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

by Michael Robertson

  Chapter 30

  Another several convulsions followed straight on the heels of the first as Sparks fitted in Seb’s grip. He had a hold of the tops of both of her arms, his shoulders and pecs locked tight as he tried to keep her still. But it seemed pointless, restraining her wouldn’t stop the parasite from taking her over.

  White splutters of foam stuttered from Sparks’ mouth, and the purple eyes Seb knew so well had rolled back in her head. He only saw the whites of her eyeballs.

  Then they snapped back, the purple irises gone as Sparks fixed Seb with the same red glare he now associated with the zombies. They’d lost her. His stomach sank and a lump clawed at his throat. But he wouldn’t give up on her. No way.

  As Seb stared into his friend’s small face—her blood-red glare magnified behind her glasses—his breaths ran away with him. “This isn’t going to happen to you, Sparks.”

  She might have only been tiny, but when Sparks raised her top lip in a snarl and glared rage at Seb, he jolted backwards from the shock of it. For a moment, he almost let go of her.

  Seb quickly regained his senses, and in one fluid movement, he slipped around behind her, gripped her with one arm across her small chest, and used his free hand to hold the spot on her right arm where the grub had burrowed into.

  Since their trip to Solsans, Seb’s hands had buzzed whenever he got close to a wounded being. Even corpses triggered his desire to heal them. But now, with his grip over the space where the grub had burrowed into Sparks, he felt nothing. The buzzing desire to heal her only moments ago must have come from where the creature had entered her. But that had fully healed now.

  “Come on,” Seb shouted as Sparks twisted and writhed against his restraint.

  Growls and snarls, Sparks angled her face in Seb’s direction and bit at the air separating them. Desperate to attack him, she twisted and writhed to try to get free of his tight hold.

  Not knowing what else to do, Seb kept his hand over the spot where the grub had entered her body, but still no buzz ran through his hand. “You can beat this, Sparks.” A blurred vision from his tears and he shouted so loud his voice broke. “Not again. This isn’t going to happen again. No way.”

  Both SA and Bruke watched Seb. He opened his mouth to shout at them to do something, but what could they do? What could any of them do? Before he could say anything else, SA turned and ran back into the sports hall they’d just emerged from.

  Chapter 31

  SA returned from the gym with one of the skipping ropes in her hands.

  “What are you doing?” Seb said to her. Not that he’d get an answer.

  When she got close enough, she made a motion to show him she wanted to tie Sparks up.

  “And then what?” Seb said, his pulse racing as he tried to hold onto his rage. “What can we do with her then?”

  “She’ll be easier for us to take with us that way,” Bruke said.

  Seb scowled at the green beast. “What do you know?”

  Bruke stepped back a couple of paces as if Seb’s words had dealt him a physical blow. He pressed his hand against his chest, clearly hurt by Seb’s attack.

  Seb’s pulse raced and he gritted his teeth. “Acting like that isn’t going to help. It’s about time you grew a spine.” The edges of his vision blurred as his gift threatened to kick in.

  SA reached over and put a hand on Seb’s shoulder. The serene bioluminescent gaze calmed him a little, and when he felt Sparks fight harder than before to get at SA, he let go of some of the tension in his body. They had to restrain her so she didn’t harm them.

  A heavy sigh and Seb nodded. “You’re right. I’m sorry, Bruke.”

  Not one to hold a grudge, the apology seemed to be enough for Bruke, who stepped forward and said, “Let me hold her while SA ties her up.”

  Seb waited for Bruke to take Sparks. He then stepped away, watching the other two tie her arms to her sides with the skipping rope.

  “I’m going to find a way to help her,” Seb said as he took in his bound little friend. “Even if it means taking her back with us to Aloo. I’ll fight Moses to make sure she gets the best medical care. I’m going to find a way to fix her.”

  The other two didn’t reply. Seb saw in their concerned frowns that they wanted to help her as much as he did.

  Chapter 32

  Seb wanted to abort the mission there and then. Sparks had now become his number one priority. But Moses wouldn’t pick them up if they didn’t eradicate the parasites from the mines. And they couldn’t fly out of there now their pilot had been compromised.

  A look at the still-sealed doors to the mine, Seb said, “We need to get this section cleared as quickly as possible so we can get the hell out of here.” Bruke had stepped several paces back with Sparks in his arms. “Are you sure you’re okay holding her?”

  “With no weapons allowed beyond those doors—” Bruke grimaced as he fought against the fitting Sparks “—I’ve got nothing else to offer. I’m best suited to keeping her restrained.”

  Not strictly true, but he certainly had less to offer than the other two. It made sense for Bruke to keep a hold of Sparks. Between Seb and SA, they could face whatever came their way.

  “Okay,” Seb said and walked up to the closed doors separating them from the mines. He drove a hard punch against them, the boom of his blow calling out into the area beyond.

  The group hadn’t exactly been quiet up until that point, but the sound seemed to stir up the zombies on the other side. It took just a few seconds for their screams to light up the air and for the stampeding rush of footsteps to come towards them.

  An increased heart rate from the sound, Seb jumped when the first thud crashed against the other side of the doors. Several more bodies slammed against the doors after it.

  Seb moved over to the card reader and looked at SA. “I’ll open the door and then join you in the fight, yeah?”

  The same calm look she always wore, SA raised her knives to show she was ready.

  Just before he could swipe his card through the reader, Seb heard Sparks making more noise than before. When he looked at her, she seemed even more agitated than previously, spittle flying from her mouth as she twisted and shook in Bruke’s grip.

  SA looked back at her too.

  Seb frowned at her behaviour before he said, “It’s like—”

  “She can sense the zombies on the other side,” Bruke finished for him.

  “Yeah.” The sound on the other side of the door picked up, so the yells and screams rang even louder. “And they can sense her.”

  A deep breath to settle himself and Seb looked at SA again. “I’m not sure that tells us anything we didn’t already know. The zombies aren’t exactly quiet, so it’s not like we need an early warning. You ready?”

  SA nodded, so Seb ran his card through the reader. The red light on the screen turned green.

  Chapter 33

  The stench of ruthane, or rather, the flatulent reek of the additive mixed with the gas, rushed forward with the wave of zombies.

  They ran straight at SA, who looked as calm as ever. A tight grip on her blades, she dropped down into a defensive crouch. Being the first thing the creatures were faced with, every one of them headed for her.

  It gave Seb the opportunity to surprise them. He ran from the side, his world slowing down as he got close to the first one. But he stopped short of the pack.

  It had been hard enough to kill the zombies before. Especially when he’d seen the lives they’d lived; connected with them as human beings. But now, with Sparks as one of them, he froze. They were the victims in all of this. They deserved saving like he planned to save Sparks.

  A woman then jumped at Seb and he caught sight of her attack in his peripheral vision. Too slow to react, he noticed the woman’s mouth stretch wide as she readied to bite him.

  Moments before she sank her teeth into him, a glint of a blade flashed through the air and embedded in the side of her face. Without SA, he would be dead ten times
over by now. The fight left the woman as she turned limp mid-flight and crashed at Seb’s feet.

  Seb looked at SA. She’d already pulled out a new blade and continued fighting the majority of the crowd. She had them beat by the look of things.

  It helped snap Seb out of it. He couldn’t save them all. He swung for the next zombie close to him. The crunch of bone responded to his catching her clean on the temple. Her legs folded beneath her and she turned limp like many of the others.

  Every blow hurt Seb’s heart. But they needed taking down. If he had any chance of getting Sparks and the others off Carstic, the creatures in front of them needed to be gone.

  Besides, the zombies looked tormented. Twisted masks of suffering, Seb punched another one square in the face, dropping it with one blow like he had most of them. And he couldn’t take them all back to the Shadow Order’s base. Hell, he’d have a fight just getting Sparks back there.

  By the time Seb had dropped three or four of the creatures, SA had taken out twice that amount and she didn’t look like slowing down any time soon.

  Seb saw his own remorse in SA’s expression, but they were doing what they had to. These things needed to be stopped. He punched the next creature to come near him.

  Chapter 34

  “Only fifteen this time,” Seb said as they stood over the bodies of the fallen. They’d killed every grub to come from their mouths and the air reeked of ruthane and rot.

  “Although, I suppose it makes sense,” Seb said. “There would be more of them in the communal areas because there would have been more hosts there. Hopefully we’ve got them all now.”

  A cocked eyebrow from SA made Seb nod. “You’re right, we can’t expect it to be free of zombies down there. And the grubs have to be coming from somewhere too, I suppose.”

  Seb looked at Bruke and then Sparks. She’d calmed down a little. Now all the grubs had been killed, she seemed far less agitated. The same twist of fury might have distorted her features, but it looked muted compared to what he’d witnessed only moments before.

  A nervous Bruke said, “I reckon she’ll give us an early warning when the grubs or zombies are near.”

  Not surprising, he felt nervous about that; the mines could have hundreds of the little worms in them still. They didn’t choose for Sparks to be in her current state, but they might as well make the most of it. If she served as an early warning system, they should use it. They needed all the help they could get. Hard not to be facetious, Seb finally said, “Every cloud and that.”

  The mine section of the complex looked much more like the tunnel they’d entered through. It had exposed rock on the walls rather than soil. The ground looked to be as infirm and soggy. Wires ran every which way from where they hadn’t bothered to conceal them. Poor lighting from solitary bulbs hung from the ceiling.

  “This should be fun,” Seb said as he stared ahead, his voice running down the tunnel away from them.

  Silence from Bruke and SA. Although, what did he expect?

  “Right,” Seb said, his stomach twisting tighter to look into the gloom. “We need to get this done. Get this place cleared out. Bruke, watch Sparks for any sign of a reaction. We need to get down there, clear the grubs and zombies out, and get back to Aloo. Does anyone have anything else to add?”

  A look at SA and her deep frown and Seb laughed. “Sounds like a simple plan, doesn’t it?”

  Although SA continued to look at him, her expression remained unchanged.

  Before they moved off, Seb said, “Oh, one more thing.” He walked up to Sparks and fished the radio from her top pocket. She snarled and snapped, biting at the space between her and his hand. But Bruke restrained her well enough to prevent her from being a threat.

  Once he’d freed the radio, Seb pressed the button on the side of it. It hissed before connecting with the shuttle that had brought them in. “This is Seb. We’re going to need someone to pick us up in about thirty minutes.”

  “Why can’t you fly out?”

  “Our pilot …” Seb paused for a moment before he said, “She’s hurt. She can’t possibly fly.”

  Static hissed from the radio’s speaker for a few seconds and Seb looked at both Bruke and SA. They watched the radio, waiting like him.

  “Okay,” the voice finally came through, “see you up top in thirty minutes.”

  “Thank you, over and out.”

  Despite the vicious Sparks doing everything she could to get at him again, Seb slipped the radio back into her top pocket. Like she’d done only moments previously, she bit and thrashed in her desperation to make any kind of contact with him.

  “SA,” Seb said, “you move much more quietly than I do. Can you lead the way?”

  Of course she saw Seb’s request as a way to make up for being a douche, but SA nodded all the same and walked with her usual grace into the third and final section of the mining complex. Seb followed her with Bruke and Sparks close behind.

  They’d walked no more than five or six paces before Sparks grew more agitated again.

  SA stopped and looked back at her.

  The small Thrystian’s red eyes had widened and she bit at the air. She twisted and turned, growled and spat.

  However, when Seb looked down into the darkness, he couldn’t see anything. He couldn’t hear anything either. The usual stampede didn’t come at them. “Maybe she’s not an early warning system.”

  Before Bruke could reply, Seb saw it. One at first, it moved over land as a small fat projectile. His world slowed down again just as he said, “Grubs.”

  Before the first one had reached them, a wave of them rolled from the darkness behind it. Seb fought against his rising panic and muttered, “Shit!”

  Chapter 35

  Seb had no blasters now they’d entered the next section, and SA couldn’t risk throwing her knives. They waited for the onrushing grubs to come to them. There looked to be an impossible amount and it took all he had not to turn tail and run.

  When the first one got close enough, Seb stamped down hard. The creature’s fat little body gave the slightest resistance before it popped like a sauce sachet.

  Several more came at them and it took all Seb had to keep his head.

  At first they came forward in ones and twos, but soon more and more rushed behind them. Every stamp on the hard ground ran up Seb’s legs and stung his knees, but he crushed five, six, seven of the grotesque things at a time.

  One landed on Seb’s shin. A quick bat with his hand and he knocked it away. It left a hole in the fabric of his trousers. To look at it damn near paralysed him. So close to becoming a zombie. But he didn’t have time to think about it. He stamped on several more of the gross little bugs.

  The reek of rot hung heavier than ever. The floor glistened with their spilled essence. At least one hundred grubs down already, the pack didn’t show any sign of thinning.

  All the while, Seb listened to Sparks fitting behind them. She snarled and growled, riled up by the presence of so many of the parasites. He wanted to go to his friend and calm her down. But the only thing that would do that would be the complete eradication of the grubs. Then he could comfort her all he wanted.

  Even when stamping on the parasites, SA moved with grace. A frantic dance, she squashed them in groups. She coped better than Seb. He’d been a fool to think he could protect her.

  Another grub landed on Seb. This time on his arm while he’d been watching SA. He looked down to see the back end of it vanish inside his shirt.

  Chapter 36

  Were it not for his world moving in slow motion, then Seb would have gone the way of Sparks. The very slightest sting of the grub bit into his flesh. He wedged his fingers in the hole in his shirt, gripped the back of its fat little body, and halted its potentially deadly progress.

  Squishy in his grip, Seb dragged the creature out. It writhed and twisted, snapping from side to side. He threw it back down the tunnel with the others and returned to stamping them out.

  They’d agreed i
t would have been better for SA not to use her knives, but as the rush of grubs thinned a little, she launched one behind them in the direction of Sparks and Bruke.

  The blade glinted in the poor light as it flew straight through the thick body of one of the grubs. It cut the thing in two, dropping it before it could reach Bruke.

  The knife continued to fly at the rocky wall and Seb’s shoulders wound tight. It hit it. Thankfully it didn’t make a spark. A relieved sigh and he looked back at the ever-calm SA. They should have trusted she could use her knives appropriately in the highly explosive mine. The blades were an extension of her and she knew them intimately.

  Chapter 37

  Bruke had been correct to point out how much Sparks helped them in her current state. To look at her calmer, but still furious face made Seb nod. “I think that’s all of them. There may be more farther down, but I think we’re good for the immediate area.”

  The floor ran slick with the clear liquid that filled the grubs. The smell of rot hung so heavy, Seb heaved several times, lifting the acidic burn of bile on the back of his throat.

  After a look at SA, Seb nodded and said, “You were amazing. Let’s hope this is nearly over.”

  SA nodded back, and together they led the way farther down the dank tunnel into the mines.

  Chapter 38

  Other than Sparks, the group moved deeper into the mines in near silence. The smell of the grubs’ spilled essence gave way to a muggy damp reek of wet earth. It smelled stronger than even the agent added to the ruthane.

  The soft ground underfoot muted their steps, but the sound of their march still called ahead into the tunnel. Probably a good thing to let the grubs know they were coming. If their behaviour so far had been anything to go on, they rushed at their prey with little regard for stealth. The more noise the quartet made, the more of the horrible little worms they could flush out of hiding.