Alex strapped her backpack to the front of her with the blow torch on top and wedged herself between the large rock wall and the wall below their vent. Jack followed her example and they inched their way down to the bottom floor.Her right arm ached as she used it to crawl little by little down the framework. When they finally reached the bottom, Jack staggered behind as Alex walked gingerly between the walls. She counted her steps and stopped suddenly. Jack bumped into her. Alex listened with her ear against the wall, hearing footsteps and voices on the other side. Leather armor creaked faintly from one of the guards on the other side. She strained to hear their voices."That guy can really go.""He seriously has the best job. Can you imagine two days with the best women in the city?""That has got to rub him raw. How do they get him to stay like that?""Drugs, but the hangover's gonna be a bitch."The voices faded with the footsteps. Alex proceeded cutting a hole into the wall
Jack woke, his head throbbing painfully. There was a hand on his head and his pillow was rather- hard and made of muscle? Opening his eyes, he saw a yellow rag in front of him with pink chunks on it. It smelled like vomit and his throat burned. He knocked the rag away. Beneath, were two knees covered in dark denim. Alex. He patted one knee and rolled on to his back. Alex's jacket covered him and his feet hung off the edge of a couch.She had her head leaned against the wing of the couch arm. Her right arm was on the arm rest and her left hand fell to her lap as he moved. Alex's navy blue shirt was buttoned to the bosom. The white tank top underneath was splattered with tiny specks of blood. The splatter marks ran all the way up the porcelain skin of her delicate neck.Memories faded in and out. He remembered the underground lair of the Antarians. Then the festival. Flashes of women's faces. The smell of sex and vomit. Alex and - a bubble bath? That can't be right. Then running in the
"Very impressive. Ready to go back?" He held his hand out to her.Alex nodded and accepted his hand. That minty, tingling, electric feeling crawled up his arm. She had that effect on him every time she touched him.Weylin was waiting on the other side of the door. He held Alex's crowbar in one hand. "Did you get them all?" he asked, looking around behind them."They won't be bothering us anymore," Alex said, taking her jacket off."They will send more," he said, peering out the windows."And I will take care of those too." Alex stomped ahead of Jack and pushed Weylin aside to get back on the train. She looked down at him ominously. "Get this thing moving before there is more bloodshed."Jack shrugged up at the kid and stepped into the train. "What's up with you?" he asked Alex.Weylin stumbled nervously to the controls. "Nothing," she said sharply. She leaned against the wall and closed her eyes."Why don't you go in the back and lay down, you're looking a little pale. We'll
Alex woke to an internal banging drum that made her ears ring and sent blood pounding to her head. She rubbed her temples until it subsided slightly. Her right hand ached. The whole train rumbled as it ran down the track, rattling the windows in their panes, irking her headache more. The failing sunlight streamed through the cracks in the blinds as they shuddered with the lively train.She pushed out of the chair. Jack lay sprawled across the bed, shoes still on. How terribly uncomfortable that must be. Alex checked that her knives were secure in her belt and pulled her maroon jacket closed. She lurched forward as the train started to slow. What was it now? They needed to keep moving if she was ever going to make it to Lexi.Alex made her way to the cabin. Weylin lay napping in the conductor's seat. She slapped his shoulder and he jumped violently. "Why are we slowing?" she growled.He looked around with his big eyes. "We must be out of power," he stuttered, wiping his face with his
Suddenly her attackers came. She was unsure who they were. Vestarians, maybe, as the kid had said. They stepped out from behind the towers. There was as many of them as there were towers and they came towards her. Their footsteps crunched sand and rolled rocks, scattering echoes in every direction. To normal ears, it would be silence, but to hers, it was a parade commemorating her soon to be fight.?Her inevitable victory.Alex cleared her thoughts again. Didn't she want peace? Did she really want to fight a horde of surface people? No. At this moment, she wanted their blood, she lusted for it. She stood holding her breath, fighting to slow her heartbeat, and watched them come in slow motion.The auroras lit their faces in a green and purple glow. They wore white paint across their eyes. The moon glinted off their completely white eyes, ruined by sun damage. It was any wonder they could get around at all. Alex decided they must be using senses other than sight and sound to track her.
Jack jumped as the glass broke somewhere nearby. He shook his head and peered into the dark quarters. Eerie green and purple light glazed the surfaces of the small room. Shadows of things danced through the windows. He summoned a fireball to fill his hand. As soon as the light of it caught dirty paint smeared faces, Jack flew to his feet, flinching as his jeans rubbed at his raw groin. He threw the fireball at the broken window and into a man whose grimy paw was reaching into the car. The train rocked back and forth. Two more of the dirty fellows fell."What the hell is going on?" Jack shouted.From beyond the door to the cabin, Weylin responded in a meek voice, "Vestarians.""Get us moving!" He shouted, sending a line of fire out the window. A group of five Vestarians took the blow, catching fire and flailing like mad men. They screeched and howled, which only rallied the men around them who threw themselves upon the train."Almost there!" Weylin shouted from the cabin.The whole
A dank smell assaulted her nostrils. Rough hands set Alex down. Her boots sounded smooth against the hard stone. Every little movement sent sharp bolts of pain shooting up her leg. The men who deposited her seemed to shuffle off with grumbles as if they were being herded by a silent authority.Someone bent down close to her. Their toxic breath permeated the musty sack over her head. Alex leaned away,?but strong quick fingers grabbed a handful of her hair through the bag and forced her not to move. Stinging pain shot up from her arm as her jacket was pulled completely off. She felt exposed, as if naked and on display. Fingers squeezed her triceps and then cupped her breast. Alex tried to squirm away, but the other held her head steady. The hand squeezed her bleeding thigh and she cry out. She flung her weight forward to attack in a head butt. Hair ripped from her head where the captor held. The authority figure shoved her backwards into the captor and clout her across the face, sending
It was mid-morning by the time Jack reached the building. The Link practically screamed at him now, pulling him forward towards it. He?crouched down behind a crumbling concrete wall. Two painted men stood outside the front entrance of an old office building holding some pathetic looking stone-age weapons. The flash of ceiling tiles suddenly made sense. The Link was much stronger than he thought it would be.He checked his options. He could take out the two guards and go in the front door, but who knew what kind of security they had inside the building. They could be the last two Vestarians left or there could be a whole army housed in there. He could create a distraction and then run in from the front door or maybe a side door. The building was surrounded by a rusted and broken chain link fence. Most of the surrounding buildings were rubble. Most of the office building he was looking at was rubble. Or he could-Before Jack could get any further down his to-do list, two black vans rol