by Kevin George
CHAPTER FORTY-ONE
“You don’t have to do this,” Love said, his voice eerily calm. “You don’t have to do what the Board says. None of us ever has.”
Using the stocks of their guns, a pair of guards shoved Love from behind. When Love’s instincts took over and his wings extended, other guards pushed Carli and BabyDoll against a nearby wall, pressing their weapons to the girls’ necks. Love’s wings not only went limp, but they mostly retracted into his shoulders. A few snickers among the guards didn’t last longer than a moment, just enough time for most of the humans to glare at their brethren enjoying this moment.
“We’ve made it this far surviving in The Mountain,” said one voice louder than the other guards. Elias Kin stepped forward, his weapon lowered. “With the Descendant in the Board’s custody, I’m afraid your life doesn’t hold the same meaning for them that it once did.”
“The way human lives no longer have meaning now that the Board doesn’t need your women to conduct experiments on,” Love said, causing a stirring of murmurs around him. “They’ve used all of you the same way they’ve used me; you see the way I was treated once my life no longer proved meaningful?”
Whispers spread among the guards, some tinged with concerns, others with forced belligerence.
“Maybe your life would’ve had more meaning to us had you not tossed Walda off the ledge,” Elias said.
BabyDoll chirped loudly enough to turn all eyes on her.
“Love wanted no such fight, he only wanted to do what’s right,” the little girl said, the group slowing to listen to her tiny words. “He’s lived to save so many like me, to make sure we’re free. It was the guards who tossed me and others to die, but did any of you stop to ask yourselves why?”
The guard holding BabyDoll’s frail arm released her and backed away, shaking her head. “None of us had anything to do with those experiments. Many of the women, the ones giving birth to things like. . . We knew those women. The two men that terrorized them, and terrorized you, they’re long gone now.”
“Those women, like my mother, needed all of you to protect them, to do what was right,” Love said. “When nobody did that for us, I took that task upon myself.”
“While also finding the Descendant for the Board,” another guard said. “So don’t blame us for following orders from the Board just like you did.”
“I’m not following orders any longer, especially since they tried to kill me when I was no longer useful,” Love said. “The same fate will befall each of you unless you do something before it’s too late.”
Many of the guards stopped, lowering their weapons and looking to one another, hoping for someone else to have the answers.
“Quentin Bowie would never allow the Board to harm us,” Elias Kim said, though his tone mustered little conviction and more than one guard rolled his or her eyes. “That’s why we voted for him to represent us.”
“Quentin Bowie is like every other Board member now. He looks out for himself only, and he’ll continue to do just that,” Love said.
“That’s not true,” Elias said. “Quentin is a good one. . . well, a good Aviary.”
Elias glanced to the others for agreement but only saw a dozen humans trying to avoid making eye contact with him.
“There’s more to the world than just The Mountain,” Love told them. “I’ve seen it while searching for the Descendant.”
“Whom you brought back, and who’s going to help bring Him back,” another guard said.
This time, agreement swept among the guards, who pushed their three captees forward with newfound enthusiasm.
“He will lead us away from here and to a better place,” Elias said.
Love’s ensuing laughter was high-pitched and maniacal. “The mysterious He who is almighty,” he cackled, causing the human guards to surge around their three prisoners and continue pushing them. “He may exist or He may not, but in the process of locating the Descendant, I spent months in a place where another man tried to convince others he was a God. Things didn’t work out so well for him or his people.”
Elias Kim glanced at his fellow guards, many of them exchanging nervous looks. “How so?”
“I was held in a cell for months, treated terribly by those from the City Below, so I don’t know all the facts,” Love admitted. “I only escaped as their city began to crumble and fill with liquid fire. Someone else here might better attest to the king that proclaimed himself a God.”
Love turned to the other two prisoners. BabyDoll also stared at Carli, whose eyes had widened in awe rather than holding their usual fear. Love nodded to the teenage girl.
“Tell them of your evil king and his rule, about his ultimate fate as your city burned,” he urged her.
Carli shook her head. “The stories are true?” she asked. “The city beneath the surface existed?”
Elias looked from Carli to Love, shaking his head. “There’s no time for games.”
Elias tried to push Love along, but the large Aviary remained in place, staring at Carli with confusion. “Where did you come from?”
BabyDoll chirped. “On our radio at home we received a call, that made us come here for one and for all. To The Mountain was where these people would fly, so we came here to help them till spotting you in the sky.”
“Lies,” a human guard yelled.
“Games meant to deceive us,” another agreed. “To distract us from helping Him return to save us all.”
Love turned and squawked at the guards, causing those nearby to recoil. He barely paid attention when more weapons were turned on him, allowing himself to be pushed forward so he could remain close to Carli and BabyDoll.
“I lived my life aboard a HASS,” Carli told him.
“HASS?” Love asked.
“High Altitude Survival Station,” she explained. “One of a series of living quarters connected to each other high in the clouds.”
“A community of survivors in the sky,” Love said breathlessly.
Carli nodded. “And from stories I’ve heard since I was a child, there were more arks out there besides the HASS and The Mountain and the underground city.”
Love turned to Elias, who’d overheard the entire conversation. “Proof that there’s more out in the world, that you and your kind don’t need to be stuck in here.”
“Yet the girl chose to come here,” Elias said. “Why?”
“Those same stories talked about One Corp. and its leader playing a key role in a plan for the survival of humankind,” Carli said. “I admit I don’t know the details of that story as well as Wyatt did.”
“Wyatt?”
“My friend, the one you killed,” Carli said, barely able to choke out the words.
“We had nothing to do with killing your friend or trying to kill you,” Elias said, turning to Love.
“An order obviously given by a Board that doesn’t want their subjects finding out what else is in the world,” Love said. “You still need more proof that what I’m saying is true?”
Elias shook his head. “What the girl has proven is He is more important than ever for answers about our survival.”
“And if that’s true, you think the Board will give those answers to us?” Love asked. “To any of you?”
Elias glared at Love and nodded to the men standing behind him. Without warning, a half dozen guards grabbed Love’s arms and held him back, ignoring his squawks. Elias approached Carli and within moments, a number of guards encircled the teenage girl, cutting her off from Love and BabyDoll alike.
“When we bring this girl to the Board, Ms. Van Horn will realize how all residents of The Mountain are working together,” Elias said.
“And once that happens, the Board will control the Descendant and the only other link to the outside world,” Love said, his voice growing increasingly frantic. “They’ll kill me. . . they’ll kill BabyDoll. . .”
The tiny Aviary chirped, her wings fluttering. She reached a hand toward Love, but the guards kept them
apart.
“The Board will be the only ones capable of becoming Aviary, like me. They won’t share the new Blast with you,” Love said.
The guards leading the squadron suddenly stopped in the hallway ahead, several of them holding up their hands to stop those behind. Love hoped he’d seduced them with common sense about the Board, but warnings to shush were called back. Love wondered what the problem could possibly be, but he felt a slight tingle rush down his back, causing his feathers to stand on end. He sensed the presence of another, a stronger Aviary, even before he spotted a female Aviary and a scarred young man rushing in their direction. He didn’t know who they were but somehow felt the aggression of the unknown Aviary.
The lead guards raised their weapons, which shook in their hands as they heard the Aviary’s bloodcurdling shriek.
“No!” Elias cried, though more and more guards raised guns and spears alike.
Love wanted to echo Elias’s warning but knew nobody would listen to him. Instead, he flexed his back with all his might, his wings exploding from his shoulders, knocking back every guard trying to restrain him. With a single mighty flap, Love shot forward, barreling through any guard that didn’t get out of his way. Though he heard plenty of screams from the guards—and expected to be shot in the back—Elias’s voice could be heard beyond the wind rushing in Love’s ears.
“Don’t shoot!”
The female Aviary flapped as well, the two rushing full speed toward each other. Love leaned back and opened his wings, immediately decelerating and landing on his feet. He saw the female’s eyes, saw her rage that softened as she neared him. Love held up a hand, calling for her to stop.
“Leave my son alone!” the female screeched, flapping again until her body crashed into Love’s.
Liv gnashed at the smaller Aviary, their bodies entwined as they rolled across the rocky floor. The few times her eyes met his, she saw that he remained calm, only fighting back enough to keep her from sinking her sharpened mouth into his neck. She flapped her wings over and over, feathers flying around them, the screams of humans distant but getting closer. Liv had easily destroyed her human captors earlier, but she felt clumsy battling this Aviary. He turned his body slightly and pushed her aside, using her own momentum to roll over and end up on top of her.
Liv struggled and squawked and snapped at her opponent, who stopped fighting the moment a squadron of guards encircled them, guns drawn.
“Mom, you have to stop. That’s the Sky Person who saved Emma’s life in the City Below,” Olly cried, rushing toward the guards with his hands raised. He looked down at Liv, who continued to snap at Love and the guards. “Please, don’t hurt her, she doesn’t know what she’s doing. She was used as a test subject by one of the other Sky People, a misshapen one that wanted to kill us for no reason.”
Liv calmed, her eyes flitting to the faces of the humans around them. Love finally released her and stood, offering a hand to help her up despite Liv’s continued hissing.
“It’s the same reason the Board is trying to kill me: they don’t want anyone but themselves to have power,” Love said.
Elias caught up to his guards, where all eyes stared at Liv. Nobody tried to stop Olly as he joined his mother’s side, stroking her feathered arm until her face relaxed and she closed her mouth.
“The Board already produced an injection that works?” Elias asked.
“You weren’t told of it?” Love asked.
Olly nodded. “The other Sky Person, he said he was going to drain Emma of her bone marrow, even though that’ll kill her in the process.”
Love’s feathers bristled and his wings fluttered, lifting him several inches off the floor. A few more guards aimed their weapons at him but not as many as had before.
“The Descendant will die before enough Aviary Blast can be produced for everyone in The Mountain,” Love said. “But does anyone question if there’ll be enough for every member of the Board?”
“But the Blast is being made for Him,” another guard said. “Once He’s brought back, He will have a plan to save us all.”
“The Descendant needs to be drained for a single dosage?” another guard asked.
All eyes turned on that guard, whose eyes widened in expectation of the others turning on him. The guard opened his mouth to offer an apology but thought better of it, his brow furrowing with resolve. Several guards stared at him with the same disbelief with which they’d just stared at the new Aviary arrival.
“Maybe Love is right,” another guard said, earning more gasps but also a few nods. “What if He. . .”—the guard stopped, inhaled deeply and then sighed just as deeply—“. . .what if He doesn’t exist. What if the Board made up that story generations ago as a way to control our ancestors?”
“How can you say that?” another guard asked, turning his weapon toward the doubter. One by one, most of the guards turned their weapons away from Love and toward each other, some toward His doubters, others toward His believers. “Most of us have taken turns guarding the door of His sanctuary for years.”
“And yet have any of us ever been inside the actual door? Or seen where He has actually been kept?” the other guard asked.
The guards looked at each other, not a single one answering ‘yes’ to either of those questions. Finally, all eyes landed on Elias.
“I can’t say for certain that the Descendant’s life is in jeopardy, but if there’s one thing I’m certain of, it’s that we must keep her safe,” he said. “We must get to her before the Board does.”
Olly tried to approach the guard leader but didn’t take two steps before Elias leveled his weapon at the young man’s chest. “Listen,” Olly said, holding up his hands, “I just want to find Emma and leave here without causing any more trouble for—”
“It doesn’t matter what you want,” Elias snapped, stopping Olly in his tracks. He nodded toward Olly and Liv, BabyDoll and Love, and Carli. “None of you is in charge of this situation. We will go to the Descendant because it is our guardly duty to protect her, not in defiance of the Board but as a means of finding clarification from the Board during these confusing times. Further missteps from any of you will not end well, but now that our options have appeared to. . . evolve, maybe your fates can do the same.”
Elias stared from one prisoner to the next, his eyebrow raised and his weapon lowered, waiting until each and every one of them answered with a nod (or, in Liv’s case, an agreeable squawk). With a bigger group than they started with, the guards proceeded deeper into The Mountain. Elias pulled Carli aside, trying to discern what role she played in this invasion, wondering if the Board knew of her existence or if they were keeping more secrets from him. Elias quickly deduced the teenage girl knew little, though her story certainly cast more doubt on everything the guards thought they knew about the world beyond their mountainous walls.
“I’m glad you survived the eruption,” Love told Olly, drifting toward the mother and son as they were shepherded into a brighter section of hallway.
“And I’m glad you saved Emma,” Olly said, “but I’m not glad you brought her here and put her life in danger.”
“I didn’t want to,” Love said. “It was my only chance to come back and save the people still worth saving here. I don’t even know if they’re still alive. . .”
Love turned to the nearest guards and asked about the host mothers, noting that the rooms in the highest level appeared to be empty.
He swallowed hard before asking, “Does that mean they’re all. . .”
“Those experiments have ended, at least for the time being,” Elias answered. “Quentin Bowie insisted on that once you made it clear the Descendant’s whereabouts were known. With that said, the Board has insisted the wombs of our women remain ready to be used again if the new Aviary Blast proves unsuccessful.”
Love couldn’t suppress a squawk, though a glance at the surrounding guards did not find any raising their weapons in defense. Instead, most scowled at the mention of how their women were
being treated.
“My mother. . . unlike any other,” BabyDoll chirped nearby. “Where will we find the mother I won’t leave behind?”
“I haven’t seen a single host since I’ve returned,” Love said. “That must mean they’re being held captive despite their temporary reprieve?” Elias’s eyes remained forward, which was all the answer Love needed. “Shouldn’t their treatment be an indication how the Board thinks of humans in—”
“You’ve made your point,” Elias growled under his breath. “Which is why we haven’t killed you and why we haven’t locked you up. . . for now. We’re going to get questions answered before making any decisions.”
A static burst from Elias’s walkie-talkie caused BabyDoll to chirp. Plenty of eyes turned on Elias as he unclipped the device from his belt; other eyes turned in all directions, weapons raised as guards searched for signs of trouble.
“This is Moretti,” said a gruff voice. Elias had heard the strange guard talk plenty of times in the past, but this was the first time he realized how forced Moretti’s ‘toughness’ sounded. “I’m on my way to ensure the Descendant ends up where she’s supposed to.”
Elias frowned as he stared at the walkie, finally responding, “Copy that.”
“I recognize that voice. That was the guard from the hangar, the one wearing the mask. He can’t be trusted,” Olly said. His face blushed, the words flowing from his mouth before he’d had a chance to consider them. He expected the others to stick up for their fellow guard but instead saw several heads nodding. “He’s the one who ordered our traveling companions to be killed; I thought he was going to order the same for us.”
“With Walda Lamb’s death, Damon Moretti is in charge of the guards now,” Elias said.
Love stopped so suddenly that several guards bumped into him from behind. He squawked but not toward anybody around him. “Moretti,” he said, hissing the lone word, his feathers bristling on the back of his neck.
“Different Moretti,” Elias said. “The other one left on a mission, never to return.”