E-Day III: Dark Moon (E-Day Trilogy Book 3), page 18
“I told you to listen to me.”
Akira tensed up at the approaching screeching voices. Okami paced, letting out a whine.
They rushed back up a floor to the water treatment plant. Kobe went right to the platform that stretched over the long, dark tanks. Several corpses floated in the water.
“Jump,” he said.
“What?” Akira asked.
Kobe hopped over the side, splashing into the water.
The ripple spread across the water. Akira stepped up to the edge of the tank.
A woman, face down, drifted over to the side.
Okami whined louder as the chorus of horrifying screams flooded into the room. Kobe surfaced, looking up at Akira.
“Can’t you swim? Let’s go, man,” he said.
Akira prepared to jump.
He hoped Kobe knew what he was doing.
— 15 —
A distant alarm wailed through the underground train station at Kepler Station.
Chloe sat in a cargo car of the train with Tadhg and Cyrus. They watched a group of five troopers on the platform outside. Three were standing guard near an exit, the other two were patrolling.
“They’re onto us,” Cyrus said. “They know we’re on the train.”
“Then why wouldn’t they just board and take us?” Tadhg asked. “This must be something else.”
“An attack?” Chloe asked.
“I don’t think so, or those walking metal turds would be acting a lot more nervous.”
Chloe hoped Tadhg was right.
She couldn’t help but feel completely helpless. The train had docked an hour ago, but was still stuck on the tracks, the doors all closed. An announcement had come over the intercom system for all passengers and crew to stay on board.
“I thought someone was going to be waiting for us here,” Chloe said.
“It could be one of those troopers, or maybe they got reassigned because of whatever’s happening topside,” Tadhg said.
Chloe exchanged a nervous glance with Cyrus.
“Don’t you guys worry,” Tadhg said. “We’ll figure it out.”
Tadhg kept looking out the viewports, adjusting his hat.
After a few more minutes of waiting, he stood and went to the hatch.
“What are you doing?” Cyrus asked.
“I’m going to find out what’s going on,” Tadhg said.
“We’re coming with you then,” Chloe said.
Tadhg turned toward her. “No, you two stay here and wait for me to come back.”
He left the train car without another word.
“Guy’s a loose cannon,” Cyrus said. “He might end up getting us killed.”
“Give him a chance,” Chloe said. “He’s risking his neck for us.”
“He’s also getting a ride back to Earth. He’s been dying to go back for his squad this whole time. Make no mistake, he isn’t doing this just to help us, Chloe.”
She frowned, but didn’t argue. He could have his opinion, and she could have her own.
“Do you know what they’ll do to you if they catch you?” he asked.
“Yes.” She bowed her head, thinking of her time in prison and how the LDC dusted all the other hybrids.
“I’m sorry, but that’s why we can’t take chances,” Cyrus said.
She went to stand in front of the viewport. The two troopers on patrol walked over toward the train.
The hatch opened, startling Chloe. She turned as Tadhg walked inside.
“Found out what’s up,” he said. “A shuttle just landed from Earth.”
“From Earth?” Cyrus asked.
Chloe could hardly believe it. “Survivors?”
“I don’t know. Might also be a trick. The whole station is on high alert.”
“That’s not good,” Cyrus said.
“Actually, it might be good for us.”
“How do you figure?” Cyrus asked.
“Because they’re distracted.” Tadhg grinned. “They’ll be so focused on what’s happening outside the station, they won’t think to look inside. Now follow me, and remember to act normal.”
They shuffled off the train. Outside, the wail of the alarm had ceased. Voices drifted over the platform where people were gathering. Two troopers were already looking at the IDs and travel papers of everyone exiting.
Chloe tensed up as she made their way through a line.
“Move along,” one of the troopers called out. He directed his visor at Tadhg, who towered over everyone else by almost a foot.
“ID,” said the soldier.
Tadhg held it up for the man, showing his picture. The guard studied it a long beat, almost like he recognized Tadhg. He looked from the ID to Tadhg, then back to the ID.
Chloe noticed Tadhg’s right droid hand balling into a fist beneath the glove.
The trooper finally handed the ID back.
“Thanks, pal,” Tadhg said.
Cyrus went up next, followed up by Chloe.
“You three, come with me,” the trooper said.
Tadhg gave Cyrus and Chloe an approving nod. The rest of the passengers and crew fanned out across the platform to the exits while they followed this trooper.
Once they were around the pillars in a private section of the concourse, the soldier stopped. He reached into a vest over his armor, pulling out a comm-pad.
“This will get you to Hangar 30 where three MOTHs are grounded for maintenance,” he said. “It’s five floors above us. Take the interior stairwells and follow the signs.”
He handed the comm-pad to Chloe.
“You come with me,” the trooper said to Tadhg. “I’ll take you to the prison.”
“We’re supposed to stick together,” Cyrus said.
“That’s not going to be possible,” the man replied. “We’ve got to split up. Can’t look so obviously out of place.”
“Fine,” Tadhg said. “We’ll do it your way. I’ll meet you two at Hangar 30 with Captain Harback in twenty-five minutes. Until then, find a place to hide.”
Cyrus looked uncertain, but Chloe felt this was the only way.
“Good luck, Tadhg,” she said.
“You too, kid.”
They parted ways, and for the first time since E-Day, Chloe made her way up into Kepler Station. She thought about her uncle on the way. Would she ever see him again?
It was probably a long shot, but her best chance of reuniting with him again was by delivering the virus she carried in her pocket. Only then could they end the war and destroy Otto.
Cyrus opened a door to an interior stairwell. They started up the five floors. At the fourth landing, he stopped and turned, a hand stretched out.
“Whatever happens, I want you to know something, Chloe,” he said. “I love you. I’ll do anything for you. I mean anything.”
Chloe reached out and hugged him, pulling him tight. “I love you too.”
When they parted, Chloe led the way to the fifth and final landing. They stayed there, watching the clock. Twenty minutes after leaving Tadhg, she grabbed the door handle and opened it.
Two Naval officers suddenly burst down the hallway.
Chloe pulled back, but more followed. This time, heavy boots and armor.
The clank and clatter and thuds almost sounded like machines running. Chloe let the door shut almost all the way. She peered through the gap as three behemoth soldiers ran past the door in Juggernaut suits.
“Heavy armor,” Cyrus said. “Something else must be happening; come on, stay behind me.”
He led the way into the corridor. When they rounded the corner, an alarm suddenly wailed.
The lights flickered off, shrouding them in darkness.
Chloe reached for Cyrus, finding his hand.
Red emergency lights clicked on in the ceiling, flooding the hallway with an eerie glow.
“This is a level 3 lockdown,” came a voice over the PA system. “All essential personnel report to your stations. Non-essential, report to the closest bunker.”
“Shit,” Cyrus said. “We have to move.”
He pulled on Chloe, and off they went, running down the hallway. The first hangar was alive with activity. Crews abandoned their work on MOTHs, fleeing to their bunkers. Shouting came from the next docking bay.
A group of technicians ran into the passage, and then into a T-intersection ahead. Cyrus followed them past a sign that read: Hangars 15-30.
Chloe noticed a door opening ahead. A service tech held it open. Behind him, a group of people huddled in a recessed space packed with supplies. That was one of the bunkers designed to serve as a life pod during an attack.
She and Cyrus kept running. Hangars 20 and 21 were just ahead.
Two troopers cut ahead of them.
“Hurry! He’s heading for a MOTH!” one called out.
Cyrus halted and looked to Chloe.
“They must mean him,” Cyrus said.
Tadhg, Chloe realized.
The hiss of plasma weapons filled the facility along with panicked shouts and a cry of pain.
Cyrus slowed down as they approached the entrance to Hangar 30. The wide-open doors on the west side allowed them a sprawling view of the room where three MOTHs sat.
On the east side of the room, about two hundred feet from the MOTHs, two men were crouched behind supply crates stacked four high. The crates hardly covered one of the men, a hulking guy in armor that had to be Tadhg.
The seven-foot-tall Engine had somehow managed to find armor and a helmet. He was also armed with an energy sword and rifle.
Next to him, a man in a jumpsuit was on a knee.
That had to be their pilot, Captain Jake Harback.
Tadhg popped up and fired at a group of ten troopers advancing through the hangar toward him. They all ducked behind the cover of the massive open doorway.
“Stay close to me,” Cyrus said. He started toward the MOTHs, as the clatter of reinforcements sounded in the hallway behind them.
Chloe glanced over her shoulder. A second security team of troopers ran toward the western side of the room from the same passage she had just come from.
They were going to flank Tadhg and Harback.
Cyrus pulled her behind the first of the three MOTHs, and Chloe joined him, hoping they were unseen by the team.
A voice crackled over the PA system. “Put down your weapons; you are completely surrounded.”
“Fuck you, Thacker!” Tadhg shouted. “You killed everyone in Rose Colony, you piece of fucking shit!”
He rose up again, firing more bolts at the troopers on the eastern side.
“I ain’t the enemy, you pencil-neck fucks!” Tadhg yelled. “Thacker is a murderer and a coward! He killed everyone at Rose Colony.”
Pounding feet sounded behind Chloe. She looked around a wing of the MOTH to see the second security team of six troopers preparing to circle around Tadhg.
“Hey!” Chloe shouted.
Tadhg turned and then unleashed a burst at the approaching troopers. They scattered for cover to avoid the bolts.
“Get inside the MOTH!” Tadhg shouted.
She and Cyrus darted toward the spacecraft closest to Tadhg.
At first, it seemed the troopers behind her didn’t know what was going on, but when Chloe rounded the middle MOTH, one shouted.
“Stop them!”
Cyrus pulled Chloe behind a wing as plasma bolts shot across the room, pounding the ground and wall.
Harback made a run for the ramp of the MOTH closest to him. Shots chased the man, but he made it inside as they grazed the exterior of the craft.
Chloe cupped her hands over her ears as the loud boom of gunfire erupted in all directions.
It was about to get worse.
She froze at the sight of the three Juggernaut mech soldiers she’d seen earlier. They moved into the room, raising arms equipped with plasma cannons toward the crate Tadhg was crouched behind.
“Tadhg!” Chloe shouted.
He got up and let loose a blinding storm of fire at the security team on the western side, moving along the MOTHs.
“No, behind you!” Chloe shouted.
Tadhg dove away from his cover as the Juggernaut mechs opened fire.
All six cannons belched bolts into the supply crates, which burst into flying chunks of shrapnel. A growling wave of fire and smoke slammed into Tadhg, knocking him to the ground. He slid on his stomach, his back armor smoking. The rifle was a few feet away from him, but he still held his energy sword.
Chloe watched in horror as the three mammoth soldiers advanced, their cannon barrels glowing orange.
“Put down your weapon,” one said over the speakers in his suit.
Ten troopers from the east and west swarmed Tadhg. He pushed himself up as they moved in to restrain him. He kicked one, sending the man flying backward. Then he swung his energy sword to force the group back.
Two of the soldiers grabbed him from behind, each holding on to an arm. Neither of them had any idea they weren’t actually holding his real arms.
Tadhg let out a roar as he yanked the limbs free. He strode forward, throwing a right and left hook that knocked both soldiers to the ground like sacks of potatoes. Cracks echoed from his next two punches.
Troopers crumpled around him, one by one.
The five still standing retreated as the three Juggernauts walked forward.
Tadhg held up his fists, chest heaving.
“Come on, you pussies!” he shouted.
“Tadhg! Run!” Chloe shouted.
He looked back at her and Cyrus as they snuck up the ramp.
Two plasma turrets rotated away from the lower wings.
The three Juggernauts all backed up, but it was already too late. The cannons burst to life, bolts pounding into them, pumping holes into their suits. Fire erupted from the wounds, followed by three tremendous explosions. The suits were torn apart in their self-destructive blasts, limbs and armor plates skidding across the room.
Chloe and Cyrus ran up into the MOTH.
Tadhg wasn’t far behind.
As the ramp closed, Chloe heard the same familiar voice from the PA system earlier. Only this time, it was coming from the hangar.
She looked out a porthole as War Commander Thacker arrived with an entourage of Royal Troopers, all dressed in black armor, his own personal honor guard of special forces.
“Stop them!” Thacker shouted.
The thrusters on the MOTH pre-fired, blowing the closest troopers to the ground.
Chloe moved up into the cockpit with Cyrus and Tadhg. Strapped into one of the leather chairs was Captain Jake Harback. He was glancing up through the cockpit glass at the closed shield doors above them.
Then he went back to tapping the dashboard and flipping switches. The hull shook violently as the ship prepared to blastoff.
Chloe looked out a viewport on the side of the cockpit.
Thacker raised a rifle, unleashing a storm of bolts at the MOTH. The other soldiers joined the assault, painting the armored hull with bolts, each shot ringing like drops from a heavy rain.
“Don’t worry; those guns can’t hurt us in here,” Tadhg said.
“Yeah, but not if we don’t get out of here,” Cyrus said.
“How do we get the shield doors to open?” Chloe asked.
“Leave that to me,” Jake said.
Chloe and Cyrus did exactly that while Tadhg got into the secondary pilot’s seat.
He flipped a few buttons, and then missiles streaked away from unseen tubes, slamming into the shield doors above.
“You might want to strap in,” Jake said.
The MOTH jerked, and then lifted off.
When the smoke and flames retreated, Chloe saw the shield doors were gone.
He lifted up on the controls, flying the MOTH toward the vertical shaft above. Chloe tightened her straps, looking out the viewport to her left as they escaped the hangar.
Most of the troopers below had fled as the doors started to close. But one stood in the entry, still firing.
Bolts slammed into the glass, making Chloe flinch.
It was War Commander Thacker.
Two of his troopers pulled him away before the doors could crush him.
The MOTH entered the shaft and she lost sight of him.
“One more door until we’re out…” Jake said. “Close those eyes again, about to get…”
Another missile shot upward, exploding against the next shield door.
Pieces of metal pounded the cockpit as the MOTH climbed, and then burst out. Chloe didn’t realize she was holding her breath until she let it out.
She looked to the left and then down, as they rose above Kepler Station. A sprawling view of the basin and the ejecta around Kepler Crater came into view.
“Bye, Uncle Keanu,” she whispered. “Good luck.”
The MOTH pulled over a runway lit up with blue plasma lights. On it sat a shuttle with dozens of vehicles surrounding it. They flew over it, and then the stretch of basin where they had boarded the underground train.
An alarm rang out somewhere in the cockpit.
“Shit, we’re not out of this yet,” Jake said.
Cyrus pointed out the other side of the cockpit. “Those turrets, watch out!”
“They’re going to shoot us down?” Chloe asked.
“To kill me, you better believe it,” Tadhg said.
“Not if I can help it,” Jake said.
He pulled up hard, and then swerved the MOTH right toward the main command tower. The red light continued flashing on the control panel, and Chloe now saw why.
Turrets and cannons were following the MOTH from adjacent rooftops, ready to atomize them.
Chloe held in a breath again. She looked over at Cyrus.
“I love you,” he said.
“I love you…”
Jake flew right toward the main control tower.
“Shoot on me, now, assholes!” he shouted.
Chloe closed her eyes, unable to watch.
“Yee-fucking-haw!” Jake shouted.
“You crazy son of a bitch!” Tadhg yelled back.
Chloe opened her eyes to see they had flown over the command tower, avoiding the fire of the turrets and cannons.
