The Program [COMPLETED]

Chapter Nine

"We've still got to take out the last target!" Aiden yelled. Sirens blared everywhere around them. The city was being alerted of the attack. There was nothing they could do.

He spotted Deon too late. He didn't catch Virgil's reply over the coms before he noticed Zariah already sprinting towards him, her last throwing knife raised for the kill. Aiden chased after her just as she tripped Deon and threw him to the ground.

"Your city is going to fucking burn!" she snarled, her knife pointed at his throat. "Tell me how it feels!"

Deon stared at the blade, spitting blood onto the ground with a look of menace on his face. "You think you have it all figured out, don't you? Whatever you think will come from this, Programmer, you're all doomed."

"Go to hell!" Zariah screamed. She plunged the knife into Deon's throat, and blood gushed from the wound. He coughed, which came out as a muffled gargling sound, and splattered droplets of blood onto Zariah's clothes and face as he died. She stared at Aiden, looking utterly defeated. All the hatred that had once consumed her was gone. She was Zariah again.

She'd killed Deon in the most malicious way possible. Aiden was taken aback by her sudden rage. Then he remembered Xylem's warning.

She's seen a lot of combat action. It's taken a toll on her, I'm sure, he'd said. Was this what he had meant?

"Zariah, let's go. Come on." He grabbed her hand and dragged her to her feet. She snapped out of the shock, assuming her usual Zariah-like behavior.

"Virgil, Jayda! Tell me you heard Rania's warning!" Aiden said.

"Roger that. We've got to get out of here, now. Virgil and I just confirmed the incoming air strike. Second Unit just warned us about it over our radios. We're dead in the air out here," Jayda replied, breathing heavily.

"Deon's down. Let's go, we're headed to the edge of the city. Hurry your asses and meet us down here, now!" he demanded.

Jayda and Virgil dropped from the ladder of the warehouse, catching up with Zariah and Aiden. The four of them sprinted for the city limits, just beyond the forest where they'd come from. They didn't stop. In the clearing where they'd landed, they found Rania and Theo in their helicopter. Aiden wasn't sure exactly where they'd come from, but the four soldiers clambered into the aircraft just as Theo began to take off.

Aiden slumped against the interior of the helicopter, peering out the window. The bright lights of Laspil City were becoming smaller and smaller as they got further and further away from the city.

"Are you guys okay?!" Rania looked at them with terrified eyes. No one answered her.

"Fuck, fuck!" Virgil kicked the side of the helicopter angrily.

"They're nuking the city," Jayda whispered, her face white. "They're... they're nuking... the city..." she repeated.

"The people," Aiden gasped, the horrifying realization hitting him with the force of a hundred bullets. "They have nowhere to go! We have to help them, there's still time!"

"No, there isn't," Zariah said quietly from her seat. All eyes turned to her. "Aiden, that nuke can't be just for Laspil City. The Program... they know we had to abort our original mission. We still eliminated the targets, but the Program must know by now that Phantom is so much bigger than they thought. This missile is for Oslua, Tuclea and Zagreb, too. The neighboring cities. They're wiping any trace of Phantom from the map."

"How can they even contain an explosion like that?" Virgil exclaimed, exasperated.

"It's not exactly an explosion," Zariah explained miserably. "It's a nano-tech warhead. The missile is for show. What's inside it are tiny nanobots that will form a wave over the city. They are programmed to target electrical, gas; anything explosive. Once they're in position, they'll cause a multitude of explosions all at once."