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

by Craig Halloran

  Something jostled Gabe from his slumber.

  Rann screamed. “Gabe!”

  Sitting upright, through sleepy eyes, he saw a Blue Guard hoisting Rann up by the waist. The man carried her away into the night. Gabe chased after her. A second guard blocked his path. The man swung a club at him. Gabe ducked, but his awakening limbs weren’t quick enough. The hard wood clipped his head. He hit the ground on his knees. Rann screamed.

  CHAPTER 34

  Gabe scrambled to his feet. The Blue Guard who’d clubbed him ran after the man who took Rann. Gabe closed in on the man in no time. The man wasn’t the best runner. Gabe tripped the man from behind. The man lost his balance, arms flailing, and started to fall. Gabe pounced on the man’s back. His additional weight drove the man fast and face-first into the ground. The guard’s club slipped free of his grip. Gabe snatched it up. The guard rose up. Gabe clubbed the man down.

  “Gabe!” Rann shouted. The Blue Guard whisked her around the corner of the row of sheds. They vanished.

  Gabe burst into a full sprint. He raced by the sheds with the wind whistling in his ears. All of the doors were closed. He wanted to kick himself. At night, if you weren’t awake, you slept in the shed with the door closed. It wasn’t safe otherwise. The young people in the flats still formed their own gangs. They’d rap and tap on the metal doors at night, beckoning and calling out. Gabe woke up more than once to those calls. He sped around the corner at the end of the row. There was no sign of Rann. He moved to another. There was nothing. He ran to the next. The guard carried Rann, running as fast as he could toward the back of the last row on the end. Gabe turned on the speed.

  Rann’s arms beat against the man’s back.

  Legs churning, Gabe caught up with the guard as the man ducked into an open cove. Gabe launched a punch into the guard’s shoulder, drawing a painful howl. The man dropped Rann on a pile of mattresses. Drawing his club, he spun around and faced off against Gabe.

  “Leave her alone,” Gabe said.

  “Or what? Are you going to throttle me, boy?” The guard was a lanky man with a long neck and narrow eyes. He had about thirty pounds on Gabe and was a little taller. He flipped his club around with expert precision. “Do you know how many punks like you I bust up on a daily basis?”

  “I’ll tell Clovis.”

  The guard spat. “Screw Clovis. He knows the rules when you’re dumb enough to leave your cove open. You get what’s coming to you. It’s an invitation. Now I’m done talking, boy. Move on before I bust your head open.”

  Gabe swung.

  The guard deftly caught the blow on his own stick. He counter attacked with a poke to Gabe’s gut.

  Gabe went down to a knee, groaning.

  “Ah-hah-hah,” the guard said. “There’s nothing more demoralizing than a shot to the belly—aside from a shot to the head.” Club in hand, the guard cocked his elbow back. The lethal swing started forward.

  Rann jumped on the man’s legs.

  “Get off me, you little morsel, or I’ll club you too.”

  Springing to his feet, Gabe aimed for the guard’s knuckles. His hard swing landed true. The club fell out of the man’s fingers.

  “Argh!” the guard said. His legs tangled in Rann’s arms. She clung on desperately. He clawed at Gabe. “I’m going to kill you!”

  “No you aren’t.” Gabe cracked the man on the top of the skull.

  “Ow!”

  Gabe’s frustration unfurled. He turned the club loose on the man in a flurry of hard blows. He busted the man’s elbow’s and wrists. The guard tried to snatch the club from Gabe. Gabe was too fast, too angry. He broke the man’s fingers and smashed his teeth. The last blow hard in the man’s jaw sent the man into the mattress.

  Gabe beat the man’s back. “Stay away from us!”

  Rann grabbed his arm. “Gabe, let’s go.”

  He was huffing for breath. He hit the prone man again.

  “Gabe! Let’s go before you kill him!”

  They ran back to Gabe’s cove, slammed down the garage door, and locked it. Rann lit the small oil lantern inside. Club in hand, Gabe paced, swinging it back and forth. It was a short wooden club about two feet long and made of hard wood a couple inches thick. There was blood on the end.

  “Gabe, sit down.” Rann patted the mattress. “We’re safe now. We just can’t leave our door open. It’s my mistake. Men can’t resist me.”

  “Don’t say that. How can you joke about this?”

  “Because, I don’t know what else to say, aside from thank you for saving me, again. Please, sit, Gabe.”

  “I can’t. Just let me be.” There wasn’t much room for pacing. The mattress more than half filled the small space. Gabe went back and forth in a small aisle between the edge of the mattress and the wall. “We’re going to pay for this. I attacked a Blue Guard. Two of them! They’ll stick me in that hellhole. I know it.”

  “Don’t say that.”

  “Sorry.” He finally sat down and grabbed his backpack. He emptied it. He still had some small baubles he’d collected in his travels. He had his goggles, his breathing apparatus for the storms, and his dragonry glove. “We need to get out of here. Have you ever heard of a safe place to live without the Dominion?”

  “My father was trying to take us further south. He said it’s free in the south in many places. He called one of them Florida. The other had an odd name. I think it was Myrtle. He didn’t make it, but I hope I do. Maybe we will.”

  A couple of hours passed. It was hard to tell how long for sure. Gabe and Rann sat side by side with their heads leaned together. His eyes grew tired again.

  Pounding shook the door.

  Rann lurched and let out a frightened gasp.

  CHAPTER 35

  The pounding was followed by the sound of Tim’s voice. “Open up, Gabe. Open up, or I’ll clip your lock, and you won’t get a new one. Then where will you be?”

  “What’s going to happen to us?” Gabe replied.

  “So long as I’m around, nothing. Now open up. The other guards are gone. It’s only me. I know what happened.”

  “We aren’t in trouble?”

  There was a pause. Then, Tim said, “I can’t promise that. I don’t make the decision. You assaulted a Blue Guard. We can’t have that in the flats. Your action will have a consequence. That’s the way it is.”

  Gabe had his dragonry glove on one hand and the club in the other. “Rann didn’t do anything. You can’t punish her.”

  “Again, it’s not up to me.” There was a wham on the door. “Now, open up because if I have to clip off this lock, I’m gonna be ticked off. You don’t want me ticked off, Gabe. Open it.”

  He nodded at Rann. “Just do it. I’ll protect you.”

  Rann opened up the lock and crawled back on the mattress. “It’s open,” she said defiantly.

  The door rolled upward. The glum morning had come. Tim stood on the other side with his hand holding up the door. He looked at Gabe. “What are you going to do? Attack me too? Come on, both of you. And bring your gear. I’m not so sure you’ll be coming back here.” He walked up to Gabe and jerked the club from his hand. “This ain’t yours.”

  “It’s not yours either.”

  “Shut up.”

  Tim led them to the front gate of the flats. There were two men sniggering when they left. Gabe didn’t get the best look at either man who’d attacked them in the dark, but he knew it was them. He could tell by the size and build. They had scuffs and bruises on their faces.

  The lanky one with his hand wrapped up said, “We’ll be seeing you later, young ones. Heh-heh.”

  Tim flung the extra club at the man. It hit the man full in the chest. He slammed the chain-link door closed. “Listen to me, the both of you. I don’t want any more trouble. Stay close, and don’t try anything stupid, or the both of you are going to be spending more time with those two buttholes. Got it?”

  Gabe and Rann nodded. Gabe found solace in Tim’s talk. Before, the man’s ston
y demeanor was stifling as he watched them like a hawk, but now, the man seemed like more of a protector with a dry personality.

  “Where are we going?”

  Tim stopped in the crowded roadway, turned on his heel, and said, “There you go, asking questions. Let me be clear. Don’t talk. Don’t speak, not to me, to each other, or any of these other people.” He pointed at the citizens. “Not even if they talk to you. Especially if they talk to you.”

  Scratching the side of his face with his dragonry glove Gabe said, “You’ve become very talkative. I think I liked it better when you were quieter.”

  Tim’s smoky eyes narrowed. “That’s it.” Tim bound their arms behind their backs and gagged Gabe and Rann with handkerchiefs. From behind, he shoved them down the streets by poking them in the back with his club.

  Gabe noticed that none of the people looked at them like they were something out of the ordinary. He’d seen the Blue Guard hustling unruly people through the streets on more than one occasion. Now, he was one of those unruly people. For some reason, he felt it suited him.

  A woman with a head full of brown curls stood in the street ringing a cowbell. “Trust the Dominion! Love the Dominion! Obey the Dominion! Thank the Dominion!” She handed out sheets of paper with words and pictures on them. “The Dominion knows all! The Dominion is all! I glory in it!”

  Finally, one man screamed, “The Dragon Games are coming!”

  The female crier shouted, “Yes! The Dragon Games are coming. Thank the Dominion! The games come soon.”

  Word spread among the citizens. A buzz stirred in the city. The people fought over the flyers, straining to look at the pictures. Gabe caught a glimpse of a paper that floated down the street. He stopped it with his foot and looked down. There were black-and-white pictures of gamers. They wore sashes and armor. Each of them had a dragon cradled in their arms with names beneath. He bent down.

  Tim caught Gabe by the ear and tugged. “Keep it moving.”

  They didn’t stop walking until they came to the stone coliseum. Men were hanging banners from long poles. The banners, over twenty feet long, flapped in the wind. They were silver, gold, black, and blue, matching the flags on the top of the coliseum. There were images of dragons on them.

  Gabe spied Clovis standing on the stairs that led up into the massive building. Clovis approached. Two Blue Guards accompanied him. “Thank you, Tim. I’ll have my guards bring them back when I am finished with them. Would you be so kind as to untie them?”

  “Yes, sir.” Tim removed Gabe and Rann’s gags. He untied their hands. “I’ll be waiting.”

  The bookish man said to Gabe, “I take it you are doing well in the flats?”

  “No,” Gabe said.

  “Excellent. Now follow me. There is someone inside who wants to see you, Gabe.”

  Gabe wanted to ask if it was Squawk, but Clovis said someone, not something. He got a sinking feeling that they were meeting the Count. He could live without that. Angela’s twin was somewhat unnerving. As they walked up the steps, he heard the roar of a motorcycle engine. He turned. Trooper was riding his motorbike down the road. Cookie followed him in the truck with Jack in the passenger seat. Dino, on his four-wheeler, brought up the rear. There were a few new faces in the back of the truck. They didn’t notice Gabe. It looked as if they were leaving to retrieve the vehicles they’d left in the tunnel.

  Good riddance.

  Gabe turned his attention to the steps and froze in his tracks. Mandy, Angela’s daughter, came skipping down the steps in white cotton robes, as pretty as a flower with a smile all over her face.

  “Gabe! Gabe! I’m so delighted to see you again!” She threw her arms around his neck and hugged her body tight against his. She whispered in his ear, “And I can’t wait to watch you die.”

  CHAPTER 36

  The coliseum was bigger inside than it appeared from outside and lit by oil lanterns. There were two tiers filled with rows of yellow chairs that folded down. There were thousands of them, maybe over ten thousand. Clean concrete floors ran along the outer concourse. The main arena floor was empty, aside from the main wall of ten-foot-high stacked stone. The four platforms for the gamers were there too. They were colored gold, black, silver, and red. It was the same layout as the arena but three times bigger in circumference.

  Gabe looked over the ledge from the upper deck. He spied everything from the catwalks above to the concealed tunnels leading into the arena below. The lower section of seats had been set aside for the Dominion. All of them were marked with white. The Dominion had a separate entrance into the arena too. There was a bridge that ran from the Dominion side of the dividing wall, leading straight into the arena.

  “It’s captivating. Isn’t it, Gabe?” Mandy stayed cozied up beside him. “Like me. Have you missed me, Gabe?”

  “Like a two-headed possum.”

  “Ew.”

  “Mandy, leave the urchin alone,” Oscar, Mandy’s father, said. The vulture-like man with thinning rows of hair wore the lavish robes of the Dominion. His presence was almost as domineering as Count Angus’s, who looked over the railing, taking in all he could see. “Step away from the murdering urchin. He smells.”

  “Hah!” Angus clapped his hands. His loud voice echoed. “You’re such a snob, Oscar.”

  “And you keep company with my wife’s murderer. He should be cast over this rim, immediately!”

  “Gabe is no more guilty of any harm or foul than Angela herself. I know my sister as you do. She pushed too hard.” Angus pushed a white seat down and sat. “Besides, no one could have predicted that the dragon could not only fly, but it could breathe fire as well. It’s a miracle, and that miracle is in our possession.”

  “That miracle should be slaughtered.” Oscar pointed at Angus. “I knew the moment I received your note that you would be up to something. A caveat. What a load of bile, Angus. The rest of the Dominion may give that a pass, but I won’t. For Angela’s sake, not ever.”

  “I adored my sister as much as you, but she would want this. She knew this boy and this dragon were special. It’s a key, Oscar. A key to more power.”

  Oscar looked at Gabe for a moment, and with a sneer, he turned to Angus. “You speak freely in front of these imbeciles, as if they are Dominion. You need to mind your tongue, Angus. Act privileged.”

  “I’m the Count. I’m advantaged enough.” Angus drew his gun and pointed it at Oscar. “Don’t you agree?”

  Oscar’s lips tightened. He shook his head and looked away.

  Gabe shifted closer to Rann. Oscar’s fingers clenched and released. His eyes drifted toward the floor. He fears the Count.

  Finally, Oscar said, “Come Mandy. We’ll get no satisfaction here. Let’s return to a more suitable place.”

  Holding her father’s arm with one hand, Mandy touched Gabe’s cheek with the other. “Bye, Gabe. See you soon.” The father and daughter followed the Blue Guard down the steps and out, leaving Gabe, Rann, Clovis, Angus, and two Blue Guards.

  “Family is such a drag, Gabe.” The Count rose from his seat. “Consider yourself lucky you don’t have any.” He gave Rann a glance. “Either of you.”

  I have family, and they aren’t twisted snakes like you.

  The group headed down to the main floor. There were four tunnels made up of stonework that didn’t match up with the rest of the arena. It was all neatly done. The Count led the way into the darkness. There was only a quavering yellow light at the end of the tunnel.

  His voice was hollow when he spoke. “I like the coliseum. It’s the most exciting place in the city when the Dragon Games are going. It gives us all a sense of unity and momentarily breaks down the divides between us.”

  The tunnel led into the lower concourse. It had a distinct smell all of its own. Gabe knew it immediately. It was dragon dung.

  Rann coughed. “What is that smell?”

  Angus turned to face them. “Welcome to the Dragon Den. I think you are familiar with it. Gabe, you and Rann will be
working here from now on. It’s vitally important, and you’ll need to learn how to play well with others.”

  Gabe opened his mouth.

  Angus cut him off by lifting his finger. “I know what you are going to ask. Where is Squawk? You don’t sense him, do you?”

  Gabe nodded.

  “Yes, well, that’s because there have been some complications with your dragon.”

  CHAPTER 37

  Gabe’s jaw muscles clenched. He balled up his fist. “I’m getting tired of all of this rotten news. He’s my dragon. You need to take me to him. Where is he?”

  The Count lifted a finger. “Don’t speak unless spoken to, Gabe. It offends me. I am the Count, after all. My position demands respect.” Out of nowhere, a long blade appeared in his hand. “I’m known to be quick-tempered too. I thought I should warn you. It runs in the family. Now, come with me. It’s an honor to tour the den with the Count. Its very rare that I do this with other people. Isn’t it, Clovis?”

  “It’s a high honor,” Clovis said. “I can think of few that would be higher.”

  The floor-level concourse had rows of cages against the wall. The cages were twice as big as the ones in the den in Newton. Gabe’s thoughts drifted to the dwarf, Garland. He couldn’t help wondering how the stumpy man was doing. Gabe could use his brash sense of humor right now. The cages were loaded on wooden racks and stacked two high. The metal of the bars was a little thicker. They were closed with a bolt and slide with a small padlock. Gabe made a quick count. There were forty in all. There were cupboards, workbenches, tables, and an assortment of tools on the walls. The place seemed to have lighting that didn’t come from oil. The cages were illuminated with their own special lights. Gabe felt heat coming from the bright cages.

  “Does this all seem familiar to you, Gabe?” Angus peered inside one of the cages. His eyes were intent on a dragon latched on the front bars of the cage. It was a deep green and black. Its tongue flickered.