by T. C. Edge
With our hovercar crushed, we rush to find another, but find it impossible. Most are destroyed or locked or otherwise unusable.
“We have to run,” shouts Jackson. “As fast as we can…the city is coming down.”
Our jog turns to a gallop as we dash through the city, moving around the perimeter towards its Northern edge. I constantly search for danger, deviating our path around falling detritus and sudden explosions, staying right next to my father so I can thrust him to one side if I need to.
Other people that we pass have no such luck. I can see their fates sealed but am unable to help. All I can do is shout a warning as a block of broken building comes clattering down from above, or a sudden flame pours out of a window, burning those beyond it.
Most don’t hear me. Many don’t listen. Only the few who heed my warnings survive, only to be caught by the next attack.
It matters not. Soon, the entire city will be crumbling into the depths, and anyone left within will go with it.
Some stragglers have the wit to follow us, staying close as they realise who I am and what I can do. By the time the docks come into view, I’ve gathered a bit of a tail, a dozen or so canny survivors moving in my slipstream.
I scan the docks ahead but see no sign of our people. We gallop to the edge, the wall of the city opening out to reveal the sea beyond. Here, up eight levels from the waves, only the largest ships are visible. At other levels below, smaller vessels gather, some commercial but most used for transport and trade, huge merchant vessels designed to ship produce to and from the city.
Over the railings, we see one such ship being loaded. Not with produce, but with people. And among them, leading the charge, I see my mother, and Athena, and Ellie and Link, all of them working to get as many people aboard as possible.
We shoot towards the stairs, dropping down a level, then two, until we come around the corner and see them ahead.
My mother’s face bursts open with relief as she sees us, but there’s no time for anything else. We join them as I spy Ajax and Velia among the throng, and Leeta too, already on board, guiding people to the back.
Clangs of metal sound as the stairs begin to grind and bend, the entire structure of the city now twisting out of shape. I hear Link calling for the boat to start as the last of the city residents continue to rush from the platform. Some, on the stairs, get caught as they collapse, tumbling to their depths many levels below.
We stand as a troop of Watchers, just off the boat, looking ahead for anyone else we can save. From the shadows more come, the last few, screaming for us to wait. The boat slowly begins to drift off, a small gap opening up as it starts sliding out to sea.
And then, we all see it together. The whole section in front of us, several levels of the city all crumbling down. And suddenly, the screams of those running at us are cut short. They’re all crushed before our eyes.
“There’s no one else,” calls Athena, staring at the carnage. “We’ve done all we can.”
We move back, jumping onto the boat as it continues to drift away, only a few hundred saved from the city. They all gather on the deck, every single set of eyes watching in horror as we slowly float from the docks. The grand structure, so long the centre of our nation, pours fire and smoke, groaning a deafening roar as it takes its final few breaths.
I watch, unblinking, as it droops and sags, many square miles of metal slowly being consumed by the waves. Tens of thousands of lives inside, ended by the whims of a madman, seeing out the wishes of an even more callous mind.
For a long while, no one says a word. We just stand there in silence and watch as we move further from the city, and it moves deeper into the waves. The water boils and froths around it as the fires are quenched by the unstoppable force of mother nature, only a twisted metal husk still remaining above the surface that will continue to send a spiral of smoke into the sky for many days.
Tears are shed. Wounds are seen to. And already, plans are made for what to do next.
Because that’s what war is all about. You pick yourself up, and you go again. Just like Athena taught us in the training cave of Petram. When you hit the floor, defeated, you rise up and come back stronger. And that’s the only thing we can do.
But not now. Now, I stand alone, just staring at the sea city, barely able to commit such an act to reality. I consider for a second whether I’m in a terrible nightmare. Whether these visions, these powers, have twisted my mind like the city before me. Whether I’ll wake somewhere safe and calm, all of this just an awful dream.
But I don’t consider it for long. Because I know that this is what my life is now. And until I die, it always will be.
And as I stand alone at the front of the boat, staring over the railing as we drift away, I feel my fingers dipping into my pocket, and pulling out Professor Lane’s notepad.
I flick inside, and right at the front, see her words, scribbled by her own hand.
It reads:
All the Seekers show identical DNA except one.
One is unique, separate from the others. A mixture of two gene donors, cloned from two sources…
I think again of the four clones, all identical but one. One with his fairer hair and blue glint to his eyes. One who’s stronger and more powerful than the others. One’s who’s unique.
I continue reading, but already I know what her words are going to tell me.
One source is as the other three…Augustus Knight.
The other, however, is one of our own.
I turn and look at my mother, working to fix wounds and console people. The most kind-hearted, good-natured woman you could ever hope to meet. And as I look at her, I read her name in Professor Lane’s hand.
The other source comes from Cyra Drayton…
Next in the Series
Thanks for reading this far into the Watcher series. If you’ve read all 5 books now, you’ve come a long way, and hopefully you’re still enjoying yourself! If you liked this instalment, feel free to leave a few words by way of a review to let me know what you thought!
Next up, we have the third book in the trilogy (and the 6th in the series) which is set for release on the 12th November. Keep your eyes peeled for that one!
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Hope to see you on the inside!
Toby C Edge