A Nameless Dark

Chapter 21

"Aaron Acheson," Wiley crooned. "Welcome to the party."

"Let the kids go, Wiley," Aaron growled, "and maybe I won't roast you into a pile of charred asshole."

Aaron stood tall on the top step. He filled in the doorway with his angry figure, alive with writhing bolts of energy. I didn't want to believe what I was seeing; the fear that it would turn out to be some demented trick or desperate hallucination nagged at the back of my brain. But I knew my uncle when I saw him, his rugged strength, his crass demeanor, the rasp of his voice as he gnawed on his words like a caged grizzly bear. I had no idea how he'd managed to find us after all these weeks, but this was him, Aaron Acheson, in the flesh.

Something stirred to life inside me at the sight of my uncle. Some hopeful part of me that had been curled up in a corner waiting to die, rose to join the fight once more. I found myself grinning like a lunatic, my hands forming eager fists, my lungs heaving in time with a quickened heartbeat. I glanced at Samuel and Lara, seeing the same manic elation reflected on their faces. It was on now.

"You know," Wiley took slow steps toward Aaron, keeping a wide distance from Samuel, Lara, and me. "I was a little peeved at you for giving us the slip in Pittsburgh. Honestly, I'd hoped you had crawled into a hole somewhere and died of your injuries."

Aaron took a menacing step down the stairs and Wiley stopped, raising one hand. The Wasted holding Lin shook her once, drawing a fresh gurgling cry from her throat. Aaron growled, retreating to the top step.

"But this is even better," Wiley continued. "You waltzing in here all by your lonesome, gunning to save your family like some braindead cowboy, and delivering your ugly corpse right to us. It's almost too perfect. I mean you see what I've got to work with here, right?"

Wiley spun a slow circle, gesturing to the horde of monsters around him.

"Maybe we should all tie one arm behind our back, just to make this a little more interesting."

Aaron glanced over at my siblings and I, throwing us a quick wink.

"Who said I wandered in here alone, Wiley?" Aaron asked.

His grimace warped into a wolfish half smile, taunt lips parting over gritted teeth, smug confidence solidifying in his cold blue eyes.

"I never said that."

Wiley stopped in his tracks, his arrogant swagger giving way to a stiff apprehension.

Before he could react, the room was filled with sudden concussive flashes of light, a barrage of little explosions scattering across the space. The first struck the monster that held Lynn, incinerating its arm in a single blast and freeing her from its grip. In seconds the room was flooded with dozens of black clad figures, wielding lightning and throwing fire like Olympians of old.

The Steel Tower had arrived.

Soldiers of the Steel Tower moved into the room like the efficient military unit they were. Pouring through the doors on every side, they took up positions along the walls, working in pairs with one soldier holding up an Ice-blade in its shield form, and the other firing their weapon from behind it. They used some type of rifle that seemed to be powered by Light energy. I could feel the expulsion of Light with each blinding flash. The weapons could only fire a few shots, three or four at the most, but where they struck the Wasted and Coyotes, they did massive damage, disintegrating entire portions of the creature's bodies. I saw three of the monsters go down missing limbs or giant sections of torso, and two more received head shots that dropped them for good. When the soldiers had emptied their weapons, they went to work with their Ice-blades, closing their fists to extend the amazing Light powered sword blades, then charging into the midst of the Servants of Dark.