Lethal Injection

by K M Lovold

  Then memories of Grandfather overcame him…

  “Ian, I’ve made a way for anyone on Reathran to contact someone back on Earth. It’s in the flag. If you can get there, you can work with someone on Earth to destroy that prison once and for all. I wasn’t able to accomplish it, but now that you’re in The Circle, and you’re working with the chemicals, maybe you can find a way. Destroy it for me. For all of us…”

  “What’s taking him so long?” David gaped at Nikolina, and Ian refocused on his two captors. “How did you inform him?”

  Nikolina’s grip on Ian tightened, but she stared at David. “How am I supposed to know what’s taking him so long? And I informed him the way you showed me. I’m not stupid. I know what I’m doing.” Hair loosed from her ponytail hung long and wavy past her shoulders, and her thick, pink lips quivered against her perfectly straight teeth as she spoke. “If you have a problem with what’s taking him so long, go figure it out for yourself.”

  “Fine, fine.” David loosened his clasp on Ian. “You got him? ’Cause I’m gonna go and see if he’s coming. Maybe he didn’t understand we were directly on the landing strip.”

  Nikolina shrugged. “Maybe. Has any prisoner ever made it this far before?”

  “No.” David released Ian and jogged to the end of the landing strip, back to the rocky terrain and climbed back up it. He stood on the edge. “I see him! He’s coming this way! Keep a firm hold on the prisoner. Klaus’s almost here.”

  Nikolina tightened her grasp.

  “Over here!” David raised his arm in the air. “We’ve got him down there!”

  Ian pressed his lips together, his muscles tightening in readiness to run. At the edge of the terrain, the tall figure of Klaus appeared next to David. This was Ian’s last chance. He twisted and pulled his arm from Nikolina, and to his amazement, she let go without a fight. He launched to his feet and sprinted to the spacecraft.

  She let him go…

  He reached the scanner when a gunshot reverberated near to him, and he ducked. Compelled to look back, he instead pressed his thumbprint to the scanner that flickered to life and scanned his retinas in an instant. The doorway slid open. He darted inside, but before the doorway sealed shut, he spotted Nikolina standing there, her feet planted at a wide stance. Behind her, David and Klaus ran at full speed, Klaus’s gun aimed at him.

  “Get him, Nikolina! Stop him!” David yelled.

  Nikolina’s chest heaved in and out. “Go!” she shouted to Ian. “Get out of here!” Her gaze was alert, her jaw set. “Come back for me!”

  Another shot exploded, and Ian pressed the button to the door, but before it closed tight, Nikolina dropped to the ground.

  “No! Nikolina!” Ian pounded on the secure door, but it was no use. He darted to the pilot seat and stared out the window. Nikolina lay crumpled on the ground, but Klaus ran towards the ship.

  Ian scanned his retinas inside the ship, and she hummed to life immediately, as if she’d been waiting for him. He stared out the window, hand covering his mouth.

  Klaus stood below, screaming at him, but Ian couldn’t hear a word of it. Klaus carved his hands through his hair and gripped his head, his eyes wide, a look of disbelief washing over him.

  David darted to Waitforit and struck the door, shouting, demanding.

  Waitforit’s engine hummed louder, and Ian, knowing exactly how to fly her, lifted her into the air right above Klaus and David.

  With one last glance, he peered at Nikolina lying in a heap on the landing strip, her dark hair lifting in the breeze, the brightness of the moon shining down on her against the black sky. A painful tightness grew in his throat, and he swallowed hard.

  “Nikolina…” he whispered.

  But then David and Klaus blocked his view, and they attempted to chase him even while he hovered above them, but they struggled against the air and heat from the craft, their mouths still moving madly, as if they could stop him by shouting him down.

  Ian narrowed his eyes at the two keepers, warmth radiating throughout his entire body. He smiled and nodded at them, flicked the correct switch, lifting Waitforit higher into the sky.

  ****

  A large body slumped on the ground a slight distance from the retina scanner.

  “Someone’s laying on the ground there.” Malaki picked up his pace.

  “You’re right.” Lawrence kept pace with him, Jonathan on their heels.

  “Who is it?” Jonathan spoke up.

  Malaki ran now but slowed before he reached the gate. He scanned his retinas and the gate unclicked. He darted to the still form. Charles Price. He poked the man’s shoulder, but there was barely any movement, except for his chest moving in dangerously slow motion.

  “What the—” Jonathan yelled. “What happened? What’s this? Charles! Charles!” He lowered near his mouth. “He’s barely breathing.” He put his fingers to Price’s wrist. “His pulse is slow. Call 911! What happened here?”

  Lawrence began punching buttons on his phone, and his words faded in and out as the woods seemed to spin around Malaki. He rushed to the retina scanner.

  “Ambulance is on the way.” Lawrence approached Malaki.

  “He was messing with the scanner.” Malaki touched it, careful of the black burn smudges. Smoke curled out the side. “Looks like he was trying to modify it so it would read his retinas as if they were Ian’s, or mine, so he could break in. But he failed. In attempting to alter it, he turned up the voltage.” Malaki paused for a moment. “He didn’t know Ian used regular electricity.” He returned and stood above Price. “He must’ve gotten a jolt that threw him way over here. Plus, it burned him good.”

  “Oh my God.” Jonathan twisted around and gagged.

  “Can you smell that? It’s burning flesh.” Lawrence started coughing, putting his hands to his stomach.

  Malaki dropped to his knees and put his hands on Price’s shoulders. “Price! Price!” He shook him gently and a flask fell out of Price’s coat pocket onto the ground.

  “We won’t be blamed for this will we?” Fear laced Jonathan’s voice.

  Malaki stood and covered his face with his hands. “No, we won’t be blamed for this. Why would we be?”

  Lawrence bent over and put his hands on his knees. “Do you think he’s – he’s gonna… make it? Do you think he’ll live?”

  “I don’t know.” Malaki rubbed his chest, feeling a slight pain there. A breeze blew, and a strong sent of burnt skin wafted towards him. He turned, stomach heaving, and ran into the woods to wretch. He never dreamt it would turn out this way. This was not what he wanted to happen.

  “You OK, Malaki?” Lawrence called. “Do you need to go to the house? I’ll go with you if you need any help.”

  Malaki wiped his mouth. “I’m fine, but, yeah, I need to get back to the house.”

  Jonathan waved him off. “I’ll stay until the ambulance arrives. Come back as soon as you can.”

  “Of course.” Malaki put his hand to his stomach. “I just need to get some water or something carbonated. I’ll be right back.”

  “I need something, too.” Lawrence appeared next to him

  Malaki’s throat thickened with angst as he walked back to the house. He clutched his sore arm. “I sincerely hope he doesn’t pin this on us.”

  “What? It’s obvious he did this to himself.” Lawrence coughed again. “The man reeks of alcohol, and he was enraged after our meeting.”

  “But we can’t talk about the meeting. Can’t bring up The Circle.” Malaki stopped abruptly. “Got that? Nobody knows about it. We don’t bring it up. The man was obsessed with Ian and where he was for other reasons. Personal reasons. All right? No bringing up The Circle.”

  “I know that.” Lawrence spoke harshly. “Calm down. We’ll get through this.”

  They reached the steps leading to the front door. “You’re right, you’re right. I’m sorry.” Malaki went inside the house and leaned against the countertop in the kitchen, dropping his chin to his chest. />
  Lawrence pulled the refrigerator open. “Soda? Water? What do you want?”

  “I’ll take a ginger ale, and then let’s head back out there. I don’t want to leave Jonathan alone for very long.”

  What was Price thinking? He should’ve known better. “How do we explain this to the rest of The Circle? I can’t believe this happened. As much as I wanted him dealt with, so he doesn’t try to control us anymore, I never wanted this. I never—”

  “Here.” Lawrence cracked open a can of ginger ale and handed it to Malaki and then opened one for himself. “Let’s get back out there.”

  “Yeah.” Malaki followed Lawrence and when they strode down the hallway, static echoed from the radio in the ham room. Malaki glanced towards it. The prospect of hearing from Ian seemed like an impossibility right now, a faded dream.

  Once they returned to Jonathan, the three quietly spoke of how to explain the truth without giving away The Circle. They decided to go with the basics: they all worked together, but Price had been having mental issues lately, and with Ian gone, Price did the unthinkable. He tried to break in. He went too far. Too blasted far.

  It was about fifteen minutes later when the ambulance showed up, followed by a police officer.

  Malaki told the police officer everything that happened while the EMTs immediately started working on Price and then loaded him onto the stretcher. They slammed the ambulance doors behind him, and the sirens blared as they sped away.

  “Sorry you’ve had such a rough night.” The police officer headed around to the driver side of his squad car. “I hope your friend makes it.”

  “Thanks. Us, too,” Lawrence said.

  The three men headed back to the house.

  “We’ll call the hospital later. Or tomorrow.” Malaki crushed his can of ginger ale. “And once we find out Price’s prognosis, we can’t waste a minute in dealing with the aftermath. An emergency meeting of The Circle will have to be set in motion straightaway. Let’s send the messages tonight.”

  “You should be the one to call the meeting.” Lawrence eyed Malaki. “You’re Price’s number two guy.”

  “Fine,” Malaki said. “Schedule it for tomorrow. And we’ll have to get going on the next one to possibly join The Circle. We’ll have to vote on that tomorrow as well.”

  “That’ll be Jules Garrison, like Lawrence already told us,” Jonathan spoke up.

  “But we don’t even know yet if Price isn't going to survive this.” Lawrence pulled the front door to the house open. “We can’t assume he’s going to die.”

  Malaki closed and locked the door behind them. “But if he survives, will he be the same?”

  “I don’t know if I want him to be the same,” Lawrence said. “I don’t want to talk about this now. Let’s just call the hospital tomorrow.”

  “Fine.” Malaki raked his fingers through his hair. “Well, you can stay the night.” Malaki headed to the refrigerator to swipe a can of beer. “I’m sure you don’t want to take the long drive back. Send a message to Benjamin, let him know you won’t be back tonight and have him cancel any airplane flights due to our emergency meeting tomorrow. We’ll meet here again.”

  The three men drank a few beers and watched television for a while, not saying much about Price. Not knowing what to say.

  After a couple hours, Malaki telephoned the hospital on speakerphone, Lawrence and Jonathan standing nearby.

  “He’s received quite the electric shock,” a nurse explained. “They’re going to do a CT scan on him. He should survive, but we don’t know the extent of the damage to his brain.”

  It was all the information they would give him.

  Lawrence flopped onto the living room couch, rubbing his hands across his face. “I’m exhausted.”

  “I’m going to bed.” Jonathan’s arms hung loose at his sides. “We have the whole day tomorrow to talk this through.”

  “Goodnight,” Malaki and Lawrence said in unison.

  “I’m going to listen to the radio for a little bit, then I’m hitting the hay, too.” Malaki cracked open another beer and motioned to Lawrence. “You can crash on the couch, or there’s another bed up in the loft. You’re welcome to it.”

  “Thanks.” Lawrence yawned but didn’t look as if he was going anywhere. The couch was probably it for him for the night.

  Malaki entered the ham shack and sat in the chair opposite the radio that still hummed a quiet, steady static sound. He massaged his forehead and took a gulp of beer. His mind had stopped racing, and he rubbed his arm where it throbbed dully. His eyelids were heavy, but anxiety from the night’s events ramped up his adrenaline. Sleep was the last thing he wanted to do. The radio’s monotonous buzzing was much more welcoming.

  He leaned his head back on the chair and closed his eyes, the static transfixing him to the point of relaxation. He contemplated what was going to happen next. Would Price survive? And if he did, what would he be like? What would happen next…

  Intermittent blasts of static woke Malaki. What time was it? The only light in the room was the light shining from the radio. How long had he been sleeping? He stared at nothing for several minutes when the static vanished again. Malaki’s head snapped towards it. He rubbed his face, trying to wake up from the deep sleep he’d slipped into.

  The static blared again and then went silent for a moment, followed by more static.

  “What?” he whispered.

  He gaped at the radio. It sounded as if someone was keying up a microphone on that frequency. Suddenly, a faint but somewhat clear voice resonated into the room.

  “C…” Static. “Q…CQ—”

  More static.

  The drumming in Malaki’s chest grew stronger, faster, his eyes widening, and he became more awake than ever. He leaned in closer to the radio, sucking in slow, even breaths.

  The static paused again.

  “C…Q—”

  More static.

  Malaki picked up the microphone in slow motion, his mouth falling opening and his posture stiffening, then the familiar voice again.

  “CQ, CQ…” A pause. “This is… R0…PD… Standing by…”

  “What?” Malaki gasped. Another flush of adrenaline shot through his body and his fingers trembled as he held the microphone in his hand.

  “CQ, CQ, CQ.” Ian’s voice sounded again, clearer, a hint of desperation in his voice. “This is R0PDG, standing by for a call, over. CQ, CQ, CQ. This is R0PDG, R0PDG, standing by for a call, over.”

  Malaki inhaled slowly and keyed down, holding the microphone to his lips, his voice calm and steady, “R0PDG…” He squeezed his eyes shut and took two deep, shaky breaths. “R0PDG… this is E0NQT, copy. Over.”

  EPILOGUE

  “Nikolina! Nikolina!” The voice echoed as if thousands of miles away. Nikolina’s head swam in darkness as she was jostled around, like she was being tugged on all sides yet floating at the same time—going away to someplace new. Someplace different.

  Anywhere would be better than where she’d been.

  “Nikolina!” The movement continued, and the voice grew closer, clearer.

  “She needs to come to. We need her to live.” A second, almost panicked voice joined in with the first. “We need to find out what she knows.”

  “You’re the one who shot her! And I’m trying, I’m trying,” came the first voice.

  “How was I supposed to know this was going to happen? I didn’t know Knockshine was innocent! He had to have been. And she was his closest ally! Make sure she lives!”

  What’s going on? What am I supposed to know? What’s wrong with me?

  “Klaus, go tell Wren we’re almost there. He’ll know what to do!” The voice blared now in her ears as the fuzziness seemed to subside. “I’ve got her. I’ll be right behind you.”

  All movement came to a halt.

  “Nikolina…” The voice was a whisper now. “If you’re there, listen to me. I’m going to take care of you. I won’t let anything happen to you. Just don’t di
e, don’t leave me. We need you more than ever. You’re gonna be OK. We’re gonna take care of you. You’re gonna be OK.” A warm hand smoothed against her forehead, back and forth, back and forth… The softness and kindness of the voice pulling her out of the darkness.

  “Nikolina…”

  She felt her chest rise as she took a deep, trembling breath and lifted her eyelids with the little strength she had.

  “Nikolina.” David’s face beamed down at her, tears glistening in his eyes. “I’ve got you. We’re going to make you well. I’m not gonna let anything happen to you.”

  Her mind was a rush of confusion. What had he meant by that? And why had there been tears in his eyes? That never happened here… no emotions… no nothing…

  Then a picture of Ian on a spacecraft staring at her flashed in her mind, and then—a memory. She was a little girl, sitting on the front porch with her mom—she saw her face so clearly!—and she sang to Nikolina while she played the ukulele.

  Nikolina hadn’t seen her mother’s face in over twenty years, and the sight of it caused an emotion like she’d never experienced to well up inside her—something she’d never known—along with a determination to fight… to live.

  Ian… Ian, please come back for me…

  Then she dropped back into darkness.

  ABOUT THE AUTHORs

  This is K&M Lovold’s first novel together. The two have been married for 28 years and have three daughters who they love spending time with. They hope to work on more novels together in the future.