If that was the case, it was going to be a hard fight.
Our footsteps echoed coldly on the deck. I could hardly see, but Michael strode forward boldly. He suddenly turned left. It took my eyes a moment to find a flight of stairs leading up.
I followed after him. The entire group’s footsteps clanged on the metal stairs more loudly than I’d expected. It was dead silent otherwise on the ship, almost as if it were abandoned.
As Michael crested the last step, a shadow charged from the side, tackling him. With a guttural yell, Michael threw the crazed woman off of him just as another struck him from the front
I ran forward, not daring to shoot in the darkness. I tackled the shadow that was gripping Michael. Quickly, I brought down the butt of my gun on the woman’s head. I felt a huge thump and the body crumpled beneath me. The other woman hissed, but I heard the sickening sound of Anna’s knife slicing through her neck. A few gurgles sounded in the corridor.
Anna rushed to finish off the woman I had downed with a swipe of her knife. It had all happened in about ten seconds. My heart rushed as I primed myself to face more attackers. But no one else came. The ship was silent once more.
“Let’s keep moving,” I said.
Michael turned to the left and began walking, which led forward. I had no idea how Michael knew which direction to go — or even if he knew which direction to go.
We passed an intersection where a corridor went off to the right at a ninety-degree angle. We had lost our flashlights — apparently, the Community had seen fit to keep those — so we were walking blind. I saw nothing down that corridor, but had to trust that Grudge was going to watch our backs as we advanced. We kept walking along the length of the ship, finally arriving at a corner.
“This is it,” Grudge whispered. “I saw him take the katana in here.”
Ahead was a metal door. Hopefully, Elias was somewhere else for the moment.
Michael tried the latch, finding it unlocked. The door swung slowly inward, revealing the darkness within. It was quiet and the room stank. I guessed nothing in it had been washed in a while. I tried not to gag as I walked inside, keeping my wits about me in case someone really was hiding in here.
“I have no idea where it is,” Grudge said. “I just saw him walk in here with it.”
Anna forged ahead. A moment later, I heard the sound of the blade being unsheathed from its scabbard.
“It was on the bed,” she said, her tone disgusted.
“Come on,” Ashton said. “Let’s take control of this ship.”
We turned and exited the room. Even if we did have more weapons and fighting experience than these women, I didn’t relish the thought of killing them. Even the two that had attacked us on the stairwell had been too much. It was just too much blood. And yet, I didn’t see another way out of here. This ship was the only way out of here — otherwise, we were stuck. The only other possibility was Makara and some of the Angels coming after us. Somehow, I had the feeling that by the time that happened, we would be long dead. No, we had to do this and we had to do it now. Even if that meant killing.
Too much depended on us staying alive.
We hesitated in front of the door, as if we all had the same thought.
“So,” Julian said. “Just charge the bridge and hope for the best?”
Ashton shook his head. “It will be a bloodbath. There has to be a better way of doing this.”
“Well, the ship is locked down, at least for the moment,” I said. “Maybe we can escape to the surface, try to raise Makara…”
“And leave a bloodthirsty cult with access to nuclear weapons behind?” Anna asked.
“Well, they can’t use the weapons if they can’t even get the ship online…”
Anna sighed. “Maybe they have a way of figuring it out a lot faster than we would think. We must keep this ship from leaving this Bunker if it’s the last thing we do.”
I knew Anna was right. Maybe there wouldn’t have to be bloodshed. Maybe the threat of it would be enough.
“If we can just kill Elias…” Julian said. “Maybe the rest will come crashing down.”
“He’s sure to be guarded by all of his followers,” I said. “They seem quite determined.”
“It’s the only way,” Grudge said with finality.
“We’d have to mow down dozens just to get to him on the bridge,” I said.
“Sounds good to me,” Anna said.
“Alex has a point,” Ashton said. “We can’t just kill all of these people.”
“Well, how else are we supposed to do this?” Grudge asked.
No one said anything. We had been silent only a moment when all the lights flashed back on. I ducked into the captain’s quarters, and everyone else followed after me.
“They have the damn ship online!” Ashton said.
The entire ship thrummed as the fusion drive came to life. The floor and walls gave a subtle vibration that signified the ship’s latent power.
Were they really going to try and…
Everyone cried out as the ship gave a sudden lift.
What?
“Damn it, they’re taking off!” Ashton said.
“They can’t fly this thing,” Anna said. “They’ll just crash it.”
Anna was right. Even if Elias said he knew how to fly the ship, he’d never actually flown it before. But that didn’t seem to be stopping him.
The ship rose ever higher. We were all still pressed to the deck.
There was no question, now. We had to get to that bridge before Elias could launch any nukes.
* * *
Aeneas rocketed upward at a lightning pace. A minute later, the pressure from the deck eased up, causing my stomach to sink. Aeneas had slowed to a midair hover.
Quickly, everyone stood, grabbing their weapons.
“What now?” Anna asked.
Footsteps sounded from the corridor outside the captain’s quarters. There were at least two people running this way.
“Wait for it…” I said.
Two women suddenly stood in front of the doorway — a girl, perhaps my age, with wide brown eyes and long brown hair, and the woman I had seen earlier — the blue-eyed one that I felt was against Elias.
“Don’t shoot,” she said. “We’re not with them.”
“Who are you, then?” Anna asked, not lowering her blade.
“I’m Deborah,” she said. “Leader of the Resistance.”
The Resistance? So not all of these women were under Elias’s spell.
“Where are the rest of you?” Anna asked.
Deborah shrugged. “It’s just me and Ada here.”
“What?” I asked. “There’s only two of you?”
“Hey, you want our help or not?”
“Yeah, of course we do,” I said. “It’s just you’d think there’d be more people against that nutcase.”
“Well, we got the ship taken off,” Deborah said. “That’s plus one for us.”
“You did this?”
Deborah smiled. “Sure thing, Twenty Questions. I had to do something before they were ready for it. But we don’t have time to yak.”
“But how…”
“Didn’t I say there was no time? We need to hustle. They know someone’s on this deck and the battle will be starting at any second.”
“Battle?” I asked. “What battle?”
“There’s another ship out there!” Ada said. “It’s coming this way.”
“It’s Makara,” I said. “It has to be.”
“Makara?” Deborah asked.
“Come on,” I said. “We need to get to the bridge.”
“They’ll kill you,” Deborah said.
“Not if I kill them first.”
I walked out of the Captain’s Quarters, past Deborah and Ada, and into the corridor.
“Guess that works, too,” Deborah said.
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