by Barry Solway
It took a moment for a response, but Evan’s voice was clear. No. We’re inside the building, maybe too much interference. What did he say?
Not sure, Mel replied. It was broken up. Something about Stoner and the goal. And finding Croaker, I think. I didn’t get the rest. Stand by and be alert. If Stoner has the goal, it’s going to be tough to stop him.
That had always been the biggest flaw with their plan. Stoner was basically bulletproof. They might be able to prevent him from getting to the endpoint, but they had no realistic way to knock him out so they could take the goal from him.
Mel stepped out of the doorway to get a better signal from Riley. Riley? Can you hear me? Where are you?
Mel? I’m two blocks south. Heading down to the street, I’ll be there in thirty. Stoner has the goal. The two Asadharans headed to the beach; I think they’re coming up on the park that way. But I can’t find Croaker or—
Riley’s voice cut off. She called to him but got no response. Quickly updating the others, she faced the park.
Mel couldn’t help but think that she was missing something. She thought Riley said he couldn’t fine Croaker, but that wasn’t everyone. Polliwog and Samor. The second Nipunee and the Ankhen who was good at tech.
Keep an eye out for Samor and Croaker. They knew—endpoint— Riley’s voice cut through Mel’s mind. Both of them were good at tech. Good at building bombs.
“Croaker and Samor aren’t accounted for. Keep your eyes open,” Mel said to Beats and Gorgeous. As she turned back to the park, a section of the ceiling exploded, shaking the building and opening a giant hole. Beats jumped forward to cover Mel and Gorgeous from the blast as dust and concrete rained down on his back.
Mel!
The voice jumped in her head, but she wasn’t sure if it was Riley or Evan. She didn’t have time to think about it. As she turned back to the wreckage behind her, Croaker and Polliwog crawled over the edge, hanging from the ceiling of the main room. A long chain swung from the hand of one of them. At the same time, a shot rang out from the beach and Beats yelled, staggering backwards and clutching his left shoulder, the same one that had been shot back on Latanu.
“Snipers on the beach!” Mel yelled. She drew her pistols and stepped forward to engage with Croaker and Polliwog. At the same time, she tried to send a message to Evan.
We have Croaker and Polliwog here. Shots from the beach. Protect the endpoint.
As she brought her pistols up, one of the Nipunee flicked his wrist, whipping the razor sharp tip of the chain towards her.
Chapter 21
Mel’s shot missed as the metal blade of the chain whip glanced off her cybernetic hand. From the patterns on his face, she thought the one with the chain whip was Polliwog. Croaker hung from the hole in the ceiling with his back legs, shooting wildly with an electromagnetic pistol at Mel and Gorgeous. Mel dove behind a desk while Gorgeous used the distraction to jump forward toward the Nipunee.
Beats had ducked behind the door after being shot. He flexed his left arm, wincing at the pain. “Stoner’s at the end of the park.”
Mel nodded, waving him out. “Go. Riley should be right behind him. We’ll take care of these two. I’ll let Evan and Jon know you’re coming. Be careful of the snipers.”
Mel fired at Polliwog, concentrating on contacting Evan and Jon at the same time. Evan, Jon, this is Mel. Beats is coming out to engage Stoner. Give him cover from the snipers.
Beats splashed out of the lobby toward a low wall at the edge of the park. Mel heard two more shots from the beach and an answering retort from the high-rise. Beats didn’t react, so Mel assumed they had missed. She gripped her pistol tighter, focusing her attention back to the room. Shifting for a better position, she fired blindly where Polliwog had been.
She grazed him with one shot, and the Nipunee fell to the floor with a splash, half-scuttling and half-swimming behind a soggy couch before she could get another shot off. Gorgeous jumped at Croaker, trying to pull him off the ceiling. He managed to hold on, but she knocked the pistol out of his hand before she fell back down. Croaker pulled out a short sword, stabbing down at Gorgeous. She shifted slightly, just enough for the short sword to slide past her, leaving Croaker off balance and exposed. Countering with one of her long knives, almost short swords themselves, she cut into Croaker’s arm. He screeched like an injured cat and let go with his useless arm, clinging to the ceiling with only his feet. He attacked Gorgeous, but she blocked easily and struck him again in his hip.
Croaker finally lost his grip and fell to the floor. Gorgeous struck again, efficient and deadly. Each swing of her knives found a target and by the time the Nipunee hit the water, bright red blood was swirling with the foam.
Polliwog took aim at Gorgeous and Mel yelled to her friend as she shot into the couch Polliwog hid behind. Gorgeous brought up her knives to continue her attack on Croaker, twisting toward Mel in the process. As she looked past Mel, she froze, her green eyes glinting with alarm. Mel turned to follow her gaze and her mouth dropped open.
A huge wave, at least fifty feet tall, was cresting at the beach. Stoner, Beats, and Riley were running out of the park to cover. The looming danger of the tsunami stood in stark contrast to the sun streaming down, glinting off the water. Without the distraction of Polliwog, Mel could feel the ground trembling.
The wall of water moved up the beach in seconds, clearing the low wall and surging into the park, submerging it in over ten feet of water. Stoner and Beats were swept off their feet as if they were ragdolls. Riley leaped up and clung to the side of a tree twenty feet above the water. The brief thought that Kapha and Sahass had been down on the beach flashed through Mel’s mind before she shoved her pistols back into their holsters and dove to the other side of the desk. “Brace yourself!” she screamed to Gorgeous.
The wave slammed into the building, sending a jet of water through the doorway. Mel wasn’t sure that hiding even made a difference. Water crashed first into the desk, then into Mel. Pulled underwater, she felt the desk tumbling over her, forcing her down. She fought to swim to the surface, but it seemed like the entire room had turned into an aquarium. Mel bumped her head on the ceiling, rolling over in the churning water. Her lungs were on fire and she needed air. Suddenly, she remembered the hole in the ceiling.
Desperately, she thrashed in what she thought was the right direction. Just as her lungs were about to force her to take a breath, her hand found a ragged edge. She pulled herself forward and thrust her head up through the hole. Even the floor above them was a foot deep in water, but she pressed through the hole and her head cleared the water line as she gulped in huge lungfuls of air.
After several ragged breaths, she remembered Gorgeous. The water was choppy, filled with debris and sand. She could make out a form floating near the ceiling a few feet away. Diving back under, she swam quickly forward, relieved to see that it was Gorgeous.
But Gorgeous was thrashing in the water, unable to find the hole in the ceiling. As Mel grabbed Gorgeous’s leg, Gorgeous kicked out, almost striking Mel in the head. Finally, Gorgeous realized who it was, and Mel pointed to the hole. Even through the dark water, Mel could tell Gorgeous was in a panic. Bubbles of air burst from Gorgeous’s mouth. Grabbing her, Me swam back to the hole just as something grabbed Mel by the ankle. She barely managed to resist the urge to scream. When she looked down, Polliwog was holding onto her foot. He held his chain whip, but she didn’t think he could strike her with it underwater.
A moment later, she realized her mistake. He nimbly swam up, wrapping the chain around both her legs, then dragging her down.
Mel let go of Gorgeous, pushing her toward the hole in the ceiling, but the girl was no longer kicking and thrashing. Fear gripped her—that Gorgeous was drowning and she was close to doing the same.
Without thinking, Mel reached for her pistol. The force of the shot in the water sent a concussive wave back that almost stunned her. The bullet nicked Polliwog in the arm, but he snarled and pulled harder. Reach
ing down, she tried to beat his hands and arms with the butt of her pistols, but the water prevented her strikes from having any effect. A detached part of her mind noticed he only had three fingers. She grabbed one and bent it backwards. A bubble of air burst out of the Nipunee’s mouth as the finger snapped. She swung down with her pistol in slow motion but, instead of striking him, she placed the barrel right on his forehead. Polliwog’s eyes grew large, then he pushed the pistol away and kicked back from Mel. Kicking the chain whip free, she swam up and away.
Mel could feel an undertow as the water on the first floor receded. The current pulled Polliwog away from her. Swimming up, she tried to find Gorgeous, but she was nowhere in sight. Mel looked down one last time to see Polliwog swimming out the front door. Weirdly, she caught sight of an arm floating next to him, unattached to a body. She guessed it might belong to Croaker, but didn’t have time to consider it.
With a final effort, she burst through the hole and threw her arms over the edge. The water dropped beneath her, leaving her barely hanging on. Gorgeous lay on the floor in front of her, either unconscious or dead. She was too confused and exhausted to know what to do. Should she drop back into the water or climb to the second floor?
The choice was made for her as strong hands pulled her up. She lay on the floor, barely able to move, taking deep gulps of air. She thought she might be crying, but couldn’t tell with all the water. Between the fear of Gorgeous being dead and that disembodied arm, she just wanted to find someplace to hide.
Forcing herself to sit up, she faced a large, dark-red Ankhen. Rolls of fat settled on his lap as he sat down cross-legged on the floor next to her and Gorgeous, looking like an alien Buddha. He didn’t seem to have any weapons, so Mel turned to Gorgeous, rolling her onto her back.
To Mel’s relief, Gorgeous immediately started coughing. She wretched, throwing up water and whatever else she had for breakfast that morning. After a minute, she recovered enough to sit up.
“There aren’t many Ankhens in the gauntlets,” the Ankhen man finally said. “Especially one so young.”
Gorgeous pushed her soaking hair out of her eyes, her voice raspy from the coughing. “Thank you for saving me. I would have drowned.”
“You did drown,” he said. “I am Samor.”
“Gorgeous,” she said. Mel noticed that Gorgeous hung her head slightly, but she couldn’t tell if it was from shyness or exhaustion.
“You planted the bomb, didn’t you?” Mel said.
Samor turned to Mel, looking very curious. “Of course. I must say, you are a very mysterious creature. We still can’t figure out who or what you are. Asadharan, perhaps, but you have hair, and your face isn’t set. Polliwog thought you were some kind of genetic anomaly, but Kapha insisted you aren’t Asadharan. The video of you and your friends has been very interesting. No special talents, except perhaps for the dark male. And yet you do manage to win. Very mysterious.”
“We should grab coffee sometime and discuss it,” Mel said, crawling to her knees. She pulled both her pistols out, aiming them at Samor.
“Mel! No! What are you doing?” Gorgeous said.
“Making sure Samor doesn’t pull a fast one,” Mel said. She honestly had no idea what she was doing, except that she wanted to win the gauntlet. And not die.
Evan, Jon? Can you hear me?
She waited for a response. Samor looked at her stoically. She always had trouble reading Gorgeous’s expressions, as many of them were the opposite of a human. But the translator indicated Samor was more curious than afraid.
“I am not much of a fighter,” he said. “I prefer to think of the gauntlets as a puzzle. It’s quite challenging to approach it that way.”
“Uh-huh. Why did you save Gorgeous?”
“Because she is of my race and she is so young. I could not bear to let her drown.”
“Mel, please,” Gorgeous said. “I had passed out. I would be dead if Samor hadn’t been here.”
Mel hesitated. She couldn’t afford to make a mistake. Regardless of what Samor said, he was on the other team. He was likely playing the gauntlets for money, just as they were.
“I’m not going to shoot him,” she said. “Maybe.” No point in letting him get too comfortable. “But we need to leave and find the others. Let’s just call it even, shall we? He saved you and I’m not shooting him.”
Gorgeous stood, frowning at Mel. “That is not a good way to repay someone who saves your life. You are a better person than this, Mel.”
Am I? Mel thought.
Are you what? a voice said in her head. Evan.
“Evan!” Mel was so excited she said it out loud, forgetting to sub-vocalize through the translator.
“Are they okay?” Gorgeous asked. Mel nodded and rose to her feet, keeping her pistols trained on Samor. She walked backwards to the window, risking a glance at the park. It was still flooded, but the water slowly receded as it spread deeper into the city. No wonder this place was abandoned.
Mel turned back just as Samor threw himself through the hole. There was a splash as he landed in the water in the room below. Mel stepped to the edge, her pistols pointing down, but Gorgeous jumped in her way.
“Let him go!” Gorgeous yelled.
Mel stopped and backed away. “Fine. Remember, we’re in the gauntlets. He blew a hole in the ceiling, which could have killed us all by itself if we had been in the wrong place. It was nice of him to save you, but don’t forget where you are.”
“You shouldn’t have treated him that way,” Gorgeous said, but Mel thought she looked confused.
“I bet Croaker feels the same way,” Mel retorted. “I’m pretty sure I saw his arm floating around in the wreckage down there. I’m just doing what needs to be done, just like you.”
Gorgeous’s eyes changed color. Mel winced and turned away. Something they could deal with later.
Evan, what’s the status in the park? Any sign of Beats or Riley?
Hey boss. I’m good, Riley cut in. Still in my tree, taking a nap and all. Waiting for the water to go down a bit more. Beats and Stoner got washed up a block or two. I can see them making their way back, but the water is at least five feet deep. Even Beats is having problems with it.
Stop calling me boss. Gorgeous and I will be out in a minute. Polliwog and Samor are out and about still. Croaker may be down. Any sign of the Asadharans?
Evan’s voice cut in over Riley’s. No, haven’t seen either of them. They may not have survived that tsunami. Jon took a shot at one of the Nipunee coming out the door, but it dove underwater and got away.
Keep an eye on Stoner. He’s got the goal, Mel said.
The water’s receding fast. He’ll be back here quick. You should get down here, Riley said.
On our way, Mel replied. She turned to Gorgeous. “Let’s talk about Samor later. Riley and Beats need our help with Stoner.”
Gorgeous nodded, moving to the edge of the hole. Without a backwards glance at Mel, she swung down to the first floor, splashing into the water. Mel saw Gorgeous looking around the room before reaching down and retrieving one of her knives.
Mel shook her head as she looked at the eight-foot drop. She moved to her belly and shimmied down, hanging from the edge. Her feet almost touched the top of the water below her. She let go, falling briefly under the water before she came up. The water was nearly chest high on her, and the fall had been easy, but she was really tired of getting wet.
Gorgeous stood by the door, looking out, when Mel heard the scream. The crack of a rifle echoed across the park. She froze for a second, then swam to the door. Stoner and Riley were in the park, facing off just fifty yards from the endpoint. Mel could see Beats struggling against the water half a block back, his left arm hanging at his side.
Mel wasn’t sure who had screamed, but Stoner held a hand to his right eye. Riley spun a sword in his hand, darting in again. Stoner was generally impervious to edged weapons, but maybe Riley had found a weak spot. Another crack from the high-rise, and Stoner
staggered. The shots didn’t stop Stoner, but Mel knew they were painful for him and at least slowed him down.
“We should get out there and help Riley,” Mel said.
Gorgeous ignored Mel for a moment, finally addressing her over her shoulder. “I can’t move well in the water. I don’t know how we’re going to stop him.”
“We don’t need to. We just need to hold him down long enough to get the goal from him. If we can distract him while Beats and Riley hold him down, we can still do this.”
Gorgeous waded toward Stoner and Riley. Mel didn’t have any idea what she could do to help. Then her eye caught a movement behind a statue in the park. She squinted and realized who it was. Sahass.
She couldn’t tell if the alien was armed, but it gave her an idea. Mel dove under the water, swimming to her left, trying to circle behind Sahass without being seen. Coming up, she barely broke the surface and saw that Sahass was trying to sneak up behind Riley. Mel drifted back under and swam toward her as fast as she could.
As she came up a second time, just yards behind Sahass, she remembered Evan and Jon. Jon, this is Mel. Sahass is sneaking up on Riley. I’m right behind her. Don’t shoot her.
Mel dove back under the water one final time, coming up right behind Sahass. She pushed herself out of the water as hard as she could, jumping on Sahass’s back and wrapping an arm around her neck. Throwing herself back, she dragged the woman under with her. Sahass struggled, but Mel had a good grip with her arm and refused to let go. Eventually, the woman stopped thrashing, clearly desperate to get above the water.
Mel let her stand. As they came up together, Mel pulled out her pistol and held it to Sahass’s ribs. The woman sputtered, both from the water and Mel’s arm around her throat.
“Stoner!” Mel yelled.
Stoner and Riley turned to face her. Beats approached the park, making his way behind Stoner.
“Give us the goal or I shoot her,” Mel said.
“Don’t. Please,” Sahass whispered, trying to pull Mel’s arm down.