by J. N. Chaney
I woke sometime later in a state of confusion, though it soon became apparent that I was on the floor of a room. My head throbbed painfully where Mario had hit me with the butt of his rifle, but it wasn’t bleeding. A quick self-assessment didn’t reveal any other injuries except for my ankle, but even that was just a dull ache.
I took stock of my surroundings. The room was lit with more oil lamps casting the same dim light, but it was enough to see that I wasn’t alone.
There were perhaps two dozen others crammed into the space. Most appeared to be sleeping and I could only make out a few familiar faces, though none of the prone forms looked like Alma. Perhaps she had made it out after all.
“Lucia!” a familiar voice whispered from somewhere in the semidarkness.
“Mark? Is that you? We thought you were dead.” A shape moved close and a wave of relief washed over me at the sight of a friend.
“Yeah, it’s me,” he replied, keeping his voice low and studying me carefully with one eye. The other was swollen shut, bruised a dark shade of purple, and his top lip looked puffy. “You had us worried when we couldn’t wake you up.”
“Just needed a nap,” I joked. “How long have I been here?”
“A couple hours at least,” Mark answered, then gestured around him. “Hard to tell in this room.”
“Did Alma come in with me?” I asked, not sure what answer I hoped to hear. If she’d been brought along with us, that would mean she was alive, but captive. If not, then her fate was uncertain, but hope existed that she had made it out and would be coming with reinforcements.
Mark shook his head. “No, was she with you?”
I nodded, then found the movement made me dizzy and stopped. “Yeah. Mario led us right into a trap. I tried to give her a chance to escape by causing a cave in.”
Mark stared at me in disbelief. “You’re crazy, you know that?”
“Didn’t know what else to do,” I said, offering him a weak smile. “I just hope she’s okay. Mario shot her before it all went down.” My throat closed at the memory and I had to blink away tears thinking of Karin. I hated the thought of her body being left there alone in the tunnel, probably buried under the debris in a rocky tomb.
“I’m not surprised,” Mark replied tightly. “But Alma’s tough. If anyone could survive something like that, it’s her,” he promised.
“Funny, I thought the exact same thing,” I said, forcing a smile. “I have to tell you something. Karin…” I trailed off, unable to form the words.
Mark’s expression grew concerned and he looked at me with searching eyes. “What happened? One of the guards said…”
I grimaced and he trailed off, his own features taking on a hard look I didn’t know the prospus was capable of.
“Mario killed her,” I said angrily. “He didn’t even have to. They had us trapped and outnumbered. He could have wounded her instead.” The words sounded wobbly as I said them, and I could feel my face burning. I paused, trying to calm down and get my emotions under control. I was no good to anyone like this. “That traitor needs to answer for what he’s done. How many other people are locked up here?”
“A couple dozen, give or take, in another room. All of us refused to join Costas so they threw us in here. Got the same story from those that were here before us. A few were taken prisoner on hunting or scavenging trips. They said he gave them the choice of joining the rebellion or becoming a captive.”
“Have you heard anything about the Boneclaws?” I sat up too fast in my urgency and the room spun again, but I ignored it.
“No, though I have heard them.”
I went still at his words. That meant they were still close by and I had a bad feeling they weren’t just exploring the caves. Mario had something to do with them, I just didn’t know what. “Heard them how?” I asked, hoping he could shed some light on the puzzle.
Mark quivered and his next words came in a rush. “Just before you got here, the guards came and took someone. Then the thumping started. And the shrieking. It sounded really close.” His voice went even lower, so I had to lean in to hear him. “According to everyone else, that’s been happening every day. Something they called a Reckoning. I don’t know what Mario is up to exactly, but I think it involves them.”
“Me too,” I agreed, relieved he’d come to the conclusion on his own. “It was like they herded us right where Mario wanted us. Then he said something about diverting them. Is it possible he’s found a way to control them?”
His eyes widened for a second at the thought. “I don’t think so. Maybe—”
The door to the room opened and the lights went bright, stopping Mark mid-sentence as Nero entered.
12
Allan and another man named Claude Benson filed into the makeshift prison. Claude was one of our mechanics and someone who had never shown any kind of disloyalty before.
It was disheartening to see just how many people Mario had convinced or forced to join him. Were they really so unhappy with Cyril’s leadership?
“Nero said to get her and meet him back at the lab in five minutes. She’s over there,” said Allan, pointing in my direction before turning and exiting the room again.
His cronies made their way over to me and I stared defiantly up at them. “I see you’re still following Costas around like a little brother, Folson.”
“Don’t make this hard, Visaro,” Allan advised, holding up a pair of restraints. “He just wants to talk.”
I snorted at that but held my wrists out and allowed him to pull me up. All the commotion woke some of the other prisoners, one of them another face I knew very well.
Prime Keyan Lambert. I had to control the shock I felt at seeing a colony member of the highest respect being held prisoner and sitting on a dirty floor. He seemed out of place, especially with his proper attire. The Prime was even still wearing his shiny silver heart pin, though his black jacket was now dusty and rumpled.
“That is the Director’s daughter you have in cuffs, Prospus Folson,” he said sternly, seemingly unaware of his current predicament. Or maybe he just didn’t care.
“Shut up, old man. You have no power here,” Allan retorted, then grinned. “I have always wanted to say that.”
“He’s still your Elder,” I snapped, pissed at my peer for his treatment of Lambert, who had only ever been kind to me.
“You’re no one either, Visaro. Now get moving,” he ordered, shoving me forward.
Murmurs of protest rose up around the room when I stumbled.
“Coward,” someone muttered.
“Pushing around a defenseless girl like that, you should be ashamed!” another person called out.
“Quiet, or you’ll be next for the Reckoning,” Allan threatened.
There was that word again. Whatever it meant to them, it was enough to have the room falling silent again. With Allan to one side and Claude the other, I was escorted out.
Fatigue, paired with a pounding headache, had me dragging my feet as Allan led me through a maze of corridors. We’d been tracking toward the fusion core facility before the altercation with Mario, so this had to be the outer fringes of it.
I wanted to be more observant, maybe memorize all the turns we took or keep an eye out for the stolen cores, but it was a struggle to just put one foot in front of the other. Allan needn’t have bothered with the cuffs, though he seemed to take great pleasure in dragging me forward if I slowed down too much.
We arrived at another room that looked like Josef’s lab. It was mostly bare, stripped of anything useful, but it did boast a few functional tables and sufficient lighting.
Nero stood at one of them, my staff in his hands. If I hadn’t been so exhausted and sore, I might have tried to rip it from his grasp, though knowing him, that was exactly what he wanted. The fact that he was even touching my weapon boiled my blood, but I wouldn’t give him the satisfaction of reacting.
“Hello, Luce.” He smiled disarmingly, but he had to know it was wasted on me.
“Don’t call me that,” I bit out. “We’re not friends.”
“Come on, don’t be like that,” he said, almost wearily. “It’s not like I planned for this. I didn’t want anyone to get hurt, but they brought it on themselves.”
I didn’t trust myself to speak so I clenched my jaw to keep from screaming at him.
“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 as best as I could in cuffs, 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?
