Unleashed Read Free Page A

weapon in my hands. I land deftly on two feet and begin swinging. The first three go down instantly.
    I watch their fatality meters in the corner of my vision as they tick down to zero.
    But more arrive instantly.
    I swing my branch, catching one in the neck. His vein bursts, sending a splatter of blood toward me. I wince in anticipation of the droplets hitting my face, but they never do.
    All of a sudden, the simulation pauses. The poachers are frozen around me in varying stages of attack. The tiny droplets of crimson hang in the air like rain that forgot which way to fall.
    Then my surroundings fade and I can see the transparent walls of the simulation chamber. The adaptive floor beneath my feet that spins and pivots with every move I make is now still.
    Just outside the chamber, standing with his hand on the control panel, is Director Raze—the head of Diotech’s security.
    His face is grim and I immediately think he’s come to tell me about Dr. Alixter. He must have taken a turn for the worse.
    He has been on bed rest for the past week, locked inside a restricted ward somewhere else in the sector. I haven’t been allowed to see him. My presence would cause too many questions from too many people and the Memory Coders are overwhelmed as it is. The doctors have been working day and night trying to diagnose his illness, but they’ve had no success as of yet. And until they do, they will not know how to cure him. Whatever is killing him is killing him fast.
    The chamber unseals and I step out, keeping my wary eyes locked on Raze.
    â€œWe need to talk,” he says.
    â€œWhat is it?” I am breathless. Not because of the effort exerted in the chamber, but because of my fear.
    â€œSit down,” Director Raze says, motioning to the nearby table where I eat my morning and evening meals. I lower into a chair and Raze takes the seat across from me.
    I silently beg him not to keep me in suspense. If Dr. Alixter is gone I want to know. I can already feel his death fueling me. The wrath building up inside.
    The girl is responsible for this. Her absence—her betrayal—caused him so much stress and grief. If she hadn’t run away, if she hadn’t succumbed to her own defect, he would be safe. He would be alive.
    â€œIs he … dead ?” I can barely get the word out. It hangs limp on my lips.
    I understand what death is. I even know what it looks like from the several uploads I’ve received on the subject—each complete with graphic depictions of various human demises. Plus, I’ve killed plenty of people in my training simulations. But the thought of it happening in real life to someone I actually know is causing my throat to constrict.
    â€œNo,” Director Raze answers, putting an end to my misery. “There has been no change in his condition.”
    I try not to let my relief show. Even though I care about Dr. Alixter, I am still a soldier and soldiers don’t show emotion. Especially not in front of their superiors.
    â€œWhat is it, then?”
    â€œHow is your transession training coming along?”
    I blink in confusion. My transession training? He came in here and disrupted my simulation to ask about that ?
    â€œI’m able to hit my location mark every time now. Without any margin of error.”
    He nods. “Good.”
    â€œWhy?” I ask warily.
    He pulls a DigiSlate from his pocket and unrolls it, spinning it around for me to see what’s on the screen. At first I can’t make sense of what I’m looking at. It appears to be a crude, hand-drawn depiction of a young woman, sketched onto a yellowed, decomposing surface that resembles old-fashioned paper. Above her face, written in large block letters are the words, WITCH TRIAL , and below it, a date.
    A date so deeply buried in the past, my mind struggles to comprehend it.
    Raze lets out a long breath, one that it seems like he’s been holding all his life. “We found