Nobility (The Dystopian King Book 1)

by Mason Dakota

  I’m in another horror movie scene!

  I spotted movement just in time as two more mercenaries came bounding around the corner. I acted on instinct and lifted my shotgun and fired. Its ear-shattering roar heralded a force that blew the first unsuspecting mercenary onto his back. The second man reacted quickly and lifted his assault rifle and let off a quick burst as he dove for cover. I crouched as bullets redecorated the wall behind me. I rolled and came up firing. The mercenary jumped into the nearest room just as shotgun pellets hit the wall next to him. I quickly primed the shotgun again to ready for a third shot.

  The mercenary feigned exposure to draw another miss shot out of me. Pellets ripped chunks out of the walls but they missed my target. He popped out and fired and I spun around the door frame just before bullets tore into sheet rock. His firing stopped and I spun around for my chance to fire.

  He threw a grenade right at me.

  I ran back screaming just as the grenade went off.

  The grenade erupted with a deafening shock wave of force and shrapnel that ripped apart the door and most of the wall. The wave threw me farther into the room. Bits of shrapnel ripped into my duster and Kevlar vest. Dust and debris were sucked up into the air. I smashed through what remained of that poor desk and crashed onto the floor. Ears ringing, vision swirling, the air punched out of my lungs, I struggled to breathe and tasted blood. I felt something sting my legs. A glance showed me cut limbs and skinned knees, but thankfully nothing was broken or seriously injured.

  I rolled over onto my back just as the mercenary stormed into the office. I fired the shotgun the moment he crossed the threshold. Buckshot struck him in the chest and launched him back into the hallway.

  “You…you killed him,” said Thomas in my radio.

  “What?” said Michael.

  “Quit whining about it and do your job,” said Alexandra.

  I climbed to my feet and groaned, “She’s right. We can discuss the details later.”

  Thomas didn’t reply. I wondered if he aimed his rifle on me, questioning if maybe he ought to put a tranquilizer dart in my back. I glanced back out the window and sure enough I saw the glint of his scope aimed in my direction. I stood there staring at it just for a brief moment when suddenly a portion of the glass window shattered before my eyes.

  Thomas shot at me!

  I heard a loud thump behind me. Slowly I turned around to see another mercenary slumped unconscious in the doorway with a green feathered dart sticking out of his neck.

  “Just end this quickly,” hissed Thomas.

  I nodded my head, keeping my eyes locked on the new sleeping mercenary. Curiosity caused me to look out the window to check Alexandra’s progress.

  Cars burned. Bullets sprayed like swarms of hornets. The number of dead bodies increased as the mob pressed their attack. And that luxurious panther, the Lady of Chicago, Alexandra Carline, led the charge.

  She moved across the battlefield, cutting mercenaries down left and right with knife and gun. She flew across car hoods. She launched herself at men twice her size and drove them to the ground. She dropped enemy after enemy with her pistol as she pressed farther and farther into Nebula’s firing line. She made killing and chaos look beautiful and sexy and I hated that a part of me found it irresistible. None proved more lethal and at ease at killing as the Lady.

  Except maybe Ziavir Yiros.

  That’s our new Mayor…

  I reloaded my shotgun, slipped out of the room, and cautiously moved down the hall, constantly checking behind me. Up ahead the corridor turned to the right. I heard movement approaching on the other side of the wall. As I reached the end of the corridor, a creaking plank beneath my feet betrayed me. The gut wrenching sound of a shotgun being pumped on the other side of the wall answered back. I dove forward onto my stomach as the walls around me exploded like a piñata with shotgun pellets instead of candy flying out.

  I rolled to the side and aimed my own shotgun at the wall where the shots originated. I pulled the trigger as fast as I could, unleashing a hail of gunfire. I screamed till my lungs burned, but the shotgun roars drowned it all out. I heard a cry of pain from the other side just before the shotgun clicked empty.

  Don’t stop Griffon! More will come!

  I barrel rolled on to my belly and launched myself into a sprint, forgetting about the empty shotgun on the ground. It simply would take too long to stop and reload each round. I needed to get out of here! I took the first right and ran, not knowing where I was going, only knowing that I needed to find Ziavir. As I reached the next intersection of hallways, two more mercenaries came around with assault rifles in their arms. Their surprise at seeing me probably saved my life.

  I swung my retractable bo-staff out to knock the first man’s rifle aside. The blow caused him to throw his elbow back and hit his partner in the face. I brought the bo-staff back around to strike the same mercenary across the jawline. A sick cracking sound escaped and he flew to the side.

  His partner recovered quickly and raised his rifle. I lunged and thrust forward with the staff. I struck him in the Adam’s apple. He fell back a step clawing at his throat as he choked. I twirled the bo-staff up my arm and around my back to come back with a hard left swing to his kneecap. He half choked, half cried out as he fell. I followed through with a reverse kick to the side of his head. He fell over unconscious.

  I spun around to see the first mercenary draw his pistol and aim it at me.

  Bang!

  Suddenly the gun in the man’s hand flew away leaving both him and me stunned. We turned to my left to see Michael standing there holding a pistol in shaky hands. The man and I slowly looked back to each other and I shrugged to him just before I knocked him out with a hard swing from my staff.

  “Nice shot,” I said to Michael

  “Huh?” he muttered. His eyes never left the end of the smoking barrel. He looked dazed.

  “I said…nice shooting there…aiming for the gun and all. I didn’t know you could shoot like that.”

  Michael swallowed, wiped his forehead with the back of his hand, and said, “I…aimed for his head.” I stared at him for a few seconds and then laughed. He weakly smiled. I thought he would throw up.

  I slapped him on the shoulder and said, “Come on, let’s go.”

  CHAPTER FORTY-TWO

  “What are we looking at?” I whispered to Michael.

  We made it to the main generator room of the power plant, a large two-story area with walkways that overlooked the main generators and machines. Pipes scattered in every direction across the walls like strands of a cobweb. Monitors lined a far wall and showed images and maps of Chicago. A large concrete tank filled with water from the lake split the room. It siphoned water into the various pipes along the walls.

  The bomb sat next to the tank.

  It was a large metal box tied down to a pallet by cords. A laptop sat on top of the bomb. Countless power cables attached the bomb to the monitors on the far wall.

  “They are using the city’s power grid to boost the power of the bomb,” whispered Michael.

  “What?”

  “To expand the blast radius, they turned the building into the bomb!”

  Great, more lives at stake than we originally thought.

  As we hid in the shadows, we saw four guards below us walking around the two scientists as they worked on the bomb. The scientists moved from machine to machine checking things off on their holographic datapads and occasionally tweaking controls on the machines.

  “I don’t see Ziavir anywhere,” whispered Michael.

  I checked my watch and whispered back, “We don’t have much time left.” I pointed toward the bomb and asked, “If I got you close to that, do you think you could disarm it?”

  “Maybe…I can try…but I’d much rather prefer those two to do it. It seems they are the ones being forced to maximize the blast radius.”

  I looked back at the two scientists and nodded. Our hope rested with them.

 
“Are we all set here?” called out the devil.

  Ziavir Yiros.

  He strode into view with his back toward us. He wore a sling on his left arm and leaned heavily upon his sword cane. For once it appeared he actually needed the cane. Maybe Chamberlain’s kick to Ziavir’s chest damaged some ribs.

  That’s what you get for hurting my friend!

  Dr. Eugene Clarkson shuffled forward and hid behind his clipboard. He nodded his head rapidly and stuttered out the words, “Y—Yes…Sir…the device is online and operational…just as you requested.”

  “Good. Very good! Your work and assistance please me.”

  Are they being forced to help or are they helping because they want to? Maybe our hope can’t rest in them.

  Dr. Kate Symilions pushed her glasses up the brim of her nose and said, “We should be preparing for what comes next. There will be need for shelters and security. Everything will be erased. The city will be left with no economy, no security, no government when the bomb goes off. People will start killing each other in the streets for food. Social class will fall between Outcasts and Nobles. Only the strong will survive and thrive, regardless whether they are Outcast or Noble. Anarchy will ensue—but if we act now maybe we can deter some of those effects. After all…this will be a complete rewiring of everything we know.”

  “Which is the goal,” admitted Ziavir.

  “And one we can’t fully predict without further preparation. Maybe we can delay this until we have the resources established and fewer lives are lost. I’ll even contribute my promised earnings to making that a reality,” said Dr. Kate.

  “Forget about that! You promised a fortune for our services and a ticket out of Chicago when the blast goes off,” said Dr. Eugene. He stepped forward into Ziavir’s face. Mistake. A single look from Ziavir caused the scientist to back away.

  “You can’t just abandon Chicago after what we are doing to it!” said Dr. Kate.

  “What has this city ever done for us? If it is going to be as bad as you say then I want to be far away and very rich,” said Dr. Eugene.

  “You’re heartless!” shouted Dr. Kate.

  Eugene simply shrugged and said, “But at least I’ll be rich.”

  Eugene looked at Ziavir to confirm this. But Ziavir looked…disappointed. Ziavir sighed and said, “You’re right Dr. Symilions…there will be a great need after today. What you predict will come true and we need to be ready for such a life. Your offer is a noble one. But sadly…I must break my promises to both of you.”

  He shot them both. I didn’t even see the gun until the shots were already fired. The devil used the scientists and then destroyed them. As their bodies collapsed to the ground, so did our last hope.

  Why can’t anything ever go in my favor? Just once, please!

  “Sir, did we need to kill them?” asked a mercenary.

  Ziavir kept his eyes on the two dead scientists and said, “Unfortunately yes. Orders were to eliminate them after they finished for operational insurance. Is my transport ready?”

  “Yes, Sir.”

  “Good.”

  “Sir, it would seem that Alexandra Carline is leading the mob against this facility. Our men are doing their best to hold them off, and we’ve got snipers targeting her as we speak. They want to know if you will give the order to kill her.”

  “No! Nobody’s to harm Alexandra.”

  “But, Sir?”

  “Old flames die hard. Call me a hopeless romantic…but I’m not ready to say goodbye to Alexandra.”

  “Then what are your orders, Sir?”

  “It’s time we left. The director has already given me my next mission. We are heading out of Chicago immediately. But first I want to speak with Griffon. I know he’s here somewhere. Bring him to me alive,” Ziavir said. Then he turned and stormed out. The four guards departed, leaving a lone mercenary to stand watch over the bomb.

  We waited a couple more seconds before I whispered to Michael, “Here we go.”

  Michael’s hand shot out and grabbed my wrist. “Wait! What if you’re wrong about all of this?”

  “You heard them! Whatever it is, it will destroy everything. People are going to die. We have to stop that!”

  I yanked my hand free and moved away. Crouching low, I slowly crept forward down the walkway. I moved without a sound, keeping my retractable metal bo-staff at my side. I came to a stop parallel with the unsuspecting mercenary. The large central machine creaked and growled between us.

  I swallowed, took a step onto the railing of the walkway and leapt off. I landed as quietly as a falling leaf on top of the machine, rolled and launched myself back into the air where I landed on the mercenary’s back. I crushed him into the concrete floor, which broke his collarbone. I followed that by using the bo-staff to drive his face into the ground. He was immediately unconscious.

  I turned back and waved the all clear to Michael. He came down the walkway, not nearly as graceful and silent as I had. Gradually, he lowered himself to my level and joined me. He looked at the two scientists, yet two more I failed to save, and asked, “What do we do now?”

  I took a pair of zip-ties from the unconscious mercenary’s belt. “First I want you to tie him up somewhere.”

  Michael took the zip-ties, but before he could move the man I snatched up one of his claymore explosives. The other three guards had exited through a door on the opposite side of the room. I set the claymore in front of that door then sprinted back to Michael.

  “Ok, now what?” asked Michael after he tied up the mercenary. A pointless question when he knew my response before I ever said it. Maybe he hoped for an alternative outcome, but our options were limited. In about fifteen minutes Chicago would be a nuclear wasteland. I glanced toward the bomb with amazement of how the power within it could destroy Chicago.

  “Michael, I need you to see if you can disable the bomb, or hack into it, or whatever it is you can do to stop it. Slow it down at the least.”

  Michael nodded and said weakly, “Griffon, I do not think there is much I can do.”

  “You’re Chicago’s best chance at life right now! You’ve got to at least try.”

  “Yeah…but what about you?”

  I turned and started heading in the direction Ziavir went. “If there’s a code to stopping it, Ziavir will have it. I’m going to go get it from him.”

  “He’s going to kill you!”

  I didn’t reply as I continued toward the door. He was probably right.

  “Are you listening to me? You cannot beat him. He will kill you.”

  “You’ve got your tricks, Michael, and I have mine. Can’t you show me a little encouragement and faith? Have I let you down yet?”

  “Please…don’t do this.”

  “You know I have to.”

  “Is it to save lives or get revenge?”

  I shrugged and said quietly to myself, “Maybe a little of both.”

  CHAPTER FORTY-THREE

  I entered a dark, cramped room with tight corners. Generators and pipelines lined the walls. I heard water pumping through the pipes. The metal walkways rang with each step I took. A dark and eerie red glow came off various control panels, meters and buttons covered the pipes and generators. The space narrowed like a bottle neck into a ramp that led up a single pathway into the next room.

  I took three steps up the ramp and suddenly a pair of boots swung down from above and struck me in the chest. The blow threw me back down the ramp and across the metal floor. I bounced on my side before sliding to a halt. I sprang back up in a flash with my bo-staff out before me. Ziavir stood on the ramp. He pointed a gun straight at me.

  “I wondered when you would show up to play,” he said.

  “The word quitting is not in my vocabulary.”

  “Right. Relentless like your father. And just as stubborn.”

  “You have no right to talk about my father.”

  “I have every right! Your father and I were partners. We lived by a code, but he broke that code
and betrayed me.”

  “YOU LIE! My father was a hero and you killed him!”

  Ziavir slowly shook his head. His expression appeared almost sincere “You don’t even remember what happened that night all those years ago, do you?”

  “I remember plenty! I remember finding my mother dead on the floor in a burning living room. I remember seeing my father burning next to her. I remember watching you get into a car and drive away. You killed them! You were their friend and you killed them!”

  “That’s not what happened, Griffon! I loved your mother, and your father was like a brother. Her death was an accident and that body was not your father’s. It was my partner’s. I didn’t kill your mother…your father did.”

  “LIAR!”

  “It isn’t a lie! You remember that day and everything about your father incorrectly. The man you remember was a cold-blooded murderer who needed to be stopped. I went there that day to confront him, and he fought back. Your mother and my partner died in the process. Your father fled after that, leaving you all alone in that burning house. I never knew you were there. I would never have left you. For twenty years I chased him from one nation to another in your mother’s name and honor. All of this has been because of that day—to bring him to justice and to stop those who turned a good man dark!”

  “No, I don’t believe you. You’re trying to confuse me. To manipulate me. It won’t work! And it won’t stop me from doing what I came here to do.”

  Ziavir scowled and holstered the gun. He took the sword cane from the sling under his arm and drew a short and thin blade out. He tossed the cane part aside and stepped back into a fencing stance. Ziavir rolled his shoulders. His left arm hung useless in the sling, but in such tight corners it wouldn’t throw him off much.

  “I guess there is no changing your mind…even when you know you’re wrong. If you are committed to driving against the tip of my sword under your delusion, then let’s be done with it.”

  I’m going to enjoy this.

  I charged forward shouting as I swung toward Ziavir’s left knee with my staff. He deflected my blow with ease. I pressed forward flipping the staff around to come in high with the other end. Ziavir skipped back a step, giving me the chance to move in to get us onto equal ground at the top of the ramp. I swung my staff, throwing combos left and right, high and low, attempting to break through his defenses. I threw everything I had into the attacks, but Ziavir managed to deflect every one of them and move away from me.