The Deathless Trilogy

3.31. One More Thing

The drones cluster into one mass army of metal. They block out the sun, an ominous cloud of chrome.

The hum of planes gets louder. If Gunther has reinforcements coming, we won't stand a chance.

"Remember," Jacob speaks to us through his voice box, "what you do on this earth affects what you will do in the afterlife. There is no need to fear death if you've lived with strength. It has been an honor to live and fight beside you."

"What are the drones doing?" Celia whispers to me.

"They're getting ready for a massacre," I say, the sound barely audible from my still recovering lungs.

Over the treetops, I spot the first plane, a small fighter jet, followed quickly by a fleet of the same. Gunther has an air force.

The drones continue into the sky, but as the fleet of jets descend toward the yard, the drones do something strange: They turn their lasers upward to focus to the jets. One of the drones shoots a laser beam at the first jet, and to my surprise, the jet fires back, sending hundreds of bullets spraying into the cluster of drones.

They can't be from Gunther's army. They must be allies. Still, their friendly fire threatens to kill us anyway. "Get out of the way!" I push the sound out of my body. "Retreat to the woods!"

Shot down drones fall like sparking meteors around us in the yard.

Our soldiers dive out of the way, avoiding the falling drones as they crash to earth. Everyone begins running into the woods, leaving our mysterious allies behind to fight, but the remaining Prowlers follow us as their programming requires. They've locked us in their field of vision. Now they must collect us.

As we near the treeline, our soldiers begin to stop. "Keep moving," Mom yells to cover for my returning voice, but then I see why our soldiers won't move any farther: Through the trees, I spot the bodies of more Prowlers, coming straight toward us.

I swallow hard. "This way," I command, my voice gravelly but loud enough now, and I lead the group toward the woods farther north. Our soldiers follow swiftly behind me, and I stop at the brush to usher them into the forest first. "Go, go, go," I yell.

After the last soldier, my mom, runs into the forest, a crash booms behind me, and I turn back to see what's happening in the yard. "Isla, come on," Mom orders me after hopping beneath the canopy of trees.

One of the planes has just flown through the cloud of drones, taking many of them down, but the pilot loses control and crashes into the trees. The jet explodes in a burst of flame. Near the fire, the Prowlers from the forest emerge to meet the Prowlers from the yard. There are three of them, and I blink to make sure I'm not dreaming.

At the estate, I had a nightmare that the Prowlers all had the heads of people I knew, and now, those Prowlers exist in reality.

Seated atop the Prowlers, in pod-like boxes with pedals and gears for driving the machines, are Winston, Joe, and Daniel. Joe's gears are all accessible with his hands, of course, but the three men drive their Prowlers into the yard. Daniel and Winston just couldn't stay away, I think, though I'm not sure how they convinced Joe to join them.

Winston leads the three of them, and takes the first swing at Gunther's machines, beginning a metal on metal brawl between the gigantic machines.

"Is that Daniel?" Celia asks from the forest behind me.

I smile. "Yeah."

"It's Daniel!" she shouts behind me.

Our army erupts in cheers and applause. For a moment, Daniel allows himself to be distracted by our cheering, and turns toward us, smiling a huge grin.