Kyle West - Revelation

“Holy shit,” Michael said. “You are seriously a badass among badasses. You’re not that same sixteen-year-old kid I took on his first stroll in the Wasteland.”

“I’ve changed a lot,” I said. “But all of what I told you leads up to why we’re here in the first place. Augustus is moving out with his army to conquer the Wasteland. The bulk of it won’t get here for a while, but there’s a good chance that the faster part will — the part that has vehicles and horses. Ashton has his own spaceship, called the Gilgamesh . He has his own errands to run right now, otherwise you’d have met him. But Ashton keeps us up to date on Augustus’s movements.”

“So, that’s why you’re recruiting?” Michael asked. “To stop Augustus?”

I nodded. “We won’t stand a chance against him unless we are united. Adding to the complexity is the fact that Carin Black is on his side.”

“The Black Reapers are allied with the Empire?” Michael asked.

“As far as we know. Augustus led us to believe as much, so that is the current thought process. We hope to have all the Vegas gangs behind us, at which point we’ll pick up anyone else willing to help along the way.”

“Along the way? Along the way to where ?”

“To Los Angeles.”

Michael whistled. “That’s a little ambitious.”

“It has to be done,” I said. “We need to take out Black before the Empire arrives. Together, they will be unstoppable. And if we free the L.A. slaves, we’ll have a much larger army for it.”

Michael didn’t say anything for a while. I had given him a lot of information, and it would take time for him to make complete sense of it. Indeed, I had left a lot of information out , but I felt that I had given him enough to go on — at least, for now.

“I will do whatever I can to help you,” Michael said. “But it won’t be easy. If everything you say is true, then we need to get Makara to that meeting.”

“We should go, then,” Anna said.

We got up from the fountain, and walked away from the MGM Grand. Now lit, albeit dully, the ruin of the city was all more apparent. Las Vegas Boulevard was empty — we were the only three walking along it, though it was midmorning. It was something to be thankful for. For now, the gangsters were in their fortresses, which meant we could walk unimpeded down the dusty Strip. The hotels and casinos fell behind us, empty, forlorn, abandoned, layered with grime and dirt.

A massive, faded advertisement spread above the Strip itself, covering an enclosed bridge over the street between two of the newer casinos. It showed a man and woman wearing IUI glasses. IUI, shorthand for Immersive User Interface, had become increasingly prevalent beginning in the late 2010’s. Such technology of the past was amazing to think about — glasses that displayed information, in real time, about whatever object the user happened to be looking at. Such power seemed unreal. If I found a pair of those glasses today, even if they hadn’t been stripped of the batts, they would be useless. There were no more wireless networks to feed that information, no more information clouds to store all human knowledge. The only clouds now were the ones above, angry and red and perpetually blanketing the cold, bare Earth. If Ragnarok hadn’t come, who knows that kind of world I might have been born into?

“You seem contemplative,” Anna said.

“Just thinking about how much we’ve lost.”

She nodded, pointing to the sign above. “I’d be caught dead before wearing a pair of those.”

“Come on. You have to admit they are kind of cool.”

“Whoever heard of a Google, anyway?” Anna asked. “These Old Worlders were very strange.” She looked at me and smiled. “I’d rather look someone in the eye and judge that person for myself, rather than have some machine decide for me.”

Anna did have a point. We walked further down the Strip, still empty of potential threats. I turned to Michael.

“So, when are you going to join with the New Angels?”

I had meant it somewhat jokingly, but Michael took the question seriously.

“I don’t know. I would like to, but my allegiance is with the Dragons. They gave me a home and protection, and it’s because of them that I’m alive. That doesn’t mean I can’t help you guys out, though.”

I didn’t see how Michael could be okay with working for a man who was known for violence, even if that man was more reasonable than I had expected him to be. I wanted Michael to realize that his place was with us. Then again, this was part of who Michael was. He was a soldier, and a good one. He was used to following orders, and was perfectly content with that. Such dedication, such simplicity in his way of looking at the world, was enviable. That dedication and loyalty to the cause was why Chan had appointed him an officer.

If Makara proved herself a better leader than Boss Dragon, then maybe Michael would join us.

“There is one thing I can let you know, though.”

“What’s that?”

“It’s not much, but I can show you where I left that Recon.”

“Yeah,” I said, smiling. “That’s not much at all.”

After getting our weapons back, we exited the Sunset Gate, walking up the slope of the overpass to where Odin had landed. The Exiles’ bikes were lined up against the left-hand guardrail, and at the end of the line, I saw Marcus tinkering with his own bike’s motor.

“What are you doing?” I asked.

“Replacing the hydrogen fuel line,” he said.

I looked down at the motor, noticing there was a miniaturized pressure tank filled with several gallons of water.

“Do all the bikes run on hydrogen?” I asked.

Marcus nodded. “Conventional gasoline has a short shelf life, and is hard to come by. That’s why any vehicle worth anything burns hydrogen.” Marcus tapped the bike. “Pearl has been with me ten years now.”

“Pearl?” Anna asked, a smile on her lips.

“That’s her name,” Marcus said, proudly. “But I got to get rolling. Me and some of the boys are doing some recon.”

I wondered at the need of a recon at this point. It could have been just as simple as Marcus needing something to do. Or, more likely, he needed the excuse to get away from his brother.

“Good luck,” I said.

“How did things go in town?” Marcus asked, mounting his bike.

I shrugged. “I got attacked by a Howler, but at least Boss Dragon agreed to set up a meeting. I guess it could have gone worse.”

Marcus chuckled. “Guess so.”

“We’re meeting, probably, this afternoon,” I said. “You might want to get back before that.”

Marcus stared off into the distance, his sunglasses obscuring his eyes. “I’ll try, but we haven’t done any recon on the west side, yet. If the Reds are in town at that time, then it might be our chance to find something out.”

“Be careful,” Anna said.

Marcus started the engine with a roar, the high thrumming of the hydrogen tank sounding strange and otherworldly against the deeper sound. “Keep your wits about you, Alex.”

Before Char kicked off, Anna spoke. “Is Char in the Gilgamesh?”

Marcus didn’t answer, either because he didn’t hear or because he didn’t want to. Instead, he swerved his bike around, bringing up a cloud of dust, and headed down the overpass. Upon seeing their leader leave, six more Exiles rushed to their bikes, started them up, and left us in their dust.

“Well, there’s our answer,” I said.

Anna, realizing that Char was likely here, ran to the ship.

I turned to Michael. “She hasn’t seen Char in several months.”

“Neither have you, for that matter.”