Immortal by Kelvin Kelley Page A

adjust, he heard
the rock against rock sound again, and the brightness of outside
was suddenly extinguished. It seemed they were in some type of
hallway now, the outside door had now been shut. With every step
taken by the Guardian, Jericho became more and more awake. He had
no idea how long he had been unconscious, but he could clearly hear
the last scream of Gabrielle in his mind, as she had yelled his
name. He had to find her, he thought. But what could he do? He was
groggy, and was being carried by a Guardian to some unknown
destination. He began to take stock of his situation. He did not
know where he was, or where he was being taken, or what would
happen to him once he got there. He did not know where Gabrielle
was, or if she was okay. The only thing he did know was that she
had scanned positive for the plague, which would probably mean she
had been taken to Quarantine, wherever that was. What was he to do?
He thought. But even as the Guardian continued forward step by
step, a plan began to form in his mind. And the first part of that
plan meant that he had to get away from this Guardian.
    After several turns through the darkened
hallway, the Guardian came to a part of the hallway lined with
doors. Jericho immediately recognized this as part of the control
center. This was the area where he had been interrogated, and then
released. He had no need to see into any of the rooms, because he
remembered in detail the stark interior of the one he had occupied
all too well. The Guardian stopped partway down the hallway and
turned toward the wall. Jericho heard as the door unlocked, as he
heard the faint click, and then heard the door slide open. The
Guardian carried him through the threshold, and across the room.
Jericho braced himself. As he judged the distance that he was now
away from the open doorway, he thought that the Guardian was about
to place him in the chair. Jericho remembered that in his
interrogation room, the chair had been up against the far wall. As
the Guardian began to make the slightest movement and tilted
forward as if to gently place Jericho in the chair, Jericho shot
out his legs behind him, and hoped against hope that the wall was
were he thought it was. His feet slammed against the immovable
stone wall, as he grabbed the Guardians head awkwardly with his
right arm, and he pushed with all his might.
    For what seemed like an eternity, he
struggled to straighten his body, as he pushed against the wall
until his legs trembled. He pulled against the Guardian’s head with
all of his strength until his fingers began to slip. And then
suddenly it happened. He could feel his body become completely
straight. He could feel the Guardian begin to tip backwards, and
with one last push, he desperately struggled to free himself from
the mass of the Guardian as it fell. He rolled to his left, and
pushed against the Guardian’s head to give himself leverage to get
away. He hit the stone floor and rolled away, inches from where the
Guardian slammed down onto its back. He saw with amazement that its
control stick was still in hand. Jericho jumped to his feet, and
ran to the back of the chair and grabbed the chains that would be
used to bind a person for interrogation. He pulled them free from
the loop bolted to the floor, just as the Guardian’s arm reached
out and grabbed for him. He backed away as the control stick swung
at him, and brushed the cloth of his pants leg. Jericho swung the
heavy chain towards the base of the control stick, and it glanced
off of the Guardian’s hand and dislodged the metallic stick and it
clattered across the floor. He did not wait to see if the Guardian
tried to rise. Jericho clambered across the floor and dove for the
control stick. He turned back to the Guardian, just as its arm shot
out and reached for his ankle. Jericho kicked out, and knocked its
hand away, and then quickly shoved the control stick up against its
head. Blue light arced. The Guardian began to convulse, and smoke
began