Chapter 81: Total Annihilation
Tiberius had joined his enforcers in the Farnham District. They were now fully prepared to attack and destroy Carrington City. They had several hundred armoured and artillery vehicles. They had another hundred flying vehicles. Half of these flying vehicles were large. They were well equipped with weapons and munitions.
Tiberius ordered the armoured and artillery vehicles to advance. He was going to follow them up in his high-powered flying vehicle.
On the outskirts of the Phoenix District, Duffo and several thousand enforcers were ready to advance. They had fewer armoured and artillery vehicles. Instead, they mostly had bus-like troop carriers. A few dozen flying vehicles supported them. Duffo was in a flying vehicle with two senior enforcers. Tiberius called Duffo to begin the advance.
Meanwhile in Carrington City, the Alset family was making their final preparations to evacuate the city. Benny and a handful of technicians had taken all the children to the nearest underground city.
The Hat Lady and the technicians she had trained were shapeshifting objects to create the impression that all the technicians were around during the head count.
Hermon and some technicians had managed to tap into communications between the Carrington enforcer headquarters and the incoming enforcers. Hermon had also made small devices, which he could use to inform everyone when it was time to evacuate.
Jenna had been working on a document to help those who eventually would defrost them. It contained instructions on how to defrost as well as an in-depth account of what happened to them and their world. She wrote the document in the ancient language of Parelic. They agreed this would be the new official language once they had gone underground. Jenna believed it would give them some security if the chambers were to be discovered.
The armoured vehicles were rapidly approaching Carrington City. The senior enforcer in the lead vehicle radioed to Tiberius. ‘Sir, we are about half an hour from the city. Shall I radio to warn Carrington HQ?’ the senior enforcer asked Tiberius.
‘I’ve had a change of plan,’ said Tiberius. ‘These Alsets are devious. I bet they are tapping the headquarters’ communication. I don’t want them prepared in any way.’
‘Sir, if the enforcers are not warned, they’ll not be able to get out of the way of the rocket strike,’ replied the senior enforcer.
‘Happy medium,’ chuckled Tiberius. ‘I’ll inform them thirty seconds before we strike.’
Meanwhile in Cellrebrum, Duffo had informed the head guard that they would be attacking in half an hour. Demadrian had been closely observing the guards and had tapped into the communication between them. The moment he heard the order for them to evacuate, he knew it was his time to act. He informed his contacts using Hermon’s device.
Demadrian became invisible and sneaked past the fleeing guards and enforcers. He saw a senior enforcer leaving the block Hadrian was kept in. Demadrian sneaked up behind him and plunged a knife into his neck. The senior enforcer dropped dead. Demadrian grabbed all the key cards off him. Then he shoved his body into a nearby cupboard. Demadrian did all this while remaining invisible. Demadrian used the key card to enter the highly secure area where Hadrian was kept. After around ten minutes of searching, he found Hadrian’s cell.
Demadrian peered through the small window in the cell door. ‘It’s me, Dad,’ whispered Demadrian as he became visible. ‘I’m here to get you out.’
Hadrian was slumped in the corner of the cell. He was unresponsive.
‘Come on, we have to go,’ said Demadrian with some desperation in his voice as he tried to open the cell with the senior enforcers key cards.
Hadrian still did not respond. Demadrian pointed the gun that he had taken off the senior enforcer and started shooting at the lock. After a few shots, the door opened. Demadrian rushed over to Hadrian.
Hadrian looked up at Demadrian. He seemed in a daze.
‘We need to leave,’ said Demadrian as he helped Hadrian to his feet.
‘It’s really you,’ said Hadrian as he smiled slightly.
‘Yes, yes, now, come on,’ said Demadrian as he pulled Hadrian towards the cell door.
An enforcer heard the gunshots. He saw the cell door open. He ran towards the door.
‘Oi, stop right there!’ shouted the enforcer as he saw Demadrian and Hadrian leave the cell.
Demadrian turned to face the enforcer and said, ‘Eat shit,’ as he shot him in the head.
‘Ah, son,’ gasped Hadrian. ‘You can’t do that.’
‘I’ll do whatever it takes to get you out of here,’ said Demadrian firmly. ‘We need to move fast, very fast. Follow me.’
They both headed towards the exit of the cellblock. Hadrian was now more composed. He could move under his own volition.
On the way out, they stopped at the guardroom. Demadrian grabbed some guns.
‘Son, does it have to come to this?’ said Hadrian in a weak tone.
‘They are coming to wipe us out,’ said Demadrian. ‘I won’t let that happen. I’ll take out anyone who tries to do that.’
Meanwhile in Carrington, Tiberius was radioing Ebirb.
‘We’ll be there in thirty minutes,’ said Tiberius to Ebirb. ‘I want all of you to stand down and exit the city. It’s about to get exciting.’
‘We’ll be as good as gone,’ replied Ebirb.
Tiberius ended the call. ‘You can say that again,’ he said to himself. He then radioed the artillery commander and said, ‘Light this place up!’
Hermon heard the message from Tiberius. He immediately informed everyone, through his device, to head towards the hidden entrances to the tunnels.
They had barely begun to flee when the first rockets struck. This triggered mass panic among the technicians.
‘He’s decided to massacre his own enforcers,’ shouted Jenna as she ushered the others into a tunnel.
‘I should have expected something like this from Tiberius,’ shouted back the Hat Lady. ‘He has no regard for any life.’
Rockets continued to rain down on Carrington City. Ebirb had run out onto the enforcer courtyard. He looked in a rage as he watched buildings and infrastructure explode around him. Suddenly a rocket hit a vehicle carrying escaping guards and enforcers.
Ebirb grabbed the radio handset in a nearby vehicle. ‘Stop this! Stop this, now!’ shouted Ebirb.
‘Thanks for your years of loyal service,’ replied Tiberius. ‘You will be fondly remembered.’
Ebirb slammed the handset down and drove off towards the exit to the city.
Alset family members continued to lead the technicians and other prisoners into a tunnel. The explosions were taking a heavy toll. Many of them were crushed and killed by falling debris. Haspar Alset, the youngest son of Locum, and his group were killed in an explosion.
Hamish ran over to the Hat Lady. ‘It’s time to get you down,’ he shouted to her. ‘It’s dangerous for you here.’
A rocket struck the mansion, blowing the side of the building apart. The Hat Lady fell out of her wheelchair from the blast. Hamish fell beside her.
‘I’ll carry you,’ he shouted to her.
‘No, I’m still needed here,’ she replied as she turned invisible.
Hamish reached for where he thought she was, but he could not feel her.
For a few more minutes, the rockets continued to rain down on Carrington City. Some of the prisoners managed to escape into the tunnels, but the explosions killed many of them.
‘Stop firing on them,’ ordered Tiberius to his artillery. ‘Time to go in and finish them off.’
Tiberius’ flying vehicle had just reached Carrington. The armoured vehicles entered the city. Once inside, enforcers leapt out of them.
Meanwhile, Cellrebrum was being bombarded with rockets. Most of the prisoners had managed to escape into the tunnels. Demadrian and Hadrian had not yet reached the tunnels. They took cover in a deep drain. Around twenty minutes later, the rocket bombardment stopped.
Demadrian and Hadrian remained lying low for several minutes after it stopped. Soon they heard vehicles entering into the city.
‘We need to become invisible,’ whispered Demadrian to Hadrian. ‘Do you think you’re up for it?’
‘Damn, it’s been a long time,’ replied Hadrian. ‘Looks like I’ll have to do it.’
They both became invisible.
‘We need to take a longer route,’ said Demadrian. ‘We need to keep close to anything burning.’
‘Huh,’ responded Hadrian.
‘Technology has moved on, Dad,’ said Demadrian. ‘They have thermal imaging technology. We’ll need to try and beat it.’
Duffo’s flying vehicle landed not too far away from Demadrian and Hadrian.
Duffo got out of his flying vehicle. The senior enforcers approached him.
‘Search everywhere! Kill anyone who’s not us,’ ordered Duffo.
The senior enforcers nodded.
Demadrian and Hadrian heard cries from a partially collapsed building.
‘Stay hidden,’ Demadrian whispered to his father. ‘I’m getting them out.’
‘You can’t do this alone,’ replied Hadrian. ‘I’ll help.’
‘Fine, but don’t be seen,’ replied Demadrian.
The two of them began removing debris from in front of a door. Within a few minutes, they could open it. Inside the room were four children and their mother. They were huddled together and quivering in fear.
‘You shouldn’t be here,’ said Demadrian, sounding very frustrated.
‘We’ll get you to safety,’ said Hadrian in a calm tone.
‘Yeah, we will,’ said Demadrian. ‘You have to go invisible.’
‘We can’t all do that,’ replied the mother of the children.
‘Well, let’s see what we can do together,’ said Demadrian. ‘Let’s all hold hands,’
They all held hands. Demadrian managed to turn them invisible.
Hadrian watched in disbelief. ‘How did you do that?’ he asked, sounding shocked.
‘Just a trick from a friend,’ replied Demadrian. ‘Now, let’s go!’
They started to make their way to the tunnel entrance. There were still a few other survivors. Some enforcers saw them. They opened fire and shot them. This caused one of the children to panic. She let go of her mother’s hand. This caused her to become visible. The enforcers saw her. They opened fire on them. Demadrian tried to pull them to the ground for cover, but he could not get them all down in time. Two of the children were shot and killed.
In rage, Demadrian opened fire on the enforcers. He shot two of them. The exchange of gunfire attracted other enforcers. One of them was Duffo.
‘Stay here with them,’ said Demadrian to Hadrian. ‘I’ll lead them away. Once they start targeting me, head that way, he added, as he pointed towards a building. ‘There should be someone there to get you into the tunnel.’
Before Hadrian could respond, Demadrian got up and sprinted towards a burning building. The enforcers opened fire in his direction. Demadrian fired back at them. He became invisible again as he rushed into the burning building. Enforcers rushed in after him. Demadrian shot them in the head as they entered the building.
Hadrian got up. He led the distraught mother and her remaining children to the building Demadrian had pointed out.
Duffo entered the building in pursuit of Demadrian. Demadrian shot at him. Two bullets hit his helmet, knocking him to the ground. Duffo pushed the damaged helmet off his head. He was in a daze as blood ran down his face. Demadrian was about to shoot him again when he recognised his Head Enforcer uniform. Duffo shot in Demadrian’s general direction but missed. Demadrian stomped on Duffo’s arm, forcing him to let go of the gun.
Duffo’s breathing accelerated as he looked in Demadrian’s direction. Demadrian could see Duffo’s face and his bright green eyes. He immediately recognised him.
‘Show your face, coward,’ shouted Duffo. ‘Come on! Come on!’
‘That’ll do,’ said Demadrian.
He grabbed Duffo’s broken helmet and smashed him over the head until he became unconscious. He stared down at him. Tears rolled down his face.
Hadrian found someone two buildings over. It was Timothy. He was in charge of discreetly guiding survivors into the tunnel. He guided Hadrian, the mother, and her two children into the building above the tunnel. He led them down to the basement and then to a room below the basement. Below a hatch disguised as a floor panel was the entrance to the tunnel. Once inside, the mother broke down into tears. Hadrian put his arm around her to comfort her.
Demadrian shapeshifted into Duffo. He had grabbed his radio. ‘Everyone report back to the main entrance,’ said Demadrian loudly in Duffo’s voice into the radio.
He walked out into the street, where he saw a few dozen enforcers. ‘Main entrance now!’ he shouted to them.
‘Yes, sir,’ shouted the senior enforcer with them.
Demadrian walked back to Duffo, who was still unconscious. He picked him up onto his shoulders. While doing so, he turned Duffo invisible. He slowly walked towards the tunnel entrance. On his way, he directed enforcers to gather at the entrance. Eventually, he reached the building with access to the tunnel. Once inside, he shapeshifted back into himself, and he dumped Duffo on the floor of the tunnel.
‘Who’s he?’ asked Timothy.
‘This is Duffo,’ said Demadrian. ‘Tie him up. He’s dangerous.’
‘Why do you want him?’ asked Timothy.
‘He means a lot to me,’ said Demadrian. ‘I want to help him.’
‘Sure,’ said Timothy as he grabbed some rope to tie him up.
‘I’m going up to find more survivors,’ said Demadrian as he grabbed Duffo’s helmet. ‘I’m also going to fake his death.’
Demadrian went back out again.
Around ten minutes earlier in Carrington City, enforcers were slaughtering whomever they could find. Tiberius landed his flying vehicle just outside the Alset mansion.
‘Time for some real fun!’ he shouted as he leapt out onto the street. Tiberius entered the badly damaged Alset mansion.
The senior enforcers assigned to assassinate Tiberius saw him land. They followed him into the mansion.
‘Who’s left?’ shouted Tiberius. ‘Come on, let’s play. I made so much effort to be here.’
He saw a slight shimmer. He turned and opened fire. Joachim, Haspar’s only son, appeared. He had been shot in the shoulder and arm. This caused him to lose invisibility.
‘Good to see you alive,’ said Tiberius as he grinned. ‘It would have been such a tragedy if those gunshots had deprived me of the chance to see you cook.’
A senior enforcer was in the next room. He was about to take aim at Tiberius when suddenly the house completely shapeshifted into a different house. The senior enforcer could no longer see Tiberius, and Tiberius could no longer see Joachim.
‘Haa, have you gifted me the pleasure of killing you in the flesh?’ called out Tiberius as he randomly sprayed bullets around the room.
The Hat Lady was crawling across the floor. She was using every ounce of strength in her body to shapeshift everything she could.
Hamish and Jenna were inside the tunnel. They had come back to help any remaining survivors, but the tunnel door had also been shapeshifted. Hamish was unable to open it.
‘Damn it!’ said Hamish in frustration.
‘She’s doing it for us,’ replied Jenna.
‘Go join the others,’ said Hamish firmly to his daughter. ‘I have a bad feeling. There’s no point putting you in any more danger. The others need you.’
Jenna walked towards Hamish.
‘Just go,’ shouted Hamish. ‘For once, do as I say. I am still your father.’
Jenna turned around and headed off down the tunnel.
‘Let me guess,’ shouted Tiberius as he walked around the room, ‘you want to sneak up and stab me in the neck. Well, make your move. I bet you can’t keep this up for long.’
Joachim crawled across the floor towards the room where he believed the tunnel hatch was located. The Hat Lady was becoming exhausted. Blood began to seep from her nose, eyes, and mouth.
The senior enforcers sent to assassinate Tiberius had made their way out of the house. They looked at it in shock, as it appeared the same from the outside.
‘What is this magic?’ exclaimed a senior enforcer.
‘Let’s take care of business from out here,’ said another senior enforcer as he and two other senior enforcers aimed rocket launchers at the mansion.
They fired several rockets into the mansion. This caused several huge explosions, causing the building to collapse.
The explosions caused the floor inside the room that Tiberius, Joachim, and the Hat Lady were in to collapse into the tunnel below.
The senior enforcers looked at each other. One of them said, ‘It’s done.’
‘I’m not satisfied,’ said another. ‘Let’s use artillery to make sure.’
The senior enforcer radioed the others to assemble back outside the city wall.
Sapien Loop: End of an Era
Sapien Loop: Frozen in Time is the sequel to the book Sapien Loop: End of an Era. Sapien Loop: End of an Era is available on Amazon, in collection series on my @spectrumecons account, and in individual chapters in my @captainhive account.
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