The sun was just above the skyline and the buildings threw long shadows. Already the sunset was spectacular with oranges, reds and soft-whites toning the clouds near the horizon. Overhead, the fearsome dark clouds produced by the arc glowed a deep red like burning coal.
Adamarus was just able to set Jumper One down in the field, and the three of them stood by the ship buffeted by strong gusts of wind. They were all looking up in silent awe and horror.
“We need to hurry,” Adamarus shouted over the wind.
It seemed that luck was on their side—the empty field was not far from the three main roads that slowly separated as they snaked through ad hoc housing and finally into downtown. Each knew what road to take. They would run up the road calling her name, meet at the tall building, search the area, then if needed, run back down the roads to the ship. At that point, they’d reevaluate. What else could they do?
They took off running.
On her street, Dials ran from one side to the other, going from door to door calling Grace’s and Isabella’s name.
Several streets over, Van did just about the same thing.
Adamarus was more sure Grace would first, be at or headed toward the tallest structure; and second, be in plain sight. He just ran up the middle of his street calling. As a result, Adamarus reached the ramp to the plaza that fronted the large building first.
He was halfway up the ramp when a change in the lighting caused him to halt. It was as if a green cast had been added to the yellowish glow coming from the arc. He looked up. A darker greenish core had formed within the yellow arc. It seemed to be churning around inside the arc. As he stood there transfixed by what was happening, what looked like radiant green dots appeared all along the underside of the arc. As he watched, they elongated, becoming lines. They separated from the arc, falling downward. More green lines appeared above the first, then more. They raced downward. It was like a green curtain being lowered.
From his vantage point, Adamarus could see 30 or so miles out across the desert-like terrain and he watched in dread as the first ones hit the ground, boring into Amular. Rocks and dirt exploded upward. To the side of each strike, the shockwaves made the land roll like water. Mesmerized, he watched as the next beams came down. They were a sickly shade of green, and once they hit, they seemed to go off at an angle. And they were coming right at him and coming fast.
The sound reached Adamarus as thunderous booms that continued nonstop. The second wave of beams hit. These were spaced in between the first ones. He realized they were coming toward the city at incredible speed.
Adamarus did the math—if the arc were keeping up with the day/night terminus, at this latitude the beams would be advancing across the surface at over 200 miles per hour. For most of the globe, this advance would be even faster…far faster.
The shockwaves arrived seconds after the sound and the ground lurched and became a steady jerking motion rolling across the empty city. The taller buildings swayed. Then rocks and dirt began falling from the sky. This progressed before the beams then reached the edge of the town and the buildings were plummeted.
All of this would be on top of him within seconds. He shook himself, turned and ran up the shaking ramp. The wind was furious now, almost knocking him over. Before he reached the top, rocks and dirt started falling around him. Something bashed him in the side of the head and sent him tumbling.
Stunned, he picked himself back up and stumbled to the top of the ramp. He scanned the plaza. It was a flat marble circle about 300 feet across. In the center was a stone building—public restrooms. Something got in his eyes and he wiped at them—his hand came away bloody.
---
Remaining satellites, as well as the History Station, brought news of the attack as well as its nature to the Dark Mountain command center.
Analysis showed that each energy beam sliced the planet open about 80 feet across for about a mile. How far down the beams penetrated was unknown.
Depending on the depth of the bedrock, the energy beams were also sending out a shockwave and sometimes a firestorm that shattered and scorched the land for up to a mile on each side.
The battle line was roughly five miles thick. The energy beams came first and the staple ships followed—each ship about five miles apart, positioning themselves in between the gorges left by the energy beams.
The black staple-shaped ships mostly pressed straight ahead, but sometimes they could be seen diverting to pursue targets of opportunity.
What no one had expected or perhaps fully appreciated was the speed at which the line of attack advanced. At the equator, the Slayers’ attack traveled across the land at just over 1,000 miles per hour. The speed diminished as the Slayers’ line of battle spread away from the equator toward the poles.
No one had prepared for an attack at these speeds. Defensive installations and aircraft near the equator were hit and destroyed before they had time to engage.
Moreover, the incredible speed was not the only factor—like the Louds, but to a far greater degree, the Slayers’ thought process was hundreds of times faster than the thought process of humans and so were their ships and firing capabilities.
From the viewpoint of the planet’s inhabitants, they could see the maelstrom to the east, then as the sun set, the battle line ran over them. Everything just exploded and burst into flames, and before the pieces fell back to the ground, the attack had moved on, leaving only ruin and ashes.
In addition, it didn’t matter what the battle line moved over—cities, oceans, uninhabited jungles or deserts—the energy beams sliced into Amular without pause. The staple ships, however, were more selective and if there was nothing to shoot at, held their fire.
Just five minutes after the Slayers’ attack started, Commander in Chief James Wicker tossed their defensive plans into the air and yelled, “Oh no…no, it’s moving too fast! I need…details…on how that battle line is functioning and…how damn fast it’s moving.”
People scrambled to do just that. On the large viewing screens, remaining satellites showed the line of fire moving across Amular. Behind the line of attack, it was night and most were in darkness, but through the smoke, the fires burning showed the devastation and the immediate loss of contact with anything the line had passed over told the story.
Wicker flew down the stairs to the lower level and approached the view screens. “Get our people near the equator away from the battlefront right now!” He stared up at the images in horror. “We need to attack that line from behind. And we need any remaining space elements to keep hitting the Larger Moon where the Blackship has anchored itself.”
People were frantically trying to relay Wicker’s orders. Everyone knew that the battle line would eventually reach the command center, but they’d be okay for half a day.
Wicker turned and ran back up the stairs to consult with his admirals and generals. “In about ten hours, we will need to move the command center somewhere behind the battle line. You and you,” he pointed to two senior officers, “start organizing the evacuation—determine where we can go. We must be out of here before the line of battle reaches us.”
---
It was growing dark and blood kept getting into Adamarus’ eyes.
Then he saw them on the other side of the marble plaza. Grace was standing right in front of the tallest building holding Isabella. He screamed their names, “Grace! Isabella!”
She saw him and started running toward him.
Green light flooded the plaza. Adamarus turned and saw a green energy beam strike very close—perhaps only blocks away. Rocks began to rain down. Adamarus shielded his head as best he could and watched to see which way the beam was headed. Thankfully, it angled away from them. Shockwaves caused the buildings to rise and fall. He turned and ran toward Grace and Isabella.
Unexpectedly, the rolling shockwave passed under the plaza, causing it to heave upwards, throwing Adamarus to his knees. He looked up and saw that Grace had maintained her balance. He jumped up only t
o have the ground fall out from under him as, with a loud crack, the plaza cracked in half—one side with him, and the other with Grace and Isabella.
He saw Grace holding Isabella and cartwheeling her other arm trying to keep her balance. Then she seemed to fall, but the sides were falling while the center of the plaza rose and his view was blocked. He jumped to his feet, but the ground fell away again as the shockwave passed and he was airborne. He hit the ground on his face—tried to get back up but rocks rained down, striking him. One hit his head again, slamming it down into the marble plaza. He blacked out for a second, came to and looked up. The plaza had mostly fallen back into place, but he could not immediately see Grace.
He rose and looked around…he saw an arm sticking up. Not understanding what he was seeing, he took off running toward it.
Another beam struck and again the plaza heaved and again debris rained down and Adamarus dove, sliding across the ground the last ten feet and grabbing her hand. For just a second, he thought she squeezed his hand, but then he saw the truth. It was just her forearm coming out of a two-inch wide crack in the marble.
---
Brandon and the other technicians had come up with a way they thought would boost the Star Cannon’s energy output and they had been frantically working to make the needed changes.
The Slayers’ ground attack had started and they had paused, watching in shock and horror.
Brandon broke the spell, “We’ve got to hurry.”
They got back to work. The idea was to allow more buildup time in the secondary lenses. It would seriously stress the primary lens, but a little more power might be all they needed.
---
The energy beams had passed over them and continued their westward assault. A fierce shudder ran through Adamarus. He lowered his mouth to the crack and screamed, “Grace!” He put his ear to the crack, but with the continual booms from the receding energy beams, nothing could be heard. He cried her name again. Then he tried with all his might to pull the crack apart. It didn’t move.
His insides fell as he realized blood was seeping up from the crack. He called her name repeatedly as he used stones to chip at the crack. He tried again to pull the crack apart, ripping off his fingernails.
“No,” he cried. Then he looked all around, “Isabella! Isabella!” She had been on Grace’s right side. He scanned the crack in that direction and saw a lock of her hair coming from the crack. Close to where it disappeared into the crack, it was soaked with blood. He cried her name, put his ear to the crack, pulled away and screamed their names again.
From somewhere. water began running down the crack. He tried desperately to brush the water aside as he continued to scream their names.
Then another shockwave struck the plaza. It ground the crack harder together and Adamarus cried out in horror.
Somewhere to the right, water broke through the marble and surged upward. He continued desperately clawing at the crack. Unexpectedly, a two-foot wall of water hit Adamarus, knocking him back and he slipped and went down. He fought his way back, but the crack was now underwater—he could not find it.
Adamarus broke, his emotions exploding as he launched himself into the air just as another shockwave rippled through the ground. The shockwave propelled him high up into the sky as his arms and legs clawed the air. He lifted his head to the heavens and screamed, “Noooo!”
---
Dials stumbled as a shockwave rolled through the streets. She came to the top of a hill and could see down the road and beyond, the tall building with the plaza in front of it.
She grabbed her binoculars and scanned the street ahead—nothing.
She rose the binoculars to the plaza just as a green energy came down behind it. Against the hellish green glow, she clearly saw a tormented silhouette. It was a man leaping up, his arms and hands clawing the air, his face turned upwards, his mouth open and even above the roar of the energy beams, she thought she could hear his scream. “Nooooo.”
She fumbled and dropped her binoculars. She bent to pick them up just as the next shockwave hit and she lost her balance and fell on her face. Her cheek hit something, cutting it. She stood, took a step, tripped and fell again. She struggled back to her feet, forgot about the binoculars and keyed her radio.
“Va-Van!” she screamed. “Van!”
“Dials, what’s wrong?” the tinny voice replied.
“Get to the plaza now…it’s Adamarus. I think something terrible has happened.”
---
Dials reached the end of the street and halted in the shadows of a building. Before her was the cracked plaza, a geyser of water shooting up near a collapsed building at the center. She scanned the plaza looking for Adamarus.
The green strobes of light from the receding battlefront flickered everywhere, making it hard to see. She yanked down her night vision goggles, which is why she missed the steady green glow creeping in from her left.
She spotted Adamarus. He was slumped against the building ruins at the center of the plaza. He was facing right, looking straight ahead at something. He didn’t see her. She left the building shadows and started running across the plaza toward him.
---
Adamarus had stumbled back against what was left of the public restrooms. He searched for Grace’s raised arm, but could not see it. He heard running footsteps and turned his head, looking for the source. He saw Dials running toward him. Then a green glow lit the plaza. It was coming from Dials’ right and increasing in strength. He turned to see where it was coming from, but the collapsed building blocked his view.
Suddenly, Dials looked right and skidded to a halt. The expression on her face turned to terror.
The green glow suddenly increased in intensity and then a huge whitish-green wall of energy came from her right and hit her.
It all seemed to take place in slow motion. Her hair and clothes burst into flames as she was thrown back. Then her body seemed to liquefy and burst apart, blood, gore and bones splattering back on the marble for a dozen feet. Steam rose from the dark streak.
Adamarus tried to jump to his feet, but stumbled and fell into the freezing water. He was completely soaked, his head throbbed and he was dizzy. As he struggled up again, movement caught his eye. Van had burst out of a side street to the right of where Dials had stood. He ran across the plaza. Van’s head turned as he looked frantically around. When he looked to his right, he too skidded to a stop.
Whatever was causing the light was still blocked from Adamarus’ view. He tried to get up and yell a warning, but again, tripped on something below the water and went down. As he fell, the green glow increased. Just before his head went under the water, he caught a glimpse of the blinding sheet of energy. He raised his head above the water. Van was gone.
Anger raged through him, but as he started to get up, he slipped again. Something bumped his face. It was Grace’s hand.
The image of his wife and daughter flashed through his mind. They were alone and scared in a place that was beyond his reach.
Adamarus grabbed Grace’s hand, “I’m coming, my love.” He squeezed then let go and stood. He tried to draw his hand maser, but his hands were too numb from the freezing water and he almost dropped it. Managing to hold on, he twisted the dial to full power and then ran, splashing through the water.
As soon as he emerged from the water and cleared the ruins, he saw it. It was no longer facing in his direction, but was turning to the right, scanning the surrounding area. It floated 20 feet above the plaza—a giant black staple-shaped apparition, its two prongs facing downward with sharp points at their ends. It stood about 300 feet high, 100 feet wide and maybe 30 feet thick. The inside of the two downward prongs glowed green. It was evil looking, its dull smooth surface lacking any detail.
Adamarus tried to stop but his feet slid, and he had to keep sidestepping to maintain his balance. He glanced down and realized that he’d slid through the gore that had once been Dials. Steam was still rising from it. Still sidestepping, he
raised his maser, screamed “Fuck you,” and started firing, managing to hit the top section over 300 feet above him.
The staple ship snapped around to face him—it was an unnatural movement. Then the green glow from the inside of the prongs increased in intensity.
---
Two million miles above Amular, those on the History Station watched in shock. From a barely visible black sphere on the side of the Larger Moon, a blurred pattern fanned out toward the planet. The blurred anomaly reached halfway between the moon and the planet. Whitish-yellow energy rippled from the black sphere spreading across the pattern. At the blurred pattern’s end, a blinding whitish-yellow glow had formed. It arced going beyond the pattern’s end extending almost to both the planet’s poles.
From this arcing glow, a curtain of green dashes slowly pulsated downward, hitting the planet’s surface as it rotated beneath. Dark clouds and lightening trailed behind and were pushed ahead of the falling green curtain. On the dark side, behind the curtain of green fire, lines of red stretched along the ground and trailed off into the smoke.
“Bugs had it right,” Harrington said as tears tracked down her face. “We never had a chance.”
---
The glow from the inside of the prongs built to a bedazzling green. Adamarus, tears running down his face, continued sidestepping and kept firing. He knew that at any moment it would all be over. He would join his wife, his daughter and his son.
Then…the green glow peaked and the ship fired its sheets of energy, however they hit to the right of him, striking the strip of steaming gore he’d slipped on. Dial’s remains sizzled and crackled anew and Adamarus suddenly realized how cold and wet he was from the freezing water. The staple ship could not lock on to him. He continued firing.
After a beat, the staple ship started moving forward. Adamarus’ mouth fell open. He lost his aim, then reacquired it and kept firing. As the ship passed over him, he turned, following and firing at the monstrosity. He heard his hoarse voice screaming, “No. Fuck you. Fuck you.”
Countdown Amageddon (The Spiral Slayers Book 2) Page 39