Trapped in Time-Extinction (23 page)

“Can’t we use our cutters to get out here and make it back to the wall?”

Tyler stared at the warrior for a long moment and fought to keep his patience. “There are six thousand plus infants in the building and about a thousand of us. Are you going to carry six of them with you as well as hold your cutter over your head?” The warrior visibly deflated in front of him and Tyler continued, “And while you’re carrying those screaming infants you’re going to be out in the open among God knows how many destroyers armed with rifles. Do you want to give it a go?”

“No.”

“Good, now get out of here and stop them from breaking through our lines!” Tyler looked at the other warriors with questions and they immediately ran away. He ran with them and moved to the top of the tallest building. He looked toward the coastal wall and saw something moving. A few minutes later he heard a loud explosion and the building a hundred yards to the east was hit with an artillery shell and exploded. Everyone on the roof dove to the floor and Tyler knew the Destroyers were adjusting the elevation of the huge cannon. The next shot wouldn’t miss. He put his head cover on and saw a dark cloud move over the wall. The red beams lanced out and the movement around the cannon stopped. He saw the cloud break apart and he yelled, “The Fliers are here, get up and pick your targets.”

• • •

Rory flew over the wall and saw the cannon fire toward the center of the city. He turned and dove on the cannon crew and beamed them out of existence. He banked away and flew north along the wall firing his beam at the street and buildings below. He turned back and saw a large orange cloud blowing east toward the forest wall. He spiraled higher and saw thousands of the Destroyers were running toward the building with the cutters glowing on top of them. He dove and twenty fliers joined him as he flashed toward the bright blue blades. He began firing at the Destroyers running through the building and discovered that the beams would penetrate a wall but not an entire building.

The Destroyers were hugging the structures to move toward the fliers trying to hold them off. He flew higher and waggled his wings multiple times. He knew many of the fleets’ fliers saw him and then he dove toward the tallest building with blue blades glowing at the top and landed on the roof. He nodded to Tyler and rushed off the roof as fliers began rushing in and landing on the roof. Tyler would send them down the steps and they would leave the building and join the other warriors fighting to hold their positions against thousands of Destroyers rushing in on them. Soon, fliers were landing on all four buildings and those still in the air were diving in at low level and beaming everything in their path. The fight took on an intensity that was horrifying to see. Gordon’s Unit reappeared and dropped oil into all the streets leading to the Care Center. They ignited the oil and a massive fire broke out and spread out into the surrounding buildings. He was careful not to drop any oil directly east of the four buildings where the westerly wind could drive it toward the beleaguered defenders. The fires left only one lane open into the area they were defending and the killing took on a new higher level as the Destroyers funneled into the street leading toward the care center.

Olivia stayed inside with the infants and saw the fear of the two year olds and the wailing of the babies was deafening. But drowning out their cries was the sound of war. The rifle shots seemed to never end and the screams of the dying seemed to cut right through her. She knew the man she loved was out in the middle of it and her fear was almost overwhelming. But she fought and held it together. A young girl was hit by a bullet that came through a glass window and Olivia held her until she died. She wept, put the little girl on the floor, and went to another child. Would this nightmare never end?

Suddenly there was a crash and Olivia looked at the back wall of the center and saw the large gun barrels enter the room.

• • •

Tyler was out of arrows and still they came. He fired his blaster until the beam began to dim. There wasn’t much more they could do to hold back the tide running toward the babies. He shook his head and closed his eyes. It was all for nothing. He had failed. Then he opened his eyes as a strange new sound exploded on his consciousness. He rushed over to the edge of the roof and saw a stream of bullets coming out of the Care Center and hitting everything in the street leading up to it. He rushed down the steps and looked at the front of the Care Center and saw Rory and Lance firing two of the new spitter guns. The small bullets were fired at a rate that was unbelievable. The two warriors swept the street in front of them and the Destroyers turned and ran to escape the hell being unleashed on them. Two of the buildings beside the street collapsed as the two guns shot out their foundations. Tyler saw the Destroyers were no longer advancing. He smiled and was suddenly thrown backwards as a Destroyer bullet hit him in the chest. He tried to speak but darkness quickly overwhelmed him.

The fliers still in the air swept in on the retreating Destroyers and, after another hour, none of them were still alive. The Flyers then formed a line and moved north beaming everything in their path. Some Destroyers tried to surrender but were ignored. The Community’s Warriors knew that anyone that would attack their own children was not worth saving. Two days later, it was over.

• • •

Olivia finally had some help arrive and she was dead on her feet. She went out of the center and asked Rory, “Where’s Tyler?”

Rory looked at her and she immediately saw something was wrong. She grabbed her throat with both hands and Rory said, “He was hit by a bullet and has been taken to Andy’s ship.”

Olivia turned and ran toward the harbor. Rory started after her but saw he was too tired to catch her. Tyler looked bad when they moved him. He lowered his head and shook it. He took a deep breath and decided to take command of the situation. He went into the care center and began yelling instructions.

• • •

Zeck led the fleet into the harbor and the crews anchored the ships close to shore while Andy’s ship was tied off at the pier. Andy walked down the ramp and looked at the smoke still rising over the city. Tyler had been brought on board and the doctors didn’t like what they saw. Mindy was still unconscious and did not appear to be getting any stronger. Olivia and Gordon were on board staying with their loved ones. Gordon had flown in and Olivia was rowed out right behind Tyler. She was holding up, but just barely. Gordon wasn’t doing much better.

He took a deep breath and shook his head. He knew Rory was handling most of the cleanup and Andy wondered how he was holding up. The initial reports said that more than eight hundred fliers had been killed by the Destroyers firing up at them from the ground. The red beams made them a target and the enemy was very accurate with their guns. Many of the fliers died from crashing when they could no longer control their gliders. He looked at Zeck standing on the ship and said, “Let me know when Steve shows up.” Zeck nodded and Andy led the hundred ground warriors into the city. They fanned out around him and were determined that no surviving Destroyer would get a shot off at their leader. Johnathan met him onshore and embraced him, “It’s been a rough day.” Andy nodded and Johnathan turned and said, “The center is this way.” Andy’s group fell in behind him and headed toward the large smoke plume. They arrived and Andy was amazed at the noise emanating from the building. The babies were wailing and he wondered just how many were in the building. He was stunned to learn there were at least six thousand.

Janet Worrell ran up to him and yelled over the noise, “The babies are hungry. I don’t know what they use to feed them. There was some kind of powdered food that they dissolved in water but we’ve run out.”

Andy looked around, “Does anyone here know what that food was made from?” Janet shook her head. Andy shook his head and said, “Janet, go get Olivia. Tell her we need her, now!”

Janet shook her head, “Andy, I don’t think she’ll come.”

“Ask her what Tyler would want her to do.” Janet stared at Andy and then went over and put on her glider pack. She ran to the top of the tallest building and jumped off. Andy watched her gliding toward the harbor as Rory came out of the center shaking his head. Andy rushed to him and wrapped his arms around Rory’s chest and hugged him, “You made the difference with the spitters!”

Rory shrugged, “How’s Mindy and Tyler?”

“They’re both still unconscious.” Andy shook his head, “Rory, it doesn’t look good.”

Rory shook his head slowly and said, “The hardest part of getting the spitters here was getting them off the wall and on a wagon to wheel to the center. Dodging the fire was no fun but my team really worked together to make it happen.” Rory paused and pointed over his shoulder toward the center, “I don’t believe we really thought this through when we decided to save the children.”

Andy’s brow furrowed, “Oh, why not?”

“How are we going to feed this many children on the voyage back?” Andy’s eyes opened wide. “Andy, our trip here took about four weeks with the wind behind us. Going home is going to take a lot longer. We don’t have nearly enough food to take care of ourselves and the children and God only knows what we’re going to feed the infants. Even in the community, the newborns are dependent on their mothers until they’re old enough to eat solid food.”

Andy started shaking his head and after a moment looked up at the sky, “We’ve lost too many brave men fighting to save them and I’m not willing to allow them to just die.”

Rory stared at him and shook his head, “It’s not a matter of what you’re willing to do; there are more than a thousand tiny babies in there that will die no matter what you want unless you can conjure up enough mothers to feed them. Their mothers are no longer available.”

Andy looked at Maxius who was walking over from one of the skirmish lines and said, “I want all our fliers to go into every Destroyer home and search for food that we can use to feed the children on the voyage back. You probably need to go in the homes anyway to see if there are any Destroyers still alive.”

Maxius nodded and said, “What about the infants?”

“I’m working on it!”

Maxius heard the stress in Andy’s voice and quickly left. He walked in the Care Center and saw the long line of cribs with screaming infants. Rory was right, they didn’t think this through. The infants would die of starvation, which was an awful, painful way to die. He knew the best thing to do was to kill them with the red beams but he knew who ever did that would carry a huge weight on their soul afterwards. So many died for his lack of foresight. What was he going to do? He knew if it had to be done, he was going to have to do it. He prayed Melody could forgive him if it came to that.

A
ndy saw the fliers in the Care Center doing their best to calm the children but it just wasn’t working. He felt a hand on his shoulder and he saw Olivia, “You wanted me.”

She looked like hell. Andy slowly shook his head, “I would have never called you but it appears I am going to have to kill all the infants.”

Olivia’s face suddenly animated, “For God’s sake why?”

“We didn’t think this through, Olivia. We have no way to feed the infants, much less the other children on the long voyage home.” Olivia saw the pain in Andy’s eyes as he said, “So many brave warriors died to save them and it looks like it was all a wasted effort.”

Olivia grabbed his chin and said, “Get every warrior available to come here now.”

“Why?”

“Will you just do it?” Andy nodded and walked out of the Center. Janie Carraker walked up holding a young boy and handed him to Olivia. Olivia looked at her shaking her head and Janie said, “You were holding him when you left. He hasn’t stopped crying until this moment. Hold him, if for no other reason than to reduce the bedlam.”

Olivia looked at the small boy and saw him smiling at her. She called a flier over and handed her the baby but it immediately started wailing. Olivia shook her head and said, “Give him back.” Olivia took the child and he smiled. He had to be about two. She blew out a breath and walked outside to find Andy had more than six hundred warriors gathered. Olivia raised her free arm and shouted, “Everyone listen!” The group grew silent and Olivia yelled, “Behind a large number of the Destroyer homes you will find small fields that have been planet with red, orange, and yellow pods. The yellow inside of the yellow pods can be ground up and made into a powder that can be mixed with water and used to feed the infants. The orange pods are used to feed young children up to the age of four. The red pods are good for anyone older than four. There are baskets outside those homes that you can use to gather the pods and I need you to bring the orange and yellow pods here now. You should also bring any water you find.”

Andy looked at her, “Are you sure about this?”

“Absolutely, how do you think those slaver ships could carry enough food for the large numbers on them.” Olivia paused and yelled, “You should also look for a large round metal bowl in those homes and a metal implement with a wooden handle. It has a grated face on it to grind up the pods.”

Andy looked at the warriors around him and said, “Tell everyone you encounter what we’re doing and get them working on it as well.” The group dispersed and Andy turned to Olivia, “Thank you so very much from saving me from what I would have had to do. If you want to go back to the ship…”

“No, grinding the pods must be done in a specific manner and I know Tyler would want me here making sure…sure that…”

Andy took Olivia in his arms and held her as she sobbed. The young boy wrapped his arms around Olivia’s neck and squeezed. Olivia forced back her tears and looked at the boy as he stared at her wondering what was happening. Andy looked at him and said, “He looks like Tyler did when he was that age.” Olivia leaned away from the boy who tilted his head and she saw he did look very much like Tyler. His eyes were the same color and his cheeks were high. His lips were full and he had the same lean look. His hair was a slight shade lighter but the resemblance was there. She pulled him to her hip and said, “When they arrive with the first grinding bowls and pods, come get me.” Andy nodded and Olivia went into the center. Andy knew how much she was hurting but she had the strength to do what had to be done. He prayed Tyler would live.