Ozzy flew lower, and his feet hit the top of a tree, cracking the branches. He bounced up and down, the trees limbs and leaves pelting his face and arms. The ejection seat shifted, and he tipped backward.
The wind rushed at him, and he broke through several thin treetops. The seat tipped again, facing him toward the ground.
He fell faster and braced for impact, curling his head forward so he wouldn’t hit the ground crown first.
He struck a last branch and twisted in the air and crashed on his side. Ozzy was still strapped in, and his seat bounced up and down and landed with a loud thud. His head whipped to the side, and he skidded to a halt.
He lay on the ground with his head immersed in needle-covered soil.
He gasped for breath and unstrapped his restraints. He pushed himself out of the seat and crawled to the base of a tree.
He leaned against the tree and held his stomach, tilting forward and doing his best to catch his breath. He took in a wheezing inhale and coughed.
That didn’t help.
His ribs felt sore and ached, and his face stung from multiple scrapes. Blood dripped down to his chin, and he imagined he had bruises all over his body.
He touched his belt and was shocked to find the holopad was secure.
He slowed his breathing and stood. His back was tight, and his muscles burned. Or was that his skin? He couldn’t tell.
He held the holopad to his face. The red dot which represented the crystalline energy signature, was a few meters away.
He shook his head and slapped the holopad. It wasn’t working. It couldn’t be.
A branch snapped.
Ozzy looked forward and dropped the holopad.
A woman stood frozen in front of him, her mouth in the shape of an “o.” She held a photon pistol, and her pink hair was ratted with moss and leaves. Her face had black streaks, and her tight outfit was torn in several places.
“Ozzy, you sly devil. How the hell did you find me?”
39
Earth • Ancient Athapaskan Land, California
Zeld stood before him and in front of the mound where they had hidden the Ark. She eyed the sky. “I see you brought along the Dunrakee.”
Ozzy pulled out his sidearm and shrugged, eyeing the crystal sphere in her other hand. “I’m here to kill the Dunrakee. Every single last one.” He held out his hand for Zeld to give him the sphere. He knew it was a long shot but worth a try.
She held up the sphere. “For some reason, I thought you would change your mind about exterminating an entire race, but my sweet cheeks, you haven’t.” She winked. “I’m proud of you.”
“Give it to me.”
She slowly shook her head. “I think not. I put this puppy on the black market, and I’m beyond rich. So, let’s do this. I keep you alive, you get me off this planet, and I’ll share some of the reward with you.”
Ozzy scowled. “How about we finish the piece of the mission where I kill off our enemy, and then you can do with the sphere what you want? How does that sound?” He wanted to end his sentence with asshole but bit his tongue instead.
Zeld gave him a pouty face. “Yeah, you’re not touching this thing, sweet lips.” She tapped the sphere with the end of her gun’s muzzle. “Looks like Ozzy-pants doesn’t get his little reward at the end of his mission after all.” She eyed his gun and narrowed her eyes. “And I’ve seen you shoot. You’re a poor aim. Jozi on the other hand…” Her eyes darted from tree to tree. “Where’s your girlfriend hiding, anyway?”
“Jozi is dead.”
Zeld’s head jerked. She took a step backward and closer to the mound where the Ark was buried. “Hmmm, it does appear you’re sad.” She snorted. “So, it’s true. You liked her a little more than you wished, huh?”
Ozzy didn’t want to play her games. He slowly shifted his gun and raised it to aim at her chest. One shot and her heart would explode.
Wapooh!
Zeld fell back. Her mouth gaped open, and she dropped the crystal sphere and her weapon, placing her hands to her chest. She rolled away and patted herself down, wondering where she’d been hit.
“You bastard,” she called out.
The problem was, he wasn’t the one who shot.
Wapooh!
A second photon blast zipped overhead, turning a branch into a splintered mess of smoke and fire.
Ozzy twisted around and dove to the soil.
Wapooh!
A third photon blast went by, nearly singeing his hair.
He aimed in the direction of the photon fire and pulled the trigger. His gun pushed back against his grip, and a bolt expelled. He couldn’t tell exactly where the enemy fire had come from, but wildly firing with no friendlies around was better than not firing at all.
He crawled backward, continuing his barrage. He snuck behind a large tree and wiped the stinging sweat out of his eyes. Blood smeared his jumpsuit sleeve from the scrapes on his face.
He peeked his head around the tree and quickly ducked back behind it. A handful of Dunrakee soldiers were heading his way, slowly but surely.
A photon charge zipped by him.
Someone slid next to him beside the tree. Ozzy lunged back, ready to pop off a shot. It was Zeld. She was breathing heavily and had the sphere in one hand, her gun in the other.
“Holy Mars, Ozzy. I thought you actually shot me in the chest.”
Ozzy glanced at her, seeing she was in one piece and untouched by any photon fire.
She continued, “Let’s say you and I end these twerps? I think they’ve been following me for a while.”
How he’d love to have Jozi by his side in a time like this and not this little weasel.
Why did Jozi have to die?
He pushed away the sadness creeping through his body and aimed his gun around the tree. He pulled the trigger several times and brought the gun by his side.
A few clicks and clacks and Dunrakee words filled the forest. He couldn’t translate over the sheer adrenaline coursing through him, but he figured they were setting up a plan to surround them.
Wait. The translator? He touched his chest. It was gone. Shit. Probably torn off during his fall to the forest floor.
“They want our peach skin full of holes,” said Zeld, resting her back against the tree trunk.
“Gee,” replied Ozzy, “obvious observation there, Zeld.”
She tipped her head to the side. “Obvious, yes. But it’s just another reason I get more forbidden, black-market archaeology jobs than you.” She tossed him a wink.
An explosion erupted in the sky, and Ozzy instinctively ducked. Gragas’s ship flew low, shaking the branches and trembling the earth. A photon beam cracked a swath of branches above them.
“Give me the sphere and cover me,” demanded Ozzy, holding out his hand.
“Hell no.”
Another blast rocked the tree. Ozzy took a quick shot and ducked back around.
“Look,” said Ozzy. “I promise you can have the sphere after I use it with the Ark. I only need to dig the Ark up or a portion of it and touch it while I’m holding the sphere. I can then rid the solar system of the Dunrakee presence once and for all. It’s the only way you and I will survive this.”
“You can’t destroy one race with the Ark. We’ll be killed too.”
If the myths were correct, then Zeld was wrong. She should already know this. “With the sphere, I can focus and intend for only the Dunrakee race to be affected and not anything else on the planet.”
“That’s a Mars-frickin’ myth. You have no idea if that’s true. Plus, if it were, you’d kill your pal, Gragas.”
Shit. Ozzy didn’t think of that. He figured Gragas was exempt merely because he was a Galactic Knight fighting against his own genocidal race.
There had to be a way around it. He could probably intend all Dunrakee to be targeted except Gragas. It might be that simple.
Or not.
More Dunrakee voices echoed through the forest. The ground vibrated, and trees brok
e in the distance.
Ozzy peeked around the trunk. “Shit.”
Several tanks were rolling in their direction along with more troops.
Ozzy and Zeld were screwed. Ozzy could see by Zeld’s facial expression that she also knew their situation was dire.
She let out a loud breath, her face scrunched in disgust. “Fine.” She plopped the sphere in his hand. “Get behind the tree by the mound, and I’ll give you cover fire until you’re there.”
Ozzy slipped the sphere into his satchel, hearing it crunch against the odd healing machine the Dunrakee woman gave him. With his luck, he probably broke the healing device.
He zipped his satchel and dipped his head. “On the count of three, I’m running to the mound.” It was only five meters away so it wouldn’t take long. “Cover my ass.”
She looked at his rear. “I want to do more to your ass than cover it, baby. Spanking comes to mind.”
“You’re sick,” said Ozzy. Even during a battle for their lives, Zeld’s mind was in the gutter.
Ozzy pressed against the tree. “In three. Two. One.”
Zeld reached around the tree and pointed her gun. She pulled the trigger several times, and Ozzy rushed forward. His feet pounded against the leaf-covered soil and kicked up dirt with every step.
A shot zipped by him and another slammed into the ground a few paces in front of him, throwing dirt and decayed needles up and over his chest and face.
He stepped on the mound and leaped behind a massive tree. He leaned his back against the bark, hiding from more gunfire. His breaths came shallow and quick. He closed his eyes and wiped the dirt off of his face, doing his best to catch his breath.
“Holy Mars,” he said to himself. “Close call.” He eyed Zeld. She eyed him back and shook her head, telling him without words that was a closer call than he imagined.
She pointed to the mound. “Use your photon pistol to blast the dirt away.”
She was right. He could only dig so fast, and if he chopped the first layers of dirt off the buried Ark, he’d get to the Ark in the blink of an eye.
“Keep shooting at the Dunrakee so they can’t spread out,” ordered Ozzy.
“They already are, but I’ll keep blasting away.” She spun around, exposing her body and splattering the forest in front of her with photon fire. It was risky, but several Dunrakee dropped to the forest floor for cover. After a few clicks, Zeld’s photon energy pack went dry. She spun back around, hiding behind the tree.
Zeld tossed her gun to the side and pulled out another one. This one was double-barreled and more powerful.
Ozzy targeted the mound and slammed a few rounds into it. Dirt flew into the air, splashing left and right.
Another shot and the top of the golden Ark was exposed.
The ground vibrated and trees fell. The tanks were almost on top of him.
He looked at the Ark. “Do me right, buddy.”
Baboom!
An explosion erupted, picking Ozzy off of his feet and throwing him backward. He hit the ground and tumbled head over heels. He slid into a patch of plants and spat out a glob of dirt. He sat up, shaking the roots and soot off himself.
He had a mission. No time to think about the tanks.
He scurried on his hands and knees to the Ark. He opened the lid, unzipped his satchel, and dropped the sphere inside.
He glanced up. The tanks and troops were rushing his position.
A branch snapped behind him. He rested his hand on the Ark. It didn’t matter how many soldiers were behind him, he couldn’t afford to look. He had to activate the Ark and now.
“Don’t do it, Ozzy,” came a robotic voice.
Gragas?
Ozzy looked over his shoulder. Gragas and his Knights were standing with their guns drawn and pointed at Ozzy.
He gulped. The tanks and troops were coming from one direction, and the Galactic Knights were aiming their weapons at him from another direction.
“Do it, Ozzy,” yelled Zeld.
Gragas went to one knee and targeted Ozzy’s chest. “Don’t.”
The ground rumbled, and the tanks sounded like they were only ten meters away.
Gragas held his position, but the rest of the Galactic Knights spread out and took up places behind trees and mounds.
Quad ran to a tree and climbed it. He planted his feet on two sturdy branches and cocked his photon cannon, pressing a photon charge pack in the cannon’s receiver.
He aimed and unloaded on the Dunrakee.
Ozzy bit down on his lip. It was now or never. There was no way he would survive this if he didn’t do what he was paid to do—to save the human race.
Gragas had no one, so why would it matter if he lost the very race that had a government hell-bent on killing him?
He swallowed hard. That wasn’t true. Gragas had many: his family, his brother, and that little girl who was Lily’s age—Zalas, Gragas’s niece.
But Ozzy had to do it for the safety of his own family, his own race. That was his job. To keep his daughter safe. He was a father, and fathers were supposed to be the rock.
“I have to, Gragas.”
“They know what you’re trying to do, Ozzy,” responded Gragas, keeping his rifle locked on Ozzy.
Ozzy flashed Gragas a confused look.
“The Dunrakee governance is sending a mass of soldiers our way. They know what you did with the Ark before. They are going to try to stop you. The problem? They aren’t sending enough. They think you’re only capable of shooting down ships and tanks. They don’t know that you with the Ark are capable of genocide.”
Wapooh!
Sparks shot from Gragas’s shoulder armor. He fell backward, and his rifle tumbled to the forest floor.
Ozzy twisted around.
Zeld was standing next to a tree, her weapon pointed at Gragas. Smoke swirled from her gun’s double-barreled muzzle.
“Ozzy,” Zeld yelled. “Do what you agreed to do. End them now. Stop being a pussy and man the Mars up.”
She was right. He needed to man up because the Dunrakee would never stop until every last human was dead and a pile of dust, and never to be seen in the likes of the universe again.
Yes. He had to do it.
Ozzy grasped the Ark with both hands. A surge of energy grabbed hold of him, and he arched his back, gritting his teeth.
Pain consumed every cell in his body, and he grunted loudly. A bright light enveloped him, covering him and the Ark. It shot upward and expanded like a funnel.
Trees thrashed, and a peal of thunder roared across the firmament.
Dunrakee, Zeld, and Galactic Knights screamed alike. Their voices echoed in the deep recesses of Ozzy’s mind.
It was time to initiate his intention. It was time to end the Dunrakee scourge now and forever.
40
Earth • Ancient Athapaskan Land, California
He projected his thoughts outward, injecting his intentions into the Ark—to kill every Dunrakee on Earth and only Dunrakee.
And to spare Gragas.
A memory popped in his mind. A young girl held him tightly. It was Lily. He was carrying her through a forest. He couldn’t see her face, but the presence had to be her. She was crying. Something terrible had happened to her. She held on with all of her might, trusting Ozzy.
He set her down, his heart pumping, and reached out to her.
One look at her and he realized it wasn’t Lily. It was Zalas, the young Dunrakee girl. He was reliving the recent incident when he had saved her from the soldier, and she had trusted him with every ounce of her being.
He squeezed the Ark harder. The wind picked up and spun around him. He closed his eyes, seeing an inferno whirl like a tornado behind his eyelids.
His heart fell.
Zalas would die.
Porgas would die.
Good Dunrakee people would die.
Someone grabbed hold of his leg and pulled. He knew it was Gragas. The connection between Ozzy and the Ark was too much though.
A thousand men couldn’t tear him from the Ark.
His legs and arms quivered. He took in a deep breath, his intention changing. The Ark melted around his hands and oozed like slime off of his fingers.
Wapoom!
He lifted into the air. A rush of energy slammed into his body, and he was pressed into the ground. Another bright light rocketed through him, and he squeezed his hands into fists, doing his best to muscle through the pain.
He let out a scream.
Heat picked up, and every pour in his body perspired. Cold energy rushed around him, and the heat died down as did the wind, the thunder, and the light.
Silence.
It was only him and the ground and the surrounding trees.
A whooshing sound echoed in his ears. He could hear his breathing. A bird sang. A frog croaked.
He opened his eyes to a blue sky—Earth’s sky.
Something stirred behind him, and he shifted his gaze. Gragas was standing over him along with Quad and a few Galactic Knights.
“Thank you, Ozzy. You made a choice, and you chose compassion,” said Gragas, bowing. “I told you before that you are a warrior of light. You are a powerful tool for good.”
“What did I do?”
Gragas extended his hand to help Ozzy up. Ozzy took it and stood.
Dizziness overtook him, and he bent over, placing his hands on his knees and gathering himself. “What happened?”
Gragas motioned behind Ozzy. “Take a look for yourself.”
Ozzy slowly turned and lifted his head. A Dunrakee soldier was a few meters away, having a hard time standing but finally getting to his feet. He placed his fists together at his chest. He dipped his head and bowed. Hundreds of Dunrakee were behind him, doing the same.
They turned, leaving their weapons behind, and walked away from Ozzy and the Galactic Knights.
“Why are they leaving?”
“Look at the Ark.”
Ozzy swept his eyes to where the Ark should be, and he widened his eyes in surprise. Before him was a mess of melted gold and metal. The sphere was broken in half, and the ankh and scrolls that had been inside the Ark of the Concordant were ash.
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