Steel Ethereal

Ch. 38 The Rush Home

            

Rob

            The fighting has quelled. The Apex members search the outside of the fort as well as in for any stragglers. Their orders are to kill on sight.

"Rob," Riley says suddenly. I turn and job to him.

"We're good here. You can go home now."

"What, but what about..."

Riley interrupts me, "We'll deal with this traitor. I don't want you around. You and Sam are to return home now. I shouldn't have brought you both along in the first place. Though, yours and Sam's help were crucial, I wasn't thinking. For now, you and Sam are to return home now."

I look over to Sam. She sits on top of the wall of the fort, looking vigilant. She is the one with the strongest ranged augmentation. Should anything happen, she would cover the group from a distance.

"Samantha!" Riley shouts out.

Upon hearing the full name she was born with, she looks to us and leaps down from her perch.

"Escort Rob home. He's needed back at Promenade." Riley says.

Sam looks to me then to Riley. There is a look of protest on her face. She's about to say something, anything to keep herself there, when Jenna places a hand on her shoulder endearingly. Sam looks troubled for a second, but she nods in agreement.

"Ok," She says simply.

I turn and depart with Sam from the fort's entrance. Sam leads in our flight back to Promenade.

Jenna

            Riley watches the two leave into the setting sun until they become nothing.

I step toward him.

            "He's underground. There's a bunker. He seems to be the only one left. He's strained. Probably wounded." I inform Riley. I perform a thorough sweep of the fort and his tainted vitals are the only life forms I sense.

"It's a trap," Riley says, "It has to be."

"Only one way to find out," I suggest.

"Stay vigilant and show me the way," Riley says. He turns to Eileen, a bulky Enoch and places her in command while we're away.

I lead him to one of the intact towers of the fort and find a passageway leading to a winding staircase that seemed to be built decades ago. I wonder what this fort was used for. In the yard were several large trucks loaded with diesel. The mortars tell me this was probably a military instillation. But there were no labels or stripes of the former countries habitation.

The staircase is rusted and unfit for use now. Remaining here would have been a hazard for any group of soldiers with how easily the place fell apart. When I destroyed the tower it crumbled like a sand castle.

Riley and I reach the bottom of the staircase. We look up to see dim light bulbs shining from above. They light our way, but the way still seems dank and dark.

There are signs of this underground being a central command for the Monarchs. There are images of burning villages and cities that had once been revamped to be lived in again. Now they lay in smoldering ruins.

"Up ahead," I whisper loud enough for riley to hear me.

Riley nods in front of me and we both approach a large metal door. The handle is round and at the center of the door. We'd need to twist it to open it. Riley moves aside to let me open it quickly. I manage to loosen the door in two turns of the large handle.