Bound (The Guardians) (23 page)

Soren is in the mirrored interrogation room we weren’t long ago inside. But somehow red lighting has been quickly installed, making it brighter and hotter than any normal person could stand. She’s lying on the ground; clearly worn out from trying to escape the oppressive heat.

Arin closes the door gently and my vision of the events before me ends. He hisses at Leo. ‘Take a board and go get Demmi.’

Leo hesitates for a moment, his eyes meeting mine.

Arin replies, ‘Do not worry, Mellea is with me.’

CHAPTER THIRTY-EIGHT

Leo runs towards the flight board storage room. Arin and I follow after. Leo quickly flies out of the training room on his blue board.

Arin grabs his own large black and orange board. He quickly straps his feet in and yells at me to get on. I put my feet in between his and wrap my arms around his waist. It’s not a double person board, built for safety with two lots of foot straps. The only thing keeping me on is my tight grasp on Leo’s brother.

Before I can be sure I’m on the board completely, Arin takes off out the opening flight doors, across the grounds to the second pillar and then directly upwards. I close my eyes as the super powerful board shoots up the crystal Tower like a supersonic rollercoaster ride. I have no time to scream. I open my eyes as the rising stops.  We’re at the peak.

Anrella and my Da stand on the semi-flat surface before us. Arin flies in closer, firing his gun at him. Da defends by raising his arm. A sizable, circular metal shield emerges from his wrist. I feel sick when I see it. He really did become a MECH. I can’t push away that image now.

Arin lands near Da, unlocking his feet with a swift motion and pointing the gun at his head. I get off the landed board and stare at my father. He still grips Anrella with one hand. His darkened eyes stare at me. The arm with the shield is still exposed. I can’t help but stare at it.

This feels like a terrible nightmare.

‘Mellea…’ Da calls gently. My eyes finally meet his. The corner of his mouth slides upwards. ‘I’m surprised to see you’re still here. I turned off the security cameras and moved the guards away so you could escape. I saw your mother waiting outside, it was the perfect opportunity. But once again you’ve betrayed me and returned here to side with these killers.’

I scream at him, ‘Da, what do you think you’re doing? No, more like what have you done? Not just to yourself but to Momma too! This won’t solve anything! It won’t take away the pain of those people that died in Selyu! It wasn’t your fault.’

Da laughs. ‘You’re right. Being a MECH won’t take away that pain. But this isn’t about Selyu, it’s about the rise of the MECHs. I feel stronger, better, healthier than ever before. I have power beyond that of any normal person. Now, I can finally cause pain to the people I hate the most. For example,’ he turns his head and stares at Anrella, ‘the future Lady Guardian, another generation of leader… let’s see how powerful she is when I do this–’

Da thumps Anrella with his shoulder. She topples toward and falls off the second pillar.

Without thinking, I rush onto the flight board and jump on. I leave the straps lose, press the on button and dive off the Tower. I barely have time to get stable before I tackle Anrella mid-air around the waist. We plummet towards the ground. Luckily a nearby tree breaks our fall and we roll across the ground. Arin’s board slides along the green grass beside us, stopping a few metres away. 

I sluggishly sit up, mostly unharmed but with a few scratches. I check on Anrella. She’s all right. I pull a strip of grey tape carefully from her mouth. I then start on her hands and feet rope. When she’s free, Anrella launches forward and wraps her arms around me. I smile and hold her back. Through tears she says ‘thank you’ over and over again.

A battle commences above us.

I hear bullets hitting metal. The two of us stare at the top of the second tallest pillar. I see my Da. He hurdles upwards, running across and around the tallest middle pillar, disappearing around the front. He’s no longer a normal man. That very idea kills me, but I have to stay focused.

Teros unexpectedly comes into view above us on his own flight board. He grabs Arin from the second pillar and the two take off after my father.

I stand and run around the side of the Tower. I move as fast as I can along a garden path until I’m standing facing the front courtyard. It’s become a battleground. The beautiful gardens are being torn apart by attacks. There are twenty or so MECHs, my Da and Elentia exchanging fire with Arin, Teros and Neros. A handful of Sentry has come in, probably from Poridos City, to help contain the battle. But their guns are no match for the reinforced bodies of the MECHs. We needed the fifty officers Elentia murdered.

My body is numb. I watch my father attacking the Sentry officers. His face is wicked with a smile I have never known. His left arm, now a gun, is the instrument with which he fights. How could he do this? How could he leave Momma to take the lives of others? And how messed up do you have to be to enjoy it?

I feel my body moving involuntarily. I lunge forward and start running across the courtyard with my eyes focused on Da. I hop up onto the concrete barrier that encircles the fountain, using it to jump onto his back in a tight hold. He tries to fling me off. But my Da isn’t an overly strong man and soon his knees give way to my unbalanced weight and pushing. I pin him on the ground with my knees.

‘Why?’ I scream in his face. I grab his shirt and push him into the ground with almost every word I say. ‘Why would you do this? How can you judge me when you’ve become worse than the Guardians are? Look at yourself! This isn’t the father I loved.’

His face softens. I can see my words got through. He slowly sits up.

I turn my head at an approaching figure. Elentia stands near us, her face is almost crazed. Her pressed black and white work uniform is stained with blood. Her left arm has become a very sleek and shiny silver rifle.

‘Noran, finish the girl!’

Elentia laughs and leaps into the air, higher than I have ever seen.

‘I must do what is right,’ Da says.

I flick back to him. He pushes me off harshly and stands with a gun to my head. His voice changes, it’s almost hypnotic. I feel cold. ‘
We
must do what is right.
We
must destroy the Guardians.
We
must kill!’

I petrified. I can’t breathe.

Chapter Thirty-Nine

I stare down the barrel of my father’s gun arm. I really think this is the end until Leo breaks my focus. Using all his body weight, the Successor shoulder charges Da. My father is knocked off his feet and rolls across the ground nearby.

‘Are you all right?’ Leo asks me. He stands with his feet firmly planted, his arms drawn back and bent at the elbows, electricity zapping around his hands.

‘Yeah…’ I manage to reply.

My Father stands. He looks at Leo and twists his head. ‘I’ve been waiting for another chance to take you out. But this time I’m prepared.’ Da lines up a gun arm and starts to shoot. Leo’s yellow shield activates and the bullets bounce off. Quickly, the Successor returns fire with some lightning shots. But Da is now swifter than ever before. He dodges Leo’s attacks, and the nerve jolting move Leo used in Pekkin can’t even land a single blow. After a few minutes of failed attempts, the Successor becomes frustrated. So do I.

‘Why don’t you join in the fun?’ asks a voice from behind me. I turn quickly to see a familiar MECH girl, the same one from our return to Pekkin, smiling at me. Her weaponry has changed, no longer a simple knife in one palm, but two machine gun limbs dangling from each elbow. I feel sick. The rotting flesh around where the machinery joins is dangling off. It looks like her upgrade was a quick job and her body is rejecting it.

I glance around. Near me is a piece of broken concrete statue. I grab it before she shoots at me. I roll out of the way and stand with a stumble. I hold the weapon strongly in my hands, pointing it at her. The girl simply follows me with her eyes, as if I am some large toy she wants to play with.

Quickly she raises both her arms. I only have one shot. I try and remember the day that I took out the Shooter in Elentia’s training. This is just like that. I breathe and toss the piece of statue, aiming it at one of her arms. It hits the soft, rotten part and she cries out in pain. Her stance weakens. A wooden garden stake, broken and sharp from the attacks, sticks out of the ground near me. I tug my new weapon from the dirt and rush towards her. When I approach, she kicks my leg out from under me and I fall hard.

I roll over. The small girl stands above me. From this angle she looks huge. Her gun arms have returned to hands. ‘You’re no fun,’ she says, ‘time to die!’ She grabs me around the neck and puts all her pressure on. She is laughing as she almost jolts up and down on my windpipe. With the stake still in my hand, I lunge it forward and smack her in the head. When she falls down I shove it through her neck. Her body instantly falls lifeless and blood trickles out of the wound.

I scurry back along the grass and away from the girl. My body is shaking. I… killed someone. I killed someone!

‘Mellea!’ cries Anrella. I can hear her running towards me, shooting MECHs with her rifle. ‘I went to get my weapon and you ran off. What were you thinking? Hey, are you listening to me?’

I keep staring at the girl with the wooden stake wedged in her neck. I can’t feel my hands. Sweat is pouring over my body. I feel suspended in time.

The next thing I know, my face is burning. Anrella has leant forward and slapped me, hard.

‘Wake up!’ she screams.

I shake my head and drag my body upwards. ‘Sorry,’ I mumble.

Anrella stands near me. ‘You can’t space out now. We have a battle to fight.’ She turns and fires her weapon at a few MECHs flying past on boards. With no more rogue weapons at my disposal, I think it’s best if I stay close to her.

I twist around, keeping my back to Anrella’s. Leo and my Da are still fighting. Leo puts his hands together before conjuring a massive lightning infused punch. When it connects harshly with Da’s body, he finally backs off and then retreats. I notice Leo staring at the ground. His body twists as his knees give way under him. I run over to him and Anrella follows after me.

‘Leo!’ I shout, crouching down beside him. ‘Are you all right?’

Trying to clear his own head, Leo blinks a few times. His breathing is heavy and he’s clearly worn out. It seems my Da is no longer an easy opponent.

Anrella cries, ‘Leo, your nose!’

I quickly notice blood trickling down his lips. Leo reaches up and wipes it away with his hand. He’s whole face is pale.

Anrella asks, ‘Were you using your shield
and
lightning at the same time? That can be really dangerous. Are you trying to kill yourself?’

Leo’s face is twisted. He shouts, ‘A real Guardian can do that and
more
without fuss. I am not strong enough.’

I sigh and try and smile at him. Caringly I say, ‘I thought you were amazing.’ Leo pushes away some more blood from his face. He doesn’t seem to care that I think he’s pretty awesome.

But I had no idea that someone could be
hurt
by their stone. That was something Elentia didn’t teach me. The power must have backlashed or something, bleeding noses are never good.

I reach out and touch his cheek, turning his face towards me. When his blue eyes meet mine I ask softly, ‘Are you really okay?’ My eyes sting with hot tears. I don’t want anyone else to leave me. I’m the one who isn’t strong enough. My Da is beyond my reach. My mother has disappeared. I don’t want to lose Leo too.

The Successor stares at me and scoops me into his warm body. I rest my head against his shoulder. ‘Yes. Thank you,’ he whispers.

I grip his shirt around his back tightly. I can hear his heart beating and for a moment, the world stops turning.

‘Clear out of the way,’ yells Teros running over to us. ‘Get back behind the Tower, now! Lord Guardian’s orders!’

I let go of Leo and scan around the grounds. Lord Neros comes into my view. He is standing in the middle of the courtyard with his eyes closed and his hands out. The wind is blowing around him. The MECHs have made a tight kill-circle around our leader. Their faces are creepy and brutal, like a pack of wild animals ready to eat.

Leo grabs my wrist and pulls me around the side of the Tower. Anrella follows. Demmi is waiting there for us when we arrive. Leo saved him! He’s shaking when I grab him into a hug, but he’s alive.

‘L-Leo came and g-got me,’ he says. ‘It was really high up t-there. I t-thought I was going to d-die...’

‘Where is Soren?’ I ask him.

Anrella answers for him, ‘Dorkarn broke her out of the room in time. They’re clearing out any MECHs still hiding in the Tower.’

A huge gust of wind hits us and we duck down. Teros sprints over and joins us behind the Tower, kneeling by Demmi. A tremendous amount of wind starts to blow about the grounds. I crawl away a little so I can see. Leo approaches too and crouches near me. I feel him slide his hand into mine. I squeeze it back.

I keep my eyes locked on the kill-circle. Lord Neros unexpectedly disappears. It’s like he’s vanished into thin air. The MECHs look around too, confused and nervous. Suddenly I hear a storm brewing above us. A large crack of thunder roars through the courtyard. The wind picks up as a large spiral forms and hits the ground. It’s a tornado.

I move so that I’m now holding Leo around the neck. He puts one hand around my back. We both push down so we’re not dragged in. I turn back. The others are holding onto each other tightly. Demmi has his head to the ground.

I twist back. This tornado isn’t like the ones I’ve seen in books. A large dark shadowy set of eyes and a crooked mouth flicker into sight. The tornado then splits into three parts, two whirlwind arms emerging from the sides.

Over the wind I yell to Leo, ‘What’s going on?’

Leo shouts back, ‘Father is using his full Guardian stone power.’

‘Someone can really do this, using just that ring on his hand?’ I yell, stunned.