Remote

Codex15111

There were no lights, but the wall felt different. Codex stopped behind Wren and watched as she angled the light against it. They had reached the door to a cell, but this one didn't have bars. Instead, a steel door trapped the occupant behind it. All the other cells on this level had been empty. He was curious as to why she put her ear to it.

His fear screamed in his ears.

She moved on. Codey had studied the blueprints as well. If they were correct, the tunnel should be after a few more corridors. He was happy he didn't need CHIP to remember. The plans were vivid in his mind as they made their way through the maze. He used his hand against the wall as a guide and became familiar with the rough pattern of wet stone interlaced with cold steel fortified doors.

The corridor behind them remained silent. The cyborg had either lost them on the stairs or had not been able to get through the upper door

Wren stopped and turned to Codey. "We should check at least one of these rooms."

"Why?"

"We need to understand the types of prisoners kept here. Your parents might be near."

"That's not a good idea," Codey replied. "They said my parents were in the less secure area on level one." He couldn't imagine his parents in this place. How would they have been able to survive? "They can't be here."

"What if they are?"

Codey nodded at Wren and continued along the corridor.

"How are you going to open the doors?" Codey asked.

"Good question." Wren faced a room. "Let's hope it's unlocked."

"Right," Codey scoffed as Wren shook the handle to a locked door.

She shrugged. "Let's keep going and try some of the other rooms."

Every door they attempted to open was tightly locked. Pitiful crying or whimpering arose with every handle she turned.

Codey fisted his hands, staunching the need to smash them into the walls.

They turned along a new corridor. Codey saw what he believed to be the entrance to the tunnel. The doors in this hallway were different, made of wood and without keypads or complicated codes. Codey went to the first door and found it open. Wren brandished her knife next to him as he pushed it back.

The smell of death made him gag. In front of him was a morgue of failed experiments. Human experiments. His stomach clenched in disgust as he looked at the remains left on tables. Cadavers posed naked with missing limbs and grotesque surgical scars. Eyes removed, implants bulging unnaturally. The look of horror and pain on the faces of the dead was branded in his mind. He turned away and ran from the room. He gagged as he lost his footing and slumped against the wall. New State was cruel, but this.

What if his parents were in there?

Codey stood, his limbs water. He stared over Wren's head at a body nearly transformed into a Phantom. It lay naked on a table. The legs had been amputated under the knees, and metal implants were added. While the arms remained, metal armor had been surgically rooted. Lethal spikes shot from each fingertip. What remained of the woman's face made Codex want to cry. Stripped of humanity, mouth in a frozen scream, wires ran out of the woman's eye sockets, nose, and mouth. Codey grabbed Wren's shoulder for support. He closed his eyes but the image lingered. The body on the table could have been his mother.

He watched Wren move forward, searching the additional worktables. She bent, examining something under a table. Codey stood tall, back straight, and forced himself to follow. His harsh breathing was the loudest sound in the room full of death.

The creature under the table was housed in a cage the size of a dog crate. Looking both alive and dead, Codey's eyes turned to saucers as he realized what it was. A child. Wires, which had been implanted many years ago, were connected to a switchboard behind it. The child, if you could still call it that with all the modifications, lay in a trance.

Codey crouched behind Wren. "What is going on?"

"Whatever it is, it's not good."

There was a computer tablet at the bottom of the cage. Wren moved the flashlight over it. Codey picked it up and read. "Experiment model 3392. Housekeeping. Performs tasks including sweeping, dusting, and vacuuming. House server. More efficient than robots. Can be streamlined with various implants for patrons. With CHIP control, no outbursts or violent episodes. Control of subject complete." He tried to move to the next screen. "The rest is password protected."

Ragged puffs of strained breath left Wren as she fought for control.

His mind was reeling. This was his home. Could New State know? Were they doing this to children? "Let's get out of here," Codey said.

Wren nodded and led the way. Once out of the room, the tunnel stood before them.

"The tunnel must be the way Phantoms accessed the city streets," Wren said, shining her dim light into the heavy darkness.

They headed toward street level.

"What now?" Codey whispered when they emerged on the streets of New State.

"We follow the plan," Wren said.

Her voice sounded hard. She was in control. "We're supposed to meet the rest of the group outside the city before dawn. We can make it.

"What about my parents?"

"Let's hope they were found and are safe."

They didn't speak during the walk, lost in their own world of horrors.