Chapter 8
Ryker
A projection of a clock materialized above the portals, counting down towards zero. Immediately after the feed went dead, a cacophony of noise erupted from the people in the room. It was pure chaos; nobody doubted the deadly capability of our captors and knew what Ruby would do if they didn’t choose fast enough and were left behind.
Panic set in, and a small stampede of those most fearing for their lives began clawing their way towards the portals. They ran into, over, around, and in some cases through others to get there as fast as possible. The more people fought to get through the crowd, the more joined in on the frenzy.
As the insanity approached my part of the room, I grabbed Amy’s hand, and we took off in the opposite direction of the portals. She tried to protest, and I simply looked over my shoulder, locking eyes with the woman. Apparently, she saw something and just nodded. We reached the edge of the crowd without any issues and took a minute to catch our breath.
Through heavy breathing, Amy lifted her head and said, “Ryker, what in the hell are we doing? Are you trying your hand at an elaborate murder-suicide death pact or something... 'cause I ain't interested, buster!”
Despite the desperate situation, I couldn’t help but crack a smile. “Nah, that's not my style. If I had a death wish, I could have just stayed where we were and embraced the death of a thousand sneakers. If you look closely, you can see red clouds appearing all over that mob. They are literally trampling each other to death in their panic.”
Amy peered out over the sea of people and nodded before agreeing. “Oh! You're right. I guess the ship isn't letting any of the dead go to waste. Thanks for getting me out of there... I was completely floored by Viltrix and Ruby.”
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I brushed off her thanks and said. “Yeah, me too. That Viltrix guy seemed like a real asshat, but the kid was cute.”
A giddy look crept onto Amy’s face before she burst out, “Oh my God, I know! She was so stinking cute; I just wanted to pinch her cheeks!”
“Well, Amy, as much as I would love to sit here and rate how fugly Viltrix is and how adorable Ruby is, I think we need to make our way around this crowd and get into those portals.”
Amy gave me an exaggerated nod and strode off, heading clockwise around the people. We weren’t the only ones to have this idea and were joined by others as we went. It seemed those who had the presence of mind to get out of harm's way and use the time we had to get there safely were with us.
“Amy, which portal are you going to choose?”
She gave me a confused look before saying, “What do you mean? Isn't it obvious? I am going to the Pyramid! I won't spend the rest of my days being worked to death or have a thousand babies for the honor of the empire, bleh! I think I'll just kick ass instead!”
I couldn’t help but think that Amy was a serious badass. “I agree with you wholeheartedly. For all we know, they will be trying to make me have babies too... not today, Satan! Middle portal, here I come.” We chuckled over that as we made our way forward.
As we walked, I kept one eye on the crowd and grimaced as a steady stream of red mist rose out of their number, being absorbed into the ceiling. All manner of grunts, wails, and other disheartening noises could be heard from those pushing forward and from those being crushed. A steady stream of people could be seen throwing themselves through the portals. A large majority of the people apparently found the simulation mind-slave portal idea appealing and took that option. The next biggest bulk of able bodies decided that working for a living wasn't much different from where they started and took that slave portal. But a very small portion could be seen going through the middle portal one at a time. Without any crazy special effects or fanfare, they simply disappeared from sight.
As the clock ticked down and reached the 30-minute mark, we made our way to the front. We both had made our decisions, and without skipping a beat, walked side by side into the unknown.