The Shadow in My Hand

The Girl With The Rifle

I charge at the giant control screen. Sirens blast around me. Red lights flash in my eyes.

The Scientist points a shaking finger at me. "Shoot him! Do not let him touch the glass!" he commands.

Two guards rush through the metal doors. They wear thick dark armor and carry heavy rifles. They raise their weapons and aim right at my head. I do not slow down. I do not care about the guns. I only care about destroying the machine that kept me trapped in a fake world.

I jump over a broken metal table. Bullets hit the floor right behind my heels, sending bright sparks into the air. I swing my right fist as hard as I can. My bare knuckles hit the center of the giant screen.

The glass cracks loud like thunder. A web of red lines spreads across the glowing surface. Then, the entire screen explodes. Shards of glass fly everywhere. The loud noise hurts my ears.

The white walls of the lab glitch and flicker. For a second, I see the dirty tavern again. I see Jax holding his heavy cannon. Then the image disappears into static. The room shakes violently. Thick black cables fall from the ceiling, sparking with electricity.

The Scientist falls to his knees. He covers his head as the computer consoles catch fire. "You ruined everything!" he says. His voice is full of panic. "Years of research destroyed in one second!"

I stand in the middle of the smoke and broken glass. I look down at my hands. I feel no pain in my knuckles. I only feel angry. They took my life away. They made me a lab rat. They played with my mind. I want to burn this whole place down.

Before I can grab The Scientist, the heavy metal doors at the back of the lab blow open.

A massive explosion rocks the room. Thick grey smoke fills the air. Someone steps through the fire.

It is a girl holding a long, silver rifle. She wears a black combat suit covered in dirt and ash. She has dark hair tied back and a long scar across her left cheek.

I stare at her. It is Elena.

But she looks completely different. She does not look like my scared older sister from the simulation. Her face is tough. Her eyes are sharp and cold. She does not look like a victim anymore.

She points her rifle at the two armed guards. She pulls the trigger twice. The gun makes no sound, but the two guards fall to the floor instantly. They do not move again.

Elena walks into the room, her heavy boots stepping over the broken glass. She walks straight to The Scientist and aims her gun right at his head.

"Hello, Doctor," she says. "Your grand experiment is finally over."

I take a step forward, completely confused. My mind spins. "Elena? You are real?" I ask.

She glances at me over her shoulder. Her face shows zero emotion. She evaluates me like I am a tool she just bought from a store.

"I am real, Caleb," she says smoothly. "But I am not your sister. I never was. That was just a fake role I played inside the program to keep an eye on you."

I stop moving. My hands turn into fists. "You lied to me?" I ask. "You made me think you were family?"

"I manipulated you," Elena replies. She does not look guilty at all. She actually looks proud. "I hacked into their system three years ago. The Secret Council uses this underground lab to create perfect soldiers. They wiped your real memories. They trapped your brain in the District 4 simulation to test your limits. They wanted to see how much stress you could take before your mind broke."

"Why did you pretend to be my sister?" I ask, stepping closer. I want to hit something. I feel betrayed all over again. I thought we shared a life. I thought I protected you from the bad people in the district.

"I needed a weapon to destroy the Council," Elena says, looking me right in the eyes. "I watched hundreds of test subjects die in those chairs. They could not handle the fake reality. You were the only one who fought back against the code every single time. I picked you. I altered the program from the outside. I pushed you to wake up today."

"You let me suffer," I say, my voice hard. "You watched them hurt me."

"I watched you get stronger," Elena corrects me. She does not look away. "Pain makes people strong. You are the only person who can break their control grid."

She used me. She used me just like The Scientist did. But she is the only one holding a gun against my enemies right now.

"You want revenge for what they did to your mind," Elena says. "You want to make them pay for stealing your real life. I want revenge for what the Council did to my family in the real world. We can help each other. I have the escape plan, and you have the raw power."

"Where are we right now?" I ask.

"We are beneath Neo-Eden," Elena says. "It is the real city. It is ruled by the Council. The people above us think this lab is just a power plant. They do not know about the human experiments happening down here. We have to leave right now. The Council knows you are awake. They are sending their best killers."

I look at The Scientist cowering on the floor. I want to make him pay. But Elena is right. We need to move.

"Fine," I say. "I will go with you. But do not ever lie to me again."

Elena gives me a tight, cold smile. "I only do what is necessary to win, Caleb. Get used to it."

Before we can run toward the exit, the ground shakes.

A loud alarm blares through the hallway outside. Red warning lights spin on the ceiling. A massive hole blasts through the ceiling above us. Concrete blocks and twisted metal crash to the floor, sending a huge cloud of dust into the air.

The Scientist laughs from the floor. He has blood on his face, but he looks happy. "You are too late, little hacker," he says. "You cannot escape him."

A giant figure drops down through the hole in the ceiling and lands heavily in the center of the lab.

It is a man, but he is at least eight feet tall. His arms and legs are made of thick dark metal. Wires plug directly into his spine. His face is hidden behind a blank steel mask, but his eyes glow with bright, blinding white light.

I know those eyes. I know that stance.

It is Commander Vesper, the lead enforcer from my fake memories in the tavern.

Only this time, he is completely real. He is a massive cyborg built for war. He reaches over his back and pulls out a large, double-bladed axe that sparks with bright electricity.

Vesper lifts his huge axe and points the glowing blade right at my chest.

"Target locked," Vesper says. His voice shakes the entire room. "Prepare to die."