by A M Lopez
Aaron immediately called, “Arthur.”
Within three seconds of typing he said, “They are mostly in the courtyard, but there is a lot of movement in and out. I think it is their base of operations.”
The Director nodded. “Good. We attack there.”
Aaron glanced back at her team, who all nodded in response. “Agreed.”
The Director raised a brow but said nothing. Astrolabe, the Director, and the blonde woman crept through the halls. With Arthur hacking the camera feed, they were able to get close to the courtyard without running into any mutants. They were in the hall with the doors to the courtyard, which were being guarded by a group of three mutants. The middle one was a human crab, its hands replaced with claws. It stood on two feet but was stuck in a permanent squat. The one on the left was covered in glowing red welts, but otherwise looked human. On the right, the mutant looked as if its clothes were melting and dripping off its body. The team and company were hiding behind one of the larger rubble patches scattered around the hall.
Connor raised a brow. “Now, what?”
The Director turned to his daughter and tilted his head.
She nodded. “After you.”
The Director and the blonde woman shared a look. Immediately, the blonde rushed out from their hiding spot and swung her mace, hitting the crab mutant in the head. It died on impact. She swung toward the melted mutant, while the welted mutant raised a fist to punch the back of her head. Suddenly, it was shot down by a bullet to the chest, one that completely avoided the welts. The Director was standing with his smoking pistol in hand. The blonde woman was standing over the corpse of the melted mutant, removing her mace from its face.
Astrolabe stared at them with wide eyes.
Connor spoke up. “I guess he really did have the best aim.”
Anston looked at him like he was crazy. “Are you kidding? Did you even see the blonde woman? She just took out those two mutants with a mace, and her face didn’t even twitch! That was awesome!”
The blonde woman smirked, while the Director rolled his eyes. “Come on.”
Aaron gestured for her team to follow, reaching the double doors quickly. The Director took one door while Aaron took the other. They looked at each other and the Director raised a hand, counting down from five. The second all of his fingers went down the two bursts opened the doors. Eva’s heart began to race as a feeling of dread started to fill up her body. Before she could comment on anything the Director suddenly was dragged to the center of the room by an invisible force.
“No!” Everyone cried out as he started to choke, running towards him.
Before they could get close, the team slammed into an invisible wall preventing them from going any further. Looking for other ways to pass it, they were not able to run around this wall.
“You cowards! Show yourselves!” The blonde yelled, a look of anger placed upon her usually composed face.
A loud laugh rang around the courtyard as two figures began to appear on the other side of the space. Gasps were heard all around as two familiar faces came into view.
“Did you miss me, father?” Chloe crossed her arms and tilted her head, smirking.
Eva could feel Aaron go rigid beside her. Chloe’s eyes were narrowed towards him. The Director was struggling to breathe and his hands were wrapped around his throat, trying to take away whatever force was holding him.
Richard, coming to standing beside her, wrapped an arm around her shoulders. “Honey, we don’t want him to die before we humiliate him in front of everyone. Remember?”
Chloe turned to him and gave him a sweet smile, the venom dripping from the sides of her mouth. She then stretched out a gloved hand and swept it down, causing the Director to fall from the air.
Aaron snapped out of her trance and began to stab the wall and yelled, “How could you do this to us?”
Chloe looked up at her sister, the face of stone staring back at her. “If you were in the same position I was, you would’ve done the same thing.”
A sound choked out from the Director who was left paralyzed on the floor. “I always treated you like a princess, why would you do this to me?”
Her eyes flashed as she stepped over to him and bent down, whatever device she was using not allowing him to move.
“Do you remember that one mission?” She kicked him, and Aaron yelled out, now beginning to shoot the wall. “You knew everyone would die, and you still sent them.” She landed another blow. “Instead of doing all you could to save them, you let them die and saved me instead.” She snarled in his ear leaning down. “You killed the love of my life.”
Eva covered her mouth with her hands, eyes widening even further in horror as Connor quickly sought out Eva.
The Director coughed out, “I did it to save you, to save my daughter.”
“You could’ve saved all of them if you had tried.”
At this point Aaron was going ballistic and yelling, tears streaming down her face. During this whole process, someone had run up to them.
“Allison! Thank the lord you’re alright!” Eva ran up to her and hugged her, examining her for injuries.
Allison quickly hugged her back. “I had to go grab some stuff to help us.”
Eva looked around Allison, brows furrowed. “What do you mean?”
Allison stepped away from Eva and looked to the scene happening on the other side of the wall.
She slowly walked towards the wall, and Eva hoped that Allison had something to destroy it. Before Allison reached, Richard’s eyes zoomed in on her, and she stopped in her steps.
“Allison, honey, are you coming or no?” Richard smiled slowly, and Eva’s eyes widened in horror.
As Allison walked over to the side, no one stopped her from passing swiftly into the enemy territory. They were all too busy, shocked at what was happening. There was only silence, nothing coming from the mouths of anyone. Eva dropped to her knees. She felt her heart break into small pieces, a cloud of darkness surrounding everyone.
On the other side, Allison had reached Chloe, who held out her hand towards the Director. He flew towards her, throat wrapped by her hand.
“Why don’t you do the honors?”
Allison stepped up to the Director and looked him straight in the eyes. There was nothing of the Allison Eva knew. There was an empty void in the way she walked and everything else that had come to be a part of Allison.
“This is for Gabriel.” With a speeding movement, no time to react, Allison brought out a knife and stabbed him.
Silence seemed to hover for a split second before screams of revolt erupted from the team.
Aaron pounded on the wall, screaming, “You’ll pay for this, Allison!”
She turned around slowly, the blonde hair falling away from her ponytail and onto her traitorous face. “I already have.”
A loud sound came from above, and Dawn floated above the three people and one corpse. The sight should’ve been welcoming, but it began to fly down near the enemies.
“I’m sorry it had to be this way.” Eva felt as if that was directed towards her, but had no care as she put her palms on the invisible wall.
Richard said no more as he flew himself along with the girls up to the ship. Dawn’s metallic shine glinted once more before disappearing into the portal. The wall had broken down and Aaron along with the blonde instantly went to the Director’s side. He was long dead, the emptiness shown in his eyes.
Aaron cried softly as she stroked his face. “No, dad. You can’t leave me, not now.”
Dimitri slowly walked up to the body, and put a hand on her shoulder closing his eyes in distress. “I’m sorry, Aaron, he’s gone.”
The moment was interrupted by a loud ringing noise that began to sound from Connor’s watch, startling the ones who were in silence, mourning the Director’s death.
Connor’s breathless gasp came from above the sound. “She’s awake.”
Chapter Twenty-Five
A blonde- haired girl w
alked slowly around the building, arms crossed and a permanent smirk painted across her face. The hallways were chaotic, growls of hate ringing out. Cages made with silver harbored horrible monstrosities that were once simple humans. She walked closer to a cage, the creature inside with spikes placed around its neck hissing at her. It swiped, but she gracefully stepped out of the way.
“You will help me avenge my brother, special one.” She leaned down and whispered.
The creature moved the corner of its lips upward into a snarl as she instructed one of the workers to have it moved someplace else. She continued to walk towards a room where the planning happened. Not bothering to knock, she opened the door and leaned on the brown wall next to the desk.
Richard’s eyes met hers as he slowly smiled, coming towards her for a hug. Chloe had been speaking to him, and she met her gaze with a small smile.
“My dear Allison, I’m so glad you decided to join us.” He looked into her eyes. “You and Chloe will be the offspring that I will be forever proud of.”
On the opposite wall, the blacksmith from before had his arms crossed. Ezra leaned back, winking at her. Allison rolled her eyes.
Richard walked behind his desk. “You have everything we need for the next step?”
She nodded.
“Well then. Let’s get started.”
ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS
Wow. Another book down. What is this miracle? Another dream has been checked off and we have many to thank. Once more, we’d like to thank God, with him all things are possible including our biggest reach for the star moments. Thank you to both of our families for never doubting us and encouraging us to run after our dreams.
Mr. Josh, Mrs. Amenta, Mr. Bird, Ms. Bird, Mrs. Gross, Roddes, Mel, Sandra, and others we’d also like to express our gratitude. Throughout the whole publishing process, you've encouraged us to continue on our path to share what's inside our minds, no matter how scary it is. You've pushed us off the cliff and we ended up landing in dreamland. There are no regrets here.
To our readers, thank you for being supportive and encouraging us to write more, be more.
No worries, there is more to Eva's story and Astrolabe's as it goes down the line. Be prepared for the final book in the trilogy. Don't worry, we're upset about it too, but we're sure Astrolabe won't leave our hearts. One step closer to freedom.
Thank you.
Xoxo,
Giuliana and Alyssa
Giuliana lives in New Jersey with her parents, brother, birds, and fish. She usually likes to spend her time reading and writing, however if she is not doing that, she makes some mean cookies. Giuliana also makes videos on YouTube, and enjoys going to church.
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Alyssa also lives in New Jersey with her parents, siblings, and dog. She uses most of her time surfing the web, playing video games, and reading. When she isn’t doing those, she is most likely crafting, drawing, making puns, or pacing.
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