“You’re a very brave woman, Diana,” he grinned, drawing back from her, “It hasn’t been easy for me to keep from electrocuting you.”
“I must say,” she replied, turning to see a vehicle slowing down as it passed, “I was wondering how you were doing with that.”
The vehicle started backing up, then a light came on at the side. The beam spotlighted the ground, then shone along the sidewalk and finally aimed at the two of them. Although they could no longer see much beyond the blinding glare of the spotlight, they could hear the sound of a door opening and closing.
“Hey, up there. What’s going on?” the male voice called.
Diana held her hand, shading her eyes from the intense light.
“The storm took us by surprise, so we figured we’d hang out here until it passes,” Diana said.
The man had walked up the hill and was now standing in view of them. He was wearing a uniform of some sort with markings on it similar to those of The Guard on the Blaze Continent.
“I thought you were a couple of kids from the high school. They’ve been known to tip a few drinks up here from time to time,” he said, “Where were you headed when the storm came, ‘cause I have to admit, this isn’t going to pass us by for a while from what I hear.”
“We were…” Braxton began, drawing the folded sheet of paper out of his pocket and opening it up, “We were headed to the Lynn Theater.”
Their first target was listed as working at the theater in this city. The man was staring curiously at Braxton’s paper, so he quickly folded it and returned it to his pocket.
“The Lynn? That’s clear on the other side of town and I’m fairly certain their last showing was around nine or ten,” the man said, “What are the gloves for?”
Braxton realized then that it wasn’t the paper that brought a curious glance from the man, but rather his hands holding the paper. Diana reached out and took a hold of Braxton’s hand.
“Burns,” she said by way of explanation, “He was caught in a fire and it damaged a lot of his skin.”
The man continued looking curiously at both of them. Braxton was beginning to wonder if the man was simply born with a natural accusatory expression since he somehow had a way of making them feel they should be guilty of something. Finally the man nodded.
“You his mother?” he asked.
“What are-” Braxton started.
“Yes I am,” she said, squeezing his hand in hers, “And I think I should be getting him home now.”
He nodded again, then stepped back as he watched them rise from the ground.
“You were really heading for the Lynn?” he asked.
“Yes we were,” Braxton said.
“What’s playing?” he asked, crossing his arms in front of him.
Braxton shrugged, not really even sure what the man was asking. Diana simply smiled at the man and started down the hill while keeping a hold of Braxton’s hand.
“Why don’t you hop in the car and I’ll take you home,” the man said, “Whereabouts do you live?”
“I don’t mean to be rude, sir, but we really would thank you to just leave us alone. You’re getting kind of pushy and I don’t really trust you enough to get in your vehicle,” she said, increasing her pace now.
“I have a right to be pushy when two citizens are discovered hiding under a bridge. Then when they’re questioned, they start feeding me a bunch of lies about a movie theater and getting caught in a storm,” the man said, watching them scurry down the hill and out into the rain, “Not really sure what you’re up to, but I’d pick another town to do it in.”
Braxton and Diana rushed out into the cold rain, never taking a moment to look back. Knowing that there was a possibility the man would get into his vehicle, turn around, and come pressure them further for information, they decided to get off the road and find somewhere more secluded to hide out.
“I guess this really is a paranoid era for the people of Earth,” Braxton said, following her behind a building, then down an alley toward another road.
“Yeah, he sure had a lot of questions. I wonder if he’s part of the Earth military,” she said.
They almost approached the other road before catching sight of that same vehicle from before sitting at the corner. The spotlight on the side of the car was shining down one of the alleys. They quickly ducked back into the shadow of the building. Braxton tested the door on the side of the building, but it was locked. He then moved around the front of the building, finding two large bay doors covered in windows. Each door had a handle at the bottom, so he reached down and tugged one. The enormous door lifted, then fell again on its own.
“It’s open,” Braxton called for Diana.
He lifted the door again, waving her to duck underneath before the door fell again. He quickly ducked into the building, assisting the door to closing again. He was still able to see the rainy world outside, which meant that the Earth military man would also be able to see him if he drove by.
“It’s a vehicle bay,” Diana said, drawing his attention to the black vehicle labeled “Studebaker” in the room with them.
“We need to get away from the windows in case the military man drives by,” Braxton said, approaching the vehicle.
Diana opened the side door, causing a light to come on inside the vehicle. She peered in at the sofa-shaped pilot’s seat.
“Let’s hide out in here for now,” she said.
Braxton ducked in, unfortunately leaving her seat wet from his dripping clothing as he slid across. She slipped in afterward, then closed the door. The light in the cabin turned off. She opened the door again just a crack to cause the light to come back on.
“Look at these control panels,” she muttered, “I wonder if it flies as well as drives.”
“I wish we knew how to make it work,” he said, tugging at the large control wheel.
They tested all the controls, making sure not to do anything that would accidentally bring it online. Braxton opened up a small cabinet that was filled with two paper maps, a foldable knife that he couldn’t seem to close, and a pack of little paper tubes labeled “Lucky Strikes.”
“What would they use these for?” he asked, sniffing the brown flakes that he dumped from the tube, “Seasoning for food maybe?”
She glanced at the brown flakes in his hand, then shrugged. She opened one of the maps, trying to figure out how they were read. It was clearly a map, but none of the markings made any sense.
“I’m thinking we should get some sleep while we have a chance. I might be soaked, but I’m getting tired enough that it doesn’t really matter to me,” she said, turning to him.
“You can use my black bag as a pillow if it helps. Heck, you can use my shoulder too,” he said, drawing his arm around her.
“I think I might have to take you up on that offer,” she smiled, ducking under his arm and resting her head on him, closing her eyes.
Underworld
Not again! I was furious and I’ve now decided I will never trust that boy alone again.
“I’m sorry,” Qall said, holding the door open, “I did hope he would come by today, though.”
I know I was being rude to a boy who didn’t do anything wrong, but I turned away without saying another word. It wasn’t Qall’s fault that Elix never showed up.
I rushed up the tunnels, taking every shortcut I knew to get to the surface. I had no intention of being nice this time. He knew the rules and he knew how I felt.
Moments later, I was at the Upper Mount Doorway – the only doorway Elix ever used. In his mind, this was our safest entrance to the Upperlands, but I’d already told him that with the new digging operations up there, no entrance was safe anymore.
“Elix!” I shouted, realizing that he was nowhere nearby, “Elix!”
I was screaming his name as I walked along the edge of the cliff. My heart literally dropped far beneath my stomach when I saw a violet glow two cliffs down below. I could see the brownish figures of probably a dozen Uplanders with a
glowing figure of violet in their midst.
Even if I screamed, they wouldn’t hear me at this distance. Even if I ran down the secret paths, it would take half a pass of the Night Orb to reach them down below. I screamed nevertheless.
“ELIX!”
I screamed again and again, tears pouring from my eyes as my heart shattered within me. Two of my own people wrapped me in their arms and dragged me from the cliff side. They brought me back into the tunnels, and all the while I was screaming his name.
Six
It was the sound of something metal bouncing and rattling against a concrete floor that awoke Braxton. He opened his eyes, taking in the alien surroundings. It took him a moment to recall their previous night’s escapade, or more likely this morning’s escapade. A light source from somewhere behind them drove all the previous night’s shadows away, giving him a better view of the vehicle bay. The grimy-looking walls were littered with large photos of beautiful women wearing next to nothing. Hoses dangled from the ceiling with pistol-like devices on their ends.
“Squatters in my garage?” a voice bellowed, drawing Braxton’s attention quickly to the window near Diana.
Diana was startled awake by the obese, grizzly looking man standing next to her.
“We’re sorry, sir,” Braxton said, taking notice of the large metal tool in the man’s hand, “We only meant to get out of the storm last night.”
“My garage was locked,” he said, opening the door of the vehicle and gesturing for them to get out.
“We came in through that door over there,” Diana said, pointing toward one of the large windowed doors, “We didn’t steal nothing other than a night’s sleep.”
The man seemed to examine her for a moment, then looked over at Braxton.
“What’s wrong with the boy’s eyes?” he asked, nodding at Braxton.
“I… I just have dark eyes,” Braxton said, “What’s the big deal?”
“Those eyes are freaky looking. And what’s with the gloves?” he asked, using the tool in his beefy fist to point at Braxton’s hands.
“If it’s okay, we’ll just be-”
The next moment would be the single most destructive moment in the whole USSC mission and oddly enough, all the blame would later be placed on Diana. Although it wasn’t Diana who actively derailed the mission, it would be seen as her fault for breaking Chunk’s collarbone, which in turn caused the commander to take Chunk’s place planet-side, leaving Chunk to man the shuttle in orbit.
Partway through Braxton’s request to leave the garage, Diana’s pocket chirped. Immediately following this double-beep, a few muffled obscenities rose from her pocket.
“Can anyone hear me out there? Why is there a freakin’ alien aboard this freakin’ shuttle? Who brought on this blue-skinned alien and thought it would be funny to leave me in orbit with a freakin’ crying, screaming alien?” Chunk’s voice echoed in the garage.
Diana fumbled for the communication device just as the commander’s voice blared forth in reply.
“Get off this channel, you moron! You only hit the red com-switch in an emergency. Otherwise, hit the code for the person you-”
“There’s a freakin’ blue-skinned glowing freakin’ alien walking through the passenger portion of the ship! This is an emergency!” Chunk replied again for all to hear.
By this time, the garage owner was already drawing the tool back, apparently ready to pummel someone. Braxton was kind enough to point an electrified finger at the man in warning.
“No, we aren’t here to hurt you. We just want to leave in peace,” Braxton said, allowing the webs of electricity to dance threateningly along his whole hand and finger.
“Black-eyed aliens in my garage?” the man growled, clutching the tool over his shoulder, “Did the Jersey spics send you my way? ‘Cause I’ll tell you what – you picked the wrong garage.”
Braxton shot out a small harmless bolt, hitting the metal object in his hand and startling the man into dropping it. Braxton then held up both electrified hands in a threatening posture.
“We weren’t sent to your garage by anyone and we’re not here to hurt anyone. Now, do you mind if we leave?” Braxton asked.
The man was rubbing the shock from his hand as he watched the two squatters. Diana carefully drew out her communicator, which was still blaring with the arguments of several people now.
“Turn off the emergency channel before you ruin everyone’s missions,” the commander blared, “You definitely ruined mine with that blast of stupidity.”
“Mine too,” another voice came.
“There’s a blue freakin’ ugly freakin’-”
Diana switched the communicator off, showing it to the man.
“It’s just a little radio show. A bunch of people broadcasting a weird alien story,” she said, dropping the device into her pocket again.
She led the way to the door while Braxton kept his hands out in threat.
“If anyone comes after us, we’ll do a lot more than take over your lousy planet,” Braxton said, blasting a harmless bolt of electricity at another metal object near the man’s feet.
The item darted across the floor, shimmering for a moment in the current it carried off. Diana grabbed him by the arm and pulled him hurriedly from the garage.
“What was that?” she demanded, slapping him in the arm.
“I’m sure he knew we weren’t carrying little radios in our pockets,” Braxton said, “So I went for the alien threat instead.”
She chuckled.
“Well, it worked didn’t it?” I asked.
Those were the last words she would ever hear me speak.
Underworld
I was taken inside because I was too loud. I was too loud? My son was just stolen from me by the very same people who killed our women in the Histories. And I was too loud?
They told me they were going to send a group out to follow the Uplanders and find out where they were taking my son. They promised that they would find a way to bring him back to me.
Were they just trying to calm me down, or were they really intent on saving Elix?
I buried my face in my hands and called to the Night Orb. I begged the Night Orb to watch over my son and to bring him back alive. No matter what happened, please bring him back alive.
Seven
An explosion erupted behind them as they scurried away, bringing two completely different thoughts to both Braxton and Diana. Braxton’s thought was that his electrical display inside the garage had somehow caused something to explode. Diana’s thought, and yes she actually had one, was along the lines of ‘who just slammed me in the back?’
Diana dove forward, making Braxton think she was ducking for cover. He turned quickly, discovering that the garage-man was standing outside his door holding a weapon very similar to the RD-10’s used by the Guard on Legacy. Braxton’s mind worked double-time, twisting him through several questions at once.
Why was it so loud compared to RD-10s?
If he just fired that weapon, then…
Why did Diana leap forward like…
What if he shoots again?
Is he going to shoot again?
Did he just shoot Diana?
All these thoughts raced through Braxton’s head in less than a heartbeat. But the problem with these thoughts was that they were accompanied by an unhealthy abundance of anger. Braxton still didn’t have control over the barrier between his emotions and his Mystic abilities. He screamed, jutting his right hand forward in a Mystic habit of self-preservation that he still hadn’t quite overcome. It was a moment reminiscent of the morning his father died.
Three wide bolts of lightning blast forth, hitting the front of the weapon, transferring immediately through the weapon and into the body of the man. Electrocution was immediate and more than enough to kill the man, but as he flew backward with the weapon, the electricity ignited all the ammunition, causing the weapon itself to explode in his hands. Braxton wasted no more time on the man and quite hon
estly didn’t want to see any of the carnage that would exist after such and eruption.
He turned, almost completely spent from the surge, to discover Diana lying broken in a pool of her own blood. He choked out a sob, dropping to his knees next to her and drawing her limp body into his arms. He ignored the warm blood that was immediately soaking into his chest and arms as he hugged her, crying out her name repeatedly.
His mind replayed the situation, searching for ways he could have prevented this. While his heart kept telling him he should have done something differently, his mind targeted someone else who was to blame for her death. At this, his anger bled forth, demanding his attention. He lowered Diana gently to the ground, then slid the communication device from her pocket. He drew the switch up, bringing power back to the device. A heated conversation was still in progress.
“…and it won’t stop crying back there. I’m going to shoot the ugly beast,” Chunk said.
“You will stand down, Combatant,” the commander ordered, “And you will get off the emergency channel so we can talk in private. Bring the shuttle to me now if you can’t handle it.”
Braxton brought the communicator up to his mouth and pressed the communication button.
“Trigger, you will never see the likes of Legacy again if I have anything to say about it,” Braxton growled into the device, “You and your emergency channel idiocy are the reasons Diana is dead now and she is the reason you will be dead before we reach Legacy. I don’t care who else is listening and I don’t care about honor, rules, and UN laws. I’ll finish my job here, but I promise that Chunk will be among the dead when we leave this planet.”
“Turn off the emergency channel now, Combatant,” the commander ordered, “And I’ll have no more threats on these communicators – veiled or otherwise. You got that, Mystic?”
Braxton turned off the device and dropped it into his pocket. He noticed a sticky dampness in his gloved hands, reminding him of the blood that covered him now. Tears were still forming rivers down his face as he looked down at the crumpled, lifeless woman. He bent down and kissed her on the cheek.
The Mystic Saga Omnibus (Books 1 - 5) Page 22