by Kyle West
“Copy that. Meet you amidships.”
With that, I walked the rest of the way to the anteroom.
Chapter 19
We walked into a scene of chaos. The New Angels had formed a ring and were doing their best to restrain panicked Community members. The loudest among them was Lyn.
“We want out!” she shouted.
Something had definitely changed about the women. The inhuman quality to their eyes had fled, replaced now with panic and fear.
With Elias dead, some sort of spell had been lifted.
The women jostled against the New Angels, but they were strong and they were armed. The Community women had been stripped of their weapons and many of them were in tears. I had no idea what to do about any of it.
Every head turned when a click sounded from the blast door. Gilgamesh was docking. A moment later, the door opened, revealing Makara and Julian walking into the anteroom, followed by Nathaniel, a bearded man we had met after finding the Exiles near the Great Blight, and another man named Chris, the blond-haired Raider who had guarded Silver Arched Bridge that spanned the Colorado River. I still remembered that night, Makara and I racing across the desert in our Recon, trying to reach Char and Raider Bluff in order to save Samuel from the bullet he had received.
“What’s going on?” Makara asked.
The Community members ceased their panic, staring at Makara blankly. Lyn stepped forward. But what she said was far from expected.
“We...just want to know where we are. What’s happening. How...”
Lyn didn’t finish. After a moment’s silence, it was clear that Lyn had asked the question in all seriousness. I looked at each of the Community women. None of them had any idea where they were. Could Elias have actually brainwashed them to the point where they would not remember anything?
No, not Elias – the xenovirus. Elias had been controlled by it, and apparently, so had all these women. But with Elias dead, somehow the virus had lost its power. Elias had said he was the intermediary between Askala and the Community. With the intermediary severed, these women would be free once more.
The only problem was, they didn’t remember a thing.
“You are aboard the Aeneas,” Makara said. “The day is December 24, 2060.”
Lyn looked at Makara, uncomprehending. She looked at all of the New Angels for confirmation that this was true.
“No,” she said. “The year is 2045. I remember...the fires. The screams. I remember...”
“What you remember,” I said, stepping forward. “Is the fall of Bunker 84. This happened fifteen years ago, when Elias took control.”
“Elias,” Lyn said.
I looked into her eyes to see if she remembered anything about the man who had led her for fifteen long years.
“I feel...different. I can’t explain it, but...I feel that time has passed, like waking from a dream...”
“That’s because time has passed,” Ashton said. “Fifteen years of time.”
The other Community members stared, similarly shocked. They looked to Lyn to figure this out for the rest of them. From the sidelines, I saw Deborah and Ada, watching. Their eyes appeared completely lucid. They had not been under Elias’s spell. Maybe Deborah and Ada were genetic anomalies, able to resist the version of the virus that infected Elias.
“Something is different,” Lyn said. “I can feel it.”
She trailed off, looking at each of the Community members.
“I don’t know most of these people...and the ones I do know look...”
I could see from her blue eyes that she could scarcely believe it. I finished her thought for her.
“Do they look older?”
Lyn shook, and finally nodded. “I see now that you are right, as hard as that is to believe. I’m not sixteen. I’m...thirty-one.”
“Fifteen years,” Makara said, shaking her head. Her eyes were disturbed as she looked at the women under guard. “You remember nothing from the past fifteen years?”
I could now see that Elias’s powers had not merely stopped at the physical. Of all the incarnations of the xenovirus I had seen, this by far had to be the strangest. It was a strain that likely did not exist anymore. It had developed in isolation, back in 2045, where it had infected Elias at Ragnarok Crater when he had been taken there by the recon team from Bunker 83. I thought of the Howlers or any other form of Radaskim xenolife. They all obeyed the Voice – Askala. Askala was able to communicate directly with Elias in visions and dreams that Elias had shared that with the Community. These women, along with Elias, had not transformed into Howlers. They had retained their full human form. Yet, they had all blindly obeyed him – as much as anything infected with the Radaskim version of the virus would obey the Xenomind, Askala.
It wasn’t just the women who were directionless. It was the children as well. They stared blankly ahead. If my theory was true, then they had lived their whole lives as agents of the virus. How much would they remember? Would they remember anything?
“I still remember all of the things I did,” Lyn said, finally. “I just can’t remember why I did them. The emotions...they are all gone. The memories bring up nothing.”
“You were under Elias’s control,” I said. “He was infected with the xenovirus. Apparently, he could control other people who were also infected. Maybe only women, which would explain why he wanted the men dead. But now that Elias is dead...the spell is broken. He had been a pawn of Askala.”
Somehow, the virus could only control the women. Elias had said it himself – men would just go crazy. I didn’t know why, exactly, but there it was. Elias had mentioned that it was possible that only one male could be the Prophet. That would mean that any male would have to be killed in order to keep unity.
“Whenever a boy was born,” Deborah said, stepping forward, “he was allowed to live for one year before he was sacrificed to the Voice.” Deborah made a fist. “That’s what happened with...my son.”
“Was Elias...?”
Deborah nodded. “Yes. He was the father. As he was to all of the children. And...I had to go through with it. I couldn’t let him know that I had my own thoughts. He always suspected, and I was always afraid he would find out. But when I found Ada, I knew I wasn’t alone.”
Ada said nothing, only staring at Lyn and the other Community women, tears in her eyes.
“She and I became friends, and we existed in secret, pretending the entire time that we were just as much under Elias’s spell as everyone else. I never really understood why he had such power. Why no one resisted him.” She looked at me with haunted eyes. “But what you say makes sense. Not everyone would have followed the man willingly. More would have resisted, if only they could.”
“Elias told me himself that he once tried to resist the Voice,” I said. “He said it was long ago, in the beginning. But maybe...he didn’t have much of a choice either, in the end.”
“Some girls were killed, too,” Ada said. “It’s happened a few times. We never knew the reason why, but I had to hide my sorrow, my pain. Deborah and I couldn’t reach them fast enough.”
“It was probably around the age of ten or so that I started to realize that I was different,” Deborah said. “I could say no to him, unlike everyone else. I didn’t understand this – not one bit. As soon as I realized how dangerous it was to say no, I never did. Sometimes, Elias would push things, to test us – but I always made sure I passed each test. I became good at pretending. Ada and I recently talked about trying to...kill Elias. The thought was ridiculous. We never carried anything out. It was only talk. But even talk was dangerous.” She sighed. “I just wished we had the courage to do something about it. All of this might have been stopped.”
“You did what you could,” I said. “There is no reason to be ashamed.”
It was easy to think that all it would have taken was sneaking up behind Elias and offing him with a knife. But Anna, Michael, and I had a hell of a time trying to bring him down, and we had weapons and month
s of fighting experience.
“No, I’m not ashamed,” Deborah said. “Elias grew worse, over time. I guess the virus started corrupting his mind even more. The visions increased and he began to be more vigilant about finding dissenters. Before, he had allowed us to exist so long as we didn’t disrupt the balance. I felt more and more out of place as time went on. All I had was Ada. I told her everything. I had to tell someone or I felt I would go crazy. If anyone did anything against Elias, they were condemned – filled with darkness.”
I suddenly felt overwhelmed with everything. I had no idea what to do with this situation – and from everyone else’s eyes – Makara, Ashton, Anna, Michael, Julian, and Grudge – they had no idea, either. It was hard to imagine something like the Community existing for fifteen years. Fifteen years of slavery to a man who was a pawn of the xenovirus.
What had Elias been like before he had visited Ragnarok Crater on that fateful recon? He was as much a victim as everyone else. It was insane to think of the power this virus had. It was capable of things beyond what we could imagine.
We had to destroy Askala. This was but a taste of the pain she would unleash on our world.
But one question remained unanswered: why Elias? Why even bother taking control of Bunker 84?
“The virus and Askala probably caused Elias to rebel against Bunker authorities,” I said. “I want to know why.”
“It wasn’t about Elias,” Ashton said. “It was about the Bunker. What makes Bunker 84 different from every other Bunker?”
“Nukes,” Michael said. “Was the Voice after that?”
Ashton nodded. “I think so. The Voice is intelligent enough to go after key targets – such as Bunker One, back in 2048.”
“Elias told me that he went to Ragnarok Crater,” I said. Everyone now turned to look at me. “He was sent to reinforce a team on his first recon at nearby Bunker 83. They flew to the Crater. That was when he started to change.”
“When did he tell you this?” Ashton asked.
“When he took me out of my cell.”
“So what are you saying?” Makara asked Ashton. “Are these women infected with the virus? How did that happen?”
“Think about it,” Anna said. “Do we really have to use our imaginations for that one?”
“Well, it might have happened that way,” Deborah said. “Another reason why it was only women who were infected.”
“Actually,” I said, “he told me he tried to convert men as well.”
“Can we change the subject?” Makara asked.
“Sorry,” I said. “Just trying to provide useful info.”
“However it was accomplished is not the point,” Ashton said. “We don’t even know if the women are infected. I’d have to take blood samples to confirm it. With Elias gone, the virus shouldn’t have any power over them. As has already been established, he worked as an intermediary between Askala and the Community. Through him, she could control them.”
“If she was just after the nukes,” I said, “how come it took Askala so long to make Elias take off with the ship?”
“She would have sooner, surely,” Ashton said. “Only no one in the Community knew how to pilot Aeneas. She may have had Elias or Lyn try to learn, but maybe she was unwilling to risk the nukes if something went wrong. So she waited.”
“Waited...for what?” Makara asked.
“Perhaps until someone who did know how to fly came to the Bunker.”
“What are you saying?” I asked. “Did Askala force us to come here?”
“Maybe. By sending her swarm after us, she made Bunker 84 our only option. She probably couldn’t have predicted that we would choose to come here, but it ended up working out that way. It was a gamble, but now this ship is loose with three nukes left. Thankfully, we are in control of it, not the enemy.”
This was all conjecture, and maybe it was healthier that way. Some things were better left unturned and forgotten. These women would never forget what they had been through. It seemed unreal. Ever since coming upon the Community, I’d wondered why no one stood up to Elias with the obvious exception of Deborah and Ada. Only those who succumbed to Elias’s direct control were spared.
“We survived,” Michael said. “We even managed to kill Chaos. What’s next?”
It was a question I’d been pondering myself. The women were still quiet, not even talking amongst themselves. After fifteen years of being controlled by the virus, it wasn’t hard to see why.
“We need to find a place for these people,” Makara said. “It won’t be easy, but we can’t leave them behind. In the meantime, we can start filling the Bunker.”
“Filling the Bunker?” Lyn asked.
“It’s winter and we have fifteen hundred people above ground that need a warm place to stay,” Makara said. “Bunker 84 is the only place that fits the bill, even if it holds a lot of bad memories.”
“Fifteen hundred,” Lyn said. “That will never...”
“Is there space?”
“Yes,” Lyn said. “Of course, but there won’t be enough food.” She concentrated, as if trying to remember something. “I...I don’t know. I remember certain things. Just not everything.”
“Maybe your memory will return with time,” Ashton said. “I don’t know how this particular form of the xenovirus works, but you were conscious in the medical sense for fifteen years. I wouldn’t be surprised if...”
“...Yes,” Lyn said. “We only farmed enough to have a small surplus. We could never feed everyone.”
Makara nodded. “We understand that, but with food from 108 and 84 we should have enough for a couple of weeks. In the meantime, we need to take over Los Angeles. They have food stored for the winter that can last us for a long time.”
“But...what will we do?” Lyn asked.
Makara sighed. “I don’t know. We’ll figure it out. For now you can help us where you can. It’s all any of us can do.”
Catching these people up on what needed to be done was a tall order, especially when we didn’t know what needed to be done. We could at least be grateful that the hardest leg of this journey was over and that our original mission was accomplished. We had located Bunker 84 and it was now ready to be occupied. As soon as the Exodus was inside they’d be safe from the cold and have food to last a little while longer. Even if what was in Bunker 84 was far from expected, hopefully the Community would forget the past and find a place within the New Angels. Maybe some scars never healed, but at least now they had a chance to.
I thought of Samuel. He would be in Gilgamesh’s clinic at this very moment.
“How’s Samuel?” I asked.
Makara sighed. “Much the same. The only thing keeping him going is Lauren, and now Ruth. She’s sort of apprenticing for nursing duties.”
It was good to hear that Ruth was finding her place. At the mention of his wife’s name, Michael made a move for the door. Ever the soldier, he waited for Makara’s nod before striding out of Aeneas and into Gilgamesh.
“How much longer will Samuel...” I began.
Ashton put a hand on my arm. “There will be time for this later. We need to return to Pyrite and begin the evacuation. If the swarm is there and Askal and his friends are fighting for us, speed is of the essence.”
Ashton had a point. We once again had two spaceships at our disposal after losing Odin. Thankfully, the one replacing Odin was much larger. We could evacuate the town more quickly than we had planned.
“You’re right,” I said.
“I have something you can do,” Makara said, speaking to Lyn. “When the first wave of refugees reaches Bunker 84, I need you to prepare the way for the Exodus. Set up food. Clear up space for people to sleep. Get water ready.”
Lyn nodded. “It will be hard, but I’ll see what we can do. The entry tunnel should still be open. If I remember correctly, it’s programmed to recognize when Aeneas is close. Even if it’s closed it should open up.”
“I can set course for Pyrite,” Ashton said.
“Anna?”
Anna hesitated a moment, then nodded. “Yeah. I’m coming.”
The two of them left the anteroom. I watched as Anna walked away. She seemed to still be shaken from the battle with Elias. It was hard to see her like that, hard to see her go through so much only to reach a breaking point now. All of us were dealing with the aftershocks of a very traumatic experience.
“I need to return to Gilgamesh,” Makara said. “The rest of you can remain here until we go to Pyrite and back to Bunker 84. It will be a few trips until everyone is safe underground, but at least we can begin the process.”
***
We did as Makara said. When we reached Pyrite, my jaw dropped at the scene. It was an island in a sea of swarming pink and purple. There were thousands upon thousands of crawlers surrounding the settlement, bashing into the walls and gates. The perimeter was sturdy, but probably could not last against a long assault.
We had to get everyone out of there soon.
Several dragons circled the skies above, patrolling the air. We had won the battle there, which is what mattered. They cleared the way for the ships to move everyone out.
Gilgamesh, then Aeneas, settled into the center of the town. Makara disembarked, and began to spread the word. Within minutes, people were streaming on board both ships, many more coming onto Aeneas. We could only take three hundred or so at a time, or we risked weighing down the ships too much.
We left with our first evac group around 19:00. Darkness covered the land, save for the many glowing eyes of the surrounding monsters. Seeing that seething swarm made me wonder if there would be a town by the time we got back at midnight.
When we reached the mountain housing Bunker 84, the boarding tunnel was still open. Ashton guided in Aeneas first – we wanted to be sure there was room for both ships before landing them at the bottom of the vertical tunnel. When Aeneas landed, we confirmed that there was. We unloaded the first of the refugees. Michael and Julian stayed in the Bunker, along with a few Angels, in order to keep things organized while the Community women prepared for everything.