Chaos Theory (28 page)

Blue fixed his attention on the Novan. He had what he needed.
“We’re stealing its ride. Move. Now.”

“
Its ride?” Valiant repeated, and grabbed Push’s hand when they
all took off, because she was looking quite lost.

Lara sent the Host blocking the exit flying.

Kenshin ran to meet them. The FetchMes prowled around his legs
in agitation, sensing the coming danger.

Blue let the group rush past him, yelled at them all to head
for the FloVes he could make out in the distance.

“
Where are we going?” Valiant demanded, heading up the rear
with Push.

“
To a spaceship,” Blue replied.

He witnessed the moment Valerie embraced suicide and ripped
open the canister. The flesh eating nanobots gushed out. The dense
cloud devoured her in an instant, consuming all bio matter and
leaving nothing but shredded fabric behind.

They swarmed around the Novan and Host before rushing forward
looking for fresh flesh.

Blue centred himself. Whips of energy hit the base of the
buildings flanking him. There was no time for finesse. The lashes
were wild and thrown to cut deep. He sensed Igor beside him.
Concrete, glass, and steel was ripped, gouged, and shattered by the
force of their minds. Blue’s heart stalled when the mist gathered
speed and reached the point of no return he’d mapped in his mind.
The buildings imploded. The stories crumbled and thundered like an
avalanche to form a dense rampart of debris that blocked the
advancing Crimzon.

Valiant blanched at the demonstration of power and elbowed his
friend. “Z, who the hell are you running with these
days.”

Zeke shrugged coolly, badass by association. “You know how it
is.”

Jittery with relief, Blue staggered in exhaustion. Igor held
his shoulder to give him time to recover. His gaze flicked to Kali,
and seeing she was safe with her father, he turned his attention to
the information he’d lifted from the Novan’s mind. It had been a
true thought. The Novan hadn’t expected him to boldly take a look
inside his mind when he was distracted.

They headed over to the FloVes and the group had to split.
There were two vehicles in working order, a sleek three-seater and
another sturdier craft used for building maintenance.

Blue told Igor and Valiant where to go.

“
What about the FetchMes?” Kali asked.

“
They have to make it on their own,” Blue said. “They can
follow Valiant’s craft.”

Creighton hugged Kali to him and went with Valiant and Push in
the smaller vehicle. Push sat in the passenger seat to navigate,
and Valiant was pilot.

Zeke pointed his weapon at the boot.

“
Wait.” Max jabbed an accusing finger at Zeke. “Are you insane?
Do you have any concept how much credit this craft is worth? You
can’t just shoot it. It’s a collector’s item.”

Expression mocking, Zeke fired at the vehicle. He tore the
boot lid off and handed the bullet-ridden sheet to a devastated
Max. He clapped the younger man on the shoulder. “Priorities,
kid.”

Climbing into the luggage compartment, Zeke wedged himself in
with his pulse rifle at the ready.

He gave them a cocky salute as they shot off.

Natalya, Howl and Baby raced down the street after
them.

The other members of the group climbed into the larger FloVe,
eager to be gone too.

Grumbling under his breath about craft-defacing heathens, Max
settled into the pilot seat and reached for the
controls.

Lara slapped him upside the head and shoved him across the
seat. “You driving? Yeah, in what galaxy was that ever going to
happen?” Throwing her duffel in the back, she jumped into the
vacated seat and snapped on her seatbelt. “Let’s take off
people.”

Kali eyed the last seat, waiting on the sidewalk next to Blue.
“I can sit on your lap.” Blue lifted her by the hips and set her on
the back of the open topped FloVe. Her butt slid into the curved
seat, but she gripped his shoulders and refused to let go. “So you
don’t want me to sit on you. Standard, but get on. There’s room for
you if you sit on the floor by my legs.”

“
The craft is at maximum capacity,” he said calmly. “With my
added weight the decreased velocity means the Crimzon would
overtake us long before you reached the ship.” He glanced behind
and frowned. “I’ll run behind, and keep the Host back as long as I
can. I’m connected to Lara telepathically to keep the mind shield
we erected against the Novan in tact. She’ll know I’m still
alive.”

“
Still alive?
Get on here.”

Blue ignored her, choosing to focus on the task of delegating.
“Lara, when you reach the ship don’t wait. I’ll find my way
home.”

“
I hear you.” She flicked switches, and brought the engine to
life with a dull roar.

Blue fixed his attention on Igor, holding the Hybrid’s gaze to
impress the importance of the responsibility he gave. “Protect
them.”

“
With my life,” Igor swore.

Kali jumped from reason to panic. “This is not
happening.”

Blue pressed his fingers to her temple. “Sleep.”

Her eyes closed, and she went limp.

“
Fully loaded,” Igor barked, gently strapping an unconscious
Kali into the four-point harness on her seat.

Host broke through the rubble, and clambered down the hill
Igor and Blue had created.

Blue planted his feet and reached out a hand. His power
gathered to form a force field at the base of the hill to buy more
time.

Tendrils of Crimzon seeped through the man-sized hole left by
the Host.

“
Go now,” he commanded, backing away from the zombie-like
humans flowing through the hole like ants, scrabbling at the energy
barrier in confusion.

Lara kept her eyes on the navigation panel, threw the FloVe
into gear, and punched it.

“
Someone follows,” Kenshin said, watching Blue’s solitary form
shrink and become lost to view. A blast of purple light flew past
his head. “And they are hostile.”

Max plucked Madeleine off her seat and pushed her head down,
covering her small body with his own.

Igor lunged for Christabella and strong-armed her over the
seat. A laser bullet scorched the back of Lara’s chair, passing
through the space she’d been. He pushed her down between his legs.
“Stay,” he ordered.

Blasts of purple zipped past their heads, the frequency
suggesting more than one attacker, and Igor squinted as he tried to
focus on the craft pursuing them. They moved at incredible speed,
and everything was a blur.

Lara manoeuvred the bulky FloVe, her eyes glued to the NavSat
that showed the road as straight lines and the skyscrapers as solid
blocks. She could navigate using her natural hand-eye coordination,
but her reaction time wasn’t
that
great, and she had no plans to be scraped off the
side of a building. She took a hard left and cursed when the hover
pad grazed the curb, dousing them in a shower of sparks and
smoke.

If the hover pads scraped the ground for too long they would
short out, and the lack of power on one side would send them into a
lop-sided rotation.

They skimmed a bump in the road. Everyone jolted, was
airborne, then crashed hard. The air was knocked out of them as
they bounced back into their seats, dazed and winded.

“
What are you
doing
?” Max yelled.

“
That was not on me,” Lara spat, punching buttons on the lit up
panel to boost the craft’s anti-gravitational cushioning. “Sluggish
thrusters can’t keep up.”

Laser bullets whizzed past her head. Another glanced her
cheek, scorching her skin. Crying out, her eyes left the NavSat as
she instinctively ducked.

She swerved wildly.

Everyone shunted dangerously to the right then
left.

Lara’s gaze shot back to the navigation screen and she
careened to left to avoid ploughing into a solid wall. She twisted
the wheel hard to avoid from rolling over, her arm sockets on fire
from the strain as the craft fought to tip. She held it steady, and
even muttered a thank you to the Cosmic Virgin when the craft
righted itself.

Easing her death-grip on the direction controls, Lara relaxed
her shoulders, trying not to lock up. “Ken, you have the most
precise control. Use your telekinesis to deflect the shots as best
you can. Igor, my bag.”

With a grunt, Igor reached for the oblong pack Lara had been
hauling around. He unzipped it, and his brows lifted. He pulled out
the bulky laser rifle and his face became cartoonish with glee. He
snagged a fully charged Blue Matter canister, and loaded the
weapon, letting the cylinder slide into the hilt of the weapon. It
let off a high-pitched trill as the power bar rose through the
ammunition indicator.

“
Give me one,” Christabella demanded, her hand darting into the
bag.

Igor gave her a short look that made her stay where she was,
but didn’t stop her from arming herself.

As he stood, his clothes were tugged by the wind; fluttering
hard against his body. It was a strong reminder of the dangerous
speeds they travelled. He twisted; keeping Christabella well
covered and returned fire. The detonation of the Blue Matter rounds
sounded like mini explosions. The chamber at the top of the gun
slid back and forth, the glass vial going from clear to blue, empty
to filled. His hulking shoulders jerked with each shot, and his
body rocked into the recoil of the weapon.

A laser round nailed his shoulder, but Igor shrugged it off
with a roar, and kept shooting.

He narrowed his eyes when several shots that would have been
direct hits veered drastically in another direction when they
neared the blurred craft.

“
They are not Host,” he yelled. “Hybrids deflect my
shots.”

“
It’s what I’m doing,” Kenshin panted, focused on keeping the
purple slashes of burning light from hitting their FloVe. A cold
sweat broke out on his forehead as he fought to keep his mind clear
to sense the energy bullets drawing nearer, and redirect their
paths. Igor had already been hit because he had been sloppy, and he
had no plans for it to happen again. What if one of the females or
the child was hurt? “It is logical they do the same,” Kenshin
finished, breathless.

Igor thumbed a yellow button and switched to the secondary
firing mode. He pumped the gun and fired.

A dazzling orb of plasma was jettisoned into the air. As it
soared towards the enemy vessel, jagged bolts of electricity
crackled between the blue globe and the surrounding
buildings.

It bloated rather than shrank the further away it
travelled.

“
Why have you stopped firing?” Lara shouted. When she spotted
the sparking plasma sphere, she paled. “Not Edna. Igor don’t use
the plasma grenades. They’re extremely volatile.”

Igor grunted in disgust. He wagged an open palm at the glowing
orb. “Useless MainLander junk. It does nothing.”

The plasma ball missed the enemy FloVe and gently drifted to
the ground.

Lara twisted in her seat, and glared balefully. “Watch what
you call junk you Cold bast–”

The street erupted like a volcano. Massive chunks of concrete
and earth were hurled into the air like cannonballs and smashed
into the surrounding buildings with meteoric force.

Debris rained down on the road.

Lara used evasive manoeuvres, rocking the craft violently from
side to side.

“
Maddie puked,” Max groaned. “It’s in my mouth. It tastes
bad.”

Shaken, Igor switched Edna back to primary firing
mode.

The laser blasts from the enemy stopped. Telepathic punches
rippled through the air.

Igor threw up a barrier, but the sudden expansion of metal
focus cost him. He swayed on his feet. When the FloVe turned
abruptly, sending him onto one foot, he threw his weight forward
not wanting to fall out the craft. He crouched in front of
Christabella and wobbled unsteadily. She fisted a hand in his snood
to stop him keeling over, and in the other hand she clutched a
rifle. “I’m standard,” he muttered, trying to reassure her. “My
skill at defensive weaving is no good. I must catch my
breath.”

Pulsations of energy ricocheted across the space, but with
Igor’s shield in place had no affect.

Lara’s jaw tightened, but she sucked up her pride and did what
needed to be done. “Max, front and centre. You pilot.”

“
Me? I thought that wouldn’t happen in this galaxy?”

“
On the laws of science, I swear, promise to my Omicron or no,
I will slit your throat ear to ear if you don’t shut up and get
over here.”

Gritting his teeth, Max finished wiping Maddie-puke off his
chin and climbed over the seats. He and Lara carefully traded
places. He took in the damage to the hovercraft and what measures
she had taken to counteract them. He punched buttons and flicked
switches to adjust the craft to his preferred flight
specifications.