by Cindy Borgne
I leaned down and held a small hope that Nate could be restored to normal. If we can get out of here.
Chapter 29
Above the canyon, Beacon’s flagship crossed and went out of view near the top of the slope. We coiled up the cables and held them so they wouldn't drag behind us. Jets battled on while Kayla helped me drag Nate back to the tunnel.
Kayla made a motion with her hand like a pistol and pointed to a tiny spot of heat on the ground several feet to the south. We left Nate and hurried for Clare’s pistol, but with every step pain jabbed at me from my back.
Images of the battle above us flashed in my mind, partially blocking my sight. Along the battlefield, crashed ships and bodies were scattered with dust blowing over them. I caught myself walking crooked with the cable trailing behind me.
Kayla grabbed my arm and steadied me. The radio crackled with distant voices. We found the pistol half covered in dust. Kayla picked it up. We tried to get the cables off our waists, but the rings sealing the hook turned agonizingly slow. My stiff fingers didn’t help. Kayla took the pistol, held out the hook and fired a quick blast at the metal. The hook fell apart. She did the same with mine.
As we hurried back to Nate, Vallar jets kept the Marcs too busy to fire on us. Sweat fell from my forehead and inside the suit I was drenched. I breathed heavily as if I couldn’t get enough oxygen. Kayla reached Nate before me. He lay still with his eyes shut. I checked his vitals on the wrist controls. All were normal. Most likely Beacon had demanded visions from Nate day and night, causing him to be exhausted.
Nate turned his head and touched my arm.
I flinched. He continued to stare. It might have only been a reflex. If his leg was broken, he would be in a lot of pain if we tried to move him, but there was no choice. I pointed toward the tunnel.
We each took an arm and dragged him, staying close to the canyon wall. It felt like hauling a cement pillar. The pain in my back grew with each step and radiated to my abdomen. A small control pad on my wrist blinked red and displayed a temperature of thirty-nine degrees Celsius.
Black spots appeared in my vision. “Stop.” I tried to keep the pain out of my voice.
Kayla and I set Nate down. I sucked some water out of the drinking tube, thinking it would help, but it only made my stomach tighten. I considered sitting, but thought it might be too hard to get back up. A wave of voices rambled over the helmet radio. Some shouted orders. Is it the radio or visions?
I tried to ignore the garbled voices, bent down and took one of Nate’s arms.
After several more feet of dragging Nate, Kayla slowed too, but wouldn’t admit she was becoming exhausted. She stopped and pointed up. Above us three people flowed down, wearing jet packs. We backed up against the wall. Glare from the sun made it hard to identify them.
“Where’d they come from?” I asked.
“I don’t know,” Kayla said. “They must’ve jumped from a ship, but the sun blocked my view.”
“Could that be Bret?” I asked.
“I hope so, but we better hide until we know for sure.”
Tiny booster rockets fired from under the packs as they descended. I found it hard not to hope for the best and pictured myself boarding the Phantom. Whoever they were, they were going to land in front of the tunnel.
“Over there.” Kayla pointed to a large boulder behind us.
We dragged Nate behind it and crouched down. The men took off the heavy jet packs and walked toward us.
“Can you see who they are?”
“No, the sun is glaring off their visors.” She made adjustments on her wrist for her visor.
A wave of anger from the men rushed over me. My small hope of them being from Vallar faded. “They’re Marcs.”
“There’s three of them.” Kayla peered out around the boulder. “I’ll do the firing.”
I agreed. A vision at anytime could ruin my aim.
“I can see your heat signature behind there,” grumbled a deep voice.
They wouldn’t expect us to have a weapon. Kayla aimed the pistol with her right hand. I sensed her intensity with a mix of anger. She fired two quick shots striking two of the officers. They both screamed as they dropped to the ground.
The remaining officer yelled at the top of his lungs so loud his voice cracked, and the words distorted over the radio. He fired his laser rifle repeatedly while walking forward, keeping us pinned down.
Ducking as low as possible, Kayla held the pistol around the side of the boulder and fired. Her determination mixed with fear. She let out a short scream. The pistol went flying. She bent over holding her hand. The gun landed a few feet away with a trail of smoke rising from it.
Kayla stared at me, bewildered and scared. I couldn’t let them take us back to Beacon. My mind spun trying to come up with a way to stop this man. Fear of what may happen to Kayla made it hard to think. I was determined to die before letting him capture us. As my chest rose up and down, I felt the knife pressing against it. It was my last chance.
Kayla watched as I half unzipped the pocket of the knife.
“I’m hit!” I shouted and faked a moan.
Her eyes widened with understanding of my plan. I turned around face down on the ground. Let the officer think I’m wounded.
“Ian!” she screamed, dramatically. “Are you okay? Please be okay.”
She sounded so distressed it worried me. The officer approached, keeping his weapon on Kayla.
“Please,” Kayla begged and half cried. “We’ll go with you. Just don’t let him die.” She sounded convincing, and her feelings were not of panic, but instead of anticipation and anger. The same feelings I’d sensed from her when she was firing the pistol.
I inched the knife all the way out of the pocket, holding it between the ground and my chest. As the officer approached, I picked up on his anger, but also found a familiar creepy, cold feeling that made my hair stand on end.
If you think you’re free, you’re insane. You’re not even close.
Kayla let out a short scream. “Beacon!”
He poked at me a couple of times with the rifle. I picked up worry from Beacon, only because he saw me as a valuable object that he wanted alive.
As he leaned over me, I spun around and thrust the knife right through the side of his suit. “I’m free!”
He gasped and staggered backwards.
She lunged at him and grabbed the rifle. He steadied himself and tried to yank the rifle away from Kayla, but she wouldn’t let go. As the two pulled back and forth, I struggled to get my feet under me.
Beacon jerked the rifle out of her hands swung it around and hit her with the handle.
“Ian….” She tumbled to the ground.
A brief vision appeared of Beacon swinging the rifle around and firing on her. With my last ounces of energy, I scrambled to my feet. Before Beacon could point the rifle at her, I plunged the knife into his back below the oxygen packs.
He let out a grinding scream. I cut the oxygen tubes and shoved him to the ground. The rifle fell from his hands. Kayla got to her feet and grabbed it.
My heart pounded so hard I thought it might burst and dropped to my knees. Beacon gasped and squirmed, flailing about and trembling in pain.
Kayla pointed the rifle at him.
Beacon raised a hand up. “Please, miss, please. Help me.”
“Why? You’ve never showed mercy.”
He made a feeble attempt to reach around to his back. As he strained to breathe, he stared at us in shock as if he couldn’t believe what had happened. “My people,” he wheezed. “My people will make you pay for this.”
His body twitched a few last times as the last bit of life went out of him. The cold, creepy vibrations vanished. Blood hardened on the tip of the knife still clutched in my hand. Trembling, I let it drop and shuddered at having plunged a knife through flesh and blood.
“I gotta fix my glove. Hurry.” Kayla hurried, holding her hands together.
I tried to get my feet und
er me, wanting to be nowhere near Beacon even if he was dead. After a few weak attempts, I resorted to crawling. Kayla tried to pull me up, but fumbled with her leaking glove.
“Just go.”
Kayla hurried ahead. As I crawled, blades of grass came out of the dust. My hands and feet felt tight in the gloves. I collapsed a few meters short of a dead officer. Kayla found his patch kit and fixed her glove.
My eyes widened at the sight of black birds circling above the canyon. “Kayla? Look.” I pointed up.
“I have to get you over to the wall.” She grabbed my legs and dragged me across the grass.
Boulders molded into shrubs. A small stream of water rolled in and flowed toward the tunnel. Vines grew up the sides of the canyon. If only Beacon’s death had transformed Mars into a paradise, however, I knew better. But I couldn’t help, but enjoy the hallucination.
Kayla strained to reach the wall. She collapsed, breathing heavily. Instead of an envirosuit, she wore a purple top and shorts. The same outfit she wore in my first vision of her in the elevator. Her hair grew long and thick before my eyes.
Kayla checked my wrist gauges. “Oh great, forty Celcius. I have to get help.” She gripped my hand. “But who knows what will happen if I leave you here.”
I swallowed against a dry throat. An image of the tunnel flashed in my mind with people in green Vallar envirosuits jogging down it. “Vallar troops . . . in the tunnel.”
Kayla raised her head up. “I’m, I’m going.” She got to her feet and ran.
I flexed my hand in the glove, wishing I could pull it off to relieve the tightness. Above the birds circled and lulled me to sleep. The upper right corner of my helmet indicated two hours of remaining oxygen - plenty of time for a nap.
Ian! Where is he? Sonny’s urgent voice echoed.
Sonny. I strained to open my eyes.
“Ian? Can you hear me, son?”
“Sonny?” My eyes opened halfway.
A blurry face with fuzzy blondish hair peered over me. Everything behind him blurred. I couldn’t see the beauty of the canyon anymore.
I strained to focus. “Sonny is that you?”
The person spoke again with a tone like Sonny’s, but the words blurred together. Then the voice disappeared.
“You still there?” I waited for an answer, but none came. “Sonny?” Forcing the words out louder made me cough several times. The movement sent jabbing pains from my back around to my abdomen.
“Can you hear me? I’m here, right here!”
At last he came into focus. He wore his usual overalls and a white t-shirt. His eyes lit up and he smiled.
Tears of relief welled up in my eyes, but I had doubts. How was I able to hear him in a Marc envirosuit? If this was a hallucination, it was a mean, teasing one. “Is it really you?”
“Yes, I won’t leave your side.” Sonny sounded distressed. He picked up my wrist and winced at it. “Hang on, you hear me?”
I tried to move my heavy arms to hug him, but only managed to grab his arm. He felt solid enough. Layne had put a signal converter on the antenna of my helmet. Sonny must’ve done something similar.
“How did you find me?” I asked.
“Clare got a message to us.”
“Did you find her body?”
“Body? She’s dead?
“Yes, find her body.”
“We’ll try. Is anything broken?”
“No, I’ve been drugged. Why are you not in an envirosuit?”
For a second, Sonny’s face hardened and a stare came into his eyes that looked like he could shoot flames. But he dropped it fast. “We’re going to get you out of here.” He went through his medical pack.
“Kayla?” I asked, but my voice was too soft to hear. It didn’t make sense that she wouldn’t be near me – unless something went wrong. “Kayla, where are you?” Forcing my voice louder set off another round of coughing and pain.
“Ian?” Sonny shook me by the shoulders. “Stop, she’s right here.”
Other than Sonny, I was surrounded by a blur of colors. “I can’t see.”
“She’s okay. Trust me. I’m going to take care of you.” Sonny injected me with a portable IV unit used for soldiers in the field. He strapped the metal apparatus to the side of my arm, which contained liquid and kept it pressurized.
“Bret’s what’s going on?” Sonny asked. “Where’s the Phantom?”
“Holleeee Shit!” Bret shouted.
“Say again?” Sonny asked.
“Someone knifed Admiral Beacon. He’s dead!”
I waited for Kayla to explain. Instead, an uneasy feeling came over me. Images forced their way into my mind mixed with the memory of killing Beacon with a knife. I didn’t want to see anything, except Sonny and Kayla. My head pounded as I fought more visions off. A dark ring grew from the sides of my vision and flowed inward.
“Don’t forget Nate.” My entire body stiffened and the darkness closed in. That was the last I remembered of the small canyon.
****
Jabbing pains from my back and abdomen forced my eyes open. I found myself lying in one of the medi-beds aboard the Phantom with an IV in my arm. A blanket was over my bare chest. Beyond the nearby porthole, I saw another Vallar vessel flying next to us.
Kayla stood by my side, holding my hand with puffy eyes. She had on a clean Vallar uniform, and oddly I couldn’t read her emotions.
“Can you see me now?” she asked, nibbling the finger nails on her other hand like she was down to her last nail.
“Yes.” The oxygen mask over my mouth and nose made my voice sound muffled. I turned my head to the side. Nate was in the other medi-bed.
“Sonny sedated Nate for now.” Kayla ran her hand over my forehead. “He has a fractured tibia, but it doesn’t require surgery.”
Sonny, also back in his Vallar uniform, concentrated on a blood analyzer unit with a small display mounted into the wall across from me. I couldn’t sense his emotions either, but his distress was clear.
He pounded his fist against the wall and rocked on his legs. “Bret!”
Bret came from the bridge in an envirosuit but with his helmet off. “How is he?”
“He needs dialysis,” Sonny said. “How soon before we can get him to a doctor?”
“I was about to tell you two hours at top speed.”
“Two hours?” Sonny breathed heavily and couldn’t stand still. “I don’t know if . . . .”
“We have a dialyzer under the medi-bed.”
“I know.” Sonny spoke with a higher, raspy voice. “Whatever made you think to install a dialysis unit in a combat vessel?”
“Never mind that.” Bret wrinkled his nose in confusion. “If you have determined he needs it, then get started.”
“The medical computer made the recommendation.” Sonny paced. “And I’ve never had dialysis training.”
Bret grabbed a headset from the counter. “I can patch you into a doctor.”
“To even start it, hemodialysis requires a surgical procedure in the arm.” Sonny’s face turned whiter by the second. “And not only that but, he’s got Virotone in his system and some other drug the computer can’t even identify.”
Bret grabbed Sonny by the arms. “You have to calm down.”
Sonny touched his chest. “I’m not qualified.”
“Sonny,” I called too soft for him to hear. The oxygen mask didn’t help. “Sonny.”
“Ian wants you,” Kayla said.
Sonny hurried over and rolled his eyes at himself. “I didn’t know you were awake.” He leaned down. “What is it?”
“Get this poison out of me.” I didn’t care if he had to cut a vein open and let my blood drip into a bucket.
“But . . . .”
“Just do it, Sonny,” Kayla said with a sharp tone.
He looked up startled.
I touched his arm and could feel him shaking. “I want you to help me, not a stranger.”
His chin quivered. “What if I make a mistake?”
“You won’t.”
“You saved Bret and me.” Kayla lowered her voice. “You can help him.”
Sonny steadied himself and narrowed his eyes with resolve. He looked over the bio-monitor and headed toward the desk. “Where’s that headset?”
Kayla came around the bed and hugged him.
“I’ll do the best I can, sweetie,” Sonny said, softly.
While Sonny prepared, I managed to see the radar on the wall - filled with only friendly blue blips surrounding us.
Sonny injected meds into the IV. “This is so you’ll sleep while I install an arteriovenous graft in your arm. That’s medical-speak for a tube going into a vein and an artery for the dialysis.”
I smiled, hoping to calm him. “It’ll be like re-wiring an elevator.”
He huffed. “I hope so.”
Chapter 30
Every time my eyes opened the soft, warm bed dragged me back down. The peace, warmth and pain free unconsciousness tempted me to stay in a content place with no visions. The occasional flash of light, movement or muffled voice wasn’t enough to wake me, although I was aware I traveled somewhere far.
Then my eyes opened with no effort at all. I found myself in an elevated full size bed under a thick white blanket. Sonny slept in a chair with his head next to my arm.
Bret slept on a couch along the opposite wall. The room also had a table, a sink, and some large potted plants. Instead of white walls like a hospital – it was light beige with dark green carpet. I wondered if Bret had taken me to his home. Then I moved my arm and felt a tug at my skin.
A blood-filled tube ran through my arm to a machine built into the wall with a monitor, knobs and buttons. The side of my neck itched where Beacon had injected me. I touched it and felt a bandage, so I scratched around it.
I dozed back and forth for about an hour. My sore limbs ached with any movement mixed with twinges from my back and abdomen, but these minor pains were nothing compared to before. The more I awoke, the more questions came to mind. I inched my hand over and touched Sonny’s head.
“Ian?” Sonny straightened and opened his eyes halfway.