“You’re a good person, Jaz,” he said at last. “You just wanted to see the world. You shouldn’t have to die in some anonymous gray room.”
“Neither should you!” I cried.
Leo intercepted my pacing. I moved to get around the biker, but he matched me step for step and remained right there in front of me.
“Look, I know what I am,” Leo said. “I know the life I chose. You think I ever expected to die of old age? A bullet or lethal injection was pretty much always how this was going to end for me. And at least this way, I’ll be dying for something.”
I tried to push Leo back, but I may as well have been trying to shove a brick wall. I settled for kicking one of the chairs across the room.
“Hey, I’m every inch as dangerous as you are!” I said. “Uriel might be more of an uptight bitch, but they’re perfectly willing to destroy the entire universe just to bloody Death’s nose!”
That is not entirely– Uriel thought.
“Shut up!” I shouted at the angel in my head, then spun and pointed to Leo. “No. Either we both die here in this stupid base or neither of us do!”
Leo shook his head. “I already let my whole gang die, Jaz.”
“You can’t blame yourself for what Pestilence did!”
“Maybe,” Leo answered quietly. Now it was his turn to put a hand on my shoulder. It was heavy and I felt the warmth of his touch through my shirt. “But I can’t lose you too, Jaz.”
“Then… then we need some other option,” I said. “Anything! What about Carlos? We’ve been driving like hell to get to San Diego for a reason, right?”
Leo nodded. “My uncle said that he knew what was going on and that he knows what to do about it.”
“What if it’s the same solution as Diane’s?” I asked. “Killing us to kill the things inside us?”
I didn’t know how to answer my own question. I was lost, trapped, and totally fucked. Things have gotten pretty damned awful when being back home in Crayhill suddenly didn’t sound so bad.
“I have no idea,” Leo answered. “But Carlos saved me before. Maybe he can do it again.”
At least he was talking about living, even if the hope in Leo’s voice was paper-thin.
“Look, I hope so… but Diane and SPOT seem to know a lot about what’s happening to us, and she didn’t offer up any other solutions,” I said, hating myself for the words. “Carlos might not have anything better. He may want to kill us, too.”
Leo considered, but then he nodded. “If I’m going to die, I’d rather my uncle do it than SPOT.”
“Then I guess we should tell Diane,” I said. “But I don’t think she’ll be very happy about it.”
I went to the door. It was locked, but when I knocked, one of our guards appeared at the window.
“We need to talk to Diane,” I told him in a loud voice. “We’ve decided.”
The armored man spoke briefly into a radio on his shoulder. I couldn’t hear what he said, but only a minute later, Diane came hurrying down the hallway with her row of soldiers following like a line of deadly, heavily-armed ducklings. I stepped back as the lock on the door thunked and Diane came inside. The other Spotters remained out in the hall.
“Mister Valdis, your motorcycle has arrived at Blue Mountain,” Diane said. “Intact and unmarked.”
“Thanks,” Leo answered.
Diane took a deep breath. “Now, Shen says that you’ve made your decision.”
“Yeah, we have,” I told her. “Sorry, but the answer is no. You made a really good point and we’ll die if we have to… But we’re not ready yet. There’s still one more option for us in San Diego. We need to try.”
Diane’s brows shot up, but she sighed and glanced back at the armed and armored Spotters.
“I can’t tell you how truly sorry I am to hear that,” Diane said. “And even more sorry to say your answer is not one we can accept.”
“Wait, what?” I gasped, heart sinking.
“We can’t afford to release you, Jasmine. The other six are still out there, and the cost of letting you reunite with them is too high. Sacrifices must be made. I’m sorry.”
“So you’re just going to execute us?” I asked.
Diane’s nod looked honestly pained, but I didn’t really care. The southwestern SPOT director might not sleep well for the next few years, but at least she would be alive to do it. I should have guessed, though… Diane and her people had already tried to kill us before. Of course she wouldn’t just let us walk away.
But Leo stepped between me and Diane, shaking his head.
“Alright. You don’t need to kill Jaz,” he said. “You only have to mess up the numbers for the final apocalyptic battle, right? So you can have me.”
“Damn it, Leo!” I shouted. “No! We talked about this. I’m not letting them kill you!”
“Trust me,” Leo said. He held out his hand to Diane. “Do we have a deal? You get me, and Jaz can leave?”
The SPOT director looked at Leo’s extended hand, sighed and pushed her glasses up her nose.
“That’s noble of you, Mister Valdis,” Diane told him. “And I wish I could accept your sacrifice in lieu of Miss O’Neil… But I’m afraid that the combined power of the archangels is just as destructive as that of the horsemen. We require both of you.”
“Well, I tried,” Leo said. “Sorry.”
But he didn’t lower his hand. Diane regarded it again, then reluctantly took it. Leo smiled grimly as he closed his fingers around hers. The big biker yanked Diane’s hand, spinning her and pulling her arm up behind her back. Diane yelped and shot up onto the tips of her toes.
Before I could blink, Leo had pulled his gun, flicked off the safety, and jammed the muzzle against Diane’s temple. The door burst open and all eight of the SPOT soldiers ran into the room with assault weapons leveled at us.
“Release Director Owens!” one of them shouted.
Leo nodded and kept his gun on Diane.
“I will,” he said. “Once Jaz and I are safely out of here.”
The little concrete room was full of shouting voices and staticky radio chatter as the SPOT soldiers called… everybody, as far as I could tell. The close air smelled of sweat and gunpowder. Inside me, Uriel tensed like a snake ready to strike.
What is happening? the archangel asked.
I had no idea. I threw my hands into the air, but every single eye and gun was trained on Leo. I didn’t know what I wanted to happen here, but I was pretty sure a hostage situation and an awful lot of big guns pointed my direction wasn’t it.
“You’re going to lead us out of this maze,” Leo told Diane. “Then Jaz and I will climb onto my motorcycle and leave. After that, we’re done.”
“You’re fighting the wrong people, Mister Valdis,” Diane said. Her voice was tight with pain, but otherwise way calmer than I would be. “We’re all on the same side here.”
“Maybe,” Leo agreed. “But you’re not God, lady. You don’t get to decide who lives and dies.”
He shoved Diane toward the door. The Spotters parted reluctantly and kept their assault rifles pointed at him. I jogged after Leo, wondering what the hell to do.
“You know what Death will do if it ever gains control over you,” Diane said as Leo propelled her down the concrete hallway. “The strain of holding the horseman at bay is obvious. How much longer can you keep this up?”
Leo narrowed his dark, bloodshot eyes at her. “We still have options.”
“Your uncle, Carlos Medina?” Diane asked. “We intercepted your communications with him, if you recall. But what in his extensive criminal history – on both sides of the border – makes you think that he can help you?”
“I don’t know,” Leo answered. “But we’re going to find out. Which way?”
We came to an intersection of gray halls and Diane pointed to the left. The stark concrete corridor didn’t look familiar, but that didn’t mean anything. I was completely lost – in every sense of the word.
&nbs
p; Leo pushed Diane down the hallway she had indicated. Her soldiers fell back a little, but not nearly far enough. They crept after us warily, keeping us in their gun sights. I could still feel their weapons aimed at our backs and their boots drummed out the same panicked, galloping beat as my heart.
“Jasmine, is this what you really want to do?” Diane asked.
She tried to look back at me, but Leo pressed his gun into her temple, forcing the SPOT director to keep staring straight ahead. I swallowed hard.
“No,” I said. “I don’t know what I want anymore. But I don’t want to die.”
“And you’re not going to,” Leo told me.
“How many other people need to die?” Diane asked. “What we’re asking seems unfair… and it is. I know that. But you can’t run away from the angels and horsemen forever. When they find you, Jasmine, your life is over. Uriel will be all that’s left. And they will break the world in half to get at Death.”
“Maybe Carlos can help us,” I said in a shaking voice.
We came to a wide set of metal-shod double doors, but they weren’t the big steel ones that led out of the mountain base. Leo kicked them open and we hurried through into some sort of cafeteria. It was full of tables – enough to seat perhaps two hundred people – but they appeared to have been emptied in a hurry. That must have been what all the radio chatter was about. There was still food and steaming mugs sitting on the tables. I guess the coffee wasn’t that bad…
A squadron of SPOT soldiers was waiting for us in the cafeteria. They had shoved several tables out of the way and held assault rifles at the ready. I squeaked as the doors banged open behind us and Diane’s original guards ran through. They fanned out, surrounding us, and Leo jerked to a stop in the middle of the huge room.
“You led us into a trap,” he said.
“Yes, I’m afraid I did,” Diane agreed. “Mister Valdis, did you really think that I would ask you to sacrifice your lives and not be willing to do the same?”
Oh shit.
“Open fire,” Diane ordered.
Her soldiers didn’t hesitate. They fired, but Leo was already moving. He shoved Diane down to the floor and threw himself at me. Gunshots boomed and I fell with Leo’s arm around my waist. I was too shocked and scared to even scream. There were bullets everywhere, slamming exploding craters into the concrete and blasting holes through the tables.
My ears rang, and I smelled smoke and cordite; each breath choked me with the stench. Leo lay on the ground, one arm over me and blood pooling beneath him. It spread across the cold gray floor, seeping into the cracks and following their lightning-bolt paths in every direction.
“Leo!” I screamed.
I grabbed Leo and rolled him onto his back, but he didn’t move. There was a spray of holes across his chest, all ringed in liquid red. Leo was unconscious and bleeding out. Quickly.
“Please, help him!” I cried.
One of the Spotters was heaving Diane to her feet. Blood ran down her sleeve from a wound in her shoulder. The rest of the SPOT soldiers held their guns ready and moved forward slowly, closing in around me. Laser sights cut glowing scarlet through the swirling gunsmoke, angling for a clear shot at me over Leo’s body.
“I’m so sorry it had to come to this, Jasmine,” Diane said. She looked up at her soldiers. “Shoot her.”
The wall behind Diane exploded inward, hurling concrete and twisted rebar through the dining hall. Leo’s motorcycle shot through the rubble toward its master like a missile, bowling over tables and SPOT soldiers without even slowing down.
But that thing wasn’t Leo’s Packmaster anymore. The motorcycle had… changed. It was beyond custom now. Death’s steed was bigger than any bike I had ever seen, as predatory and sleek as a panther. It trailed dark smoke and the headlight shone red like the caldera of a volcano.
Shouting, the soldiers spun to face the new threat. They fired through the smoke and dust, bullets pinging off the motorcycle’s perfect obsidian finish. The engine revved, sounding more than ever like a roaring dragon, and the chrome casing shifted. Long chains lashed out from the bike in clanking, clattering whips.
It was Arrow Lodge all over again… but worse. The Spotters’ shouts turned into screams.
“Holy shit,” I whimpered. I pulled at one of Leo’s arms, but he didn’t move. “Shit! Come on, please wake up! Leo, we have to go!”
I had no idea how to get away now that Leo’s motorcycle had turned into Satan’s moped. But I knew that we had to escape.
I tried to heave Leo up again, but the biker was twice my size and the downside of all that well-sculpted muscle was that I could hardly budge him when I needed to.
A soldier ran through the thrashing chaos toward me, still bent on carrying out Diane’s original order. He aimed a big automatic rifle at me, but the motorcycle’s engine roared and it burst from the swirling smoke. It slammed into the Spotter, spun on one oversized black tire and then raced off across the dining hall once more, billowing black shadows in its wake.
The soldier’s body hit the ground next to me, shattered and broken. Not just broken, ruptured. What had once been a man was now literal roadkill with the demon-bike’s tire tracks cutting through half-burned meat. I screamed and clapped my hands over my mouth.
Leo moved. His fingers curled into claws and raked through the spreading halo of blood to clutch at his chest. His fingertips gleamed strangely in the smoky light, like they had been dipped in something. Blood…? No, Leo’s hand had turned to metal. His chrome fingers convulsed, grabbing a handful of leathers with metal claws.
“Jaz,” Leo said. “Jaz, I need…”
His voice was a deep, echoing boom and his eyes snapped open, but they were no longer bloodshot. Leo’s eyes weren’t even there… A pair of empty black sockets stared up at me from his pale face.
No. No more. I couldn’t do this.
I hit my limit for terrifying and violent supernatural bullshit. The animal part of my brain took one look at that meat-pile that used to be a human being and Death’s hollow eyes, and it threw in the towel.
I ran away. I jumped to my feet and over a tumbled table, then scrambled through the hole in the concrete wall. My sleeve caught on broken rebar and I shrieked as I ripped my way free.
The smashed hole let out into the main tunnel and up ahead were the tortured and twisted remains of the huge steel doors. Death’s steed had torn right through them like paper.
But I couldn’t help myself – I looked back once through the shattered wall. Leo was on his hands and knees in a pool of his own blood as a cloak of darkness spread from his convulsing shoulders. He grabbed at the front of his black leather jacket like a man trying to tear out his own heart.
Chains and seething shadows lashed, tearing apart anything that moved in the ruined dining hall. I turned away and ran as fast as I could.
The night had turned into a cold, cloudy morning by the time I stumbled down off of Blue Mountain. My legs were sore and my feet hurt, but Leo’s demonic Packmaster had destroyed all the black SPOT vans. Even if I knew where the helicopter was, I couldn’t fly it. My Bonneville was long gone, and I was all on my own.
So I ran and staggered as best I could through the dim dawn light. The mountainside was treacherously rocky and covered with scrubby, thorny bushes that tore at my ankles. I tripped over a stone I couldn’t see and fell, ripping out the knee of my jeans and scraping a shallow, bloody wound into the skin underneath. But I heaved myself up again and kept running toward the rising sun.
Jaz, stop, Uriel said.
I ignored the voice in my head. I was done. Done with archangels and horsemen and secret cabals and even motorcycles. I was going back home to Crayhill.
You don’t want to go home, Uriel said.
Or maybe it was me.
I didn’t care anymore.
I kicked my way through a rusted and half-tumbled down barbed-wire fence, then stumbled out onto the litter-strewn gravel shoulder of an empty country road. A singl
e cracked lane stretched in either direction and I didn’t see any cars, but it was something normal. Human.
The dusty little road ran roughly north and south, so I chose south and began walking. There were blisters in my filthy shoes that already felt the size of softballs, but I had to get away from Blue Mountain. A column of black smoke rose from the slope, back in the direction of the SPOT base. The work of Death and its steed… I squeezed my eyes shut against tears and limped onward, following the road south.
The sound of tires on asphalt made me jump, but it was just a battered pickup truck. My pounding heart leapt into my throat and by the time I thought to stick out my thumb for a lift, the truck had passed and was vanishing swiftly down the narrow road. I sighed and wiped my cheeks. The tears and concrete dust turned into pale gray mud smears on my skin.
I kept walking. My knee throbbed and by midmorning, the clouds had all burned off. The sun was an angry red orb glowing high up over the smoking mountain peak. I found an aluminum sign pocked with birdshot lying face-down next to the road and kicked it over.
Kamin
3 miles
A few more cars and pickup trucks passed me. I held my thumb out, but none of them stopped. I was too tired to switch to my middle finger. And anyway, I couldn’t really blame them. I wouldn’t have picked me up, either. I was obviously trouble.
I had no idea what time it was when I spotted Kamin floating above the mirage shimmer on the road. It was a tiny little town, about the same size as Crayhill. I limped up to a filling station and was pretty sure I saw one of the cars that had passed me on the way in.
The station’s sliding glass doors opened at my approach. At least they didn’t give a shit about how tired and bedraggled I looked. After a long morning of hiking through the heat, it was shockingly cold inside the convenience store. I wiped sweat and ash off my face with the back of one hand.
I ignored a startled, wide-eyed look from the man behind the cash register and grabbed a map out of a wire rack sitting on the counter. I unfolded it across a freezer half-full of ice cream and searched until I found Kamin tucked down into one corner of the page.
400 Horsepower of the Apocalypse Page 24