Evolution (20 page)

“You know nothing. The
Coleseo
is for the transgressors – the prisoners and malcontents who cannot follow Imperial law. I do not allow innocents to fight there.”

“What about us?” Anna asked. “What about Makara? We came to your Empire to speak with you, and instead I was enslaved the very day I came here. Something is
broken
about this place that you say is the best hope for humanity. Forgive us for being a little skeptical.”

“It isn’t perfect, I admit,” Augustus said. “But don’t forget that it was
my
hand that saved you, and I had every right not to.” Augustus turned back to Samuel. “We can either do this the easy way, or the hard way. You can join with me, and by force of arms have all your Wastelander leaders fall into line. Or, you can go your own way. You will never be able to muster all the armies of the Wasteland quickly enough to resist me – and, I would overwhelm them with great force. They are too disjointed, and I will be there in two months, ready, organized, capable.”

Samuel said nothing, only brooded over what must happen next. Augustus didn’t know we had
Gilgamesh
and
Odin
. If he did, that would change the balance of power. It meant that, if we could somehow get out of Nova Roma, we could reach the Wasteland and have the time to mount a defense. But even two months would be cutting it very close.

“I would need to let Ashton know about this arrangement,” Samuel said.

Samuel couldn’t be serious. If he was playing along with the Emperor, then he was playing a dangerous game. I was all too aware of the guards surrounding us, and the fact that we had no weapons.

I could see in Augustus’s eyes that he was very interested in meeting Ashton. Perhaps what he was
most
interested in. He had to have had great self-control to play it cool for so long. “Yes. Go and speak with Ashton, and bring him here to finalize this arrangement. Until this occurs...Makara stays here. Until I am
completely
satisfied she has recovered from her injury.”

“You bastard,” Anna said.

Samuel placed a hand on Anna’s arm, silencing her. “You have a deal.”

A shadow passed over the garden in a rush of wind, darkening the room. At first, we all thought it was
Gilgamesh
, come to our rescue once again. But the shadow passed, and there was no sound of an engine. It must have just been a cloud.

“You will remain free, obviously,” Augustus said. “I consider you dignitaries representing the entire Wasteland. But I hope you will consider joining my Praetorian guards. Perhaps, when all of this over, I can arrange a joint governorship for you all over the entire Wasteland.”

“You would let us rule the Wasteland?” I asked.

Augustus shrugged. “Why not? Nothing is impossible. But this is merely speculative. I just want you to be aware of the benefits of working with me – benefits many cities already in Mexico have accepted.”

Augustus rose from his chair, and we stood with him. “My Praetorians will accompany you to Ashton. I hope we can have an arrangement before the day is over.”

Augustus was not taking any chances, and I didn’t blame him. I wondered what Ashton’s reaction would be when he saw us coming down the road, surrounded by Augustus’s most elite guards. Seeing us hostage, would he have no choice but to land
Gilgamesh
and be escorted back to the palace, where anything could happen?

“I think you will find that the past can be forgiven if we can all agree now to work together,” Augustus said. “However, I am a terrible enemy.” Augustus smiled bitterly. “Perhaps it was fate that I was left on the surface when Ragnarok fell. Fate often has a funny sense of justice.”

“We will not bring Ashton here if you are only going to hurt him,” Samuel said.

“No,” Augustus said. “I would never do that. I need him to stop the xenovirus, and besides, I am not wantonly cruel – even if Ashton was to me, thirty years ago.”

Augustus gestured toward Maxillo, who had entered the room while we were speaking with Augustus. “Have you found the Wastelanders’ weapons?”

“My men are waiting outside the gates with the weapons,” Maxillo said. “Shall I return them?”

Augustus nodded. “Hand them over there.” He looked at us. “As a sign of my trust, I will let you walk with weapons within Nova Roma, a privilege that is only granted to my legionaries. I hope you will not squander this trust, and that it may be a good sign of our future partnership.”

Trust. Augustus was only giving us those weapons because he knew we couldn’t do anything...not with Makara still in the hospital, and not surrounded by twenty five of his best guards.

“May I see my sister before we leave?” Samuel asked.

Augustus shook his head. “I would like to conclude this arrangement as soon as possible. I am hoping that Ashton can be here, within the hour. Granted that everything proceeds smoothly, then yes, you may visit your sister.”

“Very well.” Samuel looked toward us. “Let’s go.”

The grim-faced guards led us out of the reception room, and back into the glittering entry hall. The bright chandeliers illuminated the pastel colors of the walls, giving sparkling life to the paintings, giving the rich oriental rugs beneath our feet a vibrant hue. I couldn’t help but feel that we were on a death march, and that Augustus had us where he wanted us. How could this have ended any other way? We were stupid for coming here. With Makara hostage, and our lives at stake, we couldn’t just leave. We had to play this out, until the end.

But there still might be a chance to get the better of Augustus. There had to be, or this mission could fail.

The same two attendants from earlier swung the front doors open, letting us out into the cool night. Our footsteps clicked on the marble steps, then crunched on the gravel drive. Anna impulsively reached for her back, where her katana would usually be sheathed. Of course, there was nothing there.

As Augustus had assured us, a group of Praetorians waited on the other side of the gates. I saw that one carried Anna’s katana. Its black sheath glimmered under the light of faded lamps.

The guard by the gate opened it, and we strode outside. I received my Beretta. Feeling it in my hand was good, and made me feel immediately safer. I checked the clip, finding it loaded with nine bullets. It would have to do. I stashed it on my belt. Anna took her katana, strapping it to her black, along with her handgun sidearm. She didn’t look right without that katana, and now that it was back, I could see more confidence in her step. Samuel received his handgun, and strapped it to his belt without a word. Julian also holstered his own handgun.

“I don’t know how,” I said to him. “But we’ll get you home.”

Julian nodded. “I appreciate it. But right now, I’m worried about bigger things.”

Maxillo turned to Samuel. “Lead, and we will follow. But first, tell us where we are going.”

Samuel turned to look at us, his eyes surprisingly calm. It was as if he were saying, “play along.”

“It is a long walk,” Samuel said.

“Where?” Maxillo asked, impatient.

“Outside the north gate. Up a mountain road.”

Maxillo frowned. He was suspicious. “That doesn’t lead anywhere. There aren’t even any farms up there.”

“It might be a trap,” another Praetorian said.

“If it is a trap,” Samuel said, “then it wouldn’t be a very good one. There are only the four of us, and there are twenty five of you. That is simply where Ashton is staying. We thought it was safer if he remained outside the city.”

Maxillo nodded. From his expression, he still didn’t like it. But there wasn’t much he could do about that.

“Onward, then.”

Samuel started walking, and the rest of us followed.

W
e walked across Central Square as night finally settled over the land. With the night came a thin mist that overhung the entire city in a wispy blanket. The
Coleseo
appeared haunting in the nighttime fog – maybe it was just the wind, but I thought I heard screams echoing in that direction, like ghosts in the air.

The city was a different place at night. Central Square was mostly empty, and ill-lit. Most windows were dark – lighting must have been an expensive commodity, though behind us, the Imperial Palace’s many windows glowed in the night. As we exited Central Square, the tall, shadowy buildings and twisting streets imbued a sense of claustrophobia. Raucous laughter emanated from taverns leading under buildings.

At long last, we reached the northern gate. We passed through them, the nighttime guards giving us questioning stares. The mist thickened as we walked up the wide, dirt road. One by one, the Praetorians clicked on flashlights, but they did little to illuminate our surroundings. The mist was cool, creeping onto my skin, chilling me. On either side of the road was thick forest, from which the sounds of insects came. A high screech emanated from the woods – the yowling of a jaguar, perhaps?

The Praetorians did not seem afraid, however. They marched on, their demeanor stony and determined. We kept up with their pace.

“About how far is it?” Maxillo asked.

“A few miles,” Samuel said. “He is staying where the road goes through a pass. It’s just a little bit beyond that.”

“Sepulcher’s Pass,” Maxillo said. “It is a haunted place. Many dead kings are buried there from an age long past.”

“Kings?” I asked. “What kings?”

“The land is forbidden to normal citizens,” Maxillo said. “There, many of the Aztec Kings buried their dead. There are pyramids, covered in forest and jungle. They were discovered by the Empire’s armies, years ago, during the First War.”

“The First War?” Anna asked.

“The war the Empire fought with Old Mexico.”

“I thought Mexico fell after Ragnarok,” I said.

“It did,” Maxillo said, growing tired of our questions. “Because of us.”

Nothing more was said as the road began its steep incline. We went back and forth as the road snaked up the mountainside. The mist thickened, making it very difficult to see. Behind, I could see the lights of Nova Roma dimly lit in the darkness. Even the thick fog could not mask a city of that size.

Again, the screech sounded from the forest, closer.

“What is that?” Julian asked.

Maxillo shrugged. “Probably a jaguar. They are active in the forest, at nights.”

I knew that was
not
a jaguar. I had fought those things inside the
Coleseo
, just hours ago. This was something different. Something...worse. It was all too reminiscent of...

“Crawlers,” Anna said.

An unmistakable scuttling of dozens of legs sounded from ahead.

“Box formation!” Maxillo shouted.

The Praetorians hurried to make a square around us, each facing outward, pausing in the center of the road. We remained in the middle.

“Whatever comes out of the forest, shoot first,” Maxillo said to us.

Another screech sounded, deadly close to us now. A shadowy crawler pounced from the night and onto the misty road. It landed on top of a Praetorian, who screamed as the creature tore into his flesh. With a flash of spears, two more Praetorians charged the creature, skewering it through the belly. It went limp, even as more shadowy shapes came from the woods.

“There’s too many!” Anna asked. “We have to break through and make it to the ship!”

“The ship?” Maxillo asked. “What ship?”

A pair of crawlers attacked the group’s left flank. Three Praetorians lined up, pointing their spears into the darkness. The battle-hardened warriors did everything their training had taught them, but they had never fought anything like this. More crawlers appeared, swarming over the warriors, their spears doing little against the creatures’ thick exoskeletons. The crawlers screeched in victory as they ripped tendrils of flesh from the Praetorians’ corpses, sprays of blood adding a reddish hue to the mist.

“Do as she says!” Maxillo roared. “Clear a path ahead!”

The Praetorians responded, cutting their way through a pack of crawlers that
still
grew in number. Where had they all come from? There were no Blights around here, were there?

That was when a crawler appeared in front of me, a scythe-like fang flashing by my side. I tucked and rolled onto the ground. Lying on my back, the crawler appeared above me, exposing its soft underbelly. I aimed and fired my Beretta. The creature squealed in pain as each bullet connected, purple blood oozing from the large holes I had created at point blank range. I rolled to the side as the creature crashed down.

The others were ahead of me by now, but Anna had stayed behind.

“Alex, get your ass moving!”

Another crawler appeared at Anna’s side. She turned, dodging its lightning strike, all the while swinging around to catch it with her katana. The creature turned its stomach away, and instead the katana glanced off the creature’s side in a shower of sparks.

The crawler had cut us off from the rest of the group, and more were coming from behind.

I ran forward, pointing my gun toward the hideous monster.

Bam. Bam. Bam.

The bullets ricocheted off its tough skin. I had succeeded in nothing more than pissing it off. The crawler charged for me, and in so doing, exposed itself to Anna. She surged forward, swiping her blade underneath it.

The crawler gave a horrible screech that pierced my ears. The fetid stench of its guts filled the air as they spilled out onto the dirt path. The creature’s body slumped, twitched, and grew still.

“Come on,” I said.

I grabbed Anna’s hand and ran up the mountain path. We passed the bodies of both man and monster as we ran ahead. Thankfully, none of them were our own.

Then, a baleful roar sounded from above. The mist darkened as something...
flew
...over us. It wasn’t
Gilgamesh
. This was something alive.

We both paused on the road. I hoped the mist was thick enough that
whatever
was up there couldn’t see us.

The thing passed overhead, giving an unholy bellow is it plied the skies above. The mist was too thick to get a view of it.