Chapter 6:

Chapter 06

The Warm World, My Cold World


It has been a about a month since the trio and the other residents who were in the know spread their knowledge and disseminated information to other residents. They couldn’t rapidly increase their numbers as it might just cause unnecessary fights. But there was one problem. There were only a few residents who believed the claims of the trio and their group. Majority of them discarded it as rubbish and only fantasy. Even the other children who were so hell-bent on the idea of travelling to the walled city dismissed their ideas as lies or an impossibility. Their initial plan of recruiting allies did not go so well.

Erias and Zsally tried persuading some children only made them more isolated from the rest. Was it their approach that led other into dismissing their claims? Or was it the information that was lacking as they tried to persuade the other party.

The trio were exhausted as they laid their heads on the cool table in the communal space. They sighed most of the part without even speaking, signalling how exhausted they were. As they were on the verge of passing out, they heard an announcement from the speakers surrounding the room.

[All numbers Identification Serial Numbers ending with a four, please proceed to Gate 01.]

The announcement repeated quite a few times before coming to an end. By the gate was a whitey and three blackies. They were calling those who had a number four on the back of their hands and Erias and Zsally had those numbers on them. It was quite strange since it was usually by a group code and not by numbers alone.

Esther waved goodbye and not long after, her hand slumped down and one could hear her catching some zs.

Erias and Zsally only followed the crowd and were led to the typical capsule beds that could only fit a single person. The same capsule beds that brought out those needles and injected something onto the human body. Erias and Zsally feared this quite a lot ever since they first saw it, but the whitey they constantly meet with said that it’s fine to enter. Rather, it really is more beneficial for them to do so as it reduces chances of suspicions.

The hatches closes and seals them inside. They could feel their conscience slowly fading from their bodies. After that, the needles popped out and injected fluid from a tube into their bodies. Multiple needles and tubes penetrated their skin yet after injection, their skin was not damaged whatsoever.

It has been 40 minutes and everybody were told to get dressed so they can head for the simulation room.

“Hmm, it looks like it’s all of them. Let’s go.” The whitey said.

“But miss. Is it alright? Shouldn’t we check if the numbers match. Especially with that event that happened over a month ago.” One of the guards, a blacky, suggested to the whitey, but she only snapped at him.

“Don’t tell me how to do my job. That event happened because of idiotic children and people like you who questions everything.”

The guard backed up and said not a word more. The whitey was first to move, yelling at everybody to follow her. The remaining guards just shrugged and even chuckled.

Almost everyone had already left but the door remained open. But this time, Erias had finally woken up from his capsule and noticed everyone was missing. He panicked and yelled at Zsally to wake up as he started to get dressed. He was lucky she woke up immediately and also panicked to get dressed.

Meanwhile, the rest of the group almost reached their destination, the simulation room. As they walked, they passed by another opened door with two people wearing orange coveralls standing by its side. The moment they confirmed that the last people passed by, they also followed the group while leaving the door open.

By the time their bodies turned a corner, Erias and Zsally appeared and entered through the opened door. They followed the path and turned to another corridor. By the time they had disappeared, the two people with orange coveralls appeared, carrying a long step ladder. Erias and Zsally were now isolated from the main group.

“Zsally?” Erias called out as he catches his breath.

“Yeah, Erias?” She stood beside him, panting and wheezing, gasping for air.

They exhausted themselves from running at full pace, trying to catch up to the group. But now they are stuck and realised something.

“We entered another door, didn’t we?” Erias spoke and gave out a light laugh.

“Haha… yeah.” So did Zsally.

In front of them was a different scene compared to over a month ago. Now they stand in front of multiple doors. Each had screens and button and even if they play around with them, only red lights flashed. As they continued down the corridor, there was another corridor but it led downstairs. With strong curiosity, they ventured forth.

At the same time, at the simulation control room, Kristoff noticed something. There were no abnormal readings. Rather, they were all so stable, all normal, it looked like a dream. He brought out his gloves and dragged out a myriad of holographic screens from the control panel. As he scrolled the list of participants, he noticed two codes are missing. They were coded as “Erias” and “Zsally”.

Kristoff panicked and brought out a holograph map of the area. He traced the path they took from the communal room to the NEWard04. It seemed normal. Their records were present. But on the way to the simulation room, their records disappeared.

He switched panes and searched for a certain nanochip. Nanochips were those that were installed in the brain for better control over the subject. Each chip’s code was unique as one chip can only be for one person. It can be traced but was only limited to the residential spaces. As soon as Kristoff searched for their codes, it was missing. From the map. And it only meant one thing.

“Lisanna!” He got up and shouted. Lisanna was stunned by his sudden voice. “Inform the Guardians! “Pink RT”! Message Outline: D01-NSR-SN07, Priority Level: One, Origin: Gate NRW-H03.”

“Ah, shit!” Lisanna and the other researchers in the room were surprised and looked at him. “Lisanna, contact the Guardians for me, please. “

“U-understood.” She tapped her earpiece and got in touch with someone. “Mr. Koldner, Captain Oliver is on the line.”

“Alright.” Kristoff used his gloves and moves panes here and there and an audio feed propped out. “Captain Oliver. Follow Protocol Pink RT. Outline: D01-NSR-SN07, Priority Level: One, Origin: Gate NRW-H03.”

“B-but Commander, this is too sudden.” Captain Oliver was taken aback y his sudden declaration.

“Two rats somehow entered a limited access area with low security level. Get your asses there and take them to the cleaners. Now!” Kristoff simplified it as much as possible then quickly ended the call after Captain Oliver confirmed the orders.

“Lisanna, I have a favour.” He took out another set of gloves and tossed it to her. “Here, catch.” And she caught it with her clipboard.

“Install the codes I’m about to send you and make sure you enter the codes correctly. Fuck up and you’re fucked.” Kristoff immediately turned back to the screens in front of him and fiddles with them.

“The rest of you, continue the simulation.” He ordered the rest and they complied almost immediately. “Haa~ shit. I should’ve installed the security systems before.”

“Mr. Koldner, these are security codes that can take a few hours to install.”

“Just do it. Some codes can activate even if not everything has been installed.”

“Understood.” Lisanna turned silent as she fiddles with holographic screens as well.

“Tsk. These brats are making me work my ass off. If only Kreija knows how to do these things.”

Without his knowledge, Kreija had just arrived at the simulation room to observe his and Lisanna’s work. The moment she heard those words spoken by Kristoff, she immediately turned heel and left the scene.


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Erias and Zsally wondered the floor they descended to and what they found were another series of doors. But it was strange as they had no lights on them. Out o curiosity, Zsally opened a door even after Erias warned her not to touch anything. Even when Erias scolded her, his lips slowly curled into a smile. He was curious as well.

As they entered, they only found boxes of different build and sizes. Carton, wooden, and even metal boxes of different shapes and sized lay on the ground and on the metal shelves. They didn’t know what was in it and even if they tried opening one, they couldn’t

Zsally zoomed towards another room and opened it. Erias warned her once more with curled up lips, chasing after her. As the door opened, they found weird items inside. It was a cylindrical glass with metal tops and bottoms but they couldn’t see what was inside. It was heavy too, so they just left it as is.

The duo visited room after room but found nothing of interest. They concluded it was more of a storage room, like the one they his in the first time they ventured into a different path. After searching every single one of them, only four rooms remain. The room they visited this time was fascinating. There were metal boxes that extend high up as far as the eyes can see. There were labels there but it was so high they couldn’t read. As they opened it, they found clothes in them. They varied in shape, colour, and even design. Something that was worlds apart from their everyday clothing. Although to the children, they didn’t understand the value of such. So, they closed it, searched around, and found nothing special. They headed for the room in front of them but it was the same as the previous. Clothes and nothing more.

After their sigh of disappointment, they stood in front of the last door in hopes to find something interesting. The other door was locked physically with a padlock. They ignored that and went straight for the other. With both their hands on the door, they pulled the handle and opened the door. They have thought of finding treasure but only saw a table in the centre. Their disappointment was immeasurable. That is until Zsally screamed.

Erias panicked when he heard the scream, thinking they were found out already, but it was Zsally screaming from enjoyment. He picked up an item that looked very familiar to them. An item that even caused Erias to shudder in fear. It was a collar, but this one didn’t give off any colour. It was turned off for some reason. Zsally played with it and even joking around by putting it on Erias’ neck so he would obey whatever orders Zsally gives.

He was a bit surprised. He had thought the collar would be as big as someone’s head, but it was smaller. Maybe it would enlarge when turned on.

Although they did have fun rummaging through the things in the room, the most interesting thing they found was the collar. And after deciding that there was nothing else, they decided to leave. But when they pulled the door handle, it didn’t move. They pushed, but it still didn’t budge. It was only then did they notice the red light on top of the door.

Zsally played around with the handle, pushing and pulling the door as well, but unfortunately, the door was still locked. There were no other visible openings and Erias started panicking. As he was deep in thought, Zsally tried to get his attention as much as possible.

“Eriaaas!” She shook him from side to side and back and forth.

“Zzssaallyyy~” His voice shook as he called out to her. “What is it?”

“I can… hear noises outside.” She leaned closer to Erias and whispered to him.

Erias couldn’t just ignore her statement especially now that the doors are locked. Zsally wouldn’t just lie either. Rather, she’s bad at lying.

The two stuck their ears on the door and indeed, they could hear people talking and opening all the doors.

“Search every room and apprehend the kids. If you don’t, I’ll bring you lot with me to the commander.”

“Yes, captain!” The soldiers all yelled.

Captain Oliver was outside also searching every room with the soldiers. Now that every door was locked, and they had access, it was highly unlikely for the children to escape.

Erias’ panic heightened and his thoughts clouded. He couldn’t think straight as he held his head between his hands. But Zsally grabbed his hands.

“Don’t worry. You’ll escape and tell everybody about now.” She spoke to the panicking Erias. “You barely panic, but when you do, you can’t think. Where did the smart Erias go?”

Erias calmed down little by little as the warmth from her hands spread to his.

“It’s warm. Your hand.” His thought had come out from his mouth.

“And yours is sweaty. And it’s icky.” Zsally responded in kind.

They couldn’t help but laugh, but after the banging sounds coming from the outside they snapped out.

Erias switched back to his thinking mood and face, isolating himself from the rest of the world but Zsally snapped him out of it immediately.

“Leave it to me!” She said as she thumped her chest with great pride. “I’ll run away and you run as fast as you can and write whatever happened and you can tell sis and you can tell-“

“Zsally!” Erias called out to her who went on and on without stopping. “What are you talking about?”

“The both of us will get caught and be cleaned if none of us distracts the soldiers. So, I thought that I’d run from them. I’m fast! Don’t worry.”

“No no no no no!” As he spoke, the sounds of the other doors being violently opened echoed even louder.

“Yes yes yes yes yes!” Zsally countered I the same manner. “What ever I say, you do. Here, I’ll give you the collar. Now you do as I say.”

*Bang*

The door to one of the locker rooms was violently opened. The soldiers went through all the men’s clothes and lockers. Even boxes inside were checked. They jumped and looked silly when they tried to check the top of the locker. But there was no one in there.

“Clear, captain!” One of the soldiers reported

“Alright boys! Last two doors.” The rest of the soldiers stood in front of them. Two soldiers approached each door and placed their hand on each handle. “Apprehend them!” The soldiers violently opened the doors.

“Waah!” On of the soldiers tripped. The soldier who opened the door where Zsally came out from, tripped.

“Capture her! But don’t harm her.” Captain Oliver gave his orders.

The soldiers aimed their stun guns but couldn’t shoot. With all the soldiers cramped up in a tight space, they couldn’t afford to hurt their own allies. This made Zsally, who was small and agile, to easily pass through them. She laughed as she zoomed through and even mocked them as she climbed the stairs. The soldiers were furious and chased after her.

Erias, who was left behind, tried sneaking away during the commotion. There was another flight of stairs beside the room he came out from and escaped through that one while all attention was on the other side. After all the soldiers left, the captain himself followed but remembered one thing. There are two kids he needs to capture, but only one came out. He turned tail immediately and searched both rooms but found nothing and no one.

He only cursed at his stupidity as he kicked things around.