Immortal (31 page)

“How’s it look?” He asked.

“Flat!” She called back. “But safe, for now.
Let’s go!” She said as she threw her leg back onto the ladder and
descended.

“I can’t climb that.” Jonah said as his eyes
pleaded.

“I didn’t ask you.” Jericho replied, as he
put his arm around him, and shifted his weight towards the ladder.
He bent down and wrapped his arm around his thighs, and hoisted him
up in the air. “Grab with your good hand.” He said breathlessly as
he struggled with the dead weight. Jonah grabbed the highest rung
he could reach, and pulled hard, just as Gabrielle reached him from
above, and grabbed back of his tunic collar and heaved. As awkward
as it was, he moved up the ladder, and found purchase with his
feet. “Ready?” Asked Jericho.

“Go.” Answered Gabrielle, and together they
heaved him upward again, almost two rungs this time. Again his feet
found purchase.

“Hold on.” Jericho said, as he stepped up on
the ladder. “Okay. Go.” He said, and they heaved Jonah upward
again. In less than a minute, they had him on the roof, as he lay
on his back and breathed hard. He felt the warmth on his face, as
he stared into the sun.

“You should have left me.” He said
quietly.

“Not an option.” Gabrielle said. “We need
you.”

“No you don’t.” He rolled to his side, and
winced in pain from the movement. “I don’t know where to go from
here. I’ve never been out here. Just as far as the door.” He said,
and hung his head. He felt as if he had let them down, and now
slowed them down. “You don’t need me.” He said dejectedly.

“Jonah.” Gabrielle said softly, as she knelt
beside him. “We do need you. And we want you to come with us.”

“But, why? How can I help now?” He asked, as
she shook her head.

“I’m not sure…at least not right now. But we
still need your help. I know we will. And besides…” She began and
then stopped. Jericho spoke up.

“You’re the only one who has helped us.” He
said, as she scanned the horizon across the top of the huge roof.
“Now get up. We’ve got to get moving.” He said as he offered his
hand. Jonah looked up at him for a moment, then reluctantly reached
up and grabbed his hand. They had barely taken two steps, when the
explosion of a single gunshot echoed behind them, and the now
distinct sound of a bullet ricochet whined, as sparks flew from the
top of the ladder. Gabrielle led the way, as they began to run as
fast as they could away from the ladder. Soon they were at the edge
of the roof and eased Jonah down the ladder there to the roof just
below, when another bullet zinged off of the roof near Gabrielle’s
feet. The shot echoed across the vast roof. She fired even as she
looked up, and saw roof shrapnel spray into the air. The figures of
their two pursuers dove for safety. She jumped over the side, slid
down the ladder, and landed firmly beside the others.

“Let’s go.” She said, as she ran ahead.
“Jericho!” She yelled, and pointed as she ran. “Look!” He glanced
in the direction that she pointed and saw it as well. It was from a
different perspective than they had ever seen it before, but it was
the factory, there was no mistake about it.

“Wait.” He said, and she slowed long enough
for them to catch up. “We can’t go that way.” He said. “It leads
back to the village.” Jonah pointed to the far right.

“Over there.” He said. “Another ladder.” They
quickly made their way towards the side. A bullet dug into the tar
right in front of Gabrielle. She sidestepped, and turned and fired
back at the figure crouched by the ladder. It dove to the rooftop.
The ladder sparked, and debris fell from the where it was attached.
As she watched, a second figure peeked over the top, a gun in hand.
She had fired at the wrong one, she thought as she fired another
shot in their direction. Again the ladder sparked, high up this
time, and debris flew from the wall in the explosion, as the ladder
was jarred askew. The armed figure had disappeared momentarily as
she came to a stop at the ladder where Jericho and Jonah stood.

“Go! Go! Go!” She said, as she pushed Jericho
towards the ladder that led down.

“Look.” He said as he pointed down. She
pushed him again, and then saw what he saw. It was another building
below, but much different than any building she had seen before.
Longer. Narrower. Lower. And it seemed to be surrounded by water,
with just a wide walkway that separated it from the land. As she
looked from it to the horizon, that was all she could see. Water.
As far as the eye could see. Beautiful, blue water.

“It’s a cargo ship.” Said Jonah, excitedly.
“I’ve heard about them. Rumors really. I never thought they
actually existed. “Come on.” He said. He didn’t wait for them to
answer, and began to try and climb down himself. Gabrielle grabbed
his tunic as he began to descend, and slowly began to help him go
down. She kept pace with him as she helped him down. Another
gunshot rang out, but no bullet hit. Jericho turned back toward the
ladder, and saw the figure on the higher roof dive for cover. The
other figure still lay on the ground, motionless. He jumped over
the side, and began to rapidly climb down. He jumped the last few
feet, and landed beside Jonah, who seemed to be more mobile
now.

“This way.” Jonah said, as he began to run
towards the walkway that led to the ship. Suddenly a machine rolled
out of a building nearby. It pushed a small skid ahead of it loaded
with a drum. It shot across the walkway and into the opening of the
ship. As they came to the edge of the walkway, Jonah did not
hesitate. He ran across and into the ship. Gabrielle followed, and
disappeared inside. Jericho stopped halfway across. He felt
something. Something important. He reacted and spun around. He
squeezed the trigger before he even realized that he had fired.
Even from high up on the edge of the building, the explosion was
loud. He saw fire and smoke spit from the man’s hand in virtually
ever direction, and heard his scream, as the figure suddenly
disappeared from view. Jericho turned and ran inside, just as the
doors to the ship slid shut behind him.

“Charles!” Roger screamed, as he writhed in
pain on the hot roof top. He held his mangled bloody hand.
“Charles!” He yelled again, just as Charles ran up to him.

“You’re hurt, sir.” He said, with
concern.

“Yes! You idiot!” He yelled. “I am damn well
hurt!” He slapped him with his good hand. Charles turned away from
the impact. His cheek remained white and he left his head turned,
as he fought to control his own anger. “Now help me!” Screamed
Roger. Slowly, Charles turned his head back, and saw the bent and
burnt pieces of what had been Roger’s Dessert Eagle as it lay on
the roof. He tore a piece of his tunic loose and began to bandage
his bloody hand, but Roger pulled away. He kept low, and edged to
the side of the building. He cautiously peeked over the side, and
could not believe what he saw. The walkway withdrew into the ship.
“Damn it!”

“It must be time for the shipment, sir.”
Charles offered.

“Now? Really, now? Of all times?” He was
distraught as he watched the huge ship began to slowly move away
from its berth. “Can we make it stop?” He asked, hopefully of
Charles, who shook his head. “We can’t let them get away!” He
yelled.

“Sir?”

“What?” Roger said, as he turned angrily away
from the view of the ship as it moved further away.

“We can’t make it stop…”

“Well? What?”

“But we might be able to stop it.” Blood
still ran from his scalp wound. He held his injured hand tightly
with his good hand. The bandage quickly became soaked a deep red.
Roger’s expression went from that of a question, to realization,
and then he smiled slightly.

“Yes.” He said, as he turned back towards the
sea, and watched as the ship continued to move farther away. “We
might be able to, at that.”

Jericho’s eyes began to adjust to the gloom
of the inside of the ship after the door had shut behind him. He
stood his ground, until he could see well enough to make out the
figures of Jonah and Gabrielle further inside. He glanced about the
large room, and noted the skid, loaded with the single barrel near
the center of the room. Another sat far away loaded with a single
large crate. The rest of the ship’s vast hold was completely empty.
As he approached, Jonah slid down the wall and slumped to the
floor.

“How’s the shoulder?” Jericho asked.
Gabrielle knelt beside him and began to remove the blood soaked
bandaged.

“I’ve been better.” Jonah said, and smiled
softly. He winced suddenly.

“Sorry.” Gabrielle said, as she pulled the
bandage away, and watched grimly as she saw the blood that still
ran heavily from the wound. She reached down and tore another
section of her shirt away, and began to work to bandage the wound
again. He winced again.

“Sorry.” She said again. “So what is this
place?” She asked, as much to distract him as to find out where
they were.

“When I was a boy.” He began. “Back when we
used to play in sector two-”

“Sector two?” Jericho asked.

“You remember. Back where we took out all of
those Guardians.” Jonah said, and Jericho nodded. “When we were
kids, we used to hear rumors about the great cargo ships. Like this
I guess. That would come from far away, and bring our food and our
sparkle waters. We used to pretend that they were right outside the
door that we came through. The one leading outside?” Jericho
nodded. “But we never saw one. We never really knew if they were
real.” He winced again.

“Hold still.” Gabrielle ordered, as she
continued to work on his shoulder. He turned his head back to
Jericho.

“We thought there must be someplace else, you
know?” He said. “Some place besides just New Sebastian.” He said
quietly.

“There is.” Jericho said seriously. “The
village.”

“Yes. There is.” Jonah agreed. “The village.
We never would have dreamed of that. Not in a million years.”

“You keep saying we.” Gabrielle said. “You
and Vanessa?” She asked.

“Oh no. I didn’t know Vanessa back then. No,
the we, that was me and my two friends.” Gabrielle finished with
the bandage and stood up beside Jericho. “Adam. He died when we
were still young.” Jonah continued.

“And the other?” Asked Jericho.

“The other?” Jonah looked up into their
faces. “The other one you almost met today. The other one was
Roger.”

“Who?” Gabrielle asked.

“If we’d been any slower, he would have
killed us all.” Jonah said.

“You mean, that guy shooting at us?” Jericho
asked with disbelief.

“Yep.” Jonah said. “That’s the guy. And to
make it worse…he’s the Premier.”

“What’s a Premier?” Jericho asked.

“He’s our leader. You know, the guy in charge
of everything.”

“Then why was he shooting at us?” Asked
Gabrielle, as her hands went to her hips.

“I think you are a problem for him. And me as
well.”

“Why?” She asked.

“Because we escaped.” Jericho said. Jonah
nodded. “And you because you are helping us?” Again Jonah
nodded.

“And that I intend to stop this madness. If
he knew that, he would kill me on sight.”

“Sounds like he already knows that.”
Gabrielle offered. A look of concern came over his face.

“Vanessa.” He said quietly. “That’s the only
way he could know for sure what I was up to. She had to have told
him. Damn it.”

“Sorry.” Jericho said, as Gabrielle touched
his uninjured shoulder for comfort. Jonah pulled his comm unit from
his tunic and keyed it to contact Vanessa. The small screen lit up
with the image of their apartment. He could see the room was
empty.

“Vanessa!” He yelled into the unit, when the
image suddenly went to static, then it faded back in. He looked to
Jericho. “We must be getting too far away. Vanessa!” He yelled into
the unit again.

“Maybe she left.” Gabrielle suggested. Jonah
shook his head.

“It would have connected with her mobile unit
if she was gone. No, she must be there if it connected to home.”
The image faded again to static, and then went dark. He looked at
it a moment, then put it away. “You’re right. She must have told
him. Told him something at least. Enough for him to have shot me.”
Jericho knelt beside him.

“Jericho!” Gabrielle yelled, as she turned
and began to run. Jericho stood up, spun around and ran after her.
She ran to face a Guardian that had stepped into the hold of the
ship from a side passage. She dove behind the skid with the drum
for cover, as Jericho slid to the other side of it. They watched as
the Guardian made its way through the cargo hold, and then exited
via another passageway on the far side.

“It didn’t even slow down.” Gabrielle said,
breathless.

“Maybe it didn’t see us.”

“Maybe.” She said, her look of concern
amplified in the gloom. “Did you feel it?” She asked. He shook his
head.

“Nothing.”

“Me neither.” She said. They walked back to
where Jonah lay against the wall.

“What was that?” he asked.

“A Guardian.” Gabrielle said.

“And no fireworks?” He asked. “I thought
you’d at least like to take its weapon.” Gabrielle turned slowly to
Jericho.

“Did you see a control stick?” She asked. He
turned away in thought, then back to her, and shook his head.
“Neither did, I.” She turned back to Jonah. “You stay here. We’re
going to check this out.” They turned and walked away.

“Yeah!” He yelled, after them. “I’ll just
stay right here.” He watched as they disappeared into the
passageway the Guardian had exited through. “Right here.” He said,
as he shifted his position, and winced at the pain. “Just right,
here.” He closed his eyes.

Gabrielle led the way down the narrow
passageway which began to ramp upward at a steep angle. They
negotiated a few turns, and arrived at a door which slid open. The
light blinded them with the sudden brightness of the sunlight from
outside. They blinked as they stepped outside. Gabrielle’s mouth
dropped open at the sight before them. Ocean for as far as they
could see. They stepped to the railing which ran along the walkway
they found themselves on, and suddenly realized that the floor
shifted beneath them. They both grabbed the railing for stability.
Jericho laughed.