Chapter Sixteen
At that same time, 17 hours ahead of Houston time, Simone was sitting on the bed she had been assigned, at the Sydney Opera House. She had been locked in the bedroom for nearly twelve hours, since first being exposed to the changes Drellic was making to the city.
The room was darkening, as the sun set and there were no lights to be found. She had been given a tray of food by a servant earlier in the afternoon, but didn’t dare touch anything on it. Hunger was beginning to take its toll on her psyche. She had a throbbing headache and could feel her acids eating away at her stomach lining.
As the room continued to darken, she found that she couldn’t take her eyes away from the roast beef sandwich and browning Caesar salad, sitting upon the silver food tray, on the floor. A tall glass of water was sitting beside the sandwich, but she would sooner drink the rain that was beginning to fall outside.
The sliding glass doors, leading to her balcony, were locked and thick steel bars had been welded over them. Her mind was racing, her heart was pounding and her will was beginning to break. Her fear of a potential toxin only held up for a few more seconds. Finally, she decided to erase the pain, by thinking of being reunited with Callum. But the very thought of him was enough to alert Drellic.
At that moment, Drellic was standing at an intersection, a mile away from the Opera House, overseeing one of his many construction sites, when he felt Simone’s disloyalty crushing his skull, like a vice grip. Knowing that her mind was distracted by the notion of being in Callum’s arms, made Drellic irate and sent him speeding back to her.
Not a full minute passed since Simone had first imagined Callum’s embrace, before Drellic burst through the bedroom door and pinned her to the bed.
“I told you not to do that,” he whispered to her.
“You know I can’t help it,” she fearfully replied. “I can’t just erase him from my mind, you fucking lunatic!”
“Perhaps you only need a glimpse of your destiny, in order to do just that,” Drellic said.
He lifted Simone off of the bed and slung her over his shoulder. He then carried her out of the bedroom and down the spiral staircase, to the main entrance of the Opera House. From there, Drellic and Simone became a blur and vanished.
They reappeared moments later, atop the recently erected, Delendra Tower. Delendra, being the ancient human word for heaven. Once there, Simone fearfully looked beyond the protective glass dome, at the very top of the gleaming silver structure, and saw that she was a mile above the surface of the earth.
The lights from Drellic’s many construction projects, twinkling beneath them in the moonlight.
“From here, we can see it all,” Drellic said. “Everything that you and I will share for an eternity.”
“I’m won’t be your trophy,” she said confidently, as she turned to face him. “It’s just not in the cards. I don’t know what to tell you.”
“Someone who has lived such a sheltered life, should not make so many assumptions about the future,” Drellic said.
While Simone was experiencing the breath taking and majestic view from Delendra Tower, Callum was being immersed in much more troubling surroundings. Richard, who had quickly become one of Callum’s best friends over the past few years, was dead, after succumbing to his fears and betraying Callum’s trust.
What had begun as a quick snatch and grab supply run, had become a fierce battle to survive in the ruins of Houston, as Callum found himself standing alone, against an army with a woman he barely knew.
“Mary-Axe” had just lost her husband, because of Richard’s treachery, along with Duster. She had also watched Bloodhound die on the previous night. She wanted nothing more than to murder Callum in cold blood, as a means to deal with the pain, but knew that he was her only chance for survival and for preserving, what her and Skulls had stood for.
Together, she and Callum remained hidden within the rubble of the apartment building, while the three guards, assigned to guard Drellic’s recon ship, were closing in on them, after hearing all the gunfire. Callum still had his crude pistol, which still contained six bullets. He had also pocketed two grenades, which he had discovered hanging on Duster’s belt.
Mary had her axe strapped to her back and a single dagger holstered at her side. Her assault rifle, clutched firmly with both hands.
“We should go back,” Callum whispered. “We’re no match for them. We should go back and get help.”
“What help do you think we’ll find?” Mary asked him. “Like it or not, it’s just you and me now. There’s no one left. Anyone still alive from our ranks, either fled the city or joined the other side. We’re it.”
Callum felt himself beginning to panic, as the soldiers’ footsteps were getting louder by the second.
“You can’t seriously think we can take them out,” Callum insisted.
“It’s only three against two. We should be so lucky,” Mary replied.
“But we don’t know if anyone else is aboard the ship, and that thing has to have a ton of fire power. That thing could take off and disintegrate everything within five miles, for all you know.”
Mary ignored him and cocked her rifle.
“Sorry, honey. I’m not waiting to find out,” she boasted.
She then quickly jumped out from behind a crumbled stone pillar and shot one of the soldiers in the face, killing him instantly. The two remaining enemy soldiers exchanged gunfire with her, as they themselves were seeking shelter within the rubble.
Callum fired two of his six shots and managed to kill one of Drellic’s men, with a single head shot. The final soldier was continuing to fire seemingly endless rounds of exploding ammo, into the rubble. Callum pulled a pin from one of Duster’s grenades and hurled it at him. The grenade detonated far right of his target, but it was enough to distract the enemy soldier.
Mary took advantage of the situation and lunged at him with her axe. The blade of the axe sliced through the top of the man’s skull and finally came to a stop, in between his eyes. She then pulled the axe from his head, and turned to face Callum. Callum nervously stared her bloodstained eyes, fearing what she would do next. She took a moment to catch her breath, then devilishly proclaimed, “Let’s take it.”
Mary ran for the recon ship, leaving Callum no choice but to follow closely behind her and watch her back. The ship appeared to be deserted, until they reached the edge of the ramp, which led up to the hatchway. An automated flying drone, similar to the ones they had defeated the night before, quickly emerged from the hatchway and began firing hot bursts of energy at Mary and Callum.
They jumped out of the way in opposite directions. Callum had lost all presence of mind and wasted the last of his ammo. He fired four times without even touching the outer shell of the drone.
“Don’t quit your fucking day job,” Mary boasted, as she effortlessly got down on one knee and destroyed the drone with a rapid burst of ammo from her assault rifle.
All was silent for a moment, as they listened for any other threats that might have been hiding inside the craft. After several seconds, Mary finally got up the courage to enter the ship, with her weapon drawn. Callum reluctantly followed behind her.
He repeatedly looked over his shoulder, in a nervous fashion and felt himself shaking from head to toe, as he had nothing lethal left in his possession, but a single grenade. Upon clearing the hatchway, the outer hatch automatically slammed shut behind them and locked, trapping them inside a dark and cold metallic cabin.
The loud crash, frightened Mary, just as much as Callum, although she appeared to be the more steadfast of the two. She then heard something fall against the metal floor panels of the ship and then bounce a few times. She whirled around, to see that Callum had dropped his grenade. He frantically scooped it up and saw that the pin was still in place.
“Holy shit, that was close,” he whispered.
“You’re a fucking idiot,” said Mary. Mary was reminding Callum of Simone more and more b
y the second.
Much to their relief, there were no other enemy soldiers, organic or otherwise, on board the recon patrol ship. Mary led Callum through the tiny rear cabin, to the ship’s cockpit. There were three rather uninviting metallic bucket seats, which hung from the ceiling, on titanium support beams.
The control consoles were very different from anything Callum was used to, and the majority of the information on the monitors was written in Drellic’s ancient language. Men and women who chose to devote themselves to Drellic’s path, were forced to learn to speak and write in the ancient human language. Once they had become fluent in it, it was the only language they were allowed to speak, while in Drellic’s presence.
Mary turned to Callum and said, “Skulls was going to fly us out of here. But now I only have you. You’re supposed to be some amazing pilot. So let’s see how amazing you really are. Get us the fuck out of here.”
Callum froze, as he continued to look over the ship’s systems. “I can’t do this,” he said in a frustrated tone. “This is fucking crazy. I’ve never seen anything like this in my life. None of these controls look familiar. The layout doesn’t make any sense.”
Mary slapped Callum across the face again and replied, “You better fucking learn fast or we’re dead.”
Tears streamed down her face. The realization of her husband’s death was finally consuming her. Callum was sympathetic to her, but also feared her, because of all the trauma she had endured and her already unpredictably violent nature.
He knew that she could snap and kill him at any moment. Mary violently slapped him in the face one more time, then began pounding on his chest, as she screamed in agony. Finally, Callum had had enough and quickly grabbed her arms, then forced her back against the hard metal wall.
“Enough!” he screamed at the top of his lungs.
“I’ve lost everything,” she sobbed. “But you still have your wife. If Drellic went out of his way to take her, it means she’s still alive. If you ever want to see her again, you need to do this.”
Callum was becoming teary eyed again, just at the thought of Simone, yet couldn’t help to think of himself, just as Richard had.
“Even if I do find her, then what?” he asked. “There’s no road to salvation here. Because from what I’ve seen, that’s just the way it is now. You either die or you live in chains.”
“Trust me. It’s worth it. Love always is,” Mary said. “I’d give anything to have my husband back for just two minutes. You should feel the same way about your wife. You have to see that.”
Callum burst into tears and sat at the ship’s flight controls, which appeared to be a senseless arrangement of buttons, toggle switches and floating holographic displays of the horizon.
“We probably won’t even get off the ground. Someone’s probably on their way to shoot us down right now,” said Callum.
“So, what?” Mary said, as she sat down beside him. She then wiped her tears from her eyes and asked, “Are you really going to sit there and tell me that Simone isn’t worth the effort?”
“Of course I think she’s worth it!” Callum shouted, defensively.
“Then fly us out of here,” said Mary. “Take us to Australia. We’ll find your wife and maybe cause a little damage along the way,” she added in her familiar sassy tone.
From the corner of his eye, Callum spotted a second ship, almost identical to the one they were inside, rapidly approaching their location from the horizon. Mary followed his gaze, noticed the inbound craft and sarcastically said, “Looks like you better get out that instruction manual.”
Callum then tinkered with the ship’s controls, until he managed to accidently fire the ship’s engines. Luckily, the ship was already hovering on its own and ascended automatically, once the engines were fired. He then found what appeared to be a selection of several preset destinations, which were directly linked to the ship’s autopilot.
Callum saw that it was a record of everywhere the ship had been. Since it typically traveled between the hub of Drellic’s forces and the ruins of Houston, a recently constructed shipyard in Sydney, Australia and the downtown Houston area were the two most frequently visited locations.
Callum selected the shipyard in Sydney and an image of the facility appeared on a holographic projection in front of him.
“Try touching it,” Mary said.
Callum hesitated.
“Jesus Christ. Looks like I’m doing everything,” Mary said, in an annoyed tone, as she tapped the hologram, which sent the ship rocketing away from Houston, at nearly twice the speed of sound. The intense g-force of the ship’s velocity, pushed Callum and Mary back into their seats. Strange slimy, organic safety harnesses, then descended from panels in the ceiling and secured them to their seats.
While trying to ignore his growing discomfort, as the tentacle like harnesses tightened around him, Callum noticed that the second ship was definitely pursuing them. Callum then glanced over at Mary, only to notice that her eyes were fixated on something else entirely.
“What the mother fuck?” she said, as her voice trailed off. Callum looked out the ship’s port side window, to see something too incredible and too unexpected, to be responded to with words. As he gazed out at the horizon, he saw that there appeared to be two suns, shining side by side, in the clear blue sky above them.
The Drellic Saga: Books One, Two and Three Page 19