by Kailin Gow
With that, he flips a switch on the control panel and stands back.
“There,” he says, “it’s done. I just hope you know what you’re doing, Celes.”
“So do I,” I admit.
We go to watch the screens in the main common room. They’re picking up fragments of news feeds as well as data from Faders around the world. Most importantly, there’s a feed from the cameras Location Thirteen has pointed at the outside.
Those cameras let us see it as it starts, the sky seeming to turn red all at once, flames appearing to dance across it. I know it’s just the cloud formations above us shifting, but even so, my heart is in my mouth. It looks so much like what happened before. Then I see the flames seeming to pour down from the sky.
On the news feeds, there are pictures of people screaming and running, in those cities that still have a meaningful population left. There are a few images of the creatures that have been burning people, and those look almost as frightened as the people. More frightened, because suddenly, some of them are being targeted with flames.
“Faders with flame throwers,” Jack explains, as on the screen the strange, hybrid creatures start to run about in utter terror. “I thought it would be a nice touch.”
Nice is probably the wrong word for it, but it works. I see the first creatures fall as they run, bellowing inhumanly and then collapsing to the ground as their hearts give way. There are so mThewroany people running by that point that they just trample the creatures, mashing them down into the dirt beneath their soles.
“It’s working,” I say. “It’s working.”
Slowly, though. The satellite can only be over so much of the world at a time. Its coverage is limited, and to stop the Fever, we need to eliminate all the creatures. We can’t risk leaving some of them behind. I think we all know that, because all of us who aren’t doing anything: me, Jack, Grayson, Johnny and more, find ourselves stuck in front of those screens, watching what the few news services still running are calling the Obliteration. They’re right, but it’s the Obliteration of the creatures, not of humanity. It might just save humanity.
That’s when I glance back to the screen for the outside cameras, and I see what’s coming.
“Jack, Grayson, Sebastian! We’re under attack!”
There are helicopters on the screen. One is a very familiar shape that chased us down from the research facility. Others seem to be transport helicopters. It seems like Hammond didn’t lose us after all. He was just going to get reinforcements.
“Everybody to their stations,” Sebastian orders. “We have to defend the base. There is nowhere else to go.”
Faders hurry to grab guns and flak jackets as outside, heavily armed men start to rappel down from their helicopters. Hammond’s attack chopper fires missiles and I can feel Location Thirteen shaking.
Faders rush to guard the entrances, and outside the room I can hear the chatter of gunfire. A couple of soldiers burst in carrying automatic weaponry. Jack and Grayson bring up their own guns at almost the same moment to drop them, before moving forward to grab their rifles. Shots rip through Grayson in that moment, and Jack drags him back while I gasp at the thought of him being hurt like that.
Then he stands up, and I remember again why he’s the one person I don’t need to worry about.
“The satellite is locked,” Sebastian says, working the controls. “They can’t change it now.”
“You’re saying that like we can’t hold them here,” Dr. Florence says. He looks as scared as ever. “If Mr. Hammond takes us…”
“We’re losing people,” Sebastian snaps back at him. “This is not the time for you to be a coward.”
There’s a burst of gunfirerst
“We need to fall back,” Jack says. “Everybody out.”
“Where are we heading though?” I ask. “If Hammond is inside, where is there that’s safe?”
Jack looks at Sebastian. “You said that you’d rebuilt the Fading machine?”
Sebastian hesitates, and then nods. “It’s ready. It will work.”
“Our mission’s done, Celes,” Jack says. “The creatures are gone. There won’t be a Fever. We need to go back.”
“What about Hammond?” I demand. “What about all the people here?”
“You’re our priority here, Celes,” Grayson insists, taking over from Jack. “You and the machine.”
“They’ll destroy it if they can,” Johnny says, standing awkwardly.
I try to answer that, but Grayson and Jack nod to one another. They grab one of my arms each, turning back to fire bursts of automatic fire as Hammond’s men try to come into the room. I see one of the Australians, Ray I think, go down.
“We need to go now, Celes,” Jack insists, and now I’m ready to listen.
We run, all of us. Jack and Grayson keep me ahead of them, leapfrogging one another as they fire back at the soldiers who pop out behind us around corners. Sebastian and Dr. Florence help Johnny. There’s no sign of any of the Australians. They’re gone. Probably dead. There’s something tragic about that thought; that they could have come thousands of miles through the apocalypse just to be shot in a corridor somewhere. But I know that they’re all Faders, and it’s what they have signed up for. The way I signed up for a mission that might soon be over.
Between us, we keep moving in the direction of the room they’ve rebuilt the Fading machine in. When we get there, Sebastian throws the doors open, letting us all pile inside, then locks them behind us. Jack and Grayson wedge a bench behind them.
“That won’t hold them for long,” Jack says. “We need to go.”
The Fading machine is everything I remember it being. A large chair with a much larger device looming over it, straps on the chair bringing back memories of the time they tried to Fade my identity. There’s no time to think about that though, because already there are thuds as booted feet slaoots on m into the door.
“We need to hurry,” Jack says. “If they destroy the machine again, we might never get back home. Grayson, go first and make sure it’s safe.”
Grayson lets Jack strap him in. I move over to Grayson while Jack works on the control panel. I kiss him, because I can’t not kiss him at a moment like this, when he’s about to be disintegrated, effectively killed in this time so that he can be remade in the future.
“It’s fine, Celes,” Grayson says. “I’ll see you there.”
The machine hums as power draws up through it, then whines as its energy flashes through Grayson. Blue light seems to run through Grayson, and then he’s gone. Just… gone.
“Johnny,” Jack says, “you’re next. We’ll have to risk it and hope that you’re strong enough to survive.”
Johnny nods and Jack straps him in. Jack sets the controls again. There’s a crack from the doors and they burst open, revealing Wilson Hammond. His normally handsome older features are twisted by anger, and his expensive suit is torn.
“No! You will not take my son!”
He lunges for the machine. For Johnny. It’s too late. The machine flashes, and Johnny is gone too.
“No,” Hammond says, and in that moment there’s the glow around him that there was before the apocalypse. The shape of another, larger creature shifting around his. “You cannot have Johnny. His destiny lies here, as my son. He is the one who will help me create a new world. One with beings in it suited to rule it. One that is strong, not weak, like the one you create.”
He stares at me while he says that.
“He’s gone, Hammond,” I say. “You can’t get him back.”
“Then you won’t be going back,” Hammond replies, and lunges for the machine. Jack intercepts him with a punch, but Hammond spins and smashes him aside. Jack bounds back, tackling Hammond low and bearing them both to the floor.
“Celes,” he yells, “get in. Dad, set the machine!”
I don’t want to leave him, but Sebastian pushes me back into the chair, setting the straps so tight that I can’t break free without destroying the Fadin
g machine. I see Jack flipping past Hammond’s legs, moving to pin him down while throwing punches. Hammond grab. Ho tight ts him and throws him off, but Jack charges in again to control him. I realize that’s all he’s trying to do. Just slow Hammond down long enough to let me get away.
Sebastian is working the controls by now, setting them again the way he did for Johnny, his face an intense mask of concentration. Jack, meanwhile, is barely managing to hold Hammond. It shouldn’t work like that. He’s younger and fitter, not to mention a skilled fighter. Yet with the strength of the Beast in him, Hammond is so much harder to stop.
“Hurry!” Jack yells over.
“Jack!”
“Celes, I love you! Go!”
Unlike Grayson, I don’t even get to kiss Jack goodbye. He’s too busy fighting with Hammond. He’s done this so many times now, staying behind to keep me alive. I told him not to do this. I told him not to. Yet ultimately, I’m not sure anything could stop him. Jack is Jack, and he’ll always do whatever he needs to do to protect me, whatever time period it is.
I just hope, as I hear the whine of the Fading machine, that he’ll be able to do it in the future too. I strain against the straps, wanting to help him, but Sebastian throws the switch in that moment. The light is blinding, and there’s a moment of agony as every cell of my body rips apart. Then there’s nothing.
EIGHTEEN
I blink and slowly, the world comes back into focus. I can see people standing around me, and the first of them I see is Grayson. He’s the way he was. Still a teenager, not a man. How did that happen? The Fading machine, I realize. When it sent us back, it sent us back as babies, because it didn’t have the ability to add in the effects of aging. Now that it has returned us… well, no one has ever returned. How were we to know what the effects would be?
There’s another figure beside him. John. John’s leaning against the wall breathlessly, but that isn’t the strangest part. He isn’t a boy anymore. Not a boy, but not a grown man either. An acne featured teenager with oily hair stands in front of me, skinny, almost malnourished looking.
“John, Grayson? Are we back?”
Grayson smiles widely, heading over to a cabinet, which he opens, revealing equipment that we all stowed before heading back.
“It seems everything is where it should be. Welcome back, Madam President.”
Back. We’re back. What does that mean? What has happened while we’ve been away? How long have we even been away? The Fading machine could have returned us a second after we left, or twenty years. We won’t know until we look. Talking of looking…
“How old am I?” I ask.
Grayson steps forward, touching my face. “You’re you. You’re exactly as you were. Apparently the machine doesn’t do as much to change people’s ages coming this way.”
“John’s different, though. How are you, John?”
John looks down at the body he has now. “It’s not too bad. Given the shape I was in when I left, I’m lucky that the machine was able to bring me back together at all. There are worse fates than being a teenager.”
Grayson’s hands go to my shoulders, rubbing away knots of tension I didn’t know I had. “How are you?” he asks. “Disoriented? Okay?”
“I’m fine,” I assure him, though honestly I don’t know whether I am or not. How much can I remember? “Jack…”
John looks concerned, staring at the Fading machine as Grayson helps me out of it. “Where is Jack? Was he right behind you?”
“I don’t know,” I admit. “He was fighting Hammond, trying to buy me time. I don’t know if he succeeded, or if he’ll even be coming back.”
That thought makes me choke back a sob, and despite all the rivalry Grayson must feel for Jack, he holds me close.
“It’s going to be okay,” Grayson promises. “Jack has pulled through impossible situations before. If anyone can get back here, it’s him.”
There’s the whine of the Fading machine behind me then, and I turn, hope lighting up in my heart in that moment as a male body starts to be constructed on it. It’s like watching a sculptor work, the body coming through roughly in the first few seconds, then in more and more detail.
“Jack?” I start forward. Grayson tries to stop me, but he’s too slow. Hes tign’s not going to keep me back from Jack. I want to be there when he opens his…
It isn’t Jack. As the machine fills in the last details, it’s obvious who it is. Wilson Hammond. A little younger maybe, but still definitely him as his eyes snap open and he looks up at me with obvious hatred. I start to pull back, but he’s at least as fast as I am. He surges to his feet, grabbing my arm and twisting it behind my back almost to the point of breaking it. I cry out in pain as he does it, and Hammond makes a sound almost of pleasure at that. He’s enjoying me being hurt.
“Let her go!” Grayson orders.
“No,” Hammond says. “I don’t think so. Celes here is coming back with me, so that we can make everything the way it needs to be. She can do that. She’s good at that. I certainly can’t allow her to be here.”
“Let her go,” John says, and for a moment he sounds like little Johnny again. “Dad, you’ve already caused the world enough suffering.”
I can’t see Hammond looking across to John, but I can hear his small sound of disappointment. “And you’re here too, Johnny. You could have done so much with me back there, you know. You could have helped me come up with diseases even more beautiful than the Fever. You are, after all, brilliant.”
“You’re mad,” John says. “Haven’t you hurt people enough?”
“No,” Hammond replies. “Not nearly enough. You see, thanks to Celes here, humanity survived the first apocalypse, and the second. My Fever. My beautiful Fever. It took such a lot of work to design, and she undid that work in less than a day.”
“You need to let her go,” John insists. “It’s over. You have no issues with Celes.”
“Aside from her ruining my plan?” Hammond asks. “She can’t be president here anymore. If she is, well, humanity might just keep on surviving, and I am sick of humanity. So very sick of it.”
“We’ve stopped the Fever?” Even with Hammond holding me so painfully, that’s good to hear. The idea that my people might be safe is the best news I’ve heard, not just for a while, but in either of the lives I’ve lived. “Wait, how do you know that? You just arrived. And what you’re saying…”
“I know a lot,” Hammond replies, and his voice is like oil pouring over me. “I know things that humans cannot comprehend. You know who I am, Celestra. I’ve told you before. I’ve shown you before.”
As he says that, I can feel it. The evil rising up villignfrom him; pouring off him in waves. It is like the foul stench of rotting meat, but it isn’t just a scent. This runs soul deep. The hairs on my arms are standing on end just being this close to him.
I thought I knew about the evil in Hammond. I thought I’d seen it in the apocalypse. I thought that he was the Antichrist, but standing here, I’m starting to think that even that might not be enough to describe him. I thought he was a man who had been taken by something else, but I was wrong. Very, very wrong.
Hammond spins me to face him, and his face glows almost beautifully, while at the same time looking at him is the most terrifying experience of my life. He holds me by the hair, making me look into eyes that saw the birth of the world.
“Do you know who I am yet?” he asks. “Do you know what I am?”
I know.
“The Devil. You’re the Devil.”
Heat rises from Hammond then. The heat of the sun? The heat of Hell? No wonder he was able to call down fire storms. The thought of everything he’s done so far makes me shiver, despite the heat running over me.
“I am indeed, human girl.” Hammond’s smile is like diamonds. Cold and unyielding. “I am he whom God tried to make bow down to his newest creations, and who was cast down because he would not. Do you know how long I have worked to destroy you, never working directly? Ne
ver working in my full form? Do you know how long I had to think and plan before I came up with the idea of coming down as one of you? Though obviously, I stole that one from Him.”
I stare at Hammond with increasing horror. I thought before that there might be some way to reason with him. I thought afterwards that we’d managed to stop his plans, and that he couldn’t affect us in the future, but this…
“Beautiful, wasn’t it?” Hammond asks. “Working as a human, in human ways, without even resorting to my supernatural form.”
“Because you aren’t allowed to. Not without permission.”
At the sound of Jack’s voice, I try to turn, and Hammond pulls me back against him tightly. Jack is there, jumping off the Fading machine.
“Jack!” I yell. “You made it!”
I surge towards him again, but Hammond pulls me back. “I’m going to enjoy tormenting you when this is done,” he says. “But first, you are going to come back and help me end this.”
I try to ignore him, speaking to Jack instead. “How did you get back?”
“It wasn’t easy,” Jack says. “Hammond had a lot of men with him.”
“Yes,” Hammond says, “I did.”
“And there were a lot of casualties,” Jack adds, ignoring Hammond. He obviously understands what I’m trying to do.
“Yes,” Hammond says. “How did that feel, Jack?”
Jack keeps ignoring him. “Including Dr. Florence and my father.”
I swallow. That’s hard to bear. I can only imagine how much it must hurt Jack right now to know that Sebastian Cook, the man who brought him up, is gone.
“That’s hard, Jack,” I say. “I’m so sorry. I only wish…”
“Stop ignoring me!” Hammond yells, almost exactly like a petulant child, and that’s the moment when I stamp down with all the power I can muster on his foot. I think I can hear bone breaking. I can certainly feel his grip loosen. I snap my head back, slamming it into his and ignoring the pain that comes from it. I drop, letting my weight go limp, then drive forward away from Hammond as I slip from his now barely there grip. I imagine that I can feel his hands snatching for the space where I was standing just a moment before as I throw myself forward way from him. John and Grayson catch me and I spin around, facing Hammond.
