Revelation twc-4

by Kyle West

  They both opened their eyes, watching me and Anna. The eyes were blue, and with a start, I realized I had seen Lauren before. Seeing a familiar person, even a person I didn’t talk to all that often, was hard to describe. I definitely recognized her from my time at Bunker 108.

  “You must be Alex,” Lauren said, parting from Michael. “I’m glad to see you’ve made it.”

  From the way she said that, I knew she wasn’t just referring to the battle. She was referring to everything I had been through in the past three months.

  “It’s a miracle I’m still here,” I said.

  “Isn’t it a miracle that any of us are?” she asked.

  Michael turned to face me, keeping an arm each wrapped around his wife and daughter.

  “I’m sorry it took so long,” he said. “But this is Lauren, my wife, and my daughter, Callie.”

  Lauren forced a smile, while Callie just looked afraid. I didn’t blame the little girl. I was probably covered with blood.

  “I wish it could have been in better circumstances,” I said. “I’m just glad everyone here is okay.” I sighed. “A lot of people out there are not.”

  “Did everyone else make it?” Anna asked.

  “Char and Ashton were on the ship the entire time,” Michael said. “I saw Makara outside still, giving orders, trying to organize all the gang lords. I imagine they’ll be taking stock of who is hurt and who isn’t, trying to find time to help everyone they can.”

  With so many wounded, so many to bury, finding shelter would become all the harder. We were not far out of reach of the Radaskim horde. It was a question of when, not if, they would attack again.

  “We have to find a Bunker,” I said. “We can’t stay out here in the open any longer.”

  The blast door opened, letting in both Makara and Julian. It was a relief to see them both standing when so many had died.

  “Good, everyone’s here,” Makara said. “Bring both Char and Ashton here. I need to lay out the plan.”

  Before anyone could move to get the doctor and the Alpha, both appeared in the hallway from the direction of the clinic.

  “Is it bad?” Char asked.

  Makara nodded. “It’s horrible. At least two hundred dead, and more dying. I’ve ordered that the wounded be divided between the two ships. The rest are to strike immediately west, and on the double. We’re not stopping until we reach Pyrite, where at least we’ll have the safety of the walls. From there, we can hunker down until Ashton can find out which Bunker will be our best bet.”

  “The wounded…” Ashton began. “I assume you want me and Char to take care of that. How am I supposed to find time to research?”

  Makara sighed. “You will somehow have to find time for both, Ashton. We all have too much to do, and not enough time to do it in. I want you to first get the wounded in the galleys of both ships. Should be several dozen; treat them in order of severity. The worst cases we can shuttle to Skyhome. As long as they don’t stay there too long, they shouldn’t be such a drain on its resources.” Ashton was about to counter that, but Makara continued on. “We don’t have time to argue. We only have time for action. Train anyone who is able, or try to find anyone with any experience with working with the wounded. Work in shifts. Whatever the case, let’s get this done.”

  “What about Samuel?” I asked.

  Char looked at me. “Samuel is still out, but stable, hopefully. We have more people to take care of than him, now.”

  “He’s right,” Makara said. “For now, let’s do what I’ve already said. Move the wounded on board the ships. Once that’s done, Rey and the rest will lead what’s left of the Exodus to Pyrite. Char, you can take Odin. Ashton, you’re assigned to Gilgamesh. I assume that Bunker manifest can be accessed from the ship’s computers?”

  He nodded. “It can be accessed from either, but yes, I can man Gilgamesh.”

  “Good. Get to work. Find anyone who can help out. I want to clear this hill within the hour. Pyrite is still twenty miles out. If we push ourselves, we can make it by evening tomorrow.”

  I doubted that. With the wounded and the weak, we’d be lucky to make the town in double that time. I kept my mouth shut, however.

  “I can help with nursing,” Lauren said. “I have some experience, though I was never registered with the Bunker.”

  “Anything we can get helps,” Makara said. “You can help Char here.”

  With that, we broke up. Anna and I headed outside, leaving the bodies of the dead but moving the wounded on board the ships. With everyone in the Exodus working with a single purpose, it was all done in thirty minutes. From there, anyone with any sort of medical experience was assigned to either Ashton’s or Char’s team. Admittedly, that wasn’t much. With Lauren, we had about a dozen people spread across both ships tending the wounded. There was not much we could do for any of them — not with the ships’ limited resources. Painkillers ran out very quickly, along with bandages. It was an impossible ordeal, but it was the best we could do. It was decided that the priority was getting to Pyrite before the swarm closed in on us again.

  It was a long, hard journey. The first of that tempest Askal had warned us of closed in just as dawn broke. Of crawlers, there was no sign, but the bleak, cold wind from the north did a sort of work that crawlers could never do. Dozens died from exposure, and where they did, they were left behind, stripped of anything useful. We had become like the monsters we were supposed to be fighting. It took monstrosity to survive in these circumstances. The only thing that kept people going was the promise of warmth, the promise of safety.

  In the end, it might have turned out to be an empty promise. Gilgamesh reached Pyrite first, leaving Odin to guard the Exodus’s rear. The people there were hostile, according to Ashton — unwilling to take in either Gilgamesh’s wounded or Odin’s. We weren’t going to get in there with anything short of battle. Not that Pyrite was the strongest town, but the thought of having to fight any more, much less fighting people instead of the monsters behind us, was simply exhausting.

  All the same, Makara ordered that fighting men be loaded into both ships along with the wounded, and landed in the city. If there was resistance, then we had orders to take it out. It was desperate, it was amoral, but we didn’t have time for morality. Not with so much on the line. Thankfully, it turned out the leaders of Pyrite had been bluffing. They begrudgingly accepted our takeover, and tents and a large fire were allowed to be set up in the town’s center. The town, at least, was surrounded by a tall wooden fence. Not great, but better than nothing.

  While the Raiders, Exiles, and gang members stood guard in the town center, Anna and Makara ferried the ships back and forth, picking up the weakest members of the Exodus before the cold could get to them. Anna had to learn a great deal in order to pilot the ship on her own. However, necessity had been her teacher, and she was able to get the job done. More and more of the Exodus was unloaded in the town until finally, after two days and several ferrying trips, the last of the Exodus was inside the walls of Pyrite.

  With everyone inside, we had escaped the xenoswarm, but at great cost. A few days later, a head count revealed that we were now down four hundred and twelve people — about half from the battle, half from the extreme cold. This left us with about sixteen hundred souls. In a single night, we had lost twenty percent of our total force. And if hadn’t been for the Elekai, it would have been one hundred percent.

  An inventory of Pyrite’s granaries revealed that, for everyone, there was probably enough food for two weeks. Though angered, the leaders of the small settlement could do nothing about it. In the end, they were forced to join us on our mad journey to escape the growing power of the Great Blight and reach Los Angeles, before it was too late. They soon saw, once they heard our stories, that they would not escape the coming storm. Our numbers had taken a huge hit, but recovered somewhat with the addition of the town.

  It was small condolence when so much had happened, and so many additional threats faced us. And
with Samuel still out and apparently in a coma, it was only going to get worse. We had to find a shelter large enough for two thousand people, and we had very little time to find it in.

  And it was this desperation that led to us to commit our gravest error.

  * * *

  Ashton did his research, and found that Bunker 84 was probably our likeliest bet. Even if it was our closest option for shelter, the Bunker seemed so far away. Bunker 84 was in Northern California, buried in the mountains near the border of what used to be Oregon. It would be far colder there than here, especially given the season — however, as long as we could find a way to get everyone underground, I supposed that wouldn’t matter.

  According to Ashton, Bunker 84 had been designed to house one thousand people, making it twice as big as Bunker 108. It had fallen in 2045, three years before even Bunker One had. It had been one link in a chain of consecutive Bunker falls, barely a blip on the radar. Most Bunkers began going offline in the early 2040s, and the huge string of falls hadn’t ceased until the mid-2050s.

  The last transmission received from Bunker 84 had come on May 6, 2045, though the Bunker Manifest’s information didn’t give specifics. The Bunker had been offline for more than fifteen years, so it was anyone’s guess as to what happened.

  It was eerie, but the fact that Bunker 84 had gone offline so long ago, even before Bunker One, showed that it was highly unlikely to have been caused by the xenovirus. It could have just been abandoned because a critical part had failed. If that was the case, we might be able to get it fixed and have the Bunker online again.

  Whether, after the last fifteen years, there was any food, water, or supplies left, remained to be seen. It didn’t seem too likely. All the same, Makara immediately ordered a recon team to check the Bunker out. We were getting desperate for any option, and for now, Bunker 84 was our only option.

  Selected for that team were Anna, Michael, Julian, and I. We were selected to fly up there with Odin, find Bunker 84, recon its interior, and return to Pyrite with our findings. Supplies in the town were low, and with the xenoswarm so near, time was of the essence. Makara wanted us there and back in two days.

  Nothing, however, could have prepared us for what we found in Bunker 84. It was something so terrible, so horrifying, that I probably would have preferred Blighters.

  About the Author

  Kyle West is a science fiction author living in Oklahoma City. He is currently working on The Wasteland Chronicles series, of which there will be seven installments. Find out immediately when his next book is released by signing up for The Wasteland Chronicles Mailing List. The fifth book will be released sometime in December.

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  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 chosen.

  Alpha: “Alpha” is the title given to the recognized head of the Raiders. In the beginning, it was merely 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 took on a more meaningful role. Typically, Alphas do not remain so for long — they are assassinated by rivals who 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 the intrinsic quality of being useful. Rechargeable batteries (called “chargers”) are even more prized, and solar batteries (called “solars,” or “sols”) are the most useful and prized of all.

  Behemoth: The Behemoth is a great monstrosity in the Wasteland — a giant creature, either humanoid or reptilian, or sometimes a mixture of the two, 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 the Behemoth’s 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 serve 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. Its center is Ragnarok Crater.

  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, a vestige of the Old World. Many aircraft were stationed at Bunker 40 before it fell, sometime in the late 2050s.

  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: Bunker 114 is a 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: Bunker One was 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, and security forces, along with the skilled people needed to maintain it. Also, dozens of brilliant scientists and specialists lived and worked there, including engineers, doctors, and technicians. The very wealthy were also allowed berths for helping to finance the Bunker Program. Bunker One is 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 Dark Decade — including Gilgamesh, the capital ship, and three smaller cruisers — Odin, Perseus, and Orion. While Gilgamesh and Odin are under Cornelius Ashton’s care, 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 2020s. The plan was that, when the dust settled, Bunker residents could reemerge and re
build. 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. With mass global cooling, crops could not grow in climates too far from the tropics. What crops would grow 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, economies, power grids, and the industrial complex — 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 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 those 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.