Lost Hope (The Bridge Sequence Book Three)

by Nathan Hystad

  Until they’d met the robot.

  The thing was straight out of a movie, with glowing eyes and heavy artillery. It had killed twenty soldiers on its first assault, causing them to retreat. Roger had hung back behind a parked van, taking stock of the situation.

  A few drops of rain fell on Bill’s face, and he gazed upwards, finding the red sky wasn’t as uncomfortable. It was incredible what could become normal to the brain.

  They’d waited five minutes, in relative silence, until Roger’s radio crackled and a woman exclaimed there was someone ambushing the robot. Bill peered around the van and saw the figures. It was Tripp Davis, holding an alien weapon, bravely attacking the thing without a care in the world.

  This fueled Roger. “Move out! We’re their reinforcements!”

  Bill patted his bulletproof vest, wondering what would happen if he was struck with one of the robot’s projectiles. He followed after the others, careful not to trip on the landscaping as they emerged from cover into the yard. The Vice President was on the stage, but Bill couldn’t hear his words from this far.

  More people surrounded their target, and Bill watched as one of them was flung back like a ragdoll. Then the Freedom Earthers did what they were trained for, and gave everything they had to the robot. It happened so fast, and Bill even managed to get a shot or two in before the tall machine paused and lumbered forward. Bill almost called timber but refrained.

  “Tripp!” someone shouted, and Bill saw Rex Walker. The man had dirt and blood on his forehead, and he was trying to lift the heavy enemy off his friend.

  “Come on, guys. Let’s give him a hand,” Bill urged the soldiers around him. The rain had intensified, the clouds almost spinning into a funnel.

  Roger himself bent lower, clutching the robot’s arm. He hefted with a groan, and Bill’s back protested as he lifted. It took ten of them, but they managed to slide Tripp from under the thing.

  “Tripp, are you okay?” Rex asked.

  Bill saw Veronica from the corner of his eye, crying as she looked at her friend. Roger had said this was going to be a day to remember.

  “Where’s Evan?” Veronica asked, pushing past Bill.

  He spun and ran with her to the downed FBI agent. His eyes were closed, and Bill crouched, tugging open Evan’s suit jacket. The vest held a quarter-sized slug.

  “He’s breathing!” Veronica beamed.

  Evan’s eyes darted open and he gasped, peering around without moving his head. More rain poured on them, and Bill blinked it away.

  “Can you get up?” he asked Evan.

  “Think so,” Evan said. Veronica and Bill helped him to his feet.

  Roger was already continuing on. A few Believer sentries were walking toward them, but Roger’s snipers averted the threat from the edges of the yard. They went down at the same moment.

  “Where are you going?” Bill shouted over the rising noise.

  “I came for Black,” Roger said, walking like a man possessed. Straight into danger.

  Bill shook his head and glanced at Veronica. “Wish me luck.”

  He jogged to catch up to Roger.

  ____________

  Saul pulled the trigger.

  The Vice President went down. Saul aimed at the other woman, seeing a perfect smile vanish as the man next to her was killed. The bullet hit her in the throat. He sighted her until he was positive she wasn’t a danger, and kept moving for the stage.

  “Beverly!” he called.

  She met his gaze from twenty yards. Lightning arced over the stage, the clouds so dark red they were nearly black. “Saul! It’s you,” she said.

  The Believers were in shock, unsure of what to do. Saul knew they’d want to attune, and if they assumed they still could, they’d be distracted. He started to chant, hoping they’d pick it up again. It worked.

  Another soldier appeared from behind the stage as Saul found the stairs, and he narrowly avoided the gunshot. Saul leaned into the side of the structure, waiting for two breaths before lowering and leaning out. The soldier was waiting, but Saul was faster. He shot the man in the head with a short burst.

  The sounds of a distant helicopter nearing their position carried along the wind, and Saul guessed it was his ally, Glen, finally returning. He should have ordered the man to kill Jessica, but he’d needed her as a backup if they failed to find the Book. Now she was dispensable.

  Saul ran up the short flight of steps and saw Beverly. He’d spent a lot of time protecting her and her kids in Porto. He’d never had kids, but if he was ever to think of someone like a daughter, it was her. She was caring, considerate, and a bright woman. There was something else about her too, something he couldn’t put his finger on.

  Her gaze was glued on the Believers chanting in a frenzy. They were all on their knees, arms raised to the vicious skies. Lightning flashed without the familiar accompaniment of thunder. It was… unnatural.

  “Bev, let’s go!” he shouted.

  She finally broke her stare and looked over. A tiny smile cracked her dazed expression. One step. Then another.

  A fork of lightning crackled from the center of the swirling maw above them, and hit her square in the chest. Beverly crumpled.

  Saul went as quickly as he could, slowing her fall enough so her head didn’t strike the stage. He glanced at the yard to see a steady stream of Freedom Earthers arriving.

  The Believers were starting to activate, their chanting growing quieter as they fulfilled their destinies, attuning to the incoming beings. Soon the unarmed cultists were no longer themselves. Saul sensed the shifting of energy. They were all on their feet, and he held Beverly’s motionless body while they turned their attention on the militia force. Many of the Freedom Earthers dropped to the yard, guns sprawling by the wayside.

  The helicopter was closer. Saul saw it, a small dot against the dark backdrop. The clouds were clearing up, the funnel dissipating as the rain fell harder.

  He noticed another speck, then two, coming from the north. What was happening?

  A hand reached out, grasping him by the throat before he could react. The fingers were like a vise, the clutching relentless. Beverly looked him in the eyes; the color of her irises had altered. They were black like oil, wavering as if a viscous liquid. “You don’t deserve to live.”

  Saul silently wished his friends and allies success. He’d done all he could. He prayed Edith and Carson would get that Book to Rexford.

  Beverly moved to her feet, holding him up by the throat with a single arm. She was so strong.

  Saul had been on the wrong side of the fence nearly his entire adult life. But he’d never given up. Because if there was one thing he wouldn’t have survived without, it was hope.

  She squeezed.

  ____________

  I witnessed the entire event like I was viewing it through someone else’s eyes.

  When I’d arrived at the back of the Believers’ cluster, Roger’s people were firing at the kneeling beings. They started to rise and fight back.

  All I could do was watch Beverly as she fell, Saul catching her. The lightning had struck her straight in the chest.

  Beverly was lying in his arms, and Saul was staring into the distance. I tried to wave at him, to get his attention, but it was elsewhere. I figured out why. A helicopter was approaching. There were a few hundred Believers turning their focus to us.

  Bill was near me, his chest heaving with effort. The Freedom Earthers were dropping like flies. Those close enough to the attuning cultists were caught in the boundary. Some stayed on their feet, but most of them fell. The female soldier beside me was shooting at the crowd, and she stopped, keeling over. I knelt and checked her pulse. Her eyes were bloody.

  Roger stood there like a monolith.

  “Roger, what do we do?” Bill asked him above the noise, but the Freedom Earther leader didn’t respond. He was looking at Beverly, and I drew my gaze to the stage. She clutched Saul by the neck, and his feet dangled toward the wooden platform. I saw her li
ps move, and his head went to the side before she dropped his corpse.

  Beverly had been possessed by a Zalt. And Saul was dead.

  The few Freedom Earthers that had been taken over by the Zalt had switched loyalties. Once the attuning had concluded, they started to mow down their own militia.

  I ran for Roger, tugging on his arm. “We have to leave.”

  “Black is dead,” he said just loud enough for me to hear.

  “So are we if we stick around.”

  Bill slapped the man, finally getting his attention. “Roger, for the love of God. We have to go!”

  Roger snapped out of it and called for a retreat. We ran, bursting from the stage. Bev stood on the platform, staring after us, but not doing anything to intervene.

  We returned to the spot where the Umir lay destroyed, and Veronica was helping someone drag Tripp from the yard.

  “Is he…?” I didn’t finish.

  “I don’t think so,” Veronica replied. Her face was wet, her hair plastered to it. The entire grounds were soaking from the downpour, and more rain fell every second. My feet slipped in the mud.

  “They’re not coming after us!” Bill shouted, and he was right. The Zalt had inhabited a large group of cultists, but they remained near their seats and the stage while the helicopter began to descend from the heavens.

  Before it landed, I saw a glint of metal drop from the doors. A second object followed close behind.

  “Run! We have another Umir!” I shouted. The remaining troops didn’t have to be told twice.

  ____________

  Marcus couldn’t believe what he was seeing. There were bodies strewn over the yard, and from the looks of things, they weren’t all Believers. The Umir sprang to life. It had been dormant the entire flight and had chosen this moment to activate.

  “Let it out!” Jessica ordered, and Barry turned his back, opening the doors. Wind rushed in, and Marcus saw Glen moving.

  “Now, Marcus!” Glen’s gun whipped around, and Marcus took the chance. Barry was still at the doors, watching the Umir skydiving for the earth. Marcus removed his seatbelt and kicked out, hitting Barry in the legs. The man went pinwheeling from the helicopter. They were fifty feet from landing, and Marcus watched as he thudded into the ground.

  The fight that erupted was chaotic. There were ten soldiers against Marcus and Glen, and they were far more prepared for this type of thing. Glen’s first shot hit the pilot in the back of the head, and the nose dove toward the yard. Marcus clutched the seat beside him, somehow managing to not plummet from the doors to his death.

  Jessica screamed, a primal sound. Her eyes burned with fury, and Marcus saw the gun appear in her grip. A soldier was in her line of fire, and instead of shoving him, she shot the man twice, kicking him to the helicopter floor. She yelled again, shooting at Glen. He ducked behind a chair.

  Marcus realized he wasn’t helping. He grabbed for the weapon tucked into his jacket, and squinted as he turned the safety off and pulled the trigger. Everyone had been so focused on Glen that they weren’t even watching him. Marcus shot two soldiers and targeted the one reaching for the pilot’s controls, attempting to land the copter. He fired, striking the man in the shoulder. They lurched to the side, and crashed hard into the lawn.

  Marcus was still near the exit and climbed up, his left leg objecting the movement. Smoke rose from the top of the helicopter, where the rotors were trying to spin despite being lodged into the ground. He peered into the cabin and saw that there were survivors. Jessica was coming to. Marcus aimed and pulled the trigger.

  Click. It was empty.

  He was about to escape when he saw it. The tablet. Against his better judgment and every instinct coursing through him, he returned, lowering his upper half from the sideways door. He snatched it up, and Jessica’s eyes shot open. They locked into his, and she sneered, her upper lip smeared in blood.

  Glen was near the front of the cabin, dead. The sound of the Umir attacking outside came closer, and Marcus couldn’t dawdle.

  “You’re too late, Marcus. Don’t you see that?” Jessica asked. Her voice was peaceful. “We’ve already won.”

  Marcus raced to the yard, scanning the area for signs of trouble. The Umir chased a group of humans at the far corner of the yard, and two aircraft were lowering toward them. On the other side stood a few thousand Believers. Judging by their calm demeanor, they’d already attuned.

  Marcus peered toward the treeline on the left, which seemed like a safer location. As much as it shamed him to run, he had the controls for the Umir hub in his hands, and the network wouldn’t be fully activated for a few hours yet. There was a chance they could stop the incursion from being widespread.

  In spite of the ache in his body, he sprinted across the yard, tablet clutched to his chest.

  9

  The helicopter crashing drew our attention, but we had more important issues. The newly landed Umir was in attack mode, and we were too few in numbers to defend ourselves. We had no plan as we rushed from the robotic monster.

  “It’s Lewen!” Veronica shouted, pointing at the Rodax ships descending from the clearing night sky.

  “And Gren,” I said with heaving breaths.

  Roger and Bill barely made it with the Umir at our heels, and our allies landed fifty yards from our position, right between the day’s survivors and the robot. The Rodax soldiers rushed out, prepared to protect us.

  “We can’t let them fight it alone,” I shouted.

  Tripp and Evan were too banged up to join us, and we left another ten injured Freedom Earthers with them. Roger, Veronica, and Bill all came with me, weapons up. Bill’s cheeks were flushed, his eyes darting from side to side.

  When we crested the first spaceship, we saw the Umir in all its glory, bullets ricocheting from its metallic exterior. The Rodax fought like demons, and the Believers began approaching from their safety across the yard. They stopped at the burning helicopter, and I noticed them helping a woman from the wreckage. Jessica Carver was here.

  I wanted to confront her, but Veronica grabbed my arm. “What do you think you’re doing?”

  “She knows where Marcus is!”

  Bev was among the Zalt, talking with Jessica. It took every ounce of my patience not to challenge her. In this stage, she was no longer my sister. That much had been clear when she’d crushed Saul’s larynx.

  Roger and Bill fought along the Rodax, and managed to bring the robot to its knees. The Umir began to roll into a ball, and this time, it succeeded. Two of the soldiers zapped it with their energy rods, and it hissed and popped before giving up the ghost.

  “We’re leaving!” Lewen shouted.

  The Zalt continued on, with Beverly and Jessica at the forefront. A couple of soldiers limped in front, guns aimed at our group. They stopped, facing us from a hundred feet away. The storm had all but passed, indicating that the Zalt were done for the moment. I didn’t have to worry about them trying to invade my mind.

  Jessica wiped at her nose and shouted. The gentle breeze carried the message. “Rexford Walker. We have your sister. You’re next.”

  “Ignore them.” Veronica shoved me toward the ship’s ramp, and I climbed in. With one last look at the Zalt, I shut the doors as we lifted off.

  The last hour had been a nightmare. It didn’t feel real. But the fact we’d lost ninety percent of the Freedom Earthers, and Saul, wore on my heart.

  “Where do we go?” I asked, eyelids shut tight.

  “We have a safe zone in Alabama,” Roger said. I hadn’t even seen him board this ship.

  “Can we trust it’s secure?” I asked.

  “We’d better be able to. It’s my land.”

  For the first time since I’d met him, Roger looked scared.

  ____________

  It was silent. Marcus hadn’t heard so much as a bird for the last ten minutes while he trudged through the woods. Where was he going? The tablet was in his grip, and he opened it, trying to see if he could access the hub’s pro
gram. He did but wasn’t able to adjust any of the operational parameters. He quickly understood why. He’d need to be within range of the Umir hub to modify them. That left him one option: get to the hub.

  Marcus put the tablet in his oversized jacket pocket and walked farther away from the oceanside estate. It was dark. Night had swooped in with a vengeance, leaving him nearly blind in the thick cover of the giant trees. Jessica had finally given him shoes, but the boots were too big by a size, and a blister had already formed on one heel.

  His mouth was pasty, and he needed water. He pressed his palm to a trunk and shook his head, wondering what he’d done in his life to be in the middle of this bad dream. With this moment of contemplation, the events of the last few months rushed into his mind. When you’re in a situation you can’t escape, it’s incredible what the human brain can do to disassociate. Now that he was out of their clutches, he felt even more helpless.

  A sound snapped his head to the right. He listened carefully and heard it again. Crying.

  Marcus wished he’d brought ammunition, but he still had the gun. He gripped it tightly and slowly walked through the forest, trying to stay quiet. The crying grew louder. He knew that voice. Marcus had heard it nearly every day and night for the last month.

  “Edith,” he whispered, walking around a giant weeping willow. The girl clutched her brother, and both of them were bawling. They were filthy, covered in dirt and tree sap. For a second, their expressions were of utter terror, and he realized he was still pointing the gun at them. He dropped the weapon in disgust and rushed over, hugging them tight.

  “You’re alive,” he said.

  “Marcus. Where’s Mommy?” they asked.

  “I don’t know,” he admitted. “How did you get out here?”

  “Uncle Saul gave us a book and told us to run to someone in camouflage, but we couldn’t find anyone. We were so scared, but we kept going. Carson’s legs got tired, then it was dark, and we heard howling, and…”