Darkest Days Read online

  “They are possessed,” Athos observed under his breath. “Stay together,” he shouted at the officers on either side. “Don’t let them over the wall.”

  Below on the bloody sand, humans stood on each other’s shoulders, forming pyramids five people tall to scale the walls. The general pushed his way through the spectators to get away from the railing, dragging Pelros behind him. Once he got onto the walkway that led out, he brought the boy in front of him.

  “Run, Pelros,” he said, turning him toward the exit. “Don’t stop running until you get to the Shock Troop barracks.

  “Yes, sir,” the boy replied. “But what about you?”

  “Do as you’re told,” Athos snapped, pushing Pelros.

  The boy had tears in his eyes, clearly fearing he’d never see his uncle again. Then he darted between the citizens’ legs toward the doors.

  Athos returned his attention to the rail. Humans spilled over, slashing into the unarmed Anunnaki with their swords. Determined to keep Pelros safe, he jumped over the seats and kicked the first one he came to in the chest. He managed to retrieve the slave’s sword and attacked, trying to push them back into the arena.

  Aware of his physical disadvantage, Athos focused on controlling his breathing and relaxing his body so he could swing the sword. He’d been captain of the swords team at the academy and had always had a passion for edged weapons. Having carried a blade into every battle, he’d only used one twice in live combat.

  The sword was shorter than his arm and sharp enough to split a hair. It cut through the white shirt of a slave who rushed at him, opening his abdomen without resistance. He shoved the tip of the weapon between the ribs of the next one and split her heart in half. His slaughter of the humans who closed on him didn’t slow them. Apparently under the control of the green entity, they pushed him back, flowing into the aisles and killing terrified citizens. It seemed more humans were overrunning the coliseum walls than had originally been on the arena floor, like they were multiplying.

  Sharp pain exploded through the back of his legs, and Athos spun and drove his weapon into the slave who’d cut him. When he tried to retrieve the blade, his legs gave way and he collapsed to his knees. The gravity felt like it increased, growing stronger even than Earth’s. A wave of blood-splattered white uniforms swelled before him. Hands grasped his arms and pulled him to his feet.

  They held him up. Their eyes still glowed green, but the rage in their expressions was gone. The stadium grew silent, and his labored breathing roared in his ears. Athos examined the humans’ blank faces, hoping their slave genes had reactivated. They lifted him so his feet floated above the floor. Pain seared from the gash in his hamstring. Grimacing, he refused to cry out. They spun him around toward the exit.

  The doors slid open, revealing young Pelros with a wall of humans behind him. Citizens’ bodies covered the walkway between them, a tangled, bloody mess of corpses laying at odd angles as only the dead could do.

  “Uncle?” Pelros asked, his eyes damp.

  “Son.” Athos struggled against his captors but couldn’t break free of their powerful grasps.

  Kelly, the blonde slave, stepped behind Pelros, grabbing his black hair and pulling his head back. She slid her sword across the boy’s delicate neck. Pelros’ expression contorted to horror for an instant before going slack as the life rushed out of him.

  “No!”

  Athos sat up, blinking his eyes against the darkness. Sweat soaked through his uniform. He gasped for air, slow to realize he’d been having a nightmare.

  The door to the room slid open.

  “You called, sir?” the young officer who’d led him into the apartment asked.

  “Yes,” Athos said, worrying about what he’d shouted out. “How long have I been asleep?”

  “Four Earth hours, sir.”

  “And yet it is still night,” Athos said, looking at the window.

  He stood and walked out of the room. The officer followed close behind him, holding a candle up to light his way. The general stepped outside and faced east, expecting to see the first light of dawn. Stars filled the sky except where a black circle blocked the rising sun near the horizon. He could just barely make out a faint halo of light along the edges of the sun’s cloak.

  “There’s the day,” he said with dismay. “It appears the enemy intends to starve us of its light and warmth.”

  “But look, sir,” the officer said, pointing at the top of the Pegasus.

  A column of light shined on the ship’s city, as bright as any sunlight.

  “It is a sign, sir,” the officer said. “The gods are with us.”

  “Perhaps,” Athos replied, doubtful. “Regardless, we shall treat it as such.”

  Chapter Twelve

  “Aw, damn it.” Steve slumped back onto the ground next to the fire. “This blows.”

  “What is your plan now?” Jones asked. “If this alien intends to deprive us of sunlight, then finding a farm and trying to settle down is pointless.”

  The captain’s implication was clear. He still wanted to head toward Atlanta, to face the Anunnaki and kill them. Jones’ agenda stemmed from hatred nurtured since he fought with the rebels on his home planet, but worse than that, it seemed like he’d begun to hate himself for being Anunnaki. Shane expected he’d need to use caution when listening to the captain’s advice.

  Shane searched the starry sky. A black disk with a faint halo around it occupied the place where the sun should be. The temperature had dropped significantly overnight, and he’d been looking forward to the warmth of a new day. When it passed between him and the light of the fire, he could see his breath turning to steam with each exhale.

  “We’ll freeze to death if it gets much colder,” Laura observed, rubbing her arm above the bandages.

  “No, we won’t,” Shane countered, determined to keep their spirits up.

  “There is an easy answer to this,” Jules said, frustration brimming in her voice. “A way to make the green alien go away and everything return to normal.” She sat on the other side of the fire, her arms bound behind her. Excess rope wrapped her legs, guaranteeing she’d not be able to escape and go on another murdering spree.

  “Yeah?” Shane glanced at her. He knew her answer and immediately wished he’d ignored her.

  “Isn’t it obvious?” Insanity glimmered in her eyes. “The Anunnaki must die. We have to kill them. Then this’ll end.”

  “I’m sorry, Jules,” Shane snapped. “But that’s not going to happen.”

  “Now what the heck is that?” Maurice pointed south.

  Cutting through the starry sky, a thin shaft of light shined down from the heavens, landing somewhere beyond the horizon.

  “What do you make of it?” Steve asked, standing next to Shane.

  “I’m guessing it’s shining from the slave ship,” Shane replied.

  “Or shining down onto it,” Maurice added. “A beacon telling us where we should go.”

  “Not you, too,” Shane replied.

  Maurice shrugged as if to say they had to consider every option.

  A shout came from behind them. Shane pivoted, scooping his weapon from the ground as he turned. A green light near the forest drew his eyes, the same color as the glowing entity that disabled the Anunnaki.

  “What the hell?” Steve ran toward the light with his weapon aimed.

  “Don’t get too close,” Shane warned, following him.

  Stopping twenty yards away, Shane held his arm out to keep his friends from getting any closer. He blinked his eyes. The light blinded him after being in the dark for so many hours.

  “It’s shaped like a person,” Tracy said.

  His eyes adjusting, Shane could make out the form as well. It morphed from a bright light into a glowing, indistinguishable humanoid form. Then the light grew dimmer and took on more features of a person, until it appeared to be a woman. She still glowed and was transparent, putting out less light than the campfires.

  A boy ste
pped through the crowd of kids who stood in a semicircle around the thing. “Mom?”

  “That is not your mom,” Shane warned. “Stay back.”

  The boy ignored him, and he was too far away for Shane to grab him. The luminescent woman smiled at the teenaged boy, holding her arms out to welcome him into her embrace.

  “No,” Shane shouted.

  The boy rushed to her, tears of joy streaming down his face. As soon as he made contact, he screamed in agony. The woman wrapped her arms around him, and he stiffened like electricity coursed through his body.

  “We have to get her off him,” Steve said, stepping closer with his gun aimed.

  “Don’t touch them,” Shane warned.

  He stuck the barrel of his gun close enough to the green woman so he knew he could fire a shot without hitting the boy. He pulled the trigger, and the bullet passed through the woman without slowing, like she wasn’t even there.

  She continued her maternal smile, and the boy’s screams diminished, smoke rising from under his collar. His head dropped back, and he grew silent.

  “What the hell?” Tracy growled. She swung her gun at the woman’s back like an ax, but it passed through her and hit the boy in the stomach.

  The heat radiating from him burned Shane’s face.

  “Get back,” he shouted, seeing flames lick out through cracks forming in the boy’s skin.

  They recoiled, and the boy burst into flames, brighter than the glowing green woman. As if infused with gasoline, he burned bright and hot for a few seconds. Turning to ash, he collapsed through the alien’s arms into a pile of gray dust on the ground at her feet.

  Shane fired his gun at the woman out of frustration. She had no substance, nothing solid to attack. He and his friends stood in stunned silence, their weapons aimed at her. She continued to smile gently, pointing at the needle of light coming down from the dark sky far to the south. Though she didn’t make a sound, her lips mouthed the word go. She grew brighter again until Shane could no longer look directly at her. Then she vanished, leaving them blinded by the sudden darkness.

  “Don’t move,” Shane ordered.

  He counted, knowing it would take at least a minute for their eyes to start to adjust to the darkness, and ten minutes until they could see as well as they did before the green entity decided to appear and murder one of the kids he was charged with keeping safe.

  Each second he counted off, his vision grew more focused. The first thing he could see was the neat little pile—all that remained of the incinerated boy. His remains still glowed from the heat Greenie had put into him, muted red penetrating through the ash. Shane’s tongue felt thick in his throat. He made an unsuccessful attempt at swallowing and turned to the kids under his charge. The entire camp had woken up, and they packed in behind the circle of kids looking down at the ashes.

  Those who stood close enough to see what had happened wore panicked expressions, and he expected they’d lose control and run off into the woods if he didn’t do something. He couldn’t afford to take the time and figure out why the alien had chosen this specific kid to kill—he had to take charge of the living.

  “Everyone,” Shane shouted. “Pack your stuff. We move out now!”

  The kids didn’t budge. Dim light from the stars illuminated the stunned expressions slacking their faces. Shane glanced at Steve and Tracy. Looks of comprehension came over them.

  “You heard the man,” Steve shouted. “Let’s move.”

  Tracy and Maurice joined them, encouraging the kids to act. Shane knew it was the only way to keep them alive. If they weren’t given direction, he expected the group would fall apart. If that happened, people might start fighting each other.

  “Where are we headed?” Jones had slipped next to Shane without him noticing.

  “I don’t freaking know,” Shane said under his breath, so quiet he doubted Jones could even hear him.

  “I think the answer is obvious enough,” Jones said, almost sounding condescending.

  Shane glared at the place where the alien had appeared. Anger blazed in him, mixed with fear and confusion. He twisted his hand on the strap that held his gun over his shoulder. Bullets had passed right through the thing. How could they fight something if they had no way of killing it? He bit the inside of his lip, his mind racing.

  “Maurice,” he called as his friend walked by.

  “Sup?”

  Maurice seemed less stressed than his other friends, like he was cool with however things turned out. Shane attributed it to his faith and envied him.

  “Get Tracy and the rest, we need to huddle.”

  The once-chubby kid had grown lean, hardly recognizable from the boy Shane met in Atlanta not so long ago. Maurice nodded and rushed off to get the others.

  Shane eyed Jones. The captain didn’t say anything, but his face, side-lit by the nearest fire, said he would agree with whatever Shane decided to do.

  Drawing near his camp, Shane saw Jules half-mummified with rope, seated and staring into the flames. Kelly sat next to her, her arms wrapped around her knees. She hadn’t grabbed a gun and joined them when Greenie showed up. It seemed like she knew the effort would be useless.

  He thought it would’ve felt better to have them back. Unfortunately, they were a constant reminder of how out of control things had gotten. Neither of them acknowledged him when he drew near. It pained him. Shane still missed Kelly. It was like a stranger sat before him now.

  After rolling his blankets, he shoved them in his pack. He tried not to look at the girls, his throat tightening when he did. When Tracy arrived, she stood back and surveyed Jules for a long moment. Reflecting the orange light, her eyes brimmed with the same sadness he endured. Tracy blinked back tears, turning her attention to packing up her stuff.

  Chapter Thirteen

  “They say they’ll take us to Shamus,” the slave girl reported.

  Athos looked where she’d just come from. Shadowy figures squatted behind cars, clearly afraid of them.

  “Keep your weapons down,” he ordered the Anunnaki and slave soldiers following him.

  “Sir?” the Shock Troop soldier standing to his right objected when he stepped closer to the new kids.

  “It’s okay,” he said. “They need us. They won’t attack unless we give them reason to.”

  Athos advanced until he knew the kids who held guns aimed at him and his squad could clearly hear him. “We will follow you,” the general said in a kind voice in clear Anunnaki.

  The humans rose from behind cars and hesitantly advanced up the street. They understood him. All the humans he’d encountered thus far still understood Anunnaki, though many of them had reverted to speaking their native tongue. Although the new enemy had deactivated the slave gene, it still seemed to have some influence over the humans. They stole glimpses over their shoulders at Athos as they led the way, their wide and terrified eyes flecked with starlight.

  “It’s okay,” the general reassured. “We are on the same side.”

  They reacted by moving along quicker and peering back less.

  Athos tried not to huff for air as he trod along. It was so easy to take his strength-enhancing armor for granted. He’d never felt so weak. It was unacceptable. He would be doing more intense gravity training, even after this conflict was over and they had the power back on.

  Athos thought he heard rhythmic drumming. He dismissed it, deciding it was his heart beating in his ears. But the sound grew louder. It came from ahead, an aggressive beat that seemed to keep rhythm with his belabored pulse.

  His legs burned to the point he almost had to stop, but the music pulled him on. It was primal and violent, embodying everything he loved about the humans. As they drew nearer, it sounded like hundreds of drums playing together. When they turned a corner, torches on poles greeted them, leading to a makeshift wall that prevented access to a large plaza surrounded by buildings.

  A crude gate had been fabricated out of scraps of metal, and humans with guns stood on either s
ide, looking very serious about their guard duty. These humans appeared to have embraced their militant tendencies. If he could win their allegiance, they’d be ready for combat immediately.

  Orange light from fires beyond the wall shined through the gate and reflected off the buildings rising around the plaza. A signal from the human Athos followed prompted the guards to open the rickety gates.

  The plaza beyond was crowded with humans; Athos guessed their numbers to be in the thousands. The foul mixture of cooking meat mixed with body odor and smoke made his eyes water and his stomach turn. Humans crowded around barrels and bonfires, laughing, eating and dancing, the drumming so loud it made Athos’ ears ring.

  Their guide pushed into the crowd, shouting for everyone to make a path. When he pointed at Athos and his soldiers, the humans listened and stepped aside, their eyes widening. The white uniforms stood out and drew attention, just as the general had hoped. He kept a stoic expression on his face and didn’t return their gazes, marching forward through the parting throng.

  They crossed the plaza toward a glass building that towered above the other structures. The windows on the lower levels were broken out, and the fourth floor had torches installed along the edge of the side that faced the plaza. Guards with guns stood between each torch, their faces haunting in the dancing firelight.

  Athos found his target. A figure stood from a couch set near the edge of the fourth floor that broke the line of torches and guards. He gazed down into the crowd, his eyes finding the white uniforms Athos and his soldiers wore. He gave a signal to someone behind him, then returned his attention toward the approaching Anunnaki.

  When they came to the entrance, they encountered a line of humans standing guard around the base of the building. Most of the kids wore tattered clothes and were covered in grime, but Athos could tell by the way they stood and studied him with steely but cautious eyes that these were combat-hardened soldiers. They could serve him well.