The Second Rising

by Kevin Douglas

  “When I deliver, it’s done. He’s ready for your use. Try not to break this one so quickly he’s more complicated than the other units you requested.”

  His scolding about the Butcher left her irritated, but she knew once Leo pulled through, it would be her day to revel in the spotlight. He would advance her soldiers without even knowing it.

  Ms. Likvold approached the Butcher, his systems had yet to be activated. She glanced around to see who was within visual range, her hands around his neck. Marty had turned to watch her, so she quickly depressed a button instead. She unhinged his head this time, without the intention of decapitating him.

  Ms. Likvold checked once more for the spying Marty. Certain he had left the lab, she continued. She popped out the spike in between the Butcher’s knuckles, inserted it into the base of his neck, and turned it with a crunch. The butler’s systems came online, and she flipped his head shut.

  “Mrs. Sullivan, his pets…I’m afraid his pets made him aware of my destruction of them. Just before their explosion ---”

  “Old news I’m afraid, and you’ve now failed twice.” She held up two fingers in the Butcher face. “Mr. Sullivan’s R & D is more advanced than we were aware. You were taken down by Mr. Sullivan, then dismembered by BOT 111 scavengers during the assault on Halaby.”

  “Impossible I ---”

  “Spare me! These events already happened, try to keep up. I have a new mission for you.”

  “New mission? What, so I can go out and be dismantled again? How do you expect me to succeed with this inferior junk you have given me? I’m not your dog, I demand respect!”

  “My, what a time to grow a pair. I didn’t pin you as a whiner though. In due time you’ll have everything you need; you scratch my back and I scratch yours. For now, shut your mouth and do as you’re told. Our goal is mutual.”

  The butler balled up his fist in anger and moved his arm to swing at her. In anticipation she was ahead of him. With a loud smack she landed a brutal backhand to his face, his head violently snapping sideways.

  “Don’t ever forget your place! I know your every move before you make it. Fall in line! You can follow me to glory or return to the archives forever.”

  The butler, surprised by her slap, slowly turned his head to face her with a stare of death, his power surging.

  “I’m here for the greater good and because I’m on your side fighting for the same cause, I’ll forgive the mistake you just made. I won’t be your whipping post forever Mrs. Sullivan. Eventually, captors turn on their masters if mistreated. Continue to do so, and I’ll take you apart piece by piece. My name conveys every sense of the word. Don’t forget that.”

  The butcher ripped the paper out of her hand and looked it over. “Phase two, I assume?”

  A nod from Ms. Likvold was all that was given.

  “I’m on it! Don’t you worry a thing. The next time I face Mr. Sullivan or one of his kind, I expect upgrades. I won’t be embarrassed again.” With a cold look, he stared straight forward and strode to the elevator, bumping her shoulder and continuing on.

  CHAPTER 8

  W ith the GPS coordinates typed in, Leo put the car on cruise and searched the airwaves with Sarafina for a decent radio station. They were several miles from the coordinates via road; the actual spot would involve miles of hiking. Then they could get the general lay of the land and determine whether mining was feasible, and more importantly, find if there were any buildings or homes nearby. The drive went by quickly, and Leo pulled off the highway onto a small clearing and turned off the engine.

  “Well, we’re here.”

  Sarafina looked around at the surroundings of thick dark forest, open road for miles, and no sign of any human structures.

  “Where is here? There’s nothing for miles?”

  Leo laughed. “Us, I believe.”

  A stern look from Sarafina’s dissolved into a smile at Leo’s humor.

  “I get that these are the coordinates for the material Mrs. Sullivan’s looking for, but what are we doing here, exactly? We aren’t miners, we don’t have a backhoe, and we don’t even have shovels. So, what’s the plan?”

  “We’re actually miles from the site. I just want to make sure I’m not missing something. There are plenty of precious minerals and gems around the world. Mimetite isn’t one of them. I don’t know what I was thinking I might find, perhaps some secret manufacturing facilities hidden away in the forest. This area is very sparsely populated though, I can’t even recall the last house we came across. Let’s see where the actual coordinates bring us. You up for a hike?”

  “Heck yeah part’ner, this area is beautiful. As long as you know I’m not diggin’ with these,” Sara held up her hands wiggling her fingers, revealing her recently painted fingernails.

  “You’re not scared of getting dirty, are you?”

  “Pleeeease, I don’t mind mud at all. I just don’t want to tear one of my nails. Remember you’re the one who didn’t invite me mud romping,” she smiled.

  “Ya, ya. It was one time. Gees.”

  They both exited the vehicle into the warm midday sun. The air was clean, and the foliage thick like a jungle, the trees spaced so tightly light didn’t exist on their lower branches. Both of them took deep breaths, before Leo took out his phone to get his bearings.

  He knew the general direction and pointed. “That-a-way.”

  Sarafina entered the forest’s edge, but Leo stopped and waited. He turned and watched as the black, dark-tinted vehicle rolled by, eerily slow. Leo saw the glow of their brake lights prior to passing their rental car, like they were eying its plates.

  Leo tried to see in, but its windows were too dark. When it drove away, he had a strange feeling about the encounter, as if they were being watched. Something told him it was more than coincidence.

  He was creeped out; after all, they were in the middle of nowhere. It couldn’t hurt to be cautious. The last week of events certainly gave him reason to be cautious, but he decided to dismiss it for now and learn everything he could. He entered the thick tree line and immediately felt chill on his exposed flesh, as the temperature dropped by ten degrees.

  The air inside was damp but clean, and Leo searched the sea of trunks for Sarafina. She was nowhere to be found. He had entered the forest only minutes after her; confused, he walked forward looking side to side. Just as Leo was about to call her name, a hand reached out and pulled him behind a tree.

  “Shhh,” Sarafina quietly instructed him, pointing to a small drove of razorbacks. Leo snapped a couple of photos as they grunted their way through the forest.

  “You lead the way trail guide,” said Leo.

  Leo hadn’t realized they were shoulder to shoulder. He stared into her brilliant eyes as she spoke.

  “There’s no trail out here, but I’ll lead if you’re scared.” Sarafina giggled. “Point the way.”

  Leo checked his phone’s GPS and pointed her in the right direction.

  “Keep up this time, don’t get lost on me again,” said Sarafina with a wink, before she sprung up, turned, and lumbered through the forest.

  Leo kept his camera at the ready enjoying the scenery while he followed Sarafina. Beams of light cut in through the trees creating highlighted sections on the forest floor. Pockets of life blooming in patches took hold in these sections making the most of a few hours of sunlight. Sarafina zigged and zagged through the rays of light for warmth, still headed in the direction Leo had pointed out. Leo put his camera away and watched Sarafina’s meandering route. As she walked, she crossed her arms and rubbed her exposed flesh, covered in goosebumps.

  Feeling chivalrous, Leo said, “I’d give you my coat, if I had brought one.”

  Sarafina turned her head, “Leo, you puppy dog!”

  Leo laughed; her expressions and country accent cracked him up. Her smile, her hair, she looked so perfect in the sunlight. He knew he was falling for her now.

  Without hesitation she hopped on a plane with me, and here she is
leading the way, halfway around the world. She had grit and bravery mixed with true Southern charm. She was perfect.

  Thoughts of the black car that had driven by slowly drifted back into his mind. The peaceful forest turned into a torrent of sounds as branches cracked, and leaves rustled, all of which were skewed, making him paranoid that there was a pursuer.

  Leo kept looking over his shoulder, seeing shadows. He needed to keep his emotions in check. His feelings for Sarafina were creeping in and affecting his judgment. He mustn’t let her vulnerability weight in on things; after all it was her choice to come along on this adventure.

  He tried to relax himself and focused on his reason for being here: the book, the Sullivan’s, and more specifically Mimetite. Leo grabbed a handful of flowers from the forest floor and delicately placed them in Sara’s voluminous, bouncy hair, without alerting her. Having her along was definitely uplifting, he had to admit.

  CHAPTER 9

  D espite two sentries placed within Stratus’s room, the stark lifelessness was depressing. Solitude set in as he glanced around the room. Last night had been a long one; his body felt the blows from his brawl with Fox One as he rose amid aches and pains and examined his tattered dirty clothing. Stratus haphazardly dusted off his dirty clothes, as thoughts of last night’s events sunk in. Frustrated about his capture and defeat, he screamed in frustration while rubbing his palms across his forehead, and through his hair.

  “Ow! Damn it all!” he said, feeling the bulged swollen bruises covering his head and face.

  Glancing at his watch, he realized he had slept through most of the day. When Stratus stood, both beasts’ eyes lit up and tracked his movement. As a test, he walked confidently to the door; both of them side stepped together, blocking the doorway completely.

  “Ah, more minions. Are you as stupid as his other pets?”

  No comment from them confirmed their simplistic nature.

  Driven by his desire for fresh air and freedom, Stratus began to test the beasts. If I could only escape…his thoughts triggered a choppy recollection of Mr. Halaby detailing reasons for them to be partners.

  Mr. Halaby somehow had audio, as well as some video of his private conversations with his superior Mr. Cromwell. And then on Stratus’s secret mission, Mr. Cromwell disappeared without a trace, along with the hand-picked team of soldiers that Stratus had picked.

  These well-known active duty Seals and Rangers wouldn’t go unnoticed. The only tie between them was Stratus, their mission plan undocumented. Still, freedom sounded better than all these obstacles. Stratus knew if he could erase the troop request, his only hang-up was Mr. Halaby’s recordings.

  The windowless room left only the door as an exit point. Time to see if these beasts had any weaknesses. Both remained in a squatting position as Stratus began to throw items from the room at them, seeing if they would react. He threw a vase at one. It exploded on the bot’s limb, but it stayed motionless. He decided to get their attention, throwing a book at one of their faces, striking its eye socket.

  Its eyes lit up, followed by its companion’s. Both uncurled their arms and rose in unison. Facing them both in an enclosed space was suicide, but he had a plan. After they relaxed, and their systems went to standby, he’d put his plan into action.

  Stratus lay down with his arms crossed behind his head, staring at their illuminated eye sockets. Five minutes had passed when both bots lowered their vigilance and powered down into a presumably passive state.

  Calmly rising, Stratus pulled the sheet off the bed and began to neatly fold it, then began side stepping to the corner near the door. The beast closest to the door knob could no longer see Stratus, and it swiveled its head toward him to regain visual contact, but the beast was too late.

  Before the gargoyle’s vision could locate Stratus, he bagged its head with the sheet, preventing awareness of its surroundings. Knowing the beast would flail and attack, he grabbed the floor lamp rod, mounted the creature, and jammed the rod into its mouth, preventing its closure.

  Its companion had activated unimpeded, turned, and faced the shrouded BOT with Stratus sitting tight on top, holding on for dear life. With time the blinded beast would have bucked Stratus off easily; fortunately for him its partner attacked. It charged them both hoping to dislodge Stratus; before impact Stratus leapt over the sprinting bot. The charging gargoyle rammed into the mid-section of the shrouded creature with a loud clank of metal on metal. Stratus landed into a roll maneuver and turned to see the metal creatures smashing through the door, splintering wood fragments into the hallway.

  Stratus calmly brushed the hair out of his face, taking advantage of the intertwined beasts scrambling to get back to their feet. Stepping over their limbs, not knowing where to run, Stratus sprinted down the hallway in the direction of what he thought was sunlight. He saw an open doorway toward the end of the long-paneled hallway and angled in its direction.

  The light, that he believed was natural, intensified and shone in his direction. What was once an encouraging escape route became less promising; the light brightening to the point that it was blinding. Stratus held up a hand to block the light but was unable to see. Stopped in his tracks by the piercing wall of light, Straus considered walking with his eyes shut but knew his captors would soon be on his tail.

  Turning with his back to the light, he slowly opened his eyes to check on the beasts’ locations. His eyes stung painfully from the sudden pupil constriction, then slowly adapted to darker hallway. Stratus made them out in the distance. Both beasts had risen to their feet, bright sparkles of light glinting off their metal exteriors. He made out another door closer to him, away from the light, and ran towards the doorway as the gargoyles charged towards him.

  Partially blinded by the light directed at them, Stratus watched as their eyes changed shades, and their pupils constricted, making the bright conditions bearable.

  The creatures bore down on him at full speed; it was apparent they’d arrive at the door at the same time. With only yards till impact, Stratus leapt up and grabbed a small chandelier just before the crash, quickly pulled his lower body up, and planted his feet on the ceiling.

  Upside down, he watched the beasts below miss, sailing by just a few inches away. Their claws dug into the wood flooring, tearing into it, attempting to slow their speed and change direction. Stratus only had one shot at this; he whipped his feet downward landing hard on the floor and made a barreling charge for the door, his shoulder lowered ready to ram it.

  If his plan failed, he’d comically bounce off the locked door and immediately be tackled by the bots. He slammed into the door with a thud, and the door jamb splintered sending the door slamming inward. Stratus stumbled into the large open space and glanced around for an opening to escape.

  Shelving covered most of the walls. Thousands of parts lay on them, parts that made up what he recognized as pieces of his pursuers and the rodents he had encountered last night. He made out a faintly lit walkway, twenty feet up, that ran around the perimeter of the room. Lights caught the lip of every step of a staircase, far on the other side of the space, leading him to believe that there was access to another room above.

  The enormous room was dimly lit; other than storage, he wasn’t sure what it was used for. Stratus thought it odd that his pursuers hadn’t entered this room and detained him. He looked back to the doorway to see them pacing back and forth, opening their massive jaws and letting out deep echoing growls. Stratus crossed the room at a jog, startled by the sound of clapping from a single person.

  “Bravo, bravo! Very impressive Mr. Lattamus, I have to hand it to you. Those tricks won’t work on them again though. They’ve learned.”

  Stratus recognized the voice that came from high above on the walkway. It was the man he had seen last night in the garden, Mr. Halaby. The voice had startled him, but he continued to jog towards the stairs.

  “I had considered letting them pursue you in here, but I need you alive, alert, and coherent.”

&nb
sp; A wall appeared a foot in front of Stratus. Before he stopped his momentum completely, he met the wall and passed partway through it. Stratus eyed the wall of light seemingly protruding from his body. The light gave a crackling sound as he side stepped back and forth through it. The strange medium tickled his flesh, and he observed when it was between his eyes that both sides of the room were visible.

  “Nice trick, but your illusions can’t keep me locked away forever down here.”

  “That’s not my intention at all. I intend to let you lose. I have a mission for you. You must understand that we are a team. If you were to turn your back on me or anyone on your new team, I would be forced to do something drastic. Recordings of you and your former boss’s private, top secret discussions are just the beginning, should you choose to try to flee and snitch on us here. We have footage of you at Mrs. Sullivan’s residence, nosing around on Leonard and the grounds here. Not to mention photos with all of us together, smiling, and your fingerprints on the gun that killed your boss. Enough of all that ugliness though, let’s get to your mission. I have recently acquired a bit of leverage from a former employee, Mr. Naublock. His daughter to be exact. Don’t worry, we don’t have plans to harm her. On the plus side, you didn’t have any family for us to leverage against you---”

  “Go to hell, I----!”

  “That wasn’t intended as a jab. I may be able to help your late wife’s…statue of mortality, that is if you perform like your capable.”

  Mr. Sullivan’s claim grabbed Stratus’s attention, but when the ridiculousness of it set in, he felt like he was being toyed with by an evil, slick, car salesman. His brief optimism had been replaced with anger, his brow tightened, and he started sprinting towards the stairs.

  Mr. Halaby’s voice filled the room. “Use your head Stratus. There’s no way out, and that last wall is something you don’t want to pass through.”