Survivor (20 page)

She smiled as she looked at the pool. She
took three steps back and took a running dive, throwing herself
into the pool, head first. The blood consumed her, covering her
from head to foot.

She swam under the surface, her eyes closed.
She enjoyed the feel of it sliding past her. She held her breath
for as long as she could and then shot out of the pool in a burst
of red waves. She gasped for air and chuckled to herself. She
played her hand across the surface of the pool, creating patterns
and splashes.

She barely noticed the blood dry to her face
and hair. It created a sticky brown coating and clumped her hair
together in wet tangles. She was too busy enjoying the day, the
pool, and the bright sun overhead.

The sun.

She frowned and looked up from the puddle.
Something wasn't right about it. It was too bright… or not bright
enough. It was the wrong colour. And wait, there were lots of them,
all lined up in a row… like lights.

She turned in circles. As she spun, the red
pool and waterfall disappeared. The lights brightened. She blinked
against the glare.

She was staring up at ceiling lights. She
was on her knees on the floor. Her legs ached. Her wrist stung.

She glanced down. There was a small cut on
her arm, the thinnest line of blood marked it.

"What the hell are you doing?" Codon said.
He shook her arm.

"What?" she said, her voice was soft,
confused.

"What the hell happened? You were walking
along and suddenly you collapsed to the floor wailing about
blood."

"I cut myself…" she said, trailing off as
she looked at her arm.

"I'd hardly call that a cut," Codon said. He
looked at her with hard eyes, gauging.

She clasped her head in her hands and stared
down at the floor. There was no pool of blood, or a red
waterfall.

"I don't know what's happening to me," she
whispered.

Her heart pounded in her chest. She'd been
so sure she was going to die and yet it had all been part of her
madness. It was just like the quicksand. How many times would she
have to die before she really went mad? If she wasn't already.

"When will it stop?" she said. She rocked
back and forth, her knees pulled up to her chin. She couldn't live
her life quasi-mad.

"I have no idea. But you're sure their
helmets will break? That wasn't a delusion?"

"I… I…," Nova looked up at him, begged for
him to take charge, show her the way. He frowned down at her.

"I don't know," she said.

"Well I'll be damned if I'm going in first,"
he said. "After you."

CHAPTER EIGHTEEN

Nova used the wall to get to her feet. Her legs were like
jelly as she walked forward, threatening to collapse beneath her at
any moment. She forced herself on. Better to die fighting than be
thrown into a mental asylum. She shivered at the
thought.

It was surreal to step out of the ship's
side door and find that the sand had barely created a mound. The
massive dunes she'd seen were gone, or perhaps hadn't been formed
yet. It was a confusing concept to get used to.

"We'll go around the side," she said. She
was breathing hard, still recovering from her near-death
experience. "And make our way into the tomb. I know where we're
going so just follow my lead. Only engage if we're actually seen.
Once we're inside the tomb, I need you to provide cover fire."

She tried to sound confident even though
every fibre of her being screamed at her to turn and run away. Her
legs wobbled as she walked, despite her attempts to stand tall.

"Got it," Codon said.

They darted across the sand, using fallen
ships as cover. The Ancients were engrossed in their tasks and
didn't see the two human figures move closer. She would have
expected them to be more on edge; there were two Ancient corpses
down in their catacombs. Perhaps they hadn't found the bodies
yet.

They skirted around the edge of the
Confederacy ships. From there, it was just a small distance to the
trees, where they would have reasonable cover until the tomb
entrance.

Nova went first. She sprinted to the trees.
The hot desert sun beat down on her face and exposed skin. The sand
made it difficult to run and her boots sent grains scattering in
all directions. She darted under the tree line and held her
breath.

She strained her ears; there was nothing
except the rustling of the trees. The cool shade of the oasis felt
good on her skin and she relished in the green shadows. It was so
much easier to stay hidden in the cover of foliage than in the
open, treacherous desert.

She leant around a tree and gestured for
Codon to follow. He nodded once at her and glanced at the Ancients.
He waited before performing his own mad dash.

Once Codon was in the trees, they both held
their breaths. They'd gone unnoticed.

She moved on through the trees. The thick
leaves and branches blocked her view of the tomb, but it also
provided cover. Rubbery leaves brushed against her arm.

They got to the edge of the trees, right
where the tomb disappeared into the ground. The entrance was clear
of encroaching vines and fallen branches, very unlike the last time
Nova was there.

The Ancients darted in and out of the
pyramid sporadically. They were going down into the tombs to
collect more parts and tools.

"We're just going to have to go for it," she
whispered to Codon. "Remember, follow my lead and only shoot if you
have to."

"Got it," he said.

Nova waited for the next alien to lumber
past and then darted into the tomb. The blue lights lit her way and
she followed them without looking back. She forced herself to
ignore the shadows dancing at the edge of her vision. They were
always there, constant companions to her wondering mind.

If Codon was following her, he was being
very quiet. She couldn't waste precious time or resources on
turning around and checking, so she kept moving. The tunnels felt
shorter this time, in the light. Somehow the darkness had added
kilometres to them.

Stomping footsteps and crunching sand warned
Nova of an approaching Ancient. She looked around desperately for
somewhere to hide. With each moment, her heart beat faster, and it
was harder for her to think straight. She was like an animal
trapped in the headlights of an oncoming train.

The only cover was a tiny alcove in the
wall. It was mostly taken up with a pedestal. There had probably
been a carving sitting on top before Codon and his Confederacy
goons had shown up and taken it.

She ducked to the side and squeezed herself
in. The rough stone scraped against her skin and left grazes. They
oozed blood over her fingers. She bit her lip and kept quiet.

She held her breath as the footsteps neared.
She squeezed her eyes shut, sure that the Ancients, with their
all-powerful technology and the ability to read minds, would sense
her. There was no way it could walk straight past.

She just hoped the doctor wasn't standing in
the middle of the tunnel.

The Ancient got level with her alcove and
walked past. She barely had time to register that it was there
before it was on its way, down the tunnel, and out of sight.

She counted ten seconds under her breath
before she let herself relax. She closed her eyes and forced her
heart rate back to normal.

"Well that was close," Codon said, appearing
next to her.

"Where the hell were you?" she hissed.

"Found a side tunnel. You may be small
enough to fit into one of those things, but I know I wouldn't," he
said, using his gun to gesture to the alcove.

She grunted and pushed her way past the
pedestal, back into the main tunnel.

"Not much further," she said.

They crept down the tunnel. She led the way
with sure steps and it wasn't long before they were just outside
the widened chamber. So much had happened in that small room. She'd
seen the two Ancients with yellow eyes, left a note to herself,
gone to the future, and now hopefully she would end it all.

"So what—" Codon began.

"Shh!" she said, slapping her hand onto his
shoulder to hold him flat against the wall. She pointed to her ear
and then to the room beyond.

Nova heard voices. Her mouth filled with the
bitter taste of déjà vu. The voice was hauntingly familiar. She
imagined the scene beyond: two Ancients together, and an empty
pedestal between them.

"How long?" the familiar voice said. Nova
knew deep down that it was the one with yellow eyes who had
descended deeper in the tombs during her hallucination.

"Two turns of the sun at most," another
voice replied.

"Good, I should have full strength by then.
There have been no signs of attack?"

"No. We had one survivor, but Tobius is
dealing with her."

"Ah, very good, very good. We need to know
the state of this quadrant as soon as possible. For all we know the
Zions could be at full strength. They'd wipe us out without a
second thought."

"Tobius will be able to tell us more
soon."

"Good. We need every advantage we can
get."

"Yes, sir."

From their voices, Nova gauged their
approximate positions. It sounded as if at least one of them was
going to be in the room for a while. She couldn't risk another
Ancient coming down the corridor behind them. If she was going to
act it had to be now. She turned to Codon and looked him straight
in the eye.

"I'll take the yellow-eyed one towards the
back," she said. "You take the other. Remember, shoot for the
button near their shoulders and then for the helmet."

Codon nodded once.

She took a deep breath and stepped around
the corner. The room was just as she remembered it, only the
massive carved letters were missing. The pedestal was empty, just
as she'd predicted.

The two creatures turned to face the new
noise. They didn't hesitate to react. They both brought up their
arms and purple energy shot out of the ends. The blasts crackled
through the air, straight for Nova and Codon.

The two humans dived for opposite sides of
the room, narrowly avoiding being hit. Nova landed on her side but
didn't waste time getting up. She looked down the barrel of her gun
and got the creature in sight. The button blinked on its
shoulder.

She took a deep breath, levelled her aim,
and fired.

Her blue plasma blast seared across the room
and hit home. An audible click filled the chamber. The Ancient
cursed and fumbled for its helmet. Nova fired three more shots,
each aimed directly at the Ancient's helmet.

Her aim was good but the creature's arms
were in the way. It held its helmet in place, protecting the
vulnerable flesh.

Codon fired on the other creature. His small
handgun fired yellow bolts, much smaller than Nova's. They flicked
across the room, barely visible, but he was a good shot.

The first bolt hit the button. The second
slammed into the top of the thing's helmet, and it toppled to the
floor. Pincers and grey-green flesh emerged from beneath the
helmet. The hard beak-like mouth snapped at the air, echoing around
the chamber. The obscure features glared at Codon and the thing
hissed in the back of its throat.

Codon stopped in his tracks, his mouth
falling open, and stared up at the creature. He choked on garbled
words, his face frozen.

Nova cursed him, but she couldn't waste her
time saving his life. She had her own Ancient to worry about. The
creature had worked its helmet back into place and another click
told her that it was locked on. The button at its neck was blasted
to smithereens. Leaving Nova with no way to knock it off and reveal
the vulnerable flesh beneath.

She stared around the room for any kind of
help. There was none.

The Ancient stomped toward her. Its
footsteps shook the sand and sent loose granules flying.

Nova was still on her side. She scrambled to
a sitting position and scooted backwards. She was slow in
comparison to the Ancient, and it was on her before she could
react. It bent down and grabbed hold of her jacket, pulling her to
her feet and then higher so that she dangled in the air.

She closed her eyes and squeezed her trigger
so that hot blasts slammed into the Ancient's armour. The heat from
the shots seared Nova's face. Sweat poured out of her forehead and
stung her raw cheeks.

The Ancient slapped her hand and the gun
toppled to the ground. Nova's eyes flew open. A few dark smudges on
the Ancient's armour were the only evidence that she'd shot at
all.

"The prisoner has escaped!" the Ancient
bellowed.

His voice echoed around the chamber and up
the surrounding tunnels. The rumble of running footsteps echoed
back amongst shouts and clicking armour plates.

"You killed Tobius! I can smell his blood
all over you!" The Ancient slammed her back into the wall. Her head
collided with the sandstone and burst with pain.

"Did the Zions send you?"

The creature shook her and slammed her back
again, sending another wave of pain through her body. Her teeth
clapped together. A sharp chip broke away from her back tooth and
lodged itself in her cheek. Blood seeped out of the wound and
coated her tongue.

"Did the Zions send you?"

Nova's head throbbed with pain as her body
was shaken like a ragdoll.

"No!" she said, blood dribbling out of the
side of her mouth.

"They must have. Who else would have the
power to kill Tobius?"

The Ancient's grip around Nova's collar was
so tight that she struggled to breathe. Her face was hot as she
drew a ragged breath.

"Scouts! I need soldiers! The Zions have
infiltrated!"