“Everyone, hold on,” Timothy said over the public address system. “We’re leaving this monster-infested hellhole.”
The ship continued to ascend, but the thumps from Sirens banging on the hull only grew louder and more frequent.
Les got up on his knees and looked at the new faces in the launch bay. The thirty-odd people from the bunker were all looking at him and Michael. The kids were wailing; the adults just stared. Several had taken off their plastic masks, revealing shocked and mystified faces.
A crack sounded across the launch bay as a Siren slammed its clawed fist against one of the portholes. Another beast head-butted the glass over and over until it cracked in a bloody halo.
“Faster, Timothy!” Les yelled.
“Activating thrusters,” replied the AI.
The ship jumped forward, rattling the launch bay. Les tried to keep his balance, but the acceleration shoved him back down to the deck.
Screams rang out around him.
“Everyone, hang on!” Magnolia yelled.
The ship climbed, the nose spearing through the clouds. A Siren’s eyeless face filled a porthole, slamming against it before being ripped away into the darkness.
Discovery gained altitude and speed, and one by one, the Sirens outside were peeled off the hull.
“Almost clear,” Timothy reported.
Lightning flashed outside the portholes, capturing a single Siren still holding onto the hull. Its black hole of a mouth opened, smearing spittle across the window, where it froze.
And then it was gone, torn away into the sky.
“All clear,” Timothy said.
Les heaved a sigh of relief. “Timothy, see if you can find the Sea Wolf. I’m not going home without her and the two men who might still be alive down there.”
“Roger that, Captain,” replied the AI.
Michael clapped Les on the back. “Thanks, Captain,” he said. “Thanks for coming down here after us.”
“Thanks for saving my ass,” Les said. He almost smiled, but that somehow felt like disrespect toward all who had died on this journey.
But they had succeeded in part of their mission, anyway.
Les checked on the people from the bunker. They were safe now, and soon they would see sunshine, but they were busy enough trying to wrap their minds around the inconceivable present. Most of them appeared to be in shock. The medical team and technicians fanned out to check them for injuries.
Alfred had already put a blanket over the militia soldier killed by the bone beast. The bone spear lay on the deck beside him, its sharp end covered in blood. Les said a silent prayer for the man and moved over to help the living.
The doors to the passage outside the launch bay opened, and Layla ran inside. Michael slung his laser rifle and ran over to meet her. They embraced in the center of the room.
“Timothy, I need you to translate for me in the launch bay,” Les said. He took his helmet off and stood in front of the survivors huddled on the floor.
Timothy’s hologram emerged, offering a warm smile.
Les pointed at his own armored chest and said, “My name is Captain Les Mitchells.” Then to Timothy, he said, “Tell them this airship is called Discovery, and it is taking them to their new home.”
Michael pulled away from Layla and walked over, holding her hand. He smiled wider than Les had ever seen him smile.
“Do you want to say something?” Les asked.
Michael nodded. “Timothy, ask them if they are ready to see the sun.”
X awoke on a boat thumping over the waves. Ton, Victor, and Lieutenant Sloan were with him, all of them wearing the same worried look. Another militia soldier piloted the boat toward the capitol rig.
Sloan looked down and said something, but X couldn’t hear her over the motor. He tried to remember why his body was covered in blood. The sight of an arrow sticking out of his upper chest brought back a flood of memories from the Purple Pearl.
They came crashing over him like waves. He recalled the ambush and the brutal fight that followed. And then he remembered how it ended, with Rhino dying in his arms after promising to watch over him always.
A platoon of militia soldiers had stormed into the Purple Pearl not long after Rhino took his last breath. The gunshots had also attracted Colonel Forge and a small army of Cazadores.
What happened after that was fuzzy in his mind. He vaguely remembered Sloan, Ton, and Victor carrying him through a back alley, where his memories ended.
“What happened to Mac and Felipe?” X said.
Fear stabbed his heart, questions swarming his mind. Had the militia soldiers engaged the Cazadores? Had he just started the war he was trying so hard to prevent?
He tried to sit up, but Sloan pushed him back to the deck and said something that he couldn’t hear. Ton and Victor both tightened their grip on his legs and arms to keep him down.
“No, move, King,” Victor said. “Please.”
Looking up at the blue sky, X tried to calm his thumping heart. He could hardly see out of one eye, and he was pretty sure he had a broken rib. And, of course, there were the stab wounds and the arrows.
Sloan pulled out her radio and brought it to her mouth. X tried to listen and managed to make out a few things. Something about Captain Mitchells and Discovery.
X sat up and grunted. “Tell me what the hell is going on, damn it.”
Sloan, Ton, and Victor looked down at him with varying expressions of disbelief.
“Samson is in contact with Captain Mitchells,” Sloan said. “That’s all I know.”
“What about Mac and Felipe and the militia?”
Sloan pointed to the back of the boat. X twisted, wincing in pain, and saw the two men sitting in the back, getting patched up by two militia soldiers.
“And Colonel Forge?” X asked. He was hoping the scene of death in the Purple Pearl would look like what it was: a power struggle between Rhino and Vargas. He was also hoping Rhino’s sacrifice would help bury the hatchet between the sky people and the Cazadores, especially now that Colonel Vargas and General Santiago were dead.
Though he had been too thick to realize it until now, it at last dawned on X that Rhino had been trying to do just that—and had paid the ultimate price making it happen.
Sloan brought her radio back up, this time talking to Sergeant Wynn. Her voice trailed off, or maybe X just couldn’t hear her. He grimaced from a fresh wave of pain.
“Wynn has the situation under control,” Sloan finally said. “There’s been no further fighting.”
The news filled X with energy, and he sat up straighter, the lapse in pain allowing him to focus his mind. The boat glided through the open door of the marina under the capitol tower.
A group of people waited on the pier inside.
Dr. Huff was among them. He climbed into the boat, carrying a bag. For a moment, he simply looked at X.
“What the heck happened to you, Xavier?” he finally asked.
“He made a mess, that’s what,” Sloan said.
“I need to get up to the command center and talk to Captain Mitchells,” X said.
“Sir, all due respect, but you need to get to the medical ward, pronto,” Huff said. “You have arrows in your chest and arm!”
X looked down again at his wounds. Bandages covered most of them, but the arrows were still in his flesh.
A memory of Rhino being stabbed over and over flashed across his mind. Gritting his teeth, X grabbed the end of the arrow and broke off all but the first four or five inches protruding from his right arm.
“I’ll be fine,” he growled. “Now, help me up.”
Huff looked at him in awe. “Sir, you need—”
“Take care of Felipe and Mac, and then hide them,” X said. He looked over at Sloan. “Let’s go, Lieutenant.”