Xenofall (The Wasteland Chronicles, Book 7) (6 page)

We hurried, pushing our way through the crowds before any more Krakens showed up for revenge. I imagined they weren’t the type to take a slight lightly, especially when it concerned their home turf.

Char sat in the front seat, while Marcus, Anna, and I piled into the back. No sooner had we entered the Recon than Francisco hit the accelerator, the hydrogen tank in the cargo bay emitting a high whine.

Several Krakens stood by the side of the Wastrel, pointing guns in our direction. Several bullets glanced harmlessly off the vehicle’s sides, and two were repelled by the windows’ bulletproof glass.

“What
happened
in there?” Francisco asked.

“Pissed off the wrong people,” Anna said. “What else is new?”

“Remind me to never take you to a crowded bar filled with drunk men,” I said.

“Things have changed around here,” Marcus said. “Before I headed over to Bluff, you could always count on Port Town for a good time.”

“Yeah, that was back in the forties,” Char said. “Things are worse, now.”

We reached the bridge, passing away from Port Town and merging back onto the freeway.

“Let’s try to stay out of trouble for a while, brother,” Char said.

Marcus smiled. “True enough. It was good to get into one more bar shootout before the world ended.”

Apparently, Char and Marcus considered their outing to Port Town a success. I reached for my radio to update Makara on the fact that we’d found them.

“We’re on our way back,” I said.

“Good. Listen. We’re about to leave for Bunker One. Be sure to tell them everything we’ve learned so far.”

“Wait,” Marcus said. “Bunker One? Didn’t you kids already go there?”

“Hand me that radio,” Char said, suddenly very sober.

I handed it to him, and for the next ten minutes, Char and Makara argued over whether heading to the fallen Bunker was a good idea. I let them have at it; it got me out of explaining everything to everyone, which was a job I was tired of getting stuck with.

With
Perseus
gone, that would leave Anna, Char, Marcus, and me alone in the city. I just hoped to find something to do to pass the time. Sitting aboard
Orion,
waiting for updates from the other team, was going to be torture.

“I want you to stay on that ship and not go anywhere,” Makara said, now talking to me.

“Fine,” I said. “I won’t leave the ship.”

“Good,” Makara said. “I know sitting around might be boring, but we need to keep you safe.”

I’d heard it all before, so I said nothing. In case something went wrong at Bunker One, which was very likely, Anna would fly the ship out there. For now, it had to stay in Los Angeles so Carin could run his tests with the railgun, which wasn’t expected to take long.

Char handed me my radio back, and we watched the buildings go by. Soon enough, we were back in the clustered towers of downtown. I took out my radio.

“We’re back,” I said.

“Meet us by
Orion,”
Makara said. “We’re ten minutes or so from liftoff.”

Francisco, hearing that order, turned the Recon around the corner, making directly for the U.S. Bank Tower.

F
rancisco pulled to a stop at the intersection where
Orion
and
Perseus
were parked, but it wasn’t either of the spaceships that caught my attention.

The railgun stood to the left of
Orion,
its long barrel pointing skyward. It was basically a larger than usual halftrack with a giant gun on top, as Carin had said. The barrel was almost rectangular in shape, extending as far up as the third story of a nearby building. The base of the barrel extended from a metallic turret that looked capable of swiveling 360 degrees. The turret itself could also aim the barrel up and down, giving the railgun a wide range.

And, apparently, Carin wanted to test this weapon in the streets of downtown Los Angeles.

All of us stepped out of the Recon. Both of the ships were humming with power –
Perseus,
because it was about to take off for Bunker One, and
Orion,
because it was providing power to the railgun. Thick power cables ran from
Orion’s
blast door, under the ship’s hull, connecting somewhere under the halftrack. A swarm of Reapers gazed at the gun from the ground, laughing and joking among themselves. Carin stood with them, giving orders.

Makara exited from
Perseus’s
boarding ramp and headed toward us. We walked over to meet her. While Anna’s, Francisco’s, and my gaits were steady, both Char’s and Marcus’s were tilted.

“Makara...” Char said.

She looked him up and down before shaking her head. She then looked at Anna and me.

“Will you make sure he doesn’t get into trouble?”

“Really, Makara,” Char said. “There’s no need to...”

“Char, no arguing.” She looked at me, including Anna in the stare. “Make sure he gets on
Perseus.”
She looked at Marcus. “And his brother, too.”

“Are you leaving now?” Anna asked.

Makara nodded. “Yeah. Carin has my go-ahead to test the railgun. He said it shouldn’t take long. Unfortunately, I don’t have time to watch it personally.”

“They’re testing it
here?”
I asked.

She looked at me. “The gun moves slowly, and the streets are hard to navigate. It’s the best option, as crazy as it sounds.”

Carin stood a ways off, directing the movement of the railgun turret. It swiveled, from right to left, making a whirring sound. As the turret spun, the barrel itself moved up and down. The two separate movements, in tandem, could point the barrel at a new target surprisingly fast.

At last, the barrel pointed directly down the street, right at a tall skyscraper perhaps half a mile away.

“Well, at least that part of it works,” Anna said.

At that moment, the halftrack’s treads dug into the dirt, jerking the vehicle forward in a cloud of dust before coming to a stop. The power cords connecting the railgun to
Orion’s
fusion generator extended no further.

“Logistics might be a problem,” I said. “That gun can’t go far from the spaceship.”

“It wouldn’t have to be connected all the time,” Anna said. “Just when firing.”

“Still,” I said. “Are we sure this is a good idea?”

The barrel of the railgun lowered, homing in on the distant skyscraper.

“I would say we
aren’t
sure,” Anna said.

“Fire when ready,” Carin said into his radio.

Suddenly, the railgun gave a kick and a
pop
so loud that it was near-deafening. A trail of fire issued from the barrel of the gun. A massive
crack
split the air, like a whip. Before the thunderous, resounding boom even reached my ears, the top half of the skyscraper collapsed in on itself. At the same time, the fire trail dissipated into the air. Everything had happened almost instantaneously.

The building ahead crumbled to the ground, the sound taking a few seconds to reach my pounding ears.

Makara ran over to Carin, whose pale blue eyes danced at the sight of the destruction.

“What the
hell
are you doing?” she yelled. “Did I
say
you could fire yet?”

Carin shrugged. “I don’t recall needing to ask your permission.”

Makara’s face reddened, but she said nothing. Onyx stood by his father, staring sullenly at Makara. After a moment, she shook her head and came over to us.

“They weren’t supposed to do that until we were ready...”

There was a great crash in the distance as the building continued its collapse. To the Reapers’ credit, they had used a round that wasn’t incendiary, so the force destroying the building was purely kinetic. Still, it was an awesome display of power.

“Those dragons won’t stand a chance,” I said.

Even Makara had to admit that much.

“I’ve changed my mind about Bunker One,” she said.

Both Anna and I looked at her, wondering what she meant.

“I want all of you to come,” she said. “Not to go inside, but to stay above. To be ready to come in if we need you.”

“We can do that,” I said.

It was much better than waiting here in Los Angeles.

“Of course,” Makara said. “Char and Marcus won’t be going inside, no matter what the situation.”

“I guess I should just be grateful that we’re being included,” Char said.

“You’re not,” Makara said. “You’re to stay aft and sober up, and not get in the way.”

“And I suppose we should also think about what we’ve done?” Char asked.

“Sobering up on a tossing and turning spaceship,” Marcus mused. “Good luck with that one.”

“You’d rather stay here?” Makara asked.

Marcus got quiet at that, so I knew the answer was no.

“Should we follow you?” Anna asked. “Or should we wait until Carin destroys the rest of the city?”

“Their tests should be done, so just follow when you can,” Makara said.

Both Carin and his son were watching us from beside the halftrack. When Onyx saw me looking at him, he gave a yellow smile.

“Anything else?” Anna asked.

Makara shook her head. “No. We should probably get moving.”

With that, Makara turned and walked toward the boarding ramp of
Perseus.
The blast door shut behind her, and it wasn’t long before its fusion drive thrummed louder.

Everyone backed away as
Perseus’s
retrothrusters pointed downward, lifting the ship into the dull red sky. Everyone covered their ears at the thrumming pulse of the fusion drive, only uncovering their ears when the ship’s thrusters swiveled and carried the ship behind a skyscraper.

As
Perseus
faded with distance, I turned my attention back to the building the railgun had obliterated. It was now a pile of rubble obscured by a cloud of dust spreading ever outward, darkening the already dull sky.

Apparently satisfied at the way things had gone, Carin ordered his men to disconnect the power cables. As we stood and watched, the Reapers coiled the cable and gathered their things into a nearby Recon. When everything was gathered up, the Reapers, Carin, and Onyx got into the two Recons. The vehicles set off, kicking up clouds of dust. Once the Recons started moving, the halftrack also turned around in a wide arc, barely having the space to maneuver on the four-lane street.

As the lead Recon passed, Carin winked from the passenger seat at Anna and me. The second Recon trailed Carin’s.

As they disappeared toward the center of town, Anna nodded toward the ship.

It was time to get moving.

***

I
took my place in the copilot’s chair, even though I didn’t know how to do anything besides control the frequencies. Marcus and Char were in the wardroom, drinking plenty of water in order to sober up. Francisco had dismissed himself a long time ago, so quietly that I hadn’t even noticed him leaving.

I put the copilot’s headset over my head. I had always wanted to learn how to pilot, but so far had not been granted the opportunity.

“What now?” I asked.

“Your first lesson,” Anna said, “is to sit back, strap on your seatbelt, and let me do all the work.”

Before I could say anything more,
Orion
lifted off. Anna angled upward, engaging the thrusters to push the ship forward.

“This part looks easy enough,” I said.

“Taking off is not so bad,” Anna said. “It’s the landing you have to worry about. That, and dragons. Let’s just hope we’re not attacked, because I can’t fly like Makara or...”

Anna trailed off, but she didn’t have to finish her sentence. Ashton had been the best pilot of us all, and there was no one who could replace him.

Instead, she opened the line to
Perseus.

“Perseus...
this is
Orion.
We’re in the air and en route to Bunker One, over.”

It was a moment before Makara’s voice exited the dash.

“Roger that. Wasn’t expecting you for another hour or so.”

“Well, Carin seemed to be in a hurry to get out of there. He made off pretty fast after blowing that building up.”

“Weird. Nothing to report on our end. We’re thirty minutes out from Bunker One. Plan’s the same – just stay in the air and stand by for further orders.”

“Copy that. How long should we wait before following you inside, if we don’t hear from you?”

“If you don’t hear from us in two hours, by my count, 14:00, consider that confirmation to follow and proceed to lab levels. If you encounter
any
resistance, evacuate immediately. Assume that we have been compromised.”

“At least let us
all
come down,” I said. “We might need the firepower.”

“That’s a negative,” Makara said. “Four should be enough to go unnoticed. Julian has to stay with the ship. Trust me, we’re not going
anywhere
near that Bunker if we detect any threats.”

“If you’re only scanning for radio waves,” Anna said, “they could just be lulling you into a trap. A loud predator doesn’t catch its prey.”

“This is something we have to do,” Samuel said. “We need to know what we’re up against, and analyzing the ichor could be the key.”

“We’ll be in touch when we begin our scans,” Makara said.

“We’re thirty minutes behind you,” Anna said. “Standing by.”

With that, Makara cut out. Char walked onto the bridge, appearing completely sober.

“They there yet?”

Anna shook her head. “Not yet. I can’t imagine a scenario where something
doesn’t
go wrong. They’re very determined.”

“That Bunker was filled with Blighters the last time we were there,” I said.

“They only came when Askala discovered us,” Anna said. “Maybe we’ll pass unnoticed this time. Maybe Askala is so focused on attacking the Wasteland that she doesn’t have anything guarding Bunker One.”

“No,” Marcus said. I turned to see that he, too, had entered the bridge. His eyes narrowed as he looked out the windshield. “She’ll run into something down there. You can count on it.”

“Augustus made it all the way to Bunker Six,” I said. “He even managed to escape with most of his army.”