The Break (The Aesir Saga Book 1) (6 page)

              Madison drove quickly but carefully, changing lanes frequently. The car flew down the interstate. The entire time not a word was said, Madison focusing on the road, Gabriel trying to distract himself from the last hour. 

“Shit” Madison said as she started moving to the exit.

“What? What’s wrong?” Gabriel was whipping his head around, looking out the windows.

“Curfews coming up soon, we can’t be driving on main roads.” As the sun began to set she took the off ramp, ignoring the stop sign at the bottom and turning hard to the left, the back end of the car sliding around the corner. The car regained its grip, speeding up as it straightened out, pushing its occupants back in their seats as it accelerated down the street.

“Jesus, where did you learn to drive like that?” Gabriel asked, putting himself back into his seat.

“I have some help.” as she put her finger to the said of her head and tapped it, a knowing smile across her face.

“I wouldn't worry too much about curfew around here. The cops are kinda lazy, and don't want to put in the ...” Before Gabriel could finish his sentence the back end of the car spun to the right. He felt a rush of air rip behind him and a piercing screech, like metal grinding as the car kept spinning. Everything around them was a blur, Gabriel grabbing for anything he could hold onto. When they finally came to a stop the car were pointed in the direction they had just come from. Gabriel could make out what looked like the back half of the car they were in, and after a quick glance behind him he figured out that it was the other half of their car. Trying to piece together what just happened, Gabriel dropped his head back against the seat, taking a few deep breaths.

“Gabriel!? Are you ok?” Madison was reaching over to check on him. 

“Yeah, I’m fine, what the fuck just happened?” he said as he unbuckled his seatbelt and shoved the door open. Gabriel could see his bag sitting in the middle of the road about ten feet from the front half of the sedan. Gabriel started walking out to get it as Madison freed herself from her own seat.

“I don't know what that was, but we need to get out of here now.” Gabriel had retrieved his bag, throwing it on his back as he started heading to the side of the road where Madison was walking. 

“I just want to know how they can do that.” Gabriel’s question was answered by the sound of crushing metal. Gabriel recognized the COSMOS armor from the news, and now one stood on the remains of the car in front of him.  

“Looks like you two had a little car trouble.” This was his favorite part, when they would run. Marcus loved the hunt, and when he finally caught them it made him feel complete. Even with their powers, he was better than them, and the suit allowed him to prove it.  

“Shit.” Madison said, her shoulder slumped, already accepting defeat. “That’s an Agency mech; it’s made to capture people like us. No one has ever beaten one, and we don’t have the ability to out run it with the car ruined.”

              Come on, come on, come on, come on, Marcus thought, make your move kid, and run already. “Take three steps forward and lie on the ground, both hands on the pavement.”

“I’m sorry Gabriel.” Madison said as she walked the three steps toward the back of the car. Gabriel walked back with her, dropping his bag before he got down on the ground. As he put his hands down on the pavement he felt wetness.

“Boss, this is Marcus, both kids are in custody, ready for pickup, please send the local PD to come and collect.”

“Pick up is en route. Hold your position until they arrive for collection. ETA is twenty minutes.”

              Madison was lying on the ground, fighting back tears. “I’m sorry Gabriel; I thought I would be able to get far enough away that they couldn’t find us.”

“It’s ok Madison, I’m sure everything will be fine.” Gabriel pulled his hands closer to his face, giving him a more comfortable position. He caught a whiff of something familiar. Bringing his hand up to his nose, he gave it quick sniff, trying to find the source of the smell. The overpowering odor told him everything, realizing the puddle was not just stagnant water, it was gasoline. When the car ripped in half the gas from the fuel line left a trail from one side of the car to the other. 

“I promised your parents I would get you to safety and I failed. Now we are both fucked.”

Her tears were now running down her cheeks.

“Madison?” Gabriel asked, drawing her attention back to him. “How about you keep that promise.” Gabriel pointed down at the puddle in front of him. He watched her eyes follow the trail back to the other half of the car, were the COSMOS was standing. When her eyes came back to him the tears had stopped, and Gabriel smiled. “When I tell you to,” he said, moving his head in the direction of the abandoned buildings, “we run.”

              Madison moved her arms closer to her body. She looked like she was ready to do a push up as Gabriel put his hand back into the puddle of Gasoline. 

              Gabriel focused, trying to build up his anger. He thought of Jacob again, of Amber rejecting him, everything that anyone ever said to make fun of him.  He could feel his fingers itch, “Now!” Madison jumped up and was already turning to run when his hand ignited. Gabriel was pushing himself off the ground when he heard the Agent shout at them to freeze.

              Marcus saw the girl jump up first, then the kid. What he didn’t understand was why the kid used his power to get up and run. It didn’t matter, he was just glad he got to hunt. 

“Freeze!” he was going to give them a little bit of a head start, to make it fun. Then he saw why the kid used his power. A trail of fire was racing toward him, moving quickly. “What the?” was all he got out as the fire reached the tail end of the car and jumped into the fuel tank. The car exploded, hurling Marcus and the Maiden across the road and into a chain link fence.

              Gabriel was already sprinting behind Madison when he heard the car explode. They ran into one of the abandoned buildings that littered the shore. They ran upstairs, past the first floor, the second, and finally stopping on the third. Gabriel took a moment to take stock of where they were. Looking down a long hallway he saw doors lining each side. It didn’t make any sense until he saw some of the doors had a number plate on the outside. It was an old hotel, the carpet was stained and grey, the wallpaper coming off in some places. Madison grabbed his hand and pulled him into one of the rooms, shutting the door behind her. 

              Gabriel was out of breath, bending over putting his hands on his knees. He looked up in time to see a piece of hotel furniture flying toward him. Barely moving out of the way in time Gabriel saw that
all
of the furniture in the hotel room was moving toward the door, jamming itself against building pile. Turning he saw Madison looking from one object to the door, then to the next object. 

“Well great,” Gabriel said, throwing his hands into the air as he walked to where Madison was standing. “We got away from the death robot, and now we are hiding in a hotel room? That might have been the worst idea ever. We should have just kept going; this is like a bad horror movie!”

              As the last piece of furniture smashed itself against the door, Madison pulled out her cell phone and dialed quickly.

“Caleb, its Madison, I got him, but we have a problem. There’s a mech after us.” Gabriel waited, unable to hear the voice on the other side. Finally she answered, nodding her head as she talked. “Ok, we’ll try; just make sure he’s there. Bye” Madison tucked the phone back into her pocket, turning toward Gabriel. 

“Ok, we have someone coming to get us, but we have to get out of here, away from the Agent, and be three blocks north.”

“Oh, is that all” he threw up his hands again “great”

              Suddenly there came the sound of wood cracking from the other side of the door. Gabriel and Madison jumped at the noise, freezing in place, hoping they hadn’t been found already. They stood, unmoving, waiting for the inevitable appearance of their pursuer.  “So, how do we get away from him then?” Gabriel whispered, looking around the one windowed room. With all the furniture piled against the door, the emptiness of the room became very intimidating.  

“I don’t know, let me think.” Madison said, closing her eyes to focus. 

“We don’t have time to think, he is going to be here any second.” Gabriel started pacing back and forth.

“It’s hard to think when you keep interrupting me.” Madison’s eyes were closed, her head down. 

KNOCK KNOCK KNOCK

              They both turned to face the door, waiting. Nothing happened. They looked at each other, then back at the door. The wall next to the door exploded, and there, standing in the hole, stooped over, was the mech. 

              The faceless metal monster stood before them, the embodiment of intimidation. It slowly raised its hand, the voice of the pilot inside exclaiming “Honey, I’m home!” From the palm of its hand fired what looked like a ball of metal rope. As it traveled toward them it began spreading out, leaving no doubt it was in fact a net. Gabriel closed his eyes and waited for the impact of their approaching captivity. After a few beats of feeling nothing, Gabriel opened his eyes. The net was floating in front of them, suspended in midair, before falling suddenly to the ground. He couldn’t believe it, but he knew who to thank as he turned to look at Madison. With nowhere left to run, Madison had decided that fighting was better than giving up. Her stance had taken on a defensive posture, feet staggered, hands up and open, elbows tucked into her body. 

              The COSMOS dropped its hand, the cable that connected the net to the suit retracting, bringing the failed containment device back to its waiting area. In a flash of movement the other robotic arm had raised, firing four thin lines toward the pair. As the four cables flew toward them Gabriel tried to understand what they were. When the four stopped suddenly in the air, he could see they were topped with barbs; most likely from a stun gun. The barbed lines, turned and flew back at their owner, bouncing off its metal body. 

“HA, where are your shitty one liners now buddy?” Gabriel joked, feeling safe with Madison next to him.

              The pilot didn’t say a word, the COSMOS just stood there as a whirring sound started. The shoulder opened, the compartment producing a small mini gun, the barrels already in motion. This turned out to be the source of the sound. What sounded like the building tearing in half accompanied the firing of the mini gun.  

“FUCK!” Gabriel dove to the ground trying to dodge the bullets. After several seconds of not dying, he looked up and saw that they had started to collect into a growing pile a few feet in front of Madison. She had the look of someone who was in the middle of a work out. Sweat ran down her face as her breathing had sped up to almost that of a running pace. Suddenly the barrels stopped as a loud “clunk” was heard from the mini gun. The barrels were red hot from prolonged use, causing a malfunction. With the endless stream of bullets stopped, Madison was able to relax, the collected pile fell to the ground, causing bullets to scatter in every direction. 

“Fuck this.” The pilot said as he began walking toward Gabriel and Madison. The head of the large robotic suit was scrapping against the top of the ceiling, causing drywall to rain down around it as it advanced. Then as if caught on some invisible leash, the monstrosity was no longer moving forward. Even with its feet moving in a forward direction, it began sliding backward.

With the noticeable stop in forward progress, the pilot increased to a running pace. As it ran, the floor beneath its feet began to give way, unable to support the weight of the COSMOS in full stride. Even at running speed, the armor system was unable to gain any ground against the invisible force that continued to push it back. Gabriel could do nothing but watch as their pursuer fell forward, initiating its flight system, giving it a tiny amount of forward movement. 

              Gabriel ran back to the window, throwing it open to see if there was a way to get out. With no fire escape, the large pile of wood next to the building would be the only thing to break their fall. Turning back to see the standoff between Madison and the COSMOS, Gabriel could see the flames on the boots were growing larger, the pilot making more and more progress toward them. With the space between the two adversaries dwindling, Gabriel knew they had to find another way to slow it down. 

“Gabriel,” Madison said, her voice giving away the fatigue she was feeling, “I don’t know how, ugh, much more I can do. I can’t hold him back anymore.”

              He could see the look of strain on her face. The agent was getting closer; Gabriel looked around for anything to help. The only exit was blocked by the items they had used to brace the door. The window offered too far of a drop, and they couldn’t get to the hole in the wall without coming within arm’s reach of their enemy. An idea popped into Gabriel’s head, and soon he was running over to Madison, grabbing hold of her from behind. Gabriel threw himself to the ground, pulling her down with him. They hit the ground side by side, breaking her concentration, dispelling the wall between them. With the force against it released, the COSMOS accelerated to its maximum speed, slamming through the wall behind Gabriel and Madison.  

              Madison looked up at Gabriel “Thanks,” she said as she began moving to get free of him, “now get off me, we have to get out of here.” She rose onto her knees, her head hanging down as she tried to catch her breath.  Gabriel got up, looking out the new hole in the wall, trying to find any sign of the COSMOS. After finding nothing, he offered a hand to Madison, which she gladly took.  Helping her to her feet, they made their way out of the room, down the stairs and onto the street. After getting their bearings, they began moving north.