She paused at the Casino doors and turned around. From where she stood, the Plaza was a nightmare of bodies. Many of which were still fighting. A group of humans and Baggers had formed a tight circle and were steadily holding their own at the front gates.
Well Heath, Leon and Aries got their wishes. Baggers and humans have come together. I guess we weren’t bluffing after all. But it won’t mean anything if we lose.
Was Leon inside, hiding out like a good coward until the fighting was over? Or had he already escaped like the slippery bastard he was? It was time to find out. Clementine grabbed hold of the door and pulled, half expecting it to be locked. To her surprise, it opened without any resistance.
Locked up like a fortress? Yeah, right.
No one shot at her. She took that as a good sign.
It was cool inside. And dark. She stepped through into the lobby. As the glass doors closed behind her, it blocked out all the sounds from the outside. A strange quietness settled over her.
“Hello?”
The word almost appeared to vibrate off the walls. Absolute silence answered her. She moved into the middle of the lobby, looking around. Where should she go? The hall seemed to go off in both directions. Where were they keeping the prisoners? Why hadn’t she thought to ask Mason about it? For the first time, she felt a twinge of annoyance within herself. She shouldn’t have asked Mason to go back and find Michael. She’d sent away the one person who could have actually been helpful.
How long would it be until they got back?
No point in thinking about it. She was on her own. Even if Mason marched through the gates that very second, he wouldn’t exactly be rushing to her side. He’d go looking for Aries. So would Daniel.
The realization made her feel very alone. It also made her feel like a terribly jealous and petty person. And it made no damn sense. She was risking her life to try and save everyone. So why did she feel like the bad guy?
I’m falling apart. Losing my mind. Look at me. I’ve got a death wish.
Stupid. Stupid. Stupid.
She decided to go right. Off to the side, she found herself facing a large set of glass doors. Someone had painted over them so it was impossible to see where they led. She paused, her hand touching the handle, ears perked for any signs of life on the other side.
She’d gotten inside too easily. Where were all the Baggers? Why weren’t they protecting the building? They’d brought all the people in earlier for a reason. But where did they put them? She glanced around the foyer again, looking for signs of struggle. There wasn’t much. A few drops of blood on the ground and in the corner, someone had knocked over a planter. A freshly watered plant laid its side, roots exposed in a puddle of muddy water. But everything else was fine. The leather couch and chairs in the middle of the room looked like they’d been freshly polished. The glass table had a nice stack of outdated magazines.
This had to be some sort of trap, but what? What was waiting for her behind all that black paint? She pulled her hand away, wondering maybe if she should try going in the other direction. The baseball bat in her hands seemed like a stupid weapon. Why hadn’t she been able to keep hold of her gun? Even if she couldn’t shoot, it would at least look more menacing.
Had Aries gone this way?
Clementine took a deep breath and pushed open the door.
Aries
Getting into the Casino had been the easy part. With her hood pulled up to cover her face, she’d simply followed a few Baggers as they forced a pair of girls through the glass door. No one noticed her, especially since one of the victims was screaming bloody murder and putting up one hell of a fight. They pushed them through another door on the right and disappeared into the darkness.
Once inside the foyer, she froze, unsure of what to do. Several Baggers were organizing themselves in the corner, preparing their weapons to fight. They slipped past her out the door without giving her a second glance. No one bothered to stick around to guard the entrance and she was left alone in the oddly quiet building. Karen had told her to take the elevators, but she had no idea where to find them. She wasn’t about to stop and ask for directions.
Worried that her disguise might not hold out, she took a sharp left, heading straight for a sign that said ‘authorized personnel only’. She found herself in a narrow hallway that led further into the building. Taking a deep breath, she moved along the corridor. Hopefully she could find a staircase or service elevator to get her to the second floor.
The first room she checked was full of dusty gambling equipment, including dozens of boxes of unused playing cards and poker chips. The second door led into an insanely large kitchen. She moved across the floor with its stainless steel appliances until she found a small room that probably used to be a manager’s office. There she found the very thing she needed more than a spare set of keys.
Guns.
She picked up the closest handgun and checked the clip the way Juan had shown her. It was fully loaded. She shoved it in her hoodie pocket and grabbed a second. It wouldn’t hurt to have an extra. For a moment she considered loading up the entire arsenal and heading back outside. If she managed to arm all the humans, they might not need the escape route. But after a moment’s hesitation, she decided against it. Time wasn’t on her side and the majority of people in the yard probably wouldn’t be able to properly use the guns if their lives depended on it, which of course it did.
She pulled a few boxes down and looked through them, finding ample stocks of ammunition and more guns. At the very back, she found the explosives.
And the timer attached was ticking down. Thirty minutes to go.
“That’s not good,” she whispered.
The clock continued to count down. Twenty-nine minutes.
She turned and ran.
* * *
She found the staircase at the end of the hallway. Taking the steps two at a time, she flung open the door to the second floor without bothering to check. Not surprisingly, she found the corridor empty. The Baggers had probably already vacated the building. They weren’t going to stick around.
She wasted precious time trying to locate the elevator. Then she had to pause to remember Karen’s instructions. Two doors to the right or left? Was it three? The keys were essential now, getting that boat started might be the only thing to keep them alive once the countdown finished. She raced over to the closest door and tried turning the handle. Hands slippery from sweat, she couldn’t get a grip. Tears threatened to blur her vision and she blinked them back furiously. She wiped her palms on her pants and tried again.
Locked.
They were all going to die.
Think, Aries, think. Panicking isn’t going to help.
She had to calm down. Taking several deep breaths, she looked back at the elevator and then back down the hallway. She moved over to another door and tried again. The knob turned easily in her hand, opening up to a large room. She stepped inside.
She spotted the desk and immediately went towards it. Something sticky stuck to her feet and when she looked down, she found herself standing in a splatter of blood. Apparently housekeeping hadn’t bothered to clean up. Stepping around the mess, she reached the desk and began opening and closing drawers until she found it. A single key with a little inflatable keychain that would keep everything afloat if you accidently dropped them overboard. Shoving the whole thing into her pocket, she turned to leave.
“I hadn’t forgotten about you, Aries. Not you.”
Leon stood blocking the doorway.
She pulled out the gun and aimed it at his face.
“Oh, come now. Do you want it to end like that? I’d expect better from you,” Leon said. “I appreciate the theatrics, but we both know you won’t shoot me.” He crossed the room, stepping past the blood, until he was only a few feet away from her.
“You seem to think you know me really well,” Aries said.
“You’re not a killer,” Leon said. “I can see it in your eyes. Bagger or human, you wo
n’t take that chance. You still believe that we can come back from all of this. So by that logic, if you kill me, you’re not taking the life of the monster, but that of the human I once was.”
“I’ve killed plenty of Baggers,” she said.
“No, you haven’t.” Leon paused a few inches away from the gun. He cocked his head to the side and gave her a sly smile. “Daniel, yes. He’s got no problem trying to destroy what he’s meant to be. Mason, too. He’s got the instinct and plenty of psychological damage to justify it. But you, no. You’ve spent too much time hiding. A lost little mouse. Praying for a better tomorrow. When I look at you, I see hope. Innocence. A desire to right all the wrongs in the world.”
She shook her head. “You don’t know me at all.”
“It’s a pity the world wasn’t full of more people like you,” Leon said. “If it had been, maybe the earthquakes wouldn’t have happened.”
She paused, hating the way her hands trembled under the weight of the gun. Leon noticed too, a smirk came over his face. But he was wrong, assuming she was a frightened little sheep. No, the shaking wasn’t from doubt. It was from anger. Months and months of hate building up into a single moment.
“I saw the bomb,” she said. “I know what you’re planning. You’re going to kill everyone.”
If Leon was surprised, he kept it well hidden. “Is that your master plan? Your excuse for not pulling the trigger? You think you can convince me to disarm it?”
She shook her head. “I want to know why.”
“There is no why.”
“There has to be. You spent all this time collecting them. Why kill them now after working so hard to get them? You’ve been keeping them alive for a reason.”
Leon appeared to think it over. “They are useful, yes. But not necessary. There are always more.”
“So you’d let them die just like that?”
Leon chuckled. “Do you not remember what I am?” He reached out his arm and she stepped back, banging her hip against the desk. In her haste to get away, she nearly dropped her weapon.
“I haven’t forgotten,” she muttered.
“Come on then,” Leon said, his arm still suspended in the air. “Touch me. Go on. Find out who I truly am.”
It had to be a trap. She paused, her brain working furiously to try and figure it out. He’d knock the gun out of her hand the second she reached out to him. Or he had a weapon concealed somewhere, waiting for the moment to use it.
“No tricks,” Leon said. He put his other arm behind his back. “Come on. I’m curious, aren’t you? Let’s find out who I used to be.”
She grabbed his hand and held on tightly, waiting for his attack. Leon didn’t make a move. He stood there, his hand limp in hers. They stared each other down. Precious time ticked by. Then it happened. Leon closed his eyes, his mouth curled up and he whimpered. Bending towards her, his knees started to give. As he wobbled against her, Aries leaned back to try and keep them both from toppling to the floor.
Suddenly his fingers tightened around hers, yanking her forward. Aries yelped in surprise and brought the gun up, but Leon knocked it to the floor. With his free hand, he grabbed her throat, shoving her back and towards the wall. She slammed into the partition, her head bouncing off a painting of the Vancouver skyline and cracking the frame.
His hand tightened, cutting off the air in her lungs. Aries tried shoving him away, but he was far too strong. Leon leaned in, his mouth pressed against her ear.
“Your magic trick doesn’t work with me,” he said. “You know why? I didn’t have to be made aware. You can’t use my conscience against me because I never had one. I was already like this.”
He pulled her back and slammed her against the wall again, effectively knocking out the last bit of air in her body. Gasping, she tried clawing at his face with her fingers, but she was already growing weak.
“I have no soul. No weakness. A natural born psychopath. I was destroying lives way before I became a Bagger. And I’m going to be here long after you’re dead.”
She dropped her hands and reached into her hoodie pocket. Hands grasped the spare gun. Already black spots appeared at the corner of her vision and Leon’s face was growing fuzzy. Aries didn’t even try and pull the weapon free. Using both hands, she pulled the trigger.
Leon’s eyes widened and he dropped away, hands leaving her throat and reaching out to press against his stomach. A red circle of blood spread out across his clean white dress shirt.
They both dropped to the floor in unison. Leon clutching his wound, Aries rubbing her throat. Worried that he still might have enough strength to attack, she started crawling towards the desk. Using it as leverage, she pulled herself to her feet. Leon didn’t move. He sat on the ground, legs spread out awkwardly, a surprised look still on his face.
“I told you, you don’t know me,” she whispered.
Leon chuckled. “It doesn’t matter,” he said as he looked at his watch. “You’re still going to die. You’ll never get everyone out of here in time. I still win. And someone will take my place. There’s always going to be another just like me to take the throne.”
“But it won’t be you.” Aries pushed herself away from the desk, hoping her leg would continue to hold her. They did. She started moving towards the door, keeping the gun aimed at Leon.
“They will hunt you down. You will never be free. No place you can run. We are everywhere.”
“I can live with that. Like I said, it won’t be you.” She pointed the gun at him one last time, but she didn’t pull the trigger.
“I don’t fear death,” Leon said. “On the contrary, I welcome it.”
“Good. Cause it’s coming for you.”
She reached the door. Reaching her fingers around the boat keys in her pocket, she gave him one last look.
Leon wouldn’t be going anywhere any time soon. His time was more numbered than hers.
Aries ran.
Mason
They headed back to the downtown core as fast as Mason dared to drive. The security truck was heavy, Mason had to slam his foot down hard on the gas pedal to pick up speed. But Jordan had been right. It definitely helped them maneuver through the wasteland of abandoned cars and debris left over from the earthquake. Mason simply drove straight through everything. After crashing past the first parked car, he began to thoroughly enjoy himself. The crunch of metal was nothing short of entertaining.
They made it to Main Street in record time and without seeing a single person—feral or human. Daniel remained slumped down on the seat, his head pressed against the bulletproof glass, with Jordan carefully monitoring his every move. Hopefully he’d be back to his old self by the time he came around, or at least until after they managed to find Aries.
If she was still alive.
No, Mason wasn’t going to think about that. He would remain positive.
But that ended as they approached the casino.
He knew things were bad before they even reached GM Place. In the distance he could see smoke rising from the Plaza of Nations. Rolling down the window, several gunshots filled the air. Turning left, he started down the final stretch of road.
A person ran out in front of them, forcing Mason to swerve the van straight into the curb. He hit a parked moped and nearly lost control. Slamming the brakes, he slid to a halt, scratching the side of his vehicle against the brick wall of a collapsed building.
There were others running towards him. He couldn’t tell if they were Baggers or human.
“Ferals,” Jordan whispered.
They weren’t just attacking the Plaza. No, they were looting the entire block. One of them climbed out from a broken window of a coffee shop, carrying an espresso maker. He held it over his head and smashed it to the ground.
Mason put the gear into reverse and pulled away from the curb. The van jerked and nearly died, but he slammed his foot on the gas pedal, determined not to let it stall. A feral jumped in front of them, banging his fists against the hood of the
car. Another appeared beside him, yanking at the locked door, trying to get inside. They were quickly being surrounded.
That didn’t stop him in the slightest. Mason pulled back out onto the street and sped forward, knocking the feral over, feeling the thump as the body went under the tires. Beside him, Jordan made a sound like a cross between a groan and a hysterical laugh. The feral banged on Mason’s window, screaming at him in a language that Mason was positive he’d never heard before.
“Jesus, Tourist Boy. Where did you learn to drive?”
Jordan squeaked as Daniel raised his head. He went to raise his rifle, but Daniel waved his hand.
“Relax. I’m cool.”
“How do we know?” Jordan asked.
“Look at his eyes,” Mason said.
Daniel blinked several times as if trying to refocus. It was too dark inside the van to actually tell if the black veins were still there. Not that it mattered. Mason could tell that Daniel was back to normal. He moved differently. Slower. As Daniel reached up to touch the side of his head, he winced.
“What happened?”
“You got shot.”
“Really? Cool.” Daniel felt around his entire head. “Why do I have a lump the size of Wisconsin? Did I fall?
“You went all Bagger on us,” Jordan said. “I knocked you out.”
“All in a day’s work, right?” Daniel winced again. “I feel like I’ve been hit by a truck. I don’t remember anything.” He paused, looking between Mason and Jordan. “Where’s Raj? I didn’t…why isn’t he here? Oh, God, tell me I didn’t.”
“You didn’t,” Mason said. “He’s dead, but it wasn’t you.”
Daniel didn’t say anything. He watched as a feral banged on the bulletproof glass by the passenger door. Another tried climbing up on the hood. A third one picked up the broken espresso machine and hurled it at them.