Final Days: Escape

by Jasper T. Scott

  The air hummed and pulsed with energy, making the hairs on the back of his arms and neck rise like the buildup of static charge in the air before a storm. The sphere might have been suspended by electromagnetic fields, or maybe it was some type of anti-gravity like Hound’s ship used.

  “Wild,” Roland muttered, walking in a slow circle around the hovering sphere. “Is it in there?” he asked, looking to the aliens.

  Neither of them replied. Belidar walked over to a control panel built into a pedestal in front of the hovering sphere, while the other operative stayed by the doors, aiming out with his alien weapon.

  Belidar swiped through screens and tapped commands into the program. Then the hovering sphere split in the middle with a dazzling white glow. Andrew threw up an arm to shield his eyes. Each half of the sphere settled into the claw-shaped receptacles in the floor and ceiling. The half that dropped to the deck held a pulsing cylinder inside. Roland stopped to gawk at it. “That’s it,” he said as Belidar stepped forward and reached for the device with two webbed three-fingered hands. He withdrew the cylinder from its casing with great care and cradled it protectively across his chest.

  A muffled report of weapons fire sounded from outside and Andrew spun around, his rifle tracking up swiftly. A blur of movement swept into the reactor room, and the operative by the entrance crumpled to the floor, making whistling sounds and holding its throat. Bright green blood leaked through his fingers as he crumpled to his knees.

  Hound appeared standing behind Belidar, smiling broadly and holding a sleek silver gun to the alien’s head. Andrew’s aim snapped to Hound’s head, his grip tightening on his rifle as he sighted down the scope. “Let him go.”

  Hound laughed. “You know bullets can’t hurt me.”

  “Then why are you hiding behind Belidar?”

  “Oh, you’re on a first-name basis with the salamanders. Good for you.”

  “There’s three of us and one of you,” Kendra pointed out. She was also aiming at Hound’s head with her rifle, but from a slightly different angle, and Andrew noticed that Roland had a line of fire on his back. The 9mm pistol wouldn’t do as much damage, but it was better than nothing. At least the kid had a clear shot. “Let him go,” Kendra warned. “I won’t say it again.”

  “You shoot me, I shoot him, and the energy cell falls. If you’re lucky, nothing will happen, but if you’re not, you’ll crack the casing and the only thing left of any of us will be a smoking crater.”

  Andrew hesitated, wondering if that was true.

  “You’re lying,” Kendra said.

  Hound laughed and stepped out from behind Belidar, but his aim never wavered from the alien. “Try me.”

  A rush of footsteps came storming toward them. Andrew glanced back to find a familiar group of armed Saints approaching fast, with Carrie leading them. For a second, Andrew was about to thank her for coming to reinforce their position, but then he remembered the sound of gunfire that had preceded Hound’s appearance.

  “You shot them?” Andrew demanded, glaring at Carrie as she came in.

  Belidar looked to her with sad, hopeless green eyes.

  “What is wrong with you?” Kendra added.

  Carrie winced and shook her head. “It was Hound. He killed them.”

  “Way to throw me under the bus, Carrie.”

  She ignored his quip and went on. “But listen to me!” she said. “You need to stop this, Ken. And you, Andy.” She shook her head slowly, her gaze tracking to Belidar with a fading spark of curiosity. “It’s over.”

  “Yes, tell them,” Hound added, his eyes gleaming with amusement. “Tell them how foolish they’ve been. Maybe if they beg for mercy I’ll consider keeping them alive.” He looked to Andrew. “What do you say, Miller? Are you ready to plead for your life?”

  “Go to hell, Hound.”

  He gave a booming peal of laughter. “Defiant to the end. At least you’re consistent. Take their guns, Carrie. Unless, of course, you’d like to test my word about the fuel cell.”

  Belidar’s grip on the canister tightened, and his face turned a paler shade of blue.

  Kendra gave in first and slowly lowered her rifle, ducking out of the shoulder strap and placing it at her feet.

  “Good,” Hound intoned, the amusement gone from his eyes and voice. Nothing but ice remained. Carrie walked over with one of the Saints. They recovered the rifle and took the Beretta from the holster on Kendra’s hip. Andrew gave his head a warning shake when they started toward him, but Roland set his pistol down and raised his hands. “It’s over, man.”

  “If he’s not bluffing and that fuel cell really will explode, then he’ll die, too.”

  A hint of Hound’s former amusement returned and he made a tsking sound. “I can’t be killed, Miller. Remember? You already killed one of me. The one that looked like your new friends.”

  “We are not leaving without the fuel cell,” Belidar gritted out, and this time warbling sounds escaped his lips as he spoke.

  “Life is full of disappointments, or so I’m told,” Hound replied coldly. He averted his gaze to Carrie and nodded. “Shoot Miller for me, would you? I’m tired of reasoning with him.”

  Carrie hesitated, but several of the Saints’ weapons tracked over to him. Andrew’s finger tightened on the trigger of his rifle, aiming for Hound’s chest. Maybe the fuel cell wouldn’t crack.

  “Wait!” Kendra cried.

  TWENTY-SIX

  Kendra

  The entire room was a tinderbox, waiting to go off, and there was only one person inside that had the power to change it. “Stop! Just stop,” Kendra said, stepping toward Hound.

  “What is it, Special Agent Baker?” Hound’s words dripped with malice.

  “It doesn’t have to be like this. You’re right. We’ll give in. You can take the canister. Let Belidar and his people walk out of here, and we’ll fall into line. It’s obvious you won’t give up,” Kendra said, hoping to bide some time.

  Belidar still held the glowing fuel cell, clutched to his chest like a newborn baby.

  “I think not. Disarm them all.”

  Carrie and Eve moved toward Belidar’s people, taking their weapons one by one. “You see, Ms. Baker, here’s what’s really going to happen. I’m going to line their damned ridge with their heads on spikes. Maybe that will remind them who’s in charge here. Then I’m going to bury you and your boyfriend behind Eden Sixteen.”

  “They’ll know the truth. You’ll never gain their confidence this way,” Kendra said, glaring at Andrew to keep quiet. He was still aiming at Hound, and so far, no one had taken the gun from the angry Marine.

  “I don’t care. Roland will join you, and if anyone causes any trouble, that teenager with the bad hair, and Mr. Miller’s daughter…”

  “Lewis,” Carrie said softly, “I think they get the point.” Eve had a pile of guns now, and was stacking them near the exit. Kendra hated her sister at that moment. “Let’s be rational here.”

  Carrie turned, walking away from Hound as he moved for Belidar, with his arms outstretched. “Give it to me. We’ve been through this before, a long time ago. You should have heeded my warning the first time.”

  Kendra cringed as Hound reached for the canister, but a cry from Carrie drew her attention. Blue light erupted from one of the flute-shaped guns, striking Hound in the back. Energy coursed over his body, and Kendra saw sparking wires through the charred hole her sister had blasted into him.

  Hound fell onto Belidar, knocking the canister loose. Kendra was the closest one, and she dove to her right, landing hard on her elbows and front side while sticking her arms out. She caught the heavy fuel cell just before it struck the ground, but the weight of the device slammed her fingers into the grated floor. She cried out in pain and rolled over, letting the fuel cell stabilize on the ground.

  Lewis rose to his knees, his body twitching and convulsing. He spoke, his mouth unmoving and his eyes were wide open, one of the lids missing. “You think you can kill me
so easily. Carrie… I… disappoint…” The language shifted to something else completely foreign before once again becoming English. “I will return with another…”

  Andrew, silent this entire time, walked toward Hound’s jerking body and shook his head. He fired a shot into Hound’s temple, and the android made one final shudder before it fell to the floor, incapacitated.

  Kendra flew to Carrie’s side, and she hugged her sister as she stared at Lewis Hound’s dead form.

  “We can’t wait around. He’ll be back,” Andrew said.

  Roland was already grabbing their weapons, tossing the guns to them, and Eve seemed to want to stop him. Kendra saw Roland almost aim at her, but instead, he passed a gun to her. “Here. You’re going to need this.”

  The short-haired woman took it with a firm nod.

  “The fuel cell is ours. We must return it to our valley.” Belidar grabbed it, hefting it into a padded bag.

  “When will you pick us up?” Andrew asked, stepping closer to the frog-like man.

  “As fast as we can. It will be tedious. You know the path is long. It will take a couple of hours to power our vessel up.”

  “Make it snappy. We won’t have long before they send reinforcements,” Andrew told Belidar. He whispered something to the man, and Belidar pulled a device from a pouch strapped to his uniform. Andrew smiled as the alien pointed to something on the outside of the round blinking object, and with that he was off.

  Kendra watched them leave the reactor room. Roland was at Hound’s side, searching through his pockets. “Nothing of use here.”

  “Are they going to stick to their word?” Carrie asked.

  Kendra nodded, rubbing her aching fingers. “They’d better.” She moved for the exit, through the corridor, and outside.

  People were advancing toward them, weapons raised, and Carrie interjected as one of the guards started chasing after Belidar and his team. “Let them go!” she shouted.

  “Dad, what the hell is going on?” Val asked, rushing to her father. She buried her head into his shoulder, and Tony stopped by Roland’s side while half the colony walked toward them.

  “It’s okay, everyone!” Carrie called. “There’s been a change of plans.”

  “What’s happening?”

  “Where’s Hound?”

  “Were we attacked?”

  The questions came flying toward them as the colony’s inhabitants surrounded them outside Eden Sixteen.

  “We’ve made new allies. Eden’s not going to be our home for much longer. Hound and his Watchers have decided that. We’re leaving in a few hours, so we need to be prepared.” Kendra was surprised at how well they listened as Carrie spoke. Everyone appeared frightened, but they seemed eager for the chance to escape the aliens who’d destroyed Earth.

  Carrie barked out orders, sending a group of people to the food storage, another to organize all the construction supplies, and another to gather bedding, fabric, and jumpsuits. Evan led the team to collect the seeds, soil, and gardening equipment. Carrie clapped her hands a few times to relay the urgency, and the colony scattered into their assigned groups, setting about their tasks. It was the middle of the night, but no one moved with any lethargy. Not with the threat of Hound returning.

  “That was impressive,” Keller said, startling Kendra. “I’m glad you two are okay.” He patted Andrew on the shoulder.

  “Thanks, but I’m going to need your help,” Andrew told him.

  “I’m game. What’s the plan?” Keller asked.

  “Hound’s somewhere out there, but I don’t think his real body is nearby. That gives us time to go on the offensive rather than sit around here waiting for him to attack,” Andrew said.

  “How?” Keller asked.

  Andrew was still smiling, but Kendra had an uneasy feeling in her gut. “What are you going to do? They’ll be here soon, and there’s a lot of work to accomplish here first if we’re going to have a chance at survival on another planet.” Kendra couldn’t believe they were going to leave this world for another—an entirely new start without most of their high-tech gear.

  “His lair,” Andrew said.

  “What about it?” Keller asked.

  Andrew grinned like a schoolboy about to set off a cherry bomb. “We’re going there to blow it up.”

  “First of all, what do we have that can knock out his…” Keller was cut off as Andrew opened his palm, showing the blinking ball Belidar had given him.

  “This… he said it has enough punch to do what we need and more.” Andrew tugged the translator from his head, folded it, and tucked it into his pocket. He removed Kendra’s next, placing it beside his own. She’d almost forgotten it was even on.

  Keller glanced at Roland’s feet, where a pile of guns sat. He opted for a Beretta instead of the alien weapon. “Well, what are we waiting for?”

  Kendra grabbed Andrew’s wrist, her fingers pulsing with pain at the movement. Andrew took her hand, kissing the back of it. “Take care of these hands.” He pointed toward the medical bay. “Get Hartford to patch you up, and hold the camp until we return.” He kissed her on the lips quickly and broke away. “Roland! Secure the guns, arm everyone who should have a weapon.” Val came over, clearly upset, and stood near her dad, while Tony followed Roland toward the forest’s edge at Eden Sixteen.

  A few more hours. That was all they needed.

  * * *

  Val

  “Dad, we need you here,” Val said as she followed her dad to the rovers.

  He shook his head and caught her eye. “Someone needs to take the attention off camp. Stay close to Kendra. She’ll look after you.”

  “And who’s going to look after you?”

  “I’ll watch your dad’s back,” Keller put in.

  “You used to be enemies.”

  “We’ve come to an understanding since then,” Keller added. “Head to camp. We’ll be there soon.”

  But Val made no move to turn around. She fell behind a few steps, busy working on the next argument in her head. She couldn’t let her dad go, not now. What if those amphibians arrived early or her dad wound up running late?

  The grass rippled in a stiff breeze, shimmering with copper highlights from the moon. Her hand whipped behind her head, wicking away a thin sheen of sweat and grime. The air felt thicker than it had a moment ago.

  They reached the rovers, and her dad and Keller made for the front doors. He seemed to sense that she was still there, and turned to look straight at her before he opened the passenger’s side. She crossed her arms over her chest and fixed him with her best disapproving glare.

  “Hey, everything’s going to be okay. I promise.” He crossed the gap between them in one step and grabbed her by her shoulders. “Go find Kendra and listen to whatever she tells you, okay?”

  “If what you’re doing isn’t dangerous, then take me with you,” Val countered. Her dad appeared to hesitate, and she cracked a brittle smirk. “I knew it.”

  “I didn’t say it’s not dangerous,” he said quietly. “I said that everything’s going to be okay. Help at camp and stay under cover, all right?”

  Val’s lower lip began to tremble, but she bit it with a fresh burst of anger. “Mom’s dead, you know.”

  His eyebrows pinched together. “I know.”

  “Then you realize that you’re all I’ve got.”

  Andrew smiled and shook his head. “No. You have Kendra and Roland, and Tony. Even Carrie. You’re not alone.”

  “If you get yourself killed, I’ll never forgive you,” Val warned.

  “Then I guess I’d better stay alive.” Andrew pulled her in for a quick hug, squeezing the air from her lungs and kissing the top of her head. “I love you, kiddo,” he whispered.

  “Me, too,” Val replied.

  He pulled away. “Stay safe.”

  Val nodded and turned, running toward Eden Six where she’d last seen Kendra heading. When she was only a few feet from the entrance, she heard the whirr of the rover’s electric eng
ines and peered over her shoulder to see it racing through the long grass, with dual cones of light from its headlights parting the shadows. A crack of thunder split the air. A storm was rolling in. Had they even remembered to take respirators? She hadn’t seen any. Predators were another concern. What if those wolves attacked them?

  A flash of lighting forked down to distant trees, turning the clouds purple and bruising the sky.

  Please be safe, Dad, Val thought.

  “Hey! Where have you been?” Tony’s voice dragged her gaze away. He stepped in front of her, gripping her shoulders, his eyes wide. “You scared the bejeepers out of me,” he said. “I’ve been searching everywhere for you!”

  Val smiled. “Sorry.”

  He pulled her into a hug, and then went for an awkward kiss. Val kissed him back, overwrought by the situation and needing to feel anything other than blinding terror. He broke the embrace and she saw the gun gleaming in a holster on his hip. “What’s that?” she asked quickly.

  “Roland gave it to me. He and Eve are going to bring the rest of the guns. They’re saying anyone who can handle a weapon should be armed. We don’t know what we’re going to be up against, so every man counts.”

  “I guess I’d better get something, too.”

  “You have experience?”

  “Lots. My dad and I used to go to the firing range together.”

  Tony gave in with a nod. Another boom of thunder and flicker of lightning jolted them into motion. “Come on!” He grabbed her hand and sprinted toward a shadowy wall of trees, where he and Roland had hidden their stash of weapons before Morris took over the camp.

  Val’s thoughts took a brief detour, wondering what had happened to the reverend. Maybe the predators got her, she thought. Good riddance.

  TWENTY-SEVEN

  Roland

  The pack was hidden better than Roland had imagined. There was a good reason that none of the Saints had discovered the concealed weapons. Tony had been lucky to escape with them as Morris fought her way to power, but Roland gave a grimace as he thought about John and Arthur that night. At least they were both out of their misery.