The Bridge: A Science Fiction Survival Story

Chapter 70

"Tom, with me!" I shouted as the Lear and Agrarians prepared to accelerate towards each other. "Quick!"

We rushed towards the back of the corridor as I wracked through my thoughts, working for possibilities. There were plenty of tools back near the fields, but those were too far. The battering ram was gone, moved somewhere in the tunnels by the Lear. There was the power room, but without power, there was nothing I could actually control with it. But there must be something else, something we could use as a weapon.

And just before we left the bridge, my eyes fell upon the open door that had once sealed away the hallway.

Maybe we didn't need a weapon. Instead, we needed a plug.

"Tom, hold the door open!" I shouted, my voice frantic as I examined the hinges and frame. Without the frame, the door itself was just smaller than the size of the hallway, perhaps giving three inches grace on each side. Around us, Lear citizens shouted into the darkness, their voices shaking my concentration.

"The bridge! To the bridge! Attack on the bridge!"

Just feet away, a boy was zigzagging up and down the hallway, holding a box with a stun gun plugged into it that wailed louder than any human could, interspersing his own shouts in the lulls. And deep in the hallways, blue lights flickered as Lear soldiers rushed back to protect their people.

"Tom," I said, turning back to the door, my hands shaking, "I'm cutting through the hinges. I need you to keep this steady."

"Let Tom cut," he said, holding out his hand.

"No, Tom," I said. "One slip-up with this, if I cut to the exterior, then we are as good as dead."

"Tom didn't die when Airomem cut through," he responded. "Tom saw it."

"That's because the doors automatically seal when the pressure difference is high enough," I said. "We don't have that advantage, especially since we are removing this door."

Biting my lip, I clicked the cutter on, flinching as its white light battled blue for my field of vision. In a single swipe, I cut the top set of hinges, my eyebrows shooting upwards at the complete lack of resistance from the metal.

One down, two more to go.

The middle set was just as easy, and I prepared for the bottom, the only part that still held the door in place, when I heard a shout reverberate down the hallway.

"Charge!"

Five or six more Lear had made it to Airomem before her party drove themselves toward Sitient. Though vastly outnumbered, they filled the gap, their blue lights blazing like a shooting star towards the scattered stun guns, knives, and outstretched hands of the enemy. Screams erupted from the Agrarians, screams of hunger and anger that vibrated in tune with my bones, but failed to falter the Lear as Airomem led the pack, diving with her stun guns to split the assault.

And instants before the sides crashed together, the two soldiers that had nodded at each other before the charge reached forward, each taking hold of one of Airomem's ankles. Together, they ripped her backwards as she screamed with surprise, the group of soldiers forming a small hole for her to pass through as she flew backwards away from the collision to safety.

"For the Lea –" was the last sound the soldiers made, their voices raised in unison, their bodies stretched wide to prevent passage, their weapons bared, their courage forced upon their faces.

Then the Agrarians slammed into them, and the noise of screams and crumpling bodies rifled down the hallway.

I'd seen blood in my life, and injuries. But I've never seen blood spray like a water from a dropped cup, or bodies shredded like cooks pulling apart squash in the kitchen. And despite their bravery and their skill, there was no hope for the Lear as they were torn to shreds.

But that didn't stop them.

Long after their arms should have stopped working, they sliced forward with the stun guns, incapacitating as many of the Agrarians as they could. They formed their bodies into human shields when they could do no more, grasping each other to make passage as difficult as possible. Especially the couple, whose knuckles were white as they clenched each other's hands, both from force and lack of blood.

Tearing my eyes away, I finished the final cut to the door's hinges, and Tom pushed it through into the hallway. Behind us, the blue lights of soldiers had grown so close to hear them buzzing, and ahead, the Agrarians had lost momentum trying to fight through the bodies.

"Incoming, make way!" I shouted, turning the door sideways and pushing it to the left, such that bodies could fit through on the right. And with Tom's steady hand, we raced down the hallway as the blue lights gained on us, and Sitient's bloody head broke through the sacrificed soldiers.

And Airomem alone stood before him.