by J J Hane
Serenity limped into view, kneeling down beside me. “You okay?” she asked. I blinked, so there was progress, at least.
“Okay,” she said. “I’m going to leave you here now. I’m sorry for getting you involved in all of this. You’re a really great guy. I’m sure your security people are already on the way.”
I blinked rapidly at her, trying to communicate that I didn’t want her to leave me. I wanted to go with her, to have a chance to convince her people to flee before the Archangel was fired.
Serenity took off her borrowed jacket, folded it quickly into a bundle, and placed it under my head. “I hope you don’t hate me for all of this,” she added, studying my eyes for a moment. She was, I could see, sincere. “Goodbye, Raphael.”
She was going to escape. I knew, somehow knew, that if she left me there, the Council would find out soon enough that I was no longer with her. They might hesitate to destroy the tribe if there was a Martyrion citizen being held hostage, but not if that hostage were freed. They weren’t going to give anyone the chance to escape. Serenity hadn’t actually done any real harm to anyone, but the Council wouldn’t get that. They wouldn’t see the beautiful, frightened young woman in front of me who was desperately trying to keep her people safe from a godlike weapon. They wouldn’t see her loyalty, her intelligence, or passion. They most definitely would not see the kindness that was so buried by the self-protective layers of hostility and indifference.
All they would see was that a savage, not a person, a savage had attacked the city, attacked the security forces, and kidnapped one of their citizens. Setting aside the humiliation of being kidnapped by a girl half my size, this would all look damning enough that the members of the Council who already wanted to use it would have more than enough support to set the fires of creation to burn men, women, and children out of existence.
Serenity started to stand, casting a glance back at the city. When she turned to look back to the forest, she let out a surprised gasp.
“Took you long enough,” a young man’s voice said from out of sight. I recognized the voice as the sentry who had stopped us on my first visit to the Jackal Tribe. Derrick was his name.
“You wouldn’t have got past the gate,” Serenity replied contemptuously. All trace of the kindness she had been showing me a moment ago was simply gone, vanished beneath the hard shell she presented to her fellow outlanders. “We need to get into cover, now.”
“Not without him,” Derrick said. I could hear the malice in his voice.
Chapter 16
“He’s not part of this anymore,” Serenity told Derrick firmly.
Derrick moved into my line of sight, trailed by his quiet companion from the other day. “Azrael says he is.” He knelt down in front of me. “Hey there, little buddy.”
My muscles were starting to loosen, but not enough to let me flinch back when he kicked me in the face. Pain exploded across my cheek, jaw, and nose, blinding me to all senses. I felt myself being roughly lifted off the ground, eventually getting tossed over a strong shoulder. There was a brief moment where I glimpsed Derrick taking the lead while he let his friend carry me. Serenity was close by, looking furious.
After that, I couldn’t see much more than my captor’s back, but I took childish solace in the fact that I could feel blood trickling from my nose and lip onto the silent man’s roughly-made jacket. At least I would leave a stain on his stupid clothes.
Serenity was arguing with Derrick about something, probably me, but the man carrying me like a heavy sack of seeds interrupted them. “Cover,” was all he said, then he was off at a steady pace, bouncing me around like a doll as he went. I was going to be in a lot of pain the next day.
A few minutes later, once our pace had slowed somewhat, the arguing started up again. Serenity called Derrick some fairly vile things, and he responded in kind. The young man carrying me remained silent while I desperately tried to force any of my muscles to respond. In addition to the throbbing pain from the kick, the bruises from the crash, and my captor’s shoulder digging into my stomach, every one of my muscles seemed to be cramping simultaneously. All in all, it made it sort of difficult to pay attention to everything that was being said.
By the time we reached the fallen building that marked our halfway point to the settlement, I was at least able to move a little, although it still hurt tremendously. I was also begrudgingly impressed by the outlander’s strength. There was no way I would have been able to carry someone that far. He set me down as carefully as he could, still dropping me hard enough to set all my overly tense nerves on fire.
“This isn’t the time for a break, Corey,” Derrick snapped at him.
“You can carry him if you want,” Corey replied mildly as he stretched his shoulders. We were just inside what had once been a window, now serving as one of a thousand different entrances into the rubble that had been a proud skyscraper before the collapse of civilization. Derrick scowled down at me.
Serenity brushed past him, bumping him hard with her shoulder before kneeling down in front of me. She addressed Derrick first: “Go check the perimeter. Make sure we aren’t being followed.”
When he walked off, muttering angrily to himself, Serenity leaned toward me, examining my injuries. “I’m sorry,” she said again, softly.
I tried moving my mouth, discovered I had enough control back to speak. My voice came out more froglike than I would have wanted, but it would do. “It’s okay,” I told her. I had to clear my throat a couple of times. “It works out, I guess. At least I’ll be able to try to convince your people to run.”
Serenity’s laugh was coarse. “I guess so. They’ll be moving on already, anyway, though. I’m sure Azrael will have planned for this. He knows more about what the Martyrion is capable of than anyone else.”
“Yeah, but how does he know these things?” I asked her. “Who gave him the information? Who gave you the memory stick?”
Serenity shrugged. “I have no idea. It doesn’t matter right now. Can you walk, or does Corey need to carry you more?”
I squinted at her. The corners of her mouth were twitching up. “Are you making fun of me?”
A smile split her face, making her look younger, more like the teenager she was rather than a bitter, hardened woman. “A little.”
I tried to scowl back at her, but her grin made it difficult. That, and the fact that my eyebrows were involuntarily twitching. “I can manage,” I said, trying to push myself up.
Serenity eventually had to help me to my feet, with Corey standing a few feet away, his face still concealed by the same scarf he had worn the first time I met him.
Derrick suddenly rushed back in, evidently having gone outside to take a look around. “They’re coming,” he said, not even pausing to glare at me. Instead, he went deeper into the broken building. Without looking back, he added, “Bring him.”
“I’m not clear on your chain of command,” I said. Rather than clear up who was in charge, Corey gave me a rough shove that staggered me. Given how far he had carried me without much complaint, I realized that it was more like a restrained nudge.
I could hear a rumbling noise in the distance. Security vehicles, no doubt. Serenity hesitated, but Corey was already by my side, taking my arm and half-dragging me along. It wasn’t easy to keep up, especially with the tingling pain in my legs, but with Serenity’s help I managed to avoid falling on my face.
We did not have very far to go. We went through the shattered remnants of what had once been floors, into a room that consisted mainly of a patch of dirt surrounded by twisted metal and piles of broken concrete. Derrick shoved his fingers into the dirt, felt around for a moment before catching hold of something, and stood, opening a hidden hatch not unlike the one we had used in the city.
“Get in,” he ordered. Corey pulled me over to the hole in the floor. When I looked down, Derrick gave me a rough shove. I fell a few feet into a dark hole, landing hard enough to earn more bruises on top of all the ones I had already d
eveloped, the jolt sending more fire through every raw nerve in my body. Derrick dropped down beside me, kicking my side before he fell to his hands and knees and began crawling deeper into the darkness. Serenity followed, her narrowed eyes and set jaw directed in hatred at Derrick’s hindquarters.
With a little help, I rolled onto all fours. Serenity led the way, for which I was immensely grateful. I suspected that if I had been directly behind Derrick he would have kicked me in the face out of spite. Once Corey was in the hole with us, he shut the trap door, sealing off all light from the outside. Derrick pulled out an old chemical glow stick, snapping it to provide a little bit of greenish illumination.
We were in a long dirt tunnel, barely tall enough to get through by crawling on hands and knees. Irregularly spaced bits of metal, wood, and even some concrete seemed to be holding up what passed for a ceiling. As we crawled, we had to maneuver carefully around them. I wasn’t certain how sturdy the supports actually were, but I wasn’t about to test them by bumping into them. The longer we were in that tunnel, the greater the fear of being buried by a collapse became. No one would ever even know what had happened to us.
We crawled for what felt like hours, my muscles growing less stiff yet more painful with every passing minute. By the time Derrick twisted onto his back to open a hatch that would let us out, I was breathing hard through clenched teeth, sincerely worried that I might wind up getting dragged out of the tunnel.
When I finally got to stand up, I discovered that all of the discomfort had led to a lot more mobility. I didn’t think I could run away or anything, but I wouldn’t need any help walking, either.
I climbed out of the hole before anyone could yell at me or hit me. Serenity was standing close by, watching Derrick with a murderous glare. We were in a cave that I discovered was very near to the mall where the tribes had set up camp. Our little foursome walked up toward the great building but, instead of going inside, we walked around one of the huge rectangular sections that had once functioned as a major store.
Before we reached the building, a small girl dressed in warm, rough clothing came sprinting out of one of the doorways. I recognized her as Cassidy, one of the little ones I had played with. Practically sliding to a stop beside us, she looked quizzically up at me, her green eyes seeming to understand more than someone of her age should. Her attention quickly shifted to Serenity.
“Serenity,” she said, her little voice rough and a little squeaky. “Where did everybody go?”
“What do you mean?” she asked absently, her mind on what we were doing.
“Luca and Rodrick and Melania and Persephone,” Cassidy replied, the names spilling out of her mouth like water through a broken dam. “I can’t find them anywhere, and nobody will tell me what’s going on.”
Serenity looked down at the girl, who was now keeping pace with us. “I haven’t been here all day. Why don’t you ask Mabel?”
Cassidy looked like she might explode from frustration. “I can’t because Mabel isn’t here either. Nobody is, except for the elders and the Bay Tribe people, and maybe some of the others, too. All the warriors and a bunch of the kids are gone. I don’t know where they are. I was scared that you were gone, too.”
Serenity looked a little shaken. “Okay, why don’t you go wait for me in the atrium? I’ll be there as soon as I’m finished talking to Chief Azrael.”
The answer didn’t seem to make Cassidy happy, but it did at least pacify her enough that she mumbled agreement before taking off back into the mall.
As we finished walking around the building to the clearing where the ancient cannons lay dormant, I strained my ears to listen. The heavy concrete walls limited noises already, but I wondered if the quiet I was hearing was the result of the tribes abandoning their position. There was only one explanation for the warriors being gone: they were preparing to attack the city.
Listening for noises from within the mall, I became aware of an irregular rumbling sound somewhere in the forest. It seemed to be coming from the direction of the Martyrion, though it was too close to have been coming from the city itself. I wondered if asking about it would get me in more trouble, but then we were back in the clearing.
Ahead of us were twenty people, all relatively young men and women. Looking closely at them, noticed that a lot of them had obvious medical issues, the sort that the Martyrion could clear up with ease. A couple of them appeared to have tumors sticking out of limbs or necks, a lot of them were unusually pale, sickly looking.
Keeping his distance from the rest of the group, Azrael stood apart with a pair of his generals. I recognized them both from our dinner, although I didn’t know their names. Azrael turned toward us as we approached, dark eyes calculating.
“What took you so long?” he asked, the question clearly directed at Serenity.
“I had to wait until I wasn’t being watched,” she replied. “Security was just like you said it would be.”
If the affirmation of his knowledge pleased him, I couldn’t tell.
Serenity glanced at me before speaking again. “Raphael thinks that the Martyrion can still hit our position here. Maybe we should start evacuating everyone.”
Azrael walked closer, his strides smooth, threatening despite his calm expression. “I am aware of the Martyrion’s capabilities,” he told her. “I have not, for one moment, placed my full trust in that pretentious old man.”
Old man?
Serenity looked uncertain. “He thinks we have a day before they fire.”
Azrael’s eyes settled on me. “I’m sure that was their plan. They’ll be moving their schedule up soon.”
“Why?” Serenity asked.
I got the impression that Azrael was only absently answering her questions because he was studying me, calculating his next move. “Because we’re going to attack the city.”
“What?” Serenity demanded. “You said this was just to blind them, to let our people live free from the Archangel!”
A faint smile touched his lips. “That’s true. Our people are keeping their security force at bay for now, keeping them from coming to rescue their little rat here. Soon, though, they’ll either break through or decide he isn’t worth it. I’m hoping that they delay a while longer, but it doesn’t much matter in the long run.
“I should thank you,” he said, addressing me. “That medicine you brought for us? It’s giving my warriors a little boost. Many of them are feeling better than they have in years, perhaps in their entire lives. The children that survive this war are going to be forever indebted to you when I take over the Martyrion and dispense its medicine as I see fit.”
He placed his hand on my shoulder, squeezing hard. I couldn’t tell if he was trying to hurt me or if it just worked out that way. “I won’t forget this, Raphael. Thank you.”
The idea of that madman taking over my city was horrifying. I could imagine him turning the Archangel on anyone who threatened, or even displeased, him. It seemed extremely unlikely that he could pull it off. Much more likely, he was about to lead his people into a slaughter that would destroy them. Some of my people were definitely going to die, as well.
“You can’t do this,” I told him, pleading. “Martyrion Security doesn’t just rely on the Archangel. They’ll be able to shoot your people as soon as they’re out of cover in the buffer zone. You’ll never even reach the fields, much less the wall! Your people are going to die! You have to call this off!”
Azrael released my shoulder, tilting his head slightly, like a cat considering a strange noise. “Hubris,” he said after a pause, “is the defining characteristic of the Martyrion.”
“Azrael,” Serenity began. His eyes snapped to hers, cutting her off.
“Serenity, you’ve done a great thing. You did as well as I might have hoped.” He placed his hand on her shoulder this time. I saw her wince, flinching from the pain. I was fairly certain that her collarbone was broken. If he squeezed her shoulder as hard as he squeezed mine…
I noticed, too
, that her side was bleeding. She must have been hit by the solar rifles during our getaway.
“I want to promote you,” Azrael said, never breaking eye contact with her. “Come with me. We’re leaving this place for the last time.”
“What about everyone else?” she asked. I could hear the pain in her voice. “All the kids, the elders, the other tribes?”
“The warriors of the other tribes are already with us, except for the Bay Tribe. Brandon was a decent enough leader. They respected him too much to let go our little disagreement. They and the sick, the useless, will remain here to protect our investments. When the Archangel destroys this place, it will drive all of our warriors to fight harder, to achieve victory for their fallen families.”
“You’re going to let them all die?” Serenity asked, incredulous. “That’s not fair! We have time! We can get them moving!”
Azrael looked briefly confused. That frightened me maybe more than anything I had experienced up to that point. He genuinely did not understand what could be wrong about murdering his own people if they got in the way. “Why? Everyone who remains is sick, or weak, or unreliable. Their deaths will encourage the rest of the warriors, while ridding us of the trouble. Why should we risk leaving our back exposed?”
Serenity looked dumbfounded. I couldn’t blame her. Azrael’s plan was so heartless, so callous, that I could barely process it. How could anyone do something like that?
Derrick shifted uncomfortably. “Um, Chief? Do I get to come?”
For a moment, Azrael seemed to be legitimately considering leaving the young man behind. He finally gave the slightest nod. Derrick released his held breath.
“Well?” Azrael prompted Serenity. “Do you want to be my newest general and join me in the City of Light, or would you rather be reduced to ash with the rest of our past?”
Serenity looked back at me. “What about Raphael?”
“He stays,” the ruler of the tribes replied firmly. “It might buy us some time. There are some in the city who might want to delay in the hopes of saving their rat. I don’t see how this is relevant. Are you coming with me?”
