“And for his efforts to cleanse us of the abominations, the High Ruler of Tyre had him executed in that arena of theirs, in front of the whole country. He was sliced to pieces by a battle droid, as if it was a game.” A brief smile crosses her lips then quickly fades. “Those of us who’d escaped the collection migrated into the Wasteland, away from the moral decay of the cities.”
“So why come back?”
“To finish what my brother started. We thought all the Antaeans had died that night. It wasn’t until your display in Tyre that we all realized we were wrong.”
She moans from pain as her blood loss continues, her breathing becoming labored.
“You’ll never win, Meg. Sirain’s enemies are too great. This is only the beginning.”
I hear feet approach from behind me. Lehen and Braxton are at my side, weapons drawn.
Rena’s focus shifts from me to them. “Sirain will fall. You all will burn…murderers, all of you.”
“You’re no different,” I say, as I stand up, aiming the barrel at her heart. “Tell your brother hello for me when you see him.”
The wall behind Rena singes as her chest opens upon my firing. I turn to Lehen and Braxton. Both still have their weapons pointed at the body.
“Let’s end this.”
A roll call is taken after the fighting ends. Thankfully, casualties from the hatchery are low: four children from the Developmental Quad, two instructors, two Morrigan, Rabaan, Rey who bled out from his leg wound…and Quin.
Tobin, Keller, and Gage are tasked with collecting the bodies and disposing of them. The Superior doesn’t want the children seeing them when she allows everyone to leave the bunker. I sit in the security and communications room, my head resting on my hands, while Braxton takes inventory of the working weapons and vehicles. Jagger and Lehen do several sweeps of the complex, making sure all the Hostem are gone or dead; occasionally a short blast of a gun rings out when they find one still alive.
“Well,” Braxton says upon entering the room. “I can get at least one of the vehicles to run. It’ll take a few days because of all the damage, but I can make it work.” He wipes his hands on a greasy towel before sitting on one of the stools next to me. “What’s the plan?”
“I don’t know,” I answer after taking in a deep breath. I glance over at him, dirt covering most of his face. “We need to draw the Hostem away from the cities, Boroughs, and hatcheries.”
“I can try and reestablish communications with Tyre and Acheron to see what resources they may have. Our weapons are almost out of power, and Lehen isn’t as strong as you are, so using him as a weapon isn’t going to work. If the Hostem attack the hatchery again, we may not be so fortunate next time.”
“Losing Quin…was not fortunate.” Tears spill down my cheeks.
I suddenly feel very alone, my body aching from a pain I can’t see.
“You know I didn’t mean it that way,” Braxton’s voice quivers.
I do know what he means, but it hurts all the same.
He sits with me in silence for some time. Occasionally he looks down at the panel in front of him, turning some of the dials, attempting to make some kind of connection with the outside world. A few of the monitors go from black to a gray haze, but no one answers. He continues to play with the various settings as Jagger and Lehen join us.
“Hello…?” A faint female voice is heard through one of the monitors to my left. “Hello…can anyone hear me? This is Superior Gatlen of Hatchery Seven, is anyone there?”
“This is Hatchery Nine, Superior Gatlen,” Braxton responds after pressing a sensor on the panel to his right.
“Is Superior Hersher there? We’re in urgent need of assistance.”
“This is Captain Braxton of the High Ruler guard, Superior. Can I be of some help?”
“Our complex is under attack,” she says.
I close my eyes and strain my hearing to see if I can pick up any background noise. Shots are being fired, followed by minor rumblings from possible explosions.
“Captain Braxton, we have no defenses. We can’t raise anyone in Acheron.” Her voice resonates with urgency and confusion.
“Move everyone into your emergency bunker as quickly as you can.”
“We are trying, but the pathways between buildings have collapsed and many of my staff and children are trapped.”
Braxton points down to the screen in front of me, and tells me which controls to work. The screen on our lower left turns on. He tells me coordinates to plug into the panel, and the screen quickly changes from a dense gray to white snow. I focus the satellite until the image comes into frame.
Hatchery Seven is made of four buildings just like Hatchery Nine, but the complex is located on the floor of a valley, making it an easy target. Smoke and flames are eating up the ground around the structures. There are large holes between each building, and metal beams are poking up out of the soil.
Their walkways must have been underground.
Small flashes of light emanate from each corner of all four buildings.
Superior Gatlen screams on the other side of our connection, which is soon lost. We watch as the entire complex erupts into flames, every inch engulfed in orange and red.
“They’ll destroy all the hatcheries if they can. How do we stop them?” Lehen asks.
“By giving them what they want. Us.” I reply.
“We need to get to the Dormitories,” Lehen responds. “We can set up defenses there.”
“How do we find it?” Braxton asks.
“It’s about a day north of Oasis One. We need to follow the old shuttle line from the Trade Borough north.”
“That’s three days northwest of here,” Braxton says. “The old shuttle line Lehen is talking about was supposed to connect the Trade Borough with Nuceira, before the relationship with the city deteriorated.”
“Is
