I haven’t got time to worry about it though. We’ll be arriving any second.
My comms indicates we’re approaching the upper floors of the FTW building. The glass dome glints at me through the screen like a beacon.
I direct the drone to ram it, but as we speed towards our target, we spin out of control and shoot straight over the top.
People fly everywhere through the air around me. With one hand I grab hold of a handle welded to the side of the drone and hang on. With the other I grip Kara’s hand in mine to keep her steady.
With great effort I angle the screen towards me and demand it to tell me what’s happening.
“Override attempt in progress. Alternate system attempting control of drone.”
“Who’s doing it,” I scream as the drone suddenly rights itself and powers back towards the glass dome.
“Ping-back traces to comms of Jameson T. Fox.”
Once again, before we can get close enough, the drone spins and sends us off target. People are thrown about in all directions. Many are hurt based on how much blood I can see.
“Get us inside that building!” I shout at the comms.
“Attempt in progress. Suggest alternate course of action for maximum chance of success.”
“Do it!”
At this point I don’t really care what plan it has come up with. We need to land this thing before we sustain too many more injuries.
The comms plots a course and displays it on the screen. What I see doesn’t make much sense. We’re aiming lower like we’re deliberately going to miss.
I put my faith in the technology and hold on for dear life.
This time when the garbage drone approaches and Jameson’s override fights us for control, we spin out again but our new course crash-lands us through the wall and into the level below the glass dome.
The drone screeches to a halt as it slides across the concrete deck and the doors open.
My scrappers get to their feet and collect the weapons they’ve dropped during the struggle for the drone.
Without waiting for any kind of orders they charge as a unit through the doors and into the FTW building.
All but Kara, Nimah, Rosalie, and the Bitza brothers. They’re waiting for me.
I pull my knife from my boot and look at my reflection in the blades surface. I barely recognize the face looking back. She looks so much more determined than I ever remember being.
“Let’s do this,” I say and together we run from the drone and enter the fight.
14 - Spider Web
We run down the corridor lined with strawberries and find the battle in full swing. Jameson’s guards met the scrappers around half-way along and now there’s a battle to the death in progress.
Our scrapper army easily outnumbers the guards five to one, so that’s something in our favor. The guards, though, are brandishing much better weapons than we are so things could quickly turn against us.
Scrappers swing their makeshift swords and knives around wildly and inexpertly. The clanking and slashing sounds reverberate along the corridor to meet us. Blood sprays from both guards and scrappers.
The wounds the guards are sustaining look horrific. Ours don’t look as bad but are obviously more deadly as whenever a bullet connects one of our number falls.
Bishop pulls us up before we reach the fighting.
“Echo, they know what their job is. They’re keeping the path clear for us. We need to go up. We need to get to Jameson.”
He’s right, of course. I can’t let my emotions cloud my judgment despite how badly I want to help my fellow scrappers. He pulls at my shirt and I turn away from the battle.
We charge up the stairs with our weapons drawn and ready.
Bosco is the first through the doors, only to collapse and tumble to the floor when he gets shot through the head.
The rest of us have less than a second to react. We burst into the room and dive for cover as gunfire rings out around us.
Kara and I jump to the right. We slide to a halt behind the small wall that circles the room. A hot sting burns at my upper arm and before I can look Kara yells that they’ve shot me.
I wipe at the blood forming on my arm and find it’s not much worse than a graze. It stings like all hell but it’s not life threatening.
Bullets keep smashing and thumping all around us. I look back over my shoulder at the glass dome.
Large cracks are forming in its surface as bullets impact. Since I’m safe for the moment I look around to find the rest of my team.
Bosco lies dead in the entrance where he dropped. Bishop, Rosalie, and Nimah dove to the left when they entered and they’re pinned down just like we are.
Nimah is lying face down and covering her head with her arms. Bishop and Rosalie are crouched. Suddenly the gunfire ceases and Jameson calls out.
“You’ve really screwed up, Echo. You’ve no idea. I was prepared to let you into my life but you had to go and pull that shit with the video.”
“People needed to know,” I shout back. “The people in the boneyards are just like everyone else. Who are you to decide they should die?”
“I am Jameson T. Fox, that’s what lets me decide. My word is the law. I choose who live and who dies. Eighty billion people on this planet, living in my buildings and breathing my air, and above them all I stand as God.”
“But why? Why kill us all?”
“Because you’re blight. I’ve been working at perfection for decades. You people in the boneyards are the last piece of humanity not under my control.
“I corralled you for as long as I could, but you are proof the system isn’t foolproof. It’s time to wipe you all from the planet and achieve perfection once and for all.”
I glance towards Bishop still crouched safely behind the barricade and he’s looking back at me. He bounces on his knees a little, nodding.
He’s psyching himself up getting ready to charge Jameson.
I shake my head and in a loud whisper I tell him it’s too dangerous. He keeps bouncing, more rapidly now, seconds away from making his move.
He jumps to his feet and charges from his hiding place, and as he does he gets tackled from behind by Reed.
It takes me a second to register.
“How the hell is he still alive?” I hiss under my breath at Kara.
“He can’t be. I know I killed him.”
Regardless of how, he’s here now and fighting Bishop, and together they have tumbled into the room.
I sneak a look around the edge of the wall. Fists and boots are flying every which way.
Reed is much stronger than Bishop. His fists smash into Bishop who only succeeds in blocking or deflecting one every so often.
Bishop gets a hand free and grabs Reed by the throat. A gunshot reverberates around the room.
“Enough!” Jameson yells, pointing the gun at Bishop. “All of you come out now or I’ll kill your friend.”
Kara and I exchange glances.
“We can’t,” Kara whispers. “He’ll kill us if we do.”
“He’ll kill Bishop if we don’t. And he’s the reason I found you, I have to try.”
“Hurry up!” Jameson shouts.
“Okay, okay,” I shout back and raise my hands.
“Don’t do it!” Bishop shouts, which is followed by a thump and a groan.
Slowly I raise myself until I’m standing, hands still in the air. Bishop is doubled over but alive.
Reed is next to him and Jameson is pointing a gun at Bishop’s head. As soon as I’m standing he trains the gun at me.
“And the rest,” Jameson shouts.
I look at Kara and nod, and she stands. Nimah and Rosalie follow her lead. Jameson keeps the gun pointed at me, a sneer crossing his face.
“All of you, over here now,” Jameson says, summoning us with his gun.
Heads bowed, we walk slowly across until we’re standing a few feet in front of him. Reed marches Bishop over to us and we stand in a line.
&n
bsp; We must make a pitiful sight, lined up and waiting for death.
How did I ever convince anyone this would be a good idea? Of course they’d be better prepared for a fight than we would be.
“It’s taken me a while, Echo, but seeing you here now I remember your mother,” Jameson says. “Some filthy scrapper slut. Reed thinks I don’t know what he does in the boneyards, but he’s an idiot.”
Reed looks at his father, hurt and a little surprised, but must think better of saying anything.
“What he’s doing isn’t new,” Jameson continues. “I did it years before he even existed.”
My mind reels as suddenly everything clicks into place. Jameson raped my mother in the boneyard. He didn’t know he’d got her pregnant though. But the others, they had suspected or maybe they even knew the truth.
That’s why everyone has always said my surname is Fox.
“You... you raped my mother.”
“Slit that bitches throat too, obviously not soon enough. I should have killed her the first time I raped her. It would have saved me all this shit.”
The swirling cloud of fury sweeps through my mind again, like when I caught those boys spying on me. Jameson is still talking. He’s even laughing but I can’t hear him.
He waves the gun at my friends, stopping on each of them as he passes. All I can see is red and a lifetime of hatred welling up inside me.
Jameson points the gun back towards me. It doesn’t bother me. I don’t even flinch. The fury builds to a crescendo and I scream at him.
I take him by surprise because he recoils, and I use the second of distraction to sprint forward to ram him with everything I’ve got.
A flash comes from the gun barrel, followed by the searing head of a bullet as it passes through my shoulder. It doesn’t slow me down and I charge into Jameson full-force. I knock him off balance and crash-tackle him to the ground.
Beside me another gun goes off, and I get a glimpse of my friends as they attack Reed with everything they’re carrying.
Jameson gets to his feet first and points his gun at me again. He fires and I twitch to the left with less than an inch to spare. The bullet slams into the floor next to me.
Before he can fire another round, Kara leaps over me and lands a flying kick into Jameson’s stomach. Those new fighting skills are really coming in handy. He doubles over and drops his gun at his feet.
Kara doesn’t miss a beat before launching into him with a ferocity I never thought possible. She’s like a machine, landing perfect punches, defeating every block he tries.
I use the opportunity to grab Jameson’s gun. It’s heavier than I thought it would be, but it looks simple enough to use.
Kara is beating the hell out of Jameson so I take the chance to look back at Reed.
There’s not much left of him. Between Rosalie, Nimah, and Bishop they’ve definitely killed him. I don’t know how he survived last time, but he’s not walking away from what they’ve done.
Multiple knives embedded in his head will make sure of that.
I turn my attention back to Kara and Jameson, and in the seconds that have passed the tables have turned. Jameson has got Kara in a chokehold. She thrashes about trying to get loose.
The weight of the gun in my hand pulls on my arm. I raise and point it as steadily as I can at Jameson.
“Stop!” I scream, putting every ounce of energy I have into it.
It works for the briefest of moments. Before I can do anything, he pulls Kara closer until he’s hidden behind her.
“Not going to shoot me then?” he taunts from behind Kara. “Scared you’ll hit your girlfriend?”
He’s right. Even if I knew what I was doing, there’s no way to shoot at Jameson without risking hitting Kara instead. I lower the gun and he sniggers.
“Any second now my security will overwhelm your pathetic army downstairs. Give up and I’ll make your deaths quick,” he says.
“Echo,” Kara squeezes out through Jameson’s chokehold. “Remember rule one?”
I nod, getting her message.
Kara balls her right hand into a fist and I raise the gun. Jameson is about to say something when Kara’s arm shoots forward then slams backwards into Jameson crotch.
Kara immediately makes herself dead weight, and when combined with the shock of the ball-punch Jameson loses his grip and she drops to the floor.
I aim as best I can and pull the trigger.
With the first shot my eyes clamp closed so I’ve got no idea if I’ve hit him or not. I keep squeezing the trigger until it clicks.
Cautiously I open an eye.
Jameson is still standing there, his arms covering his head but otherwise unharmed. The glass wall of the dome behind him is covered in pock marks and cracks from where all the bullets impacted.
Jameson laughs from behind his arms and slowly lowers them.
“Is that the best you’ve got?” he says, still laughing.
Kara from her position at his feet raises herself on an arm then sweeps her legs around so they smash into Jameson’s knees from behind.
He falls to the floor, breaking his falls with his arms. While he’s prone, Kara punches him in the side of his head.
I sprint the short distance between us before he can get up again. Kara is lining up for another punch, but before she can I spin the gun in my hand to grip the barrel and smash the other end into Jameson’s skull.
There’s a loud crack and Jameson slumps to the floor, dead. Kara pulls herself to her feet then grips me in a bear hug. Pain rips through my shoulder but I don’t care.
A huge cheer rings out throughout the room. Kara and I break apart and look for the source.
Over by the stairs a bloodied and battered army of scrappers are giving us a round of applause.
Rosalie, Nimah, and Bishop, still crouched by the body of Reed, smile at us and join in the applause.
“We won. I can’t believe we won,” I say to Kara.
“Believe it, girl!”
Bishop stops clapping suddenly.
“If Jameson and Reed are dead, does that mean you inherit FTW? You are the sole remaining heir.”
The thought hadn’t occurred to me. I shrug and look at Kara, then walk over to Jameson’s desk.
“Screen,” I say to the one on his desk, “am I in charge of FTW?”
“Negative. Jameson Fox is current president of FoxTech Worldwide.”
“But Jameson is dead,” I reply, then after a moment of self-doubt I add, “isn’t he?”
A roar comes from behind me and I spin around. Jameson is up and charging straight for me. He dives over the desk and I duck out of his way so he grabs nothing but air on his way past.
He somersaults when he hits the floor and suddenly he’s back on his feet. Blood pumps from the wound on his head where I hit him with the gun, and he wobbles slightly.
This is my chance. I shove him in the chest with every ounce of strength I have left, and he stumbles backwards.
He stops when he reaches the small wall circling the room and reaches out a hand to steady himself. Kara flies past me and directly at Jameson and lands a flying kick to his chest and he falls backwards over the wall.
Gingerly he gets to his feet. I vault the wall and hit him square on with my knees, and his back slams into the glass.
The cracks in the dome from my terrible shooting widen and spread out like a spider web as Jameson smashes into it.
I ball up my fists and smash them into his chest. The glass holds for what feels like an eternity, but eventually it gives way.
Jameson’s eyes grow wide as he topples backwards. He grabs at the glass but it breaks away at his touch.
Finally with nothing left to stop his fall he plunges from the window and into the night.
I’m sure I can hear him scream all the way to the ground.
A lung-emptying sigh escapes me and I turn back towards the screen sitting on the desk.
“Screen,” I ask it, “now am I in charge?”
“Affirmative, Miss Fox. Per Jameson Fox’s instructions, control passes to surviving descendants on his death. You are the only remaining descendant in the Fox bloodline, so control passes to you.”
The crowd of people gathering around me roars in celebration once again. Everyone tries to hug me or pat me on the back.
Kara grabs my hand and pulls me free of the crowd and they quieten down, waiting for me to speak.
“First things first then. Screen, call off any security on their way here. I don’t consider anyone in this room a threat. Secondly, destroy anything to do with the X-71 gas, leave nothing behind.”
I look around at the sea of faces in front of me. They’re bruised and bleeding and look like hell, but they’re hanging on.
“Next, get someone up here to patch up me and my friends. And get us some food.”
Kara wraps her arms around me and kisses my lips. On some level I know she’s a clone of the Kara I loved, but she’s identical in every way.
She loves me, and I never stopped loving her or wanting her back.
Wrapping my arms around her I pull her in closer while we kiss.
I think we’ll be just fine.
15 - Celebrations
Jameson is dead. Reed is dead. The boneyards are safe. Well, as safe as they get. Tomorrow we’ll help the people still trapped down there, but tonight everyone agrees we need to celebrate.
The mood up here in the gigantic glass dome that used to be Jameson’s office is unbelievable. People, the army of scrappers that made this a reality, are eating and drinking and dancing, happier than they’ve ever been before.
Nimah runs through the doorway, emerging from the corridor below. She’s pulled out the bottom of her shirt as a makeshift basket and has filled it with strawberries.
Everyone cheers as she enters. The scrappers can’t get enough of the delicious red berries lining the hallway below us. Nimah tosses handfuls at a time to her eager audience. Everyone is ecstatic.
Well, almost everyone. Bishop is off to one side, sitting by the body of his brother. He asked us to leave him alone, so we’re respecting his wishes. He’s facing away from me, but I can tell he’s crying. His shoulders are gently quaking.
Boneyards & Badlands: The Complete FTW Series Page 8