Steel Lily (The Periodic Series)

by Megan Curd

  “Sari, Sari, it’s okay.”

  She recoiled back into Riggs’s chest, and when she realized who he was, she breathed a sigh of relief. “Oh, thank God. I thought you were Xander and his minions. Thank you, thank you, thank you. I’m so sorry for everything.” She embraced Riggs like a lifelong friend.

  Her response sent a wave of shock through me. Had Jaxon been in any shape to respond, he probably would have had a comment or twenty to throw their way. I glanced back and forth between them before resting my gaze on Sari.

  “Do you mind telling me what’s going on?”

  “Those encrypted files? They were Riggs’s. I found out everything—and I do mean everything—and that’s why I was coming to Xander’s office. I wanted to get you out but make it look like Riggs was the bad guy. He’s on our side, Avery. We’ve been wrong all along.”

  She turned to face Riggs, who stood there, stoic. “What I don’t understand though, is why you’ve done this. Why you’d side with Xander to begin with.”

  “Avery has a flash drive. It explains everything. It’s encrypted as well, so your expertise will be needed. You understand the need for the security. I couldn’t let Xander know my true intentions, but I needed to document everything. It speaks volumes about your talents that you were able to get past my firewalls and encryptions. I was right to bring you here.”

  She flushed with pride. Riggs motioned all of us to follow him, and I noticed a door at the end of the hallway. It appeared to be welded shut, and there was no card reader or lock. Riggs looked back at my mother, Legs and I. “I believe this is where your talents will be needed, ladies.”

  Mom took Legs’s hand and stepped forward as though she knew what Riggs wanted. Dad and he moved out of her way. Legs followed behind, notably confused, but I stood rooted to my spot. Mom turned toward me. “What’s wrong?”

  Fear consumed me. I was scared to stay here, but I was terrified of what could come. “We don’t know what’s on the other side of that door or why it’s welded shut, do we?”

  She smiled and extended her hand palm up, beckoning me forward. “Darling, fear causes us to put down roots in places we’d rather not be. Your only option is to fight that fear, otherwise you’ll never know what could have been.”

  Dad pressed a hand into the small of my back. “Don’t fret, my dear. It’ll all be over soon. Be brave.”

  Just then an alarm sounded, reverberating through the halls. We ducked in unison from the offensive tone. Riggs called out over the din. “Xander’s realized what’s going on! There’s no time!”

  Dad pushed me forward. “Go, Avery! Follow your mother’s instructions!”

  I ran forward, watching her extend her hands.

  Her expression remained calm. “I know you don’t have much experience, but you’ve got to focus on breaking through the wall. Burn a straight line, and Legs will punch through with his metal arm.”

  I shot Riggs a look. “Good thing I got him, huh?”

  He simply nodded, his lips in a tight line.

  I pressed my palms against the cool metal door alongside Mom’s and watched as a faint glowing line emerged from the foot of the door where she was focusing her attention.

  “Avery, please!” she said through gritted teeth. “I can’t do this alone!”

  I focused on the embers that beginning to emerge in the metal, concentrating on increasing the heat. The glow brightened, and I heard Riggs cheer behind us. All around, the alarm sounded, and the lights began to flicker even more. I heard lights shut off one by one behind us.

  “He’s killing the power! Hurry!” Riggs yelled.

  We pushed harder, and the line crept upward. One by one the lights flicked off until we were left with only the one directly above us. The line we’d burned through the door was an upside down “L.” As we shifted our efforts to the last corner, the lights went completely out.

  “Damn!” yelled Riggs. “Legs! Can you break through? This place is airtight! He’ll cut the oxygen next!”

  I willed my tired body to produce a flame in my hand. It burst to life, and I saw my mom leaning against the wall, sweat covering her face, her eyes closed. It was obvious the elemental force had sapped her energy. I felt it too, but forced myself to push through it.

  Legs stood in front of the door and flexed his fingers, grunting as he flung his fist forward. The door groaned and bowed under the assault. He pulled his hand back, his knuckles bent from the collision of metal on metal. He cocked back once more and launched another attack as a hissing noise came through the grate in the ceiling.

  “He’s shutting off the oxygen!” Riggs said as red lights began to flash overhead, casting everyone in a bloody glow.

  The alarm seemed to kick Legs into overdrive. His hand screeched against the metal, denting it but not breaking through. “I need more help!”

  I gritted my teeth and threw the flame in my hands toward the door, willing it to engulf the metal and melt it. The flames licked the barrier until it glowed, and Legs wheezed beside me as he tried to pull back, but the lack of oxygen was having its way. The fire died almost instantly. Instead of using only his fist, Legs lunged forward and threw his entire shoulder into the door. The metal ground and screeched as his arm bit through the weakened steel, ripping a hole into the tunnel behind it.

  Oxygen hissed through the door, and we all barreled through following Legs, who now led the charge. I looked back to see Dad still carrying Jaxon and Riggs helping my mom stay afoot. My body cried out for rest, but there was nowhere to go but into the unknown tunnel and pray that allies were on the other end.

  ***

  The only sounds in the tunnel were our ragged breathing. My muscles rebelled against the forward motion, pain shooting through my shins and calves each time my feet pounded against the wet ground. The stitch in my side made it painful to inhale.

  Up ahead, light began to illuminate the path. Two silhouettes blocked the opening. I prayed they weren’t enemies. There was no way we could fight anyone off in the state our group was in.

  “Riggs! You made it!” Asher called out as he ran forward. “Good God, what’d you do? Get run through a blender in the process?”

  “Something like that,” he grunted as he hefted Mom a little higher on his shoulder. “Tell me you’ve got Alice?”

  “I’m here!” her small voice rang out.

  “Good,” Riggs said as we neared the mouth of the tunnel and ascended the few steps to the atrium.

  I panicked. “Why are we back in the academy?”

  “Because we’ve got to get to Jaxon’s buggy,” Riggs answered.

  Despair set in as the logistics of getting everyone to Jaxon’s lab set in. “It’s across the dome! There’s no way we’ll get there!”

  “The buggy’s closer than that!” exclaimed Asher, who ran to the main stairs excitedly. “It’s right outside!”

  The floor beneath us began to rumble, and growls filled the atrium as we followed Asher.

  “What is that?” Dad wondered aloud, “The plagues can’t be used again for twenty-four hours!”

  Our motley crew piled into the elevator, and the doors began to close but not before I caught sight of what was coming toward us. A sea of burned men—like Riggs’s older son—were surging toward us, arms extended and teeth bared like rabid animals. They trampled over one another, and more than one went down under the feet of his comrades, screaming in agony as he was crushed by the weight of the innumerable masses.

  “We need to go now!” I screamed.

  The doors shut as the first man jumped unnaturally high, hurdling the stairway banister and connecting with the metal grating. Blood splattered us from between the closing doors.

  Riggs was the only one who didn’t seem fazed by the attack. “Xander has more of them than I imagined.”

  “What are they?” Dad asked, sounding astonished and disgusted as he wiped the blood from his cheek.

  “The Alliance army that escaped the nuclear bomb in New York,” Ri
ggs said as light began to stream through the grate in the elevator’s ceiling. “They were mutated by the radiation. Xander convinced them he could save our world, so now they follow his orders without question.” He looked at me sadly. “My son in the medical wing…”

  I held a hand up. “I understand. You don’t have to say anything else.”

  The elevator slowed, the door opened, and we spilled out into the last stairwell separating us from potential freedom. Everyone surged toward the final door. Legs barreled through it, metal shoulder first, without any regard for his body. Instinct drove our every move; the desire to escape flooded our veins with adrenaline.

  Just as Asher promised, the buggy sat humming expectantly outside the door. Its legs were lowered and the door open, ready for us to board. Riggs leapt in and donned the controls as Dad laid Jaxon on the back seat. The rest of us piled in behind. I looked up and realized we were under the overpass made of concrete and steel.

  “How are we getting out of here in this thing?”

  Riggs worked at the helm and the buggy shuddered to life, pushing off the ground and lifting the carriage into the air. Before it smashed into the overpass, he punched a flashing red button, and the glass that had protected us when we escaped Dome Four suddenly covered the carriage. It connected with the underbody of the overpass and cracked but didn’t break. The overpass crumbled, and sunlight spilled through the new opening.

  Riggs yelled back to me with pride. “Never underestimate my son’s ingenuity!”

  The legs of the buggy groaned as they gripped the disintegrating roadway, pulling us out of the pit. The gears weren’t meant to deal with such harsh situations, and steam rose from the front leg. A screw popped off at one of the joints, causing the buggy to lurch forward. I gripped the seat tighter and prayed the remaining legs would support our escape.

  “We’ve got company!” Dad yelled from the back seat, his tone panic-ridden.

  I looked back to see one of the burned men pounding the glass relentlessly with a mangled fist, his eyes opaque and unseeing. The glass cracked and spider-webbed under his third blow, and he howled with triumph.

  Riggs cursed and jerked the controls back and forth, causing the carriage to sway from side to side. The man lost his grip and fell away from the glass. I followed his descent to the ground, horrified.

  Hundreds of the burned men ran around below us in varying states of undress, their military uniforms still clinging to their bodies where they were unburned. They climbed up the moving legs with inhuman speed, catapulting themselves higher and higher along the legs as they gained purchase on the steel bolts that extended from the sides.

  “This is bad!” I said over the din. “Very bad!”

  “Keep calm!” Riggs yelled from the front.

  “Calm? Have you seen what’s coming for us?” screamed Alice.

  “Avery, can you send a rain to make the legs wet?” called Riggs, his body tense with each jerk of the controls as he tried to keep the buggy from going down under the added weight of the soldiers. “We need to keep them off the buggy!”

  I remembered the last time I tried to create an element, but I refused to let the memory hinder my ability. I was strong enough for this; I had to be. I closed my eyes and extended my hands, begging for the rain to come.

  It didn’t.

  “I don’t know what to do!” I shook my hands and jumped up and down, hoping my crude rain dance would bring down a torrent. “It’s not working!”

  Mom stood and swayed against the movements of the carriage as she came toward me in the center. She clutched my hand with hers, and supported herself with her free hand against the center seat. “Together!” she yelled over the bedlam that surged around us. She lifted our joined hands in the air, and together we yelled, “Rain!”

  The result was immediate. A hurricane wind came from the west, nearly tipping the buggy over. I opened my eyes to see hail, rain, and wind converge on us with unrelenting force. Everyone cheered in unison as we watched the men lose their grip and fall back to earth.

  I turned to congratulate Mom when I felt her weight sag, pulling my arm down. She collapsed to the floor, her face white and slack.

  “Mom!” I shook her. “Mom!” I screamed.

  Dad fell to the ground beside me, the space too close to hold all of us crouching around her. He pushed me out of the way and scooped her up in his arms as he sat beside her.

  “No, no, no, not now. You’re strong,” he said to her, speaking as though they were alone. “Be courageous like you told Avery. You can’t leave me now. We’ve weathered the storm. We’re getting out of here. Don’t do this.”

  He rattled her shoulders, her body limp. I fell on top of her, crying uncontrollably. “Mom! No! I just got you back!”

  Legs pulled me off and wrapped me in his embrace as we both watched my father plead with his wife to live, to live and be brave and survive another day.

  Her eyes focused on me. “Avery, my baby.” She coughed, and a small line of blood trickled from her nose. “I’m so glad I got to see the woman you’ve become.”

  She reached her hand out and I caught it as it began to fall. Her grip was weak, but I felt the minute squeeze. “Never let anyone take away your hope for a better future. Know what’s worth living—and dying—for.”

  As the words left her lips, the corners of her mouth turned upward. She looked at Dad. “I’m ready to go home, my love. I’ll save your spot and wait for you.”

  Her hand went limp.

  “No!” I screamed as I watched the light leave her eyes, her expression peaceful but far away.

  “It’s too late, Avery. She’s gone,” Legs said as he held me tight and pulled my head to his chest. “The exertion was too much. She’s gone.”

  TEARS FILLED MY vision. Not Mom. I’d just gotten her back. The memories of us laughing, talking late into the night, practicing—everything we’d done for the past week. It felt like a dream. And now it was just that—a dream and a memory fading away into nothing, like smoke on the wind.

  Anguish and fear and fury consumed me. This was all Xander’s fault.

  I would kill him if it was the last thing I accomplished on this earth.

  Riggs’s voice bit through the angry buzz in my ears. “Hold on!”

  Legs’s embrace grew stronger, and his metal arm bit into my exposed flesh. I gasped in pain as I saw one of his broken metal rods slice my upper arm, leaving behind a crimson stain that quickly dripped down my arm and over the metal components of his own appendage.

  The buggy hit the invisible barrier of the dome and stuttered, the mechanisms fighting against the unseen force. I heard Riggs grunt in frustration, and suddenly the buggy jerked forward. Fire engulfed the hatch as it pushed through the faux wall and caused a torrent of heat to cover us like a blanket.

  “The barrier jams electronics!” Riggs yelled.

  The force of the explosion caused Legs to lose his grip on me, and we all tumbled toward the front of the carriage, pressing Riggs against the controls. The buggy jolted violently, and the snap of metal twisting apart resonated in my bones. Another leg must have buckled. The carriage swayed to the right, and suddenly the ground was coming closer, closer, closer.

  The screech of metal and the screams of my friends filled my ears. The world spun around me in a haze of colors, yells, and smoke. Pandemonium reigned. It was ironic we would escape the dome only to die right outside the limits.

  Legs groaned and pulled himself out of the ruined buggy, but I couldn’t bring myself to move. Everything hurt, and I was positive my wrist was broken. I hadn’t tried to move anything else out of fear that it would be equally excruciating.

  “Avery?” Dad called.

  “I’m here.” I coughed.

  “Legs?”

  “Ugnhhh.”

  “Jaxon?”

  “Rainbows and unicorns, as always.”

  “Riggs?”

  I watched Dad pull Jaxon from under a large piece of rubble.


  “Riggs?” Dad repeated.

  There was a gurgle, accompanied by Legs shouting. I whipped my head around to find more horror.

  Legs held Riggs aloft, kicking and flailing in the clutches of his steel hand. Blood trickled down the side of Riggs’s neck where the metal fingers bit into his flesh.

  “Make it let go!” Legs yelled. “Make it stop!”

  Dad dropped Jaxon’s limp body and ran to Legs’s side. Riggs’s eyes were bloodshot, a silent scream emitting from his mouth.

  Legs cried out again, looking to Dad for answers. “Why can’t I control it? What’s happening? Make it stop!”

  Dad struggled to pry the metal fingers away from Riggs’s neck. I watched, unable to look away from the grisly scene as Riggs’s attempts to free himself became less and less powerful.

  “Because I don’t take lightly to traitors,” Xander’s voice boomed from all around us. A high-pitched squeal erupted from the speakers as his voice rang out once more. “Did you really think I’d give Legs the mechanical arm that I built, that I designed, without programming it to murder the treacherous bastard who backstabbed me?”

  I scanned the ground for something—anything—to use to free Riggs from Legs’s sadistic grip. His voice was full of pride and malice as the speakers in the dome hissed from the sheer volume being put out. “That was a gift from me to Riggs, and he betrayed me. I gave him a second chance at life, a second chance with his son, and this is how he repays me? With lies and deceit? He won’t live to boast of becoming a turncoat.”

  Legs gripped the metal arm with his human hand and tried to pry it from the sockets that bolted it in place, his fingernails scrabbling against the welding.

  “Get it off! Get it off, and then it’ll stop!”

  There. A piece of metal.

  Xander’s voice boomed. “It’ll stop when Riggs is dead. Which is…now.”

  “No it’s not!”

  I swung the metal rod, its weight crashing down with enough force to halfway cut through Legs’s metal arm. Wires sparked and whipped where they were sliced, sparks spraying in all directions. The hand released Riggs as it jerked out of control.