The Drellic Saga: Books One, Two and Three

by Mike Marlinski

Chapter Fifteen

  Simone awoke two mornings after her abduction, after being heavily sedated by Drellic’s forces. When she opened her eyes, she found herself lying in a bed and dressed in a white, sleeveless, silk night gown, beneath a thick, white heirloom quilt.

  Her first instinct was to thrash about and demand answers, but she was barely able to move. She slowly sat up and looked around the room. The walls were also white, as was the carpeting. A glass vase was sitting on a nightstand beside her, with a single red rose inside. She couldn’t tell if it was morning or evening, but the sun was barely coming through the thin white curtains, which separated her bedroom from an outdoor balcony.

  She struggled to get to her feet and then staggered towards the curtains, as they lightly fluttered in the soft breeze. Upon moving the curtains aside and stepping out onto the balcony, she observed an endless sea of construction workers and vehicles, working to rebuild the destroyed city of Sydney, Australia, in the image of a long dead world.

  Confused and disheartened, she retreated back into the bedroom and walked slowly to the door. She found that the more she moved, the easier movement became. She could feel her limbs loosening up, as she opened the door and entered a long white hallway, with red carpeting and elaborate glass chandeliers, running along the ceiling.

  She found a spiral staircase leading downstairs, down the hall on her left. As she came closer to the staircase, she could hear soft, somber piano playing in the distance. Aside from the sound of the piano, she appeared to be completely alone in the building. She feared for her life, but also knew that if Drellic had wanted her dead, she would’ve been so for a long time. She also knew that her only chance at survival, would be to confront him.

  Simone hesitantly, but alertly, descended the staircase and found herself in a large, elegant ballroom, with white walls and a hard wooden floor. Simone then spotted Drellic in the far corner of the room, seated at a grand piano.

  He sensed her presence and stopped playing, as soon as she entered the room. Ironically, his heart was beating just as fast as hers. He turned to face her, then slowly rose from the bench and approached her. He was dressed in his familiar black overalls and matching formal jacket, complete with the symbols of Siren and Tyrran displayed upon his shoulders.

  “How are you feeling?” he asked, with a genuinely concerned tone of voice.

  “Like I was taken against my will, drugged, undressed, redressed and force fed nutrients, intravenously,” she quickly replied. “Kind of like that.”

  Drellic laughed for a moment, then met her gaze with absolute sincerity. “That’s the spark I love about you,” he said softly.

  “Why am I here?!” Simone loudly demanded.

  Drellic raised his hand to silence her and calmly replied, “You’re home now. And please lower your voice. I’d hate for any eavesdroppers to think that you’re unhappy here.”

  “I don’t know what exactly you have planned for you and me,” Simone began. “But you should probably just kill me right now, because I will never take part in whatever sick love story is playing inside your mind, right now. You are a sick, twisted son of a bitch.”

  Drellic then calmly approached her, but violently slapped her across the face, sending her flying into the far wall. Frightened and bewildered, she stared up at him from the floor.

  “I’ll have no bride of mine, speaking to me with such disrespect,” he said.

  He then picked her up and gently set her down on her feet, then took her by the hand and dragged her to the nearest window, and out onto one of the lower outdoor balconies. With pride, he looked upon the first completed replacement structure in Sydney.

  It was a tall, sleek silver tower, standing almost one mile high.

  “Der Lan Seinfer Delendra,” he said, as he pointed to the tower. “It means, that which can touch heaven,” he added. “And this is just the beginning.”

  He then stared deeply into Simone’s eyes and said, “Welcome to Siren, my love. This is going to be the root of the new world.”

  Meanwhile in the ruins of Houston, Callum and Richard had been led by Skulls, Mary and Duster, to a junkyard on the edge of the downtown area. It was still a few hours until sundown, and Callum and Richard were at the mercy of Skulls, who was keeping watch over them beside his campfire, while Duster and Mary slept.

  “Are we going to keep this up all night?” Callum asked him.

  “I don’t know. Are we?” Skulls replied, as he stabbed at the campfire with a piece of wood, his rifle firmly gripped in his other hand. “I could always kill you both right now, so I can get some sleep.”

  “So why haven’t you?” Richard asked.

  “I guess some part of me still has some doubts. You’re lucky,” Skulls said. “You’re still going to get a chance to prove to me that you can be trusted.”

  “How’s that?” asked Callum.

  “You’re going to take the same test that we all had to, when Ranger was still around,” Skulls answered.

  As it had already been explained to them by Skulls and his party, Ranger was the former leader of the resistance in Houston. He was Mandrake’s contact on the surface and the keeper of the recently destroyed supply bunker. Ranger was also Skulls’ father, although he didn’t like to refer to him as such.

  Upon learning of Ranger’s intentions to coordinate an insurrection with Mandrake’s help, Drellic made his first personal appearance in Houston, one year prior, and publicly executed Ranger and dozens of his fellow resistance fighters.

  The execution devastated the morale of the city, and persuaded many others to join Drellic’s side, rather than further risk their lives, fighting him.

  “What test? What do we have to do?” Callum asked.

  “There’s a ship that Drellic’s people built,” Skulls began. “Some really advanced piece of shit. It travels back and forth between here and Australia. Drellic lives there now. That’s probably where your wife is.”

  “Where in Australia?” Callum asked eagerly. “I don’t know, but that’s beside the point. You’re going to help us kill everyone on board that ship, the next time it lands, and all who are protecting it. Then you’re going to help us steal it. That’s the test. You have to openly defy Drellic.”

  “Sounds like fun. Sign us up,” Richard said.

  “No problems here,” Callum added. “Lead the way.”

  Skulls smirked and replied, “You say that now.”

  “Just give us this chance, and I promise you, you’ll have no more doubts about our characters,” Callum boasted.

  Skulls then rose to his feet and looked behind him, at a broken down, red convertible with a large green tarp, draped over it. Mary was sleeping inside the car.

  He then turned back to Callum and Richard, smiled and said, “You two boys try to get some sleep now, while I go fuck my wife. And don’t get any funny ideas. You know what’ll happen if you run.”

  Callum and Richard nervously glanced down at their ankles, which had been strapped to proximity sensitive explosives, courtesy of Duster. If they moved more than one hundred feet from the detonator, or tried to remove the explosives from their bodies, they would be incinerated by the blast, in seconds.

  “We wouldn’t dream of blowing the party,” Callum said, with a sarcastic smile.

  “That ship will most likely be back soon, since we killed off those drones. Most likely right around sunrise,” said Skulls. “Get what rest you can. You’re going to need it.”

  Skulls kept his eyes on Callum and Richard for a few more seconds and then disappeared inside the tarp- covered car. A few moments later, Callum and Richard were treated to Mary’s loud moaning and yelling of Spanish obscenities, as Skulls made love to her.

  “You know, I’ve got half a mind to walk over there and take this thing off, just to shut them up,” Richard said, referring to the explosives tied to his ankles.

  “Don’t even joke about that,” Callum said.

  “Look arou
nd you. We’re fucked,” Richard said. “He’s too powerful. He has people everywhere. For all we know, this whole thing is bullshit and these three fucks are secretly just more of Drellic’s minions.”

  “I don’t buy that,” Callum replied. “They’re damaged goods. I’ll give you that. But I think we’d be too, if we’d been down here with them these last three years. No. I don’t think they’re dirty. They’ve got too much humanity left in them.”

  “I hope you’re right,” said Richard. “Because I’m going to be honest with you. Since Sophia, I don’t give a fuck anymore. Personally, I don’t think we have a chance. And whether these guys turn out to be traitors or not, if it looks like they’re going to off us, I’ll gladly take myself out, to take them with us.”

  Callum scanned Richard’s face and much to his dismay, he found that Richard was speaking with absolute sincerity and complete disregard for the principles he’d always stood for.

  “Don’t let this thing break you,” said Callum. “Not yet. The best thing we can do right now, is not forget who we are. It’s the one thing Drellic can’t take from us.”

  Richard laughed and replied, “Who are you kidding? Look at how many people he’s turned.”

  “Well he’s not turning me,” said Callum. “He’s not fucking turning you either.”

  Richard remained silent and stayed awake for the rest of the night, staring into the fire, until its last flicker.

  The following morning, Callum and Richard were forcefully awakened by violent kicks to their mid sections, courtesy of Mary. They both writhed in pain for a moment, then looked up to see her smiling down on them.

  “Rise and shine,” she said. “We just picked up the transponder from the target ship. It just landed next to the apartment building we blew to hell last night.”

  “No doubt, trying to get to the bottom of our mess,” Skulls said, as he stepped out from the backseat of the convertible, pulling up his pants.

  “If we’re going to try and ambush them, we have to do it now,” said Duster, as he playfully tossed a grenade back and forth between his hands.

  Callum and Richard were fed a quick breakfast of old bags of potato chips that looked like they had come from a twenty year old vending machine, and were then marched at gun point, back to the apartment building. From their vantage point behind some shrubbery, behind where the building once stood, they saw the target ship parked in the street, directly in front of the still smoking rubble.

  It was a sleek compact fighter, no larger than an F-14 fighter jet, with a shiny metallic hull and a faint blue glow, coming from its underbelly. It quietly hovered a few feet above the street and didn’t appear to have any physical landing gear. Three armed guards, wearing black overalls, similar to Drellic’s, were standing guard in front of an open portal on the side of the ship.

  Four other similarly dressed militants were picking over the ruins of the apartment building. Skulls, Mary and Duster were armed to the teeth with their signature weapons, but claimed that since the destruction of their safe house, they were preparing to use the last of their ammunition. Callum and Richard were given old fashioned handguns, with six bullets each. It was all that Skulls was willing to spare to them.

  “This is crazy,” Richard said. “We’re dead. We’re no match for all that ammo. That ship has to have some pretty high tech weaponry on it as well.”

  “We didn’t say this was going to be easy, homie,” said Skulls.

  “If you want to back out now, feel free to run,” Mary said, with a sassy smile. “Just remember. You won’t get very far,” she added, as she pointed to the explosives, tied to his ankle.

  Richard shook with fear and remained silent, until his paranoia and primal need for self-preservation got the best of him.

  “Lead the way,” he said to Skulls. “If we’re going to try and take them out, let’s just get it over with.”

  Skulls slowly led the team behind a large chunk of rubble, in the back of the ruined structure. The four enemy soldiers who were searching the ruins, were getting closer to them by the second.

  Suddenly, Richard burst into tears and jumped to his feet, revealing himself to Drellic’s men. He then pulled out his weapon and shot Duster in the face, then grabbed Skulls and pressed his gun to his forehead.

  Drellic’s men aimed their assault rifles at the group.

  “Listen to me!” Richard cried out to the enemy soldiers. “I’m defecting! These men are resistance! But I’m not with them! I’m defecting!”

  “Richard, what the fuck have you done?!” Callum screamed at him.

  Skulls kept eye contact with Mary, as Richard continued to apply pressure to his head with the gun. The detonator which controlled the explosives, strapped to Richard, was in Duster’s jacket pocket. Richard then jerked his head towards Callum, drawing the the enemy’s attention to him.

  “Him!” Richard yelled, referring to Callum. “He piloted the ship that brought Drellic here. He’s valuable to Drellic. He’ll cooperate. He just needs to understand that this is the only way to survive!”

  One of Drellic’s men hesitated then said, “We know who Callum Hammond is. But he isn’t enough. Drellic isn’t very concerned about him. What else do you have to offer?”

  Richard became frantic and confused, then replied, “What do you mean? I’m offering you what’s left of the Houston resistance. I just killed one of them! What more do you want?!”

  “Kill the man you are holding,” the soldier replied.

  “Fine,” Richard replied, as he pulled Skulls closer to Drellic’s men.

  Skulls kept his eyes fixated on Mary and began jerking his head down towards Duster’s body. Upon seeing that everyone was focused on Skulls, Mary shed a tear and shook her head in disapproval. Skulls persisted in signaling to her to detonate the explosives strapped to Richard.

  After a few moments, Mary reluctantly reached into Duster’s jacket pocket and pushed the button. Richard was incinerated instantly, as was Skulls, along with the four officers standing in front of them.

  Mary and Callum jumped to safety, taking shelter in the rubble. Callum was in shock at what had just happened and was unable to move. Mary then violently slapped him across the face. Callum was startled and looked her in the eye. They were both teary eyed, but remained focused and committed, as they knew what had to be done.

  “Are you still with me?” Mary asked Callum. “Because this is far from over.”