Xenofall (The Wasteland Chronicles, Book 7) (22 page)

“It must have been a trap,” Ruth said.

Everyone looked at each other.

“How did they make...whatever it was...
sound
like you? Make gunshot sounds?”

“I don’t know,” Makara said. “But we’re wasting time. We need to go.”

“Do we backtrack?” Ruth asked.

“We have to,” I said. “We can’t go into those trees. We’ll have to find another route east.”

We stood for a moment in silence. My thoughts returned to Julian. I couldn’t believe he’d died. I kept trying to think of a way he might have survived, but there was nothing. If he was on that ship, he was gone. There was no way around that.

“Makara...” I said. “I’m sorry.”

She paused a moment before answering. “Let’s just go. I don’t want to talk about it.”

With that answer, we started walking.

***

A
s we backtracked, the trees on either side of us seemed unending. I didn’t remember it taking this long to get here, but then we had been running. I didn’t even suggest that we run now. Everyone looked so haggard that I knew such a pace couldn’t be kept up for long.

I came to a stop. Everyone else stopped, looking at me.

“We have a long way to go,” I said. “Might as well eat something.”

“Eat?” Makara asked. “At a time like
this?”

“This is not for fun,” I said. “It’s necessary. We have at least thirty miles to go, and maybe even more. We need energy to move on.”

Makara, at last, nodded. “I have some meat in my pack. And a fair amount of bread, still.”

“I have some fruit,” Anna said. “Together, they should make enough for a meal.”

“We’ll eat on the trail,” Samuel said. “There’ll be no more stopping. And be sure to conserve your water. I doubt we’ll have a chance to refill.”

As we walked, Anna and Makara dug into their packs for the food. Anna handed me two red apples and six dates; she had come prepared. I started on the apples since they had more moisture. I ate them
,
cores and all, before starting on the dates. Already, I felt some of my energy returning.

By the time I was done with the fruit, we had exited the valley and left the alien, webbed trees behind. To both the north and the south, the land rose, but to the north, the rise was gentler, so it seemed the better way to go.

Once we started up the hill, I took some bread and meat from Makara. Both were dry, and I needed water to swallow them easily, but I couldn’t have cared less.

We made it to the top of the hill after a few minutes of climbing. We looked east, toward the tree-filled valley. A narrow corridor ran between two large hills, each filled with xenotrees. Those forests joined about two miles away, at the end of the corridor. I realized that was where we had come from.

That forest extended north to south, separating us from the Crater like a wall. It stretched to either horizon, completely blocking us from passing.

“There’s no way through,” Makara said.

We just stood there, staring, as if some secret path might open. There was no way we could push through twenty miles of forest – we had barely fought through twenty feet. Even if the forest
didn’t
fight us every step of the way, trying to hack and slash our way through it would be nearly impossible.

We could try to get around, from the north or the south, to perhaps see if there was another way in.

“We could
really
use a ship,” Makara said. “Either that or grow a set of wings.”

“Quietus...” I said.

“Can you call her?” Makara asked.

“I could try,” I said. “Only, she was supposed to go to the Crater. She might not have even arrived yet.”

“We’ve got nothing else,” Samuel said. “Try it.”

I knew Samuel was right. There was no way we were getting through that forest.

I sat down, closed my eyes, and sought the inner quiet necessary for reaching a long distance. Doing that was easier said than done, and didn’t guarantee a result. Deep down, I felt my panic, my uneasiness, but I had to ignore that. Finding Quietus was more important.

A long time passed. I didn’t want to call Quietus until I was sure my message would carry far. I let my thoughts and feeling pass, kept my breaths even.

Quietus.

There was no answer in the stillness. As the silence stretched, I slipped even deeper into meditation. There was nothing but the void, my thoughts floating in a vast, black ocean – this was the realm where
Elekai
thoughts connected. If she wasn’t here, then she wouldn’t be anywhere.

So, I extended the scope of my thoughts further, expanding north, south, west, and especially east, toward the Crater itself. It felt risky, allowing my mind to go that far, but I wasn’t going to miss any opportunity to find Quietus. She was our key to getting to Ragnarok Crater.

Then, a voice answered me. I knew from the moment I heard it that it wasn’t Quietus, but someone else entirely.

***

T
his isn’t your place,
Elekim...

The thought disturbed my peace, like a pebble entering a lake. The voice was featureless; I couldn’t identify whose it was. This wasn’t Quietus, and yet it didn’t feel like Askala, Dark Voice of the
Radaskim.

Just as I was about to respond, the voice seemed to sense it.

Do not speak
.
Think nothing. Listen, for what I am about to tell you is of paramount importance.

I decided to do as the voice said, waiting for it to go on.

Good,
the voice said.
It’s best not to betray ourselves, even with our thoughts. Remember what I said about silence,
Elekim.
Already, I have overstayed in your consciousness and should depart. But I know what you seek. You wish to enter the Crater and treat with Askala. And if not treat with her, destroy her. Both notions are equally foolish, but I know that this will not dissuade you.

I wanted to ask who he was, but I remembered what he said about keeping silent.

I am the Nameless One,
the voice said.
And that is all you must know. I dare not speak like this, over such distance. Travel north, and you will find me in the hollow of the three hills. Come, before the sun rises. Some secrets can only be whispered in the dark.

And like that, the voice dissipated from my mind, leaving me reeling.
Whoever
the voice had belonged to, he couldn’t be
Radaskim.
But neither was he
Elekai.
If that was true, then what exactly
was
he? Sometimes, those with no allegiance were more dangerous than your enemies. But he had told me to meet him in the hollow of the three hills, that he had what I was looking for.

Troubled, I opened my eyes, to find my friends sitting on the ground, staring into the distance.

Anna was the first to notice me awake.

“He’s out of it.”

I had no idea who this Nameless One was, but the only way I could find out was by heading north, to the hollow in the three hills...wherever that was.

I rose off the ground, prompting everyone else to do the same.

“We need to head north.”

“What’s north?” Samuel asked.

I shook my head. “I have no idea, to be honest. A voice came to me. Not Askal. Not Quietus. Not even Askala. It was someone else, who called himself the Nameless One. He said he had an answer, that I should come north. He said it was in a hollow, and there were three hills.”

Everyone looked at each other, sensing a trap. If it was a trap, though, we had to walk into it willingly. We had nothing else to go on, and no other option had been given.

“We walk, then,” Samuel said.

Everyone looked at me, waiting for me to make the first move.

“He said to come before sunrise.”

“Sunrise is four hours away,” Makara said.

That meant I had been in my trance for a good two to three hours. We would have to hurry.

W
e ran due north, leaving the hills and the forest far behind. A flat plain spread before us in every direction, the pink, milky glow of the fungus stretching for miles. There was no change in elevation, and no sign of any of the three hills. I was beginning to wonder if it was all a trick to lead us out into the middle of nowhere, which was highly possible. If crawlers appeared on this plain, there would be no outrunning them. We were completely exposed, and our only option was to continue to run.

But there came a point where we just couldn’t go anymore. I was the first to crash, and the others weren’t far behind. As I lay there, catching my breath, my legs felt like fire.

Michael was the first to stand, looking into the distance.

“There’s nothing up here. Nothing. We must have gone ten miles by now.”

Makara was the next to stand. “We have to keep moving.”

She was right, if only because we had no other choice. If we gave up now and turned back, we’d be in the same situation as before, only worse.

Ruth looked to the south. There was nothing down there, either; nothing but featureless xenofungal plain.

Our only shot was to keep moving. We
had
to be believe it was there. We had nothing else.

Everyone now on their feet, we set off north again, this time at a walk. Every step was torture. My mouth was dry and pasty, and my breaths came out in shallow rasps. I was hesitant to drink from my diminishing water reserves. Somehow, even my
arms
were tired, although I hadn’t been using them.

“Remember what’s at stake,” I said, surprised at the rasp in my voice. “I know we can’t see those hills. That’s not under our control. There is one thing we can always control: putting one foot in front of the other.”

Maybe some of my words connected, because everyone seemed to pick up their pace

It was something, at least.

***

A
nother hour passed. Another hour with no results. Another hour closer to dawn.

Just when I was about to completely despair, a strange, bright light illuminated the horizon. At first, I thought it was the night ending, that we were too late. However, after two minutes of that light’s brightening, I knew that
had
to be it. It could be nothing else.

“There it is,” Samuel said, as if he didn’t believe it.

Our only response was to increase our speed. To the east, the sky was graying. Dawn would not be long in coming, and if we were to make it in time, we needed to run.

“It’s just a few more miles,” I said. “We can do it.”

So, we ran. As the minutes passed, the bright spot grew steadily brighter. After thirty minutes, I could make out the shape of two of the hills. If there was a third, it must have been hidden behind the others.

I didn’t know how I was still going. Sometimes, the only reason people keep going is because they had no choice. Stopping meant dying.

That was what would happen to us if we didn’t run.

By now we must have traveled fifteen, maybe even twenty miles total. I thought about all those men who had fought and died on the plateau. For all I knew, they were still fighting now. If I gave up, their sacrifice would be for nothing.

My throat rasped as I sucked in breath after breath. All we could do was take the next step – and the next, and the next.

It was 05:30 by the time the elevation started to change. We came to a stop at the foot of the first hill. The voice had said to find the hollow of the three hills. That probably meant the center.

I forced myself onward. The hill was steep, but manageable. The fungus made the terrain even and smooth. After ten minutes of climbing, we were halfway up the hill, and halfway across. To my surprise, the xenofungus thinned and then disappeared completely, replaced by hard rock and dirt. Even more surprising, there were some tufts of green grass, growing in the cracks of the rocks.

From our height, I could see the back hill, now, the largest of all three. These hills were oddly out of place, rising from the surrounding plain. The one we stood on was the lowest, while the second hill to the northeast was only slightly higher. The third hill, toward the north, was the tallest. In the center of the three hills was a valley. Or, I supposed, the hollow, and the sight of it was the most shocking of all.

Green forest filled it thickly, the trees earthly rather than alien. At the northern edge of the forest, at the foot of the northern hill, was a small lake, its surface dark and still in the predawn. A slight, silvery sheen cast the treetops with a subtle glow.

We hurried down the hill, making a direct line for the trees. As we neared, a sweet and foreign aroma filled the air, tickling at my nose. I didn’t know how to describe it, but I realized it was the smell of nature, of growing plants. It was something I hadn’t experienced all that often. I had no idea why these trees and plants would be here in the center of the Great Blight.

I stepped inside the first of the silvery trees. Even if I didn’t know much about trees, I could recognize some of these. Pines. Firs. Cedars. Most were evergreens, but there were others that flowered and bore fruit. And still, every plant emitted a strange, silver glow. That glow suggested this place wasn’t as earthly as it appeared.

We came upon a stand of short trees with thin fronds branching upward, their deep green leaves casting a silvery aura. Small, purple-blue fruits grew among the leaves, and many had fallen to the forest floor. I had no idea what they were, but all the same, I reached out and plucked one.

“Alex...” Makara said.

“It’s a plum,” I said. “Why are plums growing in the middle of the Great Blight?”

“That should be enough reason not to touch them.”

“I think they’re fine,” I said.

To prove my point, I took a bite.

“Alex...that was very stupid,” Makara said.

“It tastes good,” I said. “Actually...
very
good.”

Even though we had already eaten, it hadn’t nearly been enough. Around us was an entire forest filled with fresh fruit. The stupid thing seemed to be ignoring that fact and going without when we needed the energy.