"Does it feel like it's getting hot in here to you, Five?" Jaime asks, and I shrug, glad to have a bit of a break as we ride the mining rails deeper and deeper down.
"Little bit."
"It will become substantially hotter than that, I'm afraid," Janine replies, which makes me grimace. Not really for my sake, no, but because of the impending danger it holds for the other person with Jaime and me.
"She couldn't have put her base somewhere else, could she?" Jody asks. "Somewhere without basically a live volcano under it."
"Yeah, so actually, I read the mission briefing this time," Sam says a bit sheepishly. "It's not a valcano-valcano. It's an unstable geothermal well. So there."
Jaime still scowls. "Yeah, it is going to be as a hot as a volcano though, isn't it?"
"Basically yeah. So good thing we had a couple of those European Rescue Force suits to use." He sighs. "Shame we only had a couple."
"Yeah," Jody agrees. "It would have been great to send in a team, but you're what we've got."
"Oh, yeah, of course," I say sarcastically. "And because there were only three rescue suits, I'm sure you chose the people most equipped for the job. King Jaime, who once was a part of the European Rescue Force. Me, Head of Runners who has been through terrifying and dangerous missions like this one and has made it out alive. And Milo... my sixteen-year-old son! What the hell were you guys thinking?!"
"You know, it's not nice to talk as if I'm not here," Milo grumbles, shifting slightly. I glare at him, anger and worry and fear nearly bubbling over. I was nearly sent into cardiac arrest while worrying about Sam. With Milo...
Oh, my heart can't take this.
"You know what's also not nice? Sending someone who hasn't had enough experience into an extremely dangerous mission that could get him killed!"
"Mr. Scotts has proven well in the missions he has been on with you," Janine cuts in harshly. "While there are other runners with more experience, they are attending to other jobs. We still have people coming in to aid against the Ministry, and we are trying to make sure there were no other facilities that might be housing any immune mothers and babies. We still do not even know what she has done to any immune men she captured."
"We probably don't want to," Jody replies with a shudder. "Team, that mining rail you're on will only take you another few hundred yards."
Milo nods. "So, Sigrid's on an island?"
"Correct, Mr. Scotts. The Minister is on Fossey Head island. She had planned to use it as a model settlement, but she's retreated there alone," Janine answers, which gets a scoff from Jody.
"Yeah, alone apart from her massive transmitter which she's usin' to contact the Undaunted. You know, I based my transmitter on the plans for the one at Fossey Head. That's why Sigrid wanted the key for it.
"We got the Exmoores to check, obviously, but Sigrid destroyed it the first chance she got. That's the only long-range transmitter within a hundred miles."
"And Fossey Head is surrounded by automated gun turrets," Sam adds, and I would rub my temples if this suit didn't keep me from doing so. "No one but Sigrid's getting in or out that way. But it's supplied with energy by that geothermal well, and there are tunnels leading all the way out under the sea to the island."
"Tunnels that might go volcanic at any minute?" I guess.
"A bit, yeah."
I sigh, closing my eyes and making a personal reminder to tell Janine that I am taking a vacation after this is over.
"You're our only hope of reaching the Minister and preventing her from unleashing nuclear holocaust on the United Kingdom," Janine says, and I see Milo shift nervously. "Protocol states that without a second confirmatory command, the Undaunted will wait an hour before firing. That's all the time you have."
The mine rail comes to a stop.
"Well," Jaime says, "guess this our stop. Come on, Five, Eight. Let's go save the country."
We hop out, starting our run down the tunnel, nothing but quiet sounds of our footsteps and the heat on our skin to keep us company. The heat is alright for now-a little warmer than the weather usually is, but nothing too bad. I can only guess how hot it's going to get though, which makes me even angrier that Milo was allowed to come.
Yesterday he wasn't allowed to go with me, Nadia and Veronica to get A.N.N.I.E. to analyze the cure, but it's totally fine for him to run with me and Jaime in an unstable geothermal well! Because that makes perfect sense!
Yeah, I am most definitely taking a vacation after this. Even if that vacation is just spending an entire week sleeping, I'm taking it.
But for now, we have to make it through. The temperature is rising and will continue to rise, and we have to make it to the island before the heat becomes too much for us to bear. This is literally our only chance to stop Sigrid.
I hate this. I always have. It's nothing new, but I hate how every time we get a win, it somehow is never enough. We find out the cure is something we can easily make, Sigrid sends out her signal to get me to go to her. I go and manage to trick her into thinking I'm Moonchild so she can reveal her plans to me, it turns out her 'gun' is a fungal mass that she planted inside Selma. Amelia and I manage to save Selma, and then we find out Sigrid's going to run off with the babies. We save the babies, and now Sigrid's going to blow everyone up!
How the hell can so much happen within the span of a ten hours?!
The thought of losing after everything we've done, all we've been through-I can't imagine it.
Although I can't imagine much of anything when we open the doors at the end of this tunnel. A loud alarm goes off, and we all wince.
"Warning: well is unstable. Warning. All personnel leave the area."
"Yeah, it feels too hot already," Jaime huffs, and I notice he and Milo are both starting to sweat. "What do you reckon, Five? Must be about thirty degrees in here."
"Thirty..." I trail off, and Milo sighs.
"Eighty-six degrees Fahrenheit."
"Oh," I reply. "Well, that's not too bad. Normal summer day in Arkansas."
"Instruments say it's thirty-three degrees, and climbing," Janine corrects, and I look at Milo expectantly.
"About ninety-two."
"Ah. Yeah, we'll probably be fine until it gets to 102," I say. "That's how hot it was when I passed out in volleyball practice before the apocalypse."
"I'm sorry, your volleyball coach made you practice in heat that, at the moment, is higher than that in a geothermal well?" Sam asks.
"If you think Arkansas heat was bad, go to Texas, or Arizona. Temperatures like that are their average. It might be a good thing I'm more heat tolerant, though, because it's going to get a lot hotter than that in about twenty minutes. With the rate it's climbing, we'll burn to death within the next hour."
I say that with all seriousness. I'm thinking it was about eighty degrees when we first came in here, and we haven't been down here for very long at all. If it's climbed ten degrees within the last fifteen minutes, we are very likely to succumb to heat exhaustion. Even with these suits, the human body can only withstand so much. The A.M.T.B. taught me a lot of things on just how much a person can withstand.
Since the air is dry, we have a better chance of surviving than if it were humid, but even then if it gets over 158 F., the chances of us surviving that kind of heat for longer than a few minutes is slim because we have no water, plus we're running which will aid in dehydration.
"So, if the missiles don't kill us, the heat will," Milo huffs. "Great."
"Warning: well is unstable. Warning. All personnel-"
"Yeah, yeah," Jaime says as he pulls down the lever on the side of the wall. "We heard you the first time."
"Alarm deactivated."
"Good thing too. That thing was putting the wind up me."
"Wow. Wow," Sam says in awe. "I've got a couple cameras in there. It's very, uh, supervillain lair down there, isn't it? Hewn rock walls, stone floors. Is it just me, or is there a Moonracker vibe to it?"
"Yeah, well, it was built by Valmont," Jody replies. "We asked him and Amelia to help us, but he reckons he gave all the security clearance over to Sigrid even before the apocalypse, so there's nothing we can do."
"Anyway, Amelia's distracted picking a baby to match the wallpaper in her study, and Valmont's 'helping spread the word'."
"Now that the Minister's allies are falling away, he feels able to express his animosity towards her," Janine explains. "A number of territories are asking for his protection now. He ought to do rather well with the UK's regime change."
"Yeah, that's if there is a UK after this," Sam mumbles. "Five, get to that door at the end of the tunnel."
I do, feeling the heat of the door handle even through my suit. When I open it, the air hisses and I'm hit with a rush of heat. It's like when you open the oven after cooking a pizza.
"Yep, that's definitely hotter than Arkansas," I grunt.
"We believe the rivers of molten lava are still several hundred feet below you, but oxygen will be low in those tunnels. You can't afford to waste time," Janine says. "Please, move quickly."
I take in a hot breath of air, looking back at Milo before pushing forward through the tunnel. I keep my breathing shallow as sweat runs down the back of my neck. I almost wish the air was saturated so the suit could pull water from the air for us, but there is no water here, just lots of heat.
I focus on my steps, just one after the other. Just one step at a time. We have some time left. Not much, but some. We can stop Sigrid. We will stop Sigrid. We will survive this. We have not spent the last year and a half fighting her for it to end like this. We have not come this far to let her win.
The minutes tick by, the temperature rising. We're still able to run, but we're sweating bullets in these suits. With each step we take, I regret not insisting Milo stay in Abel. But he is a runner, and as everyone loves to point out, I was doing some extremely dangerous missions when I was his age.
What they don't understand is that was the enter point. I grew up quick so he wouldn't have to.
But he's here, and I can't exactly trust him to turn back and not try to find a different tunnel to get through and get himself killed. Even though we're not blood, he seems to have inherited my reckless stupidity.
"Right, okay," Sam mutters. "Five, Eight, Jaime, it's just going to be me for a few minutes. Jody and Janine have gone to talk to the Exmoores in New Canton. People are panicking, and they want to issue a joint statement."
"Or in case Sigrid does manage to launch those missiles, how to survive!" Milo shouts, panting heavily. He makes a conscious effort to breathe quieter when he sees my concerned look.
Sam sighs. "Uh, I guess some people in isolated communities might survive. There are people living in tunnels and stuff, or in old nuclear fallout shelters. Veronica said that there's an outpost of New Canton in Noah Base now. They might make it."
"They'd survive the bombs, yeah, but what about radiation? Who knows how long they would be stuck down there?" I grimace. "Or how long we'd have to stay on the island until it was safe to return?"
"Never would have thought we'd get to the point where zombies were the least of our worries," Jaime says while looking over his shoulder. I sigh, closing my watering eyes for a second. I don't have to look back to know they're behind us.
Milo still looks though, his nose scrunching up. "Gross."
"Let me guess. These zoms are like the ones we found in Noah Base when we first went there, and they're all dried out like zombie jerky?" I ask, my tone flat.
"Uh, yeah, yep," Sam replies. "They're also moving jerkily. Appropriate."
"I want to say this day can't get any worse, but I already have a feeling it's going to get worse, so I guess I should save my breath." My words come out in a grumble, barely audible. It's getting harder and harder to breathe. The low levels of oxygen and the large amounts of running I've been doing are hitting me full force.
I'm not sure how much longer I can do this.
"Imagine if we had another apocalypse now. First zombies, then nuclear bombs? I guess everyone at Abel would be okay. We'd go into Janine's bunker. But... all the friends. People who found each other again."
Jaime sneers. "What kind of person threatens to drop a nuclear bomb anyway? What is she thinking?"
"I don't think she is thinking anymore," He replies. "Her latest message to the nation was just her ranting about how her chosen immune people aren't special enough anymore and deserve to burn with all the rest."
"As much as I love talking about how much of a monster Sigrid is, those jerky zombies are starting to gain on us," Milo points out, and Jaime nods.
"Let's pick up the pace then. There's a woman at the end of all these tunnels who put my roller girls through hell, and I'd like to return the favor. Let's move!"
•
Bang!
I flinch. "What the hell-"
Bang! Bang! Bang!
"Do you hear that, Sam?" Jaime questions. "That knocking sound, like someone's trying to get in here?"
"Yeah... Um, you've lost those zombies, right?"
I don't like the uneasy way his voice sounds.
"They started to crumble to bits in the last tunnel back," Milo answers.
"Right. Uh, okay. Good news: you're making good time,and you should be able to get to that island before Sigrid's destroyed a good chunk of what's left of the human race."
My face scrunches up. "And the bad news?"
"Yeah... there is one thing. Well, you know this facility was controlled by Valmont?"
My chest tightens.
"No," I whisper. "No, please, please don't tell me you mean-"
"I mean A.N.N.I.E., yeah." He winces as he says it, before pressing on. "Now, as far as we can tell, whatever bit of A.N.N.I.E. is controlling this facility hasn't had contact with mainland A.N.N.I.E. for years. Should just be an autonomous unit. Might not know anything that's happened these past years."
"Or, if Sigrid's taken control of it and linked it up to the bad A.N.N.I.E. on the mainland..." Jaime trails off, and I see Milo's eyes go wide when Sam finishes the thought.
"Could be the Glass Protocol again. Sorry, Sweetheart."
"Are you shitting me right now?!" I yell, and I grit my teeth so hard my jaw begins to hurt. "Oh my-this is the worst day ever! I'm not asking for much. I just want to have a mission where I only have to worry about one thing killing me, but no!
"So, let me get this straight. We've got a nuclear sub, a fanatical Prime Minister, a pack of zombies, a volcano!"
"And maybe an eldritch force after you." He sounds genuinely sorry, and I know this isn't Sam's fault, nor do I blame him. But this day just keeps getting worse and I am not here for it. "Your next turn is the door on your left. Should lead to a maintenance tunnels to the main geothermal well."
Milo gets to the door first, and when he opens is, he pulls back at a whirring sound. "Uh oh. Uh, Sam. Problem. There's a camera mounted up on the stalks."
"Right. Right. That's not good."
I grab Milo's hand and run inside as machinery whirs, a string of curses flying through my mind.
"Fe, fi, fo, fum," A.N.N.I.E. taunts. "I heard you coming, Mr. King, Mr. Scotts, Employee Five. I've been waiting for you."
Drills on the opposite wall come to life. They're on mechanized arms, and they surge for us. I push Milo back against the wall, just barely able to fling myself back before a drill can ram itself through me.
Jaime's already against the wall, and he flings his arm out to hold Milo in place.
"What now, Sam?" He shouts.
"I-I see the drills, and they fixed in place and can't quite reach the far wall."
"Yes, thank you. Could you tell us something we don't already know?!" I shout, eyeing the spinning drill that's barely six inches from my chest. I suck in my breath.
"Listen, if you stay close to that wall, you should be able to stay out of their reach. You need to get down that gangway now!"
Sweat pouring off us, the sound of the drills ringing against our skulls, we keep going, pressing ourselves against the wall as the drills push and extend as far as they can to get to us. I feel a mounting pressure in my chest, bile rising in my throat, burning as fear and frustration bubble under my skin.
The suit only somewhat protects me from the harsh feeling of the rock wall I press myself against. As I slide along the wall, I focus on the slight pain that comes from it, the heat at my back and the rough texture. It keeps me grounded, keeps me from getting too far in my head.
I don't have time to get in my head. I must stay focused and keep Milo safe.
I never should have let him come with us. I should have argued, should have pushed for him to stay. How could I have been so stupid?
We keep moving, but the drills on the wall seem endless, like this tunnel. One surges forward, using so much force the metal holding it to the wall groans and rock shifts. I have to pull Milo towards me as the drill hits the wall, spinning and digging into rock. It only takes a second to take a chunk out of the wall. It would take less than that to rip a hole through a person.
"Come on," I say, tugging on his hand.
My eyes are wide as my mind conjures up images of what would have happened if I hadn't been fast enough. A wave of nausea washes over me, fear clawing at my insides, threatening to consume me from the inside out. I try to pick up the pace, going as fast as I can while still pushing myself into the wall.
"Duck!" I scream, and we all crouch down as another drill is pushed to its limits, slamming into the wall. This one would have gone right through Jaime's chest, possibly my neck since I'm shorter than him and was only a step behind him.
Then there's a clang, and I look down the tunnels to see creeping, crawling bits of metal headed for us.
"Oh shit!" I yell, pointing at the robots headed for us. Some of them are so hot their metal hands look red. I don't doubt they'd burn through our suits if they grabbed us.
"She's sending her whole cavalry, Sam!" Jaime yells. "Is there anything you can do?"
"Uh, I haven't got any control down there," He answers, probably pulling at his sleeves in worry. "I got Amelia to try her whole 'I love you' trick, but no dice, unless she's actually down there. So-Oh, my God! Five, look out!"
I jump to my right just in time, a drill slamming into the rock beside my head.
"That drill nearly had your ear off!" Jaime yells, and I cringe.
"Yeah, that wouldn't have been good. I just got the cartilage on these to grow back."
He blinks. "What?"
"Joking!" I say quickly. "It's a joke, just not a very good one."
"Alright, alright, alight, I've got something," Sam says, and I all but sigh with relief at the attention being taken away from me. "I was going to take you the longer way around, but if you head to the end of that gangway and open the door, that will take you pretty close to the geothermal well. You should be able to survive in there for what, like eight minutes? And the robots won't be able to follow."
Suddenly the drills stop, as do the robots. Dread fills my entire body, but I use this opportunity to drag Milo down the tunnel with Jaime following just behind us.
"I have so many robots," A.N.N.I.E. says. "Big ones and little ones. Have you seen my little robots? No, of course not. They're as small as dust, and they'll get inside your eyes, your ears... everywhere."
Milo lets out a whine as the drills start up again, and the robots charge after us. We only have to duck down once to avoid the final drill, but those robots are still barreling after us, and we've still got a good hundred yards of gangway to go.
"Eight minutes is more than we have right now," Jaime says. "Come on, end of the walkway, now!"
I break out into a sprint, my lungs burning, my body drenched in sweat. I don't look back. I don't need to see them to know they're coming. A.N.N.I.E. won't stop until she at least kills me, but she'll probably kill Milo and Jaime just for good measure.
My skin burns, and every muscle screams for rest. I want to stop. My legs feel heavier with each step. Adrenaline is starting to wear off, and I remember that night all those years ago.
I ran and ran and ran. I wanted to rest, to stop, but I didn't. I just listened to Sam's voice and I kept going. I ran until I couldn't run anymore.
But I made it home. I didn't stop until I made it home.
I did it before. I can do it again.
Metal bangs against the steel door ahead of us, and my steps falter.
"You're sure about this door, Sam?" Jaime asks. "Sounds like the banging is coming from the other side. You're sure it's not the Glass Protocol?"
"I can't be sure," He answers. "But it's your only way through now. You can't get back past those drills, and there are robots with spikes on their fingers that will be on you in like, two minutes."
"If it is the Glass Protocol, it will only come after me," I pant. "Just don't get between it and me, and it won't hurt you, I don't think."
"Callista, Sweetheart, I love your selflessness but now is not the time to go all self-sacrificing on me!"
I roll my eyes at his dramatics. "I'm not being self-sacrificing, but I won't allow my son or the ruler of this country to put themselves in more danger than we're already in. Now here goes nothing."
I reach the door, grab the handle and swing it open. The air hisses while I let out a sigh of relief.
"Good news. It's not the Glass Protocol."
"Bad news?"
I look down. "The ground is much redder than usual, and huge chunks of rock are-ah!"
I let out a screech as a chunk of rock pings out of the floor, headed straight towards me. I try to close the door, but it hits the metal, denting it and pushing the door back. The door slams into my face, and I'm pushed back. I can feel blood running down my temple and nose, which I can't wipe away because of this suit.
"Callista, are you okay? What just happened?"
"Yep, that definitely caused a concussion," I slur. I grab Milo's arm to keep me steady.
"I can see the door on the other side." Jaime grabs my other arm. "If we're going to survive, we've got to run!"
•
"Blimey! I don't know if kings have nine lives, but I think I just used up one of mine in there. Chunk of rock as big as a chair sailed right past my head!"
"But you're safe on the other side though, right?" Jody asks, and Jaime shrugs even though she can't see it.
"I mean, Five's not bleedin' anymore, but her eyes aren't all that focused. How much farther to the island?"
"You're about two thirds of the way there."
Milo sighs and sends a wavering smile to me. "We might have done the worst of it, Mum. We can get there and stop the Minister."
"Yeah," I say weakly, my head pounding. I can't tell if the burning is from the heat or my body trying to heal itself. "Yeah, of course."
"Abel Township Runner Five."
I groan at the sound of Sigrid's voice through the speakers. "I do not need her monologuing at me right now."
"Milo Scotts. Jaime Skeet, the pretender King of England. I know you're coming. You won't get here in time to stop me. The land will claim you.
"I suppose you're wondering how I know you're on your way. Well, you think you have all the friends, but you don't. The most important friends, the best people, are with me. Aren't they, my dear? You may speak."
"Um, hello, Runner Five, Milo, King Jaime."
I gasp in shock.
Milo's steps falter, and he nearly curls in on himself. "No."
"I've come to the island with the Minister," Veronica says. "She sent a special boat for me and I decided to go. Janine told me to help with radiation cures, but that's not the most important thing right now."
"Oh no, Veronica," Sam says in a broken voice. "What have you done?"
"I am sorry, but you really should give up. The Minister can launch a nuclear attack on the UK. She's won. There's no point fighting. I'm sad she's the winner, but she is, and she listens to me, so I've gone with her.
"There are so many important things happening right now-more important than this silly war. Please give up, and maybe the Minister might go easy on you."
"Yeah, that never worked out before," Jaime growls. "We should have looked after that kid better."
I blink, gaping at him before fury makes my vision go red. "I'm sorry, what? This was her choice! We-she knew exactly what she was doing! She chose to side with the enemy!"
I don't mention how when I was her age Jaime was yelling at me for not keeping Archie safe, and I went on a mission with him in attempt to save her. The fact that he's trying to imply that we did this, that we made her side with Sigrid-
I think once we get out of this, I'm going to punch him and Veronica in the face.
"Oh, Veronica," Sigrid hums. "You're too kind to them. Abel Township has been a leaking sore in England's flesh for too long. I have instructed A.N.N.I.E. The drills will dig downward again and again until-" She stops when the rock walls rumble and begin to crack. "It's starting!"
"Sam, what's happening?" I panic. "What's happening?"
"Uh, guys, that tunnel is about to become a river of hot magma."
"As I've told you from the start, the land will claim its own."
"Run!"
A/N: Here we go, guys! Only 1 more chapter left (possibly two because I may have to split it in half). How do you feel about Veronica's choice? Do you think she truly understands what she's done? Anyway, please be sure to vote and comment! Thank you and have a blessed day!