The Shadow Order - Books 1 - 8 + 120 Seconds (The complete series): A Space Opera

by Michael Robertson

  The others looked far from pleased with Seb’s suggestion, but they didn’t argue. And why would they? They’d all seen what happened when the grubs crawled out of their hosts. They all knew they had a few minutes to get better prepared than they were at present.

  Where the corridor had been stark whiteness and bleached clean, Seb tarnished it by dragging a line of blood behind the first corpse. A massacre had occurred and the shock red against the white highlighted the fact.

  On his trip back to the pile in the doorway, Bruke and SA passed him with their own dead zombies. Sparks didn’t help. Too small to be useful at that moment, the others didn’t need to discuss it to accept her talents lay elsewhere.

  Chapter 26

  The bodies stretched out in a long line down the corridor. The previous white floor ran slick with their blood. It had coated the bottom of Seb’s boots, deep crimson footprints running a trail where he’d walked.

  “We need to take a section each,” Seb said once he’d counted how many there were. “Forty-two bodies in total.” More than he’d initially thought. “You each take ten and I’ll take twelve. Make sure you kill enough grubs for the amount of bodies you have.”

  The middle seemed like the most dangerous place to stand, so Seb took one of the middle sections. SA took the other. Where she’d normally use her knives, she had one of Sparks’ blasters again. It made sense to shoot the things. No point in wasting knives on them when they were so close.

  Only a few more seconds passed before the first blast. Bruke had done it, and although Seb stood quite far away from him on the other side of SA, he still ruffled his nose against the rotten smell of the dead parasite.

  The cheek of a woman by Seb’s foot bulged with the strange squirming movement of one of the grubs. No matter how many times he’d witnessed it, he couldn’t help but cringe at what looked like reanimation.

  Seb shot the woman and the thick reek told him he’d hit the grub.

  “Remember to count the parasites,” Seb reminded the others. “We need to make sure there’s one for every corpse here.”

  Sparks shot next. Then SA. Bruke fired again. Two, three. Seb ripped off several more shots. Five in total. No idea how many the others had left, he had seven more to go.

  Chapter 27

  “Are we good?” Seb said as he looked up and down the line of dead bodies, the white floor red and glistening with their spilled blood. The now familiar buzz ran through his hands to look at all the corpses. So many lives lost because of the rancid-smelling little grubs. If he needed a motivation to eradicate the disgusting things, it lay on the ground at his feet. Once families, friends, and lovers, they’d now all gone to waste.

  When Seb looked to Bruke for his confirmation, the large scaled creature gave him a thumbs-up, but kept his green face staring down at the dead.

  A deep sigh and SA nodded.

  Sparks had already pulled out her small computer, clearly working out what they had to do next. She nodded while staring at the screen. “Yep.”

  “Right,” Seb said and turned towards the next section of the complex. “Let’s go.”

  Seb entered the next corridor then stopped; it looked similar to the one they’d just come from. Just as illuminated as the last, it stretched away from them and had a set of double doors at the end. Although it ran as long as the previous corridor, it only had three rooms down one side of it.

  Before Seb could say anything, Sparks stepped up next to him, her computer still resting on her long palm. She looked down at her screen before pointing at the first room. “That over there’s the canteen. That’s the sports hall. That’s the games room.”

  Bruke and SA walked up behind Seb and Sparks. Before they got too close, Seb moved off in the direction of the first door—the door to the canteen.

  The canteen had a card reader like most other rooms. With a swipe of his card, the red light turned green before the door slid open. When Seb checked the others behind him, SA stepped forwards as if to show she wanted to go in first.

  Seb blocked her way. When she scowled and snapped a sharp shrug at him, he said, “Let me go in first.”

  “SA can handle herself,” Sparks said.

  Another scowl from SA to back up Sparks’ comment, but Seb ignored them and walked through the door. There could be something waiting in there, and although she’d deal with it, it could still go wrong. He’d already lost Gurt. He wouldn’t let SA go too.

  The canteen stretched away from them. Silent and vast, it had the same white floor and walls as the rest of the complex. Rows of white tables ran across the place. Most of the tables had plates on them, some were empty, but many still had stale food on them. The air had the slight funk of decomposition to it. Souring vegetables and gravy. Like a moist compost heap.

  “It looks like a ghost ship,” Bruke said in a low voice, the hiss of his whisper running away from him.

  “I remember hearing rumours about a huge passenger ship called the Faradis,” Sparks said in an equally quiet voice. “It came close to a space station, but they couldn’t get any response when they radioed through. After a few days, they sent a platoon out to board it. It looked like this apparently. As if the crew had just … vanished.”

  Bruke gasped, the sound running across the still canteen. He then whispered again, “What happened?”

  “I don’t know,” Sparks said, “but apparently the food was still warm and the coffee still hot.”

  A chill threatened to twist through Seb, but he shrugged it off. He couldn’t get dragged into nonsensical ghost stories. He whispered, “Probably some kind of time/space anomaly.”

  “That only took the ship’s crew?” Sparks said. “And took them a moment before the platoon entered?”

  Seb shrugged, and before Sparks could say anything else, he walked to the closest meal. When he pressed his finger against the food, he could feel the group collectively hold their breath. Still keeping his voice low, he hissed, “It’s still warm.”

  Bruke whined and stepped back towards the door. Sparks stared at Seb with wide open eyes. SA still looked pissed off with him. Ghosts didn’t scare her.

  “And the coffee,” Seb whispered while picking up a mug, “is still hot.”

  A louder whine and Bruke shook his head.

  “Bloody hell,” Seb said as he looked from Sparks to Bruke, still keeping his voice low. “You two are so gullible. You shouldn’t be worrying about ghosts in this place. We know why the canteen looks like this; it’s because of those bloody parasites. There’s no mystery here.”

  “That’s not funny,” Bruke said, his bottom lip poking out.

  A wry smile and Seb shrugged. “Not for you maybe.” Then before Bruke could start a whispered argument, he added, “The food’s cold like it’s been this way for several days, maybe longer, which is what we expect, right?”

  Bruke dropped his tense shoulders with a hard exhale.

  “Come on,” Seb said as he turned his back on the group and delved deeper into the canteen.

  Even Bruke managed to move quietly as Seb led the way through the place, the butt of his gun pressed into his shoulder while he walked. He’d have taken ghosts over the parasites any day. Ghosts wouldn’t bore into his skin and turn him into a madman.

  Afraid to blink because the grubs were so hard to spot, Seb’s eyes stung as he looked around the room. The infected people weren’t the problem. They could see and hear them from a mile away. The grubs, on the other hand, could spring from anywhere.

  Because Seb had put so much of his focus on scanning the room, he’d failed to look down. When he stepped on a shard of plate on the floor, the loud crack of breaking porcelain popped through the quiet space like a firecracker.

  Seb heard the swift movement behind him of the others raising their weapons. So much for him leading the way and keeping them safe.

  Heat spread through Seb’s cheeks when he turned to the rest of the crew. The words jammed in his throat, so Seb offered them an apologetic shrug i
nstead. SA continued to scowl at him.

  “One good thing about me making that noise,” Seb said, his voice louder than before, “is it’s shown us it’s empty down here.”

  SA still looked pissed. Since they’d landed on Carstic, Seb had totally disempowered her by taking the lead every single time. But he only did it to protect her. Her scowl deepened like she wanted to cause him physical harm. Then she launched a knife at him.

  The blade ran so close to Seb’s face he felt the breeze of it against his left cheek.

  SA had thrown it so quickly, Seb’s world only slipped into slow motion after it had passed him. The whoosh in his ear dragged out because of his slowed perspective finally catching up.

  The sound of the blade embedded into bone behind Seb. He turned around as a zombie fell to the ground. It lay on its back, the knife sticking up from the centre of its face.

  Heavy breaths and Seb’s world sped back up. A look at the downed zombie and back to SA again, and Seb said, “Thank you.”

  She didn’t acknowledge him.

  Chapter 28

  After they’d killed the parasite inside the zombie that nearly got to Seb, they checked the rest of the canteen and the games room. None of them spoke for the entire time and Seb felt SA glaring at him for most of it. But he did his best to ignore her and continued to lead the group. Let her be angry with him. As long as she survived, he’d take her wrath.

  When they reached the entrance to the sports hall, Seb didn’t even look at SA. He strode in first, Sparks tutting at him as he entered the large space.

  The only place in the complex so far—other than the tunnels—not to have a white floor. Soft wood ran the length of the room. It lined the floor as boards butted close enough to one another for there to be no gaps between them. It had various lines in a whole host of colours to mark out different pitches and spaces depending on the game. Basketball rings were attached to the walls. It had a football goal on either side. They even had a climbing wall in one corner. Over in another sectioned-off space, there were skipping ropes, crash mats, and a few other exercise apparatuses.

  The air smelled of stale sweat and dust. Seb ruffled his nose at it. “I suppose it makes sense to have a space like this,” he said, his voice echoing through the large arena. “There can’t be much else to do down here other than play sports.” None of the others replied to him, and when he looked at SA, she turned away.

  “At least there’s nowhere for the zombies to hide.”

  “So you don’t need SA to save your arse in here, you mean?” Sparks said. “Even though you still won’t let her go in before you.”

  Seb shrugged. “I didn’t stand on that plate on purpose.”

  Sparks put her hands on her hips and glared at Seb. She then pointed at SA with one of her long fingers. “In front of you is one of the most badass beings I’ve ever met. She’d kick your arse in a heartbeat.”

  Although Seb baulked at the comment, his mind flashed back to how his gift had only kicked in once the knife had passed him. As much as his ego wanted him to fight for it, he had nothing.

  “But all you’ve done since we’ve been down here is push her back and patronise her. You’ve been doing it since we landed. You’re constraining her at every turn. And then you do things like standing on the plate and put us all in danger.”

  Seb opened his mouth, but Sparks cut him off.

  “And to see how you walked in here. In your haste to be the first in every room, you’re getting reckless and putting all our lives at risk.”

  “But …” Seb looked at SA and back to Sparks.

  “You’ve got to use her for what she does best.”

  “I don’t want her to get hurt.” Seb’s face flushed hot when he looked at SA. His voice wavered. “I don’t want any of you to get hurt. I could have helped Gurt on Solsans. I could have healed him. Maybe if I’d stayed back for a few seconds longer. Maybe if I hadn’t asked any of you to follow me into battle.”

  “You didn’t ask us,” Sparks said.

  Bruke then said, “And when Gurt got injured, you had to go after Sparks. She would have died on her own in the Countess’ palace.”

  The pain of Gurt’s passing ripped at Seb as if a tear ran through the core of his being. Before he could say anything, Bruke added, “You couldn’t save them both. You made the choice Gurt wanted you to make. And you believed Gurt would be okay. You had to go after Sparks and the Countess. You had to end her reign.”

  Seb looked back at SA, the starkness of her bioluminescent gaze boring straight into him. “I can’t lose anyone else.” He shook to even think about saying it in front of the others, but he kept his focus on her and said it anyway. “Especially you.”

  The hard frown on SA’s face cracked for the briefest moment.

  Sparks put a hand on Seb’s lower back and spoke with a soft tone. “But can’t you see you’re driving her away with how you’re being? In trying to protect her, you’ll make her hate you.” She pointed at SA. “That bird should never be caged, Seb, no matter how good your intentions are.”

  As much as Seb wanted to argue, he didn’t have a response. He continued to stare at SA and she continued to stare back. Two steps towards her closed the distance between them. He reached out and lifted her hands up in his. “I’m sorry,” he said, a crack in his voice as he thought about Gurt. “I just couldn’t live with myself if you died too. I can see I’ve been an arsehole.”

  SA’s eyebrows rose in the middle and her eyes shifted from side to side as she looked into one of his eyes and then the other.

  “You think we don’t all feel the pain of losing Gurt?” Sparks then said. “We’re all struggling with it, but no one blames you, Seb.”

  “But you came back to fight beside me. To join in a war I started.”

  “We came back because you were fighting for a good cause. We wanted to fight for it too. You need to stop blaming yourself. We all made our own choice. We’re all adults.”

  Seb still hadn’t let go of SA’s hands, and when he looked at her, she nodded along with Sparks. “Can we start again?” he said. “I’ll try to stop crushing you. Although that was never my intention, I can see now how it must make you feel. I don’t think you’re weak. Sparks is right, you’d kick my arse.”

  A broad smile spread across SA’s face and she covered her mouth as if to stifle a laugh.

  “And you’ve saved me on more than one occasion. I never meant to disrespect you. My intentions have always been true, even if my actions are a little misguided.” The words kept coming, running away with Seb as he said, “I just wanted to—”

  But before Seb could say anything else, SA leaned forwards and kissed him on the cheek.

  So close he felt her body heat, Seb’s head spun and his heart raced. Any words that had been in his mind before then vanished and his breathing quickened.

  It took for Sparks to say, “Come on,” as she left the sports hall—the others following her—before Seb moved again. This time he let the others lead the way to the double doors between them and the mining section.

  Chapter 29

  Seb rode the high of SA’s kiss out of the gym. For the first time since they’d landed on Carstic, he let go of his need to control. The others were adults and could look after themselves. The warmth of SA’s lips still remained against his cheek. How long would he have to wait before she did it again?

  The same white glare Seb had got used to hit him when he stepped out of the dusty gym into the stark corridor. The smell of sweat and dust gave way to the disinfectant reek of bleach tinged with rot.

  Sparks led the way, SA and Bruke walking side by side behind her. For the first time since they’d been down there, Seb held back.

  By the keycard reader with her mini-computer in her hand, Sparks looked at the screen as she said, “I’d suggest leaving your blasters here. There are strong traces of ruthane on the other side of this door. It’s safe to breathe, but a laser blast will set the place off like an atomic bomb.
Oh, and SA, you might want to leave your knives too. A spark from one of them could also ignite the air.”

  Although SA put her gun she’d borrowed from Sparks down, she kept her knives strapped to her. She pulled out two and held one in each hand. As if to reassure Sparks she could use them responsibly, she gripped them hard and held them up to her.

  “As long as you don’t throw them,” Sparks said.

  SA nodded her compliance.

  After SA and Bruke stepped away from placing their weapons by the door, Seb walked over and put his semi-automatic down. When he turned around, he made eye contact with SA, who smiled at him. Heat rushed through his cheeks and he smiled back.

  While Seb stood there, grinning like an idiot, he nearly didn’t see it. The slightest of movements, something dropped from the ceiling in his peripheral vision. His world slipped into slow motion and he turned to see the grub land on Sparks’ arm. Before he could react, the thing had burrowed its fat head through her sleeve.

  Too late to stop it, Seb shouted, “No!” and rushed to his friend.

  Although he grabbed her right arm and lifted it, the grub had already vanished from sight. It left a stain of blood on her shirt.

  Seb dug his fingers into the hole on Sparks’ sleeve and tore it wider. The space where the grub had just burrowed into had healed up already. Had he imagined it? But his hands buzzed with the need to heal her. “What the?”

  A look at the others and Seb said, “Did you guys see that?” He spun back to Sparks before giving them a chance to respond. “Did a grub just dig into you?”

  But Sparks didn’t reply. Instead, she stared at Seb with a blank gaze.

  “Sparks?”

  Before Seb could say anything else, a convulsion snapped through Sparks and her eyes rolled back in her head.

  The echo of Seb’s voice ran away from him up the empty corridor, his desperation thrown back at him several-fold. “Sparks?!”