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When we returned to Los Angeles, it was almost fully dark. Makara, Char, and Marcus went to brief Augustus and Carin about what we had learned. She told the rest of us to eat and get some sleep.
We took her up on that, gathering in Orion’s wardroom and making a meal of the leftover wedding food – pork, rice, and veggies. It seemed strange that the wedding was only three days ago, yet here was the evidence of it on my plate. There was also the ring on my finger that felt like it didn’t belong.
Who got married when they knew they were going to die in a few days?
Nothing more happened that evening. We said our goodnights and headed straight for our bunks. Even though the captain’s quarters were open, Anna and I still made our way aft to the smaller bunk in one of the crewmen’s cabins, more out of habit than anything.
When I awoke around 08:00, I found that Anna was already gone. I took a shower first thing and made a breakfast of fruit and granola. Once done, I washed my plate and walked outside to find Makara standing in the street, gazing in the direction of Reaper HQ. She looked at me as I emerged from the ship and walked down the ramp.
“What’s going on?” I asked.
Makara didn’t break her focus. “They’re mobilizing.”
“Already?”
Down the street, there must have been hundreds of men forming up between the buildings. It was hard to believe that it was happening now. Makara must have finalized the plans with Augustus and Carin last night, even while I was sleeping. Seeing those hundreds of men forming their lines had a sense of finality to it. It was like I was seeing the rest of my life laid down like tracks before me.
All I had to do was follow them, until the end.
“They’re hoping to get past Last Town by tonight,” Makara said, breaking me from my thoughts. “From there, they’ll set up camp and begin the push into the Great Blight.”
The final battle was getting so close, and we were on the second day before the final evolutions took place.
“Do you think we can win?” I asked.
“We have to win,” Makara said. “Those men down there...” She pointed toward the gathering soldiers. “I can’t stand that I’m the one sending them to their deaths. They’re just bait and they know it. Still, they march.”
“They know what will happen if they don’t fight.”
“True,” Makara said. “And who knows? Miracles have been known to happen.”
She half-turned, ready to walk away.
“I’m off to Perseus. Sam, Michael, and I are going to Bunker 84 to get the nukes online. I have to fly, Sam can take care of the computer stuff, and Michael wants to see his family. We have to decide on targets as well.”
“Targets?”
“Well, with nine nukes, that gives us nine potential targets. We need to save some for the battlefield, in case things don’t go our way. Which is pretty likely.” Makara sighed. “Hopefully we won’t have to use them.”
“Well, good luck with that. I wouldn’t know where to start.”
“You, Anna, and Julian can scout ahead of the army. We need to make sure our forces aren’t walking into a trap. It’s an important task, so don’t take it lightly.”
“You’re leaving now?”
She nodded. “Yeah. Samuel and Michael are already waiting, so all that’s left is to head there. The thing is getting back in time to power the railgun. We’ve picked a plateau to make our stand. It’s flat, but with sheer cliffs on every side but the west. If we can take the fight there, we can last a lot longer than we would otherwise.”
“And what about attacking the Crater?”
“Tomorrow, if at all possible.”
With that, Makara headed down the ramp and toward Orion. I stood there in disbelief. She wanted to attack Ragnarok Crater tomorrow. I really didn’t have to ask why. If there was some unknown evolution taking place in two days, it made sense to strike before that happened.
All the same, it was too soon. Any time would have been too soon.
As Perseus’s engines fired up, boots clomped down the ramp behind me. I turned to see Julian. He planted a hand on my shoulder.
“You alright?” Julian asked.
Perseus lifted off and circled above the buildings. Julian and I watched the ship’s departure.
“Yeah,” I said. I shook my head. “No, actually. The attack on the Crater is tomorrow, you know.”
“Tomorrow?” Julian asked. “I’ll believe it when it happens. Something will crop up before then. You’ll see.”
“It’s better to just get it over with.”
“Well, if it does happen tomorrow, these soldiers have to get moving. There’s no way you’re going near that Crater before the battle starts. The attack on the Crater can’t start until the army is fighting, until the Radaskim are distracted.”
“You don’t think the battle will happen tomorrow?”
“No idea,” he said. “I’d be surprised if they make it past Last Town today, like Makara hopes.” He looked at me. “You’ve got another few days, man. Go spend time with Anna.”
“What do you think is going to happen?”
Julian shrugged. “Don’t know. I’m just trying to do my part. I’m not as smart as Samuel. I can’t use a blade like Anna. All I’ve got is my willingness to help. That’s all I was given, so that’s all I have to give. That’s alright, though. I was always meant to play a bit part.”
“That’s not true.”
“I lived a lot of my life as a slave, so I’m used to helping out. Going unnoticed. Not saying much.”
“That’s not who you are now,” I said.
“It was who I was,” Julian said. “No getting around that. Back to your question, though...I have no idea when the battle will start.”
“I’m not ready for it,” I said. “I might have less than a few days to live.”
Julian smiled grimly. “That’s probably all of us, Alex.”
Julian and I both gazed down the city streets, seeing a lone female figure with a blade walking toward us. I headed in that direction. It wasn’t long before Anna and I stood facing each other.
“You’ve heard about what we’re supposed to do?” I asked.
“No, what?”
“Makara told us to recon ahead of the army, using Orion.”
She nodded. “Makes sense. I saw them take off.”
We turned back for the ship. I felt directionless, like there was something I was supposed to be doing besides waiting around. It would drive me crazy if it went on for much longer.
When we arrived, Julian had gone off somewhere. Down the street, men still gathered at the base of Reaper HQ. The railgun was with them now.
We stood there, watching, for the next ten minutes, as the army began to march. It was more people than I’d ever seen gathered in my life.
Still, I knew it paled in comparison to what we were up against.
It was a strange mix. Augustus’s legionaries were the most numerous, in their dusty leathers and spears and shields. Some carried rifles or handguns, but not many. Carin Black’s Reapers, by contrast, were equipped with rifles. They marched at the rear, after Augustus’s legionaries. Interspersed with the marching men were the vehicles – Recons, mostly, the lead one containing Augustus and a few of his Praetorians. The Reapers had their own Recons with machine guns mounted on the top. In the center of the Reapers’ procession was the halftrack and railgun, rolling slowly and kicking up a cloud of dust. Right behind the railgun, in a Recon painted jet black with skulls and cross-scythes on the door, rode Carin Black and his son, Onyx. Their eyes gleamed at us almost mockingly as the vehicle passed. Julian emerged from the ship and came to watch with us from the ramp.
“I hope the Blighters get him first,” Anna said.
“We might need him for a little while longer,” I said. “As much as that hurts.”
“It’s time we got going.”
For now, we were leaving Char and Marcus on the ground. They needed to be with their men. I hadn’t seen them marching in that teeming mass, but that wasn’t surprising. The numbers of Raiders and Exiles was a drop in the ocean compared to everyone else – and the strength of the entire army was just a drop when compared to the Radaskim.
“You coming?” Anna asked.
I realized I was still staring at the train of supplies being carried in a seemingly never-ending line of flatbed trucks. Food, ammo, guns, medicine, whole tanks of water...the hundreds of vehicles and personnel outnumbered even the soldiers of the army.
I turned and boarded the ship. The door shut behind as I walked to the bridge. Anna fired up the ship, and a moment later, it lifted from the ground. Most of the men looked up as we rose into the sky.
“Taking off,” Anna said, after setting the frequency to Makara’s line. “Proceeding with aerial recon. What’s your status, Orion?”
Makara’s voice came through.
“We’re a few minutes out from the Bunker. Lauren has things running smoothly, as expected. We’ll be touching down in thirty minutes or so.”
“Copy that,” Anna said. “We’ll be here.”
Anna then switched to Augustus’s line.
“Augustus, we’re proceeding with aerial recon. If we notice anything unusual, we’ll let you know right away.”
“Copy that,” he said. “Expand your reach farther than our line of travel. Don’t want anything catching us with our pants down.”
“Will do. I’ll see what I can find.”
Now, from well above the buildings, the marching men and slow-moving vehicles below looked like toys. It was hard to believe that this was finally happening.
Anna accelerated the ship over the building tops toward the brown lifeless hills flanking Los Angeles’s eastern side. We stayed just below the red cloud layer.
“We’ll be there soon,” Anna said to me.
“Where?” I asked.
“My home.”
She followed the line of the highway, past deserted buildings that stretched beyond the hills. She angled down toward a mountain pass though which the highway traveled.
As we drew closer, buildings appeared on the road. A dilapidated wall surrounded the town and separated it from the rest of the Los Angeles Basin. It was all but abandoned. Dust covered the highway running down its middle, and its wooden buildings stood in shambles.
“There it is,” she said. “Home. Or what’s left of it.”
I touched Anna’s hand. “You going to be alright?”
“I think so. Last Town is just a reminder that nothing lasts in this world. We live each day expecting what we have to be there tomorrow. It’s funny how we think that, because most of the time, it isn’t true. When you expect to lose everything...it makes having anything all the more miraculous.”
“You’re here now,” I said. “That’s what matters. Despite everything you went through, you made it.”
“I’m still making it. I don’t care what either of us has to go through in the coming days. We’re going to make it. Somehow.”
We were nearly over the town.
“Which was your house?”
Anna smiled. “I can’t tell from here. But maybe I can show you.”
“How?”
She gave me a quick glance before angling the ship downward.
“By landing.”