Unity by Carl Stubblefield (epub read online books TXT) 📕

As they ran down the corridor, people opened doors for them and hugged the walls to allow them to pass. They were able to make it to the entry for the M wing, which had two security guards who waved them to stop. After scanning their ID cards and getting a green light, the guards motioned them through and returned to their posts.

The hallways beyond were practically empty compared to the rest of the hospital. Nurses stations stood empty as they wheeled Aurora down the halls.

“Guys, what’s taking so long? I just received a notice that Mengele’s personal transport is being prepped for launch. We have to go now if we’re going to catch him!”

Tempest motioned for them to stop. “Aurora, I want you and Prime to go after Mengele’s ship—we can’t risk losing him again. If possible, keep him from leaving. If not, follow and we’ll catch up. Gus and I will meet with Yuki and find Gwen. Go. Go!”

Aurora sped off down another hallway and Gus and his father took off another direction. They were close now, only two hundred feet ahead.

They burst through the swinging doors and a man on the second story turned to face them. Gus saw Yuki hiding under a workstation nearby.

The man on the balcony looked at his watch.

“You sure took your time. I was wondering when you would arrive.” He began slow clapping with a sardonic grin on his face. Gus froze, he had seen that face before. He knew Mengele!

Gus’ mind flashed back to his dreams. The ones with the alchemist and the shadowy steward. The face was the same. Angular jaw, circular wire-rim glasses, and small gap between his front teeth as he grinned. Time froze for Gus.

He heard his father’s gasp come from beside him. “Doctor Weft? You’re Mengele? By the Nth, what have I done?”

Mengele viewed them both, bowed politely then spun on his heels, walking through a doorway that irised shut behind him.

Gus shook himself out of his stupor and ran for the stairs, staggering to a stop when his father just stood there.

“It’s my fault. I let her do this. I didn’t know…” Tempest stared at his hands in disgust as if they were covered in blood.

Gus hurried back and grabbed his father by the hand. “He’s getting away, we have to go!” He tried pulling his father forward, but Tempest only stumbled and fell to his knees.

“I did this. She was always headstrong, but I could have done more. I killed her.”

Gus shook his father, trying to snap him out of his torpor. “It isn’t your fault! But I need your help. Tell me, is Mom’s icon still there?”

Tempest could only manage a nod.

“Then there’s still hope. Pull yourself together; she needs us. Who knows what Mengele will do to her if he gets to her before us!”

Those words brought Tempest back. He shook like he had been hit with a bucket of ice cold water and turned with more awareness to Gus and nodded as he regained his feet. They ran up the stairs after Mengele.

A sturdy metal door stood blocking their passage, but Gus saw his father’s desperate eyes as he clenched his fists by his sides, slowly cocking them back. He felt his ears pop as a pressure gradient began to build up between his father and the door. It became so uncomfortable that Gus had to stand back. Timesight activated and Gus felt the need to distance himself from what was about to happen.

A glance over his shoulder showed his father clenching his teeth with effort. Veins bulged on the sides of his head and he was soon covered with beads of perspiration. He thrust his hands forward, releasing the built up pressure towards the door. Air blew past Gus as ambient air flew into the void created by the pressure differential. When the wind died down, he saw his father calmly stepping through the doorway. Gus followed, staring in awe at the blades that overlapped to close the door blasted back like a metallic bloom.

Everything in the room beyond was shoved to the far wall, piled up in a heap like driven snow. They cleared the doorway and Tempest turned to Gus. The strong smell of antiseptic was insufficient to cover the smell of urine that hung in the air. Hallways spread out in different directions. This looked like some sort of hospital or convalescent home.

“I can feel her! We’re close.” He stopped and closed his eyes. “This way, Gus, she’s this way!” Tempest ran off to the left with renewed vigor. Some of the doors were open in the facility and from within Gus could see sunken, withered forms connected to a myriad of wires and tubes. Muscles atrophied away until the residents were little more than flesh-covered skeletons. A sensation like a cold bony hand stole around his heart as he contemplated if his mother was in the same state.

“Please, no…” Gus wished with desperation as Tempest skidded to a stop at another intersection then took off down another hallway.

“Mengele has boarded his ship! Are you guys coming?” Yuki said in a panic.

Tempest ignored the comment as he ran like he was crazed. He paused outside a room with the doorway cracked.

“I… I don’t know if I can go in, Gus,” Tempest said, voice devoid of emotion.

“I’ll go,” Gus said quietly and he pushed the door open.

Chapter Fifty-Two

Bittersweet Symphony

As Gus stepped inside, the rhythmic beat of the heart monitor showed his mother’s pulse and oxygen levels. A respirator noisily inflated and deflated. He looked at the woman before him, who almost looked like a different person than the one he knew in his memories. There was gray in her hair now, and a tangle of electrodes were attached to multiple areas around her head. Though a respirator mask covered her face almost completely, it was unmistakably her.

“Mom?” Gus asked, stepping closer to the bedside. As he gripped her hand, careful not