Cassius, Cole, and Digory are almost at the other end of the field, with Arrah, Dru, and Rios right behind them.
Bam!
Shrapnel rains down around us. At least hot metal fragments are a hell of a lot better than liquid nitro.
Corin’s standing beside the smoking opening behind us. “C’mon!”
The cloud biting at my shadow suddenly veers away, heading full speed to block our escape path.
“Change course!” I yell, already altering mine and dashing toward the very horror we’ve been trying to avoid.
I slow my speed so the rest can catch up, and then we’re dashing toward the cloud, trying to get as close to it and the exit as possible before it turns its sights on us again. We’re less than ten feet away from the opening. Corin’s peering out at us from the shadows.
The cloud reverses course, speeding toward us once again, seemingly larger than it was before, erupting in a mushrooming mass of thunder and lightning.
“Cage. You’re up!” I bark.
“Bloody hell, Mate.” He collapses, lying prone as the cloud approaches.
“Fall back!” Cassius yells.
The rest of us stop in our tracks and sprint in the opposite direction again.
Lap after lap we repeat this process. Losing one member at a time in quick succession. Dahlia. Rios. Dru. Then Arrah.
With each leg we’re growing more and more exhausted, despite the training most of us have had. We won’t be able to outrun the cloud for much longer.
Cole would have been the first one out and safe if I had my way. But he’s joined at the hip with Cassius. And there’s no way I can let Cassius out of my sight. He’s always a few steps ahead of everyone else, and there’s no telling what plan he’s already hatched to escape and warn his troops.
I slow down to keep pace with Cassius, who’s now carrying Cole. He’s gasping for breath even more than I am.
“Give him to me.” I reach out my hands.
Cole’s too exhausted to protest, but Cassius shifts away from me. “I’ve… got… him…”
He trips and falls. At least he has the presence of mind to roll and absorbs the brunt of the impact. But Cole’s sprawled half underneath him.
Trapped.
A loud crash of thunder nearly shatters my eardrum. A shifting shadow approaches from behind.
I dive and heave Cassius off my brother, scooping Cole into my arms, rolling onto my back and keeping him clutched close to my chest.
But my sudden move twists my ankle. When I try to get up, jolts of agony knife through me. I drop, taking Cole down with me.
The swirling vortex closes in from above. I crane my neck. Cassius is lying a foot away. “Get Cole out of here, now.”
He’s too groggy. Moving way to slow.
There’s no time. The cloud pauses, almost as if it’s taking sadistic pleasure in allowing me to process the impending horror. It rumbles. Droplets fall toward Cole and me. I push him as far away as I’m able.
Another dark silhouette eclipses the cloud.
Digory’s torn off his upper armor, exposing his bare torso. He’s using it as a shield to ward off the deadly rain.
“Hurry,” he cries. The loud cracks and pops of his rapidly disintegrating armor fill the air.
For a second I think everything’s going to be okay—
Until a large droplet dangles from Digory’s armor—
Directly above Cole’s skull.
I lunge to cover him, waiting to feel the ice cold liquid nitrogen bore through to my brain. My training kicks in instinctively. What was that theory we studied during training? I swerve my head in time to catch the droplet in my open mouth.
“Lucian, what the hell?”
Cass’s cry is muffled. Concentrating on my training, I blow out the droplet on my tongue, creating a long plume of condensed water vapor. It worked! The heat of my body coming in contact with the liquid nitrogen has created a vapor flash reaction, forming a thin, protective layer and preventing actual contact, just like water beading up on a hot skillet.
The insulation only lasts seconds, long enough for Digory to grab Cole and me in his arms and scramble out of the way.
Cassius is on our heels. I manage to wriggle out of Digory’s hold and sling my arm over his shoulder as we dash toward the exit. This is it. No more time to play it safe. We all need to make it through this time.
The trial field’s systems have begun to malfunction. Searing lasers ricochet all around us, searching haphazardly for bodies to burn through and slice to pieces.
Above, the cloud’s moving way too fast. We’ll never outrun it this time.
Behind us, Jeptha’s lagging seriously behind. Despite his strength, age is taking its toll. He’ll be the first to go.
Unless…
I’m going to have to buy Cole and Digory more time.
“Everyone stop moving!”
Digory pauses with Cole. Cassius staggers to a halt. Jeptha drops to one leg.
I sprint in the opposite direction. At least they’ll have a chance now.
“I can’t let you do this, Lucian,” Cassius calls. “I need you.”
He grabs Cole from Digory. Then darts further away from me.
My heart clenches. Cole’s face registers shock and betrayal.
The cloud pauses. Then the tendrils break away from the bulbous center, forming two separate predators.
“You bastard!” I reverse course and start heading back toward them at full speed.
Cassius stops running. The pursuing tentacles join together, ready to engulf us all.
I grab Cole and glare at Cassius. “I don’t care what you know. You’re dead now.”
He smiles. “I need you Lucian. It was the only way. Forgive me.”
“I’ll never forgive you for what you’ve done to my brother.”
Cassius shakes his head. “I meant, for this.”
Just as the clouds are about to engulf us, he tosses his pack away from us, toward Jeptha.
The cloud swerves away, tracking the movement. It descends on Jeptha, dousing him in its lethal shower.
“Lucian! Move! You’re clear!” Cage shouts from the opening.
Digory and Cassius tug at me, dragging me through the bulkhead.
But I can’t tear my eyes away from Jeptha.
“Dad?” Cage whispers, catching sight of him.
Jeptha smiles and salutes him. “Take care, son. I was wrong about you. I was wrong about so many things.”
His body’s engulfed in vapor, and he shatters into nothingness.
Cage staggers against Dahlia.
Explosions rock the control room. The ceiling caves in. Circuitry sparks.
Corin’s working the control board. He spots me and nods. “That’s it. The code’s a go. All arsenals are now under Brigade control. Our troops and the remaining Gorge militia are taking out Fort Diablos’ primary weapon’s systems.” A big grin spreads across his face. “We’re kicking their asses. Just like you said.”
Through the smoke, I catch sight of Cassius running up the gangplank toward one of the landing bays, tugging Cole with him.
“Thorn’s getting away!” Arrah fires several blasts that narrowly miss Cassius. Then they disappear from sight.
I turn to my friends. “Coordinate the attack. I’m going after him.”
Before they can respond, I’m dashing through the maze of fallen girders and torn machinery until I reach Cassius. He still has a hold of Cole, standing on the empty landing platform. Explosions and shrapnel from the raging battle rain behind them.
“Give me back my brother, Cassius.” I try to inject calm into my voice. Cassius is cornered. He’s unpredictable enough as it is. There’s no telling what he’ll do when he’s desperate.
He shakes his head. “Not until you give me what I want, Lucian.”
“And what exactly is that?”
“The technology and scientific advances which were lost during the Ash Wars. Think of it. Cures for diseases,
stockpiles of food that could save the precious population you claim to care so much about.”
Now it’s my turn to shake my head. “I have no idea what you’re talking about.”
He laughs. “But Queran Embers does. Every last spec and location of each of those hidden installations where the medicines, provisions, and research have been stored is lodged in that complex little brain of yours. I want that information.”
“Why? Because being in control of the Parish isn’t enough? You want the ability to control who lives and who dies? Besides I don’t believe that’s all you’re looking for. Your motivations have not exactly been altruistic up to this point.”
Footfalls behind me.
“Don’t fight me, Lucian. You can’t win.” He looks past me. “Take him, Tycho.”
More explosions rock the tower. Metal whines in protest.
Digory touches my shoulder. I tense to fight him.
I whip out the control unit to his shock collar. “Take another step and I’ll activate this. I mean it.”
He pauses for a moment. Then takes another step toward me, grabbing the collar around his neck.
My thumb jams against the control unit—
And nothing happens. He’s still coming.
Digory rips the collar free. “It has been fried ever since the laser grid back at New Eden.”
The control unit drops from my hand. “You tricked me. That’s why you sacrificed yourself by going through the grid. You knew it would short the collar out.”
“You see, Lucian,” Cassius says. “I always get what I want.”
My hands ball into fists, ready to fight Digory to the death to save my brother’s life.
Instead of attacking me, Digory steps in front of me, blocking Cassius. “There’s been a slight change of plans. Spark is coming with us.”
Cassius’s eyes look incredulous. Then he bursts into laughter. “So even after all your restructuring and conditioning in the UltraImposer program you’re still a lost cause, Tycho. No matter. You’ll find out soon enough your usefulness was always meant to be short-lived.”
I push past Digory and we both lunge for Cassius.
He shoves Cole toward the edge of the gangplank.
There’s a loud crack as it gives way—
“Lucky!” Cole cries, toppling over the edge.
I grab his hand just in time. Digory grabs me from behind, hauling us back toward solid ground.
But the delay’s enough for Cassius. A Thorn Vulture ship zooms into view, hovering by the platform. Cassius jumps into its opened hatch. “If I can’t have your secrets, no one will.” He turns to a soldier. “Lift off and destroy this hangar.”
The soldier salutes. “Yes, Sir.”
The hatch seals and the craft veers away, preparing to blow us off the map.
“Looks like we’re out of options.” I press my head against Cole’s.
“Not quite,” Digory responds. He grabs hold of us and leaps off the platform, just as the ship fires. The hangar crumples into fiery ruin, as the Vulture soars away.
I brace myself for impact. But something snatches us up before we hit the ground. I look up. We’re tethered to a ship.
A Flesher ship.
Digory stares at the craft then turns his gray eyes on me. “We need you, too, Lucian.”
We speed away through the clouds of black smoke and the roar of explosions and into the troubled dusk sky.
PART II
MEMORIES
FIFTEEN
Traveling inside a Flesher craft feels like I would imagine being swallowed whole by a serpent would, wriggling around in its guts while it slowly digests me. Every trace of the vessel’s surface is organic. No metal, plastic, glass. Just pulsating greyish skin, living tissue that’s been genetically engineered out of the fusion of countless people unfortunate enough to fall onto the radar of Straton and the religious freaks in Sanctum.
I squirm, not just from revulsion, but trying to get comfortable in my seat, a grotesque mound of undulating flesh growing out of the equally disturbing walls. A glistening tendril’s draped across my torso from right shoulder to left hip, some sort biomechanical seatbelt. But it doesn’t escape my notice that it’s also serving to trap me in place.
Cole’s seated directly in front of me. Dark circles cradle his glassy eyes. In the strange glow of the Flesher ship, he looks even paler. But what disturbs me most is the expression on his face. The wide-eyed innocence that had been buried under brainwashed venom has now given way to the bitterness of someone well beyond his years. I think back to all those times in the Parish, countless nights of reading him stories, trying to protect him from the darkness of this world. What a waste. All of it’s gone now. The darkness has touched him, too. And I’ve never felt as lost as I do now.
I lean toward him, the cold tentacle digging into my own flesh.
“I know it’s very hard for you. With Cassius gone, you’re feeling very alone and confused. But I’m here for you now. I’ll always be here.” I reach out a hand for his.
He pulls away, wriggling back into his own living harness. He blinks and stares right through me. “He said he’d never leave me. Ever. But he lied, too.” His eyes focus on me at last. “You all lie.”
“I’ve never lied to you, Cole.”
“Yes you did. You’re always leaving me. Just like Mom and Dad did. They didn’t want to be around me neither.”
“Cole—”
“You always promise I’m going to be safe. But I never really am. That place. The Priory. It was very scary. And so dark. So was Delvecchio.” He turns away from me. “You said you were going to come for me the next day and get me out of that terrible place, but you never did. You forgot all about me. Left me to—” His lower lip quivers and for a millisecond he’s exactly like the Cole I remember, sweet, vulnerable. But he bites down on it and the regression is gone. If it was ever there in the first place.
I could handle the anger in his eyes much easier than this. Just attribute it to more of Cass’s brainwashing techniques and conditioning. It would be so simple to place the blame elsewhere. But his eyes are drowning in despair and it guts me to the core, especially since I know there’s truth to some of what he says. I have promised to keep him safe, time and time again.
And I’ve failed at every turn.
“Why do you even care?” he asks. “You’re not my brother. You never were.”
I clear my throat. “Is that what Cassius told you?”
He nods.
“He lied. Just like he lied about not leaving you.”
I instantly regret my words when I see the pang of hurt on his face. “I am your brother.”
Cole shakes his head. “You’re an evil monster, pretending to be my brother, wearing his skin like those Flesher monsters wear the skin of the dead. You’re the reason everyone in the Parish is so sad and dying. You started it all. And when the time comes, you’ll destroy me, too.”
So part of Cole’s conditioning has been Cassius filling his head with stories of Queran Embers.
“That’s not who I am.”
But what if it is?
My mind swirls with doubt. If there’s even a slim chance that Cassius was telling the truth about Queran Embers, then maybe Cole is better off as far away from me as possible—
No. Stop it.
“Cole, listen to me. I’m not a monster. I used to protect you from the monsters. Remember when you’d wake up from a really scary dream, and I’d to read you the stories of the Lady and her City, the ones we kept hidden under the floor boards, so you could go back to sleep?”
His eyes are glassy again. He blinks a stream of tears, which trickle down his cheeks. “I can’t dream anymore. Not about you. Not about the Lady. I try, but it’s just black or full of static, like the old television in our room that never seemed to work right.”
It’s a struggle to swallow. “I’m so sorry, Cole.” My eyes flick to the plate of food sitting untouched by his side. Not much. Just some
bread and the dullest looking fruit I’ve ever seen. But considering their biological make-up, I’m wagering these Fleshers aren’t big on four course meals. At least not of anything we’d find palatable. I shudder.
I push hard and my living restraint gives just enough for me to lean closer and pick up his plate. “Here. You need to eat something.”
“I hate you so much.” Cole’s voice is barely a whisper.
Despite the pain, I force myself to tear off a piece of the bread and bring it to his lips. He doesn’t protest and takes a tentative bite. Then another. Little by little we both eat in silence. Several times our hands touch. I avoid looking up at him, afraid of what I’ll see there. But each time we make contact he doesn’t pull away. And that’s enough for me to hold onto.
When we’re done, all I can hope for is to discover my own version of blackness and static as I finally give into exhaustion and grief, muttering to myself as I close my eyes.
“Keep it lit, Keep it burnin’
All the dreams, all the yearnin’,
Ole leaves will fall, New moons arise,
The Keeper sings, the Season cries…”
****
I’m jolted awake by something cold and slimy crawling across the sole of my bare foot. I pull it away. Instantly, I’m disoriented. Instead of being tethered to my seat in what I’d assumed to be the passenger quarters of the ship, I’m someplace completely different, laying on a ribbed, vertical slab in what resembles that hive-like lab back at Sanctum.
With a stone-cold Flesher towering over me, its eyeless, bald head riveted at me.
I spring into a sitting position, wincing at the burning, pins and needle sensation radiating from my foot. “Where’s Cole? And what the hell are you doing to me?”
“No need for alarm, Spark. The child is resting comfortably, and we were just treating your injuries,” an unseen Digory says.
I whirl. On the other side of the chamber, a large, oval pod opens like a hatching egg, filling the room with a cloud of steam. A tall silhouette is visible beyond it.
Digory emerges through the swirling eddies of misty warmth. My breath catches in my throat. He’s completely naked. His pale skin has regenerated again, erasing all his wounds. It’s like staring at a perfectly sculpted marble statue. The soft, pulsing light and shadows of this organic chamber highlight every contour of every muscle on his body, from his broad shoulders and bulging arms, to his perfectly symmetrical chest, narrowing into a chiseled waist, expanding again to sculpted thighs—