The Bloom Series Box Set: Bloom & Fade (56 page)

Haven saw movement out of the corner
of her eye. The thin man stood in the doorway, eyes black as coal,
staring right at her.

“
Bastian,” she said as she
backed away. “Now would be a good time to fix that
problem.”

“
I’m trying! He’s taking
everything as soon as I let it go.”

The thin man approached them slowly.
Haven and Bastian backed into the tank.

“
Any bright ideas?” asked
Bastian.

“
Yeah,” said Haven. “Burn
this place to the ground.”

“
What are you going
to—”

Haven ran away from the tank before he
could finish. She headed straight at the thin man, not entirely
sure of her own plan. He seemed confused by her approach, and then
his confusion turned to amusement as she drew closer. Haven tried
to call on her energy and even managed to send out a few blue
flames in his direction, but he was absorbing everything with his
Conduit ability and stopping the fire before it got
close.

She screamed and threw
herself into the air, bringing her knees up at the last second.
They sank into his stomach. He let out a
woooof
of air and buckled in half.
All of his focus had been on absorbing Haven’s Source energy and he
hadn’t expected an outright physical attack. They crumpled to the
ground together in a thrashing heap. Haven grabbed his head and
slammed it against the concrete floor.

“
Do it!’ she shouted to
Bastian.

He ran to the broken pipe on the side
of the tank and put his arm inside of it up to his elbow, then
closed his eyes. Sweat beaded on his face and his body shook as he
concentrated. The liquid in the pipe boiled.

The thin man sat up and reached out
for Haven. His hands wrapped around her throat and he squeezed
until she could no longer breathe. He grinned as he sucked the life
out of her, drawing on her energy until her heart slowed and
stopped. Haven’s vision blurred as she looked over at
Bastian.

An enormous yellow fireball erupted
from his arm and shot into the pipe. He jumped back and dove for
cover as an explosive chain reaction ran from the bottom of the
pipe up to the top. The yellow fireball obliterated the pipe as it
rushed toward the ceiling, exploding it outward like a cannonball
fired into a cardboard tube.

The thin man released Haven and
stood.

“
No!’ he screamed, running
toward the tank. “No-no-NO!”

Haven gasped for air and her vision
cleared. Bastian scrambled over and hauled her to her
feet.

“
Time to go,” she said.
They ran away from the spreading flames. The fireball exploded and
the entire ceiling was consumed. Other pipes caught fire and
flaming snakes crawled across the ceiling, following the paths of
the tubes as they twisted throughout the entire complex.

The thin man stood by the tank at the
base of the broken pipe, gripping it tightly, absorbing as much
flame as he could—but there was too much. His skin erupted with
yellow fire as he tried to extinguish the chaotic inferno. He
looked up at the ceiling hopelessly, then he turned to Haven. His
eyes were burning holes of blinding yellow plasma. He opened his
mouth to scream but all that came out was a burst of yellow lava.
It rolled down his chin and over his chest.

Haven closed her eyes and turned away.
Bastian took her hand and led her back into the packaging room.
Marius and Roku ran toward them, breathing heavily from their own
battle. Marius had a large scratch down one side of his face and
Roku was still holding his injured side, but otherwise they seemed
little worse than before.

“
No more guards,” said
Marius. “We go now, or no more
us
.” He pushed the others away from
the vat room, toward the door leading to the small storage room
through which they had arrived.

Behind them, the fire broke through
the wall, racing along the cluster of pipes overhead and across the
ceiling. The machine nearest the wall exploded as fire shot down
its feeder pipe from above. Chunks of metal whistled through the
air, piercing everything around like shrapnel from a fragmentation
grenade.

Something sharp hit Haven’s shoulder
and sank into her skin. She cried out in pain but did not stop
running.

More machines exploded across the room
as fire streaked down the feeder tubes attached to the ceiling.
Haven caught a quick glimpse of a cart filled with metal syringes
and saw a terrifying image of what would happen if a machine
exploded nearby. The syringes would be propelled through the room
like bullets and would tear through her skin just as
easily.

She was at the back of the line. Roku
was right in front of her, stumbling to keep up with the others.
Haven urged him forward as they ducked around burning equipment.
Finally they reached the locked door that led to the small storage
room.

Marius let out a bellowing roar and
kicked the door in the middle. It flew off its hinges and exploded
into the next room. He went through, with Bastian and Roku close
behind. Haven turned to look back.

The ceiling was a patchy blanket of
yellow flame. Much of it was already open to the early morning
sky—huge chunks of metal sheeting had fallen to the floor, igniting
everything they touched. Machines exploded like enormous fireworks
across the vast warehouse.

Haven stood there, transfixed, seeing
again the destruction of her own home as it was consumed by
insatiable fire.

A hand grabbed her shoulder and pulled
her into the next room.

“
We are leaving!” shouted
Marius. He jumped into the driver’s seat of the truck they had used
to sneak into the building. Roku and Bastian climbed onto the bed
and threw off some of the plastic containers. The two of them sat
with their backs to the cab and held on tight.

The truck was already lurching forward
when Haven ran around to the passenger’s side and jumped in. She
slammed the door just as the remaining ceiling collapsed around
them. The truck groaned in protest as Marius grinded the gears and
forced it onward, through the wreckage.

A second later they were clear of the
destruction and driving away. The last chunk of flaming debris slid
off the hood of the truck. Haven looked back quickly to check on
Roku and Bastian. They were still on the bed of the truck, coughing
and brushing ash from their clothes and hair. She sat back and a
sharp pain stabbed her shoulder. She reached back gently and her
fingers brushed a sharp piece of metal. Haven closed her eyes and
yanked it out, stifling a scream. The strip of metal was long but
very thin, like a slender icicle. Haven threw it out the window and
wiped her hand on her pants. Then she used some of her own energy
to seal the wound.

Marius drove to the top of a small
dune nearby and swung the truck around to face the building.
Firelight danced across the windshield as the building collapsed
violently onto itself.

Roku and Bastian stood up in the back
and leaned on the roof of the cab as explosion after explosion
leveled the complex. The middle of the packaging room was already
extinguished, the fire having burnt its way through every possible
fuel source. All that remained was a blackened skeleton, its
fingers reaching up toward the dawn sky.

Workers in white lab coats ran
screaming from the chaos and gathered in a small group a short
distance away. They sat watching the building burn, huddled
together in the desert. Haven wondered what would become of them;
if Alistair would take pity and relocate them to a new facility or
if he would wipe them all out for their incompetence.

For most of them—the ones who hadn’t
known what they were really making—Haven felt deep pity. For the
others, she was simultaneously shocked and relieved to find that
she didn’t care either way.

31

D
ormer rolled up the papers and hid them away in his coat. He
and Colton trotted through the Grove toward the exit.

“
What do you think will
happen if we don’t take out all of the soldiers?” asked
Colton.

“
Let’s hope we don’t find
out. First we need to secure the others in one location to minimize
the risk of retaliation.”

“
Where?”

“
Marius and Corva’s room.
We won’t be able to move the refugees quickly enough to get them
anywhere else, so it’s best to bring everyone else to
them.”

“
June can
help.”

“
The chef?”

“
Yeah.”

“
Lunch was amazing,” said
Dormer. “Best meal I’ve had in weeks.”

They slowed their pace as they left
the Grove and walked into the dome room. The soldiers positioned
nearby stiffened at their approach.

“
At ease, gentlemen,” said
Dormer as he and Colton passed, heading toward the dormitory
hallway. The soldiers exchanged a brief glance.

The kitchen was empty. The aroma of
slightly-burnt cake still clung to the air and made Colton’s mouth
water as he passed.

The hallway split in two a little
farther down. Colton took the left branch, toward Corva and the
medical center refugees. Dormer went right to find Noah and
Micah.

Colton spun the wheel to Marius and
Corva’s room and pushed it open. Inside, June knelt next to Corva’s
bed. The medical center refugees lay on their cots, thick blankets
covering their shivering bodies. One of them turned to look at
Colton with dread in his eyes.

“
It’s alright,” said
Colton as he entered the room. “I’m not here to hurt
you.”

June dabbed Corva’s head with a wet
cloth. Colton knelt next to her.

“
June, it’s
time.”

“
Finally,” she
said.

Dormer appeared in the doorway. “No
sign of the boys.”

Colton’s stomach sank to think what
would happen if Noah and Micah weren’t safe when the shooting
started. “They’re probably in the training room, horsing
around.”

“
We don’t have time!” said
Dormer. “Shift change is in two minutes.”

“
I’ll get them,” said
June. “Do what you need to do.”

Dormer nodded and turned to Colton.
“Right. They’re going to be crossing paths in front of the door
that leads to the elevator. Two will be stationed there already,
and the others will be passing on the way to their next post. We
hit them hard and take down as many as we can. But…”

“
But
what
?!” said Colton
eagerly.

“
But two of them won’t be
with the others.”

“
Let me guess,” said
Colton. “They’re guarding the training room.”

“
Yes.”

“
I’ll handle them,” said
June. “Don’t worry about it.”

Colton and Dormer looked at her
doubtfully.

“
I
said
don’t worry about it,” she
repeated.

“
What about Kamiko?” asked
Colton.

“
We can only hope she’s
somewhere else. Enough talk, we need to move.”

Colton and June followed him down the
long hallway toward the dome room. As they left the comfortable
shadows of the hall and stepped into the bright morning light
pouring down through the open hole in the ceiling, Colton never
felt more naked in his life. The soldiers who were usually guarding
both sides of the dormitory hallway were gone. Across the room, the
sound of boots tromping loudly over concrete echoed near the thick
door that guarded the elevator hallway.

“
Wish me luck,” said June,
and before Colton could do just that, she was off, walking quickly
toward the training room. The two soldiers positioned near the door
watched her approach.

“
Let’s go,” whispered
Dormer.

He led Colton straight toward the
middle of the room, through a long corridor of shelves that made up
part of Dormer’s workshop. They crouched low to keep the soldiers
across the room from seeing them over the debris of the crushed
fire pit. Colton looked around, worried Kamiko would pop into view
any second. She was nowhere in sight. They reached the pile of
debris near the fire pit and Dormer stopped. Colton’s stomach
clenched when he saw the soldiers in front of the door
ahead.

Two stood on either side, talking to
each other in low voices. They seemed a lot more relaxed than
usual, and Colton wondered if this shift change was the two minutes
out of their day where they could have a normal conversation. Two
more soldiers came up and joined them while still more walked by on
the way to their next post.

“
Do you have enough juice
for all of them?” whispered Colton.

“
We’ll find out,” said
Dormer. He stepped out from behind the mound of debris and walked
toward the soldiers. Colton, unsure about what to do, followed him
closely, expecting at any moment to be cut in half by a storm of
bullets.

The training room door opened to his
left and June appeared. She had Micah on her hip and held Noah’s
hand. The soldiers to either side of her paid little attention. She
looked right at Colton and froze. He waved her back into the room
and she disappeared. The two soldiers by the training room were
finally able to see Dormer and Colton stepping clear of the shelves
and approaching the door to the elevator.