Kingdom Gone

THE SECOND NUKE

25 Days Until Rapture

I wake up to a slap in the face.

The second I see the eye patch I roll away, instinctively reaching for my sidearm which isn't there. He laughs at me, hair and clothes soaked, and I look down to find that I'm the same. I look at him. "Did you save me?"

"No. I crawled into this cave, discovered I couldn't get out of here myself, saw you drifting by on the water and decided to pull you out so I can force you to help me."

I notice his shotgun is in two pieces in his hands, probably broke against a rock or something. "Or I can just walk out of this cave."

"Or you can grow up and accept my truce. Look out there." He gestures. I gaze outside the mouth of the cave, across the raging river and up at the sheer cliffs that make up the ravine. He's right, no getting out that way. I look back at him.

"Truce then. But the second we get out of here, I'm getting payback for you probably giving me tinnitus with that shotgun."

He nods, face conveying just as much annoyance at this situation as mine. "Then come on, help me with this door."

"Door?"

* * *

With our combined efforts we managed to bust down the door.

It kicked up a cloud of dust when it fell, sending me into a coughing fit.

"What's the matter, Old Man?" Jason said, casually strolling inside. Twerp.

He did manage to produce a flashlight on his phone, illuminating the space as we ventured inside.

It was a facility of some sort, dozens of abandoned labs and offices, reeking of mildew and decay. Rats scurried across the floor as we made our way through, entering another large room, filled with consoles and banks of computers.

I tap on the keyboard of one of the computers and was not surprised to see the screen stay dark. I spot a logo on the wall above us.

"Posterum?" Jason asked.

I look around the space. "Posterum was one of the largest tech companies in the Utopia a few decades back. The renowned Detective Q busted them for conducting illegal experiments dealing with nuclear power about 30 years ago. I know because my parents worked for them when I was a kid. Lost their lives in a lab explosion." I looked around the space. "This must be one of their illegal facilities. Abandoned after the company reformed and rebranded, becoming Tricorp."

Across the room, I spotted a glow coming from a window connected to an office space. I walked over and tested the door beside it, but it was locked.

"Don't these electronic locks need power?" He asks.

"This room must have it's own generator. Hold up." I grabbed an office chair and smashed it against the window, thousands of shards sprinkling the floor.

We hopped the sill and made our way to the large desk in the center of the office. A small monitor glowed black with white text, requesting input. Jason kicked the giant chair aside and typed in a few commands.

The screen loaded, asking for a password. Jason whipped out his phone and tried to call someone, but of course he had no service. Same with my radio.

"Come on, kid. Let's get moving."

"We got to do some snooping first though."

"We don't have the password. Besides they probably trashed their servers here when they left."

Jason of course shook his head. "A lab this secret would've kept their servers off site. Besides, the password is right here." He grabbed a stapler and flips it over, a 7 digit number written on the bottom.

"How the hell did you know that?"

He pointed at the desk. "Numerous sticky notes everywhere. Means this guy had trouble remembering things. Plus I bet if we check his trash," Jason reached down and pulled out the wastebin, pointing inside at a few empty pill bottles. "Adderall. Case and point." He dropped the bucket and typed in the password, unlocking the computer.

It opened a desktop, numerous files labeled in code. Jason opened and closed each one, scanning the documents for a second then going to the next.

"Aren't you going to read any of them?" I asked, barely keeping up.

"I am." He said, opening another file and stopping. "Wait a minute." He scanned the page. "This is a letter from the Executive Lab Technician and Project Overseer, some lady named Miranda."

My heart stopped in my chest. I read the page slowly. "What does it say?"

Jason must've read it over and over by the time I read it once, but I couldn't believe the words.

"It mentions of the schematic of a David."

"What's-"

"David was the codename used to call the nuke that destroyed the Tenth Kingdom. This letter is explaining the protocols taken to avoid the schematics from being leaked."

Jason looked at me. "Are you saying the plans for building a nuclear bomb could still be in the Tenth Kingdom?"

"Apparently. Looks like they were kept in an offsite server room somewhere in the northern Tenth Kingdom, far enough away to survive the blast but the fallout would've killed anyone working there. And since the Wall was erected soon after everyone evacuated-"

"It's been untouched after 20 years. The plans for a WMD are just sitting there." Jason shook his head. "I got to go." He took off sprinting across the lab.

I would've chased him. Pinned him down and beat information out of him, because I knew that's where he was heading. The Tenth Kingdom. He wouldn't have cared so much if he wasn't going there.

But something else had caught my eye.

Miranda's letter mentioned something called sector 7, just in passing, but it must be something more significant. I did a word search for sector 7 and came up with a photocopy of a map of Sector 7 in the Tenth Kingdom, with notes scribbled all over it. One location was circled in red pen. With one word written beside it.

My stomach turned when I read it. I knew what that was, Miranda told me herself, even if she wasn't in control of her mind when she did. They built another one. Bigger. If the first one was called David, then this one was. . .

"Goliath." I whispered.

* * *

Shit. Shit.

We have to destroy the schematics. We have to. It's going to be out of the way, and I have no idea how we'll do that but. . .

Shit.

I climb out of the hatch, moss and dirt falling over me as I climb out. First thing's first: I need to get to Sam's. I whip out my phone and open the map. The river carried me a bit farther north than I'd like, but I can still make it by sunrise.

I look up and see that the sun already rose.

The hell? How long was I in that facility? Well, I did pass out when I fell in the river. For hours apparently. I shut the hatch and lean a small log over it. That should give me enough of a lead to get away. I hear a river a few yards away and walk over to it. It seems to flow east, the same way I'm heading. And it'll erase my tracks.

I waddle into the water and let it carry me away, towards Alley City.