The Drellic Saga: Books One, Two and Three

by Mike Marlinski

  Chapter Thirteen

  Shortly after Drellic used fear to take the entire city of Washington, DC hostage, he found that the loyalty of most humans to their way of life, was as easy for Drellic to break, as the flimsy walls of the White House. After a few months, Drellic had recruited nearly six thousand loyal soldiers, within the Washington city limits, alone.

  He preyed on those with the most to lose. He would offer protection for the families of potential able bodied followers, in exchange for their unwavering devotion to his cause. Once Drellic felt he could safely leave Washington in the hands of his army, he spent the next year traveling to every major city on Earth, gathering more recruits as he went and leaving more bodies and rubble in each city’s wake.

  Upon reaching Sydney, Australia, he felt an overpowering wave of familiarity rush over him. The Blood of Aia boiled inside of him, upon his arrival in Sydney. Though the topography of the area had changed considerably over the eons, Drellic was convinced that Sydney, Australia was sitting on the same soil that Siren City once had.

  He took up a permanent residence in the famous Sydney Opera House and established a worldwide surveillance system, using flying automated drones of his design, allowing him to coordinate with his cells around the globe.

  Driven by a desire to see Siren architecture again, he used his Australian army to burn the entire city of Sydney to the ground. Every structure aside from the Opera House, was burnt to a cinder. Drellic decided to keep the Opera House as it was, as it was the only building in the entire city, he approved of; realizing that it bared a striking resemblance to one of Siren City’s amphitheaters.

  In exchange for their cooperation, his followers and their families were the only people in the area supplied with food, water and health care. It was the same throughout the rest of the world. If you weren’t aligned with Drellic’s forces, you were either killed or you died, due to starvation and disease.

  On the night of May 16th 2031, Drellic stood alone on an outdoor balcony, overlooking the decimated city. He attentively observed, as construction crews were continuing to work through the night, to essentially recreate the famous landmarks of Siren. Drellic’s obsession with the architecture of his home, allowed for him to give detailed schematics and instructions to his workers.

  He was growing more and more unstable by the day. His insatiable desire to erase the memory of losing his former life, by recreating it on Modern Earth, was both a remedy for his inner turmoil, as well as a plague to his sanity.

  He gazed out at the ravaged city skyline, dimly lit by spotlights, used by the construction workers, and felt an incredible sense of loneliness and hopelessness. He was beginning to come to his senses, by realizing that his time had come and gone.

  "These are not my people,” he said to himself. “I suffered through an eternity in solitude, only to be surrounded by pathetic impostors.”

  His better nature eventually succumbed to his destructive vengeful nature, which had always been his stronger side.

  “This world is broken,” he said. “Now it's time to cleanse its wounds."

  With those last few words, came a sharp pain in his mind. It was a Starblood induced vision of something strongly connected to him. As he clenched and raised his hands to his face, to ease the pain, his mind’s eye saw Simone’s face. The image of her face sliced through his entire body, like the sharpest blade. It was indescribable.

  Once the pain subsided, he knew what the experience meant. He had always known of the ISS and its inhabitants. He also knew that ISS had been home to Callum and Simone, but was far too fixated on his conquest of the earth to bother with them.

  It wasn’t until he felt Simone’s presence, for the first time in three years that his hatred for her and Callum had returned to the forefront of his mind. Drellic’s personal vendetta against them had just become his primary focus, again.

  The stealth technology used by the ISS shuttle was useless against Drellic’s surveillance network. He dispatched a reconnaissance team to Houston, Texas; the predetermined landing site for the supply shuttle. By the time Callum’s team landed on the outskirts of the city, Drellic’s forces were there waiting for them.

  Drellic also thought it would be more appropriate, if he were to make the apprehension himself. Since he didn’t wish to disappoint his old acquaintances, he vanished in a burst of energy and sped off to Houston, moving across the Pacific Ocean so quickly, it felt like solid ground. He arrived four minutes later, long before his reconnaissance people arrived.

  Meanwhile, aboard the supply shuttle, Callum and Simone had just cleared the earth’s outer atmosphere and were seeing the surface of the planet in detail, for the first time in three years. As they drew closer to downtown Houston, the team looked on in horror, at the sight of toppled over skyscrapers, endless debris, and a thick cloud cover, which rained ashes over the once prideful American city. The sun was beginning to rise, as they prepared to touch down in a foggy clearing.

  “Welcome back to hell,” Jack said, sarcastically.

  “What a fucking nightmare,” Richard added.

  Sophia became teary eyed, as she stared out the window at an unrecognizable “Sam Houston Park.” She was more so fixated on the piles of wood and glass next to it, which was all that remained of the surrounding residential neighborhoods.

  “It’s going to be OK,” Richard assured her, as he put his arm around her.

  Sophia just pointed out the window and said, “You see that hole in the ground with the split roof?”

  Everyone stared out at a caved in house that looked as though it had been stepped on by a giant.

  “That’s the house I grew up in,” Sophia muttered.

  “Don’t worry,” said Callum. “When this is all over, children are going to be able to call this a home again.”

  “I think the scariest thing, is seeing your home for the first time in years and not recognizing it,” Sophia replied. I don’t want to be here.”

  “I second that,” said Jack.

  He then looked over at Callum and asked, “What do you think? Just in and out right? Piece of cake?”

  Callum just rolled his eyes and sarcastically replied, “Oh, yeah. Piece a cake.”

  All was quiet, as the ship touched down in the park. The crew had waited inside the ship all day, scanning the area for signs of the enemy and had found nothing of consequence. Night had fallen and the area surrounding the ship was nearly pitch black.

  “Are you sure we’re in the right place, ma’am?” Jake Barns asked Simone.

  “Just before we lost contact with the resistance, we received word, there was a supply bunker beneath this park. It was meant for us. We just have no way of knowing if it’s still here,” Simone answered.

  “Fan-fucking-tastic,” Tim sighed.

  “Just shut your fuckin’ mouth and keep that rifle handy,” Jake yelled to him.

  The two lieutenants loaded their assault rifles and then signaled to Callum to open the side hatch. Jake and Tim were the first out of the ship. They made the small jump from the hatchway to the ground and strategically went off in opposite directions, with their weapons drawn. The rest of the crew followed cautiously behind them. Jack was assigned to stay behind and watch over the ship.

  “Something about this seems a little too familiar,” he sarcastically said to Callum.

  “Just sit tight buddy. We’ll be back before you know it.”

  Suddenly, Sophia began sobbing, loudly. Simone’s eyes widened, as she gave Sophia a hostile glare.

  “Shut up!” Simone whispered.

  “Drellic’s people probably saw us come down. The cover of darkness is the only thing we have going for us right now,” Callum added.

  Richard walked over to Sophia and held her. “Just relax baby,” he whispered.

  “No!” she screamed. “I don’t want to be here! I want to go back! Everything’s gone! Everything’s fucked!”

  As she continued to scream an
d cry, the lieutenants promptly walked over to her and pointed their rifles at her. Richard was shocked and backed away from Sophia. He then realized what was happening and stepped back in front of her.

  “Sir, please move,” ordered Jake.

  “We don’t want to do this,” Tim added, quietly. “But we have orders to kill anyone that jeopardizes this mission. That includes members of this crew.”

  Sophia then grabbed Richard and began convulsing, as she continued to cry harder and harder.

  “Just take me back up there!” she screamed into the night. “I don’t want to see this anymore!”

  Simone grabbed Callum’s arm and whispered, “You have to get her back on board. They’ll kill her if you don’t.”

  Callum then quickly ran to Sophia and grabbed her, covering her mouth. “Don’t shoot,” he whispered. “We can leave her on the shuttle. She doesn’t have to die.”

  “Just do it fast,” Tim whispered, as the lieutenants lowered their weapons. Callum then dragged Sophia, kicking and screaming, back on to the ship. He was tightly covering her mouth the entire time.

  Jack spun around to see Callum dragging Sophia back through the hatchway.

  “What the hell is going on? What are you doing?” he asked Callum.

  “Just keep her here and keep her calm. We’ll be back,” Callum said quickly, as he left the ship and closed the hatch behind him.

  Sophia ran to Jack and begged him to take her back up to ISS. Jack pleaded with her to remain calm but it was no use. She was having a nervous breakdown and there was no stopping it.

  Later, as the team outside the ship, continued towards the bunker coordinates, they could hear Sophia’s whimpering from inside the cabin, along with a persistent banging, as she pounded her fists against the locked hatch.

  “That bitch is going to get us all killed,” Jake muttered.

  “Don’t fucking talk about her that way,” Richard snapped.

  The crew had reached the end of the dark clearing and were walking into a lightly wooded area. Jake and Tim expertly checked around the massive tree trunks and zoomed in on the tree tops, with their night vision goggles. At that moment, the crew heard a quiet whistling sound in the distance that was getting louder and louder, with the passing seconds.

  Jake and Tim aimed their rifles at the night sky, in the direction of the sound. The unknown source of the noise was moving quickly and getting closer to their location. Simone looked at Callum who had his eyes fixated on the sky.

  “What is it?” she asked him.

  “Oh my god…” he whispered, as his voice trailed off.

  Everyone followed Callum’s gaze, to see two long trails of white flame streaking through the sky. They were heat seeking missiles. The team looked on, as the streaks passed over them and struck the supply shuttle, with Jack and Sophia still inside. Afterwards, a fiery crater of metallic rubble was resting where the ship had once stood. Consequently, the survivors were stranded on the surface, as their enemies closed in around them.

  Richard screamed in agony, knowing that Sophia was gone forever. He struggled to run towards the wreckage, but was held back by the two lieutenants.

  “Sophia!” he screamed, as he broke free and headed back towards the rising flames.

  Callum tackled him to the ground, as Simone looked on in horror.

  “She’s gone!” Callum screamed. “They’re both gone! You can’t save her! You’ll just burn to death!”

  Callum then backed away from Richard, as he fell to his knees. Richard pounded his fists against the ground, continuing to weep. A moment later, the team was surrounded by heavily armed militants, wearing black jumpsuits and night vision equipped head gear.

  Callum and the others were then suddenly, covered from head to toe with red targeting dots, from laser guides, atop the assault rifles of the new arrivals. One of the enemy soldiers ordered the group to get down on their knees and surrender their weapons. They reluctantly did so, as Jake and Tim tossed their rifles to the side.

  Callum noticed Simone’s expression of sheer terror, as she watched the enemy soldiers move aside, clearing a path for a much taller figure coming out from the shadows behind them. A combat helicopter appeared overhead and shined a bright spotlight down on the group. It was unquestionably the source of the missiles that had destroyed the shuttle and killed Jack and Sophia.

  Callum, Simone and Richard remained fixated on the approaching figure. A moment later, Drellic stepped into the light and gave a sinister smile to his prisoners. He calmly approached Callum, tightly gripped him by his throat and lifted him off the ground.

  “Callum, my friend. Did you miss me?” he asked. Drellic then abruptly released him, allowing him to fall to the ground. He coughed and gagged as Drellic then turned his attention to Simone.

  She trembled with fear, as he approached her. He then fell to one knee and lightly caressed her face, wiping away her tears.

  “I was hoping I’d see you again,” he said with a smile. “You’ve been occupying my mind, a lot lately. You and I have a great deal to discuss.”

  Callum and Richard angrily kept their eyes on Drellic, as he caressed Simone’s face with one hand and brushed her hair with the other.

  “You don’t know how hard it’s been,” Drellic said. “I have enslaved billions of your people and recruited millions to help me better this world, but even after I had burned down the last settlement on this planet, I still felt this overwhelming sense of…nothing.”

  “You feel nothing because you know that things will never again be as they were,” Simone stuttered. “This place will never be the world you want it to be,” she continued. “You can’t win genuine favor at the point of a gun. Most people aren’t as weak as they seem. One day you’ll have to kill us all and you’ll just end up being alone again.”

  Drellic laughed to himself, mocking Simone’s attempt to sway his judgment. He then turned his attention to Callum, Richard and the two lieutenants. He signaled to one of his soldiers and then pointed to Jack and Tim. The soldier fired two rounds into each of their heads, killing them instantly. Callum and Richard became erratic for a moment, but were forced back onto their knees by another one of Drellic’s officers.

  Drellic then walked over to Callum and Richard, while a few of his men kept a watchful eye on Simone. He then dropped to one knee to become eye level with Callum.

  “I know how much you love her,” Drellic said, as he glanced over at Simone. “That’s what I remember the most about you; your unwillingness to do all that was necessary to destroy me, because of your need to save the lives of your friends, especially her.”

  “You’d be amazed at how many of us would’ve done the same,” Callum replied. “You may think we’re inadequate as a species, but I think our compassion makes us better than you. More importantly, I think that’s the thing you fear most. That’s what I remember the most about you. I remember your cold emptiness. You don’t even remember love do you?”

  Callum’s last few words, caused Drellic’s mind to drift back to his life with Moya, billions of years before. But Drellic quickly dismissed the rush of emotions and returned his attention to Callum, giving him a sadistic smile.

  “You think your emotions make you a better being?” he asked. “I’d very much like to see those emotions tested, in a way they’ve never been tested before.”

  Drellic then calmly rose to his feet and walked back to Simone. He looked down at her and with a cold gaze of longing and said, “After a long while, I finally realized what I was missing.”

  Simone wiped the tears from her face, cleared her throat and bitterly asked Drellic what he meant by that. “I was just thinking,” Drellic began. “I still don’t have someone to share this world with.”

  Callum was only able to make eye contact with Simone one last time, before Drellic rushed over to him and punched him in his face without warning, knocking him unconscious. A few hours later, as the sun was rising over Sam Hous
ton Park, Callum awoke, to see Richard sitting beside him. They both had nearly identical scars and bruising on their foreheads from Drellic’s fist.

  Richard was staring off into space with an expression of complacency, as Callum struggled to sit up. Callum tried speaking to Richard, but could get no response from him. After violently smacking his arm, Richard finally turned his head to look at Callum. His eyes were still empty.

  “She’s gone,” Richard said, in a detached tone. Callum struggled to focus on his surroundings, then finally realized what Richard had meant. He sprang up onto his feet and frantically searched the devastated park, only to find the bodies of Tim Sirus and Jake Barns. Simone had been taken during the night.