Darkness (19 page)

“Wait for it...” he said.

“Try to hurry it up,” Grudge said. “We don’t have long.”

Grudge turned to me, plucking a handgun from his side. With a flourish, he spun it around his finger and handed it to me.

“Believe this is yours.”

I took my Beretta as Grudge unclipped the holster and handed it to me as well.

“How did you...”

“There’s no time to explain,” Grudge said. “Suffice it to say...those buggers didn’t catch me. I was able to tail them as they took you to the bottom of the Bunker.”

The fusion drive continued to hum. Grudge went quiet momentarily as shouting came from the corridor amidships.

“I followed them all the way down to the cells they kept you in. They brought Aston out first.” He shrugged. “So I followed until I got to this ship. I waited until they left, then ran on board, hiding in an empty cabin. It took a while, but I found Ashton behind a locked door. Had to call out to be sure. Thankfully, no one was around, so we made this crazy plan. We knew they were bringing the rest of you here because of something Ashton overheard. He taught me how to power down the ship. I waited until they brought everyone else on board, then...lights out.”

I just stared at Grudge in shock. He gave a lopsided grin.

“Told you I’d be useful.”

“Alright, so what’s the plan now?” I asked.

“Take over this ship,” Ashton said, matter-of-factly. “And neutralize any Community members that put up a fight.”

“But first, we have to rescue my katana,” Anna said.

“Rescue?” I asked.

“It’s in the captain’s quarters,” Julian said. “You, Michael, and Grudge are the only ones with weapons.”

“I saw them take it there,” Grudge said. “These women might have a lot in the way of crazy, but not a lot in the way of firepower. Only a few of them have weapons, so we need to strike now while we have the chance.”

Ashton at last succeeded at powering down the computer.

“Locked down,” he said. “And only
I
have the password. This ship isn’t going anywhere unless I say so.” He looked at each of us pointedly. “The password is ‘bubbles,’ should something happen to me out there.”

“You’re not dying out there, Bubbles,” Anna said.

Julian snickered.

“Look, this is not a time for jokes,” Michael said. “We need to get a move on.”

I nodded. “Right. Michael and I can take point, Grudge can watch our backs. Be careful out there. We’re trying to be quiet. No shooting or killing unless absolutely necessary. Let them attack us first. This might be a big ship, but we’re sure to run into someone out there. Elias is probably on the bridge – maybe we should start there.”

Everyone nodded. I had no idea if what I was saying was right or not, but I guessed we would soon find out.

“Let’s go,” I said.

***

We exited the power room and entered the dark corridor. For now there was no sound. Elias had probably pulled everyone back to fortify the bridge.

If that was the case, it was going to be a hard fight.

Our footsteps echoed coldly on the deck. I could hardly see, but Michael strode forward boldly. He suddenly turned left. It took my eyes a moment to find a flight of stairs leading up.

I followed after him. The entire group’s footsteps clanged on the metal stairs more loudly than I’d expected. It was dead silent otherwise on the ship, almost as if it were abandoned.

As Michael crested the last step, a shadow charged from the side, tackling him. With a guttural yell, Michael threw the crazed woman off of him just as another struck him from the front

I ran forward, not daring to shoot in the darkness. I tackled the shadow that was gripping Michael. Quickly, I brought down the butt of my gun on the woman’s head. I felt a huge thump and the body crumpled beneath me. The other woman hissed, but I heard the sickening sound of Anna’s knife slicing through her neck. A few gurgles sounded in the corridor.

Anna rushed to finish off the woman I had downed with a swipe of her knife. It had all happened in about ten seconds. My heart rushed as I primed myself to face more attackers. But no one else came. The ship was silent once more.

“Let’s keep moving,” I said.

Michael turned to the left and began walking, which led forward. I had no idea how Michael knew which direction to go – or even if he
knew
which direction to go.

We passed an intersection where a corridor went off to the right at a ninety-degree angle. We had lost our flashlights – apparently, the Community had seen fit to keep those – so we were walking blind. I saw nothing down that corridor, but had to trust that Grudge was going to watch our backs as we advanced. We kept walking along the length of the ship, finally arriving at a corner.

“This is it,” Grudge whispered. “I saw him take the katana in here.”

Ahead was a metal door. Hopefully, Elias was somewhere else for the moment.

Michael tried the latch, finding it unlocked. The door swung slowly inward, revealing the darkness within. It was quiet and the room stank. I guessed nothing in it had been washed in a while. I tried not to gag as I walked inside, keeping my wits about me in case someone really
was
hiding in here.

“I have no idea where it is,” Grudge said. “I just saw him walk in here with it.”

Anna forged ahead. A moment later, I heard the sound of the blade being unsheathed from its scabbard.

“It was on the bed,” she said, her tone disgusted.

“Come on,” Ashton said. “Let’s take control of this ship.”

We turned and exited the room. Even if we did have more weapons and fighting experience than these women, I didn’t relish the thought of killing them. Even the two that had attacked us on the stairwell had been too much. It was just too much blood. And yet, I didn’t see another way out of here. This ship was the
only
way out of here – otherwise, we were stuck. The only other possibility was Makara and some of the Angels coming after us. Somehow, I had the feeling that by the time that happened, we would be long dead. No, we had to do this and we had to do it now. Even if that meant killing.

Too much depended on us staying alive.

We hesitated in front of the door, as if we all had the same thought.

“So,” Julian said. “Just charge the bridge and hope for the best?”

Ashton shook his head. “It will be a bloodbath. There has to be a better way of doing this.”

“Well, the ship is locked down, at least for the moment,” I said. “Maybe we can escape to the surface, try to raise Makara...”

“And leave a bloodthirsty cult with access to nuclear weapons behind?” Anna asked.

“Well, they can’t
use
the weapons if they can’t even get the ship online...”

Anna sighed. “Maybe they have a way of figuring it out a lot faster than we would think. We
must
keep this ship from leaving this Bunker if it’s the last thing we do.”

I knew Anna was right. Maybe there wouldn’t have to be bloodshed. Maybe the threat of it would be enough.

“If we can just kill Elias...” Julian said. “Maybe the rest will come crashing down.”

“He’s sure to be guarded by all of his followers,” I said. “They seem quite determined.”

“It’s the only way,” Grudge said with finality.

“We’d have to mow down dozens just to get to him on the bridge,” I said.

“Sounds good to me,” Anna said.

“Alex has a point,” Ashton said. “We can’t just
kill
all of these people.”

“Well, how else are we supposed to do this?” Grudge asked.

No one said anything. We had been silent only a moment when all the lights flashed back on. I ducked into the captain’s quarters, and everyone else followed after me.

“They have the damn ship online!” Ashton said.

The entire ship thrummed as the fusion drive came to life. The floor and walls gave a subtle vibration that signified the ship’s latent power.

Were they really going to try and...

Everyone cried out as the ship gave a sudden lift.

What?

“Damn it, they’re taking off!” Ashton said.

“They can’t fly this thing,” Anna said. “They’ll just crash it.”

Anna was right. Even if Elias said he knew how to fly the ship, he’d never actually
flown
it before. But that didn’t seem to be stopping him.

The ship rose ever higher. We were all still pressed to the deck.

There was no question, now. We had to get to that bridge before Elias could launch any nukes.

***

Aeneas
rocketed upward at a lightning pace. A minute later, the pressure from the deck eased up, causing my stomach to sink.
Aeneas
had slowed to a midair hover.

Quickly, everyone stood, grabbing their weapons.

“What now?” Anna asked.

Footsteps sounded from the corridor outside the captain’s quarters. There were at least two people running this way.

“Wait for it...” I said.

Two women suddenly stood in front of the doorway – a girl, perhaps my age, with wide brown eyes and long brown hair, and the woman I had seen earlier – the blue-eyed one that I felt was against Elias.

“Don’t shoot,” she said. “We’re not with them.”

“Who are you, then?” Anna asked, not lowering her blade.

“I’m Deborah,” she said. “Leader of the Resistance.”

The Resistance? So not all of these women were under Elias’s spell.

“Where are the rest of you?” Anna asked.

Deborah shrugged. “It’s just me and Ada here.”

“What?” I asked. “There’s only
two
of you?”

“Hey, you want our help or not?”

“Yeah, of course we do,” I said. “It’s just you’d think there’d be more people against that nutcase.”

“Well, we got the ship taken off,” Deborah said. “That’s plus one for us.”

“You
did this?”

Deborah smiled. “Sure thing, Twenty Questions. I had to do
something
before they were ready for it. But we don’t have time to yak.”

“But how...”

“Didn’t I say there was no time? We need to hustle. They know someone’s on this deck and the battle will be starting at any second.”

“Battle?” I asked. “What battle?”

“There’s another ship out there!” Ada said. “It’s coming this way.”

“It’s Makara,” I said. “It has to be.”

“Makara?” Deborah asked.

“Come on,” I said. “We need to get to the bridge.”

“They’ll kill you,” Deborah said.

“Not if I kill
them
first.”

I walked out of the Captain’s Quarters, past Deborah and Ada, and into the corridor.

“Guess that works, too,” Deborah said.

Chapter 16

I took to the stairs down to the main deck. As we entered the anteroom, there were about ten women gathered around a mess of scattered vegetables and plates. One of the tables and many of the chairs had been overturned. I pointed my Berretta ahead, watching for signs of sudden movement.

The women ducked behind the tables as the rest of us arrived downstairs.

“These have no weapons,” Deborah said. “It’s the ones on the bridge we have to worry about.”

The women continued crouching behind the tables, staring at us with wide eyes.

One of them turned toward the corridor leading to the bridge.

“They’re coming!”

With a curse, Deborah started forward once again. Having no other choice, we followed her past the women toward the main corridor that led to the bridge. Footsteps pounded from the corridor ahead – reinforcements were coming, alerted by the woman who had shouted.

Deborah raised her handgun and gave a few warning shots. This was followed by a few screams from ahead. I was sure Elias was regretting making Deborah one of his guards; it was the only way she could have had a gun.

Though Deborah was now on our side, it didn’t exactly tip the odds in our favor. We still had to take control of the bridge, and I didn’t see how that would happen without losing people along the way. All of the higher-ups and guards in the Community had weapons – anywhere from ten to twenty of the women, along with Elias.

I didn’t have time to make any sort of decision, however. A woman, with hands over her head, approached from around a corner where the corridor ended.

“Don’t shoot,” she said. “Elias requests your presence. Without bloodshed.”

“What for?” I asked.

“The other ship is threatening to attack,” the woman said. “He needs you to call it off.”

“Only if everyone gives up their weapons,” Anna said.

I wondered why Elias didn’t just shoot at the other ship. Then I realized that he had never piloted this ship before. Of course he would be leery of getting into any sort of battle. He hadn’t counted on being attacked the second he left Bunker 84. Makara would win this fight, hands down.

Only, Makara was threatening to attack without knowing we were on here. And to let her know that, we had to go to the bridge. But as soon as we went to the bridge, we would be surrounded by Elias and the Community.

There was no way to win.

“No,” I said. “I’d rather we all went down in flames.”

Anna brushed me aside. “If your leader agrees to not attack anyone, then yeah. We will help. Neither side can have weapons if this is to work.”

“How can we guarantee no one has weapons?” Ashton asked. “We can’t, and there isn’t time to devise a system we can all agree with. All we have is each other’s word.”

I didn’t trust this woman
or
Elias’s offer. I was beginning to think that charging the bridge was the best bet. I had no idea what Elias’s game plan was, but I knew we probably didn’t really fit into his scheme for the Ascension once it came into full fruition. Now might be our only chance to take the ship once and for all.

But was I willing to lose people along the way?

I looked from Michael, to Julian, to Grudge. Ashton and Anna both looked at me, awaiting a decision.

“There has to be another way,” I said.

“Unless you have a better idea, this is it,” Anna said. “Makara needs to know we’re on board before this place gets blown to smithereens.”