Emergence (Eden's Root Trilogy Book 3)

by Rachel Fisher

  “Your mission…” Julius prompted, startling him.

  He cleared his throat. “…Surround the settlers and separate them from the battlefield. Try not to hurt anyone.” Sean was grateful for the distraction. He could recite the plan in his sleep, but the repetition calmed his nerves. Sort of.

  “And if they want to run away?”

  “Allow them to leave to the South, toward the Dead Zone, away from the colonists.”

  “And if they fight?”

  “Protect ourselves, but avoid violence if possible.”

  “Right,” Julius sighed. He patted Sean’s shoulder. “We’re ready.”

  “Yeah, it’s now or never, Commander,” Sean’s voice was grim, but resolute. He said a silent prayer to a God he didn’t believe in. Something to the effect of, “If you’re up there, please show up this time.” He knew that it wasn’t very respectful, but with the mainline of rage and fear coursing through his veins, he wasn’t feeling inclined to kiss any butt.

  “Hey, Sean” Luc whispered from below. “All set?”

  “As set as we’re gonna be, Luc.”

  Luc climbed up and settled beside him against an enormous pine trunk, silently slapping hands with a few of the Army troops on the way. Once Julius had determined that Sean should command the Army, Sean had immediately selected Luc as his second. The qualities the Army would need most in their leaders were calm and focus, and Luc had plenty of both. It also helped that Darryl was willing to do anything to help that he could. Mostly they just needed bodies with resolve.

  The real fighting would be up to others. Julius, Sadik, and Asher each had platoons of true combatants, but not as many as they would have liked. Still, you have to take what you can get, Sean thought. Their “big guns” in the personnel department — the General and his special ops guys — were already positioned on the opposite riverbank.

  A muffled popping sound caught Sean’s attention. Darryl gasped and Sean’s heart skipped as the nearest shadow dropped. He waited, his breath stilled in his throat, but there was no alarm. Another pop sounded as the sniper found his next target. There was another pop, and another figure crumpled. Still there was no cry or sound.

  Jesus! This guy was freaking good. When Rasmussen said that this assignment was child’s play, Sean had assumed he was just trying to exude confidence. Pop…Pop…Pop. They waited as the shots continued, each resulting in a silent bundle of humanity puddled on the forest floor. When he saw the black shadows of the Seals crawl up from the cliff’s edge, his heart leapt. Here we go.

  Sean watched as the Seals moved, catching Lobos from behind and dropping them one by one. Maybe this is all we’ll need...

  “Ambush!” The cry went up as a Lobo stumbled over a dead companion in the dark.

  Goosebumps erupted all over Sean’s body.

  Julius stood and screamed, “Attack!”

  In a wave fueled by outrage and suffering, the Army of Eden flowed over the ridge, their throats in full roar.

  ------------ Asher --------------

  “Attack!”

  The scream rose from his own throat and yet Asher felt the strangest sensation of having left reality. He couldn’t possibly be charging forward, sword drawn, leading a screaming force into the gaping maw of war. And yet he was, and the out-of-body feeling emboldened him. He sprinted at the nearest Lobo, dodging the rat-a-tat from his semi-automatic weapon, and slashed. His aim was true. The weapon and the hand gripping it fell to the Earth, the agonized howl an appropriately fantastical accompaniment.

  “C’mon,” he roared to his Dragons, but he needn’t have. They were there, weapons drawn, surging behind him. They crested a small hill and were met by ten more Lobos. The clash sounded: an explosion of bullets and the thunk of steel meeting bone. One of his companions fell to his left, but he had to keep the charge. They must take the armory.

  Asher and four of the Dragons fought their way through the wave of Lobos. His muscles screamed as he swung and slashed at the shadows. Blood spattered his greased face and he begged his body to keep him going, to spur his reluctant mind onward. When they were only steps from the armory, a huge man with white hair and an AK-47 stepped into his path.

  “Sword Boy!”

  Even without Fi and Sara’s warnings, Asher would have known this man. His time in the City had taught him that this kind of swagger only came in two forms: cowards who were faking, and leaders who weren’t. Silas wasn’t faking. “Go! Get to the armory!” Asher barked to his troops as he sank into his stance. They sprinted away and he eyed the giant. “You must be Silas.”

  For a moment Silas startled, but then his lips curled into a snarl. “Guess you’re not the only one with a reputation, Sword Boy. Where’s your little redheaded girlfriend? You know…the one with the gun?” He stroked his AK. “Seems like she’d be mighty useful to you right now.”

  “That’s funny, Silas.” Asher cocked his head, and raising his blade to his shoulder, it’s tip pointed at Silas like a gun sight. “Most men who’ve met my wife never forget her.”

  This time Silas was truly startled and Asher pounced. A quick slash to Silas’ gun hand took off his thumb and split the strap of the AK. Silas howled as Asher spun away from the short spray of bullets before the gun hit the ground. Asher turned his palm down for the backslash to Silas’ torso, when the Lobo ducked and pulled his machete with his left hand.

  “You’re fucking dead, Sword Boy.”

  He swung wildly at Asher’s sword and connected. The machete slid along his blade, pushing the tip toward the ground. Asher’s lips curled. This was almost unfair. He ripped his sword upward, slicing deep into Silas’s armpit. Shrieks accompanied the hot rush of blood as the machete fell from his enemy’s hand.

  A familiar calm settled over Asher, his vision narrowing into the tight pinpoint that is the kill. He whirled, his sword flashing in the dim light. Silas’ eyes closed and then flipped open when Asher’s sword stopped, just a breath above the flames on his neck.

  “Wha…What are you doing?” Silas’ face twisted, his breath coming in ragged gasps.

  Asher stood very, very still. It was the only way to contain his fury. This was the man who’d ordered the attack that had nearly cost him everything. This was the man. His gut churned at the memory of his pregnant wife on her knees, her neck exposed to that Lobo machete. This man was a monster, a murderer, a vile waste of humanity. It would be a favor to the world to kill him. But his hands didn’t move. Because of her.

  Her voice came to him, in the midst of the screaming and chaos, it rang true, staying his hand. We have to stop the violence, Asher. Someone has to take a stand. “Surrender, Silas,” he choked. “Surrender and you may live to see another day.”

  Silas’ eyes darted, searching the bedlam for an absolution that wouldn’t come. Around them shadows wrestled and screamed. Smoke choked their throats and stung their eyes. Sweat coated their bodies and though dawn was imminent, this particular level of hell seemed sure to be draped in darkness forever. Still, her words haunted Asher. We can’t keep living by, “What’s yours is mine, what’s mine is mine, and only might makes right.”

  “It’s over, Silas,” he said wearily. “Please, man. Choose life.”

  Silas’ eyes closed and he sank to the ground, clutching his underarm with his wounded right hand. He was silent as Asher cable-tied his wrists and ankles.

  “Just so you know, this is really gonna hurt,” Asher said, removing the ammunition belt Silas had across his chest. The man howled as it came over his head, but Asher ignored him. It was odd, he thought, the mental will that it had taken to let this man live. But maybe that was what was asked of them now. He knotted the broken AK strap together and threw it over his shoulder. Maybe the future of humanity rested on their ability to summon restraint…

  BOOM!

  A massive explosion rocked the darkness and the trunk of the nearest pine splintered into shrapnel. Asher hit the ground beside Silas. Holy shit! What the hell was that?


  BOOM!

  Thirty feet to his other side a man was cut in half as a crater exploded beneath him. A charred arm and partial torso landed beside Asher and his stomach wrenched. If it had been full, he would have puked.

  BOOM!

  Distant figures screamed as they were tossed into the air like dolls. Asher shivered as a cold, unfamiliar river of terror flowed through him. This was it. This was the moment that Julius meant. Asher knew he needed to look up, to pinpoint the location of whatever that giant weapon was, but he couldn’t. He couldn’t look up. He was pinned to the ground.

  BOOM!

  He squeezed his eyes shut as the explosion tore apart shadows at the north edge of the woods. You have to move, Asher! his mind screamed. If you don’t get up now, you never will!

  Shaking, he forced himself upright and turned toward the armory. His strides grew longer as he got moving again and he raced up the path, hurdling boulders and dodging trees. When he came upon the armory, he was relieved to see the doors hanging wide open and several of his men in front, screaming their victory.

  “Asher!” His right-hand man, Santiago, raced to meet him. “We did it! We took the armory!”

  Asher surveyed his Dragons, beginning to feel centered again. His platoon needed him. He’d have to focus on that. That would get him through. “Great job, guys, but now we have to split up. I need five of you to grab as many weapons as you can hold and still defend yourselves. Four of you stay here and whatever you do, don’t let the Lobos retake the weapons.”

  They loaded up on guns, bats, knives, and ammo clips.

  “What’s next, boss?” Santiago asked as they ran toward the concrete building that was the next target.

  “Free the rest of our fighters.”

  “Did you hear those big explosions, eh? What was that?”

  “I don’t know Santiago, but it’s not good.” As he pushed forward, there was only one thought keeping him going. Thank God Fi and Luke are safe.

  A Change of Plan

  --------------- Fi ----------------

  Fi, Sara, and the colonists huddled in the small cove by the river and waited. The plan was to get them across the river, but they needed a little more light because the route was treacherous. For now, they waited. It was agony. Fi jiggled her feet and twisted her hair. She bounced Luke and paced. She told herself over and over that it would be ok, but she couldn’t summon that feeling anymore. The feeling that her father was there, reassuring her.

  Distant shouts and gunfire rent the still night air and she froze. She closed her eyes and said a prayer. In her mind she willed the image: the Seals slipping over the cliff’s edge, taking out the unsuspecting watchers. She saw Gary and the security team leaping to life as they were set free. She imagined Asher slashing, his blade finding its mark.

  BOOM!

  Her eyes flew open. What was that? That didn’t sound like any gun she’d ever heard.

  BOOM!

  Shit!

  BOOM!

  Light flickered on the horizon. It wavered and grew. Fire! Something was wrong.

  “Fi.” Sara’s voice was tight. “What do you think’s going on?”

  “I don’t know.” Fi fretted. She wished she could help, but it was just too dangerous with Luke in her care.

  BOOM!

  The blast reverberated, echoing across the expanse. She bit at her nails, cold terror flooding her veins. We missed something! she thought. We must have missed something! She bounced in place, unable to stand still. She wanted to go, she had to help…

  “Fi.” Lucy joined her, staring at the horizon. “Give him to me. I can see it in your eyes. You girls have to go. We can’t afford to lose this fight.”

  “But what about all of you?” Sara protested before Fi had a chance. “You need to be guarded.”

  John joined his wife. “We have to stop hiding, girls. It’s time.”

  “Thank freaking God,” José yelled, stepping forward, a bundle of cords and branches in his hand. He turned to the huddled colonists. “Those people are up there risking their lives for all of us. And it’s time that we did the same. All of the vulnerable need to stay here, but the rest of you who want to fight, let’s fight!”

  Defiant cheers rose from the group.

  “It’s about time! Let’s go!”

  “Yeah!”

  “I’m in!”

  “Wait!” Fi said, as they ran ahead of her. The group stopped and Fi turned back to Lucy, who stood with an expectant expression, her arms open. A stab ripped through Fi’s heart. She knew that Lucy would guard Luke with her life. And she knew that if something happened to her and Asher, Lucy would raise him as well. That knowledge did nothing to stop the bile from rising in her throat as she handed over her sleeping son. Fi kissed him on the head. Papa, she thought, please watch over Luke and Kiara.

  With a deep breath, she turned her focus to her brand-new militia. “Before we leave the forest, try to find a weapon. I know there’s not much, but grab a rock, snap off a branch, anything that you can find that’s heavy or sharp, and bring it with you!”

  “Way ahead of you, Fi,” José said, indicating the cords in his hand. “I’ve got ten handmade slingshots for anyone who wants them. Good thing we had nothing but time on our hands in that camp.”

  “José,” Fi said, “remind me later to tell you how awesome you are.”

  “You can count on it.”

  If we live, she thought, her heart leaping. The volunteers grabbed what was at hand and set out.

  “God protect you!” Lucy’s blessing faded behind them as they rushed to the battle. Fi glanced over her shoulder and was shocked to see close to fifty colonists with them. They were thin and weak, but they clutched their makeshift weapons with determination. When they got close enough to see, Fi stopped, her fighters pulling up behind her.

  Her eyes scanned but it was like the scene didn’t compute. Just an hour ago this was a sleeping settlement. Now smoke filled the air and cabins were in flames. Shadowy fighters grunted and shouted amid an intermittent staccato of gunfire. The Army of Eden had formed the “Great Wall,” but was struggling to hold as terrified Truthers streamed toward the Dead Zone with their children.

  “Stop them!” Fi commanded the colonists. “Anyone without a weapon joins the Wall. Form a barrier around them. They have to stay for the confession.”

  “But what if they fight us, Fi?” John asked, huffing.

  “If they’re Truthers and they won’t be contained, then let them pass.”

  “What if they’re ‘Angels?’” Another man growled.

  “Then all bets are off.”

  The colonists roared.

  ----------- Asher ------------

  It took the Dragons fifteen minutes of heavy fighting to reach the showers imprisoning the Eden colonists Asher knew and loved best, the Council and his Seekers. Fifteen minutes might not sound like much, but in hand-to-hand combat, it was as exhausting as a marathon. His limbs felt like jelly and his head was swimming, but when they broke the lock on the door and it swung open to reveal a shocked and stick-thin Gary, he felt a wave of relief. They were alive.

  “Get me light!” Asher shouted.

  A flashlight flicked on behind him and Asher’s breath caught as it panned over his friends. Larry, Gary, Louis, Miles, and Georgina were all there, as were the Seekers. They were alive, but by a tenuous thread. Their eyes were sunken and their cheeks hollow. All had marks and scars on their hands and faces. It took everything in him not to race back out the door and go split Silas’ skull.

  Gary approached, his matted beard and dead eyes making the Green Beret nearly unrecognizable. Only the stubborn jut of his jaw remained. “Asher. What’s happening?”

  “We’re getting you all out of here, Gary. We’ve got a whole freaking Army here to get you out.”

  The Seekers surrounded him, their murmurs of disbelief and relief twisting his heart. Still, this wasn’t the plan. They’d expected the Seekers to be able to fight and they didn
’t look prepared to do much more than stumble into the night.

  “Did you bring weapons for us, Asher?”

  “Yeah, Gary. Of course.” His eyes flitted to his shocked platoon-mates. “But do you really think…”

  “Then give me a weapon,” Gary snarled, his face twisting.

  “And me.”

  “And me!”

  “Me too, Asher.”

  One by one, the Seekers stood and gathered themselves. Even the members of the Council seemed determined to join the fray.

  “But Gary…I mean…are you…” He couldn’t bring himself to say it. Without another word, he nodded and the platoon began handing over weapons. He removed the AK-47 he’d taken from Silas and handed it to Gary. “Here. Take the ammo too.” He started to remove the ammunition belt when Gary stopped him.

  “Asher, you should keep this. You don’t have a long-range weapon, and judging by what we can hear in here, you need one.”

  Asher shook his head. “Sorry, Gary. If I’d planned to be a gun guy, I would have started long ago. It’s better off in your hands.”

  Gary nodded and threw the ammo belt over his jutting shoulder. It seemed to make him stand a little straighter, renewing Asher’s confidence in his friend and boss. But when Georgina Ferrar stepped forward, her hand outstretched, Asher hesitated. “Georgina, we never expected you to fight. I can send you with troops to join the colonists. I’m sure that they can get you to safety.”

  She shook her head, her long, now brittle curls hanging in her eyes. “Give me a weapon, Asher.”

  Still, he hesitated. Sending Georgina into battle was ludicrous. She was an untrained fifty-year old woman who had clearly suffered far too much already. The marks on her neck…and hands…

  She narrowed her eyes. “I said, ‘Give. Me. A. Weapon.’”

  Reluctantly, Asher stood aside as one of his troops handed her a semi-automatic pistol. “Do you know how to use it, Georgina?”