CRYERS (12 page)

Chapter 21

The howler shrieked and jumped at
Willem’s face. The boy shut his eyes and waited for the long gray nails to rip
his flesh open. Something grabbed at his shoulder and pulled him back. Willem
opened his eyes again as he fell to the floor, hardly able to believe the sight
before him.

The old man he’d fled from had one
hand wrapped around the howler’s throat. The creature swung with its limbs, but
Lothair batted its arms away with his free hand. Willem knew he had to flee—he
had to get away from
both
monsters—but he was frozen to the spot, drawn to the violent and unlikely
confrontation unfolding before him.

The howler swung again and Lothair
caught it by the wrist. Willem could hear the sound of bones cracking over the
howler’s screams as the old man twisted. He didn’t stop there. He lifted the
creature off the floor and pounded it into the wall. Willem felt the floor
shudder. Lothair hammered into the wall again and again. Its limbs ceased
flailing after the fourth hit, and Willem saw a mess of blood and brains
smeared into the dented wall as Lothair lowered it to the floor.

Something lurched in Willem’s
stomach as Lothair’s thumb slithered out of a hole it had punched through the
dead howler’s throat. A weak flow of blood followed and the old man cupped up
what he could in his hand and drank it down. Willem gagged and turned his head
away.

“Stay where you are,” Lothair
ordered between swallows. “When I’m finished here, we’re still going to wake my
great-granddaughter.”

Whatever fight was left in him
drained away, like the dead howler’s blood slowly pooling towards his shaking
feet. He was too scared to flee. Lothair tore into the gash at the howler’s
throat and peeled a section of skin and meat away. He shoved it into his mouth
and started to chew. Willem pulled his knees up to his chest, wrapped his arm
around his knees, and started to cry.

***

2046

Somewhere along the border of Saudi Arabia and New Kuwait

Edna hated the desert.
Temperatures that summer had soared to record levels along the border of Saudi
Arabia and Kuwait, and Edna had spent the last three days sitting in the middle
of it, waiting in a tent. But it wasn’t the oppressive heat during the days and
the freezing temperatures at night that got to her. Edna was an Eichberg; she
was made of tough stuff. It was the desolation. She was used to being active
and having places to go. She was the daughter of Kelvin Eichberg, owner and CEO
of ABZE Corporation. And although Edna had no official capacity in the company
as far as making decisions went, she was being groomed to run it eventually.
She knew how the business worked, as well—if not better—than most of the senior
staff. She had spent the last three years traveling and meeting people. She had
learned eight languages, visited thirty countries, and been introduced to some
of the most important leaders worldwide. All of this had been accomplished
before her eighteenth birthday. Edna did these things willingly and happily for
her father. She would learn anything, go anywhere, and do anything he asked.

The Middle East trip had been her
decision. Kelvin Eichberg had objected, but Edna had insisted. It was a dangerous
part of the world, he had told her. There was nothing there for ABZE. The oil
reserves had been depleted during the
‘thirsty
thirties’
and the tar sands projects in northern Canada were now supplying
90% of North America’s energy needs. The Middle East no longer had any sway in
world matters. It held no power. All that remained were the wars. Edna remained
firm, and told her father she was going anyway. Kelvin had finally given in.

Edna hated the desert’s
desolation, but her heart was filled with hope for the future.

The sun had set minutes before,
and Edna resigned herself to another long, cold night under the green canvas.
She took one last look out the screen window and saw the jiggle of headlights
bouncing over a distant sand dune in the east. It was probably just a patrol
unit. She didn’t get her hopes up. More headlights popped into view behind it,
and Edna’s heart raced. A string of them worked their way towards the camp. The
closer the vehicles came, the more detail Edna could make out. There were half
a dozen or more heavy artillery units being herded along by two hover tanks in
the rear. The vehicle in front was smaller, painted the same color as the
blowing sand, and capable of going much faster than the rest. It was the lead
vehicle—the one in charge.

He’s in there.

Edna rushed out into the gathering
twilight, oblivious to the dropping temperature and howling wind. It would
plummet to minus twenty, or further, in less than an hour. She didn’t care. She
raced past the security sentries and their big black guns, waving her arms in
the air.

The lead vehicle slowed. Sand
blasted out from the sides as it settled into the ground in front of her. A
hatch popped open and a quarter of the hovercraft’s top slid open. A powerfully
built yet lithe figure dressed in army camouflage jumped out and ran towards
her.

Edna fell into his arms, her face
resting against the man’s hard chest. He smelled like the desert. “I thought
you’d never get here,” she yelled over the whine and roar of other army units
arriving and powering down.

Captain Strope kissed the top of
her dusty head. “We would’ve made it back yesterday afternoon if one of the
tanks hadn’t broken down. Had the damn thing fixed in under two hours, but it
left us out in the open too long. We had to dig in and fight insurgents for the
next sixteen hours.”

Edna pulled away and swept her
eyes over him. He was covered in a light film of brown dust; his closely shaved
black hair and tanned face seemed to glow in it, making his brown eyes even
more intense. She ran her fingers along his jawline, feeling just the subtlest
scratch of stubble.
 
Even after fighting
days on end for his life, and the lives of his men, her brave soldier still
found time to shave at least once every day. He was the quintessential image of
what the Armed Forces had once represented. “Were you hurt?”

He shook his head and smiled
grimly. “We’re fine…can’t say the same for the other side.”

“You shouldn’t be here,
Michael—none of you should be. The war is pointless.”

He kissed her again, this time on
the forehead. “Can’t disagree with you there. Most wars are pointless, but
until the politicians find something better for us to fight for, I guess we’re
staying put.” His lips rubbed the side of her cheek, catching a single tear
along the way. “Why have you come here? I thought we agreed to see each other
after my tour was complete.”

“That’s still a year away. This
couldn’t wait.”

The last of Captain Strope’s
soldiers had exited their vehicles and made their way into the camp, leaving
Edna and Michael alone in the advancing dark. Even then, the captain whispered
his concerns. “You know how I feel about you. My guys would never say a word.
But even halfway around the world, people like to talk… If this gets back to
Caroline…”

“I’m pregnant.” It wasn’t how she
wanted to tell him. But now that they were together, she couldn’t imagine him
being too upset. The affair had started three months earlier in Chicago. Edna’s
father had been deep in negotiations with the military regarding its top
officials and most decorated soldiers taking advantage of ABZE’s services.
Eichberg and the top military brass had agreed future wars could best be
handled by veterans of conflicts past.

It was during a social gathering
of ABZE and government representatives that the two had met. Kelvin Eichberg
had introduced his daughter to the famed warrior personally. Although he was
ten years older than her, the attraction was instantaneous. They had shared
many of their most guarded secrets that first night. Michael had told her of
his arranged marriage to a woman who neither respected, nor cared for his
military ambitions. Edna had always been proud of her family and the gift they
offered humanity, but there were times when she just wanted to be a young
woman, irresponsible and free. She had told Michael this out on the balcony of
a nameless, cold high-rise, looking over a city of sparkling light that would
soon be shrouded in black. They met again privately the following night and
fell in love.

Michael had returned to the Middle
East a week later. Edna went back to a place that seemed even further away—to
the life of a young corporate woman, meeting in board rooms across the country
in dozens of cities, absorbing all she needed to know—learning the family
business. They met clandestinely online—late at night for Edna and early in the
mornings for Michael—to talk about their future together. He would leave
Caroline eventually. When business was wrapped up between the Armed Forces and
ABZE, there would be nothing left standing in their way. They both understood
that any future relationship relied on present discretion.

But this was different. He would
do the right thing—
to hell with ABZE and
the army.

“I…I can’t handle this.” Michael
shook his head and took a step back from her. “Jesus Christ, Edna—you came all
this way to tell me
that?
”

Edna couldn’t believe what she was
hearing. She reached out, thinking dumbly that a gust of cool wind had
separated him from her. “We’re going to have a baby. I
needed
to tell you in person. Would you rather I’d texted the
news?”

Something dark fell over his face.
It was a look she had never seen before, but it was an expression that seemed
all too comfortable there considering who he was, and what he did for a living.
“It’ll have to be terminated. Immediately.”

Another blast of wind hit her.
Sand bit at her eyes, but the sting of his words was far worse. It was a cold
slap back into reality. Standing mere feet apart, Edna knew they were—and
always would be—worlds away from each other. No baby would bring them closer.
She didn’t bother pleading. She may have been foolish and naive on the inside,
but she was all Eichberg on the exterior.

Edna was on a hover transport less
than half an hour later. Fourteen hours after that she was back in Chicago,
sitting at her father’s side in a board room near the end of a long black table
littered with tablets and cell phones. Expressionless white faces lined either
side. Cold-eyed men in gray and black suits listened as Kelvin Eichberg rambled
on about company growth and the steadily rising cost of power consumption.

She hated them all.

Edna wouldn’t terminate the
pregnancy. She didn’t give a goddamn what her father thought, or how it might
affect ABZE’s relationship with its military clients. She would have a daughter,
and she prayed Captain Strope would never meet her. She hoped he would die in
his desert, and that the sands would bury his remains, and her memories of him
with it.

***

 
“Edna.”

Who’s calling me?

“Edna… Open your eyes.”

No. I feel warm. I want to sleep… Forever.

She breathed in, expecting the air
to be cool and smelling of sand. Her mind was still there—she was still in the
desert. It was early evening. Michael was walking away from her. She felt
something for him. An emotion? Edna was confused but unafraid. Had she loved
him?

“Edna.”

She opened her eyes and saw an old
man with pink eyes staring down at her. His lips and cheeks were coated in
blood; his bald head was covered in it. It looked as though he’d stuck his
entire face into a dead animal’s carcass.

“Great-grandfather.” Her voice was
a whisper.

Lothair didn’t smile. He didn’t
welcome her into the thirty-first century, or tell her how much she looked like
her great-grandmother. “Are you able to sit up? I need you to tell me more
about these…enhancements. Can you stand?”

The desert was gone. Edna
remembered writing the letter to her great-grandfather. She remembered counting
in her head and rushing down through the Dauphin facility to be frozen. There
hadn’t been much time. The more she recalled, the more questions filled her
mind. How much damage had the coronal ejection caused? Had the nukebatts done
their job—how long had she been frozen? And how long had her great grandfather
been unthawed?

Was she supposed to hug him and
kiss his blood-caked cheek? Was she expected to thank him, and tell this
distant relative how much she loved him? She sat up and stretched her bare
limbs.

“Yes, I can stand.”

She climbed out of the cylinder
without Lothair’s help. Her legs gave out and she crumpled to the floor. She
pushed herself back up to her knees and saw a boy with one arm cowering in the
corner. Edna felt her intestines shudder and twist. Saliva that tasted like
ancient chemicals watered up inside her mouth as she crawled towards him.

Lothair pulled her up and steered
her to the washroom-closet. “No…not yet, Edna. The facility has been
compromised. The boy has brought others with him.” He showed her to the clothes
she’d hung up centuries before. Edna slipped into a one-piece ABZE work
uniform. It was white with a tapered waist that felt a little looser than she
remembered. She zipped up the front and regarded Willem again. “How many?”