Chapter 8:
Marik heard a faint scream from above. His eyes narrowed, and he moved by instinct. Talon and the others were already moving as well.
Too late. It was too late.
The Rovers had come into the building pretending to be citizens in need of aid. Marik raced along one hallway, weapon drawn, as screams sounded out and the rattle of weapon fire further down the hallway rang out.
The shrieks of people who were already injured and now facing down fire from within were deafening. He darted right and then into a room to see a group of Rovers ripping possessions away from the frightened and hurt people within. Rage suffused his vision.
His weapon spat, and two Rovers went down. The others turned to him, and he fired, hitting the floor and rolling hard toward a wall. His foot hit a table, and it went down. He got behind it, using it as cover.
The Rovers had old weapons but a weapon was a weapon, and one blast splintered an entire side of the table. He swore loudly as those splinters flew through the air. Another blast tore a chunk from the other end. Marik was not sure if the man firing the weapon was toying with him, or if he was just a lousy shot.
He ducked around the table’s burned and shattered side, fired quickly, and dispatched two more Rovers.
More yells and weapon fire came to his ears. He peeked back around the table, his eyes already choosing his target. He fired, felling another Rover.
Talon and Jessica were in the room. Jessica was engaged in hand-to-hand, and Marik made it back to his feet just as he heard someone yell, “They have the healer!”
The healer. It could have been any of them, but his heart told him that it was Jenny. He went, running past screaming people. He drew down fire on a Rover who had gotten herself trapped but was still firing at everything she saw.
Death was not the business that he wanted to be in, but that Rover had made death his business at the moment.
He reached the front door just in time to see Jenny’s limp body being hauled away, tossed over the shoulder of a Rover!
Marik went after them, but a powerful blast knocked him off his feet. He looked down to see blood running from one thigh. Dammit!
He went down, still fighting, but there were Rovers everywhere. There were people to protect, and his leg was gushing blood now. Darkness swam in and out, and his hand slipped off the weapon.
It dropped away from him as he fell into pain so huge it made everything first gray out, then darken to black.
He woke to see Talon standing over him, a grim look carved into his visage. “They took Jenny, and they want a ransom to get her back.”
Marik groaned as pain lanced up his leg. “They will kill her even if we pay it, most likely.”
His fingers went to his leg. He probed at his leg, and then he felt his gift kick in and start to heal it up.
The pain was intense and terrifying. He groaned again as a salty, bitter taste filled his mouth and left him both dizzy and sick. He managed to open his eyes again to see the room shifting all around him. His injury had been more severe than he had thought and it was clear that someone had tried to help him, but the injury had been beyond their skill level.
He fell back into darkness despite his efforts to fight it back. When his eyes, gritty with fatigue and pain, came open again, he found his leg was healing but still torn and wracked with agony. The bone had knit together, and the tissues had closed, but the rest would take time.
Which he didn’t have.
He managed to get up and stagger across the silent and empty room. He fumbled his way out into a hallway and saw Jessica kneeling beside a body. He said, “He’s dead.”
“I know.” Her voice was soft and pained. “I knew him. Once. Not a friend, just someone who lived nearby when I was a child.”
She stood. Her face was gray. “They took her.”
“I know. I intend to get her back.”
Jessica nodded. “I thought you might say that. We will all go with you of course, but you should know that starting a war with the Rovers is the worst thing we could do right now. They are vicious, like dogs, and they keep growing in numbers because…well, because, goddammit, they…”
Marik sighed. “They’re desperate, and they are angry, and they are hungry, and they are ruthless. All of it or none of it. Take your pick.”
Her fingers went to her forehead, and she soothed back her eyebrows. “When we get her back, you should take her to Revant Two and keep her there. Some people are not cut out for this, and she isn’t.”
He spoke. “I think you underestimate her, and a great deal too.”
