Scavenger Blood

by Janet Edwards

  “You’d better put this on.”

  “I can’t take your coat,” said Phoenix.

  “If you get cold, Phoenix, you’ll get dangerously ill again,” said Nadira.

  “I don’t want a coat hampering me in a fight anyway,” added Tad.

  Phoenix gave in, accepted the coat, and put it on.

  Nadira scowled in frustration. “I haven’t got a weapon.”

  “You can take my baseball bat,” said Braden. “I’m a pacifist, so I can’t do any fighting myself.”

  “Of course you can fight,” I said. “I remember you telling me that fighting to save a human life was ethically justifiable.”

  “I said that when we were discussing fighting falling stars, Blaze,” said Braden earnestly. “Fighting people is a totally different matter. I can kill falling stars, I can smash drones, but I can’t harm another human being.”

  “It’s sweet that you have ethical qualms, Braden,” said Nadira bitterly, “but that means we aren’t outnumbered by ten to six, but by ten to five.”

  She seized Braden’s baseball bat just as Shark came charging out of the doorway. Luther went to meet him, sword raised. Shark was clearly shocked to see that Luther had changed sides, but raised his own sword to attack, and there was the clanging sound of metal on metal.

  Three more men followed Shark out of the doorway. Malice, Lion, and Knave. My tracking display told me that five more men would arrive within a few seconds, while a sixth was trailing well behind the others. Tad stepped forward, and Malice and Lion went to attack him, but Knave hesitated, his expression uncertain.

  “Knave!” I yelled at him. “You’ve one last chance here. Fight with us, and I’ll help you rejoin Manhattan division.”

  Knave turned to stare at me. Malice had reached Tad now, and aimed a sweeping blow of his sword at him, but was too late to hit his target. Tad had already moved sharply sideways, and then made a rapid sequence of kicks and arm movements, which first disarmed his opponent and then sent him crashing to the floor.

  I wasn’t surprised by this, because I’d seen Tad effortlessly take down Cage in a fight, but Lion stopped moving to give Tad a wary look of assessment.

  Knave was still staring at me, so I tried yelling again. “Knave, fight with us if you want to be with your wife and baby.”

  Knave brushed his blond hair back from his eyes, nodded at me, then turned to run up behind Lion. He hit him on the head with his sword hilt, sending Lion toppling to the ground.

  Both Shark and Luther gave bewildered looks at Knave and the two men on the ground – one of whom was clutching his leg and screaming, while the other looked solidly unconscious – before focusing on their sword fight again.

  Nadira ran forward to grab both the fallen swords, before returning and holding one of them out to me. “Take a sword, Blaze.”

  I shook my head. “I’ve got a knife. You and Phoenix should use the swords.”

  Nadira and Phoenix dropped their baseball bats, and stood brandishing swords instead. There was a rush of five more men coming through the doorway to the roof, all long-term Cage supporters.

  I’d no chance of persuading men like Nero and Viper to join our side, so I ran across to the edge of the roof nearest the central section of the Parliament House. Shark was still heavily engaged fighting Luther, but spared a second to call instructions to the new arrivals.

  “Knave has turned traitor, and the off-worlder boy can fight like a demon. Kill them both, but remember we need to take Donnell’s daughter alive.”

  The five new arrivals split up. I saw three going to attack Tad and Knave, while the other two ran towards the group of Braden, Nadira, and Phoenix. Braden was unarmed, and didn’t even lift his hands to resist them, so they just felled him with a couple of casual punches rather than using their swords, then turned to face Nadira and Phoenix. Nadira was standing poised to fight them, in the stance of someone accustomed to using a sword, but it was obvious that Phoenix had never even held one before.

  I glanced back at Tad and Knave. Tad had taken up a defensive position on top of the water tank, and must have done his disarming trick again, because the two men fighting him had lost their swords. Tad was struggling against them now though, and Knave was already lying on his back with a man pointing a sword at his throat.

  It was time for me to create my diversion. I leapt onto the parapet, and screamed at the top of my voice. “Lay down your weapons, or I’ll jump off the roof!”

  Everyone stopped fighting to look at me. “What do we do, Shark?” asked Viper. “You said that we need Blaze alive.”

  Shark laughed, his sword raised, and his eyes still fixed on Luther. “Ignore the girl. She’s bluffing.”

  “No, I’m not,” I shouted. “With me dead, Donnell will be free to fight, and he’ll execute you all.”

  Shark made a contemptuous noise, and waved his free hand at one of the men facing Nadira and Phoenix. “Nero, go and get her.”

  Nero turned to run towards me, and I screamed the signal words. “Go pollute yourself, Shark!”

  As I stepped backwards off the roof, I caught a last fleeting glimpse of the fight. Luther’s sword glinting as he aimed a blow at the distracted Shark. Knave rolling sideways and reaching for a fallen sword. Tad felling one of his two opponents. Phoenix and Nadira swinging their swords at the single man left attacking them.

  Then the parapet cut off my view. I only had a few feet to fall, but landed on a sloping section of roof that was covered with a thin layer of ice, and started sliding downwards. As I scrabbled frantically for handholds, I thought my fake death jump was going to become horribly real, but then there was an agonizing pain from my right hand as something sharp gashed my palm.

  I was desperate enough to grab the object tightly despite the pain, and that stopped me from sliding any further. I looked sideways, and saw I’d caught the sharp edge of a broken section of gutter.

  I lay spread-eagled on the sloping roof for a second longer, before warily crawling back upwards, my right hand stinging in protest at every movement. I couldn’t see anything of the fight now, but I could hear it. There were metallic clashes of swords, a furious shout from Shark, and a howl of anguish that I thought came from Braden.

  I finally reached the top of the slope, grasped a sturdy drainpipe with the right hand that was slippery with blood, and was about to climb back over the parapet when I saw Nero’s startled face looking down at me. He lifted his sword to stab me, but then seemed to remember that he had to capture me rather than kill me. He tossed his sword aside, and leaned over the parapet to seize my left arm with both hands.

  I felt Nero pulling me upwards, and instinctively resisted, gripping the drainpipe tighter with my painful right hand, and trying to yank my left arm free. Nero yelped in alarm, and toppled over the parapet. He narrowly missed landing on top of me, and then started sliding down the sloping roof, scrabbling for a grip just as I’d done moments earlier. Nero was going too fast to stop himself though, and gave a last despairing scream as he fell.

  I had to hold the drainpipe with both hands, and give myself a few seconds to stop shaking, before I dared to try climbing over the parapet again. This time I made it onto the flat roof, but I saw Viper running towards me, followed by a limping Wasp. That explained why the last man chasing us had been so far behind the others. Wasp’s injured leg had been slowing him down on the stairs.

  Viper paused in front of me, and his tongue flickered out to lick his upper lip in the mannerism that had earned him his name. “You killed Nero, Blaze. You’re going to suffer for that.”

  He was reaching out to grab me, when Wasp punched him savagely in the back of the neck, sending him sprawling unconscious on the floor beside me.

  “What?” I stared at Wasp in utter bewilderment.

  “When I was injured, Shark and Viper took away my crutches and mocked me, while you helped me,” said Wasp. “My allegiance is to the girl who drove the ghost train.”

  I gave a disbel
ieving shake of my head, and took a swift look around to assess the situation.

  Four Bronx division men were lying on the ground. One of them was Shark, and the scale of his head wound had to mean he was dead. Luther, Tad, Knave, and Nadira had gathered in a defensive group in front of where Phoenix and Braden were sitting on the ground, and the only three Bronx division men still on their feet were advancing cautiously on them.

  With Wasp joining our side, and only three men left against us, we could definitely win this fight. Especially if I made a surprise attack from behind. I saw a fallen sword on the ground, and snatched it up. I’d just started running forward, when an arrow flew through the air and landed at the feet of the Bronx division men. I gave a wild look in the direction of the Brooklyn wing, and saw a lithe figure standing on its parapet.

  “Bronx division, kneel in surrender or die,” cried Ghost. “You’ve got five seconds before I shoot every man still on his feet.”

  “Knave, Luther, and Wasp are on our side,” I yelled urgently.

  Ghost laughed. “I’d noticed there’d been some interesting changes of allegiance.”

  The three Bronx division men hastily knelt and put their hands on their heads.

  “Allowing for Knave, Luther, and Wasp changing sides, there should be eight Bronx men on your rooftop, Blaze,” called Ghost. “I can only see seven, including the injured and dead.”

  “I pulled Nero over the edge of the roof,” I explained.

  “Then he must be lying dead on the ground somewhere.” Ghost glanced over his shoulder. “Ludmilla, send the clear to attack signal to Donnell.”

  A green flare shot upwards with a screeching sound.

  “Donnell will clean up the members of Bronx division downstairs, and join us in a few minutes,” said Ghost.

  I nodded, and hurried across to where Phoenix and Braden were sitting. “Are you two badly hurt?”

  “Just a scratch.” Phoenix pointed at where blood was oozing from a cut on her neck.

  Braden had his head in his hands and didn’t say anything, but Tad answered for him. “Braden’s unhurt, but rather upset after killing Shark.”

  “What?” I stared at him in disbelief. “But Braden wasn’t fighting. He didn’t even have a weapon.”

  “Braden wasn’t fighting until the nasty moment when Shark decided he was losing the sword fight with Luther,” said Tad. “Shark ran across to grab Phoenix. I think he was planning to use her as a shield in the sword fight, but she gashed him with her sword, so he decided to cut her throat instead.”

  “That was when Braden took the baseball bat that Phoenix had dropped, and beat Shark to death with it,” said Nadira.

  Braden lifted his head. “I killed a man! How could I have killed a man? I don’t believe in violence.”

  “You didn’t have any choice,” said Nadira savagely. “Shark was going to kill Phoenix, and you were the only one close enough to stop him.”

  Now that Braden had begun talking, he couldn’t seem to stop. “I killed a man. I killed a man. I killed a man.” He kept repeating the words in mournful tones.

  Nadira sighed. “Hopefully Braden will calm down in a minute. Who else is hurt?”

  “Blaze’s right hand is pouring blood,” said Tad.

  I looked down at where I was still holding the sword. Tad was exaggerating the amount of blood, but not by much. I tossed the sword aside, and examined my hand. There was a deep gash in the palm, and one of the wrist tendrils of my gun had been severed.

  Both Tad and Nadira leaned to study my hand as well, and narrowly missed bumping their heads together.

  Nadira glowered at Tad. “Which of us is the nurse, and which of us is just getting in the way?”

  “Sorry.” Tad stepped backwards.

  Nadira looked at my hand again. “This is a deep gash, Blaze, but it should heal quickly with regrowth ointment. Maintain pressure on the wound until we get you downstairs for treatment.”

  “What about the gun tendril?” asked Tad.

  “If I join the severed ends with tape,” said Nadira, “then they’ll grow back together.”

  Tad blinked. “Really? Are you sure they can do that?”

  Nadira nodded. “I’ve had to treat severed gun tendrils before. Donnell has been fighting for decades, so he’s injured his right arm several times. Are there any other injuries?”

  “I’ve got a cut leg,” said Knave, “but it isn’t serious.”

  “I think the rest of us just have bruises,” said Luther.

  “Haven’t you noticed that Shark sliced your arm with his sword, Luther?” asked Phoenix.

  “He did?” Luther glanced at the gash in his bare left arm. “I’m so numb with cold that I hadn’t noticed it.”

  I hadn’t been aware of the cold at all before now, but Luther’s words made me realize I was freezing despite my coat.

  Nadira examined Luther’s arm. “I’m not putting dirty, makeshift bandages on injuries when we should be back downstairs with the proper medical supplies in a few minutes.”

  She frowned at the kneeling Bronx division men for a moment, and then moved on to check those lying on the ground. “Shark is extremely dead, but some of the others have wounds that will need treating. Unless Donnell does the sensible thing for once and executes them.”

  Braden gave her an appalled look. “You can’t want him to execute them!”

  “Yes, I do,” said Nadira.

  “But that doesn’t make sense. You’re a nurse, not a fighter.”

  Nadira gave him a pitying look. “I’m a nurse and a fighter. I stood with Donnell when he first raised the flag of the Earth Resistance. My job in the battles was to treat our injured, but I’d fight to defend my patients when necessary.”

  She pointed a finger at Shark’s body. “Phoenix is one of my patients. Shark was in the act of cutting her throat when you killed him. Would you rather that he was alive and Phoenix was dead?”

  “Of course I don’t want Phoenix to be dead,” said Braden, “but it was still wrong of me to take a human life.”

  Nadira gave a contemptuous look down at Shark’s body. “I’m not weeping for Shark. I wouldn’t weep for the others either. If Donnell decides to let them live, then I’ll treat their wounds because I’m a nurse, but I’d rather see them executed. They’re a threat to the lives of every man, woman, and child in the alliance.”

  She shrugged. “Donnell probably won’t kill them though. His mistakes have always been on the side of compassion. That soft side of his has caused us a lot of trouble in the past, but it’s one of the reasons we love him.”

  “And your fierce side is one of the reasons we love you, Nadira.” Donnell’s voice came from the direction of the doorway.

  We all turned to watch Donnell lead a crowd of people onto the roof. I could see Wall, Ice, and Raeni were among them, as well as several alliance officers. Donnell hurried towards us, raised his right hand in acknowledgement to Ghost, and then lowered it to touch my cheek for a fleeting second.

  “You all stayed alive until Ghost reached the roof of the Brooklyn wing then. How did you manage that?”

  Luther laughed. “It turns out that young Tad is a skilled fighter, while Blaze persuaded Knave and Wasp to change sides, and set up a distraction that swung the battle in our favour.”

  Donnell raised his eyebrows. “Well, Machico and Aaron have everything under control downstairs. Weston and Vijay, take charge of the prisoners. Julien, please deal with the corpses.”

  He paused. “We’ll be keeping the prisoners locked up and heavily guarded in Sanctuary overnight. Now I want to get our wounded people off this freezing rooftop and down to the hospital area to have their injuries treated.”

  Donnell turned to call out to the crowd. “If anyone hasn’t worked it out already, Luther has been working undercover for me. We carefully set up some public arguments over a fake attempt to trick Julien into drinking alcohol, and an affair with an imaginary fifteen-year-old girl, so I could take away Luther�
��s officer position. That allowed Luther to convince Major he was a bitter renegade, and get recruited into Bronx division, but Luther is now back in his rightful position as one of my officers.”

  “And what happens to me?” asked Knave.

  Donnell turned to him. “You and Wasp chose to fight on Blaze’s side. I think that demonstrates your true allegiance, so I’m currently classing you as among our people rather than prisoners.”

  “Blaze said that I’d be able to rejoin Manhattan division and be with my wife and baby?” Knave’s voice made his sentence into a question rather than a statement.

  Donnell looked at the crowd. “Wall, where are you?”

  “Over here.” Wall stepped forward. “In the circumstances, I’m willing to allow both Knave and Wasp to rejoin Manhattan division on a trial basis, but Diana will be the one to decide on Knave’s future relationship with her and the baby.”

  “I recommend that you do a huge amount of grovelling, Knave,” said Donnell.

  Knave pulled a face and nodded. “I’ve been a fool. It wasn’t just what Blaze said that made me change sides, but the cold-blooded way that Major talked about killing hostages.”

  “I had some strong feelings about Major saying that too,” said Donnell lightly, and he turned to me. “Blaze, will you be able to walk down the stairs?”

  “Yes. I’ve hurt my hand not my foot.”

  “What’s worrying me is that you already had hypothermia, so fighting on a cold rooftop was the worst possible thing for you. You look terrible, and you’ve clearly lost a lot of blood.”

  I grimaced. “I feel as terrible as I look.”

  What I wasn’t admitting was that I was suffering more from shock than hypothermia and blood loss. I kept seeing fleeting images of Nero’s face as he toppled over the balcony, and Viper’s tongue licking his lip the second before Wasp hit him.

  Donnell didn’t need me to explain that to him though. He knew all about the aftermath of battles, and must have recognized the look in my eyes, because he put his arm around me. To the bystanders moving aside to let us through to the stairs, it must have looked like a casual embrace, but Donnell was steadying me and supporting most of my weight.