Judge Dredd

FORTY-TWO

The flames licked at the heart of the pods, sending shadows leaping against the far walls. Dredd wrapped a shred of his shirt around his nose and mouth, but the smoke was too thick; nothing short of getting the hell out of there would help.

He couldn’t see Rico at all. The forest of incubators had turned into the center of Hell. Fire shattered the crystal tubes, mutants writhed and twisted in pain, caught in the terrible moment of horror between birth and fiery death. Dredd turned away. He didn’t need any more of this. The image was etched forever in his mind.

Rico caught him, his mind drifting for a second, his thoughts where a Judge’s thoughts had no right to be. The manual made it clear: Daydreaming is spelled D-E-A-D.

Rico hit him with a broken steel bar. The blow caught him just below the knee. Dredd went down. Rico raised his weapon for the final, killing blow. Dredd rolled, caught Rico’s leg with one hand, jerked him off his feet. Rico laughed, kicked him in the head. Dredd shook off the pain, grabbed Rico and held on. Rico grunted, tore his way free and pounded Dredd in the face. Dredd took the punishing blows, felt his mouth fill with blood. Dredd kicked him in the crotch. Rico took the blow on his thigh, pushed Dredd away, backed off. Dredd was sure Rico had fractured his leg. He watched Rico scramble along the floor, grab his Lawgiver.

“Shit,” Dredd said.

Rico laughed, gave the weapon a loud command. “Grenade!”

“All lethal rounds exhausted… Select…”

“Standard fire!”

“All lethal rounds exhausted… Select…”

“Smoke bomb, damn you!”

Dredd saw the muzzle flash, saw the round coming at him in a blur. It sizzled, then blossomed into a ball of liquid fire.

Rico howled. “Central, turn off the overhead lighting—now!”

The room went dark. Flames lit the curved walls of the room. Dredd struggled to his feet, fighting the heat that tried to gnaw through his chest. He turned on his back, gagged on the oily black smoke.

“Central,” he yelled, “turn on the damn lights!”

“Request denied. You are an escaped convict, Joseph Dredd. Surrender to authorities at once.”

Dredd swore, tore at his armor, finally ripped it free and tossed it across the room. Another pod exploded, sending mutant parts high into the air. Something fell close by. It had a half-sized head. The head looked just like his own.

“Central… Central, look, I’ll give myself up, okay? I’ll surrender to Chief Justice Rico… Locate, please.”

“Chief Justice Rico has entered Lift Nine-Nine-Oh… through the A door to your right.”

Dredd pulled himself up. Lift? What lift? It had to be the other way in, the real way to the Janus lab.

Dredd tried to find his Remington. The heat drove him back. The A door took him down a long and narrow corridor. It finally came to an end at a metal door. An ordinary button. A glowing arrow pointing up.

Dredd punched the button. The door slid back, shut again quickly, locking him in. He could feel the lift moving fast, rushing him from the depths. Where? Where did the thing go? It didn’t much matter. It was here, or stay down there.

He smelled Rico. Smelled his sweat. On the floor, smeared on the wall, Rico’s blood. He thought about Ferguson, dead back there. He’d done his part and then some. More than anyone could ask. Hershey… she had to be all right. He should have stayed, found her, but there was nothing left down there… nothing but the dead.

The door slid open. Dredd sucked in fresh air. Lightning flashed in the distance, crackling through the towers of Mega-City. Rain beat down upon his head. Soot ran down and stung his eyes.

Rico stood just beyond him. His face was red with blood.

“Waiting for you, brother. Thought you’d never come.”

“I’m here,” Dredd said.

Rico shook his head. He aimed the Lawgiver at Dredd’s chest. Thunder rolled through the blackened skies. Dredd guessed they were fifty, sixty stories high, the roof of Heavenly Haven, above the streets of Red Quad, where it had all begun.

“This is how you repay me, brother, for telling you the truth? How can you go against me, Joseph? I’m the only person in the world, in your life, who never lied to you.”

“You broke the Law. I did what I had to do—”

“Oh, no, brother…” Rico’s terrible grin twisted his features. “No, we won’t go through that business again. You will not limp away telling me about the Law!”

Rico closed his eyes, opened them again. Rain pelted off his face. He raised the Lawgiver, let its muzzle rest on Dredd’s head.

“Joseph Dredd, do you stand ready to answer for your crimes?”

“Rico—”

“Dredd!” Rico shook his weapon in Dredd’s face. “I hereby judge you, Joseph Dredd. To the charge of betraying your best friend… Guilty. To the charge of betraying your own flesh… Guilty. And finally, to the charge of being human, when we could have been… gods! Guilty!”

Rico’s eyes went wide. “The sentence is… death!”

Rico squeezed the trigger.

Click.

“All lethal rounds exhausted… Select…”

“No!”

Dredd let out a breath. Rico had forgotten. The madness had overwhelmed him, clouded his reason, shattered his mind like the crystal columns below.

“Damn you, fire!” Rico’s hands shook. He stared at the Lawgiver, as if the weapon, too, had betrayed him.

“All lethal rounds exhausted… Select…”

“Fire—FIRE!”

Dredd moved. His right hand struck out, a short sweep to Rico’s jaw. He forced the fingers of his left hand over the weapon’s grip, clamping down on Rico’s hand.

Rico looked at him. “Joseph… ?”

“DNA accepted,” the gun-voice whirred. “Select…”

“Signal flare!” said Dredd.

Dredd fought against Rico’s grip, wrenched the weapon up, away from them both. The night turned red. The flare singed Rico’s face and rocketed into the night.

Rico cried out, stumbling blindly away from Dredd. One foot found the edge of the roof, the other stepped into empty space.

“Rico!”

Rico flailed his arms, fell away. Dredd lunged for him, caught him by the wrist. Rico hung there, blinked up at Dredd with blind eyes.

“You saved me, Joseph? Why did you do that?”

The rain whipped down in a fury, the cold drops hard as stones.

“I’ll get you out of here. Hang on. You don’t have to die, Rico.”

Rico smiled. “All right, Joseph. I won’t.”

He brought his free hand up quickly, grabbed Dredd’s wrist and forced his hand free.

“Life sentence, Joseph. Works fine for me.”

Rico slid free.

“No!”

Dredd watched him turn slowly, his arms spread wide, watched him grow smaller, disappear in the dark veil of rain. His face was still there.

His face. My face…

He knew he was alone once more… hollow, nothing inside. Rico had taken it all away once, now he had taken it again.

Dredd was aware of the presence, the feeling of another person near. He looked up, saw Ilsa Hayden, the rain-soaked dress clinging to her slender form, the dark hair plastered against her cheeks. She held the Remington an inch from his head, showed him a gentle smile, drew her lips together, let them part like a lover’s tender kiss.

Usa’s head disappeared. A red mist hung in the air for a moment, then swept away in the driving rain. Ilsa’s body folded, slid to the edge of the roof, and followed Rico down.

Dredd turned. Hershey stood in the lift, a Lawgiver clutched in her hand. Behind her, Fergie sagged against the wall. His face was pale. A strip of Hershey’s uniform was wrapped tightly around his chest.

Dredd looked at Hershey. He shook his head at Fergie.

“You’re alive,” Dredd said simply.

“What did you think I’d do, die or something? Right when you and me were just getting to be good friends?”

“We are not friends, Ferguson. We know each other, we… Okay, we’re acquaintances. I’ll go as far as that.”

“Right. Close enough. How about that—other stuff?”

“I said it once. Don’t ask me again.”

“Honestly, Dredd…” Hershey said.

“All right. I’m dropping all charges. Do whatever you want. You’re free.”

Fergie laughed. Laughing hurt, but what the hell?

“I knew that,” he said. “What are friends for?”