The Beyond: Dystopian Survival Fiction (The Breeder Files Book 4) by Eliza Green (most popular novels TXT) 📗

Carissa ran up to the door and fed her arm through. She felt for the lock and released it.

Not waiting for the others, she slipped inside the school, entering a short corridor that led to two classrooms on the left. If there were Copies here, she should greet them first. The first room was for the younger Copies, the second for the older ones. A separate structure with its own controlled entrance taught the Originals next door. But if there were Copies, they would be in this part of the school.

She looked around the space as if it was her first time. She’d always headed straight for the second room. She’d never looked beyond the classroom she was in. Carissa noticed a corridor behind the two classrooms. She pressed her toes lightly into the tiled floor and found two more rooms down the new passageway.

The Inventor came to her side. ‘What’s down here?’

She didn’t know. ‘I’ve only ever seen the one classroom.’

She opened the first door and looked inside. She did a double take.

Behind her, Vanessa said, ‘What the hell...?’

Carissa widened the opening and walked into the room. It looked like a nursery, similar to the Perspex boxes in Arcis on the eighth floor. Toys dotted the floor, making it look like someone had been playing here recently. But the thin layer of dust told her whomever had been here was long gone. She backed out of the room and tried the second door. Inside was an empty room, except for a two-way mirror looking inside the first room, and a computer console.

Carissa stepped up to the console and tried it. The display sprang into life. Permutations scrolled on screen, too fast for her to read.

‘Let me see,’ said Thomas, nudging her out of the way. She stood back. Thomas nodded at the screen. ‘It’s computer code. Do you recognise any of it, Carissa?’

‘Should I?’

‘Well, yeah. It’s a part of you. This would have formed part of your original programming, I guess.’

Carissa frowned at the screen, stepping closer. She put her hand out and the words that scrolled by slowed down. She pulled her hand away and they sped up again.

She blinked. ‘Why is it doing that?’

‘It’s responding to you, miss,’ said the Inventor. ‘Try again.’

She looked back at the screen, this time holding her hand out for longer.

The words slowed until she could read them. It was a list of downloads from the Copies. Each one had a designation beside it. She recognised a few numbers, including her own—173-C. Carissa searched for other codes, namely those belonging to the Collective, one through to ten. She found nothing lower than eleven. She searched for the medics instead, focusing on data that had been created after they escaped the city.

One number stood out: 118-C. Anya’s medic, who had helped them to escape. She was still alive and, according to this, in the download room inside the Learning Centre.

Her hands shook as she checked more data on 118-C. According to the console, she’d had contact with both Jerome and Alex. Julius had been put into stasis and was currently guarding the Great Hall. Interviews had been conducted with both Alex and Jerome. Quintus was listed as having ordered them.

She searched for more details as to what happened after but none were forthcoming.

‘What does it say?’ said Charlie.

Carissa looked up at them. ‘Quintus... his name is listed here... he interviewed Alex and Jerome.’

‘What did he do to them?’ asked Vanessa.

‘It doesn’t say. Nothing possibly.’

The Inventor shook her shoulder. ‘We need more information, miss.’

‘I don’t have it.’ She glanced around at the disappointed faces. ‘But I know someone who might.’

23

Anya

The Beyond sent a deep chill through Anya. It reminded her too much of parts of Praesidium. She’d only been in this supposed sanctuary six hours and already she wanted to leave.

Three hours ago, Agatha’s soldiers had shown them to a dorm, a large space with a concrete floor and dozens of beds lining both of the rockface walls. The rebel soldiers took one side of the room while Anya, Dom, Sheila, Jerome and Imogen occupied the other side. Farther back, June, Alex and Frahlia sat huddled together, looking like the nuclear family they’d become in a matter of hours. Frahlia’s gaze scoured the room. She hadn’t said anything since she’d been born, but her eyes held a mix of confusion and fear. Anya had felt that same way when she’d woken up in Alex’s room, with no idea where she was or what had happened.

While Alex spoke to June, Frahlia looked from one guardian to the other. Anya wondered what was going through the child’s mind.

Then Alex looked around at the rebels opposite them, at the walls, at the door. His eyes narrowed slightly as if searching for something. His gaze found Anya’s. The former Breeder nodded at her and looked away.

Anya copied Alex. She studied the structure of the walls and the ceiling, looking for the telltale gap between the two that might hint this area was staged. Dom was on the bed next to her, arms resting on the tops of his legs. He was making his own assessments of the space. His brow had barely lifted since Anya had pointed out to him the similarities between this place and Arcis.

Dom looked at her suddenly and flashed her a weak smile. She wished she could do something, say something, to make that frown go away.

‘Tomorrow,’ she said.

Dom blinked. ‘What?’

‘Tomorrow. That’s when Agatha says the door will unlock. We can rescue the others then.’

He nodded, looking as if he’d forgotten about the rest of their team. Of course he hadn’t, but Dom worried too much. Over-thought everything. It was typical of him to take