Lady Grace & the War for a New World (Earth's End Book 2) (29 page)

He waved at her and made his way to a shadowy opening she hadn’t seen.

Grace watched him go, wanting to get out of there, yet unwilling to leave until Sam was back.

The scaffolding groaned again.

48

Grace waited for Sam, looking around the hall. Splattered and singed hunks of the spiders and mounds of the white guck inside them were everywhere, along with segmented white legs and sharp pointed feet, and spider hide with lines of spiky hair. Some of the remains were blood-streaked. Those must have been spiders that had fed on the Bigs’ blood or the women’s.

Looking up at the lofty ceiling with its steel armatures laced with webs, she marveled. They fought
spiders
, not Bigs. It was crazy. She caught a movement from the women’s pit. A spider? A surviving person? That was unlikely; the women were encased in cocoons and full of venom. But some might be alive.

The lights were still on, but were much dimmer than they had been during the fighting. Grace was surprised when the air a few feet from her began to glow. The glow took on a lovely golden hue. It grew brighter and a figure materialized inside it. She shouldered her gun and picked up her flamethrower. The figure became more solid.

“Oh, it’s you!” she said, smiling widely. It was the tall doctor who had saved Ellie’s life. “What a surprise.”

His eyes were fixed on her. He needed to be very skilled and very compassionate. He also needed to be fast. No telling how long that ceiling would hold up. He could survive the collapse, but she couldn’t.

He smiled at her. “I want to congratulate you.”

“You speak English.”

“Yes, I’ve learned all of Earth’s languages since we last talked. Congratulations are in order.”

“Oh, well, yes. It was quite a battle, but my friends and I worked together.”

“I wasn’t referring to that, though it was a very clever piece of work.” He needed to weave a bit of magic around her so she could absorb his message. Her arms relaxed and she lowered her weapons.

“You’ve been singled out for a rare honor, my dear.” She listened. “I need to tell you more about my people before explaining it.

“My world is close to perfect. We have no crime, no war, and no hunger. We are ancient and intuitive. These gifts have come at a cost; our ability to engage in carnal reproduction disappeared many ages ago.”

She gazed steadily at him. He could have dressed her in a ball gown and feasted on her opulence, but he liked to look at her in the singed commando suit splattered with white guck. She was so exciting.

He noted her compacted chest and knew her breasts were bound. He wanted her to open her suit a little, so he could see the swell of that constrained bosom. Something subtle. She raised her hand to her throat and undid her suit just enough. Wonderful. She was following his directions without words. He gave her the maximum level of sedation as he reached the most delicate part of his message.

“We need to be frank about your future, my dear. You will die if you stay on Earth. If you manage to stave off starvation or disease, you’ll get
old
and ugly. That would be a tragedy.”

He peered into her eyes, hoping to see that she was agreeing with him. He couldn’t tell; her eyes were slits and her pupils had rolled up in her head. He’d made the spell too strong. Well, it would wear off.

“The good news is that you have
charmed
our world. Every household in our world has its monitors turned to you.”

He paused a moment, wanting to see her reaction, wanting to set the stage for his great announcement.

“I
also
won a great victory today. I am the new chairman of the council of elders.” She was silent, so he elaborated. “I have unlimited powers. I have made myself the first of our kind to begin live breeding with humans. Our experimentation with Ellie and Jeremy’s children made it possible.” He lowered his voice, imparting the wonderful secret. “Grace, I am whole, as nature once made my sex.”

Her eyes opened wide and she struggled to speak. She couldn’t.

“I am the first male in the live breeding program, and you will become the first female. That is the real honor you won today.” He smiled at her.

“Do you know what really made our being together possible? The show today—the battle. I worked so hard to make sure it had the effect I wanted.

“I carved out this huge space. I had to, how would we get the wide-angle shots? The result was electrifying! Shocking! Exciting.

“I dug the queen’s lower level and dumped the dirt in the ocean. What a surprise for the viewers—a grand underground vista instead of a cramped little pit. It was a lot of work, as was bringing the spiders. Hard work, even for me.” He beamed at her.

“The spiders were what gave you your ratings. You are a superstar, Grace—our first and only. I got on the screen at the first commercial break during the battle and asked my people if they would like me to live with you on our own moon, and to share our life together on screen. The response was incredible. The data gatherers couldn’t hold the information, so many people voted yes! They want us to be together, now!”

“I won’t go with you. I’m married to Sam. I love him, not you,” she choked out.

His eyes narrowed. “You’ll come with me if I have to paralyze you and carry you off. And you’ll do whatever I want. Do you understand?” He grabbed her shoulder. She glared at him, but couldn’t move.

“We’re going now, Grace. Give me your hand.”

She grabbed her machine gun and leveled it at him, pouring bullets into him. They passed through him, making his body jerk, but not hurting him at all. When the gun was empty, she pulled up the flamethrower and attempted to burn him. The flames did nothing.

“
Nothing
from your planet can harm me, Grace. But I can harm
you
.” He didn’t touch her, just looked at her. “You must learn that. I can hurt you. And I will hurt you, whenever I wish.”

She doubled over in pain, gasping. “I won’t go. I’m married to Sam. I love him. I’ll never love you.”

“That idiot!” He raised his hand the way he had seen Bud and Wes do. He thought of flames coming out of it, searing, scorching flames that would destroy anything, especially Sam. They shot forth from his palm, boiling golden flames, a hundred times hotter than the Indians’ and a thousand times worse than her flamethrower’s. “
I love Sam
,” he mimicked her voice. “
I’m married to Sam
. Not anymore.”

He blasted the entire hall, his fire filling the space, all but the area where they stood. The two of them stayed cool and safe, but the flames ripped around the chamber, incinerating everything, burning the dead spiders and women to ash.

Flames sought the tunnel that Sam had taken. He heard cries from behind the wall, but they ended in moments. He laughed.

Grace cried out. “You killed Sam.” She stood, staring in the direction of the tunnel he’d taken. “You killed him, and all his people. And the women.”

“You’ll come to love me more than him. I’m a doctor. I can make you love anything. You’ll feel more pleasure than you can imagine. Forget him.”

Grace moved her hand quickly. He knew what she was trying to do, but he was quicker. Her suicide capsule was hidden in her glove.

He grabbed the capsule. Putting it in his mouth, he bit down. The poison did nothing to him.

“There’s nothing you can do.” His eyes glowed. “You have too much spirit; you need to learn to obey. You will do whatever I want, and you will be grateful.” He slapped her face, hard. Blood appeared on the corner of her mouth. He wiped it off, healing her instantly, but leaving the pain.

“You don’t appreciate how hard I worked today. I carved out tons of rock, blew that tunnel to the sea. Made the scaffolding so the roof wouldn’t fall in.” His voice was petulant. “Tell me you appreciate it.”

Her jaw clenched. She stood defiantly.

“Tell me you appreciate it, or I will rip out Jeremy’s right eye.”

“I appreciate your efforts very much. Thank you,” she said.

“Now, put your arms around me. We’re going.”

She hesitated.

“Do it or I’ll cut off both of his hands.”

She stepped closer and put her arms around him, tears in her eyes. “Please don’t hurt anyone. I’ll do what you want.”

He chuckled. “I think I will bring your people with us. You obey so nicely when I threaten them. Hold on, we’re leaving.” He put his arm around her to draw her away.

A powerful blast of air almost knocked him off his feet. Ash and cinders flew in fiery cyclones, zigzagging around the hall. He put his hand out to steady himself. Buzzing filled his ears. Something whirred above his head. Before he could turn, it settled on his back.

Grace leapt away, half propelled by the gust of wind. Ellie’s iridescent wings appeared on each side of the doctor’s head. They created a hurricane of moving air. She could barely kept standing. Grace put her hands over her ears, trying to mute the sound. Flashes from Ellie’s scales shot around the cavern, mingling with the flying cinders and ash.

Grace watched in horror as Ellie’s curls and slit silver eyes appeared over the doctor. Ellie leaned over his head and the lower part of her face split vertically. Her mandible closed on his skull.

While her spiked front legs pierced his eyes, Ellie’s other legs clung to him. He screamed and lunged backward. Ellie’s wings moved tirelessly, preventing the doctor from flinging himself over and pinning her down.

The stingers on Ellie’s hind legs appeared. She stung him again and again and again, all along his spine. He choked and gasped, face swelling.

“No …” he said. He fell on the floor, golden light emanating from his corpse. His outline softened and he dissolved into a puddle. Fumes arose from it, making Grace’s eyes sting. The puddle disappeared into the floor.

“Oh, Ellie, you saved me. Thank you,” Grace choked out.

Ellie buzzed at her, shrieking. She was telling her to get out of here, to run. And then Ellie took off, flying straight into the hole where Sam had disappeared.

Grace grabbed her weapons and ran up the staircase.

49

As she climbed, the stairs became steeper; the distance between landings, endless. She dragged her weapons, fearing to leave them. When Grace reached the severely damaged second doorway, she didn’t know if she could make her way across the rubble and up the twisted wreck of the staircase. She left the flamethrower and machine gun below the door and pulled herself up.

Hanging in the chunks of blasted cement, she collapsed, weeping. He killed Sam.

“Jeremy … Help me, help me … someone.” She called over the rubble. “Help me …”

“Mom?” Jeremy was standing in the meadow, peering down the hole he’d blasted. He turned to the others. “Did anyone hear a voice?”

“Jeremy … Help …”

He jumped into the opening. He saw his mother hanging over what was left of the second doorway. “Mom?”

“Help me, Jeremy. I can’t …” She was crying.

“Bud, Henry, help me get Mom.” Jeremy clawed his way to her. “Mom, what happened?”

“He killed Sam.” She went limp.

“Get her guns; they’re back there,” Jeremy directed, picking her up beneath the arms. Bud took her legs. They carried her out and laid her on the pasture. She didn’t move.

Mel, James, and Henry stood by. They were ready to pull out and go back to their base camp where Lena waited with the babies—hopefully. The packhorses were laden with the computers and the tent. The other horses were saddled and ready to ride. Wes sat in the grass with his commando suit peeled down to his waist. His skin was tinged gray, but he was alive and pretty alert.

Jeremy and Bud moved Grace over to the trees and put her down. She sat, staring, her face frozen. No one talked to her, not knowing what to say. After sitting rigidly for a few minutes, she put her head to her knees and began to sob. Her naked, wrenching sobs conveyed what words couldn’t. Sam was dead.

After a while, Jeremy asked, “Mom, what happened?”

She looked up. He’d never seen her so desolate. “It was the doctor who came to help Ellie. He developed a fixation on me. He’s been filming us and selling it on his planet. We’re cult figures there.
I’m
a cult figure there.

“He dug out that entire hall and brought the spiders in
to get better ratings.
” She started to laugh, semi-hysterical. “He did it for
ratings
. We were fighting for our lives, and he wanted
ratings
.

“He wanted
me
.” She shuddered. “He wanted to take me to a moon of his planet and film us
fucking
for their TV.” She raised her face, furious. “He wanted me to marry him. When I told him that I was married to Sam and didn’t want him, he burned up the hall.

“Everything is ashes down there. Before the doctor arrived, Sam went into a tunnel to find his people. I saw the fire race after him, down the hole he’d used.”

“Did you see Ellie? She flew down there.”

“Oh, yes! She saved my life.”

They gathered around her.

“Ellie saved Wes, too,” Mel broke the silence. “The spider poison was killing him. She stung him in the chest, and he came to.”

Wes smiled ruefully and waved his hand.

“Look at that!” Bud said. Ellie burst out of the underground, wings smoking, carrying something close to her body. She landed lightly and set down her load. It was a charred figure. She took off again immediately, shrieking something at them in a high-pitched buzz. They were to get Sam’s clothes off. Now! And then she disappeared back down the hole.

Jeremy jumped toward the motionless form. He tried to unzip Sam’s suit, but the fasteners were melted closed. He pulled out a pocketknife, which did nothing. Sam’s suit was smoking like Ellie had been, but the suit had a toxic smell. They knew it would kill him if his burns didn’t.

“Let me try,” Bud said. He closed his eyes in prayer and mumbled something. When he opened his eyes, he ran his finger down Sam’s torso. The suit opened. Bud sliced his helmet and goggles off. They were fused together. Then he ran his finger the length of his arms and legs. The others peeled the suit off as soon as Bud loosened it. Wesley crawled forward and helped with the small pieces that Bud had missed. Sam was unconscious. He might be alive, though they couldn’t see him breathing or feel a pulse.

They continued to peel off his clothes. Something fell out of his suit. A couple of somethings. One was a book. Bud picked it up. The pages opened and glittering letters appeared. The pages turned by themselves, light flashing from the interior.

“It’s the Book,” Jeremy said. “He went in there to get it.” Jeremy picked it up. “This is part of Ellie’s notebook from the golden world. It wrote down all the stuff I said at the end, the Commands. It’s Sam’s Bible.”

He felt tears on his face. Sam died for this? The other thing that fell out of his suit was a satin jewelry bag. It was his mother’s; he recognized it. It must contain some of her jewels. Sam died to bring her a gift?

Bud and Wes continued to slice pieces off Sam’s suit. Their system worked until they got to his lower legs and feet. There, the suit had fused to Sam’s flesh. Bud and Wes worked carefully, separating Sam from the fabric. Their faces became grave when they saw the burns. His lower legs were charred. The skin was gone in places, with muscles and tendons exposed. They couldn’t get his shoes off without taking too much of him.

The commando suit was smoking. They dumped the pieces at the far end of the pasture by the cliff that overlooked the sea. It looked like it might go up in flames. And so did Sam’s shoes, but they were still on him.

Ellie reappeared, her legs wrapped around another person. He was obviously alive: His eyes rolled in terror. She set the newcomer down and went to work on Sam. Her stingers came out and she zapped Sam twice, then a third time, over the heart. Sam’s eyes fluttered. She waved her wings over him, and he woke up, making a horrible sobbing groan.

Ellie landed and sat next to his legs. She bent over the burnt areas. Something came out of her mouth, a foamy, frothy white stuff. She coated his legs, sealing them. Then she worked very carefully to remove the boots. His feet looked like barbecued meat. She squealed and they got what she meant—get those boots out of here, pronto.

Bud threw them onto the pile and the whole thing ignited. The fumes were horrible. Ellie stopped working for a minute and flew to the fire, sweeping the toxic smoke to sea with her wings. Bud followed her, raising his arms. The burning uniform shot over the cliff and into the ocean.

Cooing softly, Ellie treated Sam’s feet. When she was done, he was wearing hard boots of the white stuff on his feet and legs. She told them by squeaks and squeals to cover him and keep him warm.

She turned to the second person she’d rescued, and looked him over. He required a shock to the heart and some white stuff on his feet and lower body. He was conscious and very surprised.

Ellie rose from the field and reentered the underground.

The group looked at the newcomer. He was a little person, a dwarf. Gray, like the others. He sat up and looked at them, dumbfounded, but alive and alert.

“I’m Jeremy Edgarton,” Jeremy said, extending his hand. “Welcome to our community.”

“I’m Jim Bob.” The little person shook back, ducking his head and looking awed.

Their meeting was cut short. “I think we’re going to have to get going very soon,” Jeremy said. A shimmering golden mist appeared in the area over the underground’s main hall. It rose, forming a tall column of yellow smoke with a pointed top. The earth quivered.

“Let’s get going.”

“Not without Ellie!” Jeremy cried.

“You guys go,” Bud said. “We’ll pack up Sam and … Jim Bob.”

They tried to figure out how to transport Sam. They finally laid him over a bareback horse with Bud riding in back. The little person sat on Wes’s horse with Wes riding behind him. He looked as terrified as he had flying out of the underground in Ellie’s grip.

Jeremy wouldn’t depart until Ellie came out, even through what was happening over the meadow told him he should leave. The golden column of smoke was beautiful. It rose majestically, creating circular ripples along the ground. The middle of it formed concentric circles, so that it looked like Jupiter with rings around a tall central spire. He had no doubt it would blow.

Ellie wobbled out of the hole, her entire body smoking and singed. She carried two bodies with her, both in worse shape than the others. She chided him in her insect talk, telling him to leave. She flew toward their camp with the survivors.

He ran to follow her. They headed to their camp, where the children and Lena waited. The golden column and the ground under it rumbled. Finally, he heard a crack!

“Run!” Jeremy screamed as he caught up with the others. “It’s going to blow!”

They ran, passing the body of a Big splattered with gunfire. It must have been Lena’s work. They passed another, and another.

Lena was standing in front of the tent, her machine gun in her hands.

“Oh, Lord! I thought I’d never see you again.” A stampede of horses and people ran toward her. She stood up and raised her hands, shouting, “Thank you, Jesus! Thank you for takin’ care of us!” And then she hugged Henry.

“Get down!” Jeremy shouted.

They could see the gold column in the distance. It dropped to the ground, exploded, and then rose into the air, a perfect mushroom cloud.

Jeremy watched it. Was it radioactive? He ran into the tent, almost stumbling on the kids who were covered in the bulletproof suits. “Hi, kids,” he said, grabbing a Geiger counter. Given the way his life had gone, Jeremy always kept one handy.

He went out in the meadow by their camp and set the instrument up. He moved toward the meadow over the underground. That’s where the radioactive readings would be strongest. He backtracked sufficiently to see the site of the old mansion and the shelter. The entire area had sunk as the underground’s main hall collapsed, forming a deep, flat depression. The underground was sealed forever. They would have died if they’d remained where they were. Ellie got them to leave in time. His instruments didn’t register any radioactivity. Whatever it was that blew up, it wasn’t radioactive.

He turned back to the camp and found Ellie ministering to the newest members of their clan, the two she’d rescued before everything blew up. One was a boy with perfectly developed arms and trunk, but stubs of legs. The third might have been a boy or a girl. The child was draped; Jeremy couldn’t see. It was very small and its eyes were milky. It must be blind.

When Jeremy came close, the blind child said, “Jeremy,” in a perfectly understandable voice.

“You know I’m here?”

“We all knew you were here.”

Jeremy bit his lip, shaking. “I’m really sorry.”

The child, or whatever he or she was, asked, “Why should you be sorry?”

“Because I didn’t save all of you.”

“You saved the ones you were meant to save. My name is Martin. Jack is with me.” He held out his hand, pointing it directly at Jeremy, and nodding his head at the legless boy.

Wes and Bud began clean-up duty, incinerating what was left of the Bigs’ bodies after the dogs ravaged them. They worked fast. Jeremy could see Grandfather and the ancestors moving with them, giving them strength.

Jeremy flopped on the ground. He heard Ellie humming, tending to the sick. Tending to the children. Humming and buzzing.

He knew he’d never touch her again, but they could have a life together. They could sit together by her tree. It didn’t have to be a regular life like everyone had. He was one of the most open-minded people in the world. He didn’t care what she was. She was Ellie.

He closed his eyes.