by Frank Morin
She didn’t care. She only wished she’d caught a glimpse of Mai Luan and got a chance to pump a slug through the Cui Dashi’s skull, but Mai Luan never appeared.
After firing the gun dry, she dropped behind cover and shoved more shells into the loading port while checking on Alter. She pulled aside his black jacket and white shirt but found the wound already closing. The bleeding had slowed to a trickle.
“Don’t worry about it,” Alter said. “I have more healing runes than just about anyone.”
“Just don’t get hit in the head.”
Alter grinned, lunged to his feet, and fired off another long burst. When he crouched beside her again he shouted, “We need a new plan.”
“Like I just said.”
“Well now they shifted position. Some of them are dug in to hold us off but I can’t see the rest.”
Sarah glanced around, but saw only smoke. Did that mean Mai Luan was flanking them, or was the Cui Dashi chasing down Gregorios? She wiped dirty hands on her clean apron, then rubbed at her eyes. The haze was starting to get really irritating. She smelled nothing but gunpowder, and her ears rang from the shooting.
“Together!” Alter shouted.
They rose at the same time. Alter led the way, firing controlled bursts from his machine gun at any visible target, and he handled the heavy weapon with ease. His accuracy forced the enemy soldiers to duck away from the bullets tearing into their positions.
Sarah followed, but didn’t fire because she lacked a good target. He was right, the SS soldiers had scrambled a little farther north. They had taken shelter in a burned-out shell of a building just south of the bunker Gregorios had disappeared inside. She saw no sign of Mai Luan or Asoka, and worried the two had slipped out the far side. Sarah wouldn’t be able to see them until they nearly reached the bunker door.
“We need to find Mai Luan,” Sarah shouted.
“Find cover first,” Alter replied, continuing to pour bullets into the burned-out building. One controlled burst caught a soldier just rising to fire and knocked the man off his feet, his chest covered in blood.
Sarah picked out a pair of soldiers firing off quick bursts from behind half-broken walls. She anticipated one of them and fired just as he popped into the opening. He took the slug to the stomach and fell back out of sight.
Her satisfaction with the successful shot was dampened by the feeling of bile rising in her throat. This might be a memory, but it felt like a nightmare. Normal people didn’t shoot other people and feel happy about it.
Loud moaning wails drew her attention. Three undead soldiers crawled out from a nearby building and rushed the SS squad’s position.
“Eww.” Sarah cringed at the sight. She’d lost count of the number of zombie movies made in recent years, but seeing undead in this sort-of real life dreamscape was nasty.
“Now’s our chance,” Alter shouted and led the way out of the gardens toward a building just south of where the SS were fighting the ghouls.
Sarah still didn’t see the difference between them and zombies, and only wanted to shoot them dead, well, more dead. Why didn’t broken memories fill with happy thoughts? She could totally handle unexpected visits from unicorns.
They raced across the open area without getting shot. Alter kicked open a door in the four-story building and crashed through without slowing. They found a set of steel stairs and pounded upward. Sarah glanced down the long corridors branching off at every level but saw no one.
“How did you know these stairs would be here?” Sarah called.
“Faith.”
When they reached the top, they crossed the flat roof covered with small stones, and crouched behind the half wall that encircled the outer edge. The air was filled with the clattering of small-arms fire and then with the booming of a bigger explosion. Sarah risked a glance over the edge, and from that height could look right down into the burned-out shell of the building where the SS soldiers had been hiding.
A couple of ghouls were feeding on a dead soldier, but the rest clustered around the far side of the building, shooting east toward the main street. Sarah crossed the length of the roof to the eastern edge where she could see some of the street. A large company of Russian soldiers and another tank were stationed around and atop piles of rubble.
“Think that’s more of Gregorios’ doing?”
Alter shrugged. “Doesn’t matter. Gives us the chance we need to find Mai Luan.” He ran back to the western side of the roof overlooking the SS soldiers’ position.
With a whooping yell, he jumped off.
Sarah rushed after him and peered over. Alter had fallen four stories and landed in the open bed of a long truck whose tires were missing. Instead of screaming in pain from broken legs, he was blasting the surprised SS soldiers.
Movement drew her gaze farther to the north. Mai Luan and Asoka broke from cover behind a burned-out troop transport and led a small force at a run toward the bunker. Moving to the building had positioned Sarah and Alter against the SS soldiers, but granted Mai Luan the chance to get past.
The tank in the street fired, and the building shook under Sarah’s feet. The eastern side of the roof where she had stood a moment ago buckled upward with a squeal of twisting steel and snapping timbers. Then a twenty foot hole appeared as debris fell away in a thunderous avalanche.
Something howled inside the building directly below the hole. It sounded like a wolf that had swallowed a PA system.
Time to go. She had a sudden, inexplicable urge to leap off the roof after Alter.
That was crazy.
A furry arm as thick around as her waist shot through the hole in the roof. A giant paw capped the huge arm, armed with wicked-looking claws that were already dripping blood. The claws dug into the roof and started pulling something massive and black and hairy up through the hole.
Sarah jumped.
I’ve never understood why men love the filth and hunger and exhaustion of war. From my luxurious palace, I’ve launched more revolutions than any general. Toppling economies may not seem so dramatic, but it’s the results that count.
No head of state ever defies me twice.
~Aline, facetaker council member
Chapter Fifty-Eight
The fall off the roof seemed to take forever. Maybe she just fell slower than in the real world?
She hit just about as hard though.
Sarah landed in the bed of the truck beside Alter and rolled with the impact. She managed to not break her ankles somehow, but rolled the length of the truck before slamming to a jarring halt against the steel cab. Every part of her body ached and for a few seconds she couldn’t breathe.
Maybe jumping had been as stupid as she had feared.
The pain bled away faster than it had any right to. After eight seconds she took a deep breath and hauled herself to her feet.
“Glad you’re not dead,” Alter shouted. Then he cursed and swung his gun around to shoot east toward where the Russian soldiers had been stationed.
Sarah looked that way and swallowed a lump of terror. The Russians were coming, but they weren’t shooting. Instead two dozen soldiers shambled forward, moaning with hunger, bloody fingers extended like claws.
Zombies, ghouls, didn’t matter. Why did it have to be creepy undead monsters?
She began firing as fast as she could, pumping slug after slug into the charging gang of undead. Only after the last one fell did she realize she hadn’t needed to reload even once. Her leather belt of extra shells was gone too.
“What’s up with the bullets?”
Alter shrugged. “Perk of the memory world, I guess.”
“Mai Luan’s gotten past us,” Sarah cried, remembering their real mission.
Alter muttered a curse. “Come on!”
Together they vaulted out of the truck, and Sarah led the way around the building until they could see the bunker. Several soldiers charged out the back door toward Asoka’s small squad.
Mai Luan appeared in their mids
t, moving so fast it almost looked like she had teleported. The soldiers tried to shoot her, but they looked to be moving in slow motion compared to her.
She destroyed them.
“Useless,” Alter grunted and ran for the shelter of the circular guard tower just south of the bunker.
Mai Luan led her small team through the door into the square bunkier.
Alter paused at the guard tower to check for an ambush, but Sarah ran past without slowing. “Hurry! We’re late.”
Alter caught up and pulled her to a stop just outside the doorway into the box-like bunker. She wondered how extensive the underground complex might be. Gregorios and now Mai Luan and Asoka had all disappeared into it.
Alter lofted a grenade through the doorway.
“Where did you get that?” Sarah asked as they both scrambled away from the door.
The ground shook from the explosion, and a gout of flame and smoke erupted from the door.
“One of those dead guys.” Alter pointed at the men who had put up such a pathetic defense of the bunker.
A blur of motion out of the corner of her eye turned Sarah around, but Mai Luan reached her before she could bring her shotgun to bear. The Cui Dashi ripped the weapon out of Sarah’s hands and tossed it aside.
“Hello, Sarah,” Mai Luan said with false cheer. She wore a tightly fitted German military uniform that accentuated her slender figure, but a bluetooth earpiece nestled into her ear, breaking with the consistency of the ensemble.
Alter tried to shoot Mai Luan, but she pushed the barrel aside, aiming it toward Sarah’s head and forcing Alter to release the trigger.
She grabbed him by the collar and slammed his own gun into his face again and again, striking so fast Sarah could barely count the blows.
Alter sagged in her grip, his face a bloody pulp.
Mai Luan tossed him away. He soared thirty feet and rolled out of sight behind the sentry pillbox.
“You impress me a second time,” Mai Luan said conversationally as she leaned close to wipe bloody hands on Sarah’s nurse uniform. “I never imagined to find you here.”
“Life’s full of surprises,” Sarah said, trying not to look as terrified as she felt.
The plan was falling apart. Asoka had already descended into the bunker with a squad of soldiers. Could Gregorios fight all of them off? Alter was supposed to kill Mai Luan, but she’d beaten him with frightening ease.
Sarah lacked any weapons, couldn’t possibly fight Mai Luan, but she wouldn’t cower.
Mai Luan smiled, just a brief upturning of her lips. “You shouldn’t have come, Sarah. I was hoping for an interesting hunt.”
“Give me my shotgun back and I’ll make it interesting.”
“You have to think bigger,” Mai Luan said, brushing a strand of her silky hair out of her face.
“I could shove a grenade in your mouth,” Sarah suggested.
Mai Luan clenched a fist and considered it. “You know, I could kill you so fast you wouldn’t even feel death coming.”
Sarah retreated a step. “I’d rather you didn’t.”
“But that wouldn’t begin to cover the debt you owe me,” Mai Luan continued, ignoring her comment. “You’ve got spirit, Sarah, but that’s not enough. You didn’t even bring Tomas in here with you. At least then I could’ve had some fun torturing him again.”
“I healed him once,” Sarah said. “I’ll do it again if I have to.”
“You?” Mai Luan asked, looking intrigued.
“Well, he showed me how to mark the rune, and he bonded to it himself,” Sarah said. She didn’t want to explain anything, but at least they weren’t talking about which way Mai Luan planned to kill her.
“Indeed?” Mai Luan considered her. “Again, a surprise. You owe me an honor debt for the trouble you’ve caused, but perhaps there’s another way to resolve this.”
“Sure,” Sarah said. “I shoot you once for every soul you’ve destroyed.”
Mai Luan laughed. “Don’t be a fool. They were only mortals. Their sacrifice was a small price to pay.”
“Not to them.”
“You are so naive. You waste so much effort on the undeserving. You could accomplish so much more if you spent your talents helping those who will shape the world.”
Sarah wasn’t sure how to respond to the abrupt change in the conversation. Was the woman actually offering her a job? Was this the first torture? Lots of people claimed to work for soul-sucking bosses, but she couldn’t imagine actually signing on to work for Mai Luan.
“You think you’re more important than everyone else?”
“Of course,” Mai Luan said, looking surprised by the question. “I am a higher form of life. Evan among mortals there are some more important than others. You perhaps are one. You’ve gained wealth and influence, and you’ve proven you’re resourceful. You are one who could do much good.”
“Stopping you is the best good I could do.”
“Don’t be dull,” Mai Luan said, pacing around Sarah slowly, inspecting her as if considering a new possession. “If you even could stop me, what would you accomplish? You’d guarantee only that nothing gets better for anyone.”
“Better? How are you making things better for anyone?”
“That’s my ultimate goal,” Mai Luan said. “The world is chaotic, filled with war and suffering, and yet you defend the status quo. Think of the good we could do, working together. With the power of history at our command, we can remake the world into a better place.”
“Better for you.”
“Better for everyone. Think about it. I could end warfare between the nations by uniting everyone. I could end poverty, guarantee all mortals equality.”
“Sounds great,” Sarah said. “Except equality in chains is not an improvement.”
“You are more than a common mortal Sarah. You have tasted many lives, glimpsed real greatness. Ally with me and I will place you over the rest of the mortals. You control them, you define their conditions. You care for them, guarantee they’re treated fairly.”
Sarah hesitated. Some of what Mai Luan offered could actually improve the lives of much of the world if she could believe anything Mai Luan said.
“You could be the saving queen of the world, my global administrator.”
Sarah cringed to think of that level of responsibility. She hated balancing her checkbook. She wasn’t world-administrator material.
“You make a compelling argument, but what of those who choose not to bow to you.”
“Every new world order must remove the corruption of the last before it can rise. But we could make the transition as painless as possible.” Mai Luan spoke with a passion Sarah had never seen before, as if she actually believed the crazy plan.
“Leaving you the ultimate dictator of the world.”
“Stop fixating on titles,” Mai Luan said with a roll of her eyes. “The world is already corrupt. I can correct so many things.”
“I wish I could believe you,” Sarah said, although in a way she didn’t. It was easier to hate Mai Luan when she was simply an evil person trying to destroy the world.
“I speak in earnest,” Mai Luan said.
“And yet, even your name’s a lie,” Sarah pointed out.
“How could you possibly know that?” Mai Luan looked startled, and for a second even vulnerable.
“Does it matter? What’s your real name?” She yearned to grab up her shotgun and shoot Mai Luan in the face, but that would only end the conversation. The glimpse she’d gained into Mai Luan’s thoughts was fascinating in a freaky sort of way, but at least the woman was still talking. Sarah believed Gregorios could beat Asoka and his soldiers. She had to. Every minute she kept Mai Luan talking gave him a little more time to wrest full control over the memory and wake them all up.
“You haven’t earned the right to know my name,” Mai Luan said. “For Chinese, a name has deeper meaning than westerners comprehend. In my family, one must earn a proper name.”
“So yo
ur family thinks your plan stinks too?”
Mai Luan grabbed Sarah by the throat, lifting her off the ground. “I’d have earned my new name by now if you hadn’t interfered.”
She shook Sarah like a terrier shaking a rat, but instead of ripping her head off, she dropped Sarah to the ground. Mai Luan leaned close and Sarah shrank from her angry gaze. “I could just kill you like I had planned, but if you serve me, we both benefit. You can work to restore my honor, and I’ll let you keep Tomas.”
Without warning, a hole appeared in Mai Luan’s neck. Hot blood sprayed across Sarah’s face as Mai Luan shrieked with surprise. More holes tore into her, stitching across her torso. The roaring of Alter’s machine gun close behind Sarah thundered in her ears, and she rolled away.
Alter had snuck up on them while they talked, exactly as they had planned. He advanced on Mai Luan, firing on full auto, shouting with every step.
Mai Luan reeled back under the brutal onslaught, her slender body shuddering as bullets tore into her.
Sarah felt sick from the sight, but refused to turn away. Alter was doing it. He was killing her.
Then Mai Luan leaped straight up. She soared impossibly high, and disappeared behind the building.
Alter started rushing around the boxlike building, but a rumbling sound echoed from inside.
“Sounds like a collapsing wall,” Alter said with a frown. “I think she’s broken through the back wall. She’s inside.” He rushed toward the door, but it burst off its hinges and collided with him, knocking him down.
Mai Luan emerged from the building, bloody but no longer bleeding. Sarah stared, awed anew by the woman’s superhuman healing ability.
Mai Luan snatched up the broken door, and as Alter climbed to his feet and brought his machine gun around, she swung the door like a huge bat. The blow caught him with such power that it sent him tumbling right over the nearby sentry pillbox.
“You keep annoying friends, Sarah,” Mai Luan said.