THE RED MIST TRILOGY: The Box Set

by R T Green

‘I’ll be back for you…’

  I ducked around the corner as another flash lit up the passageway. I fell onto Peroni, grabbed the weapon from her hand as her semi-conscious eyes glared hatred into me. I should have pumped one into her there and then, but the shadow of an angry alien loomed over me and there were more important things to think about.

  I had a millisecond to react, rolled over and pointed the weapon at him. I was too late.

  Someone else got there first.

  I fell into Zana’s arms, sobbing hysterically. But there wasn’t time to blab like a baby. For a moment our lips met, and then she growled, ‘Where is she?’

  ‘I don’t know… last time I saw her was in the master bedroom, down there. But that was a while ago.’

  She was breathing fire, neon green eyes flaming determination into me. She started to head along the passageway. ‘Zana, be careful.’

  She looked back, smiled love into me. ‘This I have to do. Please make sure all the girls are safe.’

  Kayla. I ran to the door, threw it open and grabbed her roughly. ‘Can you check the rest of the rooms, make sure all the girls are out. And please be careful, there’s gunfire everywhere.’

  She nodded, started to unlock doors. I ran to the staircase, looked down to the scene below me.

  ‘Maddie, watch out!’

  Coop’s call, from the kitchen doorway. I glanced round. The two part-skinned guys who’d been on the wrong end of my chewing gum had staggered after me. Shit. I dropped to the ground, fired at one of them. He wouldn’t bother us again. Someone fired from below, but missed the other one.

  This wasn’t looking good. He was firing at me, but someone hit him first and the bolt missed me by inches.

  ‘Got your back, kiddo,’ the someone grinned, blowing pretend smoke from her gun. ‘I just gotta get me one of these!’

  ‘Shirl?’

  She reached out, pulled the disbelieving me to my feet. ‘You want me to explain it all now?’

  ‘Later will do.’

  I saw two aliens making a Sundance run for it to the front door. So did the others. Four bolts of blue never gave them a chance. They splattered all over the beautiful parquet floor.

  ‘How many more?’ shouted Miles from the foot of the stairs.

  ‘There were eight men altogether… one’s lost his head, one in the passageway, two here, plus those two at the front door. ‘That’s six.’

  ‘One in the kitchen,’ said Coop.

  ‘There’s one more somewhere then, said Miles.

  ‘Where are the girls?’

  ‘We’ve locked them in the library, for safety.’

  ‘You guys search for the last guy, I need to go to Lisa. She’s hurt, bad.’

  I started back down the passageway, ran into a distraught Zana. ‘I can’t find Tiri, and Peroni has disappeared too… where the hell is she?’

  Oh Zana, I so wish I knew. ‘Maybe she’s got outside?’

  ‘Oh no…’ She was gone, desperate to find the sister whose life she had to end.

  I dropped down beside Lisa. She wasn’t looking so good, barely conscious. ‘Hey, stay with me, ok?’

  ‘I don’t think I can, Madeline.’

  I took her hand. It felt cold, and I had to fight back the tears, for her sake. ‘Yes you can. You saved my life, again. So I’m here for you now. I’m not going anywhere.’

  She closed her eyes. ‘I need to sleep now.’

  I needed her to stay awake, but as I looked at the crippling pain creasing her face, I knew I had to let her sleep.

  Chapter 186

  ‘Got the last one,’ said Shirl, a satisfied grin on her face as she walked back in the hallway to find Coop and Miles there. ‘Calamity Jane strikes again.’

  ‘Don’t get a taste for it,’ said Coop.

  And then his phone began to jingle in his pocket. He gasped out, ‘We’ve got signal?’

  ‘Bit facking late,’ said Shirl. ‘But that’s maybe why.’

  They turned to look where her finger was pointing, through the big windows. So wrapped up with the battle no one had noticed, the clouds had gone and a bright winter sun shone out of a near cloudless sky.

  Coop lifted the phone to his ear like he still couldn’t believe it was actually ringing. Duncan Scott’s frantic voice. ‘Where the hell are you people, Coop? They found your virtually written-off van at Battersea.’

  ‘Sorry about that, sir. We’re… um, about six miles to the west of the village of Hartington.’

  ‘Where?’

  ‘Check the map, sir. And use my GPS signal now we’ve actually got one. We need a fleet of choppers here, right now.’

  ‘A fleet?’

  ‘Yes sir. We’ve got all thirteen girls, and the alien men are dead.’

  ‘Bloody hell, Coop. Well done. Is everyone safe?’

  ‘All of us, sir.’

  ‘Bloody hell.’

  ‘Sir, get some transport here please?’

  ‘Um… yes, sorry Coop. On it now.’

  Scott ended the call, Coop glanced around the hall. ‘Where’s Maddie and Zana?’

  ‘Zana is outside somewhere, looking for Tiri. Madeline is upstairs, with Lisa. She’s hurt, seriously.’

  ‘Fuck.’

  ‘I’ll go find Zana,’ said Miles.

  He didn’t need to. She fell back through the door, gasping in huge lungfuls of air. ‘Get everyone out… now!’

  ‘What…’

  ‘Look!’ She pointed towards the snow-covered lawns. Sitting there fifty yards away, Tiri’s shuttle was uncloaked, in full view.

  ‘Guess we know where the ice queen is now,’ said Shirl.

  Coop ran towards the library doors. ‘Why has she gone visible?’

  Zana, clutching the ornate newel post at the bottom of the staircase, desperately trying to get her breath back, gasped out the words. ‘Because she can’t fire weapons while she’s cloaked.’

  ‘Oh shit…’ Coop threw open the doors, and he and Miles almost wrenched the girls from the library. ‘Round the back, all of you. Get into the trees.’

  Zana ran to the door. ‘I’ve got to get to my shuttle, stop her…’

  ‘Zana, its two hundred metres away.’

  ‘I have to…’

  She was gone. Shirl screamed up the staircase, ‘Madeline, get your butt out, now… Tiri’s about to blow the place up!’

  She heard a faint ‘ok’ come back, ran to join the others.

  Zana staggered out onto the lawn. The faint hum of Tiri’s power core filled the still, silent air. In her heart she knew there wasn’t enough time, but she had to do something. Desperately she ran around the corner of the house, headed into the trees to get to her craft.

  But twenty feet in she stopped, turned round and cried out in her desolation. The ominous black shape of the shuttle rose above the roof of the old house, and she knew Coop was right.

  There was no time. And there was nothing she could do to stop the inevitable.

  She watched helplessly as the shuttle’s nose pointed upwards, and then it was spearing into the air, the late-afternoon sun glinting red off its shiny black shape. For a moment she caught her breath in hope… higher and higher into the sky… was she just leaving after all, not bothering to exact bitter revenge?

  But then it began to turn, and she knew the momentary hope was a false one. A mile out, the craft dipped into a shallow dive, heading back for the house.

  ‘Zana!’ She turned at Coop’s shout. People seemed to be everywhere, crying and running desperately, further into the trees. He grabbed her arm. ‘Come on, get more distance.’

  ‘Where’s Madeline?’

  He spun a full circle, frantic eyes searching everywhere. ‘I thought she’d be with you… but she’s not…’

  ‘She’s still in the house…’

  She started to run back, but Miles grabbed her arm. ‘Zana… it’s too late.’

  She fought him with everything she had, but he wouldn’t let her go. ‘Please no… not after a
ll this…’

  The evil black shape came in low, fifty feet above the surface of the lake, streaking towards them at incredible speed. At the last second it pulled up, and a massive bolt of green fire thundered into the house.

  It didn’t stand a chance. The beautiful old manor shattered into a billion pieces, and a huge cloud of smoke and snow billowed across the valley floor where once it had stood so proudly.

  Chapter 187

  The debris of the old house began to drop back to the snow-covered ground, and a deathly silence fell over the valley.

  No one moved. No one spoke. The devastating power of Tiri’s final act had ripped away any ability to do or say anything.

  Vacant, disbelieving eyes watched as the cloud of ice and dust began to settle, human statues unable to move, numbed by the scene their eyes were trying to accept, and the realization they’d escaped with their lives with seconds to spare.

  Almost all of them.

  Coop was the first to find his legs, ran out of the trees and shielded his eyes from the setting sun as he looked into the sky. Tiri’s shuttle was a tiny speck, the rays glinting off its black body as it rose higher and higher into the upper atmosphere.

  And then it was gone. And somehow he knew the evil queen would never return.

  He turned back to the trees. Some of the girls were crying, hugging each other as reaction finally clicked in. He saw Zana stagger zombie-like out of the tree line, tears streaming down her face as she sank to her knees in the snow.

  He ran to her, cradled her in his arms, felt her body racking with pain. She looked up to him, a frantic hand clutching desperately at his arm. ‘How could she do that?’ she sobbed. ‘She’s taken away everything… she’s won again…’

  There were no words. Nothing he could say to make it any better, no way to turn back the clock. He tried to fight back his own tears, but it was impossible. And why the hell should he? Madeline was gone; staying strong didn’t matter anymore.

  Miles appeared next to them, knelt down and took the shaking hand Zana reached out to him. ‘I’m so sorry, Zana,’ he whispered.

  And Shirl called out. As the dust settled she’d walked closer to where the house had once stood. It was a little easier to see. ‘Um, guys… not sure if my old eyes are seeing right, but there’s a lump of something out across the lawn, and it seems to be moving!’

  I dropped to my knees, exhausted. The weight of Lisa in my arms had become too much. As the house disintegrated fifty feet away from us, I covered her as best I could, closed my eyes.

  Surely we weren’t far enough away?

  Lumps of house crashed around us. Something hit my back. It hurt, but didn’t seem so big. I heard Lisa cry out, buried our faces closer together as the shower of debris fell over us.

  And then silence.

  Slowly I forced my eyes open. We were in a fog, couldn’t see anything further than ten feet away. Dust and ice had enveloped everything in a freezing pall of what had been a lovely old house.

  But we were alive.

  Bit’s of me hurt, but it didn’t seem like anything life-threatening. Someone else was in a far worse state.

  In my desperate run out of the house, I’d realized making the shelter of the trees was impossible. The only hope was to get as far across the lawn as I could. Now, sitting on my knees with Lisa’s head in my lap, I had no idea which bit of the lawn we were on.

  It didn’t matter. We were safe.

  Lisa’s face was so cold. It wasn’t the temperature. She looked at me, tried to smile. ‘Are the girls safe?’

  Her voice was a whisper, faltering and breathy. I didn’t know for sure if they were safe, although I had a pretty good idea the guys had got them out in time.

  But Lisa was slipping away. I had to hope it wasn’t a lie.

  ‘Yes, they’re safe.’

  She sucked in a shallow breath, her face creasing with the pain it brought. ‘Then we did something good.’

  I nodded, smiled to her. Blood was still seeping from her, staining the snow blue. She could hardly have any left. I looked around me, a futile search for something to help her that could never come in time. The cloud was settling, an awful silence replacing the sound of falling debris. In the distance I could see people running towards us.

  ‘Madeline…’

  I looked back to her, caressed her face. Her eyes were glazed over, her breathing rapid and shallow. ‘Hang in there Lisa, people are coming.’

  She shook her head. ‘It is too late. I must say goodbye.’

  ‘No… please…’

  She coughed, and a little blood ran down her chin. I wiped it away with a trembling finger, vaguely aware someone was standing next to us. I didn’t know who it was, but I couldn’t take my eyes away from Lisa for a second. There were only moments left.

  She smiled to me again, spoke in a whisper I could hardly hear. ‘Thank you for… for showing me things no one ever had. But Madeline… ‘

  Her eyes closed, her mouth turned down. There was something she needed to say… was there time? Someone was kneeling next to me, putting a hand on my shoulder. I didn’t know who.

  ‘Lisa… Lisa?’

  Her eyes opened, and I knew she had only seconds left. ‘What is it, Lisa?’

  ‘I just need to know… you and me… did it mean anything?’

  ‘Of course it did… it meant everything. I shall never forget you… not ever.’

  She smiled, content to finally slip away knowing we had brought each other joy. I kissed her softly, watched her eyes close, and felt her body go limp in my arms.

  And finally I realized it was Zana kneeling next to me, silently watching as we said goodbye. My eyes filled with tears. ‘I’m so sorry,’ I cried as she pulled me into her.

  ‘It’s ok, Madeline. I liked her a lot too.’

  Chapter 188

  Coop carried Lisa’s body back to the others, laid her down just in front of the tree line. Shirl came over, put an arm around me. ‘You ok, brave girl?’ she said.

  ‘Physically. And what the hell are you doing here anyway?’

  ‘I’m the new DIAL agent,’ she grinned.

  Coop put a hand on her shoulder. ‘Guess I have to admit if it hadn’t been for Shirl here, we would never have found you. Friggin’ girl power rules again.’

  Shirl left, went to the girls to help them get their senses back in one piece. I looked at Coop. ‘I failed, boss,’ I said flatly.

  ‘What? How do you work that one out? You were as much a part of saving these here girls as anyone else.’

  ‘Ok, maybe that bit was a success.’

  He knew exactly what I meant. ‘I think she’s gone, Maddie. Forever. I watched the shuttle disappear into a speck of nothing.’

  ‘We can’t be sure of that.’

  Zana was pressing buttons on the pendant round her neck. ‘Yes we can,’ she said as she powered it off. ‘I just turned it on for a few seconds so I could track her shuttle. She’ll never know I did, for such a short time. She’s just leaving Earth’s atmosphere.’

  I couldn’t help it, bitter frustration got the better of me. I screamed out the words. ‘So she’s got away… again!’

  ‘Tell me about it,’ said Zana, a bit more calmly, and turned away.

  The sound of rotor blades beating the air filled our ears. And moments later, four RAF choppers flew over the top of the hill, and blew more frozen snow into the air as they landed on the lawn.

  Coop went to meet the commander, and suddenly people seemed to be everywhere. The girls were wrapped in silver blankets, led to the helicopters. An army medic noticed my cuts and bruises, tried to take me off in the same direction, but I refused. He shook his head, stuck a couple of plasters on me, and went to attend to someone else.

  Shirl was chatting away to Coop and Miles, trying to find out when she would get her official DIAL badge. Everything seemed to be a whirlwind of activity, but someone was conspicuous by her absence.

  ‘Where’s Zana?’ I said to anyon
e who might hear.

  Miles answered. ‘Think I saw her heading to her shuttle.’

  For some reason I couldn’t understand, a wave of dread stabbed into me. Something wasn’t right. As the first two choppers lifted away from the lawn, I made my way through the trees.

  The hatch was open. As I reached it I could hear the faint hum of the power core. Zana was firing up. A pang of unease drifted through me, but then I realized that was hardly unexpected… there was nothing more to stay here for.

  I found her on the bridge, facing away from me, sitting in the pilot’s seat going through the fire-up sequence. She must have heard me, turned round suddenly. I could see tears in her eyes, and her beautiful face was strained and drawn.

  Had witnessing my last goodbye to Lisa had more of an effect than she’d let on?

  She tried to smile, but all I saw was devastating pain. Her voice hitched with emotion. ‘I was just about to come and find you, so we could… so we could say goodbye.’

  Chapter 189

  THE LAST GOODBYE

  She’d taken away the power of speech, again. But that was an insignificant speck of nothing compared to what she’d just said.

  She was about to take away everything.

  I sucked in a deep breath, finally found words. ‘After all this… after all we’ve been through, you’re just going to fly away from me?’

  ‘Please don’t make it harder than it is.’

  My stomach was doing somersaults, my head a pressure cooker of confusion. Lisa was dead, we’d all escaped with our lives by a thread, and now I was losing the woman I love? I tried to keep the anguish out of my voice, but I stood no chance. ‘Harder? So if I’d just said “Ok, see you then”, it would have been easy?’

  She stared at me, unmoving, silent. I watched two tears roll down her cheeks, saw her lower lip begin to tremble. And I knew then she was going through hell. My anger melted, I pulled her close, felt her arms wrap around me like she never wanted to let go.

  She whispered into my ear. ‘It has to be, Madeline.’