The Children of Eternity (22 page)

Jonathon searched for a plan. He came up with one. He turned to the wall beyond the three-way junction from which they had just come. Could the field generator be just beyond that wall? Perhaps enough firepower could blast through that wall and destroy the generator. It was a long shot, but it was all that he had left. He opened fire. Apparently, some of the others got the message, for they followed his lead. The results of their efforts were impossible to immediately gauge, as the smoke, heat, and intense brilliance hid what lay beyond their view.

“Cease fire!” yelled Jonathon.

The group viewed the results of their concentrated attack. In the end, the results had not been what they’d hoped for. The corridor’s walls, floor, and ceiling had been reduced to a mass of red-hot molten rock and metal, yet the power of the nerloft remained. The generator was still intact; all they’d managed to do was cut themselves off from it. However, they had also shut off that avenue of attack.

Jonathon turned to see his two rear guards retreating in his direction. Apparently, they too had been overwhelmed. He reached out with his mind to Lilly, to tell her of the news. They would be gating back. He quickly gathered his forces and tried to open a wormhole. It didn’t work.

“You are too close to the generator,” said Zurel.

Again they withdrew. Jonathon could hear the commotion in the corridor ahead of them. Things were going from bad to worse. Again he tried to form a wormhole. This time it worked. The group stepped into the mists just seconds before a contingent of demons saturated the entire corridor with fireballs.

The weary fighters emerged into the relative calm of the dungeon. Lilly ran to Jonathon and Jerry.

“You’ve been hurt!” she cried.

“We’ll be OK,” said Jonathon, “but we’re going to have to fight our way out of here, and we’ve got to start now. Have you had any trouble here?”

“We’ve only had two demons come our way,” said Christopher. “It was just a minute ago. We took them out. I don’t think their leaders have figured it all out yet.”

“But they will,” said Zurel. “We must withdraw.”

“We can’t make it all the way to the entrance from here,” objected Jonathon, “it’s just too far. The four of us are going to have to gate this group somewhere closer to the entrance of this building, somewhere there aren’t likely to be demons waiting for us.”

“But where?” objected Zurel. “By now, probably all of the demons within this facility will be at arms, combing every hall and cubicle in search of you. They know that you still have to be in the building.”

“On my way in I saw a bunch of rooms not far from the entrance that didn’t look like they were being used,” said Lilly.

“The contemplation and rest cubicles along the main corridor,” said Zurel. “There are about twelve of them. But they’re all filled with supplies from top to bottom. No, there isn’t enough room to gate into them. I don’t see any other option…you’re going to have to fight your way out of this place.”

The four children looked at each other in bewilderment. They had foreseen this as a possibility, yet they’d pushed it into a dark corner in the back of their minds. They could do that no longer.

Another two minutes of planning and they were all set. Jonathon reached for his communicator. As with the first time, the message was short. “We’re moving out, plan three, two minutes.”

The four children led the way. Christopher couldn’t help but draw an analogy between their group advancing into the corridor and Moses leading of the children of Israel out of bondage in Egypt. Their column had a few fighters leading an even larger group of unarmed civilians. Their strategy was to place most of the armed fighters up front, with a smaller number stationed in the back of the procession to defend against attack from the rear.

None of the children were in the mood to compute their odds. From a natural perspective they were not good, even when one took into account their superior weapons. Yes, they had a few tricks up their sleeves, but would they be enough? Time would tell.

They heard weapons firing at the rear of the column. They could only hope that it was their rear guard following their instructions and bringing down the ceiling in the corridor behind them, the corridor that represented the only other access route to their makeshift prison. With it totally collapsed, they would only have to focus on a demon assault from the front—for the moment.

They had only proceeded about 50 feet when a small demon scouting party appeared, running down the spiral stairway before them. They opened fire. Most of the demons were shredded to scattered flesh and bone within a matter of seconds. The group picked up their pace. Heavier resistance was surely only a minute away. They had to make as much forward progress as they could.

They reached the wide, spiral, stone stairway and began the long trip upward. They had gone scarcely 30 feet when they encountered heavy resistance. Apparently, their location had been discovered. They were at a disadvantage. The demons had the high ground. Still, for the moment, the demons couldn’t get a clear shot at them. But that wouldn’t last, Jonathon was sure of it. Within a few minutes the demons’ numbers would grow to sufficient strength that they could step out into the corridor and launch a fireball attack. Then the demons would storm them, overwhelming the humans by sheer force of numbers. The demons had virtually unlimited reinforcements.

Christopher moved to Jonathon’s side. “You were speaking of the Battle of Stalingrad.”

“I was,” confirmed Jonathon. “But as you said, that really isn’t an option.”

Christopher gazed up the stairway. “We only have about sixty or seventy feet to the ground floor, right?”

“Right,” confirmed Jonathon.

“Did you ever hear of the Battle of Anzio?” asked Christopher. “It was the same war, a few months later.”

Yes, Jonathon had heard of that battle. It took place in Italy. The allies had been stalemated by the German defenders for months. They decided to go around them and make an amphibious landing to their rear. It had worked—sort of. “You want to bring in men behind them?”

“Yes,” confirmed Christopher.

“There are all kinds of rooms along the corridor up there. I saw them,” said Lilly. “A group could gate into one or two of those rooms and attack them from the rear. Then you could advance. We could trap and destroy them.”

“Whoever went up there would be cut to ribbons,” objected Jonathon. “You’d be surrounded by demons.”

“It wouldn’t matter,” assured Lilly. “I’d go in first. You’ve seen the power of the shield I can project. It can stop a fireball or a sword. Christopher and I would go in there along with the rear guard. We’d tear them up.”

“You can’t go in there,” objected Jonathon.

“I’m not arguing with you again,” said Lilly. “We’re a team. You’ll need to charge when you hear the weapons fire.”

There was no time for argument—Lilly wouldn’t have it. She and Christopher gated out. Jonathon quickly sensed that they had moved to the rear of the column. He looked up the stairway, which had grown strangely quiet. The calm before the storm? He waited. Then he heard it: massive particle weapon fire from up ahead. In his mind he heard Lilly’s voice saying, “Not yet.” Then she repeated it.

“Get ready to move!” hollered Jonathon. Then he heard her voice again. “Now, charge!” he yelled.

Jonathon, Jerry, and the rest stormed up the stairway to find the demon forces in disarray. The corridor was ablaze with particle weapon fire and fireballs. Surely the temperature was nearly 200 degrees.

A fireball barely missed Jerry and Jonathon, striking the wall some distance behind them. Yet from the cries of pain that emanated from below, Jonathon knew that many of the former prisoners had been burned by its heat. The thought made him ill.

Jonathon was amazed when he discovered that Jerry had put away his rifle and held a sword. How had he materialized it so fast? He engaged a nearby demon in brutal hand-to-hand combat. Jonathon was even more amazed when Jerry lobbed off the demon’s head.

Particle weapons were never intended to be used in such close quarters. Besides the heat and splashes of boiling blood, they were turning bones into high-speed projectiles, which were flying everywhere. Time became a meaningless blur.

Then Jonathon saw Lilly. She held a particle pistol in one hand. The other hand projected a powerful force field, red with the impacts of so many fireballs upon it. Then he saw a demon that appeared different from the others, caught between the forces led by Lilly and Christopher and his own column. Lilly focused upon it.

“You should have listened to me,” she cried, pulling back on the trigger.

The demon was blown apart from its midsection. The two parts of the demon writhed in pain, but not for long. Two more shots from Lilly’s pistol destroyed both halves.

Twenty seconds later the two forces met.

“What kept you?” asked Lilly, who was still focusing a large part of her might on maintaining the force field.

Lilly moved forward, as did they all, protected by the might of her force field. Many demons discovered the hard way that this field was a potent weapon. To simply come in contact with it was a virtual death sentence. They fled before it, firing what seemed to be futile fireballs into it.

For the better part of a minute the group advanced. Yet the look on Lilly’s face spoke of her growing pain and exhaustion. Jonathon was very concerned. Her force field was the only thing standing between their meager complement of humans and a demon force that by now numbered in the tens of thousands.

They reached the broad main corridor. In the distance, still 150 yards away, was the exit and freedom. It was a straight shot. Just beyond that exit Jonathon could see the flashes of particle beams. His great-grandfather and about 100 men and women of the resistance had opened up a second front somewhere just beyond the Hall of Angels.

It was time to break radio silence. Jonathon reached for the communicator. “Grampa, we’re fighting our way toward the exit. We’re in the main corridor.”

There followed a long silence. Jonathon was becoming concerned when he finally heard his great-grandfather’s voice.

“Hang in there, Jonathon,” said Grampa Bud. “We’re in a real nasty fight out here. It isn’t the duck shoot I’d hoped it would be. The demons are swarming everywhere. Thousands of them are emerging from the top of the building. We’re being forced to pull back; we’re taking heavy casualties. We’ll draw as many of those demons as we can away from you. I’m sorry, Jonathon, but…”

The connection was abruptly lost. So much for a rescue. Indeed, now Jonathon was concerned for his great-grandfather. Jonathon looked over at Lilly. He saw tears in her eyes; she was crying. It was clear that she was near the end of her endurance. Then one of the things Grampa said echoed again in his mind. There were thousands of demons emerging from the roof? He turned to Christopher, “Try to create a gate to the Ion Desert.”

Christopher reached out. To everyone’s amazement, a cloud of stars appeared before him. They had a stable wormhole!

“The field is down! Join hands,” yelled Jonathon. “Follow Christopher into the gate, unarmed civilians first. Hurry!”

The people didn’t have to be told twice. They rushed to Christopher, forming a human chain, and headed into the mists. More and more people joined the beautiful chain that would lead them to freedom.

Jonathon turned to Jerry. “We need a second gate. You’ll need to lead them through.”

“I’m needed here,” objected Jerry.

“I don’t have time to argue,” said Jonathon. “Do it!”

Jerry nodded, and a second gate opened. He reached out to a woman nearby. She took his hand, then someone else took hers. Within seconds they were on their way out.

Again Jonathon turned to Lilly. The events occurring around her had renewed her spirit. But there was something else: she was crying tears of blood. He could hardly imagine her pain.

“Go,” she said, “I’ve got to stay here and hold them off.”

“I’m not going anywhere without you,” replied Jonathon. “We’re a team, remember?”

Lilly only nodded. All the while, the former captives vanished into the mists. Jonathon watched nervously.

Jonathon grabbed his communicator, hoping that Grampa was listening. “The door is open, we’re gating out.” He repeated the message three times. Then he put the communicator away and turned to Lilly. Only a few people remained to evacuate. It was time. Jonathon formed a gate to the Ion Desert just a few feet behind Lilly. As the last of their group disappeared into the mists, he took Lilly into his arms and carried her to safety. The mists vanished even as the corridor was filled by a barrage of fireballs.