Battle for the Valley

by C. R. Pugh

  “Those look like some of your explosive devices,” I hissed to Archer, who was still crouching down beside me.

  “True enough,” he replied. “If they’re bombs, they didn’t throw them far enough to hurt us. They’ll explode and burn up a few trees.”

  “A forest fire wouldn’t help us,” I pointed out.

  “It wouldn’t help them either,” Archer argued. “They wouldn’t set their own trees on fire right here where they live. That’s crazy.”

  My eyebrows shot up.

  Archer tilted his head to the side in agreement. “Point taken. Wolfe isn’t the sanest person, but I highly doubt they would endanger their own people inside.”

  In the silence of the forest, the three devices popped, and a hissing noise followed. We ducked down, expecting the worst. After waiting ten seconds, I risked a peek over the log to see what had happened. Smoke was filtering out of the devices, filling the air between us and the compound.

  “Smoke bombs,” Archer mumbled.

  “They’ll come out under cover,” I said. “We’ll be shooting blind.”

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  38

  Ravyn

  Once I’d administered the serum to Audrick, I crept back to the stairwell and padded up the stairs to the third level. That was where the scientists’ lab was located, I was sure of it. It was near the control room, where General Wolfe would likely be watching for a threat, so I needed to be cautious. I knew I would face him today, but not yet.

  I’d left the four soldiers dead inside the silent elevator. It wouldn’t be long before someone came to investigate why the machine was suddenly not working even though the power had not gone out like last time. But I had time. If Thorne arrived and drew out Wolfe’s soldiers, they would take the stairs. Each unit of soldiers was twelve people. The elevator was slow and wouldn’t hold more than six or seven people at a time.

  It was an accident finding Audrick. I’d been growing claustrophobic from the darkness closing in around me in the pitch-black elevator shaft. Without Thorne and his night vision, I’d panicked and squeezed back through the panels of the elevator shaft into the corridor. It was a risk, coming out of hiding, but I couldn’t stay cooped up in that consuming darkness another second.

  My stomach had lurched when I’d first entered the room and seen Audrick lying motionless on the floor. It was the holding cell in which I’d watched Wolfe’s soldiers – including Kieron – mutilate and kill those innocent men. My heart twisted a bit inside my chest at the thought of Kieron. Coming back to the compound was as much for Kieron as it was for me. General Wolfe would die today, either by my hand or by Audrick’s, if he was brave enough to do it.

  Tiptoeing up the stairs, I heard the sound of boots coming closer from the lower levels. The soldiers were stomping up the stairwell behind me.

  Did they know I was here?

  Leaning over the rails, I spotted the glint of their rifles moving in a line. I had practiced this march. They’d be coming two by two. My heart beat harder in my chest and I climbed faster.

  Once I reached level three, I slipped out of the stairwell. The soldiers would close in on me if I hung around in the corridor. I glanced around and ducked into the first open door I found, making sure there was no one inside to raise an alarm.

  I waited in the dark with my heart in my throat, wondering if the soldiers would search every room until they found me and dragged me before the General. But they never came. Cracking the door an inch, I snuck a quick look down the hall toward the stairwell. The soldiers were not flooding the hallway. Their boots continued to pound up the stairs to the upper levels.

  They’re moving to the exits.

  Was Thorne outside the compound? That was the only reasonable explanation for Wolfe mustering up his army. I only hoped Thorne had been able to rally his Warriors.

  The footsteps began to die down again. I was ready to breathe a sigh of relief when a man in a white lab coat strolled past my hiding place. A soft gasp escaped my lips, enough of a sound for the man to hear and whip around to stare at the door I hid behind.

  He couldn’t see me. The door was cracked, but only by half an inch. The scientist narrowed his eyes and padded to the door. I only had seconds to make a decision. The man would raise an alarm if he discovered me here.

  My eyes roamed over his white lab coat and the corner of my mouth lifted in a smirk. Would this idea work?

  The scientist flung the door open, thinking to surprise me. I reached for him and covered his mouth with my hand to muffle the sound of his screams. His eyes widened in fear and he whimpered behind my hand as I dragged him inside the room with me.

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  39

  Thorne

  The smoke spread across the small clearing in front of the compound, blinding us from the soldier’s whereabouts. The soldiers fired first and the final battle commenced.

  Bullets sprayed through the forest, hitting tree trunks around us. The Warriors took cover through the first assault. The smoke was blinding us to the soldiers’ positions, but it was doing the same to them.

  “Save your ammunition!” I shouted to my Warriors. Brock and Pierce must have advised their groups of the same because they continued to hunker down behind trees and boulders.

  “Do you smell that?” Archer asked, sniffing the air. “Doesn’t smell like smoke from a fire.”

  Rifles continued to fire through the trees over our heads. Wood fragments exploded where their bullets hit the tree trunks. I instinctively ducked my head, even though I was safe behind the fallen sequoia.

  During a break in the gunfire, Archer peeked over the log toward the compound and sniffed the air again. “It’s not normal smoke – it’s something else.”

  One of the other Warriors from my group glanced over at me. “My arms feel heavy.”

  “Why do I feel so tired?” another asked. His speech slurred as if he was drunk.

  Archer held his head in his hands. “I feel the same. What’s going on?”

  I narrowed my eyes at them. Their eyelids were drooping, as if they were falling asleep. Jumping up to my knees, I looked through the trees toward Pierce’s group and then Brock’s. Some of them had already collapsed. Their rifles had slipped from their hands. Others were shaking their heads back and forth, attempting to clear their heads.

  I bit back a curse. Ravyn once told me Wolfe had put her to sleep. He was using his smoke to paralyze us.

  “Cover your mouths and noses,” I ordered, ripping off a piece of cloth from the bottom of my tunic. “Don’t breathe it in.”

  Over my shoulder, one or two Warriors in my group succumbed to the smoke. Their rifles lay on the ground and they were lying on the forest floor in a daze. Through the brush, I spotted Tallon slumped back against a pine tree with her bow in her hands.

  Once I’d covered my face with the strip of fabric, I said, “I’m going to warn the others. Stay here.”

  Archer coughed and choked out, “No, Thorne …”

  I was already on my feet, stumbling through the trees and brush toward Pierce. The gray smoke hung like a morning fog over all of us, putting us to sleep. We were not contained in a room as Ravyn had been. The smoke would eventually dissipate. Until then, it would leave us drowsy and at the mercy of Wolfe’s soldiers. A gentle breeze wafted through the giant sequoias and pines, but it would not be enough to clear the air before we were rendered helpless.

  Bullets tore through the trees around me. I dove to the ground to avoid being wounded.

  How did the soldiers know I was on the move? How were they not falling asleep like we were?

  Pushing to my hands and knees, I crawled through the ferns. I was only a hundred feet from Pierce. Squinting through the fog of smoke, I could see most of his group were slumped against the trees or lying unmoving on the ground, their eyes wide open.

  The cloth over my face wasn’t keeping out whatever sedative Wolfe h
ad added to this smoke. My arms and legs had grown too heavy to move. My fingers tingled and my lungs burned from breathing it in. I gave in to my weariness and fell to the dirt, rolling onto my back.

  My body paralyzed, I stared up at the sky and the canopy of sequoias overhead through the gray vapors lingering in the air. My thoughts were growing fuzzy and my heart ached for Ravyn. For a brief moment, I imagined I saw her high up in the treehouse, her black hair waving in the evening breeze. She stared down at me and didn’t turn her eyes away, even when she caught sight of my horrible scars. Ravyn’s mouth opened to speak but only a piercing shriek echoed through the trees.

  “What?” I groaned through lips that barely moved.

  Ravyn leaned forward over the rails of the treehouse and opened her mouth again. Another high-pitched cry came out of her mouth. She sounded like a Night Howler.

  I didn’t understand what was happening. Only one coherent thought ran through my mind: I’m going to fail her.

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  40

  Ravyn

  I emerged, bold as brass, from the dark room wearing the scientist’s white lab coat over my own clothes and weapons. The man’s hair had been cropped short and was the color of honey – nothing like my own. I’d thought about sheering my hair off with my dagger, but I still wouldn’t look much like him. Instead, I slicked my black hair back into a low ponytail and tucked it into my collar.

  Wiping my sweaty hands on the white coat, I turned left and strolled down the corridor toward the lab that the scientist had been headed toward before I had been forced to kill him.

  That’s not true, Ravyn. You didn’t have to kill him.

  But I did, though. It wasn’t enough to destroy the lab and all the serum. I couldn’t leave anyone alive who could replicate it. Only then would I be free, as well as the rest of the continent. Audrick had assured me that he was the only one who knew the recipe, but Wolfe would torture it out of him eventually.

  The scientists must die, and then Wolfe. They must pay for all the pain they had put me and the other soldiers through. They would pay for Kieron’s death. There was no avoiding it. And the burden fell to me. No one else.

  Boots continued to pound up the stairwell behind me, but I didn’t dare turn around to observe what was happening. I was a scientist now, totally unconcerned for the things going on outside.

  At the far end of the hall, another two lines of soldiers carrying rifles turned a corner and stormed down the hall toward me. My throat thickened, certain that this time, they were coming for me. I kept my head level, eyes forward. My teeth were clenched so hard I thought they might crack.

  The soldiers were almost upon me. I shifted to the right side of the hallway and kept walking with slow, even steps. Twelve soldiers – an entire unit – all moved in sync with each other. Their boot steps grew louder and louder as they drew closer.

  They were fifteen feet away.

  I held my breath and lowered my turquoise eyes. Don’t look at them. Just keep going. Chances were, they wouldn’t recognize me by my eyes, but I couldn’t be too careful.

  Five more feet.

  They strode past me at a quick pace. The soldiers’ eyes never even saw me. My heart skipped two beats and I held my breath as they stormed by. I wasn’t convinced one of them wouldn’t recognize me somehow and raise an alarm. After another few seconds, I exhaled. I risked a peek over my shoulder. None of them even looked back. They were going to join the other soldiers outside.

  My heart sank and I stood frozen in place for a moment. Thorne and his Warriors were out there. Would they be overwhelmed by Wolfe’s soldiers? How many units had Wolfe deployed to the surface?

  I turned and started after the unit of soldiers as they turned the corner toward the stairwell. Sneaking up on them would be no problem. I’d only be doing Thorne a favor.

  My feet skidded to a halt again. What are you doing, Ravyn? Trying to play hero again?

  As much as I longed to go after them, I couldn’t. A unit of twelve soldiers was too many, even for me. I’d give away my position, and I still had things to do. Besides, Thorne was no fool. He would take every precaution and make sure his Warriors were prepared for any tricks Wolfe had up his sleeve.

  Stay the course, Ravyn, I thought, silently chiding myself.

  I spun away from the stairwell and continued on down the hall.

  ***

  I found the lab by chance. The distinct smell of burning wood, blood, and vinegar was difficult to miss. My nose crinkled at the pungent odor as I drew closer to the last door at the end of the corridor.

  Just as my fingers grazed the slick knob, the door was jerked open. Standing in the doorway was another scientist. He was my height, but thin as a rail. The white lab coat he wore hid his lanky arms and torso. His sandy-blonde hair fell in unkempt waves around his narrow face. His mossy-green eyes narrowed and then widened when he recognized me.

  And I recognized him. He was one of Wolfe’s favorite scientists. I didn’t know his name, as I hadn’t known Audrick’s, but General Wolfe loved to utilize this man’s affinity for cruelty.

  I remembered this scientist’s face. He’d been there, smirking, as I’d been strapped to the chair and was forced to watch the torture of those innocent souls two months ago. He’d enjoyed every second of the pain being dealt to me and those men.

  Over the scientist’s shoulder, my eyes zeroed in on what I’d been hunting for. A tall refrigerator with a transparent glass door had been built into the far back corner of the lab. Ten shelves had been filled to capacity with the pinkish liquid the scientists had created from my blood. The healing serum.

  The scientist slammed his hand against the inside of the doorframe. Red lights began to flash inside the lab and an ear-piercing buzz blared over and over in time with the lights. I winced and covered my ears at the angry sound.

  The scientist cackled. “There’s no hiding now, TS1. Everyone will know you’re here.”

  I tilted my head to the side and gave him a wicked grin. “Not before I kill you. You’re not scary at all.”

  I drew my blades and his expression shifted from triumph to pure fear. He tried to close the door in my face, but I kicked it open again. The scientist slid backward across the slick tile into a table, knocking over microscopes and scattering forceps, scalpels, and scissors across the surface. Glass test tubes and beakers fell to the floor, shattering to pieces. Eyes wide with terror, the scientist stumbled away, pushing tables and chairs into my path. With a deadly calm, I stepped over and around each obstacle.

  “You’re only delaying the inevitable,” I said. “That’s what Wolfe used to tell me.”

  The scientist shrieked and tripped again, flailing into a table at the back of the room. Vials filled with liquids were smashed in his attempt to flee. The chemicals from the containers spread across the tables and down to the floor.

  The man began to scream. His body jerked and his arms waved as he desperately tried to rid his body of his lab coat.

  I paused and took a step back. The abject horror on his face was not from fear, but pain. The chemicals from the broken vials had mixed and were bubbling all around him. Fumes filled the air around us and his hands were turning a livid shade of red.

  The chemicals were burning him.

  “Please!” the scientist wailed. He was finally able to tear off the white coat, but the liquids must have burned right through his clothes, because he was now attempting to tear off his shirt. “Please, help me!”

  In his struggle, he slipped on the wet floor and fell. My stomach roiled when he shrieked again, louder this time. He had fallen right into the pool of toxic liquids. The chemicals were eating away at the exposed skin of his arms and neck.

  He extended his arm to me, his fingers reaching out in desperation and his eyes tearing up from the agony. “HELP!”

  I swallowed back the bile creeping up the back of my throat and stepped toward him, careful to avoid the pool of
potions spreading across the lab floor. There was only one thing I knew to do to end this man’s pain.

  Sheathing my blades, I drew my pistol. His eyes widened and his mouth dropped open in a silent plea.

  “This is more than you deserve,” I whispered, taking aim, and squeezed the trigger. The noise of the alarm drowned out the single gunshot and the scientist relaxed in death.

  With the alarm buzzing endlessly in my ears, I circled the table in the middle of the room to avoid the chemicals on the floor and approached the refrigerator. Swinging the door open, I stared at the hundreds, maybe thousands, of tiny glass vials filled with serum. My stomach churned. This was why I had been drugged, strapped down, and bled dry so many times. And General Wolfe would use it as leverage to bring the clans to heel. He would make them beg.

  No more.

  I wanted to set fire to the entire room – burn it all to ash – but there were still babies and children living in the compound. If the fire spread, it could destroy them all.

  No, I thought. Better to destroy the serum.

  Drawing my second pistol, I took aim at the rows and rows of pink liquid. My fingers twitched in anticipation, but I didn’t pull the trigger.

  Now, Ravyn. Destroy them!

  I clenched my jaw and tears pricked the backs of my eyes. Why was I hesitating?

  What if Thorne was wounded outside? What if I destroy them all and he dies?

  My heart twisted up inside my chest. I couldn’t lose him. Not after losing Kieron. I needed to save one. Just one vial. I stowed one of my pistols and reached for a tiny vial from the middle row of shelves.

  But what about the other Warriors?

  The buzzing abruptly stopped and my ears rang in the silence. Behind me, I heard a deep, cruel chuckle – one I knew too well.

  “You see the dilemma now, don’t you, Test Subject One?