The emergency exit from the underground part of the base was probably unlocked because particularly valuable employees were being evacuated. Or maybe the guards ran out in a panic and forgot to lock it.
- Follow me," Reina commanded Mike and the kids waiting below, and walked forward.
The narrow corridor is twenty paces. Another door-open!
There was a rumbling, gunfire behind it, so Reyna looked out carefully. There was a huge hangar, littered with boxes. It was so flimsy the joints between the sections were seeping in through the light from the helicopter's searchlight. Its blades seemed to whistle through the air above the roof.
A large-caliber machine gun fired in bursts. The light struck her face, blinding her, and she backed away, hiding, ready to shoot the shining man. When she looked out again, she saw a man in overalls, a working man, with a bandage on his shoulder. He was shining the light on himself so that she could see it, holding a machine gun with a shortened barrel in his other hand.
Five paces away, a fresh corpse lay flat, the pool of blood beneath it continuing to grow larger.
- I see mine," she tossed behind Mike's back, "follow me.
The man-worker directed the light in front of him and to the side, so that it wouldn't blind those coming out.
- Dr. M. passed it along," he muttered. - I quote: "Exiting through the right side door, move toward the fence, the raiders won't touch you. Go through the hole in the fence to the hills where they'll pick you up." Come on, I'll show you where the back door is.
The man headed toward the forklift, frozen in the middle of the warehouse. Waving the barrel from side to side, Rayna followed him. The kids and Mike stomped behind her. There was a rumble outside that made the ground hit her heels. A girl cried out, probably scared Marie. Intermittent harsh sounds were drowned in the rumble of the explosion, and it wasn't until the guide began to crouch that Reina realized those sounds were a machine gun fire.
- Get down on the ground! - She yelled, rushed forward, hiding from the shooter behind the body of the falling conductor, the machine gun dying did not let go and shot to the side - his finger frantically squeezed the trigger.
Reina snatched the gun from the conductor, didn't let him fall, covered her body with his, and fired a round at her adversary, who darted behind the boxes.
Children screamed behind them, their terrified cries overridden by a scream of agony, brimming with pain and the horror of approaching death. Someone is hurt. But there was no time to look back.
- Get down! - shouted Mike. - Get down, he said.
The enemy fired a shot at random, and Mike's voice cut off, then the sound was drowned out by the thunder of another blast -- there was quite a fight going on outside.
- Take that, bitch! - Reyna shot a burst through the boxes, and her legs came out from behind them, jerking. Got it!
Now she could turn around. Pulling a flashlight from the guide's belt, Reina shined it back. The children were huddled on the floor, not moving, their heads covered. Mike, lying on his back, threw up his arm, shielding his eyes from the light. He pressed his palm to his side, blood oozing through his fingers.
Reina rushed toward him, but something gurgled among the boxes, and she took aim there. She pointed at Miguel, who disobeyed and ran. He crawled toward her, clinging to the floor with his hands, bloody foam bubbling on his lips, his legs unable to move. A lung was shot through and his spine was fractured. He was dead.
Reina stepped toward the boy, squatted down, stroked his head.
- Close your eyes, Miguel. I'm going to help you. Calm down, it's okay.
Miguel dropped his head on his folded arms, Reina stroked the top of his head, put the silencer to his head and... Couldn't fire. Turned away, clenched her jaws, pulled the trigger...
Clang. So simple: one squeeze, and the man was gone.
I wonder if that death counts as murder.
- Get up," she commanded the children, and then walked toward them, taking each other's hands.
As the children rose, she leaned over Mike.
- Let me see.
He took his hand away, and Reina could see three bullet holes, running obliquely from the left iliac bone to the right subcostal bone. Mike could be saved by surgery within ten minutes, but no one would do that.
- Need a hand? - She took aim at his head.
He grinned.
- On my own, a little later. You've got kids looking at you. Get out of here. I've got your back if anything.
The children were indeed watching. Gia and Marie, Luke, and the blue-eyed one, either Edward or Raymond. She'd managed to save four of them, and none of them had any superpowers, though a healer would be a good thing right now. Or someone with telekinesis. But no, they were just five-year-olds. What are they so valuable?
- Come on, let's go! - Reina commanded.
They ran from shelter to shelter, heading in the same direction as the dead escort, and made for the wall. An open door led to an area where a blown up helicopter was burning, predatory searchlights crawling and machine guns barking for victims. A little further away, untouched equipment stood: three trucks and a bus. A blown-up firing point was smoking.
- I'm scared," Marie said in broken English. - I'm thirsty.
- So am I," said either Edmond or Raymond.
-
Be patient," Luca put them down, also in broken English. - Or
you will die. We must run.
- Run after me and do as I do,"
Reina instructed. - Miguel disobeyed, and he was killed.
Marie let out a long sob. Reina came up to each of them and hugged them, Luka shook her hand and said:
- "Thank you. You're a real fighter. Let's go.
From the outside she must have looked like a partridge saving chickens.
From cover to cover. Freeze in the spotlight. Not looking at the belly of an unmarked helicopter. She recognized the Mi-24, a Russian "chopper" that had been in service in many countries and sold to anyone, even Colombian drug lords and transient African czars.
To hug children huddled together. To instinctively cover them with myself, though it was clear that this would not save them.
The fence here was flimsy, metal sectional, and a mysterious do-gooder had knocked out a section, opening the way to the hilly wasteland.
When, after scrambling through the cacti and yucca, they climbed the hill, Reina saw a giant, internally illuminated dust cloud stretching across the valley. The first thought that it was a sandstorm was superseded by another: the dust had been raised by machines, a myriad of machines! But whose machines were these? There were dozens, no, hundreds of them, and they had nothing to do with the raid on Object 326.
Attention was drawn to the light at the foot of the hill. Someone was turning a flashlight on and off, clearly signaling.
- I think we're saved. Be patient for a while," Reyna smiled and began her descent.
There were two ATVs parked by the hill. Reina exhaled: both drivers had orange armbands.
The ATV drivers took the boys away, explaining that the children needed to be separated and safely hidden. As long as the ATV races were going on here, it was easy to do. Reyna glanced at the cars, which were instantly enveloped in a cloud of dust, and wished the children to find good families, especially the little fighter Luka.
Then they came to get the girls, but little Gia clung to Reyna and threw a tantrum, not wanting to part with her. Had to go with them. Then we drove again. On and on and on. Then three months in Mexico. Then to Cuba, and from there to Moscow and then on to the Philippines, where a new family and a legend awaited.
Now Reina's name was Dionysia Peng and she was married to Quan Peng; Gia was recorded as their own daughter. They were to spend three years in marriage, but Reyna became attached to Quan and for twelve years she played the poor girl who managed to marry well, gave birth to a second daughter, but did not love Gia any less.
All this time she and her husband didn't get into each other's past. Gia grew up to be a smart girl and made strides in i-technology, but her abilities were not supernatural.
Reina didn't wonder what had become of the children, of Object 326, or how many such bases there are around the world where the doomed fall prey to monstrous experiments. She tried to understand what the true purpose of the raid on the Object was, not to look back and hoped that the worst was behind her and the gift of life would not have to be worked off by doing terrible things.
But the ring was getting tighter and tighter, the metacorporation she was running from was getting closer and closer to her home.
And in all this time she'd never had a backache, so Rayna often prayed for the repose of little Naomi's soul.