Subject Nightingale 1: Birth and Death (7 page)

“What was?” Jonny asked.

Michaela immediately pulled Nightingale into a hug, and stroked her hair. “It is alright, child. Your internal organs are unharmed, and I will make sure they stay that way.”

Nightingale calmed down considerably when Michaela hugged her, and she squeezed her tight in return. “That monster was Phellman. His nanobots turned him that way. They were supposed to heal him, but they turned him into a monster!” Nightingale pulled her head back suddenly, tears pouring down her face as she stared up at Michaela. “Doctor Metzger put Phellman's nanobots in me! Am I gonna turn into a monster like him!?”

“
No, child!” Michaela immediately answered, and hugged her close again. She cradled Nightingale's head to her chest and continued to stroke her hair in slow, soothing motions. “No, child... You will not become a monster, I promise you...”

“
I hate to break this up,” Jonny said, picking his rifle up from behind the recently flipped desk and cocking it, “but we can't spend any more time in here.”

Michaela nodded and looked down at Nightingale. “Are you okay?” she asked, smiling that reassuring smile.

Nightingale looked up at her and nodded. She sniffled and wiped her eyes, and Michaela helped her stand. “I'm sorry that Theo died, Jonny,” she said once she was on her feet, and she sniffled one last time. She felt responsible. “If it weren't for me, you wouldn't have ever come here. He'd still be alive.”

“
Oh, no...” Michaela said sympathetically, and touched the girl's shoulder.

“
It's not your fault,” Jonny responded. “Don't ever think that it is. None of what happened to you here—none of what happens
because
of what happened to you here—is your fault. Theo wouldn't blame you, so don't blame yourself. Understand?”

Nightingale nodded slowly, her eyes dropping to the floor. She stared at her feet and tried to accept Jonny's explanation. She had trouble, though.

“Roger...” she eventually muttered.

“
Now come on, let's go... Our best bet now is to just book it for the lobby.”

As usual, Jonny took point. Michaela grabbed her rifle from the floor as she passed it, and cocked its hammer back. She glanced back at Nightingale and waved her forward with her head. “Stay in front of me from now on, child. You are not properly equipped to cover our flank.”

Nightingale nodded and did as instructed. She felt a little less safe since she couldn't see Michaela, but she knew she was right behind her.

Chapter 7
Not Too Soon
 

“
So you were a doctor at a school?” Nightingale asked Michaela quietly as they followed Jonny.

He was leading them to the north stairwell, on the completely opposite end of floor 12. He didn't have any idea what the rotation for ECHO squads would be like on that side of the building, but he at least had an idea of what they were like on the west side. They were almost guaranteed to run into another squad if they stuck with their original plan, so he decided to roll the dice and check out the north.

“That is a good guess,” Michaela answered, “but no... I worked at an orphanage.”

“
Why'd you leave? You looked happy, and it seemed like the kids really liked you.”

Michaela regarded the girl curiously at that statement, but ultimately wrote it off as just a peculiarity. “Everyone who joins ECHO has their reasons, child... Someday, I would like to return to the orphanage. There are still so many children in this place who do not have homes, or families, or anyone to look after them.”

“Thank you,” Nightingale said. “Thank you for looking after me, Michaela.”

“
You are welcome, little one.” She smiled and patted Nightingale's head.

“
What about me?” Jonny chimed in. They had entered a long corridor, the door to the north stairwell at the other end. “What am I, chopped liver?”

“
Chopped liver?” Nightingale asked, eyebrows pulling together in confusion. She glanced over her shoulder at Michaela in question.

“
It means he feels left out. He is fishing for a compliment.” Michaela snickered.

Nightingale smiled and looked up at Jonny. “I appreciate your help, too. Thank you. But...” she frowned and looked away, “I never got to thank Theo...”

“Theo was never in it for the recognition,” Jonny said, his tone suddenly a bit sullen. “He's just always had a soft spot for kids...”

“
Was he a father?” Nightingale asked, afraid that the answer might be
yes
.

“
No, but he had a lot of people who looked up to him...”

“
Theo was a preacher,” Michaela clarified. “Whether or not you were a person of faith, his sermons always had a way of hitting home...”

“
Save it,” Jonny interrupted. “We need to focus. Save the eulogies for after we get out of here.”

“
Roger,” Michaela replied.

“
Roger...” Nightingale said, staring at her feet as she walked.

“
It will be okay,” Michaela whispered, reaching one hand out to touch Nightingale's shoulder. She could sense her sadness.

Nightingale just nodded, but then shrieked when she found herself suddenly off her feet.

“Contact, contact!”

“
Contact!”

Several men, Jonny included, shouted when the stairwell door at the end of the hall slid open.

Michaela had scooped Nightingale into her arms the instant she spotted the door opening and ducked behind a corner to the left. Jonny flattened his back against the wall around a corner to the right, using it for cover as a hail of bullets filled the hallway.

As soon as Glitch squad was behind cover, the corridor fell silent.

Michaela crouched with Nightingale, holding her back against the wall. She stroked her hair and looked into her eyes. “Be still, little one. Stay behind me.”

Nightingale just nodded; the bird was hiding in her hair again.

Jonny and Michaela pivoted together, Jonny on his right foot and Michaela on her left knee, leaning around their corner cover just enough to return fire. They each squeezed off a single shot, the two bullets hitting the same target square in the forehead and dropping him. They pivoted back behind cover, and Jonny showed Michaela his empty magazine.

Michaela tossed a half-full clip across the hallway, and Jonny snapped it into his rifle.

“Times are tough all over, aren't they, California?” Tommy called out from the stairwell when he saw them sharing ammo. He was using the door for cover. “What have you got, like, twelve bullets left? If that?”

Jonny and Michaela shared a glance, but remained silent.

“Let me guess,” Tommy continued, “your plan was to time your escape route around Reverb and Specter, and then go dark. You could've hit up the west stairwell and you would've been out of here in ten minutes flat—what went wrong?”

“
You're too smart for your own good, Tommy,” Jonny called out.

“
Maybe you're right! The smartest thing I've ever done was ditch you and your merry band of misfits,” Tommy replied.

“
It doesn't have to be like this,” Jonny said, poking his head around the corner just enough to see the other squad. They were hunkered down in adjacent hallways, but held their fire. After taking out one, he counted four threats remaining—they had come in with five total: the standard number of soldiers in an ECHO squad, plus Tommy.

“
No, this is
exactly
how it has to be,” Tommy replied. “That experiment needs to be terminated—”

“
She's just a girl!” Jonny yelled.

“
She
was
just a girl!” Tommy immediately returned. “Now we don't know what the %$#@ she is!”

Nightingale winced at hearing that, and looked up at Michaela for reassurance.

“Do not listen to him,” Michaela said without looking away from the corner. “He is just frightened.”

“
I'm only giving you one more chance, Tommy, and that's far more than you've ever given anyone else. Let us pass.”

Tommy chuckled. “Or what? You gonna kill me with your twelve bullets?”

“No,” Jonny said, and then he and Michaela pivoted around the corner to each squeeze off another single round. Their bullets landed in the head of another target, and he dropped. They returned to their cover just in time to avoid the hail of return fire. “I'm only gonna use one.”

“
Ha!” Tommy laughed, almost cackling, with what could have easily been mistaken for true amusement. “I've gotta hand it to you, California—despite all my whining, you guys have got that teamwork thing down tight!”

“
You oughta try it sometime, Tommy,” Jonny called out from around the corner, keeping one eye on the other squad once the bullet stream subsided. “Thinking about someone else, that is.”

Tommy was silent for a moment, and then said, “Saving this girl isn't going to make up for the ones you couldn't save.”

“Like I said—too smart for your own good.”

Jonny and Michaela pivoted around the corner again, but Nightingale gasped and grabbed Michaela to get her attention.

“Michaela!” she shouted when they were approached from behind, suddenly staring down the barrel of an automatic rifle.

Tommy had bought time for a sixth squad member to flank them.

Michaela immediately pivoted back, putting herself between the man and Nightingale, and pulled her rifle's trigger at their attacker.

Click!

She immediately drew her sidearm, and two simultaneous gunshots rang through the corridor.

Their attacker dropped, bleeding from a small bullet hole in his forehead.

Nightingale breathed a sigh of relief, but then Michaela slumped to the floor in front of her. The single bullet had pierced just above her body armor, and she was bleeding badly from her throat.

“
Michaela!” Nightingale shouted, her eyes suddenly wide as saucers and wrapped in tears.

“
Uh-oh!” Tommy shouted when he heard Nightingale calling out. “It sounds like someone fell for my clever little trap!”

“
God dammit, Tommy!” Jonny shouted, pivoting back around the corner and opening fire. He emptied what little was left in his magazine, but didn't hit Tommy or the other squad members. After that he returned to cover, dropped his rifle and drew his sidearm, cocked the hammer back, and struggled to control his breathing. It was increasing as rapidly as his anger was rising.

“
Michaela, what do I do!?” Nightingale shouted as she reached across Michaela's body to grab her medical kit. “Tell me how to fix you!”

Michaela gurgled blood and spit it onto the floor. “No, child...” she muttered out, her voice weak. “No, child, it is my time... There is nothing you can do to fix me, I am hurt too badly.”

“No, I can! I can, just tell me how!” She opened up the kit, but didn't know what to use. There were gauze bandages, scissors, a suture kit, but she didn't know what would stop the bleeding. She was becoming frantic as she rifled through the supplies.

“
No, no, little one, be calm...” Michaela lifted her hand toward Nightingale's face and caressed her cheek. She tucked some hair behind her ear, and smiled that calming and comforting smile.

“
But, I... I can't...” Nightingale dropped the kit and grabbed Michaela's hand, and began to weep.

“
You are going to be just fine. You are strong, and you are far braver than you even know, Nightingale.”

Nightingale gasped slightly when Michaela called her by that name. She sniffled and wiped her eyes, and nodded at her words.

“Jonny will protect you from here.” She struggled to lift her head, but doing so increased the flow of blood. It was pooling on the floor beneath her. “Jonny,” she choked out, her voice becoming weaker by the word, “see her out of this building securely. Theo and I will be saving you a seat in the afterlife.” She managed a quiet chuckle. “We hope to not see you
too
soon, however...”

The bird on Nightingale's shoulder began to chirp sadly as she began to cry harder. Michaela's eyes slipped shut, and her hand went limp in Nightingale's grasp. Her head tilted against the floor, and she died.

“No, please...” Nightingale choked out through her increasing sobs.

“
You're out of options, California,” Tommy called out.

Jonny's nostrils flared and his lips twitched in an uncontrollable snarl. His eyes were wide and he stared at the gun he held in front of his face. He was losing the battle with his temper.

“Just give it up!” Tommy taunted. “You guys really
are
just a bunch of glitches! Your squad is
dead
, so if I may polish off an old chestnut: come out with your hands up!”

Jonny spun around the corner, arm extending fully to aim his sidearm square at Tommy's forehead. “Go %$#@ yourself, Tommy!” He squeezed his trigger in time with the other squad. A hail of bullets hurtled toward Jonny, but he didn't even seem to care. All his attention was focused on the one he had loosed—the one flying true to Tommy.

“
Noooooooo!!
” Nightingale shouted, and the entire building rumbled.

The floor around Nightingale and Michaela's body fractured, cracking in a perfect circle, leaving them completely untouched. A powerful and invisible shock wave erupted outward from that point, which all but laid waste to their surroundings. The walls burst outward and then crumbled in, doors were reduced to splinters, and the light fixtures in the ceilings shattered to rain down glass.

The recently fired bullets were tossed all over and lost in the chaos. Jonny was taken off his feet and hurled several yards away, curling up and covering his head and neck with his arms as soon as he landed. He remained huddled against the wall, unable to do anything as his body was pushed around by this destructive force.

The two remaining men at the end of the hall were tossed around like rag dolls. They were thrown into the walls with enough force to break their bodies in two, reduced to mere piles of flesh and broken bones in the few seconds it took them to hit the walls and then the ground. Their rifles were scrapped—reduced to parts, individual pieces scattering all over.

Tommy missed the brunt of the impact thanks to his cover in the stairwell. The blast shattered his left arm and shoulder since he had been leaning into the doorway, and it took him off his feet. The cement landing he was on cracked and rumbled, and shifted suddenly as it prepared to give way.

He looked down at the surface and tried to reach for something to grab on to, but the railing was out of his right arm's reach. His left arm hung limp, useless, his rifle on the ground by his side. “Oh, $#!%,” he said, just before the floor collapsed right out from under him.

Once the destruction had subsided, Nightingale threw herself over Michaela's body and wept. The bird chirped and cried along with her, and in that moment, she wanted nothing more than Michaela to wake up and stroke her hair.

She wanted Michaela to tell her everything would be alright, and she wanted to see her smile.

But instead she got Jonny grabbing her by the shoulders and lifting her roughly to her feet.

“
We need to keep moving,” Jonny said. His face was scraped and bleeding, and he was covered in cement dust.