The Deep Beneath (30 page)

Erika stirred beneath him, and he removed his hands and fell backward. The energy he had expended to heal Erika robbed him of the ability to close the door to the constant hum of the alien chatter that filled his head, and the dizziness returned.

“What’s … what’s going on? Am I alive?”

Jack quickly came to Erika’s side. He knelt beside her and stroked her hair. “Yes, you’re with us.”

“Welcome back,” Ian said. He rubbed her back. “Did you have a nice nap?”

Jack put out his arm to steady Erika as she sat up.

Her hand flew to her head then to her stomach as if she were checking for bullet holes. “What happened?”

“Ian shot Freeman but not before he busted up your shoulder,” said Jack. “You passed out from the pain. Maybe went into shock. We’re in Aphthartos, and Tex just did his healing thingy on you. Oh, and Sturgis’ men are shooting at an alien ship.”

Erika looked around and blinked her eyes. She rotated her shoulder but winced in pain.

“Still hurts?” asked Jack.

“Yeah, like a son of a –”

“I did not have the energy to heal you completely. It will take time, but you will recover eventually.”

“Thanks. Again,” Erika said.

“For what?” Tex asked. He found it difficult to speak. The pain of the buzzing in his head made him want to close his eyes and withdraw from the world around him.

“For helping us. For helping me.”

“I merely repaid you. If you had not come with Dr. Dolan to my quarters, I likely would have been unable to reach Aphthartos. The aliens may have come for me, but I am not certain of it.”

“Well, let’s call it even,” said Erika. She smiled a small, weak smile that did not reach her eyes.

Tex forced himself to smile back but was unsure if she could see it in the dark.

Erika sat up on her knees and peered over the green hedge. Her face changed from pain to surprise. Tex, too, peered over the bushes. The soldiers were launching grenades at the silver orb, but they appeared to have no more effect than the bullets.

“They came,” Erika whispered.

“Yep, just like Tex said they would,” said Jack.

Erika hunkered back down behind the bushes. “How are we going to get out there and into that ship without being made into Swiss cheese?”

“I have not yet formulated a plan of action to achieve that goal. But at this time I must move to the most northerly quadrant of this town. There is someone that I must see,” Tex said.

He stayed crouched down low and moved swiftly behind the bushes toward the eastern edge of the town. Tex did not look back to see if his human companions followed. He had to do as his alien cousins requested whether his friends came with him or not.

After he had walked about thirty feet, there was a break in the bushes and a ten-foot gap until the next clump of greenery. He paused and peered around the hedge. There were two soldiers less than five feet in front of the bushes. They were preoccupied with the ship, but Tex feared that they would see him out of their peripheral vision as soon as he moved into the open.

Ian came up beside him. “If you can catch a football, you’d be one hell of a running back.” Ian was breathing hard. “How do you move so fast?”

Tex shrugged his shoulders.

“Do you think they’ll see us?” Ian whispered.

Tex nodded. “I will go first. They likely have orders not to shoot me. If they see me, I will distract them. The three of you stay low and move as quickly as you can to the next hedge.”

Ian turned to Jack, who was hunched beside him. Ian whispered the plan into Jack’s ear, and Jack turned and passed the details on to Erika. She nodded to Tex.

He stayed low and moved into the open space between the two rows of hedges. As he feared, the sudden movement caught the attention of the soldiers.

“You there. Stop!”

Tex considered refusing the request and continuing on as though he had not heard it. But he feared that in the dim light, the soldier could not see him clearly and would shoot first and find out who it was later. Tex froze as requested.

The soldiers took a few steps toward him. “What the …?”

“Is he –”

“I am H.A.L.F. 9, Commander Sturgis’ creation. Do not fire on me.”

The soldiers exchanged glances but kept their rifles trained on Tex. “We have orders to take you in if we see you,” one of them said.

“I cannot allow that,” Tex said. He stepped toward the soldiers.

They backed up. “Don’t … don’t hurt us.”

“I do not intend to harm you, but I must get to the other side of this town, and I will not allow you to stop me.” Tex took another step toward the soldiers with his arm outstretched toward them, his palm facing them. He intended the gesture to calm, but it apparently had the opposite effect.

One of the soldiers fired his weapon. Tex heard the bullet scrape the metal of the rifle barrel before he saw the spark of fire. His actions were instinctual. He manipulated the molecules in the air around him and formed a gelatinous barrier between himself and the bullet. The barrier slowed the tiny but lethal missile down. Tex reached out his hand and plucked the bullet from the air. He unceremoniously dropped it to the ground.

The soldiers took a few more steps backward. As they did, there was movement at the ship that got everyone’s attention.

Two panels formed out of the smooth metal on each side of the orb. The panels opened, and without warning, the ship fired a white-blue light at the soldier who had shot at Tex. The soldier looked down at where his stomach used to be. There was a hole shot clear out. He fell down, a look of shock plastered on his face. Bloody foam spilled from his mouth and his legs twitched like a dying rabbit. The rifle fire and grenade blasts halted. The large, cavernous hold that housed the small town fell silent save for the sound of the man’s jerking legs knocking against the brick on which he lay.

The silence was broken by a shout. “Rocket launchers fire. Now!”

The A.H.D.N.A. soldiers scrambled to grab for rocket launchers. Only the soldier nearest to them knew that Tex was in Aphthartos. The soldier was preoccupied with watching his comrade die. But Tex knew that the man would eventually alert others to their position.

Tex recalled Erika’s words from the night they met, asking him not to kill. Though he had not attempted it previously, he wondered if he could close off the man’s oxygen just to the point of knocking him out rather than killing him. He was just about to try it when the laser weapon fired again.

The soldier would not be a problem to him. The man fell to the ground, hugging his gut as though he could force his intestines back into the hole from which they spilled.

Tex did not watch the man further. He again knelt low to the ground and shuffled to the next clump of bushes. His companions were there waiting for him.

The small town erupted with the blast of rocket fire as the soldiers launched round after round of rockets at the orb. But the high-powered weapons had no more effect on the orb than rifle bullets or grenades.

“What now?” Jack asked.

Tex peered over the hedge. They were closer to the street he needed to go down, but still at least a hundred yards away.

“I see only a few soldiers between here and the street on the far side. If we stay low and stick to the shadows, they may not see us.”

“My thighs are burning,” said Erika.

Tex did not comprehend Erika’s reference to her thighs being on fire. They clearly were not aflame. But he did not ask for clarification. His curiosity would have to wait.

“Stick together and stay low and quiet,” he said. He set off again toward his destiny and hoped that his human companions would follow.

Tex’s patch job had mended Erika’s broken bones, but her shoulder still throbbed. Their getaway was in the center of the town. So why was Tex taking them away from it? Erika was still unsure what had happened while she was unconscious, so she withheld her questions and focused on keeping up with Tex. She trusted that since he wanted to get away from A.H.D.N.A. as much as she did, he must have a good reason for taking them away from the ship that was their apparent salvation.

She walked as quickly as she could in a squat position. The four played the darkness and the soldiers’ preoccupation with the alien space ship to their advantage. Tex moved so fast it was like his feet were on rollers. The three shuffled as fast as they could to keep up with him while throwing looks over their shoulders to make sure they didn’t have trouble coming up from behind. The four circled the town wide to the right, staying on the dark sidewalks.

Tex pulled ahead of them by at least twenty yards and stood at the street he seemed destined to take. He looked back at them and waved his hand to encourage them on.

Ian easily closed the gap, and Jack was nearly there. Erika lagged behind the others. She was concentrating on getting to Tex and did not notice anyone around her until he spoke.

“You there. Who are you, and where are you going?” The low, male voice came from behind her.

Erika briefly considered ignoring the question, but she recalled the image of Dr. Dolan with a gunshot in his back, and she turned. A soldier walked toward her with his rifle in his hands at the ready. She looked down. There was a red dot over her heart.

Tex, a little help here.
She had scolded Tex for reading her thoughts but now wished that she hadn’t. Tex did not rush to her side.
I’m on my own.
“I’m – well, you see, I was –”

The soldier came closer and squinted at her as if to see her better in the dusky light. “You one of the Makers’ kids?”

Makers’ kids?
Erika had no idea what he meant, but she went with it. “Yeah. That’s what I am.”

“Wow, they’re quick. I didn’t expect anyone down here so soon.” The soldier was just a few feet from her now. He looked her up and down, and his eyes rested on the rifle she had slung across her back. “Stay where you are. I gotta call this in.” He kept his weapon trained on Erika and pressed a button on a small radio device he had fastened to his shoulder. “Yeah, I’ve got a …”

Erika swung her knee up and connected with the soldier’s crotch. He coughed in pain as he doubled over. Before he had a chance to recover, Erika pulled the rifle off of her back and smacked the man in the side of the head with the butt end of her rifle. He looked up at her, his eyes wide with surprise and confusion. But that look quickly gave way to anger as his hand moved to the side of his head. He looked at his blood-covered palm then back to Erika.

Erika was out of moves. The man was at least twice her weight. In hand-to-hand combat, she didn’t stand a chance once she no longer had the element of surprise.

“I don’t know who you are, but you’re gonna pay for that.” The soldier took a swing at her.

Erika tried to duck, but the soldier’s fist grazed her chin. Erika turned and intended to run, but the soldier caught her by her ponytail and yanked her back.
I’ve got to cut this hair.
Erika considered calling out for help but decided not to. It would only bring more soldiers over.

The soldier had his arm hooked around Erika’s neck, pressing her back to him. His other arm reached toward the button on his radio. He pressed it, but before he could speak into the tiny speaker, his arm loosed its grip and Erika fell to the ground.

She scrambled away before she got up. The soldier’s hands were at his throat, scraping at his neck with his fingers. Erika looked behind her, and Tex stood a few feet away, his eyes fixed on the soldier.

“Don’t kill him,” she said. “Is there a way to knock him out or something?”

“I will attempt it,” he said.

The soldier gasped for air, but he stopped groping at his neck. He stared at her with bulging, frightened eyes as he fell to the ground.

“Is he dead?” Erika asked.

“I do not believe so.” Tex closed his eyes for a moment then opened them. “No, he is not dead. He is unconscious, but it will not last long. Please, we must hurry.” He scurried quickly back toward the street he had been standing near. Erika followed after him as fast as she could in the hunched-over position.

There was a road sign that said simply “D Street”. It looked identical to all the others they had passed. The street was narrow and cobbled with tree-lined sidewalks on each side. The street could have passed for a typical street in any small, mid-century American town if it weren’t for the trees. They were unlike anything Erika had ever seen. They were fairly small and rather spindly. But the leaves were luminous and cast a green glow over the entire street. It was the most eerie yet beautiful thing Erika had ever seen.
What was this place built for?

After walking a couple of hundred yards down the street, Tex stopped on the sidewalk in front of a brownstone house with the number 232-A in tiles to the side of the door under a light. Away from the fighting, the street was quiet. There was only the faint echo of shouts and occasional pops that could have been fireworks if she hadn’t known it was gunfire. There was a magnetic card reader with a fingerprint scanner on the wall by the door.
Who has Sturgis got stashed in there?
Erika was almost afraid to ask. “What’s in there?”

Tex walked up the concrete porch steps and approached the door. Without hesitation he pulled Freeman’s card and finger from his pocket.

Surprise and disgust welled up inside Erika. “Did you just pull a finger from your pocket?”

“Yes, he did,” said Ian.

“Why?” asked Erika. But no one answered her question.

Tex swiped the card and placed the finger on the pad. The scanner buzzed red and the lock did not open. Tex wiped the finger on his shirt and tried again. Nothing. He scanned the severed finger again and again but with the same result.

“Maybe Freeman didn’t have access,” said Jack.

“Or maybe they found his body and locked out his codes,” said Ian. He walked up the steps and peeked in the dusty window to the right side of the door.

“See anything?” asked Jack.

“Nope. Just a dark, empty house filled with ugly furniture,” said Ian.

Erika walked up the steps. “Why don’t we try common courtesy?” She knocked on the door. Though she had knocked with a normal amount of force, she could barely hear her own rapping. “Thick door.”