by Celeste Raye
Marik sighed. It was clear that the woman had always lived in the above ground and was used to having servants and having everything done for her. She was shocked to the point of insanity at the moment.
Talon said, “Go back to your home. Go back. We cannot stop to help you now; we have other things to do. Somebody will come.”
Marik did not have to look around to see the bitterness coming from some of those on Talon’s crew. Jessica and Jenny were both from the Below. Several of his crewmembers had come from the Below; they had signed on during the rebellion and had proven themselves to be good at the tasks that Talon had set for them.
Their simmering resentment against this woman, who was clearly confused and upset and frightened, was understandable but it was also dangerous at the moment. They were all heavily armed and on edge because of the Rovers that were probably stalking them.
The woman clambered to her feet. Her eyes, a faded blue, went from face to face. “Are you from the Federation? If so, I demand, I absolutely demand, that my house be stockpiled with food and water. That my building be repaired immediately. That you give me new servants to replace those who either ran off or died and that you do it immediately. I am the wife of the All-High Commander Marks.”
To Marik’s shock, it was Jenny who spoke. Her voice held no rancor, but it also held no compassion. “We are not from the Federation. You must go back into your home now. If you don’t, you will die. There are those who would absolutely kill you if they knew that’s who you are. Go on now. Your time of ordering people to do things is done. If you need something, you’re going to have to figure out how to get it for yourself right now.”
The woman stared at them and then she screamed, a furious and wavering scream that threatened to burst Marik’s eardrums. Her hands balled up, and her fists and her feet began to stomp. Dust flew up all around her, and she whirled like a dervish. She finally stopped screaming, but her next words were even more vicious than the words she had used before.
“Those things that live below us were never worthy of being anything more than our slaves. We gave them everything they needed for life, and this is how they treated us.”
She stormed away, back into the house. Jessica said, “Even now…”
Jenny said, “It doesn’t matter. We need to go.”
Talon said, “She’s right. Move.”
They continued onward. Every step he took was another step into a hellish landscape. The dead, and there were so many of them, were piled in front of large outdoor furnaces. Jenny let out a low cry of distress as she watched several people pick up a body and toss it into the fiery maw of one furnace.
He wanted to comfort her but she was behind him, and he was walking ahead with good reason. They had formed a kind of phalanx with the medication and other supplies in the center. The best warriors were on the edges, and those who were skilled but not quite as skilled as those on the front lines formed the secondary layer of protection for those in the very center. Jenny was not in that center, which bothered him. She was not a fighter, and she should’ve been back, closer to the medications and the chests of food and supplies.
Past the death furnaces stood high machines that were busy swinging heavy round balls made of some immutable material into the sides of buildings that were mostly already fallen. Marik assumed that the humans were hoping that if they tore down the buildings most in danger of falling over, they would stop them from falling on their heads.
The wind picked up yet again. Now that they were past the death furnaces and the large groups of humans who had gathered along that street, they found themselves at a small intersection. They went left. Marik’s forehead puckered as he heard a soft, slow whistle from somewhere overhead. His eyes drifted upward, but he saw no winged creatures flying on those unfriendly skies. His eyes slid over to Talon. Talon’s jaw was clenched and his shoulders rigid.
Marik said nothing. He didn’t have to. The mood of the group had become noticeably charged and tense. They too had heard that whistle. That whistle was undoubtedly a signal, probably one Rover letting the rest of his pack know where they were.
Jenny asked, “How much further?”
Talon said, “About a mile. Just keep walking.”
Again Marik wanted to comfort her. He wanted to reach back and squeeze her hand and give her some silent reassurance, but he couldn’t. The stink of charred flesh rose on the air; not even the mask could keep that smell out. He had to squint his eyes against the thick banks of smoke from the furnaces and the grit being blown about by the wind.
They walked faster. Talon and Marik were picking up the pace and the others following. It was a hard pace to keep, and he knew it, but they had to go as fast as possible. Those who had been stoking the furnaces with the dead were unlikely to be of any assistance if the Rovers had attacked them back there. That the Rovers had not attacked them back there meant nothing. They were probably simply not willing to share whatever they thought they could take off the group with the people who had been back by the furnaces and tearing down the buildings.
Talon said, “To your left. Third window from the very top.”
Marik looked and then looked away. To the casual observer, it would’ve seemed as if he had just looked upward for a minute and then away without ever registering a single thing. The casual observer would’ve been wrong. He had seen very clearly a human outlined against the window, a weapon drawn and resting on the sill. The barrel had been pointed down toward the group, and that meant that at any moment either that sniper would begin firing, or the Rovers would attack from the ground.
Jessica said, “There’s no clear space. We don’t know which of the buildings are safe and which ones hold Rovers.”
Marik understood then what she was saying was that they could not separate those who were carrying the supplies from the group and let the group fight while the others got away. She had a good point, but his heart sank anyway.
The first blast of weapon fire went right past his head. If he had not turned his head to look back at Jenny, he would’ve been missing his entire head.
Jenny screamed. The sound, high and sharp, carried on the air. Her hands came up and smacked together in a round of involuntary applause. If things had not been so dire, he might’ve actually laughed at that. Instead, he grabbed her by her upper arm and shouted, “Run!”
They did. They stayed in their formation, all of them running fast as possible. Those bringing up the rear pushed those in the center forward while those upfront set the pace. More weapon fire rattled down.
Talon panted out, “It’s a good damn thing they have archaic weapons with very little accuracy. If not, we would all be dead by now. They’d be picking us off one by one.”
Marik was not reassured by that. If the Rovers could not pick them off from above, then their plan must be to separate them. “We must stay together. There are either trying to make us cluster or make us break apart. I’m not sure which.”
At that moment, there was a short distance between him and Talon and Jenny’s voice floated up from behind them. “No! You can’t go that way! That is the tunnel mouth!”
Marik’s eyes went ahead of them. Talon shouted, “Dammit! She’s right! That’s covered it but you can just see the trap! Go right!”
They all broke to the right, streaming around the side of a building like fish in a school. They fetched up in an alley and pelted down it, the narrowness of it forcing them to break their formation finally.
Jessica shouted, “I know where we are; let me lead!”
Marik fell back and she raced past him and slightly ahead of Talon. She lifted one hand above her head, two fingers up in the air hooked and pointing toward the left. They all followed her because there was no choice, and because she was their best chance.
Jenny fell. Marik caught her fall from the corner of his eye and his feet slowed. His long arm reached backward and he gripped her hand and pulled her forward.
It was clear she could not keep the pace.
She had been weak and sick when they had taken over the wrecker ship and her strength had come back to her slowly—too slowly. On top of that, he had given her an implant that had, no doubt, sapped her strength as well.
Not even thinking about it, he swung her up in his arms and then over his shoulder. Her head bumped against the long curve of his spine and her diaphragm rested on his strong shoulder. He pulled one arm up and over her, holding her waist and her arms went around his waist as she cried out, “I’m okay! Just go!”
He did. He raced along behind the others as they came out under a building whose upper floors hung out so far over the lowers that it provided a sort of shelter. Jessica leaned against the wall, breathing hard. They all took a moment to catch their breath and Marik lowered Jenny to her feet. How long they had been running he did not know, but there were a soreness and a tightness in his arm that he had had curled over her body during the run.
Jessica wiped her face with one sleeve and said, “We have to go down into the tunnels. You will not like this.”
Talon groaned. “No, we won’t. Is there no other way?”
One of the crew members who had been nearest the back panted out, “No. I saw at least three dozen of them coming. And I heard more.”
They all stood there, their hands on their knees and inhaling as much of the tainted air as they could get into their lungs. Marik’s ears, more finely tuned than that of humans, caught the rattle and beat of a great many footsteps. His eyes met Talon’s. Talon nodded. Marik said, “I hear at least fifty, or maybe even sixty.”
Jessica panted out, “I really need your guys’ hearing. It doesn’t matter even if I don’t have it, I guess. I do know that we’re pretty well screwed if we don’t do something, and now. The tunnels are our only chance. They either won’t know about them, or they won’t risk them.”
Marik had no idea why the tunnels were so terrible but if they were so terrible that a Rover would not risk them, he was pretty sure that taking the tunnels would be no less lethal than the Rovers.
Either way, they were facing death.
They probably stood little to no chance against the Rovers and more of a chance in the tunnels.
Chapter 5- Marik
Jenny was too busy running for her life to be afraid. She knew, of course, about the tunnels. Most people who lived Below knew about the creatures that lived there. The Terrra-rats that could kill and eat a human being in a matter of seconds, depending on how large the swarm was.
Whatever was behind them, if they were worse than the rats, then she would take the tunnels.
Besides, Jessica seemed to know what she was doing.
Not for the first time since she had met Jessica aboard that slave ship masquerading as a bride ship, Jenny found herself wishing that she could be more like the other woman.
When Marik and his brothers had taken the ship, it had been Jessica and several others who had fought back, clawing and kicking and punching, but it had been clear that it was Jessica who had the most combat skills even then. As for herself? Well, she had cowered in a corner, praying that this would not be the end of her life. That she would somehow manage to make it back to her home planet and find Ben.
As they reached the entrance to the tunnel and then went down, it hit her that that dream had come true.
She was back. Now what she had to do was find Ben.
Those thoughts drifted apart as they carefully made their way over a series of upper bridges made of rotting rope and rusting steel. Every step could be the last one that she took, and she knew that. The rats were below, their long teeth flashing in the dimness and their stinking bodies slunk low toward the trash-strewn floors.
Some piles of garbage were so high that the rats could scamper up the sides of it, and they did, climbing those piles as if they were hills that they were used to strolling. Marik hissed in a breath and yanked her forward just as one particularly vicious and brave Terra rat launched itself off the top of a pile. Talon drew his weapon and blasted it.
A thick and disgusting stink filled the air. The rat fell backward, quite dead. It landed on the floor, and its fellows ran to it. The sound of their feasting on the dead thing made her stomach churn.
What had happened in her absence? Everything, obviously. War had come, and open rebellion had begun. The rebellion had been between those who lived Below and those who lived above ground, but that rebellion had ended when the Federation traitors and the parasitic race known as the Gorlites had come streaking out of the skies, intent on destroying the planet and the humans upon it so that the parasitic race could take it over.
Everything was ruined and wrecked. Her heart ached at the sight of so much destruction. She had never seen the above ground, but from what she always heard, it was beautiful.
Maybe it had been then, but it was nothing but devastation now.
Marik’s words to her aboard the ship came back to her. Maybe it could be beautiful again once things healed.
That thought gave her hope and a slight sense of courage as she raced across yet another rickety and dangerous rope bridge slung high above the trash piles and the rats. The rats continued to stalk them, and those who were carrying the chest were in the greatest danger simply because they were weighed down so heavily. Her heart pounded and thumped with every step, and she knew that she was not the only one who was afraid.
They made a sharp turn and came up against the closed vault door. Jessica beat on it and then tried to open it.
Jessica looked at them all with worry on her face. “The codes no longer work. The power outages have probably done that.”
Marik strode forward. “Let me try.”
They all stood there, their eyes trained on both Marik and the rats below. The sound of their teeth gnashing together and snapping, their low, squealing cries made the hair on the back of Jenny’s neck stand up, and she shivered. What if they were trapped there now? They had Rovers behind them and rats below them.
It was a fate she did not want to consider and thankfully did not have to. Marik said, “I think I can do this.”
He put his hands on the spokes of the turning mechanism and then he pulled. His massive body strength was evident as he strained and tugged. Talon joined him. Jenny could see that the door was trying to open but that it was still not willing to do so. Unwilling to stand there and do nothing while death came for her, she raced in. Her body nestled in close to Marik’s and the heat of his body and the straining muscles moving against her flesh made sweat and heat run all through her nerve endings.
She tamped that down. Her fingers found the spoke on the turning mechanism and she tugged downward. Marik did as well, and Talon, on the other side, pushed forward. Jessica also came in to assist. They strained and pulled and just when it seemed that everything was lost, the door issued a low and awful screech that made shivers run up and down Jenny’s back. It came open, and they dashed inside.
Talon managed to reset the lock and Jenny watched as he did so. “What if we need to get back out?”
Marik shook his head. “I guess that’s something we’ll have to worry about then.”
Jessica said, “We will get out another way.”
The corridors were silent and hushed. They walked along them quietly, none of them willing to disturb that silence that had fallen in the empty space. Jenny stared at him, confused. It was clear that once there had been people there. There were empty spaces outlined against walls, proof that something had once rested there.
She asked, “What is this place?”
Jessica said, “At one time it was the heart of the rebellion. It was the headquarters.”
Jessica’s mouth went flat as she spoke and Jenny glanced over at her. It was clear that was not something that she wanted to speak about, and it was equally clear that she knew that from personal experience. Had Jessica helped to take down the rebellion?
Jessica led them to the echoing silence of the corridors, passed a small central section where all the cor
ridors ran in together to form a sort of hub. Jessica paused for a minute, sighed heavily, and then moved forward. Jenny did not know what it was about that space that had caused Jessica to seem so downhearted; at that moment she didn’t have enough curiosity to ask, but she filed that away for later.
The corridor began to tilt upward. It was a steep climb. They came to another door closed with yet another of those tight airlock systems. That time, however, the door was open. Jenny stood back, her nerves tightening as Marik, Talon, and Jessica went first with their weapons drawn at the ready. They formed a new formation around those carrying the chest of supplies and crept forward and upward, every step taken slow and uncertain.
Eventually, they reached the door, but it was just a regular door. Jessica opened it, and again she, Marik, and Talon went through it with their weapons drawn and ready. Jenny’s whole body tensed, as she stood there waiting for either the heavy rattle of weapon fire or the signal that all was clear.
Soft whistles sounded. All clear then. She made her way through the door and then stood, staring and open-mouthed in wonder at the house that she stood in.
Jessica said, “It just figures that of everything that was wrecked and ruined, this monstrosity would remain.”
It was clear that the place had been looted. Some furniture remained, but it was smashed and broken. There was a smell, a rich coppery stink that made her eyes water. The railings on the staircase had been broken and the chandeliers that hung above, ancient and the source of much pride—although Jenny had no way of knowing that—had been shattered. As she looked up at that fragmented and broken thing, she had no way of knowing what had looked like before, but at that moment she thought that it was surely one of the most beautiful things that she had ever seen.
Talon said, “We need to rest, and we need to regroup.”
They ranged out into the room that they stood in, a large and rectangular space that looked like it had once been used as a sort of living room. Marik put his back against the wall and slid down it, his hands dangling limply between his knees. Jenny’s heart went out to him, and she walked over to where he sat and took a seat beside him. She said, “You were very brave today.”
