Chapter Fourteen

Melissa’s sank as she watched Thunder leave the storage room. It had started out as her prison but swiftly developed into a haven away from the rest of the world. It hadn’t mattered what was going on upstairs or outside the building because they had each other.

She knew he was leaving to do something important. If the two of them were going to stay together, Thunder would need to go through both Purity Force and the other cyborgs. It wasn’t likely to be pretty or comfortable, and she was worried for him. Cyborgs could endure a lot, but what if he got injured or killed? How would she get out of the building? Where would she go?

There were too many questions and no answers. Melissa shifted on the bed and realized she was still naked. Being nude had been lovely when she was underneath Thunder and felt him heaving on top of her. It wasn’t going to work when it was time for her to leave. After the college girl had put on her clothes, she didn’t feel like sitting around and waiting. There had to be something she could do.

As she tried to ignore the sounds of crashing and plasma discharge over her head, Melissa stood up and examined the walls. She assumed Thunder had carefully inspected the building, but anyone could overlook things. Melissa shoved aside the cans of food and jugs of water lining the shelves, hoping to find a small door to a crawl space that might have been painted over or covered up. She ran her finger along the corner where the wall met the floor, searching for any inconsistencies that might reveal an opening.

She only found dust and some mouse poop.

An explosion vibrated through the building, and Melissa ducked under the bed as bits of debris and dirt rained down from the ceiling above her. It had a crack in it now, but hadn’t collapsed yet. Someone was using a new weapon up there. The booming noise didn’t sound like a plasma gun or any other weapon she had heard before.

The din upstairs was growing louder, and Melissa swallowed the lump in her throat as she imagined what Thunder was going through. He was fighting for her. He was fighting for them. In the meantime, she was down in the basement feeling useless. No matter how badly she wanted to leave or how hard she looked, there was no other way out of the room.

It made sense when she thought about it. Purity Force owned the building and probably wanted each room to be easy to defend. If there was only one door, then there was a single way for the enemy to enter.

But Melissa needed to leave. She was relying on Thunder to find an exit, and it didn’t feel right to her. She bit her lip and laid her hand on the door handle. It wasn’t in Melissa’s nature to wait around for a man to rescue her. The door handle slowly turned beneath her hand. She decided the best course of action was for her to go and help her lover. She wouldn’t be another useless human, a burden that the cyborgs would be thrilled to dump when they discovered she was weak.

What would happen once she went up there? Would Thunder see her and get distracted, opening himself up to injury or death? Shit. She pulled her hand off the door and stepped back. Melissa knew she should think of the cyborg as a war robot, made to dive into battle and focus on nothing else, but he had already proven otherwise to her. He knew much more than tactical skills and the glory of victory. The cyborg was caring and sweet, and he could even be vulnerable. If Melissa were responsible for his death, she would never forgive herself.

On the other hand, given the current circumstances, both of them would probably die no matter what decisions they made. Thunder might be angry with her for not listening to him, but Melissa was an adult. The time for being a sweet little girl had passed, and she was prepared to do what was necessary to survive.

Melissa made up her mind and turned the door handle, slowly opening the door. She started shaking as she saw the darkness beyond the opening. When Melissa had come down earlier, it was well lit. Now she could hardly tell that there were any stairs at all. Putting one toe gingerly out in front of her, Melissa found the bottom step. Her hand reached out blindly to find the wall, and she crept up the stairs.

When Melissa had come to this building with the rest of the Liberators, it had been in the middle of the night. From the narrow shafts of light shining down into dust and debris, she guessed the sun had risen over an hour ago. The sunlight revealed that the area that used to hold the cyborgs looked completely different.

The entire ceiling had collapsed, leaving nothing but the skeleton of the building above it. A massive hole was visible on the outer brick wall. Melissa assumed Purity Force had made a new entrance into the building instead of using the existing ones. The dust was beginning to settle, and figures were slowly moving between the chunks of concrete and exposed beams. From this distance, Melissa couldn’t tell who was a cyborg and who was part of Purity Force. She crouched at the top of the stairwell while she decided what to do.

On the other side of the holding cell, an altercation was taking place in the stairwell that led up and out of the building. It was the same set of stairs Melissa had used with Jake and the rest of the Liberators. She couldn’t see what was going on and she couldn’t understand what anyone was saying over all the shouting.

Near Melissa’s feet on the floor, she noticed a green light blinking in the darkness. Her stomach jumped when she realized the light was from a Purity Force gun. A LED indicated the gun had power. She had never used one before, but she had spent time on the range with a few pistol at home. If there was a trigger, she could figure it out.

The weapon was heavy and poorly balanced. Melissa slightly staggered when holding it. She had to balance its weight on her arm, using one hand to grip the muzzle tightly as she fumbled at the trigger. She didn’t want to kill anyone, but she might be able to maim one or two of them and stop them from hurting the cyborgs.

Heading into the frenzy of soldiers and officers, Melissa squinted in the dim light. She spotted the redheaded cyborg who Thunder had marked as his leader. He rose out of the debris and started recharging his gun, ready for the fight to resume. Melissa wasn’t sure if he saw her or not. She would have to take her chances.

The commotion on the staircase at the other side of the room reached a crescendo, and she heard several weapons discharge. Bodies fell backward, either dead or unconscious. She would have to go through the firefight to get out of here. Melissa pressed her back against the wall as she made her way through.

A new group of Purity Force officers dropped through a hole in the wall. They landed in front of her with a thud, shouting directions at each other. “Get to the stairwell! That’s where they are!”

Melissa tried to follow them, but a large hand wrapped around her forearm. She looked up to see the familiar dark eyes of the cyborg who had summoned Thunder from the storage room. It seemed like a long time ago. She hadn’t liked the way he looked at her then, but something was different in his eyes now.

“Come this way!” He had to shout so Melissa could hear him over the racket. He pointed at the wall opposite to where Purity Force had made their entry. The brick had crumbled, and the structural beams had collapsed in a way that formed a makeshift ramp. Purity Force was busy in the stairwell, and they paid no attention to the human woman and the cyborg at her side.

She tried to yank her arm out of the cyborg’s grasp, but she couldn’t pull herself away. His grip was too strong. “I’m not leaving without Thunder!”

The cyborg shook his head. “Thunder’s terminated. Purity Force killed him a few minutes ago.”

Darkness came over Melissa’s vision that had nothing to do with the lack of light. Was Thunder dead? She couldn’t believe it. She had known fighting with Purity Force had risks, but in her heart, she didn’t think anything would happen to them. If her lover was dead, what would happen to her? How was she going to get out of here?

The cyborg tugged on Melissa’s arm, trying to bring her back to reality. “You have to move if you want to live, human.”

Melissa looked once again at the exit. She shook her head in disbelief. Was she better off leaving with the cyborgs or staying with the other humans? Purity Force might listen to reason. There was a chance, however slim, that they might be willing to negotiate with her. The cyborgs had nothing for her but danger unless Thunder was with them.

“I think I’ll just stay here and go back to the basement.” She turned to the storage room.

The soldier pulled her back. “No, you won’t. Thunder told me to protect you if something happened to him.”

“Who are you, again? I don’t even know you.” It was a weak excuse, but it was the best one she could come up with. All she knew was that she didn’t feel safe with him. Thunder was the only one who could protect her.

“Call me Compass.” The noises around them were getting louder, and shots rang out across the room. “There’s no time left. Let’s go!”

Compass started to drag her and a few other cyborgs followed them. They made their way up to the hole in the bricks and managed to pull themselves onto the sidewalk. Melissa blinked in the bright daylight, but she didn’t have the luxury of letting her eyes adjust to the sun. Compass was leading her down the concrete path with the other cyborgs at their back.

Melissa started to cry when she looked over her shoulder at the big brick building that had changed her life in a few hours. She had met the man of her dreams, fucked like she never had before, and had it all taken from her.

The building seemed to have transformed as swiftly as her life. When she and the Liberators had first seen the old warehouse, it was a hulking behemoth in the night. Now it was a crumbling edifice, falling apart on the outside like she was on the inside. Purity Force officers swarmed around the other side, paying no attention to the small group of people escaping down an alleyway.

She sobbed freely, not caring if the engineered soldiers saw her crying. Thunder had meant everything to her. The other cyborgs had taken it upon themselves to get Melissa out of harm’s way. She didn’t know if they were honoring Thunder’s wishes or if they had plans of their own.