by KD Jones
“What was it like before the nuclear catastrophe?” Nix didn’t know why she suddenly wanted to know, but she did. She wanted to understand Corey.
A faraway look came across Corey’s face as he spoke. “I was a senior in high school, eighteen. My friends and I were skipping classes that day to go to a skateboarding event.”
“What’s skateboarding?”
“A skateboard is a narrow board about eight inches wide and about 28 inches long with small wheels on the bottom, both at the front and at the back. Kids would balance on the board and use one foot to push off the ground and propel it forward.”
“Was that your means of transportation? Seems inefficient.”
“No...yes.” Corey laughed, shaking his head. “It wasn’t used typically as transportation, just by kids who didn’t have cars. They could get around short distances with them. Anyway, there were events for professional skateboarders who did tricks on them. They competed and won prize money. I was a big fan of those events.
“When my friends and I found out our favorite pro skater was in town, we ditched school and headed downtown to the arena hosting the event. That’s when all hell broke out. People stuck in traffic started abandoning their cars and running down the streets. Children were crying, the adults were yelling at each other in a panic. There was something…a feeling or vibe in the air that made everything seem surreal.” Corey paused as he recalled that day as if it had happened just yesterday.
*****
“What the hell is going on here?” Corey turned to look at his friend Dave.
Dave shrugged, making his long wavy blond hair shake over his shoulders. “Beats me. Hey, Jay, go ask somebody what’s up.”
Their friend Jay tucked his skateboard under one arm while he jogged over to a man climbing out of a taxi stuck in the traffic. No cars were moving at all. Pedestrians were pushing and shoving to get past the stopped cars.
“Hey man, what’s going on?”
The man said somethin,g and whatever it was, it had to be bad. Jay turned back to look at Corey and Dave with a pale face and fear in his eyes. He jogged back over to where they waited for him on the corner of the road. Jay was in shock, struggling to form words.
“What’s going on, Jay?”
“The man...the man...said that nukes were going to hit right outside the city and that we should take cover somewhere.”
“Nukes? Seriously? He had to be joking,” Dave shook his head in denial.
Jay finally seemed to snap back into focus and immediately started walking, then jogging, back in the direction they had come from. Corey followed him without a thought. “Where are you going?”
“My mom and little brother are at home...I’ve got to...help them.”
“Help them to do what?” Corey yelled at him as Jay pulled ahead, but he got shoved by a sudden rush people. He was caught off balance and fell to the ground.
He lost track of Jay and looked back to find that Dave had been knocked to the ground, too. The panicked people stepped right on top of them, pressing them hard to the pavement. He breathed in the combined scent of the dirt, oil, gas, and piss that surrounded him. Or at least he did before the breath started being squeezed right out of him by the weight of the people pressing down on him. He and Dave were going to die right here on the ground. No...He wouldn’t go out like that; Corey refused to die on the ground like a bug to be squashed.
Balling his hands into fists, he shoved upward as hard as he could manage so he could get to his knees, and then finally to his feet. He pushed his way through the crowd to where Dave was still on the ground. He reached down and grabbed Dave’s hand, pulling him up to his feet. He had quite a few bruises and cuts on his face and hands. They were both breathing hard, taking in sorely needed oxygen.
“Come on, we have to get out of here.” Corey pulled Dave with him down the street.
“We should go home like Jay,” Dave said, trying to pull away.
Corey managed to get both of them over to the wall of a building as another crowd was shoving past. “Look, we won’t make it back to our homes before this thing hits.”
“How do you know that?”
“I watched a TV special about countries with nukes. When they send out a warning, most places give people thirty minutes to an hour before it hits. I don’t know when this warning went out, but I don’t think we have that much time left.”
Dave ran a shaky hand through his wavy hair. “What do we do?”
Corey looked around and noticed people shoving frantically, trying to get into the subway system stairwell. “There! We go below ground. Maybe the blast will hit far enough out of the city that there will be minimum damage. Let’s go!”
Corey felt a moment of regret that he hadn’t stopped Jay. Maybe his friend would find cover somehow. Right now, though, he had one friend he actually could save. Maybe he could find redemption in that.
*****
“What happened to your friend Dave? What about your parents?” Nix asked, shaking him out of his memories of the past.
“My mom had left me and my dad years before the nuke blast. My father was a drunk, and I guess one day she decided she had enough and left. He didn’t care one way or another about me; I was left to do whatever I wanted. I spent more time with my friends anyway, so I didn’t give a fuck about him either.”
“Your friend Dave?”
“We got to the subway station but were separated going in two different directions. I haven’t seen or heard from him since. I’ve thought a lot about him over the years. I really hope he made it, had a good life.”
There was silence after that and Corey was grateful. She didn’t ask him any more questions, and he didn’t really want to answer any more. Thinking about the past always made him feel uncomfortable. He rubbed the back of his neck and glanced sideways at her. She wasn’t looking at him, but the look on her face was strange. He wanted to ask her what she was thinking about, but decided against it. Some emotional distance between them would be good. He had to keep his mind on the mission.
“Ten minutes until we land,” he said out loud.
“Great. I can’t wait to get started.”
“Me either.”
Chapter 5
As they slowly lowered down to the Earth’s surface, Nix pointed to an area up ahead. “Land just here, outside the city. There should be a supply truck waiting for us.”
Corey looked at the mostly barren desert area stretching away from the city. He lowered the shuttle down while asking, “Why are we not landing closer to the government dome?”
“We have backpacks with human clothes we’ll need to change into, but we’ll change once we reach the city. I want to take our time to look around for potential problems. The fewer people from the dome or the tunnels see us coming in, the better we’ll be able to keep our mission secret. Also, since we’ll be leaving our shuttle, I want to make sure it is in a secure location. We’ll take our supplies to the dome, but our mission is in the tunnels, so we won’t be staying there. We’ll make our way down to the connecting entrance to the subway tunnels and then take the subway to your old tribe.”
“I don’t think we should do that.”
Nix looked at him in surprise. “This is the plan that Commander Estro and his advisers came up with.”
Corey turned off the shuttle, then shifted in his seat to face her. “The resistance isn’t just happening in the tunnels, it’s spread to the domes, too. We don’t know who to trust. Also, there have been problems with your own people betraying you. I know Commander Estro and his family are genuine, but how do we know we can trust any of his advisers? If our mission is exposed, we could be in danger.”
She thought about what he was saying and she couldn’t deny it had merit. That was one of the most frustrating things was not knowing which of her people were helping the rebels. “You’re right. There are spies on both sides who have caused problems. What do you think we should do about it?”
“I think we shoul
d deviate from the plan a bit.”
“Look, Mr. Nash, I am a warrior. I follow the orders of my commander. Commander Estro and his advisers have many years of experience. I understand there’s a possibility that one or more of the advisers could be assisting the resistance, but Commander Estro would have reviewed every detail of this plan before sending us out. I’ve been taught to follow the rules and protocol because they are designed specifically to protect us.”
“Sometimes we have to make our own rules when we find that following the same path doesn’t take us where we need to go. We should be able to deviate from the mission parameteres if the end goal is ensuring that it’s a success.”
“If that time comes, I’ll let you know. Until then, we’re sticking with the original plan,” Nix said, ending the conversation by standing and heading for the door of the shuttle. She didn’t wait for Corey to follow her. Who was he to question the orders of her commander and his strategy team?
Even as she thought that, something about what Corey said bugged her. What if the spies and traitors were higher up, part of the strategy team? If that was true, they could be heading into a trap. Nix had always followed orders, always. She wanted to prove that she was the best warrior, even if she didn’t have the size or strength. It went against everything she believed in to disobey her directives. Corey had to be wrong, but the doubts still plagued her.
She shook her head to clear her wayward thoughts, put on her helmet with the built-in oxygen supply and filter, and inspected their surroundings. A radiation storm was coming their way; it looked like it would be there in about thirty minutes to an hour. That was just an estimate, though; these types of storms were always spontaneous and could speed up or slow down or veer off on a different path.
She should check the computer to see how fast and strong the stormwinds were. Would they even have time to get to the city? They couldn’t afford to take any chances and needed to get to the truck so that they would have some kind of cover while they made their way to the city.
The truck was there waiting for them as expected. Again, Corey’s concern played through her mind. As he handed her her pack and shouldered his own, she took her handheld computer and closed the shuttle doors. With the earlier worries that Corey brought up, a sudden idea came to her. She programmed new coordinates and the shuttle lifted off, leaving them standing there out in the open.
“What’s going on? Where’s the shuttle going?” Corey looked at her in question.
“I’m sending it to different coordinates, just in case.”
She tried to ignore the knowing look he gave her. Walking forward, she said, “I’m still sticking to the plan.”
“Aye aye, Captain.”
“I’m not a captain.”
Corey snorted, “It’s just a saying.”
“You’re strange, you know that.”
“I’ve been told that a time or two.”
Nix didn’t understand him at all, but she liked him despite their differences. If only she hadn’t slept with him, maybe they would have been friends. She pushed that depressing thought aside.
She made sure to keep her eyes on where they were going. As they approached the truck, she had the feeling inside that things weren’t quite right. She stopped walking and just stood there to look around them. They were were out in the open, anyone could attack them. She didn’t see anyone else, but the feeling that something was off increased.
Corey stopped next to her. He looked around them, mimicking her. “What’s up? Do you see something?”
How did she explain these feelings of danger? She might sound crazy to him, but she just couldn’t shake it. She confessed, “I don’t see anyone but I have this...feeling.”
“What kind of feeling?”
“That something is off. Maybe it’s nothing.”
“If you are feeling something, then don’t blow that off. I’ve learned the hard way to trust my instincts. Maybe we should call the shuttle back.”
Nix was about to agree but movement near the rear of the truck caught her eye. The sight of a weapon had her jumping into action. She lunged at Corey, knocking them both down to the ground, just escaping a bullet that whizzed toward them. That had been a human gun. Both she and Corey rolled apart, pulling out their blasters and firing back. They crawled to a dip in the ground, about four feet deep, enough to give them coverage. A blaster hit the edge of the hole they hid in. The looked at each other in shock.
“That was a Drastan blaster.” Corey stated.
Nix nodded. Their attackers had both human and Drastan weapons. How the hell had they gotten their hands on them? She peaked over the edge and shot off a few blasts. “I think I see three males.”
“Can you call back the shuttle?” Corey asked, shooting as well.
Nix patted her pockets, then froze. “I don’t have my pad. I must have dropped it when I knocked us to the ground.”
“Fuck!” Corey took another shot. “Yes! Got one of those bastards, that leaves two.”
“That we know of.” Nix took another shot and wounded one of the males in the leg. “One of them is down.”
“Should we rush them?” Corey asked.
Then the sound of the truck starting up had them both standing up out of the hole. They fired at the wheels, but the truck kept going. They ran after it for a few paces, but the truck was already moving too fast.
“Damn it! They got away,” Nix said.
“At least we’re not hurt and we’re still alive,” Corey reminded her.
“Maybe not for long. That storm is almost on us.” Nix looked over at the rapidly approaching sandstorm. The wind picked up dust spinning it fast and high into the air. It was like a wall of dust coming toward them, making it hard to see past it.
“I’ll go look for the communicator and call the shuttle back,” Nix began to pull herself out of the hole but Corey grabbed her yanking her back down. He opened his pack and pulled out a blanket.
“There’s no time. Get on the other side of the hole, use your back to press this tight against the wall of the hole. Hold one end of the blanket and I’ll hold the other. Our helmets will provide oxygen even if we’re buried a foot or so right?”
Nix sat down, reaching for the blanket and pulling it over her head. “Yes.” Fear coursed through her entire body, making her shake. She didn’t like things over her head, like swimming underwater, caves, and definitely like being buried under sand. She could feel the wind trying to rip the blanket from them, then sand piling on top, making it heavier and heavier. She felt like she was suffocating.
“By the Gods, we’re going to die,” Nix whispered, closing her eyes. She always imagined her death would be an honorable one, giving her life in battle, fighting to protect her people. Not like this, buried alive in a sandstorm in the middle of nowhere. Corey would be missed by Maggie and the rest of his friends. Would anyone mourn her loss?
*****
Corey had never seen Nix look so vulnerable before. As the blanket started to get covered with sand, they lost the light. He could tell she was trembling.
“Nix, we’re going to survive this, we just need to stay strong until the storm passes. Talk to me.”
“Talk about what? I can’t think…”
“Tell me about your family. I know nothing about you.”
“I was born the only child of a high ranking commander. I’m a warrior. That’s it.”
“There has to be more.”
She sighed, “My father, grandfather, and great-grandfather all were commanders and served in the Drastan military. I followed into the military like them.”
“Your father must be proud.”
“I wouldn’t know.”
Her voice was tense. He couldn’t imagine any father wouldn’t be proud of a daughter like Nix. She was strong, smart, beautiful, and...other things. Corey couldn’t afford to think of those other things, so he continued to ask her questions.
“It sounds like you didn’t get along with your father. N
ot that I’m judging, my own father was a selfish asshole.”
“I’m an only child...a female child. It wasn’t what the great renowned Commander Saber wanted. He pushed my mother into getting pregnant again but she lost the baby—another girl—and died of complications. My father put me off on family and friends while he devoted his time to going into one battle after another, until one day, he didn’t come back. He died as a warrior with no sons to continue the Saber line. It died with him.”
“You’re a Saber.”
“I’m female.”
“I don’t get it, your people are so advanced. You should be beyond the sexist thing.”
“My world is still male-oriented, much like yours. Many different species believe the male is the stronger of the species and that their job is to protect the female of their kind.”
“I know I want to protect those who can’t protect themselves, but I also know many women who are as strong, if not stronger, than men inwardly if not physically. I saw men fall apart after the nukes hit, just lose their shit. Women, even young girls, held themselves together, organized and helped others to form the tribes. Without those strong women, many more would have died.”
“Women like Maggie?”
Corey couldn’t help but smile at the thought of his best friend. “Maggie was tough as shit from the moment I met her. Hell, she was just a kid, but she had already survived things that no person should ever have to endure and at a young age. I may have been physically stronger, but there were times that Maggie and Lily helped keep me going when I felt like giving up. They had an inner core of strength that was unprecedented.”
“I’m sure you helped them survive as well.”
“Well, yeah, that’s what families do. We love each other and support each other through the good times and the bad. Even if we were angry with one another, we still had each other’s backs.”
“Some families are like that, not all.”
“You said you went to live with family and friends. Who took you in?”
“I got passed around until I ended up with Quinn’s family. His mother took me in and looked after me. She was the closest I had to a mother and Quinn was more like a brother.”
