The Key

by Brian Fisher

  Chapter 68

  The ancient streets lay deserted as night continued to fall. These ruins had once been a city with over a million people. Now, only a few broken buildings and the remnants of the roadways remained.

  T'Sula glanced around the corner of a collapsed brick building. There was nothing to be seen, except for a couple of large rats that stopped for a moment to look at her, and then hurried across the broken road. Cautiously, T'Sula stepped out of her hiding place, and ventured across the road.

  There was nothing useful left here, only rats and insects that she couldn't identify. Still, T'Sula kept walking and searching. This was an alien world, the world of the Ta'Reeth, where the unknown lurked behind every crumbling wall.

  There was something about this city that called to her as she walked the deserted streets. She looked in the vacant windows and the dark holes where doors should have been, wondering about the people that used to live there. Were they trying to destroy everything, or were they simply misguided in their attempts to do something right when they created the Ta'Reeth? She had to believe that they were innocent, that they had tried to do their best and make a better world.

  T'Sula paused and looked at a sign in the fading light. It was large, and rectangular with words and an arrow on it. The color had long since faded away to someone else's memory, but the outline of the words remained. She recognized 'Fort Carson' as some sort of military installation, and decided to follow the arrow. Maybe she could use something there.

  The night was quiet and chill as T'Sula walked. Nothing stirred in the brush as she left the relative security of the ruined city. Not wanting to be caught in the open, T'Sula began to jog. She steadily increased her pace until she was sprinting across the open mountain plateau.

  In the distance, just at the edge of her sight, T'Sula saw an old archway spanning the width of the road. A thin smile spread across T'Sula's lips as she pushed herself to run even faster. She had left the city ruins only a few minutes before, and now was nearing her destination.

  T'Sula passed through the arch and ran by the tiny brick building on the right, when chaos erupted around her. She skidded to a stop as men dressed in dark clothes and covered in black grease, so that nothing of them showed in the darkness, surrounded her. Each of the men brandished crude cudgels in one hand, and knives in the other. They moved as one, stepping counterclockwise in a circle, cutting off any attempt at escape.

  Staying in constant motion, T'Sula studied her attackers. They were human men, but nearly feral, and with a pack mentality. It was true that they were safer in a group, but this seemed to T'Sula more like a hunting party than anything else.

  "I don't want to hurt you. Please let me go." T'Sula called out.

  "The beast speaks." one of the men laughed in the darkness. "Hurt us? I don't think so. Time to die."

  The first man charged at T'Sula with his cudgel raised high. She neatly sidestepped his attack, and spun into turning kick that impacted the back of his head. He tumbled unconscious, into another attacker.

  "I'm not a beast. I'm a woman, a Bakeeron woman." T'Sula tried again to talk to the group of men.

  "Never heard of 'Bakeeron'." another man called from the dark.

  "Look, you idiots are attracting too much attention. Do you really want to fight me, or the Ta'Reeth?" T'Sula yelled as she sent another unconscious man tumbling into his comrades. "Don't do this."

  T'Sula glanced back and forth between three of the men as they closed on her at the same time. They cautiously stepped closer, keeping their cudgels and knives ready. Each of them checked their range constantly, trying to force T'Sula towards one or the other of their comrades.

  The first of the three came into range with his cudgel, and swung at T'Sula's head, following the strike with spinning knife attack. T'Sula dodged the cudgel, and closed the distance with the man, to get inside the arc of his blade. She blocked his strike at the wrist, hard enough to dislodge his knife.

  Taking control of the man's wrist, T'Sula wrenched his arm around so that his wrist jammed into the small of his back. Using him as a shield, she picked up the fallen knife, and pressed the crude blade to his throat. She cautiously maneuvered her way out of the ring of men.

  "Stop, I don't want to hurt you." T'Sula spoke loud enough for all of them to hear.

  A high pitched whistle pierced the night as the small brick building burst into shrapnel and flames. T'Sula watched the men that surrounded her. They never panicked. Keeping their emotions and fears in check, they turned their backs on T'Sula, and watched the darkness around them.

  T'Sula released the man that she held hostage, and gave him back his knife. She turned her attention away from the men, and focused on the darkness beyond their circle. There was movement there.

  The small brick building burned bright in the night, its flickering light made it harder to see as the Ta'Reeth emerged from the darkness. There were two dozen Ta'Reeth. Each of them tall and powerful, with weapons attached to their left arms and claws on their right.

  "Remember why we fight, Brothers!" a man near T'Sula yelled. He was rewarded with a resonating chant of 'Hooah' that sounded into the night.

  T'Sula glanced at the men around her. They weren't feral animals. That had been nothing more than an image, a lie. These men were more than that.

  The chant grew in power just before the Ta'Reeth opened fire. Green balls of plasma tore through the night. Men dove instinctively away from the burning projectiles. Plasma impacted near some of the men, setting fire to the brush, and splashing onto their greased skin. The men sneered at the Ta'Reeth, and casually brushed the plasma from their unharmed flesh.

  Aided by the fires, the group of men charged the Ta'Reeth, their cudgels and knives expertly finding the weaknesses in the enemies’ armor. Outnumbered nearly two to one, they fought bravely, but it was a losing battle.

  T'Sula watched the fighting for a moment. These men were not after her. They were here for the Ta'Reeth. What were they fighting for? What were they protecting? She decided that the only way to know the answers to her questions was to join the fight. She didn't want to kill anymore. There had been enough death from her hands already.

  Reluctantly, T'Sula moved forward. She promised herself that she wouldn't allow herself the luxury of thought during this battle. No, there would be enough remorse afterward, and she couldn't afford to think while the battle was raging.

  T'Sula's senses expanded to include everything that was happening, while her conscious mind withdrew into the safety of itself. She stepped up to the first Ta'Reeth that came into her path. Her hands shot out, as she kicked its legs out from under it. She grabbed the creature's head, and in one smooth, quick motion, snapped its powerful neck.

  Before the Ta'Reeth fell lifelessly to the ground, T'Sula moved toward her next adversary. The Ta'Reeth warrior aimed its plasma cannon at her and fired. She sidestepped the projectile, and closed the distance with her foe. Using a crescent kick, she blocked the weapon, and trapped the Ta'Reeth's arm.

  Keeping her leg locked against the Ta'Reeth, T'Sula jumped up and kicked the warrior in the back of its head. Her foot crushed her victim’s skull, killing it instantly. The Ta'Reeth fell, entangling T'Sula as it twitched on the ground.

  T'Sula struggled to free herself from the corpse. She looked up to see another Ta'Reeth nearly upon her, with its plasma cannon at the ready. Violently, she kicked at the dead warrior until she was able to wriggle free.

  The Ta'Reeth stopped just out of T'Sula's range and fired. T'Sula rolled toward the warrior, barely avoiding the plasma bolt. She kicked at its legs, knocking the creature to the ground. T'Sula scrambled to her feet. She started to move for the Ta'Reeth's head, when one of the men brought his cudgel down upon the creature's face with incredible force.

  "Thank you." T'Sula whispered before selecting her next target. The man nodded his silent acknowledgement before he engaged another Ta'Reeth.

  Rain began to fall as T'Sula fought. She saw a man st
ruggling with a Ta'Reeth, barely ten meters away. She sprinted towards them, leaping into the air, and driving her foot into the base of the Ta'Reeth's skull. She landed in a crouch, ready to engage the next enemy.

  Madness swirled around her, taking lives with every passing second. The bodies of both men, and Ta'Reeth piled high on the wet ground. Of the two dozen Ta'Reeth, only a few remained. T'Sula moved quickly, not taking anything for granted. She darted from Ta'Reeth to Ta'Reeth, dispatching them with only a modicum of effort.

  The small group of men had fought well in a coordinated effort, but their numbers were dangerously thin. Most of them were wounded, but they still fought until the enemy was defeated. When the fighting was over, a grave silence hung in the chill night air.

  "You said that you didn't want to hurt us, Bakeeron. Now I believe you." the man that had used his cudgel to help T'Sula, walked forward. "Engaging you was foolish."

  "I'm sorry for you losses tonight." T'Sula sighed. "I'm trying to end this war, not kill more innocent people." she looked up to see a man that seeing through his eyes, she knew that he understood.

  "What war? This is survival. What you saw here tonight is our life." the man sighed heavily. "This is all we know."

  "The Ta'Reeth have done this to every star that you can see in the sky." T'Sula stepped closer to the man. "I'm here for everyone out there, and for you too."

  "How can I help you?" he asked.

  "I need to go southwest of here." T'Sula brushed her hair out of her eyes. "There's a giant canyon there. At the bottom of the canyon is something I need."

  "The Grand Canyon." the man nodded. "I don't know what it is that you need, but if you're on foot, it'll be a long time before you get there. Follow the road up the hill over there." he pointed into the darkness. "At the top of the hill you'll find an old airfield. Look through the main hanger. You will find what you are looking for."

  "Thank you." T'Sula looked in the direction that he had pointed. "What do I owe you?"

  "Only your name, and the freedom of my people." he smiled.

  "I'm Commander T'Sula Mir of the Resistance Special Operations Command. And you are?" T'Sula reached out her hand.

  "Justo Saint Germain. It's an honor Commander." Justo smiled and took T'Sula's hand in friendship. "Good luck T'Sula Mir, for all of us."

  "Justo, thank you, and be careful." T'Sula turned and disappeared into the night.