The Extinction Switch: Book three of the Kato's War series (29 page)

A ring of frightened faces looked back at him. “But sir,” Blake said, “there could still be remnants of both armies out there. In fact there will be, because a lot of troops were underground when it hit. They’ll duke it out for territory.”

Another squad leader, Aimee, addressed Lord August: “Sir, the NPRF will have forgotten about us now. We need not fear them.” Her eyes narrowed. “We have fearless fighters, tough as nails. We can’t take armies on by force, but we can be cunning and fly under their radars. Plus, we’ve already shown that we can take them on in small-scale battles.”

Lord August closed his eyes. “This is more than any leader should have to bear.”

“The burden is no longer yours, August,” JC said. He stood up and puffed out his chest. “I am assuming leadership of The Excluded.”

August stood too, shooting daggers at JC with his eyes.

“No you’re not! Fine. I won’t rule out leaving. But we need
information.
We’ve got to get this right, or our next move will be our last.” He looked around at the gathered leaders. “We need to find out who’s in charge, just how lawless it is, and what our safest routes might be. We will send out patrols to assess the situation. Then I will assimilate what I learn. I promise you a decision within twelve hours.”

JC glared at him. “Fine, old man. But if it’s anything other than leaving, I’ll tie you to the railings and we’ll leave anyway.”

Kassandra took Zara’s face in her hands, as she kneeled on deck 25A. Together, they cast a long shadow on the catwalk. “Mom, if I never see you again, I want you to know that I love you.” She then looked to her right. “You too, Dad.”

“W… why?” Zara stammered, from behind terrified eyes.

“I’m going out of the city to see if it’s safe. If I don’t come back, we know it isn’t.” Kassandra’s eyes had a steely resolve.

“But… aren’t there dozens of Raiders or Defenders or whatever they’re called? Couldn’t one of the others go?”

“Yes, and a bunch of us volunteered. We have some fast motorbikes. But, only one person needs to actually go outside. JC chose me.”

There was a long silence. Zara flung her arms around Kassandra. “God, I wish you hadn’t done this, baby. Actually, you know? I’m going to go with you.

“
What
?”

“I’m going with you. I brought some old communications gear. I can get in touch with your grandpa in orbit, to let him know we’re okay. But, it won’t work underground. I have to be in the open.” Zara let go of Kassandra and rifled through an overstuffed side pocket of her pants. She pulled out a square silver plastic device about the size of an alarm clock. The front was dotted with small holes. One side had a tiny touchscreen. “It’s a shortwave radio. It’ll work where the nets won’t, provided he’s in a line of sight range. When are you going?”

“Now.”

“The
Revenant
will be range for another hour or so; she’s in a high orbit.”

Both Kassandra and Zara looked at Akio. He nodded. Kassandra then looked back at her mother. “Okay. You’ll have to put on a Defender uniform. We’ll sneak you out. You can ride pillion. We have to get you up to level thirty to get out of the silo, since that’s where the exits are. Actually, let’s go to level thirty-one first, so no one else sees you while you suit up. If they do, we’ll say you’re just there to see me off. Blake and the others know who you are. But even if they stop you, I’m still going.”

Zara stood and hugged Akio. “You sure you’re okay with this?”

Akio pursed his lips and nodded. “Yes. I know you have to talk to your dad. But please come back. Both of you. Okay?”

“We will, Dad. I love you.” Kassandra and Zara both hugged him. After ten seconds, Kassandra broke off. “We have to go.”

Akio, his eyes moist, said: “Godspeed, my loves.”

“Jesus, Kassandra. I’ve never had a normal patrol with you yet,” Blake said, as Zara sheepishly stepped out of the shadows on level thirty.

“Yeah, well, we’re not starting now,” Kassandra retorted.

“There’s nothing normal about things the way they are now anyway,” Taygete said. She sighed. “I sure hope we live through this.”

They walked along the catwalk to door 30F. “We’re going to have to be stealthier than ever,” Blake said.

“Yep,” Asterope said.

“They can’t mess with what they can’t catch,” Kassandra said. “Speed is our friend.”

“Yeah, but you saw their guns,” Thaddeus said, in an irritated, condescending tone. “You know, you’re not some kind of superwoman who saves the world the minute she puts on a uniform.”

Kassandra shot him an angry look, but stayed silent.

The group exited into the strip-lit corridor to the anterooms. They followed Blake as he turned left then right, to one of the rear control rooms. Three gleaming, sleek gray motorcycles were propped up on their kickstands, charged and ready to go.

“Briefing time,” Blake said. He pulled out his display device, and projected a dinner tray-sized map of the city in midair. “Left out of here onto CR20, then right. Heading west. After five kilometers or so, there’s an exit ramp to the D489 highway. That continues west, straight out of the city.”

“Got it,” Thaddeus said.

“Five hundred meters before it exits into open air, we both stop”—he looked at Thaddeus—”and Kass keeps going. If she doesn’t come back within half an hour, we know it’s not safe outside. We head back.” Blake then looked at Zara. “I’m not responsible for your safety, since you’re not even supposed to be here.”

“Yeah, I know,” Zara said.

“Let’s go ghost and walk the bikes out.”

“This stuff’s amazing,” Zara said, after Kassandra showed her how to switch on her active camouflage. Zara patted her pocket to make sure the radio was there.

Kassandra took one of the sheathed knives in her inside pocket and handed it to her mother. “Just in case.”

They wheeled the three motorcycles out of the large, heavy metal door into a shallow alcove on the wide road. Its walls and ceiling were cracked. The asphalt was buckled in places. They looked around. “It’s not quite as crowded as it was earlier,” Blake said. “Might be different once we get on the arterial route though.” Thaddeus and Kassandra nodded. They mounted up; Kassandra and Zara on one bike, Thaddeus and Asterope on another, and Blake and Taygete on the last. Without another word, Kassandra rode out of the alcove and turned left. The others followed. Shock registered on the faces of passersby at the sight of the sleek machines and their mirage-like riders. They picked their way through the crowd at perhaps thirty kilometers per hour. After 200 meters, their intersection came up. The road strongly resembled Rue Borchal. It was hard to see. With half the streetlights out, it was like late dusk on an unlit country road, except it was jammed with obstacles. The crowd was now denser. The bikers had to carefully weave their way through the masses.

After four kilometers, they saw two black armored personnel carriers in the distance. Their headlights made them easily visible. Kassandra indicated right. They took the next turn. The riders were able to divert around the danger, and then resume their planned route. Then came the ramp. They headed up this at speed, onto a wide highway. This normally carried fast traffic. That day, it only carried downtrodden, weeping pedestrians. As the debris-filled, badly lit kilometers passed, the number of people slowly decreased. The bikes were able to maintain a consistent fifty kilometers per hour, even as they swerved around obstacles. Zara looked all around her as they rode.

Eventually, a small rectangle of daylight was visible ahead. They kept going until it was about the size of a large postage stamp held at arm’s length. There were hardly any wanderers on the road at this point. Kassandra slowed to a stop, as did the others. She turned around and looked at them, before making an X salute with her fingers. They returned the gesture. Zara looked on quizzically at the ritual. Then, she and Kassandra locked eyes for a few seconds. Without a word, Kassandra gunned it. Zara was sweating profusely. She and Zara accelerated to 100 kilometers an hour. The light ahead grew larger and larger, until they were finally outside! They kept going. The sky was gray and overcast. The lifeless eyes of men, women, and children looked up at them. Their faces were masks of terror. There were men, women, and children. Blood had pooled around their mouths and noses, and dried brown on the ground. Zara closed her eyes. Kassandra kept riding.

Two kilometers later, Kassandra stopped. She and Zara both dismounted. They hugged, as they both tried to blink away tears. “So it’s true,” Zara said. “He really did it.”

Kassandra merely shook her head as she looked at the human devastation around them. “Un-fucking-real.”

Zara shook herself back into reality. “Right. Four minutes until the communication window closes.” She pulled out the small radio, touched its small screen, and began to speak into it. “Zara to
Revenant.
Do you copy?”

Silence.

“Zara to
Revenant.
Do you copy?”

“We copy you loud and clear,” came a German accent.

“Hans! Thank God! Put my dad on please.”

It went quiet for a second, and then Kato said: “Zara! Oh my God! You’re alive!”

“So are Akio and Kassandra.”

“I have no words…”

“We were underground in Lyon when it hit.”

“And you found Kassie?”

“Yes. She and her friends are all fine. I’ll call you again when I can. Don’t change orbits, else I won’t know when you’re in range.”

There was a garbled response, and then silence. Zara turned to Kassandra. They hugged tightly. “I think we just made his day,” Zara said.

“We’d better head back,” Kassandra said. They mounted up, did a U-turn, and sped back into the city.

CHAPTER TWENTY-THREE

The March

----

“We’re truly leaving this time,” Lord August said over Silo 7’s PA system. His voice was weary. All members of The Excluded were assembled levels twenty-nine and thirty, as before. “It is safe to venture above ground. Hence, our plan hasn’t changed. You’ll stay with your units, escorted by Defenders. We will head west, as it’s the quickest way out of the city. Once we’re comfortably distant, we’ll regroup and take it from there. That is all.” There was a catch in his voice as he said the last words. He and JC made up the front of the pack again, as they headed to the exit. The masses fell in behind.

JC and August looked out from the alcove that led onto Rue Borchal. “Seems a little less crowded,” August said. Without another word, they turned left and began to head down the road. Several Raiders followed. Each group of residents had roughly a dozen people in it. There was little talking as the narrow procession, bearing backpacks, bags, rolls, and carts of belongings threaded its way through the refugees. Their pace, though slow in order to accommodate the slowest-moving members, was still quicker than the shuffling of many of the lost souls around them. Most of the passersby kept their eyes down, but some looked up in surprise on seeing the black-clad Defenders traveling alongside.

“Ironically, survival may be easier once we make it out of this hellhole,” Lord August said to JC. “If the virus thing is still active, of course, all bets are off. If not, between eighty and ninety percent of France’s population is likely dead, but their supplies and facilities are probably intact. That means there’s a lot to go around now.”

“Land grabs will already be being made,” JC said. “The government and rebel armies, Block B, and whoever fancies themselves a tribal chief or a warlord will be staking claims.”

“True. There are still many more resources than people for now though. There is going to be one other problem to deal with, however: body disposal.”

“Yes, been thinking about that. Decomposition will already be at an advanced stage.”

A hundred meters behind JC and Lord August, David trudged on. Etienne was on his shoulders, wearing a light, flowery sleeveless shirt and shorts combo. David’s face brow was furrowed and his eyes moist. Vivianne walked beside him, her brown hair dirty, pulling small two-wheeled cart made of square steel mesh containing their few possessions. Annabelle walked silently and morosely with them. Antonio’s tall, lanky form was behind her. Kassandra, in her black uniform, walked beside him. She had a large pack on her back. Her ski mask was in her left hand. Not far behind her were Akio and Zara. Kassandra patted her right side, where her concealed pistol was located. There was no conversation as the terror-stricken faces of strangers passed by. Indeed, Rue Borchal was nearly silent apart from footfalls and occasional crying from somewhere. The procession walked around holes in the sidewalk and other obstacles like a line of ants.

JC stopped and took out a tiny pair of binoculars. “Soldiers ahead. Right at the highway exit ramp.”

“What faction?” August asked.

“Their lapels have the Tricolor, so government.”

“What’s happening around them?”

“There are a couple of APCs there. But no fighting. They’re just waving people on,” JC said.

“Hmm. Okay. Let’s keep going.”

Ten minutes’ marching brought Lord August and JC to the group of soldiers, who wore black uniforms and helmets. The one closest to them wore a puzzled expression as he looked at August and JC, and then the procession behind them. “You have a large group,” he said. “May I inquire where you came from?”