Chapter 61: Volume II: Chapter 27: Getaway

Will drifted in and out as he lay on the floor next to his mother. He remembered Chleo squeezing his hand. Did he squeeze back?

Cracking his eyes open, he searched beneath heavy eyelids. They were in a hanger. Dai and Mrs. Mathews struggled against the guards across from him. Lab coats hung from their captors’ frames, sharp and clinical in contrast to the grungy surroundings. Will’s heart skipped, eyes twitching. Where was Johnson?

A guard held Merk on his knees to Will’s left, a stunner pressed to his head. Mr. Mathews lay in a heap gathered in the corner. His guard leaned against the wall, bored. Will’s head lulled to the side, drawn by Eelock’s purple glow to his right. He sucked in a breath.

The ship stood behind Eelock and the guard shoving his face into the ground. They’d made it. Hope blossomed in his chest despite the scene. It hit a crescendo then dropped. Where was Chleo?

He forced his head to turn. A cargo elevator stood on the far wall near Mr. Mathews. A set of doors rattled by it, large enough for equipment and parts to squeeze through. The hinges groaned, the control panel beside it glowing red.

A smaller door sat behind Merk on the conjoining wall. Will’s gaze landed on it, studying the control panel. It blinked green. The door slid open. He caught sight of a few lab coats inside.

Will tried to sit up. His back screamed. He tried not to scream with it. Maybe he would stay down.

Will blinked… or woke up? When he looked back at the door, Chleo was kneeling at the entrance, feeling her way out. Will’s stomach dropped. In the mines it seemed like… he’d thought her vision was returning. Between spurts of agonizing pain and focusing on putting one foot in front of the other, he was sure he heard her warning them about incoming Neons. She saw them… didn’t she?

His heart broke watching her fumble forward. Her face twisted in concentration and fear. He’d never seen her look so uncertain. She looked lost.

Will lifted a hand on reflex, trying to comfort her. The weight of his hornet clung to his palm. He let his arm drop realizing she wouldn’t see his attempt. He rolled the orb through his fingers.

Johnson stalked out behind her. The guard by Mr. Mathews straightened to attention. Will’s teeth clenched. His hand tightened around the hornet. He could have stopped him.

Chleo’s injection replayed in his head, their moms staring in from the viewing window, the guard’s arm heavy across his shoulders, hands like vices around his wrists. He should have pulled his hornet earlier. Humans or not, he should have stung them the second they walked through the door. He should have… something burned in his chest, clawing up his throat… he should have… his body refused to listen, every movement shooting pain down his spine. It wasn’t a guard shoving him into a wall, but it was close enough.

The service doors rattled again.

“I believe we’ve overstayed our welcome.” Johnson’s voice slithered through the room, smooth and slick. It dripped from Will’s ears, stabbing deep. “Chleo, dear, come along,” he said reaching down to haul her up. “I believe our testing in this particular venue is complete.”

She ripped from his arms, stumbling a few steps closer to Merk before tumbling over a stray panel converter and crashing to the ground. Johnson strode forward, wrenching her up again before she could collect herself. His control slipped, a snarl winking across his face before he snapped his indifferent mask back into place.

“Listen to me, girl. You will come with me. You will complete the tasks I give you, or I will let your friend die.” He grabbed her chin, forcing her to look in Will’s direction. Her eyes darted, unseeing. Johnson, forced a laugh at his folly. “It’s the boy,” he explained. “I’ll let him die first. Then I’ll kill the others, one at a time until it’s only you and my dear… Lexy.” Will felt his mother stiffen.

Tears leaked from Chleo’s eyes, tracking down her cheeks. Will heard Mrs. Mathews call for her. The commotion in the room grew. Will wished he could join them. His hornet felt heavy in his hand. He could help.

His eyes flicked toward Merk… so could he. Will’s gaze landed on the hornet. The black stripes stared back. No killing.

Johnson dragged Chleo in front of Merk. The neon struggled against his guard, glaring at Johnson. Will had never seen him so angry. The laugh lines around his eyes disappeared as if they’d never existed, the jokes once quick on his lips a distant memory.

“Maybe I’ll start with him,” Johnson hissed in her ear. Chleo’s watery eyes stared blankly into the room. “You’ll be able to see it, right? I’ll have my guards take their time, let you fully understand the price of disobedience.”

Chleo’s shoulders slumped. “I’ll listen.”

“What was that?” Johnson cocked his head. Merk’s glow reflected off his skin, casting his features in an angry red. Where Merk wore it with the grace of a cardinal, Johnson let it lap at him like fire.

Chleo took a breath. She swallowed. With a voice steadier than her expression, she repeated, “I’ll listen. I’ll go with you and do your tests.”

Will cringed at the smile crossing Johnson’s face. He heard their mothers protest, Dai and Merk joining in. Only Eelock and Mr. Mathews were silent. Will turned to look at Eelock. He followed his gaze to the service doors.

They rattled more frequently, a crack opening near one of the broken hinges. Light sputtered through, yellow, red, blue, and a few in between. They flickered, uneven, frantic. Goosebumps pricked Will’s skin.

“Dai,” Eelock’s voice broke through the room, calm, controlled. Dai met his gaze and nodded. She shoved back against her guard then wrenched forward, freeing a hand.

The door hinge wrenched loose. Dai grabbed a blade tucked at her ankle in the confusion. Her guard struggled to get her under control. The last hinge broke free, the door clattering to the ground. Everyone but Dai froze. She flung herself forward, breaking out of the guard’s loose grip as the first crazed Neon slammed into his back. Yellow flickered as it tore out his neck.

Dai dove forward tackling Mrs. Mathews away from her guard as another flickering Neon ripped through. Dai covered her with her body. The Neons sniffed in their direction before moving toward easier targets.

The guards snapped their stunners up, shooting into the onslaught. Eelock broke free, his guard too focused on the advancing targets. He rushed to their side, grabbing a stunner off a fallen guard on the way.

Merk broke away, charging after Johnson and Chleo. White lab coats blocked his path. Red pattered them as he cut his way through, flickering Neons taking the others. He punched a flickering yellow in the jaw when her glow steadied, and she tried to raise a dropped stunner at him. Will watched as he stalked Johnson’s black lab coat through the sea of color.

The first Neons through the door began to stagger to their feet, their glows bright and solid, blood dripping down their jaws. Dai hopped to her feet, helping Mrs. Mathews up. She jammed her knife into a green Neon that advanced too close and retreated toward Will and his mother. Eelock helped laying down cover fire and shooting Neons and lab coats that wandered too close to their position. Johnson’s men pulled back toward the door they’d used to enter, sheltering the man they worked for in the middle. Chleo dragged her feet at his side.

Merk cut his way closer. Will spotted Johnson’s black lab coat through the melee passing a tool bench. His hornet buzzed in his hand. He ran the angles.

Black stripes glared at him. Merk cut down another guard, another took its place. Johnson was almost to the door, Chleo struggling at his side. Will had a shot.

Merk would see. Will’s wrist tingled. Is that where they would take his hand? The orb buzzed in comfort. Would he ever hold it again? He’d just gotten it.

“Merk,” Chleo yelled, pleading for him to hurry. Merk couldn’t help her. Will could.

Will replayed the syringe plunging into her arm, the panic crossing her face, body seizing, blank eyes blinking open. He lined up the shot. Blue stripes reminded him to aim true. He flicked.

The hornet zipped forward. Merk heard it. Ducking a stunner he turned in time to see it hit the tool bench. His eyes widened, disappointment pulling his features. It pinged off the bench’s leg into the table, then reversed to the floor. The hornet screamed off the stone, barely missing a guard’s leg that Will didn’t account for. It hit.

Will faltered under Merk’s betrayed gaze. Johnson spasmed. Chleo broke free pushing a guard from behind to reach Merk. He grabbed her, lifting her over a shoulder, still shooting at the guards as he retreated. Will waited for a guard to slide in range, in for a penny, in for a pound. His lips pursed, a whistle lingering on his breath.

He slammed it shut. Johnson twitched. His hand reached for a guard. He was alive. Will blinked. He waited for his target to move. A path opened. He whistled.

His hornet tore from Johnson’s neck, zipping across the room to Will’s hand. It hummed between his fingers. Johnson met his eyes. Free from Merk’s glow, the fire hadn’t left. Will’s stomach turned.

More Neon’s spilled into the room, their glows steady in the hangar, a different type of hunger in their eyes. Jones’s hybrids dotted their ranks, scales glistening in the light. Another hornet joined the fight. A guard near Johnson fell, breaking his stare. The guard didn’t get back up.

Johnson sneered, turning toward the exit.

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“Get me the girl,” he ordered, disappearing through the door. His remaining guards faced the room. Only a handful remained. They wouldn’t succeed.

The new Hornet Master whistled. The orb zipped back to her hand. Will would have groaned if it didn’t hurt so bad. Tilly stood meters from Mr. Mathews laying forgotten in a corner. Jones lounged against the doorframe next to her.

Merk bashed a Neon on the back of the head as it gnawed on a screaming guard’s arm. He barreled through two more raising to shaky legs, their glows steadying to match the new arrivals. Eelock caught a few more with his stunner. Merk dropped Chleo into her mom’s arms before turning back, stunner in one hand, hornet in another.

“Looks like our bet’s back on,” Dai said brandishing her spare knife. Will saw her eyeing Tilly and wondered what she was talking about.

Merk let out an indifferent hum. Dai flicked a concerned glance at him.

“You good?”

“Let’s get out of here,” he said, teeth grinding as his gaze dropped to Will.

Guilt clenched Will’s stomach. The hornet felt even heavier in his hand.

Tilly walked forward through her ragtag band of Johnson’s experiments. Her hornet zipped forward, finishing the last of the human guards with a few well-timed whistles. She shot it half-heartedly at Dai.

The orb clattered away, Dai’s knife knocking it off course before she stabbed a hybrid who made it past Eelock and Merk. Tilly chuckled, whistling it back to her.

“Stop,” she ordered.

The Neons and hybrids filed back toward her. Jones skulked by her side. Will spotted Renny hanging off the sides of their ranks.

“Give us the girl, and we’ll let you go,” she offered.

“You’ve gotten popular since I left,” Mrs. Mathews muttered to Chleo.

“Doesn’t quite live up to expectations.” She smiled into her mom’s shoulder. Mrs. Mathews took most of her weight, helping her stay on her feet.

“She belongs with us,” Eelock said. His voice filled the hangar, unmovable.

“And we belong on Terra,” Tilly said raising her arms to encompass her band of misfits. “Funny how people are misplaced.” She stared at Eelock. Her face softened. “We won’t hurt her. We just want to go home.”

“She can’t help,” Will heard his mother say.

Tilly snapped. Her hornet jumped forward without thought. Eelock swatted it away with the butt of his stunner.

“You. Don’t. Speak.” Tilly ground out.

Will watched her hornet roll toward the ship. She whistled. A shock sparked from the orb to a piece of equipment before it jumped back to her hand. Will looked back through the room. No one noticed.

He turned back to the piece of equipment. Something about it was familiar.

“Chleo is coming home with us,” Dai said. “Let us board or we’ll make you.”

Tilly sighed, shooting them a disappointed glance. She turned to Jones. Will studied the piece of equipment. Boxy, blinking light, about the size of a steam bike on Luna. His eyes flicked to Chleo.

Blocker series C. It couldn’t… could it? He looked back at the contraption. What did Chleo say?

“Bring me the girl,” he heard Tilly say somewhere in the distance.

Stunners fired. Arrows twanged. They scattered moving behind cover. His mother dragged him back. It seemed the adults had a plan. Fine with him. His back screamed. He wanted to sleep. Will blinked.

Neons scattered the ground. It was clear seconds ago. What was he thinking about? His eye caught the blocker. Right.

A voice rambled in the back of his mind. It sounded suspiciously like Chleo. Series C was discontinued due to a manufacturing error that resulted in overheating when introduced to an external power source.

A hybrid crashed into view. Will’s hornet hummed in his hand. He lined up a shot. The creature stumbled through stunner blasts until Dai moved to stab him. She punched her knife through the scales before Will could flick.

Power source. Will rolled the hornet through his fingers. It hummed, ready to join the battle. Worth a try.

He flicked it at the blocker. Shocks licked the air until it attached. The contraption sputtered then smoked. Worried for his hornet, Will whistled. It jumped back seconds before the metallic block burst into flames. Something stuttered in the air. Static filled the hangar. The battle never paused.

The ship whined. It’s engines roared to life. The cargo bay door groaned open. Birds flooded out.

“Will,” Mic’s voice exclaimed from all of them, “I could kiss you.” The birds spun in the air shooting stunners into Tilly’s forces. “But I’ll leave it for Chleo, I think.”

Will was too tired to blush.

A few arrows flew true. They lost three of Mic’s haphazard spheres before a tension filled the air. They fizzed invisible, only the stunner shots giving away their position.

The hover board shot out next. Merk threw Chleo over a shoulder. Her mom, covered him with a stunner as they ran for the ship. Eelock and Dai rushed to Will’s side.

“I’ll take him.” Eelock’s voice sounded far away.

His mother’s hands tightened on her stunner. Dai readied her knife. Idly, he wondered if her other hand missed having a weapon in it. Eelock reached under him and lifted. Will couldn’t stop the scream. He wished he could say it sounded manly. Hopefully, Chleo didn’t hear.

The last thing he saw before his vision went dark was a bird clasping straps around Mr. Mathews and attaching him to the hover board. Mic had been busy.

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