The Last Mission of the Living (The Last Bastion #2)(64)

“Citizens of the Bastion,” the overhead drones called out in unison, “you must immediately evacuate the streets.”

Dread gnawing at his calm, Torran rapidly read through his communiques. Some were city-wide announcements, one was from his worried mother, but the rest were from the SWD ordering all off duty personnel back to the facility.

“We need to go,” Lindsey said, leaping down into the street and pushing her way toward the city center.

Torran followed in her wake. The approaching SWD allowed them to pass due to their armbands, but people in the flats above were angrily screaming at the troops. The sound of the electroshock rifles firing sent chills down Torran’s spine. Looking back, Torran saw the aerial drones firing on the rowdier crowds further up the road.

Another message chimed into their wristlets.

“They’re closing the sectors,” Lindsey called out to him.

She was just ahead of him, skirting around a family rushing down the street. Torran hoped they were heading home. A second later, there was a loud whoosh and a flash of heat.

Spinning around, Torran saw fire licking up the side of the building and several SWD soldiers engulfed in fire. Their armor took the brunt of the assault, and they dropped to the ground to smother the flames. It took only a second for him to realize that some of the customers in the bar had turned the stolen liquor bottles into makeshift bombs. Torran started back toward the fray to help extinguish the flames writhing on the liquor-soaked ground and crawling up the buildings when Lindsey grabbed him and jerked him away.

“They’ll deal with it. We need to make it back before Central Sector closes!”

Torran understood the wisdom of her words, but it was difficult to abandon soldiers in need. Several people threw more bottles of liquor at the already spreading fire. In the distance, the sirens of emergency crews cried out.

“Torran! We have to go!”

At last, Torran turned away and raced after Lindsey as she sprinted up the road. As people retreated into their homes and drones flew overhead, it became easier to run along the narrow roads toward the inner wall that encircled the Central Sector that housed the government buildings, Constabulary Central Command and SWD Facility. Darting up alleys and rushing along emptying streets, the two soldiers aimed for the nearest entrance.

The soft fluttering sound of an aerial drone drew Torran’s gaze upward. It darted toward them.

“Citizens, you are in violation of martial law,” it called out, the electroshock barrels lowering and aiming at them.

Torran held up his arm, the armband in view. Lindsey did the same, breathing heavily with fright at his side. Either the armbands worked, or the signal from their wristlets registered for the aerial drone retracted its weapons and flew off.

“Shit,” Torran grunted.

“We really need to get off the streets.” Lindsey pointed at a flock of aerial drones flying over the nearby buildings.

Together, they dashed up the sloping road to the massive entry point to the Central Sector. Others were hurrying inside, and Lindsey caught sight of Hobbes and Franklin among some of the Constabulary squad members. The group rushed through just as the large door started rolling down.

“Just in time,” an SWD soldier shouted at Torran and Lindsey from the guard post, waving them through.

Lindsey and Torran sprinted the last few feet through the entrance before the barricades rose out of the ground to prevent anyone else from attempting to enter.

“You know what this means,” Torran panted.

Lindsey flinched. “They’re going to send us out sooner.”

The massive door slid shut with a loud thud that reverberated through the night.

“Why can’t anything be easy?” Torran asked the world in general.

Lindsey lightly touched his arm. “Because this world is f*cked.”

With a sigh, he nodded. “Let’s find out how bad it all is.”

Together, they walked toward the SWD Facility.



*



Lindsey slung the bag filled with newly issued uniforms, underwear, and toiletries over one shoulder, left the small dorm room she’d been assigned to, and trudged across the quad to Torran’s flat. Until the crisis was over, she was not going to be able to return to her home. Though the dorm room was nice enough, she wasn’t going to spend the night alone. She’d messaged Torran, so she wasn’t too surprised when the door immediately opened for her.

Slipping inside, she saw the news playing on the vid screen. “How bad?”

“Riots in most of the sectors,” Torran answered as he locked the door behind her before returning to where he’d been sitting watching the news.

Lindsey tossed the bag of her new possessions onto a chair and collapsed onto his couch. Checking her wristlet, she saw more incoming data from both the Constabulary and SWD command centers. By morning, she was certain the specifics of their mission would be changed.

Slouched next to her, Torran glared at the screen. “It was a deliberate leak. Someone told the media before the government could initiate crowd controls. Someone wanted this to happen. The wanted the bloody chaos in the streets.”

“Kirkpatrick’s people?”

Torran shrugged. “Who the hell knows anymore? But then again, who else would it be?”

Lindsey didn’t dare name her second suspect. Maybe Legatus Martel decided to speed up the primary mission to launch the secret one in a faster time frame. Or maybe Lindsey was just being paranoid.