When it was done, she held the cylinder up and studied it in the light from the lantern like a priceless treasure …
… just as the crates above her suddenly began to topple over.
In their fervor to reach her, some of the Fallout Swarm had climbed on top of the crates, shrieking and clicking, piling more and more of themselves on top of the stack … until it was too much.
The crates tumbled downward to the floor in a cascade, and Mira leapt away. She barely avoided them as they crashed down all around her, slamming into the floor and bursting apart.
Mira hit the ground hard and rolled away.
As she did, the lantern came loose, sliding away. It couldn’t break, but the flame on the wick snuffed out regardless.
The vital, protective light it offered died, and everything plunged to black.
The glass cylinder skittered out of her grasp, rolling into the shadows.
Mira stared around her as ghostly shrieks shouted out and filled the huge room with frightening power. But the shrieks weren’t ones of anger or pain this time. They were shrieks of glee.
Mira couldn’t see them, but she knew they were coming, heard their slithering bodies dragging themselves across the floor toward her.
“Well, crap…,” she said, and yanked her flashlight loose once again. The light it emitted was puny compared to the lantern: it barely lit anything around her. Two of the creatures lunged for her from the dark, and she shone it right at them. They withdrew a little ways. But there were more. Many more.
In the decayed beam from her flashlight, she saw the Fallout Swarm streaming down toward her from every direction, unafraid now, hungry, angry, obsessed. Teeth and jaws and writhing mouths formed and jutted out from their bodies, ready to tear her to shreds. The clicking and gnashing of teeth echoed everywhere.
Mira knew she was done for. Whatever she did, she was just stalling the inevitable. She didn’t feel fear now, just bitterness and frustration at having come so far and so close. Mira hated to fail more than anything, and she had failed gloriously here. She thought of goals unmet, promises she couldn’t keep, and her anger began to rise.
She had been so close.
Nearby, she saw the outline of the glass cylinder, just out of reach. There had to be a way out. There had to be.…
Mira pushed herself into a corner, keeping the creatures at bay with the flashlight beam, shining it in every direction as the things screeched and leapt for her, only to withdraw at the last moment.
And, as bad as things were, she noticed something worse. The flashlight, her pathetic source of protection, was beginning to fade. Its batteries were running out. When they did, she would be all alone as the darkness consumed her.
6. SWARM
MIRA HUDDLED IN THE CORNER of the giant dark room, trying in vain to push her back farther into the wall. But there was nowhere else to go.
The Fallout Swarm screeched and clicked and scratched everywhere, shadows of dripping, putrid ooze full of claws and teeth darted in at her, only to be repelled by her flashlight.
But that wasn’t going to last much longer.
It would be over soon, and given how many of the things there were, it would be over fairly quickly. It was the one consolation she had. Strangely, there was only steeled determination now. Determination to stay alive as long as she could. It was the only semblance of a victory she had left.
And then the roof of the underground warehouse, far above, miraculously filled with bright light.
A huge door in the ceiling groaned mechanically as it opened, and the structure’s freight elevator began to lower downward toward the floor. Bright lights under it shone into the chamber with intensity.
It wasn’t as bright as Mira’s lantern … but it was bright enough.
The swarm shrieked in fury as one, a terrifying, inhuman cry that echoed back and forth between the room’s walls.
They scattered away, some forming wings to bat themselves into the air, or tentacles to scale the walls, retreating to the far corners of the room, away from the light. They swarmed there, gnashing their teeth, eager for the kill they had lost.
Mira ripped her gaze up to the elevator, stunned. She could see a lone figure riding it down. A figure she recognized, revealed in the machine’s light. And the sight of him made her frown. It was the stupid bounty hunter from the farmhouse. The one who’d interrupted her bath. He must have tracked her all the way here.
He saw Mira huddled in her corner, her flashlight fading. His eyes locked on to hers … and he smiled. Smugly, Mira thought. As if at the irony of her needing to be rescued by him.
Well, she didn’t, she thought, glaring back. She would show him. He’d be sorry he followed her all this way.
The swarm’s frustrated screams filled her ears, reminding her she had more pressing issues.
She looked back at the precious glass cylinder from earlier, spotted it again, several yards away, next to a stack of rotting wooden crates.
She smiled. Maybe it was going to be a good day after all.
One of the lights on the still-descending elevator exploded in a bright shower of sparks.
Mira looked up … and saw black shadows leaping from the walls and the floor, flying through the air and slamming into the lights, breaking them apart in showers of glass.
It was the swarm. While they couldn’t get through the light of Mira’s major artifact earlier, this light, though bright, they could force themselves to leap into.
More sparks as another light exploded. With every hit, the room was again plunging into darkness. In a few moments, Mira would be right back in the same situation she’d just gotten out of.
So much for the bounty hunter rescue.
Mira scrambled for the glass cylinder on the floor, just as the last light on the elevator exploded. Everything went dark, and the swarm screeched, hungrily closing in.
The bounty hunter wouldn’t last long. If she could just make it to the lift, maybe with her flashlight, she—
Sparkling red light burst to life in the huge room. Not as bright as the elevator lights, but enough to push back the swarm. Mira looked and saw the bounty hunter holding two old signal flares, one burning in each hand. He waved them at the creatures as they lunged at him, sending them wailing back into the shadows.
So he was more capable than she thought. How nice for him.
The boy leapt off as the elevator touched down. As he did, he dropped one of the flares on the platform to keep it clear of the swarm.
The other he carried with him, waving it at the horrible oozing creatures. She watched as he drew a shotgun from his back and ran toward her.
She didn’t have much time; he’d reach her soon. She turned and ran the opposite direction, toward the glass cylinder on the floor. Mira could see it just a few yards—
One of the creatures landed in front of her—two screeching jaws formed and pushed out of its body. She raised the flashlight … and then saw it was dark, the batteries had died.
She was defenseless.
Behind her, the sound of a shotgun filled the cavernous rooms like shots of thunder. The boy blasted the swarm as it attacked him, pumping the shotgun and reloading as he moved.
Mira had her own problems. She leapt out of the way as the thing in front of her pounced forward, barely avoiding its double jaws.
From a pocket, she pulled out a handful of quarters, each wrapped in light plastic marked with the δ.
The creature spun around, hissing and clicking as she pulled the plastic off each coin, and then gripped the first one between her thumb and index finger.
The thing scampered madly for her, shrieking and scratching across the floor.
With practiced ease, Mira snapped her fingers … and the quarter shot out like a bullet. When it hit the monstrosity, it exploded in bright sparks. The thing howled in pain, reeled backwards, stunned. Ooze from its body sprayed everywhere.
Mira placed the other quarters between her fingers, snapped them forward. They exploded
into the thing like bullets, one after the other, sending it contorting and flailing backwards … then finally crashing to the ground, lifeless.
But there were plenty more to take its place, and Mira had no other Strange Lands coins within easy reach.
She twisted and ran, heading for the cylinder as the swarm writhed in a mass above her head, shrieking and darting toward her.
One of them knocked her to the ground, pinned her with its oily, leathery wings, and wailed into her face with three separate mouths.
Mira tried to get loose, but it held her tight. Its mouths parted, revealing dripping fangs, black tongues descending—
And then a shotgun blew the thing off her. It hit the ground, slid a dozen feet, and didn’t move.
Red sparkling light filled the air around Mira. She looked up in a daze … and saw the boy staring down at her, holding the flare above him, keeping the creatures at bay.
“Hey, you look familiar,” he said as he reached for her. “Are you following me?”
“Cute,” she said with disdain as he yanked her to her feet.
The swarm circled all around them. On the walls, in the air, looking for their opportunity, a mass of screeching blackness in the red shadows.
He handed her the sparking flare. She took it. She had little choice: it was their only hope for escape. “We move for the lift, don’t stop until we’re there, I’m almost out of shells.”
The cylinder sat a dozen feet away. Her eyes locked on to it. This was her only chance; without the lantern, she would never be able to find another one.
“Wait, stop!” she begged, resisting his efforts to pull her away.
One of the creatures lunged through their light.
The bounty hunter raised the shotgun, blasted it back, pumped the gun. “Keep the flare up!” he shouted at her. “If I have to drag you, I will, but I promise you won’t like it.”
She kept fighting him as the swarm pulsed and writhed around them. “Please, I’ll come with you, I won’t struggle,” she pleaded. “If you just help me get that.” Mira pointed it out to him, a few feet away, lying there by itself. “Please, you don’t know how important it is.”
The boy stared at it a moment … then rolled his eyes, started pulling her away again. “You don’t need it where you’re going, sweetheart.” He pulled her harder, and this time she was unable to resist. He was too strong. He started dragging her away.
“No, please!” Mira cried, staring at the glass cylinder in agony as she was pulled away from it. “It’s incredibly valuable, it’s priceless almost.”
And at those words, the boy pulled up short. He stared down at her. “Priceless?” he asked, a hint of a new tone in his voice. She almost smiled when she heard it. It was child’s play now.
“Yes! You could trade it for anything!” Mira exclaimed. It wasn’t a lie—you definitely could. She had known people who would kill for that thing, for the opportunity it presented.
The boy looked at the cylinder, seemed to calculate its distance versus the risk involved. The swarm was all around them, and Mira had to spin to keep the flare up to drive them away. “Please, I won’t fight you if you get it. It’ll be worth it. More than worth it.”
When he looked back at her, she saw something remarkable. His eyes were crystal clear, no telltale tracings of black at all. He was Heedless, she realized in surprise (and envy). The Tone had no effect on him. “If it turns out to be a glass of water,” he said with a hint of warning, “you’re going to have a very unpleasant trip back home.”
Before Mira could answer, he lunged forward into the shadows, leaving her holding the flare for protection.
But she didn’t really need it. The sight of someone outside the protective cocoon of reddish light was enough to stir the creatures into a frenzy.
They darted downward at the bounty hunter, jaws and clawed appendages materializing from their bodies.
The boy blasted one that landed in front of him, sidestepped its corpse, and leapt for the cylinder.
He grabbed it as two more of the things flew toward him. The boy rolled away … and the things crashed into a stack of rotted crates. What was left of the heavy boxes came tumbling down in a mass of debris and splinters, burying the creatures.
The boy didn’t stop to look—he ran back for Mira, firing his shotgun as he went. When it clicked empty, he sheathed it on his back and drew a handgun from his belt all in one smooth movement, fired at two more creatures, dropped them dead to the floor.
Mira watched in amazement. He was more than good … he was amazing.
He reached her, stuffed the cylinder in her pack, and shoved her forward. “Anything else I can get for you?” he asked sarcastically. “Forget your toothbrush somewhere? Maybe your favorite socks?”
Mira scowled at him as they rushed for the lift.
The elevator was clear of the swarm. The red flare was still flashing there, keeping them away.
They reached the lift, shut the gate behind them, and hit the button to start it rumbling upward. The creatures swarmed all around them, slamming into the lift, shaking it as they tried to get at them, shrieking and scratching in fury. But there were two flares now—the light was too much. There was nothing they could do.
As the creatures receded, Mira breathed a sigh of relief. She had done it. She had what she came for, she had survived—barely.
Then she gasped as the boy shoved her hard to the floor of the elevator and pinned her arms behind her back. She felt rope circle around each hand, and flinched as it tied them together tight. “Ouch!” she said angrily, glaring at the bounty hunter. “That hurts!”
His hair was thick and wavy and unkempt but somehow managed to look intentional in its style. He was tall and well built—streamlined was probably the best word, muscles and quickness earned from years of running and fighting—but there was more to him than that. Behind his brown eyes were confidence and cunning in a proportion Mira didn’t often see, a calculated awareness of everything around him. He had … something about him—that was for sure. And it only annoyed her more.
He kneeled down to her, smiling as the swarm futilely pushed and shoved against the lift. “My name’s Holt, by the way. Holt Hawkins,” he said, mockingly introducing himself the same way she had when they first met. It made her blood boil. “And you were right. You definitely made me work for it.”
7. COMING STORM
STARS PEEKED THROUGH THE TREE canopy high above the forest floor. Only the flickering light from the fire illuminated the campsite, but Holt was about to douse it. He built it as he always did, dug into a hole at the base of a tree, with limbs covering it. Doing it like that allowed the fire to still provide heat while drowning out most of its light and filtering the smoke. All to avoid detection. Not just from other kids, but from Assembly patrols as well.
As if on cue, the rumbling of distant explosions floated through the air, this time from the east. Strange, rhythmic percussive booms that hung in the air. The Assembly was still stirred up, it seemed.
“Excuse me,” a testy voice said from behind him. Holt turned and studied Mira, tied to a tree at the top of a small rise. He had secured the girl with rope, tying her around the waist and binding her hands on either side of the trunk. She wasn’t happy about it, but he didn’t particularly care. She had already escaped once, and he wasn’t taking any chances this time.
“Can you please make it stop staring at me like that?” Mira asked, nodding to Max, who lay in front of her, his tongue lolling out of his mouth, watching her like a prized bone.
“Sorry, but no,” Holt said, dousing the fire with a pile of leaves he’d assembled earlier to block the smoke from rising in a plume when it went out. “Max is just doing his job. He knows you’re his meal ticket.”
“Oh, is that right?”
“You know how much your bounty is?” Holt asked. With the fire gone, the camp was thrust into the dark; only the filtered starlight above provided illumination.
“All I know
is it’s definitely less than I’m worth,” Mira replied. She was just a dark shadow now against the tree.
“It’s a tidy sum, the biggest I’ve ever seen.” Holt moved to his cot, straightened his bag out. “Gonna solve a lot of problems for me and Max.”
“Only if you can get me back to Midnight City,” Mira said with a smile in her voice. “A lot can happen on a long journey like that.”
“I’m not too worried, now that you’ve lost your little bag of tricks.” Mira’s pack, adorned with the δ, and all the artifacts it contained rested underneath Holt’s cot for safekeeping. “Your wanted poster says you’re a Freebooter. Carrying that many artifacts, looks like it’s true. I thought Freebooters got along well in Midnight City. How’d you piss them off so bad?”
“Getting a price on your head doesn’t take much these days,” she said bitterly. “But it sounds like you know all about that, though. If you need my bounty to solve your problems, you must be on the run,” she replied. “Who owns your death mark? Rebel group? The Menagerie? Some Midnight City faction?”
Holt frowned as he crawled into his sleeping bag, suddenly aware of the glove on his right hand. He didn’t like her figuring out his predicament. It was best this Mira Toombs knew as little about him as possible, that she saw him only as her captor. But it was his own fault. He’d made the remark about needing her reward money, and the girl was smart, she knew what conclusion to draw. He’d be more careful.
Survival dictated it.
The sounds of explosions rumbled through the night air again, like strange, reverberating thunder announcing the coming of a storm. It filled the space between the shadowy trees, rattled leaves in their branches. It sounded farther away now, though, which was a good thing.
“What are they up to?” Mira asked quietly, almost to herself. “Something’s had them jumpy for two days.”
“Three, actually,” Holt corrected her. “Some idiotic resistance group, probably. We’re not that far from Chicago, it’s probably the Blacksheep.”
“The Blacksheep Brigade has their hands full, they never leave the ruins,” Mira said. “And they’re not idiots, they’re good at what they do.”
Midnight City: A Conquered Earth Novel (The Conquered Earth Series) Page 4
