#23 Shades of Gray: Heroes And Villains

By Kristie Lynn Higgins

The next installment of the Shades of Gray series find Katharine leaving the Wendigo Tunnels alone and with no signs of Kimberly. Cleopatra interrogates Katharine as to the whereabouts of Kimberly.

Start this apocalyptic science fiction series by reading the first two books. This mystery action adventure story starts with #1 Shades of Gray: Noir, City Shrouded By Darkness and #2 Shades of Gray: From Moscow, With Love. Dry Clouds cover half the world plunging it into eternal night. Two women must brave the harsh dystopian world where corporations rule the Earth and they must solve the mysteries plaguing their lives.

Kat is called the Pandora Project and she has no memory of her past beyond a year ago. She, while on the run from killer robots known as Un-Men, runs into Kim a.k.a. the Phoenix a Life Closer ( Legal Assassin ) as Kim is on assignment. The two women strike up an uneasy partnership to discover who murdered Kim's mom and to discover who exactly the Pandora Project is. Can a friendship be formed in this harsh and unrelenting world or will Kim kill Kat for knowing her true identity as the Phoenix?

Shades of Gray: science fiction action adventure mystery thriller serial series:
1. Noir, City Shrouded By Darkness
2. From Moscow, With Love
3. Cerberus Versus Pandora
4. Sisters

A doom was looming over the planet, a great darkness that could bring about the Closing of Days. Two women would be brought together... One was a legal assassin or Life Closer known as the Phoenix and the other was an experiment known as the Pandora Project who would either bring about a Twilight that would be the first rays of dawn or a Twilight that would usher in the darkness forever. Follow these women as their paths cross in this post-apocalyptic world where Dry Clouds cause endless night. This science fiction apocalyptic serial series is full of robotic killers, zombies, mutated monsters, and other horrors that our heroines must face to survive.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Kristie Lynn Higgins
• Release date: Aug 23, 2022
• ISBN: 9780463980071

Kristie Lynn Higgins

You can also check out my author page on Amazon at http://www.amazon.com/author/kristielynnhiggins

Book preview

Chapter One

Leaving The Story After It Ended

32 A.D.C…

November 19...

Friday...

3:04 A.M…

Central City…

The Dragon’s Teeth…

Close to the Wendigo Tunnels…

Before Kat ran into Cleopatra…

Katharine’s view…

I’m so tired and severely beaten up.  The fight nearly took everything out of me.  The fight…  I now wrestle with bouts of jumbled thoughts and clear thinking, and I don’t know who’s winning.  Winner..?  Who won our earlier battle?  I don’t know.  We both lost out in the end.  She’s dead, and I’m nearly dead.

I push forward.  I have to…  I can’t stop now.  The fight did take everything out of me and the blood...  Her blood…  My blood…  I think I’m bleeding too much.  I should really stop and tend to the one wound…  My wound…  She really messed me up.  I’m so lightheaded, and I’m growing colder by the moment.  Is Kardia helping me or am I cold because I’m nearing my real end?

* * *

Later that day…

3:41 A.M…

Central City…

The Dragon’s Teeth…

The Assassins Guild Library…

Natasha’s view…

I and Stephanie wait in line outside the Colosseum of a library.  The building is round and huge, and I remember the areas inside are set in rings filled with books.

I am very impatient to get in… because of the pain…  I glance at my left forearm.  The phantom pain I had been enduring suddenly stopped a few minutes ago.  It is as if my pahdrooga…  I can’t think about what the missing pain means, so I ignore it for now.  We have to get into the library.

The cobblestone road we stand on is lit up by many old fashion gas-burning street lanterns.  The area is bustling with life and there are quite a few people here for being so early in the morning.  I rub my left forearm.  It doesn’t hurt as much now.

Everyone is searched before going into the library and when they leave.  Security is very tight as they want to make sure no books or articles are removed without permission.  My phantom injuries, which I share with my pahdrooga, come and go, and this time my right side ribs hurt as if they’re cracked.  I find it hard to breathe as Stephanie glances at me with concern.

Are you all right? she questions me.

I am fine, no, I should not lie to you, I tell Stephanie, and then I start to explain, Something happened to me some time back, and I am able to sense… feel injures that Katharine sustains and…

And what? she asks, growing ever more concerned.

I feel injured all over, I tell her.

Stephanie easily accepts what I tell her as the truth, and she questions, Can you tell if Katharine is here?

If she had told me what I just told her, I wouldn’t believe it.  What has this one… this other one who is my pahdrooga’s friend… what has she experienced in her life to believe such a wild story?

No, I answer, and then I say, I can’t tell where she is, so let us hurry and search this place once we are allowed in.

It is our turn to be checked by security.  The Assassins Guild Library has its own security called the Librarian Guardie.  One Librarian Guardia checks me while another checks Stephanie.  No bags of any kind are permitted in, but weapons are, and everyone is patted down.  We’re searched and then let in.

My body aches all over now… pain I know isn’t my own.  My pahdrooga… she has been injured, and we have to find her, but I wonder if we’re wasting our time at the library.  If Katharine is as hurt as I feel, would she come to the library?

We split up and search the unrestricted areas of the Assassins Guild Library .  The unrestricted areas consist of the first and second rings, and they’re the largest of the nine rings.  We quickly search and search, and then we search again, and then I meet up with Stephanie at the main entrance.  It took us about a half-hour to quickly search the first and second rings but only because we were running.

I didn’t see her or Kimberly anywhere, Stephanie informs me.  She is trying to hide it from me, but Stephanie is very concerned.  I can sense this quiet panic coming from her.

I also didn’t find them, I speak, and then I state, We should go into the restricted areas and look.  We need to find the main librarian and ask permission so that we may do so.  I rub my left forearm again as intense pain suddenly afflicts me.  It is as if daggers have pierced my flesh.  Such fierce blades must have attacked my pahdrooga.  We need to find her, so I ignore the pain and say, We should hurry.  Follow me.

* * *

The present…

3:08 A.M…

Central City…

The Dragon’s Teeth…

Close to the Wendigo Tunnels…

Before Kat met Cleo…

Katharine’s view…

I fall against a cave wall and nearly wipe out, but I manage to catch myself before I completely crumble to the floor.  I don’t think I’ll get up if I do fall down.  I’m so delirious.  I must be running a fever.  No, I’m cold… so very cold, so I’m delirious with the iciness Kardia is creating.

I glance around the dark area.  Where am I?  I should be close to the elevator or should I already be at the elevator or am I walking away from the elevator?  I don’t know.  I can’t doubt where I’m going, so I have to move forward, and I do.

I have my left arm wrapped around me, holding my bruised right ribs.  The arm’s bleeding… a lot of me is bleeding.  The blood looks funny… darker than it should.  I wonder if it means anything?

I was thinking something before… before I fell.  What was I thinking?  Oh… right…  I should really stop and tend to the biggest wound, but I’m afraid if I do stop, these tunnels will be my grave.  I can’t die, not yet, not until I finish my final task.  What is it I’m supposed to do?  Oh… that’s right.  I remember now.  I can’t give up yet.  I have to move forward.  The blood smells funny…  It looks funny, and it smells funny.

I drag myself toward the elevator, taking every step as if it will be my last.  My heart…  No, Kardia…  It’s…  It’s so very cold... so cold I think I’m already dead.  I’m sluggish and so is Kardia.  Maybe that’s why I haven’t bled to death already.  It feels like it’s barely pumping my blood.  I’m so cold I think my blood’s turning to ice, but I push forward… ever forward.  I have to make it to the elevator.  I have to… but why do I have to?  I can’t remember.  Why am I so hurt?  What happened to me down here?  I…  I wasn’t alone.  Someone else was down here with me.  Kimberly…  Kimberly was down here with me, and we were talking… talking about how our story ended and how…  We were also talking about how our story will end again or was it how I would leave the story after it has ended?  I don’t remember.  I’m so confused.  I just need to keep going until I reach the elevator.

I’m seeing double, so I close my eyes and grope my way along the wall.  The elevator is just ahead.  It has to be just ahead.  Please, God… let it be just ahead.

I open my eyes, and I’m not seeing double anymore, but I’m so lightheaded.

I drag my feet ever forward as much as I drag myself through a haze of memories and determination.  I just have one more thing I need to do, and then I can rest.  Rest is a nice word for it.

It’s so dark down here in the tunnels that it’s hard to tell if I’m going in the right direction.  I can barely see but there are scattered torches.

I’m holding Vishnu or more like the dagger’s hilt is tied to my right hand with my blood-soaked bandages.  I tucked its sheath into my waistband.  I think it’s still there.  I don’t have the energy to tilt my head down and look.  My palm is raw from having to grip the steel with my open wound, but I had to.  I had to.  There was no other way for me to win the fight.  She was so fierce and unrelenting as if...  I had to use my right hand.  The same hand that Kimberly inflicted her rage and pain on long before she took my life.  The fighting took too long and nearly killed me... kill me again.  I feel like I’m going to blackout, but I push through it and keep walking.  I tell myself I’m not allowed to blackout yet, not until I find someone who can…  Who can what?  What was I thinking?  The battle...  She was so fierce and unrelenting as if a demon lived within her.  She didn’t give up.  She fought me right up to the point where I took her life.

All that’s behind me now.  It’s so far behind me now as far behind me as the tunnels I have left.  Now... I just have one final task to complete.

I had been pressing against my large wound on my left forearm, but I don’t have the strength to do so anymore, or is it I can’t do two things at once?  It’s so confusing putting my thoughts into thoughts.  I groan…  I want to stop and curl into a ball, but I can’t, not yet.  What was I thinking about a few moments ago?  Crap…  I can’t think straight, but I still try to keep my mind active, hoping it will keep me from dying right here.  I was thinking…  I was thinking I need to use my right arm to steady myself… to keep myself up by using the cave wall as a crutch, and yet.., I seem to be using my right shoulder more than my arm.  I’m leaning toward the wall… no, I’m leaning on the wall and just pushing myself along it like I’m some giant sponge I need to wipe the wall with.  I don’t remember why I need to wipe the wall.  Maybe I need to wipe my blood off of it.

The majority of my energy goes into keeping myself upright… at an angle… and moving forward... moving ever forward.  I do manage to keep my injured left arm wrapped around myself, and since my shoulder is propping me up, I’m also able to wrap my right arm over the top of my left.  I hardly notice that I’m holding Vishnu as I hug myself, hoping the pressure and the Council S.C.M. jacket I’m wearing will suppress the bleeding somehow.  Hope…  I almost forgot a word like that exists.

I walk under a torch, glance down, and see that blood’s seeping from the wound and darkening the jacket’s dark green fabric.  The blood’s really dark.  I don’t think that’s good, but I’m also not an expert.  Maybe the blood looks weird because it’s under torchlight.  Wasn’t the elevator near here?

I trudge forward a little afraid I went the wrong way.  I have a very important task I have to accomplish.  I don’t have much time, so I can’t get lost.  I pass an area of tunnel that looks familiar, so I think I’m close to the elevator.  I softly laugh to myself and winch from the pain.  I’m depending on a familiar piece of wall to guide me to my destination.  I didn’t think I would make it this far, but I still have to press forward.  I’m still not sure that I’ll make it out of here, but I press on.  The elevator should be up ahead… it has to be up ahead.  I whisper another prayer.  Please… God… let it be up ahead.  There’s something I still need to do… something I can’t neglect and must accomplish no matter if it kills me.  I laugh…  Kills me…

I drag myself ever forward even though I feel like I’m standing still.  Am I really moving or have I already died and I’m dreaming of going to the elevator?  If I’m dreaming, I’m still alive.  I think… but that brings up the question.  Am I awake?

I press a finger in one of my wounds and grimace.  Yes, I’m alive, but I don’t know for how much longer.  I just want to curl up in a corner and scream… no, weep.  Maybe both.  Scream-weep…  I want to scream-weep.  It ended… my story with Kimberly ended.  It should have ended on that black snow-covered bridge but there was a short epilog, and now it’s finished.  Our story… has come to a very painful conclusion.

My thoughts drift behind me and focus on what was said and done between us.  Kimberly had been my hero… one of two people who saved me as a child, but…  She became the villain or was it I became the villain of her story?  Did we both end up as villains?

It doesn’t matter now.  I completed what I had set out to do...  No, that’s a lie.  I completed one task but grievously failed another.  I can’t fail this last task.

I think about my talk with Kimberly.  The heartache and the pain…  The gory mess is done.  I just have one last thing I need to do and then...  I don’t know what comes next.  Maybe nothing.  Maybe there’s nothing more to have.  I ended Kimberly...  I ended what there was between us or did she end what was between us with Pale Horse?  I’m so confused...  I know I’ve lost some blood from our fight... some... a lot...  I just know I can’t faint yet.  Move forward.  Keep moving forward no matter what.

* * *

Later that day…

4:18 A.M…

Central City…

The Dragon’s Teeth…

The Assassins Guild Library…

Natasha’s view…

I and Stephanie go in search of the main librarian and find him working among the books of the second ring.

Excuse me, I say.  We are looking for Overlord Rushlight.  Have you seen her?

I have not, he replies.

It is very important that we find her, I state, and then I ask, Do you know if she might have gone into the restricted areas?

Not that I have heard, but I just came on duty about an hour ago, he replies.

I inquire, Could you let us in the restricted areas so that we may look or maybe send your people in to look for her?

I know of Overlord Rushlight, but I do not know what she looks like, and I don’t think any of my staff knows what she looks like, so I don’t know how we can be of any service looking on our own, he answers, and then he says, As for allowing you in the restricted areas, I can allow the two of you in the third and fourth rings as long as I and a few of the Librarian Guardie escort the two of you.

Let us hurry then, I tell him, and then I add, The matter is very urgent.

* * *

The present…

3:29 A.M…

Central City…

The Dragon’s Teeth…

Close to the Wendigo Tunnels…

Before Kat met Cleo…

Katharine’s view…

I don’t know how long I’ve been walking… if I’m even walking and not standing still.  Am I alive or dead?  I feel horrible so I have to be alive.  I’m still wrestling with bouts of jumbled thoughts and clear thinking, and I still don’t know who’s winning.  I let out a great sigh and nearly pass out.  Can’t do that again.

I look down at myself.  I glance at my blood along with a lot of hers.  The color definitely looks weird.  I try to wrap my arms tighter around myself, but I think I’m losing my grip.  Or is it my sanity that I’m losing my grip on?

I don’t want to remember what I did, but I keep seeing glimpses of it in my mind.  It was so hard to win.  It cost so much and took everything I had.  Kimberly...

I think about our story again.  It had been born out of blood and fire.  I was so broken when I came into this world, but they saved me.  Theresa and Kimberly saved me and in turn I…  I stick my finger in my wound again and grimace less this time.  Theresa and Kimberly both betrayed me.  Theresa allowed me to believe all these years that I killed her.  I might have forgotten about it or the memory was wiped, but as a child living with Kraken, I still believed I had murdered her.  Theresa also allowed Kimberly to believe I murdered her mom, and Kimberly…  Kimberly couldn’t forgive me.  I begged her to forgive me, but she couldn’t.  Now… it’s all too late.  Nothing matters.  Nothing matters anymore but my last task.

I drag myself slowly forward.  I leave Kimberly... leave the wondrous and heart-wrenching life I had with her as I leave her down in these desolate tunnels.  I don’t have much time.

I finally see the elevator and quicken my snail’s pace to a turtle’s speed.  I enter the cage-framed mine elevator and notice the light was damaged.  That’s right...  I had been here before, and... well...  Things didn’t go as planned.  I activate the elevator, and it lifts toward the next level.  The machine hums, and the cables groan, and I wonder if this relic has the strength to see me to the top.  My strength is failing.  Someone… something needs to have the strength.

The moaning of old metal continues as the cage-framed elevator slowly emerges, and I get a sense that I’m nearing my next destination.  My head is bowed… I’m so weary…  I haven’t taken a look around yet.  My thoughts are still distracted with what happened and what I still must do.

The elevator comes to rest, and I finally lift my gaze.  The next level’s equally dark, lit by a few scattered torches.  I also see that someone’s there.  Is this hope?  It can’t be, not after what I’ve done.  I focus in on the person, and at first, I think I see Kimberly.  I nearly weep, but I know my eyes betray me.  It can’t be her.  Kimberly won’t be leaving from where I left her.  The gate to the elevator opens, and I just stand there willing myself to move, but I don’t.

I remember my last task and try to speak to the one I see.  My voice betrays me just as the one I saw as a sister betrayed me.  I stare at the person in front of me.  We stare at one another for a few moments as a sense of panic sets in.  How do I explain to her what happened?  My task… the one I completed and the one I still have to complete…  How do I..?

The one before seems relieved at first to see me, but then she…  Cleo seems to be afraid.  Is she afraid of me?  No…  Cleopatra is afraid of no one.  Does she sense my own fears?

I start to consider more reasons why she is afraid, but Cleopatra interrupts my thoughts and the silence with a question as she asks me, Where is Kim?  She went with you to the Magna Machina.

She.., I manage to mumble, but I can’t say any more.

I take a slow step toward her, and the glass that’s scattered about crunches under my military suede boot.  I feel like I’m going to faint, so I grab ahold of the closest bar of the cage-framed and just stand there.  I can’t stop here…  I need to finish my task, and a terror takes hold of me.  I need to tell her what I’ve done.  I need to tell her all the horrible things I’ve done.  I try to muster all my strength to do so, but I don’t get a chance.

Where’s Kim? Cleo questions me with a sense of dread in her voice.  She repeats herself when I don’t answer her immediately, Where is Kim?

I can’t will myself to speak.  Cleo looks upset.  She had looked terrified, but now she looks very upset or even angry at me as if I committed some great crime against her.  I did commit a crime against Kimberly, but why would Cleo care?  How would Cleo know?  Is it written all over my blood-splattered face?

Where is Kim? Cleo questions me again as she moves toward me.

My task…  I still have one task to complete, so I take a few steps toward her as I say, She…

Cleo waits for me to finish my sentence, but I can’t say anymore.  I’m starting to feel lightheaded… or more lightheaded.  My soul is so weary, but I can’t stop now… not until it’s all done.

Cleo looks down at my hand.  No…  I think she’s looking at Vishnu.  I did steal… borrow the dagger from her.  I would just hand it over to her since I’m done with it, but it’s so wrapped around my hand with knotted bloody bandages that I don’t think I can let go of the dagger on my own.

I look at the blade stained by blood... her blood.  I had ignored it since I last used it, but now I’m forced to face what I’ve done with Vishnu.  Blood is dripping from the blade, but I believe it’s my own blood.

I try again to say something to Cleo, but she moves toward me as if to… hurt me.  Whatever she had intended to do…  She just stops and seems to think it over.  Cleo looks so mad at me.  She has reason to.  Cleo must know or she must suspect what I did to Kimberly.  I’ll let her know for certain what she needs to do.  No thinking’s needed, so I take a few steps and start, Kimberly’s life…  I’m speaking so slowly, but I can’t help it.  It’s taking everything within me just to get the syllables out.  I say, She didn’t stand a chance.  She had no chance of winning if she fought…  I’m starting to see stars, so I need to hurry, and I mutter, I gave as good as I got.  I made sure–

Everything happens so fast.  Cleo pounces and grabs Vishnu as if to yank it from my hand.  The dagger’s going nowhere unless she cuts the bandages away.  I start to tell her what she needs to do to reclaim her weapon but there’s no need.  She’s so strong that she rips Vishnu from my grasp, ripping through the bandages as if they’re a single layer of toilet paper.  One problem solved.  Now I just need to tell her…

My face suddenly rushes into her fist… or is it her fist slams into my face?  The elevator starts to spin, no…  I’m whirling from the fury she enacted on me.  A fury that only took one punch to down me.  My thoughts fade to black as my task… my task is…

Chapter Two

Searching For My P ahdrooga

November 19...

Friday...

4:41 A.M…

Central City…

The Dragon’s Teeth…

T he Assassins Guild Library…

I and Stephanie frantically search the third and fourth restricted rings of the library.  I doubt my pahdrooga is here.  We finish, but I know there is another part of the library that we haven’t searched.  It’s the other restricted parts, and since my pahdrooga is Overlord Rushlight, she would have unrestricted access to them.  We will need Cleopatra’s credentials to search any higher.

The phantom pain returned a few minutes ago, and I was so relieved, but as my left arm continues to hurts… hurts as if daggers have pierced it, I curse myself for not going to the Wendigo Tunnels with Cleopatra.  I should have gone with the crusty old harpy, but I came here instead.  I keep wanting to run there, but I search my assigned area.

I am not sure if we should stay.  We can search no farther without Cleopatra.  Where are you..?  Where are you, my pahdrooga?

I rub my left forearm as it feels severely wounded.  I think again about how I had sensed when my pahdrooga had been shot in the hand by the vindictive Phoenix and now I fear I’m sensing some other wound, a great wound or wounds that has been afflicted upon her.  The Phoenix…  What did she do to my pahdrooga?

Stephanie questions me, What should we do?

We cannot wait here any longer, I tell her.  We should quickly go to the Wendigo Tunnels and help Cleopatra search.

Agreed, Stephanie says, and then she asks, But what if one of them comes here later?

I will contact Nikolai, and he can come and wait for her, I answer.  I can do so as we go.

I am coming, my pahdrooga, and I will save you if you need saving.  And I will kill anyone who needs killing.

* * *

Two days before…

November 17…

Wednesday…

8:39 A.M...

Noir...

Hellenistic Sectors' Chapter of the Freedmen Guild…

Maven Crackerjack finished his breakfast, wiped his mouth with his napkin, and set the napkin on the table.  He had slept well enough in the strange bed while staying at the Hellenistic Chapter of the Freemen Guild.  He wasn’t accustomed to eating meals with people or more like it had been a long time since he had done so.  Maven had eaten a few meals with Mr. Pinchbeck and Martha, but not on very many occasions.  It was nice, not to have to eat alone.  It was also nice to be surrounded by the finer things in life.

Mr. Irynkissgthie was there along with Paula, Milton, and Irwin.  Earlier, Mr. Irynkissgthie had taken Maven to see if one of Ginn’s Ciphers would adhere to him, but the Star Cipher didn’t accept him.  Mr. Irynkissgthie told Maven about Kardia, Ginn’s bloodline, and the Single Nucleotide Polymorphisms Mutated Trait or SNP MT.  He had learned much in the time he had been there but there was so much more for him to learn about the Freedmen Guild.

Much small talk went on at the breakfast table, and then when everyone had finished their meal, Milton stood to get everyone’s attention.

Paula, Irwin, we should be going, Milton spoke as he set his eyes on the exit.  We still need to inspect the products before they’re released.

You have mentioned these before, Maven said, and then he questioned, What kind of products do you make?

The Chimera Cabal glanced at one another, and then they turned to Mr. Irynkissgthie.  They would follow his lead.

Hephaestus replied, They’re more of a prototype than a product at this point.

You still haven’t told me what the prototypes are, Maven stated, and when everyone was still quiet about it, he said, If it is something you don’t want me to know about, just say so.  I know I am an outsider, and I can’t expect to know everything about the Freedmen Guild.

Hephaestus said, In due time, we will tell you about these prototypes, but for the time being, why don’t I show you the tree we have been talking about?

Maven questioned, Do you mean the one that the juice comes from?

The very one, Hephaestus replied as he set his napkin on the table.  He backed up from the table in his wheelchair, and then he headed for the door as he stated, The others will attend to the prototypes while we go and see the tree.  I believe you will be very impressed.  I know I was the very first time I saw it.

Maven stood and followed Mr. Irynkissgthie as Irwin, Milton, and Paula