Evolution twc-3

by Kyle West

  “Not until we’ve exhausted every other option,” Samuel said.

  Makara frowned. “It’s the biggest chunk of land we haven’t surveyed yet. Trust me, if any of those things come flying at us, I can handle it.”

  “I don’t see how anyone could survive being that close to the Great Blight,” I said. “Even the Exiles. It would make sense for them to be further away.”

  “Well, no one asked you. I just have a gut feeling about this that I want to follow.” She stood, leaving her dirty plate on the table for me to clean. “We’ll be in the air in five minutes.”

  Makara headed for the cockpit, just as Anna sat down next to me with her breakfast.

  “Hey,” I said.

  “What’s up?” She started to eat.

  “Try to be up in the cockpit in five,” Samuel said, rising to go.

  He left Anna and me at the table.

  “I had this random thought this morning,” Anna said.

  “What?”

  “You know that toothpaste we use, the minty one?”

  I paused. “Yes?”

  “Well, where the hell does it come from?”

  I frowned. “Skyhome?”

  “Yeah, I know that. Back when I lived on the surface, you were lucky to find anything salvaging, and most of the time it would be so old that it was like brushing your teeth with caulk. Mom and I would always use ashes from our fires mixed with water.”

  “Ash and water? I would have never thought of that.”

  “It’s because you’re from a Bunker. What did you guys do for toothpaste?”

  “I don’t know. We just always seemed to have it. How it’s made is probably in the archive, somewhere. Or maybe they stocked up enough to last for a long time.”

  She shrugged. “I guess it will always be a mystery, then, huh?”

  She went back to her food. Like Makara, Anna favored cantaloupe.

  “I’ll have to remember the ash and water thing. Might come in handy.”

  The ship began to hum as the fusion drive warmed up. Within minutes, we would be in the air.

  Anna finished the last of her food. I touched her shoulder, causing her to pause mid-bite.

  “Come on, let’s go up front.”

  After she swallowed the rest of her food, we left the table and the dirty dishes behind.

  * * *

  It was midmorning, and we had been searching three hours. The long, pink border of the Great Blight crawled north to south on the ship’s right side. Just seeing that field of blaring pink, orange, and purple was unsettling. The xenofungus coated the desert floor, climbed over rocks, stretched over plains, slithered up mountains. The eastern sun cast a red, fiery light on the alien growth, setting its colors aflame. Swarms of creatures — probably birds — flew in tornado-like clouds, for the time being ignoring our presence.

  It was like staring at the surface of an alien planet. And I guessed, for all intents and purposes, it was an alien planet. This was what we were fighting. Seeing all that alien growth was depressing.

  We followed the line of the Great Blight until it started veering northwest. As the minutes passed and we continued our search, the Great Blight’s border turned even more toward the west. The Great Blight stretched not only to the east, but also endlessly to the north.

  “Was all this here before?” Makara asked.

  We stood in silence seeing the fields touch the far horizon. We had never been this far north before, so maybe it had always been like this. Or maybe it had only recently expanded in this direction. It gave me a sense that time was definitely running out.

  “I don’t know,” Samuel said. “Keep following the border, toward the west. That’ll put us closer to Vegas in a couple of hours.”

  We followed the ground at a low altitude of about a thousand feet — high enough to be safe, yet low enough to easily see anything, or anyone, below. The Great Blight persisted in its westward crawl, sliding past our field of view. A purple lake glimmered far to the north, making me think that it was filled with purple goo rather than water. The xenoviral flora stood thick along its alien shoreline in a tangle of webbed growth.

  The comm on the ship’s dash began to beep, lighting red.

  “Did anyone check in with Ashton last night?” Makara asked.

  We all looked at each other. We were supposed to update Ashton once a day on how things were going.

  “I forgot,” Samuel said. “Put it on speaker.”

  Makara answered the call. “Yeah?”

  “Give me your update from yesterday,” Ashton said.

  “Nothing to report, really,” Makara said, angling the ship as the Great Blight’s border started heading due west. “Did some more recon on the coordinates I sent you. We found nothing but dust.”

  “Makara, if you can’t find anything soon, then…”

  “We will,” Makara said, interrupting. “I feel it in my bones.”

  “Feeling has nothing to do with it,” Ashton said. “We are on a limited timetable, and I can’t have you guys wasting time searching for a needle in a haystack.”

  “I understand that,” Makara said. “But I know Char. If he went anywhere, it would have been to his brother.”

  “Even though he hates him?” Anna asked from the copilot’s seat.

  “I need you on my side, Anna,” Makara said.

  “I’m allowed my own opinion,” Anna said. “Maybe Ashton is right.”

  “Alright,” Makara said, annoyed, “if not the Exiles, then who do we go to?”

  No one said anything.

  “Well, there’s Vegas,” I said. “There are the northern Bunkers, 76 and 88…”

  “Have you tried calling those Bunkers, Ashton?” Samuel asked.

  “Repeatedly. I’m getting nothing. On 76, the line is going through, only…no one is answering.”

  “That’s not a good sign,” Makara said.

  “What about Bunker 88?” I asked.

  “Nothing,” Ashton said. “It’s safe to assume they are both offline, though at some point, you guys will still have to check it out yourselves. That is, if we have time. With what we’re facing from Augustus and the xenovirus, we need every ally we can get.”

  “So, what about Vegas?” Samuel asked. “Why not just go there first?”

  “Did you not learn from the Empire?” Makara asked. “If Char and Marcus back us up, we’ll be bargaining from a position of power. We’ll have hundreds at our back from the get-go. The Vegas Gangs will be more willing to listen to us.”

  “Good luck getting those two to work together,” Anna said.

  “They will work together,” Makara said.

  “I hope you’re right, Makara,” Ashton said. “Because this is your last day. I cannot allow you to waste any more time on this exercise.”

  “It’s not an exercise,” she said. “It’s a necessity. I’m not allowing us to walk into Vegas with our pants down. From what I’ve heard, it’s just as bad as L.A.”

  “That remains to be seen,” Ashton said.

  “How’s your project coming, Ashton?” Samuel asked.

  “I’ve finished one of the two wavelength monitors. The one Makara and I dropped earlier is still functioning, so getting these two done will help us triangulate the Voice’s exact point of origin. Although I’m missing a few parts that I will have to find down on the surface.”

  “Where are they?” Samuel asked.

  There was a pause. “Bunker Six.”

  Bunker Six. It was just a hop from Bunker One, toward the north. Like Bunker One, it had fallen in the xenoswarm’s first major attack on humanity. That place was going to be thick with crawlers, if our time at Bunker One was any indication.

  “Ashton, it’s too dangerous,” Makara said.

  “I can handle myself,” Ashton said. “I’ve gotten in and out of Bunker One half a dozen times over the years. What makes you think it will be different with Bunker Six? If the dock doors are still functional, then getting in is easy. My prelimi
nary scans show that the Bunker’s empty. No waves coming from that area, so the Voice is focused on something else. In fact…”

  Ashton paused a moment.

  “What is it?” I asked.

  “Just give me a second.” Once again, Ashton was quiet. I could hear the clacking of keys from his computer. “The Voice seems to be focused on where you guys are right now. Lots of waves coming in your direction.”

  That didn’t sound good.

  “Well, we have visual on the Great Blight right now,” Samuel said. “It looks clear.”

  “Still, be on the lookout,” Ashton said. “Something fishy is going on. Like Makara said…don’t get caught with your pants down.”

  “So, you’re really going into Bunker Six?” I asked.

  “I have to, kid. In fact, I’m going as soon as this call is over. With the Voice focused elsewhere, it might be my best time to get in. The parts I need aren’t too far from the hangar.” Ashton cleared his throat. “Sorry. Anyway, another thing we might add to our to-do list is liberating Perseus and Orion.”

  “The other two ships?” Anna asked.

  “That’s right. That’s further in the future, but if we have four ships at our disposal, and more trained pilots, it will give the New Angels flexibility. It will also give us an edge in any upcoming battles we have to fight.”

  Battles. Yes, there would be those, soon. But those battles were months away. Augustus was coming for us, and would have troops in the Wasteland as soon as he possibly could. That could be two months — that is, if the Wasteland winter didn’t stop him first. Ashton had mentioned that fact on one of his radio calls a couple days ago. For now, it looked as though his legions were still coming. When they got here, we had to be ready to pull out all the stops.

  “Wait,” Makara said. “I think I’m seeing something.”

  At the top of the ridge to the west was a swarming movement. It took me a moment to discern the distant shapes.

  “Crawlers,” I said. “I wonder what they’re after.”

  As Makara sped up and we drew closer, we could see more clearly. Crawlers surrounded a large group of people whose discarded bikes formed a perimeter around them.

  “Ashton, we have contact,” Makara said. “The Exiles need our help.”

  “Go get ’em, kid.”

  Ashton cut out, as we zoomed in close.

  * * *

  Find the rest of Revelation on Amazon.

  Glossary

  10,000, The: This refers to the 10,000 citizens who were selected in 2029 to enter Bunker One. This group included the best America had to offer, people who were masters in the fields of science, engineering, medicine, and security. President Garland and all the U.S. Congress, as well as essential staff and their families, were also chosen.

  Alpha: “Alpha” is the title given to the recognized head of the raiders. In the beginning, it was only a titular role that only had as much power as the Alpha was able to enforce. But as Raider Bluff grew in size and complexity, the Alpha began to take on a more meaningful role. Typically, Alphas do not remain so for long — they are assassinated by rivals, who then rise to take their place. In some years, there can be as many as four Alphas — though powerful Alphas, like Char, can reign for many years.

  Batts: Batts, or batteries, are the currency of the Wasteland and the Empire. They are accepted anywhere that the Empire’s caravans reach. It is unknown how batteries were first seen as currency, but it is rumored that Augustus himself instigated the policy. Using them as currency makes sense: batteries are small, portable, and durable, and have an intrinsic quality of being useful. Rechargeable batteries are even more prized (called “chargers”), and solar batteries (called “solars,” or “sols,”) are the most useful and prized of all.

  Behemoth: The Behemoth is the greatest known monstrosity in the Wasteland — a giant creature, either humanoid or reptilian in form, that can reach heights of ten feet or greater. They are bipedal, powerful, and can keep pace with a moving vehicle. All but the most powerful of guns are useless against its armored hide.

  Black Reapers, The: The Black Reapers are a powerful, violent gang, based in Los Angeles. They are led by Warlord Carin Black. They keep thousands of slaves, using them to fuel their post-apocalyptic empire. They usurped the Lost Angels in 2055, and have been ruling there ever since.

  Black Files, The: The Black Files are the mysterious, collected research on the xenovirus, located in Bunker One. They were authored principally by Dr. Cornelius Ashton, Chief Scientist of Bunker One.

  Blights: Blights are infestations of xenofungus and the xenolife they support. They are typically small, but the bigger ones can cover large tracts of land. As a general rule of thumb, the larger the Blight, the more complicated and dangerous the ecosystem it maintains. The largest known Blight is the Great Blight — which covers a large portion of the central United States.

  Boundless, The: The Boundless is an incredibly dry part of the Wasteland, ravaged by canyons and dust storms, situated in what used to be Arizona and New Mexico. Very little can survive in the Boundless, and no one is known to have ever crossed it.

  Bunker 40: Bunker 40 is located on the outer fringes of the Great Blight in Arizona. It is hidden beneath a top secret research facility. Many aircraft were stationed at Bunker 40 before it fell, sometime in the late 2050’s.

  Bunker 108: Bunker 108 is located in the San Bernardino Mountains about one hundred miles east of Los Angeles. It is the birthplace of Alex Keener.

  Bunker 114: A small, medical research installation built about fifty miles northwest of Bunker 108. Built beneath Cold Mountain, Bunker 114 is small. After the fall of Bunker One, Bunker 114, like Bunker 108 to the southeast, became a main center of xenoviral research. An outbreak of the human strain of the xenovirus caused the Bunker to fall in 2060. Bunker 108’s fall followed soon thereafter.

  Bunker One: The main headquarters of the Post-Ragnarok United States government. It fell in 2048 to a swarm of crawlers that overran its defenses. Bunker One had berths for ten thousand people, making it many times over the most populous Bunker. Its inhabitants included President Garland, the U.S. Senate and House of Representatives, essential government staff, security forces, along with the skilled people needed to maintain it. Also there were dozens of brilliant scientists and specialists, including engineers, doctors, and technicians. The very wealthy were also allowed berths for helping to finance the Bunker Program. Bunker One is also the location of the Black Files, authored by Dr. Cornelius Ashton.

  Bunker Six: Bunker Six is a large installation located north of Bunker One, within driving distance. It houses the S-Class spaceships constructed during the decade — including Gilgamesh, the capital ship, and three smaller cruisers — Odin, Perseus, and Orion. While Gilgamesh and Odin are under Cornelius Ashton’s stewardship, Perseus and Orion are still locked inside the fallen Bunker.

  Bunker Program, The: The United States and Canadian governments pooled resources to establish 144 Bunkers in Twelve Sectors throughout their territory. The Bunkers were the backup in case the Guardian Missions failed. When the Guardian Missions did fail, the Bunker Program kicked into full gear. The Bunkers were designed to save all critical government personnel and citizenry, along with anyone who could provide the finances to construct them. The Bunkers were designed to last indefinitely, using hydroponics to grow food. The Bunkers ran on fusion power, which had been made efficient by the early 2020’s. The plan was, when the dust settled, Bunkers residents could reemerge and rebuild. Most Bunkers fell, however, for various reasons — including critical systems failures, mutinies, and attacks by outsiders (see Wastelanders). By the year 2060, only four Bunkers were left.

  Chaos Years, The: The Chaos years refer to the ten years following the impact of Ragnarok. These dark years signified the great die off of most forms of life, including humans. Most deaths occurred due to starvation. Crops could not grow in climates too far from the tropics due to mass global cooling. What crops would gro
w produced a yield far too paltry to feed the population that existed. This led to a period of violence unknown in all of human history. The Chaos Years signify the complete breakdown of the Old World’s remaining infrastructures — including food production, the economy, power grids, and industry, all of which led to the deaths of billions of people.

  Coleseo Imperio: El Coleseo Imperio, translated as the Imperial Coliseum, is a circular, three-tiered stone arena rising from the center of the city of Nova Roma, the capital of the Nova Roman Empire. It is used to host gladiatorial games in the tradition of ancient Rome, and serves as the chief sport of the Empire. Slaves and convicts are forced to fight in death matches, which serves the dual purpose of entertaining the masses while getting rid of prisoners and slaves that who would otherwise be, in the Empire’s eyes, liabilities. Many festivals, and even ritual sacrifices, take place on the arena floor.

  Crawlers: Crawlers are dangerous, highly mobile monsters spawned by Ragnarok. Their origin is unclear, but they share many characteristics of Earth animals — mostly reptilian in nature. Crawlers are sleek and fast, and can leap through the air at very high speeds. Typically, crawlers attack in groups, and behave as if of one mind. One crawler will, without hesitation, sacrifice itself in order to reach its prey. Crawlers are especially dangerous when gathered in high numbers — at which point there is not much one can do but run. Crawlers can be killed, their weak points being their belly and their three eyes.

  Dark Decade, The: The Dark Decade lasted from 2020-2030, from the time of the first discovery of Ragnarok, to the time of its impact. It is not called the Dark Decade because the world descended into madness immediately upon the discovery of Ragnarok by astronomer Neil Weinstein — that only happened in 2028, with the failure of Messiah, the third and last of the Guardian Missions. In the United States and other industrialized nations, life proceeded in an almost normal fashion. There were plenty of good reasons to believe that Ragnarok could be stopped, especially when given ten years. But as the Guardian Missions failed, one by one, the order of the world quickly disintegrated.