Ozzy grasped his brother’s hand. “Gragas will be up in a second. He’ll have something that can cauterize that wound. I’m sure of it.”
“No…I don’t…want…” Lou closed his eyes.
Ozzy tapped Lou’s helmet. “Stay with me.”
Gragas appeared out of nowhere. He held his rifle out, waiting for Quad. “We have to get moving.”
“Lou is injured,” Jozi said. “Do you have anything to help him?”
Gragas spun around. His shoulder’s drooped. “His life force is leaving.”
“No,” cried Ozzy. “Stay with me, Lou. You can do it, Buddy.”
Lou let out a loud cough and winced in pain. “No…don’t want…to.”
“Please!” Ozzy pleaded. “Lily will miss you. I will miss you.”
“Tell her I’ll be watching…over her.” Lou dropped his arms and closed his eyes. He let out a long, last breath.
“Son of a Mars,” growled Ozzy, slamming his fists onto the hard rock floor. “No, Lou. Come back.”
Jozi lifted her gloved hands, and Lou’s blood dripped from them onto the ground. “He’s dead, Ozzy. I’m sorry.” She started to put her hand on Ozzy’s shoulder, but he pushed it away.
He was a curse to his own family. He was an illness that needed eradication like the Martian Plague.
He stood and gazed down at his dead brother. With narrowed eyes, he unstrapped his rifle and pointed it where he figured Quad would appear any second. “I get the first shot.”
11
Ares Monument, Mars
“You don’t get any shot, Ozzy,” said Gragas. “We aren’t going to wait around for Quad to show up.”
Ozzy pressed his lips together, his posture going rigid as he tightened every muscle in his body trying to will Quad to show up. “The hell we won’t.”
Jozi placed Lou’s hands over his chest. She let out a sigh. “Why is the world like this?” She spoke softly and mostly to herself.
Gragas nodded his understanding. “There is more light than there is dark in this galaxy. Trust me.” He looked up and down the stairs and then stepped back, eyeing the shield. He reached out his hand and touched it, and when his hand went through it, he immediately pulled it back. “Why is this here?”
Ozzy held his position, not taking his eyes away from where he figured Quad would appear. “Why don’t you go check it out?” His voice was callous, his eyes like bolts of fire, matching the feeling in his gut. He couldn’t wait for Quad to show up. He’d end that bastard before he could take one step inside.
“Jozi,” said Gragas. “Touch the shield.”
“Why?”
“Please. I need to make sure.”
“Make sure of what?”
“The bloodline.”
Jozi made a weird face, not completely understanding what Gragas was asking. “Uh, okay.” She stepped a few paces forward and touched the shield. A spark flew, and electricity wrapped around her finger then shot outward, sending sparks every which way.
She yelped and jumped backward as fast as she could, shaking her hand.
Gragas stepped through the shield and walked back through into the entry room Ozzy and Jozi were in. “That’s what I thought. I believe only those of the bloodline can enter and exit through this shield.”
Ozzy concentrated and studied the doorway. He was trying to care, but at the moment he truly didn’t. Regardless, he noticed the doorway was arched. Small, rectangular devices positioned six inches from each other were screwed into the entry. That caught his attention, and he cocked his head to the side. “I don’t ever remember any Ancient Martian technology using screws.” He shrugged and motioned toward the shield. “Get the crystal sphere, Gragas. I’ll wait for the bastard.”
Ozzy’s heart felt like it was being crushed in a vice. His brother was dead. Who was next? His ex-wife? His daughter? Jozi? Clearly not Gragas as that guy was probably too elite of a fighter to die.
He shook away the thought and narrowed his eyes. “Come on, Quad. What’s taking you so long?”
“Let’s hope the sphere is in here somewhere,” Gragas said as he stepped through the shield.
Jozi backed up onto one of the staircases, finding a good foothold, then crouched and aimed her rifle. “I’m in position.”
Ozzy sucked in a gush of air. “Hurry up, Quad.”
A surge of blue light like a firework display burst outward a few meters in front of Ozzy. And, as if on cue, Quad appeared. He lurched back when he saw the firing squad awaiting his arrival.
Ozzy pressed the trigger and held it down. The rifle slammed into the crease between his chest and shoulder, sending photon blasts against Quad’s armored battle suit and masked helmet.
Quad dropped his weapon, and Jozi shot blasts at it and shattered it to oblivion. She shifted aim and sliced his holstered gun in half as well.
Quad fell to the side, and Ozzy continued pounding him with multiple blasts.
Quad put his hands on the floor and pushed himself up. “No more.” A shock of electricity shot from Quad’s armor, splattering against Ozzy.
Ozzy twitched back and forth as electrical currents zipped through his nervous system and up and down his arms and legs.
He clenched his teeth, and his eyes blinked uncontrollably.
“Ozzy,” Jozi yelled. “Watch out.”
Quad laughed as he picked Ozzy up and tossed him against a wall. Ozzy’s helmet clanked against the rock, and the wind sucked out of his lungs on impact. He landed on the hard floor, his body weak and shaking from the electrical output that had run through his muscles.
She sent more blasts toward Quad. Swords strapped to Quad’s back shattered, splintering into several pieces and littering the floor.
Jozi was a crackshot, hitting as many weapons on Quad as she could, practically making him defenseless.
Practically, but not entirely.
Quad sent a strong kick across Ozzy’s stomach. Ozzy lifted toward the ceiling and landed back on the floor an instant later.
He writhed around and gasped for air but knew he needed to reach for his holstered gun in order to defend himself.
“I don’t think so,” said Quad, kicking Ozzy’s hand away.
“I do think so,” growled Jozi as she jumped from the stairs and onto Quad’s back, pressing her gun against the back of his head while wrapping her arm around his neck. She took a shot then recoiled back, the blast ricocheting off his helmet and back into her gun’s muzzle, turning her gun into a melted, gnarled mess.
Pain shot up her arm, and she screamed and kicked off of him, flipping in the air and landing on her feet. She unholstered her other gun and pointed it at Quad.
He turned and faced her. He stepped forward, his breath coming hard and heavy, but he paused when he saw Lou’s body and gazed down saying, “Did I do this?”
“You know you did,” Jozi said as she took a step back.
“That’s not what I was hired to do. I was hired to kill Ozzy Mack, the criminal. Though, if I keep him alive and take him to the one who paid me, I will get a bonus allotment.” He pulled a gold ball from a pouch around his belt and tossed it on Lou’s body. The ball transformed into a spider-like robot and crawled as quick as a flash to Lou’s mouth, squirming inside.
“You sick freak,” said Jozi.
Ozzy sucked in a breath. Whatever Quad was doing wasn’t good. He pushed off the ground with both of his hands and reached for his holster.
A cough came from Lou. Ozzy relaxed his hand. The spider crawled out of Lou’s mouth and jumped toward Quad while turning back into a golden ball. Quad caught it.
Ozzy ran to his brother. “You’re alive?”
Lou touched his stomach. “What just happened?”
“After I secure you or kill you, Ozzy, your friends need to get that guy to a hospital,” said Quad, his voice strangely full of compassion.
Ozzy’s eyes widened. Shit suddenly wasn’t making sense. “Why did you save him?”
“I’m hired to
kill or secure criminals. I’m not hired to kill innocent bystanders, and even if I were, I wouldn’t do it,” said Quad, his gruff voice penetrating right to the bone.
Ozzy stood, frowning. “But you killed his wife. She was an innocent bystander.”
Quad tipped his head to the side. “On the contrary. She was already dead when I arrived. I would have held her at gunpoint, but I would never have taken a shot.”
“The High Judge,” Jozi said, her eyes and rifle dead-centered on Quad. “He must have commissioned it to be done.” She shook her head and looked down for a moment. “No, he couldn’t have. My uncle is not a monster.”
“Enough talk. I have to complete what I was hired to do.” Quad lunged for Ozzy.
Gragas jumped through the shield. Daggers glistened on his battle suit’s armor.
Gragas advanced and kicked Quad in the chest, sending him against the wall. He pulled out a long, black metallic device and threw it at Quad. It sunk around his neck. Dagger-like prongs shot out on either end, cracking through the rock and digging in.
Quad grabbed the device and pulled. It didn’t budge. “Let me out.”
“Ozzy, let him be for now. You can’t kill him. He’s too technologically advanced, making him fast and nearly unstoppable.” Gragas pointed to Quad’s neck. “He’ll eventually get the digger cuff off. I’ll stay with Jozi. I don’t know what I’m looking for in there so you’ll have to go inside.” He looked at the daggers stuck in his suit. “There are traps everywhere.”
Ozzy nodded. He looked at his brother, and his eyes flickered with disbelief, but a wave of calm washed through his body. Lou was alive and, for right now, he’d use that as a plus for the day.
“Alright,” he told Gragas. “I’m going in.” He stepped through the shield.
12
Ares Monument, Mars
He surveyed the room, and his chin dropped to his chest. “The puzzle of all puzzles.”
This wasn’t going to be easy.
Ozzy walked forward, heading toward a myriad of doors lining a rock wall in front of him. Different colors coated each door. One open door displayed daggers over the entrance. Obviously, the door Gragas opened.
Ozzy took a step forward, looking around, but his mind was on his brother. Lou was alive and Quad saved him.
If life wasn’t confusing enough.
He continued to eye the doors. In the middle of each one was a button, which, when pressed, would open it. No telling how many death traps were behind them.
He thought for a moment about how the glyphs outside had told him that everything was opposite.
“What’s the opposite of these doors?” A door was an entryway, so the doors in front of him had to be physically opened.
His eyes shifted from left to right, and he saw a narrow gap between two of the doors that was wide enough to walk through.
“The opposite is not to open a door. Maybe?” His footfalls echoed as he neared the gap and advanced through, the walls nearly touching his shoulders.
The Ancient Martians would have had to walk sideways to get through this corridor.
Thump!
His head whipped back, and his helmet hit something hard. He stumbled but managed to keep his balance.
What did he hit? He extended his arms and reached out as one of his hands touched something solid and cool to the touch.
Was that glass?
He shook his head.
“Opposite. Everything is opposite.”
He stepped forward again, slamming into the invisible and transparent wall.
“How do I get past this?” He tapped his helmet. “Think, think. Opposite.”
His mind raced with images and ideas. If he couldn’t walk through the wall, then…
He looked up and shook his head. The transparent wall reached all the way to the ceiling and would hinder anyone from climbing over it.
“Think opposite, Ozzy,” he said. He pushed out his lower lip. “Walk through it?”
The thought seemed silly. How could he walk through a wall?
The Ancient Coptics were all about having faith, and maybe that’s what he needed to do. Would that reverse the transparent wall, turning it into something he could pass through?
It made little sense and was a strange set of physics, but thinking the opposite of wall might just work.
He walked onward. “The wall is water. The wall is water,” he repeated over and over and closed his eyes.
He took several steps and flung open his eyes, gasping. He was walking well passed the barrier and toward a “T” in this strange hallway.
A thunderous sound roared through the room in front of him, and he lurched away with a start.
“Now what?” He looked up and all around. He didn’t see anything even though the thunderous sound was approaching closer and closer.
He peeked around the corner and nearly tripped over his own feet at what he saw. The sound was coming from a creature with sharp fangs protruding out of its mouth. Its ears were pulled back and its muzzle wide open, letting out a plethora of predatory noises.
The creature, about fifty meters away, eyed Ozzy and rushed forward, a deep growl thundering from its throat.
Ozzy jumped back, bumping against something. “What the Mars?”
He turned. The gap he walked through was closing and filling in with a rock wall that moved toward him with increasing speed.
He pushed back against the wall, digging his boots into the floor. The wall continued moving and sliding him forward.
Crap.
He turned, pushing the wall with his hands. It stopped moving, and he let out a sigh then he went rigid. He was fully exposed to an oncoming ancient creature readying to end his miserable existence.
He pulled his gun out of the holster and aimed at the beast.
He got on one knee, closed one eye, and shot. The photon bolt boomed from the muzzle, and smoke rose toward the ceiling.
The shot sunk into the predator’s forehead, practically disappearing and showing no physical damage. “What the hell?”
The creature dashed forward, opening its mouth wider. Saliva dripped from its razor-sharp fangs.
Ozzy took another shot with the same results—nothing.
“Oh no, this is not good.”
The monster was only ten meters away.
Ozzy pulled the trigger again. The shot didn’t faze the furry creature and seemed to go right through the thing.
“Think opposite, Ozzy. Think opposite,” he told himself.
The beast leaped with its claws extended.
Ozzy threw up his arms to protect his head and chest and fell to the floor, waiting for the inevitable.
13
Ares Monument, Mars
Ozzy curled himself into a fetal position waiting for the beast’s fangs to rip through his suit and tear him to shreds.
Of all things, Lily’s picture he used to display on Relic’s flight console flashed in his mind. His insides lit up like the first day she was born. It was beyond love and something he had never experienced before.
He pushed the thought away and went into a tighter ball, waiting and wondering why that particular thought popped into his head at a moment like this.
Ozzy felt warmth travel through his EVA suit from the animal’s breath, and his nose crinkled from its wet smell.
As he said his prayers and waited to die, he brought the most important aspect of his life to the forefront of his mind again—Lily.
He saw her sweet smile. Her beautiful blue eyes. Her rosy cheeks. She was his good luck charm and, for some reason, he was her hero.
He curled himself further into a ball, squeezing his knees into his chest. His thoughts rushed back to reality, and he blinked away memories of his daughter.
After a few more seconds, again, nothing happened.
“Huh?” By now he should have been gobbled up and inside the animal’s belly. He slowly moved his arm away from his radiation visor and peeked past his forearms.
What the heck was going on?
“Wait,” he mumbled, thinking out loud. “The opposite of fear is love.” Was the loving thoughts of his daughter what caused this half-bear, half-sabertooth tiger to change his mood and sit on its hind legs?
It had to be.
Ozzy slowly stood, his body shaking from the adrenaline rush. “Hey, buddy.” He put his hands out to show he wasn’t going to harm the looming animal. “Thank you for not eating me.”
The creature blinked its big brown eyes and tilted its head.
“Okay,” said Ozzy. “I’m gonna go bye-bye now before you change your mind and have me for lunch.”
He started to back up but stopped, remembering the way out was blocked. He took a deep breath to calm his nerves and tiptoed the opposite direction of the creature.
If he couldn’t leave by the way he arrived, he could surely get as far from this predator as possible in the other direction. Hopefully.
The animal whined.
Ozzy kept walking.
The whine grew louder.
Ozzy turned around, going against his survival instincts. “Yes?”
The creature was lying down and resting its muzzle on its front paws. It raised its eyebrows and its eyes rounded.
“Oh boy,” said Ozzy. “You want me to pet you, don’t you?”
The half-bear, half-sabertooth’s tongue hung out. Its bushy tail thumped against the floor and wagged back and forth.
Ozzy reached out with his hand, moving closer to the animal’s front legs.
Kashiiiish!
Ozzy jumped out of the way, instinctively covering his helmet and going into a crouch.
“What was that?”
He slowly removed his hands from his helmet, and his mouth went agape. The animal was a pile of holographic glass, and its shards were spread all over.
“Damn, these Ancients and their holograms,” he said, remembering when he came upon the hologram of an Ancient Martian named Heimer who also shattered just before Ozzy entered the Ark of the Concordant’s holding room.
Martian Insurrection (Mars Colony Chronicles Book 3) Page 6