Red Smoke Rising. Rick Psy.D. Anthony

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СКАЧАТЬ was left was a mess of black ashes on her chest, a small roach burning her fingers and a red haze all around her.

      Mia flicked the remains across the room and slid her thin frame up the wall in one fluid motion, clenching her eyes shut. Her breathing became more controlled, more deliberate. The Myrmidons were coming. Her fear melted away, giving rise to a newfound confidence as the drug surged through her system. It made her stronger, bolder, angrier. She chuckled as she opened her eyes.

      ***

      “What’s on the other side of this door?” one of the Myrmidons yelled back through the halls as he rattled the handle of the door Mia had barred.

      “A storage room. It’s a dead end,” Lio told him, trotting to keep well ahead of the three Myrmidons trailing him,

      The biggest one grabbed Lio by the collar, yanking Mia’s professor upward.

      “This one may know this place and he may know the girl,” the enormous Myrmidon informed the others, “but if he keeps up the lip kill him anyway.”

      “Yes sir, Adan,” one of the Myrmidons responded.

      Lio shook his head. “It’s just a storage room,” he repeated.

      “Unlock it!” the Myrmidon demanded.

      “I can’t,” Lio whined. “It doesn’t lock, it’s just for storage.”

      The large man moved his sword to Lio’s throat.

      “I can’t! I told you it’s not locked. Something must be jamming it.” Lio sputtered.

      “You,” the impatient Myrmidon demanded of another. “Open it.”

      The man bowed to Adan, sheathed his sword and approached the door. He tried the handle. No luck. He positioned his hands near the top hinge and pushed.

      Lio winced in anticipation of the sound of cracking wood. He waited for the door to give under the pressure, but quite the opposite happened.

      The door blew off its hinges and into pieces. It flew outward toward the Myrmidon and sent him sprawling backward amidst a chaotic mix of debris. The man hit the ground and didn’t move.

      Lio dove for cover. He shielded his eyes, peeking out from under his elbow as he watched the events unfold.

      A huge shadow loomed just inside the door. The two soldiers nearest the doorway brandished their swords and approached it with caution. The large, dark shape changed almost instantly into something much smaller. Perhaps in the dusty, dark hallway the Myrmidons couldn’t tell what it was or perhaps they were just foolhardy. Whatever their reasoning, they continued their advance.

      Lio, however, knew what they faced. His throat closed as he watched the terrible scene. Anxiety weighed on him. He struggled for breath.

      The Myrmidons charged the storage room at the end of the hall. Mia rose swiftly in response, lunging at one of the soldiers, striking like lightning.

      The Myrmidon landed in a heap, knocked over by the single blow that sent him rolling out the doorway. Blood poured from multiple gashes. The man squirmed as he choked out his last few breaths.

      When he saw what happened, the third Myrmidon stopped dead in his tracks and backed away. Adan grabbed Lio’s arm and ripped him up to his feet like a doll.

      “Stop!” he demanded from behind his hostage. “Or I’ll pop the head clean off your little teacher here.” The shadowy form in the darkness paused and refocused, calculating. “He’ll be dead before you get past me,” Adan warned. “One by one my men will kill everyone in this place, including your friend’s bloody brother upstairs. When I’m done with him I’ll find your family.”

      Mia didn’t move.

      “Enough people have died because of you today,” the Myrmidon chastised. “If you had simply come with us without all this trouble, your friend would still be alive. Tell me, how many more will have to die to save your skin?”

      The dark form in the shadows looked from Lio to the large man who restrained him. She was weighing her options. The thundering of Lio’s heart was relentless. Sweat rolled down his face.

      Mia approached the light, shifting back to her human form before stepping out of the shadows. The Myrmidons never even caught a glimpse at the beast that had killed two of their own.

      Lio breathed a sigh of relief, but a sick feeling rushed over him. Mia would be captured, and her fate would be cruel. So would his.

      Mia scowled up at her would-be captors with clenched fists and wild eyes. Slowly, she left the dim storage room and raised her hands in surrender.

      “What are you?” the Myrmidon asked. It was the last thing Lio remembered before the Myrmidon raised his boot and the world went black.

      REALITY

      Lio’s eyes snapped open, his mind scrambling as he choked for air. A vague terror gripped him like a nightmare as he struggled to remember.

      Thoughts and images flooded his mind, but they were incoherent scenes of reality and nightmare.

      What the hell happened? How long have I been out?

      Slowly, his thoughts aligned themselves. The images racing through his mind solidified as he tried to focus.

      A searing pain in his forearm interrupted his moment of clarity. Lio cringed and twisted in the darkness.

      He was on a cold floor. Using his good arm to determine the extent of his injuries, he worked his fingers down his shoulder, whining when he reached his elbow. The pain was almost unbearable; he couldn’t stand the pressure of his own fingertips. His hand brushed something hard sticking out from a tear in his cuff. He realized it was bone before he passed out again.

      When he awoke the second time, his mind cleared more quickly. A more complete once-over revealed that his arm was the worst of it—all digits and appendages were accounted for.

      His mind sharpened a little more. How did this happen?

      “Myrmidon,” he muttered to himself, “and a big bastard too.”

      Adan had fired Lio into the cell so hard that Lio’s arm had snapped like a twig. He wasn’t sure if the bone had broken on impact with the wall or the subsequent connection with the floor, but one of the two did him in.

      The Myrmidon was unbelievably strong. Even for an augment, Lio thought to himself. The man had been well crafted.

      How did I get to this point? Why was a Myrmidon even after me? He wished he could pass out again.

      He wished for some time until it became apparent that wishing wasn’t going to cut it. And since the thought of jabbing himself in the arm-bone again was more than his stomach could handle, he took stock of his surroundings instead.

      Painstakingly, the professor righted himself against the wall. The cell was dark, though light trickled in through a tiny hole in the exterior wall behind him. It provided enough illumination to make out a door on the far side. The glint of steel was СКАЧАТЬ