Coughing and sputtering an inexplicably feeling like he should be soaked even though he was moist from the sprinklers at worst, Chase stumbled as the group ran past an intersection that he could have sworn was glowing green before. Jess shot him a look of concern, but Chase waved it off even as he winced more from surprise than anything as pushing off his right leg didn’t provoke the explosion of pain he was expecting in his calf. There were fragments of a memory there, something that had attacked him, but trying to remember specifics was like trying to capture light in his hands. Something Echo could probably do, but it was beyond him.
Kayla and her frankly ludicrous sense of direction was directing Tom to take the next left, and a glance behind revealed Ellie just ahead of Miles’s awkward plodding, holding his right hand as far behind himself as he could manage. There, white knuckles gripped a gold pen trailing a green ribbon of light that stubbornly refused to move with any air currents, only responding to the little twists of Miles’s wrist.
“Look out!” The shout from Kayla snapped Chase’s head back forward, where he could only watch in horror as Tom ran headfirst into the one person Chase knew wouldn’t simply be bulldozed by a collision with the crew athlete: Bobby the security guard, bits of detergent suds still flecking his collar and sleeves. Bobby merely grunted as he demonstrated his immovable object credentials, proving Tom to be a supremely stoppable force. Kayla skidded to a halt, windmilling her arms to avoid slamming into Tom, who was barely able to keep his feet. Jess grabbed Chase’s shoulder to steady herself as she jerked to a halt, and behind them Miles’s eyes widened as he performed an awkward baseball slide to keep his arm steady.
“How the hell did they get around us?” Chase wondered, even as the older man from before, Ashok, and Marianne stepped out from behind Bobby to fill the small section of corridor that his bulk didn’t cover. They looked bedraggled, like they’d been pulled out of the washing machine halfway through the spin cycle and thrown against the wall a few times. Chase couldn’t find it in himself to muster up any pity. They would do worse if they caught them. Which, he supposed, they were about to.
“Miles.” Jess’s voice was ice cold. “Hand me the pen.”
Chase turned to see Jess extend her hand towards him while keeping her eyes focused forward, meeting the gaze of the older man. He was sneering at her and began to step forward, and Chase’s mouth once more moved in time with the single thought he had to distract so that Jess could pull off whatever her plan was here.
“Hey, old dude, what’s your name? Or your host’s name, however you guys are playing this. I can’t keep calling you older guy in my head, it throws off my whole internal monologue!” Chase complained theatrically, drawing both the eyes and the ire of the gray-haired man.
“Chase.” Ellie said from behind him. “That is Dr. Howard Jennings. He is the assistant director of the theoretical particle research division.”
Chase blinked, but kept his eyes forward and focused on the old - Dr. Jennings, apparently. “Why didn’t you tell me that sooner?” He asked.
He could hear the shrug in Ellie’s voice. “You did not ask, and we had more important things occupying our time.”
“You know, that’s fair.” Chase admitted. “So, Howard, can I call you Howie? Howie, we seem to be at a bit of an impasse here. I’d like to turn that into a pass. As in, you stand aside and let us pass. What do you say?”
Howard’s sneer didn’t move a millimeter. “No.”
“Oof, tough negotiator! I see how you got your position. What if I threw in a nice gift basket? You and Dr. Redmond can split it, or even share it with your lovely subordinates there!”
“You already know what we want from you.” Howard’s tone was utterly flat, like a text to speech program had come to life.
“Yeah… about that. No offense, but I don’t really want to be you when I grow up. Unless you’ve got a killer dental plan that you haven’t told us about.”
“You’d sell us out for a dental plan?” Kayla asked.
Chase shrugged. “Have you seen the price of healthcare lately? And dental’s extra on top of that, because as we all know, teeth are nothing but luxury bones.”
“Technically teeth aren’t bones at all.” Miles said absently.
“They aren’t?” Chase asked.
“Bones can heal if they’re broken. Teeth can’t.”
“Huh. You learn something new every day.”
“Are you quite done?” Howard asked, sneer still unmoving. Chase would be impressed with that level of facial control if he didn’t know the source of it.
“I don’t know, are we, Jess?” Chase asked, and was immediately answered by a glowing green line whipping past his face and striking Howard right between his eyes. The man fell to the floor immediately and soundlessly, the two scientists flanking him each taking a step back as their eyes widened. Bobby remained impassively planted in the middle of the hallway, but that was just about the job description for an immovable object.
“How did you do that?” Marianne asked, curiosity briefly overtaking her drone-like impassivity.
“Six years of rhythmic gymnastics, bitch. I know my way around a ribbon.” Jess answered coolly, deftly twisting her wrist so that the line of light danced hypnotically ahead of the group, preventing any of the remaining three parasite hosts from approaching. Chase didn’t think he’d ever been more attracted to anyone than he was to Jess in that moment. No, I don’t have issues, anyone who can look at that and not be smitten has issues!
Of course, the situation was still a standoff, and time favored the side with reinforcements incoming. They needed a way out, and it looked like the only way out was through. A quick glance back at Jess confirmed she was thinking the same thing, as her next words were cold and hard as glacier ice.
Stolen from Royal Road, this story should be reported if encountered on Amazon.
“Bobby.” She bit out. “Ashok. Marianne. Stand aside if you don’t want to join dear old Howard.” There was a brief staring contest before Bobby grunted and heaved his bulk toward the left side of the hallway. Ashok and Marianne took a bit longer, but without their leader or meat shield, they too skulked over to the side.
“Jess, stay between us and them.” Chase said, and Jess nodded. “You three, any sudden movements, really any movements at all and you get the ribbon.” Chase grimaced. “That sound like the least threatening thing in the world, doesn’t it?”
“It’s the thought that counts.” Kayla said, moving ahead and glaring at the three parasite hosts. “The thought and the fact that it just dropped a full-grown man with a single touch and we’re not sure how. You lot are keep into science, ever fancy becoming a test subject?”
Ashok and Marianne gave slow shakes of their head. Bobby remained still, looking exceptionally bored. Slowly, the student group shuffled themselves past Bright’s minions, sticking to the right wall and throwing nervous looks at both said minions and the ribbon of light Jess was brandishing. No one was exactly eager to join Howard in awkwardly sprawling along the hallway floor. As they passed, Chase couldn’t resist one last comment.
“No hard feelings, right Bobby?” He asked. Bobby’s eyes moved to track him, but otherwise he maintained his statue impression.
“No feelings at all is more like it.” Miles groused under his breath.
“That seems hurtful.”
Miles rolled his eyes. “I’m sure if he could care he’d be very upset.”
“Harsh.” Chase glanced back at Bobby, who was unsurprisingly unperturbed. “But fair.”
“Can we focus here?” Tom said, pulling the two of them back to reality. “In case you forgot, we’re still basically surrounded in enemy territory. What now?”
“Let’s play outside!” Chase said exuberantly. The group stopped to stare at him like he was an idiot who had just grown a second, even more idiotic head. “What?”
“Why are you like this?” Kayla griped.
“Pretty sure it’s a stress response. My brain to mouth filter broke after the third time I saw the laws of physics being treated as polite suggestions.”
“Focus.” Ellie emphasized Tom’s point. “Chase, why should we go outside?”
Chase shrugged. “Mostly, gut feeling. Also they can track us no matter where we go in here, so it’s not like we can hide. But let’s go with the gut feeling.” Chase turned to give the light ribbon in Jess’s hand a meaningful look. “I want to see what happens to the lights when they meet.”
A look of understanding flashed across Jess’s face, and she nodded firmly. “Outside. By the employee parking lot. Let’s hope you’re on to something here.”
“My gut never fails.” Chase boasted. Tom looked skeptical, but nonetheless led the group following Jess and Kayla’s directions. They set a more sedate pace than the pell-mell dash of earlier, the situation finally sinking in. They were known enemies, surrounded with no real means of escape. There was only so long they could run about the lab causing chaos before they had to rest, and Bright and the parasites had all the perpetually resetting time in the world to pounce on them when they were most vulnerable. At least for now, the drones seemed to be putting a token effort into herding the group of students away from any other sensitive projects in the central labs, but let up considerably once the group had made it close to the outer doors.
The aurora’s light filtering through the glass windows and doors was just as eerie as when Chase and Jess had first explored outside, but no one in the group was in a hesitating or stopping mood. We’ve become sharks, Chase mused, if we stop moving, we’ll die. God, Mr. Peterson loved to use the shark speech whenever we put on a play. Had to keep it moving or the magic of the performance would die. I wonder if he’s alright, been a while since I thought about him. And no, I’m not thinking about high school theater to distract myself from the jaws of a trap closing around us, and how dare you accuse me of such, myself!
Even in their desperation fueled state, Tom hesitated before making the final steps towards the barrier. In the early days, Chase remembered watching an off group of janitors and scientists throwing rocks at the barrier and poking it with long-handled brooms and mops. It behaved like any other wall despite its shifting, glowing appearance, and no one had been brave enough to test if the effect was different if something living came in contact with it. That at least seemed poised to change as the group shuffled to a halt an arm’s length from the colorful enclosure, almost exactly at the point where Chase had picked up Echo’s picture frame a few days prior. There was a heavy silence for a few moments before Kayla gruffly broke it.
“Now what? We’re here and our backs are against the wall. I hope there was more to this than just making some final stand.” Her voice was ragged, projecting anger to mask the fear that clearly underpinned her words.
“Indeed.” An unfortunately familiar feminine voice from behind them intoned meaningfully, and Chase groaned as they turned around to face Dr. Redmond at the head of dozens of scientist drones. Her skin had taken on a redder complexion since the last time Chase had seen her, like she’d been baking under the desert sun. Chase narrowed his eyes. It could just be exertion from gathering her forces quickly and pursuing them out here, but it felt more likely to be a side effect of Bright’s possession. There was something else too, some glimmer of a reason that he felt like he should remember, but slipped away every time his mind tried to grab hold of it.
“There is nowhere left to run.” Dr. Redmond continued, voice dripping with smug arrogance. “You’ve made a fine mess of things, but it’s nothing we can’t fix. After all,” She smiled a shark-like grin. “We have all the time in the world.”
“Wow, you’re really committed to your bit here, huh?” Chase needled. “The whole arrogant commander routine. It suits you, don’t get me wrong, but doesn’t it get exhausting maintaining that? Who are you trying to impress, your mindless drones?”
Dr. Redmond scoffed. “Of course you wouldn’t understand how our kind lives. There is no performance, no artifice, no false front. There is no chink in the armor you can expose with the right words to turn my minions against me. There is no weakness.” Her voice had steadily risen in volume and conviction with each sentence, and her grey eyes once more began to take on the swirling green, purple, and blue glow as an ethereal overtone crept into her voice. “There is only Bright.”
Chase barked out a laugh. “Lady, you need an ego check something fierce. Lucky for you, that’s just one of many complimentary services I provide. No weakness? You’re nothing but!”
Her eyes flashed and she went deathly still. “We’ve played this game before. This time, I think I’ll take a more direct approach.” She snapped her fingers and the drones surrounding her took a few steps forward. “Take them alive. Whole and healthy is not required.”
“Oof, must have hit a sore spot.” Chase muttered. “Well, I guess it’s time for the grand finale. Jess, if you would be so kind?”
Jess shook her head with a fond smile. “I should have expected you to make a big production out of this. And God help us, I'm about to pull a Chase. Hey Bright!” She held up the pen trailing the ribbon of light. “Want to see what happens when light meets light?”
Dr. Redmond’s eyes widened and she launched herself forward, eyes glowing with desperation now. “You fool!” She yelled, but Jess was already twirling around and spinning the light ribbon like a drill before plunging it forward into the barrier. There was a high screeching sound like ten thousand nails mindlessly assaulting the chalkboard factory, then all was deathly still and silent. Chase opened his mouth to say something about it being anticlimactic when a white flash consumed the world. The last thing Chase felt was his body being sucked toward that breach in the barrier before his consciousness fled.