Flight from the Dominion (The Gamma Earth Cycle Book 2)

by Craig Halloran

  “What’s the shovel for?” Giddy said.

  “When we find Case, we might have to bury him. Heh, at least the ground will be soft.” Wayne led the way, and with Giddy taking one lasting glance over his shoulder, they were gone.

  Gabe did a count in his head. There were ten Deathriders in all, plus Jack. Now, three were gone. Aside from Cookie and Trooper, he hadn’t learned much about the others, but he was learning. Saul had taught him to study people. Learn what they like and what they hate. Work with it. Sitting on the hood of the truck, he put his arm around Rann’s waist. Even though it was muggy and hot, she still shivered.

  “Cookie, get a fire going, and stir something up,” Trooper said.

  “Aye.” Cookie forced his hefty figure up with a groan. He gave either Gabe or Rann a wink when he passed.

  “I’m not sure which is worse, them or the one-eyes,” she said under her breath.

  Her words forced Gabe’s smile. Trooper caught it. Gabe sealed his lips, but it was too late. The leader of the Deathriders came right at him.

  “Are you smiling at me, boy?” Trooper said.

  Gabe held the man’s stare but in a respectful way. “No, sir. Just glad to be alive.”

  “Don’t get used to it. It’s going to be a long night, and there’s a long ride ahead. I don’t plan on letting you get comfortable either. As a matter of fact,”—Trooper grabbed Gabe and pulled him off the hood of the truck—“she can have the hood, and you can have the mud.” He pushed Gabe down onto the sloppy ground. “Lie there and stay there.”

  “Ah, Trooper,” Cookie interrupted.

  “Yes.”

  Scratching his neck the jittery-eyed man said, “Some of our supplies are missing.”

  “Then you mustn’t have tied them down well enough, idiot. What did you lose? Tell me it wasn’t gas.”

  “No, nothing like that,” Cookie said. “Uh, it’s the dragon cage. It’s empty.”

  Trooped glared down at Gabe, cocked his foot back, and kicked him in the gut.

  Bright spots burst in Gabe’s eyes. “Ooooof!”

  CHAPTER 21

  Squawk’s cage sat on the rear gate of the truck. The metal cage had been chewed clear through. The gap in the cage was small, but like a rat, Squawk squeezed through. Trooper was squeezing the nape of Gabe’s neck in an iron grip. Gabe winced.

  “Get your dragon back here, boy,” Trooper said.

  Gabe hated being called boy. Malak had called him that. It wasn’t until the end, during the breakout in the Dragon Den, that Malak finally called him Gabe. He’d been an ally all along. Gabe couldn’t ever imagine that happening with Trooper. He was Malak two or three times over. Still, he resisted challenging a man who gave him the firm impression that he could be broken in half like a two-inch-thick board. “I can only try,” he said.

  “You will do it.” Trooper squeezed harder. “I’m not some fool who isn’t familiar with what the Dominion does with their little dragons. I know you have the power to call him back.”

  “I don’t. I swear I don’t.” Gabe was half lying. He could control Squawk when the dragon was close but not from far away. At the moment, he didn’t feel any connection to the dragon at all. “If he’s gone far, I can only hope he comes back.”

  “He’s lying,” Jack said. The boy’s eyes bored into Gabe with a hazing stare. He seemed to suffer from some sort of possession or delirium when dealing with Gabe. “The Count called his father the tricky man. Always lying, Trooper. Never believe a word he says.”

  “I don’t need your counsel, little fool,” Trooper said.

  Gabe snickered. He’d finally begun to hate Jack as much as Jack hated him.

  “I wouldn’t be laughing,” Trooper continued. He fastened his hand around Gabe’s wrist. “Jack, wrap up his legs. Dino, hold his arm.”

  Dino was broad as a wall. His short arms caught Gabe in a bear hug from behind. Jack attached himself to Gabe’s legs.

  “What are you doing?”

  “I’m going to find out if you are lying or not.” Trooper puffed on his cigar, making the ash on the end red-hot. He took it from his mouth and held it an inch away from Gabe’s hand.

  The searing heat scorched his skin. “Gah!”

  “Stop it!” Rann screamed. She tried to kick out of another rider’s arms. “Stop it!”

  “Call that winged gas tank back,” Trooper said, “or I’ll push this cigar through one side of your hand and out of the other.”

  “Do it,” Jack said.

  Gabe strained. He couldn’t pull his hand from Trooper’s grasp. He was a child compared to the commanding man. Helpless. With sweat beading his face and eyes rolling up in his head, he screamed, “Squawk!”

  Trooper’s hard stare shifted to the tunnel opening. The rain continued to come down in sheets. Water poured from the top of the tunnel’s mouth like waterfall. Squawk did not come.

  The burning sensation increased. Gabe groaned and ground his teeth.

  “Get that dragon back here, boy. Get him back now, or you’ll be burning like fire for hours.”

  “I can’t,” Gabe moaned. “He needs to be closer.” He puffed out. “Squawk!”

  “You’re lying, Gabe. I know you can summon him. You used to always brag about it,” Jack said, feeding Trooper more of his lies.

  Gabe kneed Jack in the face. Jack punched him in the groin.

  “That’s enough.” Trooper placed the cigar back in his mouth. He inspected Gabe’s hand. The backside of it was red and starting to blister. “It’s going to be a long night for you if that little furnace doesn’t show up. Let him go.”

  Dino release him. Jack held fast until Trooper kicked him.

  Gabe sank to his knees, holding his hand. The fine hairs on the back of his hand made a notable stench.

  “If you think that smells, wait until you smell your skin burning.” Trooper rolled the cigar from one side of his mouth to the other. He moved toward the mouth of the tunnel. His boots splashed through the sloppy ground.

  Gabe imagined Squawk flying into the tunnel mouth and setting the man on fire. Once Squawk finished off Trooper, he’d turn him on Jack. They both had it coming. Probably the others as well.

  Jack gave him a shove to the head, snapping him out of his pain-riddled daze. “Just go away, little fool.”

  Jack peeled back his clothing, revealing the gun the Count had used to kill Saul. The revolver with a matte-black finish brought back haunting memories. “You see this. I’m going to kill you with it if Trooper doesn’t first. You wait and see, Gabe. I’ll kill you.”

  “You climbed down that chasm after that gun, just to kill me? What did I ever do to you, Jack? I saved you in the Dragon Games. What is your problem?”

  “My father said, find one thing to hate. It will always keep you going. I chose you.”

  “Your father swims in the sewers for a living, and you’re following his advice. You really are a little fool, aren’t you?”

  Jack went for the gun. Gabe tackled him. They wrestled in the sloppy layer of water until someone brought their heads together in a skull-jarring collision.

  “That’s enough of that,” Dino said. The burly man wasn’t much taller, but he held them both up by the collar. “What do you want me to do with them, Trooper?”

  Trooper marched over and took away Jack’s gun. “If you shoot Gabe, I’ll shoot you. Got it, Jack?” The boy gave a feeble nod. “Now sit there and sulk together.”

  The riders ate and started to sleep. Gabe was forced to sit beside Jack with Dino watching. His eyes became heavy as the hours passed. His burned hand kept him awake. Near the entrance to the tunnel, Trooper stared out. The rain began to subside, but something was wrong. Wayne and Giddy hadn’t returned. Trooper sat against the wall with his rifle on his lap. His fingers toyed with a bullet.

  He’s worried.

  CHAPTER 22

  Gabe woke to the sound of a steady drip of water and snoring. Jack was slumped over on the floor, dead as a log of soake
d wood. At some point, Rann had managed to slip away from the riders. Now, she nuzzled his arm. His burned hand throbbed. But something else was off. The hairs on his neck stood on end. There were quiet scuffles, foreign to his ear.

  He eased himself out of Rann’s clinging arms. Her eyes opened for a moment before closing again. Outside the mouth of the tunnel, he could see the early day rising up out of the black night. The rain had stopped, but the dripping continued. Trooper remained huddled against the wall, gun in lap, slumped over.

  Am I the only one awake?

  Escape ran through his mind, but where would he go? At best, he could find Squawk again for protection. Taking a vehicle was an idea, but he didn’t know how to drive one. From his point of view, there was just him, Jack, and Rann, with Trooper out front at the mouth of the tunnel. He couldn’t tell if Wade and Giddy had made it back, but it didn’t seem like it.

  One hands and knees he moved over the rivulets of water that ran through the tunnel. Aside from the dripping rain, dropping hollowly in puddles, there was something else. It was the sound of eating or chewing. His skin started crawling. He inched around the backside of the truck and peeked around the wheel well. He froze.

  Basking in the lantern’s light, a bearish animal hunched over a man. It had a spiny tail wrapped around the man’s legs. A chewba. It was eating the man.

  The blood in Gabe’s veins froze. His breathing quickened. He wanted to scream, but a choking fear held him back. It got worse. Inside one of the cars, there was more action. A chewba had paralyzed another man and feasted on him. Like a statue, Gabe watched another chewba creep into his view. Its bestial neck and long, fang-filled snout were low to the ground. Blood dropped from its jaws. A spiny tail was poised to strike more Deathrider prey sleeping on the hood of a car.

  Gabe’s tongue clove to the roof of his mouth. He had to scream. Something else caught his eye. Squatting like an ape on the roof of a car was a man the likes of which Gabe had never seen before. His pale frame rippled with large muscles that were out of proportion. Huge links of chains adorning the man’s body seemed to restrain the sinews. His neck and shoulders were bestial. He had one eye. Parts of his skin was scaly. Looking right at Gabe, he held a finger to his lips and made a silent shush sound.

  With his heart pounding, Gabe crept backward.

  The man on the roof of the car slid off with the ease of a cat. His eye was fixed on Gabe. He started forward, crossing the span between them in lengthy strides. The man’s bulging eye hypnotized Gabe. His jaw dropped, but his voice didn’t respond.

  Rann slipped beside him, saying, “Gabe, what are you doing?” She followed his stare and let out an earsplitting “Eeeyaaaah!”

  The mutated man froze for a moment. He said in a strong gravelly voice, “I am Lodok, avenger of the Eyewatch.” Lodok flinched downward.

  A crack of gunfire blasted inside the tunnel. Trooper shouted, “Get up, you lazy asses! We have company!”

  When Gabe turned his attention back to Lodok, the man was gone. A chewba twenty yards away stared right at him. Finally, his lips loosened. “Get in the truck!” He opened the truck door, shoved Rann inside, jumped into the cabin, and slammed the door.

  Cookie was still inside. Wide-eyed he said, “What is that thing?”

  “Chewba,” Gabe said.

  All of them screamed when the chewba jumped up on the hood of the truck.

  “Gack!” Cookie started rolling up his window and honking the horn. “Get the hell off of my truck!”

  Dino came out of nowhere, swinging a large hatchet. He connected hard with the beast’s flank. It skittered off the hood. Dino kept swinging at it on the ground.

  “Kill it, Dino! Kill it!” Cookie said. “I’d kill it, but I don’t think my ladle would do the trick.”

  There was another crack of gunfire. Through the back glass, Trooper blasted through a chewba that charged him. Searching for another enemy, he didn’t get his aim up as Lodok bore down on him from the shadows. Towering over Trooper, Lodok ripped the rifle out of the Deathrider’s grip. Quick as a snake, Trooper stabbed the man in the ribs with six inches of blade. Lodok snarled. He headbutted Trooper. The bearded Deathrider’s knees buckled. Somehow, Trooper landed a punch on Lodok’s jaw. Lodok responded with an uppercut that lifted Trooper’s large frame from the road.

  Lodok lifted Trooper up over his head. With a savage scream, he yelled, “I am Lodok!” He threw Trooper into the wall like a sack of garbage. Trooper smacked the wall.

  Gabe lost sight of Trooper. Lodok was coming. “Start this thing! Get us out of here!”

  “Ah, good idea.” Cookie cranked the key. The engine fired up. He dropped the gear into reverse and stomped the gas.

  Lodok didn’t jump out of the way. He hooked his body to the rear of the truck and shoved back. The wheels spun on the slick ground. They weren’t going anywhere.

  CHAPTER 23

  “What in the hell is that guy?” Cookie said. “My tires aren’t that bald!”

  A chewba pounced on the hood of the truck again. Rann screamed. The chewba rammed the crown of its head into the windshield.

  “Can you drive this thing or not?” Gabe shouted at Cookie.

  Cookie shoved the gearshift into drive, sending the car forward. He switched gears between drive and reverse, rocking the car and getting traction. Finally, in reverse, the rubber found purchase on the slick road. They zoomed backward. Lodok hopped into the bed of the truck. With his fist, he smashed out a window.

  The truck roared out of the tunnel with a chewba hanging on to the hood like a furry hood ornament. Lodok’s fingers clutched at Rann’s hair. The long, gnarled fingers caught in her tangles and yanked. She screamed like a banshee.

  Gabe sank his teeth into Lodok’s scaly forearm. The truck bounced.

  “Hang on!” Cookie yelled. He yanked the wheel hard. Lodok flew out the back end. The chewba slid, nails screeching, off of the metal hood. He put the shifter into drive and punched the gas again. The truck roared forward twenty yards and hit a sinkhole. All four wheels spun in the giant mudhole. “I swear I’m a better driver than this!” He tried to rock it. They weren’t going anywhere.

  The chewba crawled back on the hood of the truck. Covered in mud, it swiped its claws with hungry ferocity. Something caught its attention. Its dark eyes looked up. It bared its teeth at an unseen foe. Its maw opened. Fire from the heavens shot into its mouth. The creature squealed as its innards toasted and caught fire. It flopped violently off the hood in a flaming death spasm.

  A ruddy-skinned dragon slid down the windshield onto the hood. He spread his wings and let out a triumphant shriek.

  “Squawk!” Gabe said.

  Coming from nowhere, Lodok appeared in front of the truck. His long arm swiped out, snatching the dragon by the neck. His hands squeezed. Squawk’s eyes bulged from their sockets.

  “Nooooo!”

  The bestial man was killing the dragon.

  A bullet ripped through Lodok’s skull, leaving a hole in his eye. For a quick moment, Gabe saw Trooper, rifle in hand, through the oozing gap. Lodok fell with Squawk in a death grip. Gabe jumped out of the truck. Knee deep in thick, boot-sucking mud, he waded to the front end. Squawk wriggled in Lodok’s grip. Gabe peeled the steel-strong fingers away, one at a time. The dragon scurried away.

  Crawling out of the muddy pit, Gabe said, “Shoo!”

  Cookie and Rann got out of the truck. Trooper ambled over. His shoulder drooped, and his face was busted and bloody. He looked into the mud pit. Lodok’s mighty frame was sinking into the sopping sands.

  “Mutants,” Trooper grunted. He spit out a tooth. “That was a bad one.”

  ***

  Most of the Deathriders died that morning. Gabe, Rann, Jack, Trooper, Cookie, and Dino were the only ones who made it out alive. Wayne and Giddy were found later in the morning chewed up and half eaten by the chewbas.

  Gabe and Jack dug graves. They’d been at it all morning long while Trooper, Cookie, and Dino worke
d on getting the truck out of the mudhole as Rann watched. They had towing straps fixed underneath the bumper, trying to pull the truck out. Trooper was in a solemn mood. He didn’t even bother with Squawk. He just let the dragon roam free. Gabe didn’t really understand it, but the loss hurt the big man. He’d lost most of his family in a single night. His priorities had changed.

  “See what you did, Gabe?” Jack slung some of his dirt into Gabe’s hole. “You got the Deathriders killed.”

  “Shut up, you idiot.” Gabe slung the dirt back at Jack. He would have pounded his face, but he didn’t have the strength to spare. Gabe didn’t want to get head-knocked by Trooper again either. “All you did was piss your pants and hide. You should’ve been dead too. You’re a coward, Jack.”

  “I didn’t see you fighting anything.”

  “You didn’t see anything because we had to pull you out of a trunk. You’re still shaking.”

  “Am not. Besides…” Jack kept shoveling. “I didn’t have my gun. If I had my gun, I would have killed those things. At least one of them.”

  “No, you wouldn’t have. All you would have done is pee your trousers.” Gabe started to shovel dirt in Jack’s face but thought the better of it. The grave was dug. He dragged a Deathrider into it. It was Giddy. The lanky man had shown some personality—unlike the others. He reminded Gabe of Buggy. “Rest in peace.” He started covering the mutilated man in dirt. “Or pieces.”

  He shoveled all day until his back burned as much as his hand. Even Jack lost the energy to chatter. The Deathriders finally fished the truck out of the mudhole. They began reloading supplies, taking the useful gear off of the dead, and loading it into the truck. Stretching his back, Gabe walked out of the glaring sunlight and into the tunnel. Rann was inside with Cookie.

  “Hey Gabe.” The energy in her eyes was gone. She knelt beside a metal gas tank with a long rubber tube in it. Cookie was sucking gas out of the tanks of the motorcycles and four-wheelers and filling the canisters.