23. Rescued
RESCUED
SARAH
T he moment the sounds of sirens fill the air, I know.
Hope surges to life for the first time in what feels like ages, a heady brightness—maybe I might make it out of this after all. Something tingles deep inside me, an itch I can’t quite scratch, and I recognize it as the feeling I had during those long, drugged-out dreamscapes.
It’s Ulfar. He’s close.
He came for me.
“Help!” I scream at the top of my lungs, hoping that he’s close enough to hear me. The sounds of gunfire ring out from just beyond the door, and I hear shouts and the heavy sounds of footsteps.
Are those the Syndicate soldiers...or his?
“Help!” I cry out again, but this time it attracts the wrong kind of attention.
Atraxia herself bursts into the room, dragging my father in cuffs alongside her. I hop up, trying to duck her charge, but she’s too fast. Her heavy alien bulk pins me to the wall, snarling. “What have you done?” she hisses into my ear. “Your little friends won’t be able to save you.”
Strong hands force cuffs onto my wrists, and they lock with an eerie digital beep. “No!” I scream, kicking out at her as hard as I can. It’s like kicking a brick wall—she doesn’t flinch. Doesn’t move an inch. The impact vibrates through my foot and leg, sending spikes of pain surging past the rushes of adrenaline.
I curse and snarl and spit, but none of it does any good. She’s got me. Me and my father both. Speaking of which...
“What are you doing here?” I growl at the man who calls himself my father. He’s not looking so high and mighty now. I’m still hurting from the sudden betrayal, surprised he doesn’t have anything to say for himself. I guess that just goes to show that the Syndicate can turn on anyone at any time.
“Sarah,” he wails, big eyes filled with fear and fatherly concern. “I’m so sorry to get you wrapped into this, so sorry...”
“What are you talking about?” I mutter, but a seed of confusion sows its way deep into my chest. “You sold out, remember? I saw you at the bar with those women. You acted like I didn’t even matter!”
His brow furrows in confusion. “The bar? Sarah, are you well? I’ve been in my cell this whole time. I think I would know if I saw my baby girl. Did they drug you too...? Oh, this is all my fault.” His face crumples into a dejected sob.
Two conflicting notions war in my exhausted mind. Is he telling the truth, or is this another manipulation? Or what if...
“You,” I snarl, turning on Atraxia. “You made all that up, didn’t you? To turn me against him. To make me lose hope.”
She chuckles. “My my, was it that obvious? And here I was hoping that the glamor would last for a little longer...”
“You asshole!” I scream. I try to rear back and punch her, but the cuffs jar my shoulder and I hiss at another slash of pain.
“I’ve been called worse.” The sirens redouble their efforts, and Atraxia yanks me toward her. “Now come on. We’ve got to get out of here. You can have your little family reunion later.”
And that’s how I’m led, quite literally kicking and screaming, out of the cell block and into the main area once more. Guards and soldiers run to their stations with practiced efficiency, and I tremble at the sight of their weapons. Their soldiers are at least as broad as Ulfar, if not more, and the weapons look big enough to blast a hole through this entire station.
Do Ulfar and his team even stand a chance?
I squeeze my eyes shut and force that thought out of my mind. I can’t think about that now. I have to keep my wits about me.
I have to survive, and I have to get to him. Before it is too late.
* * *
Atraxia pulls us through a maze of back passageways, and all I can do is try to stay standing. She yanks on a chain attached to our cuffs and walks far faster than either my father or I, causing us to have to do an awkward stumble-run to keep from being dragged like sacks of potatoes.
All around us I hear the sounds of battle, and there’s nothing I can do to stop it. Frustrated tears well up in my eyes and spill over. I have to buy time, but how? If they manage to get us into a transport and off-world, there’s a chance I’ll never see Ulfar or any of them again. It took this long for them to catch up to me—if I let them slip through my fingers…the Syndicate isn’t keen on second chances.
Please, I call out to him in my mind. Please hurry. I need you. I have no idea if it will work or if it’s simply a comforting fantasy, but I have to try.
We reach a shuttle bay where a speeder is already waiting. It’s now or never, I realize, as the sounds of shouting and shooting grow louder.
As Atraxia turns her back to punch in the exit codes on the speeder’s keypad, my father springs into action. He lifts his cuffed arms high, bringing both his fists down on the back of her skull. She wobbles and falls to her knees, but it’s not over yet.
“What are you doing?!” she cries out in pain and rage. “Guards!!”
But no guards come to her rescue. They’re all occupied elsewhere. My father wraps the chains connecting his wrists around Atraxia’s slim neck, pulling them taut and cutting off her escape. She gasps and claws at the chain, but he’s behind her and isn’t letting go.
“The keys, Sarah! Get the keys!” he barks, glancing down at the device on her belt.
And then, with a booming digital hum, all the lights go out on the station. Everything goes still. The lights on our cuffs fade into darkness, and they click open.
“What—” my father gasps, looking around. All the power. Gone.
Did that mean—?
The momentary interruption may have broken our cuffs, but it gave Atraxia the opening she needed as well. When the lock unlatched, she lunged forward, no longer bound by the chains around her neck. My father stumbles and loses his footing while Atraxia whirls around to face him, gun pointed right at his chest.
“No!” I scream. Everything seems to pass by in slow motion. I scan the surroundings, looking for something, anything that will help me get out of this. I have to save him!
“You really thought you could get the upper hand,” Atraxia taunts, looming over my father’s cowering form. “Fool. The Syndicate is more powerful than you’ll ever be. It’s a mercy I even left you alive.”
There’s a toolbox lying nearby, filled with several long, pole-like tools for working on the innards of starships. If I can grab one in time, I might be able to turn the tide.
“T-take me instead,” he wheezes, coughing. “I’m sorry, Sarah, sweet girl, I’m sorry...”
My hand closes around the cold metal and I lift it with all my strength.
“You’ve served your purpose,” she says coldly. “Now die.”
Like a champion baseball player, I swing the metal pole, and it crashes between her shoulder blades and she lets out a high-pitched, banshee-like scream. Her gun clatters to the floor and I lunge for it when a loud, powerful voice fills the open space.
“ATRAXIA!”
Heart pounding, I turn for the source of the noise, hoping against hope—
It’s him. Covered in blood and eyes aflame with the most feral battle lust I’ve ever seen, but it’s him.
He came.
“Ulfar!” I shriek, rushing forward. “Help! My dad’s—”
“Not so fast!” Atraxia screeches, tackling me to the ground and grabbing the gun once more. She’s got it pointed directly at my face. There’s no coming back from this. I crawl backward on my hands like a crab, looking for an out, but there is none. Ulfar roars and charges forward, but he’s still too far away to reach us in time.
I shriek, pulling my arms up instinctively to shield my face, and then I hear another voice, just before the blast.
“Sarah, no—”
Atraxia pulls the trigger, and then something hits me, hard, in the chest. An instant later there’s another sickening thump, followed by a gross wet sound and a growl of triumph. All goes silent at long last.
Air whooshes out of my lungs, leaving me wheezing and gasping for air. My eyes fly open to see my father’s body lying atop me, his face stricken but with a satisfied kind of peace. A warm torrent of blood oozes from his side and soaks into my shirt, pooling on the hard concrete floor.
“Dad!” I gasp, wrapping my arms around him. I wriggle out from underneath to try to get a good look at the wound, but it’s still so dark in here. “Dad, oh my god, Dad, no...”
At the last second, he took the bullet meant for me. It wasn’t supposed to happen like this. We were supposed to get out of here alive, both of us!
With a pained groan, I roll over and notice the other motionless body on the ground. It’s Atraxia—or what’s left of her. Her head’s missing, leaving only a dark crimson stain where it should have been. And standing there, wiping off his blade with a grimace on his face, is Ulfar.
Just in the nick of time.
My father coughs and a weak, trembling hand reaches up to cup my face. Tears fall and splash onto his skin. I clasp his hand tightly, holding it to my face as all of the pain and fear and rage flood out of me at last.
“You did good, Sarah,” he says with some effort. “I love you.”
“Dad!” I scream again, but he doesn’t hear me. His eyes flutter closed, and I am filled with a wave of terror. Is he dying??