Anne Winchell - The Last War

“I’m not hiding,” she said. “If people are breaking in, I’ll fight them.”

“No,” Raven said fiercely. “You don’t want to fight these people. They’ll kill you, or you’ll kill them.”

Raven trembled at the thought of Nalia having to kill someone. He only barely managed to recover from each kill he made. She didn’t have the experience or maturity to deal with death the way he had learned. She crossed her arms and didn’t move. He changed tactics. The door would only hold for a minute or two. She had to be safe.

“Take my computer, go in the hatch and wait. No matter what you hear, wait for ten minutes. Ten. No matter what. Then you can come out and help me if I need help. But not until then. Please. Please,” he repeated.

She climbed under the bed, computer in hand, and down the hatch. He slid it shut and grabbed his gun. The door opened and dark figures entered. He couldn’t tell how many.

He fired once, hit someone. Someone else fired back, two people fired back, Raven returned the shots blindly and something struck his ankle. Not a bullet. A person pummeled toward him and knocked the gun from his hand. He fought. He saw a syringe on the floor at the same time his ankle and foot started going numb. Another person punched him and he punched back. There was blood on his fist from the other person’s face. The room started spinning and Raven was lying on the ground, trying to kick the person standing over him and failing. White streamers trailed across his vision, blocking the faces of the people who leaned to look at him. Strong hands grabbed his arms and feet and he felt himself carried somewhere. He wondered if Nalia was safe. He hoped she waited. He blacked out.

Medane stared at Lethe’s impassive face on the screen as Lethe informed him that Atheus had already returned to the Western World with Kaela. She would be safe, Medane hoped. Kaela was too valuable to risk. Atheus planned on using her to continue the breeding project, so her health and her ability to reproduce would be protected. Psychologically, however, Atheus would probably be merciless. The project was intended to create humans who were intelligent, fast, and strong, and in Kaela and Raven’s generation it had finally succeeded. One of the scientists hired by Atheus believed that those traits could be put into overdrive by stressing the individual. Raven had been the first target; Atheus had ordered the boy’s parents murdered in order to observe his reaction. Raven responded just as the scientist had predicted: in the minutes after the boy realized his parents were dead, he had moved faster than the eye could follow, chased the murderer, and killed him. By the time Medane and the police arrived, Raven was in a state of shock and could barely move at all.

Lethe sat stiffly on the other end of the screen, hands flat on the desk. His face was calm as always, but Medane knew he was angry.

“Given the recent disappearance of your agent, Raven,” Lethe said, “Atheus believes that the United Western World government needs his assistance and I gave him permission to leave. I know that this will make it more difficult to locate the rogue díamont, but I cannot put his nation at risk.”

“You don’t really think the Eastern World would attack, do you?”

“I don’t know what to think,” Lethe said. His voice was faster than usual and he sounded frustrated. “But the moon will be in communication again in a matter of days and if you were responsible for whatever happened, it would make sense for you to want Atheus trapped in the East where he can’t order a retaliation.”

“I told you,” Medane said. “Raven acted alone on the moon base and Atheus has agreed not to pursue charges.”

“Raven has also vanished. It has been suggested that he is assisting the rogue díamont.”

“Atheus suggested that, I suppose?”

Lethe didn’t respond.

Medane shook his head in frustration. Raven was his main concern. The boy’s rash move had put him at extreme risk and all Medane could do was prevent the Eastern World from naming him an enemy of the state. It had taken a long conference with the Eastern President to convince her that Raven wasn’t a threat. As long as Raven stayed near NeoLondon and as long as Atheus didn’t return to the West, Raven would be relatively safe.

But once Atheus returned to his own government and resumed his position of power, he would regain access to the West’s nuclear arsenal. Medane didn’t believe that Atheus would use the weapons; he and Atheus had both been in the nuclear blast that destroyed old London and crippled Soren. Even if they weren’t used, though, they were a threat. The United Western World could declare Raven a terrorist for his attack on the moon base and retaliate against anyone shielding him—including the United Eastern World government.

“If he is helping the rogue díamont, then he is not doing it on my orders.”

“Unless you can prove that, I have to allow Atheus to return to the West. I will not leave the West unprotected.”

Oh, Raven, Medane thought. He knew Raven was helping the díamont, or at least the same resistance movement that the díamont supported. It was a cause that Raven felt deeply about. Medane had seen Raven enter the same overdrive state that had driven him to his first kill when Raven led nearly sixty of his followers into a rooftop graveyard in order to break into the government building. They succeeded and Medane had been forced to protect the President from enemy fire before the police responded and drove them back out to the graveyard. The rebels were trapped and disorganized, and the police had killed most of them when Raven—moving faster than the bullets fired at him—rescued the survivors and pulled them to safety. Again, Medane believed the stress of watching his loved ones die pushed him into superhuman speed.

“I’ve made my decision,” Lethe said firmly. “Atheus is returning to the West and bringing Kaela with him. You will continue looking for the rogue díamont and you will contact me immediately when you find him.”

Medane agreed and shut the screen. Kaela would be moderately safe, but Raven was in great danger with Atheus gone. Medane knew that Kaela had been put under the same stress as Raven, although he didn’t know the specifics. He knew her parents were killed when she was young, but she hadn’t been present and hadn’t reacted the same way Raven had. But something must have pushed her into Atheus’ employment, Medane thought. Atheus must have pressured her into committing some crime and then blackmailed her afterward. Medane hated thinking of his old friend in that light, but it made sense. And now that Atheus had Kaela again, there was no chance of giving the girl a chance at a real life.

He knew Raven hadn’t meant to cause so much chaos when he disrupted communication with the moon base. Raven probably just saw an opportunity to enforce the law banning díamont research. He might have gotten away without the West finding out about his involvement if he hadn’t kidnapped Kaela as well. Medane had barely smoothed that over when Raven quit, leaving Medane and the entire Eastern World at the mercy of both Atheus and the rogue díamont. Atheus would take personal revenge if he could. He had already set a price on Raven’s head. Medane was just glad the bounty required Raven to be alive.

Nalia flinched at the sound of the first gunshot. She pressed her hand against the latch over her head at the explosion of gunfire that followed. She knew Raven wanted to keep her safe, but did he really expect her to just crouch here in the darkness between the floors while he was killed? She was not going to wait ten minutes. She would wait until the fighting slowed or stopped. She could hear muffled sounds of people moving and talking. The bottom of the wooden latch scratched against her palm. She had known about this passageway, of course, but she had never been in it. The walls were plaster and didn’t offer much protection if a bullet pierced through. She knew he had wanted her to move to safety but she remained directly underneath his room and waited.