Ballistic: Icarus Series, Book Two

by Aria Michaels

  I swung the weapon in a circle at my side, testing its weight. It was heavy, but not so much that it felt cumbersome. I ran my fingertip lightly across the beveled edge of one of the blade’s teeth, christening it with a drop of my own blood.

  “Nice,” I said nodding in appreciation. “It’s like something out of a video game. Thank you.”

  Squints waved away my gratitude with a grunt. He shook his head as if annoyed, muttering to himself as he staggered off to divvy up the rest of his makeshift weapons stash. The guy was weird, no doubt about that, but he definitely had a knack for making something out of nothing.

  “Good talk,” I said, shaking my head at his retreating form.

  “Tessa wasn’t kidding about him,” Zander said brandishing a two-foot section of lead pipe with large meat cleavers jutting from each end. The blades faced the same direction, and the dim light flicked off their sleek edges as Zander spun the weapon in his hands. “This thing is pretty bad-ass.”

  “You think that’s cool? Check this baby out,” Ty grinned.

  In his hand, he held a long, wooden staff. In its past life, it had done little more than mop up after airsick travelers or clear the floors of litter. After a few of Squint’s creative modifications, it was sure to create greater messes than it had ever cleaned up. The bottom of the shaft had been honed to a dangerously sharp point. A noose-like loop of metal chording sat stiffly atop the staff.

  “Watch this,” Ty smirked. He pulled a small wooden handle that dangled near the middle of the bow and the metal noose cinched. “I got me a wrangler, y’all. I’m the post-apocalyptic animal control.”

  Bella’s ears perked, and she turned towards Ty, her head cocked to the side. She sniffed at the air, sneezed, and then shook her head, clearly unimpressed. With a swift lick at the palm of my hand, she trotted off to where the children played at the far end of the carousel.

  Tessa smiled and ran her fingernails down Bella’s back as she passed by. Devon shifted away, cowering behind Tessa as though Bella’s wagging tail were a sign that she might attack at any moment. If this kid was dodgy around a three-legged teddy bear of a lap dog, he was in for one hell of a reality check on the outside.

  “Hey,” Tessa said, sliding her sunglasses down over her face. “Everybody ready?”

  A bright yellow fire ax dangled from her hand. Its red, silver-edged blade was sheathed in a clear plastic sleeve. Squints had fastened a long leather belt to either end of the handle like a guitar strap. Tessa slung the strap over one shoulder, and the ax hung diagonally across her back, the blade facing away from her.

  “Ballard’s not here yet,” I said absently running my fingers over the Louisville Slugger that had been burnt into the end of the bat. “I figured he was with you.”

  “He’s w-with M-Tamsen,” Devon smirked, tucking a long pry bar into the back of his belt.

  “Of course he is,” Tessa shook her head. “Liv, do me a solid and go and peel Ballard off the redhead, would you? I think he’s milked his boo-boos enough for one day. We need to get going before we lose the light.”

  “No problem.” I scooped my pack up off the floor and handed my bat-blade to Zander. “Keep an eye on Louie for me, would you?

  “Louie?” Zander arched a brow.

  “What?” I chuckled. “Knights always name their sword.”

  “Well, then. Louie and I will wait patiently until you return,” he smirked at me. It seemed like ages since I’d seen that crooked smile of his. I missed it.

  One of my favorite memories of when I was a little girl was the bedtime stories my father used to tell. My favorite was The Sword in the Stone. In his version, it was a young girl named Aurora with messy brown hair and bright blue eyes who pulled the sword from its enchanted prison. Instead of being happy at her good fortune, the girl was scared. She hadn’t asked for the weight of a kingdom to be placed on her shoulders and wanted desperately to put the sword back. She even thought about running away.

  In the end, Aurora’s friends convinced her to be brave and face her destiny. She grew up to become the mightiest knight the kingdom had ever known. She slayed dragons, killed monsters, and faced any evil that threatened her people, until one day they made her queen of all the land. She ruled over her loyal subjects for a hundred years, bringing peace and prosperity throughout the land with Excalibur by her side.

  “Why did Aurora name her sword, daddy?” I asked my father one night. I had heard that story a million times and had always wondered.

  “Knights always named their swords, baby girl,” my dad had said as he ushered me up onto my pillow. “Come on, now, it’s time for bed.”

  “Why, daddy?” I asked. “Why do they name them?”

  “Come on, Liv,” Dad smiled, his eyes twinkling. “Quit stalling.”

  “I have to know, Daddy,” I insisted. “Someday, I want to be strong and courageous like Aurora. If I am going to be a knight, I need to know these things. Why did she name her sword?”

  “Giving something a name gives it power,” he replied, tucking the covers up around my chin. “When Aurora named Excalibur, she gave the blade a soul.”

  “Hmm.” I narrowed my eyes. Even then, I was never satisfied with the half-truths that so often accompanied fairytale. “Why would a knight’s sword need to have a soul, daddy?”

  “So that no matter where their battles may lead them,” he sighed kissing my forehead, “they will never die alone.”

  If he were here now, he would tell me to be brave like Aurora. He would tell me to fight against evil. If I were going to save my brother, I’d have to slay a few dragons. I set off at a jog toward the infirmary with my father’s ghost on my shoulder.

  Chapter 30

  Everclear and Present Danger

  Despite everything we had told them and the inescapable truth that existed beyond these walls, I sensed very little fear from the residents of Carousel F. Like the audience after a horror movie, as soon as they watched the credits roll, the scary part was over for them. They went back to their seemingly normal existence.

  Four men sat in a circle on the floor playing cards. An Asian woman stood near the pile of clothes, carefully folding and sorting the garments into piles. A blond girl sat on the bottom tread of the dead escalator, her legs crossed at the ankles, reading a book.

  “Hey, Liv!” Rhiannon waved at me from behind the wall of crates that bordered the kitchen area. “Stop by here on your way back, okay? I have something for you.”

  I gave her a thumbs up but kept moving. A line of people waited outside the bathroom, shuffling about impatiently as if they had somewhere else to be. Doyle emerged and sidestepped the large woman glaring at him from the front of the queue.

  “Finally,” the woman huffed. “I thought you had died in there.”

  He flipped her off and shuffled off into the shadows with his eyes on the ground. Three middle-aged women sat cross-legged on a bank of chairs a few feet away, chatting over their steaming paper cups. A handsome man with dark hair sat against the wall, chewing on the end of a pen as he contemplated a half-finished crossword puzzle.

  The contrast between their reality and my own, made my skin crawl. They were clinging desperately to the life they had before Icarus. That world, and most of the people in it, no longer existed. I couldn’t fault Tessa for wanting to protect these people, but the cocoon she had created for them was built on isolation and lies of omission. It was just a Band-Aid on a bullet wound, as my dad used to say. I couldn’t help but wonder when the universe was going to rip it off.

  “Everything okay, Liv?” Collin noticed my approach first. His eyes immediately drifted to the arm that cradled my ribs. “Do you need something for the pain?”

  The doctor rose to his feet, wiping blood from his hands onto a towel. He had just finished redressing Ballard’s wounds. Tamsen held the young guard’s hand and patted his forehead with a damp cloth. Despite the severity of his injuries, Ballard was smiling like a kid on Christmas morning.

 
“Nah. It’s all good, Doc,” I said. “Just came for Ballard.”

  “Aww, man. It’s time, already?” Ballard looked disappointed and a bit banged up, but otherwise no worse for wear. “I was just starting to enjoy this crap hole.”

  “Sorry, man. Bus is leaving,” I laughed as Ballard reluctantly left a giggling Tamsen’s side. “I’ll meet you by the exit. I just need a minute with my girls.”

  “Alright,” Ballard nodded, wincing as he slung his gun up over his bruised shoulder. “See you over there.”

  “You mind?” I nodded at the doctor.

  “Of course,” Collin smiled graciously and walked away.

  Collin knelt at Megan’s bedside and carefully arranged the blankets around her frail body. His brow furrowed and his eyes were dim with worry. Helplessness weighed heavily on this man. I knew exactly what that felt like.

  “Hey, Sarge,” Falisha jutted her chin half-heartedly.

  “I thought you were leaving?” Riley said, and I flinched at the edge of resentment in her voice.

  Suddenly words failed me.

  The world beyond these walls was waiting to devour me. It was simply a matter of what got to me first. Would it be the swarm of hungry scritters, a territorial pack of leeches, or the small army of soldiers I’d managed to piss off in the last two days? Maybe none of them would get the chance. Maybe I’d get sucked up into the storm raging over our heads, and they’d all be left wanting.

  Then again, so would my brother. I had promised him I’d come for him. I had also promised Riley I would stop trying to get myself killed. Once again, I was leaving people I cared about behind to risk my life on what might very well be a fool’s errand. Should I be apologizing, or saying goodbye?

  It is far easier to die having done what’s right than to live with having not. Something my dad used to say tickled at the back of my mind, nudging me to do what should have already been done. Six months gone from this world, and my father was still my conscience.

  “Damn it,” I huffed, sliding my bag off my shoulder.

  “Liv, what’s going on?” Riley’s eyes narrowed at me as I dug through my pack. “What is it?”

  “I should have just listened to you to begin with, Ry,” I whispered, grabbing her hand. “If there’s even a chance this could save her, we have to try.”

  Riley’s eyes widened at the two glass vials that rested in her palm. She clutched her fingers protectively around the medicine and lunged at me wrapping her slender arms around my neck. She spoke softly, but the pride in her voice was evident. When she finally released me, her smile was bright enough to light the shadows.

  “Oh, I knew you’d do the right thing,” she said clutching the vials to her chest.

  “Remember to double the dose,” I nodded at her, “and you have to mix them together in one shot, and—.”

  “I got it. I remember.” She rushed excitedly toward Megan. “It’s going to work, Liv. It’s going to save her. I just know it. You’ll see!”

  “I hope she’s right,” I sighed as Riley scampered away to give Collin the good news.

  “Me, too,” Falisha said standing at my side.

  “But just in case she’s not,” I slid the small handgun into the back of Falisha’s belt. “You have to be ready to do what needs to be done.”

  “Always,” Falisha whispered, pulling the hem of her shirt down over the gun before turning to face me. “Now, get out of here and do what you gotta do.”

  She gave me a gentle shove, and I was off. The judgey blonde woman we had met earlier walked past me as I made my way toward the kitchen area. The scowl she threw in my direction would suggest that perhaps I was a wad of chewing gum on the bottom of her expensive leather shoe. She shook her head at me, muttering under her breath from a safe distance away.

  Now that I had picked up on it, I couldn’t unsee it. Her resemblance to Tara was uncanny; the holier-than-thou way she narrowed her eyes at me, the huffy attitude, even the bottle-fed blond highlights. The only thing missing was the broken nose and the matching pair of black eyes. Then again, it was never too late to accessorize. Perhaps Riley could give her a makeover while I was gone. I snorted back a laugh, but it quickly died in my throat.

  We still had no idea what had happened to Tara, Zack, and the others. While I couldn’t fault them for wanting to get back to their families, their exodus had been hasty and fear-based. We had done everything we could do to convince them to stay until it was safe to go outside. In the end, it hadn’t been enough. Part of me was assumed they were dead. The rest of me feared it was much worse than that.

  “Hey, space cadet; over here,” Rhiannon shouted, her sweet voice interrupting my dark thoughts.

  She smiled and waved at me from behind her fortress of crates and boxes. A handful of random helpers buzzed about behind her in the baggage area cooking station. They hurried back and forth, lighting burners, digging out pans, and sifting through assorted foodstuffs arranged on the makeshift table. Rhiannon rested her arms across each other on top of the crates in front of her. She peered over her shoulder and bit her lip, barely holding back a smile.

  “I have something for you,” she whispered, her brown eyes lighting up.

  “Alright,” I said, pulling my pack off my shoulder as I headed toward her. “You can just put it—.”

  “Not here,” she hissed, shooting a look at Keith. “Wait for me by the escalators. I’ll be there in a sec.”

  She shooed me away with a soft laugh and held a finger to her lips. I shrugged, smirking at her shiftiness as I re-slung my pack and headed toward the motionless and now empty mechanical staircase. When I reached it, I sank down and set my pack at my feet. I was already exhausted, and we hadn’t even left yet.

  A few moments later, Rhiannon emerged from behind the tall stack of metal luggage carts that had been used to barricade the emergency exit closest to the food prep area. When I heard her shuffling across the slick floor, I rose to my feet. She waved at me, and despite her obvious exhaustion, her dark brown eyes twinkled with delight as she slowly made her way over.

  Rhiannon slipped her over-shirt off and tied it around her hips. My jaw dropped. I had never seen this girl outside of the food prep area, a fact that became painfully obvious the second her swollen belly came into view.

  “Oh, calm down,” Rhiannon shook her head and laughed, her dark brown curls bouncing. “I’m pregnant, not radioactive.”

  “But, how—?” My words caught in my throat.

  “Come on, Liv,” Rhiannon said, cocking her head to the side as her hands cradled the weight of her belly. “I am pretty sure you are old enough to know how this happens.”

  “I just mean,” I shook my head, unable to tear my eyes away from her middle.

  “I know what you mean, silly. I am just messing with you,” she said reaching for my hand. “I got lucky. Tessa saved me, same as everyone else. Can we sit for a second? My feet are pounding a beat in these shoes.”

  “Of course, yeah. Jesus, sit down.” The words rushed from my mouth. “Sorry.”

  I wrapped my arm around her shoulder and hooked her elbow with my other hand, guiding her over to the escalator. She braced her weight on the rubber handrail as I helped her lower herself to the highest step she could manage. Once seated, she sighed and closed her eyes.

  “Rhiannon?” There were a million questions in those three syllables.

  “Jeez. I didn’t realize how tired I was until I stopped moving.” Rhiannon sighed. “I was on my way to Colorado when Icarus hit. After we took off, the rest of the flights were grounded. Our pilot made an emergency landing here. We were wheels down less than ten minutes before the shit hit the fan. Seriously, what are the odds?”

  “I have been asking myself that a lot lately,” I said. “So, what’s in Colorado?”

  “Her forever home,” Rhiannon said, patting her massive belly. My confusion must have been written on my face. “I was giving her up, Liv.”

  “Oh,” I said, my eyes darting to the
floor. “Sorry.”

  “Don’t be,” Rhiannon shrugged, absently rubbing her belly. “It was for the best, really. I am not in a position to give this little girl the kind of life she deserves, and her father…well, let’s just say our relationship was not exactly a mutual endeavor.

  “Anyways, it was an open adoption. Gary and Sam are two of the nicest men I have ever met in my life. They have the most amazing house, Liv. There’s this huge wall of windows that overlooks the back yard. There’s a jungle gym, a swing set, a sandbox, and even a little pink and yellow tree house. They were going to give her everything a little girl could ask for, and more love than any one person could imagine.”

  “Wow,” I said sitting down next to her on the escalator.

  “Yeah,” Rhiannon sniffled and swiped a tear from her eye. She took a deep breath and smiled. “Anyways, I suppose none of that matters now, so on to Plan B. Whatever that is, right?”

  “Right,” I smirked, patting her leg. “Oh, you wanted to give me something?”

  “Oh, yes!” Rhiannon’s eyes lit up with excitement. “I was so wrapped up in my little pity-party that I almost forgot.”

  Her story was anything but self-piteous. It was a brave thing she was doing, trying to make sure her daughter had the best life possible; a life she, herself, was in no position to give. Despite the circumstances behind her being thrust into motherhood, Rhiannon was doing what every mother worth their salt had ever done. She was sacrificing her own happiness for that of her child.

  “Help me up, would you?” Rhiannon snickered reaching both hands out to me. “Gravity is not my friend these days.”