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Double-Blind Chapter 111
🕑 Added 2022-06-20 23:55:37 +0000 UTCMy stomach clenched in anticipation of what was happening in the unfortified regions. I was deep in my mind as we drew closer to region 14. So much so that I barely even registered the significance of what I was seeing as we passed through the intersection near the tunnel where I’d been when the transposition was first announced.
Significance being, the road wasn’t an obliterated mess. The gaping hole the giant mob had emerged through was patched. It wasn’t perfect—there was an odd golden sheen to the surface, but it was strangely orderly in the surrounding chaos. All around, people were picking themselves off the ground, brushing off dust, and looking altogether confused. Small groups clustered everywhere, some unharmed, some decidedly worse for wear as a never-ending procession of ambulances made the rounds, some stopping curbside as paramedics rushed Users and civilians alike out of buildings on stretchers.
No construction crew worked that fast. Whatever had begun the transposition had seen fit to repair some of the infrastructure once the transposition ended.
The fact that the barriers were gone presented another annoyance. I’d already changed my identity to <Page, Level 3>within the Adventurer’s Guild’s roster for plausible deniability. If civilians were still trapped, I’d intended to present myself to the Adventurer’s Guild as one of the recently uplifted. A former civilian that had won the lottery, so to speak. My Page identity worked as a solid cover. It was still level 3, low enough on the totem pole that it likely wouldn’t raise eyebrows, considering how quickly those first few levels went.
I eyed Kinsley’s hands. Her fingers were white. “Are you trying to strangle the steering wheel?”
Kinsley didn’t blink, gaze glued to the windshield. “Just doing my best to stay in the middle of the lane. How the hell are you supposed to know where the car’s at in the lane when you’re sitting off-center?”
“Practice, mainly. Look, just find a focal point on your side—like the line where the engine hood curves to the front—and line it up with the road.”
“That’s not the engine hood. The engine’s in the back. It’s the trunk.” Kinsley corrected.
“Great choice for a starter car,” I jeered, but my heart wasn’t in it. Still, the advice seemed to get through, and she stopped gripping the wheel as tightly.
“I have no idea what to say to them,” Kinsley admitted.
My back spasmed, and I leaned forward painfully. “Their leader, Tyler, has an ability that lets him detect deception. Stick to the truth. The barebones of it, at least.”
“And you’re just telling me this now?” Kinsley asked, horrified.
“I’ll signal you if he’s using it, like this.” I held my hand forward and tucked my thumb between my second and third finger in a motion that could easily be a nervous tick. “But only explain if they ask. You’ll need to talk to him about Myrddin, eventually, but for the moment, we’re a helping hand when they need it most. They might not even question you.”
“Holy fuck,” Kinsley exclaimed. She turned in her seat to gawk. And for good reason. There was a crowd of people standing in an oddly uniformed line across from a coffeeshop—many of them geared out, obvious Users. But they were only watching, as a chaotic street-fight involving hundreds of people broke out in an office park just beyond their line. Some were barehanded, others wielding an assortment of improvised weapons — baseball bats, tire irons, and cutlery that looked more intended for cooking than fighting, just to name a few.
“They’re just watching. Why aren’t they doing anything to stop this?”
“Not for lack of trying,” I said grimly, pointing off to the side. A man in plate was throwing himself against an invisible barrier over and over again, screaming something. Now that I looked more closely, every User present seemed to be in some sort of distress. “Pretty sure this is the edge of region fifteen. And it looks like the barrier is still up. Only it’s keeping the Users out now.”
While the civilians fight among themselves to fill the receptacles with human cores.
I’d thought this might happen. But up to that point, it was nothing more than a theory. Seeing it was something else.
“Barrier’s going to keep us out too. Give it a wide berth,” I said.
Kinsley’s mouth worked furiously. “But—“
“I know you want to help, but the Adventurer’s Guild gets priority. For obvious reasons.”
We turned to the left and diverted around the region. The sound of gunshots rang out behind us. Kinsley flinched in her seat.
“This is awful,” She whispered.
There wasn’t anything to say to that. It was awful. And the damage wasn’t limited to the unfortified regions. The powers that be rolling back infrastructure didn’t do anything to reduce the psychological toll the last twelve hours had on the population. No one would forget this. And every User who had been hanging back, not engaging with the system due to a varying mix of common sense, cowardice, or caution, wouldn’t have a that luxury anymore.
Things were going to be entirely different moving forward.
/////
“There they are. Pull over.”
The setup looked eerily similar to the scene we’d just left. Hundreds of Users lined up along an invisible barricade. Kinsley parked a solid foot away from a curb and I hopped out, slinging the gym bag of lux over my shoulder, and sprinted towards them.
Then immediately slowed to a jog, as my vision began to narrow.
I recognized more than a few as members of the Adventurer’s Guild, and headed towards them until I spotted Tyler and Sara.
This was a wealthy section of downtown. Premium apartments, surrounded by perfectly manicured lawns and trees, many of which were now marred or scourged respectively. Unlike region 15, 14 had yet to fully descend into chaos. Still, I spotted more than a few weapons among the civilians on the other side of the barrier as I approached, tense and paranoid body-language. Things were minutes away from popping off, if that. Tyler was talking to a reed-thin man within, who was holding a handgun loosely by his side. I only caught the tail end of their conversation as I approached.
“… get the lux. Just wait.”
The reed-thin man shook his head. “There’s less than an hour to fill it, man. Our lives are on the line.”
“Jensen, look how close it is. You know me.” Tyler hit his chest with his fist, emotion clear on his face. “I always deliver. Just give me a little more time.”
There was a brief gap in the crowd, large enough to reveal their receptacle. It was closer to the top than ours had been.
“These things—whatever they are—aren’t fucking around. Your help is too little, too late at this point.” Jensen shook his head.
“Goddammit, my wife’s in there,” Tyler hissed through grit teeth.
“So is mine,” Jensen countered.
I nearly stumbled. Several things clicked into place. Why Tyler had been so aggressive when he’d confronted me earlier, and why he’d tapped so many guild members to go after such a scant number of lux. I wanted to fix this, if that was even possible.
Several Users spotted me, then, seeing the glow at my back, immediately parted, creating a path that led me straight to Tyler. “Heard you needed some seconds,” I said. The Guild Master turned and looked at me in surprise, then to the bag at my back. His mouth widened into a shaky grin. “If it isn’t the know-it-all from the open-forum.”
“Here with the Merchant’s Guild. Guild Leader’s right behind me.”
Sara’s eyebrow rose. She subtly elbowed Tyler, keeping her gaze on me. “Kinsley, right? She did one hell of a job keeping people alive during the event with that shop of hers. Ours included.”
I nodded, feeling distinctly uncomfortable coming within arm’s reach of them again, despite the differing circumstances. It took everything I had not to show it.
Tyler’s expression was full of faux sincerity. It looked as if it were taking everything he had not to melt down completely. “We’re prepared to offer you—“
“—Nothing.” I cut him off. “Mind letting me through?”
Tyler bowed his head and stepped aside, leaving me a clear path. There was a time to barter. But not in front of a group of desperate Users, terrified for their loved ones. Even when Tyler discovered the lux originated from Myrddin, whatever they offered would pale in comparison to the good will doing this unconditionally would invoke. And I wasn’t about to destroy the foundations Kinsley had begun to build.
I shrugged the bag off my shoulder and carried it in one hand, stretching out the other towards the invisible barrier. Anxiety bolted through me, as my fingers braced something solid. I’d always imagined forcefields having some flex to them. This felt like touching solid glass.
<System Notification: This region gathered 47 of 50 lux, falling short of the target number before the event ended. User access is restricted.>
There was a growing wave of dismay as the surrounding Users started to realize I was obstructed, and after them, an outcry of despair among the civilians beyond.
Jensen pulled the slide back on his handgun, grimly inspecting the bullet in the chamber. I lashed out at him with <Suggestion,>my vision growing dark as I pelted him with graphic images of what would happen if he started shooting. He reeled back, but I could feel from him that it wouldn’t last long.
More desperate now, I unzipped the bag and withdrew a single <Illuminating Lux> and pressed it against the barrier. It nearly slid out of my hand.
As a last ditch effort, I spoke, hoping there was some significance to the fact I’d received a notification, that the system was acknowledging me somehow. “I have more than enough to fill the receptacle, and no intention of interfering in any other way. Let me pass.”
<System Notification: This region gathered 47 of 50 lux, falling short of the target number before the event ended. User access is restricted.>
I heard Kinsley huffing behind me. “Is it not letting you through?”
Frustrated and angry, I pushed harder against the barrier, sweat pouring down my forehead. As an Ordinator, I was an outsider. An exception. So, why was this the one way I was like everyone else?
Tyler slipped to his knees.
Someone put a hand on my shoulder. Sara. Her eyes were red, her face twisted in grief. “You did everything thing you could.”
“Family inside?” I asked, struggling to keep the anger out of my face.
“Friend,” Sara shook her head, wiping her only arm across her eyes. “Thanks for trying.”
I hated that I nearly said it again. Sorry. Sorry, I came all the way here for nothing. Sorry I ripped you off, right after your people ripped me off.
Sorry. Sorry. Sorry.
Fuck that.
There had to be something I could do. Anything. I wheeled away from Sara and pulled up my identity screen. I scrolled through my options to modify it, and found what I was looking for. Now that the existence of regions were revealed, my NPC identity now had the option to alter my home region. Declining the prompt to change it in any existing guilds. I looped the handles of the bag around both arms like an oversized backpack, and began to push into the barrier.
Pain washed through me. It felt like touching the tines of an electric plug still in the socket, only instead of isolated to a finger, over my entire body.
Nearby, someone started sobbing.
I pulled myself back to my feet, more slowly. And felt myself smile. Unlike before, there was flex to the barrier.
You can’t keep me out. Because I’m a civilian who belongs to this region. Those are the rules you set for this event. An oversight that you’ll change in the future, no doubt, but you can’t change it now.
Sara was staring at me, her eyes wide. “You were through it. Just for a second, but your palm broke through it.”
I shrugged, still grimacing at little bolts of electricity that ran up and down my body. Then pushed forward again. The pain met me, washing down my arms, the intensity doubling, then tripling again. By the time I got an arm through, I was spent.
Small hands braced my back. Through the buzzing pain, I heard Kinsley’s voice. “Come on, you tentative fucks, he’s gonna kill himself doing this alone. Push!”
Sara grabbed my shoulder and arm, supporting me. More hands followed, waiting. Tyler had picked himself up from the ground and put a hand hesitantly on my back. “Are you certain? What if it kills you?”
It won’t. Unless they’re willing to break their own rules.
“Do it,” I said through grit teeth.
“I knew you were meant for great things,” Tyler smiled. Then he turned to the others and shouted. “On three. One… two… Th—“
I never registered three, expansive pain cutting through my body and mind as countless hands pushed me forwards.
Comments
Myrrdin
Think you missed one author, at "Pretty sure this is the edge of region fifteen"
Lon
Hell yeah, Ordinator or more like the bug in the system? He will go where he wants, when he wants. Just needed a bit of help but whatever. This is cool, very much cool.
