Requiem (51 page)

'Let her
go.'

'Because you
hold a gun you think you hold the power? Try to kill me and I
guarantee that I will kill her first. The only way she lives is if
she leaves with me.'

'She'll be
leaving with me. You'll be staying right here with the remains of
this station when I bomb it from orbit.'

'I am flattered
to be at the receiving end of your personal vendetta but I feel it
would be wrong of me to claim credit for revealing your moral
bankruptcy.'

'Bullshit. It
was you. I know you were on that station when it was
destroyed.'

'I was there,
yes, although that was a campaign dreamed up and executed by my
predecessor.'

'Who was your
predecessor?'

'It does not
matter. His actions will become inseparable from mine in due time.
All that will exist will be the title of humanity's last known
saint.'

'Careful,
Warlord, your ego is showing.'

'It will be a
faceless title. The name will simply serve as description for the
actions of an unknown soldier.' His gaze fell upon Seline's neck.
Streaks of sweat cleared meandering paths through dried patches of
blood. The stale smell reminded him of Earth. He looked back at
Abigail. 'I'm growing tired of this discussion, Abigail. If you're
interested in this girl's survival then I suggest you put the gun
down.'

'I suggest you
try and make me.'

'Cute,' he
said.

The Warlord
held his one free arm to his ear and tried to contact Daniels in
the control room. He waited for a response but there was none.
'Daniels,' he said. 'Come in.'

Abigail's eyes
stayed fixed on the Warlord's but she spoke to Seline.

'Seline, honey,
I don't think I ever asked you what that arm of yours was made of.
Would you mind telling me?'

Seline thought
for a moment.
It's broken. Why does it matter what it's made
of?

'It's carbon
fibre,' she said. 'But it's broken. I... I can't use it.'

'It's broken?
I'll remember that if you try to bill me later.'

Abigail pointed
the rifle at Seline's right shoulder and fired. The bullet pierced
straight through the fibre plating, severing the braces and struts
and drove into the Warlord's ribs. He staggered back from Seline
and fell against the wall. He dropped to the ground. Seline
stumbled forward. Abigail threw the rifle to the side caught her as
she collapsed.

She held Seline
in her arms and looked down at the Warlord. He was moving, reaching
for the gun on the floor. She looked back, her rifle was too far
away. Carrying most of Seline's weight, Abigail moved towards the
door. It opened. She squeezed through and moved as fast as she
could down the corridor.

Seline felt
like she was gliding along the ground. Her feet were barely moving
but she was moving so fast. She wanted to throw up but knew that
nothing would happen even if she tried.

'Ab...
Abigail?'

'Seline, dear.
Relax, it's me.'

'Where are
we?'

'I'm not
entirely sure.' Abigail was breathing heavily. 'But we have to get
to the dock.'

'Did you... did
you just shoot off my arm?'

'Sorry about
that, dear. It was the only thing I could think of at the time.
Luckily you bought the cheap stuff or that probably wouldn't have
worked. But you're still alive. That's what matters.'

'Where are we
going?'

'The dock.'

'Oh Yeah,'
Seline laughed. 'You already told me that, silly.'

Abigail looked
back down the hall. 'Shit.'

'Don't swear.
Mum says that only naughty girls swear.'

Abigail kept
moving down the hallway with Seline. She turned right. A bullet
ricocheted off the wall behind them.

The Warlord's
voice reverberated in the air. The words slithered down Seline's
ears.

'Do you think I
elected this hell?! No. It was gifted to me. There was no choice in
what I am.'

He fired
again.

'You cling to
this life so desperately – and for what?!'

Abigail stopped
to catch her breath and get her bearings. She tried to remember the
blueprint the Warlord had shown her. She knew he'd have no trouble
remembering.

'Why are we
stopping?' asked Seline. 'Is this the bus stop?'

'No, dear.'
They kept moving forward. They could hear the Warlord's voice
behind them but he wasn't talking to them. He was screaming into
the comm at Daniels to seal the doors and lock them in. There was
no response but he continued to scream into the radio silence as if
he could wake him from the dead.

Seline's right
leg was screaming for her to stop. Her left leg wasn't screaming
quite as loud so she let it hold the weight that Abigail couldn't
carry.

She felt like
she was jumping ahead in time, like scenes of her life were being
cut from her memory. There was a body, another dead NeoCorp
soldier. Abigail took the gun from his hand and the other from the
holster on his chest. Shots were fired. Abigail said something but
Seline couldn't understand it.

She was in an
elevator. She could hear some kind of music. It was too irritating
to be soothing. Abigail said something else. Seline asked her to
repeat it but she didn't.

She stepped
over another body. The man stared up, looking at something only the
dead can see. They came to a large window at the end of yet another
white hallway. They looked out the window and down into the dock,
two stories below. Abigail pointed down to the ship she'd come in
on. 'There's our ride,' she said.

A bullet
shattered the glass. Abigail dragged Seline to the floor. Seline
reached out. She grabbed the dead man's gun, rolled over, and
started firing wildly. The Warlord took cover in one of the
doorways. Seline kept firing. Abigail tried to pull her up off the
ground. Still, she kept firing.

'This isn't a
movie, dear, those bullets won't last forever!'

Abigail left
Seline firing the gun and dragged the body of the dead soldier up
to the security panel by the door. She placed his limp hand on the
screen. As the panel scanned the fingerprints, Abigail turned and
looked at Seline. 'Controlled bursts!' she yelled at her to no
effect. The panel beeped. The door opened. The gun stopped firing.
Abigail looked at Seline, frozen in place, the gun dropped on the
ground. There was a loud whirring sound like a jet was taking off.
She ran over to Seline and looked down the hallway to see the
Warlord holding, in both hands, a personnel sized rail-gun. Abigail
grabbed Seline, pulled her off the floor. Seline threw her arm over
Abigail's shoulder and began hobbling as fast as she could through
the door into the dock. The shattering of glass was the last thing
she heard as the hall exploded behind them. They were knocked off
their feet and thrown against the wall at the first landing of the
staircase.

Seline tried to
wipe the dust from her face but only smeared it into her eyes. An
arm reached around her and pulled her from the ground. She was
leaning on Abigail with a limp arm draped over her shoulder.
Through a red blur she could see Abigail half carrying, half
leading her down the steps. She looked down. Her legs were moving
but she could barely feel the pain; like she'd taken a Novocaine
bath.

'Come on, dear.
Almost there.' The words barely pierced the ringing noise in her
ears.

They made their
way down the stairs, Abigail looking over her shoulder and listened
for the Warlord's steps but could only hear the sounds of fire and
hallway sprinklers. Abigail carried Seline towards the ship. Still
no sign of the Warlord.

They walked up
the loading ramp, straight into the cockpit. Abigail laid Seline
gently on the floor. She pulled Seline's eyelids wide open and
stared into her eyes. She held two fingers to Seline's wrist. Her
pulse tapped gently against her fingers. Abigail rose and
approached the centre console and flicked several switches.

'What are you
doing?' asked Seline.

'Prepping the
ship. It's automated but it will take some time.'

The ship
started to tick and rattle into life. Abigail opened a locker on
the wall and found a small, green metal chest. She took it out and
brought it over to Seline. She cracked two pills loose from their
packaging and made Seline swallow them. She opened a small jar and
rubbed cold, numbing Vaseline over the worst cuts she could
see.

'What are you
doing?' Seline grumbled.

'It's a
coagulant. It will help stop the bleeding.'

There was a
clanging noise from outside.

'Shit. We can't
just wait here.' Abigail looked at Seline. '
I
can't just
wait here.'

Abigail rose
and disappeared into a room that led off from the cockpit. She
returned with a rifle in her hand. She shoved a handful of bullets
into her breast pocket and loaded several into the cartridge. She
pulled a handgun she'd found from her belt, cocked it and handed it
to Seline.

'You're going
to stay here. I'm going to find him.'

Seline looked
at the gun. She could barely hold its weight. Abigail found a
blanket in the locker and draped it over her.

'You might need
help,' said Seline.

'You're in no
position to offer any. Close the door behind me.'

Seline stared
blankly back at her.

'Promise me
you'll close the door behind me.'

Seline nodded
then watched Abigail walk down the ramp and disappear from sight.
There was a red lever next to the door to close it. She thought
about pulling it.

Something cut
the lights in the hangar. Seline jumped. She squinted but couldn't
draw shapes from the darkness. The small light above the doorway
was the only source of light but it could've been coming from a
thousand miles away for all the light it gave.

'Abigail?' she
said as she pushed herself against the wall to help herself
stand.

Something moved
in the shadows somewhere at the base of the light.

'Abigail?'

No response.
The adrenaline cleared away a small cloud. Enough to see. Seline
aimed the gun as best she could. The blanket fell from her
shoulders.

'I know you're
there you son of a bitch.'

A flash of red
light reflected in the corner of her eye. She turned, stumbling to
the side as a bullet ripped through the console behind her. She let
off a shot, collided with the ground and lost her grip on the
pistol. A figure appeared on the loading ramp.

'He's here!'
Seline screamed.

Abigail
approached the loading ramp, her rifle butted against her
shoulder.

'I can't see
him,' said Seline.

Abigail
disappeared into the shadows somewhere beneath one of the docked
ships. A shot was fired. Flints of light sparked from a distant
wall. Seline saw the figures struggling in the spasm of light. She
crawled down the ramp towards the pistol she'd dropped. Another
shot went off, whizzing past Seline's head.

'Abigail!'
cried Seline.

She couldn't
make sense of the frenzied shuffling and grunts. She padded her
hand on the floor and found the pistol. She picked it up and took
aim at where the sounds were coming from. They were close. There
was a deep crunching noise. A flash of light from another bullet.
There were no sparks only a muffled
thocking
sound followed
by a sharp, deafening shriek.

'Abigail!'

She saw Abigail
collapse. The light was teasing but it was enough. Seline closed
her eyes and fired. She heard the same
thocking
sound and
the Warlord fell back on the wall. She pulled the trigger again.
Missed. Fired again. Missed. She crawled towards Abigail. She fired
again just so she could see something. The Warlord was lying
against the landing gear of one of the ships. His gun lay on the
ground next to him. Abigail's rifle lay at his feet. Abigail was
still on the floor, groaning quietly.

'Pass me the
gun, Seline. I have to finish him.'

Seline aimed
the gun herself and fired. It clicked. Empty.

'Goddamnit!
Then we have to go. Now!' ordered Abigail. She heaved herself up
off the floor. A hand was gripped tightly over her stomach. She
grabbed at Seline with her free hand and half dragged her to feet
and they both staggered into the ship. Abigail slammed her fist
against the lock. They both looked back. The shape of the Warlord
was still visible. As the door lifted and closed his silhouette
remained lying on the floor, half propped up on the foot of the
other ship.

Abigail wrapped
her hand around Seline's waist and pulled her up. They'd made their
way into the cockpit when Abigail collapsed, dragging Seline to the
floor with her.

'Where are you
hurt?' asked Seline.

'We aren't
going to bother comparing my pain to yours, honey.'

The ship
rumbled into life. The engines ignited.

'Where is the
ship going?'

'It's on
autopilot. It's heading towards the local Atlas Gate but beyond
that, I was hoping you'd be able to tell me.'

Seline looked
at the console. Abigail pulled her hand from her stomach. It was
glistening red. She placed it back without a sound.

'We need to get
to Sear... we need to get to Saranture,' said Seline.

'The Yurrick?
They can keep you safe?'

'Yeah, they can
keep us safe.'

'Good. Just
give me a moment, dear. I'll have to change the autopilot settings
on the console.'

Seline looked
up at the controls from the floor. '… You mean the one with the...
with the bullet hole in it?'

Abigail looked
across the room. 'Shit.' She felt the weight of her eyelids and the
pain in her stomach.

'I'll try fix
it,' said Seline.

'No, Seline.
Just stay where you are.'

Abigail tried
to stop her as Seline staggered to her feet.