Evolution (25 page)

“Stay put for now,” Samuel said. “I just have a feeling.”

We didn’t question Samuel. Instead, we waited in the bridge quietly. After a while, the storm began to let up. Before us, the shape of the mesa began to appear in the swirling eddies of dust.

“There it is,” I said.

The shapes of buildings began to materialize. They were still hard to discern, but they were there.

“This is it, then,” Samuel said. “Suit up and get your weapons ready. I’m not taking any chances.”

“Wait.”

At my voice, everyone stopped moving. The dust settled some more. That was Raider Bluff, alright. But something was off about it. I felt a creeping dread overtake me that I couldn’t explain.

Despite the dust, the buildings couldn’t be
that
pink. Or purple. I hoped it was my eyes playing tricks on me. But as the wind let up, and the dust settled for good, I could see it wasn’t a trick.

The buildings were covered with xenofungus. Many of them stood decrepit, and the walls had been shattered in several places. The walls that I had once thought so strong no longer protected the city. The Empire hadn’t made it here first.

The xenovirus had.

“It’s...gone...” Anna said.

“No...” Makara said.

It wasn’t a “no” of disagreement – it was a “no” of disbelief. Raider Bluff was gone. It was all Blight, now. While we had been gone two months, somehow the virus had infiltrated what was going to be our chief ally in the Wasteland.

“Char...” Makara said.

She rushed off the bridge, leaving the rest of us to run after her.

“Makara, wait!” Samuel said.

She was out the door and into the Wasteland. The air was bitterly cold, harshly dry – worse than I could have ever imagined. I was still dressed for the south – but now, it was late December. Of course it was going to be cold.

Makara walked forward a few steps. She gazed at the lost city, her black hair whipping sideways in the wind. It was as she believed walking forward could reverse time and return the city to its former state. Anna ran up to stand beside her, holding a hand to her eyes to keep the dust out.

I ran to stand beside them. The fierce wind howled, throwing dust that threatened to obscure my vision

“We have to go up there,” Makara said. “There might be survivors.”

“Anyone who’s up there is probably dead,” I said. “Or...worse.”

On the top of the incline leading to the city, I could catch some movement, running out of the city at a run. There were at first dozens...then hundreds...then thousands. They came from the gates, running and screeching and screaming. There were crawlers, and the human forms of howlers. Flyers shot out of the buildings, taking to the skies in clouds of thousands. And they were all heading this way.

“To the ship,” Samuel said. “Now.”

But an ungodly bellow stopped us in our tracks. Rising from the ruins of the town was the largest xenodragon we had seen yet, colossal in size and dwarfing every other one we had seen in Nova Roma. Those had just been grunts compared to this one. This dragon was the soul of Ragnarok itself.

No raider had survived this attack.

As the monsters swarmed toward us in an unending tide, we ran back to the ship. The dragon did not chase us – it only watched, as if curious, as we lifted off into the air, as the crawlers occupied the space we had just vacated, jumping up into the air and snapping their jaws futilely at
Odin’s
retracting landing struts. The flyers pecked at the ship’s sides and windshield, their maddened white orbs disturbing, their lack of feathers revealing sickly pink flesh that dripped purple ooze.

Tears still in her eyes, Makara blasted upward, for the sky.

Once we were safely above the clouds, at an altitude of fifty thousand feet just to be sure, we didn’t say anything. Char, the others...they were probably all dead. Many were probably Howlers, now.

I didn’t want to ask, “What now?” There was no “now.” Char had been a source of vision and wisdom for us before our journey to Bunker One. Now, he was probably dead.

Makara held her head down on the dash, her shoulder shaking with sobs.

Samuel reached for the transceiver. Makara grabbed his hand before he could pick it up.

“Not yet,” she said, her voice shaky. “I have one more idea.”

Samuel turned to her. “What do you mean?”

Makara sat straight, dried her tears, and steered
Odin
east.

“Where are we going?” Samuel asked.

“There is only one person I know who might be able to help,” she said. “And one person only.”

At first, I had no idea who she was talking about. Then, it came to me.

“He said there was a time where all would seem lost,” Makara said. “He said to, at that moment, fly to the desert and seek those to whom injustice was dealt, and give them justice.”

“The Wanderer said this,” Samuel said. “But who are we going to see, Makara?”

“They will be first of the New Angels,” Makara said. “This is where we begin.”

“East takes us to the Great Blight,” Samuel said, still confused.

“You mean Marcus,” I said. “You’re going to find the Exiles. They’re in the Boundless, right?”

“Yes,” Makara said. “They were kicked out of Raider Bluff, years ago, for going against the will of the Alpha. They wandered the desert, for years. And Marcus was right. One day, Char was going to need them. We need them now. If Char is anywhere, he’s
there
.”

As we sped across the sky, I hoped that this wasn’t a dead end. I thought of the Wanderer, and how each of the prophecies had so far come true. Lisa was told she would have to give her life. Samuel was told he must remain true to himself. Makara was told to seek help with the Exiles, if her interpretation was correct.

That left me and Anna. I knew what mine was. The Wanderer told me that it all depended on me, somehow. That the mission would fail without me. For a moment, I remembered the Wanderer, and wondered just who he was, with his clouded, alien eyes that couldn’t see one foot ahead of him but could somehow pierce the mists of the future. Had he been friend, or enemy? Would we ever see him again?

I didn’t know what answers, or questions, awaited us in the Boundless, or among the Exiles. All any of us knew was that we had no other course. And Makara was now the leader of the Lost Angels, by our own admission.

So, for now, all we could do was follow her.

K
yle West is a science fiction author living in Oklahoma City. He is currently working on
The Wasteland Chronicles
series, of which there will be seven installments. The next part of the story will be released in the fall of 2013. Find out immediately when the next book is released by signing up for
The Wasteland Chronicles Mailing List
, found at eepurl.com/A1-8D.

1
0,000, The:
This refers to the 10,000 citizens who were selected in 2029 to enter Bunker One. This group included the best America had to offer, people who were masters in the fields of science, engineering, medicine, and security. President Garland and all the U.S. Congress, as well as essential staff and their families, were also chosen.

Alpha:
“Alpha” is the title given to the recognized head of the raiders. In the beginning, it was only a titular role that only had as much power as the Alpha was able to enforce. But as Raider Bluff grew in size and complexity, the Alpha began to take on a more meaningful role. Typically, Alphas do not remain so for long – they are assassinated by rivals, who then rise to take their place. In some years, there can be as many as four Alphas – though powerful Alphas, like Char, can reign for many years.

Batts:
Batts, or batteries, are the currency of the Wasteland and the Empire. They are accepted anywhere that the Empire’s caravans reach. It is unknown
how
batteries were first seen as currency, but it is rumored that Augustus himself instigated the policy. Using them as currency makes sense: batteries are small, portable, and durable, and have an intrinsic quality of being useful. Rechargeable batteries are even more prized (called “chargers”), and solar batteries (called “solars,” or “sols,”) are the most useful and prized of all.

Behemoth:
The Behemoth is the greatest known monstrosity in the Wasteland – a giant creature, either humanoid or reptilian in form, that can reach heights of ten feet or greater. They are bipedal, powerful, and can keep pace with a moving vehicle. All but the most powerful of guns are useless against its armored hide.

Black Reapers, The:
The Black Reapers are a powerful, violent gang, based in Los Angeles. They are led by Warlord Carin Black. They keep thousands of slaves, using them to fuel their post-apocalyptic empire. They usurped the Lost Angels in 2055, and have been ruling there ever since.

Black Files, The:
The Black Files are the mysterious, collected research on the xenovirus, located in Bunker One. They were authored principally by Dr. Cornelius Ashton, Chief Scientist of Bunker One.

Blights:
Blights are infestations of xenofungus and the xenolife they support. They are typically small, but the bigger ones can cover large tracts of land. As a general rule of thumb, the larger the Blight, the more complicated and dangerous the ecosystem it maintains. The largest known Blight is the Great Blight – which covers a large portion of the central United States.

Boundless, The:
The Boundless is an incredibly dry part of the Wasteland, ravaged by canyons and dust storms, situated in what used to be Arizona and New Mexico. Very little can survive in the Boundless, and no one is known to have ever crossed it.

Bunker 40:
Bunker 40 is located on the outer fringes of the Great Blight in Arizona. It is hidden beneath a top secret research facility. Many aircraft were stationed at Bunker 40 before it fell, sometime in the late 2050’s.

Bunker 108:
Bunker 108 is located in the San Bernardino Mountains about one hundred miles east of Los Angeles. It is the birthplace of Alex Keener.

Bunker 114:
A small, medical research installation built about fifty miles northwest of Bunker 108. Built beneath Cold Mountain, Bunker 114 is small. After the fall of Bunker One, Bunker 114, like Bunker 108 to the southeast, became a main center of xenoviral research. An outbreak of the human strain of the xenovirus caused the Bunker to fall in 2060. Bunker 108’s fall followed soon thereafter.

Bunker One:
The main headquarters of the Post-Ragnarok United States government. It fell in 2048 to a swarm of crawlers that overran its defenses. Bunker One had berths for ten thousand people, making it many times over the most populous Bunker. Its inhabitants included President Garland, the U.S. Senate and House of Representatives, essential government staff, security forces, along with the skilled people needed to maintain it. Also there were dozens of brilliant scientists and specialists, including engineers, doctors, and technicians. The very wealthy were also allowed berths for helping to finance the Bunker Program. Bunker One is also the location of the Black Files, authored by Dr. Cornelius Ashton.

Bunker Six:
Bunker Six is a large installation located north of Bunker One, within driving distance. It houses the S-Class spaceships constructed during the decade – including
Gilgamesh
, the capital ship, and three smaller cruisers –
Odin
,
Perseus
, and
Orion
. While
Gilgamesh
and
Odin
are under Cornelius Ashton’s stewardship,
Perseus
and
Orion
are still locked inside the fallen Bunker.

Bunker Program, The:
The United States and Canadian governments pooled resources to establish 144 Bunkers in Twelve Sectors throughout their territory. The Bunkers were the backup in case the Guardian Missions failed. When the Guardian Missions
did
fail, the Bunker Program kicked into full gear. The Bunkers were designed to save all critical government personnel and citizenry, along with anyone who could provide the finances to construct them. The Bunkers were designed to last indefinitely, using hydroponics to grow food. The Bunkers ran on fusion power, which had been made efficient by the early 2020’s. The plan was, when the dust settled, Bunkers residents could reemerge and rebuild. Most Bunkers fell, however, for various reasons – including critical systems failures, mutinies, and attacks by outsiders (see
Wastelanders
). By the year 2060, only four Bunkers were left.

Chaos Years, The:
The Chaos years refer to the ten years following the impact of Ragnarok. These dark years signified the great die off of most forms of life, including humans. Most deaths occurred due to starvation. Crops could not grow in climates too far from the tropics due to mass global cooling. What crops
would
grow produced a yield far too paltry to feed the population that existed. This led to a period of violence unknown in all of human history. The Chaos Years signify the complete breakdown of the Old World’s remaining infrastructures – including food production, the economy, power grids, and industry, all of which led to the deaths of billions of people.

Coleseo Imperio
:
El Coleseo Imperio
, translated as the Imperial Coliseum, is a circular, three-tiered stone arena rising from the center of the city of Nova Roma, the capital of the Nova Roman Empire. It is used to host gladiatorial games in the tradition of ancient Rome, and serves as the chief sport of the Empire. Slaves and convicts are forced to fight in death matches, which serves the dual purpose of entertaining the masses while getting rid of prisoners and slaves that who would otherwise be, in the Empire’s eyes, liabilities. Many festivals, and even ritual sacrifices, take place on the arena floor.

Crawlers:
Crawlers are dangerous, highly mobile monsters spawned by Ragnarok. Their origin is unclear, but they share many characteristics of Earth animals – mostly reptilian in nature. Crawlers are sleek and fast, and can leap through the air at very high speeds. Typically, crawlers attack in groups, and behave as if of one mind. One crawler will, without hesitation, sacrifice itself in order to reach its prey. Crawlers are especially dangerous when gathered in high numbers – at which point there is not much one can do but run. Crawlers can be killed, their weak points being their belly and their three eyes.