“I thought you said you were a better shot,” Fox shouted from across the hall.
“Shut up and kill her!” He slid a dart into the gun. “Rocco can’t get far without her.”
Fox leaned out and fired. The wall burst in his face as Tariro shot it, knocking him back. He swore loudly and slid his gun over to John while he cleared his eyes.
* * *
“Hurry up, Rocco!” She fired again, burning a hole in the far wall. She quickly glanced out the window and saw that he was making his way down the first stair. She climbed out the window backwards, shooting at the corner where John was. Using the exterior of the building as cover, she shot again.
* * *
“She’s out, Fox!” He fired the last two bullets, then slid the gun back over. “Reload that, and get ready to move!” He ran into one of the hospital rooms and grabbed a bed with a patient in it. He ignored her protests, and raised the bed so that she was looking forward. Then, he rolled it out of the room and into the hallway.
“Use this as cover! The councilwoman won’t shoot an innocent.”
“You sure about that?”
“Go! Get as close as you can! I’ll move around and cut them off outside. Go!”
* * *
Tariro swore. She shouted at Rocco to hurry it up. For a brief moment, she thought about firing anyway, regardless of the consequence. But she pushed back the urge, refusing to put an innocent life at risk. She ran down the first set of steps, grabbed Rocco’s arm, and hurried him along. They were at the second floor. Just one more to go.
Gunshots exploded on the third floor. Guards must have arrived. She looked up, watching for her assailant to stick out the window. Rocco was almost down.
* * *
Four guards had cut John off from the exit. Fox, using the bed as cover, managed to put a bullet in one of them, allowing John to grab the wounded man’s rifle. The other three fell back to cover. He threw the tranq gun down the hallway. Fox ran to it, picked it up, and ran back to the window.
When he peered out, Rocco and the councilwoman were off the fire escape and making their way toward the jeep. He climbed out the window and aimed.
* * *
Rocco tried to move as quickly as possible. Out of the corner of his eye, he saw Tariro look back. She pushed him forward, sending him to the ground. He heard to laser shots, then a thud. He rolled over and saw her on the ground with a dart sticking out of her neck.
The big guy was reloading. Rocco grabbed his pistol from Tariro’s hand, cranked up the power, and aimed. He didn’t have much charge left, so this was likely his only chance. His arm was still weak, and shook when he held it out. He looked down the iron sights. For half a second, both men were pointing their guns at each other.
Rocco fired first, and put a large, burning hole in the other man’s chest. He staggered back, and fell off the railing, hitting the ground with a crunch. The gunshots were still going off inside. Rocco pulled the dart out of Tariro’s neck, then gathered what strength he had and dragged her the rest of the way to the jeep.
* * *
A bullet flew through a guard’s throat and he hit the ground. The last remaining guard, knowing he was outmatched, ran, but hit the ground face first with a bullet in the back of his head. John threw down the empty rifle and ran toward the window. The tranq gun was laying near the edge of the fire escape. His heart skipped a beat.
“Fox!” he shouted. He climbed out the window and looked down at Fox’s lifeless body. He gripped his hair and fought back tears. He hardly noticed the taillights of the jeep that drove away into the darkness.
* * *
Myers sat in the dust beside the track, watching as the mushroom cloud slowly faded. He blinked tears from his eyes. What the hell kind of monster would do this? How many lives were destroyed because of this? He put his face in his hands. He couldn’t go back, but he couldn’t go forward either.
He heard voices. When he looked up, he saw a draisine rolling along the track, headed in his direction. He stood up, wincing at the pain, and limped toward it.
The draisine stopped as he approached. Two men and a woman were on board, and one of the men on board waved for him to get on it.
“Hurry up! The wind’s blowing toward Corona, but there’s still a danger of fallout. We need to move quick.”
Myers sat beside him. “Is this… is this all that’s left?”
“Probably,” said the man. The wind and the wheels on the track were the only sounds. Myers thought it would be disrespectful to interrupt their silence.
“What brought you to Corona?” the woman asked him.
“I was,” he paused, wondering how to say it. “I was going to see some friends.”
“Friends in low places?”
“I suppose you could say that.”
“Oh, come on,” said the other man. “Enough with the spy talk, Hellen. You were coming to join Chimera, weren’t you, guy?”
“I…” He figured it wouldn’t do any good to deny it. He just hoped that they weren’t in support of whatever Estate blew the city up. “Yeah.”
“Well.” The man opened his arms, indicating the people on the draisine. “You found us.”
* New installments of The Hyperion Estate appear every three weeks.
