Paradise Awakened Trilogy

by Mackenzie Morris

  "Excuse my temporary lapse in judgment. Byron is still alive, though the nanobots are killing him as I'm sure you're very much aware. I also killed Zach Montgomery, the late Vladimir Evans's son."

  "And what of Blice McSage?" Velex asks as he rolls a cyborg corpse over with his boot.

  "No sign of him, sir."

  "Then we'll take what we can from these computers and get Erikson to the ship in one piece. Also, I want you to carry Remiel's body with us. Maybe there's something useful we can salvage from it. What are his wings made out of?"

  "Quartz crystals." Michael says.

  "I can't look at him anymore. He looks my cousin's son."

  "Well, Kazimir did design him to look like his son."

  Velex sighs. "And mine."

  "I'm sorry, sir."

  "Forget about it." Velex says. He types something into the small square computer on his belt. "Uriel will be put on trial as soon as we get back to Himmel. He will pay the price for all the evil he has done."

  "Before we get going on this, you should know that we've lost one more archon. Raphael has defected and run off somewhere down here."

  "Out of all the archons, he's the one I'm the least concerned about. He poses no risk to our plans. Let's get the others rounded up and get out of this hell hole."

  Blice sees his chance to escape so he flies as quickly as he can through the open door as they leave. He has to find help. He darts through the dark streets towards the other entrance to Kazimir's laboratory where he is almost certain Ben has taken Katarina, Jarred, and Jayce.

  23

  Jayce is strapped down to a metal table in the middle of what used to be Kazimir's laboratory. The bright fluorescent lights reveal the beads of sweat on his skin. His breathing is light and still controlled as he shows no signs of fear.

  Katarina wishes she could be so calm. Her arms are in shackles attached to the wall beside a very concerned-looking Jarred who has a black eye and red welts crisscrossing his bare chest and arms. They've been here for what feels like days. After Jayce was forced to watch Jarred be beaten and whipped, Jayce was placed on the table and Ben Crowe left him there.

  Now here they are, alone in this room without any sense of the passing of time or what could be waiting for them. At least Katarina has been spared any physical torment so far. Though with the way things have been going, she knows it's only a matter of time before Ben turns to her.

  The white polished floor is still smeared with dark blood from where the scientists had died, their corpses only having recently been dragged into the hallway. Katarina pulls futilely against the metal biting into her wrists. They can't die like this. Honestly, it's not the dying part of this that terrifies her now. She vividly remembers what Ben did to her father. If he could do that, then what will he do to them?

  Where is Doss? Surely an archon as well trained and powerful as him can hold his own against some soldiers, right? Even as she tries to convince herself that things are going to turn out fine, she knows that even Doss has his limits. That was all too obvious when he was strung up in the tunnel entrance.

  Every few minutes, Jarred makes sure to talk to Jayce to ensure that he's holding up as well as he can. "Jayce, say something to me."

  "I'm okay." Jayce mumbles.

  "Tell me if you begin to freak out, all right? I don't want you being consumed by that and passing out. I need you to stay here with me. I know how you get with panic attacks. Stay strong and focus on your breathing."

  "Okay."

  When Ben returns, he looks and smells drunk. He goes past Jarred and stops in front of Katarina. Ben's expansive hand grabs Katarina's chin and forces her to look up at him. "Don't look so sad. I'll have my fun with you later. First, I want to get warmed up. You don't know how much it turns me on to see you in chains."

  "Don't touch her." Jarred says.

  "You're not in any position to be giving me orders, Cunningham." He goes up to the table and looks Jayce over for a few seconds before pulling something out from a box behind the table. "What does a sniper value most?" Ben holds up a large vial. "Do you know what this is? Most people these days prefer to use the newest technology like nanobots and nerve damaging T.I.M.E. poisons, but sometimes I find that the cruder methods are the best. This is sulfuric acid. It will eat through almost anything it touches, especially human flesh . . . or in your case, android flesh."

  Jarred pulls against his chains as his face turns red with anger. "Don't hurt him! Please. Do it to me. I'll take whatever you're going to do to him. Kill me. I don't care. I'll give you anything you want, just don't hurt him."

  "Silence." He turns back to Jayce who has started trembling, despite all his efforts to remain calm. Ben screws off the lid and holds it over Jayce's groin. "You never answered my question. What does a sniper value over everything else? No, it's not this." He moves slowly up Jayce's body until he is holding the vial over Jayce's eyes.

  "Dear God, no! Stop!" Jarred yells at him. "Anything but that. Even you can't be that cruel."

  "Is that a challenge? Open your eyes, Jayce. Get a good look at the world around you. Look to your right and see your husband's face for the last time. Remember it well."

  From across the room, they lock eyes until Jayce begins to cry.

  Katarina closes her eyes as Jayce cries out in obvious agony. She feels sick. How could even a man like Ben Crowe do this to someone? Jayce continues to scream until his voice goes hoarse and eventually is subdued into tortured groans and whimpering. Jarred is unashamedly sobbing now, the chains clanking against the wall with every ragged breath he takes.

  Ben laughs as he tosses the empty vial into a trashcan and leaves the room once again.

  Jarred tries to get Jayce's attention through his tears. "Jayce? Say something, Jayce."

  Jayce remains silent except for his raspy, labored breathing.

  It isn't even a minute before Ben returns with the key to the shackles in his hand. He comes over to Katarina and unlocks the metal around her wrists. He takes both of her wrists in one hand. "Now, I want you to be a good girl and don't struggle. You'll only make this harder on yourself if you try to stop me." He slams her up against the wall.

  Katarina grits her teeth as Ben slips her shirt over her head and removes her bra. He roughly grabs at her and presses his mouth against hers while his rough goatee scratches her face. He unbuttons her pants and slides them down. Is this really happening? Her heart is racing and she bites her lip until it bleeds.

  The metal door into the room slides open and boots race across the floor. "That doesn't belong to you."

  Katarina opens her eyes to see her father with a pistol at the ready and Blice on his shoulder. Thank God.

  Ben throws Katarina down on the floor then dives out of the way of a mass of dark matter.

  While Blice's dark matter distracts Ben, Isidore rushes to Katarina and helps her get dressed. "Did he rape you?"

  "No, but he would have if you hadn't gotten here when you did. Watch out!" She ducks as a ball of glittering purple and black dark matter flies past her shoulder, way too close for comfort.

  "Sorry!" Blice calls out.

  "Dad, you tend to Jarred and Jayce. I'll do what I can to help Blice." The first gunshot makes her jump. When Ben spins around and takes aim at Isidore, Katarina holds up her hands without thinking and screams as the gun goes off.

  "No!" Isidore cries out.

  Katarina is thrown backwards and to the floor from the impact of the bullet with her chest. When she opens her eyes, she reaches out for help and struggles to draw a breath. Two more shots ring out nearby.

  "Katarina!" Someone calls to her from across the room.

  She tries to crawl towards her father, but her vision is fading and her lungs beg for oxygen. Through her foggy haze of decreasing consciousness, she sees Blice trap Ben in a swirling cocoon of dark matter. A now blood-covered Isidore limps up to Ben and fires a pistol six times into his torso. Ben crumples lifeless to the floor. Blice and Isidore both ru
sh over to Katarina and help her sit up. Finally, she is able to take a much needed breath then coughs violently as Isidore holds her comfortingly to his chest and strokes her matted hair.

  "Is she okay?" Jarred asks, still chained to the wall.

  "She's fine." Blice says. "I don't know how you managed to do that, Kat."

  She wipes the tears from her eyes. "What did I do? Did I get shot?"

  Blice crawls onto her arm. "You used your dark matter. I've never seen it used like that. It was almost like it coated your skin and dissolved the bullet as soon as it made contact with you. All that got you was the impact. I didn't think you had it in you, Nika. You don't know how proud I am of you."

  Jarred calls out to them impatiently. "While it's so sweet to watch this, I need to get out of these chains and get Jayce some help. The key is in Ben's pocket."

  Isidore quickly calls his regeneration magic to life and presses his hands to the gunshot wound in his leg and where one grazed his arm. The bleeding slows and he goes over to Ben's corpse and fishes the key from his pocket. He unlocks the shackles around Jarred's wrists. "Are you okay?"

  "I'm fine. Get Jayce."

  Isidore limps over to the table and undoes the thick leather straps holding him down. Once he looks at his face, Isidore gasps. "What happened?"

  "Ben poured acid in his eyes." Jarred says as he helps Jayce sit up. "Jayce?"

  He doesn't respond.

  "Talk to me, man." Jarred puts his arm around Jayce's back and half drags him out of the room.

  Isidore helps to carry Jayce down the hallway. "The passageway from this lab to Zach's has been blocked off so we have to drive around. There's a van outside."

  Katarina joins them as they go outside and to a van.

  "Guys, I have to tell you what happened." Blice says. "Michael showed up and killed almost everyone in Zach's lab. Then Admiral Velex was there and they left."

  "We'll deal with that later." Jarred says angrily as he slides the van door open. "Get the back seat cleaned off."

  Isidore pushes the clutter into the floor and helps Jarred lay Jayce in the seat then spreads his healing magic over his eyes. "I have some bandages in that bag there. Get his eyes wrapped up after I'm done here. There. That should give him some relief." He goes to the driver's seat and starts the van.

  Katarina climbs in the back and shuts the door. She watches Jarred tending to the awful wounds on Jayce's face. Is he okay? He hasn't said anything this entire time.

  Jarred wraps the bandage around Jayce's eyes and ties it behind his head. "You alive, buddy?"

  Jayce slightly nods his head and takes Jarred's hand.

  "You're gonna be okay. I'm right here and I'm never going anywhere."

  "I can't see." Jayce whispers.

  "I know."

  "What do I do now? All I've ever been able to do is shoot. I guess that's it for us. We'll get a divorce and you can find someone who will be more useful for you."

  Jarred dries his tears. "No, no, no. Don't say that. I love you beyond your ability to shoot. I vowed to you that I would be by your side until you're dead. Unless you're a zombie and about to eat my brain, then I think you're still alive."

  "What about work?" Jayce asks.

  "We'll do something else. Maybe it's time for us to move on from this dangerous stuff."

  "I don't want you to be trapped here taking care of me."

  Jayce sits next to him and lays Jayce's head in his lap. "Loving you isn't being trapped. I'm not leaving you behind. We will figure everything out in time. You would do the same for me, buddy. I wrote you something last night. I had to use a translator so it might not be perfect, but I wanted to tell you how much you mean to me in a way that's more personal." He slips a wrinkled piece of paper from his pocket and reads from it. "Vous êtes mon monde, ma lanterne dans la nuit, et mon espoir pour chaque nouveau jour. Je ne te quitterai jamais, mon amour. Peu importe ce qui arrive, je serai à vos côtés pour toujours."

  Jayce manages a small smile. "Your pronunciation needs some work, but thank you. It's beautiful. C'est beau."

  "I'm not going anywhere. I'll be your eyes. There isn't a force in the universe that can break up the badass duo of Jarred and Jayce."

  * * *

  As soon as they pull up and Isidore stops the van, Katarina knows that something is terribly wrong. In a pool on the pavement in front of the door to the lab and smeared on the wall is blood. She jumps out of the van and notices the bloody boot prints leading off into the city behind them. The corpse of one of Zach's cyborgs is splayed out on the sidewalk.

  "Oh my God." Isidore says as he slams the door to the van.

  "Told you." Blice says.

  Jarred helps Jayce out of the back seat and holds him up. "We need to get in there and check for survivors. I have a bad feeling about this."

  Katarina steps into the hallway where numerous corpses of cyborgs are lining the entire length of the walls. Pools of blood are gathering where it drips down from the ceiling. Assorted body parts are scattered haphazardly as if they were hacked from the bodies and thrown around for no reason. The far wall is filled with bullet holes. She goes into the lounge and looks around at the papers scattered all over the floor, the broken chairs, the shattered glass, and the blood-stained rug. A small pained gasp comes from behind the overturned sofa. Katarina goes over and looks behind it. In a pool of blood with bruises on his face is Zach.

  He reaches up to her and grabs her arm. "Kat . . . help me."

  "Okay. Where are you hurt?"

  Zach coughs violently. "My back. He stabbed me."

  "Who? Who stabbed you?"

  "Michael, the archon."

  She drags Zach out from behind the sofa and finds a towel which she presses tightly against the deep wound below his shoulder blade. She mentally goes over the list of people to check on. Byron. "What about Byron?"

  "They took him."

  "Took him?" Katarina asks. "Michael?"

  "And the IGR. He's gone."

  Isidore looks absolutely distraught when he enters the room covered in blood and tears in his eyes. "Kazimir's dead."

  She can't think about that right now. "Help me with Zach. I'm losing him."

  Isidore kneels down and his hands glow with the pale green haze of his regeneration magic. The light glow spreads over Zach's back. "Zach, stay awake."

  He voice is weak and barely audible. "It hurts."

  "I know. Keep talking to me. Tell me where Doss is."

  "I . . . don't know. I saw him-" He takes a ragged breath. "After Remi died, he attacked Michael."

  "Remi died?" Isidore asks.

  "Y-yes. They took his body."

  Katarina can't stay in here any longer so she runs outside into the fresher air that isn't filled with the harsh smell of blood and death. She falls to her knees and screams out into the perpetual night as she tears at her hair. She can't erase the scene from her mind, the bodies, the bullet holes, the destruction, the blood. It's too much for her and the physical, mental, and emotional exhaustion from the trauma of the past couple of days finally wraps its hands around her and pulls her down into a torment-filled and instant sleep.

  24

  It takes nearly twenty hours of constant cleaning, scrubbing, and scouring to make Zach's laboratory acceptably livable after the massacre that occurred inside. For most of that time, Katarina has been asleep and she is grateful for the time to recover from the haunting experiences of the previous day. She slept for eighteen hours straight without waking up even once. Jarred decided that she did enough and deserved a chance to recuperate. Then there's her little problem of become nauseous at the sight of too much blood.

  When she does eventually wake up, she finds herself in Byron's bed and she almost breaks down crying. She wraps her arms around the pillows that smell like him. His scent draws her closer and a million terrible thoughts race through her mind. Where did he go? Is he dead? If Michael took him, what are they planning to do with him? Then she opens her eyes and spots
the blue vial on the bedside table. Byron's medicine. Without that liquid injected into his veins once every twelve hours, he will die within four days of not taking it. It is the only thing keeping him alive at this point. Katarina sits up and slides open the drawer. All five vials are there. A wave of sobering realization slams into her, making her stomach turn again. If someone took him and doesn't have this medicine, then it's over. What if Byron couldn't tell them that he needed it?

  Her eyes continue to dart around the room, taking inventory of Byron's belongings that are still scattered around haphazardly on the table, shelves, and floor. It's still messy like he always left things. Is there anything missing or any clues about where he went or who took him? His shot gun and ammo are still under the wooden table next to his favorite red shirt and his dusty boots. Something isn't right. He would never leave without his shot gun. Then she sees the one thing that tells her definitively that he was taken and not just gone somewhere on his own free will. His five ace playing cards. Two hearts, one spade, one diamond, and one club. If there's one thing she knows for certain about her husband, it's that he will never pass up a chance to cheat his way into money. Gambling for Byron is like fishing for others. He just uses specialty lures and sometimes some dynamite to get the job done. But he catches the biggest fish that way.

  When Katarina slips out of bed and gathers her purple hair in a clip and gets dressed in some clean clothes that someone brought in here for her, she spots a piece of blood-splattered paper on the floor in front of the door. She goes over to it and picks it up by the cleanest corner that isn't speckled with rusty dried blood. Whose blood is this? While she hopes that this hastily written note is from her husband, the thought of it being covered with his blood horrifies her almost to the point of not wanting to read it. However, she knows that one way or another, she will have to face Byron's fate so she sits at the table and reads over the scratchy writing.