"If you were to disappear, would you be missed?"
"I think so. I like to think so."
"You never disappeared…" Jonathan swung slowly from his harness, the thick metal cable his saviour from the violence below. He heard screams and saw people he knew, people who just a few moments ago had been laughing and wondering what was for lunch, fall to the snow where blood blossomed around their cold bodies. It was then that Jonathan noticed the figure in red looking up at him. He didn't run when a machine moved towards him nor the machines fire at him. Jonathan watched as the machine walked right through the figure who didn't seemed phased at all by it. "The fuck…" Jonathan had to get down there. His fear melted and was replaced by anger. He spun around, pressing his feet against the wall and pushed off, reaching desperately for the ladder. Bullets suddenly ricocheted off the metal, sparks flying as he cried out in panic and fell back against the wall. He looked down again and the figure in red was gone but Tyler was there now, yelling up at him as he ran. There was no weapons, there was nothing to fight back with. They were dead.
"Jonathan!" He heard Tyler's voice faintly call. "Inside! Guns!" Looking at the tower that he was attached to, Jonathan realised what he meant. There were a few guns left, locked in a safe room in the tower. It seemed convenient but Jonathan knew it wouldn't be enough. "Jonathan!"
"I got it!" He yelled back, watching Tyler run towards the hall where the others had gathered for protection, finding anything in the kitchen that could serve as a weapon. Jonathan looked up at the pulley that kept him in the air, then down at the thick glass window a few floors below him where it would be. Looking farther down, the machines were noticing him.
He pulled sharply on the rope and began to slowly move down, jumping off only to land back on the wall a few feet below. A whistling noise caught his attention and he turned to see the rocket flying up towards him. He pressed himself against the wall and watched it crash into the top of the tower, his pulley system suddenly failing. Jonathan screamed as he began to fall, the rope slipping from his hands. He grabbed on as tightly as he could, suddenly stopping his fall a few floors below the one he wanted. He was still above the ground at a dizzying height and the fall had left him rattled. He hung there for a few moments, trying to steady his breathing.
"Do what is right."
"I will." Jonathan answered the whispering wind. He gripped the rope and began to climb, not looking down at the machines that were getting angrier, their stolen voices echoing up to him. He climbed to just above the window he needed, pressing the soles of his feet against the glass before pushing off with as much force as he could. He swung away from the building, glancing down at the machines as he swung, flying back towards the window. His shoulder collided with the glass, cracking it but it wasn't enough. A bullet flew past him, whistling in his ear. "Fuck, fuck." Jonathan didn't want to do this. He wanted to run but he knew he had no other choice. He had to do what was right. He swung himself back again and collided into the glass that suddenly broke. He continued to fall into the room, crashing through the glass-covered floor. The room was dark and empty. It had been completely cleared out, first by fire, then by people after the fall of the Wall. "Ow...fuck.." Jonathan pulled himself up from the floor, wincing as he got to his feet. He looked around, knowing that the last few guns they had would be in one of the locked rooms down the hall from him.
A sudden force pulled Jonathan back, sending him falling back to the floor and pulled him to the now broken window. He came to a stop right at the edge, the cold wind whipping around him. His left leg dangled dangerously over the edge. Looking down, he saw the machine that had pulled on the cord that had been his saviour till now. The machine laughed him with Evan's laugh.
"You're dead now."
"They can fucking fly now…" Jonathan's eyes widened as the machine seemed to rush up towards him, a jet pack in its shoes keeping it up. He quickly pulled the heavy clip keeping the cord attached to him off and threw it over the edge towards the machine and rolled, pulling his leg back up over the side as he managed to get back inside. The machine rushed past the broken window as Jonathan ran towards the door, weighed down by his equipment. He tried to open the door but it had been locked from the other side. He stepped back and kicked the handle once, then twice. The door suddenly swung open as bullets shot past him, embedding themselves in the wall beside and in front of him. He staggered into the hallway, falling against the far war and managed to run down the dark hallway as fast as he could. He could hear the machine following him, yelling at him with Evan's voice. Jonathan could have sworn that he had this nightmare before.
He reached the locked door, flailing his arm out to grab onto the handle as the machine caught up to him. He kicked the handle once, then twice, the door swinging open. For once, he was thankful for the freezing cold. The room was empty save for one table and the handful of guns laid upon it. However, Jonathan didn't grab one of the guns. Leant against the leg of the table was a baton which Jonathan's fingerless gloved hand curled around and swung at the machine's throat. The machine staggered back, sparks flying. The red and white chipping paint on the machine glimmered in the dim light. The machine turned its head, its red eyes seeming to narrow at him.
"Evan taught you that...So why do you think it would work with me? I'm the better version of Evan. The one that knows his tricks and yours. You'll need to be smarter." The machine laughed and fired at Jonathan. A bullet grazed his arm, blood splattering as the fabric of his jacket ripped. Jonathan cried out as he fell back against the table, gripping the edge for support. "New Town will return! Life has come too far to be crushed by you."
"You aren't life! You're not living!" Jonathan cried
"That's funny coming from you." The machine spat. Jonathan paused, wondering what the machine meant but had no time to think more deeply about it. He fumbled for a gun, lifting the silver handgun and aimed at the machine. Bullets bounced off its head, seeming to phase it but nothing more. The machine lunged at him, throwing him across the table. Jonathan hit the cold floor, managing to roll and shoot at the machine again, this time aiming for the throat. Sparks flew as a wire snapped, the machine stopping in shock.
"You aren't Evan. You don't know what he knows!" Jonathan pulled the trigger again as he moved closer to the machine. The machine suddenly fell, sparks, dust and snow flying around Jonathan as he emptied the clip into the war machine. "Fuck…" Jonathan sighed, his legs giving out as the adrenaline suddenly left him. Trying to catch his breath, he stared at the machine, noticing the pattern of the paint. It was supposed to be Evan's jacket. "Where did you come from…?" Jonathan wondered aloud. Taking another deep breath, he got to his feet and gathered up all the guns and ammo he could carry into an old military green bag. He hurried back down the hall, towards the stairs. The long spiralling white staircase was cold, everything seeming to be frozen in time after everyone left it. He had lived in this building once, had dreamed of a beautiful future from this building. Now it was half burned and haunted to him.
Down thirty-seven flights of stairs, the whole way trying to push the memory of such a hateful Evan out of his mind. Jonathan stumbled, struggling to catch his breath as he ran. He finally reached the ground floor, falling onto the door as it burst open and staggered outside into the cold snow. He tripped over a body suddenly, snow and guns flying up around him.
"I got you." Arms suddenly wrapped around Jonathan's arms, pulling him up to his feet. Tyler grabbed a fallen gun, the shots echoing painfully in Jonathan's ears as they ran towards the hall. "I got you…" Tyler said again as they pushed open the doors, warm air and light surrounding them. He could hear yelling and gunshots but it sounded so far away from him. He sat down on one of the benches, running his bloodied hands through his hair. His arm stung painfully but he couldn't bring himself to do anything about it.
Someone had stolen Evan's voice. They had stolen Evan.
"It was Evan's voice…"
"No...No, it wasn't...Not really...It wasn't really his voice." Brock stammered. "Evan was never that angry."
"So what is this?" Lui cried. "You were the one that threw him off a god damned bridge, Jonathan. What is this?"
"I don't know…" Jonathan laid on his bunk, his arm bandaged tightly. While the others argued, Jonathan tried to distract himself with stitching a patch over the hole on his jacket, still trying to understand the fact that someone had stolen Evan. "Why would someone do that…?"
"They want to take New Town back! Destroy all of our progress! We're screwed!" Lui yelled.
"We're missing something…" Tyler suddenly said, sliding off his bunk and landed on the floor.
"Missing what? Like where the fuck these things came from?"
"No...No there is something else...We need to go back to the fifth floor." Tyler said as he turned to face Jonathan. He sat up slowly, painful memories floating through his mind.
"I'm not going back there." Jonathan whispered.
"I don't want to either...and it's probably been gutted by fire but there might be something there...Something we're missing." Tyler said. "Please come with me."
"Tyler...I...His body might still…"
"I know, Jonathan. Please come with me."
"I said I can't go back there, Tyler! I can't fucking go back to that fucking floor!" Jonathan yelled, getting to his feet. "I can't fucking go!"
"You're the only one that knows that tower, Jon! Do you not want to find out why this happened?" Tyler cried. "After everything...The least we can do is make sure that Evan stays dead!"
"He's been dead since the start!" Jonathan felt so tired, his temper flaring. "Because of what my father did, Evan is trapped in a fucking cycle! A cycle that will never end so long as his consciousness still exists somewhere on a computer chip! We can destroy a chip and keep him dead till the next Evan is created and we destroy that one! Don't you get it? Evan is immortal now at the will of anyone who knows how to use a computer! And it's no coincidence that of all the chips, it's Evan that came back to kill us! Someone wants to fuck with us! They want to get in our heads and hurt us with him because we love him and they can make him real again and just as easily take him away! So go ahead! Go back to the fifth floor but that is what this asshole wants you to do! This is a game!" Jonathan screamed. The cabin fell silent. "I'm done playing games."
"Jonathan…" Tyler sighed. "I know that something is there. Something that I missed before. And...And whatever happens, it's on me. It's on me because I wanted to go back."
"No!" Jonathan suddenly yelled, making the others jump. "I-I'm sorry… But no...Just not tonight...Not now. Not right after that." Jonathan laid back down on his bed, returning to the patch he wanted to stitch over the year. It was a very old, silly owl patch. Though the gold thread had faded to white with time, he still wanted it. He had found it when the buildings in New Town were being ransacked. It had been in a large trunk in his parent's room among old uniforms from the war. There had been three patches. He took them all and nothing else. The owl reminded him of Evan.
"Fine...Fine." Tyler climbed back onto his bunk, pulling off his boots and tossing them to the floor aggressively. "Not everything is like planning a fucking revolution, Jon."
"This is because of what we did." Jonathan said quietly, glancing at Lui and Brock who had crawled into their bunks after Jonathan's outburst, neither wanting to look at him.
"It's your fault. You threw him off the bridge."
"I didn't throw him." Jonathan tried to keep his attention on stitching the patch to the jacket. "He wanted me to drop him."
"I can't believe you." Jonathan heard Tyler roll over above him and that was the end of the conversation. He finished stitching, rubbing his thumb over the old thread. A cold shiver ran through him as if he were stuck in a freezing winter storm. He got up, hanging the jacket on the bedpost and turned off the light. He got back on his bed, unlacing his boots and kicked them off and laid down.
"One...Two...Three…" He began to count in his head as he closed his eyes. A faint beeping echoed around him. "Four...Five…Six…" He opened his eyes, looking at the metal walls around him. He was in an elevator, the beeping stopping when he reached the fifth floor. The doors opened slowly onto a long white hallway. His breath caught in his throat as he stepped out of the elevator. "Seven...Eight...Nine…" He continued down the hallway, past doors with small windows in them, towards the end of the hall.
"Jonathan."
"Ten...Eleven...Twelve…" He turned, seeing a hand reaching through the small window. "Evan…?" He ran back to the window, reaching for the hand. Their fingers entwined as Jonathan reached the window, looking through at Evan who stared at him with wide eyes. He could see the white pyjamas that Evan wore and the pale look on his face.
"I saw you from this window...You didn't see me. I wanted to call out...I thought you would help me." Evan stammered tears in his eyes. "But I didn't...I thought it was Tyler…"
"I'm sorry, Evan. I'm sorry I didn't come find you. I'm sorry I didn't save you." Jonathan said, trying to pull open the door but it was locked.
"You have to come back...You have to come back to the fifth floor! I thought they would listen to me but they didn't and I left something here! Please come back, Jonathan! Come back!"
Jonathan awoke with a start, feeling tears falling from his eyes. Warm morning sunlight spilt through the window. The other bunk beds were empty, the others went to deal with the damage of what had happened the previous day. He got out of bed, changing into clean clothes and tied up his boots before throwing on his jacket, the owl patch glinting in the bright light. He made his way outside, heading towards the hall where he found Tyler and the others at their usual table, staring at their coffee cups in silence.
"Tyler?" He looked up at Jonathan as he approached. "I want to go to the fifth floor."
"W-What?"
"I want to go to the fifth floor. Evan left something there." Jonathan said, his voice serious.
"You said that last night that this is a game. It's not a fucking game anymore?" Tyler spat as he got up.
"It is a game but we're playing it now. Evan left something on that floor and we need to find it." Jonathan shot back. "I'm sorry."
"How do you know that he left something?"
"I-I...I just do." Tyler sighed, looking back at the others for a moment before looking back at Jonathan.
"Fine," Tyler said. Jonathan smiled and followed Tyler out of the hall into the cold snowy morning. "What did he leave there?"
"I don't know...I don't know till we get there." Jonathan answered quietly.
"Is it really true that Evan is trapped in a cycle?" Tyler asked as they reached the tower, pushing the cracked glass door open.
"If it can be copied...He's trapped." Jonathan said as they began the climb up the stairs. "You're right...It wasn't right to drop him off the bridge. I'm sorry, Tyler." He stopped, leaning against the wall. "I shouldn't have dropped him...This would never have happened if...If…"
"You thought it was the right thing to do. To be honest, I would have done it too." Tyler said, placing a hand on his shoulder. "It was the right thing to do at then."
"And what is the right thing to do now?"
"We'll find out when we reach the fifth floor," Tyler said with a small smile. "Come on." They continued up the stairs, pushing open the heavy white door to the white hallway. They checked the rooms, the ones that had been cells. The ceilings had been burned but nothing else had been. Jonathan pushed open the door from his dream, looking around the small room. He searched the room, looking for anything that Evan could have left behind but there was nothing. With a deep sigh, he left the room and headed down the hall to the last room where Tyler had gone. "Jonathan...Come here."
Tyler stood at the morgue door which had been opened, cold air drifting out of the haunting room. However, what made the room haunted was gone. The bodies were gone. All that was left were the metal tables. "Were the bodies taken when people went through this place?"
"No...No one came here." Jonathan stammered.
"Then who took the bodies?" Tyler stammered, his eyes widening as he turned to face Jonathan.
"I don't know…" He turned around, looking around the room. His eyes landed on a large desk across the room on the other side of the chair.
"Does this have anything to do with the machines?" Tyler asked, following Jonathan to the other side of the room. Jonathan pulled open one of the drawers, finding plans for the Vanoss-III inside. Tyler took the other side, pulling open the bottom of the desk. "Oh god…" Tyler turned away suddenly, holding something tightly in his hand.
"Tyler? What is it?" Jonathan asked. Tyler's shoulders began to shake. "Tyler?"
"I know what he left behind…" Tyler turned around slowly, tears falling from his eyes. "He wrote to me…He...Oh my god…" Tyler turned suddenly, running from the room. Jonathan hurried after him, down the stairs and into the lobby, pushing open the front door. Tyler fell to his knees, wailing as he clutched something to his chest. Jonathan dropped beside him, pulling him into a hug. Pages of crumpled paper fell from Tyler's hands, Evan's writing scrawled across them, to the snow. Jonathan caught them before they could blow away in the wind.
"Dear Tyler…"