Evolution (The Wasteland Chronicles, #3)

by Kyle West

  Makara leaned forward. “We will really be ready by tonight?”

  Ashton looked at her blankly. “This is the group’s decision. It is not my recommendation, but it is not too late for you all to back out now. In fact, I encourage it.”

  “That’s not going to happen,” I said. “We’re going to get Anna out of there, whatever it takes.”

  Samuel and Makara nodded in agreement.

  “Humph. As I thought.” Ashton reached for the packs, pushing one toward each of us. “I took the liberty of packing everything myself. Packing the chutes takes a while, so I have brought enough spares so that I don’t have to repack them after each jump. That means we have twelve chutes to work from – three each for your training, and the three dark ones for when your drop comes tonight. Normally, the first step would be preparation, but since I have already done that, you won’t have to worry about it. Everything has already been prepped for you.

  “You will be dropped from an altitude of ten thousand feet. You will spend about 45 seconds of that time in freefall. After 45 seconds, you will deploy what is called a pilot chute, located in what’s called the drogue, from an altitude of about 2,500 feet. The drogue is located at the bottom of the container, here.” Ashton tapped a small pouch at the bottom of the backpack. “You pull the pilot chute out, like so...” Ashton pulled it out. It was surprisingly small. “It will catch the wind and inflate.”

  “How is that thing supposed to slow us down?” I asked. “It’s so small.”

  “This is not the main canopy itself,” Ashton answered. “The pilot chute will rise above, pulling on an attached piece called the bridle. The bridle is connected to the pin, which, once pulled, will let loose the main canopy itself from the deployment bag. When the pin is pulled, it lets out the risers, which connect the lines to the main canopy. The tension on the lines will cause the main canopy to inflate. There is also a piece of equipment attached to the canopy called a slider, which will automatically slide down the lines and prevent the canopy from inflating too quickly. At this point, the canopy should be out and working fine. You will look up to check that this is the case. If all is well, then you can grab the toggles with your hands. Pulling the left toggle will veer you left – pulling the right toggle will veer you right. Pulling both will slow you down, and you want to do that before landing.”

  “What if the chute doesn’t come out, or becomes tangled in the lines or something?” Makara asked.

  “There are two main safeguards against that,” Ashton said. “There is a reserve chute in case the first one doesn’t deploy correctly. In order to deploy it, you must release your main canopy, which is done by pulling the release handle located on the right shoulder strap, here...” Ashton touched it. It was a series of three rings. “Pulling the release will cut away the lines on both risers simultaneously, sending you in freefall again. At that point, the reserve should deploy automatically.”

  “Should?” Makara asked.

  “Yes,” Ashton said. “Should. The chance is small that both chutes wouldn’t deploy, but that is unlikely. By doing this, you are assuming the risks.”

  “You said there was another safeguard,” Samuel said.

  “Yes,” Ashton said. “There is also a piece of equipment called the AAD – or automatic activation device. It is basically a computer that monitors air pressure and other factors. If your chute is not deployed by the time you reach 750 feet, the AAD will automatically deploy it for you.”

  “Why wouldn’t any of us deploy the chute to begin with?” Makara asked.

  “There could be many reasons – maybe you get hit by another skydiver and lose control. Maybe you lose consciousness for some reason. It’s not likely, but there is a chance. Just another safeguard.”

  Either way, I was glad that there were checks in place. Hearing Ashton describe the entire process was a lot better than trying to figure it out for ourselves, and likely getting killed in the process. Rescuing Anna seemed more tangible than ever. We were really doing this. By tonight, we’d be flying over the settlement, dropping in, and finding Anna. We could all be together again as early as tonight.

  “What about once we land?” Samuel said.

  “We’ll go over that after our last trial run,” Ashton said. “We need to fit in as much practice as we can. Basically, you’ll just be taking off your chute, finding some place to hide it, and then figuring out how to find Anna and get out of there.” He looked at all of us severely. “It is still your decision, Samuel. I recommend fully not going through with this.”

  “We need to find her,” Samuel said. “We need to exhaust every option before moving on. Let’s at least learn how to do this. If all three of us can land in the town, then we can take care of the rest. We can fight any individual guard that crosses our path.” Samuel smiled. “They’ll never know what hit them.”

  “I hope so, Samuel. So, you do want to proceed with this?”

  Samuel nodded. “Yes.”

  “Alright,” Ashton said. “Makara, strap yourself in. Within thirty minutes, all of you will back on the ground. I spotted a field nearby that is far enough away for our purposes.”

  ***

  Normally, this would be a tandem jump, since it was our first. However, there wasn’t time for that with so much on the line.

  Gilgamesh hovered over the green, forested Earth. A thin layer of misty cloud somewhat obscured the surface, but I could see the field we were to land in, almost directly below us.

  The ship was in hover mode, standing still above the clouds. Amazingly, Gilgamesh made little noise – had it been using conventional fuel, the sound of that energy expenditure would have been deafening. But, the fusion reactor kept the energy flowing smoothly, steadily. The thrusters below the ship glowed a steady blue. When we did our drop tonight, they would not hear the ship. Hopefully, the clouds could obscure the blue glow Gilgamesh’s thrusters would produce.

  Ashton stood behind us. “Wind speed is minimal. If it weren’t for those clouds, conditions would be near perfect.”

  “Those clouds may be a blessing in disguise,” Makara said. “No one has a chance of seeing us just hovering up here.”

  “That is true,” Ashton said. “Remember – you will reach 2,500 feet after about 45 seconds.”

  With the parachutes, Ashton had also brought us all digital watches. We each set the stopwatch for 45 seconds.

  “Try to space yourselves out, that way there’s no chance of hitting one another.”

  “We know,” Makara said. “We’ve already been over all this.”

  Makara’s face was tense as she looked outside the open blast door. It was a long, damn way to fall.

  “You first, Sparky,” she said, pushing me toward the door.

  I yelped. I had nearly forgotten that.

  “Sparky?”

  “Yep. We had a deal.”

  Samuel smirked. “What are you waiting for?”

  “Alright,” Ashton said. “Whenever you’re ready, Alex.”

  I was really doing this. I paused a moment, looking at the world below. In my head, I went over everything Ashton said. Wait 45 seconds. Pull the drogue at 2,500 feet. Try not to pass out. I took a deep breath. Then, I fell out, lying flat on my belly.

  I was falling. The air pummeled my body and ripped cold past face as I raced faster and faster toward the surface. I sailed through the cloud, fear and exhilaration coursing through my veins. This was fun.

  10 seconds.

  I glanced above, unable to restrain a whoop. Both Makara and Samuel were small above me, falling at about the same speed. I had reached my max speed of 120 mph, maintaining equilibrium with the air resistance below me. I exited the cloud layer, and lost my breath seeing that green ground rushing up to meet me, closer than ever. There was nothing but green, and jagged peaks to my right, lost in cloud – no signs of civilization. It felt incredible, like the whole world was mine.

  I had twenty seconds until I had to open my chute. The ground rushed up to
me, faster and faster. Was I really supposed to wait this long before releasing the pilot chute?

  I looked at my digital clock. It was time. I pulled out the pilot chute. It shot above me, pulling lines and popping the pin. The rest of canopy filled up, cell by cell, and I felt myself shoot upward. I felt afraid that I might hit one of the others. But nothing happened. I felt myself lifted up, slowing from 120 mph to a mere 10 mph. I was floating down to Earth, not too far from the green field that was our target. I felt my heart pounding like crazy.

  To my either side, I grabbed the toggles with shaky hands. It was time to experiment with these controls. I pulled my left toggle slightly, feeling myself turn down and to the left. I tried the right. It had the opposite effect.

  I pulled on both slightly, feeling myself lift up a bit. Butterflies flew in my stomach.

  A gust of wind blew, veering me to my left. I pulled the right toggle to compensate. This was easy.

  Except, the clearing wasn’t approaching fast enough. I would hit the trees below before I ever made it. Crashing into one of those things would be painful, and not to mention tricky to get out of. If I were unlucky, the consequences might be even worse.

  Afraid, I veered right, hoping to catch a draft of wind that would send me further ahead. The treetops were closer, reaching for me. I was going to crash into them before making the clearing. There was one tall tree in particular I was on a direct course to hit. I pulled up on the toggles, right before hitting the tree. I cried out, feeling myself lift above it, my feet scraping its top branches. I had made it. The clearing was ahead, and allowed myself to sink toward the tall, waving grass. Right before I touched down, I pulled on both toggles, like Ashton had instructed me. I landed, rolling on the ground as my chute enveloped me.

  I untangled myself, unstrapping my pack. As soon as I was free, I saw Makara land a few feet away, as nimbly as a cat. Samuel swung in from above, landing a good fifty feet away. It was a textbook landing, and this was only our first go. If we could have anywhere near this level of success tonight, then I felt more confident about this rescue than ever.

  “Close call, Alex,” Samuel said.

  “Yeah,” I said, my voice shaky. “I’ll have to release the drogue a bit sooner next time.”

  “Did you set your watch alright?” Makara asked, walking up. “Samuel and I released about the same time as you, and we spaced our jumps by about five seconds.”

  “I think I did,” I said, looking at my watch. “Maybe it didn’t start on time.”

  “Make sure it’s working properly next time,” Samuel said. “We were lucky.”

  Maybe things hadn’t gone as swimmingly as I first supposed. “I will.”

  From the sky, the shape of Gilgamesh descended from the clouds, still about 5,000 feet above.

  It was time for takes two and three.

  ***

  That afternoon, we did our second jump. My watch worked fine; I must have hit the pause button in midair, and hit it again somehow. At least, that’s what I decided. Who knows what really happened.

  The nerves were still there for this jump, but they were easier to ignore. We landed in the clearing again, and this time there were no killer trees. By evening, we did our final jump. This time, though, Ashton told us to pull the release on the main canopy, in order to get used to the reserve being shot out. This was a little scary, because releasing that canopy meant that the reserve was our only lifeline – and unlike the main chute, the reserve had no toggles – although, by the time we were instructed to release our main canopy, we were told to be safely over the clearing.

  We did get rid of our main chutes when the time came, and as we were told, the reserves deployed automatically. It wasn’t easy pulling that release.

  By the time we had gathered on Gilgamesh after the third jump, it was night. The only contingency we hadn’t allowed for was if we didn’t pull our chutes. Hopefully, that wouldn’t happen.

  After a quick dinner, we took a nap in order to prepare for our midnight jump. When we awoke, Ashton had black coffee ready to perk us up. After swallowing it down, we put our jumpsuits over existing clothing and readied our packs. I had my Beretta at the ready, along with my knife, both secured safely to my belt for use upon landing.

  It was finally time. It had been a crazy day of shock and adrenaline, and we now had to put ourselves through the craziest thing yet – the operation to save Anna.

  Ashton piloted Gilgamesh toward the coordinates where the settlement was located. We were quiet on the journey there. We needed to get in and out of there, fast. Once done, we could make a new plan on how we were going to get to Nova Roma and reach Augustus.

  I felt the ship slow. We had arrived. It was now a matter of making the jump, and praying that we didn’t miss. Getting in was probably the easy part. We didn’t know anything about the settlement’s layout. We would be blindly searching for any clue to find Anna’s location. But the fact remained – she was in there, and we were going to get her out, whatever it took.

  The plan was to land as close to the center of town as we could, which was as far possible from the guard towers and walls. Preferably, we wanted to land on top of a building. The streets would be too risky. One person seeing us was all it took for this operation to be compromised.

  We just had to hope everyone was asleep – and that none of the guards looked up. It was a lot of ifs, but everything we had done so far was based on ifs. Maybe luck would carry us through one more time.

  Despite the danger, I wasn’t having second thoughts.

  The three of us and Ashton stood next to the blast door. In his hands, he held three sets of what looked like goggles.

  “These are night vision goggles,” he said. “You won’t be able to see without them.”

  I took a pair from him. They were very light, containing only a strap that held the goggles themselves. I strapped it to my head, finding the power button on the side. I flicked it on, and everything around me illuminated bright green.

  “Cool...”

  “Bring them back,” Ashton said. “These can’t be replaced.”

  Ashton moved toward the control panel that opened the blast door.

  “Stand clear,” Ashton said. “The air’s going to rush out.”

  We moved aside. I gripped a corner for extra support. Ashton pressed the exit button. When the door slid open, a gush of air rushed from the ship. My ears popped from the pressure change. The open door revealed the black night outside. The wind gusted, swirling cloud made milky with moonlight. Conditions were perfect. We could not be seen from below. The moon hung crisp and clear in the sky, among thousands of stars, including the purplish band of the Milky Way. The air was cold and thin. In moments, we would be out there, on the wind. My heart raced.

  “Remember the procedure,” Ashton said. “Samuel first. Then Makara, then Alex. Follow Samuel’s lead exactly, and remember to keep track of the time. Do everything to keep from getting noticed. If you are found, get out of there as quickly as possible. Don’t take any unnecessary risks. You have thirty minutes.”

  This was crazy. Some would even say suicidal. Logically, it wasn’t justified. But we were here, and Anna needed us.

  “On my mark,” Samuel said.

  He stood a moment, taking a deep breath.

  “One, two...”

  He didn’t wait for three. He jumped.

  Makara stepped up to the opening.

  “One, two...”

  She, too, jumped, disappearing into the night.

  I didn’t even count. After a final glance at Ashton, I stepped out the door.

  Chapter 11

  I fell through the dark clouds, moisture cold and sticky on my skin, wind whipping my face. I did my best to control the tremors brought on by both cold and nerves. I had done this three times today: there was no reason why it should be so frightening And yet, it was. Maybe because this time, it was night. But more likely it was because this was not a practice run. This was the real thing, and
Anna’s life hinged on whether or not we succeeded.

  The clouds flew above me. I could discern Makara and Samuel’s shapes against the landscape, lit feebly by what moonlight that managed to filter through the clouds. The lights of the town were few and pale in the night. I had fifteen seconds left until I deployed my chute.

  Those fifteen seconds seemed to take forever as the lights below grew in intensity, glowing green through my goggles. Then, Samuel’s chute flared, his main canopy billowing upward. Makara’s came next. They angled themselves toward the settlement, veering right.

  I pulled my pilot chute free. It shot away, and felt the strain of the harness as I slowed from my freefall. I felt myself lift from the drastic drop in speed. When everything settled, I grabbed the toggles, guiding myself after Samuel and Makara. I marveled at the fact that two days ago, we had nearly all died outside the gates of this town. Now, we were coming back, tempting fate again.

  The walls were still distant, perhaps one thousand feet ahead. I was still far above them. I saw that I was swinging in too fast. I would overshoot both Samuel and Makara, who were far lower than me. To compensate, I pulled on both toggles, slowing my speed. Samuel passed over the walls first, guiding himself toward the center of town. He was a mere shadow – I could only see him because of my night vision. It would be hard for anyone in the city to see him unless they were really looking. Makara followed, her path nearly identical to Samuel’s.

  Then, I passed over the walls, about two hundred feet beneath me. I spied two guards, talking near one of the guard towers. They had no mind to glance up. I circled downward, toward the empty street Samuel had landed on. It wasn’t a building, like we had planned, but it would have to do. Makara angled herself after Samuel, landing just a few feet away from him on the dirt street. Quickly, they grabbed their chutes, pulling them into a dark alley. Samuel and Makara were visible for all of three seconds.