Xenofall (The Wasteland Chronicles, Book 7) (20 page)

W
e’d been traveling ten minutes when Lauren’s voice returned.

“Alright,” Lauren said. “I’m here.”

“Are you in front of the screen?” Samuel asked.

“Yes.”

“Password is ‘Raine’. With an ‘E’ at the end.”

“Alright,” Lauren said, a moment later. “I’m in.”

“Head to Nuclear Development. Everything is already programmed. You only have to initiate the launch sequence.”

“How?” Lauren asked. “How many are we launching here?”

“Just one,” Samuel said. “Silo Six. It’s programmed to fire. Just click on ‘launch’.”

“Samuel...”

“We have to do this, Lauren,” Makara said. “Men are dying.”

Lauren sighed. “Alright. Initiating.”

We waited for what seemed a very long time, when in reality it was probably more like thirty seconds.

“Lauren?” Samuel asked.

“It’s not working,” she said.

“Go through all the steps,” Samuel said.

“I did exactly as you said,” Lauren said. “It’s showing the silo to be online, but it’s still armed. Isn’t it supposed to give some indication that it launched? Wouldn’t I have heard it?”

“It’s old,” I said. “It might not be operational.”

“Alright,” Lauren said. “It’s saying system malfunction.”

“What is the nature of the malfunction?” Samuel asked.

“I don’t know!”

“There should be a dialog box of details.”

“It’s...indecipherable. ‘Process could not be executed, vector error.’”

“Vector error?” Makara asked.

“Something’s off about the flight path,” Samuel said. “I must have programmed it wrong, so my inputs have conflicted with the desired target.”

“Meaning?” Makara asked.

“Lauren can reprogram it to where the system can find its own flight path,” Samuel said. “Automatically.”

“Why didn’t we do that the first time?” I asked.

“I was afraid the system could fail, after so many years and with satellites in a questionable state of functionality. So, yes. I programmed it myself. Apparently, it didn’t work out.”

“If there’s a chance the missile could miss, maybe we shouldn’t take the chance,” Makara said.

“I agree,” I said.

“What do you propose instead?” Samuel asked. “Without some heavy damage to the
Radaskim,
that army won’t last much longer. Besides, Augustus has already told his men to pull back.” Samuel paused, letting that sink in. “We can’t just reset.”

Makara sighed. “I don’t know. Augustus expects that nuke to fall where it’s supposed to. What if it doesn’t?”

“If it hits the wrong spot, it hits the wrong spot. We can’t do anything about that. The army will be dead either way.

A long pause followed, everyone thinking.

“So, what are we doing?” Lauren asked.

Makara paused a breath. “Do it.”

“Alright,” Samuel said. “Click on Silo Six’s program. Clear the flight path. Then hit auto-program.”

“Just a second...”

We waited while Lauren worked. Anna clenched her fist on the control stick, keeping pace with
Perseus
nearby.

“Got it,” Lauren said. “Launch?”

“Yes,” Makara said.

“It just went off,” Lauren said. “I heard it.”

“I’ll let Augustus know,” Makara said.

“Lauren,” Samuel said. “Good work.”

“I guess we’ll see about that soon, huh?” She paused. “Michael? Is he there, on the bridge? Put him on.”

Anna and I looked at each other. Michael was still knocked out on the floor.

“Uh...he’s fine,” Anna said. “He just...took a hit to the head.”

There was a long, cold silence following that statement.

“I’m sorry...
what? Y
ou’re only telling me
now?”

“He’ll be fine,” Anna said. “It doesn’t look too severe.”

“And how long has he been like this?”

“Not long,” Anna said. “Look...we’re waiting for him to come around. He’s breathing, he’s comfortable, and he’ll be fine. Alright?”

“No,” Lauren said. “Not alright. If you’re going to the Crater, Michael needs to be at his full capacity, otherwise...” Lauren paused. “What if he’s still knocked out by the time you reach the Crater? I want him here.
Now.”

“There’s no time, Lauren,” Makara said. “We have so much riding on this and we can’t spare the extra two hours. By then, it might be too late.”

“That’s my
husband!”
Lauren said.
“I
launched that nuke for you, and now you’re just going to send Michael to die?”

And that was when Michael coughed.

Anna and I turned around, seeing him try to lift himself off the floor.

“Whoa, stay there, buddy,” I said. “Don’t move too quickly. You took a nasty hit to the head.”

Michael looked up at me. “Yeah. I might not be Einstein, but I know that.”

“Michael?” Lauren said.

“Lauren, he’s awake,” I said, then asked him, “How you feeling?”

“Like shit, but yeah. I’m here.”

“Michael...” Lauren said. “Baby, you alright?”

“Fine, honey. Right as rain.”

“No, you’re not. I can hear it in your voice.”

Michael didn’t answer for a moment. “Okay. I
will
be fine. Got a splitting headache, though.”

He pointed toward my canteen. I passed it to him, and he took several giant pulls.

“Something knocked you out,” Anna said. “I just found you lying there.”

Michael lowered the canteen. “I lost sight of the group, somehow. Next thing I know...everything’s dark. I think a Behemoth might have gotten me.” He paused a moment. “Yeah, I remember now. Big one, too.”

“Michael...” Lauren said. “Are you going to be okay to fight? I mean...what if you have a concussion, and after that writhe...maybe going to the Crater isn’t the best idea. You have me and Callie here.”

“I can’t miss this fight,” Michael said. “The whole world’s depending on us. That’s how I’m going to protect you.”

“You need to be
here,”
Lauren said.

“I can’t back down now,” Michael said. “I’ll make it back.”

“No, you won’t! You’ll
die
if you go there! Anyone with half a brain knows that, which
you
probably do after that knock to the head.”

Michael said nothing.

“Sorry,” Lauren said. “I didn’t mean that.”

Michael looked at me. “Where are we, anyway?”

“We’re on our way to Ragnarok Crater. And a nuke is on its way to the battlefield.”

“That bad, huh?”

“Michael,” Lauren said. “Are you okay?
Really?”

“Yeah. Just fine.”

She sighed. “You’re not just saying that to make me feel better?”

“If I could have it any other way, I would,” Michael said. “If we fail...no one’s getting out of this alive. Honestly, Lauren...I might die. We have to accept that. That’s what’s going to happen to everyone if we can’t do this. I would never forgive myself if I sat by doing nothing when I had the chance to help.”

Lauren was quiet, knowing she had lost the battle. It was a long moment before she spoke again.

“I’m just sitting here, watching the screen, waiting for the missile to hit. It’s halfway over California, now. You’re far enough away, aren’t you?”

“Far enough,” Michael said. “We’re fifty miles out by now.”

“Michael...I’m not ready for this. I
can’t
let you go. I...”

“I know,” Michael said. “We’re the only ones standing between Askala and the end of the world.” Michael paused. “I don’t know why, but I believe we’re going to win. I believe we’ll be coming back. We’ve gone through so much...it’s not impossible, is it?”

Lauren became quiet. The two ships continued their steady course northeast.

Finally, Lauren gave a long, heavy sigh. “Two minutes, now.”

“We’re over Nevada,” Makara said. “Keep trucking.” A moment later, she was speaking to Augustus. “Augustus? Two minutes.”

When Augustus answered, it was amidst the screams of dragons and crawlers.

“They’re acting strangely,” Augustus said. “Like they know it’s coming.”

“Are your men pulled back?”

“Such as we can,” he said. “We’re bracing for the impact. Carin says we can hold here. Where are you?”

“Over Nevada.”

“If we’re still here after, Makara, we’ll let you know.”

“One minute,” Lauren said.

“Take care, Augustus. Thank you...for everything.”

“Even if we die,” Augustus said, “you must not. Promise me that you’ll make it. Promise me we fought this for a reason.”

“It wasn’t for nothing, Augustus. It was for everything. We’ll make it to Ragnarok Crater if it’s the last damn thing on Earth I do. I promise you that.”

Augustus didn’t respond

“Ten seconds,” Lauren said.

“You better go,” Makara said.

“Goodbye, Makara.”

The next moment seemed to stretch for an eternity. At last, on the LCD, a bright light colored the distant clouds, visible even forty miles way. There was no sound – just that light. In time, the colors ebbed, and there was nothing but silence on both bridges as we flew east.

It was ten minutes before the speakers once again crackled with Augustus’s voice.

“It hit,” he said.

“Are you okay?” Makara asked.

“That...remains to be seen. I can tell you that it was too close. Many of my men were burned. All the same...it killed many of the crawlers. That giant...
thing...
is gone.”

Above the clouds, we were so far removed from the carnage. The most we had seen was a miasmic burst on the trailing horizon, coloring the crimson clouds with a brief brilliance. Of the untold destruction the nuke had unleashed, we could know nothing.

Augustus, however, could. It was
all
he could see.

“Can you hold?” Makara asked.

“I’m standing on the edge of the plateau. The xenofungal plain stretches on for miles. The slope is incinerated; flames cover the expanse. A few crawlers are all that remain. In the distance, beyond the impact site, more of the
Radaskim
are replacing the ones the blast killed. We stand here now, to hold the western ridge for when they attack. They
will
come again.”

Makara paused, considering her question. “How much longer?”

Augustus hesitated. When he answered, his voice was thick.

“I don’t know, Makara. An hour. Maybe two. This is all we have left to give, Carin and I. I haven’t even seen Char and Marcus.”

At that statement, everyone was struck silent.

“We’ll be at the Crater in two hours,” Makara said. “You have Lauren’s frequency. She knows what to do.”

“We’ve given everything for this,” Augustus said. “I will die on this plateau. I see that now. They’re coming again. The men stand, but they, too, know they will die.”

“Augustus...” Makara said. “Don’t give up.”

“We won’t, Makara. We won’t. That’s not an option. All we can do is stand until we can’t stand anymore.” He gave a short, bitter laugh. “That’s all anyone can do. Even an Emperor.”

“It’s not over, yet,” Makara said. “Hold on.”

Despite Makara’s words, it felt as if a curtain was being drawn over the world. We were running from the curtain, but no matter how fast we ran, we couldn’t escape the gravity bearing it down.

“Strange,” Augustus said.

“What?” I asked.

“The eastern sky is darkening,” he said, “but I can see your friends have come.”

“The
Elekai?”

“Yes,” Augustus said. “The men will take courage, even if they are only a few.”

“It may be what we need,” Makara said. “Even if they give you a few more minutes more, that might be enough.”

According to the LCD, we were now halfway over Nevada. Every passing minute brought us closer to death.

“Augustus?” Makara asked.

“Yes?”

“Thank you.”

Without another word, Augustus cut out.

***

A
n hour passed. While we were on cruise, Anna took the chance to clean up. Since my condition wasn’t half so bad, I remained on the bridge to keep an eye on things.

She didn’t take long, returning with clean shirt, jacket, and camo pants.

“Updates?”

“Nothing,” I said.

Anna resumed control. We were making better time than expected, but it was hard to be thrilled about that. We were over the northwestern corner of Colorado, deep in Askala’s turf. We hadn’t heard anything from Augustus. We were completely on our own, and when we dropped through the clouds, there was no telling what would happen.

Then, the fateful words came.

“Prepare for descent,” Makara said.

“Copy that,” Anna said.

“On my mark,” Makara said. “Cut off communications. I have no idea if she can hear us, but they speak using radio waves. Better to be careful.”

“Roger that.”

Anna, Michael, and I watched out the windshield. The sun was halfway obscured behind the top layer of clouds, coloring it like molten metal. As we ducked below, I watched the reddened sun. I wanted to remember it, because where I was going, there would be no sun.

At last, we entered the thick cloud layer, turbulence shaking the ship. Anna said nothing, though everything about her was tense. I stared out the clouded windshield, unable to see anything through the glass.

“What’s the plan?” I asked. “Just...land by the Crater?”

“I’m following Makara,” Anna said. “After that...I don’t know. I guess it’s time to do some walking.”

We continued to descend at a steady pace. At long last, the clouds ebbed, revealing the glowing, xenofungal surface below. I peered into the distance, but even with the light from the ground, I couldn’t see anything. We were still thirty miles from Ragnarok Crater, much too far to see it clearly, even from up here, although the eastern horizon was red and luminescent. That light had to be coming from the Crater.

Nothing stirred in the air or on the ground. To the south and east spread a thick xenoforest of tangled and interlocking trees, silvery and purple in the dusk. Several Xenoliths rose from their dense depths at regular intervals.

For two minutes we flew in a straight line, not changing our course or speed. I expected dragons to attack at any moment. But the skies remained empty, dark, almost...placid.