From the intel that could be relayed it had seemed to be an isolated attack, but unsure as to how many troops may lie in waiting in the bowels of tunnels. There were few only survivors and one high priority target, all gathered together behind a pair of mangled blast doors and other barriers that had not been challenged. The attack was either over, or the instigators were waiting patiently for those left behind to make their way clumsily back out of hiding.
Briskly, Eli’s unit made its way to the rally point and waited confirmation that the other team was above and ready to enter, unpursued. The radio gave a short burst of static and Eli’s unit slowly pulled the heavy steel ceiling apart. When the gap was two meters wide, another short radio burst came over the line to signify ropes being tossed into the void below. With weapons at the ready, they followed the men repelling down into the tunnels, quickly assembled their ranks and closed the doors above before anyone spoke.
“Any sign of the MLM yet?” Alex asked quietly.
“None. There haven’t been any signs of adjacent access routes either, no off shoots in the tunnels, just this path. You don’t think they’re trying to put us in a bottleneck do you?”
“I don’t. As we get closer, I’m sure there will be routes that offshoot, when we cross them, I want them all wired with explosives midway through the branch so no major debris clog up this main artery if we need to escape. There is only one copy of the tunnel maps and those are located at command. All the underground transports were sent GPS links to direct them how to get back to the nest. We’ll just have to follow the directions provided to us till we reach Command.”
Alex could sense the displeasure on Eli’s face in the darkness. “Notice it’s not the light at the end of the tunnel you fear, but what slumbers quietly and still in the shadows”
Eli leaned in closer so his friend could hear the humor in his voice. “I’m afraid of a bunch of non battle tested men shooting at shadows they can’t see. All it takes is one idiot to fire the wrong way, professor. Now, shut up and get us there in one piece.”
While Alex and Eli were making their way to Command to retrieve survivors, Ryan was tasked with taking a much larger unit, deploying behind enemy lines, and secure the crash site of the bomber that had taken out the northern pillar. Specifically, Alex wanted all working electronics, cargo and any survivors captured alive and brought back for further study.
The search was only fruitful in the recovery of the inanimate materials; any trace of humanity had been burned in the wreckage. Electronic components and a few structural elements were all that were deemed of worth, as the cargo had been filled with explosives for the bombing run. Ryan had everything loaded onto a few landing crafts and taken back across the straight to the temporary command post that they had established. Tents had to be erected specifically to house the components due to the periodic sandstorms that would rip through the desert conditions, a task that had Ryan feeling nostalgic of a time long past.
Alex always found a way to put Ryan in a position to succeed. From there however, it never seemed as though he could alone. He could never understand if it was a lacking of competence, confidence or affinity of leadership that his bane, but he knew some fault always took him from success to failure. It seemed as though a curse was on any decision he made, any decision except for those he made today. He had accomplished his task, even if in the scheme of the day it seemed small, he had found victory and in that moment. He no longer questioned why Alex continued to show so much faith in him.
Originally, Ryan felt lucky for not only shooting the plane out of the sky, but also for implementation of concepts in the notebook his friend had given him months before that fragments of the original drawings and schematics. After he had been left for dead and the unknowing fates of those lives he was supposed to save, the confidence he had gained while at the academy was forfeit. Even though there had been truly no fault of his own, the losses themselves coupled with no one close to turn in his hour of need provided little comfort. That is, until the heart closest to his wandered back from a lifetime away. There was no change in how Alex had commanded he thought, only more men behind him now, only more soldiers, more power and still, the same poised composure, an unflappable charisma that gave those around him the courage they lacked. That steady hand is what Ryan coveted most. Coveted, but feared.
Fifty feet from the outer walls of command, their path was barricaded by two APCs funneling the men into a bottleneck. Alex left all but six men behind to work on getting the transports operational and ready for evac once they found the survivors. They swept through the underground necropolis, the familiar stench of decay hovered low to the ground as they had only been dead for a short time, but the pressurized compound restricted the tomb from circulating the rotten air.
Down each hallway, the obvious, distraught integrity of the structure was communicated to them. The creaking, and crumbling of the catacomb conjured continual caution with each step they took, hoping the lifeless corpses would usher them to the small contingent, who by providence, congregated somewhere within the warren.
They were an audience to a ballet of death that mocked the very notion of time. Each aria was a paradox of time dancing within their minds. As they went from body to body knowing that only seconds have passed yet the perpetual dance of fear filled the stage only to be halted in its tracks moment to moment, by an abrupt and absurd change in tempo while one checked for a pulse in the staccatic moment of hope.
Delicately a whisper cut through the clouding fear. The faint overture strained the ear trying to hear it, summoning as a siren to the warrior on the journey home. Increasingly the men were enticed towards its source quietly looking at one another so as not to lose the weak pulse they had found. The muse began to sing clearer, louder as the reached the center of the compound until they reached a dead end at the very center. Alex could still hear the sound of rat claws scratch within the stonewall they’ve been encased in, they soft cries and hopes of the survivors, of the last bit of sanity left within the cold tomb had walled themselves into an alcove to hide from death.
Alex reached to his comm and whispered into it. “Have we reestablished full communications with the survivors?”
A voice responded. “Nothing yet. We’re still a few minuets from when they were scheduled to re broadcast. “
“Shit.” Alex muttered before going back over the radio. “Eli, secure the control room. Make sure there are no explosives that were left behind that would blow if we tried to reboot the system.” Alex gave a beckoning motion for one of his men to come towards him and take of his pack. Rummaging through it until he pulled out a spool of Det Cord. He lined the wall with a square breach point.
“If we have to go in, we don’t know if there are any hostages or if this is a trap.” Alex turned to the squad of men behind him. “I want all guns pointed at diagonals to cover the whole room. No one is to stand directly in front of the opening is that understood.” The nods of his men assured him that they understood the gravity of the breach.
Patiently they waited. Alex could feel the pulse of his men racing as the shallow breaths around him inhaled the stale air. His own pendulum however, rocked steadily within him. The scattering of gasps that accompanied his own cemented the realization for him of the inexperience these men had in the face of true danger. Doubt snagged a hold in Alex’s mind. Should they have to fight in open conflict, should the fracas churn out onto the open field of battle, would the frightened men around him have the composure to advance while those around them fell, or would they cower to the true horrors that will tare through flesh and bone and hollow out their very soul?
It had been sometime since he could sit and reflect about his own journey, and the virus that had found its way into his men was trying desperately to mutate, to survive, in the mind of their greatest threat, their leader. If it could instill doubt in the leader about his own actions it could cripple the army he commanded. Men can be inspired when they face doubt; a leader who open
ly doubts action in front of others inspires none. That disease festering in the caldron of his mind could not be allowed to find a voice, the fire below could not be set ablaze by the breath of fear, and so the pendulum rocked as it always did, gently as the ebb of the sea. His resolve hid him from the world even as Eli verified they had secured the control room and that they were within seconds of the next scheduled transmission. The white noise of life slowly brought him back to reality as the transmission stated they were held up in a panic room with no way out since the main power was off line and the door was not able to be opened.
The shallow breathing, the fear and the doubt all subsided from the squad as they took a collective deep breath and smiled at one another with their eyes. They all saw they the likeminded thoughts each of them had about breaching the wall, all of them except their leader, he kept his gaze forward fixated on the objective. After the moment of relief had passed Alex signaled for a five second countdown before he detonated the explosives.
Once he signaled zero the cord quickly exploded from one end to the other in a systematic chase along the wall, kicking the dust off the wall towards the observers. Once the filth had fallen back to the ground, Alex held the men back from moving to knock down the concrete wall that stood between them and the hope of survival. The scratches gave wave to pounding and voices came louder and louder behind the wall, they were trying to push the section of the wall over and escape their tomb.
With each shove the cinder scratched against itself and the freshly polished floor. The eagerness to know who had survived and what had happened here was starting to ware on the men, the restlessness could be heard between each inch the section had moved towards them, their boots scuffing as the repositioned or crept a step forward. A few had crept so far, Alex had to move over to them and push them away.
“We don’t know who’s in there yet.” He searched the eyes of the men. He could see the perplexed look in their eyes. “I hope for what you do, I hope they are survivors, but we don’t know. You all have to trust me. If they aren’t and they come out shooting, we are all dead. And then the dominos will fall and it will be your families next.”
The last clause spoke to them the loudest. They trusted him more from there, the obvious change in their demeanor, how they backed up slowly raising their firearms nodding as the sectional moved towards them an inch at a time. Alex turned his attention back to the wall as it finally separated and topped down onto the floor once again kicking up the dust that lingered as a mist, while a weak voice came through the darkness.
“Alex, is that you? Are you out there?”
It caught him off guard but he kept his silence and his composure.
“Alex if that’s you, I have Baldr in here, he’s wounded. Someone came in and detonated a bomb mixed with something in the air, it killed almost us all. If you’re out there, don’t shoot. I’ll come out first and then we will file out one at a time.”
A moment after the plead came from the tomb a man stepped out quietly and moved towards them with his hands raised above him.
“It’s Gunny Hayes Alex do you remember me?”
“Drop to your knees and keep you hands in the air.” Alex carefully barked in reply. “Where’s Specialist Petersen? He was broadcasting the message.”
“He’s in the room, call out for him he’ll come out next.”
“ Peterson!” He called out. “Come out slowly and kneel next to Hayes.”
As directed, another body walked out and carefully took its place next to the other. Alex waited for a moment before grabbing a flashlight to shine it on the two men. He could see that it was in fact Hayes the only familiar face he had seen among the bodies.
“What happened here, Hayes?”
“It happened quick. Someone came in through an access hatch and into the control room. Form there it looked like he detonated a dirty bomb attached to himself. It put some toxin into the air and I was able to get Baldr and a few others out and he took us to the panic room, its sealed and recycles its own air, but when the power grid failed, it looked us in. We were able to link into the main system and start cleaning the air; it took all the remaining power in the system. We had the battery power with the radio to make contact out, I’m glad we reached you.”
“Who else is left in there?” Alex asked motioning to the alcove.
“Baldr and a Medc. She has an IV in him. But it doesn’t look good, he was hit by some shrapnel and he breathed in quite a bit of gas, it’s just a matter of time now.”
“At least you know how complex this world is now. Tillery chose to be a martyr, knowing full well he was a pawn on both sides. He chose to protect you and I in the end. When he told me about how happy he was you didn’t kill him that night and you had survived the fall, I knew we had to find you. And as the whispers of your unit of ghosts grew, we kept the rumors in check to ensure fear for the enemy and hope for the volunteer corps.”
“What else can we do for you sir?” Alex wondered allowed with sadness in his voice.
Looking into the weak and weary eyes or Baldr, he could see that the end was near. The spray of shrapnel had cut through parts of him and the internal damage was beyond repair. Death stood next to them, a hand on each mans shoulder, waiting for them to say their goodbyes. It had always been in Alex’s wake it had felt, from the day the city of light fell into darkness, Death lingered in his shadow for it knew the lives he would touch.
“You’ve done well so far son, but from here on out you’re the only one making the decisions. None of this council is left. The world we knew is gone. It’s been burnt to the ground, and now that the senate has also been massacred, it’s just the two of you left in a battle for this world. And who ever is standing after you face one another will be able to give birth to a new order. He wants to tare it apart, you’re the only one left to unify the world again, be the foundation it needs.”
“And how do I become that?”
“When you find him, take him alive, no matter the cost, the loss, or anger for vengeance and justice are never the same thing. As others have lost family, or hope, or even innocence in this struggle, all have lost, and for you to be the one to swing the axe without any formal trial, you damn the idea you want to save.”
“When that time comes, the world will have to know about everything for us to start fresh, that’ll mean the damnation of you and the souls of those that lay in this tomb with you.”
“Sometimes, young Alexander, there is absolutely no difference at all between salvation and damnation. And though we may be damned in the minds of the people, our souls will be free from torment. The purity of the idea you fight for has only the soul you give it. You can baptize it and deliver it to the world, set the standard high so generations down the road can not have it corrupted in the shadows like we did.”
Baldr pointed to a wall panel. “In there, take the files behind the wall. It’s a final directive that has been placed on hold. Once you review it you’ll see why it had to be hidden. I wish I could help you further, but this is it for me. No matter what you’ve lost, do not make our enemy a martyr due to vengeance.”
As Alex nodded in affirmation, he could see the life slowly leave Baldrs eyes. The pupil dilates in darkness and in the end finds light to be summoned home, just as the soul dilates in misfortune and in the end finds its rest, and in that manner Baldr drifted away into the shadows, and started waiting for Alex to usher his soul to paradise.
Alex made his way to the wall Baldr had directed him to and pressed gently on the panel. Like the meal that had been served to him his first night at command, the panel lowered itself showing a small flash drive. He grabbed the flash drive and put it into his vest pocket and turned to Peterson.
“Can you reestablish establish a new hard-line for communications that cant be hacked, and then put that into a mobile command unit, using the tools we already have in the field to coordinate with our troops?”
“I’ll need to salvage a few things from whatever is left i
n the war room and use a transmitter from the fleet and we can be mobile sir.” Peterson said with certainty.
“How long do you need?”
“I can be ready in twenty minutes.”
“You have it, make sure you get me a laptop as well, one that’s not linked to our systems. Eli go with him, Hayes with me. The rest of you plant charges and get back to the rally point in 20. Fall out.”
The men moved with purpose around Alex and Hayes who remained fixed, waiting for the rest to leave before Alex motioned for Hays to follow. Heading back to the transports they remained quiet as men moved back and froth placing charges on structural necessities and various equipment, Alex intended to leave no trace of the compound.
“Did Baldr tell you anything bout a final directive that he had hidden?” He didn’t turn to face Hayes, instead continuing to move gingerly.
“He never told me about any directive sir.” Hayes’ response was one of bewilderment. “He confined in me or for ethical discussions, never about the specifics of operations.”
“Would there be anyone who he spoke to it? I need to know who else is out there commanding our troops.” Alex was stern with his tone.
“There are no other commanders left. A few bases were working on a special project, but no one knew their location except Baldr, there were several arguments over the last few months when the council met about how much longer they could keep spending money with no results from him.”
“Hayes, was there anyone that was pissed off enough to leak this location, were all members accounted for when the attack happened?” Alex stopped walking as Hayes turned to face him.
“Everyone was in that room when the bomb went off, including myself. No one was missing from the council. There were a few that were upset, but if they leaked command they did it with full knowledge that they would also be taken in the blast.”
“Unless they were lied to.” Alex looked closely at Hayes. “If they were promised something for the location and were taken out with the rest of the council, it would make sense that they knew that Baldr was hiding something, and with him dead they could use whatever it was to take control and be the private army for the MLM, branding us the enemy.”
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