Glitch, page 26
part #1 of Epoch Series
More gunshots.
Through it all, Brooks never budged. I held his cold hand in mine and stared intently at the faintly thumping vein on his neck, as I huddled on the floor with Howie.
I must have dozed off sometime during the night.
I woke with a shudder as something beside me moved. My eyes flew open in time to see a large ugly guard with a strange birthmark on his forehead dragging a body away.
To my left, a pile of bloody pale corpses. To my right, Brooks’s smiling blue lips. “Are we almost there?”
I kissed his frozen forehead. “We sure are, look.”
His droopy eyes followed my pointing finger. With the number of people who took Sturn’s way out, our future looked a little brighter. The crowd closed in on the guard tables, filling the empty spaces. Howie picked up his pace to make sure we were one of them.
The speakers crackled and Theoda’s callous voice pierced our ears. “If you can hear this message, you are the lucky few who will depart this derelict planet. This is the last ship to Gliese. Only those worthy of our new propitious world shall step foot on it. Samaritans, join me in ushering in a better, duteous mankind that will be the future of the human race.” The speech grew louder as Theoda became more enamored with herself. Then, as a quick afterthought, “No chips allowed. Please have your identification ready. Single-file orderly lines everyone.”
Another crackle and she was gone.
Howie and I hugged in tight and adjusted our headphones to hang down around our necks while still covering our chips. The moment of truth.
When we reached the bag check, a fat guard at the next detector waved Howie over to him.
I squeezed his hand, too scared to let go.
He pulled away and smiled over his shoulder at me. Then, meeting the guard’s gaze straight on, he somehow managed to smile wider.
The woman in front of me struggled to show her papers with a crying baby in her arms. The thing mewled like a dying cat. My guard pushed her aside with his wand. “If you’re not ready, go to the back of the line.”
Howie’s guard told him to put Brooks down so he could walk through the detector on his own.
I fidgeted and shook my head nervously at my guard. “It’s alright. I don’t mind.”
The woman looked at me with such gratitude. My heart swelled. I was only doing it to stall, but she took it as an act of kindness.
Brooks fell to his knees with a huff of ragged air.
“Please sir, he’s been walking for days.” Howie bent to pick Brooks back up.
I saw something metal flash out of the corner of my eyes and held my breath, bracing for the ZapStick to hit him. But then the guard swiftly pocketed whatever Howie had passed him and waved his wand.
A tiny squeak erupted from my lips as Howie gathered Brooks in his arms and walked through the detectors, undetected. Free. Safe.
The woman in front of me dropped her bag just as she passed under our detector, and it set of the alarm.
Howie swung around, terror in his eyes. Then exhaled as he watched the guard run his wand up and down the woman. Then the baby. Then both of them again.
The rush of people billowed around Howie and Brooks.
Satisfied, my guard hurried the woman along. She was crying as loud as the baby, but thanked him anyway.
He waved me on.
I stepped cautiously up to the detector. My fingers curled around the headphones cord. I couldn’t stop them.
With shaking legs I passed through the detector, too scared to breathe.
I was on the other side! I looked up at Howie who beamed with pride. Brooks clapped his hands!
And the alarm blared in my ear.
I took off.
As I passed Howie and Brooks my eyes screamed “RUN!” although I only dared a passing glance.
I ran through the mass of people. Through the winding corridors of the Space Center, toward –.
Not toward. Away.
Away from Howie. Away from Brooks. Far enough away from them that no one would suspect that we were together.
I was so proud of myself. I wasn’t even angry that I had messed up my shot at getting on the ship. That would come later. But for that one moment, I had won. Brooks would get on that ship and fly away. He would be safe.
A fat hand slammed down on my shoulder, whirling me around to face the two ugliest old bald guards I’d ever seen.
CHAPTER FIFTY-ONE
“Very funny,” Guard One leans back, sucking in his gut self-consciously. He tilts his head toward Guard Two; a silent order.
Guard Two fumbles for the radio at his hip. “Sarge, we may have two unauthorized onboard. Copy?”
No answer.
Synta smiles at the floor.
“Sarge, do you copy?”
Guard One nods his head slowly, a smile forming on his lips as well. “You’re smarter than I gave you credit for.”
Synta doesn’t speak. She just stares at her untied shoelaces and listens to the now familiar hum of the ISS Unity’s engine. Her fingers tap out a slow soothing melody on her pants leg. It doesn’t reach her ears, but her soul knows it by heart. She lets the intense warmth of the room radiate through her.
“Sarge? Anyone? Anyone!” Panic rises in Guard Two’s voice.
They’ve been left for dead with everyone else.
Synta’s surprised that she isn’t happy about it. They’re the reason she’s not on that ship with Brooks.
And Howie.
“Sarge?” Guard Two doesn’t even hold down the radio’s buttons when he cries out to them anymore.
Guard One rises to his feet. With great pomp and pageantry, he removes his shiny metal badge. Then his ZapStick. He sets them on the table. He doesn’t seem to care that they’re within Synta’s reach.
Neither does she.
She raises her head, her smile now one of peace. Brooks is safe and that’s all that matters. Howie will take good care of him.
She stands, slowly at first, testing her boundaries.
Guard One watches her, but just shrugs. He walks over to Guard Two and puts a fatherly hand over the man’s shoulders. Guard Two mutters something under his breath that Synta doesn’t hear. He’s falling apart and she doesn’t want to bear witness to it. She’s seen enough of that in her lifetime.
Synta slinks toward the door as the countdown begins.
“Launch in T minus 10…”
Guard One whispers in Guard Two’s ear and they both nod their heads.
For an instant, Synta is struck by an urge to go to him. To comfort him in his grief. But her feet keep moving toward the door.
“…8…”
Her chains catch on the table leg and startle the guards. They snap back to their responsibilities and lunge for her.
“I just want to see him off.” She doesn’t know she’s speaking until the words have already left her. “Please,” she begs. Her hands are clasped together as if she’s praying to them. These two men who are in just as much shit as she is.
Guard One sighs and takes Synta by the arm. He unlocks the door and leads her to a window.
“…6…”
The engine’s growls are muffled now. The walls vibrate and what framed pictures are left rattle and fall to the tile floor.
“…3…”
Synta feels her chains tug and jostle, but doesn’t take her eyes off the ship. It’s majestic. Tall and proud. A harbinger of the future.
“1… Lift Off”
The chains fall to the floor with a loud clang and Synta straightens from the lightened load.
Guard One puts an arm around her, not as a captor but as a fellow human. Together they watch the ISS Unity roar to life and rise above the dimly lit mid-day sky.
The familiar blue and white light illuminates all the dejected faces of those still left on the ground. So close.
A tear falls down Synta’s cheek and she doesn’t bother to wipe it away. It doesn’t burn like every tear she’s shed before. It trickles calmly down her cheek — her good one — and rests on her trembling jawline.
“You did it,” Guard One says softly and squeezes her shoulder.
Synta swells with pride and takes his hand.
“What’s your name, sir?” Her voice shakes, but the words come out.
“Marshall,” he says and Synta turns to him.
“Bravery,” she says.
Marshall nods. “That’s what my mother always told me.”
As the Unity passes high above them, the afterburners cool and blink out.
Marshall flinches.
A massive ball of fire erupts in the sky.
A shockwave knocks Synta to the floor and she scrambles to regain her footing.
Marshall pulls her up and away from the window as it explodes into the space she had just occupied.
“Run!” Marshall screams over the roar of another explosion. Another shockwave tears through the Space Center. Solid stone walls crumble around them. Debris flies through the air.
Marshall drags Synta down the hallway and out a sliding door frame. The door’s glass crunches beneath their feet.
They stand there, staring up into the orange sky.
//Howie!// Synta chips. Over and over. //Howie!//
She throws the headphones to the ground and tries again.
//Howie!// //Please answer me!//
A handful of pods float aimlessly in the void left by the ISS Unity.
An orange haze of realization washes over Synta’s face as she counts them. Less than a hundred. Not enough by half.
She falls to her knees.
//Howie…//
THANK YOU
Thank you so much for reading Glitch; Book One of Epoch. I hope you enjoyed it. If so, please leave a review. They are greatly appreciated and very necessary for independent authors.
I’m pleased to announce that Exodus, Book Two of Epoch is available for pre-order (unless you’re reading this after December 23, 2019, in which case it’s available for sale now).
Revolt, Book Three of Epoch will be available for pre-order by December 2019.
For more information on the Epoch series, including upcoming releases, please follow me here.
And if you like dragons... please check out my other series, The Saga of Valonde.
Toasha Jiordano, Glitch
