The Remnant

by Paul B Spence

  I won't leave you, Hunter replied fiercely.

  If I have to fall back to slow that thing down, I won't be alive long. You'll need to run, and I need you to take care of her, Tebrey demanded of him. Don't argue with me on this! I need to know you'll protect her!

  You know I will, Hunter replied. There were many unspoken things in his thoughts, pain and sorrow strongest among them.

  Ana sobbed quietly as she finished gathering the supplies. She'd heard the exchange in her mind. She knew what Tebrey was thinking he was going to have to do.

  "What about Dr. Anderson?" Hanna asked urgently. "We can't just leave him. What if he's hurt?"

  Tebrey grabbed her by her good arm and spun her to face the open door into the depths of the installation. "Didn't you hear that scream? That wasn't a scream of injury! He isn't hurt! He's dead! And dead is what we're all going to be if we don't move! Now!" He shoved her toward the corridor leading outside. "Go!" he screamed.

  Hunter, go open the door to the outside. I'll watch our rear. "Ana," he added aloud, "please go with Hunter."

  Ana nodded and followed Hunter out of the room, struggling under the heavy pack. She didn't take time to wipe the tears from her face. The others reluctantly followed them. Valerian and Christopher were the last ones out, supporting Pirro between them. Tebrey checked the gear left behind for anything else they could use. He could hear the students arguing in the corridor.

  Tebrey fell back out of the room, first shutting all of the doors. He didn't think that would stop what was coming for them, but it might slow it down. Maybe it would slow it down enough. He could still hear the people arguing ahead. Damn it, Hunter! Get that door open!

  I can't, Hunter replied desperately. It won't open.

  Tebrey shoved his way through the people and threw himself at the door. The glyphs looked scorched. The door wouldn't budge.

  "No! No! No!" he screamed in fury, hitting the door over and over until Christopher and Valerian grabbed his arms to keep him from hurting himself.

  "We have to find another way out, sir," Christopher shouted. "Sir!" She slapped him.

  That had the desired effect. He caught her second blow before it could land.

  "You're right. I'm sorry. That bastard Anderson must have destroyed the mechanism somehow. Look." Tebrey pointed to the remains of a hand lamp by the door. "Stand back and let me try the rifle."

  The bolt of blue energy dissipated from the door with no effect.

  Tebrey didn't waste time wondering why. He was tempted to try the positron pistol on it, but they'd all have taken a lethal dose of radiation just trying to get out the door, even if it did work. He wasn't so sure it would have.

  "Let's go. We know the right-hand door leads nowhere. We'll try the middle door. There has to be another way out of this place. No military installation has only one exit."

  He quickly led them back into the room and opened the next door. He hoped there weren't cross corridors. Whatever had killed Anderson would be coming for them.

  "Christopher," he said, "I'll take point so I can open doors. If there are any problems, if you see or sense anything, let me know immediately."

  Every shadow seemed to hold lurking horrors. Waves of nausea passed over him. He could sense Ana and Hunter being affected by it, as well. It had something to do with the thing hunting them. He knew that much.

  He had felt it for days on the Kirov before the creature had finally struck. Somehow he doubted this one was going to give them that much time.

  This one seemed hungrier.

  It was almost an hour before Christopher called out to him. He'd hoped to get further.

  "We need to go up whenever we come to stairs," Tebrey said. "Ana, go first with Hunter. See if you can open those doors. I'm going to try to slow this thing down."

  Ana gripped his arm for a moment and then turned away. He hated to see the pain on her face, but there was nothing he could do. If they were to survive, he had to face the fact that he might not.

  "Commander," Christopher called urgently again. She was at the back of the group. Her voice had an edge of hysteria to it.

  Tebrey pushed through the exhausted students to the rear. "What is it, Lieutenant?"

  "I thought I saw something," she said. "It was horrible, sir." She was pale and shaking. Tebrey could see sweat running down her face despite the chill air.

  "Don't think about it. Just go up front, Lieutenant," he said kindly. "I'll watch our rear."

  "Sir?" she said hesitantly.

  "Yes?" He could see many unsaid things in her eyes.

  "You may need this, sir." She held up her pistol. "Only three rounds left, but better you have it than me. I'm not sure I could react fast enough to fire at whatever it is following us. I could barely move when I saw it."

  "Thank you." He took the pistol and tucked it into his belt. "I'm afraid it may not help much." If this thing is like the one on the Kirov, he thought tiredly, bullets aren't going to work, explosive or not.

  You should let me help, Hunter thought angrily.

  Help Ana, Tebrey replied. Find a way out of here. I'll follow if I can.

  Ana led the group forward through the tunnels. She'd found that she did have the ability to open the doors. It was simple once she knew she could do it. She was worried about Hrothgar. Her love for him had grown into something she had no words for. She knew he had told the cat that he might not live through an encounter with the thing chasing them. She wasn't sure if she wanted to live if that happened. Hunter felt the same way. If Hrothgar fell, they would die together defending his body.

  Hunter met her eyes and nodded. They were agreed.

  The students each took turns helping Pirro. The man was almost unconscious from the pain of his broken leg. The group had to use hand lamps in some sections, as the lights refused to come on. They could see evidence of an ancient battle: desiccated Taelantae corpses and blast marks on the walls. Many of them cursed Anderson for bringing them there.

  It's about time they blame the right person, she thought.

  What's the plan? Hunter asked.

  We get them out, and then we go back for him, she replied.

  Sounds good to me.

  It took another half hour of running to find stairs leading up.

  Tebrey stayed behind as the group as they filed up and out of the stairwell. He had decided that the top of the stairs was a good place to make a stand. He leaned his rifle against the wall and drew both of his pistols. He knew the pistols would not do much, but he wanted to try the weapons he knew the best, first.

  The rifle was certainly effective against walls, but he had no idea what it really did, or what principles were involved in producing the blast of energy. He could feel the drain on him when he fired it, though. It sapped his energy, but there was something about how he felt when he held it. It was like an extension of himself. Like the sword the marquess had given him. He had no idea if it would be effective against the creature following them, but he didn't want to use the positron pistol except as a last resort.

  Darkness filled the bottom of the stairs.

  Insane laughter pressed into his mind as he caught a glimpse of the thing. It was coming for him, and it wanted more than his physical self. He could feel its hunger; it wanted his soul, but first it wanted his flesh and his pain.

  He emptied seven explosive rounds into it, all that he had left.

  The bullets didn't even slow it down.

  Chapter Seventy-Two

  Tebrey threw the now-useless pistols down at the thing coming up the stairs and screamed in wordless defiance.

  It was no good.

  He couldn't stop it.

  He knew where that despair came from and fought against it. It was the sort of tactic the creature on the Kirov had used against those on the ship who'd tried to fight back. It had driven them insane with despair.

  Tebrey snatched up the rifle from where it had fallen and poured his hatred and fear into it. He pulled the trigger. The blast
was more powerful than before, lighting up the corridor with a flash of actinic blue-white fire.

  The thing below him screamed and writhed in the flames. He fired again and again, disregarding the drain on his body. He was hurting the thing, but at a terrible price. Nevertheless, for the first time since he'd become aware of the creature, he felt hope. He was prepared to sell his life dearly. He might not be able to kill the thing, but he would be damned if he was going to lie down and die without a fight.

  All of his hopes and fears flashed through his mind and then left him empty as he pulled the trigger again and nothing happened. He fumbled with the packs he'd taken from the corpse, but the rifle was dead.

  And so was he.

  The dark thing at the bottom of the stairs shook off the last of the flames and screamed at him. The scream was a dark void, filled with an infinity of loathing and rage directed at him for daring to strike at it. He staggered back from the wave of nausea and pain it generated.

  All he had left were the positron pistol and the sword. He'd save the pistol for himself, in case it caught him. He drew the sword, holding it in both hands. He hated the thing in from of him. It might not be the same one that had killed Ripper, but it was related to it in some perverse way. And this one was going to steal away all of his hopes and dreams.

  He'd just wanted to live out his life with Ana. He'd never even wanted to come to this ruined place. He wanted a normal life. He didn't deserve death.

  "Come on!" he screamed. "You want me, you bitch? Come and get me!"

  To his astonishment, the thing actually paused on the stairs below him.

  Ana stumbled out into the warm air, blinking her watering eyes furiously against the sudden bright afternoon light. She was gasping from the long climb up the final stairwell and the weight of the heavy pack. She'd heard the shots ring out just before heading up the stairs, and Tebrey's wordless scream.

  The sound had weakened her knees. Only the presence of Hunter had kept her from racing back to where Tebrey was facing gods knew what, alone. She didn't even know what had happened to him.

  He's still alive, Hunter told her.

  The group had come out on the top of the granite cliff. There was a smudge of mountains to the southeast that they hadn't been able to see before. It was where the chateau was. So close and so far. All around her, she could see the ruins of ancient buildings. The door they had come out through was much like the one they had entered the day before at the bottom of the cliff, recessed into a mound of broken brown rock.

  Hunter was looking back into the dark doorway.

  "I'm sure he's okay," she whispered. He has to be.

  He's running, Hunter replied. He comes. It's chasing him. He says we need to move away from the door. We need to run and hide!

  Ana called out to the others. Some of them had collapsed on the ground. "We need to move away from the door! Christopher, get them up!" she yelled.

  The lieutenant nodded, too tired to notice who was giving the orders, just happy it wasn't her. "Get up, people!" she shouted. "Get your asses moving before I start kicking them!"

  They stumbled away from the dark entrance, trying to put more distance between them and whatever it was chasing Tebrey. They weren't going to make it far; they were too tired and wounded. The journey and the drain of the dark thing had taken its toll.

  They weren't going to get far enough.

  Ana could feel Tebrey's frustration and his new resolution.

  "No!" she screamed.

  Hunter knocked her to the ground.

  You can't stop what is coming. He can. It's the only way.

  "No!" she sobbed.

  At least we will be together.

  It hit him from behind just before the door to the outside.

  His sword flew from his hands as he fell. The bright sunlight was so close. He tried to crawl out. He needed to feel the sun on his skin one last time. It hit him again, burning him with dark fires.

  He screamed, his nerves already overloaded, and knowing worse was to come.

  What? I'm not your first? Naughty boy, it purred into his mind. It poured a cascade of fire over him again. It was playing with him. Dragging out his death in order to provide itself with the most entertainment.

  His anger flared. He wasn't going to die like this. He managed to turn and flail at the thing, his fists striking something that wasn't quite flesh. There was a flash of blue-white light. It jerked back as if burned itself, and screamed. He couldn't tell where the blast had come from, and didn't care.

  Tebrey got to his feet and ran out into the light. He drew his positron pistol and armed it. He stumbled suddenly as the fire hit him again. He screamed again and could feel himself weakening. He was succumbing to the agony of the burns. The dark fire ate into his flesh and consumed him. He could feel the thing getting stronger as he weakened.

  Somewhere, Ana was screaming.

  It came out of the doorway as he fell to his knees, unable to flee any more. It was impossible to tell exactly what it was; its form seemed to shift and writhe within its cloud of darkness. The entropic field it exuded caused the stone to crumble, and the grass and weeds turned black, dead and withered as it passed.

  The thing fell upon him, caressing him in a mocking parody of love as it burned him.

  He struggled to raise the pistol. He just had to fire it. The Nurgg would detect it and blast the mountain to rubble. It fought against him. He tightened his finger on the trigger, but he couldn't pull it.

  You'll die, it whispered.

  I'm dead anyway, he sobbed.

  It laughed. Not yet, you aren't. You know if you succeed, she'll die, and your brother, too. Give yourself to me, and I'll kill them mercifully.

  Liar! What do you know about mercy! If they are to die, it'll be on my terms, he thought savagely. Not yours!

  With a burst of strength he didn't know he had left, he turned and shoved the positron pistol into the mouth of the thing on top of him. Its many eyes widened in sudden fear.

  Die, you fucking bitch!

  He pulled the trigger, and the blast of antimatter tore the thing apart.

  Chapter Seventy-Three

  Ana cradled Tebrey's charred head in her lap, and wept.

  Hunter had dragged him out from under the corpse of the creature that had hunted them. It had already started to decay, and the stench of it almost covered the smell of burned flesh. His flesh.

  Ana sobbed and rocked slowly back and forth. She didn't need Hunter to tell her that Tebrey was going to die. She could see that from how badly he was burned. His eyes were open, but they stared sightless, the beautiful green burned to a milky blue shot with red. The blast had seared the skin of his face and chest, and the skin had burst open, oozing. The arm that had held the pistol had been blasted apart in the explosion. The charred stump had pulsed blood until Christopher had tied a tourniquet on it.

  Now his breath was getting shallower and more ragged.

  She screamed in wordless grief.

  Ana…

  The thought was weak, but she grasped at it in desperation. Hrothgar!

  Brother! Hunter pushed close. We're here!

  I'm sorry, Tebrey thought. I didn't have any other way of stopping it.

  Don't think about that now.

  I did stop it, right? It didn't get away?

  It's dead.

  Christopher knelt down beside her and held her shoulders gently. "Ana? We need to go."

  "He's still alive!" she screamed.

  "I know," Christopher said softly. "But we won't be if we stay here. The Nurgg will have detected that. We don't have much time."

  She's right, Tebrey thought. Ana could tell that he was trying to keep his pain from leaking out to her and Hunter. You need to leave. If they're in the outer system, you'll have about an hour before they get here and blast this site.

  "We're not going to leave you!"

  "I'm… already… dead," Tebrey said. His voice was weak.

  "I'm so sorry, Co
mmander," Christopher said. "Sir." She took a deep breath. "Tebrey, I never got a chance to tell you that–"

  "Shush," he said. "You did well. Now keep them safe."

  "Thank you," she said softly. "Ana, we need to go."

  "Get the others out of here. I'm not going anywhere."

  Ana, you'll die if you stay. Please go. Before it's too late.

  No.

  Hunter!

  What she said, he replied. We all die sometime. We may as well die on our own terms.

  I don't want you to die, Tebrey thought desperately.

  We don't want you to die.

  "Christopher…get them out… order."

  Hunter growled.

  "Just how am I supposed to do that?"

  A distant rumble and sonic booms interrupted his reply.

  Shit, how did they get here so fast? Run! Run back into the installation! You might survive the kinetic blast!

  "I'm not leaving you!" Ana screamed.

  I don't think that's the Nurgg, Hunter thought suddenly. Listen. That isn't the sound of a missile. I think it's a shuttle.

  "A shuttle?" Ana asked.

  "A shuttle!" Christopher suddenly yelled. She jumped up and ran to the others, waving her arms.

  It is a shuttle, Hunter thought. Don't you dare give up now.

  Ana reached out into his mind, but he was fading fast. Emptiness was filling him, like a blissful flood, drowning out the pain.

  Hrothgar!

  The sleek black assault shuttle circled the top of the cliff twice before settling to the ground with a blast of jets. The stark barrels of laser cannon jutted from under the wings, pointed in their direction.

  "I don't know that make of shuttle. It's not Nurgg, but it isn't one of ours," Christopher said. She raised her hands over her head. She didn't have any weapons anyway. "Don't anyone make any sudden moves or try to run. Hunter, restrain yourself."

  A low growl was her only answer. She hoped that he'd think about what he was doing before charging into laser cannon fire.