Time Salvager (Time Salvager #1)(119)

Elise and Chawr reached Farming Tower One’s entrance and ran across the lobby toward the stairwell. It was a large building with many floors. If they could find a place to hide, they could wait out the attack. She felt ashamed for fleeing, but she knew she wasn’t worth a damn fighting. The few shots she had fired with the wrist beam were well off their marks. She was a scientist, not a fighter, and her nerves were not prepared for the cacophony and chaos of the battlefield.

Just as they reached the stairwell, something smashed into the lobby with such force, a cloud of dust blew Elise and Chawr off their feet. She spit the grit out of her mouth and looked behind her, and for a moment, hope sprung up. She saw a dark figure with a glow surrounding him. James had returned! He would know what to do.

Then she noticed that something was wrong. Every time James used his exo, it was yellow; this one was orange. The figure, nothing more than a silhouette against the blinding lights of the fires and explosions outside, stood up and walked toward her. She realized then that there were others with James’s sort of powers, and they were on the enemy’s side.

“Oh no! Oh no!” she gasped, scrambling on all fours and crab-walking toward the stairwell. He was coming for her.

“Run, Elder Elise,” said Chawr. “I will take care of this man.”

“No,” she cried, grabbing for his arm. “He’ll kill you.”

He picked her up off the ground and grinned. “No one can kill Chawr. Just you see. Now, go! You run. Hide!” He pushed her into the stairwell, turned, and then charged at the black silhouette, armed with only a hatchet.

Elise helplessly watched as the figure casually swept the young man aside with a gesture of his hand. Chawr picked himself up and attacked again, hacking at the shield, cursing at the top of his lungs. The figure stopped and faced him, shaking his head. There was a burst of light and Chawr flew into one of the walls and crumpled in a heap to the floor. She saw him rise one more time. Their eyes locked and he waved her away. Then Chawr raised his hatchet and charged at the glowing man once more.

Tears streaming down her face, Elise turned and sprinted up the stairs two a time. Now, she had to get away, not for herself, but for that boy—that young man who decided that her life was worth more than his.

She scrambled up the stairs, her steps echoing through the long hollow vertical corridors. As always, the Farming Towers were nearly pitch-black, save for the natural light from the outside that shone through the exits on each floor. Fortunately, there was just a sliver of sun left, which offered enough light for her not to stumble through complete darkness.

Thirty floors up, Elise tired and slowed her pace. As she stopped to rest for a moment, she heard another set of steps. She paused and listened. Elise had missed hearing those steps earlier because, she now realized, they had been matching hers.

“Damn it,” she cursed under her breath.

She tried to take a few soft steps, but their faint echoes betrayed her, and she soon heard the second set of footsteps follow suit. He was stalking her to see which floor she got off on. She changed up her pacing, going up three steps at a time or alternating loud and quiet steps to throw off her pursuer. It didn’t matter; every time she rounded a stairwell corner, it gave her position away. The bastard stayed on her, and he was getting closer.

Finally, at around the fiftieth level, she decided to hell with it and ran has hard as she could. If she could reach the sky bridge, she could try to lose him in one of the other buildings. Elise scrambled up the remaining flights to the seventieth floor as fast as she could.

Once there, she rounded the corner and ran directly toward Farming Tower Two. No matter what, she had to stay away from the lab where Grace was hiding with all their research and equipment. If these guys got ahold of that, then everything would be lost. Elise sprinted across the sky bridge connecting the two towers and entered the ruins of an old office, where a maze of cubicles and small rooms made for good hiding spots.

She sped down the hallway and jumped into a side corridor, where she found a small closet whose door was mostly obstructed by a ceiling cave-in. It was a tight fit even for her small body. She climbed inside and passed through to an adjacent room. She huddled in the corner and tried to steady her hard breathing. A moment later, she heard approaching footsteps, and a deliberate tap, tap, tap. Then a pause, and then another tap, tap, tap.

“Wrong move, little mouse,” a voice said. “You think hiding here will keep you out of my hands?” There were two loud crashes that sounded very close by, and then metal groaned as a cloud of dust swept past her hiding place.

“If you were wondering what that was, little mouse,” the voice continued, “it was the bridge and stairwell. I guess it’s just you and me all cozy-like now, eh?”

Elise’s nose itched and she pinched it as hard as she could. Sneezing now was certain death. If she made any noise, it was over. She aimed her wrist beam at the small hole she had crawled through, where a sliver of light from the outside beamed in. She was grateful that the sun would soon set. The Farming Towers’ exterior walls were all windows, though more than two-thirds of the panes were long gone.

She wouldn’t be hard to find then. This guy didn’t know about the remaining bridge on the other side. Maybe once it was dark she could sneak off this floor.

“Hide if you like; it makes the hunt more enjoyable,” the voice continued. “You’re lucky the dust kicked up, little mouse, or this hunt would be over right quick. No matter, though. It’ll only be a small matter of time before old Shizzu gets ahold of you.”