Autumn in the City of Lights (25 page)

Rissi stared at her defiantly and said, “My father raised me and my brother by himself. He was a janitor. He cleaned up after other people every day, and when he came home, he always sat with me to talk about school and my friends. And we always played games together, too. He loved me and Ben.”

Margery smiled. “Don’t misunderstand me. I believe my father loved me, just in a different way. It was hard for him to show it sometimes. I knew he loved me, based on his actions. And I knew I needed to be destined for something big. Something he could be proud of me for.”

“And you think your dad would be proud of what you’ve done here?” I asked.

She shook her head. “My father was fascinated by Karl’s very existence and his potential.”

“Your dad knew Karl?” I asked. My opinion of Margery’s father was taking a nosedive.

She nodded. “Who do you think helped him cater the virus to this planet? To ensure that not every single inhabitant on it would die? Karl and my father were partners.” She walked over to Karl and took him by the hand. “He introduced us.”

I shook my head, disgusted.

“It’s a shame he couldn’t be here to see what his work, all of our work, nearly accomplished,” she lamented. “He passed away nearly twenty years ago.”

“Why didn’t he take the Elemental Vitamin like you did?”

“Because it was never offered to him. Karl did offer it to me, though, and together we are carrying on the work.”

“I thought you studied politics, not science,” I said, recalling our time together in Paris.

“I’ve had enough time to study several areas of interest,” she said.

“But why would your dad be in favor of murdering most of the human population on this planet? It doesn’t make any sense.”

“My father came out on the wrong side of the Second World War and was... disenchanted with humanity. He thought he could fix it but didn’t know how. Then he met Karl, who had all the answers.”

If Margery’s father had come out on the wrong side of World War II, would that have made him a Nazi scientist? Maybe Karl had intentionally sought him out.

“I realize what we’ve done. I realize the work my father started and passed to me was... ” she paused.

“Inhumane?” I finished for her. “Indecent? Horrible? Evil?”

“I’m ready to stop now, Autumn. I’ve seen enough to understand what I’ve had a hand in. It’s time for us to leave now, and we want your help to do it.”

“What, so that’s it?”  I was confused and not about to believe it was true. “You’re just giving up after making a mess here on Earth? What planet are you going to go decimate next?”

“Please understand, despite the mistakes I’ve made, Earth is, and will always be, my home. I would like to stay and help rebuild what we’ve destroyed, but I know our presence is simply not wanted here, in any capacity. We want to leave you in peace, and we’d like to be granted the ability to leave and make our home elsewhere.”

“On another planet?”

Margery nodded. “We don’t want to hurt anyone else. Those days are behind us. But we need the original virus returned to us... ”

“Wait, you want the virus now?” I asked, confused.

“A small price to pay for yours and this young girl’s freedom, wouldn’t you say?” Margery said softly.

“Surely there’s more of the virus than that tiny vial Karl showed us,” I said.

“Of course, there is more of the altered virus we used on this planet, but not of the original store Karl took from The University laboratories... ”

Karl stopped Margery mid-sentence. “She doesn’t need to know anything else, my love,” he reminded.

She’d shown her hand. My head spun with the ramifications of what they were asking, and suddenly the dots connected. The vial Grey and I possessed was the key to creating another plague, and alterations thereof on any number of planets. If they wanted to try their global experiment again somewhere else, they’d need to have the original virus and start from scratch. On top of that, Grey had theorized the virus was the anti-E-Vitamin, and it might be the key to creating more E-Vitamin. If I couldn’t provide them Grey’s E-Vitamin to replicate, it was possible they could reverse engineer the virus Grey and I had to create more E-Vitamin.

“Autumn?” Rissi’s voice broke through to me, and I looked at her, almost startled to see her sitting beside me. I shook my head. Did I really have a choice?

“Do we have a deal?” Margery asked. “Karl’s vial, containing the virus, for a lifetime of peace for you, your loved ones... and this little girl.”

Even though her voice was calm, I knew a threat to me and Rissi was implied. But then all I could think about was Karl doing this all over again. Another fresh start. Another blank canvas. Waiting to be stained, splotched with red and black by this homeless monster.

I thought of the humans on the planet Karl and Margery would come to call home after Earth. These humans looked like me and Sarah. They met for sweet coffee drinks at Everland’s Coffee Company after school. They annoyed their dads during late night sleepovers. They had mothers who danced while they cleaned. They had crushes on boys at school and plans for their upcoming eighteenth birthdays and their unknown lives beyond. They believed they had futures.

But if I returned Karl’s virus to him, their futures would darken like ours had, and some would cease altogether.

I had a choice to make — put those other lives in jeopardy, or let them hurt Rissi here and now. I looked over at her. She was making a brave face, but I knew there was fear inside. Could I do what needed to be done — make the noble choice and sacrifice myself and this little girl to save countless others? I squeezed Rissi’s hand and knew I couldn’t.

I lifted my eyes and looked at Karl. “Okay,” I whispered, trying not to hate myself. “I can get you your vial back, but you have to promise me no harm comes to Rissi... ever.”

Karl stood suddenly, surprise lifting his eyebrows. A crash beside me made us all jump. Rissi had stood suddenly, toppling her chair. Her face was a storm cloud as she glared at me.

“You can’t, Autumn! You can’t let him win!” Angry tears streaked down her cheeks, and she swiped the back of her hand across her face. “Why are you doing this? You always do the right thing, and letting the bad guy win isn’t right!”

“Trust me, sweetheart, I’m not winning here,” Karl said.

“Yes, he is.”  Rissi stared up at me, eyes begging. “You can’t let him win, or all of this doesn’t count. My dad, your parents, everyone. They have to count. It doesn’t matter what happens to us, Autumn.
Fortiter
... right?”

Pride and fear swirled inside me, and I stood to place myself between Rissi and Karl. I looked first at Margery and then at Karl. “Go to hell,” I plainly said.

Before I could prepare myself, he appeared in front of me and met my shoulder with the butt of his gun. I crashed across the table, scattering bread crusts and cookies.

Rissi screamed and rushed to me. I braced myself for another blow from Karl, but it didn’t come. Instead, Rissi’s small hands clasped on to my arms, trying to pull me up.

I was surprised to see Margery tug Karl through the door to the lobby as I pushed myself upright.

“Where are they going?” Rissi asked, helping me into a chair.

“I don’t know,” I said, wincing. The new pain in my shoulder was sharp compared to the dull throb of the rest of my tortured body. I looked around the room, but the door they disappeared through seemed to be the only exit.

“Rissi, see if there’s a fire escape,” I said, but Rissi was already running toward the large desk at the back of the room. She skidded around the back and studied the computer screen standing on it. She pressed a button on the side of the monitor, and the computer emitted a soft beep as it powered on. I ran to her, clutching my shoulder with my other hand.

“What are you doing?”

“The most important people always have the best office, don’t they?” Rissi’s face lit up in the sudden glow from the monitor, and she grabbed the mouse.

I shook my head, confused. “I guess, but what—”

“There’s got to be something we can do.”

“I don’t think anyone’s checking email anymore.”  I circled the desk, looking for a weapon of some kind, and keeping a wary eye on the closed door across the room.

“Maybe we can turn all the lights on somewhere in the building... or something. Or make some loud music play... Anything to catch someone’s attention in New Burbank.”

“The red light!” I exclaimed, recalling a conversation with Grey.

“What red light?”

“The blinking one on the top of the building! The blinks spell “Hollywood” in Morse code! If we could change it, someone in New Burbank might see it!”

Rissi searched the programs on the computer and found one called “The Broadcaster.”

“Wanna try this one?”

I nodded.

She opened the program. It was the right one. Rissi squealed, and I shushed her, my eyes darting to the door. I took the mouse from her and clicked through the menus. Disappointed, I sighed and turned to her. “Looks like there’s no translator.”

“Move,” she commanded.

I stepped aside, glancing around the still empty room. Karl and Margery could reappear at any moment, and I was sure Karl wouldn’t hesitate to hurt Rissi when he saw us messing with the computer. “Maybe we should leave it. They could be back any second.”

She shook her head. “I just need a moment.” She selected dots and dashes – three dots, three dashes, and another three dots. She clicked a button labeled “Save & Broadcast” and then pretended to dust off her hands.

“You know Morse code?” I asked.

“I know that one thing.”

“How?”

She stared back at me as if it were obvious. “Ben.”

“Oh. What did you make it say?”

 “S. O. S. – save our ship!”

I stared at her in disbelief. She was much, much more like her brother than I ever thought. The small flame of excitement inside me fluttered out when movement across the room made me lift my eyes from the computer screen. Karl and Margery stood just inside the doorway, watching us.

“What are you doing?” Margery asked, her voice low and cold.

“Nothing. We were just... just looking,” I said.

 “Looking at what?” She started across the room toward us.

I began to panic and reached out to clasp Rissi’s hand in my own. We were cornered in this office, with nowhere to go. They would see what we’d done with the Broadcaster program.

“We weren’t able to find anything,” Rissi said. The lower half of her body was hidden by the desk and, unseen, she reached forward with her foot, wound the computer’s power cord around her shoe and gently yanked it from the electrical socket in the floor. The screen dimmed to black, erasing our digital footprints.

Margery stopped, and I realized she would’ve seen the reflection of the monitor’s glow disappear from the dark window behind us.

“I really wish you hadn’t done that,” she said.

“I told you we couldn’t trust her to stop fighting against us,” Karl said. “She represents the worst of all of them, and now she’s brainwashed that child into being a little carbon copy of herself. I told you... ” he broke off, shaking his head. “I guess you needed to see it for yourself. Lock the girl up while I deal with Autumn.”

Margery stepped forward around the desk, and I shoved Rissi the other direction, keeping myself between them. Karl appeared behind us and wrenched Rissi away from me.

“No!” I screamed at him. “Please! Please don’t take her!”

Margery marched past me, took Rissi by the arm, and dragged her from the room. Rissi did a good job of making it difficult for her, dragging her feet and trying to yank her arm from Margery’s grasp. Right before they disappeared through the door, Rissi looked back at me, her brown eyes wide with terror. Then she was gone.

I had to get to Rissi. That couldn’t be the last time I saw her. Not after all this. She was too little. Too young.

I ducked around Karl, but when I reached the door, I realized he wasn’t behind me. I turned and found him in the same spot, gazing out of the window. He’d let me run away from him. Why? Chills broke out across my skin, and I felt for the door handle. Before I could find it, the door opened suddenly, crashing into me. I fell backward, the carpet burning the palms of my hands as I slid across the floor.

Hart’s bulky frame filled the entire doorway.  He pulled his gun immediately, pulling back the top half to load a round into the chamber. He took a step toward me and glowered at Karl, waiting for instructions.

I turned to look at Karl. “You won’t win this,” I said, trying to control my shaking voice. “Even if you kill us, Grey will come after you.”

He didn’t respond immediately, his eyes staring out into the darkness.

“Is the little girl still in the hallway with Margery?” Karl asked, his voice distant and far away.

“Yes,” Hart answered. “They were headed for the elevator.”

“Go get her. Take her to the roof. Right above where we’re standing, please.”  Karl motioned to the ceiling above his head.

The few bites of food I’d eaten earlier turned in my stomach as he turned his attention back to me. “You don’t want to cooperate yet, that’s fine. But you’re going to have to watch that little girl’s pretty brown curls blow in the night breeze on her way to the ground. Then, I’m going to bring each and every one of your friends here and do the same to them until you’re ready to give me what I want.”

My fingers went numb. I could no longer feel the roughness of the commercial carpet under my palms. The image of Rissi falling, of Connie, nearly nine months pregnant, falling, raced through my mind. My resolve immediately crumbled.

“Stop,” I managed to whisper. “I’ll give you what you want.”

Karl crossed the room, his long legs needing only a few strides to reach my side. I couldn’t keep myself from skittering backward across the floor like a crab. My head collided with an overturned chair, and I collapsed onto my back, stars flaring up behind my closed eyelids.

The floor disappeared and pain seared across my scalp as Karl wrapped my hair around his fist and hauled me to my feet. He pulled me against his chest, his face startlingly close to my own.

“I’m not sure I believe you, Miss Winters. Perhaps we’ll go ahead and see if Rissi would like to play Peter Pan with us, then see if you’re genuine when I bring your next friend here to play.”

Tears streamed down my face, and I felt my nose running. When had I started crying? I wanted to plead with Karl, but my voice wouldn’t work.

He jerked his head toward Hart. “Go.
Now!”

Hart turned and lumbered toward the door, but stopped short. A flash, as quick and bright as lightning, reflected off the dark windows, and a deafening crack split the silence.

Hart teetered for a moment, and a red flower of blood bloomed across the back of his shirt. He fell, the floor vibrating from the crashing weight of his limp body.

Before we could react, there was a flicker of blonde hair at the doorway and another shot sent Karl diving behind the desk. He pushed against me to propel himself to safety, and I stumbled to the floor again. Without thinking, I plucked Hart’s gun from his thick, still fingers and began crawling toward the door as shot after shot blew apart the desk Karl crouched behind.

Grey. It had to be Grey, I thought, and crawled faster at the thought of seeing him again. I made it to the hallway, and hands pulled me to my feet.

“Autumn, go!” The hands pushed me toward the elevator. “Run!” It was a female voice. I steadied myself against the wall and looked back.

Sam’s back was to me as she took aim at Karl’s hiding spot and continued to fire round after round. I stared in disbelief as I watched Karl’s reflection cowering behind the rapidly disintegrating desk.

“Autumn, GO!” Sam yelled over her shoulder.

I pushed off the wall, crossed the shiny marble floor to the elevator, and mashed the down button. The elevator doors opened immediately, revealing Margery, crumpled on the floor, the carpet around her head damp with blood. Rissi huddled in the corner farthest from Margery’s body, hiding her face and shaking.

I ran to her and took her in my arms.  She gasped and pushed away from me, shrieking.

“Rissi, it’s me! It’s me! Everything is okay, I’m here!” I jabbed the button to close the doors, and they slowly ambled shut. I hesitated to go to the lobby. Karl could project down there in milliseconds, or there might be guards. My eyes landed on a button labeled “Garage,” and I thought that might be better. But before I could push the button, the doors lurched back open.

I shouted and stood to hide Rissi. But it was Sam. She pushed her way in and closed the doors again. I pushed the button for the garage, and we began to descend down through the many levels of the building. Sam stood still, staring at Margery’s body.

“Sam,” I whispered. “Why are you helping us?”

She looked at me briefly, then allowed her gaze to slide back to Margery’s still form. “He never loved me,” she said. “And I guess I hate you guys less than I hate them right now.”

Despite how she’d worded her statement, I wanted to throw my arms around her for getting us out of there. I maintained my hold on Rissi and said, “Thank you.”

“Don’t thank me yet,” she said. “Karl isn’t dead. I lost him. I’m also empty, so I had to run.” She pointed at Hart’s gun clutched in my hand. “Do you have a full clip?”

I inspected the gun but couldn’t get my fingers to do what my brain told them.

“Do you mind?” Sam asked, reaching for it. I handed the gun to her. She popped out the clip, looked at it, and then shoved it back in. “You’re full.” She held it out to me. “Are you prepared to shoot Karl? I know you hate him and you want him gone, but will you actually pull the trigger and kill him? That’s the only way this will end.”

I held Rissi and stared at the gun in Sam’s extended hand as the elevator softly dinged each passing floor. It looked so heavy. “I can if I have to,” I responded.

Sam reached out with her free hand and took mine. “It’s okay, you’ve done enough.”  She released my hand and turned back toward the doors as we neared the garage. “Besides, I want to be the one to kill him.”

Her words felt meaningless and cold to me. I looked down at Rissi, who still had her eyes squeezed shut as she held on to me. I wondered for a moment if this sudden luck was all too good to be true. Had Karl put Sam up to springing me out so that I would lead him to the virus he desired? But then I looked down at Margery, lying still and growing cold. No, Karl was evil, but he was a man in love. He never would have allowed Sam to take Margery’s life. Sam really was on my side, for now.

“We’re going to have to run soon, Rissi,” I said, my voice shaking at the thought. “Can you run?”

She nodded, eyes still clamped shut, and I was surprised by the calmness in her voice when she answered. “Yes. Just tell me when.”

The elevator slowed, and the bell chimed. The doors slid open to an empty lobby leading to the garage. This one was less grand than the main lobby upstairs, and it was, thankfully, empty. Sam gazed around then silently motioned us forward. The garage was chock full of luxury cars. I stared as we passed what looked like an antique Rolls-Royce. It was like the one we’d ridden in to Versailles, but several decades older and much fancier.

“Okay, let’s go,” Sam whispered. “Stay close to the building!”

We left the garage and plunged into the waist-deep weeds growing against the side of the building. It must have rained, because I immediately felt dampness soak the front of my jeans. Poor Rissi was up to her chest in the rain-soaked overgrowth, but she pushed bravely through.

Sam paused once more when we reached the north side of the building. She looked up and down the street. I followed her gaze but didn’t see anyone.

“There’s usually someone in that doorway,” she whispered, pointing to an empty cave-like overhang across the street. “They must be walking around. We’ll have to be careful. This way.”

“Sam, once we get to New Burbank,” I said, already panting with the effort to keep my undernourished body moving. “I’ll tell them how you saved us. How you got us out of there. It’ll all work out somehow, I promise.”

She stopped us at an intersection and peered into the darkness of a parking lot across the street. “Let’s just worry about getting out of Hollywood first, ‘kay?” she said in a low voice. “Guards are stationed everywhere. We have to be—”

“Hey, Sam, how ya doing, girl?”  A short, stocky woman with a shaved head appeared directly in front of us, blocking the sidewalk. She touched the walkie on her belt, turning down the volume to silence the crackle of voices, then held out her fist to Sam.

Sam hesitated, then bumped her fist against the woman’s. “Hey, Lush. What’s happening?”

“Absolutely nothing. It’s a real bore out here. Haven’t seen you around in a while.”

“Karl’s been keeping me busy with these two,” Sam said, nudging me with the muzzle of her gun. “I’m supposed to be moving them to the old Knickerbocker Hotel actually, so I’d better get going.”

“Oh, okay,” she said, dismissively. “Hey, you hear what they’re saying on the radios about Karl and the Houdini act he pulled in Paris? You believe that? I mean, that he has magic or something?”

Sam rolled her eyes and feigned boredom. “Karl’s a lot of things, but magical ain’t one of them.”

Lush smiled, acceptingly. “Yeah, you’re probably right.”  Lush’s eyes caught me, and she gave me a once over. “She the one who’s supposed to be giving us so much trouble?”

Sam nodded. “She doesn’t look it, but she’s pretty feisty.”

“You want me to walk over there with you?”

“Not necessary, thanks. Karl roughed her up pretty bad just now, so I can handle her.”

“A’ight, just holler if you need help.”  Lush turn to walk back to her hiding spot, deep in the shadowy recesses of an alley. As she walked away, I noticed a tattoo on her neck. It was a skull and crossbones, but in the night the shape could have been mistaken for a star... just like what Shad saw that day at the Hillside Bowl.

I waited until we were halfway across the street, then looked back. I couldn’t see anyone in the alley. “Sam, was she the one who bombed the Bowl?” I asked in a hushed voice.

“Yeah, of course,” Sam said, nonchalantly, as if it were a given. I turned to look back to the spot where Lush was hiding. A shiver trembled through me. She was the one responsible for paralyzing Ben.

I tried to shake off the thought as we continued walking. We were on our way home, I reminded myself. Everything was okay. We just needed to get on the north side of the hill separating us from the safety of our family and friends.

After crossing the intersection, Sam surprised me by pulling me south, opposite from the direction we needed to go. The ground tilted down as each step took us further away from home.

“Sam, what—”

“Shh!” she hissed, prodding me with her gun. “She’s following us.”

I took a deep breath, pulling Rissi closer to me.

“We have to find a place to hide, or a place we can double back on her,” Sam whispered. “I know where most of the guard posts are. Thankfully there aren’t a lot around here, but I’m sure Lush has probably radioed everyone by now. So we don’t have much time.”

White letters spelling out “The Knickerbocker” towered over the building across the street. I was about to ask where we were going when Sam ducked underneath the overhang of the building we were passing. Metal letters marked it as “The Hollywood Ivar Building.”  I followed with Rissi and saw a giant gate blocking our way. Beyond was a courtyard, the dull moon highlighting the litter of dusty outdoor furniture, some of it broken and overturned.

Sam ran to a door in the gate and inserted a key. She pulled it open and waved us through, then locked it again behind us.

“This way!” she hissed, pointing past me.

A figure appeared on the street beyond the gate we’d just entered through. Sam dove behind a large bush, mouthing a curse, and I ducked behind an overturned rattan sofa, pulling Rissi down next to me.

Lush jogged up to the gate, gun drawn, and tried the door, but it clanged loudly against its lock. A radio crackled softly, and I heard Karl’s voice, but it was too low to hear his words. Lush raised the walkie to her mouth and said something equally quiet.

Sam pointed to us, then toward the back of the courtyard. It opened into a small parking lot backed with a fence bearded with a huge, overgrown green plant.

“There’s another gate,” Sam breathed, her words barely registering. “Left corner.” She dug in her pocket and showed me a key, then tossed it to me.

A shot cracked through the stillness of the courtyard as I caught it, and Sam threw herself further into the bushes before taking aim and firing back. I grabbed Rissi, unsure where Lush was firing and certain rattan wasn’t going to stop any bullets. Sam’s shots made loud
twangs
as they hit the metal gate Lush stood behind. Lush retreated out from underneath the overhang and ducked around the corner of the building. Sam fired a couple more rounds, then motioned for me to go.

I jumped up and ran, pushing Rissi ahead of me. I propelled us to the left, hoping and praying this back corner didn’t connect with an alley to the street where Lush was. In the corner stood a dumpster. It was overflowing with garbage bags, some plump with gas from the fumes of their rotting contents, some gutted and spilling out unidentifiable trash. I covered my nose at the stench and jumped over several bags, feet sliding on the muck slicking the pavement.

The gate in the fence was almost invisible underneath the vines growing across it. I felt through the greenery and found the doorknob, and the keyhole beneath it. I fitted the key into it and twisted. It clicked, and I opened the gate, pulling numerous vines with it. I motioned Rissi through, then turned to find Sam streaking across the parking lot toward us.