Sixth Seal

by Thornbrugh, Josh

  Hans put his big hand on Lee’s shoulder. Ana could see Lee’s shirt gathering up underneath the forceful grip. Without looking away from her, Lee plunged the end of his mop into the big man’s ribs. Ana could tell the move had knocked the wind out of him, and when he doubled over, Lee made another rapid movement. This time he pushed the mop handle back in the opposite direction, bringing it up at an angle, catching Joe in the throat.

  While Joe was busy grasping at his neck and falling to his knees, Lee dropped the mop and drove a clenched fist into Hans’ throat. Ana just stood there in awe. In the span of a few moments Lee had managed to incapacitate both men.

  “Who are you?” Ana looked down at the man as he rolled Hans over and took the badge off of his shirt.

  “You know me, Ana.” He stood and grabbed her arm. “You just don’t remember yet.”

  “Then why don’t you enlighten me?” She tried to pull away from him.

  “No time. We need to move quickly.” He pushed back through the door Ana had just come through. She stood firmly.

  “I can’t go with you.”

  “You must, Ana. The seekers are gathering.” He held out a hand and she took it.

  Doctor Gabriel’s door opened. He stepped out into the hallway, looking at first bewildered then horrified.

  “Ana, what have you done?”

  Lee wasted no time. He pulled Ana with him toward the doctor and just as they were in front of him, Lee shoved him back into his office. As they passed, Ana saw him crash to the floor, pulling his phone down on top of himself. She locked eyes with him briefly. It was the same disappointment she had seen in Sam’s eyes that day of her first attempt at escape.

  There was nothing she could do about it now. She was hurtling down the hall with this strange man that was somehow not a stranger.

  “Do you remember your training?” Lee kept pulling her forward.

  “It seems to come to me when I need it.”

  “Good enough. You may need it soon.”

  Lee swiped the badge across the access panel to a stairwell. The light turned green and he pushed the door open. Bells echoed through the small space.

  “The doctor has sounded the alarm.”

  “What do we do?” Ana looked to Lee.

  “We push forward until we can no longer push.” He pulled her toward the stairs and they jumped down them two at a time.

  “You make it sound so easy.” He didn’t respond.

  They stopped on the next landing. Lee tried a door marked ‘Garage.’ It didn’t budge. Ana heard footfalls above them, and then she remembered the pen in her waistband.

  “Can you hold them off?” Ana glanced back toward the stairs.

  Lee nodded and stepped out of her way. He took up a position a few steps up the stairway. Ana turned her attention to the door. This one didn’t have a security access panel, but it was definitely locked. All of the outer doors must have secured automatically when the alarm was sounded.

  Ana pulled the pen that she had pilfered from the doctor out of her waistband. She didn’t even know why she had put it there, but she had brought it with her every day since she took it. Now she would put it to good use. She twisted the barrel until it came apart and revealed a thin metal ink cartridge. She threw the pieces of the barrel aside and wedged the cartridge into the lock. She twisted it, feeling the tumblers rising. She was relieved that it was such an old lock, anything newer and they would have been in real trouble. As it was, she could hear Lee behind her taking down the first security guard to reach them. A second later she nearly dropped the ink cartridge as the first man slammed face first into the wall beside her. She went back to her work when the man slumped against the wall.

  “How much longer, Ana?”

  “Almost there.” She could hear the tension in Lee’s voice. It wasn’t panicked or desperate, but it was there.

  She felt the last of the tumblers give. She pushed down on the door handle and heard the click.

  “I’ve got it.” She pushed the door open wide and held it for Lee. Without looking back, he shoved the nearest guard into the next man coming down the stairs. Ana saw the two men fall in a heap on the landing, but there were more descending. Lee rushed past her, pulling her out of the way and out into the cavernous parking garage. The door slammed shut behind them.

  “Where to now, Lee?”

  Lee pointed toward a row of vehicles just as the door burst open. Three security guards stumbled out into the space, approaching the two cautiously. None of them had guns, but they did appear to have pepper spray and clubs. Lee threw a set of keys to Ana and turned to face their pursuers.

  “The white van in the second row. Start it up and bring it around.” He took up a defensive position, talking to her over his shoulder. The men inched closer toward him.

  “I don’t even know how to drive.” She was beginning to panic. For a moment she thought that maybe she was actually crazy. Crazy for thinking this man she had just met could get her out of here, when she herself had failed after years of careful planning.

  “It’ll come back to you.” Again she detected the tension in his voice. One of the guards was aiming his pepper spray at Lee and the other two were flanking him. “Now, Ana.”

  “Okay!” She ran to the van and jumped in the driver’s seat. She watched Lee as she fumbled with the keys. He had already knocked the man with the pepper spray down and the other two were charging at him with their clubs raised. She screamed and turned her attention back to the ignition. After what seemed like an eternity, she managed to get the key in. She twisted it until the engine turned over, roaring to life. Thank goodness it was an automatic she thought.

  She dropped it into drive and pressed the gas pedal. That much she knew from her brief driving lesson with Mike before she was committed. Nothing. The engine roared and the van shook, but it didn’t go anywhere. She let off the gas and slammed her hands on the steering wheel. Lee was dancing back and forth, jabbing and then dodging club blows. She screamed in frustration. Lee kicked one of the men in the chest sending him backward into a concrete pillar, and then he looked to Ana. She could see he was yelling something.

  “Parking brake!”

  The parking brake, of course. She nodded even though he wasn’t looking anymore, then she looked on the floor for the brake. She found it and pushed it in with her foot until it clicked and gave way. She gunned the engine again sending the van hurtling forward into the next row of cars. Alarms and horns blared. She had managed to buckle the hood of a rather expensive looking black sedan and shoved it into the car behind it. She put the van in reverse and gunned the engine again. The black sedan’s bumper fell off, and Ana wasted no time. She turned the wheel hard, dropped it back into drive and pushed the pedal to the floor. The tires squealed and the back end of the van slid sideways into another car before righting itself.

  Lee was now engaged in hand-to-hand combat with the guard. The man was actually managing to hold his own against Lee, but what worried her most was the man behind Lee picking himself up off the ground. She sped toward him and hit the brakes hard as she turned the wheel, sending the end of the van out in a wide arc. She heard the thump and saw the man hit the ground from the side mirror.

  She held down the horn. Lee caught the other guard’s fist right before it made contact with his face. He bent the man’s arm down with his left hand before sending him to the ground with a right cross.

  Lee jumped in the van just as two more guards erupted from the door behind them.

  “Drive.” Lee pointed toward the ramp leading up to the next level. “We’re two levels below ground. Follow the arrows to the exit and don’t stop for anything.”

  Ana had the accelerator floored before Lee even finished his sentence. Something about being behind the wheel excited her. For the first time in a long time she could taste freedom, and she liked the taste.

  The van charged up the ramp, scraping the walls and sending sparks flying u
ntil it lurched out onto the next level. Lee’s mirror was decimated, but Ana didn’t let up. She pushed the big van to its limits. The engine growled and sent a cacophony of thunderous noise echoing through the garage. She clipped another shiny sedan as she rounded the next corner. Lee put on his seatbelt and braced himself against the dash. This time she negotiated the ramp without making contact with the wall.

  As the van hurtled out onto ground level, she could see the security gate at the end of the row, a grid of crisscrossed metal. A security guard jumped in front of the gate and fumbled with a gun at his side. Ana let off the gas.

  “Drive!”

  Ana obeyed Lee’s command. She didn’t know if it was the van bearing down on him, or the crazed look in her eyes, but the man leapt out of the way just before the van hit the gate. Pieces of metal exploded outward and showered down on the ground outside. The van shook and shimmied as it ran over the remains of the gate. Ana was about to say something to Lee when the van’s back window shattered inward. She screamed and turned the wheel reflexively, sending the van up and over a curb and onto the manicured grounds of the hospital.

  “That bastard actually fired at us.” Lee seemed to be laughing. He waved his hand toward the road. “Take us out onto the highway.”

  Ana guided the van across the lawn and out onto the circular drive in front of the hospital before driving straight through a chain link gate.

  Lee flashed her a smile. “Not bad for someone who has never driven before…at least not in this lifetime.”

  Xi Shi

  Xi Shi held tight to the tapestry as the man pulled her leg closer to the edge of the altar. The cross timber creaked under the strain. The soldier’s grip was strong. She stretched her right leg out to the opposite edge of the altar and used it as a pivot point. With all of the strength she could summon in her upper body, she twisted her torso until she was facing away from the man; all the while he kept a firm grip around her ankle. Several other soldiers were coming up behind him, but because of the confined space of the altar room, they were unable to flank her. She twisted her body to its limit, coiling herself up like a spring. When she could twist no further, she threw her right leg up in the air, letting her upper body uncoil, sending her leg arcing through the air. The uncoiled force made the kick she drove into the man’s neck harder than it would have been otherwise.

  He immediately released his grip and grasped at his throat. His eyes bulged and he staggered backwards into the soldier behind him. The two went down to the floor in a twisted heap. A third soldier leapt over the two, but Xi Shi had already made her move. She was halfway up the tapestry and pulling herself onto the cross timber when he reached the altar. She pulled the tapestry up behind her and flung the end around the timber that held the raised roof above the altar. In a matter of seconds she was pulling herself out of the opening and onto the roof. She glanced back down into the temple as the soldier climbed on top of the altar. He lunged for her, but wasn’t quite tall enough to reach the cross timber.

  The moon was directly above her now, its silver light shining down, exposing her. She could hear movement below. The palace guards were probably surrounding the temple. The book pulsated beneath her robes. She could feel its warmth even through the leather pouch. It seemed to pulsate in time to her heartbeat.

  Xi Shi scanned the grounds and the surrounding forest from her vantage point. She knew where she needed to be, but getting there would be difficult to say the least. She had anticipated being able to leave through the rear of the temple, slinking in between the scrub brushes that grew along the wall of the palace behind the temple. Maybe she could jump to the wall.

  Before she could give it another thought, a noise at the edge of the roof drew her attention. The soldiers below had raised a ladder up to the roof and had jostled several of the ceramic roof tiles in the process. She stood, balancing herself between tiles, and peered over the edge. There was already a man ascending and several below were preparing another ladder. The man looked up just in time to see Xi Shi pushing the tip of the ladder away from the roof with her foot. She didn’t stay to witness his inevitable fall to the ground, but she heard the evidence.

  The palace wall behind the temple was farther away and taller than she would like it to be, but she had run out of options. She balanced herself, leaned forward, and then leapt into motion. Even with her light frame she managed to dislodge a few tiles, sending them crashing to the ground below. She hoped that one or two found a soft spot on the soldiers below. A few feet before she made it to the edge, a hand reached up onto the roof. They had raised a ladder on this side as well. A moment later the soldier’s head popped up. Xi Shi imagined how big his eyes must have been when he saw her charging straight at him. Before he could make a move, Xi Shi launched herself off the roof using the man’s head as a springboard.

  She threw her arms out in front of her and locked her eyes on the wall. She knew she hadn’t jumped high enough to land on her feet, but she hoped that she had enough height to grab onto the wall’s edge. The cool night air passed over her body and for an instant she imagined she was a majestic Red-crowned Crane gliding above the treetops. Her impact with the wall brought her out of her reverie. She hit hard, but immediately found a grip, wedging her fingers into the seams between the stone slabs. With all of the strength she could muster, she pressed her toes against the wall and inched her knees upward until they were nearly parallel with her chest. She braced her feet against the wall and pushed her legs up as hard as she could. When her torso was above the wall, she leaned forward and rolled over the edge.

  Soldiers inside the palace had already anticipated her move. They approached her from either end of the wall where the guard towers met the next course. They were closing in on her, but their actions were concentrated, deliberate. They must have witnessed her skill and decided upon a careful approach. She took a breath and stood. She could see the tree line along the eastern side of the palace. Somewhere within the forest Wang Xu left a horse tied to a tree for her. She wondered briefly what would happen to it if she never made it off the wall.

  The soldier between her and the tree line shouted something to the men below. Shortly afterward they arranged themselves in a semi-circle below her and stretched a length of fabric between them. Apparently the soldier meant to knock her off the wall for the others to catch. She admired his plan, but she was going to do her best to ruin it.

  “Are you so frightened of me, that you’re afraid you will fall?” She smiled as she pulled the dagger from her sash.

  He glowered at her and drew his sword from its scabbard. “Come at me, woman, and we will see who is frightened.”

  Xi Shi glanced back over her shoulder. The other soldier was still advancing, but appeared to be waiting for his counterpart to make the first move. She returned her attention back to the man with the sword. He edged closer to her, turning the blade slowly in his right hand.

  “You’ve nowhere to run, woman.” He lingered on the last word with disgust and spat on the wall.

  Xi Shi smiled at him again. “So you say.”

  The man looked as though he was going to taunt her again, but his face froze, and then contorted when she ran at him. The speed of her charge gave the man little time to react. He lunged forward thrusting the point of his sword at her chest. She dodged to the right and twisted her body around when she was directly even with him. With a quick jab she plunged the dagger into his side with her right hand. The point found the spot between his armored breastplate and his belt. She pushed it all the way to the hilt and grabbed his sword arm. She used her momentum to spin him around before pulling the dagger free from his body. She felt his warm blood on her hand as she watched him tumble over the wall. The soldiers below managed to catch him, but there was nothing else they could do. He was already dead.

  The death of his compatriot spurred the other man into action. He drew his sword and ran headlong toward her. She threw the dagger at him, but the blood on her h
and affected her release and her aim went wide. The soldier knocked the dagger aside with his sword and kept coming at her. She turned away from him and raced along the wall toward the forest edge.

  More shouting and clamoring arose from beneath her, but she didn’t pause to look. When she reached the end of the wall she jumped, again throwing her arms out, but wider this time as though she actually was the Red-crowned Crane taking flight. The treetops rushed up to meet her. She twisted her body to the side and made contact with the first branch, snapping it in half with her shoulder. The force spun her around and she flailed her arms out instinctively. Further and further she fell, cracking and snapping branches until at last her hand caught a sturdy limb.

  Xi Shi hung by her arm from a mighty oak. Her body swung like a pendulum and all of the tiny scrapes on her arms and face made their presence known. She looked below her and found another hefty branch. With a few careful steps she tested it before dropping onto it in a crouching position. Taking a moment to steady her breathing, she listened to her surroundings. Her enemies were mounting up. Some of them were already in the forest. She knew the river was to the southeast, as for the horse, she was less certain.