James Decker - Fallout

Nix took cover behind a truck in the row opposite us, his back to it as the hail of gunfire continued.

“We’ll never make it,” Vamp said. “We’ve got to turn back.”

“We can’t.”

A bullet smashed into one of the vehicle’s graviton emitters, knocking loose the fiberglass covering and sending it spinning across the concrete. I risked a peek around the back bumper and saw that the men had begun an advance toward us. I fired a couple of rounds blind to give them something to think about, but it didn’t stop them. Two were moving to flank Nix’s vehicle, two moved in the opposite direction to flank us, and the last two moved straight down in the middle to catch us once they flushed us out.

“The bomb,” Vamp said. “Get it back out and tell them you’ll set it off.”

“I killed Gohan, Vamp. I don’t think they’ll care.”

Dragan, I sent over the chat. How much longer?

We’re beginning our approach, hang on.

“It’s worth a shot!” Vamp said, as another volley of shooting started.

“Dragan’s on his way,” I yelled. “We just have to hold out a little while longer.”

The sliding doors, now pocked with divots from the gunfire, slid open as three more men, all carrying guns, piled out. The one in the lead pointed toward us, and they all took aim.

Nix lunged toward them, and the air rippled in the space between. A ghost image of his hand flickered across the lot and I saw it clamp down on one of the men’s arms almost twenty yards away. He screamed as it came apart at the elbow, the forearm and hand, which still held his pistol, flipping end over end before flopping down onto the ground. The other two turned toward him as he stared at the stump in shock, but before either could react one of them jerked back off his feet and flew into the air.

He sailed backward over our heads, arms and legs peddling as he went over the lot’s edge and into open air. His scream followed him down, fading as he dropped out of sight.

The last guy took aim and opened fired on Nix, who whipped his suit around like a cape to cover himself. Several slugs flattened against it and fell to the ground but some got through. Blood spattered against the pristine white of the vehicle behind him and he staggered back.

“Nix!” I called. I started to move toward him when Vamp grabbed my arm and stopped me. “Nix, run!”

Instead he leapt high into the air, arcing up over the rows of vehicles and then down onto the man by the stairwell. He crashed down on top of him, and the man crumpled. I saw his head hit the pavement, Nix’s hand gripping his face as he forced it down. The man’s skull splashed apart in an explosion of gristle, and Alexei screamed, cowering against me.

Several more shots struck Nix in the back as I turned away from the sight, bile rising in my throat. The other men had begun to close in.

“The terminal’s clear,” Vamp said, pulling me and Alexei along. “Come on, we need to take cover or we’ll be dead before he ever gets here!”

Back behind the men, a vehicle peeled off from the skylane and accelerated toward the lot. As it did, blue and red lights began to flash from its underbelly and a siren whooped.

The remaining men turned and saw the approaching aircar. The two who’d been trying to flank Vamp and me ahead to the right both seemed to decide that if they were going to kill us, they’d better do it quick. They moved in to get a clear shot as we scrambled back to get around the other side of the car.

Before they could reach us, heavy gunfire filled the air from above as streams of shells began to fall, bouncing off the parked vehicles and pavement like hailstones. Several cars ahead of us were shredded, exploding in showers of metal and glass. The two men were thrown down out of sight in a cloud of red mist as the siren whooped three more times.

Blues and reds flashed off the pavement as the vehicle descended, then came down with a heavy thud. The doors sprang open and Dragan, along with two men I didn’t recognize, jumped out with their guns ready.

“Drop it!” Dragan shouted at one of the two remaining pairs of men. When they didn’t do what he said right away, he fired once and caught one of them right in the eye. His head pitched back and he fell onto the ground, dead. His partner dropped his gun and threw his hands up over his head.

The last two decided they’d done their duty and legged it back to the terminal entrance. Nobody tried to stop them as they ducked back through the doors.

“Sam,” Dragan said, lowering his weapon. One of the other guys who’d come over with him went and zip tied the remaining goon’s wrists behind his back.

I hugged him, my face in his chest, and Alexei ran over, too. Dragan scooped him up, holding him in one arm so that they were face-to-face.

Alexei said something in Pan-Slav, and Dragan just nodded.

“We’ll worry about it later,” he said. “I’m just glad you’re okay. Okay?”

Alexei nodded, and Dragan turned to the rest of us.

“We have to go,” he said. “Everyone, into the car, now!”

We piled into the transport, one officer staying up front with the pilot while the other two got in back with the rest of us. When the last officer got in, he slammed the door and called up front.

“Okay, let’s go.”

My stomach dropped as we leapt up off the tarmac, then spun around toward the skylane entry point. Through the window, I saw the rows of cars go whipping past as we picked up speed. Then the ground fell away and I stared a hundred stories down toward the streets of Xinzhongzi below. The tower began to fall away behind us, and as I turned back, I saw that the glass panels on its face had begun to shake.

“I’m getting some strange readings up here,” the pilot said.

“What kind of readings?” Dragan asked.

“I don’t know. Some kind of energy surge is messing with the nav systems. Hold on.”

The tower’s glass cracked, and I saw huge sheets of it break away, cracking apart as they began to fall down toward the streets.

“Rapture,” I said. “The gate is opening.”

I realized then that we weren’t going to get a second chance. Whether the blackout happened or not, whether the foreigners attacked or not, the gate field would open and not even Ava could stop it any longer.

“Sam,” Alexei said. “What’s happening?”

Outside, the air around the tower began to ripple. A deep, electric crackle rose over the sound of the ship’s engines, growing louder by the second.

I got out of my seat and moved toward the back window, scanning the skyline as though it may somehow offer up a solution. The bustle of Hangfei seemed as frantic as the thoughts sparking through my brain… flashing lights, streams of people, ground cars, and air traffic all flowing through a cityscape that sprawled as far as the eye could see in every direction. All those people, millions of people, unaware of what might be coming at any moment.

Will this be it? I thought, my heart hammering in my chest. Will this be the last time I see Hangfei?

I’d just wanted to hold the haan accountable. I’d just wanted to show everyone the truth. In doing so, I’d played right into Gohan’s hands and let him doom us all. The whole thing had been my idea. In mere minutes, or even seconds, I would be the woman who destroyed Hangfei, if not the world.

My eyes drifted over the city, toward the flats that led to the shore near Ocean Heights. I wanted to tell the pilot to fly away, to make a break for that blue horizon and the wall of foreign ships that waited there, but if a Second Impact really occurred, it wouldn’t matter. It wouldn’t matter where we went. The only safe place would be the tower itself, if even that.