“I see no other option,” I said, staring ahead.
“We’re not actually doing this, are you?” Grudge asked.
I had no idea what was right. There was no good option. I felt like we were screwed, no matter what we did.
The woman turned and fled back to the bridge, guessing my intent. It was time. We had to charge the bridge and take out the Community once and for all. My hostage idea would not work out, in the end. We had to leverage Makara attacking to our fullest advantage and strike now.
That was when I heard screams come from the bridge up ahead.
“She’s attacking,” I said.
We ran forward to the corner. I saw it wasn’t exactly a corner; it was just a hook in the corridor that made two ninety-degree turns — one right, then one left, a few feet later. When we poked around this corner, the corridor led straight to a wide opening, through which I could see the bridge, massive in comparison with Gilgamesh. A large screen displayed a map of the United States in topographic detail, and beyond that I could see gray, tumultuous sky through the ship’s wide windshields.
A massive shape that was not Gilgamesh shot past the windshield, causing more screams to fill the air.
“Makara sure is flying that thing fast,” Julian said.
“No, that’s not Makara,” I said.
I ran ahead. If the situation was as bad as I thought it was, then Elias stabbing us in the back was the least of our concerns.
It looked as if our xenodragon hadn’t gone away.
I sprinted to the bridge, the others in tow. Anna’s voice came from behind.
“Alex, be…”
I entered the bridge. There were about a dozen women, along with Elias, waiting. They cast us a momentary glance before fixing their attention once more on the window. Apparently, we were also the least of their worries for the moment.
Lyn stood next to Elias near the pilot’s seat, which was empty.
“What is it?” she asked.
“The harbinger of the End Times,” Elias said. “Chaos.”
Anna, without a word, made her way to the pilot’s chair, taking up the controls. Elias did not protest, and in fact stepped away in order to give Anna space. He watched without a word. He gazed at me, his dark eyes blazing. It was hard to read that expression. Was it fear? Anger? Desperation? It was as if he was trying tell me not to get any ideas about taking control, even if things were not going according his plan.
I went to stand next to Anna as Ashton took up the copilot’s seat. Everyone else formed a protective ring around the two of them.
I took stock of the situation. As the ship veered lightly left from Anna’s steering, I saw that quite a few of the women had guns in their hands. Seeing those guns in contrast to their worn dresses was a bit jarring. I tried not to focus on how hopelessly outgunned we were and instead scanned the gray skies ahead. For now, there was nothing.
“Picking up something from starboard aft,” Anna said, swinging the ship around.
Ashton was quiet, focused, awaiting Anna’s instructions. She swung the control stick further round. He bent to the radio.
“Gilgamesh, this is Ashton on Aeneas. Do you read me?”
Lyn’s hand twitched on her gun, but Elias stayed her hand. I kept my own hand on my Beretta.
“We need to coordinate strategy with Gilgamesh in order to bring this thing down,” Anna said. “I wonder if that dragon is…”
Makara’s voice came through the speaker.
“Ashton? What the hell you doing on that thing? What happened to Odin? We lost contact two days ago.”
“Odin is down. We’re aboard Aeneas now with a group of survivors from Bunker 84.”
Ashton didn’t want to reveal who these survivors truly were, since they were right here with us on the bridge. Fortunately, Makara already knew part of the situation.
“Yeah,” Makara said. “Survivors apparently holding you hostage.”
“Focus,” Anna said. “Where did this dragon go?”
Maybe a quarter mile ahead in the air I could see Gilgamesh facing us. Its thrusters pointed slightly to port, which caused the ship to veer to starboard.
“Damn, that ship is huge,” Makara said. “It’s been hiding in 84 this entire time?”
“Apparently,” Ashton said.
“Everyone else make it out alright? Michael? Julian?”
“Yeah,” Ashton. “Grudge is with us as well. Of course, Alex is also alright.”
“Good.”
“This isn’t the time for a reunion,” Elias growled. “Chaos is trying to communicate something.”
Anna shook her head. “If by communicate you mean sending us spiraling toward our fiery deaths, then yes. You would be right.”
“The Voice sent Chaos here for a reason.” Elias’s remained focused on the sky outside. “I must know what it is. Perhaps he means to lead us somewhere.”
Before anyone could respond, the massive dragon dropped from the clouds above. Screams sounded on the bridge as the wings unfurled and beat against the wind — wings maybe two hundred to two hundred fifty feet across. Elias was right; this was no ordinary dragon. It was none other than Chaos, the dragon that had been roosting in Raider Bluff when we had returned to the Wasteland from Nova Roma. It was completely black, probably five hundred feet long from head to tip of tail. Cruel spikes jutted all over its long, reptilian form, and its angular head opened to reveal a mouth filled with rows of jagged teeth. The Wanderer had said that Chaos followed Askala from world-to-world, taking on a different form in each. On Earth, at least, he was the largest of all the xenodragons, the juggernaut of the Radaskim.
And, despite what Elias said, I knew he was going to kill us.
The creature faced us, its white eyes glowing in the dim, late afternoon light. Two more dragons, smaller, dropped from the clouds. One headed for Gilgamesh, the other for us. Chaos gave a baleful roar that shook me to the bones, even through the windshield. The fact that we were inside didn’t seem to matter.
“Hold on!” Anna said.
Aeneas lurched to port and took on a burst of speed. I fell to the deck and began rolling toward the port side of the ship as the floor angled in that direction. Just as suddenly as she had turned it, Anna righted the ship, spinning it around to face the smaller dragon attacking us from behind.
Unfortunately, these creatures were far more agile than our massive ship. The smaller xenodragon dodged Anna’s move, disappearing from view.
“I’m just going to take shots at whatever I can,” Anna said. “Makara, try to keep them off me.”
“Copy that.”
In a flash of metal, Gilgamesh swooped in front of Aeneas, deadly close. Its twin turrets blazed below its hull. Outside, one of the flying monsters screamed. Anna eased the ship left, giving us sight of one of the dragons spiraling toward the mountains below. A moment later, it crashed into a snow-capped peak in a cloudy puff of white.
“One down,” Anna said.
At that moment, the second small dragon dove from above toward Gilgamesh. Makara was going to be blindsided.
“Makara, dive!”
“I’ve got this,” Ashton said.
As Gilgamesh pointed nose-down toward the Earth, Aeneas eased in from behind.
“Target locked,” Ashton said. “Fire.”
“Red button, right?” Anna said. “Sorry, still new to this.”
“Yes. The one on the control stick.”