Fate of Devotion (Finding Paradise Book 2) Page 12

  Millicent wondered if Danissa was in the protection bubble Trent was always railing on about. If Dagger would tear apart the Earth to make sure she was safe.

  Another thought rolled through her mind, one that was useful to their situation and not born of a good romance vid. She glanced at her wrist screen. “Ryker, have you heard from Trent?”

  In the back of the craft, where all the weapons were stowed, Ryker glanced at his wrist screen. “A handful of minutes ago, I got a blank transmission. Nothing since.”

  “Before that?”

  “He found the children safely despite interference from some insane protectors with rocket launchers.”

  Her sister and Dagger immediately forgotten, Millicent turned back to the console. “I don’t recall any of the other protectors having such extreme weaponry.”

  “They also weren’t hidden away, and their whereabouts weren’t protected behind an ironclad wall of coding, right?” Ryker looked at Danissa, who was back to staring blankly. Her mind had shut down, probably from shock. “Those kids must be different than the others. The rumors must be correct.”

  Millicent thought back on the rumors Trent had talked about. “Special. Like Marie, you think?”

  Ryker shrugged. “Trent is often . . . optimistic. I doubt they are as good as Marie. Or as balanced. I haven’t heard great things about what came out of the experiments.”

  Millicent waved the thought away. “Whenever the word experiment is tossed around, people get nervous. If they’re protected, there’s a reason why.”

  “But is that a reason for us to take them to Paradise, or a reason to leave them behind? I will not jeopardize the safety of the colony.”

  “Then you might not want to take those kids,” Dagger said in a low tone. He glanced at Danissa. Still unresponsive. “I’ve heard the rumors, too. The term that is thrown around most commonly is monster. From what I’ve heard, something went badly wrong with those kids.”

  “If their protectors are still alive, let alone willing to use an extreme weapon to protect them, then they can’t be that dangerous,” Millicent said.

  “Are you sure?” Dagger asked. “Why else would they be hidden under lock and key?”

  “From Toton, I imagine. If they are special in some way, clearly Toton could use them against us. Hopefully Trent keeps them safe.” But as Millicent turned back to her console, suddenly she wasn’t so sure. What could those kids do that would cause people to label them monsters? And whatever it was, would they do it to Trent at their first glimpse of freedom?

  Chapter 11

  “Get those kids out of the way,” Rhett growled as Terik stood in the middle of the corridor, staring out at the enemy crafts beyond. The older children had stepped away from the group as well, taking his lead.

  “No,” Trent heard himself say, not knowing what they were doing exactly, but confident they’d work better as a unit. These kids had become a family in face of the horrible environment and constant hostility they faced—they could probably work together better than anyone on the planet. “No. Let’s wait and see where we fit into their group.”

  “Where we fit into their group?” Rhett spat, aggression clear in every syllable.

  “Trust me,” Trent breathed, watching strain enter Terik’s face.

  “Trust you?” Rhett said in disbelief.

  “This repeating thing isn’t getting you anywhere.” He waved Rhett back. “This is how it has always been with Marie. A strong, intelligent leader—like Millicent—can direct her, but someone who doesn’t know her capabilities needs to wait and see how to help. We know nothing about what these kids can do, and despite the age gap, we’re not as smart as them—we have to wait and see. Where they show weakness, we have to fill in with strength. Hopefully.”

  “Hometown is the sort of cracked that can’t be fixed, and he’s going to get us all borked out of existence!” Gertie hollered.

  “I really do hate that woman,” Trent muttered. “Where do you need us?” he asked Terik.

  His question was met with silence as Terik walked forward with a sort of swagger that niggled at Trent. It reminded him of someone, but he couldn’t place whom.

  “We’re here to save him, not send him to slaughter.” Rhett lifted his gun, watching Terik walk closer to the glass doors separating the interior of the building from the bay filled with the deadly enemy.

  “Let him go,” Kajel said. “He’s the worst of the group. A real—”

  “Holy help me, I will send you out to act as a human shield; don’t think I won’t.” Trent shot Kajel a fierce scowl, then swung the same look toward Gertie. “I’ll throw you out on your head if you say another word.”

  Gertie’s lips thinned.

  “He’s focusing,” Suzi said, edging toward Terik. “He’s starting it. He always starts it. It helps me rally my . . . power.”

  One of the guards hissed. Apparently that was a taboo word in their world of small-minded idiots.

  “Getting what started?” Trent asked in a hush, moving forward with her. The black crafts waited, definitely able to see them at this point, but not yet acting. What were they waiting for?

  The volume of the scene turned down. Trent focused on his breathing and registered the minute shifting of the troopers, showing their anxiety and fear. In contrast, the children waited patiently, their eyes on Terik, like they were waiting for their battle commander to give them a directive. They had always been at war, and now they would fully experience it.

  Shivers of anticipation ran across Trent’s skin as he analyzed the kids. Children had so many tells—one didn’t need to hear them speak in order to know what they were planning.

  Terik’s left shoulder ticked upward. His hands clenched and unclenched. Sweat dribbled down his temple. He was working hard without moving, his focus intense and labor arduous.

  “Suzi,” Terik said in a wispy voice. “Get ready.”

  Another wave of shivers washed over Trent. A weight settled on his chest, half fear of what was coming, half excitement. Were these kids really that dangerous? Could they throw only a man, or could they dominate larger objects?

  Another thought occurred to him as the little boy danced toward the opposite wall: What if they lost control?

  “This is bullshit,” Rhett cursed. “If we stand here staring at the enemy any longer, we won’t be able to get out at all.”

  “Suzi . . .” Terik’s voice drifted away.

  Suzi lowered her head and went completely still.

  “Zanda,” Terik said. His hands clenched and unclenched again. His shoulder ticked.

  The four-year-old girl, clutching a ratty stuffed animal to her middle, scrunched up her brow.

  The windows in the black crafts shattered simultaneously, the shards bursting outward. A noticeable crack crept along the closest craft’s door. It started to shake, rocking and tilting like a ship on high seas teamed with the movements of a salt shaker, and the others followed.

  “Devil’s play,” Gertie muttered.

  “I’ve never wanted to punch someone so badly in my life,” Trent said, moving forward so he was near the children. If Toton opened fire, he needed to drag them away.

  The little boy did a shimmy and punched his Toad Man in the face. “Guns, Tek. Guns coming.”

  “What kind, Billy?” Terik asked, his face contorting with strain.

  “Big. Big ones.” The little boy, Billy, slammed Toad Man against the wall. “Under black things.”

  “Suzi?” Terik asked.

  “It’s hard!” she whined, slumping her shoulders. “There are a lot of them.”

  “Focus on the first one,” Trent said, kneeling down beside her. “Just focus on the one closest to us. One at a time.”

  Billy punched Toad Man in the face again. “Guns coming, Tek. AHHH!” He jumped and then stomped both feet on the ground.

  “How long?” Terik asked, completely in control and unfazed by Billy’s random violence.

  “Open fire on tho
se vessels,” Trent yelled at the troopers.

  The girl trooper ran forward. She fell to her knees and slid across the tile while jerking her hands out. Her body stopped in the middle of the corridor as long, sleek barrels emerged from her suit and clicked into each hand. Small, fast blasts erupted out of her guns, shattering the glass door of the building and peppering the sides of the enemy crafts. The corridor filled with noise and firepower as another trooper joined her, his guns similar to hers.

  “Where’s that rocket launcher?” Rhett yelled over the din.

  “I done left it. Didn’t know yous buggers couldn’t handle yourselves!”

  Terik clenched and unclenched his fists again, staring out the window in consternation.

  “How long, Terik?” Trent asked. He wanted to run. To grab the kids and get the hell out of there. “How long before whatever you’re working on happens? How much time do you need?”

  “Almost . . . Just . . .” Fists clenched. And unclenched.

  A flap opened on the bottom of the closest craft. Four metal barrels pushed out, unimpeded by the shaking of the vessel or the small holes opening up along its side. The craft was probably run by robots that were not afraid to die.

  “Those are really big guns,” Trent said in sudden panic. “We need to get out of here. We need to run!”

  “Suzi!” Terik yelled.

  The girl bowed in on herself. All the crafts stopped moving. For a moment, everything paused, except for the guns. An electronic whine accompanied all four barrels on the closest craft as they slid forward. The black voids in the round barrels stared at them, taunting. Promising death.

  “Hurry!” Terik said.

  Billy started to scream. The guns shimmied to a stop.

  It was too late.

  “I’m ready.” Suzi said, her voice drifting into the sudden panic-filled silence.

  One of the guns fired. The barrel coughed out flames.

  “Get down!” someone screamed.

  The front face of the building beside the door blew up. Fragments of wall flew across the area around them. Some smashed into the corridor entrance and ricocheted off, striking the female trooper. She collapsed to the ground.

  “We have to get—”

  Before Trent could finish the sentence or grab any of the children, the closest black craft jerked upward in the air, as if a giant held it in its clutches. Another gun blasted. It struck the upper portion of the building, raining down debris. The craft flipped over and then smashed down onto a neighboring vessel. The roofs of both flattened as the metal smushed together.

  “Got it,” Terik said with a sigh.

  Flames burst from all five crafts simultaneously, blowing out through their middles. Billows of smoke poured out the bottoms, followed immediately by more flames. The crafts didn’t explode; it was more like they just burned from the inside.

  The first pair of vessels fell from the sky like rocks.

  Fragments of what Trent could only assume were pieces of building rained down into the bay, smashing onto the concrete leading to their craft.

  “That was from their shot hitting the higher floors of this building,” one of the troopers said with what, until moments before, had clearly been a slack jaw.

  “Real genius, yeah. Way to state the obvious, numb nuts,” Gertie said.

  The flaps on the remaining three vessels dropped open. Guns started to push out from the sides as flames engulfed the crafts.

  “Should we shoot?” someone asked in a shaking voice.

  “Suzi—”

  One vessel was flung away. Rolling end over end, it smashed against the building across the travel way. Glass and concrete spattered the air before it all fell.

  The remaining crafts, now balls of flame, sank in the sky. First one, and then the other, dipped below the bay. Soon they’d be plummeting, Trent had no doubt.

  Breathing hard, Terik slumped. Trent rushed forward to catch him, but the boy rolled his shoulders, futilely trying to get out of his grasp.

  “Okay,” Trent said, light-headed. His ears rang in the intense quiet that followed the short battle. He couldn’t seem to stop blinking. “Let’s get to the craft, shall we?” He patted the kid, either comforting or trying to get him moving, Trent wasn’t sure which.

  “Get off,” Terik said, rolling his shoulders again.

  “I’m not done wrapping my head around all this,” Trent said.

  “And you never will,” came Gertie’s croak. She would not let it go.

  “We need to get going.” Rhett scowled at Terik, and then spread the dark look to the other children. “We don’t know when more are going to come.”

  They had just saved him, but Rhett’s fear of what these children could do was already turning into mistrust. Typical, Trent thought. Small-minded.

  He straightened up, tamping down his awe at what he’d seen, his misery for what these kids had endured, and his terror of what else awaited them in this dangerous world. None of that would serve him well now. If he’d learned anything from Ryker and Millicent, it was to focus on surviving and kicking ass while you were in the belly of the beast.

  This was certainly the belly. Maybe even the back end.

  “We shouldn’t take the normal route back,” Trent said, walking forward on wobbly legs. “Someone get Billy. Don’t let him run off.”

  Billy had danced toward the wall and was kicking it. “Watching, Tek. They watching us. On little screens. Watching us walk out to the gray thing.”

  “In other crafts, or . . . ,” Terik asked.

  “I’ll scout it out,” one of the larger troopers said.

  “Send Gertie,” Trent heard himself say. That woman brought out the mean in him.

  They all drifted closer to the ruined door as a lone trooper walked to the craft. Once there, he looked skyward. Apparently seeing nothing, he turned in a circle. When nothing happened, he checked out the craft, stepping over a dead body to do so. The doors slid open and he walked inside. Still nothing happened.

  “Is that a go-ahead?” one of the kids’ caretakers asked.

  “It’s going to blow up,” someone said.

  “What the—” Trent turned back to see who’d said it.

  A thin trooper shrugged. “What? He’s all by himself, the danger seems to have dissipated, but suddenly, and out of the blue, the whole thing blows up. That’s logic.”

  “You watch too many vids, bro-yo.” The guy next to the speaker nudged him.

  “You’re all cracked,” Gertie pronounced.

  “Like you’re one to throw stones about being crazy,” Trent muttered. She had a point, though.

  The man emerged from the craft and turned away from them, staring at the buildings around the bay.

  “They probably have cameras in those buildings,” Trent whispered. He wasn’t sure why he was trying to be quiet. Another thought occurred to him. “Maybe they aren’t interested in this facility if they have the ability to watch it and haven’t invaded.”

  “How would they even know it was occupied?” Kajel asked, inching forward to get a better look.

  Annoyance stole over Trent. “Off the top of my head, I’d say by the random crafts parked in the bay to distribute supplies . . .”

  “We didn’t get no supplies. They created a distraction, and we got dropped off on an upper-level floor in the middle of the mayhem. Lost two kids and a staffer in the process. Before they left, they gave us a bunch of food and told us how to ration. Toton blew that upper level to hell, or we would’ve gotten more food out of there. We still had another year of food pouches. They wasn’t great, though. Getting sour.”

  “Another year?” someone asked.

  “Who knows.” Kajel shrugged. “We been here a year already. It’s war. Wars last, this one especially.” He shrugged again.

  “I realize that you do, in fact, love the children,” Trent said in a soft voice, knowing that the kids were listening. He didn’t want to upset anyone by giving voice to what everyone surely fe
lt. There was no telling what Terik would do. “But the close quarters have certainly put everyone on their toes. That’s obvious. So why stay here?”

  “Didn’t you hear me?” Kajel asked with a nasty scowl. “No coming, no going. I said as much in there.” He jerked his head in the direction they’d come. “The dead bodies said as much out there.” He jerked his head toward the outside. “The enemy has eyes everywhere. Looks like their response time is ten times quicker what it used to be, too. Even if I wanted to end it all and head on up to Holy Guenes early, none of the other guards would have let me. Once the enemy killed me, they’d roll through and take out everyone else. They don’t want people in these buildings. Nah. No leaving.”

  “You hate the job. Why sign up for it?” the large trooper asked. “And don’t tell me you liked it at first. These kids aren’t kids in your eyes. They’re freaks.”

  Rhett stalked forward. “Looks like we’re clear. Give me ten to ready the systems.”

  “I’ll tell yous buggers why I volunteered,” Gertie said. “My old job was in the labs. I liked creatin’ the little buggers. Cute things, most. After Toton took over and we was all dodgin’ for our lives, this thing came up. But that air-cloggin’ conglomerate didn’t say nothing about watching freaks. I volunteered for this because I thought they was kids, not monsters!”

  “I will punch you in the mouth if you don’t shut up,” Trent said as his temper surged. “I don’t care that you’re old. I will punch you.”

  A couple of troopers barked out laughter.

  “I’d like to see you try, Hometown.” Gertie smirked.

  “What is taking them so long?” someone mumbled.

  Trent turned to Terik. “So you can create fire, is that right?” He heard a shuffling. He held out his finger. “If anyone says anything negative about these children again, even just one thing, I will shoot them. You might think I’m kidding, but I’m not. I’ve had it with you people. One more thing, and I’ll shoot you and blame it on Toton. Are we clear?”

  A scoff and silence was good enough.

  He turned his focus back to a smirking Terik, whom he realized was a little younger than the age Marie would’ve been had she stayed on Earth, and hadn’t been in suspension during the flights. Terik must’ve been born shortly after the conglomerate realized they’d lost Marie. Or maybe directly after Gregon had stolen the files regarding Marie.