The Shadow Order - Books 1 - 8 + 120 Seconds (The complete series): A Space Opera

by Michael Robertson

  Seb looked at the large double doors. Other than a slit down the middle, they had nothing. Neither can I.

  Sparks caught up with the pair next, then Bruke, then finally Reyes.

  “You’re not very fast,” Sparks said to the ex-marine, a sneer of derision on her small face.

  “How about we focus on that thing, yeah?” Seb said, pointing at the lion creature. Still about twenty-five metres away, it was closing down on them fast. While he watched it, he noticed Sparks turn to look at the locked doors. If anyone could get them in there, it would be her.

  The creature closed down on them.

  Sparks stepped back from the doors and pointed up. “The electric panel’s up there.”

  “You think you can get in if you have access to that?” Reyes said between gasps.

  “Does a two-headed lion-dragon thing like humans for breakfast?”

  “Huh?”

  “Yes, dammit. But how can I get up there?”

  About twenty metres of crumbling ruins between the group and the creature now. Seb’s heart sped, but before he could say anything, he heard Reyes say to Sparks, “Get on my back.”

  “What? No! I’m not some kind of circus monkey.”

  “I can climb up there. If you get on my back, I can still climb up there. You being so small and all.”

  Fifteen metres away.

  A slight pause—barely noticeable even with his world slowed down—Seb then listened to Sparks climb onto Reyes’ back, grumbling as she did so.

  Ten metres between them and the lion. Seb briefly looked away from the creature to see Reyes start to climb the side of the structure. Although she found small cracks and crevices to cling on to, it looked like she moved up it as if her hands and feet stuck to the walls.

  Before Seb could do anything about the creature, Bruke yelled, the primal sound lighting Seb’s skin with gooseflesh. To see his friend flipping out helped him relax. If only the stocky beast could turn it on at will. It would be wonderful to be able to rely on his talents.

  A regular Jekyll and Hyde, when Bruke flipped into beast mode, nothing could stop him. As he charged forwards, Seb jumped aside so he didn’t get trampled.

  Both Bruke and the creature met a few metres away and halted in front of one another. Despite dwarfing Bruke, some of the beast’s confidence had clearly left it. The aggression of seconds ago had been ever so slightly diluted in the face of Bruke’s fury.

  The lion then leaped forward and Bruke’s yell turned into a roar. It rang louder than anything the mutant creature had managed so far.

  The lion stopped again. Even Seb wouldn’t want to fight Bruke in his current frame of mind.

  Then Bruke went off. A whirling mess of limbs, he charged at the lion, landing several blows, the beast flinching away from each one.

  Mesmerised by the spectacle, Seb smiled when SA said, There’s something beautiful about Bruke in this state. Like watching a sadistic ballet.

  Not that they could enjoy it for long. Bruke annihilated the creature, turning both of its noses into a pulpy mess. The lion head turned limp. Another blow and the dragon head did the same. The large body of the beast then fell sideways.

  Seb opened his mouth to congratulate Bruke, but the sound of rolling thunder cut him short.

  “Oh no,” Seb said, looking in the direction the first beast had come from. Seven more of them appeared. No way could Bruke take them all down. When he looked at SA, he saw she’d drawn her gun. Knives didn’t have the range. You think you can get them all?

  No. I’ll try, but no.

  I’m going to stand beside Bruke. However, before Seb could take off to aid his friend, Sparks called down to him.

  “Here, have this.”

  A look up at Sparks and Reyes, Seb saw they’d paused their climb and Sparks waved her blaster at him. She then tossed it down.

  Seb caught the weapon. Semi-automatic like the one he’d taken into Carstic’s mines, he pressed it into his shoulder and looked at the creatures down the barrel of it, his left eye closed. He’d fight them hand to hand if he needed to, but if he could battle them from a distance, even better. A wall of sharp and snapping teeth headed their way. Best to be as far from them as possible.

  A look at SA to see she stood ready, Seb nodded at her and she nodded back. He then called out, “Get down, Bruke.”

  The stocky brute faced the approaching pack, shoulders hunched and fists clenched like he’d fight them all. Although, when he heard Seb’s call, he dropped to the ground.

  The gun kicked in Seb’s grip as he squeezed the trigger and sent the pulse of green laser fire into the beasts. SA did the same.

  Seven in total, Seb dropped two of them in quick succession. Both times he hit the lion head of the two, and both times the creatures fell, their dragon side biting at the air, but handicapped by their inability to move.

  Four shots and four kills, SA kept her blaster pressed into her shoulder when Seb turned to her and said, I love you.

  She smiled.

  The final beast came close to Bruke, who still remained crouched down. Too close for Seb to risk trying to shoot past his friend. “You’re on your own for this one,” he called out.

  Bruke had positioned himself like a frog, lying on his belly. Spread out on the ground, he looked ready to leap. When the final beast came close, he jumped up, driving a hard uppercut into its dragon head’s chin. The crack of its jawbone snapped through the deserted city like an explosion, and the dragon hissed in clear agony.

  Yellow mist hung in the air from where Bruke had connected with a boil on the dragon’s chin and the beast flew backwards from the force of the blow.

  But it got straight back up again. The dragon head limp, the lion still looked ready to give it a go. It leaped at Bruke and Seb’s stomach sank to see it knock his friend over, the large monster pinning him to the ground.

  Before Seb could do anything, a green blast shot towards the creature and sank straight into the lion’s face, covering Bruke in the beast’s red blood.

  SA stood still with her gun pointing at the now dead monster.

  More could come, so Seb ran across to Bruke to help shove the heavy creature off him.

  Once they’d got the large and ugly thing free, Seb looked back at the gene farm. The large double doors were now open and Reyes currently climbed back down the side with Sparks on her back.

  After he’d shoved the creature free, Seb held his hand down to Bruke. “Come on, let’s get out of here.”

  Chapter 47

  The foyer of the large and ugly building looked as bland and uninspiring as its exterior. A vast space lit with bright white lights in the high ceiling. They shone so brightly, it took Seb a few seconds to blink the blind spots from his sight. They’d left the doors open behind them, the sun doing very little to temper the fierce glow from above.

  A wall in front of them cut off the rest of the complex and had a door nestled in it. The door looked more like a shutter. Made up from horizontal strips, it looked as if it should roll up to open, much like the doorway into Buster’s warehouse. The only other feature in the bland space was a pipe running up the right side of them.

  The others waited. Apparently Seb should lead the way. He took the first step across the plain and hard floor, his boot heel sending a click across the empty space.

  Just before he took his second step, a loud voice cut him short. Authoritative and hostile, it boomed through the room as if from a thousand invisible speakers. “What do you want?”

  Although Seb looked around the space, he couldn’t see how they were speaking to them. Plain walls, a plain ceiling, a plain floor. No speakers or cameras anywhere.

  The berserker rage had left Bruke, who wrung his hands as he spun on the spot. He must have been looking for the same things as Seb. His blank expression suggested he couldn’t see the devices either.

  Seb cleared his throat, the sound echoing through the cavernous room. “We need to find out who bought the patent from you for
a parasite—”

  The tannoy cut him off. “We don’t give away confidential information.”

  The others looked at Seb, who straightened his spine, pulled his shoulders back, and said, “I’m not asking you. We need that information.” Before the tannoy could respond, he added, “And we intend to take it.”

  Silence.

  Seb took another step towards the shutter door and the others walked with him.

  The door then twitched ever so slightly as the slack in it tightened. The shutter then lifted from the ground.

  A gap of no more than an inch had opened up when Seb saw something forcing its way through. A silver bug about the size of his hand.

  Once the strange creature had crawled free, it leapt into the air, took flight, and headed straight for them.

  Frozen for a moment as he tried to assess the thing, Seb flinched when one of SA’s blades flew through the air and cut it in two.

  The two parts of the now defunct metal bug landed and skidded to a halt at Seb’s feet. When he picked one half up, fire ran through his fingertips. “Ow!” He dropped the heavy little thing.

  Fresh blood ran from Seb’s cuts, and just as he raised his hand to suck the wound, Sparks called out, “Wait!”

  Seb froze.

  Sparks rushed to him and grabbed his hand. She looked at the cut. “You don’t know what those things have on their sharp little bodies. For all we know, you might be about to suck poison into you.” She dropped her bag on the floor, rummaged around, and pulled out a small spray pot.

  One sharp squirt of the clear liquid and Seb shouted louder this time. “OW!”

  “Better for it to sting than swallow poison.”

  Seb looked back at the small bug when Sparks moved away. It looked like it had been modelled on a locust. “Something that sharp, with those buzzing wings would have torn straight through me. Thanks, SA.”

  A gentle nod met his appreciation.

  As Seb went to step forwards again, a deep bass sound stopped him. His heart skipped when he looked at the darkness beneath the shutter. He might not have seen anything, but it sounded like thousands of the creatures were heading their way. A plague of razor blades, he pulled his world into slow motion and shouted, “We’ve got incoming.”

  Chapter 48

  Before Seb could react, Sparks sped past him and ran at the dark space leading to the humming swarm of metallic locusts. Although he called after her, she either didn’t hear him or didn’t care. “Sparks, what are you doing?”

  As she ran, Sparks raised her mini-computer, and by the time she’d reached the open shutter, the darkness in front of her had turned into a glinting and glistening cloud of chaos ready to burst forth.

  A bolt of electricity from Sparks’ computer lit the darkness up with a magnesium glare. Every bug glowed, acting as a conductor for their neighbour before they froze and fell to the ground.

  More appeared a second later and the ones on the floor looked to be stunned but not defeated. “They’re getting back up,” Seb shouted.

  Another magnesium glare and they all fell again.

  As much as Seb wanted to stand beside Sparks, he didn’t. She clearly had a plan, that much he could tell, and him getting close might hinder it.

  When Sparks removed her right boot, Bruke voiced Seb’s—and probably the others’—thoughts. “What’s she doing?”

  Another crackle and the air turned white again. Electricity ran a dot to dot through the bugs, revealing a glowing swarm. They all fell and hit the floor in a metal showering rush. Sparks lobbed her boot at Reyes, who caught it.

  For the briefest of seconds, Reyes frowned at Sparks. Then the small Thrystian pointed at the pipe running up the right wall. It had a tap protruding from it about three metres from the ground. “Smash that off.”

  Another buzz, another glare of white light, another shower of metal crashed down against the floor. A temporary measure to their growing problem.

  Seb gasped to watch Reyes barely slow down when she got to the pipe and climbed it. At the tap quicker than a monkey to coconuts, she held the boot aloft and looked down at Sparks. “Now?”

  “Wait.” Another white buzz to stun the swarm. “Now.”

  It only took one swing to send the circular metal tap flying from the pipe. It skittered into the darkness with the locusts and a hiss rushed from the hole Reyes had just made.

  Seb watched on, frozen with the other two as Reyes charged towards them. It took for her to shoo them and say, “Get out of here,” before he twigged.

  They took off, heading for the double doors leading back outside into the ruined city.

  Now on board with the plan, Seb looked behind while he ran. The metal swarm stirred again. “Faster!” he called out.

  SA made it out first. Bruke and Seb burst out a second later. But when Reyes got to the doors, she stopped and waited inside. Whether she and Sparks liked one another or not, they clearly had an understanding.

  Although Sparks opened her mouth to call out, she looked over, seemed to notice Reyes, and held it in. Instead, she nodded at her and Reyes pressed the controls. The doors started to close.

  To see it unfold in slow motion stole the breath from Seb’s lungs.

  SA, Bruke, and Reyes took off around the side of the gene farm, getting away from the closing doors.

  Sparks ran through the foyer towards them at a full sprint, the swarm rising up behind her, the gap in the doors closing.

  The hiss of gas delivered a stench similar to the one Seb had smelled on Carstic—the agent added to ruthane.

  The gap in the doors closed tighter and Seb had to fight against his urge to dart inside and halt them. Sparks would tell him if she needed his help.

  At the last moment, Sparks dived through the vertical split, which had closed so tight, she whacked her knee as she passed the doors. While in midair, she pointed her computer back into the building and sent a blast of electricity where they’d just come from.

  A huge suction of air like a giant dragon inhaling. Seb then dived to the side. He watched Sparks make the jump towards him a second later, the vertical slit funnelling out a tall blade of fire into the ruined city.

  The doors closed completely. A charred line ran along the ground away from them. A path of flames had shot out about ten metres long. Some of the lion creatures’ corpses held onto them, the flickering amber crawling over their fur.

  As Sparks lay on the ground, gasping for breath, Reyes said, “My god, you’re awesome!”

  A hard frown, Sparks looked up at the ex-marine, smiled, then nodded. “I am, aren’t I?”

  Chapter 49

  Seb couldn’t help but smile when Reyes winked at Sparks, bent over, and said, “Here we go, little monkey. Jump on.”

  Even Sparks took the dig with the humour Reyes intended. A half smile, she shook her head. “I don’t need to. I can’t imagine the electrics will work now anyway. I expect the fire just fried everything. We’ll have to pry the doors open if we want to get back in.”

  An old bar from an iron railing lay on the ground by Seb’s feet. He picked it up and held it in Bruke’s direction.

  Still absent of his berserker rage, Bruke simply stared at the bar.

  Hard to temper his reaction, Seb said, “My god, Bruke, when will you accept you’re the strongest one here? You need to use this bar to pry the doors open so we can get inside.”

  Only a mild telling off, it seemed to do the trick. Although tentative, Bruke came forwards, took the bar from Seb, and wedged it into the slit where the doors met. Once he’d wiggled the bar into place, he clenched his jaw and growled as he pulled on it, his thick arms bulging with the strain.

  It took just seconds before the large doors creaked and moaned. A few more seconds and the gap down the middle widened.

  Bruke roared through gritted teeth, his call echoing out across the desolate city. After a few more seconds of straining, he pulled the gap in the doors wide enough for them to slip through. He looked at the other
s and let go of the pole, seemingly ashamed of his power. The bar hit the ground with a loud clang and he stepped aside, his shoulders slumped.

  As their leader, Seb had to go in first. On his way past Bruke, he patted him on his broad shoulder. “You have a place on this team. Without your strength, things would be a lot harder.”

  The praise seemed to lift Bruke’s spirits, the hunched and scaled creature straightening his posture and snapping a sharp nod at Seb. “Thank you. My rage scares me sometimes,” he said, his eyes tearing up. “I worry I might lose control and hurt someone I care about. I worry how violent it makes me.”

  “Have you ever hurt someone you care about before?”

  “No.”

  “Well, don’t worry about it, then. The violence comes out when it’s needed. When you need to save yourself and others.”

  Another sharp nod.

  When Seb stepped closer to the doors, the acrid stench of smoke stopped him in his tracks. A stream of black cloud poured through the gap and up into the sky.

  While pointing at the doors, Seb said, “We need to wait for a few minutes before we go back in.” He held his breath and peered into the swirling darkness. “I don’t think anything’s on fire, so we just need to give it time to clear out.”

  After pulling away, his lungs tight from the small amount of smoke he’d inhaled, he looked at the others to see them nod their agreement with him.

  Where the place had been illuminated by strip lighting and light paintwork, everything had now been turned black by the fire. The electricity was out, as Sparks had guessed it would be. It sucked away what little light the opening in the huge doors let in.

  Despite the devastated environment, the others followed Seb, all of them either covering their noses or coughing from the thick stench.

  Because Sparks had a torch on her computer, she nudged past Seb and turned it on. He followed behind her with the others behind him.

  Small lumps of metal littered the floor. The burned machines would no doubt be doing damage to the soles of his shoes, but there were too many to avoid. Every step Seb took gave out another crunch as he crushed them like snails on a wet garden path.