All Chapters of Eternal Cage: King of Ash: Chapter 61
- Chapter 70
84 chapters
Chapter Sixty one
We were still sitting in the dark when the tablet lit up by itself.Borealis had it hooked to all his equipment like always. Running scans and whatever else he does. The screen just turned on. No warning. No incoming call signal. Just a face appearing.A woman. Older. Maybe sixty. White hair cut short and neat. Sharp eyes behind glasses. She looked like somebody's grandmother if that grandmother ran a company that killed people."Good evening," she said. Her voice was calm and smooth. Like she was hosting a dinner party. "My name is Helena Voss. I believe you know my daughter."Elena stood up so fast her chair tipped over and hit the floor. "You.""Yes, dear. Me." The woman smiled. Small and polite. "I have been wanting to meet you properly. All of you, really. You have been impressive to watch."Caiman had his gun up. Kenji was on his feet. Leo pressed himself against the couch with his big eyes watching."Where is she?" Elena's voice was shaking. "Where is Evelyn?""Safe. She is unh
Chapter Sixty two
Twenty-four hours passed.We spent time getting them ready. Packing up our gear. Mapping out escape routes in case we needed to run. Borealis tried to trace where the signal came from on that call but it bounced through so many relays that he gave up after six hours. Elena barely talked. She just sat there staring at nothing. Kenji stayed with Leo the whole time. Caiman watched the door like always.Maja stayed close to me. Like she knew something bad was coming. She didn't say much. Just sat next to me and held my hand.At exactly the same time the next night, the tablet lit up again.Helena Voss was there on the screen. Same calm face. Same polite little smile."Twenty-four hours," she said. "I trust you have an answer."I stepped forward so she could see me. "We do.""And?""No."She tilted her head. Just a little. "No?""No. We don't join you. We don't work for you. We don't stop fighting you. That is the answer."Helena looked at me for a long moment. Then she nodded slowly."I a
Chapter Sixty three
It hit me in the chest first.I was standing at the front of the boat, watching the water roll by, when Kenji grabbed the rail and said, “Something’s wrong.” Then his legs just folded under him.I turned and saw him on the deck. A second later my own chest lit up. It was not like a heart attack. It felt like something sharp and hot twisting inside me. I dropped too. Hit the deck hard. I heard Caiman go down behind me.Kenji was curled up a few feet away. His face had gone white. Sweat was running down his neck.Then the screaming started from below.Maja. Lars. Leo.All three of them.They were screaming like someone was tearing them apart slowly.Elena came running up from below. She looked at me. Then at Kenji. Then at Caiman.“What the hell is happening?”I tried to answer but my mouth felt thick.She grabbed my shoulder. “Jax. Talk to me.”“Signal,” I forced out. My voice sounded strange. “Kids.”Her eyes went to the hatch where the screaming was coming from. Then she ran back do
Chapter Sixty four
Borealis came up from below holding his tablet. His face was white."I found it," he said. "The cure."Elena stood up. "Where did you find it?"He held the tablet out so we could all see. There was a file on the screen with a blinking dot."Prometheus didn't keep everything on the Odyssey," he said. "That ship moves around too much. They have a main place. A headquarters. Everything goes there. Research. Development. The people in charge."Kenji was sitting on the deck with Leo in his lap. The kid still wasn't talking. Just staring."Where is it?" Kenji asked.Borealis zoomed out on the map. The dot wasn't on land. It wasn't in the water.It was in space."Icarus Station," he said. "It's an orbital habitat. Prometheus built it five years ago. Private space station. They say it's for research and tourism. Rich people go there to look at the earth."Caiman was leaning against the rail. He looked at the tablet."The cure is in space," he said."Yeah."Nobody said anything for a minute.T
Chapter Sixty five
The bridge was old. It went across a deep valley somewhere in the mountains. I didn't even recognize where we were any longer.We were running. That was all we did anyway. Run and fight and watch people die.The attackers came out of nowhere. Black suits with corporate logos. The same kind we had been seeing for months. They came up the road fast in three trucks. A lot of them.Kenji saw them first. He was at the back with Leo. The kid was holding his hand. He still was not talking since the signal."Company," Kenji said.I looked back and saw the trucks. Saw the dust behind them."How many?" I asked."Too many," he said.We had the kids. We had Elena. We had Borealis and Caiman. We had nowhere to go but across that bridge."Move," I said. "Get them across."Elena grabbed Maja's hand and started running. Caiman picked up Lars. The kid was still weak. Borealis ran ahead to check the other side.Kenji did not move."There is no time.""Then go."He knelt down in front of Leo. Put his ha
Chapter Sixty six
We walked all night.Nobody talked. Leo walked between me and Maja. He wasn't crying anymore. Just walking with his head down.The sun came up over the mountains. I didn't look at it.We found a cabin at the edge of a town. Windows broke. Door hanging off. But it had walls.Caiman went in first. Came back. Nodded.We got the kids inside. Lars could barely stand. Maja sat with him in a corner. Leo sat on the floor and stared.Elena found a bucket. Went for water. Borealis sat against the wall with his tablet. Staring at it.I stood by the door.Caiman came up next to me."We need to move," he said."I know.""Tonight. Rest now. Move tonight."I nodded.He stood there. Then he said "He was good.""Yeah.""Good with the kid.""Yeah."Caiman went back inside.Elena came back with water. She gave it to the kids. Then came and beside by me."You okay?" she asked."No."She didn't say anything."I keep thinking about what he told Leo," she said. "That he'd catch up.""He knew he wouldn't.""
Chapter Sixty seven
We drove for two days straight.Caiman only stopped when the truck was about to run out of gas. We'd fill up at some small station, pay cash, and keep going. Nobody talked much. Leo sat in the back with his wrist wrapped in cloth. He stopped looking at it after a while.The mark was still there. Red. Small. We all knew what it meant.Elena was on her tablet most of the time. Going through files. Making calls on secure lines. Talking to people I didn't know.On the second night she came and sat next to me. We were pulled over at another gas station. Middle of nowhere. Caiman was filling up. Kids were asleep in the back."I got something," she said."What?""There's a commercial flight to Icarus. Leaves in two days. It's a supply run but they take passengers. Rich people. Scientists. The kind who pay for a weekend in space.""How do we get on it?"She was quiet for a minute."I have a contact. From before. When I was still working with my mother. His name is Kane. He runs a logistics com
Chapter Sixty eight
For six hours we'd been strapped into those seats. No windows for most of it. Just the hum of engines and the occasional bump. Leo threw up twice. Maja held his hand through it. We followed the other technicians out. We walked down a ramp into a hallway. Big hallway. Curved walls. Soft lights. Everything was white and clean.Borealis leaned over to me. "This is the public section. Where the guests come in."We kept walking.The hallway opened up into a huge room. Like a hotel lobby but bigger. Windows along one wall, showing the Earth below. Blue and white and huge. I stopped for a second. Couldn't help it.Leo grabbed my hand."Father," he said. "Is that home?""Yeah. That's home."He stared at it. We all did.Then a voice behind us. "You're with maintenance?"I turned. A woman in a uniform. Stern face. Clipboard."Yeah," I said."Follow me. The briefing room is this way."We followed.The briefing room was small. Gray walls. Screens. A man at the front talking about schedules and s
Chapter Sixty nine
The maintenance shaft was dark and narrow. We floated through it, pulling ourselves along hand over hand. No gravity. Just nothing under you. It messed with your head after a while.Leo held onto my arm tight. His face was pale."Father," he whispered. "I don't like this.""Me neither. Just keep moving."Elena was ahead of us. She moved carefully, grabbing rungs on the wall. Borealis floated behind her with his tablet. Caiman brought up the rear, his big frame barely fitting through.We'd been crawling for twenty minutes. The station schematics showed this shaft led to the lower levels. Away from the rich people. Away from the guards. Or so we thought.Borealis stopped. Held up his hand."Quiet," he whispered.We stopped moving. Listened.Footsteps. Or something like footsteps. Clanging on metal. Coming from below.Then voices."...section seven clear.""Copy. Moving to section eight."Two voices. Male. Flat. No emotion.Borealis pulled out his tablet. Tapped it. He showed me the scre
Chapter Seventy
The shuttle floated through the dark for hours before we felt safe enough to stop.Borealis found a small medical lab on one of the lower decks. Old equipment, dusty but functional. He said we could synthesize the antidote there. Turn the cure into something we could use. Something that would protect the kids if Prometheus hit them with another signal.I stood by the door while he worked. Caiman checked the corridors outside every few minutes. Elena sat with the kids in the corner. Leo was asleep against her. Maja too. Lars curled up between them.It was the first time any of them had slept in days.Elena looked at me across the room. Her face was tired."How's he doing?" I asked quiet."Leo? He keeps asking about Kenji. Wants to know if he's okay."I didn't say anything."I don't know what to tell him," she said. "I don't know if he's alive or dead. None of us do.""We'll find out after this.""And if he's dead?"I looked at Leo. Small, pale and trusting."Then we tell him the truth.