Shattered Lands

by ALICE HENDERSON

  “How close would you say we are to the top of the building?” she asked.

  “You mean where the antenna and upper stories fell off?”

  “Yes.”

  “A dozen or so floors. Why?”

  “Think we could make it up there? Get outside?”

  “Out there? Those things are crawling all over the side of the building. It’s exposed.”

  “I know, but if we could get up there instead of having to cross the city with the spacecraft piece . . .” She brought up her PRD comm window. Rowan answered somewhat groggily. He was clearly trying to rest.

  “H? Everything okay?”

  “Yes.” She felt a little odd talking to him now, and her cheeks burned. “Are you still in contact with Marlowe, the helicopter pilot?”

  He nodded. “She’s at the new camp.”

  “This might sound crazy, but what if we climbed out to the top of the tower, and she picked us up there?”

  He lifted a brow. “That doesn’t sound crazy at all, actually.”

  Raven stirred, and moved into frame. “It would save us from endangering the spacecraft section.”

  “There’s just one catch.”

  “What’s that?” Rowan asked.

  “We’re not going to last the night up here. The night stalkers breached the barricade, and we only have one emitter. It hurts their ears to get close, but they can sure smell us, and if they get brave enough . . .”

  Rowan ran a hand through his blond hair. “Can you get somewhere safe for now?”

  “We’re just about to do that.”

  “Let me contact Marlowe. See how far out she is, when she could get here.”

  “Thanks.” She ended the call, and looked to Byron. “Let’s find somewhere more secure. Something with a steel door.” She thought back to New Atlantic, to the most sturdy areas of its PPC Tower. “Maybe an old server room, or an exec office with a door still intact.”

  They folded up their heat suits and stuffed them into their packs. They barely fit, but it was better than being encumbered by them.

  Byron reached his hand down. She took it, his palm rough and warm. In the nearby stairwell, they could hear the hissing predators, searching for prey. This was going to be tough.

  Chapter 22

  They moved down the hall in silence, searching for an area with a sturdy door. Byron had insisted she wear the emitter, so she moved in front of him, shielding him, energy rifle at the ready. He walked with his back to her, also brandishing his weapon. The other exec office on this level had a door that wouldn’t close, so they slunk into the service stairwell. It was clear for several floors up and down.

  “Which way?” he asked.

  “Let’s head up. Maybe Rowan has reached Marlowe.”

  And so they ascended, reaching the next collapsed section. Here they entered the stairwell door, headlamps shining in the dark corridors beyond. They listened for any hint of movement, but heard nothing. This floor also held several labs, and they moved to the first one. Its door was still intact, and together they forced it open. Slipping inside, they checked the room, finding it thankfully empty. Returning to the door, they slid it shut, and blocked it with a thick metal cabinet.

  H124 moved to a chair and sat. “And now we wait.”

  Byron took a seat across from her, watching her. She could feel the weight of his gaze. Her stomach was doing somersaults. She felt a strange, wild sensation, as if for the first time in her life she had no idea what she was doing.

  She felt that if she looked at him, the room would erupt in fire. She breathed slowly, forcing her heart to slow, but the tingling didn’t go away. Her mind turned over and over, thinking of the night stalkers, then Rowan, then . . . She turned her head, and found his eyes smoldering at her.

  Her heart started thudding. She longed to feel him again, breathe in his scent, but her heart and mind were conflicted.

  Her PRD beeped. Rowan’s face flashed on the screen. “I’ve reached Marlowe. We’re in luck. She can get here in about two hours.”

  H124 looked at her clock. “It’s still going to be dark then.”

  “We’ll have to be cautious. We can meet you up on the top of the tower.”

  “Be on the lookout for those things,” she told him. “They could have spread through the whole building by now.”

  “Let’s lie low, then make our way to the top just before her arrival.”

  “Sound good.”

  “How is Byron doing?” Raven asked, coming into view.

  She looked over at him, but quickly averted her eyes. “He’s better.”

  “Good.”

  “You two be careful,” she said.

  Rowan smiled. “Always.”

  They ended the transmission. Byron slid off the chair and stretched out on the floor. “My whole body aches.” He placed his headlamp next to him, providing a soft glow over the room.

  “I’m not surprised.”

  He took off his jacket and folded it up, creating a makeshift pillow. Then he held his hand out.

  She lay down next to him in the dim light, placing her head on his chest. She listened to his heart beating. She thought of the first night they’d done this, and how much had transpired since then. He lay on his back, eyes closed, his inviting lips parted slightly. His breathing came deep and even, but she couldn’t tell if he was falling asleep. She studied his profile, his long hair spilling down over his makeshift pillow, the rough of his whiskers. They lay like that for a long time.

  Then, as if he could sense her gaze, he turned his head and opened his eyes. His breathing quickened. He rolled onto his side to face her, resting his hand on her waist. She felt a flutter there, an electrical surge.

  “I’m burning for you,” he whispered, leaning closer. True to his word, he pressed his lips against hers in a fiery kiss that made her whole body tremble. She wrapped her arms around him, feeling his muscular back. He rolled on top of her, his hair cascading around her face. The feel and taste of him made her heart race. His hips writhed against hers, eliciting waves of pleasure through her body.

  Her PRD started to beep. She heard it as if it were a distant thing, at first not understanding what it was. Then she melted out of her reverie, slowly waking as if from a warm dream. Byron sat up. She brought a hand to her head, stilling her thoughts, her body, then lifted her PRD.

  Raven appeared in the comm window. “Marlowe was able to leave faster than she thought. She estimates that she’s thirty minutes out.”

  H124 nodded, her head swimming. “We’ll meet you up there.”

  “Okay.” He signed off.

  She felt conflicted again. In a few minutes, she was going to see Rowan. What was she to him? She had no experience with this kind of thing, yet she felt her heart being pulled in two different directions.

  “Are you okay?” Byron asked, placing a warm hand on her cheek.

  “I’m not sure. I feel very . . . strange.” There was something irresistible about Byron, but she didn’t know if it was because of the dangers they’d faced together, if that had created some powerful bond, or if it was something about him in particular.

  They stood up, grabbed their packs, and checked their weapons.

  “Should we go now or wait a little longer?” she asked him. “As soon as we leave, we might not find another safe place to hole up.”

  He rechecked the chamber of his rifle, and made sure extra rounds were handy in his satchel. “I say we go now. The stairwell could be blocked up there. We might not even be able to reach the top, in which case she’d have to pick us up on the street.”

  She moved to the door, where Byron suddenly took her in his arms, holding her so tightly that for a moment she couldn’t breathe. He bent his head down, kissing her deeply. Then he pulled away, meeting her eyes. “Let’s go.”

  They pus
hed the cabinet off to the side, and slid the door open. The hallway was empty, soundless. H124 made sure the emitter was still functioning, and in back-to-back formation they headed for the nearest stairwell, and began the climb.

  They had gone only a few floors up when they heard the stairwell door above creak open.

  A familiar rasping filtered down, the sound of breathing through a ruined mouth. Then another hiss joined it, and a fervent ululation passed between the creatures. She was starting to recognize their sounds. This cry usually meant they were calling to others. Byron thumbed behind him, and they crept backward down the stairs. The beasts started down, claws clicking with every step. H124 reached the landing and stared down just as the door on that level opened. She hoped wildly it was Rowan or Raven, but instead a clawed grey hand came into view, curling around the door’s edge.

  Byron burst forward, kicking the door as hard as he could, slamming the fingers inside. The night stalker on the other side howled in agony. Byron wrenched open the door, firing the rifle point blank into a cluster of creatures on the other side. The flash of the muzzle lit up the corridor beyond, where dozens of green eyes glittered back. Then he kicked the door shut and ran down the next flight of stairs, H124 right behind.

  When she heard the door above open again, she spun, firing her rifle into the mass of night stalkers overhead. Byron reached the door at the next landing, and wrenched it open. He shone his light down the hallway, seeing nothing but an empty corridor. They ran inside, desperately searching for something to block the door.

  She pointed to a large desk in an executive suite. They ran over to it, hefting it between them, and lumbered back to the entrance. They’d just tipped it on its side when the door started to open. Panicking, they slammed it against the door like a battering ram, driving the things back.

  The handle turned, and the beasts tried to get in.

  She and Byron took off down the hall, searching for another way up. She figured Rowan and Raven were well below, still heading up. They quickly scouted their way to another stairwell, and made the ascent.

  They reached a section where a large slab of steel had crashed down on the stairs. She checked the building’s schematics. “This is it,” she said. “The top.”

  They braced their shoulders against the steel, lifting to no avail. Byron slung off his pack and set it down in the pool of light made by their lamps. He pulled out his pocket torch and donned a pair of dark goggles. As he lit the torch, shadows danced. He brought it up to the metal, cutting a hatch in it. Sparks flew to the ground, cascading hypnotically. “Stand back,” he said, nearing the end of his rectangular cut. She moved against the wall as the piece of steel clattered to the ground. Night air blew in over them. Byron lifted his hands, gripping the rough edges of the cut, and started to pull himself through. She grabbed on to his hips, pulling him back down. “No way. I’ve got the emitter. I’m going first.”

  He met her gaze, his jaw set. Before he could protest, she jumped up through the hole, and hoisted herself up.

  The broken rooftop didn’t have much space for them to walk. There was only the remainder of the steel sheet that had fallen over the stairwell, and a few metal girders leading off toward the edge of the building. The wind howled around her, bringing the stench of rotten eggs. Much to her relief, there weren’t any night stalkers prowling around.

  Byron started to come up, but she held out her hand. “Wait a sec. It’s pretty exposed up here. Let me call the others.”

  She put in a call to Rowan and Raven, telling them the sequence of stairwells they’d used to get up there. Raven thanked her and signed off.

  She overlooked the city. The stairwell had deposited them near the west-facing wall of the tower, and she marveled at the sheer size of the forlorn metropolis.

  Before long she heard the others in the stairwell below.

  “Up here!” Byron called to them.

  As she peered down through the makeshift hole, Raven came into view, sweating, black hair plastered to his face, gasping for breath. Making the climb all at once was taxing. Rowan followed soon after, his heat suit draped over one arm, his grey shirt drenched with sweat from his chest. She was struck with the memory of their first meeting in New Atlantic, hiding out in that small, dark room, hearing the Repurposers pass by the door, her heart thudding. He’d saved her life. Gotten her out of the city. She wished she knew if the conflict she felt was normal. Wished she knew what she was doing.

  The sound of a helicopter’s beating rotors drew her attention back outside. “I hear Marlowe!” she called, with an open-mouthed smile.

  Then she saw the eyes. Green orbs, staring out at her from the far ledge. She swept her light around, spotting the crouching shapes pulling themselves up over the building’s edge, slinking across the exposed girders, drawing closer.

  “Night stalkers!” she shouted.

  Byron grabbed the edge of the hole, and heaved himself up. He slung the rifle off his back and started firing, the booms cacophonous in the quiet night as dazzling flashes burst from the muzzle. H124 fired hers as well, hitting a few in a volley of beautiful light. The creatures fell inside the building, while others toppled off the tower.

  Rowan climbed up and stood by her side, also firing away, felling as many as he could. Raven climbed through the hole just in time to see a fresh wave of night stalkers emerge from over the ledge. H124 stood close to Byron, trying to protect him with the emitter.

  The others did the same, forming a tight circle, shooting in all directions. As the pounding of Marlowe’s helicopter loudened, H124 scanned the western sky. She saw the blinking red and blue lights, and freed a hand to flash her headlamp at Marlowe. The helicopter turned on a spotlight, scanning the sides of the tower, sweeping up.

  Marlowe drew closer, and the light hit the rooftop in a dazzling blaze. Night stalkers hissed and loped away, covering their eyes, wailing that eerie ululation that had given her nightmares ever since she’d first encountered them.

  Marlowe played the spotlight around, skimming the roof, the light sending clusters of night stalkers skittering away like roaches. Then she was hovering above them, the rotor wash blowing H124’s hair into her eyes. A ladder jutted down from the belly of the helicopter.

  Raven looked to Byron. “You go first. We have your six.”

  The crack of Byron’s next rifle shot was deafening. “No way. You’re going up with that sled. It’s why we came.”

  Raven hesitated. Finally he unclipped his emitter, slapped it on to Byron’s chest, and started to climb the ladder. It whipped violently in the wind, but he held on, the maglev sled floating next to him. He reached the helicopter, and swung inside. The sled disappeared behind him.

  “Okay!” Byron shouted above the rotor wash. “Now you!” He nodded at H124, who slung her rifle on her back. Gripping the cold metal rungs, she scaled quickly. A few times the wind gusted so powerfully that she had to stop climbing, and hang on tight. But soon she reached the helicopter, and Raven pulled her on board.

  Byron insisted Rowan go next. The latter threw his rifle over his back, and obliged without any hesitation. Marlowe did her best to shine the light on the rooftop, but there were just too many creatures closing in on Byron. Finally he had to grab the ladder and climb before Rowan was all the way to the top. Marlowe lifted the chopper, carrying Byron away from the desperate night stalkers braving the painful sound of the emitter to slash toward his legs.

  H124 lifted Rowan on board while Raven latched the sled and spacecraft section down, as Byron climbed the rest of the way. When he reached the top, they pulled him up. Wasting no time, Marlowe took off, the winch reeling the ladder back inside.

  As she banked, H124’s stomach took a dive into her shoes. The others held on, struggling into the seats and buckling themselves in.

  When they were clear of the city, H124 clasped Marlowe’s arm. “Thank you,” she told her,
with genuine affection.

  Marlowe flashed a grin. “Glad I could help.”

  H124 leaned her head back in the seat. She closed her eyes, relaxing for the first time since they’d landed outside Basin City. They’d made it out.

  “Listen,” Marlowe shouted. “I’ve contacted Gordon. He had to refuel, but he sent me the rendezvous coordinates. Shouldn’t be long before we’re there.”

  H124 took the opportunity to call Willoughby. He answered right away, and she breathed a sigh of relief. “Where are you?”

  “Outside Delta City.”

  “So you’re safe?”

  “Yeah, but it was close. Repurposers were on their way to my office. I barely got out.”

  “I’m so glad you’re alive.” She had to shout above the helicopter’s rotors.

  “I did get some intel on that device in your friend.”

  “What did you learn?”

  His expression was grim, his mouth a pale slit. “You can’t get it out without a special extractor tool. It’s paired with the device when it’s implanted, and only a code from the extractor tool can nullify the effects of the device. Then the tool enters the brain and pulls out the sphere.”

  “Do you have one of those extractor tools?”

  He shook his head. “No. I’m sorry. It’s still very experimental. You’d have to find the specific one tied to his implant. I learned that Olivia has the extractor. I tried to make it to her office before I left, but Repurposers were everywhere.”

  “I understand.”

  “I’m meeting a contact in a few minutes. I’ll let you know if I learn more.”

  “Thanks, Willoughby.” She signed off.

  As Marlowe flew them safely away, H124 took one last glimpse at the ruined city. Beyond, she spotted Gordon’s Vega waiting for them on a flat, brown plain.

  Before she knew it, Marlowe set them down, and they filed out.

  “Thanks again,” she told the pilot.

  Marlowe gave her thumbs up and took off without a word, banking away into the night.