Sanctuary 1 (The Foliage Series Book 3)

by Aline Riva

  “My turn...” he whispered as his eyes glittered darkly.

  The door opened and two guards walked in.

  They stopped in the doorway.

  “Where is he?” said one, and Lynch slammed the metal door against them, ramming them with force as the two men collided with a crunch of bone, as they stumbled and fell Lynch aimed a kick to the head of one and snatched up his gun, keeping boot on the chest of the other as the guard looked up at him into the gun barrel, stunned and bleeding.

  “That's all you get from me,” Lynch said, and pulled the trigger.

  Just then another shot was fired from above, followed by others. Lynch heard the familiar sound that made his blood sing – it was the sound of the start of a battle. Keeping a grip on the weapon, he dashed out the door and up the stairway, ready to shoot anyone in his path. He reached the hallway, where servants scattered in fright as a guard turned to open fire and Lynch let fly a flurry of shots that peppered the man and the wall, and then as plaster drifted to the floor, the house fell silent.

  And then there was a familiar sound, something that seemed out of place, not belonging in this new and turbulent world – it was a text message alert.

  He pulled the phone from his pocket and read the message:

  Lynch meet us at the control tower. Up the hill over the field the white mansion - meet us at the tower we have to up the shields once Dixon's army is in... We have to trap Leather and his men they can't get out alive we have to stop them meet us at the tower we may need back up – Ash

  Lynch raised an eyebrow in surprise.

  “Never known you to bother sending such a long reply before!” he remarked, then he slipped the phone into his pocket and headed for the door, clutching his weapon and ready to fire as the sound of shooting grew closer.

  Chapter 12 : Murdock

  Joy looked down from the barred window to see the guards of King Steel clashing mid way on the hillside with Leather's men. Shots were being fired, explosives thrown, fires were raging... several of the enemy fighters were engulfed in flames and staggered back, burning as their screams were lost on air thick with smoke and the stink of blood and the building battle as more soldiers from both sides joined the carnage. And far off, up on the hill where they had stepped through a misty barrier that now looked like mountainside, out of nowhere, the hidden doorway cracked, split and yawned open as a truck burst through, followed by the motor home, and other vehicles, and then as the hillside filled with soldiers ready for battle from the town of Bullet, Joy turned from the window.

  “There's too many of Leather's men,” she said, “And they have weaponry far better than our side, I need to make a call...”

  Then she dropped to her knees, took the communications device from her pocket and switched it on, turning the dial as she waited for the channel to open as the cracked screen illuminated.

  “Who are you calling?” Kait asked as she looked on.

  Joy saw the screen shift, and the blurred image of Murdock came into view as her heart filled with relief.

  “Hope,” she said, “Our only hope...”

  Then as static sounded,she fine tuned the dial and spoke into the device:

  “Murdock? Can you hear me, it's Joy!"

  A scrambled reply came through.

  “Oh fuck!” she said in panic, “ Murdock....Come on, hear this...I need your help, we need your help...can you hear me?”

  Suddenly the static cleared and she blinked away tears as the voice of one who she would always carry I her heart replied, and that reply was clear as crystal:

  “ Joy! Are you... Getting this?”

  She breathed out in sheer relief as she clutched at the device.

  “Murdock? Yes! Yes I am, Oh I'm so bloody glad to hear your voice again!”

  “Likewise, your timing is brilliant as always...” Murdock replied.

  “Timing? This is an emergency!”

  “I know,” he replied, “I heard you the first time!”

  Joy clutched the device harder, getting up from the floor as she walked to the window where down below, rooftops could barely be seen for the smoke and the chaos of battle.

  “Murdock, listen...I'm with Lynch and the others...there's a shanty town on the Welsh Coast... there's a town behind it, behind a shield system but its weak...the war bird will be able to punch right through it... we need you!”

  His reply came back without hesitation.

  “I'm homing in on your co ordinates now, keep your eyes on the skies, my dear!”

  “Oh I'm so glad you're on your way thank you!” she said.

  “I told you before, if you ever needed me, I'd not leave you for dead, Joy. You won a place in my heart. Your help all those years ago will never go unforgotten, you hear me?”

  Tears shone in her eyes as she smiled down at the device as for a moment the hell of the battle beyond the barred room faded away as she thought of Captain Nathan Murdock and all they had been through together.

  “Yes I hear you! I love you too Murdock ! I always have. You're always in my heart I take you with me everywhere I go! Thank you...Thank you I'll be watching the skies...”

  And then as the link shut off she kissed the communications device and slipped it back into her pocket as she turned to Kait and smiled, her spirit filled with new hope as she glanced about the room that was filled with explosives.

  “We can't blow the door off, “ she said, “Too risky the whole place could go up... but we can rig this tower to blow if there's enough touch paper for the gunpowder... It'll take this place down...Leather won't have his little castle then, will he?” she paused, picking up a piece of bent wire from the dusty floor, “Have a go at picking that lock,” she said, “I'll be watching the skies...”

  Byron Leather had reloaded his gun and taken out several of Dixon's men as they had fired shots in his direction, he had stepped behind his own lines, allowing his own men to be his shield and fall to the enemy as more replaced them, as he staggered up the hill, and headed for the palace of King Steel. As he heard a shout behind him, he saw three of his men hurrying to catch up and all looked unscathed, so he beckoned to them, and indicated to the handful of guards who still protected the palace.

  “Take them out,” he instructed, “But Riley is mine..”

  His men advanced, and the guards fired as the enemy fired, and bullets exchanged loudly over the once peaceful private land where Riley had lived for five long years in ignorance of his people's suffering. Then as the last guard fell Byron smiled, nodding to his men.

  “Good work,” he said as they ran towards the palace, then he turned to the man on his left, “Go inside – kill them all. But not Riley. Save him for me,” and as the guard obeyed his order and headed for the mansion house, he looked to the other two, “You're with me – we need to take that tower,” he said, “We need control over those shields...”Then Byron and his men advanced towards the tower.

  Back at Bullet, the town was quiet and almost empty save for the women and the children left behind, and those too weak to manage to join the battle.

  Elise was up and dressed in dark camouflage clothing that she had found in the back bedroom at Dixon's house. The size was far too small to belong to Dixon, but a perfect fit for her, as were the heavy boots she pulled on, and as Mandy One stood there blinking spidery lashes, she asked her a question:

  “How come you're going to join the fight?”she asked, “What about Fifi?”

  Elise paused to check a loaded gun she had taken from Dixon's room, then she slung on a roll of ammo and looked into the eyes of the woman who looked, in all honesty, like a living doll.

  “Mandy,” she said, “We've just had this discussion after I fed Fi. I'm a human android hybrid. I'm a hybrid because of an experiment. But first and foremost I started life as a highly programmed android designed for battle. My reproductive system has recovered from the birth. I could grow another one right now if I wanted to - but there's a war happening and my chosen mate is out there an
d might need me!”

  “Chosen mate?” echoed Mandy One.

  “I was programmed to mate and reproduce,” she replied, “As part of the experiment. But the human side of me fell in love with Felix Lynch and that's kind of messed up my basic android command systems.. I now need to protect him just as I would protect my own child. You're more than capable of looking after Fi until I get back, right?”

  Mandy blinked and thought about it.

  “Additional programs given to me by Blake Riley include hairstyling, nail art and basic child care,” she replied.

  “You need the third one,” Elise replied.

  “Accessed,” she confirmed, “Yes, I can care for the baby until your return.”

  Elise holstered a spare gun into her belt.

  “There's a fridge in the kitchen. Its functional. I expressed milk for her next two feeds. I'll be back soon.”

  “See ya...” Mandy said sweetly, waving with manicured fingers as Elise ran down the stairs and out the door.

  She came to a sharp stop as she looked about the deserted village, then she spotted a banged up old car parked beside the gates – clearly, when the vehicles had been amassed for the charge into battle, this one had been abandoned in favour of something more sturdy – but the keys were not in the ignition.

  Elise got in, reached below the steering wheel and yanked down wires, stripping them with expertise and then twisting them together. The engine fired up and she thumped the wheel in jubilation, then she set off out of the gates and taking the road that led to the compromised shield, ready to join the battle and find Felix Lynch...

  As the armies of King Steel's Guard and Leather's men clashed and Dixon's army joined in the fight, amid the smoke and confusion and the slaughter and the flames and the flying bullets, Dixon reversed the truck with force, across a street, up a hill, ploughing into a group of Leather's men who fell like bowling pins as cries were muffles and then crushed to silence beneath the wheels of the truck.

  Then he set his sight on an advancing fresh troop of Leather's thugs, they were running towards the battle with guns blazing as they fired into the confusion, and through the smoke Dixon saw several of his own men fall. His eyes burned with the need for revenge as he slammed on the accelerator as the speed picked up, he watched the dial climb fifty, sixty, seventy, the truck hit the bottom of the hill with a gut wrenching lurch and sped across the street, hitting eighty-five as he reached for the door handle, as it jammed the last thing he saw was a crowd of enemy soldiers, and then a wall spattered with blood as the front of the truck crushed and burst into flames, sending the onboard petrol exploding into a ball of orange fire that sent body parts scattered far and wide and a plume of black smoke high into the air.

  Dixon's sacrifice had certainly helped to reduce the enemy numbers on the east side of the broken town, but else where, the rest of Leather's men advanced, shooting and stabbing the oncoming army, a grenade was launched further south and a building was hit, showering both sides caught in a battle in the street with rubble and flaming debris. The battle raged on as men fell both sides, and still Leather's men were advancing...

  “I've got it!” Kait said as the lock clicked and the door swung open.

  Joy was still at the window, watching the now smoke- filled skies darkened by battle. She glanced to the explosives.

  “We should link them and see how far we can put between ourselves and the explosion,” she said, and Kait looked at her blankly.

  “I don't know a thing about explosives!”

  “Leave it to me,” Joy said, and Kait watched as she began to link the barrels and the dynamite. Then she began to unravel a long ball of touch paper, and then she laughed.

  “I have a better idea!” Joy exclaimed, and she and Kait left the room, then Joy leant over the steep drop and dropped the taper and watched as it unravelled, stopping just short of the bottom of the centre of the stairwell.

  “We go down first,” Joy said, “Then we light the paper...”

  Kait's gaze danced with amusement that matched that of her new friend.

  “The paper goes up, hits the barrels and we run like hell!” she added, and Joy nodded.

  “Simple!” she said, and that blast should flatten every enemy soldier on this side of the hill.”

  Kait's smile faded.

  “And us if we don't get out of the way in time.”

  “We will,” Joy assured her, “We have to...”

  Then she turned back to the room filled with the rigged explosives and looked out of the barred window. The skies above were blackened by the smoke of battle as she once again watched the skies.

  “We should go,” said Kait as she stood in the doorway.

  Joy's gaze was still fixed on the smoky skies.

  “Not yet...” she murmured.

  Then just as the troubled skies further darkened with rain clouds, as thunder rolled and a fork of lightning cracked across the sky, with a whoosh the war bird shot with grace through from the clouds above, as she caught sight of it Joy's eyes lit up with hope at the same time her heart missed a beat.

  “Murdock!” she exclaimed.

  The craft slipped lower, launching a missile in the direction of a crowd of enemy soldiers. As it hit the ground leaving a crater as the bomb exploded, chunks of earth and broken enemy bodies were scattered about the ravaged hillside, then the craft turned, flew around again and launched a second missile and as the impact of it made the ground shudder, the War bird landed gracefully on the field, sending enemy soldiers running for cover as the mighty craft settled on the ground.

  “Let's go!” Joy said, and she and Kait made for the stairway and hurried down together. As they reached the bottom of the stairs, Joy pulled a lighter from her pocket and lit the bottom of the touch paper.

  “Oh blimey!” Kait exclaimed as the fire chased up at a rate she had not expected, and then Joy grabbed her hand and they ran out the open door, into the smoke rising from battle as they made their way to the door that led to the house.

  “We can't get out in time!” Kait yelled above the sound of the battle below.

  “This way!” Joy shouted back, coughing as she pulled open the door and dragged her inside and down a second flight of steps.

  Over the other side of the hill, past the mansion of King Steel, Riley was very much taking his role as leader of his people seriously as he opened up the door of the control tower, sword still in hand, and led Jekel and Lynch inside.

  “We have to set the power to maximum,” he said, pointing up the stairway that led to a walkway high up that led to a third level, “I can't drop that shield until our people have finished off the last of Leather's men...” then he gestured to the slightly sunken floor two steps down from where they stood.

  “Don't touch the floor,” he said, “A massive charge goes through it when the power is adjusted – the steps and upper levels are shock proof...”

  “You and Jekel take the controls I'll watch the door,” Lynch replied, and then as he looked out and saw the coast was clear across the field, he heard his phone bleep.

  “It wasn't me,” Jekel called back as he and Riley headed up the stairs to the walkway.

  Lynch checked the message:

  Vehicle-1 : Its Elise. Location?

  He swore under his breath, wishing the woman he loved could have, for once in her life, simply allowed herself to be a new mother instead of giving into her android battle urge to be a war machine...

  Tower, he replied, then he put the phone away, clutching tightly at his gun as he kept lookout, but saw no sign of the approaching enemy...

  Jekel and Lynch climbed higher, took to the walkway and the metal frame swung slightly, causing Jekel to look back nervously.

  “Scared of heights?” Riley asked.

  “No, I've done illusions on stage higher up than this,” Jekel replied, “It's just that I was thinking the walkway seems a bit insecure.”

  Riley chuckled.

  “You sound insecure, A
sh. Don't worry – its designed to take one person at a time... just me, actually because I'm careful who I let up here...it's my shield system, it protects the town...I thought I was protecting the town...”

  “And now you are,” Jekel reminded him.

  “You're a good friend, Ash,” replied Riley.

  Then as a burst of gunfire echoed into the room and Lynch staggered in as cybernetic fluid leaked through his clothing from bullet holes in his leg and metallic hip, the three gunman stepped into the room, Leather fired another shot that hit Lynch in the shoulder and knocked him to the ground. He realised he was on the potentially live floor and swung himself up on to the raised area behind it, shaking as he fought against the pain, aiming his gun at Leather and his men as Leather looked down at him and smirked.

  “You can wait,” he remarked as his two men covered him with their weapons, “And you'll hand over that shield system. It's all mine now. I want the shield, Riley – my mighty empire will need it!” then he aimed high, sending a volley of shots into the fixture that held one end of the walkway in place, with a shower of sparks as bullets hit metal and punched holes in the wall, with a groan the walkway swung free, and as he grabbed on to a bar that turned horizontal as it fell, he lashed out with his sword, severing a large cable on the third floor, killing the shield's energy as sparks flew and then a blue arc shot across the live floor two stories below.

  “Blake!” Jekel yelled, looking down to see his best friend swung violently with the jerking motion of the broken walkway, as it swung hard Riley jumped, landing clear of the floor and with a swing of his sword, lopped off the head of the man beside Leather, as blood spurted from the neck stump and the head rolled and the body fell and Riley swung the sword again, wild-eyed and sprayed with the blood of his victim. As the second gun man stepped in as Leather jumped back, the sword clashed with the gun, and shots fired into the ground as the two men continued to wrestle.