Oblivion: The Complete Series (Books 1-9)

by Joshua James

  “Daddy! It hurts!” yelled Matthew as another man pulled with all his strength on the boy’s arm.

  Sydal heard a pop. It was his son’s arm dislocating. That was followed by cries and screams of pain. If he didn’t do something fast, all would be lost.

  Furious and homicidal rage overcame Sydal. He didn’t notice the crowd of onlookers who’d stopped to witness the commotion. With his free arm he reached into his jacket, pulled out his pistol, and shot the soldier who hurt his son in the face. The bullet punched a hole through the visor of the helmet and sent shards of high-impact plastic and brain matter flying onto the nearest spectators.

  People screamed, ran, and panicked, but Sydal didn’t. From the ground he aimed at the second soldier. Maybe it was the blood loss or the compounded injuries and fatigue in his body, but his second shot only grazed the soldier’s helmet, ricocheting off somewhere into the crowd hitting some poor soul. The next thing he knew, the detective saw a boot coming fast towards his face.

  Sydal felt the first blow. It broke his nose and concussed him. Against his will, his grip on Matthew loosened. Then came the fists, more boots, and rifle butts. Through the chaos he watched his son get carried away as the world slowly went black.

  With one last hit he was out cold.

  Ten

  The End Of The Road

  LeFay waited for her control over the spider tank to be complete. In about thirty seconds she’d have dominion over the war machine, and would use it to take out the rest. But first, she needed to survive that long.

  Probably a bit angry and annoyed, the remaining operational and uncorrupted spider tank driver focused his fire on the corpse of a fighter ship that LeFay hid behind. At first it was just machine-gun fire that the biohacker heard bounce off or penetrate only to hit the dirt. It sounded like the most lethal of hail.

  LeFay used her augmented eyes to look through the downed fighter ship she hid behind. She saw the AIC spider tank stop and turn its cannon towards her. It was time to move. Her arm hanging off her shoulder, sparks and blood coming out of the wound on her back, she forced herself up and ran towards the other spider tank she almost had command of.

  Two seconds after LeFay got up and started running, the skeleton of the fighter ship she hid behind was blown to pieces by spider-tank cannon fire. She moved just in time, but the blast wave still knocked her off her feet.

  “C’mon, LeFay! Get up!” screamed a voice behind her, urging her on.

  “I’m going,” she shouted back, still on all fours and clearly not going, before it dawned on her who was screaming.

  She spun around to find Werner rushing up behind her. He chambered a grenade in the launcher attached to the bottom of his rifle and fired at the spider tank advancing on LeFay.

  The shot didn’t do any damage, but it got the driver’s attention. But the captain’s actions also got his men’s attention.

  One of the soldiers still on top of the outermost wall of the base saw their commanding officer running out into the battlefield, towards the enemy tanks and advancing soldiers. And they took action.

  Gunfire came raining down from the outermost wall, hitting and bouncing off the spider tanks and taking out the first wave of ground forces that were making a run for the hole in that same wall.

  “Where’s my airstrike!” Werner screamed, clearly engaged with his HUD as he came to a sliding stop when he reached LeFay, who was using her one good arm to push herself up off the black soil.

  “What the hell do you think you’re doing?” yelled Werner as he helped LeFay to her feet.

  “Oh, me? Just saving everyone’s asses.”

  “By being suicidal?” Werner asked, exasperated.

  LeFay sensed her hack of the spider tank was complete. “Watch and learn.”

  LeFay had full control of one of the spider tanks. Her first and obvious move was to engage the tank trying to kill her. It took a few seconds to get the hang of controlling it, but once she found the controls for the cannon, she took a shot at the enemy war machine.

  Like a person getting a surprise punch in the side of its head, the other spider tank almost toppled over onto its side. LeFay smiled thinking of the pilot inside, confused, yelling at his comrade, not knowing there wasn’t anything he could do about it. Without wasting a second she fired again, directly at the tank’s front joints. It crashed forward, immobilized.

  “Shit, you really are a one-woman army,” said Werner.

  “Two minutes to disable two tanks and take over another,” LeFay said triumphantly. “Damn right.”

  “We need to get back behind those walls.”

  “You need to,” LeFay said. “I need to finish the job.”

  She remote-controlled her spider tank to go up to the first one she’d disabled. From point-blank range she fired a couple of cannon shells, destroying it and killing the crew inside. Before she went on to the second one, the hatch on top of her spider tank opened up, and the crew inside that one jumped off and ran back towards their lines.

  “I’m not going back without you,” Warner said.

  “Suit yourself, Darren. But…” LeFay pointed at the second wave of ground troops running toward them. “I don’t think they care much about your romantic gestures.”

  “What are we still doing here?” Wan asked as he peeked around the hole in the outer base wall.

  “We’re making sure they’re okay,” Clarissa said. And she meant it. She had no allegiance to Wan or Werner, but LeFay deserved somebody watching her back, if for no other reason than because nobody else would.

  “They’re fine,” Wan said.

  “I’m not going anywhere until they’re back.”

  Wan looked at her like she was crazy. She had to admit, he had a point. “Screw that. I don’t want to die out here fighting in some damn war I don’t care about. I purposely didn’t join the army to avoid a pointless death like this.” Wan nodded at the ground soldiers rushing in. “I’m getting the hell outta here before those bastards get here. Feel free to join me.”

  Without another word, Wan clambered up a rope on the secondary wall behind them and headed deeper into the compound. It took her a moment to realize that he’d had the presence of mind to grab the rope that he’d first climbed over the outer wall with. How it had managed not to get disintegrated when the wall got ripped open, Clarissa couldn’t say. The luck of a pirate, if she had to guess. Then again, Tonga didn’t exactly seem to have it. Must be selective luck.

  Where he was going was beyond Clarissa. If they didn’t hold them here, it was only a matter of time before the whole base was inundated. Didn’t make much sense to run that way.

  Then again, there weren’t many directions left to run. And if she was being honest, her animal self-preservation instinct wanted to follow him. But LeFay deserved better.

  And that moment of hesitation made the choice for her as the rope slid up the wall and disappeared along with Wan.

  Pirate bastard.

  When she looked back through the crevice in the outer wall and towards the enemy, Clarissa saw a very unwelcome sight. A huge wave of AIC soldiers was advancing on the horizon, many more than the initial wave that was almost on top of them.

  That was the main strike force, she realized. This must be a huge offensive. The AIC was aiming to deal a crushing blow.

  And LeFay was too busy finishing off the last spider tank to even notice.

  Tomas didn’t hit the bombers the first time around. The anti-air guns took a little getting used to. But once he was calibrated, he was ready for their fourth and what he was determined to be their final run.

  The AIC bomber clearly noticed Tomas when he tried to hit them on the third run. Now one of them broke off from the others and headed straight towards him. The others targeted the walls themselves.

  Tomas’s sweaty grip tightened on the control of his AA gun. He briefly closed his eyes and steadied his breath. When he opened them it was with the determination that he was going to take out as man
y of those ships as possible and ignore what that meant for his fate.

  The bomber that headed straight towards Tomas sped up, no doubt wanting to take out the AA gun before his friends got within range. It opened fire with its guns. Tomas ignored the large caliber bouncing off the steel of his rig all around him. Instead of worrying about that, he focused on the concentric circles of the AA gun’s sights. He moved it slightly in front of the incoming bomber and then squeezed and held down the trigger.

  Tomas hit his mark. The flak from his AA gun shredded the front of the incoming AIC bomber. It peeled off to the side of the base, cartwheeling and exploding as soon as it hit the dirt. There was no time for him to savor that little victory. Those other bombers were still on their way.

  With a mechanical whir under him, Tomas’s AA gun swiveled to the left so that he could line up its sights on the other bomber. As he waited for them to get within range, he felt a sharp pain in his stomach. When he looked down he saw a golf ball-sized hole in his gut.

  “Oh no,” he said, feeling his breath wheeze and soft liquid gurgling up through his throat.

  Blood pooled in the fabric bunched up at his stomach and poured off his seat. One of the bullets from that first bomber must’ve ricocheted and hit him. If it was a direct hit, it would’ve probably ripped him in half.

  But it had done enough.

  He looked back up at the incoming bomber, now in range. The crosshairs blurred. His arms were heavy. But he gritted his teeth and willed himself to focus. He wasn’t dead yet.

  Ada was helpless. She’d promised herself a while ago that she’d never again be in that position but there she was, in between the outermost and middle wall, unable to fight or even get out. She’d done more damage to her ankle than she wanted to let on to Tomas. And all the painstaking work of Doc Congo had been undone in a moment as she felt the fire of what she was sure were re-broken ribs.

  When she heard the sound of the AIC bombers coming back, she looked back up at Tomas. She watched as he heroically fought off one of the bombers. She cringed as his AA gun got lit up by gunfire. Her heart sank when his rig turned and she could clearly see he was bleeding.

  “Tomas! Tomas!” yelled Ada. She desperately tried to convince him to get off the AA gun and head inside the base to get some medical attention. But he couldn’t hear her; and even if he could, chances were he wouldn’t listen.

  Guilt, Ada’s constant companion since the Atlas, reared its ugly head again. She was supposed to be up there with him, helping him fight. If she was on one of the other guns, at least the attention wouldn’t all be on him. Why should he die and she get to live?

  “Hey, beautiful!” Ada heard a familiar voice. It was Wan.

  “Wan?” Ada said in shock.

  “Soon to be gone,” Wan said. He looked Ada up and down, frowning at the way she limped. “You want a lift?”

  “A what?” she said.

  “A lift.” He held up a rope. He’d tied off one end to his blaster, clearly using it as an anchor to climb over the wall to get here.

  Ada felt her heart leap into her throat. “We have to get up there!” she said, pointing up to the top of the inner wall where Tomas was sitting in the AA gun turret.

  “I was thinking more of getting the hell out of here—”

  “Now!” Ada screamed.

  Wan actually jumped. “OK, shit. You people and your death wishes,” he murmured to himself.

  He clambered over to her. “Are you sure you can climb without the use of your legs? I mean—”

  “Move!”

  “All right, all right,” Wan said. He threw his makeshift blaster weight up and over the wall and pulled it taut. “This should be fine.”

  “Tomas!” Ada screamed.

  Wan turned to look up.

  And then the top of the wall exploded.

  Tomas’s head felt light. The world around him seemed to slow down and go on mute. He felt every breath in, every exhale. Even colors seemed more vibrant. A creeping cold took hold of his body. No! Not yet—he still had a job to do before dying.

  He forced his blurry vision to narrow on the bombers. Tomas squeezed the trigger knowing that he wouldn’t let go until life left his body. With each shot he felt the vibrations from the kickback in his stomach wound, but he didn’t feel pain. He felt determination, determination to kill every last one of the bastards.

  Through the black smoke and orange explosions from the AA’s flak shells, Tomas saw that he’d hit one—no, two—no, three of the bombers. The first peeled off, crashing into the far edge of the walls, blowing up and sending a wave of intense heat in every direction. The second wasn’t fully disabled, but was unable to do another run. It turned and abandoned its run, returning to its base. The third tried desperately to drop its payload before being taken out. Instead, Tomas hit the bombs the second they left the bomb bay, blowing the ship up in mid-air.

  Two bombers were left. One of them turned to make its approach from a different angle, not wanting to suffer the same fate as his comrades. The last kept flying straight towards Tomas. Unfortunately, the ex-UEF special forces officer didn’t have any energy left. He couldn’t even move his hands. His veins were on “E”. So he turned and looked down at Ada.

  “Tomas!” he heard Ada scream out to him.

  He looked down at her and smiled through bloody teeth. Wan was down there too.

  Now where the hell did that little weasel come from?

  He watched anguish wash over Ada’s face, and he wished in that moment that he could comfort her. They’d talked about her guilt. About the faces she couldn’t remember. He wanted to reassure her it was okay. It was all right. She didn’t need to remember his face. Hell, he wasn’t sure he remembered it half the time.

  But he couldn’t. There was no time left, and he had no strength for it anyway. His vision was almost completely blurry now, and his eyelids so very heavy.

  He did the only thing he could think to do. He mouthed the words: “I’m sorry.”

  A split second later a single bomb landed directly on top of his rig, instantly vaporizing him.

  “Sarah…” Werner saw the mass of soldiers coming their way. They showed no signs of stopping, just as the biohacker showed no signs that she noticed them. She was too busy with her new toy.

  “I got ‘em,” LeFay said, finally catching on and ordering her spider tank to turn and open up on the soldiers. At first she was mowing them down, and it looked like maybe they’d be able to hold the attackers back.

  The ground rumbled, and a half-dozen UEF fighters roared overhead, ripping through the handful of AIC bombers there. UEF bombers followed behind them.

  “About damn time,” Werner said. The airstrike had finally arrived.

  The bombers quickly took care of the war cannon. They also scrapped the armored personal carriers and a good number of AIC troops.

  Everything was looking up.

  That’s when Werner stopped shooting and made the mistake of looking up, too.

  He saw doom appear in the skies above.

  Dozens of AIC warships appeared above the base. Having survived the battle in space against the blockade, they were ready to further their advance on Europa. It seemed like their little base was step one.

  Werner had a feeling he wasn’t going to live to see step two.

  LeFay stopped firing the spider tank when she saw the AIC ships above.

  “Shit,” she said, a lack of sarcasm in her voice for once. “There’s even a damn dreadnaught up there.”

  Knowing that they stood no chance, the UEF airstrike team simply turned around. The fighters and bombers fled back to their base, Werner had to assume, to ready themselves for the bigger fight to come. The message was clear. Everyone here was on their own.

  “Hey, Darren,” LeFay said as she walked over and stood next to him, her arm hanging off, blood dripping down her lower black.

  “Yeah?”

  “I’m sorry. I really am.”

  Werner took a d
eep breath and tore his eyes from the sky to look into LeFay’s augmented eyes. “I know, Sarah.”

  LeFay’s spider tank was quickly blown to bits by a battleship cannon. She didn’t care at that point. She knew what came next.

  Werner shook his head. “I love you.”

  LeFay smiled. “I know.”

  Werner chuckled. “God knows why.”

  “You ready for this?”

  Werner reloaded his big rifle. “Hell, yeah. You?”

  “You kidding me?” LeFay said, tears on her cheeks for the first time since she was a child. “They don’t stand a chance.”

  The both opened fire on the charging line of soldiers. In a matter of seconds, both LeFay and Werner’s bodies were riddled with AIC bullets. Werner, only human, fell dead. LeFay, much more than human, went down to one knee, blood both real and artificial oozing out of every wound, her mouth, and her partially blown-off head.

  LeFay paid no attention to the soldiers who were, at that point, only twenty yards away. Instead, she looked down at the only man she’d ever loved.

  The AIC soldiers ran past LeFay and the dead captain. Their only concern was getting past those walls. One stopped and pointed his rifle at LeFay’s head. She looked up, smiled, and pointed to her chest. It was open, and her core was pulsing so brightly the man had to shield his eyes.

  “So long, asshole.”

  Clarissa didn’t say a word as she watched her friend fall to one knee, riddled with bullets. There was nothing to say. She always knew that LeFay had a death wish. That didn’t make it easier, but she knew that she’d finally be at peace.

  And she knew what came next. With no way to get up over the walls, she did the only thing she could think to do and went downward. She dug into the soft black soil, trying to bury herself in it, knowing it was too little too late. But she had to try.

  The explosion, when it came, didn’t disappoint.