CHAPTER 30

Artemis

S urprisingly, Cadmus was the one who approached me, a step in front of Bromm. But when I looked up I almost stumbled back at the intensity in his gaze. He leaned in close and whispered in my ear, mindful of the small boy I was cradling in my arms. What he said, however, shocked a laugh right out of me, the sound a sharp bark that was at odds with my tumultuous emotions.

‘I think you just scared the cum out of me, babe.’ He gestured to the front of his pants and, sure enough, there was a large wet patch outlining where his cocks still twitched and strained against the fabric.

‘There’s something wrong with you,’ I informed him, earning me a knowing smirk.

‘I don’t know whether to run screaming or throw you down and fuck you right here,’ he admitted.

‘Neither,’ Bromm cut in, nudging Cadmus back towards the others, though it was done more out of urgency than possessiveness. ‘We need to leave.’

I noticed the banging then. Foryk and T were working together to hold the door in place while people tried to knock it down from the other side. Their bodies jolted with each hit, their muscles straining under the effort.

Bromm glanced at Bal with a curious glint in his eyes, but he didn’t ask any questions. I was glad. I didn’t want to get into the harsh truths he would drag out of me just yet. Right now, I needed to keep this sweet little boy as close to me as possible while we loaded the others into the carts.

‘Get them in the carts!’ I ordered after a particularly strong shove against the door almost knocked both Tornus off their feet. They barely scrambled back up in time to keep it closed when another one hit, though this time they were more prepared.

Henrik and Cadmus were the first ones to jump into action, their system seamless through unspoken cues. Henrik climbed into the cart while Cadmus passed over the children, dragging the cart with him as he moved onto the next table. Everyone else was quick to follow suit, though Foryk and T remained on door duty. I quickly unzipped my jumpsuit and settled Bal inside, wrapping one of the IV tubes around for extra support to keep my hands free, but the tight fit kept him snug and secure.

Thankfully, none of the other children were injured in any way more than the needle pricks in their arms. And they were all unconscious from the drugs, which made things a lot simpler. I wasn’t looking forward to when they all woke up, but for now we could all focus on getting them safely out of here.

‘We can’t hold them for much longer,’ Foryk called, and I looked up from my task of handing a chunky little boy over the lip of the cart to Bromm. Both Tornus were sweating, the metal door behind them glowing a dim orange as the enemy changed tactics and decided to melt the damn thing down instead.

It was a tight fit and the children were stacked on top of one another in layers, but there wasn’t anything for it. It was either this or leave them behind, and there was no way I was doing that. From the frantic energy the men exuded while rushing to pile up the kids, they felt the same way.

We were towards the back of the room, perhaps only about a dozen or so tables left to get through when the door caved in at the top right corner. Someone on the other side stuck the barrel of a gun through the gap and shot blindly. Luckily, they only hit some of the metal tables nearest to the door, leaving smoking, black scorch marks in its wake. That explained why they hadn’t simply shot through the door, but even low-energy laser guns set to stun could be deadly in close range, and with Foryk and T still pressed against the door they were directly in the line of fire.

‘I’ve got this. You help them,’ Bromm pushed when he saw my indecision.

I didn’t wait around for him to change his mind. Rushing towards the door, I shoved the Tornus towards the remaining children. ‘Go help. I’ll hold them off until all the kids are loaded up,’ I told them, my shield already up.

With the two largest and strongest men now helping, they succeeded in transitioning all of the children into the carts at an accelerated pace. A path had already been made through the centre, and I waited until all of them were behind me and ready to go before I enacted the next stage of my newest plan.

‘All right, I’m going to shield all of us which should help us push past the guards safely, but I’ll have to drop this one first,’ I warned. ‘Be prepared to rush them but stick close together. I don’t want to waste too much energy, so the shield will be a bubble with a fixed circumference. Make sure you’re in the circle.’

A few, namely Henrik, Tarren and Katira, looked pale in their fear, but there was a steady resolution in all of them to see this through. I could see their determination in the defiant tilt to their chins, the fight flashing in their eyes, and the adrenaline vibrating in their muscles as they readied themselves for battle.

Hopefully, if I did things right, they wouldn’t even need to fight, but I fully expected The Program to neutralise my shield the same way I’d done to theirs eventually. This first push needed to get us close enough to the hangar bay before that happened, or else some of us might not make it. Once that happened, I wouldn’t be able to protect everyone at once.

‘Ready?’ I asked.

‘Ready!’ they confirmed.

I didn’t wait for them to change their minds. Within moments, I had dropped the shield and reformed it around us, and the enemy took advantage. The door blew inwards, the metal crumpling from the force of the impact and completely separating from the frame. It left jagged edges around the opening that a few of them snagged themselves on as they fell forward. They must have been exerting a constant pressure in their attempts to break through.

We moved forward as one, using my shield to push through the swarm of bodies. They shot at us, their darts bouncing off the invisible dome while the lasers were more of a nuisance, blocking our sight as we were left with splatters turning the dome from invisible to green. Before one finally dissipated, another would take its place. Still we pushed forward, rushing as fast as we could as I shoved the growing crowd out of the way.

‘Where’s the elevator?’ called Dorian from behind the cart he was pushing alongside Urman. He raised his voice to be heard over the shouts and shots of the guards, and I realised he didn’t know I could hear him regardless. ‘We can’t take the stairs!’

‘At the end of the hallway!’ Tarren shouted back before I could. I already knew that from my pre-mission research, so I charged on ahead as if he hadn’t even spoken.

The mass of bodies became denser the further down the hallway we travelled. More guards joined the fray in front and behind us as they spilled from stairwells, blocking us in. It made for slower progress, but I merely added a little more strength to my efforts to push them out of the way. They ended up squished against the walls, the hallway wide but not wide enough to accommodate an army.

And that’s exactly what they were, I realised. They had been starting the process of mobilising since taking over Nova Station. Probably even before that. Never mind the facilities, Nova Station was now the belly of the beast.

When we reached the elevators, a thin line of guards got caught between my shield and the doors. I didn’t give them the opportunity to escape, pushing against them even harder. Their bodies couldn’t withstand the pressure and, with wide-eyed silent screams, I flattened them to death. Blood burst from orifices and bones crunched until their forms caved in on themselves, the life slowly draining from their eyes.

I heard retching behind me but didn’t turn to discover which ones of my group had the weakest stomachs. A sliver of annoyance sparked deep inside me, but I quickly smothered it. They hadn’t been through what I had, hadn’t survived the same things or been forced to commit the same atrocities. Crushing someone to death was one of the least offensive ways I’d killed.

The elevator doors slid open when I moved back slightly to let the bodies slide to the floor, one of them accidentally hitting the button for me in the process. I kicked them out of the way so the carts could be wheeled inside, thankful that there was enough space for us all to squeeze in. We had to perch on top of the sides to make it happen, but we managed it.

‘What can we expect to find at the top?’ asked Reece from where he was almost completely hidden beneath a mountain of unconscious toddlers. Adara was only spots of pink peeking out from under them, reminiscent of her habit of burying herself under her piles of junk at work.

‘You okay there, Addy?’ I asked.

‘Fine, fine,’ came her muffled reply followed up by her hand wriggling out to shoot me a thumb’s up.

T answered Reece, and I was glad not to be the bearer of that bad news. ‘Expect to find all military personnel from Nova Station and the Academy to be waiting for us when we exit the facility. The majority of the IU’s military is now largely under the control of The Program, if not working beside them as equals. As rebels, we are now the enemy.’

‘I’ve always been a rebel. Nothing new there,’ Cadmus interjected, the comment causing a chorus of scoffs and snorts.

‘Right. You’re a real bad boy,’ Henrik teased, nudging him with an elbow.

Cadmus frowned at his friend. ‘I can be bad if I want to,’ he protested.

‘You can do whatever you want without any consequences because your daddy is rich and influential,’ Dorian deadpanned. ‘You won’t get out of this one scot-free, Cad.’

Cadmus pouted in response, his lower lip jutting out in a way that made me want to bite it. But there was a seriousness to the tension in his shoulders that let me know he had not only taken Dorian’s admonishment in stride but listened.

I had a feeling there was more to Cadmus than met the eye. While his entitlement was genuine and nurtured by the way he was raised, he had a lot more substance to him that he covered up with that rich-boy mask. And I was suddenly certain that it was a mask. Like recognised like, after all, and though the circumstances of our upbringings were vastly different, I was well-versed in picking out the lies from the truths. A part of me wanted to rip the mask right off to get to the man underneath, but I didn’t know how well that would go over.

It would have to wait, regardless.

The door dinged as it slid open, revealing an array of weapons pointed directly at us. Quickly, I reformed the shield to surround us and pushed at them again. It was like moving through water, the current pushing back against us, but we made it through to the exit the same way we’d made it to the elevators: lots of pushing, a few crushed bodies and all of us in one piece.

It was when I opened the door to the station proper that things really went to shit.