“Bang!” Lucia drops to the ground, lifeless. Gone. Julián holds his kids, speechless. They are both screaming.
“Elias, please stop. Don’t do this, you’re stronger than this. Please!” Elias keeps the gun pointed at Gloria, the Guardian confident of the spell he has over him stands right next to her to really enjoy her misery. Elias lines up a shot.
“Bang!”
CHAPTER XIV
Noah
The moment is beginning to feel surreal. He can hear the screams flowing out of the hatch from underground, Matias is desperately looking for a weapon while Rosita and Cap’n argue about whether to stay and fight or not.
What the hell are they doing here?
Although their presence has grabbed his attention, they are the least of his concerns.
Dumachus has a clear advantage over Titus and is savouring his death, taking his time. Every connecting strike making Titus pay. Titus does what he can to defend himself but is a lost cause. Noah is powerless to help.
Jason approaches and is now within spitting distance of him. They have paired off, slowly circling each other with the tension between them rising.
Noah looks at Jason’s singed hair and charcoal stained skin. “You look awful.”
“I was in a plane crash and a bush fire. All things considered I should look worse.”
“Well I was shot several times with one of those harmonic oscillators. I think I died for a few minutes.”
Jason unfolds his arms and tallies the injuries. “I think I still win.”
“You had nanotech on your side. I just have great genes. My resuscitation was all o’natural.”
“Phff. Harmonic oscillators aren’t designed to hurt humans.” This is a deliberate attempt to get under Noah’s skin. And it works.
“I can tell you they most definitely hurt. Considering I’m part robot now thanks to your friends, that probably counts for something.”
“You have cool robotic limbs and still all you do is bitch and moan. And you’re alive, after everything you did. You know that Katie’s alive right?”
Jason better tread lightly. “I do.”
“Then count yourself lucky and stop blaming me for the bullshit you created. Look around you, this was your doing.”
Noah is starting to see red, pushing the words through gritted teeth, “You have some nerve…” but Jason hasn’t finished.
“And I gave you every warning to get in front of all this. I have never lied to you and even through it all I have tried to remain your friend.”
Jason takes a breath. Noah jumps at the chance to rebut. “Friends? Those other friends you flew with, trained with, ate with, bled with, weren’t cleansed by your holy tribulation and they survived, only to be executed without trial three days later. Murdered by your kin. By him.”
Jason opens his mouth to speak but in Noah’s rage he throws a wild haymaker connecting cleanly with Jason’s jaw and knocking him to the ground. Noah manages to yell the words, “Shut up!” before he drops to the ground, writhing in pain; punishment for violence.
Jason rubs his jaw and sits up, waiting for the nanotech to mend him. “Were you not aware of the punishment for non-sanctioned aggressive behaviour?”
“Worth it.”
CHAPTER XIV
Matias
He is ashamed. When the ships land he plays dead with the dead. He can hear the screams and gunfire coming from below, but does nothing. As Dumachus and Titus begins to fight, he summons what little courage he has left and uses this opportunity to move from his cover. Scrambling around for a firearm, he spots a gun barrel poking out from under a cadaver. He yanks the rifle free and heads back to the hatch. Before he lowers himself in he spots the two Americans fighting now, but this is the least of his concerns.
Desperate to know what is happening he flies down the first few rungs until he can see under the tunnel ceiling. Julián is back with the kids, Lucia is lying on the ground and Gloria is being held at gunpoint by Elias.
Elias?
A Guardian comes into view and stands right next to Gloria, mocking and teasing her. She looks terrified, pleading with Elias to stop. The helplessness of it all is gut-wrenching, and Matias isn’t a hardened man.
While still on the ladder, Matias lifts his rifle with his right arm and rests it on his left for balance. He takes aim and fires.
“Bang!”
The shot rings out and everyone looks his way. Elias lowers his gun and limps backwards as the Guardian laughs obnoxiously. Elias drops to his knees and the gun falls from his hand, a fresh stream of blood running down his arm to his fingertips. Gloria struggles to free herself from the Guardian’s side, but he isn’t letting her go. He just locks eyes with Matias, taunting him.
Matias cocks the rifle and fires again, this time at the Guardian’s head. The bullet bounces off a force field, much to the hunter’s delight. Matias cocks the rifle and fires again. He is not going to play dead again. Gloria resumes her struggle as Elias starts to groan and move. Matias fires again and the hunter’s attention is divided. In a mindless action driven by her subconscious, Gloria unsheathes her knife and drives it deep in between the hunter’s ribs, through his lungs and severing several major arteries. The Guardian drops to the ground, silent in composure. He looks across the floor to Elias, who is also ground stricken. The Guardian makes an effort to reach his side and pull the blade out as Elias reaches behind his back in a similar motion. A slow race to reach a weapon. Matias cocks his gun but it is empty, so he drops the rifle and slides down the ladder. Gloria is backing away from the Guardian and holding onto the crying baby with all her life.
The Guardian grips the handle and begins to pull. Slowly the long blade is pulled out from his flesh, his eyes closed as he focuses his dying strength towards completing his mission. The blade is finally free and the arteries begin to re-join before too much plasma is lost. He brings up the knife and opens his eyes, only to look down the barrel of Elias’s gun. Long enough to know that he had failed. The trigger is pulled, the hammer falls.
The hunter Guardian is no more, and Matias and Gloria rush towards Elias. Matias feeling incredibly guilty about shooting him. “I’m so sorry.”
Elias has a cough/laugh and gives him a smile. “At least you hit where I was previously stabbed, so the damage was already done.”
Gloria lowers Seth down so Elias can see him. Smell him. Seth stops crying and looks at his father, focusing in on him in the low light. Elias’s pain doesn’t even register and he smiles at his son. Connects with him. Reconnects with Camila. For the moment at least.
Above them sound of gunfire has been added to the violence, but in front of them the silence of a clear path lies before them.
Matias takes the mantel of leader and takes charge. “We have to go. Seriously, now.”
Julián and his kids begin to run down the tunnel but stop abruptly when a long crack streaks down the tunnel’s ceiling like lightning. The sounds of crushing cement and breaking steel follows the fracture. Julián and his kids run back towards the ladder and start climbing.
The small streams of dust and sand loosed by the sudden shift begin to defy gravity and run upwards, including with it the dust and finer particles in the air.
What is happening now?
Matias looks to Gloria for what he believes is the final time. Her eyes are on Elias and his child.
It is too late.
CHAPTER XIV
Dumachus
Dumachus is covered in blood but his knuckles is the only body part that requires medical attention. Titus’s eyes are rolling in the back of his head, his bruised and broken face pathetically coughing blood. Dumachus releases Titus and his limp body flops on the ground.
No point in continuing, he isn’t going to feel it.
To his left he sees Jason and Noah wrestling over the harmonic oscillator, but neither of them is a real concern. However, the death of his hunter Guardian is.
He must still be alive.
As he walks towards the tunnel entrance Tony jumps out from behind a tent and starts shooting at him; an obvious attempt at a distraction while the other two sailors see to Titus. He admires Tony’s courage in that he knew it is suicide. But guilt and restitution are strong motivators for people to do crazy things. He could sense there is more to the story and is trying to wrap his head around how everyone he meets already knows Titus.
Damn. The distraction is working.
Dumachus proceeds to head towards the hatch letting Tony exhaust his ammunition on a fool’s errand.
He grounds his body and connects with the Earth. Becoming one with every grain of dirt, grass root, worm… Dumachus opens his eyes and exhales, long and steady as he raises his arms above his shoulders. Like Titus parting the tidal wave, he drives his fists down and parts the earth. The ground shakes and a mine field of exploding concrete and soil results with tonnes of debris raining down on everything and everyone. The violent excavation to reveal the tunnelers has knocked Noah’s hover plane into the tunnel, and a torrent of petrol and kerosene from the stockpile pours into the cabin, pooling inside and around the toppled hover plane.
Dumachus steps out over gouged earth, floating above the now discovered survivors of Buenos Aries, and the final agitator, Elias. Huddling together, shielding the infant is Gloria, Matias and Elias, who is looking the worse for wear. He levitates down to the soil and body ridden floor, taking notice of the dead hunter, and the part Gloria played. Speaking perfect Spanish he says, “Are you aware what the punishment for murdering a Guardian is?”
Gloria looks at him with contempt. “Go to hell.” This woman isn’t taking any shit. Good.
“Close.”
Matias raises his unloaded gun at Dumachus, giving him a legitimate excuse to ‘defend’ himself, much in the matter one would when making an example of someone. Matias is lifted in the air with his skin tearing from his body and bones breaking through the bleeding flesh. He dies before Dumachus turns him inside out. “More like something exactly like that.”
Gloria is clearly disturbed and very vulnerable. The stress of the afternoon has worn her down, but she is determined to not yield. “What do you want?”
“Oh, I’ve found it.” He notices the crucifix around her neck and yanks it off, staring at it while he continues monologuing.
“I’ve paid for it, so now I’m going to enjoy this.”
CHAPTER XIV
Titus
He had endured a beating like this last week, two thousand years ago. Recognising that his body has lost the fight, he knows he will soon die, again.
Tiny flares of light pierce through his swollen eyes as the sound of gunfire whispers in his ears. Still lost, without bearings, he feels strong hands grab the back of his head and neck, lift him off the ground and drag him away.
After several seconds of being carried by Cap’n and Rosita he manages to regain some of his senses. Enough senses to see Dumachus raise the earth and blacken the sky with soil. Everybody, including the dead, is violently thrown backwards into the air. Everyone bar Dumachus.
Now completely smothered in dirt and rocks and struggling to breathe, Titus finds himself fighting to live. His broken bones and bruised muscles strain to execute one final push. One of his hands breaks through to the surface, gripping at the air, struggling for something to hold or grab. Instead, someone grabs his hand and pulls. His second hand breaks through the blanketing soil and it too is grabbed. Seconds later he is freed from his shallow grave and thrown over somebody’s shoulder and carried away. No clue as to who is carrying him or where.
“Thud!” Ow. His body is dumped on a metal/carbon surface, looking up he sees a familiar ceiling. A hover plane. Noah.
Noah jumps in the pilot’s chair, scans his hand and begins to warm the bird up.
“No.” Titus barely has a voice and does his best to squeeze that much out, but Noah is too focused on escape than anything else. He would have to try harder. Titus rolls towards the front of the plane and throws his arm out hitting Noah’s leg.
“You okay buddy? I’m getting you out of here.”
“No.” Dumachus was right. This was the end. Resolution, one way or another. Titus pulls himself closer to the scanning pad and runs his hand over it.
UNREGISTERED ATOM CHIP DETECTED. Titus brings up a page of code and swiftly makes some amendments allowing him manual access to the medical function of the nanotech. Noah watching on quickly catches on what he is doing. Relieved, he powers the hover plane down and waits for his friend to heal.
The pain is lifted and Titus can feel his faculties return. His vision focuses, tinnitus begins to clear and his breathing steadies. Still no powers though, and no idea if Elias is even alive. Then the sound of a woman’s scream permeates his limited range of frequency.
Before they can even think to react, a “click”, followed with the familiar audible hum of an oscillator powering up stops them in their tracks. Pointing the gun is Jason, who after the dirt bomb looks even more of a house fire victim. Noah climbs out of the pilot’s chair, puts his hands up and steps in front of Titus. Tears begin to well in Jason’s eyes. Any attempts to sustain their relationship have finished, and Noah can see it.
“Move.” Jason is clear and concise.
“Jas, what are you…” Noah’s dialogue is cut short when Jason pulls the trigger, knocking his former friend to the ground. Luckily, Jason is nowhere near as close as Simon was when he shot Noah, so the effects are less dramatic. Simon recharges and points the gun towards Titus. No demands, no instructions, just quietly aiming a serious weapon at him. The screams coming from the tunnel are extinguished and a deathly silence hangs low in the air.
Cap’n comes from behind Jason and sticks the barrel of a shotgun in the back of his head. Jason seems unperturbed.
“If you had any intention of killing or even assaulting me you would be unable to hold that firearm by now.”
“What makes you say that?”
Noah lifts his head up and fills her in. “Because he thinks you have taken the mark.”
“Then he’d be mistaken.” Cap’n cocks the gun and pushes it harder against his skull. Jason drops his rifle and looks like he is about to soil himself.
Noah grumbles and groans back to his feet, looking decidedly unhappy. “Knock him out for me please.” Cap’n waits for no man and smashes the butt of the gun in the back of Jason’s head, knocking him out cold. Tony and Rosita emerge from behind the dunes of earth and soil, brushing themselves clean.
“Thank you. It’s good to see you all again.”
Tony is enthralled with Noah’s new robotic limbs and is not even trying to pretend about it. “Something looks different about you. Can’t quite put my finger on it. Hair cut?”
“Does it show?” Noah had a difficult time making light of his heavy limbs, but the contagious effect of Tony’s enthusiasm allows him to drop his defences.
“Looks as though you two had quite the adventure,” Cap’n says. “And continue to do so, it seems. Just the thing that we were trying to avoid, if I’m being honest.”
Noah respects the honesty, and is all too aware. “I can’t blame you.”
Titus has now fully healed and marches out the plane, picks up the oscillator and hands it to Noah. “It’s not over yet captain.”
Fumes from open petrol taints the thirty-mile coffin with its hazardous bouquet. Gloria’s body lies on the ground, twisted and lifeless. Another soul to add to the growing list of this open grave. Baby Seth is also helplessly stranded in the dirt, swaddled and silent, but alive. Dumachus is holding Elias up by the neck, slowly choking the life out of him.
When Titus appears at the mouth of the hole, Dumachus lets go of Elias and turns around. However, Elias remains suspended in the air, slowly dying from asphyxiation. Dumachus is impressed with Titus’s resourcefulness and gives him a respectful nod.
“Release him,” commands Titus.
“Make me.”
CHAPTER XIV
&
nbsp; Noah
“What exactly do you want me to do with this?” When his hand accidentally passes over the scanner the gun lights up and hums in preparation.
“Use it,” Titus says as he continues past him, heading straight towards Dumachus.
Damn. Noah is not looking forward to this.
Titus reaches the lip of the trench first and looks down. Noah stays back a second to psyche himself up.
“Release him.”
“Make me.”
That’s my cue. Noah drops down and army crawls to the mouth of the trench, using the ground to hold the weight of the gun as he rests it over the edge. Dumachus seems very amused by this. Noah begins to feel weak and flushed, looking as if he is suffering from food poisoning.
“You’re lucky that’s a non-lethal weapon or the effects would be a lot worse,” lectures Dumachus.
In his current state Titus is unable to pull the trigger for him and is starting to look a little concerned that his plan is doomed to fail. Noah knuckles down, shuts his eyes tight and screams, focusing everything he has into pulling the trigger. Dumachus senses the young man is about to miraculously follow through and before he has a chance to stop him, Noah fires.
One would think it is Noah that has been shot. His body reels back, contorted and suffering. Mother’s punishment. He is completely incapacitated, paralysed and pained. Like an onset of extreme tetanus, his muscles contract in spasms violent enough to fracture his bones. As his body arches backwards, his view of the world turns upside down. To combat the debilitating pain he forces glimpses of an upturned world to try and distract himself, but nothing has ever felt like this before.
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