by Jay Riverton
Mike made his way to the door and took one last pitiful look at them. “I’m sorry, guys. We’ve lost this one. Once Corporate gets here, we’re all done.”
“No. We haven’t lost yet. Let’s get guns and fight back,” Lycanere said.
“The Scouts aren’t gonna like that,” Mike said. “They’ll shoot me down the second I act against them again.”
“Then don’t. We need someone on the inside,” Lycanere said.
Mike smiled. “What’re you thinking, brother?”
Chapter Seven
The Ship
Scout Master Mike had disarmed them and locked them in the cabin. Two Scouts stood guard outside of them, armed and ready for anything. It was the only thing he could get Corporate to agree on after arguing with them over the phone for what seemed like hours. The Scouts and Corporate wanted to kill them, but Mike’s reluctance to kill children and the fact that Benjamin was out there possibly getting the law on his side against them had helped the group. The law had scared Corporate much more than any of them had thought it would.
“They’re coming, but just to bring the other Scouts to Jovial-10,” Mike told the five, including the still unconscious Martia. The Scouts had only let him in here to tell them the news. It was that, and then he’d be unable to ever enter again.
“And us?” Lycanere asked.
“They have other Reformation Tanks and other Scouts’ Honors. Don’t worry, I’ll be joining you.”
Lycanere sighed, expecting such.
They all looked to Martia.
“From what you told me, she’ll be fine,” Mike said. “You have to be fully submerged for like five minutes for it have its true effect on you.”
“When will she wake up?” Pirelavs said.
Mike shrugged. “I’m no doctor.”
Mike walked to the door to leave them for the last time. “It’s up to you guys to break out of here. When Corporate comes, we’re all going down. So, think of a plan and get ready for Corporate. Beating them is the only way out of this one.” He left then, and the five were by themselves.
“Do you think Benjamin is really coming back for us?” Genevieve asked.
“If he wants to destroy this place like he said he did, he will,” Lycanere said, “but that could take years. Even with the law on his side, no one truly cares about us. We’re not wanted or accepted. People would turn a blind eye to us and just pretend we don’t exist.”
“What’re you saying?” Pirelavs asked.
“We’re better off not worrying about Benjamin. Corporate will get here long before him,” Kakine said.
“No one is coming to save us,” Lycanere said. “Not any time soon. This is on us. It’s either we fight back or die. And I refuse to become one of those brainless zombies.”
Pirelavs looked at all of them, his limp arm up to his chest. “So, if they catch us, we end our lives?”
Lycanere and Kakine nodded. They looked to Genevieve. She hesitated, but eventually nodded.
“We need to get out of here, get everyone on our side, get the guns, and rid of the Scouts. Then, we’ll handle Corporate when they come,” Lycanere said.
“And how do you expect to get out of here?” Genevieve said.
Lycanere turned to Martia. “We have her tools. We can try to break out with them.”
“Or just break the window,” Pirelavs said.
“And let everyone know we’re out of here?” Lycanere said. “We need them to think we’re inside.”
“There are guards outside,” Kakine said.
“We’ll dispatch them. Two of you can wear their clothes and look inconspicuous. We’ll work from there.”
“Are we killing them this time?” Pirelavs said.
Lycanere shook his head. “No. No more death. I don’t want to throw another grenade, and stunning lasts an hour. Just stun them over and over until we get away.”
Pirelavs nodded in agreement.
“Even if we try to get out of here, they’ll hear us moving around. They’ll know what we’re doing once we touch that door to break it open,” Genevieve said.
Lycanere knew she was right. There had to be something else. Another way.
“Does anyone have anything in this room that can help us?” Lycanere said. Kakine and Genevieve shook their heads.
Pirelavs got up and moved to his luggage. He started to dig through it. He pulled out a rectangular lighter designed to look like a red dragon’s mouth.
Pirelavs flicked the lighter’s top up, the top of the dragon’s mouth being lifted, a small beam of purple fire arising from the lighter.
“So, whaddya think?” he asked them.
“How is that going to help us in any way?” Kakine said.
“I cut through the back wall with it, its concentrated but—”
“It’ll set this place on fire,” Lycanere said.
“And they’ll rush to put it out! We’ll escape, and bam! Activate plan flame and run!”
“No,” Kakine said. “We’re not—”
Something hit the ground outside. Thud. Thud. They stopped, falling silent.
“What was that?” Genevieve asked, standing up slowly from the bed.
Lycanere heard movement behind him and turned. He saw Martia’s hand on her head.
“Guys,” he said.
All eyes were on her as she rubbed her head and pushed herself up.
“What happened?” she said.
The door’s knob started to jiggle. Everyone turned back to it, silent. There was whispering outside. Something metallic grazing itself against the door. Then… click.
The door swung open and four young women stood in front of them, the two guard Scouts knocked out by their feet. Lycanere recognized them as other girls of their troop. Genevieve’s friends. Their leader, a tall and strong butch, stood in front of them. Lycanere was happy it was her. MAD. Madison.
The four entered the cabin, two girls dragging in the unconscious Scouts and closing the door behind them. Genevieve ran to her and hugged her.
Madison and Genevieve separated, and Madison stepped in front of them, she held one of the Scouts’ guns in her hands. Martia rose from the ground as if she were meeting a lieutenant.
“Madison Crux of Aura,” she said. “Armed Forces.” She approached Kakine and stuck out her hand. Kakine shook it. She did the same to Martia, but only nodded to Lycanere and Pirelavs.
“Nice seeing you again,” Pirelavs said.
“These are my girls, Beatrice Yrten of Fellsha, chef.” Beatrice stepped forward, tall, lanky, blonde, and beautiful. “Vyana Worx of Welldon, fisher.” Vyana, a short dark-skinned woman with green eyes and arms like a bear’s, stepped forward. “And Erinza Pearl of Mars, miner.” Erinza, a small, toned, pale girl with short black and red hair, and a young and cute face, stepped forward, holding the other gun.
Lycanere introduced his group the same way to the four, all except for Genevieve whom they already knew.
“You’re MAD, from Conqueror’s War,” he finally said, as if admiring a god.
“And you’re LYC,” she responded. “Nice to meet you.” She looked to Genevieve. “She told us about your plan to revolt and leave this place back during the coupling. We’ve seen all that you’ve done and have been trying to help since. We even tried to break you out of the Tank, but Mike caught us. We don’t want to go off to Jovial-10 with Corporate. So, now, we’re here. And we’re going to break out of this together.”
“Thank you, Madison,” he said. “We need to get the others on our side and—”
“Already done. We did that without you,” Erinza said. Her voice was high, yet strong.
“And we need to get weapons,” Lycanere said.
“That’s up next. That’s why we need you,” Vyana said.
“You got them before. You can get them again,” Beatrice said.
Lycanere looked from one to the other. They worked great together. He could only admire their team as much as they admired his.
“Strip the bodies, girls,” Madison then demanded. Vyana and Beatrice went to the Scouts. Madison turned to Lycanere. “Their clothes are our sizes, so you and I are going. We’ll wear them and sneak in.”
“Kakine’s a better shot,” Pirelavs said. “And Lycanere’s shoulder is screwed up.”
“I wouldn’t risk losing her. She’s the pilot, isn’t she?” Madison said. It was a rhetorical question. “And you have an entire lame arm. Lycanere at least seems to be functioning. Our scores are pretty close on Conqueror’s War, after all.”
She looked to Erinza, and the girl threw Lycanere her gun. Lycanere caught it and flipped the switch to “stun.”
“Let’s go,” he told her.
They exited the cabin just a few minutes later, garbed in the Scouts’ clothing: their tan hats and button-up uniforms with nametags on their left chest over a badge reading “Helper Scout.” On Lycanere’s right arm was the troop number 7, and Madison’s 5. Her name tag read Wylla and his Tye.
They walked down the path towards the Reformation Center. “Keep your head down, don’t look suspicious.”
He followed her orders, his gun tight to his chest. She was better at this, he noticed. For all he knew, she could’ve been masquerading as another person since birth. She blended in.
They passed by a couple other Scouts on their way down, Madison nodding to them as if she’d known them for years. They nodded in return.
The two reached the Reformation Center doors easily and quickly. Two Scouts stood outside of it, armed beside the doors. Lycanere kept his head down, his hat casting a shadow over his face.
“We’re here to take over your shifts,” Madison said.
“We’re not supposed to be relieved ‘til after dinner,” one of the Scouts said.
“Corporate wants their best on the front line in case Troop 10 tries anything. You’re some of the best, aren’t you?”
The Scouts smiled, showing some humanity left in the husks that they were.
“We’re on it,” one of them said. They ran off, and Lycanere and Madison took their positions.
“What if they go to the cabin?” Lycanere said.
“My girls can handle them. We’re not helpless.”
Once the two were out of sight Madison opened the Reformation Center doors and they entered the building. It was empty, luckily. They moved right to the “IN CASE OF AN EMERGENCY” door and Lycanere opened it.
“What was the code?” Madison said.
“Sixteen, thirty, twenty-three, twenty-eight.”
Madison peeked into the room before entering. “Wow,” she said, seeing all of the weapons inside.
“There must be like some type of wheelbarrow or something to carry them,” Madison said.
Lycanere remembered instantly. He moved to the “SUPPLIES” door and punched in the code.
“What are you doing?” Madison asked.
“There’s a cart of food in here. We can use that.”
He opened the door and swung it open. They ran to the supply closet and opened it, revealing the closet full of food and the cart. They unpacked the cart immediately, Lycanere moving as fast as he could while his shoulder and fingers throbbed.
“We could fit so much in this,” Madison said. “We just gotta get these to our troop somehow.”
“I got a plan,” Lycanere said.
“Spit away.”
“You ever play against the Sorians in Conqueror’s War before?” he asked.
She smiled. “Sorian Spinner?”
“Of course.”
They finished unpacking the cart and pulled it out of the closet. They turned and then, whoosh. A flush echoed from the bathroom. Lycanere’s back tensed as he looked to Madison. She jetted towards the door to get out. The bathroom door swung open behind them. Lycanere turned and saw a Scout.
“What are you guys—”
Lycanere shot him down, yellow laser to the head. His shoulder screamed with the ferocity of the shot, but he ignored it. The shot reverberated throughout the air. Everyone must’ve heard it. They were screwed.
They burst out of the hallway, ran to the gun room, and filled the cart with everything they could as fast as they could. The Reformation Center doors opened. Lycanere turned and aimed. Scouts poured into the Center. Lycanere released fire.
Yellow lasers filled the room, flying at the Scouts at lightning speed. Lycanere’s trigger finger moved faster than the eye could see, taking Scouts down with ease. He heard Madison moving quickly behind him. And then fwhoosh. Something flew over his head at the tens of Scouts in the room.
“No!” Lycanere yelled when noticing what it was.
Madison grabbed him and pulled him into the gun room, slamming the door shut.
The Reformation Center exploded, the gunroom’s door blowing off of its hinges. Smoke and fire filled the air. The top of the Reformation Center was gone, and its columns were destroyed. Body parts laid all over the Center’s remains.
Lycanere looked to Madison and the cart. It was full of weapons. He wanted to cry. No more death, he thought to himself, but death was all that existed around him.
Madison saw his face and couldn’t keep eye contact with him.
“You’re a good shot,” Madison said, breathing heavy. “And you’re smaller. Be the spinner.”
Lycanere laid on the bottom of the cart, uncomfortably on top of guns above the wheels, his gun aimed at the smoke. Madison stood behind the cart and pushed him forward. He released fire into the smoke. He couldn’t tell if he was hitting anything, nor did they have time to check.
They rushed out of the smoke down the path towards the cabins, Lycanere trying to swivel his body to check both in front of and behind him as the Sorians would do in Conqueror’s War.
She adeptly steered him right to the cabins where he shot any Scout that came in sight, which were only a few. They reached his cabin and the door opened. She pushed him inside and pulled a gun from the cart. She faced outside, ready to shoot anyone approaching.
“What the hell’s happening out there?” Pirelavs said.
“We got caught,” Lycanere said, getting off of the cart.
“Grab a couple guns. We need to move. They could throw a grenade in here and kill us all easily.” Their group moved and grabbed weapons. “Make sure to only them them. Lycanere’s not a fan of death. Let’s move,” Madison demanded. Lycanere looked around the room to see the two Scouts they had captured tied to bedposts, their mouths stuffed with clothes. Tears slowly fled from their eyes. Even aliens cry. But that didn’t mean he should forget all of the wrong they’d done and stood for now.
Once they were all armed, Madison motioned for them to move out.
“We need to get the others,” she said. She turned to their group, “Fan out. Lycanere and I can hold it here. Get everyone else.” They listened to her as if she was their commander.
She looked around, aiming her gun in all directions. “After Mike caught us trying to break you out of the Tank, we started to talk to everyone and got them on our side.” She looked him in his eyes, calm as can be. “You’re the reason this all is happening. I thought we were at a loss forever, but you proved to me that we’re not. Just us, the top two of Conqueror’s War, dispatched most of a mindless army. Just. Us. You’re just as much of a leader here as I. Don’t ever doubt yourself. You’ve taught me not to.”
Lycanere let her words sink in, not knowing what to say in return.
Their Troop 10 compatriots were already being led from their cabins to the guns.
“Have you ever come close to beating Conqueror’s War before?” Madison asked him.
He shook his head. “My, uh, friend Reggie beat it. You probably heard of him. The legend, Regenold Wyland, only winner in forty years. One hundred ninety minutes.”
“That’s your friend?”
Lycanere nodded. “He’s in charge back at home now. He’s great. Amazing. Handsome and everything. I wish I was as good as him.”
Madison raised her ey
ebrow. “He’s only a friend?”
Lycanere shrugged. “Yeah.”
Madison chuckled. “My friend Tyva almost beat it. Like, she was this close.” She held her pointer finger and thumb barely a centimeter apart. “She’s a true born general. She told me once, ‘Madin, all you gotta do is find who you are and use it to your advantage. Even when you lose, at least you’ll still be you.’”
“She called you Madin?”
She hesitated. “It’s my birth name… To keep this short, no one here was impregnating me no matter how hard they tried. Some surgeons are just amazing.”
Lycanere looked down, letting her words sink in. He glanced back up at her after a second. “So, you haven’t come close either?”
Madison laughed. “No, not at—”
She raised her gun and aimed at an approaching person from the path that Lycanere hadn’t even noticed. It was Mike.
Lycanere pushed down Madison’s gun.
“What are you doing?” she asked.
“He’s on our side.”
Mike approached, his hands up. Scouts appeared behind him, all armed. There were tens of them, probably one hundred. Mike was the only one unarmed. Lycanere turned to see his entire troop behind him, armed and ready. They were all on his side, ready to fight for their lives.
“We would like to ask for you to put down your weapons,” Mike said. “If you don’t, they have been ordered to relieve the Discover Scouts of your entire troop.”
“And who ordered this?” Madison said, her voice strong and unafraid.
“Corporate,” Mike said. Lycanere realized the Scouts must’ve called Corporate after the Reformation Center was decimated. Troop 10 had screwed themselves even more. He was even more afraid that if they put down their guns they’d be shot without hesitation. But what’s stopping them now?
“No,” Lycanere said. “We want freedom. We don’t want to be pawns for the world to just move freely.”
“Don’t think that’s up to you, right now,” Mike said. He was sweating. “Not up to me, either. I just don’t want to get shot, and I rather you guys not get shot either.”
“We’re going to be killed anyway,” Lycanere stated. “We might as well fight for—”