by Barry Solway
She had always been practical, she supposed, and now it was just in service of insanity. Finally turning away, they made their way around the block and headed back to the spire.
The spire was a large building that had obviously been important before the city died. A large plaza, now overgrown with vines and grass, spread out from the base of the building. She wondered what purpose the building had served. Maybe the city government sat there, or it was an important business building. The momentary thought that it could have been a shopping mall didn’t bring the smile it might have just an hour ago. They stood at the edge of the plaza, gazing up at the delicate and graceful building for a long moment.
“I’m sorry about Evan,” Gorgeous said, the first words either of them had spoken since leaving the chasm. “I’m so angry. Let’s finish this and leave this place.”
Mel wished she was angry. “Sure. But we can’t rush, or we’ll end up dead too. The goal is probably somewhere in the plaza or the spire. Do you see anyone else?”
They scanned the area and caught sight of two things at once. To their left, about a hundred yards away, Mel saw Sharon hiding furtively behind a mound of vines that had formed over a statue. Just behind Sharon was the waving dress of Red Shirt. To their right, a quarter of the way around the plaza, Gorgeous spotted Jeff and Jon. Mel breathed a sigh of relief. Everyone else had made it.
Mel pointed to Sharon. “Red Shirt is behind her. He’s supposed to be harmless, but he keeps popping up just when things go south. And Sharon’s not equipped to fight. Head for Jeff and Jon. Tell them what happened to Evan and try to figure out where the goal is. I’ll get Sharon and scare off Red Shirt, then come meet you.”
Gorgeous wrinkled her eyes in a way that the translators said was a frown, but finally nodded her head. She took off at a sprint, ducking periodically behind mounds of vines or overturned slabs of concrete. Mel headed immediately for Sharon, trying to keep an eye out for anyone else on the other team. Waving to Sharon, she finally caught the girl’s attention. Sharon stood up from behind her cover and yelled to Mel. Unable to hear her, Mel motioned to Sharon to look behind her. But Sharon misinterpreted it and just kept waving back.
“Behind you!” Mel shouted. Sharon hesitantly lowered her hand, turning just as Red Shirt walked up behind her. The Chota stood a few yards away, his head tilted slightly, but not attacking Sharon.
Mel had her pistol out. She didn’t know what Red Shirt was doing; maybe he was an idiot and too stupid to know to hide. But assuming anyone in the gauntlets didn’t pose a threat wasn’t a winning strategy. She didn’t try to aim on the run, but deliberately shot wide to ensure she wouldn’t hit Sharon. Red Shirt jumped and Mel swore he hissed. As she ran up to stand next to Sharon, the Chota took a few steps backwards, glaring at Mel. Even without translators, Mel assumed that look wasn’t a happy one. She aimed and pulled the trigger. He was less than ten yards away at this point, but he shifted just as Mel fired; whether to run or to attack them, Mel didn’t know. The bullet grazed the side of his face and he gave a high-pitched screech as he clutched his cheek. An orange-colored puss oozed from between his fingers, but he quickly turned and ducked behind a low wall, then fled to the nearest street exiting the plaza.
Mel lowered her pistol and turned to Sharon just as Sharon’s hand came around and slapped her across the face. The blow wasn’t hard but it caught Mel off guard and she staggered backwards. Fortunately, this took her out of range of Sharon’s other hand, which had reached up to grab her face. Grabbing at empty air instead, Sharon lurched forward, off-balance.
“Why did you shoot her? Leave her alone!” Sharon screamed.
Mel threw up an arm to ward off another blow from Sharon, impressed that at least some of the fighting skills she’d learned had become automatic.
“Sharon, stop it! It’s not a her, it’s a him, and he’s on the other team!”
Sharon screamed again, a look of fury on her face as she launched herself at Mel. She clawed at Mel’s face, raking fingernails across her cheek and managing to get another slap in that Mel mostly blocked with her shoulder. A surge of anger exploded in Mel’s chest. She sidestepped Sharon’s next wild strike and turned the pistol in her hand, bringing the grip down hard against the side of Sharon’s head. As Sharon crumpled to the ground, her head bounced alarmingly, but fortunately the vegetation softened the blow. Mel swore. She had just knocked out her own teammate.
Mel spun in a slow circle, making sure no one else was nearby, then dragged a moaning Sharon behind a vine-covered mass of rubble. She hated to do it, but she slapped Sharon and then shook her.
“Sharon, wake up,” she called.
Sharon groaned and her eyes fluttered open. Her hand reached up and touched the side of her head, then swatted feebly at the air, as if she was trying to wave away an insect.
“It’s okay, Sharon. It’s me. It’s Mel. You feeling okay?”
Sharon mumbled and licked her lips before she nodded, cringing in pain at the movement. “I have a really bad headache.”
“Yeah, I imagine so. You fell and hit your head. Do you know where you are?”
Sharon nodded, but then a look of puzzlement came over her face as she sat up and looked around. She finally shook her head. “No. Where are we?”
Mel swore again. Sharon likely had a concussion, either from Mel’s blow or from when she hit the ground. Sharon would just have to deal. “We’re in a gladiator match on an alien world. We have to get back to Jon, Jeff and Gorgeous. Do you remember them?”
Sharon gave her a withering look. “Of course I remember Jeff and Jon. I’m not stupid.” She looked away for a second. “Why are we in a jungle? And who’s Gorgeous?”
“No time to explain. C’mon, on your feet. We need to move.”
Sharon rose unsteadily but was able to move, and Mel led her towards the edge of the plaza. A sudden thunderclap broke the silence and a chunk of rock exploded near Mel’s right foot. Grabbing Sharon, she pulled the girl back behind the rubble.
“A sniper!” Mel said. “It must be Marksman. He found a rifle.”
Sharon shook her head. “Marksman. He’s an alien. And Gorgeous. Is Gorgeous on our side?”
“Yes,” Mel said curtly, trying to peer over the top of the rubble pile to see where the sniper was set up. Not in the spire; he wouldn’t have had the angle. And not to their right, because that was where Gorgeous, Jeff and Jon had been. So he was in one of the buildings along the edge of the plaza, off to the left. But Mel couldn’t see anything obvious. He must be farther around the plaza, on the other side of the rubble pile they hid behind, or he would have already fired on them again.
“I remember Gorgeous,” Sharon said. “She’s a slut. She’s trying to get with Jeff. And Jon and Riley too. I’ve seen her do it.”
“Really? With Riley?” Mel shook her head. Why the hell was she asking that question now? “Uh, look, let’s save that for later. Do you remember why we’re here?”
“To win at some stupid game and then go home. I really want to go home now… my head hurts.”
“So does mine,” Mel muttered. “We have to get back to the others, but we’re pinned down with this sniper. I think he’s over there, in that direction. We’ll need to jump from cover to cover, okay?”
“Can I just follow you?”
“Yep, that works.” Mel was glad that Sharon’s memory was returning, but hoped she didn’t remember how she got knocked out. Mel wanted to head directly to the edge of the plaza, which was close, but there wasn’t any good cover. They didn’t have any choice but to cut across the plaza, towards Jon and Jeff, hopping behind rubble as best they could. Crawling to the edge of the rock pile, she scanned the area, looking for the next place to run to.
“C’mon, Sharon,” Mel said. Crouching down, she grabbed Sharon’s hand and they scuttled to a tall statue covered in vines. It was possibly missing a head, but she could never be sure. The statue wasn’t wide, but the height allowed Mel to stand up and better gauge thei
r bearings. Just as they ducked behind the statue, a shot rang out. Mel peeked around at where the bullet had grazed the statue. It was towards the back, so the shooter was farther around the plaza, which was very good to know.
Mel hadn’t seen the sniper yet, but had a pretty good idea of his general direction. She reevaluated her route and pulled Sharon forward to another mass of rubble. When she got there, she almost froze in surprise. In the middle of the rubble pile was a statue about four feet tall. It was some kind of winged alien, and Mel wasn’t sure if it was an actual alien or like an angel statue back on Earth. The figure grasped a bowl that had probably been a fountain at one point. In the bowl was a small blue sphere. The goal.
Mel couldn’t believe their luck. She examined the statue for traps, almost forgetting about the sniper and exposing her head for a moment. Satisfied it wasn’t trapped, she picked up the sphere.
“It’s pretty. Is that the goal?” Sharon asked.
“I think it is.”
“So we’ve won, right? Can we go home now?”
“No. We have to take it to the red zone.” Mel hastily took out her map. The place where they had to take the goal was somewhere in a two-block radius marked as the red zone on the map. The area was only four or five blocks away, but it was exactly in the direction of the sniper.
Mel scanned the plaza again, trying to figure out the puzzle. She had the goal and the other team didn’t know it. All she had to do was get out of the plaza and she could get to the red zone and finish the game before anyone else got hurt. But first things first. She motioned for Sharon to crawl to the end of the rubble pile. Then a ten-yard dash to a mechanical contraption covered in vines. As Mel looked it over, she wondered if it had been a small vehicle or some kind of food cart.
Two shots rang out, the second one grazing Mel’s left foot just before she ducked behind the food cart. They had already covered half the distance across the plaza, and cover was getting better as they got across. But the sniper was getting closer with every shot.
Another shot rang out, but this one came from where Jeff and Jon had been, and wasn’t aimed at them. During training, Jon practiced extensively with long-range shooting. She assumed one of them had found a rifle, although it was probably too much to hope that he had taken out the other team’s sniper. Only one way to find out.
“I think that last one was Jon,” Mel said. “I hope so. He should give us cover while we run. Ready?” Just as they started to run, two shots rang out almost simultaneously, sending them back behind the cart. So much for Jon taking out the sniper.
Mel reviewed their situation. Carun was dead. Soryda had been unconscious, but Mel had no way to know where she was now. Red Shirt had been injured and had run. That left who? Marksman, who was likely the sniper. Who else? Junkyard. She felt like she was forgetting someone. Certainly, everyone still alive would hear the shots in the plaza and be drawn there. Everyone knew the sphere was in the blue zone.
She suddenly remembered Thing 3. So it was Marksman, Junkyard and Thing 3. And maybe Soryda. And they would all be there at the plaza. If only she could sneak out and make her way to the red zone with the goal. But she would need a distraction…
The idea floating through her mind was risky, but she thought it could work. Examining the odd mechanical cart they hid behind, she reached down to pull the vines and grass away. It sat on four hard wheels that looked like plastic. They were pitted and cracked but looked mostly round.
“Help me clear the vines off this thing,” she said to Sharon. Finally, they had it cleared off enough to move it. It was a large box with one side completely rotted out, but the other three sides were metal and still solid. One wheel was frozen but the other three turned with a grinding sound, and even the frozen one glided over the grassy plaza well enough. She thought it would work.
“Get in the cart,” she told Sharon. “I’m going to pull it. We’re going that way.” She pointed to the side of the plaza, away from where Jeff was. “When we get there, I’ve got a job for you. Ready to be the hero?”
Sharon shrugged. “I’m not a very good hero. But whatever gets me out of here is good.”
“If it works, we’ll be home in no time.” Mel then realized that when she said home, she meant Kathor’s ship.
With a grunt, she ducked in front of the cart and dragged it across the plaza.
Chapter 31
Mel used the cart as cover. It was harder with Sharon in it, but manageable. Sharon shrieked as the sniper fired two shots, both hitting the cart. Another crack as Jon fired, then silence. When Mel got close to the edge of the plaza, she leaned over the side of the cart and looked for Gorgeous and Jeff. She spotted them a block away, behind a wall that was well-protected from the sniper. Jeff waved at her to join them.
Mel put her hands to her mouth and yelled as loud as she could. “I have the goal!” She held the sphere up and waved it over her head. Jeff looked at her, bewildered. She yelled again. “I have the goal! I found it! Wait there, I’ll come join you.”
She continued pulling the cart to the edge of the plaza and left it behind a low wall. Running behind the wall, she crouched low to stay out of sight. She had to dash between a broken section of the wall and stumbled when a bullet ricocheted off the ground right in front of her. Panting heavily, she finally threw herself on the ground at Jeff’s feet.
“Are you insane?” Jeff shouted. “Why the hell did you scream to the entire universe that you have the goal?”
Mel caught her breath and looked up at Jeff, laughing. “It’s a distraction. You’re going to hate me when you find out what I really did.”
Puzzled, Gorgeous looked at Mel, then back across the plaza. “Where’s Sharon?”
“Wait, you found Sharon?” Jeff asked. “Where’s the sphere?”
“Sharon has it. She was hiding in the cart. I told her to sneak down the road and circle around to the red zone. Our job is to make everyone on the other team think I have the sphere and keep them occupied here.”
Gorgeous appeared somewhat impressed. Jeff looked mortified.
“You gave the goal to Sharon. She’s dead. We’re all dead.”
“She can hike five blocks, Jeff. Have some faith. Now let’s do our job and make sure she has a clear road. We know where Marksman is, but how about everyone else? We need to draw them out.”
Jeff turned away, angry with what Mel had done. Then he took a step back and froze. Mel spun to follow his gaze.
“I don’t think drawing them out is going to be a problem,” Jeff said.
Thing 3, Junkyard and Soryda stood at the top of the knoll, a bit over ten yards away. Jon lay unconscious next to Thing 3, and Mel couldn’t tell if he was still alive. Junkyard held Jon’s rifle, pointing it directly at Jeff.
“There is no need for anyone else to be injured,” Junkyard said. “Give us the goal.”
Mel noticed that Soryda was staring at her, her hand gripped tightly on her staff. She didn’t have the pistols she had taken earlier. Mel had the impression that Soryda would very much like to injure her.
Concentrating, she reviewed their options. Everyone was accounted for except Red Shirt, who was injured. How long would it take for Sharon to get to the red zone? Five minutes? Ten? There had to be a way to delay the other team, to keep them there. Mel had the last pistol, tucked into the back of her pants. She relaxed her arms, flexing her fingers. Junkyard was the problem. Soryda had her staff and Thing 3 had some kind of long knife or short sword, much like the two that Gorgeous had. But Junkyard had the rifle and could hit them at a distance. She had to take him out.
That’s when she noticed Jon’s hand twitching. He was slightly behind Junkyard and they had forgotten about him. Mel tried to buy some time.
“You already killed one of ours. Isn’t that enough for one day?”
Soryda took a step forward, yelling loudly, “We did not kill the boy! He set the bomb and destroyed himself. And my husband, my love! You will pay for that, I will make you pay! You ar
e a—” There were a few words at the end that didn’t translate directly. Mel almost didn’t respond, because she realized suddenly that Soryda was right. Evan had killed himself, in an attempt to save them from attack. Since the incident, Mel had been blaming Soryda.
“Welcome to the gauntlets,” Mel finally said. “You chose to be here and so did your husband. But no one else needs to die. I have the goal. I’ll give it to you, but I need to know that you didn’t harm Jon.”
Jon raised an arm and moved his head slightly to look at Mel and Jeff. The movement caught Junkyard’s attention and the cyborg looked down at him. It was the moment Mel had waited for and time froze. An intake of breath filled her lungs. Junkyard half-turned, looking down and to his right. He didn’t know she was armed, didn’t realize his mistake. Mel’s hand flicked to her back, pulling the pistol out, her finger feeling for the trigger before the weapon had cleared her side. Snapping it up, she fired on instinct. The bullet hit Junkyard squarely in the left shoulder, knocking him backwards. He hit the ground and Jon rolled on top of him, lunging for the rifle.
Gorgeous moved at the same time Mel had, apparently with the idea that she could cover the ten yards to Junkyard before he could shoot her. Seeing that he was down, Gorgeous shifted tactics and headed for Soryda. Soryda stepped back when Junkyard collapsed and Thing 3 leaped forward, swinging his short sword at Gorgeous.
It turned into a free-for-all. Mel ran forward, still focused on Junkyard because if he got the rifle back, they were all in trouble. Junkyard tried to overpower Jon, but struggled due to his shoulder injury. He kicked Jon aside, but Jon held on to the rifle with both hands. Junkyard yanked it back with his good arm, wrenching it out of Jon’s grip, but Junkyard did it with such force that the rifle flew out of his own hand and skidded across the concrete. Mel ran to the top of the knoll, still pointing her pistol at Junkyard.