CHAPTER 20

“Move!” Tamerica whispered as she dropped into the hall behind me.

Afu and Brannigan ran down the hall. The wall to our right was glossy metal. To our left, glass separated us from another hallway, where I expected to see soldiers running toward the fight. There were only blinking lights and another metal wall.

Tamerica had the holoreader out, the map of the base floating in front of her face. “There should be a right turn up ahead. Take it.”

There indeed was a right turn up ahead. Two Nusies rushed around it and were just as surprised as us. The soldiers raised their rifles.

Afu made a short, scared wail and grabbed the Nusies by the heads, smashing them together. The soldiers dropped to the ground atop of each other. The big man blinked and looked down at the bodies as if he hadn’t realized what he’d done.

Brannigan ran up and looked at the Nusies around Afu’s huge arm. “Damn. I thought that kind of thing only happened in movies. They’re out of commission.”

Afu looked at his hands and then at the two on the ground. “Are they dead? Check their pulses!”

“I’m not getting out of my suit for any Nusie,” Brannigan said.

“They’re breathing.” Tamerica pushed past Afu and stepped over the Nusies. She put the holoreader into her pocket and raised her left arm. “Come on.”

We followed after Tamerica.

“What’s she going to do?” Brannigan asked under his breath. “Make ’em slip on some foam?”

If any townsperson heard Brannigan cracking jokes at a time like that, they would have thought he’d gone insane. But at least he wasn’t saying some of the dark things rushing through my mind. They were horrible things: Renfro could see in the dark, but he couldn’t see that fiery death coming.

What the hell was wrong with my mind? I was a good person. Good people didn’t think those kinds of things, did they? I was beginning to understand why Brannigan was how he was. He battled his demons in his own way, a way he thought worked. Seeing death consistently, not being able to process it properly, it would make anyone crack a little. But grief couldn’t keep up with a smoke eater.

Around the corner and a little farther down, the hall widened into a big room. A black woman sat in a chair, sprawled out on a desk in front of floating holographic screens that showed several tabs stacked on each other, each with a different person’s name.

“Yolanda?” Tamerica stepped toward her with a hand out.

The woman didn’t move. Her hair was soaked in sweat.

“Yo-yo?” Brannigan tried.

Nothing.

This is too much to take, I thought. Even for someone like Brannigan.

Tamerica put her armored hand on Yolanda’s shoulder.

The propellerhead jerked and sat up straight, a smear of saliva beside her mouth. “I’m sorry. I’m sorry. I’m awake.”

“Yolanda, it’s us.” Tamerica grabbed Yolanda’s other shoulder and turned her to face us.

“We thought you were dead,” Afu said.

“Oh my gosh.” Yolanda blinked at each of us. “It’s you. I thought… I thought…”

“It’s okay.” Tamerica kept her hands on the propellerhead’s shoulders. “Just relax.”

“They don’t let me sleep. I know I should have run or hid, but when they all left to see what was attacking, I couldn’t help myself. I had to grab some sleep.” She looked like she hadn’t slept in a month. Her eyes were sunken and her lips were dry. “I should have known it was you guys attacking.”

“Well,” Brannigan rolled his eyes, “technically it wasn’t us. We got Mecha Scaly out there giving the Nusies some hell.”

“And a droid riding it,” I said.

“What?” Yolanda blinked and stared off as if she was from another planet.

“Don’t worry about it. We’re going to get you out and somewhere safe.” Tamerica looked back at me, worry plastered on her face. “Somehow.”

How were we going to make it back without Jet-1?

“Where’s Naveena?” Brannigan asked.

“She…” Yolanda yawned and dried the side of her mouth with the back of her hand. “Naveena?”

“Yeah,” Afu said. “And the other smoke eaters. You said the Nusies were going to do something to them. Medical equipment?”

Yolanda sat there quietly for a moment, then her eyes got wide and she gasped. She stood quickly, but then wobbled back into the chair. “What time is it?”

I looked at the floating screens at the desk and told her. “Ten fifteen.”

“Not too late then.” Yolanda relaxed a bit into the chair. She looked at me. “Is that Harribow?”

“Contreras,” Tamerica said. “New guy. Now where are Naveena and the others?”

“Downstairs,” Yolanda said. “Sub Level Three.”

“Sub Level Three?” Brannigan said. “Like a basement?”

“A third basement,” Yolanda said. “They built more stories below ground.”

Tamerica sighed. “Of course they did. Yolanda, where can we hide you until we get back?”

Yolanda shook her head, about to cry. “There is nowhere to hide in here.”

“Not even a broom closet?” Afu said.

Yolanda blinked at the big man. “They have tiny, wheeled droids that do the cleaning. Everyone knows that.”

Brannigan grunted. “I’ll stay here with her.”

“We’re going to need you, Chief,” Tamerica said. “Yolanda will be okay.”

“I can do it,” I said. Shoutout to my Catholic upbringing. I felt like I had to pay a penance for locking up at the amusement park.

“No.” Brannigan nodded his head at me, as if he was finalizing a decision. “If a group of them come in here, it’ll be better for me to greet them. I don’t want you getting shot. Or worse.”

“What’s worse than getting shot?” My voice cracked.

“You freezing up and getting captured and blabbing your mouth,” Brannigan said.

“Are you okay coming with us, Contreras?” Tamerica said. “Can you handle yourself?”

Fuck no I couldn’t. But I answered, “Uh, yeah. Yeah, sure.”

Yolanda dropped her head back to the desk and mumbled against the surface. “I can stay here by myself. I just need a nap.”

Tamerica looked from me to Brannigan, then huffed. “Yolanda, how do we get to the third sublevel?”

“Oh,” Yolanda said. “That’s easy. You take the elevators.”

Yolanda’s sleepy directions were flawed, but we found the lift she’d described. It was plain, dark-silver metal with a keypad to the right of the doors.

Afu stepped up to the pad, finger ready, but stopped himself short. “Damn. What was that code again?”

“Eight, six, seven, five,” I said.

“Thanks.” Afu tapped the buttons gently. “How’d you remember that?”

“I don’t know,” I said. “The sequence just has a musical quality to it.”

The elevator came. We all squeezed into it. I was shoved against the back corner as Tamerica and Afu kept trying to move their arms and legs to find a comfortable stance. The only way this could have been more ridiculous is if terrible music had been pumping through a speaker above us.

Tamerica stretched her arm to hit a blue button labeled “S3” and the elevator shifted, going down.

“Brannigan,” Tamerica said into her helmet, “we’re in the elevator.”

The Chief’s voice came through but it was choppy and drowned in static.

Tamerica craned her head toward me and Afu. “Did you guys get anything out of that.”

I tried to shake my head but, seeing as I’d been squished in, my helmet hit each side of the corner. I never thought of myself as claustrophobic, but I guess it’s never too late.

“Radio signal must be blocked,” Afu said. “Yolanda didn’t say how deep this was.”

Groaning, Tamerica slammed her elbow into the elevator wall. “Okay. Okay, okay.”

“Okay?” Afu’s eyebrows met.

She shushed him. “We don’t know what’s going to be on the other side of those doors when we get there, so this is what I want: Afu you go right, Contreras you go left. I’ll lay down some fire to give you cover.”

“And who’s going to cover you, babe?” Afu asked.

“It’s not the time to be calling me babe,” Tamerica said.

She never gave him an answer about her cover. The elevator dinged. The doors slid open.

Sub Level Three was only a few notches of above pitch black. There were lights in the ceiling but they’d been turned down to a candle light luminescence. A hallway lay in front of us and seemed to go on forever. Something didn’t feel right, but I put it off on the lack of electrical buzzes or distant battle sounds. It was quiet as a grave and just as deep.

“What the hell is this place?” Afu whispered.

“Stick to the plan,” Tamerica said. “Afu go right, Contreras take the left.”

“I thought you said I was going left,” the big man said.

“I know what I said.” Tamerica stepped out of the elevator. She pointed the laser arm to each side as she crossed one boot in front of the other. “Come on.”

The sublevel hall was similar to the one a few stories above in one way. We were enclosed at each side by a long wall of glass. Something was on the other side but it was too dark to see what.

“I’m not gonna be able to follow your orders, babe,” Afu said, still whispering. “There is no left or right.”

Tamerica pulled out her holoreader map. When she did, the device’s glow illuminated what looked to be a large reptilian eye on the other side of the glass beside me. I stumbled backward.

Afu caught me. “Careful there, man. There’s only so much room in here.”

“There’s no sublevel anywhere on this map, let alone a third one.” Tamerica had been too focused on the map to notice what had happened. Afu was… well, just Afu. They hadn’t seen the eye. But I had.

I pointed toward the glass. “There’s something in there.”

“In where?” Tamerica put down her holoreader and looked at the darkened glass around us.

I pointed again to show her.

She held up the holoreader and turned on its flashlight. Her steps sounded like gunshots against the floor as she got closer. Her breath fogged the glass. She squinted to peer through it. With a sigh, she turned to me. “I don’t see anything. Just relax, man. We’re all jumpy. Let’s just keep moving.”

I was sure I’d seen it, but I hadn’t been able to rely on my own senses for a few days, so I followed Tamerica and her husband deeper into Sub Level Three. Ahead, a red light glowed like a cigarette in the dark. I jolted slightly and stayed back, but as I stared at the red light, I realized it was digital and not biological. Maybe Tamerica had been right. Maybe I was just jumpy.

Tamerica stepped up to the red light and pressed an armored hand against a flat surface. At each side of her, the hallway split into a T-shape. “Told you, babe. Left and right. It splits here.”

It did. But that made me feel worse. I’d be walking in the dark by myself.

“What’s that in front of us?” I asked.

“A door,” Tamerica said. “Or a gate. Something. Big space on the other side, I think. Feels like it. Might be where they hold–”

The elevator dinged behind us. When it opened, multiple armored bodies poured out. One of them punched something against the wall and turned the overhead lights bright as day. I flinched and covered my eyes. A group of Nusies stood at the end of the hall. They had rifles and tactical masks.

As bad as it was to see them, there was something worse. I had been right about seeing something behind the glass.

Dragons. There were at least six enclosures at each side of the hall. And when the lights turned brighter, the scalies lost their shit. A Jabberwock slapped flammable, black oil against its cage. A two headed Wyvern scratched at the glass with one of its huge talon-like feet. Flames pelted the glass from the throats of Drakes and Lindwyrms. A Popper slammed its head against the glass. It didn’t break, but everyone in that hall could feel the vibration. Everyone tensed, expecting them all to come crashing out.

The Nusies turned to us, but they didn’t give us any commands. They just raised their rifles.

“Left, right, go!” Tamerica shouted.

I picked a direction and ran for it. I forgot which way Tamerica had told me to go. Was it left or right? Which one had I taken? It didn’t seem to matter. Afu was barreling the other way and Tamerica was doing her best to follow him.

The hallway lit up like Chinese New Year as the Nusies fired. The air filled with a light haze of laser discharge. Tamerica and Afu had gotten out of the way in time, but one of the lasers struck Tamerica in the side of the helmet, catching her hair on fire. She slapped a hand against it until the flames were gone.

“You motherfuckers!” Lasers spit from a barrel in Tamerica’s arm. None of her shots struck the soldiers, and I wondered if she had purposely missed them.

I quickly realized she had. Her lasers bounced up and down the hall, striking each side of the glass holding the dragons. Every inch of the glass along the hallway shattered.

The scalies tore from their cages. They’d been watching hungrily. Most of them had already been attacking the glass, so when it was no longer there, their oil and flames and teeth engulfed the Nusies. They didn’t have time to turn their rifles.

A Blood Drake with crimson eyes and scales took a soldier into its mouth. The Nusie squirmed and screamed until the Drake smoked him like a brisket in a furnace. He quit moving, and the scaly bit down, causing his roasted arms and legs to drop to the floor, where a trio of baby Wyverns dug into the scraps.

A Jabberwock, dripping black oil and standing on its two, webbed feet, wrapped itself around two Nusies. It spewed oil from its rat-like mouth, grunting, “Ooh, oooh, unnngh!”

I didn’t see what the Jabberwock did next. The hall began to fill with fire and smoke and flashes of electricity, lasers and blood, flapping wings and twisting tails, all accompanied by human and dragon screams that conjoined into one hellish outcry. I’d stayed to watch all of this, peeking around the corner, because my legs were stuck to the ground, and hell, it’s not something you see every day.

But I should have known the scalies weren’t going to stay in that hallway.

Green, glowing eyes shone behind the smoke. A skeletal dragon head broke through, followed by a long, leathery neck. It was a Jersey Devil. It stepped out on two big claws, standing upright, with its winged, almost human-like arms tucked against its side. It saw me and began to spew out even more dark smoke from its nostrils. There was immense pressure behind the smoke, and it quickly covered the Jersey from sight. The thick smoke was its main defense… and its primary attack. Jerseys liked their prey blind.

If I got even a whiff of the Jersey’s smoke, I’d asphyxiate and drop to the ground while it ate me in my death throes. I pried my boots from the spot and bolted down the hall. My helmet’s thermagoggles helped me see a little, but I still bumped into blurry neon objects in the way. I was going too fast to tell if it had been a Nusie or a psyroll I’d dodged. Everything was blobs of orange and purple. But I needed speed more than sight. Hell, I would have used my power jump if I thought it could propel me forward.

The Jersey growled and it sounded so close I thought I could feel its breath on my neck. I yelped and tried to run faster. A door on the left opened at my passing. I twisted and charged through.

When this new room’s overhead lights snapped on, tiny clouds of black smoke floated at the door behind me as it sliced shut. I backed away. Heavy clawsteps beat against the floor just on the other side of the sliding door. I saw no way to lock it, and I sure as shit didn’t want to get too close to the motion sensor.

The door would open when the Jersey got close enough. I didn’t want to be standing there when it did. I turned and faced some kind of science lab. A large case stood in the middle of the room. Most of it was metal, but the front was glass so I could see what was inside. Orange and purple lights illuminated what was on display: a power suit.

I stepped closer.

This armor was different from the kind I was wearing. This suit was bigger, bulkier. The metal was matte black and the glowing tips at the boots and elbows were red. Additional red lights had been fixed to the tops of the shoulders. The right arm had a huge attachment around the wrist and forearm.

“Gnarly,” I whispered.

Behind me, the lab door slid open. I flinched, backing into a desk and smashing my helmet through floating holographic qwerty keys. Yolanda’s holographic head appeared and began to speak.

A hungry screech came from the open door.

I got low and dove behind a solid work table.

“Colonel Calhoun,” Yolanda’s recorded head was saying, “I think you’ll be pleased with our new power suit design.”

Shut up! I thought.

The Jersey stepped slowly into the room. Its claws scratched against the floor.

“We included all of your requests,” Yolanda’s head continued, “including the recent ones from this morning, all of the modifications that were possible and functional, that is. With all of the–”

The Jersey leapt onto the work table I’d hidden behind. I turned my head to look up from where I was squatting. Rows of shark-like teeth opened in front of my eyes. Sulfuric breath pelted my face when it shrieked.

I slapped my right arm to engage my laser sword and swung up. The Jersey caught my arm with one of its human-like hands, stopping the blade just inches from piercing the side of its head. Its wing, under its arm, spread out in front of me and I was reminded of my abuela’s red and orange chunk jello molds. The Jersey snapped its teeth toward my head. I veered away and hung loose from its hand, dead weight. The Jersey held tight. I dangled there for a second, until the Jersey grabbed my other arm.

As it pulled me toward its skeletal jaws, I shoved my boots against its chest. It fastened its grip, but I’d slipped to where its claw brushed against my power jump button. My suit’s thrusters threw me from the Jersey’s teeth, and I landed against the display case in the center of the room.

The dragon roared and flitted its arms and wings violently. I still saw the jiggle of a jello mold. Dark smoke poured from its nostrils. The Jersey rasped and rocked back and forth, but soon I couldn’t see it through all the smoke.

I had to get out of there, back into the hall. But the smoke was already blocking the only way out.

I was trapped. My mind was focused on preservation, and the only place I could escape was the display case. I thought I’d be safe in there. I got to my feet as the smoke filled the room and rolled toward me. I grabbed the door at the back of the case. but the opening was too small for me to enter… with my power suit on.

Any other time I would have second-guessed giving up my armor, but the smoke was coming fast and I didn’t have any other choice. I doffed my power suit and crawled into the case, slamming the door behind me as the smoke engulfed the space I’d left behind.

The upgraded power suit glistened in front of me. Sensing my presence, the suit popped open at the back.

“Whoa,” I whispered. The suit was just begging to be put on. But I still hesitated. It had been made for Calhoun. What if it did things I couldn’t handle? What if Yolanda had booby-trapped it for him and I’d be stupid if I used it?

The Jersey’s muffled screeches surrounded me. A burning smell filled the case, but I didn’t see any smoke making its way inside. I couldn’t see much around the power suit, and I definitely couldn’t see anything through the smoke on the other side of the glass. I didn’t know where it was lurking, but the Jersey would find me eventually. And maybe, just maybe, I could hold my breath long enough to fight my way out of there with the thermagoggles protecting my eyes. Slim possibility, but I knew I’d have even less of a chance if I stayed in only my t-shirt. I needed armor.

“Fuck it,” I said, and stepped into the black suit.

A hum vibrated through my body, as if the suit was connecting to my spine. I tensed, thinking it would make sense for it to be horrible, but all I felt was the hum, and the suit’s insides inflating to match my size.

A feminine robotic voice said, “Ready.”

“It talks,” I said.

The Jersey roared. It must have heard me. Or the suit.

I didn’t have much room, but I needed to get a feel for the armor’s movement. See what I had to work with. Brannigan always said to check your gear every time. The black suit was bigger, and I didn’t have the muscle strength Calhoun did. It didn’t matter how cool I looked if I was slow and dead.

The display case was taller than it was wide, so I could only move my arms and legs up and down. I felt ridiculous, like I was practicing moves in an old holorobic class on the Feed. Still, moving felt lighter than in my other suit. The motions were more fluid, natural. That was good. I’d need to move as fast as possible.

And what weapon did this suit have? Foam and lasers or a sword? It didn’t look like either, with that big tube around my right arm. It had been built for a Nusie not a smoke eater. Maybe it was just a big club for beating people. That would check out. Wasn’t like Calhoun needed a suit for slaying scalies. He rode them. And he’d always preferred a standard laser rifle.

But the arm had a button.

I wasn’t scared or dumb enough to depress it and see what would happen. Not encased as I was.

The top of the display case was ripped off. I had the good sense to engage my thermagoggles and take a gulp of air as it happened. I’d had my arms in front of me, so I’d managed to dodge most of the shattered glass. I tasted blood on my lip. I prayed and prayed that no smoke had gotten into my mouth. I wasn’t dying or coughing. Not yet. I could still move.

The Jersey was a snapping blob of red above me. I fell over the broken pieces of the display case, onto the floor, then onto my feet and running. It was too easy to move and I was too used to the old clunky suit. I stumbled forward like a fledgling baby Behemoth on its new legs.

Where was the door? Every wall looked like the sliding exit, and every time I thought I’d found it, I would collide into a new wall. I felt like I was going to die. It popped into my mind as a fact, but my body raged against it. I had to find a way out. If I could just calm down and think. Time wasn’t slipping, it was gone. An empty tank. Not even fumes. I was about to lose my breath and I’d be forced to inhale. That would be the end.

I hit another wall, then turned back. My helmet connected with the Jersey’s skull. An accident. I must have surprised the dragon when I reversed course so quickly, and we charged into each other like fighting mountain goats. But it didn’t matter if it was an accident or not. The blow caused me to evacuate every puff of air I’d been holding in.

And my body did what came naturally. It inhaled.

Every muscle was tense. I froze, expecting to choke and burn and fall. But I remained standing. My head hurt from the game of chicken with the scaly. I could see the Jersey in front of me all thermal and fuzzy. It was shaking off the impact, groaning like a drunk.

I exhaled. Took another breath. I tasted bitter char, but my lungs took to it like fresh air. I was… I was… eating smoke.

“Holy shit,” I said. My breath came out clean. I really was a smoke eater.

The Jersey roared, stretched its neck all the way back, and spit a ball of fire into the air. The smoke ignited and the entire room burst into flames. My fear dropped away and I was more angry that I’d gotten confirmation of something I could only previously dream of, and this púchica scaly was going to burn me to death before I could realize it.

Tiny, cool jets blasted me in the face from little holes in my new suit’s chestplate. The suit’s voice spoke: “Reducing heat.”

Flames swam around me but I could breathe. In fact, I was huffing, dumped with adrenaline. I retracted my thermagoggles. The heat stung my eyes a bit, but I could see the Jersey blowing added fuel toward me.

“Cooling mist nearing empty,” the suit said. “Bail out.”

“Fuck that,” I said.

I aimed my big right arm at the scaly and slapped the button. Hot orange discs spit out of slots in the arm’s clunky appendage, right past my hand. They tore through the Jersey’s neck. Its head hit the ground before I could register what had happened.

The flames died. Everything in the lab had melted: all the glass tubes and vials, the computer desk. The lights had been killed.

Even though I couldn’t see, I held the big arm in front of me in amazement. I’d never heard of a dragon going down that fast with everything the smoke eaters had. It was a good thing I’d found it before Calhoun could put it to use. He would have sliced and diced us in one sweep of his arm.

I felt like I was going to puke.

The Jersey’s head lay in front of me. To my left, only inches away, was the door leading out. I could almost graze it with my fingers.

An alarm went off in the hall. Flashing red and yellow lights extended from a port above the door as something popped above me. Droplets of water leaked from hidden sprinklers in the ceiling. The downpour started slow, weaker than the power suit’s cooling mist, but then it really came flooding out, soaking me. I closed my eyes and raised my head. Why not enjoy the free shower?

The fire was already out.