by Kyle West
“You will remain free, obviously,” Augustus said. “I consider you dignitaries representing the entire Wasteland. But I hope you will consider joining my Praetorian guards. Perhaps, when all of this over, I can arrange a joint governorship for you all over the entire Wasteland.”
“You would let us rule the Wasteland?” I asked.
Augustus shrugged. “Why not? Nothing is impossible. But this is merely speculative. I just want you to be aware of the benefits of working with me – benefits many cities already in Mexico have accepted.”
Augustus rose from his chair, and we stood with him. “My Praetorians will accompany you to Ashton. I hope we can have an arrangement before the day is over.”
Augustus was not taking any chances, and I didn’t blame him. I wondered what Ashton’s reaction would be when he saw us coming down the road, surrounded by Augustus’s most elite guards. Seeing us hostage, would he have no choice but to land Gilgamesh and be escorted back to the palace, where anything could happen?
“I think you will find that the past can be forgiven if we can all agree now to work together,” Augustus said. “However, I am a terrible enemy.” Augustus smiled bitterly. “Perhaps it was fate that I was left on the surface when Ragnarok fell. Fate often has a funny sense of justice.”
“We will not bring Ashton here if you are only going to hurt him,” Samuel said.
“No,” Augustus said. “I would never do that. I need him to stop the xenovirus, and besides, I am not wantonly cruel – even if Ashton was to me, thirty years ago.”
Augustus gestured toward Maxillo, who had entered the room while we were speaking with Augustus. “Have you found the Wastelanders’ weapons?”
“My men are waiting outside the gates with the weapons,” Maxillo said. “Shall I return them?”
Augustus nodded. “Hand them over there.” He looked at us. “As a sign of my trust, I will let you walk with weapons within Nova Roma, a privilege that is only granted to my legionaries. I hope you will not squander this trust, and that it may be a good sign of our future partnership.”
Trust. Augustus was only giving us those weapons because he knew we couldn’t do anything...not with Makara still in the hospital, and not surrounded by twenty five of his best guards.
“May I see my sister before we leave?” Samuel asked.
Augustus shook his head. “I would like to conclude this arrangement as soon as possible. I am hoping that Ashton can be here, within the hour. Granted that everything proceeds smoothly, then yes, you may visit your sister.”
“Very well.” Samuel looked toward us. “Let’s go.”
The grim-faced guards led us out of the reception room, and back into the glittering entry hall. The bright chandeliers illuminated the pastel colors of the walls, giving sparkling life to the paintings, giving the rich oriental rugs beneath our feet a vibrant hue. I couldn’t help but feel that we were on a death march, and that Augustus had us where he wanted us. How could this have ended any other way? We were stupid for coming here. With Makara hostage, and our lives at stake, we couldn’t just leave. We had to play this out, until the end.
But there still might be a chance to get the better of Augustus. There had to be, or this mission could fail.
The same two attendants from earlier swung the front doors open, letting us out into the cool night. Our footsteps clicked on the marble steps, then crunched on the gravel drive. Anna impulsively reached for her back, where her katana would usually be sheathed. Of course, there was nothing there.
As Augustus had assured us, a group of Praetorians waited on the other side of the gates. I saw that one carried Anna’s katana. Its black sheath glimmered under the light of faded lamps.
The guard by the gate opened it, and we strode outside. I received my Beretta. Feeling it in my hand was good, and made me feel immediately safer. I checked the clip, finding it loaded with nine bullets. It would have to do. I stashed it on my belt. Anna took her katana, strapping it to her black, along with her handgun sidearm. She didn’t look right without that katana, and now that it was back, I could see more confidence in her step. Samuel received his handgun, and strapped it to his belt without a word. Julian also holstered his own handgun.
“I don’t know how,” I said to him. “But we’ll get you home.”
Julian nodded. “I appreciate it. But right now, I’m worried about bigger things.”
Maxillo turned to Samuel. “Lead, and we will follow. But first, tell us where we are going.”
Samuel turned to look at us, his eyes surprisingly calm. It was as if he were saying, “play along.”
“It is a long walk,” Samuel said.
“Where?” Maxillo asked, impatient.
“Outside the north gate. Up a mountain road.”
Maxillo frowned. He was suspicious. “That doesn’t lead anywhere. There aren’t even any farms up there.”
“It might be a trap,” another Praetorian said.
“If it is a trap,” Samuel said, “then it wouldn’t be a very good one. There are only the four of us, and there are twenty five of you. That is simply where Ashton is staying. We thought it was safer if he remained outside the city.”
Maxillo nodded. From his expression, he still didn’t like it. But there wasn’t much he could do about that.
“Onward, then.”
Samuel started walking, and the rest of us followed.
Chapter 20
We walked across Central Square as night finally settled over the land. With the night came a thin mist that overhung the entire city in a wispy blanket. The Coleseo appeared haunting in the nighttime fog – maybe it was just the wind, but I thought I heard screams echoing in that direction, like ghosts in the air.
The city was a different place at night. Central Square was mostly empty, and ill-lit. Most windows were dark – lighting must have been an expensive commodity, though behind us, the Imperial Palace’s many windows glowed in the night. As we exited Central Square, the tall, shadowy buildings and twisting streets imbued a sense of claustrophobia. Raucous laughter emanated from taverns leading under buildings.
At long last, we reached the northern gate. We passed through them, the nighttime guards giving us questioning stares. The mist thickened as we walked up the wide, dirt road. One by one, the Praetorians clicked on flashlights, but they did little to illuminate our surroundings. The mist was cool, creeping onto my skin, chilling me. On either side of the road was thick forest, from which the sounds of insects came. A high screech emanated from the woods – the yowling of a jaguar, perhaps?
The Praetorians did not seem afraid, however. They marched on, their demeanor stony and determined. We kept up with their pace.
“About how far is it?” Maxillo asked.
“A few miles,” Samuel said. “He is staying where the road goes through a pass. It’s just a little bit beyond that.”
“Sepulcher’s Pass,” Maxillo said. “It is a haunted place. Many dead kings are buried there from an age long past.”
“Kings?” I asked. “What kings?”
“The land is forbidden to normal citizens,” Maxillo said. “There, many of the Aztec Kings buried their dead. There are pyramids, covered in forest and jungle. They were discovered by the Empire’s armies, years ago, during the First War.”
“The First War?” Anna asked.
“The war the Empire fought with Old Mexico.”
“I thought Mexico fell after Ragnarok,” I said.
“It did,” Maxillo said, growing tired of our questions. “Because of us.”
Nothing more was said as the road began its steep incline. We went back and forth as the road snaked up the mountainside. The mist thickened, making it very difficult to see. Behind, I could see the lights of Nova Roma dimly lit in the darkness. Even the thick fog could not mask a city of that size.
Again, the screech sounded from the forest, closer.
“What is that?” Julian asked.
Maxillo shrugged. “Probably a jagua
r. They are active in the forest, at nights.”
I knew that was not a jaguar. I had fought those things inside the Coleseo, just hours ago. This was something different. Something...worse. It was all too reminiscent of...
“Crawlers,” Anna said.
An unmistakable scuttling of dozens of legs sounded from ahead.
“Box formation!” Maxillo shouted.
The Praetorians hurried to make a square around us, each facing outward, pausing in the center of the road. We remained in the middle.
“Whatever comes out of the forest, shoot first,” Maxillo said to us.
Another screech sounded, deadly close to us now. A shadowy crawler pounced from the night and onto the misty road. It landed on top of a Praetorian, who screamed as the creature tore into his flesh. With a flash of spears, two more Praetorians charged the creature, skewering it through the belly. It went limp, even as more shadowy shapes came from the woods.
“There’s too many!” Anna asked. “We have to break through and make it to the ship!”
“The ship?” Maxillo asked. “What ship?”
A pair of crawlers attacked the group’s left flank. Three Praetorians lined up, pointing their spears into the darkness. The battle-hardened warriors did everything their training had taught them, but they had never fought anything like this. More crawlers appeared, swarming over the warriors, their spears doing little against the creatures’ thick exoskeletons. The crawlers screeched in victory as they ripped tendrils of flesh from the Praetorians’ corpses, sprays of blood adding a reddish hue to the mist.
“Do as she says!” Maxillo roared. “Clear a path ahead!”
The Praetorians responded, cutting their way through a pack of crawlers that still grew in number. Where had they all come from? There were no Blights around here, were there?
That was when a crawler appeared in front of me, a scythe-like fang flashing by my side. I tucked and rolled onto the ground. Lying on my back, the crawler appeared above me, exposing its soft underbelly. I aimed and fired my Beretta. The creature squealed in pain as each bullet connected, purple blood oozing from the large holes I had created at point blank range. I rolled to the side as the creature crashed down.
The others were ahead of me by now, but Anna had stayed behind.
“Alex, get your ass moving!”
Another crawler appeared at Anna’s side. She turned, dodging its lightning strike, all the while swinging around to catch it with her katana. The creature turned its stomach away, and instead the katana glanced off the creature’s side in a shower of sparks.
The crawler had cut us off from the rest of the group, and more were coming from behind.
I ran forward, pointing my gun toward the hideous monster.
Bam. Bam. Bam.
The bullets ricocheted off its tough skin. I had succeeded in nothing more than pissing it off. The crawler charged for me, and in so doing, exposed itself to Anna. She surged forward, swiping her blade underneath it.
The crawler gave a horrible screech that pierced my ears. The fetid stench of its guts filled the air as they spilled out onto the dirt path. The creature’s body slumped, twitched, and grew still.
“Come on,” I said.
I grabbed Anna’s hand and ran up the mountain path. We passed the bodies of both man and monster as we ran ahead. Thankfully, none of them were our own.
Then, a baleful roar sounded from above. The mist darkened as something...flew...over us. It wasn’t Gilgamesh. This was something alive.
We both paused on the road. I hoped the mist was thick enough that whatever was up there couldn’t see us.
The thing passed overhead, giving an unholy bellow is it plied the skies above. The mist was too thick to get a view of it.
“What is that thing?” Anna asked.
“I don’t know. We need to find the others.”
We continued our sprint, wheezing for air. The sounds of the screeches and gunshots were getting closer. Men’s screams sounded in the night. I could only hope that they weren’t either Samuel or Julian.
Finally, the ground leveled, and the road turned. We were getting close to the rendezvous point.
We passed the corpse of one of the crawlers. Huddled against its frame were two forms. It was Samuel and Julian.
“Samuel!” I said, running closer.
He held a finger to his lips.
“We thought you were dead,” Julian said.
“It’ll take more than a few crawlers to kill me,” I said. “Did you guys see that flying thing?”
Samuel nodded his assent, his eyes wide. “It swooped down and took Maxillo with its claws...”
“What was it?” Anna asked.
Samuel waved us over. We got on the ground, scooting against its back.
“I have no clue. But Ashton is up there. If we don’t let him know...”
“How is he going to find us in this mist?”
“We need to find a spot to hide, until things clear up a bit,” Samuel said.
“Where can we go?” I asked. “The forest is down the mountain, and it seems like there might be a Blight nearby...”
“A big Blight, if one of those things lives in it,” Anna said.
Samuel shook his head. “No. I don’t think there is a Blight. If there were, Augustus would surely know about it. I think there is some other explanation.”
“The Praetorians?” I asked.
“All dead and scattered,” Julian said. “We only survived by hiding against this.”
The flying monster gave another roar that echoed from the mountains. In response, the crawlers screeched in the distance. They had gone away. For now.
“They might come back,” I said.
“We need to get back to the city,” Samuel said. “The plan has changed. With the Praetorians gone, we need to get Makara and get the hell out of here.”
“I can lead us to the hospital,” Julian said. “It isn’t far.”
A colossal rush of wind pummeled us from above. The ground shook as it landed, sending the mist scattering. At first, I saw giant, claw-like feet, covered in crimson scales. The talons were as long as swords, and they curled as they buried themselves in the dirt. A massive body flared upward, crimson and snakelike, along with a massive spread of wings – wings impossibly large. They must have been at least a hundred feet wide. The creature was enormous – it was like a gigantic crawler, only with wings. From its back hopped two creatures to the ground – additional crawlers, who looked like they had been piloting the monster. The monster’s long, serpent neck lowered. It had no eyes – just two empty holes where the eyes should have been. Two massive nostrils opened at the end of its short, scaly snout, quivering as they sniffed the air. The head was round, bald, black as night, the darkness of the head fading to the deep, ruby red scales that covered the rest of its body.
It opened its mouth to reveal rows of thin, needle teeth, already stained with red blood. It opened its mouth and screamed, two forked tongues quivering as the roar emanated, shaking me to the bones.
And all I could think was: is that a dragon?
“Run!” Samuel shouted.
We scrambled up, just as the crawlers that had been riding the dragon flanked us on either side. The dragon stepped forward, neck and head extended. We ran, but it was too fast. Its mouth opened and closed, snapping as it neared us.
That was when the roar of an engine from above deafened us, sending us all to the ground. It was Gilgamesh. A blinding light flashed on, causing the crawlers to screech in pain. The dragon still kept going forward, terribly close.
Gilgamesh’s twin machine guns then opened up, deafening and thunderous. Lines of bullets entered the dragon’s body, causing it to scream in pain. I turned on my back, to watch the creature standing above us. Its body shook and convulsed as the bullets entered its chest, its neck, its hideous face. It opened its mouth to scream, but nothing came out. It started to fall forward.
“Out of the way!” Samuel yelled.
>
We crawled forward as fast as we could, the creature falling into the spot we had just vacated.
The crawlers, on their multiple legs and with white orb eyes, looked upward at Gilgamesh, hissing angrily. Then, they turned on us.
As Gilgamesh lowered itself to land, the crawlers charged for us in tandem. I could do nothing but dodge the first one as it tore past me, right for Anna. Anna fell to the ground, the creature looming over her. She skewered it with her katana, quickly pulling it out of its stomach and rolling aside before it could fall on her.
Samuel and Julian attacked the other crawler. Samuel kept his gun pointed at its front, distracting it while Julian swung around. Julian leapt onto the body. The creature turned, as if to swat off a fly. Julian tumbled to the ground, but it gave Samuel the opening he needed to fire on the creature’s gut. Samuel emptied his entire clip as the creature screamed, again and again. Anna rushed forward, dealing the final death blow by slashing a deep ex on the monster’s abdomen. The crawler screeched again as its entrails burst from the wound, spilling onto the ground.
Behind us, Gilgamesh alighted on the ground, boarding ramp extending.
We rushed up the ramp and into the open door. As the door shut behind us, we lifted off from the mists and into the night sky.
It was time to go after Makara.
Chapter 21
We ran to Gilgamesh’s bridge, finding Ashton intent on the controls and white hair wild.
“You got here just in time, old man,” I said.
Ashton turned his head, blue eyes wide. “You kids have got my blood pumping! I had to dodge three of those things just to get here...”
He saw Anna, for the first time. He smiled. “Good to see you with us, Miss Bliss. Now, if we can just get out of here...” He frowned. “Where’s Makara?”
“Down there,” I said.
“What? You left her behind now?”
“We had no choice,” Samuel said. “She was injured in the Coleseo, and she is in the hospital. Augustus is holding her hostage until we bring you to him.”
“Like hell you’re bringing me to that bastard! We need to get to Makara!”