Gyaros Book One: The Mice Eat Iron (YA 17+ Sci Fi Adventure) (10 page)

As Miles approached the cinema he could see Ryker sprinting down the street from the opposite direction.

“I got it
,” said Ryker quietly as he tried to catch his breath.

A
cting as naturally as they could, Miles and Ryker walked through the doors of the cinema and greeted Mr Grayson.

“Looks like you two enjoyed your bonus!” Grayson laughed before returning
to his office behind the counter. Ryker and Miles chuckled nervously until he closed his office door behind him, their faces suddenly becoming dead serious. Ryker opened his backpack, pulling out the almost empty bottle of Raxxin and a small plastic bag containing three round, white tablets.

“Are you sure this stuff will work?” Miles
whispered as he tapped the counter top anxiously.

“Well it should, this shit's
expensive,” Ryker replied as he crushed the tablets into a fine powder by rolling the bottle back and forth across the bag. Ryker opened the bottle and carefully poured the white powder into it. He screwed the lid back on to the Raxxin bottle and waited a while for the dreamscape to fully dissolve before looking at Miles.

“Alright, you wait here and I'll go give this to Grayson
.” Ryker approached the door to Mr Grayson's office nervously and knocked.

“Come on in
,” said Grayson cheerily from behind the door. Ryker looked back at Miles one last time before entering the office, giving an almost undiscernible nod. Miles' heart began to beat even faster as he listened to Ryker presenting the bottle of Raxxin to Mr Grayson, who seemed quite pleased with the gift. After about a minute and a half, Ryker returned giving another small nod to Miles as he closed the door behind him.

“We should just get to work like normal, I'll let you know when he drinks it
,” said Ryker quietly.

“Are you sure he'll drink it at work?” inquired Miles
.

“
I don’t see why today would be different to any other.”

‘Yeah, good point
,’ thought Miles remembering Grayson’s affinity for strong spirits. And so Miles began to work just like any other day, cleaning the various rooms of the building and making sure everything was in working order, except today his stomach churned and his armpits sweated profusely as he anxiously waited to hear from Ryker. ‘What the fuck have I done? I am so screwed! Oh God, I never should have gone through with this!’ Hundreds of thoughts flooded Miles' head as he scrubbed the heavily stained carpets of the cinema floor. Miles knew that there was no turning back now, Mr Grayson had the drugged Raxxin in his office and it was only a matter of time before he consumed it. ‘What if the drugs aren't strong enough? What if he notices them?’ As Miles started to sincerely regret everything, he suddenly remembered why he was going through with all of this. It was to speak to his son, to let Chet know that his father is okay, that he still loves him, that he misses him and that he will be coming home soon. Miles
had
to do this, there was no choice involved.

He was cleaning the floors of cinema 2 after an afternoon showing when he heard the door open behind him. He looked up to see Ryker standing in the large doorway, gesturing for Miles to follow him. Miles dropped what he was doing and hurried out into the lobby.

“Okay man, Grayson's out cold. We gotta do this now
,” whispered Ryker nervously. Miles' heart picked up the pace once again, this was it; the time had finally come. He reassured himself that Mr Grayson would remain unconscious, dreamscape is used to put patients under for serious surgeries after all. Miles and Ryker looked at each other silently for a few seconds before slowly opening the door to Grayson's office. They found him slumped over his desk, unconscious, snoring loudly. The large blue bottle of Raxxin was now completely drained of its contents and sat on a shelf behind Grayson. Ryker stepped through the door first, carefully approaching their comatose boss, Miles joined him soon after, walking on the tips of his toes. On the desk sat a small computer terminal, much older than any Miles had worked with during his previous job.

“Do it man!”
breathed Ryker, panicking. After almost a minute of hesitation, Miles gently lifted Mr Grayson's limp hand onto the scanner pad.

‘
Scanning, please wait,’ read a message on the terminal screen accompanied by a green progress bar that filled from left to right.

‘
User identified as Ellis Grayson. Full public data network access approved.’ With access to the network, Miles quickly brought up the student registries of several schools in the Elissan Green Districts. Going through one school at a time Miles read through hundreds of names of students, glancing back at Grayson every so often to make sure he was still out cold. Ryker stood by the door, nervously checking for customers as Miles frantically scanned through the names,

Sorola, George K. – 6 years old

Stafford, Ada L. – 4 years old

Stanley, Edward P. – 5 years old

Stanton, Chet W. – 4 years old

Miles' eyes stopped suddenly at his son's name, he was in Korinthos Elementary School, Elissan North Green District. Miles quickly began trying to establish a video call with the school, but before he could hit enter a soft groan came from behind him. Miles froze, 'no...this can't happen now!' he thought to himself in horror.

“Ryker!” Miles whispered, in a panicked tone
, “I think he's waking up!”

“No, he can't be, he should be out for at least twenty minutes!”
But as Ryker moved across the room to check on the sleeping man, Grayson brought his hands to his face and began rubbing his eyes. Miles and Ryker froze, unable to move or form a sentence.

“What the hell's goin' on here?”
Grayson opened his eyes to find his employees both in his office. His eyes moved down to the monitor and he noticed that Miles had been attempting to access the data network through his personal terminal, using
his
user ID. He quickly jumped to his feet and picked up the spiked bat under the desk. He wobbled slightly, still recovering from the influence of the drug, with no idea of what was going on.

“What the fuck are you
two doin' in here?!” asked Grayson, confused, groggy and very angry.

“I, well, you see Mr Grayson…”
Miles trailed off. He was stunned, there was nothing he could say to his boss that could improve the situation in any way. He couldn’t think of a lie and telling the truth would only make it worse. After several seconds of silence, Ryker finally spoke.

“I-I tried to stop him!”
Miles turned and looked at Ryker with an expression of pure shock.

“What?!”

“He was trying to contact his kid! He made me help him out, he said if I didn't do it, he'd bust me for possession. You gotta believe me man!” Ryker held his hands in the air and looked as innocent as he possibly could.

“That lying son of a bitch! He was the one who brought up this idea!” Miles protested angrily
pointing at Ryker.

“You're a fuckin' maniac, Miles
. And to think, this is the thanks I get for giving a job to a down and outer such as yourself,” Mr Grayson said, still holding the bat with a firm grip, his round face now bright pink. “I'm alerting the authorities!” Grayson once again reached under his desk, this time to sound the alarm. A loud siren rang through the cinema and a signal was sent to The Security Department. It was over, The Enforcers were on their way.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Chapter 7

Without thinking, Miles sprinted out of the building and onto the wet streets as fast as he could,
he took a left and continued to run with no idea where he was going or what he was doing. In the distance, Miles could hear the loud sirens of Enforcer Patrol Vehicles drawing closer and closer. He knew there was no use in running now, eventually The Enforcers would catch up, and when they did, Miles knew exactly what would happen. He couldn't fool himself anymore, he couldn't pretend that everything was going to turn out okay, that he'd be given yet another chance. Not anymore. ‘Why, why did I have to push my Goddamn luck?!’ And so he ran, fast, through dense crowds and unforgiving rain. Images of Hellen and Chet flashed before him. Miles needed to see his family one last time and he knew that there was one way back to his home, large monorails that travelled between the Yellow and Green Districts each day. Boarding one of them legally took a lot of paper work or an occupation which required frequent travel between districts, but Miles had nothing to lose. He could see the monorail track above his head as he ran, his only option was to follow it and hope to find a station before The Enforcers caught up with him. The terrifying sound of Enforcer sirens seemed to grow louder with each step Miles took as he rushed through the streets of the Yellow District, keeping his gaze locked on the tracks above. Upon turning a corner to his right, Miles saw what looked like a small station less than fifty meters down a busy road, but in the corner of his eye, several blue and red lights flashed violently in the distance. Miles started to run even faster than before, faster than he thought he could, forcing his way through hundreds of pedestrians as he frantically rushed up a long flight of steel stairs to the platform of the monorail station, taking two steps at a time. As he reached the top of the platform, Miles could see a monorail quickly approaching from the east. ‘Thank God!’ The train was coloured bright white with sky blue borders and didn't look like something that belonged in the darkness of the Yellow Districts. Miles hid within a large crowd of people waiting to board the train as Enforcer Vehicles screeched to a halt down below. The platform shook heavily under Miles' feet as the monorail pulled into the station and stopped.

*Ding dong* The doors of the train slid open
smoothly and waves of people began exiting the carriages. Underneath the platform Miles could see several Enforcers exiting their vehicles and rushing up the stairs as they drew their guns. Miles was shaking with adrenaline, his heart pounding harder than ever. When the last of the passengers had left the train, the first of those on the platform began to enter. Miles slipped into the third carriage from the front engine along with a large group of commuters. Three Enforcers had reached the platform by the time Miles was inside the train, 'come on, close the fucking doors!' Miles pleaded with the automated doors as he clenched his fists and attempted to remain concealed, hiding in the packed carriage. Despite his efforts The Enforcers spotted Miles through the window, by now there appeared to be at least five of them on the busy platform. They picked up the pace, pushing their way through the civilians as fast as they could. They ran toward the monorail getting within inches of the carriage doors as they once again slid closed and the train began to move.

Miles let out a deep sigh of relief as he collapsed to the cold, hard floor of the
monorail, still trembling. The carriage was packed with Green District workers and businessmen reading news articles, chatting with their co-workers or streaming live sports events via their flex screens. They barely registered the soaking wet man sitting on the floor. The clean, bright interior made Miles feel at home for the first time in a week, but it wasn't enough to calm his nerves. Miles knew that within the next twenty four hours, he would most likely be on a one way shuttle to the living hell that is Carthage's great red moon, Gyaros. But he wasn't going to leave before saying goodbye to his family. ‘I just have to see Chet…’ Miles was flooded with hundreds of emotions yet was unable to express any of them, he knew that The Enforcers hadn't given up, and that it was only a matter of time before the speeding monorail stopped again and Miles was forced to run once more, he needed to focus. The monorail sped through the Yellow Districts, high above street level as rain spattered heavily against the thick windows. Then everything outside went pitch black as the train entered a tunnel. Miles pushed himself to his feet once more and held tightly onto one of the rubber handles that hung from the roof of the carriage, he closed his eyes and attempted to catch his breath and prepare himself for whatever awaited him at the next stop. When Miles opened his eyes again, he was nearly blinded by the light outside the train windows. There was no more rain, no more dim, flickering neon signs, no more artificial sunlight. Instead, Miles looked out at the familiar sight of The Hesperides’ Garden and the towering white sky scrapers of The Elissan Green Districts. Miles had little time to appreciate the beauty of his home as he soon felt the monorail begin to slow down as it approached a massive, multi layered station.

“*Ding Dong* Now arriving at Argyre station.”
On the platform, Miles could see several armed Enforcers scanning the area. Visible Enforcer presence was always minimal in the Green Districts so he knew they were there for him. As the passengers began to gather in front of the doors, preparing to exit the train, Miles hid himself in the centre of the largest crowd he could find and prayed to all things holy that The Enforcers wouldn't spot him. 

*Ding Dong* The thick white doors began to slide open once again and Miles rus
hed out of the train, staying within the crowd for as long as possible. Miles tried desperately to get his bearings as he looked around the busy station. This was the same station he had taken the monorail from almost every day for the past five years! The Green Line monorail platforms, which he took his usual monorail from, should have been two levels down. This meant that Miles' house was only a short walk away. He looked back at the train to see that it was packed with Enforcers rushing around frantically searching for the fugitive. Soon they would figure out that Miles wasn't inside and scour the rest of the platform. Miles pushed his way through thousands of tired workers as he rushed towards a large row of elevators on the far side, managing to squeeze into a rather crowded one as the doors began to close. Miles caught his breath in the elevator as he tried to remain calm and collected, he wasn't far from home but letting his guard down now would be dangerous. ‘Just one more sprint and I can see my boy.’ Finally, the elevator was approaching ground level, Miles prepared himself and as soon as the doors opened wide enough to fit through, he once again ran as fast as his legs would carry him towards the exit of the station. Miles couldn't see any Enforcers but he knew that they couldn't be far behind as he sprinted through the busy streets.