Landon woke up to shouting; it seemed so far away from him. He didn't want to wake up, he adjusted himself and was forced awake by agonizing pain. He was face down on the ground and the Big Sister was next him, unconscious on the floor. At first he had no idea what is was that was hurting him, but when he tried to push himself up he fell, and realized his arm was gone. The anesthetic must have worn off.
"Landon! Jesus, would you answer me!"
Landon pushed himself up. "I'm... I'm here...!"
"Stay still! We're coming to get you!"
Landon pushed himself against a wall. He looked over to the Big Sister. He could see her breathing...
Despite the pain he was in and the voice in his head telling him what a terrible idea it was, he pushed himself over to the Big Sister. Hands shaking, he unlatched the helmet.
As he saw her face he felt his heart sink. It was her. But she looked wrong. The color of her skin was off, pale and clammy. He reached out, to touch her face- when her eyes snapped open.
They were no longer blue-ish green but blank, yellow orbs.
She hit him, sending him falling back. "No!" Landon saw her run off and around the corner. "Jennifer! Wait!"
He ran after her, even though his legs were shaking... the only reason he was still conscious was probably because of the pain he was in.
As he turned a corner, he found a dead splicer. In its hand was a pistol.
"Better than nothing." He muttered to himself.
Landon continued to run in the direction he thought he'd seen her go. His body broke out in a cold sweat, as his whole body started to tremble.
He fell down, leaning against a wall... when he heard an alarm.
"WHAT IS THIS?" Looking up Landon could see a flying turret... welded onto it, he could see a screen with a weird face glaring at him. "What do we have HERE! A thief? An INTERLOPER! Well BOY! You won't find this place to EASY a MARK!"
Landon's mind was racing for a moment, when he remembered what Mr. Bastone said about 'Alex the Great'.
"I'm.. I'm not here to steal anything!" He offered, feebly.
"Oh? IS THAT SO? Well, if you're looking for a job you'll have work your way up! There's NO FREE RIDES here at Fontaine Futuristics!"
The turret turned around and flew off in the other direction… Landon sighed and stood up, continuing down the hall, when he heard a screech.
Looking up, he saw Jennifer. She jumped down and started shooting at him!
He dodged the bullets and hid behind a pillar.
"What have we HERE, another aspiring employee at Fontaine Futuristics? WELL, here we pride ourselves as an EQUAL OPPORTUNITY employer!"
Landon was really starting to hate that thing. He looked at his pistol… She was coming closer.
Without her helmet, she was vulnerable…
Landon shook his head. He couldn't hurt her, no matter what happened, he would not hurt her!
He stood and ran around the corner, to put some distance between them. He didn't want to lose track of her, but right now being near her was a death wish. They had successfully gotten a blood sample; he hoped that Mr. Bastone would be working on the serum…
He turned around, he could hear her coming towards him, but something seemed to be wrong. If she really wanted to, she could catch up to him and shoot him point blank. Landon was sure it was because she was fighting the mental conditioning. She'd fought it off before…
She'd told him about her time working for Fontaine. How, even back before she knew she had no choice but to follow his orders, she'd tried to find ways to play around it.
She was ordered to kill him by Lamb, and she was trying, but taking her sweet time.
He just needed to wait it out… though he wasn't sure how much longer he could do it. He was in a lot of pain. He went around another corner; he felt his legs buckle underneath him. He tried to catch himself on the wall… but he couldn't. He hit the ground, hard. He looked over at his right… arm.
He still wasn't used to the stump; he wasn't used to maneuvering without it…
"UP and ATTUM M'boy! You won't earn your Holiday bonus LOLLYGAGGING! You're making a statement for HANDICAPPABLE people everywhere!"
He REALLY hated that thing.
Landon pushed himself up, when he was kicked, hard, in the chest. For a second, he couldn't breathe; he felt a heavy boot on his chest. Looking up, he saw her.
"Jenn-"
Her pale yellow eyes, glowed dimly as she pointed the shotgun mounted on her arm at his head.
Landon stared into her eyes, there was nothing there…
That's when he saw Brendon.
He jumped up and tackled her from behind. She tried to flip him off, but he held on.
Landon was pulled off the floor by Mr. Elliot as Walter grabbed onto her arm.
"Do you have the serum!" He asked.
Elliot produced a syringe. "I did my best with the time I had."
"Good enough for me!"
Landon took the syringe; he ran forward and plunged it into Jennifer's exposed neck. There was a shriek as she staggered and crumpled to the floor. Brendan and Walter backed away, and for a minute all of them were still…
"Hello! Hello? Can anyone hear me!"
At first it didn't occur to Landon where the voice was coming from…
"Dammit! Is anyone there!"It was Jimmy!
Landon grabbed the radio. "Jimmy? What's going on?"
"It's Lamb! We were ambushed! They took Meltzer, I can't find Antony! Lamb's splicers are everywhere! I need help!"
"Get out of there! Jimmy, we're coming for you! Just hold on!"
There was no answer…
At that moment he saw Jennifer stand, before any of them could react; she leapt into the air. Climbing up the walls and out of sight.
"No! Dammit!"
Brendan stepped forward. "There's no time! We have to get down there!"
Landon nodded. "…You're right. Let's get out of here."
The four of them ran back to the stair case. The staircase to the upper levels were collapsed, but they had a rope to climb back up. Landon was last to be pulled up. They'd tied a noose at the bottom of the rope that Landon could slip his foot it while he held onto the rope and was pulled up.
Just before he was all the way up, that damn turret reappeared.
"WHERE do you think YOUR going! You can't play hookie on your first DAY!"
Landon just rolled his eyes. "I quit."