by North, Geoff
They crept down the hall, following the trail of howler blood, all the way back to the elevator and stairwell. Lawson had been right; the pain in Cobe’s knee was gone. Even the lawman looked healthier. Perhaps it was the fact he still had people to protect that brought life rushing back into his system, or maybe he’d found other medicines in the washroom to help replenish all that lost blood. Maybe it was just as he said—that he was too stubborn to die.
Cobe still held the lawman partially responsible for the death of his parents. He’d wanted to spit in his face multiple times, and he had kicked him square in the nuts for smacking his brother. But he had kept Cobe and Willem safe outside the walls of Burn. He had shared his food with the boys and given them water to drink. Lawson had saved their lives twice from howler attacks, and he was helping Cobe find his brother now. Maybe the lawman wasn’t such a mean old fucker after all.
Cobe followed him down the stairs, not sure where the anger he still felt was coming from.
Chapter 21
The howler shrieked and jumped at Willem’s face. The boy shut his eyes and waited for the long gray nails to rip his flesh open. Something grabbed at his shoulder and pulled him back. Willem opened his eyes again as he fell to the floor, hardly able to believe the sight before him.
The old man he’d fled from had one hand wrapped around the howler’s throat. The creature swung with its limbs, but Lothair batted its arms away with his free hand. Willem knew he had to flee—he had to get away from both monsters—but he was frozen to the spot, drawn to the violent and unlikely confrontation unfolding before him.
The howler swung again and Lothair caught it by the wrist. Willem could hear the sound of bones cracking over the howler’s screams as the old man twisted. He didn’t stop there. He lifted the creature off the floor and pounded it into the wall. Willem felt the floor shudder. Lothair hammered into the wall again and again. Its limbs ceased flailing after the fourth hit, and Willem saw a mess of blood and brains smeared into the dented wall as Lothair lowered it to the floor.
Something lurched in Willem’s stomach as Lothair’s thumb slithered out of a hole it had punched through the dead howler’s throat. A weak flow of blood followed and the old man cupped up what he could in his hand and drank it down. Willem gagged and turned his head away.
“Stay where you are,” Lothair ordered between swallows. “When I’m finished here, we’re still going to wake my great-granddaughter.”
Whatever fight was left in him drained away, like the dead howler’s blood slowly pooling towards his shaking feet. He was too scared to flee. Lothair tore into the gash at the howler’s throat and peeled a section of skin and meat away. He shoved it into his mouth and started to chew. Willem pulled his knees up to his chest, wrapped his arm around his knees, and started to cry.
***
2046
Somewhere along the border of Saudi Arabia and New Kuwait
Edna hated the desert. Temperatures that summer had soared to record levels along the border of Saudi Arabia and Kuwait, and Edna had spent the last three days sitting in the middle of it, waiting in a tent. But it wasn’t the oppressive heat during the days and the freezing temperatures at night that got to her. Edna was an Eichberg; she was made of tough stuff. It was the desolation. She was used to being active and having places to go. She was the daughter of Kelvin Eichberg, owner and CEO of ABZE Corporation. And although Edna had no official capacity in the company as far as making decisions went, she was being groomed to run it eventually. She knew how the business worked, as well—if not better—than most of the senior staff. She had spent the last three years traveling and meeting people. She had learned eight languages, visited thirty countries, and been introduced to some of the most important leaders worldwide. All of this had been accomplished before her eighteenth birthday. Edna did these things willingly and happily for her father. She would learn anything, go anywhere, and do anything he asked.
The Middle East trip had been her decision. Kelvin Eichberg had objected, but Edna had insisted. It was a dangerous part of the world, he had told her. There was nothing there for ABZE. The oil reserves had been depleted during the ‘thirsty thirties’ and the tar sands projects in northern Canada were now supplying 90% of North America’s energy needs. The Middle East no longer had any sway in world matters. It held no power. All that remained were the wars. Edna remained firm, and told her father she was going anyway. Kelvin had finally given in.
Edna hated the desert’s desolation, but her heart was filled with hope for the future.
The sun had set minutes before, and Edna resigned herself to another long, cold night under the green canvas. She took one last look out the screen window and saw the jiggle of headlights bouncing over a distant sand dune in the east. It was probably just a patrol unit. She didn’t get her hopes up. More headlights popped into view behind it, and Edna’s heart raced. A string of them worked their way towards the camp. The closer the vehicles came, the more detail Edna could make out. There were half a dozen or more heavy artillery units being herded along by two hover tanks in the rear. The vehicle in front was smaller, painted the same color as the blowing sand, and capable of going much faster than the rest. It was the lead vehicle—the one in charge.
He’s in there.
Edna rushed out into the gathering twilight, oblivious to the dropping temperature and howling wind. It would plummet to minus twenty, or further, in less than an hour. She didn’t care. She raced past the security sentries and their big black guns, waving her arms in the air.
The lead vehicle slowed. Sand blasted out from the sides as it settled into the ground in front of her. A hatch popped open and a quarter of the hovercraft’s top slid open. A powerfully built yet lithe figure dressed in army camouflage jumped out and ran towards her.
Edna fell into his arms, her face resting against the man’s hard chest. He smelled like the desert. “I thought you’d never get here,” she yelled over the whine and roar of other army units arriving and powering down.
Captain Strope kissed the top of her dusty head. “We would’ve made it back yesterday afternoon if one of the tanks hadn’t broken down. Had the damn thing fixed in under two hours, but it left us out in the open too long. We had to dig in and fight insurgents for the next sixteen hours.”
Edna pulled away and swept her eyes over him. He was covered in a light film of brown dust; his closely shaved black hair and tanned face seemed to glow in it, making his brown eyes even more intense. She ran her fingers along his jawline, feeling just the subtlest scratch of stubble. Even after fighting days on end for his life, and the lives of his men, her brave soldier still found time to shave at least once every day. He was the quintessential image of what the Armed Forces had once represented. “Were you hurt?”
He shook his head and smiled grimly. “We’re fine…can’t say the same for the other side.”
“You shouldn’t be here, Michael—none of you should be. The war is pointless.”
He kissed her again, this time on the forehead. “Can’t disagree with you there. Most wars are pointless, but until the politicians find something better for us to fight for, I guess we’re staying put.” His lips rubbed the side of her cheek, catching a single tear along the way. “Why have you come here? I thought we agreed to see each other after my tour was complete.”
“That’s still a year away. This couldn’t wait.”
The last of Captain Strope’s soldiers had exited their vehicles and made their way into the camp, leaving Edna and Michael alone in the advancing dark. Even then, the captain whispered his concerns. “You know how I feel about you. My guys would never say a word. But even halfway around the world, people like to talk… If this gets back to Caroline…”
“I’m pregnant.” It wasn’t how she wanted to tell him. But now that they were together, she couldn’t imagine him being too upset. The affair had started three months earlier in Chicago. Edna’s father had been deep in negotiations with the military regarding its
top officials and most decorated soldiers taking advantage of ABZE’s services. Eichberg and the top military brass had agreed future wars could best be handled by veterans of conflicts past.
It was during a social gathering of ABZE and government representatives that the two had met. Kelvin Eichberg had introduced his daughter to the famed warrior personally. Although he was ten years older than her, the attraction was instantaneous. They had shared many of their most guarded secrets that first night. Michael had told her of his arranged marriage to a woman who neither respected, nor cared for his military ambitions. Edna had always been proud of her family and the gift they offered humanity, but there were times when she just wanted to be a young woman, irresponsible and free. She had told Michael this out on the balcony of a nameless, cold high-rise, looking over a city of sparkling light that would soon be shrouded in black. They met again privately the following night and fell in love.
Michael had returned to the Middle East a week later. Edna went back to a place that seemed even further away—to the life of a young corporate woman, meeting in board rooms across the country in dozens of cities, absorbing all she needed to know—learning the family business. They met clandestinely online—late at night for Edna and early in the mornings for Michael—to talk about their future together. He would leave Caroline eventually. When business was wrapped up between the Armed Forces and ABZE, there would be nothing left standing in their way. They both understood that any future relationship relied on present discretion.
But this was different. He would do the right thing—to hell with ABZE and the army.
“I…I can’t handle this.” Michael shook his head and took a step back from her. “Jesus Christ, Edna—you came all this way to tell me that?”
Edna couldn’t believe what she was hearing. She reached out, thinking dumbly that a gust of cool wind had separated him from her. “We’re going to have a baby. I needed to tell you in person. Would you rather I’d texted the news?”
Something dark fell over his face. It was a look she had never seen before, but it was an expression that seemed all too comfortable there considering who he was, and what he did for a living. “It’ll have to be terminated. Immediately.”
Another blast of wind hit her. Sand bit at her eyes, but the sting of his words was far worse. It was a cold slap back into reality. Standing mere feet apart, Edna knew they were—and always would be—worlds away from each other. No baby would bring them closer. She didn’t bother pleading. She may have been foolish and naive on the inside, but she was all Eichberg on the exterior.
Edna was on a hover transport less than half an hour later. Fourteen hours after that she was back in Chicago, sitting at her father’s side in a board room near the end of a long black table littered with tablets and cell phones. Expressionless white faces lined either side. Cold-eyed men in gray and black suits listened as Kelvin Eichberg rambled on about company growth and the steadily rising cost of power consumption.
She hated them all.
Edna wouldn’t terminate the pregnancy. She didn’t give a goddamn what her father thought, or how it might affect ABZE’s relationship with its military clients. She would have a daughter, and she prayed Captain Strope would never meet her. She hoped he would die in his desert, and that the sands would bury his remains, and her memories of him with it.
***
“Edna.”
Who’s calling me?
“Edna… Open your eyes.”
No. I feel warm. I want to sleep… Forever.
She breathed in, expecting the air to be cool and smelling of sand. Her mind was still there—she was still in the desert. It was early evening. Michael was walking away from her. She felt something for him. An emotion? Edna was confused but unafraid. Had she loved him?
“Edna.”
She opened her eyes and saw an old man with pink eyes staring down at her. His lips and cheeks were coated in blood; his bald head was covered in it. It looked as though he’d stuck his entire face into a dead animal’s carcass.
“Great-grandfather.” Her voice was a whisper.
Lothair didn’t smile. He didn’t welcome her into the thirty-first century, or tell her how much she looked like her great-grandmother. “Are you able to sit up? I need you to tell me more about these…enhancements. Can you stand?”
The desert was gone. Edna remembered writing the letter to her great-grandfather. She remembered counting in her head and rushing down through the Dauphin facility to be frozen. There hadn’t been much time. The more she recalled, the more questions filled her mind. How much damage had the coronal ejection caused? Had the nukebatts done their job—how long had she been frozen? And how long had her great grandfather been unthawed?
Was she supposed to hug him and kiss his blood-caked cheek? Was she expected to thank him, and tell this distant relative how much she loved him? She sat up and stretched her bare limbs.
“Yes, I can stand.”
She climbed out of the cylinder without Lothair’s help. Her legs gave out and she crumpled to the floor. She pushed herself back up to her knees and saw a boy with one arm cowering in the corner. Edna felt her intestines shudder and twist. Saliva that tasted like ancient chemicals watered up inside her mouth as she crawled towards him.
Lothair pulled her up and steered her to the washroom-closet. “No…not yet, Edna. The facility has been compromised. The boy has brought others with him.” He showed her to the clothes she’d hung up centuries before. Edna slipped into a one-piece ABZE work uniform. It was white with a tapered waist that felt a little looser than she remembered. She zipped up the front and regarded Willem again. “How many?”
“At least three more. The boy has a brother, and there may be an armed adult…a lawman of some kind.”
“And the third?”
Lothair shook his head dismissively. “Mentally challenged. I’ve dealt with him already.”
Edna turned away from the boy with an effort and looked at herself in the small mirror above the washroom sink. Her skin was as white as the uniform she had donned. It was a stark contrast to the shoulder-length black hair framing her cheeks. Her eyes were pink, like her great-grandfather’s, and there was a trace of blue in her lips. Pink eyes, blue lips. A thousand years ago, Edna would’ve screamed at the face staring back at her.
“We’re not…human anymore, are we?”
“The enhancements,” Lothair said from behind her. “They’ve brought us back…we’re stronger, smarter…but something is missing. I’m not sure what it is. A lack of empathy…a void inside.”
Edna nodded. “A lack of everything. No feelings at all.” She saw the reflection of his face over her shoulder. “Our souls…they’re gone.”
“We haven’t lost all feeling.” Lothair was staring at Willem. The howler’s blood and sinewy flesh had done little to dull his appetite. He wanted—he needed—more. The hunger burned in his great-granddaughter’s eyes as well. Her need to satisfy it would be even greater than his. Lothair would have to let her eat soon. They had to take care of this lawman, and they had to take care of him quickly.
Edna wiped the drool away from her face with the sleeve of her work suit. Lothair guided her out of the washroom, and away from Willem. There were three cryo-cylinders in the room where he’d found her. Two were still sealed and running. He looked into the rectangular glass window of one of them and saw the face of a young girl. She couldn’t have been much more than fifteen years old when frozen. Lothair peered in closer, saw a gash in the skin of her forehead. It joined with another running down the side of her nose.
“My daughter,” Edna said. “Her name is Jennifer.”
“After my daughter?”
“After my grandmother.”
Neither laughed at the other’s lineal perspective.
“It’s against company policy to store multiple clients in one cryo-room. At least it was in my time,” Lothair said.
“As it was in mine. But I was in control of ABZE when Jennifer ha
d her accident.” Edna felt nothing as she recalled the car crash that had claimed the life of her sixteen-year-old daughter. “I bent the rules.”
Lothair was now standing in front of the third cylinder. “Considerably. Who was this?”
“Colonel Michael Strope…Jennifer’s father. Killed in action during the second Governmental Transition of Egypt in 2063.”
“You were married?”
Edna shook her head. “I detested him.”
Lothair wanted to point out that having the man frozen next to her and their daughter was an unusual way to express detestation, but he had more important matters to take care of first. “This colonel…killed in action. I take it his military experience was extensive?”
“He was the most decorated, fearless warrior of his time.”
Lothair found the cylinder’s control panel. “Then let us see how he fares against a lawman from the thirty-first century.”
Chapter 22
“He’s dead.”
“Willem ain’t dead,” the lawman answered. “We would’ve found his remains. Doesn’t even look like there was any kind of struggle.” He indicated the bottom drawer of the desk. “See there? Wasn’t like that when we were in here before. Someone’s forced it open since—yer brother I’m bettin’.”
“He would’ve come back for me.”
“He more ’n likely tried. Where was he supposed to look once you’d used the elevator? It’s an awful big place down here. Lots of floors a little kid could get lost on.”
Cobe knew how his brother thought. He was smart and resourceful. “He went to Level E if he went anywhere.”
Lawson nodded. “I agree.” He pulled the small revolver out from the back of his waistband and held it in front of Cobe. “I expect you’ll be armin’ yerself this time round?”
Cobe took it grudgingly and the two hurried out of the armory office. They didn’t wait long at the closed elevator doors. The lawman’s energy had returned fully. He went for the stairs and Cobe followed, taking them two at a time. They stopped to catch their breath on the landing of Level T.