The Burn Zone (65 page)

“
Our universe
... ?
”

“
Was destroyed.
”

I stared, struggling to grasp what she was saying.

“
After the collapse the field surrounding our world broke down, and in your universe
’
s last moments, your planet
’
s instance was pulled through to replace ours. It began at the opposite side of the planet and circled the globe in hours. In our last minutes we managed to establish a field around the facility, to stop the collapse there, but by then it was too late. All that was left is what you call
Shiliuyuán
, the facility where the experiment took place.
”

“
Our universe
... ?
”

“
Your universe is gone,
”
she said.
“
It died with my world.
”
Her voice was a little softer, and I could feel that she meant it, but then the moment passed, and the despair shifted back toward resolve.
Anger.
Violence.

“
Wait,
”
I said. She swung again and I just managed to launch off one leg to leap out of the way. My hip struck the floor as her heel came down on the spot where I
’
d been, fracturing the concrete there with a heavy thud.

“
I
’
m sorry,
”
she said,
“
but it doesn
’
t matter why. My species is perfected. It deserves to survive. There is a moral imperative to ensure that it survives, even at the expense of yours.
”

She went for me, and I ducked, but she got hold of my arm and when I tried to twist loose, her grip closed and pain shot up all the way to my
shoulder. She forced me down and my back slammed onto the floor of the tunnel, knocking the wind out of me.

I looked for something, anything to knock her off with, but it was no use. She was too big, too heavy, and too strong. Even after the hit she took from the rail gun, she could still squash me like a bug and there wasn
’
t anything I could do to stop her. A few more gunshots went off as my reaching fingers found the edge of something hard.

Looking over, I saw Nix
’
s tablet. Straining as hard as I could, I managed to hook my nails over the edge and pull it just close enough to grab. My other hand was still free.
If I could just...

I managed to get the tablet in front of me and place the finger of my other hand on the screen. Carefully, I traced the hanzi strokes. The screen dissolved, and the honeycomb storage cells appeared under the gate. There were items sitting in the different pockets that I didn
’
t recognize, but none of them were what I was looking for. I swiped the field, and the cells began to scroll past.

When the shape jumped out at me, I plunged my hand through the field, feeling the icy air on the other side chill the sweat that covered it. I curled my fingers around the grip of the electronic wand with its coiled needles and pulled it out of the Escher Field just as Sillith swatted the tablet away.

She reared back, but before she could strike again I jammed the needles into her side and squeezed the grip.

I had no idea if I
’
d done it right, or if it would work. She slammed my wrist into the floor, and the wand fell free, clattering away. She squeezed, and I screamed.

The bones were going to break. I could feel them start to go, but then suddenly the strength seemed to go out
of her. Her fist went slack, and her whole body shuddered.

I sensed confusion, then pain, and then finally fear as the reality of what had just happened sank in. She looked down at the site where I
’
d stuck her, clutching at it with one hand as she hauled herself back up onto her feet.

With a loud snap, Sillith
’
s entire body erupted at once into a huge blob of water. Her skin snapped away like a wrinkled, broken water balloon as the payload of water flew apart and came crashing down in a huge splash.

I closed my eyes, covering my face with one arm as the warm flood gushed over me, followed by a rain of cooler drops and mist.

Wiping my face, I opened my eyes in time to see Sillith
’
s head go thumping down the tunnel. Swaths of her skin lay quivering on the graviton plates between me and the gate that was just starting to collapse. They had begun to flicker, the air around them rippling.

I looked down at my chest and saw what looked like a giant black amoeba lying there, its network of slick tentacles plastered across the floor like veins on either side of me. I sat up and shoved it away, kicking it into a pile as it rolled down onto the wet floor.

I hauled myself to my feet, facing the gate, where I could still see Alexei as he lay in a heap on the other side. It would be closed in a matter of seconds.

Sam, forgive me. I couldn
’
t let them do it. I know how it looks, but I couldn
’
t let them all die, not even for you. I
’
m sorry to leave you. I know what that means to you, but I
’
m just one man and you
’
re strong enough to make it on your own now.

The soldiers were going to destroy this place, and everything in it. I only had one shot. I wasn
’
t sure if it would work, but it was the only shot I had.

One shot. Save my father, my friends, or save them.

I
couldn
’
t let them all die.

Don
’
t worry,
I sent.
They won
’
t.

I sprinted for the gate, grabbing one of the flickering sheets of skin as I passed. It peeled up off the floor, trailing sticky threads, a sickening, still-warm streamer that tickled against my palm like millions of tiny, squirming worms.

The gate shrank, closing like an iris to choke off the alley on the other side as I ran. When I reached the edge, the world around me skipped, turning dark before flashing back again.

It
’
s going to go,
I thought, pulling the skin to my chest.
It
’
s going to take me with it.

I jumped through the gate, an electric jolt shooting down my back as my head brushed the glowing white edge. Everything slowed down for a beat, and then I came out the other side.

Freezing cold braced my skin, chilling the sweat that covered my body as I fell and rolled to a stop on the gritty pavement. Alexei was there, stirring now.

“
Don
’
t move,
”
I called, my breath pluming in front of me. He looked down at his arms and hands in horror as small back bodies began to worm their way up from beneath the skin. I could see their wings pulling free, and their hooklike legs pawing at the air as they struggled.

“
Jei
!
”
a Pan-Slav voice barked from the alley mouth.
“
To
chto
proishodit
ta
m
?
”

I caught a glimpse of a man dressed in a long wool coat and carrying a machine gun as I ran to Alexei.

“
Don
’
t move!
”

One of the flies wriggled free and extended its wings. I swatted it down onto the ground and stomped on it, dropping to my knees in front of Alexei and throwing the skin around both of us.

Please let this work. Please—

“
Ostanovit
’!”
the guard yelled, raising his weapon as he marched toward us.

I looked back through the collapsing gate and saw Nix, his pink eyes staring back at me. He stood in the tunnel next to a second gate he
’
d opened, while a cloud of flame erupted behind him. Vamp was with him, conscious now and struggling to run after me as Nix held him back. Slumped in Nix
’
s other arm was Dragan.

Nix pushed Dragan through and forced Vamp in after him. He had turned then to grab a woman from the bed behind him when another explosion went off, and a column of flame roared down the tunnel.

“
Nix!
”
I shouted.

In the second before the fire took him, he closed his gate. I saw him, a dark shape engulfed in the brilliant blaze, and then Sillith
’
s portal winked out.

“
Ostanovit
’!”
the guard yelled again. He stepped in front of us, pointing his rifle.

Sillith
’
s remains quivered one last time. The
world
hitched again, the walls of the alley warping in front of me, and then flashed away.

~ * ~

Chapter Thirty

2:59:29 BC

I awoke to darkness, phantom tickles from Sillith
’
s slimy skin still playing on my neck and shoulders. My body felt weightless, suspended in warm, thick fluid, and when I reached in front of me I couldn
’
t find the surface.

“
Don
’
t panic,
”
a voice said. It came from the 3i
’
s audio plug, tinny and faint. I flailed, struggling to swim toward what I thought was up, but it was like trying to move through oil, and if anything, I sank deeper.

“
Don
’
t panic,
”
the voice said again.

I pulled the 3i display up, my jerky movements sending windows and pages spinning every which way. The air burned in my chest.

“
Breathe,
”
the voice said. I shook my head.

“
Yes, you can.
”

I struggled again, panic welling up inside me.

“
Trust me. Calm down, and breathe.
”

I didn
’
t trust the voice, and even if I did my brain wouldn
’
t cooperate. It wasn
’
t until I began to suffocate that my body gave in and out of desperation sucked in the breath that I knew would kill me.

It didn
’
t. I sucked warm liquid in through my mouth and nose, and it gushed down my throat into my lungs. The sensation was horrible, but instead of choking, relief
flooded through me. It felt as if I
’
d taken a big breath of clean, crisp air.

“
See?
”

I nodded.

“
Good. Breathe.
”

I relaxed, and let myself get used to breathing the heavy stuff. A contact request appeared on the 3i, the pink heart pulsing in time with my own. I accepted it.

Nix?

“
No. You know me as Ava.
”

Right.
The new haan female.
The one who I first approached, and who sent Nix to kill me.

Where am I?

“
You are on what you call the ship,
”
she said.
“
You are safe.
”

Why can
’
t I see?