In the darkness of the night, Denn entered into the forest of large trees.
Chapter XXI
Desire for life
The night seemed colder and more solitary to him than ever. He walked through the brush towards his enemy. He thought about death, and those who were now gone. With every step he took, his determination was growing. The time had come to face what he himself had instigated. It was reasonable. One cannot challenge destiny and expect to come out of it unscathed. That did not matter to him so much now; he was ready to accept the consequences. He did not have much left to lose.
He had in his hand a carrycase, which he had filled with things that he thought he was going to need. He had come prepared for everything. Virtually without realising it, he arrived at his destination.
The fort appeared peaceful and calm, completely alien to what was about to happen. Denn climbed one of the large trees. From up above, he contemplated the panorama, several campfires dotted throughout the entire fort. They were trying to do away with the darkness caused by the absence of energy.
A few soldiers were guarding their walls with the help of the powerful turrets, Denn touched the electro-magnetic shock grenades he was carrying; he would not have to worry about them. There were, however, a few rifles and machine guns which he would have to be careful of, but once he was fighting hand to hand, none would be able to match him. Nobody, with the exception of Neil. His best option was to leave him until the end.
He stayed for a while in the large tree, analysing which route to take. He was not nervous, but rather was displaying an unnerving calm. He made out a place through which to enter, and got down, ready to begin.
He took one of the electro-magnetic shock grenades, programmed a short countdown and started to run at full speed, from the forest of tall trees, towards the fort.
When he was outside of the forest, a few metres away from the wall, and from one of the soldiers watching over it, he threw a grenade with all his strength; it struck the man in the face, rendering him unconscious in the process. The grenade detonated an instant later, without generating anything more than a flash, and faint sound, deactivating all of the electronic systems within a fifty-metre radius.
Without stopping his course, he unsheathed a long knife he was carrying on his belt, and took an enormous leap towards the wall of the fort, holding the knife above his head with both hands. In the air, and in one strong blow, he cleaved the knife into the wall, in a section of wood that he had chosen as his entry point.
The long knife stuck, firmly adhered in the wood, leaving Denn hanging to the wall, gripping onto the handle. He propelled himself with his hands, and raised his body until he was standing on the knife, that was now serving as a foothold. He took another of the knives he had brought and, taking a jump, repeated the same manoeuvre. The same as before, and without wasting even a second, he climbed to the second knife, from where he jumped yet again, now managing to take hold of top edge of the wall. Denn made one final effort, and at last he was on top of it. He looked all around, and confirmed that nobody appeared to have noticed his arrival.
Quickly, he proceeded along the walkway of the wall, up to the man he had left unconscious, crouched down beside him, and picked him up to sit him back down in the turret. He took out of his carry case one of the several magnetic handcuffs he had brought, and fastened him to the machine. He got down from the wall, on the inner side of the fort, and continued stealthily in the night.
As he was walking, he stumbled across one of the drones that was cast down on the floor, clearly affected by the electro-magnetic shock. After a rapid inspection, he continued on his way up to the second turret, where there was also a soldier on guard. He took another grenade, and once again got ready to hurl it with force towards his head.
This time, he was not so lucky; just before he could throw it, a second drone was approaching him, completing its course along the wall. It had been programmed to react upon finding unauthorised persons. It detected Denn immediately; it activated, alerting the soldier, who shot up from his place.
"Who goes there?" asked the man, unable to make anything out in the darkness.
There was nothing else he could do; Denn threw the grenade before the drone and the soldier would be able to shoot him. The same as before, he hit the soldier right on the head, this time somewhat more spectacularly. The grenade was activated and the drone, just before it could shoot, fell like a rock, whilst the soldier fell over the outer edge of the wall. He could not leave him tied up. He had to get out of there immediately. He hoped that the soldier had not been badly hurt, and carried on his way, now running between the cabins. He had already taken care of two of the soldiers whom he considered the most dangerous. On his way towards Neil, he would deal with the rest.
He entered into a cabin, taking a lot of care not to alert anybody, and attacked. One less soldier to worry about. He left him handcuffed, and continued his way, repeating the ritual as he went along. By the time he was ready to attack Neil's house, Denn had already taken care of practically all the soldiers in the area.
Neil's cabin was fairly distant from the rest, in an area in which there was no other construction; he had built it just in that place precisely to keep himself far away from the rest of the people.
Now Denn was in front of it; he hid behind a rock, some twenty metres away; he looked all around to make sure that nobody saw him, and he prepared himself. Indeed, there did not appear to be anybody keeping guard nearby. When he was ready, he walked up to a window, which he opened slowly. After making sure that he had not alerted anybody, he went inside, barely lit by one of the large campfires, a short distance from there.
Now Denn was breathing somewhat more shakily. He was a few steps away from his enemy; he walked slowly to Neil's bedroom, tightly gripping a long knife, the only weapon he had left, and the only one he was planning on using. He opened the door to the bedroom, and saw him lying on his bed. He had him; everything was about to end. He went up to the foot of the bed and raised the sharp knife above his head.
All the images of pain that he had been keeping in his heart danced in front of him: the captain, Dani, C0-UN1, Senlar, and all those who died destroyed by the beasts. For a second he felt as if he were hallucinating. Before ending the life of his enemy, he had to look him in the face, but a blanket was covering part of it. He was going to remove it, and only afterwards, would he stab him.
He prepared himself to deliver the final blow, and in one rapid movement, he removed the blanket.
The man in the bed woke up immediately, obviously frightened.
"Help!" he cried. Denn took a few steps backwards, terrified by what he had been on the verge of doing; if he had not have removed the blanket, he would have made a huge mistake. The one sleeping in the bed was not Neil. It was Wallace.
“Shh! Shut up!” he scolded. "It's Denn, I've come for Neil."
"Denn?" he asked, shocked, as he got up out of the bed. "You shouldn’t be here."
"I didn't kill Senlar, Wallace, or let in those beasts."
"I know."
"You know?" asked Denn in amazement.
"I mean... I imagine so... We all do. Neil... He's killed the injured. He did atrocious things to them. I told everyone, but we are all afraid. He treats us like rubbish... He's insane. He has no apparent motives. He simply insane!”
"Calm down, Wallace," ordered Denn. "I've come to stop him, don't worry... Why are you here? Where is Neil?"
“Qein wandered away, Denn. Nobody knows where he is. Neil had a bad feeling, so he forced me to change cabins with him."
“Qein’s all right. He's a long way from here."
"Where is C0?"
"Is Neil in your cabin?" asked Denn, avoiding talking about the robot.
"I believe so."
"Stay here, I'll go and look for him," said Denn.
"Wait," Wallace stopped him. "I... I'm sorry Denn... We should have supported you."
"Don't apologise. It's true that I
didn't murder Senlar, nor did I let in the beasts, but it is true that I hijacked the station. I never planned on hurting anybody, and my intentions were good, as strange as that sounds, but none of this would have happened if it weren't for me. I understand you all not trusting me. Even so, I have to take care of Neil. It's my responsibility."
"Good luck, Denn," said Wallace, with worry etched on his face.
Denn walked to the entrance to leave the house, opened the door, and took a step outside. It was in that moment that he experienced something extraordinary. He was suddenly able to comprehend all of the atoms in the material around him, like a sea of pure energy moving across the universe. For a moment, he was no longer one person; he was part of that energy in motion. He looked all around and only saw light and darkness interacting in front of his eyes. He saw as something would travel at full speed towards him, and hit him with force. Suddenly, the experience ended.
Denn had felt it, but he did not realise until it was already too late. A thought of death crossed through his mind as that bullet flew through the night, in the direction of his abdomen. It's happening, he thought. A moment later, the projectile crossed through his body from one side to the other. He had been shot by Neil, who had been waiting outside the cabin, weapon in hand. The soldier, who had fallen over the other side of the wall, had alerted him to the situation. He was accompanying him along with another soldier.
“Denn!" cried Wallace, terrified, from inside his house.
"Welcome back," Neil said to Denn, who was now kneeling on the ground, holding his wound. "Don't worry, that injury won't kill you... Not right away."
Denn took out a grenade from the bag he was still carrying, and activated it. The devices in the eyes of all those present ceased to function. Nobody would be able to alert anybody else.
"Where did you get those grenades?" asked Neil, annoyed. "They won't be any good to you, in any case I wasn't planning on calling more soldiers to this place," he lied. "I don't need them."
Denn laughed slightly amongst coughs. He appeared confident; he made an effort, managing to stand up, still holding the knife in his right hand.
"Is there something funny?" asked Neil seriously.
"I was looking for you," replied Denn.
"You found me... Where is the robot?" he said, looking all around.
"He couldn't come,” replied Denn.
Neil was worried for a moment. Why would Denn appear so calm if he was about to die? He surely had something prepared. He thought that perhaps the robot would be hiding, waiting for the moment to attack. He was not going to waste more time.
"Fine," said Neil, very serious. He raised his weapon to aim it at Denn’s head and fired.
By now he already knew the feeling. Denn knew what it meant. He felt the bullet impacting against his skull before Neil could even shoot. He made an abrupt movement to one side just before Neil finished pulling the trigger. The manoeuvre was enough for him to manage to dodge the bullet.
Just afterwards, he launched the knife with all his strength against Neil, and began his course towards him. Neil dodged the attack easily, raised his weapon again towards Denn, and fired, failing again. This left Neil dumbfounded for a moment. Denn was doing things he was not expecting to see. His hesitation allowed Bornew to get close to one of the soldiers, to whom he delivered a strong blow, instantly knocking him out cold.
Denn was gaining confidence; he turned immediately on Neil, launching a punch, but his enemy managed to avoid it. In that moment he had another experience like the previous. He could anticipate Neil’s blow, that was heading directly towards his injury, but no matter how much he tried, he could not avoid it.
He almost fell back down from the pain, but his determination to finish what he had started overrode everything. He quickly recovered and launched a kick, managing to hit right in Neil’s chest, sending him a few metres backwards. He would have loved to tackle his enemy once again, but the second soldier sprung at him, hitting him in the face.
The injury in his abdomen was beginning to get increasingly more unbearable, in addition to the fact that he was shaking from the tremendous blow he had received. Neil was already beginning to sit up, and the soldier that had just hit him was trying to reach him a second time. If he wanted to have any chance, he had to get rid of him before Neil could come back to attack him. Perhaps he might not have any other opportunity to do it. He was going to put into practice everything that Senlar had taught him during this training. The soldier launched his punch and Denn dodged it with a turning kick, leaving the soldier unconscious in the act, just before Neil could come back to try to hit him.
Now they were one in front of the other, it was the moment that Denn had been waiting for. The final battle began.
Denn dodged and stopped Neil's blows with a lot of difficulty. Even when he managed to cover himself, he felt the great strength of his formidable opponent. With every hit, with every kick, Bornew’s strength was beginning to run out. He tried launching an attack that could do some damage to Neil, but he risked leaving himself open.
Wallace watched in disbelief as those men hit each other in the cold night. Nobody else seemed to have realised what was happening in the fort. The majority of the soldiers who looked after the area had been neutralised by Denn, although on the other far end of the fort there were still several more. Wallace decided not to call for help; he was not sure who to trust. It was dangerous to alert any ally of Neil. He decided to stay right there, watching the battle, somehow he could help Denn. He filled with bravery and took a few steps towards them, with the intention of striking Neil from behind.
“Don't do it!” cried Denn, when he had breath. Wallace stopped immediately.
Neil contained himself, looking threateningly at Wallace. That allowed them a moment to take a small break. Denn remained on guard, waiting attentively for the next attack. Neil turned his face towards him and spoke:
“You seem confident to be a dead man, Bornew.”
“I have accepted my destiny. If I have to die here, then so be it. At least I’m going to take you with me.”
“So that was it. You’ve seen your death?” asked Neil, and let out a malevolent laugh. “You’ve accepted your fate?”
“My life has lost value.”
“You’ve given up then? It was to be expected of a piece of garbage like you.”
“I’m never going to give up, I just won’t fear for my life ever again. If this is the end, then be certain that I will go down fighting.”
“What about the fantasy you had about stopping the robots?” he asked, with the intention of tormenting him. “Did you start all that, just to end here? You did nothing other than condemn these people.”
“I already took responsibility for that. I told you I was not going to give up. I simply won’t treat my life as something precious to me; it no longer is. The only think I care about is the people. I am not going to let you do any more damage. I am going to finish with you right now.”
Denn leapt on his enemy; hit after hit, the damage spread. The wound in his abdomen had let out a lot of blood, and he was already beginning to weaken. With every moment that passed, Denn was managing to work out more easily Neil’s second attack; unfortunately for him, his body was beginning to stop reacting to his orders. After a moment, he became paralysed.
Neil took advantage of his opportunity; he delivered a bestial punch to Denn’s face, sending him to the ground. Just when he was about to finish him off with his foot, Wallace rushed headlong at him. It was useless. Neil received him with a punch that also knocked him down.
"You've signed your death warrant," he said, now walking towards Wallace, and he began kicking him mercilessly, before Denn’s powerless gaze.
"Stop!" cried Denn from the ground, but that only meant that Neil increased the strength of his kicks to Wallace, laughing as he did it.
Denn, as best he could, got up onto his feet, launching a blow at Neil, who dodged it with ease. He hit him again, sending
him to the ground. Denn had lost a lot of blood, and the blows had done considerable damage to him.
“It’s the end, Bornew,” said Neil, who was out of it. “You..., these pieces of trash... You’re all mine. You’re nothing more than insects. It’s time for you all to pay.”
“You’re crazy!”
“Am I? Do you have any idea what it’s like to know that you’re superior to everyone else, and to not have your talent rewarded?”
"What are you talking about?" asked the gravely wounded Denn, who continued to bleed on the floor.
“All my life I’ve been treated like just any other, when it has been very clear that I am superior to everyone. First my father... He sent me far away when it was my right to govern over our people. He said that The Union army would teach me how to be a respectable man, so I obeyed. Once I got there, I gave the best of myself, mission after mission, I fought and I fought, but that bastard Val rewarded somebody else... Senlar,” he said with contempt. “That sentimental idiot; too soft to be a real man.”
“You shouldn’t blame others for your failures.”
“My failures? I’ve just had bad luck. When Val gave up his position in the army and they made him captain of S4-07, I thought I would finally have an opportunity. I was going to be able to develop my full potential, even when Senlar was still in the same battalion. Now we had a new Colonel. But then it happened... on one mission. Many of us became convergences, and Senlar couldn’t keep his mouth shut. They discharged us from the army, but they were not going to leave us without supervision. They were going to give us positions in unimportant places in order to keep us monitored. It was then that bastard Val used his influences to bring us, Senlar and myself, to S4-07. He made him First in Station, and me, Second. It was his final joke.”
Convergence: Genesis Page 30