“Come on, let’s keep moving,” declared CJ.
“You scared, Captain?” Rogers asked.
“I just don’t want to be around when whoever you have pissed off comes calling to take their pound of flesh. I agreed to help you on this, not deal with the shitty aftermath. That is your problem.”
“Hey, we are in this together,” replied Maloney.
“Keep dreaming. Let’s just get this done.”
“All right, enough, now which way?” Rogers intervened.
“I guess we split up.”
There were two major spurs that looked like the primary walkways.
“We’ll take this one,” said Taylor.
CJ didn’t say a word as he led his people down the other.
“What the hell is going on around here? How are they turning our people against us?” Pitt asked.
“You’d be amazed what can be done with the right time and methods,” replied Rogers.
“But not this. I can’t imagine ever fighting for the enemy.”
Taylor led the way. The room was eerily quiet, but that silence was soon filled with the sound of footsteps approaching from a side room up ahead. They stopped and waited as the footsteps drew nearer. A human stepped through the doorway, but none of them could bring themselves to fire, as the woman was carrying nothing but a stun baton. Upon the sight of Taylor she let out a scream and ran at him, her baton raised to strike him. Taylor let go of his rifle and leapt forward. He grabbed her weapon arm and her throat with his other hand, pinning her to the wall beside him. She was wriggling to try and get free, but she couldn’t escape his grasp.
“There are prisoners down here, people who won’t follow you and your masters, where are they?” he demanded.
She didn’t answer and kept fighting back with everything she had.
“Where are they!” he yelled.
But there was no response. He ripped the baton out of her grasp and smashed it across her head with enough force no knock her out without electrification. He dropped the baton and drew his Assegai as if to finish her off.
“Colonel, what are you doing?” Pitt screamed at him.
“It’s a cruel thing to leave her alive. She may not know it, but she is nothing more than a slave to them.”
“Then take her with us. We can help her, can’t we?” she pleaded, looking across to Rogers for help.
But he shrugged. “Who knows, and we haven’t got the time or resources to find out. We have a responsibility to those who have not yet been turned.”
“That doesn’t mean we have to kill her. We can’t.”
“She is the enemy now, and there is nothing we can do about it,” replied Taylor.
“Is that what you would think if that was Lieutenant Hariz down there?”
Taylor hesitated, and Rogers just glared at Pitt.
“It’s a sore point, isn’t it, Colonel?” She stared at Taylor.
He holstered his Assegai, knowing she was right. He felt a chill come over him as he contemplated the possibility that Alita could just as easily have been one that they had killed already.
“Come on,” he said as he carried on.
He glanced back to see that Rogers was still standing over the unconscious woman’s body.
“What are you doing?”
Rogers’ expression had changed completely as the realisation of what they had to do.
“Remember, nobody can know you were here. She saw your face. We either take her with us, or we make sure she can never tell.”
Taylor just nodded to him, and they both knew what he meant. Rogers drew his Assegai.
“No!” Pitt howled.
But she couldn’t stop him, and the Captain plunged the weapon into the woman’s skull. He looked as disgusted as she did, but he had no regrets.
“What have you done?”
“He did what he had to, the same as the rest of us,” replied Taylor.
“It was an act of mercy,” said Rogers.
They could both see he didn’t mean it. He did it to protect Taylor and the Alliance.
“This is wrong, so wrong,” she sobbed uncontrollably.
“Yes, it is, and I pray for better days all the time, but we won’t see them without a fight.”
“This? This isn’t a fight. What you did, this is murder, and you know it!”
Before any of them could respond, a Morohtan warrior turned the bend ahead of them and rushed at Taylor. He got a single shot off before the creature was on top of him. It had no weapons at all but knocked him down with its sheer weight. Rogers lifted his rifle to fire back, but the creature kicked him aside, and lifted Taylor up as a human shield between it and the other two.
Taylor could see now that it was no ordinary soldier, but an officer, and a high ranking one at that, from the etchings on its armour.
“Taylor,” it growled and looked into his eyes.
The creature’s hand was wrapped around his throat in a death grip like he had done to the woman just moments before.
“You are a fool to come here,” the creature growled.
He drew his Assegai as the creature lifted him so that his feet dangled, and he could get no purchase. He thrust forward, but the creature grabbed the blade of death with a solid grip just in front of the hilt, stopping it short of its body by twenty centimetres.
“Our Queen was wrong to trust in you. Wrong to think that you could ever be strong enough to stand up to one of us. You are going to die here, but not at the hands of a Queen. Not with any glory.”
“Speak for yourself,” he groaned, barely able to breathe.
He hit the extension switch on his Assegai. The blade shot out and impaled the creature. It gasped in both shock and pain, its grasp on Taylor lost. He landed on his feet and wrenched the blade back out. Blood spewed out over him as he swung the blade around and cut off one of the creature’s legs, and then embedded the blade in its neck. It dropped to the ground as it drew its last few breaths, the Assegai still burrowed in its collar.
“You’ll never defeat my Queen. Nobody has ever defeated Bolormaa.”
“Yeah? Well, there’s a first time for everything,” snapped Taylor.
He yanked the blade out and thrust it into the creature’s skull between its eyes. He pulled the blade out, smiling with some satisfaction as the dead body slumped to his feet. Before he was done enjoying his moment, there was a glimmer of movement ahead, and two more of the aliens came at him. Before he could react, a burst of gunfire soared past him on either side as Rogers and Pitt gunned the creatures down. Taylor didn’t move as they fired several more shots to make sure, and finally the corridor was once again quiet.
“Thanks.”
“Help! Help us!’ a voice cried.
It was clearly human. Taylor picked up his rifle and ran to over the bodies towards the origin of the sound. He heard the calls again and again. There were dozens screaming for help now as he rushed to find them. He passed through two open doorways and came to a vast room. Prison cells stretched out as far as he could see.
“My god,” said Rogers.
There were thousands of humans packed into the cells. They didn’t have the same bitter anger in their eyes of those they had seen before. Taylor ran to the first cell door.
“Colonel, wait! We don’t know if it’s safe!”
Taylor wasn’t having any of it. He drew his Assegai and thrust it into the lock. He then ripped the door open. The elation and relief in their eyes told him everything he needed to know, but Rogers was no less happy about the risks he was taking.
“Spread out. Set them all free!” Taylor shouted.
An army Sergeant sprung out and put a hand on Taylor’s shoulder.
“Thank you, thank you,” he said.
He looked distraught as though he hadn’t slept in days or maybe even weeks.
“How many more rooms are there like this?”
“One more, it’s a level down,” replied the rescued POW, “I don’t believe it. You’re Col
onel Taylor, aren’t you?”
Taylor grimaced as if he didn’t want to admit it.
“I knew it. I knew you’d come for us.”
“Do you know where the nearest landing zone is? We’re gonna need plenty of room.”
“Yes, I do, Colonel.”
Taylor drew his pistol and handed it to the Sergeant.
“Get the rest of these people free. We’re getting you out of here.”
The Sergeant’s eyes lit up with excitement. Taylor didn’t even have time to ask his name as he ran off to the next cell door and shot open the lock.
“How do you even know these people are POWs and not the enemy?” Rogers asked.
“I know well enough, and we are doing what we came here to do.”
“But what if there are spies among them?” Pitt asked.
“Then we’ll root them out when the time is right. We came here to save lives. We came here to make sure no one was left behind, and that is what I intend to do.”
They were all silent, contemplating what he had said, and unable to argue any further.
“I’ll get CJ on it,” Taylor said to Rogers. “CJ, there is a pickup point right outside. Get the ships on the ground, and get these people out of here!” he yelled over the comms.
“What about you?”
Taylor heard gunfire in the background, but CJ didn’t seem at all concerned.
“You never cared before, so why bother now? We’ll find our own way out. You get these people out of here. There is another level below us. We’ll send up what we can. You get everyone one out you can, and you don’t wait for us, you hear?”
“Yeah, I hear. You don’t go dying down here, Colonel. You owe me that much,” snarled CJ.
“You’ll be seeing me again.”
He rushed to the elevator with Rogers, Pitt, and Maloney close behind.
“You think this is a good plan? We have no idea what is down there?” Rogers asked.
“I know there are people down there, and I’ll be damned if I am leaving anyone behind.” Taylor punched the only switch on the control box.
“I sure hope you know what you’re doing, Sir,” said Pitt.
The elevator lurched into motion, and once more they were descending deeper below the surface. The air was far staler where they were going. It stank of sweat and urine, but not only that; there was a putrid acid smell that burnt their nostrils.
“What the hell is that?”
“Whatever it is, Maloney, I think we’re probably better off not knowing,” replied Rogers.
The elevator rocked to a halt, and they readied themselves for a fight as there had been before, but to their surprise the doors opened to an empty room. There was dense fog in the air, like smoke from a fire, but it smelt like no fire they had smelt before.
“I don’t like this,” said Pitt.
Taylor went forward, anyway. The corridor ahead led only one way, and they walked along for fifty metres without any incident or sign of a doorway, or even life itself. But the smoke was getting thicker. A man’s scream rang out up ahead, but the voice faded as if the person were falling, and soon fell silent. It was quickly followed by another, but with a different pitch. It didn’t sound like the same person.
“What the hell?” Pitt sounded nervous.
“Come on,” Taylor said as he picked up the pace.
The room opened up, and they could feel the acidity in the air now. It was dulling their sense of smell as it slowly ate away at their flesh, and then they saw it. Gas spurting out from pipelines in the walls, so loud they could barely hear much at all, except for what was very close by. They finally reached the source of the horrific sounds, and stopped in horror and shock. A line of humans being pushed off a ledge, one after the other, and it was a human that was doing it. Those being led to their deaths looked dazed, as though they had been drugged. Another went off the edge, and they looked down to see a vivid blue liquid below. It wasn’t water, that was for sure, and they could see the surface bubbling as the bodies landing in it dissolved. Maloney threw up at the sight of it, and none of them blamed him for it. They were close to doing the same.
“Stop right there!” Rogers screamed at the man doing the killing.
He looked up at them, and they saw the same ruthless intent they had seen on all those humans that did the enemy’s bidding. Taylor didn’t wait for his response. He lifted his rifle and fired one accurate shot. It pierced the man’s brain and killed him instantly. The body toppled over the edge and tumbled down into whatever horrific material was below.
“What are they doing here? What the hell is this?” Pitt asked.
“Getting rid of those they cannot make do their bidding, I should imagine,” said Rogers.
They rushed onwards to the crowd. There were almost thirty men and women waiting in line to be pushed to their deaths. Every one of them looked absent-minded and spaced out. Taylor grabbed the nearest man and hauled him in close.
“Hey, hey!”
He slapped the man firmly across the face. He recoiled and touched his face as if expecting to feel some pain, but seemed more amused about it than anything else.
“Can you walk?”
“Sure I can walk, I can run, I can even dance,” said the man with a smile.
“He’ll do whatever you damn well tell him. That is some heavy stuff they’ve been fed,” said Rogers.
“Are there any more of you down here?” Taylor continued questioning him.
“Some, along the way,” he said as he pointed onwards.
“Shit.”
“We need to speed this up, Colonel. The longer we are down here the greater the chance we’ll never leave this place. You want to be here when the cavalry arrives?”
Taylor nodded in agreement as he looked to Pitt and Maloney.
“You two are to take these people back up to the surface, and get them the hell out of here.”
“But…” began Pitt.
“No buts, those are your orders. You get these people to safety, and you get on the first boat out of here, you hear?”
They didn’t look happy to be leaving him, but relieved to be allowed to leave the horrific sight they had just witnessed.
“Listen to me, all of you!” Taylor yelled to the drugged crowd.
“You follow these two, Pitt and Maloney, you hear me?” They nodded along in agreement with no fight at all.
“All right, go, go on,” Taylor insisted.
They ambled on casually. Pitt and Maloney tried to hurry them on, but they wouldn’t go any faster.
“You really think that is what is going on here?” Taylor asked.
“Sure, and they’re probably using the bodies to at least partly fuel this place.”
“Human beings?”
“When you’ve got no scruples, and care for nothing and nobody like Bolormaa does, why wouldn’t you?”
“She is one sick puppy.”
“It took you this long to realise that?”
“I mean I have seen some sick stuff, but this.”
Rogers nodded along in agreement. “We’ve got to put it aside right now. We can’t think about it.”
“Damn right, it’s too horrible to think about.”
They continued onwards. The fog was getting thicker, and they had less than ten metres visibility. They went on for several minutes until they heard screams once more. These were not the screams of somebody falling, but of someone taking a beating. They could hear the echo of the impacts, and a woman’s scream followed each of them. It was a nauseating sound that neither of them ever wanted to hear again, but there it was, again and again with each beating.
Finally, the fog parted, and they stopped by the cover of a railing to see what was going on. A woman was beating another woman tied to a chair, and two men stood watching as if enjoying the show.
“What the hell is this?”
“A last attempt to indoctrinate, or maybe just beating information out of them? Could just as easily be part of the bre
aking process,” replied Rogers.
It was clear to Taylor that the Captain knew a lot more about torture than he cared to think about. Taylor lifted up his rifle and used the scope to look closer. He squinted to see, as even though they could see through the fog now, it was still burning his eyes. He could see the interrogator or torturer wail on the woman in the chair. Finally, her torturer paced around as if frustrated and stopped to look out towards them. Taylor felt his heart nearly stop, and he gasped in disbelief.
“What? What is it?”
Taylor couldn’t find his words as his stomach turned, and he had to look away. He keeled over as if he’d been dealt a crippling blow. Rogers didn’t understand it, but Taylor couldn’t find the words to explain. Rogers raised his rifle to see for himself.
“No way! I don’t believe it.”
He was looking at Alita Hariz. Her eyes were burning with the hatred and murderous expression of those who followed Bolormaa.
“No, it can’t be, it can’t be,” pleaded Taylor.
Rogers felt his own heart sink, too. He didn’t really know the Lieutenant except for what he had read in files, but he knew the Colonel well enough how heart wrenching the revelation must be. Taylor was completely incapacitated. He was staring at the ground as if trying to unsee it all.
“What are we gonna do?”
He got nothing back from Taylor, so he grabbed him, forcing him to look at him.
“Taylor, come on. We need you right now. I need you.”
He was shaking his head as if unable to say or do anything.
“Listen, listen to me! Colonel! There might be a way we can bring her back from this.”
Taylor still looked blankly as if he had no faith in what Rogers was saying.
“It’s like this. We either take her with us and try, or we put her down right now, so what is it going to be?”
That sparked Taylor’s attention, and he snapped out of his hypnotic state.
“Put her down? Don’t you dare! If anyone is going to do it, it will be me.”
“Understood, but maybe it doesn’t have to be any of us.”
Taylor was thinking it over when a faint signal came in over their comms.
“Captain Becker, Captain Becker! Come in.”
Battle Beyond Earth - Box Set (Books 6-9) Page 42