by M. R. Forbes
The hangar. The spire. The comm links. It had cut off most communication, making an organized resistance difficult. If it controlled the spire, it could either take the shields down or keep them up. If it had the hangar, it could detonate the vehicles where they sat and kill everyone in the city.
Was that its plan? To destroy the city? Or was it something even worse?
James and Nathan had opened Pandora’s Box, and now it was up to him to put the monsters back inside.
Chapter 25
Hayden and Chandra cleared the last secured door, heading for the lab’s exit at a run. They almost made it too. Only a few meters from their freedom, the door ahead opened and a squad of soldiers began filing in.
They weren’t expecting anyone to be already standing there, and they definitely weren’t expecting Hayden. Fortunately, they had been ordered to the lab in a hurry, without time to return to the armory to outfit themselves in more than their standard fatigues and sidearms. Five soldiers reached for five weapons in unison, the lead’s jaw moving slightly in an attempt to activate his non-functional comm.
Chandra drew up at the sight of the soldiers, freezing in place out of fear.
Hayden didn’t hesitate at all.
He charged the incoming soldiers, who were still only halfway into the building. He shouted as he reached the first of them, grabbing his gun hand and yanking it aside as the soldier fired his first round, sending it into the wall. Hayden twisted, his large hand easily breaking the man’s wrist, causing him to cry out.
Hayden didn’t slow. He thrust forward with his other hand, slamming the same soldier hard in the chest, the force throwing the man into the Liberator behind him. That soldier grunted at the impact, losing his aim, while Hayden pushed past them both, squeezing his left hand closed and extending the claw-like blade from the forearm. He slashed it across the third soldier’s neck, still not slowing as he reached the doorway. The last two soldiers were trying to back away, their guns coming to bear.
Hayden dropped, rolling sideways toward them, getting clear only instants before their rounds flew by where his chest should have been and slammed into the metal door, ricocheting off. One of them bounced back into Hayden’s shoulder, cutting through the fatigues and grazing his flesh. He barely felt it Coming up, he threw a hard upper cut with Gus’ oversized hand, hitting the soldier on the right with enough force to break his neck. Then he grabbed the man with both hands and threw him into the remaining Liberator, knocking him down. He straddled the man, looking down on him with fury in his eyes.
The man looked back, but only for a second. Hayden drove the claw down into his neck, ending his life.
He stood over the man, chest heaving, blood pulsing through his veins. If he had been capable of calm at that moment, he might have regretted what he had done and how violently he had done it. He wasn’t able to be calm. Not after what James had done to him. Not when there were innocent lives at stake.
Chandra emerged from the lab, her face white. She locked eyes with Hayden, shaking slightly at what she saw.
“They had it coming for what they did,” she said, excusing him for his reaction.
“They did,” he agreed.
“At least they couldn’t call back to anyone for help.”
Hayden’s head shifted when he noticed something glinting to his right.
“Get down!” he shouted, diving to the ground.
A burst of gunfire ripped over his head, more than a dozen rounds unleashed in an instant from the guard robot that had been standing in the shadows. Its aim swung toward Chandra, its secondary attack tearing holes through the lab’s metal door but missing the botter when she ducked back inside and out of sight.
Hayden jumped up, again getting the robot’s attention. Every movement the machine made seemed like it was happening in slow motion. He was able to watch its torso swivel, its gun-hand swinging in his direction. He was able to track the muzzle flash as it began to form, a spark behind a slug at first, billowing into a full detonation. He ducked to the side, circling the robot ahead of its ability to rotate, closing the gap as bullets whipped past him, missing by centimeters.
He made it within a meter of the machine, rolling back the other way, below the gun’s aim . Getting back to his feet, he reached out and grabbed the robot’s arm with his large hand. Clenching it tight and pulling, he used his body as a counterweight. The arm began to detach with a sharp whine, metal tearing and bending, wires snapping. He pulled it away, throwing it to the ground.
The robot swung back toward him, reaching for him with its other arm, a less dangerous three-fingered hand. He wrapped his fist around that one, squeezing hard, feeling the strain of the artificial muscles in the replacement as he crumpled the appendage. Finally, he grabbed its head with both hands, ripping it away and dropping it on the ground in front of it.
He heaved a satisfied sigh, rushing back to the lab. Chandra was just inside the door, waiting for him.
“I do good work,” she said.
“Pozz that,” he replied.
“So what now, Sheriff? We go help the Colonel?”
“No. I’m going to the spire.”
“The spire? Why? The Other is at the hangar.”
“Two reasons. One, because it went to the spire first, and no part of me doesn’t think it didn’t do anything to it. Two, because Nathan doesn’t need my help. He can take care of himself.”
“Pozz that, Sheriff. Let’s go.”
“I didn’t say we’re going to the spire. I said I’m going to the spire.”
“Where am I going? I want to help.”
“You’re going to Operations to fix the comm link.”
“Sheriff, I told you, I don’t know how to fix the comm link. I thought we were sticking together.”
“Sorry, Pyro,” Hayden said. “Change of plans. We have three targets, and Operations is one of them. We need the comms back up. I know you can do it. You’re the smartest woman on the east coast.”
The compliment made Chandra blush and gave her the boost of confidence she needed. “I’m on it, Sheriff. I’ll call in when it’s working again.”
“Pozz that.”
“I only have one other question. Which way is Operations?”
Chapter 26
Nathan watched the huge slabs of aluminum composing the roof of the hangar begin to part. The mechanism controlling them was powerful enough to rotate the plates away from one another. It wasn’t a fast process, but it was a process that shouldn’t be happening at all.
It had to mean the Other knew what the delivery vehicles carried, and it intended to use them.
It also meant he was running out of time to stop it.
He shifted his attention back to the soldiers blocking the route between his position and the hangar. He didn’t have a choice now. He had to go through them. If it meant killing them, then so be it. The city’s shields were still up. If the Other launched the virus now, the DVs would impact the shield and detonate, releasing their poison inside and killing everyone in Edenrise.
He broke from his cover, charging across the open tarmac toward the nearest Liberators. They were crouched behind a car a hundred meters away, watching the north side of the airfield for the opposition. They didn’t notice him coming, but the squad they were targeting as trife did, breaking their cover to start shooting at him. He crouched low but didn’t stop moving.
The first group of soldiers believed the trife were attacking one of their own. When they saw the enemy break cover, they started shooting back, their initial volley managing to catch one of their own in the chest and knock him down. The other trife grabbed their fallen brethren and vanished behind the building again.
The soldiers silently congratulated one another for the kill, bumping fists as they sank back behind the car. One of them turned to check on Nathan. At first, his expression was happy and welcoming, but it slowly faded to fear and confusion, and finally the man raised his rifle. Too late.
Nathan reache
d the group, grabbing the first soldier and slamming his head into the car. Kicking out, he caught the next one in the chest, taking the wind out of him. He grabbed the third by the arm, pulling him in and getting him in a choke hold. He held him until he stopped struggling, making sure to stay low behind the car.
He crouched there for a moment, gathering himself. What he didn’t understand was how so many soldiers had been afflicted with the hallucinations at once and how he had managed to avoid them this time. If the Other had a mass effect weapon, shouldn’t he have gotten caught in its fallout too?
He moved along the side of the car to the rear, raising his head to check on the other soldiers. The crossfire was growing more sporadic, the so-called enemies running out of ammunition. He counted at least two-dozen dead within his line of sight, and he knew there were plenty more who weren’t dead.
There was no time to linger. Nathan sprinted away from the car, toward a building fifty meters away. There was another group of Liberators just inside the building, using a broken first-floor window for cover. They saw him coming much sooner this time, rising from their positions with rifles up and taking aim.
Nathan swung his weapon forward, gripping it and squeezing the trigger. He fired three bursts of half a dozen rounds. The bullets slammed the stone ahead of the soldiers, forcing three of them back down. One remained up, taking the chance of getting shot to return fire. Bullets whipped toward Nathan like angry bees, passing close enough he could hear them. He shot back, his first three rounds going low. The next three grouped nicely in the soldier’s chest.
Nathan reached the building, vaulting through the window. He barreled into one of the soldiers, throwing the man to the ground and falling on top of him. He quickly rolled over, taking the Liberator with him, the man’s body as protection from the rounds the soldiers fired at him. They emptied their magazines into the dead man in an effort to reach Nathan.
Nathan waited for the soldiers to empty their weapons. Then he threw the dead soldier off him, jumped up and threw a heavy punch into the ribs of one of the soldiers. The fourth soldier rushed him, going in low and wrapping his arms around Nathan’s waist. Nathan didn’t budge, slamming his fist on the soldier’s back to drop him.
His head whipped to the door at the back of the room. He was in an office building. The equipment and furniture had long been either looted, moved elsewhere, or broken so severely as to be useless, but there were still scattered remains across the floor. Broken displays, smashed terminals, dirt and grime, and bloodstains. The floor plan was open, offering him a covered escape that would bring him that much closer to the hangar.
He could still hear the hum of the machinery in the background, continuing to pull the hangar’s roof open to allow the DVs to launch.
He ran out of the office and into the open space, charging through the building. There must have been soldiers outside who saw him passing the window, because they opened fire, sending rounds zipping through the broken frames to hit the wall opposite him to chip away at already dilapidated plaster. He didn’t let the attack distract him or slow him. He rushed full-speed through a door at the end of the open room and into a narrow corridor.
He nearly tripped over the soldier hiding behind that door, slamming into him and causing both of them to tumble to the ground. Nathan rolled over, aiming his rifle at the Liberator.
“Don’t shoot!” the soldier said, his hands up. “I’m on your side.”
Nathan stared at the man. Was this soldier real, or was he somehow immune to whatever was causing the soldiers around him to see things? “Name and rank, soldier,” he barked.
“Corporal Wade Fairchild,” the man replied. “Sir, how did all the trife get into the base? The shields are still up.”
Nathan was relieved because he didn’t think he was hallucinating. It was clear this soldier was.
“I don’t know, son,” Nathan said. “But you need to keep this area secure. Stay here and keep an eye out for the demons. I’m going to check the eastern perimeter. I’m counting on you, Corporal.”
“Yes, sir!”
Nathan kept an eye on Corporal Fairchild as he continued down the hallway, making sure the soldier didn’t start seeing him as trife before he got clear. He made it safely to the next door, finding himself in another office with a broken window leading back outside.
Hangar Six was only a hundred meters away. One more squad of soldiers was waiting between him and the building. They were scattered across the field, in strong defensive positions to block entry to the hangar. They probably believed they were defending it from the trife and keeping the virus safe.
Nathan examined their locations, eyes sweeping across them and searching for a path through. He had the advantage of surprise, but the way they were spread it would be gone as soon as he came out of the building.
He crouched down, bringing his rifle up and taking aim.
Something happened.
He didn’t know what it was. He was about to take his first shot when a loud groan sounded from somewhere in the city behind him, a deep rumble that shook the building, rattling loose plaster off the walls and frightening the soldiers in front of him. It only lasted for an instant, but an instant was all it took for him to know it wasn’t an ordinary sound.
Nathan reset himself, guilty as he picked off the last of the Liberators one round at a time. They never had time to recover from their confusion, and they never saw where he was hiding. He jumped out of the window, sprinting toward Hangar Six. The doors were nearly half open, rotated upward at a forty-five-degree angle on both sides.
He nearly fell over when he noticed the energy field beyond the hangar’s roof. Normally, it was almost transparent, causing only a slight shift in the world outside, like a mirror with a smudge on it.
There was nothing normal about it now.
The field was visible, filled with a web of blue lines that looked entirely too familiar.
He had last seen it on the dying man he had brought to the hospital after the man had attacked an innocent woman on the street.
If the energy web did what he was assuming it did, they were all definitely, absolutely, without question...fucked.
Chapter 27
Chandra followed Hayden south, back in the direction of the spire, careful to stay clear of the soldiers moving through the city. It was obvious to Hayden from the number of Liberators on the streets that the General was losing his grip on the calm needed to manage a situation like this, throwing more troops at the problem instead of acting rationally.
There was one Other in the city. How were hundreds of soldiers going to accomplish anything other than panicking the civilians?
Hayden and Chandra ducked behind the corner of a building when they spotted a group of Liberators heading their way, a squad in full armor rushing north.
“Go out and talk to them,” Hayden said. “Ask them where Operations is. Probably not far from here, judging by the density of the deployments. I figure General Neill will want to protect his own ass first.”
Chandra smiled. “Pozz. You’re heading on to the spire?”
Hayden nodded.
“Good luck, Sheriff.”
“You too, Pyro. Get the comms working.”
“I’ll do my best.”
Chandra moved out from the building, running over to the soldiers and getting in front of them.
“Excuse me,” she shouted. “My name is Chandra. General Neill ordered me to Operations.”
At first, it didn’t look like the squad was going to stop. Most of them didn’t, breaking around her like she was a stone in a river. The rear soldier diverted at the last moment, stopping in front of her and turning around.
“You don’t know where Operations is?”
“I’ve only been in Edenrise a few days. I came from Fort McGuire.”
“Copy that. Two blocks south, turn west, one more block. Look for the eagle flag.”
“Got it,” Chandra said. The soldier was already moving again, ru
nning to catch up to his group.
Hayden flashed Chandra a thumbs-up. She returned it and started south again.
Hayden went south too, staying a block behind her and splitting from her when she turned west. The spire was still half a klick further south, visible up ahead. It’s long, needle-like tower stretched into the light cloud cover brushing over the city.
He moved freely for the next couple of blocks, the soldiers in the area too concerned with their orders to even notice him or realize who he was. He was within three blocks of the spire when a large armored vehicle turned the corner ahead, flanked by nearly a dozen soldiers.
“By order of General Neill, Edenrise has been placed in a state of lockdown. All residents are required to return to their homes immediately. I repeat. All residents are required to return to their homes immediately.”
Hayden could have buried his forehead in his hands. What the fuck was General Neill thinking? It seemed more like he was on a power-trip than he had any real plan to deal with the threat. He could imagine how General Stacker would react if he returned to see this shit show.
The vehicle rolled toward him. He decided it would be better to stay unnoticed, and he tried to break down the nearest alley.
“Hold!” someone shouted. “You there. Hold!”
Hayden looked over his shoulder. One of the Liberators had noticed him and was giving chase, two other soldiers flanking him. They weren’t wearing armor, but they were pointing rifles at him.
He couldn’t survive being shot in the back. He stopped moving.
“Put your hands over your head and turn around,” the lead soldier said.
Hayden did as the man ordered. Putting his hands up and spinning slowly around.
Something happened.
Hayden didn’t know what it was. It was loud, nearly deafening, a sharp buzz and then a deep rumble that shook the ground beneath his feet and echoed across the city before fading an instant later. He watched the soldiers, who looked around confused for a moment before refocusing on him.