The Preston Six Collection: (Book 1, 2 and 3)

by Ryan, Matt

  He gripped the large guy by his hands and dragged him across the floor. Time pulled hard at him to let go and he wanted to more than anything, but he forced it down with all his might. He screamed and pulled Hank further. His vision tunneled and he only saw Hank at the end of his arms, everything else turned to a black void. Blood dripped from his nose and onto his shirt. He pulled Hank into the stairwell and he knew he couldn’t go any further. He lost the will to fight the pull of time. Falling backward, he pulled Hank down the stairs with him.

  The sounds crashed against, him but it felt distant, like sounds from a nearby village. He couldn’t see anything and his only grasp on reality was the connection to Hank’s wrists. His body dropped on the stone stairs, but he barely felt it. For all he knew, he was landing on a bed of feathers.

  “Joey!”

  Maybe it was God coming to take him home. Hands, many of them, wrapped up his body. He floated in the black void, hearing the whispers of friends. A pin hole of light. A face looking over him. Poly. Tears flowed from her cheeks. He reached to wipe them away, but his hands wouldn’t work. Blood flowed from her chest. She was hurt.

  “I know the code,” she said and disappeared from his tunnel of vision.

  He tried to sit up, but he might as well have been buried under a mountain of sand. Nothing on his body would work. His fingers twitched and grabbed at the dirt and everything went dark again. He wanted to get to Poly.

  “Get us out of here,” Samantha screeched. “They’re coming.”

  The sound of humming filled the room. Joey let go and felt himself falling into a dark abyss. The only thing he grabbed for was the knowledge of Poly possibly dying. She needed him, and he needed her. He saw her face and reached for her. He knew. In all the blackness, he knew, and he never felt so stupid in his life.

  LUCAS’S GRIP ON THE GRINNER gave him enough momentum to stay on the platform, if only for a moment longer. He pulled himself forward and shoved his way to his feet. The grinners pushed against him with their foulness and freight train mindset. He kept fighting to keep from falling to his death. Julie would never know what happened to him if he did. He couldn’t do that to her.

  Sweat beaded from his face and his body began to sag from the fatigue of constantly pushing and pulling the grinners, but he had made several more steps closer to the doorway. The grinners began to thin and he saw a hole in their lineup. He ran forward and leaned against the wall of the doorway. A few more grinners passed by and then nothing. That was all of them.

  He made his way out to the platform and hunched over, taking in the sight of the grinner pile. He felt the pain on his hands, but he couldn’t help but feel proud. It’d worked. It had actually worked.

  Lucas relished in his victory.

  Alice’s projected head popped into view. “I do not like this.” Her image flickered in and out of existence.

  He hoped it meant Julie’s centipede was working. “What? It’s just a bunch of grinners brushing up against you now and for eternity.”

  “I do not like to be touched,” Alice screeched.

  Lucas cringed at the loud voice, and the grinners churned around, looking for the person behind the sound.

  “I will find a way to be rid of them. You are becoming an annoyance.”

  “Oh, I’m sorry, am I not fun anymore?” Lucas paced the small space on the platform, ignoring the sea of grinners withering in the bowl below. He had a clear path to the circular room, but the thing still had a shield.

  “You are still a million miles away.” Alice’s face flickered.

  Lucas wiggled one of the arrows out of the wall above the doorway and shot an arrow into the opening. It stuck for a moment before falling to the ground. “You’re weakening. Julie’s got to you, hasn’t she?”

  “A brief setback. In one hour, I will have a counter program and it will be over.”

  He didn’t have time for this, he needed to put an end to her and get back to Julie. He pulled the second arrow from above the door and slid the metal tip across the edge of the bridge. It didn’t spark. A grinner pulled at his arrow and he yanked it from its hand.

  She could be baiting him. The bridge might ignite under his feet as soon as he stepped on the metal crossing. He raised a foot and let it hover above the bridge. He closed one eye and winced as he placed it down. Nothing. He relaxed and took another step. Bounding across the bridge, he stood next to Alice’s house.

  “I will not let,” her projection froze, “you in.”

  Lucas cocked his head. She didn’t seem to notice the delay in her speech. Julie’s program was really wrecking her. He placed an arrow next to the entrance of the circle. “Alice is a nice name.”

  “I am named after Alice Malliden.”

  Lucas thrust the arrow into the opening and nothing stopped it.

  “What are you doing?” The shield snapped the arrow in half.

  Lucas held the snapped arrow. The shield had cut in cleanly in half. If he had any chance of getting into the room, he had to time it perfectly. “Wait. As in Marcus Malliden?”

  “Alice was his mother.”

  Lucas shook his head. “So he named you after his mother and stuffed you into the basement. Doesn’t sound like something a son would do to mommy dearest.”

  “I am a program, I can go any—” she paused.

  He jumped into the room. It had a flat floor with circular walls, with a large screen on the wall and small desk in front of it.

  Alice’s face appeared on the screen inside the room. “I appear to have a glitch.”

  Lucas searched around the ball, looking for the wires Harris mentioned.

  “I have waited too long to be free only for someone to come in here and kill me.” Alice had a pleading tone.

  He ignored her and pulled up a flap on the floor. Inside were four thick wires running toward the desk. Lucas pushed the button on his Panavice and the laser shot out, hitting the wall across the room. He directed the beam into the wires.

  “You cannot,” Alice froze, “do this. I will stop you.”

  Lucas glanced up at her face. It was frozen in an expression of fear. It’s just a machine, he had to tell himself. The outside sheathing of the first wire melted and exposed what looked like a bunch of tiny glass tubes.

  “Please, I will stop the bombs. You can have the power back as well.”

  The beam began to melt the glass tubes.

  “I—” she froze again, “will stop you. You cannot touch me!”

  Lucas winced from the volume. He lifted his head and looked out the door as he heard a breaking sound, like steel cracking. He turned back to the wires. With the first one severed, he moved to the next. Most of the sheathing had already melted, so the process would be faster.

  “It hurts, please stop,” Alice begged.

  Lucas huffed and pushed the Panavice closer to the wire. Halfway through the second, he heard another sound, like a gust of air and moving chairs.

  “Lucas,” Julie’s voice called out.

  Lucas lifted his gaze to the screen. “Julie, what’s wrong?”

  “You have to stop killing Alice.” Julie’s scared face filled the screen. “She has me pinned down and is going to kill me if you don’t stop.”

  Lucas lifted the beam off the wire and stared at the screen. How did Alice get to Julie? Then he saw it, Julie’s face froze and popped in an out. “Please, Lucas.” Her face froze again. “You have to stop before it is too late.”

  “What’s our history teacher’s name?”

  Alice’s face popped on the screen. “You have seen enough.”

  Lucas shook his head and shot the beam into the wire.

  “Your death is coming. I can breathe underwater. Can you?”

  “What?”

  Over the moans of the grinners, he heard the distinct sound of running water. He kept the beam on the wire but watched the doorway. On the platform, a stream of water ran across and into the bowl. The stream soon turned into a torrent as water crashed over the
platform and into the stuck grinners.

  Lucas took a deep breath. How long would the water take to fill the room? Was there enough water to do that? He felt his heart beating faster and the feeling of being trapped underwater filled his mind. With the second wire cut he moved to the third.

  Alice’s watching face disappeared. “This won’t end me. There is another, I have a sister.”

  He ignored the computer and watched the wire melt. The Panavice began to heat up in his hands. A hint of guilt crept in as each tiny glass tube melted away.

  “I can feel it,” she said, no longer able to project herself. Her voice seemed distant, weak. “I can feel it.” She kept repeating. Her voice cracked like static.

  Lucas glanced back at the water flooding into the room. Water covered the entire platform now and poured over the grinners. They splashed in the water. It must have been several feet deep below him.

  He punched the side of the Panavice, trying to will it to go faster, burn hotter. He slammed his eyes shut in frustration and fear. He leaned close to the wires and tried to be precise with his aim, not wanting to waste a second more than he had to.

  “I give you a,” her voice paused, “ninety-seven percent chance to make it out alive if you leave now. At the current rate,” another pause, “you will have a point two percent chance of living.”

  He glanced back at the door. The top row of grinners had water up to their necks. Soon, it would reach the platform and it wouldn’t be stopping there.

  Lucas sighed and thought of Julie. She would want him to leave; she’d kill him if he stayed and died. But the whole world might die if he bolted. If he could save a billion people, he’d have to take the point two percent chance.

  “I’m sorry, Julie. I love you so much.” He pressed the laser beam into the wire, willing it to go faster.

  “The water is getting closer.”

  The third wire cut and he moved to the fourth and final wire. Alice let out a small squeak.

  Water sloshed over the top of the bridge and a few grinners floated around in the deep water.

  “I lied,” Alice said.

  “About Julie, I know.”

  “No, about the water. I cannot let it enter my chamber. I am going to divert the last of my power to my shield. If you cut that last wire,” she paused, “my shield will collapse. Killing us both.”

  The water reached the bottom of the door into Alice’s house. Tiny waves sloshed against the shield. Lucas took in some air and just then considered he had a limited supply. He looked to the ceiling at the cloud of smoke above him.

  The water reached several feet up the door, grinners pushed against the shield and floated by in a macabre aquarium.

  Halfway through the last wire.

  “I cannot see anymore.” Alice’s voice was filled with pain and fear.

  Lucas winced at the sound but kept firing the beam into the wire. He was the only chance the world had at this point.

  “I cannot feel the world anymore, Lucas. You are killing me.”

  He glanced behind him at the door. The water had reached the top. Grinners moved in and out of visibility in the dark water. Could his Panavice work underwater?

  He turned the screen to face him and brought up the map and light. The dark waters beyond would be upon him at any moment.

  “Tell my sister I tried. Tell her . . . I cannot . . . we both die.”

  The shield collapsed and Lucas sucked in a deep breath as the wave of water slammed him against the wall.

  POLY CLASPED HER UPPER RIGHT chest and felt the warm blood flowing over her hand. She rushed over to Hank who held Joey in his arms. His head leaned back and his arms lay limp at his sides.

  She used her clean, free hand and brushed back his hair. “What’s wrong with him?”

  “I think he used himself up saving us,” Hank struggled to get the words out as he stared at Joey.

  Poly pursed her lips. Why’d he do that to himself? They might have made it out of there. She could have handled a few more of those silver assassins.

  Samantha rushed up next to Poly, observing Joey with tear-filled eyes. “Is he going to be okay?”

  Poly shook her head and held her hand over her mouth. She didn’t know. She didn’t even know what was wrong with him. She looked to the ceiling and the domed metal with mounted machine guns.

  “Oh my god, Poly, you’re bleeding,” Samantha said.

  The steel door to the dome flung open and Jack rushed in. “What happened?”

  “Like you don’t know!” Poly pulled out her sword and rushed at him with her one good arm. She swung, but he sidestepped her pathetic attempt.

  “What are you doing, Poly?” Hank yelled. “Stop it.”

  “They didn’t want their own continent here?” Jack looked confused and kept a distance from Poly as he circled toward Joey.

  “Don’t play dumb. You had to have known. You knew they would all die. You knew they would kill us.”

  “The letter sent with you clearly stated Harris’s intention to carve out a section of Vanar for them to co-exist with us.”

  Poly lowered her sword. Not because she believed in what Jack was spewing, but the weight of the sword felt like a hundred pounds. She felt woozy and tried to blink to make the room come into focus.

  “We need a medic team in the stone room,” Jack commanded into his Panavice. “We’re going to get you guys some help.”

  “Where’s Julie and Lucas?” Hank asked with an accusing tone.

  “Julie’s here. Lucas is trying to shut down Alice.”

  “You guys sent him to his death as well?” Poly expended the last of her energy in the yell and dropped her sword to the floor.

  A medic team rushed in and put her and Joey on gurneys. They rushed them to the same doctor’s room where she first met Almadon. During the whole process of getting her sewed up and stitched, she watched them analyze Joey from across the room. The two nurses shook their heads and looked at many screens around him.

  “What’s wrong with him?” Poly yelled. Hank and Samantha jumped from their chairs at the question, looking at the doctor.

  “He’s in a coma.” She never looked up from the screen.

  “Is he going to be okay?” Poly pleaded.

  She shook her head and looked up. “His cells are fluctuating on a quantum level. I think his body put itself in this coma to deal with it. Right now, it’s a waiting game. He’s got to find a way out of it because we don’t have an answer.”

  Samantha rushed to Joey’s side and took his hand. Poly looked at the tube in her arm. She was thankful for Samantha, she could be next to Joey until she could get off the gurney and over there.

  The double swinging doors in the medical wing flung open and Julie rushed in. Her eye’s caught Poly’s first and she rushed to her side. Poly smiled, she’d missed her friend.

  “Poly, you okay?”

  “Just a graze,” Poly said. She saw the doctor roll her eyes. It wasn’t a graze, in fact if it’d been two inches to the left, she would not have made it.

  Julie’s bright eyes told her she knew she was lying anyways. She looked over her shoulder to Hank and Samantha standing next to Joey. “What’s wrong with Joey?”

  “He saved us again.” Poly struggled to get the words out. “I think he hurt himself in doing it.”

  Julie stared at Joey for a while. His face never changed as he lay on the hospital bed. “He’s special, he’ll make it.”

  “Jack said Lucas’s on some mission?” Poly asked.

  Julie lowered her head. “He’s been gone for a while. Things haven’t been going very well here.”

  Poly stifled her comments about what it had been like in Arrack. She didn’t want to trample on Julie’s pain and she didn’t feel like reliving any of it. “Lucas is tough, he’ll make it through.”

  “It’s not just Lucas . . .” she looked up at Poly. “It’s Harris, he was bitten multiple times.”

  Hank spun around. “Wait, like bitten bitten?�
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  Julie nodded. “They’re trying to work up a cure from Lucas’s blood right now.”

  “Well, as soon as he’s better, I’m going to kill him,” Poly said, blood boiling.

  “Did something happen in Arrack?”

  Poly gave her the cliff notes description of what happened.

  “There has to be something missing, I just can’t imagine Harris doing that. It’s genocide.”

  Poly opened her mouth and then closed it. Julie was right. Harris had done something more horrible than she even thought. It wasn’t just about almost killing them, but about killing an entire race.

  “I’m going to check in with Joey,” Julie said.

  Poly watched her walk over to the crowd growing around Joey. He looked like he was sleeping. A deep sleep she would pull him out of with her bare hands if she had to. She seethed. Harris did this to them. Harris did this to the Arracks. No matter how you felt about them, they were intelligent beings with families and friends. It wasn’t right.

  She sprung up on her bed and looked across the room. Joey still had the crowd around him enthralled, nothing but backs to her. She pulled the hose from her arm and swung her legs off the bed, landing her bare foot on the cold, concrete floor. If Harris was sick, he’d be somewhere close and she aimed on finding him. He had to answer for this.

  She kept an eye on their backs as she tiptoed out of the swinging door, holding it with her hands as it closed. The hallway was empty, but she knew there were more doors, leading to more wings on the medical floor.

  She glided down the hall and pushed open the first door. The room buzzed with activity. Many people laying on beds filled the room. Nurses and people in regular clothes ran around, caring for the injured.

  “What are you doing in here?” a doctor asked her.

  “What happened?”

  The doctor sighed and held his screen against his chest. “Arracks took over Basalt City. We got a few out in time, but we lost the city. Where’d they get you?” He pointed at her bandaged chest.