Paradise Falls

by Jim Spencer

  There was a general cheer at this. An uproar which made the mountains shake, as five hundred thousand strong went into the machines that were still functioning and began to make their way towards neutral country. All their vehicles were still intact, they just couldn’t fire from them. It looked like the god particle had its limits. Or the effect only lasted for a few minutes on machinery, he wasn’t sure. Either way, if they couldn’t shoot down neutral country, they could still crash into it.

  *

  Alexander stood with his many members of the dead army. He was looking at the army of one and a half million people, staggering with weapons that were not working. They had swords fashioned from sharp ends of vehicles. He simply looked at his army and commanded.

  ‘Take out every one of them.’

  *

  The Civil country army was making their way across the terrain when they came across many dead bodies. Everyone looked at one another before calling it in.

  ‘Is it one of ours?’ Atan asked.

  ‘It doesn’t look it. Some of them are really badly decayed.’

  ‘They’re probably human remains from the old civilisations. They fought many wars.’

  ‘What do we do with them?’

  ‘I don’t really care,’ Atan said, ‘Crush them if you have to. Just get us back to Civil.’

  Just as he finished saying this, a few members of the army were slain. Their legs were torn off. As the many members began screaming in pain, Alexander suddenly got up and screamed an order. They all began to strike at the army in front of them. Since they had spent so long amongst technology, no one really knew how to wield a sword properly.

  ‘These people are like children with toys,’ Alexander kept thinking as he practically ran amok, simply slicing limbs off whilst the remainder of his army were doing likewise. He could hardly believe the army of this ‘tribe’ country were having difficulty with these people. Then again, he caught them by surprise so he couldn’t say that they were meagre warriors for sure.

  It was only once they got close to the main vehicle that things became difficult. But even then, he simply grabbed the oblong shaped weapon that Arion had made him and aimed for the ground. This location had found many people buried underground. As soon as he hit the ground, he felt the rumbling underneath.

  He calmly walked away as the people panicked and began swaying one way to the next. Once the people came out from the ground, they were inadvertently using the ground to bring the others down. The ground was fairly moist around here which meant it was weak enough for a strong push to bring everything down.

  And he wasn’t wrong as the ground caved in on itself, with Alexander just watching from a distance. The thousands of bodies came from underneath the ground as if the dead were rising and once the ground collapsed, almost the entire army fell into the pits that were created. If the fall didn’t kill them, starvation eventually would.

  The one vehicle that was intact was the main ‘General’s’ he presumed. He made his way across that as he decided to do an experiment. He wanted to see the range of this weapon. He aimed straight for the pit and found that the great white beam that came out expanded as it went forth, engulfing everything. It seemed practically limitless.

  He shook his head as he thought ‘No, I’ve had my moment. I don’t need to take over the world again. I’m done.’ He stopped the weapon and walked amongst the millions who were dead in the pits now. He paid his respects to the fallen comrades and went into the vehicle. He found the main General inside, whom he assumed was Atan, laying on the ground dead. He was holding onto some kind of button though.

  Unsure what this was, he took the button off his hand and followed the wire to find some kind of flat pad on the floor with odd symbols. He didn’t know it, but he was looking upon electrodes. As he stood on the pad, the board near him read Transponder. He found a second pad lying next to the first and picked it up. It was also attached to some wire with a button.

  He shrugged his shoulders as he grabbed onto this and pushed the button. Without warning, he began to disintegrate into thin air. He could feel his lungs and body changing, as if atoms were being moved. On the launch pad were co-ordinates to Tribe country.

  *

  Genghis stood there as he laid down the final bodies to rest. All his army had been destroyed it seems. The entire armada was not strong enough to last. He was lucky really, if he had realised how big the army was, he may have strategized before like Alexander. Just as he thought of this, Alexander suddenly materialised in front of him.

  As he stood there in shock and some of the others panicked, Ruto eventually gathered his senses and came up to Alexander. He took the pods from him as well as the gun and asked his people to find out what this was.

  ‘It is like I have been delivered to this place,’ Alexander said as he was still in awe of what this may be. Once he gathered his senses, he explained to Ruto what had happened and he nodded.

  ‘Quite a brutal end,’ he admitted as Alexander finished what he said.

  ‘Would they have done any less?’ Alexander asked.

  ‘No, but I still prefer mercy more than anything else.’

  ‘Mercy is weakness/’

  ‘People are different nowadays. But it’s not worth explaining that. It’s not important. Arion asked you to join him in Neutral country.’

  ‘That lad has his uses,’ Genghis suddenly spoke.

  ‘I’m glad we agree on something,’ Alexander responded.

  ‘It’s a transporter of some sorts. It’s like they were trying to replicate the God particle,’ one of the tribe members finally said.

  ‘Hmm. It must be destroyed.’ Ruto said.

  ‘Understood,’ they acknowledged.

  ‘We would need it for the moment though,’ Alexander interjected.

  ‘What for?’

  ‘I can use it to go to Neutral country and you can use it to go to Civil country,’ he pointed towards Genghis.

  ‘Why would I go there?’ Genghis asked.

  ‘They have jewellery.’

  Genghis nodded his appreciation.

  ‘Also, we need to escort people to safer grounds. Now that their leader is dead, they will probably be more open to peace.’

  ‘I believe so,’ Ruto agreed.

  ‘Genghis, bring them over.’

  ‘With pleasure,’ he smiled, as he let the others figure out what the co-ordinates were for civil country. Alexander asked Ruto to help him with his and he put in the co-ordinates straight away.

  ‘You know how to work this?’ he asked, astonished.

  ‘Yes, I used to navigate ships and tracktors for civil country before I was banished fifty years ago.’

  ‘Interesting. I will see you friend,’

  ‘Good day,’ he responded as Alexander disintegrated towards Neutral country.

  *

  The blizzard had just started as Alexander made his way towards what they called neutral country. He had travelled the entire world in his time, but had never seen the world so beaten up as it was now. There were hardly any trees, no vegetation, how did these people live? He had spent the afternoon digging the earth to throw the dead people into burial grounds. His wounds were still not entirely healed. The people of tribe had refused to use the gun unless absolutely needed, so had gone the traditional way of healing him. Apparently, they were still apprehensive towards it.

  *

  They looked up and saw a great cloud above them, with the snow blowing across the face of the surface. As they stood still in the air, it took them a while to realise that they were standing in front of something. It seemed to come out of the shadows, but it was so well disguised in the snow that it almost seemed like snow. There was a huge Nargus stood in front of him. This was possibly the biggest he had ever seen. Beyond him, he could see a small crater where it must have come from. That must be their main living ground.

  Everyone practically froze on the ground, with no cars, no real weapons other than the jellyfish and th
e GP-003, which even Arion didn’t know if that could take it on entirely, he couldn’t help but feel trapped. The Nargus lay a tentacle up in the air and before anyone could say anything, it struck the ground, taking out half of them in one go.

  As the remaining staggered, Cordell, Arion, Patrick, Sana and Marcel banded together behind him. He blasted a shot from the gun straight to the tentacle coming towards them. It fell lifeless at once but fell with a strong thud over them. With the exception of Marcel, the rest were able to get out of the way of the dead weight. As they landed to safety, Arion held Sana up.

  ‘That was close,’ he told her.

  ‘I know,’ she said. Just as they were staggering to their feet, something suddenly grabbed Arion around the waist. As she attempted to hold him, he was eventually pulled away by the remainder of the Nargus that was still alive. Cordell seemed to be hurt in the corner and wasn’t getting up. As Arion staggered around, the gun fell to the ground. Sana ran as quickly as she could and grabbed the gun. Once she did, she ran to the middle of the creature, risking everything to try and save her man.

  As Arion struggled to try and get the creatures grip away from him, it just tightened like a snake ready to devour its prey. The more he struggled, the more it tightened, until he could finally see nothing, except the space in front of him. His father stood there, waved towards him and welcomed him home. He couldn’t quite tell what he was saying yet, but he was getting closer. As he felt himself nearing, the creature crushed what was left of his head, and Sana shot straight into the mid region of the creature, killing him on the spot.

  Chapter 24

  The remaining tribe members had finished building the pits and had dumped all the bodies to the ground. Once the deed was done, Ruto spoke to them. They were too injured. Although he offered to heal them, they simply didn’t want any of that. They preferred to die. Ruto nodded his head and asked the men to shoot them with their guns. As they fell to their deaths, Alexander arrived in neutral country on the other side as Sana attempted to revive Arion. Ruto couldn’t worry about his daughter right now. He had to rebuild life in tribe country once more.

  *

  ‘Come on,’ she screamed, as she attempted to revive him. He had been crushed beyond recognition. Alexander sat next to her, near exhausted as he watched her attempting to breathe life into him.

  ‘How did you get here so fast?’ she asked, momentarily astonished as she saw him.

  ‘It doesn’t matter,’ he said, as he lay the transponder to the side.

  ‘He’s dead,’ he told her.

  ‘No, I can’t believe that. This formula has worked for everything else. Why not this?’

  ‘Maybe his head is too badly crushed,’ Alexander suggested.

  ‘No, it can’t be,’ she smacked his chest to get some kind of a reaction from him, ‘IT CAN’T BE.’

  She continued to smack his chest, screaming in vain as she attempted to revive him. Sometimes using her fist, sometimes her breath and lastly using the God Particle itself. It seemed that life found a limit after all. As she finally sat there, sobbing in the cold breeze, she heard a minor cough in the background. It was Cordell. Running in the location he was at, she began to point the gun towards his back, when Cordell lay a hand on her wrist.

  ‘No,’ he finally said, breathless.

  ‘But you’ll die,’ she said.

  ‘It’s ok. I’m getting too old for this anyway.’

  ‘You can’t give up like this, Cordell,’ she finally said.

  ‘I’m not giving up,’ he told her, ‘I’m accepting my fate. That high chancellor had a point. We’re messing with things that are too dangerous. It will just cause too much corruption in the end.’

  ‘At least let me repair you.’

  ‘No. I told you, I’m done. I only ask you one thing.’

  ‘What’s that?’ she asked.

  ‘Get rid of the bad blood from this world. Then destroy this machine for good.’

  ‘What about the other weapons?’

  ‘Ruto’s already destroyed them. He just told me.’

  She didn’t know what to say. Cordell seemed content with his fate. He seemed to have accepted the inevitable. She finally asked him,

  ‘Why are you doing this to yourself?’

  ‘Because I’m the last of a degenerate race. We created this conflict when we should have been making peace. The earth coming to a near complete destruction should have been enough to change our way of thinking, but it didn’t. But we have another chance to make a better world. Probably the last chance we’ll ever get.’

  ‘What about Arion?’ she finally asked, sobbing somewhat as she said this.

  ‘He wouldn’t disagree with me.’

  She sat there in silence for a few moments as Cordell’s breath became shallower. He had completely snapped his back and blood was gushing out from beneath him. There was no way he was coming out of this alive. She decided to ask one last question,

  ‘Why did a Field Marshall like you become friends with Arion?’

  He looked at her, barely breathing. Though he was able to smile as he said,

  ‘He reminded me of the sort of person I wanted to be when I was younger. Carefree and honest. He bought back a side of me I thought I had lost. There was just something about him.’

  ‘I know what you mean,’ she said after a moment. As she watched him die, she could see a look of peace on his face. He was more peaceful than she had ever seen him. She closed his eyes and moved back to Alexander. He seemed to be within an inch of life himself. In that moment she saw his life drifting from him, she made her decision. Moving the gun towards him, she revived Alexander. His bullet wounds healed almost instantly. He seemed extremely disappointed.

  ‘I was practically in spring again,’ he complained.

  ‘I know. I’m sorry, but I have three more things I want you to do.’

  ‘Go on,’ he told her, waiting for another horrific act.

  ‘Open that cave further,’ she told him, pointing at the pit where the Nargus came out from, ‘break that door and destroy civil country.’

  *

  The final weapons were destroyed. Every trace of the god particle had been eradicated, save for the one gun that Sana had. Ruto and the rest spent the remainder of the day burying the remaining giants. No easy task to say the least. Once the deed was done, they sent a message out to the remaining tribe country folk who had gone out to find land further on.

  ‘Where are you?’ Ruto asked one of them through the telecoms.

  ‘We’ve reached the uninhabitable lands,’ a response came through the telecoms.

  ‘And?’ Ruto asked.

  ‘Nothing, there is an old colony here. Most simply starved to death.’

  ‘Any survivors at all?’ Ruto asked.

  ‘No. we sent the probes to search every corner. They found a Wolf colony with some live specimens. Other than that, nothing. Not one human’

  ‘Live Wolves?’ Ruto asked.

  ‘This must be where they keep coming from,’ the man on the other side informed Ruto.

  ‘How many weapons do you have?’

  ‘Only our one special one.’

  The one special weapon was an atom bomb which was on a truck. It was the only one that had still survived all these years.

  ‘What are your orders?’ the voice came from the telecoms.

  ‘Aim the weapon at that colony. Kill all of them at once and make your way back.’

  There was silence for a moment or two, before an answer came,

  ‘Very well then.’

  *

  The cave opening was pulled further back. Sana could not only see a great reservoir underneath, but could also see many Nargus, or squid as they used to be called, making their way out. Who knew they could survive in the open air. Alexander became tense but Sana asked him to take down the gate first. As more and more came forward, Sana pointed the gun towards them. They spread their arms around looking like some hideously disfigured humans. In the
great sunlight, she suddenly noticed that they were a little more red than white. She hadn’t noticed this before. It was probably because they drank blood as opposed to water.

  The biggest of them made its way towards Sana, who seemed like an ant by comparison. She held her gun and shot at the nearest plant, which died instantly. They stopped their pursuit and narrowed their gaze. They were clearly wondering what her endgame was. She stepped back and gave them a small pass to come through. After a moment or two of squealing, they seemed to understand that she wanted them to go ahead, but simply leave her alone. They complied.

  An entire horde of Nargus followed the biggest one. There were hundreds, simply making their way towards the entrance of neutral country. As Alexander slammed at the main gate, the rest started to hit at the outside structure itself. As zinc and sulphur began to explode onto them, the Nargus screamed in pain and began to melt away in certain parts. Some simply flopped to the ground, whilst the rest came in their place and carried on attacking the fencing.

  In the middle of this, Alexander continued to slam at the gate, slowly opening the entrance in one go. He seemed to have broken his hand in doing so, but he was able to yank the door open and the Nargus began to make their way in to feast. As Alexander backed away, some Nargus came to nibble at Alexander. Sana shot near them, which was enough warning for them to not bother attacking him either. She then walked up to Alexander and healed his hand.

  ‘Thank you,’ he told her.

  ‘Don’t worry. Now you remember your last task?’

  ‘Yes I do,’ he answered.

  ‘Good. I will not come with you. So keep destroying everything until you die. And then you can go back to spring.’

  ‘I thank you, Sana. You are a good person. I hope peace can now be attained.’

  ‘Thank you. I hope so too.’