by Ian Williams
“We’ve got to do something,” Phoenix called back to the group. She had already started to back away from the window. “We should escape before Isaac reforms.”
“We can’t leave them to it alone. We have to help somehow.” Graham had little more than this to offer. There was no plan anymore, it had just collapsed.
“What can we do? All we can hope is that Luke and his people can fight Isaac off. There’s nothing we can do.”
“Phoenix is right,” Ruth said to everyone’s surprise. “We’ve done all we can. We should leave.”
It felt a cold hearted thing to do, except Graham had no other suggestion to counter it with. They could do nothing stuck there. Whatever Stephen had done on the computers had been with Luke’s help and instructions, since the accident that had left him less than his previous self. Even if Stephen had something he thought he could do, there was little chance of it succeeding now. The battle was beyond their reach, mentally and physically.
“Fine.” He grabbed Stephen and forced him to focus. “Stephen, listen to me. We have to leave, now. Which way?”
The question had entered and then instantly exited Stephen’s head, without so much as a ‘howdy’ to the brain cells inside along the way. He stared at Graham without any reaction on his pale face at all. It was clear he had totally broken down and was unable to even speak anymore. Losing his only friend in the world had claimed the remaining part of Stephen for the time being. The Sentient Collector was without a purpose for the first time.
“Shit. Stephen, we need to know the best way out.”
Graham shook him and appeared to loosen the synapses inside his head.
“What, what, what. Leave me alone,” Stephen replied before shutting the world out with his hands. “I don’t want to be here anymore.”
“That’s right, we have to go. Now, we need a quick way out. Which way? Luke wants you to tell us.”
Suddenly Stephen smiled and wiped the tears from his eyes. “Luke says? Oh that’s easy. This way, come on.”
He walked away from the window, ignoring the chaos that was erupting outside it, and headed to the centre door at the end of the room. All the time there and this was the first time he had shown any interest in the other doors to the right of his makeshift kitchen area. He proceeded to take them on a guided tour – the worst timed ever. “That’s my kitchen area, the one on the end is my bedroom. But this one takes us to the surface, right next to the farming tower above.” He fiddled with the lock until he remembered it needed a key. “I don’t use this way that often. I did once and got lost outside. Luke was so angry.”
“Can we hurry up a little bit please, Stephen?” Graham insisted. He checked to see the progress of the war that raged in the room, or cave, next door. It was still as violent as before, though the frequency of the power dropouts suggested it was not going in Luke’s favour.
When Stephen finally located the key to the door he bent down to see the small lock on the handle. It had been hung around his neck, obviously for situations such as this one. Thankfully his memory had not let him down again and he found it quickly enough. “Let me just find the right–”
The floor suddenly shook, knocking the key from Stephen’s hand. As he lent to retrieve it another, much stronger rumble followed that forced him to the ground. The others managed to stay on their feet, though only just. Luckily for Stephen he had a friend to help him.
“Easy,” Graham said. “What the hell was that?”
Again the ground became excited and threatened their balance. Only it had not been joined by a flash this time. Something else entirely had caused it. What they had now felt twice was magnitudes of power more forceful – or closer – than that coming from the tower. Graham had anticipated that noise to have been just as strong as before. This had not been.
“It’s coming from above us, I think,” Elliot said, with his head surveying the dark ceiling.
What the Sentient tower faced at least appeared to be progressing at a steady rate. Which made the new noise that much more dangerous. It did not match what was happening inside the cave. When it suddenly repeated itself, and caused a veil of dust to descend down upon them, Graham knew for sure something else was going on.
“Stephen, can we see the surface from your computers?”
“Of course, but why, G?” Stephen replied as he rushed over to his work area.
“Because, I think we’ve been found.”
The others gasped in unison. Although Phoenix’s reaction was less forceful, suggesting she was not that surprised at all.
Stephen began to tap away at his keyboard and quickly found the relevant video feed. He then posted it up on the large central screen and immediately froze. His eyes stayed wide open, enough so that they threatened to almost pop out.
Though slightly grainy and a lot fuzzier than expected, it showed who was making the extra noise. Through a cloud of dust and airborne dirt Graham could make out a large group of black boiler suit wearing men, all heaving rocks down a line of them. They were clearing the ground away one piece at a time and piling it up by the edge of the farming tower. Others were lowering something down the hole they made with metal chains in hand. It was an invasion force.
“Oh my God,” Phoenix suddenly said. “It’s Anthony. He’s breaking in through the ceiling. I’ve seen him use that device before. Where are they coming in from?”
Again Stephen performed a quick hand movement across the keys, pressing each in a blur of speed. “They’ll be coming in just outside that door.” He pointed over his shoulder to the large ship-style door.
The very mention of Anthony’s name was enough to send an acidic taste to Graham’s tongue that made him want to spit. The taste of evil in his mouth had to be expelled. It had to be removed, lest it eat him from the inside. He could not fathom how Anthony had managed to track them down. Sanctuary was supposed to be safely hidden.
“We’ll never fend them off,” Jane said as she swooped Alex up into her arms. “We need to escape before they get in.”
Graham stayed quiet as he studied Anthony’s workforce. There were indeed too many to fight, but he knew someone had to try. Each explosion had been louder than the last. Anthony was nearly through. He doubted everyone could outrun the threat when it crashed through the ceiling. Someone had to delay them, at least for long enough for the others to escape.
“No,” he said calmly. He waited until everyone had snapped their necks around to look at him with questioning glares before continuing. “There’s no time. I’ll keep them back as long as I can. You all need to go quickly.”
When the sound of the last explosion washed past them all, Graham shot a look to the tower. It was still going about its own business and leaving them to theirs. Only the occasional vibrations underfoot could be felt from the Sentient’s fighting.
The silence that soon followed suggested those trying to break in had just succeeded. Their banging had rained a fine layer of dirt down upon Graham and his companions, which slowly settled on their hair and clothing. Now all that remained in Anthony’s way was the thick metal, ship style door. The second he got through this, they would all be vulnerable. If the intruders were armed too, then their escape would be joined by gunfire.
He was certainly not going to let that happen.
Chapter 20
Defragged
Graham spoke without once looking into his wife’s eyes. “Get everyone out, now,” he ordered.
He knew if he met her gaze his confidence would dissolve. That could not happen this time. He had to stop what was inbound. When he saw the circular handle of the thick metal door begin to budge, he turned back to the group, kissed Jane, and then began running for the door.
“No!” Jane screamed.
Graham tried his best to ignore the plea. He was now concentrating on doing one thing: stopping the door from opening. Once his family were clear he would try and join them. As he forced his legs to run he focused on that one shiny surface, the one that
was holding back yet another war. He had no desire to fight, just to keep the enemy back for as long as possible.
When he reached the door he grabbed the handle and started to push back against it. “Elliot, get them out of here now.”
Without hesitation, Elliot made his way to the escape route and searched the floor for the key. He knew exactly what he was required to do. With his injured body he would be no good in any conflict at all, despite his size and strength. Instead his role was that of protector. So once he found the key and opened the door, he began ushering the others straight out.
“It might be a little dark in there. Don’t be scared,” Stephen said. “Just keep going until you reach the stairs. I’m staying too. I want to help. Luke needs my help.”
There was nothing Graham could say to change his mind, they were already too far gone. He could now hear noises that had to be from the enemy, building behind the thick metal door. The time to argue had passed.
“Fine. Get something to block this door then,” Graham said, while looking around himself for something to use.
His hands were drenched in sweat, as keeping the handle from spinning required all of his strength. Those behind so far had failed to work out that someone was fighting back. To them it probably just felt like a stubborn lock. He persisted until the tension from the other side stopped. With his arms linked through the circular bar and his weight pressing against it, he was almost thrown off balance by the sudden motion in the lock direction.
There was still the obvious sound of movement coming from those beyond the door. He could hear shouting, lots of shouting, but no words at all. Footsteps were barely audible through so much metal, so Graham had no idea how many had made it inside. They had at least relinquished control of the lock.
“We can use the sofas,” Phoenix said behind him.
He turned to see her standing right next to him. While the others continued to exit the room, she looked about as though she had no intention of leaving. “Why are you still here? Get going,” he once again ordered.
“Just shut up and help me drag the chairs over,” she replied defiantly.
“I have to find Luke,” Stephen said, incredibly coherently. The stress was apparently unlocking the parts of him that were held back before. He still had the same childlike quality to his actions, but he had a clear focus of an adult to go with it now. “I’ll tell him someone’s breaking in.”
Graham threw the first chair’s large comfortable cushions to the floor and took the end. Phoenix lifted up the other end and they roughly manoeuvred it over to the steel door. Once this was stood against the door, they went back for the second and repeated the procedure. Their makeshift barricade was not much to look at. Graham was still confident it would at least slow down whoever came in.
“The computers are really messy,” Stephen said from his wall of screens. “Someone is doing some bad things here. I can’t see where Luke went. Oh, that’s not good at all.”
“What?” Graham barked as he pushed the chairs tightly against the door.
“I’m seeing a lot less Sentients inside the tower. I think Isaac’s winning.”
“Let’s worry about that later, Stephen. Just try and find Luke in there.” Graham lowered his voice to speak only with Phoenix. “Have you still got your Taser pistol?”
She reached around her back and produced the weapon she had stolen from Anthony’s lock-up. “What about you?” she asked.
“I’ve got the projectile weapon. I think we should swap though. My aim is terrible. When they get in here we’ll need to make each shot count. So you’d better take the one with limited ammo.”
As they exchanged weapons, a bang on the metal door beside them instantly stole their attention away. What were they doing out there? To Graham it sounded like something had been stuck to it on the other side.
Then the sounds stopped altogether. No voices, no bangs, nothing but silence followed.
“Do you think they’ve given up?” Stephen said naively.
Graham leaned closer to the door and listened out for anything beyond. Although faint, he could hear one voice still speaking. Disturbingly, the way he spoke suggested he was counting down. Then the counting stopped. There was hardly enough volume to gauge the number he reached.
The second Phoenix worked out what was happening, it was already too late. She did her best to pull Graham back, who as usual remained one step behind in figuring things out. In confusion he pushed her away, only to be forced aside by the blast that came soon after.
The explosion shuddered through the room and kicked up every particle of dust. The door had quickly buckled and the circular handle had warped beyond use. It was now nothing more than a dead weight for the next blast to fling out of its way. Calls from the men behind the door streamed in like a wave of anger and hatred. They cursed whoever had fitted such an enormous obstacle in their way.
Graham found himself tumbling away like the rest of his barricade, and without even a single thought of pulling his gun up to fire. The next explosion that quickly followed proceeded to take the door clean off its hinges and throw it across the room, missing his head by inches. It stopped only after it made contact with the large glass windowed cube – which now had a few less windows to worry about. The door finally came to rest inside the cube.
The chairs had been totally torn apart, strewn across the floor in a gruesome puff of padding and material that now floated around the room. Graham was covered in it. His barricade had done little to slow the intruders down at all. He searched around for Phoenix. She was nowhere nearby. Neither was Stephen. Although he would have struggled to see them through the smoke and debris anyway.
“Go, go, go. Get inside!” Someone from outside yelled as they pushed through.
Graham called out to his friends through the fog. Nobody answered.
A shape came bounding through the smoke and dust, arms raised and unable to see. Graham did not stop to think at all. Instead he raised his gun and let loose with two poorly aimed shots. He expected to miss the man, and only fired to scare him off. It worked for a moment, but the next shape gave him no time to take aim at all.
He flinched and desperately swung his fist as a hand took hold of his shoulder and began to pull. It was no good, they had been overrun. “Get the fuck off me,” he shouted.
“Graham, it’s me. It’s Phoenix. We need to get to cover behind the cube,” she said while dragging him an inch at a time.
He opened fire with another duet of Taser bolts in the general direction of the intrusion, as he shuffled along backwards. This time he heard a scream that suggested he had hit one of them at last. Even so the sound of a steady flood of feet entering the room continued all around them.
“Whoever you are, give up now. You can’t hope to hold us back any longer.” Someone called to them.
Once around the side of the large cube – and its new contents of broken glass and twisted metal – Graham took a look back and could now see his enemy entering through the hole where the door had once been. He could also see a dark smear trailing along the floor behind him. Following the path of it led his attention straight down to his right side, where a bloodied gash was still leaking.
“Oh Christ!” he said, looking at the two inch piece of wood sticking out of his side. His close proximity to the blast had meant he was among the remnants of the sofa’s wooden frame when it too was thrown across the room. A small part of it had stuck in him as he landed.
After spotting the injury Phoenix quickly ripped a small shred of material away from her shirt and slapped it tightly against his wound. She knelt close to him as she held it in place and looked around the cube to the enemy still pouring into Sanctuary.
Stephen had stayed in place by his wall of screens and could only watch as his world was desecrated by the intruders. Graham cast a laboured gaze over and began to wave frantically for him to join them behind the frame of the cube. He shook his head, choosing to stay put rather than join them. They co
uld not reach him without being spotted, so for the time being they would have to wait for the other side to make the next move.
“Listen up,” the man in charge of the invasion began. “I know you’ve been stealing from me and my people. You’ve collected all of the MARCs from around the country. Now I want them back. This place will burn if you go against me.”
Despite not catching a single glimpse of the man who spoke, it was clear this was Anthony. As soon as Graham heard the man’s voice his heart sank. The authority with which he spoke made it obvious there was no contest between them. Plus the guy was right, how could they fight so many? Especially with Graham’s injury.
“This will go much quicker if you cooperate with me. Show yourself.”
“Let me speak to him,” Phoenix said.
Considering her previous closeness to Anthony, Graham immediately agreed with a laboured shake of his head. With any luck the knowledge that she had betrayed him would be a good way of stirring things up too. He deserved to suffer, just like the rest of them.
“Anthony,” Phoenix said as she stood and slowly stepped out from behind cover. “There’s more going on here than you know. You’ve got to stop this madness.”
Looking up at Phoenix, Graham was surprised to see her face contort suddenly. He then heard the maniacal laughter that followed and felt his own face do the same.
“My, my. You have been busy, haven’t you Phoenix. I thought you’d just disappear. Now I see you’ve joined the one group able to stop my plans. Seems I was right after all. You are a traitor. No wonder Dillon had his concerns about you,” Anthony said.
Graham placed a hand on Phoenix’s leg in anticipation of her reaction. He stopped her just as her calf muscle tensed up. If not for his calming influence he was sure she would have thrown herself at Anthony, without thinking of the obvious outcome. Thankfully, she took his point and remained silent rather than retaliate in some mindless way. Even if he agreed with her anger, this was not the time to vent it.
