When Forever Ends (Part 1: A Game of Chess)

XIII

"I know what a first aid kit looks like," I interrupted.

"Okay, sorry. Sheesh. No need to get so mad about it."

"Sorry, I shouldn't have snapped at you like that."

"It's okay," she replied.

Next, I pulled a roll of silvery tape strengthened with small fibers woven into the tape. I read the label: "Duct Tape".

"That stuff can be used for just about anything," Erin commented. "I always carry a roll of it everywhere."

I returned the tape and first aid kit to the bag as a garage approached on the left.

We turned into the room and Erin shut off the LT.

"Here we are!" she announced. She led us down a hallway, through a set of automatic glass doors, and into a spherical room filled with all sorts of electronic displays and lights blinking on and off.

In the center of the room was a hologram displaying a three dimensional map of the entire complex. I walked up to the map and looked at it closely. There was a cluster of red dots in the center of the map.

"Look! There's us!" I pointed to the cluster of dots. "This room must be in the exact center of the facility!"

Then, I noticed a larger red dot on a lower level moving slowly through a hallway. "What's that?" I asked.

Erin stepped up to join me. "There's our problem. I guarantee that that thing made the explosion we felt."

"At least there's only one of it," Sofie sounded hopeful. "Maybe we can dispose of it quickly and efficiently."

I glanced at the dot again. As I watched, many smaller dots broke off the large one and moved off ahead of the large dot, much more quickly. "Guys," I said. "I think there's more of them."

Erin swore and stormed off towards another door, which she immediately flung open. Lining the walls of the room were racks and racks of weapons.

She grabbed a nasty-looking, three-barreled gun and a small dagger with a jagged blade. "Gear up!"

"Jeez, language," I heard Maya mutter.

I walked up to the room and glanced nervously at the guns. I had never fired one before, let alone touched one. Instead, I took a long, curved sword and, a large, iron ring. I pressed a button on the ring and I had a large shield made of some sort of energy.

"Nice!" Will whistled in approval of my choice.

"Here, catch!" Erin tossed me a strap which I attached to the shield. I slung it over my shoulder so it was protecting my back.

Sofie grabbed a strange looking contraption off of the wall. It was a long piece of wood with a curved piece of metal attached to what she supposed was the front end of the weapon. There was a groove in the top of it that ran half the length of the wood, and a string was stretched between the ends of the metal piece. "What's this?" she asked.

"That's a crossbow," Erin replied. She selected a small pouch and handed it to Sofie. "It shoots these."

Sofie unzipped the pouch and pulled out a small piece of metal about twenty centimeters long. It was mostly cylindrical but was tapered to a flat point at the tip and had two metal fins on the other end. There was a small notch in the end with the fins, presumably the cord on the crossbow would fit in that notch.

"I think I'll take this," she said, stepping back so Will and Maya could choose.

"Hmm," Maya found a belt hanging on the wall with an array of knives sheathed in it. She strapped it around her waist and drew two of the knives experimentally. "Sweet!"

"What's with all the medieval weapons?" Will asked, picking up a long staff with a crystal ball on the end. "This thing looks like it came straight out of a fantasy novel!"

Erin shrugged. "I dunno. I suppose the people who stocked this room were old fashioned."

"These look suitable," he found a pair of heavily padded gloves. "What're they for?" he asked.

"Hand-to-hand combat. They help protect your hands."

"Cool!" Will sounded thrilled. "I'll use these!"

"No guns?" Erin seemed a bit surprised.

"They make me nervous," I replied. My friends nodded in agreement.

"Suit yourself." She strode over to the map and checked the location of our enemy. "Follow me! I know the way!"

We filed back out of the command center and into the maze of hallways once again. Left, right, right, down a set of stairs that moved up and down, left, left, right, left again. We zigzagged and backtracked so many times I completely lost any sense of direction I had. Just when I thought we were lost for sure, we emerged in a long, straight hallway that was significantly more roomy than the others, suggesting that it was a main hall. At the end was our target.

It was hard to tell from this distance, but it looked to be some kind of tank. It had large treads, almost a meter wide, that looked like they could crush us as if we were nothing more than a group of ants. On top, there was a massive drill, pointed straight at us. As it rumbled slowly towards us, I strained to see if there were any people behind it, but the tank/drill thing took up nearly the whole width of the hallway. It looked as if it were built for digging tunnels.

We studied our opponent as it moved ever closer. If there was anyone controlling it, they were probably doing the same. The heavy metal plates that encased the tunneler looked thick; I doubted that anything we could do to it would affect the gradual approach.

Nevertheless, Erin raised her three-barreled weapon and pointed it at the tunneler.

"Halt, or I'll shoot!" she shouted to the tank.

There was no response, other than a slight increase in speed that I may have just imagined.

Erin pulled the trigger.

Three green balls of energy shot down the hall, ready to blow the tank to smithereens.

A few meters in front of the tunneler, however, they hit some sort of invisible barrier, which became visible for a split second as the energy was deflected from its course. The walls on either side of the tunneler were instantly vaporized.

"It looks like our opponent has some serious defenses," Erin said. "I don't see us defeating that thing in the near future."

She turned to make her escape, gesturing for us to follow, only to halt immediately and gently set the gun on the ground, raising her hands above her head.

I turned, wondering what would cause her to do that.

Suddenly, we each found ourselves staring down the barrel of a shotgun.