by Matt Ryan
“The travel stones? No, but the queen found them shortly after her,” Kylie cleared her throat, “transformation.”
Harris turned away from the window to face Kylie, and set his bag on the floor. “The queen saw us, right before we jumped. She might follow us here.”
“If she had, you’d be dead already.”
“If she is this god-like person, why hasn’t she killed you yet? Why are you spared?” Harris asked.
Kylie looked to David and Wes. “We don’t know exactly. Maybe it’s because we were friends with her daughter. But I think she wants to keep us around, like cattle—a last resort to finish her final transformation.”
These people showed a power he didn’t know possible. It made him think of Hank and the rest of the Six. When they’d first met Harris, he’d come to them as a magician of sorts. He’d impressed them with Vanar tech and wowed them with simple tricks they didn’t understand. Was he like them now?
When Harris didn’t speak, Gladius stepped forward. “You help us bring an end to this invasion, and we’ll help you bring an end to the queen.”
“How can you help us?” Kylie asked.
“Please, we have tech way more advanced than you,” Gladius said. “There will be a time, soon, where Evelyn comes after the queen. And believe me, she will end her reign.”
“You don’t know what you’re talking about, but I want to believe you,” Kylie said, as David huffed.
“You brought us here to put a pinch on the invasion,” Harris said. “I take it this production facility is close?”
“Yes, very.”
“And how do we get there?”
“We’ll have to walk.”
“Then what are we waiting on? You just get me close and I can set this up.”
“What’s in the bag?” Kylie asked.
“The end of whatever is here. But once I set this, we won’t have long to leave.” Harris went back to the window and watched the wind stir up the snow. He squinted at a motion outside. He could have sworn a man had walked by. “Who knows we’re here?” He pulled out a gun and hoped his cold fingers worked well enough.
“No one,” Kylie answered.
“I just saw something moving out there.”
“Probably just a tree.”
“If Harris said he saw something, he saw something,” Gladius said. She took out her dagger, and Hank grabbed the iron poker leaning against the pot belly stove.
Harris backed away from the window and turned sideways, to give him a line of sight from the front door to the window.
A knock at the front door made Kylie jump and grab at her chest.
“Who the hell is that?” Wes asked. “They find us?”
“No way. Impossible,” Kylie said.
Another knock.
“Open the door,” Harris said and held his gun out.
Kylie walked to the door and turned the handle. The wind blew the door open and snow swirled around a large man.
“This cabin is off limits,” he said. “What are you all doing here?”
Harris fired a single shot and struck the man in the neck. He grabbed at the wound, dropping the stone from his hand to the floor. He gargled, the blood filling his throat, and fell to the floor as Kylie screamed.
LUCAS LOOKED AT THE THREE cubes hovering over them. Another missile streaked by, striking the closest cube. It exploded into pieces and took out the one next to it. “Get out of the way!” Lucas yelled and ran to his wife.
Julie pulled Poly up, as Lucas made his way to them. He grabbed Julie’s hand and pulled them away from the falling debris. The loud hum of the remaining cube kicked in and he felt the pull from it just as they made it to the porch.
“Tell me you have another?” Lucas pointed to Trip’s rocket launcher.
“I didn’t think I’d need more than two . . . that was the last one.”
The sound grew, as much of the falling debris started to move toward the remaining cube. Lucas winced and looked to Julie. She held onto his hand and slid along the porch until she hit the railing. Poly fell to the ground and grabbed onto a post. Gretchen screamed and fell to the porch floor.
“We’ve got to blank out again,” Julie yelled over the loud drone. “It’s the only way.”
He closed his eyes and tried to think of nothing, but the sound deafened his attempts. The thing pulled on him harder. He tried again. This time, he went to a place of blackness in his mind, ignoring everything around him, until Poly screamed.
He opened his eyes and rushed to Poly, grabbing her floating body. He wouldn’t let another one of his friends die.
“Let her go, Dad.”
Lucas spun around and spotted Will standing at the door. Wires dangled from his head, and he glared up at the cube.
“Son?” Lucas lifted off the ground.
“I’m going to get into your minds and stop this.” Will put his hands on his head and closed his eyes. In a few seconds, Poly fell to the ground, along with Gretchen and Trip.
Lucas pedaled his legs, trying to get back to the earth.
Will opened his eyes with a look of terror. “I can’t reach you, Dad!”
Julie jumped to her feet. “Lucas, let Will in your mind.”
Lucas looked down at them, now more than ten feet below. The sound of the cube allowed for little other sounds, but he’d heard Julie. He didn’t know what it meant, but he tried to clear his mind. It wasn’t working. Fear flooded his thoughts. He was going to die and nothing was going to stop it.
Will held his hands over his head again and stared at Lucas, but he didn’t feel anything. “I’m sorry,” Will yelled. “I can’t get into your head.”
“No, this can’t be happening.” Lucas pulled at the air and did every motion, in an attempt to get back to Julie and her extended arms. Tears fell, and he saw her mouth moving, but he’d gone beyond the point of hearing them.
Please, don’t let my wife and son see me die. Not like this.
He mouthed the words I love you to Julie and Will, and tried to put on a brave face.
She jumped up and down with Poly and the rest, screaming and erratically waving at him. He hated what their last images of him would be.
Not able to watch Julie and his friends in such pain, he turned to face the cube. He found some peace in knowing Will had found a way to protect them from these cube things. But why had it not worked on him?
It didn’t matter now. He’d face this fate like he had to face Alice, or Emmett, or Zach; he’d find a way to deal with it.
The cube opened and pulled him into a small black room. When the door closed, the sound stopped and it pressed him against the floor like a magnet might grab onto metal. Lucas felt the metallic floor and smelled the air, a mixture of smoke and ozone. He scratched the floor, and yelled at the horrible machine.
A ball fell from the ceiling and broke open as it landed on the floor; white smoke bellowed out. He couldn’t see the walls, or even his own hand, as the thick smoke encased the room. It burned as he finally took a breath, and he felt woozy. The cube’s grip never took full hold over him. He rolled to his stomach and tried to stay as low as possible.
Another breath, and the whole cube felt as if it was spinning. He lifted off the floor, floating in the air, as if weightless. Then he slammed against the floor. Groaning, Lucas rolled to his back, clutching his side. He felt his ribs, and a fresh jolt of pain hit him as he grazed them.
The room came into focus as the mist left. With pain, Lucas got to a kneeling position. Prudence had fallen off him in all the chaos and he picked her up, nocking an arrow onto the string. With sheer will, he got to his feet and held out his bow. His eyes burned from the mist, and each breath sent pain into his lungs.
The wall he leaned against opened, and he fell out, unable to grab Prudence in time. The door closed, leaving Prudence within. Smashing his head on his rapid descent, Lucas blacked out.
SUCKING IN A DEEP BREATH, Lucas jolted awake. Struggling to move, and fighting off a heada
che, he looked down and saw he was strapped to a concrete bed. He pulled at the straps, but still felt the effects of the mist weighing on his every motion. After a bit, he gave in and looked around.
He knew this room. A spitting image of the room that’d held Edith. Concrete walls and floors, with a tube right behind his head.
A clanking sound, as if something was falling down the tube, drew his attention. He tried to crane his head back to see what was coming. He looked up into it and the sound grew louder, closer. Another small stone rolled out of the tube and before Lucas could react, it struck him in the face.
The stone bounced off his face and onto the floor. What had been the purpose of that?
The straps lifted off of him and Lucas sprung to his feet. The stone rolled to a stop on the floor. He reached down and picked it up, holding it up to the light. Was it supposed to do something?
A speaker crackled and a woman’s voice came across. “Leave your room and head down the hall.”
Lucas had heard this before on Hector’s world, even the same voice. Edith had emerged from the room right after the announcement. He put the stone in his pocket and headed for the door. A man walked by wearing a military uniform. Lucas stepped into the hall behind the man.
“Hey,” Lucas called, but the man kept walking.
A woman bumped into his back and walked around him, heading down the hall.
The voice spoke through the speakers again. “Go to the end of the hall and through the double doors when it’s your turn.”
Lucas spotted the first person in line, walking through a pair of swinging double doors.
“Stop, don’t go in there.” He ran past several people, bumping into them to get to the front. He’d seen all this before, but Evelyn wasn’t here to stop any of them from their trance.
A man wearing a loose robe disappeared behind the doors, and a woman in a black suit stood at the door, waiting her turn.
“You guys have got to get out of here,” Lucas said, but none of them listened. He looked down the line, there must have been over thirty people.
“Next,” the voice over the speaker said.
“No,” Lucas pulled on the woman, but she slipped through his grip and entered the room.
The same egg-shaped coffin sat in the middle of the room.
“Climb into the container and touch the two stones inside,” the voice instructed.
The woman climbed into it. The door over her closed, and a few seconds later, a bright light shot from the cracks.
Lucas grabbed a chair and stuffed it into the door handles of the swing door. He heard the voice commanding the next person to enter, and the door shook as the person struggled to get in. He looked around the room, trying to find something to help him; something to get these people out of there.
A ball struck his neck and he grabbed at it. Turning, he spotted the man who threw it. It bounced on the floor, and the man followed it, confusion spreading over his face.
“How in the hell?”
“You need to stop this,” Lucas ordered. “You can’t do this to these people.”
“You can’t be in here. You should be in line.”
“You’re not hearing me, man. Stop the zombie line, now,” Lucas said.
The guy reeled back and threw another stone. Lucas caught it midair, and looked at the black, smooth stone with red lines running around it.
The man stumbled back in shock, bouncing his gaze from Lucas’s hand to his face. “Who are you?”
“I’m Lucas, of the Preston Six. I’m here to kick your ass.”
THE GLOWING ROCKS PRODUCED LIGHT, but they also produced heat. An intense heat. The freaking place felt like an oven. Kris wiped his brow with his sweaty arm and then went back to holding his broken arm.
The pain wasn’t as sharp as before, and after a couple of hours at the bottom of the pit, his arm felt numb. His fingers tingled, and the area where his arm broke had become reddish. Or maybe it was just from the rocks Maggie was heating up to create hand and footholds in the pit wall.
“You’ve got to stop for a while,” Kris yelled up to her. “We’re going to cook in here.”
Molten rock fell from the hole she worked on. It struck the damp floor and hissed, sending up steam.
“We should have tossed stuff into this hole,” Char said, looking up at the door.
Kris had expected help from the outside. Lupe should have heard their cries for help, but nothing had come through the door since they did. He wondered if it had been blocked, or maybe the door’s magic stopped them from getting near it. This puzzle, this maze, would be the last thing between them and freedom from another dictator. If they could only reach the next door.
“We need to get to that door,” Kris said. He rushed to the wall where Maggie had melted out a few footholds. He held his hand close to the wall in the diminished light, and felt the heat still radiating.
The light dimmed to a soft glow, covering a small radius around the last bits of red on the rocks on the ground. He watched it, transfixed by the visible steam coming off them. Why were they steaming so much?
He moved closer and touched the floor. He had taken it as solid rock, but as he glided his fingers over the damp surface, the water went right back into the spot he dried. “There’s water under us,” Kris said as he laid down. He put his ear on the rocky floor and closed his eyes. A drip sound, like a drop of water falling into a large body of water.
Char looked at him like he was crazy. “What are you—”
“Shh,” Kris said and held out his good arm. He heard another drip. “There’s something under this. A body of water, maybe?”
“We aren’t far from the ocean, so it wouldn’t be too out of the question for the water table to be close,” Maggie said. “So what do we do? Having water under the floor isn’t exactly going to help us.”
She was right. Kris took a deep breath and carefully got to his feet, grimacing with each move. Then an idea struck him. “The water could cool things down for us.”
“What do you mean?” Char asked.
“What’s holding us back from climbing up through the footholds Maggie’s creating?”
“The heat.”
“Right. But with water, we can cool each of the holds down in an instant. We can then use Maggie’s ladder to get to the next door.”
“Even if it works,” Maggie said. “We don’t know what the next door will hold.”
“We’re going to die down here if we don’t find out, and I’d rather be trying to live than waiting to die.” He couldn’t see any of their faces in the blackness, but he knew they were coming around to his side of things. “Now, how to get the water out of the floor?”
“May I?” Maggie’s hands glowed red, revealing her furrowed brow.
“By all means.”
She knelt down and slammed her fists into the rocky floor. Kris moved closer. Her knuckles dug into the stone, like she was pushing them into dough. After a few minutes, she had submerged her arms all the way to her elbows. Then the glow went out and the darkness returned.
“I hit it,” Maggie said. The glow returned as she pulled her arms from the holes.
Water seeped out of the holes and created a large puddle. They moved back as the water filled the bottom of the hole to a depth of several inches.
“Keep the lights on. Let’s see how far it’ll rise.” Kris stared at a rock sitting half in and half out of the water, maybe a few inches deep. After a minute, the water didn’t move. “Okay, I think that’s all it’s got. Maggie, let’s build that ladder.”
She trudged across the water and reached the flat wall below the next door. She looked up at it, then climbed up the few holes she’d already made. Shoving her hand into the wall a few feet above, she started on the next spot.
“Good, Maggie, keep going,” Kris said. “Come on, Char, let’s get her the water.” Kris pulled off his shirt and soaked it in the water. He tossed the shirt up, and she stuffed it into the hole. It hissed and ste
amed. “Not too long, it’ll burn,” Kris said.
Maggie dropped the shirt back down to him. Once he soaked it again, he tossed it back up. By the third toss, the hole had cooled down enough. Maggie climbed up and started the next hole.
Over the next hour, Maggie was on a mission, and had made her way up over three-fourths of the shaft.
“Take a break,” Kris yelled up to Maggie.
“I don’t need one. I’m almost done. Just throw me the shirt.”
Kris watched as Char bundled the dripping, tattered shirt around a rock. Kris could have tossed it to Maggie, but the process gave Char a task. He needed something to do, to keep from pacing below, expecting to have to catch her at any moment.
Char tossed the shirt up and Maggie caught it. She stuffed it into the hole she’d created and before the shirt burned, she dropped it back down into the water. Char retrieved it and began the system again.
With Maggie’s glow high above them now, the light at the bottom was dim at best. He used his good arm to feel his surroundings. The pain had grown in his broken arm, and the swelling made it feel twice the size. He suspected the bone might have sliced his insides and was bleeding.
“I’m at the door,” Maggie called from above.
Kris jerked to attention and gazed up. The area around her glowed red from her one hand. “Don’t touch it,” he yelled.
Maggie pulled her hand back and looked down. “We need to figure out what this one does, if anything.”
“Not you,” Char said. “Come down and I’ll be the first to touch it.”
“Maybe we can just throw some stuff at it and see what happens?” Kris said, shocked that Char hadn’t been the one to suggest it. “Maggie, move down a bit and I’ll hit the door with a rock.”
Maggie scaled down a few footholds and held out her glowing hand to give Kris enough light to see the door. He threw the rock and it struck his target, dead center. Bouncing off, it struck the opposite wall and came back to the bottom.
“You think it’s just a regular door?” Char asked.
“I don’t know. I doubt it,” Kris said. “You hear or see anything weird from there, Maggie?”