“Let’s go,” I said, leading the group with a weakened Richard by my side. “Dude, you’re a mess.”
“Tell me about it,” he croaked, struggling to stay awake. “I don’t know what the hell they injected us with, but damn… It’s like my muscles were turned to mush. I can barely think straight…”
“It’s okay, we’ve got you,” Soph said, then briefly turned around and fired a few more pulverizer pellets into the remaining clones. More would come from behind soon, so we absolutely had to get topside before that happened. “We’ll have to come back for the others, one way or another.”
“I know… we have to get out now, though,” I said, boiling with anger.
As if reading my mind, Jericho hung his weapon over his shoulder, leaving Dafne and Soph in charge of pulverizing our pursuers while he dug through my backpack and picked out two explosive charges, each the size of a cellphone. He carried the remotes in his bag, and as he ran, he started connecting the devices between them.
“You never cease to amaze me,” I gasped once I realized what he was doing.
“Yeah, makes me less angry about having to cover your ass,” Dafne replied, giving him an appreciative sideways glance.
Jericho chuckled, though he was sweating and nervous as we trailed after Astra. “It’s a fine ass, admit it…” Humor was his coping mechanism in the middle of this wretched nightmare, and I dared not take it away from him.
The Daughter didn’t lose sight of Brandon, and that was the curious thing. The Berserker had vanished from our sight before, yet this time he was allowing this chase to unfurl. It didn’t make sense. He could’ve just taken Viola and disappeared.
Finally, we saw the door beyond him as it slid open. He rushed up the stone steps with Viola thrown over his shoulder like a sack of potatoes. Astra threw a small barrier at him, likely aiming for his legs, but she missed him by inches and cursed under her breath.
Behind me, Jericho was done with the charges. “I need you guys to move faster,” he said.
As if my heels were on fire, I ran like the wind. Richard’s boots weren’t even touching the ground anymore, and I could barely feel his weight. Soph and Dafne were right on my tail as we sprinted up the stone steps and reached the northern edge of the Port.
The clones called out and trampled below, as Jericho dropped the two charges and quickly caught up with us, clutching the remote tightly in his hand. “Five, four, three… damn it, I’m out of breath!”
“Two, one,” Dafne finished for him, and he chuckled and pressed the detonator.
A split second passed, then the ground shook beneath our feet. The heavy boom rippled across the sandy beach, followed by a deep rumbling and sharp screams of horror and agony as that part of the tunnel collapsed on the incoming clones. For a second, I worried about Isabelle, Chantal, and Voss, but their cells were too far from that exit to suffer more than a dusty shakeup. The entire maze, if built after the original from our island, was an incredibly sturdy structure, each of the cells reinforced with a heavy steel alloy. The ceilings and the support beams would last longer than the stone itself.
“And there you have it,” Jericho exclaimed. “Why I aced the explosives class.”
“Where the hell is he taking us?” Soph asked, her breathing ragged as we kept running after Astra, Brandon, and Viola. That was an excellent question, since the Berserker was now racing up the shore and gradually inching closer to the northern redwoods.
“I don’t know, but we can’t lose them,” I replied.
Black smoke billowed behind us, spreading around the Port. More clones were spilling onto the beach, most of them headed for the cells and unable to see us just yet. It worked to our advantage, but I knew it would be short-lived unless we got off the beach and out of sight.
Somehow, Brandon seemed to be on the same page, as he changed direction and bolted straight for the woods. Astra cast another barrier at him, but he jumped, agile as a wildcat, and the air rippled past him, crashing into a tree. It left one hell of a hole in the trunk, splintered wood raining down. I could only imagine what it would’ve done to Brandon’s legs had the barrier hit him.
“Astra, what’s the plan?” I asked, almost out of breath.
“We stay on him,” she replied. “I have to get her…”
And none of us could disagree. It was Viola that had been demanded by HQ. More tests, I’d heard Aida and Field’s clones say. What tests? Viola might know more. Brandon absolutely knew more, the treacherous bastard.
The sequoias rose around us with their reddish bark folds and emerald crowns, giants watching us from above as we darted between them in a desperate bid to recover one of our abductees. Refusing to lose sight of her mother again, Astra launched another barrier, knowing she couldn’t use her pulverizer on Brandon while he still had Viola. She couldn’t risk hurting her mother.
“Could you please stop trying to break my damn legs?” Brandon blurted and came to a sudden halt. “I’m trying to help you here!”
We all stopped, our words lost along the way.
“Wait. What?” Astra croaked, trying to make sense of this madness.
“They’ve suspected me of treason before. I had to do something to get them off my back,” Brandon replied. “To prove I’m still loyal. The Berserkers aren’t as easy to convince, but it’s not them I was trying to get on my side. It’s these dumb clones, who tell on everybody to HQ, including the Berserkers.” Gently, he laid Viola down. She was still asleep, resting peacefully in some kind of deep slumber. Her heartbeats were mellow and even. “Actually, let me correct my previous statement. I had to do something to get them off my back while also helping you get your Pink Lady back.”
“That’s why you sold us out back there?” I asked, my blood still boiling as I nervously looked around. Soph and Dafne had emptied a couple canisters of trace wipers along the way, but I wasn’t sure it would be enough. We’d made quite the ruckus down by the Port, and I didn’t even want to imagine how much harder the recovery of Isabelle and the others would be after this botched attempt. “Do you have any idea how insanely difficult it will be for us to rescue the rest of our friends now?!”
Brandon nodded. “I do. But I had to, as you so eloquently put it, ‘sell you out.’ It was only a matter of time before one of the clones spotted you. Damn it, kid, you were never going to get out of that place with your friends.”
“How do you know that?” I shot back.
“You didn’t even let us try,” Astra added, shaking as her gaze darted between Brandon and her mother. “You… made me trust you.”
Brandon shot her a cold grin, but the blue flames in his eyes flickered with hesitation. “I never told you to trust me.” He pointed at Viola. “Anyway, here you go. You’re welcome.”
“What about my friends?” Astra retorted. “We had to blow up that exit. The clones won’t allow for a second incursion.”
The Berserker exhaled sharply. His expression shifted from bored amusement to something much deeper and more profound. I reached out a hand, wondering if I could use my glamoring abilities on him. He raised both hands as the blue in his gaze intensified to an almost-white. “Don’t even think about it, kid. You can’t afford the spiritual energy you’d need to hold something like me down.”