Madelyn's Last Dance

by Ike Hamill

  A woman, sprawled on the landing of the second floor appeared to be dead. Madelyn glanced back when her eyes picked up the woman’s pulse in her neck.

  “Another live one,” Madelyn said. She dragged the woman by the foot to the top of the stairs. Elijah picked her up from there. He ran the woman down the steps and tossed her through the door as well. Elijah ran back up the stairs to join her.

  Madelyn turned towards the next flight and then whipped back to Elijah. She flipped her gun around and jabbed the stock of the rifle at Elijah’s chest. His face registered surprise, but he didn’t have time to jerk back before Madelyn hit him. The blow crushed the head of the snake that was climbing Elijah’s shirt.

  He saw the thing as Madelyn pulled the rifle away. Elijah danced back and shook the dead serpent from his clothes.

  “Thanks,” he said.

  “The woman’s body,” Madelyn said. “I think the snake came out of her.”

  They fell back into their formation to take the third floor. Madelyn led and Elijah watched her back. The third floor was clear. Madelyn approached the ladder from all sides before she climbed. She waved Elijah up. Three snipers were the only people they found. Madelyn disarmed one and tossed his rifle over the side. She forced him to the ladder at the end of her rifle’s barrel. Elijah had his own hostage. The two snipers climbed down and then fled down the stairs before Madelyn and Elijah could join them.

  “What happened to the third?” she asked.

  “Accident,” Elijah said. She nodded.

  They had agreed to try for no casualties, but they had also agreed that it might not be possible.

  “I’ll cover these doors,” she said. Madelyn staked out the second floor landing while Elijah went to escort Jacob and Harper.

  They hurried up the stairs with the equipment and then went back for the cabling. When everything was mounted and set, Elijah covered while Madelyn went down for the last trip.

  Amelia was still hunched over the device.

  “We’re ready,” Madelyn said.

  Brook was kneeling next to Amelia. She looked up at Madelyn and nodded.

  “Let’s go,” Brook said.

  “I want to test this connection,” Amelia said.

  “Now or never,” Brook said. “Take the tools. We’ll fix it up there if we have to.”

  Amelia exhaled with puffed cheeks and nodded. Together, they picked up the box. Madelyn led the way. After checking the hall, she waved them through. The two women shuffled as they carried the box between them. There were delicate parts inside that were held together by Amelia’s hasty work. Madelyn waved them up the next steps and held the position at the landing while Brook and Amelia started up to the second floor.

  They only made it halfway up the stairs before the front door burst open.

  “Stop,” Penny said.

  Madelyn raised her rifle. She was looking at the three guns of the people flanking Penny. Behind all of those, almost hidden in the darkness, Cleo stood.

  “We’re taking this to the roof to fight The Wisdom,” Madelyn said. She motioned to Brook and Amelia. “Keep moving.”

  “Don’t move,” Penny said. “This building is under my authority. I decide what measures we take here.”

  “Be reasonable,” Madelyn said. She lowered her own rifle to her hip. “We’re all on the same team here.”

  “We have no idea if that’s true,” Penny said.

  “Of course it’s true,” Brook said. “We saved your life earlier. How could you doubt us?”

  Penny pointed at Madelyn. “This woman was convicted and then hanged. She is an enemy of this community who was pronounced dead, and we have no idea what influence she holds over you. We will investigate this thoroughly before we allow anything to proceed.”

  “Is this coming from you, or from your puppeteer behind you?” Madelyn asked. She took a step down, making herself bigger and blocking the guns pointed at Brook and Amelia. The two younger women took the cue and started climbing again.

  “I’m in charge here,” Penny said.

  “Just like Ryan was in charge before you?” Madelyn asked.

  The guards on either side of Penny raised their weapons as Madelyn took another step down. Above them, Brook and Amelia turned the corner to climb the next flight.

  “Ryan has nothing to do with this,” Penny said. “Now move out of the way before I have you shot.”

  “Your boss had me hanged. How did that turn out? You just saw me climb a bear like a tree and then kill it with my bare hands. How did that turn out? Do you think you frighten me?”

  Madelyn gave Penny a cold smile. She lifted a finger and angled one of the rifle barrels away from her face. The guards were nearly trembling. Madelyn figured there was a good chance that one of them would squeeze their trigger by accident.

  “You can’t bully us,” Penny said. “We have the authority of the people.”

  The guard swung his gun back to Madelyn. She put her open palm up, in front of the black eye at the end of the barrel. In different forms, she had looked into that eye before. She didn’t like the way it judged her.

  “Bully is a funny word for you to use,” Madelyn said. “All the shady things that are going on, and it’s nothing but her bullying that keeps everyone in line.” She moved her eyes to Cleo, who was trying to shrink back into the darkness as the confrontation escalated.

  “We’re going to shoot you, Madelyn,” Penny said. “You’re not giving us any choice.”

  “You’re just going to make me angry,” Madelyn said. She kept her eyes locked on Penny. At that moment, Madelyn was convinced that she could win the argument simply with the strength of her will. Penny was mentally strong. Her guard—the one whose gun was blocked by Madelyn’s hand—was weak. The man began to panic. Even without looking at him, Madelyn could sense his heart racing out of control and the sweat beginning to form at his brow. She knew what he was going to do a fraction of a second before it happened.

  The gun fired.

  Madelyn’s heart stopped.

  # # # # #

  Brook and Amelia lugged the box to the bottom of the ladder and then hoisted it up to Amelia’s shoulder. She wasn’t strong enough to hold it on her own, but Brook propped her up from behind and helped her climb one rung and then two. When they got to the fourth rung, hands reached down from above and lifted.

  Amelia felt the weight of the device leaving her as one of the doors opened.

  “What are you doing?” a voice asked from the darkness.

  “We’re trying to save this place,” Brook said. “Will you help us?”

  “I think you should stop. I don’t think what you’re doing is sanctioned.”

  Brook shook her head. She wished she could see who was speaking to her. If she could call the person by name, they might be more reasonable.

  “We’re doing the right thing,” Brook said. “Please—help us.”

  The shot went off below and the door slammed shut.

  “Climb faster!” Brook said. She shoved Amelia from below. They practically climbed together, getting up the ladder just as the door opened again. Brook saw a hand holding a revolver come out of the dark. Someone intended to shoot her. She pushed Amelia to move faster and they escaped to the roof before the person could shoot.

  Jacob, Harper, and Elijah were moving the box into place.

  “Careful!” Amelia said as she chased after them. “It’s just barely stuck together.”

  Brook closed the door over the ladder and stepped on top of it, pinching it down on the cables that were snaked up from below. She remembered the person with the gun and moved back off.

  “Where’s Madelyn?” Elijah asked.

  “Still down there,” Brook said. “Penny’s people…”

  She didn’t finish the statement before Elijah was darting around her to get to the trap door.

  “We need your help,” Jacob said. “You have to hold the cable in place.”

  Elijah glanced back to the operation an
d then down to the door. He grunted in frustration and then returned to his post.

  “Let’s go,” Elijah said.

  “Don’t rush me,” Amelia said. She was hunched over the device, making sure that all of her tenuous connections were still properly attached. “If any one of these components shorts, we’re cooked.”

  “Take your time,” Harper said.

  The four of them barely breathed as they watched Amelia and waited for her to finish.

  Someone began to bang on the door from the ladder. Brook kept her foot on the corner, holding it shut. Amelia sat back and took one last glance.

  “Okay,” she said, nodding her head.

  Elijah looked up. The low clouds were swirling. The black shapes still darted above.

  Amelia hit the switch. A low hum rattled the box.

  Brook jumped as the cable started to move. She realized that someone was pulling on it from below. Keeping one foot on the door, she moved her other foot to pin the cable down before it could pull on the new connection Amelia had made with her box. They needed the power to jumpstart the box before it could generate its own supply.

  The cable slid beneath her foot.

  “We’re about to lose power,” Brook said.

  “Another few seconds,” Amelia said.

  Brook didn’t have a choice. She had to shift her weight to holding down the cable or else it would have been pulled free from its hookup. The cable stopped moving.

  “The box is under its own power,” Amelia called. Brook moved her weight back to holding the door down just in time. It was starting to lift up from the person pushing below.

  “Stage one,” Amelia called. She flipped a switch and looked up.

  Jacob was holding the stand that the emitter was connected to. There wasn’t enough time to properly attach it to the roof. He clenched his teeth and held firm as the stand started to vibrate.

  “Stage two,” Amelia said.

  The cable that Elijah held began to make a crackling noise. They could tell by the look on his face that holding the connection was beginning to cause the man a significant amount of pain. Meanwhile, the end that Harper held in place was starting to heat up and smoke.

  “Brace yourselves,” Amelia said. “I’m going to stage three.”

  # # # # #

  The blast blew a whole through Madelyn’s hand. With her heart stopped, her body depressurized her blood supply to prevent too much blood from flowing from the wound. It took every ounce of her control for her to stay upright, staring into Penny’s eyes as the wound closed.

  One of the guards gasped and Penny’s eyes moved to Madelyn’s hand.

  Madelyn knew what the woman saw. She could sense it. Madelyn knew that the cells in her hand, aided by the demons that infected her, were already hard at work, stitching the wound shut. She felt the hole closing at an inhuman pace. She willed all of her available energy to the site of the injury. This show of strength would be the only thing to save her.

  It worked.

  Convinced that they were facing an invincible creature, the guards lowered their weapons and fled. They flew out into the night, nearly knocking Cleo to the ground. Madelyn was only facing Penny and Cleo, and the old woman looked like she was about to give up on Penny as well.

  “That’s why we can’t trust you,” Penny said. “You’re not one of us anymore.”

  “I’m here,” Madelyn said. “I’m risking my life, even though you don’t trust me. I am fighting for the very people who have imprisoned me, hanged me, and chased me away every time I’ve tried to help them.”

  “We don’t want your help,” Penny said.

  “Until you’ve shown that you’re capable of surviving without it, I’m not going to give you a choice,” Madelyn said. She took a small step forward. It was a subtle threat, but it revealed Penny’s fear. She took a step backwards.

  “Go fight,” Madelyn said. “Try to keep some of your people alive until we can fix this.”

  Penny lowered her eyes. Madelyn ran up the stairs.

  # # # # #

  The power cable was tugged away from the box. It didn’t matter. The device that they had taken from the back of David’s vehicle was self-sufficient now. Brook tried to keep her weight on the hatch to the ladder as the people down there pulled the cable through the gap. As it finally disappeared, the door jolted and she lost her balance for a second. The hands pressing from underneath might have sensed the shift in her weight, or maybe they simply put all their strength to the task for the first time.

  Brook fell to the side as the door flew open. She saw Finn’s face appear through the gap.

  “You’re not supposed to be up here,” he said to Brook. “Penny said that you’re working with bad people.” His eyes cut over to Amelia, and then he saw Elijah. He came up through the door and pointed. “We’re supposed to detain him.”

  “Here it comes,” Amelia said.

  The emitter at the end of the stand made a snapping sound, like a flat palm hitting a sheet of metal. Jacob was knocked back by the force of it. He stumbled but stayed upright. Brook looked back to Finn as he was jerked back down the ladder. Madelyn appeared and slammed the hatch shut behind herself.

  They all looked up as the emitter began to rattle. Jacob’s hand was vibrating as he held the stand. Harper began to groan as fire jumped out from the insulation on the wire she was holding.

  All eyes turned upwards as the first of the black objects fell from the sky. It smashed into the roof a few feet from where Elijah was standing. Madelyn rolled out of the way as the next one crashed down.

  Jacob was finally thrown free from holding the emitter stand. He tumbled to the roof. For a second, the stand stayed up. The vibration finally started to sway the thing. Elijah tried to keep it upright with the cable he was holding, but the base began to slide.

  Harper lost her grip as well. The cable was too hot to hold. As she scrambled away, she dragged Amelia away from the box. It vibrated and hummed.

  More and more black objects fell. Blue sparks began to shoot from the emitter like confused lightning.

  “Let go, Elijah,” Madelyn called.

  He looked at the thing and decided she was right. The others were making their way towards the trap door. Elijah and Madelyn brought up the rear. Jacob pulled open the door and went down first. Amelia had to duck out of the way as one of the flying black machines crashed down near her.

  Brook lost her footing and fell through the hatch. During a lull in the sound of David’s device self-destructing, they heard Brook’s grunt as she landed on Jacob below. Amelia and Harper went through.

  Madelyn made Elijah go first while she watched the black objects tumbling from the sky. Directly above the building, she looked up and saw the stars through the dispersing clouds. Elijah pulled on her ankle and Madelyn snapped from her fascination. She pulled the door shut above her as she descended.

  Down in the grass, outside the building, people began to emerge from their hiding places. They had ducked for cover from the falling machines. As they came out, they looked up in wonder at the clearing sky.

  “Everyone! Gather around!” Penny said from the stairs of Building Two. A couple of people with flashlights lit her up from below. Madelyn and Elijah had been the last ones down the stairs. They looked up as Penny raised her arms to command the group’s attention.

  It took a few seconds for people to finally look to Penny. She waited.

  “Everyone, please gather around. Under Cleo’s leadership, we have weathered The Wisdom. As you can see, it is moving away from us now. We don’t expect it will be back any time soon. Cleo would now like to say a few words.”

  Penny descended a few stairs and turned as Cleo took the position in the light.

  “Thank you all for your brave fight this evening. As you can see, the key to defeating The Wisdom was a concerted fight from all of us. We didn’t hide ourselves away, we struck back at the invaders and drove out the snakes. The skies are clearing now and we’re safe.”r />
  Her declaration brought cheers. Madelyn looked to Elijah.

  Cleo raised her arms again to quiet the group.

  “We will stay the night here in the safe harbor, and then resume our lives tomorrow. We’ve suffered some hard losses tonight. I’m trusting Penny to lead the way on making new assignments to cover the crucial roles, as well as clean up from the fight. Please make every effort to be flexible in the upcoming days. We will all need to pitch in to fully recover from tonight’s events.”

  Madelyn started up the stairs, but Elijah put his hand on her elbow, holding her back

  “Thank you. Goodnight,” Cleo said. She backed into the darkness of Building Two and enjoyed brief applause.

  “We have to say something,” Madelyn said.

  “Do we?” Elijah asked. “You wanted to save them. What more needs to be said?”

  “They don’t know the truth.”

  “Is that what’s important to you?” he asked.

  Madelyn frowned. She took the stairs two at a time, passing Penny on her way down, and put up her hand. It was still red with her blood, but the wound from where the bullet had passed through it was barely visible.

  “Wait!” Madelyn said. Some people were already beginning to mill away from the front of the building. What concerned her more was the direction some of them were heading. They didn’t look like they were searching for a good patch of the safe harbor to spend the night. They looked like they were getting ready to head out into the darkness to make their way back to their homes.

  “Hey!” Madelyn boomed. Her voice caught the attention of many. “This isn’t over. Amelia and Brook put together the machine that knocked those black birds out of the sky, but that’s not the only threat around tonight.”

  She looked down and saw Penny talking to a few of her guards. The sight brought new urgency to Madelyn’s speech.

  “Ryan has this whole safe harbor surrounded with automatic, targeting turrets that will gun down anyone who tries to leave. His goal is kill every last one of you. I’ve said it before—he’s a no-good Optioner and he’s not human anymore.”