4: The Countdown Begins

Chapter 17

Chapter 17

Kain J. Waterlew

The Provinces of Delinaland, New Jersylvania, & Yorkachusetts 

8/12/47

The green light coated their faces in alien light, highlighting pursed lips and pinched eyes. The truck rattled again, jostling the Consorts and Nefertiti against the metal walls. The clanking and drone of the engine was the only noise. No one knew what to say, not that there was really much to say any way. It was painfully obvious now, in the chemical light, that none of them really knew each other.

Kain closes his eyes and lets his head fall back against the hull with a dong. With his eyes closed he can blot out the swaying green light that jitters and dances so fast it was beginning to make him woozy. He’d withstood six G-forces in the CloudCatcher™,and he couldn’t withstand a little shaking light and bumpy car ride.

That’s why he was sick. The light and the ride hidden in the back of the truck. Not because of what he had done.

“Kain,” the voice crackles across his com link, Roswell still distinguishable even distorted by the weak radio. He presses his finger to the small device, nodding at Sliver as he steps away.

“Yes?” He asks, pacing back and forth slightly. His chest ached, but the wounds had faded without a scar. Still, the dull throb was mind numbing.

“I need you to scout ahead of the group, try and determine the best path through the village. And then I need to talk to you.”

“Okay. See you in a few minutes.” Kain presses the com again, turning off the microscopic microphone in the process.

“Roswell?” Sliver asks while checking his knives, sliding them from impossible places to glitter in the light.

“Yes. And why couldn’t you wear the fatigues like everyone else?” Kain asks, checking his multigun and extra hand gun that Roswell had given to him after seeing him train.

“Those things?” Sliver says, looking at Kain up and down. “Well, seeing as we’re leaving in the dead of night trying ridiculously ‘ard not to be seen, I assume we’re running. And if whomever we’re running from catches us, try sprinting away in steel-toed combat boots.” Kain glances down, where steel-toed combat boots are tied tightly around his feet.

“I see your point,” Kain mutters before looking up. “Too late now. I’ll com in with the clearest route.” He glances into the attendant stairwell, making sure it’s empty.

“’ave you ever even been in the attendant village?” Sliver asks, still checking his knives.

“Nope,” Kain replies, smirking at the blond. “But I’ll figure something out.” He lets the door go, but still manages to catch Sliver’s over dramatic groan of ‘fantastic’.

The door clangs behind him and he hops down the stairs, ignoring the pain in his chest and neck as the descent tweaks his multitude of bruises. Nanobots were wonderful and all, but they were so slow.

Opening the door to the outside is like opening the door to a furnace, and the heat blasts his face as it roars up the stairwell. But besides the summer beast, there was no one outside, and no one nearby.

“Clear down the stairwell and outside, seems like everyone’s asleep,”

“Roger that Cap’n,” Sliver drawled into the com, and Kain rolled his eyes, deciding not to waste his breath responding. He jogged down the gravel pathway, the wall and the Complex buildings rising up on either side of him. It was even hotter in between the concrete monoliths, and there was no breeze to speak of. He was supposed to go to the third gate and then-