Vigo's Lament: A Dystopian Thriller (Age of End Book 3) (15 page)

He sighed with tremendous relief. Her limbs lay limp on the ground as her chest heaved with heavy breaths. Her eyes rolled forward and rapidly blinked, collecting moisture in the corners.

When the sight of Vince became clear, she smiled with comfort. He responded with a smile of his own. “Are you okay?”

She could not quite speak yet, but she nodded. He held her close as she slowly recovered. Once she was back to normal, she got to her feet. “Tag team. It’s your turn to sleep.”

Vince stood up and returned to the corner. “No, I’m no longer tired. You get more rest.” He sat in his spot and leaned back. She crawled up next to him and cuddled by his side. Is this what it felt like to be a father? He would never know for sure, but he liked to think it was. He wrapped his arm around her shoulder and pulled her in closer. With his other arm, he scooped the pill off the ground and slipped it back in his pocket.

TWENTY-SIX

ALAN AWOKE FROM a well-deserved nap. The roar of the boat had rattled him in his sleep, but he was too exhausted to care. With his eyes rested and stomach full, he stood up to see Ella and Rupert standing at the controls. The night sky was lit with a faint glow on the horizon.

He stood by Ella, staring straight ahead. “Are you mad at me for leaving?”

“Of course I am,” she answered.

“But you understand why I did.”

She nodded. “Yes, but I don’t agree. The City is not a place to call home.”

Alan turned to face her. “You’re right.”

“I know I’m right. Why couldn’t you see that before? If you just listened to me, all of this could have been avoided.”

He looked down at his feet. “I couldn’t stay in Snow Peak after what happened.”

“And the City is better?” she said. “What about all of the horrible things that happened there? There’s a reason we left, you know.”

“I know, but how can you call Snow Peak your home when we’ve lost so many?”

Ella placed a hand on his shoulder. “Home isn’t about where you are, or the past. Home is about being safe with people you care about. When you left, you broke up our family.”

Alan gazed off. “Yeah. You’re completely right.” After a long, thoughtful pause, he snapped out of his serious tone and back to his usual self. “So what’s the plan?” he asked. “How do we rescue them?”

“What do you mean? You don’t have a plan?”

He shrugged and blushed. “Was I supposed to?”

“I guess I should have known better.”

“No worries,” Rupert said. “We’ll think of something right now.”

“We can go to the Spire docks,” Alan said.

“That place will be swarming with guards,” Ella said.

“It wasn’t when I was there. Jonah didn’t have many guards in the Spire at all. Hell, he may not even know the docks exist. The only reason I know they’re there is because of Charlotte.”

“Okay, then that’s our plan,” Ella said. “We dock there and go straight to the armory.” She held up the two guns they had. “We’re going to need more firepower than this.”

“Good idea,” Alan said.

“Do you know where to find them?” Ella asked.

He nodded. “They’ll either be in the vitality labs, or in Greene’s office.”

The City wall became visible on the horizon. Alan could just barely see the outline of the Spire. “Over there,” he pointed. “That way.”

“I see it,” Rupert said, steering to the right.

They approached the gate and saw a dozen lights, patrolling back and forth through the docks.

“Crap,” Alan said. “The place is full of guards now. It wasn’t like that before. It was completely empty when I left.”

“They must have noticed the missing boat,” Rupert said. “They didn’t want you to come back.”

“Is there another way in?” Ella asked.

“What about the hole in the outer wall?” Alan suggested. “It’s a small entrance. We’ll have to abandon the boat completely, but it will put us right by the Spire.”

Rupert shook his head and pointed at more guards. “No, look. It’s just as bad. That’s where Jonah first found us. He knows that’s where we’ll go.”

Ella glanced at Alan. “Is there anywhere else?”

“There’s another dock,” Alan said, “but it’s five miles away. It’s where Charlotte brought us last time.”

“It sounds like that’s our only option,” she said.

Alan nodded. “We can’t afford to waste any time. Once we dock, we run those five miles. We don’t stop.”

Rupert steered away from the Spire and headed west.

When they arrived at the Western Gate, they passed between the giant pillars and maneuvered through the cluster of boats. They floated to the end of the dock and carefully bumped against the pier. Alan hopped out first. Ella and Rupert followed his lead.

Ella gazed at the amazing view. “This place is huge,” she said. “I can’t believe it.”

Alan nodded. “I know. I said the same thing. You should see the one at the Spire. It’s even bigger.” he paused to admire the scene again and then snapped out of it. “Come on, hurry up. We have a lot of ground to cover.”

They ran through the streets with scarves pulled over their faces. Alan led them along the same path that Charlotte showed them. It all looked different at night, but the streets were well-lit with lamps, and he could still find his way. People stared briefly at them as they passed by, and then returned to their business. They dashed through intersections and slid through alleyways, making their way toward the Spire.

They turned a corner and hit a tightly packed crowd. Alan turned to find another way, but a swarm of people walked in from behind. They were blocked in. “Not again,” Alan said.

“What do we do?” Ella whispered, nervously looking at all of the people.

“We wait for it to clear,” Rupert said. “That’s all we can do at the moment. We don’t want to draw attention to ourselves. Hopefully, it won’t be long.”

“Hopefully, this time there’s no terrorist attack,” Alan said.

Ella gave Alan a strange look. She had questions, but decided not to ask. Instead, she poked her head up to peek over the crowd. At the front, she saw a man on a stage. “Who is that?”

Alan popped up to see. It was the man who spoke at the ceremony before the explosions went off. “Oh, him again.”

“You know him?” Rupert asked.

“Not personally. I’ve seen him before. He’s their leader, I guess. A supporter of Greene.”

The man raised his arms to quiet the chatter. “People. Thank you for coming. This is last minute, I know, but it is of great importance. Most of you know me, but I’ll introduce myself anyway. My name is Warren. In the absence of an authority figure, you good people have nominated me to take charge. As you recall, Simon and the Crowns attacked us at our last meeting. Only a true monster would disrupt a memorial like that. In the midst of the attack, they captured Trish Beaumont. They are now holding her as a prisoner. You should already know this, but there’s something you may not. More people have gone missing. They’ve been snatched from their beds in the middle of the night, or in some cases, beaten to submission in broad daylight. Simon is gathering people.”

A voice yelled from the back. “He just freed everyone. Why would he capture them again?”

“That is a very good question, and the answer is unclear. Perhaps he still wants something. Maybe he’s looking for someone in particular. Regardless, these abductions must be stopped. We will not let his violence scare us. That is why I have formed a plan to take back the Spire. To take control of what’s rightfully ours.”

Murmurs spread through the crowd.

“Another attack on the Spire?” Ella whispered.

Rupert kept his eyes on the stage. “That’s what it sounds like.”

“To me, it sounds like they’re going to get themselves killed,” Alan said.

Ella looked over. “That’s what we’re doing, isn’t it?”

“We’re on a rescue mission. We pop in and pop out, hopefully undetected. He’s talking a full on attack.”

“That’s right,” Warren continued. “I am working out the details, but sometime tomorrow morning we will charge the Spire. When the sun rises, we march past that wall and take out Simon!”

The crowd cheered on cue as if it were planned.

“I appreciate your enthusiasm. Now, in order for tomorrow to be a success, I need volunteers. Are there people willing to fight?”

Hands shot up all at once. Warren looked over the crowd, satisfied with the response.

“Very good. Please come up, and I will assign tasks.”

People shuffled forward. Alan, Ella, and Rupert shimmied through, wiggling from gap to gap. They needed to escape from the cluster. As the movement picked up, the crowd loosened, forming a path to the outside. They dug through the horde and broke free, into an open street.

“Come on,” Alan said, following the road.

They moved toward the Spire, and the streets became vacant. No one dared to come so close after Greene’s death. They ran ahead until they saw the first wall. To their left was the opening, still in ruins.

They approached the wall and admired its height. They had only seen it from the top of the Spire. From the ground, it looked much bigger. They climbed through the gap, over the debris and bodies. Most of the children had lost any resemblance of identity. Their faces had vanished and turned to ash.

The second wall was not as gruesome. There were no dead children. Just large boulders and the occasional fallen soldier. The third wall was the same. They entered the abandoned lobby, which stood in shambles. It was a place of victory for the Crowns. The wreckage perfectly captured the spirit of their success. It was the first room to greet them as they attacked, and they fully indulged in their victory by trashing the place.

The three of them jogged to the elevator and hit the button. Their first stop was the armory, to stock up on weapons. They rode up to Level 149. The doors opened to a bloody hallway. The smell poured in and slapped them in the face. Ella gagged and immediately covered her nose and mouth.

“It was a slaughter in here,” Rupert said. “They didn’t even have the decency to clear out the bodies.”

“It’s Simon we’re talking about,” Ella said. “Did you really expect him to be decent?”

The stepped out and waded through the soldiers and workers. Ella brushed limbs and heads aside as she walked. Alan was not as careful. He marched along with long strides, kicking everything out of his way.

They reached the supply room and went straight for the gun rack, but it was empty. “Crap!” Alan yelled. “Where the hell are all of the guns?”

“They were likely raided during the attack,” Rupert said.

Alan paced back and forth, throwing his arms in the air. “So what do we do now?”

“There must be other armories,” Ella said. “We could check the other levels.”

Rupert nodded. “That is true, but they will probably be in the same condition. I don’t think it’s worth checking. We’ve wasted enough time as it is, and we probably won’t find anything.”

“So we go in with nothing?” Alan asked.

Ella held up her two weapons. “We still have these.”

“That’s not enough,” Alan said. “He had three guards with him, with more patrolling the hallways, and they’re all armed to the teeth.”

She handed one of the guns over. “We took out a full group of Greene’s men on the boat. We can handle a few of Jonah’s men.”

Alan grabbed the gun and studied its condition. “We had Charlotte. She handled most of them. We were just a distraction. But now she’s gone. We can’t handle them on our own.”

“It’s either that, or we abandon Vince and Izzy.”

Alan was torn. Charging in was an option, but they were down an ex-soldier and had less firepower. It would lead to certain death. They had to do something, though. Leaving Vince and Izzy was unacceptable.

“He’ll know we’re coming,” Rupert said. “With all of these cameras, it’s impossible to sneak up on him.”

Alan’s face lit up. “I don’t think he knows how to use Greene’s system. He had no idea we were coming the last time, and the power to the cell room was still shut off. Either he doesn’t care enough to use it, or he doesn’t know how. But I do. I watched Charlotte play around with it, and I think I can figure it out. Vince and Izzy are probably locked in the cell room. If we get to the control panel, I can unlock the cells and set them free. I might even be able to hard lock whatever room Jonah is in.”

Ella looked at him skeptically. “That is, if he isn’t already in Greene’s office. If he is, we’re screwed.”

“It’s worth a shot, right? And it’s a hell of a lot better than charging in with two guns.”

She shrugged. “I suppose.”

“If he
is
there, we’ll put those two guns to good use before we go down.”

Ella smiled. “The things we do for friends, right?”

Alan shook his head. “No. The things we do for family.”

“He would do the same for us,” Rupert said. “I’m sure of it.”

“He already has,” Alan said. “He rescued us the day the Spire fell. Now it’s time to return the favor.”

Ella stepped aside and held out her hand. “Lead the way.”

Alan moved toward the door and stopped mid-step. He saw a small box sitting on a table to his right. He reached inside and pulled out an earpiece. “These might come in handy.”

TWENTY-SEVEN

VINCE STARED ACROSS the catwalk with Izzy pressed up against his shoulder, thinking of what he would do if they got out alive. Suicide was not an option. He was ashamed to even consider it. Suicide was the coward’s way out. Dying as he had lived. In fear.

He considered living in Snow Peak. He had traveled his entire life, never stopping to rest, but now that he had a family, maybe he could finally settle down and live a normal life. He had a place to call home. In the end, home and family were all that mattered.

He also feared Jonah. Not just Jonah, but everyone else like him. There would always be an enemy. Someone so heinous that others would suffer from their actions. There would always be a Barnabus, a Greene, a Simon. And once Jonah was gone, someone else would take his place. Whoever that may be, Vince would be compelled to stop them. Just another excuse to keep draining. And once they were gone, another would arise. The cycle would never end. He would always have an excuse. These thoughts swam through his head, clouding his mind with doubt.