The Impossible Race: Cragbridge Hall, Volume 3 (34 page)

“
Killer
is probably the right word,” Maria said.

Nia slid down the side of the virtual room until she sat on the floor. “So, we’re trapped and the evil guy wins.”

“No,” Abby said, her mind working fast. She didn’t know how to get out, but quitting wasn’t an option. “We find a way out of here, and then we find the bomb and use the Bridge to send it somewhere it won’t hurt anyone.”

Everyone looked at her.

“That’s
if
we can get out of here,” Malcolm said. Anjum had crouched on the ground next to him. He said nothing.

“And
if
we can find the tranquilizer bomb,” Piper said.

“Give this a chance,” Abby said. “We can think of something.”

“She’s right,” Derick said. “We can stop this.”

Abby’s insides reeled. Could they? At least if Derick was trapped in the virtual booth, he wouldn’t die, right? Then again, if the girl from the future was right and Muns would run everything and people would fear the Ash, that wasn’t any better. They couldn’t give up. Muns couldn’t win.

“I’m in,” Carol said. “But that’s no big surprise. I’m always in.” She clapped her hands together and started looking at the walls for a weakness. Abby did the same.

“How did they make the tranquilizer bombs and get them inside the school?” Piper asked.

“Good question,” Derick said, moving to take his turn slamming against the locked door. “After we stole the vials from Ruminex, one of Muns’s men must have gotten them and brought them into the school somehow.”

“If we can get to the Bridge maybe we can search everyone who has come in over the last few days,” Abby suggested. “We should be able to find who brought them in.”

“But we won’t have a lot of time,” Derick reminded. “The Bridge can’t handle it.”

“We have to try,” Abby said.

“The police came in to question us,” Rafa said. “Do you think one of them brought them in? They probably wouldn’t have been scrutinized as well as anyone else coming to the school.”

“Good theory,” Abby said. “Especially when they were here to investigate Chief Shar. We’ll start there.”

“But they left,” Piper pointed out. “At least I think they did. So there would have to be someone on the inside in Cragbridge Hall to take the vials, put the chemicals in, and set them up.”

“We have to get to the Bridge,” Abby said. “We can use our keys and look into the recent past and see who brought it in and who they handed it off to.”

New cries and screams rent the air outside the booth.

Thunt. Thunt. Thunt. The sound of security guard stun guns going off sounded outside the booth.

“What’s going on out there?” Maria asked.

The entire virtual booth shook, jolted to one side. Most of the Spartans fell over. “What was that?” Nia yelled.

Anjum crumpled closer to the ground, covering his ears.

Again the booth shook. And again. Each time, everyone inside was jolted. Finally, the booth cracked a couple of inches between the door and its frame.

Abby saw something brown with a horn.

“Some monster is trying to kill us!” Piper yelled, peering out of the crack.

“It’s not trying to kill us. It’s saving us,” Derick said, his voice rising.

“What?” Nia said.

“And it’s not a monster,” Rafa said. “It’s my mom.” A huge smile crossed his face as he synced up his rings.

There were more shouts and they heard the bull grunt. It hit again. Just a few more times and there would be enough of a space for them to get out.

“Thanks, Mom,” Rafa said over his rings. He must have synced with Abby and Derick too, because they heard her response.

“You’re welcome,” she said in her Brazilian accent. “But I don’t have long. I’m sure they’re coming after me in the avatar lab.” She grunted as she hit the booth again. “We all need to try to find and stop the bomb.” Again a grunt. “I almost have you out.”

Abby turned to the group inside the jolting booth. “I know this is all crazy, and dangerous, and sudden, but once we are out of here, we could really use your help. We’ve made a great team. We won a challenge against the best students at the best secondary school in the world. We came together. But this is more than a game. Everything is riding on this.”

Another slam against the booth.

“Once we’re out,” Derick jumped in, “security will try to evacuate us. If you want to help us, get away and then meet us at the dead-end hall outside of the language classrooms—the one with the janitor closet at the end. That’s where we get to the Bridge.”

“My mama would tell me to help,” Malcolm said. “She wouldn’t like evil people taking over stuff. Let’s do it.”

Another slam against the wall.

“I’m in,” Nia said.

“I’m not sure,” Maria said. “But I can help for twenty minutes and if things aren’t going well, I’ll still have time to get out.”

The way the others looked back at her, it seemed that they might agree with that strategy.

“I’ll help,” Piper said.

Jess nodded.

But Anjum shook his head. “No. No. I can’t.” It seemed strange to see their commanding leader so weak, so undetermined.

“We need you, Anjum,” Carol said. “You’re our leader.”

He shook his head faster, over and over. “I can’t. I can’t.”

With the next hit, the metal bent more—bent enough.

Rafa signaled to the bull his mother controlled to stand down, and he slid out, followed by Piper and then Abby.

Security guards surrounded them. They had been charged to get everyone out of the school. But they seemed confused. They didn’t know whether to shoot at the bull or not now that it had opened the booth. Behind them the auditorium still had hundreds of students trying to get out with other security guards doing their best to keep them calm.

With the booth open, Rafa’s mom charged at the security guards, causing them to scatter and dive off the stage.

“I guess Muns didn’t plan on having a giant robotic bull on our side,” Carol said. “I’ll need to give her a high five later.”

Then the bull fell limp, crashing against the stage floor with a thump. Security must have gotten to Rafa’s mom in the avatar lab. They were on their own.

“Scatter!” Abby yelled.

Tracked

Derick leaped off the stage, raced up the aisle, and got lost in the crowd of exiting students. He found spaces between people and pushed his way through. The process was slower than he liked, but finally he got out into the busy hall.

He snuck in the opposite direction of the crowds. In the hall he had chosen, he’d have to take the long way to the dead-end hallway, but he would get there. He walked into the giant commons area and saw a security guard walking the other direction in front of him, probably doing a sweep to make sure everyone was on their way out. Derick ducked under a table, just in case he turned around.

“Anyone within the sound of my voice, you need to exit the building,” the security guard called out using his microphone. “All human guards, make one more sweep, then exit with the students. The security bots will finalize the evacuation. They are built and programmed for this type of scenario.” It made sense. Get the humans out and leave the robots.

The guard hadn’t seen Derick. Derick waited for him to continue down the hall.

Derick was just about to get up when he heard a wheel across the floor behind him. A security bot. It was several yards behind him and hadn’t necessarily spotted him. Maybe he could make his way underneath the tables to another hallway.

More wheels, this time from another direction.

One of the two arriving robots bent down and looked right at him. Busted.

“Please exit as quickly as possible,” the bot said, its voice clear and professional.

“No thanks,” Derick replied. He raced over the top of one table and jumped to the next, the security bots rolling after him.

“That is the wrong direction,” the bot protested. “Please exit as quickly as possible.”

Derick didn’t stop.

“I’ve got three security bots on me,” Malcolm said, his voice coming through Derick’s earpiece. “And I hid backstage for a few minutes. I don’t know how they found me.”

Derick moved faster, zigzagging just in case they tried their stun guns.

“I’ve got a few on me too,” Nia said, “and I ran outside the building. I’m trying to double back in.”

“One is following me,” Rafa said, “and they are faster than I thought.”

“They got me,” Piper said. “I’m being hauled out of the school.” In the background Derick could hear a bot telling her to quit resisting. “And they’re a lot stronger than you’d think.” As Derick moved between tables, ducking down, he heard Piper struggle some more. “I don’t know how they got me. It’s like they knew where I was going to be.”

It was. It was like a group of them knew exactly where Derick was hiding. There were security cameras in most of the halls, but the humans had all evacuated. Could the robots be hooked up to them somehow? No. That didn’t make any sense. How would a robot know the difference between a human moving on-screen and another robot? Maybe they had another way of tracking them.

• • •

Abby rushed out from behind a set of stairs backstage. She had weaved between the storage items from old plays, trying to make her way to an exit. A security bot appeared out of nowhere and grabbed Abby’s arm. Its metal fingers were cold and hard against her wrist. “You have to leave. There has been a threat,” it said. It must have been hot on her trail before.

“No,” Abby said. “I have to take care of something.” She writhed, trying to break free, but it held fast and grabbed her with its other arm.

“You need to evacuate,” the security bot repeated.

“No. Please,” she said. “I can’t explain it all to you, but I have to stop this bomb.” She didn’t know if she could actually reason with a security bot, but she had to try. She couldn’t do anything if she was escorted out by security. In fact, she was sure she would walk right into Muns’s hands.

• • •

Derick leaped onto another table. He was grateful for all the avatar practice. Leaping from one thing to another was normal for him.

“One has me,” Abby called out.

“I’m fine,” Carol said. “Oh, grumpy gorilla, they’re here! Gotta move!”

Why were they losing? They could face a dragon, destroy a minotaur, steal a zombie cure, and save one of their own on Mars. Why couldn’t they do this? Derick realized something was missing. “Anjum,” he said. “I know it’s hard, but we need you.”

“I . . . I,” he began, but didn’t finish. If only Anjum would get his head in the game. He knew where all of them were; he could guide them to where they needed to be.

He knew where they all were. The thought rang in Derick’s mind.

Anjum had set up another sync before this event, so they could all speak to one another even if they had to go into different virtual worlds. That sync was still live. But Anjum was just a kid. He wouldn’t be on Muns’s side, would he? Derick couldn’t risk it. “Everyone,” he said over the rings, “all I can think of is that maybe we’re being tracked through Anjum’s sync. We have to log out and start a different sync without him.”

“What?” Carol said, panting. She was probably still running away from bots like Derick. “Are you saying Anjum is leading the robots to us? Because he’s probably still in the booth. He was having a breakdown.”

“Think about it,” Derick said. “We’re all being tracked and Anjum is the only one who can know where we all are. He had us all sync up together. I don’t want to assume too much, but we have to be safe.”

“It’s not me,” Anjum said. “I’m sorry I lost my cool back there. I can help you all get out. Now Malcolm, you’re going to need to run down the language hall, then take a right.”

“Should I listen to him?” Malcolm asked.

“Yes,” Anjum said.

“I’m not sure,” Maria said.

“No, I don’t think so,” Abby said. “Listen to Derick.”

“Listen to me,” Anjum said. “You’ve got bots on your trail. I can get you out of there.”

“Where are you, Anjum?” Rafa asked.

“I’m still in the booth,” Anjum responded.

“How are you still safe in the booth?” Rafa asked. “Shouldn’t bots be coming after you too?”

Anjum didn’t answer.

“I’m logging off,” Rafa said. “I’ll send out a sync without Anjum that only lets us talk. No one can track us.”

Derick leaped off another table and climbed over a railing to the stairs. He raced to the next floor, managing to log out of their team sync as he went. He ran down a hall, turned a corner, and ducked into a classroom. The security bots passed him by.

• • •

Abby pulled at the security bot’s arm, but couldn’t get out of its grip. It dragged her toward an exit from the stage.

She thought about how little she really knew about Anjum. Other than when they were interrogated by the police and in the booth just now, all her interaction with him had been virtual. What did she know? He had led them through challenge after challenge, helping them get the victory. And he guided them to steal the vials that now threatened the school. And if he was on Muns’s side, wouldn’t he want to make sure they really got the job done right? It was all part of the plan.