“We’re at fifty percent power,” Lucy said.
“That’ll do, won’t it?” Fatty said.
They needed full power. Nothing else would do. But could the City take it? It shook hard but clearly, the monitors had been designed for such turbulence.
“We’ve reached full power!” Lucy said.
“Fire!” Jamie said, hands clasped over his ears. “Fire! Fire! Fire!”
Lucy slapped her hand on the big red button. The sound doubled, the whirring strung out over a symphony of chaos. Any second now the cannon would let loose a plasma shot that could end the Bugs, end their dominion over the human race, end the carnage and destruction wrought upon the human race, forever. They would finally be allowed to grow and thrive as the masters of their own world.
“Wait,” Lucy said. “Something’s wrong.”
“What?” Fatty said, his tone of voice capturing their collective fear.
“What is it, Lucy?” Jamie said.
“The weapon. . .” Lucy said. “These aren’t the controls for the weapon.”
“What?” Donny said. “When what are they for?”
“I thought I was prepping the cannon for firing,” Lucy said. “But the button wasn’t to fire the cannon. It’s been sabotaged. It’s for. . . It’s to. . . Oh no.”
95.
THE TREE dwellers looked up from the canopy of their homes and in the direction of the Great Pointing Mountain. The source of the cracking sound. A huge fracture formed in the side of the mountain as it began to tear apart.
The children cried and howled in fear. Was this the end of the world? For all the noise, you might have believed it. The parents hugged their terrified children close and watched. They didn’t console their kids that it would be better soon.
They didn’t wish to lie to them.
96.
ALONGSIDE THE epic rumbling was another disorientating sensation, one that began in the pit of Jamie’s stomach and worked its way up to his skull. He’d felt this way once before. In the hyperloop pod as it screamed from the City and slid along the rails at an alarming speed. His stomach was several yards behind him, racing to catch up but never quite succeeding in getting there.
But how could that be? He wasn’t moving.
Jamie glanced out the window. The world shook like an enormous earthquake was rocking them to their foundations. He feared the building might collapse. He could feel it already, movement beneath his feet, leaning over to one side. The forest spread out below like a giant carpet, began to shift. . .
But it was moving in the wrong direction.
If the building was falling, they ought to be getting closer to the ground. But they weren’t. They were getting farther away. Heading up. The trees and foliage shrank beneath them, becoming smaller.
“What’s going on?” Jamie said, hands over his ears.
But even as the words came out of his mouth, he knew the answer. The cannon wasn’t discharging. They hadn’t been sent there to launch it. Instead, they’d been sent there to launch a rocket.
Up into the sky, leaving the Earth’s atmosphere, rising ever higher. The G-force was a monster crushing Jamie with its giant hands, forcing him into the floor and not letting him up for a second.
“Lucy?” Jamie screamed. “What’s going on?”
“It’s Dr. Beck,” Lucy said. “He tricked us. He tricked us all.”
97.
THE MOMENT Lucy had pulled the trigger and hit the shiny red button, a file, hidden from her, had been executed. An image appeared in her eyes, filling her vision.
“No. . .” Lucy said. “No!”
Wherever she looked, whether she shut her eyes or turned away, the same figure was standing right there in front of her. Dr. Beck.
“I’m very sorry,” Dr. Beck said in her ear, crystal clear despite the roaring engines. “I didn’t mean for it to come to this. I feared that if I told you what you would really have to do, you wouldn’t even begin the journey, and turn back to your friend’s doomed commune. But perhaps, if you aren’t too angry, and you came this far already, you might go a little farther.
“After the Rage attack on our City, when you escaped and the others were killed, I knew I had to do something. So I went to Denver City. I snuck in and sabotaged their system. Their weapons technology is exceptionally powerful, matched only by its instability. I couldn’t allow them to fire their rocket, not when I knew you were still out there, not when it could carry you to the rest of the ship.
“They wouldn’t listen to me. They would never give up on their mission, their part of the plan, because we at the City would never do it either. Don’t think too harshly of me. I wanted to give you, and our species, every chance. If you’re watching this, then I made the right decision.
“The cannon might work but could we seriously risk the future of our entire race on a single shot? What if their shields endured the blast? Would the cannon successfully destroy them? Will we even get the chance of a second shot? Too many questions, too many unknown answers. We needed our Plan A to succeed or at least make the proper attempt.
“I sabotaged the cannon, causing a leak that will kill them all. It’s a sacrifice I wish did not have to be paid. But they will be remembered. As the people who gave up their lives so the rest of us might have a chance to survive. It’s time for you to fulfill your destiny. It’s time for you to become what you were meant to be. Our Mother.”
EPILOGUE
THE WORM had a change of heart. This was strange because the men always claimed he didn’t even have a heart. So how could he possibly change it?
They’d had an awesome deal at the Mountain’s Peak commune. Food, water and plenty of women to keep their beds warm at night. Virtually the entire clan had left. The Worm doubted many would return to that part of the world again, not after seeing what lay in the bottom of the valley. It still gave him shivers to think about it.
Still, the valley caught between those two mountains was not the same as the commune they had successfully defeated. They’d perhaps been a little too hasty in giving it up. Especially since finding a replacement had been so difficult.
The rest of the clan had dispersed at the same time with the Worm but that didn’t mean they were necessarily with him. He didn’t know where they’d gone. Furthermore, he didn’t care to know. Two dozen had surprisingly—to him at least—stuck with him. He didn’t pretend to be a great leader. He took care of himself. If they decided to leave, so be it.
The land beyond the mountains was less harsh than that behind but the people that dwelt in the communes were a whole lot less friendly. They’d clearly had more run-ins with the Reavers than those in the desert and did not trust weary travellers at all.
They did not easily open their doors to him and the others—even after they’d located a suitable change of clothing—bloodied remains from some lost Rages. They weren’t open to receiving other survivors, they’d said. They were already struggling to feed the mouths they had.
They had attempted their Trojan infiltration attack three times on three separate communes before they finally gave up. With few other choices, they turned to head back to the Mountain’s Peak commune. At least there they would have a full belly of food, water, and a woman to take out their frustrations on.
Currently, the men were entertaining themselves with a pair of Rages, pushing and pulling at them, trying to make them fall over. Simple things pleased simple minds, the Worm supposed. The Rages kept on getting up, as they were wont to do, and tried again to attack the Reavers in their endless pursuit for food. The Worm never took part in such games. It was too risky. He believed in living his life with as little risk as possible.
“Saddle up the men,” the Worm said. “With any luck, we’ll be at the commune within a few hours.”
That was another resource they were quickly running short of. Fuel. They had just about enough to get to their destination. After that, they might well set up shop for good.
One of the Rages caught the Worm’s eye.
A tall fellow with a torn face and loose dungarees. There was something in his facial expression that sparked a memory. The squinting eye and gold tooth.
“Hey,” the Worm said, walking down the incline toward the fighting pit. “Hey, I think I know you. From way back when.”
He squinted at the Rage, whose lips were dripping blood from his men’s blows.
“Say, aren’t you the mech who ripped me off right before the Fall?” the Worm said.
The Rage rushed him. The chain around his neck caught and tugged him to the ground.
“Good to see the karma cycle still works, even out here,” the Worm said. “I never did pay you for the work you did. That was the week of the Fall.”
He drew his pistol.
“Consider this a late payment,” he said.
He fired. The bullet struck the Rage in the throat. A high-pitched ting noise, causing the Worm to crease his brow an instant before the charge exploded.
It didn’t kill all the Reavers, but it did sever the chain attached to the second Rage, who charged the screaming maimed men one at a time.
The Worm should have known that the greatest risk was always the one you didn’t see coming.
THE COVENANT
PROLOGUE
AN ESTIMATED one hundred and fifty million meteorites and asteroids inhabit our solar system. Adrift, aimless.
They’re looking for somewhere to call home. They’ll never stop, not until they achieve their goal or destroy themselves in the process. It’s all or nothing.
A misfit of wayward asteroids assumed their chaotic formation, their destination never deviating: the planet Earth. They were scheduled to create the greatest fireworks display in the solar system. These rocks had not been infected by the Bugs’ virus but regular asteroids scheduled for a later performance.
They screamed silently through space at an unimaginable speed. They altered trajectory slightly, disturbed by the strong gravitational pull of a large nearby object in orbit around the planet. Tiny fluctuations occurring often can have a large cumulative effect, and this was what was happening to two of the journeying asteroids.
These little fellows reached a mile from the giant ship’s surface before they struck a powerful and invisible wall. Its brothers and sisters continued to sail downward, twenty years after their ancestors had made the same trip with their unnatural payload.
Twenty years since the Bugs had infected the asteroids with their poison, designed specifically to snuff out a single species. The species known as humans.
Things were running nicely to schedule for the plan of mass extermination. The greatest cull occurred during the opening salvo, a few months of murder and mayhem. The humans simply couldn’t cope with what was happening to them. Their numbers gradually dwindled, until just a few small pockets remained. It was a long term plan, one they were certain would work.
The humans deserved no respect from their superiors. They put up no fight for their own survival, already in the act of bowing out their exit. An asteroid strike loaded with a single virus strain. How pathetic. How could a species not adequately protect themselves? They were beneath contempt.
It was this disdain and sense of superiority that gave humanity the chance it needed to overcome their aggressors. They underestimated them. A chance, no matter how small, was still a chance.
1.
DR. BECK couldn’t say he was proud of his actions. He’d led the kids into the basement under false pretenses and sent them on a journey they most likely would never return from. And yet, he was not apologetic about what he’d done. It needed to be done. It had to be done. He only wished it didn’t have to be him to do it. He was human and so often suffered from bouts of guilt. Looking back, and looking forward. He’d been suffering from those pangs for the past forty years.
A low groan from the corridor on his left. The good doctor had allowed his mind to wander again. He’d be lucky to survive until he reached the hospital at this rate.
He checked the tablet, saw the Rage on the security camera, and waited while the creature attempted to negotiate the stairs. It slipped, fell, and smashed its head on the bottom step.
The kids might like to think of him as a monster, but he really wasn’t. If allowed to proceed with their own desires they would have returned to the relative safety of their commune and waste their lives struggling, all the while carrying the knowledge that it was pointless. Their number was always going to come. They held the next number in the queue.
One day, too weak and frail to make it to their outdoor lavatory, they would slip, fall and die, staring at the night sky wishing they had tried to do something to save their species. They would die knowing they could have saved their grandchildren from their end.
Dr. Beck had saved them from that fate. They may be on a journey they hadn’t selected but it was the one they should have chosen. History was full of such people. Those forced into a situation beyond their control, with no choice but to make the best of it.
The doctor had never been a very physical person, never hit the gym, as they liked to say, so he never fully appreciated the value of a strong healthy body. That all changed after he fell ill.
He’d suffered a stroke and it had left him with only partial operation of his right leg. He had to make heavy use of his trusty walking cane. It was the disease of the mind he’d most feared over the years, that part of him he’d honed like a fine blade. He hadn’t lost his intelligence—not yet—but he was surprised at how much his physical handicap had indirectly affected his cognitive ability. He couldn’t write as quickly as he liked, so sometimes lost ideas that were on the tip of his pre-frontal cortex. The ideas faded like morning mist.
Frustrated, he tore out the page he’d been writing on and scrunched it into a ball. He’d go for a walk to calm down. No one knew what the next great idea was or where it might come from. He might have lost it and it was this that made him angry. Then he would return to his quarters and pick up his balled-up notepaper before calmly unfolding it and continuing with his work.
A grunt around the next corner. Very close this time. Dr. Beck gently placed the tip of his cane to the floor and used it to pivot one-eighty in the opposite direction. He needed to hole-up for a little while. He swiped his card across the keypad of the nearest door, slid it open silently, and stepped inside.
It was a condo for a family. A good-sized living area with built-in furniture and a healthy collection of books on the shelf. Rather simple genre fare but the children would enjoy them.
Shoes on the rack. Adult and children. A small kitchen and dining table. In the back would be the bedrooms. On the tabletops and walls, photographs. Frozen images of smiling faces and primped hairstyles. Another time. Another place. One Dr. Beck was certain they would return to.
The mother in the picture had been a researcher at the City for one of Dr. Beck’s senior advisors. He remembered seeing her from time to time. She wasn’t brilliant by any means but capable enough with her responsibilities. The City needed such people. They were the lifeblood that moved important work from one place to another. She’d relocated her family and built a life here. And then the Rages had come, snuffing out her spark.
Dr. Beck checked his tablet. Thousands of cameras spread across the City’s infinite corridors. Numerous shuffling figures. One was outside this very room. It stood at the front door, bottom jaw chattering.
Dr. Beck moved to the other side of the door. If he opened it, right then, the Rage would tear him to pieces. It wasn’t a particularly fun way to go but it would be over within a few minutes. He reached into his pocket for the pass. Dr. Beck accepted he deserved to die for the things he’d done. But not yet. Not when there were things he still had to do.
The Rage passed the condo and continued on his own personal adventure of discovery. Dr. Beck exited the condo. With two more turns, he’d reach the hospital. The private wards were just up ahead—
Dr. Beck froze.
A Rage stood not six inches in front of
him, its back facing him. Dr. Beck’s breath caught in the back of his throat. With the Rage’s white jacket facing the camera, he’d been difficult to spot against the hospital colours. He only spotted him now due to his tuft of matted gray hair peeking out from above the collar.
Dr. Beck eased back down the only corridor available to him. He couldn’t breathe a sigh of relief yet. One noise and the creature would be on him.
He limped down the corridor as fast as he dared and promised himself to keep a closer eye on the video monitors from now on and be on the lookout for less obvious signs of the Rages. He hung a left and entered the private hospital room.
Unfortunately, the surprises didn’t end there.
The bed was empty, the sheets hastily thrown aside. Was he too late? Had the Rages already gotten to him? Had he already failed in his mission? Or maybe he had only fallen out of the bed and onto the floor on the other side. . .
Dr. Beck hobbled over and peered around the bed. No sign of the patient. Dr. Beck lifted his tablet to access the past video files to see what had happened. He located the room’s camera and accessed its feed. He scrolled back through time and saw himself hobble backward toward the door. He shut the door. Back, back, back until. . .
Donald emerged from the bathroom and staggered toward the bed. He climbed in and woke up. Then, hours of sleep.
Dr. Beck shifted his weight to turn to the bathroom. A powerful force pressed into the flesh at the base of his neck and a large hand wrapped around his throat.
2.
“TAKE IT EASY,” Dr. Beck said, croaking.
“Who are you?” Donald said.
“I’m Dr. Beck. I’m here to take care of you.”
After the Fall- The Complete series Box Set Page 42
