FLOOR 21: Judgement (The Tower Legacy Book 3)

by Jason Luthor

  “But . . . this is your blood? Three vials of your blood?”

  “Got it. Unless you think I’ve spent all this time in the Tower without collecting a few extra medical supplies?”

  “It’s impossible. With your current injuries, you wouldn’t even be able to stand right now.”

  Jackie laughs. It’s not very loud. Truth is, I barely hear it get past her lips, but it’s there. “Good thing . . . I’m not standing.”

  “How are you still alive?”

  “I’m not.” Judge drops her to the floor, and somehow, Jackie manages to stay upright, even if it looks like her legs are about to give out. “Dead man walking. I’m infected. Maybe not like a Creeper, maybe not even like you and Sally . . . but something’s happened to me while I’ve been down here. I just had to accept it. Thing is, the Creep regenerates. It repairs. Only so much. I mean . . . I mean, it’s taking everything I have to keep it together right now. And you’re right. Three vials are way too much for my injuries. But I wasn’t going to take any chances. I was going to do . . . whatever I had to . . . to stop you.”

  Judge acts like he’s going to take a step when I see his leg give out. He hits a knee and braces against the ground, then shivers as he’s trying to get back up. “I’ll kill you . . .” His voice actually sounds weak. “I’ll use my last ounce of strength to wipe you off the face of this world.”

  “Go ahead. I can’t fight anymore. But I’m okay with it, Judge. You said you understood me. Well, I did exactly what I said I was going to. I protected the people I love.”

  More clawed tendrils burst from Judge’s back and whip at Jackie faster than I can move. They’re halfway to her before I can even think about warning her. Then, an inch before they connect, they just stop. All of us look behind Judge at a girl that wasn’t there just half a second ago. She’s dressed in a long sunflower dress, and her hair’s practically past her waist. I can’t help but mumble, “What the hell is going on?”

  She wraps her arms around Judge’s neck and pulls him into her. I can’t tell if it’s her hugging him or choking him out, but at first he struggles before screaming, “Anna!”

  The girl, Anna, I guess, buries her face against him. “Shh. Johnny. It’s okay.”

  “Why, Anna? Why do you keep defending them? Why do you keep fighting for them?” His claws are digging into her arm, sinking into her skin, but she just keeps holding on. “After all they’ve done to hurt us?”

  “These people aren’t those people.”

  “She’s just . . .” I can see him struggling, trying to break out of her arms. I don’t know if it’s the injections he just took, or just how strong Anna is, but he can’t seem to shake loose. “She’s another one of them! Another one. The same people who took our lives from us. Why can’t you understand? She was born into the same class of people who robbed us of our future!”

  The girl buries her head into the top of his hoodie. That’s when I notice tendrils of Creep working their way along the ground, moving up Judge’s legs and past his knees, like it’s swallowing him. “People were never meant to live forever, Johnny. You remember those people like it was just yesterday, but for us, it’s been five hundred years. Those people are long dead, and this girl . . .” Her voice is breaking as she looks up. “Give Jackie the chances that we lost. Don’t take her life away from her just because those people took away ours. She’s a good daughter, with proud parents. We had our time in the sun, but that time is past.”

  “They deserve to pay for what they did! They need to know the pain we suffered.”

  “They learned, Johnny. Centuries ago. You hate a ghost, a phantom. Killing Jackie, her friends, or the people she fights for, won’t punish those people anymore.”

  Judge is really struggling now as the Creep’s winding up his waist, but he looks weaker than I’ve ever seen him. I can see tendrils coming up behind Anna and starting to wrap down her shoulders while Judge’s voice starts to break. “She was working for that man. Pygmalion! You know what he is, Anna. He’s one of them. One of them!”

  “She didn’t know, Johnny. Should she be punished for that? He used her. He tried to use Mike. Just like we were used. Do you remember that? Once upon a time for us, now.”

  “Doesn’t he deserved to be punished?”

  “Maybe, but that’s not our choice to make. Not anymore.” I watch her arms tighten around him as the Creep’s starting to pull past his chin and around his face. “You took your revenge. You took it, over and over. Now, it’s our time to rest. It’s time to let other people decide what will happen with this world.”

  Judge’s voice is cracking. I don’t know if he can cry. This might be the closest he can get. All I know is, I actually feel sorry watching him while the Creep’s wrapping up Anna’s neck and around his face. “I’m sorry, Anna. I was just trying to protect you. I love you. You know that. I only wanted . . .”

  “Johnny. It’s okay. They did this to us, but they’re gone now. It’s time for us to go, too.” She looks up one last time as the Creep’s growing down her eyes and past her cheeks. It’s hard to believe, but she smiles right before they’re swallowed up. “Thank you, Jackie.”

  The Creep grows right over them . . . and then they’re gone, with nothing left but a pillar of Creep there. I’m not really sure I understood it all. It’s like they were never here. That girl, Anna, did say they were supposed to have died centuries ago. It’s so much to take in that I don’t know what to do. I mean, I just sit there, running it in my head and staring at where they were just standing. And then?

  Jackie falls.

  Dodger starts screaming and suddenly I’m leading the charge. It’s been . . . days, weeks, since we saw her face to face. The last time we’d really talked, she’d been telling me about everything she’d missed out on in life. You know, not having friends or the chance to fall in love. The last time I’d seen her, she’d been jumping down a hole and putting her life on the line so we’d all survive. She’d looked bad then, beat up, but this? I’ve seen Jackie shot, seen her beaten, but her face is bruised to hell and blood’s just pouring past her eyebrows and down her neck. Her vest’s ripped open and her uniform’s soaked red. It’s almost enough to make you not want to look, but I mean . . . how don’t you? How do you look away after seeing what she’s been willing to give up for you?

  Mike’s shouting her name. I’m holding her. Dodger’s got tears streaming over her cheeks as she pops open a Pocket Space window to fetch out some medical stuff. I know what we’ve got. It’s First Aid type stuff, good for patching up wounds or setting a fracture. Nothing that can deal with a completely shattered bone or internal bleeding. I don’t say anything, but Jackie’s eye catches mine, and she forces a smile. She doesn’t have to say anything. We both know the truth. There’s just nothing we can do for her. Her breathing’s raspy and really shallow, like she’s struggling just to suck in a few breaths. She’s hanging on. It’s just . . . that grip’s not going to last.

  Dodger’s scrambling through the medical kit when Jackie touches her hand. Dodger’s eyes practically snap to Jackie, who looks like she wants to laugh, but she doesn’t have the strength. She just nods. “Not . . . going to help,” she says. Somehow, she’s forcing a curl on her lips. “Get me out of here.”

  Mike leans into her. “What?”

  “Mike. Get me . . . get me out of here.”

  We’re all clueless for a second, until Mike notices her finger pointing to the huge barrier blocking the exit to the outside. There’s still a hole burning into it from where she drove the sword in. It’s like, all at once, we realize what she’s saying. That sword of hers can burn us a way through. Mike doesn’t waste a second as he scrambles away, picking up the blade and rushing at the metal barrier. I don’t know how thick it is, but whatever that sword is made out of, it’s stronger than the one Commander Abbott used. That edge of it must be heated like nobody’s business, because once Mike starts digging it into the wall, you can see it cutting through like butte
r.

  “Tommy.” Just hearing her say my name makes me want to . . . I want to start bawling when she says it. I’m honestly surprised I’m not crying when I look at her.

  “Jackie. He’s working. Seriously, he’s doing it. He’s just . . .”

  “Tommy,” she says again, and my heart stops when she does. “Take care of him.”

  “Yeah. Yeah, you know it. Absolutely. The kid’s going to be okay.”

  “I know.” She says with a smile. “Get me my hat?”

  The second the words are out of her mouth, I’m on it. I pop a window from her Pocket Space Generator and go scrounging inside of it. It only takes a second for me to pull it out. It’s just got two letters, “NY,” across the top. I’ve seen it before. It’s the one her dad gave her. “This one, right?”

  “Yeah.” It’s all she says, but she’s smiling while I adjust it over her head.

  “That okay?”

  “Can’t see, Tommy.” If she could laugh, I think she would. “Trust you.”

  “It means a lot.”

  Her eyes flick down to where Mike’s almost done cutting through to the outside. “Leg’s broken. Could you . . .?”

  “What? Carry you? Jackie, won’t that hurt? I mean—”

  “Nothing can hurt . . . more than it does now.”

  Her words kill me, but I mean . . . what do you do in that situation? Say no? So, I wrap my arms under her. Dodger helps a little, and I try to scoop her up as gently as possible. I can see her biting her lip and holding back tears. Whatever she’s going through, I don’t even want to know. All I can do is pick her up and march. Up ahead, I can see Mike practically kick out a hole in the barrier. He sliced a gap clear enough for me to walk through.

  As we’re walking to the barrier, I realize . . . this is it. The first time any of us will have ever been out of the Tower. If this had been under any other circumstances, I’d be jumping out of my skin. Nobody’s ever been outside. At that second though . . . I’d trade it in a heartbeat if it meant Jackie would be okay. Still, even as we’re getting close, I can see her smiling. This is the only thing she’s wanted for as long as I’ve known her, and all I can think is that she’s finally going to get it.

  Nobody’s saying a thing as we pass through the barrier. I’m not sure what Jackie was expecting. I’m not sure what any of us were expecting, actually. All I know is, we get out there, and when we do . . . I don’t know. I don’t know. The first thing I do is look up, at the Tower. It’s the first time I’ve seen it from the outside. It’s intimidating, and it’s big. Bigger than I thought. Then again, I’ve never really been able to wrap my head around it. How do you start imagining the size of something when you can’t compare it to anything? Even along the street, it stretches forever into the distance. Above us, it disappears into a layer of black fog that’s impossible to see through. It’s what we call the Darkness, and it’s why you can’t see the ground from the rooftop. It’s why we used to joke that there was no ground. Well, there obviously is.

  The Tower’s separated by a something like a dozen streets running both ways and circling the whole building. On the other side are more buildings, just none that look anything like ours. Most of them are blown to hell, and you can see holes shot clear through them, like someone blasted them with a cannon. Our Tower doesn’t look like it’s taken anything more than scratches to the outside. Everything else is ruined. The roads are all torn up, and there are tanks everywhere. I’ve seen them, in the old movies. They always looked invincible, hovering around everywhere and firing energy out of their barrels. Here? They’re in pieces. They’ve been dead a long time, but they’re still there, like ancient tributes to another era.

  I can see things in the distance. Tendrils against the horizon. It’s not a lot of them, but I can tell they’re huge. They’re the size of skyscrapers. You can see them wrapping up the sides of some buildings or just slowly drifting back and forth. Still, none of it compares to what’s lying between us and the nearest buildings. If this were any other time, we’d be running to take a look at it. It’s an iron skull, not human and not like the Creep. It’s robotic, and it’s gigantic, a few stories tall and buried halfway into the streets. It’s been torn open, and you can see thick plates of metal on the surface. Whatever destroyed it had to have been strong, and how anyone even powered something that big is too much for me to imagine. It’s there though, between us and the city. One eye is visible above the ground, staring at us, like it’s waiting to see what we’ll do.

  That’s when I snap back to reality. Jackie’s moving. She’s seeing all of this too, but she sees something else we all miss. Her finger’s pointing at the ground, and that’s when I realize, there’s grass around us. I don’t know how. There’s this grey, sick light that seems to be seeping through the Darkness somehow, but it’s not sunlight. How this patch survived is probably as big a question as all the others I have in my head. It’s there though, and not just grass.

  Jackie smiles. “Roses.”

  “Yeah, Jackie,” I tell her. “Roses.”

  “Put me down.”

  “What? Here?”

  She just nods. Maybe she doesn’t have much energy left. I don’t know. I know that I do what she wants me to. I lay her out on the ground. When I pull my arms away, they’re soaked in blood. It’s on my hands, and for a second, I almost lose it. I actually feel my heart stop as I . . . as I’m looking at my hands and realize her blood’s all over me. That’s when I feel fingers on my wrist, and I snap my eyes up. Jackie’s looking at me and smiling. “Sorry.”

  “What? Sorry for what?”

  “You’re going to have to . . .” She stops for a second, because she has to take a few breaths. “Wash your clothes.”

  “Jackie.”

  She ignores me as she looks down at Dodger. “Don’t let Tommy screw up too much.”

  Dodger doesn’t say anything at first. Her hands cover her face, and I can tell she’s trying to get it together. I can hear her breathing hard for a second before she drops her fingers. Somehow, she’s smiling. I’m only guessing, but she must be forcing it for Jackie. “I’ll make sure he doesn’t mess up too bad.”

  “Did he tell you . . . he said he would give me a dance? I never . . . danced with a guy before.” She looks up at me. “Sorry. Going to have to cancel.”

  It practically sucks the air out of me. “Hey, it’s just on hold, okay? Dodger’s got to show me how to move anyway. I told you I’d need some time to get ready.”

  She just smiles and gives me a thumbs up, then looks over at Mike. Poor guy’s just been, you know, quiet the whole time. He’s there though, on his knees, staring right at her. Then I see her squeeze his hand, and he’s just . . . The guy’s whole face is tensed up when she says, “Thank you for inspiring me.”

  He’s shaking his head, and . . . I mean, Mike’s cheeks are just dripping. “You saved me, Jackie.”

  “You saved me, too.” She smiles, closes her eyes, and takes a deep breath. Everything stops. I’m sitting there, waiting, still feeling her fingers on my wrist and wondering if she’s gone. My heart’s starting to race so hard I can feel it pounding on my chest, and my fingers are shaking when her lips open again. It feels like I’ve just been slammed against a wall by the time she says, “Tommy?”

  “Jackie. We’re here, Jackie.”

  She’s opens her eyes one more time and smiles. “A life in roses.”

  She goes quiet, and for a second, my heart starts slamming out of my chest again. “Jackie?” I can feel myself panicking, to the point that I’m almost tossing her hand back and forth to get her to wake up. “Jack . . . Jacko?”

  She smiles. “I love when you call me that.”

  “What? But I thought you hated—”

  That’s when Jackie lets go.

  I feel her fingers slip, and then her hand falls into the grass. I’ve never seen someone die. I mean, I’ve seen people killed. I’ve seen them shot dead. It’s a gunshot, and then they’re gone. It’s so
violent that you don’t even have time to really process what you did. But Jackie? When she lets go, I have all the time in the world to think. She exhales out, her hand drops, and just like that . . . she’s gone. Her mission’s over.

  Me, though?

  It’s not over for me. All of a sudden, Dodger’s holding onto me, and she’s just screaming. Mike’s doubled over. He’s practically buried his face in Jackie’s hair. It’s just . . . I feel like my chest’s on fire. My ears are burning up with all the screaming, and my muscles are shaking so hard . . . Throat’s getting lumpy, you know, like it’s hard to breathe. It is hard to breathe. Every time I try, I come up empty, until I’m hyperventilating. Maybe I’m feeling what Jackie was feeling weeks ago. It feels like I’ve been trying to hold it together for Mike and Dodger and because I wanted to save Jackie. I couldn’t. Now she’s gone, and there just isn’t a point to holding back anymore.

  So, I do what Jackie would.

  I cry.

  An Unknown Recording

  Ah, recording, for posterity purposes. Also, because it is my duty, after all, as last acting observer for the Tower. Speaking of, this may be my, hm, last recording made as such. Oh, that reminds me, I should specify the purpose of this recording now, shouldn’t I? Of course. Yes, well, in a more formal setting, this would typically be called a post mortem. At least, that’s what I believe we used to call it, five hundred years ago. My, yes. An awfully long time since I used any of the medical equipment I was left with.

  I am not the scientist I once was, so this will be a rather informal discussion of the body. Perhaps I shouldn’t refer to it as such, given that the girl’s friends are watching. No matter. To the issue at hand. The body has been preserved in a stasis field derived from Pocket Space, not unlike the one that has kept me alive for five centuries. Although the world outside is dangerous, I felt I could make an exception to my isolation in this singular instance. After all, the girl did rid the Tower of its Creep infestation. Or, at least, the Creep here will begin to significantly recede now that its local psionic focal point, Judge, has been eliminated. I’d think that would be significant cause for celebration.