The Rise of Nine

7

Bullets whistle by, exploding in the dirt all around us. Ella and I take cover behind the wreckage of one of the trucks. The bullets seem to be coming from everywhere, from every direction, from every angle. Ella’s been hit. The air is so thick with dust from all the commotion, I can’t even see her wounds. I gently run my hands over her body until I feel the wet, sticky blood and find a bullet hole in her lower thigh. When I touch it, she cries out in pain.

I use the most soothing voice I can muster, given the circumstances. ‘It’s going to be okay. Marina can help you. We just need to find her.’ I pick Ella up and start carefully moving away from the truck, shielding her with my body. I almost trip over Marina and Crayton, who are huddled behind another piece of debris.

‘Come on! Ella’s hurt! We have to get out of here!’

‘There are too many of them. If we try to run now, they’ll kill us. Let’s treat Ella first, then fight back,’ Crayton says.

I set Ella down next to Marina. She’s still wearing the dark glasses. I can see her wound clearly now; her blood is flowing steadily. Marina places her hands on Ella’s leg and closes her eyes. Ella inhales sharply, her chest beginning to rise and fall at a rapid pace. It really is amazing to see Marina’s Legacy in action. Another explosion sounds nearby and a blast of dust sweeps over us just as Ella’s wound contracts, pushing the bullet out of her flesh. The gash turns from black and red back to the color of her pearly-white skin. An outline of a small bone shifts just below the surface of her skin and Ella’s body slowly begins to relax. I rest my hand on Marina’s shoulder, relieved, and say, ‘That was incredible, Marina.’

‘Thanks. It was pretty cool, wasn’t it?’ Marina removes her hands from Ella, who slowly props herself up onto her elbows. Crayton gives her a hug.

A helicopter roars overhead and decimates two trucks with a spray of bullets. A chunk of metal lands close to me; it’s a piece of smoldering truck door, the red number eight just barely visible. The sight of it fills me with anger. Now that Ella is healed, I’m ready to fight back.

‘Now we move on them!’ I yell at Crayton.

‘Is it the Mogadorians?’ Marina asks, clicking the lock of her Chest shut.

Crayton looks over the top of the debris heap we’ve been hiding behind, and ducks back down to report. ‘It’s not the Mogs. But there are a lot of them and they’re coming closer. We can fight here, but it would be better to take it to the mountains. Whoever they are, if they aren’t here to attack us but are battling Commander Sharma, I see no reason to reveal your powers.’

An explosion behind us pushes another cloud of dirt our way, and I watch the helicopter circle back around and head straight for us. Marina and I look at each other and we can tell we’re both thinking the same thing. There’s no way to honor Crayton’s request that we not use our Legacies and do what we need to do. She takes control of the helicopter and reverses its flight path. Its passengers will never understand what happened but we know it’s out of our way. And regardless of who’s inside, we don’t want anyone to be in danger’s path unnecessarily. Ella and I cheer with relief as we watch the spinning blades disappear into the distance while Crayton watches with a frown. Then Commander Sharma dives behind our cover.

‘Thank God, you’re alive,’ he says. I’m tempted to say the same thing to him. I thought he was killed when that first rocket struck. Blood trickles from a large cut on his temple, and his right arm hangs awkwardly at his side.

‘I’m holding you responsible for this,’ I say, glaring at him.

He shakes his head. ‘Those are soldiers of the Lord’s Resistance Front. They are who we were trying to avoid.’

‘What do they want?’ I ask.

Commander Sharma scans the horizon before looking me in the eyes. ‘To kill Vishnu. And destroy all of his friends. Like you. More are on their way.’

I move to a crouching stance and carefully peer over the demolished truck. A large brigade of heavily armed vehicles is moving towards us, several helicopters hovering above them. Tiny flashes of light appear from the long line of the trucks and jeeps, and seconds later I hear the bullets zip past us.

‘Let’s go kick some ass,’ I say.

‘It’s not possible to defeat them here,’ Commander Sharma says, picking up a machine gun with his good hand. ‘No more than twenty of my men are still fighting. We must take it to higher ground if we want a chance to survive this.’

‘Just let me handle it,’ I say.

‘Wait, Six,’ Crayton says, scooping up Marina’s Chest. ‘He’s right. The mountains will give us more cover. You can still take out every single one of them. It just won’t be as visible, which is good for us. We don’t need the Mogs picking up on this right now.’

Marina puts her hand on my arm. ‘Crayton’s right. We need to be smart. Let’s not draw more attention to ourselves than we have to.’

‘The Mogs?’ Commander Sharma asks, confused. We’ll need to be more careful around him.

Before anyone can answer, two low-flying helicopters zip in with their guns blazing. Several of the commander’s soldiers are mowed down, their weapons blown to useless shards of metal. If we’re going to run, it’s now or never. I use my telekinesis to pull on the tail of one of the helicopters, tipping the nose down. It looks like a rodeo horse trying to buck its rider as the pilot struggles furiously to level the copter out. We watch the pilot give a particularly hard yank to the joystick and two men bounce right out of the cabin. They weren’t very high in the air, so the fall shouldn’t injure them – much.

I look over at our fleet of stalled SUVs and see smoke rising faintly from one of the tailpipes. An engine is still running! I shout, ‘Let’s go! Now!’

Everyone rushes from behind the cover; Commander Sharma yells for his few remaining men to retreat. The brigade is less than a hundred yards away. As we run I feel a bullet zip through my hair. Another one rips through my forearm, but before I can scream, Marina is right next to me, her icy hands tending to my injury as we run. All but one of the commander’s soldiers follows his orders to retreat. That lone soldier follows the commander, running with us.

We reach the SUV and get inside – the four of us, plus Commander Sharma and the one soldier. Crayton steps on the gas and whips us onto the road. Bullets tear through the tail end of our truck, shattering the back windshield, but we’re able to manoeuvre around a small rock formation and evade the relentless gunfire.

This is not a road built for speed. It’s full of potholes, rocks and other debris, and Crayton struggles to keep us from careening off the shoulder. The SUV is overflowing with guns – I find a shotgun and crawl into the back, waiting for a target. Marina follows suit, leaving her Chest with Ella.

Now that I have a moment to gather my thoughts, I’m angry. We thought if Number Eight remained in the mountains, we would be safe here, under the radar. Instead, we’re being attacked because of him. If we survive this, I am so going to tear Eight a new one.

‘Where are we going?’ Crayton yells over his shoulder.

‘Just stay on this road,’ the commander says. I look over my shoulder and see the Himalayan Mountains through the windshield. They are slowly getting closer, their jagged tops growing more menacing. Up ahead, the brown desert ends, and a curving band of green surrounds the base of the mountains.

‘Why do these guys want to kill Number Eight?’ I ask Commander Sharma, the barrel of my shotgun bouncing off the frame of the back window.

‘The Lord’s Resistance Front does not believe he is Vishnu. They believe we are blasphemous, accepting this mountain boy as the Supreme God. They want to kill us in his name.’

‘Six!’ Ella yells. ‘Incoming!’ She’s still wearing the glasses.

I look out the back window in time to see something fire out of the helicopter. It’s a missile of some sort heading straight for us. I use my telekinesis and send it directly into the desert floor, where it explodes. The helicopter fires two more missiles.

‘Time to take these dudes out!’ I yell. ‘Let’s do this one together, Marina.’ She nods and instead of directing the rockets into the ground this time, we loop them so they’re heading directly back at the copter. We watch grimly as the helicopter explodes in a giant fireball. We never try to kill; but, given a choice between killing versus being killed, I will pick us every time.

‘Awesome work, Six,’ says Ella.

‘Yippee-ki-yay, and all that,’ I reply with a grim smile.

‘Do you think they’ll leave us alone now?’ asks Marina.

‘I don’t think it’s going to be that easy,’ says Commander Sharma.

‘She has all the same type of powers as the boy you call Vishnu,’ says Crayton, motioning towards me. ‘Will that be enough to dissuade them? Do you think they’d still try to fight him?’

‘They would if they could find him,’ says the commander.

‘How many are there in the Lord’s Resistance Front?’ I ask Commander Sharma.

‘In total? Thousands. And they have wealthy donors who support them in any way they need.’

‘Hence the helicopters,’ Crayton says.

‘They have worse than that,’ the commander adds.

‘The best plan for us is to outrun them,’ Crayton says to the commander. ‘I’ll drive as fast as I can. If we have to fight, we’ll fight; but I’d like to avoid it.’

Five minutes pass in tense silence. Marina and I monitor the brigade in the distance, and whenever we pass something large enough, we use our telekinesis to drop it in the path behind us. The tall trees that have begun to dot the sides of the road quickly form a thick line of defense. The car dips into an extremely narrow valley before beginning to ascend the mountain. We have just come to the base when Commander Sharma tells Crayton to stop. I lean forward in my seat and see dozens of small mounds in the dirt.

‘Land mines?’ I ask.

‘I’m not sure,’ the commander says. ‘But they weren’t there two days ago.’

‘Is there another route to wherever we’re going?’ Crayton asks.

‘No, this is the only path,’ Commander Sharma says.

Suddenly, we hear the sound of helicopter blades, but I don’t see them yet. They’re hidden behind the tall trees. Of course, that means they can’t see us, either, though it sounds like they aren’t very far off anymore.

‘We’re sitting ducks if we stay here,’ I say, my mind racing to figure out our next best move.

Crayton opens his door and steps out with a machine gun under his arm. ‘Okay, this is it.’ He points up and to our right. ‘We either go up there and get behind a line of trees and fight, or we keep running straight up the mountain.’

I follow him out. ‘I’m not running.’

‘Neither am I,’ says Marina, standing next to me.

‘Then we fight,’ says Commander Sharma. He points into the hills. ‘Half of us set up on the left while the other half takes position on the right. I will take these two with me.’ He indicates Ella and me.

Crayton and I look at each other and nod.

Ella turns to Crayton. ‘You okay without me, Papa?’

Crayton smiles. ‘Marina’s legacy will make sure whatever they do to me won’t last long. I think I’ll be okay.’

‘I’ll keep an eye on him, Ella,’ Marina adds.

‘Are you sure we should do this, Commander?’ the soldier asks. ‘I can go to fetch Vishnu, bring him back to help.’

‘No, Lord Vishnu should stay where he’s safe.’

Crayton turns to Ella. ‘Keep those glasses on. Maybe you can be our eyes up there in the trees. I’m still not sure how they work, but let’s hope they’ll help now.’

I hug Marina and whisper into her ear. ‘Be confident in your abilities.’

‘I should heal Commander Sharma before you go,’ she says.

‘No,’ I whisper. ‘I don’t trust him yet and he’s less dangerous to us if he’s injured.’

‘You sure?’

‘For now.’

Marina nods. Crayton taps her arm and beckons her to join him and the young soldier. The three of them scramble up the left wall of the valley, disappearing behind a boulder.

Commander Sharma, Ella, and I move up the right side of the hills, carefully avoiding the bumps on the ground as we move. We find a position behind some massive boulders, and settle in to wait for the brigade to arrive.

I turn to Commander Sharma. I feel slightly guilty about not letting Marina heal him, but for all I know, he’s set this up as an elaborate trap. ‘How’s your arm?’ I whisper to him.

With a grunt, Commander Sharma lies down and sets the barrel of his gun on a flat rock. He looks up and winks. ‘I only need the one.’

Out of the corner of my eye I can see a helicopter buzz overhead but it leaves almost immediately. Either Marina took care of it, or the pilot couldn’t penetrate the thick canopy of the valley. I look through the trees, hoping to manipulate the clouds surrounding the peaks of the mountains, but the afternoon sun has burned them off. With no wind, and no clouds, there aren’t any elements to control. I can turn invisible if I need to, but I prefer to keep that hidden from the commander for now.

‘What do you see?’ Ella asks.

‘A whole lot of nothing,’ I whisper. ‘Commander, how far away is Number Eight?’

‘You mean Vishnu? Not far. A half day’s walk, maybe.’

I’m about to ask him to tell me where, exactly. We should know in case something happens to the commander and we need to move forward without him. But I’m distracted when a rusty pickup truck swings into the narrow valley at full speed with a man standing in the open bed. Even from a distance, I can see he’s nervous as well as armed. He jerks his gun from side to side, frantically trying to be everywhere at once. As soon as our SUV comes into view, the pickup skids to a stop and the soldier in the back hops out. More vehicles appear and pull up behind the pickup. A soldier drops out of a red van and sets a rocket launcher onto his shoulder. I see an opportunity.

I nudge the commander with my foot. ‘I’ll be right back.’

I don’t give him a chance to argue as I run quickly into the woods. When he can’t see me any longer, I use my invisibility Legacy to disappear and sprint down into the valley. The soldier has our truck in his crosshairs, but before he can pull the trigger I rip the rocket launcher off his shoulder and slam one end into his belly. He doubles over and goes down with a scream. Hearing the commotion, the driver of the truck rushes over with a pistol in his hand. I point the rocket launcher at his face. The soldier takes a split second to decide if the free-floating launcher is about to do its thing, then turns and runs away with his arms above his head.

I aim at the now empty, rusty pickup and pull the trigger. The rocket flies out of my launcher and a wave of fire explodes under the pickup, blowing it thirty feet into the air. The burning truck lands hard, and bounces and rolls quickly forward, the momentum sending it into the back of our SUV with a crash. I watch it lurch forward, rolling slowly over the small mounds in the road that had stopped us from advancing. The next thirty seconds are filled with ear-splitting, rapid detonations, as soldiers fire blindly around them and the mounds in the road explode. Thousands of birds burst out from the trees all around us, their sounds quickly drowned out by the snap, crackle and pop of munitions doing their thing. I was right; they were land mines. And now our SUV is nothing more than a smoldering pile of metal.

Evidently, this was just the opening act. The main attraction – armored vehicles, small tanks, mobile missile units – is closing in on the mountain. There have to be a couple of thousand soldiers on foot. Five or six attack helicopters hover overhead. I hear a whirring and turn to see a missile launcher rising and rotating, going into operational mode. The tips of five white missiles turn up and towards the area where Marina and Crayton have taken cover. There’s movement in the tree line, and the commander’s young soldier runs down into the valley. He’s unarmed and headed right for the missile launcher. At first I think he’s going to sacrifice himself somehow to save my friends, but no one fires at him. He stops when he reaches the launcher and starts pointing higher up the side of the mountain, to where Crayton and Marina are hiding. The launcher rises another few feet and adjusts its aim.

He’s a traitor, part of the group trying to kill us! The next thing I know, he is flying into the air, yanked upward by telekinesis. Marina must have realized the same thing. But it might be too late. He’s already revealed her location.

I look towards the missile launcher and gather my strength so I can alter the flight of the missiles once they’re fired. As I start to focus on it, another launcher whirs to life and aims its missiles directly at me. Though I’m invisible, the army knows a shoulder rocket was fired from where I’m standing. I only have the power to deal with one of them, and there’s no time to run. I have a choice. Save Crayton and Marina or save myself.

The launcher pointed toward the mountain starts firing. The missiles come screaming out, heading straight for the hills. I get control of them and redirect them into the ground, where they explode, just as the second launcher fires. I turn and see their white tips moving towards me. I don’t have time to do anything, but suddenly the missiles loop up and turn back towards the launcher that fired them and the brigade. They barrel into five different vehicles, all of which explode.

Marina. She saved my life. We are working together, just as we were meant to do, and the thought makes me feel more determined than before to get this pit stop over with and find Eight. I want to send a message to the remaining soldiers of the brigade so I stop using my invisibility Legacy and show myself. I focus and start to control the flames rising from where the missiles exploded with my telekinesis. I spread the fire down the road to engulf the rest of the brigade. One by one, the flames move down the row of vehicles and it’s like exploding dominos. Message received. The remaining soldiers of the Lord’s Resistance Front begin to retreat. For a second, I’m tempted to indulge in a little retribution. But that’s cruel and unnecessary and exactly the kind of thing the Mogadorians would do. I know my fantasies of going medieval on their retreating asses are not going to help us now.

‘That’s right! Run! Because if you don’t, that fire is just waiting to finish the job off!’ When the last one disappears from view, I turn and start walking back towards the hills. I need to find my friends.