Worlds Without End: Aftermath (Book 2)

by Shaun Messick

  Belzar didn’t know if he had injected any of the drug into Schaal’s neck. But his doubts were soon mitigated because Schaal seemed disoriented. He shook his head and slowly advanced toward Belzar.

  The captain clenched his left fist and swung his massive arm upward into a jaw-shattering uppercut. The blow sent Schaal flinging over the sofa, landing head first on the cold, metal floor.

  Belzar then tossed the sofa aside and knelt down beside his commander’s body. He was unconscious. Belzar then looked over at Skyler. Skyler lay unconscious as well. A large gash curved down his forehead, bleeding profusely. Belzar made his way to him and checked for a pulse. He was still alive.

  With the alarm continuing to howl, Belzar picked Skyler up and flung him over his shoulder. He then sprinted out of the office, hoping that Skip had not failed in his part of the plan.

  * * * * *

  The elevator doors opened. Skip kept himself hidden in the corner just in case Gnol soldiers were present. Clutching the plasma rifle that he had taken off of the dead guards, he peered around the edge as the emergency lights continued to flash, and the alarm continued its ear-piercing screech. To his surprise, there were no guards coming his way. He darted from the elevator and down the corridor to where he had last left Captain Belzar.

  As he neared the end of the corridor before it split into three different directions, he heard a crashing sound from near Commander Schaal’s office. He skidded to a halt and leaned his back against the wall. Squeezing the plasma rifle tightly with both hands, he waited patiently for a few minutes. He heard a single pair of footsteps running toward him. He knew what he had to do. Taking two quick deep breaths, he leapt from around the corner and pointed the plasma rifle right between the eyes of the oncoming Gnol.

  The Gnol stopped just in time with the barrel of Skip’s rifle touching right between his eyes.

  “Tiny,” Skip said, lowering the rifle.

  Captain Belzar was soaked with sweat, holding an unconscious Skyler Green over his shoulder.

  “What’s with the alarm?” Belzar questioned.

  “An unforeseen obstacle.”

  “Obviously.”

  “What about Commander Schaal?” Skip asked.

  “I don’t know if I killed him or not. With the intruder alarms going off, I didn’t have time to check.”

  Skip was about to respond when they heard an explosion from outside of the compound. They sprinted out into the foyer of the compound. To their surprise, there were no Gnols present.

  Belzar gently laid Skyler on the ground. “Skyler will be okay. Were you able to get the encoded message to your rebel friends?”

  “No, I didn’t get the chance after the emergency alarms went off.”

  Belzar nodded toward the guard’s computer station at the other end of the foyer. “You may still be able to send an encoded message out.”

  “That’s if the virus didn’t shut down all outgoing communications.”

  “It’s worth a shot. I’ll stand guard while you work on a way to get a message out.” Belzar grabbed the rifle from Skip. Skip then made his way to the guard’s computer station.

  Suddenly, a Gnol guard burst through the front doors of the compound. Belzar quickly pointed the rifle in the Gnol’s direction.

  “Captain Belzar! Th-the slaves are revolting. Where is Commander Schaal?”

  Belzar lowered the rifle. “Commander Schaal is aware of the situation. He is currently requesting reinforcements from Chast as we speak.”

  The Gnol nodded in a panicked response and looked in Skip’s direction. “What is the human doing?”

  “Never you mind, Private. Commander Schaal wants all available guards stopping this revolt.”

  The guard nodded and then turned and sprinted out of the compound.

  Belzar watched the guard leave and turned back to look at Skip. “Any luck?”

  “The virus hasn’t disabled all outgoing communications yet. Almost done. Hopefully, someone at the rebel base will get the encoded message, if there’s a rebel base left.”

  After Skip finished, Belzar picked Skyler up again, and they sprinted out through the compound’s doors into the courtyard. The scene before them was total chaos. Thousands of slaves were in revolt, realizing they were now free from the Enforcer’s mind control.

  The slaves severely outnumbered the Gnols at the camp and the carnage before them illustrated that fact. The slaves had successfully overwhelmed several of the Gnol guards, and some of the guards lay dead.

  “Skip!”

  Skip whirled around to his right after hearing his name.

  Sean Gibson, carrying a plasma rifle, sprinted toward him. His bald head glistened with sweat.

  “Sean!”

  Sean stopped after seeing Belzar standing next to Skip with an unconscious Skyler Green draped over his shoulder, and he raised his rifle.

  “No!” Skip yelled, holding his arms up to stop him from firing. “He’s with us.”

  Sean lowered his rifle, looked suspiciously at the towering Gnol, and then jogged toward Skip.

  “It’s okay, Sean. He really is with us.”

  “Is that … that Skyler?” Sean asked as he walked toward his long-lost friend.

  “Yes,” Belzar responded. “He will be okay.”

  A smile spread across Sean’s face. “If he’s alive, maybe my wife and son are alive too.”

  Skip lowered his head. All of the slaves within the slave camp of Zikf were recorded in the camp’s database. Since he had access to those names, he had been sifting through them to find Sean’s wife and son. Unfortunately, there was no record of them.

  “No,” Sean said in despair. “Tell me they are here at this camp, Skip. The last intelligence we had said they were.”

  Skip looked up. “I’m sorry, Sean. There’s no record of them here.”

  With a stoic look, Sean asked, “What happened? The last thing I remember was being transported here, then suddenly waking up in this chaos.”

  “No time to explain. We need to get all of these slaves organized and herded to the front gate. Where’s Bantyr?”

  “I don’t know. The last time I saw him was when we arrived here.”

  “Look out!” Belzar howled as he raised his rifle and fired a shot just past Sean’s head.

  A Gnol guard fell dead at Sean’s feet with a charred hole in his head.

  Sean spun back around. “Okay, now I trust you.”

  Belzar gave Sean a confiding nod.

  Belzar gently placed Skyler on the ground. Skyler moaned and moved, trying to wake up. “Take Skyler to the front gate. I’ll go find Bantyr.”

  * * * * *

  Noran Belzar launched himself into three Gnol soldiers who were beating a wounded slave. He grabbed two of the soldiers and flung them headfirst into a massive tree. Both Gnols fell to the ground unconscious. The third Gnol jumped to his feet, ready to attack. He paused after recognizing Belzar. He then charged, shoulder first, toward his captain. Belzar parried the attack, catching the Gnol’s head. With a flick of his hands, he snapped the soldier’s neck. The Gnol fell dead at his feet.

  Belzar rushed toward and then knelt down next to the wounded slave. She was a young girl barely over ten years of age. Her dark hair was matted with blood and tears streamed down from her brown eyes. She looked up at Belzar and tried to back away, trembling with fear. Belzar reached his hand down and gently touched her shoulder, trying to give her reassurance that he was no longer the monster she believed him to be.

  “Can you move?” he asked.

  The girl seemed to relax a little and nodded her head.

  Belzar gave her a comforting smile and helped her up. “Good, run to the front gate of the camp. There will be someone there to help you.”

  The young girl nodded again and sprinted off toward the front gate.

  He then turned and scanned the rest of the courtyard, looking for any sign of Bantyr. He saw several hundred slaves making their way to the front gate. As he watched the
revolt, he noticed that the slaves were beginning to gain a foothold on the battle within the courtyard. Several Gnol soldiers lay dead or wounded.

  He decided that he needed to move to the far side of the courtyard, which expanded a rough distance of two hundred yards with the administration building in the center and several other buildings scattered throughout. He ran past the administration building through a swarm of slaves heading toward the front gate. After running through a group of about forty or so of panicked slaves, he caught the collar of the only Gnol in hot pursuit. “Where is Bantyr Palmer?”

  The young Gnol soldier, a private about a foot shorter than Belzar, knocked his hand away from his collar. “Captain Belzar. The slaves. They are no longer under our control.”

  Belzar grabbed the private with both hands by his shirt and lifted him into the air until their eyes were level. “Have you seen the human slave named Bantyr Palmer?”

  The young private, now realizing that the captain may have had something to do with the revolt, shook his head.

  Belzar dropped the Gnol to his feet. The private stood motionless for a few seconds, unsure of his next move. Belzar then delivered a left hook across the Gnol’s face. The soldier’s body spun and he fell, unconscious, into the dirt of the jungle floor.

  Captain Belzar paused for a moment as he stared down at the young Gnol soldier. A twinge of guilt stung him for a few seconds. The unconscious private at his feet was just following orders. He had no idea that the so-called god he served was a genocidal maniac obsessed with power. But Belzar knew the truth.

  A shrill scream from behind the mess hall directly ahead brought him back to the task at hand. He sprinted around the building and skidded to a stop. Another Gnol, about as tall and muscular as him, stood ten feet ahead with his back to him. The Gnol telekinetically held a human slave in the air. It was Bantyr.

  Bantyr’s eyes were wild with fear. One eye was swollen shut, and blood trickled from his nose. Belzar took a few small steps toward the Gnol holding Bantyr in place. Suddenly, the Gnol released his invisible grip on Bantyr, spun around, and landed a roundhouse kick directly across Belzar’s face.

  Belzar fell to the ground and spat blood onto the dirt. The Gnol then grabbed Belzar by the throat and lifted him a couple of inches off the ground. Belzar recognized the Gnol after making eye contact. He was Major Elahad, Commander Schaal’s second in command.

  “Captain Belzar. I suspected you were getting a little too close to that disgusting human you shadow. I should have trusted my gut and alerted Commander Schaal.”

  Belzar grabbed at Elahad’s hands, but the major was too strong. He was more experienced and skilled in his telekinetic abilities. Belzar then tried to grasp at the major’s face, but it was no use.

  Major Elahad launched him through the air. Belzar braced for impact before his head hit the concrete wall of the mess hall. He fell to the ground, trying to shake the cobwebs from the collision. Blood dripped down onto his face from a sizable gash along his forehead.

  Major Elahad walked up to Belzar and pulled his gun from its holster on his thigh. He pointed the gun about an inch from Captain Belzar’s head and began to squeeze the trigger. Belzar closed his eyes, waiting for the inevitable. But death didn’t come. He opened his eyes just in time to see Major Elahad drop the gun at his feet. The major dropped to his knees with blood seeping from his mouth. Belzar quickly skirted out of the way before Major Elahad fell dead face first against the same concrete wall.

  Standing behind the dead major was Bantyr, bloodied and exhausted. He held a broken branch from a nearby tree that he had plunged into Major Elahad’s back.

  * * * * *

  Rebel Base, Terrest . . .

  Jake typed calculations into the virtual keyboard from a computer pad. He was alone in the command center within the underground base – a small room covered from floor to ceiling with Omutx, a virtually impenetrable type of metal alloy native only to Terrest, as well as computer terminals and monitors.

  As he continued to type, he heard the door slide open. He turned around and met the eyes of his future wife. It amazed him how much she still took his breath away. Her long, dark hair was pulled up into a ponytail and the black t-shirt she wore with her military issue, black fatigue bottoms accentuated her exquisite figure.

  “How are the calculations coming along?” she asked as she made her way toward him, and then placed both of her hands on his shoulders.

  He turned, looking back at his monitor. “I don’t know, Celeste. I don’t think we have enough fuel at the base for the distance from Terrest to Gnolom, a distance of about one hundred million miles.”

  “That’s a long way.”

  “Yeah, it is, and I’ve calculated that we only have enough fuel at the base to get us about half way there.”

  “What about fuel from our other bases throughout Terrest?”

  Jake shook his head. “They need that fuel to fuel their fighters and other vehicles. Even though there has been essentially a cease-fire between us and the Gnols since your father has left for Earth, our outposts still need that fuel.”

  Celeste gently massaged his shoulders. “We will figure something out,” she said, and she leaned down and kissed him on the cheek.

  He reached up and gently stroked the soft skin of her face. He loved that about Celeste. She always seemed to have faith that things would work out. He, on the other hand, always went to the cynical side of things. “Thanks. You’re right. I’ve just got to have some faith.”

  He stood up and turned toward his fiancée. She returned his smile, causing butterflies to churn in his gut. The couple first touched their foreheads together and then lips. He began to pull her in tight to his body. She reciprocated.

  Suddenly, the door to the computer center slid open, and they quickly pulled away from one another and turned. Anyta stood at the entrance, tears streaming down her face. Jake knew something was wrong. Celeste rushed over to comfort Anyta. “What is it?”

  Anyta’s eyes lit up. Jake could tell that her tears were not tears of grief or sadness, but tears of joy. “W-w—”

  But Anyta couldn’t speak the words.

  “What is it?” Jake asked as he too moved toward his stepmother to comfort her.

  Anyta choked back the tears. “W-we just received an encoded message from the slave camp of Zikf.”

  Jake had heard of the slave camp before and he knew that it was located on a tropical island in the western ocean of the planet. He also knew the mining camp was the main source of Omutx ore for the Gnols. The camp contained thousands of human slaves.

  “The message came from Skip,” Anyta uttered.

  Jake was stunned. The last time he had heard from his dear friend was when Skip and his team were researching the temple ruins just outside of Talead. He knew that Skip was about to discover something big within the temple, but before he did, the Gnols attacked. They had no idea whether Skip had been captured or killed.

  “What was in the message?” Celeste questioned.

  Anyta looked up, her eyes glistening. “Skip said that they have managed to start a slave revolt and need immediate assistance. H-he also sa—”

  But she couldn’t get the words out as tears of joy sprang from her eyes. She turned and looked at Jake. “Sk-Skip said that Bantyr and Sean are at the camp too.”

  Overcome with joy and relief, Jake grabbed his stepmother, a woman he had grown to love and respect very much. He then pulled her in close and hugged her. After the embrace, he dashed out the door, running backwards, and said, “Let’s go! We’ve got to get a team together and get to Zikf now!”

  * * * * *

  Zikf Slave Camp . . .

  Skip and Sean had managed to direct most of the slaves to the front gate. The only problem was that the front gate, as well as the entire perimeter of the camp, was surrounded with a thirty-foot high, five-foot thick Omutx fence. Automatic plasma cannons, spaced twenty feet apart from one another, rested on top of the fence. The computer vi
rus, thankfully, had rendered the cannons useless. If the virus had not done its job, the slave revolt would be over in seconds with untold casualties.

  The problem now, however, was that the gate was locked. Consequently, he, Sean, and the horde of slaves were sitting ducks for any remaining Gnols with weapons. Skip hoped that Belzar would find Bantyr and be back soon. He was the only one that could open the gate with his code and retina scan.

  He continued to guide wounded and exhausted slaves to the gate. As he did so, he searched the slaves for any sign of Ariauna. He had not seen Ariauna since the day he had processed slaves to have the new computer chips inserted into the back of their skulls. The look on her face that day still haunted him. It was a look with a mixture of disappointment and sadness, which told him that she now questioned where his loyalties rested.

  As he continued to sift through the slaves’ faces, a small blast landed at his feet, sending him hurtling through the air into several other slaves. Dazed and confused for a moment, he jumped back to his feet and saw two Gnols running toward the group of slaves. The Gnols began to fire several rounds of plasma blasts into the crowd, killing some and wounding others.

  Skip retrieved his own plasma rifle lying at his feet and returned fire. The first blast hit one Gnol directly in the chest. The Gnol’s legs buckled and he fell down head first onto the ground. The second Gnol charged toward him, cut to his right, and grabbed a female slave, who was running to the front gate, by the hair.

  The Gnol pulled the slave in and jabbed the tip of his rifle onto the temple of her forehead. “Don’t, or she dies!”

  Skip took aim and began to squeeze the trigger when his eyes met the hazel eyes of the woman in the Gnol’s grip. It was Ariauna. Her eyes were wild with fear and begged Skip to help her. “Let her go!” he demanded. “You can’t win. Most of the guards are dead or wounded and your commander is dead as well.”