Battle for the Valley

by C. R. Pugh

  “Hey!” shouted the younger man, who was waiting around the corner.

  I spun around the corner and instantly threw my dagger. The boy cried out as the blade pierced his chest. He’d been too busy fumbling for his gun to dodge it.

  A knot formed in my chest. I’d just killed a kid no older than me, but he was one of Wolfe’s minions. Their minds were bent, and they would kill me if I didn’t have the stomach to kill them first.

  Once I’d cut both their throats, I pocketed the flashlight and used my blade to force open the elevator doors. I needed to move fast. If the two missing soldiers came back, they’d find these bodies and alert other soldiers. My time was running out.

  Stowing my blades in my boots, I climbed down the dark shaft, stopping only once to pull out the flashlight. I turned it on and held it between my teeth the rest of the way down, still terrified that I might slip and fall to my death alone in the dark – one of my worst fears.

  When I reached the bottom, I stepped down on the roof of the elevator. The smell of blood beneath me, mixed with the sickly-sweet odor of this metal shaft, made my skin crawl. The blood I smelled was freshly spilt.

  I lifted the trapdoor to the elevator and shone the light down into the small compartment. The four dead soldiers lay just as I had left them. No one else was there. I carefully lowered myself to the floor. My stomach churned as my boots squished into a puddle of blood. A chill of dread ran through me as I thought about the next step – opening the doors and facing more soldiers. And Wolfe.

  From outside the elevator, I heard the faint sounds of a scuffle. A gun fired and someone screamed.

  Who are the soldiers shooting at?

  The tingle from my tattoo still warned me of danger. I doused the light and a shudder ran through me at the smothering darkness. Stowing the flashlight in my pocket, I swallowed back my trepidation and opened the double doors. I peeked through the opening to find soldiers fighting, but it wasn’t clear who they were battling.

  These hallways were just as dark as the upper levels. An abandoned flashlight spun slowly on the floor, casting eerie, moving shadows on the walls and ceiling.

  Sliding into the corridor, I pressed myself up against the wall to observe what was happening. I kept thinking I’d see Thorne and some of his Warriors, but I was shocked to find that the soldiers were fighting each other. There were no Warriors. Only Wolfe’s minions in their green uniforms. A few bodies lay still on the floor. Another gunshot boomed to my left, followed by another cry of anguish.

  I slid my daggers from my boots, not wanting to draw any unwanted attention. If I was lucky, I would slip right by this strange skirmish and find my old holding cell. It was the first hallway on the left, five doors down on the right. If I knew Wolfe, he’d want me in that room again just to taunt me. If he had Camellia, that’s where she’d be.

  I didn’t engage with anyone. I sidestepped a couple of men exchanging punches and crouched down as three more crashed into the wall ahead of me in a tangle of arms and legs. Once the group pushed away from me, I bolted again. A hand clamped down on my arm and instinct kicked in. I swung my elbow back into his face. Bones crunched and he howled. A kick to the gut sent him flying backward into the fray. He tumbled into the group of three I’d just passed and they turned on him, punching and stabbing him in their fury.

  Was Audrick clever enough to start this chaos? Maybe he’d given them all some sort of poison or hallucinogen. Was that even possible? Who else was here that would deliberately turn these soldiers against each other? Certainly not Wolfe.

  I dodged another couple of men circling each other and escaped to the other end of the hall. The noise grew quieter behind me and the hallway darkened ahead of me as I moved further down the corridor. Once I reached the bend in the hallway, I stopped. Sweat began to bead up along my forehead and my heart pounded inside my chest. I stared down the dark channel and swallowed back the bile that threatened to rise up my throat.

  Clutching my blades, I entered Wolfe’s cell block. The darkness in this part of the compound seemed to close in and suffocate me. I breathed in time with my steps. In, out, left, right – keeping each one steady. I thought I heard footsteps following me, but when I stopped to listen, so did the sounds I’d heard. I put my back to the wall, glancing left and right. I couldn’t see anything or anyone in this smothering darkness, but I could feel eyes on me. I pulled out the flashlight and shined it both directions. No one was there. This was a trap. I knew it, but there wasn’t any way to avoid it.

  The flashlight dampened my anxiety some, but if Wolfe was here, he’d see me coming.

  He knows you’re coming anyway, Ravyn.

  I counted the doorways as I passed them. My gut was twisted into knots by the time I reached the fourth room. When I opened the door, there was no ambush and no noise. Stepping just inside the doorframe, I shined the flashlight around, searching for Camellia. The room was empty, save for the metal table bolted to the floor.

  After shining the light down both ends of the hallway again, I reluctantly walked to the fifth door, the room I’d been held prisoner in for so long. I reached for the knob with trembling fingers and flung it open.

  Camellia wasn’t in this room either. No one was here.

  I don’t understand. Where did they take her?

  A shove from behind sent me nose-diving into the cell. My flashlight hit the floor with a crash and went dark. My blade slid across the tile away from me. I’d never find it in the dark. Rolling to my feet, I drew my pistol.

  The door slammed behind me. “I’m so glad you joined me here,” Wolfe said with a low chuckle in his throat.

  Where had he come from? I’d checked the hallway with my flashlight multiple times. Had he been hiding in another room?

  Pushing to my feet, I spun around and fired three times.

  He laughed again. “Do you think you’ll hit anything in the dark? You can’t see, Test Subject One.”

  I pivoted to the left, following his voice. “And you can?” I asked him. Somehow, he could see me, even though I couldn’t see him in this miserable dark room.

  I took three more shots and he sniggered again.

  “You’re wasting your bullets, my dear,” Wolfe said.

  I circled back to the right. “I have plenty.”

  Wolfe’s fist came down hard on my right wrist. I screamed as the bones snapped. The pistol was jerked out of my hand, the same maneuver I’d used before to disarm soldiers. I reached for another gun with my left but Wolfe’s fist slammed into my cheek. My body hurtled into the metal table against the wall, knocking the wind from my lungs.

  Wolfe grabbed a handful of my hair and held me face down against the table. “No need for these guns,” said Wolfe, as he tossed the rest of my pistols away.

  He jerked me upright. I whirled and threw a punch, but Wolfe’s elbow came down hard on my shoulder, dislocating it completely. I cried out and collapsed.

  Wolfe merely chuckled and tossed me away again. I saw stars for a second as I stumbled back into the wall and my head smacked against the concrete. Before I could regain my balance, a large hand had clamped down on my neck, cutting off my air supply.

  I clawed and dug my fingernails into his flesh, but my right wrist was broken and weak. My left arm hung useless at my side. Wolfe was much stronger than I’d ever imagined him to be.

  His fingers dug into my throat. “I don’t want to kill you, but once you’re unconscious, I can search for your sister.”

  He didn’t have my sister? Did I hear him right?

  My face and eyes were beginning to bulge and my lungs burned. In one more effort to dislodge his fingers, I tried to knee Wolfe in the groin, but he dodged the blow. For a second, he loosened his grip, giving me a chance to suck in another breath.

  “Oh, no, my dear,” he sneered, his breath warm on my cheek. “You won’t escape me this time.”

  I felt my arms and legs grow heavy with weakness from the loss of air. And even in the dark, I felt my w
orld grow darker still.

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  Table of Contents

  47

  Thorne

  I reached the lowest level without incident, but when I peeked through the door to the hallway, I found at least ten soldiers. But they were busy tearing each other to pieces. From my hiding place behind the door, I watched two soldiers pummel each other with their fists. A gunshot blasted to my left.

  A second later, I caught a glimpse of a long, black ponytail slipping through the scuffle.

  “Ravyn?” I whispered to myself.

  If I charged through the door and called out to her, every soldier would turn his focus to me. I slid quietly into the hallway. The soldiers looked like drunken brawlers we occasionally had in the Peton taverns. Two of them converged on me. I kicked one of them back, while I slashed at the other across his torso. The man doubled over, clutching at his wound, while the other jumped back up and stumbled in my direction again.

  “You really are drunk,” I muttered.

  I gave him a hard right hook to the jaw and he didn’t get back up. Six of the soldiers were on the floor, wounded or dead. I turned and followed Ravyn down the hall, though she had disappeared down a dark corridor up ahead. I recognized where I was. This was Wolf’s cell block.

  I made a left, knowing that Ravyn had likely come this way to make sure Camellia hadn’t been brought down here. There had been no way for us to tell her that we’d found her sister and that she was safe.

  This wing of the compound was clear of soldiers and quiet. Too quiet. I could see clearly and kept glancing over my shoulder to make sure the remaining drunk soldiers hadn’t followed me. Up ahead, I heard a scream and a loud clatter, as if a body had hit something hard.

  Ravyn has walked right into his trap, I thought, as I broke into a run.

  I checked the first few rooms for her, but they were empty. Another scream ripped through the silence. The fourth door was already open. No one was there. I sprinted to the fifth and swung it wide. Wolfe was holding Ravyn against the wall, choking her to death. Without a moment’s hesitation, I strode forward and plunged my blade into Wolfe’s side, beneath his ribcage. He howled and immediately let go of Ravyn. She gasped and slumped to the floor, unconscious. I yanked my dagger from his flesh, grabbed him by the shirt collar, and tossed him across the room.

  Wolfe chuckled and rose to his feet as if I hadn’t hurt him at all. He was wearing some sort of tinted goggles that must be helping him see in the dark.

  He sneered at me. “You won’t kill me with a knife wound, boy.”

  I snorted at his taunt. “Maybe not. But I will kill you.”

  “I can’t be killed,” he hissed. “Just like her.”

  The only ways to kill the soldiers with serum in them was to burn them or let them bleed out.

  “You cut the power out and put her at a disadvantage. If you had faced her on equal ground, like a man and not a coward, she would destroy you.”

  “So Test Subject One needs a hero to save her, does she?”

  I glared at him. “No, she doesn’t need a hero. And her name is Ravyn.”

  I strode toward Wolfe, my daggers gripped tight. Wolfe clenched his teeth and attacked. I dodged his punches and swiped a blade across his shoulder. Wolfe grunted and stumbled back a couple of steps. His lip curled as he charged. Thrusting my dagger toward his neck, he blocked me with his forearm. I slammed my forehead against his, sending him reeling backward, and I crouched down in a defensive stance.

  A bullet in the head, I thought suddenly. That was another way of killing the soldiers that Ravyn had mentioned. I had a pistol, but didn’t want to make too much noise. If there were more soldiers stationed by the exits I didn’t want to draw them here.

  Wolfe rose from the floor and shook his head, then prowled forward. I blocked another punch and plunged my blade into his gut. Wolfe cried out and pressed his hand to his belly. He was now bleeding from two wounds that were slow to heal.

  “Do you surrender?” I asked him.

  Wolfe glowered at me. “Never,” he hissed. “Test Subject One is mine.”

  In his fury, the General rushed at me again. I dodged another swing of his fist and punched him in the face. His goggles shattered and he began to squeal. Wolfe tore the goggles from his face and wiped at his eyes, sobbing in agony. The glass had shattered into his eyes.

  I walked toward Wolfe, shoved him back against the wall, plunged both daggers into his neck, and thrust outward. Wolfe’s body hit the floor with a thud and his head rolled away. I turned my back, not wanting to look any closer at what I’d just done, even though it was well-deserved.

  Behind me, Ravyn was beginning to stir. She coughed and attempted to raise up onto an elbow.

  “Ravyn!” I jogged over and knelt down beside her. “It’s me, little warrior.”

  “Thorne.” Her voice was ragged and weak.

  “How do you feel?” I placed a hand on her shoulder, but she winced in pain. “Sorry.”

  “He dislocated my shoulder and broke my wrist. My shoulder feels worse. Put it … put it back in for me. I can’t take it,” she gasped. “I won’t be able to walk. The pain is too much.”

  “I’ve never done it,” I said. “Hawke’s done it for me a few times.”

  “It can’t be more painful than taking a bullet out,” she assured me. “Just do it fast.”

  I gripped her forearm and placed my other hand on her shoulder. In one quick motion, I lifted her arm until I felt her shoulder pop back into the joint. Ravyn cried out and then sighed in relief.

  “It’s better,” she breathed. “Thanks.”

  “How’s the wrist?”

  She rolled her hand in a circle. “It’ll be back to normal soon.”

  She cradled her arm to her chest and asked, “Did you find Camellia? General Wolfe said he didn’t have her. I don’t know where -”

  I placed a hand on her cheek. “She’s safe. Kaelem and I found her.”

  “And she’s alive?” Ravyn asked, concern in her blue-green eyes. “She wasn’t hurt?”

  “She had a few bruises, but she’ll be fine.”

  Her eyes widened, fear taking hold again. “What happened to General Wolfe?”

  “He lost his head.”

  “What?” she asked, still dazed. “His head?”

  I nodded. “I’m sorry it wasn’t you that finished him, but … it was my turn.”

  Her brows furrowed. “Wait. He’s … he’s dead?” Ravyn gulped. “I need to see for myself.”

  As if someone had been listening, the lights came back on, blinding us both. Ravyn lifted her right arm up to shield her eyes. I blinked a few times to let my eyes adjust.

  My eyebrows knitted together as I gazed at her. “Who do you think turned the power back on?”

  “Maybe Audrick survived,” Ravyn said, staring up at the fluorescent lights with a wry grin.

  I helped Ravyn to her feet, careful not to touch her shoulder. Letting her lean on me, we pivoted around to face General Wolfe’s broken body. A pool of blood was spreading quickly across the tile. She stared down at him for a full minute, letting it sink in, I supposed. Her face was stark white.

  Without any emotion in her voice, she finally said, “I’ve seen enough. Let’s get out of here.”

  Eight dead men littered the hallway when we made it back to the stairs. The rest had fled. When we reached the top level, we found the scientist waiting. He looked much like Ravyn had when I’d come for her inside the compound the first time. Blood caked his hair and skin where Wolfe had obviously been beating and torturing him. The glasses he wore were bent and lopsided and one of the lenses was cracked.

  “You need a healer,” I said.

  “No, no,” Audrick replied, shaking his head. “Ravyn gave me serum … earlier. I’m fine now.” Audrick shuffled his feet, his eyes glancing at us. “I guess he’s … dead?”

  “Yes,” I told him. “We can burn him with the other soldiers. If you want.”

&n
bsp; He nodded. “That’s probably best.”

  “There are dead soldiers on the lowest level,” I pointed out, scratching my head. “Any idea why they were fighting each other?”

  Audrick wiped the sweat from his forehead and pushed his glasses up on his nose. “Oh, yes … I brought them water spiked with a very potent hallucinogen.”

  I furrowed my brows. “Spiked with what?”

  “Poisonous mushrooms? Ground into a powder?” Audrick explained. “I mixed it into the liquid. Made it easy to … well … you must have seen them. It made them see enemies where there were none.” He rubbed the back of his neck. “It was all I could think of.”

  Ravyn didn’t utter a word. She simply stared at him, her expression void of any emotion.

  “What are you going to do with the remaining soldiers? The ones still alive?” Audrick asked me.

  “Will they be a threat to us?”

  Audrick shifted. “I can … keep them contained until I figure out a way to reverse what Wolfe has done to their minds. I don’t know if it can be done.”

  I nodded. “That might be wise.”

  Audrick glanced at Ravyn. “Is she alright?”

  “She’ll be fine now.” My thoughts drifted back to my Warriors outside. “We need medicines and bandages. Did Wolfe have any?”

  Audrick’s eyes lit up. “Of … of course. I’ll bring you whatever I have.” He spun on his heel and strode away, looking eager to help.

  Outside, the sun was low on the horizon. My heart sank at the sight before me. Ten Warriors stood guard, watching the compound and the forest for predators. The wounded men and women were resting close to the compound, leaning against trees or lying down. Tallon crouched by Brock. A knot formed in my chest when I realized she was wrapping a new cloth over his wrist where he’d lost his right hand in the battle. Brock’s face was white as a sheet from losing so much blood, but I knew Tallon would do her utmost to save him. Tameron hovered over another Warrior, tying a cloth around his thigh to staunch the flow of blood. Others were resting, covered in bandages from knife and gunshot wounds.