Smuggler's Legacy

by Bradford Bates

  I’d poured in about seventy-five percent of the blood, and there was no discernable change in her demeanor. Someone started talking in the other room. At least the screaming hadn’t started yet. We still had time. There was just no way to tell how much. I covered Samantha’s hands with the rest of the blood hoping that it would help spark some kind of healing.

  She still hadn’t made a noise, but her hands fell away from the door. So at least her body was healing, which meant she wasn’t dead yet. Or maybe she was dead, but could still heal through it. I was a little confused on vampire mythology when it came to them being alive. And then there was the fact that all of that was just some bullshit someone made up. Here in front of me I had the real deal.

  Maze tossed a metal disk at the door, and nothing happened. She moved forward to push the doors open while I pulled Samantha back into the hall a bit. Samantha let out a little moan as I moved her and muttered something like “That didn’t feel so great.”

  Well, at least we were on the same page there. “Now that you’re done scaring the shit out of us with your heroics, maybe you can keep an eye out to make sure no one comes through this door but us.”

  Samantha tried to climb to her feet but fell back against the cavern wall. “That sounds like something I can manage.” She reached up and rubbed her jaw and then winced as she ran her fingers over her broken tooth. “What in the hell?”

  “Oh, we had a little incident trying to get you off of the door.” I tried to sound diplomatic, but it must have failed because Samantha turned away from me and looked directly at Maze.

  Maze stared down at her defiantly. “What he means to say is, we couldn’t get your mouth open so I broke your tooth out with my rifle.”

  Samantha glared at her as she reached up and rubbed her jaw again. “Well, it fucking hurts.”

  Maze pretended to pout and then stuck her tongue out and blew a raspberry into the air. It was something I’d never seen her do before, but egging on a hungry, pissed off vampire wasn’t exactly something I would recommend anyone to do. Before Samantha could react with more than shock, Maze tossed two things in her direction. The first was another bag of blood and the second was a tooth.

  Samantha tore into the bag with her teeth. She made short work of puncturing a hole in the bag, something I’d struggled to do. After taking three large sips she slipped the tooth back into the socket. She waited a moment and then tried to wiggle it. When the tooth didn’t wiggle she took another few pulls on her blood bag and rose to her feet.

  Maze spared her one last glance and then moved into the now open doorway. Someone was still speaking. No, they weren’t just speaking, they were delivering a sermon.

  I started to follow Maze when Samantha called out, “I’ll be right behind you guys.”

  “Just keep healing, we’ve got this.”

  Samantha rattled out a little laugh. “Famous last words.”

  “Let’s hope not.” I gave her one last smile and ducked through the door. If I was going to get the chance to pick out my last words, they would be something so much cooler than we’ve got this. It would have to be more roguish and full of charm. That’s what I liked to think anyways. The truth was, when it was my time to go, I’d be happy to die as long as I didn’t do it with regrets on the tip of my tongue.

  We were in another hallway, this one much shorter than the last. I could hear what the speaker was saying now. Some kind of call to a God named Jervonis. That was one that I hadn’t heard of before coming to this planet, but all of these crappy moons had their own religions. The workers needed something to believe in besides the company, something to enhance their dull and meaningless existences.

  Maze swung open the door in front of us, and it was finally time to act. Part of me was looking forward to sending a few of these fuckers to their final resting place. First we had to locate Ice’s brother. Then it would be time for wanton destruction of a religion that should have stayed dead.

  Chapter 24

  Drake

  Samantha was out of the fight for now, which meant my most recent strategy of sending in the vamp first wasn’t going to work. This was going to be Maze and me getting down old-school. Bullets and blazers until everything stopped moving. Hopefully, we would come out on top, with one brother in tow.

  The room in front of us was a massive cavern. When I say massive, I mean it was fucking huge. The roof had to be fifty feet above our heads, and there was a giant pit in the middle of the room. The damn thing was as big as a football field. Around the gaping hole were four cages set like points of a star. The fifth point was dominated by a massive pulpit built out of bones.

  The man speaking at the pulpit hadn’t raised his head to survey the crowd. He was too interested in the book he was looking at. The words rang from his mouth clear and concise without an ounce of emotion. What he was saying was anything but clear. It was some prayer to the God Jervonis. He was asking for Jervonis to save the planet. That they would sacrifice many lives to raise him from the depths if he would only agree to help them to destroy the mines.

  A quick look around the room confirmed that he wasn’t kidding when he said many lives. The four cages around the giant pit were full of people. Most of them were children, and all of them were crying. I wasn’t sure if they could see down into the pit, but from here it just looked black. That meant it was deep enough that a fall would probably kill you ten times over.

  Maze patted me on the arm to get my attention and pointed to the right. I looked past her at the first cage and could see five men standing around. All of them had their heads bowed listening to the words of their leader. Maze pulled out a knife and pointed again. She was right. This was the perfect opportunity for a little wet-work.

  Pulling my own knife free, I stayed in a crouch and moved silently towards the men. Maze spread out to the side, and each of us moved behind one of the targets. She glanced at me, and then we stood, rising from our crouches almost as a single unit. Each of us grabbed one of the men from behind. With one hand covering their mouths we stabbed up through their ribs puncturing their lungs. Quickly yanking our knives free, we slashed their throats and tossed them aside before moving towards the next two.

  The men must have been extremely focused on their prayers to not have heard us. That was fine. Pray all you want, nothing to see here. If you keep quiet I’ll send you into the warm embrace of your God. The next two men went down just as easily. The fifth man managed to let out a bubbling scream.

  Both of us dropped flat to the floor our eyes automatically moving towards different sides of the room. If any of the other priests had heard the man scream they didn’t show it. I was starting to wonder if it was just willful ignorance or if some other power had their entire focus. Maze signaled ahead for us to move towards the next cage.

  As we left, some of the kids in the cage started calling out for help. Maze turned giving them a curt look that said they had better shut the fuck up. All of us were getting out of here or none of us. That meant they had to wait to be released. Yeah, it fucking sucked, but the fastest way to draw these men’s attention towards us was to let thirty screaming kids out of their cage.

  The next five men went down just as easily as the first group. Instead of moving towards the pulpit Maze motioned for us to work our way around back towards the left. We reached the next set of men, and I almost started to feel bad. They were making this awfully easy. I mean even crazy bone priests wanted to live, right? I mean they had to, especially when they were so close to raising their God from the depths.

  The words from the pulpit started to come faster, with more energy behind them. Now the man there was just repeating the same phrase over and over again. I was pretty sure he was saying, Rise up from the fire, rise up from the flames. Spread your wings from the ashes, our world is yours to lay claim. Nothing said crazy like a cult said crazy.

  I left Maze where she was and moved towards the next group of five. When I was in position, I raised my hand holding up five
fingers and then started counting down. On five my rifle came up to my shoulder, and I started shooting. Maze had done the same. All of our targets were down, but we had finally drawn the attention of the man at the pulpit. He looked us over with disgust and just a smidgen of spite in his eyes. Unless he had an army behind him that we didn’t know about, the day was ours.

  The man at the pulpit started to slow clap. That was never a good thing. When the villain started to clap and smile, you knew you were in trouble. That or he was just fucking delusional, and a lot of the cult leaders I encountered were just stark raving mad. This man might have been both. Maybe it was just me, but I didn’t see someone in their right mind sacrificing over a hundred people to a God that lived in a hole in the ground.

  “You’re too late. Jervonis awakens!” He raised his arms above his head and closed his eyes in ecstasy.

  The ground started to tremble and then with a horrid tearing noise the cavern shook. Rocks fell from the ceiling of the cave. I pressed myself tightly against the cage hoping to keep any of the larger rocks from crushing me. The kids inside were screaming. I called out for Maze hoping she had found some source of shelter, but if she replied I couldn’t hear it over the roar of the falling debris.

  Looking over the pit to where the lone man stood at the pulpit of bone, I noticed that an orange light had started to emanate from the pit. It almost looked as if liquid fire was filling the pit from below. Maybe this nutter hadn’t even been trying to raise a God. Maybe he had just set off a few explosives and broken something that should have never been broken. If enough molten lava spewed forth, it could burn the whole city to the ground.

  I could feel the heat now, and of course the kids had renewed their screams. Nothing would make you scream louder to be set free than the thought of being thrown into a vat of lava. I had to agree with their assessment of the situation. It was time to set these kids free and get the hell out of here.

  They needed to start running now because once the molten liquid spilled out of the pit all of our lives were at risk. I motioned for the kids to move back and aimed my rifle at the lock on the huge cage. It took three shots, but the lock fell away in its own pile of molten slag.

  I tore the cage door open, and the kids started streaming out. I pointed them back through the doorway we had entered from and shouted, “Don’t touch anything.” A loud roar shook the cavern again, and there was no way to be sure that they heard me. I could only hope that they had.

  I started running toward the pulpit, hoping that I could make it to the other cage before all hell broke loose. The man standing there lowered his hands. I could tell he was screaming obscenities at me, but I still couldn’t hear exactly what he was saying. I was getting close enough to take a shot when he bent down and pulled a man up from the ground behind him. He held the man who might have been Ice’s brother up and willed me to stop with his eyes.

  I slid to a stop watching with growing horror as he used his thumb to press the top of the device held in his other hand. The cages rose from where they were stationed around the pit. Their doors opened, and they tilted forward to dump the contents out. I could see that three of the cages were empty, but the fourth cage was not.

  Before I could do more than scream a warning I saw at least three bodies topple out into the lava. At least their deaths were quick. If I got my hands on the man behind them, I assure you that his death wouldn’t be.

  A blur sped across the room, and the cage shook one more time and then stilled. The grinding sound of metal on metal could be heard as the cavern ceased shaking. That could only mean one thing. Samantha had healed enough to join us. She must have grabbed the edge of the cage and pulled it back towards the ground.

  I heard the man in front of me scream in frustration. He continued to tap the button in his hand, but nothing happened. Most of his offerings were running out of the room, but he still had one man in his arms, and it was the one I had come to save.

  “Why don’t you just put him down, it’s over.”

  His wild eyes stared holes through me. “Jervonis is coming despite your interference. I can feel him rising even now.”

  “Then you got what you wanted. Why not let that man go so he can witness what you accomplished. Wouldn’t it be worth it just to see the look on his face when he realized that he should never have doubted your greatness?”

  “All I have done is in service to Jervonis. This man’s sacrifice will ensure that the God does not rise from his slumber with nothing to quench the hunger in his belly.”

  I brought my rifle up as he started to shove Ice’s brother forward. There was no way I would ever get the shot off in time to save him. We had saved so many people, but in the end we were helpless to save the one person we had come for.

  Everything seemed to slow down. Each heartbeat dragged out for an eternity. How was I ever going to look Ice in the eyes again knowing that I failed her? The man shoved Nick forward to topple off the raised dais and into the pit below. Before the priest’s arm could fully extend his body jerked backward, and the sound of a rifle shot rang out. It was one hell of a shot, but it didn’t matter. Nick’s seemingly lifeless body tumbled down the stairs leading towards a fiery death. My feet started moving, but I knew it was a lost cause.

  That same blur I had seen earlier jumped across the edge of the pit and slammed into the base of the pulpit just in time to catch Nick by the back of his shirt. Samantha rose with him slung over one shoulder. Her raven hair was almost glowing in the orange light of the lava. She looked like a goddess of old in that moment. Something you would have found painted on the side of a cavern wall thousands of years ago.

  She leapt easily from the platform, carrying Nick like a sack of potatoes. She handled his bulk as if he weighed less than a feather. As I hurried over, she tried to stand him up, but his legs buckled. He was either exhausted, drugged, or both. Either way, he wouldn’t be getting out of here on his own.

  “Do you have enough left in the tank to get him out of here?” I asked, still thinking about her casual display of power.

  Samantha slung him back over her shoulder and then hit me with a flirty smile. Her posture said, why would you ever doubt me? “I’ve always got something left in the tank. You should keep that in mind.” She started to move towards the exit. “Now, let’s get the hell out of here.”

  “I second that,” Nick slurred from his spot on Samantha’s shoulder.

  “I’ve never been one to stand in the way of what a lady wants. Lead the way.”

  Samantha started to jog. As she passed me, I heard her grunt, “Yeah, right.”

  Shaking my head, I started to run after her. I still hadn’t heard from Maze, and I was starting to feel a little concerned. Chances were she was a hundred and ten percent ok. I mean who else could have made a shot like that. I know that I couldn’t have done it.

  As we reached the doorway, I saw Maze crouched down planting charges along the cavern walls. It was a damn fine idea. If that bastard was still alive let’s trap him down here with his God. More than likely there was no God, and sealing the doorway might buy us enough time to get out before the lava could reach us. The glowing orange and red liquid had already reached the top of the pit and was starting to sluice over the sides.

  From where we were I could just make out a shape using the pulpit to pull himself to his feet. The man was clutching his right shoulder, at least that is what it looked like through the shimmering air. Waves of heat started to roll in our direction. It was time to get out of here.

  “Time to go, Captain.” Maze smiled at me as she rose to her feet. She waved a little device in her hand as she turned to follow Samantha down the corridor. “Better hurry, I’m about to make things go boom.”

  “I’m coming.” I cast one last glance into the sacrificial chamber, and my heart almost stopped beating. “Is that a…”

  “Dragon,” Maze finished for me.

  The creature clawed its way out of the pit and let out a roar. Lava rolled of
f of its scales like water off a duck’s back. The creature looked around briefly then its eyes settled on the lone man standing in front of it. He fell to his knees arms clasped together in prayer, an expression of unbridled joy etched across his face. Then the dragon’s head ducked down, and the priest that started all of this was gone. Not even a splash of blood to commemorate his final resting place. The dragon tilted its head back and began to swallow.

  Maze tapped my arm, and we started to run. Could this planet get any fucking worse? It was depressing, they filmed everything you did, and it was always fucking raining. That, and of course, you had a death cult that unknowingly worshiped some kind of dragon God. Seriously, what in the fuck was wrong with this place?

  The corridor exploded behind us. Maze and I continued to run as fast as we could. The dragon’s roars pushing us to new levels of speed. I hoped that she had done enough to trap it in the chamber. Either way there was no way that massive thing could fit in this hallway so it was going to have to find another way out. By then we would be back in the black with this planet nothing more than a memory we’d rather forget.

  We reached the base of the spiral staircase leading up, and I thought, why are there always stairs at the end of a long run? I mean just once I’d like to make my escape without having to get in the cardio workout of a universal athlete. Those men and women trained their whole lives to do this kind of shit. Me, I just wanted to make a bunch of money, fly wherever the hell I wanted, and to smoke a little hash with my lady along the way. That and watch movies on the dnet. Sounded about perfect, right?

  The stairs seemed to blur under my feet. I guess you can do that when the fear of getting eaten by a massive dragon was motivating you to run faster. Dragons were things that only existed in books and movies, they weren’t supposed to crawl out of giant pits of lava and chase you. When we got off this rock, I was going to keep on pretending they didn’t exist until the day I died.