15 | Great Big Ocean

The officer stepped out of the elevator and brought LUCAS along. He stepped out to a brighter hallway than what they traversed through below. As the silence crawled up on them LUCAS began to think of where they could have stuffed Laven. He hoped it was some place that she could work her way out of. He wasn't exactly sure how the specifics of her plan were going to work out, but then again she wouldn't have gone along with this plan if there wasn't something in the cards.

He looked at the map and tried to see the path that the commander had walked down, but then he noticed a point that seemed to be glowing slightly on the far end of the facility. It popped up like a glowing star across a dim sky. He spun the map around in his mind so get a closer look at it—then he realized that Blaise must have found some way to transmit her location in relation to the rest of the building to her. He saw she was on the third floor in what seemed to be like a small office space.

At least, it was office space back then. Who knows what they've done with it since.

They continued down the hall until they met a metal door with a crossbar that the officer opened by shoving LUCAS forward into it. The pain stung sharp in his abdomen as he was shoved through. He stumbled forward as the officer unlinked the chain from him. He fell hard to the ground and the cuffs came unlinked around his arms. They were sore from being held behind him for so long—he looked up quickly only to see the metal door close and the sound of a lock engaging. The officer was walking back down the hallway where he had come from.

LUCAS got to his feet and tried to open the door. The crossbar stopped short of pushing in fully, he couldn't open it.

"Nice try, fish," A voice came from behind him. LUCAS turned back to see a young teenage boy with hair cut close to his head. He saw there was a group of young boys all dressed in clothes that looked as grimy as the day was bright. The one who had called out to him was wearing a white tank top and dirk caked his pale face. In his hands were a screwdriver and a small box of some sort.

"Nobody's getting through those doors. Electronically locked."

LUCAS took a few steps toward them. "What are you doing?"

"Working. What's it look like?" The kid's attitude was well and clearly noted. "Looks like you're here for the long haul, fish."

"Why do you keep calling me that?" LUCAS asked.

"New meat to the pool," a blond boy behind him called out.

LUCAS noticed he was sitting on a stool and polishing a box similar to the one the other boy had been holding.

"Well, I..." his eyes traveled to a gate on the far side of the door. It looked like a scanner of some sort—it led out to a room that LUCAS could tell from the map in his head toward a long stretch of hallways that inevitably led toward another elevator. He was mapping a route that took him to where the source of the power came from much higher up. He turned away from the group of boys until he felt a hand around his wrist, yanking him backward.

"The hell you doin, fish?" The first boy smacked his lips as he spoke. "Can't go through there without getting killed."

LUCAS looked at him, confused.

He rolled his eyes and spun him around. "The gate sends out waves that stop your heart. We don't have the jackets that block them out."

Waves that stop your heart...LUCAS had never heard of such a thing. Looking through his databases he figured it could be some form of radiation, but was unsure exactly which could have been in use. His eyes perked up and he felt...almost an ounce of glee. LUCAS didn't have a heart—at least, not the kind that could be stopped by those kinds of waves. If they were electromagnetic then he'd have something to worry about...

"Don't even think about offing yourself now," he said. "You're my reprieve."

"Huh?" LUCAS focused his attention back toward the kid. "You can call me Shark. Of what little domain we have here, I run." he said. "I called dibs on the next fish on relieving my duty. Others here are my guppies."

LUCAS looked at him with a confused look that only seemed to grow. "Guppies...?"

"What I'm saying is you're taking over my spot here," He grabbed tight around LUCAS's wrist and begun to walk him over toward his work station. The conveyor that ran through the center of the station started to run and brought a bunch of new scrap moving alongside it.

LUCAS shook his head, "Oh, no, I'm not doing that. I'm not here to stay."

"No, I think you're going to really enjoy it here," he shoved LUCAS down in his seat. The force behind the push was a little pathetic. The other boys seemed completely unphased by the events that were going on. Shark hardly had any sort of physical presence. If LUCAS were human, it might have been a concern that his body were so thin. But underneath the flesh substitute was a skeleton made out of solid steel. There was hardly anything that this kid could do that would be anything remotely resembling a threat.

LUCAS stood up and Shark's face scrunched into a look of anger. He grabbed LUCAS's shoulder and LUCAS rolled it off, stepping back and causing Shark to trip over himself. He landed on the seat LUCAS had just gotten up from, stomach down. The other kids around stared at Shark with their eyes wide open, and then turned up toward him slowly.

"Shark, don'tcha think you should just stop?" The blond boy asked.

"No!" One behind him whose face scrunched into a similar angry scowl said. "This kid needs to be taught the business! We're all stuck here!"

"Piece of shit," Shark said, lifting himself up and cracking his neck.

LUCAS knew that it was now or never. He placed his hands on the edge of the seat and vaulted over it, legs swinging out in front of him. Shark was caught off guard and took a step back, surprise filling his face. When LUCAS's feet connected with his abdomen LUCAS shoved hard and Shark crumpled easily. This lit the fuse in the room and the other kids around exploded into action.

LUCAS barreled past Shark and darted for the gate on the opposite side of the room.

"Do you want to die that badly?" One of the kids yelled behind him.

He didn't look back, but continued running. His internal sensors starting freaking out and he sensed the wrench that was flying in his direction. The gate was still a few yards away. He wouldn't have made it before he'd get it.

It all happened in less than four seconds.

He spun around and dug in his heels, holding both of his fists up together in front of his face, he saw them interconnect. Metal formed between his hands and it continued to extend high and low like a great shield. The wrench hit and fell to the floor after a ringing sound rang and echoed through the room.

"What's going on down there?" An irritated voice called from behind him. LUCAS had turned his head to see the form of an officer climbing down the stairs from behind the gate. "The line's backed up. What are you doing?"

"He's trying to run away!" LUCAS heard Shark scream out.

The officer didn't seem to hear him, because he was too focused on LUCAS's arms—which had melded to the shield.

"The hell are you..." his face contorted in confusion, and LUCAS knew he had to act.

He turned on his heels again and dashed toward the officer. He couldn't see his face, but he felt the impact as he shoved him, slamming him against the wall. The officer let out a stiff groan as he hit.

LUCAS separated his hands and looked down to see the officer's look of surprise as LUCAS had crossed through the gate. He reached down toward his belt and LUCAS had to act fast—he sent a swift kick to his hand. He heard something crack and the officer tried to stifle his yelp. He reached out with his other hand and grabbed LUCAS's ankle. He grabbed hard and yanked him downward. LUCAS fell with a start and hit the ground hard. The officer reached around him and grabbed something from his rear pocket. He swung it out and LUCAS felt a familiar click around his wrists—the magnetic cuffs slapped tightly and bound his hands together.

Luckily, they were bound in front of him. The blue light shot out from the officer's arm and linked to the cuffs. LUCAS held out his arms and the metal shot out again and formed the shield—the work of bringing his arms together already graciously provided by the cuffs. The officer attempted to pull himself up, but LUCAS was already sending his arms down over his head.

The sound that echoed off of the shield bouncing off the officer's helmet hurt to hear, but he was satisfied to see the officer fell sideways. He truly hoped he hadn't killed the man, but was thankful to see that his chest was rising up and down.

The kids in the room before were screaming—now begging LUCAS to find some way to get them out. A dark thought crossed his mind and urged him to tell them to sod off, but he knew that they had only acted the way they did out of fear. Annoyed over his conscience, he knew that the people he was fighting to help wouldn't always be people he liked. He chalked up that

He sighed and let loose the shield. Now that he had done it more than once he was able to see how it worked. He had a trigger for the command in his rear mind. If his hands were close enough he could throw it and send it out. He figured if he absolutely needed it he was sure if he caught anything in-between his hands while it extended it it would cut cleanly.

He reached over to the officer's arm and undid the link between them. The cuffs fell to the floor and he stood back up. He saw that the boys had gathered to the edge of the gate, and he looked the gate up and down.

It didn't look like he could disable the gate from here. He then grabbed the officer's body and dragged it across the gate. The boys all stared at him as he dropped the unconscious officer in front of them.

"If you want to get out of here, you can use his uniform to pass through the gate."

"There's only one! How do you expect us to all make it past?" Shark called out.

LUCAS sighed. He definitely was looking to get away from these kids as quickly as was possible.

"One of you wear the uniform and go through, then toss it to the next, repeat" LUCAS said.

He turned and started to turn back toward the gate.

"Just what are you...?" The blond boy called out to LUCAS.

He stopped for a moment, not intending to initially, but something inside him bids him to stop. "You never saw me here," he said. "Worry yourself not of what I am and worry instead about getting out and away from here."

LUCAS crossed the gate once more as he saw Shark yelling at the other kids who had walked toward the officer. He lifted the coat off of him and LUCAS could see no more. He continued on up the staircase the officer had come down.

There was a door just like the one that he had been pushed through previously. He shoved against the crossbar and found himself at a forked hallway. He went left as he knew that it would lead him closer to the elevator.

He looked at the map and saw that Laven was now in a larger room on the fifth floor. He wasn't sure if she had broken away from her confinement yet like he had, but he had figured she would in no time with the others lending their hand.

Once he was through the door he found another gate similar to the one he'd stepped through previously. He walked on through and entered a room as large as a football field. Bodies were moving at a breakneck pace as far as the eye could see. Several stations lined the walls all the way down as far as he could see.

Parts and tools of all kinds and shapes were moving from hand to hand in an extremely orchestrated fashion. He saw pain and exhaustion on the faces as he passed.

He wasn't sure many of the people were even seeing him. They were that invested—or scared. He felt like an outsider—not that he wanted to be in on this cycle. Mostly he felt for them. Forced to fear death so close that they have to work themselves to the bone just to avoid being killed and replaced.

A voice yelled out to him from the center of the room, and LUCAS saw that an officer was trudging up toward him.

Shit, he thought. He stepped into one of the work zones and was promptly shoved back out as one of the workers knocked into him. The officer had readied an electrified baton and was closing in on him.

Then came a raucous sound from the doorway. The officer turned and the both of them saw the door fling open and the four boys charged in the room, Shark leading the rear with the officer's coat around his shoulders and the electric baton from the officer on the floor below.

LUCAS had a moment of regret after not picking up the baton himself. It certainly would have been helpful...then he turned to the officer who had been approaching him and knew how he could make up for it.

The blond boy ran up toward the closest work zone and started talking to one of the workers, understanding crossed his face, and the other boys had the same idea. Plant the idea in as many of the workers as possible.

We found a way out. Steal the coats. Walk through the doors. Make it out alive.

The officer was broken out of his surprised state and charged toward the blond boy with a hurried sense of purpose, but then seemed to notice the growing amount of eyes on him.

Before LUCAS charged him with his shield up, knocking him out completely, his last thought was "that's a lot of people, now that I think about it."