dark legion

by Stella Samiotou Fitzsimons

  “And you will be ruler of the world.”

  “I never said that, did I?”

  “You don’t have to.”

  “You’re a smart girl. Maybe too smart. But none of it matters. You just relax.”

  Wudak comes in and hands Zolkon a touchpad. He takes it and reads something on the screen. “Very well,” he says with a smile. “Everything’s going according to plan.” He turns to me. “Now don’t you worry about a thing. It won’t hurt a bit. Just one more needle and that’s it.”

  I feel like screaming but I have to stay focused. I know my options. None of them are easy. But I will do what I have to do.

  The compatibility analyzer beeps and Zolkon rubs his hands together. “That’s it then,” he says. “The moment of truth.”

  I avoid looking at Wudak. What I feel for him right now resembles hatred and I can’t afford to have such strong feelings. He is meaningless to me. That’s what I need to focus on.

  Zolkon removes a small glass screen from the analyzer and observes the graphs on it. The more he studies them, the more his expression turns to that of fury and anger. He drops the screen and attacks Wudak out of the blue. He punches him hard on the face twice and then uses his knee to kick him in the stomach. “What have you done, you idiot?” he shouts.

  Wudak is taken aback and doesn’t react at first. When Zolkon attempts to punch him again, he finally comes to his senses and pushes Zolkon away.

  “What are you doing?” he yells.

  “What do you think?” Zolkon yells back. He picks up the glass screen and hands it to Wudak. “Read!” he orders him.

  “That’s impossible,” Wudak says after looking at whatever is on that screen. He glances at me, then back at the screen in his hand. “I have no idea how this could have happened,” he tells Zolkon. “It’s obviously a mistake, run it again.”

  “Take her to her room,” Zolkon fumes. “And keep her chained!”

  * * *

  “What happened back there?” I ask Wudak as he puts a handcuff around my wrist.

  “Nothing that should be any concern of yours,” he says. He puts the second handcuff around the bed pole and locks it.

  “I hope it’s not too uncomfortable,” he says.

  “You know he wants to run the world, right?”

  “Don’t you have enough problems of your own right now?”

  “I wouldn’t know, nobody tells me anything,” I say batting my lashes as innocently as possible.

  “Listen here, I just bought you a little bit of time. It won’t last. Figure something out. And stop looking so pleased with yourself. Unless you know something that I don’t.”

  I shrug my shoulders. He looks at me for a moment and then he goes.

  Yes, there are things that he doesn’t know. He doesn’t know that I have a chimp named Shy Boy. He doesn’t know that my chimp would follow me to the end of the world. He doesn’t know that he found a way to climb inside the fortress. He doesn’t know that I found him hiding in the garden last night. And he definitely doesn’t know that Shy Boy is on his way to the underground camp and that he won’t rest until he hands Finn my touchpad with the message I put there for him.

  * * *

  Time goes by slowly, like a feather falling to the ground from considerable height. Change is what makes time bearable. Moving from the table to the bed, from inside outside, from unhappy to happy, from sick to healthy. I am trapped in a sticky sameness in here. For how many hours I don’t know.

  The Sliman named Ludik came in once and brought me water, bread and fruit. I gulped everything down. I need to stay strong. How many hours is it since Shy Boy left? Will he manage to get back to the base and get Finn’s attention somehow? Will they come for me in time? Yes, I have to believe that.

  Ludik comes back with more food and water. It’s getting dark outside. How does desolation look when the sky goes black?

  “What time is it?” I ask Ludik but get no response.

  * * *

  My eyes are heavy. Maybe I should try and get some sleep. I need to be strong and I can’t be strong if I don’t sleep. I close my eyes for a few seconds and watch the moving shadows and images that form underneath my eyelids as if they were a movie. Then I hear his voice. It comes like a whisper, an airy wave of hope. “Freya.”

  I open my eyes. “Over here,” I say.

  He comes to me. His hands search for me and when he finds me, he hugs me and holds my head close to his chest. His arms feel so powerful, so comforting and healing that I let a sob out. He kisses my hair and my face and we are both unable to say anything.

  My eyes adjust better to the darkness and I make out the shape of his face. His face that I didn’t know I’d come to cherish like that. I reach over to turn on the lamp on the night table. I find the shock in his eyes amusing when he sees the white dress and the hairdo.

  “Wow, you look… different,” he says but then he notices the handcuffs. “What have they done to you?” he growls.

  “Nothing yet,” I say but I can see that he’s very angry. “Damian, we have to get out of here. How did you get inside the fortress without being noticed?”

  “Your chimp found an opening high up on the wall behind the garden. Finn and I helped each other climb it.”

  “Finn’s here, too?”

  “Yes, we split up, so we could search faster. There are no guards in the fortress, no cameras, nothing. So at first I thought your chimp brought us to the wrong place.” He takes his pulse gun out and recalibrates the settings. He will use it on the handcuff lock.

  “No,” I say, “don’t do that. Let Finn find me.”

  I can tell that he thinks I’m joking. “What are you talking about?” he says. “Have you lost your mind?”

  “You can’t save my life twice, it’s not fair to Finn,” I insist. “It’s bad enough that I will have to tell him about you and me.”

  He considers this for a moment and then shakes his head. “You are crazy,” he says. “Look where you are. The Sliman could come back at any moment.”

  I push his hand away from the handcuff. “I know, but this is what I want.”

  “Fine, have it your way. But this is the last time I will take second place to Finn. I’ll direct him here somehow.”

  I put my free hand around his neck and I kiss him. It feels so good that I fear I won’t be able to let him go. It feels like home if ever I had one.

  “Were you serious? You’ll tell Finn about us?”

  “Of course. What did you think? That I would lie to him?”

  “I thought maybe you changed your mind.”

  “I didn’t. Now go.”

  I know that he doesn’t want to leave me but he grants my wish. I bring my fingers to my lips to feel his warmth again. I hear my heartbeat in my ears and I don’t know how to calm it down.

  When Finn shows up his hair is all messed up. “Tick,” he says staring at me dumbfounded. That stupid dress again no doubt. “It’s really you,” he says finally.

  “Of course, it’s me. Did Shy Boy find you?”

  “He did. He practically stormed into the base. He brought us all back here. Pip is very worried, you know.”

  “Pip is here?”

  “Yes, everyone is. We couldn’t leave them at the Sliman base after your message. They’re hiding behind the boulders beyond the gates.”

  He frees my hand by cutting a whole through the lock of the handcuff with a laser beam from his pulse gun. He helps me up to my feet.

  “Here, put this in your backpack,” I say as I throw the receptor at him. “Now let’s go find Damian.”

  “How do you know he’s inside the fortress?” he asks.

  “You said so.”

  “No, I didn’t.”

  “As if he’d just let you come in alone and be the hero. Let’s go.”

  He doesn’t question this any further. We get out of the room and go down the hallway. We bump into Damian right as we step onto the balcony.

  “This way,”
I say and lead them to the room with the panel windows. I push on the glass until it gives way and we run down the stairs. There’s a full moon tonight and the garden looks hauntingly beautiful.

  “Wait!” I say. This is ridiculous, I can’t run in this dress. I pull the fabric apart all the way up to my thighs. “That’s better,” I say and we get down the stairs again. The opening on the wall must be right behind the plastic trees.

  I get a jolt of fright down my spine when Zolkon steps out of the trees holding a gun with Ludik close behind him.

  “Dear girl,” he says with a big smile. “Where do you think you’re going?” Then the smile fades and he locks his gaze on Damian as if he just saw a ghost.

  “It was you,” he says. “That certainly explains, well, almost everything.”

  Damian reaches for his gun, quietly staring into Zolkon’s eyes.

  “Now, don’t do that,” Zolkon says. “I really don’t want to kill you, but I have another option.” He raises his gun and points it at Finn’s head. Ludik draws his gun and turns it on Damian almost simultaneously.

  “No,” I yell and jump in front of Finn. “Drop the gun, Damian.”

  Damian returns the gun to its holster and Zolkon laughs with that hideous laughter of his. “You can’t save them both no matter what you do,” he says. “Maybe I’ll make you pick.”

  “That’s enough, Zolkon,” Wudak says as he walks down the staircase.

  “I will say when it’s enough,” Zolkon says.

  Wudak turns to Damian. “Get Freya out of here.”

  “Did you know about him?” Zolkon asks with his gun still pointed at Finn.

  “Yes,” Wudak says and steps in front of me.

  “What is it that you knew? What is he saying about Damian?” I ask.

  Wudak shakes his head. “Not now, Freya. Just go.”

  Zolkon’s eyes focus on Wudak curiously. “Why didn’t you tell me?” he says. “It was your duty. You are a soldier.”

  “Precisely for this reason,” Wudak says pointing at Zolkon’s gun.

  “Get out of the way, Wudak, or I will raise the alarm.”

  “You could, except I’ve sent all the guards back to their plantations.”

  “You would defy me and our hierarchy in order to protect a human girl? Do you know the punishment for that?” Zolkon bellows.

  “I know everything that I need to know,” Wudak responds. “Now lower your gun.”

  “Anybody move half a muscle and the boy dies,” Zolkon says.

  “Have it your way,” Wudak says and jumps on Zolkon and Ludik and throws them both to the ground just with the sheer force and weight of his body. Two pulse guns go off and in the confusion Damian pulls his gun and shoots Ludik as he tries to get up.

  Wudak holds Zolkon down covering him with his entire body. Then Zolkon manages to push Wudak off of him and as Wudak rolls on his back, I notice a red stain on his abdomen.

  Finn and Damian both hold their pulse guns against Zolkon.

  “You fool,” Zolkon yells at Wudak. “What did you do? Did you let her touch you? Did you bond with her?”

  “Don’t shoot him,” I say. “We need answers from him. He has the core of the receptor.” I drop to my knees next to Wudak. He’s bleeding bad but he’s still alive. “Why did you do that?” I say.

  Wudak opens his mouth and a pink foam oozes out.

  “No, don’t talk,” I say. “Doc is here, he will fix you. Call him, Damian.”

  “Communications don’t work in this district,” Damian says.

  “Go get him then. Get everyone.”

  “What’s the point?” he says. “Let’s kill them both and get the hell out of here.”

  “Wudak saved us,” I yell at him. “Use your brain, we’re nothing without the receptor. We might as well surrender. We need them alive.”

  He curses under his breath as he goes to get Doc and the others. Finn takes a second pulse gun out of his backpack and throws it at me. I catch it in midair and then I look at Zolkon.

  “Tell me what you meant about Damian,” I say. “What is it about him that got you so interested?”

  “I don’t think I’ll tell you anything,” he says. “At this point, you need me more than I need you.”

  “I won’t kill you but I will maim you,” I say and point the gun at his foot.

  “Tough. I like tough. Tell me, do you see that little transmitter on the ground?” Zolkon says. I look down and spot a small device much like a touchpad. “A few minutes ago, I pushed button number 3. Do you know what this means?”

  Wudak groans. “Freya,” he whispers. “Danger.”

  “Shush,” I say. “Don’t exert yourself.”

  “What he’s trying to tell you is that pretty soon the whole place will be swarming with Sliman and aliens,” Zolkon says. “You have maybe three minutes. How tough are you now?”

  “You’re bluffing.”

  “Freya,” Wudak calls my name again. “He gave… your… position… with number 3.”

  The pink foam flows freely out of his mouth again and I tear a piece of my dress to clean his face. I glance at Finn and I can tell that he doesn’t think this is a bluff.

  “You transmitted a message to the aliens?” I ask Zolkon. “Why? You said they were your enemies. You want to bring them down.”

  “Well, I can’t do that anymore. Not with you out of the picture. If you can’t beat them, join them. That’s the name of the game.”

  Finn knocks him on the head with his gun and Zolkon loses his balance and falls.

  “He’s telling the truth, isn’t he?” he says.

  My response is drowned out by a deafening sound.

  Zolkon laughs as loud as he can. “The drone!” he yells.

  21

  The drone lights up the sky and the earth with its search beams. The noise subsides once it locks into position and stays hovering a few yards outside the fortress. It looks like a huge helicopter without windows. It is made with some kind of dense metal that seems to be impenetrable.

  Finn puts his arms around me and pulls me down to the ground. We stare at the sky in awe. Zolkon has disappeared. The underside of the drone opens up and lets a mob of Sliman climb down rope ladders. The shooting begins instantly. The Saviors are being attacked outside the fortress.

  “We have to help,” I say.

  “It’s you they want, Freya,” Finn says and the overwhelming sadness on his face is something I never expected to see.

  “And they’ll kill everyone to get to me if they have to. I can’t let that happen, Finn.”

  “Are you going to give yourself up again? It didn’t work last time.”

  “Who knows, maybe an idiot will throw a second receptor at me,” I say jokingly but it’s all bittersweet now.

  I get up and glance back at Wudak lying on the ground. I wave goodbye but he grabs my ankle.

  “Freya, let’s go,” Finn says, growing frantic as the shooting intensifies.

  “He’s trying to tell us something.”

  I put my ear close to his mouth. He lifts his hand a few inches off the ground and I take it in mine. I feel something in his palm. The missing chip.

  Wudak tries to smile while he whispers, “He’s not so smart.” He coughs on the pink foam. “I took this when I jumped on him.”

  My eyes well up. There’s nothing I can do to stop the tears. I can’t take any more losses, any more death. I can’t take one more moment of pointless, meaningless suffering. I kiss his forehead.

  “I will be back for you,” I whisper.

  “Freya, are you okay?” Finn asks.

  “Oh, yeah. I’m better than okay,” I say as I turn my face to him. “Hand me that receptor. I have the missing piece. Now let’s go fry some Sliman.”

  The bandages fall from my feet as we run to the front gates. The drone immediately turns its ugly nose on us.

  “Damn right, I’m here,” I say and then turn to Finn, “Stay close to me. They won’t blow me up just yet.”
r />   I raise the sensory receptor and direct it at the scene of the battle. The Saviors have barricaded themselves behind a line of rocks about my height. They’re fighting a horde of Sliman. There’s forty, maybe fifty of them, but they cannot get close to the rocks yet. Damian and Nya lead the battle taking a lot of risk every time they climb onto the rocks to fire on the Sliman.

  I create a shield around the rocks that will make laser blasts and magnetic knives bounce right off. When the Sliman realize this, they turn to find me.

  “Oh, yes, come to me,” I say as I create a huge electric wave that reaches the main body of the Sliman as fast as lightning. The drone above slightly switches its position as the Sliman are struck with the energy surge and writhe on the ground in pain and terror.

  I don’t take a single moment to rest. I know it’s risky, I know it could exhaust me but I want to strike while they are still confused. I close my eyes and concentrate all my internal energy on the receptor. When I squeeze it tight, it emits a phosphorescent green light that attacks everything in sight except for the rocks and the Saviors that are safely encased by the blue shield. I have created two different fields: one that protects and one that destroys.

  The Sliman that did not get blasted are now frozen to death within seconds of being reached by the green light. I look up. I wonder if I could reach the drone with the beam. I wonder what repercussions that would have on me and everyone on the ground.

  I quickly scan the battlefield to assess the situation. I don’t think there’s a single Sliman left that could put up a fight. I obliterated them with two blows. That’s what my rage can do now. Someday I will be able to do all this at will.

  When Finn touches my shoulder, I get startled. He has read my mind. He knows I want to take aim at the drone. I can feel it in his troubled gaze, his protective hand. “Hold on to me,” I shout. “Don’t let go! It will be bumpy.”

  I close my eyes, I don’t know why the drone hasn’t released its wrath on us yet. I don’t know why it just hovers above our heads, but I won’t wait to find out. Maybe the aliens didn’t expect to find me with the receptor.

  I don’t know if I’m strong enough but I need to be and that’s all that counts. When I open my eyes, the ground starts trembling. A purple whirlwind forms in front of my eyes. At first, it’s so small, it can fit in my palm, but a moment later it starts building up until it becomes gigantic and reaches the drone. It encircles it furiously and shakes it with incredible violence.