by Kyle West
“Yeah. Just fine.”
She sighed. “You’re not just saying that to make me feel better?”
“If I could have it any other way, I would,” Michael said. “If we fail...no one’s getting out of this alive. Honestly, Lauren...I might die. We have to accept that. That’s what’s going to happen to everyone if we can’t do this. I would never forgive myself if I sat by doing nothing when I had the chance to help.”
Lauren was quiet, knowing she had lost the battle. It was a long moment before she spoke again.
“I’m just sitting here, watching the screen, waiting for the missile to hit. It’s halfway over California, now. You’re far enough away, aren’t you?”
“Far enough,” Michael said. “We’re fifty miles out by now.”
“Michael...I’m not ready for this. I can’t let you go. I...”
“I know,” Michael said. “We’re the only ones standing between Askala and the end of the world.” Michael paused. “I don’t know why, but I believe we’re going to win. I believe we’ll be coming back. We’ve gone through so much...it’s not impossible, is it?”
Lauren became quiet. The two ships continued their steady course northeast.
Finally, Lauren gave a long, heavy sigh. “Two minutes, now.”
“We’re over Nevada,” Makara said. “Keep trucking.” A moment later, she was speaking to Augustus. “Augustus? Two minutes.”
When Augustus answered, it was amidst the screams of dragons and crawlers.
“They’re acting strangely,” Augustus said. “Like they know it’s coming.”
“Are your men pulled back?”
“Such as we can,” he said. “We’re bracing for the impact. Carin says we can hold here. Where are you?”
“Over Nevada.”
“If we’re still here after, Makara, we’ll let you know.”
“One minute,” Lauren said.
“Take care, Augustus. Thank you...for everything.”
“Even if we die,” Augustus said, “you must not. Promise me that you’ll make it. Promise me we fought this for a reason.”
“It wasn’t for nothing, Augustus. It was for everything. We’ll make it to Ragnarok Crater if it’s the last damn thing on Earth I do. I promise you that.”
Augustus didn’t respond
“Ten seconds,” Lauren said.
“You better go,” Makara said.
“Goodbye, Makara.”
The next moment seemed to stretch for an eternity. At last, on the LCD, a bright light colored the distant clouds, visible even forty miles way. There was no sound – just that light. In time, the colors ebbed, and there was nothing but silence on both bridges as we flew east.
It was ten minutes before the speakers once again crackled with Augustus’s voice.
“It hit,” he said.
“Are you okay?” Makara asked.
“That...remains to be seen. I can tell you that it was too close. Many of my men were burned. All the same...it killed many of the crawlers. That giant...thing...is gone.”
Above the clouds, we were so far removed from the carnage. The most we had seen was a miasmic burst on the trailing horizon, coloring the crimson clouds with a brief brilliance. Of the untold destruction the nuke had unleashed, we could know nothing.
Augustus, however, could. It was all he could see.
“Can you hold?” Makara asked.
“I’m standing on the edge of the plateau. The xenofungal plain stretches on for miles. The slope is incinerated; flames cover the expanse. A few crawlers are all that remain. In the distance, beyond the impact site, more of the Radaskim are replacing the ones the blast killed. We stand here now, to hold the western ridge for when they attack. They will come again.”
Makara paused, considering her question. “How much longer?”
Augustus hesitated. When he answered, his voice was thick.
“I don’t know, Makara. An hour. Maybe two. This is all we have left to give, Carin and I. I haven’t even seen Char and Marcus.”
At that statement, everyone was struck silent.
“We’ll be at the Crater in two hours,” Makara said. “You have Lauren’s frequency. She knows what to do.”
“We’ve given everything for this,” Augustus said. “I will die on this plateau. I see that now. They’re coming again. The men stand, but they, too, know they will die.”
“Augustus...” Makara said. “Don’t give up.”
“We won’t, Makara. We won’t. That’s not an option. All we can do is stand until we can’t stand anymore.” He gave a short, bitter laugh. “That’s all anyone can do. Even an Emperor.”
“It’s not over, yet,” Makara said. “Hold on.”
Despite Makara’s words, it felt as if a curtain was being drawn over the world. We were running from the curtain, but no matter how fast we ran, we couldn’t escape the gravity bearing it down.
“Strange,” Augustus said.
“What?” I asked.
“The eastern sky is darkening,” he said, “but I can see your friends have come.”
“The Elekai?”
“Yes,” Augustus said. “The men will take courage, even if they are only a few.”
“It may be what we need,” Makara said. “Even if they give you a few more minutes more, that might be enough.”
According to the LCD, we were now halfway over Nevada. Every passing minute brought us closer to death.
“Augustus?” Makara asked.
“Yes?”
“Thank you.”
Without another word, Augustus cut out.
***
An hour passed. While we were on cruise, Anna took the chance to clean up. Since my condition wasn’t half so bad, I remained on the bridge to keep an eye on things.
She didn’t take long, returning with clean shirt, jacket, and camo pants.
“Updates?”
“Nothing,” I said.
Anna resumed control. We were making better time than expected, but it was hard to be thrilled about that. We were over the northwestern corner of Colorado, deep in Askala’s turf. We hadn’t heard anything from Augustus. We were completely on our own, and when we dropped through the clouds, there was no telling what would happen.
Then, the fateful words came.
“Prepare for descent,” Makara said.
“Copy that,” Anna said.
“On my mark,” Makara said. “Cut off communications. I have no idea if she can hear us, but they speak using radio waves. Better to be careful.”
“Roger that.”
Anna, Michael, and I watched out the windshield. The sun was halfway obscured behind the top layer of clouds, coloring it like molten metal. As we ducked below, I watched the reddened sun. I wanted to remember it, because where I was going, there would be no sun.
At last, we entered the thick cloud layer, turbulence shaking the ship. Anna said nothing, though everything about her was tense. I stared out the clouded windshield, unable to see anything through the glass.
“What’s the plan?” I asked. “Just...land by the Crater?”
“I’m following Makara,” Anna said. “After that...I don’t know. I guess it’s time to do some walking.”
We continued to descend at a steady pace. At long last, the clouds ebbed, revealing the glowing, xenofungal surface below. I peered into the distance, but even with the light from the ground, I couldn’t see anything. We were still thirty miles from Ragnarok Crater, much too far to see it clearly, even from up here, although the eastern horizon was red and luminescent. That light had to be coming from the Crater.
Nothing stirred in the air or on the ground. To the south and east spread a thick xenoforest of tangled and interlocking trees, silvery and purple in the dusk. Several Xenoliths rose from their dense depths at regular intervals.
For two minutes we flew in a straight line, not changing our course or speed. I expected dragons to attack at any moment. But the skies remained empty, dark, almost...placid.
But that changed in an instant. A streak of fire zoomed down from the sky, followed by others, in supersonic, crackling trails, igniting on the ground below.
“Get to the surface!” Makara said.
Instantly, we dipped, hurrying to land as quickly as possible. Whether we went to the ground or stayed in the air, it didn’t matter. Those meteors would kill us all the same.
It was only a matter of time until...
A jet of fire exploded right on Perseus’s starboard wing, sending the ship careening. I was paralyzed with horror.
“Makara!” Anna screamed.
The ship spiraled as if it were a toy, a fire consuming Perseus’s starboard hull. Makara did not answer Anna’s call. There was no doubt; Perseus was going to crash.
All the same, the spinning stopped, but Perseus had slipped into an uncontrolled dive, leaving behind a thick trail of smoke.
“No...” Anna said.
A moment later, something shot from Perseus’s side. At first, I thought it was a piece of debris. But its flight path was too ordered.
“The escape pod,” Michael said. “They made it out.”
“Let’s hope so,” Anna said. “We have to follow it.”
Another fiery flash streaked downward, right in front of our windshield. Anna slowed the ship as we sailed through a blinding firestorm. Miraculously, we came out the other end.
As Anna turned the ship toward the burning ground, the escape pod had been lost. There was no sign of a parachute having opened, though a parachute might be hard to pick out in the darkness. As the meteors continued to fall, Anna went into a dive. The fiery surface rushed up to meet us as the falling rocks exploded on the ground.
Anna pulled up at the last second, the G-forces practically crushing. At the same moment, Anna engaged the retrothrusters, slowing us to a near stop in a matter of seconds. We now hovered over an empty spot of fungus that wasn’t consumed by flame. I realized that Anna meant to land here.
We descended to the ground, the fires burning brightly outside the windshield. Above, the sky seemed to be clear of further bombardments. Whether these had come from space, or had been shot like artillery from the Crater itself, I had no idea. We had to find Perseus’s escape pod, but it was hard to imagine it not landing somewhere in the flames.
We unstrapped ourselves and ran off the ship, taking the time to refill our canteens, grab some food, and load up on ammo.
I pressed the exit button, and when the door slid open, a wave of heat rushed inside, carrying with it the reek of charred fungal growth. I had to shield my eyes against the brightness of the flames. The sky above was dark, brooding, apocalyptic. We ran down the boarding ramp.
“I think it went down over there,” Anna said, pointing to our left.
The three of us ran away from the ship, carrying with us our weapons and packs.
From the sky came one final streak of fire.
“Down!” I yelled.
As we dropped to the ground, the meteor coursed downward, frighteningly fast...
...crashing right into Orion.
The outward explosion threw us forward, a wave of heat licking my back. A thunderous boom echoed over the smoldering fires. I lay there a long moment before I even dared to move. I looked at the sky, fearing more stray meteors. But the air was velvet-black and empty.
I then turned to the look at what was left of Orion.
Its hull was a smoking ruin, consumed by flame. Whether targeted, or just through horrible luck, Orion was gone, along with Perseus, which must have crashed somewhere nearby.
It was Michael, Anna, and me, alone in the Great Blight, thirty miles from Ragnarok Crater.
Chapter 17
We climbed a hill not far from the wreckage of Perseus. The ship lay in a smoking ruin in the center of the flames. If anyone had been left on the ship, there was no way they had survived.
But there was still the escape pod, although from our vantage point, I couldn’t see it. We had to find it, which was easier said than done. The glare of the fires made it difficult to see anywhere beyond our immediate surroundings, and worse, standing on this hill made us targets for any of the Radaskim to see.
Finding our friends was more important than that issue, though. We had seen that pod fall, which meant there was a good chance they were out there now, looking for us.
“See anything?” I asked.
Anna pointed toward Perseus. “We should start by the ship.”
I hesitated. Just because the ship was over there didn’t mean the escape pod was, too. Walking over there would put us right in the center of the flames, and fires had a tendency to be unpredictable.
“They could be anywhere,” I said. “Even outside the fires.”
“They might have seen us land,” Michael said. “They could be walking to Orion right now, hoping to find us.”
Anna and I turned in Orion’s direction. The ship, red-glowing, was still being consumed by the flames, perhaps half a mile away. I strained my eyes, trying to see anything moving down there. I saw nothing but the dancing fires.
If they had landed in there, their priority would be to escape the flames, not search for us within them. Survival came first, as it had for us.
“If they made it, they would’ve gone outside the fires,” I said. “They don’t know that we saw the escape pod. For all they know, we’re heading for the Crater right now.”
Michael grunted. “Makes sense.”
“We could go back to those fires,” I said. “But I think if they’re anywhere, it’s not there.”
Anna hesitated. “No. Probably not. But if they think you’re in there...”
“I guess you have a point.”
“Try the radio again,” Michael said.
I raised the one radio we had between us. It was already on the group channel.
“Makara? Samuel? Anyone?”
As expected, there was no response.
“Maybe you’re right,” Anna said. “If we waste more time here, crawlers will swarm us. We need to head east, find somewhere to lie low...” She sighed. “It looks like we’ll have to go the rest of the way on foot.”
“Won’t the crawlers be able to see us while we’re walking?” Michael asked. “Detect us, somehow?”
“I don’t see how we have a choice in that,” I said. “We just have to hope for the best.”
“If they’re around, this crash will draw them like flies,” Anna said. “We should get moving.”
“Lead on, then,” Michael said. “Both of you take point. I’ll keep an eye out behind.”
I made one last scan of the fires, making sure no one was walking down there. I saw nothing but the flames crackling in the night, burning more intensely than before. I became convinced, more than ever, that they weren’t here.
With that conviction, we started down the hill, heading due east.
***
The air cooled as we descended the hill and entered the glowing fields. In the distance, a molten radiance lit the horizon. It was hard to believe that beneath the surface there, Askala was watching. Waiting.
Full night had come, and the sky was a dark mass above. The light of the fires had been left behind, and the way was lit only by the luminescence of the fungus. We had thirty miles to go.
I stared out at the wide, glowing plain pockmarked with stands of alien trees. Besides those trees, the land was empty, and the only movement came from the warm, humid wind.
“We’re going too slow,” I said. “With the distance we have to go...we should be running.”
Both Michael and Anna looked at me. After a moment, each of them nodded.
So, we ran, our steps padding on the fungus. We kept a steady pace for about an hour, running between two hills, each one covered by thick forest. I felt we were exposed out in the open, that thousands of watchful eyes gazed at us from the cover of the trees.
After that hour passed, we began to walk again. I drank deeply from my canteen until it was only half
full. As we caught our breath, I realized that this long distance on foot was only the beginning. Once we got to the Crater, we’d have to climb into the earth, through tunnels and caverns filled with monsters and magma. Assuming we passed that, then we had to deal with Askala. I still had no idea what to do when I got there.
The farther we moved from the crash site, the more hopeless it seemed. If the others were alive, surely they were moving in the same direction by now. But there would be no stopping until we reached our goal – it was either that or dying from exhaustion.
Fifteen minutes later, we increased our speed to a steady jog, moving more slowly than in our first stint. We’d gone anywhere from six to eight miles – not even a third of the distance to the Crater. It was already past 21:00, and assuming this same pace and no major obstacles, we’d be at Ragnarok Crater by 04:00 or so.
“It’s quiet,” Anna said.
“We can’t get this close just to let our guard down now,” I said.
Right after I’d said that, a gunshot sounded in the distance. It was impossible to tell where it had come from.
Anna drew her katana as Michael and I drew our handguns. We paused to listen. Several more gunshots were fired. The echoes reverberated between the hills and forest.
“It’s coming from the east,” Anna said.
We ran forward, toward the edge of a forest blocking our path. North, south, and east were all covered by the thick xenotrees, completely halting our advance. If we wanted to keep going east toward the gunshots, we’d have to go through these trees. I had a horrible feeling about it, but there was nothing else to be done. They were on the other side, and in trouble, and trying to go around the forest would take hours of backtracking.
I knew we didn’t have hours.
“Let’s get through quickly,” I said.
We entered the trees, weaving through the tangled undergrowth. The thin trunks and limbs glowed pink and purple, lighting our way. At first, we were able to just push through, but as we advanced, the forest thickened so much that it was almost impossible to proceed. It seemed incredible that the others had gone through this. In fact, they couldn’t have. They had to have gotten there another way.
Before I could mention this to Anna and Michael, several more gunshots sounded, followed by a high scream. It was definitely coming from the east, beyond the forest. Anna raised her blade high and brought it down on the encroaching undergrowth. Vines snapped with her precise cuts, spewing pink fluid.
