by Matt Ryan
“The fire may still be raging, but I’ll toss this fire retardant bomb as soon as you type into the stone,” Travis said. He held a metal ball in his hand, about the size of a baseball. “Just hold your breath as we jump.”
“Okay, here we go,” Joey said.
The stone hummed and Travis tossed the ball to the floor. It vibrated and bounced as the domed room flipped to a new scene. It exploded, spreading a white cloud out and around them in an instant. Joey felt the intense heat cool off and soon the white mist dissipated and he looked around at the remains of Zach’s house.
The fire dimmed down in some places and went out in others. Joey breathed out slowly.
The walls and roof had mostly collapsed and black smoke filled the sky. Debris and ash covered much of the marble floor and the smells of burnt plastic and rubber were strong. He coughed as he turned around in a circle, but there wasn’t another person in the house.
“Where is everyone?” Poly asked.
“Look.” Joey pointed out past a collapsed wall. A group of people walked toward them.
Lucas kicked in part of a wall, kicking up ash and embers. Julie, Hank, and Gladius walked in behind him.
“Hello, Lucas, Julie, Hank,” Travis greeted.
“Daddy!” Gladius ran to him and jumped into his arms.
“Good to see you.” Travis hugged her. “I missed my little girl.”
“I missed my big daddy.”
“Okay, now that is just weird,” Lucas said, interrupting their moment.
Gladius dropped down from Travis’s arms and adjusted her hair and clothes.
“Has he made an appearance yet?” Joey asked.
“Nothing yet and we’ve been watching the house BBQ for half an hour,” Lucas said.
“You think he’ll show?”
Julie messed with her Panavice and looked up. “Yes. There is one thing here he can’t live without.”
“What’s that, his baby seal club?” Lucas said.
“Marcus’s mother is stored here, in a safe. Harris told me he wouldn’t leave without it.”
“Where is Harris?” Hank asked.
“Just about dead, last time I looked,” Travis said and crossed his arms. He and Harris may never get along, but Travis had helped save Harris’s life more than once now. A fact Joey was sure weighed heavy on him.
“Listen,” Julie said.
Joey heard it too, the sound of heavy exhaust. He spotted the big rig mowing down the gate to the house and using a Jake brake to stop near the front door. The wall near the door still remained up and he couldn’t see the people getting out the rig, only their shadows through the obscure glass of the front door. He was sure it was Samantha and Zach though.
“Be strong, everyone,” he warned. “No matter what venom he spews, he must die.”
“And don’t even think of doing your slow-mo crap, Joey. You promised.” Poly was not joking around.
He sighed and nodded his head. He had made a promise . . . but if it came down to saving his friends or dying, he knew already what he’d be doing. Pulling out his gun, the rest followed Joey’s lead.
Zach kicked the front door and it fell in. He stomped over the debris and skidded to a halt as he saw each of them, with their weapons pointed at his chest. He laughed and Samantha gasped and held her hand over her mouth.
“Don’t kill him,” she pleaded, stepping in front of him. “Why are you guys doing this? Haven’t I given enough of my soul to you?” She stared at Joey.
“This isn’t about us, Samantha,” he answered. “It’s about him.”
“The hell it is.”
Joey didn’t want to do it but he knew he had to. “I’m so sorry, Samantha.” He stepped aside and let the Alius stone come into view.
“What?” Samantha took a step closer. “That’s impossible.” She turned to Zach who stood with his hand near his gun. “Why do you have that in your house?”
“Am I missing something? That thing was here when I took the house over.”
“You’re telling me you have no idea what that stone is?” Samantha asked.
Zach looked confused, as if waiting for someone to tell him the punch line.
Joey frowned because he genuinely looked like he had no idea what the stone was. Either that, or the man was a great actor.
“Why don’t you all tell me what the stone is for?” Zach said.
“Stop it! Just stop,” Joey said. “You can’t believe this, Samantha. You can’t believe he doesn’t know exactly what that is in the middle of his house. Don’t you think the coincidence is too big to swallow?”
Samantha looked to Zach and back to Joey. “I have to believe him,” she said rubbing her earrings. “Because if I didn’t, I couldn’t live with myself.”
“I don’t know who he is,” Julie pointed to Zach. “But he is either Marcus himself, or working for Marcus. The computer programs he uses are not of this world, and the Cough isn’t anything new. Vanar had the exact same disease, but they used a different cure—a clean cure.”
“You can’t be listening to this, baby.” Zach moved closer to her.
Samantha sniffled and wiped her eyes. She moved closer to him. “What are they saying, Zach?”
“I want you to look me in the eyes and know I am here for you. Don’t let them come between us. I need you to decide right now, is it going to be them or me?”
Samantha looked at the group and Joey felt her gaze pass over each of them. Making up her mind, she turned and rushed into Zach’s arms.
Zach moved his hands to greet her when Joey heard the gunshot. Zach then threw a ball on the floor and it rolled near Joey, but Joey didn’t pay attention to it. He was frozen in shock, watching blood pour from an exit wound in Samantha’s back.
Samantha’s arms draped over Zach’s shoulders and she looked up at him. He sneered at her and didn’t offer any support. Letting her fall to the ground, he even gave her a nudge to make sure she fell away from him.
Samantha looked at Zach and held her stomach. Joey knew the look of pure betrayal. It had all happened so fast. He felt Poly’s hand moving next to his before Samantha even hit the floor. She knew what he was about to do.
Chills hit the back of his neck and embraced it like an old friend. The sound moved to a soft hum and that is when he noticed the ball. It shot a jolt of electricity into him and he fell to the floor, all of his muscles convulsing.
The electrical shock stopped, but his arms felt heavy and each movement took great effort. He stared at the ball. It had stopped him from slowing down time. He rolled himself to face Zach who now looked like a different person. The soft edges of his expressions had turned razor sharp.
Zach stepped over Samantha and was pelted with knives and arrows; each bouncing off his shield and landing lamely on the ground. “Do you have any idea how long I’ve waited to see this plan to its fruition?” He laughed and covered his ear, nodding his head. Standing straight, he adjusted his oversized tie clip attached to his shirt.
Samantha groaned and rolled on her side.
Joey scurried to his feet.
“Don’t even think about it, kid. If you come near me, I’ll kill your little pretty thing over there.” Zach pointed to Poly.
Joey stepped toward him but stopped. He had to get to Samantha, but the infernal ball on the floor stopped him from doing his slow-mo thing.
“So this is how it’s going to work,” Zach said. “Samantha is going to die behind me, afraid and alone. It is a consequence for your meddling in Marcus’s plans. You will leave all activities of ZRB alone. If you come sneaking around again, or if I catch you doing anything to hurt the plans set forth, we will kill another of you, at random. We might even create a whole fun game out of it, like this one. We will find a very personal and horrible way for you to die and not just for you, but for everyone around you.”
He looked back at Samantha. “You actually said ‘I love you’. He laughed maniacally. “You stupid, vapid bitch.” Zach kicked Samantha in t
he stomach. “I put up with your shit for nearly a year just to hear those words, and all you had to do was look to the people who really loved you. These people would die for you.” He turned to Joey.
Joey shook, not from the slow-mo but from the shear inferno of rage exploding from within. It wasn’t good enough to just shoot Samantha, but he had to destroy her mind and soul too. It was the cruelest thing he’d ever seen. He’d never wanted to kill a person this much in his life.
“You are not leaving this place alive.” Julie’s fingers flew around her screen.
“What? You think you can break my shield? Not going to happen.”
Joey looked to Julie, pleading with her to hurry. He didn’t know how much longer Samantha could live, bleeding out on the ground. He needed to end Zach to get to her. He took a step forward, ready to die trying, when he saw Samantha move to a kneeling position behind Zach.
He stopped mid-step and averted his eyes to Zach. She was struggling to get to her feet and she had something in her hand. He wouldn’t give away her position. “Since you obviously have us beat, why don’t you tell us who you really are?”
“I am nothing but an arm of Marcus. You really think he’d spend his time dealing with you?” Zach pulled out his tie clip. “But don’t worry, he is ever present.” Zach held the clip close to his eye.
Julie gasped from behind Joey, and he continued to press Zach for more information. “Marcus is watching this?”
“This is just another phase of the plan completed. A major phase, I’ll give you kids the credit for that, but it is finally over.”
“So you think the world is going to just roll over for you?”
“We always have back up plans.”
Samantha got to her feet and took a silent step toward Zach. Joey made sure his eyes didn’t betray her. He would just keep Zach talking. “Like the nanobot you put into the cure?” he asked.
“You know about that? Doesn’t matter, you have no idea what it actually does.”
“We know it’s there,” Julie said.
Zach laughed and it gave Samantha the perfect opening. She lunged forward and shoved what looked to be a nail file into his neck. Joey tensed, thinking his shield may protect him, but the object struck his neck and she pushed it in deep. Blood sprayed from the wound and he clawed for her hand, but she stuffed it deeper into his neck, twisting it with her hand. Zach looked as shocked as Samantha was angry.
She pushed her face closer to his. “Fuck you.”
Zach pawed at his neck, stumbling sideways. He pulled up his gun and shot Samantha in the chest as he fell.
“No!” Joey screamed and ran toward her.
Samantha collapsed, still holding the file in her hand. He saw the others rushing to Zach, but he didn’t care about him. He slid next to Samantha and cradled the back of her limp head. Her unblinking eyes stared at him.
He sobbed and kept begging God to make her better. This couldn’t be happening.
“Joey,” Samantha sounded weak.
Joey held her tighter and kept his face near hers. “Don’t talk.” He turned to look at his friends tearing Zach apart. “Travis, get us out of here!”
Samantha touched his face. “No, it’s Marcus. . . .”
“We killed him. He can’t hurt you anymore.”
She shook her head and it rolled limp before she found her focus again. “A small house, down a dirt road, Marcus lives there, not far from here.” She closed her eyes and didn’t say another word.
He pulled her body closer to the stone circle as Travis typed in the code.
“Jump!” he demanded. Her warm blood soaked into his pants and stained his arms.
As the stone hummed, he glanced at Zach. They had destroyed his body while he’d attended to Samantha. And what was left of his remains, sat burning in a fire.
The stone hummed and their world changed.
JOEY WAITED OUTSIDE THE MEDICAL room, pacing next to the door, fighting every urge to rush into the room and hold Samantha. He wiped at the blood smeared over his hands. His eyes were puffy with tears and they ran down his face when he blinked.
Poly held Julie as they sat in chairs near the door. They kept glancing at the door, waiting for the same news as Joey. Poly stroked Julie’s hair with her bloody hand, but she was covered in the blood of another—Zach.
He wished he could have taken some for his own. How could anyone be so evil? He gritted his teeth and punched at the air. She had to be all right. Too many things were left unsaid. He played with time, thinking it would give him mercy and allow Samantha to find their friendship again. Now time looked to be running out and he would give anything to have just a bit more of it with Samantha.
The door swung open.
Joey held his breath and the whole room froze with anticipation.
The doctor walked past the swinging door and with one look on her face, Joey fell to his knees, racked with sobs. The doctor stumbled over a few apathetic words that Joey couldn’t hear. The room crushed in on him and he felt sick. He gagged and vomited on the floor. Familiar arms wrapped around him, more words were spoken, mixed in with crying. But none of it sunk in. A single thought pounded in his head, wanting to consume him. She’s gone.
“I’m sorry,” were the only words he heard from the doctor.
The room filled with cries of pain. Julie came to his side and then Hank and Lucas. They formed around him, but he didn’t feel it. He felt empty, like all his life force had been poured out. Tears flowed from his face, but he couldn’t summon a word from his throat, and wondered if he ever could again.
Pulling his friends in closer, they clung to one another, sharing in each other’s grief.
They were no longer the Preston Six.
JOEY GRIPPED THE EDGE OF the podium and looked over the crowd of people. A few days had passed since Samantha’s death and he hadn’t strung together more than a dozen words since. Now, faced with a eulogy, he forced himself to find the words.
“When we were born, a reporter named us the Preston Six. A name he figured would stick with the reader and also look good as a headline. What he didn’t realize is that he’d given a name to the special bond we all share.” Joey paused and looked to his four best friends in the front row for support. Julie openly cried while the rest urged him on with teary eyes.
“Samantha was a gift to us all. She had the ability to brighten any room and win over any person with her charm and beauty.” Joey held onto the podium and looked to Gretchen sitting behind Julie. She held her hand over her mouth and sobbed. The preplanned words slipped from his mind.
“Too soon,” he said. “Too soon is what I hear a lot when people give their condolences for our loss. Too soon. I agree, she was taken from us too soon. Too soon for me to tell her how much she meant to me.” His voice cracked and he paused, trying to gain composure.
“Many died in the last few weeks. This event is being played out a million times over across the world. But Samantha isn’t a statistic of the Cough; she was our friend, part of what made us whole. If there is anything I have learned over the last year, it’s that life is not fair. But what happened to her is beyond unfair. The lies she was fed—” He cracked, trying to reign in enough anger to continue.
“As the sun sets tonight, it will set forever on the Preston Six.” He cleared his throat and dabbed his eyes, mumbling, “too soon.” He felt himself losing it, but forced the words through his tears. “She’d want us to remember her for all the light she brought to our life, not her final moments of pain.”
He thought of the time he gave her the earrings on his balcony. In that moment, while he embraced her on their cold birthday night, he thought life couldn’t get better. It was the last night of true innocence for each of them.
Joey sniffled and wiped the tears from his face. “There is another thing she would have wanted.” His hand shook as it fished around in his jacket pocket. He felt the adornment dropped by Zach in his last moments. He knew it still worked and the man who woul
d be watching.
He lifted the tie clip from his pocket and held it high.
Julie gasped.
“This is Marcus’s eyes and ears. I know he is watching and listening. Say ‘hi’ to Marcus.”
Poly stood from her chair. “What are you doing, Joey?”
“I’m doing what I know Samantha would want us to do.” Joey turned the tie clip so it faced him. He stared at the black stone. “I have something I want to tell the man who killed Samantha . . . we give up.”
“Screw that,” Lucas called out.
A few others yelled in protest, but Joey continued, “I can’t bury another friend or another parent. I can’t let you do what you did to Samantha to another person I love. She would want us move on and live our lives as normal as we can, and we can’t do that if we are battling a man who knows no equal. Marcus, we give up. Please, I plead with you to let us live our lives. We will not interfere again.”
Joey placed the tie clip on the podium and brought a hammer out from under it. He raised the hammer up and slammed it down, shattering it in pieces. He hammered those pieces over and over again, until sweat ran down his face.
When he looked up, he saw the faces of the people he loved staring back at him. He hated lying to them all, but he needed Marcus to hear the message. Wiping the pieces of the tie clip to side, he glanced at Julie and got a nod. It wasn’t transmitting anymore.
“Now that that bullshit is over, I can speak some truth.” He glared at all the people in every row from front to back. “I’m not giving up. I won’t stop. Nothing will stop me until the man who is responsible for this is dead and I expect your full involvement in ending Marcus. No, I demand it.”
“Hell, yeah,” Gladius said as she stood. “I’m in. You’ve got my blades. I would love to skewer that man.”
He nodded his thanks and continued to address the group. “This time, we will be patient. We have a lifetime to wait for this revenge. Maybe lifetimes. And there isn’t a single thing that will derail our path to him. We will be the freight train of destruction straight up his ass.”