Chapter 26 #2
“They can stay here until someone rescues them. I’m not going to shoot them, Finn.”
“Because you’re a wonderful person?”
“Because I follow my plans, and the people here are no longer a part of them.”
Am I still a part of his plan? I must be, since I’m still alive, but I don’t want to risk changing that by asking about it.
We enter the bright lab, where dozens of scientists stand nervously. They must have realized what is happening above ground.
“Are we ready to leave?” Hector asks.
An old scientist steps forward, a white mask covering his mouth. “We have everything ready for transportation, sir. The drivers are waiting at Exit C as planned.”
“Good. Remember, you might need to wait a few more days before I send word for you to enter Unity.”
“We’re aware, sir. Is the city lost?”
“Likely, but the fighting should keep everyone occupied until nightfall at least. Better… better get a move on.” He narrows his eyes and turns around, staring into the hallway as if he’s hearing something, but I can’t hear a thing.
“Sir?” the scientist says, but Hector raises his hand to silence him.
I watch as the color drains from Hector’s face, disbelief in his eyes. “Oh my, what an unexpected reunion.” He reaches for my hand, his skin damp and cold. “Let’s go say hello.”
I can think of only one thing that can cause Hector to react like this.
He doesn’t say a word as we walk back toward the dome.
Even before we get there, I can hear the lizard men’s restless clicks and hisses.
When we enter the dome, Hector raises his hand to silence them.
They go down on their knees, leaving Hector and me the only ones still standing.
The flow of water from the outflows suddenly stops, leaving an eerie silence in the large space.
My heart beats fast while Hector remains stoic next to me, but his pale face tells a different story.
Through the silence, a faint tip-tap echoes from one of the pipes.
I’ve heard it many times before, but it can’t be him.
I clench my fists and focus on the outflow in front of me, where final drops of water still dribble down.
“Based on your heartbeat, I assume you know who that is,” Hector says.
I’m too anxious to speak. All I can think of is that I don’t have a way to protect him.
“Oh my. And what is that?”
Timothy appears at the mouth of the outflow, about six feet above ground.
“Leave!” I shout, but he remains in place.
“Don’t be rude,” Hector says. “Your peculiar friend has led them here.”
“What?”
A glowing yellow light begins to illuminate the dark pipes.
It grows stronger by the second. All around us, the kneeling lizard men snap their jaws and wave their claws.
When the substance spills down from every outflow, the entire dome illuminates with a bright yellowish glow, but it dims when the substance flows down into the water around us.
“Calm down!” Hector shouts at his restless lizards. His telepathic communication must not be enough to control them anymore. I remember their refusal to come close to the old factory in Pueblo.
One by one, figures engulfed in yellow substance rise from the water. Ten. Twenty. Thirty. They keep rising all around us, beautiful yet terrifying. I tell myself they are not my enemies, but if this turns into a battle, I’ll be stuck in the middle of it.
The lizard men grow silent when no attack comes, and that silence is replaced by dozens of yellow figures chanting Paul, Paul, Paul. They sound… happy, as if they found a long-lost friend. I glance at Timothy, wondering if this is about to become a terrible mistake on our part.
“Old friends, I never expected you to leave Pueblo. There was a time I begged you to do so, but you refused.”
One of the figures steps forward, causing the lizard men to move out of its way, though their claws remain raised. “Our new friends have brought word to us of your plans.” The voice seems to come from multiple directions, not quite male and not quite female.
“Your new friends do not know of my plans.”
“Conquest and distraction speak for themselves, Paul.”
Hector hisses, “Not Paul. Paul was a child.”
“We don’t remember our own names, but we do remember yours, and we cherish it.”
“Do you remember Erica, Ben, Eleanor and Sam? Your new friends killed them.”
“They weren’t alive back then. Those are not their sins.”
“It doesn’t matter. I will make sure those sins never return.”
“By committing even worse sins?”
Hector breathes heavily. “You are not welcome here. If you leave me and my army at peace, I will leave as well. Your new friends can take this city. Let them be victorious.”
The figures glow brighter. “Thank you, Paul. We appreciate your—”
“He’s lying! He’s going to invade Unity and—”
Hector hits the side of my head. The sharp pain makes me stumble to my knees, and through the bells in my ears, I hear Timothy calling my name.
The lizard men hiss in anger as the yellowish figure steps forward, stopping a few feet from us. “Do not hurt this one.”
“Is he also one of your new friends?” Hector pulls out a gun and holds it to my head, the barrel cold against my temple. I don’t want to die, but I’d rather get shot than be torn apart by sharp claws.
“The one who named us Goo asked that we protect this one, and we gave him our word.”
“Oh, for fuck’s sake. Take him with you, Goo, as long as you get out of my way.”
“So you can invade a Hive with your army of evil?”
“Army of evil? My fucking blood made them! Our blood!”
The figure spreads its arms toward the lizard men. They seem to be less scared, which concerns me. “We would never wish to curse someone with this fate.”
“This is not your decision to make. I left you behind a lifetime ago.”
“And you took with you four of our children who you swore to protect.”
The gun shakes in his hand. I wish to make myself as small as possible, but I’m afraid to move. This loaded conversation between them is over a century in the making.
“If they had listened to me, they might have still been alive.” Despite Hector’s words, I catch the uncertainty in his voice. A part of me pities him, but it was his choice to turn his tragedy into a lifelong quest for destruction.
“You can’t continue seeking revenge while others seek peace, Paul.” The figure takes a step closer, but lizard men move to block its path.
I look up at Timothy as he watches me surrounded. I tell him with my lips to leave, but he stubbornly shakes his head.
“Do you really believe the people out there seek peace?” Hector snorts.
“I gave them a common enemy to unite against, but what will happen once I’m gone?
Do you think they won’t find something else to fight over?
History is bound to repeat itself, and human instincts never change.
By stopping me, you might end this war, but you will also be launching the next one. ”
I shiver, knowing he’s telling the truth. I’ve spent countless hours reading in Unity’s library, learning of what came before the war that ended all wars. Father, Hector, the Raiders… there will always be someone seeking to control and reshape the world in their image.
I can’t change history or decide what the future holds, but at this moment in time, I do matter.
“He won’t back down,” I tell the figure, my voice steadier than my heartbeat. “Nothing you can say will make him change his mind. He’s going to invade Unity and transform everyone there so he can continue spreading like a plague. If you want to stop him, this is your only chance.”
Hector looks down at me, disappointment in his eyes, and maybe even sadness. “I wish we had more time together, little one. I would have made you understand eventually.”
I hold my breath and brace myself for a shot as Timothy shouts, “Please don’t hurt him!”
A nasty spark lights in Hector’s eyes, and my fear erupts like a bomb. “No!”
He moves the gun and shoots, the bullet ripping part of Timothy’s head off. Bright sparks burst as he slumps, one of his hands dangling from the ledge of the outflow.
A mighty wave of sorrow and guilt crashes over me, flooding my lungs until I can’t breathe. I must wake up from this nightmare, because this can’t be real.
In the corner of my eye, I notice the yellow figure lunging forward. It’s met with lizard men who tear it apart. They shriek in pain as their skin and bones burn, but they fight on until they’re turned into ash.
Hector screams as chaos erupts. Scales appear across his face. He grows two feet taller, his shirt and pants tearing. His eyes burn brightly with a yellow glow, and two dark horns covered in blood emerge from his skull.
This is the real him, the version he’s been hiding for decades.
Something knocks into me and shoves me aside.
I cover my head to avoid getting hit because there’s nowhere to run.
I sharply bring my knees to my chest as a yellow puddle gathers around me, creating a protective barrier.
All across the dome, yellow figures clash with lizard men, filling my head with horrible shrieks of pain.
The scent of scorched flesh is sickening, clogging my throat.
Hector stands steadily as war rages around him.
The yellow figures cut through his army, closing the distance until they finally reach him.
He smashes his massive fists into them, his tail slicing through their bodies.
His skin doesn’t burn with the impact, either because he’s immune or because they don’t want to kill him.
Despite his brutal attacks, the figures merge whenever they’re hit, then return to fight.
Parts of them lie on the ground, dark gray and lifeless like Rose was at the end.
Finally, they manage to grab hold of Hector and bring him to his knees.
He screams and thrashes, but he can’t shake them off.
They lie on top of him, absorbing him into them until all that remains is a single flat layer of substance, pulsing in yellow light.
I rise to my feet. Dark shapes clash inside the substance as the battle rages on.
I jolt backward when Hector resurfaces, waving his hands as he’s trying to climb back out.
Parts of his face have melted, leaving the bones underneath exposed.
He meets my eyes and tries to reach me, but I stand my ground and watch as dozens of hands drag him back down.
I should use the opportunity to escape, but I’m not leaving Timothy behind. The yellow light suddenly dims, leaving me confused. Seconds later, horrible screams fill the dome. I cover my ears and fall to my knees, but I can’t escape the sounds of death.
Are they sacrificing themselves to end Hector, or is he the one killing them all?
When it all grows quiet, I know I’ll never know for sure. I dare to open my eyes and stand up on shaky feet. The substance lies gray and lifeless. I have no choice but to step on it, causing it to dissolve into dust.
“I’m sorry,” I say. They didn’t have to leave their home and fight our war. Maybe they drew comfort from having one of their children returned to them after all these years.
I take a breath and force myself to look up at what my brain is not willing to accept.
Timothy still lies at the mouth of the outflow, half his head gone.
A hole grows in the center of my heart as I walk numbly toward my dead friend.
I don’t feel that I’m crying, but tears slide down my cheeks.
I step into the water and make the short distance to the outflow, which is the same height as me.
“You shouldn’t have come here,” I say, trying not to be angry with him, but it hurts so fucking much. I sob as I stroke his cold and lifeless body. His palms are already turning pale. “Why did you have to come here?”
I can’t pull him out because he’s too heavy. My head hurts from Hector’s strike, and all I want is to curl into a ball and pretend that none of this is real. In an alternative universe, we were never betrayed by the king. We had made our way safely back to Unity with Otto, Trey, Timothy and Caden.
Before I can decide what to do, I hear footsteps approaching fast. I hold my breath and wait with my feet still in the water. River enters the dome, panting with his face bruised. He must have run all the way from the communication center.
He looks around at the smoldering corpses and the lifeless substance. When he walks toward me, his eyes move to find Timothy. “No,” he gasps. “No no no no no!”
I can’t stomach the sorrow in his eyes. He runs through the water and carefully pulls Timothy from the outflow, holding him close to his chest. “Nanny Spider, you promised to be careful. You promised!”
“Are you sure he’s—?”
“I can’t feel his soul. It’s gone.”
“I’m sorry. I couldn’t save him.”
“It’s not your fault.” Through his tears, he looks around him. “Is Hector dead?”
“Yes. Is Caden…?”
“Alive, but he’s wounded. Josh had to shoot him to save me, and then Caden shot himself. They took him to Florence.”
I take it all in, finding comfort in knowing he still has a chance to survive this.
“We need to go,” I say, because I can’t stay in this mass grave any longer.
River leans down to kiss what remains of Timothy’s head. “Okay.”