"Over here!" Lash and Jake both shouted. The father and daughter soon joined them, both panting with their hands on their knees.
"What happened?" Sean asked.
Breathlessly, Michael replied, "We were up north when we heard about a small group of Exterminators from Rebeca." He paused to catch his breath. "We all went west to get away from the highway. We were on our way back when we saw the fire. At first we thought it was a wildfire or something, it was so big. When people went closer, the fire started chasing them, at least that's what it looked like. We ran as soon as we realized what it was. Is that really a 'small' group of Exterminators?"
"No, we killed most of that group. This is a new bunch," Lash said.
"You killed some?" Michael said in surprise.
"Where is Rebeca now?" Valdez asked.
Michael looked over at Marie, his eyes asking if she knew.
"She wasn't too far behind us, I don't think," Marie said, looking back at the wall of fire that was now only a few hundred yards away. People were still scattering in front of it, trying to flee. The group began to take steps back.
"What about Lucas? And Alice?" Jake asked.
"They were at the school, last I knew," Michael answered. "Is Adam..."
"He's with the rest of the council leading the evacuation."
"Thank God," Michael said.
"Alright, everyone get across the bridge!" Valdez ordered as the Exterminators drew uncomfortably near. "Let's hope most of the people got out of the city."
As they began to cross, Valdez scanned the crowd for Rebeca. There were hundreds of people moving in all directions, making it near impossible to identify anyone. He stayed with Jake, Lash, and Sean at the back of the main crowd, pushing along any stragglers. Michael and Marie ran on ahead to find the rest of their family. The Exterminators had slowed their pace, returning their attention to disintegrating the highway and content they would eventually reach their targets.
The crowd was halfway across the bridge when the Exterminators reached the shore. Valdez stopped and looked back at them. They had paused for a moment, giving Valdez the fleeting hope that they might not cross for some unknown reason. Once the short moment was over, however, the Exterminators continued their march. Valdez turned back to the crowd and continued to run.
"Marco! Marco!"
Valdez turned around again. In horror he watched Rebeca limping along the highway in the distance, only feet away from the flames. He began to sprint toward her. Lash and Jake chased after him.
"Rebeca!" he screamed. The Exterminators were gaining ground on her. Their figures were hidden behind the inferno they projected. The fire was now raised off the ground so as to not burn the bridge they needed to cross. Rebeca tried to pick up the pace, but her leg had been trampled. She could only limp. As she struggled, she continued to call her former husband's name.
"Marco!" she screamed one final time. An instant later, her body disappeared into the chasing flames.
"No!" Valdez cried, falling to his knees.
"Come on! We have to go!" Lash said, trying to pull him up.
Valdez made no effort to move. He stared at the fire with tears in his eyes.
"Get it together!" Jake yelled, slapping the general across the face. Jake was uncertain what part of him that had come from, but he had no desire to stand still on that bridge any longer.
Lash and Jake helped Valdez up to his feet. His widened eyes still stared back at where Rebeca had once existed. He relented from his gaze and joined Lash and Jake south across the bridge. He tripped several times along the way, still in shock.
On the north shore of New Jacksonville, the few hundred people who had managed to cross the I-95 bridge alive looked back at the Exterminators. They had now turned off their flames and everyone could see them march in their black and red suits.
The nearby marines looked over at Valdez for guidance, but it was clear their general was no longer cognizant of his surroundings.
"Everyone keep moving!" a marine Major called, seeing the general in his absent state.
"No," Valdez ordered. The marines looked back at him. "We make our stand here. We'll never outrun them. Right here, right now... I want to kill these bastards."
"Sir, that's suicide. We can't..." the Major protested.
"Anyone who wants to run, run. Anyone who wants to die giving these bastards hell, stand and fight."
"Fight with what, sir? Our weapons won't do anything!"
"Then we charge," Valdez growled, looking intently at the dark figures who approached. Their suits were now illuminated by the moonlight as the storm clouds had begun to recede.
Jake looked over at Lash. "What do we do?" he asked. Silently she pulled out her shotgun. Sean nodded. He too would stay. Jake sighed and picked up a rock from the ground. "I knew I was gonna die on this goddamn highway," he said.
Many turned back and fled, leaving only about one hundred men and women standing at the bridge. All were certain this was their end.
"On my mark, we go," Valdez said. The Exterminators were nearly in range for their flame-throwers. Seeing the coming charge, they prepared to ignite them once again. "Ready... and..."
A loud call blasted in the air. "STAAA!" was all the astonished crowd could understand. It was similar to the calls the Exterminators had been heard to make before, except this time, the voice was Gresson's.
The Exterminators stopped their march and turned around to where the call had come from. Walking onto the bridge was half the population of New Salvador.
Chapter 51
New Jacksonville - December 19, 2072
Gresson put down the small acoustic megaphone device he had used for his call to stop the Exterminators. "Are we ready?" he asked.
Scattered throughout the crowd of New Salvadorians were suitcase-sized silver containers. A cluster of people were gathered around each one.
"Are we truly willing to do this?" Jordan asked.
"We already have done this," Gresson responded.
Everyone near the containers nodded in sequence to Gresson, indicating that they were ready.
Several of the Exterminators ran over to the New Salvadorians. After eying the group, one of them put her finger at the back of her neck and pulled, taking off the suit around her head.
"Alexander? Adron? You look... different. Is that really you?" she asked in her language.
We look older, Gresson realized.
"Hera," Adron replied in the same tongue as the woman. He took in a deep breathe. Gresson looked over at him, worried.
"We thought your ship hadn't made it!" Hera exclaimed. "None of us could see it after the jump. Alexander, your father would certainly like to hear from you."
"My father is alive?" Gresson asked, unsure how to react to the news.
"Most fortunately, yes! His ship landed in an area I believe is called 'Oregon.' I have such a hard time pronouncing their archaic language. Where is your ship?"
"Should we continue?" one of the Exterminators farther out on the bridge called to Hera, anxious to finish what they had started.
"Wait," Adron told Hera.
"Why? What is wrong?" she asked. "For that matter, why are you here?"
"We can take her back, Adron," Gresson offered, speaking in English.
"The time to choose sides has long passed," Adron replied. "We made our choice, and so did she."
"What are you saying? Is that... the language of these people? How did you learn it so quickly?" Hera wondered.
"Make the call," Adron told Gresson.
"Adron..." Gresson protested.
"Do it," Adron said.
Gresson put the megaphone device to his mouth, turned around, and called out, "Off!" in his mother tongue.
"What are you doing? Alex? Adron? I am very confused," Hera wondered. No one answered her. The New Salvadorians stood silent for several minutes. All the while, Hera continued pleading for an explanation. She began to pace back and forth, occasionally checking with her rema
rkably adept eyes to make sure the citizens of New Jacksonville were still standing at the other end of the bridge.
"Is this some kind of joke? We have work to do!" she finally exclaimed. Again there was no response.
A few seconds later, the same call Gresson had made echoed back in a different voice from New Salvador.
"Now!" Gresson yelled. Everyone standing near the containers began to open them.
"Adron?" Hera asked.
"I'm sorry, sister," Adron replied.
Out of the containers the New Salvadorians pulled a variety of weapons. They took aim and fired. Bright lasers of nearly every color zipped across the bridge from the guns, automatically targeting and tearing apart the now defenseless Exterminators. Their suits offered no protection from that type of weapon fire. The bright lights of the lasers could be seen in the night from miles away. Within seconds, the Exterminators had been exterminated.
Chapter 52
International Space Station - December 19, 2072
Andre was sleeping when Vadim shook him awake.
"There's something you should see," he said.
"What?" Andre groggily replied.
"Now!" Vadim exclaimed.
The shout was all the encouragement Andre needed. He unstrapped himself from the bed, pulled off his blanket, and followed Vadim over to the Clarity bay. Everyone on the station was gathered there.
"What's going on Vadim?" Jackie asked.
"Our scanners just found something," he answered. "They just found a lot of things."
"Really? What?" Andre asked.
"Here," Vadim said, pointing at a nearby screen. On it was an image of Earth. Scattered across the planet there were small colored dots. "Each dot corresponds to something we picked up. A few are distress beacons. Like this one..." Vadim pressed one of the dots. The speakers in the bay began to play what sounded like an emergency recording.
"...in case of national emergencies. If you hear this recording, find shelter and await further..."
"And this one," Vadim said.
"...general distress. All military personnel are ordered to report to commanding..." the recording played in Russian.
"Where are they coming from?" Andre asked.
"That's the odd thing," Vadim said. "All of them come from underground locations."
"Bunkers?" Jackie asked.
"It would seem."
"So someone must be alive."
"Not necessarily. All the them are just recordings. A variety of things could have triggered them."
"But why now? Why all of a sudden?" Andre asked.
"I don't know. There is also something else," Vadim said. He clicked on another dot. Relevant information popped up on the screen. "From what I can tell, most of what we picked up is coming from these. They seem to be unusual energy signatures, all around the world."
On a hunch, Jackie asked, "Are those the ships?"
Vadim marked the locations and brought up the data from August 3rd. Nearly a third of the ships led to the energy signatures.
"Wow. There they are," Jackie said.
"But where are the rest of them?" Andre wondered.
"Maybe they are turned off or something," Jackie guessed.
"What is most strange is that all of these appeared at the same time. What if they were always on but we couldn't pick them up until just now?" Vadim suggested.
The console began to sound an alert.
"What is it?" Andre asked.
"Someone, or something, is trying to access our files," Vadim replied. He began to investigate to see if it was merely a query or an intrusion.
"What if it's..." Jackie said, unwilling to finish her sentence.
"Why would the aliens need our files?" Andre questioned.
"I don't know. But this can't be good," she replied.
"I... I can't stop it," Vadim said.
"What do you mean?" Jackie asked.
"Whatever this is... it's not a normal connection. This is doing things that should not be possible. It's already starting accessing everything."
"You mean, everything?" Jackie asked, frightened.
"Yes. Unclassified and classified. There's only one thing we can do." Vadim pushed himself over to the pod's wall and opened a panel. Inside the wall was an array of humming computer hardware. Vadim flipped one of the switches. The humming stopped. A message appeared on the screen, warning the user that the computer had lost its connection to its data hard drives.
"What all did it get?" Jackie asked.
"There's no way to know," Vadim replied.
"Damn it."
Vadim tried to find more information on the computer about what had happened, but found nothing. Another alert sounded after he nearly given up.
"What is it this time?" Jackie asked.
"It's... a message."
Chapter 53
New Jacksonville - December 19, 2072
After the salvo of laser fire ended, the New Salvadorians put the weapons back into their containers. "On!" Gresson called through the megaphone device. The New Salvadorians began to cross the bridge, examining the dead. Adron and Gresson walked over to Hera's charred body.
"I'm sorry, Adron," Gresson said.
"Like I said, she chose this. It had to be done," Adron replied.
"Did they?" Jordan asked, her voice cracking from emotion. "Did any of them really choose this?" She didn't wait for an answer and headed back north for New Salvador.
"She'll be alright," Gresson said.
"I don't think any of us will ever be alright, Alex. Not after what we've done. Not after what we'll have to do. You were right. If there's one good thing to come from any of this, it's that it ends quickly. If that means getting help, so be it," Adron said.
They began to walk across the bridge. The asphalt was covered with bodies, splattered with blood, and littered with the weapons of the dead. Both men had a difficult time crossing without stepping on any of them. As they walked, the call of "On!" resounded from behind them. The signal was broadcasting again.
"The world is safe once more," Adron said softly, though he spoke with little relief.
As they walked some ways further, Gresson asked "Do you regret what we did? Saving these people? Not just today, but at all? We... we did what we had to do, so I do not."
"We did do what we had to, but I still regret it. I think regardless of coming here, we all still died a long time ago. Our lives merely exist now to do the most horrible thing in human history."
"To stop the most horrible thing in human history. We are stopping the worst genocide that has ever..."
"We have committed genocide. Our intentions do not matter. It was our actions that destroyed this world. And that is what we must live with."
"You can feel guilty all you want, Adron. But I've been with these people. I know that from the very beginning, we were right. Maybe this world's not worth saving. Maybe our race is not worth saving. But these people... they are worth saving. And I will die proud, knowing we did the right thing."
"I wish I thought like you, Alex. I truly do."
"Then think about this. Think about the future. Who's would have been brighter? Ours? Or our ancestors? And who deserved it?"
"I don't know. I do know they deserve their lives, and they deserve better than the ones they have now. But part of me wishes we had never come back. That we had just embraced death, taking the punishment that we deserved."
"I will not give up hope that our species can save itself. That we can choose to not make the same mistake twice. But Adron, if we want that, they need to know the truth."
"It's too big a risk. I'd rather let the future determine itself by chance than show them the path that led to our world."
"They can learn from it. They can do better!"
"You place far too much faith in the human race."
"It is not faith. I have been with them. I have seen a glimpse of what they can become. If we give our knowledge to the right people..."
"The
right people? But what about the right people's children? And their children? And their children? How far down the generations are you willing to gamble that none of them will give in?"
Gresson sighed. "Giving into that fear could get us all killed."
"Or it could save us."
The two men looked at each other and, for the moment, agreed to disagree.
On the other side of the bridge, the astonished survivors of the Exterminator attack slowly began to advance toward the New Salvadorians, still unsure if it was all really over. They examined the figures lying on the highway, figures that minutes earlier had been the cause of primal terror.
Valdez met Gresson and Adron in the middle of the bridge. The general extended his hand to his president. "Thank you," he said quietly as Gresson accepted with his own. Valdez continued to walk toward the spot on the highway where his former wife had recently died.
Jake, Sean, and Lash were next to meet the two men.
"Thanks for coming back," Lash said.
"I think it's time we all started working together," Gresson said.
"We'd like that, very, very much," Jake said with a relieved grin.
Gresson looked over at the dejected Valdez. "Is he alright?"
"Rebeca was killed right in front of us," Lash said somberly.
Gresson shook his head in sorrow.
"So what happens now?" Sean asked.
"We clean this up, restore order in the city, and then begin an offensive," Gresson said.
"You convinced your people to help us?" Lash asked.
"I convinced them that if they did nothing tonight, there was no reason for us to be here at all. Moving forward, I think they will be more willing to join you. They can no longer deny the threat."
"So, no more secrets?"
"I am... stilling working on that."
Jake sighed. "Of course."
On the south side of the bridge, the Case family had arrived, along with Lucas and a few members of the council. Stunned, they surveyed the scene with uncertainty. A few minutes later, they regrouped with the others on the bridge.
"What happened?" Alice asked, the question they all had in mind. She was using a walking stick now due to her partial recovery over the past two months.
Darkness on a Pale Blue Stone Page 26