Kyle West - Revelation

After I was finished, everyone sat in silence. Julian’s brown eyes held a dazed look from the information overload. Everyone had a question or two of his or her own, and I did my best to answer. It was a lot of information, and I wasn’t even sure I understood it all.

“That’s quite the bit of news there,” Ashton said. “And yet, the pieces fit. As soon as I saw that dragon — that Askala, I should say — I thought you were controlling him. But the fact that you are connected to that Askala through the Elekai xenovirus makes more sense.”

Everyone looked at the doctor, surprised that he had made that pronouncement.

“There is still so much to be discovered about the xenovirus,” Ashton said. “But I think the greatest piece of evidence supporting the existence of the Elekai and the Radaskim is that second Voice. The one we silenced when we killed the Xenolith.”

“I had no idea that…” Makara began.

“None of us did,” Ashton said. “We were right to consider it a threat. Still, it would not make sense for there to be two Voices — two Xenominds — controlling the same side. The entire time, the second Voice was in direct opposition to the first.” Ashton paused. “As Makara said, we had no idea.”

“The Wanderer called it ‘the Dark Voice,’” I said. “Maybe we can say the same thing to differentiate between the two.”

“How do we know these Elekai aren’t the bad ones?” Rey asked.

“They would have killed me a long time ago,” I said. “Why would they bother to show me all this information if they were just going to kill me?”

Rey shrugged, apparently satisfied at that answer.

“Then, the Blighters came,” Boss Dragon said, resigned. “You guys had no idea what you were messing with.”

“No, we didn’t,” Ashton said. “But now, we have our answer. Perhaps too late.”

“It’s not too late yet,” I said. “We have our newest ally now — the Elekai . Together, we can be strong enough to push back against the Radaskim . We can stop the invasion if you guys can get me to Ragnarok Crater. I have to find Askala, the Radaskim Xenomind, the Dark Voice. It’s the only way to stop them.”

“No,” Anna said. “You are not going to kamikaze yourself on Askala. We’re going to find another way.” She looked around at everyone at the table. “Right?”

No one answered Anna. It wasn’t a good sign.

“We have more important priorities for the moment,” Rey said. “We need food. Water. Shelter. We’ve been camped here for two days. My eastern patrols are finding more and more crawlers breaking away from the xenoswarm.” He looked at Makara, hard. “This cannot go on. Soon, they will grow bored of that feast that used to be our home. They are going to come after us.”

Rey gestured at everyone at the table. No one denied the truth of his words.

“What do we do, then?” Boss Dragon asked. For a moment, the former enmity of the two gang lords was forgotten. They were on the same side now.

“Pyrite is another day out,” Makara said. “Now that everyone is here, we can set off in the morning. We can pick up whatever people want to come with us there, and they can join the Exodus.”

The Exodus. That was new. So that was what they were calling this now. Maybe they had been this entire time, ever since we’d left the ruins of Vegas behind.

“We have other problems,” Michael said. “The Reds are still out there. When we left by the western gates, that entire side of town was vacated.”

“Where do you think they went?” Char asked.

“My guess?” Michael asked. “They probably went south to throw in their lot with Augustus.”

I glanced at Rey, to see his reaction. It was not a move I would put past him or his gang, either, if it came to that. His face, however, remained blank.

“That is something the Reds would do,” Boss Dragon said. “We picked up some of their slaves on our way here. They said as much. The Reds took their bikes and rode off, even while we were fighting for our lives inside the walls.”

“There’s still so much to do,” Makara said. “And no time to do it in.” She sighed. “But Rey is right. We have to take care of our own, first. We can reconvene when we make sure our people aren’t starving and freezing.”

“That will be difficult,” Char said. “It is cold. And getting colder.”

“Anything that affects us will affect Augustus’s army as well,” I said. “Unlike us, they are not used to this cold. The attrition might send his army back before we have the chance to.”

“I wouldn’t count on such luck, kid,” Ashton said. “Augustus is a planner, and would have accounted for this. I checked on his position while in the air, and they are still marching up the Mexican coast. If it’s too cold by the time they get here, which should be in February or so, they’ll probably hole up in Colossus, their farthest-north colony. That’s at the mouth of the Colorado, so it’s just a stone’s throw from us. However long they end up taking, there’s still not much time to work with.”

“The best plan would be to find a place to shelter,” I said. “Somewhere large enough to fit two thousand people until the weather warms.”

“There is no such place,” Makara said.

“There is one,” Michael said.

At first, I was the only one who knew what he was talking about. And it was a place I never in a million years wanted to return to.

“It’s on the way to Los Angeles,” he said. “It is still far — about two hundred miles — but it is our closest, most realistic option.”

Makara’s face blanched when she realized what Michael was talking about.

“Even Bunker 108 isn’t perfect,” I said. “It was only designed for five hundred people. We have two thousand.”

“Who says that two thousand are even going to make it that far?” Rey asked.

“That’s a fair point,” Ashton said. “But we can speed things up by using the spaceships. The main Exodus can head southwest, going as fast as it can. Meanwhile, Gilgamesh and Odin can start ferrying people over. The first group will contain the best fighters, who will have the job of going in and clearing out the Bunker, making it safe to use. Anyone else who comes along can start doing cleanup. I say it’s a week before we have everyone over there.”

“A week?” Boss Dragon asked. “That’s not so bad.”

“But how will we fit everyone in there?” I asked. “It’s way too small.”

“People don’t have to stay in the dorms,” Ashton said. “There is plenty of floor space, such as the commons and the cafeteria, which can both be used. And it’s only temporary — to wait out the weather until we can start fresh in late spring.”

“Spring?” Makara asked.

It seemed so far away. But with winter coming on and two thousand people to care for, many of them already weak, what other choice did we have? And a lot of what we did depended on Augustus. If he charged into the Wasteland in winter, we would have no choice but to face him.

But sheltering in Bunker 108 was a bad idea, for many reasons.

“There should still be plenty of food and supplies in the Bunker. My main fear is the xenovirus. Even if we clean everything up, all it takes is one person to get sick for all to come crashing down.”

Ashton looked at me. “I didn’t realize how bad it was. Did the attack happen in every part of the Bunker, or just certain parts? We could avoid the infected areas.”

“It was pretty much everywhere. If everyone there is infected or dead, who knows how many Howlers we’ll have to deal with?”