The people she'd travelled with, and had come to see as her friends, all of them had killed without compunction, as a matter of course. She'd come to see it as necessary to survive, if not natural.
Then there was all the anger she had stored away inside herself. An anger she had never faced or acknowledged. An anger that had grown in strength exponentially until nothing could hold it in check. Anger that cut her off from the still quiet voice of God.
There was also the laboratory that triggered her response. All of the hideous secrets it kept. All the suffering it displayed. And the men who caused it, regretting only what it hadn't brought them.
This was the sort of place in which Anna was created, along with the virus that surged thorough her. Her origins lay in suffering and torture. In spite of what Greaves believed, nothing born in this way could ever bring a brighter future for mankind.
No matter how pure and bright the vision that might have inspired it, no new world could be created like this.
Anna discovered she had more knowledge at her disposal. It seemed the virus was able to digest and recall every bit of knowledge from its victims' brains. Every guilty secret, each childhood memory and all the disparate bits of information that her victims had hung on to was now at Anna's fingertips.
She picked through it all, like turning the pages of an encyclopaedia, until she had gathered the bits she needed.
The secret route to the surface.
The location of the micro-glider stationed in the hangar along with something called a sub-sonic bomb.
The whereabouts of the public address system that could be worn around the neck.
Where a working rocket launcher could be found.
And the exact spot on which the Neo-Clergy had built their metal bridge across the lava.
Then she went to find them all.
CHAPTER TWENTY-NINE
As he walked out of the complex alongside Hiamovi, Colt knew that he was being watched. He'd detailed men to find and monitor every exit and he was pretty sure Hiamovi would have done the same.
They were both wearing their bio-hazard suits and the first thing they did was take off the head gear and shout to their men, while walking cautiously away from each other.
Colt scanned the surrounding area for any sign of his boys. He saw that Cortez and the runt Greaves were hanging back, trying to remain neutral and not pick sides. Colt would see they weren't harmed until he'd gotten the virus.
Two redskins popped out from behind a rock close by, and two more followed them. Colt reached for his weapons and called for his men again.
Eventually as the redskins ran to surround their leader, Carl Jennings appeared with three other men.
'You took your time,' Colt snarled at them. 'Where in hell were you?'
'Sorry Mr Colt sir. We just wanted to make certain it was really you, and not some redskin trick. We were sent word that you were held prisoner.'
'I was but I got myself out. And now we've got a war to finish.'
A signal flare went up. Colt wasn't certain who had fired it, but it set a stampede in motion. From the north side of the plateau Colt's troops advanced at a jog. Hiamovi's warriors advanced to meet them from the south.
Colt, Carl and the other men pointed their weapons at the redskin party, who also had them in their sights. Both armies gradually fell into formation behind their leaders. There was a tense expectancy in the air. Thousands of men and women faced each other down. All of them eager to spill blood.
Cortez stood by the entrance to the complex. He was weighing up the situation.
'Come on,' said Greaves, tugging at his arm. 'Let's go and get Anna.'
'Wait a moment,' said Cortez. 'I have a feeling about this.'
In the distance, coming towards them, Cortez heard the put-put-put of a small engine. He looked up and saw an aircraft come into view. It was a micro-glider.
The pilot hanging beneath it was carrying a rocket launcher. Aiming it towards the north she fired. This caught the attention of everyone on the plateau. The rocket found its target. There was a giant burst of flame and smoke followed by the sound of falling, rending metal. The pilot dropped the rocket launcher. It landed mere feet away from Cortez.
'Now there is only one way off this plateau,' said the pilot. It was Anna. She addressed everyone through some speaker strapped to her chest that carried her voice across the whole area.
'You've come here to seize the world's deadliest biological weapon,' Anna said. 'As your leaders will tell you, I am that weapon. But I am not going to be the prize in any battle. I have the power to kill everyone left on the planet. Sparing only those whom I choose. That power does not belong to any one set of people, nor any creed or faith. It would not bring hope or salvation to them. It would simply be the death of their faith.
'The one thing that can bring a war of faith to an end, is the one thing it's fought over: faith itself. It is through my faith that I have come to this decision. I should never have been created. I was born out of evil intentions to do the bidding of evil men. If I continue to live I will only create more evil intentions. So I am going to put a stop to that.
'I also hope to put a stop to this conflict. Strapped to my body is a sub-sonic bomb powerful enough to blow me into tiny little shreds. The blast will send these tiny fragments raining down over every part of the plateau. The Doomsday Virus that flows through my body is so infectious that if the tiniest bit of my flesh touches you, or someone near you, you will die painfully within seconds.
'The bomb is set to go off just before I run out of fuel three hours from now. Three hours is just long enough for every man and woman to leave this plateau by the pass to the south, but only if everyone works together. If you get cannot put aside your petty conflicts, you will all die.
'Only the river of lava that flows around this area will keep the Doomsday Virus from spreading. But if anyone returns within your lifetime they will certainly become infected. If they leave they will take the virus with them and wipe out all life forever. Once you have left this plateau, you can never return.
'The future of the earth is now in your hands. Your decision will affect all life on the planet. Choose wisely.'
Greaves ran right down the middle of the two armies. 'No Anna stop,' he cried out. 'Don't you realise what you're doing?'
'Of course. I know exactly what I'm doing.'
'But it doesn't have to be this way. You can fly over the lava and drop the bomb into it. You don't have to die. You can live and you can save the world. Why do you want to throw away everything we've worked for?'
'It wasn't anything I ever worked for,' said Anna. 'It's what I've been working to stop.
Colt signalled to Hiamovi that he wanted to talk. The two of them broke ranks and, surrounded by a party of their men, met in the middle of the two armies. Colt's men measured themselves against the redskins, who stood their ground and stared right back. Both sides trying to psych the other out.
'Do you think she means it?' said Colt. 'What if that bomb ain't for real?'
'Can we afford to take that chance?' said Hiamovi. 'You saw what she did to everyone in that complex. Why wouldn't she mean it?'
Colt looked up at Anna. Her arms were stretched out at her side, her hands were just a little above her head with the palms turned out, and her legs were together.
For the rest of his life, when he thought back on that moment he was never entirely sure why he made the decision he did. Maybe it was the fact that he knew their armies were too evenly matched for either to strike a decisive victory. They would only suffer losses that neither side could ultimately afford.
Perhaps it was the realisation that they needed each other. To remain in power Colt had to keep his people scared of Hiamovi, who in turn needed him to terrify his own people. It was a mutually beneficial arrangement. If either side were to fall, the other would not be far behind.
But then again, it was possible that it was because, hanging there, Anna reminded him of his vision of the
