Slayers

by C. J. Hill

  It was after midnight when they stopped on the street that led to Overdrake’s compound. They pulled off the road and parked where the trees hid them from view.

  Before climbing out, the Slayers pulled on black ski masks. The change in their appearances was immediate and frightening. The cutouts around their eyes gave everyone a hollow, ugly appearance.

  Next, Tori put on her bulletproof jacket and helmet. She and the other girls tucked their hair into their ski masks, which made them nearly indistinguishable from the guys. The thick vests hid anything feminine about their bodies. Then Theo had them test their headsets, making sure the microphones, video feeds, and earpieces worked.

  Tori got out of the van with the rest of the group. Booker handed her a .223 rifle and she was surprised that he also handed guns to Theo and Dr. B. Apparently everyone at camp was a trained marksman. She wondered why they needed her as a bodyguard at all, but then reasoned that Theo, Dr. B, and Booker would be busy studying the monitors and keeping track of the Slayers. With her keeping watch, they had one less thing to worry about.

  She gingerly put her rifle into the sling on her back. The slings kept the rifles out of the way, but at a moment’s notice, the guns could be flipped forward to use. Tori slipped her tranquilizer gun into the holster around her waist, then double-checked her vest pockets for ammo. The other slayers had various contraptions in their pockets to help them break in. She didn’t know how to use most of them and wasn’t supposed to leave the vicinity of the vans anyway.

  Dr. B, she could tell, was nervous about letting her come. Back at camp, he’d made her practice shooting the tranquilizer gun until the group left for Winchester, and she was pretty sure he would have made her practice in the van if he could have.

  Now his nervousness was directed toward his daughter. He gave her a pat on her shoulder as she checked her rifle. “Be careful,” he said, and left his hand to linger on her shoulder.

  “I’ve got that on my checklist,” Bess told him.

  He didn’t let go of her shoulder. “I’m trying to think about the good of the nation right now, but as a father, I want to order you all back in the van and drive you as far away from this place as I can.”

  “We’ll be okay,” she said.

  “I don’t know how so many parents have done it—sent their children off to battle …”

  Bess tugged at one of her gloves, adjusting it. “The eggs aren’t armed, and Overdrake’s men aren’t expecting us. This will be easier than most of the drills you’ve put us through.”

  Dr. B leaned close and gave her a hug. In a low voice that Tori shouldn’t have been able to hear, he said, “Your mother is at home pacing the floor and won’t stop until you come back to camp.”

  Bess gave him a quick hug back. “I’ll be fine.”

  Jesse motioned to Bess and Dirk. “Time to go pay Mr. Smith a visit.”

  The three of them jogged down the street, keeping their heads low to stay behind the bushes that grew on the side of the road. The rest of the Slayers—except for Tori—followed a few yards behind, pushing the motorcycles so they didn’t make any noise.

  After Jesse flew over and checked out the defenses, he would come back to fly Bess over the fence while Dirk jumped over. Once the guards were tranquilized and the gate was open, Shang, Kody, Lilly, Alyssa, and Rosa would ride the motorcycles into the compound. They’d pick up Bess and Dirk, take out any other guards in the area, then head to the enclosure.

  Alyssa and Rosa would wait at the gate to make sure it stayed open. If Overdrake’s men counterattacked and Alyssa and Rosa couldn’t keep the gate open, then Jesse would have to fly the Slayers over the fence one by one. Only Dirk could leap over it on his own. Tori didn’t like to think about that possibility. It would take Jesse too long. And one of the last things Dr. B had said to the group before they left was that part of any mission was knowing when to cut losses.

  Losses. Had he meant lives?

  What if you succeeded in destroying the eggs, Dr. B had asked them during the meeting about Overdrake’s compound, but one of you died in the process—would you still think an attack was the right thing to do?

  Now the phrase kept running through Tori’s mind like a bad omen.

  Eventually Jesse’s voice came over the radio in a hushed whisper, “I’m over the property. No one’s in any of the trees. Guards are patrolling the fence at the three and nine o’clock position. This shouldn’t be too hard.” A minute later he whispered, “There’s only one guard by the enclosure’s door. I’ll take care of him, then come back for Bess.”

  Silence filled the feed for several moments, then Jesse’s voice came again. “Direct hit into the neck. He should be out soon.”

  The radios went quiet.

  Tori made a loop around the vans, checking for any unusual motion in the trees around her. Nothing. She made another loop. She couldn’t stand still. The knit ski mask itched against her face. She tried to scratch her cheek without jiggling her helmet.

  It occurred to her in a detached sort of way that some kids sent postcards from summer camps. She imagined writing one to her friends.

  Camp is a blast. I’ll be spending my third night here helping my bunkmates break into a dangerous, high-security compound. I hope we don’t suffer any fatalities. How’s your summer going?

  A hissing sound filled Tori’s ear and Dirk said, “Direct hit to the security booth. We’ll see if the smoke bomb does the trick.”

  Tori made another loop around the van. She didn’t see anything out of the ordinary, so she peered inside the van’s window, trying to catch sight of the monitor screens. One showed smoke billowing from the guard station. A man pushed through it, waving his hands at the clouds of smoke. C’mon, Dirk, Tori thought. Shoot the guy so he can’t alert anybody.

  Before she saw if Dirk did, she pulled herself away from the window and made another circular sweep of the area. Guarding the van had to be her first priority. It was an easy job and she would never live it down if she messed up.

  A couple minutes later, Kody said, “The gate is open. We’re going in.” The sounds of their motorcycles purred in her earpiece. She was glad Dr. B had the foresight to buy ones that weren’t noisy.

  Not long after that, Alyssa added, “We’re in place.”

  Dirk’s voice came on the line. “I’ll take out the guard positioned at nine o’clock.”

  Jesse said, “Bess, take Rosa’s bike and get the guard at three o’clock. Everybody else, head to the enclosure with me.”

  No one spoke for a few minutes. Tori fingered her tranquilizer gun and scanned the trees on either side of the road.

  Finally, Dirk’s voice came over the radio. “I haven’t seen the guard who’s supposed to be at the three o’clock position and—oh, wait—” His voice broke off, and Tori’s stomach clenched.

  Was that a good “oh, wait,” or a bad “oh, wait”?

  After what seemed like a long time, Dirk said, “I got him. I’m waiting to make sure he goes down, and then I’ll head to my guard post.”

  Jesse’s voice came over the radio. “Bess, what’s your situation?”

  “Same as always—I’m chasing after men who don’t know I exist.”

  “Have you seen your guard?”

  “Yeah, and he’s way too old for me. Plus, he just went unconscious—those are big turnoffs for me.”

  “Head toward the enclosure.”

  “I’m not far away. Don’t start the party without me.”

  The line went quiet for an annoyingly long time. Tori kept making slow circles around the vans. No other cars came by. It was going as they’d planned, and yet Tori was a bundle of nerves.

  Tori looked inside the van window to check on Dr. B. He was leaning back in his seat, staring at the monitors calmly. Calmly. She had no idea how he managed that. Or for that matter, how any of the Slayers managed it. Bess had been cracking jokes.

  Maybe Jesse had been right when he’d yelled at her after she’d gone to Hollings
. Maybe she wasn’t as brave as the rest of them. Or maybe she was just smarter, because—hello—did the rest of them not realize what could happen when you broke into a place where everyone carried loaded guns?

  Dirk’s voice came over the radio. “I’m up the tree—there’s a very nice platform up here with a swivel telescope in case we forgot our binoculars. A very considerate host, Mr. Smith. The men are still on the ground where we left them. I don’t see any new ones approaching. Right now, I’d say my stint at guard duty is uneventful.”

  “Great,” Jesse said. “Kody’s got the guard’s hand on the door control panel—we’re going into the enclosure.”

  Dr. B chimed in for the first time. “Tell me what you see, especially if there’s anything unusual. The quality of the video feed isn’t very good in the dark.”

  Jesse said, “We’re in an outer room. There’s a circular staircase that leads up to the roof and a huge sliding door ahead. It’s wide open, so we don’t have to mess with the control panel.”

  Lilly said, “The walls are superthick, like two feet, and they’re made of some weird concrete.”

  Multiple voices came on the line, most of them saying things like, “Wow,” and “Unbelievable.”

  Kody said, “It’s like a park in here. Trees, boulders, and a mess of bushes. There’s even some ponds over yonder.”

  Shang said, “The floor juts down from where we’re standing and then slopes down even farther. The bottom is underground and there are no other floors above us. I guess dragons need a lot of room. We’re going down the stairs now. It will take a few minutes.”

  Judging from the pictures Tori had seen of the building, it was three stories high. It must be huge inside.

  Bess said, “I caught up with the others. Let the good times roll.”

  Tori strode around the vans with quick, deliberate steps. Just do what you have to and get out, she thought.

  “Those must be the eggs,” Kody finally said. “They’re sitting over there in that cement nest thing.”

  Another minute passed. “They look like they’re made of solid stone,” Jesse said, and a tapping noise indicated he hit one.

  Which is when Tori realized something was very wrong.

  CHAPTER 33

  “Jesse,” she said into her mouthpiece. “I don’t hear you.”

  “I’m fine,” he said, then added, “Theo, check Tori’s radio.”

  “No, Jesse.” She tried to push away the panic that clawed at her. “I hear you, and I hear a dragon egg, but you’re not in the same place.”

  “Do you hear this?” he asked. A smack sounded in her earpiece. He’d hit something, probably the stone eggs, but the dragon’s heartbeat went on beating in the silence that surrounded it.

  “Those aren’t the eggs.” Tori’s words tumbled over each other in their hurry. “It’s some sort of a trap. You have to get out of there.”

  Kody sounded indignant. “We didn’t come all of this way to leave these—”

  But Lilly cut him off, “Up there—the doors are closing!”

  Someone swore. Tori stopped pacing around the van and looked toward the property as though she could see something if she strained hard enough. After a few moments, someone let out a sound halfway between a grunt and growl. Inside the van, Dr. B stood up. “What’s happening?”

  “The doors slid shut,” Lilly said. “Jesse tried to keep them open until we could get to them and nearly got smashed.”

  “Break them open,” Dr. B said. “You’ve got the jackhammer with you.”

  Jesse didn’t answer. Another voice came over the line—not one connected to their radios—but one coming from a speaker inside the dragon enclosure.

  “Welcome, Slayers,” a man said. He had the same sort of almost-British accent that Dr. B had. Only it was thicker, more pronounced. It had to be Overdrake. “Or perhaps I should say, welcome Dirk, Kody, Lilly, Alyssa, Jesse, Shang, Bess, and Rosa.”

  A cold dread spread through Tori. Overdrake knew who they were. Had he tapped into their radio transmissions? No, that couldn’t be it. They hadn’t used their names while they were talking. Besides, he hadn’t called her name, and Jesse had said it over the radio just a few moments before.

  “You wanted to take something away from me tonight,” Overdrake said. “Something I care a great deal about. You won’t blame me if I return the favor.”

  “Dirk,” Dr. B said, “What’s going on outside of the enclosure. Do you see reinforcements?”

  “No—wait, yes. A bunch of men on motorcycles came out of the barn—looks like about fifteen. I think they’re heading to the gate.”

  “Take out as many as you can,” Dr. B said, “then follow defense procedure two. Alyssa and Rosa, keep the gate open.”

  Tori didn’t know anything about defense procedure two, but she knew the goal of this mission had suddenly and drastically changed. Now they were just trying to get everyone out alive. Her mind raced in that direction. Only Rosa, Alyssa, and Dirk were outside of the enclosure. How could three of them fight off Overdrake’s men and free the other Slayers from the enclosure?

  They needed Tori’s help.

  She didn’t move.

  Without trying to, her mind ran through a list of reasons why rushing into the compound was a bad idea: She hadn’t trained with the others. She didn’t know how to fight armed men. Jesse and Dr. B had both told her to stay at the van. It was foolish to go in, dangerous.

  You’re a coward, she told herself. You care more about protecting yourself than helping others. Overdrake was right about people. Only heroes and stupid people rushed into hazardous places. Everyone else avoided them.

  She sighed and ran to Booker’s trailer, where a couple of extra motorcycles waited. She climbed onto one, hoping she was being heroic and not stupid, then spoke into her neck mike. “I’m going to help them.”

  She turned the ignition, hit the kickstand, and rocketed down the ramp.

  Dr. B didn’t answer her, perhaps because Overdrake spoke again.

  “ … the walls are made to keep full-grown dragons inside, I’m afraid you’re not going to be able to break through them, even with your jackhammer. And I’ve moved the eggs. They’re safely out of your reach.”

  Tori thought of the familiar humming sound she’d heard around the eggs earlier. Now she realized what it was. The sound of a truck driving down the road. Why hadn’t she figured it out before? She should have known the eggs had been moved.

  Overdrake went on, “Now that you’ve found me, I’m faced with the choice of relocating everything or getting rid of you. You forced me into this, remember that. It wasn’t my choice to destroy you. I don’t enjoy doing it.” Tori didn’t detect any regret in his voice. He sounded chiding, like a teacher who’d caught a student cheating on a test.

  “That hissing sound you hear—well, perhaps you can’t hear it. If Tori were with you, she’d be able to pinpoint it, but you left her behind, so you’ll just have to take my word. It’s dimethyl ether coming through one of the air vents.”

  Tori jolted. How had Overdrake known about her hearing? What else did he know? “I’ve added a few other drugs for good measure,” he went on. “You’ll be unconscious soon, and I don’t need to tell you what happens to your powers then.” He gave a small, chilling laugh. “Of course, your powers will be gone in half an hour anyway. The simulator signal from your van can’t penetrate these walls.”

  Jesse had taken off his mouthpiece, but even though he whispered, Tori still heard his voice through the other radios. “Ether is flammable. We need to find every vent in here. Kody, you shoot fire at them. Bess, throw a forcefield at the one that’s not pumping air.”

  Kody’s voice came over the radio, ragged with anger. “How did he know we were coming? Who tipped him off?”

  A sharp jab of regret twisted in Tori’s stomach. She had told Dr. B about this place. Did everyone think she’d betrayed them? She was the newest Slayer, the unknown. It stood to reason they would suspect her
first.

  Tori pressed down on the gas pedal. Helping the Slayers escape would prove it wasn’t her fault.

  She drove past Rosa and Alyssa at the gate and kept on going. Tori was afraid if she stopped and tried to coordinate a plan, they might tell her to go back to the van. So she would head toward Overdrake’s men and try to take out as many as she could before they got to the gate. Since her motorcycle hardly made any noise and the headlight was off, Overdrake’s men would have a hard time seeing her.

  “I wish I could tell you that you’d been worthy opponents,” Overdrake droned on, “but you’ve been pathetically easy to capture.” He let out a content sigh. “Now I’ve got to see to your compatriots outside the cathedral. They’re all visible through my cameras.”

  “If you can see me,” Dirk said, “I have something to show you.”

  Tori imagined but didn’t ask if Dirk was giving Overdrake the finger. She didn’t have time to talk. Men were coming her way. The buzz of their motorcycles grew louder.

  A light pole up ahead was making her an easy target.

  That had to go. She swung her rifle into position, aimed, and shot. With an offended crack, the light extinguished. “Dirk, take out any lights you see,” she said into her mouthpiece, then drove to the right, out of the motorcycles’ path. She made a sharp turn and stopped her bike so she could shoot them from the side.

  The motorcycles came into view, their headlight beams bouncing in front of them. Perhaps twelve bikes in all.

  On the way up, Dr. B had reminded the group they couldn’t shoot moving tires. Something about the physics of spinning objects. Tori aimed for the lead motorcycle’s engine block, fired a couple of times, then set two more motorcycles in her sight and did the same.

  For a few moments, she thought the bullets hadn’t penetrated the engine blocks. All the motorcycles kept going. Then one of the motorcycle spun out, crashing into the bike behind it. The sound of metal clanged angrily, and the bikes thudded to the ground. Another motorcycle skidded right, out of control, and fell spinning on its side. A fourth bike simply slowed to a stop while its rider kicked at the gas pedal. The rest of the motorcycles swerved around the downed bikes and kept heading toward the gate.