by Jim Miesner
Reynolds' hair stuck to his bony, ivory cheeks as his chest continued to heave up and down. He used one hand to wipe the drool from his lips.
“They probably know by now something's wrong. They’d be expecting you as soon as you arrive. You wouldn’t get one foot off the ship. There’s an old access tunnel though. If you let me take her back, I can-.”
“Bullshit.”
“No, it’s the truth. I swear.”
Emmanuel drew nearer to Reynolds. “How stupid do you think we are? You expect us to let you go and hand her over while we wait outside the gate to be slaughtered?”
“That won’t happen. I promise.”
Sam drew a large circle in the sand. “That wouldn’t work anyways," she said. "Even if we got in, we would never make it back out. Not without a massive diversion. Something they can’t ignore."
A nervous laugh rolled out of Reynolds. “What are you going to do? Take down the Shell?”
She stared him in the eyes without saying a word.
“You’re kidding. It’s impossible. There are three power stations, each a backup for the others.”
“So, we take them out all at the same time.”
Emmanuel looked at her as a realization flooded across his face, but it was Marlena who said the words.
“The drones?” she asked.
“There’s twelve on board,” Sam said. “We can use them against them. Knock out the power.”
Reynolds shook his head. He tried to look calm but Sam could see the worry lines creep across his forehead.
“It will never work,” he said. “There are fire systems in place.”
“The fire systems will stop the fire from spreading beyond the stations, but it won’t do anything to stop the drones from taking out the power.”
Reynolds swallowed. “You aren’t trained. How are you going to fly them?”
Emmanuel cracked his neck. “Scully is not the only one who has recommissioned them. There're others that know how to fly. They use them for surveillance.”
Reynolds’ jaw hung open in protest. “No. You can’t do this. You can’t leave us unprotected like that. Are you nuts? People will get sick.”
Sam shook her head. “Most would quarantine themselves in their homes until they got the Shell back up.”
“What kind of forces would we have to deal with?” asked Marlena.
“It would be minimal,” said Sam. “The main objective for all forces would be to get the Shell back up. If we were fast enough, we could get in, rescue the children and get out before they even realized what happened.”
Reynolds hacked, got up and staggered down the beach as he looked up at the blue sky. He wasn’t escaping, there was nowhere for him to go but he had hit his breaking point. He couldn’t listen to any more of this.
“What about the drones,” Emmanuel asked. “Won’t they retaliate?”
Sam brushed back her hair. “The drones won’t work with the power out. As soon as we take down the stations, they won’t be able to control them or use them on us.”
Her concentration broke as she watched Reynolds turn back around. He wheezed and looked down at his wrists, checking for the first signs of darkness in his veins. The skin was as still white as snow. There was no way it could have progressed this quickly but his wheeze was still a reminder he was on a timer. He looked back up at them.
“It won’t matter,” he said. “None of it will matter soon.”
“What?” Marlena asked.
Reynolds sighed and looked down at the sand. “They didn’t just come for the girl.”
“What are you talking about?” Emmanuel asked.
“The boy. He had something.”
“The necklace?” Sam asked.
He nodded. “They said it will change everything. We will be able to live beyond the Shell soon.”
Marlena’s jaw dropped and Emmanuel’s face went white at the sound of his words.
“I wasn’t supposed to tell you but be patient and you will have your children back soon. If you go attacking them now then-”
“How?” Marlena asked as she turned to Emmanuel. “We burned it. I saw her body burn.”
He shook his head and rubbed his eyes. “He must have taken it somehow.”
“He showed it to me,” Sam said. “Was it the necklace with the wolf and the lamb?”
Marlena opened her mouth and closed it. Emmanuel looked toward her and then at Sam. “It was Rachel’s. She made us promise to burn it with her body. It must have had some of her research on it.”
“What research?” Sam asked.
Marlena looked up. It was the first time Sam had ever seen tears in her eyes. “She said it was a virus.”
Emmanuel rubbed his neck. “She told us if they ever found it, there would be no one left. It would kill every last one of us outside the Shell along with a host of other things.”
“No, that’s not true,” Reynolds said. “They wouldn’t…” He looked down at the ground. “You’re confused. It’s a cure. They told us it was a cure.”
Sam grabbed him by the collar now. “How does it work?”
He shrugged his shoulders, and she pulled him closer to her face.
“There’s only two ways to survive beyond the Shell. Alter ourselves or our environment. Which do you think a virus will do?”
She dropped him to the beach, and he landed on his butt in the shallow water but this time he didn’t jump up.
“No,” he said. “They wouldn’t.”
“How do we stop this?” Sam asked.
“There’s no choice, as soon as the Shell’s down,” Emmanuel said. “We attack with everything we have.”
Reynolds shook his head as he held it between his hands. “This isn’t happening. No, it can’t be. It can’t be.”
Marlena wiped her mouth. Turning and walking to one of the dune buggies, she retrieved a gas can and four wool blankets. The can sloshed back and forth as she walked, some of it spilled on the ground. When she got to Emmanuel he reached out and took it from her. Marlena took the four blankets and wrapped them around John. She crammed the sides underneath him until he looked like a mummy.
Emmanuel lifted the gas can and tipped it as the liquid dumped out on John and soaked the blankets. At first, he did it in quick little bursts. The wool soaked it up and not a drop touched the ground as he tipped the can over and it chugged its last chug. He took a step back and let the silence linger before he took a lighter from his pocket and held it out with his hand.
His lip quivered, but he didn’t say a word before he tossed the lighter. It flew end over end until it was an inch from John’s body. As soon as it landed the ball of fire roared to life ten feet into the air, like a Phoenix coming back from the dead.
Emmanuel only watched it for a few seconds before he turned and trudged back to the ship, with Reynolds right behind him. Marlena looked up teary-eyed, her eyes met Sam's before she turned and followed the others. Sam stood there alone watching the flames lick John's body. It wasn't just a rescue mission, it was a war no one could win.
Trudging back to the buggy she pulled off her sweater, grabbed the faded t-shirt Emmanuel had given her earlier and put it on. Not bothering to notice the dark black veins had completely vanished.
CHAPTER THIRTY-FOUR
Reynolds stood at the control panel and sported a red emergency bio-suit while Marlena, Emmanuel, and Samantha stood around him. On the map, a little triangle moved toward a dot just outside the Covenant.
“How far until we hit their camp?” asked Emmanuel.
“Five minutes,” Reynolds said.
He twisted a dial then tapped something and the landscape in front of them zoomed into the dot. There were about fifty sand-colored tents all clustered together in a little valley.
“Is it like the market we met at?” Sam asked.
“Not exactly,” said Marlena.
Tiny ants roamed around the edges of the camp. Reynolds zoomed in a few more times again until the ants turned into rag-covered me
n and women going about their business. He stepped back and coughed into his hand, forgetting he was wearing a suit.
“We can’t do this,” he whispered. “We can’t.” He looked down at the floor and coughed again.
The tents grew larger as they got closer and the people came into better view around the camp. Most paid no attention to them except for one man on the edge who seemed to stare right at them. He lifted a pair of binoculars to his eyes and then turned and sprinted back to the camp. As they got closer others began to notice them, some ran, leaving carts in the streets, or dropping bundles of vegetables on the ground. Others simply left livestock or fires unattended.
“Looks like they spotted us,” said Marlena.
“Do you think they will help us?” asked Sam.
Marlena and Emmanuel looked at each other.
“They might, but he won’t,” said Emmanuel.
“Who’s he?” asked Sam.
“My husband," Marlena said.
Reynolds hacked more as he looked at the screen.
“Your husband?” Sam asked.
Marlena turned to Reynolds. “We need to get you in quarantine after we land,” said Marlena, welcoming the distraction from her personal life. “Can you put us down just outside the camp?”
“I think so,” he said. He wiped his forehead as sweat dripped down his cheeks, forgetting again that he was wearing a suit. His hair still stuck to the sides of his pale face and he seemed to lean more on the control panel now. Whether that had anything to do with his health, Sam couldn’t tell.
Emmanuel touched her shoulder. “Come on,” he said.
She looked at him and back at Marlena and Reynolds before they made their way down the corridor toward the ramp. When they reached it, there was a screen on the hatch that showed the same view they had been looking at back in the cockpit. On it, men and women peeked out of their tents like scared prairie dogs on alert.
At the edge of the tents stood a growing group of men and women. Sam shuddered when she saw them. Some clutched swords made from old fenders, others had bats studded with nails. Eye patches, scars and pockmarks littered many of their faces. In the middle of all of them stood a man with a sword in his hand as the wind ruffled the folds of his red bandanna.
“Kelly? He’s not…”
Emmanuel nodded and the ship sunk into the ground with no more force felt than that of an elevator coming to a stop. A small tidal wave of sand blasted past the heavily armed welcome party, who didn’t so much as flinch.
The hatch clicked open and the hot dry desert air flooded in along with the blinding sun. They both shielded their eyes and squinted into the bright light like visitors from another planet. In only a matter of seconds, Sam felt the first droplet of sweat run down the middle of her back.
Men and women’s postures slackened as Sam and Emmanuel walked down the ramp. Their grimaces replaced with furrowed brows and cocked heads. Their weapons at the ready, dropped a few inches to their sides. Some brave souls also peeked out of their tents and ventured out, men and women alike. Many of the women wore brightly-colored silk scarves and jewelry that felt out of place.
“What is this?” Kelly asked. “What are you doing on a Covenant ship? Your lips and their asses, finally move in together?”
Emmanuel raised his voice, so it carried beyond the little group and into the tents. “The Coven have broken the truce. They’re planning an attack. We need your help. We’re going to fight them.”
A low murmur rose and Kelly’s eyes narrowed before he shook with laughter.
“You can’t be serious. You, the great peacekeeper, want to fight them? How are we going to do that? We can barely defend ourselves from a few errant drones. No thanks to you.”
Kelly looked past them trying to peer into the hatch. “Why now? They took the girl, didn’t they?”
Emmanuel swallowed. “And Daniel.”
Kelly turned to the crowd and raised his palms to the sky. “Of course! You’ll do anything to avoid war, then suddenly when it’s your family they take, it’s on the table.”
More heads turned and whispered amongst each other while others grumbled. Kelly turned back to Emmanuel, he shook his head and sneered but there was a smile hidden under it all. He was enjoying this. He stepped closer. His face hovered inches from Emmanuel’s and Sam could smell his rotten breath from a couple of feet away. What was he eating?
“They’re working on a virus that will destroy all of us. The time for peace is over. There are no other options. We can use the drones on board to take down the Shell and fight them with everything we have," said Emmanuel as he raised his voice even more.
Kelly snorted and hocked a globule of yellow spit at Emmanuel’s feet. The murmurs in the crowd grew louder. Emmanuel wiped the globule from his shoe in the sand and Kelly turned his back on him.
“It’s pretty convenient they have a virus the same moment they take your brother,” Kelly said. “Fight your own battles. Risk your own lives for whatever story you want to make up.” He turned toward Sam. “This is all her fault. She is why they broke the truce, isn’t it? I should have spoken up at the market when I had the chance, instead I listened to you. Your little crush has put us all in danger. It’s your own stupid fault they have Daniel.”
Emmanuel stepped forward so he was almost nose to nose with Kelly.
“It’s not my fault they took your son. You’re not the only one to have lost a child.”
Kelly flushed red and charged forward, knocking Emmanuel off his feet, both of them tumbling in the sand. His fist connected twice with Emmanuel’s face before Emmanuel’s knee found Kelly’s stomach and he rolled off of him. Emmanuel crawled to his feet as did Kelly and they circled each other before they charged again, and tumbled back into the sand. This time Emmanuel got in a punch before Kelly bit into his arm and he screamed out in pain.
“Enough!” Marlena yelled.
Just as quickly as it had started it was over, and both men looked up frozen in surprise. Emmanuel had pulled a handful of Kelly’s hair out just as he turned away. Meanwhile, Kelly’s hands had circled around Emmanuel’s throat. They both let go as they saw Marlena stand in the doorway of the ship.
“What the hell is wrong with you two?” she asked.
Kelly picked himself up, and dusted himself off like a child scolded by his mother for getting into a fight at school.
“Hello, Mar,” he said and smiled.
“We should be on our way to stopping them for good. Toward rescuing the children they have taken. Toward putting an end to all of this but instead, you’re brawling in the dirt? What did I ever see in you?”
The murmurs grew behind him. Mixed amongst the voices was laughter.
“Our son is gone,” Kelly said. “Most of those here have children who have had the Sacrament that they will never get back and you’re asking them to risk their lives for what, over some made-up story?”
“He isn’t making it up, I was there. If we sit back and do nothing, maybe we live another month, maybe a year, maybe more, but eventually we’ll all be dead. Eventually there will be no stopping them.”
“Prove it to me.”
She got inches from Kelly’s face, and Sam wondered how she could stand his breath as she stood her ground.
“Look,” she said, pointing a finger in Sam’s direction.
Kelly stared at Sam. “So?”
“Are you that stupid?” Marlena said. “Can’t you see it?”
Kelly stared harder at Sam until his eyes went wide. “She isn’t sick?”
Marlena shook her head. “If there is hope for her, there’s hope for anyone. There is hope for every kid they’ve taken. We can have our son back.”
Kelly stood there, his face twisted up and frozen as he stared off at the horizon.
Marlena turned toward the crowd and raised her voice. “Many of us have lost everything. We’ve learned to live with that. We’ve learned to hang on. We’ve hung on for so long that is all we think we know how t
o do. That’s not living. That’s surviving. We have a chance today,” she yelled. “A chance to strike a blow, a chance to save a lot of kids, a chance that we may never get again. Do we just let it pass? Do we just cower in fear?”
Older men and women turned around and grumbled amongst themselves. Many of them with the scars and limps of war. They had heard this speech before in some form or another, probably many times. They had rallied behind it then. Sam could see it in their eyes. They wanted to believe it but they couldn’t. They had been broken. A heart could only take so much and theirs couldn’t risk another blow, another loss. Nothing would convince them.
“What about the virus?” an old wrinkled man yelled. “How can you be so sure you’re right? Even if you are, we’ve never been able to defeat them. What’s different now? A few extra drones at our disposal? It sounds like it's death either way.”
Sam stepped forward and Emmanuel put his hand on her shoulder as he mouthed the words no, but she brushed it off. More people in the crowd murmured.
“You’ll be taking the fight to them,” she yelled. “If you help us, we can take down the Shell. That’s what’s different.”
The man turned to an older woman as she whispered something to him. Kelly still stared at the horizon.
“I know it seems impossible, but it’s not. They aren’t as strong as you think. I’ve lived among them. They’re just as scared as you are. Scared of you. If you let this pass, there will be no stopping them. When the time comes, they won’t need an excuse to destroy you. They won’t hesitate. It’s not about if, but when. Every second we argue about it, our only chance slips through our fingers.”
“You know in your hearts it’s the truth. Fight with us and put an end to all of this once and for all. Stand with us today.”
The crowd looked at each other but no one spoke up now and Sam held up her forearms to the crowd. “I should be dead, but I’m not. You can’t give up.
Someone told me once that they can take everything we have, but they can’t touch what makes us who we are. We might die today, but don’t let them take that from you, too.”
The old man grunted, waved his hand and walked away as others followed him. It seemed like they would be on their own when a voice spoke up.
