I peeked around a corner and immediately ducked back as a hail of bullets shot toward me, peppering the corridor walls and sparking off the floor.
“Looks like security’s been alerted,” Tristan muttered, pressed into the wall next to me. Matthews, Ember and Mist huddled behind us as gunfire continued to ring through the corridor. “How many?”
“Two,” I answered, and raised my weapon. “Cover me.” I ducked out, firing down the hallway while Tristan and Matthews popped around the corner and did the same. The pair of guards in the corridor jerked and fell, guns clattering to the floor, and I turned to the others. “Clear, let’s go!”
As we reached another intersection, I turned the corner, and a pair of double doors loomed ahead, ominous and important looking. A squad of six human clones waited in front of them, three kneeling and three standing over their shoulders. As soon as they saw us, the three standing opened fire, while the ones kneeling Shifted forms—becoming sleek gray dragons—and charged.
I ducked behind a thick metal pipe across the hall as Tristan and Matthews jerked back around the corner. “Ember, Mist!” I barked. “Take out the vessels. The rest of us will cover you.”
The two didn’t hesitate. As the vessels drew close, a bright red dragon and a silver-white dragon bounded into the hall with a roar and pounced on the clones. As the snarls and shrieks of angry dragons filled the air, the rest of us ducked out of cover and fired into the remaining guards. I felt a bullet graze my arm, taking a chunk of skin with it, but the three human vessels fell back and slumped lifelessly against the doorframe.
I looked to where the fight between dragons still raged in the middle of the hall and raised my weapon to help, but it wasn’t necessary. Mist had one vessel pinned and was finishing it off with her jaws around its throat, and a few yards away Ember stood over two lifeless, bleeding dragon bodies, panting and glaring down at them. Her wings shook, either with fury or adrenaline, and her front talons were covered in blood. Tristan whistled softly.
Carefully, I approached the red dragon. “Ember,” I said, making sure she heard me before touching her shoulder. “Are you hurt?”
Her head came up, green eyes wide and a little glassy, and my worry for her spiked. Losing Dante was hitting her hard, and she was taking out her rage and grief on whatever she could. I wished I could comfort her, but there was no time, and we both knew it.
“No,” she whispered, and Shifted to human form. Blood stained her fingers and was spattered across her face in ribbons, but she didn’t seem to notice. “I’m fine. Let’s keep moving.”
We turned to the heavy double doors. They were locked, but Ember slid the card she’d gotten from Dante into the slot below a touch screen, and the red window above it blinked from red to green. The doors groaned as they swung back, and a billow of warm, damp air hit us in the face as we stepped inside to gaze around in horrified awe.
“Son of a bitch,” Matthews commented, craning his neck up toward the ceiling.
The stasis chamber from the email video stretched away before us, massive and towering. The vats containing the Adult clones marched in neat rows into the dark, and the dragons inside seemed even larger up close and personal. I felt a shiver go through me as I stared at the sleeping army. So many. If they woke up, it would be hell on earth.
A shot rang out behind us, and a bullet ricocheted off the doorframe about an inch from where Tristan stood. The two of us turned and fired, and a pair of guards crumpled to the floor. But footsteps echoed through the hall, a moment before an entire squad of vessels rounded the corner and raised their guns in our direction.
“Close the doors!” I shouted, firing as I leaped back. The roar of assault rifles filled the hall, and we ducked behind the metal barriers, straining to push them shut. They closed with a moan and a loud clang, and the window above the touch screen on the inside flashed red, locking automatically. Raising my gun, I fired several rounds into the screen, until the touch pad was a smoking, sparking mess of wire and broken glass.
“That won’t stop them for long.” I shrugged off my pack, removed the case and yanked it open, revealing the deadly packages inside. Four each and, according to Mist, created with a special combination of explosives and dragonfire that would devastate everything around them. “Split up,” I told the group. “Try to cover as much of the room as you can. Pay special attention to structural features that could collapse the ceiling, but don’t spend too much time on any one thing. Regroup near that big central column when you’re done. We’ll have to do this fast.”
They nodded and melted into the room, vanishing between endless rows of vats. I followed, pausing only to attach a bomb to the first glass cylinder I passed. The device stuck easily to the glass, and when I pressed the button on the side, a row of numbers flashed to life on the screen.
Fifteen minutes, counting down.
A hiss behind me turned my attention to the entrance, where a thin line of blowtorch smoke was drifting up from the locked doors. Snatching the case from the cement, I slipped farther into the chamber.
“Stop!”
The shout came as I was planting the last explosive on a vat in the center of the floor. I whirled, raising my weapon, as a man stumbled out from behind a pillar and hurried forward, eyes wild. He wore a white lab coat and glasses, had thinning brown hair and looked like all the other scientists I’d seen in this room tonight. But instead of running from me, he rushed the vat where I’d just set the last charge, throwing out his hands as if to protect it.
“What are you doing?” he demanded, gazing up at the sleeping vessel, as if making sure it was all right. “You can’t be in here! Get out!” Suddenly catching sight of the bomb, counting down the seconds in ominous red, his face went pale. “Oh, God. What have you done?”
“You need to leave,” I told him. “This whole place is rigged to explode. If you tamper with the devices they’ll just go off sooner. There’s nothing you can do now.”
“Dr. Olsen!” Pounding footsteps rang out behind us, and a younger man came to a gasping halt at the bottom of the vat, his white coat fluttering wildly. “Sir, we have to go!” he cried. “The vessels are coming, and those people have set bombs through the whole chamber. We have to leave while we still can.”
“No,” rasped the other scientist as my heart skipped a beat with the realization. “I won’t leave. You can go, but this is my life’s work! I won’t abandon them.”
Olsen. Something clicked in my head, a memory from not very long ago. Myself, and Martin in his office, staring at a name on a yellowed birth certificate.
Lucas knew your mother, Garret. That’s why he took you that day. Before he became a soldier, before she married a scientist and started working for the organization, they knew each other.
“John Olsen,” I said quietly as the younger scientist hesitated a moment longer, then fled, vanishing between rows of vats. I barely noticed him go. The older man looked up, and his gaze narrowed briefly in my direction.
“Do I know you, St. George?” he snapped, and when I didn’t answer, he dropped his attention to the panel again. “Look, whoever you are, you’ve done enough. If you’re going to kill me, then kill me. If not, I suggest you leave, before the vessels get here and bullets really start flying.”
I took a steadying breath. “You might know me,” I told the scientist in a voice that shook only slightly. “My name is Garret Xavier Sebastian. But I had another name once, a long time ago. Garret David Olsen.”
The scientist’s fingers froze over the panel. Slowly, he straightened and turned, as if seeing me for the very first time. Finally, one corner of his mouth twitched in a wry, ironic smile.
“Damn.” He sighed, shaking his head. “They told me you were dead. That you and Sarah had died in the raid. If I had known…” He trailed off.
“What?” I challenged. “Would you have done anything? Would you have searched for me? Tried to get me back?” I nodded to the huge tanks surrounding us, the Adult clones that hovered beyond the glass. “Or would you have kept working for them? Knowing that you were helping the Elder Wyrm take over the world? You must’ve known what she was doing. You can’t claim ignorance when you helped create this.”
“Helped create?” Dr. Olsen gazed up at the vessels, smiling. “You don’t understand,” he murmured. “These are my greatest achievements. The cumulation of my life’s work. Science and magic, blended together to create something entirely new. I would sell my soul, again, for the opportunities Talon afforded me.” His gaze swept to me again, hardening. “I will not see them destroyed by the boy I’d given up for dead!”
“Garret!” Ember rushed up, followed by the other three. “The vessels have blocked that side of the chamber and are heading in this direction.” She panted. “We can’t go back the way we came.”
I turned to the scientist. “Dr. Olsen,” I began, unable to call him…that other word. “You need to come with us. This place is going to blow in a few minutes. There’s no time—”
“No.” He shook his head, and his eyes were a little glassy now. “You don’t understand,” he went on, turning back to the panel. “This is my life’s work. I can’t leave them. I might be able to save a few.”
“You can’t save them,” I argued, suddenly furious. “If you stay here, you’re going to die, along with everything else in this room.”
“Garret,” Tristan said in warning, just as a shot rang out. Lightning fast, Mist turned and fired her pistol at the vessel who appeared between the vats, and it collapsed to the cement. But more were coming; I could see their shadows moving across the floor, blurry shapes of both human and dragon sliding behind the vats.
Torn, I gave the scientist one last, desperate look. He ignored us all, fiddling with the panel, muttering to himself. A light at the top suddenly flashed on, blinking red in warning, and an automated voice announced: “Warning, system override in process. Awakening procedure starting in five…four…three…”
“Dammit, we gotta move, Sebastian,” Matthews snarled at me. “Now!”
With an inner curse, I turned and fled with the others, pushing farther toward the back of the chamber. I didn’t know where we were going exactly, or how we would escape.
“Garret!”
I turned back to see Dr. Olsen watching me, illuminated red in the flashing light of the tank.
“Take the emergency elevator in the back left corner,” he called, his voice barely audible over the warning buzz coming from the vat. “It will take you up to the first floor, provided you have a key card to operate it.” He gave a half smile and mouthed something that I couldn’t hear, but in the dim light of the chamber, I could almost imagine it was, Good luck, son.
I spun and ran for the corner as shots followed me into the dark.
“Dammit,” Tristan muttered as I caught up to the group, taking cover behind a pair of large columns. “They keep pushing us back. I don’t see any way to go around them.” He glanced at the pillar, where one of the explosives stared back, blinking ominously. “Less than eight minutes to go.” He sighed. “At least it’ll be quick.”
“Fuck that,” Peter Matthews sneered, and raised his weapon. “I’m not going to sit on my ass and wait for it to explode. If I’m dying here, I’m sure as hell taking as many lizards with me as I can.”
“No one is dying,” I said firmly, meeting Ember’s gaze from where she huddled behind the second pillar. “There’s an emergency elevator that will take us to the surface if we can reach it. Ember, do you still have the key Dante gave you?”
She nodded, took the card from the cord around her neck and tossed it to me. “In case I have to Shift again,” she said, her voice strangely calm.
“Here they come!” Mist snapped as a half dozen gray dragons bounded toward us through the aisles. Gunfire followed them, sparking off pillars and ringing through the air. The tank above us cracked, leaking greenish fluid that steamed as it trickled down the glass.
“This way!” I called, and we ran for the back of the room, keeping our heads down, hearing the shrieks of the vessels as they gave chase. Ember and Mist Shifted while running, giving them greater speed and a little protection from flying bullets, while the rest of us wove around columns and tanks, trying to keep obstacles between us and the advancing guards.
There was a sound above me, the faint flap of wings overhead, making my blood chill. I glanced back to see a pair of vessels swooping toward us through the aisle, weaving around vats.
“Incoming!” I called, and spun around to fire at one vessel lunging in from the air. It shrieked as it flew into a hail of bullets, and I ducked out of the way as it crashed, fracturing one of the tanks as it did. Greenish fluid hissed to the floor and over the body of the vessel, filling the air with steam and a foul, almost fishy smell.
A yell rang out through the aisle, jerking my attention around. Peter Matthews lay on his back with a dragon atop him, biting and clawing. As I started toward them, the vessel’s head snaked toward Matthews’s face, and the soldier gave a ragged scream as narrow jaws closed around his neck.
With a flash of scales, both Ember and Mist slammed into the clone, knocking it away. It tumbled to the floor, bounced upright with a snarl and then jerked wildly as Tristan and I put several rounds into its body.
“Matthews,” I called as the vessel slumped lifelessly to the ground. “You all right?”
A raspy gurgle was my response, making my blood run cold. The soldier tried to sit up but slumped back as we hurried over. One look at his face told me everything. Blood soaked his collar and streamed from the side of his neck where the vessel had savaged his throat. With the amount of blood he was losing, he had a few minutes at most.
“Stupid,” he rasped, glaring at me as we eased him into a sitting position against a vat. “Why’re you still here, Sebastian? Get going, the elevator is just ahead.”
“Dammit.” I rose, hating myself. I’d never liked Matthews, but he was still part of my team; I was responsible for all the lives under my command. “I’m sorry,” I told him, backing away. He sneered.
“Don’t be. I get to see the end.” He raised his weapon, bloody lips curling in a smirk. “I get to say I saved your sorry ass from the lizards, one more time.” His gaze flickered to Ember, standing at my shoulder, and he gave a tiny nod. “Try not to eat too much of his soul,” he told her. “You’d probably choke on it.”
More shots echoed around us, and Tristan cried out and slumped to one knee. Heart racing, I dropped to his side, and Matthews swore.
“Dammit, get the fuck out of here, Sebastian! I’m tired of seeing your face. Go!”
Slinging Tristan’s arm over my neck, I went, Ember and Mist at our heels, as Peter Matthews’s defiant voice rang out behind us, punctuated by the sound of gunfire.
“Yeah, you like that? Come on then, you ugly bastards! Come get some!”
“There’s the elevator,” said Mist, still as calm and practical as ever. It sat in the corner, a small metal box surrounded by iron lattice, a relic of the coal-mining era. Ancient-looking, except for the modern keypad near the doors. As Ember and Mist Shifted back, taking Tristan’s weight, I stepped forward and shoved the plastic card into the slot. The keypad blinked on, and with a groaning and squeaking of gears, the elevator began to descend. Slowly.
“Garret,” Ember called, and I turned back to face a swarm of dragons closing in from all sides. As the elevator clanked slowly overhead, I stepped forward and raised my gun, firing into the horde, hearing Ember and Mist do the same.
“Let me go,” Tristan ordered, a second before his shots joined ours. Vessels screamed and collapsed, but more crept forward to take their place, blank silver eyes glowing in the shadows. The four of us stood back-to-back, holding our ground, but the swarm of dragons still pressed closer. A shot echoed from the darkness, and something hit me in the thigh, making me stagger.
Behind us, the elevator doors opened with a ding.
“Fall back!” I gasped, and we edged backward, still firing into the horde. I felt another bullet graze my arm, and then we were inside the box. Mist slammed her thumb into the door panel, but just as the doors were sliding shut, a scaly head burst through the opening and latched on to my leg, pulling me off my feet. I was yanked partway through the doors before Ember stuck her arm through the opening and shot the vessel clinging to me point-blank in the head. As it reeled away, several hands grabbed my arms and vest, dragging me back into the elevator. The doors finally closed, shutting out the chaos beyond and plunging the box into darkness.
Panting, I relaxed against the press of bodies that surrounded me, feeling their harsh breathing match my own.
“Everyone okay?” I finally husked out. “Tristan?”
“I’ll live” was the strained reply. “But you’re not looking so hot yourself, Garret. At least I’m not the one bleeding all over the floor.”
“Nothing serious,” I said, though standing up seemed hard right now. Ember’s grip on me tightened, and I put a hand on her arm, squeezing gently to reassure her. The box inched upward, creaking and rattling. “How much time do we have left?” I asked Tristan.
He gave a dark chuckle. “You don’t want to know.”
Not enough, then. I slumped against Ember, feeling a peaceful resignation creep over me. So, this was it. After everything we’d been through, all the narrow scrapes and traps and close calls, our time had finally run out. I would die in an explosion of my own making, along with Talon’s army of vessels that were meant to take over the world.
All in all, not a bad way to go, I mused, feeling the heat from the dragon beside me, the warmth of her against my back. At least my death would mean something. There was a moment of regret, where I wished Ember could have seen the end of this war. But at least, for the dragons and humans that came after us, the world would be a little safer.
“Just out of curiosity,” Ember asked, “what will happen when this place explodes? Will it reach all the way up here?”
In the corner, Mist raised her head. “The explosion itself won’t reach us,” she replied, “but the fires will shoot up the elevator shaft and bring the entire thing down. Not even a dragon could survive that fall. We could fly, but that would mean leaving the humans, and I know you’re not going to do that.”
“You could go, Mist.” Ember gave the other dragon a nod of understanding. “Riley is waiting for you, isn’t he? No need for all of us to die here.”
“No.” Mist shook her head and looked away with a sigh. “I wouldn’t be able to face him if I left you now. It seems his disturbing sense of loyalty has rubbed off on me. So…” A faint smile crossed her face, as if she couldn’t believe herself. “I guess we’re all going down together.”
My earpiece suddenly sputtered, and Wes’s voice crackled in my ear.
“St. George? Are you there? Can you hear me?”
I straightened, causing Ember to draw back slightly, and sat up, putting a hand to my ear. “I’m here, Wes.”
“Bloody hell, where the fuck have you been?” the hacker spat at me. “I’ve been trying to contact you for over thirty minutes. What the hell happened in there?”
“They were waiting for us,” I told him. “They must’ve jammed all communications on the last floor. We just got out a couple minutes ago.”
“Dammit,” Wes muttered. “I knew this was a trap, I just knew it. Damn it all to hell, Riley, why do you never listen to anything I tell you?” He gave a sigh that sounded more weary than angry. “So, the mission was a bloody catastrophe, is what you’re saying. You didn’t get the explosives planted.”
I took a deep breath. “The mission was a success. We found the stasis chamber with the Adult vessels and planted all the explosives, as planned. Give the signal to retreat, Wes. It’s going to blow in…” I glanced at my watch, and closed my eyes. “Fifty-eight seconds.”
“Shit,” Wes breathed. “Right, sending the signal now… Wait, where’s your team, St. George? Are you bloody still in there?”
“We’ll be fine,” I said wearily. “Sebastian out.” And, ignoring his horrified protests, took the mic and earpiece out and let them fall.
For a moment, the four of us sat there in silence, lost in our own thoughts as the final seconds ticked away. At my back, Ember pressed close, slipping her arms around me, and I curled my fingers over hers. Tristan leaned against the wall, his blue eyes dark and far away, and I wondered what was going through his head. As for me, I had no regrets. This was a good death, saving the world. You really couldn’t ask for a better one.
Then Ember jumped to her feet, eyes blazing green in the darkness of the box. “Dammit,” she growled. “I am not dying here. Everyone, get up! We’re getting out of this place, all of us, right now!”