Page 18 of Aleko
Lia swallowed and stumbled backward, looking for help. But there wasn’t any. Sergio was glaring at her angrily.
“Servitium sed Trieste datur, teneorque catenis,”the woman intoned, seeming to read the words to spite Lia.
Bleak slavery lies ahead, and I am held in chains.
Lia tried to hold onto the contents of her stomach and fell to her knees. Behind her, the warehouse doors exploded open, sending shrapnel pieces of wood flying through the air. Lia watched in disbelief as a board the length of a golf club impaled itself through one of the bodyguards. A roaring filled the air, and Lia could barely see through the hair whipping into her eyes. She knew she ought to run but had no idea where to run to. It was as though a hurricane had entered the building.
The woman dropped the tablet, screaming and pointing at whatever was coming next. A silver metal sarcophagus came through the door, hurtling as though it had been thrown and slammed into the woman, throwing her across the room, where she hit a forklift. Lia couldn’t hear the sound of her neck breaking, but the way she landed left no doubt. The sarcophagus dropped to the ground, and the dull silver metal exploded off it like shrapnel. The lid was ejected into the air, and a red fog poured out of the crypt. Lia knew without a shadow of a doubt that if she breathed that smoke, she would die.
Wrenching herself to her feet, she fled for the outside. She reached the doorway, stumbling over the destroyed wood, and saw in confusion that the two Australians from the jail were sprinting at her. But they were both naked and dripping wet. Alekos Ash, barefoot and carrying a crowbar, dressed only in a pair of black sweats, charged after them. A fourth man, fully clothed, came last carrying a large gun. She thought she recognized him from the bar but couldn’t be sure.
Before she could begin to process the bizarre nature of the scene, there was a rending screech from inside. Lia glanced back and wished she hadn’t. The red fog had enveloped the woman’s body, and as she watched, the body stood again, jerking itself upright as though animated like a puppet.
The sheik’s bodyguards began firing. The sheik picked up his robes and ran for the Phantom, but he screamed when he saw Alekos. He reached into his robe and pulled out a gun.
“Die demons!” The sheik screamed and fired at the group racing toward him.
The two Australians dove to one side, but Alekos ignored the situation entirely. Behind him, the man with the gun raised the rifle—was it called a rifle when it looked like it should be carried by a modern soldier?—and fired it calmly while running, nailing the sheik in the head.
Lia clutched what was left of the door frame and tried to make herself small, hoping like hell no one would notice her long enough to get out. Sergio and his bodyguards were already running for the back of the warehouse. Presumably, there was another exit there.
“I will destroy all!” The voice rang out, and for a moment, Lia couldn’t figure out whether it was inside or outside her head. “I will end all those who imprison me. Only your blood will satisfy my spirit!”
Lia twisted to look back into the warehouse. The dead womanwas glowing red through her eyes, nose, and mouth as if she had fully ingested the red smoke. Whatever had been in the sarcophagus was now in her. She picked up one of the bodyguards and threw him at the others like they were bowling pins. Then she picked up a crate and flung it at Alekos. He held up an arm to block, but it bowled him over. He tumbled back to his feet with an easy flip and charged forward, swinging the crowbar. There was a flash of red light as he brought it down on her arm and a loud clang as if the crowbar had struck metal.
The woman seized Alekos by the throat and flung him away from her.
“Oh, we are so fucked,” said Trevor, suddenly appearing at her side. “Hello, pretty Polly. I don’t think you should be here.”
“I don’t want to be here,” gasped Lia.
“Colin,” yelled Trevor to his brother.
Inside, the sheik’s bodyguards charged the woman, firing guns, but the bullets made no difference, and Lia ducked at the sound of firing.
“I am free, and I will end all of you!” screamed the woman. She grabbed a bodyguard and wrenched his arm off. “You will not dare imprison me again!”
“She doesn’t want to be imprisoned again,” said Lia. “Maybe if we just leave, she’ll leave too?” She looked hopefully at Trevor, who had ducked down with her.
There was a yell as Alekos attacked again, this time with the help of the fully clothed man. They both went flying into the wall of crates.
“You can understand her?” demanded Trevor.
“You can’t?”
“Not a word.”
Lia tried to remember what language the woman had been speaking. “It’s Latin,” she said at last. “She’s speaking Latin.”
“No wuckas,” said Trevor. “What do you think about going totalk to her?”
“That I really don’t want to,” said Lia.
“Your choices are let her kill a bunch of people or talk to her,” said Trevor.
Lia stared at Trevor. She knew that if the woman walked away right now, the most straightforward path of exit was up the road, past all the refugees who slept in the fields. The same people that she worked next to every day.
“I don’t know what to say,” said Lia, gulping.
