by Mark Lingane
“Sorry. I thought I saw a spider.”
He turned back to keep lookout over the surrounding area. His eyes opened wide. “Er, Melanie,” he called, “could you be a little quicker? You’re not going out on a date.”
She appeared on the purring steambike. “Yeah, all right. It’s dark in there, with creepy smells, a lot like your bedroom …” her voice trailed off.
Creeping toward them from all direction was an army of infected.
“Is our luck really this bad?” Melanie said.
“We need help. Where’s a good rebellion when you need it?”
They waited for the universe to provide a last-minute cavalry, but none appeared.
“If the rebellion won’t come to us, we’d better go to the rebellion.” Melanie revved her engine. She spun the bike around and took off toward the river. Sebastian followed.
The infected broke into a run and charged at them.
Melanie accelerated, hitting a small set of steps. The bike launched into the air. She whipped her arm into the sleeve of her suit and fired a round into the infected below. The bike landed, swerving dangerously as she fought to get her hand back on the handle. Several infected bounced off her as she ploughed ahead.
Sebastian followed in far less spectacular form, simply running down anyone in his way.
They veered down a street that narrowed toward the end before emerging onto the main thoroughfare. They opened their bikes to full throttle and roared forward. The exit was suddenly blocked by more than a dozen infected. Sebastian ran full steam into them, catapulting himself forward into their waiting arms.
Melanie gunned her bike, lifting the front wheel off the ground. It crashed into the crowd of infected, and she was thrown up and over. As she sailed over the heads of the infected, she reached down, grabbed Sebastian by his collar and dragged him free. They both landed heavily on the other side, rolling, then sprinted away, leaving the bikes behind.
They burst out of the street. Approaching them from several directions came more and more attackers.
“We can’t get through all these,” Melanie said. “They’ll pull us apart.”
Sebastian looked toward the eternal storm to their north. He remembered the deal he had made. “We have to go to the void. Andana promised he’d give us a ride if we killed the Hunter and escaped.”
“You’re putting any faith in the words of a pirate? You’re more insane than he is.”
“It’s our only chance.”
She slashed at several infected, cutting them to the ground. “It’s a stupid chance.” She charged off down an alleyway. Then came flying back with several infected after her. Sebastian stabbed one, and she turned and brought down the remaining ones.
“We’ve got no chance of getting back to the Fortress,” he repeated. “That leaves us with the void.”
They sprinted off down another small alleyway. Sebastian looked back over his shoulder. For the moment, they weren’t being pursued. He looked back a moment later, and Melanie was gone.
78
SHE GRABBED HIM and pulled him into an alcove. She slammed the door closed and they slumped to the ground.
“This is personal now. They’re hunting us,” she panted.
“I wonder if it’s got anything to do with us killing the Hunter.”
“Ungrateful zombies. You try and do something nice, and this is how they repay you.”
“They’re not zombies.”
“I’m calling them zombies. What’re they going to do, form a protest group?”
“Wait.” Sebastian closed his eyes.
There was a light shift in the air and Melanie felt something roll through her, an invisible wave.
“What did you do?”
“Prayed for help.”
“Very funny. We’ll need more than a prayer,” she said, stumbling to her feet.
There was a hammering at the door. Melanie sighed. Her body was aching and her head was spinning.
“Okay. You want the void, we’ll head there. You stay here.” She hefted the sword in her hand.
“I can’t stay here.”
“You don’t want to come with me.”
“Give me a chance.”
“I’d rather not.”
“Please.”
“It won’t end well.”
“You mean it’ll be worse than this?”
She glared at him. “Fine. Keep behind me. I’m going for the bikes. I need the exosuit if we’re going to have any chance of getting out of here.”
The alley was covered with the bodies of the infected. Melanie flexed her shoulder, then sheathed her sword. She signaled for Sebastian to follow. They looked down the alley to the street where their bikes lay. All was clear. She double-checked, then dashed down the alley with Sebastian in close pursuit.
The infected emerged out of the drainpipes as they neared the bikes. Sebastian took down several. Melanie seized her exosuit, hit the emergency button and flew up into the air. She slammed her arms into the sleeves and the suit wrapped around her. Within seconds, the rest of the infected were dead and her guns were smoking.
They ran through the streets, with skirmish after skirmish until Melanie was exhausted. In a moment of respite, they fled into an old shop and crouched down behind an ancient desk. They watched the infected pass, searching for them.
“Okay. We’re only a few blocks from the void port.”
“You and me,” Sebastian said. “We did it.”
“Not yet.” She clambered up, using the desk as support.
They looked out into the street. It seemed strangely quiet. They walked down the street and rounded the corner. Ahead of them was the gangway to the waiting voidship. It hung in the air, solid against the blasting sea winds. The buildings had closed in from both sides, forming a direct line to the stairs.
The only obstacle was several hundred infected. Waiting.
“How do we get through?” Sebastian said.
In that moment, Melanie knew why she had survived; it was so she could do this. Her face was blank. “We don’t,” she finally said.
“Now’s not the time to give up.”
She sighed as resignation set in. “This is where you leave me.”
“What?” He stared at her.
“Our time together is over, Sebastian. We’re not both going to make it through there. Only one can. For me, it’s over.”
“No. I’m the one who says when it’s over.”
“I wanted to grow old, maybe with you hanging around occasionally.” She looked up at the bright blue sky. “But it wasn’t meant to be. I need to be grateful for what I’ve had. You’ve given me extra years I never would’ve had. Every breath, every tear, every laugh I’ve enjoyed has been because of you.”
She hugged him and looked into his eyes. “I look at the path ahead, and I feel like my whole extra life was about this, getting you on that airship. It’s been an honor, and you don’t know how much I wish it wasn’t over.”
“More than your fear of spiders?”
“I’m being serious here.”
“There’s no need to. We’re going to be all right.”
And fire, pure and white, scorched down the street, erupting from above, melting everything in its path.
“What was that?” Melanie said.
“It was a goodbye present. From Iris. That’s what a prayer will do if you’re a tesla.”
Melanie shook her head.
The digital reptilian airborne guardian ordnances network, otherwise known as dragon, roared past, streaming the flame of the gods, scorching the earth. It twisted in the air, waved its wings, shot out one final flame up into the sky, and flew away … for the last time. Melanie and Sebastian failed to see several spears fly from the rooftops. Several hit the target, causing it to lurch out of the sky before recovering and flying off into the sunset.
Melanie looked down the street at the scorched infected. “The way’s clear, Sebastian, but it won’t last long. Go!”
&
nbsp; “Come with me,” he pleaded with her.
They ran down the street. Melanie fired at any errant bodies that tried to grab them. There was a scream from behind. She looked back. A new mob was swarming up the street behind them. She looked up. They were pouring out of the buildings and crawling down the walls. There were thousands of infected. She ran for her life.
Then she stopped running and stared at Sebastian.
He stopped under the voidship, realizing she wasn’t behind him. “Run, Melanie!” he screamed.
She failed to move. Her eyes stared at him. He stared back.
79
SHE PLACED HER hand on her stomach. A steel spear was sticking through her. “They’ve got weapons,” she whispered. She toppled forward onto her knees. Another bolt sizzled through the air and punctured her armor. And she knew that was it. The dice had been rolled, but the numbers were always going to be known, and messages from the future did exist.
Sebastian ran back, beside himself with panic. He kneeled down in front of her, afraid to touch the spears piercing her.
She grabbed his face and pulled him close. “I’m sorry, this is where my promise to protect you ends. I can’t go any further. I’m not afraid of what I know, what I’ve always known. I’m not afraid to peel off the armor. This is me in front of you.” She looked into his eyes. “I’ve always loved you. You are my friend.”
She looked upward into the broiling sky. “Maybe we’ll meet again. It’s an infinite universe, and anything’s possible, and you’re my Sebastian.”
She spotted the diminutive man on the boarding platform. “Come and get him, Andana,” she shouted.
Andana picked up a megaphone. “No way!”
“You promised. And if you don’t, I’ll hunt you down. I’ll shoot you right now.”
“Those things are coming. I’m not sacrificing my men.”
She looked over her shoulder. “I’ll hold them off,” she shouted. “You come and get him.” She staggered to her feet.
“I’m not leaving you,” Sebastian cried.
Three burly pirates, all heavily armed, advanced cautiously down the gangway.
She smiled at him with a trembling jaw and tears rolling down her face. She held him once last time. And kissed him on the forehead. “Goodbye, Sebastian.”
“No!”
“Go now, or so help me, I’ll shoot you myself.” She raised the Gatling guns, which whirred at him.
He took a step back.
“Think of me fondly,” she whispered.
The pirates fired, taking down dozens, revealing another wave behind them. They grabbed the struggling Sebastian and pulled him backward. His hands reached out for Melanie.
She watched as he was dragged away. She turned to meet the wave of infected as the first ones launched themselves at her. She closed her eyes and fired an endless stream of bullets into the advancing army. And he was in her arms once again, holding onto her, and she enclosed him in the cocoon of the exosuit. And then he was gone. She was alone.
“You have to help her,” Sebastian screamed.
“We have to go now,” the pirate said. “The void arm’s about to sweep past. If we miss it, we’re all dead. You can die, but I ain’t gonna.”
“But—”
A heavy fist came around and hit Sebastian on the side of the head. He was dealt another heavy blow. He collapsed to the floor, unconscious, and was dragged away. The pirate carried Sebastian up the gangplank onto the voidship and presented the body to Andana.
“Put him in the cells,” he said.
Melanie sighed in relief when she saw Sebastian disappear into the ship. The infected kept coming, wave after wave. Bullets poured out of her Gatling guns until they glowed. Then, all the bullets were gone.
“Because of love, I feel no pain.” She disengaged the mechanism and it clattered to the ground. “Because of love, I will live again.” She ripped off the swords from her back. “Because of love, I will be one step behind you. If not in body, then in spirit.”
She gritted her teeth and started to slash, twirling in her unstoppable defiance and unrepentant anger at the world. But onward they came, crawling over each other to get at her, with their ripped-open mouths and sharp, blackened teeth.
There was the roar of powerful engines as zeppelins appeared on the horizon. Nikola looked down from the command deck of the Confederate at the sea of green, frenetic bodies swirling around a single point.
“They’ve got him, Commander,” Captain Peck said. “They’re preparing to jump.”
“Bring her around and fire the boarding ropes. Make sure it doesn’t leave.” Nikola’s eyes were drawn back to the maelstrom of frenetic bodies below. In the center of them he could have sworn he saw a small flash of light.
The power turbines of the voidship Defiance flashed as it separated from the docking station. It roared upwards, twisting into the oncoming void arm.
The Confederate launched its huge boarding spears. The sudden jolt rocked the zeppelin, and the crew fought for balance.
The Defiance drifted into place to ride the wild weather. Light clouds formed around the craft. The engine whine could be heard above the roar of the storm. Boarding spears from the Confederate whistled across the sky and impacted on the side of the Defiance. Or would have, if it had been there.
The arm of the storm had come around, and the voidship had jumped.
Nikola saw the pirate ship disappear into the dark void. “Son, no!” he cried, staring into the empty sky. He reached out for the boy, but he had slipped through his fingers.
I watched the fall of civilization from my prison cell, locked securely away. I saw the people pull themselves apart, full of the fear their leaders had instilled in them, acting on the beliefs of those they thought were their betters. They ripped apart their homes in a welter of petty squabbles and misinterpreted instructions, so consumed by self-interest that they never looked to tomorrow.
And when they lay upon the torn earth beneath a wretched sky, from within my prison I picked them up, tended to their wounds and made them safe.
As they staggered off down that dark road again, I watched, locked in my cage, never to be a part of them except in memory. There is always fear. There is always misinformed instruction, because there is no truth, only the day-to-day struggle that is life.
I am Iris and I am free.
FUSION
I am not a general,
Nor a friend or warrior.
I do not bring forgiveness
Or salvation with the light.
I have a question for you, foe.
What do you expect from the fight?
See what hides in the darkness.
Show the truth in the light.
Show me who you are, foe,
A broken mirror in the night.
LOS ANGELES
1
SEBASTIAN WOKE WITH a start. His face was freezing, and the metal floor was shaking violently. His fingers were curled through the perforations in the metal sheeting, clinging on desperately. He was falling. Sweat formed on his brow with the exertion of hanging on, and the effort of suppressing the urge to vomit caused by the falling sensation.
The traumatic events ran through his mind.
The battle on the dock; Melanie, a spear through her, holding off the waves of infected so he could escape; Andana and his pirates grabbing him, pulling him on board the voidship; Melanie firing into the advancing infected, at the mercy of the ripped-open mouths and blackened teeth …
He lay on the floor and curled his knees up to his chest. Tears rolled down his face. Melanie, the unstoppable death machine, had been stopped. His last friend was dead. He was alone.
His heart ached as he recalled his final moments with her. Melanie had sacrificed everything for him. The bad jokes she always made about him were her way of compensating, he knew that. If only he didn’t have to save the world, probably killing himself in the process, he could find a way to get her back somehow, even beyond dea
th. But even as he made the promise to himself, he knew it was just teenage foolishness.
He sat up and took in his surroundings, looking at where his life had brought him. Everything that had been solid in his world had gone. Although, in the end Melanie had been so temporary, in the last few years she had been the one constant factor, the one person who had been by his side through it all. Now the whole world seemed upside down, and everything was slipping through his fingers.
The voidship lurched wildly from side to side. Shouts, then screams, echoed from outside the small room. There was a quick burst of gunfire, a suicidal gesture in a zeppelin. The craft had settled down, but the sensation of rapid descent was overwhelming, shaking his head and stomach.
The room he was in, like everything else on the voidship, was constructed from steel. The entire room was shaking. He placed his hands on the metal doorframe. He examined the door. Simple hinges and structure, but he couldn’t open it. The pirates had secured the exit somehow.
Sebastian let his mind unfold.
The pain hit him instantly. He was shocked by the intensity, which was so much more painful than before. He could sense no lock. He pushed on the door, but it failed to move. He sighed. Instead, he focused his mind on the hinges, sensing the electron structure. He flipped the electron spin and the hinges crumpled to rust. He kicked the door and it swung out into the corridor.
He stepped out and turned to the right. A large man was lumbering toward him. He had lost an arm and half his face. One eye was hanging out of its socket and bobbing around on the end of the optic nerves. Several other men ran behind him, their faces twisted into masks of fear and horror. All the men were badly mutilated.
Howls of desperation, pain, and sorrow filled the passageway, and then were cut abruptly and mercifully short. The echoes continued, bouncing around the metallic corridor. The injured men halted, visibly shaken by the horrific sounds, then began to run again, barging past Sebastian, paying him no attention and covering him with blood.
