by Vu, Andrew
The three of us split up and take cover. I hide behind a trash bin, Fenrir dashes behind small metal wall, and Apollo jumps under some raised plant holders. I delicately pop my head up, but I’m hit with a barrage of gunfire.
“Apollo, Fenrir, do your helmets have something that can help us see past our cover?” I ask them on my communicator.
“Yes, there’s a camera installed on the top,” Apollo says. “I can use it to peer above this plant holder.”
I wait a few seconds and he chimes back in.
“It’s out. Those two definitely know where we are, they’re firing recklessly at our locations,” Apollo says.
“We don’t need your fancy device to figure that out, the barrage of energy shots tell us the story!” Fenrir shoots back. “Give us something we don’t know.”
“Their location is about 20 meters ahead of you, to the left. Can you sneak in a marble and distract them? We can use it as cover fire.”
“Got it,” Fenrir says. I see him press a button on his leg mounted box with his paw. A blue, bouncy ball of energy fires from it. I stick my head out and see Ace and Alex looking at it, entranced by its gentle glow. But then Alex realizes what it is, pushes Ace out of the way, and jumps to the side. The sphere goes off, emitting a concentrated explosion that sends pieces of the ground flying into the air.
Now is our time. I jump out from behind the trash bin and start firing at Ace. Apollo and Fenrir also start charging. They team up and throw a volley of fire in Alex’s direction.
Ace and Alex both roll around until they find something they can hide behind. They take a few seconds to rest and then continue their stand, firing shots left and right. It’s too much to dodge, so I’m forced to find something to hide behind. I see another trash bin and use it as a temporary fort.
Apollo and Fenrir have a different strategy. They’re aggressive and continue going forward, side by side. I see Alex pop up from behind his cover and fire a shot straight at them. Fenrir is able to dodge it, but Apollo gets hit square in the abdomen. I hear him yell out a sharp cry.
“Apollo!” I yell. “Fenrir, get him out of there!”
Fenrir stops dead in his tracks and turns around toward our fallen ally. Alex continues to fire, but his other shots miss wildly. His first shot must have been a fluke. Fenrir clamps his jaws on Apollo’s uniform and drags him away behind an abandoned hovercar parked in front of the station.
“What’s his status?” I yell frantically over the communicator as Ace continues his bombardment of shots.
“I’m fine,” Apollo says. I’m surprised to hear his voice. “His shot hit my armor, I just have the wind knocked out of me. Thanks for getting me out of there, Fenrir.”
“It’s my job,” Fenrir says taciturnly.
“We’re getting in closer,” I say. “Continue the assault. Our priority is to get inside the station and take the others out.”
“Understood,” both of them say.
I stick my gun out and fire a few shots blindly at Ace. He responds to my gunfire with more gunfire. Back and forth we go, our standoff switches from one side to the other like a seesaw. I look at Apollo and Fenrir, and the same thing happens to them. This is going nowhere. We need to change up our approach.
“I have a plan,” I tell the others via the communicator. “I’m going to draw them out and when I do, find cover. I’ll take care of the rest.”
“How are you going to do that?” Apollo asks.
“With the big guns.”
I dig in my pocket and pull out a mini grenade. I unstrap my Spitfire and set it to my side. I press a button to arm it and lob it overhead to Ace’s direction.
“What’s this?” I hear him yell. “Shit!”
A giant blast shakes the ground and I can see smoke fly into the air. The second this happens I stand and hold the Spitfire up. Alex is too distracted to see me rise and Ace has made it to the door, back turned to me. Damn this guy is fast, I thought my grenade would’ve damaged him in some way, but he was able to react and dodge it with his speed.
It’s irrelevant. The Spitfire is already armed and aimed at him and with one pull of the trigger, I fire.
A wall of blood sprays the door and his body violently pushes forward. His back is painted red and his shirt has been torn to pieces. He falls forward, arms out stretched on top of him, and slides against the door as his wound wipes against it and creates a streak of red.
Alex, not wasting a moment, takes this opportunity to dash inside. I see him and fire another shot, but I miss. I usually don’t miss at such a close range, I suppose he’s blessed. He makes it through and forgets to shut it in the chaos. It’s wide open.
I look at Apollo and Fenrir. Both of them have risen from their concealments and we approach the open door.
I take a look inside and see Alex’s back as he continues to stumble into the hideout. There’s a chimp halfkind who was working three compcubes at one time, but now her focus is on the three of us. As we stand on the front doorstep, Ace’s body is right below our feet.
And then I see Tiago. I stand tall and for a moment put my firearm to the side of my body. He returns the gesture and straightens his back. We look eye to eye at each other, leaders locked in a dead stare.
“Something smells off,” Apollo says. “I can’t quite put my paw on it.”
Suddenly, I hear a scratching sound, like sandpaper. It’s Ace. He’s still alive and is crawling slowly in agonizing pain back into the building.
We look at him in astonishment, dumbfounded that he isn’t dead yet. There’s a few holes of missing flesh on his back. His skin and fur has been singed from the extreme heat of my weapon, yet here he is, doing whatever it takes to try to get back in.
I look back at Tiago, still standing confidently, arms folded up on his chest. There’s something different about his expression. He’s smiling.
“Wait, I know this smell,” Apollo says.
I look to where Ace is crawling and I move my head closer. I see a glimmer of light glint in front of him. My eyes sharpen in on it, it beams faintly.
I realize what it is, a wire. My eyes madly follow the string. There are metal canisters strung along the wall, near our position. Ace is now in front of the string and raises an arm above it. With one final burst of energy he lets it fall, right on the wire.
“Bomb!” I tell the others. We turn around and do a mad dash away from the door. I feel a ripple shake the ground and the front view lights up from the explosion behind me. It can’t end like this, it won’t. I see the trash bins I was hiding behind earlier. It’s our only chance, so the three of us jump behind them. I sure hope they’re made out of something sturdy.
The blast is smaller than anticipated, the only thing that reaches us is dust. We’re fortunate. I stand up and see the doors are charred. The inside of the station is slightly damaged, but capable of working.
The bombs were only meant to blast away intruders, not level the building. In his last moments of life, Ace Lawton tried his best to kill us. He failed.
The lights turn on and I can see the others hiding behind a makeshift fort of furniture. Fenrir said Curtis Lawton did the same thing. They’re concealed, but we’ll smoke them out. The final assault has just begun.
Chapter 30 – Tiago Lawton - Meltdown
November 17, 3040 4:32 AM
I’m hiding behind a flipped over metal table and I see the human and his canine companions entering through the front door, guns drawn cautiously. I immediately fire at them with my pistol. They split to the sides, the human and dog go right, the wolf goes left. I try to hit them as they scurry away, but they’re too fast and within seconds they find something to hide behind.
I empty my gun at both targets, as does Alex. Candy hides behind a table, per my instructions. I tell her whatever happens to stay there, I can’t afford to lose our family prodigy. They return fire promptly and we both duck and wait for them to recharge. They have heavier weapons, like the human’s hand cannon, but our fort
is remarkably sturdy. Back and forth it goes for five, no, ten minutes. Our fortifications are strong, but our weapons are too weak. Their weapons are too strong, but there’s too much clutter to do any damage.
We’re at a standstill.
It’s not dark like it was a few minutes ago. The bulbs now glow, making everything visible. Candy’s many compcubes, food, clothes, and our other belongings can be clearly seen. Before they barged in, the station was almost fully charged and power started to flow throughout it. As a result, the lights turned on. My eyes had to adjust, as we’d been working in the dark the whole time. Yet it’s nice to see things lucidly when it was so difficult earlier.
“We have to do something,” Alex says as the shots continue to rain in.
I take a look at my surroundings to formulate a plan. About fifteen feet to the right is the teleporter, our ticket out of here. It’s a twelve feet high pod that has a sliding door made of teleranium, a special metal used to handle teleporting. A faint glow leaks from the outlining of the door, signaling that it is powered and ready to go. To teleport, all one has to do is set the destination at the control panel, and when it is ready the door will slide open. Once you step in, the door closes, and in a dash you’re in a new city, country, or even the Moon. You see a flash and you’re done.
But there’s one complication that prevents us from busting out of Primm: the control panel is on the other side of the station, right in firing range of our enemies. Candy was working on getting the teleporter fired up before they arrived, but once the battle started and a bloody Ace fell through the door, she had to abort her mission.
Ace, my loyal brother, didn’t deserve such a gruesome death. When I saw him crawling in agonizing pain towards the trip wire, I knew what he was going to do. I wanted to go out there to tend to his wounds, but he looked up at me and shook his head. He let me know it was okay, he had a plan. I gave him a sneer. If things worked out, Ace would trigger the blast and we’d be rid of these hunters forever. Candy, Alex, and I would be free. My smirking face was the last thing I wanted that human to see, a final “fuck you, we made it.”
I watched him crawl, and all I could do was think about the times when we were young. He tried to win my admiration. Whether it was by taking my side in fights or doing anything at the whim of my command, I could only think of one word to describe him: devoted. There hasn’t been a moment when he wasn’t looking for my approval, when he wasn’t trying to make me proud. Well, brother, you did.
“We have to get the teleporter running and make a break for it or Ace’s sacrifice will be in vain,” I say to Alex.
“Obviously, but there’s no way we can get it started in all this chaos,” he says. “We’ll be killed on the spot. And Candy is the only one who knows how to operate the thing.”
“Wait a minute, something is off.”
I hear something that I haven’t heard since the assault started - silence.
I stand up to see that there has been a cease fire. The human, dog, and wolf are still hiding behind their cover, but nothing is happening. That is until the human pops up from his position and uses his right arm to volley something in the air. It’s small and hard to see, but he launches it far enough for it to come flying in our direction. I reach up in the sky and catch it, plucking it like a low hanging fruit. I open my hands and in my paw I see what it is. Oh, shit!
I throw it back in their direction and, like rats, they flee from it. It explodes right when it lands. Broken bits of concrete, metal, and wood erupt into the atmosphere.
The three are still alive, though. They’ve moved forward and hunkered down behind some more fortifications, away from the blast, but closer to the control panel. They start to fire again.
“They’re moving in closer,” Alex says. “It’ll only be minutes until they come close enough to kill us. We’re out-powered and out-matched. We have to make our escape now.”
“And how do you suppose we do that?” I ask Alex. “Whoever is going to start the teleporter is embarking on a suicide mission!”
“I know,” Candy says. Her hallmark smile and her uplifting demeanor are nowhere to be found. It’s been replaced by a no nonsense attitude and grave stare. She’s serious about it.
“No, Candy, you don’t have the same stake in this as Alex and I. You’re too valuable and intelligent to sacrifice,” I say. My tone is stern. I really don’t want her to go.
“It’s not a sacrifice,” she says. “It’s a choice. None of you know how to operate the controls, only I do. If I don’t do it, then we’re all dead. It’s better that two of us make it than none.”
“No, Candy,” I say harshly. I’m hoping I can scare her out of it, but she doesn’t budge.
“She’s right,” Alex says. “She’s the only one who can get us out of here.”
“Shut up, Alex!” I yell. Wave after wave of ammunition continues to hit us. I start to see holes and cracks forming in our stronghold. We won’t last very long if we wait around. But this is a choice I do not want to make. Candy has done so much with so little. Her future holds so much greatness. I could never live with myself if it was thrown away.
“I’m sorry, Candy, but the answer still is no. We’ll figure something out instead,” I say.
She looks disappointed by my decision, but abruptly lifts her head up and says, “Tiago, there’s nothing left to figure out.”
Candy gets up from where she was sitting. Her legs start to churn as she begins her race to the teleporter controls. In a last, desperate act, I grab her foot, but she promptly kicks it away and continues towards her goal.
Energy shots fly past her. She jumps and ducks to avoid getting hit. But it’s no use, I see her take one to the arm. She falls over and clutches it in pain. Lucky for her, she tumbled right behind a column and it blocks her from the team’s aim.
“Candy!” I yell. “Stop! Come back!”
She peers out from behind. “No, I’m too close to quit now.”
Candy gets back up and makes a mad dash to the panel. I see her run, savagely with all her might and, amazingly, she makes it. She only has seconds to fiddle with the panel and she works on the controls in incredible time. I look over to the pod and the door opens. She did it. San Francisco, here we come.
But it will only be two of us. The human and dog circle in on their target and direct all their firepower on her. She’s hit with a shower of fiery light, her body jerks around like a puppet on a string. It only last a few seconds but seems like an eternity. Every small flail of her limbs, every agonizing expression she makes on her face, I can see so vividly.
Her violent dance stops and there’s nothing left but my sister, torn up from head to toe, leaned against the wall, any life extinguished from her.
As I see her lifeless body slumped against the wall, visions flash in my mind. I see her as a scientist finding cures for diseases that have just been discovered. I see her as an engineer, developing new tech that could revolutionize the industry. I see her as biologist, unlocking the secrets of not only our origins, but of every creature on this planet. She is the future, a mind unmatched in this world.
But, I realize even if she lived, the brightest gem can’t shine when people can’t see past the rough edges. She’d never do those things and it makes me mad.
This world is ignorant, this world is blind, this world is a horrible place. All they see is what is on the outside without realizing the gifts that lie inside. What a stupid place indeed. The anger I feel fuels my fire to make it, to avenge not only her, but all of us who were never given a chance.
“The teleporter is live,” I tell Alex. “It’s time to leave. Get the final present ready.”
He grabs Candy’s last bomb.
“I hope when we get out of here, there won’t be a trace left of these guys to weep over,” he says.
I grab two energy pistols and lead the way to teleporter pod. Its door is still open, all Alex and I have to do is walk in and we’ll be gone. I empty sphere after sphere of bri
ght lights at the enemy, creating enough cover fire for us to make a straight dash to it. They duck under their barricades for safety as I lead the way. Alex is right behind me and adds to the pandemonium with fire of his own.
They don’t return anything back and I can taste the freedom. We are feet away from the pod and I make a final leap towards it. I’m inside, but nothing happens. I’m confused. I wonder if I’m already in San Francisco, but I look forward and still see the damaged Li station in front of me. The teleportation pod has been powered down, the mesmerizing glow that emits from it has now disappeared. What could’ve happened?
I scan my surroundings and see the cause, the control panel has been destroyed. The human had his gun aimed at it, but he draws it down and back to me. The fraction of a second before I made my final dive into the pod, he blew it to pieces with his hand cannon. Without the control panel, the teleporter is useless. It automatically shut down. My attempt failed.
I look around to see where Alex has gone to, but he’s not in my view. I am alone, left to confront my killers, the ones fighting in the so called name of justice. The game is over. My chance to be at liberty has slipped away from my fingers and now I stare down the barrel of a gun. I close my eyes and think about what I’ve done. I should’ve known my greedy ambitions weren’t worth it. I’m sorry, I’m so, so sorry.
I feel my torso imploding and then exploding. It feels like an anchor has jammed into my stomach and ripped it inside out. Then it burns like I’m being branded, everywhere. The pain is excruciating and I feel the blood trickle from my stomach down to my leg. I smell the smoke emitting from my burning flesh.
I open my eyes and look down to see a large wound encompass the front of me and I stumble backwards in a state of shock. I land ass first into the teleportation pod. It’s a fitting way to die. I wanted to reach this stage so badly, risked life and limb, made sacrifices I never thought I could make, and it looked like I was going to spend my last moments here. Karma indeed.