Chapter 5: Chemical Warfare Zone
Later that night, on the 7th floor of the academy. Inside a chemical room surrounded by glass tubes and stasis tanks.
SNT and AVG held Void Ranger as they brought him to see a light blue armored minister named MalwareBytes.
"Ah mister Void, welcome to the medical center. Please have a seat and remove your bandage." Said MalwareBytes as he gestured Void to sit on a nearby hospital bed.
Void layed down onto the bed as SNT slowly removed the bandage from his arm.
MalwareBytes then stepped to the side of the bed and began to check Void's arm for fractures, ligament damage or other types of injuries on his arm.
"Yup, that's definitely a fracture on the elbow." Announced MalwareBytes as he felt a few pieces of bones from his exoskeleton that were stuck inside his elbow.
Minister MalwareBytes then looked at his tablet and began typing notes, while providing the trio with a possible solution that can heal Void quicker than with just pain medication and will power.
"Luckily for the three of you, I may have a solution. It's called the seek test." Said MalwareBytes as he continued typing onto his tablet.
"Seek what?" Both Void and SNT asked in unison looking confused,
"Seek test, tis a procedure where we will fill up a stasis tube with liquid medication where an operating system can reboot and rebuild all broken partitions back together. Of course mister Void, you'll be inside the stasis tube with an oxygen tank inside you while the boot-up occurs." Said MalwareBytes as he was explaining the procedure.
"Is it safe?" Asked SNT.
"Completely safe. We've performed this procedure on hundreds of students who have walked through these doors." Answered MalwareBytes.
Void and SNT looked at each other nervously. "SNT..." Said Void,
But just before Void could even say a word, SNT held onto his waist and kissed him reassuring him,
"Shh, it's gonna be okay Void, I'll be with you the entire time, trust me."
SNT then turned her head towards MalwareBytes and gave him a serious look, "Do it."
Minutes later, MalwareBytes slowly filled an empty stasis tank with Gray liquid medicine as SNT carried Void in her arms.
Just before SNT could dip him into the tube, she said to his ear, "I'll watch over you, I swear."
She then dipped Void into the tube, just as MalwareBytes connected an oxygen tube in his mouth.
Once the oxygen tube was in Void's mouth, Void's entire body was submerged within the stasis tank.
SNT then jumped off the stasis tube and landed on the floor, where she would approach Void who was motionless but still breathing.
She placed her hand on the tube where void's hand was located and said, "Everything is gonna be okay Void, you'll feel better, we can take the first exam together and we'll get through this."
As SNT continued to watch over Void, a couple of flies shaped like chocolate chip cookies flew by the stasis tank and tried to fly around SNT to tickle her and distract her.
"Hey, cut that out!" Laughed SNT as she was swooshing away the cookies.
Unfortunately, this put Void Ranger in a vulnerable situation, as SNT was chasing the flies out of the stasis room and into the hallway.
Void unfortunately had no one to look out for him.
To make matters worse for Void, the stasis tank suddenly opened up and a worm slowly slithered into the tank with Void Ranger trapped inside.
When Void finally woke up, he was terrified to see a worm look him straight in the eye.
He began to swim and squirm around the tank as the worm jumped forward and tried every attempt to bite him.
The worm then began circling around the tank as it was trying to go for a swift bite in hopes to infect Void quicker than normal.
Luckily for Void, he was able to swim away quickly before the worm sunk it's teeth into the boy's armour.
Void and the worm locked eyes and got into an intense stare-down.
Void knew exactly what he needed to do, he needed to avoid all the worm's attacks for as long as possible while trying to find a way to escape.
Void dodged every attack the worm tried to use against him. The worm even tried to bite the oxygen tank to cause Void to drown.
Poor Void was helpless and defenseless that he swam up to the stasis tank to bang his hands on the tank door to force it open.
He even attempted to push the door open in order to escape.
He attempted multiple times to bang on the doors and push them open. But the more Void tried, the faster his energy began to deplete.
Running out of options and losing hope, Void tried to swim down and boost into the door to force it open.
But just as Void jumped, the worm finally bit a hole in the oxygen tube causing Void to suffocate.
To add further insult to injury, the worm then tried to squeeze his throat to choak him to death.
Poor Void was defenseless and helpless, the only lifeline he had left was his sword that he thankfully still had with him.
Running out of time and oxygen, he desperately drew his sword and tried to stab the face of the worm.
But the worm swam away fast and avoided most of his sword swings.
The worm then bit Void's leg causing him to drop his sword at the bottom of the tank.
"Ahhhhh!!!!" Shouted Void as he cried in pain.
As Void looked down, he noticed his leg to slowly begin to bleed out binary coded blood.
Void then grabbed his leg and struggled to swim around the bottom of the tank, while the worm attempted to dive down and deliver one final bite.
As the worm opened it's mouth and bit Void's throat to try and suffocate him, he quickly swam to the bottom of the tank, grabbed his sword and stabbed the worm's head.
After five seconds of excruciating pain for both Void and the worm, Void removed the sword from the worm's head to release it's grip from Void's throat.
The worm was finally destroyed as it began to disintegrate into binary coded blood.
Just then, MalwareBytes and SNT ran towards the stasis tank.
They were shocked to discover Void who was drowning in a tank full of liquid medicine, with a cut oxygen tube and a dying worm inside.
Reacting quickly, MalwareBytes climbed onto the tank and opened the door as SNT grabbed poor Void and pulled him to safety.
As MalwareBytes began to clean up the stasis tank, SNT held onto Void's cheeks and looked into his eyes as he was unconscious.
"Void, I'm here. Don't blue screen, please don't blue screen." Cried SNT as she wept in tears. "It's all my fault, if only those stupid flies didn't distract me earlier, I could have protected you," Said SNT.
SNT then placed her head down on Void's chest and cried, she didn't want to lose her robot friend again as she did during their virus gauntlet last year.
As SNT continued to cry, Void slowly opened his eyes, "SNT?... Is that you?"
SNT wiped her tears and hugged Void tightly.
"Oh Void, I thought I lost you again, I'm so sorry for not watching over you. Will you ever forgive me?" SNT asked.
"Only if you promise not to be air headed like you already are." Void remarked.
"Oh you..." SNT giggled as they hugged each other while Minister MalwareBytes was still cleaning up the mess inside the stasis tank.
As they exited the stasis tank room, their joy suddenly turned to shock as they discovered many dead students inside their own stasis tanks with worms eating through their bodies.
In the middle of the hallway, as the stasis tanks with dead students were being carried out of the academy on the left and right side,
Minister Norton stood by the hallway looking sad as he held a book in his hand. The programmers lined up in single file as they were mourning for the fallen students.
Norton then opened up his book and began a eulogy.
"Thank you programmers for joining us during such difficult times. We stand here in this academy tonight, in solidarity and prayer to remember those who lost their lives in this sinister attack during the seek test treatments that these students were given.
These tragic death counts alone proves that all these future programmers and ministers have failed to protect our computers we know and love from malware. This is both tragic and unacceptable by any standards of the United anti-virus movement. And with that being said, let us bow our heads in silence as we pray for those who lost their lives in this horrific tragedy." Concluded Norton as he and the programmers stood by and bowed their heads in sorrow.
Once the eulogy was over and the programmers returned to their duties within the academy, Void walked up to Norton demanding answers.
"What the hell happened here?!!!" Shouted Void as he began to wander around the hallway to assess the damage.
"Indeed." Said Minister Norton who closed his eulogy book and was watching every red colored stasis tube being carried out of the academy by every minister of the U.A.V.
"Alright minister, what the hell happened to these students?!!! They did not deserve to die!!! Who the hell would dare sneak in a couple of worms inside these stasis tubes?!!" Shouted Void who was looking furious towards Norton.
"Let it go my child, let it go!! These children all had the obligation to refuse the seek test treatment, those who went through it never stood a chance against malware during their boot-up sequence. But the fact that you also accepted the seek test treatment and survived the boot-up with malware present in memory is clearly a testament towards your strength and knowledge of viruses." Explained Norton.
Norton then bowed his head towards Void in sadness.
"Void, listen to me, there will come a time in an anti-virus' life where they will have to send other AVs to their death. Our duty is always to the computers... Never to other anti-viruses." Norton continued.
"Forgive me Minister Norton, but I fail to see this through!" Argued Void as SNT walked in to join the conversation.
"The harsh life lesson I will soon teach you, should you wish to become a minister is to utilize sacrificial goat files. Tis tragic yet necessary to waste as many lives if needed. Because at the end of the day, some viruses will destroy those you know and love." Said Norton as he began to shed a tear in his eye.
SNT then asked Norton a serious question, "Minister Norton, do you consider Void as a sacrificial goat file?"
Norton thought about it for a moment, "Well, hmm... I never thought about you becoming a sacrifice..."
"DO YOU CONSIDER US AS SACRIFICIAL GOAT FILES!!!" Shouted SNT as she was becoming frustrated over Minister Norton.
Norton decided to avoid the question.
"Get some rest you two. You have physical education with Minister AVG at 9 o'clock tomorrow morning." Said Norton.
Norton then followed the rest of the ministers out of the academy as they began to carry the red stasis tanks out of the school and into the local cemetery.
Norton then walked towards Hacker who was walking by with a laptop in his hand and whispered into his ear in a very stern tone, "Send word to the public. Their parents must be informed of this terrible incident."
Hacker nodded and gave the minister a soldier salute before walking away to deliver the news to the world. Norton looked back towards Hacker and gave a stern look, as he knew this was not gonna be an easy journey for any student who wished to join the U.A.V.
Still trying to process what just happened, both Void and SNT simply stared towards the hallway looking shocked. "Did I just make the gravest mistake of my life by enrolling into this anti-virus hell hole?" Void thought to himself as his stomach began to turn.
One thing was certain, Void was very lucky that he wasn't among the casualties of the dreaded seek test.
Feeling upset, Void ran into the dormitories where he reached his dorm room. He quickly opened the door and kicked the nearest cupboard to the side. "DAMMIT!!" Void shouted. He then sat on his bed and began to cry.
SNT slowly entered the robot's room and proceeded to sit on the bed next to him. Both of them were not happy. She sobbed next to him and hugged the blue robot with all her might. Void looked back at SNT with a sad look and hugged her back.