‘What are you saying?’ her voice trembled with fear.
‘I’m saying that they don’t need two reactor cores. Tomorrow, they are going to tell us that they only want to retrieve one core, to save time. And then they’ll break the news about the fuel and the ammunition situation — or they may not even tell us at all before they do it.’ He smiled now, his face a convolution of emotions.
‘Before they do what?’ she asked tentatively.
‘Kill us.’
‘Kill us?’ The words were alien in her mouth. ‘What are you talking about?’ She dropped to a whisper. ‘Why?’
He shrugged. ‘To shed the weight. To save the space. To not have to deal with the backlash of our objection. Hell, if we aren’t shot, they’ll tie us up throw us out for bait, distract the Varas when things get really bad. It’s what I’d do.’
‘My god, Aaro, you’re serious. How do you know? What can we do?’ Her cheeks were flushed and she was gripping Aaro’s arm nearly as tightly as he was holding onto the rifle.
‘We could kill them before they kill us. Get the core, consolidate the fuel and ammunition into one truck and then head back.’
‘Them? Who’s them?’ She narrowed her eyes. ‘Ek? Bjork? Berg? Strom?’ She named the four gunners, the four ex-military mercs who’d been brought on as protection.
Aaro set his jaw. ‘Maybe. It’s hard to say.’ He looked down at his feet for a second. ‘They’d be my bet. They know each other, know what each other are capable of. Maybe they don’t know yet — Ek and Bjork have been thinking about it, that much I know. Whether they’ve made a plan yet, I can’t say. But if the situation is the same in the other truck, then you can bet that Berg and Strom will be coming to the same conclusion. If they haven’t already.’
Sorina’s voice was barely audible, as if saying it would make it real. ‘We can’t just kill people. You can’t just kill people — not for just thinking… for suspicions, and—’
‘Why not?’ Aaro asked, meeting her eye for the first time. She saw someone she barely recognised looking back. ‘We’re here, aren’t we,’ Aaro continued. ‘We could pop them in their sleep, at the same time. I’ll do Ek, you do Bjork. They’d never even know. The real problem is the other truck and what the others are thinking. Whether anyone else has figured this out. There’s no way to tell, but there’s not a chance in hell that two trucks are making it back with twelve people on board. I’d bet my life on that.’ He held the gun tighter and looked down at it. ‘When things get bad, you stay behind me, ok?’
‘Don’t talk like this. They aren’t our enemies. The monsters are. The ones out there.’ She jabbed a finger at the outer wall. ‘Not in here. You don’t know what you’re talking about — you’re exhausted… The stress must be—’
‘No,’ he snapped, cutting her off. ‘I’m thinking clearly. I’m thinking about you. I’m thinking about us — why we came. It wasn’t to die. Especially not being shot in the back while we sleep. Don’t say a word about this to anyone, okay? Let me handle it. I promise nothing is going to happen to you. I will not lose you.’
‘You’re scaring me, Aaro,’ she said, tears in her eyes.
‘Good. Fear will keep you alive. If you want to help… that’s fine. If not, stay behind me and keep your head down when things go sideways. Do you understand?’ he asked coldly.
She swallowed and looked for any hint in his face that this was all a joke. She found none.
‘Do you understand?’ he repeated.
She slowly nodded, tears now rolling down her face.
The morning came slowly. Aaro and Sorina awoke with the blanket draped around their shoulders. The door to the sleeping area opened with a creak and they jolted awake. Ek stood there, two steaming cups in his hands.
‘Coffee?’ he asked with a warm smile. ‘I know things were tough yesterday, but we’re going to reach Murmansk within the hour and then it’s plain sailing from there. Bjork and I have talked. We’re going to replan the route, so the way back will be a lot smoother. You guys worry about the core, we’ll take care of everything else.’
Aaro and Sorina exchanged tentative looks and took the coffees. Ek closed the hatch and went back to whatever he was doing.
‘The only thing they’re taking care of is themselves,’ Aaro said coldly, the rifle still on his lap. ‘I promise you that.’
THIRTY-ONE
THE BEGINNING
2108 AD
Aaro narrowed his eyes and stared into the distance, his hands frozen on the handlebars.
Gunfire and screams still echoed back but no one was moving.
The crowd was still around them, petrified by the noise. But there was no panic just yet. No one was running. Yet. That meant that the screams were far enough ahead that the panic hadn’t spread to them. But it would. Like a wave, it would rush back and everyone would trample each other trying to escape, trying to get anywhere but where they were. And if that happened, he and Lila would be overrun. They’d be thrown off the bike, maybe dragged or shoved. But whatever happened it would be too late by then.
He wasn’t going to let that happen.
Aaro pumped the clutch and kicked the bike around a woman with a shopping trolley full of her belongings. He weaved around her and sped forwards into a gap between two cars.
‘We're going towards that!?’ Lila yelled over the wind rush, hugging him tighter.
‘No,’ he called back, grabbing the brake and manhandling them into an alleyway between two houses. They zipped through quiet suburban streets over until they were out of the throng and then he hung a left back towards the city. It wasn’t the main entrance road, but he’d made the commute so many times for university he knew how to avoid traffic when he needed to.
‘Where are we going?’ Lila asked, looking over his shoulder.
He eased off the throttle, conscious of the fuel needle creeping closer towards empty. ‘I know another way into the city. There’s a promenade that runs along the water, leads right into the centre.’
They rounded a corner and Aaro headed for an iron archway leading into a park. He slowed and took the corner, bumping them off the tarmac and onto the pavement. They wound through the trees, his reactions struggling to keep up with the narrow walkway, and then they ended and the headlamp stretched into the morning sky. They were right on the fjord.
In the distance, across the water, the lights of Oslo were burning. The road ahead swept around in a long, undulating horseshoe. They weren’t in the clear yet, but the path ahead was empty. They’d be there in minutes.
Aaro and Lila both let out a sigh of relief, and for the first time, felt like they might actually make it.
He swallowed and then set off slowly. The road wound away from and back to the shore in gentle bends, cutting through the trees and winding between houses and buildings until it found the water again and pushed forward in a straight shot to the city.
‘We’re almost there,’ Aaro said, half to himself. He was exhausted, wounded, running on fumes.
The quiet of the promenade was soothing, the lamps illuminating it burning in twenty-metre intervals. It felt like nothing was wrong here, and his mind was struggling to keep reality and what he was seeing separate. He could feel his eyes drooping — the adrenaline finally wearing off. Each blink was getting longer, the breeze on his eyes making them ache.
A smudge of black loped into the road ahead and then suddenly shrunk back into the trees. Aaro did a double take, his brain misfiring, not sure if it was real or just a trick of the light. He slammed the brakes, the back wheel locked, and the bike awkwardly skidded to a halt. The engine faded to an idle, stuttered and then cut out.
Aaro didn’t move.
He squinted through the glare of the lights, focused on the patch of darkness where he’d seen something. Or at least thought he’d seen something.
‘What's wrong?’ Lila asked, panicked. She’d not seen. ‘Is it one of them? More?’ He felt her fingers scrumple hard into his coat in fear.
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‘I don't know,’ he said. It was the truth. He was sleep deprived, stressed, and sick to his stomach from the last twenty-four hours. He wasn’t sure whether it was anything at all. Or death. Either way, he wasn’t moving until he was sure.
‘What are we going to do? We can't just stay here,’ Lila whispered into his collar.
‘I know,’ Aaro muttered back, not daring to turn away. They were an easy target just sitting still. They had to keep going. It was either that or turn back. Aaro kicked the bike and it spurted to life. He revved it hard but then it died again.
‘Shit,’ he hissed, looking down at dials and trying it for a second time.
It didn't even turn over.
‘What’s wrong?’ Lila asked, scared. He could feel her heart against his back.
‘I don’t know,’ Aaro said, stamping on the starter again.
It chugged a few times and then cut to silence. A noise ahead snapped his attention back to the road.
The smudge was moving again, oozing along the shadow line. It blurred through the halo of light before melting into the foliage.
Lila had seen it too. She shook him, squinting into the distance. ‘Aaro!’ Her voice was thin and sharp.
‘Yeah, I know!’ He kicked the bike again. Nothing.
‘Aaro!’ she said, rising a little as the smudge skulked closer this time.
‘I’m trying!’ he snapped, twisting the throttle. The lights on the dials dimmed a little.
‘Look!’ She shook him again and nodded towards the nearest streetlight. ‘There!’
Aaro stopped and looked up. Now only ten metres away, a tree bent out of the undergrowth, its canopy curling over a lamp. Behind its gnarled trunk, something crouched. Waiting. It bulged from behind the tree like a shapeless growth.
Aaro swallowed and kept his eyes fixed on it. He couldn't make out the eyes but he knew they were there, that they were staring right back at him. He tried to breathe slowly, calming his heart. He was listening for any sign of movement, not trusting his eyes, but the thrumming of his blood in his ears drowned out everything else. He kept his heel on the kick starter and squeezed his hand behind his back. He pulled the pistol out and held it tightly, his hand shaking, and rested it on the handlebars of the bike.
‘Aaro,’ Lila whispered again. ‘Is that…?’
‘I don’t know,’ he lied.
‘What are we going to do?’
‘I’ve got a plan,’ he lied.
She nodded gently, putting her life in his hands. He felt it on his shoulder. He refused to look away. He felt her grip tighten on his back as she nestled in closer, out of the sight of what lurked beyond the reaches of the light.
Slowly, Aaro reached down and twisted the key, turning the ignition off. He let it sit for a moment, cooling, and forced himself to count to five. The thing was curious. It was the only conclusion he could draw. It was waiting for them to run. So it could chase. So it could hunt.
‘Aaro,’ Lila whispered again, almost serenely this time.
‘Yeah?’ he whispered back, feeling the bike lose heat under them.
‘You should go,’ she muttered, her hands loosening in his jacket.
‘What?’ The words didn’t make sense.
‘Both of us aren't going to make it. You should go, I’ll try… I’ll try and lead it off or something…’
‘What are you talking about? That’s suicide,’ he snapped, forcing himself not to turn around to look at her.
The smudge was moving. It seemed to be crawling up the tree in some strange way, mutating and erupting from behind it, growing in size.
‘I’ll head back towards the road,’ she said. ‘It’s not far. I’ll meet up with the others and I’ll see you in Oslo.’ She said it without fear. Something had happened in her mind. a switch thrown. He could hear it in her voice.
‘You’ll never make it,’ Aaro said, his voice small.
‘Maybe. But you can.’
‘No. You’re not going.’ He turned to look at her and saw emptiness in her eyes. A need for it all to just stop. They shared a moment of it and then Aaro went back to the shadow hiding at the treeline, unsure if it’d moved.
‘Why?’ he asked, biding his time. The bike was overheated. It needed to cool down. He’d ridden it hard.
‘I'm alone,’ she whispered. ‘I don't want to be any more. This world is not what it used to be and I can see now that it never will be again. I want to be with my family again.’
‘I do, too. But killing yourself is not the answer.’
‘Why not?’ she asked, genuinely asking for an answer she didn’t have.
‘Because we’re all alone. All of us. But if we all give up, then no one will survive and the people who’ve already died will have died for nothing. You said that yourself. My wife died trying to protect me. She gave her life for me. These things — they took my daughter too. I can't believe that that means nothing.’ Aaro's voice quavered, the words pouring out.
‘But what if it does. What if we're only prolonging the inevitable? What if it’s meant to be? What if this is the end for all of us? What if the decision was never in our hands at all?’
‘You think that? You think we have no control over our own lives? The evil that took your family and mine is not out there in the stars or heavens, it’s right fucking there!’ Aaro half shouted the last part, unable to control himself. He jabbed the pistol at the trees, hateful of what was lurking there. As if offended, the mass behind the trunk began to hiss, the sound of crunching bark under claw ringing through the quiet. Aaro set his jaw, watching it, stealing every second he could before trying the engine again. He didn’t think they’d get two tries.
‘I just don't feel like I want to go on anymore. I don't feel the same way as I did.’ Lila snivelled behind him. ‘I'm ready to see my family again.’
Aaro felt her fingers let go of his jacket, her weight shift as she went to swing her leg off.
‘The hell you are!’ he said with gritted teeth. ‘If you think a higher power is in control of everything we do then—’
He twisted the ignition key hard and stamped down on the starter. The bike sputtered to life and he kicked it into first. He pulled back on the throttle and they slingshotted forwards with a squeal of rubber. Her hands buried themselves in his jacket on reflex, clinging to him as they snaked forwards over the loose stone. He shifted through the gears, gaining speed as quickly as the engine could give it to them. He kept his eyes fixed on the tree as they came up on it, the pistol on the bars. The mass shifted and moved from the tree, giving itself a clear run.
It leapt.
Aaro’s arm flew up, his finger bouncing on the trigger, pumping rounds into flashing teeth and claws.
Whether he hit it, wounded it, killed it or just plained startled it he couldn’t be sure. The thing yelped over the gunfire, twisting backwards from the bullets in shock.
They passed by and it lurched awkwardly into the light in the mirror.
Its mouth opened, it’s black fur hackling around its bulbous neck, and it took up the chase, bounding after them, claws raking on the ground.
Aaro squinted in the wind rush, checking on their lead. It wasn’t much. The beast was fast at a run, it’s powerful muscles rolling under its leathery hide.
The speedometer said they were doing thirty-five and he didn’t dare go faster.
The promenade was lined with trees, their roots pushing the walkway into treacherous lumps. The path was narrow, too, the gravelly surface uneven and loose under their tires. He couldn’t risk losing control. It would be on them in seconds.
A visible trail of blood streaked behind it and with every stride, it lost ground on them. He must have hit it in the mouth or some soft patch of flesh. It was losing speed.
As their lead began to stretch it barked loudly. The noise was mangled and cold, like metal on metal. They knew what it was calling for.
‘Faster, faster!’ Lila yelled, holding herself hard against Aaro’s back.
<
br /> Up ahead, between the trees, the lights of Oslo grew brighter. They were closing in. A few minutes. That was all.
‘Aaro, look!’ Lila yelled.
He grinned, thinking she meant the city lights — her will to live restored. But then he realised she didn’t mean the city. She was pointing into the woods.
He glanced up and left, following her finger.
The call to arms had been answered. Dark shapes, like puffs of smoke in the spaces between the flashing trunks, closed in.
Aaro pulled harder on the throttle, keeping the revs high, feeling the wheel rebounding over the roots and undulations, barely able to hold on. They were outrunning the tide, the horde unable to get up to full speed in the trees. They were riding a wave of teeth and claws, and it was licking at their heels. Faster was dangerous but it was the only option. They were edging closer with every step.
If they were cut off, if the wave caught them, if the Varas made it out of the woods, they’d hit a wall and be thrown from the bike. And that would be it.
The path straightened and he kicked the bike into fourth and accelerated hard. The engine cried, the wind buffeting at their ears. Everything was blurry and cold, the sounds of thundering paws around them like drums.
Come on.
Aaro willed the bike on, measuring the draining distance to the city as howls, growls, barks and hisses built around them like an orchestra. He could feel their weight on his shoulders, the wave rising behind them, ready to crush them and suck them into the bloody depths.
Come on!
Almost there.
THIRTY-TWO
PLAYING GOD
2106 AD
A month had passed and things were still steadily declining.
The Veil Page 22
