Mel throws a scrap of carpet over the top of the school wall. I'm so stressed out I can feel my heart in my throat.
She gives me a leg up and I can feel the shards of broken glass cemented into the top of the wall, dulled by the carpet fabric, and I'm trying to remember every detail of Mel's plan as I drop down into the outside play area of a nursery school.
And I find myself hiding behind a wooden playhouse... And then Ty hits the ground and crumples over, banging his head, Vash manages it without falling to the ground, and I don't even hear Mel until she's already by my side.
"Something's off." She hisses in my ear.
Why are we going this way again? Because it's the only way to approach the main school building without crossing a swathe of open car park under full view of a thousand windows. We're assuming that the building is full of lookouts, people left behind by the hunters to wait for scum like us to return to the scene of the crime.
"The security system is shut down." Says Mel.
We've summoned shivers, little sprites that like to play with optical information, and we've done a deal with them to modify what we're seeing. Almost as good as night vision goggles. And I'm scanning the building where Mel points, black boxes where you'd see little red lights if they were working. They're not there.
But what I do see makes my head swim. A discarded shoe. Dropped toys left out in the night. Evidence of struggle, everywhere. They raided the nursery.
"I never thought..." I can't even finish the sentence.
"Not now." Mel is gripping my arm so hard it hurts as she stares into my eyes.
I hear the message. Keep moving.
Vash hacks the door panel and we're into a classroom. She confirms what Mel suspects.
"No security at all Mel. Just your basic lock. Didn't even put up a fight"
We tip-toe through the classroom, trying not to step on all the trash. It's devastated. Every single drawer emptied and tossed across the room; every box of toys upturned. One of the display boards has been vandalised, the one saying 'Every child accepted' has 'BURN THE WITCHES' graffitied over the top.
Mel leads us through the connecting corridor that links the nursery to the primary. The coats are still on the hooks, the name badges still Velcro-ed to the walls. Again, Vash finds no resistance on the door locks.
"Weird, it feels like the building has just given up."
"They'll be here." Mel warns.
And we're moving through the hall of the primary building, and I see the layout of the seating and it looks horrifyingly familiar.
"They tried them. They did a trial here. With goddam elementary kids." I whisper
"Blood." Ty says, pointing to a small dark stain on the floor by the teacher's desk.
"Someone's mum or dad most likely, trying to disrupt the trial." Says Mel
We carry on to the area where the elementary school is closest to the high school. We need to get out the fire door, across an alley and over an eight-foot chain link fence then in through a ground floor classroom window. It's the most vulnerable point of the plan.
Mel talks us through it again and again. I feel dizzy and sick. The voice in my head is whispering again.
"If we trigger the alarm..." Mel slows this right down. Emphasising every word.
"Yeah, we have three minutes to get out." Ty interrupts, exasperated.
It all feels like one of those dreams where you're on stage but you've forgotten your lines.
YOU ARE READING
Cyberwitch Academy: Learn or Burn
Science FictionImagine you wake up one day and discover that your body is a cursed organic computer. To make matters worse you keep getting possessed by AI demons. You know you can use their power, if only you could figure out how. But the clock is ticking, becau...
