Darkness (21 page)

“She made it,” Ashton said. “I know she did.”

“Well, she’s not coming out of that thing,” Anna said. “Maybe...maybe it’s time we faced the facts.”

The radar was not working properly – something about the blast had knocked it out. I’d read something about electromagnetic pulses once, so maybe that had something to do with...

“Wait,” I said.

Everyone looked at me.

“If she was caught in the EMP that could have grounded her.”

“I’m sorry,” Julian asked. “EMP?”

“Electromagnetic pulse,” Ashton said. “And no, she would have been far enough away from the blast to not have been affected by it. Besides, military craft are built to withstand it, and it’s only at high altitude that the Earth’s magnetic field...”

“Is she alive or not?” Anna cut in.

“It could be turbulence,” Ashton said.

“Regardless of that,” Elias said, stepping forward.

Everyone turned – I’d almost forgotten Elias and his followers were there, watching the entire time.

“We’ll take it from here,” Elias said.

I stood, meeting Elias’s stare. “Not until we’ve found our friend.”

Julian, Michael, and Grudge stepped beside me. Immediately, the Community women reached for their own weapons.

“Stop this madness,” Ashton said. “We’ll accomplish nothing as long as we are at each other’s throats.” He turned his blue eyes on Elias. “How do you expect to get anything done when you threaten the lives of this ship’s only pilots?”

Elias’s face reddened. He knew he had no answer for that. From the center of the deck, Deborah and Ada watched Elias coolly. Elias took notice.

“You,” Elias said with gritted teeth. He took a step toward the women. “I know it was you who did this.
You
launched this ship.” His eyes narrowed. “I’ve always known you were tainted.”

“That didn’t stop you from trying, though,” Deborah said. “Did it?”

From the way Lyn looked at Elias as his face burned crimson, it didn’t take much imagination to know what “trying” meant. Deborah’s eyes taunted while Ada only looked unsure.

“What of it, Elias?” Deborah asked. “Are you going to kill me now?”

With a roar, Elias arched an arm back.

“Stop!” I yelled.

But Elias wasn’t listening. His arm swung outward as Deborah dodged the blow. Immediately, the Community women went to assist their leader. Lyn made no move to help.

At that moment, Anna jerked the control stick, throwing everyone off balance. Elias clattered to the floor, rolling near me.

I might not get another chance. It was time to fight.

I crawled over to Elias, placing my gun at the side of his head. Michael joined me in pulling him to the ground.

The bridge righted itself, and it was a moment before the Community women realized what I had done.

I used Elias’s body as a shield and kept the gun trained on his temple.

“Alright,” I said. “This ends now.”

Every Community member with a gun instantly aimed it at me. I had no idea what I was doing, or how I could keep this up.

“I need everyone off this bridge!” I said.

The women’s eyes glanced between me and their leader, wondering what to do.

“It’s alright,” Elias said softly, almost vulnerably. “You may leave me. I only want you all to be safe.”

“No!” Lyn stepped forward. Grudge raised his gun at her.

“My dear Lyn,” Elias said. “Please step away. It shall all go according to the Ascension. Askala shall provide for our escape.”

Lyn’s eyes implored, but in the end, she stepped back. I held back a sigh of relief.

“Come on,” she said to the others. “It is in the Voice’s hands now.”

Her words chilled me – I didn’t know if she was referring to Elias or to the entity that was controlling Elias. If Elias was truly
Radaskim,
then why would Chaos have attacked us? Maybe it attacked because it knew we were on board, and Elias and the Community were a fair price for our deaths. It was the only answer I could think of, at any rate.

The others gazed at Lyn, unsure. At Elias’s final nod, they left the bridge one by one. I wondered what made them so willing to do this – as if they truly believed I would go through with my threat. If I did end up killing Elias, then they would just in turn kill all of us.

Finally, Elias was left behind on the bridge with us, along with Deborah and Ada. Ashton pressed a button on the dash, which caused the door to the bridge to hiss shut.

I thought about pulling the trigger right then and there, but we couldn’t do that yet – not until we found out what had happened to Makara, and whether we’d be getting any backup when the Community attacked us upon Elias’s death.

“Can they do any kind of damage from back there?” I asked.

Ashton shrugged. “We’re in control of the ship, so they would have to get into ship’s security and override my security code.”

“Which
we
did,” Deborah said.

“Admittedly,” Ashton said. “This is but a temporary solution.”

“What about Makara?” Julian asked, impatient. “We can’t just...”

Ashton held up a hand, gazing ahead. Still the cloud of fallout spread outward, percolating into the air.

“Julian is right,” Ashton said. “We need to find her.”

***

We flew back in the direction where the explosion had taken place. All the while, the radio was silent.

“Makara, this is
Aeneas,”
Anna said. “Do you read me? Please give your location. Over.”

As the minutes crawled on, Michael took over my position of guarding Elias. The cult leader simply knelt, his knees on the deck and hands over his head. His brown eyes regarded everyone almost emotionlessly. But they were intent, focusing. Seeking any weakness. He reminded me of a caged predator.

“Makara, this is Anna, aboard the
Aeneas.
Do you have a copy, over?”

At that moment, the speakers sizzled. Within the cacophony was a voice, heavily garbled.

“It’s her!” Julian said.

I felt relief wash over me. If that truly
was
her, then Makara was still alive. But the fact remained – she had been extremely close to a nuclear blast. She could be...

Her voice came through the speakers, loud and clear.

“Hello? Anyone there...?”

“Yes, we’re all here,” Anna said, breaking into a smile. “Glad you’re alright, Makara.”

“I couldn’t reach you guys,” Makara said. “That damn cloud. I went above, thinking it would be safer.”

“Meet us at the coordinates I’m about to send you,” Ashton said. “You have backup?”

“Yeah,” Makara said. “I have twenty Angels on board. We’ll be there in two minutes.”

“Thank God,” Julian said, closing his eyes.

“What the hell happened in that Bunker?” Makara asked. “Where’s Alex?”

“I’m here,” I said, stepping forward. “There was this crazy cult that was trying to kill us and they wanted to nuke Los Angeles using this ship. We have their leader in custody right now.”

“He’s there? On the bridge?”

I glanced at Elias, as if to make sure he was still there. “Yeah. He is.”

“And that whole cult is on the ship? Will twenty be enough?”

“They probably have about forty on board,” I said. “There’s another thing. They’re all women except for their leader.”

Makara paused. “Not even going to ask. Armed?”

“Some of them,” I said. “Maybe ten. Whatever they are, they probably are not as well-trained as us.”

“We can connect the airlocks,” Makara said. “The blast doors were designed to interlock.”

“Meet us there,” Ashton said.

“Gotcha,” Makara said. “Over and out.”

***

Gilgamesh
and
Aeneas
connected at the blast doors. In a matter of moments, our rescue squad was going to take back the ship.

“Let them know, Ashton,” Makara said.

Ashton held a button. “Attention,
Aeneas.
You are about to be boarded by the New Angels. Do not resist. I repeat, do not resist, and you will not be killed. If you do resist, your leader will be compromised. I repeat...”

As Ashton repeated his message, I stood near the metal door leading out from the bridge, ready to open it and provide support to the New Angels once they boarded.

“Elias,” Ashton said. “Tell your followers to stand down.”

Elias said nothing. Michael shoved him forward, closer to the dash where the mic would pick him up.

“My children,” Elias said. “Do not resist the boarders; do as this terrorist has said. It shall all go according to plan. Only have faith. The Community shall rise again.”

Elias closed his eyes.

“Stand by,” Ashton said. “Opening airlock in 3...2...”

Elias opened his eyes, and I felt fear crawl all over me. He gave a sick, twisted smile.

His eyes were completely white.

Michael raised his gun, but Elias battered it away. He next targeted Julian, who only got a single shot off, which missed. Elias tackled Julian with surprising strength. Anna jumped from her seat, unsheathing her katana.

Elias next focused on her. I raised my Beretta and fired at Elias’s chest. He took the bullets, dropping to the ground. A dribble of purple slime leaked from his lips. He fell the rest of the way, crashing to the deck head first.

I stared at Elias’s downed form. He wasn’t a Howler. He was...something else.

“Come on,” I said. “Let’s help the others.”

We kept the ship locked into hover mode. We opened the door to the deck, leaving Elias’s body behind.

***

The Community surrendered without a fight. With their leader fallen, it seemed as if their fangs had been drawn.

Everyone was gathered in the main anteroom. The floor was coated with plates, vegetables, and water. The dinner remains had never been cleaned up and the crazy flight of the ship over the past hour had really made a mess of things. The New Angels, a mix of Raider and Exile, surrounded the Community members who stood in the center of the large compartment with hands over heads and without weapons.

“What do we do about them?” one of the Raiders asked.

Makara said nothing for a moment. It was if she were still trying to wrap her head around the entire concept of a crazed man leading a cult of women. Though I had been here for a while now, even
I
had difficulty grasping that. I wondered
why
it had to be that way – how something like the Community could exist for over a decade before finally meeting its end.

Elias having the white eyes confirmed my suspicion – that he really
was
under the control of Askala and the
Radaskim.
But with the Community leader dead, there was no way of knowing what the
Radaskim’s
plan for us was. It was a puzzle. A puzzle we might never find the answer for.

“Tie them up,” Makara finally said. “Until I can decide what to do with them.”

“They can always go back to the Bunker,” I said.

Makara looked at me. “The Bunker we’re going to use?”

She had a point. Maybe there wasn’t enough food in Bunker 84 to sustain us all, but at least there was some.

“They might be too dangerous to be left alive,” Grudge said.

The women stirred at that, and some began to protest. Makara held up a hand.

“Quiet,” Makara said. “There’s already been far too much bloodshed. We need to get back to base and begin the process of evacuating Pyrite. We also need to start getting food from 108 to 84.” Makara turned to the Angels behind her. “Stand guard here.”

“Evacuation?” I asked.

Makara looked at me. “Guess we’ve been out of touch too long. The swarm is besieging Pyrite. It’s going to fall soon. The
Elekai
are the only thing holding the skies for us. And even they won’t last forever.”

I thought of Askal. We had to really hurry if he was in danger.

The blast door opened.

“Julian, Chris, Nathaniel...” Makara said. “Come with me. The rest of you, stay here. Ashton and Anna can continue piloting
Aeneas
and we can begin ferrying people to 84.” She exited the ship

We all nodded. It was going to be a long, dangerous process, but it was one we needed to get done soon.

We began walking back to the bridge, leaving the Angels to guard duty. The ship began drifting to port.

“What the hell?” I asked. “I thought this thing was parked.”

“Did Makara disconnect
Gilgamesh
already?” Michael asked.

Ashton’s already pale face blanched. “No. That only could have been done from the bridge of
Aeneas.”

I paused, a sickness overtaking me. Surely, it couldn’t be...

As we sprinted up the corridor, the ship lurched forward, throwing us all to the deck. Even then, I crawled forward around the hook in the corridor.

The door to the bridge was shut.

I didn’t want to believe the worst – that Elias was somehow
still
alive and was now piloting this thing to who knew where. I had no idea how he had stayed alive, but there was no other explanation.

“It’s him,” I said. “He’s piloting
Aeneas.”

“I know,” Michael said. “But to where?”

“We need to contact Makara.”

“Obviously,” Ashton said. “But first we need to shut down the ship.”

“Shut down the ship?” I asked. “That will send us crashing.”

Ashton remained silent at that. From behind in the anteroom, I heard the sounds of struggle. A few guns went off.

“Come on,” I said. “They can take control of the Community.
We
have to control the ship.”

“How?” Michael asked.

“Like Ashton said. Shut down the ship.”

“But you just said...”

“There’s no time to explain,” I said. “We need to find a way to contact Makara first. We can borrow a radio from one of the Angels.”

I turned back for the anteroom, my heart pounding.

This mess wasn’t over yet.

Chapter 18

I took a radio from a tattooed Angel. I raised it to my mouth.