Stranded: (Space Outlaw 2) Page 13

  He tore his gaze from the horizon and looked behind him. Saoirse and Plowstow each straddled a hover bike, also kitted out in combat gear. The rusty brown bikes blended into their surroundings, and the slight pulse they emitted from their undercarriages shifted the sand around them.

  Both carried a wide array of weaponry. It appeared Saoirse had stolen an armoury. Phoenix had wanted to ask if she had acquired them in an honourable way, but his nerve gave out on him.

  Saoirse had gone back to being quiet and still. Phoenix wanted to reach out and lend an ear, but he knew that her pride wouldn't allow her to open up. She dealt with things in her own way–through violence mostly.

  Phoenix looked up to see the faint outlines of stars starting to emerge in the sky. He breathed through his nose and allowed the air to calm him down.

  He hoped this worked.

  Yet another simple plan. Yet another risk that might end his life.

  "Phoenix, you sure this will work? I mean, I'm too young to die out here...among the worm shit...and...and...sand."

  "Plowstow, honestly, hope for the best, expect the worst. That's the only guarantee I can give you."

  "That ain't much of a guarantee."

  "Think of the loot, Plowstow. Think of the loot," said Phoenix.

  "I'm thinking. I'm thinking--"

  "Don't hurt yourself," said Saoirse.

  "And I'm thinking that maybe loot isn't all worth it. Maybe a nice quiet life would do me just fine, you know? Find a home, find a female–maybe two–because the nights get cold--"

  A snort from Saoirse drew a quick sideways glance from Plowstow.

  "Raise a family. Maybe buy some land. You know, just live all peaceful-like. Maybe grow some crops. Shit! I don't know, Phoenix, just do something less risky than this shit."

  Phoenix let out a small laugh and shook his head. "Really, Plowstow, you think that sort of life is for you? Getting moaned at all the time. Not being able to come and go as you please. Never seeing the unknown worlds that could house all sorts of rare and valuable treasure. Growing older and poorer, each and every day, because your offspring are taking every credit you have. Does that sound like fun to you?"

  Silence.

  Phoenix looked over his shoulder and saw Plowstow's eyes widen with fear.

  "By the pit demon of Rag, no!" Plowstow slapped himself in the face before saying. "If you ever hear me utter such shit again, beat me silly."

  "I'll be glad to," said Saoirse.

  He's scared. Good.

  That should keep Plowstow alive and sharp. If Phoenix just kept the Orcian's mind on what he could make out of this deal, then he would have one less problem to worry about. This plan needed everyone on board or it just wouldn't work.

  Phoenix sat on his hover bike and noticed dust in the distance. Even in the fading light, he could see it trailing like signal smoke up in the air.

  "Right, ladies and gentlemen. It's showtime!"

  42

  Phoenix watched the convoy approach like a desert viper. They weren't coming in fast; they were taking their time. Showing Phoenix that his time wasn't worth their haste. That although he had summoned them there, they were still in charge.

  How little they knew.

  "Check your weapons. I don't think this will be a friendly discussion," said Phoenix.

  He leaned on his bike and squinted into the distance to get a better look at what was coming. Four hover pickup trucks, ten hover bikes. Well, looks like they brought their full force out to play. That was good. It would give Freyan time to work.

  "It appears they don't want to take any chances. It is wise of them," said Saoirse.

  "I was hoping that I made that little fucker so mad that he'd come rushing out here all by himself. Well, there's still time, I guess," said Phoenix.

  "It appears Rustem is not with them," said Saoirse.

  "I figured as much. They wouldn't risk leaving L and Kai alone, but I have faith in Freyan."

  The vehicles approaching the trio had bits of metal bolted and welded to them for sharp edges to stick out. Barbed wire encircled a few like skirts. Phoenix could see mounted cannons poking out of the back of the trucks. Bodies hung out of both vehicles, banging against the sides with their weapons. Their war cries carried on the breeze.

  "They appear to be excited," said Saoirse.

  "That will soon change," Phoenix replied.

  "They appear unafraid."

  "That will also change."

  Phoenix's heart raced, and he took a breath to steady it. He ran his tongue over his dry lips and wiped his damp hands on his jacket.

  Now wasn't the time for second guesses. Now wasn't the time for doubts.

  As the convoy came into full view, it began to circle the crew. Round and round it went, kicking sand up into the air so it was impossible to see clearly. Phoenix covered his mouth as the dust tried to make its way into his system.

  Shouts and curses could be heard just beyond the wall of sand. Phoenix dodged as something was thrown his way. His vision was limited. His hearing was feeding him too much stimulus.

  Scare tactics.

  Phoenix's shoulders began to shake as laughter began to erupt from the depths of his soul. These fools had underestimated him. They had underestimated his crew. How little they knew.

  The convoy slowed and came to a stop in front of them. As the dust settled, and the vehicles stopped in their various spots, Phoenix swept his gaze over them. What he saw didn't impress him. The mean mugging, the gun toting, the threatening behaviour, spoke volumes about who he was dealing with.

  They might have been accustomed to violence, but they were clueless in the art of terror. Phoenix tried to wipe the smug look from his face but it wouldn't go away.

  Duke stepped out of one of the hover pickup trucks and strutted over as if he had a rod firmly shoved up his ass.

  Rookie move. Stay with your vehicle at all times. You may need to escape or pursue your enemy. He must think very little of us indeed.

  Duke came to a stop and placed his hands on his hips. He took in the three bikes and their riders. His gaze flitted from one masked face to the next. "So...which of you is Phoenix? Phoenix Jones? I didn't catch your name before you ran out of my building like a scared little child."

  "All depends who is asking, really. The answer is different for an angry husband, a jealous ex or an anyone in-between."

  "Don't play games with me! I know--" Duke let out a heavy sigh and pinched the bridge of his nose. "I know who you are, Phoenix, so please do not play games with me. It will not end well for you."

  "Big threats made by a little Dukey," Phoenix said with a smile.

  Plowstow burst out laughing, doing nothing to improve the mood.

  "You really think you're all that, don't ya?" Duke said. "Smooth-talking, big-walking, chest-puffing, king of all he surveys. I have seen a hundred like you. There will be a hundred more to come, and do you know where they will all end up? Right here." Duke said, kicking sand towards Phoenix.

  "You've never seen anything like me."

  "Oh, is that so?"

  "If you had, you wouldn't be alive, right now. You should be happy that none were like me, because you got to live out your days–until now."

  "Is that so?" Duke said, smirking over his shoulder at his laughing men.

  "I'm afraid it is."

  Duke smiled at Phoenix. "You hear that, boys?" he called over his shoulder. "I should be happy to be alive. Me! Me! Who has taken what he saw fit?"

  "You!" rang the cries from his men.

  "Who pulled his way out from the gutter to the throne?"

  "You!" yelled the voices at Duke's back.

  "Who gave you somewhere to live? Something to do? Made you into something that you could be proud of?"

  "You! You! You! You!"

  Duke spread his arms wide and beamed in Phoenix's direction.

  "They matter little, when you face me. But this you will learn in time. Now, where are my crewmates?" said Phoe
nix.

  "Crewmate, fucker."

  "Young Kai will be coming with us, along with L. Now, I will not repeat myself. Where. Are. My. Crewmates?"

  Duke lifted his hands in the air and gave Phoenix a puzzled stare. He shook his head and began to laugh; holding his sides he continued on and on.

  Expressionless, Phoenix waited for him to finish.

  "I get it, now. You're out of your fucking mind. Completely and utterly. Do you not see how the odds are stacked against you? Do you not see that you're outnumbered more than three to one? What were you expecting when you called me out here? You, Phoenix Jones, have nothing to offer. Nothing to bargain with. I am not the only one that wants your head.

  "Yet you send a message to meet me in the middle of the desert. Not in a crowded place. Not somewhere that you would have the advantage. No, in the fucking desert. Any sane person would run and get off-world, lost among the stars. Any smart person would never meet me like this. But you–you–I see are a special case. Part stupid, part crazy. Ahh, this was fun. I will miss you when you're gone," said Duke.

  "Are you done?" Phoenix asked.

  Duke gave him a small nod.

  "I will ask one more time. Do you have my people?"

  "No, dum-dum. I do not."

  "Well, I guess you die." As the words left Phoenix's mouth, an explosion lifted the sand into the air like a tsunami.

  43

  L didn't know how long she had been kept in the room. It could have been mere hours or it could have been days. Whenever she demanded something to eat or drink she was taken to a different room and fed before being placed back in the room where darkness ruled. The same thing happened if she needed the toilet.

  On one of her trips out of the dark room, thoughts of escape surfaced. But her ideas were quickly dashed against the rocks and sank like a ship, because more than one guard always escorted her anywhere she went.

  She got up and stretched her back until it popped. At least they had taken off her restraints, so she could wander around in the dark as she pleased. It had taken more than a few falls and bruised shins for her to get a feel for the layout of the room.

  "If this is what being blind is like, then you can keep it," L muttered to herself.

  How was she ever going to get out of there? There were no windows or vents to escape through, and when the door locked it sealed into the wall completely. She ran her hands back and forth along the wall, but she couldn't find any way to prise it open. She had spoken a good game to Rustem but doubts were beginning to creep along the edges of her subconscious.

  What if Midnight never found her? What if Phoenix decided she wasn't worth the trouble? They had only just met, after all; there were no real bonds of friendship between them. Who even was she to him? Some ship's engineer that he could replace at the click of his fingers.

  L let out a sigh and ran her hands through her hair.

  The click of the door brought her attention to the present. The harshness of the light that spilled out of the entrance assaulted her senses, forcing her to turn away. She heard someone yell as they fell forward into the room and the door was locked again with a slam and a hiss.

  L brought her head back round to where she last saw the door; light spots still danced in front of her face.

  "H-he-hello?" said a voice through the darkness.

  "Kai?"

  "L?"

  "Well, if this isn't a fine how-do-you-do? They lock me up in complete darkness, then they throw you in here to torment me. What did I ever do to deserve this? I was just a simple engineer, attracted to the big city lights, who brought her halfwit brother along.

  "If only I'd known what trouble you would cause me, Kai. If I only I'd known what trouble you would fill my life with, I would have left you back in that cave we called a village. Do you remember what it was like there?"

  "I remember, L," said Kai.

  "Do you? Do you! Do you remember the cold winds so strong that we lost more than one family member to sickness? The roar of hungry stomachs till they no longer made a sound?"

  "I remember."

  "The constant fear of attacks from worms? The raids from bandits so hungry they looked like skeletons wearing rags?"

  "I remember."

  "The constant fear, terror, heartache, loneliness--"

  "I remember! All right, L! I remember all of it. I was there too, you know, or have you forgotten? You may think you had it just as hard as I, but I had it longer. I was alive through it longer, I had to endure it longer. I know how it was...I know. I thought the universe was empty. Thought it was a heartless, soulless place. I lost my faith in everything. I almost gave up believing in the faith of Soul. I..."

  L heard the faintest of footsteps come forward then stop.

  "I...I had given up faith, that day you found me in the desert. I lied and said I was following you, but in fact it was just by chance, fate, destiny, that we met. Do you know what I was doing there?" said Kai.

  L shook her head but realised that Kai couldn't see her. "No."

  "I was going there to die."

  L wanted to gasp but she couldn't make a sound. Instead her mouth hung open, and she stared at the dark where she believed Kai must stand before her.

  "I was just going to walk the land till I died of thirst, got eaten by a worm or attacked by bandits. Whichever way death came first, I would embrace it. I had completely lost hope in everything," said Kai.

  L placed a hand to her mouth. Again, she tried to speak but nothing came out. Her heart faltered then missed a beat. Swallowing the lump in her throat, she said, "But why? You always seemed the heart and soul of the family."

  Kai let out a bitter laugh. "Do you know how hard that was? Do you know how difficult it got, day by day, night by night, preaching the words of Soul but seeing death in front of your eyes? Friends, lovers, family members. In the name of Soul, it was rough. It was rough having that weight on my shoulders.

  "So I walked and walked, and just by chance, just by fate, I met you. I knew it wasn't an accident. I knew I had to follow you."

  "Why?"

  "VRG. Don't laugh, I think it was. I know I can't hit the side of a hundred-foot worm when I play the game, but I have a skill where I can programme it and bring joy to people's lives. Give them a few hours away from the pain of their lives. To me that is magical," said Kai.

  "Really, Kai?"

  "What are the words of the faith of Soul, L? Love. Laugh. Dance. Hallucinate. Do I not create all four of those things when people play my VRG games?"

  "We both know hallucinate normally means to take a shitload of drugs," L said with a laugh.

  "So what, baby sis? Can't a brother read between the lines?" Kai said with a chuckle.

  "But you were always good with computer programmes. You were always gifted," said L.

  "I just found better uses for that gift. That's all."

  Silence and darkness stood between the two siblings; neither knew what to say next. L remembered when nobody could keep them apart. She remembered when they had both laughed. When they both got into trouble for hiking into the desert without a backward glance. How things had changed. Well, not so much, she thought. They were still getting into trouble. Each still being punished for the things the other had done.

  "L, I never meant for any of this to happen. Just...one thing led to another. I'm sorry. I love you. And I will do whatever I can to protect you."

  "Kai...I know, I know."

  44

  Sand erupted into the air as explosion after explosion went off all around them. A column of flame punched one hover pickup thirty feet in the air. Over and over it spun as bodies were thrown from its interior like shrapnel from a bomb. The burning wreckage landed nose first on top of another pickup, crushing those inside it.

  Two bikes disintegrated into a million pieces as an explosion ripped them apart. Shards of the bikes tore into flesh without mercy, and screams howled into the night sky like wolves on a hunt.

  The explosions se
emed to go on and on, spewing fiery vomit into the desert air. Those who were not prepared for the onslaught cowered and dived for cover.

  Phoenix stood motionless, watching the chaos unfold. Sand rained down from the heavens and covered all. Black smoke stung the eyes. The smell of burnt flesh invaded the nostrils.

  Phoenix was stunned by the carnage they had caused. Twisted metal decorated the desert like modern art. Bodies lay mangled and half-buried. He felt frozen in time, looking at the wreckage around him. He didn't feel part of it. There was so much chaos but time itself felt slowed down.

  He saw eyes widen in panic. He saw mouths agape, frozen in fear. Others held severed limbs, desperately trying to re-attach them.

  Through all of it, Phoenix stood motionless, detached, until it felt like an ice-cold bucket of water poured itself over his head. It started from the base of his neck and worked its way down.

  That felt...weird.

  Phoenix felt his reality come back with a pop, like a movie playing at normal speed after moving frame by frame.

  "Saoirse, how much explosives did you use?" Phoenix asked.

  "Just the right amount," the midnight-blue demon smirked.

  Flames scorched the sand. Blood poured from wounds. Screams bellowed from mouths. But the initial shock of the attack was starting to wear off, and gang members started to come to their senses. They still appeared to have some fight left in them. Phoenix would have to change that.

  "Light them up!" Phoenix yelled.

  Three bolt rifles fired without mercy, punching the desert air like heavyweight boxers. Phoenix aimed and fired, taking out anything that crossed his path.

  A hover biker took a bolt that tore his head clean off. Phoenix shot a bike from underneath another and watched in satisfaction as it spun out of control and collided with another making its way towards them.

  "Do not let them escape! I don't care what Rustem says–kill them all," said Duke, ducking and diving for cover.

  Phoenix fired off shot after shot, trying to hit the gang leader, but he was always a second or two too late. "Slippery bastard."