The Children of New Earth (23 page)

“Well, this is awkward,” Micah said. “I guess, uh, let’s carry on then?”

I wasn’t sure if the others were disappointed or relieved. I knew Rachel and Aaron definitely frustrated.

“We’ll stay with you until you reach the airport,” A Beta Neogen offered.

“Much appreciated,” Micah responded. “Let’s move out. Be on your guard.”

We walked down the long road, half expecting a Minotaur to come charging out of the trees or the sinister cry of a Siren to corrupt everyone’s mind. But nothing happend. We reached the field without an incident, and then decided to let the Beta Team return to Sanctuary.

“I think this is far enough,” Micah said. “There’s no sign of danger, we can make the rest of the way.”

“Agreed. I can see the airport from here,” Michael concurred. “Best of luck Alpha Team.”

We said our goodbyes and the twenty of us began our trek across the field. The air was thick and humid, and most of the grass was flattened. Something had definitely been here recently. Why they’d left was anyone’s guess.

We finally reached the airport after about half a mile. It consisted of a large hangar, outside of which stood a single airplane. It was a dark green color with a large, rectangular body and broad wings. The rear of the plane had a ramp that would close inward upon take-off. We assumed it was most likely a military aircraft. Micah sent the flyers to have a look around, while the rest of us cautiously approached the plane.

We stepped inside through the back ramp. Circular windows lined the walls, upon which hung various packs and equipment. Seats were set up on either side of the cabin, and a set of bay doors lay on the floor. Straight ahead was an opening that led to the cockpit. All of us had flight training, thanks to a few rounds in the VRC, but we agreed to let Micah and Aaron be the pilot and co-pilot, respectively. We all got settled and strapped in as Jared and the others returned.

“So, don’t panic now,” he said.

“Is it a Swarm?!” Aaron asked hopefully.

“Is it a Minotaur?!” Rachel added.

“No no, it’s - “

“Is it a Dragon?!” Lynn jumped up.

“No it’s - wait - yeah…yeah it’s a very large Dragon. Fast asleep in the hanger.”

“I got this,” Lynn said.

“No! We’re not risking fights if we don’t have to,” Micah ordered. “The plane is ready, save your strength.”

“But - “

“You are not a child, and this is a serious mission. Stand down.”

She did what she was ordered to but under protest, and the flyers strapped in as well. Micah returned to the cockpit and turned on the power. As she did so, a voice spoke over the plane’s intercom.

Welcome to Air Unit 420. This is your Pilot, courtesy of Eltech’s Military Division.

“What the - “

Oil reserves at half capacity. Approximately 4000 miles remaining. What is your destination?

“This plane has a 3rd generation AI installed, the latest firmware since before the war,” Mark informed us. “I can interface with it if you want a more familiar voice.”

“It’s fine, we might need you for something else,” Micah said. “Let’s chart a course for Dubai.”

The voice paused for a moment.
My records show there is an airstrip available for landing just outside the city limits of Dubai, United Arab Emirates. Please confirm.

“Confirm.”

Yes, ma’am. Route distance: 3529 miles. Prepare for take off.

“Well, so much for all my flight training.”

The engine roared to life, and a low humming sound filled our ears.

Running plane diagnostics. Please standby.

Various lights blinked around the cabin, and beeps and tones played near the cockpit. But after a few minutes of this, the bay doors hadn’t closed yet.

“Hey, uh, Pilot?” I said. “The doors are still open.”

I am detecting a jam in the apparatus. Please standby.

We weren’t moving, but the engine was still running. I began to feel uneasy with all the noise. We went to check out the jam, but I couldn’t see anything.

“Friends, I see it,” Aaron said, unbuckling his belt. We still couldn’t see anything, so we let Aaron go in and deal with it. Just as he approached, there was a crash outside, followed by a metallic screech. Then, we heard the unmistakable roar of a Dragon.

“Finally some action,” Rachel said, preparing her Orb.

“Mark, take care of the door,” Aaron said.

The Dragon would almost certainly fly after us if we took off. Knowing this, we stepped out of the plane and prepared to fight, giving Mark time to fix the jam. The Dragon roared again, but this time it was overlapped by another, and then another.

We took one step backward before the walls of the hangar suddenly burst open, and four Dragons emerged onto the runway.

“YOU SAID THERE WAS ONE, JARED!” Cora exclaimed.

“IT WAS DARK I THOUGHT IT WAS JUST ONE REALLY BIG ONE!”

“ARE YOU KIDDING ME?”

“I’M SORRY!”

“Guys, c’mon,” Aaron said calmly. “It’s twenty supernaturally badass Neogens against four Dragons,” Aaron said.

“You know what,” Micah said. “You’re right. Formations, everyone!”

The Dragons approached side by side, slowly spreading out as if to flank us. We responded by standing in a large circle, psychokinetics in front and supports behind. Then, without warning, the Dragon to our left unleashed a ball of fire. Fortunately, it stopped cold in front of an invisible shield cast by a Neogen.

To counter, two pyrokinetics stepped forward and retaliated with their own blast of fire. The flames advanced in a cone, rapidly growing and engulfing the Dragon in flames. Our advantage only lasted a few seconds before the Dragon spread its wings wide and dissipated the orb of fire around it, standing on its hind legs. It then landed with a crash on the ground, and in a blinding attack, picked up one of the Neogens that had attacked it and swallowed him whole. It clawed at the other one, knocking him aside with intense force.

“Careful now! Aim behind the left horn, same as before!” Aaron yelled.

Suddenly, with a sharp inhale, each Dragon released an ocean of fire at our position. Cora and two others quickly summoned a layer of shields, and we found ourselves trapped in a prison of flame, bombarded by a storm of hot air. I had my knife and I knew their vulnerability, but the only problem was that even if I could stop time, I was surrounded by an inferno.

One of the pyrokinetics tried to part the wall of flame before us. He opened up a corridor of flame and attempted to widen the opening to allow for an escape. But he was only able to hold it for a few seconds before it snapped back shut, releasing a burst of wind and knocking us back.

The others fired their weapons at will, and Rachel was forced to use her Orb defensively. There was no way Isaac could even hope to provide a distraction like last time; he’d be burnt to a crisp within seconds. Just then, when it seemed that there was no escape, Lynn cried out.

“Cora, now!

Reading her mind, Cora triggered a kinetic wave from her shield. Having absorbed an immense amount of heat energy, the pulse exploded outward in a wide arc, interrupting the rush of flames and stunning the Demons momentarily. Immediately, Lynn ran head first into the two Dragons directly ahead of us. We thought she was suicidal, but then we saw the smoke emanate from her body, and her skin began to turn a pale white color. Suddenly, in a flash of bright light, Lynn transformed into a massive Dragon, twice as big as our enemies. She glided forward and tackled two of them hard into the pavement.

This recovery was exactly what we needed. Aaron and the others targeted the Dragon to our left. Rachel molded her Orb around her arm and ran fast at the other. It snapped its jaws at her but she swiftly ducked right. Jared then swooped in, picked her up, and dropped her directly on top of the Dragon’s head. Upon landing, she buried her Orb deep into the beast’s temple, just beneath the left horn. She then dropped to the ground and extended her arm, palm down, pushing the Orb further into the Dragon’s skull. The Demon roared in pain, thrashing around violently as we all watched. Once the Orb completely disappeared into the Demon’s flesh, Rachel turned her palm up, then crunched her hand into a fist, causing the Dragon’s head to explode in a splatter of blood and brain matter. Rachel retrieved the Orb and telekinetically purged it of any Demon residue; the whole attack was orchestrated in a matter of seconds. However, Rachel stumbled forward and dropped to her knees, clearly exhausted from the feat she’d seemingly accomplished so easily.

I glanced at Lynn’s fight for a moment. She was keeping one of them at bay by releasing bursts of blue fire into its face. As she did so, she clawed and bit at the other, roaring angrily with each attack.

I turned to the Dragon to my left. Lynn seemed to have the other two handled, but this one was proving to be a bit difficult for the others. I approached as quickly as I could to lend a hand, unsheathing my knife which glowed purple as I held it, and waited for an opening to use my power. One of the teleporters was trying to get a good shot at the Dragon’s horn, but no matter what position he blinked to, he couldn't land a hit. The Dragon seemed to be intent on catching on Olivia, who would appear momentarily, attempt an attack, then retreat back into invisibility.

However, one of these times, she wasn’t fast enough and the Dragon threw a quick uppercut with its claws. It seemed to pierce thin air, and everyone turned their heads when they heard a sharp thud. Then, slowly, Olivia’s body materialized around the claw, hanging limp and lifeless. I froze for a moment, watching in horror as the Dragon cruelly smashed her body against the pavement. It then lowered its head and aimed for another, but before it could strike again, I inhaled sharply and everything around me stopped moving. I ran up to the Dragon, jumped onto its neck, and firmly stabbed the area just beneath its left horn. I released control of time, and as the Demon fell to the ground, I steadfastly held the dagger in place, maintaining balance by using the hilt. When I was sure the beast was dead, I ripped out my weapon, and took a deep breath.

We then turned our attention to Lynn. She had already dispatched of one Dragon by savagely tearing its throat out, but the other was being quite stubborn. I could see a number of scratches on her neck and back, where her scales had been savagely ripped away by her adversaries. Finally, she gave the beast a firm scratch to the face, stunning for it a moment. She used this opening to take the Dragon’s head in her massive jaws and bite it clean off.

She released the Demon’s corpse and growled lightly as she turned to us. We knew it was her, but by some instinct we took a few steps back. Though she was a Demon, her eyes were a light brown instead of black. Her scales glinted in the sunlight, and rather than two horns, she had five, rising like a crown over her head. Her claws were long and curved, not short and crude, and her neck was almost twice as long as a normal Dragon. I didn’t know where she learned to transform like that. Perhaps hours of practice coupled with seeing more than a few live Dragons triggered something in her. Regardless, I was both impressed and grateful.

We relaxed a little when she began to shrink and return to human form. I expected her to be exhausted and weak from her injuries, but all she did was stretch for a moment and blink a few times before looking around.

“Did we really lose that many?” she asked.

The bodies of our fallen comrades lay all around us, including Olivia’s. We’d lost five people. One of the flyers had a broken wing, two other Neogens had severe burns, and quite a few others, though unscathed physically, had sustained more psychological injuries. Swarms and Minotaurs were one thing. But only now did we realize how truly outmatched some of us were against the more elite Dragons. If only we had the rest of the Neogens helping us, perhaps this would’ve turned out differently.

“We need to get the wounded back to Sanctuary,” one Neogen said.

“And the bodies,” another said, voice quivering. “We can’t leave them here.”

“OK,” Micah agreed. “Any volunteers?”

A few raised their hands, and we allowed them to return, making sure they knew we respected their decision. Now, our group consisted of Rachel, Aaron, Cora, Lynn, Isaac, Micah, Raphael, Jared, and myself. We had a wide range of abilities, and though not ideal, we’d have to manage with what we were given.

No one said a word as we entered the plane and strapped in. Mark had aided the Pilot in removing the piece of debris jamming the doors, Micah and Lynn headed up to the cockpit, despite the fact that the plane was mostly going to fly itself. The door closed, and the plane took off without any problems. A few minutes into the flight, the voice spoke again.

Hello, this is your Pilot speaking. We are en route to Dubai with a flight time of seven hours and fifty-two minutes. I have no mission log stored for this destination, please refer to your commanding officer for briefing. You are free to move about the cabin, but in case of turbulence, malfunction, or enemy incursion, please adhere to the instructions given to you by either myself or your superiors. That is all for now.

I looked out of a window as we flew over the shimmering ocean. The waves looked like tiny ripples from up here, and there was no discernible barrier between the sea and the sky. Hypnotized by the blue landscape, I hardly noticed the distortion in the water, a swirling circle expanding and interrupting the flow of the waves. Only when it grew much larger did I finally see it, watching as the water inside the spiral grow darker and darker.

“Um, what is that?” I asked.

The others looked out the windows on my side of the plane. Seeing this from thousands of feet in the air, the disturbance must’ve been huge.

“I’ve read about those,” Cora said anxiously. “I-I think it’s just a whirlpool.”

The moment she finished that sentence, the whirlpool erupted into a massive explosion, sending gallons of water flying into the air. Just then, a gigantic beast with black, reptilian skin emerged from the surface, its colossal body rising up from the depths. It was humanoid from the waist up, but with pincers for hands and scaly pauldrons resting upon its shoulders. It’s head was that of a hammerhead shark; dull, rectangular horns jutted out on either side. From below, powerful, thick tentacles the size of skyscrapers shot out of the water, glistening in the sunlight and spraying thick mists of water as they danced along the ocean surface. It was difficult to judge size from this distance and without a reference point, but my best estimate put the height of its torso at several thousand feet.