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

by Ryan, Matt

  “Oh, not far from here.”

  Poly eyed the Basalt City Hospital below the name tag of Dr. Perry. “I’m sorry.”

  The doctor nodded his head and rushed to a nurse’s side. Poly walked into the room and felt the bandage on her shoulder. It seemed like a flesh wound compared to the ones displayed on the many suffering people in the room. Thoughts of Harris fled her mind. She wanted to help, she could do something for them. Harris would have to wait.

  She grabbed at the sleeve of a nurse. “Can I help?”

  The nurse seemed relieved by the offer. “Yes, can you check on the gentleman in room thirty-two?”

  Poly nodded and walked in between two men on gurneys moaning from their pain. Guilt hit her. Why were Joey and her being kept in the posh room with more people than patients? She frowned and thought she’d have a word with Doctor Perry after she checked on this man.

  She pushed open the steel door marked with a thirty-two and entered the room. It was a small space, with a few instruments scattered around and a man strapped against a table. Poly gasped and held her hand over her mouth. Harris lay on the table, at least it looked like Harris. His skin had turned to a shade of gray and his breaths wheezed in and out.

  She brushed up against the bottom of his bed and put a hand on the white sheet. The straps wrapped over his feet and arms. Three more were draped over his chest. He blinked his eyes open.

  “Is that you, Poly?” He lifted his head and squinted.

  She felt the anger building up in her and she pulled out her dagger. She moved closer to his face and he watched her with interest.

  “You here to kill me?”

  She didn’t answer, letting the anger build, pushing it to her shaky hand. She crept closer to his head with the dagger and held it over him.

  “What happened?”

  “Like you don’t know.”

  “I guess they didn’t take the treaty?”

  “What treaty? You killed them.”

  Harris coughed. “What?”

  “The envelope opened a cloud onto them, killing them all.” She could stick the dagger behind his ear, it’d be painless.

  “No, I gave you a letter.”

  “I won’t let you kill them.”

  “I’ll be dead soon. Is Lucas back?”

  “Did you send him to his death as well?”

  “I hope not. Are you going to kill me, Poly?” Harris plopped his head down on the pillow and looked at the ceiling. “You’d be doing me a favor.”

  “I’m going to stop you from ever hurting us again.”

  “Good, I don’t want to turn. I don’t want to become one of them.”

  The dagger shook in Poly’s hand next to the side of Harris’s head. She clasped the hilt with her second hand. Harris lay staring at the ceiling, his lips mumbling incoherent words.

  “Do it!” Harris screamed and Poly jerked back. Harris lowered his head back on the pillow. “I don’t think I have much longer.”

  “Turn your head sideways.”

  Harris turned his head away from her. She stared at the spot behind his ear and held the dagger above him with both hands. It would be a mercy kill as much as anything else. She sniffed up the snot in her nose and squeezed the dagger with both hands. She couldn’t stop from shaking.

  “Thank you, Poly.”

  LUCAS OPENED HIS EYES ONCE the space had filled with water and shot to the top of the tiny computer room. He reached his hands to the domed ceiling and felt a pocket of air, not much but maybe enough for another breath.

  With his mouth leading the way, he pursed his lips and felt them reach air. He exhaled and then took a few breaths in and out. The smoky air was bearable, but not all that pleasant. He opened his eyes, the soft light of his Panavice lit the metal ceiling. He had maybe six inches of space and he sucked in the air. He felt the panic building in him. Being trapped underwater, nowhere near an escape, with Alice giving him a point two percent chance of making it. The statistic seemed generous at this point. He suppressed the panic and thought of Julie, she still needed him, and he needed her. He’d get back to her, or die trying.

  Formulating a plan in his head, Lucas pulled in a deep breath. He plunged under the water and kicked off the screen that once held Alice’s face, launching himself into the sea of grinners. Some of the bodies still moved and brushed against him with their flailing arms. He pushed past them and angled his body forward into the dark waters ahead.

  A crowd of them blocked his path and he grabbed at their bodies, climbing over them. He kicked off the last one in the heap and swam toward where he thought the door was. The door out of the room should be straight ahead, but the darkness and grinners blocked any chance of seeing it. He kept swimming, hoping he hadn’t turned around, then he spotted the small doorway.

  Pulling himself into the next room, he kicked against the wall and swam toward the stairs. He brushed against the chain-link, pushed his fingers in the wire and pulled his body along. Lucas felt the pressure to breathe. His body screamed at him. He thought of Julie, her face, her body, he would make it back to her.

  He yanked another section of chain-link and kept propelling himself toward the stairs. The exertion forced a small bubble of air out and he slammed his mouth shut tight, trying not to release any more air. His chest began to hurt and he felt his heart pounding.

  The stairs came into view, but his muscles lost some of their punch, like he weighed too much. His ears ached and he felt the life fleeting from his body. He kicked his feet hard and got into the staircase. Grabbing the handrail, Lucas pulled himself up with one hand, using the other to hold the Panavice out front to light the way. His body pushed out spurts of air with each pull, he couldn’t control it anymore.

  The last of his air spewed from his mouth and disappeared into the darkness above him. The fight to breathe stopped and calm washed over him. The pain in his chest stopped. He should have died long ago, how long had he been under the water? Three minutes? His body convulsed. His chest jerked and he fought the urge to cough. He knew if he opened his mouth for a split second, water would fill his lungs.

  Lucas frantically searched and begged his hand to find the railing. His fingers wrapped around the smooth steel handrail. His hand pulled on the handrails as if operating with its own mind. The stairs passed by as he moved up. He grabbed another rail, keeping his momentum up. He stopped looking above him and just kept watching the railings pass by.

  How deep was the water? Was the ocean above him now? He felt everything slipping away. Julie. He’d failed her. She wouldn’t find his body, and would never know what truly happened to him. She’d know he knocked out Alice, but the after part would be a mystery. It wasn’t fair to her. She was stubborn and would probably try to get in this hell to find him.

  Lucas felt his consciousness slipping. He wasn’t sure if his eyes were closed, or if he could no longer see. His arms kept moving. More railings. He didn’t even have the urge to breathe anymore. His body had given up. Maybe he could suck in the water and end it all. He should be dead. How long had it been, five minutes?

  He felt small spikes in his mind, like needles pressing into his brain. How many stairs were there? His chest beat thumped out a slow beat. It must be the end. His heart or brain couldn’t take it, even if his body somehow could.

  The last railing slowly passed by, he kept floating up by momentum, but that was it. His arms lay at his sides, nothing more in them to give. He couldn’t have asked for better arms. They’d done their job as long as they could. He floated up, staring at the railing as he passed by. He brought some water into his mouth and thought of Julie. If he had any air, he would have apologized to her for dying.

  His mind didn’t even recognize when it breached the surface; didn’t take in the breathable air around him at first. He opened his eyes and with a last thought in his needle-ridden brain, he sucked in the air. His heart begged for the fuel and the rest of his body filled in pain.

  With his second breath, Lucas scream
ed out and pulled in another breath. His arms began to work again, keeping him floating at the rising surface. He rose an inch at a time, with the water. His whole body had shots of pain, like a million needles stabbing at every inch of his body. But he didn’t care, he welcomed the pain, it meant he was alive.

  He felt with his feet for the steps and climbed up the stairs, getting his whole body out of the cold water. He looked to the door number and realized he only had one more floor to go until he got to the stone room floor. He had to get there before it flooded, for Julie.

  Take your point two percent and shove it, Alice.

  “POLY, NO!” JULIE YELLED.

  The words shocked Poly and the dagger dropped from her hand, landing on the pillow next to Harris’s head. “Jeez, Julie.” She snatched up the dagger.

  “You were going to kill him? I thought you were just speaking out back there.”

  Poly wiped her nose and with her shaky hand, stuffed the dagger in its sheath at her hip. Harris hadn’t moved since Julie’s arrival. He’d fallen asleep while waiting for the dagger to end his life. Would she have actually killed him?

  “He wanted me too, said he didn’t want to turn.”

  Julie shook her head. “He wouldn’t say that, they just injected him with a cure.”

  “A cure?” Poly turned to face Harris. She wanted to shake him awake. Why was he trying to get her to kill him? He should’ve died for what he did to Arracks, maybe he felt the same way. Well, she wouldn’t give Harris such pleasure as an easy exit. She glared at his quiet face, the anger building for trying to fool her into thinking he was dying.

  “He did it!” Julie squealed, looking at her Panavice.

  Poly jerked back from the noise. “What? Who?”

  “Alice. Lucas did it, she’s gone.” Julie’s joy left her face and she grasped the Panavice against her chest.

  “What is it?”

  “I don’t know, I just feel like something’s wrong. I’m going to the stone room to wait for Lucas.” Julie opened the door and held it. Waiting, she raised an eyebrow at Poly.

  Poly stomped past her. “Oh, for cripes’ sake, I wasn’t going to do it!”

  JULIE RAN TOWARD THE STONE room. She reached the door and bolted down the stairs. A mixture of excitement and fear played with her emotions and she pushed the door open to the hallway containing the stone room. Something didn’t feel right, she felt as if Lucas needed her—was calling to her. The fear built up. He was in trouble, she just knew it.

  She ran down the hall to the steel doorway and pulled it open. She lit up the room with her Panavice, searching for Lucas, but he wasn’t there.

  “Lucas?” she called out. Her voice echoed around the empty dome.

  She sat on the floor and waited. If she had to wait a week or a month, she’d do it. After a few minutes, she began to rock back and forth. Jumping to her feet, she paced next to the stone. He might be in trouble, right next to the stone . . . she could just jump there and grab him. She sighed at her silly thought. How long did it take Harris to get bitten?

  “Where are you?” She stared at the stone, squeezing her Panavice.

  Soon, she lost the ability to control her breathing. He should definitely be back by now, something had to be wrong. She couldn’t stop the bad thoughts from entering her head. She set her Panavice on the floor so she could fling her hands around more while she paced. Then she heard the noise she had been praying for.

  Calming herself and trying not to look like a freak, she waited to wrap him up in a hug. “Lucas?” She stumbled backward and fell on her butt.

  “Well, isn’t this convenient,” Emmett said. He typed into the stone.

  Julie ran for the door and jumped toward it. She crashed into the side of a chair and fell on the floor of an elaborate house.

  “No, no, I have to get back. Lucas, he needs me,” she wailed at Emmett. He placed his hands on her and she fought back with all her might, but he held her like a child and she felt the needle sliding into her neck.

  “Lucas,” was the last thing she got out before losing consciousness.

  THE BUZZING SOUND. IT SEEMED distant, lost deep in the dark, Joey searched for the noise in the darkness, but it came from everywhere. He opened his eyes and a bright white light blocked anything from coming into focus. He sat up on the stiff bed and swung his legs off to the side.

  The buzzing sound pounded into his hurting head. His body felt weary, he felt as if he’d lost all his muscles. He rubbed his eyes, trying to make out the moving shapes in front of him.

  “He’s awake,” Hank yelled.

  People rushed to him. He blinked, making out Hank’s smiling face. Poly stood next to him and Samantha. “We made it?”

  “Yeah, you saved our butts back there,” Hank said.

  Joey forced a smile. The buzzing sound pounded against his thoughts. “Tell me you hear that?”

  “Yeah, it just started going off, some kind of fire drill.”

  The doors flung open and Jack ran into the room. “You got to see this.” His Panavice projected an image of Julie in a stone room, pacing around. Then a man appeared. Joey squinted and held his breath as he saw Emmett glance at the camera before typing into the stone as Julie ran across the room.

  The image turned off and Jack blurted out, “He has Julie.”

  Joey slid off the bed and onto his weak legs. He saw his guns and holsters next to his bed and strapped them on.

  “You’re not going anywhere, Joey.” Poly protested his movements. What choice did he have? He was the only one who knew the codes to Marcus’s house. Plus, Emmett had Julie.

  “You just woke from a coma, Joey,” Samantha chimed in.

  The buzzing sound made him dizzy. He closed his eyes and told his legs they better work when he tried to walk out that door. He stepped and they obeyed his wishes. He kept a pace toward the door, with Samantha, Hank, Poly, and Jack in tow. The arguments from everyone blurred into the buzzing sound and the fog in his head.

  A hand grabbed him by the shoulder and spun him around. He liked to think he couldn’t be overpowered by Poly, but he just was.

  “I thought you were dying.” Her face filled with emotion and the tears welled in her eyes. He hated seeing her like that.

  “I’m sorry,” he didn’t have the wits at the moment to come up with something to encapsulate the way he felt, so he wrapped his arms around her in an embrace. Breathing in her scent, he felt her body against his. It would be easy to get lost in those arms, but he had a job to do, whether Poly liked it or not.

  He let her go and turned when Harris appeared in the hallway, looking like a grinner. Joey’s heart raced and he pulled out his gun.

  “Don’t kill him,” Poly said and put a hand on his arm.

  Harris made eye contact and nodded his head.

  Joey lowered his gun. “What happened to you?”

  “Grinners,” Poly said.

  “You okay, Harris?” Hank asked.

  “No, but we don’t have time. I saw the footage of Emmett, I believe he’s going to kill Julie for Alice.”

  “Alice is gone,” Poly said. “Julie said Lucas stopped her.”

  “He doesn’t know that.”

  “Fine, we all go then.” Poly grabbed Joey’s arm and moved down the hallway, pulling him along.

  He studied their crew and held back a laugh. He might be at twenty percent, Harris looked like the dead walking, and Poly’s arm dangled at her side with a large bandage over her chest. Hank might be the only one fully capable of taking down Emmett.

  They made their way to the stone room and Samantha yelled, “Lucas!”

  Lucas lay on the floor next to the stone, soaking wet. Harris hobbled to his side. “He’s alive.”

  “Yeah, I’m alive.” Lucas climbed to his feet.

  “You made it?” Poly asked.

  “Piece of cake.” Lucas surveyed the room and stumbled back a bit. He used his arms to steady himself. “Where’s Julie?”

  “Emmett has
her, we were just about to go get her back.”

  “How could you guys let this happen?” He asked with his hands out. He ran his hand through his wet hair and punched the air. Wide-eyed, Lucas then grabbed for his chest and gritted his teeth. “I’m going to kill him.”

  “Let’s hope you get the chance,” Harris said.

  “He’ll be expecting us,” Samantha said.

  “I don’t care.” Lucas stared at the top of the stone as he paced.

  Joey gripped him on the shoulder. “Last time I was there, he only had a few guards. We have better than a chance.”

  Lucas turned and stumbled backward. He wrung out his hands and reached for his back. “Prudence . . .” He searched the floor and then paused, looking at the stone. “It must have fallen off.” Everyone stared Lucas. “What are we waiting on?” he yelled.

  “Take one of my guns,” Harris handed Lucas a gun. “Once we are in there, don’t think twice, kill first. Everyone ready?” he asked.

  Joey took in a deep breath, pulled out a gun and nodded his head. He glanced at his friends and knew they were ready as well. Except Samantha, who appeared to be in a state of shock. “Samantha, just kneel down behind me and Poly. We’ve got you covered.”

  She shook her head. “Give me one of those guns.”

  Joey hesitated but complied. He made sure he pushed the safety on and showed her how to flick it off before she shot. Samantha held the gun in her hand and stood straight.

  Poly moved close to him and gave him a scowl. “And don’t for any reason go into your “speedygonejoey” stuff. You got it?” Her firm tone demanded obedience.

  He nodded in agreement—the way his head felt, he hoped he could move at regular speeds, let alone light speed.

  Joey’s hand moved over the stone. What a strange group they had become. He had a gun out, pointed up, like he was going to shoot something in the sky. Hank stood at the very edge, hands out like a bear about to attack. Poly moved three blades to her left hand and a fourth cocked back in her right hand, waiting for the moment. Lucas looked odd holding a gun, but he’d been trained to use one like the rest of them. They were going to get Julie back.