Wasteland

by Ann Bakshis

  “Get down,” I shout.

  Everyone crouches down as the device ignites below causing the bridge to shake slightly. The women stand back up, hurrying even faster down the walkway. I look down and see a number of the climbers have either fallen or are dangling from their ropes.

  “Where are Quin and Lehen?” I ask Jagger, as he picks his Beta rifle back up, firing down at those who continue to climb.

  “They went to the Developmental Quad,” he says between bursts of fire. “The building was breached just before lockdown.”

  I hand him and Keller three detonators, leaving me with four.

  I squeeze past the mass of people rushing into the emergency bunker while Tobin and two Morrigan direct everyone. Children and instructors continue to exit the Predestination Center as I make my way in. I follow the line of kids, hoping they will lead me to the connecting bridge to the Developmental Quad.

  I find the entrance and bolt down the walkway.

  Smoke empties from the building, floating along the ceiling of the bridge. I can hear shouting and screaming echoing through the halls as I gingerly step inside, remove the gun from my waistband, and hold it up in front of me.

  Two children round the corner to my left, blood and ash covering their faces. I point them towards the door, practically shoving them through, as a tall figure in black follows from behind them, firing in our direction. I shove the kids to the ground and lie on top of them as I fire at him, hitting him in the leg just above the knee, then in the stomach. I pull myself off of the children, shouting at them to run.

  I walk over to the moaning lump on the floor and remove his hood.

  Terrance looks up with anger in his eyes that changes to sorrow when he sees who I am.

  “How could you be mixed up in this?” I shout. “I trusted you.” Tears stream down my face. “I thought you were my friend. You murdered my family…my friends,” I whimper.

  His hand reaches up, fingers brush my face. I’m sorry, he mouths, then goes limp.

  I stand and walk away, leaving Terrance to die alone.

  A moment later, Quin and Lehen drag Rey around the opposite corner from where the kids came from. He is badly injured, his shin bone shattered beyond repair. I cover them as they drag Rey down the bridge. Braxton and three Morrigan meet them halfway. Two of the Morrigan take Rey and carry him into the Predestination Center.

  “How many are in there?” Braxton asks, as he comes up to me.

  “I’m not sure,” I answer, smoke around us getting thicker.

  “Almost all of the children got out,” Lehen says, as he, Quin, and the remaining Morrigan join us. “The building is crawling with Hostem.”

  “We can’t let them get any farther.”

  “I’ve got an idea,” I say removing one of the detonators from Rabaan’s sash.

  “The glass is impenetrable,” Lehen says. “How are the detonators going to help?”

  “I’m not going to use them on the glass.” I look over at Quin, who smiles as he senses what I’m planning.

  He places his palm onto the film covering the window closest to the entrance on the right. His back begins to glow as his Quantum Stream pulses through his system. The coating cracks under his palm, radiating outwards, before finally shattering. I fire the Levin gun at the window, disintegrating the glass.

  “Cover me,” I say, handing Braxton my gun before jumping out.

  I aim for a thick pile of snow just a few feet below, so I don’t have to jump far. Energy blasts shoot over my head at the intruders down below.

  I lower myself slowly from one ledge to another. A Hostem swings up next to me, but a shot from above kills her within seconds of reaching my ledge. I remove the rope from the woman’s harness, watch as her body plummets to the valley below, then secure myself and push off of the rocks, swinging hard to the right, aiming for the farthest support column. I secure the detonator by one of the column’s joints, setting the timer for five minutes, swing back around to my left, and place another detonator on the middle column at the same joint, this one set for four minutes. For the final column, I set the timer to three minutes, untie myself from the rope, and begin my climb back up.

  Quin reaches down from the walkway, grabbing my arm to help pull me up, but a moment later he is shot in the arm, dropping me. I begin to fall, and am just barely able to grab hold of the rope I’d been tied to. I pull myself back up to the ledge and Quin grabs my arm again, and pulls me up. We run down the connection bridge as Hostem begin to make their way through the smoke filled entrance of the Developmental Quad.

  Energy blasts ricochet around us. Lehen and Braxton return fire.

  The walkway sways mildly when the first detonator goes off.

  We turn the bend in the bridge as the second one ignites, fiercely shaking the metallic structure. I turn my head and see the Developmental Quad bending, buckling under its weight.

  Lehen goes down from a shot to his thigh. He’s never been injured before, and buckles, slow to heal. I crouch in front of him to give him time to recover, taking several shots to my side and back.

  The bridge shakes violently as the final detonator ignites. The Developmental Quad collapses with a great roar and shriek of metal, sliding down the cliff into the snowy darkness below. Those still standing are knocked to their feet as the connection bridge begins to slide, the glass walls cracking from the pressure exerted by the supports failing. The Hostem in the walkway try to retreat, but fall out of the broken window as the bridge twists to the right; Braxton and the Morrigan make it into the Predestination Center; Lehen, Quin, and I slide down the metal flooring.

  The bridge collapses, folding at the doorway seam. The rest of the building has been lost, eliminating the protective film, and the three of us fall through the glass. Lehen and I manage to grab hold of the metal window casing. I grab Quin as he falls past, just moments before he’s out of reach.

  “Quin, you’re slipping,” I shout, as my hold begins to loosen. “Grab my arm with your other hand!”

  Energy blasts fly at us from below. Lehen is hit in the back, but manages to keep his hold. Quin is also hit, his body swaying from the blast.

  “Let go, Meg,” he says to me.

  “No, you need to hold on.”

  “Meg, it’ll be all right. You have to let go.”

  I shake my head and try to pull him up. He uncurls his free hand, showing me an activated detonator, counting down brightly in the darkness.

  A moment later he lets go of me, falling into the abyss below.

  I scream his name, my wounded voice resonating off the rocks.

  The detonation is bright blue, and powerful. The remaining glass in the bridge rains down on us. The shock wave radiates skyward then all is quiet.

  Tears pour from my eyes. My heart breaks, mourning another loss of someone I love.

  “Trea,” I hear Lehen say, as if from somewhere off in a distance.

  I look over at him, his face emotionless.

  “We have to climb.”

  He pulls himself up and begins to ascend the window frames like a ladder.

  I look down one last time, rage beginning to build.

  Chapter 27

  Braxton reaches down to me as I make it onto the last metal frame. I place my hand in his and he pulls me up to the doorway.

  “It’s not over,” he announces, as more blasts can be heard from the other connection bridge. “We need your help.”

  Just what I need to take out some of the frustration I’m feeling right now. “How many do you think remain?”

  “Just about a handful. They shouldn’t be too much trouble.” He smiles at me as he places his Levin gun in one hand and the Levin gun Quin dropped in my other.

  Trea grins back.

  I take off down the hall of the main level of the Predestination Center leaving Lehen, Braxton, and the Morrigan behind.

  I enter the walkway, firing at anything that moves, taking down three Hostem before I reach the entrance to the emer
gency bunker, which is sealed shut. I come upon four more as I make the bend in the walkway and cut my way through them, leaving nothing alive behind me. I kill two more as I enter the housing unit. The remaining Hostem is at the far end, firing at me, but missing. The Hostem turns to run, but a well-aimed shot shatters a femur, and the Hostem falls.

  I walk slowly down the length of the hall as the fighter tries to crawl around the corner, but the person doesn’t get far and I’m there in seconds.

  “Why?” I ask, pointing the gun at the Hostem’s back.

  “To bring an end to Sirain,” a familiar voice answers. She rolls over onto her back, breathing labored due to blood loss. Her face is covered in dirt and sweat, but the white-streaked red hair is very recognizable.

  “Rena?”

  “Hello, Meg.” She tries to push herself up into a sitting position. “I imagine you’re as surprised to see me as I am to see you.” She shakes her head. “If Terrance had known the truth about you, he never would have left to go looking for you.”

  I take the butt of the Levin gun and hit her across the face. A cut above her eyebrow forms deep and red. “What truth? What did I ever do to you or Terrance? You’re the monsters here, and I’m going to stop you.”

  “You can never stop this, Meg. Acheron is lost and Tyre soon will be. You’ve failed.” She taunts me, a smile growing on her face.

  I kneel, bringing myself down to her level.

  “Why do you care so much about destroying the cities?”

  “They obliterated everything…murdered hundreds when Asphodel fell…they’re the reason why the Wasteland exists. They manipulate and control those they feel are beneath them. Destroy anyone who thinks differently.”

  “Your brother was the one who planned the attack on the Dormitories,” I state, finally starting to figure out the story behind the story.

  “And for his efforts to cleanse us of the abominations, the High Ruler of Tyre had him executed in that arena of theirs, in front of the whole country. He was sliced to pieces by a battle droid, as if it was a game.” A brief smile crosses her lips then quickly fades. “Those of us who’d escaped the collection migrated into the Wasteland, away from the moral decay of the cities.”

  “So why come back?”

  “To finish what my brother started. We thought all the Antaeans had died that night. It wasn’t until your display in Tyre that we all realized we were wrong.”

  She moans from pain as her blood loss continues, her breathing becoming labored.

  “You’ll never win, Meg. Sirain’s enemies are too great. This is only the beginning.”

  I hear feet approach from behind me. Lehen and Braxton are at my side, weapons drawn.

  Rena’s focus shifts from me to them. “Sirain will fall. You all will burn…murderers, all of you.”

  “You’re no different,” I say, as I stand up, aiming the barrel at her heart. “Tell your brother hello for me when you see him.”

  The wall behind Rena singes as her chest opens upon my firing. I turn to Lehen and Braxton. Both still have their weapons pointed at the body.

  “Let’s end this.”

  A roll call is taken after the fighting ends. Thankfully, casualties from the hatchery are low: four children from the Developmental Quad, two instructors, two Morrigan, Rabaan, Rey who bled out from his leg wound…and Quin.

  Tobin, Keller, and Gage are tasked with collecting the bodies and disposing of them. The Superior doesn’t want the children seeing them when she allows everyone to leave the bunker. I sit in the security and communications room, my head resting on my hands, while Braxton takes inventory of the working weapons and vehicles. Jagger and Lehen do several sweeps of the complex, making sure all the Hostem are gone or dead; occasionally a short blast of a gun rings out when they find one still alive.

  “Well,” Braxton says upon entering the room. “I can get at least one of the vehicles to run. It’ll take a few days because of all the damage, but I can make it work.” He wipes his hands on a greasy towel before sitting on one of the stools next to me. “What’s the plan?”

  “I don’t know,” I answer after taking in a deep breath. I glance over at him, dirt covering most of his face. “We need to draw the Hostem away from the cities, Boroughs, and hatcheries.”

  “I can try and reestablish communications with Tyre and Acheron to see what resources they may have. Our weapons are almost out of power, and Lehen isn’t as strong as you are, so using him as a weapon isn’t going to work. If the Hostem attack the hatchery again, we may not be so fortunate next time.”

  “Losing Quin…was not fortunate.” Tears spill down my cheeks.

  I suddenly feel very alone, my body aching from a pain I can’t see.

  “You know I didn’t mean it that way,” Braxton’s voice quivers.

  I do know what he means, but it hurts all the same.

  He sits with me in silence for some time. Occasionally he looks down at the panel in front of him, turning some of the dials, attempting to make some kind of connection with the outside world. A few of the monitors go from black to a gray haze, but no one answers. He continues to play with the various settings as Jagger and Lehen join us.

  “Hello…?” A faint female voice is heard through one of the monitors to my left. “Hello…can anyone hear me? This is Superior Gatlen of Hatchery Seven, is anyone there?”

  “This is Hatchery Nine, Superior Gatlen,” Braxton responds after pressing a sensor on the panel to his right.

  “Is Superior Hersher there? We’re in urgent need of assistance.”

  “This is Captain Braxton of the High Ruler guard, Superior. Can I be of some help?”

  “Our complex is under attack,” she says.

  I close my eyes and strain my hearing to see if I can pick up any background noise. Shots are being fired, followed by minor rumblings from possible explosions.

  “Captain Braxton, we have no defenses. We can’t raise anyone in Acheron.” Her voice resonates with urgency and confusion.

  “Move everyone into your emergency bunker as quickly as you can.”

  “We are trying, but the pathways between buildings have collapsed and many of my staff and children are trapped.”

  Braxton points down to the screen in front of me, and tells me which controls to work. The screen on our lower left turns on. He tells me coordinates to plug into the panel, and the screen quickly changes from a dense gray to white snow. I focus the satellite until the image comes into frame.

  Hatchery Seven is made of four buildings just like Hatchery Nine, but the complex is located on the floor of a valley, making it an easy target. Smoke and flames are eating up the ground around the structures. There are large holes between each building, and metal beams are poking up out of the soil.

  Their walkways must have been underground.

  Small flashes of light emanate from each corner of all four buildings.

  Superior Gatlen screams on the other side of our connection, which is soon lost. We watch as the entire complex erupts into flames, every inch engulfed in orange and red.

  “They’ll destroy all the hatcheries if they can. How do we stop them?” Lehen asks.

  “By giving them what they want. Us.” I reply.

  “We need to get to the Dormitories,” Lehen responds. “We can set up defenses there.”

  “How do we find it?” Braxton asks.

  “It’s about a day north of Oasis One. We need to follow the old shuttle line from the Trade Borough north.”

  “That’s three days northwest of here,” Braxton says. “The old shuttle line Lehen is talking about was supposed to connect the Trade Borough with Nuceira, before the relationship with the city deteriorated.”

  “Is the place occupied?” I ask.

  “Yes, if it’s still standing. It’s five miles north of Hatchery Seven.”

  “So even if we make it to the Dormitories, it’ll probably be too late,” Jagger states, as he slumps against the wall by the door.

&n
bsp; “We have to try,” I say.

  Braxton and Jagger work non-stop for a day and a half on getting one of the vehicles operational, while Keller, Gage, and Tobin set up a perimeter around what remains of the hatchery in case it’s attacked again. I work with Lehen on getting his skills sharpened. He and I stay away from the functional buildings and train around the destroyed Developmental Quad.

  During our scarce breaks, I try and think of a way to trigger Lehen’s Quantum Stream. He’s the only Antaean left without it. Lehen seems reluctant, almost to the point of being defiant, to take the necessary steps. I drop the topic, but I continue to think of my options.

  Three days after the attack on Hatchery Nine, we’re finally ready to leave.

  The eight remaining Morrigan elect to stay behind and defend the complex if it’s attacked again. Superior Hersher allocates some food rations for us, though it’s not too much as she needs it for the women, children, and staff. Communications are still down with Tyre and sketchy with some of the outlying Boroughs.

  Braxton instructs Hera and Duren to keep attempting to contact Tyre. In five days, when we’re near the Dormitories, Duren is to send out a transmission stating that the city’s forces are mobilizing for an assault on the Hostem from the Dormitories.

  Braxton is hoping this will compel the Hostem to pull out of Acheron and the Boroughs. Of course this is a very tenuous plan.

  We’re still unsure of where Tyre stands.

  As I climb into the front seat of the vehicle, I notice my Levin gun and knife sitting on the floor under the dashboard, so I place my knife in my back pocket and leave the gun by my feet. Braxton takes the wheel and begins to drive us slowly down the battered road. We pass under what remains of the keystone dangling over the third gate, its stone pillars reduced to rubble. Gates two and one are almost impassable. Jagger and Gage have to leave the vehicle in order to clear a path for us. Occasionally through the trees I catch a glimpse of several metallic objects with reflective panels on their roofs.