Brilliant lights flooded the room, and Major William Sheffield walked over to the dying slave, the unfired blaster still in the unfortunate wretch’s hands.
Coolly, Sheffield shot the skinny man once in each eye, cracking open the skull. A trickle of brains flowed down the wall and onto the floor.
“Secure the room,” the major ordered, and a platoon of sec men poured in from the hallway to swarm around Silas, forming a living wall of protection.
A sec man exited the closet with a silenced pistol, an electronic device of some kind strapped to his face.
“It was amazing,” the guard said, sliding off the visor. “I could actually see in the dark. Everything was colored green, but I could truly see.”
“Yes, you did well,” Sheffield said, swinging his weapon at the guard. “Pity you let the slave get so close to the commander.”
“Sir?” the guard asked, frightened.
Sheffield shot the man in the heart, the .45-caliber round from the U.S. Army Colt automatic driving him into the closet.
Crossing the room, he shot the man again to make sure of the job, then strode over to the mumbling scientist.
“Dr. Jamaisvous?” he said loudly, shaking the man. There was no response. Impatiently, he slapped the old man hard. Nothing, but more mumbling.
“Okay, we handle this ourselves,” Sheffield stated to the troops. “Sound the call, but do it quietly. We know the slaves have been planning something for a while. I thought it was a mass escape, but it looks like they might plan on killing us first.”
Cradling an AK-47 longblaster, a corporal wearing a bulletproof vest snorted. “Bad choice, sir. They might have had a chance in hell of running away.”
INSIDE THE MAIN OFFICE for the power plant, the chief engineer for the complex stopped eating a sandwich when he heard an odd banging noise. Grabbing some gloves, he quickly stepped onto the main floor of the plant to see if there was something wrong with the cranky steam generators again. The damn things were always overheating, losing pressure or blowing a valve.
Clearly highlighted in the red glow of the main furnace, the engineer gasped at the sight of three sec men lying on the ground, slaves beating them with coal shovels. Then one slave turned the edge of the shovel on a cringing guard and decapitated the man on the spot, the head rolling away, leaving a crimson trail.
“Motherfuckers!” the engineer shouted, and grabbed his blaster, but a shovel from behind smashed his arm. His dropped weapon skittered away under a lathe.
Clutching the broken arm, the engineer tried to make it back to the office, but halfway there he saw slaves standing in the doorway, the men and women armed with the AK-47 blasters from the arms locker.
“As if you scum know how to operate a blaster,” he said with a sneer, backing away. But fear filled his belly, and bitter vomit rose in his throat.
In reply, the slaves clicked off the safeties and worked the bolts, chambering rounds.
“No, stop. I can help you!” he pleaded, tears running down his chubby cheeks. “I know what’s going on here. I can protect you from the Kite!”
“Liar,” a slave snarled, and fired once, hitting him in the left knee.
The pain was excruciating, and the engineer dropped to the floor, clutching the ghastly wound, a shard of white bone visible in the flesh. “No, please! Let me live! I beg you!”
“As you let the children live?” another spit. “And the women after you used them?”
“Please…”
“Yes, we should let him live,” a tall woman said unexpectedly. “Let him stay alive all the way to the furnace!”
The slaves crowded around the engineer and bodily hauled him away. Though weak from blood loss, the terrified engineer fought like a wild animal, kicking and biting, until beaten partially senseless by the wooden stocks of the blasters.
Weeping uncontrollably, the engineer was shoved into the second furnace and the grille slammed shut. There came the telltale whoosing sound of building pressure, and he screamed for salvation. Then the searing flames engulfed the man, and he keened hideously. Unconcerned, the slaves walked away, leaving him to enjoy his last few moments alone with his precious machines.