Against the Tide - A New Elysium Story [Complete]

Friends in High Places

The earth was quaking, and rubble was raining down on them as they ran.

Null could not see anything in the darkness, but Nova held on to their hand and guided them along wordlessly. A thousands thoughts whirled through her mind and she couldn't make sense of any of the things she was feeling right now. Anger, grief, and fear all battled within her, but most of all, an overwhelming exhaustion was beginning to take hold of her as they ran from the destruction that followed on their heels. She felt endlessly tired, and if Nova didn't drag her along right now, she'd probably just give up and drop to the ground.

Low oxygen... Lars pointed out as he noticed her shortness of breath. This area is not ventilated.

He took over control of the body, ignoring the pain in their lungs, bones and muscles to force themselves forward more efficiently again. But as she drew back, Null realized that she wasn't just physically exhausted.

Around another corner, the tunnel proceeded at an incline, leading them back up toward the surface of the planet just like Xenia had promised. Behind them, the walls began to collapse, and they quickened their pace until they spotted a light in the distance. For the last stretch, they had to climb up along a rocky slope, and then squeeze through a narrow opening in the stone.

Outside, they found themselves almost at the foot of a hill. The rumbling of the collapsing tunnel sounded muffled and distant up here, and it paled in comparison to the deafening cracks of thunder of Astraphos' perpetually stormy troposphere up above.

"Come on, we're not safe yet," Nova remarked breathlessly as he cast a look at the horizon. Not far from their position the strictly geometrical shapes of those few buildings of the facility that were not underground poked out amidst the craggy landscape.

He looked just as exhausted as Null felt. Nonetheless, he pulled them to their feet just as they had crawled out of the tunnel opening, and they began to move down along the rocky slope.

"We need to get to that shuttle that I found for us," he said, "It's not far, we just have to-"

"Oh, you won't be going anywhere," a deep voice called out, interrupting him.

They both skidded to a halt, and Nova drew his gun.

From between the rocks that littered the landscape at the foot of the hillside, General Neris stepped forward. He was unarmed, but the two dozen hunters that moved out of the shadows to stand by his side carried an entire armory. About half of them pointed regular guns at them, the other EMP guns.

Well, fuck our luck, she noted drily.

At least they brought no scandroids this time, Lars noted, not quite managing to sound upbeat about it.

Nova stepped forward to place himself between the hunters and their body, but Null put their hand on his arm to stop him.

"They'll shoot you, but they might still want to take me as a prisoner," she whispered. Her heart was beating fast and heavy as she moved to cover him instead, while the hunters slowly began to close in on them.

"But the EMP-"

"Won't kill us," she cut him off. "But a bullet in the right place might kill you."

She could feel Nova shift uneasily behind her, and cast him a glance over her shoulder. He stared at the hunters, the white in rings in his eyes glowing brightly. As she suddenly recalled everything this man had done for them up until this point. There were many things she wanted to tell him right now, none of which they had time for - not that she'd have found the right words anyway.