Flight from the Dominion (The Gamma Earth Cycle Book 2)

by Craig Halloran

  Rann popped up beside him. Squawk squeezed between them then slithered out onto the floor. The dragon spread his wings and shook his neck. “I believe you are right,” she said. “That was a miracle. How else could they have missed us? That was a good hiding spot, but not that good.”

  Tossing aside a cushion and stepping out of the sofa frame, he said, “I know.” Gabe helped Rann out. Her sweat-drenched hair hung down in her eyes. Even in the dim light, he could see her jumper clinging to her body. “I’ve never been so close to a woman before.”

  She touched his face. “You did a fine job behaving yourself. Most men wouldn’t have. You gave me comfort, Gabe. I was scared.” She kissed him. “Thank you.”

  “You’re welcome. Uh, we’d better get moving.” He reached into the sofa and grabbed their gear. He was pretty upset that his spear had been found. It wasn’t much of a weapon, but it was his father’s. Together, they took to the roof. He wanted to get another look for the Deathriders. The sun was still up, and it was past midday. The wind was stiff in his face.

  Rann spread her arms like wings. “Ah, that wind feels good. I hate stuffiness. Don’t you, Gabe?”

  “Of course.” Placing his goggles on, he moved from one side of the roof to another. The streets were empty, aside from the dust devils. There wasn’t any sign of Jack or the riders. “I’d rather be outside any day, except the storm ones. Those aren’t so fun. Did you say you knew your way around this city?”

  “A little bit. My mom, dad, and I were scavengers here for quite some time before the Eyewatch caught us. I’ve seen other people.” She drank from her canister. “Ah, I swear I’ve never been so thirsty. But those people would scatter and vanish. They weren’t Eyewatchers either.”

  “How do you know?”

  “They had both eyes like us, and they didn’t wear the jumpers. I had better clothes than this, you know. Potus made me wear it. He makes us all wear it so we’ll recognize each other.”

  “Wouldn’t a missing eye be a dead giveaway?”

  She laughed. “You are funny, Gabe. I guess so, but Potus was very peculiar about such things. When you came here, where were you supposed to go?”

  “Mabel just told me to follow the broken road north to the city. I just assumed it would be easy to find them here. I figured it would be like the compound in Newton. I was pretty wrong. I never imagined anything as big as this.”

  “There’s more. But most of them have collapsed on themselves. I know because we are scavengers, nomadic people who live away from the Dominion. My dad chose to live away from them, but often Mom wanted to live inside their ways. She said life would be easier within than without.” She tossed Gabe the water canister. “Dad said that’s what the Dominion wants, but it’s only slavery. You lived in the compound. What do you think?”

  “I never knew any different. I was raised in a compound run by the Dominion. I had Saul and Mabel, so it wasn’t so bad. But the older I got, the worse it became. They seemed so unhappy, and it was as if they were always holding something back. Now, I know what it is.”

  “It’s all about control. My dad would ramble on about it all of the time.” Rann zipped her jumper down the middle and fanned herself. “My mom would get sick of hearing about it. She wanted him to talk about something else, but I don’t think there was anything else to talk about. We just lived day by day, but sometimes, we talked about the things we found. Dad was a hard man. A shame he’s dead now.” She took Gabe’s hand. “I miss them”

  “I miss my father too.” Gabe drank. As he did, with his free hand, he adjusted his goggles. He’d been scanning far away but modified them for a closer view. He looked straight across into the third story of a very high building. The blurry lenses cleared. He zeroed in on a crystal-clear image of a man pointing a rifle right at him.

  CHAPTER 18

  Gabe dropped the water canister.

  “Careful with that.” Rann bent over to pick it up. “Ow!”

  Grabbing her by the hair he said, “Be still.”

  “What’s gotten into you?” She followed his gaze and gasped.

  “Very wise, Gabe,” the man across the street in the other building said. It was the man with stormy eyes, a lot of beard, and tattoos. “I’ve used one bullet today. I’d hate to use another. Trust me; you don’t want to see what happens when I do. Get those hands up.”

  Slowly, he and Rann lifted their hands. “What do you want with me?” Gabe said.

  “Don’t play stupid, Gabe. You know why I’m here. I’m taking you and that dragon back to the Dominion.”

  Jack stepped into full view alongside the man. “They’re gonna to kill you, and I’m gonna watch! Just kill him now, Trooper!”

  Trooper backhanded Jack in the mouth, and the boy shuffled back three steps.

  Gabe laughed. “I see you are still as stupid as you ever were, Jack. By the way, good to see you again, stupid!”

  “At least I didn’t get caught, idiot!” Jack fired back and flinched away from Trooper’s glare.

  “Call your dragon, Gabe.” Trooper shifted his aim from Gabe to Rann. “Or that little honey with you dies.”

  “I thought you said you didn’t want to waste any more bullets.”

  “Show me the dragon, and I won’t.”

  Squawk was lying down behind the parapet at Gabe’s feet. “Squawk has a mind of his own. I can’t control him. If you want him, you’ll have to find him.”

  “Gabe!” Rann nudged him. “He’ll kill me.”

  “Don’t worry. He probably doesn’t have any bullets.”

  “I’ve got plenty of bullets, Gabe. Where’s the dragon?”

  Squawk climbed up on the parapet and perched. His eyes were locked on Trooper. Tongue flickering, he hissed.

  “I don’t think he likes you.” Gabe’s heart raced with Squawk’s. The dragon’s neck bulged. He was becoming protective.

  “Listen to me, boy,” Trooper said. “Don’t suppose for a moment I don’t know how to handle your little dragon. I was a hunter once myself. Now, I hunt all kinds of things.”

  “You’ve never hunted anything like Squawk,” Gabe said.

  “I know what you’re thinking. You think that little flamethrower of yours is going to fly over here and set me on fire like the Count. No dragon’s that fast, boy. I don’t miss. I’ll shoot him down.”

  Shouting across the street he said, “I don’t think you will. Not if the Dominion wants us both alive. I’m no good to them dead, and neither is the dragon.”

  “This isn’t about you and the dragon, boy. It’s about her. Stand down, and she’s going to eat a bullet,” Trooper said.

  “Yeah! Just like Saul, Gabe! You remember that, don’t you?” Jack said. “I do. Your dad’s brains were blown clear across the stage.”

  Gabe clenched the air. “I hate Jack.”

  “I don’t want to die, Gabe,” Rann said. “I’m not that brave. Please, don’t let him kill me.”

  “I won’t.” He lifted his voice again. “Fine. I give up, Trooper, but I can’t control Squawk. Either he’ll come, or he won’t. I’ll do my best.”

  Trooper lowered the rifle, put his fingers to his mouth, and let out a sharp whistle. A roar of engines rumbled to life in the streets.

  The motorbikes that Gabe had thought were gone were back. They cruised out of the buildings and into the street between Gabe and Trooper. A handful of men hustled into the fire station. Gabe picked up Squawk. The Deathriders appeared on the roof and escorted Gabe and Rann down to the street. Trooper and Jack met them on the road. The leader of the Deathriders had the rifle on his shoulder. He stood before Gabe and Rann like a grizzled, outland giant. “You made the right choice, boy, of which there was only two: life or death.”

  Squawk rattled his neck.

  Jack dropped a metal cage on the road. “Go ahead. Put him in, Gabe.”

  One of the Deathriders had a knife to Rann’s throat. A tear streamed down her cheek.

  Gabe put Squawk in the cage and
closed the door. He glared at Jack. Jack glared back. Gabe swung at Jack’s jaw.

  Trooper caught his wrist. “You lost. Deal with it.”

  ***

  Daphne lumbered through the tunnels without any source of light. She didn’t need them. She’d been raised in the Under City. Her vision was as keen as a cat’s. What she needed to see, she felt. Ambling down an old subway tunnel, she saw a light glowing inside a subway train. She entered through the front. Oil lanterns offered ample light.

  “Father,” she murmured, trembling. The man called Trooper terrified her. “Father, Grandfather is dead. We have no prophet. Bullywug will be angry.”

  A figure rose in the shadows. It was a bare-skinned man with a brawny neck and shoulders. His skin was pale. The left eye was missing from the socket. His back was hunched. Stringy hair covered the back of his neck. He wore only a pair of trousers and boots. A length of thick chain around his neck ran down his back and around his waist. In a raspy voice he said, “What happened, daughter?”

  “A painted man hurt me. He shot Grandfather with a gun. He die. It hurt my ear.” She reached out her hand and opened it. The butt of Trooper’s cigar was there. “He eats this.”

  Large gnarly fingers reached out. The nails were like steel files. The veins pulsated under the skin. He took the cigar, put it to the too-large nostrils in his small nose, and sniffed. “Come, daughter.”

  Daphne followed him back into a connected subway car. There were four metal cages inside. One of them was empty. The other three were not. They had chewbas in them. The bearish, wolverine-like beasts slavered. The gruesome man put the cigar to their noses. The monsters groaned and thrashed against the cages’ bars.

  “The prophet will be avenged. Bullywug will be satisfied.” He clenched his fists. His muscles heaved. He was bigger than Trooper. “I, Lodok, shall kill these transgressors!”

  One by one, he opened the chewbas’ cages. The beasts were harnessed and fastened to his chains with metal leashes of their own. “Stay here, daughter. Lodok shall return.”

  CHAPTER 19

  Gabe, Rann, and Squawk rode in the back of a pickup truck. One of the Deathriders was with them, a man named Case with a lot of piercings in his ears. The man leered at Rann as he picked his teeth with a small knife. She scooted closer to Gabe, whose eyes were fixed on the city that faded behind them. Its towers shrank to nothing then finally disappeared.

  Rann coughed. The dust stirred up from the vehicles ahead of them was chronic. “Where are we going?”

  Case shrugged. “Wherever Trooper wants. Don’t worry. I’ll look after you, honey.” He patted her knee. She shrank away. “Ah, don’t be so touchy. I just want to get to know you better.”

  “Leave her alone,” Gabe said.

  “You shut up, or I’ll have you dragged behind the truck, eh, boy.”

  Gabe looked away. The fish-eyed man got under his skin even more than Jack did. If it’s not one miserable person, it has to be another. As far as he could tell, they were moving north. It sank his hopes. He was supposed to meet Mabel back in the city. Now, he’d never find her. The distance between them was only stretching. At the same time, he was curious too. He’d thought that Trooper would take him back to Newton. Instead, it was elsewhere, into an even greater unknown.

  The truck they rode in came to a squeaking stop. Case beat on the bed of the truck. “What’s the matter, Cookie? Did you forget how to drive again?”

  The man named Cookie shouted in a funny voice, “I didn’t stop us. Trooper did.”

  There was the wind from riding, and then there was the wind from mother nature. Mother nature’s gusts were picking up. Case stood up in the bed of the truck. “Ah great. Storm’s coming. It looks like it’s going to be one of those storms too.”

  Gabe craned his neck. He couldn’t see over the equipment packed in the truck. He knew what those storms meant. Hard heavy rains would come to Newton and flood the washouts. The howling wind was so fierce it would pound the walls of the buildings. The citizens boarded up the windows when they came.

  Case jumped out of the truck. “We should have stayed in the city. Stay put, you two.”

  Gabe and Rann weren’t bound. There was nowhere for them to run.

  “I hate the storms, Gabe,” Rann said. “If there was anything good about the Eyewatch, it was avoiding the storms underground. It never stormed down there. I felt safe.” She pushed the hair from her eyes and hooked her arm in his. “Don’t leave me.”

  “I won’t.” He stood up. Rann joined him.

  The wind picked up and rustled the riders’ clothing. Trooper barked orders. “See that tunnel.” He pointed to a distant spot off of the crumbling road. “Ride like hell for it!”

  The black clouds swirled in the distance. Something else twisted in the air. A tornado was forming.

  “Drive! Drive! Drive!” Case said to Cookie. He jumped into the truck. “Get down, you two!”

  The truck lurched forward. Gabe and Rann fell down. The ride bounced them hard. They grabbed the gear straps in the truck and one another. They’d driven a hundred yards when the stinging rain came.

  Case had his face in the wind. “Ah, man, this is going to be close. The tornado is coming fast!”

  The truck pounded over the rugged land, jostling them at every twist and turn. The rain came down in sheets. In seconds, they were drenched.

  KRAKOW!

  The thunder and lightning started. Case beat the side of the truck again. “Faster, Cookie! Faster!”

  Gabe could barely make out the man’s voice. Rann’s fingers dug into his ribs. The squall came out of nowhere. He’d heard about farmers taken away from the fields when the squalls suddenly dropped down. Some were never seen again. Others were brought back broken.

  Rann screamed over the deafening wind. “Gabe! Gabe! I don’t think we are going to make it!”

  CHAPTER 20

  Trooper and Jack blasted into the tunnel. Followed by the rest of the Deathriders, they burrowed in about one hundred feet, where they were met by a blockade of cars stuffed inside the tunnel. The howling wind drowned out the sound of the motorbikes. The black hole was illuminated by their grit-caked lights. Shielding his eyes, Trooper made a headcount.

  “Jack!” he called out. His voice barely carried over the wind. “Jack, do you see the truck?”

  With his goggles on, Jack wiped at his eyes. It was hard to get a count. The headlights on some of the vehicles helped, but they didn’t all have them. The black storm outside caused a lot of confusion. His knees were weak when he moved. He covered his ears. The howling in the tunnel was like that of a banshee that would haunt him forever. “No!” he screamed. “No!”

  Trooper made his way among his men. Their heavy garments were soaked and dripping. He spoke right into their ears. Three men inched back toward the mouth of the tunnel. Debris at the edge was being sucked out into the thunderous funnel outside. The men hooked arms and angled toward the exit. It was pitch-black outside. If the truck with Gabe in it was lost, they were doomed.

  Good. I hope the tornado takes them all away. I won’t ever have to see Gabe or his dragon again. Jack clung to the door of an old car that had rusted into the road. He’d never heard wind so loud that his ears ached. It sounded as if the world was going to end. It was chaos. All he could see were the shadowy silhouettes of men running back and forth, yelling, and securing their gear from being ripped away. The endless, haunting siren rose higher. The seconds felt like minutes. There was no sign of the truck. Heh-heh-heh. Gabe’s dead.

  The storm would pass. Jack’s days would be better. He’d become a Deathrider, ten times the honor of being a dragon hunter. He would hunt everything and ride a motorbike of his own, perhaps with Gabe’s skull on it. He chuckled inwardly. A smile formed on his face. A new glare stung his eyes. What?

  The supply truck plowed out of the darkness, into the tunnel, and skidded to a halt. The riders scrambled over to the truck. Cookie was slumped over the wheel. Trooper opened
the door and pulled him out. Cookie clung to Trooper’s shoulders. Trooper shouted at him. Cookie shook his head.

  Yes, Gabe’s gone!

  The riders plucked two people out of the bed of the truck. One of them was the girl, and the other was Gabe.

  “Nooooooo!” Jack screamed. His voice was lost in the wind. “Nooooooooooo!”

  ***

  The tornado passed. The shrill howling quieted. Gabe felt himself breathe again. The heavy rains still came down. The dragon riders camped in the tunnel for the night. They all huddled around Cookie, who was still shivering and talking. Case didn’t make it back.

  “I thought I was dead!” Cookie rocked back and forth, biting his nails. “I had sight of Wayne’s taillight and chased, then wump!” He smacked his hands. “I smacked the rough, and everything went black. The truck was lodged in somewhere, and all I could do was rock the gas back and forth. I swear the wind lifted the back end of the truck high enough to free us. I nailed the pedal flying over the ground, blind as a bat. I have no idea how in the hell I made it inside this tunnel.”

  “Have a drink.” One of the men handed Cookie a canteen. “They shut your clam, and make us something to eat! Haha!” He slapped Cookie on the back.

  The Deathriders set out some lanterns on the ground. Water trickled by in a steady stream almost up over the rim of their boots. Many of them sat on their motorbikes.

  “Storm’s not going anywhere.” Trooper lit up a cigar. “It’ll be night when it does anyhow. So we’ll camp here tonight and hit the road tomorrow. Wayne and Giddy, grab a lantern, and go look for Case.”

  “Us? Now?” Giddy said. He was a beanpole of a man with a bad underbite. He didn’t appear as fearsome as the rest, aside from the knife on his hip that ran down to his knee. “It’s still raining.”

  “Come on.” Wayne wiped his eyebrows. They were the only things with hair on his face. His garb was sleeveless, and his arms were packed muscle. He picked up the lantern, handed it to Giddy, and grabbed a shovel from the rear of the truck.