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21. Finally, Answers

  Caleb felt his cheek turn warm and wet. He dabbed it with his finger. It came away bloody. He hadn’t even seen New Caleb move.

  New Caleb licked the blade. “Tagged ya. Your turn.”

  This isn’t real. It can’t be. It’s literally life or death.

  Caleb held the knife high in front of his face and wished he wasn’t shaking so hard.

  New Caleb moved in with the combat knife like it was a sword, clashing against Caleb’s knife on purpose. The knife’s spine ricocheted off Caleb’s nose, dazing him.

  Shaking off the blow, Caleb struck like a viper with three short sharp stabs directed at New Caleb’s shoulder. The first thrust grazed New Caleb, so he deftly twisted away.

  “Agh!” he danced backwards. “Almost got me there. Do you feel that? That energy? The adrenaline?”

  I do. And I don’t like it.

  The vision of Johnson’s final appearance was still fresh in his mind. Discarded like a ripped plastic bag, Johnson’s once-vital organs were now just paint for the walls.

  “Look, I don’t want to fight.” Caleb said. He felt his eyes sting with tears.

  Let them come. I want this to get awkward. I want him to pity me.

  “Come one, man.” Caleb cried. “I’m exhausted. I don’t want to do this anymore.”

  Let’s kick this into high gear.

  Caleb choked, spluttered then sobbed. The tears fell freely now, pitter-pattering onto the cold and hard marble floor.

  “I didn’t ask for this! I’m just making some cash for college! Remember?”

  New Caleb grabbed his head, as if wracked with a sudden pain.

  So he can remember. We’re the same.

  “Dementia, remember? That’s why we’re doing this.”

  New Caleb scowled. “What are you talking about?”

  “Our Grandpapa. We loved him. And by the end of his life, he didn’t even know who we were. We swore, we swore, that the suffering families like ours went through would end.”

  Caleb cut the knife into the air, enjoying its whistle. “We swore that suffering would end. I’m trying to fulfil my part of that deal.”

  Caleb pointed the knife directly at New Caleb’s nose. “Are you?”

  New Caleb grunted. “I understand what you’re trying to say. But here’s the deal, the only way to escape the pain is to go through it. That’s what this whole place is about.”

  Stepping forward into Caleb’s space, New Caleb slashed through his pant leg. The blood began to flow.

  He’ll bleed me out with a thousand cuts if I’m not careful.

  Caleb back-pedalled as quickly as he could, galloping in great heavy heaps. Although he could strike decently, and he could dodge with almost zero lag now, he still felt slower than he’d like.

  The Progenitor Liquid is doing something. But it’s still only as good as I would have been back home.

  Needless to say, Caleb was not the best athlete. He’d spent mandatory physical education lessons loitering at the back of the pack, only really engaging at the behest of particularly boisterous teachers.

  Caleb squared up as best as he could, holding his knife defensively at his chest.

  At least this way he won’t be able to bash me in the nose again.

  New Caleb played sportingly and tried to coax Caleb into parrying by aiming strikes directly at Caleb’s blade.

  “C’mon, we’re going to be stuck here forever if you don’t do something. Knife fights normally start and end,” he clicked his fingers. “Just like that.”

  Caleb pushed back harder on New Caleb’s knife. His clone stumbled back, and Caleb stepped inwards with a slash.

  The stoicism of New Caleb’s expression broke. Anger flashed across his face and he leapt forward, knife pointed downwards

  This is how we beat him.

  Caleb cooly sidestepped the assault. New Caleb drove the knife into the floor with his full body weight, embedding it in the marble.

  Damn, these really are that sharp.

  New Caleb struggled to free his blade from its burial spot.

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  “The Priest won’t be happy with this,” he said, arms outstretched. He winced, expecting a killing blow.

  Caleb watched his own face melt in the reflection of the blade.

  Can I really kill him? Kayleigh bartered to escape. Maybe I can do the same. But then again, you’re me, right?

  New Caleb threw his brother a killer glare.

  You’re listening closely now, aren’t you?

  New Caleb slapped himself on the cheek. “Get out of my head!”

  Stop copying mine.

  New Caleb left the knife in the floor and rushed forward. He caught Caleb by surprise and the two fell to the floor in a flurry of fists and feet.

  Caleb turtled, covering his face with his hands, the blade impotent in his hands. New Caleb wasn’t giving him any breathing room; there was zero space to rear up and jab.

  Adrenaline rocked Caleb’s system. He was woozy, his vision was fading, and the onslaught was beginning to take its toll. In the corner of his eye, The Priest watched with interest.

  Interest, but not judgment. Does he not care who wins? And he isn’t just a priest. He’s a Belker brother.

  “You don’t understand what it’s like,” seethed New Caleb. He ceased hitting Caleb.

  The knife fell from Caleb’s black and blue hands to rest on his equally swollen face. The blade cooled his wounds.

  “I give up.” Caleb croaked.

  New Caleb grabbed the knife and offered it to his brother, handle first. “That’s not how this works.”

  Caleb coughed up a mix of blood and bile. “Sure it is. I give up. You’re stronger than me. You were born here. I was about to get fired from a fucking burger restaurant when I got teleported here.”

  Caleb laughed.

  This is so ridiculous.

  He turned his ringing head to see that The Priest was creeping ever closer. He watched with a hint of a smile on his face.

  New Caleb shook the knife. “I can’t relate. I can see it happening. I can feel it happening. We are one. And yet, I don’t understand it.”

  Caleb wrapped his bruised fingers around the hilt of the knife. “Of course you don’t. You weren’t even born yesterday. You were born like, two hours ago.”

  He pulled, but New Caleb held firm. The knife slid through New Caleb’s palm on a wave of green blood.

  “Satisfaction.” New Caleb said. “You’re feeling satisfied, right?”

  Caleb nodded.

  “I like that.”

  New Caleb closed his eyes. It wasn’t like he was sleeping, but more like he’d been shut down like a computer.

  Caleb turned to The Priest. He could barely see past his nose. His brow and eyelids had puffed up like he’d been stung by a bee. “I don’t understand!”

  “The symbol of our community is the circle of life.” The Priest whispered into Caleb’s ear.

  How did he get so close?

  “But I am not the only one who holds this symbol dear. My brother does also. It is no coincidence that his facility and Ravensbrook village are so closely entwined. He sets challenges of might, and I set challenges of mind.”

  “That doesn’t seem right.” Caleb sniffed. “Dave had to blast through Johnson.”

  The Priest flicked the thought away. “This place isn’t for them. They have a purpose to serve. A purpose for you. When the time is right, they will be discarded. And you will grow. I believe you’ve wondered about what this place truly is. You are right. This is a training ground. This whole world has been built to train you. When you are fully trained, the real war will begin. I’m not your enemy, Caleb. I’m your mentor, but I’m afraid that I must be the harshest taskmaster. The outward war is so overwhelming, you see.”

  The outward war? Ugh. No time to worry about that now.

  “I don’t care about any of that.” Caleb said. “It’s all too much. One thing at a time. What am I supposed to do here?”

  The Priest puffed up his chest. “You are such a proud boy. You have delusions of making history with your scientific breakthroughs, and yet you waste time cooking burgers and lying to yourself that you don’t belong there. The real pioneers, the people your age, are in the laboratory day and night. Already funded. Already discovering new things. Already doing the things you daydream of.”

  I might be slightly better of than someone like Kayleigh, but I only have so much resource available to me.

  “So today, my challenge to you is the one that you hinted upon earlier. See? This is why the angels chose you. You think up the right solution every time. You need help enacting the plan. So, I tell you, yes! The path you considered is the right path.”

  The Priest ran his tongue along his lips. He grabbed New Caleb by the wrists and pulled his hands upwards.

  New Caleb did not struggle. It was as if he had been switched off. His eyes were dead, his body still.

  “Do it, Caleb.” The Priest said. “Kill yourself. Kill who you think you are, and become someone who can conquer any goal.”

  Caleb held the blade aloft and closed his eyes.

  “He’s not real. He’s just an image.”

  Without looking, Caleb stabbed downwards. It reminded him of punching holes in vacuum sacks of defrosted burgers. That crack as he broke the surface, followed by the deep dive into wet and juicy meat.

  He disengaged his brain and continued to force the knife through his clone. Fluid washed over his hands and arms. The bitter taste confirmed it as Progenitor Fluid.

  The Priest patted Caleb on the back. “Enough, my project. It is done.”

  Caleb saw stars behind his eyelids. He released the pressure and saw the violence that he’d wrought.

  But I feel so calm. Like that little inner voice, always so negative, is dead.

  The Priest brought him back to his feet. New Caleb’s corpse slid off his knees and crashed to the floor like a porcelain doll.

  “Doctor Belker brought you into this world. Showed you what it was like. I’m Father Belker, and I’m here to show you what you are. You already have an idea, of course.”

  “My dreams. Not the ones I tell my parents, with the Nobel Prize, but the ones I tell myself…”

  Caleb hesitated.

  Do I want to admit this?

  “The fantasy where I save everyone.”

  Father Belker nodded and smiled.

  Finally. Some answers.

  “Does this have anything to do with the voices we’ve been hearing?”

  “Oh,” Father Belker corrected. “the voices you’ve been speaking.”

  Caleb nodded, forgetting who he was speaking to. “Yes! What’s with that, man?”

  “Well, simply put, a ghost haunts each of you. One who was chosen, like you, but who fell permanently. No saves left. Their physical bodies gone forever.”

  “How far did mine get?”

  “Further than you are now. That’s why he has intervened with helpful information.”

  “I wonder who he is…”

  “As you journey closer to his place of death, he may choose to reveal more about himself. I have a feeling he won’t want to see his own end repeated.”

  “That makes sense.”

  I can’t help but wonder what finally took him out. What the hell could be worse than the razorpi momma?

  He shuddered.

  Better not dwell on it now.

  “So what, you’re just going to let me go now?”

  Father Belker chuckled. “Like I said, I’m not an adversary. I’m your mentor.”

  He waved his robed sleeve, revealing a doorway in the labyrinth wall.

  “Reunite with your friends. Celebrate your achievements. Enjoy the calm before the storm.”

  Caleb limped to the hole in the wall. “This won’t be the last time we see each other, will it?”

  “Of course not.” Father Belker waved his long, bejewelled fingers. “I am always watching. As is my brother.”

  “What is he? If you’re a mentor, is he too?”

  “Of sorts. But remember, we are harsh teachers. Do not expect such help from us always.”

  “I won’t.”

  Caleb turned his back on the labyrinth, and escaped.

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