18

Countdown: 4:17:28 Remaining.

The center of the sanctuary consisted of one tall building that towered over the rest of the area. The pair approached it, coming out of a wide street lined by what used to be office buildings that had now been converted into apartment complexes.

Makoto scanned their surroundings, then gave Rui a nod to let him know it was safe enough to open his mechanical eye and scan farther.

“They’re only half filled,” he said, nodding towards the nearest apartment complex. “And it looks like most of the occupants are sleeping, though some are gathering in what I can only assume to be a conference room on the first floor.” A mixture of concern and curiosity crossed his face. “I wonder what they’re up to.”

Makoto shrugged. “We don’t have time for that,” he said simply, pushing the thoughts out of his head. He couldn’t let himself be distracted.

“I guess I was just thinking of the Rebels,” Rui replied, turning away. He looked up at the main compound, and his red eye glowed a little brighter as he ran a scan. His face fell. “I can’t see anything in there,” he said. “My scan stops at the edge of the building.”

“Out of range?” Makoto asked hopefully. If they only needed to move closer, that wouldn’t be a problem. The alternative, however…

Rui shook his head, instantly dashing Makoto’s feeble hope. “My range has dropped since we entered, but it’s not that short. I think they made another Faraday cage around their building, incorporated into the outer walls. I can’t see anything within, which means we also won’t be able to scan outside once we’re in there.”

Makoto must have made a face in response, because Rui raised an eyebrow to ask, “Having second thoughts?”

“Of course not,” Makoto said. He wondered once again how much faster his heart should be pounding, if it wasn’t mechanical. Adrenaline trickled into his veins, wiping away any exhaustion that had started to set in. The idea of going in blind didn’t appeal to him, but he reminded himself that the guards on the inside would be equally as unprepared. “What did the Rebels do?”

“I don’t know,” Rui said. He had a distant look in his eyes, like he was watching faraway memories. Makoto wondered if he really was. “Yumi went in late, in the second, smaller wave. Most of the first wave was already dead, along with the lower level guards, by the time she arrived. There were at least a dozen security guards on the first floor, I can tell you that much, but I don’t know how many were near the entrance and how many came from elsewhere.”

Makoto nodded slowly, processing the information. From his studies, he remembered that a typical human could hear a few hundred meters around, depending on the volume and frequency of the noise or voice. Judging from the size of the building, even fairly lax security could still prove enough to span the whole first floor and draw attention to one another.

“How many rooms were there?” Makoto asked.

“At least two dozen on the first floor. Most of them were unoccupied storage rooms.”

“And the second floor?”

Makoto immediately regretted his question when Rui grimaced, pain pulling his mouth into a frown. “Yumi didn’t make it very far on the second floor. I only saw a dozen or so rooms, and all of them looked like the old hospital rooms you see in history. A bed, some basic singular function equipment, a sink for sanitizing the old-fashioned way.”

Makoto nodded and went silent, storing the information away. He waited for Rui to make the first move, noting how the boy’s eyes moved back and forth as he checked on the guards around the building.

“I see only two on the outside,” Rui said. His face had gone back to a neutral expression, the previous pain pushed away. “Last time there were about half a dozen dead bodies outside the door, so I guess they weren’t able to replace all the security by now.”

For the first time since they had breached the barrier, Makoto felt a small spark of hope. The idea of there being fewer obstacles between them and Miyuki boosted his confidence in their attempt at breaking her out.

Beside him, Rui lifted his shirt and unscrewed the port from his storage pocket. He counted out the beads he still had, then stored all but one of the seven away. “I’ll be back,” he said, and slinked away towards the front entrance of the compound.

Makoto used the time to run a vitals scan on Rui’s disappearing figure, then on himself. He saw with dismay that both of their body temperatures had dropped, his more than Rui’s, and their energy readouts were less than they should be to maintain homeostasis.

I guess this place is already taking its toll on us, he thought, grimacing at the idea. Rui did say his range had dropped too…

Before Makoto could worry too much about their current states, Rui returned, sprinting the distance with little regard for being seen. He grabbed Makoto’s hand as soon as he was near enough and pulled Makoto out of where he’d been hiding. Bringing him close, Rui whispered, “I peeked inside, and there was nobody in sight. If we stay really silent, we might be able to get through the first floor without being seen.”

Makoto nodded and focused on watching his feet. His footsteps had never been as light as Rui’s, and he had to concentrate to keep from tripping over the loose dirt and cobblestones that had started to form a path to the compound, but he managed thanks to Rui taking the lead.

The building’s main entrance was a plain metal frame and door, with simple hinges to make it swing and a glass window in the upper half. On either side sat two Pure men, slumped forward. Makoto checked their vitals quickly and noticed they were merely asleep, having inhaled a substantial yet non-lethal dose of the knockout gas. He felt relieved that Rui was keeping his promise to kill as few Pure as possible, even though it would have been easy for him to permanently eliminate the men.

The well-oiled hinges of the door made no sound as it opened, and the two boys walked in unnoticed.

Without a respirator to filter out the air, Makoto noticed the mixture of scents immediately -- first came the same sanitation products that were used at his school, then there was a layer of dust beneath it all, like the rooms hadn’t been used in a while. The air was stale and stagnant.

Little light trickled in from outside even though windows lined the side of the hallway. The only source of illumination came from the other end of the hall where two lanterns hugged either side of a door.

“I guess they gave up on using this floor,” Rui said, looking around. He scanned the floor above them, then added, “And the second floor isn’t very occupied either, though they’ve posted guards along the main intersections of the hallways.” He paused, frowning.

Makoto tried to follow his gaze, even running a scan on his monocle, but his short range couldn’t pick up anything out of the ordinary. All he saw was a pair of guards stationed where he assumed a wall would be. He couldn’t tell what they were guarding.

“It’s not totally unoccupied up there,” Rui said. “There are more goons beside a room down that way, and there are at least half a dozen people in that room, including one that’s lying down.”

“Lying down?” Makoto said. “And you said those were hospital rooms up there?” Rui nodded, and Makoto could see from the look on his face that he was thinking the same thing: someone was being operated on, and considering the Pures’ aversion to physical alterations, it was likely related to an Incubator.

“This is mainly a maternity building, from what the Rebel’s scouts had surmised. Out of the six floors, only the top two are meeting rooms for the governing body, however that works, of the Pure. The other four are supposedly for the Incubators, like your sister.” He glanced out the windows, then led the way forward. “At least, that’s what the Rebels had figured out before their raid.”

The stairwell was properly lit compared with the hallway, with a lantern stationed every ten steps. The carpet kept their footsteps from echoing in the otherwise empty space.

As they reached the landing of the second floor, Rui asked, “How old did you say your sister is?” The nervous edge in his voice gave away what he was thinking.

“Thirteen,” Makot said, “Same as Sumire.” He tried again to run a scan, and cursed under his breath at the futility of it.

Rui’s silence forced Makoto to ask, “Is it her?” Have they gotten to her already? Am I too late?

Rui grimaced, knotting his hands together. He fidgeted with the edge of his shirt, then pulled out another knockout bead and rolled it around on his palm. When he caught Makoto still looking at him, and the silence became too great to ignore, he finally said, “It could be.”

The words came out short and clipped, but they stabbed through Makoto nonetheless. A sharp, burning pain spread through his chest. He imagined his sister, as innocent and pure as he remembered her, and saw the agony on her face the day she was taken away. He didn’t dare to imagine what her face would look like if it was her in that outdated hospital room.

“I have to know,” Makoto said, his hand hovering over the door.

“Of course,” Rui said, taking the lead. He eased open the door, listening for anything from down the hall. The glow of his eye indicated a continuous scan, watching for movement.

“Wait,” Makoto said, grabbing Rui’s hand. He glanced down at the clear glass bead in Rui’s hand. “We can’t use that,” he said, “It could be deadly indoors, and if that’s Miyuki in there…” He trailed off, unwilling to let himself finish the sentence. The thought was too terrible to consider, and he feared that putting it into words would only make it more of a possibility. Especially considering how outdated those hospital rooms were, even in the times that they were the only option available.

“Okay,” Rui immediately acquiesced. He stored the bead back in the compartment with the others, and closed it tight. “You know I wouldn’t do anything to endanger your sister.”

Makoto let go. “I know,” he said, but something else tugged at him. He hesitated at the door, letting Rui take a couple steps forward before he noticed Makoto wasn’t following. When Rui raised an eyebrow in question and returned, Makoto said, “I’m worried that if a fight breaks out, she might get hurt.”

Rui sighed, looking back down the hallway. “I doubt they would hurt her. They’ve needed her so far, and they’ll need her after this too. We’re the most likely to get hurt throughout all this.” Exasperation played out in his voice and on his face, and he crossed his arms over his chest, leaning his weight on one side.

“I just meant that she could get caught in the crossfire, even if it’s not deliberate.” Makoto shrunk away from Rui’s irritation, hoping to avoid triggering another mood swing. “Please, I just don’t want to take any risks.” If it was Yumi, you wouldn’t want to take any chances either, Makoto thought but refrained from saying. He knew it would be far too cruel to bring up Rui’s sister, especially when they were close to where she’d died.

Rui’s tense shoulders dropped, and he unfolded his arms, letting them fall to his side. His face fell with it, a sad glint in his eyes. “You’re right,” he said, and Makoto wondered again whether Rui could read his mind. “‘I’ll hold back, but if either of us are in dire danger, I can’t make any promises.”

Makoto nodded, and this time he followed Rui down the hall, both of them clinging close to the walls. The lanterns above their heads provided a comfortable warmth in the otherwise cold hall, and the warmed air was pleasant to breathe. Makoto felt revitalized from just a few breaths.

The first pair of guards were located down a side hallway, flanking another branch. Makoto caught a glimpse of them from poking his head around the corner, and he felt that familiar rush of adrenaline. Beside him, Rui’s heart beat faster, and his hands twitched, trying to instinctively curl into fists.

“How are we gonna get past them?” Makoto asked.

“Normally I’d suggest taking them out before they can see us, but that doesn’t seem possible.” To Rui’s credit, there was only a hint of resentment in his voice. “If I can cause a distraction, we might be able to sneak past without being seen and hide in the nearest room.”

“How are you gonna do that?” Makoto asked, taking another look at the guards.

The lanterns on the wall were bright enough to make Rui’s mischievous smile gleam in the dim light. “Easy,” he said, tapping beside his mechanical eye.

He turned away from the hallway with the guards and faced the opposite wall inside. With a slow, steady exhale and an expression of deep concentration on his face, Rui’s eye began to glow a little brighter, then projected an image against the hall. It looked like a figure paused mid-sprint. He changed the size and proportions of it until he was satisfied, then easily popped his mechanical eye out of its socket, keeping the projection hidden with his other hand.

Turning back around, he peered down the hallway with the guards, then aimed the hologram at the opposite end, sweeping it across the way. It looked like a figure ran through the intersections of the other corridor opposite of where he and Makoto were hidden. A subtle thumping of footsteps followed the sound, catching the guards attention.

They shouted out to the figure and took off after it, not knowing that there would be nothing there when they rounded the corner.

On silent feet, Makoto and Rui rushed to enter the hallway the men had been guarding, and they ducked into the first room, pleased to find it unlocked. The room was small and sparsely furnished. There was a large bed in the center, surrounded by surgical tables laden with various tools. One particular table had blankets and towels piled high, each of them looking rather worse for wear. Makoto eyed them suspiciously, doubting any of them were as sanitary as they should be.

“Wow,” Rui whispered, replacing his eye in its socket and letting it roam around the room. “So this is all the crap they used to need, back in ye olden days.”

“Ye olden days?”

“No?” Makoto shook his head, and Rui shrugged and pointed to the surgical table, saying, “Sure seems so much easier now. Could you imagine having to use all these little things for one purpose only? Seems tedious.”

Makoto nodded, picking up a scalpel. “It is,” he said, noting how dull the blade had become from overuse. “I was forced to do so for my first year in school, partially to learn what each tool does, and partially just to torture the first years because it’s funny.”

All the while, Makoto had been listening for sounds outside. Now that he was closer, he could hear the sounds going on in the operating room, but it was too muffled to make out voices.

The only thing he could clearly hear were the weak screams of a female voice, changing in pitch every other second. As his mechanical ear continued to fail, the sounds themselves grew garbled and unrecognizable.

Makoto couldn’t sit still a moment longer. His desperation grew, fueled by his inability to recognize whether the voice belonged to his sister.

In a moment of reckless panic, he rushed to the door and wrenched it open, no longer caring about how much sound he made. Beside him, he heard a surprised noise come out of Rui, but the boy had enough self-control not to shout after him.

Makoto barreled down the hall without seeing any of the rooms lining his path. His gaze focused solely on the open door and the trickle of flickering light spilling from the crack. Distantly, he heard footsteps pounding after him, but he couldn’t identify whose they were, only that there were multiple sets, and each was louder than Rui’s quiet footfalls.

The room stood within reach, right at his fingertips, when rough arms pulled him back. They grabbed around his shoulders, and he fought against them, lunging towards the door and scraping his feet uselessly along the floor. His arms flailed in a desperate attempt to reach. He stretched every muscle in his hand as though he was trying to dislocate his own fingers for whatever meager distance that would allow him.

Voices shouted beside his ears, deafening any hope he had of identifying the screams he’d heard. In his manic state, he couldn’t even tell how many hands were grabbing him. It felt like a dozen, pinching and pulling his arms, roughly yanking him away.

Using all the adrenaline coursing through his veins, he managed to pull free just enough to close the distance between himself and the door, pushing it open despite the arms around his waist pulling him away. He caught a glimpse of the blonde hair and tanned face of the girl on the operating table, and felt a sense of relief over finally knowing it wasn’t his sister.

Then, his body failed him, and he went limp.