Psion Alpha (56 page)

Three minutes later,
Sammy had four bottles of vodka and two unopened containers of cleaning fluid.
Using a meat thermometer, he punctured the tops and bottoms of the cleaning
containers, then used a small blast from the tip of his finger to spray fluid
out under the door into the hallway. The first tip of the axes cut through the
door followed by excited, unintelligible sounds from the Thirteens. A second
axe immediately followed, widening the hole.

Sammy had no trouble
channeling his anger to fuel his heat blasts. He ignited the liquid cleaner
under the door and watched through the slim crack as it quickly spread. The
Thirteens reacted with sharp cries and shrieks, and the pounding of the axe on
the door came to an abrupt halt. Jeffie handed him a block of ice for his
singed thumbs.

“Are you okay?” she
asked.

“Don’t worry about it.”

“Right.… ”

The fire died quickly.
The Thirteens returned. When they did, Sammy repeated the process, burning the
alcohol and forcing them away from the door. After doing this three times, the
ice offered no relief for the stinging in his thumbs. Suddenly, Nikotai sat up.

“Yes, I copy you. We’re
going to burn our way out of here. Copy that.” He looked at Sammy. “They’re
ready.” He caught his breath and continued. “Hallway on the west side. Be safe.
Over and out.”

Sammy shuddered despite
the temperature. His hands and legs resisted any pressure he put on them as he
stood. Once he was up, he and Jeffie helped Nikotai to his feet.

“Thanks,” Nikotai
muttered. “Don’t count on me too much out there.”

Sammy grabbed the
bottles of vodka, each with a torn cloth lit on fire stuffed into their neck.
“Open it on my mark. Open it all the way, and both of you stay behind the
door.”

When Sammy gave the
signal, Jeffie threw open the door. Shielding with one hand, Sammy hurled the
fire bombs into the hallway, scattering the Thirteens who stood outside,
shooting at him. They moved so fast that Sammy wasn’t sure he’d done any
damage. However, it did the job. Behind him, the kitchen vents turned on,
reacting to the fire and sucking the oxygen out of the room. Vents in the
hallway did the same.

“Hurry!” he urged his
team. “Out of the kitchen.”

Sammy and Jeffie used
shields to cover the way for Nikotai, who limped out of the room as the door
closed automatically behind him. Nikotai pulled out his guns and slid down to
the floor. Scattered flames still covered parts of the floor and walls where
the alcohol burned. All around them, more doors closed tightly and sealed shut.

“How much time before
the oxygen is gone?” Jeffie asked.

“Three minutes,” Sammy
said. “Four, if we’re lucky.”

Together, Sammy and
Jeffie held off the Thirteens with their blasts, though they got little help
from Nikotai. Sammy’s hands shook constantly now as he concentrated on nothing
but keeping up with Thirteens until Li’s team arrived. Perhaps it was due to
his fatigue, but the Thirteens seemed even more ferocious now. They threw
themselves against his blast shields, launched themselves off the walls, and
dived low, going for any angle they could find to penetrate his and Jeffie’s invisible
barriers.

A full minute after the
vents had turned on, Li’s team arrived. They trapped the Thirteens on Jeffie’s
side, forcing many of them to turn and face the onslaught coming from behind.
With Li and Kawai using their blasts, the Hudecs, Dr. Rosmir, and Lorenzo
attacked with guns blazing. Nikotai tried to aid Sammy, but he could barely
raise his arms.

“This way, Sammy!”
Jeffie said as she, with the aid of Li’s team, thinned out the Thirteens
blocking their path.

Sammy took about five
steps backward at an agonizingly slow pace. Nikotai had to crawl to move. At their
rate, they would be out of oxygen long before they reached the exit. Worse, Sammy
didn’t know how much longer he could stand. Blood continued to snake down his
leg and trail onto the floor.

The Thirteen with the smiley
faces sensed Sammy’s weakness as he shrieked at his fellow Thirteens to
redouble their efforts. None of them wore blast suits now, but with six
Thirteens shooting at him Sammy couldn’t do much besides shield. Four of the
Thirteens shot high, using the wall as a jumping platform to shoot down on him.
Another Thirteen used a hand cannon at near point blank range, forcing Sammy to
keep his other hand at the level of his waist. This gave Smiley-face an opening
to sweep Sammy’s leg, which he did. Sammy hit the ground, still trying to
shield and blast away Smiley-face. The Thirteen, however, spun off Sammy’s
blast and dived, baring his sharply ground teeth in a bloodthirsty grin.

A fog slipped over
Sammy’s mind. Everything in his world was cold: his skin, the floor, and the
air flowing around him. Each breath came in short gasps, like he’d run too far and
couldn’t catch his wind. Sleep seemed like a wonderful idea, so he closed his
eyes. Then something sharp ripped into the left side of his chest. It was like cold
water splashing his face.

He opened his eyes and
saw Smiley-face biting him. Sammy blasted at him but his arm would hardly move.
Nikotai, even with his eyes glossed over and his face as pale as bone, tried to
help Sammy by shooting at him. His first shot was way off mark, hitting Sammy
in the thigh. The bullet punched Sammy like a heavy mallet, and he roared in pain.
The mistake seemed to wake Nikotai, too, and he raised the gun higher and shot Smiley-face
three times in the ribs. Jeffie appeared in front of Sammy while Kawai took her
place shielding Nikotai.

“Get the hell away from
him!” she shouted, not bothering with shields, but blasting full force at
Smiley-face.

Bleeding from his ribs,
Smiley-face flew back and charged again. Two other Thirteens fired at Jeffie
from his left and right side. Jeffie blasted away both of them, used a small
jump-blast, and kicked Smiley-face savagely in the neck just as he reached her.
Sammy heard the Thirteen’s neck snap and watched him fall like a stone.

More Thirteens pushed
forward, eager to kill Jeffie. She faced them without fear. On her face, Sammy
saw that same look of intensity and blazing passion that had initially attracted
him to her so many months ago. Guns fired at her, but Jeffie blasted the
Thirteen’s guns away with incredible accuracy. Then she did something Sammy had
never seen before.

Rearing her arms back
until her palms were level with her body, Jeffie ran forward, whether blasting
or shielding, Sammy didn’t know. What he did know was that the Thirteens never
knew what hit them. Jeffie shoved them all back several meters, leaving them
sprawled on the ground. Before they recovered, which wasn’t much time at all,
Jeffie unloaded her guns into them.

Hands grabbed Sammy and
pulled him up. It was Rosmir and Dave Hudec helping him while Lorenzo and
Duncan assisted Nikotai.

The air should be gone
by now. We should all be dead. What’s going on?

The Thirteens who
survived Jeffie’s rampage broke off from the group and ran in the opposite
direction. Sammy grabbed his thigh, trying to use hand pressure to staunch the
bleeding. Sammy and Nikotai were carried by the other five men while Jeffie and
Kawai shielded the Thirteens on the rear. Sammy found it difficult to hold on to
a thought. At one moment he was intently watching the action, then he wondered
what type of perfume Jeffie liked to wear. Before he solved this riddle, he
muttered inaudible and unintelligible instructions to those around him about
grabbing mops and brooms to give the Hive a thorough cleaning. However, he
abandoned this effort because of an inexplicable urge to know how long it’d
been since he’d worn a clean pair of boxer briefs.

The lack of oxygen
manifested its adverse effects on the whole team. Hudec and Rosmir panted or
grunted each step they took toward the doors. Dave Hudec especially seemed to
be operating under great distress. His pupils had dilated to fill his irises.
Rosmir’s chest heaved and sank with every labored breath. Sammy wanted to help
them, but was absolutely powerless. Finally his head sank onto Dr. Rosmir’s
shoulder as he could support it no longer. From this angle he saw the exit
propped open with a stick. Sunlight streamed in through the space.

Whoever did that saved
our lives.

The light called to him
from only ten meters away.

Come on, guys, we can
make it. So close. Come on. Don’t fail now
.

Then they were only
five meters away. Then three … then one. As they approached the exit, the
Thirteens who had abandoned the group earlier appeared down the hallway to the
right. They sprinted at the group, trying to cut off Sammy and his team. They
were too slow. They aimed their guns as they ran. Sammy saw death in their
eyes, not only their thirst for his, but their own, too. There were only three
of them, but even one was enough. Two had pistols, one had a hand cannon. Sammy
had energy to do nothing but watch the events unfold.

Dr. Rosmir acted first,
blasting at them with one hand while pushing Sammy and Dave Hudec out the door
to safety with the other. At the same moment, the first shots were fired.
Rosmir had time to get only one arm up to shield. Just as Sammy would have
done, he shielded the Thirteen who had the cannon. Most of the cannon blast
fell harmlessly to the ground, but a piece of shrapnel hit Rosmir in the chest.
He stumbled back and raised both hands this time, shielding any other bullets
as he cleared the way for Li, Duncan, Lorenzo, and Nikotai.

Sunlight and fresh air
greeted Sammy as they exited the Hive. The lake looked more beautiful than
before. On the water, Tupi and his friends paddled their canoes in slow circles.
When they saw Sammy and his team leave the Hive, they waved and cheered. Tupi
even held up the head of one the thylacines, perhaps his way of thanking
Sammy’s team for killing so many of them. Sammy wanted to wave back, but didn’t
have the strength.

Jeffie, Kawai, and Dr.
Rosmir staggered onto the lawn behind Sammy. The doctor’s hand clutched his
bleeding ribs tightly, his face an expression of pain. The girls closed the
main door to the Hive and held it shut with blasts.

“My pack,” Dr. Rosmir
called to whoever would listen. “Get my med pack!”

Both Hudecs scrambled
to help while Li laid a pale and motionless Nikotai on the ground. In seconds
the med pack was open. Dr. Rosmir pointed to various contents and gave them
instructions.

“Hook Sammy up to the arti-blood
bag. Apply steady pressure until it’s empty. When the cruiser gets here, we’ll
give a line to Nikotai, too.”

“No,” Sammy moaned as
he attempted to sit up. Pain came from everywhere when he tried to move. Each
word he uttered required a breath in between. “Nikotai … first.”

Rosmir looked at the
Hudecs and shook his head. “Sammy first.”

“Nikotai … or I’ll
blast … both of you.”

Rosmir grimaced and
clutched at his bleeding side. “You could die, Sammy. And Nikotai might already
be dead. We all promised Thomas Byron we’d save you.”

Sammy rested his head
back on the ground and tried to ignore the growing pain in his leg and
shoulder. “Nikotai first. I’m … leader. No more … die … for me.”

His orders must have
been followed, because the Hudec brothers did not attend to him. He hoped there
was still time to save Nikotai. As he lay on the dirt, Lorenzo and Li helped
Rosmir treat his bullet wound. Sammy smiled, or at least tried to.

“And you said you
weren’t a warrior, Doc.”

Rosmir locked eyes with
Sammy at these words. Sammy nodded to him. Then he searched the skies for the
cruiser expected to come pick them up and take them home.

Home
. Sammy wondered where
that place really was for him, or if it even existed. Glasgow wasn’t home.
Neither was Capitol Island or Johannesburg.
Do I even have a home anymore?
He thought of Jeffie and tried to watch her as she pinned the Thirteens in the
building as their air supply quickly depleted. It was a sweeter death than any
of them deserved.

Jeffie. She is home
.

His vision darkened to
the point that he could hardly see what was going on around him, but he sensed
it: the Hudecs pumping as much arti-blood as they could into Nikotai’s lifeless
body, encouraging him on as they fretted over how pale he looked; Rosmir
helping Li and Lorenzo remove a bullet from his own chest and staunch the
bleeding; Jeffie and Kawai counting down the seconds until the Thirteens
stopped banging and scratching on the door—the lid to their coffin. Perhaps he
lost track of time, because seconds later Jeffie ran to him, picking up his
head so she could cradle his upper body in her lap.

“Are you okay?” She
hunted for a sign of hope in his features.

Sammy couldn’t believe
how beautiful she was, and he felt such gratitude that he hadn’t given up on
her after all those weeks of watching her with Kobe. No matter how many times
Brickert and others had told him to let her go, that she didn’t deserve him, that
he’d be happier moving on, he’d known they were wrong. He nodded his head to
show that he’d heard her. His lips moved as he tried to speak. She bent an ear
close to his mouth and he whispered his words: