Chapter 26: the Collective

‘Here we go,’ the Collective thought.

All six of them had gathered for dinner. Though C-5 was working the food counter and the rest of the Collective were stationed in their corner of the dining hall. They faced different directions, their combined spatial awareness eliminating all possible blind spots.

“We have a contract!” Century – leader of the Numbers gang – yelled from a table at the centre of the dining hall.

“Had,” Suffo corrected, seated opposite Century. “You had a contract with Miate and I’ve since taken over for him.” Suffo opened his arms wide. “But I’m open to renegotiating terms.”

Century clenched her pudgy pink fists. “The previous terms are more than generous.”

“Inflation.” Suffo shrugged helplessly. “You’ll have to sweeten the deal a bit more.”

Century smacked the steel table hard and the cafeteria was silenced. “Don’t push me Suffo or you won’t live long enough to enjoy the perks of your knew status.”

Suffo grinned, showed his sharpened teeth. “This is me enjoying the perks of my new status.”

“Seems I’ll have to teach you how foolish it was to try and shake me down.” The bloated maiden sneered and leaned forward.

“Teach me? I’d like to see you try.”

The two gang leaders glared at each other.

Yannick had stopped after receiving his lunch packs and took in the altercation. “Century! Suffo! Knock it off or it’s solitary for the both of you.”

Suffo grinned, licked at his pointed teeth. “You heard the chief, back off—”

Century smacked her pink palm into Suffo. His chin rocked sideways but he was quick to catch himself and thrust his body over the table and tackled plump Century to the ground.

The convicts around them backed up and broke into a frenzied cheering as the pair tumbled on the concrete floor. They struggled and tussled, Century attempting to get on top and Suffo aiming to form some kind of stranglehold around her neck.

“Fuck,” Yannick hissed, swivelled to the guards at the main door. “The fuck yall waiting for? Stop them!”

‘As expected,’ the Collective thought.

Yannick wasn’t so quick to join the action. Unlike the visiting hall where the prisoners’ numbers were well controlled, the dining hall was littered with most of the tomb’s inmates – except for those in solitary – and only a pair of guards to oversee them because most of the guards took their meals at the same time.

The two guards drew their sick-sticks. With a flick of a switch the batons hummed ominously.

“Back up! Back up!”

The guards barked as they made their slow advance between the inmates, waving their sick-sticks at any inmate who crossed their path. The obedient convicts parted for them.

The two guards halted a few metres from their targets. Eyeballed the two gang leaders who were helping each other to their feet. Behind them, the inmates closed off their path of retreat and completed the encirclement.

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Yannick frowned at the turn of events. If the prisoners rushed the two guards even with their sick-sticks they wouldn’t be able to stop them all.

‘But the tomb has contingencies for this sort of thing.’

Yannick hoisted his free hand to his face and spoke into the electronic pad woven into his uniform.

“Activate ultrasonic burst.”

A low pitched sound exploded from the chief guard and swept the entire cafeteria. Each member of the Collective was assaulted by a piercing pain, originating from the back of their brains where their chips were implanted. The other inmates weren’t spared, even the two on kitchen duty. They all experienced the same mind stabbing sensation.

Many crumpled to the ground clutching at their aching heads, writhing in pain.

Only the two guards and Yannick who had internal hardware to protect them were left standing.

However most of the Collective wasn’t affected long. C-1 quickly rose to her feet, followed by C-2, C-4 and C-6.

“Impossible,” Yannick said. His shook eyes, focused on the Collective members unaffected by the ultrasonic blast. His gaze shifted to C-3 who wasn’t so fortunate.

Her anguished sobs were something between screams and choking. She clawed at her head, rolled and twitched sporadically. Unable to find a reaction or form that would ease the pain. Dark-red blood gushed out her nostrils.

She looked to be in more pain than any of the other prisoners. Her reaction much more animated, more intense compared to the other victims of the ultrasonic blast. As if she was receiving an amplified version of the attack whilst the rest of the Collective remained completely unaffected.

‘It worked.’

The Collective had redirected the indiscriminate attacks between their interconnected neural networks and isolated it within a single node of their network. And C-3 was the logical sacrifice possessing the weakest body.

C-3’s right eye popped, blood sprayed and she ceased all movements, her nosebleed turned thick grey as blood mixed with brain matter.

‘A worthy sacrifice.’

The bulky C-2 dashed for the food counter.

Yannick dropped his plastic bags, splattered the spaghetti takeaways onto the floor. He regarded the charging C-2 for a moment before he opted for a strategic retreat. The chief guard darted for the kitchen door behind the counter.

One of the cooks writhing behind the counter floor tripped the chief guard and sent him crashing down.

“Dammit!” Yannick glanced back to meet C-5’s grin, who just so happened to be on kitchen duty and was also unaffected by ultrasonic neutralizer. “Shit!”

C-2 smacked through the glassed top half of the food counter, shattered through and crunched down exactly where Yannick had fallen.

The chief guard roared. C-2’s full weight crashed over his back with bits of glass prickling him all over his back. Yannick stared at the camera rooted atop the kitchen door.

“Help me,” he said through grit teeth.

The lockdown siren bellowed.

C-2 was off Yannick, ran into a knee slide and caught the electronic door as it shot down.

The metal door creaked and moaned unable to close solidly. C-2’s body was folded unnaturally. His head and shoulders pressed into his knees from the weight of the door crushing into him.

The Collective winced, all their backs jerked briefly before they managed to isolate the damage.

C-2’s spine was shattered and like that another avatar was made useless.

‘Freedom extracts a heavy toll.’

But C-2’s smashed body created a stopgap large enough for a person to crawl through.

The remaining members made their way through the counter. C-4 to 6 crawled through the breach.

C-1 crouched before the chief guard who was struggling to get up, back covered in blood and broken glass. C-1 ripped off Yannick’s electronic pad and inputted a few commands and the ultrasonic waves ceased. Allowing the inmates to slowly regain function of their bodies.

“We wanted to kill you slow,” C-1 said, grabbed the chief guard’s belt and clutched the back of his collar.

“But I’ll have to settle for letting you get torn to shreds. After all the mob has to be fed and I’ve other places to be.”

C-1 tossed Yannick, over the counter into the hall of recovering convicts. The other two guards had remained rooted near the centre of the dining hall unable to adjust to the sequence of events. The mob of inmates helped each other up in a rare display of unity.

‘A common enemy will do that.’

The inmates didn’t waste time in swarming toward the three guards.

“C-1 wait!” Yannick called out, worked himself up to his knees.

C-1 sneered. “Now you recall how to address me.”

“Don’t leave me here,” he said panicked, considered the inmates who were prowling around him. “I can help you escape. I-I-I can pay.”

Suffo was the first to reach the chief guard. His skinny hand clutching the chief guard’s collar and yanking him back.

“Tsk! Tsk! Tsk!” C-1 clicked her tongue and her lips stretched back triumphantly.

“My dear Nicky money isn’t everything.”