Apollo stayed frozen in that position, his body slowly slumping down.
There was a perfect two-meter circle of yellowed grass around him.
Erika sprinted towards him like a blur.
One moment she was fifty yards away, the next she was sliding on her knees beside him.
"Shit… Apollo." Her voice shook as she placed a hand on his chest. She closed her eyes, breathing a sigh of relief. "You're okay, I'll get you home, to Emilia."
Apollo raised his head. "Emilia…"
He smiled, before slumping against her shoulder.
Erika gently patted his back, lifting him in a fireman carry.
She turned her attention to Monica, her eyes narrowed.
"What happened?"
"One of the prisoners revolted. I killed him and the master redesigned the hangar."
Erika sighed, looking over her shoulder at the sleeping Apollo.
"Always playing the hero, I'm definitely telling my sister to make this lecture longer than ever."
She then turned her attention towards me, her smile fading.
"I'm taking over his duties, and you won't live long enough to regret it."
She took a few syringes from a pouch on her thigh and jammed them into her arm.
One after the other.
She tossed the empty syringes aside, turned on her heel, and lowered herself into a sprinting stance.
Then with a kick off that shook the ground and cracked its foundation, she launched herself.
She was in the air for about ten feet, before rocking the ground again.
Every time I blinked it was like she teleported 10 feet.
Whump-whump-whump.
The staff members looked around awkwardly, before running after her.
I glanced at the cultist.
"Anything to add?"
"She's angry."
"Oh really? Did the voices tell you that?"
Monica looked over at us, her eyes narrowed.
"You two, back inside."
Back inside the hangar, Monica guided us down the cell block.
There were five on either side of a wide hall. Each cell had two beds, a sink, and shelves.
They also had a glass door that could be opened from the inside as well as the outside.
Most held two prisoners, but some lucky folks got one all to themselves.
Monica led us to the last cell at the end of the hall.
"Enter."
We stepped inside.
The cell had gray walls, a concrete floor, and a bunk bed. I took the top bunk, climbing upon the thin mattress. The cultist settled on the bottom.
I pulled up my blanket as I stared at the ceiling.
The past two days had honestly felt like a nightmare. One that would only get worse as time passed. Cosmic dust, pilots, mirror realities.
If someone had told me about this crap three days ago, I'd have called them crazy and never contacted them again.
And yet here I was.
"Your mind still wanders."
"Shut up, cultist."
She giggled.
"I have a designation, you know?"
"I don't care."
"It's 000."
I leaned over the bunk, staring down as her wide eyes stared back up at me.
"Mother just calls me zero."
I sighed deeply, rolling over and going to bed. My eyelids grew heavy as I kept reminding myself of one thing.
Survive.
Survive for Lola.
— — —
I had a dream that night.
I was in my old workshop, and on my desk was an anti–material rifle.
It was covered in the metal crosses of the sisterhood.
I tinkered away at the firing mechanism, when suddenly I heard familiar steps. Small and light. "Big brother," a soft voice whispered.
I looked over to see Lola, draped in my jacket with a blush on her cheeks.
I raised an eyebrow.
"What's up?"
Lola pressed the tips of her pointer fingers together. "What's your type of woman?"
I nearly choked on my spit.
"What the heck kinda question is that? Who told you to ask me that, was it, Francine? I swear–"
Lola panicked, waving her hands desperately.
"No, no, no! No one told me anything, big brother. I just overheard a few of the squires giggling and got curious. So I decided to ask you myself."
I sighed, turning to face her fully.
"My type, huh?"
She nodded eagerly.
I crossed my arms.
"I guess… I guess I like a woman who is just, really good at what she does, you know?"
Lola smiled, "That seems reasonable."
"And maybe a little crazy. Actually, I want a whole lotta crazy and I want her to be violent."
Lola blinked, her eyes widening.
"Big brother, that's not reasonable, not reasonable at all!" Her voice glitched slightly.
I grinned.
"Oh come on, what man doesn't want a woman that can just beat the ever-loving crap out of them? Not a sane one, I'll tell ya that."
Lola's cheeks flushed as she took a step back.
"Big brother I think… I think you're a masochist! A masochist I say!"
I laughed maniacally, wiggling my fingers.
"Oh yeah? Maybe I'll let you watch your big brother get chewed out by Vice Elder Joan!"
I jumped up, chasing after her.
Lola squeaked and ran out of my workshop.
I followed her, turning a hard right and smacking into a wall of muscle.
I wrapped my hands around her waist as I looked up to see Vice Elder Joan, with Lola peaking out from behind her.
I smirked sheepishly.
Joan had a smirk that could kill, and not in a good way. "So, I'm your type?"
I blinked.
"Huh?"
Lola giggled.
"Sorry big brother."
— — —
I woke up with a tired smile and a splitting headache.
"You have exemplary teeth."
My eyes snapped open to see zero resting on top of me. I recoiled, shoving her aside. "What the hell is wrong with you?"
She laughed, sitting at the edge of my bed. "Your dream, I enjoyed it. Happy memories of a forgotten time, no?"
I frowned.
"I told you to stop reading my mind."
"I don't read minds, I listen to them." She tapped a finger on her chin as she tilted her head. "Like now I hear jealousy, anger, and insecurity."
"From me?"
She shook her head.
BANG!
"Wake up!"
Someone was walking down the hall, beating on doors.
Zero and I leaned over the edge of our bunk to see Erika walking down.
She was dressed in a compression shirt and judo pants.
Her hair was in a high ponytail, and she wore a pair of circular sunglasses.
She stopped in front of our door.
"Open it."
Zero and I climbed down from the bunk and stepped outside. Everyone stood in front of their cell as Erika began to pace the hall.
"Apollo is out of commission for the remainder of the year, meaning it's up to me and me alone to train you."
Her voice was smooth, yet tense with a bite. "But before I took over, he made me promise one thing, that I would be fair."
She stopped at the end of the hall, arms behind her back.
"And I agreed."
That's a first.
"But just because I agreed, doesn't mean I intend to be lenient." She grinned. "It's my mission to make all of you wash out and be sent to an early grave, where you belong."
There it is.
She clapped her hands together, "So clean yourselves up. We're starting this morning with a run in ten minutes."
Ten minutes later we were all lined up outside the hangar, clean and hungry.
Erika walked down the line.
"Here's how we'll play this. You run around this hangar until I say stop. If you stop before then, you don't get breakfast. Not that it'll be anything special anyway."
She snapped her fingers, "Begin."
The line of inmates broke with some running full sprints and others doing a light jog.
I was somewhere in between.
I wasn't a stranger to morning runs as Joan and I would do them often. In fact, that's really all Joan and I ever did, exercise. If I had to guess, that was what she considered a 'date'.
Not complaining though, cause I used those gains to carry more scrap back in the day.
Back in the day…
19 years old and talking like an old man.
I smirked.
"You have a fondness for exercise, is this because of your romance with the elder?"
My smile faded.
I looked down to see zero effortlessly matching me step for step.
Because of course she was.
"Something like that, but she wasn't a romantic interest. She was like my mom. Besides, she was way out of my league."
Zero smirked.
"You sell yourself short, Marcus. I've heard some interesting voices from Lumina–"
"Please don't."
Thirty minutes in and some prisoners began to slow down, while others gave up. Those who stopped were set aside by Erika.
I thought she'd chastise them, but instead, she ignored them completely.
Focusing solely on us.
By the hour mark, only ten of us were left 'running' in some capacity. We were drenched in sweat, breathing hard, and seeing stars.
Erika snapped her fingers.
"Alright, you ten, head inside and get a ration pack. The rest of you, take your seats at your desks."
Everyone filtered back inside. The six who failed took their seats at their desks, while those of us who passed stood near the entrance to eat.
Erika watched us with a hand on her hip.
"Pick up the pace, I want you in those nerve-rigs asap."
I shoveled the last of the tasteless paste in my mouth, before tossing the empty packet in the bin and downing some water. The other nine did the same, before finding their seat.
I sat in the same spot as last time.
Erika stepped to the front of the class,
"You're to stay in those rigs until you complete the first practical test, if you don't pass, you don't eat."
She glanced at me.
"You're to finish the second practical test. If you fail, I will personally beat you until you pass, understood?"
"Understood," I muttered.
I sat back in my chair. I looked over to see that Zero had already put on her helmet with that usual grin she wore.
I sighed, gripping mine.
Here we go.