“Aren’t you needed to pilot as well?” Anna asked.
Makara did not have an answer for that.
“Look,” Char said, “what matters is knocking off Carin. And we need to do it quick since we’re running on several clocks here.” Char held up a finger. “One is the food clock. We have two weeks until we run out.” Char raised a second finger. “Second is the Empire clock. Augustus will be arriving soon with his legions. We need to take the Reapers down before he arrives.” Char held up a third, final finger. “Then there’s the last clock — the xenovirus clock. The Blighters are pressing farther and farther west. Los Angeles won’t stay safe for long, even when we take control of it. We’ll have to be quick about rallying all of the gangs there, and take the fight to the Great Blight. And it would help to have Augustus on our side for that.”
Makara had been about to protest, but the idea that Char had presented, of Augustus helping us, had silenced her.
“Yeah,” Marcus said, coming out of his silence. “Char and I have talked about it a bit and I know I’m the last person you’d expect to bring it up. But there it is. We need him. We need all those soldiers he has. Instead of fighting each other, Augustus could be useful in attacking the Great Blight.”
“He’d never agree,” Makara said. “Samuel already tried to convince him, but he will only help if we hand him the Wasteland.”
“Which will never happen,” Rey said.
The other Vegas gang lords nodded their agreement.
A nervous giggle escaped Jade’s throat. “I’m starting to wonder whose side you and your brother are on, Char. I suggested this same move back in Vegas and I was nearly driven from the town.”
“I’m on humanity’s side,” Char said. “Territory will do us no good if we’re all dead.”
“It’d rather be dead than lose my honor,” Cain said.
Suddenly, the conference room erupted in arguing. Marcus and Char shouted down the rising protests of the Vegas gang lords. Makara sighed and turned her head, arms folded. Ashton stood, holding out his arms in an attempt to regain order. Michael and Julian watched on, silent.
The one I watched was Grudge, who had been entirely silent, which was unlike him. He now started speaking, not even yelling, and everyone broke off their arguing and began to listen to him mid-thought.
“…go to, and we can just fly to the Crater and…”
“Slow down,” Char said, his voice gravelly. “You’re going to have to start from the beginning. We didn’t catch that first part.”
Grudge stared at us all with his dark, brown eyes. This man had saved us in Bunker 84, and we all owed him a massive debt. Maybe that was why we listened.
“What I don’t understand,” Grudge said, “is why we don’t go to the Crater and blow it up.”
Everyone was struck silent by his words. Go to the Crater? Now? Would that even work?
“We have nukes, right?” he asked. “Why not use them? Blow those aliens to hell, back to wherever they came from. It’s a worth a shot, right?”
No one said anything. It was hard to tell if people were actually listening to him or if the idea was so stupid that we were all left dumfounded.
For some reason, I thought of the Wanderer. What would he think of that? He had said it all depended on me. I was the one who had to infect Askala, the Radaskim Xenomind, with the Elekai version of the xenovirus. Without that, well — anything, even a nuclear strike, would be pointless.
Yet, Grudge did have a point. Maybe a nuke wouldn’t outright kill the Radaskim, but it could severely weaken them.
“It’s worth a shot, isn’t it?” Grudge asked, looking at all of us. His eyes were bright and shining, and for some reason, they reminded me of a child pleading with his parents for something he really wanted.
Makara remained silent. She looked at Ashton, who in turn looked at her. Everyone in the room watched them both.
“It is something I’ve turned over in my head these last few days,” Ashton said. “And I only wanted to consider it as a last resort. Yes, it would be powerful. Of that I have no doubt. However, with that power comes a lack of precision that we need in order to defeat the Radaskim.” Ashton turned to look at me. “It would be denying the revelation that Alex received from the Wanderer — a revelation which I have yet to investigate, scientifically, yet which I believe to be true all the same. The only way to kill Askala is to convert her to Elekai, and only Alex can do that. Furthermore, if the nuclear strike doesn’t work — which is highly probable — we will be forced to attack while contending with high levels of radiation.”
“Don’t we have bigger problems than that, though?” Grudge asked. “I mean, we are talking about the future of humanity here.”
“I do not contest that,” Ashton said. “I just know, looking at history, that nuclear strikes have always had unintended consequences. They are unpredictable, as all powerful things are. It would be wise to set this option aside unless in the direst of needs.”
Grudge scoffed. “You sure didn’t hesitate when that dragon was attacking.”
Ashton met his gaze. “As I said: in the direst of needs.”
I was beginning to see just how close we were to the end of it all. Things were finally coming to a head, for the better or worse of humanity. There were just two obstacles left in the way of our attack on Ragnarok Crater — Carin and the Reapers, and Augustus and the Empire. Only when they were both neutralized, or brought to our side, could we attack. We could do as Grudge said — we could go now. And for all we knew, it might even work. But for some reason, I was siding with Ashton. We needed to take care of matters in the Wasteland first — and only after could we start the final battle.
“Ashton is right,” I said. “We can’t attack Ragnarok. Not yet. Even if we were to succeed, we couldn’t return to a Wasteland that wasn’t in our control. No one can predict what will happen from a nuclear strike, and Ashton has a point when he says it will be imprecise.” I sighed. “I have to do what the Wanderer has said. I have to find Askala and I have to infect her.”
Everyone now looked at me, as if what I said sealed the deal. Anna was watching me worriedly, but I tried to ignore that. Yes, the Wanderer had said I would have to sacrifice myself. I couldn’t worry about that though, strange as that might sound.
“So what do we do about Black, kid?” Rey asked.
I blinked in surprise — why was Rey deferring to me? I quickly recovered.
“We strike — hard and fast. Sometime in the next couple of days. If the assassination doesn’t go well — we throw everything we have into taking down Los Angeles. Once the Reapers are brought down, we reconnect with Augustus and let him know the Wasteland stands as one — the one thing he doesn’t want.”
Heads nodded around the table. I realized what I was doing; I was giving everyone a clear path to victory from here, from this Bunker to Ragnarok. It was something Samuel would have done.
Maybe I was becoming more of a leader.
“We have to make sure everyone here is as safe as possible, of course,” I said. “We can take some of the people to harvest Bunker 108 for food.”
“We already have a team organized for that,” Makara said. “They should be leaving tomorrow.”
“How long will that take?” I asked.
“Not long. Twenty-four hours at most.”