The corridor remained near pitch-black. Ari bounced off the wall several times when she hurried too close. Mina didn't complain, although her breathing became more ragged and shallow as they rushed on. Long-sealed doors and cobwebs framed their long run. Behind some of the half-broken walls there were snarls and sounds of movement.

They jumped when one of the doors in front was blasted open. Several lumpy, four-legged creatures burst out, saliva dripping, their silhouettes barely visible in the dim light. Ari, Fris, and Mina skidded to a halt. Ari thrust Mina behind her out of instinct, her hands raised.

Fris shot a bolt of energy at them. It hit the wall above, creating cracks and a dust shower. The creatures appeared unaffected.

"What are these?" she said, a tremble in her words. Energy crackled at her fingertips as she readied a second attack.

"What remains of the Users after Kena strips them of their abilities," said Ari, her throat dry. Fris gasped. The second bolt skimmed by the furthest one. "The ones that don't die immediately after, at least."

Mina whimpered.

Fris's third shot hit the first creature. It gave an unnatural yowl, its legs thrashing and kicking one of its companions, and collapsed. The other two creatures leapt.

"Fris!"

On cue, Fris grabbed Ari's outstretched hand and generated as much electricity as she could muster. The energy surged in Ari's body. Every hair stood on end. Ari raised her right hand, electricity crackling at her fingertips, and pointed it towards the two airborne creatures.

The energy hit them both straight-on and exited downwards, escaping into the ground. With a screech, they fell onto the floor, twitching. The scent of burned hairs filled the air again. From behind and in front, growls met Ari's ears.

"How many are there?" Fris said, frustrated.

"Think how many were transplanted," said Ari, her stomach churning. "And remember not everyone who underwent ability extraction resulted in an intact transplantable ability."

Fris swallowed loudly.

"Ari..." Mina said, tugging at the back of her t-shirt. Ari turned. Behind them there were at least four pairs of glowing eyes in the dark. Ari had taken on as many down in the basement of Area Nine, but she wouldn't guarantee the same outcome now, even with Mina and Fris supporting her. She tugged Mina back and dashed. Fris followed close by. Movement sounded from the hole through which the first lot of creatures came, but thankfully nobody swiped at them when they sprinted past.

Mina stumbled several times. Ari kept pulling her on, but she, too, was getting exhausted. Mina slowed even more, her gasps loud and echoing around them. Fris's hair loosened into a wild mane, her face pink and sweaty. The sound of unnatural running and guttural noises headed their way. Ari squinted ahead.

"There!"

A barely-visible emergency exit sat at the end of their path. They rushed up to it and pressed against it.

It stayed resolutely sealed.

Letting out a cry of frustration, Fris sent a blast of energy at it. It stayed shut.

"Why is it sealed?" she yelled, kicking at it.

"Wait. Give me the energy," said Ari. Fris blasted her with electricity. Ari stored it in her body, turning it into kinetic. The heat generated from her running got pulled, adding to her strength. She raised her right leg, concentrating everything onto the sole of her foot, and slammed it into the door.

A dull metallic clang echoed in the air and the ground shuddered, but the door stayed shut.

Ari let out a gasp. She slammed her fist against it. Mina pressed with all her might against it, squeezing her eyes shut. Ari didn't expect her to be able to phase through, even if the door was thin enough for her to kick open, as Mina did poorly under pressure. Mina let out a cry and dropped her arms, eyes welling up.

Ari gave it another kick. "No! Open up!"

She pummelled her fists.

"Goddammit, open up!"

The snarls got closer. Mina shuddered beside Ari, huge eyes fixed on the darkness behind them. She slumped, defeated. Fris stood with her lips pressed tight together and her hands raised in front of her, readying for a fight to the finish. Her shaking muscles betrayed her fear and exhaustion.

Ari gave the door one last, desperate kick.

"Open up, please!"

She swirled and faced her end. At least she would go out fighting. She grabbed Mina's hand and stood in front of her. Glowing red eyes approached, the owners' teeth gleaming. The creatures panted, anticipating their meals.

A whirring sounded behind. Light poured over their backs, throwing long shadows in the direction of the monsters. Before Ari knew what was going on, several bangs cracked through the air. She threw herself onto Mina; they crashed onto the floor. Yelps reached her ears. She curled around Mina, both of them trembling. She braced herself for teeth and pain. None came.

"Wow, that's unexpected – the Transformer snivelling in a heap on the floor!" came a boy's voice.

Several more bangs exploded over Ari's head. She flinched.

"Just get them already!" said another, annoyed and stressed.

Hands grabbed Ari and Mina. Ari slapped them off in a panic.

"Relax! I'm trying to help you!" said the first voice, irritated. She'd heard that voice before. "You really are a wild cat. Sheesh!"

Accepting the hands this time, Ari allowed herself to be pulled up and stumbled through the doorway of light, following Mina. Fris followed suit. Someone stood at the door, his arm outstretched.

"Shoot them already!"

"Shut up! I need to see to shoot!"

Bang. Bang. With every shot, there was a thump.

Ari collapsed onto the floor. The ground was dusty. The lights made spots dance in her eyes.

"That's your ability? You need to see to shoot your gun?"

Several more bangs. Shon dropped his arm and glared at Rale, who stood with his arms crossed, appearing unimpressed.

"That's right: I need to see to use my ability, and to shoot." Shon snapped his arm up again and shot once. Another thump hit the floor. "And I don't miss."

The path behind cleared. Shon stepped back, clipping his gun back in place.

"Shut the door."

Rale placed the flat of his hand against one of the bleeping machines. A few windows popped up on the screen, some disappearing almost immediately and others danced around. A map of the area jumped up. A red dot flashed. Rale must have affirmed that dot for the door slid shut. It seemed they were at the far end of Area Six, although they were only two levels below the ground at this point.

"You got enough bullets for the long road?"

"I don't shoot bullets," said Shon, offended. "I shoot charges. As long as there is energy nearby, my gun siphons off that."

He crouched beside Ari and gripped her shoulders.

"You okay?" he said, peering into her face, anxiety written all over his. Ari nodded, dazed. The room came into focus when her eyes adjusted to the light.

"Quite a show you've been putting up," said Rale, leaning against the machine nearby. He pushed his thick glasses up his nose. "This is some scoop."

"You've been watching me?"

"How else did you think all of those extra monsters stayed put until now? Who hacked into the system and overrode remote control?"

"They're all out now," Fris reminded him. Rale shrugged.

"Seems Kena coded this system all herself. I can't do much via hacking if she were back at the helm of the ship, as the saying goes."

"Wait, you've been watching me on the cameras," said Ari as it dawned on her. "You knew I was on the other side of that door? And you waited all this time?"

Rale grinned.

"We could have died!"

"I wanted you to beg for it. It was funny, seeing the Transformer say 'please' for the first ti—"

Ari leapt up and punched him across the face. Her body tingled all over; a hot blush burned on her cheeks. Her fist throbbed. She'd never felt such an emotion before.

"I don't care if you play games with me," she shouted. "But if you dare put Mina in danger like that again, I'll kill you!"

To her surprise, Rale laughed at that.

"Wow, to think you actually had this in you..." He rubbed his crimson cheek. "Wow, okay, I'm sorry for involving your sister. It was selfish, but I promise I never intended to harm any of you guys."

Ari growled. Rale raised his hands in apology.

"Okay, that was a horrible thing to do. I'm sorry. We should probably go, though. This room isn't safe, either. This is like one of those panic rooms they used to have and there's an escape chute somewhere around here."

"That ladder. That should lead to the outside," said Mina, pointing to the far wall. Shon stalked over to it and brushed the cobweb aside, peering upwards.

"How do you know all this, little girl?" said Rale.

Mina sniffed at him. "I do a lot of reading. I don't fight well, but I spent some time in this area so I read what I could. I figured when the time comes when I need to be of help, at least I have knowledge. We'll end up at the furthest, deepest end of Area Six when we go up there. There's a huge wall that separates that and Area Seven."

"Oho, right on your doorstep!"

"We can hide at mine," said Ari. "I can take us over the wall, one at a time. I think we all need some rest at this rate and to get away from this mess."

"That's nice. How about we decide the theme of the party once we make it out alive?" said Rale.

The rungs were rusty and the half-peeled paint dug into Ari's palms. She gritted her teeth and climbed up. Fris was at the top, with Rale and Mina behind her. Shon brought up the rear with his gun in case any creatures popped up.

"Oh, no." Fris's voice echoed down the chute. Ari craned her neck.

"This doesn't sound good," said Rale.

"Shh!" Fris pushed open the cover and peered around. Red smoke poured down the chute, making Ari's eyes water. The circular exit at the top opened up to a grey-orange sky. Dawn was on the way. Fris tiptoed out and then gestured. Mina and Rale followed, and then Ari, and then at last Shon, who took his gun out when his feet hit solid ground again.

Shadows moved about in the thick red fog. They were four-legged and malformed. Ari quietened her breathing as best as she could. So the creatures had gotten out. Kena must have overridden whatever Rale had done to her security system. She craned her neck. Large metal structures sat around them, several storeys high. A few generators stood here and there; most of them were dead, but Ari could spot flashing lights on one or two of the nearby ones. If they didn't leave soon, the daylight would expose their presence. Shon moved sideways with his eyes trained on the moving shapes. Mina stayed close to Ari. Rale stayed close behind Fris, who readied her fingers in case she needed to blast quickly.

Fris wove her way through the abandoned buildings and piles of rubble. Most of the moving shapes got left behind. Ari relaxed somewhat, keeping a hold of Mina's hand. The large wall came into sight. Even from Area Seven, Ari had never noticed it, for she lived so within its heart all she could see in every direction were the beautifully decorated Area Seven glass buildings. The wall stood black and oppressive like a brooding giant, its skin nigh impermeable.

They all gave a collective sigh of relief when they reached the base of the wall. It was impossibly high, so high that the skyscrapers of Area Seven couldn't be seen. Ari took Mina by the waist and grabbed Fris's hand. Fris closed her eyes, generating enough energy to boost Ari over. There was a spark. Ari's energy surged. Bending her knees, she took to the skies, bringing a gasping Mina along with her. They landed on the top of the wall, beyond which stood the familiar and gorgeous Area Seven. Its glistening, winking coloured windows and streaks of multi-coloured lights were breath-taking – and such a familiar, blessed sight in all the chaos Ari had endured in the past twenty-four hours. Several large holograms of the news caster relaying barely-audible information could be seen in the distance. Students wandered the streets, far below, on their ways to work and school. Silver pod cars rolled by at a smooth pace, silent. Mina sat down, exhausted.

Rale was the second to go up. Ari let go of him and hopped back down, landing on the ground and dispersing the extra energy into the earth.

"Take Fris next. She will be tired," said Shon.

"I'm okay!" Fris protested. "Shon should—"

A scream pierced the air.

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