by Ike Hamill
At the bottom of the steps, Elijah motioned for Madelyn to come down.
Only a few people were still listening. Most seemed to have given up on her message already.
“I’m serious!” she said. “You have to listen to me. Regardless of what you think of me, you have to know that anyone who crosses the perimeter of the safe harbor will be shot.”
Down in the lawn, Jacob said, “She’s right.” He started to move towards the stairs.
That’s when Penny’s people finally moved into action. The guard who had shot through her hand was gone, but Madelyn recognized one of the others from the earlier confrontation. It only took a few of them to capture their objective. They surrounded Jacob and Harper with their weapons raised.
Madelyn started down the stairs. Penny stepped in her way.
“Stand down, Madelyn, or your nephew will be shot,” Penny said.
Madelyn looked to the guards and understood immediately that Penny wasn’t bluffing. But she didn’t hesitate. With all of her unnatural speed, Madelyn reached forward, snatched Penny by the neck, and pulled the woman into her grip.
Madelyn held Penny with one hand around her midsection and one at her chin. She pulled her back as a hostage.
“You let them go or I will rip Penny’s head off,” Madelyn said.
The guards looked confused. They didn’t lower their weapons.
“I’m not joking. Some of you must know what I’m capable of.”
In her peripheral vision, Madelyn saw Elijah circling the guards. She knew how fast he could move. If he could get into position, they could end this confrontation quickly.
Everyone’s attention was pulled to the south at the first sounds of gunfire.
She hadn’t realized how quiet the night had become until the shots rattled the air. The shots still rang as the sound was replaced with screaming. Lights turned towards the perimeter and they saw people running back towards the safety of the building.
“Was I wrong?” Madelyn asked the guards. “Do you see who was lying now?”
Given enough time, she might have been able to convince them to lower their weapons. She didn’t need to though. As soon as they were distracted, Elijah moved in. He disarmed two of the men quickly. Harper knocked the gun of the third and he got off one shot that sailed into the trees. A second later, that man had his gun taken away as well.
Madelyn held onto Penny as she whispered into her ear, “You need to think carefully about who you’re listening to. You’re on the wrong side of this fight. You’re on death’s side. I suggest you focus on the real enemy for once.”
“Get inside,” Madelyn said to her nephew. Jacob and Harper started up the stairs and motioned to the others. Madelyn began to back towards the door, still holding her hostage. Out of the darkness a couple of figures approached, one helping the other.
“Did we miss the speech?” Logan asked. “We heard you were telling everyone that the world was ending.”
“Get inside,” Madelyn said.
Elijah helped Scarlett and Logan climb.
Before she ducked inside, Madelyn let Penny go.
Chapter 48
{Enemy}
“IT’S NOT ENOUGH TO get out of the safe harbor,” Madelyn said. “Even if we manage to deplete a couple of the guns before they can be reloaded, the goal has to be Ryan. If he’s not neutralized, there will be another threat before long.”
Amelia nodded vigorously.
“And Niren,” Scarlett said.
“And Caleb,” Brook added.
Madelyn paced near the window. She had been in this apartment before—it was the apartment where Liam had given his life. It was the apartment where Elijah had found Malty.
Elijah nodded. “Yes. The three are working together, and they’re going to be very difficult to kill.”
“And they won’t quit until everyone in Fairbanks is dead. Optioners have only one goal. They are slaves to their greed.”
Elijah frowned, but at least he didn’t contradict her.
“I understand all that,” Jacob said. “I’m simply suggesting that we keep attacking a couple of the turrets until they run out of ammo, and then we can get out of the safe harbor. Once we’re out, we can hunt down Ryan, as you’re suggesting.”
“You can’t make any assumptions,” Elijah said. “I’ve seen guns like that before. They have a very complex algorithm to defeat simple strategies. We could launch debris at them from a safe distance, wait for them to stop shooting, and then find out that they’ve kept twenty percent of their ammo in reserve for a target that passes within twenty meters. They’re not simple machines.”
“Then we keep catapulting at them until we knock them over,” Jacob said.
“If we can see them, they can shoot us,” Madelyn said. “When we were outside the perimeter, we had an advantage. They only defended when they were attacked. From inside the circle, they could be triggered by anything that moves.”
“They are,” Elijah said. “Count on it. I heard what some of the survivors said. As soon as they saw the things, they were under fire. Only luck will save you then.”
“We still have some tech,” Amelia said. “I can rig up cameras. If we can get them within range, then we can spy remotely on the turrets to see how they’re reacting.”
“Unless the cameras get shot,” Brook said. “I think it’s dangerous to assume that we can defeat the turrets. We don’t know where Ryan, Caleb, and Niren are. They could be ready to resupply or set up new turrets as soon as we make our move. They’re not stupid people. If we’re going to beat them, we’re going to have to outthink them, make sacrifices, and get lucky.”
Brook’s assessment quieted the room.
“What powers those things?” Madelyn asked.
“The guns?” Elijah asked.
“From what you described,” Amelia said, “I would assume they have small batteries to get them going and then a parasitic ether connection for surveillance and motor control. That would also allow them to communicate with each other and be controlled.”
“Can you hack the control system?” Madelyn asked.
“Theoretically, but not any time soon,” Brook said.
“And you would need a physical connection to one of them or a unique identifier. Otherwise, there would be no way of finding them on the ether,” Amelia said.
“Why not do what you did with The Wisdom? Blast them with an ether-free zone or whatever you did?” Madelyn asked.
“That’s not a terrible idea, but we don’t have the supplies we would need to build a new device. I’m afraid that everything we used on the roof was destroyed while we were using it. That machine ate itself while it ran,” Amelia said.
Elijah shook his head.
“There has to be a solution,” Jacob said. “Maybe we can tunnel out. Maybe we could fit shields onto David’s vehicle and make it bulletproof.”
“With a ton of parts and a big machine shop, maybe we could armor a vehicle,” Amelia said. “Do you realize how long it would take to tunnel a hundred meters?”
“Two hundred,” Elijah said. “At least.”
Madelyn started pacing again.
“What else was down in that secret room?”
“The insect machine,” Harper said.
“What?” Logan asked. He had been leaning against the wall. When he heard Harper, he pushed himself upright.
“It’s this black tripod thing,” Harper said. “Ryan used it during the procedure that created the safe harbor. It was a secret.”
“I was involved in every part of that process. I saw that device you’re talking about, but I swear I never heard of the thing,” Amelia said.
“That’s what I meant when I said it was secret,” Harper said.
“Do you have any idea what it does?” Elijah asked Amelia.
Amelia shook her head and looked to Brook. She shook her head too.
“We could power it up and see what it does, I suppose,” Amelia said. “Could be dangerous withou
t knowing the purpose.”
“I know where to set it up,” Madelyn said. She pointed at the doorway to the adjacent room.
# # # # #
“So you really have no idea?” Jacob asked. “How did Ryan have technology that you’ve never heard of?”
Amelia looked up at him and frowned. “How am I supposed to answer that? Apparently, Ryan had all kinds of secrets. He had an entire team that I didn’t know about, and it included my cousin and Niren’s brother. So many secrets.” She shook her head.
“Still,” Brook said, “we don’t know for sure, but we can make some assumptions. There’s an emitter here, and some kind of display here.”
“Look out,” Elijah said. He ran a screw through the tripod’s foot. They positioned the tripod over the holes in the floor that Madelyn had discovered.
“You won’t be able to see everything on that display,” Harper said. “It shows up in non-visible spectra.”
“What?” Amelia asked, cocking her head.
“We’re set,” Elijah said.
Amelia examined the machine. Jacob and Brook discussed a mark on the window. It appeared to line up with the device if it was set at a particular angle. Madelyn and Scarlett went down to the dry lakebed to scare away the stragglers. Most citizens had found holes to hide in until morning. Some were camped out in the gutted apartments. Others gathered in the low bushes near the old footpath. Only the occasional person ventured towards the lakebed. One sign of Madelyn and they ran for cover.
Elijah came through the front door and waved them back.
“We’re ready to test it out,” he said.
Madelyn nodded. She and Scarlett backed up until they were at the doorway of Building Two. They stood there while Elijah yelled up the stairs that everything was clear.
Amelia counted down before she flipped the switch. Harper shouted the countdown down the stairwell.
When she got to zero, balls of light appeared in the clearing. There were six of them, orbiting an unknown center point at different distances. A second later, the light disappeared.
Madelyn, Elijah, and Scarlett walked back up the stairs to find out the conclusion.
Brook was on the floor with her head hanging down between her knees. Amelia had her arm around her.
“What happened?” Madelyn asked.
Harper led them back into the big room of the apartment.
“Brook knows what the machine is. She had a hand in designing it, but she says that she didn’t know what it was used for.”
“What? What could be so bad?” Madelyn asked.
“It’s a culling machine,” Harper said.
# # # # #
Harper explained what Amelia and Brook had deduced when the machine came on.
“It’s a weapon, triggered on age and fear,” Harper said. “There was a theory that the devices used to set up the Safe Harbor would only work if the operator was agitated.”
“What?” Madelyn asked.
Harper shrugged. “Apparently, there was a brain wave component to the trigger. So Ryan chose old, timid people to execute the experiment and then set up those machines to assault them when they went to execute the mission.”
“They would have already been frightened,” Elijah said. “I know Liam was determined, but definitely afraid.”
“Ryan sabotaged his own effort,” Madelyn said.
“Brook is upset because she’s the one who came up with the theory and methodology for the device. She didn’t know it would ever be used against citizens of Fairbanks.”
“So we can’t use that thing to get out of here?” Scarlett asked.
Harper shook her head.
“That’s what she should be upset about then,” Scarlett said.
Madelyn went back in the other room, where Brook was still distraught.
“Pull yourself together, Brook,” Madelyn said. “Everyone here has blood on their hands in one way or another. Nothing you did was any worse that what we’ve all done.”
Brook cleared her throat. She still didn’t raise her head to meet anyone’s eyes.
“We’re left with the same problem,” Madelyn said. “We’re surrounded by automatic guns and we will all starve in here if we don’t find a way out.”
“And probably half of the people trapped in the Safe Harbor with us think that you’re responsible for all this pain,” Elijah said.
Madelyn threw up her hands. “You try to help people—try to warn them about the guns—and they blame you for everything.”
“With this machine, we have enough evidence to show Ryan’s treason,” Amelia said. “His connection to Cleo should convince people that you were right.”
“A rational person, maybe,” Elijah said. “I don’t think anything rational would sway that mob.”
“This is exhausting,” Jacob said. He put his head in his hands.
“Yeah,” Madelyn said. “Let’s all get some rest. Everyone here has been running forever. You look like you’re about to collapse.”
There were some mild objections to the suggestion. In the end, people were too tired to fight the idea of taking a break. They spread out in the apartment, trying to find clean places to rest their heads. Madelyn and Elijah leaned up against the front door. If anything tried to get in, it would have to go through them.
As everyone turned out their lights, Madelyn watched the room change before her adjusting eyes.
“Go to sleep,” Elijah said. “I’ll take first shift.”
He didn’t have to offer twice.
Chapter 49
{Playground}
HER BODY SWAYED WITH her breathing. Madelyn was aware that she was sliding towards the wall as her body gave itself over to sleep. Her head eventually came to a stop, propped up in the corner, but she still swayed. It was a gentle swing, back and forth, that rocked her consciousness into a dream.
She was sitting on a swing, watching the dirt below rush, slow to a stop, and then rush back the other way. She could have watched that sweep forever. She didn’t want it to end.
“I’ll trade you,” a voice said.
Madelyn ignored it. She wasn’t interested in anything that required action. A trade sounded like it required action.
“Hey, Mac,” the voice said again. “I’ll trade you.”
Madelyn recognized the voice before she looked up.
“Stay away from me,” she said. “I watched Jacob smash you into little pieces. You’re dead.”
“The acts of creation and destruction are the same. It’s really just a transformation. You can’t kill a soul so easily,” Malty said. “Souls exist outside of the physical plane.”
“You’re a doll. Dolls don’t have souls.”
Malty laughed. “Takes one to know one.”
“What’s that supposed to mean?”
“You’re a puppet, and I’m a doll.”
The word sounded familiar to Madelyn, like she had heard it very recently. It took a second, but she remembered when—she had heard the word when it left her own mouth. She had accused Penny of being Cleo’s puppet. The situation was worse than that. The real problem was that Cleo appeared to be Ryan’s puppet, and Ryan was out for blood.
“Why do you care about those people?” Malty asked.
“I don’t,” Madelyn said. “I only care about Ryan and Cleo when they affect people I like. Jacob, Harper, Elijah, Logan, and Scarlett—they deserve to be able to live their lives without being used and sacrificed. Ryan and Cleo have betrayed their trust.”
“People shouldn’t live together,” Malty said. “At least not in such big groups. People can be good to one another when there are only two or three of them, but as soon as they clump together, they turn bad.”
“You’re a doll,” Madelyn said.
“I know about these things. I can see them all from a better perspective than you have,” Malty said.
Madelyn shrugged. The doll might have a point.
She turned her head back towards the ground, so she could
watch the dirt swoop by as she swung. The children playing in the field laughed as they kicked their ball. Madelyn looked up and saw the ball bounce along the grass. It tumbled into the chasm that was torn in the field. A child ran after the ball and tumbled down after it. The other kids laughed when the ball popped back out of the rift in the ground. They continued playing as if nothing had happened.
“Can’t you let me sleep?” Madelyn asked. “I need to rest.”
“I’m not stopping you,” Malty said.
“It sure seems like it,” Madelyn said. Something occurred to her. “Last time I was here you tried to choke me.”
“That wasn’t me,” Malty said. “That was the doll.”
Madelyn looked up at Malty. She was confused by the statement, but she refused to ask for a clarification. She wanted the playground and the doll to go away. She wanted to sleep peacefully, like she had in her grandmother’s cabin, before all this nonsense had started.
That idea brought back a flood of memories. She remembered her last days up at the cabin, when the ghosts had come and The Wisdom had buried her. That was before she knew that she had become a monster. Madelyn felt fat tears escaping her eyes and rolling down her nose.
“What’s wrong, Mac?” Malty asked.
Madelyn wiped away her tears. She put her feet down to the sand and stood up from the swing. Her eyes settled on the chasm. She wondered what was down there. Curiosity took her feet towards the edge.
Jacob had told her about how The Wisdom had tried to kill Penny, Cleo, and the others. Madelyn wondered if these depths led to the same place.
“Don’t fall in,” Malty said with an evil laugh.
Madelyn turned and looked at the doll.
She looked almost like a real girl in this place, but there was something slightly off about her skin. It was too opaque, and her eyes weren’t deep enough. The illusion only held up from a distance.
