Focused Vanguard Page 3

  "Laser, Book, O, —head to ship." N8 signed, illuminated by the lights on the weapons of his crew, the three nodding and quickly stomping towards the hangar. They were the most scared, N8 decided. They could wait safely in the shuttle.

  "Lo, Rhyme, Hammer, Luck—with me." The four Ape formed a square, two weapons pointed both directions. N8 took the lead between Lo and Hammer. With an excited energy, N8 nearly ran down the corridor, hoping to catch whatever he had seen. There! He saw the shadowed shape under the blinking lights, and now Lo and Hammer had seen it, too. The being darted towards the lift to the living quarters, which sat just out of their sights.

  Now running, N8 heard the lift descend just as they rounded the corner. Whatever this… thing was, it was fast. Faster than an Ape. As they stood in front of the lift, N8 signaled a stop. They needed to calm down. The natural instincts of an Ape were hard to control if emotions became… too much. They needed to be able to think. He decided this was not an animal they were chasing. It was too fast, too smart.

  Still, the rushing feeling of a hunt was good, N8 admitted. They all just needed to remain in control. He signaled his crew to form up again and pressed the lift button, the small lift whirring upwards into place. As the other three walked into the lift, N8 had a thought he forgot at once. But the feeling stayed. He did not understand it, but it felt… bad?

  An extremely loud sound attacked N8's ears, causing him to clap his hands on his neck as he lost his balance and fell. The whole bunker shook violently. N8 tried to stand up and eventually found his balance again, the shaking fading away. What had happened? He looked at the lift and saw that Lo, Rhyme, Hammer and Luck had already gone.

  "Lo—O?" N8 hailed one of each group, then tried the others. No response. Still slightly dizzy, N8 realized something. That blast had come from the hangar. N8 immediately ran to the hangar, the lights above strangely normal again. Stopping in front of the hangar door, he pressed the panel impatiently until it opened.

  A wave of heat hit him in the face and he stared, not believing, at the shuttle. The bay doors were open and smokeless flames flew out, the inside of the shuttle orange and red. The hull was still intact. N8 ran forward, leaping into the bay, his armor protecting his body from the flames. His face stung, but he did not care right now. He had to find his crew—his friends. Pushing through fire he walked down to the engine room, where he saw the cause of the explosion—someone had overloaded one of the engine cells.

  O's smoking body lay face down in the engine room. N8 knelt next to him and rolled him over. Dark, wet blood was smeared all over his melted face, the long, gray hair smoking on his deformed head the only way N8 knew it was O. Setting O's head gently on the grated floor, which immediately began to sizzle, he made his way up to the cockpit.

  The cockpit was the same as the engine room, filled with incredible heat and angry flames. N8's chest tightened as he saw Book and Laser, armor burnt brown in places, with only blackened skeletons for their remains. N8 shook his head, trying to clear away his sadness. He glanced at the burning navigation system in the front of the cockpit, noticing that the orange records box was missing. Why was the box holding navigation coordinates missing?

  N8's face stinging badly, he stepped out of the fiery shuttle and felt the cold, still air of the bunker slap his burning face. He thought to apply a cream for burns, then remembered that the first aid kit was in the shuttle, surely destroyed. He looked with sad eyes at the shuttle, which groaned and screamed as it burned. Smoke finally began to rise from the small ship, black, bitter smoke that started to fill the hangar with a gray fog. N8 looked up, and noticed many small, red nozzles on the ceiling. An anti-fire system.

  As soon as the smoke reached the high ceiling, all the nozzles on the ceiling of the hangar sprayed a thick, green foam which fell heavily, smashing into the shuttle. The force of the foam knocked N8 to the ground as it crashed softly into him, the chemicals biting his face. Pained, N8 stood, ran, then slipped and crawled his way towards the shut door to the rest of his crew. Pressing hard against the panel, the door spun open and he fell just inside, lying with his back against the wall, trying to catch his breath. The door cycled closed behind him as he saw the foam begin to drain down the vented slats between the floor and the walls.

  After a while, N8 finally came to himself, his pains a dull ache. Standing up, he looked down the corridor and remembered he needed to find the rest of his crew. Looking up, he noticed the lights were flickering again, except it was different this time. The light tile just above him flashed on, then flashed off as the next light tile in front flashed on, and then the next light tile and so on. He realized it was a pattern.

  A trail of light leading straight to the lift, the lift to the living quarters. N8 took a deep breath. There was no mistaking it now. Something was here. It had killed his friends in the shuttle. It had captured the others. He had to find his friends before it killed them, too. He did not want to, but he began following the lights, having no other idea or plan.

  N8 reached the lift quickly and pressed the return button. Once the lift settled, he stepped in and pressed the down button, the doors sliding shut. They fell down to a smooth stop at the living quarters, the doors opening. N8 stepped out into the corridor, and started to follow the lights again. He passed by the room he had found that old, blank journal, the door still open. The pulsing lights continued down the left split of the main corridor, and with even, scared breaths, N8 pulled his rifle tighter into the crook of his shoulder.

  N8 knew from before this was a dead end, so he knew now he was close. Instinctually, he became sure of his ability to defeat this being, whatever it was. Without a way to escape, his predator would become his prey. He just needed to find it first. The flashing lights stopped right in the middle of the corridor, and N8 quickly opened every door and searched every room. Everything was as it was before. Nothing but boring gray bedrooms. His crew had to be here, where else could they be?

  N8 suddenly remembered that the corridor had also split to the right. The shadow must have tricked him! Turning to run back down the hallway, he heard whooshing and whirring sounds, followed by a sharp click. Turning back around, he looked at the flashing light in the middle of the passageway again. Then he looked at the wall where his perfect ears had heard the sounds come. It was a panel of gray wall to his left, right beneath the pulsing light tile.

  Standing right in front of it, seeing no difference, N8 guessed and put his hand on the wall. After a short moment, the wall began to cycle open, revealing a secret lift. N8 realized for an extremely short moment that the shadow was using a system of these hidden lifts, but then it disappeared from his thoughts forever.

  Stepping right onto the lift, the lift immediately dropped further down into the bunker, the lift leading to the level that housed the power generator. N8 stepped out of the open panel of wall and brought his rifle back up to his shoulder, the wall sliding closed behind him. He looked up again and resumed following the lights.

  N8 quickly rounded the corner, coming to a view of the main lift on the left wall and the wide entryway to the power generator on the right wall. He continued to follow the lights. The lights made a right turn, down a passageway lined with doors, full of empty energy cells and metal scraps. Laser and Luck had checked this passageway earlier.

  The flickering lights stopped at the closet four doors down. N8 stopped right in front of it. He went to open the door and then stopped. What could be behind this door? Was it a trap? N8 tried to think, but that was always so hard! He needed to focus. Taking a deep breath, he reached his hand out to the open panel, pressed it slowly, and watched the door cycle open, revealing what lay inside.

  Chapter 5

  N8 stared in shock. The dehydrated corpses of Lo, Hammer, Rhyme and Luck stared back at him with soulless eyes.

  N8 gasped, clapping a large hand over his mouth that hit his chin instead, his chest beginning to feel tight. Half of his crew, dead before his eyes, their bodies' sunken and mottle
d gray and yellow. His eye lingered on Lo, his face stuck, screaming soundlessly.

  N8 felt the need the move away, to look somewhere else, but he could not. He was frozen in place, just like Lo's never-ending scream. His eye glanced at the others. Hammer, Rhyme and Luck. All the same, their faces as if they had died years ago. Why were their bodies so dried? And naked?

  The shriveled, naked bodies of N8's friends were all smashed together in the small space. A feeling of sadness, anger and some other emotion shot up his throat, and with a low moan, he pulled his friends out of the closet, laying them down separate from each other. Gently, his eyes burning but no tears, he folded their arms across their chests and pulled straight their curled legs.

  They did not deserve to die. For sure, not like this, in an ancient military bunker, killed, dried and packed all together like old food rations by some secret, sneaking, wicked creature. They never should have come to Bunker 3.0. N8 shook his head, his feelings… too much.

  Rhyme, O, Laser, Luck, Hammer, Book… Lo. He knew they had all joined the military because they wanted to help in this war, even though they were Ape and were hated and mocked by everyone. Look where that had led them! His friends were dead! He was the only one left.

  The last Ape.

  Finally, N8 pushed softly down on the eyelids of Rhyme, then Hammer and Luck. N8 moved over to close Lo's eyes, and stopped. He moaned low and long, his body shaking as his eyes remained raw and sore. Then he closed the eyelids of his best friend, Lo's glassy brown eyes disappearing forever. He stood up, breathing heavily.

  What was this monster? N8 could not stop his fingers from shaking and he kept dropping his weapon, picking it back up and dropping it again as he stumbled back from the closet of corpses, the bodies of his friends. Was he next? How long did he have until the monster came for him?

  N8 tried to breathe normally, and the effort calmed him down a little. He needed to think. So far, the shuttle had been sabotaged, four of his crewmates killed in the resulting blast. Then the rest of his crewmates he had just found in the closet. His mind lingered on Lo as he stomped and fell his way back to the lift to the hangar. His best friend was gone. His good, best friend Lo.

  N8 hit the button and the lift doors clanged shut, the lift jumping up to the hangar in mere seconds. The doors began to open, then stopped, the whirring surges of electricity gone as everything went black. N8 felt his chest grow tight once more, and he fumbled for the light on his rifle, before stopping mid-motion. He needed to think. He had a… a… adva… advent… help.

  His robot eye.

  Shutting his human eye, since it was not able to work in the darkness, he saw his surroundings through a bluish hue. His eye gave off its own light. He needed to have total darkness if he was to kill this monster.

  Kill?

  N8 wondered why he wanted to kill this unknown beast, but then he remembered. His friends were all dead. It was justified revenge for losing his best friend. Trying to focus, he shut his robot eye down, almost, accessing the night-vision power of his left eye. He saw his surroundings with a now-purple hue.

  The lift doors were still stuck halfway open, the long, curving corridor just beyond. N8, trying to be quiet but quick, gripped both doors and shoved them shrieking open. He slowly stepped his way down the corridor, his rifle held in one hand, the butt pressed against the crook of his right arm.

  Where would the monster be? N8 was guessing that the demon was only able to find him if he had light. Why did he think that? He was not entirely sure. But it felt right. Just like it felt like the monster was close. Closer than he had ever been. But where?

  N8 glanced back at the lift several times as he continued to step slowly, passing the long corridor to the hangar, instead heading for the lift to the living quarters. Once he rounded the curved wall and saw the lift in front of him, he remembered. The lift was not going to work, the power was shut off. Why had he forgotten that? Right… He was limited.

  Behind him, N8 heard a sound. It was not loud, but it was not entirely quiet. It sounded like someone slowly stepping their way to the hangar, and dragging behind them something… soft? Like a tail. So it was a beast.

  N8 filled his powerful lungs with air to hold his breath. He could feel his heart hitting his chest. He felt his fingers shake and immediately gripped his rifle tight with both hands. He could not make any noise, or the monster would kill him, too. He did not want to die, he really did not. But what about his friends?

  Heart still beating rapidly, breath still held, thick lips tight, N8 looked around the curved wall and saw the monster.

  It was a man. An Earthling man, wearing a thick suit of armor, not unlike the one N8 was wearing. The dragged object was pulled along by the man. A dead body with a screaming, scared face. Lo.

  N8 felt strange. He was scared, but now he was… mad. The rage was rising in his chest, his fear drowning in the hot blood of his body. That was Lo. His friend. His best friend!

  "AARGH!" With a mighty, deafening roar, N8's rage consumed him and he charged down the corridor until he smashed his strong, powerful body into the monster-man who killed his friends. His best friends. The two fell to the floor, the monster-man dropping Lo, grunting and groaning in pain.

  With another powerful bellow, N8 brought his fist down to smash into the man's face. Then something happened that N8 had never seen before. His entire life as an Ape, he was known for incredible strength. Only other Apes could even begin to challenge his physical power. It was why he scared others so much, though he had never known why. Now he understood.

  The man caught his descending fist with his arm, the armor shattering but the muscular arm underneath resisting. Then the man grabbed N8 by his chest plate and threw him through the wide entryway to crash into the hangar, his armor sliding along the polished chrome. N8 quickly got to his feet and barely had time to react as the man leapt at him, throwing one strong punch after another.

  N8 caught the first couple of blows with his arms, but the armor cracked and his arms were exposed to the cold air of the hangar. So the man was as strong as an Ape, but not an Ape. This was not possible. How could it be?

  N8 fell down as his chest plate cracked from one punch, but before he could roll away, the man jumped on top of him, slamming down his fists in a frenzy. N8 did not understand. Where was his rage? Why could he not beat this man? He barely remembered that for him, blood was the key. He had to bleed. Blood. That was it!

  The man had to be using Gorilla Blood, the drug that was banned over twenty years ago. But how could N8 use this fact? Was there not some reason he knew about Blood? N8 almost remembered, and then his aching chest finally was freed from its armor, the cold stinging his muscular chest. With a sudden burst of thought, clearer than any N8 had ever had, he realized he was going to die. N8 did not want to die. His armor was off. He was done playing.

  More than he ever had before, N8 understood. Whipping a plasma shiv from his belt, the man raised his hands above N8's chest, the energy-pulsing dagger pointed at this heart. He was going to die. This man knew how to kill an Ape. No blood until death. Dad tried to warn him, but he could not ever understand. Until now.

  Chapter 6

  Closing his eye, his robot eye powering down, whimpering because he could not cry, N8 waited for his death. A moment passed, and then he felt a cold, hard object press against the bumpy skin of his chest. This was it. Then he felt it lift and the cord around his neck snapped off. N8 opened his human eye and turned his large eye back on to see the man sitting down next to him, the plasma shiv off and on the floor, the man's eyes staring widely at what he held in his outstretched hand.

  N8 saw as the man's eyes filled and spilled with thick tears, which fell into his thick, long black beard. He continued to stare at his outstretched hand, crying. N8 did not understand, not at all. What happened?

  Still sitting, the man and N8 looked at each other for a moment and then the man turned his hand to show N8 what he was holding. A small piece of blue fabric, wi
th a yellow cartoon sun smiling at him in the center. His baby blanket, given to him by his mother. A memory of a lie. Still, he wanted it back. No, he needed it back, it was his only connection to her. He strained to move his body, but he was numb from being punched so hard all over.

  The man spoke with a rough, coughing voice.

  "Where did you get this?" He asked.

  N8 tried to answer, but the man looked away at the stars outside the hangar and began to speak again.

  "This piece of cloth reminds me of a blanket I gave over twenty-two years ago to a girl named Megan Fredericks. Is this from that blanket?" His voice trembled, his chin shaking, tears hitting the floor. He turned back to look at N8. N8 just nodded.

  The man lowered his head.

  "Is… Megan your mother?" He looked up.

  N8 nodded again.

  The man let out a long sigh and then got to his feet, offering his hand to N8. N8 took it, feeling returning to his body, confused as to why he was not dead. What did his mother have to do with all of this?

  As the two stood, the man handed N8 his pouch and piece of blanket back. Sticking the items in a pouch on his belt, N8 watched the man wipe at his eyes and begin to smile.

  "My name is Sun Fang." The man said, his eyes shining as he stared at N8.

  "I'm your father."

  N8's heart began to beat hard again, but for strange reasons. Reasons he did not understand. He stared back at the man named Sun Fang, and saw all of a sudden his thick, black hair. Just like his. His strong jaw and chin. Just like his. This man, this monster, the killer of his friends; he was his father? N8 did not understand, his limited abilities not the only reason. But finding his dad was a good thing. Right?

  Why had he killed his friends?

  As rage began to burn in his chest again, N8 had another strange moment of clear thought. His father could not control himself, either. He had probably lived here for N8's entire life. It was a miracle he was still alive. Sun was just trying to survive. N8 understood that now. Then his mind went dark again, but the anger disappeared as well.