C0NV3RG3 (Sequel to M3RG3)

Chapter 27

Thursday

Rebecca twirled the serum in her hand. " You ready? I'll be guiding you through the entire simulation, so don't fret too much about it."

"Yeah," I mumbled.

As the serum pierced my skin, I squeezed my eyes shut. The ground shifted under me, turning blistering hot. A deafening rumble made me snap my eyes open. I was standing right under an erupting volcano.

"Arista, can you hear me?" Rebecca asked. Her voice didn't exactly come from a certain location, it came from everywhere. This had to be a new improvement of the Republic's simulations.

"Yes," I replied. The ground beneath me shifted dangerously, and I almost fell on my back, extending my arms to steady myself.

"Okay good. What do you see?"

"There's a volcano. It's about to erupt."

That's a composite volcano, the most dangerous kind of all volcanoes. Better run before you suffocate to death. Lyla added.

Rebecca cleared her throat. "What is the first thing everyone would do?"

"Run, obviously." Even I would do that in real life.

"Well, why are you standing there?" Rebecca asked.

"Because I know it's not real, no matter how real it looks. Running away doesn't solve the problem either." The words flowed out of me so easily that it stunned me. "That's what makes me different, isn't it?"

"Try running and see what happens. You're learning to blend in, not the other way around." I raised my eyes towards the volcano, waiting for the ground-breaking eruption and exploding bits of rock and lava. Then, the thick smog would slowly encapsulate me in a suffocating embrace.

This is real. This is very real. I opened my eyes again, fear settling into the pits of my stomach. It was going to erupt, and I was going to die.

The moment I turned around to run, the volcano erupted, the ground shaking. I half stumbled, half tripped my way forward, scrambling past crumbling buildings, dodging through hysterical people while the earth heated up beneath me.

The smoke came first. I choked under its thick haze, tears welling up in my eyes. My lungs burned, every breath coming in a raspy gasp. Then, scalding-hot lava tore through my clothes, sizzling my skin, drowning me in its iron hot grip.

"Fight," Rebecca ordered. "Even if it's for a lost cause."

My sockets burned as I sprinted forward, the stench of burnt rubber stinging my nose. My vision was only blinding colours of yellow, orange and red. Then, the lava rose, swallowing me whole.

Instantly, the burning sensation was gone. My eyes snapped open, my skin tingling. Rebecca typed in a few more commands, then extracted the computer chip from her Tabloid. Stiffly, I pushed myself up, forcing my leaden legs to move towards her. My vision was blurry, my nose burning, my head stuffed with cotton.

"That's the perfect performance the Republic wants. Doesn't feel so good, does it?" She handed me a serum labelled 79. "Here, take it. This will help."

She carefully injected the serum into my neck. A surge of adrenaline rushed through my veins, warming my frozen body, clearing my head and vision. I flexed my fingers. They no longer felt numb and stiff anymore.

"Are you ready for round two?" She asked, another serum in her hand. "This is purely out of curiosity, but I want to see how far your abilities go."

"What simulation is this?" I asked, swallowing down the lump in my throat.

"It's best I don't tell you." She said, serum in her hand. "Well?"

"Alright," I said.

The familiar sting registered at the base of my neck as Rebecca pressed down on the plunger. I swallowed hard as the cold liquid seeped into my blood.

"If you succeed, Teresa would be proud of you," Rebecca murmured, her face blurring to black.

I slammed on something hard- cement. Something crunched under my boots- dead leaves. This was the Affluent fields. Except it was now bare and burnt, the sycamore trees rustling in the background. This was where my mother...

No. She was alive. She had to be. "Hello?" I called out.

The knife in her stomach. Blood, so much blood, pooling through the soil, staining the leaves reddish-brown.

"Mum?" I croaked. "Are you there?"

Shots rang in the distance. The sky turned inky black. Lights flashed in the house. The Affluent house.

"No!" I screamed. The house was crumbling, the walls collapsing, the roof falling. More flashes and bangs. Then, the screaming started.

Something hard was strapped to the side of my hip. I pulled it out, the metal glinting under the moonlight. It was a knife. The blade was sharp and clean, the handle easily fitting into my grasp.

The knife dropped to the ground. A figure hiked up the slope, her breathing coming in shallow gasps. The briefcase buckles gleamed and rattled with her every movement.

"You know you won't win." The person next to me said, swinging the gun in his hand. "There are three of us and one of you."

"I'm not here to win," She smiled, rotating a latch on the briefcase. The plates on the briefcase shifted to form a gun, which she raised at me with experienced precision.

"Mum?" I whispered. She directed her gun at the other person, fingers poised to fire the first shot.

"You shoot us and you're dead Revolutionary," the person spat.

"I know," my mother smiled.

Then, she fired towards the ground. Smoke danced across the fields with its ghostly sheen. Then, the shooting began. Defiant yells and battle cries erupted among the Republicans, their boots kicking up piles of dead leaves. My mother fired wave after wave of bombs and pellets. The Republicans staggered and cursed colourfully, but it only deterred them slightly. Even now, Revolutionaries would never hurt others, even the people they were fighting against.

The woman in the knife was scowling, her lips pulled in a taunt frown, hair tied into an absurdly tight bun. I was her. I was supposed to kill Teresa.

This wasn't just a simulation. This was a test of cruelty, a game of murder, to see who would come out alive.

The smoke cleared. My mother struggled under the Republicans' grips, eyes burning and alive. Her brown hair was wild like the gnarled branches of a tree. Her ashen face radiated defiance, her victorious smile glowing among the darkness.

"End this. Now." The Republican grunted, tightening his grip around her shoulders.

I stepped closer towards my mother, the knife directed at her heart.

She would be dead in seconds. This was what the Republic wanted- efficiency.

But this was my simulation, not theirs.

Teresa would be proud. Flicking my wrist, I sent the knife flying towards the first Republican, kicking the other to the ground.

"Come on, mum." I pleaded. "We can go."

"No," She stared at the Affluent house, her eyes glassy. "There is no purpose for me to live if so many die there."

She raised her eyes to meet mine. "You must kill me."

"No, no, no!" I tugged at her arm, but she refused to move. "We have to go! You can't die!"

"I already have, haven't I?" She leaned away from me, and the knife I had embedded into the Republican's chest was now in her stomach, blood unfurling at a sickening rate.

Wake up. I had to wake up. This was all a simulation.

I pulled the knife out of my mother, the blade dripping crimson.

"Wake up," I whispered, plunging the knife into my arm. "Wake up."

A/N: Real intense chapter here... We're less than ten chapters away from the ending btw~ Tysm to everyone who read to here!

Next update: 19th July