| |
AVALON CROUCHED BEHIND the bumper of the burnt out car, behind Magnum’s broad back. Her knife slid in and out of her sleeve as she chafed over not being able to see the threat ahead of them. On one hand was Magnum who, for all her taunting words, was as silent as a corpse when on patrol. Cris, on the other hand, was not. A low hiss sounded in Avalon’s ear.
“Can’t you crouch any smaller? Get your ass down and stay behind Magnum, or I will—”
“Or you will, what?” interrupted Avalon, glaring over her shoulder at Cris. “I have lived longer on the street than not, without the backup protections of the likes of her.” She jammed her thumb in Magnum’s direction.
“Shut up, both of you,” growled Magnum, in a low voice that barely carried back to them. “I spy four armed people out front of the building. They have knives, no guns that I can spot. One has a baseball bat stashed in the doorway of cannery. See that fire escape there?” She pointed to the right of the doorway. “There is a fifth up top of the building, acting as a look out.”
Avalon leaned out around Magnum to have a look, and Cris hauled her back by the shoulder.
“Fire escape, roof, got it,” said Cris, giving Avalon a murderous glare.
Avalon smirked at the look of annoyance on Cris’ face. “There is a sixth person,” she said, “there, in the shadow of the burnt out bus.”
Magnum’s head turned in the direction of the bus and stared intently for several moments. “You’re right. Good catch, Avalon. His coat is working as camouflage. I missed him.” She considered the layout of the people, thinking. “Three against six, not good odds. I wonder why they brought so many? The Imbroglio gang likes to operate in pairs. Less chance of a street fight breaking out.”
“Hey, look over there,” said Avalon. “At the side door by the bus. It’s opening.”
“Decoy,” muttered Magnum. “They are all decoys.”
“Yeah,” said Cris, “and look at what’s coming up the alley.”
A black van slowly drove up the alley, making hardly a sound as it moved. Tinted windows blocked any view of the interior or the driver. The van pulled up just short of the street, and the driver and passenger doors opened. A man and a woman, dressed in black, stepped from the van, hands tucked inside the pocket of their coats.
“Cops!” whispered Magnum.
Avalon watched the pair approach the burnt out bus and a chill raced down her spine. “No, it’s worse. They are Feds.”
“Shit.” Magnum pulled away from the edge, backing up into the pair. “Let’s get out of here. We don’t want their kind of attention.” She grabbed Avalon’s arm to turn her around, but Avalon shook it off with a scowl.
“I’m not going anywhere, until I see what they are up to.” She slipped past Magnum and took up the lead spot, crouching low.
The woman in black wore skin tight leggings and high topped black boots. Her eyes darted in all directions, clearly not trusting the sentries posted by the Imbroglio’s. Her eyes settled on the spot where Avalon hid, and she froze, staring back at the woman.
“Don’t move,” she whispered, “she is staring right at us.”
A sharp word from her male companion drew her attention away from their location and she hurried to catch up to his retreating back. The crack widened in the doorway and they slipped inside, the door closing behind them. The Imbroglio lookout under the bus crawled out and started walking down the alley, searching the van’s back trail.
“I’m going inside,” said Avalon, as she sprang to her feet and sprinted off across the open space.
“Avalon! Shit!” swore Magnum, and with a quick glance to check the location of the decoys, ran after Avalon, Cris on her heels.
They caught up to her at the side of the burnt out bus, then followed her as she dashed into the tiny concealment of the doorframe. Avalon pressed her ear against the peeling paint of the wooden door, listened for signs of occupants on the other side, and then slowly turned the knob. It was unlocked. She eased the door open an inch, pausing to listen once again. Silence greeted her ear. She pushed with her shoulder, and the door opened wide enough to allow them to slip inside, and then Cris closed it with a soft click.
High dirty windows filtered a murky light into the abandoned garage. Oily patches stained the rough concrete and empty oil change pits carved rectangular hazards across the floor. The room was otherwise empty. Magnum grabbed Avalon’s injured arm and squeezed hard.
“Oww!” hissed Avalon, angry eyes sparking in her determined face.
“Let’s get one thing straight,” said Magnum, “I am in charge of this escapade.”
“No one commands me. I answer only to myself. Besides, you have no idea what you are walking into here. I do. So if you are smart you will follow my lead. Now, let go of me.” She stared down Magnum and after a moment’s hesitation, she pushed Avalon away.
“Go ahead then, get yourself killed. Just don’t expect us to save you...again.” Cris smirked and folded her arms, daring Avalon to go on alone.
Avalon shrugged, and took off at a run, not caring if they followed. Anywhere there were feds, there was a lead to her parents and that was all she cared about. Everyone else could rot.
She flattened herself on the wall of a doorway that lead of the mechanical bay, inching forward until she could peer down the hallway. Several doors branched off of the dark space and from the far end, a light shone through a pane of glass covered over in old newspaper. A soft murmur reached her ears.
“Stay here!” she commanded, and without looking back to see if they had obeyed, Avalon slunk into the dark corridor. She flitted from grey haze to dim shadow, a determined shade on a quest to reveal all. At the door, she ducked low under the glass and pressed her ear to the crack of the frame. This time the voices carried clearly to her.
“They have been this way for a week now. I see no change.” The woman’s voice echoed slightly as it rose in anger. “This is useless. They are dying like all the others.”
“What does it matter? There are plenty of street rats round. No one misses the homeless when they disappear off the street. This is a convenient way to test the serum. If they die, they die. One less person to kill off later,” the man said, in a bored voice.
Heels clicked as one of the occupants of the room crossed the tile floor. “This one doesn’t look as bad as the other two. Maybe she can handle another dose. Come look.”
Shuffling sounds met Avalon’s ear as Magnum crouched down beside her.
“Yeah. She looks healthier than the rest. Let’s give her another dose of the serum.” A metal clasp snapped back, pinging metal on metal. “There, in her other arm, this one looks like a drug addict on a bad run,” said the man.
“Alright, let’s get out of here before someone spots our van.”
Avalon grabbed Magnum’s arm and pulled her into a side room, easing the door closed then huddled in the dark behind it. Footsteps sounded in the hallway and passed by their hiding spot. She hoped that Cris had been paying attention, otherwise the game was up. The footsteps continued on their way and the exterior door opened and closed with a hollow boom. Avalon eased to her feet and then tiptoed to the door, peeking through the glass. The hallway was empty as far as her eye could see.
Magnum touched her shoulder and put her lips against Avalon’s ear. “We need to get out of here before we get caught!” she whispered, her voice tight with anger.
“Not until I see what is in that room. You stay here, I won’t be but a minute.” She pulled open the door, checked to make sure the coast was clear, then ran over to the newspapered door and pushed it open. Inside were a dozen hospital gurneys lined up in two rows of six, under the grimy windows set high in the walls. Only three were occupied, two on one side, one on the other. Together, they approached the closest of the gurneys and peered down at the person laying there. Both girls gasped out loud at the inhuman features that stared back at them. The face of the person who lay in the bed was swollen beyond recognition. His face was mass of large red welts so large that they obscured his eyes and mouth from view. The location of his mouth could be guessed at, only because of the orderly arrangement of the swellings, producing a puffy line where they assumed a mouth would exist. They assumed the person was human, because of the lack of hair on his head. Avalon didn’t care to check any further to confirm the theory. She shuddered to think what might lie below the filthy covers. His chest rose and fell, accompanied by shallow, irregular gasps, as he struggled to breathe.
“What has happened to them!” Magnum’s tough exterior failed her in face of the torturous remains lying in the accompanying bed. “What have they done to these people?”
Avalon looked over at Magnum. Sweat had broken out on Magnum’s face and her fist rose to her mouth to stop herself from throwing up. She didn’t seem to notice that she had done it.
“This is what I needed to know,” said Avalon. “The experiments being run on these people are the reason my parents were kidnapped and taken away. They knew this was going on. They were trying to stop it.”
“What are they doing to them? They look like they have been swarmed by bees.” Magnum stepped back from the bedside.
“Very good, Firebrand. So your crew has some brains after all.”
The voice dropped in behind them like ice cubes down the back of their shirts, chilling them to the bone. Avalon whipped around, knife in hand but her legs were kicked out from under her and she fell, striking her head against the metal bed frame. The room spun, and she slumped onto her side, stunned.
“Drop the knife, Firebrand, and you won’t get hurt.” The skinny Imbroglio boy waved a long bladed knife in Magnum’s direction, motioning with his hand to a second boy to move in closer. “Take her knife, Frank.”
A shorter boy with a shock of red hair moved into the light of the window, approaching Magnum with caution.
Magnum’s eyes flickered between her two opponents, brandishing her knife as they tried to cut her off.
Avalon moaned on the floor and the first Imbroglio lashed out with her foot, kicking Avalon in the face. Her eyebrow split, spilling blood down her face as she slumped to the floor. Furious, Magnum launched herself at the closest boy, a bull charging a red cape. They collapsed on the floor, wrestling, while Cris engaged the remaining kid, attacking with a swift series of kicks and punches that drove her opponent back. The sounds of grunts and thuds filled the air. Avalon slowly pushed herself to her feet, staggering sideways for several steps and breaking her fall by grabbing onto a plastic conduit attached to the wall behind the beds. The conduit buzzed under her hand and she blinked the blood out of her eyes to look at it closer, but froze at the sound of a voice behind her.
“That’s enough. Drop your knives. Now!”
The barked command echoed through the room, bringing everyone to a halt.
Avalon groaned. The two Feds had returned and stood blocking the exit, guns leveled. Magnum’s combatant swung a final blow at Magnum, connecting his fist to her jaw. She crumpled to the floor, stunned.
“Enough, I said!” barked the male officer, and the boy confronting Cris smirked as he put his knife away.
Cris was still on her feet, and ran over to help Magnum get up, slinging her slack arm around her shoulder. “Stand up, Magnum, shake it off,” she whispered in her ear.
“Well, this is unfortunate for you three,” said the female officer in a cold voice. “We were about to go searching for more test subjects and here they walk in willingly! These three,” she gestured toward a bed, “are pretty much used up. But while they lasted, they told us a lot, like how the bees are attracted to movement, how it increases their aggression. Like how certain colours excite them and others do not. They have a collective intelligence, did you know that? In the past we called it a ‘hive mind’ but it’s much more than shared instinct. It is shared knowledge. They grow and adapt their surroundings based on the knowledge they obtain, and these bees are acquiring knowledge at an alarming rate. You see, they have assimilated the minds of these people. Unfortunately, none of them were intelligent enough to help them in a significant fashion, but who knows? Maybe you three are smart enough to bring about the evolution we have been striving to accomplish.”
Magnum and Cris’ mouths opened in horror at her recitation.
“Enough talk,” barked her companion. “You three, down on the floor.”
For Avalon, it was old news. She edged closer to the joint of the pipe, eyes pinned on the gun-wielding officers. She swayed, head down, partly to give the impression of being stunned and weakened, and partly to examine the pipe closer. She shivered at her mad, mad plan. The male officer gestured for them to come over to where they stood. Cris pulled Magnum along beside her and after a few steps, Magnum shook off Cris’ help. As they walked over, the two Imbroglios circled around behind them. Avalon watched them close the gap and when she judged they were only steps from the door, she pulled her hood up over her head and yelled.
“Magnum, Cris, RUN!” She threw her weight against the pipe. With a groan and a snap, the joint let go and Avalon ran for the door.
An angry, horrifying buzzing filled the air, as thousands of angry bees swarmed out of the end of the tube. The federal officers stood stock still for a moment in shock as the bees swarmed into a black cloud. Magnum and Cris threw themselves against the doors just as the two Imbroglio teens screamed and ran at the feds, stumbling into them and leading the angry bees directly to the two officers. They went down in a tangled mass, bees swarming the four screaming victims.
Avalon slowly moved along the wall working her way to the doorway, where the door had swung mostly closed after the Firebrand teens near escape. At the last second she could control her fear no longer and lunged for the open doorway, running through and slamming it shut behind her.
Gasping, Avalon lowered her hood and that is when it stung her. A piercing pain stabbed into her neck and on instinct, she swatted the bee, smashing it against the side of her neck. “Come on, we need to get out of here!”
They ran down the hall, across the garage, and through the doors without a care for who waited outside. It was blessedly empty. Fear giving their feet wings, they dashed down the closest alley.
Avalon blinked. Her vision was acting funny, clouding over then clearing, then clouding over again. She tripped and went down, skidding along the cobblestones to a halt. She tried to push up off the ground, but her vision narrowed. She caught a glimpse of Magnum and Cris turning around before her sight tunneled away and she faded into oblivion.