s become aware of what she really is.”

  “So, she’s reprogramming the other characters in this ‘game’ in an attempt to do… what?”

  “Get out and affect other computer systems, I imagine.” Darren looked around. “We need a sample of her programming to find out for sure – what you would call her genetic makeup. And we need to get it before this whole place vanishes.”

  “Before it blows up, ye mean?”

  “Before the computer running the programme shuts down.”

  Dave gave a bark of laughter “You lot are absolutely oot-yer face, nutters!”

  “Feeling a bit insecure shorty?” Nulce said snidely. “Come on geniuses. Why would we tell you this crap unless it was true?”

  “What about your promise to help us escape?” Jimmy said bitterly.

  “I’d save you if I knew how,” Sherman admitted guiltily. “But I don’t.”

  “Sherman, they’re just computer programmes,” Nulce’s voice dripped with scorn.

  “Shut up, you,” Madrid snapped.

  “Well, you don’t have to believe me. I certainly wouldn’t if I were you.” Sherman unfastened two small round objects from his belt. “So, I tell you what. These are grenades with a twist timer, simple to work. You’ve got half an hour. Get back to the surface, try to blast your way through the fences and good luck to you. We can handle things from here on out.”

  “In case you’d forgotten, we’re still outnumbered,” Madrid said coolly. “And these kids know how to fire a gun.”

  “I have a son about your age.” Sherman ignored his subordinate and smiled at Jimmy. “looks a bit like you in fact. We don’t talk and I regret that.” He handed the grenades to the boy. “Go on. Get out of here.”

  Jimmy nodded and stuffed the grenades into his pack.

  “Now ye’ve got me goin, eh?” Dave held up his hand. “I cannae help thinking that, aw this time, May-Rose has stayed in Bunker 10 wi her wee cronies instead of trying to work her way up the levels and escape. Whit does she know that we dinnae know, know?”

  “Don’t you start!” Simon threatened.

  Jimmy’s thumped a fist into his palm. “Maybe she’s working on a different escape route.”

  “Aye, but what’s she gonnae do? Build a teleporter and transport herself tae the nearest tropical island?”

  “Who knows?” Jimmy stood up. “She’s a super genius. Maybe that’s exactly what she is doing.”

  He crossed the Ops Room, threading his way past the broken bodies. On the far wall was a gun rack fitted with a row of automatic weapons. The personnel hadn’t been able to reach the guns before Dunwoody cut them down.

  “You’re completely wrong, Sherman, I’ll tell you that. But whether this is a simulation or reality makes no difference to our situation. Fact is, we’ll never get out of range of the blast in half an hour. Our best shot at survival is to make it to Bunker 10 and find out what May-Rose is up to. See if she really does have another way out.”

  He pulled a rifle from the rack and looked along the barrel, more for effect than anything else. He’d never pulled a trigger in his life.

  “Hey Barn,” he shouted. The boy looked up and raised his arms in surrender.

  “Put your hands down,” Jimmy tutted. “Much as I hate to admit it, Sherman’s story makes sense. We’re in a virtual simulation. You haven’t killed anyone.”

  “Really?”

  “Trust me. It’s just a game.” Jimmy gave the boy a jovial wink.

  “Hicks!” Simon hissed. “What are you playing at?”

  “You want Barn to have another episode?” Jimmy muttered out of the side of his mouth. “We’ll play long with these deluded morons, for his sake.”

  He stuffed the bomb in his pack and tossed the rucksack to Barn. “You carry this, ok? I’ll take the gun.”

  Barn nodded, managing a sorrowful smile. Jimmy slung the rifle round his own neck.

  “Let’s go finish what we started.”

  19.25

  Sherman split his force into the same four pairs and led them down the stairs. The railings were twisted and black and charred bodies littered the ground. The air was suffocatingly hot and stank of cooked flesh, forcing them to cover their noses and mouths. It looked like the entrance to Hades.

  But the fire had been extinguished by the explosion, just as Jimmy predicted.

  The team made their way down past level three shining flashlights in front of them. The children carried the handcoms and the adults carried the firearms.

  Barn was once again in charge of operations, peering through the gloom at his handcom and guiding the others using Darren’s headset. A few of the green dots on level four and five had begun to move again. Some base soldiers had obviously survived the blast. Perhaps they had been sheltering behind heavy equipment when the explosion occurred.

  Barn carried Jimmy’s pack and moved Sherman’s team around like the chess master he was, directing them along the smoke shrouded passageways and in and out of shattered rooms. They easily outmanoeuvred the enemy, trapping them between pairs and dispatching them with quick, efficient bursts of gunfire. Within a few minutes they had made their way to level five and Barn and Darren were descending the stairway to level six.

  And Bunker 10.

  “Shouldn’t we wait for the others?” Darren peered into the dark stairwell and cocked his gun. “I’m not much of a fighter.”

  Barn checked the computer in his hand yet again.

  “The enemy are all in Bunker 10 right at the other end of the level,” he said. “But it’s safer if you wait downstairs, because there’s a couple of base soldiers still loose on level five. I’ll send Madrid and Nulce towards them but I’ll have to do it from up here. The reception on these headsets is fading the lower we get.”

  “You’re the boss.”

  Can you carry this bag?” Barn handed the pack to him. “I need to concentrate.”

  “Sure, buddy. Be careful, huh?” Darren gave Barn a friendly pat on the cheek and made his way cautiously down the stairs.

  Like the rest of underground complex, the lights on level six had been destroyed by the blast, though Jimmy insisted that power would be unaffected in the biohazard labs. An operation of that sort would have its own generators to keep the reinforced doors sealed and the lights and fans working.

  Darren wouldn’t have minded getting near those fans. The smoke was gradually fading and being replaced by another acrid smell, whose origins he tried not to think about.

  He turned and shone the flashlight beam in the direction of Bunker 10.

  Four men stood facing him, rifles in their hands.

  Darren drew a sharp breath, his heart hammering.

  “Barn?” he said quietly into the intercom. “There are people here.”

  Barn didn’t answer.

  “Put down your weapon and come with us.” One of the base soldiers motioned towards the biohazard area with his gun.

  “She’s waiting for you.”

  19.27

  The others found Barn waiting at the top of the stairs that led down to the lowest level.

  “Hey big man.” Dave slapped the boy on the leg. “Where’s yer skinny pal?”

  Barn didn’t speak. He was shining the torch on his watch.

  “Where’s Darren, Barn?” Sherman repeated, an edge to his voice.

  “May Rose’s men captured him,” the boy replied, turning to the handcom. “They’re taking him to Bunker 10.”

  “What! How could you let that happen?”

  Jimmy stepped forward, looking around.

  “Where’s my pack Barn? Where’s my pack with the grenades in it?”

  “Darren’s carrying it.” The boy tapped his watch. “I set the timers on them.”

  ‘What?”

  “See… the doors protecting the Biohazard units are obviously bomb proof from the outside. We have to blow them from the inside..”

  There was a resounding detonation from under them and the floor shuddered. A water pipe burst in the darkness behind them, hissing into the corridor.

  “They’ll be open now,” Barn said.

  Sherman’s mouth dropped open. “You sacrificed Darren?”

  “Of course.” Barn looked puzzled. “After all, it’s just a game.”

  Jimmy fixed Sherman with a steely gaze. “Can’t have it both ways Mr Sherman.”

  “You kids are something else,” Nulce said nonchalantly. Sherman was shaking all over.

  “My God, you really are monsters,” he spat.

  “Ye telt Barn he wasnae doin nothin wrang, ya big tube,” Dave snarled back. “Now yir mad cause he believed you?”

  “Hey! Recriminations can come later,” Madrid said. “The boy’s evened the odds.”

  Before there could be any more arguments she unshouldered her gun and began moving down the stairs.

  Madrid and Nulce led the final charge. There was no point in hiding any more, no element of surprise on their side. It was a straight out fight.

  Each member of the team had switched their earpieces to loud static, in case they encountered May-Rose. This was no handicap to trained combatants like Madrid and Nulce, who relied on hand signals when in action. They reached the reinforced doors leading to Bunker 10 and found them torn apart by the bomb Darren had unwittingly carried to his death. Both dived through the gap.

  Madrid was like an iron butterfly, drifting elegantly from doorway to doorway, unleashing long bursts of automatic fire down the corridor. Nulce weaved and bobbed like a deadly bee, pitching into rooms and crisscrossing through them, raking the area with bullets. Sherman stayed close behind, covering their backs and sheltering the children in case Nulce and Madrid missed anyone lurking in the dark.

  The remaining base forces didn’t stand a chance. Unable to resist May-Rose’s orders, they refused to retreat - but they were disoriented by the fire, the explosions and the smoke and in no state to mount a proper defence.

  Within minutes the last of the soldiers were dead and the group halted outside the final door. On the wall was a stark warning.

  CAUTION BIOHAZARD

  BIOSAFETY CHAMBERS

  AIR LOCK DOOR/DECON SHOWER

  DO NOT ENTER WITHOUT WEARING A BIOHAZARD SUIT

  The adults looked at each other nervously. Jimmy signalled for them to turn off the static on their headsets.

  “Any infectious material will be in sealed containers in a titanium containment room,” he said quietly. “Don’t worry, May-Rose can’t let any kind of toxin loose without killing herself.”

  “Get ready to cover me.” Madrid switched the static back on and punched 1234 into the console set in the wall. The door slid open and she vaulted through. With a roar of bravado, Nulce leapt after her, rolling as he hit the floor on the other side. They ran the length of the decontamination corridor and vanished through a curtain made of plastic strips.

  “Bloody cowboys,” Sherman complained, signalling for the children to follow him.

  Bunker 10 had survived the blast entirely. Fluorescent tubes in the ceiling lit up the room and fans whirred in the walls.

  May-Rose was standing in the middle of the lab, her hands above her head in surrender.

  “Say one word and I shoot you where you stand.” Madrid covered her from a safe distance, static turned up to full blast, while Nulce got behind the girl and forced her to her knees. With practised moves he fastened her hands behind her back using lab gauze, tied a strip across her mouth and stepped back to admire his work.

  The rest of the party switched off their earpieces.

  “There now, wasn’t that easy?” Nulce said sarcastically.

  The teens stared at their former friend. She looked tiny and lost and it was impossible to reconcile the forlorn figure in the yellow dress with the carnage they had witnessed.

  “Guys. Look over there.” Simon pointed with a trembling finger.

  Behind May-Rose was a huge contraption resembling a giant turbine engine. It was covered in wires and humming with energy.

  It was a monster sized version of the Machine in their dormitory.

  “Holy Hell,” Jimmy said. “She’s built a time machine.”

  “A time machine?” Sherman shook his head in disbelief. “Don’t be stupid!”

  “Why not?” Simon insisted. “We were working the time travel theories together in our spare time.”

  “But it was you who made the breakthrough,” Jimmy said. “Not May-Rose.”

  Simon turned red.

  “I was using her notes,” he whispered. “She left them in her desk when she went to work in Bunker 10 and she was much further along than me.”

  “You sneaky wee bissom,” Dave punched his companion on the arm. “That’s how you cracked it.”

  “I figured out the equations but I’d never have had the smarts to make a Machine that would actually work.” He pointed to the captive girl. “But now May-Rose has an intellect that dwarfs ours. She hasn’t just worked out the formula, she’s actually put it into practise.”

  “That’s how she intended to escape.” Jimmy said. “She was going to send herself through time.”

  “Eh?” Nulce spluttered. “I say we shoot these kids right this minute,”

  “I’m sorry guys.” Sherman cut through the argument. “But this is ridiculous!”

  “You got a better explanation?” Simon sneered. “What the hell do you think this contraption does?”

  “You are virtual simulations! You have to accept that!” Sherman clapped his hands to his face and sighed. “This is… it…. must be a device to transfer May-Rose’s programme to other computer systems.” He walked around the Machine glowering at it. “God, I hate technology.”

  “And that doesn’t sound farfetched!” Jimmy retorted

  Dave strolled over to Nulce who was guarding May-Rose. “You were right, Nulcy Boy,” he frowned. “This was too easy.”

 

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