They had made him suffer more than he thought possible. They had hurt those he cared about. And the prospect of having to explain to Scott that he’d failed to protect his family was unbearable.
It was all because of them.
“Do it,” he growled, mostly to himself. “Blow the fuckers out of the sky.”
He was so lost in his own fury that the sound of the gunshot caught him by surprise. He spun, eyes going wide as Nora staggered and fell. She cried out, clutching at her shoulder. In the split-second before she landed on the rooftop, Liam spotted both the grisly exit wound where her shoulder blade had once been and the uniformed soldier perched several rooftops away.
“Kat!” Liam bellowed, but the woman was already moving.
Kathryn dashed to the edge of the rooftop and launched herself at the Occ. As she flew, the tails of her dress flared out behind her like dirt-stained wings.
Liam didn’t bother watching her further. A single soldier, even wielding a rifle was not a threat to Kathryn in her current state. Instead, he sprinted to Nora’s side and dropped to his knees over her.
“Jenn!” he snapped, holding out a hand.
Jenn didn’t hesitate, gesturing and stabbing his palm with one of her splintered vines. The wound left several inch-long splinters embedded in Liam’s flesh but he plucked them without flinching as blood began to well up in the creases of his hand. Pressing his hand to Nora’s shoulder, he grimaced at the woman’s pained cry and gave her a few seconds to begin healing.
“You’re okay,” he assured her. “Can you still do it?”
Sucking air through her teeth, Nora groaned for a moment before answering. When she spoke, her voice was equal parts pained and resolved.
“I can do it,” she assured him. “Just don’t make me stand up.”
Liam glanced up at Jenn, who nodded and turned her gaze up at the airship. Then, almost violently, she whirled and ducked as yet more gunshots rang out.
Turning, Liam felt his stomach drop as yet more Occs began to emerge on three more rooftops, this time between them and the airship. He climbed to his feet, throwing out his arms to shield Jenn with as much of his body as he could. A glance in Kathryn’s direction confirmed she was finishing off her first target and had noticed the next ones, but no matter how fast she moved, there was no way she could reach the newcomers in time.
“We’re out of time!” Jenn called.
“Do it!” he bellowed back, then stumbled as a round caught him in the chest. There was no pain, of course, but the impact drove the wind from his lungs. Or, lung, rather, given the placement of the bullet. Struggling to stand fast, he braced himself for more impacts as additional Occs began to aim their rifles in his direction.
“Try it, you bastards!” he wheezed. He’d intended to shout the words, but a second round caught him in the chest in nearly the same spot as the first. His legs shook, not from fear but rather exertion as two more rounds struck him in the gut.
Almost without intending to, Liam began to laugh. There was an absurdity to the whole situation that came over him powerfully at that moment. Here he stood, insignificantly wounded again and again by the Occs. The men trying to kill him were the very ones who’d made it impossible for him to die from such attacks.
It wasn’t funny, but Liam laughed nonetheless. There was nothing else he could do.
Jenn roared suddenly and Liam turned, afraid the men had managed to hit her despite the wall of his body. But no, she merely lunged, her vine whipping through the air as her javelin hurtled toward the airship.
Her aim was perfect. Liam could tell where it would land even before the javelin covered half the distance toward the Occ airship. Jenn knew it too, her teeth bared and lips twisted into a vicious, vindictive grin.
Unfortunately, the effort required to set it on such a course was more than either of them had expected. Jenn stumbled, catching herself with several damaged vines before she could lose her balance and risk falling from the roof. But, in hindsight, it might have been better if she had.
Several gunshots sounded in quick succession and Jenn’s smirk gave way to shock. She staggered and had just enough time to reach for Liam before her vines gave out.
Liam dove toward her, but the effort was not enough. He watched, the world seemingly coming to a stop, as Jenn landed on the edge of the roof and slowly, inexorably, slipped over the edge.
He felt, rather than heard Jenn’s name spill from his lips. But it was too late.
And that was how Liam came to be staring over the edge of a rooftop when the Occ airship Zhengfu Zhe detonated over the skies of New Lewville.
Chapter Twenty-Three
Liam flung himself from the roof, fully prepared for the pain. And to his surprise, it came. A jolt like lightning shot up from the soles of his feet to his hips as his legs splintered on impact. His arm, too, broke in several places as his upper body struck the ground, though that pain was almost non-existent. Glancing down, he noted with satisfaction that his skin was broken in several places, pierced with crimson-on-white fragments of bone.
Gritting his teeth to bite back a scream, he willed his arm to heal first. The bone crunched as it set, muscles burning with sudden weakness. Ignoring the latter, he dragged himself to Jenn’s side.
She lay on her back, unmoving save for a slight shudder in her chest that could not quite be called breathing. Her limbs were splayed, obviously broken in a manner nearly as bad as his legs. Their injuries were not quite as exposed as the gunshot wound, however, and so Liam focused on that first. Groaning, he hauled himself up into a sitting position and began to slather generous handfuls of blood from his legs onto her wounded chest.
“You’re okay,” he murmured, as much to himself as to the woman beside him. “You’re okay, Jenn. You’ll be fine. Just heal. Everything’s going to be okay.”
He watched as Jenn’s wound closed, first with relief and then with a slowly dawning sense of dread. Despite the healing of her most obvious injuries, Jenn did not stir. Her chest continued to shake, but her half-open eyes did not move. Instead, she sputtered once and a thin trickle of blood leaked from her mouth.
“Jenn?” Liam whispered. Then, more urgently, “Jenn?”
Still, she did not move.
Snarling, Liam yanked one of his shattered legs into a more convenient position, then cursed as it reset and the skin reknit. Gathering as much of the spilled blood as he could, he began to apply to any place he could think to. He streaked her broken limbs, her various scrapes, and even her parted lips. And then, when none of these resulted in any change, he dribbled the leftovers directly into her mouth.
His fingers came away covered in blood that was not his own.
“Jenn?” he called, yet again.
This time, her stillness did not spur him to any action. Instead, he slowly reached out with trembling fingers to check her throat for any sign of a heartbeat. Then, at the last second, he stopped short. The answer he hoped to find would not help him further and the alternative was too terrible even to consider. Better not to know. Better to…
“Please,” he whispered. “Jenn, please. Don’t leave me alone.”
She did not answer. And it was then that the tears started.
Liam took her hand, cradling it between his own and bringing it unthinkingly to his lips. He kissed it helplessly, clutching it as if for dear life as despair threatened to overtake him. He did not even notice as his opposite leg healed itself. Then, as the light blanched, he turned and saw the flames of the careening airship above them—though not nearly as high above as before.
Sighing, Liam turned back to Jenn. This was good. The prospect of continuing on without her was too painful to contemplate. Better that they meet their end together. Here. Amid the flames of their pyrrhic victory. Perhaps this way he’d even manage to die.
Closing his eyes, he stretched out on his back, intertwined his fingers with Jenn’s, and waited for the end.
Jenn’s neck cracked suddenly and she lunged violently upright, coughing and gasping for breath. Liam sat up instantly, too astonished to be relieved. Or at least, he was until Jenn fell upon him. Her arms were around his shoulders, her entire body shaking with coughs and gasps and sobs.
The time in which Jenn held him felt like a timeless eternity, but could not have been more than a handful of seconds because when she drew back, the falling behemoth still had not struck the ground. Surprisingly, it was Liam who collected himself first.
“Jenn, we need to move,” he said. When she did not immediately reply, he turned her and gestured urgently at the Zhengfu Zhe. “Jenn!”
“Okay,” she said, shakily.
He helped her to her feet, his impatience kept at bay by the simple, overwhelming joy of watching her move and breathe. Still, even by the time she was standing, some part of the usual Jenn had returned. She glanced around, wincing and pressing a hand to her neck as she did so.
“Where’s Nora?” she asked. “And Kathryn?”
“On the roof. Can you walk on your own?”
“Not very well,” she said. Then, at Liam’s expression, she smiled softly and added, “I’ll be fine. Can you get them? That thing is about to burn half the city down.”
Liam hesitated, reluctant to leave Jenn’s side for even a second. She must have perceived the reason for his hesitation, however, for her smile widened.
“I’ll be fine,” she repeated. “Go on. Be quick and I’ll make it worth your while.”
***
He found Nora and Kathryn waiting for him on the rooftop when he arrived. Nora still had not risen, but her pained expression had mostly faded and vanished entirely when Liam appeared. Kathryn, on the other hand, was nursing a long, uneven cut to her arm and staring transfixed up at the approaching plume of flame. Upon noticing Liam, she immediately forgot about both details and trotted over to him, wearing a worried look.
“Safe?” she asked.
“I’m fine,” he said without thinking, pushing past her as he made his way to Nora’s side.
“No, no,” Kathryn grumbled, grabbing him by the arm. “Not Liam. Plant-girl. Jenn. Safe? Not hurt?”
He looked at her, pleasantly surprised, and nodded in the direction they’d both fallen. “Down there,” he said, gesturing. “She’s alive. Not hurt.”
The words very nearly choked him and he blew out a shaky breath as he helped Nora to her feet.
“What about you?” he asked. “How’s your shoulder?”
“Hurts,” Nora said. Then, when Liam made to check her wounds, she shrugged and pushed past him. “Later. We need to move. I want to find Julie.”
Liam froze. He had steadfastly avoided thinking about Julie—and her children—except in the abstract. The rage her loss had brought him was occasionally useful, but…
“Nora,” he said, quietly. “I’m not sure that now is—”
Nora spun to face him. And from the emotions she displayed, he understood instantly that the woman had been carrying a burden far greater than his own. She had been the one to help care for Julie’s children. She had been the one whose enhancement brought the airship’s weapons to bear on them. And, perhaps most unreasonably, she had been the one to live through that failure.
“I want to find Julie,” Nora repeated, in a tone that made it clear she intended to go with or without him.
And so, Liam replied the only way he could.
“Okay,” he said. “Let’s go.”
***
They had only just reached the ground floor of the building when the burning wreck of the Zhengfu Zhe struck the city. Liam staggered as the earth shook beneath him and threw up an arm to ward off the heat from the fiery plume it sent up. The nearest edge of the buoyant frame had leveled structures only three streets away and though its fire was fading quickly, the same could not be said for the homes it ignited. Already, the air had grown thick with acrid smoke that made his eyes water. Fortunately, Jenn’s precise aim had managed to strike the vessel more closely on one side and so the airship had keeled in a manner more parallel to the city wall than perpendicular.
This fact proved doubly fortunate in that it left their original vantage point untouched.
By the time Liam reached Jenn, she was already mid-embrace with Nora and the two were exchanging quiet words. Kathryn tagged alongside the pair of them, apparently engrossed in whatever conversation he’d missed in the interim. If either of the women was bothered by her presence, they gave no indication of it.
A somber atmosphere fell over the four of them as they neared the rubble, however. Dust and smoke hung thick in the air, noticeably more potent than it had been even a block away. Here and there, newly collapsed, dust-covered bodies lay strewn about the narrow streets, though it was impossible to tell whether the casualties were due to combat, the crashed airship, the environment, or some combination of the three.
Halting as a coughing fit overtook him, Liam pulled his shirt up to cover his nose and mouth. He was still forced to squint to keep his eyes from burning too badly to see, but even that was almost preferable to witnessing the gruesome spectacle around him.
Without a word of guidance or coordination, Nora and Jenn began to dig through the rubble. Jenn made particularly good time; though all but a single vine was damaged, she was able to use the remnants to pull the largest beams of wood away from the mound. Kathryn lent her aid where she could. She worked diligently at Nora’s side, helping the woman to handle the heaviest loads and sending up a frenzied spray of debris whenever she was left to her own devices.
For his part, Liam could muster the willpower to offer only occasional assistance. This was partly due to his growing nervousness—he’d come dangerously close to losing Jenn and couldn’t bring himself to stop peering around in search of ambushes—but also due to the regret gnawing a hole in his stomach.
He didn’t want to imagine Scott’s face when he told him. And the deeper they dug, the more that conversation felt real to him.
“Here!” Nora cried suddenly, straining to move a particularly broad slab of pockmarked wood. Liam turned as the other women joined Nora’s side.
The body they uncovered was not Julie, but Andrew. Even from a distance, Liam could tell that the man was long dead, his face unnaturally pale beneath a crust of dried blood. And yet, to Liam’s exceedingly guilty relief, nothing on Andrew’s features spoke of pain. The man’s face was calm, his eyes closed, and his hands still wrapped around the broken barrel of his rifle. He could almost have been sleeping, save for the blood and pallor of his skin.
Jenn lifted him carefully from the rubble with her vines, but no sooner had she extricated Andrew’s body than she gasped and practically dropped the corpse. Liam staggered forward, horrified, but stopped in his tracks when Jenn spun to face him. Her eyes were wide and urgent.
“Liam!” she cried. “Over here!”
Walking forward as if in a dream, Liam soon found himself standing on an unsteady pile of splintered boards and staring down into the pile of debris. To his utter disbelief, he found three small faces squinting back up at him from a natural cavity in the rubble. The largest of these held a palm against a clenched and bleeding eye, but somehow managed to appear slightly amused, regardless.
“About fucking time, kid,” Julie said. “You decide to take a nap first or something?”
Chapter Twenty-Four
It took the better part of half an hour for the four of them to successfully excavate Julie and her children from the rubble. They could have done the work faster, but the instability of the mound slowed them. The last thing they wanted to do was overlook some detail and accidentally bury the three in a fresh avalanche of debris. In the end, however, there was no stopping Nora as she leapt feet-first into the pit and helped Julie to her feet before passing the children up into Jenn’s waiting arms.
Liam wanted to embrace Julie the second she staggered upright and climbed weakly from the wreck
age. He held back, however, watching with muted satisfaction as Nora, Jenn, and even Kathryn made good on the desire. In the end, he merely offered his hand—and chuckled as Julie ignored it and drew him gingerly into a hug.
“Glad you’re okay,” he said.
Julie nodded as she drew back and turned to stare at Andrew’s body, her expression grim.
“It’s thanks to that one,” she said. “Threw himself on top of us before the place came down.”
Liam followed her gaze and regarded Andrew with newfound appreciation. It wasn’t that he’d had any reason to doubt Andrew’s good nature before, but knowing that the man had sacrificed himself and moved when Liam had been frozen in shock made the loss sting in a way it hadn’t before.
“He was a good man,” he said softly.
“He was,” Julie agreed. She coughed dryly, then glanced toward the slowly encroaching line of fire and smoke. “Guess you lot brought it down, huh?”
“Eventually,” Liam said. Then, all at once, he remembered himself. “We should move. There are still Occs in the city. Can you walk?”
“I’ll manage. But where the hell is there to go?”
Liam hesitated and glanced at Nora and Jenn. Both women stood close by, but neither volunteered any suggestions. Biting his lip, he eyed what little he could see of the airship’s immense frame before answering.
“The garrison should still be standing. We’ll head there.”
“That’s close to the wall,” Nora pointed out. “The Occs might already have taken it.”
“Maybe,” he admitted. “But some of them have already made it this far. For all we know, they’ve taken the Mayor’s palace by now. And at least this way we can look for any survivors before leaving the city.”
Feral Empires: Fanning Flames Page 20