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

by Craig Halloran

  “It’s a little honey who hitched on with the boy.”

  “And you didn’t… Ah, yes, I see. Well played, Trooper.” Angus moved back behind his desk. “Clovis, I’ll let you decide on this situation. Perhaps, being new to the Burg, Gabe needs a friend. After all, he won’t have a chance to make many. Trooper, stay here. I have business to discuss.”

  Clovis took Gabe all the way out of the building and into the streets. A squad of Blue Guards escorted them all the way back to the apartment building. When they went inside the cove, Rann was inside crying her eyes out.

  Gabe rushed over to her. “What’s wrong, Rann? What happened?”

  “It’s Squawk, Gabe. They took him away. I tried to stop them.” There was a bruise on her cheek. “I’m sorry.”

  Squawk and the cage were gone. Gabe screamed. “Noooooo!”

  Jack laughed.

  CHAPTER 31

  “There really isn’t any need for all of this drama,” Clovis said. The bookish man cleaned his spectacles with a cotton handkerchief. He put the glasses back on and spruced up his buttons with the same rag. “Your dragon is being assessed. Nothing more, nothing less, Gabe.”

  Gabe’s ears were red. “You know about this?”

  “Not exactly, but I had my suspicions. It’s all part of the protocol, Gabe. You didn’t really think you would be allowed to roam this city with your dragon as a pet, did you?”

  Fists clenched, he said, “No.” Gabe’s gut churned with queasiness and loss. He didn’t trust anyone, particularly with Squawk. They would hurt the dragon. He knew it.

  “They are going to experiment on him,” Jack said. He leaned against the wall, tossing up a small jade figurine and catching it again. “They’ll dissect him and clip those wings. Your dragon will never fly again.”

  Gabe flew across the room. He slammed into Jack, knocking the mouthy boy into the wall and driving him into the ground. He locked his fingers on Jack’s neck and squeezed. “Shut up! Shut up!”

  Pie-eyed, Jack somehow choked out a laugh as the Blue Guard yanked Gabe free. He fought against them, twisting free and kicking Jack in the shin. Jack let out a painful cry. Something hard walloped Gabe in the back of the head. Stars burst in his eyes. His knees wobbled, and he sank to the floor. With his head throbbing, he was dragged by the bigger and stronger men out of the room.

  “Take him to the flats.” Clovis shook his head. “You need to be more civilized, Gabe.” Beckoning with his finger, he said to Rann, “Come with us, young lady.”

  Dragged to the bottom of the stairs, Gabe finally got the strength back in his legs when they made it outside. Walking with strong mitts of the guards locked on his arms, he saw Cookie. The man was loading gear into the back of the truck. He showed a smile that was missing a few teeth and waved.

  Gabe didn’t look back when he heard Jack hollering out of the window, “See you around, Gabe! Have fun burying your dragon!”

  The flats were rows of storage buildings converted into small apartments or coves. They were protected by a huge chain-link fence with razor wire on the top. There was only one gate leading in, manned by the Blue Guard. All of the metal sheds were side by side with most of the roll-open garage-like doors closed. People sat outside their doors, huddled over fires that burned in barrels. Their eyes were downcast. Most of them were young, like Gabe and Rann. Gabe still hadn’t seen many older people. The likes of Trooper, Angus, and Clovis seemed to be the most senior people. There weren’t any signs of old ones.

  Clovis opened the door to one of the sheds. It was an empty ten-by-fifteen-foot room with a layer of dirt covering a cement floor that had deep cracks in it. There was a single mattress in deteriorating condition and a blanket. One of the Blue Guards slung Gabe’s gear inside. “This is your new home, Gabe, for now, anyway. It will keep you dry from the rain, but keep it locked when you aren’t about.” He handed Gabe a brass lock and key. “Thieves will always be thieving, but once caught they are swiftly dealt with.” His eyes drifted to a young man ambling by in ragged clothing. His right hand was missing. “Swiftly and permanently.”

  Gabe noticed. “What about Rann? Is she staying with me?”

  “She’ll have her own cove in the flats, nearby. Come, we’ll settle her in.” Clovis arched a brow.

  Lock and key in hand, Gabe closed the door and locked it.

  “Well done.” Clovis took them to Rann’s cove, two rows over and further down. There were more women in the area. Her shed was the same as Gabe’s, but the mattress was more intact, and the army blanket was cleaner. “I will send for you when I need you. I will feed you when it’s time to feed you.” He scanned the others. “As you can see, the citizens here are very uncomfortable around the likes of me and the Blue Guards. They know you are special. I don’t think they will trifle with you, but if they do, just whistle. As for your time in the Burg, feel free to go where you please, but if you leave the flats, you will be accompanied by a guard. I suggest you earn the Count’s trust and lie low in the meantime. Good day.”

  “What about Squawk?” Gabe asked.

  “I’m certain you will be reunited with him…eventually. In the meantime, enjoy the compound while you wait.”

  Clovis departed, leaving Gabe and Rann in the midst of hundreds of young strangers. He sat down inside Rann’s cove.

  Stretching her arms as she looked up and down her row, she said, “It’s a little creepy, but much better than living with the Eyewatch.” A bunch of kids walked by, bouncing an orange ball. They stared and whispered before scuttling along, dribbling the ball along the way.

  Rann rubbed Gabe’s back. “You’ll get Squawk back. I’m sure of it. So you met the Count?”

  “Yeah.”

  “And?”

  Gabe didn’t really feel like talking about the man who was Angela’s brother. But liking the feeling of Rann rubbing his back, his muscles loosened and he said, “He’s another world-class manipulator.”

  She let out a delightful laugh. “You catch on quick. Don’t you, Gabe?”

  “Do I have a choice?” He gave a weak smile and rubbed the bump on his head. “Learning’s painful.”

  Rann leaned over and kissed his bump. “Gabe, I’ll look out for you. I’m thankful you’ve been looking out for me. Promise me we’ll stick together. You’re all I have.”

  “I don’t mean to sound cold, Rann, but I’m not in any position to promise anything. But I promise you I’ll do my best.”

  “That’s all a girl can ask for. So tell me more about the Count. I can’t help being curious, and I can’t think of anything else to talk about.”

  “Eh…”

  “Come on, Gabe. At least you are away from that awful Jack and Trooper. What is Jack’s problem, anyway? He’s so jealous of you.”

  “I don’t know. He’s always had a rotten streak. I should have let him die.”

  “Do you really mean that?”

  Gabe shook his head. “I don’t know. I just want to see Squawk. I’m sick without him.”

  “Are you really sick?”

  “Yeah. We have an attachment. It’s hard to explain, but we bonded the moment I touched the egg. It’s hard being without him near. It’s even worse to think that they are experimenting on him. They could be hurting him, bad.”

  “Jack is just saying that. All he does is try to get in your head. Don’t believe him, Gabe. It’s like you said. He is jealous. The Dominion needs you for one reason or another. I doubt they’ll hurt Squawk because of it. There are big plans for you. I can feel it.” She held his hand. “You’re special. Now, let’s just sit back and enjoy some peace and quiet. Things will look better tomorrow.”

  “Yeah, sure.” He squeezed her hand. “They’ll be better because I’m going to find Squawk and get us the hell out of here.”

  CHAPTER 32

  Gabe and Rann spent the next several days getting familiar with the city, but there was no word about Squawk. The food the guards brought was bland, and Gabe didn’t feel much like ea
ting. Still, Rann would urge him to eat, and he ate a little, but nothing satisfied his appetite. They shuffled on down the sidewalks, moving from corner to corner, taking in the huge compound. Every so often, a motorcar would rattle down the road, only to disappear out the front gates, towing a cart of supplies.

  From the rooftops Gabe watched pigeons depart from time to time. There were men and women up there, casting down glances from high above, but still too far away to clearly see. Gabe hoped to see Squawk. He wanted his dragon to escape, but he was having trouble getting a sense of him. He figured if he walked around long enough, from spot to spot and place to place, he’d get a feeling. He didn’t. That made matters worse. Perhaps Squawk had been killed, but he was certain he’d have felt that. Maybe the dragon had been taken to another place.

  A drizzling rain came down.

  A rickety man pushing a grocery cart crossed the street and came within a foot of Gabe’s toe when he stopped. Shaggy haired with a jutting jaw and in his fifties, the bright-blue-eyed man said to Gabe, “There is a show in the museum. You should see it.”

  Gabe stepped aside. It wasn’t the first time he’d spoken with a rambling citizen. They were all over, striking up conversations and trying to pat him down. “No thanks.”

  The man pushed the cart into his toe. In a fit of anger he said, “There is a show inside the museum! You should see it!”

  The Blue Guard who accompanied Gabe and Rann gave the bum a hard shove. “Keep rolling,” he said in a deep voice. The guard was a black man with a strong build. Every time Gabe left the flats, he came. Gabe had asked the man, probably in his upper twenties, for a name a couple of times, but he only got a cold hard stare. Gabe called him Tim. Tim carried a baseball bat with brown leather wrapped around handle. The head was scuffed up and painted black.

  “Say, Tim, where is the museum?” Gabe asked.

  “What is a museum, is more like it,” added Rann. “I don’t even know what that is. Do you really think they’ll have a show?”

  Gabe shrugged. He walked down the street. He’d covered every spot from the food courts to the barnyards with the livestock and attempted to take a manhole into the sewers underneath. Tim put an end to that. The Burg was like Newton but bigger, and it had a few more commodities. The people roamed more freely and had great access to food. They worked hard but were paid with tin coins to purchase things with. They didn’t have much, but it was still more than the citizens of Newton had. He’d even seen the same people with more than one outfit. They even sold canned sodas and other wrapped foods in the food courts. They people who bought such items were better off than most, but there was still some contentment in the crowd.

  Men worked on the wall that divided the citizens from the Dominion on the other side of the wall. Gabe could see Dominion sitting on their lofty balconies that overlooked the impoverished side of the compound. Women fanned themselves with colorful fans. On the sunny days, they basked in the sun. Their clothing was soft and colorful. They drank from glasses made of pure crystal in their ivory towers. He watched one woman stick her hand out in the rain, fling the water off, and go back inside her apartment through a sliding glass door.

  Rann nudged him. “Daydreaming again?”

  “Have you ever been on the other side where you came from?” he asked.

  “Nope. You?”

  “No, just Angela’s place. It had ice-cold air inside that froze the hair on my arms off. She gave me a soda. Cold as the snow.” He smiled. “I could have gotten used to that.”

  “I had a candy bar once. My dad gave it to me for my birthday. It was the most delicious thing I ever ate.”

  “Did it have chocolate?’

  Her voice got as big as her eyes. “Yes! I’d do anything for it.”

  “That’s what I heard.” He started walking again, wondering about Mabel. So far, he hadn’t seen one old one in the city. It was unnatural. Certainly, there had to be some of them around unless the Count killed them all. He’d walked down all of the streets, but many of the buildings were several stories tall. There must have been a hundred of them, and there wasn’t any time to explore them all. “Tim, where does the oldest person around here live?”

  “What do you want to know that for?” Tim said in an even voice.

  “Ah, Tim talks, finally.” Gabe nodded. “I’m just used to seeing old ones where I come from, and I don’t see any here.”

  “You’ve been looking for trouble ever since you got here. Let me give you some advice, young man. Don’t.”

  “It’s just a question.”

  “No, it’s more than that. You need to know something, little man. I report everything you do to Clovis. Clovis reports everything to the Count.” He poked Gabe in the chest with the fat end of the bat. “They know everything you do. As long as I’m around, they will know everything from where you pee to when you smile. There’s no fooling the Dominion. I suggest you learn to play well with them before they stop playing around with you.”

  “And if I don’t, will they kill me?”

  “Come with me, you little sneak, and I’ll show you what they do to people.”

  Gabe looked at Rann. She shrugged. He followed Tim down the streets and into an alley that reeked of death. He covered his nose. Rann gagged. There was a metal door at the end of the alley painted army green with a bright-yellow hazard sign painted on it. Tim rapped his bat on the door. A man opened the door from the inside. He wore a gas mask.

  “They need a tour,” Tim said to the man. “I’ll wait here.”

  Gabe entered. Loud wailing came from within. His blood curdled in his veins as the guard in the gas mask shoved him and Rann farther inside.

  CHAPTER 33

  Gabe’s thoughts ran back to the time when Angela had tossed him into Newton’s prison. The people inside were deranged. This building was worse. The stench in the darkness sent tears down to his eyes. The shrieking was awful. There was a door with metal bars and a long corridor behind it. People shuffled through the shadows, moving in gangly gaits. They shrieked, screamed, and howled.

  Rann’s hand locked on Gabe’s. “I want to get out of here.” Her voice trembled. “I want to get out of here now, Gabe. Now!”

  “We’ve seen enough,” Gabe said to the man in the gas mask. The rubbery face with huge eyelets glowered down at him for a very long moment. Finally, the man turned, unlocked the door that let them inside, and opened it. Rann dashed out of the room. Gabe was on her heels. His heart raced.

  “Hahahaha,” Tim laughed. He sat on a red plastic crate, wearing a broad smile. “You’ve annoyed the crap out of me for days. That made it all worth it. The two of you are as white as I am black. Good!” He rumbled with laughter as he stood up.

  The door closed behind him. Gabe’s rapid breathing eased. Rann’s knuckles were still white, fastened to his hand. He couldn’t be gladder that the madness had come to an end. He had visions of deranged maniacs being turned loose in the streets and devouring them for some reason. He shivered, caught his breath, and straightened his back. Looking at Tim he said, “You made your point.”

  “I made one of them,” Tim said. “You don’t want me to show you the others. Come on now. I think your tour of the city today needs to come to a close. I think I’ve had enough myself.”

  With Rann trembling at his side, they followed Tim all the way back to the flats. Gabe’s composure settled. He wasn’t sure what was worse, the horrors one couldn’t see or the ones he could. But one thing was for certain. He didn’t ever want to enter that building again. It unnerved him. If he had Squawk with him, he’d probably feel better. The dragon by his side made him feel stronger. At the moment, he was a little lost without his friend. His confidence waned with his frustration.

  Tim slid open the gate to the chain-link fence. It was barely wide enough for them to pass through. He went up the steps and inside a trailer that was modified into a guard shack, passing two other guards as he went inside. The other guards leered at Rann. She eased behind Gabe
. Tim came back out with two brown bags bundled up. He handed them to Gabe. “There’s food for a couple of days. I suggest you stay inside the flats and enjoy it for the next two days. Get along now.”

  Gabe and Rann headed back to his cove. He unlocked the door and opened it. They went inside and sat on his mattress. “Are you hungry?”

  “No.” Rann lay down on the bed and curled up a little. “I can still hear those screams in my head. Why does everything have to be so awful, Gabe? Why is the world like this?”

  “I don’t know. But it’s not this bad for everyone. The Dominion has it pretty good.”

  “My father would say that you’d have to sell your soul to join them.”

  “What’s that mean?”

  “I don’t know.” She closed her eyes. “But it made them sound like really bad people, which I’m convinced they are. How can they live so well while watching others live so badly?”

  “You’re asking the questions I don’t think they want us to ask. I have a better understanding now of why the old ones always keep so quiet. My grandmother, Mabel, filled me in. She says people like the Dominion destroyed the old world. They brought the great fire. I didn’t get much time to talk about it.”

  Rann’s fingers brushed down his back. “Gabe, will you lie down with me? I’m still shivering, and I’m cold.”

  Gabe’s throat tightened. “Yeah, I guess.” It was still daytime, but the sun was going down.

  “Well, don’t sound too excited.”

  “I, uh…”

  “Oh, Gabe, just lie down with me. It’s not like we are going to start a family. Just rest.” She scooted into him. Gabe lay behind her. Rann took his arm and held it into her waist. “That’s better. Much better.” She sighed. “Thank you, Gabe.”

  The warmth of her body against his eased his racing thoughts. His eyelids became heavy. Rann softly snored. Before Gabe dozed off, he noted his shed door was open. He thought about closing it, but fell fast asleep.