Broken Episode One (18 page)

Before Mimi could question whether it was the wind
or some lost animal, voices rang out. Though they were still too
distant to discern, she could make out a low and ominous sounding
laugh.

Without a word, Josh pushed her away from the
hallway and into the forest. It was such a weird sensation to have
the damp large leaves brush against her legs as she hurried
forward. Barely an hour ago she’d been in the desert above, and a
lush jungle had been the last thing on her mind.

He didn’t say anything. Didn’t tell her where they
were headed, didn’t speculate about what or who could be behind. He
pushed her forward, one hand locked on her shoulder as he took up
position behind.

She tried to control her footfall, tried to be
careful about where she stepped, but a few times she stumbled. Josh
didn’t let her fall for long. He grabbed her up each time and kept
pushing her onward.

Mimi had been frightened before in her life,
terrified even. But she’d never endured an experience like this.
Being chased. No, worse than that, she wasn’t even sure she was
being chased. Maybe the group behind didn’t know she was here. Or
maybe they were tracking her relentlessly. She had no idea. She had
to keep her breathing controlled and her footfall measured
nonetheless, and she had to worry that each noise she made
advertised her position. If it weren’t for Josh right behind her,
she would have become frantic long ago, likely falling over and
breaking a leg on the uneven, vine-clogged terrain. With him by her
side, though, he navigated a safe path through the jungle,
maintaining a healthy pace, but never forcing her into a run.

She was more than thankful he was here with her,
even though she’d cursed his very existence barely an hour ago.
She'd accused Josh of changing his personality from moment to
moment, but maybe she was the same. She kept oscillating from
convincing herself he was a brute to realizing he was the only
reason she was alive.

Now was
not the time to ponder those facts. As Josh led her further into
the jungle, the terrain changed. The vegetation became sparser,
dense clumps of vines and ferns giving way to only a few bushes
scattered across the dirt. They also began to approach … something.
With the bare illumination offered by the luminescent leaves, it
took a while to realize what it was. The closer they got, however,
the more she recognized it was some kind of building. About 10
meters high and made of a pitch black matte metal, it was the
oddest thing she’d ever seen
– a building within a jungle within a ship. If she’d been
in the right frame of mind, she would have realized this could make
a great story for the news. Then again, an equally compelling tale
could tell of how the only child of Theodore Chester was kidnapped
and killed.

As they approached the strange building, Josh
hesitated, but only for a fraction of a second. As he did, Mimi
heard the voices even louder. There was now no mistaking they were
being followed.

Though she barely had the time to notice, she was
dimly aware that the building … didn't feel right. It gave her the
same creepy, foreboding sensation that the black spike had
done.

She didn’t have the luxury of running from it. Josh
grabbed her once more and led her around the side of the
building.

Though they were running now, no matter how fast
they went, the voices behind grew louder and louder.

Josh tightened his grip on her wrist. Either he was
trying to stabilize her so she didn’t fall over, or he was trying
to comfort her. Both were welcome.

They raced around the side of the building. There
were no plants growing next to it, nothing but moist dirt piled
against its walls.

The voices grew louder. She could hear footfall.
Thump, thump, thump. It was heavy, it was fast.

Her heart felt like it would tear from her chest,
her breath felt like it couldn’t come fast enough.

They rounded the edge of the building. Suddenly,
there was light.

She had to bring a hand up and cover her eyes at the
sudden brilliance of it.

It took her a moment to realize where it was coming
from. Then she saw it.

A door was opening in the side of the building. The
wall of smooth black metal was opening up, bleeding a bright white
light as it did.

Josh hesitated.

The voices got louder. They were angry, excited,
vicious, victorious.

Josh hesitated one single second before running away
from the light. He tried to direct them into the forest, but the
second he did she started to hear voices in front of them.

This
time Josh didn’t hesitate
–
reversing direction with a smooth turn, he pushed her towards the
open door and into the light.

She barely had a chance to orient before something
fantastic occurred: the doors closed. Whisper quiet and impossibly
fast, they shut, blocking off the desperate angry voices from
outside.

The doors were so thick that once they were in
place, silence returned. No more scrabbling of feet, no more
vicious laughter. Only the sound of her frantic breath.

It took only a few seconds for the thankful smile
spreading across her face to freeze. She turned and looked at Josh.
His eyes wide with terror, he stared back at her, his gaze shifting
behind as he surveyed the room around them.

“We’re
safe
—” she began.

“We are trapped.”

How had he been so stupid? He led her right into a
trap. Because that’s what this was. He may not have realized that
at first, but now there was no denying it; those voices had pushed
them towards this door. Led them, like lambs to the slaughter.

He watched the relief on Mimi’s face freeze. Her
eyes widened with terror as she stared at him. “… What do you mean
it’s a trap?” She asked in a whispered, desperate voice.

How could he have been so stupid? Mimi had been
right; they should have concentrated on trying to form a ramp to
get out of here. Now, they’d likely never get that chance
again.

He turned on the spot, clamping a hand over his
sweaty mouth.

The room was brilliantly lit. He wasn’t even sure
where the light source was coming from, but it was so damn bright
in here he could see everything, from the set of stairs leading
down to their left, to the ever mounting fear crossing Mimi’s
expression.

He still didn’t know what this place was, but now
more than ever he was certain of one fact: it was dangerous.

Recently, he’d heard reports of Barbarians luring
scavengers and fortune hunters into abandoned vessels. They'd
capture them and try out some new weapon on live targets. There
shouldn’t be any Barbarians in this sector, but that didn’t mean he
could stop his imagination from obsessing over what the Barbarians
could do to Mimi Chester.

“Josh, what’s going on?” She whispered.

He turned to look at her. Maybe it was the first
time he’d ever really just looked at her. Up until now, he'd held a
lot of preconceived notions about Miss Chester. A lot of hate,
too.

Now, as he looked at those startling blue eyes
filled with worry, he couldn’t help but feel that none of that
mattered anymore. It was very damn likely they were both about to
die.

Her eyes searched his. “Josh? What’s going on, what
do we do? Should we head down those stairs? Shouldn’t we get away
from these doors before whoever is out there manages to get
in?”

If only he had a weapon. A gun, an electro whip, a
frigging knife. Anything.

“Josh, what do we do?”

“Mim, it’s a trap,” he said bluntly. "We were pushed
in here,” he acknowledged as he turned over his shoulder and stared
warily towards the stairs.

It was obvious, or at least to him, that someone or
something wanted them to continue down those stairs. What was down
there, he didn’t know, but he could guarantee it wouldn’t be a
party.

“How can you be sure it’s a trap?”

“The voices pushed us here. The door opened and
closed mightily conveniently. It’s a trap.”

“…
Or maybe … something is looking
out for us. We don’t know what the ship is, but it could have
certain security protocols in place. Maybe it can understand that
we're being chased, and it opened the door to help us,” she said
hopefully.

He didn’t even bother replying. He’d never been one
for wishful thinking.

Again he stared warily at the stairs. There was no
way he was going to follow them and continue down into this
building. He wasn’t an idiot.

Mimi took a step back and swiveled her head from the
stairs to his face.

She took another step back, and surveyed the door.
“We can’t stay here, and we can’t go back out there."

She didn’t get an opportunity to finish her
sentence.

Suddenly something struck the doors. They did not
open, but they buckled. Close enough to Mimi that they pushed
against her shoulder as something protruded through the metal.

She screamed.

He darted forward and pulled her back, one sweaty
hand locked on her shoulder as his heart jumped into his mouth.

Just as the metal stopped groaning from the impact,
it was struck again. The deafening blow rang out through their
small room.

Without any options, Josh grabbed her and headed for
the stairs.

The stairwell, like the room above, was well lit.
Made of the same dark metal, it shone under the powerful
lights.

Again he was reminded of how unusual the
architecture of this ship was. And that wasn’t even taking into
account the fact there was a massive jungle in the middle of it. It
was the feeling, the strange sense that clawed up his spine as he
hurled himself down those stairs, his footfall ringing against each
step.

The stairwell kept heading downwards, looping around
and around, but never leading to another level. If his heart was in
his mouth before, now it had jumped clean out of his body. With no
level to exit on, there was nowhere to go but down. They were
completely trapped.

Could it really end like this? His career, his life?
Running through some mysterious ship with a woman he barely knew,
but one he knew enough to loathe. Okay, not loathe, but close
enough. Well, not even close, but the point was, he couldn’t
believe it would end with Mimi Chester by his side. He’d always
imagined he’d go out on some team mission, or alone in some
abandoned cave full of Rebuilders. This just didn’t feel right.

He reminded himself quickly he couldn’t get ahead of
himself; they weren’t dead yet. And maybe that’s why it didn’t feel
right. It wasn’t time to feel surprised that this would be his
ending; it was time to ensure it wouldn’t be.

Mimi was doing a good job of keeping up. Maybe it
was sheer terror, or maybe she hadn’t forgotten all her training
from the Academy.

They both hurtled down the stairs, and thankfully
she didn’t trip once.

The more stairs they flew down, the more he found
himself wondering just when this stairwell would end. How big was
this ship? It would have to be truly massive to contain a veritable
jungle and this deep building. While Coalition standard heavy
cruisers were massive, they were never bigger than a kilometer or
so squared. By his estimation, they’d already walked double that,
and there was no sign the ship would end anytime soon.

He longed for a scanner, something more
sophisticated than the medical device he had latched on his belt.
If he had some proper Coalition equipment, he’d be able to figure
out exactly where they were and precisely what lay ahead of
them.

Instead, he would just have to find out.

She couldn’t believe she was still running; this was
the most exercise she’d had in the two years since she left the
Academy. In fact, though endurance training as a cadet was tough,
it wasn’t nearly this hard. Her knees protested every step, and her
lungs ached from having to draw in rapid breath after rapid breath.
Yet she could not stop. Because if she stopped … she had no idea
what would happen. Actually, that was a lie. She knew exactly what
would happen; Josh would keep pushing her forward.

He wasn’t about to let her die.

She was more thankful than ever for his presence.
Without him, she would have succumbed long ago to whoever or
whatever was chasing them.

Though Mimi wasn’t sure she believed Josh, she
couldn’t deny there was a strange feeling welling within her.

It was the same uneasy fear that had settled upon
her when she’d first come across the spike. Except it no longer
repulsed her; it felt as though it pulled her forward. As if it was
leading her.

If she'd had time to truly assess that thought, she
would have realized how terrifying it was. But she didn’t have the
brainpower; all her emotional and mental energy was funneled into
pushing her onward.

Just when she thought the stairs would never end,
they did. Abruptly.

They spilled out onto a long metal walkway. As she
stared around, she realized it looked like some kind of hangar. No,
that wasn’t right; it was more like a tunnel. As her feet struck
the floor, she realized there were massive rails embedded into
it.

With one glance at the ceiling, she also saw a
continuous row of lights embedded in the metal.

If she had to guess, she would wager this massive
tunnel once housed an equally massive vehicle or vehicles. Perhaps
some kind of train, or ships. Considering the incredible size of
this spaceship as a whole, it wasn’t a surprise that they’d need a
massive transportation system like this within the ship.

Still, as they ran through it, she couldn’t help but
feel dwarfed. The ceiling was so high above, and the rails lodged
into the floor so massive, that she felt like she was nothing more
than a speck of dust in space.