by J. N. Chaney
“Look,” Nero said with a hefty sigh, “just tell me how to work the staff and you can go back to hanging out with the other exiles.”
The cuffs prevented me from crossing my arms, but I lifted my chin defiantly and didn’t deign to speak. When it became obvious to him that I wasn’t going to respond, Nero’s eyes narrowed. “Okay, have it your way. If you refuse to help, Mark and all the other prisoners will go to their Reckoning sooner rather than later.”
“Whatever that means,” I replied indignantly, hoping he would explain.
Nero was a lot of things, but I couldn’t see him ruthlessly murdering helpless people just because I refused to give up my staff. Still, there was something in his eyes that gave me pause. He looked… unhinged.
“You’ll find out the hard way if you don’t do as my father asked.” The charming smile melted away as if it had been nothing more than a mask, and it was replaced by an unpleasant leer.
“What, you want the fusion core out of it?” I asked in attempt to distract him. “Sounded to me like you have enough already.”
“Actually, no. My father told me what you did with it in the old hover rail tunnels. He wants it to use against the people opposing him.”
The words, and the casual way with which he said them, chilled me to the core. I knew with every ounce of my being that he and Mario couldn’t get their hands on the staff.
“I won’t help you,” I said.
“Get Prime Lambert and one more,” he ordered Allan and Claude.
Allan grunted and left the room with Claude.
“You’ve taken a Prime as one of your prisoners,” I said sharply. “That’s insane. You’ve really gone off the deep end.”
Nero lifted a shoulder in a perfect imitation of his father. “The old man voted against me in favor of you. Almost turned the others too. Now, move,” he said, pulling out a handgun and jerking the weapon sideways.
I eyed it warily, not wanting to turn my back on the less than stable prospus. “If you’re going to kill me, at least face me.”
“Quit being dramatic. I’m going to show you exactly why you need to rethink your loyalties.”
Deciding I was probably safe for now, I obeyed.
Outside the lab, we waited for Allan and Claude to return with their charges: Prime Lambert and an old woman I recognized as Laurell Kimble. Neither looked to be in bad shape, though I wanted to say something about them keeping an elderly woman locked up.
Laurell was a retired elder who had been a legendary hunter in her heyday and the previous Defense Prime. At 159, she was the oldest person in the community, but she shuffled along at a spry pace that belied her advanced age and I kept my mouth shut.
We moved out of the main corridors of the facility and into one of the many smaller passages. It didn’t take long to reach a large cavern that had been lit with more floodlights.
Mario and a group of his followers stood just inside the mouth of the cave. I recognized all of the faces, though I didn’t know any of them by more than a first name.
Except for one. Prime Elias Doyle stood with Mario, who grinned broadly at his son when we entered. Together, they walked over to meet us, and Mario clapped Nero on the back.
“Son, Tiberius will be here soon. Make sure the new recruits are prepared.”
Nero nodded and moved off, stopping at a small cluster of soldiers not much older than us.
“Elias, what are you doing?” asked Lambert coldly.
Prime Doyle ignored his peer and turned to Mario. “I need to get back to the compound before my presence is missed. I don’t have the stomach for this anyway. Let me know when it’s all done, then I will inform Visaro of his daughter’s… disposition.”
Mario gave a slight bow. “Of course. I’ll see you out.”
The pair walked off, leaving the three of us alone to await whatever they had planned. A few guards, Allan among them, blocked the exit. Averting my gaze, I scanned the area in hopes of finding a means of escape.
The first thing I noticed were the tunnels leading into the cavern.
Too many to be natural. Over half a dozen of the openings dotted the walls, with perhaps 20 meters between them. I wondered if some led back to our compound but quickly dismissed the idea. Even if we all took off at a dead run, the rebels would catch us before we’d even made it halfway.
The second thing I noticed was the blood.
Dried splatters of it coated the floor in the middle of the cavern and the tightness in my belly only grew. It looked like I had been wrong about Nero ruthlessly killing people.
“Are you okay, Miss Visaro?” asked Lambert, drawing my attention away from the macabre view.
“Yes, Prime Lambert.” I nodded at him, then Laurell. “Though I should be the one asking you and Elder Kimble.”
Laurell scoffed. “Elder? I’m still in my prime!” The old woman smirked at her own joke, then grimaced. “Though I have to admit that this place gives me an inauspicious feeling.”
You and me both, I thought.
“We’re fine,” Lambert assured me, smiling kindly at Laurell. “The rebels pretended to escort us to safety after Mario issued his challenge, then they forced us to come here.”
“Once their intentions became clear, I told them if they wanted a fight, I’d give them one,” Laurell said vehemently. “But they wouldn’t. Too scared, I suppose. Instead, they threatened to hurt my granddaughter, the cowards. I couldn’t have that.”
Fierceness burned in her eyes and I had a feeling the old hunter wouldn’t take kindly to me patting her on the back, so I crossed my arms and nodded in agreement. “Yes, they are cowards. However, as much as I hate to admit it, the attack was well coordinated. They must have been planning this a long time.”
“I should have seen this coming,” Lambert said wistfully. “The Prime Doyle had been acting oddly this last month. He had been introducing ideas to the others that concerned me. When I confronted him, I was ostracized.”
“You can’t blame yourself,” I told him. “Mario is mad for power and will do anything to get it.”
“Not quite anything,” Mario said, having returned with Nero. “Prime Lambert, you are here for a reason. I realize that you were asked to betray your chosen leader without being given all the facts. Forgive me, Elder. I regret that you will be part of the demonstration, but it is for the good of the entire community.”
A thumping echoed in the distance. Everyone tensed, shifting nervously and exchanging anxious glances. The feeling of dread took root inside me and every instinct I possessed told me to run.
“Take the Elder to meet her Reckoning,” Mario ordered.
Two guards came forward and made as if they were going to grab her.
“Young men, if you lay a finger on me, I will break it.” Laurell spoke in a light tone and smiled at the men, but no one could mistake it for pleasant. Both men hesitated, then reached out again.
“Leave her alone!” I shouted. “Take us back now and I promise to unlock the staff for you.”
Allan and Claude stopped me from springing forward and I grunted in frustration until Laurell shushed me.
“Quiet, child. I’m old and bored. You, on the other hand, are just beginning.” She shook her head at my desperate look then lifted her chin at Mario. “I’ll go to my death on my own two feet.”
The thumping was growing steadily louder, but the old hunter didn’t look bothered in the least.
Mario nodded at the guards who were looking at him for direction. “You are a true warrior indeed, Elder.”
“Shut up, Costas,” the old woman said, then turned her back on him and followed the men to the center of the cavern.
“Stop this, please!” I begged, throwing Mario and Nero a pleading look. They ignored it. I didn’t even know exactly what this was, but I had a pretty good guess.
Murmurs of dissent sounded behind us, causing Mario to turn and glare. From the looks of fear and troubled expressions it seemed not everyone was on board with
this madness. I remembered what Mark had said about the choice everyone had been given and felt a sudden surge of hope. Maybe some of them could be convinced to turn against their new leader.
The cavern shook then with the all too familiar sound. Laurell stood in the center of it, back turned to us. She rolled her shoulders and straightened so that she no longer hunched and I was impressed even as my heart filled with sorrow.
THOM.
THOM.
THOM.
Fear filled my belly as the thumps grew louder. It sounded like they were coming from the largest of the other tunnels. As I watched, the ground visibly jumped under my feet, bouncing smaller rocks into the air, and it dawned on me that the tunnels weren’t Eternal made.
I gasped as a massive forearm broke through the dark, followed quickly by the rest of the large body, and flanked by two smaller ones.
The heaviest Boneclaw I had ever seen stood before us, its colossal body seeming to fill the cavern, so tall its head almost touched the ceiling. It swept a gaze around the area then directed a hungry look at Laurell.
Wait, that can’t be right.
She hadn’t moved an inch. How did it know where she was?
I looked on in horrified awe as the monster walked directly to stand before Laurell’s small form. Like the rest of the creatures, it had long arms and short legs, powerfully built to carry the animal’s massive weight in the Boneclaw’s signature loping gait. Its elbows bent outward as it lowered its head to sniff at Laurell. The old woman didn’t flinch.
While it seemed to inspect her, I tried desperately to wrap my head around what I was seeing. Why hadn’t the beast attacked yet?
Then the Boneclaw snorted and straightened, its thick back and arm muscles bunching visibly even beneath taut skin and thin fur with the movement. It swung around to face Mario and took a step closer.
As it came toward us, even the cavern seemed to yield. The ground rumbled and the walls trembled with each step, just as surely everyone else did.
That was when I saw the monster’s face clearly. It had eyes. Not the empty sockets of its smaller counterparts, nor the milky vestigial organs of the one I’d seen in the archive footage. These were the same blue as mine and every other person in the compound.
It wasn’t the fearsome glare, or even the fact that it had eyes that terrified me. What sent a shiver down my spine was the intelligence behind them. His eyes weren’t darting around the room searching for threats or prey. He was looking with calm intent. He was regarding Mario.
Instead of the usual three talons, this creature had razor sharp claws closer in composition to fingernails. The appendage closely resembled my own hand, complete with four fingers and an opposable thumb.
I was still taking everything in when the Boneclaw settled down on his haunches with something like annoyance on its face.
And it spoke.
“You insult me, Mario.” His voice—a decidedly male tone—reverberated through the cavern, the deep timbre strident and as penetrating as the darkness from which he’d emerged.
No one made a single sound. Either everyone in the cavern was already aware of the creature or they were too scared to speak.
Except for Mario, who stepped forward, though I noticed he didn’t stray far from the tunnel we’d come through. “One person every day. That’s the agreement, Tiberius.”
My brain exploded with questions. Had Mario done this somehow? Was this some kind of hybrid? Could there be more than one?
I may have hated the man but the fact that he could talk to the hulking creature without shaking was impressive.
The Boneclaw, whose name was apparently Tiberius, looked back at Laurel and curled its lip. “The old one hardly qualifies.”
Something like a snort sounded like it came from the Elder, but I couldn’t be sure.
“She’s a retired hunter who has killed many of your kind in her lifetime,” Mario assured him.
“Bastard,” I snapped, unable to stay quiet. The impressed feeling I’d had a moment ago faded with his words. “Only a coward would sacrifice an Elder like this.”
The hairs on the back of my neck stood up, and I saw that my outburst had drawn the Boneclaw Tiberius’ scrutiny.
He studied me for a few heartbeats before shifting his gaze back to Mario. “I want this one.”
“I’m not his to give away,” I said. “But, I will trade places with Laurell. Gladly.”
“No, she is instrumental in making Cyril surrender,” answered Mario.
This seemed to interest Tiberius more than my outburst had. “His offspring?”
Mario nodded.
“Very well. I will take her when this is over,” said the monster.
Mario shrugged evasively. “We’ll see.”
Satisfied for the interim, Tiberius emitted a series of clicks and grunts to his soldiers, then picked up Laurell in a single, giant hand. She fit easily inside it and I prayed this experience would soon be over.
To my relief, the Boneclaws returned to the tunnel they had emerged from, shaking the cavern with as much force as when they had arrived.
13
The walk back to the part of the facility Mario and his rebels were using as a base of operations felt heavy and tense without Laurell’s presence. Even Prime Lambert had a shell-shocked look, walking as if on autopilot. No one spoke and the only sound was that of dragging feet on the ground.
I no longer cared that I was exhausted and sore. The event in the cavern had rattled me, but it had also opened my eyes. On the surface, it looked as though Mario was only looking out for the colony’s survival, but I believed there was more to it.
The appearance of the Prime Engineer had been disconcerting, to say the least. I doubted that anyone at the compound knew of his deceit and I had no way to warn them. He would be able to feed the people there selective information and sway opinions. Doyle could make Mario the hero in all this.
That last thought both scared and angered me. The Prime had not only failed to uphold the responsibility of his station, but he was also going out of his way to betray the sworn leader of the colony and its people. The question was, why?
Everyone’s lackluster attitude only added to my suspicion that Mario's hold over them was out of fear, not loyalty. Seeing him so easily sacrifice a member of the community as revered as Laurell had to have bothered others as much as me.
Now that I knew what the Reckoning entailed, it was more important than ever to get everyone out of here. I wanted to get back to Mark and fill him in.
When we left the caves and entered the facility again, Mario ordered everyone to stop. “Put Lambert back with the others,” he instructed. “I want a word with Miss Visaro.”
Allan did as instructed, and Nero remained by his father’s side.
“Alone,” Mario said pointedly, turning to his son.
“Do you think that’s wise?”
Mario glared at him. “Don’t question me, Nero. Father or not, I’m in charge.”
Nero nodded tightly, then spun on his heel and left.
Two guards stayed with us as he led me to a room, presumably to protect Mario, but remained outside. Either he didn’t see me as a threat or didn’t think I’d try anything to avoid putting anyone else at risk. He was on the mark about the latter. I had indeed learned the lesson, though it only added to his list of crimes in my head.
Inside his office, Mario waved a hand genially at a chair facing a large desk as though we were having a casual meeting. The space he had commandeered was overly large, and nearly half of the room was empty. When he took the big chair on the other side of the desk, I had to stop myself from rolling my eyes at his own sense of self-importance.
“Do you understand now?” he asked, leaning forward and steepling his fingers, imploring me with excited eyes.
“Understand what?” I retorted. “That you sacrificed your own people to the Boneclaws?”
He sighed heavily and leaned back in his chair. “I had hoped you wou
ld see it differently. Then you could have gone to your father and made him see reason.”
“What reason?” My tone was rife with disdain. “You didn’t have to do any of this. Innocent people are dying under your command here. Purposefully. Why didn’t you bring this to the Director?”
“I did,” he replied flatly. “Cyril didn’t believe me. I don’t suppose I can blame him there. A seeing, talking Boneclaw? It sounds preposterous.”
I thought of my own shock, first at realizing that Tiberius had working eyes, then again when he’d spoken. The two of them seemed to have a civil relationship, which told me this had been going on for some time.
“How long have you known?” I asked.
“Months. Just after the first group went missing. I was sent to track them down. And Tiberius. He was just sitting there as if he’d been waiting for me to come along.”
“He left the trail, didn’t he?”
Mario nodded. “Of course, but I didn’t realize that until later.”
“What did he want?” I asked. “In the cavern, you mentioned an agreement.”
“Tiberius wanted us to stop killing the Boneclaws for good. I told him I wasn’t in charge but that I would talk to the person who was.”
“And he understood everything you were saying?” I asked, remembering how Tiberius had spoken our language flawlessly.
“Oh yes. Tiberius told me that he had been born different, though the ability to speak came later. He learned by observing us for years.”
I looked at Mario sharply. “He was watching us?”
He nodded, a note of admiration in his expression. “It’s quite impressive, really, learning our language by ear alone. Although I’m amazed no one spotted him before.”
I thought about that for a moment. “I guess it would have been easy for him to hide in the valley, especially in a snowstorm. We already knew their hearing was superior. All he’d have to do was sit back and blend in. Are there any more like him?”
I swallowed my distaste since Mario was being so forthcoming. The dialogue between us had turned almost conversational. The way he spoke reminded me of someone who had been dying to tell a secret, and finally could.
