by N. W. Harris
Then she was abruptly silenced.
Kelly stepped off the plane, feeling like a chunk of her heart had been ripped out when she turned away from Shane. It hurt to see the fear of being separated from her in his eyes, felt like she was striking him with a mortal blow. But she knew Jones was right. Shane had been acting weird lately, and with what he’d said to her last night, trying to get her to bug out of the mission, she was worried he’d lose it in the fight if she got injured.
“Everyone, keep your weapons ready,” Ethan said, more nervous than she’d ever heard him sound before.
She didn’t need to be told—she’d had her finger on the trigger since they got off the plane. As they approached the city, she looked at the buildings ahead, worried about an attack from above. She wished they had a better idea of what they might have to deal with. The rebels had warned them that some of the kids would go nuts when their slave gene was activated, and her imagination had been left to decide exactly what that meant.
It filled her with guilt that she was a bit relieved to be away from Shane. He treated her like she was the center of his universe, which would be awesome in a normal situation. But even more so after her family was killed, Nat was the center of hers. She felt like she was cheating Shane because she couldn’t give her entire self over to him like he did to her. She had to worry about her little sister’s safety and was ready to sacrifice everything if that was what it took to guarantee it. Sometimes, Shane didn’t seem to understand that.
The gun felt familiar and comforting in her hands. It was a secret that she’d been shooting them her whole life. She loved going hunting with her dad, but she pretended to be squeamish about it around her friends since she’d been a little girl. It was like there were two sides to her. One who was the cheerleading captain, feminine and polished. The other was more comfortable in the woods, wearing camouflaged coveralls and face paint as she stalked a deer at five in the morning. It was amazing that she’d been able to keep her more rugged side a secret, especially in a town the size of Leeville. But her family had always respected her wishes not to mention it to anyone, and they owned over eight hundred acres, so she only hunted on private land. In the fight in the gym and then in Atlanta, Shane and the others had looked shocked to see she was such a dead shot. Even then, she didn’t give away her secret, letting them think she was just a natural.
She felt it was okay to kill an animal as long as you planned to eat it. But killing a person was a terrible thing. In taking human lives, she’d given herself wounds that would never heal. Her religious upbringing made her fear an eternity in hell for what she’d done. Although tortured by the memories of killing and afraid for her soul, she didn’t have regrets. She’d kill a thousand times over if it meant keeping her little sister safe, and she would gladly surrender to the worst fates imaginable.
She glanced at Jules, who was walking beside her with her eyes scanning the buildings they approached. The tall, wiry girl looked calm, ready to deal with whatever came at them. But there was a shade of sadness in her eyes that had sprung up after Jones made them switch teams.
“You know they’re better off without us,” Kelly said. She wanted to ease Jules discomfort and talking about her issues was a ready distraction from her own.
“Yeah, but…” Jules looked at her with a frustrated expression, and then returned her attention to monitoring their surroundings.
“What?” It was obvious that Jules was torn up over something, though she’d never been one to complain.
“I know I’m being stupid, but it’s just…” Jules paused, her brow furrowing. “Shane was so upset that you two were being separated.”
“And you’re mad because Tracy didn’t say anything,” Kelly said, realizing what was eating at the tall girl.
“Ridiculous, I know,” she replied, sounding embarrassed. She glanced at Kelly, looking to see if she agreed.
“I’ve known Tracy since kindergarten,” Kelly said.
“Oh, the smell,” Ethan said, cutting her off.
Kelly didn’t dare take a whiff. She’d been breathing through her mouth since the airplane hatch opened. They pulled their shirts over their faces to keep the flies out, and she scanned the broken windows of a row of restaurants at the edge of the city. All was quiet. On the floors of the establishments’ shadowy interiors, she could see dark lumps here and there. It was the last patrons, having drank and dined just before all hell broke loose. The memory of the final meal she spent with her family tried to suck her under, making her eyes moist with tears. She gritted her teeth and returned to the conversation with Jules.
“Tracy sort of loses all emotion and becomes robotic in certain situations,” Kelly continued, a tremor in her voice.
“I’ve noticed,” Jules replied, some of the tension in her voice gone. She seemed cooler about approaching the city than anyone else. “She’s not exactly the touchy-feely type.”
Jules had grown up in Atlanta, so she was more accustomed to the urban environment. Kelly and the Australians were from small towns. Even if everything was normal and Cairo was alive and bustling, they’d be less comfortable here than she was.
“She knew it was right to be separated from you, so she didn’t waste time by arguing.” Kelly glanced at Jules and could see the talk seemed to ease her discontentment. It lifted her spirits too; she’d always liked helping others. Her mom used to say she liked dealing with their problems more than her own. “Having known her for so long, I can tell you that she was devastated she had to be separated from you.”
Jules laughed. “That was devastated?”
“That’s Tracy.”
They both chuckled.
Joey, the tall, skinny Australian who was way stronger than he looked, glanced at them with appall. He seemed amazed that they could laugh with adults rotting in the streets around them and under the constant threat of being shot at by crazies.
The Australians had never been in a situation like this. They didn’t yet realize how important it was to hang on to the things in life that mattered. The reasons they were here were what would get them through this. Sadly, they’d learn soon enough. She glanced at the stalky, dark-skinned kid who reminded her of Maurice without the piety. Ethan seemed fully capable of leading, but if he choked during the heat of it, she knew it would be up to her and Jules to take over.
“This is our turn,” Ethan announced, stopping them at the end of the relatively narrow street. It emptied into a wide, four-lane boulevard. A grassy island with palm trees separated lanes, which were congested with wrecked and abandoned vehicles.
“Where are the bodies?” Jules asked warily, raising her gun to her shoulder.
Kelly lifted her rifle and searched the wide streets with the barrel pointing wherever she looked. The hairs rose on the back of her neck. She couldn’t find a single corpse, where there should be hundreds.
“I got a bad feeling about this place,” Joey said.
“Bloody hell!” Ben, the shortest of the Aussie boys, had a horrified expression on his face, his green eyes so wide they looked like they might pop out of his head. “Over there, where the street bends.”
She swung her rifle in the direction he pointed.
“Are those bodies?” Ethan asked with a hoarse voice, though they all could see that they were.
Several hundred yards away, at a turn in the street where the sidewalks narrowed and the charred buildings drew closer, the road was blocked by what appeared to be a giant curtain. Hanging on a cable that ran across the lanes and the grassy divider, it hung from the two buildings’ roofs to the ground and spanned the width of the boulevard. The yarn for this enormous curtain was the rotting bodies of the adults. Connected at their wrists and ankles such that each corpse formed an X, they created a pattern not unlike a chain-link fence.
“Who would do such a thing?” Ben’s voice was pitched.
Kelly broke free of her catatonia, swallowed the bile that had risen in the back of her throat, and looked at the
others. Their faces were slack and starved for blood, their wide eyes glued to the human curtain.
“We don’t want to stick around and find out,” she said. “The map has us going in the opposite direction.”
“Thank heaven,” Jules said.
“She’s right,” Ethan seconded, swatting flies away from his face. He sounded shaken, but the calm that usually dominated his personality seemed to regain control. “Now we’ve seen it all people. Nothing will shock us. Let’s go.”
Kelly wasn’t so sure they’d seen it all. The curtain of corpses was frightening, but it was the demented kids who’d constructed it that scared her even more.
“Damn it.” Steve held his gun ready and jogged ahead of Shane toward the end of the street. It ended at the desert, and Shane expected to see the pyramids beyond.
“Stop,” Tracy ordered.
Steve obeyed, looking back at them with a frantic expression.
“Somebody is getting hurt out there,” he objected. “We can’t just stand by and do nothing.”
“We have to.” Shane lowered the barrel of his weapon. His stomach knotted with concern for what had happened to the girl, but a lot more would suffer if they interfered. “We have to keep our focus,” he said to himself as much as to Steve. If it were Kelly who screamed, would he be able to stay on task and not try to save her?
“When we get out there,” Tracy added, looking at both of them, “we might see a whole lot of stuff that is going to piss us off. But we have to be strong. We have to go along with whatever happens until we can get on the ship and complete our mission.”
She was right, of course, and condescending as usual. Luckily, they’d all learned to ignore it, knowing Tracy was one who could be relied upon to have a clear head in the face of any challenge.
“Let’s check it out,” Shane said, speaking loud enough to be heard over the fervent chanting. He stepped around Steve, who seemed to be trying to regroup after hearing what sounded like a murder, and slipped toward the end of the street.
The last buildings on the edge of the city were the nicest hotels, probably reserved for those with enough money to have a clear view of the pyramids. Shane kept close to the white stucco wall, creeping forward until he could look around the corner.
The streets of Giza spilled out onto the pyramid complex, three columns of possessed kids marching into the necropolis. The late afternoon sun lit two sides of the pyramids and cast the others in shadows. It was a majestic sight, one that would have awed him under normal circumstances. But now, all he could do was focus on the growing mob that they needed to intermingle with, searching for a reason why the girl had screamed.
“That looks like ours,” he said to Tracy, who’d stepped next to him.
“Yep, the biggest one,” she replied, pointing at the massive pyramid standing nearest to the city. “Jules and Kelly are somewhere over by that one.” She moved her finger to the third pyramid, the furthest one away.
Knowing it was impossible for him to see Kelly from this distance, Shane couldn’t help but strain his eyes, searching for her blonde hair. Then he stopped himself. He had to quit getting distracted. It was why Jones separated them in the first place.
“We’d better leave our weapons here,” he said, looking back at the mob.
“No freaking way I’m going into that mess without a gun,” Steve countered.
“If we take these in there,” Tracy said, patting her grenade launcher, “all those kids are going to turn on us. Look at them.” She pointed at the closest column of teens, who were tossing their weapons onto piles just outside the city.
Steve looked in the direction she indicated with squinted eyes.
“Damn it if you ain’t right,” he grumbled, unzipping his vest.
“We’ll stash them here,” Laura said, pointing at a dumpster. “If we need them, we’ll know where they are.”
With all the dead littering the city, the inside of the trashcan seemed the cleanest place. Everyone put their guns and vests into the dumpster. Steve was last, acting like his hand was glued to his weapon. He slung it into the metal container and held onto it for a moment, looking out toward the desert, his face contorted with frustration.
“It’s going to be fine,” Shane promised, putting a hand on his big shoulder.
“Somehow, I don’t believe you,” Steve grumbled.
“We’d better get out there,” Laura warned, looking up.
Shane followed her gaze. Three black squares with gold edges floated high in the sky.
“The Anunnaki,” he said. Cold terror washed over him, although he wasn’t surprised to see them.
“What else could they be?” Tracy asked.
The chanting grew louder, alleviating all doubt.
“Let’s go,” Shane ordered, stepping out of the cover of the buildings.
He took slow, deliberate breaths to calm himself and trudged toward the pyramid. Having been through this before in simulations, he and his friends adopted blank faces like the possessed kids. Those poor victims had made pilgrimages from who knew where, driven by an instinct activated by the enemy. Shane came to the back of the crowd, the kids chanting so loud his ears rang. He picked up their feverous song and weaved his way in closer to the pyramid, with his team spread out on either side of him.
A boy stood on the side of the shadowed eastern face of the ancient structure, his bare chest wet and his face black like it was covered in charcoal. He raised his hands, and the chanting stopped.
“They come,” he boomed, pointing at the sky. “Bring another gift to appease them.”
The crowd chanted again, even more wildly than before. Four thick boys, also shirtless and soaked, climbed off the lowest blocks of the pyramid and weaved through the crowd.
A closer look at the side of the pyramid where the skinny boy stood revealed the square blocks were red beneath him. Then Shane saw the bodies, piled up on the lowest level. The wet on the boys’ chest and on the stone was blood. He nearly gagged at the realization. How could these kids do something so horrible? Were the Anunnaki making them do this, like an appetizer for the cleansing war to come?
Shane looked up at the sky. The three, gold-rimmed squares were closer now, the concave region that would mate with the pyramids so dark that it seemed to suck the life out of him. He remembered the video Lily had showed them, shuddering at the thought that a blast could come out of that dark underbelly, which would easily kill them all.
When Shane glanced back at the chanting kids in front of him, he saw the four thick boys, blood drenching their arms and chests. By some terrible perversion of luck, they pushed through the crowd directly toward his team.
“They’re coming our way,” Tracy said into his ear at the same instant. “What do we do?”
“Try to move left,” he replied between clenched teeth. “Don’t make it obvious.”
She slipped behind him, chanting and waving her hands in the air like she was overwhelmed by the ceremony. Shane mimicked the possessed teens as best he could, following Tracy. Liam and Steve came after him, then Jake and Maurice. When the blood-covered boys were fifteen feet away, they pointed at Laura and shouted. The kids around her turned, encircling her and cutting her off from the rest of the team.
“No!” Maurice yelled.
“Stop him, or he’ll give us all away,” Tracy said.
They rushed to where Laura was encircled. Shane’s heart raced, dread making him ill as he saw her lifted into the air. She kicked and screamed, but she couldn’t break free. Maurice pushed through the throng, trying to rescue her. After Laura was swept toward the pyramid, the chanting kids turned and beat him to the ground. Steve and Shane got to him at the same time, dragging him away from the angry section of the mob while shouting and pretending to hit him. Once the attention returned to the pyramid, Steve helped him to his feet.
“We have to let her go,” Shane said in Maurice’s ear. Hearing his own words, he wanted to vomit. “They’ll kill us all if we try to sav
e her, and then we won’t have a chance to stop them.” He pointed at the sky.
“I know, but…” Maurice moaned. His shoulders drooped, and Shane knew he understood.
Sadness crushed Shane as he watched the shy Goth girl he’d become close friends with get carried above the heads of the crowd toward the base of the pyramid. His mind searched for a way to save her. He glanced at Tracy, who gave him a look that warned he couldn’t put the rest of his team at risk and jeopardize the entire mission.
The four thick boys lifted her up on the blocks toward the executioner. Fighting and screaming, she managed to break free. She turned on the nearest boy, using a sidekick right out of a martial arts movie to launch him off the first row of blocks that made up the sides of the pyramid. His heart leapt—the possibility that she’d be able to fight them off igniting a spark of hope. But there was no relenting. The other boys tackled her, joined by several spectators who’d climbed up to help them. He watched in horror as Laura was dragged higher and held in front of the skinny boy, who danced around wildly with a long knife in his hand. The blade still glistened from the last innocent teenager he’d slaughtered.
The spacecraft came low, its black, hollowed-out bottom just above the apex of the ancient structure. The crazed leader of the ceremony raised the knife. Two of the thick boys pulled Laura’s arms and legs in opposite directions, holding her down though she bucked violently in their grasp. The executioner looked up at the ship, and Shane could see his mouth moving, but the loud hissing of the spacecraft drowned out all other noise.
Shane pushed forward through the crowd, unable to stand by and watch her die. But it was too late—the boy thrust the knife down at Laura.
“No!”
As the word formed on Shane’s lips, three narrow beams of light projected from the bottom of the spacecraft. One hit the boy with the knife just before it penetrated Laura, and the others struck the two who held her. All three boys were vaporized, and the knife dropped and rolled off Laura’s chest. She leapt to her feet, crawling down the blocks at the base of the pyramid with panic clear on her face. Had he not known better, Shane might have believed these invaders were here to save the people, rescuing Laura just before she was sacrificed. The whole horrible scene was downright biblical to him. He wondered how much of these kids’ behavior was already being manipulated by the Anunnaki. They may have caused the barbaric ceremony just to kill the evil priest as if coming to the rescue. The possessed onlookers’ jaws dropped in awe, and they went pale like they’d witnessed the hand of God reaching down to punish the wrongdoers.
