Through the window, Leah saw that the Darkspawn dead and other demons lay sprawled across the street, buried in the building’s wreckage.
“Nice little bit of luck for us,” Wickersham said grimly. “I guess you could say you brought down the house, Leah.”
More Darkspawn arrived on the scene.
“Are you able to run?” Leah asked. Nearly all of Wickersham’s upper body glistened with dark blood. A few jagged pieces of glass stuck out of his torso.
“Don’t have a choice, love.” Wickersham started to remove a shard of glass.
“Don’t,” Leah warned. She’d left the glass protruding from her body in place as well. “The glass might be the only thing keeping you from bleeding out.”
“Oh.” Wickersham took his hand back. “Well, I suppose we should be thankful for that then.” Pain masked his derisive tone.
Leah led the way out of the shop’s rear. The door let out into a small alley. She got her directions from the bot scans, then took off once more for the O2.
They stayed with the shadows and discovered they were behind the demons’ skirmish line. The scans also showed that the demons were winning the engagement, pushing the attacking team back farther and farther.
The dome stood less than eighty yards away. Wrecks littered the way. Carnagors or other demons not yet identified had torn up the ground.
“Once we’re in,” Leah said, “the river is our only hope.”
Wickersham nodded. “Only one of us needs to go, love.”
“Do you want to stay here?”
“No. I was suggesting that you might.”
Leah shook her head. “I started this. I’ll finish it.”
“Then let’s have at it before things become worse. For I’m certain they will.” Wickersham held his Perforator and pulled the NanoDyne Firestarter he also carried.
Leah turned and ran, and Wickersham followed. They were flitting shadows among the fog, smoke, and twisting darkness in front of the dome. Instead of trying to force their way through the main entrance, Leah blasted a new one through one of the walls. The heated concussion blew through the barrier and hurled debris before them.
The O2 wasn’t anything like Leah remembered. She’d gone to athletic events and concerts there, and shopped with her mates. Now the building housed strange demonic devices. Green glowing power cells lit up the darkness. Strange conveyor belts and machines clumped and thumped and squealed and roared as weapons passed through the assembly line.
Darkspawn labored over the machines to keep everything running. Others ran toward the opening she’d blasted through the wall. Their weapons blazed.
“Satchel Team Three,” Commander Hargrove broke in. “We show that you have penetrated the objective.”
“Affirmative.” Leah fired the Thermal Bolter at the arriving Darkspawn and knocked them backward. Wickersham added his own fire.
“Drop the satchel charge and go,” Hargrove commanded. “We’ve started the countdown. You have ten seconds. Nine…”
Leah used the suit’s augmented strength to hurl the satchel charge deep into the O2. Combined HARP charges and highly concentrated plastic explosives made up the destructive package.
“Go,” she ordered Wickersham.
The younger man turned and went back out the hole they’d blown through the wall without argument.
“Toward the river,” Leah commanded as she followed. Something hit the right side of her face. Pain lanced through her skull and her vision suddenly collapsed and became smaller. Adrenaline fought off most of the pain as she forced herself to keep moving.
“Five,” Hargrove said, continuing the countdown.
Wickersham stumbled as he ran toward the river. Leah caught the man by the arm and added her strength to his. They stumbled and managed to match stride.
“Two,” Hargrove continued relentlessly.
Even with the augmented speed the suit produced, they weren’t quite to the river’s edge when Hargrove reached zero.
A massive flash of light blazed behind Leah and Wickersham.
“Jump,” Leah said when they were thirty feet from the river. “Go as deep as you can.”
Back when the River Thames had been full, rising actually, due to global warming, the river had lapped up onto the banks. Now that the Burn had taken away much of the water, the water level was five feet below the old banks. Leah only hoped it was deep enough from the trenching efforts in 2012 that had allowed more river traffic, to protect them.
The roars of the explosions caught up with them while they were in midair. But they hit the water before the air filled with fire and debris.
Leah went twenty feet down to the murky bottom and caught hold of a submerged boat that probably sunk sometime since the arrival of the demons.
Flames lashed out over the river and turned the water bilious yellow and orange. Wickersham clung to the boat’s gunwales as murky blood threaded up from his wounds, and Leah did the same.
Her mask tightened over her face and changed shape a little as the safety features kicked in. Once the suit recognized the environmental change, it sealed around her face and the ten-minute air supply kicked on. Leah forced herself to breathe slowly even though her heart rate remained frantic.
Debris from the dome rained down into the river. A few charred demon bodies fell as well. Above the bank, it looked as though dawn had torched the sky.
“Good work, Satchel Team Three,” Commander Hargrove said. “We confirm destruction of enemy target. Are you still with us?”
“Yes sir.”
“There were two of you.”
“Both of us, sir,” Wickersham said weakly.
“Good. Make your way back to the rendezvous point and let’s see how badly we’ve been bloodied.”
“Yes, sir.”
Wickersham stared at Leah. “Are you all right?” He reached out to touch her face.
Instinctively, Leah drew back. A fog of murky blood occupied the space where her head had been.
“Don’t,” she said. The blood convinced her that his touch would be painful although the whole side of her face felt numb.
“You’re bleeding badly,” Wickersham said.
“We both are. Let’s go.” Leah released the boat and swam underwater. With the burning dome so close by, she easily
