After Impact: After Impact Trilogy, Book 1 (15 page)

Viggo walked away from Avalon for a moment and grabbed a water bottle from a table beside him. After taking a sip of water, he continued, “Do you know why everyone isn’t currently awake in this habitat?”

“I am tired of playing these stupid games with you. If you are going to kill me or whatever, go ahead and do it,” Avalon said.

“My dear. You have the wrong idea. I have no intentions of
killing
you.”

Again, Avalon’s mind raced and she did not like where her thoughts were headed. He had mentioned several times that he did not want to harm her, but he would anyways. Yet, now he said he did not plan to kill her. So what was he planning to do?

“Because the President wanted to only wake up a certain amount of people at a time. That way, he could maintain order,” Avalon answered.

Viggo smirked. “That is what he was told. But it doesn’t mean it is the truth.”

Avalon licked her lips. “What do you mean?”

“Five thousand people are in this habitat,” he said stating the obvious. “But not all of them deserve to live.”

“What do you mean?”

“Exactly what I said. Only the strongest and fittest deserve to live and survive. Those who come from backgrounds which historically have been deemed undesirable…well…”

“You wouldn’t!” Avalon shouted.

His words slammed into her like a freight train. Her head throbbed.
The cryofluid. This freak in front of me was one of the people tasked with ensuring we were put to sleep properly. The silvery fluid we all swam in which was meant to sustain life…

“I would and I did. The others will never awake,” Viggo finished.

Avalon’s whole body went numb.

“You sick—” Avalon began.

“Oh my dear, that is just the half of it. I think you will enjoy seeing the completion of my brilliant plans,” Viggo said.

This has to be some kind of nightmare from which I will awake soon
, she prayed.

A wallscreen lit up beside them. Immediately, clips of a video played of Ilium administering the inoculation shots to everyone as soon as they woke up. At the end of the clip, the President appeared sitting behind his large desk. “My friends, I hate to interrupt your important tasks to relay some troubling news. The very man you entrusted your very lives with, Ilium, has been quietly poisoning select individuals.”

People in their workstations across the habitat gasped.

“That is right,” the President continued. He is the direct cause of at least five lives which have been lost in this habitat. The exact number is still in question.”

The President paused for effect as the blood drained from the faces of his people. Others screamed, as others cried.

Ilium shook his head from side to side, as consciousness finally returned to him. Avalon tightened her grip on her chair, trying with all her might to break free, to no avail.

“Trying to leave before the show ends, I see?” Viggo said.

Avalon leaned forward, bearing her teeth like an animal about to attack.

“Such beautiful teeth. It would be a shame to lose them,” Viggo threatened.

Avalon sat back in her chair. Ilium continued to wake up and finally asked, “Where are we?”

“Welcome to the party
mi amigo
,” Viggo said in a somewhat less demanding voice after leaving the President’s chamber.

“What…what am I doing here?” Ilium asked. His head swirled as he tried to orient himself to the situation. Avalon was tied up to a chair, and when he struggled to move his arms, he realized his arms were tied down as well. His chest tightened with fear.

“You are being held here for killing five inhabitants via your inoculation shots,” Viggo calmly stated.

“What? I did no such thing!” Ilium shouted, trying to break free of his arm ties.

“Are you trying to leave too? You two are so rude. No wonder you make the perfect couple.”

“Shut up!” Avalon yelled.

The President continued talking on the wallscreen. “This is not Ilium’s first strike. Along with the other two strikes he has incurred, this means that Ilium has three strikes.”

A loud cheer erupted throughout the habitat.

“The Council and I met in an emergency meeting to discuss the urgency and hideousness of these strikes. It was determined, via unanimous vote, that Ilium will not be tried by his peers, but instead would be tried by the Council. He was found guilty by the Council.”

People continued to gasp as the President surveyed the crowds gathered around the multitude of wallscreens.

“By virtue of the power vested in me, I pronounce sentence of expulsion from the habitat for Ilium,” the President continued.

The wallscreen broadcast ended, and roars continued to erupt throughout the habitat. Inhabitants screamed about Ilium, calling him a traitor, a murderer, and a liar.

That’s when it hit Avalon. Viggo wasn’t going to hurt her physically. Of course not. He needed her. He was going to hurt her by hurting Ilium.

“You can’t do this!” Avalon and Ilium yelled at Viggo.

“I can, and I have,” he answered smugly.

A guardsman entered the room, one of those that Avalon had knocked out with the baton earlier. He untied Ilium’s feet, but held his arms.

“You have really done it. Now, you are going outside to die. And all because you listened to this dumb girl,” the guardsman spat.

“No!” Avalon yelled and jerked violently against her restraints.

“Good thing this room is sound proof,” Viggo said with a look to the guardsman.

The guardsman punched Ilium in the stomach. Ilium yelled out in pain.

“Every time your girlfriend opens her mouth, you will be punched.”

Avalon shut her mouth as Ilium grimaced. Avalon’s heart sunk as the guard escorted Ilium out of the room, leaving Avalon alone with Viggo.

Skylar and Xin’s eyes grew wide with disbelief as they listened to the President’s address on the wallscreen in stunned silence.

“I can’t believe that Ilium would do such a thing,” Skylar said.

“Me either,” Xin said.

“But then again. He was hanging around Avalon a lot. I never did trust her,” Skylar said.

“Stop it,” Xin said.

“Stop what?” Skylar asked, lips poked out.

“Stop being jealous of that girl. She has done nothing to you. Except make the mistake of being nice.”

Skylar’s mouth fell open. “Surely you don’t mean that?”

Xin didn’t say anything for a few minutes.

“All you have done is look at Ilium and Kael. You were too blind to see that someone liked you for who you are already.”

“I won’t listen to anymore,” Skylar said backing away.

“Yes, you will,” he barked. “Something is wrong. I can’t find Avalon and I also can’t find Brody.”

“That sounds like your problem. Track them if you are so concerned.”

“That’s just it. Avalon’s smartwatch isn’t picking up, and Brody’s is…”

“Brody’s is what?”

“He was showing up as in the infirmary.”

“Yeah, that’s where he was last,” Skylar said with her arms folded over her chest.

“But now he isn’t there. He isn’t showing up anywhere.”

Ilium was marched through the hallways as people jeered and shouted at him with disgust. Ilium did not hold it against them, however, as he knew they had been misled. The march through the corridor was deliberate, meant to humiliate him and break him down.

Everyone watched on wallscreens as Ilium entered a room where he was fitted into a radiation suit. Ilium tried to appear brave, for Avalon’s sake. His face was covered by a full face mask, and he was fitted with a very large cylinder of filtered and compressed air to be carried on his back.

“You are ordered out of the habitat by decree of the President. May you find peace on the other side,” the guardsman said.

Ilium often wondered why and how the guardsman could blindly follow the President’s commands. And then, he remembered, they were paid the Accipio rates in credits. Money always did have power. Even in the world after impact.

A countdown to open the airlock began.

Ten…..

Nine…..

Eight….

Seven….

Six……

Five….

As his life flashed before his eyes, he contemplated his home life. Or lack thereof. He was raised in an orphanage. However, he was made of strong stock, and due to his intelligence, earned a spot in the habitat.

Four….

Then he thought about how he went to the same high school as Avalon, but she had never noticed him because he was afraid to take a risk and say hello. How she still had not recognized him when she woke up and after all of the time they spent together. The way her hair flowed down her shoulders when she took it out of the ponytail. The way her smile lit up the room and made his heart beat faster while his stomach flipped. Of all the time they could have had together, as friends or more than friends, if he had more time.

Three….

He thought about how she was always the smartest person in the room. How beautiful she was.
What is that crazy psychopath going to do to her?
But it was too late. He was in the airlock. He could not help her from here.

Two….

He thought about the patients who might not receive the cure in time, or at all. The horrible fates they would suffer.

One…..

Ilium tried to regulate his breathing as he thought about what he might see when he stepped outside of the habitat for the first time. Would there be anything left at all? Any ruins?

He would make history as being the first person to see Earth in a hundred years. It was a record he could do without, but a record none the less. At least something good may come of his death.

Ilium’s lips formed a straight line. The airlock door opened, evidenced by the grinding noise of metal gears twisting and he was blinded by the flood of sudden light as he held up his hand to shield his eyes.

Avalon was growing tired of listening to Viggo regale her with how much of a genius he was when she jerked at the sound of a knock on the door.

Maybe whoever that is can save me.
Avalon breathed a sigh of relief as her heart leapt.

Grabbing a syringe sure to be loaded with something nasty, Viggo looked at a security camera view, and after a slight pause, let the person inside.

“What brings you here today? Are you here to see the fulfillment of my plan in person?” Viggo asked.

“Yes,” the figure said as it entered the room.

Avalon’s head spun. She knew that voice anywhere. It was Kael.
Of course, he is on it! The formula was found in his smartwatch after all. Blinded by his charm, I wanted to believe it was his father so badly.

“Excellent,” Viggo answered. “I was just about to give Avalon something. But now that you are here, I think it would be better if you administered the shot.”

“I think that is a good idea,” Kael answered.

Viggo handed Kael the gleaming needle. Kael tapped out the air bubble and walked over to where Avalon sat squirming in her chair. Her eyes widened with fear and she screamed through the duct tape covering her mouth. Terror rose within her chest as she stared at the needle. Her life was going to end today. Right here in this terrible little room, stuck to this chair. All of the effort she and her father took to ensure her a spot in the habitat so she could live was about to be in vain. She would never see Ilium again, or be held by his caring arms.

As Kael grabbed her arm, Avalon made up her mind to seize struggling. She shoved aside the fear and sadness which seized her heart, and instead met her ending with a determined look and eyes that could kill. Her fists balled up as Kael pressed the tip of the needle against her olive flesh. Then in one fell swoop, Kael swung around and stuck the needle deep into the jugular vein of Viggo.

“Traitor,” Viggo gurgled before he fell to the ground with a thud.

“Let’s get you out of here,” Kael said to Avalon as he whipped the tape from her mouth.

“You! You!” she kept repeating with harshness in her voice and eyes.

“I just saved your life,” he answered as he untied her arms and legs from the chair. “You’re welcome.”

Avalon punched him square in the jaw.

“Ow!” he yelled, rubbing his cheek, but she could tell it didn’t hurt him at all.

“That was for letting Brody die!”

“Fair enough,” Kael said. “But I think I deserve a hug or a kiss for rescuing you now.”

“You will get neither, and another hit instead if you don’t explain what is going on.”

“What do you want to know?”

“Everything. But first, what was he about to give me?” Avalon asked.

“A paralyzing agent.”

Avalon winced. She didn’t want her imagination to travel down that road.

“Why. Why did you save me?” Avalon said, her voice trembling ever so slightly.

“Isn’t it obvious?”

“No, it isn’t,” Avalon hissed. “Whose side are you on?”

“Your side,” he answered with a faint smile as he lifted her up from the chair and wrapped one of her arms around his shoulder. With his help, she hobbled towards the door.

“But he called you a traitor. To be a traitor, you must have been on his side.”

“A lot of stuff goes on in this habitat that you aren’t aware of Avalon. You just have to trust me,” Kael said.

“But wait. The formula was found on your smartwatch. The so called cure for the virus.”

“I pretended that I was on Viggo’s side. The side of the people who want to destroy the Compatios. But I am not on their side. I don’t believe what they believe. I will explain everything else later,” Kael urged.

Avalon still didn’t trust him. She didn’t trust anyone anymore, besides Ilium.

Kael swiped the door open. “Now, go meet up with Brody and Skylar. They are waiting for you outside of your dorm room.”

Every step Avalon took hurt, but she nodded her head in agreement. “But, what are you going to do?”

He only offered a wink to her in answer.