“I trusted you,” he growled at her.

  “You should stop trusting so easily, Sergeant,” she replied. “It’s bound to get you killed.”

  “Thanks for the advice, Sheriff. Governor, unlike you I’m not out for human blood. If you aren’t going to protect the city from whatever threats might be lurking outside the hull of the Deliverance, then I’m going out there to neutralize them before they become a problem.”

  “You can’t take her out there with you,” Doctor Freese said. “She’s dying.”

  “Then she’ll die with her friends,” Caleb replied. “You were going to heal her to execute her. That’s the humanity I’m risking my life to save? We’re leaving Metro, Governor. Try to do the right thing. If you’re even capable.”

  Caleb dropped the badge to the floor. Then he stomped on it, crushing it beneath his boot.

  Dante smiled behind her faceplate. “Very convincing.”

  “You too,” Caleb replied.

  He backed away from her, returning to Flores. Washington had her shirt back on and was struggling to both hold her up and get her in her combat armor. “I’ll support her.” He positioned himself to put his arm behind her back, helping to hold her up. “Flores, can you hear me? Mariana?” She didn’t respond. He looked at Doctor Freese. “Do you have any stims?”

  “I don’t think that’s a good idea,” Freese said.

  “That isn’t what I asked you. She’s a Marine. She can take it.”

  “Sergeant — ”

  “Freese, just do it. It’s what she would want,” Dante said, interrupting the doctor. “And make it fast.”

  “Do you think Stone is sending more guards?” Caleb asked.

  “He might be dumb enough, but it’s more likely he’s going to block your exit. You can go back through Law if needed.”

  “Valentine had access to the other hatch. I don’t. We have to make it to the open seal before Stone gets too organized.”

  Washington pulled the armor up over Flores’ hips. Doctor Freese found a stim in one of her drawers. “Governor Stone is going to have your head if he finds out you were still helping them,” she said to Dante.

  “Are you going to tell him?” Dante replied.

  “No. I talked to Brom before he was killed. With everything that’s happening here, I agree with the soldier. We need people like him.” She looked at Caleb. “I wasn’t trying to heal her to kill her. My job is to heal. What the Governor was going to do with her after that is beyond my control.”

  “Marine,” Caleb said, correcting her. “Soldiers are Army. There’s a difference. Give her the stim.”

  “It might kill her.”

  “Right now, breathing on her might kill her.”

  Doctor Freese jabbed the stim needle into Flores’ arm, injecting the chemicals. Flores’ eyes snapped open, and she immediately tried to pull herself away.

  Caleb wrapped his arm around her, holding her and putting his face beside hers. “Stand down, Marine!” he snapped. “It’s okay. You’re safe.”

  Flores reacted instantly to the order, her body going limp. She let out a soft groan. “Uhhhhh, my head. Alpha, is that you?”

  “Yeah. Me and Wash,” Caleb said. “How are you feeling?”

  “We have to stop meeting like this, Sarge. I might start to like it.” She paused a moment, looking down. She couldn’t see the veins through her shirt, and Caleb wasn’t planning to point them out until they were somewhere safe. If there was anywhere safe. “What happened to me?”

  “You fainted,” Caleb said. “Probably too much stress.”

  “The Governor’s men. They came at Washington and me. Wash, how did you get away?”

  Washington flexed his left bicep and smiled.

  “Yeah, right. I guess they only needed one of us to play the patsy. Why am I the one who always gets jumped? And where the hell am I?”

  “Metro General,” Doctor Freese said. “I was trying to treat you for — ”

  “It doesn’t matter,” Caleb interrupted. “The Governor sold us out. He’s got most of the population of the city out for our blood. We can’t stay here.”

  “Where are we going to go? Research?”

  “No. We’re leaving the Deliverance.”

  “You want to go outside?” The stimulant was working its way through her system, making her more alert with each word out of her mouth. The poison didn’t seem to be hurting her. For the moment, anyway.

  “Not really, but Stone didn’t leave us much of a choice. We’re going to scout the planet. Sheriff Dante will do her best to get the city ready to defend itself.”

  “Dante is with you?” She turned her head back, finding the Sheriff. “Hi.”

  “Knuckle-up, Flores,” Caleb said. “We’re knee-deep in it.”

  “Sorry, Alpha. You hit me with a stim, didn’t you? Stims always make me a little silly.” She took a deep breath, steadying herself. “Okay. I’m ready.”

  Caleb slid his arm out from behind her. She stayed upright, holding out her arms so Washington could wrap the SOS around them. Caleb spun back to face Sheriff Dante.

  “I guess this is goodbye,” he said.

  “For now, Sergeant,” she replied.

  “Thanks for everything, Sheriff.”

  “My friends call me Sam.”

  “So does Governor Stone.”

  “Okay, my friends and some others.” She smiled.

  “Get the comms running. Get the sheriffs and deputies armed. Have them start training guards and volunteers in how to use the weapons in the armory. At a minimum, you need a full-time detail at the unsealed hatch. It’s not a good idea to let the enemy gain a foothold in the ship. You’ll never get them out. Learn to use the drones. They’ll be your best friend. And— ”

  “Sergeant,” Dante said. “Shut up. I heard the plan before. I’ll take care of things here. Stone thinks I tried to shoot you, so he’ll be relatively forgiving.”

  “Well, if you can avoid marrying his brother, I’d recommend it. And you can call me Caleb.”

  “Aww,” Flores said. “This is like the Notebook. Only with more war.”

  Washington hissed a laugh. Caleb rolled his eyes.

  “Be safe out there, Caleb,” Dante said.

  “Be safe in here, Sam,” he replied.

  They clasped hands, shaking firmly. Then Caleb looked at Washington and Flores.

  “Vultures, it’s time to go.”

  Chapter 19

  Caleb, Washington, and Flores left Dante and Doctor Rathbone behind, moving out into the corridor and retracing their steps to the emergency stairwell. Caleb kept a close eye on Flores as they walked, making sure her gait was even and that she wasn’t showing any ill effects from the stimulant.

  “Geez,” Flores said as they passed the decapitated Butcher. “I’m glad I’m on your side, Alpha. Hey, did you realize that Caleb is an anagram of Cable?”

  “I never thought about it,” Caleb replied. “Why?”

  She giggled. “Oh. Right. You probably don’t know who Cable is. He was in some of the X-men movies. He’s got a metal arm too. Come to think of it; if you had a replacement eye and any hair, you’d probably look just like him.”

  “Can we talk about this later?”

  “Sorry. It’s the stim. I swear.”

  Caleb hoped so.

  “It was nice of Sam to give me her guns,” Flores continued. “I like guns. I guess we don’t want to shoot the colonists though, do we?”

  “No, we don’t,” Caleb said, coming to a stop and blocking Flores.

  “I don’t feel quite right, Sarge,” she said, looking up at him.

  “I know. Let’s do our best, okay? Remember who and what you are.”

  She stiffened slightly, regaining her focus. Caleb started moving along the corridor again. The group that had surrendered was long gone, but the injured guards were still there. Half of them were unconscious, the other half disabled. They didn’t make any attempt to stop them on the way past.

  “Did you do that?” Flores asked, pointing at the damaged lift door.

  “Yes, but we can’t go back that way. We’re taking the stairs up to the ground floor, and then out into the splits.”

  He brought the map the ATCS had recorded up on his HUD. He had directions from the hospital back toward Law. He would divert before they came too close to the area, with the hope that Washington could guide them through the rest of the maze of back alleys to the engineering hatch on the other side of the south park.

  He could already imagine Governor Stone trying to get his people in position near the only seal leading out. Maybe Dante had been right. Maybe they should go back through the hidden armory. There was enough firepower down there to obliterate the seal, and they didn’t need to worry about keeping the hull intact. It was already torn open.

  He didn’t have to make that decision yet. Having options was good.

  They entered the stairwell, with Caleb taking point and Washington holding up the rear. Flores managed to stay quiet between them, though she did start rhythmically tapping her fingers along the side of her SOS.

  “Flores,” Caleb said through the comm.

  She stopped tapping. They ascended to the next floor, coming out into an empty corridor. It appeared the area had been evacuated.

  “Stay alert, Vultures,” Caleb said. He kept his rifle on his back, hands up in a fighting stance as he navigated down the corridor toward the corner. The lifts weren’t too far from the lobby.

  A nurse was rounding the corner at the same time Caleb arrived. He grabbed her instinctively, taking hold of her wrist as she shouted in surprise. He let go just as fast, putting his hands back up. She stared at him, frightened.

  “Sorry,” he said. “My mistake.”

  She eyed the three Marines, backing away. Caleb started moving again, rounding the corner and heading for the exit.

  “I think she wet herself,” Flores said. “Did you smell it?”

  “I shouldn’t have given you that stim,” he replied. Her reaction wasn’t normal. Was the poison on her chest already migrating to her brain? Was she destined to die even before they could get off the Deliverance?

  He picked up the pace, reaching the edge of the lobby. A squad of law officers was waiting ahead of the sliding doors, led by Deputy Bashir.

  “Sergeant Card,” he said. “We don’t want any trouble. Where’s Sheriff Dante?”

  “Downstairs with Doctor Rathbone. Sorry, I had to knock her out.” Rathbone had injected Dante with a sedative that would keep her sleeping for an hour or so, making the whole thing more believable. “You were with Dante when we entered the city. Whose side are you on, Deputy?”

  Bashir put his hands up. The other deputies did the same. “I don’t agree with what Governor Stone is doing. But we have a duty to protect Metro, sir.”

  “So do I,” Caleb replied. “You do it your way, and I’ll do it mine. But you have to move aside.”

  “Yes, sir,” Bashir said, getting out of their way. “What are you going to do?”

  “I’m heading outside. I’m going to find them before they find us.”

  “Good luck then, Sergeant.”

  “You too, Deputy. Follow Sheriff Dante. She’ll lead you in the right direction.”

  “Yes, sir.”

  The Guardians headed out of the hospital and descended the steps to the street. Bashir and the other officers went to find Dante. Caleb was happy to see the Guardians had more support than he expected, at least from the people who knew Governor Stone was lying. At the same time, they were fearful enough of the man to keep their voices low and their actions against him well under the radar.

  They entered the splits. Caleb used his tactical to guide them through the narrow alleys at a rapid pace, leading them through the winding maze toward the Law Office.

  They had gone around nearly a dozen corners when a loud rumble sounded from somewhere above them. Caleb’s pulse skipped in response. Had their time run out? Was the enemy here?

  The Guardians froze in their tracks, looking up to follow the sound. A moment later, the atmospherics started dumping rain on them.

  Flores started cracking up, laughing way too hard for the occasion. Washington parted his hands in confusion.

  “We need to move faster,” Caleb said. The false rain was already running down the front of his faceplate, distorting the split ahead of them.

  The atmospherics had been taken offline and were probably damaged in the crash. If they were functional again, it was confirmation of Caleb’s worst fear for the colony.

  Governor Stone intended to reseal the city and keep everyone trapped inside.

  Chapter 20

  Caleb could almost understand the Governor’s thinking. At the moment, the people were scared, confused and angry. Time to adjust in a safe environment would help some of the colonists get used to the truth. It would allow them to ease into the situation. But he had heard stories of places on Earth that had done the same thing. They had tried to seal themselves off from the truth of the trife invasion. They tucked in, using the landscape around them as a natural barrier from the creatures and denying the day of reckoning would ever arrive.

  But it did arrive.

  It always arrived.

  And when it did the communities were unprepared. They had grown so afraid of what might be lurking beyond their confines that they huddled in their homes while the trife descended on them, killing them all without the hint of a fight.

  The same thing would happen here. Worse, Caleb knew better about Governor Stone. The man’s motives were his own. It wasn’t as much about protecting the colony as it was protecting his grip on it.

  Plus, if the city were sealed in again, the Guardians would have no means to escape. They would be trapped in a small area with thousands of people out for their heads. They would either be put to death, or they would be sitting in cells in the Law Office when the enemy did come, helpless as the colony burned around them.

  Caleb ran faster, careering wildly around the corners. He kept track of Flores and Washington on his HUD, making sure they were keeping up. Flores seemed to be handling the maneuvers with ease, staying right on his heels as they splashed through the splits. Washington dropped a little further back, but Caleb didn’t worry about him catching up.

  They made it within a few splits of Law and Caleb came to a stop, letting Washington rejoin them. Flores stopped next to him, her body twitching when she tried to stand still.

  “Flores, are you okay?” Caleb asked.

  “I feel like my entire body is on fire,” she replied. “In a good way. Like I’m Captain Marvel or something. I have so much energy; it’s crazy.”

  Caleb quickly navigated deeper into her vitals. Her internal temperature was closing in on 102. Everything else in her body was working so well the ATCS wasn’t picking up the fever.

  “Wash, do you know the way to south engineering from here?”

  Washington flashed him his thumb up and then pointed in the right direction. They resumed their run, with Caleb bringing up the rear and keeping an eye on Flores. It wasn’t unheard of for the stims to cause an elevated temperature. They did speed up all of the user’s systems, after all. But she was still burning too hot, and there was no doubt she was sick. He wished he could have left her behind.

  They stopped moving again when they reached the last line of blocks before the south park and the engineering access hatch beyond. Like Dante had said, the Governor was going to try to stop them from leaving, and that effort became immediately obvious.

  The hatch was closed. Multiple transports had been moved to the area, positioned against the hatch to act as a roadblock. Stone’s guards were organized around the transports, using them as cover. It wasn’t anything Caleb hadn’t thought they might encounter.

  What was unusual were the weapons the guards were carrying. They had traded in their bows and arrows for rifles. Caleb recognized the MK-12s immediately. Where had Governor Stone gotten them? From the armory beneath the city? Or did he have his own secret stash that he had gathered from somewhere else?

  “Shit, Sarge,” Flores said, taking in the scene. “I don’t know if we can get through that.”

  “We aren’t going to try,” Caleb said. “We’ll head back to Law. We have a better chance of taking the route beneath the city.”

  Caleb turned around, moving back into the split, the other Guardians right behind him. He had taken two steps when his tactical changed, the ATCS sensors picking up movement nearby.

  He checked his HUD, and then looked up as a small drone swung around the corner of the split, stopping a few meters above and ahead of them. A red light activated, sweeping across the trio.

  “Sergeant Card,” Governor Stone said, his voice tinny through the drone’s small speaker. “You can see that we aren’t quite as defenseless as you thought. I know you don’t want to hurt any more of the colonists, so put down your guns and surrender, and we can prevent unnecessary violence.”

  Caleb stared up at the drone. The tactical grid on his HUD was shifting, one of the transports moving away from the engineering hatch and coming toward them, loaded with guards.

  “You should let us go, Governor,” Caleb said. “We can do more good for the colony outside, and you can still maintain your lies inside.”

  “Sorry, Sergeant. I can’t do that. The people demand justice.”

  “Then why don’t you seppuku yourself?” Flores said. “Because you’re going to lead innocent people to their deaths.”

  “You’ve already done that. You and Doctor Valentine. Their blood is on your hands, not mine.”

  “Screw you, Solomon Lane,” Flores said. “I’ll give you blood.”

  Caleb put his hand on Flores’ shoulder, which shut her up. The transport was closing on them, and he had to make a decision. Was it better for them to fight their way out, to kill Stone’s guards so they could do more to protect Metro from beyond the Deliverance? Or was it better to surrender and hope Sheriff Dante could come through for them? The answer was easy from a selfish perspective, but like his instructors had liked to say, there was no I in duty.