Page 85 of The Program

‘They’re harming children…?’

On and on the mutterings went, picking up speed and volume as the gravity of the evil they had bound themselves to set in.

‘What do you mean,decommission,doctor?’ Stanson stepped forward to ask.

Both scientists turned as if he had addressed them both, though Jorna kept her glare steadily on me as if he had never spoken.

‘Her implants will be removed, those that cannot be removed will be switched off, and the subject will be terminated. Though we have learned much from this project, the results are faulty and the subject must be disposed of,’ the woman answered before Demari could get a word in, the reaction among their army swelling even higher. That was when he finally noticed, and after he shot a glare at his partner his accusing gaze landed back on me.

‘You shouldn’t have done that,’ he warned, drawing a laser gun from his belt and aiming it at me and Bal.

But he never got the chance to shoot. Stanson and Hum’Rit rushed the heavily guarded scientists, bowling them over and knocking the gun straight out of Demari’s grip.

‘Go!’ Stanson shouted at us, wrestling with two guards simultaneously. ‘We’ll hold them off!’

His actions were the only permission the rest of the soldiers needed to fight back. Some still looked confused, choosing to stay out of it rather thanturn on their own, though there were still quite a few that chose to stay loyal to The Program and the orders they’d been given, tackling their comrades as they turned on the guards.

My attention, however, remained on the group in front. Jorna had positioned herself directly in front of Demari, and I wondered what it was about the despicable scientist that caused her to betray the Intergalactic Union and its core values. I didn’t have much of a chance to mull over that line of thought, though, because she aimed her own gun at me and fired, urging the scientists to back away at the same time.

The shot was a direct hit to the back of Bal’s head, and I was more thankful than ever that the metal skin had encased him as well because the plasma bounced right off. He kept sleeping peacefully as if he felt nothing, but the rage that overcame me at the close call became my driving force.

With a mechanical war scream, I charged.

I watched as if from outside my body as Jorna realised her weapon was useless, her eyes widening with fear as she stumbled back. Within a tick I was on her, punching her in the face so hard her skull crumpled inwards beneath my fist, blood, teeth and bone shards sprayed outward from the force. She collapsed at my feet and I looked up just in time for the next attacker to launch themselves at me. One after the other they came, stupidly believing they would be the ones to take me down. Each and every time they ended up dead on the ground, a hole punched through them in their chests, heads, stomachs, anywhere I could reach.

For the second time, Demari had somehow succeeded in using everyone else as a cover to escape, the second scientist alongside him, and I growled low in my chest at losing my chance at him again. He was a slippery one, and it was pissing me off that I had to choose to let him go. One of these days I would be able to direct my full attention to hunting him down, and I would enjoy every moment of it.

Eventually, the station itself entered the fray, heavy-duty weaponry rising from the floor, emerging from the surrounding buildings and descending from the artificial sky. I didn’t wait around to see what damage they could do. I knew I would be fine, and so would Bal, but the others were unprotected without my shield.

‘Let’s move!’ I ordered them, pushing my way through the thickening crowd of chaos. Most of them scampered out of my way when they saw me coming, but some still attempted to get a hit in. A few lasers were shot only to bounce off and reverberate back onto the shooter, their unintentional suicides saving me the trouble of picking them off myself.

My men were holding their own behind me as attackers came at them as well, taking it in turns to push the carts or defend them. They somehow managed to keep up as I picked a path for us to move through the crowd, kicking away any dead bodies or stray body parts to clear the path for the carts. I was quite enjoying tearing these assholes apart limb from limb, the violence feeding something dark and depraved in my black soul.

When we reached the other side where Nova Academy’s imposing metal architecture loomed over us, I was intercepted by none other than the Drakfern combat instructor, Corporal Gwym. His red skin was an even more vibrant shade from the flush of battle, and I watched as a bead of sweat dripped from his brow and onto the ground below, narrowly missing his protruding pectorals as it fell during a heaving exhale.

‘Mercer,’ he greeted.

‘It’s Artemis,’ I corrected, eying him warily.

He looked behind me at the men pushing the carts and keeping the enemy at bay, nodding at them in acknowledgement before fixing his gaze back on me. ‘You got a way off this shitshow?’

‘Yes…’

‘Got room for a few more?’

Cadmus scoffed and gestured to the carts. ‘You mean besides the few hundred babies we have in here?’ He punctuated the statement with a shot to a guard’s face, blowing a hole right through.

That made the corporal pause, but only for a beat, the sound of the fighting continuing behind us the only thing filling the space. But then he squared his shoulders and stared us down with a determined clench of his jaw. ‘Yes. I can only speak for myself, but I refuse to stay when the corruption clearly runs far deeper than we knew.’

‘You mean you didn’t figure out how bad things were when Nova Station was commandeered by a bunch of stuck-up scientists?’ another voice joined the fray. Corporal Hum’Rit stepped up beside his colleague, his beard oftentacles waving wildly in front of his face to the point where he had to keep whacking them away from his eyes, the pair of them a sight to behold in their dishevelled states.

‘You know what I mean,’ Gwym snarked back.

T fired a shot from his laser gun as someone ran at us, then kept firing when more joined the first. ‘Can we move this along?’ he yelled.

‘If you’re coming with us then help guard the carts,’ I told them. ‘We’re getting off the stationnow.’

They fell in with us as soon as we pushed forward, but Gwym kept talking. ‘Where are we headed?’

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