After going through the same process of decoding the lock, Cassie told Magdalena the combination. There were no guards on the other side. They went down a tunnel to the last door leading outside.
Magdalena began to shake violently and bolted back through the door. “I’ll die!” she screamed. She’d believed Cassie, but years of conditioning had done their job.
“No. Take a deep breath. Look around you. Look at the sky.”
Slowly the girl stepped back into the night and looked around her. She sniffed the dry summer air. “It’s true,” she said. “The world wasn’t destroyed.”
“Come,” Cassie said.
As soon as Cassie saw herself slumped under the helmet, she popped into her body. Magdalena snapped out of the dream and collapsed on the ground. Pushing the helmet off her head, Cassie rose to check the fallen girl.
“She fainted,” said Rafe, picking her up. “Emilia and Clark, get the equipment. We’re taking her back to the car. The three of you, stay here.”
They hurried up the hill while Cassie, Selina, and Brigid waited. Cassie’s head still felt heavy and thick. She blinked, trying to push aside the fuzziness.
Moments later, Rafe charged down the hill, rifle in hand. “We only get one chance at this,” he said.
“The mainframe is underground, below the terminal chambers. We have to go through the terminal building to get to the lower level. There are a lot of guards patrolling in there. Be alert,” Cassie said. “Follow me.”
She crouched, walking fast with her gun clasped in both hands. The others followed her through the tunnel and the first series of doors. They walked flush to the wall as they approached the computer room. Cassie could see the guards approaching the open door. She motioned to Brigid, using hand signals to indicate the coming threat. Cassie made a squeezing motion with her hand so the witch would use her grabbing power. Brigid knew exactly what she meant and smashed one guard after the other into the metal door.
There had been little noise and no combat. The group moved past the fallen bodies, not caring if they were dead or alive. Brigid’s attack would keep them incapacitated either way.
From the doorway, they could see several pairs of patrolling guards. Rafe signaled to Selina, and they both started to undress.
“What are you doing?” Cassie hissed.
“We can take these guys out in wolf from faster and quieter than with rifles. We don’t want to alert them so that they attack en masse or call in any Anu ships. You two continue to the mainframe.”
“We shouldn’t split up,” Cassie begged.
“I’ve got your back. We’ll buy you time. Go.” He and Selina shifted into wolf form and prowled off into the night. Those guards wouldn’t know what hit them. Cassie suddenly felt unsure without Rafe. She looked at Brigid, her jaw tight with worry. She gripped her gun, cocked her head, and stepped through the door.
Brigid followed her as they walked with their backs to the wall of the dome. Once they were directly across from the terminal building, Cassie broke into a run through the compound to the door. She gripped the knob, hoping it would open, but it was locked.
“Damn.” It was a simple padlock, not a complicated combination, but she couldn’t use anything to force it open without making a lot of noise. “Can you open it with your grab?” she asked Brigid.
“The grab won’t bend steel.”
Cassie growled, considering what would be quieter: hammering it with the handle of her gun, shooting it, or blasting it with magic. Finally, she decided to try to break the lock with a controlled burst of energy. She’d have to use the same focused burst inside the mainframe. Might as well practice now.
Cassie placed her hand on the lock. “Here goes nothing,” she said. She drew the energy through every pore, from above and below, pooling it in her solar plexus. As she was about to let it flow from her palm, Brigid grabbed her hand and pulled her into the darkness away from the door. Two guards walked past, holding guns. They waited several moments before spinning back to the door.
Cassie grabbed the lock and let the energy burst through. It broke the lock with a loud snap. The door swung open, and she heard voices shouting. She and Brigid ran through, slamming the door behind them.
Inside, they stepped into a terminal chamber. Reclining dentist-type chairs circled the central terminal computer. The cylindrical computer went from floor to ceiling in a high-tech pillar at the center of the room. How had Magdalena ever hidden from Pyramid Corporation inside The Program?
As they neared the rear exit, the front door burst open, and the two guards shouted at them to halt. Cassie lifted her gun and shot each one once in the head. So much for being quiet. She shrugged. No time to waste.
Movement caught Cassie’s eye. She lifted her gun. Rafe and Selina slipped through the door with their clothes on and their rifles ready.
“We heard the shots,” said Rafe.
“Was that the last of them?” asked Cassie.
“Last patrols, but others have probably been alerted.”
“This way.” Cassie motioned to the rear door.
“All right, then,” Rafe said, taking point through the door. The rest of them filed after. Selina covered the rear as they made their way down the dark hallway to the stairs that led to the mainframe. They hurried down into another narrow hallway. Wires, cables, and pipes snaked up and over them along the walls and ceiling.
Rafe put his arm up, signaling for them to stop. He fell back, flush with the wall. Ahead, Cassie could see movement at the end of the hallway. Two Pyramid Corp. technicians were replacing cables. An alarm sounded, and the men picked up their tools and hurried in the direction opposite the mainframe.
“Looks like they know we’re here,” Selina whispered.
After a few beats, they moved on and took the hallway away from where the technicians had gone. Cassie held her guns ready, feeling blood pumping in her temples. Even with her abilities, fear did not go away.
They turned the corner down another hallway that ended in a locked door. Hurrying forward, she gathered energy inside her before placing her hands on the lock. It shattered like the last one, but it did not open.
Stepping back, she looked at the door, trying to figure out what had gone wrong. The mainframe was right beyond. She just had to get inside. So close. So very close.
She placed her hands on the door and let the energy loose. The door burst backward with a loud crash, flew across the room, and skidded over the floor.
“Way to be subtle,” said Selina, holding her rifle.
“You do it next time,” said Cassie.
They moved into the massive mainframe chamber. The mainframe was a circular grid illuminated from within. It was surrounded by a hundred-foot-deep trench at least fifteen feet wide. She had not seen the trench in the schematics in her vision. Her heart stopped and she stared, incredulous. Loud voices barked from the hallway, growing closer by the second. Time stood still as she weighed her options.
There was only one.
She backed up and began to run. She could hear Rafe’s protest as her body cleared the lip of the trench. Arms flailing, legs pumping, her mind stopped. As if gravity had ceased, she floated in on liquid air until she landed on her feet at the edge of the mainframe. She whirled around to see a dozen Pyramid Corp. guards burst through the door. Rafe and Selina opened fire while Brigid threw them with her grab spell.
Cassie had to access the interior of the mainframe, sending a directed blast of energy down a long pipe that would fry the entire defense system of the dome, shattering the glass and freeing the children. Three-dimensional schematics played inside her mind as if she were seeing them on a computer screen.
Quickly, she marched to a spot around the other side of the mainframe and began kicking at the steel casing. Cassie kept kicking until the casing finally relented and she could peel it away.
More Pyramid Corp. soldiers poured through the door. Cassie ducked, finding the pipe. She reached out to gather the energy,
but nothing happened.
“No!” she screamed.
“Hurry, Cassie, we can’t hold them off much longer!” Rafe yelled. A bullet whizzed through the air and hit him in the shoulder. He fell backward, blood seeping out onto the ground. Fear, panic, and dread shocked her.
She felt the energy swirling around her as a torrent, ready to overtake the entire room. It shot up from the ground, plummeted down from the sky, filled her from every angle until it pooled in each energy center in her body. With total focus, she channeled the energy toward the palm of her hand.
Placing her palm on the end of the exposed pipe, eyes closed, she prayed—and let loose. The world seemed to fade away as seconds became eternities. In the midst of forever, she heard a loud crack.
Chapter 67
Cassie knew she had succeeded. The sound of breaking glass raining from the sky thundered like a storm outside. With the remaining energy inside her, she shot pulses at the oncoming Pyramid Corp. guards. They fell one by one as Brigid and Selina ran to where Rafe had fallen.
“Help him,” Cassie commanded Brigid as she blasted the rest of the soldiers.
“The bullet is still inside,” Brigid yelled from behind her.
When the last of the soldiers were down, Cassie jumped the divide as if it were nothing. She ran to Rafe and kissed him slowly on the forehead. She put one finger in the opening of his wound. Sucking the energy back toward her, she pulled the bullet out. It stuck to her finger until she flicked it away. Blood gushed.
She knelt beside him while Brigid pressed her hands over his wound. “I can’t heal it completely here,” Brigid yelled. She was young and didn’t have Circe’s experience.
“Don’t fuss over me. Let’s get out of here,” Rafe told them.
Selina walked with Rafe as Cassie strode down the hall, no longer caring if anyone saw her. She emerged into the center of the dome. The starry night sky overhead had replaced the false one.
Children had come out from their dorms, looking up in shock. Some of the younger children were crying while the older ones comforted them. A group of Pyramid Corp. soldiers ran toward Cassie, and she flicked her hand at them, sending them flying sideways. The children gasped in horror.
The sky cracked open, and a small craft burst toward them. Its laser shot into the center of the crowd. Cassie lifted her arm and hurled a blast of energy at the ship, sending it tumbling into the terminal building. There was a loud explosion as fire erupted behind her.
“Listen,” she said, her voice carrying over the crowd. “You have been lied to. This place was never here to protect you. Pyramid Corporation has been working with a group of aliens called the Anu. They sent that ship, and they were responsible for the destruction of human society. They were using all of you in genetic engineering projects. Some of you are already carrying their children.”
She scanned the crowd and could see a number of girls were already heavily pregnant. “The world beyond the dome is nothing like you were led to believe. There is no radiation. It is safe to go outside. I lived inside a dome myself for five years until I escaped. I’ve come here to help you. All of you, pack your things and come with us.”
Chaos surged through the crowd. Shouting and arguing broke out. Cassie was at a loss. She hadn’t thought this part out. Of course these children were confused and disoriented. They didn’t know who to believe. What could she do to make them believe her? She had opened her mouth to speak again when she saw Magdalena march toward her.
“Hey!” Magdalena yelled. “You all know me. You knew my brother, David. Well, David isn’t here anymore, is he? Like a lot of the other older boys. Do you know why the older boys have been disappearing? It’s because Pyramid Corporation is turning them into monsters. Don’t believe me? Just go look in the medical labs. Go! Look!”
“She’s right,” said an older girl, who was pregnant. “They took my boyfriend. I couldn’t accept that he was gone, so I went looking for him. I found the medical labs. I don’t know why I didn’t fight. But like the rest of you, we just went along with what they asked of us.”
“You were being constantly brainwashed and drugged,” said Cassie.
“Now I’m having a baby. I don’t even remember having sex with anyone! I have to question where it came from. They never asked me if I wanted to have a baby; they just did it to me. Now you’re telling me it’s an alien? That isn’t right,” said the pregnant girl.
“No, this isn’t right!” yelled several children. Slowly, they came to their senses. Organization took the place of chaos. They gathered what few possessions they had—food, water, medical supplies, computers—and took it all out of the burning dome.
“How are we going to get them out of here, Rafe?” Cassie asked.
“There’s a public bus lot near here,” said a boy of about fifteen. “I remember from before the war.”
Rafe and Cassie left Selina, Brigid, and Magdalena with the children and took Emilia, Clark, and the boy with them in the SUV to find the bus lot. The young man directed them through downtown Pasadena to a semi-industrial area. Cassie pulled into the lot and left the headlights on.
Luckily, the buses were all still there, as was a full tank of diesel fuel. Rafe’s wound seeped blood as he filled two buses with gas. Cassie and Clark drove the buses back to where the children were gathered near the dome. When they got there, the children quickly filed onto the buses.
Since they didn’t want to deal with the rat shifters again, the group decided to avoid downtown L.A. completely and take the 210 to circle around until they came back to I-5.
Cassie and Rafe got on the bus with Selina driving. They set out into the night, not knowing their fate. But Cassie knew that if they were brave enough, they could defeat the darkness that had overtaken their world.
Chapter 68
The trip back to the farm took almost the entire night with the masses of cars clogging the road, the inexperienced bus drivers, and the roundabout route they had to take.
As dawn rose pink and yellow over the land, the buses pulled down the narrow road that led to the farm. When they parked in the driveway, a few dozen early-rising shifters came to watch as the children descended from the buses.
Children as young as five toddled down the stairs, guided by the older children. Pregnant girls and even a few older boys greeted their hosts.
Spencer ran out from the farmhouse, his face full of surprise, joy, and terror as he met the group. Rafe held his hand over his partially healed wound, and Spencer patted him on the back.
“You did it! I can’t believe you did it.”
“These kids are tired. We need to find them housing as soon as possible,” said Rafe, his voice tinged with pain.
A jet screamed across the sky, sending a laser beam into the field beyond the house. Cassie whirled around and raised her hands, gathering energy into her body. The Anu had come to take them back already.
They would never touch these children again as long as she lived.
Energy shot from her palms like a heat-seeking missile. It streaked through the air, lighting the dim morning sky, and hit its target in a blaze of light. The small ship exploded over a neighboring field. Ash and metal rained from the sky as the burning craft crashed to the ground.
Everyone cheered—the children, the shifters, even Brigid and Clark.
After they were sure no other ships would attack, Cassie helped Rafe into the farmhouse, where Brigid finished healing his wound.
Once he was back on his feet, Rafe asked Spencer again about expanding the housing for the children. Cassie was exhausted, and all she wanted to think about was sleep. But Rafe insisted they find rooms for the children.
“There aren’t enough tents for them, and some of those girls are about to have babies. They’ll need better shelter for the newborns,” Rafe said to Spencer as Cassie lay on the couch listening to them talk.
“There’s a trailer park a few miles from here. We can probably transport some of those units. I’m not sur
e if it will be enough for a hundred more kids, but we’ll figure it out. The biggest question in my mind right now is who will take over the role of leader. We should have an election.”
“We don’t have time for that. We just have to take care of these people,” said Rafe. Dina handed him a cup of coffee and smiled at him before leaving the room. “Tell me where this trailer park is so we can figure out how to move those houses over here.”
“We need to have an election. We’ll ask the people now, then,” Spencer said, rising to his feet. “Come on, this involves all of us.”
“Spencer. It doesn’t matter,” said Rafe, annoyed that he was taking time out for politics when children needed shelter.
Rafe, Cassie, and Brigid followed Spencer onto the front porch of the farmhouse. Emilia, Clark, and Selina were with the rest of the compound, getting breakfast in the yard.
“Listen up, everyone,” Spencer yelled across the compound. “Xavier is gone. He flew away with the witch Circe. No one knows why, and he probably isn’t coming back. We need a new leader. So, I am asking you—who do you want to be your leader?”
The group turned to them and began to chant, “Cassie, Cassie, Cassie!”
Cassie’s face burned with embarrassment. Leadership was not her thing. Not a freaking chance. She stepped forward, waving her arms for the crowd to settle down.
“Thank you all for your vote of confidence. However, I’m no leader. I don’t know the first thing about leading people. But, since you want me to lead, I will do one better. I will choose who I believe should lead. My husband, Rafe.”
The crowd began cheering Rafe’s name. He looked down at her, his amber eyes glowing with admiration. He smiled and kissed her forehead. “Are you sure?” he asked. “You are more of a leader than you think.”
“I blow stuff up, Rafe. I’m not the leader.” She laughed. “You will do a hell of a lot better than I would.”
“Okay, Cassandra.” He kissed her again and walked out into the crowd. He quickly surveyed the people to find out who knew how to operate heavy equipment and where the nearest big rigs could be found. He sent people off at once on tasks to bring the mobile homes over and outfit them with electricity and running water.
Marked by the Alpha Wolf; Part 1 Page 29
