Hosein Kouros-Mehr - Extinction 6

Shit, time is running out.

He pulls on the shackles with all his force and waves of pain tear across his arms. He struggles to break free and scrapes his wrists on the metal cuffs.

That hurts!

Fighting through the terror, he tries forcefully to free his right hand and opens a deep gash. His arm bleeding and badly bruised, he runs in agony looking for a way to escape the restraints.

Shots fire on the field. Anil looks back to see someone lying on the ground.

Dr. Sanders!

Startled, he sprints to the accelerator and finds an electrical saw on a workstation. He flips it on and the razor-sharp teeth spin at high speed. His heart racing, he turns around and slowly lowers the handcuff chain onto the blades.

Relax, you can do this.

A loud snap echoes off the wall as Anil splits his cuffs in two. Breathing relief, he races through the lab looking for the titanium canisters, finding nothing. Running from table to table, he trips and falls hard on the ground, curling into a ball and suffering in silence.

God, help me.

Writhing in misery, he spots a briefcase nearby. He crawls on his knees and grabs the bag. His hands shaking, he reaches inside and pulls out a six-inch cartridge.

Here it is.

He gets up and scans the X10 interface looking for a spot to insert the titanium. The device appears to be off. Anil pushes several buttons but there is no response. He looks up to the clock.

5:12, 5:11, 5:10…

Panicked, he bangs on the instrument and kicks its metal stand but only hurts himself more. As the countdown ticks away, he remembers that it runs on a mobile operating system and he did not load the software on his smartglasses.

Oh no, I can’t even turn this on!

He leans over the accelerator and sobs. Blood drips from his hand to the floor.

We failed…

Suddenly the device rumbles and a capsule door opens. He jumps as a message arrives in his field of view. “Load the canister, Anil. I’ll activate the X10 remotely.”

Anil jolts up. “Dr. Sanders, you’re alive!”

“Hurry, turn on the laser!”

He inserts the gas canister and closes the door. An electric whir reverberates through the hangar as the titanium ions accelerate at high speeds.

4:32, 4:31, 4:30…

His heart racing, he dashes across the warehouse and climbs a set of stairs to the command center. He glances outside and sees the soldiers standing at attention.

I hope they don’t see me.

He enters the office and finds a touchscreen display with rows of icons. Breathing frantically, he scans the monitor for the activation sequence and makes random selections, unable to turn on the laser.

3:19, 3:18, 3:17…

A message arrives from Austin. “Hit Command, Neodymium, 100%, Activate in that order.”

Anil nervously browses through the options looking for “Command.” Seconds later, he finds it and presses it. A window pops up with twenty additional fields.

Calm down. Do this for Lumi.

He pushes “Neodymium” and then raises the level to “100%.”

“Confirm power-on,” an A.I. voice requests.

Anil presses “Activate” and the console flashes. “System warming.” He runs out and spots the laboratory’s lights flicker as the laser warms up.

Will it be ready in time?

He looks to the timer.

2:45, 2:44, 2:43…

“Hurry, turn on!” he yells.

The warehouse shakes when a generator kicks in and activates the ray to full strength. A faint red beam strikes the reactor’s outer zirconium shell and smoke rises to the ceiling.

Two minutes before the wave hits.

Rhythmic thuds bounce off the walls. The familiar metallic smell drifts through the air as the laser intersects the titanium field in the gravity engine. Anil looks around and notices a hole in the wall near the transformer.

His heart drops.

I forgot to connect the high voltage lines!

A soldier shouts from the field. “Someone’s inside!”

Shit.

Anil turns to find paratroopers storming the hangar. A shot fires and blasts through the ceiling.

1:51, 1:50, 1:49…

“Stop where you are!”

Anil races frantically towards the transformer and finds a thick black cable twelve inches in diameter, its exposed end lying on the ground.

We were supposed to connect this to the other end!

His hands shaking and the paratroopers closing in, he grabs the ultra-high-voltage line and sprints towards the crevice, dragging meters of wire along the floor behind him.

“Get your hands in the air!” a soldier yells.

A bullet ricochets off the reactor and Anil falls to the floor.

1:11, 1:10, 1:09…

Looking through the opening, he scans the area for the power plant and finds nothing, then desperately clutches the cord and leaps from the building, landing on the outdoor concrete. Clenching his jaw in pain, he gets up and runs through a dirt patch.

“He’s escaping. Shoot him!”

A shot rings out and birds flock from a utility pole. Anil ducks and rushes aimlessly in search of the partner cable, struggling to hold onto the line.

We can’t all die this way.

A message arrives. “Hurry, Anil, the wave is about to hit.”

Anil scurries across the field in search of the missing end. Suddenly he hears a snap and tumbles on the ground as the cord reaches its full length. Frazzled, he crawls back and grabs it with the soldiers closing in.

Oh, no, it’s not long enough.

He pulls on the cord but it doesn’t move, stretching taut from the laboratory.

33, 32, 31…

“Anil, connect the reactor to the grid. Hurry!”

A query pops up in his smartglasses. “Accept request from Austin Sanders?”

“Yes!” Anil cries. In his field of view, a blue tracer fans across the dirt field. He gets up and follows the arrow, sprinting as fast as he can and searching the ground in all directions. A rifle goes off and a bullet whizzes by him.

“Stop where you are!” a paratrooper orders.

With the help of the navigator, Anil locates the other high-voltage lead and springs towards it. His arms cramping, he grabs the end and runs back towards the hangar, facing the soldiers head on.

12, 11, 10…

He scurries as he stares down the barrel of a soldier’s gun. “This is your last warning,” the gunman screams.

Anil closes his eyes and races forward as gunshots reverberate across the field. He leaps in the air and lands hard, opening his eyes to find the other cord a few feet away, the junction box at its end open and waiting. The thunderous whir of the laser and accelerator shake the ground.

“He’s still alive. Kill him!”

He frantically crawls forward with the cable in his hand, trying desperately to make the connection.

6, 5, 4…

Covered in dust and sweat, he grabs the link and shoves it in the other end. Sparks fly as a magnetic force snaps the leads together. Suddenly lightning strikes a utility pole and a violent explosion hurls him in the air.

Instantly, the sky brightens and intense daylight glows above the San Francisco Bay Area. The ground teeters and the building tilts forward.

Anil falls feet first and collapses on the swaying earth. His wrist shatters against the ground, leaving him immobilized in pain. Waves of agony rip through his body.

Am I alive?

He tries to open his eyes but a piercing white light blinds him. His ears ringing loudly, he forces his eyes open and spots a mushroom cloud rising to the sky.

“It’s an atomic bomb!” someone hollers. The soldiers cover their eyes from the intense heat.