Grendel Unit 3: Fight the Power Read online

  Frank cut right, then made a sharp left, doing his best to stay behind Bob, cursing the bastard for all his stupid exercising. Bob darted down a dark tunnel, racing forward into what looked like nothing more than a black wall, but as Frank ran in, he saw they were simply inside another corridor, carved into the wall haphazardly and unmarked. It was ingenious, in a way, Frank thought. If the prison were organized and segmented, vast gangs would form and soon be able to threaten the guards. By housing everyone in the dark and in such a confusing fashion none of them would easily be able to find one another, it kept them disoriented and disorganized. One false turn down the wrong corridor and you might suddenly find yourself in hostile territory with no possibility of escape.

  "He's in there," Bob said, stopping suddenly. He pointed at the farthest cell at the end of the corridor, a faint light casting shadows on the open entrance. Bob's voice cracked a little as he stumbled forward and whispered, "Monster? You in there, buddy?"

  "Go away," the Mantipor muttered. "I am not in the mood for humans."

  "We can if you want to," Bob said, just as he swung himself around the entrance to show himself. "But that wouldn't make for a very good prison break, now would it?"

  The creature's roar was deafening, so loud it made Frank's teeth rattle, but all he saw was a pair of massive, patchy-furred arms snatch Bob out of the doorway and squeeze him so hard, Bob grunted, "Wait…not so tight…I'm serious…"

  Frank heard Bob gasp with relief and then saw Monster lower his head under the entrance to emerge into the corridor, filling it with his form. He glared down at Frank, saying, "Come here."

  Frank held up his hands, saying, "It's okay, really. I just−"

  Monster scooped him up and crushed him to his chest, making Frank's ribs creak and his spine crackle and adjust. Frank heaved in air as Monster let him slip back down to the ground, then felt the beast's hand on his shoulder, shaking him, "How in the hell did you get here? Have we been pardoned?"

  "Not exactly," Bob said. "We'll explain later."

  Within minutes, they were running down the hall, chasing Monster as he crashed through narrow entries and rattled the grates of the steel mesh ceiling above. It was if the Mantipor had been set free of chains and was now running for his life, snarling back at Bob and Frank when they fell too far behind that if they could not keep up, he would carry them. "The Captain is ahead," Monster shouted over his shoulder.

  "There!" Monster said, aiming his clawed finger at the open door. The three of them looked at one another, none of them moving, until Monster said, "It should be one of you."

  Frank clapped Bob on the shoulder and said, "You go ahead, Bob. You've known him longer than me."

  Bob shook his head softly and said, "Stop being an idiot. Go get our Captain so we can get the hell out of here."

  Frank felt his hands shaking with nervous anticipation as he walked toward the cell, his legs suddenly made of cement. He peeked in and saw a man that he barely recognized sitting on the bunk of the cell. Physically, Victor Cojo still looked much the same, but it was as if the fight had gone out of him. He was sitting slumped, staring at nothing, not even looking up when Frank called his name and walked in.

  "Monster?" Frank called back into the corridor. "What's wrong with him?"

  "I do not know. He was not like that the last time I saw him. Is he sick?"

  Frank opened his medical kit and removed a diagnostic wand. He waved the wand over Vic's forehead and temples, shaking him on the arm to try and get him to respond. "It's nothing I can see. His temperature's normal. Blood pressure is elevated, but that's to be expected." Frank snapped his fingers in Vic's face and said, "Hey, Dummy. The Cavalry is here. Stop kidding around. We gotta go!"

  No response.

  Frank shoved him on the shoulder and said, "Knock it off, damn you. We have to get out of here. We broke into this dump to rescue you and you don't even have the courtesy to say hello?"

  Vic suddenly turned his head toward Frank and said, "You're not real. You're just another trick, but I won't fall for it."

  "This is unbelievable," Frank said.

  Bob checked his scanner again and said, "The immobilization virus we used on the guards suits is starting to wear off, Frank. If we don't extricate in the next five minutes, they'll be able to make radio contact with their command. Plus, my scanner is almost dead."

  "And then what?" Monster said.

  "Then we're all going to be spending a lot more time together," Bob said dryly.

  Frank pictured the hatch closing on top of him once more, burying him deep in the prison, making him just another occupant of one of its dark corridors. Frank shook his head violently to clear the panic away and said, "Not today. Monster, grab the Captain. Let's move!"

  "Roger that!" the Mantipor said, charging forward and scooping Vic up with one arm. He cradled Vic to his chest like a child, and Vic pounded and kicked and screamed out, "None of this is real! None of you are real! I don't believe you!"

  Frank handed Bob his scanner and said, "Sgt. Buehl, take point and get us back to the hatch. Double-time."

  Bob punched in their coordinates and said, "Your hatch is just two clicks south of here. Run you bastards."

  They bolted together through the darkness, following the scanner's glowing screen with a blinking red dot to show them how far away they were from escape. When prisoners moved into their way, Bob shouted, "Move! Move!" and they automatically retreated into their cells, not knowing what was happening and not wanting to find out. Those too stupid to move suffered Monster's loudest roar, or the side of his fist smashing them into a wall. Frank ran as he never had before, but Monster was too fast behind him and the Mantipor reached down at several points and grabbed Frank by the belt, lifting him off his feet to carry him as well.

  All of them were sucking wind when they reached the hatch. Bob aimed his scanner at it and typed in a command to open it. The hatch did not respond.

  "What's wrong?" Frank said. "Is it blocked already?"

  "No," Bob said, smacking the scanner with the side of his hand. "This one is dying too. These weren't meant for this much sustained use."

  Vic was still yelling that none of them were real, and Monster pressed his face against his furry chest to muffle the sound and said, "You two had better not have come this far just to blow the operation over dead scanner batteries."

  Bob looked at Frank stiffly and said, "We don't have the power to open the hatch. We're stuck."

  Frank looked up at the closed hatch, drenched with fear, but he found himself uttering a command anyway, saying, "Use whatever is left to send a message to the General. Tell him he either finds a way to open the hatch, or we're done."

  Bob punched in the message and sent it, holding the scanner up to the ceiling as if it would make a difference. As he held it, the light of the screen began to fade, leaving them all in complete darkness.

  "We'll find another way," Frank said.

  "Thousands of inmates have tried to escape since this place was built," Monster growled. "None have survived."

  "Well they're not us," Bob said.

  "You sound brave now, because you have not lived here and slept here and been forced to eat the rot here," Monster said. "You have been free, and you cannot fathom being anything other than free, but in time, you will see." He looked up at the dark hatch once more and then said, "I will show you where I sleep. After tonight, you will have to find your own cells, though."

  "I can't believe it," Bob whispered. "We came this far."

  "Just hang on a second," Frank said.

  "Even if the hatch opens, the guards will be mobile soon. We'll be fighting a squad of Sentinel armored guards. It's over," Bob said simply. "It's…just..." his voice grew quiet as the ceiling creaked above them and the magnetic locks bracing the hatch began to vibrate and snap open.

  "Unbelievable," Monster sighed. "Thank the gods and goddesses."

  "Go, go!" Bob shouted, grabbing the ladder with both hands and scurrying up
it like a monkey.

  Frank was right behind him, laughing as he climbed, saying, "You should have seen the look on your face. You were scared as hell."

  "You're damn right I was scared," Bob said as he dove out of the hatch onto the floor, taking a deep breath of clean air. He reached into the hatch to grab Frank by the arm and heave him up. "I was terrified I'd have to spend the rest of my life staring at you."

  Frank rolled his eyes and said, "You'd love it in prison. A bunch of guys who always work out, no tempting foods to mess up your diet."

  Monster passed Vic through the hatch to them and both Bob and Frank grabbed on, pulling the Captain up onto the second floor. Frank tapped Vic rapidly on the cheek and said, "See? We're out of there. Smell that clean air? It's time to snap out of it, Vic. Come on, man. We are not out of this and we need you! Grendel Unit needs you!"

  Vic blinked several times as he looked up at the lights on the ceiling and the color began to return to his face. He stared at Frank, but still did not speak, but when Monster had finally forced his bulk out of the hatch, Vic was able to walk on his own and followed the rest of them as Bob shouted, "If I remember the map, there's an elevator down that hall."

  They raced past the food processing room where Frank had immobilized the guards and saw that some of them were starting to move. They were flexing their fingers and inching their armored torsos sideways to try and look at them. The one with the open face mask, Corporal Slavish, cried out at the sight of Vic and Monster and screamed, "Help! Help! Prisoners are escaping! Ring the alarm."

  "We still have time," Bob said triumphantly. He clapped his hands and started to run down the hall, when he realized Vic had broken away from the rest of them and was staring at the guards through the glass. "What the hell is he doing? Monster, grab him again."

  Before the Mantipor could reach him, Vic suddenly snatched Frank by the collar and yanked him forward, forcing him into the office. Frank tried to pry Vic's fingers away, shouting, "Get off of me! We have to get the hell out of here! What are you doing?"

  Vic fought with him and dragged him across the floor, moving past the rest of the guards who were desperately trying to work the controls on their suits to grab either of them, until Vic stopped in front of Corporal Slavish.

  "Vic, what the hell are you doing?" Frank said.

  "Shut up, or I'll snap your neck," Vic snarled. He clutched Frank firmly around the throat to hold his face up to Slavish's and said, "Do you know this man?"

  Slavish's eyes darted back and forth from Vic to Frank and he said, "Y-yeah. He's the one who trapped us in here. Listen to me, if you call for help, I will personally see to it that you get to work up here in the offices−"

  Vic flew a left fist straight into Slavish's face, cracking his nasal bone and bending it sideways. Slavish squealed in pain, and Vic said, "What is this man's name?"

  "I don't know!" Slavish cried.

  Vic relaxed his grip on Frank then, and headed for the door. Frank hurried along behind him, rubbing his neck and saying, "What the hell was that all about, you psychopath?"

  "I've been funneling you intel for the past few months through him. He told me he'd made contact with you and you told me to just kill myself. He said you went fishing."

  "He never…Jesus, Vic…I never saw that guy before today."

  "I know," Vic said. "That's why you're not dead."

  "Dead? I don't even like going fishing! You know I hate fishing."

  "Shut up about fishing and stop bothering me about nonsense, Lieutenant," Vic said, suddenly in command again. He looked at Bob, "Will the elevator get us up to the roof?"

  "It should," Bob said. "But what's waiting up there for us is anyone's guess. We lost comms with the General."

  "Forget the General," Vic said.

  "Hang on, he's the only reason we were able to get this far," Frank said. "I understand you are out of the loop, but he's working with us right now. Things have changed, Vic."

  The circular lift arrived and the four of them stepped onto the platform, looking up at the space in the roof that was just beginning to open, just beginning to allow in the slightest fraction of sky. It was night by then. The stars were out, twinkling in all their glory in a majestic symphony of silent light. They were just as Vic had imagined them.

  A red alarm sounded inside the Warden's office and Warden Drexel's feet shot off the desk in fright, but just as he was about to leap up to summon the guards, General Milner produced a small pistol in the palm of his hand and aimed it directly at the Warden's forehead. "Your men should have searched me better," General Milner said. "But based on your atrocious records, I suspect they are more used to sneaking things out of the prison than catching people bringing things into it."

  "You traitorous son of a bitch," Warden Drexel hissed. "You'll hang for this!"

  "It's possible," Milner said. He looked up at one of the monitors and saw several shadows racing across the rooftop for the ship.

  "You'll never get out of this office alive," Warden Drexel said. "That ship will be blown to pieces the moment you try and leave on it."

  "How?"

  "Because if you shoot me, every alarm in this structure will sound and the auto-targeting cannons will come on line. And if you do not shoot me, I will blow you out of the sky myself the second you reach the roof."

  Milner grunted as he reached for the comms console on the warden's desk and said, "General Milner to Grendel Unit, do you read me?"

  There was a brief silence, then a voice came over the radio, saying, "This is Captain Victor Cojo, go ahead, General."

  Milner smiled with relief and said, "You are to extricate from this location immediately. I say again, do not wait for further rendezvous. Commence liftoff and get the hell out of here."

  Bob Buehl's voice broke in over the radio, saying, "General, I can outfly these auto-cannons with my eyes closed. Don't do this."

  The General's eyes hardened on the Warden's as he gripped the microphone and said, "Gentlemen, this is the final command I am giving you as the supervisor of Grendel Unit. You are to leave now. Confirm."

  Inside the ship, Vic took the microphone back from Bob Buehl and said, "Roger that, sir. Commencing lift off." He pointed at the controls and told Bob, "Punch it. Let's go." He cleared his throat and toggled the microphone back on, "General? For what it's worth, I just want to say I appreciate it and I won't forget."

  The radio on the ship crackled over the rising whine of the engines, with the General's voice saying, "You boys go and make me proud. It's been an honor. A real honor. Milner out."

  Vic set the microphone down and looked around the ship. There were pitifully few weapons systems and none of the fancy modifications they'd made to the Samsara to get it mission-ready. They were going to need something else. "Lieutenant Kelly," Vic called out.

  "What?" Frank shouted back. He was already seated in the cabin, trying to convince himself it was real. That they were all back together again.

  "I want full specs on everything we have aboard this ship. Gear. Weapons. Medical supplies. Money. Get it to me right away."

  "I can get it to you right now," Frank said. "We don't have anything."

  "What do you mean we don't have anything?"

  "I mean all that stuff you asked for? That's all stuff we don't have."

  Vic's eyes widened, "Do you mean to tell me you came to get me in a ship that has absolutely zero mission capability? What the hell were you people doing while I was away?"

  Frank sat up and said, "Uh, in case you haven't noticed, Vic, we're not exactly going to be taking on any new missions. We're fugitives. Once the government finds out you both escaped and we helped you, we'll be running for the rest of our lives. The best thing we can do right now is find someplace to hide until the heat dies down, and then figure out how the hell we can get Bob and Monster's families to them so we can all spend the rest of our lives on the run from the government. This was the last hoorah, Vic. We're finished."

  Vic look
ed around at the crew, seeing Monster's confused stare and Bob Buehl shifting uncomfortably in the pilot's chair. "What about you, Sergeant? You finished too?" Vic said.

  "Well, even if I'm not, Unification is done with me, sir. Like Frank said, we're on our own now. No missions, no unit, right?"

  "We do have a mission," Vic said. "One we never finished. One we swore we'd see through to the end, no matter what. You know what they say about Grendel Unit? That when this team takes on a target, that target is Tango Down no matter what, and unless I missed something, that child murdering son of a bitch Yultorot is still out there." He glanced at Frank and said, "He is still out there, right?"

  "Yeah, he's still out there," Frank sighed. "But we don't have any clue where he is. And even if we did, we don't have any weapons or gear to go after him with."

  "He's in the Pentak System," Vic said simply.

  The other crew members gaped at him, not speaking. Frank thrust his hand in the air and said, "Uh, excuse me, but am I missing something here? How in the hell do you know that?"

  "An informant inside the prison told me. While you knuckleheads were out here gallivanting around the galaxy with Unification Administration, I was deep in the jungle gathering intelligence and planning our next move."

  "One hour ago you were a catatonic invalid who couldn't even move!" Frank said. "Monster had to carry you out of your cell!"

  "So?" Vic said, shrugging. "At least I never told you to kill yourself."

  "I never told you to kill yourself either!"

  "Maybe not, but someone very believable told me you did, and it was extremely hurtful. You should apologize."

  "For the thing I never said?" Frank said.

  "Right."

  Frank threw up his hands and said, "I give up. Forget it. Let's go to the Pentak System, Bob. I guess we're going to go kill the galaxy's most wanted terrorist. Oh, by the way, we'll need to figure out a way to finance and gear the entire mission on our own."

  Vic snapped his fingers at Monster and said, "I need you to find us a new ship, Big Man. Preferably one carrying a lot of weapons or money. Find something in the area, whether it's a merchant vessel or an armored courier service, I don't care. It's time for a little on-site acquisition, gentlemen. Now if you'll excuse me, I need to go find something to drink. It's been a really long day."