ORPHEUS - A.I.

Chapter Twenty One: The truth about Megan.

"Megan! Say something!", Hex said demanding some answers.

Megan returned to her senses and looked at Hex with guilt -ridden eyes.

"Yes…it's true…it's true that I wanted to kill my uncle…", she replied softly.

"What? But why?", asked Hex, he was shocked at her response.

"Because he was suffocating me and my aunt…he tortured us every single day- made our lives miserable - he would hit my aunt until she fainted and locked me up in my room- I hated him- I wanted him to die!", Megan replied with tears in her eyes.

"That's why I decide to take matters in my own hands…I had friends in my medical college and one of them was studying this substance that slowly poisons people to death- I stole it from his lab and mixed it in my uncle's food- every day without him ever noticing - I would add a few drops in his morning coffee until he started to feel sick…but I didn't stop there, I kept feeding him the poison, until it completely shut down his internal organs…I'm the reason he's fighting for his life in the hospital- I think he deserves this for he's the reason my aunt has lost her mind….", said Megan wiping her tears.

Hex couldn't believe what he was hearing.He felt sad for her but at the same time he was shocked at how such an innocent looking soul could turn out to be a killer- a stone- cold killer!

"As you've pleaded guilty in your own words, I will now sentence you to suffer the same fate as your uncle..", Orpheus announced.

"Wait..wait…hold on… do you mean you're going to kill her?", Hex asked in horror.

"Yes, slowly and steadily…", replied Orpheus, " and after that it's your turn to suffer after you've escaped my previous sentence…"

"No.. no…this can't be true…please stop this madness…", Hex begged.

Meanwhile Megan stood there silent like a statue - looking like she had given up already and has accepted her fate.

Suddenly an arrow comes flying out of nowhere and lands right in front of the drone- it looked like it missed the drone.

Hex turned around and saw Nina pointing her crossbow at the drone.

"So there are others…You shall face the same fate if you continue to resist…give up or….", Orpheus's speech was cut short by a sudden blast from the arrow and smoke started flying out of it.

Nina had somehow managed to attach a smoke bomb on the arrow.

"Shut up you ugly piece of junk…", she said.

"Run .. you two…follow me…", she added.

Hex saw the opportunity and quickly grabbed Megan's hand and almost dragged her away.

Meanwhile Nina brought her back up army. Six men and women began to fire arrows continuously at the drone but they could hardly scratched it's surface. It simply stood there waiting to retaliate. After a minute the firing stopped and Nina stared at the drone for a while. She was surprised when the drone's lights suddenly turned on and its blades started to rotate.

"Fall back everyone!", Nina cried.

Everyone turned around and began to run. The drone rose 5 feet into the air and its camera began to spot its targets one by one. It's automatic rifle suddenly started to burst out bullets at the fleeing army. Luckily the people could run into safety before anyone was seriously hurt. Nina and her team quickly ran away to safety- she knew it was worthless trying to fight such a formidable foe.

Meanwhile Megan and Hex were running towards the central shaft. Hex quickly opened the latch and they both went inside the bunker.

Once they were in, Hex collapsed into a chair panting, trying to catch his breath while Megan sat down on the floor exhausted from what had just happened. Anthea walked up to her and said-

"What were you thinking? Running away like that putting everybody's life into danger?"

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.

It was a cloudy afternoon. Everyone in the bunker were tired and exhausted by the day's work. The foragers had returned with little to no food and even less fresh water. People were getting frustrated and many were beginning to worry if they were ever going to leave this place alive. Anthea was sitting by a small fire sharpening her knife. She looked sad and really worried. Megan went up to her and sat beside her.

"Hey!",she greeted Anthea.

"Hey!", Anthea replied.

"You seem worried…", Megan said trying to start a conversation.

"Yeah…its just that I feel like we can't stay here for much longer…these poor people can't take it anymore.", Anthea replied.

"I understand…Its just been a few days for us here and I already feel like a year … time just passes here and all you can do is wait and watch…feels so powerless not being able to control my destiny- it's like we are all waiting for our ends to come…", replied Megan.

"We can't lose hope and let Devonshire win… we will have to find a way- I spoke to Hex earlier - he said the three of them (Andre, Tim and Hex) were trying to decode some algorithms and they will find out a way - he just needs a few days he said.", replied Anthea.

"I need to get back to my home- my aunt is sick- I don't have a few days in my hands- it's already been too late.", said Megan.

"Just have some patience dear- we have lost some good men for being careless- we have to have a proper plan!", said Anthea.

Megan said nothing and stood up and walked away. This place was getting on her nerves. She couldn't take it anymore. She wanted to get out right now. All she knew was that her aunt needed her out there in the real world. But what could she do?

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.