by J. D. Cavan
Zim glared at him before loud rounds rang out in the parking lot. James’s biker crew sprung out of the woods behind the Replica, guns blazing in a surprise attack. The Replica were caught off guard, and many were blown away instantly.
Zim shouted in anger, and when he turned around, James hit him with two hard rights, sending him crashing to the ground. James searched for Zim’s fallen Glock in the dirt, found it, and blasted at him. He stepped closer, firing away. Zim’s shoulder tore open, and just as James looked ready to finish off the general, Samantha noticed Replica ready to riddle James with a ton of lead. She yanked James off his feet just as the bullets ripped through the parking lot sending dust into the air.
The firefight erupted further, the Ereb positioned around the hideout firing at Replica and Replica hidden behind vans returning fire. James’s crew was taking heat, and some were locked in hand-to-hand combat with Replica. Samantha fired her blasters, gunning down Replica and staving off their attack, but ultimately one-by-one the crew began to go down. Soon, all four of James’s crew lay in their own blood. Ereb blood spilled again.
She stopped firing her blaster pistols and crouched down behind some steel beer kegs and focused her mind. The wind and the rain had stopped, but with the gunfire, it sounded like a warzone. Then she noticed two Replica assault helicopters appearing high up over the tree line, with drones on either side.
“Cover me!” Samantha shouted to James and Shark as she stood up and stepped out into the open. They blasted away while she threw up a hand and used every bit of her intellect to psychokinetically lock the rotors of one of the helicopters, sending it wildly off course and eventually colliding down onto some of the vans below. She felt the intense heat from the explosion and watched Replica scatter, some of them in flames.
Before she could get to the other copter, it sent two rockets screaming toward them.
“Run!” she shouted to the others as she diverted one of the missiles, sending if off into the woods. The other rocket, however, came whistling in and exploded right next to her. Her world went dark.
5
SHE HEARD PETE’S VOICE. He was whispering to her, warning her of something. She asked him where he was and what he was trying to tell her, but there was no reply.
Samantha woke up in excruciating pain. Her eyes were shut and it felt like she had burns on her legs and arms. She was flat on her back, rocking and smashing back and forth.
She opened her eyes and grunted. She tried to sit up and orient herself, but she was locked in place. Her head cleared up and she went to move again, but then realized she was strapped to a steel gurney in the back of one of the Replica vans. She searched for Pete—she had heard his voice, but he wasn’t there.
She lifted her head up and could see that her clothing was torn and ripped off her body from the blast. She had cuts and burns all over. Her ears were ringing from the explosion, and her body felt like it was in flames. A half-dozen Replica stood over her, weapons drawn, hanging onto the sides of the van as it raced down the road.
General Zim came up from the front of the van and into her range of vision, his shoulder and arm wrapped in tape and gauze. Then she noticed that her pants were torn open up one side to her hip; her tank was ripped and her chest was almost out. They didn’t even have enough respect for her to cover her up with something. That pissed her off, and she snapped one of the straps that held her arm reached up and grabbed a Replica by the shirt. She yanked him down and cracked his head against the side of the gurney. Zim hit her smack in the face with the butt end of his rifle, stunning her into stars. She felt the pain shoot through her jaw and blood fill her mouth.
She growled in a rage and was about to rip free of the other straps when another Replica dressed in a white lab coat injected her with something electronically. She saw the probe and needle go into her arm. Whatever it was instantly froze her.
The doctor stood by her side, holding the handheld electronic injection device, and said, “She’ll be out of the sedation in seconds. Her body is metabolizing it at an incredible rate.”
“Use another shot, Doc,” General Zim ordered, the van bouncing and racing.
“Wouldn’t work, she’s adapted to it already,” the Replica doctor said as he reached out to brace himself against the sidewall of the van. “Sorry General, but we know nothing about them medically. We’ve never actually captured one.”
“Not my idea,” General Zim snapped, as he put the tip of his Glock against her head. “Let me know when she’s coming out of it.”
“Put the gun away!” another voice shouted.
She could feel her body coming out of the sedation, and she could move her neck and twisted to see. She couldn’t believe who it was. It was the Original.
“Dr. Myers, she’s going to try and kill us all in about—” General Zim looked at the doctor who had fixed his attention on the injection device.
“Three seconds,” the doctor uttered.
“Give her another injection!” Myers ordered urgently. She tried to catch his eyes, but he wouldn’t look at her.
“It won’t work,” the doctor replied, before counting down, “two—one—she’s awake!”
“Don’t!” Myers knocked Zim’s gun from his hand just as it fired. She was about to break out of the straps when there was an explosion of sound.
The van was sideswiped in the front, sending it careering and spinning wildly out of control. Everyone was thrown chaotically about as the van began turning over and over. Her bed flew up and her head hit the ceiling and everything went dark for her again.
* * *
WHEN SHE SNAPPED out of it, she found herself upside down with the gurney on top of her. Excruciating pain came next. She growled and forced herself to break the remaining straps that held her arm and legs. She started to move the bed off of her when she heard gunshots. She tossed the steel gurney over and could see that the van was on its side with the back doors open.
James and Luca were standing there. They had gunned down some Replica that had tried to get out. James turned away and went to the front of the van while Luca quickly went to cover her as she crawled toward the exit.
James came back around again. “No Zim, he’s gone.”
“Let’s go.” Luca took her arm. She could hear Replica helicopters in the distance. Her head was hazy and she could feel that her ribs were likely broken. More pain shot through her body and she moaned loudly.
Rustling came from the back of the van and James and Luca raised their automatics and pointed. She turned and watched Myers struggling to stand up.
“Don’t!” she said, huffing her words out. It hurt to even speak. James ignored her and fixed his sights.
Myers stood in front of them, bleeding from his head. His clothing was torn up from the wreck. “Listen to me,” he grunted his words out, obviously in great pain. “I know I can convince them to take you if you agree to go peacefully,” he said to Samantha.
“You’re kidding me?” James barked. “Don’t you see who’s in control here? We should take you hostage—see what Aion would give for your safe return! On second thought, I should send a message to Aion right now. Send them your head.” James dropped his gun and pulled a large knife out of his belt.
Myers shook his head, a pained looked across his face. “You’re all doomed.”
James held the knife up and went to take a step toward Myers before Samantha stopped him. “They would have killed me if it wasn’t for him.” The copter sounds were louder. “Leave him, James. He doesn’t mean anything to us.” She glared at Myers.
James’s sighed and his cheeks puffed out with air, but then he turned away in frustration.
As James and Luca carried her around the van she could see what had crashed into it. It was a giant tractor- trailer. James hurried, helping her into the passenger’s side of the massive truck, while Luca raced over and jumped into the driver’s seat. The drones and copters would be on them in moments. Luca quickly started the rig, backed it up o
nto the road, and began to drive off.
More pain came as the adrenaline dropped, and she was close to passing out. She thought about Myers back in the destroyed Replica van where they had left him. She thought about his offer, what he still wanted, and his warning. Maybe she should have gone with the Replica willingly—maybe she should have done exactly what she did and fight them, and maybe she should have let James kill Myers. Her head was a confusing mess, second only to the mess her body was in. She shut her eyes, and then her mind followed.
6
OFF IN THE DISTANCE the sun was setting brilliantly over the rocky landscape, turning the Sonoran Desert a bright purplish red. The air was getting cooler and Samantha found herself standing outside her tent wrapping a blanket over her shoulders. She looked out over the dozens of tents and lean-tos scattered about the Ereb camp. Shadows formed around the giant saguaro cacti and she noticed, off in the distance, a vague figure walking toward her. At first she thought it was one of the cacti, arms out and up in the air, but soon she could see that it was a person. She felt her heart race in fear as the figure got closer, but then relief and joy as she recognized the long golden blonde hair and bright green eyes that seemed to speak the absolute truth before words. The tall and lanky figure approached her.
Lilith’s pale freckled face studied Samantha as if it was the first time she’d layed eyes on her.
“What should we do?” Samantha asked her, impatiently.
Her mouth turned up on both sides and she craned her neck, gazing deeply into Samantha’s eyes. We are here for everyone, Lilith said to her mind.
“I know that, but what should I do about it?” Samantha was desperate for an answer.
Lilith’s face darkened, but her eyes remained fixed on Samantha. We are here for everyone, she told her again, as if Samantha wasn’t getting it.
Lilith then turned and walked away. Samantha tried to speak but couldn’t. She tried to run after her but couldn’t move. She wanted to shout for help, ask Lilith what she meant, but panic enveloped her and then everything changed.
She felt the heat immediately. It was incredibly hot and bright, and she shielded her face, stepping backward so she could see what was causing it.
She noticed that she was standing high up on a mound of steel and concrete rubble. Thick smoke burned her eyes and then began to clear and she could finally see twisted metal and collapsed buildings, flames enveloping the city.
* * *
SAMANTHA FELT HER burns and throbbing pain. The dreams—which were more like odd prophetic visions of Lilith and the world on fire—haunted her. Twice now she had seen the supposed death of the world, and she wondered what more might be revealed to her.
She had been in and out of consciousness since James and Luca saved her, and now she sat between them in the front of the rig. James had the window cracked and the cool air felt good on her face.
Lilith’s words seemed to float in front of her, hovering in the air as if she was reading them. We are here for everyone. She knew that the Ereb were there to help everyone, that wasn’t a riddle. Except apparently it was, and it was one she was nowhere near figuring out.
Night was falling and James was nursing his injuries, as he always did, with beer. Luca drove.
“I see you’re awake,” James said, “and probably feeling like crap. Here, take one of these. It will help.” He tried to hand her a can. “I found a cooler in the back cab loaded with beer. I have the best and worst luck.”
Before she passed out, James had given her his biker jacket so she could cover herself. She pulled the zipper up a bit and smelled the waxy leathery scent and felt the hardness of it on her skin.
“Alright, what happened?” She finally felt like she had enough sense to get the story.
“Janey, Bags and Dani are in the back trailer, probably wondering what the hell is going on.” James downed a can of beer.
“The others?” she asked.
“Shark’s gone,” Luca said. “He put up a damn good fight though.”
“I saw a lot of Replica blown away before finally they put one in his head,” James followed.
“Pete?” she asked.
“Don’t know,” James replied. He looked pissed. “A ton of cops suddenly showed up and Aion started throwing nanos from the drones to control the scene. We barely got down the road and your boy Luca stole this truck. You got blown to bits, if you haven’t noticed, and Zim got you in a van and we went on a chase after you.” James touched his face. It still looked pretty beat up from his fight with Zim. He cracked another beer.
“Pete started going on about synchronic sense, while I was trying to get everyone left in the truck,” Luca huffed in exasperation. “Then I turned around and he was gone.”
“Probably got um killed.” James lifted the can and drank more of his sorrows down. “I can’t tell Janey.”
“I heard him when I was in the van,” Samantha said. “I was out cold but I think he was trying to reach me, warn me of something.” She struggled to remember but nothing specific returned.
“You think he’s still alive?” Luca asked.
“We should go back. We never leave one of us behind,” she said, knowing that Pete could be dead and the voice she heard could’ve been some kind of hallucination.
“We’re not leaving anyone behind,” James replied, sounding defensive.
She started getting her head back and making more sense of everything. “If he’s alive, then he’ll be down south in Georgia where we located the Potentials.”
James nodded in agreement. “Exactly.”
“But Sam, don’t try and find Pete psychically. Nothing’s working any more, mind barriers, nothing,” Luca said. “If you get a synchronic sense, ignore it. We’re lying low, real low.”
She clenched her jaw. More Ereb dead and gone. She loved Pete—anyone with synchronic sense was special to her. She’d only met a few others, and she had Actualized all of them. Now they were all gone. Her emotional suffering started to compete with her physical pain in a ball of unspeakable misery.
“We need to get to the Potentials, and I’ll Actualize them. I know Pete will be there and we can do another EER to find more Potentials.” She heard her own voice and it sounded desperate and she hated it. None of that would stop Aion’s human extinction phases that were days away. The vision of her standing on a huge pile of rubble watching the ruined city burning returned to her.
“That’s where we’re heading now,” Luca said. “We got ahead of you Sam, while you were out cold.”
“We’ll be outside of Pittsburgh soon and we’ll ditch this truck and get some new rides to get us to Georgia, to the Potentials,” James followed.
“We have to be very careful or we’ll have Replica all over us, again. Why don’t you shut your eyes, rest Sam.” Luca told her. She wasn’t tired, she didn’t want to rest. She was angry now and sensed accusation and blame in Luca’s tone.
“I’m not going to draw Replica to us, unless I want them to find us. I’m sick of your worrying.”
“I’m sick of Replica showing up all the time,” Luca snapped back at her.
“The bank? You’re still pissed about that? It wasn’t about Replica, Luca, it was about the Original. You still don’t get that yet, do you?” She said it in anger, wishing she hadn’t. There was a pause.
“And you don’t get the risk—”
“To everyone, Luca,” she interrupted him. “The risk is to everyone.” Lilith’s words from her dream spontaneously returned to her, even though she was still confused as to what it actually meant. We are here for everyone.
Luca sighed loudly and there was a tense silence for a while.
“So that was him, huh? The Original? The one you wouldn’t let me off?” James asked with bitterness in his voice.
“Yeah, that’s him,” she replied absently. Both of them were bugging her now.
“He was with Zim, Sam,” Luca stated. “And that’s not good.”
She cringed. Luca
just wouldn’t let up. “Thanks for pointing out the obvious. You’re so good at that. Or did you forget that he tried to stop Zim from blowing my head off?” It was quiet again after that, and she gazed past James and out of the window, watching the world go by.
Luca shook his head. “He’s still taking about you surrendering. Fat chance.”
She wasn’t so sure about that. Their options were dwindling, and at this point going with Aion—wherever the hell that was—seemed better than dealing with Luca’s bad attitude.
“I don’t trust him, but I do believe him.” She paused for a moment. “All those kids we grew up with in the foster homes and on the streets—even some of the people who took care of us—not everyone was bad, Luca. And they’re all going to be dead if we don’t do something.”
“I don’t want to see the human race wiped out any more then you do,” Luca replied, “but it all won’t matter if the Ereb don’t survive.”
It was silent again. A steady rain had started and it pattered on the windshield.
“We don’t have what you do, so we can’t judge.” James glanced at her and, unusually so, there wasn’t any sarcasm in his voice. He was almost being respectful.
“I’m sorry about your crew,” she said. They had sacrificed their lives for her, and that was something she never took for granted.
James nodded. “I didn’t mean it before. You know, about being sick of protecting you. Without you, there’s no us.” James’s face stared to heal right in front of her, the cuts on his forehead and cheeks scaring up.
She felt the awkward tension. She and James rarely said nice things to each other, let alone apologize. He was afraid, humbled perhaps, by the fight. And losing Pete. They needed each other now in ways they hadn’t ever before.
“Beat the Aion out of you?” Luca said, repeating James’s words and annunciating each of them. “Where’d you come up with that one?” There was a brief pause before all three of them burst out in laughter. Luca was never comfortable with any emotion and always tried to divert it, Samantha noticed.