by Jason Letts
“Do you see why that’s not a toy?” Tris said through her teeth, fighting back much harsher words. But she stopped and gathered herself when she noticed Toria staring blankly at the small amount of blood on her arm and the tip of the knife. A drop formed on the end of it and dripped onto the girl’s pants near her knee. At that, Toria burst into hysterics, flinging the knife onto the floor. For all the tough talk, Tris realized the girl might never have seen blood before or at least hadn’t known what it felt like to draw it from someone else.
“I’m sorry!” she shouted, her words dissolving into wails.
“Can somebody shut her up?” Velo groaned as the vehicle reached the top of the incline and started along the flat road behind countless truck transports. Keize got up and started over, an angry scowl on his face.
“What did you do?”
“I didn’t do anything. She cut me!” Tris said, which seemed to lighten Keize’s mood. He picked up the knife and put it in Toria’s sheath, despite her strong reluctance.
“Never let go of your weapon again,” Keize advised her as her fit died down to a wimper. “That’s what you need to use on the people who aren’t on your side.”
Once Keize returned to his seat, Toria couldn’t take her eyes off of Tris. The girl must’ve felt terrible about what had happened, and Tris hoped the memory would stay with her and deter her from the violent games Keize used her for.
“No matter what happens,” Tris whispered, “you need to keep yourself safe. Stay hidden, stay protected.”
Tris would’ve liked to follow the same advice herself, but she knew there was no way she’d be able to avoid getting wrapped up in more bloodshed.
CHAPTER 10
The drive to Toine had taken Taylor longer than he expected, but when he saw something in the road ahead just outside of the city he realized that the last stretch to his brother in the Spiral would be the toughest one of all.
Slowing to a crawl, he leaned his head out of the window to better see the obstruction blocking the road. It was a Guard truck positioned sideways across the pavement. It was possible they hadn’t seen him yet, and the thought struck his mind to pull the car off the road into a pile of brush and sneak through on foot. The only alternative was to continue on, let them see him in his uniform, and face the inevitable confrontation.
Taylor put his foot on the gas.
Keeping a careful eye on the truck ahead, Taylor counted three officers stationed nearby. At least one of them had a firearm and the rest had batons. They all came to alert as the sound of the engine echoed ahead. Even when they all came around to the front of the truck to await his arrival, Taylor didn’t slow down at all.
Smiling, he continued to accelerate until he could see the concern on their faces. Best he could tell, he didn’t know any of these Guard members, but that didn’t mean they wouldn’t know him. Just as they looked like they were about to break ranks and dive out of the way, Taylor slammed on the brakes and let the vehicle skid to a halt.
After he rolled down the window, Taylor watched one of the men come over to chat. The pinched look on his face gave Taylor a hint about what to expect.
“Get out of the…”
Before the trooper could finish his sentence, Taylor lurched against the door and grabbed him by the collar, pulling him down against the vehicle’s side. The one with the firearm, a long-barreled rifle, came around from behind the truck and raised his weapon just as Taylor stomped on the gas pedal. The car jumped forward at him, slamming into his lower half just as he got off a shot that pierced the windshield. Taylor had ducked down, but he hit the brakes when he heard the sound of the man’s torso thumping against the car’s hood.
In the midst of the sudden movement, Taylor had dropped the first guard, but he didn’t wait to see what his condition was. Popping the door open, he quickly got out to see that the man with the rifle was out cold. He’d barely taken another step when the third officer jumped out at him with baton held high. Taylor took a shot to the shoulder before chopping at his neck and sending him to the ground. Soon enough all three of them were knocked out.
Standing tall in the now secure area, Taylor took a look at the city ahead and tried to figure out what to do. The Guard had clearly stepped up their presence if they were watching the roads. Although he couldn’t be sure, it was possible one of them fallen men around him had radioed for help. The best way to tie them up and get away would be to clear the area.
With a little effort, Taylor set all three bodies into his car, turned it around, and got out to let it run of its own accord as far away from the city as possible. Even if it veered off the road the ground was flat enough to deposit the car miles away. But before he left them on their journey, he found the keys to their truck, got in, and started the engine. Now he’d have a much easier time passing for a member of the Guard, unless he happened to run into someone he knew.
Getting off the main road as soon as possible in case more Guard vehicles were going to cross his path, he took the truck and its bouncy shocks around some of the smaller side roads only to discover that there was hardly a street corner anywhere that didn’t have a member of the Guard posted to it.
“What is going on here?” Taylor asked himself, alarmed. There weren’t any people on the streets at all except for those in Guard uniforms. He avoided eye contact with the officers at their posts and wondered what had befallen Randall, who could’ve been held at gunpoint for all he knew.
His prognosis became even worse as he reached Triton Kniviscent square and saw the Guard outpost that had been created here. Large transports and tents were arranged all over the lawn. The statue of Triton with his mammoth cudgel was barely visible in the center. It appeared ready to come to life and smash what appeared to be a command center just in front of it.
As anxious as Taylor was to rid the capital of this new menace, the grounds were swarming with Guard members and their weaponry. Large guns and other fortifications had been set up, making Taylor think that when the Illiams arrived they’d be far outmatched. The truck gave him enough cover to drive right by. Finding and saving Randall was his number one priority, and the best Taylor knew he wasn’t planning to leave the Spiral under any circumstances.
Ditching the vehicle as close to the Spiral’s entry way as possible, he kept his head down and marched into the tower’s lower chambers. He heard unfamiliar voices in adjacent rooms, spied the vacant council hall, and then began climbing floors using the main stairwell. He’d search every inch of the building if he had to. Although the Guard clearly had control of this building as well, they didn’t know it as well as Randall did. He could be hiding in some nook, waiting for his chance to escape.
Climbing level after level, Taylor wondered if Randall had somehow holed himself up in the chancellor’s suite. The committee chair rooms were mostly empty, though more than once Taylor opened a door and hastily shut it when he realized there were people in there. Every moment he feared someone would recognize him. Only fate would decide if he had the fortune for it to be his brother.
“Taylor!”
The voice had a rough, gravelly quality to it that couldn’t have been Randall’s. Taylor was in the upper reaches of the Spiral, probably just under the chancellor’s suite in a large storage room full of boxes and stacks of papers. There were secrets buried here that might’ve long ago unraveled Cumeria. Light filtered in through round windows, but a strange green glow emanated from a computer near the back of the room. It offered just enough illumination to allow Taylor to make out the sturdy, bulky figure behind it.
“Captain Keran,” Taylor said. It was strange the Guard’s unequivocal leader was so far from his men.
“They’re coming, Taylor. I fear we don’t have the firepower to withstand them,” he said in dire tones. It was amusing that Keran quivered in the face of the incoming Illiams despite all of the Guard’s superior strength, and it crossed Taylor’s mind to chide him over it, but there were more important matters at hand.
/> “What have you done with my brother?” Taylor demanded. The light coming through the door behind him cast a shadow that stretched all the way to Keran at the back of the room. The captain laughed and got up from his seat.
“Wouldn’t you like to know? I may have actually done him a favor, pushing him out of the way before the sword could drop on his head.”
“Tell me where he is! What have you done with him?”
Keran strolled a few steps forward, rubbing his fingers against the palm of his other hand.
“I recall the first time you were brought to base camp, Taylor. There was that fight by the van, the blatant display of a nearly freakish strength. I might’ve been surprised if I hadn’t seen it before in our old Chancellor Aggart. Oh, you didn’t think I knew, did you? I actually know quite a lot about your rampant bacterial infection and its effects. The truth is Aggart was never as strong as he thought he was…or could’ve been,” Keran said. He was relaxed, comfortable, and unaware of the impulse rising in Taylor to tear him apart.
“What are you getting at?” Taylor asked.
“Just listen for a moment. Aggart came along on one of our training exercises in the north woods once when he brushed up against a tree and started having a violent reaction. He finally got a hold of himself, but after that I could tell his blows were a hair slower and had less impact. The sap on the leifter tree had done something to him, but I didn’t figure out what until I started digging into his records and learned about the “fury,” as he called it.”
“So what? He had a reaction?” Taylor asked. He didn’t like being lectured to, but he was curious all the same. Details about his secret condition were very hard to come by.
“Don’t pretend this doesn’t apply to you. I know that look in your eye and I saw the blue flares in your blood for myself. Aggart wrote all about the symptoms, the uncontrollable aggression, the crushing guilt. If I had to guess, you’ve struggled with these things worse than he did. Aggart never told anyone that the sap on that tree nearly robbed him of his strength. He coveted it, but you don’t. It’s only a means to an end for you, but you could rid yourself of it by drinking that pure sap.”
“You don’t know anything about me,” Taylor seethed. “I’ll give you one last chance to tell me where my brother is.”
“Or else what?” Keran asked. “I’m not an amateur trying my hand at a fight for the first time. There are more important things than blind rage when it comes to winning and killing. Your lack of experience will hold you back almost as much as your reluctance to use your full strength.”
“There’s only one way to tell,” Taylor said, feeling the tantalizingly close ecstasy of the fight.
Taylor charged forward in an attempt to bowl Keran straight off his feet, but the captain was fast enough to stop Taylor cold with the sole of his boot right to the kneecap. Though his legs had stopped, Taylor carried through with his arms, swinging his left and his right at Keran’s head. After blocking both, Keran landed a right hook against Taylor’s jaw, flaring the young man’s anger even more.
“Didn’t we teach you anything?” Keran asked, bouncing on his toes. Taylor had been stupid. Not only did he charge in recklessly, he wasn’t drawing upon his full strength. He shuddered when he felt the energy churn in his blood and joints. “Your strength cannot save you.”
Trying a more tactical approach, Taylor feigned a swinging punch and then switched to a grab when Keran went to block. Taking the captain by the forearm and sweeping a leg around, he knocked the older man hard against the wood flooring. Keran didn’t so much as groan, instead using the momentum to pull Taylor down with him. A well-placed foot to Taylor’s stomach flipped him over onto his back.
By the time Taylor turned over, Keran was on his feet again and coming at him. Taylor barely jerked his head to the side in time to avoid a kick to the face. The strike landed on his shoulder, almost forcing him back down. The stinging blows were adding up, and Taylor started to become frustrated that he wasn’t inflicting more damage. Not since Aggart had Taylor had so little luck in a fight.
Finally straightening up, Taylor put up his guard as Keran unleashed a fury of blows. Taylor deflected most of them, but he also kept his eyes open for an opportunity. Highly skilled, Keran didn’t have any of the obvious weaknesses he knew to look for, but that didn’t mean the environment couldn’t be used to his advantage. Using all of his strength, Taylor stomped at the board below Keran’s feet, cracking it and leaving his opponent off balance for a moment.
Wasting no time, Taylor rushed in and grabbed Keran by the waist, lifting him up and carrying him back across the room. Keran pounded on his back just as Taylor drilled him against the door leading to the Spiral’s sloping walkway. The door popped open and all of a sudden the cold breeze hit them. Taylor continued to push, driving Keran against the four-foot tall railing separating the walkway from a fall of over one hundred feet. He held Keran’s back against the wall, trying to lift him over the edge. Keran struggled, contorting his face, but he couldn’t break out of his position.
“You are going off the edge. Tell me what you did with Randall!” Taylor shouted over the whipping wind.
The air current at that moment carried the sound of an explosion that forced Taylor to look up. What he saw in the distance was a cloud of dust from what must’ve been a building, then through the dust emerged a colossal silver contraption on a set of giant treads. Behind it were countless transport vehicles, many of them similar to the ones that Taylor had seen the Wozniaks use to invade the ClawLands.
Keran managed to shove Taylor off and back away from the railing. He looked over and surveyed the invasion with his arms across his chest. Breathing heavily and with some dirt on his face, Keran looked all too mortal.
“If you must know I let your brother walk right out of here under his own power, not a scratch on him. But where he is now is anybody’s guess.”
“How magnanimous of you,” Taylor droned.
“My guess is that none of us will make it through this,” Keran said.
“You don’t know the half of what’s coming,” Taylor added.
“Neither do you.”
Keran and Taylor exchanged glances as another loud crack hit their ears. The Wozniak’s giant crusher had demolished another building.
“Why don’t you put that uniform to good use for a change,” Keran suggested. Taylor sighed.
“I’m not leaving until this is all over, and it won’t be over even if the Guard is the only one left standing,” Taylor said.
“Good enough for me,” Keran said.
Taylor left him behind and started down the sloping walkway. He glanced over his shoulder as gunfire erupted in the distance, thinking about the limited time he had to find his brother before the entire city went up in smoke. Already much of the Guard contingent on Triton Kniviscent square was mobilizing for a confrontation toward Toine’s north side, and the soldiers stationed on street corners were leaving their posts, which would give Taylor free run of the city.
He checked the obvious destination first but found nothing but an eerie stillness in Randall’s office after he knocked, broke the door handle, and looked around.
“Randall! Cori! Ralph!”
Taylor’s calls provoked no answer. He took a moment to look around Randall’s desk for any signs about where he went or how long ago they were here. Other than a few papers, there wasn’t anything to go on. Giving it up for lost, he strode to the exit when he almost tripped against a glass bottle that skittered over toward a drum used for fires in the center of the room. Out of nothing more than curiosity, he bent down to look at it when he saw blood on the floor.
There wasn’t a lot of it, but it was definitely blood. The revelation made Taylor’s mind race with what might’ve happen here. The possibility arose that one of the three were in serious trouble. The bottle of cheap booze caught Taylor’s eye again. The bars and other local establishments were all likely to be closed, but there was a chance someone
would be around with some answers.
As he left the office and started for Drownin’ Hops, he quickly realized that would take him closer to the north end of town, an unwelcome prospect that he couldn’t think of a way around. The urgency in his mind wouldn’t let Taylor proceed at anything less than a full run, even though he had a few miles to go. The longer it took for Taylor to find out what was going on, the better the chance was Randall’s situation would worsen.
He was out of breath by the time he made it to the bar, where the doors were locked and the windows boarded up. So different from how the place had appeared before he left, it was hard to imagine the building ever housing a business.
The ground shook at the sound of another explosion. It was hard to tell how far away the fighting was since the streets around him were vacant, but being out in the open no longer seemed a wise option. Taylor went around back and found an unprotected window to the kitchen. One elbow smashed it open, and moments later he was crawling around inside. There was just enough light to be able to see, and he searched the building for anywhere that someone might’ve been holing up. Unfortunately there weren’t any signs of an occupant, and all of the alcohol had been cleared out.
On the way out, Taylor happened to spot a pair of eyes peeping through a window to a nearby building. They vanished as soon as he saw them, but at least he had someone to go after. He’d barely made it to the door before it opened in front of him as the peeper attempted to escape. The older, bearded man flinched and tried to run the other way, but Taylor caught him.
“Hey, relax. I’m not with the Guard. I’m looking for Randall Bracken or Ralph Fiori,” Taylor said.
“Like I’m going to believe you,” the man said, making Taylor grimace.
