“Nobody move!” commanded the lieutenant.
Two small cylinders dropped onto the paving slabs in front of the officer. They rolled between his legs and into the mass of troopers.
“Grenades!”
The warning shouts seemed to come from everywhere, not just from Vetch and the others farther ahead in the scrum.
Then the grenades went off, and the shouts turned to screams. Pushing. Panic. Elbows and kicks and a surge of bodies blindly fleeing. And they were blind for the most part. Even though Lily had known the bangers were coming, and closed her eyes at the last moment, the effect was total confusion for a few moments.
The plan. Keep to the plan!
Despite Eiylah-Bremah’s permissive personal weapons laws, she obeyed the instructions Vetch had issued earlier and let her rifle fall to the ground. Pretending to scream in panic, she pushed through the crowd, shoving people to either side in her desperation to keep up with the big bearded oaf.
She would follow him anywhere. Even to board a tram in a messed-up nightmare world where saying a single dangerous word could turn you instantly into an enemy of the people.
Sheesh!
Life as a trooper had never boring.
But Lily couldn’t be a trooper again. Not after this.
What did her future hold now?
LILY HJON
They sat in silence on the gently rolling hillside of red rye, waiting for Sward to die.
Back when they’d been running for the alley in Restitution Street, a Militia bullet had pierced one lung. A near miss from a blaster bolt had melted the back of his head.
The silly skragg had simply stolen a civilian’s cap and pulled it down over his head trauma. Hadn’t said a word as they’d taken the tram out to the last stop before commandeering a brace of fast food delivery vehicles parked in a depot.
They’d abandoned their stolen transport in a managed wood five klicks away. Only then did Sward let on that he’d been badly hurt.
Dammed stupid man.
In the field of almost-ripe rye that reached to their shoulders, Sward had insisted in a burbling wet voice that he would go no farther.
By then, his body had locked rigid. He told them in a stuttering voice to remain silent and still, so he could properly enjoy his surroundings. Then he beckoned over the Zhoogene girl he had given his life to save.
She seemed to know what he needed, and sat behind him, lowering the undamaged side of his head onto her lap and humming him to his rest with a quiet melody.
Rynter.
Deep Tone.
Meatbolt.
And now Sward.
Lily didn’t think it would be long before she would be joining her friends.
It had been a long time coming.
When Carnolin lifted a head streaming with tears and told them that Sward had died, they used their knives, blaster sidearms, and the shaft of Vetch’s war hammer to dig out a grave.
Lily decided not to ask why Vetch had asked them to discard their rifles to blend into the crowd when he had still managed to sneak away his hammer.
If fact, no one spoke, and that didn’t suit Lily at all.
It meant she was left to fester within her thoughts.
Years of endless running had soured them.
Losing her friends had scarred them even more, and there had been many she’d lost before she’d thrown in her lot with Vetch Arunsen.
She watched her best friend’s face as he worked. Sweat beaded down his beard from the gentle heat of the afternoon sun. He’d been her project for the past few years, steering him from prison scum to becoming the leader she knew he could be. Now she tired of that too.
Strangely, with Vetch prominent in her mind, she found herself thinking of his jack equivalent, Sybutu.
The two sergeants… now that would be a good name for a pub! Vetch and Sybutu had been hilarious together. An odd couple pushing each other on because neither wanted to look weak in front of the other.
Much as she adored Vetch, Sybutu had the sweeter body. Maybe one day she’d get the chance to make up for burning it when they’d first met.
And then the grave was dug, and Lily was back in the awfulness of the moment, helping to lift Sward into his final resting place.
Vetch gently pushed the others away and lifted Sward alone, planting him in his grave.
Carnolin looked down at the man who’d died in her arms. “Sward followed you, Vetch Arunsen. My life belongs to you now.”
“No!” Vetch loomed over Carnolin, his face red with emotion. For a moment, Lily thought he was going to grab her by the shoulders and shake her like a rag. “You do not belong to us. Sward was a Militia trooper. A good one, as we all here aspire to be. M.A.P. The Militia and the Amilxi People. Many of our kind sour their oaths, but many more do not. I thank you Carnolin Indoh, but you owe us nothing. We were just doing our duty.”
Carnolin looked down.
“Although,” Enthree told the Zhoogene, “I want you to commit to the decade watch for Sward. That was his death custom. Are you familiar with it?”
She nodded. “A day of quiet remembrance on each anniversary of his death. On the tenth, all grave markings to be removed to make way for the future. Yes, it shall be done.”
Receiving that duty put the sap back into Carnolin. She straightened up and asked Vetch, “What will you do now?”
“I don’t know.”
“What?” Darant clenched his fists.
“We were sent to Rho-Torkis to die,” Lily reminded him. “That didn’t work, except for poor Meatbolt, of course. So they sent us to Eiylah-Bremah to finish the job. Typical bloody Militia. Always fanny-arseing around just to save themselves the hassle of executing us.”
“We’re deserters!” he groaned. “Traitors. Murderers. I mean, they’d convicted us of desertion before, but now we really are actual deserters.”
Lily punched Darant in the gut. Her knuckles informed her that he was wearing mail under his hooded jacket, so she stood on tiptoes to make her point directly into his face. “Call me deserter again, fuckwit, and I’ll cut you deep. What we’re doing here is clearing our names. Nothing less.”
“We are?” said Vetch.
Oh, not you too, Arunsen. Grow a pair.
He stumbled on in his attempt to articulate his thoughts, such as they were. “I just wanted to do the right thing one more time. It wasn’t right what they did to you, Carnolin. I meant it when I said we were sent to this planet to die, and die quickly. But… now I’ve made real deserters of us all.”
Lily drew her knife. “Same goes for you, Vetch. I’m not bluffing. Call me, you, Darant or Enthree a deserter again and I’ll cut off your beard and shove it so hard up your arse that it comes out your mouth.”
Vetch almost grinned. It was a start.
“Listen up, all of you,” Lily commanded. “A deserter is someone who shirks their duty.” She points back to the city. “It’s those bastards back there who were shirking their duty. We’ve always done ours. M.A.P. The Militia and the Amilxi People. We never forget that. Those scum who call themselves officers on this planet, they’re the ones who have neglected it.”
“A fine speech,” said Darant. “But the nights are cold here, and I don’t plan on freezing my ass off on a hillside while we argue over our purpose in life. Where do we go now, Sergeant?”
“We find a secure, hidden and defensible position,” he answered. “Then we lie low for a few weeks while reconnoitering our situation to acquire a plan of strategy.”
Darant rolled his eyes. “So, basically, we going to dive into the nearest rat hole, wait around for a bit, and then make it up as we go along?”
“Is that not precisely what I just said?” Vetch grinned. The cheer suddenly fled his face and he addressed Carnolin. “But first, let’s get you home.”
“I can’t go home. I can never return to my old life, but we might be able to hide out in the country.”
“There is no we, dear,” Lily informed h
er. “People will come after us to make sure we’re dead. You need to go to ground without us.”
“The countryside is filled with dispersed communities,” Carnolin continued oblivious. “People spread themselves out like oil on water, minimizing contact with their fellow citizens so their friends can’t report them for illegal thoughts and words. We can find a space to hide.”
“Is there someone there you can go to in safety?” Enthree asked. “Family perhaps?”
“Close family will be watched. But I have a distant cousin lives about thirty miles from here. I’ve never met her, but she’ll take me in.”
“If you don’t know her, how can you be sure?” Vetch asked.
“Because she’ll be grateful I brought you with me. She’s a recruiter for the Revolutionary Forces of Reconciliation.”
“Oh, mercy!” whispered Lily. “What have I brought them to?”
“What’s wrong?” The Zhoogene looked in confusion at the stunned Militia troopers. “Don’t you want to join the rebellion?”
NEXT ISSUE: The Blue Chamber Conspiracy!
NEXT ISSUE
Season 2, Issue #6.
Out 12th Nov, 2019.
Available to read or pre-order now.
USA | UK | CA | AUS.
Next week's cover star is the mysterious but deadly Kanha Wei.
For bonus stories and the latest information, check on the Chimera Company webpage.
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