The Dead Planet Series: Exodus (Book 1)

by Drew Avera

  Chapter 19

  One of the men grabbed me by the shoulder and I fired my gauntlet behind me in a sweeping circle with a twist of my wrist, I was able to hit the man holding me in the leg and he cried out in pain. The other man was apparently not armed and ran for the door. I stood up and spun my back to him and fired in a wide arc. The laser cut against the metal walls and heated them up so that smoke emitted from them. The laser impacted the man’s body and severed him in half. The first man was scrounging for a weapon when I spun around and fired, killing him as well. I walked over to the first man and found a knife on his belt. I grabbed it and fumbled around with it until I was able to cut the rope that was binding my hands together. I was free, and now I knew where Kara was being held.

  The benefit of being in a room that was sound proof was that no one heard the commotion of the fight, or my breaking free. I slowly opened the door and peered into the hallway. I found myself on one end of the hallway and figured that Kara would be at the other end. I ran as quietly as I could and came up to the last door. I jiggled at the door knob and found that it was looked. I fired my gauntlet into the door frame until the lock broke and I shoved the door open. I probably should have checked the guards for keys first, but the gauntlet had worked just find. I peaked in and could see a woman with long black hair wearing a pant suit hunched over a chair. I ran over to her and checked her vital signs. As soon as I touched her she startled awake and kicked me in the leg. For some reason I thought that she may have been unconscious.

  "Oh my, Serus? It's you!" She shrieked.

  "Yes, it's me. Are you alright?" I asked while rubbing my shin.

  "I am now." She said. "Sorry I kicked you, but please get me the hell out of here!"

  “It’s alright, sorry I scared you, “I said as I cut through the rope that was tied around her wrists. After I had finished with the knife I tossed it aside and helped Kara stand before I checked her for injuries. She seemed to be alright.

  "Can you walk?" I asked.

  "Yes. I feel a little weak from not eating, but I'm fine other than that." She said.

  I grabbed Kara's hand and pulled her along. I peered out of the door and listened for any kind of alarm that may have been set off when I escaped. I didn't see or hear anything so Kara and I ran down the hallway to the double doors. I kicked them open and was shocked to see three policemen standing outside waiting for us.

  I pushed Kara out of the way and fired at the policeman standing closest to me, hitting him in the chest. I dove out of the way as a beam was fired in my direction. Kara was hiding around the corner and I went to the opposite corner so that I could fire at the other men without potentially harming her. Each time I peaked around the corner another blast of blue beam almost took my head off. This was the first time that I had feared for my own safety in a very long time. My heart raced and I could feel tension building up around me. Fear was becoming a distraction at a time that I needed to focus, not only for my life, but for Kara’s as well.

  I fired my gauntlet into the stomach of another man as he approached. His momentum carried him within a few feet of Kara who screamed when he landed next to her. I thought he was dead, but then he reached his hand out to Kara and grabbed at her. There was nothing I could do because I was taking fire from a policeman down the hall and if I fired in Kara's direction then I might hit her.

  I frantically fired at the policeman down the hall but I could not hit him. Each time I emerged from the corner he fired at me again. He was in a position that I could not defend against properly.

  "Kara!" I screamed. "Don't just sit there. Fight back!"

  Kara was crying and struggling to break free from his grip. The man had her wrist and was pulling himself closer to her. If he could get his hands around her throat then he would kill her. I looked around the corner again and quickly pulled back as a blue beam was fired past my head. I looked back at Kara and her assailant, his wounds were horrible and blood was running out of his mouth. It was obvious to me that he was in shock, but the adrenalin in his body and the programming of his mind allowed him to continue trying to carry out the mission like all policemen are trained to do. Injuries or not, the mission always came first.

  Kara was still crying and struggling to break free from his grip. I had to do something, but each time I tried to line up a shot I was afraid to fire. At this range if I shot her it would be point blank and I would kill her. It was a risk that I could not take.

  The policeman was clawing at her and trying to pin her down. Kara screamed as she struggled even harder. Another laser beamed past by my head when I looked back. I glanced over at Kara to see her fighting the policeman on the ground. Suddenly she reached down at his guard belt and grabbed his knife from its sheath. In a wail of tears she began stabbing the man in his back over and over until he was breathing no more. I must confess that I was shocked by her reaction. I never imagined her capable of that kind of brutality. She sat there with her hands covered in blood and looked at the knife in her hand. She was almost hyperventilating at the shock of her reaction to the situation. She had to have stabbed him at least twenty times.

  Apparently the policeman down the hall was also shocked by what had happened and stopped firing. I took advantage of his lack of attention and fired a blue beam straight into his skull. The fight was over now and I had to get Kara out of here while we still had the chance. As much as I wanted to kill Sorell I just couldn't risk Kara's life to do so right now.

  I grabbed Kara's hand and helped her up. “Kara, it’s alright, he’s dead.”

  “I know,” she said with tears welled up in her eyes. Her breathing was beginning to settle down. I sensed that she was starting to shut down emotionally, it was a normal psychological method of coping with a tragedy, and most policemen experience it in one form or other.

  “We need to get out of here,” I said as I tugged at her hand. She looked up at me and nodded. I held her hand as we both ran through the hallways trying to find an exit door.

  "I know where we are!" Kara said as she slowed to a stop.

  "What? Where are we?" I asked.

  "The university." She said as she tried wiping the tears from her eyes. "I used to work in this building a few years ago."

  "Great. So how do we get out of here?" I asked.

  "We were just in the old storage area in the back. If we take a left here we will find an exit into a parking area behind the university." Kara ran ahead and I followed close behind her. She seemed to be coping with the situation that required her to kill that man. Killing was not an easy thing to deal with psychologically. I expected that I may need to help her through it later. Right now she was running on adrenaline while we tried to escape. I could see the rear exit doors down the hall as sunlight shown through the glass windows. Kara and I ran out into an empty parking area and were thankful that no one was around. No alarms or anything were sounding and it seemed that we had made a successful escape, at least for now.