CHAPTER 22

Carly stood mouth open as she gazed at their surrounds. “It’s gone. It fell. And we were under that.”

Daniel ignored her and scanned the sky for enemies. There was nothing threatening him and no sign of the lizard. There were also not as many silver flies as he had hoped and those that were there were spread over a sizable area distance. There might be more than he could see because it was easy to imagine that they had been scattered in the attack on the lizard and then afterwards with their hive imploded they wouldn’t know where to go. But of the visible flies, less than a fifth of their numbers had survived. Fleetingly, he wondered whether the lizard or the collapse had done the most damage. Not that it mattered.

Hopefully, there would be pockets of flies preserved in areas beyond his eye line. Now that they were controllable by Carly, he wanted the swarm to be as large as possible.

Speculation was pointless, as Iris would gather the ones she could soon enough. She was already doing so. An obvious pattern had been stamped into the actions of the nearby flies. The ones that had been close when they emerged were spreading out radially. They would run into a fly do a dance. The result would be the new fly heading straight toward Iris and the original fly continuing on. Then the fresh flies would swoop within range and then head out on a slightly different angle to go recruit more of its fellows.

If she sustained the method, she would eventually get full command over all the scattered remnants of the hive. It was only a matter of time and bodies. A fly flew fast towards him and took all of his self-control not to lash out. It swept passed him rotated once around Iris, then launched itself off once more on an angle none of the previous flies had taken.

Daniel pointed down to where Tamara if she survived would be located. “We need to dig there.”

“Why?” Carly asked immediately.

“That’s where Ivy and the others should be. Providing they made it in time.” Daniel knew he had been lost planning out how to use his magic before the lizard had forced him to accelerate things, but it had not been very long and he hoped that it had been sufficient for Ivey to lead the group to safety. He didn’t have a good feeling for how fast Ivey and the warriors could move relatively to him, even while carrying Iris his attributes probably outstripped theirs.

“The garage couldn’t have survived.” She whispered.

Daniel remembered the complicated calculations that had been shared with him. “I don’t know.” He admitted. “Most of it has collapsed.” He pointed at the evidence closer to them. “But you see that area hasn’t sunk in the same way as everyone else. It looks intact under there and that’s where Ivey was heading. There was a plan and you and I surviving were the weakest link of it. Not the others. So I’m hopeful.”

“I can’t see the lizard anymore.” Carly was peering out toward the east where the monster had come from.

Daniel startled and cursed himself. He glanced in the direction of the hotel that was the centre of this area of the landscape and then sighed in relief. “We’re safe. The flag is down. The lizard is nowhere near us.”

“Thank god. The images that Iris shared are terrifying.”

“Priscilla’s ones are worst.” He said automatically.

Carly snorted.

“Anyway, we need to dig Tamara out. I know we could outsource that to others if we want, as I imagine Alex will be back soon with a rescue team. He’ll be eager to mount a rescue in case any of the group that saved him from the lizard lived through being a decoy. But I’m not waiting. I think it’s both faster and safer if I do the digging.”

Carly smiled. “You’re right that he’ll be back. He’ll want to find out about you. Losing me, Tamara, Ivey, and teams three and four would be a blow, but everyone knows if we’re going to survive. It’s on your head.”

“It’s not on my head. People keep saying that, but they’re wrong.” Daniel grumbled as they picked their way down the loose rock towards the spot he had pinpointed.

“We only say it so often because we know you love hearing it.”

Daniel glared at Carly, and she laughed in response.

Then he couldn’t help himself. He chuckled too. “Yep, that’s me. Big head. Daniel.”

They reach mostly flat ground, and he considered the best way to approach the problem. In his mind, waiting for Alex was not a tenable option.

Priscilla had already ducked into the cracks and was busy exploring. With her skill set, Daniel wasn’t concerned about her getting trapped. The skill of being tiny, lightning fast and possessing plant powers capable of cracking stone couldn’t be underestimated.

“How do I do this?” he muttered to himself

“From what I’ve seen of your abilities, you’ll want to plant a tree.” Carly volunteered.

Daniel glanced at her in surprise and instantly agreed with the suggestion. It gave him roots to break the stone and the engine to use the sun to drive growth. In fact, he was annoyed at himself for failing to think of it himself. He immediately began searching for where he could find an appropriate seed or plant cutting. “Thanks, that was a good idea.”

He glanced at Carly and almost instinctively flinched back. Close to fifty silver flies spun like a tornado above her head. They would come down to get instructions from Iris and then shoot upwards immediately after to get out of the way. The internal coordination was impressive and with the continual flow of flies into Iris’s range. If anything threatened the queen, in short order, all of them would re-position to protect her and Carly. Daniel estimated from alarm to all of them being deployed would take less than ten seconds but the first few would respond in terms of fractions of a second.

She was saved. “Wait here while I go get a seed.”

He looped across the elm trees and as he jogged his eyes searched for any unexpected movement or enemies. Everything was still, which did not surprise Daniel one bit. The lizard and the collapsing building, the devil dogs, and of course the silver fly hive would have driven everything away from the area.

When he reached the first tree, he put a hand to it and immediately communicated his desires.

The tree was happy to help and responded by dropping a large seed from high above him. It bounced with a heavy thunk off the branches on its way down to land next to him. It was five or six times larger than normal, as the tree had pumped extra nutrients into it. As well, it should have because once Daniel was finished with using the root system, what remained of the tree could grow and quickly become the dominant plant int eh area. Saving years of growth and struggle because of the starting boon Daniel would grant it.

He grabbed the offering and ran back.

The number of flies protecting Carly must have tripled in the few brief minutes he had been away. Hundreds spun in the surrounding air. Anything less than the lizard would have a hard time reaching her.

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His eyes flicked to the hotel, and he was relieved to see that no warning flag had been raised. He needed to get better at checking it regularly.

“I got the seed.” He told her happily when in easy talking distance.

“Great.” Carly answered distractedly clearly in mid concentration with Iris.

Daniel froze.

Priscilla had reached out and sent him an image.

There are balls of light floating in the air and he recognised the garage and from extremely close up Tamara’s nose.

“She’s alive.” Before he could help himself, he screamed out.

He glanced around furtively more than a little embarrassed by his outburst. He was too used to the hotel where, after they had won the floors, they stayed safe and monsters couldn’t just wander in like they could here.

A second image superimposed itself over the first and showed that everyone had made into the small space as planned.

“They’re all alive.” Not only had they lured the lizard away from the vulnerable kids they had all survived it as well.

Tamara did not look at all concerned in the picture. And why would she be? Priscilla, being there was probably sufficient confirmation that Daniel was alive and if it wasn’t the mouse was more than capable of playing bobs for yes and shakes for no to have communicated the situation to the human woman.

Once he was confirmed as alive, she would have known that it was just a matter of time until they were rescued.

Look again. He instructed.

Priscilla glanced around once more, and Daniel mock scowled. It was clear they had been digging their way out and then stopped with Priscilla arrived.

Lazy warriors, he thought dismissively.

“They’re alive.” Daniel repeated, still slightly stunned by the revelation.

“Yes.” Carly said, laughing. “I heard you the first time.”

“Need to get the out.” Daniel, plant the seat step back and let it go to work. This time, when he engaged the program with the algorithmic instructions, he tried to analyse the code in more detail. The attempt was futile as the four still active chips of Ivy’s interface guiding the program and all he could see were the bits off-loaded to his main core. Basically, the primary code farmed off segments of the process that required grunt calculation, which would be done where Daniel could see it and then a summarised result was sent back to the interface chips to be turned into an useable output. None of the code in the areas that he could access contained the key framework of the program that had been gifted to him. All of that was kept within the interface pieces, which he had no way to interrogate.

Currently, that was academic. All that mattered was that it worked when the building was falling on him and right now it was producing a result that would let him tunnel down to save the rest of their decoy group.

The tree grew, and as it did it he expanded the root system. They spread and provided more and more detail for the engineering model he was creating. A three-dimensional representation was generated, and he could spin around to see the planned results from different orientations. He could see the collapse of the ceiling and how the rock would flow. It was extraordinary.

The best solution was to fashion a roof collapse, followed by a mini avalanche to partially flood the open space the survivors in the tunnel had. That would provide a convenient conduit for them to utilize to ascend to the surface.

Daniel frowned and then saw the alternative models. To create a bore hole which would let people climb up a ladder to reach the surface would take three times as long. The avalanche solution, while alarming in principle was significantly faster and the risk profile was… lower? The greatest risks the people trapped below faced was a cave in and by doing a controlled one Daniel could remove a lot of that risk.

While it was by far the best method, he still needed to communicate it to the fighters and get them to stand in the right location.

One of the smaller roots was repurposed to create a message board any quickly explained where they had to stand.

Priscilla showed him Tamara nodding and moving everyone over to the corner, which would be the safest during his excavations.

Two minutes. He warned them with the board and then set about setting up the final preparations. Leaving the message board to count down automatically.

“Alex,” Carly yelled out in sudden excitement.

Daniel immediately searched for him and saw him picking his way over the rubble. The other members of his team were following him. Having someone who was effectively second in command taking point felt problematic to him, and he resolved to mention it to Alex. The other man should at the very least be more cautious until Luke was back on his feet.

The rest of the group Alex had brought followed the man. There were almost twenty back picking through the rocks with the vast majority of the faces being new to him. It was easy to forget how quickly they were growing now they had the haven in the tower and organised large groups to overpower and destroy the monsters on the streets with a sheer overwhelming number of attacks.

He waved to the older man, and he and his team hurried over.

“Fancy seeing you still alive.”

“Fancy seeing you turn up when all the hard work’s done.”

“What hard work? You’re just sitting here what growing what is that? A tree? A deformed one?” Alex pointed towards a stunted tree that Daniel had grown. Rather than a traditional trunk, branches, and leaves, the mighty elm tree had ended up with just a series of branches and leaves clinging to the ground like some form of ground creeping vine. It allowed Daniel to cover a larger space and absorb the sun’s energy with the minimum of investment into the tree.

“It’s proprietary tunnelling technology.” He quipped back.

“From the way you’re talking you’ve found survivors. Are they all alive?”

Daniel nodded. “Yep, it was Ivey’s crazy plan. A simple plan,” he corrected. “Theoretically, with few moving parts. Carly and I were the sacrifices, and we went into the building.” Daniel motioned towards the rubble. “Iris took control of the silver flies and told them to tickle the lizard until it ran away. I was there to protect her in case a building fell. Good choice.” Daniel said dryly, waving at the surrounding rubble. “Ivy finished the deception by taking everyone else underground into a corner of the garage, which would survive as the building collapsed. And now we dig them out.”

“What? Ivey’s plan?” Alex said incredulously. “She’s a structural engineer now?”

Daniel shrugged. “You tell me?”

“Me tell you? You’re the one who dated her, before and after the apocalypse. You can’t get more dedicated than that.”

Daniel laughed. “Yeah, that’s definitely an accurate portrayal of our relationship history.”

One side of Alex’s lips upturned slightly. “Technically true is the best. So what? Was she a structural engineer back in the old world?”

“Not that I was aware of,” Daniel lied, knowing full well that she had been a nurse. “But her predictions were certainly true.”

Alex looked around like he was calculating something. “My spatial awareness is not great, but down there.” He pointed. “That’s the corner nearest that tertiary exit you found isn’t it?”

Daniel nodded.

“That!” Alex spun angrily barely biting back some swear words.

“What?” He asked curiously not placing the sudden flare of anger.

“Ivey, your girlfriend.”

“Ex.”

Alex smirked at the quick interjection. “And a couple of others took over that corner last night. I just thought they needed space, but.”

“You think she was set up, so if the tower fell, she would survive. I have to admit that’s sort of rude. I’ll have a word with her.”

“She invited your actual girlfriend.”

“Well, I’m sure she had good reasons for who she protected.” Daniel said immediately with a smile.

Alex scowled. “She didn’t invite me.”

“As I said, I’m certain she evaluated her options.”

“You heartless bastard. I thought I was more important than that.”

“I definitely would have invited you, but…” he shrugged. “I didn’t know at the time.”

“And because she looked after Tamara you won’t tell her off.”

“I didn’t say that.” Daniel protested.

“You didn’t have to. You’re pretty easy to read.”

Daniel didn’t respond. Alex was annoyed but not actually angry, and his final preparations were completed. The counter on the writing board he had created hit zero and Priscilla confirmed everyone was in position. “I’m breaking them out now. Can everyone move closer to the street?”

Technically, they just had to clear the area, but considering he was about to create another mini earthquake it was probably not wise to go deeper into the piled up building rubble. Alex and early the only people left nearby hurried to the safer street.

The ground shook for an instant. Relative to the building collapse it was almost relaxing.

He watched the rubble and with a whoosh it got sucked away to leave a hole leading down.

Priscilla immediately sent images of the light and the dust clouds flooding the lower space. Then she blurred forward and a moment later he saw her running out of the hole and sprinting over to him and going up his leg to perch on his shoulder.

“It’s safe to come out.” He yelled down the hole.

All he heard in response was coughing and then, with a huge grin on his face, he watched each of the survivors emerge.

He had eyes only for Tamara and she was covered in a light grey dust. Her nose wrinkled as she tried to brush some of it off.

There were whoops of delight from the people had been rescued. Tamara came up to him. “Did you have to make it so dusty?”

“We’ll have a bath when we get back.”

“We will, will we?” She smiled enigmatically.

“You’re a miracle worker.” Alex said quietly, interrupting the conversation before he could explore exactly what she had said. “We escaped a brush with the lizard losing no one and now we have access to a dinosaur trader at the hotel. I think we might actually get survive the alpha event.”

“A dinosaur? What now?” Daniel asked spinning on the other man.