The Redwood Trilogy Box Set

by Jaxon Reed

  “Professor, there’s movement. Looks like Phang is headed toward the main entrance.”

  We hurried out of the suite and headed down the hallway toward the park.

  Dee Dee and I followed the crowd and entered the park after everyone else. I glanced up at the balconies facing the atrium. Four hallways on each level ended overlooking the atrium, one set of balconies on each side. At every balcony, we had at least one person with a rifle aimed down at Phang.

  Not that our relatively weak nine millimeter guns would do anything to his armor. Also, there was Connie to take into consideration. Any bullets bouncing off the armor could hit her.

  Phang dragged her along, gripping her upper arm. She looked distraught. All haughtiness, and all sense of decorum had been wiped off her face.

  Her hair stuck out in all directions, uncombed. When they came closer, I could see four red welts on one of her cheeks. I pointed it out to Dee Dee.

  “Looks like he slapped her.”

  Dee Dee gasped. I heard her murmur a curse at Phang under her breath.

  Phang reached the location near where he had lined up his hostages the day before and stopped. He looked out at those of us gathered near the entrance. Many were armed, aiming guns at him. The Rangers and their wives held ray guns. I figured he thought those were his biggest threats. He seemed to acknowledge it. His eyebrows raised a little when he saw them holding the superior weaponry.

  He stopped in the middle of the clearing and pulled Connie closer. She stumbled, but he held her up then pulled her firmly up against his side, putting one arm around her neck in a headlock.

  “Cruz!”

  The Professor broke away from the crowd and walked forward. He stopped about thirty feet from Phang and Connie. He went unarmed.

  Despite looking the worse for wear, with no food and evidently little sleep, Phang wore a smile on his face.

  “So, you can walk after all.”

  Cruz nodded, acknowledging the fact.

  Phang’s smile turned into a haughty look of disgust.

  “I have something of yours.”

  Phang jerked his head toward Connie, still standing awkwardly next to him in the headlock.

  “I had to slap her around a bit. But I found out who she is.”

  He leered at Connie. She struggled a bit in his grip, then gave up and stood there awkwardly. She locked eyes with her father, a pitiful expression on her face. I had heard the term, “sorrowful eyes,” but I’d never really seen that look in a person before then.

  The Professor stared back at Connie for a moment. He kept his expression neutral.

  “Let her go, Commander. She’s got nothing to do with this.”

  “On the contrary. I think she’s got everything to do with this!”

  He turned and smiled down at Connie, and gave her quick kiss on the forehead. Connie tried to squirm out of his grasp again. He held her tight.

  “Now this is what you’re going to do, Professor. You’re going to deliver the hematophage to me. He is going to give me his blood, and I am going to become like him.”

  Phang smiled, again with a look of triumph. Like a card player holding the winning hand.

  “And if you don’t, I will kill your daughter.”

  Phang’s smile melted away, to be replaced by a sneer.

  He tapped the side of his thigh, and a compartment opened on the armor. He pulled out a large army knife and tapped the flat of the blade softly on top of Connie’s head.

  “To show you my sincerity, I’ll give you part of your daughter right now.”

  Before anyone could think, with one swift flick of his wrist, he cut off Connie’s left ear.

  She screamed in pain and horror, bringing both hands up to stanch the blood gushing out. Phang let go of her neck and she sank to the ground in pain, screaming and crying.

  He smiled at the Professor, bent down and grabbed the severed ear. He flung it like a disc, and it sailed over to land at Cruz’s feet.

  “You have fifteen minutes to produce the hematophage, or I’ll begin cutting off more parts. She will die slowly.”

  The Professor turned on his heel and headed back to the crowd at the entrance, looking extremely distraught.

  Dee Dee and I glanced at each other. I felt glad we were in the back of the crowd, and Phang hadn’t noticed me. At the same time, I couldn’t help but feel guilty about what had happened to Connie.

  The crowd moved back toward the suites. Everybody walked in and we all looked around at each other. Everyone wore bleak expressions.

  The Professor came in last, his head hanging low. Mrs. Cruz ran up and hugged him. He held her tight and they comforted one another for a moment.

  I cleared my throat and approached them.

  “I’m going to go out there. It’s the only thing to do.”

  The entire room fell silent as everybody stared at me.

  The Professor took a deep breath, held it, then let it out slowly. Then he nodded, reluctantly.

  “He won’t give her up until you give him some of your blood.”

  I nodded.

  “I’ll just have to give him blood, then.”

  Mrs. Cruz spoke up.

  “Once she’s out of the way, we’ll kill the bastard.”

  Chapter Twelve

  We had no more bombs left. We had no more self-destructing robots that could be used as bombs, either, since we’d disabled them to swipe their guns.

  I huddled up with Dee Dee, Jacob, Jason, Andrea, Charlie, Major Moore, and Sergeant Sledge to brainstorm some quick ideas. Time seemed to flow faster than normal. The minutes zipped by.

  Charlie came up with what we all felt was the most feasible idea. I think maybe her medical training helped her improvise under pressure. Looking back, it was a brilliant plan and I don’t think I would have thought of it myself, even in a much less stressful situation.

  She prepped me on what to do, and made all the arrangements. She sent a Servant racing up to Level 26, where he caught an elevator to the top and returned a few minutes later with the supplies she needed. Then she led me into a back room in the suites to get me ready.

  When I came out, Mrs. Jenkins handed over her ray gun, and we tried strapping it to my back. I would approach Phang from the front, and we hoped he wouldn’t see it. But after looking at it, we abandoned the idea. There was simply no way I could hide the big gun so that Phang wouldn’t notice it when I approached.

  I tried stuffing a Frogg & Tode nine millimeter pistol in one of my boots. It didn’t fit well, and I thought it would likely fall out while walking. So I gave up altogether on bringing a gun with me.

  Ranger Jones let me borrow a sharp hunting knife, and Charlie gave me a small dispensary cup, both of which I pocketed.

  Finally I was ready, and we had a few minutes to spare.

  I had a couple muscle spasms. My face twitched. My biceps flexed, involuntarily.

  Charlie said, “You okay?”

  “Yeah. I got this.”

  I kissed Dee Dee, shook the Professor’s hand, and hurried out the door. Everybody followed me down the hall.

  At the park’s entrance, the crowd stayed behind while I walked over to Phang and Connie. He stood with his fists on his hips. Connie stood sullenly next to him, holding her hands up against her head where her ear had been.

  She looked at me once, then glanced back down.

  I came up to within a couple yards of them and stopped. Phang smiled.

  “You have made a wise decision.”

  I kept my expression neutral, but glanced at Connie again. A tear trickled down her face.

  “Let her go.”

  He snorted.

  “After we’re done, she can go. First, I want your gift.”

  I didn’t say anything. I looked back at Connie. She steadfastly ignored us both, staring at the grass.

  Finally, I said. “Okay.”

  He smiled slightly, a glow of triumph in his eyes.

  “Do what you need to do, then.
Step forward and bite me, or however it is you pass it along.”

  He grabbed Connie in a headlock again, pulling her close. With his free hand he held the point of his knife under her breastbone, angled up toward her heart.

  “Try anything else, and she’ll die in minutes from a punctured heart.”

  I nodded, reluctantly accepting the terms.

  “No biting will be necessary. All you’ll need to do is drink some of my blood.”

  I pulled the little cup out of my pocket and walked within arm’s length.

  “That’s far enough. My knife’s not leaving her chest until this is over.”

  I nodded again, and retrieved the hunting knife from my other pocket. I clenched the little cup in my teeth, and made a quick cut on the palm of my left hand. Then I held the little cup against my skin so blood would dribble into it.

  I squeezed my fist to help the flow, and soon filled up about half of the cup. Then I stuck my hand in my pocket to absorb the blood. It was already clotting.

  I held out the cup and raised my eyebrows.

  “You want me to pour this down your throat, or you want to drink it yourself?”

  He licked his lips, then shot a glance at the crowd behind me. Many were holding guns pointed at us. He looked up at the balconies above the entrance, then to his left and right at the balconies above those entrances. We had at least one person with a gun on each one.

  “Tell your people to lower their weapons.”

  I stared at him, and part of me wondered why he would be now so worried about getting shot, when his suit could withstand everything we had. Except maybe the stolen ray guns. Maybe that was what bothered him.

  I turned and shouted out to the crowd and up to the balconies.

  “Lower your weapons, everybody!”

  Reluctantly, they pulled down their rifles. The Rangers and their wives pointed their ray guns down at the ground, too.

  I turned back around to face Phang and Connie. I held out the cup again.

  Phang said to her, “Don’t move.”

  He let go of her head and reached over his knife arm to grab the cup.

  He looked down at it and swirled the blood around. Then he looked up and locked eyes with me. I stared back, silently. A slight quiver ran up my leg from a muscle spasm. I willed it to be still. Then I felt another spasm start up my other leg.

  “Drink it,” I said, trying to keep the exasperation out of my voice.

  He smiled, tilted the cup toward me as if in a toast, then tossed it back and downed all the blood in one gulp.

  Phang dropped the cup to the ground and locked eyes with me again.

  “Now what?”

  “Now we wait. Your transformation has begun.”

  He smiled, and visibly relaxed, although he kept the knifepoint against Connie’s chest.

  A minute passed. I kept my hands in my pocket and glanced between him and Connie. He never took his eyes off mine. I could feel the weight of the knife in my pocket, and wondered if I’d need it.

  He licked his lips. I glanced at his face and saw sweat breaking out, first on his brow then all over.

  “I don’t feel so good.”

  I nodded.

  “That’s part of it.”

  Another minute passed. He sweating grew worse. Then he started shaking. His arms twitched, and the knife shook in his hand.

  He bent over and retched, but nothing came up. Probably because he hadn’t eaten anything since yesterday, I thought.

  He stood up straight again and stared at me with a wild look in his eyes now. All his composure, all the arrogance and haughtiness were gone.

  “What’s happening? When will this pass? When will I become like you?”

  And that’s when I made my mistake. I told him exactly what was happening.

  “You’ll be dead before you transform, Phang. I was injected with rat poison a few minutes ago. I’ll be fine. But the blood you drank was laced with more than enough poison to take you out.

  “You will never become like me. Now you’ll die, and meet your Maker. You’ll have to account for all your deeds.”

  Phang’s body shook violently, and spasms distorted his face. His eyes watered and his breath grew laborious as the poison shut down his organs and central nervous system.

  He howled in rage and pain, then shoved the knife deep into Connie’s chest.

  She screamed and doubled over.

  Phang fell on his back, the spasms overtaking his body. He gasped a couple of times, trying to make his lungs fill with air.

  I jumped down to Connie and gently rolled her over. The blade had gone under the breastbone and cut several inches into her heart.

  There was only one way to save her.

  “Dee Dee! Get over here!”

  She and Charlie burst free from the crowd at the door and ran to us. Charlie carried a med pack. Professor Cruz and his wife ran over, and the rest of crowd rushed forward after them.

  Charlie and Dee Dee bent down over Connie. The Cruzes got on their knees with us while the rest of crowd stood around in a circle.

  Connie’s breathing came in gasps. Dee Dee wiped away her tears and held her head up gently while Charlie inspected the wound. Blood flowed all over Connie’s chest, staining her shirt and dripping on the grass.

  Charlie looked up at the Cruzes and shook her head.

  “She’s not going to make it. Her heart’s been perforated. It can’t circulate blood. She’s only got a minute or two left.”

  They both burst out in tears. Mrs. Cruz bent down and hugged Connie in an awkward embrace. The professor gripped one of Connie’s hands.

  I nudged Dee Dee with my foot. She looked up at me.

  “You know what to do,” I said, while cleaning off my knife to make sure none of my poisoned blood stayed on it. Then I handed it to Dee Dee.

  She bent back down and drew close to Connie’s face while their parents stood up and backed off.

  “Connie, I’m going to give you some of my blood. It’s your only chance. It might save you. You’ll become like us.”

  In her last bit of strength, Connie curled back her lips in a snarl.

  “No! Don’t give me your blood. I would rather die than be like you.”

  Dee Dee ignored her and cut the knife across the veins in her wrist to get a good flow of blood going, then held her fist over Connie’s mouth.

  Connie clenched her lips tight, and the blood trickled down her cheek. Her breathing grew shallow, then stopped.

  “Connie? Connie!”

  Dee Dee squeezed her sister’s cheeks with her fingers, opening Connie’s mouth. She dribbled in an ounce of blood, then lifted Connie’s head to try and make it go down her throat.

  “Connie!”

  Charlie pulled the knife out of Connie’s heart and started chest compressions to try and regain some circulation. Dee Dee dripped some more of her own blood into Connie’s mouth.

  After five minutes, they gave up. Charlie looked over at Mrs. Cruz and wiped away tears.

  “I’m sorry.”

  Mrs. Cruz fell down to her knees again and wailed. Her sorrowful cry echoed around the atrium. Everybody fought back tears.

  I walked away. The crowd parted for me. I headed back toward the park entrance. I ignored the muscle spasms in my legs that continued as my body fought off the poison Charlie had injected me with.

  Her idea had been brilliant: inject me with poison that would kill Phang before he could transform. One of the Servants knew where our pest supplies were stored, in a garden shed on the top level. He assured us that there was both liquid and solid forms available.

  When he returned with a vial of the liquid poison, Charlie filled a syringe with it and injected me with enough to kill three grown men. She felt confident I could handle it, based on her knowledge of my physiology. She had been part of our medical team back at the Health Science Center at New Texas A&M and had read all the reports.

  And she was right. Other than the spasms, my body handl
ed the poison just fine.

  Phang, on the other hand . . .

  Chapter Thirteen

  The days that followed flew by quickly.

  Major Moore informed Colonel Greenberg we had neutralized the situation on the ground and he was free to land his ships if he wanted to personally assess the situation.

  Within an hour of Phang’s death, three ships from New Texas landed at the spaceport outside Redwood City. Major Moore met Colonel Greenberg in person at the spaceport and delivered her report to him directly.

  After discussing things with her, he decided his soldiers could be useful planetside, and he let everybody disembark. He formed them into work teams to assist us in cleanup and reconstruction.

  Our population increased substantially, on the spot.

  The Colonel followed the Major up our makeshift elevator to Level 25, where he met with the Cruzes and offered them his heartfelt condolences. The Major then led him over to inspect Phang’s body along with his weapons and armor. She explained the self destruct mechanisms on the bots, and informed the Colonel we would be handling Phang’s body with our load bots as a precautionary measure in order to strip his armor off.

  He agreed this was a good idea, then he asked to see one of the ray guns. Ranger Jenkins handed over his for the Colonel to inspect. Everybody agreed it would be unwise to shoot it inside for demonstration purposes. They showed him instead the damage one could do, pointing out several places where Phang or his bots had shot, and the holes they left behind.

  Colonel Greenberg seemed disappointed at not being able to shoot a ray gun. I found out later he had the Major accompany him outside and into the desert a good distance from the city. He and several of his soldiers took turns firing one at sand and rocks.

  Meanwhile we established a com link with New Bryan again, and informed President Montoya of our status. He was shocked when he found out the Professor’s daughter had been the hostage, and that Phang killed her.

  “I can’t express how sad I am for you, Curt.”

  The Professor thanked him. After they disconnected, Cruz trudged forward with all the work still to be done. In the following days he coped with his grief by staying productive.