Necrotic Earth

by SW Matthews

  H194 turned his main cannon backward and dove straight down. As the three soldiers followed him down, he took them all out with a single blast. He pulled up at the last second and rolled to a halt on the ground.

  The battle raged around him. Chinese soldiers and green-cloaked civilians worked together to beat back UNA soldiers in robotic suits. Servo-scouts were zipping through the chaos, firing on UNA forces and speeding away before they could be attacked. Above, more incoming servo-soldiers were knocking the flying UNA soldiers from the sky. And through all of it, UNA drones were firing their EMP blasts at the UNA forces.

  We’re winning, H194 thought.

  A monotone voice came through his headphones. “All servo-soldiers, disengage all land-based battle. If airborne abilities are lost, power down and relaunch. Missile defense system has been compromised. Multiple incoming ballistic missiles. Target and destroy all incoming missiles. Repeat, all servo-soldiers launch now. Intercept incoming missiles immediately.”

  H194 launched instantly, turning on his targeting system as he went. Dozens of missiles were coming in fast from the west, and many more were coming from the south.

  “H194 heading west,” he said as he hit maximum velocity.

  The gap closed rapidly, and soon he could see the oncoming devastation. The sky was full of small dark spots with bright plumes. We won’t be able to stop them all. There’s too many, and they’re coming too fast.

  “We need more troops,” he said.

  “On our way,” came the reply.

  But H194 knew the reinforcements would be too late.

  He aimed himself at the nearest missile and double-checked the intercept trajectory. The explosion sent a stimulation shock wave unlike anything he had ever felt, but it lasted only a split second, and then everything was black. He was back in his bed at the Hotan base, but he couldn’t hear or see anything.

  A moment later his goggles flashed back to life, and he was once more in the launching tube. He shot out, and into hell. The sky was on fire, and nuclear explosions were occurring in the distance all around him. His targeting system notified him of more incoming missiles, and he moved to intercept one, but it was too late. The missile detonated right above him.

  He was again enveloped in darkness. He knew he was back in bed, but even here, at the base, he could feel the tremors of the explosions above him, and he could faintly hear the frantic voices of people all around. He waited impatiently for his next sentry to activate.

  It never did.

  Chapter 68

  “Give up this foolish crusade, Katherine,” said Braxton, now standing just a few feet in front of his daughter. “You’re smarter than this. Surely you see that the events set in motion cannot be stopped. Soon this war will be over. We have the Chinese tech, and the scientists responsible for it. The replicator and gravity research are now ours! Combining that technology with our advances in genetic engineering, fuel cells, and alternative propulsion systems will enable us to take the first steps off of this planet within the decade! Don’t you want to be a part of that? Just think of it! Human settlement of Mars! You and I can work together! We will create the perfect civilization, planned out to the most minute detail!”

  “Now you want me to work with you?” Katherine said. “You left me to rot in a medically induced coma for twenty years! You let everyone think I was dead while Cregor experimented on me!”

  “I made sure you had the best possible care, Katherine. No expense was spared to ensure your health.”

  “All you had to do was turn off the anesthetic and I would’ve been fine! Why would you let him do that to me?”

  “Katherine, please try to understand,” Braxton pleaded. “Cregor started the project without my knowledge. By the time I found out about it, it was too late. The first child was gestating. Then Cregor lied to everyone about the death of the child, and you, during delivery. I wanted to see your body, but he said he had cremated you. It wasn’t until after the child was actually delivered, years later, that he told me the truth. I was furious, of course, but the child… the child, Kat… he is incredible.”

  Kat glared at her father. “He is,” she admitted.

  “And the serum is invaluable! Look at this!” He removed what was left of his tattered shirt, exposing his fully healed torso. “Having this ability alone makes the prospect of space travel much, much easier. Of course I wanted to wake you up! To let you know what had been accomplished! But Cregor said you had suffered an aneurysm during the delivery. He told me the anesthesia was off, but you wouldn’t wake up.”

  Kat eyed her father suspiciously. “And you believed him?”

  “I didn’t think there was any reason for him to lie to me. He had come clean to me about you and the child. I never dreamed he wanted to keep using your body. I didn’t know anything about his continued experiments on you, or anything about the other boys, until many years later.”

  “But you did find out eventually. And even when you knew… you still left me there.”

  Braxton sighed. “I did.” He looked her in the eye. “And I regret that, Katherine. I’m sorry. The truth is, I regret many things I have done, but they had to be done. I know you can understand what I’m talking about. Someone had to step up and make the decisions no one else would. Someone had to act as an advocate for future generations. I will be remembered as the savior of humanity.”

  Kat shook her head. “If someone like you is needed to ensure our survival, then maybe our species deserves to die.”

  A burst of gunfire rang out, and Braxton’s chest exploded in a shower of blood. Elvis had come to his senses and was firing at the trillionaire.

  Braxton staggered, but kept his footing. He turned toward the source of the gunfire, his body already repairing itself. He looked down at his chest, then smiled at Elvis with a wild look in his eyes. “I have never felt so alive!”

  He leaped onto Elvis and broke the man’s neck in the same motion.

  Braxton picked up the dead man’s rifle. “Very well,” he said. “A few more lives mean nothing in the grand scheme of things.”

  Doc, Rosie, and Jaq were still standing together by the door so Braxton raised the rifle and aimed at them, to take them out quickly with one burst. He pointed the rifle at them and fired.

  But Kat stepped in the way. The bullets pounded the back of her suit as she shielded them. Luckily the suit, which was made using the same substructure as the military suits, was bulletproof—but the electronics were not. Kat herself survived the assault unharmed, but the suit was rendered completely non-operational—a worthless husk.

  Braxton emptied the rifle, then dropped it and walked toward his daughter. “Guess I’ll have to do this the old-fashioned way,” he said.

  He stepped around her to look her in the eye. She couldn’t move, now that the suit was broken, and she couldn’t speak, either—her voice-collar and been knocked loose by the vibration of the gunfire and was dangling uselessly from her neck. “You could have saved them, Katherine,” Braxton said. “You could’ve joined me, and I would have let them live. Now…? Now you can watch them die.”

  He turned away from her and faced Doc. “Ah, Billy. Such a disappointment you were. I had such high hopes for you.”

  “I’m sure you did, Dad. I’m sure you thought I would grow up to be just like you: a cold, distant, uncaring man who was only concerned with making more and more money.”

  Braxton smiled. “I never heard you complain about having too much money.”

  “You’re right,” Doc admitted. “And I thank you for that. I’m not sure I’ve ever told you, but I did appreciate being wealthy. Having money made life easier, and I never went without anything I needed. Except a father.”

  “Now, Billy. Is that really fair? I was there when I could be. Running a company like ours required a lot of time, but I still made an effort to be a good father figure.”

  “Uncle Cinco was my father figure!” shouted Doc. “He loved being around us kids. All of my best
memories are with him.”

  Braxton sighed. “Billy, you just don’t understand…”

  Doc shook his head. “No, you don’t understand! You’ve never understood me, Dad. Just like you never understood Uncle Cinco. We’re doctors! We help people, one on one. We make a difference in their lives.”

  Braxton smirked. “Yes, you always wanted to be like Cinco, didn’t you? You idolized him.” He stepped forward, grabbed his son by the shirt, and pulled him close. “But the truth is, you didn’t even know him.”

  Jaq was suddenly on Braxton, pulling him away from Doc. “Leave him alone!”

  With on hand, Braxton grabbed Jaq by the throat and lifted him in the air. “Who is this idiot?” he snapped. He looked first at his son, then over at Rosie, who was crying. “Some friend of yours, Roswitha? Is this the driver who helped you escape in Denver?”

  “Please, Grandpa. Don’t hurt him.”

  Braxton ignored her plea. He eyed the young man angrily—and began punching him in the face, over and over.

  No! Please, Grandpa! Please, stop!” Rosie was on the ground, pulling at her grandfather’s leg and sobbing, but Braxton continued the pummeling. Doc tried to stop him too, but Braxton threw him aside easily.

  Braxton paused to admire his handiwork. Jaq’s face was beaten to a pulp. Both eyes were swollen shut by hematomas, and the rest of his face was torn and bleeding. Blood poured from his mouth, and several tooth fragments were stuck in his lips. Braxton smiled, then squeezed the man’s neck until he felt a satisfying crunch.

  He dropped the body to the floor, then turned his attention to his granddaughter. “I’m sorry, my dear, but no more loose ends.”

  “I think it’s my turn, Grandfather,” came a voice from behind him.

  Braxton turned. Bandit was calmly walking toward him, holding his sword with both hands.

  “William!” exclaimed Braxton happily. The old man still had a wild look in his eyes, and he was smiling broadly. His white hair was disheveled, and his bare chest and arms were covered in blood. “I believe you’re right. It is your turn… to die.”

  Braxton rushed Bandit, immediately moving within the long blades’ arc. He grabbed Bandit’s wrists and held them still.

  Braxton laughed. “Always so morose, so serious. You know everyone was worried about you when you were little. No one could understand why you were so distant.” He tightened his grip and pulled Bandit closer. “But I knew. I knew the whole time.” He gave a knowing smile.

  Bandit stared at his grandfather, unable to pull away. “No… you couldn’t have known.”

  “What is he talking about, William?” asked Doc, now sitting by Rosie and helping her attend to Jaq.

  Bandit’s stare bored into his grandfather’s face. “Don’t!”

  “Your precious son, Billy. And your brother before him.”

  “What?” said Bandit.

  “You didn’t think it was just you, did you? Oh no, you weren’t the only one, William, just the last one.”

  “Dad, what are you talking about?” Doc said.

  Braxton continued to hold Bandit firmly by the wrists, but he faced his son as he spoke. “Your hero, Billy. My brother, Cinco. He was a child molester.”

  “What?”

  “Shut up!” Bandit shouted. He leaned back and kicked Braxton in the abdomen with both feet as hard as he could. He must have taken the old man by surprise, because Braxton’s grip loosened, and Bandit fell to the floor. He scrambled back and to his feet, still holding the sword.

  Braxton waved a hand at Bandit dismissively as he continued to address Doc. “That’s what happened to your brother, Billy. He was one of Cinco’s pets. When your mother found out, your brother killed himself. And then, when she realized she couldn’t do anything about it, or stop Cinco, due to his position and power, she killed herself too. A few years later he started playing with William here.”

  Doc was crying now. He looked at Bandit. “William?” he said through his tears. “Is this true?”

  Bandit’s face was stone. “It’s true, but I didn’t know Grandfather knew about it.” He faced the old man again. “You could have helped me. You could have stopped him!”

  Braxton nodded. “Perhaps. But I was busy. I had bigger issues to deal with.”

  Doc shook his head angrily. “Willy, and Mom. All because of Cinco? And then you let him prey on my son? How could you let all of that happen, Dad?”

  Braxton shrugged. “Willy had no interest in taking over the company. He wanted to be an artist or something. And your mother and I had problems for years. There’s nothing I could have done to save her. As for William here… well, he never really showed any promise at all, did he?”

  Doc was stunned. “You just wrote them off. Just like me.”

  “You were a lost cause ever since you became obsessed with my brother. You worshipped Cinco. What you didn’t know was that your mother was the only thing keeping him away from you, too.”

  “Because you wouldn’t do anything. You wouldn’t even try to save your own family.”

  “Oh, I was saving people, Billy. Braxton Incorporated was slowly taking control of the entire world. I couldn’t afford any type of family scandal surfacing, so I buried the whole thing. I had to focus my energy on keeping the company on the right path, and find someone with the right ideals to take over for me at the appropriate time. For a long time, I thought that Katherine was the answer,” he motioned toward his daughter, still hanging helpless in the broken suit, “but when she became involved with Hoff, I knew I was wrong. Clearly her judgment was questionable. And then I considered Roswitha. She was certainly smart enough, and I hoped she would become a worthy heir… but she decided to go to medical school, and I realized I was wrong about her as well.” Braxton looked at his granddaughter and sadly shook his head. Rosie looked from her grandfather to her father, then Jaq began coughing so she directed her attention back to him.

  “Luckily, once the serum was perfected, I realized I didn’t need to find someone else to run the company. Suddenly, an heir was… unnecessary. As you have seen here today, I can heal from anything—forever.”

  Bandit stepped forward and swiped at his grandfather with the sword. Braxton tried to dodge but the blade made a deep cut on his arm, which quickly healed.

  The old man laughed. “I’m not really sure what you hope to accomplish, William. Why don’t you settle down and accept your fate, like you did for Cinco?”

  Bandit quickly spun away from his grandfather, as if stepping away from him, then continued to spin through a full turn to gain momentum. As he completed the circuit he swung the sword as hard as he could.

  Braxton was surprised and didn’t have time to dodge, only raise his hands to block the coming attack. The freshly sharpened blade easily passed through skin and bone, and Braxton’s hands and head flew from his body. Blood spurted from the severed arteries, and the body fell to the ground.

  “My name is Bandit,” growled the young man.

  After a moment he stooped and picked up his grandfather’s head. He carried it outside and threw it off the deck, into the ocean below. Then he re-entered the observatory.

  His father and sister were looking at him in shock.

  I didn’t want to take any chances,” he said.

  Chapter 69

  Jaq lay on the floor, coughing and gurgling, struggling to breathe, attended to by Doc and Rosie. Bandit was helping Kat in her damaged suit, and securing the voice-collar back around her neck.

  With a gust of wind and rain, the door to the deck opened, and Andy and Piper stumbled in, followed by Luis, with Bash over his shoulder. The newcomers collapsed in despair and exhaustion.

  Doc ran over to help. “He’s losing a lot of blood,” he said calmly as he examined Bash.

  “We lost Rico,” said Andy. “And Tuck.”

  “Tuck?” Doc looked at Andy, then Piper.

  “He was here, Doc,” she said sadly. “He was alive.”

  “Was?”

>   Doc looked excitedly at Piper, who diverted her eyes and cried. Andy shook his head sadly. Doc understood and looked down.

  Jaq started gagging. “We’ve got to do something, Dad!” Rosie screamed.

  “Air Force One,” said Kat weakly. “Air Force One will have an emergency medical suite.”

  “Bandit,” Doc said, “get Kat out of that thing and carry her. Andy, help me with Jaq. We need to get him and Bash to Air Force One, stat!”

  Soon the group was hurrying back to the landing pad. As they raced into the huge aircraft, Maxine Lorentz tried to stop them. Doc allowed Andy to take Jaq the rest of the way as he addressed the president’s chief of staff.

  “Cole’s dead, my father’s dead, and these two men are going to die unless we can use your medical equipment to stabilize them.”

  All business, Max ushered them into the craft’s medical suite, where Rosie and Doc got to work. Andy, Piper, and Luis sat in leather seats outside. Bandit seated Kat in one also, then stood nearby. Max hovered with a commlink in hand.

  “Swear in Speaker Belloq,” she said to whomever was on the other end. “Yes, Sullivan was right. Cole is dead. Do it now, and proceed with the meeting. Everyone of importance is already in Calgary.”

  She lowered the device and turned to the group. “What is going on here?”

  Andy answered. “You’re taking those guys to Denver University Hospital. We’re going to China.”

  Kat smiled at him and nodded.

  “Luis,” Andy continued, “you can go with these guys to Denver and explain everything to Sepe.”

  “Tell Firi that Rico died saving us,” Kat added. “And Elvis.”

  Luis nodded. “I will.”

  “You can’t go to China,” Max said. “It’s been destroyed. We fired over a hundred nuclear missiles at them. There is no China.”

  “Then this’ll be a real quick trip,” Andy said.

  Doc appeared in the doorway. “Bash is stable, but Jaq needs specialized medical attention right away or he’s going to die. His face and his trachea are crushed. His airway is a mess. We couldn’t intubate him, and his neck is too damaged to perform a cric or a trach. Rosie has an LMA in, but we can’t use too much pressure or it just leaks into his neck. We’ve called Skorz. He’s getting the OR ready, along with the new ventilation fluid, but they need to get there ASAP.”