by Holly Hook
I prayed that it opened automatically for me because more Grounders would come. I doubted they would get a pulse cannon in here and ruin their spaceport, but after this, I couldn't put it past them. I had pushed them too far.
I climbed up into the massive machine and put card after card into the ignition. At last, after dropping the keycard ring twice, the forklift's headlights burst to life, and a hum told me I had turned on the engine.
I closed the doors to the cabin. Soft music played on the radio, but I turned it off.
The garage door rose, but not quickly enough. The holographic sun shone as the inner planets orbited. I sat two meters above the ground, but I didn't know if that was high enough to deter the Grounders.
I'd still take it.
After two desperate tries, I figured out which switch made the forklift roll forward. It wasn't much different than the walker, only the forklift ran on big wheels and not spindly legs.
And it moved fast.
I gunned it out of the maintenance area and emerged close to the orbit of Saturn. I blasted through the planets, not giving them a second glance.
It turned out that the double metal doors that led back through the Mars Exhibit opened automatically for the forklift as if programmed to make things easier for the workers. It made sense and made things a simpler for me. I drove through, barely getting clearance.
And I drove back into the vapor. It was still thick as if the Grounders hadn't stopped pumping it out. None of it penetrated the cabin, but I kept my gas mask on just in case.
Another round of Grounders rushed at the forklift, like fast zombies emerging from the mist. They stopped, and the engine hummed louder as I cranked the lever forward. A few of them jumped out of the way to watch me pass. They hadn't expected this.
But two climbed onto the front of the lift, blocking my view.
“Ma'am,” a Grounder man said. “Please, stop the forklift and come with us.”
I couldn't see much. Faint red rock zipped past, along with the looming model tripod. The model Curiosity rover appeared from the fog. Two more Grounders climbed onto the lift, and I hit buttons, trying to shake them off. They were going to weigh me down with their numbers. The radio came back on. The headlights turned to brights, illuminating four blank stares. Two other Grounders attempted to climb to my door. I gunned it once again, making them fall away.
“Get off!” I shouted. Rage filled my being, and I turned, driving at the microbe mats. The forklift bounced and heaved over them, making the four front passengers topple to the ground. They had taken everything except for my anger.
I did something I would hate myself for later.
I plowed over the four Grounders, making the forklift bounce again.
With a small crash, I landed on the other side of the fossil display, close to the theater doors. They opened for me as well, and I drove through, scraping the holographic platform. The third set of doors opened to the corridor, and I raced forward, aware of six more Grounders at the end. The fog here thinned. They stood and watched as I approached, closing the distance halfway before they fled into the spaceport.
I let out a cry of victory. The Task Force was retreating. They had no protocol for rogue forklifts.
The next set of doors opened for the forklift. It had no doubt visited the spaceport before. The air in this chamber was clear. The tower of departure times glowed. Grounders ran in every direction, fleeing in their blue-gray uniforms. Word had spread about my killing abilities, but they did not scream.
Then I saw.
Two of them held Matt by his arms on the other side of the room. He did not struggle. Both Grounders—a man and a woman—remained still and lifeless as they kept him prisoner. I saw no one else in the room. I plowed forward, readying the gun in my free hand. The orange glow had returned to the barrel. It had charged. I could aim at Matt and kill the Grounders without harming him.
I opened the door, released the lever, and stopped the vehicle. I aimed the heat ray at the two Grounders, who released Matt and bolted in two separate directions.
“Tess!” Matt shouted in horror, running at me.
And then my passenger door opened.
“Do the Grounders really want to kill us all?” Marv asked, climbing into the passenger seat.
“Yes,” I yelled. Marv sat, unarmed. He must have broken away in the distraction we provided. I wanted him out. Matt deserved to sit there.
Celeste climbed in after Marv and sat on his lap. They were escaping, too. I couldn't push them both out. They wouldn't allow Matt in.
“Go!” Celeste shouted at me.
I drove closer to Matt, and he had no choice but to hop onto the front of the forklift. He held onto the metal bars and pointed to a hallway on his left, where he had run before. Four Grounders stood at the entrance as if trying to block our way.
Mr. Skeleton stood among them, looking more like the Grim Reaper than ever. He stood before a metal container on wheels that looked like an oxygen tank. This one had an ugly yellow biohazard symbol on the front. The Great Council member had one bony hand on a valve, ready to turn it.
I stopped the forklift.
"Tess," Matt shouted in terror. He glanced at the container and back to me.
In one horrible moment, I realized the Grounders' final plan. They were hatching it early, and all because of me.
The Great Council was going to kill us with an actual plague. A wave of death, as the old man had warned. Inside that cylinder was a biological weapon that would destroy all humankind.
Chapter Fifteen
I had to think.
I couldn't charge the Great Council guy with the forklift. It might rupture the tank, and then I would breathe whatever disease the Grounders had cooked up. Even if I tried, he could release the contents into the air before we made it.
So instead, I opened the driver side door. It was me they wanted. I had to leave the heat ray in the forklift. At the sight of the weapon, the Grounders would open that thing.
“What are you doing?” Celeste asked.
“Take the controls,” Marv said to her.
"Stay inside!" Matt shouted at me.
It didn't matter. If the Grounders had already released the contagion into the air, I was doomed. Even the gas mask might not protect me. I jumped to the floor and straightened up.
“Tess,” the Great Council guy said. “The descendant of Luis the Murderer. You are to be executed, effective immediately. Follow us, and we will spare your fellow invaders.”
He hadn't released the germs yet. What else would be in a tank labeled with the biohazard symbol? I imagined getting locked into an airtight room while they pumped that stuff inside. Germs could kill in a million ways, none of them pleasant.
Matt froze and got off the forklift. Celeste backed it away, leaving us in the middle of the room. She circled the dome. At least she knew not to charge the container. For now, Celeste and Marv were just as trapped as us.
I kept my expression neutral. “I take it you want to sicken me to death.”
The Grounder just nodded. “We shall do that, and then harvest your blood. You will serve a purpose even in death.”
“Tess is supposed to go with me,” Matt said. He stood by my side.
“Your father's orders no longer stand,” the black-robed man said. “Now that you have attacked us once again, we must respond in ways that sadden us."
“Wait,” I said. “Won't this disease kill you, too? You have human bodies.”
“It will not,” the hooded man said. “The virus within evolved with us during our underground confinement. It does not harm those bodies touched by Grounders.”
“But the Identity leader is here,” Matt said. He searched the room, but there was no sign of his father. “You don't want to kill him, or complete war is going to break out.”
It was a threat, and a good one.
The hooded Grounder shifted. We had found an Achilles heel. But then he spoke again. “We must sacrifice him,” h
e said. “Things have become too dangerous for Earth. It is unfortunate--”
“No!” Matt lunged forward, but the Grounder twisted the valve a tiny bit. Matt froze.
“Don't,” I said.
If he released that germ, a lot of people would die. They must have made a form that spread through the air. It would kill us all, then.
The forklift remained still. Marv and Celeste waited inside. Even they wouldn't survive.
But what could we do? I saw only one answer, and I hoped that my parents could forgive me. Maybe this would even allow me to forgive myself.
“Get out of here, Matt,” I said. “Tell your dad to warn people.”
“Tess—no!”
But I stepped forward, towards the Great Council man. By now, I had killed dozens of Grounders—creatures who were only trying to take back their home. Thinking of Rockville and my razed house pulled me into more despair. Had my family deserved that? Was it fair to punish people who didn't realize they'd done anything wrong?
“That is a wise choice,” the Grim Reaper said in a monotone. “Please, follow us, and we will make your execution as swift and painless as we are able.”
“Don't unleash that germ on everyone else,” I said, standing beside him. “Let Matt and his father go. Even if you have to deport everyone, they might have a chance.”
I was about to die, and I was still defending everyone.
The Reaper faced me. “Starvation is a long, terrible death. Our virus works within minutes when airborne. We have compassion. Your species will continue on their planet, but we must make sure that they do not return here. Our virus will prevent that.”
It would take minutes for me to die.
The Great Council guy turned away from Matt, who stood in the center of the room. He rolled the biohazard tank in front of him, keeping his hand on the release valve. I couldn't bear to look at Matt. Three other Grounders all walked behind me, all Task Force members. I was too dangerous to be allowed to live, and I had the sense the Grounders wouldn't let Matt and anyone else go now that they knew the truth.
I had only been trying to help my neighbors and the planet.
And I still had to, even if it meant my death.
I walked beside the Great Council man who had forced my family from our home. He may have been right in a way, but all living creatures wanted to stay alive. It was nature.
And these creatures still liked to snatch bodies. I thought of Toni and the Enforcers and the panicked crowds who boarded the monorail. The Great Council member looked straight ahead as we continued down a corridor. He opened a curved, metal door to a small metal room with a bench and no ventilation except for one tiny vent on the wall--a vent meant to pipe in germs. A musty smell wafted out, and terror swept through me.
I wasn't the only one slated for death.
Leader Kassam and Dr. Komorowski sat inside, facing the wall. The Grounders had thought fast. They wanted to make sure that he had no chance to declare war.
It was my final chance.
I sucked in a breath and elbowed the Grim Reaper.
He let out a grunt, letting go of the valve, and Kassam rose from his bench, charging the Grounders. Everything snapped into slow motion as my senses sharpened.
But the Reaper was already turning the valve. Leader Kassam rammed into him, throwing him back from the tank. No hiss started, and I reached out and reversed it just in case. If any virus had come out, we'd know in a minute. Did I feel the death? The old man had, probably inside of this room.
“Don't let them get that!” the Leader shouted, facing me and wrestling the Great Council man against the wall. “Take it with you!”
I grabbed onto the tank and rolled it away from the leader, only to back into the grasps of three other Grounders. Strong arms wrapped around me from behind, pulling me away from the tank of death. Dr. Komorowski took the canister and leaned over it, preventing the next Grounder from turning the valve. I elbowed the Grounder who held me in place, making him grunt, but he must be twice my size and strength.
“Let go of her!” Matt shouted. More footfalls filled the place. My captor lurched as Matt struck him, and his grip loosened enough to allow me to duck out of it.
A Grounder woman pulled at Dr. Komorowski, who guarded the germ tank. I pulled back my fist and hit the Task Force member in the ribs. The man behind me grasped at my shirt, but Matt must be keeping him busy because he never wrapped his arms around me again. The Grounder woman gripped her side, eyeing me with no expression, while Leader Kassam grabbed the front of the Great Council member's robe and shoved him against the wall again. We might survive. The Grounders hadn't secured this well.
Then I saw why.
A dozen more Grounders poured into the corridor from the main room. The Grounders had re-gathered, and Toni, now dressed in a Task Force uniform, had joined them. He showed no signs of recognizing me.
I reached for my heat ray, but I had dropped it in the forklift.
I shrunk against the wall, fists up. We would die, but I wouldn't go without fighting. I remembered the screams of the people getting their minds wiped. I couldn't imagine a worse fate than that.
And then the oncoming Grounders froze, gripped their necks, and fell as smoke rose from their high collars.
The air around me shimmered as they fell, and I caught a glimpse of Marv standing at the mouth of the hallway, heat ray in hand. The orange danced inside as the gun fired on the spot where I stood. The energy passed over me, harmless, even though it made my Grounder scar burn the tiniest bit. I felt as if I stood inside a desert mirage.
Around me, thumps of falling Grounders sounded, and silence fell as the beam died.
Marv had saved our lives.
I stood there, a dead Grounder's puppet hands draped over my feet. The former man gazed up at me with dilated, empty pupils as the Grounder on his neck continued to smoke. A disgusting stench filled the air, and I coughed as Marv lowered the weapon.
The main room of the spaceport was very silent, except for the sound of Leader Kassam punching the Great Council Grounder on the side of the face. The Grim Reaper still lived, maybe only because Leader Kassam's body had blocked the ray.
The Grounder gasped for air as Leader Kassam first looked at Matt, and then Marv. He didn't dare release the robed man. Matt stood against the wall, the woman's body draped over his bare feet, and Dr. Komorowski continued to lean over the germ canister, guarding it with her body.
“Matt,” the Leader said. “Get out of here. Run. The Grounders want to kill us all. Warn people and tell them to get to Mars, and take as many supplies with them as they can. I will radio Fiona for reinforcements. Marv and Celeste will assist me here.” He spoke for the benefit of everyone.
“Dad,” Matt said, full of emotion.
We all had the same goal now. If we wanted to survive, we had to work together.
The Leader slammed the Great Council man against the wall. “I will be doing some interrogation,” he said. “Go, before more of them get here!” He pulled the Great Council member away from the wall—no, the double doors that must lead outside—and over the bodies. The skeletal man was too weak to fight back. Dr. Komorowski wheeled the germ canister out of the hallway, no doubt with plans to dispose of it.
It might not be the only one. The Great Council must have more of them, ready to unleash on us.
Matt turned away from his father and seized my arm, stepping over the Grounder bodies.
We jumped over the fallen forms and ran through the main room.
Marv didn't try to stop us. Celeste stood outside the forklift now, which we needed. Matt's father dragged the Great Council man towards the medical bay, which would serve as his prison. Even with his back turned, I could sense his anguish. We needed all hands on deck, and Matt would have to fill a role meant for an adult. His father couldn't send him home now. No one was left to operate the spaceport.
I had no time to hate Dr. Komorowski for injecting me with that stuff, or Leader Kassam f
or wanting to continue the exodus to Mars. I climbed back into the forklift. If the exit doors were like the others, they would open for this.
Matt climbed in beside me. “I trust you, Tess.”
The engine still ran. Marv nodded at us as I pulled forward, towards the hallway with the Grounder bodies, and we lurched as the forklift rolled over them. I tried not to the listen to the dismal sounds. I didn't know if Leader Kassam or anyone else would survive, but they had the heat ray. Right now, this vehicle was our only weapon.
The double doors opened.
A red landscape stretched out, blanketed in a crimson forest. Low smog hung overhead, and the sun struggled to shine through. The sky resembled the one of primordial Earth. I slowed, then plowed forward as scarlet bulbs and leaves bent underneath our wheels and the lift.
Real Earth life.
The life we had displaced.
And almost straight ahead, on the edge of a massive crater, stood the tripod. Only the outline showed through the smog at first, but as we approached, it got more distinct, shining with a sharp light. Another shudder raced over me. I wanted to hold Matt's hand again, but only for a moment. I thought he had brought me my identity, my purpose, but the Great Council Grounder might have brought me something far more accurate and terrifying.
“I can't do this,” I said, slowing the forklift.
Matt gulped. “We have to. I'm sorry you found out the truth, but we still have a job to do. It's not like we asked to be here, but the Grounders don't think in gray. It's only black and white to them.”
“Are we any different? We have to kill them if we want to live.”
Matt had nothing to say to that. He reached into his pocket, but took it back out again, hand empty.
“Maybe we're not,” he said, “but we've also been here for billions of years. It's hardly fair for them to kick us to a dead world after all that time. That place is not my home, and it's not yours, either. Maybe your grandfather knew what they were planning with the plague, and he was trying to stop them. Didn't he die from a virus?”
