Chapter 7
CHAPTER 7
TARAX
" W e need to get in the air," Merrix said, addressing me and Norin. "Things are really starting to unravel down here."
The moment he said that a huge explosion shook the ground about twenty yards away from us. An enormous fireball lit up the sky and painted it with a fierce orange color, vibrant and powerful. The searing heat from the explosion made my body feel instantly hot. Cars that had been parallel parked on the street were scorched, burning, and incinerating in seconds. I watched in horror and awe as the metal frame from a van started melting and bending inward.
Behind me, shrieks of terror and gasps of fright broke out among the refugees and the first responders surrounding me.
I glanced between Merrix and Norin, trying to measure their panic levels by the looks on their faces.
"Like I said, we should have already been in the air by now," Merrix informed again, sounding frustrated.
I could understand his frustration, but it was hard to round all the people up who were willing to flee with us, especially on our space bikes.
"We are going to split into groups, but we are still going to try to stick together. We will take twelve humans at a time in each group," Merrix confirmed, just as we'd already discussed.
Norin jumped on his bike. He seemed eager to tow the masses, and he already had his group pulled together. Our bikes were designed to fit at least three or four a piece, and the robo Knights on each team would take the rest of the people that we weren't able to carry on our own bikes.
"Those fucking hostile androids are going to be in the air, too," I reminded Merrix cautiously. "We're not going to be able to avoid them completely."
"You think I don't already know that?" Merrix asked sharply, practically barking at me. His features dulled a moment later. "Sorry. I am just stressed?—"
"It's fine," I said as I began reeling people and instructing them to round up and get strapped onto the bikes. "Everyone is stretched thin right now."
How could we not be hitting the limits of what we could handle? Tensions were high, yes, but it had a lot to do with the fact that the second wave of attacks had begun and there seemed to be even more of the enemy pelting from the skies. They were hurtling toward the Earth in droves this time.
The androids littered the sky and clustered like insects on the ground, scattering about and disturbing the peace.
These damn robots were everywhere. It seemed like as soon as we killed off five of them, ten more were produced from seemingly nowhere.
I tried to be optimistic, but it didn't seem like we had a viable solution for this. How could we ever escape them at all?
At least in the sky, we could get to this military base Mike spoke of. We just had to make sure we got there in one piece, first.
I tried to keep eyes on Grace. She was going to be part of my transport team. I made sure to get that locked in from the start. I wanted to make sure I was the one protecting her at all times. I didn't want to take my eyes off her, even for a split second.
She jumped on my bike with me, and I helped strap her in. She coiled her arms around my waist, but gave me a reluctant, almost sheepish glance.
I respected the fact that she had made sure everyone else had already gotten safely to a bike before she herself got on one. She was selfless in her own way. She seemed like she took her job seriously as a rescue worker.
"Do you know how to shoot a weapon?" I asked her.
She paused, her pretty eyes meeting my gaze with a serious look. "I have shot a handgun before, why?"
I pulled out a second weapon and handed it to her. "I want you to have this for protection."
She gingerly took it and put it through the belt of her firefighter uniform. "Thank you," she said softly.
"Is this okay?" I asked once I climbed on the bike and sat down directly in front of her. "You can hold on tight, right?"
"Yes," she said, but she seemed slightly intimidated.
"Have you ever ridden on a motorcycle before? I asked.
Grace contemplated. "Maybe once or twice… but I'm no expert."
"Stick with me and you'll be just fine," I reassured her. "Don't worry — you can't fall out of this thing."
"Well hopefully my driver knows what he's doing," Grace said with a flirtatious smile and a sparkle flaring in her dark brown eyes.
I chuckled. "Trust me. I know what I'm doing. I've been riding a long time." I paused and glanced reflectively at my fellow Space Knights who were ready to go — jumping into the roles of heroes of the night. "We all have a lot of experience in that department."
We were outlaws on the run, and I wasn't sure anything would ever change that. I didn't think I'd ever know a different life. It was fast paced and could sometimes get exhausting, but I don't think I'd change it for the world.
The sense of freedom and adventure was what kept my pulse pumping. Besides, we were supposed to fight against the bad guys. It was wired into our DNA. We lived for this shit.
These innocent people didn't deserve to have their lives uprooted and disrupted in the middle of the night. It was our responsibility to keep these innocent lives as protected as possible from these horrible robots that were seemingly reproducing in thin air.
"I appreciate what you guys are trying to do," Grace said softly. That charismatic charm was still twinkling in her dark eyes.
"I'm just trying to do what's right," I said, staring back at her like a love-struck puppy.
Her wavy black hair billowed softly around her face when the breeze gently fluttered through the air.
She took her long, slender, olive toned fingers and pushed a few loose strands of her hair behind her ear. She was wearing silver stud earrings that I hadn't noticed until now. They added an element of femininity to her that sucked me in.
There was a moment where we made eye contact and it felt like the rest of the world faded away. It was brief — but I would take it. If I could get lost in her eyes and forget about my problems — even if it was only for a single second — I would savor that moment.
Grace roped her arms around my waist a little more snugly. Her chest rose and fell slowly as she inhaled and exhaled, preparing herself for this ride.
I gave her an assuring smile and she stared at me with resolve.
"I'm ready to go."
I nodded to Merrix and Norin. They both looked worried about the journey, but what other choice did we have? If we stayed here, unprotected and out in the open — we would remain an easy target for the enemy. They would become attracted to our weakness and thus defeat us while we were vulnerable.
We soared into the skies, hovering above the tallest buildings in the city. Grace didn't slacken her grip on me, but I didn't mind it. Her body felt warm and amazing, closely snaked around my torso.
We quickly realized that the skies weren't any safer than the ground had been. The enemy androids swirled and swooped all around us, flying past like angry hornets out on a mission to sting and destroy.
Almost immediately, two of our own robots were shot down from my transport team. Luckily, they weren't carrying any innocent civilians and were merely escort robots, but it was still a terrible loss because they were in the front — serving as blockers against the vicious androids.
I tried to weave around the murderous androids before they could shoot me down too. My bike flipped on its side, and we did a spin move. Grace gasped and stiffened, but she bravely held her own.
Once we were turned right-side up again, I tossed a careful glance at her over my shoulder.
"Sorry about that."
"It's okay," Grace said, but her voice was shaky.
"There are more of them in the sky than we expected," I said. "How are you holding up back there?"
"I'm holding on for dear life," Grace said with an anxious chuckle. "But I trust you, don't worry," she quickly added.
"It's like there's no free riding space," Grace agreed, tightening her grip on me.
I glanced around the vicinity. I couldn't find Norin's team anywhere. I tried not to panic too soon, but the noose of fear began tightening around my neck after a few disparaging minutes and I still failed to locate him.
"Where is Norin?" I asked through my headpiece communicator. "Norin, are you there?"
I got a bunch of crackly static, and then Merrix voice cut in and out, but nothing from Norin.
"Base… androids… shooting at us from behind…" Merrix garbled voice declared.
Whatever Merrix was trying to tell me, it was coming through in fragments and I couldn't understand him.
"What are you trying to say?" I shouted into the headpiece. "Merrix? Do you have eyes on my brother or anyone from his team?"
After that, the communicator line went dead. The silence was almost deafening, and instantly sickened my stomach.
"Shit," I roared and squeezed my fists around the handles of my space bike.
"It's going to be okay," Grace said in a soothing tone. "We will catch up to them. There is too much chaos going on up here to keep track."
"We weren't supposed to split up," I said, hearing the agitation in my voice.
"Things happen. I'm sure he's fine. The separation seemed almost inevitable from the beginning," Grace said, still trying to reassure me.
My heart drummed anxiously. My pulse quickened and a nervous sweat broke out against my skin, making me feel icy, hot, and clammy all at once.
I became lightheaded. The androids blurred and buzzed all around me.
"Don't have a panic attack now, you dumbass," I mumbled to myself.
"What?" Grace shouted through the roar of the chaos.
"Nothing…" I trailed off. "I was just talking to myself."
Another android swooped in out of nowhere and tried to clip us. I steered away from it at the last second and dodged a bullet, and the brunt impact from its vessel.
Adrenaline surged through my veins. I wanted to obliterate every last one of these motherfuckers from the sky until there were none left to fuck with us. They were bringing fire and terror from the skies, on a war path to kill and demolish anything that crossed its boundaries.
They surrounded us, forming a huddle around us to prevent us from going anywhere. Every time we tried to crank up our pace and whiz past them, they were already hot on our heels, trying to shoot us down from the sky. They maneuvered everywhere around us, relentlessly.
They were traveling around us so fast that it made my head spin. They nicked at our bikes and tried to clip us from the side.
Their ultimate goal was to try and make us tailspin out of control. They slammed into the rear of our space bikes, trying to get us to crash. They were ruthless. There were no rules, and nothing was off limits for these monster androids.
"I can't find a single pocket of space to get around them," I shouted to Grace over my shoulder.
Grace paused a moment or two. I could tell she was thinking. I appreciated the fact that she was calm and rational. She wasn't rash, and she wasn't hot tempered like that David guy seemed to be. He was in our group, and I feared that his reckless behavior was going to get us all killed. At least I found myself being able to easily trust Grace's judgement.
"I grew up around this area," Grace mentioned. "I think I can map out our location just by looking down at the surroundings directly below. Do you think you could fly a little lower? That way I might be able to pick out some landmarks."
"Sure," I said compliantly.
I was open for any options to be able to weave around these angry assholes. I decelerated and began to lower my altitude.
Grace craned her neck downward, narrowing her eyes in concentration as she inspected the area down below us. She was quiet for a few moments.
"I think I know where we are now," she exclaimed excitedly, while pointing eastward. "There… can you steer us in that direction?"
I had a narrow window of opportunity, but I saw a fleeting gap between a cluster of androids. I picked up the pace and flew in the direction that Grace instructed.
"What's your plan?" I asked her.
"I think I know where we can hide out, at least for a little while," she said.
"Aren't we supposed to be going to that military base?" I asked.
"I don't think we are going to make it, do you?" Grace didn't sound confident but to be fair, she had a point.
"We need to find the others," I said.
"If we don't try to hide from these savages, we might die before we ever get that chance," Grace insisted with some urgency in her voice.
"Alright," I said. "What were you thinking?" I should at least hear her out. The situation was becoming a clusterfuck. We were trapped from practically every direction because of the robots.
"Do you see that run-down looking building over there?" Grace asked. "In between that tall gray building and that huge traffic intersection?"
I glanced in the general direction of where she was pointing, studying the area.
"Yes…" I said once I spotted it. The lights were still working, which meant that there must still be electricity in certain areas.
"I grew up in this neighborhood," Grace explained. "That building over there is abandoned now. It used to be a bank, which means it has good bones and lots of places we could hide out—including the area that used to be where the vault was located."
"The vault?" I asked.
"Where they keep all the money," Grace explained. "It's a super secure area."
"Okay…" I trailed off. I needed to hear more, but it sounded somewhat promising.
"I'm sure we could find the armored vault. My dad used to have a friend who worked there. The vault was on the second floor if my memory serves me correctly. Not to mention there will be plenty of offices with secure doors that we can lock."
"Are you sure all that stuff is going to still exist?" I asked.
Grace contemplated with a shrug. "I mean yeah it hasn't been in service as a bank for a number of years — but the structure of the inside of the building shouldn't have changed."
The robo Knights that were carrying the rest of our refugee group with them started following us, just as they were programmed to do because they were on the same navigation track.
We rushed back to the ground and as soon as we were there, we explained to everyone what we were trying to do.
We parked around the back of the building where it was extremely dark, thus giving us some proper area to be concealed better.
I shot a bullet through one of the windows and used my protective space gloves to break the rest of the shards without hurting my hand.
The window was our access point on the ground floor, and one by one Grace and I desperately tried to maneuver the people inside the building and out of harm's way. It wasn't going to be a permanent solution — and I really wanted to find my brother and Merrix before it was too late.
For now, this solution was going to have to do, and it would buy us some time. Once we got everyone inside, I'd try to connect with Norin and Merrix again, hoping and praying along the way that they were still alive and making their way to the base as we'd originally planned.