by G J Ogden
Ethan considered that on top of everything else the nearby settlements might have seen recently, this would be a disquieting sight. Like Forest Gate, the other settlements also preferred to remain in ignorance of the past, and in the space of only a few days, they had be subjected to objects falling from the skies, a dust-storm that was like something from a nightmare, and now a smoking mountain top. Without the understanding that Ethan possessed, it would appear like the start of a second extinction event – a second Fall.
“The complex itself has a form of heat-shielding, though don’t ask me how it works,” Gaia continued, unaware of Ethan’s daydreaming. “Tyler would enjoy telling you in excruciating detail, however, I am sure.”
“I think I’ll pass,” said Ethan, glancing over his shoulder at her with an anemic smile, and then looking back out at the burning city.
Gaia studied Ethan for a few moments, thinking of how to change the topic back to the cause of his distress.
“Well, all things considered, our new extended family is settling in well,” said Gaia, in a upbeat tone, “and, young Major Page aside, there were no serious injuries.”
Ethan did not answer. He was content to let Gaia talk, because it meant that he did not have to.
“Oh, and I managed to check Summer over too,” Gaia added, nonchalantly. “At least as much as she would allow me to, anyway, which was not much. I thought I knew what strong-willed meant, having three bossy daughters, but I have to admit, Summer was a challenge.”
Ethan felt like saying, You have no idea, but chose to let Gaia continue talking instead.
“However, I was able to treat her wounds and make sure that her and the baby were both okay, which they are.”
Ethan straighten and turned to Gaia with wide eyes. “What did you say?”
“I said Summer and the baby are fine,” repeated Gaia softly, but then she noticed his startled expression. “Oh dear, I am sorry, did you not know?” but it was clear from Ethan’s reaction that he did not. “I’m so sorry, Ethan, that was clumsy of me.”
Gaia hadn’t intended to reveal the news, and now felt foolish. She had assumed that Ethan’s worry stemmed from his concern about Summer and her child, but obviously it was unrelated to the baby, because he hadn’t known about it until that moment.
When Ethan did not reply, Gaia again apologized, but Ethan did not hear Gaia’s apologies. He was trapped inside his own mind, not knowing what to think or how to act. He realized he should be shocked, frightened even, and also angry that Summer hadn’t told him, assuming she even knew herself, but he wasn’t. If Summer had known about the baby then Ethan knew her well enough to understand how difficult it would be for her to tell anyone. She was dragged into the world, cut from the body of her lifeless mother, who had been killed by roamers, and though she rarely talked about it, Ethan knew that the fate of her mother had always weighed heavily on her. Summer had always been guarded, but as they had spent more time together, Ethan had learnt things about her that she had kept hidden from him all her life. The nightmares that haunted her dreams were not unlike those that plagued Ethan, and he had discovered that the woman he had always assumed to be fearless, actually had a deep-rooted fear of losing control. It was why she had always pushed herself to be the best and to be strong, and to build barriers that kept others out of her head. But Summer had finally let him in and Ethan could think of nothing she would fear more than being responsible for her own child, knowing that she could never completely ensure its safety, in a world full of horrors. Losing Elijah and Katie would only intensify these fears and prove them to be right. In his own anger and grief he had not even considered how Summer must be feeling, even before he knew about her child – their child – and he shook his head, feeling a deep sense of shame.
A small, red ball rolled against the glass wall and bounced back. It jolted Ethan from his catatonic state and he caught it under his boot.
“Sorry, Ethan!” said a little voice. Ethan looked up and saw Josh, the young boy whom he had enrolled as a ranger in what seemed like another world to Ethan now.
Ethan bent down, picked up the ball and bounced it on the floor, catching it again, before holding it out to Josh. “I think you lost something… again!” he said, managing a weak smile.
“Thanks!” said Josh, taking the ball and then lobbing it back to the group of other children, who were rushing around the communal space, jumping over the large, padded sofas and banging into the furniture. This activity seemed to be much to Yuna’s amusement, though Neils, who was scuttling around after them and attempting, unsuccessfully, to curb their exuberance, appeared much less enamored.
“Oh, I forgot to give this back to you,” said Josh, and he removed the ranger seal from around his neck, coiled up the twine, and held it out to Ethan.
“No, that’s yours to keep,” said Ethan. “You’re a ranger now, remember?”
“It’s okay, Ethan, this one is yours,” said Josh, still holding it out. “But, I’d like to have one of my own one day, and be a proper ranger, like you. Do you think I can?”
“To me, you’re already a proper ranger,” said Ethan, accepting the smooth circle of metal back, “but, if you want to do the training and earn this like I did, I’d be more than happy to teach you.”
“Great! Catch you later then, Ethan!” said Josh, and then he ran back to join the others.
Ethan held the seal out in front of him and stroked his thumb over the engraved letters, which spelled out his name and the name of the settlement that had been his home. He had been wrong to think that it was just wooden huts in a patch of dirt, surrounded by rough stone walls. It may have been just a place, but Summer had been right about one thing; it was worth fighting for – just not dying for. Maybe it was foolish, even hypocritical, to think of returning, but he’d lost too much already, and he felt adrift, like he was floating out to sea on a boat without oars. The survivors from the GPS station had no option but to begin again, but unlike the space station, Forest Gate was still out there. He wasn’t the same naïve boy that chased after angels, and he knew that the pain he felt would stay with him forever, like a bad fracture that left the bone irreparably changed. But ever since Ethan had been old enough to hold a staff, they had done nothing but run and hide from the roamers and the maddened, just as Maria had been forced to run from Kurren. They couldn’t run forever – sooner or later, they would trip and fall, and that would be the end. And if that happened then Elijah’s and Katie’s deaths would have been for nothing. It would all have been for nothing.
Gaia had gone back to studying Ethan, trying to work out whether to reach out to him once more or leave him alone with his troubles, at least for now. Her healing talents were limited to broken bodies, and it was clear that whatever was hurting Ethan was not physical. She resolved to speak to Jun, and see if she could use her more specialist talents to reach him, though she found it upsetting that she could not make him feel better on her own. She was about to suggest that they go and get something to eat, when Tyler and Yuna approached with Maria and Page following closely behind. Ethan noticed that Page was wearing his blue combat armor, now more than a little tattered and scuffed and a lot less vibrant than when they had first met. Tyler was slowly rubbing the knuckles of his left hand, and working up the courage to speak.
“Just take a breath, and tell us the bad news…” said Gaia, who was well accustomed to the engineer’s nervous gesture. Tyler was only ever hesitant to volunteer information when it related to something unpleasant. Normally, this would have been something insignificant, like a shower cubicle breaking down, or a fluctuation in the environmental controls, but recently the scale of their problems had risen beyond such mundane matters.
“Well, the good news is that the purge is working well,” Tyler began, attempting to sound positive. “The engineering door was sealed and nothing could possibly survive inside the cavern, not even those… things.” Tyler shuddered involuntarily as he again recalled the creatures that had lurked
in the city.
“But…” said Ethan, because there was always a ‘but’.
“Yes, I’m afraid there is a ‘but’, and quite a significant one too,” Tyler went on. “I managed to use Major Page’s personal vital signs monitor, which he kindly lent to me, to interface with the decommissioned external security systems, and bring them back online. I also managed to boost the effective radius, using quite a clever technique, actually…”
Gaia coughed loudly and then peered down her nose at the effusive engineer.
“Yes, anyway…” Tyler continued, taking the hint. “It seems that the exodus of things from Green Haven – the Megacity which suffered the impact from the space station fragment – has not yet abated. Like our far more meager city here, Green Haven is also still burning and the spreading fires seem to be driving many more creatures out of its not inconsiderable underbelly.”
Ethan understood the implications; it had already crossed his mind as a possibility, but now that Tyler had confirmed it, he felt curiously comforted knowing what would come next. In his mind, it solidified what he knew he had to do. Forest Gate would not be the last settlement to fall; eventually, every nearby settlement would be affected by this plague of maddened creatures, and perhaps even the entire network of twenty six remaining settlements would face annihilation. The threat was nothing less than a second Fall; the extinction of everyone who remained, planetside.
“What can be done about it?” asked Yuna, sounding desperate, but the question lingered in the air and remained unanswered. “There must be something we can do?”
They all looked to each other for suggestions, but none were volunteered; there was no clever technical solution from Tyler, or strategic military suggestion from Maria or Page. Suddenly the air around them felt thick and oppressive, as if a cloud of smoke had rolled in to choke them and blot out the light.
“Then the purge must not end here,” said Gaia, and the luster of her voice cut through the murk like a laser. “As these creatures spread wider, so must our efforts to eradicate them.”
“But how?” asked Yuna.
Gaia stepped up to Ethan and took his hands. This time, Ethan did not pull away. “Ethan is the key. He always was. With the secrets contained in his blood, and our decades of research into the genetic corruption, I believe I can create a neutralizing agent, one engineered specifically to target corrupted DNA. We purge this planet of the corrupted.”
Ethan nodded. He had no reason to believe that Gaia could make good on this impressive promise, but there was still no doubt in his mind that she would succeed. There was no choice but to succeed, because failure would mean the end. He let Gaia’s hands fall from his and then stepped into the center of the circle. “We have to warn the others,” he said, sounding composed and assertive. “We must let the outer settlements know what’s coming, so they can fortify their defenses, and we must also tell them what we intend to do. They can no longer choose to remain ignorant. We can’t afford to bury our heads in the dirt anymore.”
“I can work on the transports that you brought here,” volunteered Tyler, who was no longer rubbing his knuckles. “I can adapt them to better suit this environment, and increase their range. If Ethan can help with the locations of the outlying settlements, perhaps we can send out small groups of emissaries, to let them know to prepare.”
“And to let them know there is hope,” said Gaia. “Most important of all, we let them know they are not alone.”
Ethan flicked his eyes across to Maria, who had been strangely silent during all of this. She was already looking at him, as he thought she probably would be. She was wearing a PVSM, similar to the one Page had been using, and identical, so far as he could remember, to the one she had worn when they first met, and she was also wearing her sidearm. Like Page wearing his armor, there was only one explanation for why Maria looked like she was preparing to go into battle again. It was because she was.
“You’re going back, aren’t you?” said Ethan. And all eyes turned to Maria.
“Yes, we are,” said Maria. “I’m sorry, Ethan, but this isn’t over for us yet…”
Ethan interrupted her. “It’s okay, Sal, I understand. I know you have to take the base back, and finish what you and Diana started. You have to smash whatever hold Kurren still has left over the UEC and wipe away his influence for good.”
Maria’s relief was palpable. “Thank you, Ethan. But I promise you, when it’s all over, I will come back here to help. You have my word.”
“I’ll hold you to it, Sal.”
Maria pulled Ethan towards her and wrapped her arms around him, squeezing so tightly that Ethan struggled to breath. He allowed his arms to fold around her, reluctantly at first, and added gentle pressure in return. For both of them it felt so very different to the last time they had embraced and said goodbye, when Ethan had told Maria that he loved her and Maria had admitted the same in reply. But those emotions had been built on a foundation of deception and lies, which had since crumbled to dust like the city in the cave beyond the glass wall. In its place both now felt a bond that was far stronger, but importantly also true, and they realized how much they meant to one another.
Maria released her hold on Ethan, stepped back and smiled. “I’ll see you soon, planetsider.” To the others, she added. “All of you. I hope to see you all again one day.”
Ethan watched Maria and Page walk away and exit through the door that lead back up to the concealed entrance on the mountainside. He was not sorry to see her leave. Despite the odds being stacked against the two former UEC officers, he felt sorry for whoever remained loyal to Kurren on the UEC base, because he knew that Maria was going to give them hell.
“I will make the necessary modifications to the remaining transports then,” said Tyler. The public displays of affection had made him feel awkward.
“Wait,” said Ethan, and Tyler stopped and frowned. “I agree about sending the emissaries, as soon as possible, but I need your help with something else too.”
“Name it,” said Gaia, moving to Tyler’s side.
“I need a transport and, if he’s willing, some of Tyler’s engineering prowess too.”
“Of course, but why?”
“Maria has to take back her home, and I must to do the same for mine.”
Tyler went back to rubbing his knuckles, silently.
“Ethan, is that really wise?” asked Gaia. “You will be far safer here, with us.”
“Perhaps, but this place must remain a sanctuary,” said Ethan. “And if what you say is true, the time for fighting is not over yet, and I can’t do it from here.”
“What do you propose?” asked Gaia.
“I need your help to re-build Forest Gate, using your engineering knowledge and technology. I need you to make it a fortress. We’ll take the fight to the roamers and the maddened, and stem the flow out into the regions beyond the city. It’ll buy you the time you need to develop your cure.”
Then Ethan turned to the great viewing window, still tinted to shield his eyes against the inferno on the other side, and rested his hands on the dark glass.
“I’m done running and I’m done hiding. I’m going to take it back. I’m going to take it all back.”
Chapter 37
Ethan navigated the uneasy path around the mountainside, frequently slipping and stumbling on the loose dirt and stones as he pushed ahead, clumsily trying to move faster than the terrain would naturally allow. He reached the top of a rock that jutted out from the slopes like a giant, broken tooth, and saw her, standing on the plateau behind the rocky outcrop where Aster’s group of resistance fighters had made their fateful last stand again Kurren’s now defunct forces. He fell to one knee, breathing heavily, and felt the rush of adrenalin subside. She had not left him.
After Maria and Page had departed, Gaia had suggested Ethan try to get some rest, but though his body was weary, his mind was a maelstrom of ideas and emotions and he simply lay on a makeshift cot-bed in the newly-created sleep
ing dorm in the east wing with his eyes wide open. It had been impossible not to think of Elijah and Katie; he imagined them dying, calling for Ethan to help them, but him not being there, and their tortured faces haunted his thoughts. He had pressed his hands to his eyes, blotting out the dim light in the dorm so that there was only darkness, but he could not blot out their faces, so he had simply stopped trying. For a long time he had wept, but it brought him no comfort or release. There was nothing he could do about their deaths now, and blaming Summer, or himself, or even Elijah and Katie, served no purpose. He had long preached about the need to look ahead and to move forward. It was time to take his own advice, but he could not do it alone. The only thing that was more deadly than the Maddening was loneliness.
Ethan had then left the dorm to find Summer, but after an exhaustive and exhausting search of the complex he had been unable to find her, even in the depths of the engineering levels, or the secluded calm of the indoor garden, where he had found her hiding earlier. Then he had stumbled upon the ranger boy, Josh, his newest recruit, who had mentioned seeing Summer heading through the door that led into the corridor that connected to the mountainside, where they had all first entered. Ethan had panicked, believing that Summer had left on her own, without any provisions or weapons, or any place to go, and he had run outside, equally unprepared, to go after her.
She had not gone far though, and he had found her simply standing and looking out towards the setting sun, in the direction of the hazy smoke that still clouded the skies above the city that he had spent countless nights looking out upon from his favorite spot under the tree on the mound outside Forest Gate. He knew the city’s name now; Tyler had called it Green Haven. The name suggested a place of immeasurable calm and tranquility, quite at odds with the vast, violent sprawl of shadowy, jagged structures that Ethan knew. As the fires spread further from the core and into its vast suburbs, turning its dark streets red, Ethan feared the place, or more specifically what it contained, more than ever. But he also knew that he would have to face it again. Just as the stalemate between the UEC and GPS had merely prolonged their inevitable final confrontation, the uneasy balance that had existed between the planetsiders and the maddened would soon have to end. The planet could not sustain both – one of them had to die.
