Feral Empires: First Spark

by Stephen L. Hadley

  All the while, Kathryn’s smoky-eyed stare lingered.

  Desperate for a distraction, Liam turned to Julie. She was seated against a tree, dress tugged down off her shoulders, with her daughter firmly attached to one breast.

  Noticing his obvious awkwardness, Julie grinned broadly.

  “Sorry, kid,” she teased. “Better than listening to her cry all night. Trust me.”

  Liam couldn’t argue with that. Still, he couldn’t bring himself to look at her either, however natural the act might be. He eyed the tree instead, focusing several inches above the top of her head.

  “So,” he said. “Any advice from Aunt Julie?”

  “About attacking the Institute?”

  “That’s right.”

  “It’s a good idea,” she said, without hesitation. At Liam’s look of incredulity, she chuckled and continued. “Well, it’s a damnfool crazy idea. But, if you’re going to do it, this is a good time.”

  Liam nodded slowly with a dawning sense of resignation. This was really going to happen. The three of them—four if you counted Julie—were going to challenge the Institute directly. Even at half-strength, the audacity of it took his breath away.

  “We’re all going to die, aren’t we?” he said.

  Julie barked a sudden laugh and shrugged.

  “Probably,” she admitted. “But you’d die doing something good. Helping people. Maybe even saving a few.” Another shrug. “Not a bad way to go.”

  Liam had nothing to say to that. Scott had said something similar before he’d left. He wondered briefly if they would have liked one another. They certainly shared a certain crass gallows humor.

  Julie stirred, tugging her dress back up before standing. As if on cue, her son scrambled down from the branches of the tree he’d been climbing and silently grabbed her free hand.

  “On that note,” Julie said, “I’m going to head back.”

  A stunned silence greeted the announcement. Liam and Jenn stared at her in unmitigated shock, and even Kathryn looked up from her feet.

  “W-what?” Liam stammered. “Why? What about the Occs?”

  “I’ll be careful,” Julie said. She shrugged, yet again. “If they’re still there, I’ll wait. I doubt they’ll stick around past dark.”

  She glanced up at the sky, now darkened to a rich purple, then back at Liam. “If you’re going to go, it should be now. You can make it there by sundown. It’s not that far.”

  For several seconds, Liam stood motionless and tried to find any justification to argue. And then, there was nothing for it but to bid farewell. He’d known the woman less than a day, but Liam was surprised by the emotions parting raised. Perhaps, in hindsight, it shouldn’t have been unexpected; Julie had accomplished an awful lot in those short hours.

  Liam wasn’t sure how such things were supposed to go. His sole experience with one had been Scott. And, while the man was many things, normal could not be counted among them.

  Fortunately, Julie saved him from himself. She drew him into a crooked, one-armed hug, Morgan carefully cradled between them.

  “Don’t die,” she warned him.

  Liam grinned and, when it faltered, merely nodded. He stepped back, then again in haste as Jenn pushed past him to embrace Julie as well. Theirs lingered far longer. It ended with a brief, whispered exchange that left Julie laughing and Jenn’s cheeks pink.

  Then, to Liam’s astonishment, Kathryn approached. She moved with a nervous energy, the tightness of her face suggesting she might flee at the slightest provocation. Julie clearly noticed, since she held out an arm and waited for the girl to draw near before giving her an exceedingly gentle hug.

  “You’re in good hands,” Julie murmured.

  Kathryn stiffened, then smiled. She was practically beaming as she slipped free of the woman’s arm.

  “Good hands,” she chirped, testing the words. Liam pretended not to notice the glance she sent his way.

  The intimacy of the moment, made all the more profound by the relative quiet of the early evening, left him wishing they could continue on like this, dragging out the farewell for all eternity. But that wouldn’t do. Julie was right; they needed to hurry if they hoped to beat the Occ forces back to the Institute.

  “Be careful,” he said, casting a final look in Julie’s direction.

  She did not look back at him, already turned toward home. Instead, she lifted a hand and gave it a casual wave.

  “Always am,” she said.

  Chapter Fifteen

  Night had fallen in earnest by the time they reached the Institute. Deliberately or not, Liam had learned from his mistakes. He halted deep within the woods, a hundred yards from the edge of the tree line and half again that distance from the twenty-foot, razor wire laced perimeter fence. Jenn and Kathryn followed his example, crouching low in the darkness beside him.

  “Ready?” Liam asked.

  “Not yet,” Jenn whispered, scurrying away. “Give me a second.”

  At first, Liam thought she’d gone to relieve herself, until she laid a hand on the trunk of a nearby oak. This was followed by a sound like tearing cloth and the crack of branches high above. Jenn caught the falling vine in her arms and managed to keep all but the very end from striking the ground. She tested it then, pulling and twisting the length she held in her arms. Liam didn’t know what she was testing for, but whatever it was, she was obviously satisfied with the result. She held out her arms and maintained the stance for several seconds, as the vine coiled around her waist and torso. Though she’d collected scraps along the way, this newest contribution was, by far, the most significant in both length and girth.

  Eyeing it, Liam couldn’t but feel a bit jealous. Jenn gestured, grinning as the vine shot down her arm and froze, rigid and quivering, inches from a tree some twenty feet away.

  “Now, I’m ready,” she said.

  Beside him, Kathryn made a face.

  Silent as the grave, the three of them inched forward until only a few trees separated them from the moat-like clearing between the woods and the walls. The sight of them set Liam’s hands to trembling.

  The compound was absolutely massive. A dozen structures lay at the center, sheer, imposing, and of unmistakably pre-war construction. Even the smallest of them could have consumed the entirety of Julie’s village with ease. And, encircling the buildings at eight points, squat, blocky guard towers punctuated the darkness with dazzling spotlights.

  Liam exhaled slowly. Looking back, it seemed a miracle that he’d escaped at all.

  A growl tickled his ear and Liam turned to find Jenn staring straight ahead. Her eyes gleamed with a savage light.

  “Bastards,” she snarled. “I’m going to kill you all. Every last one of you.”

  Liam reached over and squeezed her hand. Jenn flinched, then relaxed as her rage softened to a tight-lipped smile.

  “What’s the plan?” she asked.

  Liam balked. He’d assumed—mistakenly, it seemed—that Jenn had a notion on how to proceed. But, since she had not…

  “First things first,” he said. Pulling his pistol from the waist of his trousers, he used it to gesture in a sweeping motion. “The fence.”

  Jenn made no reply. Watching her for some reaction, Liam canted his head. “There’s too much razor wire so I don’t think we should try climbing. I could manage it, but it’d be slow and that doesn’t help you two. There are plenty of gates, though. Could you handle the lock like you did for Kathryn?”

  Jenn nodded and Liam blew out another slow breath. A hand found his and he glanced over to find Kathryn staring back at him.

  “I’m Kathryn,” she said.

  Despite his rapid heartbeat and looming sense of dread, this helpful contribution made Liam smile. He leaned over and placed an affectionate kiss on the girl’s brow. Though he did not speak, Kathryn’s eyes lit up as if he’d praised her. She shot a smug look at Jenn, who sighed.

  “Okay,” Jenn said
, visibly impatient. “Then what?”

  “Once we’re through, it’s open until we reach the buildings,” Liam said. He gestured to the nearest guard towers, then at the hundred yard gap between them. “The only problem is the towers. They’re not always manned, but we won’t know until we get close. And under the circumstances…”

  He trailed off, grimacing as his words hung over them.

  “I’ll take the lead,” he continued. “Just in case. If there are any guards—”

  “Fast and strong!” Kathryn interrupted.

  “That’s right.” Again, Liam grinned. “If anyone fires at us, Kathryn can handle them.”

  “I’m Kathryn!”

  In her enthusiasm, Kathryn’s voice had grown beyond a whisper and Liam quickly shushed her with a finger to her lips.

  “How are you feeling?” he asked her. “Still fast and strong? Or do you need more blood?”

  Kathryn hesitated, then shrugged. This time, her voice remained at an appropriate volume. “Fast and strong,” she said. “Feed now and fast is faster.”

  It took Liam a few seconds to wrangle her words into a comprehensible shape. Once he had, he tugged at the collar of his shirt to better expose his neck. This yanked free several spots where blood had congealed and glued the fabric to his skin. The feeling of peeling it free was oddly satisfying and held his attention long enough for Kathryn to press up against his back and bite down.

  “Just a little bit,” he reminded her, wincing. “I still need to be able to heal.”

  She answered with a gurgle.

  “So,” Jenn said, a peculiar note in her voice. “We get past the guard towers. Then what?”

  Liam’s hands balled into fists against his knees as he struggled to think, and speak, past the burning ache radiating out from his shoulder. At least, he told himself that was the reason for his distraction—not the feeling of Kathryn’s soft, nubile body resting against his back.

  “Do you know where they keep the other, uh, ones like us?” he asked.

  Jenn shook her head. “I don’t remember,” she admitted. “I barely remember this place. Guess I tried too hard to forget.”

  What would that be like, Liam wondered. He could barely even glance at the distant buildings without wanting to curl up in a ball. Just the mechanical hum of generators and unidentified machinery was making the hair on the back of his arms stand up.

  “They kept me in that one the last few months,” he said, gesturing slightly with the arm opposite Kathryn’s bite. He indicated the northmost building, jaw clenching. From this angle, the upper story window through which he’d fled was hidden behind a guard tower. He resisted the urge to crane his neck and search for it.

  “Should we start there?” Jenn asked.

  He shook his head—or started to, anyway—then hissed in pain and caught himself.

  “No,” he said. “I don’t think they kept anyone else there. Not that I saw, at least. And if Wuyong was telling the truth, that might just be where they… turn people into Hunters.”

  “That might make a good place to look,” Jenn suggested, almost delicately.

  Liam could grasp the truth of her words, even if Jenn was too thoughtful to speak it directly. But a part of him just couldn’t do it. Not yet.

  “Let’s start somewhere else,” he said. Fighting his body’s urge to begin shaking, he pointed at an adjacent building, virtually identical in size and joined to his by a small, brick-enclosed walkway. “How about that one? It’s a bit closer and we can search both without coming back outside.”

  “Okay, Liam.”

  At the use of his name, Liam glanced at her, despite the pain it created in his neck. Jenn’s expression was subdued, her hands nervously kneading a section of the thick vine she’d recently obtained. Already, there was a pile of mossy, castoff fragments piling on the ground between her knees.

  She was scared, he realized with no small amount of surprise. For all her rage and determination, Jenn might actually be more frightened than he was. And, somewhat counterintuitively, that understanding soothed his own fears.

  “It’ll be fine,” he assured her. Setting his pistol down, he reached over and tenderly cupped her cheek. “This is what you wanted, remember? We’ll burn it to the ground.”

  Jenn reached up and cradled the hand he’d pressed to her cheek. Her fingers were hot—or perhaps his were simply chilled—but the contrast only made her faint trembling more apparent. Blinking back tears, she kissed the inside of his wrist.

  “Liam,” she whispered. “I love you. No matter what happens. I love you.”

  It wasn’t the first time she’d said the words. But, under the circumstances, hearing them now somehow made them feel far more real to him than they had before. Real enough to make his heart pound from an emotion other than fear.

  “I love you too,” he said.

  A sudden, sharp pain in his shoulder nearly made him cry out. Twisting, Liam glared at Kathryn from the corner of his eye.

  “All right,” he said. “That’s enough.”

  Kathryn tugged her fangs free, though she kept her mouth tightly sealed around the puncture wounds to collect the leaking blood until they healed. Her eyes were twinkling brightly, practically aglow. And within them, Liam saw something beyond the mischievousness he’d come to expect.

  When at last she drew back, Kathryn smiled at him with red-stained teeth.

  “Love Liam too,” she announced. It was not a joking comment, but one she spoke in earnest.

  Liam hesitated. He wanted to glance at Jenn, but sensed it would be the wrong thing to do. Instead, he grinned, then leaned down and kissed the girl’s brow a second time.

  “Course you do,” he murmured. “Love you too, Kat.”

  ***

  They ran for the fence, crouching low despite the darkness concealing their approach. Liam’s heart was pounding and his hands were so slick with sweat that he had to take extra care not to drop his pistol along the way. The last thing they needed was an unplanned gunshot to give them away. Still, they managed to reach the chosen gate without incident.

  He squatted low, Kathryn beside him, as Jenn worked her magic on the locks. Her muttered cursing filtered to him as she did so, and he forced himself to remain silent. His heart nearly stopped each time the guard towers’ spotlights glided toward them, despite having all but memorized their pattern by the third sweep.

  Even so, the soft mechanical click of the final lock mechanism was music to his ears. He stood, helping Jenn lift the large, metal gate to keep its hinges from squeaking or its frame from dragging noisily across the dirt. They did not throw it wide, of course, but merely pried it open the foot or so necessary for the three of them to squeeze through the gap.

  And then, they were in. If the anticipation had been stressful, the reality of setting foot inside the Institute’s grounds was nearly unbearable. Liam panted as they scurried forward. The echo of their footsteps seemed as loud as thunder in his ears. He was so fixated on that fact that, when the unthinkable happened, he barely had time to react.

  With deliberate suddenness, one of the spotlights snapped to him. Liam threw up an arm to shield his face from the blinding light, too stunned to dive for cover as the others had. A gunshot boomed out. He didn’t feel it hit, though it must have. One second, he was standing there, and the next he’d been spun and his left leg had given out.

  Kathryn’s roar was nearly as penetrating as the bullet. Liam looked to her and saw only the blur of her limbs as she hurtled toward the guard tower. It must have been twenty yards, not to mention the ten or so necessary to reach the lip of the platform, but the girl managed it with ease. There was a cry, cut short a split-second after it sounded, and then the spotlight beam that had discovered him veered wildly up into the night sky.

  Jenn was at his side in an instant. Her face seemed pale, though it could have been nothing more than the afterimage floating in front of Liam’s eyes, and she glanced
nervously at the second guard tower. Then, when no additional gunfire sounded, she returned her focus to Liam.

  “Can you walk?” she asked, voice tense.

  Liam glanced down. The bullet had struck him in the hip and, from the pain beginning to lance down his leg, had almost certainly shattered bone.

  “No,” he growled, teeth gritting as he fought to keep the pain at bay long enough to focus. “I need a minute.”

  Jenn glanced around, again. “We may not have a minute. We need to get inside.”

  Groaning as a new, stronger wave of pain began to assert itself, Liam pressed a hand to his wounded side and willed his body to begin healing. He could feel hot blood welling up under his palm and cursed himself for not reacting faster. Jenn and Kathryn had managed it, so why hadn’t he?

  Lifting his spare arm, he waved it helplessly. “Drag me, then.”

  He expected Jenn to hesitate, but she did not. Instead, her hand found his wrist, fingers tightening as vines spiraled around their joined limbs to provide extra support. Then she began to move, dragging him as he’d instructed.

  At first, it wasn’t so bad. How many times had he been dragged from a battlefield? Whatever the number, Liam was strangely used to having his back bruised from such treatment. What made it worse was the first time his heel caught on a slight divot in the dirt. The jolt it sent through him was infinitely worse than the gunshot itself and he howled through his teeth.

  He felt Jenn hesitate, though only slightly. Bracing himself for more, Liam blinked away tears and dug his fingers into the flesh of his thigh. He’d healed from worse and he’d be damned if his body surrendered now.

  To his surprise, it worked, and quite efficiently at that. He heard the crunch of adjusting bone—uncomfortably familiar by now—and then the blisteringly hot itch of his flesh knitting back together. By the time Jenn hauled him to the edge of the building, the worst of the pain had completely faded.