by Eric Warren
“Oh,” Frees replied. “It didn’t say that on my maps.”
“That’s because your maps just have gate codes,” she replied. The palace was no doubt heavily fortified. How on Earth were they supposed to get in there? She heard a chuckle escape from Jonn but didn’t acknowledge it.
“Wow, I’ve always wanted to see it,” Blu said from behind her. “In our world there wasn’t much left after the bombing.”
“What do we do?” David asked.
Arista shook her head. “I don’t know. We need a new plan, there’s no way we can break into—” As she spoke the gates to the side entrance of the building opened on their own, swinging wide. Beyond was the building itself, with giant ornamental iron doors.
“What the hell?” Frees asked.
“Do you think Trymian knows we’re here? He could be inviting us in,” Blu said.
“Or Charlie could have already killed him and is luring us into a trap. We haven’t seen any more husks since we left the gate. He might just be trying to draw us in.”
“Can we afford not to check?” Frees asked. “We might not get another chance to get inside.”
Arista shook her head. When did she become the sole decider of what they should do? What if she made the wrong call? Her record so far hadn’t exactly been stellar. But Frees was right; if they didn’t take this opportunity they might never get the chance again. And getting into somewhere as heavily fortified as Buckingham Palace would be a challenge. Yet she couldn’t help but feel like this was a misstep.
“Fine,” she said, relenting. “But we need to be on guard. Blu and David will be our back-ups, in case anything happens.” She pulled her pistol out and handed it back behind her. “Blu, take this.”
A hand reached out through thin air, dissolving the refractor. The effect multiplied and the entire shield fell as Blu took the gun. A moment later the refractor reset and she was invisible again. “Jonn, you’ll go first,” she said and he nodded in response. He trotted across the street and through the open gates, crouching. They watched as he made it as far as the giant iron doors. He turned back to them and shrugged. As he did the doors behind him clicked and swung open.
It had to be a trap. Arista shook her head again. “I don’t think—”
The blast of gunfire caught her off guard as it hit the walls of the alleyway beside them.
“Back!” she yelled, she and Frees pulling back into the alley. Gangs of husks filed down the streets from either side, intent on boxing them in. She glanced over to Jonn who was motioning with his hand. The inside was clear.
What other option did they have? Go back to the gate and try again later? Now Charlie knew about them there would be no escaping him. They had to do what they’d come to do. No matter the cost. “We have to get over there,” Arista said, scanning both ends of the street. At least twenty husks were closing in on them, ten from each side. Maybe more, she couldn’t see past them in the darkness.
“How?” Frees asked.
“They’re focused on you and me. Blu, you and David run over to Jonn. They won’t be firing in the street, they don’t know about you.”
“Are you sure?” Blu asked.
“No, but it’s the best we’ve got.”
“Okay,” she said, her voice soft. “Okay,” she said again, stronger this time, as if she was revving herself up. “Going now.” There was the soft breeze of air that caught Arista’s wet hair, but no other evidence she’d left.
“I’m right behind her,” David said.
The blasts continued to bite at the walls of the alley and the ground around them. In some areas the ground turned an ashen gray. They still had the same advanced weapons. A moment later Jonn waved to them from the door.
“They’re there,” Arista said, checking the street again. The husks didn’t seem to be in any hurry to reach them, merely walking down the center of the street, closing in.
“He wants us to feel helpless,” Frees said. “Trapped. He wants to prove he has the upper hand.”
Arista shoved her back against the wall. “Well,” she said. “I’m open to ideas.”
“I have one,” Frees said. “But you’re not going to like it.”
She chuckled. “If it gets us over there I don’t care.”
He glanced over to where Jonn stood and pointed into the air. Jonn looked up then back at Frees and nodded.
“What are you—” she began before Frees grabbed her, picking her up and tossed her in an arc. Wind and rain peppered her face as she started to yell something at him, but was momentarily rendered speechless by the fact she was literally flying through the air, over the first gate and directly to Jonn. She caught a glimpse of the husks on either side of the street—clearly not expecting Frees to have tossed her like a baseball—trying to change the aim of their weapons to follow her, only to fail miserably as they couldn’t make the adjustment and instead fired into open space. Arista felt her stomach drop as she descended but Jonn raised his hands and caught her, moving to slow her momentum as not to break something, then set her back on the ground.
Shaking, she turned back to Frees who was still pinned in the alleyway. The husks had sped up now, having lost their primary target, some of them turning toward the palace with their weapons raised. “Frees!” she yelled. “Come on!”
“I’ll draw them off!” he yelled back, running into the street and shooting two husks in the face before ducking back into the alley.
“Arista, he can’t get over here. Not without getting shot,” Jonn said.
She whipped around. “We can’t just leave him over there! Blu!”
“Yeah?” Blu’s voice said from right inside the iron door.
“Give me that gun back.”
The refractor dropped and Blu placed the weapon in Arista’s hand. As she turned to start firing a shot hit the door beside her. The gates beyond closed as if automatically, and the door itself began to follow suit.
“No!” Arista yelled, firing blindly into the crowd of husks.
“Come on, we have to get inside or it’s going to trap us out here.” Jonn grabbed her artificial arm and pulled her back.
“Let go, goddammit,” she said, straining against him, still firing. A husk fell but two more took its place. There were a lot more than twenty. She glanced back over to Frees who was still in the alley, the husks almost on top of him. He mouthed “go” then turned and ran in the other direction.
Arista kept firing, despite Jonn pulling her back through the opening, screaming as she did so. Some of the husks tried to jump the gate, but hit something solid, yet invisible, sliding back down. She noticed her shots weren’t hitting them anymore either, despite the accuracy. Some kind of shield had gone up around the palace.
Arista screamed in frustration as she turned to follow Jonn inside, the iron door slamming closed behind them.
***
Frees put on the speed. He could only hope they’d made it inside safely. What was to keep the husks from completely dissolving the entire building to get to them he didn’t know. For all he knew Arista could be right, it could all be an elaborate trap by Charlie to trick them inside. But if it was, he was doing a hell of a job. Frees sprinted back down the way he’d come, the husks hot on his trail. They weren’t yelling or even speaking; it was only the shuffling of their feet against the wet pavement and the clack, clack of their weapons as they reloaded or fired. He kept his movements erratic, hoping he could evade most of the shots. One hit and he was done; he wouldn’t be able to replace a body part as fast as Jonn. And if one of those husks had a necrotizer he’d be turned to ash within minutes of being hit.
Frees couldn’t let that happen. He had to survive. At least long enough to meet back up with them. Long enough to see his people freed. Everything else was secondary.
As he turned a corner a new group of husks was there to meet him. He jumped, narrowly avoiding a blast and hit the side of the building, digging in with his fingers. He jumped again, this time to the building ac
ross the way, gaining some height. If he could just get to the rooftops he could—
A blast caught him in the foot as he made his last jump, throwing off his trajectory. He landed with a thump on the top of the building, but his foot was smoking. Frees ripped off the human boot that had been covering it to see the material around his artificial skin had blackened at the entry point. That could only mean one thing: the drill gun. In a few minutes, microscopic drills would make their way up his superstructure and into his cortex where they would shut down all functions, rendering him completely dead.
And all he could hear was the shuffling of feet smacking against the walls as the husks climbed to meet him.
EIGHTEEN
Blu stood, watching as Arista pounded on the door in frustration. Didn’t she know they weren’t safe in here? This entire building could be crawling with Charlie’s copies and she was over there wailing, her screams echoing through the hallway. If someone didn’t stop her what happened to Frees would happen to all of them.
Blu tapped the button on the refractor and it retracted. She ran to Arista, past Jonn who only stood a few feet behind her. She glanced back at him and he seemed to want to comfort her, but he remained where he was. What was left of his face was a mix of emotions. She saw a longing there for something, but he wouldn’t move. He really had loved her. Once.
Wrapping her hands around her sister, Blu pulled Arista back from the door. It wasn’t as difficult as she’d imagined. All at once Arista stopped moving, allowing herself to be yanked along.
“He’s going to die out there,” she said. “I know it.”
“He didn’t have a choice,” Blu replied. “He did it to keep you safe.”
“He had a choice. He just decided I was more important,” she replied, not taking her eyes off the door. Blu stopped pulling and Arista stood under her own weight, though she slouched almost like she was going to collapse as soon as Blu let her go.
“Are you okay?” Blu asked. This wasn’t the time for her to fall apart. They needed to be on their guard in here. Arista nodded. “Frees is smart. And capable. He’ll figure something out. Both of you are born survivors.”
Arista didn’t argue, only shook her head. Blu didn’t want to say it, but there had been a lot of husks out there. If Frees managed to escape, it would be a minor miracle. She only hoped they could proceed without him. For an old palace, this place sure seemed to have some high-tech gear. Had that been a force barrier outside? It kept the husks from getting to them. But shouldn’t that mean it wasn’t Charlie who’d helped them inside?
All things being equal, yes. But if there was one thing she’d learned from everything Arista and Frees had told her, it was Charlie could be erratic; unpredictable. And dangerous. He could have orchestrated this entire thing to lull them into a false sense of security, then pounce when they least expected it. Blu reached down and tugged the gun from Arista’s hand, wielding it but keeping her hand off the trigger while she scanned the room.
They’d come into a large entryway that opened on a long corridor with what looked like offices off to the left, but the place had been stripped. Old wallpaper curled off one wall and where there should have been lighting were only electrical wires and holes in the plaster. The old carpet on the floor was covered in a layer of dust and debris. Blu glanced up to see giant crystal chandeliers hanging from the ceiling, though none of the lights worked and many of the crystals hung off in strands. Beside her, the air shimmered to reveal her dad.
“It’s beautiful, isn’t it?” he asked, bending down to check on Arista. She was breathing heavily but he didn’t see anything to concern him as he stood back up.
“Beautiful isn’t the word I would use. Maybe it was…once.” Blu turned back to her sister. “Is she going to be okay?”
“I’ll be fine,” Arista croaked, waving them off. She stumbled to the side of the room where she propped herself up, coughing for a moment.
“Arista, I—” Jonn began.
“Save it,” she said, spinning on him. “Did you two plan that beforehand?”
“He told me if we ever got into a pinch you were the top priority,” Jonn said. “I couldn’t disagree.”
“Damn him,” Arista said under her breath. “We have to get back out there; we can’t leave him to the husks.”
“How?” Jonn asked. “I mean sure we could probably break through some windows, but didn’t you notice that barrier out there? The one that keeps the husks from disintegrating the building?”
She only stared at him, Blu felt a palpable discomfort in the room.
“Perhaps we should get moving,” David said. “Someone wants us to be here; we should see who it is and what they want.”
Arista broke her stare and made her way down the hall, not waiting up for the rest of them. Blu trotted behind, wanting to catch up, but at the same time not wanting to annoy her. She’d be grieving her loss for some time and just needed a few minutes to process it. Blu wasn’t happy about it either but Frees could handle himself out there.
They made their way down the long corridor until they came to a T-junction. Both directions looked similar: old pieces of art on the walls, ornate trim along the floors and ceilings, dusty rugs covering the old wood floor; it truly was a palace. Back in their world, London had become nothing more than a bombed-out wasteland, a product of infighting between what remained of the United Kingdom and the rest of Europe. The mainland had been spared most of the destruction while Britain had borne the brunt of it. Buckingham Palace had been one of the first structures to go, despite its importance. Followed in short order by the Houses of Parliament and Westminster Abbey. Blu had studied pictures, watched old recordings and read as much as she could on London, hopeful one day the fighting would stop and everything would be rebuilt.
Now she was standing inside it. Except…it still wasn’t right. No one had lived here for a long time and the building had fallen into disrepair. There weren’t even imprints in the dust at their feet to indicate someone had been here. “Which way?” she asked.
Arista scanned both directions then abruptly turned left without a word.
Blu glanced behind her to her dad and Jonn beyond. David only shook his head as if to say, “Don’t argue, just let her do what she has to do.” Jonn hadn’t made a sound since they’d left the entrance.
They traversed the ornate corridors, the only light streaming in from the windows. It was still raining outside, but the ambient light from the streets of London crept into the palace, allowing them to at least see where they were going. Blu had a difficult time telling one corridor from the other. They would reach a junction, Arista would stop, look, and make a decision without a word to her or anyone else. And after a while everything began jumbling together.
When they reached the next junction; this one happening to be a four-way, each hallway beyond looked exactly like the others. Blu grabbed Arista’s arm and spun her. “Do you have any idea where we’re going?” she asked.
Arista’s face didn’t betray any emotion. “No. I’m just waiting for whatever brought us in here to show itself; we’re obviously meant to see something.”
Blu huffed. “I’m sorry about Frees, okay? But we’re not doing him any good meandering around here without a plan. We need to figure out what to do.”
“I’m open to ideas,” she replied.
As if on cue, a wall-mounted candelabra off to the left ignited, two of the bulbs popping as it came on. Arista jumped back, her fist clenched while Blu kept her hand on the gun she’d taken from her.
“Is that…the palace talking to us?” David asked.
Blu scanned the dark hallways beyond, the light from the candelabra making it difficult to see into the darkness anymore. “I don’t know, but maybe we should listen.”
Arista scoffed, relaxing her hand. She made her way down the hallway, lights on the walls coming on as she passed.
“I guess that’s our cue,” Blu said, keeping the weapon out as they followed her. At lea
st she’d reacted to the sudden appearance of the light. Blu was worried she’d become numb to any kind of stimulus, and she might not be able to handle herself in a fight if they needed her. But seeing her reaction to the candelabra gave Blu hope. Arista hadn’t given up yet, she was just upset. And a good deal pissed off.
With the lights guiding their way Blu at least felt like they were accomplishing something. Trymian was here; he had to be. Who else could be controlling these lights like this? And if he were hostile wouldn’t he have sent a bunch of his own husks after them instead of allowing them to walk freely like this? But she couldn’t shake the nagging feeling something else was waiting for them at the end of these old, stale corridors. And she wasn’t sure she wanted to find out what.
They turned one last corner and the corridor opened up into a wide hallway, it had to be the width of the palace itself. Blu glanced out the windows and caught sight of the gardens back behind the palace, somewhat overgrown but still…it was nice to see all that space.
The lights led them into a large foyer, turning a corner to a long flight of stairs. They took them cautiously, no one speaking until they reached a landing where the stairs turned one hundred and eighty degrees on each side and continued up to the next floor.
“Whatever wants us here, is up there,” Arista said. “So be on guard.”
She still hadn’t looked at any of them, but Blu sensed a laser-focus in her now. She considered handing the gun back, but thought better of it. Arista had her hand if something happened, and Blu could give her cover. Maybe. She wished she’d practiced marksmanship at some point in her life.
They took the second sets of stairs, Arista and Blu on one side, David and Jonn on the other until they met at the top, entering into another wide hallway. Blu gasped when she saw it.
It was a picture gallery, running what looked to be the length of a large portion of the palace itself. Pieces of art long since destroyed in her world hung in their frames, each with a fine layer of dust, but otherwise no worse for wear.
