Yesterday's Gone: Season Six (48 page)

A bright flash of light came from beneath the surface of the jelly of Luca’s pod. It looked as if the old man’s chest was ripping open and something bright was pushing its way out, growing larger as it came.

They all stared as the first light made its way through — in the shape of a man. Though the man was all light, Boricio thought he could sense features within it.

Ed Keenan?

Another light stepped through, until five human-sized and shaped lights shone from Luca, standing in front of Desmond, fists tight at their sides.

Desmond screamed, grabbed the rifle from the Guardsman, and fired wildly at the shapes.

The Light immediately shattered into a thousand brilliant beads, scattering in every direction, spinning and spreading in arcs like an electric spiderweb, countless streams blinking on and off, strobing: light, dark, light, dark.

Desmond, without a solid target, turned his rage on Mary and Paola, both lying facedown, hands still cuffed behind their backs.
 

He aimed at Paola’s back and fired.

Her body bounced in the hail fire of bullets.

Mary and Boricio both screamed, neither able to do anything.

Desmond turned to Mary and fired, shooting her in the back and head.

Every ounce of despair and anger coursed through Boricio, leaving his body in an unholy wail.

Desmond turned to fire at him.

* * * *

CHAPTER 19 — Emily Roberts

Emily had never felt so alive.

The Light coursed through her, knitting and healing her flesh.

But as she stood, Emily also felt death. Not hers, but her father’s. She could feel his pain as the bullets tore through him. Could hear him cry out,
I love you.

Emily had to save him. If The Light could bring her back, then maybe it could bring him back, too.

She was about to order the elevator to her father’s level, but a voice corrected her.

The old man, Will.

She couldn’t see him but could hear him as if he were right beside her.

Emily, your job isn’t done. You have one more thing to do.

She stood in the closed elevator and looked at the black metal walls. An image flashed in her mind of something behind the walls. The ship’s black flesh.

Get to it.

She clawed at a seam in the wall’s metal panel until her fingers found purchase.

It took every ounce of strength, but the metal loosened.
 

“Come on!” Emily grunted.

The wall went slack then fell to the ground with a clang. There, in the exposed space, Emily saw the elevator’s flesh.

Driven by instincts not her own, she thrust her hand into the wall. It was slippery and hot inside, as if she’d shoved her hand inside a living animal. Disgusting.

Lights under the ship’s skin burned bright red in response.

Emily closed her eyes, suddenly knowing what she was meant to do.

* * * *

CHAPTER 20 — Boricio Wolfe

As Boricio’s rage left his body in one focused wail, Desmond opened fire on him.

Boricio felt the bullets pierce through the jelly, straight into his flesh and internal organs with blinding pain.

This was it.

This was how he would finally die — helpless like a caged animal.

Then The Light coalesced into a mass of swirling tangled streams of blue-white lightning, hovering above Desmond’s head.

Desmond dropped the gun, staring in awe at his enemy’s form. Guardsmen ran from the room, scared shitless.

The room grew brighter. At least that’s what Boricio
thought
was happening, until he realized that The Light was coming straight toward him, gathering mass, sharpening itself into a point, before driving itself right into his wide-open mouth.
 

Boricio felt as if someone had turned his entire body into the Fourth of July. Except this wasn’t a pain so much as a jolt of energy coursing through his body.

He could feel The Light inside him. Not just The Light, but those souls collected by The Light: Luca’s, Ed’s, Jade’s, Callie’s, and even —
 

No, no way.

Well, fuck me with a corncob, it’s Charlie!
 

Boricio could feel his old friends flowing through him, becoming a part of him, making him stronger.

Turning him into a god.

He looked up at Desmond as the fucker’s gun went empty.

Boricio smiled and sent a blast of energy from his hands.

The jelly fell away from the pod, and Boricio stepped out, naked and covered in goo, but his body healing quickly.

He locked eyes with the enemy.

“You better run,” Boricio said.

Desmond turned and did exactly that.

* * * *

CHAPTER 21 — Emily Roberts

Emily had seized the ship’s flight controls. She didn’t know how to drive a car, let alone a spacecraft, and yet was willing the craft toward the mainland.

Outside the elevator, she heard banging on the door.

Guardsmen shouted. “Let us in!”

Emily didn’t answer.

She had to focus on steering the ship, and keeping the aliens from seizing control.

Marina’s voice outside: “Let us in.”

Emily continued to ignore the demands.

Gunfire erupted, slugs plinking into the metal door, leaving dents. Soon, the doors would disintegrate.

Emily tried to will the elevator up, but it was stuck in place.

Something slammed into the black fleshy wall in front of her. The first of the bullets to break through.

* * * *

CHAPTER 22 — Mary Olson

One moment, Mary was on the ground, feeling the world around her fading away — helpless, again, to save her daughter.

Just as The Darkness had swelled and she was certain there was nothing left, a warm, golden light appeared all around her.

She looked up to see Boricio standing naked above her, his body burning brightly as if he were a walking embodiment of the sun.

He looked down at her, spread his hand.

Tendrils of light danced at his fingertips then circled downward toward her.

She felt The Light enter her body.
 

Not just The Light but a soul attached to The Light — the girl, Callie.

“It’s going to be okay,” Callie said.

Boricio leaned over and broke her shackles.

Mary sat and felt her body healing. She watched as Light poured from Boricio’s other hand into Paola, healing her daughter as well.

Boricio walked over to Paul and healed him, too. Then he sent sparks of Light into the pods, waking Brent, Teagan, and the kids, frying the jelly that held them in place.

They slipped out and fell to the ground, naked, covered in the pod’s jelly, and shook up, but otherwise fine.

* * * *

CHAPTER 23 — Boricio Wolfe

Boricio stared at them, a motley fucking crew if ever there’d been one, but this was what was left of Team Boricio. But that was okay because he could feel the souls of Keenan, Will, Luca, Charlie, and Callie working with and through them. If that wasn’t an all-star lineup, fuck if he knew what was.

But first, Boricio needed to figure out what to do as they sat in the cell with Desmond on the run, probably calling for backup like a bitch.

Brent, Teagan, and the kids huddled together. Mary and Paola, too.

Paul was standing there, confused. Boricio could feel The Light working its way through him, bringing him up to speed, healing him.

“What now?” Mary said. “We’ve got to get Desmond. But we also need to get these people to safety.”

He didn’t answer her question, suddenly overwhelmed by images flashing through his mind. It was as if The Light had turned on a hundred live feeds at once, showing things on the ship, on The Island, on the mainland, a god’s view of everything, through the eyes of many that The Light had spread into.

And there were many more eyes than Boricio would’ve imagined.

Oh, this is good.

But what was the point of these fucking images? How the hell was he supposed to make sense of them or know what the hell to do? What good was seeing everything if you couldn’t make sense of it?

Focus,
Luca said inside his head.

And then Boricio saw what had to be done. He knew his job. And what the others needed to do.

Then he looked at Paul. “Can you get clothes for us?”

“Yeah,” Paul said.

“Good, we’ve got work to do.”

He met Mary’s eyes. “I’m so fucking glad to see you again.”

Boricio kissed her, hard on the mouth.
 

Paola said, “Whoa, what the F?”

“Long story,” Mary said, laughing.

Paola stared then laughed.

“Sorry to break this happy reunion, but there’s shit to do before we get off this ship.”

Boricio cleared his throat. “All right, gang. This is it. I know we’ve been through a shit ton of fuckery, but we’ve got more to shovel before we’re back home and happy. The good news is we’ve got friends. You all might not be able to see them, but I can feel them inside us, right now, and they’re gonna help us bury these alien fucks. You all with me?”

A pitiful response, a few halfhearted yeahs, particularly from the scared ones, Brent, Teagan and the kids, all still huddled together thanking God they weren’t dead.

“Come on, I wanna see those fists in the air and hear a ‘Fuck yeah!’ On three, Team Boricio, I wanna hear a fuck yeah. One. Two. Three.”

The little girl, Becca, raised a fist and shouted “Fuck yeah!”

The room erupted in laughter.

Paul came back with a bunch of cult wear. All-white outfits and no shoes, but at least they wouldn’t be running around the ship dressed for an orgy.

“Good, everyone put on the Kool-Aid Collection, then line up so I can tell you each what you’ll need to do. You wanna live, you’ll listen to me. Because I’ve been handed these directions by The Light itself, amen, hallelujah.”

Mary was first in line. “What do you need me to do?”

* * * *

CHAPTER 24 — Mary Olson

Boricio delivered team assignments, short and to the point, kind of like Ed used to be. Mary was certain that Ed was now operating through Boricio, so instead of getting colorful job descriptions such as
keep fucking them till their assholes fall out
, she got a simply worded mission:
kill Desmond.

But Mary was no longer with Callie alone.

She could feel Luca inside her, urging her forward.

A part of her wanted to stay behind to make sure Paola was safe, but Boricio said he needed her for a “very special” mission.

Mary raced out of the chamber, down the halls, following the trail of Darkness like a wolf chasing prey. She could feel Desmond running, scared, calling out for The Darkness to join him.

Guardsmen came at her, guns aimed, firing, but Mary was too quick, evading their shots, ducking, dodging, and weaving with a speed and fluidity she’d never thought possible.

As she closed the distance between herself and them, The Light transformed her hands into large glowing yellow claws of brightness. She sliced through their armor and dropped them in seconds.

She continued on, the scent stronger. The hunger to end him, to end The Darkness, made
her
stronger, faster. As she navigated more halls and enemies, Mary felt countless volts of electricity coursing through her.

Nothing could stop her.

She came to a dead-end hallway.

Except it wasn’t a complete dead end.

There was a hole in the ground, a long chute leading deeper into the ship’s bowels. Mary sensed his scent all over it.

This is where he went, where he was hiding.

She didn’t think twice before jumping.
 

* * * *

CHAPTER 25 — Emily Roberts

Chunks of the door were vanishing fast, shrapnel whizzing by her, tearing at the backs of Emily’s arms and hitting her in the back of her head.

She ignored the sharp metal stings.

She dared not turn around.

She felt that the ship was now over the spot of earth The Light wanted it to be.

Now to land it.

The elevator doors shattered behind her.

No, not yet!

Emily turned to see Marina storming in, shotgun raised, aimed right at her.

She’d been saved once by The Light, but Emily knew, somehow, that it didn’t make her indestructible.
 

She pushed into Marina’s mind, a sharp blast of pain that momentarily startled the woman.