Lucas Ryan Versus: The Hive (The Lucas Ryan Versus Series) (12 page)

~ Sleep. You need your strength. ~

The exotic voice in my head startled me half to death, but I was relieved to hear it again.

Ahh, you’re speaking to me again.

~ Sleep. ~

There is no time for sleep. I need to find Olivia’s sister. Soon.

~ We need your strength, Lucas. ~

I leaned up against the closest wall, resting my forehead on its cool surface.

~ Believe. ~

“I’m starting to.”

LEVEL 15:
Sparks

IN MEMORIAM: Olivia & Dax

“You okay?” Olivia asked.

“Perfect,” Dax grumbled, sitting on the floor. She checked his head for any signs of a concussion. He ripped his head away from her in a mild fit.

“Are you sure?” she asked, again. Her temper bubbled just below the surface.

Dax smacked his fist on the carpeted floor. “Damn it, Olivia. I came here to save you, and I find you and another guy!” he pouted.

“Lucas has nothing to do with you and I,” she scolded, in a whisper.

He smiled, still angry. “Really?”

“That’s because there is no you and I,” Olivia’s tone was deadly serious. He closed his eyes and let his throbbing head lean against the wall.

“I said it would be different this time...and I meant it,” he begged. She shook her head, slipping her long hair into a loose bun at the back of her head.

“Dax, stop it. We’re over, and if you want me in your life at all, you better start treating me better.” Olivia said determined. “I deserve better.”

“Olivia...”

“Deep down you know I am right.” Her eyes welled up with fresh tears. Dax grimaced in anguish as her words sank in.

“I’m sorry, O.”

“Friends?” she asked. He tried to fight it, but a smile crept onto his face.

“Okay.” His posture relaxed as he officially gave up. For the moment, at least.

“Good,” she smiled.

“I’m still gonna help find little Soph...she’s my baby sister too,” he announced, loud enough for everyone in the room to hear. Olivia eased her guard a little, and extended a hand to shake.

“Deal.”

~ ~ ~ ~ ~

IN BLOOM: Taylor & Morgan

Morgan nervously sat down next to Taylor, cradling her knees in her arms. He kept propping the door open and checking the larger Music room for any signs of the invaders. He barely noticed as Morgan slid up next to him.

“Is something bothering you?” she asked, but he didn’t answer. “They won’t find us, Tay. You picked the perfect hiding place,” she stated. Taylor shut the door slowly, and set his sledgehammer down next to his leg.

“It’s not that...” he said. Morgan tightened the hold on her legs.

“It’s Luc, isn’t it. You’re worried about him, aren’t you?” she said, bluntly. He looked at her with protective concern.

“How did you know? Am I that easy to read?”

“Little bit,” she smiled. His eyes lit up with her playful teasing. Morgan blushed.

“Lucas is my best friend. I’ve seen him through everything, but...this time...” he shuttered.

Placing her hand on his arm, “But this time, you feel helpless.”

“Yeah,” he blinked, in surprise. It was as if she were finishing his sentences.

“I feel that way too...sometimes,” Morgan’s smile faded.

“Why? You and your brother are the most important people in his life. He’s told me that on more than one occasion,” Taylor nodded.

“He has?”

“Yup. You and Roland have been there since the beginning, seeing him through his toughest times. He needs you,” Taylor winked. Morgan slid a little closer to him. He leaned in closer to her, as well.

“Thanks, Tay.”

“Anytime, Mo,” he smiled, and her heart fluttered.

“You know, you are just as important,” she whispered.

“Nah,” he shrugged, modestly.

“Really! You’re kind of his hero.” She poked his side with a gentle finger.

“If I really was a hero, I’d have gotten him out of this nightmare. I would have gotten all of you out,” he mumbled, upset.

“You are a hero, Tay. To this school, to this town, to Lucas...and...to me,” she ended in a soft whisper. Taylor searched her face for a moment, enjoying the shape of her mouth. He fell into her big, wanting eyes and felt better.

“Thank you, Morgan.”

“You called me Morgan...you’ve always called me Mo...” she started to shake in absolute joy.

“Well, it is your name, isn’t it?” he teased, nudging her arm with his. A giant smile cut across her face, and a thousand fireworks exploded behind her eyes. She held that happiness in...barely.

Quickly changing the subject, “You still want to be that hero? I have an idea how we can get the rest of the students out of the school. Want to hear it?”

Taylor scooped up the sledgehammer in his hand and smiled.

“Always.”

~ ~ ~ ~ ~

IN FATUATION: Lucas & Olivia

I had just closed my eyes when Olivia’s sweet scent hit me. I opened my tired eyes to find her sitting cross-legged, in front of me. She slowly leaned in closer, face to face, with a small smile on her lips. She was close enough to kiss and I started to panic. Her lips pulled in even closer and I memorized her perfect features.

“Can we talk?” she asked, with a nod toward my bag. She wanted to use the stone again.

“Umm, sure,” I said, still dazed by her presence. Quickly, I removed the stone and placed it on the floor, between us. Her hands pushed themselves against its cold and inviting surface. It covered over in the deep red color again. This time it seemed brighter and it pulsed along with my heartbeat. Or hers, I wasn’t sure anymore.

* Hi, *
she said in my head, sweetly.

Hi. Fancy meeting you here.

* You’re such a dork. *

Yeah, but I’m a dork with a magic rock!

* True. *

So, why all the secrecy, Olivia?

She blushed and looked around the room, her eyes alive with wonder.

* No secrets, I just wanted to do this again. I like it. It feels nice. *

Because of the stone, huh.
I smiled.

* No. Because of you. *
She looked through me, and I saw sparks.

We sat there for a long and intense minute just watching each other. She was more than right, this was nice. Very nice! I took a deep breath and asked her something that had been on the tip of my tongue for years.

Olivia, can I ask you something?

* Of course. *

When we’re done with all this Die Hard business, do you think we could go out some time?
With my head spinning, I waited for her answer. She laughed at me.

* Took you long enough! *

Is that a yes?

* Yes, with a capital Y... *

Olivia leaned over the stone and closed her eyes. Her lips pushed into mine, soft and full. I couldn’t move. She kissed me gently and the world stopped rotating. I could feel the outer shell of the stone fill with warmth. It began to vibrate within our hands and lightly shake as if something was rolling around inside of it. I ignored it and continued my journey into infatuated bliss. I was so lost in the moment that I didn’t even notice Taylor and Morgan slip out the door at the front of the soundproofed room.

Olivia slowly pulled away from me, still caressing the stone in her hands.

* Now what? *
she smiled, proud of herself.

We find Sophia and I take you to the movies and buy you the largest cup of cherry cola and deepest bag of gummy bears candy they have!
I said, with a smile humungous enough to split my face in two. She smiled even bigger and her eyes welled up with glistening tears.

* It’s a date. *

~ ~ ~ ~ ~

IN VAIN: Roland & Felicity

“Hey there,” Roland said, stepping up to Felicity as she scribbled harder in her journal. She didn’t even bother to look up from her notepad as she continued writing and snapped...

“Bite me!”

LEVEL 16:
My Hero

SECRET MISSION: Taylor & Morgan

“Are you absolutely sure about this?” Taylor asked, his voice in a whisper. Morgan nodded yes from behind Taylor’s hulking shoulders. As they looked from behind the dusty stage curtain, at the sea of terrified classmates, a fear attacked both of them. Most of the students were corralled in the seats of the auditorium, quiet and not moving. Despair was freshly painted across their faces. There were guards for every row of the room, fully armed and at attention.

“What if this doesn’t work?” Taylor asked. With her thumb and index finger, Morgan pinched his back hard.

“It will!” she whispered with positivity. Taylor let a small smile peek out from the corner of his mouth.

“Okay.”

Morgan watched as a short line of students returned to their seats, possibly from a bathroom break. Without a sound, the kids were led back to their seats. All the soldiers were silent and aware.

“All right, gimme two minutes to start the fire and hit the emergency alarm,” Morgan said. She placed a gentle hand on Taylor’s back. He settled with her touch.

Five minutes passed with no smoke, no fire, no alarm and no Morgan. Taylor could feel the fear creeping up on him again. He clutched his sledgehammer tighter and wondered if he should just run out from behind the curtain and start swinging away. He wondered how many soldiers he could stop before they took him down. He started to step out from the shadows of his hiding spot when the first hint of smoke slid into his nose.

“About time, Mo...” he sighed. He knew the fire-alarm wouldn’t be far behind, so he waited for Morgan’s return. But the alarm never came. Morgan finally ran up to him, upset.

“It’s not working!” she said, in a frenzy.

“What’s not working?” he asked, already knowing the answer.

“The alarms! They must be linked to the power that seems to be not working, again. What do we do?” she asked. Taylor reached out and slid her behind one of his flexing arms in a protective gesture. She clutched him from behind, her handsome and brave shield.

“Shhh...” he said.

From the edge of the stage, the closest guard next to them looked at his futuristic armband as it started beeping. It was some kind of communication device with sensors and gages. The soldier signaled the other guards just before their armband gages started beeping as well.

“Contact the General. I think there’s a fire somewhere,” the soldier ordered. Unbelievably, their sensors had picked up the faintest of smoke in the air before anyone else could smell it. The students began to rustle in their seats, startled by the warning signals coming from all their captors. One of the soldiers turned toward the closed curtains of the auditorium stage with his weapon ready for action. He waved to another set of guards for backup.

“Uh...get out of here, Morgan. I’ll hold them off as long as I can,” Taylor said, coldly. “Warn the others.” Taylor stepped forward, his hammer spinning in his fists, but Morgan held onto his arm.

“No! I’m not leaving without you!”

“We don’t have time to argue, they’re coming. I have to give the fire enough time to catch. I have to give it enough time to become an unstoppable inferno. If they can stop the fire, they won’t evacuate the students!” Taylor forcefully shoved her back, but Morgan fought back in defiance.

“Taylor!”

“Mo, I have to give you enough time to get out...” he added.

“But I can help!”

“Yes, you can, by telling the others what happened and by making sure you’re safe,” he begged, as the thunder of falling footsteps from the soldiers boots, grew louder. “Go!”

“I can’t!” she cried out, not caring if they could hear her anymore. Flames appeared behind them, slithering up the back wall of the stage, quickly engulfing everything in orange heat. The force of it burned both of their eyes, immediately.

“Please!” Taylor begged, again. Morgan crumbled with tears.

“I can’t leave you! I just can’t! I love you!” she said, with fading hope. Her hand slapped across her mouth in shock that she let the words escape. Her eyes closed in horror as Taylor froze, lowering the hammer to the floor. His blue eyes locked onto her and then the flames growing over her head. They didn’t have anymore time.

“Morgan...” he started to say. She opened her eyes just as the giant blue and black curtain ripped open, exposing them to everyone in the auditorium. The first few soldiers had reached them with their guns drawn. Morgan trembled in horror.

“Freeze! Don’t move, punk!” one soldier ordered with his gun pointed at Taylor’s chest.

Taylor stole Morgan’s attention and mouthed one word, “Run.”

Morgan flailed backwards, stumbling over her feet. She disappeared into the fire and Taylor smiled, wickedly.

“Drop the hammer! This is your only warning!” another guard called out. Taylor slowly let the wooden handle fall from his steady grasp. It fell in slow motion, the soldiers watching it, intently. Taylor used this moment to unleash his wrath.

“Noooooo!” he wailed, and shoved both soldiers with a force that sent them flying off the stage and crashing to the floor. He slammed his foot into the head of the sledgehammer causing the handle to bounce back up into his hand.

“Run!” Taylor screamed at the students, with the hammer raised above his head. At the same moment, the fire had curled up the edges of the curtains, igniting like dry kindling.

“It’s Big Country!” someone yelled out. The entire crowd of students burst out in cheers and screams.

“Get out of here!” Taylor yelled, at the top of his lungs. Even before his chest rumbled with the order, some of the kids had already started rushing the exits. Their bodies stampeded over the guards as the scene turned chaotic.

“Woohoo!” Taylor shouted, as he delighted in the anarchy. He lunged forward, flying from the stage like a superhero. His blonde hair trailing behind him as he smashed into the nearest crowd of soldiers. He swung the hammer as hard as he could, disarming any and every guard within twenty feet of him. Their bones cracked and their weapons spilled onto the floor.

“Who’s next?” Taylor dared. Smoke poured through the auditorium, clinging to the ceiling and down the walls. Dark soot blanketed the failing light in the room as a handful of soldiers attempted to stop him. Each one fell to his hammer and strength. With each new challenger Taylor gave the students more time to escape. His schoolmates filled the hallways, running for the main exits of the school. Their excited and nervous screams reverberated everywhere. Taylor looked around at the chaos he had instigated.

“Not bad,” he congratulated himself. Unfortunately, he did it too soon.

SMACK! With a dull thud a blinding pain shot across the back of his head and down his neck. Instant vertigo grabbed hold of him and he fell to one knee, trying with all his strength not to spin to the ground. Standing over Taylor was General Love with a crooked smirk and a police baton.

“Big, bad, hero. Not so big on the floor though, are ya, boy! Ha, ha, ha!” General Love slapped his leg in laughter. He surveyed the room with unearthly eyes and something evil just under his skin. He rubbed the skin where his missing ear used to be, enjoying the smoky carnage. The General’s eyes finally locked on the last few students rushing out of the auditorium doors.

Taylor coughed from the ground, “Ugh, let...them...go...” He held the back of his head in pain. General Love motioned to his last few unbroken soldiers to let the straggling kids go, safely.

“Leave them alone, gentlemen,” General Love ordered. He looked down at Taylor with a snakelike grin. “We don’t need them anymore.”

Taylor squinted his steel eyes from behind his falling blonde bangs. “You’ll never get that stone!” he threatened, in absolute fact. He could feel his second wind building inside of him. General Love leaned down to him, sensing his strong spirit coming back.

“So, it’s a stone, is it? What else do you know, Mr. Swift?” He grabbed Taylor by his shoulder. Two soldiers pointed their assault rifles on both sides of Taylor, protecting the General.

“I don’t know,” Taylor mumbled.

“Get up, now!” the General commanded. “You’re going to tell me everything you know about Mr. Ryan and his magic pet rock.”

“Never!” Taylor roared, barely able to stand on his feet again. One of the guards smashed his gun into Taylor’s stomach, sending him to his knees again. A large piece of the ceiling gave in to the barrage of hot flames, falling down, crushing some of the auditorium seats. The old fabric covering them burst into a bright fire. Taylor ignored it, concentrating on the contracting spasms in his gut.

The other guard leaned over Taylor and said, “General, this room won’t last much longer.”

General Love silenced him with a dirty look and a low growl. The soldier quickly stood at attention, petrified of what lied beneath the surface of the General’s face.

“Well, Mr. Swift...you heard the man, we don’t have much time left. Now, start talking, or you stay and burn!” General Love said in a rage, hovering over Taylor. Taylor looked up at him with feverish hate. His head was throbbing and he could feel the first trickle of blood running down his neck. He was too close to giving up, too close to giving in.

“Back off!” Morgan yelled from behind them. Her voice cracking over the sounds of the inferno. General Love and his men whipped around in surprise. Taylor’s eyes locked onto Morgan’s outline on the stage. She stood like an angry statue with one of the fallen soldiers firearms pointed at the General. The two soldiers next to him readied their guns and took a step toward the stage.

“Stop!” she ordered, and squeezed the trigger. Three rounds of bullets ripped through the smoky air and into the floor, just inches from their boots. “Put your guns on the floor. Now!”

“Impressive,” General Love said, with a gleam in his beady eyes. He was almost as impressed as Taylor was.

“Believe me, fellas, she’s dead serious,” Taylor laughed, standing back up. The soldiers looked at each other deciding whether or not to continue their attack. General Love stood quietly assessing the situation.

“Drop the guns!” Morgan demanded, again. She was now at the very edge of the stage, her gun locked onto the two guards. Fire crawled along the walls and curtains behind her. Taylor started to laugh and General Love crossed his arms in anticipation.

“Hey, General...you know those video games the military were using to train their troops to increase their accuracy and consistency in shooting?” Taylor teased. General Love glanced at him with an eyebrow raised.

“Affirmative.”

“Well, let’s just say my girl, Morgan, is an expert at those very same simulation games,” Taylor smiled proudly up at Morgan.

“Is that so?” General Love asked. Taylor nodded his way.

“She made the top three of the state wide championships. A certified first-person shooter, gaming goddess!” Taylor said, full of pride. General Love leered back to the burning stage, locking his glare on Morgan at the front of it. The two soldiers weren’t convinced. They steadied their grips around their weapons.

“That good, huh?” General Love snickered.

“Good enough to pierce your
good
ear, General,” Taylor said, bluntly.

“This isn’t a video game!” one of the soldiers cursed. He began to point his gun at Morgan when three more shots punctured the painted wood of the police baton in General Love’s hand, making it spin free from his fist. It spun in the air before falling to the floor. General Love reached up and pulled both of the soldiers weapons down to their sides. The guards stared at Morgan with renewed hatred in their faces as they surrendered their guns, reluctantly.

“Come on, Taylor,” she winked his way. A shaky smile appeared on her lips. Taylor winked back, and ran for the stage, only stopping long enough to pick up his sledgehammer. General Love became furious, but he managed to keep it locked away inside his throat.

“You want a job?” he called out to Morgan. She helped Taylor up the stairs of the stage, never lowering her gun. When he was safe at her side she giggled and stuck her middle finger in the air. The two saviors disappeared into the blazing fires.

“I’ll take that as a no,” General Love said, and grabbed his soldiers by the back of their necks.

“They’re getting away, General!”

“Shut up! Circle the wagons and round up everyone you can. We’ve got them right where we want them...right where I need them.” Black veins rippled inside General Love’s eyes. His men ran off quickly.

Taylor and Morgan made their way through the devastated backstage of the auditorium, and finally back to the main door of the Music room. Smoke and fire danced from behind them. Morgan helped Taylor walk because he was still dizzy from the blow to the back of his head. He stopped her with a gentle hand.

“You came back for me,” Taylor said, sweetly. She let out a stressed puff of air.

“I had to,” she said.

Taylor stopped, snatching up Morgan’s hand, “Because you love me.”

She looked up at him petrified, “Ummm...”

He leaned in and kissed her, softly. The large assault rifle fell from her hand to the ground in a crash. Slowly, Taylor pulled away from her with an embarrassed smile. Morgan held onto his face, lost in his wonderful kiss.

“There goes my hero,” Taylor whispered to her.