He saw-out of the corners of his eyes-two more mutants hurrying into the fray.
Shit…
Raine brought his club down, a move that seemed to confuse the mutant, then brought it quickly up again, like a knockout punch from a fighter.
It had the desired effect, kicking the mutant back on its heels.
He went over to the mutant still struggling with his pike and slid it out.
The audience cheered.
Giving them a damn good show.
But how many more mutants could they send, wave after wave… until he made a mistake?
One thing was certain-the riddle was more important than defeating the mutants. He had hit the clown. So now he ran to the dragon, just feet ahead of the mutants. Another smash, more lights, and this time he knew how to take advantage of the distraction.
The two mutants fell to their knees as he smashed them, using the flashing to cover his moves.
He was splattered with their blood. Its dark blue color matched the sick smell.
He might be able to hit the rest of the figures now. He smashed the fire held by the bandit and then, ignoring the mayhem from the roof of the arena, went to the dragon’s gun.
Following the only order that seemed clear enough here.
The letters of the damn alphabet…
He went on to the bag of money, hit that, and then moved to the stim held by the clown. He was trying to keep the letters straight and worrying about whatever surprises Stiles might have in store. He moved to the final pairing, the woman.
Which had been the first figure to open.
One last smash.
The sirens went off again, just as, at the other end of the arena, a bunch of new mutants raced toward him.
But now the door would be open at the other end.
“Home,” Stiles called it.
He started running.
But as he ran he looked up, and now, so close, he noticed something. In the arena. All around the arena. Standing.
Enforcers.
Waiting. Watching.
And worse than any mutants. Raine wondered if they were here for him, or just here for security?
He got to the door that led out of the back of the arena.
He grabbed the latch.
Did I solve the Bash? he wondered. This would tell the story, with mutants only seconds behind him.
He pulled down the latch…
It opened, and he vanished into the dark space, the corridor that circled the arena and led back to the studio.
He pulled the door shut behind him.
And then-in the darkness, with only a scattering of pale yellow bulbs lighting the way back to where he had started-he felt someone grab him hard.
FOUR
THIRTY-SEVEN
Raine spun to face whoever had grabbed him.
Cheers and sirens still boomed from the arena, Stiles milking his unlikely success.
The figure was barely visible, but it was definitely a woman-her eyes catching the scant light. She had a rifle slung over her shoulder and two handguns at either side.
Armed and ready to play.
“What are-”
“ Stop. You can’t go back there.”
“Got an interview to do. And who are-”
“Did you see the Enforcers all over? They have a hovercraft outside ready to take you away. You’re dead if you go back there.”
“How do you know?”
“Look, I’m Dr. Elizabeth Cadence. I’m with the Resistance. We have people in places and we got word that you were here. I came to pick you up right after the Bash.”
The cheering outside had subsided. Stiles would be wondering where his new star was.
“You are dead if you stay. I can get you out of here if you come now. Right now. ”
“Why should I trust you?”
She took a step closer, her eyes locked on his. “Because I’m an Ark survivor as well, Lieutenant. Sally said this was what you wanted.”
“You know Sally?”
“She’s a brave woman-she gave me your stuff.” Elizabeth looked around, eyes nervous. “Can we go now?”
Raine looked at this woman. From his own time. From an Ark.
Suddenly-he didn’t feel so alone.
He took a breath. “Lead on.”
Instead of heading back to the other end of the arena, the woman took him in the opposite direction. Before he could ask, she whispered, “They have other exits down here.”
“No guards?”
“Not when I came in. Here-”
Elizabeth stopped by a light and Raine could make out a door labeled SERVICE AREA 19. A recessed handle was the only other adornment.
She used a knife on the latch and the door opened up. He followed her in and she shut it behind them. Then they ran down a corridor with pipes and wires overhead, the innards of the TV complex.
Elizabeth led the way to another door, unlocked this time, and to stairs.
“We have to go down,” she said as she raced ahead of him. “All these old cities have tunnels, passageways. Mostly abandoned except for the stray packs of mutants who hole up in them.”
Down one level, then another.
“They let infrastructure go. But I guess you’ve seen that.”
“That’s not all they have let go.”
“Yeah-okay-”
She stopped and froze. A finger on her lips. Listening. Raine also tilted his head, trying to pick up any sounds, but heard nothing.
“Okay-thought I heard something. They’ll be hunting for you now. Are you okay to keep running?”
He didn’t tell her how much he hurt.
She ran down the bottom level of this area, turning one way, then the other, a mad dash down corridors that seemed erratic and haphazard. But then one basement corridor led to an open sewer area, the gully dry now, though still full of the smell of whatever the Wellspring people dumped into it.
“Follow me. On the ledge. You don’t want to fall into that… shit.”
“Literally.”
She threw him a quick smile.
The ledge was narrow, and it was hard for Raine to keep his balance. But seeing the piles of filth in the trench of the sewer below was plenty of motivation.
Elizabeth kept up a steady pace, moving full out, and it took all of his strength to keep up with her.
Got those nanotrites working overtime, he thought.
They came to an area with no light at all, but Elizabeth had put on a headlamp, and suddenly he had a speck of light to follow.
“We’re close. Nearly outside the town’s limits. You okay, Raine?”
“Fine,” he lied.
And they kept up their brutal pace through the tunnels and sewers of Wellspring.
Finally she stopped at what appeared to be a dead end.
“Okay,” she said, the headlamp aimed right at him, and he had to shield his eyes. “Sorry.”
She switched it off.
“I’ll go out first. Make sure the site is still secure. Then I’ll signal you. You follow me, get in, and we’re off.”
Raine imagined she had a buggy waiting, and he wasn’t at all sure how they could get away in one, not with all the Enforcers spreading out, searching for him. This was her show, though, and he was too tired to care.
He watched her climb up a ladder, then push at a manhole cover, grunting as she did so.
A few moments of silence followed, and then she took a step back down, looking at him.
“All clear. Let’s go.”
He started up the ladder.
When he got out, Raine could see Wellspring behind him, the area they were in dark and deserted, the bright lights of the inner city miles away.
This part of the city was abandoned, destroyed-more a piece of the Wasteland than anything else.
He turned to see where Dr. Cadence had gone…
And he didn’t know what he was looking at. There was a strange blackish shape in the shadows, large enough that he had to tilt his head back to try to see the top. Somewhere in the middle, on an open space, he could barely make out the doctor running back and forth.