by M. R. Forbes
He stared into the space. Sheriff’s shirt was hanging from a piece of metal on the tank, releasing blood into the water.
Nathan smiled. Clever man. He probably wasn’t even down—
Something grabbed his helmet, lifting it from his head and tossing it away. Nathan looked up, eyes going wide when he saw Hayden clinging to the overhead pipes, his synthetic arm wrapped around them and holding him to the ceiling.
“You should have looked up,” Hayden said, throwing a heavy downward punch.
Chapter 42
The blow landed, slamming into Nathan’s face, breaking his nose and throwing him down on the basement floor with a loud splash of water.
Hayden unwrapped himself from the pipes, dropping into the water at Nathan’s feet. Stacker wasn’t moving, his body prone.
“I’m sorry, Nathan,” Hayden said.
His whole body was burning from the effort of holding himself up like that. He was still bleeding, and he was a little dizzy. How much longer could he last like this? He didn’t know, but he had to keep going. He had to keep trying.
He didn’t want to die tonight.
He reached down, grabbing for Nathan’s plasma rifle.
Nathan’s eyes snapped open, the rifle coming up and turning, swung like a club toward Hayden’s face. He managed to get his hand up to block it, knocking it aside. Nathan sat up, throwing a punch of his own and slamming Hayden in his already wounded side. He grunted and fell to his knees.
“You should just let me kill you, Sheriff,” Nathan said, getting back to his feet. He reached up and touched his nose, wiping away the blood. “Why didn’t you just let me kill you?”
“I have to protect my family,” Hayden said. “I have to protect everybody out there, and over here. Think about it, Nathan. Tinker has an energy shield. Why doesn’t he share it with anyone else? Why does only one city have it?”
“I’m sure he has a reason.”
“Does he? He took women. He used them to make a virus that will kill every human being on the planet, except the ones he chooses. Not everyone gets into Edenrise; did you know that? He decides who lives based on what they can provide for him.”
“Survival of the fittest, Sheriff,” Nathan said. “That’s old science, but it’s still relevant.”
“He could be doing so much more, but it doesn’t serve his purpose, does it? It doesn’t benefit him. None of this benefits me. I wish I were still back west with my wife and daughter. I wish I could die ignorant. If I can’t die ignorant, I can’t die at all. Not until I at least try to talk some sense into him.”
“I don’t think he’s the kind of man you can talk sense into,” Nathan said. “He knows what he wants, and he’ll do whatever it takes to get it. Like my wife.”
Hayden was confused by the statement. “Your wife? What about her?”
“Tinker sent her to Proxima. I didn’t know that. She was working for him. So was Judicus Shia. He sent her to get the data that was on the ring. That’s the only reason she was there.”
The two men stood in the basement facing one another. Hayden was bleeding from his chest and shoulder and leg, Nathan from his face. They stared at one another in silence for a moment.
“What the hell is this all about, Nathan?” Hayden asked.
“You wouldn’t believe me if I told you,” Nathan replied. “He won’t negotiate, Sheriff. I can tell you that much.”
“Then he has to die. Nathan, I know this isn’t your fight, but we can’t let this happen. We can stop the trife without destroying humankind. I’ve started it. With the technology in Edenrise, with the help of Proxima, we can keep it going.”
“How many years would that take, Sheriff? Tinker’s method will end the war in ten days. Ten. Days.”
There was something more to it. Hayden could tell by Nathan’s voice and posture. There was something he hadn’t said.
“What happens after?” Hayden asked. “You already know Tinker’s endgame, don’t you?”
“Yes.”
“What is it?”
“I’m sorry, Sheriff. I would have gone with you before. I don’t really want to kill you now, but it’s too late. I’ve made my choice. There is no we in this.” Nathan drew his laser pistol from his hip. “There is no you.”
“Nathan, wait,” Hayden said. “I knew the round I fired at you wouldn’t penetrate your armor. I knew it wouldn’t hurt you. It’s not too late to help me. I’ve always believed you aren’t a killer. I’ve always believed in you.”
Nathan lowered the gun slightly.
Hayden didn’t wait for a response. He couldn’t risk waiting.
He lunged at Nathan, grabbing his arm with his oversized hand, turning his wrist and breaking it. He threw a punch with the Centurion hand, but Nathan was ready for the follow-up, and he got his forearm up in time to block. Then Stacker jabbed out with a tight punch into Hayden’s wounded chest, sending waves of pain up his body. He grunted and turned, still holding Nathan’s broken wrist. He used the powerful replacement to throw the Centurion up and over his shoulder, onto his back on the floor, breaking his arm at the elbow as he did.
“Ahhh!” Nathan cried out.
Hayden let him go, rushing back to the plasma rifle and scooping it up. Nathan stumbled to his feet, turning to face him, right arm limp at his side.
Hayden pointed the gun at him. “I’m sorry too,” he said. “Don’t move, okay? I still don’t want to kill you.”
He started backing up, one step at a time toward the door. His body was warm. Too warm. His vision was starting to blur. No, damn it. He had come too far to collapse now. He gritted his teeth against it, forcing his body to move. One step. Another. Another.
“You can’t make it out of here, Sheriff,” Nathan said. “James is out there, along with a dropship full of soldiers.”
“James? The Iron General?”
“Yes. You can barely walk. You’ll probably collapse before you get up the steps. I can make it quick and easy.”
“I’ll take my chances. I can’t give up.”
“I respect your perseverance, Sheriff. Your relentlessness. But you can’t win this one.”
Hayden stumbled, his body starting to turn on him. He caught himself on the wall, staying upright. Nathan didn’t make a move toward him.
“Sheriff, I’ll see if I can convince James to bring you back to Edenrise. Tinker needs men like you. He took me in because he needs replicas like me. I may be able to talk him into it.”
Hayden’s world was getting dimmer, Nathan fading from sight ahead of him. He stumbled again, the plasma rifle suddenly too heavy to hold. He made it to the door, grabbing it and pulling it open.
He could barely see, but there was no mistaking the armored soldier standing on the other side.
“Sheriff Hayden Duke,” James said. “It’s over, Sheriff.”
Hayden tried to lift the plasma rifle. Even with the augmented strength of his replacement hand, he didn’t have the energy to get it up.
James grabbed it and pulled it from his hand, tossing it back to Nathan.
“General, he put up a good fight,” Nathan said. “You told me when you captured me—”
“Save it, Colonel,” James said. “I heard you talking. Today’s your lucky day. His too. It seems Tinker’s been watching this whole exercise through the feed from the dropship. He decided he wants to meet Sheriff Duke after all. Him and his new lady friend.”
“Lady friend?” Nathan said.
“Doc spotted her out by the highway. Cute little thing with a replacement arm and a nasty bite wound on her ankle. If she’s a botter like she claims, she’s worth keeping around.”
Hayden lowered his head. He barely heard the Iron General’s words. His body was done. He had lost too much blood. All the mental fight in the world couldn’t change that.
“Don’t worry, Sheriff,” James said. “We’ll get you patched up. We don’t want you dying on us just yet. As for you, Nathan, you did what you had to do, even if the sh
eriff here got the drop on you. I wasn’t sure you were going to work it out, but you made me proud.”
“Thank you, sir,” Nathan said.
James leaned down and scooped Hayden into his arms, carrying him easily back up the steps. Hayden’s vision was blurry, his head spinning. He turned it slightly, looking up at the visored face of the Iron General.
Maybe he would have been better off dead?
James reached the top of the steps. Another group of soldiers was already there, waiting for him. Hayden’s head flopped over the other direction, in time to see a woman with a hard face approach him, a syringe in her hand.
“Sheriff Duke,” she said. “This will keep you alive long enough to get you back to Edenrise.”
Hayden didn’t have the strength to speak. She pressed the needle into his neck and emptied the contents into him.
“You wanted to talk to Tinker, Sheriff,” James said. “You’re going to get your chance.”
Everything disappeared.
Chapter 43
Nathan stood on the balcony of his apartment, looking down at the people moving through the city. It was late evening, getting dark. Rain was falling but it was mostly dry, the energy field catching a large portion of the water and turning it to steam before it could pass through the shield. Even so, he could feel the occasional drop strike him on top of his bald head or land on his gray t-shirt. He didn’t care. This was his favorite place to be. The place he was most able to relax and clear his mind.
He reached over with his left hand to scratch an itch on his right arm. The broken limb was held restrained in a slightly bent position, the tight cast over it helping to set the bones while the PRP injections did their work to heal the wound in days instead of weeks. The side effect of the treatment was itching, and he had to stop himself from following through with the urge. It wasn’t as if he could reach it through the hardened gel, anyway.
Nearly three days had passed since they had returned to Edenrise with Hayden and the botter who called herself Pyro. After everything that had transpired over the last week, it felt weird to have time to himself, and he was struggling to keep himself calm and centered and his mind off Niobe.
They were waiting for Sheriff Duke to wake up, James had said. Tinker had a question for him. An important question. Nathan didn’t know what it was.
He wasn’t sure he cared.
When he told Hayden he had made his decision, he realized he meant it. He couldn’t keep living with split loyalties or uncertainty. He was resolved to follow James to the end, no matter what that end happened to be. Maybe it made him the bad guy? He still wasn’t sure. It was better than being little more than a pawn trapped in the middle of a larger game.
Wasn’t it?
A soft tone sounded, muffled through the glass to the balcony. Someone was at his door. He walked over to the balcony door and slid it aside.
“Come in!” he shouted.
The door opened. Ebion was behind it. He waved her into the room.
“Hey Ebion,” he said.
“Nathan,” she replied. “My apologies. I would have stopped by sooner, but I was needed elsewhere. I heard you were injured.” She looked at his arm. “How does it feel?”
“It’s not bad. I’m supposed to get the cast off tomorrow.”
“I’m glad to hear it.”
“So, what brings you here?”
“Tinker sent me. He wants you to prepare for a meeting with the city council.”
“A meeting? What kind of meeting?”
“He wasn’t specific. I understand it has something to do with post-war resource allocation.”
“It sounds boring.”
“Most administrative tasks are. You have thirty-six minutes to shower and change into your dress uniform.”
“Did he leave this to the last minute on purpose?”
“Please don’t shoot the messenger, Colonel.”
“Right.” He wasn’t sure if attending a resource allocation meeting was better or worse than being alone. He was pretty sure it was worse.
He turned away from the door with the intent of heading to the bedroom to prepare.
He froze when he saw the figure standing out in the rain.
“Nathan?” Ebion asked, noticing his suddenly stiff posture.
Nathan’s heart jumped into his throat, and his left hand reached down, searching for a sidearm that wasn’t there.
The figure didn’t move. It stood on the deck, staring. He could barely make out its eyes in the shadow of its cloak. It was angry. Very angry.
“Nathan?” Ebion said again.
“Get behind me,” he said softly.
“What? What’s going on?”
“Get behind me!” he hissed more forcefully.
“Why?”
“There’s someone on the balcony.”
“That’s impossible.”
“There’s someone there.”
“Colonel, I don’t see anyone.”
Nathan shifted his eyes back to her. How could that be? Was he seeing things again?
The door slid open. The figure stepped through it, dripping water from its cloak onto the floor. Only for a moment. The figure dropped the mantle from their shoulders, revealing itself.
“Hayden?” Nathan said.
Hayden’s hand was a blur, reaching for his revolver, grabbing it, drawing it, aiming and firing. Nathan threw himself to the side. The bullet missed, and the gun tracked him as he fell.
He rolled to a crouch, watching Hayden. This couldn’t be real. There was no way Hayden had gotten up here. There was no way he was even out of the hospital.
He was hallucinating again. Why?
Hayden stopped turning, leveling his revolver on Nathan’s chest.
“Ebion, are you sure you don’t see anything?” he asked.
She was a robot. She didn’t hallucinate.
She also didn’t answer.
“Ebion?”
Hayden’s face twisted in a scowl, his finger moving in slow motion on the trigger.
“There’s nobody there,” he told himself. “You know Sheriff isn’t there. You know he can’t hurt you.”
He stared Hayden down, daring him to take the shot. The form faded into the night as suddenly as it had appeared, leaving them alone.
“Ebion, we need to find James,” Nathan said, rising to his feet. She still didn’t answer. “Ebion?”
He looked back to where she had been standing. She was on the floor, a dark liquid pouring out from somewhere on her body and staining the carpet.
What the hell?
“Ebion,” he said again, rushing to her side and kneeling next to her. He rolled her body over, revealing her face. Her eyes were glassy. Her flesh cold.
He glanced down at her body. There was a hole in her dress, over her stomach. Lubricant was spilling out.
“Ebion, can you hear me?”
Her eyes flickered. Her mouth opened slightly. “Nathan,” she said, her voice sounding more synthetic. “My subsystems are failing. Critical errors. So many critical errors.” Her body shuddered. “What did you do to me?”
He stared at her. He hadn’t done anything, and Hayden wasn’t real. Even so, she had a gunshot wound in her stomach, and she was shutting down. At least, that’s how it looked.
“I have to find James,” he said.
“What did you do to me?” she repeated, her voice slowing and fading.
“It was a hallucination. It wasn’t real. It shouldn’t be able to hurt you. Not when you couldn’t even see it. Unless…”
He paused, the truth sending a chill across his body.
“Unless what?” she asked.
“I think there may be an Other in Edenrise.”
Chapter 44
Hayden heard something beeping.
It was slow and rhythmic, and after he had a few more seconds to regain consciousness, he realized what was making the sound.
He opened his eyes slowly. He knew by the tone he was in a hosp
ital. Where? How? He was confused. Nothing was making sense. Natalia? Where was Natalia? Gone. They had taken her. He had to get out. He had to find her. No, that wasn’t right. That wasn’t it. Where was he? Was this the Pilgrim? It had the same machines making the same sound.
He saw a white tiled ceiling above him, and when he shifted his eyes he saw a wood door placed into a white wall. A small dresser with a display on top sat beside it. A second door into a toilet next to that.
A hospital room. At least he was right about that. How did he get here? Where was here? He tried to recollect his thoughts. His memory was still foggy. He wiggled his fingers and toes. He tried to, anyway. He didn’t feel anything from his fingers. It was as if they weren’t there. He turned his head slightly. His body was beneath a sheet, but he could see his left arm ended just above the elbow. So did his right.
He started to panic.
His heart pulsed, changing the tone on the monitor. He felt warm and nauseous.
The door opened, and a woman in a white coat rushed in, looking first at the machine and then at him.
“You’re awake,” she said. It was matter-of-fact. Emotionless. “A little too awake.” She did something on a terminal beside the bed. He felt the effect almost instantly, his mind and body returning to a state of calm.
He stared straight ahead, his breathing slowing while the woman headed back to the door. “I’ll let Doc know you’re awake.”
Then she was gone.
He didn’t move. He tried to remember. It started coming back. Bennett. Stacker. Gus. The Hellion. The Iron General.
Had he been captured?
He didn’t have a memory of it. The stream of his experience cut off with him hanging from the pipes in a flooded basement, waiting for the enemy to come. Replacement hands. Prosthetics. He realized they had been removed. For a medical reason or because they were dangerous? He had no hands without them. He could hardly do anything himself.
There were other wounds. The Hellion had dug into him. It had nearly killed him. They wouldn’t have brought him here if they weren’t going to heal his wounds.