Nuclear Rising

by Christian Smith

  Brig rolls her eyes, and snorting, replies, “I feel so honored, kid.”

  A deep throat clearing reminds us a crowd of waiting soldiers stares at our reunion, and both of us feeling a bit awkward, make our way to the front.

  “I delivered on my promise,” Eyre says, Bree staring blankly at my feet. “Time to deliver on yours.”

  Fishing in my backpack, I grab the fusion cell, wrapped in one of my hoodies, and gently handing it off to Eyre, I ask, “And we’re free to go, right?”

  “You have my word as a military man,” Eyre replies, now smiling like a schoolboy as he checks the battery. “In fact, the sooner the better so you can stay away from my daughter Quinn.”

  Bree immediately flushes, a shade of pink appearing on her cheeks.

  The soldiers leave Brig and I standing in the front, and as the group walks away, Bree slowly trickles to the rear of the line, and stopping for an instance, turns and quickly runs back toward us.

  She throws her arms around me, her warm softness engulfing me. I can’t help, despite the resentment, wrapping my own arms tightly around her.

  “Thank you for taking care of me Quinn,” Bree whispers, her hot breath in my ear. “Please come back to me soon.”

  “I promise.”

  It could’ve been several minutes that passed while we just held each other tightly, neither one wanting to let go until Brig finally murmured, “Oh for the love. I think I’ll head inside while you two horny kids get it out of your system.”

  At some point I feel my lips being drawn to Bree’s until her soft, warm lips collide with mine and we kiss, a sharp tingling rising through my body and connecting to where our lips interlock like perfect puzzle pieces, sliding back and forth as the passion takes over. Instead of the engulfing lust I felt with Celeste, I feel something much deeper, much more sublime.

  Bree exhales and with one last kiss, smiles with her full rounded lips, winks and says, “Hope that helps you keep your promise Quinn.”

  I dumbly reply, “Oh it definitely helps. Hope there’s more though.”

  Under her breath she whispers, “One day, Quinn. One day,” and walks off, leaving me staring at an empty hillside.

  “You done lover boy?” Brig says, suddenly appearing in the doorway. “I’d like you to meet my wife if you’re, uh, capable.”

  I shake off the trance and turn to see a beautiful, tall bronze-skinned Latina woman with a long, flowing summer dress and short, black, curly hair. She’s lean, toned, and her German chocolate brown eyes have a brightness to them as she stares at me smiling with bright, white teeth.

  I take her hand, saying, “Wow Brig. You did alright for yourself.”

  “Easy kid,” she says, smirking. “The only thing you two have in common is you both are crazy for women.”

  “Nice to meet you Quinn,” Helen says, “I guess Jo and I owe you our lives, and our marriage.”

  “Nah,” I say shrugging. “No big deal - I was the one that almost got Brig mauled by a bear. You’re welcome though.”

  “Would you like to come in and have some tea? Take a rest before we leave this hole?”

  “I’d love to,” I say smiling, and looking back one last time, I step through the cottage where a fresh scent of lemon and honey wafts into my nostrils.

  ┈┈┈┈┈․° ☣ °․┈┈┈┈┈

  I wake with a start.

  What time is it?

  A quick glance at the window suggests its late afternoon, as the dipping sun casts rays from the West. I had drunk tea, talked with Brig and Helen for about an hour and must have passed out for at least five hours. Brig sat scrubbing some plates near the sink while I could hear some digging outside in the garden, who I guessed would be Helen.

  Everything was normal, but something had screwed itself into my sleep, burrowed into my brain and triggered me awake.

  A warning? Or just a nightmare?

  Hurriedly, I reach into my bag, pulling the piece of parchment Sledge had passed to me with the codes to access the garage. Flipping the paper over, I could see Sledge’s chicken-scratch handwriting in very concise, but telling sentences:

  Quinn,

  The price for saving you all was my loyalty. Can’t explain now.

  Sorry.

  Something big about to happen. Revolution.

  Leave Vantage. Battery is dangerous.

  Sledge

  A pounding begins in my chest. My breath quickens.

  “Brig!”

  She turns, immediately reaching for a pistol at her hip, but seeing it was a false alarm, looks at me with exasperation.

  “Dammit kid, you scared me!”

  “Good,” I say, shoving the paper into her still-wet hands. “Something tells me we should be scared!”

  As she scans it, her eyes reach the bottom of the page, terror flashing in her dark eyes as she hurries to the window.

  “Helen!” She calls. “We need to go! Now!”

  I grab Brig, getting an immediate warning glance from her wild eyes. “We have to warn them.”

  “You mean we have to warn your girlfriend.”

  “They all deserve to know if something is going to kill them.”

  Brig grunts, spitting on the floor as she grabs a backpack stashed under the bed I was just sleeping in.

  “I guess you’re right Quinn,” Brig finally mutters. “But we have a serious problem.”

  I glance up at her eyes, throwing my own pack around my shoulders, taking a huff of lemon scent one last time. “What’s that?”

  “If that battery is dangerous, its only going to get worse.”

  “What do you mean Brig? What are you saying?”

  “You really think that noble General Eyre really intends to use that battery for the betterment of his people, to feed them, or to give them more running water?”

  Shrugging, I reply, “That’s what he told me.”

  “Yeah, well, it’s not.”

  “No?”

  “No,” Brig says, stashing a couple wedges of cheese in her bag. “Haven’t you learned yet kid? Everyone lies these days. I heard the soldiers myself talking about the grand plans Eyre has for that battery.”

  My heart was leaping from my chest now as we hurried to the front door, Brig surveying her home one last time before we stepped out as Helen joins us at the front, her elegant grace replaced by haste and worried wrinkles.

  “So what is he planning?” I ask, looking across the city where there appeared to be a huge parade going on.

  “He’s using it to send a message to Terra and Mechanicus tribes. Eyre plans to launch a missile right into Pyre.”

  “That’s insane though.”

  “More insane than anything else you’ve seen these days?”

  The realization of what she was saying finally came crashing like a rocket into my own brain.

  “But if they connect something really dangerous to something that Sledge says is dangerous, it might level the whole city. Or more, even?”

  “Exactly,” Brig replies with gritted teeth as we run, full sprint toward the town square.

  I could still feel her warmth on my lips as I only had one thought in mind. Only one thing, or one person mattered right now.

  “Bree…”

  CHAPTER 25

  Forces At Work

  The sound of clapping and shouting in the distance seems like a precursor to the screams of terror that are about to happen.

  My side aches, my legs burn, yet I press on, sprinting full speed with Brig and Helen to try to stop the inevitable from possibly happening. We’re now three blocks from the outskirts of the crowd of hundreds jeering and cheering as Eyre stands on a raised platform performing an impassioned speech.

  Bree sits with her head bowed silently, staring with a blank expression at her father’s feet.

  Behind them stands towering in the distance a large missile, measuring maybe fifteen or twenty feet, a concoction of gold and silver with blinking lights along the length of it – the eagle e
mblem of the Semper tribe spray painted in black haphazardly along with the words, “Big Boy is Coming For You.”

  “Those bastards will no longer treat us like their inferiors!” Eyre shouts as we approach a couple leather-bound soldiers with wire frames around their faces – a raiding party probably just returning. The smell nearly knocks me out as wafts of oniony body odor weave with the downwind breeze.

  The guards cheer by us, and stare suspiciously at us until we join in on the chanting just to appease them.

  “Warriors will not rest! Warriors will contest!”

  Men, women, and small children all viciously spit, hissing out expletives toward the Terra tribe. A five year old girl nearby screams loudly to burn them all with napalm while an old man shakes his head that Terra has gone too far this time.

  “They kill our warriors,” General Eyre shouts again, pointing toward the surviving Captain Wilson looking grim at his side holding a large assault rifle. “We will now show our strength, our power! We will take their land, make it our own, and their men, their women, and their children will be our slaves!”

  Another roar of cheers rolls across the crowd as we now make our way to the center, desperately shoving people to the side, trying to make it to the front.

  “Eyre!” I shout as loud as possible, though it just drowns out in the crowd.

  Bree’s eyes do a double take as she glimpses us running through a group of three women who angrily swipe at us. She sits up from her chair, covering her mouth tenaciously with her hands to keep from shouting.

  Eyre continues, this time pointing at the crowd, his eyes filled with a fiery rage I’ve never seen before. “All of you will witness today the power of Semper tribe. Assemble the ranks! I need every soldier to follow me into battle today – the day the history books will recognize Sempers as the rightful kings and rulers of this land. Let’s burn their city to the ground!”

  With that, Eyre turns, facing the warhead, saluting it as the noise erupts around us like a stadium.

  Bree stands.

  Brig and I rush to the stage, grabbing wildly at it.

  We climb.

  Eyre turns, staring at us with his rage.

  He lifts his hand.

  “No!” I shout.

  Brig yells as Captain Wilson tackles her.

  The tiniest motion of his finger ends with an ominous click as the crowd dies down in anticipation.

  Several hundred feet in front of us, a sound like thunder booms in the distance as the rocket shoots scorching flames against the concrete pad below it.

  Standing exasperated, my eyes wide as the rocket begins to lift off the ground, Eyre casts me a toothy smile beneath his red beard.

  “Thing of beauty, eh York?”

  “You don’t know what you’re doing!”

  “Oh I do,” Eyre says, tossing the little rectangular control over to me. “And I hope you know what side you’re on boy. Because when this thing hits that city, it’ll evaporate every last citizen there, and we will finally stop begging them for food. We’ll finally stop being subjugated to those pricks.”

  I shake my head. “You have no idea,” I reply, dropping the launch control to the ground.

  A loud noise reverberates through the air, making the platform shake below us as the crowd lets out a gasp. Windows vibrate and nearby a loud crash rings out as some shovels fall to the ground. In the shock, Brig wrestles free from Captain Wilson as we all pause to see what happens next.

  A blinding flash of blue engulfs the missile, which now sits about fifty feet off the ground.

  A dark circle clouds my vision.

  Boom.

  A palpable ring of energy emanates out from the missile which is now being consumed by the ever growing light, sending out shockwaves like a pulsar, each passing wave increasing in force.

  Eyre turns to me, shielding his eyes, and says, “What did you do?”

  “Nothing!” I yell back. “I tried to warn you, you stubborn piece of crap! We need to get everyone out of here now or else we’re all toast!”

  Seconds later, screams erupt from the people.

  “Take cover!” Eyre yells.

  I reach my hand to Bree’s, grabbing her forcefully around the wrists, pulling her off the platform. Brig does the same with Helen as we all scatter like bees from a hive.

  “Can you get us somewhere safe?” I grunt to Brig, receiving a nod of affirmation in reply.

  “I know a place, about five blocks from here. Abandoned house with a cellar – Supposed to be a bomb shelter from what the previous tenant told me.”

  Glancing at Bree, who now has eyes darting all over the crowd, I reply, “Let’s do it.”

  We’ve gone about a block, when an even louder shockwave rings out, this time knocking Helen to the ground from the force. Reflexively, I link arms with Bree, who whispers in my ear, “I need to find daddy.”

  “We can’t,” I say, gritting my teeth. “We’ll look for him after…if…well, I’m sure he’s good anyway.”

  On the ground lays a skinny man, bloodied against the concrete, probably trampled by the crowd passing through and though I stop for a second to help, Brig pushes us forward.

  “No time,” Brig says.

  Another two blocks down.

  Another boom.

  This time, we all fall to the ground like somebody pushed us like dominos.

  Brig looks wildly back at us, desperation on her face as she eyes Helen.

  “Faster,” she mutters under her breath, and I grab Bree, nearly picking her up from the ground by her arms.

  We cover the next two blocks in no time, sprinting faster than I’ve ever done before, faster than when a bunch of skulks or a mutant bear was following us.

  “There!” Brig yells, pointing ahead to a small one-story home made of bare aluminum siding with red paint chipping off, giving the appearance of blood splatters all over the metal. Toward the right side of the house, nearly swallowed by overgrown sagebrush is an entrance to the underground cellar.

  Brig rushes over, ushering me to help her open the cellar doors which have now rusted tight together, so that when I pull up with all my force, after about ten seconds there is a little give and a loud creak, and stairs leading down below are visible.

  “Let’s go!” Brig grabs Helen, letting her descend the stairs first.

  As Helen’s about halfway down, a sonic boom fills the air.

  The three of us look into the air.

  Complete silence fills my ears. I’ve gone deaf.

  But I can see the explosion that blasts in the sky.

  A fiery ball of red and blue intertwined grows exponentially in seconds as the strongest shockwave shakes the ground like a massive earthquake, knocking Brig down into the cellar, her head knocking against the concrete as she rolls down the stairs.

  Bree stumbles to the ground, a fresh cut appearing on her arm as it tears along a jagged rock.

  “Bree!” I yell, kneeling against the dirt while holding the heavy cellar door.

  Another rumble underground knocks me off balance and the cellar door drops with a loud bang as my head falls near Bree’s feet.

  The fire ball is just a block away, an enormous wall of flames rushing down the streets as it twists the metal in eerie melted contortions.

  A group of five men freeze just a block away from us.

  A second later, they evaporate into nothing.

  I wrap myself around Bree, covering her whole body with my own.

  “Don’t move,” I whisper, staring into her emerald eyes full of terror.

  Hastily, I reach into my bag, grabbing the metal object Sledge had given me earlier.

  The magical Hazmat suit.

  I throw it against my chest, pressing a button as a wave of warmth begins to pass over me.

  Blue light covers both Bree and I as a twisted mix of white and blue flames lick the air around us.

  I close my eyes and inhale.

  Then nothing.

  Absolute quiet.
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  Though my back feels like hot water rushes over it, I stay still.

  Because I know what’s out there…

  I open my eyes, staring at Bree.

  The heat grows against my skin.

  Bree whispers almost inaudibly, “I’m scared Quinn.”

  Trying an attempt to smile back, I reply, “I’ll protect you – I promised you.”

  And we wait while sudden death is just inches away.

  ┈┈┈┈┈․° ☣ °․┈┈┈┈┈

  It’s only seconds, but when you’re waiting for death, those seconds seem like hours.

  And though I’m sure I have a first-degree sunburn on my back, we’re both alive as I turn off the Hazmat suit and glance around.

  What I see is an uncanny dysmorphic city with twisted metal shapes and figures where there once stood rows of metal houses and shops. Instead of squares and rectangles, finger-like molten shapes reach from the ground like an eerie graveyard of metal. Plants, animals, people turned into dust and ash that swirls in the air. A horrid silence like a ghost town settles over what remains of the city and the smell of melted metal chokes my nostrils as the breeze ushers the pungent aroma toward us.

  Twisting off Bree, I look down at her, and she sits up with wide eyes and a mindless expression of shock.

  “You okay,” I ask, glancing toward the cellar where Brig and Helen were supposed to be hiding. The house that stood there before was completely demolished with its sheets of metal lying in a heap on the ground.

  Bree nods slowly, stands, and just stares down the stony walkway we had all just run down.

  Reading her mind, I say, “I’m sure your dad is fine. If we could survive that kind of thing, no doubt he has some bunker or something he could’ve jumped in.”

  Again she nods, muttering, “Yeah. I guess.”

  Walking over to the cellar doors, I reach down to the handle, but draw back as pain shoots through my hand.

  “What’s wrong?” Bree asks.

  “The handle – it’s burning hot!” I reply as my heart begins to race thinking about Brig crashing down the stairs.

  But before I can try again, the heavy metal door swings open, nearly knocking me off my feet as I stumble backward.