In the Heart of the Iron Conundrum: Part Six

Content Warning: Graphic Violence

“How did we get here, Daddy?”

Genesis’ eyes flew open. Sara. He had to get to Sara. Every muscle in his body felt bruised as he shakily picked himself up from the floor of his cell. He heard a quiet muffled voice coming from somewhere on his left – probably one of those damn scientists. He had to get out, had to get to Sara. He swayed slightly on the spot, crinkling his nose up at the scent of his own singed hair.

“Are we going home soon, Daddy?”

Genesis looked around. There was a simple cot in the room, and nothing else. He bent down and began loudly ripping the material off the top, exposing the metal and screws that held the cot in place, all the rationale and composure he had before getting caught draining away in desperation. He ignored the fact that the sliding hatch on his door suddenly opened, and the angry voice of a man telling him to stop. He was frantically dismantling the cot when he was suddenly slammed to the ground by an armoured guard. Genesis twisted his face around and bit down hard on the hand that held him down, using the man’s pain as a distraction to slam his head against the cot a few times until he stopped moving. He then flew out of his cell, only to be met by yet another armoured guard, who stepped forward and began to try to wrestle him to the ground. The scientists in the room had all stood up by this point, backing away from the two men brawling. Genesis was slammed repeatedly against an iron banded door by the guard, his muscles screaming every time they collided with the cold metal. The third time his back met the door, he gripped hold of a latch on the door and used the momentum from the guard’s attacks to slide it open, making the door crack open slightly. Suddenly, both men were flung away from the door as it slammed open.

As soon as he was free, Jonah reached for the guard that was now pinning Genesis down and threw him backwards. Holding the very sharp shiv Trixie had just passed to him through the vent, he grabbed the nearest scientist who had backed himself against a wall and held him close, shiv pointed to their throat. Genesis had picked himself up and had stepped behind Jonah, eyeing the guard who’d picked himself back up, baton unsheathed.

“I suggest you all move very carefully. My friend here can simply pick up my weapon if you try to… to disable me, or anything,” Jonah ordered, his voice impassive and calm. He looked at Genesis behind his shoulder. “You, get that other cell open. I’m your best bet to get off this train.”

Genesis’ lips formed a single, thin line, expressing annoyance at being commanded by someone he suspected to be an android. He then moved to the only other closed cell door. As he opened the latch, a short, cherubic-faced blonde woman slipped out and hid behind Jonah.

“Well, I am certainly surprised.”

Jonah, Trixie, and Genesis simultaneously looked towards Dr Bardot, each sharing a similar expression of disgust and frustration.

“The rogue models and the android killer. Now this is a fascinating scenario, one I don’t wish to stop. It would be far more interesting to see it to its conclusion. I can’t control the Guard Models though, they’re programmed to shoot anyone, human or android, outside the perimeter of the experiment,” Dr Bardot mused, tapping on her tablet a few times as she looked at the trio over the top of her glasses.

“Then we’ll be going,” Jonah calmly said, slowly moving backwards towards the door behind him. Trixie shuffled backwards too, whilst Genesis grabbed the key card around the hostage scientists’ neck. When the door slid open, Trixie and Genesis stepped out, Jonah slowly following suit, still holding the scientist close. The door slid closed.

“Please don’t hurt me, I was only doing my job!” the scientist pleaded, blinking back the sweat that had cascaded down his brow from the moment Jonah had grabbed him.

Before Jonah or Trixie could react, Genesis grabbed hold of the scientist by the scruff of his neck and pushed him forward, ignoring the fact that Jonah’s shiv nicked the man’s neck.

“Lead us to the laundry room, right now,” Genesis growled, stepping forward so he could jab a threatening finger into the man’s chest.

“Hey, leave him be. He gets it,” Trixie said, nervously. Genesis whirled around, giving Trixie a deadly glare.

“You. You can’t ask me to do anything, android. You’re not real!”

“Hey! Yo, okay, I know. I didn’t ask for any of this. I just want to leave, and…”

“And? You have no life to go to! Don’t you get it? All of you, on this train, fake! You can’t leave, I can’t let you leave! Sara has to be safe from you!” Genesis yelled, pulling at his fried hair.

“Alright, calm down. Take a breath. Let us help you get out. Trixie and I won’t be leaving, not yet,” Jonah said, tucking the shiv into his back pocket and raising his hands. It was clear to the much calmer man that Genesis was unravelling, fast.

“Wait, we’re not leaving?!” Trixie exclaimed.

“No. But this man is. He’s got someone to go back to, we don’t,” Jonah sighed, the reality of his fake existence creeping back into his mind. He watched Genesis pace around irritably, and gently gestured towards him. “Let’s get you to this Sara, okay?”

“DON’T SAY HER NAME!” Genesis yelled. “You don’t have the right!”

“Alright, alright. Let’s get to laundry, it’s just in the next carriage, isn’t that right?” Jonah said, glancing at the scientist.

“Y-yes! Yes, past the guest carriage, that’s right,” the frightened scientist said, beginning to walk towards the door at the end of the corridor. He paused suddenly and raised his hand. “C-can I ask a question?”

“Best make it quick,” Jonah said, holding a hand up to Genesis to try to stop the man from lurching forward to push the scientist again.

“S-Sara. As in, the S.A.R.A project?” the scientist whispered, as if the words were a forbidden spell he didn’t wish to cast. He looked over his shoulder just in time to see Genesis fly across the carriage at him, throwing him against the wall.

“What. Did. I. Say? You have no right!” Genesis spat. The scientist whimpered and held up his hands to his face.

“I’m sorry! Sorry! It would just make sense. How else would you know about the train?! Our androids are based on the S.A.R.A project! Please, don’t hurt me! Don’t hurt me!” the scientist stuttered, speaking faster and quieter when Genesis began to growl at him.

“The… what?! Project? She’s my daughter, idiot! She’s waiting for me, she-”

“Daddy, I don’t like it when you’re mean to people.”

Genesis whirled around, hearing his daughters voice echo down the carriage. He couldn’t see her, couldn’t see her bright eyes anywhere.

“Sara?! Where are you?” he shakily asked, stomping back up the carriage once more. Trixie and Jonah moved back against the wall, watching the man go with confusion on their faces. The scientist, still sweating and shaking from fear, was the only one who didn’t back away.

“Daughter? Wait… it can’t be. You’re him, aren’t you? Aiden, Aiden Genel. You were the leading scientist on the S.A.R.A project. It was your daughter’s consciousness you used to-”

The scientist surely couldn’t have believed what he was saying was going to help him in his current predicament. The crack of his neck breaking as Genesis rushed up and slammed him to the ground with such brute force made Trixie squeal and hide her face into Jonah’s chest. Jonah gently tugged on Trixie’s shoulder as he moved backwards, away from the frantic-looking man.

“She’s my daughter, she’s waiting, always waiting, never far!” Genesis shouted at the scientist’s body. Jonah left Genesis yelling to deaf ears, slowly backing away down the carriage, and into a guest carriage, away from the laundry room.

“We need to stop this… whatever this is. But first, I’ve got to find my friends” Jonah said, still holding Trixie by the shoulder.

“Uh-huh… umm, Jonah?” Trixie whispered, looking over Jonah’s shoulder with wide eyes. Slowly looking around, Jonah took in a very strange sight. Lining the corridor of this carriage were seven people, men, and women, slumped forward in a near perfect right angle.

Jonah didn’t need to ask the question. Both knew that these were androids, just like them, all stuck on the Iron Will, a train of lies and experiments. And there was a serial killer on the loose.