Erik Otto - Detonation

Alarm bells sounded and the radar showed an incoming bogie. It was much larger than the drones. An explosion rocked the chopper, sending it into a brief spin that the automatic pilot managed to recover from.

“What the hell was that?” Axel asked.

“A jet fighter has been sent to intercept us. We have destroyed their first missile with countermeasures. Our ground-to-air defenses have been activated.”

Another missile came at the chopper and exploded at a distance with yet another successful countermeasure deployment. Again, it rocked the chopper, and again, the chopper recovered.

Axel saw another object entering the radar viewfinder, heading toward the jet nearby. For a while the jet and the object tracked each other, predator and prey doing their airborne dance. Then Axel heard a distant explosion, and he lost both of them on the radar.

“The jet has been neutralized,” Nelly announced in his ear.

Axel was a soldier at heart, so being unable to take control of the situation amidst all this heat made him feel useless. At the same time, he knew taking control of the chopper would be irresponsible.

But there was at least one way he could help.

He stood up and headed out of the cockpit to the back of the chopper. He picked up a spare assault rifle from his duffel bag. Then he opened the main door and tried to locate some of the surrounding drones through his rifle sight.

He began firing. The first few shots missed, but then he hit one, and it spun out of control, spiraling downward. It gave him confidence. He continued firing, every once in a while downing one of the drones.

“Close the door,” Nelly said.

“Why?” Axel asked. But as soon as he asked the question he could see why. The drones were moving toward the chopper, all at once.

As soon as Axel heaved the door closed, the sky around the chopper became a hurricane of drones and exploding countermeasures. One drone managed to fly into the underside of the chopper and explode, and another intersected the rotary blades. He was thrown across the chopper twice, one time smashing his head painfully against the fuselage, another time landing more mercifully on his buttocks.

Eventually the chopper righted itself. But the smooth hum of the engine was gone. The walls shuddered every few seconds, and smoke trailed behind.

Axel staggered back into the cockpit, smarting from the bruising collisions with all sides of the interior. He felt dizzy. He might have a concussion.

He held firmly onto the back of the pilot chair, trying to clear the fog in his brain and get his bearings. They were close. The stadium was fully in view, and the playing field inside was alive, teaming with thousands of trapped people.

“Axel, I believe we have been identified as a major threat.”

“You think?”

Nelly ignored the sarcasm. “Satellite is showing silo activations. Please put on your visor and sit down immediately.” Axel did as he was told, but Nelly’s words weren’t quite registering. He wasn’t sure what the silo activations meant. It might have been the blow to his head. He couldn’t quite put two and two together.

“Call coming in,” Nelly said. His family. It cut through the fog and gave him focus. “Zach, is that you?” He called into his mic.

“Yes, dad,” his son was speaking in harsh whispers. “We’re out of the tube. They’re being rough with Mom, with us too. Mom, no. Don’t—” There was a burst of static.

“What happened? Can you hear me Zach?”

The static disappeared for a moment. There was a distant voice in the background saying, “Give that back.” Then there was another burst of static.

Then there was static, and more static.

Axel had a sinking feeling. They must have taken away Zach’s phone. It could be the last time he heard his voice. He didn’t have time to say anything to him. He didn’t even have time to tell them he was coming.

More static.

The chopper began its descent, occasionally listing to one side and then righting itself.

Abruptly the static ended.

“Zach, can you hear me?” Axel asked desperately. “Zach?”

There was no response, but no static, either.

“You should be connected,” Nelly said.

Maybe they were watching Zach, or listening in. Maybe Zach could hear but not speak. “Listen to me, Zach,” Axel said crisply. “Whatever you do, do not go into that stadium. Get away. I’m coming to pick you up.”

Then another voice came on. It was a higher-pitched voice, some other boy. “Can you get my daddy?” he said. The child sounded vaguely familiar, but it was definitely not Zach.

Who was this child? Had someone taken the phone?

The static returned.

“What happened? Nelly?”

“I’m not sure, Axel. I don’t have them on satellite.”

“Axel. There is an attack in progress,” Nelly said.

“What kind of attack?”

Nelly ignored his question. “I have diverted the attack as best I can. Brace for impact. I’m sorry, Axel.”

“Sorry?” Nelly never apologized for anything. Or rather, he only apologized when he was giving very bad news.

Axel looked at the radar, but nothing was visible.

It was because this was no ordinary impact. Axel finally realized what Nelly meant by silos activating.

To his left, dominating the skyline, was a growing mushroom of fire. Energy rippled from it in every direction. Axel reflexively shielded his eyes and turned away. All lights in the cockpit went dead, and the chopper began to slowly spin as it was hit with shockwave after shockwave.

“Nelly? What should I do? Nelly, can you hear me?” Axel asked.

“Nelly?” Axel asked again, desperately tapping on his earbud.

The bomb had fried his electrical systems. Nothing would work anymore, including his earbud—including the chopper itself.

The helicopter spiraled down, faster and faster, farther and farther. There was no way to control it. He tried to push himself out of his chair to go to the cargo bay so he could jump, but the centrifugal forces were too strong. They were plastering him to his seat.

From his airborne cage, the land and sky shuffled before his eyes. With each revolution, the ground came closer.

He saw a stream, then a forested hill. A knoll and a prairie were visible.

The blue sky revolved in front of him once again.

This was it. After decades of work, after countless warnings, he had failed to save the one thing he truly cared about.

The ground loomed ever closer. The stream was no longer a solid line but a thick coursing avenue of water, rippling with texture. He saw individual trees. And out of the corner of his eye he glimpsed a black vulture circling.

The blue sky revolved in front of him once again.

Now, with the Detonation in full bloom, his family would perish with billions of others, and so would he.

Talon pushed back a few dangling crimson hairs to curl them around his ear. He picked up his pace, driving his skinny legs to make bolder strides. He’d been straggling behind much of the day, mostly to avoid Redfern and Greystone. But he still needed to hear what was being said. All day long Ember had made sure the group would hang onto his every word, and now was no different.