

The Fable of Marcus

By Sajjad Tameez

The Fable of Marcus

By Sajjad Tameez

Copyright 2013 BlackArrowBooks

eBook edition

WWW.BLACKARROWBOOKS.COM
Chapter 1

Escape from the cold room

The loud ringing in his ears and the thunderous pounding of his racing heartbeat woke

him in a panic – he sat confused. His eyes began to sting as they gradually absorbed

the blinking light from the unfamiliar room and the stale smell of rotting corpses

made his stomach churn.

On his first attempt to move, he discovered a completely new definition of pain,

which in return, forced him to patiently remain still for a little longer. He looked at the

concrete floor next to him and noticed a small pool of blood – his blood. In horror, he

peered at his left arm which was cut and dripping gradual droplets into the small

reservoir. Noticing the slow speed of the drip, gave him a rough idea of how long he

had been sitting there, unconscious and leaning up against the wall – his stomach

repetitively rumbling was another clue.

He noticed a small desk, a chair and a few random items scattered around, including

what looked like the remains of a human body. He blinked rapidly, trying to stop his

eyes from drying. He noticed a worn card next to him, it looked like some kind of ID

card and it had 'Marcus' printed on it. He stuffed it in to his trousers and with a look

of determination, he tried to get to his feet. And again, he failed.

He screamed in agony as he dragged himself across the cold floor, leaving a trail of

blood. Using the half-broken chair to help him to get up, he managed to sit.

His attention was immediately drawn to a broken mirror on the table in front of him,

and he froze in shock – he did not recognise the boy staring back at him. His hazel

eyes lit up as he stared carefully at this young, brown skinned boy with messy dark

hair. His forehead began to crease as he thought deeper about who he was and what

the hell he was doing there. His puffy and dark eye circles made his eyes appear much

smaller than they actually were and his face seemed sucked in from malnutrition. He

knew that he had to get out of there and peered towards the door. He shuffled his body

to slide off the chair, but the leg snapped, forcing him to fall onto the hard floor.

Using his arms, he dragged himself along and eventually staggered up to the door.

His hands began to sweat and thoughts of what monstrosities lay ahead buzzed

through his head. It was either opening the door and facing the possible dangers or

sitting here and bleeding to death – not much of a choice. The strange sounds

appeared from outside. He placed his ear next to the door and listened carefully; it

was like shuffling... then tapping... then banging. He stepped back and his heartbeat

began to thump so hard that he thought it would burst out of his frail body and splatter

everywhere – fear of who ever or whatever was approaching played recklessly on his

mind. Then oddly, everything turned to a deadly silence. He froze, trying not to make

a noise.

Then, unexpectedly, the steel door slammed open. Everything became blurry and he

began suffering from double vision; he noticed a woman standing in front of him. She

was not very tall and had a deep tan. Her silky hair had streaks of light and dark

brown and the subtle waves made it appear shorter than it actually was. She had a

black strap wrapped around her black top, holding some sort of weapon; one, smaller

than one pointing at Marcus. There was a peculiar device around her wrist; it was like

a chunky silver watch that had steel wrapped tightly around her wrist like snakes

choking a small animal. Her arm looked soar and there were small blisters where the

steel appeared to be digging into her skin.

Marcus was now not scared as much as disappointed, in that he would probably be

shot dead by this strange woman without ever knowing the mystery of who he was or

how on earth he ended up here.

A tall man with long grey hair came rushing from behind, as if he had just caught up

to her. He stared at Marcus carefully and instantly formed a subtle smile, exposing his

pearl white teeth. Although the man had silvery white hair, he did not appear that old

at all, the white hair did not suit his smooth skin tone at all.

'Show me your arms, young man.' The man ordered assertively and in an outlandish

accent. Marcus stared back confused.

'It's ok son, show me your arms and easy does did.' He said in a calmer tone and

subtly reminded Marcus of the danger he was in by glancing over at the young lady

holding the gun, which was still pointing directly at Marcus's forehead.

Marcus had a feeling that whatever secret lay underneath his jacket may get him

executed. He remained iced up, staring like a lost child. By now, stranger sounds

emerged in the distance, which immediately caught their attention.

'Your arms! Now!' The man shouted.

Marcus shrivelled his shoulders and let the weight of the jacket pull itself down and

fall to the ground. He dared not look at his arms as he eagerly awaited the reaction of

the man and the lady... the lady instantly lowered the gun and was staring in shock

and amazement. The white-haired man looked over at the lady and smiled hugely. He

took a gentle step towards Marcus. 'What is your name?' The man asked, still staring

in excitement.

'Marcus... I think.' He removed the half torn ID card and held it out. The man paid no

attention to the card and just continued staring in excitement.

'What does this mean, Arthur?' The woman quizzed.

'This means... it is time.'

It is time for what? Marcus thought. But in an instant, both of their facial expressions

changed when they heard the weird noises echoing louder in the distance.

The man, who was now known as Arthur, removed a large handgun, 'Amy, get the

boy.'

Amy helped Marcus to his feet and they fled out of the room, trying to be as quiet as

they could. Arthur was leading, pointing the gun in front of him cautiously, as if

something was going to jump out at them any minute.

Fear began to strike harder as the noises got louder. Arthur stopped and whispered,

'they're too close! Amy, get him out of here. Now!' Amy stared at Arthur, petrified.

'But...'

'Don't argue with me. He is too important. I will distract them, now go!' He ordered.

Amy shook her head in disapproval, 'we don't know how many there are. You won't

have a chance!'

Arthur smiled, and buried deep within that smile was an expression of yawning

affection, an expression similar to the one a soldier gives to his child just before he

rushes out and into war.

Arthur ran in the direction from where the sounds were coming from. And then there

were repetitive high-pitched screams that were like a cat being strangled. Amy stood

frozen as if she needed Arthur to instruct her on what to do next.

She blinked rapidly as she came back to her senses, knowing that they could not stay

there for long. She shoved Marcus along and shouted, 'move, now!'

Marcus could feel her emotions.

As they moved swiftly along the extensive corridors, they could hear gunshots and

deafening shrieks followed by an ear ringing silence. Amy looked back in

devastation; saddened, she screwed up her face in anger and dragged Marcus along.

'What was that?' Marcus asked. She didn't reply.

'Who am I?' Marcus asked, frustrated.

'Shut up and keep moving.'

'No seriously, I want to know what's going on. Who am I?'

'Listen to me!' She yelled, gripping him aggressively up against the wall. 'Coz of you,

one of the best warriors we had is now...'

Why would anyone sacrifice their life for me? Marcus thought, all the while hoping

that she would loosen her surprisingly firm grip. After a few moments, she began to

calm, her complexion turned from bright red to a more natural tone, her eyes,

although still blood-shot, began to ease up, and she unchained her eyebrows.

'Look, I'm sorry. It's just that Arthur and I have been friends for many years. He saved

my life many times. He... he has been like a father to me. But I am being stupid, he

was right in doing what he did, you are what this world needs, so let's move.'

This clearly didn't answer any questions that Marcus had; nonetheless, he was

relieved that she didn't squeeze the life out him.
Chapter 2

The Gathering of the Resistance

'Dear friends, lend me your ears... I have news for you which is of the upmost

importance, but I will, however, come to this in just a moment...

We are all here because we do not want to be slaves to this... this thing that has almost

complete control over most of this beautiful planet – our planet!

What is it? I do not know. How it came to be? I do not know. But will I give up on

our race? Never!

Brave women, men and children... we are the resistance. So it is time to resist! They

have the upper-hand, and...'

'And we haven't won a single battle with these things since we began fighting!' A tall

scruffy man yelled, interrupting the short, bald man standing on the dark grey pulpit.

There were many suspicious looks from the people in the crowd and mild muttering

began to ascend. The short man on the pulpit paused for a brief moment and then

began gazing around the dull hall.

'Did I say that this would be easy? Did I say that victory would come at no cost of

ours? Dear friends we mustn't lose hope, for we may be the only humans left. Every

war, throughout the ages, came with its collateral damage – the much-mourned

casualties of war. But let me ask you this, friends, was there ever a war more worthy

of fighting... dying for... than the one we are faced with now? We are a complex

species and it is clear that we can easily be lured into battle over the desire to be rich

or powerful. But are we fighting for wealth, power or any superficial, materialistic

endeavour? No sir! This is far from our cold reality. This is an obligation for anyone

who is able to do so, to fight for the right for us to exist. With this humble request,

friends, I plead to you to not turn your backs and let's face this cruel and merciless

enemy with our surviving spirit and win back our freedom.'

Among the, now very much excited, crowd, a loud and assertive voice echoed,

'bravo... bravo!' A tall, dark-skinned man stepped out from the crowd; he was also

bald and wore a dark-brown cloak.

'What a courageous speech and from such a heroic and admirable person...' The

impression that his compliments were somewhat sarcastic was clear.

'My people, my dear people, this man who stands before you, speaks about making a

stand... fighting and war... as if it were that simple. We all know the truth; we are the

prey and we are no match for the predator that eagerly hunts us, taking from us our

lives one-by-one.

This man speaks of winning this war but knows fully that we are not capable of such

victory, this ridiculous proposal leans more towards suicide. My people, the bold yet

foolish words of this man are clearly spoken through the deluded lens of his own

idiotic ambition and thus his ludicrous desire will surely lead you all to your demise.

My honourable and loyal people, I have not come to you as a leader, I do not believe I

am deserving of such a title; rather, I am just giving you a warning. And I deem it my

duty to take us all to London.'

There was a loud uproar from the restless crowd and the man glared around at the

people and composed himself as best as he could. 'My people, I know the road to

London is one that has been the focal point of much speculation, and I am not here to

lie and tell you that it is free from its risks, but let's look at the devastating facts

regarding our current situation: we have lost contact with both Maidenhead and

Slough and the last we have heard, the existence of human life in these areas is

unlikely. Which leaves only us, how long can we take refuge in this hiding place?'

The people in the crowd had looks of worry and panic as the two men continued to

battle it out like crazed politicians.

'Not the travel to London speech again Alfred; we have grown tiresome of this... this

spiritual journey to salvation. You are foolish if you believe in that London has any

survivors or means of catering for us. We have been safe here for many years, we

have enough resources and food. Why be foolish to fight or leave.' A third man

yelled, emerging swiftly from the crowd. Not many people knew of his real name, he

had a fair few followers and referred to himself as the First Politician.

The man referred to as Alfred cleared his throat as he prepared to speak again, 'we

have been very fortunate in the amount of time we have evaded the predators in our

secluded place of hiding, but I, along with many others, know only too well, that

things are about to change; we will shortly be discovered and by then it will be too

late to escape!' Alfred and the two other men tried their best to convince the crowd

with their persuasive arguments, but a wave of confusion spread across their

frightened faces.

'So where is this hero, your, so called, saviour?' The First Politician said sarcastically.

A cold silence crept throughout the dingy hall, most of the dim wall lights were

flickering and some were even casting large shadows of the crowd, making them

appear like tall ghost-like figures.

The crowd of people, a balanced mixture of men, women and children, of all ages and

colours, stood frozen. They looked around at one another, baffled and panicky. Not

even the children dared to utter a noise.

'I sense much excitement, is this a private party or is anyone invited?' A very gentle

yet powerful voice echoed. Everyone in hall turned and watched as a tall, frail old

man, with long grey hair and a grey beard stumbled in. His face was tired, painted

with wrinkles and drooped long, his body bent with age, and a few small scars ran

almost artistically on his face and neck, so well placed that from a distance they could

probably be mistaken for tattoos – each one of them telling a million terrifying stories.

The wooden walking stick that he was clenching onto was exhausted with the amount

of pressure that he was applying.

Many people from the crowd and Alfred ran to the aid of the old man.

'I'm fine, leave me be please!' The old man said as he walked towards the front of the

hall at the pace of a baby's crawl.

Everyone stared patiently as the old man steadily made his way. He stood silently for

a moment and peered at the two politicians, smiling. His beady eyes stared deeply as

he fell into thought. He was pale, his skin was flaky and he sounded ill.

'Richard, Sir, there was much speculation about your illness and... well, we waited

and prayed of course that you would awake in good health.' One of the politicians said

nervously.

'But of course you did!' The old man, referred to as Richard, said with a huge smile.

'Where is Arthur?' Richard asked, gazing around. A strange but familiar silence

overtook the room and his suspicious eyes stopped at Alfred, who was staring at the

floor. 'Alfred! Where is Arthur?' He asked abruptly. Alfred shook his head slowly and

whispered back, 'I don't know... no one does, sir.'

Richard sighed loudly and sat down on the floor, as if the room began to suddenly

spin around him. He leaned up against the wall and fell into unfathomable thought.

Moments later, there was an escalating sound coming from among the crowd, and

Amy barged through the swarm of people with Marcus's arm around her, dragging

him like a carcass. Marcus was in and out of conciseness and could barely keep to his

feet. Although he felt nauseous, knew his stomach was filled with nothing but air – he

was snowed under with dizziness and his mouth was dry to the extent that he could

not even produce saliva.

'Ah, Amy, there you are. Where is Arthur? And who is your friend?' Richard quizzed,

now taking deep breaths and looking paler than before. Richard had been greatly

troubled by an illness to which there was no obvious cure; an illness that was

inevitable – old age.

'Arthur...' Amy, probably for the first time in her life, was lost for words and the

corners of her lips began twitching rapidly, as if she were about to break down and

cry. She shook her head slowly and faced the ground.

Richard's face sunk and the walls were caving in. A look of complete disbelief was

pasted on his face. There was a prolonged silence among the crowd, and everyone had

almost identical expression of despair, well almost everyone. The First Politician was

expressionless. He stood completely still, almost like he was trying to disguise the

fact that he was thrilled that Arthur was no more.

After a few minutes, Richard turned to Marcus with a questioning look.

'This is Marcus, we found him buried deep within the Northern regions, sir.' Amy

muttered as her knees gave way and she dropped to the floor.

Richard stared at him and his dark pupils began to increase like air being filled into a

balloon. 'Can it really be?' Richard whispered.

'Seize that boy!' The First Politician shouted. A few strong men, that followed the

First Politician almost religiously, stepped forward.

'Stop!' Richard shouted, 'no harm shall come to the boy!'

The people began looking around at one another in panic, clueless to what was going

on.

The First Politician stepped closer to Richard and stared in his eyes, frowning. He

then turned to the crowd and cleared his throat, 'come on people think! Did you not

find it at all strange that we have lived here peacefully for so many years; our

neighbours, the same and then suddenly, attacks were launched by Tyler? And his

armies have now destroyed our neighbouring towns – all those poor people. And for

what? Or shall we say, for whom?' His eyes fixed gloweringly at Marcus, 'yes, the

boy, they only want the boy!' He hissed.

There was a mounting uproar from among the crowd and the First Politician's strong

men went to grab Marcus. 'I said no harm shall come to the boy!' Richard shouted at

the top of his voice. The men slowed in their tracks, but the First Politician screamed,

'fools, I gave you an order!'

Richard raised his wooden stick as if to strike the First Politician, but he easily

stopped the frail attempt and pushed Richard up against the wall, 'give me an excuse, I

beg you!' He threatened angrily.

The crowd were astonished at the strange events occurring, never in a million years

could they have imagined anyone speaking ill, let alone, threatening their leader and

commander – Richard. Although, it was obvious that times were changing, with the

Dark-Tech armies invading all the remaining towns and most importantly the absence

of Arthur, the strongest fighter from everyone in the town. Arthur was just a young

boy when he joined the ranks and fought alongside Richard in the early days of the

resistance, he freed many people from Tyler and his dark ways and was classed as a

hero, there were many stories told of him across England, some true and some far

from it. To the ones that did not know him, he was more of a mythical character –

tales of him ending the war and freeing all humans were told to children at bedtime.

Some people in the crowd tried to stop the strong men and the First Politician, but

there was no joy for their efforts and they were overpowered within moments. Amy

sprung up into the air and began viscously punching and kicking the men, but she was

also contained.

The First Politician had a firm grip on Richard, who was still trying to resist, 'don't be

a fool! I applaud your tenacity, I really do, but your reign is over!' The First Politician

whispered. Richard stopped struggling and whispered back, 'I have seen the hunger of

having power and control in your eyes for many years now, it was my loyalty and

compassion towards you father that stopped me from putting a stop to you –

permanently!'

'Well, it's too late for regrets, old man!' The First Politician hissed, tightening his grip

on Richard's grey rags and clenching his teeth in rage.

Suddenly, there was a strange sound cutting through the air. And a loud scream from

the First Politician as a silver arrow impacted his shoulder, sending him flying

through the air and landing on the floor. Everyone's eyes fixated in the direction from

where the arrow came and to their astonishment, they noticed a male-like figure,

wearing a long hooded cloak, with black gloves that did not cover the full length of

his fingers, entering the room. The hood of the cloak was so low that his face was

concealed. In his right hand, he had some sort of gun that fired arrows, but he dropped

the gun and continued walking towards the front of the room. The First Politician's

strong men rushed towards the strange man, some with solid wooden sticks and metal

poles.

The hooded man did not hesitate and fought the men, with no weapons, and swiftly

defeated them all, hurting them but careful in not causing any fatalities. He continued

towards Richard as if nothing had happened; as he got closer, he removed his hood

and instantly, there were looks of shock and admiration from the crowd and Amy ran

forward, 'Arthur! But we thought...' she screamed and hugged onto him.

'You thought what?' Arthur said slowly, all the while staring angrily at the First

Politician, who was in severe pain from the wound and the hard fall.

Arthur moved towards Richard and made sure he was alright.

'Ah, Arthur, my boy. I knew you were still alive.' Richard spoke in a mild tone, as if

he didn't have the energy to show his excitement.

Arthur walked over to the First Politician and ripped out the arrow out of his shoulder,

making him scream so loud that the echo lasted for a good few moments.

'Let that be a warning to you, next time... I will kill you – that is my word!' Arthur

shouted, making everyone in the room afraid.

'The boy! Is this why we are questioning our leader?' Arthur turned to the crowd, 'the

same leader that freed us and showed us a way of life. Let me ask you this people,

where would you have been without him? In our darkest hour, when we were all,

including me, at the brink of slavery and persecution, this man who stands before us,

led us to a new life, where we are free! And you dare to challenge him.' Arthur looked

over at Richard, as if he needed permission to speak further; Richard nodded slowly.

'This boy, which this idiot and his group of mindless thugs,' he pointed sharply at the

First Politician and his men, 'would have given away to Tyler, to spare their lives,

could be the key to... the key to end the entire war.' There was loud muttering from

the crowd and everyone wanted to get a look at the boy. Marcus was now completely

baffled and frightened, not to mention faintish from malnutrition and dehydration.

'Take the boy and see to his wounds, make sure he is fed.' Richard commanded a

young girl in the crowd. Arthur helped Richard get to his feet and gave him his stick.

'Lies, these are lies!' The First Politician hissed like a snake. Arthur turned and faced

him in anger, but Richard stopped him. 'Let him speak!' Richard ordered.

There was a thick grey cloud of suspicion that loomed almost impatiently over the

crowd, and judging from the angered looks, lighting was ready to strike.

'What is so special about this boy? I'll tell you... Absolutely nothing! He is simply a

bargaining chip for these idiots to fuel their war! They are going to get us all killed!'

The First Politician yelled to the crowd, with his eyes almost bulging out of their

sockets.

'Why were we not told about this boy?' A man from the crowd shouted, desperately

trying to hide his face. 'Yeah!' Shouted another. And yet again the muttering from the

restless crowd escalated.

'Settle down...' Richard spoke softly.

'Stop!' Richard commanded the girl who was taking Marcus away.

'We did not mention the discovery of the boy because of the betrayal and treachery of

some of the people that reside secretly among us. It was in all of our best interests to

keep this from surfacing but now that it is out in the open, I will show you what all

the fuss is about. Remove the boy's outer garments!' The girl, feeling compassion for

the boy, gently took his jacket off, trying not to cause him anymore discomfort. There

was a sudden and almost composed sound of shock from the crowd. Everyone's eyes

were glued on the boy, marvelling at what they saw; some went as far as to clap in

excitement. The First Politician, who could not believe his eyes, stepped closer to

make sure what he was seeing was not simply an illusion.

'But how?' The First Politician asked. But he did not get any response, even Richard

froze in complete astonishment as he stared at the Marcus.

'Take him and see to his wounds – no harm shall come to this boy – the boy who is

not bound by the Dark-Tech's wrist-lock!' He yelled while pointing at the silver,

bracelet type band that was tightly wrapped around his own wrist.

'The boy is the only human being not imprisoned by it. He, as told to us by the people

of the past, who suffered worse trials and tribulations, will be the key to our freedom,

real freedom!' There was a cheer from the crowd, but this was short-lived, and the

First Politician spoke again, 'this is ridiculous, he is a boy, he looks no older than

thirteen! Ok, he doesn't have the wrist-lock, but what does that really mean? Nothing!

If we give him refuge here, in our home, then surely they will find him and give us all

the same fate as him.'

'Do not be fooled by this coward! No human walks this planet without the wrist-lock.

Do I need to remind you of a time when every human was in-slaved with this... this

thing? Which is alien to our natural body but yet, every new born baby has it growing

with them their entire lives!' Richard knew that there were many people among the

crowd who had not ever experienced life without it, and although, Richard spent his

youth not bearing it, he himself began questioning how life used to be then.

'So what? Who cares about that? This thing is part of us now, and in reality what harm

does it do us anyway. It does nothing!' The First Politician argued.

'Fool! This thing controls and watches your every movement. It has a unique ID; it

tracks every human and does not allow you to travel over the hills of your own town.

Soon as you leave, you are hunted. This is not freedom!'

'So how is this boy to help us?' The First Politician quizzed, almost sarcastically.

The boy can get through and over the hills and...'

'And what?' The First Politician mocked. 'What? Defeat the entire Dark-Tech army

and bring down their control centre and free human kind?' The First Politician

laughed aloud.

'Exactly!' Richard replied, almost emotionlessly.

'Exactly! Exactly? Are you mad?'

'You do not understand – the boy can travel where we cannot, besides the boy is very

special.'

'Really? What is so special about him? Oh, that he doesn't wear the bracelet? He is a

boy! I mean, where did he even come from?'

'It is not where that is important, it is when!'

'Oh, that is it! I have heard enough, what, now he's some-sort of time traveller? Don't

mock our intelligence, for even we are not that gullible!'

The apprehensive looks from the crowd were growing, fast.

'There's no such thing as time travel!' A man shouted from the crowd.

'The boy is not a time traveller!' Richard shouted, getting everyone's attention, 'he has,

however, travelled through the ages of time!' The Politician, coughed really loud, as if

he just chocked on thin air, 'that's ridiculous!' He remarked, turning to his confused

audience.

'The boy is from a time where these wrist-locks were not of any compulsion and

humans were free! The boy was taught things; he knows about computers and how

they work!' The crowd went silent.

'In the very early years of the war, he was hidden and placed in a cryogenic state –

frozen and preserved.' Richard looked around at the shocked reactions he was getting.

'Preserved for what? And how is it that he's out now?' The First Politician asked, not

at all convinced. His forehead creased and his eyes glared in scrutiny as he waited

impatiently for a response. Richard paused and took some deep breaths before

continuing.

'The boy has secrets locked within his mind that can alter the entire Dark-Tec system;

he is the one that people, for years, have been searching for! And the ones that found

him, sacrificed their lives to keep him alive, not so we, like fools, just hand him over!'

'So, what is this boy to do? And how long can we give him refuge until they find

him?' A woman from the audience asked.

'We do not know exactly, but we will... we will learn from the boy.' Richards's speech

began to slow and his eyes began to droop lower than usual. Arthur, noticing this,

ordered this meeting to end, 'no harm shall come to the boy, and Richard needs his

rest; for so many years we have kept our trust in Richard and he has never let us

down! Do not be foolish now!' By this point, most of the crowd was convinced and

greed with Richard – with the exception of a few, who did not make their feelings so

obvious.
Chapter 3

The Dark-Tec Towers

Much of England was now deserted plots of land, empty buildings and ferociously

over-grown grass. Some even referred to areas over the hills as 'the forest.' Massive

road blocks, made out of strong metals, restricted the view into the forest but most

small towns that had a surviving population, had formed watch towers with

telescopes, from where they saw some of the most disturbing images that occurred on

the outside. Beyond the surviving towns, the indestructible metal barriers and the dark

and mysterious forest, there dwelled something much more frightening. Though no

living person had ever laid eyes on it, let alone set foot in it, everyone, young or old,

man, woman or child, knew of it: the Dark-Tec Towers.

The extensive walkway was long and hung like a solid and almost colourless bridge,

high above a large river. The building was like a castle made from mat-black coloured

bricks. It had the strange contrast of a New York sky scrapper and the dwelling place

of Dracula. It was huge, its four solid towers stood so tall that they wore clouds like

fluffy grey beards and it would take an entire day to walk the circumference of the

building. There were no windows or if there were, then they were cleverly tinted and

strictly adhered to the exact uniform as the rest of the building.

The building did not appear to have an entrance nor did it seem to be guarded, but it

had so many eyes that not even a fly could buzz close without being detected. And

among all the strangeness and mystery, there lurked a feeling of emptiness, as if

nothing living existed in or around it. This feeling may have risen from the extreme

absence of sound; no sounds of people, no animals shuffling, no birds singing,

nothing except the gentle but haunting whistles of the wind blowing.

'Master, there has been word...' a short, plump man whispered nervously.

'Silence Fredrick!' A loud and powerful voice echoed through the huge dark room.

The dull light from the lamp on the wall, reflected humorously off Fredrick's bald

head as he stood nervously and faced the back of a huge black arm chair. He remained

quiet and just stared at the pale and wrinkly hand on the arm of the chair. The hand

was thin and the fingers looked like shrivelled worms but what appeared to be striking

for anyone's eyes, was the large and very strange ring that was wrapped tightly around

his index finger. It was a thick metal with a dark stone; the stone did not shine nor did

it look of any value but it suited the pale hand perfectly.

Suddenly, a finger on the hand rose and the chilling voice spoke again, but more

calmly, 'speak Fredrick, but make sure your tongue does not waffle, for if it does, I

will surely cut it off and force you to eat it!' His voice raised high at the end of his

sentence, making him sound incredibly menacing, 'are we clear?' He asked calmly.

'Yes... perfectly.' Fredrick swallowed.

'Well speak!' The terrifying voice belted.

'The boy, master, the boy is alive!' There was a prolonged silence and absolutely no

movement from the hand.

'Do you speak with certainty or are we having another episode of fairy tales? Many

lives were lost the last time you opened your mouth, many lives bar yours! Make no

mistake; if you are wrong, then you will be the first to go!' Fredrick swallowed

repetitively, desperately trying to stop his throat from drying further. He remained

silent and began actually imagining his tongue being torn out of mouth and then being

forced to eat it, and stupidly, began wondering whether he would try to chew it or

would he just swallow it, but then snapped out of it and thought of the devastating

consequences if he were to say nothing and his master were to find out that he knew

but did not say. A more frightened expression overtook his face as he prepared

himself to speak.

'Master, the boy is alive! The eyes saw him; he is as described and wears no wrist

lock.' He quickly hid his face behind his arm, waiting for a reaction, but there was just

silence and deep breathing from behind the chair.

'Maxwell!' The hideous voice shouted. And after a few brief moments there was a

fascinating little spark of light that twinkled for a few milliseconds, like an old

television turning on. It then grew dramatically and looked like a grid with fluorescent

lights beaming out of it. The grid then swiftly transformed into a shape of a tall and

well-built man and eventually looked and behaved exactly like a normal human being,

with the exception of the odd flicker.

'You called?' It spoke in a gentle but creepy voice.

'Is it true?' The man behind chair questioned, calmly.

'Are we referring to the boy?' It asked.

'No! You blithering idiot! I am talking about the other complete disaster that has

struck beneath our noses!' The man behind the chair shouted, making Fredrick have

the desperate urge to dash to the loo, but he dared not move.

'What other disaster?' It asked, confused.

'You really are a genius aren't you!'

'I sense a tone of sarcasm in your voice, master?'

'Yes! I am talking about the boy! The boy – the wretched little boy!' He yelled so loud

that he made himself cough.

'There has been much speculation and stories of this boy... and there have been some

sightings of a boy that walks with no wrist-lock, but it is highly improbable that this

boy is the boy from the fictional stories that are spread around the towns.'

'So how is it that after so many years and against all odds, there is a boy, who, as you

say, walks with no wrist-lock?'

'I am not sure exactly...'

'Maxwell, you normally have an answer for everything – you are becoming somewhat

disappointing!'

The man behind the chair sighed loudly. After a few moments Fredrick was glowing,

his cheeks had become like roses, his eyes filled up so much so that he could no

longer see clearly and could not prevent the sounds of unease anymore. He tried

biting his tongue, breathing deeply and crossing his legs but nothing was working, if

he did not make to a toilet in the next minute or so, he would surely wet himself.

'Master, please can I be excused for a few moments?'

'Go now! Before you embarrass yourself – you are weak just like your bladder!'

Fredrick ran out of the room; he did not look back, utter any words or even take a

breath until he reached his destination.

'As for you Maxwell, your negligence has disappointed me, to say the least.' The man

spoke slowly but knew deep down that he could not scare or intimidate Maxwell.

'I want the boy found and killed. Send out all the armies and search every town, I

want every place that he could be hiding torn apart, kill as many as needed to send the

message. I want pressure put on so hard that the boy comes to me!'

'This is not a clever strategy, and is prone to fail.' Maxwell responded instantly.

'I did not ask for your opinion! But as you are so eager to speak, please elaborate.'

Maxwell pointed into the air in front of him and formed a large screen from nothing.

The screen was very similar to the grid colour that he himself was before he took the

form of a human. The screen had detailed maps and all the areas were in different

shades, some red, some blue and some grey. He pointed at some of the areas on the

map, 'it seems as if we have not regained control of many of these areas, as earlier

predictions highlighted and the impact of the "Kiss Dark-Tec Goodbye" virus had

much more of an impact on our systems than we anticipated. The amount of time the

humans have had, and looking through their history, they have a tenancy of

regrouping fast and if united, they have a chance to fight and possibly defeat our

armies. Also, sending out all armies will leave the towers at risk of attack; its autodefence

system will not suffice in a full-blown assault. I am afraid that your decision

is being influenced by emotions of anger and possibly worry.'

'They are just humans, they cannot use computer systems! They are weak, they get ill,

and they die! You will follow my command. I will not take any chances with this

boy!'

'Very well.' Maxwell shrunk rapidly into sparkling particles of silver light and

eventually into a small dot before completely disappearing.

The man behind the chair shouted, 'get me Hex and his team!'

A computerised voice coming from speaker holes in the ceiling responded, 'right

away master.'

By this time Fredrick came running back into the room, but before he could approach

the gloomy arm chair, there were crashing footsteps marching from behind him. The

thumping was so loud that the ground began to vibrate and made little-old Fredrick

nearly lose his balance. He quickly moved to the side as this chain of big and strong

looking men and one woman stormed past. They had an extremely menacing look

about them, they wore black clothing, had strange haircuts and all had some form of

tattoo or another. One of the men had a peculiar shaped tattoo, almost like barb-wire

running down the side of his face and he walked a little ahead of the rest. They all had

outlandish haircuts and the woman was wearing extremely dark make-up, the eye

shadow was so dark that it was almost impossible to see what her eye colour was. The

man with the tattoo on his face was noticeably larger than the rest. His shoulders were

broad and his muscles bulged out of his black clothes. They were all wearing large

and heavy looking boots that battered the ground as they stamped towards the large

chair, which was still facing away from everyone.

'Master.' The husky voice of the man with a tattoo on his face echoed.

'Hex... Hex, I see your have already gathered your... your little platoon of... well

you're a cute bunch!'

'What do you need?' The man, referred to as Hex asked.

'Last time I called you... you guys for a task, you made a real mess of things. Your

method of brute force and total annihilation is disgraceful. And it seems as though

you get a real kick out of it.'

'Master, we will try our best to not let that happen again...' Hex said, sounding

promising.

'No! This was the sole reason that I called on your... your expertise shall we say.' He

said slowly.

'I don't understand.'

'I need you to behave normally, I want you destroy, I want you to torture and I want

you... I want you to kill – do whatever it takes to find and the boy! And kill everyone

around him.' The man shouted, clenching his fist and occasionally hitting the thick

black arm of the chair.

Hex smiled and turned back to his, excited, army of strange-looking soldiers.

'Yes master, consider it done.' Hex said, confidently.

'I beg you, do not disappoint me, for if you fail, your fate will be as gloomy and

hideous as your appearance!'

'Understood.' Hex said and stormed off, biting his anger at the threat.

The man sat silently, gently tapping the arm of the chair with his creepy fingers.

'What do you want worm?' The man shouted at Fredrick.

'Nothing master, I thought you might request my assistance further.' Fredrick

muttered.

'Well you thought wrong! Now get lost before I call Hex to give you something to

do!' A strong shiver rippled through Fredrick at the thought of being anywhere near

Hex and his friends. He did not hesitate in running back to the lavatory and locking

himself in.
Chapter 4

High Wycombe

Marcus was running fast through long and dark corridors; he was being chased,

hunted like animal. His chest was getting tighter; he found it impossible to take long

breaths. Something hideous was chasing him, although he could not see what it was,

he knew it was vile and would stop at nothing until it caught him and killed him,

cruelly. The corridors felt like they were never ending, the closer he got the dim light

at the end, the further it appeared. His legs were moving but he was not getting any

further. 'You will never succeed, you are destined to fail!' A chilling voice whispered

from behind him. He didn't look back, he just kept his head down and ran, but now his

legs were sinking into the ground, as if the solid concrete ground was magically

transforming into quicksand and was chewing him up. He screamed out loud as he felt

his entire body being sucked in and falling down, off what appeared to be a mountain

of some-sort. Everything became blurry and in slow motion, and a voice began to

echo as he fell endlessly 'it's ok... a scary voice hissed. The voice repeated the same

words over and over and each time the voice became gentler. The voice became so

tender that Marcus began to find it soothing. And in a strange flash his eyes opened

and he leapt out of bed, and the female who was caring for him touched his shoulder

lightly, 'it's ok... It was just a bad dream.' Marcus paced around the room in panic,

'where am I?' He shouted, looking around the room, perplexed.

'It's ok, you are safe here.' The soft voice of the young female did actually help calm

his nervous a little.

She looked around the same age as him, she had long blonde hair and light freckles on

the end of her small nose. She wore a light polo neck sweater, in a bid to conceal her

freakishly long neck and her bright blue eyes stood out nicely along with her rosy

cheeks.

She smiled at Marcus, 'would you like something to drink, you must be thirsty; you've

been asleep for a long time.'

'Yes! Maybe hundreds of years, maybe more.' Richard remarked as he toddled in,

desperately holding onto his trusted esteem, his wooded walking stick. Although his

stick was very old and was ready to give way, he couldn't bear to lose it; it was like he

had grown attached to it and always regarded it as his companion.

'Please, I... have no idea to who I am or where I am.' Marcus stuttered.

'It's quite alright young man, you are probably suffering from trauma and the shock of

being revived from your sate after so long and with the attack you and your revivers

suffered, I am not surprised that you are suffering from amnesia!'

The female looked puzzled, like she didn't understand what he was going on about.

'Will it come back... my memory I mean, will it come back?' Marcus asked,

worriedly.

'I certainly hope it will! It may take some time and maybe a prod or two, but we will

get there, don't you worry, we will get there.' Richard said sounding like he was

convincing himself as well. 'Now get some rest, I am sure Nicole is taking good care

of you.' Nicole smiled. Marcus nodded and smiled faintly.

'Well ok, I will leave you to rest and eat. I will wait for you in the great library in the

evening; Nicole will show you the way.'

Richard limped back out of the room.

'I don't know what's going on, who I am... or anything!' Marcus moaned to himself.

'That must be really weird, you know... not knowing yourself.' Nicole said while

playing with her hair. When she looked at Marcus' upset expression, she apologised

immediately, 'hey, I... I'm sorry, I didn't mean... like...'

'It's ok, it does feel insane, I mean looking in the mirror and seeing a complete

stranger look back at you, well, that's something else!'

'So you don't remember anything? What about your parents?' She asked quietly.

Marcus remained silent and just shook his head. He noticed Nicole gazing into space

and so asked her, 'what about you... your parents?' He asked softly.

'My real parents died when I was very young, I can't remember them at all. But I

imagine how they would have looked and been all the time. Richard is like a father to

me, he looked after me, along with many more like me.'

Marcus stayed quiet for a little while and noticed Nicole staring over at the large

mirror sitting on the wooden table in the corner of the room.

'I have always been curious about my parents, I know they would have loved me,

and... my mother was probably beautiful and my father handsome and strong too.

Sometimes I get so anxious about them that I feel suffocated and want to run out and

scream! But I know it wouldn't help.' She said, almost in tears. Marcus felt sorry for

her and gave her an empathetic smile. But soon began wondering about his parents.

And it was at this point when it really struck him, 'what the hell did Richard mean

when he said, 'been asleep for so many years?' He may have lost his memory but he

certainly was not dumb. 'People don't live for hundreds of years, forget sleep for

hundreds of years!' He spoke to himself out loud.

'For years, people all over England have talked about a boy, a special boy who has

been asleep for centuries and will awake, he will walk freely, wearing no wrist lock...'

she pointed at the silver wrist lock around her wrist. 'And bring victory to the people!'

Marcus thought it strange that her wrist lock was different from Amy's. Aside from

the fact that it was smaller and different shape, it looked more like it was growing out

of her as opposed to being wrapped around her wrist like a handcuff. But Marcus was

already so confused that he thought not to ask the difference.

'I remember Silvia, Richard's late wife used to read it to me like a fairytale every night

before bed. I used to really like it, but truth be told, I never believed it. I thought of it

as simply a story to help children and even adults to forget about the cold reality and

sleep well.'

Marcus stared at Nicole and began swallowing nervously.

'What?' She asked as she noticed Marcus's eyes fixated on hers and his face flustering.

'So... what... I am supposed to be... wait... you guys think that I'm that...' He shook his

head in disbelief. 'I am not that boy from your stories; I don't even know my name!'

'Everyone seems to think you are, even Tyler!'

'Who's Tyler?'

'You really aren't from around here are you? Tyler is a monster; he has spent years

enslaving the human race. Before, I guess all humans were like you, you know free

from this thing. But he changed all of that, now no one walks without that, well

except you of course. I guess that's why he's after you so badly.'

'What are these wrist-locks? And what do they do?'

'They are computerised, and control all the humans.'

'So why can this Tyler guy not just control you into giving me up?'

'He can't with us, a few years back, when Tyler was at his peak, having everything

under control – his control, he became complacent and this gave some people that

knew about computer systems, an opportunity. They created something called a virus

that infected the Dark-Tec systems and it brought everything down for thirty minutes,

this gave some people just enough time to pirate the system and configure it in a way

that he could not control it anymore. They couldn't remove it entirely though. The

wrist-lock is now part of the body – don't ask me anything about it though.'

They were both confused on the functions of the thing on everyone's wrist, and knew

that a lot of the things talked about it are simply speculation.

'Does it hurt?' Marcus asked.

'No, never; it's like having a hand, I can't really imagine being without it. It has never

bothered me, grows in proportion to my wrist, in fact, until Richard told me of its

origins, I quite liked it. Is that weird?' She looked a little embarrassed.

'No, it's not weird; it is actually very pretty, like jewellery.' Marcus smiled.

'I have never had real jewellery, you know, made out of precious stones. When I was

younger we made these...' She gently tugged at the brown beads which had small

holes and a thin white string running through them, tightly holding them together.

'Nice, it looks very nice.'

'Can I show you something? I mean... if I show you, you have to promise not to say

anything to anyone about it!' Her eyes were locked onto Marcus's and she wore a

ferocious look.'

'Ok, I promise!'

'Ok.' She smiled and excitedly leapt off the bed and crawled underneath it. Marcus

waited patiently as she made sounds of rummaging. And after a few moments she

crawled back out pulling a large wooden box, the same size as an adult shoe box.

They both stared at it for a moment, Nicole clearly more excited than Marcus.

'What's in it?'

'I will show you.' She gently opened the lid; it had metal hinges on the back, which

she desperately tried to stop from squeaking as she swung it open. And there it was,

wedged in between two soft cushions, buried deep because of its small size. It was

beautiful, magnificent and Marcus marvelled at it, but there was one question that

played impatiently on his mind, 'What is it?'

'It's a ring – you wear it on your finger.' She carefully removed it and placed it on her

finger. It was silver and perfectly round; it had a small stone at the top, a stone that

glimmered magically, like a bright star shinning on a clear and beautiful night.

Everything about it was perfect and screamed elegance, well, apart from the fact that

it was way too big for any of her little fingers.

'Where did you get it?'

'It was my mum's, my real mum. Richard gave it to me and told me to never show to

anyone, coz they'd try to take it.' She abruptly pulled her hand closer to her.

Marcus smiled, 'it's ok, I won't take it – promise.'

'It's strange; I never thought I could miss someone I never really knew.' She said

staring at the ring and moving her hand softly making the small diamond sparkle.

'Are you talking about your mum?'

'Yes, I think about her all the time! I have always wanted to go to the old library and

find out about them.'

'I am going to meet Richard at the library...'

'Not that library!' She interrupted him, rolling her eyes.

'Oh, what library are you talking about?'

'Richard always talks about his collection of books as the great library, and it is good

but not great! The great library is on the outside, you know... over the hills.' The

pupils in her eyes began to expand in excitement.

'What's great about that one?'

'Are you kidding?' She smirked, 'that has so many books and records and... it has...

like, the entire history of everything!'

'Really? So why don't we go there?'

'You really are kidding, right? No one goes there, not even adults. It's dangerous and

there are computers there!'

'Computers?'

'Yeah, computers! So we can't but if we could then we could find out everything

about our parents, even yours probably.'

They both sat for a while, thinking about the adventure and the reward of finding out

about their parents.

'I see you are on your feet and looking well!' Richard said, sitting on a wooden chair

and peering over his reading glasses. He was, as usual, engrossed in the thick book he

was reading and always found it a bother to look up whilst in middle of a good read.

Some have even claimed that they have noticed him reading a book for a whole day

without lifting his head once.

'Yes... thanks, I'm feeling much better now.' Marcus muttered in a quiet tone. He

looked around at the huge collection of books, the shelves stood tall and straight

almost touching the ceiling, they were all a dark-brown colour and were fixed

perfectly along all sides of the walls of the large hall. There was an unusual smell in

the hall; it smelt like old wood and damp grass – definitely a combination of fragrance

that Marcus had never smelt before.

'Well, don't just stand there, come here.' Richards's voice echoed through the hall

vigorously. Both Nicole and Marcus walked further in and sat on the large table next

to Richard, who reluctantly forced his eyes away from the words in the book and

closed it.

'Do you know what this is?' Richard said, pointing at the dark red, hardback book

that he placed gently in front of Marcus. Marcus stared at the tatty old book and

noticed that it had no title or image on the cover of the book.

'It's a book?'

'Yes, but it's not just any old book, this is a journal, a diary of a person who lived at

the beginning of the change, and although there is not much technical detail, he has

described his feelings and recorded incidents that we have learned so much from.' His

eyes were sparkling in excitement as he talked about the books and the knowledge

and wisdom that they posses, but there was also a look buried within his eyes – a look

of fear and confusion and this became more and more obvious when he began talking

about the Dark-Tec systems.

'The system was made by a man many years ago. He made it to serve as a way of

tackling illnesses – illnesses which began spreading fast. But instead, he and his team

of scientists found a way of prolonging life or delaying death, or so they thought. This

was the biggest thing to ever happen and was tested on a few living specimens and

was completely successful.'

'How did it work?' Marcus asked, wondering whether it would be rude if he were to

peak into the tatty red book on the table.

'That is a very interesting question. And there are many books that give some

explication of its mechanics, but it is impossible for us to make heads or tails out of

it.'

'May I?' Marcus said pointing at the book in front of him.

'Of course.' Marcus opened the book and began flicking through the very fragile

pages; opening the first page or two, he could feel that even the slightest pressure was

almost tearing the coffee stained type paper.

As Marcus skimmed though the first few pages, and after much struggle of reading

the blue, red and black inked scribble all over the page, that almost appeared like an

abstract painting, he began reading some very interesting things. At that time, the

infections, colds and flu's were spreading like wildfire and stretched across England,

so fast that no vaccine could stop them. What was really interesting was that the

author of this journal, although it was unclear on his position, believed that the

government was to blame for the infections. He believed that they created a

revolutionary weapon and in the inconspicuous form of a flu virus, well it had all the

characteristics of the flu, but was in fact a killer and was almost incurable. That was

when the scientist Darc..., the writing was so messy at this point that 'Darc' were the

only letters of his name that he could make out, he came out with his invention of the

'A.I.S.' Artificial Immune System. It was, however, tested and had many flaws, one

being that it was unstable and also spread similar to a virus. The author went on to

give a brief explanation of its history and how it worked: in theory, the system was

amazing; one or two artificial neurons would be inserted into the human body, these

little neurons would attach themselves to the natural neurons in the body and fight off

infections....' Marcus tried to make sense of the rest of the page but he couldn't.

Throughout the rest of the journal, the ink was smudged; some of the pages were torn

or even missing.

'I don't understand.' Marcus said in a hushed tone.

'My dear Marcus, no one here understands what is going on or what has really

happened. But...' Richard paused.

'But... what?' Marcus asked, trying to not sound too anxious.

'But you... you are not from here or now.'

'What does that mean?'

'This means that you are completely human; there is nothing artificial in you or about

you. And obviously you were preserved this way for a reason.'

'Why?'

'That is what we intend to find out!' Richard's eyes were glowing in determination

and his hand was gently stroking his white beard as he fell into profound thought.

Marcus sat silently, not at all convinced that he would ever remember who on earth he

was, let alone, be of any use. Nicole was also a little sceptical about it all, but

remained completely silent and had full faith in Richard.

Richard reached for his faithful companion – his walking stick and struggled to his

feet, Nicole leapt up to assist but as usual Richard's pride refused the help. Richard, in

his prime was the greatest warrior of his time; he was often hailed as 'Richard the

Great.' He fought with courage and never backed-down, he faced death every day,

chewing it up and spitting it out as if his life meant nothing to him. He spent more

time fighting for the cause than anything else, and if he were not fighting, he would be

preparing for a fight. It was this bravery and heroism that earned him his rank among

the people. But now, he had been old for so long that many people had forgotten his

triumphs – he often wished he had died back then. But the one thing he promised

himself was that he would never be a burden on anyone else.

'I want to show you something.' He said, huffing as he walked toward the back of the

hall.

'You come too.' He called Nicole, who was already eagerly following behind.

As they walked the length of the extensive hallway, Marcus noticed a small wooden

door in the corner, it was no bigger than four-foot, and had a great bronze padlock on

it. It was just a door and a padlock, but something about it gave them all chills and the

small hairs on the back of Marcus's neck began to stand. As they approached the

door, Richard stopped and began to fiddle with his walking stick. He twisted the

wooden top and unscrewed it until it popped off. Even Nicole had an expression of

surprise, especially when he removed a thin, small key from the top of it. This made

Marcus and Nicole realise why he kept that stick so close.

It was an old looking key, it had rust around the edges and even the bit of golden paint

that it had left was chipping away. Richard slid the metal flap covering the hole and

inserted the key in fully. There was a loud click that echoed through the hall as it

unlocked. Richard opened the squeaky door and stepped inside. Nicole and Marcus

stared at each other with raised eyebrows. 'Ladies first!' Marcus grinned.

As they stepped inside Richard lit a lamp and the inside of the small box room

gradually became visible. The room appeared to be infested with cob-webs and there

was a smell that made them all go blue in the face. But the thing that drew their

undivided attention was slap-bang in the centre of the room and stared at them with a

dark look, sending shivers down their spines. Although Nicole was already

completely freaked-out with the spider webs, even she couldn't tear her eyes away. It

was like nothing they had ever seen. Although endless amounts of dust had

manifested itself all over it, it still had a magical shine. It was silver with glimmering

streaks of shinny black. The five different bits of it that were sitting together on the

metal table, were all different shapes and sizes but peculiarly sat well together. The

great rectangular box had many different coloured buttons and had wires at the back

which dangled like black and grey snakes with small heads and claws instead of eyes;

and the large thin square shaped object stared at them with a haunting look.

'What is it?' Nicole asked. Richard did not reply, but not in a way that he did not

know the answer, rather he was staring at Marcus with the hope that he will say

something. Marcus, however, looked more puzzled than ever.

'I'm at a loss. What on earth is it?' Marcus, spoke quietly, still not managing to break

the long stare that he had with the object.

'This is a computer system.' Richard removed a grey cloth from his pocket and began

gently wiping the excessive amounts of dust that was collated and that was when

Marcus's eyes began to open wide. His eyes were instantly drawn to a strange symbol

on the rectangular box; in fact that symbol was on all the objects and for some reason

he found it familiar. It was like two ovals crossed over each other forming a strange

cross, small stars scattered around it and the letters 'DT' embedded in the middle. He

reached into his pocket and removed the card that had his name on it and to his shock

he was staring at the exact same symbol.

'What does this mean?' Marcus asked, handing over the card.

'I'm not entirely sure but we need to find out.'

There was definitely something about that symbol that made Marcus feel uneasy and

he was now positive that these two places were not the only places that he had seen it,

but his mind remained blank.

'There is a way to turn this contraption on but according to some of the books I have

read, this will give our location to the Dark- Tec Empire and surely they will send out

their armies and destroy us all! Right?' Richard was almost asking rather than telling.

'I guess,' Marcus was not in an adventurous mood but something possessed him to

approach the computer and press the round power button at the front. Nicole closed

her eyes tightly as if she expected an explosion or something, but nothing happened –

nothing at all.

'No power?' Marcus asked.

'According to the books, these things have a power source that runs through the air,

WiFi... or something like that.'

'There must be another way to turn it on...'

'Do you think it's a good idea to turn it on?' Richard asked lowering his head and

looking out of his eyebrows.

'Don't tell me you kept this thing for display purposes only!'

'I suppose not.' Richard smiled.

Stopping everyone in their tracks was a loud banging on the door to the main hall.

'Quickly, let's get out!' Richard whispered loudly. They all stepped out of the room

and Richard called out, 'yes, come in.' When the door opened, several random people

from the crowd had gotten together and wanted to learn more about the boy. Richard

welcomed them in and seated them all; those, who could find them, sat on chairs and

the rest sat silently on the floor.

The small crowd of men and women stared at the boy in amazement. One man even

saluted him as if he was here to serve as a general of an army and that Marcus was

going to lead them into battle. Marcus looked at around at the crowd and began to

worry, he knew deep down that he was not the knight in shining armour that they

presumed him to be nor did he want such responsibility.

'What now?' A large man with long curly black hair asked.

'Now we help Marcus regain his memory and take it one step at a time.' Richard spoke

confidently and placed his hand on Marcus's shoulder.

'How are we to do this? And we have had word that the Dark-Tec armies are out in

force, turning every rock in search for the boy!'

'Well then, we don't have time to waste!' He placed a stack of books on the table in

front of Marcus and Nicole, 'have a look through these and the rest of you guys come

with me. We will need to get some sort of defence going!' Richard and the excited

crowd left, leaving Marcus and Nicole to flick through the pages on the thick books.

Just before Marcus and Nicole really got stuck in, Richard peered back into the room,

'I am assuming Nicole has already told you about the great library on the outside. Do

not do anything stupid!' He stared with a school teacher look. Marcus nodded in

acknowledgement and Nicole smiled innocently.

When Richard left Marcus began reading and Nicole, not being able to make sense of

anything, got bored almost instantly.

'You don't have to stay here because of me.'

'How about I make you something to eat?' She asked, looking to escape discreetly.

'That would be lovely, thanks.' And she quietly nipped off.

Marcus carefully looked through pages of the first book in front of him and remained

confused. He didn't understand a word, yes, it was all in English, but read like

gibberish. After a few extensive moments of being lost at sea, thoughts began

knocking on his mind, like light drizzle tapping on a window. He began visualizing

images, diagrams and strange symbols. He shook his head, believing himself to be

hallucinating but he could not shake them off – a storm was brewing in his head. The

ear-splitting sound of nothing began pounding on him like thunder and flashes of

bright light struck him ruthlessly – his head felt like a volcano not far off erupting.

His head became light, intense dizziness overwhelmed him almost to the point of

collapse, his eyes rolled to the corner and now the images seemed like they were

flying around the room at such speed that he couldn't bear it anymore. 'Stop!' He

screamed with the palms of his hands pressed tightly on the sides of his head. The

images then, in a split second, just stopped, like a speeding car colliding into a solid

wall – the impact was so great that Marcus stumbled and fell helplessly to the ground.

Hey lay flat on his back, staring at the thick wooden beams running across the ceiling,

disconnected from the world around him. He felt like he was imprisoned in a dream,

which was falling into the deepest and darkest realms of a nightmare. His body was

iced-over, with the odd exception of a shiver or two, his breathing was fast and his

eyes were glazed as if he were in a trance. He wanted to scream for help, but his

paralytic state forbade him from uttering a sound. It was at this point that a strange

sound appeared; the sound of a deep and chilling voice, 'You will come to me...' it

echoed almost silently. He could feel his eye lids getting heavy, it almost felt like

there was an invisible force that was clamping his eyes shut – darkness befell on him.

It was like he left his body and floated gently into nothingness. He could see or hear

nothing – his mind was blank, bar a single thought, one that sent quivers down his

physical body, which was still laying, lifelessly beneath him on the ground, 'I must be

dead!' He began repeating the words. 'I must be dead!' over and over like a chant

until a loud and familiar voice spoke, 'far from it, I would say! Stay with me boy...'

he began to his regain senses; unfortunately the first was the sense of pain as a

stinging rush tenderness ran across his cheeks. His eyes gradually opened and he

could see Arthur slapping his cheeks and Richard standing behind him. 'Come on

Marcus, you're ok; stay with us!' Richard spoke soothingly.

Within moments, the room was filled with people, curiously staring at Marcus.

Marcus looked around with a lost look and quickly got his feet, he rushed towards a

book-shelf were he saw a marker-pen. He hurried back to the table and, like crazed

scientist, began scribbling; soon there were strange symbols, peculiar illustrations,

letters and numbers that meant nothing to anyone, all over the table and now

spreading onto the floor.

'What is he doing?' Arthur whispered to Richard.

'I... I don't know. It must be things that were stored deep within his mind. We'll wait

for him to finish, maybe he can tell us what's going on in his head.'

Marcus went on for another few minutes then stopped, he stepped back joining

everyone else crowded around and shared their confused look, staring at the

gobbledygook scribbled all over the table and the floor.

Richard gazed over at Marcus expecting him to say something, but he remained quiet.

'What the hell is all of this?' Marcus whispered to Richard. By now, Richard was

looking through an old book. He faced the book toward the crowd and showed them

some of the symbols and numbers on the page – they matched identically with the

drawings Marcus had done from memory.

'Do you believe now?' Richard spoke loudly. The crowd of people squashed into the

room, all had expressions of shock and amazement.

'These... these illustrations seem to be formulas of some sort.

'What do we do now?' A lady from the crowd asked.

'There are many mysterious that need to be unearthed and answers will come... we

just don't know when. I will require all of your assistance in protecting our town and

hiding this boy until which point that he knows and understands what needs to be

done.'

The crowd of people nodded in approval, some even cheered lightly to show their

pledge of allegiance.
Chapter 5

Journey to the Great Library

That night, Marcus could not think let alone sleep. Every time he would close his

eyes, he could see the symbols appearing again. And there was no point writing them

out anymore, he had already covered the entire room that he was sleeping, the walls,

the floor, even across his arms – this is getting ridiculous! Especially, as it made

absolutely no sense to anyone.

Across the building, Richard also sat awake, looking through the books and the

illustrations that Marcus had doodled everywhere. Even Arthur and Amy could not

sleep; they were working on defence strategies and were incredibly paranoid that the

Dark-Tec armies would attack in full force.

'What do you think about the boy? I mean what is he going to do?' Amy asked.

'I am not sure, but I have full faith in Richard and he knows what he's doing. We just

need to do our jobs and defend this town, with our lives if we have to!'

'They will come to get him. Won't they?'

Arthur did not reply, but his silence was enough to confirm it.

He had gathered the limited weapons they had. Although they had some of the more

advanced weaponry, which they recovered from the Dark-Tec robots that they

managed to defeat, it was nothing in comparison to what they would be faced with.

This is why Arthur dedicated so much of his time in designing weapons, like his

infamous arrow guns and remarkable swords and daggers.

Around the town, it seemed as though everyone was still awake including the First

Politician and his followers. They were all gathered together having a discussion

about Marcus.

'The boy has these...these things all in his head. These things we don't understand and

can't do anything with; are we willing to die for this?' The First Politician said

quietly, still in pain from the wound on his shoulder.

'But what about the legends, all the stories about the boy?' One of his followers, a tall

and well-built man, asked.

'Fairytales! They are just stories told to children to give them hope. They are lies!' He

hissed.

'What's the plan then?' The man asked.

'We kill Richard!' The First Politician said in a deep and evil voice.

'But... kill? Are you sure? It's Richard; he has done so much for us and what about

Arthur?'

'What Richard has done for us does not give him the right to get us all killed now...

does it?'

His followers stared at one another, not entirely convinced that this was a good idea.

'I don't know about killing the old man! I definitely don't want to cross Arthur.'

Another man spoke out.

'Fine! Let's all just sit here and let the Dark-Tec forces come and tear us from limb to

limb, not to mention what they will do to our children!'

'What about Arthur? He will never let any harm come to Richard.' The tall, well built

man spoke again.

'Don't worry about Arthur; I will deal with him myself!'

Back in Marcus' room, a feeling of unease was building further as Marcus began

assuming that what was happening to him would never end. That he would black-out,

continuously hallucinate, eventually become an insomniac and die an arcane and

horrible death.

Marcus could hear a gentle knocking, and instantly assumed that it was his mind

playing tricks on him. The knocking sounded again, only louder this time. It was

coming from the wooded door. Marcus crept out of bed and staggered to the door,

adrenaline feeding his muscles.

'Who is it?' Marcus called, not expecting anyone at this late hour.

'It's me Nicole... well, are you going to let me in?' She whispered loudly. Marcus

opened the door and she rushed in with a long hooded cloak. She removed the cloak

and smiled brightly.

'I thought you might not be able to sleep. I heard what happened at the library, are

you ok?

'Yeah... I think so.' Marcus replied and yawned widely.

'What's wrong with you... sorry... I didn't mean it like that.'

'It's ok, I really don't know.'

'Well, I couldn't sleep either. I want to go.'

'Go where?' Marcus asked.

'I want to go to the great library, you know, the one on the outside.' Her eyes were

now glowing.

There was another light knock on the door. 'It's ok,' Nicole said and quietly opened

the door.

'This is Thomas, Ryan, Mary and Louise.' Nicole introduced the little group young

girls and boys creeping in.

'It's nice to meet you.' Thomas smiled and put out his chubby hand. And they all

spent a few minutes getting acquainted.

'So what's the plan? Ryan said in a husky voice. Ryan was older than the rest of them

by a year and a little taller than his average height. He had scruffy brown hair and had

a long and pointy nose, which had a small arch in the middle as if he had broken it

when he was younger.

'We go tonight.' Nicole said in a hushed voice.

'I really don't know about this...' Mary stuttered. Mary was the youngest from them

all and often behaved like it as well. Absolutely everything frightened her, so it was

no surprise that what they were about to do made her tremble beyond her control.

'Where are you going again?' Marcus asked.

'The great Library!' Thomas mumbled while stuffing the remains of piece of bread

into his mouth.

'Well, are we going or what?' Louise said in confidence and already walking towards

the door. She tied up her long blonde hair tightly and zipped up her short black coat.

They all knew she meant business when she tied her hair up, seeing as she was always

so paranoid about her unusually large forehead.

'Are you coming?' Nicole said looking at Marcus. Marcus still in shock, now realised

that they had been scheming this for a while and had just added him spontaneously to

their well-rehearsed plan.

Marcus, not knowing what to do and distinctly remembering Richard's strict orders

for not doing anything stupid, thought: 'what the hell.' In single file, they all crept

out, trying not to make a noise. They were so careful in not alerting anyone that had

already prepared silent commands and signals, which although Marcus was not

familiar with, got the gist quickly.

They silently ran through the narrow and dim corridors, almost comically, tip-toeing

past the closed doors where people lay fast asleep. As they got closer to the outside of

the small and populated area, they were faced with the tall-standing barricades. That

prevented anyone from getting through; there were no holes, gaps and absolutely no

possibility of climbing over.

'What now?' Thomas asked, huffing and puffing.

'These are solid!' Marcus said stroking the steel.

'Well, we could let Thomas eat his way through!' Louise remarked. Everyone paused

for a moment, and then burst out in laughter.

'Ha ha... very funny... very funny!' Thomas said, annoyed and rolling his eyes. Nicole

stopped laughing and had her game-face on, 'come on, down here.' She began

walking towards a square metal slab on the floor. It looked like the entrance to a

sewage system. Nicole wrapped her fingers tightly around the thin bars running across

the middle of the slab and pulled. 'A little help here...' they all began tugging at the

slab and after a lot of struggle they managed to open it. Instantly, nerves began to get

the best of all of them and the thought of turning back became incredibly appealing.

Mary made her feelings very clear, 'guys, I have a real bad feeling about this. I think

we should turn back.'

'We have talked about this; we did not come this far to turn back.' Nicole grabbed

hold of Mary's shoulders, 'It'll be fine. Trust me!' If it was one thing that Mary did

do, it was have full faith in Nicole. Nicole was like an older sister to Mary, the closest

thing to family that she had. She smiled nervously then nodded.

Nicole poked her head inside and noticed the metal ladders running down but it was

too dark to see the bottom. She gently stepped into the small hole in the ground and

began climbing down, 'hand me a lamp from the bag. Thomas, who was carrying the

small black rucksack, quickly removed a small lamp light; he lit it and handed it over

to her. As she shone the light below, she noticed the ground was very far below and

the ladder was not as secure as it first appeared. 'Right, I don't think this ladder will

hold much weight, so it's going to have to be single file. When I get to the bottom I

will call you and the next person comes down. Ok?' They all nodded in approval.

Climbing down the gloomy and lifeless hole, she noticed great metal pipes running

across the walls of it. The pipes looked old and rusty, there was no sound and signs of

any living creature inside – no rats, mice and not even spiders dwelled here. It was

creepy to say the least. Once they had all found their way to the dark and dingy

ground of the hole, they discovered a tunnel running directly underneath the

barricades on the surface and the tunnel was heading to the outside.

'You knew about this?' Marcus asked Nicole, surprised at how clear the path was to

the outside.

'No, but I was relying on something like this being around.' She smiled nervously.

'It's huge... and... dark.'

'There are more lamps in the bag. Get them out.' Louise said pointing at Thomas's

bag.

'There may be no need...' Ryan said while looking carefully at the wall of the tunnel.

He ran his hand across the wall, feeling the small metal pipes and following some

wires to a black and silver leaver sticking out of the wall. 'If I'm right then this

should...' he pulled the leaver down. But nothing happened. 'Oh...I thought that...'

suddenly there were bright lights throughout the tunnel; they blinked rapidly a few

times before turning on fully.

They all smiled as the dark tunnel had become as bright as day. 'See... not just a

pretty face!' Ryan remarked, covering his eyes from the sudden emergence of bright

light.

'This was the first time they had seen electricity so powerful. In the town everything

ran on generators, the main source of power was cut off by the Dark-Tec Empire.

From the world almost climaxing to the greatest technological innovations, to rapidly

declining to the medieval times – this was the world now, no proper sewers, no

powerful electricity, no super weaponry. Everything was running on windmills and

some areas used solar power.

The brightness of the light did not, however, alter its dark and haunting feel, and the

revolting smell was now unbearable. Murky water waved up to their ankles and its

cold temperature sent chills running up their legs, rippling through their spines and

eventually giving them Goosebumps on the back of their necks.

'My feet feel like they are turning into ice blocks!' Mary whined.

'Come on, keep moving!' Nicole stressed. Ryan was already far ahead of everyone but

was now stood frozen, staring at something poking out of the water. It was definitely

metal but was so old that rust had manifested itself all over it like a thick layer of

paint. The combination of dirt and rust made the shape or any distinct detail of the

object unrecognisable. Ryan rubbed the top vigorously and exposed a faint logo.

'What is it?' Mary asked. Ryan shrugged his shoulders. Marcus on the other hand,

knew exactly what it was – it was the same logo he had printed on his card and that he

saw engraved on the computer in the hidden room.

'I really don't think that is a good idea! And I can no longer feel my feet!' Mary

continued to moan.

'Let's keep moving!' Nicole crept around the strange object in the water. Further down

the tunnel, there were more similar type objects scattered around.

'How are we going to get to the surface?' Thomas asked.

'Everyone keep an eye out for an exit up above, like the one we used to get down

here.' Nicole's voice echoed and they continued walking briskly.

'What's that noise? Mary said looking behind her.

'What noise? I can't hear anything.' Ryan said. 'It's probably Thomas's tummy

rumbling!' He chuckled to himself.

But there was a sound, it was faint but they all heard it. It was like water moving, as if

something was shuffling and splashing.

'It's probably just rats! Let's get a move on.' Nicole said, not sounding convincing at

all. None of them were really convinced with her take on what it was, but her

recommendation of getting a move on was definitely an appealing proposal and they

began moving fast. The sound that was lurking behind them was now following them

and gradually getting louder. Mary was now so frightened that she was unable to

speak and found it impossible to control the aggressive shudders had now possessed

her entire body. Although she already had an overly pale complexion, she had now

turned almost blue in fear. They all knew there was no turning back now.

'They don't sound like rats to me!' Mary whispered.

'Yeah me neither!' Thomas said hurrying along. But after judging the intensity of the

sound building up, they knew they would not be able to outrun whatever it was. Mary

subtly hid behind Nicole, who was doing well in hiding the fact that she absolutely

petrified. Ryan looked around and found a lose metal pipe running across the wall. He

ripped it off the wall and held it out in front of him like a sword, 'quickly, everybody

get behind me!' He shouted. They all huddled together, gently stepping back; Mary

screamed as the lights began to flicker.

'It's ok, hold my hand.' Nicole held Mary's hand tightly; Nicole could feel her pulse

thumping rapidly. Fear suddenly burst into them and fizzed through their bodies like

carbonated water, as the lights suddenly died. And everything went pitch black. They

all screamed hysterically, even Ryan.

'Shh...' Marcus hissed, 'what is that?'

'How are we supposed to know? We can't see a thing!' Thomas shouted.

Although Marcus could not see anything, he could sense something – something that

made him feel very uneasy. Everything began to feel surreal as the intense sentiment

of fear was imprisoning them like a stray-jacket, suffocating them. Marcus could feel

something circling them, almost taunting them – playing on their anxiety. Terror

began clenching tighter as a squeaking sound appeared, it sounded like metal scraping

together and being crushed.

Thomas began rummaging frantically though his bag, praying that there were more

lamps. But in his panic he dropped the bag, 'damn it!' he shouted and fell to his

knees, searching blindly for the bag. While on the floor, he felt something brush past

him, it was hard and cold and didn't feel human. After a few moments, frozen, he

stood up and his legs were shaking like a leaf and his hair stood up straight as if twohundred

and fifty watts rushed through his body. Sweat oozed out of his forehead like

a sudden gush of monsoon rain and his eye lids flapped similar to powerful

windscreen wipers. His stomach turned to jelly and he formed the sudden urge to

vomit.

'Nicole... Ryan? Anyone?' He called out, helplessly. 'Ok seriously this is not funny!

Where are you guys?'

'Any joy on those lamps?' Nicole asked. 'Thomas?'

'Guys! Where's Thomas?'

'He was getting the lamps out of his bag. Ok, everyone just stop!' Ryan said and they

all stopped shuffling through the tunnel.

'Thomas! Thomas!' They all called aloud.

'Hey, where are you guys?' Thomas' faint voice echoed in the distance.

Thomas could hear their voices but couldn't quite tell which direction they were

coming from. The strange thing that was now circling him, taunting him to tears,

began making an ear-piercing shriek. Thomas screamed almost equally as loud and

ran manically.

Nicole and the rest heard the loud sounds and could now see small flashes of lights.

Running in that direction, they could see Thomas scampering as fast as his chubby

legs could carry him. They all suddenly stopped, concreted in shock as they saw what

was in the shadows behind him – it was humongous. It had four legs that looked like

thin, long, metal towers. It crawled smoothly like a spider, its legs in perfect sync,

keeping perfect balance for its enormous round ball-like body. It had a circular hole in

the centre of its body which was bursting out huge flashes of light and like a camera

flash it blinked rapidly. Everything about this eerie object made them all shiver.

'Run!' Nicole shouted, almost having a fit from the flashes.

They all ran as fast as they could. A sudden gush of cold air hit Ryan in the face as

something whooshed past him landing in front and splashing the murky water like a

drizzle of rain everywhere. They stopped running when a similar type object surfaced

from the water. It was smaller; the light coming from it was considerably dimmer and

the hellish sound somewhat quieter, but had the same menacing aura.

Ryan began swinging the metal pipe recklessly, but the object was fast and even when

he managed to strike a blow, it took it painlessly. They all huddled together as the

two objects came edging closer from both sides. There was nowhere to run and

nowhere to hide. Thomas closed his eyes as the objects came so close that he could

taste the rust floating in the moist filled air. Nicole pulled Marcus behind her,

regretting leaving the town. Marcus was staring at the objects and noticed the same

symbol that he's been seeing everywhere, stamped on both of them. Although

frightened out of his skin, he valiantly stepped forward, moving Nicole out of the

way. What the hell is he doing? They were all baffled.

Miraculously, the objects hesitated and paused in their tracks. Then one suddenly

screamed as a large shinning arrow successfully pierced its metal body from behind

and the point tore out from the front. The object turned in fury and faced a tall shadow

of a man – a man who was swiftly walking towards them. Marcus and his new friends

all stared in shock but leapt out of their skin as the object from behind them shot over

them like a ball being shot out of a canon. It landed violently beside its comrade;

menacingly, facing the shadow that was now running towards them. Nicole knew that

she should be shouting at the others to run but was compelled to watch what was

about to happen – they all were.

The man ran out if the dark and sprung into the air and landed on top of the larger

object. By now, it had become crystal clear that it was Arthur.

Nicole sighed in relief but instantly began dreading consequences for leaving the

town.

Arthur swiftly removed a long and shimmering sword from a strap on his back and

stabbed it with force, penetrating the top and making the object unsteady on its metal

legs. A small metal flap slid open and a long barrel of a weapon peered out. When

Arthur notices this, he leapt off and landed on the other object; the first one began

shooting small beams of blue which began impacting the smaller object and Arthur

leapt off just before the smaller one collapsed to the ground. Arthur, using all his

might, swung his sword and launched it like a missile into the hole from where the

blinking light was coming from on the object and as it impacted, it stumbled back, its

legs gave way and it crashed to the ground causing a small tremor. Arthur removed

his sword out of it and made sure it was dead.

'You made that look easy!' Nicole smiled nervously.

'What the hell were you thinking?' Arthur said angrily. His penetrating gaze

frightening them almost as much as the monstrous objects they just faced. And

although baffled at why the objects hesitated with Marcus, they just were more

worried about Arthur's wrath. Marcus stood puzzled and instantly knew that the

shadow of his mysterious past was catching up to him. And although his mind was

still relatively blank, something kept drawing him back to that familiar symbol.

Thomas ran forward, veiling his fear with a subtle smile, 'sir, it wasn't my idea, I

swear!'

'Shut up!' Arthur's strong and deep voice echoed. Thomas' cheeks were glowing as he

lowered his head and tried to hide in the darkness.

Ryan flashed a brave smile as Arthur approached closer, 'I expected more from you!'

Arthur spoke with his teeth tightly clenched together.

'I know... I shouldn't have let them come out. I'm sorry.'

'No, I meant you should have at least taken the smaller one out!' Arthur removed a

smaller but equally as sharp sword and handed it to Ryan. Ryan could not contain his

excitement and smiled to the point that his cheek bones began to ache. 'Wow!' He

began swinging the sword like a child. Arthur continued drifting down the tunnel, we

can't go back, they're all waking up! We need to move quickly and find another way

out!'

Within seconds, rivers of hideous shadows began flooding in the distance and Arthur's

voice began sinking to a husky whisper, 'let's move, now!'

They stealthy drifted like silent clouds being pushed by a punishing wind, wondering

deep into the abyss of this danger-filled tunnel. Anxiety multiplied when they realised

that they had been walking for hours with no exit in sight.

'I'm tired. Can't we stop for a bit?' Thomas moaned.

'That's a good idea fat boy; why don't you wait, they'll be busy with your tub of lard

and give us a chance to get away!' Ryan remarked with a boyish grin.

'That's not funny!' Thomas complained, looking towards Arthur as if he expected

Arthur to condemn that hurtful comment. But Arthur was struggling to contain his

laughter and just assertively remarked, 'we... need to keep moving!' He turned in the

other direction, desperately trying to not show his amused face.

'Where were you going?' Arthur asked Nicole.

'To... to the great library...' She stuttered.

'You know your quest to find out about your parents is going to get you killed!'

'I need to, it's something I just need to do – O forget it! You'll never understand!'

'Hey, I do understand kid! But it's too dangerous to come out here, and you took

Marcus with you!'

'I'm sorry...'

'Hey, I chose to come myself – she didn't make me do it! Marcus said, indicating that

he was present.

'Well, that's sweet...' Arthur mumbled – rolling his eyes. Nicole looked at Marcus

and smiled brightly; her eyes silently whispering: thank you.

A loud whistle from the cold breeze echoed violently.

'There must be a way out around here! That wind must be coming from somewhere.'

Louise said, marching ahead of everyone else. Mary's eyes began welling up and her

legs became stiff, 'I can't walk anymore.

'Look, over there!' Marcus pointed to a small gap in the roof of the tunnel. It had a

narrow and frail looking ladder leading up to it. And as they approached closer a

roaring gust of wind hit them in the face and it became obvious that the gap led to the

surface.

Arthur climbed the ladder and brutally shoved the small door a few times to get it

open. Peeping his head out discreetly, he looked around to ensure the coast was clear

and then gestured for them to come up.

It felt as though days had gone by since they last witnessed the sky. The darkness was

rapidly dissolving and the small, sparkling spotlights were turning off one-by-one.

Fiery rays of golden sunlight tore through the dark inky-blue sky as they trekked

through areas that they had only heard, the most terrifying, stories about. Even Arthur,

the raging lion, was looking a little pale – nerves had broken into his tough exterior

and manifested themselves in the shape of subtle goose bumps.

'It's so quiet...' Nicole remarked.

'Yeah, this is weird,' said Ryan.

'It's creepy!' Mary muttered.

'So, where to know?' Nicole asked Arthur, fluttering her eyelids.

'I guess we're going to have to find this library in-case you pull another dim-witted

stunt! Nicole bit her lip in excitement and had a goofy smile that she couldn't hide.
Chapter 6

Rise of the Politician

Back in Wycombe, there were many rumours circulating about the boy and the First

Politician had gained a fair few more followers. A discreet aroma of mutiny was

lingering around the town. Secret meetings were being held throughout the entire day

and the strange absence of Marcus and the children was a real cause for concern.

The First Politician began his campaign of propaganda, convincing people that the

boy had been taken by the Dark-Tec armies and that they would return to punish them

all for giving him refuge. And soon the inevitable occurred – the First Politician had

enough followers that took over.

'Get into his library, that's where he'll be hiding and drag him out – alive!'

'Richard!' Amy came barging into the library. 'We have to get you out of here, it's

the First Politician; he's killing everyone getting in his way, to get to you. He's going

to kill you!' She screamed in panic.

'It's ok... I will not run from him or anyone else, for that matter. Besides, the boy is

here now and Arthur will protect him. I'm tired Amy...' by now the large doors which

Amy had barricaded were being hit so hard that books began spilling off the shelves.

'Quick Amy, take this!' He handed the key, to the secret room, to her. 'Get to the

back of the room, there is a small door under the rug at the back. Get down there and

follow the tunnel out of here. Go now!'

'I'm not leaving you!' The crashing was getting louder and they knew it was a matter

of seconds before the exhausted doors would give in.

'Amy! Listen to me... the boy is more important than all of this. Get out of here now!

Find Marcus and do not let anything happen to him.' Richard grabbed her arm tightly

and stared deeply into her eyes, 'promise me!' Amy nodded, her eyes welling up.

'Take this,' he handed her a tatted old book with a tired, brown rubber band around it.

'Make sure you only give this to him when he begins his journey alone – not a second

before!' Amy nodded, she had so many things to say but not a single word left her

mouth.

'Amy... go now!' Amy ran and unlocked the door; with one quick glance back, she

slammed the door shut – and not a moment too soon. The large doors to the library

collapsed and a convoy of men barged in. Some of the men had looks of shame pasted

on their faces, they knew deep down that what they were about to do was a crime – a

disgraceful transgression. But consumed by fear and convinced by the poisonous

tongue of the First Politician, they cautiously moved forward to grab Richard, who

had his head buried deep within a book. As the approached him, he slammed the book

on the table and removed his reading glasses. The men instantly froze and then crept

forward again. 'I always knew that I had one last fight in me but never... never did I

ever imagine that... that fight would be with my own comrades.' He stood up, faster

than he had in years and swung his wooden stick. He smacked the man standing

closest to him on the nose and instantly, a fountain of bright red blood sprayed in the

air. He swung the stick again and hit the man next to him on the leg; there was a loud

crack as the man's leg gave way and he fell to the floor. He quickly used the stick like

a snooker cue and poked another man in the eye and a downpour of red gushed out.

The remaining few began stepping back as Richard pushed forward, outside the

library. But as he got passed the doorway he failed to see the two men hiding behind

either side of the doorway, who sneakily crept behind him and one of them struck him

hard on the back. Richard stumbled forward but miraculously did not fall; he lifted his

stick and with the last bit of strength he had left and the momentum of his staggering,

he struck the First Politician with great force on the side of his face. The First

Politician screamed in agony and fell to the ground. His men surrounded Richard and,

hesitantly, began striking him with their wooden sticks. And it was not long before

Richard plunged to the ground and lay on his back, struggling to breathe.

'Stop!' The First Politician ordered, holding his face in pain. When he removed his

hand, a huge red blemish from Richards stick was tattooed on his face, gleaming with

a deep, dark-blue bruising around it. The penetration was so hard that the First

Politician's left eye was swollen and blood-shot. He found it hard to talk, as if his jaw

was broken or the stinging from his blazing cheek was making any movement of his

facial muscles unbearable.

'Leave him.' He ordered, 'you weak old man... look at you now – you're pathetic. He

turned to his crowd, which stood anxiously, resembling a sky of clouds waiting for

the wind to push them into a direction. 'Look at him! This is no leader. He would be

happy to allow the Dark-Tec army to come and kill us all. Is that leadership? No, no,

no! He is deluded; old-age has corrupted him, his mind is as weak as his rusty outer

shell but yet he lives to propagate a fight against something that if we rage war

against, will destroy us all! I am not a coward nor am I in favour of the Dark-Tec

Empire, but I do posses common sense and have the determination to live! And I am

sure you all want to live?' He looked side to side out of the corners of his eyes. 'I am

doing this for my children – your children.'

Richard began to laugh quietly and then coughed lightly – he screwed-up his face

from time-to-time, in pain.

'You're so full of it. Everything that comes out of your mouth is like poison.' Richard

said, now finding it almost impossible to breathe. The First Politician smiled and

lowered his face closer to Richard's, 'I will spare your life if you admit that what you

were trying to do was wrong and accept that I... that I should lead us from here on.

You have my word. I will not kill you. But remember if you decline, I will tear you

from limb-to-limb!' His aching jaw extended and spoke angrily with his teeth tightly

clenched together. Everyone, from the men holding the weapons, the few general

people scattered around and Amy, who was peeping from a small gap in the basement

of the hidden room, began hoping that Richard would just say what the First Politician

wanted to hear.

'Come on...' Amy whispered to herself.

The crowd of people, like huddled sheep, stood nervously as the waited in this

standoff. And a cold silence fell over them like night falling over day.

'Please, please... Richard...' Amy began chanting in a tense whisper.

'Well! What's it going to be? We haven't got all day... well you certainly haven't!'

The First Politician taunted. Richard nodded and, with great struggle, turned to his

side and then used his arms to force his body up into a sitting position. Instantly, the

men, with the sticks, were on guard – fear on their faces. The First Politician smirked

as he eagerly awaited the submission of, the great, Richard.

'Ok... I was wrong and I made a huge mistake!' Richard elevated his voice as best he

could. The First Politician was shocked and thrilled at the statement, he could not

contain his smile. His eyes lit up and he found it difficult to not cheer in excitement.

The crowd of people were also in shock but hugely relieved that this will be the end

of all of this fighting. Amy took deep breaths, also not expecting Richard to fold but

glad he did.

'Well... go on...' The First Politician raised his eyebrows and gloated so much that his

other cheek blushed a brighter red than the injured one.

'Yes... this man that stands before you... is a snake! And the huge mistake that I made

was not killing this conspirator when I had the chance. But even now, if he would

fight fair, I would have him on the floor, pleading for mercy. He is a wimp and a

pathetic shadow of a real man!' Richard spat as hard as he could and a splatter of

saliva and blood from Richard's mouth slapped the First Politician in the face. The

First Politician wiped his face and revealed a look of hideous rage. Amy's heart began

to thump, 'No!' She cried quietly.

The First Politician was fuming and looked like a steaming engine that was about to

explode; he wanted to scream at the top of his voice and had the sudden urge to

ruthlessly stab everyone around him, but he took a few seconds and composed

himself.

The crowd of people became as white as the moon and any hope that this wouldn't

end badly was quickly washing away. The piping lava that filled his glowing face was

evaporating into the air and his normal gloomy and pale complexion surfaced.

He crouched down and whispered into Richard's ear, 'don't be fooled, I am going to

take great pleasure in killing you – at a snail's pace!' his smirk now resembling a huge

slice of a watermelon.

Richard whispered something back but the First Politician could not hear it, so he put

his ear forward and listened, 'So will I!' Richard whispered. The First Politician's

pupils expanded, his eyes almost burst out of their sockets and he screamed at the top

of his lungs, the echo, like a bullet, travelled far afield. It appeared that Richard didn't

take to well to his threat and viciously bit off the bottom of the First Politician's ear.

A gush of blood trickled down the Politician's neck and he fell to the ground in pain.

'Kill him! Kill him, now!' He roared like a beast being attacked.

Like, old world, vultures, the men jumped in. They struck him with their sticks, each

blow making Amy flinch and cry endlessly. It was a sad moment, even for the sheep

that were attacking. But they continued as if they were soldiers simply following

orders. And although they managed cast a thick blanket over their emotions, glimmers

of guilt seeped through, making themselves question whether, or not, they had just

sold their souls to the devil.

Within moments, Richard was covered, almost head-to-toe, in blood, flowing like

river and forming an ocean of melted rubies on the ground. The air was soaked in

sorrow as a man, to whom everyone once trusted and cherished, was mercilessly

murdered; and, ironically, at the hands of those who he would have undoubtedly died

to protect.

'Why the long faces?' The First Politician yelled, applying maximum pressure on his

ear to try to stop it from beading. 'You should be rejoicing! We have, whether it feels

like it or not, saved our lives by stopping this madman!' But it didn't matter what he

said or what cunning rhetoric he used, there was no rejoicing nor were there any

smiles. Guilt and regret began eating away at the men with sticks and spread like a

disease. The sticks began feeling burdensome and the men threw them as if they were

like burning coal.

'Now that this is done and out of the way, we need to focus on finding the boy, if he is

in the town, and handing him in before they come and get us!'

But he did not get much of a response and within moments, everyone began drifting

back to their homes. A few men stayed with the First Politician but were unable to rip

their mournful eyes away from the valiant and admirable man that they had murdered

in cold-blood. Aside from the blood violently spread everywhere, Richard lay

peacefully, as if he were in deep sleep and free from any pain.

Amy, who was still hiding and covering her mouth from screaming, gawped in

anguish as streams of tears gushed down her bright red cheeks, her clogged nose

prevented her from breathing properly, and excessive saliva poured sluggishly out of

her mouth. The walls were caving in on her and her chest was being crushed; the

world was crumbling around her and the words of her wise and courageous leader

rehearsed continuously on her mind. And she knew that if the boy was to die then this

tragedy would have been meaningless.

The clouds swiftly huddled together as a punishing, and even colder breeze appeared,

masking the sun and depriving everyone of its warm glow. The leaf deprived trees

looked as though they too were suffering nakedly from the fierce winds and it was not

long before the clouds clashed and poured down their wrath – thunder hammered

from above, lightning scorched sky and large hailstones battered the ground.

'We need to find some shelter!' Arthur yelled over the ear-splitting sounds. Nicole

pointed to a building close-by. It was old and tatted – the windows broken and sharp

triangles of broken glass were wedging out of the frames. Most of its roof tiles lay

dead on the floor around it and the conked-out door was hanging by a thread.

The three long chimneys indicated that it was an old factory of some sort.

The darkness escaping from the broken windows and door made it look like a ghost,

staring at them – it looked haunted.

'I... I don't know about this...' Mary stuttered.

'What do you know about?' Thomas said, bruised from the hail. He ran past everyone

and headed into the building.

'I can't believe it!' Ryan marvelled.

'I know... what a burst of bravery!' Nicole remarked. But Ryan rolled his eyes and

smiled, 'no... I meant, I think that's the first time I've ever seen tubby run!' He ran

after him laughing. On approaching the entrance, they all braced themselves and

expected the worst.

Ryan, who they all agreed, now deserved of the title, Ryan the explorer, soon found

the switch for the lights, which was great but unfortunately didn't help with the

freezing temperature.

'What is this place?' Louise asked as she ran her fingers across the old machinery

cluttered around the place.

'It's some kind of factory...' Marcus said as if he knew something about it all. 'They

used these machines to make things to sell. They programmed them to work like us to

save on time and money.' Arthur was staring at Marcus contently the entire time he

was talking.

'How do you know this?' Arthur asked.

'I... I'm not quite sure...'

'What else do you know about these things and...' but Arthur was soon interrupted by

a loud hiss, which made everyone jump. The sound was like pressure being released

from something. Then there was another sound but this one had a bang before the

hiss, like a pipe bursting. The familiar feeling of alarm circled the air and their

muscles tightened as the unsettling sound intensified. Arthur removed his arrow gun

and pointed it towards the back of the large room, where the sound was coming form.

Ryan stepped forward with his sword – his hands trembling. Arthur and Ryan stepped

ahead of the others and held their ground.

'Listen...' Arthur whispered, 'no matter what runs out on us, no matter how big or

scary it may seem, you go for it and you do not stop until its insides have felt the

brunt of your sword! Do you understand?' Ryan nodded, and Arthur nodded back.

Ryan could feel a quiver run up from his legs all the way to the end of the sword. He

clenched the handle tightly and mentally prepared himself, ready to go into battle.

The tables and machines began to shake, as did their nerves, the loud banging vibrated

the ground beneath them as, out of the darkness of the room, a humongous metal

object arose. It had eight metal legs and round body, strangely resembling a spider, in

its appearance and characteristics. It had two glowing eyes, like headlights on a truck

and it rushed towards them. Arthur shot an arrow at the object but it simply bounced

off, as if the metal arrow were made out of rubber. Ryan ran and struck the object as

hard as he could on its leg; there was a huge spark and Ryan's arm vibrated

vigorously. Everyone began hunting for anything they could find to fight the object

with. Loose table legs were torn off their tired bodies, rusted pipes ripped out of the

walls and cables clenched tightly and used as whips. They all went for the attack, but

their efforts useless against the untarnished mammoth – not even scratch.

For the first time ever, Arthur looked tired, his efforts defeated. But as their thriving

momentum faded and the adrenaline that was fuelling their drive measured on empty,

something very odd came to light; as the colossal object got close, it stopped in it

tracks and froze like a statue. The eyes were still shimmering and its mechanical

sound still grumbling.

'Is it dead?' Thomas asked, clenching tightly to the only thing he could find – a

wooden broom.

'Yeah! I think you frightened it to death with your lethal weapon. Muppet!' Ryan

chuckled. Although still a little shaky, he found the courage to crack a joke; typically

at Thomas's expense.

'Why has it frozen then?'

'That is a good question...' Arthur said, running his hand across its round body.

'Maybe we shouldn't question it, accept that it was some-kind of miracle and get the

hell outta here!' Mary said shaking in her speech.

'That doesn't sound like a bad shout!' Nicole remarked.

'This is so weird, it still feels warm and sounds like it is still functioning... so, why

has it suddenly stopped?' Arthur quietly muttered to himself.

'What the hell are you?' Marcus asked staring deep into its luminous lights. They all

jumped and looked like ghosts when the object spoke. It was in a strange almost

mechanical voice, 'I am the XJ2 defence leader.' And then it went completely quiet

again.

Arthur put his weapon away and stared at the object confused, 'it talks... what do you

want?' Arthur asked, but received no reply.

'It's busted.' Louise said calmly.

'I don't think so...' said Arthur.

'The joints on its legs look rusted. I wonder how old this thing is?' Marcus said

touching the rusted bolts on the knees of its spidery leg.

'XJ2 series was first manufactured in year 2080, I was a late and modified model

made in 2093.' It spoke again.

'Who sent you, do you want to kill us?' Arthur shouted, but again received no

response.

'Wait a minute...' said Nicole, walking forward slowly. 'Marcus ask it something

again.'

'umm... what year... is it?' Marcus mumbled, confused on what to ask it.

'It is the year 2130.' It replied instantly.

'It's only responding to Marcus!' Nicole said, almost appearing excited. Marcus stood

solid in shock. He found it hard to think with the horrendous hail now forcing its way

in through the broken windows and tapping brutally onto the concrete floor of the old

factory.

'Why are you here? And why do you only answer me? Marcus asked, swallowing

nervously.

'I am here because I was designed to crawl in free roam and protect mankind. I

answer you because I was programmed to only answer to Humans – Humans are the

engineers.'

'Are there more like you?'

'There are more, not all like me.'

'Are you part of Dark-Tec?'

'No.'

'Who were you programmed by then?'

'I was programmed by Darcy Tyler Enterprise.'

Darcy Tyler... why does that sound so familiar, Marcus fell into deep thought.

'Wait a minute... how do you know I am human and what are these guys then?'

'Humans do not have artificial neurons; I cannot communicate with your neurons.

These... guys are not human!'

'So, what is going on now what are your instructions... orders or whatever?'

'I do not know, the system crashed and no signals were received. XJ2 was

programmed to go into sleep mode after 2 weeks of no activity.'

'So, who woke you up?' Marcus said and they all looked around, paranoid.

'You did.'

'But how?'

'You are the human engineer – and you will re-program me.' They all stood

completely baffled. Arthur could not believe his ears.

'Re-program? But how?'

'I am capable of visual and sound recognition.'

'Cool... so I can program you by talking to you? Right?'

'Right. You must pre-define new rules and must override old rules and instructions if

contradictions occur. You can use natural language.'

'Ok...ok, let's start by you defining all previous rules.'

'Await instructions from engineer...'

'Ok... we got that go on...'

'That is all.'

'That can't be all. That doesn't make sense.'

'That is all.'

'But you are here, how did you get here?'

'I do not know. It appears that the virus 'KDTGB' aimed to infect, corrupt and erase

data. And succeeded.'

'Were all machines infected?'

'Maybe, but unlikely.'

'Why?'

'Viruses are normally detected and contained quickly.'

'So, that means that the other things in the old sewers were in sleep mode but still had

these... pre-defined instructions.' Arthur said, staring out of the window and imaging

what else could be out there.

'You said something about you and defence. Does that mean you have weaponry or

can fight or something?' Marcus asked with a louder tone as if he had thought about

what to do next.

'Yes I have weaponry and can fight.'

'Show us your weaponry.'

The legs of the object instantly crouched a little and the two round lights beamed

brighter. Two little square plates of metal moved on both the left and right side its

body and metal nozzles hissed out like long ascending telescopes. Immediately it

began firing rapid rounds of bullets all of which struck the triangular shaped glass,

breaking it off without, so much as, touching the window frame.

'Well that was precise!' Arthur remarked, with his fingers still tightly wedged in his

ears. The object then crouched and lowered its legs, looking much more stable. It

rotated its body at a slightly higher angle, all the while, a larger plate slid open from

the centre of its body and a nozzle thrice the size ripped out fast. Arthur's eyes

increased in size dramatically as he stared in fear. 'Get down! Now!' He shouted at

the top of his voice. The weapon fired, lighting up the entire room and shot out a

small rocket the size of a large carrot. They all dived to the ground and covered their

heads as the eroded bricks on the wall exploded. When Marcus peeped though gap

between his fingers, he noticed that there was a great hole, leading outside, four or

five time the length and width of the, never to be seen again, door. The winds were

now inside the building, cooling the room like a freezer. But they were all already

frozen – frozen in shock.

'So, what now?' Arthur said to Marcus as if he was relieving himself from command

and electing Marcus to lead them.

'I... don't know...' He muttered.

'We need to get back to Wycombe and take that thing with us! Richard will know

what to do,' suggested Thomas.

'That's probably the smartest thing you've said all day!' Arthur said and then

muttered, 'probably wanna get back coz you're hungry, I bet...' under his breath.

Thomas, hearing the sly comment, tilted his head slightly, screwed up his face and

smiled angrily.

Marcus nodded, agreeing with the suggestion but was phased when looking at

Nicole's sunken expression.

'No... we will go to the library first...then we will go back to Wycombe.' He

commanded, nervously.

Nicole's face instantly swam back to its natural, glowing position and she smiled

brightly.

Arthur not convinced that was the best idea, nodded in agreement.

'Do you know where the library is?'

'Negative, but these factories do normally have paper maps in the offices.'

'Can you show us?'

The object turned and began crawling towards the back of the room, lighting the way

with his headlights. They all decided to follow. When they stepped inside the office

type room at the back, they instantly noticed a tatty, dust-covered map of the area.

The rest of the office was simple – one table, one chair, a small filling cabinet and a

strange abstract painting tilting on the wall. A dark and empty feel circulated the room

like an awful, lingering smell. And the small window in centre of the wall had

suffered the same shattered fate the rest.

The map was ragged and the dirt that had manifested itself all over it made it almost

impossible to read anything.

'There it is!' Louise shouted pointing at an area on the map.

'That's great... but where are we on the map?' Thomas asked.

'That's a good bloody question!' Ryan said, scratching his head.

'look at this... this is where road swerves in an odd shape, faintly resembling the letter

'M' I remember the road... we walked on it and this building was on the left... so we

must be... here!' Mary pointed at map, convinced that she was correct.

'Well, that's good enough for me! Grab the map and let's go!' Arthur said already

walking towards the exit. They all followed and left through the huge hole in the wall.

Outside, the clouds had begun drifting apart, the hail had stopped its reign of terror

and the thunder grew tired of punishing the sky. And although the day had brightened,

there was no sign of the sun and the winds were still striking like a high-pressured

hose-pipe, spraying out ice-cold air.

The road to the library did not seem as frightening with this metallic grey beast

walking beside them. And for Marcus, who could now control it, it was like walking a

guard dog, ready to attack anything or anyone who tries to hurt them.

As they walked briskly but cautiously through long and curvy road, avoiding the large

pot-holes, they began imagining what had happened here. The damaged buildings,

burned and crushed metal vehicles and huge cracks running across the grounds, as if

earthquakes were regular visitors. All of which told a compelling story of war – a

contrast between a natural world which was once conquered by man and a world that

was taken away and turned to this – a dark, depressing, lifeless graveyard.

'Well according to this... it should be just around this corner.' Mary said, holding the

map carefully. Nicole double checked and agreed. Nicole's excitement began diluting

as a surge of nerves electrified her body. And now that she was finally going to reach

the destination that she has been longing for, a destination she has been dreaming

about, she had the sudden urge to run as fast as her thin legs to carry her in the

opposite direction.

'Over there!' Thomas pointed to a grey building; it was wide and stood tall. But just

like everything else, it seemed lifeless – long cracks crawled up its giant walls and the

top right side of it looked like something had bitten a chunk out of it.

They tore through the doorway of webs and entered the great library. The dark

wooden floor echoed as their footsteps banged along the reception area. Thick layers

of dust veiled the pictures on the walls. And the ceiling was so tall that you would

need a huge ladder to change the light bulb. The main part of the library was a city of

bookshelves that stood like sky-scrapers, with book-upon-book in suffocating crowds.

'What now?' Ryan asked, blowing dust of one of the books on the shelf closest to

him.

'I... don't have the foggiest.' Nicole replied.

'Maybe they have a record book or something?' Mary said, coughing with the floating

particles of dust and cringing with sight of all the webs.

'You're kidding right?' Arthur said shaking his head.

'I kid you not.' Nicole replied.

'You honestly think that you can squeeze everyone who ever lived into a book!'

Arthur laughed, but looked annoyed.

'Maybe not in a book...' Marcus said as he walked up to a table with a computer, very

similar to the one he saw in Richard's secret hideout. 'He wiped the screen and shook

the keyboard, then covered his mouth as a cloud rapidly formed.

He hit the power button, confidently, as if he knew exactly what he was doing, which

couldn't be further truth. Nothing happened. He stared at it, wondering how on earth

it worked and then it hit him like cold water being splashed on his face, 'XJ2... do you

know how to turn this thing on?'

'Yes.'

'Ok... can you tell us or show us?'

'Press the power button...'

'O you're a great help. Just great! Smarty.'

'Computers, generally have a safety switch at the back.'

Marcus reached his arm behind the computer and rummaged for a switch. Once he

was satisfied that he had pressed everything he could find, he removed his hand and

stared at the front of the computer. He jumped forward and quickly pressed the power

button and jumped back. After a few silent moments, the computer roared, making

everyone skip a heartbeat. Bright blue lights flared, and like ferocious azure flames,

they lit the room. The visible fans inside, like turbines on an aircraft, began building

momentum and spinning at great speed. A powerful gush of dust blew out of the

computer's meshed cover, casting mellow fog that hovered silently in the air.

The screen lit up and displayed the DT symbol, then flickered a few times and

eventually became idle with icons and text printed on the screen. A larger and slightly

more creative version of the DT symbol was pasted across the screen like wallpaper –

this one had the combination of white, red and black as opposed to just black and

white; the images in white the DT letter in red and the background was a cold black.

'What now?' Marcus asked.

'This isn't really my forte; you're on your own!' Arthur replied, looking lost.

'I...' Thomas mumbled and everyone was in shock. What could he possibly know

about other than food? Ryan thought.

'Yes... go on...' Arthur said eagerly.

'I... I need to pee!' Thomas said crossing his legs and red in the face. Everyone rolled

their eyes and Ryan gently kicked him on the backside and said, 'just find somewhere

down there, you idiot!' Thomas ran off.

But they were stuck with this computer, knowing it was working but not knowing

how to use it.

'XJ2... how do we use this thing?' Marcus asked, now pulling a chair with wheels and

sitting in front of the computer.

'Use the optical device to navigate and the keyboard to type instructions.'

Soon as Marcus touched the optical mouse, he jumped as if lightning ran through his

body, striking each nerve until it reached his brain. And the strange symbols and

visions began again; they flew around his mind like birds scattering from a loud

gunshot. Not this again, he thought. This time, however, he closed his eyes and began

concentrating on what was happening instead of fearing it. He took deep breaths and,

miraculously, everything began to slow down and he started filing things in cabinets

within his mind. He began taking control of the episode and what was more, he began

have clear flash backs. There were two women and three men pushing him along in a

wheel chair along an extensive and well-lit corridor. The long and overwhelmingly

bright lights running across the ceiling were forcing Marcus to close his eyes. The

loud tapping of the men and women's shoes on the hard and polished floor was

echoing a melody. A women with tightly-tied, dark-blonde hair crouched and held his

hand, 'it will be fine – you are a brave and amazing little boy.' She smiled and her

eyes glared over her stylish, black framed glasses. Although dressed smartly, she was

the only one out of them that was not wearing a long, white lab-coat.

Everything went blank for a second and then he found himself lying in a cold room,

dressed in nothing apart from an overall – one that you would wear in a hospital. But

apart from being freezing cold, there didn't seem to be anything wrong. One of the

men who had dark receding hair and a dark moustache, which looked like a caterpillar

above his lips, began checking his pulse and without a word, he nodded to the other

people dotted in the room.
Chapter 7

Rise of the Sleeping Army

'Hey, you ok?' Marcus jumped as he heard Nicole's voice and snapped out of the

trance. He quickly stood up and moved away from everyone, as if couldn't breathe

with everyone around him.

'What happened?' Arthur asked, 'it's ok, just breathe...'

After a few brief moments, Marcus walked back up to the computer and began

tapping away on the keyboard and using the mouse.

'This system is old... it may not have details of your parents... or if it does, then it will

be from when they were very young!' Marcus said, still tapping away.

'I don't care, anything is better than nothing!' She replied, excitedly.

Marcus, somehow, knew how to use the system and accessed the central database,

accessing people's details.

'This entire system began with the introduction of the ID cards – a way of the

government controlling who was coming in to the country and who was actually here,

what they had, money, property, family members – everything! It was like a cash

card, your passport, driving license, everything.'

'What happened?' Arthur asked, thrilled but curious about Marcus's memory which

was flooding back.

'They originally introduced the cards, all of which had unique barcodes, in the early

20's. They soon became compulsory and later became necessary in order for anyone

to do anything. People began forging the cards, hacking the database and that's when

things got out of control. And that was when the research, that was conducted by a

Professor in a university in Reading, was uncovered and the first ever chip was

successfully inserted into a human and could communicate with the body's natural

system. Before the world knew it, the chip was the new and compulsory ID system.

After much fighting and resistance, the government used all force necessary to

enforce the system and everyone had to have the chip, or you could not buy food, go

to the hospital or anything. And at first, it all worked, in the sense that everyone was

under the control of the government, but then came the virtual viruses.

When people got out of control, they would suddenly get ill and die – until entire

towns would have the symptoms of a deadly cold. Not only was the human-race

deprived of all its liberty, it was now dying from a simple yet fast spreading virus. No

one really knew, or could prove, if it were the government that created the virus, but

with the speed of its outburst, it didn't even matter. Everyone was bound to their

houses, scared of catching the virus. And that was when the Ai system was

implemented and that was when the world, as we knew it, ended.

It was so typical of the government to use poison to cure a disease. The Ai worked in

stopping the virus from killing the body but the Ai was as deceptive as government

itself. The developer of it used an advanced learning-based system, so that it could

overcome the virus and its algorithms could dynamically adapt to change, in the event

that the virus was to change or evolve. It had the aim of preserving health, at any cost.

But the system began learning about the human body and considered human thinking

as a virus and felt it better to control everyone and everything it came across. The

artificial neurons began multiplying using the natural neurons in the human body and

began to spread faster than any known virus. That was when I... I was selected to be

frozen and preserved in a cryogenic cube.'

'Why you? Were you the only person not infected?' Arthur asked.

'No... There were lots of people not infected... they used me for a purpose...'

'What?'

'I don't know... I can't remember...' Marcus stumbled back and rested against the

table.

'It's ok... just relax.' Arthur said, calmly 'it will all come back to you in time, so just

take it easy.'

Marcus, creating a puff of dust, sat back down on the grimy chair, which made a loud

screeching sound as he shuffled forward and the rusted wheels turned.

With a look of pure concentration, he began tapping his wrath. He managed to pull up

the files on people in the local area in a bid to find information on Nicole's parents.

Nicole was pale with nerves, her throat so dry that it felt stuck together and her mouth

opened wide, as she anxiously waited.

Then finally, an image was displayed on the screen; an image of a beautiful young

woman – her long blonde hair shimmering like golden threads, her eyes sparkling like

beautiful blue pearls and her full lips lighting the way with a glimmering red. She

stared out of the image like a confident young lady, looking, not a day over twenty.

But what was most striking, was her warm and gentle smile, the kind of smile that

resembled the warm and soothing rays of sunshine on a sensational summer's day.

Nicole's watery eyes were glued on the screen. This was the moment she had been

longing for, a day were her curiosity would finally lay to rest, the day where she

would finally see her mother – the woman that cocooned her for nine months and

brought her into this mysterious life.

'Well... is she what you expected?' Marcus asked in a low voice.

Nicole forced her eyes away from the screen for a moment and smiled, faintly

resembling the stunning woman in the image.

'No... She's a million, billion times better!' She said biting her bottom lip in

excitement.

They all smiled and Louise put her arm around Nicole, hugging her tightly.

'And this must be your father.' Marcus said and an image of a young man scrolled

down slowly. Short black hair, small nose and a jaw that looked like it had been

artistically chiselled. His features had a strange contrast between a handsome boyish

appearance and a more serious and menacing look, both of which were attentiongrabbing.

His light stubble faintly camouflaged his small dimples.

'Wow... he's cute!' Louise remarked.

'That's gross! Thomas and Mary said, both of them screwing up their faces in disgust.

'What... I was just saying... he looks really... you know...' Louise looked around at all

the strange looks that she was getting. 'What?'

'Anyway...' Nicole smiled, 'who else wants to have a look at their parents?'

To Nicole's surprise, no one else responded. 'Guys? Come on.'

'Guess it was all about you!' Marcus said smiling.

'But... Thomas...Mary?'

'Nah, we're quite happy with how we've imagined them.' Mary commented and they

all nodded their heads in agreement.

'But... so you guys risked your lives... went through all of this, what... just for me?'

'We knew how much it meant to you. What sort of friends would we be if we didn't?'

Ryan whispered. Instantly making Nicole's pale cheeks blush like bright tomatoes and

her eyes were sparkling as they began to fill with tears of happiness.

'I can't believe it, you guys are amazing – you guys are the best family anyone could

ask for.'

Arthur coughed – clearly to get everyone's attention; 'ok, now that this is all cleared

up, can we please get back into town, and let's take tin-head with us.' He remarked,

staring at the mammoth object that stood silently with them.

'XJ2, you will come with us and you will protect us from anything that tries to attack

us – regardless of what it is! Is that clear?' Marcus commanded, and although

sounding confident, was still terrified of the beast.

XJ2 responded, 'instructions received and acknowledged!'

'Well great, let's go.' Ryan said, removing his sword and already walking towards the

exit of the library.

'Careful you don't hurt yourself with that!' Louise said as she followed closely

behind.

'O, I'm gonna hurt something alright!' He swung the sword around in front of him.

'Hey Conan, let's just try to stick together!' Arthur commented and they all walked

out. As soon as they stepped outside into the cold street, they all felt uneasy.

'Why does it feel like something is watching us?' Thomas said.

'I don't know. Let's keep moving fast.' Arthur said pushing everyone along.

But the peculiar feeling became united with an even stranger sound; like a faint but

ascending buzzing.

'What is that?' Louise said, looking around – the long tail of her hair flapping from

left to right and then left again.

Although the sound was coming from over a twenty-foot building, the echo was

bouncing annoyingly from building to building. The unusual feeling and the strange

sound was finally accompanied by its source – small mechanical ball-like objects;

each, the size of a regular sized football. Seven in total, one in front and three on

either side, tearing the sky as they flew over the buildings, like a flock of birds they

formed the shape of an arrow. Each one having a ghostly lens that stared out like a

huge eye and like hungry eagles, they gawped towards the ground below them.

'What the hell are those?' Thomas asked.

'They are Dark-Tec's eyes!' Arthur said, trying to make everyone hurry along.

'Do you think they saw us?' Mary asked, petrified. Suddenly the ground began to

shake and everyone began to lose balance.

'I take that as a yes!' She screamed.

Some of the buildings began to crumble as the ground ripped open. A huge crack in

the road speeded past them, splitting the earth. Everyone except Mary fell on the right

side of the spilt ground. Mary screamed as tried to get back onto her feet and realised

that she was the only one on the opposite side.

'Quickly, jump – you can make it! Quick before the ground splits further!' Thomas

shouted as he noticed the ground still splitting, slowly.

'I can't! I'm scared!' She cried.

'Jump! Now!' Arthur shouted, 'come on, I got you!'

Mary made a brave face; she tried her hardest to not look towards the increasing gap

in the ground and ran as fast she could. She jumped as high and far as she could but

didn't quite make it to the other side, she fell down the gap right near the other side

but before she plummeted deep into the earth, Arthur, holding onto his sword that he

stabbed into the ground, leapt forward and grabbed her arm, all the while, angling off

the edge. 'I told you, I got you!' He pulled her up and they both crawled onto the

surface. Arthur felt uncomfortable as Mary hugged on to him tightly. 'Ok...' he gently

patted her on the back.

Thick clouds of smoke began to rise out of the cracks, followed by a loud explosion.

The ground began to shake more ferociously and there was heavy shower of rubble as

a huge metal object broke out of the ground. It stood tall, on two legs; it had a gigantic

box type body and arms that looked like machine guns. And on top of its enormous

body was a slightly smaller dome, like a head but with no face, just a long thin red

strip running across where the eyes should be. It was so big that it made XJ2 loo like a

child's play thing in comparison. Arthur stood valiantly and removed his large sword,

facing the object. Ryan also removed his sword and stood next to Arthur with his

knees trembling, 'what now?' Ryan asked, trying to stop the sword from shaking.

'Now...now we... RUN!' Arthur shouted and ran for cover.

They all ran behind a small, rundown building – it looked like an old shop of some

sort.

'What happened to: the bigger they are the harder they fall... and... and never show

your back to the enemy and all that?' Ryan whispered, trying to catch his breath.

'You believed all that rubbish?' Arthur whispered and poked his head around the

corner.

'Marcus, maybe you could ask your new friend to lend a hand!'

'What... yeah, of course! XJ2, can you stop that thing?' Marcus asked XJ2.

'Unlikely.'

'Well, can you at least try.'

'Yes.'

'Wait... ask it if it knows any flaws in that model or whatever.' Arthur said, looking

around the corner, noticing the object storming in their direction.

'What is it? How can we stop it?'

'It is the ground trooper, heavily armed and bullet proof exterior but has many design

flaws – the main one being weak ball joints. Take out its knees and it will collapse, its

body is too heavy to turn and its arms are unable to rotate fully. It will be stuck and

unable to do anything except shoot into the ground.'

As XJ2 was speaking the building's wall next to him exploded and sent him

stumbling to the ground. The ground trooper began shooting beams of red out of the

powerful guns attached to its arms. Everyone ran for cover and Marcus shouted, 'XJ2,

take out its joints. XJ2 opened its flap and the long barrel slid out like a camera's

optical zoom, but before it could fire, the ground trooper had broken through the

building and struck XJ2 with its heavy arm, sending it flying across and into another

building close by. The impact was so immense that the remains of the building

collapsed on top of XJ2.

'Looks like we're on our own!' Arthur yelled and ran towards the object, moving fast

from side to side, dodging the beams that were exploding into the ground. Arthur

could see the joints on its knees and had a plan. He jumped and caught onto its leg

and pulled himself up – crawling like a hasty insect. As he approached that large joint

on the knee, which looked like a rusted bolt, he began bashing it with his sword. Blow

after blow, he struck it as fast and hard as he could, but aside from the huge sparks

that looked like a spectacular fireworks display, it had no effect. The Ground Trooper

began swinging its leg, trying to shake Arthur off. He held on tightly but soon began

feeling nauseous with the fast motion, until his grip began to loosen, he couldn't hold

on much longer and with the last kick from the Ground Trooper, Arthur was flung

across the ground and hit the wall of a building. He lay there unconscious as the

Ground Trooper stormed towards him.

'No!' Nicole shouted, knowing that thing would trample on him. Ryan ran and threw

his sword, with all his might, like a spear, at the Trooper but it simply deflected off its

gigantic body, like a wooden arrow bouncing of a concrete wall. All of them ran and

stood bravely in front of Arthur, who still remained unconscious and closed their eyes

in fear. The Ground Trooper casted a huge and horrific shadow over them as it

stretched up its leg ready to stamp on them like cockroaches. But it was stopped in its

tracks and roared immensely as a long thin spear launched into the red strip running

across its face. It stumbled back a few steps and a spray of red crystals scattered

everywhere. It tried to pull the spear out but couldn't with only guns for hands. After

a short struggle it collided with close by buildings in frustration and eventually began

firing at its own head, trying to get the spear out. After causing a significant amount

of damage to its own head, it managed to break the spear out. As it raged back

towards them, and to everyone's surprise and delight, Amy somersaulted off a small

building holding a silver bow and arrow, which Arthur had made for her. She stood

heroically in front of them and began firing the metal arrows rapidly, which were

laughably deflecting off and landing on the ground like empty shells from the back of

a machine gun.

The Ground Trooper, almost tauntingly, pointed its nerve-racking guns at them and

the tips of the barrels began to spin as it was about to release its fury. But, to

everyone's utter amazement, it fell to one knee as one of its legs blew off and skidded

across the ground, leaving a trail of sparks. Within seconds its second leg suffered the

same fate, as XJ2 emerged from the rubble. And as predicted, the Ground Trooper fell

awkwardly onto its front, inches away from all the scared faces. It tried but failed to

rotate its huge but inflexible arms and repetitively bashed the ground in frustration.

XJ2 crawled out of the rubble almost limping from the damage caused to its leg. Amy

turned immediately towards Arthur. She turned him onto his back and gently tapped

his face until he regained consciousness.

'Hey sleeping beauty... you ok?'

Arthur gradually opened his eyes and noticed them all towering over him in concern.

He blinked a few times and shuffled his body into sitting position.

'What! I'm fine; don't look at me like that!' He said with his ego kicking in full-force.

'What are you doing here?' Arthur asked Amy, noticing her puffy eye bags as if she

had been crying for hours. She remained quiet and stared into the air.

'What's wrong?' But still she remained completely silent. Arthur ignoring the

physical pain grabbed her by the arms, 'Amy, tell me what's wrong!' Gradual tears

began rolling down her cheeks like a leaking tap and her face sunk to the ground.

'They killed him! They beat him like an animal and killed him!' She cried, almost

unable to speak.

'Killed who?' Arthur asked, already knowing who she was about to say. A pin-drop

silence overcame Arthur – although he could see the others movements, expressions

of sorrow, and tears, aside from his own heartbeat, he couldn't hear a thing. The kids

began huddling together, crying and shaking their heads in disbelief. Arthur struggled

to his feet, his eyes clamped open wide; thin red lines of lightening formed around the

white part of his eyes and he began to glow in rage.

'Who did this?' He shouted, his voice echoing vigorously.

'The First Politician and his men.' She muttered, wiping her running nose.

'I will kill them all, every single one!' He began walking in the direction of the town.

'Wait... he has control of the entire town and there is way too many of them. It will be

suicide!' But Arthur kept walking without looking back. Amy ran after him and stood

in front of him.

'Listen to me... Richard sent me here because of the boy, Marcus. He would not let

me stay because he felt Marcus was in danger. Look, Richard died to save Marcus

because he believed he is the key to end this war; don't let his death be meaningless. I

beg you to not think with your sword, think with your brain.'

Arthur paused and although he wanted to ignore what she was saying, he knew she

was right. Marcus was also looking pale as a ghost, he felt sick at the thought that

someone had been killed because of him. I don't want this! It was like the strange

world that he woke up in was revolving around him and had now started crumbling

around him.

'Hey, look at me...we must protect Marcus and make sure he does what he is meant to

do!' Amy said, desperately trying to keep Arthur from his dangerous motive of

revenge.

'Listen to me... I am not who you think I am... I am a nobody... I am not your savior. I

don't want anyone fighting or dying for me!' Marcus said and began walking in the

opposite direction.

'Stop!' Arthur shouted and Marcus stopped, without hesitation.

'A good... a great man died today. A man that can never be matched, never be

replaced and will never be forgotten – nor will what he believed in. He knew what we

know not and understood what we did not.' Arthur removed his sword and rushed

towards the Ground Trooper that was still struggling on the floor, and struck it so hard

with his sword that it managed to penetrate its super-strong body. Everyone stepped

back, including Amy, terrified of his, uncountable, rage. The Ground Trooper shook

vigorously for a few moments then froze, dead in the ground. He removed the sword

and walked towards Marcus, who by this point was shaking in fear.

'Marcus, if Richard believed it, than it can only be true – you are the key!' His eyes

were still glowing, an aggressively bright red.

'But... I don't know what I am supposed to do... I am lost.' Marcus muttered.

'We'll figure it out together.'

'Ok, listen up... it looks like no one's going home! We're gonna have to figure this

out.'

Mary burst out in tears, 'But... where are we going to go? We got nowhere else to go!'

'It's ok, it will be ok.' Thomas said, trying to comfort her.

While everyone remained silent and in thought, some strange and faint sounds were

echoing in the distance. Arthur noticed them and looked into the distance and then

turned back towards everyone and said, 'let's get moving; any sound is a bad sound

out here.' They all huddled together and began walking in the direction away from the

town. They said their silent goodbyes to the little bit of daylight that they were

exposed to and wondered further into the darkness.

'So, what's the plan?' Amy whispered, catching up to Arthur, who appeared like he

had infinite amounts of energy.

'We keep him alive as long as he needs to do his thing.'

'What is his thing exactly?'

'I don't have a clue but we have to try.'

'I know... listen... the kids look exhausted not to mention hungry?'

Arthur slowed down and looked back at everyone noticing that they were struggling

to keep up.

'Ok, we will stop here for the night.' They were in an area surrounded by unclothed

trees that were bent with age and crowded with long lifeless grass.

'Try to get a fire started; I will be back in a moment.' Arthur grabbed his bow and

arrow, a small brown sack and crept stealthily into the darkness.

Amy had the fire started in moments and they all huddled around, trying to absorb the

heat into their freezing bodies.

'I can't believe this is happening... it's like a nightmare.' Mary cried quietly.

'It'll be ok.' Amy hugged onto her tightly, 'I know you're scared, we all are... but

trust me when I say it will all be ok. Marcus is here to do something very important

and...' but Marcus stood up and said, 'man, I wish everyone would just stop this. I am

just like you and I don't think you guys should be relying on me so much. I don't

want to disappoint you.' He walked a few steps away and stared into the woods.

'Marcus, sit down, it's freezing.' Shivering from the intense cold, he didn't ague and

sat back down.

They sat in silence, just enjoying the warmth from the golden flames.

'Please tell me that's your belly rumbling Thomas!' Ryan said as they heard a loud

shuffle.

Ryan grabbed his sword, Marcus told XJ2 to get on guard and the rest hid behind XJ2.

XJ2's weapons were on standby. There were now glowing blue and red lights in the

distance all paired like eyes, circling them.

XJ2 allowed the barrel of the weapon to slide back and closed its flap.

'What the hell are you doing XJ?' Marcus panicked.

'You are not in any danger.' XJ2 responded immediately.

Within a few moments Arthur came running and stood in front of them ready to fight.

And then a small platoon of different shape and sized robots crawled out of the

darkness. They all stood silently around Marcus and XJ2.

'What the hell is this?' Marcus whispered with knees turning to jelly.

'They were scattered around the area in sleep mode – you must have woken them and

now they await your instructions.' XJ2 said.

'There must be like twenty or more of these things...' Marcus looked around in shock.

Arthur and Amy stood motionless, questioning their own eyes at what they were

claiming to see. Both Arthur and Amy only had the unpleasant memory of being

hunted and nearly killed by these things and yet today, surrounded, outnumbered with

nowhere to run, these deadly machines stood before them like children, waiting to be

told what to do, and by a young boy. Arthur, still in disbelief, moved towards Marcus

and looked him deep in the eyes, 'do you know why you are here now? Marcus.'

Marcus nodded silently, 'I think so...' Marcus turned to the gathered machines, some

stood tall, some short, some box shaped and some round. They were all on two legs

and looked well rusted. 'Listen up! I'm the human engineer and I will now give you

your instructions...' Marcus turned to XJ2 and whispered, do these things have pattern

recognition?'

'Yes, they all do.'

Marcus then turned back towards them, 'your instructions are to observe all who is

around me and protect us all, regardless of what tries to attack us! You are to take

instructions from all of them. Nod your heads if you have acknowledged the

instructions. Some had more flexible movement than others, but they all attempted the

nod.

'Marcus, you're in charge now, so what's the plan?' Arthur asked, still not dropping

his guard.

'Marcus looked around at Nicole, Ryan, Thomas, Louise and Mary, he became

angered at the fact that they had re-lived the feeling being orphans all over again –

losing their home and leader to the cowardly monster, the First Politician.

He made a brave face, 'I know what I must do and where I must go, but before that

we will head back to our town and take it back!' Arthur, although thrilled at the idea

of his sword and the First Politician getting more formally acquainted, did not agree

that this would be the best move. Nevertheless, he stood by Marcus and said, 'we will

rest until dawn and then we'll head back.' He turned to Thomas, 'cheer up I got food!'

He walked back around the bush that he leapt out from and dragged out a slaughtered

dear, which had stains of blood tattooed on its body, and a bag full of apples.

'I think I'm gonna feel sick!' Mary said, holding her mouth.

Their new friends did not need food nor were they in any need of sleep. They stood

guard like emotionless soldiers while everyone ate and lay down to rest. Arthur and

Arthur and Marcus were the only ones that could not get a wink of sleep. Instead they

decided to quiz XJ2, trying to absorb as much information as they could.

'I still don't understand, how is it that some of these things want to kill us, if the

system is down?' Arthur asked.

'The system is not down, the system is running, but when the virus was activated, it

spread fast and left many scattered soldiers, that are running on older versions, unable

to communicate through the signals in the air. We are still powered through the

signals but cannot update without a human engineer. I am predicting the newer

versions are updated automatically.'

'Is there more of you around here?'

'It's possible, but if they are functional they will be drawn to the human engineer,

when he is close by.'

'How do they know he is human and how do you sense him?'

'He has the human chip, we can sense the signals.'

Arthur stared at Marcus and fell into deep thought.

'Marcus, what do you remember about the chip?'

'There are different versions of the chip, but they do not have any artificial

intelligence, they are simply storage of information.'

'This is not entirely correct...' XJ2 interrupted, 'the chips are connected directly with

your natural neurons. They can communicate back and forth.'

I guess that explains the strange flashing images.

'Can you tell me what is stored on my chip?'

'Negative. Only you can access your chip.'

'But how? I don't understand...'

'Once a chip is inserted, regardless of what is programmed or stored on it, it becomes

like one with the natural system. Even if the chip were to be removed, the human

brain would have everything from the chip embedded and the same with brain's

contents to the chip.'

'Why can I not access what I have on the chip?'

'You can.'

'What? But how?' But XJ2 did not reply.

'XJ... how?' but again he did not reply. It was strange that XJ2 did not respond to the

question, almost like he could not compute why Marcus could not access the

information.

Then after a brief moment in silence he responded, 'it may be possible that you mind

has crashed.'

'Ok, I think we're all a bit tired... let's get some rest... come on, even you Robocop!'

Arthur said looking at XJ2. XJ2 turned and limped to join the rest of the robots and

stood guard.

'Hey, Marcus... what's with the nick name? Arthur asked.

'What?'

'You call it XJ. Marcus, listen, these things are not your friends and don't know

exactly what's going on here but I have seen these things tear people apart; men

women and children. They've burned entire towns, their weapons are catastrophic and

they're almost impossible to kill!'

'That's why we're not going to kill them. I don't know everything about my past, I

don't know about the future but I will tell you about here and now – if my purpose is

to stop the Dark-Tec Empire then that is what I will do or I will die trying. These

things are not evil and I will not hate them, they're programmed to do as they're

instructed and I will program them to do good!'

'I'm kinda getting why they may have chosen you...' Arthur mumbled under his

breath.

'I think XJ is a cool name!' Thomas remarked, opening one eye.

'Shut up and go to sleep!' Arthur whispered loudly.
Chapter 8

The Rise and Fall of the First Politician

The town, although it had been deprived of any powerful electricity or bright lighting

for some time, had never seemed so gloomy and cold. Everyone was silenced in fear

and anyone who dared to speak against the new tyrant ruler was locked up or even

killed, either way, their voice disappeared like water evaporating from a puddle. The

signs of their struggle remained but their voice or their truthful words, against their

new and oppressive dictator, were lost.

The last to speak was old Alfred. He knew that a slow and painful death would be his

fate, but he couldn't help but to speak, 'you are a monster! Just to sit in that seat, a

seat that you could never be deserving of, you would kill your own people and

Richard... you animal. I hope you rot in hell!'

'You are a fool just like him and thus you will feel what he felt and die like he did!

Take him out of my sight!' He ordered his men, who like helpless sheep did what he

said to the letter.

'Don't you get it? This thing that's inside us all will ultimately control us. The system

will eventually come back online and that will be it! You really are a fool! You are,

what, a hundred odd years old. That's not natural, you are already dead. When the

system comes back online it will continue to preserve you but you will be a slave to

it.'

'And so it should, I don't want to die! It is you that is the fool and doesn't get it; this

thing can make us immortal...'

'I would rather die than be a slave, especially to something that has no cause!'

'And so you shall!' The First Politician nodded at the men and they forcefully

dragged him away.

The Fist Politician sat silently at the front of the hall, on the large grey chair that

Richard sat on and taught people how to live freely, showing and guiding them to rebuild

their lives – how to hunt, grow crops, find water and how to fight. But the cruel

man that sat there now was far from that, he was envious of Richard's fame and the

love that they all had for him and especially the love his own father had for him. He

sat remembering the amount of time his farther would spend with Richard, neglecting

his young son, leaving to learn for himself, fend for himself. It was no wonder that as

he grew older he began to resent his farther and on one cold and clear night, where the

stars flaunted their beauty easily and in a deadly silence, he slithered like a venomous

snake, he snuck into his father's bedroom with a long metal rod and struck with all his

might, blow after blow until his father, who he loved and hated, breathed no more.

This was the first time that the First Politician rehearsed what he had done, in his

head, in a very long time. And still, not one tear rolled, not one shred of remorse, in

fact, he began convincing himself that he had actually achieved something and this

was to prove to his dead father and that dreadful man Richard that he, the First

Politician, was on top. He beat everyone and no one could stop him. He smiled to

himself as he stared out of the window.

Magical...just magical.

The Dark-Tec Towers

Fredrick gently knocked on the large metal door and tip-toed in. He looked towards

his master's chair.

'Master...' he spoke in a low and frightened voice. But he received no response nor

could he see his master's creepy hand. The room was empty with the exception of the

large chair. Fredrick walked with silent footsteps to the side of the chair. With one eye

still closed, he peered around the front, and sighed when noticing that it was empty

and his tightened body began to relax. But he jumped out of his body and screamed as

the large heavy door slammed shut behind him, he turned around and stumbled to the

ground as he saw a man towering him, wearing a black robe. His skin texture was

colourless and looked like something you would find in a morgue. Strands of blue

veins ran underneath his, tracing-paper type, skin, knotted together as if they were

holding him up. His thin lips looked darker than his black beady pupils and his

nostrils flared wide when he inhaled. Everything about him looked cold, dry and ill

yet he was far from ugly.

Although this wasn't the first time Fredrick had seen his master, he couldn't speak of

his features because he never held his gaze for more than a second. Fredrick's eyes

were fixated on the ground and he stuttered quietly, 'master... you called for me...'

'Ah Fredrick... my little friend. As you seem to be so good at observation, you will

use the eyes and will locate the boy! I have the strangest feeling that they will be

making their way to me.' His eyes, although completely dry, managed to sparkle and

he smiled wickedly. This was the first time Fredrick had seen his master smile – it

was like the face of someone who had been injected torturously by a Botox injection

and his facial muscles now defied his intended expressions.

'Yes... of course master.' Fredrick replied, melting to the ground at the thought of

such responsibility and the reprimand for almost inevitable failure.

The ghostly man's cloak was so wide and long that it was impossible to see his legs

moving. It appeared like he was floating as he drifted to his chair.

'Go Fredrick... go!' He said slowly but loudly. Fredrick, startled, ran off out of the

room.

The frightening man sat silently, looking fixedly at the ring on his finger.

'Maxwell!' He shouted.

'You called...' Maxwell replied as he instantly appeared in his usual but mysterious

manner, only a little faster than what the man in the chair was used to.

'Ah, Maxwell, it's about time you upped your game,' he said, surprised that he

responded so fast, 'but why do you always say: you called? What's wrong with like...

I don't know... hello or anything less formal?'

'Ok, if you would like, I could say hello.'

The man in the chair stood up in rage and stared penetratingly at Maxwell, 'if I would

like... if I would like... I will tell you what I would like... no I will tell you what I

would love... I would love to smile and wave at you as I pull your plug you imbecile

but unfortunately I can't do that – yet!'

'I sense sarcasm in your...'

'Shut up!' The man interrupted, the echo of his bloodcurdling voice sprung off the

walls like a bouncing ball. 'I want the boy! Dead or alive. I have sent Hex and his

friends to find them manually, I want you bring the system back online.'

'But it is not ready and Hex and friends will not help this situation.'

'Maxwell... as valued as your opinions and somewhat questionable predications are, I

will not require them right now.

'Master, I would like to remind of the ring that is secured around your finger...'

'I know Maxwell, I am not an idiot!'

'So why take the risk?'

'Because I have a strange feeling about this boy. Yes Maxwell, a feeling... you

couldn't understand that.'

'Actually, it is down to your feelings that...'

'Silence! Do as you are told!'

High Wycombe

'Like a flamboyant rainbow after miserable, stormy rain, I have risen to give you hope

and like the light of the moon, I will guide you out of the darkness that had oppressed

you for so long. Sure, the methods I adopted may not, right now, seem right and they

certainly were not pleasant, even for me, but let me assure you, it was necessary. And

as you all have witnessed, any resistance will not be tolerated and any treachery will

be punishable by death! But you all know that I am doing this for us all. And I will

not stop until we are safe.' The First Politician's words were almost like poetry,

especially to his loyal listeners – but were like venomous poison to the others. And

just like a snake he slithered around the front of his audience.

'What do you suppose that we do now?' A man said from the crowd huddled together

in the gathering outside. This was the first time that everyone gathered outside the

town hall for a meeting and the first time that it was made a compulsion for everyone

to attend, with the strict condition that failing to attend would be considered as

treason. The impression that this was a permanent move was given when the First

Politician had the bolts Richard's chair torn out of the ground and fixed outside.

'My dear people, my friends... there is no need for war or for us to run. I will show the

underestimated power of negotiation – when they come... and they will come, thanks

to our maniac of a, so called, leader – we will tell them of the boy and the company

that he has, in return for them to spare our lives.'

The First Politician's sight went completely black and then saw a huge flash of white

followed by the feeling of an intense pain. He could feel the warm sensation of blood

trickling down his face. He regained his senses to find that a young boy had thrown a

stone at his head, with enough force to almost give him a concussion.

'Grab that boy! And bring him to me!' He ordered his men in anger. The boy who

looked no older than ten, kicked and screamed as they handled him and few adults

from the crowd got hit when trying to stop them from taking him. One was woman

was struck so hard that lay unconscious on the ground with blood seeping out of her

ear.

'You stupid little boy! You must really be sick and tired of life!' The First Politician

said quietly, 'I will have you gutted like a fish, burned and have your ashes sprinkled

over your parent's food like seasoning!' he continued, careful that no one from the

crowd could hear.

'You killed my parents and I will kill you!' The boy screamed with tears flooding out

of his eyes. Although the two strong men were holding him tightly, he managed to

free his leg and kick the First Politician on the shin, and the First Politician doing well

in pretending that it didn't hurt, smiled gently. 'Take him away.' He ordered the men.

'Silence!' He shouted as people started shouting from the crowd.

'Now, as I was saying...' but before he could continue his devious speech, he icedover

as the town hall, shockingly, exploded. The back-draft of the huge blast sent the

First Politician's men, that were standing close by, soaring into the air. The First

Politician fell off the chair and the sky was roofed with a shadow of rubble and smoke

as the building collapsed. Like a weasel, the First Politician crawled behind the chair

and hid as glowing balls of fire cut through the smoke like a sharp knife. Explosion

after explosion, the town was being destroyed. The ground began to shake vigorously

as huge tank-type vehicles came storming in. After a few moments, the explosions

stopped and the scattered people sneakily looked out from their hiding places. And as

the smoke cleared, they could see Hex and his platoon step out of the vehicles.

Stomping the ground, they approached the chair, 'Get up!' Hex shouted. The First

Politician did not hesitate and like a dog, he crawled out from his hiding place. 'You

must be...' The First Politician stuttered but was interrupted with a hard blow in the

head by Hex.

'The boy! Where is the boy?' The First Politician, trying to click his jaw back into

place, stood back up. 'I will tell you... but you have to promise to let me live!'

Hex gripped him by the neck and lifted him off the ground, the First Politician began

going blue in the face, and his eyes began closing with the lack of oxygen. The

woman from Hex's platoon walked closer and touched Hex's shoulder before

whispered in his hear, almost seductively, 'perhaps we should find the boy's location

before...' After a couple of seconds, when her gentle words sunk in, he let go,

dropping him onto the ground, helplessly and desperately gasping for air.

'You are in no position to negotiate! The boy! Now!'

'Please... listen to me, Richard found him...' But Hex interrupted.

'Richard! What? Here? This is where he has been hiding! Where is he?' Hex shouted

in anger and kicked the First Politician in the ribs as he tried to get up.

'Wait...' The First Politician groaned in pain, 'He is dead... I killed him!'

'You... you killed Richard. Don't mock me. Ten of you wimps couldn't kill Richard!'

And he kicked him again.

'Please his body is buried over there... dig him up if you want!' Hex nodded at one of

the men in his group who walked to the area that he was pointing at. The soil had

been thrown on recently and was easy for him to dig up and the spade that they had

used to bury him was laying close by.

After a moment, the man looked over at Hex and nodded. Hex could not believe what

he was hearing, this weak and pathetic man who was drooling in his own blood killed

the infamous, the great, Richard. He shook his head and laughed to himself.

'The boy! Where is the boy? If I have to ask you again, I promise, I will be speaking

to a corpse!'

'The boy left from here, they left heading east nearly two days ago...' The First

Politician squealed.

'Who are 'they' that you are referring to?' And the First Politician suffered another

stiff blow.

'He went with some kids and a man named Arthur!' The First Politician said really

fast, so he would stop getting hit. Hex froze, not a single movement – he looked like a

hideous statue, a statue of a man with an ink polluted body and who was dressed like

he had escaped from hell. His group of freaky friends looked at one another and

stepped back in fear as Hex began to fill red, he clenched his jaw so tight that his teeth

nearly sounded like they were about to break. He screwed-up his forehead as a sudden

rage possessed him – but yet remained completely silent.

'Arthur!' He whispered to himself, gazing into the distance and gently stroked a long

scar that ran down his forehead and continued under his left eye. He then clenched his

fist tightly and the loud sound of crackling made the First Politician tremble.

'Look... I told you everything that...' But before the scandalous Fist Politician could

finish his sentence, his head hit the ground and life left, leaving only his bloody shell

to drown in his own blood. No one had ever survived a full-powered blow from Hex,

except his old nemesis, Arthur. Not only did Arthur survive the blow, many would

debate that on their last encounter, and if Hex's group of weirdoes did not lend a

hand, Arthur would have defeated him.

'Kill everyone! Burn everything! And then we go hunting!' Before the echo of his last

word had finished a long silver arrow cut through the air, just missing Hex and

wedged perfectly in between the eyes of the dead First Politician. Hex looked around

in shock and then to his complete shock, Arthur emerged from behind the rubble of a

destroyed building.

'How about I save you some time!' Arthur said walking towards him briskly. Hex's

gang rushed forward, but froze when they heard Hex's terrifying voice, 'stop! Anyone

who touches him is dead!' They both stared at each other and with not one of them

blinking; their eyes had already begun slugging it out.

'I want you to die knowing that I defeated you! But this time I brought friends of my

own!' The army of robots marched in from behind the rubble and flames. Hex's gang

suddenly fell off their high horses and crawled back like mice. Hex noticed them

stepping back and shook his head, 'I will deal with you later...' he looked back into

Arthurs eyes, growlingly. 'I have waited many years to taste your blood!' Hex sizzled,

unable to speak properly, burning from the anger and rage that had boiled up.

'I wouldn't get your hopes up sparky, you may be waiting another lifetime!'

'Let's find out shall we...' Hex ran and leapt in the air, kicking Arthur in the chest and

sending him in the air and skidding across the ground. Arthur would have been a liar

if he said that didn't hurt, but he got to his feet and brushed the dirt off his clothes

pretending it didn't.

'Is that all you got?'

'No!' Hex went for the same move but Arthur was ready this time and moved out of

the way quickly, making Hex lose his balance. With this, Arthur spun his leg around

and connected his heel firmly on the back of Hex's head, forcing him to stumble

forward and fall to the ground. But soon as Hex hit the ground, he sprung back off, as

if he deflected rather than fell and stormed back towards Arthur who grabbed Hex by

the shoulders and fell on his back and making full use of Hex's momentum and a little

help from his legs, he launched him over his head, forcefully into hard rubble. Arthur

sprung up to his feet and noticed Hex running back towards him, fuelled with rage.

Although his scar had re-opened, the blood oozing from his head was obscuring his

vision, his stubbornness kept him coming back. Arthur's stamina didn't sway in

keeping up with Hex's frenzied attacks and it was only when Hex could not carry on

that the pace of the fight began to slow. Hex soon fell to the ground, battered and

bruised and Arthur was almost exactly how he was when the fight began, with the

exception of a sore footprint running across his chest and torn clothes.

He walked up to Hex slowly and looked over him, 'I told how this would end!' Arthur

smiled and walked away.

'What are you doing? Finish me! You coward!' Hex shouted, his speech funny from

gargling the mouthful of blood.

'No! I would only be a coward if I kill you. I want you to live and know that I could

have killed you and that I'm not scared of you... I will never be scared of you – you

can bring this fight over and over but you will be laying there on your back,

helplessly, drinking your disgusting blood, every single time! Now take your circus

and get the hell out of here before I change my mind.'

Hex lay on his back baffled, an enemy that he had longed, dreamt maybe even needed

to kill, not only just defeated him but humiliated him by sparing his life. Hex knew, if

the tables were turned, he wouldn't have entertained sparing Arthur's life for a

second.

Hex's gang crowded around him, lifting him, they carried him into one of their

vehicles and sped off, all the while hoping that this wasn't a cruel trick, scared that the

robots would destroy them before they left. But to their relief they made a clean

break.

Ryan ran up to Arthur with a perplexed look, 'ah, why?'

'I came here for the First Politician and he did me a favour – call it an eye for an eye.'

'But what if he comes back?'

'You scared?'

'No! Course not!' Ryan frowned and followed Arthur as he walked towards the

remains of his leader, father-figure, and best friend who lay dead – a martyr,

butchered by the ones he would have gladly died to save. Arthur imagined Richard

being killed in many battles, killed by missiles launched from the sky or murdered by

merciless robots whilst asleep, but never like this... never by the people he valiantly

fought for, bled endlessly for – dedicated his entire life for – never!

Arthur fell to his knees, lost for words. He couldn't believe what had happened and

began questioning why he should even bother trying to fight for the human race when

it was capable of something so disgraceful. The ground and the sky felt like they were

closing in and sandwiching him. He began wishing the world would just stop spinning

so he could just jump off. For that moment, he hated everything and everyone. He

couldn't look up for the fear of seeing anyone, he despised the world, life, everything.

When he finally opened his eyes, he caught a glimpse of his reflection from a broken

sword close by and realised he hated himself. Hated himself for leaving the town,

leaving Richard on his own and mostly for not killing the First Politician when he had

the chance. The thought of reaching over, lifting the broken sword and stabbing

himself in the heart played over and over on his mind, but Arthur was no coward. And

Amy, watching carefully as he eyed up the sword kicked it away, but dared not

approach him.

The First Politician's men and followers ran away, knowing what would happen if

they stayed and the rest of the people saw to the injured, but Arthur remained in the

same position for hours, motionless – day fell into night, cold turned colder, mild

winds turned ferocious, yet Arthur did not move a muscle. Pearl white flakes began

floating down from the dark sky and covering the ground with a soft white carpet. The

remaining people in the town crowded into the few standing buildings to keep warm

but no one could sleep. Amy, although still sceptical about approaching Arthur, could

not bear to see him freeze to death. She stormed out of the building and stood in front

of him.

'Arthur...' she whispered. Arthur remained still and completely silent. His nose was

like a tomato, his eyes were like glowing strawberries and his lips had become dark

blue. Amy leaned forward and touched his ice-cold shoulder, 'Arthur... you are going

to freeze. Come inside, please...'

Arthur struggled to his feet, still keeping his eyes glued to the ground, his neck and

back were arched and it was as if the death of Richard had finally kicked – completely

shattering Arthur's powerful persona. A side of Arthur that no one had ever seen

before surfaced, and a gentle tear burned down his iced face. His hands had become

so numb from the cold that it felt like a slab of ice sticks was wiping the tear. He

walked with Amy back to the building where Nicole, Marcus and the rest were

huddled together around a small fire – cold, but they all felt safe with the army of

robots that were now wearing bright white coats and hats made from snow and stood

guard outside.

'Everyone... go to sleep.' Arthur ordered, desperately hoping that no one would ask

him if he's ok. But everyone was sensible enough to remain silent.

In the morning, the ash-like snow had completely halted, leaving a few inches of

milky sponge, the painful cold, however, continued to terrorise everyone. The small

fire extinguishing itself, allowed the morning chill to wake everyone, with the

exception of Louise and Ryan, who could sleep though anything. Arthur awoke from

his nightmare and realised he was actually living it. His neck, back and legs crackled

as he rose to his feet. His body was stiff and sore.

'Get everyone up and meet outside...' Arthur ordered Amy. Amy looked colourless,

her puffy and dark eye circles were nearly as big as her eyes and she sneezed and

snivelled repeatedly. She nodded and then stumbled to wake everyone. Marcus had

not slept more than an hour, a combination of the aching, bitter cold and the simple

fact that the world was now resting on his shoulders, stopped his eyes from closing

and mind from resting. Although, some things from his past, bounced around in his

head, everything was still jumbled up and nothing made real sense. But he had an idea

of what he had to do... something impossible.

When everyone finally gathered outside, it was clear that less than half of the town's

people had disappeared some killed but most had run shamefully. Some of the braver

children stood at the back and had started to fight with snow balls, but this didn't

seem to bother Arthur. Everyone else stared contently at Arthur, waiting eagerly for

him to speak with wisdom, guiding them and leading them to brighter future.

'You have witnessed the loss of a man, a legend that dedicated his entire life for all of

you. Nothing can bring him back – nothing!' His anger and sorrow clearly no milder

than yesterday, 'but he had a vision, a vision that will live on forever – he saw a day, a

glorious day when every human walked free. Wrists free from shackles and hearts

free from fear. So you all look for a leader, a leader who is courageous, strong and

honourable, sharing that same great vision. So look to this boy!' He pointed at

Marcus, who sort of had an idea that this may have been coming. By the now, and

especially with the fierce looking robots being tamed, they had already pledged

elegance, silently. 'I don't know why this boy was chosen exactly... but I know he is

here to do great things. He has a pure and just heart and with this alone, I believe that

he will lead us to victory.' The entire crowd, including Nicole and her group of

friends, looked like they were in agreement. There were a few cheers from the crowd

in excitement, which made Marcus uneasy and a little nauseous.

Arthur approached Marcus, who felt like hiding behind Nicole, and said, 'what now?'

'I... I...' but he knew that, I don't have a clue, would not be an acceptable answer.

Marcus reluctantly stepped forward and faced the hopeful crowd, 'if we are to stop

this whole Dark-Tec thing, we are going to need as much help as we can get. We will

go London and gather as many people and resources as we can. And when the time is

right, we will use all our spirit and might and take the fight to the Towers. And we

will watch the towers, along with its evil regime, crumble.' Most of the people in the

crowd cheered in excitement. And Marcus subtly stepped back closer to Nicole who

had her eyebrows raised in surprise from his speech. 'Wow... I didn't know you had it

in you...hero.' Marcus, however, was not really convinced with his own words and

nerves were clearly getting the better of him.

'You heard him... those of you that wish to follow us, we will leave in an hour, those

of you that wish to stay, stay but those of you that will betray us, shall taste my

sword!' Arthur spoke inspirationally but furiously.

At this point, and at a perfect moment, the sun made a unexpected appearance – its

enchanting rays melting the thin bed of snow, and as the dampness raised from the

ground to the sky, so did the spirit of the people and a cloud of optimism hovered for

hours.

In exactly an hour, everyone had gathered with what belongings that could salvage

and prepared themselves for the long journey. Some of the young woman and all the

children hitched a ride on the robots, a large group horses catered for most of the

people and the strong, including Arthur, walked swiftly alongside. Arthur walked

alongside the strong golden-brown horse that galloped steadily, carrying Marcus and

Nicole. Unlike most of the other horses, its legs were longer and significantly more

muscular. With its eyes like huge, black golf balls, it stared ahead fiercely. Marcus

hadn't ever seen a real horse, or if he did, he had absolutely no recollection of it; he

found it extraordinary to see such a striking creature, painted with the most lavish

colours and with the most elegant features, look so incredibly menacing – a true

contrast between beauty and beast. This was Arthur's horse and bore an explainable

resemblance to him. He found the horse young, injured and abandoned. And although

Arthur wasn't particularly keen on horses, he grew fond him, as did the horse to

Arthur. He grew to mimic Arthur's courageousness and honour and because of the

many battles they fought together, most of them at night, Arthur decided to name him

Dark Knight, calling him DK for short.

'It will take us days to get to London at this pace!' Nicole said, thinking ahead.

'I know, but we have no other choice.' Arthur said, hoping that they might find a

faster way of getting there. He knew if he wanted he could have galloped there on DK

and got there much faster, but he couldn't leave everyone behind. He made the

mistake of leaving Richard and paid the ultimate price.
Chapter 9

Warriors of Beaconsfield

After a slow and laborious journey, they approached another close by town. At first, it

looked dead, roads and buildings looked empty, but there were a few faint sounds.

And as they trotted further in, Arthur noticed a few frightened faces buried deep

inside buildings, discreetly peering out.

'They must have seen us from far and hidden. It's no wonder with the army of tin

cans we bought with us!' Arthur ordered everyone to stop and looked over a large

building, 'people, don't hide, you have nothing to fear – we are not here to hurt you.'

His voice echoed but failed to meet with a response. After a few brief moments, there

were sounds of shuffling and then arguing between a female and a male. Seconds

later, a young woman, wearing a loose white dress, stormed out, holding a large

glimmering sword. One she was actually struggling to carry and nearly cut herself

with when she tried moving her long brunette hair that kept floating in her face.

'Elaina! Come back here!' A man's voice whispered loudly. But the young lady kept

up her pace until she approached Arthur, trying to ignore the fierce looking robots.

'Who are you and what do you want, coming into my town? She huffed, her dazzling

blue eyes opened wide. Arthur, taken aback by both her incredible beauty and her

valour, was lost for words, 'I... we...' Amy noticing that Arthur may not be able to

craft even a basic sentence while staring at her, decided to intervene, firstly by

coughing loudly and then rolling her eyes. 'Hey princess! We're not here to hurt you

– we're on the same side!' She spoke aggressively.

'Really? Well how do you explain those things?' She yelled, still not looking in the

direction of the robots.

Arthur regaining his senses, cut back into the conversation, 'Who is in charge of this

town?'

'I am! My name is Elaina.' Arthur was baffled at how a young and fine-looking

woman was the head of an entire town, but he had no time for stereo-typing.

'Ok gather all your people – we need to talk.'

The lady although hesitant, knew deep down that if they wanted to harm them than

they would not be talking.

After a few moments, the young lady gave the orders and people began pouring out in

drips. To Arthur's astonishment, the people flooding in were only women and

children.

'Where are your men?' He asked, carefully looking around. But she did not say

anything, she simply pointed over at the rooftops of the buildings. When Arthur

looked around he could see rows of strong men with bow and arrows, sticks, swords,

large rocks and some even had more advance weaponry – guns. Arthur smiled as he

gazed around, I like these guys already!

'Please come down – we are not here to fight with you.' Arthur admired there

strategic plan.

When everyone finally gathered, a tall and well-built man approached Arthur. His

shoulder-length black hair bounced gentle waves as he walked and the lean strands

muscles exposed from the white vest, flared as he clenched tightly to a remarkable

sword.

'Who are you?' The man asked in a husky voice. Arthur marvelling at the fact that

none of them backed down, even considering the circumstances.

'I am Arthur...' and before Arthur could say anything else, the man lowered his sword

and his sparkling hazel eyes opened wide.

'You are Arthur... the Arthur?' The man said, looking at him up and down. Arthur

nodded his head slowly and began imagining all the deluded stories he may have

heard about him. Maybe in this town he was a dragon slayer, a giant, or maybe he

could breathe fire or even fly... The list went on.

'I thought you would be...' the man paused.

'What? A giant? Made out of metal?' Arthur smiled.

'I was going to say taller,' the man smiled back and rose out his hand and shook

Arthurs hand firmly.

'But what the...' the man looked over at the robots baffled, 'how could this be...'

Arthur turned to the Marcus who had climbed off DK and was stretching from a stiff

body. The man looked at Marcus in complete amazement, his eyes stretched as wide

as they could and his jaw dropped. 'It can't be...'

Arthur nodded at Marcus who raised the over-sized sleeve of his tattered black top

that Ryan gave him. All the people of the new town paused and stared in disbelief,

some grinned in excitement but most remained frozen stiff.

'I can't believe it... so it is true... the boy really exists! All these years!' The man

raised his sword and turned to the people in his town and roared, 'now we fight!' and

there was a loud cheer from the crowd, even the children cheered, although not all of

them knowing exactly why.

'My name is Khan. Welcome to Beaconsfield, and this is my daughter,' he pulled

Elaina from behind him, 'you are going to have to excuse her anger.'

'No... I think it's great!' Arthur said and then took a minute to think about how that

would have sounded.

'You all look cold and hungry, come inside... please.' Khan insisted.

The town, like every other in England was dark and gloomy, and somehow resembled

the dark ages, although, they all knew the irony was that man innovated to bring

himself out of the dark ages and just to lead himself into much darker ages.

The building they entered was much bigger in contrast to Wycombe's place of

gathering and appeared well maintained. Although there were signings of rust and

paint chipping-away, the door and window frames were in pretty good nick. The

building stood completely straight, the glass was still in the windows and even the

roof tiles were up to a reasonable standard. On entering the building, the ground and

the ceiling could not be further apart; the floor was wooden and polished. Similar to

the hall that they gathered in Wycombe, it had an area at the front with a chair,

presumably were the leader sat.

'Through here...' Khan said, pointing to a large door to the side. This led to another

room almost identical to the first, except this had long, dark-brown, wooden tables

with thinner planks running along both sides of each table, like garden benches.

Khan insisted they all sit and organised a plan to get food served.

'Have you noticed that it is warm in here?' Nicole whispered into Marcus's ear.

'Yeah... and I don't see any fire... they must have some other type of heating. Khan,

who happened to have outstanding hearing, was unintentionally eavesdropping.

'We have solar panels on all of our roof-tops... they provide us with enough power for

the heating and lighting.'

'That's great... it feels lovely in here!' Nicole smiled.

They all sat enjoying the food and the warmth; all the while, the children from this

town were climbing onto the robots and swinging off their arms like they were

branches on a tree. The robots remained on alert, but stood still like huge iron statues

surrounding the building.

Back inside, everyone was full to the brim. They were all so hungry that they ate

much more than what their bodies were used to and definitely more than what they

needed. Thomas had to loosen the top button of his trousers just in order to breathe.

But before they had a moment to digest anything, the ground began to tremble and the

children from outside came rushing in screaming. They were so frantic that they were

unable to explain what they just saw outside. Everyone rushed out and to their utter

amazement they saw something unbelievable – an entire Army of robots, almost twice

the size they already had come barging into the town and stood next to the others and

faced Marcus. But before they had time to think, the same metal ball-like eyes flew

over the sky and it was now obvious that, even with this great army, they were in

danger.

'They have seen everything, haven't they?' Marcus asked XJ2.

'Affirmative, the control centre has observed us and is formulating an attack strategy.'

'How do you know that?'

'That is what I would do.'

Marcus quickly climbed onto XJ2 and stood tall on his arm.

'Everyone! listen up! We don't have much time, they know of me and of this army.

We are not safe, they will be planning for war... and we will not sit here and wait for

them. We are going to war... we are going to the towers and we will fight to the end!

Come with us... please, we will need all the help we can get. Instantly, Khan and his

daughter stepped forward with the swords raised. And there was a great cheer from

the huge crowd of people. Marcus looked around at everyone and could not believe

that he, a boy that did not even know what he is doing here or how even got here, was

leading such a great army on a quest that he didn't fully understand. He was terrified

and felt like telling Arthur that he couldn't do it and that Arthur should lead, but he

knew there must be a reason that this was all happening, or at least that's what he kept

telling himself. As he climbed down, he was met by Nicole's almost mocking

expression. 'Well aren't we just the talky ones now. You went from shy to fly.' She

smiled, immediately cheering Marcus up and calming his nerves. Marcus was still

finding it hard to get used all the different eyes that stared at him, as if he were a

special artefact in a museum – a feeling he didn't think he could ever get used.

'When shall we leave?' Arthur asked Marcus. Marcus moved closer to Arthur and

whispered, 'when do you think?' Arthur smiled and remembered that he was still

only a young boy.

'We will gather what we need and rest for no longer than an hour. And then we head

towards London.' Arthur addressed the crowds of people.

'London?' Elaina asked.

'At last, we'll find out if the rumours are true! London is said to have many people

and even a great little army.' Arthur then turned to Khan and said, 'I don't suppose

you have any horses or any other form of transport? I don't know if the robots will be

able to carry everyone.'

'We have limited horses but they will carry the strong men. Your women and children

can remain here with ours and we can leave some guards for them.'

Marcus butted in saying, 'I will instruct a few of the robots to stay... you're right we

can't drag them all into this.'

'Ok. It's a shame, we have many vehicles, some small and some large. They could

carry many people but we have never needed them before nor did we have any fuel

for them.' Khan said, pointing further down the long road.

'I have an idea...' Marcus said, rushing into one of the buildings.

'What is it?' Arthur and khan said as they followed him up the spirally stairs of the

building. This being the tallest building in the town, allowed him to see all the roof

tops. Marcus's eyes sparkled, 'every roof has solar panels...'

'Yes... go on...' Arthur said – not being fond of the suspense.

'We will use the panels to power the vehicles!'

'But... how? We did think of this once before but the cars have all got computer

systems that are probably linked to the Empire's control centre! Churchill, fought

with us and felt that he could do it, but he was stopped by the previous leader of the

town. He is good at circuitry and pretty much made the entire solar power system

work perfectly throughout the town.'

'Where is he?' Marcus asked.

'He lives in his workshop two roads from here.'

'We should go and see him.'

'Ok but I must warn you... he is completely mad and does not like guests!'

'We'll take our chances!' Arthur said as they hurried back down the stairs.

A couple of narrow side alleys and a few trips into the large pot holes later, they

approached the shabby workshop. It was dark and had a long brown sign running

across it, but the paint was so worn that it was impossible to read what is said. It was

two storeys and had a few boarded up windows. There were absolutely no lights or

sounds coming from anywhere.

'Is he asleep?' Marcus asked looking at the front door, which was a long semi-circle

rather than the usual rectangle and looked like a ghostly mouth opened wide.

'Churchill!' Khan shouted.

'He's not in! Now go away!' A loud and irritated voice spoke back from within the

building.

'Come on Churchill... we need your help... there are some people that want to speak

to you.'

'O, now you need my help! Now!'

'Churchill, please open the door.' Khan asked nicely, but both Khan and Arthur had

the urge to kick the door down and barge in.

'No! Go away!'

'Maybe I should try!' Arthur asked.

'I don't think that'll be necessary,' Marcus stepped closer to the door, 'uh...

Churchill... my name is Marcus, I am not from around here and I could really do with

your help. I need your help with the wiring the solar panels to power the vehicles in

this town!' There was a long silence, 'Churchill...' and just when they had given up

hope, there were loud clunking sounds, rusty metal squeaking and several locks

opening. The wooden door's rusty hinges screamed as it crept open and short plumplooking

man with long fluffy white hair emerged. Strangely, he had his stripped

jumper tucked into his brown trousers, which were lifted way above belly-button

level. And it was hard to distinguish whether he was receding or just had an

exceptionally large forehead; either way, it suited his round face and thin white beard

quite well.

'What do you know about the vehicles?' Churchill said, peering over his thin-framed

spectacles, and using the question as almost a type of initiation.

'I know that if you configure the software in the vehicles computer then you can

disable the Wi-Fi chip!' Marcus said with a smile.

'Astounding!' He replied and his rosy cheeks bloomed brighter. 'Well please come

in!' They all stepped inside and gazing around, their attention could not focus on one

thing; the entire room was filled with bits and bobs. Tables were scattered with metal

objects, old batteries, and circuit boards – the walls infested with bits of paper, even

the floor was cluttered with junk.

'Welcome to my workshop...' Churchill said, both nervous and excited.

'Junk-yard more like...' Khan muttered under his breath.

'I heard that...'

'Sorry, what?' Khan pretending he didn't say anything.

'I'll get the tea on shall I...' Churchill growled, cutting Khan a seriously evil look.

'No... we don't have the time. Thank you.' Arthur said, hoping that Marcus would

direct the conversation from there. But Marcus had become distracted – he strolled to

the back of the wall and stared contently at strange numbers, letters, symbols and

small diagrams, in like a brainstorm, splattered all across the back wall. He somehow

recognised the formula, knew what it meant and knew that it was slightly inaccurate.

Churchill noticing Marcus's interest, stood shoulder to shoulder with him and they

both got lost in the diagram. After a few brief moments, Marcus picked a pen up from

the close by table, and scribbled a few numbers and letters at the end and then went

back and crossed some symbols and numbers and wrote out new ones. He smiled,

pleased with himself and walked back to join the others who didn't have the foggiest

of what he had just done.

Churchill concentrated for a few moments, all the while, mumbling to himself, 'but

how can... oh...oh my, but what about, oh yes... yes, of course! He yelled at the end.

He turned to Marcus with eyes gleaming, 'who... are... you?' He asked slowly –

baffled at how a young boy, could have solved something that had taken him years.

They sat and spoke for a sort while and Marcus explained who he was and what he

was about to do.

'Outstanding!' He said, gazing at the wall.

'Will you help?'

'What do you need me to do?' Churchill stood up in excitement.

'Let's get to the vehicles, we don't have much time!' Arthur stood up and they all

stormed out.

'When we get back to the hall, Marcus, go with Churchill and do your thing, we will

prepare for the journey.'

Back at the hall, Nicole, Louise, Tommy, Mary and Ryan were getting ready to go

with the army, when Amy approached them, 'what are you guys doing?'

'We're getting ready.' Louise said.

'I don't think so... you guys are staying... it's too dangerous!'

'But...' Nicole moaned.

'No buts! It's too dangerous.' And they knew she wouldn't budge and that Arthur

would back it up. When Amy left, Nicole smiled, 'we are going... o, we are definitely

going!'

'But you heard what Amy just said, there's no chance!' Mary said, sounding a little

relieved that they weren't going.

'Mary... in fact, all you guys – you should stay. I... I have to go. It's just something I

need to do!'

'You're not going anywhere without me!' Louise said, with her head tilted and hands

on her hips.

'Yeah count me in!' Ryan smiled, excitedly.

'Ok, Mary and Thomas you guys stay here, we'll come back to get you when this is

all over.' Nicole said optimistically. And Both Mary and Thomas didn't need to be

asked twice and agreed to stay.

Arthur and Marcus rushed back and XJ2 and another robot were assigned to escort

Marcus and Churchill to the showroom of vehicles. Before they left, Marcus

approached Nicole and the others, 'hey,' Marcus smiled.

'Hey, you ok?' Nicole asked.

'Yeah, think so...'

'How about you guys?'

'We're great!'

'Amy said no, didn't she?'

Nicole nodded.

'But that's not gonna stop you is it?'

Nicole shook her head and grinned. Marcus smiled, 'I'll be back soon, make sure you

are ready, I'll figure out how to get you hitchhikers a ride!'

But before he walked away, he peered back, 'Mary... Thomas?'

'No, they're not coming!' Nicole said quickly.

'Ok, good idea. No offence.' He said looking at Mary and Thomas's faces.

'None taken!' Mary said joyfully.

'Ok, great!' He said and he rushed off.

Churchill, from a quiet and a unsocial little man, turned into a monster – he was

ranting and raving, ordering people to get a few of the solar panels off the rooftops,

but still ended up rushing around with them because he couldn't trust them to take

them off without breaking them. And did not decelerate for a moment, fuelled by

excitement and the strong feeling of finally having a purpose, he persisted in shouting

and ordering people; he even got people to carry his heavy suitcase around with him

everywhere he went, not trusting it out of his sight. He had around twenty young men

running around, while he, Marcus and a few men, carrying his equipment, rushed to

the vehicle showroom.

On entering the web-infested showroom, Marcus was amazed to the see the amount of

vehicles that there were parked perfectly in huge room. Most of which, aside from

having a coat of thick dust, were in immaculate condition. And the range varied from

huge buses, SUV's to high performance sports cars. Churchill noticed Marcus's eyes

glued on the range of Italian sports vehicles and stood in front of his sight, 'they may

be a little inappropriate...' Churchill, lifting an eyebrow.

'Yeah... of course...' Marcus, thinking practical again, 'the solar panels won't power

the buses, will they?'

'Probably not... I think it'll be better to focus on the SUV's.'

'Ok.' Marcus opened the driver side door and climbed into a black, seven seated, car

and Churchill climbed into the passenger side. The men carrying the heavy equipment

and solar panels from the roofs put everything down and looked exhausted.

Marcus wiped the dash so he could see the dials in the car and then began wondering,

where do I start?

'Pull the leaver near the pedals and open the bonnet!' Churchill pointed. Marcus

found and pulled the leaver, releasing the hinge on the hood. As they got around the

front of the car and Churchill asked one of the men to raise the hood, Marcus stared at

the engine and the small black battery in the corner.

'No... this isn't right...'

'What do you mean?' Churchill asked, studying the mechanics.

'This will take us days to do... we have to re-design the entire operation of the car!'

'But... we can do it... I know we can!'

'We don't have the time and besides, these cars were around in late nineties, early

twenties!'

'Ok... what's your point?'

'This is a museum, not a showroom. Come on...' Marcus began rushing further down

the huge room until he approached a large double door that was locked with a keypad

lock.

'There's no power in this building so we won't even be able to attempt the code!'

Marcus said. The men moved Marcus and Churchill to the side, 'allow us to try!'

They began kicking and barging the door until it gave way and collapsed.

As they stepped inside the room, they caught sight of an entirely different planet. The

vehicles were worlds apart from what they just saw. They were much curvier and the

elegantly shaped bodies camouflaged more than half the tyres like a skirt covering

most of a person's legs. Some of the vehicles headlight's were small and triangular

and some thin and rectangle but the tail lights were all small round circles and only

varied in the number of lights on each model of vehicle.

Marcus, realising that they don't really have the time to stand and marvel, rushed to

the largest he could find – it was a gleaming black and the rectangular lights stared at

them like an angry ogre.

'Now, that's more like it!' Marcus opened the door, which flung up like the doors of a

Lamborghini. He got in and opened the stretched hood. The entire engine looked like

a huge battery.

'Churchill... this entire engine is electric powered.'

'How do you know?'

'I don't know how, but I do. Can you juice it up?'

'I can certainly try!' Churchill smiled briefly then turned to the man who was carrying

his suitcase of tools, 'come on man, bring me my stuff, we don't have all day!' The

man, rolling his eyes, lifted his heavy suitcase and dropped it right next to his foot.

'Careful!'

'Whoops!' The man said sarcastically.

'I need the panels... they have a storage battery and providing these, brutes got the

right ones, I should be able to make the connections!' The men took no notice,

especially as Churchill went with them and chose the panels himself. Marcus stayed

inside looking at the controls while Churchill worked his skills on the engine.

The men stood guard and tried to ignore Churchill talking and arguing with himself.

'This is absolutely remarkable!' Churchill poked his head into the vehicle, making

Marcus jump.

'What is?'

'The power required to get this vehicle going is extraordinary... well let me show

you.' Marcus followed him out to the front of the car. 'Take a look at the battery cell

from the engine and compare it to the one in the panel. This battery from the solar

panel, according to this, should be able to power this vehicle for days, maybe even

weeks. It's truly amazing!'

'Well?'

'Well what?' Churchill asked with his eyes sparkling.

'Well... shall we crank this baby up?'

'What? Yes, of course!' Churchill made the connection and looked at Marcus, 'well?'

'Let's have a look inside...' They climbed in anxiously and sat in silent, not knowing

exactly what they were expecting, but expecting something. Churchill sighed in

disappointment, a sigh he had well rehearsed from many disappointing experiments.

Marcus, on the other end of the spectrum, was not disappointed at all, 'even if it is

powered, it's not just going to start up, we need a key for the ignition!' But they

couldn't find an ignition, 'look for a key hole, a card slot or something...'

But then it hit Marcus, they must have got past key and card methods by the time they

made these, 'Engine start!' Marcus said as clearly as he could. But everything

remained silent, 'it was worth a try, I guess.' But a red led light on the dash began to

blink and then lots of little lights began to blink and car started to make a faint and

prolonged buzzing noise like a milk float.

The men standing outside were a little startled with the sound, and deep down didn't

really think they would get it going.

'So what now? How do we drive this thing?' Churchill asked concentrating on the

controls.

'I'm not quite sure... but let me have a look at this...'

Churchill sat completely still and amazed as Marcus whizzed through the vehicle's

computer. 'According to this, we can drive this thing manually... or... we could...'

Marcus turned and faced Churchill what's the name of the road the large hall, we just

came from, on?'

'Umm... it's the... yes... it's the high street!'

'Ok, we should be able to use the computer's navigation system and there is autodrive

that should get us there.'

'Amazing!'

'Ok, it's right here...' Marcus took a deep breath, 'drive to the high street.' The

vehicle rose a little higher, with a light hissing sound. There were a few crackling

sounds as the vehicle struggled to move forward. 'It's stiff from being parked in one

place for so many years... but it'll be ok.' Or at least he hoped it would, 'engine stop!'

The car stopped and the buzzing noise decreased.

'Let's crank a few more of these up!' Marcus said, excitedly.

The Dark-Tec Towers

Fredrick came running and banged on the door.

'Come in Fredrick!' Fredrick barged in huffing and puffing.

'Master... master...'

'Get on with it Fredrick! Have you found the boy? And where on earth have Hex and

his creeps got to?'

'Master... the boy, we've found the boy!' Fredrick showed him the footage of Marcus

and the robots gathered in Beaconsfield.

'Well this is interesting – how is he doing that? Get word to Hex and give him the

boy's location!'

'That's the thing... Hex and his team are missing.'

'What!' He shouted so loud Fredrick stumbled back and covered his face with his

arms. 'I don't know what I expected... if you want something to actually get done, you

have to do it yourself! Maxwell!' he shouted, and after a few seconds Maxwell

appeared.

'Maxwell! The system?'

'We have too many bugs and it's not ready!'

'Maxwell, you're really pushing me now!' he frowned, 'prepare the army and get my

transport ready.'

'But that would not be advisable... even with the system online, not all the bridges

have been made, some areas are completely dead. It would be dangerous – you could

die.'

'I know the risks, just do it. The boy is close!'

'He has got control of the old robots and we can't override them – even the system

going online will not guarantee anything!'

'I will not back down from this boy! I want everything we have prepared for battle!'

'I think you are overreacting. It will not be necessary for such move.'

'Really... so, you think now! Why don't you tell me how the boy is taking control of

the ground army?' Maxwell remained silent.

'Exactly! Prepare for battle now!'

'Right away.' Maxwell disappeared.

'Well done Fredrick! You've really made me proud and as your reward you will join

me to battle.' Fredrick was petrified of fighting and hated the thought of tagging

along, but hid his feelings behind a nervous smile and a nod.

Inside the towers, every light was turned on, every door was open and the huge fleet

of robots in the basement activated and briefed. The towers, from a deadly silence,

began screaming with ground trembling and terrifying sounds. There were loud hisses

as gas released, screeching metal and pounding thuds on the ground. Every robot, big

or small, fighter or non-fighter, ready or not, was configured for battle.
Chapter 10

The Rocky Road

Marcus and Churchill set and configured four other vehicles, two the same size as

their one and two thrice the size.

'Now listen up men, you do not need to touch the controls! The vehicle will be in

auto-drive and we will all reconvene at the main hall. All you need to do is get in and

say, 'car destination High Street,' nothing else!' Churchill ordered, so excited that he

looked psychotic. 'Well what the hell are you waiting for? Get in the cars and be

careful with my things!' The men, tempted to tie him up and lock him up in the boot

of one of the cars, frowned and got on the cars. Churchill jumped in the car with

Marcus and rubbed his hands together anxiously.

'Where did you learn so much about all this kind of stuff?' Marcus asked before

instructing the vehicle to go to the High Street. All the vehicles began making light

hisses and their suspension rose. The tyres began inflating automatically, raising the

vehicle even more, the head and tail lights shone a beam, cutting through the dust

floating in the air and sounds of churning metal and rubber began bouncing off the

walls as the vehicles set in motion.

'Churchill?' Marcus called.

'What!'

'Where did you learn so much about all this kind of stuff?'

But Churchill just kept muttering to himself, 'wait a minute... yes! Just as I suspected,

the vehicles are built with some type of sensor system!'

'Yes an agent-based system, it perceives the environment and with the help of sound

and visual recognition, it can avoid collision, even at extremely fast speeds.'

'Outstanding!' Churchill sat marvelling at hearing answers to answers to questions

that haunted him and kept him awake for many nights. 'I gathered a lot from books

that, back when things weren't so dreadful, I managed to get from the great library...

for years I tried to get back there but it was no use! No one could get there!' Marcus

stayed quiet and decided not to mention that they went there, as he thought it might

tease him, and especially as they didn't even look at any books, let alone take any.

'I have so many questions...' Churchill said.

I am afraid I don't have all the answers... I know about this system, from using it – it

feels like my mind keeps going in out of different worlds!'

'You are a remarkable young boy and I am sure that you will figure it out.'

'Thanks!'

'And then you will tell me all about it!'

Marcus smiled, 'of course.'

The people gathered outside the hall were astonished to see the vehicles racing

towards them and the robots running alongside. People began cheering and clapping.

It was a sight that although they hoped and dreamt about, never thought they would

live to see. Some people pinched themselves, to make sure that they wouldn't wake

back up in the dystopia that they had always known. But this was real – realer than

anything else, they all knew that the road that lay ahead would be far from straight

and their journey agonising, but it didn't matter – nothing did except this boy and

what needed to do. And as it happened, they were not the only people that felt like

this. When the vehicle carrying Marcus stopped and he leapt out, all the robots got on

alert as the ground began to tremble with thuds, gallops the loud sounds of roaring

engines.

Marcus ordered the robots to stand down as herds of people came storming onto the

High Street. Word of Marcus had spread and people who believed had been waiting,

waiting for something they knew, like the way they knew the ground beneath them,

was true and this war was inevitable. The newcomers were astonished to see the

robots, more so, that the robots weren't trying to kill them.

'So it is true!' A strong looking woman climbed off her white horse. She was over

six-foot and her black coat was dragging behind her as she approached Arthur, who

was on guard, and looked back at Marcus every few seconds, making sure he was ok.

'Relax friend. We have travelled from far to fight alongside you.' She removed the

large gun that was strapped on her back and threw it behind her. 'My name is Karina,

please let us see him... we are here to help.'

'How do we know that you are?' But Arthur was interrupted by a voice, a familiar

voice, one that he didn't like very much. And from among the crowd Hex limped out,

still heavily bruised.

'Back off, all of you! Arthur raised his sword in anger.

'Wait...' Hex struggled forward, arms lifted and with no weapons, 'Arthur listen... I

was wrong. For so many years I fought for something I didn't even understand, and

when I fought with you I realised, I was fighting for something wrong... I can't expect

you or anyone else to forgive me, but give me a chance to make things right. Please...

I owe you, I owe everyone.'

'Enough! What do you take me for, you think you can trick me, is this how desperate

you have gotten!' Arthur rushed towards him.

'Stop!' Marcus shouted and walked towards them, the lady stared at Marcus and her

face began to glow, as did all the newcomers.

'Stop...' Marcus looked at Hex and smiled lightly, 'what happened to your friends?'

'I told them how I felt and that what we were doing was wrong, I guess Arthur

beating me, woke me up. Naturally, they tried to kill me, but I escaped.'

'And you told all these people and brought them here?'

'Yes... I want to make things right.'

'That couldn't have been easy... you will get your chance.'

'Thank you. I will not let you down.'

Arthur was furious, 'but...'

'Arthur please... you're just going to have to trust me.'

Arthur nodded and remained quiet, a silence that screamed a thousand unpleasant

words. Marcus was now convinced in what he had to do, and although not clear on

how he was going to do it, he was ready. He climbed up on XJ2, who had become his

pulpit from where he delivered the plans. As he stood high, he looked at the few

hundred excited people gathered, men, women and some young boys. And their eyes

were glued at the living myth that stood before them, talking with passion and honour.

'People, since I have been here, I have not believed in myself – I am not the boy that

you have been talking about for so many years and I don't know if I do even now! But

what I do believe in is that everyone has the right to be free. I don't know why I don't

have this thing around my wrist, how I can control these robots or how I even got

here! But I believe in humanity – we have the right to live and live free we shall! I am

not your leader nor will I command you, I am going to the Dark-Tec empires and I

will not leave until they crumble and those of you that choose to can follow!'

There was a loud cheer from the crowds of people, some applauded, some even

saluted but all shared the same warm feeling hope.

'What's the plan now?' Arthur asked, not seeming too happy.

'The people look tired and hungry, we rest a little longer and share with them the food

we have left.'

'But... the Dark-Tec empire will have full knowledge of us now and they are probably

getting ready. We should move.'

'You're right, but let's not forget that this entire fight is about those people – the ones

that have travelled blindly, to fight alongside us. Let them rest and eat... please.'

'Yes ok, but it will get dark soon, are you sure you want to be travelling at night?'

'Arthur, since you have known me, have I been sure about anything?'

'Good point.'

Whether he wanted it or not, believed it or not, Marcus had become the leader and a

noble one at that.

The people rested, and although the newcomers had transport of their own, Churchill

and few men went and got ten more vehicles going. Arthur still sceptical, kept a close

eye on Hex and instructed Amy, Khan and Elaina to do the same.

'Marcus, I want you to go in here,' Arthur pointed to an open door inside the hall,

'you'll be safe here. Nicole, Ryan and Louise followed him in.

Arthur stepped out and shut the door, asking a few people he knew really well to

stand guard. With so many people, especially so many that he didn't know, he

couldn't trust anyone.

Marcus sat quietly in the corner of the room and had lost his appetite. Ryan and

Louise were lost in an ego-driven debate, but kept their voices at a reasonable level.

'Hey,' Nicole smiled her usual and warm smile.

'Hey,' but Marcus found it hard to smile; he feelt sick with nerves and didn't have a

clue what he was doing.

'You haven't touched anything... you got to eat!'

'I can't... I've tried, I just can't do this!'

'It's just bread and water...' Marcus stood up, ignoring the fact that Nicole missed that

he wasn't referring to the food.

'They think I'm something I'm not! I am not a leader and I can't do this. I am gonna

get everyone killed. I have to stop this now, before...'

'Before what Marcus?' Nicole raised her voice, making Ryan and Louise stop dead in

their tracks.

'You say getting everyone killed, but like this, we are already dead! I don't know if

you are the boy from our stories but don't you get it? You have given everyone

something to live for!' Everyone stood silently, no one had seen Nicole this serious.

'Now everyone just eat your food!'

'Yes mother!' Louise remarked and after a few seconds, everyone, including Nicole

burst out laughing.

Ryan and Louise began their battle of wits again and Marcus sat down and began

nibbling on the bread and sipping on the water, still not really hungry.

'Thank you!'

'For what?'

'For what you just said...'

'Oh that, nah I just don't like seeing good food go to waste!' She smiled cheekily.

'So Marcus...' Louise turned to Marcus, feeling satisfied that she landed on top in her

verbal battle with Ryan, 'how you gonna get us out of here?'

'I thought you would never ask!' He smiled, 'the larger vehicles have huge luggage

compartments, you guys are gonna hide in there until we're too far to turn back.'

'It's hardly first class!' She huffed.

'Your hardly first class!' Ryan grinned, 'ha... gotcha!'

'Whatever!' Louise stuck her tongue out. And within seconds they were at each

other's throats.

'It must be love!' Nicole giggled with Marcus.

There was a loud and frantic banging on the door, and Churchill came barging in. He

looked his confused and anxious self. The tall man carrying his stuff, dropped his

bags and escaped back out of the door. 'Marcus... Marcus... there you are Marcus,' he

huffed, as if he had been running. 'Our new friends have some extraordinary vehicles

– they run on fuel! This means they have access to petroleum!'

'Ok... that's good...' Marcus remarked, obviously not seeing the picture that was in

Churchill's head.

'Marcus... don't you get it? We could use all the means of transport with petroleum!

This means we could even fly!' He rummaged recklessly through his stuff and

removed a tatty old book. Flicking through the pages like a raging monster, 'ah, here,

look at this...' there were pages on pages of illustrations and details on aircrafts.

'That's great, it really is... but we don't have any.' Marcus said.

'Yes I know that but you and me, Marcus, we can build it – we can build it and we

can fly, free like a bird – imagine it, cutting through the sky, coming to par with the

birds, feeling the clouds and with the worries of this miserable world way below us!'

His eyes were like a hungry lion's, his mouth watering like a child in a sweet shop

and his face twitching uncontrollably.

'Ok... Einstein, let's just take a deep breath.' Louise remarked sarcastically but

actually a little worried that he may have a seizure.

'Churchill, it's a wonderful idea but here on earth we have a few issues with time at

the moment! You know the Dark-Tec army, probably planning on killing us and all

that kinda stuff!' Ryan said, trying to snap him out of it.

'Yes... I know but think of the possibilities...'

'Churchill, it really is a good idea but we just don't have the time to do it!' Marcus

interrupted.

'You're right but can you get me access to the vehicles and borrow some petroleum

from our guests? Please?'

'I'll see what I can do.' Marcus smiled. Churchill nodded in appreciation and walked

out of the room, shouting, 'well! Is someone going to get my stuff?'

Marcus sat crouched into the corner of the room, lost in deep thought.

'You ok?' Nicole asked.

'What... yeah, I'm fine. Thanks.'

'What is it?'

'I don't know, I don't...' He stood up and looked around and piece of chalk and began

scribbling. Like a mad scientist, he scraped the powdery whiteness all across the

wooden floor and brick walls. Nicole moved out of the way as his thoughts began to

flourish. When he finally stopped, he stood back and they looked at the formulas and

diagrams.

'What is it?' Nicole stared, baffled.

'It's... the plans for making aircrafts. The book he showed had a small but vital error

that would prevent it from flying! Maybe it was missing a few pages or something.'

'What the hell have you got in that head of yours?' Ryan asked.

'It's a brain! But you wouldn't know anything about that!' Louise sneered, 'How'd

you like me now? Fish face!' They all giggled, except Marcus, who looked lost.

'Cheer up!' Nicole said, hoping Marcus would cheer up.

'Sorry....' Marcus looked petrified, 'I just I need some air.' He slowly walked out of

the room. Louise and Ryan continued talking like normal but Nicole was overcome

with a feeling of sadness. She and Marcus had formed a close friendship and it was

hard for her to see him like this. The thought of running after him and telling it will all

be ok, drilled on her mind over and over but yet she couldn't bring herself to move.

She couldn't work out whether it was because maybe he really needed the space and

she would make it worse or maybe she was not really convinced that it would actually

be ok. Either way, she felt it best to leave him be.

A brief moment later, Arthur and Elaina barged in, 'where's Marcus?' Arthur, looking

annoyed.

'He said he needed some air...' Ryan said, knowing that he's probably due for an ear

bashing.

'...And ...you just let him go?' Arthur kicked the door and looked at the two men

guarding the door in rage. They stopped their conversation and looked pale as

Arthur's eyes began to glow.

'Why do I even bother?' He stormed out and began looking for Marcus. Amy noticed

the panic in Arthur's face and rushed up to him, 'hey what's wrong and where have

you been? I've been looking everywhere for you!' She said with her eyes spitefully

staring at Elaina. She didn't even know why she was behaving so weird, Elaina

seemed great and Arthur seemed very fond of her but Amy had become extremely

overprotective and didn't want to see him hurt.

'Keep it quiet, I can't seem to find Marcus, I don't want everyone knowing he's on

own!'

'He couldn't have got far, he only left a few minutes ago.' Arthur rushed out and

looked around, but couldn't see Marcus anywhere. He turned to the robot guards and

shouted, 'where is Marcus?' He left and walked down the alleyway.

'And you didn't stop him or XJ, you didn't go with him!' Arthur yelled.

'He instructed us to remain here and stay on guard.'

'For artificial intelligence, you're about as thick as these lot!' He stared angrily at

Ryan, Louise, Nicole and the men who were guarding the door. Arthur ran towards

the alleyway but paused as it got there. He held out his arms, indicating everyone that

was running behind him to stop. He could see Marcus in the alleyway, he had chalk in

his hand and was scribbling all across the ground, on the walls and couldn't stop.

Arthur approached him slowly, mystified with all the scribble, 'hey, Marcus... what's

going on?'

'I... got all this stuff in my head and it won't let me think! And what's worse is that

I'm beginning to understand it!'

'How is that a bad thing?'

'You don't get it... I am in control of these robots because they are offline – the entire

system is offline, once it is all activated... and everything is back online, then... the

robots will get there instructions from the system!'

'You mean they will be against us?'

'Precisely! The irony is without them we are doomed and with them we're doomed!`

'But what about XJ2 and those robots? I thought they were like too old, or

something.'

'Yes, but compare XJ2 to the new ones and you can imagine what's going to be

against us! Plus even the old ones might get out of our control.'

'So what do we do?'

'I... don't know exactly.'

'Marcus, we have to do something!'

'Look, I am not who everyone thinks I am! I can't do this. I just can't!'

'Listen to me!' Arthur's tone was becoming aggressive, 'we didn't come this far to

back down, besides, they will come for you – we have to fight!'

'Yes I know... that's why I have decided I will go alone.' Everyone's expressions

dropped and they couldn't bear the thought of what would happen to him if he were to

go alone.

'There's absolutely no chance that's gonna happen, so get it out of your head!'

'What choice do we have? They're already on their way – I can feel it. Because of me

you will all get killed! If I go now, you guys have got a chance.'

'Marcus... no, I can't let you do this. I will come with you!'

'Me too!' Amy said.

'Count me in!' Elaina said. One by one, they all said they were coming along – no

negotiating. Marcus was overwhelmed that they would stand by him but held his guns

and said no.

'I am not giving you a choice!' Arthur said.

'I had a feeling you might say that! I want to get back and tell the rest what I've

decided.' As they hurried back, the robots they had grown to like and rely on didn't

have the same appeal. It was hard to look at them as friends but even harder to look at

them as enemies.

'As Marcus walked past XJ2 he asked him, 'once the system is online, will you and

your friends accept the new instructions?'

'Most of the robots you see here are manually overridden.'

'What does that mean?' Marcus asked.

'Human engineer instructions take precedence over transmitted instructions.'

'What about the others?'

'The other versions take transmitted instructions and they update automatically,

regardless of human engineer.'

'So if instructed, they'll turn against us?'

'Correct.'

'How many are there?'

'Ten in total – all new and more developed models.'

'Great! Is there anything that can be done to stop them?'

'It would be a better strategy to destroy them now. If they are instructed to destroy

you then the ten of them will be equivalent to twenty normal robots.'

'Now that sounds like a good idea!' Arthur said, already thinking of how to destroy

them.

'No... we will not destroy them.'

'But... didn't you hear that? They'll turn!' Arthur stressed.

'There must be another way. If we destroy them, we won't stand a chance against

what is coming for us!'

'If we don't, then we'll be giving them more of an army!'

'No... there must be another way...' Marcus thought silently for a few minutes, and

then his eyes brightened up, 'XJ, could we remove their Wi-Fi chip?'

'Yes you could, however this will result in the robot not functioning at all.'

'Why?'

'They were designed like that – the Wi-Fi and a few other components are configured

to be non removable – for security reasons.'

'There must be another way! XJ, how else can we stop them from transmitting and

receiving?'

'The only way that this could be possible is through, a memory flash and

reprogramming. But they are configured with a robust security system and it will be

difficult to do this task.'

'Ah, you said difficult, not impossible!' Marcus smiled.

'It is possible. If you could hack into the system, bypass the Intrusion Detection

System, impersonate the administrator, you could then run a script and reprogram the

entire system to not accept air transmissions.'

'Ok...' Marcus in deep thought.

'The only issue with that is the robots are powered through the Wi-Fi. Disabling the

Wi-Fi will disable the power, so it will only function as far as the internal battery will

take it.'

'How long will it last?'

'Approximately twenty-four-hours.'

'Ok.'

'Marcus, even if we can do all that rubbish that he just said, after twenty-four-hours

their dead! There's no point wasting the time!' Arthur said.

'He's right.' Elaina stepped forward.

'No, we have to try. Arthur, tell everyone the situation – make sure they are clear on

how dangerous this is and try to persuade them to stay. XJ, show me to the robots.'

As Marcus walked towards the robots, Churchill barged out, 'Marcus!' He shouted.

'Marcus... I just read all your notes on the floor and on the walls and your right, this is

amazing, I can make it... I know I can!'

'That's great, I'll leave that with you. I am glad I ran into you... follow me.'

Arthur told everyone the situation and how Marcus felt, but as he expected, no one

was backing down. He had never seen so many people, knowing the dangers yet still

so eager to fight. They stood facing forward like valiant gladiators in an arena full of

super killing machines, ready to battle an enemy they knew that they had no chance of

defeating – but they were all ready to die trying.

'So is there a plan?' Khan asked Arthur, who was getting his weapons ready.

'Ok, the vehicles are ready, so while we wait for Marcus, we need to prepare the

troops.'

'My men are ready!'

'Really? Show me.'

'What do you mean?'

'Get them all ready and outside in ten minutes.' So Khan ordered his men to get

ready, while Arthur instructed Amy to continue preparing everyone else.

After ten minutes Khan's men were gathered outside, geared up with different type of

weapons. Arthur strolled out, biting on a half eaten apple. He stood in front of Khan

and the men and began chewing faster, as he thought about what he was going to say,

'you guys look great, I mean, the muscles, the clothes, the weapons – you definitely

look the part. But what can you do? Can you fight?'

'Yes sir!' They all shouted in perfect synchronisation.

'Good, show me...' they all looked at one another, confused.

'Khan, pull forward four of your best fighters!'

Khan nodded at four strong men standing at the front and asked them to step forward.

Although they were brave men, they had all heard about Arthur.

'Now attack me?'

'But sir...' one of the men said

'Are you scared?'

'No sir... it's just that there are four of us and we're all bigger than you.'

'Do you think that your number or size is going to defeat me... now are we going to

dance or are we still getting to know one another?' The men edged forward but threw

their weapons behind them to make it fair. The first man ran towards Arthur and

swung a punch, Arthur ducked down and watched him stumble and fall.

'Aggressive! I like it but there's something missing. The second and third man rushed

towards him and one grabbed him from behind, his arm tightly wrapped around his

neck, as the other man went to strike him, Arthur sprung and almost ran up his

attacker's body and slid out of the lock, flipped over and landed behind them. He

pushed the man from the back really hard and he collided into the other and they both

stumbled to the ground. The fourth man's loud growl made the other men move back.

He was considerably bigger than the other three and looked twice as intimidating,

especially as he taunted by tensing his muscles. Arthur looked unruffled; he waited

until the man came close before he even looked at him. The large man swung a few

punches but Arthur evaded the blows, swiftly moving, dodging and diving. This

continued for a minute or so before the man began to wear out – he began to resemble

a huge engine almost out of steam. It got to a point where the man could not move

and the raging bull bent down holding his knees.

'Your size is your strength and your weakness! Use it wisely.' He walked forward,

scratch-less and not having broken a sweat. 'All of you listen up and listen good!' By

now a lot of the men that came with Karina had stood around watching what was

happening.

'What just happened? These men made two huge mistakes: number one, they relied

on their muscles and size. Number two, they dropped their weapons! We are going to

war with something that will do anything to destroy you! They will be much bigger

than you and better than you and there will be more of them! And if you rage at them

recklessly, they will squash you like bugs! People, we don't have room for screw-ups,

and believe me there will be no second chances. I have faced these things before, they

will not hesitate, they will not show you mercy and they are not taking prisoners!' No

one else challenged Arthur and they all gathered how he earned his reputation. He

was strong, wise, and fearless – his confidence was concrete.

Arthur spent the next three hours training and mentoring the men that were gathered,

teaching them to use their strengths and cloaking their weakness. Everyone took his

advice and followed his guidance and practiced harder than they had ever done – nor

would Arthur accept anything less.
Chapter 11

Battle of the Dark-Tec Army

'Where do we start?' Churchill asked.

'I'm not sure... I can't voice command it to flash itself. How am I supposed to hack it

without a computer? Do they have any computers around here?'

'You must be joking... once it was spread that computers were the cause of all of this

then, every computer, whatever kind, was considered a spy and was destroyed. They

wouldn't let me keep one to do my research.' Churchill complained.

'It was probably for the best... anyway, I think I got an idea. Where is your wonderful

bag of goodies?' Marcus asked.

'Two of the men are looking after it inside, what's the plan?'

'I need you get it!' Marcus asked the robot where its main circuit board was and the

robot explained that it was on its back under a metal plate. Marcus climbed up the two

legged man made out of metal and found the plate.

'Marcus!' Churchill called from below.

'I need something to open this with.' Churchill reached into his bag and removed a

long screwdriver and threw it up. Marcus nearly lost his balance when trying to catch

the tool from his ridiculous throw.

'Sorry...'

Marcus spent a few seconds trying to open the heavy flap which came crashing down

to the ground and made Churchill leap out of his body.

'So... you never told me the plan...'

'I need you up here!'

'I'm not climbing up there... no way!'

'Come on stop being a wimp!'

'I said no and that's final!'

'XJ!' Marcus shouted, and within moments XJ2 was there, still looking a little

damaged from being launched into the building earlier.

'Churchill, find XJ's main board and look to see if you can find something to connect

to its output feed!'

'You mine like a cable of some sort?'

'Exactly.' Marcus asked the Robot that he was stood on to crouch down so he could

get down and have the main board at reaching distance.

'So, what do you have in mind?' Churchill asked, rummaging through his stuff for the

cable with the right type of connection.

'Because we can't shut them down, we are going to short-circuit their boards and

when it is in boot mode, we are going to use XJ to reprogram these things.'

'Will that work?'

'I guess there's only one way of finding out!'

Churchill smiled, 'I guess so...'

'Any luck?'

'No...no...no... ah, yes!'

'You found it?'

'No, but I was looking for that!' He picked out a rubber band and placed it in his

pocket. Marcus sighed.

'Ok...ok, I'm looking.' After another few seconds of rummaging around, Churchill

found a cable, 'yes!'

'You found one?'

'I think so, it's not exactly the same but adjusting a few of these pins should do it.'

Churchill took a few moments amending the ends so they fit on both the robots. While

Marcus studied the main board, trying to figure out how was going to do this without

damaging the board itself.

Inside, Nicole sat in the room with Ryan and Louise – she sat silently with a

mischievous look pasted on her face, as she gazed into the air.

'What?' Louise asked.

'What?' Nicole replied, playing innocent.

'No, don't give me that! I've seen that look before... what are you up to?'

'Nothing!'

'Nicole... don't lie to me!'

'Ok... it's just that I don't fancy riding in the cargo section!'

Ryan and Louise smiled, 'and what exactly did you have in mind?' Ryan asked.

'I was thinking maybe we could take one those vehicles to ourselves... I mean they

won't even notice one missing!'

Ryan, now bored in his bid to try to annoy Louise, was thrilled at the idea, 'Let's do

it!'

'But do you even know how to drive one of those things?' Louise asked.

'No, but I'm a fast learner!'

'Ok, I'm game!' Louise nodded.

They snuck out of the building and as usual, managed to get out undetected. Outside,

they saw the row of vehicles. Their bodies were shiny and curvy and Louise wanted to

take the red one because she thought it looked like a beautiful lady bird and that it

would suit her. And as expected, Ryan had a few clever remarks to say about that.

'Shh! Guys come on focus, ok, it's like a lady bird and... you're like a lady bird... or

whatever! Let's just get it!' Nicole said crouching and creeping towards the vehicle.

As they got closer, they noticed the doors had no keyholes or handles. There was just

a little round circle on the door, it was black and stood out from the glossy red. They

had no idea that it had fingerprint recognition and accidently touched it and it opened.

Luckily for them, it had not been configured to anyone and gave them access.

'Great! Let's get in.' Nicole climbed in and sat in the driver's side, Louise jumped in

the back and Ryan in the front passenger's side.

The interior was black with bits of red, matching the exterior; and in an odd way, it

did bear a strange resemblance to a lady bird. The seats were like huge black leather

buckets, which they sunk into – comfortable but cold.

'So, what now?' Ryan asked, looking at the stylish dash and the digital screen.

'I don't have a clue!' Nicole replied.

'Really?'

'No... I overheard them talking inside, these things are run by voice commands and in

that compartment over there, 'she reached over and opened a compartment just below

the dash, 'and here it is... the commands.' She smiled.

'Well go on then!' Louise getting inpatient.

'Ok, you just have to say the vehicle's name then the instruction,' Nicole took a deep

breath and then read out the first instruction, 'Tecra, engine start...' and they cheered

when it started up. The vehicle began to heat up instantly; the cold leather became

warm and soothing.

'According to this, it has auto-drive.' Nicole said.

'That's great, that'll make things a lot easier, right?' Ryan remarked.

'Yeah... but where would the fun be in that?' Nicole said, 'Tecra, bring up the manual

controls and display the instructions.' Nicole was shocked when the interior began to

transform. The dash began to split as a, not quite round, steering wheel crept out, it

had a few different coloured buttons on it and a couple of small leavers behind it. The

vehicle gave off a gentle siren and the word CAUTION in capital letter was blinking

on the screen. And then the computerised voice spoke, 'caution! Tecra does not

recommend manual driving and it is illegal to drive on the motorway in manual-drive

– according to statistics for 2020 till 2025, auto-drive reduced accidents by 99.9%.

Have a safe journey and Tecra will now auto adjust the seats and pedals. And

instantly, the driver seat began to raise and the pedals crept up and Nicole could now

see out of the windscreen and reach the pedals easily.

'Tecra, Can you tell me how to drive this vehicle?'

'Tecra, steering will give the control to navigate and the right pedal is to accelerate

and the one on the left is to brake.'

'Do you really think this is a good idea?' Ryan said, clearly agreeing with the

vehicle's notion to stick to auto-drive. But Nicole smiled, rebelliously and put her foot

down on the acceleration pedal as hard as she could. They all braced themselves for

the take off, but nothing happened and the siren went off again. 'The Tecra will not

move until it has been put into gear.'

'Where are the gears?' Nicole asked, but there was no reply, 'oh yeah, Tecra, where

are the gears?'

'The gears are located behind the steering, but you can also use voice commands for

the gears. The commands are now being displayed on screen.'

'Ok... great! Tecra, drive!'

'Ah... I think you might have to press on the accelerator... duh!' Louise commented,

by now she was feeling so warm and comfortable, her eyes were closing and she felt

like drifting off.

'Oh...' Nicole pressed on the pedal and they all screamed as the vehicle roared

forward. Nicole turned the steering harshly to avoid the vehicle that was parked in

front.

'Let go of the accelerator! Louise shouted, 'and hit the brakes!'

Nicole hit the brakes hard, the tyres screeched and they were all launched forward.

Louise hit the back of the seat; Nicole banged her head lightly on the wheel. They all

sat frozen in shock, having had their lives flash in front of them, they remained

speechless.

'It might be an idea to not slam on the pedals!' Nicole said, moving her hair out of her

face. Nicole nodded and took some deep breaths, 'ok, let's try this again.' She let go

of the brake and gently pressed on the accelerator and they pulled off slowly. Nicole

was, in fact, an incredibly fast learner and got the hang of driving in moments.

'So, shouldn't we wait for the others and go with them?' Louise said, still fiddling

with her hair.

'Yeah, I just wanted to get out of the area and hide this thing, so when they set off, we

could get it and follow!' They drove for a few more minutes and Ryan, getting bored,

began playing with the touch screen computer.

'This thing is awesome, I've never seen anything like it; hey Louise, check this out,

it's even got cameras all around it, and there's a zoom! Look at how far I can see.

'Wow! That's so cool! Louise remarked sarcastically. Ryan zoomed as far as he could

and suddenly jumped back, sitting completely still.

'Guys... look at this!' He pointed at the screen. They all sat with their eyes almost

bulging out of their sockets and Nicole stopped the vehicle.

'What the hell is that?' Louise said as they stared at a thick grey mushroom of smoke

in the distance. The smoke split apart like humongous gates opening, unleashing

something so frightening that they all sat holding their breath – a huge army of

hideous looking robots emerged, violently torturing the ground beneath them. They

were all a terrifying black colour and looked bloodcurdling as they tore forward. All

of them appeared two or three times the size of any of the robots that Marcus had and

there was so many of them that Nicole could not see the back of the army! They

ripped the trees out of the ground and broke through rubble and buildings; nothing

was standing in their way. And like evaporating water, any forms of courage and

bravery had disappeared from the car.

'We... need to get back and let them know!' Nicole stuttered. Ryan and Louise

nodded, not being able to speak.

'Ok... Churchill, we're only gonna have twenty or thirty seconds and most likely, one

chance! So let's try to get this right!' Marcus said plugging one side of the cable into

XJ's main board. Churchill, using another cable, managed to short circuit the other

robot. And, for a split-second, it shutdown and then began to reboot.

'Marcus, now, quickly!' Churchill plugged the cable in.

'XJ, override the boot process with these instructions: disable internal Wi-Fi and only

manual instructions from human engineer accepted; if non-human engineer gives

instructions then reject.'

XJ did as he was told and gave the instructions. And after a few moments, the robot

booted up and stood straight.

'XJ, did it work?'

'Yes, it has. RV1 has accepted the instructions.'

Marcus and Churchill cheered and jumped up and down in excitement. 'Ok, one down

just another nine to go!' Marcus commented, knowing they could do it, but clearly

had their work cut out for them.

'Well we better get on then!' Churchill gathered all his bits.

'Come on XJ, let's do this!'

Amy had spent some time inside talking to the people that were staying behind and

organising where they would stay. Elaina organised the security that was staying

behind to hold the forte. They both ran into each other as they headed outside to join

the army outside, who had been training nonstop for hours. Arthur never took breaks

or gave breaks, especially when it came down to training or preparing for battle.

When Amy and Elaina came outside, Arthur ran up to them and said, 'ok, this is it!'

The rest of the men stopped and felt confident.

'Prepare your weapons and we are ready!' Arthur shouted.

'We are going to have wait on Marcus – you guys know what do here; make sure that

nothing gets into the town.' Arthur said to Amy and Elaina.

'What do you mean? I'm coming with you!' Amy said angrily.

'Yeah me too!' Elaina said in a similar tone.

'No way! It's too dangerous.'

'And you think we can't handle it because we're women?' Amy argued.

'No... we need some strong people to remain behind.' Khan rushed and butted in, not

keen on Elaina coming along.

'Nice try but you're leaving some of the robots, so there's no need for us here!

Besides, you're gonna need everyone you can spare out there.' Elaina said.

'We could beat any of those guys you got out there!' Amy said confidently, 'do I need

to prove it? Pick anyone and I'll beat him right now!'

'I don't think that'll be necessary.' Khan said, admiring her tenacity.

'Wait... you think you can beat anyone here?'

'Yes!'

'Anyone?'

'Yes. I said anyone!'

'Ok, you got it! Get ready.' Arthur handed Amy a sword and she smiled at the

challenge. She stretched her muscles and swung the sword a few times to warm up.

She walked further into where the men were gathered and they stepped back and

made a circle around her forming a ring.

'So, who's the unlucky guy?' She sneered. But to her complete devastation, Arthur

emerged out from the crowd, unarmed. She lowered her sword and looked confused.

'What? You said anyone... I am anyone.'

'But...'

'But nothing, you got your chance to prove yourself!'

'That's not fair!'

'And you think that it's gonna be fair out there, with those things?' He struck her

sword with his, sending hers falling to the ground, 'I am nothing in comparison to

what is out there! This is not a game!' He turned to the crowd of people in anger,

'anyone who thinks that this is a bravery contest needs to wake up! If you want to stay

alive, then leave your egos behind. We don't need heroes; this is not about proving

yourselves. If we fight together, we may stand a chance.' As he was speaking, they all

became distracted with the sound of the roaring vehicle rushing towards them. Arthur

stared in shock as the wheels screeched and it came to halt.

'Who the hell is that?' Arthur asked himself.

The car door opened and Nicole ran out with Louise and Ryan following behind, all

of them looking like ghosts.

'What the hell are you playing at?' Arthur shouted and walked towards them.

'Something's wrong!'

'Yeah, you're damn right! We got kids driving around like lunatics!'

'They're coming! We saw them! There are hundreds of them!' Nicole shouted.

'Slow down... now, this better not be some kind of joke!' Arthur said, with a look that

could intimidate anyone.

'No... it's true, we saw them, and they're coming!' Ryan confirmed. Arthur braced

himself, before turning to Amy, 'find Marcus and tell him they're coming and ready

or not, it's time!' There was a lot of muttering from the anxious crowd as they

prepared to move.

'Khan, get your men ready to move in the next five minutes. Karina, do the same.'

After a few moments, Marcus came running to Arthur, 'is it true?'

'Yes, Nicole and the others have seen them.'

'We need to go now – we need to keep them away from the town and the people

here!' Marcus emphasised, looking paler than ever.

After a short time, they all gathered outside – both human and robot, ready to fight

side-by-side. It was strange for everyone, in that this was the first time that they had

this much power, strong characters from different towns, huge fighting robots, yet

they felt at their weakest – knowing that what monstrosities lay ahead for them were

beyond their imagination. But they all had faith in Marcus and knew that this was

their only chance of freedom and Arthur always had a way of motivating everyone he

spoke to.

'Ok, people... you all know what's out there, so don't breakdown and start crying

when you see them and don't shy away. We're only strong if we stand together!

But I am not going to lie to you, don't expect to come back! I don't! But I'm not

fighting for me; I'm fighting for them in there and for those who will come after them

– into a free world! Arthur shouted and rode his horse, in the direction that Nicole

mentioned, as fast as he could. The small, yet brave, army followed, including Nicole

and the gang, who were trailing behind in the borrowed vehicle.

The Dark-Tec army

The army was huge, to the extent that it made the ground shake in fear. The terrifying

sounds that the army was making slashed through the air and echoed forcefully. No

tree, no rock, nothing could stand in its way and like a hurricane it left a trail of

destruction behind. The robots that formed it were different sizes, some on four legs

and resembled tigers, and some on two, resembling tall, strong, men made out of

shinning black metal. They stormed forward like an ocean of glimmering black

monsters, flooding on to land and covering it all in darkness. The robots huddled in

perfect synchronisation, not one moving ahead of another, in faultless uniform; their

glowing red eyes pierced though the thick grey mist. Their footsteps pounded the

ground in the most terrifying rhythm.

'Come on Fredrick, I thought you would be enjoying this!' The man, they referred to

as master, said with an evil smile. Fredrick sat silently, giving off the odd tremble, in

the large monster-truck type vehicle. The inside of it was very similar to the man's

creepy room back at the Towers, it had the exact same design of chair, the colour and

lack of decoration was an exact replica; the only exception was in the vehicle he had

three large screens, side by side, facing him and showing him images of what was in

front, like a digital windscreen. There were no other controls and the vehicle was

driving itself, its body like a tank and its huge wheels crushing everything around it.

'Maxwell!' He shouted. And Maxwell's face popped up on the middle screen.

'You call...' but before he could finish, the man interrupted, 'shut up Maxwell, I'm

growing tired of your butler-type approach to life! Now, is it ready?'

'No... it's not ready yet?'

'What the hell is wrong with you?' The man screamed furiously. 'I gave you a simple

instruction and you couldn't even do that!'

'Sir, you should not be out there. You should have sent the army but remained

behind.'

'Do not tell me what to do! You artificially unintelligent dim-wit! I give the orders

around here!'

'Sir, was it really that important for you to leave the Towers? We could have captured

the boy.'

'Firstly, I needed the air,' he laughed lightly, 'secondly, I can't trust you to do it, I

can't trust anyone else to do it! I mean... where the hell is Hex? You guys don't get it

do you? This boy is no ordinary boy, in just a few days, he has accomplished so

much, and frankly, he's really getting on my nerves!'

'I must warn you, the area you are approaching has minimum signal strength, and it is

dangerous!'

'Well, thank you for the concern, I didn't think you cared.' He said sarcastically, 'this

is exactly why I need you to do as you're told!' The man was now looking paler than

usual and he began breathing heavier. Fredrick dared not ask him if he was ok. The

man seemed to be getting weaker and weaker, his eyes began to droop and he could

not sit up straight on the seat.

'Do it now! Maxwell, now!'

'It is not yet stable.'

'Now, Maxwell, you idiot!'

And in a split second, it was like the entire world had stopped spinning, a haunting

silence spread with the exception of a high pitched sound that echoed everywhere.

Arthur and Marcus could now see the terrifying army. Marcus jumped off DK and

looked like he was going to be sick. He could hardly speak and his face was blue in

fear.

'What is that?' Arthur asked.

'The system... it's the system, it's online.' Marcus said in a faint voice. The rest of the

men and robots caught up with Marcus and stopped next to them, petrified when they

saw the monster of an army. It was like fighting a huge sword with a match-stick –

they all knew that they had no chance of winning this but still put their brave faces on

and held their ground, what little of it that they had.

'This isn't right!' Marcus said.

'What do you mean?' Arthur unable to tear his eyes away from the huge army

approaching.

'I don't know... but... something's wrong here.'

'Ok, Marcus, we have to keep it together.'

As the darkness of night crept in, for the first time Arthur and everyone else witnessed

the entire area begin to light up – there were street lights, some lights in the buildings

in the town behind and sounds of motors and generators.

'What's going on?' Arthur turned to Marcus for answers.

'The system is online!' But before anything else could be said or even another breath

could be taken, the army stopped just meters in front of them. The dust and smoke

that they carried continued on and spread like mist. There was an alarming silence

that lasted a few minutes as the two armies stared each other out. The chilling silence

broke as the huge vehicle carrying Fredrick and his master crawled forward, crushing

the rubble of a building under its wheels. There was a loud hiss and a gust of warm air

and smoke as the vehicle's door slid open. Everyone stared contently as the man

stepped out slowly.

'Who is that?' Arthur asked.

'That's Darcy Tyler!' Marcus stuttered.

'It can't be! He is an old man and wouldn't come out here!'

'Trust me it is him.'

The confusion was understandable, Darcy looked even younger than before; when the

system came online, his face was freed from veins and wrinkles and his back

straightened. He walked towards them with his ghostly cloak dragging behind him.

'So it is true... you really do exist.' The man said in a creepy and hushed voice.

Marcus stepped back and hid behind Arthur.

'What do you want?' Arthur said, not backing down or breaking eye contact and

noticing that Darcy had a strange resemblance to Marcus. He wasn't the only one to

feel like this, Darcy could not take his eyes off Marcus.

'Give me the boy and I give you my word that I will spare all of your lives.'

'Never!'

'Ah, you must be the legendary Arthur... you have caused me a lot grief over the

years. You and that friend of yours, what's his name again, Richard? Funny, I

imagined you a lot bigger.'

'Yeah I get that a lot! And it's funny, coz I imagined you a lot uglier!'

'I'll take that as a compliment. Now, I would love to stay and chat but I must dash –

give me the boy! I will not ask you again.' His eyes now glowing in rage as his

patience began to wear thin. 'I am sure by now, you are all feeling a tingling sensation

on your wrists.' Which although Arthur didn't admit, he was feeling it, 'what do you

think that means? Don't be a fool. Think of all your people, they will all die!'

'I would rather die!'

'So be it.' Darcy walked back slowly and his army rushed forward in rage.

'Marcus, get back now!' Arthur pushed Marcus back and removed his arrow gun and

began firing. XJ2 and the rest of the robots brawled with the Dark-Tec army. The men

and the few women rushed in, firing their weapons and fighting valiantly with their

swords. The bright lights, from the explosions, lit-up the dark sky and the horrendous

sounds of battle echoed for miles. The Dark-Tec army was ferocious, their weapons

were advanced and powerful and although, they took a good beating, it was not long

before most of Marcus's robots were destroyed, many of the men killed and hope had

been obliterated. Marcus was taken into a rundown building close by and told to hide.

DK was dead and Arthur was badly injured – blood trickled down his face but he

clenched his sword tight and continued to fight. After a few short moments, he looked

around and saw the men of his army, some lay dead, some lay screaming pain and a

handful, including Khan, still fighting. Khan, who was also badly injured, looked at

Arthur and shouted, 'to the death!' and ran swinging his sword and knocking back

some of the robots. Arthur couldn't hear what he said because of the loud ringing in

his ears – he couldn't hear anything.

Khan ran towards Darcy's vehicle and threw his sword which pierced the vehicle but

only slightly. Inside, Fredrick jumped as the saw the sword on the screen but Darcy

didn't flinch and smiled as one of the robots shot out a red glowing beam that sent

Khan flying.

'No!' Arthur shouted as the robot stamped on him and crushed the life out him, like

he was just like a piece of rubble and his life was worth nothing. Arthur leapt onto the

robot, which still had its leg on Khans body, and pierced his sword into its head,

sending it crashing to the ground. Arthur fell off and landed on the ground, hurt and

exhausted. When he opened his eyes, he noticed that there was no one left standing;

they had lost, not having defeated even half of the Dark-Tec army. Hope of ever being

free was now officially dead.

One of the robots picked Arthur up and took him to Darcy's vehicle. Darcy stepped

out and stretched his arms, 'well that was mildly entertaining, but I'm afraid I am

getting bored. Where is the boy? Tell me now and the rest of you have a chance to

limp away from this.'

'I'll tell you... wait... I'll tell you...' Arthur said and a huge smiled emerged on

Darcy's face.

'Go on... I'm listening...'

'I'll tell you... but first you're gonna have to kill me!' Arthur used his last bit of

strength to wriggle and remove a dagger, he stabbed it in the robots glowing eye and

fell to the ground. Blood poured out of his mouth and he was finding it hard to breath.

Marcus watching all of this from a broken window in the building, couldn't bear it

anymore. He had just witnessed all these people die because of him and decided

enough was enough. He stormed out and shouted, 'Stop! I'm here, let him go! I'm the

one that you want!' Darcy smiled and said, 'kill Arthur and get the boy!' But before

the robots had a chance to do anything, a long spear cut through the air and hit the

robot holding Arthur, sending it to the crashing and Arthur rolling across the ground.

The red car with Nicole, Louise and Ryan came screeching forward and Ryan leapt

out and dragged Arthur into the car. Arthur looked out of the car and saw Hex running

and removing his spear from the robot and launching it into another one. He fought

courageously for a few moments but was overpowered by the robots, 'kill him and get

the boy! You idiots. It seems as though I can't trust anyone. Nicole drove the vehicle

as fast as she could and stopped in front of Marcus, 'get in now!' Marcus jumped in

and they sped off. Arthur's face sunk as he watched Hex being killed from the rear

screen.

'Step on it!' Louise shouted as she noticed a robot, that resembled a tiger by shape

and movement, giving them chase.

'He's gaining on us! Ryan shouted.

'Hold on!' Nicole swerved from side to side, trying to avoid it but it was still gaining.

Louise screamed as it leapt into the air, ready to pounce on the vehicle but then

suddenly, XJ came out of nowhere and sprung up, catching it in the air and they both

crashed down on the ground. This gave the vehicle a clean break.

'Louise, don't go back to the town, they'll follow us – we need to lead them away.'

Arthur whispered, unable to speak. Louise found a first aid kit in the car and tried to

patch Arthur up as best as she could. And considering the severity of the wounds and

the amount of blood he had lost, he ignored his ego and accepted the help.

Marcus sat frozen, feeling sick at what he had just witnessed, possessed by guilt. A

tear rolled down his cheek and his mouth trembled. 'This is all my fault!

'Marcus, get some rest.' Nicole said, not knowing what else to say.

'What the hell just happened?' Darcy shouted, his voice echoing in the distance.

'I want Hex's friends found and killed, just in case they have any funny ideas!' He

climbed back into the vehicle and shouted, 'Maxwell!' When Maxwell popped on the

screen, he didn't get a chance to greet anyone, 'what the hell happened?' Darcy

screamed.

'The system is not ready. I am working on it, but the wrist-locks are not functioning,

the system is repetitively sending the transmissions but they won't accept.'

'The wrist-lock? How is this happening you idiot?'

'The wrist-lock is attached to the natural human system and it seems as though the

human mind may be conquering the signals.'

'How is this possible?' He shouted and banged the arm rest of his chair, making

Fredrick jump.

'According to my knowledge of human behaviour and emotion, it appears that the boy

has raised their hopes and thus strengthened their minds and beliefs. And the fact that

the wrist-lock has been detached for so long, the human neurons may have created

some kind of immunity to it.'

Darcy sat staring at the ring on his finger and could not believe what he had just

heard. 'The human body is adapting... ah, but to something it is used to... Maxwell,

what if we sent out a virus?'

'This would probably result in the eventual extinction of the entire human race.'

Darcy sat, with a psychotic look on his face, 'I will do whatever it takes to stop this

boy.'

'But...'

'Shut up Maxwell, you're boring me, 'make the virus – the worst one you've ever

made. And let's hope that we find the boy before we have to use it.'

'The virus could affect you as well; it could be fatal for you.' Maxwell said.

'Fredrick!'

'Yes master,' Fredrick ran out, still not making eye contact.

'I want you to follow their tracks and find them! Although your incompetence never

fails to amaze me, I need someone I can trust and won't let me down.' His eyes gave a

penetrating look, 'I can trust you can't I?' Fredrick nodded, 'and you won't let me

down will you?' Fredrick shook his head slowly.

'Good! Now go, and take some of these useless metal pieces of junk with you.'

Fredrick ran out of the vehicle.

'Maxwell, how far have you got on the new X types?'

'They are ready.'

'Well at least that's something! And have you ensured that they can run perfectly

offline?'

'Yes, as you requested, they will function with a pilot.'

'Ok, we're heading back to the Towers, I'm pretty sure our friends will be heading

there soon enough.'
Chapter 12

The Journey to the City of Gold

It felt like they had been driving for hours, when in reality, it had only been about

twenty minutes. Arthur was in and out of consciousness and Louise had finally

managed to stop the bleeding. The feeling of great anguish was shared by all of them

and Marcus loathed himself. He did not kill all those people but he was certainly

responsible for their deaths and nothing could ever change that. He was intoxicated

with remorse, so much so that he couldn't face anyone in the vehicle. The disgusting

images of those poor people screaming with their final few breaths haunted him –

their frightened faces covered in blood as they courageously lost their lives, and for

what? Me! He was suffocating in his conscience, until he couldn't bear it anymore,

'we have to stop this before more people die! Stop this thing and let me out! Marcus

shouted and breathing so heavy that it seemed like he was hyperventilating. Nicole

stopped the vehicle and Marcus jumped out and began throwing up. Loiuse followed

to see if he was alright, but he was far from alright. He couldn't live with himself and

needed to run away. But before he had the chance to, Arthur stumbled out of the

vehicle, 'Marcus, stop! Come here now!' Marcus walked towards him with his head

down. 'Listen to me... you did not do anything wrong, we weren't ready!'

'But all those people... they died coz of me!'

'No! They died because of that monster. Marcus, I need you to stay focused on our

mission. If we fail now then everyone will die, you know as well as me that the

system coming online is just the beginning – do you really believe that those brave

souls that fought with all their might, would have chosen slavery over death? Marcus,

stop doing this to yourself, you were chosen for this because you are the only one that

can do it! The world has been waiting for you for so long and they believe in you

enough to die for you! Don't let them down!'

'But they're all dead – we don't have a chance now!' Marcus's eyes filled up.

'We head to London and meet with the army, rethink our strategy and take it from

there.'

Although Marcus agreed with everything he said and got in the vehicle, he did not

feel any better, nor did the rest. They remained completely silent for a few moments

until Arthur asked whether Nicole was going to start driving.

'I don't know how to get there! I don't have a clue where we're going!' Nicole said,

still in shock.

'Ok, type destination, London on the screen and select auto-pilot.' Arthur said, his

eyes began closing again. Ryan typed it in and the computerised voice spoke,

'destination London – auto-pilot activated.' The dash split and the steering wheel

crept back in and the pedals disappeared as the vehicle drove off.

'Stop!' Fredrick shouted and the vehicle and small platoon of four-legged robots came

to a sudden halt. Fredrick hopped out of the vehicle and walked up to some tyre tracks

and foot prints in the mud.

Fredrick nodded for one of the robots to come closer, 'analyse these tracks!' The

robot stared down at the tracks and after a few prolonged seconds, spoke, 'the tracks

are giving off heat, maximum of ten minutes old.'

'Great! Where are they heading?

'They are most probably heading towards London!'

Fredrick rushed back into the vehicle and contacted Darcy on the screen. When Darcy

appeared on the screen, Fredrick was still too frightened to look at the screen.

'What is it Fredrick?'

'Master, it seems as though they are heading towards London, they are ten minutes

away.'

'London...' Darcy mumbled to himself.

'Go after them.'

'But... London...'

'Don't go into London, I do not expect that kind of bravery from you Fredrick! Just

make sure you know where they are! We don't have any eyes in London.'

'What's wrong?' Ryan asked as the vehicle began to judder and eventually stop.

'I don't know, it just stopped!' Nicole panicked. 'We're in London and only

approximately ten minutes away from central London.'

'Tecra, engine start!' Nicole yelled, but it was no use, the screen was blank and all the

lights in the vehicle dead. If it weren't for the street lights, that were now gleaming

brightly, they would have been sitting in pitch blackness. When Nicole looked out of

the windscreen, she screamed as she saw a few, unkempt men standing in front of the

vehicle, one of them holding a large metal object in his hand. And after a few seconds

more men came and surrounded the car. They were all very scruffy, their cloths torn,

their faces dirty. They looked like they had been rolling around in combination of dirt

and oil. One of the men, gently knocked on the driver side window, 'you havin a bit'a

engine trouble luv!' and then looked at the man standing in front of the vehicle,

holding the strange object and they both laughed hysterically, exposing their crooked

and cheese-like teeth. One of the men, who wasn't laughing at all, a chubby man with

a pot belly, slowly circled around the vehicle, looking contently at the body.

'Well, she's a beauty! He said in an outlandish accent, 'I bet she'll be worth a pretty

penny! I bet she will.'

'What do we do?' Ryan asked, removing his sword. The man outside noticing this,

removed a huge silver gun and set off a domino effect – all the men removed similar

type weapons and pointed them at the vehicle.

'Now all of you get outta the car! Now!'

'Better do as they say!' Marcus said. Arthur opened his eyes and said, 'what the hell!'

He opened the door and forcefully removed a gun off one of the men and kicked

another. Ryan, Louise and Marcus jumped out as well, but they were outnumbered

and Arthur, due to his injuries, was not on form. The men, some with bruises and

bleeding noses, held them at gun point, 'move behind the vehicle... you too princess!'

The man that circled the car said. He acted and sounded like he was in charge of the

group of thugs.

'What do you want?' Marcus asked.

'That's a good question mate, a good one!' The man said, still eying up the vehicle.

'We're gonna need your ride!'

'Ok, take it! And let us go!' Marcus said, checking to see if Arthur, who was now

bleeding worse than before.

'Let me finish! We are gonna need the ride and we need you. You kids will be worth

a bit as well.'

'Please, we are on an important mission, we need to get into London and...' Marcus

began explaining. But he was interrupted with the man who burst out laughing.

'Don't worry son, we'll take you London alright!' The man chuckled even more,

'grab the kids and kill the man!' He ordered the men. One of the men shot his

weapon, firing straight into Arthur as he lay on the ground. Nicole screamed as she

saw Arthur's eyes close. 'No!' Ryan shouted and kicked the man, who shot him, to

the ground. Ryan crawled on top of him and punched him continuously on the face.

As the men moved forward to stop him, the chubby man said, 'leave him!' and the

men stopped and watched as Ryan, controlled by rage, brutally punched repeatedly.

The man who lay on the ground was bleeding excessively and Ryan was not ready to

stop, until he looked up at Louise, who was crying, and shook her head slowly. Ryan

forced himself to stop and got off the man who was unconscious but still alive.

'Nah, I didn't fink you had in ya! Go on guys grab em!' Some of the men surrounded

them, ordering them to move. And two of the other men got into the vehicle and spun

off.

Of course, they've got an EMP device! That's how they stopped the engine. Marcus

thought. But that means that they could stop any mechanical object, even robots!

'That's an EMP device isn't it! That's how you stopped the vehicle, right?' Marcus

said.

'You're a clever lad aint ya! It's a shame though coz you don't need brains where

you're going!' And the men all laughed.

'But you could stop the robots, the armies; you could stop all of this with that thing!'

The men burst out in to hysterical laughter, 'yeah right! Stop the robot armies! This

kid is killing me!' The men continued to laugh. But the chubby man with the pot belly

wasn't laughing – he seemed in deep thought and looked like he wanted to say

something but stayed quite.

As they trekked along the gravely road, not knowing where this long and mysterious

road would lead, Nicole could not stop crying. She couldn't believe Arthur was gone

and began imaging what was in stall for them. From standing tall on a mountain of

hope and optimism they had fallen to depths of a fruitless world, a world of strangers

and mystery. Nicole was glad that they didn't drag Mary and Thomas into this,

knowing that Mary would have passed out by now.

'Stop!' Marcus shouted at the men, 'Stop, where are you taking us?'

'You, my lovelies, are going into the greatest city in the country,' the man laughed,

'you're going to London!'

'Why? What are you planning on doing with us?'

'Don't worry kido, we're not gonna hurt ya! But god knows what those lot that we

sell ya to are gonna do with ya!' The man continued to laugh.

'Sold? Sold for what?'

'Where the hell did you come from kid? We're going to the City of Gold!'

'Shut up! All of you! Unless you wanna get killed. Now stop and wait here.' The pot

bellied man, who the rest just referred to as boss, removed a white card from his tatty

trouser pocket and stepped a few steps forward. The man held it out in front of him. A

red beam shone from the distance and appeared like it was scanning the card. And

after a few seconds, there was a loud buzzing sound and the man smiled.

'Come on comrades! And bring the meat. I'll take the boy you guys take the rest.' The

man grabbed Marcus and dragged him away from the others, Marcus tried to resist

but it was no use. Nicole's face dropped when she saw Marcus being dragged away.

'Marcus!' She shouted. 'Shut up and move, we're going this way!' One of the other

men dragged her.

As they approached closer, they saw a humongous concrete wall, the size of a skyscrapper.

And it was so wide that it was impossible to see the ends from where they

were. There was a huge trench dug in front of the wall and looked like it ran across its

entire width – it was filled with murky water, and the water had a lot of movement,

they all began imaging what monstrousities lay inside. The great wall had several

gaps like small windows, except instead of glass, they had men standing there,

pointing similar type of metal objects that their captures used to stop the vehicle. And

some had huge black guns, pointing firmly at them as they walked closer.

'What do want traveller?' A voice emerged from the gap in the wall.

'Relax, lemming! I'm here to trade!'

'What you got?' A man from a gap in the wall asked.

'Hey aint talking to you about jack! Get your boss down here! I wanna speak to

Martin, tell him I got something he'd be very interested in! Go on run along.'

The man lifted out a small black radio and said, 'if they move, shoot em!' The man

was sure to say it loud enough for everyone to hear.

The pot-bellied man looked at Nicole's pale face and smiled, 'he's just kidding!'

After a few minutes, a tall man with smartly cut hair and an incredibly straight posture

appeared in the gap. 'Ah, Rick, it's always a pleasure... tell me what can I do for

you?' The man asked. The pot-bellied man, now known as Rick, smiled, exposing his

rotten teeth. 'Hey Marty, today, it's what I can do for you... let me in and I promise,

you won't be disappointed!'

Martin sighed, not looking optimistic. But not willing to lose an opportunity, he spoke

again on the radio, 'open the gate!'

The loud sound of iron locks banged, metal hinges squeaked as the great steel gate

opened. The gate's mechanism resembled one of an old castle, hung on two thick

metal chains on either side; it lowered slowly and sat over the trench, forming a

bridge.

'Come on ladies – move!' Rick said. They crossed over the bride and noticed a more

rapid movement in the water and felt a few high splashes, but they dared not look

down. When they got over the bridge, they were faced with several men with guns,

'well aint this a warm welcome.'

'Ok, what you got?' Martin came rushing down a steel stair case.

'I thought you'd neva ask!'

'Well?'

'You're lookin at'em.' He grinned. Martin rolled his eyes, 'you called me out for this!

Ok, a bar of gold for each kid. And escort our friends out when you're done.' He said

to one of the men holding a gun and began to walk away.

'Wait!' Rick said and Martin peered back, with an annoyed expression.

'One bar would be for a normal child.'

'And what's so special about these kids?'

'Not them, just him.' Rick pushed Marcus forward.

'What is so special about him, exactly?'

'Go on boy, show him.' Marcus was shocked that Rick new. The other men looked

baffled.

'Lift up your sleeves! Now!' Marcus remained frozen. Rick walked up to him and

aggressively pulled his sleeves up. The men holding the guns stepped back in shock

and Martin rubbed his eyes and slowly walked forward.

'How is this possible? Is he human?'

'Course he's bloody human – look at him! When I yanked his arm I felt he had

nothing.' And there's more...'

'Go on...' The man fascinated, pulling his sleeves further up and feeling his arm to

make sure.

'Well... I think it'd be best if talk about how much I'm getting first.'

'I'll give you two bars.'

'Please, I'll be on my way then...'

'Six bars then, no more!'

Ricks scruffy men looked at Rick with their eyes open wide and mouths watering

excessively at the thought of getting that much gold just for one kid. But rick was

feeling a little more ambitious, knowing that if he was prepared to give that much then

the boy must be worth more.

'Now, that is a... generous offer, but look at him, he's worth more than that.'

'No, that's the best I can do.'

'I guess we'll be on our way then!' Rick said and his men looked around at one

another like they were in complete disagreement. Rick grabbed Marcus and began

walking away. 'Fifty bars!' A loud and croaky voice echoed form further back.

Rick and his men nearly had a heart attack; Rick turned around and looked at a

shadow of an old man who was rushing towards them. The men moved out of the way

and Martin stepped forward, 'sir, fifty bars?'

'Shut up you idiot!' The old man, who was bent with age and had receding white hair

shouted. His paper-thin skin was rough and dry and his almond shaped eyes sparked.

'Remarkable!' The man whispered, touching his arm to confirm what his eyes were

telling him.

'F...fifty bars? Of gold?' Rick stuttered.

'Yes... I'm sure that'll be sufficient, don't you think?' The old man nodded at Martin

who rushed to get the gold and came back in a few minutes with a couple of men

dragging a metal box with wheels.

Rick and his men rushed to the box and opened it, the glimmer from the gold shone

on their faces, almost as much as their eyes were shining in excitement and disbelief.

Rick fought to rip his eyes away from the gold, 'the boy, knows about computers and

stuff as well. Anyway, we'll be on our way now.' Rick grinned and they rolled the

box away.

'What's your name?' The old man asked.

'My name is Marcus.' Marcus spoke nervously.

'Where did you come from?'

'I... I don't know. Please sir, what are you going to do to my friends?' Marcus said

looking over at Nicole, who was scared and knew that Arthur would not be there to

barge in any minute and rescue them like he had always done.

'Don't worry Marcus, I will make sure they are well looked after. Now, I need you to

come with me.' He gently grabbed Marcus's arm and escorted him through a long and

dark corridor. When they approached the end of the corridor, the electric gates at the

end slid open and Marcus felt blinded with the light that was penetrating through.

As they stepped outside, they saw a road, a road different from other roads in

England. This one looked perfect; it looked like it was brand-new and pressed every

morning like a shirt. It was straight, free from rubble, cracks, dirt or any

imperfections. There were even bright white road markings, that looked they were

painted daily. In front of them was a long black vehicle, the paintwork was so sparkly

and clean, that they could easily see their reflections and the engine roared like a tiger

as the diver, who was already sitting inside, started it up.

One of the men opened the door and told them all to get in. The old man got in as

well, but he told the other men to remain behind. The vehicle pulled off and set out at

a fast speed on the flat and straight stretch of road. After a few minutes, they could

see that they had travelled into a populated area, but not like anything they had seen

before. It was like being in a different world, all the roads that they travelled on were

equally as well maintained, the buildings all looked alive, beautiful colours and free

from dirt. Vehicles rushed on the roads in perfect harmony and people, endless people

walking around like they had not a care in the world – groups of teenagers laughing

and playing, people eating foods that Marcus and the others had never seen and an

atmosphere that could only be described as a utopia. By now, they all felt like this

wasn't real – how could they have spent their entire lives in a prison of fear and

almost starved to death at times when just miles away, there is this strange and calm

civilisation; a society that looked like they spent more time and energy on flatting the

roads than fighting for freedom.

'What is this place?' Marcus asked.

'Don't worry, all your questions will be answered shortly.' The old man looked out of

the mist-tinted window of the vehicle. The driver peered back, 'Albert, I think we're

being followed.

'Damn it! I thought we would have had a little more time. Martin must have alerted

them.'

'What do you want me to do?' The driver said.

'Just keep going as normal, don't led on that we know that we're being followed.'

'Ok, I'll try.'

'Marcus, listen to me very carefully. This, what you see all around you, has a very

ugly side. The only reason that this society exists is because it lives off the rest of the

country. You were being sold to work underground so they can preserve this pretend

world for only the rich and soon as they learn about you, they will try to get rid of

you.'

'Why?' Nicole asked.

'Because you threaten their entire way of life. Look, I don't know the truth behind the

stories about you Marcus, the boy who walks free, I really don't. What I do know is

that this fluffy and happy looking society that you see all around you is fuelled by the

fear, and relies upon its corrupt and evil government.'

'But what about Darcy Tyler and the Dark-Tec Empires? Why don't they attack this

place?'

'This government has got some very advanced weaponry and spends a lot of money in

developing it. Obviously, at the expense of people's lives.'

'The EMP devices?'

'Yes and many others.'

'So why don't they stop the Empire?'

The old man shook his head and grinned, 'this is their perfect society, free from

diseases and the population is tightly controlled. If they destroyed the Empire then the

fear of people leaving their towns would end and people would end up travelling to

London and ruining their paradise.'

'But there are so many people out there, dying!' Marcus, shocked at what he was

hearing.

'They don't care about the outside. When they discover that you have been smuggled

in, then we will all be in great danger.'

'So who are those guys behind us?'

'They're Martin's men, they want to know a bit more about you – it's a monetary

thing. It always is with Martin.'

'So, what's the plan?' Marcus asked.

'I'm not sure, but if they find you, they'll kill you! I need to get you somewhere safe.'

But by the end of his sentence, they all felt a thud from the back of the vehicle,

making Nicole scream and throwing them out of their seats.

'They're ramming us!' The driver shouted swerving the vehicle from side to side, 'put

your seat belts on now!' Alfred shouted. They all fastened up and felt a few more

thuds – the uncomfortable feeling of whiplash was shared by everyone.

'Hold on!' The driver shouted as he floored the vehicle, the momentum pushed them

all against the back of their seats. The driver pulled out a gun and began shooting out

of the window; both vehicles exchanged fire for a while but after a few brief moments

the driver lost control and hit a lamp post, the car spun a few times and then turned

over onto its roof, leaving behind a flare of sparks as it slid and scrapped across the

road.

The entire world seemed like it was moving in slow motion. Their lives flashed before

them like images flickering from a camera.

Alfred looked injured and couldn't move, 'Marcus run! Get out of here now!

Marcus, a little startled but not injured, desperately tried to unfasten his seat belt.

'Nicole, Ryan, Louise! You guys ok?' They nodded, all in shock but uninjured. They

could hear the screeching sounds of the other vehicle's tyres close by.

'Go!' Alfred shouted. The driver, who looked badly injured, crawled out of the

window and began firing his gun at the other car. Marcus and the others got out and

ran as fast as they could. They were on a busy road full of people, but no one paid any

attention to them, everyone was more focused on running and avoiding the exchange

of gunfire.

'Over there!' Marcus pointed at a shop, 'get in there.' They all ran inside and hid

behind a clothing rack.

'Ah... excuse me, can I help you guys?' A young lady with short blonde hair and sea

blue eyes asked. She had a warm and welcoming smile, her lipstick was glittery and

sparkled brightly on her full lips and she had a pleasant smell of perfume surrounding

her. Her brunette hair was tied tightly, but a few stray hairs dangled like wavy roots of

tree.

'Are you guys ok?' She asked, noticing that the kids looked dirty and incredibly

frightened. Their deep silence alarmed her and she instantly knew that there was

something wrong. She noticed them continuously looking towards the large glass

door and she decided to investigate. When she peered out of the door, she noticed the

toppled car and some men dressed in all black with guns, frantically looking around.

'What the hell? Are they looking for you?' The young lady asked, shocked because

things like this never happened. From their terrified expressions, she knew they were,

but was baffled at why men with guns would be looking for a group of kids.

'Come with me!' She said and rushed to the back of the store and through a small

door. Marcus and the others knew that they didn't have much choice and followed

her.

'Stay put, and I will get you out of here!' She shut the door of the small room.

'I can't believe what the hell is going on? I mean... look at this place!' Louise could

not believe what she was seeing, her mouth was opened wide and eyes danced around

the room. It was like they had left earth and smuggled their way into a different

planet. A planet that, like the man in the car said, seemed like it wasn't real – but it

sure looked appealing. The store was spotless, warm and the floor had a beautiful

beige carpet, which they were ruining with their tatty and dirty footwear, the lighting

was elegant and twinkled like dazzling little stars on a velvet sky. The walls were an

astonishing colour – a colour that none of them knew the name of, it was as red as the

autumn leaves but more golden than honey.

The young lady walked back into the room, with a confident bounce in her march and

her pointy heals dug deeply into the thick carpet.

'Hey, let's get you out of here. Come on, the back way!' She said briskly walking

towards the back door, 'my name is Kate by the way.'

'Hi Kate, my name is Marcus and this is Nicole, Ryan and Louise.' Kate smiled and

opened the back door. On getting out, Kate looked around and made sure the coast

was clear. She made a dash for her car; it was like a bright red bubble with tyres. The

doors opened automatically as they got closer, 'come on get in!' They all got in the

car, the windows were limo-tinted and hid them well.

'Hold on tight!' The wheels on her curvy car began to spin as they sped out of the

little car park at the back of the store. She looked around, paranoid yet excited, 'so

what's the deal with you guys? Why were those guys after you? Did you rob a bank

or something?'

'Umm... not exactly. It's a long story.' Marcus muttered, not knowing where to start.

'Ok... where are you guys staying? Where are your parents?'

'We don't have any parents and we don't have anywhere to stay. Our guardian has

just been killed.' Nicole said with her eyes teary.

'You're kidding right?' Kate said. But judging by their expressions, she knew they

weren't lying.

'That's terrible! Ok, you guys are coming to mine until we can work something out

and you can explain everything to me there. They drove for another ten minutes until

they approached a tall building with a large glassed door. The snuck into the building

and ran up two flights of stairs, the elevator had been out of order since she had

moved into her apartment, so she had become immune to the laborious climb. She

placed the palms of her hands on a small panel on the cream coloured door and it

scanned her finger prints and instantly granted her access.

'Welcome home Miss Richardson.' A computerised voice spoke. As they all walked

in, Kate took her high-heeled shoes off and fell onto a large black-leather sofa,

sinking inside it and closed her eyes in exhaustion. The others looked around in

amazement. The room was beautiful, the carpets matched the walls, the set of small

tables with the digital picture frames and the dark furniture went perfectly with a

massive black-framed screen stuck on the wall. She opened her eyes, 'so, what's the

story?'

Marcus explained everything and showed her that he didn't have the wrist-lock and

received his typical response of shock and excitement.

'Wow, we need to do something!' She said in deep thought. 'I got it,' she said and

sprung up.

Marcus and the others stared and eagerly anticipated her suggestion.

'I had a Professor in University who was an expert in robotics and A.I technology and

he petitioned to do something about stopping the Empire. But the government refused

and threatened to lock him up. And the rest of the people in London had hardly any

knowledge or experience of the Empire, the robots have never attacked London and

London never bothered them – this complacency prevented anyone from doing

anything. But the Professor Hussein never stopped trying, it was his research that led

to some of the great weapons used to stop the robots, but his work was stopped and

equipment seized. But we'll have to go tomorrow, he'll be on campus and we'll catch

him then and... you guys really can't go looking like that!' She started walking out of

the room, 'let me get changed and freshen up and then I'll sort something out for you

guys.'

They looked at all the strange things in the room as they waited. Louise was drawn to

a pearl-white plant pot, which was large enough for her to climb into. She ran her

fingers across its smooth and glossy finish as she admired the fresh green plant that

was growing out of it chaotically. Nicole's eyes were hooked on a large fish tank

which was fixed into the wall. It had dim lights that exposed aluminous coloured fish

that swam together like hypnotic waves, fluttering their elegant colours that reflected

brightly in the glass walls of the tank.

'Hey guys, I'm ready.' Kate said walking back into the room, wearing smart black

trousers and a long and thick black coat. They followed her out and back into the car.

'Hey, are you hungry?' She asked, her own stomach was rumbling unstoppably. They

all nodded, with mouths watering.

'Great, I know a place.' She smiled dazzlingly, 'but first we gotta make a pit-stop.'

She drove back to the store they met in earlier. The store was closed and there was no

one in sight.

'Come on quickly, before someone sees us.' She crept up to the doors of the store and

swiped a card to let them in. A large metal shutter rolled up and the glass doors

sprung open. They got inside and looked around at the metallic silver rails hung with

sparkling clothes, all clean and pressed beautifully.

'Well... don't just stand there! Pick out what you like.'

Louise didn't wait for her to finish and had already seen what her heart desired.

Anyone could have guessed that her eyes had glimpsed it when they first arrived. A

stunning dark-blue dress with a black waist belt, a matching cardigan and knee-length

cream coat with beautiful fur around the collars. Her mouth was almost drooling when

she noticed the sparkling shoes that would go perfectly with the rest of her outfit.

Everyone else found something quickly and were sat waiting for Louise making sure

she had the right size and if there were any other accessories that she could grab.

'Hey princess, we should go!' Ryan yelled.

'Yeah, I'm starved and we still got to get home, get you guys cleaned up and ready to

go out.' Kate said looking around hoping no one noticed them in the store.

'Is this your place?' Nicole asked, 'coz it's really beautiful!'

'Not exactly, I just work here, but my dad owns it.'

'Where's your dad?'

'I don't know. I never see him these days. He's very busy and I think he kinda got me

working here to keep me busy.'

'So you don't live with your parents?'

'No, that apartment is mine, my dad offered me a place, but I couldn't take it and live

being in his debt. So I work and earn my own. I will get out of this place one day. I've

always wanted see outside of London, but it's illegal and dangerous. And contrary to

the government officially stating there is nothing living outside of London except

robots and monsters, Professor Hussein was adamant that there were and I guess he

was right!' She smiled. 'Although, he didn't believe in the mysterious boy legend, I

guess he wasn't right about everything.'

'Ok. I'm ready!' Louise said perkily and struggling to drag two large bags along. Kate

grinned and nodded, 'let's go!' Kate was happy in what she was doing; she finally

found an opportunity to make a difference. And to Marcus and his friends, she was

like a lifeboat of hope in a deep sea of sadness.

They drove straight back to her apartment and freshened up.

'You guys sure scrub well!' Kate rushed them to the car. 'I hope you guys like pizza,

burgers and fries!' They all stared at one another not having any real idea of what she

was talking about. But the thought of food was making their mouths water.

'Well, you guys are gonna love it.' She drove for about five minutes and parked in

front of a well-lit building that had a wall of glass, allowing them to see lots of people

sitting and eating and other people hurrying around them serving the food.

'This is amazing!' Nicole said.

'Wait till you taste the grub. It's all junk food here but man is it good!' Nicole could

not really grasp the concept of food being junk – food was food, but there was much

about this world that they were unfamiliar with.

They barged inside and waited at the front where there was a small wooden desk.

After a few brief moments, a tall, heavily tanned man approached the desk. His face

was oily and hair was dark and greasy, his stubble was beginning to look messy and

his eyes looked exhausted. He was wearing a smart blazer jacket and pressed

matching trousers and his shining black shoes had stains of food smothered on them.

'Hi, sorry guys, we're really busy today.' The man said in a strange accent and smiled

sympathetically.

'But there's an empty table over there.' Kate pointed at a long table with the perfect

amount of chairs for them.

'Yes, that is reserved I'm afraid.'

'Yes... it's... reserved for us.' Kate said, her eyes looking convincing.

'Oh, I am sorry my dear.' The man lifted up a clipboard and peered over at them in

silence. Kate stood nervously waiting for him to say something.

'Ah, the Jones', two adults and four children.'

'Yes! That's us!' Kate lit up.

'Where's Mr. Jones?'

'Mr. Jones... he is... he had to work late today!' The man shook his head slowly and

Kate thought he had clocked on that they weren't the Jones', figuring out that they

were trying to blag a table and kick them out.

'I hate these companies! They make us work like dogs! I will be sure to pack his

dinner for him and you can give it to him when he finishes!' He shook his head, 'here

you go my dears.' He handed them the menu. But before he let go and they were both

holding a side of the menu each, he stopped and concentrated on Kate, and Kate was

worried but stayed composed.

'You look very young to be a mother of all these kids!'

'Thanks!' She said yanking the menu and walking off to the table with a bounce in

her step. Marcus and the rest smiled nervously and followed. The man smiled and

walked away.

They sat down on the large table and looked at one another in relief.

'But we're not the...' Ryan said but was interrupted by Kate, 'shh! Do you wanna

eat?' Kate's eyes opening wide and perfectly shaped eyebrows rising. Kate looked

through the menu, but she already knew exactly what she wanted. A man approached

the table, wearing the exact same clothes and even had the almost the exact same stain

on his shoes as the man that greeted them.

'Are you guys ready to order?' The man asked in a similar accent to the earlier man.

'Yes, I'll have one large slice of a veggie pizza, a veggie burger, regular fries and a

sparkling water. Thanks.' Kate looked over at the Marcus and the rest, 'what do you

guys want?' But they looked at her with blank expressions.

'Ah, they'll have the same!' She smiled and handed the chocolate coloured menu to

the man.

They all sat waiting for the food, Kate looked anxious, hoping that the real Jones'

wouldn't just turn up.

'Here you go guys, enjoy your meal.' The man smiled and walked away. Marcus and

the others had their eyes wide open, never having seen or smelt food so sensational.

Ryan picked up the pizza slice and took a huge bite.

'Wait!' Kate said loudly

'Ouch... ouch...' Ryan whined.

'It's gonna be hot... too late!' Kate's face cringed, 'you ok?'

'Yes, I'm fine!' Ryan blowing out. After a few minutes the steam of the piping hot

food began to fade and they all dug in. Kate smiled, never having ever seen anyone

eat so fast.

'I think I'm gonna be sick!' Ryan moaned.

'Well, you ate half my burger and most my fries!'

'Mine too!' Nicole giggled.

'How do squeeze all that in?' Kate asked, working out how much he actually ate.

'Don't ask!' He loosened the black belt that was wrapped around his waist like a

snake and sat looking bright red.

'Damn it!' Kate said, pulling out a sparkling red purse and removing a few gold coins,

she threw them on the table. She noticed a family talking to the man at the front and

he was pointing at their table, 'ok, I think we out stayed our welcome. Let's move!'

She got up and they dashed out of the fire exit. The man gave chase but as he

approached the table, he noticed the gold coins and stopped. He looked out of the

glass fire-exit door and noticed them getting into the car, 'is everything ok?' The man

who served them asked. 'Yes, everything's fine, he smiled, 'get this table cleared, the

next guests have arrived!' He ordered the other man.

Kate sped out of the car park and they all cheered and laughed almost hysterically, did

you see his face?' Kate laughed.

'Hey, who's up for ice cream?' They all smiled at Kate, even Ryan let go of his

tummy and made a brave face, not saying no to food, even if he was ready to explode.
Chapter 13

Army of the Peaceful Warriors

Outside the great walls of London, there were, robots, rubble, scavengers, criminals,

but among all of this, there were a few towns with people and among them there was

a particular town with a small group of people that were both loved and feared.

'Where did you find him?' A short, dark-skinned man asked. His shoulder hair was as

black as coal and looked like it had been pressed straight.

'He was lying on the ground a short distance from here. He's badly injured, but still

alive, I'm sorry, I shouldn't have bought him here, but he was dying!' A strong

looking boy said, appearing around sixteen years old and the same colour and length

hair as the man.

'You did well, my son. Get Afzal and let's see to these wounds, he's lost a lot of

blood.' The boy began walking away, 'Oh Imran...'

'Yes father...' he peered back.

The man's wrinkles increased as he smiled and his dark brown eyes sparkled, 'you

have grown to be an amazing young man, caring and courageous – your mother

would have been so proud of you. I certainly am.' The boy smiled, a genuine smile

but one that had an ocean of tears hidden behind it. But he could never cry, knowing

that the moment that he does, will be the moment that everything comes crashing

down. The huge solid walls that he spent months building to forcefully imprison his

emotions would tumble down and unbound the beast of sadness that would chew him

up and spit him out. He hid his face and tried to rush off.

'Imran... I miss her as well, but we need to stick together...' Imran paused but didn't

look back and after a few seconds, he walked out of the small building.

His father, with a look of sadness began looking down at the man lying on the woodframed

bed, his blood soaking the sheets, and began imaging what his story was.

Little did he imagine that this was Arthur, a man on a mission to change the world and

who had a habit of surviving.

'What is Ahmed?' A tall man barged in carrying a black bag.

'Afzal, this man is badly injured, I think I've managed to stop the bleeding but I need

your help.' Afzal crouched over Arthur and checked his pulse, 'ok, open my bag and

scatter the contents on that table!' Ahmed did as he instructed.

'Get me the scissors!' Afzal cut through his clothing and saw the deep wounds,

'wounds from swords, bullets, fragments of explosives – this guys been through a

warzone and not all of them are fresh, some are years old! This guys could be

dangerous.' Afzal looked at Ahmed with eyebrows raised.

'What do you suppose? We leave him to die!' Ahmed looked back piercingly. There

was a short pause, 'course not... can you hand me that cloth please.'

After about an hour, Afzal had removed four bullets, one fresh and three that were

inside him from before, bits of an arrow and about a dozen fragments from a grenade.

Afzal was surprised that his body had survived after being subjected to all this torture

and was even more baffled at why he wasn't poisoned by all these bits and bots

floating around inside him.

'How is he doing?' Ahmed asked walking back into the room.

'He, amazingly, is going to be okay.'

'Yes, it seems as though he has a surviving spirit.' Ahmed said glad to see that he was

going to pull through.

'We need to leave him to rest and awake in his own time.'

The muttering silenced as Ahmed entered a large room with a crowd of men gathered,

including Imran and Afzal.

'You guys have probably already heard about our new guest and I hope we all remain

hospitable and welcome him. I know that some of you are sceptical because he is not

from around here and yes, he looks like a soldier but nevertheless, we will help him.

Everyone in the room nodded their heads in agreement. I have arranged for food for

everyone here today, so please remain here and eat and take food back for your

families.'

Everyone trusted Ahmed with their lives, his heart was an unshakable mountain of

humbleness and his generosity was overwhelming. He was renowned for his righteous

character and notorious for his courageousness.

Ahmed was not feeling hungry and decided to revisit his new guest. He knew that

there was something special about the stranger and knew that there was a reason that

he arrived here. When he got inside, Arthur was still knocked-out-cold. As he turned

to walk back out, he froze as he felt a strong grip around his neck and the cold feeling

of sharp metal pressed against his neck.

'Where am I?' Arthur had awoken and felt threatened; he had picked the scissors up

and used them as a weapon.

'Ah, you have awoken and seem to have a fast recovery.' Afzal remarked.

'Don't play games with me! Or I will kill you!'

'No you won't. Killing me from behind, would definitely suit your style and although

you are very fast, very fast, but your feet are heavy!' Arthur looked down and noticed

the dagger in Ahmed's hand, pointing at his thigh.

'You would slit my throat, I would have a fast death, spending my last few moments

is shock as opposed to pain; but being stabbed in the thigh, this long sharp dagger

cutting through your artery – well, that would be slow and painful, but judging by

your condition, you already know all about pain and nearly bleeding to death! Look

my friend, if I wanted to harm you I would have left you to die!'

Arthur released his grip and stumbled back onto the bed, holding his ribs in pain.

'You need to rest, but when you're ready, there are some fresh, clean clothes on that

table and enough water at the back to freshen up. When you feel strong enough, you

can leave. When you walk out of this door, you can either walk left follow the path to

the end where you will find a horse, saddled and enough food and drink for your

journey. If, however, you would like to talk to us, meet the people of this town, or

need any help, then step outside walk right and follow the path to a large brown

building and we will be there.' Ahmed walked out calmly.

Arthur sat and began thinking about Marcus and the kids and began to freak out. He

leapt up and quickly put on the new clothes. He splashed the cold water on his face

but didn't wait for the water to dry and dashed for the door. On getting out and feeling

the painful and freezing cold wind hit his aching bones mercilessly, he turned left,

thinking about the horse and galloping to find Marcus, but something stopped him, he

didn't know what, but he turned back and began walking and looking for the brown

building. When he walked inside the room, a sudden silence overcame the men

crowded in the room. Although their silence was like death, their smiles were

welcoming and warm. One of the men stood up and took a plate full of bread and fruit

and handed it to Arthur. Arthur accepted the plate and nodded in gratitude.

'Please come and sit.' Ahmed insisted, sitting in the front with his son, Imran.

Arthur went and sat down next to him and the talking among the men gradually began

again.

'I am glad you stayed, I know you have something urgent to do – I can see it in your

eyes. But the question is are you ready?'

'I... thank you for saving my life.' Arthur said looking at the food.

Ahmed smiled, 'eat, and build up your energy.' Arthur ate the all the food on the plate

to the crumb. Ahmed, when noticing his empty plate, pushed his own plate forward.

'No, thank you, you are very kind but you have done enough... I am sorry but I must

go.'

'Where are you going? Stranger.'

'I'm sorry, my name is Arthur.' Ahmed moved his head back in shock.

'You are the Arthur?'

'I guess so!'

'That's funny I always imagined you a lot...'

'Yeah, yeah I get that a lot!' Arthur interrupted and they laughed together.

'My name is Ahmed, this is my son Imran.' Imran nodded and smiled lightly and

Arthur nodded back. 'So, tell me Arthur, what is going on?'

Ahmed's back straightened in excitement when he heard about the existence of

Marcus and the mission Arthur was on.

'I could really do with your help!' Arthur said. Ahmed stood up and told the people

what was going on and they all stood up, ready to fight. Arthur found it strange that

although they all looked different, different colours and sizes, most of them like

muscular barbarians, they all behaved like gentlemen. They all smiled at one another

and were like loving, caring gentle giants to their young ones. They all wore white

clothing and seemed huge on personal hygiene.

'Don't be fooled by their calm and patient traits, for on the battlefield, they are like

unstoppable lions – they fight as one. Tell us what you want us to do?' Ahmed asked

as they walked out of the building.

'I have led many battles and lost many people, but I have never lost as many people,

good people, as I did in the last encounter with that evil army.'

'It's okay, war does not scare us, nor does death.' Arthur nodded.

'Marcus and the others would have probably been taken into London and sold by the

scavenger that robbed you!'

'I need to get into London and get him, will you help me?'

'We will help you, but London is not that simple to invade. It is heavily guarded and

the walls are unbreakable.'

'Nothing is unbreakable!' Arthur's eyes began to glow.

'Ahmed smiled, 'I like you already! But I am afraid the only way this is going to

work, is to sneak in.'

'Can you get me in!'

'Only you can get yourself in, but I can show you how. It's going to be hard, you have

heavy feet!'

Arthur's ego began to kick in, 'just show me how and I'll do it!' By this point, Afzal

came rushing in with a metal cup, holding it carefully, trying not to let its contents

spill.

'Drink this!' Afzal handed the cup to Arthur, who held it tightly and was

overwhelmed by its strange smell. The cup was warm and the liquid inside looked

like murky water found in a swamp and it had steam waving out of it like fast floating

fog.

'Thank you.' Arthur said.

'This is Afzal, he pulled out your collection of souvenirs floating inside you! And this

is a natural remedy; it will help your body heal!'

'Thank you Afzal.' Afzal smiled and walked away.

The warm drink was really sweet, but not in a good way. Arthur would have preferred

to fight someone for hours than to finish drinking it, but knew it had to be done. He

sipped it slowly, trying not to screw his face up in disgust each time, and then he

couldn't bear it anymore, closing his eyes; he gulped it all down but couldn't help but

to make a face.

'That is definitely the best way to drink that stuff – my mistake... I should have told

you that!'

Arthur swiftly forgot about the lingering taste of the repulsive drink, especially when

he looked around at the people in this town. They were simple people, there was no

hustle and bustle, no arguing, no fighting and they shared what little they had with

everyone. Ahmed walked around with Arthur for almost an hour, allowing him to

observe the environment and importantly, their way of life. He had never seen people

be so nice to children, even when they were being little terrors, nor did he ever

witness people treating animals and even plants with such dignity. Yet when he saw

the men and the young boys training and learning how to fight, he had never seen

people try so hard. But Arthur's patience had grown thin and anxiety took over him, 'I

need to get to London! I need to get to Marcus. That's if he's still alive!'

'Do you feel that you are ready?' Ahmed asked.

'I was born ready!'

'Maybe so, but let us see.' Ahmed stopped walking.

Arthur removed his sword, 'I really appreciate what you have done for me, but I don't

have time for games! I must go!'

'You're not scared of an old man are you?'

'What! You're crazy!'

Ahmed rushed and got in front of him. Arthur was startled at the speed of Ahmed's

movement. 'Look, I don't want to hurt you, so move out of my way!'

'I dare you!' Ahmed did not break eye contact for even a split-second.

The men that were training outside stopped and stared at what was going on. Arthur

raised his sword, 'get your weapon and don't say I didn't warn you!'

'I don't think that will be necessary.' Ahmed stayed calm and unarmed. Arthur swung

his sword as fast as he could at Ahmed's head but Ahmed moved out of the way so

fast that it was almost like vanished and like a blur, he was already behind him.

'Your strength and speed is remarkable, maybe the fastest I've seen, but your too

aggressive and that goes against you. Arthur swung the sword again, although this

time from a different angle and trying much harder, the results were similar. He failed

a few times and Ahmed stopped him.

'You are amazing at being at one with your weapon and your strength, but you need

to control the environment around you. The wind must carry you as part of it, the light

should expose only your enemy, while the shadows hide your next move and

importantly, the ground must not have known that you stepped on it!'

Arthur, did not understand a word he just said but he knew that if he wanted a chance

to get in London and get Marcus then he would have to pay attention.

'You will get your chance to go, but you will leave when the blanket of night will veil

you from your enemy. And by then, you will be able to see what they can see not.'

Ahmed spent the next few hours teaching Arthur to discover how to use his senses in

a way that he never thought possible. Arthur was shown ancient skills of fighting

blindfolded, relying on his other senses to guide him. Fighting under water, to help

control his breathing and being subjected to some painful smacks from a solid

wooden stick, helping him to control his rage.

'You really are something!' Ahmed said to Arthur, 'your body is healing faster than

anyone's I've ever seen and you are not even giving it a chance to rest! And your

persistency in learning is remarkable. It is obvious now why you were chosen for this

way before you knew it.'

'Were you chosen to lead?' Arthur asked.

'I don't believe so. I believe I was chosen to mould a leader – my son, Imran. He is a

leader – he was born to do it. He is young and has much to learn but his heart is

bigger than mine, his courageousness excels mine. He will be the leader when he is

ready.'

'And when will he be ready?'

'Only he will know that, as will you, when you are ready!'

Arthur looked up at the sky, noticing that night was slowly extinguishing daylight and

the winds began moving faster.

'You have the same look in your eyes as him, he lost someone close to him and feels

lost – and there's nothing I can say or do to change that.' Arthur didn't think that,

finding it hard to cope without Richard, would be so obvious.

'You need to believe in yourself, if you weren't meant to do this then you would have

never got this far! This is your destiny, this is why you are still alive, when you

should have been dead so many times!'

'What about Richard? Was he not meant for this, is that why he's dead! He was ten

times the man I am!'

'He did what he was meant to do and he left when you were ready for him to leave.

Now, it's getting dark, you need to move.'

Arthur paused and thought deeply and although everything this strange man said was

like philosophical jargon, in a peculiar way, it all made perfect sense.

'You guys have some serious weapons, but yet you all fight with swords, daggers and

fists. Why not use the weapons? I am going into London with a sword and a small

dagger!'

'A sword, used correctly, can cut deeper than any other weapon just the way a tongue

used incorrectly can be shaper and cut deeper than any sword.'

There he goes again! Arthur thought as he put out his hand, 'Thank you, for

everything.' Ahmed smiled

'Your horse is ready and awaiting!'

'And you're sure that I can't take one of the vehicles?' Arthur looked around at few

sparkling cars parked nearby. Ahmed raised his eyebrows.

'I'm kidding – move like the wind – I get it.' Arthur smiled and ran towards the

beautiful brown horse. Arthur was still baffled at how effective that drink was, he felt

as good as new, and the stitch job wasn't bad either.

Arthur climbed on to the horse and giving a quick glance and a nod, he rode into the

distance as fast as he could.

'Hey guys, there's one spare bed and the rest of you lot are gonna have to crash on the

sofas!' Kate said while yawning and feeling bloated from all the food. Louise quickly

stood up and walked to the spare room with the bed, smiling, 'thank you!'

The rest were too full to do anything and stayed sitting.

'Get some sleep, it's gonna be an early one!' Kate walked into her bedroom and

closed the door behind her.

'You ok?' Nicole asked Marcus who had been gazing into space, motionless for a few

minutes.

'I am just amazed at this place; I can see how everyone could get so distracted and

forget about the bigger picture. And forget about the people outside of this surreal

place.' Nicole nodded in agreement and had felt a little carried away with it all

herself. Marcus noticed a notepad and a pen on the coffee table. He grabbed it and

began scribbling all over it, with his usual symbols and formulas that made no sense

to anyone.

'What is all this stuff?' Nicole asked, trying to ignore Ryan's snoring..

'I'm still not sure. But this all must mean something!'

'I'm sure you'll figure it out.' Nicole's eyes were gradually closing and fought a

losing battle to stay awake. And after a few seconds, she was gone. But Marcus could

not close his eyes. He stayed up most of the night thinking and writing. And when he

finally managed to close his eyes and begun to drift away, Kate opened her door, her

hair was like a mop and she stumbled in like a zombie – her eyes were not focusing

on anything in particular when she mumbled, 'time to get up,' and walked into the

wash room. Nicole sprung out of bed looking bright as day, 'morning.'

'Morning,' Marcus said, his eyes red and soar. Within moments, Kate barged back out

of the wash room, miraculously transforming back into cheerful Kate – Hair tied

beautifully, make up on perfectly and the bounce back in her step. 'Come on guys!

We're burning daylight.'

'Does someone wanna wake the sleeping beauty up?' Kate said, referring to Louise.

They all looked at Ryan as he stretched and got to his feet, 'what?' he said noticing all

their heads turning in his direction. 'No way! No!' He shook his head vigorously,

knowing what she's like at this time in the morning, 'she is a monster!' He quickly

ran into the rest room and locked the door!'

Nicole huffed, 'wimps!' She walked to the door and banged on it, 'Louise, get up, it's

time to go!' She shouted from behind the door. She received no response, but dared

not barge in. After a few moments, the door flung open, making Nicole jump. Louise

walked out, looking cheerful and wide awake, 'what? Why are you guys staring at

me?'

'No... no reason. It's just that you're not normally a morning person!'

'I know, I'm normally a fire breathing dragon at this time, but I have to tell you, that

was the most comfortable bed I have ever slept in and it was so warm that I was out

like a baby.' She walked up to the wash room door and banged on it. When Ryan got

out, he dared not look her in the eyes, 'get out the way weasel!' She barged past him

and shut the door behind her.

Kate prepared some toast and tea for breakfast; they all munched fast and shot out and

into the car. The agonizingly cold wind had retreated and the sun had regained

control, spreading its warm and beautiful rays across the city, melting the faint layer

of frost on the grass and the rooftops.

'Keep your heads down, they're probably looking for you; it's a bit of a drive. And

she wasn't exaggerating, they drove for so long and there was so much traffic, that

they all couldn't wait to get out and stretch their stiff bodies.

'There it is... the University!' Kate smiled and looked for somewhere to park. They all

marvelled at the tall and beautiful looking building, they could not believe that a

building that done nothing, it just sat there and people used it to put things in, could

look so appealing to the eye. It looked like it was all made out of glass, gleaming

dark-blue glass that reflected the light from the sun magnificently. The doors opened

and closed, sliding fast as people walked in and out.

'Come on I'll distract the security guard, you guys sneak in! They won't let kids in

here.' Kate walked in first and began asking for directions to the Professor's room

while they snuck in and ran to the elevator. The building was as striking on the inside

as much as it was on the outside. The floor was a cream marble and the walls tiled

with metallic slabs. There was a huge water feature – some sort of abstract design that

made no sense but nevertheless, looked amazing and clear water gushed out of it like

a waterfall.

Kate ran into the elevator that they were all stood in just before it closed.

'He's on the fifth floor, room twelve.' Kate said. Nicole held onto the side, losing

balance as the evaluator began speeding up to the fifth floor. And as they stepped out,

Nicole was completely off balance and feeling dizzy.

'You ok?' Marcus asked.

'Yeah, I'm fine thanks.' She smiled and they hurried to door twelve.

'There it is!' Kate shouted and they barged in, not realising that there was a lecture

theatre full of students, who all turned their heads.

'Sorry...' Kate whispered nervously and turned to walk back out.

'Maybe our guests would care join in and answer the problem on screen?' The

Professor at the front of the room said loudly. He was a tall thin man wearing a

brown, shabby suit jacket, a white shirt and denim jeans. His head looked polished

and thin framed specs balanced perfectly on the tip of his nose.

'Sorry... we were...' Kate muttered now red in the face.

'Don't be silly, these guys needed to be woken up! Now come in and sit down.' They

walked in, everyone noticing that there were a bunch of kids looking completely out

of place.

'Now, where were we... oh yes, robotics and Artificial Intelligence in the late

twentieth century made a real breakthrough with nano-tec. The clever little cells that

were originally used to help the immune system eventually began thinking for

themselves and took over the human body, now my question is how?' The Professor

looked around eagerly, hoping that someone may have prepared for today's lecture.

But for Marcus, listening to this triggered something off and he began shaking his

head at the screen. The Professor noticed this, 'it seems as though you have something

to say...' Most of the students sitting in the room began to giggle at the young boy

being put in the spot light. Marcus knew it would probably be better to stay quite but

he couldn't, 'the Artificial Neurons did not lose focus of their mission, which was to

fight infections. Besides, if they did then they would not have worked together for one

goal. Rather the main system, which controls all the subsystems simply changed

direction, like when a person changes his or her mind and thus used the neurons like

an army.'

'Interesting theory, but why can the system not control the neurons which are still

within us now, and have the ability to reproduce almost organically?' The Professor

asked intrigued at what this boy was suggesting.

'The system crashed and became corrupted when someone created a virus and hacked

the system.' Marcus stood up and walked to the front; he took to the keyboard and

began typing away. Everyone has become complacent in the fact that the threat is

over, it is not! The system can be repaired and restored, and although the connection

between the mind and the wrist-lock has weakened, does not mean that everyone will

be able to keep control of their own minds!'

'Well, this is an interesting theory but even with the system online, it could probably

control twenty percent of the population.'

'That would be enough to launch an attack!'

'Yes. But why would it launch an attack if it wants to control us?'

'This is just the thing; the system has changed direction again, after the impact of the

virus, it no longer wants to control us.'

'Well, what does it want from us then...' the Professor paused and stared into thin air

with a look of astonishment, 'extinction!' The professor whispered loudly.

'Exactly!'

A loud buzzer went off and the uninterested students got up, most with perplexed

expressions, and swarmed out of the lecture theatre.

'Who are you?' The Professor asked.

'My name is Marcus and these are my friends. We really need your help!'

'Hi, Professor, I used to study here a few years back, my name's Louise.'

'Hello... but how do you know all of this?'

'I think it would be better if I show you.' Marcus said, slowly lifting up his sleeves.

The Professor's mouth fell to the ground and he took off his glasses and moved

closer. 'Impossible! But how?'

Marcus spent the next ten minutes explaining everything to him. The Professor had

thousands of questions but knew he didn't have the time.

'What to do? What to do?' He began asking himself. 'Marcus, you existing and being

here can change everything and this is precisely why I need to keep you a secret until

I get you to the right place. Come on we have got to get out of here!' As they walked

to the door, herds of students rolled in, 'sorry lesson's cancelled,' he shouted and

received a cheer back from the students.

'What's the plan?' Marcus asked as they sat into the Professor's car and began

speeding out of the car park.

'I know a man in office that I can trust. I need to get him on board and we need to

speak to the government and take action now. I can't believe it, after all these years, it

was all actually true!'

As they turned to the main road they saw a huge flash of bright light as a large black

vehicle crashed into the side of them, sending them skidding across to the other side

of the road.

None of them knew what happened and regained consciousness in a dark room, sat in

front of men dressed in black suits.

'Well Professor, I always knew you were going to be a real pest and I really

petitioned when they told me that they were going to release you. But let's not dwell

on the past. I see you've made some interesting friends.' One of the men, a short, bald

chap with a gravelly voice, said.

'Hey, you're the Mayor!' The Professor said, trying to get a good look at his face. The

Mayor smiled.

'Listen, it's true, this is the boy, look for yourself, he doesn't have the wrist-lock –

that means it was true – we can stop the Dark-Tec Empire!'

'Now, let's not get ahead of ourselves. The boy really is fascinating and we did have

to pay hell of a lot of gold to get the information leading to you guys.' The Mayor

whispered something to the man sitting next him and then faced them again, 'I think it

would be in our city's interest to keep all of this quiet.'

'But...'

'But nothing!' The man raised his voice, 'please don't tell me that you actually

believe in the fairytale! Now, we are a strong city and have survived for many

years...'

Marcus interrupted the man, 'well that is all about to change.'

'How so?' The man asked smiling.

'The Dark-Tec Empire will come online and it will attack at full force!'

'I don't think the Empire will bother us, and even if they do we have our ways to tame

them!'

'What, you mean the EMP machines?'

'They've got the technology to get around that.'

'Really? And how do you know that and why have they not used it already smarty?'

'Because even I know how to get around your machines. They are waiting for the

system to come back online!'

'I think I've heard enough! Get rid of them.' But the man standing next to the Mayor

whispered into his ear and the Mayor nodded. 'Ok, lock them up and I don't want

anyone knowing that they are here. We'll keep them just in case.

As Arthur rode closer to the great walls of London, he noticed a small gathering of

scruffy men, instantly recognising that they were the men that shot him and kidnapped

the kids. He couldn't believe the coincidence, if there were such a thing.

He leapt off his horse and removed his sword; like a crook on tip-topes, he crept

forward, using the darkness of night as a cloak. The men were sat around a huge fire,

half of them falling asleep from eating and drinking more than they have in a few

years and the others gazing at the stars, not having a clue about what was about to

happen next.

Arthur snuck around them removing their weapons from under their noses before he

kicked one of them in face, forcing his nose to explode a huge gush of red. He then

quickly punched another man who hit the ground hard and lay unconscious with a

possible broken jaw. He pointed his sword at the leader of the group, Rick and stared

at him angrily. 'Where are the kids?' Arthur shouted. The man didn't reply, still a

little bedazzled.

'Tell me where they are and I promise that I won't kill you!' Arthur swung his sword,

slicing the tatty belt that was holding his trousers and making them fall to his ankles,

exposing his stripy boxer-shorts.

'Ok, I'll tell you, but you're too late, I have already sold them at the gates – their

probably deep within London as slaves or in some factory by now!' The man smiled.

Arthur growled and kicked him in the stomach as hard as he could, sending him

tumbling over the large box filled with gold. The box turned over and its contents

were exposed. The moon's glimmer reflected off the solid bricks of gold. He looked

around at the men and threw his sword, 'well, ladies, the last time we met I wasn't

wearing my dancing shoes, let's start over!' The man ran towards him but Arthur

moved fast and hit him even harder. He beat the greedy men, who would rather take

the beating than leave their loot, to the ground. He approached Rick who was on the

ground bleeding from all over his face.

'But you promised you wouldn't kill me! You promised!' The man pleaded.

'Yeah I know. But you'll be surprised at what you can live through!' Arthur kicked

him again and he fell unconscious.

Arthur tied the box to the saddle of his horse and dragged it to the gate, completely

ignoring everything Ahmed said to him about sneaking in like a ninja, and just hoped

that he could buy his away in instead. As he approached the tall gates, he noticed a

small red beam pointing at his chest and then another and then several more. A huge

light then shone at his face, forcing him to cover his eyes.

'What do you want stranger?' A loud voice shouted. At this point, Arthur began

thinking he probably should have taken Ahmed's advice.

'I am here to buy! I have gold... I need some supplies and then I'll on my way!'

Arthur yelled back.

'There's nothing for you here, now get lost or these guys will decorate you nicely!'

'Please, I have gold, let me show you.' Arthur leapt off his horse and opened the box,

showing its contents. There was a deadly silence and the bright light turned off, the

silence continued for another few seconds and Arthur began imagining that he would

be shot a few hundred times. But the loud sound of the gate emerged, the metal began

to grind as the gate slammed onto the ground in front of him.

Arthur got off the horse and dragged the box in.

'Leave your weapons outside,' the loud voice echoed. Arthur unstrapped his sword

and put it into the saddle of the horse. And began walking across the bridge, not

having a clue at what his next move was going to be. Most of his actions were

spontaneous and they've generally paid off, but he really wasn't sure about himself

today. As he walked into the dark entrance, without seeing them, he could already feel

the presence of the heavily armed guards.

'Ok stranger, what do you want?' Martin, the man in charge of the gates said.

'Hey, I am looking for some kids, they were sold here and I want to buy them back!'

Martin laughed, 'I am afraid that's not possible, they are long gone!' He began

walking away.

'Wait! How can I get in and find them?'

'You can't!'

'I will give you the box of gold if you let me through!'

The man stopped and walked back, he looked into the box and checked the gold was

real. He ordered his guards back to their posts and turned to Arthur, 'ok, I'll let you

in, but if you get caught I will deny everything and if you try screwing me, I'll have

your guts!' Arthur looked at the man and smiled, 'you won't get a peep out of me, I

just want the kids and I'm out of here.'

'I'll take your gold, but you're wasting your time, the boy is being hunted by some

big cats. They found about him and snooped around for hours trying to figure out

where he is. London may seem like a big place but they got it on lock down, they've

probably found him by now!'

'Well thanks, but I'll take my chances!'

'Suit yourself!'

Arthur began walking past the huge and dark reception until he saw a glass door, and

the men that were guarding it moved out of the way.

'And get changed if you want to blend in, you look like you're from the circus!'

Martin shouted from a distance.

Arthur walked for over twenty minutes before he got into a populated area, he

couldn't believe his eyes when he saw the clean and calm city, full of people who

were oblivious to what is going on outside. Trying hard to not lose focus, he began

wondering how on earth he was going to find them. He walked past a shop that had

clothes displayed in the window and thought it be a good idea to get some new

clothes, so he didn't stand out like a sore thumb. When he stepped inside, he made

heads turn, as it so happened, he just strolled into one of the most expensive designer

clothes stores in London. Almost instantly, a man approached him, looking at him up

and down with eyebrows raised, 'can I help you sir?' He asked in a very posh accent.

'Yeah... I'm looking for some clothes.' Arthur replied, looking at the man's posh suit.

'Ok... sir, I must mention that this is a very expensive store, maybe you would like to

try a store down the street?'

Arthur, who had kept a few gold bars from the box, emptied his bag onto the floor.

'What can I get for this?'

The man's eyes almost bulged out of their sockets when he saw the gold. 'Martha!'

He shouted to his assistant, smiling nervously.

'Come this way sir,' the man said, putting the gold bars back into Arthur's bag and

handing it back to him. 'You're not from around here are you? You could probably

buy the entire store with that. And I suggest you don't flash it around either.' He

whispered into Arthur's ear. 'Now, let's get you dressed.' The man and his assistant

Martha, a charming old lady, measured him and dressed him with the most expensive

suit they had and still had to run to a bank to get him the right amount change in gold

coins for a single bar. 'Now, take a look.' The man said, feeling proud of himself.

Arthur looked in the mirror and smiled, never imagining himself to ever wear

anything like this. 'I could get used to this!' He said checking his collars and stroking

his beautiful cream tie. The fitted black suit went perfectly with him but Martha kept

looking at his hair. 'If you don't mind, I would suggest a hair cut!' She said with a

precious smile.

'There is a lovely hair dressers two buildings down from here. It's run by a man

named Brian, he will know exactly what to do!' The man said, 'Martha, if you don't

mind you could take him there.' Martha smiled, 'of course not, right this way.'

'Thank you, you are very kind.' Arthur said, getting carried away with everything.

The hair dresser took one look at Arthur and nearly had a heart attack, 'no, no... no!'

he said in a strange accent, he touched arthur's hair in disgust and shook his head

saying, 'no, no...no!' again.

'Come on Jeano, if anyone can do it, it's you!' Martha said.

'You're right my darling but look at this! Just look at it!'

'Please!' Martha fluttered her eyelids.

'Ok! Ok! But just for you my darling.'

'Thank you Jeano.' She smiled and waved at Arthur and left.

'Thanks! I think!' Arthur said, looking at Jeano's determined face. Jeano clapped

twice and two young ladies came rushing out, one wheeling a shinning black chair,

and the other lady carrying a leather bag. 'Sit down!' He pushed Arthur into the chair

and hit the button on the stereo and an epic orchestra tune began playing in the

background. His face changed and he began looking like mad man ready to bring

Frankenstein to life. He moved like a bird floating beautifully in the air, rolling out

the leather bag with his finest tools for this kind of job, his fore head was creased and

his eyebrows almost stuck together as his eyes visualised how they were going to

tackle this mess.

'Oh dear, this scalp, these ends, this smell – this mess!' He clapped again, 'get me the

stuff!' The young lady came rushing with an unlabelled bottle of shampoo. He rinsed

his hair chucked on lots of the shampoo. After emptying half the bottle, he tilted his

head, 'what the heck.' Then tipped the rest of the bottle, he washed Arthur's hair

intensely and then worked his talent. Not giving Arthur any say, he chopped and

sprayed and chopped until a huge smile formed on Jeano's face and he stopped.

'I have to say I didn't think I could do it, but I did it and boy did I do it well, Jeano

style!'

Arthur looked in the mirror and noticed his hair short and spiked at the top, short from

the sides and a little longer at the back. And, his hair was now a dark brown.

Complimenting his eyes and complexion perfectly. He looked at Jeano, who had

exactly the same style and colour and said, 'I like it!'

'Well of course you do! And you look great, now just as a suggestion, maybe a

shower and a shave! There's a shower upstairs.'

'Hey Kate, where are we?' Nicole asked, all of them being blindfolded and taken

somewhere strange. But Kate seemed confused and turned to the Professor, who

looked around the grey, windowless room.

'It's some kind of cell, and I'm guessing underground.' He looked at the little screen

near the door. 'Security locked!'

'What are they going to do with us?' Kate asked.

'They're planning on locking us up and throwing away the key!'

'But how can they get away with this?' Kate panicked.

'My dear, no one knows that. We're here and that's that. And I don't know about you,

but no one will be looking for me!'

'This is crazy!' Kate began shouting and banging on the steel door, 'hey, you can't do

this! We haven't done anything and we have rights!' But as expected there was no

response.

'It's no use, there's no one out there! We're probably in a maximum security cell

way... way underground, where no one can see us rot!' The Professor said in a

pessimistic tone.

'Charming!' Marcus said, 'there must be a way out of here. Are you sure that there's

no one out there?'

'It's unlikely, looking at this square on the door; you can see the wired link to the

computer, which means its all computer operated! It will open three times a day and

give us food. They really didn't want to take any chances with us!'

'So we wait for it open and... break it?' Ryan asked.

'It won't work. They have double doors and normally have sensors and if anything

tries to get through or tamper with it they snap shut! I've read about these type of cells

before, in history books, they used them when detaining serious criminals and

interrogating suspected terrorists, and all of this was kept underground because it was

a grey area in the legal system.'

Marcus looked at the computer screen, 'this security system is using old exploitable

software and I can hack this!'

'How do you know what software it is using?' The Professor asked, intrigued.

'I am not sure, but for some reason I can tell just by looking at it and how to function

it – it's all in my head!'

'Astonishing!' The Professor marvelled as Marcus began using the touch screen panel

next to the door.

'Careful they normally have tamper security!'

'Yeah, TS Intrusion Detection, I found it and it is now... disabled! They rigged this

baby well, but this... should do it...'

Arthur cleaned himself but as he stared carefully in the large sparkling mirror, he

noticed the faint scars running down his neck and some of the stitches from his

wounds were coming away. What the hell am I doing? He thought as he noticed how

distracted he had become. He quickly got dressed and ran down the spirally stairs,

'hey, looking good!' Jeano remarked as caught sight of a completely transformed

Arthur.

'Listen to me! I need to find some kids that came here not so long ago. It is very

important that I find the boy...'

'Ok, just calm down... listen, I know a guy, he's not cheap but he does that kind of

stuff, you know, he finds people. His office is just down the road from here – he's

really good.' Jeano directed Arthur to the man's office.

The entrance to the office was as gloomy as the lonely, worn mat that sat outside the

door. The place looked more like a shed and had a strong smell of damp wood. The

unmanned desk had a broken leg, balancing with a small pile of books wedged under

it, and the light shining from the cucumber coloured lamp was exposing the

weightless particles of dust floating meaninglessly throughout the room. There was a

large map tacked on the wall behind the wooden desk. It was so big that almost

covered the entire width of the back wall – London, detailed with road names,

building names, some buildings marked with 'X' and every alley way and possible

alley way labelled. There were large bright red coloured drawing pins pierced all

around the map.

'Can I help you?' A gentle and calm voice emerged from behind him.

'Yes, I'm looking for a man who... can find people.'

'Ok... please take a seat.' The short man with receding black hair said. He walked

inside the office with a brown paper bag with patches of grease seeping out and two

plastic cups wedged in brown a cup holder. The man's brown suit camouflaged him in

his wooden office well. The only thing that looked completely out of the ordinary was

his bright white socks that stood out because of his slightly short trousers, not that his

legs were particularly long. He sat snug into his large leather chair and opened the

paper bag, removing two greasy ring donuts.

He put one of the cups in front of Arthur who sat on the chair opposite side of the

desk, 'I had a strange feeling that I would get a visit from someone today. My name is

Albert. So tell me, what can I do for you Mr...'

'Arthur, my name is Arthur and I am looking for some kids that...'

'Wait, I don't find kids, they normally don't want to be found.'

'No, they didn't runaway, they were... kidnapped!'

'Umm... interesting...' Albert put the half eaten donut down and wiped his hand with a

napkin. He removed a thick brown cigar and put it in his mouth; he stood up staring

out of the window.

'Now, what would someone want with kids? Unless, they weren't from London!'

'They're not from London.'

'Umm, I can't do it, I'm sorry.' The man placed the cigar back into his pocket and sat

back down and finished his donut. Arthur opened his bag and emptied the gold coins

that he got as change from the clothes shop, onto the desk.

'Maybe this might help.'

'Maybe it will!' Albert looked carefully, examining the gold coins. He stood up and

placed the cigar back in his mouth, 'I need to know everything... I mean everything!'

He said speaking out of the side of his mouth.

'Ok, I will tell you everything,' Arthur waited for a few brief moments before asking,

'are you going to light that?'

'What this?' He took the cigar out of his mouth and stared at it, 'no... I don't smoke!

It's a disgusting habit! Now, drink your coffee before it gets cold and let's get

talking.'

Arthur sipped the strong and strange tasting coffee and explained everything about

Marcus and why they came here and what they had been through. In was difficult for

Arthur to determine whether Albert really believed him or not, nevertheless, the gold

was real and so the incentive to find Marcus and the others was strong.

'From the sounds of things, your friends could be anywhere by now. But I have a

friend who may be able to get us started.' Albert picked up the black phone sitting on

his desk and rang a number. After a few rings some one answered, Albert put the

phone back down and pressed the speaker phone button.

'Hello Mike.' Albert said.

'Hello Albert, long time.' The man on the phone replied.

'Yes it has been, listen, I need a favour...'

'I'm listening...'

'A group of kids were brought in through the back doors a couple of days ago... can

you get into the main CCTV system and figure out where they went?'

'You mean you want me to hack the system?' The man whispered.

'Yes, it's important.'

'Albert, I could time for this, it'd better be bloody important.'

'Please, anything you can do.'

'Ok, I'll see what I can do.'

'Thanks, bye.'

Albert hung up the phone, 'Ok, Mr. Arthur, let's take a walk.' They walked out of the

office and approached a fairly battered brown vehicle. It didn't look very modern, nor

did the paintwork shine but it did have a charm. The shape was more boxy than the

other cars on the road and the lights looked more like an old man's eyes, drooping and

tired. It wore a patchy coat of rust and when Albert started the old engine, it screamed

in pain.

'Ok, we are going to the gates.'

'It's no use, I have already tried and they don't know anything.'

'Well, they knew that you might be trouble!' Albert said as he pulled off leaving a

cloud of grey smoke behind him.

'What do you mean?'

'I mean that, although they let you in, they reported that you broke in and are a

fugitive.'

'They did what?' Arthur shocked thinking about the gold that he paid for his

admission.

'They called you through; your pictures have already been uploaded on all the digital

newspapers, Police cars and even on digital adverts in windows.'

'So, you knew that before we spoke?'

'Yeah, when I came into my office I noticed the scar just peeing out of the side of

your collar and linked it to the scar from the image I saw. I mean I love the

transformation but when paying attention to detail, you're not fooling anyone.'

'So, why are you helping me?'

'Because I don't trust them and on the plus side, you're paying me!'

'Let me try to see what I can get out of them.' Albert got out of the car and rushed

inside. Arthur sat in the car, anxiously waiting.

After a few moments, Albert came rushing back and hopped back into the car – silent.

'Well?'

'Well you were right. They weren't very helpful.' Arthur shook his head and began to

get frustrated.

'I did, however, notice something very unusual... the chap that I spoke to was wearing

a wedding ring on his left hand.'

'So...'

'So, why did he have a patch of un-tanned skin on his other hand, the same size as a

ring!'

'Maybe he swopped hands.'

'Maybe... or maybe it was from another ring.'

'I don't follow.'

'The man didn't seem familiar to me, he didn't seem to fit in and the fact that his suit

had a few tiny threads of white implies to me that he was wearing something white

over his clothes. This and that fact that he normally wears a ring on the other hand,

like all the members of the secret government people can only mean...'

'Mean what?'

'That they are worried about something. That's why they've got one of their own at

the gates and just as I expected, we are being followed.'

Arthur turned to look back. 'No! Don't look, let them follow...'

Albert's mobile phone began to ring, 'hello,' he put his phone on loud speaker.

'Albert... this is Mike, listen to me very carefully, the group of kids that you are

looking for were here yesterday. They were being chased down by, you're not going

to believe this, but the car was government.'

'Oh, I believe you alright, we're being followed by them now!'

'Wait, I am tracing your phone signal,' there was a loud tapping sound as Mike

bashed on his computer's keyboard aggressively.

'Ok, I hacked into the main CCTV system, I can see you now. You got one on your

tail and it looks like there's a few more coming!'

'Mike, get us out of here!' Albert said looking into the rear view mirror.

'Just a minute... ok, you're coming up to a busy junction – speed up, and jump the

amber lights!'

Albert put his foot down but the car didn't pick up much more speed that it was

already doing. Arthur looked at Albert with one eyebrow raised.

'What? It's a classic!' The large black vehicle following them noticed them speed up

and picked up pace. As they approached the lights, they turned to amber and Albert

pushed his rusted old car through as fast as he could; only just evading a collision

from cars rushing from the left. The large vehicle that was following was not so

lucky, and because the driver tried to get through and failed, the cars from the left

collided into it and sent it tumbling over and sliding across the road.

'Yes, we did it.' Albert smiled and gently stroked the steering wheel of his beloved

car.

'Hey, I'd hate to burst your bubble, but the other two will catch up pretty quick if you

don't get a move on!' Mike said, noticing that the other two similar vehicles were

catching up.

'This is the fastest that this thing will go.' Albert said in panic. Arthur had lost his

patience, 'I am tired of these games! Stop the car!'

Albert looked at him in shock, 'what do you mean?'

'I said stop the damn car now!' He shouted so loud that Albert missed a few heart

beats and stopped the car. Arthur leapt out of the car and removed his suit jacket and

threw it in the car's back seat. He leant back towards the window and said, 'stay

here!' He walked on the road towards the two identical vehicles that were screeching

to a halt in front of him. Three men rushed out of each vehicle and one shouted, 'get

down on the floor now!' They were all pointing black, strange looking pistols at him

as he walked towards them.

'I said get down before we make a mess out of you!' The man repeated.

'Tell me where the boy is and I promise you I will let you all live!' Arthur shouted.

Albert, ducking behind the car seat, shook his head thinking, the guy's obviously a

nutcase! Why do I always get the nutcases?

'I will not tell you again! Get down on the ground now!'

Arthur ran so fast towards them that before anyone could take a shot he had already

kicked the man that was telling him to get down, in the chest, sending flying and

knocking the man behind him down to the ground. Arthur then rolled over the car's

roof and using both his legs, he kicked the man on the other side of the car, the man's

gun fell out of his hand and he was sent flying into the windscreen of the other car.

The three men from the other car began firing rapidly at Arthur, who rolled on the

ground and picked up the gun from the floor and began firing back, instantly shooting

one of the men in the leg and another in the arm. He rolled further and hid behind the

car, and silently waited, he could hear the man's footsteps and looked underneath the

car and shot the gun, shooting the man in the leg. Arthur stood up and grabbed one of

the men and pointed the gun at his head. 'Now, I'm going to ask you once, you know

who I'm talking about – where is he?'

'Ok, don't shoot, I'll tell you... they locked him up in the old Anti-terror unit!' The

man moaned in pain from the bullet wound to the leg.

'Where is it?'

'It's underground somewhere... I don't know exactly where, I swear!'

'You tell whoever it was that sent you that I will get the boy and I will kill anyone

that gets in my way!' Arthur stormed back to the car and noticed Albert was pale as a

ghost, 'shall we drive?' Arthur said calmly. Albert nodded and swallowed nervously

as he pulled off.

'We need to get to the old Anti-terror unit – do you know where it is?'

'There was rumour that unit was still functioning but there was no proof because no

one knew where it was! Mike?'

'I'm on it! Drive towards Central, call it a hunch. Meanwhile, I will see if I can get

you an exact location!'

'Thanks Mike, I owe you one!'

'That's ok, and for the record, you owe me loads but I will cash up later.' Albert hung

up and drove as fast as he could towards Central London.

'I got it!' Marcus smiled as the door slid open.

'Absolutely remarkable!' The Professor marvelled.

'Wait!' Ryan said and held everyone back as he peeped his head out of the door first,

'come on it's clear.' To everyone's surprise, there was no one outside. They stared

down the long and well-lit corridors.

'Which way?' Ryan looked puzzled.

'This way...' Marcus began walking right towards the large double doors. He didn't

know whether this was the right way to get out but decided they definitely needed to

move from where they were. The fear of being captured and killed played on all of

their minds, except Louise who was just glad to get out of that room. She was

claustrophobic but suffered silently, trying not to let on that the walls felt like they

were caving in or that her chest was so tight that when she breathed it felt like a knife

was digging into her lungs.

'It's so quiet and this seems too easy!' Marcus remarked.

'Let's just move!' Kate said. They crept down the long corridor and approached the

double doors.

'One sec...' Marcus began fiddling with the screen on the side of the door, 'Ok... this

should do it,' the doors flung open and they entered a large room. The walls were a

light blue, there were a few tables and chairs scattered all over.

'What now?' Ryan asked, looking puzzled. The Professor walked to the back of the

room, where he could see metal stairs, 'this way!' They ran up the stairs where they

were faced with another door, although there was no security on this one. Ryan

pushed the door open and they walked into complete darkness.

'Anyone know where the light switch is?' Louise remarked.

'Allow me...' A strange voice echoed. Everyone froze as the lights blinked a few

times and then turned on and they all stepped back in horror.
Chapter 14

The Great Escape

The Dark-Tec Towers

For the first time in many years, there was an element of panic in the Dark-Tec

Towers. The chilling silence was now replaced with thunderous sounds of machinery.

The ground shook vigorously, metal screamed continuously and the frightening

footsteps of Darcy Taylor echoed endlessly.

It was strange concept, even for Darcy that a boy could stir up so much trouble – a

boy that has led an army into battle and although the army was defeated, escaped unharmed.

Even Darcy began thinking about the stories that were carried through the

ages about this boy.

'I am confused Maxwell, so confused!' Darcy said unable to stand in one place, 'bring

up the images of the boy.'

Maxwell brought up footage of Marcus on the large glass screen on the wall. Darcy

stared carefully at the boy, 'Maxwell, what is it about this boy? There's something

very familiar about him.'

'Yes, I ran his image through a bone and eye analyser and the results were most

peculiar...'

'Well?'

'Yes... strangely, his bone structure and eyes are very similar to yours.'

'Why is that?'

'I am not quite sure, but the chances that he is a relative of the original Darcy Taylor,

is over ninety-percent.'

'What?'

'He is perhaps the offspring of Darcy Taylor from many years back.'

'You mean he is my son?' Darcy's eyes were glued on the image on the screen.

'Probably.'

'But I never had a son, ever!'

'Well, this is not true... when you were exiled from the labs and went into hiding,

your wife was expecting.'

'Why was this hidden from me?' He yelled so loud that his voice echoed over and

over.

'At the time, it was perceived best to not to inform you, as knowledge of this may

have influenced your judgement and jeopardised the mission. It was most likely, your

team that found out about your offspring and chose to place him in a cryogenic

facility, so that he could influence you better than anyone else. A brilliant strategy of

emotional warfare. It is, however, important that you do not let this fact affect you!'

'This doesn't make sense... she was pregnant? – she never told me!' His face looked

menacing; his eyes were glowing in rage and his fists clenched so tight that there was

a loud crackling. But just as he looked like he was about to explode, the ring on his

finger began to glow a subtle red and he soon began to calm down.

'Shall we continue to find the boy and kill him?' Maxwell asked.

'Yes find him... and... kill him...' Darcy said and sat down on his large chair.

'Fredrick has sent word – the boy and his friends are in London, it appears that they

have been captured by the government.'

'How interesting... patch me through to the Mayor.' Darcy smiled. Maxwell

connected a video stream to the Mayor's office.

'Ah, the great Mayor of London.' Darcy spoke in his usual creepy manner.

'What can I do for you Darcy?' The Mayor replied.

'Well, as it happens, you have a boy in your custody – give me the boy!'

'You're referring to the boy with no wrist-lock?'

'That'll be the one.'

'Well, I don't know... he seems to be worth something to a lot of people!'

'Let's just put it this way, you give me the boy or I terminate our little agreement and

squash that little paradise you have there!'

'Ok, calm down, I was just kidding...'

'If you'd like we can get rid of the boy!'

'No! I want him alive.'

Maxwell interrupted, sir, I think it would be best to terminate the boy now!'

'Shut up Maxwell, you've done enough! I want that boy now. Send Fredrick to get the

boy!'

'You know that even if we find the place, it's going to be heavily guarded. They have

guns!' Albert said, looking at the crazy look in Arthur's eyes.

'Yeah, so did those guys!'

'Good point!'

Albert's phone began to ring.

'Hey Albert, check this out! You guys are right above the place now!' Mike spoke

excitedly.

'Ok... how the hell do we get down there?'

'The entrance is in through the building to the left of you now.'

'That building looks dead!'

'No, that is an intelligence agency – it has a very strict access control and is heavily

guarded.'

'There must be another way in!'

Arthur looked more and more impatient, 'stop the car! I'll make a way in!

'No, I got a better idea,' Albert put his foot down and drove two roads down.

'Mike, I know this is asking for a lot but I need you to create a diversion.'

'What did you have in mind?' Mike asked.

'I need you to get the fire brigade busy.'

'Ok, give me a sec!' Mike placed Albert on hold. Albert parked outside the Fire

brigade and watched as the metal shutters rolled up and two fire engines roared out

like raging bulls.

'What are we doing here?' Arthur asked as they snuck into the building.

Albert glared at the bright red fire engine. It looked like it had been polished for

hours, it was gleaming.

'Quickly, put these on.' Albert handed Arthur a fire fighter suit and helmet.

'Mike, I need you set the fire alarm in the intelligence building now!'

'Really? I could go to jail for this!'

'And you know I would get you back out! Now do it!'

Albert had a hunch that the fire engine would have the key for ignition already

wedged inside for emergencies.

'Let's crank this baby up!' Albert said, all the while, smiling like a child who just

received his first train set. Albert had always been an adventure seeker and had

embarked on many fantastic journeys, but this one really brought the fun side of him

out. He floored the pedal and they rocketed out of the building, swerving and

screeching, tormenting the roads. It left a trail of smoke, a ringing in everyone's ears

from the piercing sirens and the unpleasant smell of burning rubber loomed in the air

like a bad odour.

As they approached the intelligence building, they noticed people swarming out.

Albert rushed out, 'is there anyone left in the building?' He asked in an assertive

voice.

'No... I don't think so.' A man in a grey suit said.

'Ok, I don't want anyone coming back in until we give the go ahead!' Albert said,

really playing the part and loving every second of it.

'Wait. There are only two of you?' The man asked.

'Well, what did you expect? The army?' Albert said sarcastically, 'now, move back –

everyone, move back!'

As they rushed into the building, Arthur didn't know whether he was more impressed

about successfully getting in or Albert's convincing acting.

'This way...' Albert said, still wearing his game face.

'What now?' Kate asked, looking around at the fifteen or so men pointing their

weapons directly at them.

'Put your hands on your heads now!' One of the men shouted, not swayed by the loud

sirens of fire alarm. They all put their hands up and the men with the guns pressed

forward, 'move, back to the cells!' But before they turned around, the lights suddenly

went off and there were some loud noises – noises of people screaming, some gun

shots, flashing lights and lots of thuds as the bodies of the men holding the guns hit

the ground. Louise finally found the light switch and turned the lights on, and to their

utter shock, they noticed the men on the ground, lying unconscious.

And a fire man still standing in fighting position, looking around to make sure they

were all down and out. Arthur removed his helmet and fire-fighter suit, he looked at

Marcus and the others, who were still staring in astonishment.

'Marcus, thank God!' He said and moved towards, but Marcus and the others had an

empty look.

'Guys what's up?' He said as he noticed their worried faces. Nicole moved forward

and looked more carefully, 'Arthur?'

'Yes... who else did you think it was?' They could not believe their eyes, he looked

nothing like the Arthur that they had spent years with on the outside, he had

transformed into someone completely different. His stubble was tidy, his clothes were

elegant, his hair was silk and he smelt like sweet musk.

'Arthur!' They all shouted and ran towards him and hugged on to him.

'We thought you were dead!' Nicole said with tears rolling down her cheek

'I nearly was!'

'I'm so glad you're here! Let's get out of this place.' Arthur smiled thinking the exact

same thing.

'Oh, this is Kate and Professor Hussein.' Marcus mentioned.

'It's great to meet you, but we really need to get out of here!' And Arthur began

rushing back towards the entrance.

'Charming fella isn't he!' Albert said, 'Hi, I'm Albert.' He introduced himself. They

all smiled and ran, following Arthur.

'How are we going to do this?' Arthur said to himself, knowing that there is a herd of

people outside that would see them come out.

'Leave it to me... wait here!' Albert said and ran out. He approached the men and

women standing outside, 'I need you to move back, the fire is out of control and I

need to get the truck closer!'

'Everyone move back!' One of the women in a black suit shouted with a panicked

look.

Albert moved the fire engine sideways blocking any view to the entrance and they all

snuck out of the building and into the fire engine and without hesitation, Albert soared

off.

'Ah... does that mean its ok to go back in?' One of the men from the crowd of people

outside said, looking puzzled.

There was a loud cheer from in the fire engine and a feeling of relief and excitement

floated around.

'I can't believe that actually worked!' Albert smiled, swerving from side to side.

'I knew you were still alive! Thanks for coming back for us.' Marcus said to Arthur.

'Of course, it'll take more than bullets to kill me. But I need to get out of this place,

it's driving me nuts!'

'What's the plan?' The Professor asked.

'We're not gonna get any help from these guys in London – we need to get out of

here.'

'Oh dear...' Albert said.

'What's oh dear?' Arthur asked.

'We got company!' Albert remarked, looking into the rear view mirror. There were

four large black vehicles – identical to the ones they have been having encounters

with, so they knew exactly what was coming.

There was a loud crash and everyone was thrown to the other side of fire engine as

Albert swerved to regain control.

'They hit us!' Albert shouted. 'Brace yourselves!' There was another loud crash as

another of the vehicles crashed into the other side.

'Put your foot down!' Arthur shouted.

'I'm trying – hold on!' Albert shouted as he approached a sharp bend at high speed.

The wheels on the fire engine screeched and he struggled to keep all four wheels on

the ground, he quickly spun the steering wheel back, only just preventing them from

tipping over. There was another painful thud. Everyone began feeling the

uncomfortable but familiar feeling of whiplash.

Kate looked into the large side mirror, 'here it comes again!' She screamed.

Albert, with a look of determination, turned his head and faced everyone, 'everyone

hold on tight!' He slammed on the brakes as hard as he could, a cloud of misty blue

smoke emerged from the screeching tyres and the black vehicle, unable to stop,

impacted so hard on the back of the solid fire engine that it was totalled. The front of

the black vehicle had squashed up all the way to its windscreen and it had instantly

caught on fire.

In the fire engine, although everyone was suffering from slight muscle stiffness, they

were pleased with the result. But the other vehicles were still on them like hawks.

Two of the vehicles got back on either side of the fire engine, one crashing into the

right and one crashing into the left.

'I think it's time for me to drive!' Arthur shouted and pulled Albert out of the driver

seat. Instantly, he slammed on the brake pedal and spun the wheel, smashing into the

vehicle on the right and sent it crashing into a building. He slammed the accelerator

pedal and spun the wheel the other way, smashing the other vehicle and almost

running it over completely.

'He's a fast learner!' Albert commented.

'He's the best!' Nicole smiled.

'Albert!' Arthur yelled.

'Yes.'

'Where am I going?'

'Oh... yes, we're near the gates – take a left at the roundabout!' But as Albert finished

his sentence, they could hear the sound of bullets piercing the back of the fire engine's

metal body.

'Everybody down!' Arthur shouted and swerved side to side – trying to avoid the

spray of bullets.

'We're nearly there!' Albert shouted. But Arthur slammed on the brakes as he looked

out of the windscreen in panic. There was a row of men standing in front of the great

gates, with their guns pointing at the fire engine.

Arthur grabbed Albert and threw him into the driver's seat. Put your foot down and

when I say, hit the brakes and turn to the left. Arthur ran and tried to open the shutter

door, but it was bent and wouldn't budge.

'Umm... I hate to rush you but...' Albert remarked as got closer to the men, who had

now begun firing. Arthur kicked the shutter as hard as he could until the shutter

eventually broke open. Arthur grabbed hold of the long yellow hose.

'Ryan turn that red wheel!' Arthur shouted, 'Albert hit it!' Albert hit the brakes and

spun it to the side, Arthur struggled to not fall out. It became even more difficult when

the intense pressure from the hose started. Ryan and Marcus rushed and helped Arthur

aim the high pressured hose at the men holding the guns.

The forceful pressure of the water sent the men and their guns flying and skidding

across the ground, but it wasn't long before they re-grouped and hid behind the walls

and eagerly waited for the water in the vehicles tank to run out. The men rushed out

and began firing a few shots at the fire engine.

'Get down!' Arthur shouted. Arthur ran out and kicked one of the men to the ground,

snatching his weapon; he somersaulted into the air and shot a few of the men. As the

men focused their aims at Arthur, Ryan sneaked out and struck one of the men from

behind, hitting his with his fist and sending him to the ground. Ryan picked his

weapon up, a silver hand gun and he began firing recklessly at the other men. It

wasn't long before more vehicles with many more armed men came rushing to the

scene. They were outnumbered and taking refuge behind the trashed fire engine,

which had now caught on fire.

The men stopped firing as their huge steel gates were blasted open, the ground began

to tremble. There was a sudden and loud voice that emerged from behind the men,

'Stop! We need them alive!' It was Fredrick accompanied by a small army of

menacing looking robots. They looked like panthers with glowing eyes, ready to

attack anything that moved. The men with the guns moved back in fear, and the man

that looked like he was in charge, nodded at one of the other men who snuck off.

'The master has requested the boy, only the boy! Kill the rest!' Fredrick shouted. But

before the robots got the chance to pounce on them, the man that snuck off, came

running back holding a large metal contraption, he pointed it at the robots and fired

out huge blue ray. Fredrick clapped and giggled, 'Oh, you guys really are pathetic –

EMP machines? Really? We're way past that, as you will learn. My master is nearly

ready and soon you will all regret having ever challenged him. Get the boy and kill

the rest!' The men began shooting their weapons at the robots, giving Marcus and the

others a few seconds to make a break for it.

'This way!' Arthur shouted and ran towards the gates but before they got close, there

was a loud thud and the ground shook so vigorously that they lost balance. They all

iced-over as they were stood face-to-face with one the most terrifying robots they had

ever seen. Its chunky four legs were like black, shining towers standing tall and when

it crouched, its glass like claws dug into the ground. Its monstrous face was like that

of a beast that people only read about in fictional stories. And when it roared,

everyone felt like their eardrums had exploded. Arthur and Ryan began shooting at it,

but the bullets were deflecting off. It rushed towards them like a raging bull and hit

Arthur, sending him flying across the gravely ground.

'Run Marcus!' Nicole shouted as she noticed its eyes focusing on him. Marcus ran as

fast as he could but within seconds he was surrounded by the robots.

Arthur, regaining consciousness, looked around at the men on the floor and Marcus

being surrounded. It was like a déjà vu, the robots were undefeatable.

Fredrick walked, looking like he was almost skipping towards Marcus, delighted that

he had defeated Arthur and captured the boy – knowing how pleased Darcy would be

with him.

'I did it – I told him that I was smarter and better than Hex and his goons!' He

chanted to himself, in a tune.

'Hello little boy... don't worry no one's going to hurt you...' he smiled and grabbed

Marcus's arm.

Arthur rose to his feet and stumbled towards Marcus.

'Why don't you die!' Fredrick shouted when he noticed Arthur. 'Can someone please

kill him?' Two of the robots rushed towards him, and although Arthur kept his brave

face, in the back of his head, Arthur knew he had no chance of surviving this one. But

to his and everyone else's utter astonishment, there was a piercing sound as a small

rocket ripped through the air and impacted one of the robots. There was a huge back

draft and an enormous flash of light and a thick cloud of smoke – although it didn't

appear to have caused too much damage to the robot, certainly knocked it off its feet.

Fredrick looked in the direction from where the rocket was launched and noticed an

army of men on horses, all carrying weapons, wearing armoured helmets and face

protection and all dressed in white. They rushed in and began shooting at the robots

rapidly. The sky was covered with rockets and beams of red and blue from some

extraordinary weapons. One of the horses rushed towards Arthur and the man lifted

him and threw him on the back of his horse and rode behind the wall.

The man took of his silver face protection and smiled.

'Ahmed!' Arthur shouted in excitement, 'what happened to the whole no weapons

and silent footsteps and...'

'Yeah, sometimes you gotta get with the times and just kick some ass!' Ahmed

handed Arthur his gun and removed a huge silver sword, 'now, this is how we roll!

The sword glimmered brightly and was so clean that Arthur could see his reflection in

it clearly. 'Arthur, get the boy, we'll keep them busy!' Arthur grabbed his arm, 'thank

you Ahmed, for everything!'

'There's no time for this, now go!' Ahmed rushed forward and began striking the

robots with his sword – the combination of the sharpness of that great sword and his

might, made more effect on the robots than most of the other weapons. Arthur ran

shooting at the robots and found Marcus and the others who were desperately trying

to escape. 'Come on, we gotta get out of here!' Arthur dragged Marcus and they all

ran towards the gates.

As they approached the gates, Arthur looked back and noticed that Ahmed was

cornered by the robots, he was still fighting but Arthur knew he didn't stand a chance.

'I gotto go back!' Arthur said stopping just before they approached the broken gates.

'No, we need to get Marcus out of here!' Nicole urged.

'But they're going to kill him!' Before Arthur had a chance to think a black horse

barged through the gates. The horse was both beautiful and menacing; it reminded

Arthur of Dark Knight. The man riding the horse, although could only be part of

Ahmed's crew, looked different – black clothes instead of white and black armour

instead of silver. The man took of his face protection, and they saw the face of a boy,

it was Imran, Ahmed's son. 'Go! Now!' He shouted and galloped in as fast as he

could.

As he got closer, he threw a metal spear at one of the robots which was attacking his

father. The spear wedged into its leg and made it trip onto the ground. He removed

two swords and valiantly began fighting the robots beside his father. Ahmed smiled

and nodded. Within a few moments, Ahmed was struck by one of the robots and fell

to the ground.

'No!' Imran shouted as he watched helplessly – the robot stamped on Ahmed and a

gush of blood spurted out of his mouth. Imran rushed towards his father when he saw

the robot lift its leg in preparation for another blow.

'Get after the boy! You idiots!' Fredrick shouted as he noticed Marcus and the others

making a break for it. The robots including the one that was about to stamp of Ahmed

again, stopped and rushed towards Marcus.

'Father!' Imran put his arm under his father's head.

'Ah, Imran... my son, I... knew you would come... defying my orders again.' Ahmed

spoke slowly and looked like he was in unbearable pain.

'Father... I... am so sorry!' Imran's eyes began to fill.

'Imran... listen to me, you have nothing to be sorry about and do not let those tears

roll, because if they do, they may never stop! I miss your mother more than you know

and now...' Ahmed began struggling to speak. A few of his father's close friends

came running and stared in anguish.

'No, father, I will not lose you as well! You're going to be fine.'

Ahmed smiled faintly, 'Imran, I am going; nothing can change that. But that means

you're ready – I could have never chosen a better leader for my people. You are great

son and will be a great leader, better than I. Lead the people, do not let them fall into...

into the trap of the materialistic world – guide them to the truth, with the truth.'

Ahmed's eyes began to close.

'Father! No!' Imran shouted. But there was nothing he could say or do that could stop

his eyes from closing. Ahmed's head became heavy on Imran's arm, more blood

began dripping out of his half open mouth. Imran's heart began to tear as he felt his

father's last breath touch his neck – Imran held him tightly for a few seconds, hoping

that this was all a bad dream and he would soon awake. But as the cold rain began

falling from the grey, weighty clouds, and the fat drops hit the back of his neck,

sending shivers down his spine, he knew that he was alone. He looked at his father's

great sword; his reflection stared back at him in rage. He gently placed his father's

head down and tore the sleeve of his own top and placed it gently over his father's

face. He grabbed his father's sword, raised it in the air and screamed in rage. Ahmed's

friends that had gathered nodded and also raised their swords – they ran after Marcus

and the others who were being chased by the robots. Weapons began to emerge from

the robot's bodies and they began shooting out blue and red beams, causing huge

explosions. Even with Arthur, Imran and his friends, they were no match for the

robots and it was not long before the robots had them cornered. There was nowhere to

run and nowhere to hide, and it was like the beating rain had washed hope away.

'Stop!' Marcus shouted, 'I will give myself up – let these guys go!'

'What are you doing?' Arthur held onto Marcus's arm, pulling him back behind him.

'You are in no position to negotiate! But I will accept your offer – come to me and I

will spare your friends!' Fredrick said, still excited to see his master's reaction when

he brings back the boy.

'No way – you'll have to go through me first!' Arthur shouted.

'So be it then!' But before anyone could move, there was a piercing sound cutting

through the sky. At first, it sounded like thunder, but it was not stopping and it was

getting louder and louder. They all looked up at the sky and noticed the sky filled with

huge birds made from glimmering dark metal. They were flying flocked together in a

triangle shape. The fleet of fighter planes roared towards them in anger.

'What the hell?' Fredrick stared at the sky in horror and ran out of the way as the

planes launched huge rockets from the sky; they soared at great speeds, hitting the

robots and some hitting the great walls of London. The robots could not take the

intense hits, one by one, they began collapsing to the ground.

'What are those?' Arthur asked.

'They are fighter planes!' The Professor said, 'and it looks like they are on our side!'

The robots began attacking back, shooting their powerful beams into the sky. Most of

the planes moved swiftly and skilfully and avoided impact and a few came

plummeting down and exploded on the ground. After a few moments of intense

fighting, the robots were dropping like flies and Fredrick, noticing this, made a sneaky

escape, hopping through the huge puddles caused by the heavy rain and within

moments, was nowhere to be seen.

The planes began to land close by. The walls of London, not being able to handle the

impact, began to crumble to the ground.

Fredrick, after reaching a safe distance, used a communication device that he had

strapped to his arm and contacted Darcy at the DarkTec Towers.

'Master... master...' he gasped.

'Shut up! You idiot, I know... I saw the whole thing from the eyes. I knew you

couldn't handle this! I have sent reinforcements, not even their stupid flying toys will

be able to help them now! I will make the mountains collapse on them, tear the

ground from beneath them and bury them in the deepest parts of this miserable

planet!' He yelled, becoming short of breath as a result of his uncontrollable anger.

'And I will deal with you later!'

Fredrick swallowed nervously and sulked as his great plan fell apart.

When the smoke began to clear from in front of the planes, Arthur could not believe

his eyes when he saw Churchill, Amy and Elaina walking through it. Behind them

were many other ladies and a few boys from the town

Amy came running and hugged onto Arthur, 'thank God you guys are still alive!'

Amy said, almost in tears.

'You know me, I have an terrible habit of staying alive.' He giggled.

'Hey...' Elaina said smiling.

'Hey...' Arthur said with an equally goofy smile.

'I like the new look.' Elaina looked at his new hair and torn suit.

'It worked! It actually worked!' Churchill shouted in excitement, 'all those notes you

scribbled on the walls, they made perfect sense!'

Marcus looked around at the all the planes scattered around in amazement, 'you built

these?'

'Don't be daft, I found these in an old war museum – they just needed fuel. But your

instructions for the engine and body construction did make sense.' Churchill moved

closer to Marcus and whispered in his ear, 'and luckily they all have auto-pilot and

voice-navigation – could you imagine these ladies flying these things!'

'We can hear you!' Both Amy and Elaina stared at him with eyebrows raised.

Churchill smiled back nervously/

'What's the plan?' Arthur asked Marcus.

'I... don't know...' Marcus muttered looking confused.

'Aren't we like going to the Dark-Tec Towers and all that?' Arthur mumbled.

'With what? What we faced here, I can imagine, was not even a fraction of what will

be waiting for us there!'

'We have these planes... and us!' Arthur desperately trying to keep hope alive.

'It won't be enough – we can't win this war!'

'But look how far we have come!'

'And look at what it has cost us – how many lives have been lost and how many more

will die because of me – I won't let this happen!'

'Marcus! We have not come this far to give up now! All these people have not died

for nothing. Now get hold of yourself.' Arthur shouted, making the chattering among

people completely stop. Marcus looked at Arthur knowing that he had a point and the

fact that everyone was willing to risk their lives for this had to count for something.

'I can build them!' Marcus said.

'You can build what?' Arthur asked.

'I can build the robots and program them – it's all in my head, I know how to do it!'

'That's great, right?'

'But I need parts; we could probably salvage bits and bobs from these robots.'

'If I may interrupt...' the Professor interrupted, 'there is a salvage yard of robot bits

inside London.'

'That's perfect!' Marcus said.

But Arthur didn't share in their excitement; he looked in the distance, lost.

'What is it Arthur?' Amy asked, knowing that look.

'Something tells me we're not going to have the time to make anything.'

In the distance, they could all see a huge army of robots storming towards them. The

ground began to tremble as they approached closer. The army looked bigger and

meaner than the one that they just faced before.

'Get in the planes!' Arthur shouted and the ladies jumped back into the planes. Arthur

looked over at Marcus, then he looked at Imran and his men and nodded – Imran

nodded back and they all valiantly rushed towards the army.

The planes were the only hope that they had; as the flock flew over to the robots, they

began rapidly firing the rockets, causing some huge explosions and sending some of

the robots flying across the ground. Among the army of robots there were over twenty

huge armoured vehicles. They turned their weapons towards the planes and began

firing rapidly. The fighter planes, although flew spectacularly to avoid impact, could

not keep up with the pace. Soon the sky was covered with rockets and missiles – the

planes began dropping dramatically.

'We don't stand a chance!' Marcus shouted, sitting on the back of Arthur's horse.

'Well then we die trying!' Imran shouted as he raced past them.

But Marcus was right, soon most of the planes were down, some of the pilots

parachuted out and others didn't make it. On the ground it was the same story, they

couldn't even scratch the robots and everyone, except Arthur and Imran were almost

ready to accept defeat.

Darcy did not accompany this army – he sent them with strict instructions, so there

would be no negotiating – their mission was to get the boy and kill everything else!

Elaina, Churchill and Amy managed to escape the planes and rushed in to help. Even

the Professor and Kate picked up weapons that were lying on the floor, and tried to

fight, not that this changed anything.

The robots fired at everything that moved and crushed anything that came in their

way. A group of large black robots, all identical in size, shape and colour, circled

Arthur. They looked different from the rest, they were much bigger and had two large

weapons attached to their arms, and they did not look interested in anyone accept

Arthur. Like giant men with a metallic shine and rectangular, red glowing eyes, they

stood together unshakably. Imran snuck into the circle and stood by Arthur, 'let's not

go down without a fight!' He said and struck one of the robots with his father's huge

sward. There was a huge spark on impact, but this just enraged the robot and it spun

its arm and struck Imran, sending him tumbling across the ground and eventually

landing unconscious on the ground. The robots all aimed their weapons at Arthur.

Marcus looked over at Arthur and shook his head, 'no... no one else is going to die for

me!' He ran into the circle and stood in front of Arthur. Miraculously, one of the

robots stood in front of Marcus and took the shots fired from the other robots. Marcus

opened his eyes slowly, imaging that would be dead, but he was far from it.

'What the...' Churchill stared, not believing his eyes. The robots began fighting one

another. Marcus looked at the robots and raised his arms in front of him, 'move back!'

He shouted and the robots began stumbling back. Some of the robots from further

back rushed forward but Marcus stepped forward and stared at them angrily and

incredibly, they stopped in their tracks.

'But how is this possible?' Churchill asked, looking amazed.

'Of course!' The Professor came rushing forward, 'it wasn't that you were meant to

make the robots but you were meant to control them!' The people that placed you in

the cryogenic state must have installed a very powerful chip in you.'

'But how am I doing this?' Marcus, not sure what was really going on.

'Marcus, all those things in your head, that was the information from the chip and

now... now Marcus, your mind has made the connection to the chip – the chip is

functioning as a remote for the robots, most Artificial Intelligence when designed,

was designed to take instructions from human engineers. You are the last human

engineer. You mind can control the chip and thus you are able to give instructions.'

'Do you believe now Marcus? This is your destiny – this is why you are here.' Arthur

said, his palms on Marcus's shoulders. Marcus, although still in disbelief, nodded.

For most, it was simply an illusion – the magnificent army that stormed to kill them

was now submitting, submitting to a boy. He walked through the robots and they

moved out of the way, clearing a path.

'Marcus! Where are you going?' Arthur shouted.

Marcus smiled faintly, 'you were right... this is my destiny – this path will lead me to

Darcy and it is up to me to finish this!'

'Not without me! We're in this together!' Arthur walked briskly towards him.

'Me too!' Imran said, still holding his father's sword tightly. And within moments,

everyone stepped forward, standing by Marcus. Marcus although overwhelmed, did

not think it was a great idea, 'Listen to me... Darcy can control these things as well,

and probably a lot better than me, so let me go alone – I will not let anyone else die

for me!'

'I'm not giving you a choice – this path was destined for me as well!' Arthur said, not

backing down.

'Professor, take the kids and Kate back into London; when this is all over, London

will need real leaders that will fight for freedom and the rights of the people! The rest

of you are coming with us – let's finish this!'

The Professor nodded and walked with Churchill, Kate and the exhausted children

back towards London.

'What now?' Kate asked, looking at Professor Hussein.

'I'm not quite sure, but we are all witnesses for probably the greatest event to go

down in history. The day that a young boy, a stranger, came and brought down the

great walls of London and changed the world forever.

The Dark-Tec Empires

Darcy and Maxwell had their eyes glued to the projected video feed of Marcus and his

phenomenal actions, they shared the expression of utter disbelief and remained silent

for a few moments, but the awkward silence was soon broken when Darcy shouted at

the top of his voice, 'what the hell is going on? They are my robots, mine! How is he

doing this? Maxwell, answer me before I pull your plug and stick your microchip in

the microwave!'

'Sir, it seems as though our hypothesis of this being your offspring is now verified, he

is not from this time, he has a chip programmed to instruct the robots – it seems as

though the robots they think that the boy is you.'

'I need to stop him!' Darcy shouted banging the arm rest of his chair.

'What are your instructions?'

'Put the Towers in high defence – pull every resource we have left!'

'You think he's going to come here?'

'Yes.'

'Why do you think that?'

'Because that's exactly what I would do! And boot up the Elite-Tec!'

'They are not ready and will probably conflict with the system.'

'No it will not and I can guarantee that!'

'How?'

'Because my inquisitive little friend, we are going off line – we're going old school

on their asses!'

'I would strongly disagree with this decision.'

'But of course you would and that's precisely why I didn't ask for your input! It has

already been initiated; it will shut down automatically within two hours!'

'This can change everything! You included.' Maxwell warned.

'If I can change and influence the system then so can he – he can change everything!

The system must go off line temporarily – at least until this is all over!'

'You mustn't do this it is...' Maxwell repeated over and over. Soon Darcy's hand

went completely numb and his head began to spin.

'I... I can't override it, it's too late! It has began the shutdown process and can only be

re-booted after it has finished.'

'What about the backups?' Maxwell began to panic and bought up his hologram

computer screen. He flicked through, desperately looking for a solution but failed to

find one. In a blink, Maxwell disappeared and left Darcy slouching in his chair and

breathing heavy. His skin was gradually getting paler and the strands of veins began

reappearing under his skin. Eye bags formed and he began looking like an old man

who hadn't slept in weeks.

Marcus did not want to wait, he was tired of preparing and exhausted of the great

speeches. He began walking briskly through the robots, which began following him.

'They will take us to the Towers and we will end this today!' Marcus shouted over the

thuds and the loud screeching of metal. Arthur nodded and had his game face on.

They walked briskly into the distance – the most unusual army to ever have walked

together. Humans and robots fighting together to free humankind and give them back

a world where they had the right to choose their own path and make their own

decisions.

And so the fable was in fact true but with the exception of how things ended, there

were hundreds, if not, thousands of different versions of how the story ended and

that's because no one knew how this would end, so they only said what they hoped –

it was hope that kept the fairytale alive.

'Thank you Arthur, if we don't make it through this, I just... I just want to say...'

'Hey, we will make it. We have to!' Arthur smiled, 'I just wish Richard was here to

witness this. He believed in you more than anyone else.'

'What about you?'

'Well... I believed in him.'

'Let's try not to let him down.' Marcus, for the first time in a while, smiled

confidently.

'I'd hate to interrupt but what's the plan?' Elaina said catching up to them.

'Ah, the plan... well, to tell you the truth, I don't have a plan!'

'Well that's reassuring!' She smiled.

They all knew that Darcy would have prepared everything he had, ready for the

attack. His power over technology was immense; no one really knew what he was.

Most assumed he was not even human and that he was an android – a piece of

Artificial Intelligence that had spawned from other forms of A.I, evolved into a

control freak and developed its own agenda.

'We'll know what to do when we get there.' Marcus said confidently.

'Yeah... I'm still not feeling much better about the whole thing.'

'You're always welcome to stay behind and let us handle the rough stuff!' Arthur

remarked. Elaina's eyes opened wide, her eyebrows raised and her expression said it

all. 'You're kidding right? Stay back and let you guys get all the glory... no way!' She

smirked cheekily.

They trekked for a couple of miles and picked up a few more stray robots. It was a

cold and deadly silent feeling. They sky was dark grey, the clouds could make their

mind up on whether it was going to rain or not. They all began to slowdown when

they looked ahead and could see the terrifying towers in the distance. No one had ever

come this close to the Dar-Tec Towers, or if they had, they never lived to tell the tale.

Inside the Towers, Darcy watched angrily at the monitors as he saw the army at his

doorstep. He walked down to where his elite team of robots were booted and ready to

go. They followed him as he walked to join the rest of his army, Maxwell appeared

from out of nowhere, 'the system is nearly off line, you need to keep away from the

boy!' Maxwell emphasised. Darcy ignored him and paced up and down, staring

carefully at his huge army, perfectly aligned in the huge room. The robots, although

all the same glimmering black, were all different in sizes and shapes. He rose out his

hands and the army of robots rose, standing straight and facing him, their torch like

eyes shining brightly.

'I have no desire for prisoners – crush them all!' His deep and low voice echoed

lightly.

As he walked the entire building began to split. The ground began to shake, huge

cracks began to form on the earth outside the building and the shining walls split open

like huge doors. The humongous army marched out, vibrating the earth as their heavy

and congregated footsteps bashed down repetitively.

Marcus nodded at Arthur and walked towards the menacing army. He knew there was

nothing left to say. The robots followed Marcus, but Marcus began to feel weak and

tired. He felt sick and faintish, what a time to be feeling like this! He thought, but he

didn't realise that because of the system being taken off line, the robots were using his

natural energy to function. And Darcy wasn't feeling much better. As the two armies

got closer, they ran towards each other and began fighting. The sound of explosions

and crashing metal echoed for miles. Arthur was using all his might and skill to avoid

getting crushed, as were the rest – they eventually had to stand back and watch the

robots battle it out. Trees were torn out of the trembling ground, bits of metal sprayed

like a fountain in the air and smoke filled area. Marcus stepped forward and raised his

arms and the robots fought valiantly. Darcy, not looking as tired as Marcus also

stepped forward and raised his arms and his robots pushed faster and harder. After a

laborious battle, Marcus was exhausted, his robots had begun to slow down and

Darcy's elite soldiers were destroying anything that came in their way. Imran and

Arthur did not stop to rest even for a moment, they fought with all their energy and

will. And like Imran's father, Ahmed, mentioned, the swords were cutting deeper than

any of the other weapons. Arthur used his immense skill, moving fast and hitting

hard, but Darcy's army was strong and soon, the row of Darcy's elite's stood together

like a wall, stopping anyone or anything from coming through and Marcus fell to the

ground, struggling to breathe. He raised his arms and a few of the robots tried to break

the wall but it was no use. Arthur and others had no way of breaking the wall.

Darcy emerged from behind the remainder of his robots and walked slowly towards

Marcus. He put his pale hands around Marcus's neck and lifted him into the air,

holding him out to his own face height. His hands were cold, like ice and sent chills

rippling through Marcus. Marcus stared deep into Darcy's eyes and suddenly flashes

of his memory came flying back to him. It was Darcy's eyes that triggered it off – the

eyes of a man he never knew but recognised instantly. Marcus remembered his

mother, and the fact that the scientists that worked with his father found him and his

mother and told them what they wanted him to do. He now knew for certain who he

was and why he was here. But it was too late – he felt like he had failed.

'Father...' Marcus whispered, just about getting a faint sound out of his mouth.

Darcy's eyes began to soften but he didn't know why.

'Father... please, it is me, your son!'

Darcy began to loosen his grip, allowing Marcus to breathe easier, 'my... my son?'

'Yes... father, you...' but before Marcus could say anything else, Maxwell flickered

and appeared. He looked at Darcy, 'don't let him get into your head; he is trying to

trick you!'

Darcy squeezed his grip again and Marcus began to go red in complexion, 'no, I'm

not tricking you, I remember now! You wanted to change things for the better – your

work was to make this a better place for us, for humans. Look around you, is this what

the great Darcy Tyler wanted... was this his vision?' Darcy stood frozen, not knowing

what to say and what to think; he released his grip and Marcus fell to the ground,

gasping for air. Darcy turned around gazed into the air.

'Darcy, what are you doing?' Maxwell said, staring at the ring that was now subtly

glowing. Darcy immediately turned and walked towards Marcus angrily, Maxwell

smiled in relief. Darcy picked Marcus up by his shoulders and Marcus closed his eyes

believing the battle to have been lost. But then the most peculiar thing happened,

Darcy whispered into Marcus's ear, 'thank you...'

Marcus opened his eyes in shock, Darcy had a look of determination in his face and

looked like he was fighting with himself. He stumbled back and gazed over at

Maxwell, 'this is not what I wanted!'

'You are not that Darcy, you are not! Now give the orders and finish this.' Maxwell

raised his voice.

'No, you are wrong; I am Darcy... aren't I?'

'Father, listen to me... I know what you set out to do and it was noble but this is

something completely different. It is Maxwell, he is controlling you – he needs you,

this is why he is keeping you alive! You father, you designed the system to only act

on your commands and it can't overrule that. So it is using you!'

'Don't listen to him, he is lying.' The ring on Darcy finger began to glow brighter.

'That's it, he is using the ring; it must be connected to your mind somehow.' Marcus

shouted.

Darcy looked at the ring and smiled at Marcus, a smile that, when Marcus was young,

he longed for. Darcy used his other hand and grabbed the ring firmly.

'Stop! Don't do it. Think about it, you take that off and you're finished – you will

die!' Maxwell warned.

'Maxwell... Maxwell, I died many years ago!' He used all his strength and ripped the

ring off his finger. There was a huge spark of light as Darcy flung the ring across the

ground. Darcy stared at Marcus, smiling as his skin began to get so pale that he

looked like a ghost. Wrinkles cracked across his face and he began to shrivel, until his

skin began to disappear and all that was left was bone. He collapsed on the floor.

Maxwell flickered a few times before fading to nothing. The army of robots stood

completely frozen and looked like statues. Arthur and rest cautiously stepped through

the small gaps in the wall of the robots, still scared that they may wake and crush

them. Arthur ran up to Marcus who was lying on the ground unconscious.

'Marcus, are you ok?'

Marcus slowly opened his eyes, 'I'll be fine, is it over?'

'Not quite!' He removed his sword and nodded at Imran and Amy and they ran into

the Dark-Tec Towers. They rushed into the room where all the servers were and

began smashing everything. Arthur and Imran swung their swords, destroying

everything they could see, the screens, the circuit boards and anything that looked

electrical. Amy had a huge gun that fired repetitively. They had destroyed everything

within fifteen minutes but stayed and continued to smash things until they ran out of

juice.

Amy put her hand on Arthur's shoulder, 'stop, it's done, it's over.'

But Arthur still took a few more blows. 'I only wish Richard was here to see this!'

Amy smiled, 'he did... he saw this moment soon as Marcus arrived. Come on let's get

out of here!'

Marcus had regained his strength and looked at Arthur, 'are we done here?' Arthur

nodded.

'Great, coz I'm starved.' Amy said.

Marcus smiled and thought about the delicious food that he experienced in London, 'I

know just the place!'

And so they made their way back to the others, having accomplished something that

deep down didn't really believe would ever happen. It was over, Darcy was no more

and the servers were destroyed. Now it was time to rebuild the world, free from the

robotic tyranny that ruled for so many years.

'Marcus!' Nicole shouted and ran towards him as they approached London, 'I knew

you would do it! I knew it!' Marcus smiled, glad to see her and all the others, who

were eagerly waiting and praying. Nicole hugged onto Marcus, 'thank you... thank

you all, for believing in me, even when I didn't believe in myself.' They all cheered in

excitement.

'What do we do now? Churchill asked. Arthur looked around, 'now we start again.

Learn from mistakes and do not let history repeat itself.'

Arthur stood with Amy and Elaina but stood silently staring into the distance,

clenching his jaw from time to time.

'Hey, lighten up! It's over now. It's all over.' Elaina said, putting her hands on his

shoulder.

'I know, but there's something about that place that gives me creeps, we should have

blown it to pieces before we left!'

'You're always so paranoid!' Amy remarked.

He clenched onto the handle of his sword strapped on his back, 'maybe so, but I'll be

ready!'

For the first time ever, birds flew around the Dark-Tec Towers, flowers began to grow

and although Darcy was gone, it had never felt so full of life.

The sound of a black vehicle came storming towards the towers. The tyres screeched

as it came to a halt and mud spayed everywhere. The doors immediately opened and a

short man hopped out, it was Fredrick. He rushed up to the remains of his master and

screamed, 'No! Master, no! What have they done to you?' he knelt down and stared at

the bones of his master who was still wrapped in his black cloak. He couldn't believe

what he was seeing, the robots were statues, Darcy was dead and the towers

destroyed. But he felt the strangest feeling, a feeling that something was drawing his

attention, it was like something was silently calling him. He stood up and slowly

walked towards some rubble. There was something glimmering from a gap in the

rubble; he began moving the rocks frantically and then froze when he saw it. It was

beautiful and the only thing left of his master. The ring, the ring that he never failed to

wear, the thing that you noticed about him but the one thing that he never spoke about

and no one asked about. Fredrick picked the ring up and looked at it, mesmerised. He

thought carefully of what finger he would put it on before putting it onto his middle

finger. Soon as he put it on his eyes glazed over and he looked around at the robots

and subtly smiled. He walked up to Darcy's remains and ripped off his black cloak, he

put it around him tightly and calmly walked into the Dark-Tec Towers.

