Daughters of Forgotten Light

by Sean Grigsby

Martin stood beside her. “Oubliette will soon be free of heathens on motorcycles and anyone else that doesn’t belong. We can escape war and the ice, and live there quite comfortably. Where’s the joke in that?”

  “The baby!” Squeezing her fists, ignoring the pain in her wrapped hand, Dolfuse fumed through her nose.

  Martin put her mouth to Dolfuse’s ear and whispered, “Your daughter.”

  Dolfuse’s gut twisted, her breath staggered.

  “I lost a lot of money on that Australian deal you screwed me out of. But I meant what I said about you getting things done. Killing you would have been a waste. And you played your part better than I’d hoped. I don’t know who you thought you were kidding, wearing black all the time and trying to hide that swollen belly. When I got wind of you giving your child away, under the table… well, I have a way of getting others to do things for me. Did you see her on that drone video? Your baby?”

  Dolfuse wanted to scream, to strangle the life from Martin. But her voice only croaked, her hands only squeezed themselves.

  Martin took a step back and smiled. “You’re going to go home, Senator Dolfuse. You’ve had a terrible time here, and I’m sure you’re more than ready to get out of that awful uniform. Forget about the shippees and what’s happening on Oubliette. After a day or two of rest, you can come back to work and stand with us, looking toward the future. Right?”

  Nothing remained inside Dolfuse. Exhaustion clawed at her whole body and threatened to pull her under forever. What could she do? How could she fight? She wouldn’t win. Even if she managed to kill Martin where she stood, the soldiers would rip her apart with a barrage of lasers. And they’d still send the airship to wipe out Oubliette. Her poor daughter. Poor Rebecca. Spangler. She’d let them all down. She had no choice.

  Dolfuse turned to leave the control room. Her legs felt like concrete.

  Eric Lundgate entered with a lollipop inside his cheek, tipping his hat to Dolfuse. “Where do I sit?” he asked Martin.

  The vice president pointed to Spangler’s chair.

  Bastards, Dolfuse thought. Every last one of you.

  “A shame you’re going to miss it, though,” Martin said as Dolfuse neared the door. “It’s going to be a hell of a show.”

  Chapter 48

  Lena should have known Ava was going to hate the plan.

  “What do you mean ‘no cyclones’?” Ava had been pissed since Lena dragged her from Grindy’s office. “We’ll ride out there, shoot Farica and the rest all to hell, and be back in time to finish this suicide mission we’re on.”

  Lena stomped toward the back door, clicking off her rang’s safety. “They might have Dipity and Hurley Girly. Those two should have already been back from the Core ten times by now. Besides, they won’t see us if we’re not riding the bikes.”

  “Horror’s right.” Shamika jogged to catch up, her gang following behind her. “With it dark like this, we can get the jump on them.”

  “Whatever,” Ava said.

  Lena opened the door to let Sarah and Ava through. When Shamika came up Lena said, “I told you we should have taken care of Farica sooner.”

  “Well, we will now, won’t we?” Shamika smiled and patted Lena on the shoulder.

  “Where’s Rory?”

  “I told Shakes to stay behind and watch her. It’ll be fine, as long as she don’t shake the baby.” Clicking her tongue, Shamika pushed through the door.

  Lena sighed and followed. Was she the only one taking this seriously? Hopefully the dwellers holed up in Grindy’s would help look after the baby.

  Both the Daughters and the OC were waiting for Lena in the alley.

  Shamika whistled. “OK, we need three of you on rooftops.”

  “I’ll go,” Sarah said.

  “Good deal,” Lena said.

  Two of Shamika’s gang agreed to go also.

  “Three different buildings. One of you on top of Grindy’s. Another on that one.” Lena directed her rang light to a taller, darkened structure. “And that one over there. Don’t shoot until we do. And for fuck’s sake hurry. We don’t have much time for you to vadge around.”

  Sarah and one of the OC ran toward the taller buildings while the last ran back inside.

  “The rest of us should ambush them from the alley up the street,” Shamika said.

  The shouts of the approaching mob bounced across the glass city.

  Lena didn’t have time to give a shit about who led this circus or who thought up the best idea. “Works for me. Let’s go.”

  She ran into the street.

  Rolling closer, Farica’s orange wheels glowed like Halloween, a thousand serial killers roaring for blood behind them.

  Shit! Lena dove into the nearest alley and Ava scrambled right behind, landing on top of her. They got to their feet and looked behind them. Shamika stood in the middle of the street, hunched down, weaving from one side of the glass to the other until she dashed toward Lena and Ava, just before the glow of Farica’s wheels could catch her.

  “We got to hit ’em now!” Shamika whispered as she inched along the building, rang at the ready.

  “Not yet,” Lena said. “We have to make sure Dipity and Hurley Girly aren’t with them.”

  Over the slow hum of Farica’s cyclone and the vicious chants of her dwellers, a new, distant sound buzzed through the dark – other cyclones, maybe half a klick away.

  Damn it to fuck!

  “I’m shooting!” Shamika raised her rang, but stopped when she heard the unseen cyclones coming. “What is that?”

  Lena sighed. “My best and brightest on their way back from the Core.”

  “We better shoot then,” Shamika said, “before they get caught between the crossfire.”

  Lena reached out for Ava, touching her arm to make sure she was there.

  “Let’s do it,” Ava said.

  Lena nodded, even though Ava couldn’t see. “Got to die sometime, right?”

  “Right.”

  Lena tapped Shamika’s shoulder. “On my count.”

  Farica’s cyclone rolled into view.

  “One.” Lena raised her rang.

  Shamika did the same.

  “Two.”

  Ava stepped to her side.

  “Thr–”

  The Veil crackled, and for a second Lena held her breath, afraid the damn thing had finally given out and the last bit of air she’d ever breathe lay tucked inside her cheeks. But then she looked up. A flying craft broke through the Veil. Not a shipping box. Its massive size – like a jumbo jet – and jagged angles made that clear.

  On the street, the ravenous dwellers stopped their rabble, and Lena didn’t hear any more humming from distant cyclones, just Farica’s around the corner. Blue-white light rained from the bottom of the craft as it descended, the light morphing into a dazzling wall. The radiance moved back and forth, over the buildings, almost like it was…

  “… scanning,” Lena whispered. She awoke from her awe and yelled, “Run!”

  Ava and Shamika looked at her, the craft’s beam illuminating their faces.

  Lena staggered back, farther into the alley, keeping her eyes on the flying machine. When the light touched the top of a building – one of the buildings where either Sarah or the OC woman waited – the aircraft spun around with a high-pitched whoom. It opened fire immediately, blasting multiple laser shots into the structure. The top of the building crumbled in glass and fire, plummeting toward the mass of Amazon dwellers who screamed and ran back the way they came.

  Farica’s cyclone flew past the alley, dodging the falling debris as it crushed the dwellers around her. She pushed on, rolling over anyone in her way, screaming with more anger and fear than Lena had ever seen. Above, the craft shifted, nosing down toward the fleeing crowd. This time it shot a large ball of energy that exploded as soon as it hit the closest dweller. The blast sent a dozen of them into the air, limbs connected or not. Burning blood filled the street.

  “We got to get to the cyclones.”
Lena ran the other way.

  Ava chugged behind her. “We need to shoot that thing down.”

  “We can’t draw attention to ourselves.”

  “My sheila was on that building.” Shamika hollered at Lena’s side.

  “Could have been… mine. Ain’t shit we can do now.” God, she hoped it wasn’t Sarah.

  They stopped at the next street over. The aircraft busied itself with the Amazon dwellers – for the moment – so they backtracked to Grindy’s, leaving the screams and explosions far behind, but not far enough.

  Hurley Girly and Dipity held laser cutters for light when Lena entered the shop.

  Dipity swallowed. “Lena, I don’t know what happened–”

  “Did Pao make it back yet?” Lena couldn’t catch her breath, sweating. Fuck sweat, she’d nearly pissed herself.

  “No,” Dipity said. “Wasn’t she with you?”

  Hurley Girly thinned her eyes. “What’s going on out there?”

  “You dumbasses didn’t see it?” Shamika marched straight for Rory. She took the baby in her arms and looked around for a cup of manna juice.

  “We came back as soon as we could,” Dipity said. “The Core messed up. We took too much power.”

  “No shit,” Shamika said.

  Hurley Girly huffed. “There was nothing wrong with the Core, Dipity. You just fucked up.”

  “I’ll cut you, bitch!” Dipity lunged for Hurley Girly.

  “Shut up!” Lena screamed. “Every last damn fucking one of you. None of this matters. There’s some kind of aircraft flying around out there, blowing dwellers to hell. Didn’t you hear it?”

  Dipity lowered her laser cutter. “I thought I heard something.”

  “And Pao’s out there.” Lena wiped her eyes of stinging sweat. “We have to go get her if she’s alive. But I’m not planning on getting my ass blown off just standing around here bitching about dumb shit. Let’s ride.”

  “Where we going to go, Horror?” Shamika rubbed Rory’s back.

  Lena combed a tangle of hair over her ear. “I’m going to take down that ship.”

  “Have fun with that,” Shamika said.

  “I’m with you, Horror.” Ava grabbed a laser cutter and popped her neck.

  “You’d be the smartest person in this city,” Lena said. “’Cause whether we like it or not, that fucking thing is here to kill every sheila on Oubliette. Shamika, you saw that scanning thing it can do. It’ll hunt us down, level buildings to make sure there ain’t one of us left.”

  Grindy’s shop shook as something big flew over.

  “You dwellers need to stay here until it’s safe,” Lena yelled for all of them to hear.

  A few rebellious dwellers took the opportunity to run out of the front door. They were halfway across the street when a white light coated them like a UFO tractor beam from the movies. The aircraft turned them into jelly with a swift ratta tat tat of laser fire.

  “Let’s get the fuck out of here!” Hurley Girly bolted for the back door.

  Damn. Lena spit.

  Every gang member rushed after Hurley Girly and jumped onto their cyclone. Lena sped down the street, away from where she guessed the aircraft flew. The others followed, probably thinking Lena had a plan. The truth was she didn’t know what the hell she was doing, and all her instincts told her to race for the Core, stay underground, and die a slow death.

  She looked back at Shamika following just behind. Rory lay tucked in her jacket, just like Lena had done. Was Shamika stupid? She’d get the baby killed.

  Lena slowed, riding at Shamika’s side. She couldn’t believe she was going to say it. “Go to the Core.”

  “What? Why?” Shamika curled her lips as if she tasted something rotten.

  “Rory will be safe down there till this is over. Take care of her.”

  “I don’t need you–”

  Electric sputtering, like a robot trying to speak, blurted behind them. The aircraft shone its light onto the cavalcade as it sped closer.

  “Go!” Lena shouted.

  Shamika broke off from the group as the street split into two ramps. Rory and her guardian went down to street level, the others went up.

  Laser blasts flew down, biting into the glass street and barely missing the remaining cyclones. Several shots ripped into a slick black building to their right. The entire structure seemed to groan in pain as it fell, jagged shards raining down with it. The building collapsed onto the overpass and the glass beneath Lena shifted like an earthquake.

  Lena tried not to look back, but she did anyway. The first thing she saw was Ava’s face – pale and understandably scared shitless. Behind Ava and the others, the overpass crumbled under the weight of the fallen building.

  The aircraft was on top of them.

  “Someone try to shoot it!” one of the OC shouted.

  Lena locked in her cyclone’s speed and raised her rang, but Hurley Girly beat her to it. The aircraft dodged the ball of blue light, thrown off its chase for a few seconds.

  A sheila screamed.

  The glass street shattered under one of the OC. She fought to stabilize her bike, but the cracks slowed her down too much, preventing the wheels from grabbing any solid surface. She plummeted from the overpass as it fell to pieces below her.

  “Speed up!” Lena yelled. She pushed her handles as far forward as they would go.

  The end of the overpass lay feet away, but it might as well have been miles. Lena felt the glass under her cyclone crack and heave. She kept seeing herself and the others falling to their deaths, Sarah blown from the top of that building, falling just like them.

  But with a few bumps, they made it to the end of the ramp and the crumbling glass didn’t follow. When Lena returned her eyes to the street ahead, the aircraft banked in from around a building. Lena threw up the signal to split, and all of the Daughters jerked to opposite sides of the street. Some of the OC were smart enough to follow the pattern, but the one at the end hadn’t caught on in time. The aircraft fired its cannon, scattering the OC woman and her cyclone all over the street.

  The group took the next left.

  Lena shouted, “This isn’t working.”

  “What do we do?” Ava asked.

  Lena shook her head. A shit idea came to her. Any other time, she would have tossed it away and gone back to the drawing board. But the terrible, awful idea was all she had. “I’ll lead it away.”

  “Why would it follow?”

  “They’ve seen my face before.” Lena tensed her lips, a taste like battery acid covering her tongue. “Lead these sheilas to the Core. It won’t be able to follow you down there. Do it. Next corner.”

  Ava raised her fist and yelled, “On me.”

  The acrid taste told Lena the aircraft had caught up to them. With a sweep of her arm, she shot her rang, clipping the airship’s wing. Ava zoomed to the right as Lena continued down the street, alone. The aircraft wobbled in midair, but righted itself, only a smoky wing tip to show for Lena’s effort. For a second, Lena thought it would follow the others – more targets equaling more fun – but it straightened and hurried after the lone leader of the Daughters of Forgotten Light. Lena’s rang shot returned and she readied herself for what came next.

  You can do it. Just like last time. It won’t see it coming.

  She steadied her breath, heard the energy building up somewhere inside the aircraft, felt the prickle of the hairs on the back of her neck.

  Now!

  She jerked back a handlebar and leaned forward with all her weight. She’d done it before, damned if she couldn’t do it again. She flipped into the air, even higher than she had the night she crushed the Amazon. The aircraft fired continuously, following her with its shots, lasers punching into the building she sailed toward.

  Reengaging all of her cyclone’s wheels, Lena hit the side of the building, and if she’d closed her eyes she never would have believed it, but those bright blue, wonderful wheels were climbing the side of the building, straight up. The w
hole city seemed upside down, but she just kept riding. Hovering below, the airship rose to meet her, and she would have chanced a shot if she wasn’t so scared of falling off the building.

  Gravity shifted, and straight up suddenly turned into straight ahead as the damaged building plunged like a fainting giant. The aircraft flew at Lena’s side, yawing to put her in its sights.

  Gotta die sometime.

  Lena turned, heading for the aircraft, locking her handles as far as they’d go. She put a foot onto her cyclone’s seat, holding out her arms for balance, but also aiming her rang at one of the airship’s engines. The cyclone soared off the building and she jumped, splayed out as if she could fly. Flicking her wrist, she fired. The shot hit the engine, spraying sparks and metal at Lena’s face. She closed her eyes and opened her hands, hoping like hell they’d find what they were looking for.

  The wing caught her. Her cyclone fell toward the street, but she held on. Spinning and shooting, the aircraft veered chaotically over the smaller dweller units, twisting Lena’s insides and sending her cheeks flapping. She heard explosions and other sounds of destruction. Burning mechanical innards scattered with every spark from the gash she’d put into the aircraft’s engine. Lena didn’t want to look anywhere but at the piece of black metal in front of her, although she tried once.

  The view was a whirling mess.

  Slowing and rocking from side to side, the aircraft fought to escape the stall. A rooftop lay below, close enough she might not die from the fall, but far enough to scare Lena into holding on longer.

  Fuck. She let go.

  Lena landed on the balls of her feet and rolled as much as she could to absorb the fall. The airship nosed down and didn’t stop until it flipped over, crashing somewhere below. Standing, she winced. Her left ankle ached from the fall, and it took more than a couple limping steps to peer over the roof’s edge at the wrecked aircraft. A few pieces had been knocked off, but it remained in decent condition – better than she felt – but didn’t move either.

  The familiar hum of Lena’s rang zipped toward her and she raised her arm for the blue ball to zip back into her gun. For a moment she stood there, hoping fruitlessly for a cool breeze to blow against her face. Some wishes just don’t come true.