Fury of the Six (The Preston Six Book 5) (17 page)

JOEY WATCHED THE RED CIRCLE move to the back corner of the building. Marcus was being herded there by everyone on the outside and he was grateful for their involvement. It gave him the chance to kill Marcus once and for all.

“If we keep moving down this hall and through the kitchen, we should end up close to where he and Evelyn are,” Lucas said.

“Let’s go then.” Poly urged Lucas to get moving.

Joey gripped his rail gun tight in one hand and his Colt semi in the other. The Colt had the party-pack of ammo, especially built for Marcus.

They jogged down the hall and past a double swinging door. The kitchen looked bright and clean. It smelled of soap and burnt chicken. An Arrack stood near the dishwashing station, paralyzed at the sight of the intruders.

Joey raised his gun but then lowered it after looking at the fright in his eyes. “Get in that cabinet.” He pointed to the cabinet, but the Arrack seemed confused. He opened the cabinet door and pointed at the Arrack and then in the cabinet. The Arrack slid his feet across the floor, never blinking and climbed into the cabinet. Joey closed the doors and shoved a wooden spoon in the handles. If it spent enough time, Joey was sure it could break the spoon and get out.

Lucas led them past the kitchen and into a cafeteria of sorts. Tables and chairs were scattered around and knocked over, the tables filled with half eaten food. They must have caught them at dinner time. They probably weren’t expecting a regimen of Arracks knocking on their front door tonight, let alone a whole army of highly trained people.

Lucas kept low and moved around the chairs. They all made their way to another hall and down several flights of stairs. An Arrack walking up froze at the sight of Lucas. Joey hoped it was another kitchen type. Unfortunately, the Arrack pulled out his dagger and screamed. Gladius lunged forward and killed the Arrack with her dagger, but the damage was done. The sound of many Arracks moving up the stairs sounded from below.

“We didn’t expect it to be easy the whole way there.” Gladius shrugged.

Lucas backed up, holding out his gun. “If we can get them as they round the corner, they’ll have a tough time getting close to us.”

“I’ll get the left,” Joey said.

“I’ll take the middle,” Poly said.

The sounds of many feet rumbled on the stairs, vibrating tendrils of dust loose from above. The first Arrack rounded the corner and Joey shot the thing in the head, sending it falling back down the stairs. Six more ran past their fallen comrade and Joey made quick work of five, firing the rail gun. Lucas took the other one out.

Lucas looked over at him in admiration and shook his head.

“I’ve practiced,” Joey said.

“I can see that.”

A large group of them filled the whole staircase, but it was just a slaughter for Joey and his gun. Each projectile ripped through the Arracks, six deep. And in a matter of seconds, they had filled the stairwell with dead Arracks.

Joey moved slowly next to the first Arrack and peered down the stairs. “I don’t see any.”

They made their way over the pile and descended further.

The stairs ended at a large room, lined with beds stacked three high. Joey inspected the beds as they walked by, making sure each lump didn’t have a living thing behind it.

An Arrack leapt from the top bed, and Hank grabbed the thing in midair, slamming it on the ground. It didn’t bounce or move, black blood trailing from under its head.

“Nice,” Lucas said. “Thanks.”

Hank looked at his hands in disgust.

At the end of the hall, stood an open door and Joey glanced at his Panavice, the red dot stood just fifty feet in front of them. Evelyn was in that room, which meant they’d found Marcus as well. The last encounter nearly killed them all and resulted in losing Evelyn. This time would be different. He wouldn’t allow Marcus to escape, the man had nowhere to go and they had all made sure of that.

Joey resisted the urge to run straight into the room and kill the bastard. Marcus had even left the door open, an invitation. He felt the cream Julie put on him wearing off or maybe the pain was so severe it didn’t help it anymore. The weariness in his muscles and his bones was great. He could still shoot better than most, but he didn’t know much about Marcus’s ability—other than Harris saying he could beat any man, living or dead, including himself. But he was still a man. He had weaknesses, he would make mistakes.

“What should we do?” Poly asked, looking at the open door.

“We split, three in, two out,” Lucas said.

“Okay, Lucas and Poly, come with me. You guys,” he looked to Hank and Gladius,
“come in behind us.”

They nodded in unison.

Joey walked down the hall, leading the way. He kept his Colt in his right hand and waited for Marcus to make an appearance. Past the ornate wood door, it looked similar to the rooms in his bunker on Earth. His bedroom had a bed, a dresser, and was devoid of any personal effects, and a family room with a couch and fireplace on the other side.

A little girl’s face popped up from the couch and ducked back down.

“Was that . . .” Poly asked.

It couldn’t have been. That girl was a two-year-old, not a baby.

“Come out, sweetie,” Marcus said walking out of a bathroom attached to the bedroom. He dried his hands with a white towel and tossed it on the back of a chair. The little girl came out from behind the couch and ran up to Marcus. He lifted her up and smiled, tapping her nose. “They’re here. Just like I promised.”

“Edith is dead,” she said.

“I know, it was a terrible accident, I’m sure.”

Joey raged at the sight of his daughter aged a couple of years in only a few days. Is this what Edith had talked about? Is this what they did to her?

Joey rushed forward, Lucas and Poly flanked him. He hit a solid wall a few feet into the room. His gun bent back and he reached his hand out, feeling the invisible wall.

“I knew you wouldn’t act rational.” Marcus said, casually turning to look at them. “That’s why I have the wall up. Don’t bother trying, you can’t get past it unless I allow it.”

“Give her back,” Joey said.

“You don’t deserve her. You have no idea how important she is to the worlds.”

“This again?” Joey asked. “Give her to us, now.”

“What did you do to her?” Poly asked.

“I helped her. I did what you couldn’t and probably wouldn’t do. She had the mind of a giant, stuck in a baby’s body, it was cruel. I set her free and now she’ll grow up as quick as her mind does.”

“You bastard, I’m going to kill you.” Poly used different knives and stabbed at the wall but nothing got through. She flailed against the wall, crying and reaching for Evelyn.

Marcus looked concerned and adjusted Evelyn in his arms. “I obviously could have killed all of you a hundred times over since we first knew of each other, but I haven’t. Don’t you want to know why? Your beautiful daughter here understands the why, but she wants her momma, her papa, and her friends to know why. She won’t help me without you.”

“You tried to kill us back in your bunker.” Poly seethed with rage.

“Yes, I did. You’ve become most irksome to my plan of saving Earth. Curious though, how Alice reported you dead when you are obviously alive. Something I will no doubt figure out in time. Where is Julie?”

“She’s gone back on Earth,” Lucas said.

Marcus laughed. “I know she is near. She is one of the most fascinating people in all the common worlds. I will be truly interested in seeing what you and her produce for a child.”

Lucas fired an arrow against the shield and it bounced off.

“Come on in, Hank and Gladius. This regards you as well.”

Hank and Gladius hung around the door and stayed there.

“Very well. I’ve been searching for you all since the day I made a journey to a purged planet. Do you know how many mutants I’ve created, trying to invent something as special as all of you?”

Joey paced near the shield and gave Lucas the look. Lucas typed into his Panavice and nodded his head. They had figured on a shield from Marcus, and Julie had linked her Panavice with Lucas’s. Lucas looked down at his Panavice and showed Joey the screen.

Ten minutes.

He cringed at the idea of waiting another ten minutes while this putrid man spewed his poison for his daughter to hear.

“How many mutants did you create?” Lucas asked and Poly sent him a hateful look.

Marcus continued, ignoring Lucas’s ploy to keep him talking. “You know, each of them are related to me in some way? I took my own superior DNA in an attempt to create special people like you.”

Joey rolled his eyes and sighed. He couldn’t listen to this man for one more second. “Why don’t you just kill yourself? Save us the time here and we can move on with our lives. If Evelyn is so important, don’t keep her from her parents.”

“What I’m trying to say is, Isaac used a serum based off of my DNA to help create you. Now, I’m not saying I’m your dad or anything, but we are definitely related. Evelyn has even taken to calling me Grandpa.”

“Gramps,” Evelyn said. “It’s funny because you don’t look older than thirty-two.”

“Dang, have I already hit the thirties?”

“If he doesn’t stop . . .” Poly punched at the wall.

“Come on, Julie,” Joey whispered to himself.

“Now I am sure Julie is trying to tear this wall down, so I will be quick with my story.” Marcus set down Evelyn and she jumped on the seat next to him.

“Evelyn, come to Mommy.”

“You need to hear what he’s going to say,” Evelyn said.

“Thank you, my dear.” Marcus took a few steps closer to them. “You know, I didn’t send Isaac to kill your parents. I actually had no knowledge of his actions until much later. He was trying to win back my favor after I punished him for ruining Ryjack.

“And Simon, well, he overstepped my orders and killed Almadon, but to be fair, I’d only told him you were off limits. He was merely trying to bring you to me so I could keep you safe and help create her.” He pointed to Evelyn.

“I suppose Samantha was just an accident?” Poly said.

Marcus sighed. “Her death was an unfortunate side effect of bringing in a man I knew little about. Zach picked me up in his big rig the first day I arrived on Earth. I told him I’d make him a person of great importance and power and I would only require his complete obedience until our task was complete. But Zach had flaws and disobeyed me. I believe he thought he had surpassed me in some way. In the end, he acted on his own in killing her.”

“So we are to assume you are an innocent bystander of multiple unfortunate circumstances?” Joey asked.

“For the most part, yes. There is a threat out there like nothing else in all the worlds. There is a society with technology I could only describe as magic and science weaved together. But they need human bodies to sustain themselves, and from the wrecks of worlds they leave behind, it’s apparent they need a lot of them. I think there might even be two such of these greater beings, battling each other. I’ve noticed differences in purged worlds.”

“Hector’s world?” Lucas said.

“You’ve seen one of these worlds then?” Marcus asked.

Joey glared at Lucas. “Yes.”

“Good, then you will understand when I show you this. It always starts the same. A woman appears on every TV, phone, radio, intercom, and walkie-talkie, delivering a message to the world. To save our limited time, I’m just going to show you her video.”

A projection of the woman appeared on the invisible wall. She looked to be in her late thirties. Pretty, but had a look of stone determination. “It is my deepest regret to inform you that although your lives seem important to each and every one of you, you’re entire civilization is but a mere blip in time and space. I have a great need for you. Your lives, your essence, will push me on, and therefore, your existence will have meaning.

“Our culling will begin immediately. You may resist with all the vigor your world can muster, but none of it will matter in the end. Take solace in knowing there are many of you in existence, so no matter how far we reach, there will always be a
you
somewhere in the worlds. I thank you for the gift you are giving us. You matter more than you know.”