by Barry Solway
They ended up lifting Beats up and having him help them break a massive branch off a nearby tree. It took both Beats and Riley to pull it down. Mel used a rock to smash the splinters off one end. They tied one of the backpacks over the thicker end and Beats tucked it under his shoulder on the bad side.
“I won’t be moving very fast,” he said apologetically.
“Better than not moving at all,” Mel said. They were already past the time they should have been at the warehouse, but there was nothing to do about it. It was less than a quarter mile away now, what could be an easy two-minute run, but would probably take more like five minutes with Beats’s leg.
They moved out, making better time. The bigger problem now was the traffic in the sky. More ships flew overhead, going both towards and away from the wreckage. They were forced to hug the forest, although Mel insisted they keep moving and not stop every time. As they came nearer the warehouse, Mel grappled with their next problem. The ships were becoming a near constant presence. Trying to get over the fence, through the field, and across the road to the warehouse without being seen would be a problem.
“We need to get across soon. They’ll have people on the ground looking for us, I’m sure of it,” Mel said to the others. “The next time there’s a gap in the air, we have to go. It’s about two hundred yards. Just move as fast as you can for that building.” She pointed to a short, garage-like structure two buildings down from the one they wanted. “From there we can make our way to Anna’s building. I really hope there’s something there that will help us.”
They waited for Riley and Gorgeous to give them the all-clear. There were several false starts, and Mel worried they would never get a window to get across. A ship passed over, heading away from the wreckage. Riley and Gorgeous listened for a moment, then nodded. They couldn’t hear any other ships.
They raced for the fence, Beats in the rear. Riley jumped up to land in a crouch on the top railing of the fence. He reached down, and Mel jumped up to grab his hand. Riley lifted her off her feet and nearly threw her over to the other side. Gorgeous was already swinging herself over as Riley helped Jon.
Beats arrived just as Jon swung over. Riley looked down at Beats and laughed. “Need a hand?”
“No.” Beats grabbed the fence and ripped a section of it out of the ground. Riley pushed off and did a backflip to land as Beats trampled over the destroyed section of the fence.
“Shoot. We should have just waited for you,” Riley said.
“C’mon, move, move,” Mel said. She looked into the sky, but didn’t see any ships. Her chest clenched at the thought the Order would arrive just as they were near their goal. She had no idea what to expect when they got to the warehouse. Just that Anna felt it was important.
They were most of the way across the field, just coming to the road, when she heard the vehicles. Gorgeous pointed down the road to the east. They were still a mile away, but approaching fast.
“Run!” Mel yelled. “Riley, find us a route.”
Riley sped across the road and parking lot, at least four times faster than Mel could have mustered. She occasionally regretted that Kathor hadn’t been willing to do the genetic modifications on her. But considering the pain Riley had gone through, it was probably better he hadn’t.
Beats hobbled almost as fast as Mel could run. She wanted to race ahead but forced herself to slow down and wait for him. They crossed the road and were most of the way across the parking lot when the vehicle, a large blocky truck with ten wheels, turned off the road and into the parking lot to chase them. As they cleared the parking lot and ducked into a thin alley between two warehouses, the truck squealed to a stop. Mel pushed against Beats’s back, for all the good it was doing, as she turned to see a dozen Latanua in brown uniforms jump out from the back of the vehicle. They all carried rifles. Two in the front dropped immediately to their knees and started firing.
Mel pushed Beats harder. “Weapons! Move, move!” she screamed. They ducked behind the corner of the building as a round hit Beats in the shoulder. He bellowed and staggered forward. Another shot just missed Mel as she threw herself up against the wall of the building, out of the direct line of fire. She could hear soldiers running across the parking lot.
“Over here,” Riley called from a doorway into the building. They all staggered quickly over and filed through the door. Mel saw the first two soldiers turn into the alley just as she closed the door.
“We have to lock the door,” she called to Riley. She fumbled with the door, not seeing any immediate way to lock it. They only had seconds before the solders would arrive.
Riley hit a control panel on the wall. There was a click, and then banging from the other side.
“I had to break in through second-story window and unlock the door,” Riley said.
“That won’t buy us much time. I’m starting to think they want us more dead than alive. Gorgeous, can you check on Beats’s shoulder?” Mel said. “Is everyone here?”
“Yeah, we’re all here,” Jon said. “I wish I had one of those rifles.”
“He’ll manage,” Gorgeous said, after a quick inspection of Beats’s wound. “The round is still in his shoulder, but there isn’t too much bleeding.”
“That’s a matter of opinion,” Beats said, wincing as Gorgeous prodded his shoulder. “But I don’t think the soldiers are shooting to kill.”
“Maybe. They definitely had me dead to rights,” Mel said. “We need to get to that other warehouse before they surround this one.”
Riley led them through a hallway to a large open area that seemed to be most of the building. There were large vehicles, the size of buses that were in various stages of either repair or construction. They crossed the gigantic space and Riley found another hallway that mirrored the one on the other side. As they entered the hallway, they could hear crashes from the other side of the building.
“They’re in the building,” Gorgeous said.
Mel nodded. “That hopefully means they aren’t protecting the other side.”
Riley led them to a door, then paused. He listened carefully at the door for a few moments, then opened it a crack so he could see into the parking lot.
“No one’s there. I’m going to check the door on the other building. I may have to break in again. Wait here.” Riley slipped out the door and it shut behind him with a click.
Mel held her breath. She could hear the footfalls of the soldiers in the main garage space. They weren’t making much effort to keep quiet. Mel could almost feel their presence coming closer. Eventually, they were going to find the hallway and see them waiting by the door. Why was Riley taking so long?
It finally became too much for Mel to bear. The soldiers were too close, and she could hear them calling to each other. She motioned quietly to the others, then cracked the door open. Seeing the alley was clear, she slipped out the door and the others followed. Gorgeous quietly closed the door behind them and they hugged the building on the other side. For the first time, Mel saw that Gorgeous had grabbed some tools from the garage. She held a wrench in one hand and a small screwdriver-like tool in the other.
Mel tried the door, but it was locked. She felt completely exposed standing in the alley. If anyone looked around the corner, they would be caught instantly. The pressure grew so intense Mel thought she would scream, when the door clicked open. Riley stuck his head out. “There you are. Don’t just stand there, get inside.”
Mel gave Riley a withering look, but ducked into the second warehouse. This one had the same open bay as the other one, but it was subdivided by huge conveyor belts. Mel could see bins of parts and some kind of assembly line. She glanced at one and realized, to her great surprise, that they were dolls. One bin had Latanua heads with wires and a metal screw sticking out of the neck. Some of the heads didn’t have eyes, but Mel saw another bin full of individual face tentacles with electronic wires sticking out the ends. It was both eerie and endearing. The creepy aliens made creepy alien dolls for their cre
epy alien kids.
Mel’s reverie was interrupted by a crash from the front of the building.
“I think they’re widening their net,” Riley said. “Hurry up, we have one more building to go. I hope whatever Anna thinks is there is going to help us.”
“Me too,” Mel said. Mel felt like she should duck behind the manufacturing line, except that Beats was eight feet tall and in no condition to duck. Instead, she encouraged everyone to hurry to the other side of the warehouse. They just made the hallway when they heard banging from the door to the alley. There were soldiers outside, blocking their way.
“Damn,” Riley said. “Get upstairs, quick.” He pointed them to a door that led to a stairway.
“We can’t. Beats will be trapped,” Mel said.
Riley closed his eyes, his lips moving silently as he talked to himself. “I’ll go to the roof. Everyone hide in the stairwell. Give me ten seconds, then one of you needs to open the door. When they come in, I’ll drop down and attack them from behind.”
Chapter 11
The door to the stairway was just before the door leading outside. They crammed Beats into the stairwell while Riley ran up to the roof. Mel couldn’t decide if this plan was the most brilliant thing she’d ever heard, or the stupidest. But she didn’t have any better ideas.
Counting down, Mel faced the control panel for the outside door. She could feel the pressure of time weighing her down. They should have been in the next warehouse ten minutes ago. If whatever Anna wanted them to find really was time critical, they were in deep trouble.
Mel nodded to Gorgeous and held out her fingers. Three… two… one…
She hit the button on the panel that would unlock the door, then scurried into the stairwell. Gorgeous pulled her in as Jon yanked the door closed.
Heavy footsteps sounded in the hall. She counted at least six soldiers as they passed the door, one by one. There was the thinnest of chances that the soldiers would go into the main manufacturing floor and they could sneak out undetected.
The footsteps stopped. With a click, the door to the stairwell cracked open. Their luck had run out.
The door opened into the hallway, and the moment it cracked open, Beats moved forward. He slammed into the door, and even with his bad leg, he hit it hard enough to rip it off the top hinge and send whoever was behind it flying backwards. Mel saw Riley streak past, heading towards the soldiers that had already passed. Beats yanked the door free of its hinges as he stumbled into the hallway, the others right behind him.
Jon ran into the hallway, jumping on the Latanua soldier that had been knocked down and grabbing for his rifle. Another soldier took aim at Jon, but Gorgeous stepped around Beats and swung the large wrench, forcing the soldier to backpedal. One of them finally got a shot off that ricocheted off the ceiling.
Beats bellowed and threw the door into the soldiers. As he twisted, his bad leg gave out and he crumpled to the floor. Luckily, the force of the door knocked down two soldiers and sent the other scrambling backwards. Mel saw Riley slam another one into the wall.
Beats screamed; Mel wasn’t sure if it was a battle cry or a cry of pain. He swung the crutch in a giant circle as he rose to his good knee, almost hitting Gorgeous.
Gorgeous and Riley used the moment of confusion to attack. Gorgeous stepped forward, swinging her makeshift club hard against one man’s ribs as he tried to rise. Throwing it overhand, it spun through the air, to smash against the side of another soldier’s head. She reached down and retrieved the rifle from the first man as Riley pulled a rifle out of the last soldier’s hands. The Latanua looked at Riley for a moment, then turned and ran down the hallway. Jon walked up, a rifle in his hands and blood seeping from his nose. He wiped at it with a sleeve, smearing blood across his face.
“Riley, help Beats,” Mel said. “We need to get to the next building.”
Beats stood on one leg, leaning heavily against the wall. His fur was matted with blood and sweat. His left arm, where he had been shot, hung limply and his wounded leg dragged behind him. With help from Riley, they managed to cross the alley into the third warehouse and shut the door.
Beats sank to the ground, panting as he straightened his leg. “I can’t go much further.”
“I don’t know that any of us can,” Mel replied. She reached into her backpack and took out an extra shirt that she gave to Jon to staunch his bleeding nose. “This is it. Anna thought there was something here that would help us, but I don’t know what it is or even where to look for it.”
“There are only three stories and most of it is probably a big warehouse like the others,” Riley said. “Let’s start there, then work up.”
“That’s as good a plan as any,” Mel said. “We don’t have much time. They know where we are, so let’s split up. Beats, it would be safest if you could make your way to the warehouse area. Can you do that on your own?”
Beats nodded his head in a figure-eight. “It will be an adventure, I’m sure. Press onward, my friends. I shall rest for a moment and join you.”
“Don’t wait too long,” Riley said. “We should all be together when we find whatever we’re looking for.”
Gorgeous, Jon, Mel and Riley jogged down the hall to the main area. This one looked like it had been abandoned. Canvas-like tarps hid large objects throughout the space. Mel looked under one to find the remnants of an old vehicle, the size of a small SUV. The body was rusted, and it had no wheels. Most of the inside was missing as well.
As the others fanned out, she checked another one, discovering a large metal contraption with wires hanging out of it. Riley ran across the room and disappeared down the other hallway. It only took Mel a few minutes to realize the truth. This was some kind of junkyard. None of the vehicles were operational, and she couldn’t even identify half of the other pieces of dismantled junk.
That’s when she heard the hammering from the hallway they had entered. She turned back to see Beats struggling forward.
“Gorgeous, Jon, take up positions behind that thing,” she said, pointing to one of the canvas-covered vehicles. “Beats, hurry, get over here!”
“Where’s Riley?” Gorgeous asked.
“No idea. He went down the other hall. Did you guys find anything?” Mel replied.
The pounding grew louder, then there was a small explosion and Mel felt wind blow in from the hallway. She heard footsteps but couldn’t see anyone coming down the hallway yet.
“Fire a warning shot if you see someone,” Mel said.
“I see someone. They’re dead,” Jon replied.
Mel grabbed his shoulder. “Don’t kill anyone unless we have to. It raises the stakes. If we do, they may give up trying to capture us and just bring the whole building down.”
“You shot that guy back on the station,” Jon said, shrugging her off. “I guess that doesn’t count.”
“I didn’t have a choice. It’s just like the gauntlets. We do what we have to. But don’t be stupid about it,” Mel said. She was trying to suppress her anger at Jon, and her own frustration at not knowing how to get out of their situation.
“Here they come,” Gorgeous said. “Are you sure you don’t want the rifle, Mel? You’re a better shot than I am.”
“You’ll do fine. I’m still trying to figure out why Anna sent us here,” Mel said. “It can’t be for the vehicles, they’re all useless.”
“Too bad you can’t ask her, considering she’s right there in your pocket,” Jon said, smirking. “I don’t know why you keep trusting her. She turned us in to Kathor once already.”
“She had her reasons. We don’t really have any choice.”
“Look where that’s got us,” Jon said. He suddenly sucked in a deep breath and his rifle kicked, the noise causing Mel to jerk back. “Damn. I missed.”
“Good,” Mel muttered. She looked around, unable to grasp what Anna thought they should see. Where was Riley? She looked at Beats, lying on the ground behind the vehicle, his eyes closed. Blood seeped onto the floor und
er his wound. He needed medical care, and soon. They were running out of time.
Riley bounded back into the room, just as a hail of gunfire erupted from the hallway. Diving behind a vehicle, he crawled under several more until he was next to Mel. Bullets slammed into the vehicle, each one setting Mel’s nerves on fire. Gorgeous and Jon took turns firing into the hallway, making sure the soldiers didn’t try to barge through. But Mel knew it would only be a matter of time before they sent reinforcements to the other side. As if to prove her right, she heard pounding coming from the hallway Riley had just returned from.
“Any luck?” Mel asked.
“No,” Riley said tersely. “There’s nothing here. It looks abandoned or like a long-term storage area.”
“There has to be something. We’re running out of time,” Mel said frantically. “Why would Anna send us here?”
“We got here late, not that I can see why that would matter,” Riley said. “They’re going to come through the other door in a minute. We’ll be trapped. I don’t see how we get out of this.”
Mel closed her eyes. Would she surrender? It was hard not to. It was a thin reed, but if they surrendered, there might be a small chance they could come out of this alive. More likely, they would just be prisoners forever. Stealing a spacecraft, killing the owner of the spacecraft, exploding the aquarium back on the station. Maybe even hacking into the hyper-docks. Mel didn’t see any of that ending well.
“I don’t know what to do, Riley,” she whispered.
“Yep,” Riley said.
“This is my last stand,” Jon said. “I’m not going back to prison. If any of you want to give up, go do it away from me. I might shoot you by accident.”
“I’m not giving up, Jon,” Mel said. But she wondered if that was true. She’d given up before. And sworn never to again, but she had her limits. She just couldn’t bear to see the others hurt, and she didn’t know how to stop it.
