by Ann Bakshis
He runs towards the wall and I lose sight of him. Several minutes pass and his return is illuminated by an immense eruption at or near the conversion room. The ground shakes as a shockwave races across the terrain, rocks and flames shooting high into the sky. I get knocked over and covered in dust, but otherwise no injuries. When Grimm makes it back, he has a cut on the back of his arm from debris and is just as filthy as I am.
“I suggest we place a couple on each side of the portal,” he says, sitting down. “Just to make sure it closes.”
I nod in agreement.
Another hour passes before the sun has moved enough for us to leave the plateau. We each take three spheres, spin their tops, and then drop them on either side of the portal. We rush back to the vehicle and Grimm floors it to get us a good distance away from the detonation, which causes the ground around the portal to partially collapse, burying any evidence that it once existed. The shockwave hits the ATV and nearly causes it to turn over, but Grimm manages to get the vehicle under control and we continue heading towards the mountains.
“Where do we go now?” I ask.
“We need to find Wavern, so we’ll return to the abandonment home.”
“Any ideas on how we’re going to subdue him so we can plant the stone against his chest?”
“No clue.”
“Don’t you think we should discuss that before heading into the lion’s den?”
“Fine, we’ll shoot him like before. That should give us enough time,” he says, annoyed.
“Why does it sound like you’re not taking this seriously anymore?” I ask, worried.
“I am,” Grimm gripes. “I just don’t know why you’re trying to make this more complicated than it needs to be.”
I keep my mouth shut for the remainder of the ride, mainly because I’m trying to assess if the Arliss is having more of an influence over Grimm than he’s willing to admit.
We left the bay door into the tunnel for the home open, so it makes our reentry a lot easier. We pull into the parking pad and Grimm is on the verge of turning off the engine when I reach out and stop him.
“He’s not here,” I say.
“What makes you think that?”
I reach for the specialized flashlight, which Grimm had placed on the dashboard after we got back into the vehicle, and shine it on several dead Mulgrim heaped into the corner of the massive room. The bodies weren’t here before, so Wavern had to have killed them when he was leaving. From the looks of it, he used a gun.
“I wonder where he got the weapon from,” I state as I hand the flashlight over to Grimm.
“I’m sure there’s a weapons cache in this place somewhere,” Grimm replies as he tosses the flashlight back onto the dashboard and heads the vehicle towards the other entrance.
We’re halfway through the valley as the sun begins to set, only it doesn’t look quite right. I keep an eye to our west while Grimm navigates around the expanse’s force field. A bright flash radiates upward, causing the sun to appear ten times brighter before diminishing.
“Holy shit!” escapes my lips.
“What is it?” Grimm asks, his eyes glancing over at me briefly.
“Wavern is in Quarn. He’s trying to nuke Demos,” I say, pointing at the small mushroom cloud slowly dissipating.
“The Occlyn Ring will protect them since that’s what it’s designed for,” Grimm says casually.
“But it can’t take a constant barrage of the bombs. It’ll eventually fail,” I say as disbelief washes over me.
“He can’t launch them continuously,” Grimm says. “The satellites have to recalibrate when a bomb is deployed and the interval lasts five minutes, so there’s at least some pause between each bomb.”
“How can you be so calm about this?” I ask, horrified. This isn’t the Grimm I know. “If that dome does break, there won’t be anyone left in this world but Wavern. He’ll have killed everyone!”
“Except us,” Grimm says with a sly smile.
“What the hell is wrong with you?” I yell.
He shakes his head as if trying to clear it. “Sorry, I don’t know what came over me,” he replies, sounding slightly scared.
“It’s the Arliss—he’s trying to gain control of you.”
“I guess Wavern won’t be the only person we’ll be using the Degrem Stone on,” Grimm says as he maneuvers the vehicle into the garage for Rinku.
He makes a sharp left, steers the vehicle down into the tunnel that’ll take us to the city, and presses the gas pedal to the floor. Even at our current speed it’ll take us a few hours to get there. I’m hoping the Occlyn Ring can hold out that long and that Myr has taken precautions to keep her people safe.
Eighteen
The parking pad for Demos is deserted when we arrive, but the bombing hasn’t stopped. We park the ATV and run through the double doors after they open. All the streets are quiet, but I feel eyes staring at us from the residential housing in Zones A and E. We hustle to the center of the city, but no one is there. Raised voices from Zone B attract our attention, so we follow them and come upon a group of people arguing in front of the meeting hall. Myr is standing on the top step, so she can see over everyone screaming in front of her.
“Why hasn’t anyone been sent to Quarn to stop this?” an elderly gentleman demands.
“We can’t get into the compound,” a familiar voice replies. “The garage has been sealed with the same substance we use to cut off the levels in the barracks that aren’t being used, and there’s no getting around it.”
I crane my neck to get a glimpse of who it is and practically cry with excitement when I notice Jules standing in front of the crowd.
“Jules!” I call out, and I push my way through with Grimm following.
“Sara?” he responds, before throwing his arms around me. “Oh my God, I didn’t think you made it out. Where’s Keegan?”
“Gone,” I say solemnly.
Jules frowns, which causes the cut by his eye to bleed a little. His body is covered in dried blood and sweat, and his clothes have holes with corresponding wounds behind them. I know he’s in pain and has probably internal injuries, but he’s got a job to do, so that’ll take priority over his own health.
“Then how do we get into the compound?” another person asks.
“We won’t need to,” Myr says confidently. “The Arliss is wasting his efforts. The force field is impenetrable.”
“It’s not the Arliss doing this,” Grimm says. “It’s Wavern; he’s a Nathair descendant.”
“What?” Myr asks, turning pale.
“I tried telling you that,” Jules snaps.
“It doesn’t matter who’s doing it, we’re still safe under the dome,” she says stubbornly.
“That’s only if he keeps aiming directly at it,” the leader of Squad Nine says. “If he’s able to readjust those satellites’ alignment, he could point the bombs to the base where the ring is embedded in the mountain. Several strikes there and the ring becomes too damaged to operate.”
“She’s right,” an elderly man says. “We need to evacuate the city.”
“And go where?” another person chimes in. “The farms under the Factory? Those criminals would just love that.”
“There’s a shelter under the pool for the fountain,” Myr says, sounding defeated. “It’ll hold everyone until this is over.”
“We’ll secure the farms,” the leader of Squad Ten remarks.
“That still doesn’t answer how we stop this whole thing,” someone says.
“Sara and I will take care of that,” Grimm says.
“Fine, then let’s get everyone underground as quickly as possible,” Myr says, dismissing us.
“What are you going to do?” Jules asks while the others hurry away.
“You don’t want to know,” I answer. I remove the two packs and hand them both to him after first removing the hunting knife and several syringes containing the serum, which I place into the pockets of my pants. “There�
�s Cymatilis in this one as well as a healing agent. The other has Keegan’s weapons. You’ll need all the ammunition possible if this goes south.”
Jules gives me a hug then runs off towards the center of Demos.
“How do you want to do this?” Grimm asks.
“I draw him to us,” I reply as I look down at the spider on my wrist.
“Let me do it,” Grimm says, placing his hand on my arm, covering the tattoo. “You’ll know what Wavern will do the minute he sees you.”
“I know, but it has to be me. Otherwise I don’t think he’ll come.”
An evacuation announcement sings out from the speakers attached to the lampposts, giving instructions to meet at the pool in the center of the square. Grimm and I head in that direction, but mainly to make sure everyone gets there safely. We help Jules go through the apartment buildings, clearing them out. The pool has been drained, the fountain lowered, and a staircase set in its place, leading several stories down.
“I’m staying with you,” Jules says as we assist people onto the stairs so they don’t crowd each other, all while bombs continue to explode over our heads.
“No, you need to go with them,” I say, pointing to the crowd of terrified individuals around us. “You’re the only soldier here, Jules, so you have to go with them. It’s your job.”
He grumbles, but as soon as the last person has been sent below he follows and a heavy steel door slides into place. The city now has an eerie, abandoned air about it and it’s quite unsettling.
“Where do you want me?” Grimm asks.
“Go into the ice cream parlor and ready your weapons. When Wavern appears, start shooting.”
“What about the stone?”
“Give it to me.”
He opens his pack, removes the stone, and places it into my hand.
“Are you sure this is how you want to do it?” Grimm asks, his hand still on the stone.
“I’m not sure about anything anymore,” I utter. “I just know this all needs to end, one way or another.”
He hesitates, almost as if he’s waiting for something between the two of us to happen. I would love to kiss him right now and tell him we’ll be better when this is over, but I can’t. Knowing the Arliss is lurking inside him and trying to come out has me sickened. Also, his words from the other day still sting, and I doubt that’ll ever go away.
Grimm finally turns and heads into the parlor, ducking behind some tables but still in a position to be able to see out of the bay windows. I tuck the stone under my arm, remove a syringe from my pocket, and take off the safety cap. I force myself to take several deep breaths before plunging it into the spider, and then grit my teeth as the serum burns through my wrist and hand. I toss the syringe away and wait, but I don’t have to wait long.
“What are you trying to pull, Sara?” Wavern asks as he appears before me. “You hid yourself from me and now, just like that, I’m able to find you again.”
“I’m not trying to pull anything,” I say, shaking a little. “I just wanted you to stop bombing Demos.”
“Well, this is only a pause. I’ll resume as soon as you and me—” he pauses when he notices the Degrem stone under my arm. “Where’d you get that?”
I pull it out and hold it firmly in my hand. “I visited the Fomorian Plateau,” I say coolly. “And came home with a prize.”
“You found the portal,” he states.
I nod. “But it no longer exists, I made sure of that,” I comment.
“What do you intend on doing with the stone?”
“Using it… on myself,” I reply. “I figure if the Arliss and Pheles are both gone from inside me, then when I die I won’t be able to return and I can finally move on from this world.”
“Your marking will prevent that from happening,” Wavern says, seething. “You’ll be drawn back to the plateau, where you’ll be stuck until I decide when to let you out.”
“That’s only if the tattoo is still on me,” I say as I remove the hunting knife from under my belt. “The Arliss told me once that the spider is only superficial, so I’m guessing that if I were to cut down a few layers I could properly remove it and be free—from all of you.”
I set the tip of the knife against my skin and am in the process of driving it in, when a searing pain rips through my shoulder in the same spot Tennison shot me. I drop the knife as another bullet strikes my calf, knocking me to the ground and causing me to release the stone. I roll over and try crawling to it as a foot stomps on the wound in my leg causing searing pain to race up my body and me to scream.
“That was a horrible idea, Sara,” Grimm says, flipping me onto my back and standing over me. “If I’d known what your true intentions were, I never would’ve given you the stone.”
Wavern pulls two guns from under his shirt and aims them at Grimm’s head. “What the hell do you think you’re doing, boy?” Wavern asks, his mouth curled up into a snarl.
“Fixing this,” Grimm responds as he shoots Wavern in the head.
Grimm reaches for the stone, places it on Wavern’s chest, and holds down the spider and pentagram symbols simultaneously. The stone glows white instead of green and absorbs the Pheles and everything Wavern took from the Arliss into its coarse surface. When the stone is no longer glowing, Grimm removes it and shoots Wavern in the head again to ensure he’s dead before bending down next to me.
“Now, my dear Sara, for your punishment,” Grimm says, straddling me and placing the muzzle of his gun against my head.
“Fight him, Grimm,” I plead as tears rain down my face. “The Arliss doesn’t have you, not if you keep fighting.”
Grimm’s face contorts. “He’s too strong,” Grimm utters.
“No, he’s not. He needs you to live which makes him weak, but you don’t need him,” I say as I fumble with the holster on my left leg and work to get the gun out.
I hear the click of the chamber for his gun loading as he places the stone on my chest. “Before I send you back to the plateau that Pheles inside you has to come out, as does whatever of me still remains,” he says, pressing the symbols on the stone.
I feel as if I’m being ripped in two and I holler from the agony. I’m struggling to get air into my lungs and become lightheaded as small dots fill my vision. He releases the stone and the pain ends, but I’m still dazed and having difficulty focusing on what I need to do.
“My love, this is for betraying me,” Grimm says.
As he readies to fire, I manage to put the muzzle of my pistol against his side and fire. The bullet pierces him all the way through, and he falls off me onto the ground. I move slowly as I wrench the stone from his hand, press the spider symbol, and watch Grimm suffer as I suck the Arliss from his body. Once the transfer is complete, I take a syringe and inject the serum directly into his wound, hoping it reaches his vital organs before the life drains from his body. I apply the serum to each of my wounds, pick up several spheres that have scattered across the ground from Grimm’s pack bursting open upon his collapse, and make my way to the parking pad. The Degrem Stone grows hot as I feel the Arliss and Pheles battling for their freedom. I climb into the ATV, turn it around, and head down the tunnel towards Rinku with the stone warbling in the passenger seat.
I’m just past the tunnel towards Quarn when the stone starts glowing green and violently vibrating. I stop the vehicle, turn on all but one of the spheres, and bolt back towards the city. I turn the last sphere I have clockwise and create a force field around me knowing that I’m not going to make it a safe distance in time. The explosion that follows hits the force field and sends me flying several feet down the tunnel, landing hard on my shoulder. Debris rains down, cutting me off from the vehicle and burying me under the shield. I start panicking after some time has passed because I don’t know if anyone will know what happened or know to even look for me.
Debris slides down around the dome, opening up a hole for me to see out of. Jules and several other soldiers are frantically pulling chunks of conc
rete off the shield. I don’t turn the sphere off until I know I won’t be crushed to death. Jules reaches for me, but unfortunately, grabs my damaged arm, which causes me to scream.
“Get a medic!” he shouts as several members of Squad Nine hurry towards us.
“Where’s Grimm?” I ask as I stumble around, trying to get my footing.
“He’s being looked at by a doctor,” Jules says, helping me down the tunnel.
A stretcher arrives and I’m gently placed onto it. “If no one minds, I think I’ll pass out now,” I say, then close my eyes and fade.
It’s been several weeks since everything happened, and Jules is the only visitor I’ve had the entire time I’ve been in the hospital. I stopped asking about Grimm after my second day in intensive care. He’s never going to come see me as I lie in my hospital bed, nursing a newly repaired shoulder. I wound up shattering the bones when I landed after the explosion, so before I can be released I have to have a few weeks of physical therapy, but I’m almost done. Jules has told me I’ve been offered a squad leader position in Quarn, a job he himself recommended me for now that he’s been made compound leader. If I decide not to take it, Myr has an apartment set up for me in Zone E, so I’ll have someplace to go no matter what I decide.
The casualties in Quarn were extensive, so any former soldiers who were sentenced to work in the farms due to any infraction have been given another opportunity to prove themselves worthy of redemption. Personally, I don’t think I can go back to that kind of life. I’m sick of it, plus I’d be getting nothing but stares and weird looks from the others in the compound since everyone has been well versed on the events that led up to the showdown with Wavern… and the Arliss, though much has still been kept from them. I don’t need that kind of stress in my life. Having the memories of it is punishment enough.
“Hey,” Jules says as he enters my room. “You’re being released today, so Myr needs your decision.”
