In the Land of Giants - Book 2 of the Acropolis series

Chapter 15

III: The Temple

"There must be some way out of here..."

- Bob Dylan, "All Along the Watchtower"

Nikki let out a piercing scream suddenly, her hands going out wildly to either side before she spun around, running. She ran one hand along the wall and found her way to one of the other exits, quickly disappearing down it.

"Nikki!" Everett called out, afraid to pass the cave opening for all the enemy fire coming out of it. She didn't come back.

Ava looked up. She had quickly bandaged most of Maxwell's face in gauze. Only one of his eyes was visible, and it was closed. She looked close to tears. "We have to take them out!" She screamed, standing up straight and swinging her rifle around to hold it steady.

"Where the hell did Nikki go!?" Everett shouted, clenching his teeth. He didn't know what to do. She had run off alone and afraid, and he had no idea if she knew where she was going.

"Ava, don't you dare!' Jo shouted, limping past Everett and leaning out from the cave opening, letting loose with her shotgun before her back hit the wall again. "Not by yourself, goddamn it!"

"It's now or never, Jo!" Ava screamed, and suddenly she was smiling as she slammed her rifle into her shoulder. She spun around the cave entrance and let loose a spray from the rifle, prompting the amount of fire coming out to be reduced suddenly. She laughed loudly and then dashed forward, and Jo leaned out and made a growling sound in her throat.

"Ah, that stupid little..." she hissed, and then reached down to her belt. She pulled the pin on a shrapnel grenade and looked to Everett. "Well, are you going to help us or not?" She asked, before tossing it into the cave. "Get down, Ava!" She shouted, and Everett squinted, waiting; these improvised bombs weren't highly explosive, but they were extremely dangerous. There was a dull thud suddenly, followed by the angry twanging sounds of metals ricocheting off rock. Jo spun into the cave entrance, and Everett followed her, a nauseous kind of adrenaline filling his heart.

The grenade was well-placed. Perhaps five or six of the Chitters had been torn to shreds by the sharp bits of steel, and Ava was crouching behind a large rock a few feet into the tunnel, well-protected. With her help, a few concentrated bursts of fire picked off the remaining Chitters and there was silence in the cave once more.

Everett immediately ran back into the mausoleum, his eyes searching the darkness. He quickly found Maxwell, pausing for a moment. "How bad is he?" He asked Ava, who frowned as she reloaded her rifle.

"Not good." She admitted. "We have to get him back to the army, where that biohacker doctor can have a look at him." She looked down the far right tunnel suddenly. "Speaking of...what happened to Nikki? Why did she run off?"

"Her cybernetics switched off." Everett said. "You didn't see?" Ava shook her head, and Everett swallowed a lump in his throat. "Her eyes were white behind those lights. I think...she's blind."

Jo came out of the tunnel now, her eyes fixed on Ava. She stalked toward her sister, grabbing her by her jacket with both hands. "What the hell is wrong with you, Ava!?" She screamed, shaking her hard. "Stop trying to go out in a blaze of glory! Stop trying to make up for what happened to Sasha!"

Ava screamed and pushed her sister away, and Jo promptly swung her fist, catching Ava across the nose. Ava held a hand over her face and glared at her sister, free hand clenched into a fist. "You don't know what it's like!" Ava screamed. "I was the black sheep! I was supposed to accomplish nothing and die young! Not you, and not Sash!" She ran forward now, lowering her head and smashing into Jo's gut. The two tumbled to the ground, grunting and struggling with one another.