The Ruins of Alpha Centauri (The Tes Simms Anthology, Book 2)

The Escape

"What's the galvanaught?" Holly asks, more than a little dazed.

"We've got to get out of here. Now."

Sola rushes over to the two of us and tries to yank the chain free from the wall. When that doesn't work, they stand back, frustrated and fearful.

"Key," I say, bending my wrist to point at the table where the key previously was. It's now on the floor, having been victim to both the ripple effect and the galvanaught. They retrieve it and quickly unlock the two of us.

Holly bounds over to Aurora, hoping to free her from her chains, but there's no point. The chains have melted. Sola grabs a makeshift weapon from a shelf and beckons us to follow.

"Where do you think you're going?" the elder asks. "Aren't you going to help us?"

"I'm not totally sure what happened down here, but all I know is you kidnapped my friends, chained them to the wall, input an unsustainable amount of energy into their pet rabbit, and brought the downfall of Omega Centauri. I'm not sure you deserve rescuing."

Without waiting for a response, they kick the door open to the escape exit stairs in the back of the room. Right as they do, the galvaknight reaches the bottom of the other set of stairs and stands horrifyingly in the doorway.

For a moment, nobody moves or makes a sound. The suspense of being confronted with the murder machine drowns out all rational thought.

The galvaknight crouches through the doorway and into the room. It moves slowly towards the center of the room where the most heat energy is, its heavy metal steps echoing redundantly.

It can't see us. We step quietly into the back doorway, our shoeless feet making the lightest tapping noise possible.

We're gonna make it.

Behind us, one scientist accidentally shifts some scattered debris, scraping it across the floor. The galvaknight lets out a ringing scream and charges their way.

"Go!" Sola yells, no longer trying to stay quiet. The four of us, Aurora in Holly's hands, swiftly find the stairs in a panic, heading in the opposite direction of the sound of the three men being eviscerated. Each time one of them cries out, it's ended immediately after.

I can feel the tears of fear threatening to escape. This is so much worse than flying in a plane. It's infinitely worse. It's even worse than being chased around by ghosts in an abandoned Nazi airship.

When we've reached the halfway point, I look back down at the entrance. The galvaknight is following us. Its arms are covered in blood, and it's knocking out each of the torches along the walls as it passes them.

The torches...

I fall to the back of the group, and every torch we pass by, I extinguish between my hands. It hurts, but a lot less than being torn apart does, I imagine.

My suspicions are confirmed when we hit the 3/4 mark. The galvaknight and its heavy footsteps seem to have stopped.

We tiptoe quietly up the rest of the stairs until we reach the hatch at the top. Sola gives it a bump, but it doesn't move.

Instinctively, I join in and help, trying to lift the heavy blast door. It rattles slightly, but the two of us are nowhere near strong enough. Holly sets Aurora down and also pitches in, giving the three of us enough strength to tip it over. Aurora quietly hops out of the tunnel and onto the surface, but the three of us are still stuck lifting the door.

I free up one of my hands and point at each of us before moving it back up to the door and pushing dramatically. Then, I lift three fingers. Sola looks confused, but Holly nods.

Three. Two. One.

Holly and I jump at the same time, lifting the heavy door and sending it flying backwards. It smacks loudly into the ground loudly, alerting the galvaknight below. We're already scrambling out the exit by the time it roars, running as quietly as we can away from the hatch and the horror show that Omega Centauri must be. Five or six galvaknights are roaming the street, funneling in through the main entrance.

It's a good thing there was an escape exit. We round the corner of a mostly intact skyscraper, hoping to find a quiet place to hide out.

That's when we see an incomprehensibly large machine stomping across the city. Its height matches and exceeds the tallest buildings in view. Each movement crumbles structures and shatters the road underneath. It lets out a monstrous roar, which shakes my bones.

"That's the galvanaught," Sola says.