Darkness (20 page)

“So we let her know once we storm the bridge.”

“We’ll all be dead if we do that. I’m sure they have the place fortified.”

“Of course,” the woman from ahead said, “you must surrender all your weapons before you enter the bridge.”

“We need a guarantee,” I said. “If Lyn agrees to be held for ransom, we can go in and take care of the other ship.”

The other woman’s eyes widened, showing that this was not a possibility.

“Tell Elias that,” I said. “That’s the only way we’re coming in there.”

“That is unacceptable,” the woman said. “We can offer someone else...but not Lyn.”

“Lyn seems to be the only person who means something to Elias,” I said. “We want her or we’ll let your ship burn before your precious Ascension can work out.”

The woman scowled, but said nothing in reply. She still wasn’t budging.

I tried to think of other options. But I came up blank. If we had Lyn with Michael and perhaps Julian standing guard, I felt confident that Elias wouldn’t try anything once Makara was called off. There was the problem of what to do
after
that, however. I couldn’t think that far ahead. My idea was far from perfect.

Anna was right, though. At least one of us had to go to the bridge. And if that person went, we deserved to have someone in return.

“I see no other option,” I said, staring ahead.

“We’re not actually doing this, are you?” Grudge asked.

I had no idea what was right. There was no good option. I felt like we were screwed, no matter what we did.

The woman turned and fled back to the bridge, guessing my intent. It was time. We had to charge the bridge and take out the Community once and for all. My hostage idea would not work out, in the end. We had to leverage Makara attacking to our fullest advantage and strike now.

That was when I heard screams come from the bridge up ahead.

“She’s attacking,” I said.

We ran forward to the corner. I saw it wasn’t exactly a corner; it was just a hook in the corridor that made two ninety-degree turns – one right, then one left, a few feet later. When we poked around this corner, the corridor led straight to a wide opening, through which I could see the bridge, massive in comparison with
Gilgamesh.
A large screen displayed a map of the United States in topographic detail, and beyond that I could see gray, tumultuous sky through the ship’s wide windshields.

A massive shape that was not
Gilgamesh
shot past the windshield, causing more screams to fill the air.

“Makara sure is flying that thing fast,” Julian said.

“No, that’s not Makara,” I said.

I ran ahead. If the situation was as bad as I thought it was, then Elias stabbing us in the back was the least of our concerns.

It looked as if our xenodragon hadn’t gone away.

***

I sprinted to the bridge, the others in tow. Anna’s voice came from behind.

“Alex, be...”

I entered the bridge. There were about a dozen women, along with Elias, waiting. They cast us a momentary glance before fixing their attention once more on the window. Apparently, we were also the least of their worries for the moment.

Lyn stood next to Elias near the pilot’s seat, which was empty.

“What is it?” she asked.

“The harbinger of the End Times,” Elias said. “Chaos.”

Anna, without a word, made her way to the pilot’s chair, taking up the controls. Elias did not protest, and in fact stepped away in order to give Anna space. He watched without a word. He gazed at me, his dark eyes blazing. It was hard to read that expression. Was it fear? Anger? Desperation? It was as if he was trying tell me not to get any ideas about taking control, even if things were not going according his plan.

I went to stand next to Anna as Ashton took up the copilot’s seat. Everyone else formed a protective ring around the two of them.

I took stock of the situation. As the ship veered lightly left from Anna’s steering, I saw that quite a few of the women had guns in their hands. Seeing those guns in contrast to their worn dresses was a bit jarring. I tried not to focus on how hopelessly outgunned we were and instead scanned the gray skies ahead. For now, there was nothing.

“Picking up something from starboard aft,” Anna said, swinging the ship around.

Ashton was quiet, focused, awaiting Anna’s instructions. She swung the control stick further round. He bent to the radio.

“Gilgamesh
, this is Ashton on
Aeneas.
Do you read me?”

Lyn’s hand twitched on her gun, but Elias stayed her hand. I kept my own hand on my Beretta.

“We need to coordinate strategy with
Gilgamesh
in order to bring this thing down,” Anna said. “I wonder if that dragon is...”

Makara’s voice came through the speaker.

“Ashton? What the hell you doing on that thing? What happened to
Odin?
We lost contact two days ago.”

“Odin
is down. We’re aboard
Aeneas
now with a group of survivors from Bunker 84.”

Ashton didn’t want to reveal who these survivors truly were, since they were right here with us on the bridge. Fortunately, Makara already knew part of the situation.

“Yeah,” Makara said. “Survivors apparently holding you hostage.”

“Focus,” Anna said. “Where did this dragon go?”

Maybe a quarter mile ahead in the air I could see
Gilgamesh
facing us. Its thrusters pointed slightly to port, which caused the ship to veer to starboard.

“Damn, that ship is huge,” Makara said. “It’s been hiding in 84 this entire time?”

“Apparently,” Ashton said.

“Everyone else make it out alright? Michael? Julian?”

“Yeah,” Ashton. “Grudge is with us as well. Of course, Alex is also alright.”

“Good.”

“This isn’t the time for a reunion,” Elias growled. “Chaos is trying to communicate something.”

Anna shook her head. “If by communicate you mean sending us spiraling toward our fiery deaths, then yes. You would be right.”

“The Voice sent Chaos here for a reason.” Elias’s remained focused on the sky outside. “I must know what it is. Perhaps he means to lead us somewhere.”

Before anyone could respond, the massive dragon dropped from the clouds above. Screams sounded on the bridge as the wings unfurled and beat against the wind – wings maybe two hundred to two hundred fifty feet across. Elias was right; this was no ordinary dragon. It was none other than Chaos, the dragon that had been roosting in Raider Bluff when we had returned to the Wasteland from Nova Roma. It was completely black, probably five hundred feet long from head to tip of tail. Cruel spikes jutted all over its long, reptilian form, and its angular head opened to reveal a mouth filled with rows of jagged teeth. The Wanderer had said that Chaos followed Askala from world-to-world, taking on a different form in each. On Earth, at least, he was the largest of all the xenodragons, the juggernaut of the
Radaskim.

And, despite what Elias said, I knew he was going to kill us.

The creature faced us, its white eyes glowing in the dim, late afternoon light. Two more dragons, smaller, dropped from the clouds. One headed for
Gilgamesh,
the other for us. Chaos gave a baleful roar that shook me to the bones, even through the windshield. The fact that we were inside didn’t seem to matter.

“Hold on!” Anna said.

Aeneas
lurched to port and took on a burst of speed. I fell to the deck and began rolling toward the port side of the ship as the floor angled in that direction. Just as suddenly as she had turned it, Anna righted the ship, spinning it around to face the smaller dragon attacking us from behind.

Unfortunately, these creatures were far more agile than our massive ship. The smaller xenodragon dodged Anna’s move, disappearing from view.

“I’m just going to take shots at whatever I can,” Anna said. “Makara, try to keep them off me.”

“Copy that.”

In a flash of metal,
Gilgamesh
swooped in front of
Aeneas,
deadly close. Its twin turrets blazed below its hull. Outside, one of the flying monsters screamed. Anna eased the ship left, giving us sight of one of the dragons spiraling toward the mountains below. A moment later, it crashed into a snow-capped peak in a cloudy puff of white.

“One down,” Anna said.

At that moment, the second small dragon dove from above toward
Gilgamesh.
Makara was going to be blindsided.

“Makara, dive!”

“I’ve got this,” Ashton said.

As
Gilgamesh
pointed nose-down toward the Earth,
Aeneas
eased in from behind.

“Target locked,” Ashton said. “Fire.”

“Red button, right?” Anna said. “Sorry, still new to this.”

“Yes. The one on the control stick.”

Anna pressed it. The ship rocked as a missile streaked from its hull, splitting the air. The dragon turned its long neck toward the missile, realizing its doom. With a scream, the dragon turned away, flapping its wings madly to flee. But it was futile. The missile struck in a fiery ball of orange, blasting the dragon straight downward to the surface. One of the wings was ripped completely off. The dragon spun madly in circles, helicoptering toward the ground, leaving in its wake a trail of purple blood that misted into ice in the frigid air.

That was when an impact came from the back of the ship, causing
Aeneas
to lurch forward. Anna veered the control stick upward, angling toward the clouds above. The readout LCD revealed Chaos just behind, gaining on us with massive speed.

“He’s tailing us,” Anna said. “Damn, he’s fast!”

“Lose him in the clouds,” Makara said.
“Gilgamesh
still has a few missiles left.”

“How much longer, Makara?” Ashton asked.

“Just a minute! It’s hard to do all of this on my own.”

Chaos took on a sudden burst of speed, his jaws snapping toward
Aeneas’s
retrothrusters. Anna did a little dip to avoid the dragon’s attack, causing everyone standing on the bridge to topple to the deck once more. When the ship steadied, I decided to stay on the deck. It was probably safer than standing up.

“Alright, got him in my sights,” Makara said. “Here goes nothing.”

From outside, I heard the spew of one missile, then a second, hissing through the air. Chaos was still close. Anna made a sudden dive. The top of a peak came into view, not too far distant. We could not keep this dive up for long – maybe ten seconds before crashing. From behind, Julian and Michael both slid into me. I banged into the back of the pilot’s chair.

A colossal scream sounded from behind, followed by an explosion. Chaos had been hit.

Anna swooped us around as she evened out
Aeneas.
We had turned 180 degrees and were facing the direction Chaos has been chasing us from. A cloud of smoke filled the air where Chaos had been. I looked down, expecting Chaos to be falling to the mountains below. Instead, there was nothing but empty air.

“Makara, do you have visual of the dragon?” Ashton asked.

“Negative. It got real bright, but afterward, I saw nothing. Only one of the missiles hit. It must have flown up in the clouds...”

“It’s still
alive?”
I asked.

I didn’t see how it was possible. How could
anything
be alive after being hit like that?

Our question was soon answered as Chaos lowered from the clouds, flapping its massive wings. It let out an ungodly bellow as it dove, not for us, but for Makara. It folded its wings as it dropped with surprising speed.

“Makara!” Ashton said. “Run. Fly as fast as you can from here.”

“But...”

“Do as I say!” Ashton said. “There’s only one thing that’ll bring this bastard down once and for all.”

With a curse, Makara piloted
Gilgamesh
away from Chaos, just in time to dodge its crazy dive.
Gilgamesh
appeared to be faster than
Aeneas,
so maybe Makara could keep it busy while we took our turn. Chaos gave chase to
Gilgamesh.
We had a small window to attack before either Makara messed up or Chaos managed to catch her.

“What are you doing, Ashton?” I asked.

He stared at his screen, keying at it intently. We watched for a moment as Anna floated closer to the dragon, keeping the ship locked on it.

“Anna...” Ashton said. “Fire when ready.”

Anna paused only a moment before pressing the red button. A single gray missile streaked out of the ship just as Makara gained good speed. Still, Chaos was locked on
Gilgamesh,
not giving Makara a break for even a moment.

“Run,” Ashton said. “Faster, Makara!”

We had only been turning for a moment when the missile connected with a brightness that rivaled a thousand suns. Immediately, the windows tinted, but I
still
had to shield my eyes.

Then, I realized: we had launched a nuke at Chaos – and it had connected.

At last, the sound caught up with the light, and an unnatural roar unlike any I had ever heard blasted the ship. The entire hull vibrated, and Anna had trouble turning the lumbering spacecraft away. Finally, when it was angled enough away and the massive, orange mushroom cloud was no longer visible, Anna gave
Aeneas
all it had. The retrothrusters burned to full, blasting
Aeneas
toward the south with amazing speed. The LCD revealed the fiery cloud spreading ever outward.

I was still on the floor. I crawled to get up as soon as I was sure that this was over, that all the dragons that were attacking us were dead.

“Keep going,” Ashton said. “I want to make sure we are good and out of range.”

We continued. Nothing but static emanated from the radio. We had no idea if Makara had made it. She had been closer to the blast than we had. Still, she had been far enough to be safe.

Hadn’t she?

Chapter 17

Five minutes later the bridge was still silent. The explosion from behind still crackled and expanded outward, the hellish clouds covering the mountains. Of Makara and
Gilgamesh
there was no sign.