Illumination

They managed to find a safe passage down the side of the canyon that was relatively safe. Thanks to Robin’s driving skills, all five of them made it down safely.

At the bottom of the canyon, which was now level ground, 186 seemed even bigger than before. The buggy sped along a few hundred yards from the edge of the building, yet Jack and the others could see it clear as...night. Ben was right about one thing—the Apexes seemed to be involved with 186. As the buggy drove along, Jack saw large packs of the monsters roaming near the colony, some sleeping, some hunting, others just standing around in the icy field. Thankfully, the creatures’ poor vision kept them from seeing the headlight beams of Illumination seemingly moving on their own through the night. But nevertheless, Robin slowed down whenever they got within fifty feet of a pack, so that the engine was reduced to a murmur.

When the plains seemed to stretch on endlessly before them and Colony 186 was a silhouette that could barely be seen through the back windshield, the mountains began to appear. They came one at a time, the smaller and closer ones making themselves apparent first. Then, the bigger ones loomed in the background like some sort of movie prop. Jack had seen cliffs plenty of times before, but never in her life had she seen such majestic, tall peaks clustered so closely together. Her anger at Ben temporarily forgotten, she tapped Sierra on the shoulder like a pestering toddler until she gave in and let her older sister switch seats with her. Once this was done, Jack stuck her head out the window and let the wind rustle her tangled curls. Frost stung her cheeks terribly and forced her to roll up the window after a minute, but it felt good after several hours of being packed into the backseat of the buggy. Especially with her companions: Robin stoically driving on, Liam reading from a history book he’d brought out from his pack and humming to himself, Bailey glaring at everyone suspiciously, and Sierra unresponsive to any sisterly affections. It was a sobering drive, to say the least.

The cave began to make itself more distinct as they got closer and closer. It was cut into a large mountain and was clearly gated up by a metal security gate. But the five of them had bigger problems to deal with than the door that barred them from entering.

“Apexes,” Bailey whispered, grabbing onto the back of Liam’s seat and peering around him through the foggy windshield. Behind the mist and the darkness, Jack could see eight of the creatures standing almost directly in front of the cave. However, their poor eyesight kept them from seeing the motionless, camouflaged door right in front of them. Their one fault, Jack thought to herself, leaning forward and watching the Apexes scuffle with each other.

One of them, evidently a self-proclaimed leader, latched onto the back of another and kicked the more submissive Apex to the ground, biting mercilessly around the neck. One of the others knocked the first Apex to the ground and squealed in irritation before cuffing at its neck and backing away. This passive-aggressive fighting continued in small bursts of anger for a few more minutes as the five of them watched, just out of range from becoming an accidental recipient of their blows—blows that could easily knock over the buggy and expose its sensitive underbelly.

“What do we do now?” Robin asked, for once seeming unsure of what to do. “They’re right in the way and pretty aggressive too.”

“Maybe honk and scare them off?” Sierra suggested sleepily to Jack’s left.

“Yeah, or draw their attention and anger on us,” Liam added. The others nodded in solemn agreement at this. “What about driving straight through them and seeing if we can scatter them? They’ve got to have some sort of flight response.”

“Flight response?” Robin said. “What’s that, Li? You mean fight or flight, right?”

“Yeah. The Apexes might pretend to be aggressive, but they’ll run when faced with a do or die situation.”

“We’ve only got one chance to run through them, so if we’re gonna go, go now,” Jack told them tensely, strapping on her seatbelt even tighter. The buggy had been slowly rumbling forward out of gear the whole time and now some Apexes were starting to notice. They swung their heads around and stared blankly at what looked to them like another Apex approaching out of the dark.

“Okay, going!” Robin gritted his teeth together and rammed down on the accelerator. There was a terrible, lurching motion that sent them all backwards for a second, then the buggy shot forward, closing the gap between them and the Apexes and approaching at rapidly-growing speeds.

Most of the Apexes howled and scattered to the side, their many limbs forming a clicking, shifting cacophony. Two of the creatures stood frozen in fear and were gently deposited a few feet away to the side, free of any serious injury. Now just one remained—the biggest one who’d been picking on the others. It watched as the buggy sped along on a collision course, eyes narrowed, rows of teeth glinting in the headlights.

“Stop, stop, stop, you’re going to kill it!” Sierra cried, grabbing her older brother by the shoulder and pulling him to the right. Robin cried out, the wheel spun to the right, and the buggy began to fishtail. The Apex watched their progress with a sloppy grin on its face, clearly not one of fear.

“More like it’s gonna kill us,” Bailey remarked as they careened to the right, almost out of control now. Jack held on to her sister tightly and closed her eyes. If I don’t see it, the crash won’t happen, she told herself.

Fortunately, Robin managed to recover his wits. He slammed on the brakes and threw the steering wheel to the left in a desperate attempt to counteract the drift. Someone—probably Liam—screamed as the buggy’s wheels left the ground and the left side of the carriage tipped, teetered, and fell. Jack and the others were thrown to the left; she nearly choked as the seatbelt cut tight against her throat and halted her from falling against the door. The buggy skidded along on its left side for a moment before lying still.

“Is everyone okay?” Liam asked after a moment of lying in silence. Jack disentangled her hand from her seatbelt, which was somehow wrapped around her neck and crushing it tightly. She searched for a moment in vain before finding the release button. The pain eased itself and she crumpled back against Sierra, who was trying hard not to fall against the buggy door.

“I’m good,” Robin finally answered, struggling to push off an airbag that was pressing up against his stomach. “Could be better.” He paused and added, “Roll call?”

“I’m here,” Bailey choked out, holding onto Liam’s headrest to keep herself from falling to the bottom of the capsized buggy.

“Here,” Sierra said in a low, miserable voice.

“I’m...alive,” Liam commented from the front seat, now flipped sideways.

Before Jack could sound off, the entire buggy shook and groaned with a sudden, new shock. She could feel it pressing into the ground tighter and shifting around as something climbed up on top of it. Oh no…

The Apex poked its head through the shattered, backseat window and shrieked, its snout just inches away from Bailey’s petrified face. The others screamed and dropped to the bottom of the buggy, glass cutting their hands and feet. “Bailey, get down!” someone cried. Jack wasn’t sure if it was her or someone else. The girl in question kicked out at the Apex, who squealed at the blow to its sensitive nose. Its flesh glimmered a wormy pink in the light and only its head was visible amidst the conflicting glows of everyone’s Illuminators.

“Come on, Bailey!” Jack heard herself shout, and she reached up and grabbed the girl’s wrist, pulling her down roughly. The Apex tried to shoulder its way through the opening in the door but could only fit one leg in. It swiped at them with long, yellowed claws, its reach just barely missing them. Robin cowered in the driver’s seat and Liam seemed to be...looking at his holopad? Now’s not the time to check your messages...

“Help!” Sierra cried, as if there was someone around other than themselves. Jack braced her legs against the back of Robin’s seat and kicked off, trying to reach her bag, which had been thrown into the back trunk. Inside was her rifle—she might be able to get a clear shot if she could reach the pack first. Jack’s arm ached and she ground her teeth as she reached over her seat and into the trunk. She felt her hand brush against something smooth and leathery—but it wasn’t the pack. What the…

Just as Liam turned around and flashed a bright light in the Apex’s eyes from his holopad, the solfect attacked.

It was the small one that had been with Ben in the Sector when Jack’s dad was kidnapped, yet all cuteness was gone from its form. The creature launched itself out of its hiding spot in the trunk and latched onto the Apex’s muzzle, sending out high-pitched shrieks of rage. Blood droplets sprayed from their attacker, raining down on Jack, Sierra, and Bailey from above. The Apex pulled its head out of the window and shook it in an attempt to throw the solfect off, but the little creature just refused to leave. It jumped off of the Apex’s snout and began delivering vicious, slicing attacks on its exposed, fleshy side. Jack watched through the void of the shattered window in paralyzed fascination. The two monsters howled and screamed as they clashed, coming together for a series of frenzied strikes then reeling away to recover and attack again.

“We’ve gotta get out,” Robin whispered to the others while the solfect and the Apex were fighting away from the buggy. “We’re trapped in here otherwise.”

“Already on it,” Liam said, climbing up the front seat and poking his head through the shattered window. When he wasn’t attacked, the Brit sighed and reached out, pulling the rest of his body up and through the window. “I’m out. Robin, you next.”

Jack watched with bated breath as her older brother was pulled up through the hole in the window. She jumped over to the front seat of the buggy as he finished climbing through. “Sierra, you go first.”

Her sister began to crawl over the torn-up backseat, but drew back in the middle and screeched as a shower of white sparks suddenly fell from the side of the buggy. An Illumination bulb had shattered and was smoking ominously. “Go!” Jack cried, reaching out, grabbing Sierra by the collar, and dragging her into the front seat. She crossed her arms together to form a booster and her sister stepped on them, reaching out for the open window. Liam, on his belly at the top of the overturned buggy, stuck his arms through and helped Jack’s sister up.

Jack began to make her way up to the middle of the buggy so Liam could reach her when a brilliant, white flash of light to her right drew her attention. Heat seared across her skin and she pressed up against the dashboard just in time to see Robin’s seat catch fire. The light illuminated all corners of the buggy and both Bailey and Jack recoiled from it in fear. “Come on!” Liam called from above, his voice almost drowned out by angry wails from the Apex, the crackle of the fire, and the pounding of Jack’s own heart.

“Working on it,” she hissed under her breath, bracing one leg against the dashboard and making a leap for Liam’s seat. She grabbed onto the headrest, which was being peppered in hot sparks, and felt the Brit’s hand grab her wrist. Jack, eyes closed to protect herself from the heat, felt herself being guided out of the flaming buggy. Cold air washed over her welcomingly. Stray flames that had caught Liam’s seat licked at her stockings and she furiously heaped snow onto them until the fire was extinguished.

“Come on, Bailey!” Robin cried down, reaching a hand through. The last passenger of the buggy had been waiting, almost patiently, as the flames consumed the seats around her. Now she started forward as if to climb into the front seat and reach for the window, but suddenly stopped, still cornered in the back, at the bottom of the buggy.

“What are you waiting for?!” Sierra half-screamed in an effort to be heard over the bellows of the Apex just a few yards away. “Move!”

“I-I’m stuck,” Bailey called, a sudden fear flashing in her eyes. She looked up at them pleadingly and pulled forward again. Her foot was twisted in between the buggy door and the seat in what looked like a painful position. She turned back and began pulling at her boot, but it refused to budge. The fire leapt from Liam’s seat to the top of the backseat, growling like a hungry Apex. Ready to devour anything in its path. “I can’t move…” Bailey looked up at them, long, red hair falling in front of her face. She dropped her helmet onto the floor and reached out for something to grab onto. Liam let out a cry of anguish as the fire reached the middle seat, now just a few feet away from Bailey.

Jack’s heart felt like it was slowing down, almost as if it was going to stop altogether. She glanced around her to analyze her surroundings. A dozen yards away, the Apex was cowering under the merciless blows of the solfect, nowhere near them. “Come on,” she muttered angrily to herself before breaking free from Liam’s grasp, taking a deep breath, and jumping back through the window and into the buggy.

Time seemed to speed up in an instant. Jack forced herself to drop down through the wall of smoke to the bottom of the buggy, where Bailey lay, hand over her mouth. She had inhaled too much smoke and her eyes were starting to roll back into her head. “I’ve got you,” Jack said over and over again, more of a question than a statement. She grabbed the seat cushion and pulled back with all her might. Bailey seemed to recover her wits at this and pulled her foot out from between the cushion and the door, which finally gave way. “Come on!” Jack grabbed both her helmet and Bailey’s. Together, they stumbled out of the back seat and into the front.

There was a tremendous roar as the melting heap of ythafone that was once Robin’s seat fell forward, almost crushing them underneath. Jack lunged forward, pulling her enemy along with her in one, desperate leap. Hands reached out for them, grabbing wrists and pulling upwards...everything was noise and silence all at once...Jack could feel her strength leaving her…then they were falling...falling...