The Dawn

by Auri Blest

  All the directors were trained in military combat. They could possibly pull this off. Cain just needed to outmaneuver the Emperor. It had nothing to do with Camille and her feud with the Emperor because, let’s face it, he didn’t give a rat’s tail about either one of them. She was merely the lesser of two evils.

  Cain planned his next step carefully. “Emperor,” he interrupted.

  “Yes, General?”

  “Is there a reason that you chose not to greet us in person?”

  “What do you mean, General?

  “I mean, why am I speaking to a hologram of you? Is there something that you fear? Is it that you don’t trust someone?”

  The Osiris’ head jerked back to look behind him at the Emperor. He motioned to the flight attendant. Simone walked up to the Emperor and passed right through him. Camille gasped. Osiris yelled out in rage and began to vibrate.

  “Emperor, you are here in the building, aren’t you?” Cain asked.

  The Emperor’s image stood still, glaring at Cain.

  The windows high above the walls on each side of the room began to break out simultaneously. Cain yelled, “Now!” He, Ashanti and Camille each went for their guard’s pistol. Shots were fired. Camille was either not as sickly as she had let on or she had had a surge of adrenaline.

  She was able to disarm the guard nearest her when another soldier rushed her and attempted to wrestle the gun away from her. Camille was too weak. She was not going to win this one. As much as Cain would have liked to let the fight play out, he aimed and got a clear shot of the soldier.

  The soldiers against the walls had been too busy running, ducking, and dodging the glass that rained down on them from the windows. Cain looked back at Osiris.

  “He has betrayed you again. He’s in the building,” said Cain.

  “Find him!” the leader’s two voices yelled.

  They looked up at what must have been the entire Legion X army beginning to pour through the doors and windows and fill the room, exterminating the soldiers that were left. They chanted in unison, “Find him.”

  Darryl sat in the kitchen of the farmhouse. There were rumblings coming from outside. He ran out and looked up, searching the sky. A few miles east of the farmhouse, ominous clouds were churning in shades of purple and blue. Ryan noticed the same thing from the helicopter. “D to Ryan.”

  “Copy”

  “Are you seeing this?”

  “Yes.”

  “What do you make of it? A supercell storm?”

  “No, the conditions aren’t right. There isn’t an adequate amount of precipitation, no wind, only lightening. Something’s very wrong.”

  “What should we do?”

  “Pray, brother.”

  33

  “See, I told you,” Stephen said to Crystal as he pulled her by the hand to the foot of Hannah’s bed. He had run to get Crystal when he awoke and saw Hannah sitting up in her bed. She was unresponsive and staring straight ahead.

  “Hannah! Hannah!” Crystal called. She turned to Stephen. “Go next door and get me the radio and then go down and tell Raymond to come up here. Can you do that?”

  “Yes, ma’am.”

  Crystal looked at the expression on Stephen’s face. “What’s wrong? Do you have a question?”

  “Yes.”

  “Okay?”

  “Can we have a pet?”

  “Stephen, I meant a question about what I asked you to do.”

  “Oh.”

  “What did I ask you to do?”

  He held his finger up. “Get the radio and get Ray.”

  “Good, now get to it.”

  Crystal shook her head. She looked back at Hannah, but she still hadn’t moved. “Hannah,” Crystal called.

  Hannah whispered something.

  Crystal walked along the side of her bed and leaned down towards her to hear. “What is it Hannah?”

  “I can see,” she whispered.

  Dawn kicked open a door at the end of the tunnel, breaking the bolts on the other side. Beyond it, they found a corridor with cells for holding prisoners. Through the cell bars they could see that the cells were empty except for one that had trays of uneaten food, suggesting someone had been imprisoned there recently. They continued down the corridor, hearing moaning coming from behind a door ahead of them.

  Nguyen stepped forward and tried the latch on the steel door. He looked back at them. “It’s unlocked.”

  With weapons drawn, they slowly entered the room. Williams, a soldier that had been on the plane with General Cain and the Director’s team, was suspended above the ground by chains that attached to each wrist and each ankle. He had been beaten badly.

  Dawn stepped forward and yanked the chains out of the wall. Williams collapsed onto Seth as he lowered him to the floor. Jade knelt next to him and felt his neck for a pulse.

  “Is there a pulse? Is he breathing?” asked Nguyen.

  Dawn leaned down and touched his head. Williams opened his eyes and looked at her.

  “What is your name?”

  “Jimmy,” he whispered.

  “You’re going to be okay, Jimmy. Rest.”

  He closed his eyes.

  Dawn walked out of the chamber and Nguyen quickly followed.

  “We can’t just leave him,” Nguyen said.

  “What do you think will happen to him if we are under attack?”

  Nguyen didn’t respond.

  Dawn continued, “Will he slow us down? Will he be able to fight? He will be safe here.”

  Nguyen nodded but ducked back into the room and placed a pistol in the soldier’s hand. He should at least have a fighting chance.

  Dawn smiled to herself. Nguyen still has as much compassion as the day that I found him and his brother fighting through the IMO police to rescue all of those they could from that burning hotel.

  They followed the corridor to an elevator. Once in the elevator, Seth asked, “Should we separate?”

  “No, we stay together.” answered Dawn. “Back up against the walls. I am the only one that should be seen when the doors open. Don’t immediately follow me out. Wait as long as you can. They need to think that I am alone. The element of surprise is always best.”

  The doors slid open revealing Dawn standing in the center of elevator. As she walked straight ahead, she began to hear whispered chants: “She’s here.”

  Jade whispered to Nguyen, “Have you seen her in action?”

  “No.”

  “Get ready for a treat.”

  Jade really wanted to see Nguyen in action. His combat skills were unparalleled. Jade had jokingly given him the nickname, Shaolin, due to her obsession with the Chinese martial arts of Shaolin monks.

  Legion X surrounded General Cain, Director Ashanti and Camille.

  “What are they waiting for?” asked Camille.

  “I think they’ve been told to keep us here,” Director Ashanti responded.

  As Ashanti spoke, the back archway of doors exploded off the hinges and blew into the room, plowing through a section of them.

  “It’s her!” Legion X began to chant while backing up.

  Suddenly, several of them charged at her but were quickly eliminated by her sword.

  “Back to back!” Cain yelled at the women. Backs together, they began shooting at those around them.

  Seth, Jade, Nguyen and Soldier rushed forward into the room and began shooting, unknowingly clearing a path for Cain.

  “Nguyen, get back to Darryl. He needs backup.”

  Dawn’s mouth didn’t move but he heard her clearly. Nguyen quickly turned to leave the room. IMO soldiers stood before him at the entrance.

  “Guys, I’m in a bit of a hurry so let’s make this quick.”

  Nguyen stepped forward as if to walk past them. Instead, he kicked the gun out of the hand of the soldier on his left, punched the soldier on his right and twisted his arm, causing him to drop his pistol. He then pushed him into the first soldier as Jade turned around, on one knee and shot the l
egs of the other soldiers. Nguyen ran forward and entered the elevator to get back down to the erdstall tunnels.

  Jade pointed her rifle back and forth into the faces of the wounded soldiers. She caught a glimpse of something and looked past them just in time to see more of the Legion X army coming up the hall. Soldier spun around, looking for her. He stepped back into the hall as the two soldiers turned to see what Jade was looking at. Soldier and Jade began firing their rifles at Legion X who began to back up as Soldier and Jade pressed forward pursuing them down the hall.

  Cain and both Directors were out of bullets. “Follow me,” Cain yelled. They ran through a clearing in the center towards the gunfire they heard coming from the other side of the room. They landed on the ground behind Seth and Dawn, and were surprised to see who the gunfire had come from.

  Director Ashanti looked up at the amazon of a woman, watching the skill in which she fought. This was her first interaction with the woman that the Emperor deemed public enemy number one. Are my eyes playing tricks on me? she thought. The woman seemed to move faster than humanly possible as she took on thirty of the Legion X clan at once.

  Camille had landed near the entrance; her head collided with the door frame. She leaned back against the wall, watching Dawn. In a dance like motion, Dawn flipped up into the air with great speed, sliced through Legion X as she went, landed low below them and severed through their legs.

  “How did she do that?” Ashanti exclaimed to no one in particular.

  Camille tried to stand, but one of them grabbed her from behind and dragged her from the room.

  Cain and Ashanti grabbed the pistols of the soldiers that Nguyen had disarmed and began firing, along with Seth. They injured many of Legion X, and the rest escaped through the doors at the opposite side of the room and the windows.

  “Thank you,” Cain said. “I’m starting to think you are my guardian angel.”

  “Hardly,” replied Dawn.

  “Yes, thank you,” Ashanti chimed in.

  Cain turned and saw that Camille was gone. “She was just here. Where is she?” he exclaimed.

  “They’ve taken her to the Emperor. We have to find him,” said Dawn.

  Nguyen quickly made his way back to the cell area. He kept his pistol drawn and followed a sound coming from another passage. He quietly approached it and saw a company of IMO Soldiers, making their way through in haste. Nguyen turned and headed back toward the cell area to get to the tunnel.

  A voice behind him asked, “What are you doing here?”

  He turned and faced the IMO soldier but didn’t give him a chance to say anything further. Nguyen quickly struck him in the throat and flipped him onto his back on the ground delivering a blow to his face. He dragged him to one of the cells and closed the barred door, locking him in.

  Before he could turn, he heard a gunshot behind him. An IMO soldier fell to the ground. Williams braced himself against the wall, still holding the pistol that Nguyen had placed in his hand earlier. Nguyen ran to him and helped him to a seated position on the ground.

  “Thank you,” Nguyen said.

  Williams didn’t respond.

  “I’m sorry, but I must leave you. I have to get to my friend.”

  Nguyen looked back hearing the footsteps of soldiers approaching. They must have heard the gunshot, he thought. He looked at Williams. His eyes stared straight ahead. Nguyen sighed, closed the man’s eyes, and sprinted for the entrance to the erdstall tunnels. He pulled a light from his belt and ran as far as he could through the tunnel before having to crawl on his knees. He followed the reflectors that they had tacked on the walls when they first came through. As he squirmed through the tightest area on his belly, he felt something clamp down on his ankles. He was dragged backwards by his feet to another opening.

  Dawn had taught them to always be prepared. His pistol had been in his hand the entire time and he didn’t release his grasp while he was being pulled. As soon as he flipped over, he began firing.

  Darryl was on his knees near a wall in the farmhouse, his back to the open hatch that lead to the erdstall. His eyes were closed. However, he could sense that someone was in the room with him. He slowly turned away from the wall and stood with a rifle in each hand and began shooting. They were all around him.

  “Back the hell up! I mean that literally. You came from the pit of hell. Back up all that hell back where it came from!”

  He was grateful for his training with Dawn. He heard her in his head from one of his lessons:

  “Always assume that someone is behind you.” He held a rifle in each hand and turned in a circle. “If you are dealing with Them, they may be above you also.” He pointed one rifle above and continued shooting. “They like walls and corners.” He made a V with his arms and shot up to the corners of the ceiling. He continued alternating these positions until he needed to reload. He threw a light onto the floor. Not one of them remained standing. Thank you, Dawn.

  Darryl listened as he began to hear gunshots coming from the trapped door. He had thought he wouldn’t see any action by having to stay behind in the farmhouse. He aimed his rifle at the hole. Nguyen’s head and shoulders popped up, but something attempted to yank him back down. Nguyen yelled out in pain. Darryl grabbed him and pulled him up. As soon as Nguyen landed he spun around and they both fired at those coming up from the erdstall.

  They stopped firing and waited, both panting. Nothing. Darryl closed the hatch. Nguyen looked around. “Yuck!” he said at the sight of their bodies. He had fallen back on a mound of them. “Dawn said you needed backup. Looks like you didn’t need me at all!”

  34

  It was a trap. Legion X planned to draw them away from their team. They were out of ammunition and outnumbered. Soldier grabbed Jade, pushed her through a doorway and locked the door behind them. They were in some type of janitorial storage room. Soldier pushed a table and utility shelf in front of the door. They frantically searched for another way out.

  “Jade, the only way out of this room is that laundry shoot.”

  “We can’t fit in there.”

  “I think we can if I pry this lid off.” He held out his hand. “Quick, your knife.”

  Jade removed one of the knives from her belt. Soldier went to work, prying off the plywood lip around the laundry shoot opening.

  The room shook. “They are going to burst through that wall. Get in there.”

  Jade looked inside. “Soldier, we don’t know how far it drops.”

  “We’re going to have to take that chance.”

  Jade climbed feet first into the shoot. She looked up at Soldier. The whites of his eyes were flashing back and forth from white to blue.

  “Soldier?”

  He fiercely shook his head. “Go, Jade. Let go.”

  “You’re not coming with me?”

  “No, I’m not.”

  “What? Soldier, no! Don’t do this,” Jade exclaimed.

  “Let go, Jade.”

  Soldier watched Jade’s eyes begin to tear.

  “Jade, go!”

  No, no, no! This is not happening. What can I say to stop him? Jade thought. She remembered his flirting at the Operations Center. “Soldier, I thought you said that you were trying to make me your wife.”

  “I— We will see each other again. You’ll always be with me.” The whites of his eyes began to glow blue.

  “Soldier, fight.”

  “I don’t need to fight anymore. I was hoping for this.” He smiled at her. “I didn’t want to come. I only came to protect you.” He reached down and gently touched her hand. “Back away, Jade.”

  She gasped at the sound of his voice. The more he gave into them, the more he changed. Soldier removed the grenade from his belt as they broke through the wall.

  Jade backed away in tears and quickly slid down the shoot. She gritted her teeth to keep from screaming out. The drop was much further than expected. She only hoped that there would be something at the bottom to break her fall.

  They pour
ed into the room surrounding Soldier. His eyes glowed blue. “Where is the woman?” they chanted. He pointed at the laundry shoot. They crowded into the room heading for the shoot. Soldier walked forward and lifted his head. His eyes were white again.

  “To God be the glory,” he said as he removed the pin from the grenade.

  Dawn stopped walking at the sound of the explosion. The building shook. She looked down. Seth ran up to her. “Soldier’s gone,” she said. “He gave his life for Jade.” Seth put his hand on his forehead and turned around.

  “Where is Jade?”

  “She’s alive.”

  “Can we get to her?”

  “We’re all headed in the same direction.”

  “D to Ryan.”

  “Copy.”

  “How’re you doing up there, man?”

  “Watching and waiting.”

  “How much time left?”

  “Forty-five min— Whoa!” Ryan yelled.

  “What happened? What do you see?”

  “An explosion in the distance. Be on alert guys. It’s about to get real.”

  Dawn put her finger up to her lips to silence everyone as they descended a dark stairwell. The building had been an old castle that someone was in the process of renovating. The end of the hallway split into two corridors. On her hand, Dawn used her fingers to show them that the corridors wrapped around a large room. Cain and Ashanti took the corridor on the left, and Dawn and Seth went to the right. Halfway around, Dawn stopped in front of double steel doors.

  “He’s in there,” said Dawn.

  “Do you know what’s going to happen in there?” asked Seth.

  “No.”

  Seth attached explosives and they backed away. The smoke cleared to reveal a concrete room with a helipad. Dawn entered. The Emperor stood across from her at the opposite end of the room with several guards, most of whom had been wounded, no doubt, by Legion X.

  Dawn had instructed Seth to remain out of sight.

  “I hear you’ve been looking for me,” said Dawn as she walked toward them.