by C. C. Ekeke
“Do you miss it?” asked Sam so softly, he almost didn’t hear her over the overall zoo hubbub.
“‘It’ being?” Habraum asked, glancing her way.
Sam shrugged expectantly. “Everything.”
Habraum didn’t look at her as he kept dusting off Jeremy’s clothes. “Things are different now, Sam.”
“What the hell is that supposed to mean?” Despite the warm weather, Sam’s tone turned rather icy.
Habraum twisted in his seat to face her. “It means what it means. Things change.”
Sam visibly bristled. “Oh, don’t shi—,” she caught her tongue in Jeremy’s presence. “Don’t crap in my hand and call it ice cream, Habraum Nwosu! After all we’ve been through, you owe me more than that.” Jeremy looked back and forth between the two, his expression confused and uncomfortable.
Habraum pulled away, taken aback by her fury. “Why are you getting all skittery on me, Sammie?”
“Because the Brigade needs you,” Sam retorted. “Look, I understand your need for space but—.”
“But nothing, Sam. My place is with Jeremy. Period,” Habraum snapped, a bit more severely than he intended. But he really didn’t want to get into this here. Not with Jeremy present. “Besides, Star Brigade has a lineup of highly trained operatives. How much impact will my return make?”
Sam’s olive complexion turned brick red. She opened her mouth to speak again—but Jeremy interrupted this time.
“Daddy!” he gestured agitatedly at the human crowd. “The chin-waggers are getting madder!”
There was no disputing that. At the basin of the grassy commons, the Children of Earth rally had ballooned to ridiculous numbers in only a few moments. But it was clearly divided into two very vocal groups. One being the original Children of Earth group, the other a growing crowd of incensed sentients; some human, most of non-human descent. As expected, the latter group took offense to the Children of Earth’s presence. Though no physical altercation had started, Habraum knew one was bound to start with the heated insults being slung back and forth. Now the sentients at the tables around them took notice and wisely began to clear the area. Habraum wasted no time rising and picking Jeremy up. “We should—.”
“—leave. I got no problem with that.” Sam finished the Cerc’s sentence, hopping from her seat. The three made their way through the maze of tables, heading back to the main zoo walkways.
Right on cue, the high-pitched whine of a pulse weapon cut through the still air. Both Habraum and Sam instinctively wheeled around. In the middle of the Children of Earth gathering stood ten fully armed humans, each with sleek body armor and what were clearly military-issue pulse rifles. The repeated bark of weapons fire came from them as they all opened fire at the group of unsuspecting non-humans. And the speaker of the Children of Earth had the gall to continue spewing his rant throughout the chaos.
“Yes, strike down that filth! This is our world, not theirs!” A white-hot volley of photonic fire mowed down several non-human protesters. Many of those who tried to flee got struck from behind.
Suddenly the zoo grounds erupted with screams. Panicked sentients, including some of the humans at the gathering, were frantically running away from the hail of photonic blasts that peppered the air. One Galdorian, nailed in the back by a stray blast, flew face first into a nearby tree with a hard crack. The mysterious attackers turned their attention to Habraum and Sam’s direction, plowing forward, firing at anything not human. The loud hum of force fields forming around the animal habitats was barely audible over frenzied screams and repeated pulse fire from the Children of Earth.
Jeremy cried out in terror, clinging to his father. Photonic charges whistled past Habraum. The death cries grow more plentiful as the Children of Earth kept cutting down non-human targets.
Habraum’s mind couldn’t digest what he was seeing. He had seen such disregard for life, but in a theatre of war. “C’mon. The nearest exit is close!” he yelled to Sam, who was already on the move.
“What about the Children of Earth—?”
“The zoo’s defense system should take care of them, Sam!” Habraum countered tersely. “Move!” The only thing that mattered was Jeremy’s safety. With Jeremy in his arms, he and Sam sprinted through the chaotic crowd of sentients and smoking corpses. As they were almost at the walkways, Sam grabbed Habraum around the waist. He nearly jerked away until he saw why—five other CoE attackers barreling down those very walkways, pulse rifles blazing, picking off more non-humans with ease.
“Fekt!” Habraum swore, not caring that Jeremy might have heard him. Through the calamity he then caught one of the armored humans lifting a pulse rifle in his direction. The Children of Earth operative took aim at Habraum—and the barrel went off in a radiant blue flash.
3.
If a holopicture was taken of the zoo right now, it would show chaos. Screaming beings running about, charred bodies strewn all over, stray shots bouncing off forcefields protecting the animal enclosures. Instants after the Children of Earth attack began, the non-human body count was at twenty. The carnage moved before Habraum’s eyes in slow motion. Jeremy clung to him so tightly, his arm started to go numb.
Sam, still dashing from the walkways, hadn’t even noticed. The photonic charge from the attacker’s pulse rifle streaked toward the Cerc, a tiny deadly shaft of blue light. With instincts honed in years of field combat, Habraum braced himself to dodge—and from the corner of his eye he spied the flailing craniowhisks of a Nnaxan over his shoulder. She was panicked, trying to scoop up her shrieking child, completely oblivious to the pulse rifle shot about to strike her.
Of course, the shot was aimed at her, not him. Being a human protected Habraum from the Children of Earth, a thought that sickened him. Regardless, he refused to let her die. His free hand began to crackle with biokinetic power—the photonic charge about to streak over his shoulder. Habraum spun to the right so Jeremy was farthest from the attack, and then swiped the photonic bolt side with his charged fist.
The unsuspecting Nnaxan snatched up her child and ran. Already the five gunmen in the middle of the walkways had moved on to other targets with weapons barking. Their speaker was at the rear, egging on the other larger group of gunmen moving up the grassy slope, herding the terrified crowd toward the walkways with rapid photonic volleys. “Show them we won’t stand for Earth’s legacy being debased!”
“Habraum!” Sam’s voice rang in his ears. She was far from the walkways at this point, closer to the high wall of foliage in the commons. It was if the scene returned to normal speed. He cut the power in his fist and dashed toward Sam, having to push his way to get to her. More pulse rifle whines hissed out around him, followed by more screams and death cries.
“Daddy, what’s going on??” Jeremy cried. Tears streamed down the child’s face. Habraum didn’t know. He just held his son close as he finally reached Sam. Suddenly, several loud hums cut through the screams, growing louder by the moment. Rhyne’s light gleamed off seven black spheres hurtling through the air toward the scene. Seeing them, both Habraum and Sam breathed audible sighs of relief. Protectomechs; automated defense mechanoids that stopped agitators should any disrupt the zoo’s repose.
Silently these seven globes covered the area of immediate danger, four flew to the large crowd of gunmen, and three darted over the group of five. The protectomechs hovering over the five gunmen all sprouted mini-cannons and rained down bright red darts on the Children of Earth. One gunman went down, twitching as he did. Another got struck in the forehead, dropping to the ground. The gunman who fired at Habraum earlier was fiddling with some canister on his belt right before he too was struck down.
Habraum looked to the side to see the protectomechs striking down the larger group, who fired repeatedly at the mechanoids but couldn’t penetrate their shielding. The Cerc smiled grimly. “Thank the Twins,” he muttered. “There should be a zoorail that can get us away from here.”
The panicky sentients were starting to calm down
and move away from the scene at a less-frenzied pace. Several bodies—mostly non-humans—lay scattered on the ground, tattooed with blast marks. Habraum recoiled and intuitively held Jeremy to his chest to keep the boy from seeing the carnage. The sooner they left the better. He looked to Sam, but saw her eyes widening. Habraum followed the direction of her stare.
The canister of the fallen gunman began to glow, which was when Habraum recognized it. “Rogguts, an EMP grenade!” The glow swelled and mushroomed. The energy waves didn’t harm him or any other sentient, but it felt like something was trying to forcibly yank the iron from his teeth.
But the EMP grenade completed its task. All the protectomechs within the immediate radius of the pulse spastically quivered in mid-air and dropped like stones. That probably meant any zoorail nearby would be dead as well. The gunmen were still standing, about ten of them at a quick count. After the last protectomech fell, they opened fire again as if nothing happened.
“The zoo doesn’t have EMP protection on their defenses? Really?!” Sam looked insulted as she strode forward. “Fuck this!” Without another word, she jumped up off the ground—and hovered there. Habraum felt unusual warmth rolling off her body. Hot updrafts of air propelled her up off the ground, an aspect of her maximal ability—pyrokinesis. She aimed her hands at the nearest gunmen and a concentrated heat wave rippled the air, scorching over the gunmen’s weapons.
“ARRRGH!” The two human gunmen shrieked in astonished agony. Each quickly threw away handfuls of steaming metallic goop, formerly pulse rifles liquefied by Sam’s heat burst. They tried to shake off the searing on their hands, but Sam wasn’t done with them yet. Both her arms became engulfed in bright orange flames, but her clothing never got singed. Jeremy, perched on Habraum’s arm, gawked in wonder. This wasn’t the first time the boy had seen her use her powers, but it still always amazed him.
Sam clenched her teeth and shot a blazing plume at the Children of Earth. The force of the blast drilled them head-on into a row of tables, out of the fight. Habraum couldn’t hide his smile watching Sam in flawless fighting form…until he looked anew at the turbulently unfolding scene in the way he once viewed countless theatres of combat as a Star Brigadier. More screams, several beings running perilously close to the furious firestorm, eager to flee. Worse yet, the larger Children of Earth group noticed. There was another way; Habraum just couldn’t believe he was considering it. “Samantha, stop!” he ordered.
Out of respect for his higher rank, Sam did as ordered and cut off her fiery torrent like one would a light switch. But that didn’t stop the woman from turning to glare at him in disbelief.
“Look,” Habraum pointed at the scene around them; the dancing flames around the two unconscious Children of Earth agents, the other eight moving on and the civilians nearly singed by Sam’s powers.
“I know what I’m doing, Braum,” Sam snapped.
“Never said you didn’t, love,” Habraum countered gently. “What about those ones out there?” He looked again at the eight Children of Earth agents closing in on their location. Habraum took a deep breath. “My abilities aren’t heat-based like yours, so,” he handed Jeremy over to a shocked Samantha. “Take him to safety. I’ll deal with the rest of these crankers.”
“WHAT?” Sam gaped at him.
Jeremy struggled to reach for his father. “Daddy!”
“Aunt Sammie will protect you,” Habraum stroked Jeremy’s hair to try calming him. “I’ll be back.” It was all for show, as the Cerc could feel his own heart thundering with fear against his chest.
Sam shook her head, clinging to a trembling Jeremy. “You’ve been inactive over a year. I won’t—.”
“GO!” Habraum roared. “You can get Jeremy to safety faster than me. Please!” Sam opened her mouth to respond. But after seeing the frightened boy clinging to her, she bit her tongue and gave in. Moments later, Sam rocketed skyward with Jeremy in her arms, a trail of sizzling air in her wake.
As soon as they disappeared from his sight, Habraum steeled his emotions away and focused on what lay ahead. He then strode out of the foliage, past the terrified patrons running in the other direction, past the smoking corpses. Habraum focused on the approaching Children of Earth, eight in total. His stomach felt as if angry bees were bouncing around, enough to give him pause. The anxiety wouldn’t be from inexperience; Habraum had been a field-active Brigadier for nearly seven years, a year and a half of that time commanding his own combat team. And of course, his tenure as an AeroFleet fighter pilot three years before that came into play. So throwing himself headlong into danger was not a new thing.
Sammie’s right. I’ haven’t been field active for a stretch. Habraum couldn’t second-guess now with lives at stake. The Children of Earth gunmen marched through the area of tables. Any remaining beings had cleared out. Habraum’s stomach roiled inside, but externally he stood his ground, contained and unflinching. The gunmen, each sheathed in light-armored suits, stopped in mid-march at the sight of him.
Only a far-off, sonor-amp-enhanced warning to evacuate the zoo echoed through the barren commons. The same hatred that the Union was founded to oppose had sullied this bastion of harmony and diversity. All the gunmen aimed their pulse rifles at Habraum’s head and chest. Some distance and a table stood between them. Habraum calmly closed his eyes, focusing on the biokinetic energy inside him. A potency jolted through his body like a water dam bursting open, intensifying his senses. He had greatly missed this feeling—the charging up, that eagerness before combat. His closed fists now crackled bright crimson. Habraum sized up the remaining eight soldiers. Unfair odds. For them, he mused.
The Children of Earth speaker, confident behind his lackeys, was the only one without a mask. “A maximum, and crimsonborn by those eyes,” he spat disdainfully. “Tainted human. Kill—WHOA!”
And Habraum exploded forward, snapping his arm up as he fired off a crimson burst of pure concussive force. The blast hit one gunman off his feet like a jackhammer and out of the fight.
That was Habraum’s only planned surprise. The gunmen opened fire now in blistering abandon, shattering the zoo’s silence again with the repeated bark of pulse rifle fire. A wide flurry of photonic bolts shredded the ground and sprayed chunks of blackened soil in all directions. Some shots actually streaked at the Cerc himself. But Habraum kept running— his agility boosted through biokinetic energy, dashing left and right to avoid those volleys, swiping aside stray bolts with an energy charged forearm.
Habraum, almost at the table between him and the Children of Earth, leapt up. One foot hit the table, and he backflipped over the white-hot rifle blasts. In mid-flip, he snaked his arms out, drilling two gunmen on either side of him with biokinetic blasts. As the two slumped forward, Habraum landed in the midst of his foes and dodged left, catching the rifle a gunman swung at him. A pivot to his right and Habraum ripped the weapon from her grasp. The Cerc spun and whipped the rifle like a club, cracking two gunmen across the skulls. Both crumpled, already forgotten as Habraum tossed the weapon.
The Cerc twisted back around to face the unarmed sentient. A stiff, biokinetically charged uppercut snapped the gunman’s head back, shattering her mask and dropping her. Suddenly Habraum sensed a gunman on either side, their rifles pointed at his head. On instinct, he dropped to a knee, crossed both arms and fired off dual energy torrents. Both assailants were knocked backward, unconscious. Habraum grinned and stood up slowly, consciously cutting off the power flowing inside him. As his senses returned to normal, he looked around at his motionless foes.
“Guess I’m not so rusty,” Habraum smirked to himself. The rush of combat was a drug that couldn’t be overcome…even after last year’s tragedies. His gaze fell on the miniscule speaker for the Children of Earth, no longer confident or smug. He was trembling with anger.
“You defend these…abominations?” he cried, his face as beet-red as his hair. “They’re not even human!”
Habraum crossed his arms and laughed. “I’d say the same
thing about you.” He laughed even harder when this man half his size lunged forth to tackle him. The Cerc deftly slapped the speaker’s hands aside and back elbowed his jaw with a rewarding crunch. The speaker’s face rocked back, now a bloodied ruin. Habraum caught him by the collar before he could sink into a heap, delivering a swift field goal kick between his legs. The speaker hunched up in pain, a groan escaping his busted lips.
“Cranker,” Habraum snarled contemptuously, tossing him aside like trash. These vile thugs deserved worse for what they did. Not my job anymore. A siren’s call caught the Cerc’s ear, meaning Conuropolis MetroPol was in route. He eyed his wrist chronometer, also a comm device. Pressing on the chronometer’s transmitter button connected him with Sam’s comm device. “Sammie? You there?”
When only silence answered, Habraum’s paranoia rushed to the surface. He almost called again when Sam responded. “Flyboy…Jeremy’s okay.”
Habraum almost thanked the Holy Gemini at that news, until he caught the strain in Sam’s voice. “Where are you?” he frowned. The MetroPol siren rang closer now.
“We’re in the…Garden Sector. Wait…how’d you get…past—?”
“Be right there,” Habraum whirled and ran, sprinting across the zoo walkways. His chronometer also allowed him to track whoever he spoke with on it. Dashing through the zoo, he saw sentients huddled together. Most were shaken up but unharmed. His heart racing faster than his feet, Habraum was almost upon Sam and Jeremy’s location—just beyond a thick wall of greenery and tangled branches. He broke through the shrubbery mesh and skidded to a halt in a grassy clearing. White curls of smoke lazily rose to the sky from three Children of Earth corpses sprawled across the ground. In the middle of this scene lay Sam and Jeremy. At a glance, Jeremy looked okay. A world of worry lifted from Habraum’s heart. But Sam was kneeling, her face wrinkled up in pain. With one arm, she clung to Jeremy and tightly gripped the right side of her lower back with the other. “Jeremy,” he breathed in relief, dropping to one knee and scooping up his son tightly.