LOCKED (13 page)

“The city’s safe now,
though.” Danni added in. Perhaps she thought it would convince him that his
comrade’s death wasn’t in vain. He looked back up and made eye contact with
her.

“You’re sure?”

“For thirty miles.”

He seemed impressed. His
eyes scanned the ground as if he was looking for something in the broken
concrete, and he nonchalantly waved his hand.

“You’re free to go. Your
machine is sitting at the end of this road. Don’t even think about going
anywhere else, simply head straight there. Once you two manage to pull the
spear out, he’ll be perfectly fine again.” Ortiz explained before heading down
one of the roads he told us not to follow.

Just like that, we were
through another nightmare. Of course we were grateful, but Danni’s expression
told me that she was just as astonished as I was that he held his end of the
bargain, even though logic would’ve dictated that a tribe so bound by honor
would do so no matter what. Not being ones to take this freedom for granted, we
were on our way.

“By the way... I was right.
See? We ended up fine.” Danni mentioned as we walked. Behind the dirt she was
caked with, the dozens of cuts that lined her arms, face and neck, and the oil
that was splattered all over her clothes, she somehow found a way to smile.

“Yeah…” was all I could
really respond with. I was just a little too tired to give more than that, and
as usual, she picked up on that. She playfully pulled me close to her, and held
me for a brief moment before we continued.

The pale sun was starting to
wind down for the day; it was going to be dusk in an hour or two. Even though
it had nearly cost us our lives, now that we were sure that the city was free
from those nightmares, and the guerrillas at least understood that we performed
such an important service to them, our home was safe again, inhabitable.

Just at the outskirt of the
city, where the town line met a wasteland, Tank was lying in wait, just as we
were told he would be. We ran up to him, looking over his entire hull.
Disregarding the lance in his neck, he was perfectly fine. As Danni and I both
grasped the metal javelin and heaved, it started to slide out with the
occasional spark. It was a bit discomforting to realize that he was no longer
the invincible titan we thought he was before, but worrying about that too much
would only hold us back.

The next few feet of the rod
came out all at once, making the two of us stumble. Tank’s eyes lit up and he
rose to life. His iron heart beat louder than ever as every mechanism inside of
him seemed to fail for a split second. His drill spun without restraint, and
his other limbs trembled uncontrollably. A siren howled, and a deafening blast
that sounded like a bomb going off erupted from within his steel body. Danni
and I quickly backed up to a safe distance, but by the time we were a few feet
away, it was no longer necessary. The spasm that momentarily took control of
his wired muscles had passed. He gurgled a message drenched with static. We got
a little closer to hear the message once we recognized Eddy’s voice somewhere
in there…

“AM I FINALLY GETTING
THROUGH TO YOU TWO?” was the very first phrase we understood through all the
static.

“Yeah! We’ve been to hell
and back, we—”

“NO TIME! JUST FOLLOW TANK,
YOU CAN’T COME BACK TO HQ, YOU HAVE TO HEAD TO THE RENDEZ—” his voice cut into
more static.

“Eddy?!” I shouted into the
communicator. An emergency was the very last thing I wanted to hear about at
that moment.

“HQ’S UNDER ATTACK, FOLLOW
TANK! I’LL MEET UP W—” was the very last thing we heard him shouting before he
and the static cut to silence.

We exchanged nervous
glances. Tank immediately shifted his position. He marched onward on a
pre-determined path, and we followed him instead of it being the other way
around this time.

While Tank’s heavy gait
making the earth rumble was comforting enough to fill the void of silence, the
city wasn’t there anymore to provide company. I never realized that dead
buildings that became specters to us could make us feel secure in isolation,
and Danni must have been affected by it much more than I was. She was quiet the
entire time, looking at the ravaged grassland that we treaded then. It was such
a wide-open space, so plain, so uniform... unlike the city that we could lock
ourselves and our memories in forever. 

The daylight had been neatly
tucked away, and the stars and moon popped up by the time we arrived. The
landscape changed during our journey from a flat and beaten grassland to a
cornfield that now encompassed us. We were in a massive clearing in the field,
and there was a large, raging fire about twenty feet away. In front of us was a
tall, thin building of a deep-ocean blue with doors labeled “U.S.P.L.”. 

Just moments after we
arrived, a worn-down truck the same color as the building stopped close by.
Eddy was in the driver’s seat! He threw the door open and slammed it so hard
that he shattered the rear-view mirror. He was out of breath, and looked at us
with confusion.

"I just... I just...
The HQ was under attack! There were mutants, hundreds of '
em
!
Like the ones in Europe! I just barely got out, an—"

"HEY! MILLER'S PET IS
STILL OUT THERE, GET INSIDE! QUICK!" a voice called from inside the
building. Considering the situation, we were willing to listen to anybody who
offered shelter. All three of us ran inside, and Tank stayed outside and
apparently kept watch; he seemed to understand that something wasn’t quite
right. We hurried inside, and found a sterile, white hallway. There were about
three rooms on the left, and a sullen elevator to the right.

"Eddy, what happened?!
I’ve been here since last night!" the owner of the voice shook Eddy. It
was
Beich
!

"I
dunno
!
They showed up all of a sudden! Like a
friggin
' pack!
It's worse than I thought. I think Miller's
movin
'
out a lot faster than I hoped."
Beich’s
face
transitioned from panic to despair. He looked around at the rest of us, and
cleared his thoughts.

"Well... for those of
you who don't know, we've decided to codename the disease '
buala
'.
It's nearly global now. Speaking of the planet... this isn't just Earth's
problem. I'm left with no choice but to show you, you must have seen a bit
already." he sighed.

“You must... we'll form a
fortification line around you, just to be safe. If we tell you to come inside,
you come inside." he popped his head into a room nearby, called a few men
from inside, and commanded a line of rugged U.S.P.L. soldiers to go outside.
They were told to form a circle around the facility and around the burning
patch in the cornfield. “Ragtag” really was the best word to describe them; no
uniformity in any way, not even by their weapons, Some were armed to the teeth,
and others looked as though they could be a one-man army with their bare
hands. 

"Go and see it if you
must. Don't touch ANYTHING. You may be scared at first, so come right back when
you're done. I'll be able to try and explain." We all began to walk
towards the flames cautiously.

"Wait! Only one at a
time. To be safe." he commanded. Eddy, Danni, and I all exchanged nervous
glances.

"...I'll go
first." I loudly proclaimed. Danni, Eddy, and
Beich
looked impressed, but at this point, I was just curious to find out what it
was. I walked cautiously toward the fierce and fiery spot, and they were no
calmer when I was within a few feet than when I was a few dozen yards away. The
flames reached up and swallowed up the night, about fifteen feet up. Only after
I got close enough to feel my face heat up was I able to see exactly WHAT was
burning... and I still didn't completely comprehend it. It was about as tall as
I was, and seemed to be a nuclear reactor. It was in the shape of one, anyway.
Around it, in its shadow, were thousands of minuscule buildings, each one no
bigger than my fist. This "town" stretched out for about fifteen
feet. And then, I nearly ran away. Not out of fear, but shock. Shock quickly
turned to wonder, childish wonder. Near my feet, and clustered into a group,
were several diminutive creatures. Each one was about the size of one of my
toes. They were mouse-like in appearance, with large ears and shining black
eyes. They stood on their back legs, and stared up at me longingly. They wore
ceremonial robes of white, green, and red. I crouched down, and they didn't
seem to react. Some held infants, others held children, and the rest clasped
their own hands together. Each one had fur of a light-brown color. I smiled,
thinking of how strange it was to find such precious little creatures in a
world that was battered by disease and warfare. I was about to stretch out a
friendly pinkie finger until I was called back by
Beich
.

"Leo, get back here! I
told you not to touch!"

"I didn't!" I
called back as I walked from these fascinating beings.

"You were about to...
Sci'Lyk
are very fragile!" he snapped. He sighed, and
started to explain.

"Communication efforts
have been somewhat successful. They're taking very long though. We’re not linguists,
there’s only so much we can do in terms of communicating with them. They came a
few months before the disease came here. From what we've been able to translate
with them, it seems that that they call themselves '
Sci'Lyk
',
and a shuttle from Earth landed on a toxic planet near them. The shuttle kicked
off the poisonous gases and dust that the planet usually held firmly, and it
eventually landed on their home planet. That just goes to show how delicate the
balance is in the universe... anyway, these few had to immigrate quickly in
order to survive... the same things that are happening here were happening to
them. We found that they had landed a small shuttle of theirs here one morning,
and we were initially very frightened, of course! We let them be for a few days
to determine what to do; we didn't tell anyone outside of this facility. The
next day, they had about a quarter of that city you see there done; they are
extraordinary in their ability to gather resources and build. Unfortunately, it
was only by poor luck that they landed here... they had no idea that not only
did WE send the shuttle that kicked off the disease, but we now have to deal
with said disease as well." he took a long, deep breath.

"So what's with the
fire? And all the security?" Eddy asked.
Beich
sighed once more.

"We were attacked by
one of Miller's new weapons. It was a monster of sorts; I couldn't describe it
if I tried to. We couldn't see it very well, it acted in a very hit-and-run
manner. We did everything we could to defend the
Sci'Lyk
,
but we were overwhelmed. All that I could figure out is that it must use
echolocation, due to the way it moves and reacts. That's all I can really
say."
Beich
rubbed his temples before looking
behind himself.

"Everybody in,
everybody in..." he muttered, motioning us inside the building. Once we
were inside, he wasted no time.

"You, the kids. It's
late. Get in bed. We'll talk tomorrow..." he demanded in an annoyed tone.
He guided us to the elevator, and sent us to the fifth floor. Here was the same
pristine white hallway, only to our left was a large window that let us see
that the corn field went on for miles. There was a single door on this floor.
We entered it, and inside was a single king-sized bed, a small bathroom, and a
few boxes in an otherwise unimpressive room. In the crates, we found a clean
set of clothes for both of us to change into. After throwing our oily,
shredded, and bloodied old clothes in the trash, we had a chance to take a
shower so we could finally feel decent once more. Danni was the first to jump
right into the bed afterwards.

"I snore. Hope you
didn’t forget that." she yawned and stretched her arms. I laid down right
beside her, and looked around the room. There was a light on the ceiling, a few
boxes in the corner, more boxes, and... a few more boxes...?

"God... we've been
through so much the past few days, how am I supposed to just sleep?" I
sighed.

"We never know what's
gonna
come next, better sleep while you can..." Danni
also sighed. We both turned away for about thirty seconds.