D. MacHale - Storm

Hopefully there would be more than one.

Hopefully it would be all of them.

I was exhausted. My feet were literally dragging, and I still had miles to go. I stopped at the next abandoned car, looked in the window, and realized what an idiot I’d been. Most of these cars still had the key in the ignition.

This car was a small Fiat. It wouldn’t replace the Explorer, but it would get me back to the library before I collapsed. The engine turned over smoothly, and in no time I was driving back to face my friends. My hope was that they would all still be asleep and have no idea that I had left.

Yeah, right.

The battle at Fort Knox might have been several miles from the library, but it was still a major fight. Nobody sleeps through something like that. When I pulled into the parking lot, the front doors instantly flew open. Tori was out first, followed by Olivia. Jon and Kent weren’t far behind.

“Where have you been?” Olivia cried.

She ran past Tori and threw her arms around me.

“We heard the explosions,” she said, nearly in tears. “You were gone, and we didn’t know what to think. What happened? Did you see anything?”

I didn’t break away from her, but I didn’t hug back either. I looked over her shoulder at Tori, Jon, and Kent, who stood together, waiting for an answer.

“Where’s the Explorer, Rook?” Kent asked.

“Destroyed.”

“What?” Jon exclaimed. “What do you mean, ‘destroyed’?”

“An Air Force plane crashed into it,” I said with no emotion. “They’re called Retros, by the way. That’s what Granger calls the Air Force.”

Olivia pulled back from me abruptly.

“Granger?” she asked, stunned.

“You talked to him?” Kent asked, equally stunned. “He’s alive?”

Tori had yet to say a word.

I decided to tell them the truth and deal with the fallout.

“I went to Fort Knox,” I said with no hint of emotion. “My plan was to find Granger… and kill him.”

Olivia gasped and took a step back.

“Oh, Tucker, no.”

I pulled the gun from my waistband and handed it to Tori.

“I didn’t tell anybody because I wanted to go alone. I didn’t expect to be coming back.”

“So… did you?” Kent asked. “Kill him, I mean.”

“No. As much as I wanted him dead, I’m no killer. I had the chance, too. I couldn’t pull the trigger. That’s when the Air Force attacked.”

“Attacked what?” Jon asked. “Where were you?”

“Inside Fort Knox,” I replied. “It’s a SYLO base that’s protecting the gold. When civilization rebuilds, that will be the new currency.”

Nobody said anything. They just stared at me in stunned silence.

Jon finally snapped out of it and asked, “So what happened?”

“SYLO defended the base. Hundreds of black planes were knocked out of the sky. One of them landed on the Explorer. Don’t worry, Kent, there are plenty more where that came from.”

“But you talked to Granger,” Kent said, still reeling. “How is he still alive?”

“He was pushed off of the gunboat before they followed us between the burning ships. Simple as that.”

Kent let out a long breath.

“Jeez,” he said. “Why can’t these bad guys stay dead?”

“What else did he say?” Olivia said.

I walked past them, headed into the library. The others followed without question. Once inside, I found a camp lantern and went right for the table with the road atlas. I looked through the index, found what I wanted, and flipped to the map.

When I found what I was looking for, my head went light. I actually had to hold on to the table for support.

“What the hell, Rook?” Kent said impatiently. “What’s going on?”

“These guardians obediently protect us from the gates of hell,” I said.

“Yeah, SYLO,” Kent said. “What about it?”

“Granger called the Air Force ‘Retros.’ He said the thing they were building in Fenway Park was a gate to hell.”

“What!” Olivia exclaimed.

“Seriously?” Jon said. “An actual gate to hell?”

“I don’t know. But whatever it was, SYLO wanted it gone, so they bombed it to oblivion.”

“What are you looking at?” Jon asked, gesturing to the atlas.

“Granger said there’s another one. A finished one. In the desert. He said it was guarded, but SYLO was going after that one too.”

“What desert?” Kent said.

“Mojave.”

“And where’s that?” Kent asked.

I spun the book around for the others to see.

My mouth was so dry I had to swallow before I could speak. “Most of it is in California. Some parts reach into Arizona and Utah. But a very big part of it is in—”

“Nevada,” Tori finished.

Kent grabbed the book to take a closer look.

“Jeez, he’s right!” He looked at me. “That’s what Granger said? There’s a gate to hell in Nevada?”

I nodded.

Jon took the atlas and pulled out the separate, more detailed map of Nevada. He reached into his pocket and took out a crumpled piece of paper that he flattened on the table.

“These are the coordinates that the survivors were broadcasting,” he explained.

He brought the lamp closer to the map, referred to the coordinates on the page, and made a mark on the map.

“The coordinates are definitely in the Mojave Desert. It looks like a pretty desolate place except…”

He bent down closer to the map and said, “It’s a park. It’s the middle of the desert, but it’s a state park called…”

Jon didn’t finish the sentence. Instead, he looked up at us soberly.

“What’s it called?” Kent asked impatiently.

“The Valley of Fire,” Jon replied, barely above a whisper.

“Seriously?” Kent exclaimed. “Valley of Fire? There’s a gate to hell in the Valley of Fire?”

“No,” I replied. “Granger said this so-called gate is somewhere in the Mojave. It’s a big place. These coordinates are supposedly leading us to a group of survivors.”

“If they really are survivors,” Olivia cautioned. “We don’t know that for sure.”

“Kind of a coincidence, don’t you think?” Kent said. “Gates of hell; Valley of Fire. Something nasty is definitely going on out there.”

We all let that information sink in. Then Olivia said, “So what does it all mean?”

“It means I’m going to Nevada,” I said with authority. “I don’t know what’s out there. Could be survivors. Could be a Retro trap. It could even be a SYLO trap. But whatever’s there, it’s the center of this whole damn thing.”

I looked at Tori, expecting her to be happy about my decision. Instead, she turned and left the room.

I looked at Kent. “What about you?”

He scratched his head nervously and glanced at Olivia.

“Don’t look at her,” I scolded. “I’m asking you . You keep telling us what a hero you are, how about proving it?”

I had hit the exact right nerve.

“All right, Tucker,” he said softly. “I’m with you.”

“Me too,” Jon chimed in. “It’s history, right? Can’t miss that.”

“Wait, what about me?” Olivia cried. “I don’t want to stay here alone.”

“Then go to Florida, or anywhere else you’d like,” I said, hoping it didn’t come across as cold as I was feeling.

Olivia was near panic. She looked to Kent for help, but he kept his eyes on the table. She looked back at me with pleading eyes, but I returned a cold stare.

“Why are they called Retros?” Jon asked.

“I don’t know,” I replied curtly. “I don’t care.”

“You feeling okay, Rook?” Kent asked, sounding genuinely concerned. “You don’t sound like yourself.”

“I just spent the night trying to murder somebody and then nearly had my ass blown up about forty times. How do you think I should sound?”