Karma City

by Gardener Browning

  The people cheered, waved and whistled.

  “True?” Carmen questioned. “I challenge you to be truthful, Marcus.”

  “What reasons have I to lie?”

  Carmen pointed to the crowd. “Tell them about Malad-X.”

  Graves smiled at the hundreds of citizens, but Luna saw the darkness, cruelty and purpose lurking in his gaze. “Ah, yes,” Graves continued. “Ladies and gentlemen, Graves Enterprises has finally developed a means to rid the world of Malady once and for all.”

  The gathering erupted in celebration. Then, a gap formed in the mob of people, parting to reveal a single man in a red coat with locks of white-blond hair. He shouted a challenging question. “Why should Malady meet such a fate?”

  Silence blanketed over the crowd.

  Luna locked her rifle on Gemni. She weighed the options. I should kill Gemni now. Half of the people here are Malady infected. He’ll turn them against the uninfected. I have to take him down. She touched the trigger but hesitated. Why? Never before had she made her decision and not acted. Something had changed in her. The quick thinking and fast actions of her tribal nature had subsided. For the first time, her heart directed her rather than her mind; she felt it as surely as she felt the cold, metal weapon in her hand. Now, her heart said to look beyond her sights, see the big picture, find the greater threat.

  Her finger lifted off the trigger and her vision widened to the perimeters of the commons. Five black vans pulled up along the opposing edge of the crowd and opened their rear doors. A line of Sable Guardsmen spread to the corners. Some carried long, cylindrical weapons and the rest cradled black rifles in their arms. Launchers and long guns. They’re taking position over this crowd. Graves is ready for war and we’re in the middle of it! She looked to Carmen and Albert. They have the science to save humanity. They need to get out of here before they get killed. There has to be a way out. Luna looked over her shoulder; the highway remained free of Sable Guard vehicles. She reasoned it to be the only exit. She rushed to Albert and said in his ear. “This is life or death so do as I say. We need to leave right now. Take Carmen and head for the highway. I’ll get Jameson.”

  Gemni approached the stage with an arrogant grin. “Malady is the evolution of humanity,” he taunted.

  Albert took Carmen by the arm but she resisted, shoving him backward. Carmen yelled into the microphone, pointing at Gemni. “Who are you and why would you say such a thing?”

  “Why? Because I am the voice of the infected. I am the face of Malady.”

  Graves snatched the microphone. “Guards! Kill him!”

  “You can’t stop me, Graves,” Gemni said with a grin. “This city is mine!” Gemni threw up his hands, his long coat flapped like a blood-soaked banner. He shouted, “Brothers, sisters, kill till the score is paid!”

  Luna heard the first pop echo overhead. She looked up, following a streak of gray smoke arching in the sky. A series of pops sounded. The Sable Guard, from the corners of the event, fired smoke grenades into the crowd. Panic ensued. Cheers became screams.

  Luna lifted her rifle and peered through the scope. She watched in horror as the van doors opened and wild-eyed civilians, wearing tattered clothing stained in blood, emptied into the crowd. With bats and axes, they attacked the Malady infected innocents. The smoke soon blanketed the area, hiding the murder and concealing the Malad-X predators.

  Graves’ laughter caught her attention. She swung her rifle barrel and locked her sights. Her finger moved over the trigger but a civilian barreled into her, knocking her rifle to the ground. “I won’t let you assassinate Graves! I need the cure!” The man picked up her rifle and aimed it at her.

  “If you have Malady, you need to get out of here. You’re going to die!”

  “I need the cure! And I’ll kill you to get it!”

  “Wrong move, pal!” said Jameson from the smoke. A shotgun blast blew out the man’s chest, spraying blood and bits of bone into the air. Jameson emerged and recovered Luna’s rifle.

  The smoke thickened, concealing the stage and podium. Luna heard a woman screaming. Carmen. She switched on her scope’s laser to cut through the smoke. She said to Jameson, “Secure the exit to the highway. I’ll get Albert and Carmen. Go!”

  She hurried through the chaos, following Carmen’s yells. The yelling faded and she found Albert on his knees behind the stage platform, blood trickling from his nose and mouth. She pulled him to his feet and dragged him behind the stage wall for cover. “What happened, Albert?”

  “The Sable Guard took Carmen. They struck me down.” The pleas for help, the wails of the dying and the horrific shouts of the Malad-X murderers raged through the curtain of gray smoke. Albert quivered. Luna could see the sadness and panic filling his eyes. “People are dying,” he whimpered. “They’re being slaughtered! I don’t know what to do, Luna. Tell me what I’m supposed to do!” Tears rolled from under his glasses.

  Luna could see the terror robbing him of his clarity. “You’re supposed to stay alive.”

  “Yes, but I—,”

  “Listen to me…Graves is insane. Crimm is dead. Carmen is kidnapped. That makes you pretty damn important to Karma City. Now take a deep breath,” Luna urged. “I will get us out of this warzone.”

  Albert ran his fingers through his hair and straightened his tie. “Okay, okay. I’m ready. How are we getting out?”

  “The highway. It’s the only line away from the district. And right now, it’s the only section not blocked by Sable Guard. Jameson’s holding the area.”

  Luna shot down anyone who charged them. Her rifle ignited orange halos in the thick smoke. She kept Albert close to her, shoving aside cowering innocents and trampling over the dead to reach the highway. She almost lost her footing when the ground beneath her shook from a tremendous explosion. A curtain of thick smoke covered the sky. Shards of hot metal sparked through the air. The screams of anguish rang in her ears. She pressed on and a few paces ahead, came to a mangled Sable Guard van. Fire engulfed the vehicle and charred bodies lay in smoking heaps. There, crouched behind the blown-out van, Jameson held the fight, engaged in a shootout with two Sable Guardsmen

  Two blasts erupted from his weapon; the shots hurled the guards backward. Jameson reloaded. Luna noticed two Malad-X fiends rushing to close in behind Jameson; their axes glistened with blood. “Behind you!” she yelled.

  Jameson fired. The two attackers fell, but a loud gunshot rang out. One of the guardsmen had re-emerged and, before dying from his wounds, shot back at Jameson. Luna gasped when Jameson took a bullet in the side. A tuft of blood sprayed from his waist.

  He collapsed to his knees.

  A horde of two dozen Malad-X axmen came through the smoke and flames, climbing over the surrounding dead. Their hands and faces wore the splattered blood of the slain Malady infected. The Malad-X cutthroats surrounded Jameson with murder flashing in their primal, parasitic eyes.

  Luna aimed her rifle and squeezed the trigger—click—out of bullets!

  Jameson struggled on his hands and knees. A pool of blood formed under him, red and orange in the firelight. He peered through the mob and met Luna’s eyes. He smiled at Luna.

  She knew his smile, but this expression was unlike any she had seen before. Luna, in stunned disbelief watched Jameson return to his feet. He stood tall, shoulders back, head up. Blood oozing from his side.

  Jameson closed his eyes and stretched his hands in front of him, as if ready to hold back a moving train. The attackers pounced.

  “Enough!” he shouted. His voice sounded doubled and hollow, almost an overlapping echo. His eyes flared open and there shined a bestial, green light.

  The enemies halted under Jameson’s blazing stare.

  Graves’ Malad-X killers recoiled and scattered, fleeing from his terrible, commanding eyes. Jameson toppled to the ground once more.

  Luna and Albert ran to Jameson.

  Jameson took hold of Luna, his eyes no longer afire. “What happened?” he asked, his face
knotted in suffering.

  “We’ll figure it out later,” replied Luna.

  Luna and Albert moved Jameson with his arms around their shoulders.

  “I should really examine his wound,” pleaded Albert.

  Gunfire burst over their heads. Bullets whirred around them.

  Luna glanced back at the crowd they had fought through. A force of Sable Guard ran toward them. “The highway is right there; once we’re safe, we can check him.”

  “But we don’t have a vehicle? How are we going to—?”

  An Oasis Hospital parking shuttle squealed to a halt in front of them. The double doors swung open. The driver, a man with tousled brown hair and worn denim jacket, waved for them and hollered, “Hurry up! Get in!”

  Albert and Luna carried Jameson aboard the shuttle. The driver levered the door closed and stepped on the accelerator. Bullets pinged into the fenders and chimed off the bumper. The small bus slipped away from the River Commons and sped down the highway.

  Albert laid Jameson across the shuttle’s rear bench and set to work dressing his wound.

  “Is it as bad as it feels?” asked Jameson.

  “The bullet ripped up your side pretty bad, Jameson, but it didn’t do any critical damage. You’ve lost a lot of blood and you’re going to feel very weak for a while.”

  Luna squeezed Jameson’s hand. “Rest. I’m going to talk to the driver who saved our asses.”

  Luna moved to the front of the bus and dropped in the seat behind the driver.

  “How’s the injured guy doing?” asked the man.

  “His name is Jameson and thanks to you, he’s not going to die. Thank you for saving us. It’s a relief to encounter some good people in Karma.”

  “There are some good people left. Just got to know where to look.”

  “My name is Luna Briggs. Who are you?”

  The driver wiped the sweat from his brow. “Jack Halligan. And you’re welcome. I figured you’d be going my way.”

  “And where is that?”

  “To rescue Carmen Victoria.” A look of annoyance washed over him. Jack turned to the empty passenger seat beside him. “Shut up!” he shouted. “I’m going as fast as I can. If I drove like you, I’d end up like you.”

  Luna looked at the empty seat, then back at Jack. “Is there a problem?”

  Jack sighed and wrung the steering wheel. “You wouldn’t believe me if I told you.”

  Luna thought of the supernatural green light in Jameson’s eyes. “Forget it. I don’t want to know. What’s your plan?”

  “Graves took off in his limo a minute ahead of us. If I can get this bus to move a little faster, we might be able to catch up and run him off the highway.” He pointed to the floor under the passenger seat. “Or we can shoot him off.”

  Luna looked under the seat. There, a pile of ammunition and several firearms rattled around. “Where did you get all this artillery?”

  “Scavenged it from dead guards during the shootout back there.”

  She pulled a magazine from the pile and locked it into her rifle. “Well done, Jack.”

  Albert came to the front of the shuttle and regarded Jack. “Hey, hey…aren’t you…”

  “Jack Halligan. Karma Daily.”

  “Thought so. I’m Dr. Albert Walker. You know, I’ve been trying to reach you about my new medical center in Undertown and—”

  “Not now!” snapped Luna.

  “Right. Sorry. Thanks for picking us up, Mr. Halligan.”

  “Just call me Jack.” He glanced at them through the shuttle’s rear-view mirror. “You must be the people who survived the train bombing a while back.”

  Luna nodded.

  Jack drummed the wheel with his palm. “I’ve been trying to find you to get your story. When I found out from Carmen that you’ve been working to foil Graves, the questions I had about your involvement in this Malad-X mystery were answered.”

  “How much do you know about Malad-X?” Luna asked.

  “Carmen shared a little info with me but was going to tell me more after the event. She wanted me to cover the story. She said it’s a stronger parasite and that people infected with Malad-X kill people infected with Malady. That sucks for me. What’s worse is Graves has a huge tank of it on top of his tower.”

  Albert tensed. “The second brood.”

  “What are you talking about?” asked Jack.

  “We destroyed a cultivation of Malad-X on Graves’ ship. There, we learned there was another brood but its location wasn’t specified.”

  Jack grinned. “You’re the ones who blew up the boat!”

  Albert pinched the lapels of his lab coat proudly. “Indeed.”

  “Well, speaking of Graves…” Jack pointed ahead, “There’s his limo!” He stomped the accelerator.

  Luna felt the shuttle jump forward. “Put the limo at our two o’clock,” she ordered Jack.

  Jack cut the course to the left, positioning the fleeing limousine ahead of him at a forty-five-degree angle to his right.

  Luna cranked the shuttle doors open. “Hold this thing steady!” She switched on her rifle’s laser sight and leaned out of the moving vehicle. The wind whipped her hair and watered her eyes. She focused on the laser, struggling to place the glowing red dot on the limousine’s rear, driver-side tire. The shuttle bumped along the beaten highway. She took a steadying breath and allowed a small smirk when the laser found its mark. She pulled the trigger but the shuttle struck a pothole. The shot rang and ricocheted away. “Damn.”

  She fought the cold, lining up her next shot. Her fingers numbed but that’s how she liked it. The weapon felt like part of her, capable of reacting as if by mere thought. The laser danced along the limousine’s rim, across the wheel-well, then at last over the black tire. She fired. The rear tire exploded to strips of rubber. The limousine screeched and veered across the highway. Yellow sparks sprayed from under the steel wheel but it raced on.

  Jack pulled Luna back into the shuttle. “Nice hit,” he said, “but it looks like Graves has called in some of his pals.”

  A black van zoomed by the Oasis shuttle, positioning itself beside the speeding limousine. Luna wasn’t convinced. The van’s unsteady course, coupled with its positioning beside Graves’s vehicle, raised her suspicion. Why isn’t it blocking us to defend Graves?

  Motion at the roof of the limousine caught Luna’s eye. A Sable Guardsman stood from the skylight with a grenade launcher poised.

  “We’ve got big problems now!” Jack exclaimed. “Anyone got any ideas?”

  “Just one.” Luna raised her rifle. “Cover your face!”

  “What?”

  Luna shot through the shuttle’s windshield. A puff of blood spewed from the guard’s throat. His body fell forward. The launcher tumbled from his grip and landed atop the roof.

  The black van adjacent to the limousine opened its sliding door. Luna gasped when Gemni emerged and leapt from the moving van. With wiry arms and legs outstretched like a terrible spider, he soared through the air, red coat rippling behind him. He landed atop Graves’ limousine, snatched up the launcher and fired.

  The grenade struck the road in front of the shuttle.

  “Shit!” Jack cut the wheel. Their vehicle spun out, vaulting forward and turning onto its side.

  Chunks of pavement and curling flames engulfed them.

  Jack, buckled into his seat, was struck hard by the erupting airbag. Luna gripped the overhead bar but the force of the crash knocked her around as the vehicle rolled. The wreckage spun around her slowly— dreamlike—glass glinting like rain, bullet casings chiming off the walls in flashes of gold, and the grinding of metal over concrete. She wondered if she’d die now and with a surreal clarity, waited for her body to be ripped to shreds.

  A jarring slam halted the vertigo.

  The entire world stopped. And she breathed.

  A quiet darkness eclipsed. A mental reset.

  Her senses struggled to realign. Something wet dripped on her collar. G
asoline. Get it together, Briggs. She couldn’t get up. She’d been thrown between Jack and the steering wheel. Jack lay unconscious, trapped in his seat. The deflated airbag had caught a lot of glass and the sharp bead felt like a hundred bees stinging her back and neck as she fought to get free. She forced her chin up to look out the blown windshield. Through an increasing cloud of smoke, two brown boots crunched over the shards of glass. Then, a hand reached for her.

  “Hurry, Luna. Take my hand!”

  Jameson!

  Though her head ached and blood poured from her nose, she grabbed hold of him. He pulled her out of the wreckage and carried her to the edge of the highway. He sat her down and ran for the others. Wearily she called out, “How?”

  He looked back with eyes like jade gems.

  He did not answer.

  Luna watched as Jameson, with effortless strength, rescued Jack and Albert. His boots pattered in the pooling gasoline, his bandaged side blackened with blood. Soon, Jameson had brought the group safely away from the smoking, toppled shuttle.

  Their pursuit of Graves ended on an old, rundown overpass. Far below, the railway stretched north and south, parallel with the road. The Karma City skyline rose behind them, silhouetted by the falling sun. Luna watched as Jameson brought up his shaking hands and cupped them over his face.

  “Do you see now?” asked Brighton. “See what I can do, how I can help you?”

  “Yes.”

  “Do not be afraid of me, Jameson. Let me take over so I can save you…save us.”

  “I don’t need you to take over.”

  “Yes, you do. I smell Malady. I smell…him…”