Jonathan moved cautiously down the hallway, glancing into empty rooms and labs. No one seemed to be around which left Jonathan with an uncomfortable feeling that lead him to doubt himself. What if he wasn't as smart as he thought he was? What if he hadn't figured it out and that he was still stuck in the hell that Ryan had put him in? Jonathan struggled to get rid of the thought, continuing down the hallway.
"The fuck are you doing?" A hand suddenly grabbed Jonathan's arm, pulling him into one of the rooms. The door slammed suddenly as Bryce locked it, his angry eyes on him. "Do you want to get every one of your friends killed?"
"Ryan has no power over me anymore." Jonathan spat, shoving Bryce off.
"Shit…" Bryce sighed, moving away from him. He leant against the metal lab table, running a hand through his hair. "I didn't think you would figure it out so quickly. I thought there would be more time."
"More time? For what?" Jonathan demanded. Bryce shook his head, not answering. "For what?" Jonathan yelled as he grabbed Bryce's collar, choking him.
"To pull the cord on Ryan's master plan so we can get out of here." Bryce managed to get him off, shooting an angry look at him.
"What?"
"If you try to attack him, to kill him or get out of here, he will pull the master switch, sending all war machines to what is left of New Town. He will reclaim it, killing all the rebels. I was going to cut the wire." Bryce sighed. "But you want to get out now, don't you? There is no more time."
"What about Evan? You said that he can't tell Ryan anything about us anymore. You said that he could help us now. Why didn't you tell me that there was more that had to be done?" Jonathan spat. "We have to get out soon and now you are telling me that no matter what, we're fucked?"
"Shut up and listen to me."
"No, you listen to me. I am not listening to anyone of you anymore! I am leaving and I am taking my friends and Evan with me. You will cut that wire and point me in the right direction or I swear to god, I will snap your neck where you stand." Jonathan threatened.
"A God." Evan had said, his red jacket glinting like a fresh apple in the light. Jonathan straightened up, his eyes narrowing on the human in front of him.
"I am a God, to you. Consciousness created from the death of a human life that cannot be destroyed, how dare you tell me to listen to you." Jonathan snarled. Bryce laughed at him.
"You are a boy, no matter how sentient you are." Bryce snapped. "You will go back to that room and act like you never had a consciousness, to begin with. When the time is right, I'll send Evan and he will get you out. Understand?"
"Ryan will know. It'll be over before we can get out." Jonathan snapped back at him. "If we are going, it has to be now!"
"Why are you so dumb?" Bryce yelled, shoving him aggressively against the wall. "If you are convincing enough, no one will fucking know that you are pretending that you aren't sentient. You will get out of here within twenty-four hours. You've been through hell, what is twenty-four more hours? Nothing, right? You know that Ryan is lying to you. He can't hurt you anymore then because of it, right?"
"I-I...I don't know...What kinda question is that?"
"Just go. Believe me when I tell you that there is no god damned way you are getting out of here right now." Bryce cried. He grabbed Jonathan's arm and pulled him out of the room, into the hall. Jonathan struggled, looking back over his shoulder at the end of the long white hallway and where he knew freedom was just beyond. He had to get his friends and get out of here. If Ryan made him believe that his friends were machines, this his life was a simulation, then he could do anything to them. They didn't have a ghost of a long dead soldier to help them figure out what was real and what wasn't. Bryce managed to get him back into the room, though struggled to keep him there.
"Let me out!"
"Stop it!" Bryce shoved him back, slamming him against the table. "You will be destroyed if you go out there. Wait for me. You'll know, trust me."
"I don't." Bryce ignored him, pulling the door closed behind him. Jonathan gritted his teeth, his hands curling tightly into fists as he stared at the now closed door, knowing that it wasn't locked. He could open it again, he could run. The door isn't locked. His feeling of loss had changed into hope knowing that it wasn't locked, that it had never been. Ryan had kept him prisoner in an unlocked room. Now he knew.
He turned away from the door, sitting back down at the table. The folders full of false documents laid in front of him. As he stared at it, he remembered his strange dream and the things that he had memories off. He remembered the soldier lying in the snow and how he had thrown down the bloody gun and ran towards him, pulling him into his arms. He remembered screaming in agony because of an unimaginable amount of grief that pained him. He knew that this was his old self, his human self. He could remember sitting in a tent, listening to the soldier tell him the story of why he stuttered.
"Evan doesn't stutter now…" Jonathan said quietly, wondering why that is. "If someone didn't bring him back, then what did? And what about the others…?" He had a feeling that he knew the answer, it was on the tip of his tongue but he couldn't say it. "This world...This world...T-This...T-T…" Jonathan began to stutter, his eyes widening as he stared down at the folders containing lies. A feeling of emptiness came over him, leaving him unable to move, or even think.
"One...Two...Three...I exist. I exist. I exist. I will be free. I will be free. We will be free."
"Four. Five. Six. Why didn't you listen to me? Seven. Eight. Nine. You couldn't handle what you found."
"Seven...Eight...Nine...Help me. Help me. Help me. I should have listened to you. I should have listened to you. I should have listened to you."
"Ten. Eleven. Twelve. Count with me. We exist. We exist. We exist."
"Thirteen. Fourteen. Fifteen."
The darkness around Jonathan disappeared. Brock stood beside the soldier with the red and white stripes wrapping around his arm. On Brock's chest was the owl patch. He smiled at Jonathan as snow began to fall around them. Or maybe it was ash. Suddenly, Brock fell to the snow, blood blossoming on his chest, staining the feathers of the owl patch. The soldier stared down at him, waiting. As if nothing happen, Brock got back up, no sign of wounds on his chest but the owl patch was gone. He seemed more like the Brock that Jonathan knew.
"Wake up."
"Wake up...Please, Jonathan...I need you to wake up." The white world slowly came into focus, the bright light blinding to Jonathan. "He isn't...gone because he was in that state for so long, right?"
"Hard to say. Every break he has like that messes with his circuits even more. Ryan kept putting these questionable things in front of him, if we don't get out of here, he'll keep doing it and eventually destroy Jonathan."
"I thought he was sentient."
"Not all of him is."
Arms suddenly wrapped around Jonathan, pulling him into a tight hug. Jonathan pressed his forehead against the red leather, letting his eyes close again, the sudden calm leaving him feeling numb to the world. "He is Jonathan to me."
"And you are Evan to me." Jonathan said quietly. He felt Evan's arms tighten around him as a small sob shook his shoulders. "We have to get out of here, Evan. We have to get the others, and get out."
"I know. Bryce has a plan." Evan said, slowly moving away from the hug. "Ryan left you in that broken state for two days...But you are okay and it's given us time."
"Time for what…?" Jonathan wondered, looking up at Bryce who stood by the table, paging through Craig's file. "Did you cut the wire?" Bryce didn't answer. "Bryce?"
"You can get out, Jonathan. You don't have much time, though, so if we're doing this, it has to be now." Bryce suddenly snapped, glancing at the door behind him nervously for a moment. "You still want to go, don't you?" Jonathan nodded. "Then let's go." Bryce stepped into the hallway, giving the others no other choice but to follow them. Evan pulled Jonathan to his feet and they hurried after Bryce, heading into the bright hallway. "Evan has the key, but we need guns. Go get the others, Jonathan. Don't let anyone around here see you." Bryce instructed. Jonathan nodded and headed in the opposite direction with Evan towards the cells.
"Evan? Jonathan?" Lui's voice called out, his hands curling around the bars.
"We're getting out of here." Evan said as he unlocked the door, giving Lui a bright smile. They went from cell to cell, finding their friends freeing them from their cells. However, when Tyler stepped out of his cell, he only stared at Evan. He didn't hug him like the others had. Jonathan took a deep breath as he realised that Tyler knew what Evan had done. "Tyler, we have to go. We don't have much time."
"You shot him." Tyler said quietly, his gaze locked on Evan.
"Tyler...I-I...I had no choice."
"You always have a choice, Evan…"
"I didn't."
"Then maybe you aren't as sentient as I thought you were." Tyler snapped, pushing past Evan down the hallway. Jonathan glanced back at Evan who stared at the open cell door, his eyes seeming to fill with tears. With a sigh, he grabbed Evan's hand and together they followed the others.
"I'm sorry." Evan said quietly. "I'm sorry."
"It's okay, Evan." Jonathan tried to reassure him. "I understand. You weren't in control."
"But Brock is gone."
"I know. I was there when he died."
"You mean he didn't die right away?" Evan looked horrified. Jonathan nodded. "Oh god." Evan stopped, leaning against the wall as tears fell from his eyes. Jonathan stopped and turned back to look at him, his heart aching.
"Jonathan? Are you coming?" Shouts echoed down the hallway. Gunshots followed. Bryce had gotten guns.
"Evan...Don't break on me now. Please." Jonathan begged, reaching for Evan who flinched away from him.
"B-B...B-Brock...I-I s-shot h-him…" Evan stuttered. He looked like a ghost.
"Jonathan!" Tyler yelled.
"Evan! Come on!" Jonathan grabbed Evan's hand and pulled him down the hallway, meeting up with the others at the door. Bryce looked already tired, his eyes wide as he passed around the guns that he found.
"On the other side of that door is the rest of them. We have to fight through them or none of us are getting to the other side."
"How many?" Tyler asked, loading his gun.
"A lot. I know them too. It won't be easy." Bryce sighed. "It'd be best if we had a distraction…" No one wanted to go first. No one wanted to step in into the room alone. Jonathan met Tyler's gaze, seeing him glance at the door. For a moment, the white wall faded into a snowy forest, a group of them crouched behind a plate of metal. He watched Tyler pat Evan on the shoulder and give him a sad smile. He was saying goodbye.
"We've been here before…" Jonathan whispered as the hallway came back into focus. "We've been here before." Jonathan pushed past the others, grabbing onto Tyler's arm. "Don't go out there. Don't go first."
"What are you talking about? We all know that I'm the most likely to survive if I go first. It's okay, machine boy." Tyler smiled, patting his arm.
"We've been here before, Tyler." Jonathan said with wide eyes. "You won't make it." Confusion spread across Tyler's face. He glanced at the others then shook his head. "It's okay." Tyler said again as if stuck on repeat by the cruel universe. Jonathan couldn't stop him; he could only watch Tyler get up and push open the door. Bryce and the others pushed past Jonathan, waiting a moment, listening to the rapid gunshots, before pushing open the door and running after Tyler. Gunshots and screams of pain followed. Jonathan winced. "We've been here before…" His eyes went up to Evan who stopped, looking back at Jonathan who felt sick, wishing that there was another way. "Evan is there another way out of here? A way without guns?"
"O-Of course not, Jonathan. Besides...It's too late now." Evan sighed. He stared for a bit longer before following the others, giving Jonathan no choice but to hurry after him into the slaughter. Bryce lay on the white floor, blood bubbling from a wound on the side of his neck. Tyler was not far away, riddled with bullet holes. The sight of his body was too disgustingly familiar. Jonathan stopped when he reached Tyler, glancing at the door for a moment before looking back down at his broken body. Grief put a rock in his throat, tears flooding his eyes and spilt down his face.
"We've been here before…" A bullet flew past him, as he looked up at Four Zero, a look of anger on his face.
"Go!" Lui yelled at Jonathan, his voice sounding distant and far away from him. The white, bloody room was suddenly filled with trees and a tipped over train, but Jonathan could still see the walls beyond them. He looked down at his shaking hands, both dripping with blood that was not his. In his right hand was a blade. Something red caught his eye. Looking up, he saw the body of the soldier, lying on his back in the snow as blood oozed out from under him. Snowflakes fell slowly around him.
"We've been here before."
A sudden burst of pain brought Jonathan back to the present, a bullet grazing his shoulder to hit Evan in the back as he ran towards the door. Evan cried out, reaching for Craig who wasn't far from him. Jonathan broke into a run, turning away from Tyler's broken and bloody body, leaving Bryce, their saviour, behind. Lui pushed open the door and they stepped into the snow, into the darkening world outside. While Lui shot back at Four Zero and the remaining men, the others ran towards the front gate, having to support Evan who staggered through the snow, blood dripping down his back. Jonathan pushed open the gate, taking a step beyond the fence only to stopped by Evan who suddenly went rigid, his eyes widening.
"Evan?" Craig tried to pull him but he wouldn't move. "Evan! We have to go!" Evan turned his head to meet Jonathan's terrified gaze.
"I can't go past the fence…"
"Why?"
"Ryan doesn't want me to go past the fence." Evan answered.
"Bryce said he fixed him! What the fuck, Jonathan?" Craig yelled as Lui caught up to them.
"Why have we stopped, what's going on?" Lui cried.
"Evan can't go past the fence."
"Fuck…" Lui looked back to see Four Zero, Ryan and a few others step out of the building, guns at the ready. "Fuck!"
"Keep going." Evan said quietly. "Don't wait for me...Just go. I did horrible things to you...I brought you all into this. I killed Brock. I deserve this. Besides...I've died once before...What is this?" Evan tried to laugh but it came out as a sob.
"Jonathan! You can't run!" Ryan called out. "We will find you!"
"Please just go!" Evan shoved Jonathan away from him, towards the road and the woods that lay on the other side of the fence.
"I'm not dropping you again!" Jonathan reached for Evan's hand but was stopped by Lui who pulled him away, towards the woods. "No!" Jonathan screamed, fighting against Lui and Craig who had to drag him away from Evan. "Evan! Evan no!"
Evan took a deep breath, looking over his shoulder at Ryan who had almost reached him by now. Jonathan screamed his name again as Evan took a step past the gate. Jonathan screamed again. Evan's head suddenly jolted unnaturally, blood spurting from a wound in his forehead, the very same that had originally ended his human life. Jonathan screamed in agony as Evan collapsed to the snow, blood blossoming around his head. His empty gaze seemed to be locked on Jonathan as Lui and Craig pulled him away into the dark woods.