“Now, hold on one second,” Destiny spoke up drawing shocked glances from literally everyone in the process, “This is the almighty Dr. Genesis Cain you are talking to Curtis, show some respect.”
“I'm surprised you even know what that word means traitor,” Cain said.
“Sure,” Destiny gestured towards her, “She is not a traitor, just a coward.”
“What?”
“Well,” she continued, “Otherwise you would have given a life-long soldier and special agent such as myself who by the way was asked to bow down to demons long before any of these guys were asked to, some kind of a warning that you were going to phase me out and use me to help get to destroy Bayne as well as to appease your new demon masters.”
“You were not prepared to tell me you were leaving, dear Destiny, does that make you anything but a traitor?”
“Genesis,” she said, “I didn't say anything because I know better than anyone what happens to O.A. people when they decide they are sick of your insane bullshit and want to leave. What has happened to me since I decided to leave simply proves that point and confirms that I made the right choice. Curtis here is probably going to die if he keeps stepping in front of my attacker’s path to me but at least he will die as a real soldier, not some lame brain yes-man who does everything they are told even if it goes against their pledge of service to humanity.”
“How dare you,” the words Cain said were stern but the quick glance of worry she nearly covered up betrayed that Destiny had hit home. She didn't have a point with Cain but what she had just mentioned would have brought to mind the pledge of service to humanity that the O.A. soldiers had taken when they were accepted. It called for the rise and survival of humanity to take precedence over anyone or anything and Cain was clearly worried that other soldiers might join Destiny's cause after such a strong and challenging statement.
Before the boss could speak again Destiny held her hand up, “It doesn't matter now anyway. If I wanted you dead, you would have a sword protruding a major organ and if you could forcefully kill me or have them kill me, you would have done so already. We are at a bit of a standstill and that should work well for both of us if you care to work together. I see Bullosky is acting on his own now, based on the things he said and the way he was behaving in here before. Is that right?”
Dr. Cain was shaking her head and probably thinking of a smart way to stall or misdirect the answer but Mr. Terry stepped forward and said, “Yes. He locked down the facility when you and Bayne entered and left a hellish path planning for us to be killed upon as we charged after him.”
“You want to catch up to him, yes?” Destiny prodded, “You want him to answer for his supposed betrayal?”
“Yes,” Terry quickly answered, “Where is he?”
“I can answer that question if you can answer my question.”
“What is your question then?” this from Dr. Cain.
“Eric ran after some odd abominations, including one who looked like his dog, an obvious trap. I don't know the others that were brought back as monsters but I know Bart was there, or a hellion version of Bart anyway.”
“It was his family,” Terry said.
“Peyton! How in the world...”
“Do you deny it, Dr. Cain?” Terry asked.
“No,” she sighed, “You are right. I was going to use them as a distraction for Bayne to try and take him out of the fight so that you would be easier to take down.”
“Right,” Destiny said, “That makes sense. Good plan by the way, it worked like a charm. Eric sprinted out of that door just minutes after Bullosky put his plan into motion.”
“My plan! It was my plan!”
“Whatever, Dr. Cain, all the better in fact. If it was your plan then perhaps you know where the trap would have led? We have to find him. You can either help Curtis and I, as well as any others who want to join our cause or we'll kill you and find him ourselves.”
“We will help you find them,” Terry said, “I want that bastard demon's head on a stick.”
“Mr. Terry,” Cain said, “You do not have the authority to make that decision alone.”
“Fine, then I will commit the one person I can decide for, myself. I will help you Destiny.”
After Terry did so, one by one every other person on the platform followed suit until they were all looking at a red-faced Dr. Cain.
“Fine!”
Destiny shrugged, “This big happy rebellion is wonderful but Eric is still going to die if we do not find where he ran to. That means having to know the rest of your plan Dr. Cain. Resist and I'll send one of my boys here to beat it out of you.”
With what was clearly a massive effort to hold back her rage, Cain bared her teeth, “The plan was to drive him down a long corridor somewhere so that he would be stuck at a dead end and then we would flank him with numbers even he could not defeat by himself. I'm sure that bastard Bullosky wasn't intelligent enough to come up with his own plan. If you say he ran through this doorway, he would have gone into the main hanger. There should be only one large corridor-type area leading from there.”
“Correct,” the tech-guy said from his little computer, “The aircraft tunnel is fairly long and should have a securely closed door at the end.”
Destiny slapped Curtis on his ass, “Let's go get him. Oh, and all of this good will is great but we will probably all be demolished and the human race will basically be doomed if Bayne dies and is able to be turned into whatever it is that you idiots planned to do. Christ, Genesis, did you really think it was a good idea to play with demons? Move people, move! We might be too late already!” Everyone picked up to a running pace as they left through a door that the tech-guy was able to open without a blast. Within minutes they were charging through the hanger directly towards the large and very long aircraft tunnel.
When she arrived at the start of the rarely used tunnel, she stopped and let out a curse. The soldiers and Mr. Terry stopped beside and behind her, saw the same darkness that she saw ahead and had similar reactions. Usually the end of the tunnel would be easily seen, even though it was quite a long distance, now all she saw was a dark cloud of bodies crowding the end of the tunnel. She breathed a quick and irritable sigh, “We may already be too late just became very real. Let's move!”
“Wait! Look at them down there! There are only a few of us. What are you doing?”
Destiny stopped and turned around to see that she was the only one of her group that had charged towards the mass of evil, the rest of them were just standing there in apparent fear. Curtis at least had the courage to speak up. She glared at them all one by one, “I am doing what I have to do. You cower in fear if you must.” With that she turned and charged forward again. The last sight she had seen before turning fully around was Curtis running away from the tunnel. The rest of them would follow, she knew, but so be it. She was not going to just leave him here to die.
Chapter 19
There had been tough times during the stretch of years he had battled against the zombie virus, its aftershocks and those responsible for the outbreak but nothing compared to this. Eric crouched on his knees with a hot bubble of protective energy surrounding him. It was the only thing that allowed him to remain alive this long. Eyes closed tightly, he did not need to look in order to see that his shield was being slammed on all sides by all kinds of attackers. It wasn't like the zombies back at the warehouse because there were more powerful attackers this time around.
If he just took time to power up without the shield, he would only survive about five minutes at best. He had to shield himself and try at the same time to build up some kind of attack to buy himself a way out of this trap. It was a good one though, and he honestly did not see how he would be able to hold the shield for long enough to power up for an attack that would matter against such incredible odds. If this were a sporting event he would be forced to tip his cap at being out-maneuvered but this was life and death itself.
His shield buckled under a powerfu
l attack and then another, though he dared not look up, he knew his time was running out. When two more shots made it all the way to his back, he began trying to decide which would be better; to hold the shield until he couldn't or just let it go and take a few with him on the way to his death. Just about that time however, there was a huge letup in their attacks. Eric hadn't even realized how badly they were slamming him until that moment but suddenly he could breathe again. The shield was holding strong and he could tell nothing was getting through. For the first time since he hit his knees, Eric decided to glance up at the harbingers of his death and was shocked at what he saw.
Standing there just a foot in front of him with arms stretched out and a telepathic shield held firmly in place stood Destiny. He didn't know how she got out of the mess he had left her in but that didn't matter at all.
“Don't make me regret this lover-boy.”
Her voice was strained and weak so he knew how much energy she had to be putting into the shield she held. Eric wasted no time on a thank you but instead focused on building his incredible power to hopefully strike at the mob of evil. It would surely be a shame for Destiny to use such awesome power now just to die because he couldn't gather enough strength. He thought of his beloved Bart and even his long lost family members. Any goddamned fool who was stupid enough to successfully use them against him should have made sure he was killed quickly because Eric was using every bit of hurt, anger, pain and even love inside to build his energy to maximum levels.
“Now Eric! It has to be now! I can't--”
Eric grabbed her by the waist and jerked her downward. The gap in shields caused the monstrous zombies, zombie-demons and demons to charge forward. Eric waited just a moment after stepping in front of Destiny with his arms at his side, left hand clinched tightly and eyes wide. When they were upon him he let out a primal scream and shoved his arms outward.
The skin on his face felt like it might be on fire as a stream of telepathic energy so powerful came from his body that it was actually visible to the naked eye. The closer attackers were vaporized for several yards around him and after that a layer of carnage continued as dead and fallen evil and undead bastards littered the ground. Bullosky had been smart enough to notice this was going on, so he had retreated to somewhere far back enough that Eric couldn't find him. Unfortunately he could hear him well enough.
“Most impressive Mr. Bayne. It seems you have found a way to overcome my attack plan,” the demon paused, “Unless you count the four demons and fifty or so other attackers still standing and blocking your exit. I'll walk down the tunnel and leave you to it Bayne. I'm fine with it taking a few more minutes for you to die.”
Eric looked around at the remaining attackers and wished desperately that Bullosky's description wasn't so accurate. Beside and slightly behind him he heard Destiny finally getting back to her feet and asked, “What do you have left?”
“Nothing,” she panted, “I'm spent. Probably couldn't lift a sword. Looks like it’s up to you lover-boy.”
“Not this time,” he shook his head.
“Why not?”
“Did you see what I just did? I'm fucking super-powered or something but it will take a while after that display.”
“So, we--”
“-- are fucked,” he finished and slowly started backing away. “Maybe if we can backpedal long enough I can build something up for an attack. Sorry to waste that amazing rescue just to get you killed anyway. You probably wished you would have just run and left me here.”
Suddenly Destiny grabbed his face and spun his head towards her. She was kissing him before he could even ask what the hell she was doing. It was a passionate but desperate kiss that he finally was forced to break.
“No, I'd do it again,” she said breathlessly.
Really? Eric was still in disbelief that she was expressing some kind of last minute attraction now just before they died. It fucking matched the kind of day he was having though. As the mob closed in Eric became aware for the first time in forever that Destiny was a stunning woman of equal parts strength and beauty. A lot of fucking good it would do him dead. Not only that, but she was now just the second being to ever risk their lives to save him, the other being Bart. All of that mattered very little with the scene that was unfolding in front of them.
A glow suddenly grew in the tunnel behind the mob of attackers and Eric wondered if this was that part where the light showed up before death or something but no, it wasn't that. Screams began to sound from nearby as a heatwave of devastating energy consumed the demons and other attackers who were nearby. The blast came to within a few feet of them before Eric grabbed Destiny and dove the two of them a couple of yards away.
He opened his eyes to see that he was straddling her and she winked, “One kiss and suddenly you're ready to jump my bones? I never figured you for the desperate type Eric.”
Quickly he jumped off of her and looked down the tunnel to see a truck with the Organic Ascendancy logo on it. He walked slowly towards the truck with his sword in hand until a familiar face was clearly visible.
“Curtis?” Destiny said from behind him, “That's twice you saved my ass and now Eric Bayne owes you one too.”
“Twice?” Eric asked as he glanced back towards Destiny who nodded.
“I'm a soldier ma'am,” Curtis said flatly, “We all are.” Three more O.A. soldiers stood with him and walked just up behind him. He finished, “You owe us nothing.”
“Where are the others?” Eric asked, “Bullosky or Cain?”
“I thought Bullosky was sure to get caught in the blast but I saw him running to one side and suddenly he just seemed to disappear. Cain ran back with us but refused to come back and help a traitor – her words. She told Mr. Terry that they had a lot of work to do in order to rebuild what had been damaged by Bullosky and the demons.”
“Is this one of those enemy of my enemy situations?”
“Afraid not, Mr. Bayne,” Curtis said, “She said their first order of business would be to execute the four of us and Destiny as traitors to make an example for the rest of the forces. She still seems to have some special plan to reanimate you, Mr. Bayne after killing you. I think we managed to survive the day but --”
“We just made things a lot worse,” Bayne said as he led the way back towards the truck.
“Yes, sir. But you can count on the four of us. Destiny was the gold standard for years and we will serve her, not Organic Ascendancy.”
Bayne stood by the truck with the massive gun that had saved their lives a few times in one way or another and shook his head. He thought of his conversation with the Devil himself and how the demonic leader prophesied that Bayne would be brought to his knees. Bullosky had failed again but nothing was getting easier. A glance at Destiny reminded him of the last few moments before they both thought they were going to die and he said of all the situations, “I think things just got a lot more difficult for us. We better get out of this place while they are still in disarray. Curtis, do you know of a great spot to grab weapons?”
“I already did, sir. The back of the truck is littered with firepower.”
Eric hopped in the drivers' seat and slapped the side of the truck, “Let's get moving then. Back to the safe house. We'll show you where it is but you'll have to sleep in the truck or something; its fucking small.” Everyone seemed okay, alive and extremely worried about how close the demons came to winning. Eric glanced in the rear-view mirror and saw no trace of the reanimated members of his family or Bart. “Those evil fucks better pray to someone that I never see those things again.”
“What was that, sir?”
Bayne stared at the dark red sky as they drove away into the clearing. This thing was coming to an end sometime soon, one way or another. Someone was going to win and everyone was likely to lose. Eric planned to forget about how close he had come to being taken out in that tunnel but right now it was clear and present on his mind. If he wanted to at least do what he had always wanted to do, if h
e wanted to survive, he would have to be better. He needed more power, more patience and certainly to expect the worst things to happen to them. Good money was not on them and he knew it. If he were a betting man there is no way he would bet on himself, much less the rest of the crew. Instead of explaining all of that and worrying everyone more, Eric just glanced towards the driver and said, “Nothing. We're fine.”
But they weren't and a glance back at Destiny's face suggested that at least the two of them knew it. Next time they tangled with the big boys, it was likely going to be the end of someone or something. If he and Destiny didn't want it to be them, they had a shit-load of work to do and a bunch of irritating deities to chat with. That, Eric admitted to himself, was the worst part of all. The fact that Destiny had thrown herself in front of death itself to save him and followed it with a kiss would surely be the most confusing part of all.
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The Great War (Surviving the Zombie Nightmare Book 5) Page 18
