The Biomass Revolution (The Tisaian Chronicles) (28 page)

“DON’T MOVE!” a muffled voice screamed behind him.

Spurious grabbed her shoulders softly
, chills running through his body. He held her gaze for a second before he felt the butt of a rifle smash into his spine. He screamed in pain and collapsed onto the ground, reaching for his back in agony. His mind was spinning with confusion. 

He turned to see his attacker towering above him with a rifle aimed at his head. The Knight
’s blue goggles glowed eerily in the sparsely lit room.

“Don’t move. Stay where you are," he
said, his booming voice muffled by the breathing apparatus.

“Lana, what have you done?” Spurious yelled
, trying to crawl across the floor towards her.

“I
said, don’t move!” the Knight yelled, bringing the butt of his gun down on Spurious' right leg.

He screamed again, reaching to calm the fire of pain shooting up his leg.  

“Don’t hurt him! Please, you promised you wouldn’t hurt him!” Lana yelled from her hiding spot.

“Take him away,” the Knight
said, as another soldier entered the room.

“Lana, what have you done?” Spurious yelled again, crying in agony.

“I’m sorry, Spurious! They captured my family a month ago. I had no choice. They said they would deport us all to the Wastelands!"

The pain of the truth hurt more than the fire spreading through his injured body. She
’d set him up. It was planned all along. The bruises on her neck in the courtyard the first night they spoke weren’t from Varius, they were from the Knights. Varius never threatened her. He never showed up at her house. It was the Knights all along. She traded him for her family.

How could I have been so stupid?

The sadness and shock quickly turned to rage. His head shot up, his eyes meeting Lana’s for a split second before she turned away to run out into the other room. He turned again and watched the Knight approach him cautiously, the barrel of his rifle aimed towards Spurious’ head.

“No!” Spurious screamed, jumping to his feet
and charging towards him. The Knight took a step back and pointed his rifle at Spurious again.

“
I’ll shoot!”

Spurious only made it a few feet before his first
attacker threw an armored punch. The metal connected with his head, blood exploding from his mouth as he sailed to the floor.

Spurious lay on the ground, curling up and feebly wiping his mouth clean of blood. He blinked, his eyes burning in pain. He watched the two
Knights reaching down to grab him, wondering if he was feeling the same fear his parents did so many years ago when the Knights came for them.

Deep down he knew the Knights would eventually come for him, but he never imagined Lana would lead them there. His head spun, fueling the confusing agony spreading through his mind like a wildfire.

One of the Knights tugged on his shoulder with an iron grip and his mind returned to his attackers, rage boiling inside him.

“Hold still!”
the Knight yelled, his armored fingers digging into Spurious’ back.

He blinked again, desperately hoping it was all a dream, but the shattering pain from the armored fist of the Knight was too visceral to be anything but real. He wasn’t stuck in a dream. He was stuck in a nightmare.

Time
: 12:05 a.m. February 24, 2071.

Location
: Abandoned Apartment Building. Rohania, Tisaia

“That’s it, that’s the place,” Leo said, pointing at a crumbling brick building.

Obi
stared at the torn CRK poster hanging loosely in the cold wind.

“Are you sure this is it?”
he asked.

“Damn sure, and
I’m willing to bet the man you want is up there right now.”

Ajax, Obi and Leo stood at the edge of the street
, peering up at the white stone, half expecting to see a face looking down at them from an old broken window, but there were no windows anymore: the CRK made sure of it.

“
Show us the way,” Obi requested.

Leo hustled across the street
, his scrawny body hunched over like a praying mantis as he slyly made his way into the alley next to the old apartment building. Ajax and Obi followed cautiously, their hands gripping weapons hidden within the confines of their large coats. They were both aware of the possibility of an ambush, something Obi always prepared for.

As
the small group made their way into the building, they picked up the faint sound of voices muffled by the thick wood of the buildings walls. Leo stole a glance at Obi, who stood positioned in the exit door of the hallway, his rifle drawn.

“It’s the room half way down the hall
on the third floor,” Leo whispered. “I need to leave now, there isn’t anything else I can help you with,” he continued apologetically.

Ajax grabbed Leo’s skinny right arm and pulled him towards the hallway wall
, glancing back at Obi.

“Let him go,” Obi
said.

Reluctantly Ajax obeyed,
scowling at Leo before releasing him.

A scream broke through the silence,
prompting Ajax and Obi to point their weapons up the dark staircase simultaneously. 

“Get out your night vision
,” Obi whispered.

Both soldiers reached into their coats and pulled out their goggles. A cool orange glow warmed the staircase and the two quietly made their way
towards the sound.

Another scream rang out above them. Obi
halted, changing his night vision to infrared. He wanted to pick up heat signatures so he knew how many people they were dealing with.

“You go in first and
I’ll follow; if Spurious is in there with Lana, be careful. I don’t want either of them harmed.” Obi said, nearing the top of the staircase.

“What do we do with her?” Ajax whispered.

“Not sure, just move.”

The two soldiers
crept down the hall slowly like hunters, trying to tiptoe over the creaky wood floor. At the end of the passage, underneath one of the doors, a blue glow flowed into the hallway.

“Stop, Ajax.”

“What’s wrong boss?” he whispered.

“
Tin Cans. Ahead. I can see the glow from their night vision goggles.”

Obi removed his g
lasses and knelt, reaching for his knife in a sleeve on his right leg.  Ajax hunched down next to him, resting his massive frame against an apartment door. They knelt and strained to hear the conversation coming from down the hall.

“Sounds like someone got to this Spurious before us," Obi
said.

“What
are you thinking?” Ajax asked.

“We need him. If the
Tin Cans want him, then he is obviously valuable.”

Ajax
groaned heavily. "I don't like this. We’re gambling with our lives."

Obi checked his clip and put his goggles back on. He was picking up at least four, maybe five heat signatures in the room. With only their pistols
, they were going to need some more fire power to take out two or three Knights.

The ringing of heavy footsteps shattered the silence. Quickly Ajax followed Obi into an open apartment, hiding in the shadows. They waited, their chests both heaving in and out their eyes watching the blue glow of a Knight
’s goggles flooding the hallway.

Ajax pulled out his knife, revealing it to Obi with a single finger over his mouth. They waited patiently for the light to pass before Ajax peeked into the hallway to confirm the presence of another Knight. The man stood guard at the doorway where Spurious was being interrogated, his armored back facing the hallway.

"He has his back to us. We can get out now," Ajax said, turning.

"Can you take him from behind?" Obi entreated.

"Are you fucking kidding me, boss? There is an entire squad of them in there. It’s suicide."

Obi shot him an angry
glance, his orange goggles staring back at him. "You take out the guard, grab his gun, and we’ll kill the other Knights together,” he paused to take in a deep breath. “That's an order, soldier!" Obi hissed.

He pulled
a new clip of armor piercing rounds from the bowels of his jacket. They were custom made, tipped with plutonium. The last of their kind, and he had been saving them for a special occasion.

"And make sure Spurious isn't harmed, or his girlfriend
, if she’s in there too," he said, inserting the clip into his pistol with a click.

Ajax nodded, clicking off his goggles to examine the hallway one more time before he slyly slipped into the darkness. He crouched
, heading towards the guard with his knife drawn.

A minute passed and
Obi watched anxiously from behind, waiting for Ajax to make his move. The Knight remained frozen, standing in the entryway of the room, no idea he was about to die.

Ajax stopped less than a yard away from the guard, bringing his knife inches away from the unsuspecting Knight
’s armor. He aimed it at the gap between the neck armor and helmet. With a quick jab, he jammed the sharp blade into the back of his neck. Ajax barely flinched, indifferent to the spurt of blood that exploded onto his face. He had the guard’s rifle within seconds, shoving the Knight who clawed vainly at his neck. Obi rushed into the room, his gun spitting hot lead at the other two Knights, who were attempting to drag Spurious’ body out of a bedroom.

T
he barrage of bullets from Ajax’s assault rifle went high, tearing into the wall, and sending a shower of splinters into the air. Both Knights fumbled with their weapons, but it was too late, Obi's armor piercing rounds ripped through their armor. 30 seconds later it was over. All three Knights lay in pools of their own blood. Ajax checked their vitals, firing a single shot into their goggles to ensure they were dead.

In the center of the room, Spurious lay curled up in a fetal position, moaning in pain.

"Check him!
" Obi shouted, rushing over to Lana, who was huddled in the corner.

He pulled the drape of hair out of her face, revealing a frightened set of eyes. 

"Are you ok?" he asked.

She rocked back and forth, her knees pulled up to her chest and her wild eyes locked on her feet. She was catatonic, in shock from the gun fire.

"We need to move
, boss!" Ajax yelled from across the room. "Reinforcements could be here any minute!"

"How
is Spurious?”

"He
’s hurt, bad. We need to get him out of here fast."

Obi glanced down at the girl
with concern in his eyes, knowing he shouldn’t be wasting time on her. "Are you okay?"

She stared back at him blankly
.  Her eyes were clouded with fear and she was slipping into shock. Obi left her and ran over to help Ajax who was bending down to pick up Spurious.

"Help me
get him on my shoulders."

Obi
snagged one of the dead Knight’s rifles on his way, throwing the strap around his shoulder.

The two soldiers rushed
out of the room, just as one of the dead Knight’s radios blared to life.

“
This is Delta Base. Report. Over.”

“Friede, what’s your status
? Do you have the package?”

“Shit. Let’s go
!” Obi yelled, turning one last time to check on Lana. Miraculously, she was standing in the corner staring back at them. “Well, are you coming or what?” he screamed at her. She froze and then reluctantly walked over to Ajax, placing her hand on Spurious’ unconscious head.

“
Boss, we aren’t taking her with, are we?” Ajax asked scornfully.

The radio blared back to life again. “Friede,
we’re sending another squad to your location. ETA five minutes. Over.”

A chill ran down Obi’s back as he locked eyes with Ajax. No words needed to be exchanged. The two soldiers knew each other well enough to know it was time to move. Within seconds of the radio transmission they were running down the hallway, Spurious’ head bobbing up and down on Ajax’s shoulders.

“We need to find a different exit. This could be another trap.” Obi yelled over the clamor of their footsteps. He could see the bottom of the staircase in the distance, a diminutive yet guiding glow of moonlight illuminating the first floor hallway. He entered cautiously, his rifle drawn. There were no signs of a trap through the door they entered, but he didn’t want to risk it.

“That way,” Obi motioned with a nod of his head. He stood guard at the door, his rifle aimed into darkness while Ajax carried Spurious down the hallway, Lana close behind.

Obi took off to catch up with them and seconds later they were at the end of the hallway staring at a sealed door, closed off with several two by fours.