The Overlord: A Post-Apocalyptic Novel (16 page)

Some operatives hovered down from the broken openings while others flew up the stairs. Sentria was among them. She leaped to my position and helped me through doorway where Thralls were seen shattering through the observation windows of the control room. They had all stormed in, along with what remained of squads Azure and Ivory.

From the broken panes, a high wind was hurling throughout the whole tower. The wild breeze served as an announcement for the entrance of Commander Zero. Gracefully, his jet pack landed his boots onto the shattered bits of glass on the floor. The shards cracked and crunched as he paced measuredly into the swarming commotion and raised up his Brawler gun. As the ammunition charged up, his cold blue eyes aimed out for Dr. Chokeberry. Choke was helplessly surrounded, separated from the aid of the Overlord.

They couldn’t even see each other in the multitude of legions, but Deadstock plunged through the wall of operatives and fruitlessly ordered, "Hold your fire! No! Wait!"

In a futile attempt, Choke had been defending himself with his radiation rifle, but it was still charging. By the time it was ready to fire, it was all too little and too late. He was mercilessly peppered with a dozen hyper rounds. The ruthless torrent sent Choke down to his knees with more holes ripped through him than a tattered flag in a storm.

"No!" The Overlord quickly weaved over to his friend's side and caught Choke just as he was about to fall forward, pummeling onto the floor.

Rapidly fading, Choke whispered to him with sincerity, "Dictators and doctors, old friend. Dictators and doctors." In one last breath before death, his head fell limp into the comforting arms of the Overlord. Chokeberry was gone. From the radiation poisoning that afflicted his body and from the sickness that tormented his mind, he had at least found some kind of peace, at last.

Zero walked casually up to his kill and examined the distorted flesh, nonchalantly asking in false pretense, "Who was that?"

Deadstock was trembling with fury. His matter was in a state of uncontrollable pixilation. In his anger, he stuttered, "It's Dr. Chokeberry, at least it was before you killed him."

The Overlord then returned to normalcy as he gently placed Choke down, to which Zero invented an apology, "Chokeberry? I'm so sorry. If I only I had known he was here. All of our information on Fever Island came directly from the United Corps intelligence. It appears that our mutual friend, President Nightwood, has been hiding a few things from us all."

Deadstock knew Zero was lying from what Choke had told him earlier, but why had Zero killed his only accomplice so abruptly? Was it to cover up his tracks? Or did Zero have a conspiracy within his own conspiracy?

The Overlord's presence began to fluctuate into pixels again. It wasn't rage this time, it was a condition. The Wandering Star inside of him hadn't yet recovered from the forceful trauma of the gauntlets. Deadstock's cells were going haywire as a result, weaving on and off.

Taking notice, Zero asked, "Why are you doing that? What's going on with you?" The Commander then picked up the gauntlets that had been thrown to the floor and deviously inspected them. "What has Chokeberry done to you?"

The Overlord carefully expounded, "Choke tried to take the Wandering Star out of me. I suppose you wouldn’t know anything about that, would you?"

Zero grinned defensively, "You began weaving too soon and now you're destabilized. It's just a brief tremor. The effects will soon pass."

"I know what you're doing," Deadstock whispered. "Put down the gloves, immediately."

Zero held up the gauntlets, "Beautiful, aren't they? Our friend was quite the mastermind."

Deadstock angrily regarded, "He was a doctor, like me, something that you'll never be. Stand clear of the gauntlets, Commander, or I'll have you restrained."

Zero snapped back with a smirk, "I'm afraid nobody here answers to you anymore." The Commander then slid his fingers into the gauntlets and mockingly raised his hands up. "We wouldn't want anything getting into the wrong hands, now would we, Doctor?"

Deadstock attempted to enter into a weave, but found that he was still too weak. Instead, he opted for a more old-fashioned approach and drew out the Dragon's Throat from his holster. "I'll give you one more opportunity. Stand clear, Commander."

Zero paid no heed to Deadstock's threats and kicked the gun out of his weak hands. The Dragon's Throat went sliding over near Sentria's feet. She picked it up, deciding to hold onto it for some opportune time. Most likely, she was waiting for any opportunity to hand back the legendary weapon back to its rightful owner, but the room had too many watching eyes and she held back the urge.

Without delay, the Commander then powered up the gauntlets and made a clenching motion toward the Overlord. Once again, Deadstock was sent levitating up off of his feet. Zero's course of action did not sit well with most of us Thralls. The younger ones, the lowly Bottom Bunks, were outraged over Zero's heresy against the man we'd all been trained to look up to as our Space Wizard.

"Defend the Overlord," Sentria rallied us.

The younger Thralls all jumped forward in attempt to intervene. Helmets were thrown about. Shouts and calls were propelled. The room was all on the verge of violence.

"Stand down," Zero hollered back while holding the Overlord in a midair grip. "All Thralls, stand down! Squad leaders, control your units!"

The older Thralls, the senior ranks, held us back with the stocks of their assault rifles as barriers. Apparently, the more seasoned operatives knew something that we lowly Bottom Bunks didn't. I could see it in Fossil's eyes as he bid me to put my guard down. He did so with regret as if he knew a terrible thing was about to happen. Out ranked, we all soon cowered down as our leaders instructed us to, but Sentria was still adamant on doing something about the Commander's mounting disloyalty toward our esteemed Overlord. She loomed on up, confidently.

Zero called her out upon approach, "That means you, Sentria. Stand down and focus on your squad."

She obeyed, frustrated and reluctant after a reassuring nod from Fossil. Meanwhile, Deadstock winced with severity as he dangled in midair. He was mostly unable to move with his limbs outspread. He couldn't really speak beyond grunts and moans. Zero could tell that the pathetic picture he had painted was tugging at the hearts of us Bottom Bunks.

"This is no betrayal," he inaugurated. "It's the Overlord who's betrayed us. He's turned his back on all of you. Did I not promise that a Space Wizard would descend from the outer universe to restore our power and bring peace? Well, he's come, but it's not this man. The Overlord merely stole the power and kept it for himself. So join me in taking the power from this false savior. Who is with me?"

With that web spun, my fellow Thralls didn't know who to stand with. Growing cold and unfeeling, they'd all been programmed since training to be vulnerable to such brainwashing. Zero had persuaded them all to listen and believe in whatever poisonous words he spat out. My own common sense made me immune to his poisonous preaching, but I wasn't alone. Sentria wasn't buying into it either.

A loud cry then brought my attention back to the front. The Commander gripped harder as he twisted and turned the gauntlets in various positions. Deadstock, in his stationary lingering, was bellowing out in agony from the motions. Zero then pushed one hand forward while pulling the other back as if he was splitting something in two with the strengths of his arms.

The Overlord's countenance blew up into a billion weaves, some separating and departing while others remained behind. Violet energy flew from his separating pixels, vacuuming into the gauntlets and taking the form of a purple flame upon the hardware palms. The fire in Zero's metal hands was like a dancing circuit of energy. It was touchable and reactive, not at all a consuming fire, but a lasting light.

The lingering pixels then reformed into the fragile flesh of Dr. Deadstock. His irises, once two iridescent swells upon a violet sea, had become regular and brown. His onyx skin had flattened into dull flesh. He was no Space Wizard anymore. Whatever magic of science he once was, just a plain man now remained. Maybe not even a man. Maybe he was just a ghost of a man as he had told me. Maybe he had just become more of a ghost than ever been before. Completely spent, Deadstock fell to the floor as caught his breath with empty lungs.

"You're relieved of your power, Doctor," taunted Zero. "You've journeyed long, but your walkabout has come to an end. Now, this is my time."

Back amongst the ranks, Sentria unexpectedly grabbed the back of my head and pulled me around toward her. We exchanged a long and passionate kiss. At first, I was downright confused. I've always enjoyed her lips, but it was hardly the time for that kind of behavior. It proved to be no ordinary kiss though. It was full of emotion and ferocity. As familiar as her lips were to me, Sentria had never kissed me that way before. I then became aware of what it really meant. She was kissing me goodbye.

"Forget the kations," she whispered into one of my ears. She then left me standing there while she progressed over to Deadstock, barely alive.

Zero didn't like her sympathetic motivation. "Let him be, Sentria. Let him wallow in his defeat."

She obeyed, but Sentria had a plan known only to her. She wandered off by the control panels and various worktables without any interest, only that's what she wanted everyone to believe. Nobody else seemed to be paying attention to her, but Fossil and I watched as Sentria collected a small sheet of blueprints from a workbench. She silently folded it up and stuffed it into the suit beneath her clear body armor.

Rotating away from the worktable, Sentria swung around the radiation rifle that Zero had given her after the defeat of the survivor with the strange hat. Aiming it out, all eyes fixed onto her. With nobody knowing what to do or what to expect, Sentria was able to nab Chokeberry's own rifle from the floor beside his dead body. Dual-wielding, she charged the guns up and came to stand between Deadstock and everyone else. The coned muzzles began to swirl wildly as white haze glowed from the barrels.

Zero unlatched his retractable machete and activated its full length, "For the Thralldom!"

Before Zero could stop her though, she fired out two beams into the expanse of the ranks as she roared out herself, "For the Overlord!"

Thralls went flying into ashes and the walls of the control tower blew up into little fragments. The beams had flung out at angles, leaving the position where Fossil and I stood unharmed. She must've purposefully aimed to miss us. At least, that's my hope anyway.

Those who had endured the blasts were temporally blinded and stunned, including Zero who had narrowly escaped an ashy doom by leaping off to one side. In the ensuing aftershock, Sentria had fled the control room with the Overlord in her custody. Nobody wanted to jump up and go after her. We all knew that Fever Island was crawling with Thrall reinforcements at every point. They'd surely be apprehended or shot down in no time at all.

As I brushed myself off from the dust, the only thing I could think about was the fact that I'd been left behind by the only person I truly cared about. Worse, she was the only person that truly cared about me. I could only hope that she knew what she was doing.

I tried to run out and follow her. Zero probably thought I was pursuing to intercept them, but in all honesty, I just wanted to leave along with her to wherever she was going. He threw out an arm to hold me back.

"Let them go, Solomon," he eerily chuckled. "They've made their choice. They no longer matter. Their purpose has been served."

With the Wandering Star in his grip, the Commander propped himself against one of the walls that'd been turned to gravel. Chuckling to himself, he became increasingly hysterical. With the violet light shining upon his face through the ash, he spoke out to the clouded air in front of him, but there was nobody there. I think he thought he was talking to a ghost. "We'll meet again, Doctor. We'll meet again."

Zero then clenched the gloves into fists and the Wandering Star slithered into little tubes and chambers attached to the gauntlets. He breathed in and breathed out. His breath cleared the floating ash and dust around him. Sliding down the ruined wall, he sat onto the floor.

"Far Stranger, come in," he requested through his radio.

"This is Far Stranger, reporting," the ominous intelligence responded. "Proceed."

"The time has come," Zero said. "Prepare the Lair. Begin the end."

The deepness of the artificial voice spoke back, "It has already begun."

12

THE ANGEL GATE

Daylight spoke out through the falling clouds of dust as papers flittered about the control tower. Thralls heaved and grunted themselves back up to their feet. Out of those that had survived Sentria's unexpected display of true colors, most were either in shock or wounded. Those that had fallen victim to the dual blasts of her radiation rifles were floating into piles of silent ashes.

Among the pandemonium of clutter and clamor, Commander Zero had since turned off his gauntlets, focusing his madness in a desperate search about the room. His hands clawed at every flying paper only to discard each one upon discovering that they did not possess what he sought. Rummaging through every scattered piece of junk, worktables were cleared and desks were overturned. Whatever it was that Zero was so adamantly looking for, the object of his obsession was eluding him. Turning to Dr. Chokeberry's motionless body, he searched every pocket and fold, but still nothing satisfied him.

He exclaimed in an agitated state, "Where is it? It's not here! Where is it?"

Fossil tiresomely walked over to his little brother and asked plainly, "Where's what?"

"The Plague of Phantoms, you jumbuck," berated the Commander. "The very thing we came for!"

With a single glance, his older brother searched the room, "What's it even look like?"

Zero hotheadedly explained, "It doesn't look like anything! It doesn't exist!"

"The Plague of Phantoms doesn't exist?" Fossil had an equal look of bewilderment and fury, all at the same time. "You mean to tell me that we came all the way out to this pile of rock for something that doesn't even exist? What in the world are you even looking for then?"

"It exists in theory," Zero made clear. "It'd just be a printed diagram now, a construction chart for its creation."

"You mean like blueprints," collected Fossil as he pointed to the worktables. "Like the plans Sentria just took from that workbench over there, right under your nose?"

Enraged, Zero paced up to the older man, "You saw her steal the designs and you didn't think to tell anyone?"

"I didn't think anything of it," Fossil shrugged. "I was under the belief the weapon had already been built. In the mission briefing, you made it sound like we were looking for something real. I expected we would find something tangible. I didn't realize we were looking for some drawings on a piece of paper. What does it matter anyway? We have the Wandering Star. That's all we need. What use is the Plague of Phantoms now?"

Ceasing his fuming, Zero enlightened in a lower and much slower tone so that the severity of his every word could be clearly understood by all, "Yes, we hold the power now, but Captain Sentria has just stolen the only thing capable of bringing us all down. The Plague of Phantoms is the only weapon in this universe that can destroy the Wandering Star. It's what it was designed for. We just traded a yin for a yang. We need both to survive. Without the Plague of Phantoms, we might as well have nothing. As long as that little ankle biter has the designs in her possession, we are all doomed. Track down that double-crossing drongo and find that traitor before she gets back of beyond."

Fossil hit his radio and called out into every frequency, "All legions, this is a red alert. A deserter is fleeing the complex. Captain Sentria is on the run. Pursue to seek and destroy. Disrupt all exits from this island with whatever means necessary! Do not let her get way!"

He turned back to his little brother, "What about the Overlord?"

Zero leered, "What about him? Dr. Deadstock no longer matters." The Commander then paused in what appeared to be a momentary feeling of longing for his old friend. Present enemies or not, they were at least once friends. "He died a long time ago." Shaking off all emotion, Zero moved out, "Just bring me the girl, living or otherwise."

Fossil assembled us all up. "You heard the Commander! Move out!"

Hurried boots clanked over the rubble of the concrete floors. The clicks of ammunition being loaded resounded throughout the ruin as assault rifles went up into attack positions. As we all headed down the stairs, Fossil stood at the top, beckoning us all through. When I passed him, he glanced at me with the most sorrowful look that I've ever seen him give anyone. I knew exactly what he meant by it too, for he knew exactly what Sentria meant to me.

"Sorry, mate," he attempted to console.

Fossil then jolted down the stairs behind me as we set out to carry out an order that I never could've dreamed I'd be doing. Not even in my worst nightmares did I think it'd come to this. We were hunting down Sentria. I supposed every search for love has its chase, but it wasn't supposed to be so dire. It was a different kind of chase and I had no choice but to be a part of it. Every inch of Fever Island was covered with reinforcements and they were all on full alert. Despite apparent betrayal, all I wished was for Sentria to escape with her life, but that prospect soon grew dim.

Hidden among the scape of the island structures, the Thralls tracked her down to a small, elevated air pad where a few auxiliary bikes were being stored out in the open. Sitting there for the taking, Sentria mounted one of the Low Atmos with the Overlord saddled behind her. Incoming fire scraped here and there all around their position while the wretched thing's engine struggled to start running.

While Dr. Deadstock was by no means in an able-bodied condition at that time, Sentria beckoned him to fire back as she shoved the Dragon's Throat back to its rightful owner. She then began working on the engine while the Overlord provided the necessary cover fire from his pistol. In poor health as he was, he didn’t miss a single target.

Commander Zero then came onto the scene, about to lead a charge to the air pad when everything suddenly fell apart. The ground shook in a violent upheaval. The concrete broke apart at every seam and in between.

The Commander, barely keeping any balance, pulled up his radio and contacted the "Lunar Wrath" for an explanation. "Far Stranger, this is Commander Zero. I need a status report, now!"

"Unknown," the artificial intelligence radioed back. "Island unstable. Submersion imminent."

Fever Island was slipping into disarray as something was seemingly deconstructing it from the bottom up. Unlike an earthquake, the force of destruction came at intervals. It wasn't a natural occurrence, it was mechanical, like explosions being set off beneath the island. All of us Thralls had lost our footing and were being thrown about in all sorts of directions. From our vantage point, we could see the waters around the island swelling higher from the unseen quakes.

To worsen the devastation, the central tower was groaning as it swayed this way and that above us. It abruptly cried out and gave way in the shaking. Like the fall of a giant, its shadow overtook us, followed by the crashing of its neck as it brought down the lower buildings beneath it.

Nobody even called out a warning. It wouldn’t have even done much good. There wasn't a single one of us that could manage to keep standing, let alone flee. Yet, as the crushing force collapsed over us, I felt somebody take me in their arms from behind and roll me out of the tower's line of obliteration. A firm hand then pressed down onto the top of my head and kept me down as the tower smashed beside us, tearing a gaping hole into the face of the island. Concrete, rebar, shacks, and an ample handful of unfortunate Thralls sank down into the newly exposed upset of dark water below, never to be seen or heard again.

Thankfully, the island's mysterious heaving and its destructive intervals came to an end. For the time being, it was over and I could finally turn around and thank my rescuer. It'd be a sore lie to say that there wasn't something inside of me that had hoped it was Sentria, but it was just Fossil. The old warrior was looking out for a fellow Bottom Bunk as he always did, looking out for me. Before I could even thank him, he had sauntered off to look after some others.

Sentria, herself, wasn't far away. After being thrown about like the rest of us, she had finally gotten the bike's engine to start. It was crunch time and she took it as her cue to leave. With the Overlord behind her, she revved up the engine and flew out from the next disaster that was about to break out. Fever Island was flooding, and fast too. The whole complex was going under.

I heard the deep, dark voice of the Far Stranger echo out from Zero's radio, "Immediate evacuation, recommended."

"Negative," replied Zero. "Keep on standby." The Commander then hailed every legion on ground, "All right, Bottom Bunks, move out. We've still got a traitor to catch."

Clearly, safety was no longer a priority to the Commander. He was vengefully overwhelmed with the fact that Sentria had just slipped through his fingers for the second time that day. Meanwhile, the island was worsening by the second, sinking further down.

Across the flooding concrete complex, we all headed out in a deadly pursuit. Those who still had fuel used their jet packs. Everyone else just had to make a run for it, if only keeping up to survive. On foot, I set out on an obstacle course of falling debris and plummeting rooftops. The death toll of my fellow Thralls was going up at every hurdle.

All the reinforcements as well as the remaining mission primaries were tight on the tail of Sentria and the Overlord. Their lone bike's smoky trail was leading the way. Some could nearly taste the fuel of the exhausts.

As I caught up with the pursuit through the ever drowning maze, the Thralls had trapped the fleeing pair into a dead end on open ground. It was the original landing zone. With the collapsing complex in front and the roaring swells behind, the two had nowhere left to run but the endless sea. Our forces slithered down through the crumbling rubble to their indefensible position.

Sentria's Low Atmo was at an idle. Both she and the Overlord took cover behind the rattling engine, firing back as they took fire too. With every passing second, the Thralls were closing in on them. Time was soon up and Sentria reacted with an unexpected surprise.

I heard the Overlord yell in vain, "Sentria, no!"

She leapt over the shelter of the bike and took a confident stance out in the open range of fire. It looked like suicide, a death wish of some sort, but then she held up a fist in the air and I knew exactly what was about to happen. The back of her fist was played toward us with fingers clenched toward herself. With her free hand, she reached over and clicked away at an ample band that was wrapped around just below on her wrist.

I immediately recognized the wide wristband as the simple looking device I had seen her working on in her quarters the night before. Upon her tapping away at the bulky bracelet, a rectangular barrier sprung out from the band in all directions. It covered her forward position in dimensions well beyond her height and width. In an emanation of glorious light, the plain armlet was putting out what appeared to be some kind of energy shield. Clear and fluid looking, we could all see her strength struggling to hold the thing up through the transparency of the barrier's framed grid.

The Commander squinted in concern. "What in hell is that?"

"I don't think that's from hell, Zero," said Fossil, mesmerized by the light's beauty from afar.

"It's an Angel Gate," I said informatively with a big smile.

"A what?" His lips didn't need to frown. His brow was already doing it for him.

I couldn't help it. I was mesmerized too. Overall, I was just happy that she managed to get her little invention to work, but would it survive the test? With a few hyper rounds here and there from various Thralls, not a single shot made it past the barrier. Sentria's vibrant and electrifying Angel Gate seemed to be an impenetrable buffer as it absorbed every round that was being flung at her. The defense shield was working perfectly, just as Sentria had told me it would.

Zero held up a fist at a right angle. It was the signal to hold and cease fire. Thralls stopped moving about while they lowered their aims. I knew it had nothing to do with giving up. Zero's grin, which was becoming more potent to me than I cared to admit, was always a sure indication that he was up to something.

"So maybe that thing isn't from hell after all," carried on the Commander to his older brother, matter-of-factly. "It just so happens that we have something up our sleeve that actually is from hell. Break out the Demon Eggs, all of them. Let's just see how this supposed Angel Gate holds up against a present from the Deep Down Under." Zero then centered his voice into his radio. "I want every last Demon Egg that we've got live and ready. On my mark, we launch them all at once."

Fossil gaped with a heavy heart, "Don't you think that's kind of overkill? The poor girl's already got nowhere to run. No need to be excessive."

Zero held up his massive Brawler gun, "Do I look like one for subtlety, brother?"

"Sir," I politely interrupted. "With all due respect, this proposed engagement could jeopardize the Plague of Phantoms. It's only plans on paper, highly flammable paper."

"I'd rather it be in flames than in their hands," assured Zero as he overturned his immense Brawler and adjusted an underside launching tube. "All the same, I know for a fact that the designs are out of danger. While everyone else was shooting away, all for not, I saw Captain Sentria pass the plans to Dr. Deadstock from behind. He's wandered well behind her and is now no longer in the range of immediate danger. Sentria, on the other hand, is now standing in the way of what we want. She's given up her bargaining chip and is about to learn the price. Our priority is to kill the Captain, ensure she's removed from our path so that we can make a run for the Doctor to get our blueprints back. Copy?"