by R. T. Lowe
Allison straightened and leaned close to Britt, appearing anxious. “Anything else? See anything else?”
Britt gave Allison a curious smile. “Besides your glowing green eyes? No—just that and your double heart.” She chuckled. “They say if you live long enough, there isn’t much a person won’t see. Of course that little axiom probably isn’t meant for people like us.”
“They’re really glowing?” Allison turned to Felix. “Is it that obvious?”
Felix looked into her eyes. They weren’t exactly glowing, but they were doing more than simply reflecting the lights from the dashboard. A green flame was burning subtly within them, but it only seemed noticeable when there was no ambient light, like now.
“Only when it’s really dark,” he finally told her.
“He’s right,” Britt agreed. “I only noticed it once we got off the highway. A pair of shades should hide it when you go prowling at night.” Britt began to hum a song that he recognized but couldn’t name, something from the 80’s about sunglasses and the night.
The van lurched to a sudden stop and Britt slid toward the front seats, bracing herself with a hand.
“We’re here,” Zara announced and cut the engine, the dash lights fading to black. The engine crackled as it cooled rapidly in the night air. “The substation is a quarter mile north of our present location. There’s a ridge three hundred meters from the target. We’ll proceed on foot. Felix, you go with Britt and take point. Britt, call out anything coming our way. Felix, make sure Britt stays alive. The professor will take the right flank and Allison, you take the left. I’ll split the difference and watch everyone’s back. When we get to the ridge, you”—she nodded at Felix—“will burn it to the ground. The whole thing has to go up in flames. Every part of it has a function and we’ll only get one crack at this. If we can’t disrupt their telecommunications capabilities, we might as well live in caves and send up smoke signals.”
“Just a little walk in the woods,” Malone said with a deep laugh. “Be alert and cautious but stay loose.”
Felix’s eyes quickly adjusted to the dark and he could see the strain on Zara’s face. She was all business and he thought Malone’s advice to ‘stay loose’ was more for her than anyone.
“Once Felix torches the substation,” Zara said, “we’ll come back here—as a group—and then we’ll drive to a safe house where we’ll low lay until the dust settles.” She went quiet for a moment. “This is really, really important, folks. Strategically, it’s crucial. Even if we’re careful and we use burners, Lofton’s picking up information from the billions who aren’t. He acquires the data, sorts it based on importance and priority, and then acts on it. He’ll always be a step ahead as long as he knows what everyone’s saying, texting, and emailing. But it’s more than just being able to communicate without Big Brother’s interference. We’re going to send Lofton a message tonight. When we destroy his technology, he’ll know he hasn’t yet won. Because when that thing is destroyed, he’ll know he’s in for a fight.”
“Well said,” Malone told her and patted her hand. “Britt, Allison and Felix, stick to the plan and we should be back here and making our escape in about fifteen minutes.” He climbed out of the van and opened the sliding door, poking his head in, smiling. “Let’s go. Britt and Felix up front. It’s a full moon but watch where you step. Walk with a purpose and be mindful of your surroundings.”
They stood outside the van for a moment, their breath fogging in the cold, and then Britt started off the road and into the woods like she knew where she was going. Felix hesitated, wary of being apart from Allison. She had already died once tonight and he couldn’t risk losing her again. Britt stopped, waiting for him. Allison smiled at him and whispered, “Go,” and despite his fears, he smiled back and caught up to Britt who started up again, walking tentatively, as if she expected every step to end with her foot in a bear trap. Felix let Britt set the pace, going slower than he liked, keeping an eye on her to make sure she didn’t tumble over any moss covered roots or rocks. The ground was soft, but he could hear footsteps behind him, the occasional sound of pine needles crunching underfoot. The moonlight shone down through the canopy, pale and white, and it seemed to grow brighter as they made their way through the forest. They came to a thickly wooded area and then a clearing where glistening sword ferns rose chest high, basking in the moonlight. Felix gazed up, realizing the horizon was pulsing and artificially bright—the lights from the substation.
“Almost there,” Britt whispered, sounding out of breath. She glanced to her left, then her right, then she turned in a slow circle, her head swiveling slowly from side to side.
“What is it?” Felix asked.
Britt took her hands from the pockets of her jacket and straightened her shoulders, staring rigidly into the woods.
Zara said something in a soft voice that Felix couldn’t pick up. Allison, mace in hand, the spikes glinting menacingly in the moonlight, caught his attention and arched an eyebrow at him, an unfamiliar spark glimmering in her eyes.
“What do you see?” Felix asked, feeling anxious.
“We’ve got company.” Britt’s eyes were now fixed on the area of old growth trees behind Zara. “I’m counting eight. Bipedal. Fast. Moving over the ground and also through the trees.”
“Numbered Ones?” Felix hazarded.
“That would be my best guess.” Britt pointed, raising her voice. “Zara—eight Numbered Ones coming our way. Hundred meters out and moving fast.”
“Is it a diversion?” Zara asked.
Britt twisted her neck around, peering in every direction, craning to see the treetops. “No. Place is empty. No birds. Nothing.”
Zara nodded, staring ahead into the woods, searching the dark recesses where the light of the moon couldn’t penetrate.
Britt’s breathing quickened, bursts of vapor clouding the winter air.
Felix came up beside her. “We’ll be fine,” he said gently. “I won’t let them get anywhere near you.” He raised his hand, pointing at the trees at the edge of the clearing. Britt looked up at his outstretched arm and seeing it seemed to calm her nerves.
Three Numbered Ones crashed through the trees and into the tall grass on Allison’s flank, converging on her at blinding speed. Allison swung her mace through the head of the creature on her far right, removing everything from its mouth up, then spun and chopped down, crushing the skull of another, splitting it wide like a wedge driven through an overripe pumpkin. Before the creatures had time to hit the ground, Allison pivoted and delivered a backhand blow at an upward angle, connecting with the third creature’s chin, evaporating its face in a spray of black mist.
“Jesus,” Britt whispered softly. “That girl’s a badass.”
Allison stood there, three lifeless Numbered Ones twitching at her feet, blood dripping from her mace. Felix felt his mouth fall open. Compared to Allison, the Numbered Ones didn’t have a single fast twitch fiber among them. Agatha, clearly, had given her more than her heart and her eyes.
The remaining Numbered Ones burst into the meadow howling like beasts unshackled from the gates of hell. Malone disappeared and reappeared behind a creature, his hand clutching its army surplus jacket with a German flag stitched to its shoulder. He disappeared, and so did the creature, and when he reappeared, the creature was upside down with its head submerged in the ground up to its neck. Felix had never considered what Malone’s powers might be and now he knew—Malone was a teleporter. The professor vanished again with a Numbered One in his grip and Allison flashed across the clearing, crushing the head of a creature within striking distance of Zara. The leader of the Fortress stood at a short distance from a Numbered One she had pinned to the ground, her hands in front of her body moving as if she was drawing shapes in the air. It flailed wildly at her feet, bellowing in pain, and then blood spewed from its mouth and it went still. Malone emerged out of the air with his hand on the Numbered One’s throat, its head and one arm buried in the trunk of a thick fi
r tree.
A creature weaved between Zara and Allison and came for Felix, approaching fast, teeth gnashing, drawing blood from its own lips.
Britt screamed in terror.
Felix gripped the creature with his mind and crushed it like the head of a hammer coming down on a grape. “Told you we’d be fine,” he said to Britt, observing the Velcro laced Reeboks sitting upright in a black puddle. “That’s eight, right?”
“Thank you.” Britt patted his arm appreciatively and looked out, twisting her head around. “That’s all of them!”
“You sure?” Zara asked skeptically, running up to them. “Nothing else out there?”
“That’s it,” Britt said.
“That was too easy.” Allison swept aside a fern, Malone walking beside her. “If this substation’s such an important asset, Lofton should be protecting it with a lot more than just a few of those things.” She waved her mace at the bodies littered across the clearing.
“I was thinking the same thing,” Zara said. She turned to Malone. “What do you think?”
“Eight Numbered Ones isn’t exactly what you would find at a petting zoo. That many creatures is certainly more than adequate to defend the substation against conventional threats.” Malone smiled. “We’re just not very conventional.”
Zara nodded, considering Malone’s words. “I’m not… it seems…” She was struggling to convey her concerns.
“It doesn’t feel right,” Allison said. “I hear what you’re saying professor, but Lofton would have to assume that if anyone was going to try to take out this place, it’d be the Order.”
“Maybe,” Felix began, “that was only his first line of defense. If we don’t get moving, we’ll just give him time to send more shit at us.”
Allison nodded, but she still looked unconvinced.
“I think Felix is right,” Zara said to the group. “Let’s destroy this goddamn thing and get out of here. C’mon.” She started off at a jog and they followed behind in a pack. Trees pressed in from both sides, narrowing the clearing, funneling them toward the ridge. Zara held up a hand and slowed to a walk, cautioning everyone to do the same. The substation’s lights were bright and white, and though Felix couldn’t see anything yet on the ground, the stars above were diminished, drained of their vitality, appearing weak and pale. Towers appeared, their tops studded with metal disks and long metal bars. Zara stopped and signaled with a closed hand. They came together in a line, their shoulders almost touching.
Felix looked out and his heart froze in his chest. Perhaps it was the word that had misled him. Substation. To him, it had sounded like the power relay station just down the road from his grandma’s place in Cove Rock. There was lots of electrical equipment there—some of it big—and an ugly chain link fence that surrounded the whole thing. An eyesore for sure, but not terribly imposing. What Felix was looking at now, however, was anything but unimposing.
The towers were located straight ahead from where they were standing, dozens of them, running in both directions. Office buildings spread out before them and Felix thought they were squat one or two story structures until he noticed they were as tall as the nearest trees. The buildings were shiny and black with walls of glass reflecting the lights from the stadium style fixtures that surrounded the facility. Felix hadn’t expected office buildings, and if there were any buildings at all, he’d thought they would be ugly, concrete and bunker like. Off to their left were five satellite dishes sitting up on circular platforms, all aimed in different directions. The distance and elevation was making it difficult to gauge the size of things on the ground, but Felix thought the dishes were immense.
“Those must be important.” Britt pointed at the disks.
“NASA would be envious,” Malone replied, nodding. “They’re designed like NASA’s deep space network antennas, but bigger and more powerful.” He placed a hand on Felix’s shoulder. “The antennas are vital, but so is the rest of it. Anything that isn’t destroyed can be used to rebuild Lofton’s capabilities.”
Felix’s eyes swept across the buildings and towers, realizing he’d never created a fire anywhere near as large as the one he would need to destroy the substation. He was focusing on the antennas when he noticed the cars parked behind them, partially obscured by the giant disks. Why were there cars here? he wondered. Cars meant people, right? Were there people here?
Allison noticed them too. “How many are inside?” she demanded, turning on Zara.
Zara looked briefly at Malone before answering. “Not many. It’s a night staff. Skeleton crew. On your average night, ten or fifteen max.”
Ten or fifteen people? Felix thought, mortified.
Allison stared Zara down. “You knew this?”
“Of course,” she replied, standing tall.
“Why didn’t you tell us?” Felix said to Malone. He felt discouraged and angry, the same way he always felt when someone lied to him.
“Would you have come?” Malone said in reply. “Finding personnel on site really shouldn’t surprise you.” He sighed. “I know that sounds disingenuous. I’m sorry it has to be this way, but it’s, well, we’re at war. Brother against brother. Sister against sister.” Malone’s face twisted in grief. “Father against son.”
Sirens sounded below, ripping through the night air, rising and falling in a deafening wail.
“They know we’re here,” Zara said urgently, stating the obvious. “We need to get going.”
Britt waved a hand as if tracing the arc of a rainbow. “We’re going to have company soon.”
“What is it?” Malone asked.
Britt shook her head. “It’s coming from the sky, but I can’t say what it is yet.” She frowned. “Picture a piece of paper with the top third painted red. That’s all I see. There’s so much incoming traffic I can’t differentiate one thermal image from another.”
“Dammit,” Zara said softly. “Felix, you need to hurry this up!”
Felix didn’t like her tone. “Maybe you should do it!” he snapped.
Voices carried up from below and then people emerged from the west exits, walking in the direction of the cars. They didn’t appear to be afraid or in any particular hurry. Some covered their ears as they neared the antennas. There were eight, then fifteen, and when the number reached twenty-seven, Felix stopped counting.
Eyes on the horizon, Britt said, “They’re moving fast. Can’t say for certain, but I’m picking up some really big signatures.”
“We won’t have another chance!” Zara shouted, and took Felix by the wrist. “Blow this thing up! I’m ordering you!”
Felix snatched his hand away, pulling Britt off balance. “You’re ordering me? Go fuck yourself!”
Zara stiffened and her arm began to rise when Malone gripped her by the bicep.
“Not a wise decision,” Malone said grimly, looking Zara in the eye.
“But he has to do it!” Zara pleaded, sounding somehow childish. “If we don’t, we might as well let Lofton know we’re not going to stand in his way. We might as well give up! Don’t you see?”
“I don’t disagree with you,” Malone said kindly. “But Felix needs to make that decision for himself. No one else can do it for him.”
“Running out of time,” Britt cautioned, sounding uneasy.
“Felix,” Malone began, “we’re going back to the van. You decide what you need to do. We’ll be waiting for you.” His eyes turned skyward. “Don’t be long.” He reached out for Britt’s hand and the three of them retraced their path through the clearing.
Their fading footsteps only swelled Felix’s anger, his eyes watering with fury. “Fucking liars! Liars!”
Allison moved beside him and her closeness calmed him.
“Goddamn lying assholes,” Felix muttered, watching the crowd below strolling to their vehicles. One woman was sitting in her car, but there was no exhaust steaming from the tailpipe.
Allison nodded slowly. “Children,” she sighed. “Everyone treats us like children, h
iding the truth for our own good, protecting us against the harsh realities of a cruel world.”
“Manipulating us,” Felix added, fuming.
“Yeah,” Allison agreed and a wry smile crossed her face. “Gotta love the irony though. They don’t tell us people are working here because they don’t want to unhinge our delicate sensibilities, but they have zero qualms about ordering you to kill them.”
“They’re just like Lofton.” Felix shook his head, the shriek of the sirens hurting his ears, making it hard to concentrate.
Allison chewed her lip. “Are they?”
“Lofton tells me to kill Hamlen. Zara orders me to kill them.” He waved a hand toward the lot where several more employees had reached their cars, though none had made a move to leave. “They could be, you know, just regular people.”
“Probably are regular people. Might just be a job for them.” She turned her face to Felix, her expression wrought with grief. “I’m sure they have families. Kids at home.” She lowered her eyes. “Daughters.”
“Fuck this!” Felix started to turn around.
“Zara’s right,” Allison said suddenly, wiping at her eyes. “You have to do it.”
“I’m not going to kill thirty people!” Felix shook his head furiously. “They used me!” He pointed in the general direction of the van. “Malone used me!”
“Neutrality’s a fantasy, Felix. You know that. We can’t wait this out in a beach house. The country’s at war, so it’s this or Lofton, the guy who just had me killed because you wouldn’t follow his orders.”
Felix’s stomach knotted and he wished he could throw up to get rid of the bitter taste creeping up his throat. “Look at all of them.”
“I know,” Allison said sadly. “But what do you think Lofton would tell you to do? You think he was going to stop at Hamlen? Wouldn’t he kill a million to save a million and one?”
“But there’s so many.” Felix’s mouth had gone dry and his breath caught in his throat. A few cars were running now, the exhaust chuffing out in great clouds, yet still they remained in the lot. “Why aren’t they leaving?”