Terra Nova (The Variant Conspiracy Book 3)

by Christine Hart

“Our two fire-starters should stand guard. And they’ll need muscle.” Cole eyed Faith and Giorgio. The latter nodded.

  “The rest of us will go into the compound. We stick together. And no talking. The demon in Ilya can probably hear us, but Tatiana, Rose and Sage can’t. I’m going to use hand gestures. I’ll keep it simple. Watch for my signals when there’s a door or a turn. Irina, stay close to me. You’re the only one that’s seen this place top to bottom,” said Josh.

  Cole gripped the sliding metal gate and pulled. The frame creaked and snapped open. He lifted the metal door off the ground and threw it into the street, and then he, Faith and Giorgio ran back out of Kibera.

  Josh led the way with his finger to his lips. My heart thudded in my ears. My lips were parched. I reached for Jonah’s hand with my left. With my right hand, I picked up Ilya’s medallion from where it hung on my chest and rubbed the tiny coin between my thumb and forefinger. In a last desperate attempt to coordinate with Ilya, I focused on his face and tried to hear his voice.

  Brother, if you’re awake and if you know where you are, tell me now.

  We tiptoed down the corridor toward the open room at the heart of the compound’s upper level. No reply came from Ilya.

  Ilya, please help me. Help us to help you.

  I’m so glad you’re here, child. I have so many lovely things to show you, said the demonic voice I had come to loathe.

  Chapter 33

  The compound’s upper level courtyard appeared empty as we approached the archway leading into it. The open air above the yard let in only a little of the urban night’s ambient light. Nothing in the dark room moved. As promised, Josh lifted his hand in a silent gesture to halt. He peered around the corner and stepped inside evaluating the rest of the space we couldn’t see.

  “How many exits?” he whispered in my ear.

  “Two. One leads to a hallway of rooms where Ilya was being held. The second is a short corridor that ends in a stairwell down to the lower level.”

  “Can you find out if he’s still in the same room?” said Josh.

  “I tried reaching out to Ilya. The demon was the one who answered,” I said.

  “Try a vision then,” said Josh.

  I looked around the dark hall hoping to find an object or something I could grip to draw on for a vision. A rustling in the dark courtyard ahead startled us. Josh’s hand shot out again.

  “It’s okay, traitors. It’s just me.” Ilya’s voice was the same, but different. His words slid out like pearls on silk.

  He stepped into view and I made eye contact with the red irises that had stalked me since my first nightmare at the Capital City Motel. Ilya shot a tiny ball of crackling white energy from his hand directly at my head.

  The compound hallway disappeared and I stood in a forest under a bright purple sky. The trees around me were the carnivorous flytrap pines from Innoviro’s research farm. I saw floating orange lights like fireflies through the tree line. I walked to the clearing ahead. The fireflies were actually floating embers from a fire at the center of the clearing.

  As the trees thinned, I saw a pick-up truck behind the fire. It towed a flat-fenced trailer with a heap of cargo, like a harvest of something. The closer I got the more detail I could see. The pile had hands and sleeves and clumps of hair. Bloodstains were dark on their clothes.

  A glossy black-headed cobra man came out from behind the truck, hauling a captive by a chain and collar. It was Josh! More chain ran behind Josh to another captive. Cole! How was it possible? What material or power did the creature have that could restrain these two? More lengths of chain led to more variants I didn’t recognize.

  Another cobra man dropped a basket of neon pink pods adjacent to the fire. The first cobra forced the chained variants to their knees and dropped handfuls of pods in front of each of them. Josh, Cole and the others began to shuck the pods piling husks on one side and shining black spheres on the other.

  One of the cobra men picked a body up off the pile on the trailer. He heaved it onto the fire which seemed far too small for the purpose. The fire flared up like a gaping mouth and vaporized the body mid-air. The other cobra man tossed a body at the fire with the same result. The first cobra threw another body and on it went, vaporizing bodies while the variant slaves stared at the ground, shucking pods.

  I took an astral step backwards, trying to pull myself out of the vision. Where was I? Had my friends been abducted and taken to another planet? I turned around in the forest and saw the lights of a far off city. I ran toward another gap in the trees. Where the ground ended I had a view of a bay and expansive stretch of coastline.

  In the distance, I saw a vast ocean that stretched to the bright purple horizon. Between the water line and where I stood in the variant forest were the unmistakable lights of the Las Vegas strip. I had wanted to see Vegas at night and there it was, presumably with the Pacific Ocean on its doorstep.

  The vision ended abruptly. I felt as though my mind had been released. I was back in the Krylovs’ Kibera compound, observing the hallway ceiling. Jonah and Melissa’s faces hovered over me.

  “She’s coming around!” said Jonah.

  “Then it’s time for me to move along,” said demon-Ilya.

  I sat up in time to see the image of Ilya evaporate into thin air. “It’s using Ilya’s illusions.”

  “Then where is he? I mean, it?” said Tarak.

  “They must be on the lower level, where the bats were kept.”

  “Was there anything else down there?” said Josh.

  “Other than that open-air pit, nothing that I saw, but I might have missed something. Visions aren’t perfect informers.”

  “Let’s go,” said Jonah as he helped me.

  Josh led the way. I sensed his unease. His military training had never extended to illusions and mutant beasts. I admired his attempt to lead with confidence, but as we crossed the courtyard, I knew that not one of us was really ready.

  We crept along the corridor and down the stairwell to the lower level. We passed empty cages and reached the door to the outdoor pit. Josh pushed the door open and we found the bare dirt floor empty. We filed out into the pit, scanning in every direction. There were no windows or additional doors. The walls were simply a concrete cylinder leading up to the sky. I knocked on the wall and it clanged like metal after each contact.

  “Good thing we left Faith and Giorgio to torch the hedge. It’s almost dawn.” Jonah craned his neck up to assess the sky.

  “Let’s get back up to the upper level. We’ll do a sweep before we meet up at the hedge,” said Josh.

  “Sorry to be the bearer of bad news, kids, but you’ll be sitting this one out,” said a disembodied voice I didn’t recognize.

  The door back to the compound’s lower level closed by itself. From inside, the pit door had no latch or handle.

  A man materialized in front of the door and a glimmer of familiarity struck me. He was older now, but still similar enough to his portrait for me to recognize Claude Mueller. He lifted his gaze to a point above the pit.

  “Girls!” called out Mueller.

  A flapping sound flickered overhead, not the frantic thumps of the snake-bats, but the more elegant swooshes of the harpy twins. Rose and Sage flew into view and spiraled down to us.

  “It’s not too late to stop them. You can still do the right thing! They’re not creating the world you think they are. You’re going to be slaves!” I called out to them.

  Rose and Sage both smiled at me, said nothing, and each took one of Mueller’s arms. They pulled and hoisted him up carrying him out of the pit in seconds.

  “You evil bitches!” Josh rose to stand on his toes as he shouted.

  “Forget them, let’s get back up to the hedge.” Melissa swooped her arm in an oval. No portal appeared. Her brow wrin
kled. “What the . . . ?” She tried again. Nothing.

  “Try the door,” said Jonah.

  Tarak and Melissa each took a turn, grabbing at the bottom in the gap between door and dirt. Then pulled in unison, but the door didn’t budge.

  “Let me try.” Josh’s armored skin made him strong, but for this we needed our strong man. The image of Cole thrashing Tatiana flickered back to my mind as I regretted letting him go with Faith and Giorgio. Josh pulled on the door and he too failed to open it. My pulse quickened. My vision would come true. Those bees were coming!

  “Irina, try forcing it.” Jonah tapped his temple to allude to my ability. “Concentrate, you can do it.”

  I held my arms out, focusing my mental energy. The increasingly familiar sensation of telekinetic force was gone, just as though it had never been there. “It’s not working. It’s like the ability isn’t there anymore,” I said.

  “Maybe none of our gifts work here.” Tarak put his hand on the smooth rounded wall, testing his chameleon skin. His olive-toned hand remained the same.

  “My power is working. I can feel a water main underground. If I break it, I might be able to force the doors open with a pressurized stream.” Jonah pointed a vertical hand as though mentally slicing the doors.

  “And if it doesn’t work we’ll all drown,” said Josh.

  “I can tread water,” said Tarak.

  “What if you don’t have enough control? Screw it, I can tread water too.” The urge to get out of the pit started to take over. Faith, Giorgio, and Cole were left alone to face an alien-inhabited Ilya combined with the powers of Tatiana, Mueller, and the harpy sisters—with Terra Nova unleashed as a result. I’d take my chances with drowning.

  “If whatever Ivan set up down here worked on me at all, I wouldn’t be able to feel the water. Besides, is there any other choice?” said Jonah.

  Josh threw up his hands.

  I looked down at the ground with raw fear churning inside my belly. If Tatiana and her lot killed my three friends left above, would they move on to find Gemma and Mr. Mbele afterwards? Or simply let the chaos of Terra Nova consume them along with the rest of Kibera.

  “Do it,” said Tarak.

  “Get back against the wall, all of you.” Jonah reached down toward the ground, willing the water under the earth to come up to him. The protesting howl of a metal pipe made me jump. A moment later, a geyser of water exploded out of the ground between us.

  “Stand back from the doors!” Jonah shouted over the water. He diverted the water and sent the whole torrent crashing into the solid steel doors with zero precision. Water sprayed everywhere back against us and up around the walls. It wasn’t working. The doors withstood the force of Jonah’s fire-hose strength water.

  “Looks like we’re treading water after all,” said Melissa.

  We were calf-deep in cold murky water.

  “Wait, I have another idea. I can send someone up to the roof. I’ll create a pedestal and guide the whole thing up to the top and over the edge. That person can run back down here and let us all out,” said Jonah.

  “There isn’t time. We’ll have to swim. And by the way, don’t swallow the water.” Josh detached the dagger from his belt and passed it to me. “It should be you, you’re the lightest. Aim for Ilya’s stomach. The wound will be painful, but not fatal. He’ll live long enough for Gemma to heal him once that demon is dead.”

  “I can’t do it. I can’t stab someone, let alone my brother,” I said.

  “Yes, you can,” said Josh.

  Tarak and Melissa both expressed worry and empathy with their eyes.

  “You can do it. You’re stronger than you think!” said Jonah.

  I waded to the center of the pit, now waist deep in water. “Okay, fine. Send me.”

  Chapter 34

  I studied Jonah’s face, taking a snapshot for courage, and I closed my eyes. I felt pressure below my feet. Water swirled around my legs, as though wrapping me with thick rope. I felt the bubbling water push harder and harder, lifting me up and up and up as vertigo ravaged my senses. I opened my eyes in time to see the edge of the fiberglass roof next to the lip of the pit.

  Jonah’s water spat me out onto the roof and I tumbled downward. I splayed my arms and legs scrambling to get a grip. I slid to a stop and lay on the roof, out of breath and every muscle on alert. In a small miracle, the ground below was less than ten feet away. I hopped down and found the street deserted.

  As soon as I caught my bearings, I ran. I pounded the ground as hard as I could, as fast as I could, running out of Kibera. I raced to the tilled earth, praying the ditch remained empty. I rounded the corner and saw the abandoned sofa. The battle underway, Faith shot a blast of fire at Tatiana, but missed. Giorgio shot at one of the harpy twins and he too missed. Cole leapt to tackle Ilya and took a blast of electric energy to the chest. Cole flew backwards and landed on his ass, skidding into a pile of trash.

  “Ilya! Fight back against the demon!” I watched as the harpies circled the fight. Sage caught sight of me and dove. I skidded to a halt and concentrated on stopping her mid-air. It worked! Sage froze, wings outstretched, unable to flap or move a limb.

  “Hello, little girl,” said a disembodied voice.

  Mueller materialized in front of me and punched me in the stomach. I lost my grip on Sage and collapsed in pain. I saw streaks of orange and blue fire ahead. Cole darted back toward the ditch as Mueller’s fist rammed into my cheek.

  A bolt of pain burned through my cheekbone and jaw as I fell flat on my back. I looked up at Mueller’s face in time to see a wave of blue fire engulf him. He screamed as he burned, dropping to his knees. He rolled back and forth belting an inhuman wail as he uselessly tried to blot the inferno around him. A moment later, he stopped moving.

  I got to my feet in time to see a blast of orange connect with Rose, dropping her from the sky as she too screamed and burned. Sage shrieked into the night feeling her sister’s agony.

  Demon-Ilya knocked Cole back again and Tatiana plunged her hands into the ground just as Giorgio took a shot at Sage and missed.

  Sprouts shot up out of the ground and grew rapidly as the hedge sprang to life. Ilya threw balls of energy at both Faith and Giorgio, knocking them both to the ground.

  Sage dove at me with wild rage in her eyes, but I held her again long enough for Giorgio to regain his footing and torch her with a huge blast of blue flame.

  I watched her fall, thinking of Melissa’s plan to send the sisters safely to Sombrio Beach. I hoped she, Jonah, Josh and Tarak were all treading the rising water, on their way out of the pit to come help. I pulled the dagger, sheath and all, from the back of my pants. I ran to Ilya, yanking the sheath off as I went.

  Faith and Giorgio both shot blasts of fire at Tatiana while Cole charged Ilya once more. Ilya jumped to block the flames, sending them back at the fire starters, allowing Tatiana to finish her work. The hedge was grown.

  Cole missed Ilya and collided with Tatiana. Just as I’d seen in my vision, he picked her up by her ankles and beat the ground with her body. He whipped her back and forth and she screeched helplessly until her crushed lifeless body fell limp into the dirt.

  The attack on Tatiana gave Ilya enough time to turn his attention to the hedge, just as I reached him. He lifted his arms. I seized my moment. I jumped into him, knocking his body down to the ground. I landed on top of him. In one smooth movement, I plunged the dagger into his belly.

  Ilya stared back at me with a crumpled expression of pain and confusion. For a moment, his features bore none of the malice of Ulu and I thought, What have I done?

  “Nooooooo!” Faith ran to us. “Ilya! Hang on! I’m coming!”

  Ilya’s eyes flashed red and he grabbed his stomach. He heaved and the fleshy red tentacle leaped straight out of his mouth. I darted si
deways. The thing missed me by an inch.

  I scrambled to the patch of dirt where the alien parasite, all that remained of the demon Ulu, lay writhing and twisting. I raised my dagger, aimed, and plunged it in the flesh below the thing’s tooth-ringed mouth.

  Hot pink liquid seeped out of the slimy red worm, but it stopped moving. I inhaled deeply. It was done.

  A pool of blood grew underneath my brother. “Gemma! Where are you! Gemma, we need you now!” Faith skidded to a halt and pounced on Ilya, hugging him hard. Cole and Giorgio watched, both recovering.

  “You’re all right. It’s fine now. Gemma’s coming. It’s over,” said Faith.

  “You did that like a champ, Ilya. We won.” I heard footfalls pounding toward us but I couldn’t see my sister. The world went blurry. Tears rained down my cheeks.

  “Gemma, hurry!” Faith screamed between body-shaking sobs. He’s dying! No!”

  Gemma’s face broke out of the darkness and found us. “Out of the way!”

  She pushed between me and Faith to reach Ilya’s belly. Golden light shot out of her hands and illuminated the sticky pool of blood before it blinded all of us. I glanced away until the light died down again. It took a moment for my eyes to adjust back to the dark of night.

  Ilya lay still on the ground, covered in blood, not moving. His eyes glazed over, fixed on the sky above.

  “Did it work?” Desperation filled Faith’s voice. She smoothed his hair back and kissed his forehead, weeping. She bounced with frustration, humming with anguish.

  “He’s fine, right? Please. God, just tell me he’s fine. Tell me I didn’t just kill my brother!”

  “I don’t know. I’ve never healed an injury this bad before.” Urgent uncertainty slid across Gemma’s crumpled features.