Arise (Cruel and Beautiful World Book 3)

by L. Stoddard Hancock

  • • •

  Deryn knew she wasn’t going to make it.

  She hadn’t even cleared the base yet.

  Smoke surrounded her, entering her lungs.

  She couldn’t see ten steps in front of her while the Guardians on her tail all wore gasmasks.

  They were coming up on all sides of her, an ocean of dark-blue Guardian trench-coats whirling through the smoke.

  Deryn was surrounded.

  When someone leapt at her she tried to move away, but then someone else was grabbing her waist and knocking her to the ground.

  The air was knocked out of her and she gasped as the person held on tight.

  Deryn could barely breath but she would not stop fighting.

  She kicked the person away from her, turned and aimed her Element. She got one shot in before someone whacked it out of her hands.

  More Guardians were arriving and she knew there was little hope in taking them all on. She tried to crawl away, maybe find somewhere to hide, but the person she’d kicked grabbed her foot and pulled her back again.

  A few of the Guardians turned, distracted by something coming up behind them. Deryn took that moment to pull a knife out of someone’s holster. Then she got to her feet and held it to the person’s throat. Soren stared back at her through his gasmask, unmoving.

  “If any of you make one more move, I won’t hesitate to finish what I started!” she yelled, taking Soren’s Element from his hand far too easily.

  “No, you won’t,” said Elvira, stepping out of the crowd and motioning someone forward. Barath appeared and he was holding someone, his Element pressed against their head.

  “Dax!” shouted Deryn, her hand easing slightly but the knife still pointed at Soren’s throat.

  “You’re free to make your move, of course,” said Elvira, smiling wickedly. “But, if you do, I can assure you that Barath won’t hesitate to kill this toxic friend of yours.”

  Deryn stared at Dakota, her mind flooding with memories of the boy she’d loved so long ago. Back when everything was simple. At least in comparison.

  Her hand holding the knife eased.

  “Deryn, no!” Dakota tried to step forward but was pulled back. “Kill the bastard! Kill him and get the hell out of here!”

  Deryn shook her head.

  “Deryn, please!” he pleaded. “Please, don’t let them take you again! Just stab him and run!”

  His eyes flickered to the side and she noticed movement in a tree. April.

  There was a way out. But only for one of them. She could jam that knife into Soren’s throat and run but, if she did, they would kill Dakota. The other option was bargaining for his life. But then she’d be a prisoner again. A slave.

  Deryn looked at Dakota once more, his eyes wet as he choked on his breath. Smoke was engulfing them now, making it hard to glimpse each other’s faces. Still, they stared, seeing beyond their physical forms to something deeper.

  “Please ... just let me go,” he begged.

  Deryn closed her eyes and took a deep breath. When she opened them again, she looked at Dakota and said, “No.” She turned to Elvira. “Stun him.”

  Dakota felt like he was falling backwards, even before Elvira hit him with a stunner from her Element.

  “Toss him over there,” ordered Deryn, nodding toward where April was hiding.

  None of the Guardians moved.

  She pressed the knife harder into Soren’s neck, enough to draw blood. “If you don’t toss him, I will kill your husband. Then I will run and I will escape. Either toss him over there now or suffer your president’s wrath for failing to obtain me.”

  Deryn and Elvira stared at each other, their hatred electric and pulsing. Elvira broke their contact and nodded at Barath. He picked up Dakota and tossed him aside.

  April moved so quickly that everyone missed her. But they didn’t miss that Dakota was no longer there.

  Soren took the knife and his Element back from Deryn. Then he bound her wrists.

  “Barath, carry her out of here.” Elvira grabbed Deryn and tossed her in his direction. She turned to her husband and said under her breath, “Unless you give me what I want, you will not touch her.”

  Sam watched from a nearby tree, his gun-sword in hand as he prepared himself to pounce. But, before he could, April landed beside him.

  “No, Sam. There are too many of them.”

  “Not if I take them by surprise.”

  “No,” she said firmly. “You can’t risk ending up dead. They won’t kill her.”

  Sam’s muscles quaked as he stared at Deryn being carried away. He knew April was right. But that didn’t make it any easier.

  “You’re no good to any of these people dead. They need an army and I alone can’t give it to them,” said April.

  Finally accepting defeat, Sam nodded.

  As soon as all Guardians were out of sight, he and April took to the air, Dakota flung over her shoulder as they went in search of the others.

  CHAPTER 45

  Xander awoke on a beach, his head spinning as his eyes fluttered open. Something was poking his arm and it hurt like hell. His eyes focused on Harper as she removed a syringe.

  “It counteracts the serum I used earlier,” she explained.

  “What’s happened? Where are we?” he asked, sitting up and searching the area.

  “This is an isolated beach far from Utopia. There are caves in the rocks and we filled them with provisions years ago. We’re safe here. For now.”

  Xander’s eyes were still foggy but they were nothing compared to his brain. There was fire. And -

  “Deryn. Where is she?”

  Harper sighed and shrugged. “We don’t know. She hasn’t responded to our calls.”

  She glanced over to where Talon was pacing through the sand, a two-way held to his lips as he spoke into it frantically. He was holding his bracelet, twirling it between his fingers.

  And then Xander remembered. Talon had tackled him. Stopped him from going after Deryn. From saving her. She wasn’t the one Saevus wanted. He could have bargained for her life.

  Xander stood up, shoving Harper away as she tried to grab him. His legs felt like jelly, but he still pushed forward, his soul flaming as he charged at Talon. This time, it was his turn to do the tackling.

  “You fucking bastard!” Xander shouted as he and Talon hit the sand. “I could’ve gotten to her if it weren’t for you! If they took her, I swear to fucking Lucifer I will end you!”

  “Get the hell off me!” Talon whacked at him, though he was obviously trying not to cause too much damage. “You think I didn’t want to go after her just as much as you did?”

  “NO! Because if you did then you would’ve come with me! We’re supposed to protect her but, because of you, we did nothing! I can’t do nothing anymore!” Xander whimpered as his fingers dug into Talon’s shirt. “They have her. I can fucking feel it. They have her again. Aren’t you terrified? Don’t you even care that the majority of those monsters are already planning to torture and have their way with her? I won’t let that happen! Not again!”

  “Xander, let him go!” shouted Harper, trying to pull Xander from Talon. “This isn’t helping!”

  Xander released Talon with such force that his head knocked against the sand. He stood up and turned away. He didn’t want any of these people to see him cry.

  There was a loud commotion. Xander looked and saw Sam and April descending from the sky. April held someone and, for a brief moment, there was a flicker of hope in his heart. But then she landed and dropped Dakota in the sand.

  “Did you see Deryn?” asked Talon, running up to them.

  Sam and April looked at each other.

  “We were too late,” said Sam. “They already had her when we arrived and there were too many of them for us to fight on our own.”

  Xander felt numb. Empty.

  His soul floated outside of his body as he let it all sink in.

  President Saevus had Deryn. Even if Xande
r went for her, the president wouldn’t just let her go. If she was kept alive, he would make her a slave. A fate Deryn considered worse than death.

  Harper was on her knees and searching her medical pack, trying to reverse the stunner used on Dakota. It was done from an Element, not one of the Resistance’s darts, so the process would be different. But she knew what she was doing and, before long, Dakota was awake and gasping for breath.

  Before he even had a moment to process what had happened, three more people were running onto the beach. Nita, Adrian and Everett.

  As they got closer, he noticed that Everett had someone thrown over his shoulder.

  “Neetles!” shouted Talon, running over to his girlfriend and taking her in his arms.

  “Who’s that?” Harper asked Everett as he lowered the body to the ground.

  “Dax told me to bring her. He didn’t explain why.”

  Everett glanced at Dakota, who was still trying to gain his composure.

  Xander’s eyes widened as he looked at the woman lying in the sand. He hurried to her side. “Finley?”

  Deryn had told him what Odette had said the other night. About Finley’s hand in driving her father to insanity and the impending engagement. His gaze suddenly drew to her left ring finger, currently adorned with a large and tacky diamond.

  “Wake her,” he ordered. “She’s on our side.”

  Harper nodded. She glanced at Dakota. “Dart?”

  “Yes,” he said, crawling toward Finley.

  Harper prepared a syringe while Dakota removed Finley’s left arm from her Guardian coat. His fingers lingered on the diamond ring.

  As soon as the serum was injected, Finley shot up and gasped for air. She saw Dakota first, so she raised her fist and slugged him with everything she had. She tried to make a run for it, but her legs were still weak and she collapsed onto her stomach.

  “OW! FUCK!”

  “Finley!”

  Finley looked at Xander standing over her. Her eyes swelled with tears. She stood up and threw her arms around him.

  “You’re alive!” she cried. “They didn’t get you!”

  “No, they got Deryn,” he said.

  Finley pulled away. “Well, shit! Then what am I here for?” She looked back at Dakota, who was currently getting his nose inspected by Harper. “Sorry, Trigger. I thought you were going to kill me.”

  “Right. This is what I get for following a bloody order - AH! FUCK!”

  Harper had snapped his nose back in place.

  “Order?” asked Finley.

  “Odette,” answered Xander. “She told Deryn about your father and said she wanted you out.”

  “That fucking little -”

  “Finley ...”

  “Xander, I’m fine! Well, I mean, I’m not, but I’m fine enough to go back and protect Deryn from the inside!”

  “Since when do you care about Deryn?” asked Dakota, rising to his feet.

  “I owe her,” Finley said simply. “Xander, I need to leave. If I’m gone any longer, Saevus will get suspicious.”

  “No.”

  “But you need someone on the inside!”

  “I still believe Luka -”

  “Luka killed Odette!” shouted Finley.

  Xander’s heart slowed. “Odette’s dead?”

  “Yes. And Luka barely reacted. He’s gone, Xander.”

  Xander turned away and tried to catch his breath.

  “But Neo and Bronson and the others are still alive! And so is Deryn!” Finley grabbed his shoulder and turned him back around. “Let me go back.”

  Xander stared at Finley, wondering how he could have known this girl for years yet, somehow, never really seen her. “We need a way to contact you.”

  Sam stepped forward. “Take this.” He slipped a ring off of his middle finger. “April and I each have one.”

  He pressed the jewel in its center. April’s vibrated and she lifted her arm. After pressing her jewel, a hologram of Sam’s face appeared in front of her and vice versa.

  “Just make sure you don’t activate it by accident,” said Sam. “There’s a safety switch on the back.”

  Finley took April’s ring while Xander took Sam’s.

  “Where are we?” Finley asked, looking around.

  “Far from Utopia,” answered Talon, stepping forward. “It’ll take you hours to get back.”

  “I don’t have hours!”

  “April, fly her to Aphrodite and take the ship the rest of the way,” ordered Sam. “Be discreet.”

  “Yes, Commander,” said April.

  Finley didn’t know what any of those words meant, but she supposed she had no choice but to trust them. She gave Xander one last hug before approaching April, shrieking a bit as the woman tossed her over her shoulder and took off flying.

  As soon as they were gone, Xander returned his attention to Talon.

  “We have to finish this,” he said. “I’m not talking about some stupid rescue mission. It’s time for this war to end, once and for all. Deryn shouldn’t spend her entire life looking over her shoulder. She deserves better.”

  Before Talon could speak, something zoomed onto the beach.

  Weapons emerged as a S.U.R.G.E. stopped before them.

  “Xander ...”

  Everyone stopped moving, the air becoming icy as a voice emerged from the robot. Saevus’s voice.

  “You have until sunrise to come and retrieve your slave. The moment the sun is above the horizon, she will die a slow and horrible death. We’ll be waiting for you.”

  The voice vanished just as quickly as it had arrived. The S.U.R.G.E. never attacked, just turned and fluttered away. It was Adrian who grabbed a Repeller gun and took it down before it got too far. The last thing they needed was for it to return to Saevus with a visual of their small army.

  Everyone watched Talon and Xander, still facing each other.

  “So what will it be?” Xander asked slowly. “Will you be finishing this at sunrise, or will I be leaving now to rescue Deryn on my own?”

  Talon’s gaze softened. “It’s time for this to end.” He turned to the crowd of onlookers, lifted his fist and shouted, “At sunrise, we go to war!”

  Everyone cheered, excited for the final battle to begin.

  And then end.

  “We’ve sat around suffering for long enough! It’s time we take back our land and our freedom! No more living in fear!” Talon continued.

  While everyone jumped and danced around, Xander watched Sam. For the first time since Xander had met him, Sam looked nervous.

  “Be honest.”

  Sam looked at him.

  “Deryn doesn’t think you have an army for us. Is she right?”

  Sam bit his cheek and thought for a moment. “I do have an army, but it might not be the size you were expecting.”

  “Why?”

  Sam sighed and looked around at everyone. Talon was the only one who’d stopped to listen.

  “I disobeyed orders by coming here. My captain thought it was a waste of our time and resources. As far as she’s concerned, you have your world to govern and we have ours. I still plan to try and convince her but, if she disagrees, I have two-thousand soldiers ready to defy orders and come anyway.”

  “Two-thousand,” repeated Xander. “That’s it?”

  “It’s better than zero,” said Talon. “Two-thousand should make our numbers about even.”

  “Plus, Utopia’s president isn’t a strategist. That mess of an ambush today proved that. They could have gotten away with so much more than just one prisoner,” said Sam.

  Talon nodded. “We do have a plan, Xander. It’ll need some tweaking, but it will work.”

  Something new zoomed onto the beach.

  All weapons raised as a hover-bike stopped near the rocks. Two people were on it. Both stepped off with their hands raised. Xander’s heart quickened.

  “Odette.”

  Odette found him in the crowd. “I’m too late.”

  “Lower yo
ur fucking weapons, you idiots!” shouted Cress, wobbling forward.

  “The fuck?” shouted Everett, hurrying to the front of the crowd. “I saw you die!”

  “I saw me die too but here I am,” said Cress.

  Hera ran up and hugged him tightly, but he didn’t return the sentiment.

  “Odette, how are you here?” asked Xander. “Finley said Luka killed you.”

  “He faked it.” The hint of a smile tugged at her lips. “He had a hover-bike ready to go in the tunnels and he sent me here to warn you. I swear, I came as fast as I could!”

  “I believe you.” Xander hurried forward and hugged her. Then he burst into hysterical laughter. “That fucking bastard!”

  She joined in and said, “I know! He fooled us all!”

  “What about him?” he asked, glancing over his shoulder at Cress.

  “I found him wandering around all confused on my way to find you. I had to punch some sense into him before he believed I was there to help. Then he led me here. I guess Luka killed him too.”

  “Why?”

  Noticing Xander and Odette watching him, Cress walked over to them. He reached into his pocket, removed something and handed it to Xander.

  “My potential murderer told me he had a message for you.”

  Whatever it was, it was small and wrapped in a piece of paper. Xander unfolded the paper and a chip dropped into his hand. Then he noticed the writing on the paper.

  Here’s a map of the shithead’s tower. Hurry up and get your ass back here already.

  - L

  Xander smiled, tears stinging his eyes as he read the note over and over again. His best friend was not lost. He had been on their side the entire time.

  And now there was one more person on the inside protecting Deryn until he got there.

  Hope was still with them.

  CHAPTER 46

  Deryn was in a daze as she stood inside Utopia’s walls, listening as President Saevus told Xander through a S.U.R.G.E. that he only had until sunrise to save her.

  She really hoped he wasn’t already on his way and took a moment to think about this.