Dragon: A Histories of Purga Novel

Chapter Fifteen

Liza stared at the monitor in front of her, trying her best to keep her composure. What she was watching was the most atrocious thing she'd ever seen in her life. The Behemoth was equipped with a tiny camera that captured all of its movements and sent it through a classified signal to her computer. What she was reviewing now was the decimation of the Imperial Guards, the Royal Infantry and the civilian refugees that had managed to escape Roanoke.

I killed them, she thought, feeling clouds of depression hanging over her. I killed them all.

She tried to dry the tears on her cheeks, but they just kept coming. She didn't know how she was going to live with herself now. She had dedicated her entire life to creating things that would help people. That would prevent disease. That would cure and heal. Now the monster of her creation had been let loose and it had killed thousands. In a matter of hours. She couldn't reconcile her terrible deed with herself. It would forever stain her and she knew it. She may have saved the lives of her family, but she had done so at the cost of so many others.

Suddenly furious, she slammed her hands against the desk she was sitting at. Pain exploded immediately in them but she didn't care. She didn't even acknowledge it. She swept them to the side and knocked the monitor to the floor. There was a slight coughing sound and then smoke trailed up from its paper-thin, cracked surface. She stood out of her chair so fast, it was thrown to the floor. Then she grabbed her computer's terminal, lifted it and threw it across the room. All of her data, all of her work and research, was stored on its hard drive. It crashed into the cement wall and fell to the floor. The only damage it sustained was a cracked housing.

"Not good enough!" she screamed as she raced over to it. She picked up the evil thing and bashed it relentlessly against the wall. In a few moments, all she was holding were scraps and broken pieces of motherboard. "Still not good enough," she murmured.

She picked a blueprint that she programmed herself, by hand (the old fashioned way), and extended her arm, her nanos flying out. In a moment, they had formed into a curious weapon. It had a bulbous, ball-like barrel that melded seamlessly into the design of a standard issue blaster, despite the fact that it was illegal for civilians to own lethal weapons. The weapon was meant for Wilhelm but her life's work would serve as an adequate substitute. Her hand tightened on the grip, her finger hovering over the trigger. She sighted down its length and fired. The gun hummed for a second and purple lightning seemed to gather at its end. There was a loud explosion and suddenly, she was flying through the air at a speed she knew was going to be lethal.

She didn't care.

She welcomed it.

Right before she was would've hit the wall, something burst through it and caught her as easily as if she were a ball. The collision still knocked the breath out of her and whoever held her was far from gentle, but she was alive.

A big, rough hand set her down.

Liza turned around and looked up to find the Behemoth staring back at her. His blank eyes watched her without any emotion, empathy or even depth. She had erased all of that per Wilhelm's instruction. He wanted a monster that he could control absolutely and for the price of her family, that's what she made for him.

"Leave me!" she yelled at him. Her anger overflowed. All she could feel was a raw, seething hatred for the creature. She sank to her knees as despair surged through her.

The Behemoth cocked his head at her like a dog and just stared. The few lights still working in the room glinted off the metal weapon that engulfed its lower right arm. The sharp point of the sword-like protuberance looked deadly.

"Go! Get away!" she screamed again.

But the Behemoth stayed. His head was still cocked to the side.