章節 9: (2) The Shuttle

In the short time after they arrived but before the next round of running, the Brooklyn gangster turned to Alexandre. "Marlon," he said.

"What?" Alexandre asked.

"Name's Marlon," he said. "And I think that richshit from the forest, he said his name's William."

"I see." He paused for a long moment. "I'm Alexandre." He hadn't given his name to Omega. He didn't respond to demands. But he could respect Marlon's determination. Even still, Alexandre felt no need to offer up any further details.

But Marlon seemed satisfied with just the name. "I hope we can spar again soon," he said. "You won't get me with that cheap shot next time, white boy."

Alexandre nodded. "We'll spar," he said, "so long as you make Hunter."

Marlon laughed, wincing at the pain. "Damn, this hurts. Watch yourself, my man. Don't think you've got this Hunter thing in the bag, either. They don't plan on playing fair with these tests. I can tell. They catch you by surprise just once and you're gone."

"You're right," said Alexandre, "they're not playing fair. And I don't intend to either."

"You show 'em," said Marlon.

As they were talking, Alexandre looked around him at the others who had succeeded up to this point. Many were clearly in serious physical difficulty. Some had gone pale, while others were bright red. This was torture, plain and simple.

And they'd only run three kilometers.

How many more were to come?

Suddenly, a young girl who had already crossed the line gasped and fell to the ground. She began seizing as yellow-white foam bubbled from her mouth.

Alexandre understood at once. This girl had taken some performance-enhancing drug and had pushed herself beyond her body's limit. She'd taken a huge risk to have a chance at becoming a Hunter, and now she was paying the price.

Yet everyone who stood close to her simply moved away. Nobody cared. She had to deal with the consequences of her own actions. If anyone tried to help her, they'd surely be distracted and fail the next sprint.

A disturbing silence consumed the crowd as the last of the current wave of failures began scurrying off the track. The only sound was the gagging and gurgling coming from the girl on the ground.

For his part, Alexandre simply stared ahead. This wasn't his problem. If she didn't think she could become a Hunter on her own, then she should have stayed home.

But then something thoroughly surprising happened.

A youth with glasses, an expensive combat suit, and an even more expensive jacket pushed through the crowd and knelt at the girl's side.

It was William, the rich, arrogant boy whom Marlon had robbed in the forest!

William stared in horror at the girl. He tried speaking to her, but she didn't respond. Eventually, he hoisted her upright, trying to help her stop choking, and screamed at the top of his lungs, "Emergency! Help! Someone's having a seizure! She needs an ambulance!"

Omega's voice came over the loudspeaker, "Please step away from the candidate. You were all warned about the dangers of this test. We are here to ensure the integrity of the test is not compromised, not to give first aid to drug abusing cheaters!"

William replied angrily, "But you're just letting her die when someone could surely save her!"

Omega replied calmly, "Even in the civilian world, that's perfectly legal. But even still, we're no longer in the civilian world. A Hunter must complete his mission, no matter what, even if his comrades are in mortal danger. If you want to become a Hunter, you need to learn this lesson here and now!"

Alexandre nodded as he heard this. Omega was delaying the start of the next sprint on purpose—if only for a few moments. He was taking this opportunity to teach the candidates a lesson. However, the next words from the loudspeaker surprised him.

"If you quit now," Omega said, "you can likely save her. Fluids are building up in her lungs due to the drugs, causing that foam to build up in her airways. Perform a tracheotomy and drag her to the medical center ten minutes away. I estimate about a 90% chance of survival. Otherwise, she will surely die. If you think you can do it, then choose right now between her life and your career."

Tears filled William's eyes, and he began crying. Throughout all these races, he'd been one of the top performers. His family had prepared him his whole life to become a Hunter.

Now he had to choose one of two options in this impossible dilemma: to abandon either this girl or his own ambitions.

Suddenly, William noticed Alexandre, who was avoiding looking at them. "You!" he called. "You're the one who saved me! Come on, you have to save this girl, too!"

Alexandre narrowed his eyes in annoyance, not looking at William. "I don't care about some random druggie! Leave me the hell alone!"

William said in a panicked voice, "Please! She's gonna die if we don't save her!"

Alexandre snapped, "Then do it yourself!"

William said, "You'll have to live with it on your conscience if you don't help!"

Alexandre finally turned to look at him with a cold glare. "Listen to me. Omega didn't tell you the whole truth. Sometimes you have to do more than just put your mission above your comrades' lives. Sometimes, you have to actually sacrifice them to achieve your goals. If you still have a conscience at this point, you need to get rid of it right now!"

William replied in tears, "If we let human beings die when we can save them, we're no better than the infected! Fine, I'm doing it on my own! I don't care if I don't become a Hunter! You're all no better than zombies yourselves!"

Something snapped in Alexandre's mind.

Memories that he'd locked safely away flooded his brain.

"No better than a zombie."

The words he'd screamed in the face of the man who had experimented on him.

The man who had, in essence, tortured children to death in his steel and ceramic laboratory, the man who had sacrificed children on the altar of science to gain the power to save the world from Virus Z.

Hundreds of faces passed through Alexandre's mind. Faces of children who had once known joy and happiness, but who had died in terror and agony.

Children who had now been dead for a long time.

Dr. Goldberg's face appeared in Alexandre's mind like the face of an uncaring idol, a face that seemed incapable of understanding how anyone could see the results of his research and feel horror at the deaths of the children who had fueled it.

'I am better than a zombie,' Alexandre thought to himself. 'I am. I will prove to myself that I am. I am not him. I am better than him. I will never be like him.'

A new kind of fatigue settled over Alexandre as he pushed away the horror of those old memories once again. "There is a way," he said. "The supervisors won't do anything on the training grounds. They have their orders. But if you remove her from the training grounds at the far end… Well, there's a chance she'll be treated as a sick civilian. It's not a sure shot, but it's a chance."

William let out a sob of relief. "Thank you!"