The Biomass Revolution (The Tisaian Chronicles) (29 page)

“Damn, it’s a dead end
!” Ajax yelled.

Obi glanced back down the hallway
, scanning it for an open apartment door. Every door appeared to be sealed with two by fours as well. “Shit, the reinforcements are going to be here any minute,” he said.

“Help me,” Ajax
said, lowering Spurious carefully onto the ground.

The two soldiers clawed at the two by fours, tearing them off quickly while Lana attended to Spurious.

“Where am I?” Spurious moaned. He peered up at Lana, blinking through the fog of stars, his brain still on fire. “Lana, was it a dream?” he asked, her face finally coming into focus.

“Oh Spurious,” she whimpered. “
I’m so sorry. The Knights caught me a few months ago. They said if I didn’t help them find traitors, they would have my family deported.”

Spurious rubbed the bloody gash on his head, staring at Lana in shock. “So this was all a lie?”
he asked disdainfully.

“No my feelings were real.
They are real. I love you,” she whispered, placing his hands in hers.

Spurious pulled away, scooting to rest his back against the wall.

“I can never trust you again,” he said.

“Keep it down!” Ajax exclaimed, looking down at him while he plucked another two by four off the door.

“Who the hell are they?” Spurious asked Lana.

“
We’re with the TDU. That’s all I have time to tell you. Now help us get these off,” Obi whispered down to him.

Spurious froze. It was the first time he had ever seen one of the rebels in person. He studied the two men as they continued to pry off the two by fours.
Finally he realized this is what his parents had lived like, in constant fear. And now he was trapped in the same building they were killed, betrayed by the woman he loved.

Shocked into motion he
rose to his feet, a deep pain racing up his leg. Anger gripped him, filling his body with adrenaline.

“There, stop them!”
a muffled voice yelled down the hallway.

The group turned simultaneously to see a glowing set of blue orb
-like eyes entering the dark hallway.

“Watch out,” Ajax yelled, taking a step back and kicking
the door handle, sending chunks of wood splinters in all directions.

“Go!”
he yelled, turning to fire at the approaching soldiers.

The hallway erupted into chaos, the Knights returning fire. Pieces of wood and plaster rained down on Spurious. He covered his ears and huddled against the wall.

“Come with me,” Obi yelled grabbing his arm and pulling him towards the doorway while firing his pistol at the Knights with his free hand.

“Get them out of here,
boss!” Ajax yelled, finishing off another clip at the two Knights. He watched three of his rounds tear through the chest plate on one soldier, blood splattering onto the wall behind him. The second Knight wavered for only a moment, glancing down at his fallen comrade before returning fire.

Spurious watched Lana helplessly
as Obi continuing to drag him towards the door. “Lana hurry! Run!” Spurious screamed.

She stood, hesitating before she took off towards the doorway. Spurious’ eyes followed her, watching the bullets tear into the floor and walls around her.

And then everything slowed. The pain in Spurious’ leg and head subsided. He watched fire erupt from Obi’s pistol, blank cartridges raining down on him as the bullets zipped towards the Knight. His eyes panned to Lana who was still running for him, now only a few steps away.

She is going to make it,
he thought, watching one of Obi’s bullets hit the Knight in the kneecap.

Spurious could hear the man’s muffled scream over the gunfire. He watched the man slowly collapse to the ground, his weapon firing wildly.

His eyes darted back to Lana, who was reaching out for him, her beautiful brown hair flowing behind her. Their eyes locked and Spurious pulled free of Obi’s grip to reach out for her, just as two bullets tore through her stomach. Her eyes burned with terror as she fell, blood splattering onto Spurious’ shirt. She landed in his arms just as Obi finished off the last Knight, a round piercing his goggles and burying deep into his skull.

“No!” Spurious screamed, carefully turning Lana onto her back. She looked up at him, blood gurgling in her throat. She tried to speak, but Spurious put his fingers to her mouth.

“No, you’re going to be okay,” he lied, his eyes quickly panning down to her mortal wounds.

She reached for his face, her fingers smearing warm blood on his skin. “I’m…” She paused, choking on her own blood. “I’m sorry
, Spurious.”

He
watched the life draining from her deep brown eyes, her last breath escaping from her mouth.

“No
, Lana. You can’t die! Lana. Lana. Lana!” he screamed, shaking her fruitlessly.

“You have to leave her
,” a voice said from behind him. He felt a strong grip shaking his shoulder. Spurious ignored it, whimpering, tears flowing down his face while he rocked her head back and forth in his lap.

Ajax and Obi towered above, looking down helplessly. “There could be more
Tin Cans coming,” Ajax said, looking over at Obi.

“I know. We need to move, but we have to give him a second.”

Obi hesitated, watching Spurious hold Lana’s head tightly to his chest. He saw the anguish and grief, a flashback from the past taking hold of him. The image of his father holding his dying mother crawled into his mind, an image he had long since blocked from his memory.

“Let’s go,” Obi
said, quickly shaking the image from his mind. He motioned to Ajax with a nod, and instantly, the giant soldier grabbed Spurious and pulled him screaming towards the door. Obi stopped to close Lana’s eyelids before following Ajax into the darkness.

Time
: 2:00 a.m. February 24, 2071.

Location
: Tunnels. Lunia, Tisaia

Spurious awoke to the rancid smell of raw sewage, coughing the pungent stench out of his lungs. His hand shot to his throbbing forehead, where a deep gash oozed blood onto his fingers.  He felt a stab of horror.

Was it a dream?

“He’s coming to, boss,” said a voice from behind him.

Spurious tried to sit up, gritting his teeth, his eyes blinking
as they adjusted to the darkness.

“Stay calm. We aren’t going to hurt you,” another voice
said, from the corner.

“Where am I? Who are you? Where is Lana?” Spurious
said, turning from side to side, desperate to see the faces belonging to the voices. “LANA!” he screamed, before anyone could silence him.

“God
damn it! You have to be quiet,” one of the men said, placing their hands over his mouth.

He struggled for a few minutes before calming, his eyes coming to rest on the two soldiers who
had rescued him earlier.

“Are you going to be quiet?”
the larger man asked.

Spurious
nodded slowly. The man removed his hand cautiously from his lips. He sat up and scooted a few paces back, coming to rest against the concrete wall.

“I’m Obi,” the older man
said, cracking the most sincere smile he could manage. “This here is Ajax,” he said, pointing at the other soldier, who didn’t bother to smile. 

Spurious studied the two
soldiers. “She’s dead, isn’t she?” he choked.

Obi nodded. “I’m sorry. There wasn’t anything we could do.”

“She betrayed me.” Spurious said quietly. “I was going to leave Lunia with her.”

“It’s better you lost her now then, there is no life for State workers
outside the walls,” Ajax said, with a snort.

Spurious wiped a tear from his eye, scanning his surroundings. He took another gasp of the rancid air and coughed.

“We need to get moving,” Obi said.

Spurious stiffened. “Wait, what? Where are we going?”

Obi lit a cigarette as he waded through the knee deep sewage. “We don’t have time to explain, but soon we’ll tell you everything.” 

Spurious hesitated, forgetting momentarily about Lana. There was something about Obi that convinced Spurious to trust him; maybe it was the conviction in his voice, the sincerity in his gaze or the fact
that Obi had rescued him. Whatever it was, Spurious knew he had little choice but to follow the two soldiers.

“Will I get a chance to fight the CRK?” Spurious asked
, a hint of strength present in his voice.

Through the darkness
, Spurious could see a smile finally crack on Ajax’s face. “You’ll have a chance to fight them, likely sooner than you think,” he replied.

Obi watched Ajax and Spurious wade through the
muck. He took one last drag of his cigarette, blowing the smoke into the cold night air and watching it disappear into the swirling brown sewage below.

Time
: 3:05 a.m. February 24, 2071.

Location
: Junkyard. Rohania, Tisaia.  

A weak moon broke out of the thick clouds, providing just enough light to make out the junkyard below. Nathar sat perched on the rooftop of the abandoned building in which they had taken refuge in days before, staring into the darkness.

“What do you see?”
Creo asked.

Nathar
swung around, annoyed. “Nothing yet. I’m not picking up any heat signatures.” It was the second time Creo had asked him in as many minutes, and Nathar was getting tired of sitting on his ass and keeping watch.

“Do you want to trade me spots?” Nathar asked.

Creo stood, putting a hand on Nathar’s shoulder. “No, I’ll check on the new recruits. Let me know if you see anything.”

“Will do,” Nathar
said. He turned to scan the shadows below. The work was part of his job as a scout with Squad 19. Over the years he had spent as much time silently watching as he had sleeping. It simply came with the territory, but tonight he was anxious. The minutes passed by like hours.

He listened to the sounds of the night and watched the shadows
dance through the antique junkyard. Obi and Ajax still hadn’t shown up and Nathar was beginning to worry.

And he didn’t like to worry. It was unnecessary, getting all worked up over something he couldn’t control. There was
no shortage of things to worry about, with the TDU having suffered such extreme losses, but Nathar normally didn’t let these things affect him.

He reminded himself he was a scout,
part of Squad 19—the most revered unit in the TDU, feared by the Royal Knights and known throughout Tisaia. Members of the squad didn’t worry. They did what they had to do to get things done.

A sudden
flash of yellow light broke through the darkness opposite his position and disappeared into the sky. He turned quickly, zooming in with his night vision goggles, but there was only darkness. There were no heat signatures or signs of life.

A few seconds passed and the same golden light shot out again. It was too quick to be a signaling unit, but then again Obi and Ajax probably didn’t have one to begin with. Whatever it was, someone was trying to get his attention. His instinct was to signal back, but something didn’t feel right.

For a long moment he sat there scanning the landscape below, jumping as a cold hand grabbed his shoulder. He twisted, startled to see Creo staring down at the junkyard.

“I saw it.”

“There,” Nathar whispered, his right hand pointing at a pair of smashed trucks piled against a concrete barrier about 100 yards from their position.

“Three heat signatures behind the trucks.” Creo whispered again.

“Should I signal? It has to be them.”

Creo nodded again. “Send out the signal.”

Nathar reached into his pocket and grabbed a small device from his pack. He clicked it on and a laser shot into the sky, visible only to those who had goggles designed to pick it up. It was a nifty device, one he had stolen from a patrol of Knights a few years back. The TDU engineers retrofitted it so the laser could only be picked up by Squad 19’s night vision goggles.

Within seconds three figures emerged, slowly making their way towards Nathar’s location.

Creo
took aim with his sniper rifle, cautious of a potential trap, but lowered it as Nathar smiled. They watched the familiar shape of Ajax emerge from the shadows. Thrilled to see their comrades safe, the two climbed down the ladder and jumped onto the dirt below, a cloud of invisible dust rising into the darkness.

“Damn good to see you
, brother,” Nathar said, embracing the large man with a quick hug.

“Holy shit
, you smell like a damn latrine!” Nathar said, laughing.

Ajax shrugged, “Not the first time and won’t be the last.”