Kyle West - Darkness

“What are you doing, Ashton?” I asked.

He stared at his screen, keying at it intently. We watched for a moment as Anna floated closer to the dragon, keeping the ship locked on it.

“Anna…” Ashton said. “Fire when ready.”

Anna paused only a moment before pressing the red button. A single gray missile streaked out of the ship just as Makara gained good speed. Still, Chaos was locked on Gilgamesh, not giving Makara a break for even a moment.

“Run,” Ashton said. “Faster, Makara!”

We had only been turning for a moment when the missile connected with a brightness that rivaled a thousand suns. Immediately, the windows tinted, but I still had to shield my eyes.

Then, I realized: we had launched a nuke at Chaos — and it had connected.

At last, the sound caught up with the light, and an unnatural roar unlike any I had ever heard blasted the ship. The entire hull vibrated, and Anna had trouble turning the lumbering spacecraft away. Finally, when it was angled enough away and the massive, orange mushroom cloud was no longer visible, Anna gave Aeneas all it had. The retrothrusters burned to full, blasting Aeneas toward the south with amazing speed. The LCD revealed the fiery cloud spreading ever outward.

I was still on the floor. I crawled to get up as soon as I was sure that this was over, that all the dragons that were attacking us were dead.

“Keep going,” Ashton said. “I want to make sure we are good and out of range.”

We continued. Nothing but static emanated from the radio. We had no idea if Makara had made it. She had been closer to the blast than we had. Still, she had been far enough to be safe.

Hadn’t she?

Five minutes later the bridge was still silent. The explosion from behind still crackled and expanded outward, the hellish clouds covering the mountains. Of Makara and Gilgamesh there was no sign.

“She made it,” Ashton said. “I know she did.”

“Well, she’s not coming out of that thing,” Anna said. “Maybe…maybe it’s time we faced the facts.”

The radar was not working properly — something about the blast had knocked it out. I’d read something about electromagnetic pulses once, so maybe that had something to do with…

“Wait,” I said.

Everyone looked at me.

“If she was caught in the EMP that could have grounded her.”

“I’m sorry,” Julian asked. “EMP?”

“Electromagnetic pulse,” Ashton said. “And no, she would have been far enough away from the blast to not have been affected by it. Besides, military craft are built to withstand it, and it’s only at high altitude that the Earth’s magnetic field…”

“Is she alive or not?” Anna cut in.

“It could be turbulence,” Ashton said.

“Regardless of that,” Elias said, stepping forward.

Everyone turned — I’d almost forgotten Elias and his followers were there, watching the entire time.

“We’ll take it from here,” Elias said.

I stood, meeting Elias’s stare. “Not until we’ve found our friend.”

Julian, Michael, and Grudge stepped beside me. Immediately, the Community women reached for their own weapons.

“Stop this madness,” Ashton said. “We’ll accomplish nothing as long as we are at each other’s throats.” He turned his blue eyes on Elias. “How do you expect to get anything done when you threaten the lives of this ship’s only pilots?”

Elias’s face reddened. He knew he had no answer for that. From the center of the deck, Deborah and Ada watched Elias coolly. Elias took notice.

“You,” Elias said with gritted teeth. He took a step toward the women. “I know it was you who did this. You launched this ship.” His eyes narrowed. “I’ve always known you were tainted.”

“That didn’t stop you from trying, though,” Deborah said. “Did it?”

From the way Lyn looked at Elias as his face burned crimson, it didn’t take much imagination to know what “trying” meant. Deborah’s eyes taunted while Ada only looked unsure.

“What of it, Elias?” Deborah asked. “Are you going to kill me now?”

With a roar, Elias arched an arm back.

“Stop!” I yelled.

But Elias wasn’t listening. His arm swung outward as Deborah dodged the blow. Immediately, the Community women went to assist their leader. Lyn made no move to help.

At that moment, Anna jerked the control stick, throwing everyone off balance. Elias clattered to the floor, rolling near me.

I might not get another chance. It was time to fight.

I crawled over to Elias, placing my gun at the side of his head. Michael joined me in pulling him to the ground.

The bridge righted itself, and it was a moment before the Community women realized what I had done.

I used Elias’s body as a shield and kept the gun trained on his temple.

“Alright,” I said. “This ends now.”

Every Community member with a gun instantly aimed it at me. I had no idea what I was doing, or how I could keep this up.

“I need everyone off this bridge!” I said.

The women’s eyes glanced between me and their leader, wondering what to do.

“It’s alright,” Elias said softly, almost vulnerably. “You may leave me. I only want you all to be safe.”

“No!” Lyn stepped forward. Grudge raised his gun at her.

“My dear Lyn,” Elias said. “Please step away. It shall all go according to the Ascension. Askala shall provide for our escape.”

Lyn’s eyes implored, but in the end, she stepped back. I held back a sigh of relief.

“Come on,” she said to the others. “It is in the Voice’s hands now.”

Her words chilled me — I didn’t know if she was referring to Elias or to the entity that was controlling Elias. If Elias was truly Radaskim, then why would Chaos have attacked us? Maybe it attacked because it knew we were on board, and Elias and the Community were a fair price for our deaths. It was the only answer I could think of, at any rate.

The others gazed at Lyn, unsure. At Elias’s final nod, they left the bridge one by one. I wondered what made them so willing to do this — as if they truly believed I would go through with my threat. If I did end up killing Elias, then they would just in turn kill all of us.

Finally, Elias was left behind on the bridge with us, along with Deborah and Ada. Ashton pressed a button on the dash, which caused the door to the bridge to hiss shut.

I thought about pulling the trigger right then and there, but we couldn’t do that yet — not until we found out what had happened to Makara, and whether we’d be getting any backup when the Community attacked us upon Elias’s death.

“Can they do any kind of damage from back there?” I asked.

Ashton shrugged. “We’re in control of the ship, so they would have to get into ship’s security and override my security code.”

“Which we did,” Deborah said.

“Admittedly,” Ashton said. “This is but a temporary solution.”

“What about Makara?” Julian asked, impatient. “We can’t just…”

Ashton held up a hand, gazing ahead. Still the cloud of fallout spread outward, percolating into the air.

“Julian is right,” Ashton said. “We need to find her.”

We flew back in the direction where the explosion had taken place. All the while, the radio was silent.

“Makara, this is Aeneas,” Anna said. “Do you read me? Please give your location. Over.”

As the minutes crawled on, Michael took over my position of guarding Elias. The cult leader simply knelt, his knees on the deck and hands over his head. His brown eyes regarded everyone almost emotionlessly. But they were intent, focusing. Seeking any weakness. He reminded me of a caged predator.