Maria finished with her download and followed with Holm on her heels.

* * *

Patience was a virtue that didn’t come naturally to Dwayne. He had learned it over time, but it was still not an easy fit to his psyche. A long day at work had not distracted him sufficiently from worrying about Maria. She was beyond the wall now and far from him. He could no longer reach her, protect her, or hold her.

It was agonizing.

Flipping off the vid screen, he laid back on his bed. He had tried to watch an old film, but had been far too distracted. Lindsey had been unreachable all day, but that was not unusual for her. She would contact him when she was ready with information.

Checking his wristlet again, Dwayne fought the tug of sleep on his eyelids. He didn’t want to sleep until he heard from Maria. Of course, she might not be able to find the time to contact him. That possibility was not something he wanted to consider. He longed to hear her voice.

Sleep had nearly won and he was gently dozing when his wristlet buzzed. Instantly awake, he rolled onto his side and activated the stealth program. The screen remained dark and he worried the call had been disconnected. Slowly, he realized he was viewing Maria in the darkness of the night.

“Dwayne, I can’t talk long. Everyone is in torpor right now, but I need to be careful,” she whispered.

He could barely discern the shape of her face and the glint of her eyes in the starlight. “Are you okay?” He knew her very well and there was tension in her tone that indicated she was upset.

“Things are worse out here than we thought they would be,” she admitted. “There was an error in our planning and someone died. I doubt the same mistake will be made again, but...”

Dwayne squinted, desperately wanting to see her face. “I’m sorry, honey. You okay?”

“Yeah, I’m fine. It’s just...” her voice faded, then he heard her take a breath. “What we discovered today was...someone opened the gate on purpose, Dwayne. The Gaia Cult tried to kill us all.”

“Shit,” he gasped.

There had always been theories of sabotage, but they were considered wild speculation. He felt as though he had been punched in the gut. It was unfathomable that someone had purposely tried to wipe out humanity.

“Somehow a group of survivors led the Scrags here and people inside the valley let them in. One of our own guards helped.” Maria’s voice was ragged. “I wish I could cry. Maybe it would make me feel better, but I’m just...”

“Maria, what you’re saying is...unbelievable. It’s so awful. I can’t imagine how it felt to discover that.”

“We’re all in shock. We found the trucks of the people who led the Scrags to us. It had some of their literature recorded on pads. We’ll bring those back to the city. I’m wondering if some of the city failures over the years have been the Gaia Cult. Maybe they’re still active.”

Dwayne again caught a glimmer of light in her eyes and again wished he could see her face. “All that information was sent to the SWD?”

“Yeah, but shouldn’t they tell you? Aren’t you in charge of protecting the city?”

“The commandant is very selective in the information she imparts to me. I can only hope that at some point she will draw me into this officially. I am trying to gather information using my own sources.”

Maria sighed wearily.

“Maria, I’m so proud of what you’re doing. You’re amazing.”

“I wish I felt amazing,” Maria whispered. “I feel so lost out here. I didn’t think it would be this overwhelming.”

“It’s your first night out there. You’ll adapt. You can do this.”

She was silent and he strained to see her face. Finally, she said, “You’re right. I can do this. The gate is closed. This is the beginning.”

“I love you, Maria.”

“I love you, Dwayne,” she answered. “I need to go.”

The connection ended.

Slinging his legs over the side of the bed, Dwayne accessed the hidden menu again and sent a message to Lindsey. He would need her more than ever if there really was the possibility of a threat inside the city.

Chapter 18

“Today the killing starts and we don’t stop until every Scrag in the valley is dead,” Omondi said the next morning. “There is an estimated four million Scrags in the valley. I know that sounds like a lot when there are only forty of us, but let me show you something.” Removing the bolt weapon from his back, Omondi pointed to Holm. “Set your wristlet timer for one minute. The rest of you count how many I kill. Holm, tell me when to start.”

Holm fussed with her wristlet, then held up one hand. “Now!”

Omondi immediately started to dispatch the Inferi Scourge clustered around him.

“One…two…three…” the squad intoned together.

Maria watched, smirking slightly. Omondi was putting on quite a show as Scourge collapsed like fallen trees. It was quite impressive.

“…twelve…thirteen...fourteen…”

Omondi pivoted back and forth as his weapon slammed against the skulls of the creatures. His huge body was impressive among the mangled forms.

“…twenty…twenty-one…twenty-two…twenty-three...”

A few members of the squad began to laugh.

“…twenty-four…twenty-five…”

“Stop!” Holm cried out.

Omondi grinned, not winded, not tired, and lifted his bolt weapon over his head in triumph before sliding it back in its sheath. “How many was that?”

“Twenty-five,” Jameson said, impressed.

“Each and every one of you can do that number or better. With the Inferi Scourge packed so tightly together, it makes killing them easier.” Omondi rejoined the group. “There are forty of us. Multiply that twenty-five by forty.”

“One thousand,” Holm said, clearly startled.

“We can kill a thousand Scrags in one minute. One thousand. Let that sink into your minds. A thousand Scrags. In one minute. How many can we kill in one hour? In one day? In one month?” Omondi laughed heartily. “I’ve stunned you. Of course, not every situation around the valley will give us a prime killing ground such as this where they’re packed so close together. Also, we have to salvage what we can from the bodies and burn them. So our numbers decrease significantly. But we can clear this valley in a matter of months.”

The grins and nods of the squad coaxed a smile out of Maria. Omondi was quite good at stirring up good solid morale. The soldiers stood around him as he rolled a screen out on the ground and the holographic display of the valley appeared.

“We work each grid until they’re cleared. We will start in this area since it’s closest to the gate.”

Maria listened as Omondi continued to lay out their mission. She knew it by heart, but she feigned attention. Soon the valley would be dotted with collapsible bins filled with anything of use they discovered on the bodies. They would be stacked neatly for later delivery to the city.

The dead moaned and swayed. In the distance the howling Scourge were still assaulting the personnel carrier. And beyond them, the city walls rose, impenetrable and imposing. There was no going home until the mission was done.

Her conversation with Dwayne the night before still haunted her. She was bothered by the constant breakdowns in the city in the years since the gate failed. Yes, the city was aging and so were the mechanisms that kept it running, but Maria wondered if people were still actively trying to find a way to exterminate humanity. She couldn’t even begin to fathom why humans would actively seek to destroy other humans, yet she had witnessed that very act. Even more disturbing was the realization that after the last known pockets of humanity had been airlifted to The Bastion, other humans had remained alive outside. Was it possible that there were yet humans in the world beyond the valley struggling to survive against the Inferi Scourge?

Gripping her weapon, Maria refocused her attention on Omondi as he finished detailing the plans.

“We have a long day ahead of us. Let’s get moving. Next break is in four hours,” Omondi finished. He deactivated the holographic projection and folded up the screen. Tucking it into his jacket, he gave the squad a brief nod before walking over to Maria. He was taller and more powerfully-built than any of the other soldiers, yet there was an unexpected fragility in his gaze. Maria was learning to read his moods and this morning she suspected he was deeply troubled by their discovery of the gate’s sabotage. She had transmitted the recordings to the SWD, but they had yet to respond. At least not so far as she knew. Omondi had not said anything to her if they had.

“Ready for the day, Vanguard Martinez?” Omondi asked.

“Absolutely, Chief Defender Omondi,” she answered.

“Then let us begin.” Omondi pulled his bolt weapon from its holster on his back.

“I’m right behind you.” Maria echoed his actions and tailed him to a cluster of Scourge.

The first few kills were jarring. Maria hadn’t expected to feel anything but relief at dispatching the creatures that had killed humanity. Instead, she almost felt as though she were betraying them. The creatures were docile when not riled to frenzy by the presence of humans. Their vacant eyes and soft moans gave them the appearance of bewilderment. Their eyes tended to roll about as the bolt weapons were fired, seeking the source of the sound. Maria wondered if they understood in any capacity that they were in danger. Though their eyes shifted in their sockets and a few Scourge looked around in confusion, none attacked.