Wasteland

Wasteland

Tyler Arndt

           

Scene 1

“Do you remember when this place used to be beautiful, Alexei?” I didn’t have an answer. I didn’t want to say no. I had seen many pictures of this place in school, in my text books. But my eyes had never gazed upon the beauty that had been the Amazon rainforest. Now is was a flat No-Man’s-Land where apartment complex’s were being constructed and the last of the massive trees were being cut down cleanly to make over-priced bits of furniture, guitars, and the like. “I don’t remember. I wish I had been able to see it.”

            “It was like a sea of brown and green. There were a million different creatures that called this place home. Now they are only kept alive in captivity. But I guess the Great Father is never wrong, is he?” We chuckled, but if anyone else had heard even a snip of our conversation, we would’ve been drawn and quartered then and there.

            “Alexei, there is something I wish to speak to you about. Something very important and…” Two heavily armed soldiers walked past and stiffly saluted us. We returned the salute just as stiffly. We would’ve probably been arrested if we hadn’t. “…and very private. Come with me.” He took me down into the high clearance depths of the WCP South African base of operations, into one of the few rooms that wasn’t monitored. It was however lockable from the inside and sound proof.

            “Alexei, I know you. I know that you carry the same burdens, and the same beliefs that I do. That could make us both very valuable to certain individuals who would like to advance in the WCP. But if you do not agree with what I’m about to tell you…one of us cannot leave this room alive. Do you understand?” I nodded, the blood in my veins becoming hot with what he could mean. “I have a simple plan which can get us off of this planet, to one where we can truly be free. Zira.” I paused for a moment letting that information digest. “So the stories are true then, Mikhail?” He nodded. “But I haven’t yet told you the first part of my plan.” I waited so he could speak. “We are going to assassinate the great father.”

            Scene 2

            “Are you out of your mind Mikhail? How could such a thing even be done?” Completely calm, Mikhail pulled something out of his pocket and held it out to me. “A fountain pen?” I said sarcastically. “What, are you going to try and stab him to death? Or give him ink poisoning???” Still without a word he turned the pen, until I could see a very light red radiation symbol. “What, is your murder-pen radioactive???”

            “Alexei, what you’re looking at is a nano-bomb. To be precise, a forty megaton hydrogen bomb. I twist the button for hours, click four times…and run.” I could feel my lower jaw unhinge as it hit the floor. “You’re really serious about this, aren’t you?” His wicked smile faded into a scowl. He reached his right hand to a pistol holster on his belt and proceeded to press his Makarov pistol flush against his temple. The pen was extended towards me.

            “Two choices Alexei: Yes or No. If you say no sooner or later I will be executed for it. So, if that is your answer I will die now. Make your choice.” I stared him in the eyes. And then grabbed the pen. I could see he was visibly relieved by this, as he nearly dropped the handgun. “How will we escape Mikhail?”

            “There is a T31 Star Fighter waiting fueled and armed on the runway not far from here especially for us. All we need to do is conceal this, preferably in this room.” We looked around for a moment before deciding on a place in between a few identical pens. “Once this is set, there is no way to reverse it.” We carefully clicked the button until it was set around one hour and set the device. “Let’s move, it will take us forty five minutes to get to the air-field, and that’s still in the blast radius.”

            “Cutting it a little close aren’t we?” He smiled that same wicked green. “We are soldiers, cutting it close is in our job description.” We began moving quickly, at the top of the stairs a large gleaming black Gaz Chika was waiting for us. I got behind the wheel and pinned the accelerator to the floor. In a cloud of white smoke, we were off.

Scene 3

            We slid sideways into the air port only feet away from our waiting plane. But there was a problem, one political officer was waiting for us there, along with two heavily armed soldiers. “When we get to them, you take the one on the left; I’ll get the man on the right. We’ll take the officer together.” I nodded and we approached them slowly.

            “Officers Petrov and Velandra. I’m afraid we have denied you access to this plane. Now please come with me for your interrogation. “Of Course political officer.” He said with the normal grunt snap and cheer. But with ten feet away from the three, Mikhail and I both drew our pistols and fired, killing both guards instantly. The political officer reached for his revolver, but was cut down by a salvo from the handguns. “Grab the rifles, we will need them!” An alarm went up all around us and we leapt into the two-person fighter jet. “Now would be an excellent time to depart, Mikhail!” Our cockpit sealed tight and I could feel the massive jet engines build up power. Within a second, we were careening down the runway. I could hear a massive boom as we punched a giant hole straight through the sound barrier. “Detonation in ten seconds…nine…eight.” I looked off into the horizon were I could just make out the base through my thick, black visor.

            There was a massive burst of light, I watched as it grew outward, crushing and vaporizing everything in it’s path. True, uncensored destruction. I felt this warmth on this inside. ‘The Great Leader’, and all of his staff, advisors, and underlings had been in the very epicenter of that blast.  No one, not even some of the dictators from before whop were almost un-killable could’ve survived that. We had turned our oppressive government into dust. Even the dust had been vaporized.

            “Where too now, Mikhail?” He brought up the holo-projection screen in my part of the cockpit to show us a large space ship waiting in the lower space. This is the space Destroyer Illiad. She is a rebel ship from the planet Tunec. And she will take us to Zira. Unfortunately, our T31 doesn’t have a warp drive. This ship does.” He put the accelerator all the way forward and we shot through the lower atmosphere and into space. Out of the darkness there, loomed what looked like an ancient battle ship floating in space only 4 times the size, armed with massive lasers that looked like cannons of old. Written in blood on her bow, was the great novel of Homer – the Illiad.

Scene 4

            The great maw of the Illiad opened and we flew in, making a vertical landing. The doors closed and a group of uniformed soldiers approached us. We jumped from the aircraft to great us. “A T31, eh? I had a great deal many friends murdered by those.” One said. “I’ve watched 10 of the uniforms fall to the earth covered in blood.” Said another. Their ‘leader’ carried an archaic K5 light machine gun, while the others were all armed with H6 assault rifles. Unlike their weapons though, their uniforms were of the highest quality, and they all brandished what both Mikhail and I knew to be the original flag of a long passed country called America.

            “Are you Major General Mikhail Petrov and Captain Alexei Velandra?” He asked in an accent much smoother than my own. “Yes, sir.” We both chimed. “Welcome aboard, I’m 2^nd General Anthony Caesar. It’s my job to protect this vessel, and command it’s military forces, which your are now apart of. My people have been briefed on who you are and the fact that they may be taking orders from you. And we have received confirmation that “The Great Leader and his entire general staff are now but ashes. Good job.” Mihail nodded. “Find yourselves a free bunk, and enjoy the ride. You’re free now. That is all.” And with that, we saluted our new leader.

To Be Continued…