The monitor showed that Lilly had somehow worked her way around the Fringers and was climbing over a fading red pile of bodies, back through the corridor.
Confidence.
Lilly started to climb over the mound of burnt Fringers. She tried not to think about the horrible scene and the unbearable smell. She clawed her way over the slippery carnage, tearing at the burnt flesh of the Fringers.
She squeezed through the gap at the top of the mound and slid down the other side, Fringer blood soaking her clothes. She got her footing and looked down at her Pigeon display, which was also covered in charred skin and blood. There was no way she could see the feed from the Skynut, so she decided to run. She had no idea how many more were in the warehouse, or the lobby, or outside, but if she could reach her transport she would be safe.
She pulled a cloth from one of her pockets, quickly cleaned her visor as best as she could, then ran along the metal tracks back to the front of the foundry. All she could think about was getting to her transport and driving home. She wanted to be back at Johnny’s, with Ripp and Gus making fun of each other. She missed Bean and realized melted Fringers smelled way worse than she did.
Lilly laughed as she broke through the front doorway of the foundry.
Ripp watched her run through the foundry and headed around to the back of the building. There was a group of Fringers right behind her.
Division.
Ripp grabbed a glass and metal sphere from the middle console, shifted to low gear and pushed the accelerator as far into the floor as he could.
A hundred yards away from the entrance, Ripp came tearing around the corner. He was expecting to see Lilly sprinting with her tail between her legs, ready to hop in, but instead Ripp watched her fly sideways and land hard on the ground.
Lilly was in pain, covered with blood and melted skin, but she was out! Her eyes hadn’t adjusted to the light yet, but she kept running, hoping not to trip or run into anything. She knew there were Fringers close behind her.
She grabbed her pistol with a greasy hand. It was hard for her to see through her gore covered face shield, but she slowed down, steadied her aim and shot two of them.
Lilly had turned back to see how far her transport was when a huge Fringer came barreling out of a side building and backhanded her. She flew through the air and landed hard on her side. She rolled a couple of times to take some of the impact away but she was sure she had broken some of her ribs and dislocated her shoulder. She looked through her bloody visor at the blurred giant that was charging right at her.
Disoriented and ears ringing, she struggled to get up and steady her pistol. Her vision faded in and out as the roar of an engine replaced the ringing in her ears. She struggled to breath and realized her rad-breather wasn’t working. It must have been damaged from the impact or the backhand. She took her helmet off and took in a deep breath of the toxic air.
Ripp sped around the left side of Lilly, putting the Mustang between her and the horde. He slid to a stop, spraying dirt and rock into the horde.
The door facing Lilly opened.
“Get in, Lilly! Hurry! Lilly!”
Lilly got up painfully and slowly looked around.
The Fringers had recovered from the shower of gravel and were rushing towards them.
“Lilly! Get in!”
Lilly finally realized it wasn’t a dream. She grabbed her pack and jumped in leaving her helmet behind. Ripp opened his door, rolled the arc grenade towards the horde, and shoved the Mustang into gear.
Ripp and Lilly were pushed back into their seats as the Mustang raced forward. He needed to get as far away from the explosion as fast as possible. He looked over at Lilly, who was covered in blood and barely conscious, and injected her with a syringe.
Boom!
The shockwave of the explosion caught up to them and shook the transport throwing it out of traction, for a moment. Ripp regained control, shut down the extra sensor displays, and eased off the accelerator.
He looked over at her open bag and recognized the hexagonal insignia of Theonicorp on the case. He decided right then that whatever she had found wasn’t going to be handed over. Ripp had never known Nun to be anxious. The desperation he felt with the Theonicorp theme meant Nun was fixated on something, and Ripp was determined to find out what it was.
Memories of finding Lilly and the mysterious woman, named Soam, starving to death in the Fringe came flooding back to him.
He looked at Lilly, saw how vulnerable she was and remembered the promise he made to Soam.
“I’m proud of you,” Ripp said.
“Thanks for coming to get me.”
Ripp nodded. “We can talk about this later. We need to get you to a medical center right now, and then I need to try to stop Gus from killing Nun. If he hasn’t already.”
Lilly nodded and closed her eyes.
Epilogue
The only light in William’s cell came from a small hologram device that was projecting his wife and daughter playing a card game. The hologram stopped after they both slammed a card down at the same time and laughed. He turned the power off as tears welled up in his eyes.
“Forgive me.”
Copyright
Copyright © Benjamin Wray, 2017
Cover Art Copyright © Benjamin Wray, 2017
All rights reserved.
Without limiting the rights under copyright reserved above, no part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in or introduced into a retrieval system, or transmitted, in any form, or by any means (electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording, or otherwise), without the prior written permission of the copyright owner of this book.
This is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places, and incidents either are the product of the author’s imagination or are used fictitiously, and resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, business establishments, events, or locales is entirely coincidental.
The author does not have any control over and does not assume any responsibility for any other person or third-party Web sites or their content.
If you purchased this book without a cover, you should be aware that this book is stolen property. It was reported as “unsold and destroyed” to the author and the author has not received any payment for this “stripped book.”
The scanning, uploading, and distribution of this book via the Internet or via any other means without the permission of the author is illegal and punishable by law. Please purchase only authorized electronic editions, and do not participate in or encourage electronic piracy of copyrighted materials. Your support of the author’s rights is appreciated.