The Zahkx Alliance: A Sci-Fi Dystopian Adventure (Dominion Rising Book 2)

by Katherine Bogle

  Twelve blocks. Eleven.

  “Rem!” Selene cried. She grabbed his shoulders and pulled him to his feet. Tears slipped down his cheeks as she met his gaze.

  Her heart skipped and she quickly stepped back. There was nothing he could do. Rem was the genius who made all their tech, and hacked into every bit of alien technology he got his hands on. He could do anything.

  Rem turned to the mouth of the alley, his computer dangling in his hand.

  No. This can’t be happening.

  They all stared with wide eyes and open mouths as Lanny’s screams echoed in their ears. There was nothing they could do. If Rem couldn’t save Lanny, no one could.

  The street seemed to go quiet as the tanker collided with the two-hundred-story building. Her heart felt like it stopped, just like everything else around them. Tears burned her eyes as Lanny’s scream was cut off with an explosion that shook the buildings all around them. Even fifty blocks away, the shockwave slammed her into the alley wall.

  Glass shattered in all the surrounding windows, raining down upon them. Rikkard’s arms wrapped around her head and his, blocking them from the raining shards of death.

  When the hail finally stopped, he stepped back, and took her arm to pull her to her feet. Only when her heart restarted, it slammed painfully against her ribs while her stomach soured unpleasantly. Tears streaked her cheeks as the building where she’d once been held captive, fell. Glass rained like snow upon the street, and the building collapsed sideways, the top half slamming into the skyscraper beside it. Though the buildings of New Manhattan had been built to withstand sandstorms, hurricanes, and anything else Mother Nature threw at them, they weren’t built for a tanker full of petrol vapor.

  Fire licked the edges of the now burning building and dark smoke rose into the sky, filling the bright blue with black.

  Rem fell to his knees, staring at his hands. Darius was the first to stumble down beside him, grabbing his shoulders and turning Rem to face him.

  “Rem,” Darius said, his voice catching. “It’s not your fault.”

  Tears reddened Rem’s eyes and left tracks down his cheeks. Lanny had been his friend. They might not have been as close as Flik and Lanny, but they were two of a kind with the same genius brain and gift for tech that left others in awe.

  Rem shook his head before letting it droop against his chest. He shook like a leaf in the wind, and pushed his palms against his eyes as a sob broke from his mouth.

  “Rem, you couldn’t have known this would happen,” Darius continued, shaking the little genius. “It isn’t your fault!”

  Selene couldn’t be sure if Rem even heard, as he continued to shake and cry into his hands. She had no clue what to do. How was she supposed to comfort someone that thought he’d just killed his friend?

  Darius wrapped his arms around Rem, letting him cry against his shoulder.

  She looked at Darius, and Rem, then Flik who continued to stare with wide eyes at the Dominion building crashing toward the ground.

  Rikkard squeezed her shoulder. She looked at him, having no idea what to say or do. It was obvious how awkward he felt. He didn’t know Lanny—not really—and he’d never been great at comforting anyone.

  Selene leaned her shoulder against him, wiping the tears from her cheeks as Darius leaned back, holding Rem at arm’s length.

  Rem’s sobs quieted, and he stared in shock at the ground, as if he couldn’t believe what he’d done.

  Selene’s heart tightened. They’d let him do too much, given him too many tasks. It wasn’t his fault, it was theirs for allowing him to take on more than any one person could handle. Tears burned the back of her eyes again, but this time she pushed them back.

  Darius leaned on his heels, and shook his head as Rem picked up his computer again and set it on his lap. His fingers moved mechanically as he slowly began to type.

  Selene jumped as the buzz of Dominion security filled her ears. It was part of the plan for them to listen in on what the Dominion was doing, but how could they go through with saving Sav when they’d just lost one of their own?

  “Rem.” Darius sighed.

  Rem continued to type, until a loud click echoed up the street, and they all glanced at the tunnel to the bunker. The door had opened. The two guards were gone. She looked back at Rem, whose fingers again paused.

  “We still have a mission to do, don’t we?” Rem’s voice was hoarse, and quiet, but it sent waves of sadness, pity, and confusion rolling through her.

  He was right. They did still have a mission to do, and if they didn’t, if they stopped now, Lanny’s loss would be for nothing.

  Selene swallowed the lump in her throat and nodded curtly. “He’s right.”

  Darius and Rikkard looked at her, a bit startled. Flik still wouldn’t take his eyes off the tower, and Rem continued to click away on his keyboard.

  “If we don’t save Sav, then Lanny’s death is for nothing.” Her voice broke, and she hurried to clear her throat. “We’ve got to go down there and get Sav back before it’s too late.”

  Finally, Flik looked away from the flames down the street, and at her. His eyes were wide with a grief so intense, she thought she might fall to her knees in tears if she kept looking.

  Selene turned toward the concrete cave down the slope. She knew that look. It squeezed her heart and tore through the walls she’d put up to hold the images back, but they pushed through; images of Sarah lying dead on the street. She squeezed her eyes shut and willed them away. There was so much surrounding Sarah’s death she hadn’t let herself deal with yet. Not only the actual loss of her best friend, but the knowledge that somehow, for some reason, Sarah had worked with the Dominion—even if it was for Kayl.

  She balled her fists, digging her nails into her palms. The strike of pain cleared the images, and she opened her eyes to assess the street. All traffic had come to a standstill, but it wouldn’t for much longer, not when the public returned to their senses and decided to run.

  Darius sighed and took Rem’s arm, helping him to his feet.

  “Watch him.” Selene glanced at Rem as she steeled herself for the next part of the mission. Darius nodded. “Let’s go.”

  Together they all crossed the street, and entered the shadow of the concrete tunnel. The guards had abandoned their post, presumably to go inside and see what was going on. Selene led the way to the giant metal door, which was open a fraction. She pulled it wide enough to peer inside.

  A long white hall with dim lights and a concrete floor waited to seal their fates. She gulped. She would not lose another friend. Not today.

  “It’s clear,” Selene said.

  Bringing her rifle to her shoulder, Selene tightened her grip on the weapon, and slipped inside. The dim dish lights flickered above, and dust drifted lazily from the ceiling.

  Her heart pounded in her ears, thumping in time with her quick steps. The others followed her, all just as quiet, just as sullen, and she hoped just as determined.

  No one else dies today. No one.

  Her knuckles tightened on the grip of her rifle, and she took a deep breath. She needed to stay calm. She needed to get them to Sav, free him, and get the hell out of New Manhattan. The only thing this place brought was pain and suffering. From the first time she remembered being there, to the last, every moment was agony, filled with confusion, and death.

  She shook her head. She had to focus.

  No doors marked the walls of the curved tunnel. At the opposite end, another large metal door was carved from the concrete, a silver panel beside it with a glowing red rim.

  Selene glanced back at Rem. He hadn’t taken his eyes off his computer yet, and continued to type, not quite as fast as he usually did, but fast enough she envied his dexterity.

  When they finally reached the other end of the hall, the door clicked. Rem was still in the game. She smiled half-heartedly as she opened the door.

  She froze. Inside the bunker the walls were white, the floors were white, and the di
m lights inlayed into the ceiling glowed red, not only giving the hallway a horror-movie quality, but reminding her all too much of the Dominion lab she’d been held in just a few weeks ago.

  A shiver travelled down her spine, and her grip tightened on her weapon.

  “The hall is clear,” Rem said, his voice monotone.

  Selene stepped back and nodded. Rikkard pulled open the door enough for them to slip through. With one glance at her, he went through first. She silently thanked his keen sense of her emotions. He always seemed to know when something was off.

  Rikkard led the way into the bunker, turned left and right to assess both joining halls. His eyes narrowed in concentration and his shoulders tensed, ready for combat. Selene followed, the others a few steps behind.

  “Left,” Rem instructed.

  Selene cast a look back at the tech whizz. Darius met her gaze instead, his eyebrows tight with concern. She looked away quickly, and followed Rikkard down the left hall. She didn’t have time to stop and deal with all the things she was sure Rem felt right now. She wanted to help him. He was her friend after all. He’d always been like a little brother to her, one she could razz and joke around with, but more than anything she needed them all to escape with their lives. She’d never forgive herself if they lost another soul to the Dominion. Not after Sarah, and now Lanny too.

  “Stop,” Rem said.

  They froze in the intersection between one hall and the next. Her heart raced as she glanced back the way they’d come, then back at Rem. He watched the screen, his eyes flicking back and forth between windows on the holoscreen.

  “All right, go.”

  Her breath whooshed out in a relieved sigh, and she exchanged a tension filled look with Rikkard before he continued down the hall. Selene slipped up beside him. The crackle of Dominion coms came through her earpiece again, and she paused to listen.

  “Everything from the fortieth floor up is in ruin. Evacuate the building now.”

  “What about the bunker?”

  “The bunker is a bunker for a reason, idiot.”

  “There are civilians down here!”

  “They’ll be fine as long as they stay in the bunker.”

  Selene shook her head. So their plan had worked. While a good portion of security had gone above ground to help with the aftermath of the explosion, some doctors and guards were sure to remain in the bunker. They’d have to be careful all the same. Even with reduced security, they’d still have a couple dozen or so. From what she’d memorized of the schematics, both sub-basement floors were as large as the above building, if not a bit wider. It’d take them hours to search every room for Sav. She looked back at Rem. He knew where Sav was. She hoped he could keep it together until they found him.

  “Let’s keep moving,” Rikkard whispered.

  Selene nodded, and followed him to the end of the hall to their first four-way intersection.

  “Left,” Rem said.

  They turned left, and had only gone a few paces when Rem snapped: “Stop!”

  They all froze, and looked back at Rem with wide eyes. His voice carried down the hall, echoing off the walls.

  Selene looked back the way they’d come, her rifle at her shoulder, while Rikkard did the same in the opposite direction. Her heart pounded hard as she strained her ears, listening for any sign of footsteps.

  After a long moment of silence, she heard nothing: nothing over coms, and nothing in the neighboring halls.

  “Dammit Rem,” she hissed. “Keep your voice down.”

  Rem winced, and Selene felt a stab to her chest, guilt for having snapped at Rem when he was in such a fragile state.

  Taking a deep breath, she tried to calm her racing heart. “Where to next?”

  Rem didn’t look up, only pointed the way they were going, then motioned right. Selene looked back at Rikkard and he nodded before continuing down the hall, following Rem’s directions.

  Selene followed, but as they turned the hall, some of the walls became glass: empty labs full of tables, medical instruments, holoscreens, data hives, and more. Her clammy hands grasped her rifle tighter as she looked in each room. No scientists, doctors, or otherwise, were present, thank Aldar.

  “The door on the left,” Rem said.

  Halfway down the hall, at another junction, a white door whooshed open at Rem’s command. She glanced down the opposite hall as Rikkard stepped through. The others followed, and Selene brought up the rear. At the end of the corridor a silver elevator was carved from the white of the hall.

  Selene gulped and stepped back through the door to the stairwell, which only went down. The door closed behind her and she turned to follow the others down to sub-basement two.

  Their boots echoed up the hollow stairwell as they rounded the corners down into the earth. When they reached the landing for the next floor, Rikkard reached for the door to open it.

  “Stop,” Rem whispered feverishly.

  Through the glass window in the top right side of the metal slab, a black-clad guard walked by. They all dove to the sides of the landing, gluing themselves to the walls.

  No one dared say a word, and only the soft tap of Rem’s fingers on the holokeys broke the silence. His eyes narrowed in concentration. Several long moments passed, and Rikkard glanced back out the window. He looked for a long moment, so Selene assumed the hall was clear. But then what was Rem waiting for?

  She glanced at Flik, wondering how he was dealing with all of this. His face was stern, his jaw set. He looked more determined than ever to get Sav out of there safely.

  “We can’t get to Sav without being seen,” Rem said at last.

  Selene bit her lip. She was afraid of that. With most of the high-value commodities on the lower floor, the remaining security was probably all rerouted there before they’d hacked into Dominion coms.

  “What’s the path?” she asked.

  Rem brought up the floor schematics and tapped on a room at the far right side of the floor. The edges of the small box illuminated red, and Rem traced a path with his finger, creating a red line among the blue and white of the map.

  “This is the safest way,” he said. “But we’ll have to pass a security office here.” He pointed at a larger box on the back hall by the elevator shaft.

  “That’ll have the most security though,” Rikkard said.

  Selene sighed. “What if we take this route?” She traced her finger along a winding path through the center. It’d take them through dozens of halls, but they’d avoid the elevator and the main security office.

  Rem shook his head. “We’d pass dozens of glass labs that way.”

  “And if we take the long way around?” Rikkard motioned to the left side of the screen.

  “There are more chances of being seen the longer we take,” Flik said. His knuckles were pale on his rifle, and his normally warm gaze was cold and haunted.

  Selene silently hoped he wasn’t about to break under the pressure of Lanny’s death. Though he appeared all business, shadows lurked in his eyes.

  “There are four patrols headed around the outside rim,” Rem said, tracing a finger along the outer halls, almost a perfect square. “If we go around the outside, we’ll have to duck inside rooms to avoid the patrols. Rooms that might have people in them.”

  Darius sighed. “For fuck’s sake, let’s just go the quickest route and blow them all sky high.” He pulled a brick of C4 from his pack.

  Selene’s eyes widened. When and where did he get that? “That could work.”

  Rikkard narrowed his eyes. “Haven’t we blown up enough for one day?”

  Darius shook his head. “Never.”

  “Guys, focus.” Selene studied the map again. “If we follow the main route until we get here, we can go around the security office to the back hall here. If we time it right, we can avoid the outer patrols, and hopefully slide by the labs unnoticed.”

  They all paused as they assessed the map and Selene’s plan. After a long moment, Rikkard, Rem and Darius no
dded.

  Flik’s lips flattened into a firm line and he shook his head. “Why not?”

  “All right,” Selene said. “On your signal, Rem.”

  Rem finally glanced up from his computer; his bloodshot eyes a mix of confusion, fear, and sadness. He looked back down at his screen a moment later, and Selene’s heart ached for the poor kid.

  “Hallway one and two are clear,” he said.

  “Let’s go,” Selene said.

  Rikkard nodded and the door opened at Rem’s prodding. They turned down the hall, moving as quickly and quietly as they could.

  Selene’s heart pounded hard in her ears as they raced to the end, and turned up the next. Rikkard slowed his pace, and everyone follow his lead. They had to be especially quiet, or the security team down the hall might hear them.

  “Frank, do you really think that tanker was some kind of terrorist attack against the former president?” A man scoffed. His voice drifted down the hall from a few doors away.

  “Well, it could be,” another man defended.

  “Come on, we all know those stories about Pate aren’t true.”

  “Jag told me he has a girl locked up upstairs.”

  “Jag is always telling stories!”

  Their voices faded as they turned down another hall only a few feet from the office. Selene’s head spun as she followed Rikkard. So not everyone knew she was up there; maybe only penthouse security knew that.

  “Stop,” Rem hissed.

  They paused at the mouth of the next hall they were meant to turn down.

  “The labs,” he explained.

  Selene snuck up beside Rikkard to peer around the corner. Down each hall, long rows of glass-walled labs were laid out with at least one or two men and women in each room wearing white lab coats, and masks to conceal the bottom half of their faces.

  “Shit,” Rikkard said.

  Selene nodded her agreement. This wasn’t good. No matter which way they went, they’d be seen. Even with a frosted strip a foot and a half wide on each wall, it wasn’t enough to duck below. They’d have to time it perfectly, when everyone was looking away.

  What were the chances of that?