Origins (The Wasteland Chronicles, #2) (20 page)

I still felt the shock of it all. My life ever since Bunker 108 had been nonstop action; hunger, cold, being chased, and nearly getting killed hundreds of times had transformed me from an innocent kid into an adult. My face in the mirror looked tired, but tough. I had been scrawny before, but since Bunker 108 I had gained a lot of muscle, especially since starting to recuperate at Skyhome. I ran the rings every other day for an hour straight, sprinting during some of the stretches. I lifted weights, did pushups, ate until I almost burst, and slept. I threw myself into it, and even started practicing my hand-to-hand combat with Samuel.

Within a few weeks, Samuel’s sling came off. Being in Skyhome with the good food, warm sun, and close-knit community did wonders for his health. Though I still had to take it easy on him, he was a good teacher.

Up here, I finally had time to think. I thought about my dad, Khloe, and everyone I had lost back in Bunker 108. It got to the point that I didn’t even know who I was anymore. That was why I threw myself into my workouts, my reading, and my farming. It was as if everyone had their own sorrows to deal with. The sorrows were like walls that kept us on our separate islands. Maybe that was why Ashton wanted us to stay here awhile before continuing with our mission – whatever our mission was, these days.

As for Samuel, he was gone a lot. He and Ashton spoke every day, sometimes for hours. It made sense, because they were both scientists, and they were probably sharing information they had learned about the xenovirus. I hoped that, together, they could come up with some idea of how to stop it. Every day, when I saw Samuel at dinner, I asked him what the next step was. Finally, he told me to just chill out and relax.

I told him I didn’t remember what that was.

My nightmares returned up here, this time featuring crawlers, Howlers, and the monsters we fought with no name. Worse, I’d dream of my father and Khloe. With nothing to do, I had all the time in the world to process what I had just gone through. I tried to keep as busy as I could. I got back into my drawing. We each had our own rooms up here, and I kept the artwork in a drawer. I drew people, mostly. Anna let me draw her while she was practicing, although she had not been too happy about it. Said it made her feel self-conscious.

As much as it creeped me out, I also drew the monsters we had found. I thought they might be educational for Ashton in some way. I named some that had no names. The three-headed one we fought in the hallway on our way to the runway I called a “Hydra,” the birds I called “Flyers,” and the giant humanoids I called “Behemoths,” since that is what Marcus the Exile had called them. And, of course, there were the crawlers and the Howlers. I wondered how many other types of monsters there were.

And Makara...she just stayed in her room, mostly. We did what we could to draw her out, but she wasn’t biting. Somehow, I think, she blamed herself for Lisa’s death. She came out to eat, and she kept herself in shape as much as the rest of us, and had a job monitoring solar equipment. But she just wasn’t there. It was both scary and saddening to see something finally breaking her, and it wasn’t from the outside. It was from within.

Once we got back to the surface, Makara would probably be better off. Hell, all of us would.

All the sitting around had gotten me thinking too much. It was better than getting shot at, or surrounded by turners. But it didn’t feel like reality anymore. Skyhome was enormous. The three rings combined had a walking distance of a mile and a half. That accommodated a lot of people, and was a lot of space to move around in. It was an amazing feat of engineering. Actually, amazing was an understatement.

Still, Skyhome wasn’t Earth. I felt like a rat in a cage, and I was itching to go back home, as crazy as that sounded.

Skyhome was safe. But maybe I didn’t want safe, anymore.

T
he day finally came.

Ashton called us to his office. It was his first time meeting with us since Bunker One.

Ashton was not only Chief Scientist of the United States; he was its top-ranking official. That technically made him the President, but he didn’t call himself that.

“At current expansion rates, the xenovirus will have taken everything over in twenty years,” Ashton said. “At which point, the human race on the surface will most likely be extinct.”

We stood silent as he faced us. Beyond the ports was the blue-green glow of Earth, swathed with pink and white cloud. Bright bands of stars streaked the cosmos. Ashton looked at each of us in turn.

“So, what do you want us to do about it?” I asked.

Ashton let the question fall to the wayside as he steepled his fingers. “With you and your team, I can finally get started on that.”

“Get started on what?” Anna asked. “Why can’t someone else in Skyhome do it?”

“Because no one in Skyhome is capable of what you guys have done,” Ashton said. “You crossed the Great Blight, raided Bunker One, and retrieved the Black Files – among other things, I’m sure. No one here could have done as much. None of us would have dared to do it, because we all
knew
just how bad it was. You and your team have been to the surface and have survived there for years. No one here has that kind of experience. In short, I
need
you. The world needs you. You are the only people who even have a
shot
of pulling off what I have in mind.”

Anna sighed. “No pressure, then.”

“Before you go on, there is something I need to know,” I asked. “Was it you who opened the door to Bunker 40?”

Ashton nodded. “I heard your voices through the camera there. While I could not communicate with you, I heard you clearly. All the Bunkers’ security systems are linked to Skyhome, and Bunker 40 is one of the few we still receive feedback from. It recently went offline, so its critical systems, such as Bunker security, run on backup battery power. When you mentioned Chief Security Officer Chan, the xenovirus, and the Black Files, I decided to open the door. The Imperials had been trying the same thing for months, but I wasn’t going to let them in.”

“What about the plane?” I asked. “Were you controlling that as well?”

“I did not control the plane, though its course to Bunker One was plotted through Skyhome’s navigational system. It was sheer luck that the station was above North America at the time; otherwise we would not have been able to communicate. I knew as long as you guys made it to the Bunker One labs, I could radio you there.”

“Was there not a radio on the plane?” I asked.

“There was,” Ashton said. “Unfortunately, I could not figure out how to contact you, as much as I tried. The radio in my lab at Bunker One – I
do
know how to communicate with that. The Imperials got there first, however. I could not open those doors until they were dealt with.”

Makara turned her head away. The deaths of Harland and Drake had cost Lisa her life, and that fact wasn’t lost on any of us.

“Finally,” Ashton said, “when Makara mentioned my name, I let open the doors.” Ashton paused, as if to collect his thoughts. “Rather than surprise you all with my voice, which would have distracted you from finding the Black Files, I instead rushed to upgrade Samuel’s clearance remotely so that he would have no trouble accessing the Files. I waited, and listened to your conversation, hoping that Samuel would explain everything adequately. I was prepared to fill in any missing information, but he explained it all rather well.

“However, it became clear that you could not remain in Bunker One long. Skyhome’s surface monitors intercepted a sound wave from Ragnarok Crater indicating that the swarm was on the move. In connection with what you just learned in Bunker One, I surmised that the Voice had discovered your presence, and was calling for anything controlled by it to converge and attack you.

“That was when I spoke to you all, from this very office, warning you to get to the runway. After that, I rushed to the
Gilgamesh
. I could be at Bunker One within thirty minutes. I didn’t think you would have that amount of time. Turns out, I made it to the runway just in time.

“And we’re here,” I said.

“Quite the story,” Makara said.

“Indeed,” Ashton said. “But now that we’re all here, and you know how you came to
be
here, we can focus on what needs to be done. You have had a month to rest and gain a sense of normalcy in your lives, such as normalcy counts. We must plan for the future.”

“What do you mean?” I asked.

“Xenofall is coming,” Ashton said. “And you are going to be the ones who stop it.”

“How?” I asked.

Samuel turned to face us. “Back in Bunker One, I talked about there being a central hub that communicates with the xenofungal network. Ashton came up with much the same idea, and we think there might be something to it. However, we can’t know anything unless we have feet on the ground.”

“You need someone to investigate Ragnarok Crater, don’t you?” I asked.

Samuel nodded. “That’s right. The only thing is, it’s the oldest part of the Great Blight. The turners will be thickest there, especially if there is some sort of central hub controlling everything. They’ll want to protect it.”

“What makes you think there
is
a central hub?” Anna asked.

“The question isn’t
‘is
there one’,” Dr. Ashton said. “It’s a question of
where
it is. The wavelength monitor picks up a frequency coming from the Crater, so that’s where it is. The question is getting there to destroy it.”

“And what will it look like?” I asked. “Is it a brain, or...”

“We don’t know,” Samuel said. “That’s what we need to find out.”

“So how do we get in there without being seen?” I asked.

“There’s probably no way to get in there without being seen,” Samuel said. “It’ll be an all-out battle.”

“There’s four of us,” I said, “and you want us to fight a battle against
everything?
I don’t think so.”

“That’s where the first part of our mission comes in,” Samuel said. “We’ll need reinforcements.”

“And where are we to find these reinforcements?” Anna asked.

“Down there,” Samuel said, pointing to Earth. “We have two spaceships up here, the
Gilgamesh
and the
Odin
. We can take
Odin
.”

“Who’s going to fly it?” Makara asked.

“Please, pick me,” I said.

“Makara is,” Ashton said pointedly. “I will show her everything there is to know.”

Makara’s eyes widened. It was the first time I’d seen them light up in weeks. “I could learn that.”

Samuel smiled. “I thought you might like that. Once we get situated, there are still a few things we need to take care of. Number one on our list is stopping the war between the Empire and Raider Bluff. This will mean contacting both Char and Augustus. We will need both if we are to take the fight to Ragnarok. We also need to locate Bunkers 76 and 88. After soldiers, we want their weapons and supplies. And it would be good to find out if they are still around.”

“Alright,” I said, “stop a war and find a couple Bunkers. Should be easy.”

“We should also go to L.A. and Vegas,” Samuel said. “It’s a long shot, but they are the most populous cities in America at the moment. If we can get any of the gangs interested, they could join us in the attack.”

“They’ll be too busy being at each other’s throats for that,” Anna said.

“We have to try,” Samuel said. “I’m sure they are worried about the Blights as well. Who wouldn’t be? When we offer a plan that could destroy the Blights, they’ll listen.”

“How will we get everyone to the Crater?” I asked.
“Odin
, from what I understand, is smaller than
Gilgamesh,
and even
Gilgamesh
and
Odin
together wouldn’t be big enough to transport everyone. Not by a long shot.”

“
Odin
is S-Class, but is the oldest of the four ships,” Ashton said. “And yes, it is smaller than
Gilgamesh
. It holds eight crewmen. But that is for long-term flight. Together, I’ve calculated that both ships together can carry well over a hundred passengers. It’ll be like sardines, but it could be done, no problem.”

“So we will board both ships with a strike team of the very best,” Samuel said. “Meanwhile, the vast majority of the army will enter the Great Blight from the southwest, near where we entered it. Hopefully, that move will draw the attention of the turners and the Voice that commands them. With luck, that will leave the Crater undefended. That’s when we drop in, find the hub that controls the Voice, and kill it.”

“Alleged
hub,” Makara said. “We still have no idea if it exists or not.”

“It does,” Ashton said. “Something is behind the Voice. If that can be destroyed, the entire invasion will be directionless. It is something we must do before the second wave comes.”

“Even if we manage all that,” I said, “even
if
we kill off this Voice thing and stop the xenovirus from spreading...what do we do when
they
come?”

Ashton answered. “No one knows what that will be like. We can’t predict what their numbers will be, or what fighting capacity they will have. I will communicate with you all from Skyhome while you’re on board the
Odin
. I’ve been pointing Skyhome’s telescope into space constantly, but have yet to discover anything.”

“Seriously, you’re giving us your ship?” Anna asked.

“I wouldn’t unless the matter called for it,” Ashton said.
“Odin
is all yours.
Gilgamesh
will stay here.”

“How long will I need to be trained to fly it?” Makara asked.

“There’s not much to it,” Ashton said. “I learned the controls within a month. In the meantime, Samuel, your team can continue to recover here while Makara trains.”

“So I guess a month from now, we’ll be starting,” I said.

We had our work cut out for us. We would know, very soon, which of us would be extinct: us, or
them
. After what I had seen of what the xenovirus could do, I didn’t think the odds were in our favor.