The Breaking Light (Split City Book 1)

by Heather Hansen

  Both girls saw Uri at the same time. Mariah pointed and moved even as Arden made to follow her. He was crouched behind a hunk of smoking metal, pinned in by several mercenaries. The girls took out the most immediate threats before sliding in beside him.

  “Go back,” Uri said. He pulled off his mask, gulping for breath. Sweat dripped from the side of his brow down onto his neck.

  “Can’t.” Arden pressed her back up against the shelving. “The charges are set in that direction. The only way out is up.”

  “They’re forcing us that way.”

  “I know,” she agreed.

  But it didn’t matter. She’d never planned to leave the refinery alive in the first place. Destruction was the only way. Her hope was that the charges she’d left behind would take out the majority of the mercenaries so that she could continue to fight till the end.

  “We’ve lost a quarter of our men,” Uri said, disgusted. “They’re jamming our comm signals. Half the group broke off, and I lost contact with them fifteen minutes ago.”

  Arden grunted. Turning over, she leaned out from behind the smoldering mess to take out several mercenaries.

  Across the room, she saw Niall. Kimber fought beside him. They were pinned down in much the same position that Arden, Uri, and Mariah found themselves. Only worse, since their backs were to a wall, with no option for escape. It would be impossible for Arden and the others to fight their way across the room to join them and help.

  “Kimber and Niall are taking heavy fire,” Mariah said from the other side of Uri, thinking along the same lines.

  “We don’t have enough time,” Uri said. “It’s up to Niall to save his own ass. He’s resourceful, he’ll figure it out.”

  Cold, but necessary. Uri was probably right.

  Arden let it go, focusing on their current situation.

  She leaned out once more, exchanging heavy fire with a group closing in on them.

  Pain stole her breath.

  For a second, she had no idea what happened. Then searing agony flooded her senses. Arden fell back, aware enough to get behind the barrier. Her mind swam on overload. She grabbed at her side, pushing the scorched fabric apart to inspect the wound. Blood seeped through a hole in her bodysuit, flowing over her fingers.

  This was bad.

  She couldn’t tell if the phase-fire had hit anything vital. It felt like it. Though feeling the burn was probably a good thing. It meant she was alive. Arden put pressure on the wound as much as she could even though her strength was running out fast.

  “Mariah, check her,” Uri ordered.

  Mariah was in front of her then. Looming over, so that she was all Arden could see. Mariah’s hands felt as if they were everywhere, pressing and tormenting. “The phaser hit her between the armored plates. She’s losing a lot of blood.”

  Arden gasped little hiccups of air while pushing against her side, her fingers pressed against her bodysuit. “Can’t breathe,” she said, using her other hand to push at the mask that covered her face.

  Mariah helped ease it off. But that didn’t let Arden breathe any deeper.

  “Can she walk by herself?” Uri asked.

  “I don’t think so,” Mariah said. “If I can’t get the bleeding stopped, I don’t think she has long.”

  “Cauterize it,” Uri said.

  Mariah set to work ripping fabric and shifting the armored plates of the bodysuit so that she could get to Arden’s skin. She set her phaser against Arden’s exposed side. “Three . . . two . . . one.”

  Arden screamed.

  She felt everything. The searing fire kept getting worse, swallowing her up. She might have passed out briefly. There was no way to tell. The misery was crushing. Blackness crept at the edges of her consciousness. She fought to stay alert. It was interesting how in the end, though she sought death, she still pushed away from it.

  “It’s done.” Mariah wiped her hand against Arden’s face. Her touch was reassuring. “Breathe. That should hold till we can get you medical attention. Don’t rip the wound open again.”

  As if Arden would be taking on the rest of the mercenaries by herself, or even be able to move at all. Arden nodded dumbly. She could barely understand what Mariah was saying. Agreeing would only get her out of Arden’s face.

  “We’re moving now,” Uri said. “Mariah, you first. I’ll follow with Arden.”

  Mariah appeared undecided about following the order.

  Uri barreled on. “There.” He pointed to a hallway. “That’s where we’re heading. Get there. Then figure a way out of this hellhole.”

  Mariah nodded.

  A series of shots ran over the top of them. Mariah ducked, and Uri fell over Arden, using his body as a shield. A large chunk of detritus dislodged, flying into Mariah’s face. It hit her in the temple, causing a gush of blood.

  “Mariah,” Uri screamed, reaching up to pull her close to him. He fingered the wound.

  Arden hiccupped and muttered. She knew what was happening around her. Yet had a difficult time processing the information. She tried to get to her hands and knees, but only flopped sideways, causing her side to burn brighter.

  “I’m fine.” Mariah pushed Uri’s hand away. Half her face was now covered with blood. It dripped off her chin. “I think that was our cue to leave.”

  “Go.” He pushed her into motion.

  Mariah ran hard, under the smattering of cover fire that Uri provided.

  Arden turned onto her back, staring up. She tried to regain her ability to breathe. Her body couldn’t quit now. She still had too much to do. It needed to last another hour at least, and then she could rest.

  That was when she knew death had found her.

  He was an apparition. An angel come to lead her into the next world. He was streaked with soot. His hair pulled up, displaying his sun-star. He moved forward through the muck like an avenging angel, shooting mercenaries with deadly precision.

  Arden smiled, happy beyond measure. He’d come to lead her into the next beyond. She knew that skin, knew the tattoo, wanted to place her lips there, to kiss and taste.

  That snapped her back.

  It was him.

  He was real.

  How was he alive? Or was this a trick of her mind? She couldn’t process much of her surroundings. Everything seemed funneled through a small hole. It was hard to believe, especially since she’d seen him shot, then watched him fall into the abyss.

  It didn’t make any sense.

  Uri looked over his shoulder. Then did a double take seeing Dade. He turned, falling backward into the barricade so that he faced Dade and Arden. He raised his phaser, focusing it on the center of Dade’s chest. It was like the same nightmare all over again.

  Dade raised his phaser as well, his finger tightened on the trigger.

  “Stop,” Arden screamed. She flopped forward, managing to push herself between the two men. It wasn’t graceful, her body jerking. She hoped she could be heard over the explosions before they managed to fry each other.

  Dade’s eyes grew wide with horror. “Are you insane?”

  Maybe? She knew only that she could not watch him die a second time.

  Pain kicked in the second after her panic fled. She screamed out, falling the rest of the way to the ground. The blood from her wound oozed profusely now, pulled open again by her movement. Maybe she did have a death wish. At that moment, she didn’t care. Her breath rattled in her chest as she struggled to make her vision clear. Grasping at the light so she wouldn’t faint.

  The move had worked to keep them from killing each other, at least.

  “What the hell, Arden?” Uri yelled.

  Everyone was screaming while the shots around them kept coming, the noise and the chaos too much for Arden. She focused on the one thing that mattered.

  Dade.

  He leaned over her. His hands running all over her skin, her face, her arms, and checking her exposed side.

  “Is it really you?” she asked.

  He nodded. F
ocused more on checking her wounds than on answering her.

  “How?” It seemed like such an important question. Even in the midst of the current hell they were in, she needed to make sense of the senseless, come to terms with the possibility that she might be losing her mind.

  “That’s a story for later. We need to go.”

  “But you were dead.”

  He shook his head. “No, I’d never leave you. I promised, didn’t I?” His brow was pulled in a worried line as he propped her up.

  CHAPTER TWENTY-EIGHT

  Dade was glad he’d been to the joint refinery before. At the time, he’d seen it as his biggest defeat. Now he saw it as a blessing. It gave him a plan and a path of escape. Looking at how bad off Arden was, he whispered his thanks to the sun.

  “Can you stand?” he asked.

  “No,” Arden slurred, her words followed by audible pants.

  He had to lean close to hear her, his ear almost pressed to her mouth. But he also wanted to be close enough to make sure she wasn’t aspirating. The factory exploded around them, and he didn’t care. Arden remained his focus. Getting her out of this mess alive became priority number one.

  She was fragile, a word he’d not associated with Arden before, because whenever he’d been around her, all he ever noticed was her core strength. That had been tested now. She appeared vulnerable and near death, her pain palpable. Her face leached color, white as a death shroud. She watched him with eyes half-open and haunted. Sweat soaked her skin, mixed with soot and blood, sticking her hair to her face.

  His hands protested because of his broken fingers, but he reached forward anyway, taking her wrist to check her pulse. He’d taped and wrapped his fingers, making it difficult for him to count the beats. Her heart rate was slow but steady. That gave him some hope, though she didn’t seem to feel the pressure he exerted. Her fingers lay limp when he squeezed.

  The boy next to her glared at Dade as he checked Arden, letting them silently know that he’d rather shoot them both than help. But as long as the boy continued to pick off the encroaching mercenaries, Dade was fine with the glares.

  He moved away from her wrist to check her side. The fabric of her suit had been cut open. Blood seeped through it. He reached forward to separate the fabric so he could get a closer look at the wound. It looked as if someone had managed to get the bleeding stopped at one point, but now it sluggishly leaked again.

  Her hands came up to push him off, but they never connected with him. Arden’s eyes rolled, and she made a pained sound.

  It was clear she wouldn’t be able to stand on her own. Not only that, he also wasn’t sure that she’d stay conscious. Dade left the wound for now. Scenarios played through his head on how he could manage to get them out of there, but first and foremost he had to get her to her feet.

  Sliding an arm behind her back, he moved through his own pain to pull her up. He worked as efficiently as he could, feeling every stretch of movement. She didn’t help him in any way, her body’s deadweight and the pull of her working against his efforts. When he managed to get her standing, she stumbled forward into him. He wrapped his arms around her middle, trying to keep from touching her wound.

  Arden leaned heavily into his side. She made small noises that reminded him of someone being tortured, interspersed with whine-filled breaths. She opened her eyes, blinking first at him and then her surroundings. Her brow screwed up tight.

  “Uri,” she said to the mean-looking boy who maintained his position.

  The boy looked at her. Dade was surprised he’d heard her, considering her voice was paper-thin. Then Uri snarled, his feeling of betrayal evident with his lip curled and his eyes narrowed. “I’m helping you only because I owe you for Mariah. After this, we’re even. Finished. You have three seconds to get out of my face, or I’ll shoot you myself.”

  Pain bloomed on Arden’s face, this time clearly emotional, not physical. She nodded at Uri. Then she lurched forward, half tumbling, into Uri so that she could brush a kiss on his cheek. “I understand. I’ll miss you.”

  Dade had kept a grip on her, and now he pulled her back, frightened by the naked hatred apparent in Uri’s eyes.

  “We’re enemies now.” Uri gave Arden a penetrating look. “Don’t come back. If I see you, I’ll shoot you on sight.”

  Arden let out a long exhale, sinking back into Dade’s side. “I understand.”

  “This can’t be forgiven.”

  She offered Uri a sad, defeated smile. “I know. It’s okay.”

  Uri seemed wrecked by her acknowledgment and forgiveness, like he’d been slapped. Then his face went hard, and he turned his back to them. He shot a few more times at the mercenaries, clearing a path before he leapt over the barricade.

  Dade needed to get Arden to safety as well. With Uri gone, there was no one keeping the mercenaries from tearing into them. The task of dragging her across the room seemed impossible. Yet all he could do was move forward. He’d ignore anything that could distract his attention, even Arden’s gurgles of discomfort.

  He tightened his arm around her middle, and then began to half pull, half carry her while shooting at anything that moved. He cleared a path like Uri had done, knowing that their escape wouldn’t be as quick. When they got into the open, he pressed his phaser to her temple as he dragged her backward.

  She let out a high-pitched mew, choking back a sob. “It hurts.”

  “I know,” he said into her hair, just above her ear. “This is going to be uncomfortable.”

  Arden tried to help him, seemed to understand this game he played. She scooted her boots along the tile, in an attempt to gain momentum and lessen his burden as he carried the weight of them both through the room. She wasn’t able to keep herself up, though, and her weight shifted, making it painstaking to maintain his hold.

  He pulled her tighter whenever he felt her slipping. It lent to the appearance of a struggle, but he hated her cries of agony. Then Arden passed out. He was extremely thankful for that, though it made his progress slower. As much as he had tried to block out her cries of pain, they twisted him up inside.

  If he could get them up two floors, there was a forgotten trash shoot that had a steel plate bolted over it. It looked like part of the reinforced walls. But he knew that the sheet only looked like it was secured. Neither he nor Saben had resealed it when they’d left. It was the only bit of luck he’d had recently.

  He kept the phaser pressed to her head as he dragged her. He hoped that whoever saw them, from whichever side, would think that she was his captive and not shoot. The mercenaries because Arden was obviously Lasair from the way she was dressed, so they’d assume Dade was working with them. And Lasair because they wouldn’t hurt one of their own.

  The plan worked for the most part. Occasionally he traded shots with a mercenary, taking the individual out when he could manage a clear shot. And he hadn’t seen anyone from Lasair, which was worrisome. The bulk of the fight seemed to be moving up the facility, with Dade and Arden following behind.

  They moved slower than he wished. Arden hadn’t woken. He couldn’t stop to check her, so he kept going, clearing a stairwell and dragging her up with him. His entire body protested. His muscles were pushed to the limit. He knew he was tiring and didn’t know how much stamina he had left.

  An explosion rocked several floors below. The building swayed, the floor unstable. Dade managed to maintain his footing, but he fell heavily against a wall, Arden’s body on top of him. He panted and sweated as he righted them. There’d be more detonations to come. Knowing what little time they had before the entire place imploded spurred him on. Let him gather what few resources he had left and push through the pain.

  He exited onto a restricted floor and was halfway down the corridor when a girl stepped in front of them. Her phaser was up, pointed dead center of Arden’s chest. This girl wasn’t a mercenary. She wore the same running suit that Arden sported, though hers was still pristine, with her hood pulled back as if she didn’t care
who saw her face.

  “Stay back,” Dade said to her as he jostled Arden in his arms, tightening his grip. He kept his phaser pointed at Arden’s head.

  “Like you’re going to shoot her.” The girl rolled her eyes. “Do it, then. That’s something I’d like to see.”

  Dade blinked. The hand on his phaser hesitated. Wasn’t this girl part of Arden’s gang? She wanted him to shoot?

  Arden opened her eyes on a gasping sob. She wheezed, “Kimber.”

  Kimber grinned, raising her phaser higher. Her finger tightened on the trigger, her stance determined. “So glad you’ll be awake for this.”

  She was really going to shoot them. This girl was crazy, and they had nowhere to hide. If he had to shoot her to get to the end of the hall, he would. Though he worried that Arden would never forgive him.

  A shot rang out.

  Dade jolted, frozen for a moment before realizing that it was Arden who’d shot. The phaser shook in her hand as she sent blast after blast the other girl’s way.

  Kimber ducked. She slunk to the end of the corridor, seeking cover.

  Dade arced his phaser, following the path Kimber took, his shots joining Arden’s. He didn’t have anywhere to go except to head for the door at the center of the hall. There was nothing to hide behind, and they had no more than this one chance. He had to make it before one or both of them got shot. He moved quickly, pulling Arden along while shooting, filling the hallway with enough blasts to keep Kimber from returning fire.

  He dragged Arden into the room, shooting out the hand scanner at the entrance before setting her down inside to barricade the door. The thin heat shield wouldn’t hold out against repeated fire blasts, but maybe it would last long enough for them to get out of the building or for that Kimber girl to be taken out by someone else.

  Arden groaned. Her body was slumped half against the wall, mostly falling onto the floor. She’d curled into a fetal position, protecting her injured side.

  He put his hand to her face, feeling her cold skin. If she had a head injury, he didn’t want her to sleep. “Stay awake.” He shook her as gently as possible but allowed no argument to his request. “Arden, open your eyes. I want to see them.”