by Siegel, Alex
On wobbly legs, she got up and started jogging towards the truck factory. Aaron needed her.
* * *
Dr. Rascher stared at the dark figures on the surveillance monitors in his control room. It was time to deliver the happy news to the boss. He picked up the white phone.
Gains answered immediately, "Well?"
"We found the intruders, sir," Rascher said. "Two men, one woman, and a boy."
"A boy? Are you sure?"
"Yes. Strangely, he isn't with the adults. He's a short distance behind them."
"Describe them," Gains said.
"They're wearing some kind of strange body armor with a dark black and gray color pattern. The adults have night vision goggles on their helmets."
"Weapons?"
"They're heavily armed," Rascher said. "All of them have multiple guns, even the boy, and more equipment is hanging from utility belts. They seem very dangerous and professional."
"I don't doubt it," Gains said. "What are they doing?"
"Exploring the facility. I'm moving all of my security into the area, but my men are staying out of sight for now. I'm waiting for an opportune moment to attack. I'd like to capture the intruders alive. There is a test arena ahead of them. If they enter it, I'll be able to take them without a shot being fired."
"You're going to try one of your experimental signals?"
"One that causes extreme fear. It renders the subject completely helpless."
"Sounds perfect," Gains said, "but don't destroy their minds. After you capture them, you have to interrogate them. They need to be able to answer questions."
"I'll use the proper dosage," Rascher said. "They'll be terrified but coherent. Getting the truth out of them won't be difficult at that point."
"Excellent. What happened to the guy who shot explosives at the facility?"
"My men are still chasing him through the streets. I don't know the latest status, but it's just a matter of time before we catch him."
"Sounds like you'll have plenty of captives to interrogate," Gains said in a happy tone. "We may finally get some answers."
Guards sat at the many control consoles around the room. One of them turned to Rascher and said, "Sir, a helicopter is approaching fast. Straight towards us."
"Can you identify it?" Rascher said.
"No. It's too dark."
Rascher spoke into the phone. "Did you send a helicopter?"
"No," Gains said. "The rest of the Nonsectarians are coming, but it will be a while before they get there. That chopper must belong to the enemy."
"What do I do?"
"First of all, don't panic. When that helicopter lands, send some men to kill whoever comes out. You don't need more captives."
Rascher swallowed. "Yes, sir."
"Call me back in a few minutes with an update."
"I'll do that. Bye." Rascher hung up the phone.
He looked around the white, brightly lit control room. His gut told him he was in trouble. Events were moving a little too quickly for comfort.
This wasn't his first difficult situation. He had a long history of illegal experimentation on human subjects. He was a wanted man in countries all over Europe. Those entanglements with the law had taught him to always have a contingency plan. He had furnished this facility with that rule in mind.
He walked over to one of the control consoles. A latch on the side was barely visible. Behind this console was an escape tunnel only he knew about. Until the situation was firmly under control, he would stay close to this spot.
* * *
Tawni looked up into the night sky and saw a helicopter approaching. Its rotors thumped loudly.
The helicopter stopped above the truck factory and hovered. Doors on the side slid open. Three people jumped out and fell at least thirty feet to the roof of the factory. It looked like Atalanta, Yvonne, and Carlos had made the jump, but at this distance, it was hard to be sure. It was a much higher fall than Tawni would've attempted.
The big boys are here, she thought.
The helicopter resumed its flight. It headed straight towards the street and she ran to meet it. The landing gear clanged against the asphalt.
Aaron jumped out while the rotors were still spinning down.
"Hello, sir," Tawni said.
He barely glanced at her. "Hold on."
He ran to the back of the helicopter and opened a hidden compartment. It was packed with a basic assortment of weapons. He grabbed a sniper rifle which already had a clip in it.
He knelt on one knee and aimed down the street. Tawni looked in that direction. Four security guards were sprinting towards the helicopter with guns in their hands.
Aaron's huge rifle boomed like a cannon. The headless body of one of the guards fell forward. Aaron chambered another round and took another shot. This bullet punched a hole through the chest of a guard and carried chunks of meat out the other side.
Nice shooting, Tawni thought.
The remaining guards turned and ran, but they didn't get far. It took only seconds for Aaron to kill the last of them.
"Charles," he said, "do you see any more?"
"I think you got them all," a voice answered.
Tawni looked around. "Who is that?"
Suddenly, Charles was standing before her. He still wore his usual gray suit and carried his silver cane. A gun belt and a bandolier full of grenades was an odd-looking addition to his outfit.
"Were you invisible?" she said.
"In a way. I guess nobody told you about my gift."
She shook her head in dismay.
"Tawni," Aaron said, "what happened to the guys who were chasing you?"
"I killed them."
"All of them? How many?"
"Fifteen or twenty," she said.
He beamed like a proud father.
"We have to move," Charles said.
Aaron nodded. "Right. That's our point of entry."
He pointed to a hole in the brick wall of the factory. Tawni saw light on the other side.
"What's going on in there?" She gnawed her lip.
"I don't know, but Wesley is in there. We will kill anybody who gets between us and him. Understand?"
"Yes, sir."
"Let's go." Aaron took off running.
* * *
Smythe, Odelia, and Norbert were jogging down a narrow hallway with sheet metal walls. There was a doorway ahead.
Norbert was bringing up the rear. He glanced over his shoulder frequently to make sure they weren't being followed. A few times, he had heard approaching footsteps. So far, the team had moved quickly enough to avoid being caught. The operation was going pretty well.
Smythe and Odelia arrived at the doorway. Norbert continued to watch the rear while his companions carefully opened the door.
"All clear," Smythe whispered.
Norbert followed him into the room beyond.
He found himself in a strange and disconcerting place. A high, circular wall surrounded a bare patch of stained concrete. The diameter was about fifty feet. Overhead panels provided so much light that Norbert shaded his eyes. Hundreds of televisions were placed at the base of the wall all the way around. Some were old and some were new, but all showed the same test pattern.
The wooden wall was too smooth to climb. The only other exit was a door on the far side of the circle.
Norbert heard footsteps.
"Set an ambush!" Smythe said in a quiet but urgent voice.
The three of them assumed defensive postures. Their guns were aimed at the door they had just come through.
A boy burst through the doorway. Norbert stared in total astonishment. It was Wesley, and he was equipped for combat.
"What in God's name are you doing here?" Smythe said as he relaxed his posture.
"I came to help." Wesley was panting. "I had to run the whole time to catch up to you guys. You're fast."
"Does Aaron know you're here?"
"I didn't tell him. I kind of secretly escaped from
headquarters." Wesley blushed. "He's going to be mad."
Smythe shook his head. "Unbelievable. This must be the stupidest thing you've ever done."
Wesley looked around. Suddenly, he appeared very anxious. "Oh, no."
"What's wrong?" Norbert said.
"Remember I told you that you would save my life one day."
"Yes, I remember very well."
Wesley grimaced. "It's today."
Without warning, metal walls slid across both the doorways. The team was trapped.
A male voice boomed from a speaker above, "Hello, my unwelcome guests. It was very kind of you to walk into one of my test arenas. You saved me quite a bit of trouble."
"Who are you?" Smythe yelled up.
"You'll meet me soon enough. Before we begin tonight's experiment, I'll give you one chance to talk voluntarily. Who are you? What are you doing here? Who do you work for?"
Smythe shot the speaker with his gun. Sparks flashed from the ends of broken wires.
All the televisions switched to solid red. The pulsating light seemed to jump off the screens and go straight into Norbert's skull. All he could see was that terrible red light.
Absolute terror followed. The emotion so completely overwhelmed him that he collapsed to the floor. He pulled his knees tight against his chest and fought the urge to scream hysterically. This wasn't an ordinary kind of fear. It saturated his mind.
The televisions went back to a test pattern, but the damage had already been done. The red light was stuck firmly in his head. The world had become a living nightmare.
The metal walls slid back, exposing the doorways. Armed security guards poured into the chamber. There were at least twenty of them, and Norbert was in no condition to fight even one. He couldn't even hold a gun. He was totally helpless.
A small hand touched Norbert's cheek. He looked up into a pair of glittering blue eyes.
"Look at me," Wesley whispered. "Stay focused on me."
Norbert looked deep into those miraculous eyes. The red light faded and white replaced it. He began to relax. The light of truth was as pure as a clear sky. It was like taking a bath in warm milk. He could think clearly again. In fact, his mind was as sharp as a razor blade.
"I'm going to run," Wesley whispered. "Stay with me, please."
"What about Smythe and Odelia?" Norbert replied in the softest voice he could manage.
"We'll try to rescue them later."
The idea of abandoning his teammates repulsed Norbert, but there wasn't much choice. Getting Wesley to safety took precedence over all other concerns.
Norbert nodded slightly. "Go."
Wesley took off like a shot. Norbert jumped to his feet and ran after the boy. Norbert barreled through the guards to give himself a straighter path.
He heard gunshots. One bullet struck his helmet, and two more hit his back. The impacts made him stumble but his special body armor did its job. He would have pretty bruises in the morning though.
They crashed through the door and sprinted down the hallway. Norbert glanced back. Several guards were giving chase.
Norbert took a grenade from his belt, pulled the pin, and dropped it on the floor. He and Wesley had just turned a corner when the grenade exploded, killing the pursuers.
Norbert grinned savagely. The fight was on.
* * *
Smythe was paralyzed with fear. He couldn't move or think. He could barely even breathe. The security guards were taking his weapons, and he could do nothing but stare at them with wide eyes. The only thing in his mind was that corrosive red light.
A huge, bearded figure walked through one of the doors. The door didn't actually open. He passed straight through the wood and metal as if the door weren't there at all. An old-fashioned, gray cloak covered his body.
"Where is the Child?" Carlos' voice sounded like wind blowing dead leaves.
The guards pointed their guns at him.
"Down on the ground!" one of them yelled.
"Tell me or die!" Carlos roared.
The guards opened fire. The bullets did nothing more than punch holes in his clothing. One round struck the side of his head, and brittle shards of his skull sprayed out. Smythe expected to see a brain inside but Carlos' skull was hollow. The monster was made of skin, bone, and emptiness.
Carlos charged forward. When he touched his enemies' chests with his hands, they died instantly. The corpses had expressions of anguish frozen on their faces. It seemed they had experienced terrible pain in the instant before dying.
The guards scattered like a flock of birds before a dog. Carlos chased after them relentlessly and left a trail of bodies behind.
Smythe saw Odelia, and the sight of her beautiful face gave him enough strength to move. He pushed himself over to her. She seemed to recognize him, but her mouth was clenched shut. He put his arms around her and pulled her against his chest. She was quivering.
He looked into her eyes and was reminded of how deeply he loved her. When they were together, even death couldn't stand in their way. The sensation of her warm body caused the red light in his mind to fade. There was no reason to be afraid, no reason at all. As long as he had Odelia, everything would be all right.
Smythe kissed her. "I love you." He felt tears on his cheeks.
"I love you even more." She kissed him back.
She flipped her night vision goggles down over her eyes, and then she did the same for him. The world appeared green and fuzzy through the lenses.
"Why did you do that?"
"In case the enemy uses the red light again," she said. "The goggles might protect us."
"You're so smart." He squeezed her.
* * *
Dr. Rascher stared in utter disbelief at the live surveillance feed. His perfect trap had failed completely. Two of the intruders had somehow shaken off the effects of the signal, and the other two had escaped entirely. Even worse, a new and vastly more dangerous enemy had appeared. The man seemed impervious to bullets. He was slaughtering the guards with just his touch, and apparently, no weapon could stop him.
Rascher turned to his chief of security. "We're losing! Do something!"
The chief was a short man with a stylish black goatee. He had guns in holsters on both hips.
"What do you want me to do, sir? My men shot that guy fifty times!"
Rascher fought to get control. Panic wouldn't make the situation better. "What's the status of the car chase? I haven't received any reports."
"I tried to make contact a couple of minutes ago, but nobody responded."
"What does that mean?"
The chief shrugged. "None of them are answering the radio. Draw your own conclusions. Also, the guys we sent to the helicopter never reported back."
Rascher did a quick body count in his head. "Are you telling me a third of my men are dead or missing?"
"That's possible."
Movement drew Rascher's attention to another surveillance feed. A tall, Asian woman was running along one of the overhead catwalks. Her long, black hair was braided to form a rope down her back. She carried a medium-length sword in her right hand and a pistol in her left. It seemed yet another intruder was loose in the facility. They were crawling out of the woodwork.
"Tell the men I'm no longer interested in live prisoners," Rascher said angrily. "My orders are to shoot to kill on sight. Just get this situation under control."
"Yes, sir." The chief nodded.
* * *
Smythe stood up. He helped Odelia to her feet and held her close. Corpses littered the circular arena. Smythe's night vision goggles made the dead look like green mannequins instead of real people, and he was glad for that.
Carlos walked over. Bullet holes riddled his clothes and allowed glimpses of the dark emptiness inside him. Part of his skull was gone. Smythe wondered if the damage hurt, but Carlos was acting normally, at least normally for him.
"Where is the Child?"
"He ran off with Norbert," Smythe said. "I'm not sure which way.
We were a little preoccupied at the time."
Carlos looked back and forth at the two exits from the arena.
All the televisions switched to a solid color. Smythe's goggles mostly protected him, but a tiny bit of red light leaked around the eyepieces. The effect was different this time. He felt a surge of anger instead of fear. Now that he had some experience with this weapon, he could control his reaction better. It wasn't overwhelming.
He looked at Odelia. "Are you OK?"
"I think so." She shuddered. "It stings a little, but I'll manage."
Carlos bellowed so loudly Smythe had to cover his ears. Carlos shook his head violently. He didn't have goggles to protect his eyes. He didn't have eyes either, but apparently that didn't matter. He let loose a roar worthy of a full grown lion. He turned his attention to Smythe and Odelia.
"Calm down," Smythe said. "The anger isn't real. It's just a weapon."
Carlos took a quick step forward. Smythe and Odelia backed up.
"Carlos!" Odelia said. "We're on the same team."
Carlos didn't seem interested in that fact. He charged forward.
Smythe grabbed Odelia's hand and they ran.
They crashed through the nearest door and entered a long hallway. Smythe was running as fast as he could, but Carlos was almost as fast. He could also go through walls. This footrace would be a short one, and it would end very badly.
"Fire!" Odelia yelled. "Fire can hurt him!"
"Paintball guns!" Smythe yelled back.
Without slowing down, they unhooked their paintball guns from their utility belts.
"Now!" he said.
They stopped abruptly and turned. Carlos was already dangerously close. Smythe and Odelia shot streams of balls that exploded into fire on impact. Carlos was quickly bathed with bright flames. The heat was intense.
The guns began to dry fire, indicating they had run out of ammunition. Smythe and Odelia tossed the useless weapons aside.
Carlos fell to his knees. His skin started to crumble into black ash. Parts of him dropped off and burned on the floor. His head shattered into flaming pieces when it struck the concrete.
"Did we kill him?" Odelia said.
"No." Smythe shook his head. "We just made him angrier. Let's get out of here. We don't want to be around when he pulls himself back together."
