Chapter 45: Chapter 45

ISABELLE

As the feeling in Izzy’s body returned, relief washed over her at the lack of pain in her ribs. She kept her eyes closed for a moment, taking in deep breaths.

She opened her eyes, scanning the room around her and saw only one doctor standing with his back to her.

She tried to move her arms, but the metal straps around her wrists, upper arms, thighs, and ankles kept her firmly in place. ~I need to get out of here!~

At the sound of her struggles, the doctor turned to her, and she recognized the face as one of the doctors who put her to sleep. He placed the screen he held in his hand on the metal table next to him and came to her.

“Please be quiet,” he said looking up at the door. “If the guards hear you are awake, they will take you to Lady Kasana.”

“Let me out, please. You don’t understand what’s going on here—”

“I do understand, Dakira. I have seen what flows inside your blood. It is…not of this Realm.”

“What did that bitch do to me?”

“I have never seen anything like this. Your body is flooded with nanites, but not of any kind that Prime could make.

“They are holding Infernia within you, blocking her. I…I think it might be temporary. Infernia should come back. I don’t know for sure.”

“You have to let me out, please. I need to find my children. Kasana wants to kill the Sentinels, not just me.”

The doctor shifted his feet, glancing up at the door again. “That is madness,” he said, frowning down to her. “Killing the beings that give us all life is…is…insanity.”

“I know. I don’t want that to happen, and neither do the people I came here with. Please, help us.” ~Come on! Just do it, please!~

The doctor let out a sigh, but reached for the straps and began pulling them open. “If you are to escape, you will need my help. There is a small shuttle not far from here. We can use it to get to the city.”

Izzy watched as he undid the first strap, trying to be as quiet as he could.

“I need to find my boys. I’m not going anywhere without them,” she said as he moved to the next strap.

The doctor paused and met her eyes. “Forgive me, Dakira, but it is too dangerous. You ~must~ live. Searching for them will get us caught, and Kasana will kill us both.”

“What’s your name?” Izzy asked as he moved to the next strap.

“Trynak, Dakira.”

“Okay, Trynak. I need you to understand something,” she said as he moved to her other side and pulled open the next strap.

“There is only a handful of people in ~this~ Universe that I love and care about.” She paused, watching him pull open the last strap and jumped off the bed, meeting his eyes.

“And they are all on this planet somewhere. If Infernia comes back, and my family is dead, I won’t be able to control her. She will scorch this system to ash. I am ~not~ leaving without them.”

The doctor looked at his shoes before transferring his four-eyed gaze back to her.

“We can land in the forest then. I don’t know how they have escaped detection for so long, maybe they will make it there, and we can pick them up.”

“Thank you,” Izzy said, looking up at the door. “How do we get out of here?”

“I have an idea, Dakira,” he said, picking up his tablet from the metal table, “but we must move quickly if it works.”

Izzy nodded and moved to press her back against the wall next to the door. She gave him another nod, and he swung the door open and stepped out, shutting the door behind him.

Izzy tried to listen to any sounds from the other side, but the heavy door blocked any voices.

A moment later, the door opened again, and Trynak ushered her out. “We only have a few minutes before they return. We must hurry.”

“Where did they go?” Izzy asked, looking down the barren passage.

“I sent them to call Kasana. I told them you were awake and ready for phase two,” he said as they took off in a run down the hall.

“What is phase two?” she asked. Trynak glanced at her for a moment, then back down the hall.

~On second thought, maybe I don’t want to know.~

They reached a door at the end, and Trynak opened it for her then stepped inside. With one last cautious look down the hall, he shut the door and turned to her.

“I do not know what phase two is, only that Kasana has more plans with you,” Trynak said, taking the first couple of stairs.

“These stairs lead to the ground, where the shuttle stands waiting. Let us not linger, the guards could be back at any moment.”

“Tell me about these nanites you saw,” she asked as she followed him.

“Prime’s nanites all have the same basic structure. This allows them to bond into the numerous ways in which she manifests. The nanites in your blood are different.

They are acting like a virus, attacking Prime’s nanites and destroying them. I think…”

“Yes?”

“I think that one of the mysteries of ascension is revealed to me. Prime’s nanites will allow you to contain the abilities of the other Sentinels without it destroying you.

“These nanites that have flooded your body are designed to suppress or contain the Sentinels. You have become a trap for them.”

“That’s why she needs me. To trap the Sentinels inside me, then kill me,” Izzy mumbled as they reached the bottom of the stairs.

Trynak nodded. “I believe so. That is why you must live,” he said, turning to the door behind him. “The shuttle stands on the other side of this door. I will check if the path is clear.”

“Be careful,” Izzy said, and watched him open the door slowly to peer out.

~That stupid nutcase has lost her mind. She really believes she can kill the Sentinels by trapping them inside me, then killing me. What the hell have the boys and I been dragged into?~

Trynak turned back to her. “Dakira, the path looks clear. Let us go,” he whispered and pulled the door open for her.

Izzy stepped out, blinking to allow her eyes to adjust to the darkness. Across from the door, only thirty feet or so, stood a sleek silver machine.

She expected something larger with the name shuttle, but the silver shuttle looked about the same size as one of those old yellow school buses, with broad windows at the front and the back a solid mass of engines.

Trynak motioned for her to hurry and ran toward the entrance to the machine. He tapped at the small screen next to the door and it slid open. He waited for her to step in first, then shut the door behind her.

“Do you know how to fly one of these?” she asked, taking note of the complicated controls at the front.

“I have watched this done many times,” Trynak said, sitting down at the controls.

~Oh shit!~ “You sure this is a good idea?” Izzy asked, sitting next to him.

“Dakira, I am an Orbanite. My race learns very quickly simply by watching or listening. That is the purpose of my eyes and the reason they move independently,” he said, touching the controls.

They came to life, and he continued, “We gather a large amount of information and remember it clearly. Flying a shuttle never looked complicated to me,” he said, giving her a smile.

~That’s not very reassuring.~

As the shuttle began to vibrate, and the hum grew louder, Izzy sat back in her seat and looked around for any straps, cursing the idiot who decided seat belts were not necessary.

“Here we go,” Trynak mumbled, and the ship lifted off.

Izzy shut her eyes and felt a firm clasp over her chest. She opened her eyes to find four gray bars over her body, holding her in place.

“That’s better,” she said and looked out the window as the ground got further away. The shuttle turned in the air as Izzy’s heart jumped into her throat at the turbulent motion.

Trynak steadied, rising higher and pushed them forward toward the dense forest beyond the wall.

A flash caught her eye off to the west, and when she turned to look at its origin, a white fireball was hurtling toward them.

“Trynak, look out!”

With a muttered oath, Trynak jerked on the controls, and Izzy felt the force of the engines push her back into the seat.

~Oh God no.~ Izzy focused inside her as she heard the rushing sound get closer. ~Infernia, help me!~ Izzy said to herself.

Nothing. No response from the Sentinel inside her and all the while the roaring sound grew closer.

She gripped the bracing in front of her with white-knuckled hands, trying to slow her breathing, until a powerful explosion smashed the shuttle off course.

She rocked from side to side, glad of the restraints, to the sounds of multiple alarms as the shuttle dipped sharply and began to spin.

As Trynak tried to regain control, she could see the immense trees, so pretty from her view in the room, loom with sharp twisted branches that clawed at the sky like giant hands in the window.

She screamed as with a jarring crunch the shuttle cleaved through the tops of trees like a massive scythe before striking a large trunk and spinning into the ground.

***

She opened her eyes and froze. In the corner of her vision, through the cracked glass of the windshield, something moved. She reached out a hand to shake Trynak awake and felt wetness beneath her fingertips.

As she brought her hand in front of her, she smelled the coppery notes of blood, and her heart pounded in her chest.

Something shook the shuttle, and she swung her head to the side, the glass on the right side of the shuttle smashed in.

She screamed as, with a heavy growling sound, a clawed black limb the width of her leg stretched out and sank seven-inch claws into Trynak’s chest and ripped his body out of the seat with ease.

Frantic, she pushed at the metal restraint bar, trying to figure it out and hyperventilating at the same time.

Seconds passed in which she heard the crunch of bone until she managed to find the release and duck back into the damaged interior of the shuttle.

Both inside and outside the shuttle was quiet, except for the gruesome noises of whatever beast ate Trynak.

She looked for a weapon, anything she could use for when the creature decided to stick its head through the massive hole in the side of the shuttle.

She found a long sliver of glass and, reminded of the time Peter almost killed her, grabbed it for what little protection it offered.

As she stood there trembling, through the hole in the side of the shuttle she could see the wild and intimidating forest.

The shuttle had come to rest at the base of an enormous tree, the twisted roots providing an unstable footing for the craft.

Off in the distance, in the direction of what she assumed was the base, she heard shots ring out. The same sound she heard in that storage room on the fifth floor and knew it was Mikhlas and her boys.

Her heart sank at the thought of her babies fighting for their lives. ~Please, Mikhlas, keep them safe. Please.~

At the crunching of another bone, another thought ran through her head. ~Who’s going to keep me safe?~

She risked a glance toward the sounds of feeding and saw an enormous black shape, the size of a fur-covered rhino.

With teeth and claws, she saw it tear off clothing from what looked like a leg in the darkness. ~I have to make a run for it while it is distracted.~

Heart in her throat, she slinked as quietly as she could out of the shuttle onto the less-than-stable footing of the tree roots.

She ran, not looking back until she’d found cover, to see the huge beast still standing over what remained of Trynak’s body. A rustle in the bushes behind her made her jump.

She spun around to look but saw only darkness. Her heart pounded in her chest so loud she could hear it in her ears.

Izzy stood still, listening to the forest around her. There was no sound.

The gunfire off to the west was silent, and she hoped that meant good news, but for right now, she needed to survive herself before she looked for her boys.

In the unnatural stillness, she could not even hear birds chirping or insects.

She crept into the woods a little deeper. After a few paces, she heard the rustle of leaves again. She quickly looked around, and there, in the darkness of the night, she saw two bright-yellow eyes looking at her.

The longer she focused on it, the closer they got. From the eyes, a black-furred snout extended, and she heard the whuffing intake of breath as it sniffed the air.

~Another one! Oh God, I’m going to be eaten alive.~

Izzy took a cautious step back. The second beast came out of the shadows, and Izzy could barely see it in the darkness of the forest.

It made a deep chirping sound and shook its head a few times. It stopped and closed its mouth, then licked its lips with a huge tongue in much the same way a dog would.

Izzy pressed herself against the nearest tree and stood still. The animal tilted its head to one side, blinking those yellow eyes before trotting up to her, and she felt the weight of its footfalls through her own feet.

She shut her eyes and turned her head away from it. ~Just make it quick. I’m sorry, babies. Mommy isn’t going to see you again.~ Its breath reeked of death.

She heard a fluttering sound, and when she peeked out of one eye to see what the animal was doing, it shook its head and then lay down in front of her, staring at her with attentive yellow eyes as if she would throw it a stick.

~What the fuck?~

Izzy watched it for a moment, unsure if she should move or not, but in the distance, she heard the sounds of people approaching. The creature lifted its head, ears twitching toward the sound.

~Soldiers coming to look for the crash site.~ She slowly pushed off the tree. As soon as she did, the beast stood up again and brought its face right up to hers before looking toward the sounds of people.

She took a slow step to the side, away from the tree and away from it. It moved with her, tongue lolling out the side of its mouth like a happy puppy being taken for a walk.

~I have to get around those soldiers and find the boys.~ It was now or never.

She ran as fast as she could toward what she hoped were her children, angling away slightly from the sounds of approaching soldiers, and the creature stayed by her side with ease, not once moving a few feet away from her.

~Now that’s a guard dog,~ she thought. ~Infernia did say Garia was in the forest. Maybe she’s helping me.~