Unforgiven

  Unforgiven

  The Forgotten: Book Three

  M.R. Forbes

  Published by Quirky Algorithms

  Seattle, Washington

  This novel is a work of fiction and a product of the author’s imagination.

  Any resemblance to actual persons or events is purely coincidental.

  Copyright © 2018 by M.R. Forbes

  All rights reserved.

  Cover illustration by Tom Edwards

  tomedwardsdesign.com

  Acknowledgments

  THANK YOU for joining our heroes for the grand finale. It’s going to be awesome!

  THANK YOU to my beta readers. 100s of errors corrected and counting.

  THANK YOU to my wife. Your support is the best support there is.

  1

  Hayden looked down at his wife. He still couldn’t believe she was here. He still couldn’t believe she was alive. He had hoped beyond reason that Ghost had left her behind. He had risked his life and Casey’s to search the place or die trying, even as it was being overrun by trife.

  His hope, his desire, his faith had paid off. They were together again, at last. It felt like it had been years, even though it had barely been a week. She was an apparition to him. A different kind of ghost. Now that she was here, he wouldn’t let her go again. He wouldn’t let anything happen to her, either.

  Casey said the trife didn’t kill her, either because she was expecting or because she couldn’t bear children. But Hallia had proven she wasn’t barren, even if their daughter hadn’t made it to term. If there was any solace to find in the miscarriage, it had to be that.

  Which meant it was more than Natalia’s life he had to worry about. At least, that’s what he was going to assume until something proved otherwise.

  But what about the contagion? What about the trife disease that threatened to kill one, both, or maybe all three of them?

  There was nothing he could do about it, except to wait and see. Some things were beyond his control.

  The door behind them shook again, the chains holding it fast rattling loudly. The trife weren’t going to give up on this room. Not when the servers lining it were giving off so much energy in the form of heat.

  Some things were beyond his control.

  Some things weren’t.

  “You should answer them,” Casey said, bringing him back to the present.

  He looked at the terminal’s display. Someone was communicating with them through it. USSF Western Command Lewis-McChord.

  Whoever that was.

  “What should I say?” Natalia asked.

  “Start with hello?” Casey suggested.

  Natalia glanced back at Hayden, and then started typing:

  WESTERN COMMAND LEWIS-MCCHORD, THIS IS DATALINK BUNKER PORTLAND. WE ARE OPERATIONAL, BUT UNDER HEAVY ATTACK BY THE XENOTRIFE.

  All three of them waited, staring at the screen in anticipation of the response.

  ROGER, DATALINK BUNKER PORTLAND. I WISH WE COULD SAY WE’RE IN A POSITION TO ASSIST, BUT WE HAVE TRIFE TROUBLE OF OUR OWN. WE THOUGHT EVERYONE ELSE WAS GONE. YOUR NODE IS THE FIRST TO COME ONLINE IN NEARLY ONE HUNDRED YEARS.

  Natalia’s head snapped around, catching Hayden’s eyes. He could tell she was thinking the same thing he was. One hundred years? Who was in Lewis-McChord, and how long had they been there?

  She started typing again:

  MY NAME IS NATALIA DUKE. I REPAIRED THE DATALINK MAINFRAME.

  She sent the message. Hayden reached into his pocket, withdrawing the Butcher’s transmitter. It was blinking green.

  Casey noticed, glancing at the device.

  “Is it coming?” she asked.

  “It’s not dead,” Hayden replied. “I hope so.”

  “Is what coming?” Natalia asked.

  “The cavalry,” Casey replied.

  “As long as the transmitter managed to send the signal up the shaft and into the open.”

  Their attention returned to the screen as new text appeared:

  YOU AREN’T FROM SPACE FORCE?

  Natalia typed back quickly:

  NO.

  It didn’t take long for the response to come.

  CAN YOU HELP US?

  Natalia started typing again, without hesitation.

  WHO ARE YOU?

  They waited nearly a minute this time. Was the person on the other end trying to decide what to write?

  SPACE FORCE. WE HAVE BEEN LIVING UNDERGROUND SINCE THE WAR.

  “Seriously?” Casey said.

  Natalia sent another message:

  WHAT IS YOUR SITUATION? WE HAVE GUNS AND VEHICLES.

  She looked back at Hayden after she sent it. “Okay, maybe I’m exaggerating a little bit.”

  The reply came back:

  SO DO WE, BUT THE TRIFE HAVE OVERRUN OUR POSITION. THEY CAME IN NUMBERS WE HADN’T SEEN IN YEARS. THEY NESTED NEAR OUR FUSION REACTOR, AND CUT US OFF FROM OUR MAIN FACILITY.

  Natalia looked at Hayden.

  “We have to stop King from getting into the Pilgrim,” he said. “We can’t help these people, love. I don’t know if we can help ourselves. There are about a thousand trife between us and the perimeter of the city.”

  She bit her lower lip, the way she always did when she was thinking. He had never stopped believing it was the cutest thing he had ever seen.

  Natalia typed:

  DO YOU HAVE AIRCRAFT?

  The reply came after a few tense moments:

  YES.

  “What? Is there a whole grepping army waiting out there?” Casey said.

  “It almost seems like it,” Natalia said. “And they say they have aircraft. If we can reach them, if we can get them out, they may be able to help us deal with King. They may be able to help us stop him from pillaging Metro.”

  “We have to get out of our own mess, first,” Hayden said, checking the transmitter again. As long as it was flashing green, the roid was still alive, and hopefully on its way down.

  Natalia returned to the terminal and entered another message:

  SEND US YOUR COORDINATES. WE WILL ASSIST IN EXCHANGE FOR USE OF AIRCRAFT AND PERSONNEL.

  “Are you sure you aren’t making promises we can’t keep?” Casey asked. "They didn't say how many trife there are.”

  ”How many trife are there between the Pilgrim and here?" Natalia replied. "No matter where we go, we need to deal with them. But if we can help these people get out? We don't have to kill the trife; we just need to lead them away. We have to do something, or the people on the Pilgrim, thousands of people, will die.”

  “The colonists aren’t ready for this world,” Hayden said. “Hell, I’m still not ready for this world. We opened this can of worms. We need to try to close it.” He put his hand on Natalia’s shoulder. “I was going to talk to you about this later, but since it came up... Getting King out of power is pretty high up on my list of goals.”

  She put her hand on his. “Good. It’s one of mine, too. I met him, Hayden. He’s insane. He thinks he’s a god. An actual god. He doesn’t care who he crushes to be in control.”

  “I got that impression from his militia.”

  “How cute,” Casey said. “You both want to overthrow the despot together.”

  FROM DATALINK PORTLAND, HEAD DUE NORTH UNTIL YOU HIT THE WATER. FOLLOW IT NORTHEAST. APPROXIMATELY 150 MILES.

  “That isn’t very far,” Casey said. “We can get there in a day.”

  “A day that King is spending organizing the Scrappers to take the Pilgrim,” Hayden said.

  “There are only three of us,” Natalia said. “We can’t stop King with what we have. But maybe Lewis-McChord can give us more, and an aircraft can bring them and us to the Pilgrim ahead of them.”

  “Are sure you’re up for this?” Hayden asked. “I can see on your face, you’ve been through a lot these last few days. I’m sorry I wasn’t here for you. I’m sorry I couldn’t catch up until now.”

  Tears welled in her eyes, and she squeezed his hand. “You’re here now. I can see what you went through to reach me. If it’s not my fault, then it isn’t yours, either.”

  “Pozz,” he said, leaning over and kissing the top of her head. “It’s your call, Nat. You’ve always been smarter than me.”

  “Bull,” she replied. She paused. “I know it’s a risk, but I think we should try. It’s our best chance.” She turned to Casey. “What do you think?”

  Casey was surprised Natalia asked. Hayden wasn’t. On the Pilgrim, she got the most out of her team by showing them how valuable they were.

  “I think we should go north,” Casey said. She pointed at the screen. “Stuff like this, it just doesn’t happen out here. We have to try.”

  “Then it’s settled,” Hayden said.

  Natalia returned to the terminal, typing a response:

  LEWIS-MCCHORD, WE WILL ATTEMPT TO ASSIST. WE SHOULD ARRIVE IN ONE TO THREE DAYS. IS THERE ANYTHING ELSE YOU CAN TELL US THAT WILL HELP US REACH YOU?

  Casey reached her hands out, placing one on Natalia’s shoulder, and one on Hayden’s.

  “This is going to be awesome,” she said.

  Hayden hoped she was right.

  2

  “You do know, once I do this, we can’t turn it back on again?” Natalia said.

  She was looking up at Hayden from the bowels of the HVAC unit, a hammer in her hand.

  “Are you sure you can’t break it a little more delicately?” he asked.

  She laughed in response. It felt so good to hear her laugh again. It was the best sound in the world.

  “If you want to wai
t an hour or two.”

  Hayden looked back at the door. The chains were beginning to strain, the door denting inward. They didn’t have another hour or two.

  The hope was that if they shut off the HVAC, which would force the mainframe to shut down, the loss of heat and energy to the room would convince the trife that getting inside wasn’t worth the effort. Since the Butcher had yet to make an appearance despite the connection to the transmitter, it was their best approach to a plan B.

  “Be careful,” he said.

  She looked back at the unit. A protective plate on the side had already been removed, and now she drew back the hammer and threw it forward into the delicate circuitry there. It cracked and sparked on the first hit. Pieces came off on the second hit. With the third, the HVAC started beeping in a tense warning, and then the servers began to shut down. The unit shut down with them.

  Inside of a minute, the only remaining light was coming from dim strips of diodes overhead. Hayden leaned down, offering his hand to Natalia. She took it, and he pulled her out.

  “Nothing to do but wait,” he said, looking back toward the door. The trife were still there, but the pounding had already diminished somewhat.

  “Hayden,” she said softly. “I know this isn’t the best time, but I don’t think there’s going to be a good time for a while, and I have something I need to tell you.”

  He glanced over at Casey. Her attention was fixated on the door, ready to cry out in warning if it gave way.

  He turned his attention back to her, looking down into her eyes. They were beginning to tear again, showing him that whatever it was she wanted to say, it was causing her pain.

  “What is it, Nat? You can tell me anything.”

  She nodded, swallowing hard. Her lip started to quiver. “It’s. I just. I thought you were dead. I wanted to get closer to Ghost. I thought. I thought maybe I could get him interested in me, and turn him against his father.” She paused. “Oh, Hayden. It was so stupid. The idea that I could seduce him was so stupid. I don’t know what the hell I was thinking.”

  “I told you, it’s not your fault. If you were under half the stress I’ve been under the last few days; you can’t blame yourself for anything you did. Everything changes when you’re fighting to survive.”

  “I don’t even know if I was fighting to survive, or if I wanted to die. I would have killed myself if he had given me a chance. He took everything out of my room, even the water in the toilet. He stuck me in there naked. No blankets. No anything. And he had someone watching me.”

  She shook again, and he held her tighter. His eyes started to tear, following the rise in his fury. When they caught up to Ghost, he knew exactly what he was going to do to him.

  “That’s not what I wanted to tell you, though,” she continued. “He let me believe I was getting somewhere. He let me think he was different, and he cared about me. I was so stupid, Hayden. So stupid. I had sex with him. I thought it would help me survive. I thought it would help me get back at King. I’m so sorry. I wish I hadn’t done it. I wish-”

  He held her tighter. “Nat,” he said, cutting her off. “It’s okay. It didn’t mean anything. I know that. You did what you thought you had to do. We’ve known one another too long for me ever to think you would try to hurt me. I know you know that.”

  She was sobbing into his shoulder. She drew back, looking up at him. “I do know that. But I had to tell you. I couldn’t hold that in forever. I had to get it out.”

  He put his hand on her face, cradling it gently. “I won’t say I’m not angry because I want to kill that asshole more now than I did before. But I’m not angry at you, and I don’t blame you. I love you.”

  “I love you, too.”

  “What happened to the greppers who tried to rape you?”

  “Ghost killed two of them. I shot the other one. Your lessons came in handy.”

  “You killed a man?” he asked.

  “Yes.”

  “How did it feel?”

  She was silent for a moment while she considered. She knew how hard taking a life could be.

  “I’m not sorry I did it. He was a bad man. I won’t be sorry to kill any of the Scrappers that cross us. I’ve seen what they do to people. Ghost told me to survive out here; you have to be the biggest and the baddest.”

  “Do you believe that?”

  “Maybe if your only goal is to survive. If you want to thrive? I still think compassion and unity are the way to do it.”

  “Pozz that,” Casey said. “Otherwise, all you end up with are a bunch of cannibalistic assholes who think they’re gods running the show.”

  “You were listening?” Hayden said. She still had eyes on the door.

  “Sorry. You didn’t say anything about privacy. It’s all square, Sheriff. I’ve been through plenty of hard times of my own.”

  “I’m sure you have,” Natalia said.

  “Huh,” Casey said. “The door. It stopped thumping. I got so used to it, I barely noticed.”

  Hayden looked at the door. It was finally quiet and still. “Or maybe you were too busy eavesdropping?”

  “Should I open her up and take a look?” she asked.

  Hayden shook his head, letting go of Natalia and walking toward the door, closing his replacement hand into a fist and extending its claws.

  “I’ll do it,” he said.

  He was halfway to the door when something hit it again, harder than before. Hard enough that the chains strained to hold it in place.

  “Uh-oh,” Casey said.

  Hayden put out his arm, urging them back. The trife hit the door a second time, the chain snapping with a loud crack, leaving the rifle alone to prop the door closed.

  “That’s not going to hold,” Casey said.

  Hayden drew his hand back, ready to fight the demons when they started pouring through the door.

  They hit it again, snapping the rifle in half and throwing the door from its hinges, casting it two meters into the room, where it landed near Hayden’s feet.

  A mass of trife didn’t flow through behind it. Instead, a massive humanoid entered through the dust and debris, coming to a stop with its arms at its sides.

  “Well, it’s about grepping time,” Casey said.

  3

  They followed the Butcher from the bottom of the facility, back up the stairwell and into the garage. The roid was slick with trife blood, covered in scratches and scores from the demons’ claws, and made a grinding noise with each movement of its left arm, but it had managed to clear the path for them, leaving behind a trail of dead that numbered in the dozens.

  That didn’t mean the trife were gone. Far from it. They could hear them every time they reached the next floor, moving in the corridors just outside the stairwell, probably searching for survivors. Their hisses grew louder as Hayden and the others got closer to the garage, the sheer volume of the trife meaning there was no way to maneuver without being seen.

  “When we get to the top, we make a hard, fast line for the tank,” Hayden said. “Don’t slow down, don’t look back. The Butcher will cover the rear.”

  “Pozz that,” Casey said.

  They made it to where the stairwell met the top level of the garage, stopping there. Hayden directed the Butcher to move in behind them, rewarded immediately when a lone trife entered the stairwell from one floor down and charged them. The Butcher grabbed its neck in its large hand, snapping it easily.

  “How did we lose with machines like that?” Natalia said.

  “Machines break down,” Casey replied. “But you probably know all about that.”

  “So do people,” Natalia replied. “But point taken.”

  Hayden pushed the door open slightly, just enough so he could see into the garage. The Scrappers had taken almost everything, save for a pile of half-carved trife in one corner, and a pile of garbage in the other. There weren’t as many of the creatures loitering there as he had expected. Most were either deeper into the facility or had abandoned it completely to continue ahead.

  “If the trife joined together to head south, hopefully that means we’ll be pretty clear going north,” Casey said.