by Rachel West
“Shut up,” Jaxon replies eloquently.
“If you’re done?” Ezzor asks. “Kalia, with me.” Ezzor spins without a glance behind him, expecting Kalia to fall into line. She gives me a wry look and I shrug. I don’t envy her role. The two of them head straight down the hallway then disappear around a corner until the only thing left is the fading sound of their footsteps.
“This way,” Jaxon pulls open a doorway on the right. An industrial stairwell splits before us. Metal stairs that were once white but have begun to fade to rust disappear in each direction.
“Down?” I swallow hard. Why is it always down? I glance over the railing, two floors down the way ends in a thick metal door. We follow the path, rubber anti-slip pads on the stairs muffling the sounds of our footsteps. I glance frequently behind us, certain that at any moment we’ll be surprised by a contingent of Praetors.
At the bottom of the stairs we come to a halt. I pull sharply on the door handle but the heavy metal stays put. “It’s stuck.”
“Open up the keypad on your right,” Darren says. “Connect the tablet to the drive underneath.”
Red works on opening the keypad while I dig through the bag on Jaxon’s back, looking for the two pronged wire that Darren gave us. In moments we have the two connected and Darren gets to work. Through the headset I hear Darren swearing under his breath offset only by the tap of his fingers against his glass tablet that is the twin to the one we have here.
“Shit, hold on, Kalia and Ezzor are about to run into some trouble.”
Darren shouts into the headset, trying to catch Kalia and Ezzors attention. I hear a soft thump, and then the sound of flesh hitting flesh followed by a burst of static. Kalia cries out and I pale as the sound echoes through the building and then is mirrored moments later over the headset.
We all tense. Jaxon grabs my hand. “They’ll be fine,” he reassures me under his breath. “Ezzor’s our best fighter.”
“Evie?” Kalia’s voice comes over the headset.
“Kalia? Kalia are you okay?” I shout back.
“We’re fine.”
“Are you hurt? We heard you scream.”
“No, just startled. We’ve made it to the procedure room. You should see this place. I’ve never--”
“Enough,” Ezzor cuts her off. “We’ve work to do.”
“Alright ladies and gentlemen. Here we go. Jax, the door should be opening now.” As Darren finishes speaking the keypad emits a series of beeps and there’s a slight change in pressure as the sealed door releases. No light shines through the crack.
Red leads the way, synthblade in hand producing a charged hum. We step into a long dark tunnel and a different world. There’s a weighty silence to the room, like any word spoken above a whisper would be blasphemy. Red’s flashlight reflects off a glass wall, bouncing our distorted reflection back at us.
“Turn it off,” Jaxon says.
It takes my eyes a moment to adjust from the sterile brightness of the prior room to the tranquil dimness of the tunnel room. Dark blue light wavers on the floor around us. I steady myself against the glass and look up.
“Shit,” Red whispers reverently.
“Turritopsis dohrnii.”
A giant tank soars overhead, full of floating jellyfish drifting slowly through the water like a thousand stars in the night. Jaxon stands next to me, and I lean back against him, straining my neck to try and see in every direction. How is it possible for something so beautiful and so magical to exist in this world?
“Alright kids, you’ve had your fun. Time to get to work before someone notices you’re here.” Darren’s voice is loud, abrasive, in the hush that surrounds us.
“He’s right,” Jaxon whispers next to my ear.
“Hey! I heard that. And of course I’m right. Oh fu--”
The door at the end of the tunnel bursts open. A Praetor skids to a halt, synthblade half-raised as if in question. We all stare at one another in a moment of shocked silence. Red moves first, breaking the silence with the scream of battle as he charges the Praetor.
“They’ve triggered the alarm,” Darren’s voice crackles over the headset.
“No shit,” Kalia’s voice chimes in from across the building.
“Lay the charges Evie!” Jaxon tosses his backpack at me. I catch the bag in midair, its momentum forcing me two steps to the side. I pull on the zipper, cursing as it catches on a threading piece of nylon. I yank harder, forcing the zipper down and sending the contents spilling from the bag. I grab two square blocks covered in a thin layer of plastic. After peeling off the plastic I slam one of the charges against the glass.
Crossing the tunnel, I adhere the second charge to the glass. Someone grabs the back of my head and slams my face into the thick glass.
“Evie!” Red cries out his warning a moment too late.
I collapse to the ground, leaving a smear of blood behind on the glass. My vision wavers and the tranquil blue light of the tunnel becomes suddenly nauseating. A dull, aching thud beats in my skull. I crawl to my knees as Red dances past, synthblade flashing, to engage the Praetor. I try to track their battle but I’ve lost sense of the whole and all I can focus on is synthblade meeting synthblade. Blood leaves a warm trail down my cheek.
“Alright there?” Red crouches next to me but before I can respond his eyes move past me and he leaps to his feet with a stolen curse.
“Dandy...” I mutter. I crawl across the floor, gathering the spilled explosives into my arms. I scramble backwards until my back is pressed against the curved arch of the aquarium, and take stock of the situation. Red fights with two Praetors, moving so quickly between them that his two enemies seem to spend more time trying to avoid hitting each other than attacking Red. Jaxon, at the far end of the tunnel, guards the entrance with a stolen gun in one hand and his synthblade in the other.
Movement from the door opposite Jaxon draws my eye. Three more Praetors enter but it’s what’s behind them that catches my attention.
“Red, there’s more tanks in the next room!”
Red glances up from his fight to see the three new Praetors moving cautiously towards us. He acknowledges my shout with a nod then with a twist of his wrist he puts a quick end to his current adversary.
With a bellow he charges the three Praetors. Leaping high, he lands behind them in a crouch, sweeping his blade out in a wide arc, knocking the one nearest from his feet. I follow a quick step behind him, hurdling past the fallen Praetor into the room behind.
With a cry, I reach my hand up to block my eyes. The sudden shift from near-darkness to sterile white and flashing red causes the pounding in my head to surge. I blink heavily a few times as my eyes water and I adjust to the new brightness. The alarm sounds over head a steady bleating that soon beats with the same rhythm as the pounding in my head.
Four large tanks, half-again as tall as me, stand sentinel in the corner nearest me. Turritopsis dohrnii float lazily in dark water, oblivious to the war going on around them. A half-dozen industrial metal tables split the room down the middle, each with a smaller, empty tank placed on top.
“They’re evacuating the building. Everyone except the Praetors. I don’t know what their contingency plan is but you might want to hurry your asses outta there.”
“Now’s not a good time Darren,” Jaxon shouts back through the headset.
The door opposite me opens and I tense, synthblade in hand, readying myself for attack.
A tall, gangly man with a white lab coat covering blue star-patterned pajamas, staggers in, rubbing sleepily at his eye with the back of one hand. He glares peevishly at the flashing alarm overhead and with a muttered curse under his breath lurches to a wall-panel and taps in a code that causes the alarm overhead to go silent.
Surprise paints his face as he turns around and sees me standing by the four tanks. “What are you doing here? You can’t be here?” The scientists notices the synthblade in my hand. “Are you attacking us?”
“Uhm. Yes,” I say
.
“No. No, you can’t do that. Without the dohrnii--” He lunges for the desk nearest him, pulling a gun from a drawer that was shut tight moments ago.
I dive to the side, seeking cover behind one of the tall tanks. Through the water, the distorted view of the scientists I see him point and aim. The tank shatters. Glass explodes outward followed by a torrent of water. I drop my synthblade and cover my face with my arms, angling my body away. Broken bits of glass pelt my jacket. I duck low, protected by the metal base.
Water floods across the floor, full of glass and gelatinous blobs with orange, heart shaped centers. Turritopsis dohrnii. I grab one of the jellyfish off the floor and throw it blindly over my head. I hear a gasp and the sound of a body colliding with furniture. While he’s distracted I dive to my right, landing in a crouch behind the next tank.
Yanking my backpack from my shoulder I pull out one of the plastic covered charges. Moving quicker than I knew I could, I place one of the charges just below the glassline of the tank before scrambling past to the next one.
“Stop! What are you doing?”
I peek around the edge of the tank. The scientist still holds his gun, but held at a downward angle like he’s no longer quite sure what he should be doing.
“I’d appreciate if you’d evacuate with the others,” I tell him.
“Who are you? Why are you doing this? You look familiar. Aren’t you--?” Recognition comes into his eyes.
I notice a small, shell-shaped tattoo on his temple, no larger than a small blue chip. “You’re a Millennial.”
“And you’re a criminal.”
“Evie, what’s taking so long?” The door behind me bursts open. Jaxon and Red come pouring through. “Oh.”
The scientist swings his weapon around, pointing at the two newcomers. “Mr. Prayer!” The scientist looks suddenly uncertain, his weapon wavering in hand.
“Rudolf. Always a pleasure. I’m going to have to ask you to put that gun down.”
“I—The dohrnii?”
“Don’t you worry about them,” Jaxon says. “Everything will be fine.”
“Enough,” Red says. Moving too quickly for anyone to interfere, Red crosses the short distance to Rudolf and whacks him on the head with the pommel of his weapon. The scientist crumples to the floor like a discarded piece of paper. “Are we finished here?” Red asks.
“Yup.” I pick up my water-soaked backpack and synthblade off the floor. “What about him,” I point to the fallen scientist.
“Leave him,” Red says.
“I’m not leaving him in a room full of explosives.”
With a sigh of long suffering, Red crouches down and heaves the wiry scientist onto his shoulders. “If he wakes up and causes any trouble I’m drowning him.”
“Fine.”
“Darren. Is there a way out of here that doesn’t involve running into a crowd of angry, sleep-deprived scientists?” Jaxon asks.
“One sec--Yeah. Take the door to the left and follow the hallway. A stairwell down will lead you to the basement and a back exit. I’ll have Kalia and the creepy one meet you outside.”
“Got it. Thanks.”
The three of us -- four, counting the unconscious Rudolf -- take off at a jog, following Darren’s directions. As we make it outside I can hear the buzzing murmur of a large crowd around the front of the building but the back field is thankfully empty. Kalia’s face peeks out from behind a tree and waves impatiently for us to join her. Red deposits Rudolf on the ground far enough from the building to be safe, but near enough that someone will eventually stumble across him.
“Charges set?” Kalia asks as we reach the line of trees. We all nod our agreement. “Alright, here we go then. Who wants the honor?” she holds out a small glass tablet, no larger than the palm of her hand.
“Jaxon.” Red states. I smile. Red’s response feels right. This victory, after the culmination of the last few weeks of misery and pain, belongs to Jaxon. Kalia passes the tablet to him without a word.
“How’s it look Darren?”
“I don’t see anyone left inside. Light ‘er up.”
Jaxon hesitates for the briefest moment then taps his finger against the glass. An angry rumble shakes the ground. The building seems to hesitate for a moment before giving in. The roof collapses inward, creating a gaping hole in the center while flames lick the edges of the windows. I cover my mouth with my arm as dust and smoke billow towards us.
Jaxon drops his arm around my shoulders. “We did it,” he says triumphantly.
“We did it!” Kalia echoes exuberantly. She dances in a circle around us, celebrating with arms held high. “We did it! We did it!”
I look at Jaxon. The line of his smile. The exhausted look of conquest in his eye. All of this, everything we have worked for comes down to this. Winning against the Millennials, against the Great Uniter, was always a slim hope. We knew that in the end death was all that awaited us but still we fought. At last, after three hundred years of persecution and pain and suffering, the playing field is finally level. Now we have a chance.
Now we have hope.
I lean against him savoring this brief moment of perfection. “We did it,” I whisper.
“We’ll that was fun,” Darren’s voice crackles over the radio. “I’m knackered. See you back at the Hollows.”
CHAPTER 28
Our flight back to Haven flashes in a past. Kalia races victorious through the air occasionally falling back into chants of we did it, we did it. The thought echoes over and over in my mind until I can’t tell if it’s the frigid night air or the overwhelming sense of victory that brings tears to my eyes. Even Ezzor seems to sit just a little bit straighter on his h-bike.
I glance back to see Jaxon falling behind the rest of us. Turning my h-bike I swoop low, diving under him before coming up on the other side, a peal of laughter escaping from my lips. Jaxon stays uncharacteristically silent.
“You okay?” I ask. I bring my h-bike as close to his as I am able, the distance between us a single foot that suddenly feels like a gaping chasm. Silence stretches between us and I begin to wonder if he will answer. The wind whips through the strands of my hair as the colossal walls of Haven come into view.
A lifetime passes.
“I’m mortal,” he says.
“Oh.”
Jaxon shrugs, like he’s not bothered at all but the leather of his gloves stretches over skin as he tightens his grip on the handlebars. I try to imagine what he feels. What it’s like to grow up as one thing then somehow becoming another. Jaxon may have changed my life. But I’ve overturned his.
I go to speak, to make some apology or promise that everything will be okay. But Jaxon shakes his head and taps his finger against the side of his helmet. The headset, I realize. Of course he wouldn’t want Kalia and Ezzor listening in.
We reach the walls of Haven, the city looks lit up, like a glowing bulb made of a thousand dancing colors. “Up we go” Kalia says. She zigzags her bike upwards against the wall, almost as if climbing an invisible stairwell. As we near the top of the wall the sounds of the city begin to take over the night’s silence. Starting first as a distant humming, but as we reach the top the sounds become more distinct.
A scream cuts through the air.
“Kalia, what’s happening?” Jaxon calls from half-way down the wall.
“I don’t know. I see smoke….” She trails off. “The Hollows!”
I summit the wall, popping over the top and nearly losing control. My h-bike beeps a warning at me as I wobble in the air, trying to level out. From this height the city spreads out before us. Crescent City floats in the distance, an ever looming presence.
Jaxon takes the lead, angling his h-bike in a downward dive towards the streets. The air grows thicker. The scent of smoke and the now too familiar grittiness that comes after an explosion. Dust and chemicals and broken cement.
The streets pass in a blur until we stop just outside the greenhouse entrance to the Hollows. P
raetors guard the entryway. A half-dozen of them, helmets pulled low and all humanity lost.
“No,” Kalia whispers sounding utterly desolate.
“Annie!” I gasp.
“Darren!” Jaxon says at the same moment.
“How?” I say. “How did they find us?” It’s impossible that the Praetors could be here. Not in the Hollows. This is the one place, the one place that is supposed to be safe. Our haven. Our home.
“Come,” Ezzor grabs Jaxon by the crook of the arm and tries to lead him away. “This is not the time to be foolish.”
“Let go of me,” Jaxon says and there is no room left for disobedience in his tone. Ezzor releases Jaxon’s arm with a disgusted sigh.
“Kalia, do you have any explosives left?” Red asks. She nods. “Good, place them around the building there.” Red points to a building across the street with glass windows long since blown out. “Create a distraction. The rest of us will clear them out.”
Kalia darts across the street, moving so quickly she’s nothing more than a ghost. A few tense minutes later, two small explosions rip through the air. Three of the Praetors guarding the entrance run in the direction Kalia disappeared into. Ezzor, after a nod of Jaxon, swoops in behind them.
“Alright, we’re up,” Red says.
The three of us charge the remaining Praetors, making no efforts at stealth. The battle is quick and brutal. Flashes of blade. Soft thuds and quiet cries of pain.
“Everyone good?” Jaxon asks afterwards. He’s bent almost in two, hands resting on his knees as he tries to catch his breath. “Great,” Jaxon replies to our silence. “Let’s go. We will not leave our people to die down there.”
We slip through the broken gates of the greenhouse and down through the large grate that leads to the Hollows. Long-dead vines hang from the ceiling and engulf the walls. The ever present musty scent seems somehow deeper. Earthier.
“I need to find Ki,” Kalia says frantically.
“Ezzor. Go with her,” Jaxon orders then turns to Kalia. “Once you find your brother I need you to help evacuate anyone you can find. Get them to the safe house.”
