“Sean. Shut. Up.”
“You wanted to think a girl like Kylie would understand forgiveness. Her brother was Lukahn. Don’t be so stupid, Marc. You’re making me ashamed to be your brother.”
I part my lids and look at him from the corner of my eye. “If you don’t shut up…”
He points, waggling his finger. “Don’t threaten me because you’re angry. Give it a year, you’ll get over it.”
“Sean,” I bark, sitting forward.
“Whoa. Whoa.” Sean throws his hands up in the small space. “Calm down, Marc. I’m just trying to make you feel better. Jeesh.”
“What the fu—.” I grind my jaw, and the aversion for his reasoning bleeds through my words as I say, “Make me feel better?” I sigh, sinking onto the seat, remembering my brother is an idiot. “Make me feel better by shutting up.” I look out the window. The day has dawned, and red and white lights line the runway. They’ve lifted the stairs and shut the doors.
We were supposed to depart fifteen minutes ago.
The Creation flight attendant stands in the aisle near the front of the plane. She says, “We will be departing soon. Sorry about the delay. The engine needed quick maintenance. We should be on our way in ten minutes.”
From the seat in front of us, Collins peeks over the headrest. “Maybe this is just a stall for Kylie to come back.” She chuckles.
I look her over. They should’ve offered Collins the opportunity for placement change. Her curvy frame, salt and pepper hair, electric green eyes, and arrogant attitude would fit well in Highrum. She’d look nice beside Cambridge too. I can’t believe I let this girl kiss my damn cheek. I don’t regret the choice I made, but I for damn sure hate that it involved her.
“What are you staring at, Marc?”
I drag my gaze away from her. “Absolutely nothing.”
“You know…”
Why won’t he shut up? “No. And I don’t want to.”
Sean slaps my shoulder, child-like. “I know you’re all heartbroken, but you need to have a better attitude.”
I sit forward and whip my left elbow at Sean, hitting him square in the jaw.
“Agh,” he groans.
“Now shut your mouth.”
There’s a chime before the pilot speaks over the intercom. “Prepare for takeoff.” Recycled air blasts loudly through the cabin, and the plane finally jerks into motion.
Sean yanks my left hand to his busted lip and grabs my right in his. The slightest vibrations move between my palm and his face. As long as he remains quiet, we’re good. The only thing Sean takes seriously is waking up in the morning. I’ve busted his mouth on more than one occasion, all deserving. Maybe the next time, I’ll avoid healing him so he can learn his lesson. Everything isn’t a joke.
The plane takes off, lifting through the clouds with ease.
General Jord is in the aisle seat across from us, and General Seits is next to him, peering out the window. She hasn’t said a word since Kylie walked off. She and Ky seemed to have grown closer with her helping Ky plan our date, which is odd behavior for a general. They are supposed to put an end to relations between Creations, not encourage them.
“Everyone should load up now and be prepared when we land. Who knows how things will be when we get there,” General Jord says.
Even more reason why it doesn’t make sense for them to allow Normals to take the flight back. I’m fine being uncertain about what lies in wait for us. We’ll take down everything we can. But putting these Normals’ lives in danger is reckless. Maybe they didn’t do their research or care enough to check, but this doesn’t make any sense.
“Yes, sir,” Sean, Collins, and I respond.
An explosion blasts from beneath the plane.
Daylight reclaims the night sky in a flash.
The plane shakes, contents rumbling in the compartments. Panic draws screams from the passengers. The lights flicker and oxygen masks drop from the panels.
The flight attendant takes a spot in the aisle, trying to keep hold of the seats to remain upright. “Please, everyone. Try to remain calm.”
A second explosion comes from the rear, jolting the plane forward. We thrash frontward, and the flight attendant loses her grip and hits the floor.
A wail of beeps and ringing joins the shouts of the Normals and rumbling of the aircraft.
A suffocating scent of smoke and burning oil replaces the recycled air. The lights shut off. Passengers jump from their seats and scramble into the aisle.
Over the intercom the pilot says, “Please remain seated with your seatbelts fastened. If you are a Creation alongside your twin, take precaution and latch now in preparation for healing. We’re in for a tough landing.”
We take a nosedive, and the shift in space sends those standing falling to the front of the plane and us seated ramming against our seatbelts.
“Do not unbuckle your seatbelt,” I tell Sean, pointing to his belt because I can’t hear myself over the ruckus.
Collins shuffles around in the seat in front of us, yelling, “I don’t have a twin to grab. Help me!”
Sean grabs my hand, and I watch out the window as we meet the land.
The front of the plane plows into the ground. I jerk forward, and my head rams against the back of the seat in front of me.
Disoriented, I force myself to unbuckle my seatbelt. I catch myself on the seat now below me. “Come on, Sean.” He dangles forward at the waist, unconscious. I pat his cheek. “Get up. We need to help these people off this plane before it blows.”
He grumbles inaudible words.
“Come on, bro. You can do this.” He blinks, eyes rolling around in his head before they focus on me. “Attaboy. I’m going to unbuckle your belt. You will fall forward. We’re no longer upright.”
He looks around us then nods. “Wow. That was some landing, huh?”
“Yeah it was. Come on now.”
He unbuckles his belt and lowers himself onto the back of the seat beside me.
I pat his shoulder as he shakes the dizziness from his head. “Help anyone you can get to in the back. I’ll get the front.”
Sean gives me a nod and goes to help up the generals. They climb through the plane, helping anyone they can. The rear is flaming. That’s bad for the artillery we have stored beneath the plane.
Jumping to the next row of seats, I call, “Collins?” but I find her lodged between the seats with her neck snapped, and her body bent by the middle of her spine. She’s unresponsive.
Someone coughs. “Help,” an elderly voice calls, gasping. I climb over the seats to the next row and help an elderly woman onto my back. She pants in my ear. “Thank you very much, young man.” She wraps her arms tightly around my neck.
Throughout the plane, we hurry in search for survivors. Managing to balance on the back of seats while carrying Normals makes it hard, but even without the convenience of a flat surface, we make it work.
Metal whines. Bolts groan and a smaller explosion rumbles the plane. Fire rises from the nose and is escalating from the tail.
We meet at the door, balancing on the backs of seats to remain upright and avoid slipping to the front of the plane.
Jord’s holding an unconscious boy in his arms. He throws him over his shoulder and balances on one foot to kick open the door with the other.
We help out those we saved. “Hurry,” we shout and run out after the last of them. We did our best to get everyone off the plane, but as I’m jumping out, I hear another scream. I land and look up at the broken door. The jump from the ground to the door is out of my reach.
Gunshots pop off.
Shit! The bullets from the cargo. “Everyone hit the ground! Try to get as far from the plane as possible!”
Everyone drops. Bullets clip the legs and plow into the backs of those who were too slow.
An eruption explodes from the plane, brightening the land in red and orange. Splinters of metal and steel zip through the air. The fire swells and bursts. I’m thrust
ed backward, thrown off my feet, soaring through the air until I’m slammed against the ground.
My ears are ringing. Over it, I hear muffled cries and a hollow rumbling. I blink twice before I can make out the plane, over twenty feet from me, split in two. Both parts are blazing, people are on fire, running from the wreckage.
I try to turn my head, but a stiffening pain shoots down my spine. “Fuck.”
Sean crawls to me on his belly. “You okay?”
“No.” I wince from the movement. “I think my back is broken.”
He’s lying on the grass, elbows propped in the dirt with his chin resting on his fists. He smiles. “Well doesn’t that just suck for you. I’m just fine,” he sings.
I squeeze my eyes shut and pinch my lips together to prevent myself from cursing him out.
In a singing tone, he asks, “Would you like for me to heal your back, Marc?”
“No. Just let me lie here while all these Normals suffer as you lie there being an idiot.”
There’s a familiar thundering patter that sounds over the rumble of the fire. Heavy groans echo through the air, carried by the wind. Zombies.
“You hear that?” Sean asks, gone serious, taking my hand and healing my back. My vertebra and spine align and snap back into place.
I sit up, stretching to check my back’s strength. “Yes. Let’s get out of here.” I jump to my feet.
From the other side of the fire, a herd of Zombies are advancing in our direction.
“You see anyone else?” Sean asks, tugging on my arm.
“We don’t have time to look. And don’t have enough bullets to fight them off. We gotta go.”
I look around, noticing the plane crash-landed in a valley, seemingly just outside the fenced-off city of Highrum. No nearby states start beyond Highrum’s city limits. On the east, it’s grassland, trees, and the sky’s a clear blue during the day. On the west, desert, dry and desolate; never a cloud to shade the land from the sun. Highrum’s climate is a mixture of the two. The scientists managed to make every day perfect.
The growing cloud of smoke is about to change that.
We run across yards of grassland, racing for the border barrier. Beyond it is the city—buildings we can use for cover.
“I thought this was over,” Sean yells.
“Said who? We only made it worse,” I say.
“The silver building with the black windows at the top floor, near the roof. It’s a lab with a bunker,” Jord shouts from behind us. “We can hole up in there and revamp.”
I glance over my shoulder and see him and Seits coming up behind us. Glad to see they made it. The building is one of the three tallest on this end of the city. The black windows on it stand out from the other buildings with clear or mirrored windows. It’s a few blocks beyond the barrier. We make it to the twelve-foot border, climbing the metal infill panels reinforced by slabs of steel.
The Zombies are hard on our heels, making it to the barrier before we’re up and over it. We drop over fifteen feet to the ground, smacking into the concrete ditch hard on our backs and sides.
I grunt, rolling from my back to my side to push myself to my feet.
The barrier is shaking, thrusting forward and back. The growls and snarls of the Zombies grow louder.
I limp to Sean and grab his arm to yank him to his feet. “They’re going to make it over that fence,” I say. “We can’t stop now.”
“Just a few blocks north,” Jord says, popping Seits’s shoulder back in place. She groans in pain, gritting her teeth. She throws up her index finger, closes her eyes, and breathes deep.
“No time. We need to go,” I say.
They nod, and we push forward, climbing out of the ditch to higher ground. The creaking of the giving barrier draws my attention to the single Zombie that’s made it to the top and is falling over the edge.
“They made it over!”
We race for our destination with the herd of snarling Zombies coming up behind us. Some drag their feet, others thrash forward. Those that barged through the fire burn, the flames having little effect on them.
The first floor of our safe haven is surrounded by glass. The building goes up five flights, so there’s a slight advantage if we can make it to the roof and lock them inside. As we approach, scientists in white lab coats pull open the glass doors for us. We help them shove them closed once we’re in.
“Get something in front of those doors. We’re under attack!” Seits moves to a position facing the glass doors. “Back away from the glass.”
Sean and I drag a desk in front of the doors. I point to a tall man with a white lab coat and badge that reads Manager Chris. “We need guns, bags of ammunition, and anyone who’s willing to fight alongside us. There’s an army of them, and it’s going to take an army of us to take them out.” He nods and runs off to a hall behind me.
Taking a breath and looking around, I see the Creation flight attendants and a couple of Normals I didn’t notice coming over the wall and following us are in the lab along with us. Maybe they got a head start from the plane, made it over the barrier, and when they saw us running here, they joined. “We can help,” the flight attendant says, and the other nods, agreeing.
Those in white lab coats rush around the building and quickly bring us the guns and ammunition we need. We load up. Those willing to fight gather anything that they can use as weapons. And we line up in formation around the door, Creations in the front. Everyone else who’s not fighting with us ran downstairs. They sealed the door and locked us out.
Sean aims his weapon at the door. “They’re here.”
The Zombies crowd the building like an angry mob, snapping and slapping at the glass. It’s cracking against the impact of their growing pressure the more the ones in front are smashed against it.
Jord says, “When they make it through, shoot them. Don’t fire off a shot until they’ve broken through the glass. You must shoot or hit them in the head. It you can’t, knock out their legs to slow them down.”
“We went up there and took out those giant aliens,” Sean snaps. “This should be over,” he adds through his teeth.
It does all seem for nothing, but what’s done is done. “Not even close. Looks like we just pissed them off,” I say, drawing my second gun to fill my empty hand.
Sean looks from his left to his right, eyes darting to every entrance and sweeping over the glass walls. He looks at me, and I nod in agreement, already knowing his words before he says them. “There’s no way we’re going to be able to wipe them out.”
The Zombies claw at the spiderweb cracks, ramming the glass to worsen them.
“We can if there are enough of us,” Jord states, nodding.
My neck practically snaps with how quick I turn to him. Optimism. There are hundreds of these things and eight of us. The flight attendants have likely never had training other than flight school and basic first aid. The other two, judging by the fumbling way they hold their weapons, should be in front of us instead of behind, putting us at risk of being accidentally shot. And those of us who were trained for this, even with a gun in each hand, will easily be outnumbered.
Glass shatters around a corner. Jord runs to it, Seits right behind him.
Back at the Vojin’s base, that pink one told me there would be an end to the destruction if we helped take out those extra-large Vojin. But nothing has changed. The Zombies are still at large, and their threat is still being carried out. Killing those gray Vojin was only for their benefit, taking them from under their thumb. We were only pawns. They must’ve known we were coming and found a way to make us work for them, using us to divert their betrayal against their own kind.
Another glass shatters from the other side of the entry. “Hold your ground,” I tell those who volunteered to help. “Do what you can. We’ll take care of the lot.”
Chapter Seventeen
Hands on my hips, I pace the floor, waiting for instructions. I should be looking over some papers or have access to record
s I can review. Not slumming it in this ridiculous high maintenance suite! I kick the coffee table. It screeches across the marble floor.
They moved me from the Inn’s single room to my permanent dwellings on the other side of the Guidance building where the gold halls are replaced with cream walls and beige carpet. It’s an upgrade. My new room has a small kitchen, sitting area with a projector for visual entertainment, and a bedroom with double doors that block me from the nobody who will be inside the suite with me.
Bored, I stare at the double doors and grow angry with them. I march across the slippery floor. I tug the door on the left until I can snatch it off its hinges and toss it to the floor. Then off with the other.
With the doors gone, I finally step into the bedroom. It’s white. The carpet, walls, the heavy blanket on the bed, the pillowcases. A door in a wall to the left of the bed is also white. It must lead to a bathroom. I’ve not found it yet.
I head toward it to check it out, but a knock on the room’s door deters me.
“Finally!” Hopefully, whoever it is has something for me to do. The silence and lack of action is already killing me. I rush to the door, tripping over the long, wide-legged bottoms of the slacks I’ve been instructed to wear. They’re white, as is my long-sleeved blouse. The satin fabric feels like nothing against my skin. And maybe because I’ve been wearing my thick suit and heavy vests and helmets for such a long time, I feel lighter, and it’s uncomfortable.
They knock on the door again.
“Yes?” I yank it open.
Arletta barges in without an invitation. “Kylie, I have news.”
I push the door closed. “I’ve been waiting for something to keep me busy.”
She waves her hand. “It’s not that kind of news.” She continues in and immediately notices the large white doors laying on the floor. “Hmm,” she sounds. “What happened there?” she gestures toward the doors as she faces me, brows drawn inward and eyes squinting.
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