I climbed the ladder, then hesitated at the top rung underneath the door.
PING! PING!
Something was definitely hitting the door. My heart raced. This could go very badly, but I didn’t make it to seventeen by being an apocawuss. I braced myself, took a deep breath, and pushed the door open. I jumped out and kept the gun in front of me while scanning the area. Nothing looked unusual. In fact, there was nothing but dirt, boulders, and cacti as far as the eye could see. A large boulder sat ten feet to my left, and another group of huge rocks stood at least fifty feet away.
The cacti to my right, descendants of the saguaros, were fifty feet tall and six feet across. Their crazy-sharp spines looked like they could do some serious damage. The roots grew forty feet underground. These plants provided some major oxygen, which is why my dad built the shelter near a cluster of them. The oxygen line I’d repaired looked fine, the reflective duct tape gleaming in the sunlight. There was nothing hostile to be found, save for the sun, and it was always hostile.
I watched and waited, but I didn’t hear anything. Strange. After another minute, I relaxed. How stupid do you look pointing a gun at a rock? Sweat ran in rivulets down my protective suit, as I roasted in the dark reddish light.
Screw this. I leaned down to pull up the door and go inside. That’s when I noticed them.
Several pebbles were scattered around the shelter door. Almost as if they’d been thrown by someone—
“Now!” a voice yelled.
I dove behind the boulder to my left, barely escaping the several rounds of lasers that sprayed the rock.
After a moment, the rapid fire ceased, and I peeked around the side of the stone. Not two, three, or even four, but five sunsuited figures emerged from behind the rocks in the distance. Five bright-white suits headed for my faded red one. They had their guns aimed right at my boulder. I gripped Trigger tight and swallowed hard.
I recognized the swagger of one of the suits, even though he was still some distance away.
Oh, how sweet.
Markus brought friends.
Chapter FOUR
APPARENTLY MARKUS THOUGHT I WOULDN’T SHOOT AT AN old friend, even if said friend shot at me first. He was so wrong. I touched the small trigger panel and shot a stream of electric blue pulses his way. He and one of the other suits flattened themselves to the ground, crawling back toward the rock they came from. How fitting. The other three dashed back behind the second one. A chill ran through me as I realized my rock was the rock—the one where my father found my sister and mother dead. Where they’d been turned into human cinders.
“Tora, it’s me, Markus. Don’t shoot!” his voice shouted through my helmet com.
Was he kidding? “Oh, sorry, Markus. Was that supposed to be friendly fire? I must have gotten confused, with those lasers coming at me and all.”
He stood up, still holding the gun, but in a relaxed pose with his hand off the trigger. “Come on. You know what I’m here for—I’m not leaving without the guns.”
I called back. “You know they won’t work for you. Trust me; they’ll never work for you.”
“What do I care? I’m not the one that’ll be using them, but I’m getting an unbelievable payment from the ones who will be.”
“Payment big enough to erase the guilt of killing an innocent girl?” I asked, my finger on the trigger panel. The gun hummed softly in my hand.
Markus laughed and called back, “Innocent girls don’t curse the way you do. And I’m not trying to kill you, just disable you a bit; the Consulate needs you alive. But yes, they’re giving me an Unlimited Currency Chip for the guns.”
I wanted to kick myself for telling him about being the sole person who could fire them. Markus would likely kill children, if any were left, for a UCC. With so few people remaining after the massive die-offs, a move was made to change to a united global government, coined the Consulate, an international currency system, and an international language. Good thing I already spoke English or I would have been muy screwed.
Markus and I faced each other, about fifty yards of dirt between our rock fortresses. This would have been cute if we’d been six years old.
“So, my father’s guns for a UCC. Our esteemed Consulate has already declared itself the ruler of Caelia?” I guessed that not only was Markus’ desire for the weapons at the behest of the government, they’d probably financed this whole attack. They really wanted the guns.
“Something like that,” Markus said.
Everyone had currency chips implanted in their arms that denoted their net worth. If you were poor, you still got the implant but received a minuscule currency amount—the equivalent of space-age welfare. Currency Chips (CC’s) were how people obtained the W.A.R.’s when the water ran out. No currency left on your CC, no water.
I got lucky because my dad was the guy who created bioenergetic warfare. Dad didn’t have a UCC, but he was rich. He cashed in the bulk of his CC balance on all the equipment he could get from his friends in the pod cities. Luckily, he spent most of it before the Consulate realized he wasn’t giving over the guns and zeroed out his chip. I’d say they won in the end though, because Dad was dead.
“Wow, Markus, there must be so much use for it on Caelia. What are you gonna buy … an ocean? The whole planet?”
This elicited a laugh from him. “I like that idea. The whole planet. We’ll have to see about that.”
Movement caught my eye and I ducked down as another spray of blasts hit the rock.
“Crap, I missed her.” A female voice. She sounded about my age, which surprised me. A man shooting at me didn’t surprise me. Maybe that wasn’t fair to all men, but many of the male survivors had been brutes. But a girl burner? Another shot came from that direction, and I pressed the trigger panel on my gun. Blue sparks lit up the rock around them. A small chunk of the rock blasted into the air from the laser and fell to the ground nearby.
I sent the streaming blue light toward Markus before he could shoot again. He dove just in time and I sank back behind the rock. With five of them and only one of me, the odds were not in my favor. My only advantage was a kick-ass gun, but five regular guns seemed like a lot at the moment. I wished I had my favorite super-gun right now, but that bad boy was in storage.
My lungs labored for air despite the oxygen in my suit. Sweat poured down my body and dripped into my eyes, yet I couldn’t remove my helmet to wipe my face. The sun was cooking me from the inside out. I was muy caliente, and not in the good way. Damn, I was thirsty. All I wanted was to get back underground, bolt the door, and get some water, but the door was a good ten feet away. I’d have to turn my back to the group to open the door and they’d put laser holes in me faster than you could say agua.
I yelled from behind my rock. “Where’s your ship, dirtbag?”
“I didn’t bring mine … it barely made the trip last time. The one I hitched a ride in is over the ridge,” he called back. “You wanna give up yet, sweetcakes? You’re a little outnumbered in case you didn’t notice.”
“Fat chance. I’m guessing you burners will be the ones giving up.” The ridge was over a half mile behind them. That meant they must be even hotter and thirstier than I was. Maybe they’d be forced to leave soon if I could keep them at a standstill. What I wouldn’t give to get to that ship, but it wouldn’t do me much good. I couldn’t fly it myself. I’d need the dirtbag to pilot it, and I didn’t see any way that was going to happen.
I heard the sound before it registered. A roar that grew louder each second. The air kicked up around me and the red light of the sun blazed with anger. Terrific. A sun storm. I stashed the gun in my pants, dug my fingers underneath the rock, and hung on for dear life. The fierce solar winds ripped through, whipping one of the larger pebbles by my door into the side of my suit. It made sharp contact with one of my ribs, and I yelped in pain. I really hoped it wasn’t fractured—another medical issue was the last thing I needed.
My suit wove itself back together again where th
e rock had pierced it. At least the high-tech material would protect me from oxygen loss. I could easily die from their lasers, but I’d be breathing up until the bitter end.
The shrieking of the winds intensified and my body lifted as the gusts threatened to take me for a one-way ride. I gripped the underside of the rock tighter, fighting to hang on, my hands so sweaty I was afraid they’d slip right out of the gloves. Small rocks continued their assault, plunking the sides of my helmet. It didn’t help that I couldn’t stop coughing from the crap flying through my lousy filtration system. The muscles in my arm burned. I didn’t know how much longer I could hold on.
A strong surge yanked me off the ground and I held on with every ounce of strength I had left. I yelled in frustration, and soon realized I wasn’t the only one yelling. A body flew past me. Someone had lost their battle with the storm. I craned my neck and watched as the body was flung higher and higher into the air, like a rag doll. It must have been fifty feet in the air when it got caught in the wind shear. The wind slammed it straight into the cactus grove. Several of the sharp spines drove clear through the body, pinning it halfway up the cactus. It didn’t move, and I guessed it wasn’t going to.
Still clinging to the rock, my only thought was a selfish one.
The odds just got a little better.
Chapter FIVE
THE SUN STORM SEEMED TO LAST FOR AN ETERNITY. FROM the safe confines of the shelter, these storms didn’t seem quite as deadly. Things were sure different when you were smack ass in the middle of it. The screaming of the wind gradually subsided to mild whimpers, with occasional defiant gusts mixed in, as though daring me to come out. I relaxed my hold on the rock and touched my side where I’d been hit. Tender and sore, but not broken. I groaned at the deep ache beneath my ribs.
“That you whimpering, Tora? You know they already have a hospital on Caelia.”
I yelled back at him. “You won’t need a hospital by the time I’m finished with you, Markus!”
A deeper male voice called out. The voice belonged to boulder number two, which was where the body had flown from. “Miss, um, Reynolds is it? We suffered an injury during the storm and would like permission to check on our man’s status. Can we have a cease-fire?”
I looked at the motionless body in the air, hanging from the spikes. “Our man’s” status. Then it wasn’t the girl that died. “Mr., um, Assassin, is it? There’s nothing to check. You didn’t suffer an injury; you suffered a fatality. If you insist, be my guest, but I will shoot you in the back.” I clutched my weapon, bracing for more gunfire.
“For Attila’s sake!” His sigh was audible, despite the distance between us. What kind of name was Attila? Markus must not have warned him about me. Maybe the man had been expecting a frightened, desperate mouse of a girl. I was not that girl.
“Come on, Tora.” No way. The girl was trying to reason with me. “Look, we want the guns and we’re not leaving without them. There’s no reason for anyone else to die.”
You mean anyone except me. The odds were still four to one—four too many for my liking.
I yelled back, “Little girl, you sure have been out here an awfully long time in the hot sun … thirsty yet?” I knew I’d hit a nerve when she fell silent. They were thirsty. I only had to outlast them. I licked a drip of sweat that fell from my nose onto my lip. If I made it back underground, I was going to drink my entire day’s ration in one sitting.
“Give us a break. We’ll all die if we sit out here much longer.”
“You first, Markus.”
The sun started to sink in the sky. Within a few hours, the small sliver of night would emerge. Instead of dying of heat, we’d die quickly from the rapid descent into arctic temperatures—if the night storms didn’t get us first. Maybe I could make a break for the door and hole up for the night. If they made it back to the ship in time, we could start the fun all over again in the morning.
More roaring sounded overhead and dust swirled at my feet. This was not possible. Sun storms never happened this close together, and it was too early for the night storms. The noise thundered louder in my ears and the wind picked up speed. Light blazed in my eyes and I shielded them from the glare. When I looked again, I found that this particular blinding light wasn’t coming from the sun.
It came from the sun reflecting off the metal of a ship.
A gigantic ship.
The monstrosity veered closer, before hovering over the ridge where Markus and company had parked their craft. The jerks had called for reinforcements. The hand that held my gun shook. This was it. Game over. The odds had been stacked against me anyway, but this ship knocked the whole stack on its ass. I was going to die here, in the same spot as my mother and sister. But I wasn’t going to die without a fight. I raised my gun, and peered out from behind the rock.
The ship’s engine revved as it came full throttle toward us.
Markus yelled, “What the—?” He stood upright, ripe for the shooting. I placed my finger on the firing switch of the gun and took a breath. I aimed at Markus who faced away from me, staring at the ship.
The ship fired. Pulses of orange light rained down on the ground ahead of me, apparently targeting Markus and his friends. The pulses of light came closer. Yeah, they were definitely aiming for the white suits, which made me glad to be in a red one. Markus hesitated a second before running full speed toward me. Another white suit followed close behind. The two behind the other boulder stood, glanced at Markus, and also raced in my direction. What the hell? Did they think I could protect them from the monstrous ship in the air? They were the military-looking types, not me. That’s when it hit me. They weren’t running toward me. They were running toward the door. My door.
“Oh, hell no!” I leapt from behind the boulder, sprinting the short distance to the door. The orange pulses came closer and I looked up to see a laser strike the boulder where Markus had been hiding. It exploded, sending rock fragments flying in all directions. Crap. I didn’t want to see what it would do to me. Reluctant to switch the gun to my other hand, I grasped the door handle with my injured one, grateful for the protective glove I wore this time. Rapid footsteps pounded behind me as I yanked it open.
I tried to scramble inside and close the door, but hands were on my back, pushing me down the ladder. The laser pulses sounded like they were almost on top of us. My foot caught on the bottom rung and I tumbled in an awkward somersault. Footsteps crashed down the ladder above me while I struggled to regain my bearings. Three figures stood a few feet away. A fourth figure pulled the heavy door closed as a barrage of light pulses rained down on it.
“Graceful as ever, Tora.” Markus stood across from me. He tore off his helmet and then placed his gun back in the holster.
Keeping hold of my gun, I used my other hand to remove my helmet. Sweat poured down my neck and frizzy, dark ringlets fell over my eyes. I tossed my head back, trying to keep my line of sight clear. Staring upward, I realized what a genius my father had been. He must have known the lasers wouldn’t affect this type of metal. He’d constructed a bomb shelter, not just a keep-away-the-sun-shelter. Though the lasers had pulverized the boulder, the door held tight.
Markus shrugged and had the nerve to smirk at me. “Guess we’re all on the same side now.”
Chapter SIX
THE DAY MY MOTHER AND SISTER DIED, I’D MADE A BARGAIN. They’d only been gone a short time, but had left their suits behind, and in this climate, every second counted. My father went to look for them and ordered me to stay put. I wasn’t even sure who I was bargaining with; any god with half a brain would have fled this hellhole long ago. But I wanted my family safe. Speaking to the empty air, I’d promised that if my mother and sister were alive, I would spend the rest of my days being more helpful and less of a smart-ass. I’d be a better person. A minute later, my father found them. They weren’t even remotely close to alive. All bets were off.
I leveled my gun at Markus. “I will never be on ‘your side.’ Get out.”
“Settle down, sweetie.” Markus turned to the group. “No one’s going to shoot anyone. Let’s calm ourselves.”
“If you kill me now, you’ll never get the guns. Right, Markus? Except that didn’t seem to bother you earlier when you were all shooting at me.”
He laughed. “I already told you … we were trying to incapacitate you, not kill you. Besides, you can’t kill us either—I doubt you’ll escape the Consulate lackeys out there on your own.”
I flashed him a withering look. Of course they wanted me alive; Markus must have told them only I could fire the guns. If it prevented the Consulate from killing me outright, maybe it wasn’t such a bad thing. “I was doing just fine before you all came along. And they didn’t seem to be shooting at me.”
The largest of the suits spoke. It was the deep voice from earlier who’d asked to check on his dead guy. “Look, we’re all in the same situation here. See, I’m putting my gun down.” He turned off the trigger and placed the gun at his feet. He reached up and slowly removed his helmet. His short hair was drenched in sweat.
The smaller of the other two suits—it had to be the girl—yanked off her helmet. “It’s too frickin’ hot for this shit. Would someone please tell me what the hell is going on out there? Aren’t they supposed to be on our side, Kale?”
She was small, dark, and bony. Even her cheeks looked sharp—like those mean-looking birds I’d once come across on the GlobalNet. I’d been glad they’d died out before I came along. She lowered her gun, but didn’t drop it.
I glanced over at Markus, annoyed at the amusement on his face. Bad choice on my part. The humming sound warned me just in time, and I dove to the floor and rolled. The laser hit the wall behind me and created a shower of sparks. I came up, my weapon aimed at the girl who’d just fired at me, but the tall man, Kale, had already knocked her gun out of her hands.
Burn Out Page 4