by Matt Ryan
“Okay, you guys better move,” Julie said.
“If anything happens to us—” Lucas started to say.
“Just go, you’ll be fine,” Julie said and hugged him. “I love you.”
Lucas knelt down and talked into her pregnant belly, rubbing it.
Gunfire let Joey know the Arrack fight was still going Sharati’s way. Out gunned, they would have to send out every zealot Arrack in the building to deal with them. He gazed down at the encounter, seeing the flashes of gunfire. The front doors closed and he spotted a large ball arching across the sky like a beach ball on fire.
“Tell them to get out of there,” Joey said.
Julie shook her head. “I can’t.”
He watched the ball hover over the entrance, before it exploded. A wave of fire came from the explosion and crashed through the Arracks below. Joey rushed to Julie’s screen, seeing if Sharati had somehow made it, but there was nothing but blackness.
The bomb made it brighter than the sun ever could and he felt the intense heat from it. He looked to the river and spotted the parents floating in a clump to their location. He hoped Marcus wasn’t looking for more people in this attack.
“He just killed them all, his Arracks and ours,” Lucas said.
Joey sighed and gritted his teeth. Another life Marcus had ended. It didn’t change the plan, Sharati had done her part. “Let’s go,” he said.
They left Julie at the hill and jogged behind Marcus’s fortress. The back side looked like the hill they’d just come from, more rocks, with no distinctive markings.
“You sure this is the place?” Joey asked.
Lucas held the Panavice near his face. “It should be right around . . .” he searched around them, “here.”
Behind a rock stood an opening covered with a metal grate. It was about two feet wide and the tunnel turned to darkness before he could tell how deep it went.
Hank took off his bag and pulled rope out, fastening it to the rock.
“You sure that rope is thick enough to handle your sheer mass?” Lucas asked Hank.
“Sharati said it could hang a Niddi, whatever the hell that is. But it sounded heavy.”
Lucas laughed. “I better go first.” He took off Prudence and tugged on the rope, looking down into the hole.
“Use the gun in close range,” Joey said.
“I got it.” Lucas touched the gun at his side.
Hank pulled the grate off the hole and dropped the rope into it. It zinged along the narrow path and a thunk sounded at its end.
Lucas clipped Prudence to his waist and adjusted his quiver. He smiled, but it didn’t reach the rest of his face. “I . . .”
“We know, and we’ll be right behind you,” Poly said.
He nodded his head and slid down the rope and into the darkness below.
“I’ll go next,” Gladius said, leaving no room for discussion as she slid down the rope.
Joey followed behind her. Using the gloves Harris gave them, he slid down the rope. Heat built up around his hand and he tightened his grip as he slid into complete darkness. A single green dot from Lucas’s Panavice appeared when his feet struck the bottom.
Poly was right behind him and he made room for her in the darkness. He pulled her out of the way as Hank came down hot.
“Gladius?” Hank whispered.
“Shh,” she responded.
Lucas lit up the space with a small amount of green light, to see a door at one end of the vent room. It couldn’t have been more than a few feet tall.
Joey lifted up his Panavice and stared at the two red dots on either side of the building. They had separated the two since the attack started. Poly glanced at the screen and moved to the door.
She opened it without a word. An Arrack stood on the other side. It turned and Poly jumped from the door, stabbing it in the neck. It gargled and fell to the floor, grabbing at its gaping wound.
“Dang,” Gladius whispered.
It wasn’t surprising to Joey. If an alarm sounded, the whole plan would go up in flames. They couldn’t ask questions first, or give warnings. Not this time.
“Come on,” Lucas said, walking down the hall. A few dim lights lit their way, but the extra light also meant it’d be tougher if an Arrack appeared.
Hank grabbed the dead Arrack and stuffed it in the vent room.
Joey kept his gun out and hoped he didn’t have to use it. One loud burst . . .
“Edith isn’t far from here,” Lucas said.
An Arrack rounded the corner and jumped at Lucas, stabbing at his face. Lucas’s shield deflected the blade and a throwing knife from Poly struck the thing in the eye.
“Jesus,” Lucas said and took a deep breath. “Thank you, Julie.” He patted his chest and checked his face for blood.
“I helped you out there a little,” Poly said.
Lucas led the way down several flights of stairs and into a large room with white walls and shining LED lights. A man in a white coat with an oak tree on the chest stared at a screen while typing, not noticing their arrival.
Lucas tiptoed up to the man and smothered his face with a rag. The man went limp in his arms and Lucas rested him on the floor.
“Who are you?” another man asked from the door.
“Shit.” Lucas in one motion pulled Prudence from his side and fired an arrow into the guy’s head. The man’s paper cup fell to the floor and he landed next to it.
Hank dashed over and dragged the man behind a desk.
Lucas took deep breaths, and glanced a few times at the man lying dead behind the desk. He took out his Panavice while holding Prudence. “Come on, Edith should be over here.”
A large explosion rocked the building. Glass vials rattled in the cabinets and a monitor fell over.
“Harris,” Joey whispered. Good, it meant another part of the plan was happening, drawing all of Marcus’s attention away from them.
Lucas nodded and pushed open the door.
A medical room of sorts, with large clear vats of liquid, appeared before them. It felt familiar to Joey, like he’d been there and then it struck him. This was similar to the room they used to pull the serum from him. Those large cylinders would hold people in stasis for Marcus and it didn’t take long to count all six of them. Maybe Marcus had a plan of his own in securing them and the thoughts of it sent his heart beating hard. He searched for Poly and she stood directly behind him.
“She should be over here.” Lucas walked closer to a wall of frosted glass. “I hope Julie has this alarm shut down.” He cringed and touched the glass. It instantly went clear and Edith stood on the other side, shocked to see the group staring back at her.
She ran to the glass and pounded it, yelling something, but the sound didn’t come through.
“Open it,” Poly said.
Lucas pulled on the handle and the door opened. Joey knew Julie was behind the unlocking, working her magic from afar.
“Edith,” Lucas said.
Edith crept to the door and exited, looking around as if none of it was real. “They have Evelyn. I tried to stop them, but they kept doing things to her.”
“What did they do?” Poly asked.
“They kept her in these machines, I heard her screaming. I don’t know, they wouldn’t let me near her until afterward.” She lowered her head and tears flowed from her eyes.
“What did they do to her?” Poly asked.
“They changed her . . . she’s different now.”
“Different how?” Joey moved close to her and she cowered from his aggression.
Edith opened her mouth to answer and then collapsed to the floor. Staring at the ceiling with a blank glaze over her eyes.
“What the . . .” Gladius darted to the floor next to her. “She doesn’t have a pulse.”
Joey scanned the room, looking for anything that could have killed her.
Julie’s voice sounded from Lucas’s Panavice. “He killed her. He must have had something implanted. Lucas, I had to do somet
hing about her door, it would have killed you if I didn’t shut off the security on it . . . but he knows now. I’m sorry. He knows only I could do what I just did. And if he knows I’m alive, he knows you’re all alive. I’ll do everything I can to protect you.”
Joey grimaced at the news and knelt next to Edith. How would Evelyn handle the news of her godmother dying? He wanted to weep for her, but got back to his feet and glared at Lucas instead. “Let’s get Evelyn.”
Lucas nodded and looked at his Panavice. “She’s on the move, to a corner of the fortress. I don’t think there’s an exit over there.”
“He better not have hurt her,” Poly said glaring in the direction Lucas pointed.
HARRIS DROPPED ANOTHER MORTAR INTO the chute and ducked. It shot out and landed on the edge of the building. Travis matched his movements, sending his mortar to the far side, where they knew Marcus kept a landing pad for aircraft. Harris fired another barrage of smoke canisters around the whole building, creating a thicker smoke cloud and cover for the parents as they ran toward the front door.
Julie had turned off all the sensors and the smoke left Marcus all but blind to the attack.
Once the parents were inside the building, Harris sent another mortar into the sky and it landed on the back side of the building, near an escape hatch.
“We should go in,” Travis said.
“Soon.” He wished he could use his computer controlled weapons and set them on autopilot, but Marcus would hack those so quick, he’d have them blown up before they got the first shot off. These antique weapons worked just as well, but required manpower.
Travis grunted and launched another mortar to his second location.
MINTER STEPPED PAST THE SMOLDERING front door with Rick on his heels. A silvery figure rushed at them in the darkness and he fired three shots into it. “Come on.” He knew they needed to continue pushing into the building, keeping up as many fronts as possible.
Karen stepped up next to him holding a gun. She looked nervous as hell. “Where’s Joey?”
“He’s doing his part, don’t worry.”
“We are on planet Arrack, facing Marcus Malliden and you tell me not to worry.”
Minter sighed and fired into another oncoming Arrack.
“This way,” Beth said, pointing at a flight of stairs leading up.
Minter bounded up the stairs two at a time. Reaching the top, he glanced back down at Karen, momentarily wishing he’d left her back on Earth. She wasn’t a fighter like the rest of them. He sighed and felt a dagger fly by his face and strike an Arrack stalking him. It slumped to the floor next to the top step.
“Thanks, Opal,” Minter said.
She nodded and had another knife in her hand.
Rick pointed past a pair of open doors and moved to one side, waiting for Minter to take the other side. Once into position, Minter glanced into the next huge room. Arracks were scattered, rushing around and picking up bits of concrete, possibly to use as weapons. He knew from his limited view, these weren’t organized soldiers. He’d be able to kill each and every one of the bastards.
KRIS STOOD NEXT TO AN air hole, looking past the grate. According to the scouting reports, this pipe would lead down into the bowels of the fortress. “Go for it, Maggie,” he said.
She smiled and ignited the bag of debris in her hands, a flammable cocktail courtesy of Harris. She got the mixture smoldering and coughed at the rancid smell.
“Don’t breathe it in, sweetie.”
She nodded and turned her head away from it.
“Why don’t you send them a present?” Kris said to Jasper.
Jasper took the burning bag and set it next to the grate. He took a deep breath away from the bag and then blew the smoke down into the grate. It whistled and bellowed as his immense breath blew the smoke deep into the fortress. He took a quick breath and blew again, sending the smoke deep into the bunker.
“That should keep the bugger out of there.” Kris smiled.
“Maggie, grab another bag. Jasper here is going to blow through that one quickly.”
Maggie bounced with excitement and with red hands, ignited another bag. “When do we get to go down?”
“Soon. We’ve just got to wrangle this cat first.”
JOEY WATCHED THE RED CIRCLE move to the back corner of the building. Marcus was being herded there by everyone on the outside and he was grateful for their involvement. It gave him the chance to kill Marcus once and for all.
“If we keep moving down this hall and through the kitchen, we should end up close to where he and Evelyn are,” Lucas said.
“Let’s go then.” Poly urged Lucas to get moving.
Joey gripped his rail gun tight in one hand and his Colt semi in the other. The Colt had the party-pack of ammo, especially built for Marcus.
They jogged down the hall and past a double swinging door. The kitchen looked bright and clean. It smelled of soap and burnt chicken. An Arrack stood near the dishwashing station, paralyzed at the sight of the intruders.
Joey raised his gun but then lowered it after looking at the fright in his eyes. “Get in that cabinet.” He pointed to the cabinet, but the Arrack seemed confused. He opened the cabinet door and pointed at the Arrack and then in the cabinet. The Arrack slid his feet across the floor, never blinking and climbed into the cabinet. Joey closed the doors and shoved a wooden spoon in the handles. If it spent enough time, Joey was sure it could break the spoon and get out.
Lucas led them past the kitchen and into a cafeteria of sorts. Tables and chairs were scattered around and knocked over, the tables filled with half eaten food. They must have caught them at dinner time. They probably weren’t expecting a regimen of Arracks knocking on their front door tonight, let alone a whole army of highly trained people.
Lucas kept low and moved around the chairs. They all made their way to another hall and down several flights of stairs. An Arrack walking up froze at the sight of Lucas. Joey hoped it was another kitchen type. Unfortunately, the Arrack pulled out his dagger and screamed. Gladius lunged forward and killed the Arrack with her dagger, but the damage was done. The sound of many Arracks moving up the stairs sounded from below.
“We didn’t expect it to be easy the whole way there.” Gladius shrugged.
Lucas backed up, holding out his gun. “If we can get them as they round the corner, they’ll have a tough time getting close to us.”
“I’ll get the left,” Joey said.
“I’ll take the middle,” Poly said.
The sounds of many feet rumbled on the stairs, vibrating tendrils of dust loose from above. The first Arrack rounded the corner and Joey shot the thing in the head, sending it falling back down the stairs. Six more ran past their fallen comrade and Joey made quick work of five, firing the rail gun. Lucas took the other one out.
Lucas looked over at him in admiration and shook his head.
“I’ve practiced,” Joey said.
“I can see that.”
A large group of them filled the whole staircase, but it was just a slaughter for Joey and his gun. Each projectile ripped through the Arracks, six deep. And in a matter of seconds, they had filled the stairwell with dead Arracks.
Joey moved slowly next to the first Arrack and peered down the stairs. “I don’t see any.”
They made their way over the pile and descended further.
The stairs ended at a large room, lined with beds stacked three high. Joey inspected the beds as they walked by, making sure each lump didn’t have a living thing behind it.
An Arrack leapt from the top bed, and Hank grabbed the thing in midair, slamming it on the ground. It didn’t bounce or move, black blood trailing from under its head.
“Nice,” Lucas said. “Thanks.”
Hank looked at his hands in disgust.
At the end of the hall, stood an open door and Joey glanced at his Panavice, the red dot stood just fifty feet in front of them. Evelyn was in that room, which meant they’d found Marcus as well. The last enc
ounter nearly killed them all and resulted in losing Evelyn. This time would be different. He wouldn’t allow Marcus to escape, the man had nowhere to go and they had all made sure of that.
Joey resisted the urge to run straight into the room and kill the bastard. Marcus had even left the door open, an invitation. He felt the cream Julie put on him wearing off or maybe the pain was so severe it didn’t help it anymore. The weariness in his muscles and his bones was great. He could still shoot better than most, but he didn’t know much about Marcus’s ability—other than Harris saying he could beat any man, living or dead, including himself. But he was still a man. He had weaknesses, he would make mistakes.
“What should we do?” Poly asked, looking at the open door.
“We split, three in, two out,” Lucas said.
“Okay, Lucas and Poly, come with me. You guys,” he looked to Hank and Gladius,
“come in behind us.”
They nodded in unison.
Joey walked down the hall, leading the way. He kept his Colt in his right hand and waited for Marcus to make an appearance. Past the ornate wood door, it looked similar to the rooms in his bunker on Earth. His bedroom had a bed, a dresser, and was devoid of any personal effects, and a family room with a couch and fireplace on the other side.
A little girl’s face popped up from the couch and ducked back down.
“Was that . . .” Poly asked.
It couldn’t have been. That girl was a two-year-old, not a baby.
“Come out, sweetie,” Marcus said walking out of a bathroom attached to the bedroom. He dried his hands with a white towel and tossed it on the back of a chair. The little girl came out from behind the couch and ran up to Marcus. He lifted her up and smiled, tapping her nose. “They’re here. Just like I promised.”
“Edith is dead,” she said.
“I know, it was a terrible accident, I’m sure.”