by Maxey, Phil
CHAPTER THIRTY-FIVE
The convoy surged through the barren landscape with new purpose. After private Hine’s screams in the desert came to an end, they scavenged what they could from the military vehicle, finding some weapons and two working radios and examined the roadmaps they had for California. They quickly settled on the most likely location that Amos and Kizzy would be. Gibson state penitentiary. Joel knew it well.
“I’ve visited Gibson several times,” he said.
“It’s a prison,” said Anna. “How are we meant to get inside or break anyone out?”
“Used to be a prison. Those running it now won’t be using the same security protocols as before. It’s also one of the oldest in the country, lots of blind spots if you know where to look, and… we got Corine.”
“She’s young, Joel. And who knows—”
“She’s saved us twice.”
“— Who knows what Alkrons they got. They probably got a small army there…”
Joel looked over to her. “We still have to do this.”
“Yes we do, it’s just…” She sighed. “I’m tired of the fighting…”
He could tell what happened to the young hybrid soldier affected her. “Even if we had given him all of our last blood, there’s a good chance he still would have died.”
“I know…”
“And if he had survived and got back to his base somehow…”
She didn’t respond.
Abandoned cars, irregular dark shapes of industrial structures, hills, some of which they drove through, came and went, as the hours and miles melted away. They passed through Reno, most of them seeing the tiny specks of light amongst the sprawling city, but pressed on, crossing the border into California.
The landscape bordering the road was now full of evergreens on steep slopes, which allowed Joel some sense of relief at the cover they provided, and they all felt the air become light and cold as they climbed high into the mountains before descending.
Homes were now appearing frequently at the side of the road.
Anna looked down at her map then at Joel. “We’re almost there. Maybe another forty minutes.”
He clicked on his radio informing the others.
As they made their way south, grand homes nestled amongst orange and brown fall trees passed by. They tried to keep to the road which paralleled a river, but as it widened to form a huge expanse of water, were forced further inland, to the four-lane routes and shopping malls.
Joel scoured the buildings passing by to his left, while holding his radio to his lips. “We need to get off this road. We’re not far from the prison. Over.” Anna pointed at the beige roofs of apartments just visible through some trees. He nodded. “The apartment complex coming up, go in there.”
It wasn’t long before the vehicles were parked away from the main road, and they were standing in a living room of a second-floor apartment, which apart from some tops of trees gave a good view of the prison complex across the river.
Joel looked through binoculars at the western walls, which stood dark against the orange glow of the rising sun. Dalton appeared from one of the bedrooms with a pair of sunglasses on.
“Got any more of those?” said Corine.
He shook his head then looked at the cloudless sky through the window. “What you seeing out there.”
“Not much. Saw some vehicles arrive at the main gate. But they don’t have any guards on the walls or in the towers.”
“They’re not worried about anyone trying to get in,” said Anna. “And I guess they are confident they will be able to catch anyone who tries to get out…”
“Maybe people don’t want to get out…” said Barry, seated on the sofa.
They all looked at him.
“That’s a good point,” said Anna then looked at the others. “We can’t presume any of the prisoners we encounter will be on our side.”
Joel scanned the landscape, from the lake to the north, across a series of warehouses and parking lots, past a bridge, lots of roofs of nondescript buildings, to pleasant looking homes, then trees on the side of a hill, all interspersed with walls and the occasional watchtower.
“So what’s the plan,” said Corine.
“First problem is finding them. Second issue is getting them out. Then we need to get away without being caught.”
“We should wait until night,” said Dalton.
Joel nodded. “Yup.”
“How we going to find them? We can’t just ask where they are!” said Corine.
He looked at Anna. “Actually, that’s exactly what we’re going to do. But for now get some rest.”
CHAPTER THIRTY-SIX
A clang came from outside Amos’s cell jolting him awake. For a moment he had no idea where he was, but as the sound of footsteps increased, moving towards his door, he remembered what he had managed to do, and desperately tried to retrieve the information he had pried from his guard’s mind.
Two-Six… err… Two-six-five… umm.. agh… what’s the last number!
His cell door opened. A guard stood in the opening with a baton.
“Get up!”
Amos wasn’t sure that was possible. He felt as if he had been run over by a particularly heavy truck and his muscles were refusing to cooperate.
“I said get up, Alkron!”
“Yeah,” he croaked. “I’m trying…”
The guard rushed forward pulling him to his feet as if he weighed nothing, which to the hybrid behind the body armor and mask, he did.
Two-six-five… three? No… Two-six-five... four, I’m sure it—
Amos’s mind caught the last part of a sentence the guard had just spoken. Something about fighting? He was pulled outside, where his wrists and ankles were bound. He looked up at the giant figure next to him. “What did you say about fighting?”
He was sure the man behind the black face mask smirked.
“You’ll soon see.”
He shuffled through corridor after corridor, each one confined by a barred security door, then into a stairwell, which he awkwardly descended.
“This would go a lot quicker if you took off the ankle clamps.” The guard responded by a push in his back, making him fall down a few steps to the next landing. Finally he arrived on the ground floor, and was pushed again through the exit to a large hallway where he picked up the sound of jeering.
In the distance a bright rectangle hinted at the outside world, one which was alive with noise. But he had no idea if the light was natural or artificial. Time for him had frozen the night before. More security gates came and went, each one increasing the volume of the fury waiting for him until a final external door was unlocked, and he was pushed out into a maelstrom of noise.
He squinted to see past the blinding lights that were lighting the prison yard. Hundreds of inmates stood around the outside, near the walls. Faces that were gesturing and shouting in his direction, but then quickly hushed when somebody else entered the space, high above, walking to the end of a gantry.
Despite having never seen him before, Amos recognized the regal looking person from stolen memories.
So you’re Rynon…
*****
Anna drove across the bridge towards the prison. Evening had just fallen and lights could be seen through the trees and between buildings ahead of her.
“I can do this,” she said under her breath.
Twin lights appeared on the other side, along with the sound of an engine moving towards her.
“Be calm. I should be here. I’m a doctor. I’m needed.”
A black pickup drove past without slowing, but her heart, even for a hybrid continued to beat fast.
They had shared the remaining blood between the four of them, and despite her ration not being sufficient she felt strong and lighter than she had for a while. She had almost forgotten how good the crimson stuff tasted. How it made her feel ten years younger each time she drank it. And how easy it was to lose yourself within that feeling.
&nb
sp; She arrived at a junction, trying to recall the layout of the roads or failing that trying to spot any signs. There were none so she drove across and took the exit to the left, the general direction she needed to go.
“I’ve been sent here from the base in Nevada. I was told you needed medical staff. So here I am.” She drove past stores and offices, turning where she needed but always moving in a northeasterly direction. Hopefully the right one.
Finally she spotted a small green sign hanging from a traffic stop.
“Yes! I’m going the right way…”
She moved across the junction and soon passed a stone plinth with ‘Gibson State Prison’ carved into it.
Steering to the left, she drove up a narrow winding road, with faded-green hills on both sides, being thankful that nothing was coming the other way. She looked in the rear mirror checking her lipstick, and that her shirt and jacket was symmetrical at the neck. She smiled at her surprisingly normal appearance.
“Just like a real doctor.”
She drove past a large parking lot which was mostly devoid of vehicles apart from a few military, through an unmanned gate, and then saw the imposing tower at the entrance and the medieval styled walls which branched from it.
A humvee with a handful of black uniformed soldiers stood near the arched entrance. They immediately saw her coming and raised their rifles at her windscreen as she slowed to a stop in front of them.
She pushed the fear from her mind and replaced it with impatience, sliding her window down.
“Oh great! I come all this way and this is the greeting I get!”
The nearest soldier, a man with graying hair, scrunched his face, then walked towards her, his barrel still aimed squarely at her forehead. “Who the hell are you?”
“Doctor Elizabeth Ingram, from the Nevada base.” She gestured towards the satchel on the passenger’s seat. “Got supplies, and I was told you people need doctors. So here I am! Now can you open that damn gate, I’ve been driving for hours.”
The soldier lowered his gun, then looked at the other who stood on the opposite side of the pickup looking at the bag on the seat.
“Well?” she said.
“We need to check your bag.”
Before she could reply, the passenger’s door opened and the soldier leaned in, sniffing as he did. “You’re a Alkron.”
She rolled her eyes. “Check the bag already so I can get inside and get some coffee in me!”
“You still drink—” The young soldier saw the other frowning at him, then unzipped the bag and quickly sorted through the assortment of boxes of pills. He nodded to the other soldier.
“Yes, I still drink coffee, now close the door.”
He did and she looked towards the gate.
Made it.
The older soldier squinted, then walked closer to her open window. “Where’s your ID?”
“What ID? There’s no ID. Now I’m just about to turn around and drive another ten hours back to Nevada where my senior officer will be—”
The soldier threw his hand up. “Okay! Calm down. You can come inside. Sheesh.”
As soon as he turned away and waved to someone inside the gatehouse she couldn’t see, she blew out her cheeks, then got control of her breathing again and drove forward as the gates opened…
A quarter of a mile away, deeper inside the grounds, the hybrid king continued his sermon to his eager audience.
“Comrades!” he shouted. The crowd responded with more jeering. “I have a special treat for you all today! We will make those that plotted against us pay in their own blood!”
Amos’s hands and feet were now free but his collar remained. And he still couldn’t understand why he was standing outside alone and not with those at the edge of the area.
Rynon raised his hands. “After what happened to my brother, I should have had them all killed! But I am a merciful king! So instead, I will give one of them a chance for redemption. A chance to be re-educated and join us!”
One of them? Me? Thought Amos, looking up.
“So I have decided to pit our enemies against each other!”
Who…
The door at the opposite side of the yard, some hundred yards away, opened and a large creature emerged. A type of Alkron that even from that distance and bathed in shadow he knew he had seen before.
Yup. Going to die.
A demonic figure staggered forward, its wings bound, but its hands and legs free. Amos couldn’t see it clearly, but it swung a large claw at a guard behind it, before a baton was pushed into its back, knocking it to the ground. The guard quickly disappeared back inside and the door closed.
“A mind alterer such as the young man you see before you would have an easy win, so we have moderated his collar. He can only project his abilities a few feet from him… should make for an interesting contest!”
The crowd erupted and Amos immediately tried to read the minds of those tens of yards away, but only got a burning sensation in his mind for the effort.
Too far.
He whirled around looking for a weapon of some kind, then on not finding any looked back at the Drak.
“But we cannot start this fight to the death without our final opponent. A young lady with a particularly useful ability.”
Another door opened, one that had been covered by the bodies in front of it. They parted, forming a narrow channel, and through that walked a woman, someone Amos recognized.
“No…”
Kizzy stood in front of the crowd. A guard pulled the restraint from her and pushed her again. She immediately saw Amos and started to run towards him when she suddenly stopped, grabbing her neck and collapsed to the ground.
“Ah, as I suspected. It would seem two of our Alkrons still have human feelings for each other. But will they choose each other? Or their king?”
The crowd cheered.
“Three Alkrons, but only one will be allowed to follow me.” Rynon looked between the Drak, Kizzy and Amos. “Each of you must fight or this night will be your last!”
CHAPTER THIRTY-SEVEN
Anna sat in a hallway with the bag of medical supplies on her lap. She had been told to sit there ten minutes ago.
Her knee bounced up and down while she looked for any sign of someone giving her attention. “Hello?” she called along the empty space, with photos of the prison on the wall.
To hell with this.
She stood and walked past a glass fronted counter, looking to see if anyone resided behind, but there was no one.
Where is everyone…
She tried the closest door to her but it was locked, so she tried a bit harder, breaking the lock and eased the door open to another hallway.
She heard the creak in a floorboard behind her before she was able to react.
“Ma’am?”
She froze halfway through the doorway and turned around. A small squat woman with her brown hair in a bun and woolen jumper looked at her. Anna smiled. “Yes! Hello. I am doctor—”
The woman looked down at a computer screen. “Yes, Doctor Elizabeth Ingram from Nevada. We were not expecting you?”
Anna made sure to keep the broken lock out of view as she walked to the counter. “Yes, it was a last minute thing. Emergency supplies or something.”
“Why would Alkrons require human medical supplies?”
“Err… because of the humans you still have… that you use for blood farms? You don’t want them to die do you! What use will they be then!”
The woman frowned, looking back at the screen. “Yes, well the medical ward is two flights above us. I will call up to doctor Valdez, and tell him you are on your way up.”
“Great.” Anna looked back at the door. “Do I go this way?”
“Yes. But I thought I locked it. Anyway, yes go through there, and first door on your left is the stairs.”
Anna turned and swiftly moved past the broken door and into the stairwell. As soon as she did she felt the vibrations in the walls and floor. A few fe
et above her was a small barred window, with thick glass. She stood straining her senses to hear what was making such noise, and detected the grunts and excitement of hundreds of people on the other side.
A door opened two flights above. “Doctor Ingram?” shouted a man.
Anna continued walking up the steps. “Yes, I’m coming up.” She quickly made it to the second floor landing. A slim, dark-haired man of middling age, wearing a white doctor’s jacket stood holding a door open. Beyond was a hallway with a few people waiting in chairs. He waved her towards him. “Please follow me.” She did and they both passed through a hallway and into a small office, where he closed the door behind her.
She sat, placing the bag on the floor.
“So Nevada! One of our more isolated posts!” said Valdez.
“Yeah… But, I go where I’m sent, so here I am.” She patted the bag. “And I’m sure these will be useful for your humans.”
The other doctor nodded. “Mostly we get sent blood from the blood farms, but—” He looked at the door, leaning forward slightly. “— We keep some humans in the basement for our own personal supply. I’m sure you understand.” She nodded. “And those medical supplies will certainly help. The umm higher-ups don’t seem to realize that no humans means, no blood… although we are working on artificial substitutes. But… It’s not quite the same thing.”
“No… certainly not.”
He leaned back. “You have experience with Alkron physiology?”
She smiled. “Yes, well, my own of course, but I have treated many at the other base. Many different types, including some quiet rare ones, such as mind readers…”
He leaned back further in his black leather seat, briefly looked away. “Yes, they are rare. It is unfortunate what is happening—” He nodded again to the door. “— Outside. But we serve at the pleasure of the—”