Dues of Mortality (56 page)

“
Fuck
this,” the guard finally said under his breath and took off.

Richard
Kelmer was left glancing around the office. Was this some sort of
test or a trap or something? Did the guard really
just
leave
? He got up, went to the door and peeked out. He
witnessed a mass exodus of people, most of whom were in full-out
sprints. His venturesome former guard was elbowing his way to the
front of the pack. Perhaps Kelmer's plan was working out better than
he had thought. Had his “secret weapon” been that
efficient? Kelmer hadn’t figured on actually leaving alive, but
now...If he could only find Glenda and her friend. Assuming Wallace
hadn’t already tortured them to death, could he take advantage
of the commotion and find them before Wallace returned? Maybe he
could even verify that the second half of his plan had been
successful. He knew where to go, and he was confident the system
would be hacked if he got everything right.

Yes
,
Kelmer thought. It was now or never.

Found
it,
Xavier
thought.
The second his hands hit metal, he grabbed up
the gun and made his intention for the stairwell door. Unfortunately,
it was as far as he got. Bursting from the thicket, Miles Gabriel
rammed him against the wall with a shoulder to the gut. Gabriel
grabbed at the MAG with one hand and plunged a fist into Xavier’s
stomach with the other. Xavier countered quickly with a jolting knee
to Gabriel’s midsection. Their respective grips on the gun
miraculously remained tight.

Oh,
no
, Glenda thought.
She
could just make out Xavier and Gabriel locked in combat
from the other end of the corridor. They turned and swung at each
other in the fizzling foam with their limbs going in and out of view.
It seemed like an oil painting of two Greek gods engaged in a divine
battle among the clouds. She wanted badly to rush in, but feared she
would somehow cost Xavier the fight. On the other hand, to just stand
there and do nothing when she could make it two against one was also
unacceptable. She took a few steps forward, thinking to use the
mounds of foam as cover.

Gabriel
and Xavier were all-out wrestling for control of the MAG, all four
hands vying for its dominance. Like his opponent, Gabriel was pulling
hard, but not really toward his own body. When Xavier saw Glenda
trying to move in on them, he knew why.

“
No,”
Xavier shouted. Gabriel had spotted Glenda first and was trying to
get a bead on her. As soon as Xavier noticed her is when a shot
sparked forward and Glenda disappeared into the foam.

Xavier's
insides surged with a white hot pain. He knew instantly to use it as
a catalyst to hold on to the gun. “No! Mutha’fucka’!
I’m gonna kill you!” Xavier threw a head-butt into
Gabriel, opening a nasty gash above Gabriel's right eye. He tried a
few more times with the knee, but Gabriel was more durable than he
looked.
Glenda, please get up
,
Xavier prayed.
Please
be all right! Please!

Glenda
didn't know how bad she'd been hit until she saw the blood on her
hip. The shot had only grazed her and the resulting reflex caused her
to lose her balance. She pressed her hand to the wound and stood up,
facing the stairwell door.

It’s open,
she
thought.
I think!
It
was hard to see the entire door through the patches of foam.

She
ran to it, her hip feeling like it was on fire. She saw that the
skimming shot had hit the door square at the lock, or just close
enough. Either way, the metal around the lock looked bent and or
broken and there was now a visible amount of space between the door
and its jamb. She ignored the pain in her hip and gave the door a
solid kick right at the sight of impact. It fell open, spilling foam
into the stairwell.

Xavier
saw Glenda kick open the door and rejoiced. His first thought was to
not give her opportunity to repeat the mistake she'd made in Seattle.

“
Glenda,
go,” he ordered. “Get out of here!”

“
I’m
not leaving you,” she shouted back.

Stubborn
broad!
Xavier thought. It wasn’t as if there was
time to argue. He could feel Gabriel trying for another shot. “God
damn it, I said go! Now!”

Glenda
continued to ignore him.

“
Get
out!” he commanded and nearly added a “you dumb bitch”
for a little extra incentive. Glenda absolutely
had
to leave.

She
had to
live.

She
had to get married and have children. She had to love and be loved by
someone who wouldn't let her down. Xavier didn’t care with
whom, he just knew the world would stop spinning if she died. The sun
would not rise, black would become white, and nothing, nothing,
nothing
would ever
matter for him again. His life would be forfeit and the bomb that lay
ticking beneath all their feet would surely accept him as a willing
sacrifice.

Miles
Gabriel pushed outward to get some distance between himself and
Xavier. With just enough space, he kicked out and caught Xavier just
under his left kneecap. Xavier's shin bent inward and he yelped in
pain. His grip on the gun then loosened enough for Gabriel to tear it
away completely. Xavier tumbled backward into a particularly high
drift of foam and, for all intents and purposes, disappeared. Gabriel
aimed downward, waiting to see something of his opponent, tracking
the spot where he'd vanished. When he finally spied the dark colors
of Xavier's clothing contrasting with the foam, Gabriel fired on top
of it. He quickly heard the slap of fresh meat hitting the floor.

“
Xavier!”
Glenda screamed.

Gabriel
smoothly swung the gun in her direction and fired again.

Even
if the foam wasn't obscuring Gabriel's vision, Glenda had already set
about dodging to the right before she'd finished yelling Xavier's
name. Finally, she darted through the doorway and sprinted up the
stairs. Tears were already beginning as she sealed the man named
Xavier Hawkins away in her heart forever.

It
wasn't until Glenda reached the floor above that it occurred to her
its door, as well, might be sealed off. When it opened easily, she
was a hundred shades of relieved. Apparently, the emergency protocols
pertained only to the floor in which the alarm had been thrown,
allowing for the rest of the building to be evacuated.

The
slick slate hallways before her, were entirely devoid of life. Also,
not a drop of the anti-microbial agent, that she could still taste in
her mouth, was to be seen.
Leave it
to a scum like Wallace to cut corners on safety, she figured. She
tore down the hallway until a MAG shot whizzed past her ear and hit a
metal equipment cart right in front of her
. It glided backward
on its wheels and slammed into the wall. Glenda glanced behind her
and saw Miles Gabriel inside the stairwell door with a hand to his
ribcage. Despite his having come out on top, Xavier had put a real
hurting on him and it was affecting his aim.

Glenda
didn't need a second shot buzzing her ear to tell her she needed
immediate cover. The hallway was long and her hip burned. Even in a
zigzag pattern, Gabriel would have plenty of time to score a hit. The
equipment cart was to her left at eleven o'clock. She ran behind it.
It was as tall as she was. She could use it as cover to traverse some
of the hallway. Problem was, it had gaps, big ones. Items still lay
on its shelves, but nothing that would stop a bullet. She would have
to be the world's most annoying moving target. There was simply no
other choice.

She
grabbed the cart and pulled it along in front of her, moving as fast
as she could. She passed in front of a lab entrance and a MAG shot
toppled both her and the cart. The top third of Glenda's body listed
inside the lab. Gabriel fired two more times. The stainless steel
shelves, now on their sides, barely shielded Glenda from the shots.
She rolled the rest of herself inside the lab and scrambled to her
feet.

She
quickly took inventory of the room. A weapon, a window, anything she
could use to escape or fight back was foremost on her mind. Occupying
a sizable portion of the area was an enclosed transparent chamber
with a single entrance. It was both hermetically and magnetically
sealed from ceiling to floor. However, its single door, operated by a
free standing control panel on the outside, was left open. An
emergency exit was nowhere to be seen. Chairs were left scattered
about, but unless she had the strength to heft one, there was nothing
to use as a weapon. She eyed the mysterious chamber. In the middle of
the chamber, a tiny gray and white speckled rabbit sat squat in a
gilded cage doing that little nose-twitching-nibbly thing rabbits
were famous for. Apparently when the alarm sounded, everyone beat it,
leaving whatever experiment they were working on unattended.

Miles
Gabriel slithered into the room, teasingly tapping his hip with the
gun. The raw heat of hatred from his eyes was so tangible he could
have fried an egg just by looking at it.
Sweat
glistened on his vein engorged forehead and a single eyelid spasmed
at a mile a minute.
“I wish I had time to make you
suffer,” he said chillingly.

Glenda
didn't say a word. She just stared back in defiance. If she was going
to die, it wouldn't be while begging at this prick's feet. Of that
she was certain.

Gabriel leveled the gun at her
and let the green dot dance on her brow until he was satisfied. He
then squeezed the trigger with a well-deserved smile.

The
empty gun barely whistled.

Gabriel's
primordial howl started out low and bled into a cacophony of
profanities that would have made the devil himself blush. On the last
syllable, he threw the gun at Glenda’s head, missing her by
inches. His chest heaved and his eyes then drew
their
own
crosshairs on her. He charged forward at full steam.

Glenda
angled to her right, counting Gabriel's steps. Once close enough, she
threw out her left leg and caught Gabriel in the stomach. He let out
an “umpf”, doubling over and holding his gut. She
continued her sidestep, stitching the motions together as best she
could.
Take the fight to him
,
she thought.
She then
grabbed one of the chairs and raised it to waist height. It was
heavier than it looked. Gabriel intercepted the half-assed swing and
landed a straight punch to Glenda's face, knocking her down. Before
she even knew what was happening, her eyes were already swelling and
she could feel the blood pooling in her skull. Gabriel was strangling
the life out of her. Something that should've been done days ago.
Something that would have saved
everything
!
And now there was
nothing
!
Fuck the bomb; that was too good for her. If Gabriel couldn't have
Millenitech, he would, at least, have the satisfaction of killing
this bitch
.

“
What
do you see?”
Xavier
said. As her vision floundered, Glenda flashed back to the motel.
Xavier's rich brown eyes were, once again, in sync with hers as he
held her against the wall.

Glenda's
legs were useless; Gabriel was far too heavy.
But
her arms were unencumbered
.
In
fact, her hands had instinctively gripped Gabriel's the moment she
felt the pressure on her throat.
She mentally mapped out each
target in sequence.
Ears.
T
he
heels of Glenda's hands slammed hard into Gabriel’s ears. His
strangling grip loosened considerably, but didn’t fall away.
Eyes.
Glenda curled
her thumbs into daggers and stabbed, pressing them into Gabriel's
eyes.

Gabriel
screamed. He tried not to let go, but decided quickly going blind was
unacceptable. He reared back, throwing his hands over his eyes.

Throat.
Glenda zeroed in on Gabriel's protuberant Adam’s
apple. Typical male feature. It might as well have had a bullseye
painted on it.
Let’s see
how you like it!
She made a fist and straightened her arm
into the bulge.

Gabriel
reached for his throat, partially raising off of his victim. In less
than thirty seconds he went from being all-powerful to half-blind and
retching like a cat coughing up a hairball.

As
soon as Glenda felt the release of pressure against her legs, she
pulled out as much as she could and threw her knee into the apex of
Gabriel's crotch.
Balls
.

Gabriel
crimped to the side, one hand on his throat and the other cupping his
testicles. Glenda finally rolled out from under him, dizzy as all
hell and holding her own throat. She segued quickly to her feet.

Refusing
to be outdone, Gabriel, got up and flew at Glenda in a literal blind
rage. The shot in the balls seemed to had been tempered by Glenda’s
limited range of movement. Though, even if it hadn't, Gabriel was
riding on a white wave of fury and adrenaline. He looked like he was
going to make a grabbing motion, but instead he clothes-lined Glenda,
knocking her backward against the chamber control panel. The panel
made a soft beeping noise and from the center of the isolation
chamber, a foot-long black cylinder sprouted from a cube next to the
rabbit cage. The action of the chamber went completely ignored by the
room's occupants, the nose twitching hare included.