PLANET AGAFRA - TOLLINDO CITY

Atticus didn’t want to admit that he was enjoying himself. He knew they were in a very serious situation, yet there was something thrilling about attempting to outrun death; or, as it happened, six deaths in the form of oversized interdimensional crab-spiders from Earth-knows-where.

One of the trigbies was quicker than the rest, gaining on the truck fast. Atticus fired at it, doing his best to keep his aim steady while the truck shifted underfoot. Mana prickled his fingertips like static electricity every time he pulled the trigger, sending a little spark of joy and adrenaline to his brain. He felt like a hero in an action movie.

With an almighty ‘boom’ the ballista fired, the firebolt landing a direct hit on the closest trigby and decimating it beyond recognition. The device was largely physical with the exception of a mana spark used to ignite the ammunition as it loosed.

“Wa-ho! Did you see that?” Echo asked from beside him at the ballista. It was slow to load with only one operator, let alone on a moving vehicle. Somehow Echo seemed to make it work for him like it was second nature. For a while, Atticus even forgot that Echo had an injured arm. 

“I didn’t know it could be aimed so close,” Atticus commented, watching the trigbies scatter to avoid their dead ilk.

“Neither. Siege weapons aren’t usually this practical.” Echo pulled out a gun and aimed it at the erratic crustaceans. “But we’re out of bolts. Laser shots only unless the princess feels like beating more of those things to death.”

Hyejin wouldn’t have let that remark slide without protest. When she didn’t kick up a fuss over Echo’s jab, Atticus quickly looked back to her to check she was still alive. Anxiety left a bitter taste in his mouth until he saw her chest rise and fall. Alive. Good. 

Dion also appeared to be unconscious. Atticus couldn’t tell which one of them was worse off, the brother whose skin had turned black and purple or the girl who looked like she had literally been chewed up and spat out again.

“How much farther?” Atticus called to Ember.

“Not far, I can see the guards coming!” 

Atticus peeked over the side of the truck and saw two armoured vehicles headed in their direction, along with three little drones that buzzed around them.

“A little help, Blue?” Echo stressed.

Atticus aimed at the nearest trigby’s eye. It was hard to get a good shot while the truck was moving, but the road had been fairly straight, so that was at least something. He had no idea how the trail racers managed to turn corners and hit rubble and still have the composure to hit their targets.

Laser shots missed his target by a small fraction and Atticus scowled at the trigby. It was too far away for him to get a good hit in. Dion had trained him in how to use basic weapons, but nothing as advanced as the situation they were in now. It was frustrating. Atticus had always thought he was pretty good at shooting.

Echo suddenly tapped him on the shoulder, frightening him. “You need to hold it more like this,” he explained, taking a stance with his pistol. “Take a shot when you see it, don’t hesitate. You’ll miss a lot, but that’s why these bad boys are fully charged.”

The truck bed moved unexpectedly under Atticus’ feet when it hit a rough surface and he stumbled, arms flailing in an exaggerated fashion. Echo grabbed the back of his collar and pulled him back onto his feet.

“That part takes getting used to as well.” Echo laughed with his whole body. 

Atticus tried not to think about the heat rising in his cheeks. He might have been a bit overconfident in all his abilities; messing up in front of someone like Echo made him feel weak.

Now that it was pointed out to him, Atticus noticed the way that Echo swayed from foot to foot with the movement of the truck to stay steady. 

Atticus tried to mimic the other man’s stance, but his leg muscles ached and strained like he’d never used them in his life. He supposed in a way, he hadn’t. There wasn’t much call for activity in their living room back home.

Suddenly a little drone buzzed past Atticus’ head and started circling the truck as it went.

‘Do not deviate from your course,’ the drone announced. ‘Repeat. Do not deviate from your course.’

Atticus leaned over the side of the truck to get a better view.

Beyond the approaching armoured vehicles, which were now in single file, four large pillars lit with a familiar blue glow. Atticus hadn’t realised it when they first arrived, but the giant pillars he thought were in the middle of nowhere were enormous mana turrets. All four of them swivelled in the direction of the truck at the same time.

‘Warning: Anti-Monster Turrets firing,’ the little drone announced, hovering above the truck with no effort at all as the vehicle continued to hurtle down the road at full speed.

Atticus nervously cleared his throat. “They won’t shoot us, will they?”

“Maybe,” Echo said, leaning out even further over the side to see past Atticus. “This old stuff has been here for hundreds of years. Who knows if it still works properly?”

One of the turrets fired and Echo pulled Atticus back into the truck again, pushing him to the floor.

“Stay down,” Echo said, pressing low to the bottom and encouraging Atticus to do the same.

ZOOOSH!

Atticus felt like his skin was on fire again as the oversized laser shot flew past the truck. There was a chorus of loud trigby screeches behind them and Atticus tried to crane his neck to see what had happened. Unfortunately, he couldn’t see from his angle.

Two more shots zoomed past, one at a time. They were so close Atticus had a hard time believing they weren’t aimed at the truck. The smell of seafood wafted through the air and Atticus thought he heard Echo’s stomach grumble.

The little drone circled them again. ‘All threats eliminated. Please standby for an escort. Remain in your vehicle and stop the engine.’ The other two drones joined the dance around the vehicle as all three of them scanned the vehicle the same way traffic drones did.

The truck slowed to a complete stop and both Atticus and Echo stood up again.

An armoured vehicle pulled up on either side of them and a team of uniformed people poured out. They had their weapons up and pointed at everyone in the truck while they moved to surround it. Each of the armed personnel was decked out in armour and helmets making it difficult to see any distinguishing features. They looked more like soldiers than the militia Atticus saw fighting monsters in the street.

One of them came forward to take charge, puffing out his chest. “Occupants—”

“Hey, Trev!” Echo and Ember cried in unison, catching the man visibly off-guard.

Despite not being able to see his face, Atticus was sure the leader rolled his eyes. “Of course, it’s you two.” The man suddenly relaxed and lowered his weapon. “Stand down. Let them in.” The remaining military squad followed his lead without hesitation.

“We have two medical emergencies,” Echo informed him, leaning on the ballista casually. “Do you have a doctor?”

Trev nodded and waved his gun toward a ramp that led underground. “Drive down until you reach the red square. I’ll have them send someone out. Good to see you alive. You owe me money for that race.” 

Echo winked and blew a distorted kiss to him through the breather mask.

“A friend?” Atticus asked as the truck pulled away, leaving the armed team to pile back into their vehicles.

“Ex-boyfriend.” 

After a thought, Atticus frowned. “Yours or Ember’s?”

“Yep,” was the only explanation Echo provided as the truck descended into what looked like an underground bunker.

Unlike the buildings on the surface, the walls below ground looked like they were made of white-painted metal. Large clear tubes of glowing blue mana dust overhead provided enough ambient light that they didn’t need any light bulbs. As Trev had described, there was a big red square in the middle of the road outside a huge set of doors.

A smaller cut-out door inside the large one opened and yet another team of people rushed out to meet them. This time they had stretchers and medical kits instead of guns.

“How many emergencies?” a young woman asked, though she was looking at the holodisplay on her wrist rather than the vehicle’s occupants.

“Two critical.” Atticus gestured to Hyejin and Dion, both of whom were still out cold. As an afterthought, he remembered that Echo had been buried under rubble and his nose had bled a lot and added, “We all need a little medical attention.”

“Everyone out. Leave the critically injured, we’ve got them from here. The rest of you can be seen after this mess blows over,” a gruff old man told them, completely ignoring Atticus as he climbed into the truck. Before he knew it Atticus found himself being passive-aggressively pushed out of the vehicle by the amount of medical staff who were suddenly trying to make room for their equipment.

Atticus soon realised he didn’t know what to do with himself as he awkwardly stood aside, watching everyone else go about their tasks. He was at a loss with what to do while his brother and employer lay unconscious. Was there something he should do to help? If not, where should he go? What should he do? Even Echo and Ember had peeled away on their own and seemed to be having their own private conversation away from the suddenly crowded space.

Echo seemed to notice Atticus watching the brothers talking among themselves and waved him over. “You hungry, Blue? Let's go eat.”

Atticus very much wasn’t hungry after that ordeal, but for lack of a better plan, he nodded his head and followed them both through the little door and into a corridor.

It was brightly lit and a pristine white on the inside. The technology in the bunker looked more advanced than the buildings on the resurface as well. It was more like the facilities maintained by NexTech found on the core planets. As they wandered through the halls packed with people, something about the corridors felt familiar, but Atticus couldn’t place it. It wasn’t the first time he’d felt deja vu in the last week.

A part of Atticus knew that the rest of the city residents had to have made it to the shelter, but he hadn’t expected to find so many survivors on arrival. Everywhere they went, people were trying to piece themselves back together. They all looked just as lost as he felt himself.

“What do you think this place was?” Ember wondered aloud, gesturing to the small turrets in the ceiling.

“Home,” Atticus answered absently. He stopped in his tracks, wide-eyed. What?

Echo frowned. “What?”

“What?” Atticus repeated, equally confused. A sudden sharp pain zapped through his head and he grabbed his temple with both hands.

“Do you need a doctor?” Ember was already scanning over people’s heads to look for an authority figure.

Atticus shook his head and laughed awkwardly. “No. I’m okay. It’s just been a long day. I need a shower though.”

“Lucky for you, I have one room left.” Trev had somehow snuck up on them from behind with a holographic clipboard. 

Now that Trev wasn’t wearing a helmet, Atticus could see his blonde hair and pretty blue eyes. “All five of you will need to bunk together. It’s supposed to be for families, but there aren’t many of those in Tollindo anyway. Follow me.”