ORPHEUS - A.I.

Chapter Twenty Seven : Black Forest

Megan was silent. She went numb from the fear, guilt and sorrow. She simply walked away towards her room and locked the door behind her.

"What's wrong with her?", asked Anthea.

"She'll be okay- just had a bit of nervous breakdown- but we handled it- " , replied Hex and had some water.

Meanwhile back at the Orwell HQ, Alan watched the entire scene on his monitor screen. He knew there were some survivors left in the retreat but he didn't expect them to fight back so boldly.

"Damn it! Where did they manage to get those weapons?", he said pounding his fist on the table.

"It seems like they have adapted to their surroundings…", replied Selena.

"And here I was thinking no one could survive the retreat- guh!!", remarked Alan in frustration.

"Orpheus! did you find any data on those people? How are they still alive?", he asked.

"It doesn't matter that they are alive - it's only a matter of time before I destroy them completely..", replied Orpheus in a monotonic voice.

Selena couldn't believe what she was hearing. Was Orpheus going to murder all those innocent people? But she didn't have the courage to speak up even though she knew it was wrong- not in front of her dad.

Alan looked at the screen with his chin resting on his fists. He knew that nothing could beat Orpheus in this game. So he thought he'd let it handle this affair- he didn't care who died or lived as long as his creation was working fine. This was his testing ground- he wanted to see Orpheus in its full glory and power before finally releasing it's terror upon the real world. Nobody could stop him this time.

"I leave everything in your hands Orpheus- just keep me posted.", Alan said and walked out of the lab.

Back in the bunker Anthea was scolding Nina for letting Megan wander off. Nina simply replied that she didn't think that Megan would actually venture off so far and that she was right behind her, watching her every move. She assured Anthea that it would never happen again.

Hex on the other hand was sitting down on his chair with an old piece of paper and a broken piece of pencil. He was trying to figure a way out and was scribbling down all the events that had occured to them since they came into Purgatory. He was making a rough sketch of the place while TIm and Andre were helping him.

Everyone at the bunker knew that they had very little time in their hands, now that the drone had actually spotted the survivors. All this time they had managed to hide their faces from the prying cameras of the drones but thanks to Megan, some of them were spotted.

Anthea announced that for the next few days, only three people were allowed to go out on foraging duties- the guards would double their camouflage and change their hiding places and nobody else was supposed get out of the bunkers for any reason.

That night Hex sat down by the candle light with his piece of paper- trying to think of a way out. He had seen how this place had broken Megan's courage and he was not willing anybody else give up. Tim and Andre were scribbling something too- discussing on how purgatory had similar elements to the game that they had designed earlier.

She walked towards the exit tunnel and asked John to open the door. John gave a surprised look and hesitatingly opened up the door. She walked out of the shaft and was out in the open in no time. She looked around. Nina was sitting behind some bushes- carefully camouflaged chewing a bead of grass- resting her back against a rock. The shaft was carefully hidden beneath the tall grasses and it was almost impossible for the drones to detect anyone from the sky due to the natural vegetation and the swamps.

Nina saw Megan walking out and immediately whistled out as a warning to the other girls who were guarding the entry shaft. Megan simply kept walking towards Nina.

"Where do you think you're going?", asked Nina still relaxing.

"None of your business!", replied Megan and kept walking.

"Pfft! Don't blame us if you get killed out there…" , replied Nina.

Megan paused for a while and replied-

"I don't care anymore- I just want to get out of here…"

"Yeah?Don't we all wanna do that…", Nina replied sarcastically still relaxing her back on the rock.

"Then why don't you do something about it instead of just lying down?", replied Megan.

Nina didn't reply and closed her eyes pretending to sleep.

"Thought so…I'm going to the opening and get myself outta here or die trying!", replied Megan and walked away into the swamps.

She had learnt the way by now and kept walking frantically like she was possessed. The thick grass made it difficult for her to walk but she carried on until she had reached almost 500 metres away from the bunker. She then stopped to catch her breath.

"Argh!", exclaimed Megan and kicked the grass.

She was evidently frustrated. Tears rolled down her cheeks and she began to sob for a few seconds. She then stood up and started to walk towards the forests. She had no fear in her mind. She didn't care about the drones or the alphas- all she had in her mind was trying to find the opening and walking out of here. The face of her sick aunt flashed before her eyes and it motivated her to keep moving forward.

It must have been more than an hour. Megan saw the treeline some 200 metres ahead. The sun was peaking through the dark clouds and a light breeze touched her hair. There was nobody around- only an eery noise of the breeze flowing across the open grasslands and the swaying of the trees up ahead. She knew that she was close- if only she could find the opening - she would be free!

Suddenly she heard footsteps coming from behind her- she turned around and looked. It was Nina- walking towards her with her crossbow in her hand.

"Yo! Why did you stop? Scared or something?", asked Nina.

"Why are you following me?", Megan asked back.

"It's my job to protect anyone who stays with us- don't worry I'm just gonna follow you - not gonna stop you or something- go on!", Nina replied nonchalantly.

Megan was annoyed at her attitude but she didn't reply. Instead she continued walking towards the treeline.

Five minutes later- Megan thought she heard someone shouting her name-she turned around and saw Hex running towards her- calling her name- begging her to stop. But she kept walking- she was close to entering the forest and then she only had to find the opening- she thought she was too close to turn back now. But Hex kept rushing towards her- apparantly he was trying to warn her about something. But Megan was too obsessed at finding the doorway and she continued walking- this time she began to run.

Suddenly she heard that dreaded noise- the strange monotonic buzzing sound of the drones. Her heart was in her mouth- her trance broke and she froze in fear as she saw one huge drone coming out of the forest ahead.

"Megan… No!! ", Hex yelled from behind her.

Nina saw the drone and ran towards some thick covering in the bushes. She knew that she couldn't take on the drone on her own. Meanwhile Hex had almost reached her and was about to grab her arm and pull her away. But the drone stretched out a gun and shot right near Hex's feet. Hex was shocked by the sudden burst of the gun and fell down on his back. Megan was shocked too and looked at Hex- the bullet missed him by an inch.

"Stop right there!!" - a voice commanded through the speakers of the drone.

"Megan- today's your judgement day- do not try to resist this- you shall repent for your past!"- the voice announced.

Hex was half lying on the ground covered in dust. The blades of the drone came to a halt as it settled down right in front of Megan. Hex looked at it carefully- this was no ordinary drone- it looked like a cross between a tank and a drone. It was fully loaded with weapons to the core and its blades spanned more than a metre long.

"What the hell are you talking about? What past? I haven't committed any crime you sick monster!! Why don't you let us leave??" , shouted Megan in protest.

Hex stood up and stared at Megan from behind. He had never seen Megan so angry and loud and he totally agreed with her- she couldn't have committed any crime- she was such an innocent looking soul- she couldn't hurt a fly- or atleast that's what Hex thought.

"Two years ago- your uncle was diagnosed with a rare disease…", announced the voice.

Megan's eyes opened wide- she kept thinking-

how did it know? Is it bluffing? Could it be talking about that incident? But nobody in the world knew about it.

"He wasn't prone to any illness- let alone fall sick to an incredibly rare disease..." - said the voice.

Megan realised now that the voice from the drone wasn't bluffing. It knew something that nobody could have possibly known.

"Who the hell are you? Why are you talking about my uncle?", asked Megan.

"I'm Orpheus- I was built to execute and promote justice and I know you're guilty!!", replied the voice.

"Orpheus?? Is that you? Don't you recognise us? We built you!!", said Hex walking upto Megan.

"You are all equally guilty… Megan - you thought that by administering certain illegal drug in small doses - you could slowly kill your uncle and nobody would be the wiser, after all the drug is almost untraceable." - said Orpheus.

Megan was at a loss of words.

"What??", yelled Hex, " Megan what is this thing talking about? It's gotta be a joke!"

Megan simply stood there in silence - her heart heavy and her mind numb from fear and embarrassment. Was she going to be executed now? Did she deserve this? Her friend Amy always talked about **Karma** coming back to haunt people. Megan now felt it was true. She couldn't look Hex in the eye or at anyone for that matter. She felt her head spin - she was blacking out!