The Purification: Book 3 of the Evaran Chronicles (28 page)

After several hours, a loud sound woke her up from her nap. She had been lying in a crumpled position with her feet at the door. She reached for her PSD and sat up against the back wall. Looking around, she could not see anything. Her nanobots began to tingle, making her more alert. She tilted her head, as she thought she was able to see a bit in the complete darkness. The nanobots gave her heightened senses, but to see in pitch-black surprised her.

Thwack!

This time, she saw that it was something being tossed at the window. Whatever it was, there was a creature out there that wanted in. She swallowed hard as she stood up. Her heartbeat took off as she surveyed the window. After thirty minutes of standing rigid, she began to relax. Whatever it had been, it seemed to have stopped. A brief thought ran through her mind that her resting pattern being disrupted may have been a goal. This would indicate some type of intelligence. Or maybe it just really wanted to get to her.

The rest of the day was filled with her tossing and turning after she had lain back down. Every slight noise made her jump. Her nerves were frazzled, but the second research facility with its creature comforts being not too far off consoled her.

She woke from her nap around 8:00 p.m. according to her PSD. The darkness in the tunnel was not helping her circadian rhythm. She sat up slumped against the wall. Her stomach was churning, and she had a headache. She missed Dr. Snowden, Evaran, and V and would give anything to be with them now. A tear ran down her cheek as she thought of never seeing them again.

She went through her morning routine at night, noting how odd it seemed. Her legs were looser, and her feet did not throb. The nanobots did not seem to need much rest to repair her body. She paused as she was about to leave. When she turned on her light beacon, it showed something smeared on the outside window. She grimaced as she exited the room. The smell from the window indicated it was feces spread out on it. It seemed the feces had been smeared by a set of hands. After a quick scan of her surroundings, she moved on.

As she approached the thirty-fifth mile, the lights on the sides of the tunnel began to shed light. It was still dim, but compared to the total darkness, it was a welcome change. She shut off her light beacon and quickened her pace. The thought of a hot shower and decent food danced in her mind. The presence had kept its distance but remained just out of visual range. Several times she peered back but never saw anything. It was there, though.

Her legs had gotten used to the walking, so they were not as sore as they were when she first started. As she continued on to the second research facility’s hub, the lighting became much brighter, and she enjoyed not having to squint. She stopped to relieve herself just a mile out from the hub. It was tedious to have to face toward where she had come from. She was in an awkward and vulnerable stance, bent over with one hand extended holding the PSD in case of an attack. After she cleaned up, she pressed on with the Torvatta in her mind. A half grin crept onto her face as she thought that if Evaran were here, he would send V to scout the tunnel. Having V around would make things so much easier. No wonder Evaran created him.

The sight of the transportation hub of the second research facility made her smile. She reflected on how odd it was to raise her lips. It seemed more natural to keep her lips flat. When she reached the door leading up to the facility, she noticed the console to the right of it showing the word
Lockdown
. Kicking and pushing against the door had no effect.

Butterflies fluttered in her stomach. The thought that she might not be able to access the facility crossed her mind. She had assumed it would be available.

“Interface. Activate,” she said, looking around.

Nothing happened.

“Kal. Activate.” She jumped back when Kal appeared.

“Translation matrix has been initiated. Welcome to Coraanan research facility number sixteen. I am the virtual interface, Kal.”

“I know who you are. Why’s this facility in lockdown?”

“It was set when the Coraanan left.”

“Well … unlock it.”

“To change lockdown status, you must initiate it from a system inside the facility.”

She sighed. They must have kept one person inside just for this purpose. Unless they all left. She leaned back against the wall and snapped her head at Kal.

Through Kal’s semitransparent form, she saw the creature she had seen in the forest running toward her. This was the presence she had felt. The creature was humanoid, and its almost white face looked like someone had grabbed the chin and forehead and stretched them apart. The clothing on the humanoid was tattered, and its fingers were long, slender claws. Intense black eyes stared at her with hunger. The large mouth displayed razor-sharp teeth between its always-smiling lips. The strong smell of feces permeated the air.

Her heartbeat rampaged as her eyes popped open. The humanoid burst through Kal and slammed her into the wall. It stepped back and swiped. She blocked it with her arm, then cried out as the claws raked over the exposed area between the arm bone plates. The tingling sensation ramped up and coursed over her body. She kicked out and connected with the creature. It went flying back. Her head tilted as she watched it tumble away due to her kick. It seemed like everything had slowed down, but she could still move at normal speed. She shook her head and pulled out her PSD.

She fired a repulsion beam as the creature stood back up.

The creature held its ground as the repulsion blast washed over it.

She swallowed hard as she fired the stun beam at it.

The creature raised its arm and roared, then flipped to the side.

Although she knew it moved fast, it seemed to be moving at normal speed to her. The blasts had minimal effect on it, and this creature meant to kill. She extended the PSD into a staff and adopted a defensive posture.

The creature jumped around as it charged her.

As it got close, she sidestepped it. With a swing of the staff at its legs, it went tumbling forward and crashed face-first into the wall. Her blood boiled. She struck out at the backs of its legs.
Snap!

The creature roared and pivoted around in an unnatural manner. It swiped at her.

She hit the wrist of the creature.
Snap!

It roared again and slid to the side a few steps away. It extended its hand and, after a moment, had full motion with its wrist. The leg had already healed, by the way it was moving.

Her face turned red. This thing would follow her until it killed her. And it did not go down easily. Something that large with the ability to move around the way it did bothered her. She exhaled sharply. Enough was enough. She was tired of this, physically and mentally.

“Come on!”
said Emily as she held her staff in front of her.

The creature roared. It jumped from side to side as it angled toward her.

Her nanobots pulsed. The creature came closer. Her breath quickened. The creature dove at her. She jumped up and spun around, delivering a hit with all her strength to the back of the head. The creature fell to the floor and twitched.

Emily hustled up to it.
“Why couldn’t you just leave me alone!”
Tears cascaded down her face.

The creature tried to turn around.

“Why!”
said Emily.

It was the creature or her. She rushed forward and struck the creature’s head repeatedly, crying between strikes.

The creature stopped moving.

She slumped against the wall as her breathing staggered. Tears ran off her cheeks. She just wanted to live. Why did everything want to kill her?

She stayed there for a bit as she focused on the next step. It seemed unusual to her that she was so focused. A creature was dead due to her directly killing it, yet she did not feel remorse like she thought she would. Kazaal was an indirect death, but this was her first kill. She thought that maybe she would go crazy, but her heightened state suggested otherwise.

With a calm determination, she stood up and walked over to the door leading up to the rest of the facility. Standing back, she delivered a kick that caved in a part of it. Several kicks later and the door was bent in enough that she could climb through. While grimacing, she took a last look at the dead creature, then climbed through the door.

Emily awoke the next morning after a long rest. She really liked the beds. They did not have the neural effect that beds on the Torvatta had, but they were soft, and the shape of the bed was inviting. The pillows were soft as well. It made her feel like the bed was holding her.

She looked at the ground as her legs swung over the side. Before she had gone to sleep, she locked the inner door to the transportation system. No way could she rest if that creature somehow regenerated and cheated death. She did not feel bad for killing it. It had tried to kill her, and she simply refused to be its victim. Her morning list of things to do included checking to see that the creature was still dead.

As she went through her morning routine, she thought about Dr. Snowden, Evaran, and V. What would they think of all this? What would Evaran have done to that creature when his stun baton failed? She concluded he would have done the same as her, unless he had other tools or gadgets she was unaware of. Maybe he would have run, but given Evaran’s strength displayed after one round, the creature would have probably fled. It would have known this was not someone to mess with, but with her, it decided to. It had no way of knowing she had nanobots that would give her strength.

Her mind drifted toward the nanobots as she headed to the specimen surveillance lab. They had pulsated with a ferocity she had only felt for brief periods before. During the fight, they were steady, and she could move faster and focus much easier, and she felt stronger. She wondered if she could call upon them as needed or if they were only triggered by life-and-death situations. Her head bobbed as she contemplated staying for a bit to focus on trying to reach that state in a safe environment.

When she arrived at the specimen surveillance lab, she sat at a workstation and began to peruse the system. It seemed the communications system was down, like at the first facility. “Kal. Activate.”

Kal shimmered into view. “Good morning. How may I be of service?”

“When did the Coraanan leave this facility?”

“The Coraanan left this facility three hundred eight years ago.”

Emily rubbed her chin. “The same time as the other facility. I don’t suppose you know why they left.”

“The Coraanan left due to an assault on Central Command. Before communications broke down, a general alert was issued to all researchers to leave their facilities and head there.”

Emily jerked her head back. The first facility must not have gotten that message but ventured out due to the communication system being down and breaches in the tunnels. “What attacked Central Command?”

“The assailants were unknown.”

Emily studied Kal for a moment as she decided to look up the message. It took her a bit of navigating through the various menu options, but she found the alert. It was a planet-wide evacuation order. All researchers were to proceed to Central Command for extraction. Her heart sank at the thought that Central Command might have been destroyed. If the rift door had been shut down there, what did that mean for her? She swallowed hard as her eyes misted. Living the rest of her life at one of these facilities alone was not something she had given much thought to.

With a sigh, she opened the overland map. She had gone forty miles so far, and with the ten to the first facility, that meant only one hundred miles to go. Going through tunnels again was not something she was interested in. The fresh air and daylight did wonders for her mood, whereas the pitch-black darkness of the tunnels kept her on edge. In addition to that, there were not many options on places to go if the tunnels had an obstruction she could not pass, only back the way she had come.

She tilted her head as she noticed that the next facility did not have a tunnel leading to it. Instead, it went east. The tunnels and facilities seemed to ring a chasm, with a total distance of about four hundred miles. The tunnels were out, not that she minded. She zoomed into the chasm. It looked large and very deep and was four miles across. No wonder they did not try to build a tunnel through this. There was a path over the chasm. Her eyes lit up. Maybe it was a bridge.

She pointed at the path. “What’s this?”

“It is the air route over the chasm. There are two facilities on each side that provide transportation.”

“What type of transportation?”

“An automated air pod system transports passengers across the chasm.”

She tilted her head. “Can the air pod be overridden to fly elsewhere?”

“Overriding the air pods’ destination is strictly forbidden.”

She sighed. If the air pods were hackable, Kal was not going to be much help. Although Central Command had been attacked long ago, a sense of urgency pervaded her. Even if it had been attacked, it might still be the best place to be on this planet. There may even be other people there.