Blind Hero

by Nix Whittaker

  Toa stood and approached her. He laid his hands on her shoulders and smoothed them down her arms.

  He brought his hands to her face and said, “I’m sorry. I should have said something last night. I shouldn’t have… I’m…” Toa let out a long sigh. “It surprised me. To know the Shield Builder’s daughter loves me.”

  Megan snorted. “That is not a compliment. I would have thought you would have been happier to know your wife loves you.”

  He stepped back and ran a hand through his hair. “I think I was still in shock. Why didn’t you tell me you were the Shield Builder’s daughter?”

  Megan sighed and sat down on the bench. He followed her and took a seat. He was about to ask again when she said, “When I finished the tower dad came out to install the Weather Shield and to open the tower. Before that everyone just thought I was Warren’s bossy sister. Since Natasha’s family owned the land and they were the ones who hired me to build all the infrastructure here. There wasn’t much people could say about it so they were forced to accept me. When they found out we were a bit like royalty, they treated us like we didn’t truly belong here. I was lonely and then this guy started paying attention to me. I was flattered.”

  Megan was silent for a long moment, but before he could find the words to comfort her, she continued. “He was an ass. He only dated me because I was the Shield Builder’s daughter and when I wouldn’t put out or get serious, he got nasty. I dumped him and he spat out some nasty stuff. When you didn’t say anything last night, I was worried the same thing was happening again. I have to ask and I hope this doesn’t offend you. Did you marry me because you wanted a place to stay?”

  Toa felt like he had been physically hit. He caught her and pulled her close and said with too much emotion in his voice, “No. Never. I had enough of that….”

  He shook his head and gathered himself so he could speak in coherent sentences. “I joined the army because I needed a place for my family. They betrayed me and my family when they let Murphy run rampant. I didn’t want that again. I don’t know if I want to stay here but there is one thing, I’m sure of. I want to stay with you.”

  Megan surprised him by kissing him. He gathered her closer and kissed her back. He had missed her the night before.

  She pulled away. “This isn’t completely finished, but I’m glad to know you don’t have another agenda for why you married me.”

  Toa smoothed a hand through her hair. He wondered if she would figure out he had married her purely for himself. He had never intended to stay. In fact, he had been pretty sure he would die getting his family to safety.

  Toa tugged her back and kissed her. He wanted to tell her he hated not being with her last night. He let his lips caress hers and hoped she understood. After a second, she eased in against him. He pulled back from the kiss and rested his forehead on hers. He let out a long breath. “I missed you last night.”

  Megan wrapped her arms around his waist and he was warmed not only from her heat but by the gesture. Her voice when she spoke was soft, “I missed you too.”

  She pulled away and she rubbed her face. Toa wondered if she had been crying. It was times like this he wished he could see her. He reached out and brushed her cheek. His fingers felt the slight dampness. He ached with his own guilt.

  He smoothed his hand through her hair and asked, “No more fighting?”

  Megan caught his hand and kissed the palm. “No more fighting.”

  ___

  Toa found Natia in the garden. Amongst the flowers was a lovely place to find some quiet. Warren had told him most of the plants were from their dad who liked plants. She shifted on the bench when he approached.

  Natia said first, “Do you see?”

  Toa sat down. “I can figure out most things. Like I knew you saw me as I could hear your clothes rustle as you looked up. It’s how I can tell when people are nodding their heads.”

  He smiled at her trying to ease the tension. She reached out and caught his hand. The touch was brief. They had never been a very demonstrative family.

  Natia said in a pained voice, “I’m really sorry about what the General did to you. I tried to get to you, but they kept making excuses. I knew something was wrong, but there wasn’t much I could do.”

  He reassured her. “It wasn’t your fault. It was just bad luck, he recognised me and thought he could get from us what he couldn’t get from dad.”

  There was a long silence and Natia asked, “Do you think he did something to dad?”

  Toa nodded. “Not sure if he was the one to kill him, but I think he is the reason why dad never came home.”

  Natia’s voice when she spoke was fierce, “I wish he hadn’t run like a bloody coward. He needs some serious justice for what he has done.”

  Toa wasn’t so sure. He killed people for a living and he was glad his sister had been spared having to kill someone. Now if he came across the man again, then it might be different, but he really thought the General had written off what he could gain by getting into the vault with what he had already lost going after them. If the General didn’t stop, then his superiors would put a stop to him.

  Natia bumped him with her shoulder, knocking him from his thoughts. “So is this our new home because I have to say living in a mansion is very much better than a tent?”

  Toa shrugged, not feeling her amusement at the situation. But then she was always the optimistic one. “I don’t know. Megan is my new home and she does want you guys around. She was always keen. She has a big family herself and this is her brother’s house rather than hers.”

  Toa did smile now. “You should see the palace she built. If we live there, it will be more than big enough for us.”

  Natia shrugged and he wished he could see her expression as her silence was hard to judge and she had always been good at hiding her feelings in the first place.

  He added. “It seems like people are going to leave us alone at least.”

  “Yeah at least,” Natia added.

  Toa bumped her shoulder and asked, “Is it Megan. Because you know where she goes so will I.”

  “I know. And that is the way it should be. We will come as well. Well Mum is worried what Megan will think, but I don’t think that is a problem.”

  Toa didn’t like the tone of her voice and asked, “What are you hiding, Natia?”

  Natia sighed. “If I had a choice, I wouldn’t stay here, but it’s better than the camps.”

  He was suspicious and he asked again, “What are you hiding?”

  She shrugged and admitted. “Just that some of the guys here remind me a little of the soldiers in the camp.”

  “And how is that?” What he really wanted to ask was whether the men at the camp had hurt her but he knew she would just brush it off if he asked.

  “Just the way they look at me,” her voice was suspiciously casual.

  Toa growled. “What do you mean by the way they look at you? You are eighteen they shouldn’t be looking at you.”

  Natia chuckled. “Actually, I’m nineteen, but that doesn’t matter. People have looked at me for a long time. They think because I’m from the islands I’m desperate.”

  Toa huffed as he had come across the attitude as well from people. “Not that desperate. After all I knew those soldiers and they weren’t worth a bar of soap. I don’t think anyone would be desperate enough to shack up with them of their own free will.” He asked, worried what her answer was going to be, “Did any of them take it too far?”

  “Nah. I handled it. What? Are you angry now? It’s a good thing I didn’t tell you when it was happening.”

  Natia must have found his expression amusing as she burst into laughter. He ached because he realised he hadn’t heard his sister laugh in years.

  Chapter Thirteen

  Edge August 2097

  Toa stepped out of the truck and asked, “So why are we out here again?”

  Megan turned off the vehicle and stepped out. She didn’t answer for a long moment, then sai
d, “I’m thinking of starting a community out here. One where all the people who live here will have a atramento.”

  She gestured and he wished he could see what she was gesturing at. He had never been to the valley before they had hidden here, but he had heard stories from his father. He regretted he couldn’t see the valley like his father had.

  Megan continued, “I’ll suspend cables across the valley and hang the weather shield plant. The area the plant will cover won’t be as big as Edge but I think if we have a couple of the plants growing along the length of the canyon it will be more than enough space. Especially if we build the pods into the sides of the valley as I plan.”

  Toa came to stand next to her at the top of the valley. It had taken awhile to figure out how to get up there. But he had enjoyed the ride as she had chatted the entire way.

  He had missed her like that.

  Toa asked, “It sounds like you have made all the plans already. You won’t stay in Edge?”

  Megan said, “I realised I don’t fit with people who don’t have atramento.”

  He asked, “What about Josh?”

  Megan turned to him and he reached out for her. He pulled her closer.

  She said, “He has the aura for the atramento, he just doesn’t believe in them. He did say he was thinking about it the other day. That is more than before.”

  She asked with worry in her voice, “You aren’t jealous of Josh are you? As I’m pretty sure he has a girlfriend.”

  Toa chuckled as he shook his head. “I’m not jealous. He is a friend.”

  He reached up and caught a curl of her hair.

  A chill ran down his spine. He glanced around unsure what his senses were telling him. He wished he could see to scan for danger. He spun when his senses told him it was coming from behind him. Megan gasped and he knew it was the General.

  A breeze brought more information to him. The smell of explosives. The tang of electricity so whatever explosives he had was wired to blow. He was alone as he could only hear the footsteps of one man.

  Megan’s grasp of his arm tightened as the General approached. The General growled. “Move away from the vehicle.”

  Toa did. And so did Megan which told him she didn’t think they would be able to survive an explosion that big either. They kept quiet as they complied.

  The General said gruffly, “You are a wily bastard Williams.”

  Toa wasn’t sure if he should annoy him, but he asked, “What happened to your men, General?”

  Murphy huffed. “After the loss of half of my men it was deemed, I should take an early retirement. They just wanted an excuse to get rid of me, but it doesn’t matter. I was only there to gather my resources. Once you unlock the cache, it won’t matter at all that I had to leave behind what I have collected so far.”

  The General motioned and he assumed away from the valley and said, “This way.” He forced them to go down a small path where there was a vehicle.

  He said, “Williams you drive.”

  Toa said, “I might not seem it, but I am blind.”

  Megan sighed. “I’ll drive. Where are we going?”

  Murphy growled, “You will take us to the cache.”

  Megan huffed and got into the vehicle. Murphy was distracted for a moment, but it wasn’t long enough to guarantee they could wrestle the dead-man switch from him without blowing themselves up as well.

  When they were in the truck Megan whispered, “What are we going to do?”

  Toa shook his head. He was thinking about the explosion at the ammo tent and knew being this close when the explosives went off, they would be killed. He placed his hand on her thigh.

  “We will behave.” It was the only thing they could do at the moment. He just didn’t like it.

  Chapter Fourteen

  Edge August 2097

  Murphy had made them stop at the base of a mountain. It had taken awhile to make it up the narrow trail. The last bit was up a sheer face and all it had was hand holds. The rock wall wasn’t very large, but it was tricky to manage. Megan had glanced back at Murphy but he had kept close the whole time, so if he blew them all up to smithereens it would be together.

  Megan pulled herself up the rock. The cave they were in was rather large but tapered as it neared the back into a smaller tunnel. The tunnel itself was blocked with a large metal door. It appeared exactly what you would expect on a vault. Large pins fanned out securing the round door.

  The vault was well hidden in the mountains like this. Toa patted her shoulder when they climbed on the flat section of the cave entrance. Megan could tell that not all of this was natural. There were machine marks on the walls and the floor to make it flat. She glanced back down the slope and was impressed by the feat to get heavy machinery up so high into the mountains.

  Even Josh would have found it difficult. Murphy grunted as he pulled himself up. With the strength atramento the climb had not been difficult, but she had forgotten the General was unenhanced. Perhaps they should have put on a little speed on the short climb, but Murphy was unfortunately very close behind her and he had been ahead of Toa.

  Megan whistled when she saw the vault and went up to it. “Wow a Stanley 2000 with a biometric lock. Amazing, a 36-bolt design. I haven’t seen one of these in real life. I mean the banks in the city don’t even have anything as sophisticated as this.”

  She turned to the two men. Murphy hadn’t been amused about her gushing. His face was dark with anger and frustration.

  Murphy motioned to Toa. “Open it.”

  Toa said, “It isn’t going to work you know. My dad is the one who locked it.”

  Megan frowned. Why would Murphy think Toa would be able to open a biometrically sealed lock? But then she realised there were idiots in the world. And it was unlikely he would be very pleased when he found out Toa couldn’t open the biometric lock.

  Megan also realised they would need to do something right after the lock didn’t work otherwise the General would kill them. She glanced at Toa. She wished she could give him a signal or something. He was good at hearing when she gestured but he couldn’t tell what the gesture was. He had told her once he listened to the rustle of clothing mostly to know when people moved.

  Murphy growled, “Just do it.”

  Toa flicked his hand towards to the lip of the cave. There was quite a drop. A drop that would easily get the General far away very quickly. Certainly far enough away that the explosives strapped to his chest would only kill him instead of them as well. Megan glanced at Toa. Her eyes wide. Did he want her to push the General over? The General was focused on Toa. He waved with the dead man switch for Toa to move towards the vault. It wouldn’t take very long for them to go deeper into the cave and away from the edge of the drop.

  Megan moved so she was in a position to give the General a good shove. She watched him instead of Toa who went to the lock mechanism. The General’s face filled with hope and glee as Toa placed his hand on the lock.

  It beeped maliciously and Murphy growled, “Try again. It has to work.”

  He tucked his switch in his coat. If it got jiggled in a fight, it would come undone setting off the explosives. He probably thought he was safe with the precarious nature of the switch.

  This was it. Megan dropped her shoulder and charged him. He took a step back, surprised by her sudden movement. She barrelled him over. She got him over the edge and she dived away to the side almost going over the edge herself.

  The roar shifted the ground underneath them. They were picked up and shoved down against the ground. Megan wrapped her hands around her head and rolled further into the cave. She felt Toa grab her and tugged her closer.

  Murphy must have been able to grab onto something as the explosion was a lot closer than she had anticipated. She glanced at the roof as it cracked and creaked. She moved to where the vault door was. Toa tightened his arms around her. All that steel should keep the roof up regardless of the explosion.

  The roof cracked and rocks the size of a don
key fell. Toa buried her face against his chest as dust filled the air. They waited like that for long seconds for everything to settle down.

  When it did Megan looked up and coughed as the air was still filled with rock dust. She could see shafts of light from the cave entrance so at least they would be able to get out, but the entrance was significantly smaller than it had been when they had first climbed up here.

  Toa pulled her back against him when she went to stand up. He ran his hands over her body and let out a sigh of relief.

  “Oh for goodness sake, Megan I think I lost a few years off my life.”

  Megan was shaken herself. She settled down against his chest. She told herself it would probably be safer to make sure everything was settled before they tried to climb over the rocks in the cave entrance.

  She glanced at the vault door. She liked it even more now because it was probably the only thing that had stopped them from being crushed like cockroaches.

  Megan sighed. “A pity we can’t see what is inside. I bet your dad collected some awesome stuff.”

  Toa pressed his cheek to her hair. “We can in about four years.”

  Megan turned so she could study him. In the shadows she couldn’t make out his expression, but she asked, “What do you mean?”

  Toa pushed her hair away from her face and said, “There is a timer on the lock. Every ten years, it opens on its own. Dad’s superiors knew there was a chance the person who had set the lock could die. And there were a few of them involved, they didn’t want to never be able to get into the vault if something happened. I guess it has just under four years left and it will open on its own.”

  Megan laughed, then said, “So all Murphy had to do was wait it out. He really was a greedy bastard.”

  Toa said, “I have something to tell you by the way.”

  Toa kissed her cheeks. “You are beautiful.”

  Megan chuckled. “Thanks, but I know you are blind. How would you know?”

  He shook his head. “It wouldn’t matter if I could see or not. You are still beautiful.”