Might's Odyssey (The Event Book 2) (11 page)

The ladder loomed above him stretching into the gloom and dust filled darkness above. He reached up, grabbed the ladder and started to climb up. 

The light on his helmet came on illuminating the gloom above him. His eyes widened when he saw the remains of a massive vent hanging drunkenly a few feet to his right, all that remained of the base’s ventilation system.

Reaching the rusty rail, he pulled himself over it, stepping back on the corridor. The steel door he had come through an hour and a half earlier lay to his right. With a grim look on his face, he walked to it.

The black smoke outside still billowed up into the sky in thick plumes. His eyes narrowed as he looked up; examining the steep sides of the crater, he was in.

He felt like kicking himself. Something Eleyon said the first time he started speaking to him flashed through his mind.
‘You will need more than strength and mere brute force to succeed in this quest__’

Those words stung as he remembered them. It was apparent that he was nothing more than a big lumbering oaf who preferred to think with his fists.

When he traveled with his four other amnesiac companions, Swift and Brainwave had done most of the thinking. He had been content to follow. Now that lack of thinking had landed him in a stinking puddle of unpleasant. How did he get back up now? The question echoed in the wide cavernous space in his head.

“Activate the propulsion systems in your suit__”

He stiffened glancing at his armored hazmat suit. There were a legion of buttons and switches on it. Which one controlled the propulsion system?

“The red one on your right, directly above your waist.”

He frowned looking at the button for several seconds before he pressed it. Flame burst out of his boots and he slowly rose into the air. Within seconds, he was speeding towards the top of the crater.

He shot over it and began streaking towards the sky. This is not good___

“Push the button again__”

He pushed it desperately and the flame coming from his boots ceased. He plummeted fast, hitting the ground with a loud whump, landing a couple of feet away from the hover cycle.

Holding up the keycard to look at it, he was a little put out to see it did not glow or change in any way. Slipping it into a large pocket, he turned and faced the hover cycle.

Pressing the on switch on the hover cycle, he quickly typed in the coordinates as the onboard computer came online. There was a screech followed by a pause as the computer plotted the direction and distance of the coordinates. Five seconds later, it beeped and a holographic map beamed out of the seven-inch screen in front of him.

His eyes narrowed as he studied it. According to the coordinates, he still had to travel further north. The computer described it as no man’s land. It was further than anyone in the modern world had ever traveled before except perhaps the nomads.

The coordinates led to a base beneath what used to be the Atlantic Ocean. It was now a barren expanse of irradiated land, prowled and guarded by Higuan giants.

“The remnant of the US military in the early months of the war speculated that somewhere in that direction, was where you would find the ether-tome.”

He frowned as the sound of the machine’s voice rang out. Revving the engine several times, he sped off, traveling at almost six times the speed of sound.

Looking down at the guns strapped to the sides of his hazmat suit, he considered his predicament. He had in addition to these guns about two dozen fusion grenades plus the minigun he had slung on his back.

Fear stole into his heart when he remembered the Higuan giant that walked past his campsite the previous night. Now he was headed to their land to face only God knew how many of them.

He could only hope that the weapons he had in his possession would be enough to get him through to the base where the second keycard was. A sardonic voice in his head quickly reminded him that the air force with all its airstrikes and missiles were unable to bring down a single Higuan giant. What chance did he have with the weapons in his possession? A minigun, a couple of fusion grenades and other hand held weapons. He was toast.

“You
have me__”
Eleyon’s strong voice barked out in his head.

Might was tempted to ask ‘What can you do?’ but he held his peace. It would not do to anger his only ally, even if the ally was simply a voice in his head.

The land became less arid as he traveled. There were no visible landforms, but a plant like structure covering the earth at varying points.

As if the hover cycle could read his thoughts, it screeched as the onboard computer started talking.

“Those things aren’t plants.”
Its tone wavered between grim and stoic.

“Hmmnnnn__” Might said glancing at the red, carpet grass looking plant with distaste.

“__ I could have sworn they were plants. What are they?”

There was a pause. His eyes narrowed as he waited. Something told him that the computer was about to say something unpleasant.

“During the war, a lot of human and animal blood was shed. The ether-tome and its minions did not kill off all humans. There were some they captured; hundreds of thousands of them. In some places, even millions. They used their blood and bodies for terraforming.”

“Terra what now?” Might asked puzzled.

“The military believed that the ether-tome did not cope too well with earth’s environment. Therefore, there was the need to make it more like where they came from. None of these speculations could be verified, but the events that occurred later seemed to lend some credence to it.”

“What do you mean? And what events do you speak of?”

“Well__ the ether-tome had practically wiped humanity out with the physical onslaught that laid waste to mega cities in hours, killing off hundreds of millions simultaneously. The biological attack that followed infected fifty percent of the population that remained with a more deadly strain of the Evonso virus. The virus killed off the entire fifty, leaving a mere fraction left in the biosphere.

“After wiping out all survivors scattered across the globe, the ether-tome turned to the biosphere. As they marched to the biosphere, the darkness that led this horde suddenly dissolved and disappeared, leaving its forces to wander around aimlessly before they too scattered to the four winds.

“Since that time, they ceased from being one cohesive unit to scattered pockets of evil and violence. Belor and EZ concluded that maybe earth’s environment drove away the ether-tome leaving its minions scattered across the globe.

“This theory received a lot of skepticism. Many believe that the darkness is still present on earth somewhere. The most probable location is no man’s land, which is where we are headed now. Because it makes no sense to have the Higuan giants guarding and patrolling this area if there was nothing there.

Might did not utter a single word. It appeared he had much more to worry about.

The growl of the hover cycle was the only sound between them. The computer seeming to sense his need for peace and quiet did not say anything more. It gave him mental space to allow him to think.

He could not help wondering whether the computer was right. Was the ether-tome in no man’s land? That thought brought nothing but fear and dread. The Higuan giants were one thing, the ether-tome was another.

The land around him suddenly grew hazy with mist. Where the mist came from he had no idea. His eyes narrowed. Something told him that trouble was brewing.

He reached for the minigun slung on his back, pulled it off and held it at the ready. A faint light glimmered through the floating tendrils of mist. The light came from his right, at a point, miles away.

The ground beneath him sloped upwards. Though the hover cycle never touched ground, it usually dipped or rose up when the terrain beneath it changed.

It kept rising higher, the mist around cleared somewhat and then he pressed the emergency stop button on the touch screen and it screeched to a halt.

He looked down, marveled by the strange sight many miles beneath him. He was perched on what appeared to be the remains of a mountain. Hundreds of Higuan giants marched across a vast plain beneath him. The sand on the plain was wavy, almost as if ripples were going through it. There were also cracks and deep fissures dug into it at varying points.

“The remains of the Atlantic__”

Might sighed. He had arrived much quicker than he expected.

The dull red eyes of the Higuan giants drifted over the flat landscape in long measured sweeps, not missing a thing. Looking straight down, he saw that quite a few of them were marching directly under him, their heads barely four feet below where he stood. They were that tall. The question now was how he could get on the plain without them noticing.

“Take the hover cycle twelve miles back and go east__”

Surprised, he turned the hover cycle back, being careful not to rev the engine. The hover cycle counted down the miles backwards. He lowered his lips to the touch screen and whispered ‘ten miles’.

The computer gave a screech and it started counting down from ten. As soon as it reached one, Might immediately whispered “head east.” The cycle whipped eastward so fast that he almost lost his balance.

Swinging the minigun back on his back, he held onto the handlebars as hard as he could noticing that it now dipped downwards. They traveled down for many miles before it straightened out once more.

“North_”

“North__” Might whispered to the onboard computer.

The cycle whipped to the north. This time however, Might was prepared and the sudden movement did not rattle him.

A cloud of mist came out of nowhere shielding him from view. The hard frown on his face quickly turned to one of puzzlement. That was very convenient.

Above him, he saw dozens of red eyes sweeping right and left searching the land surface for any threat. The mist had appeared at a very opportune moment. Something told him that it could not be chance.

“It was me__”

He nodded. He thought as much. At the lowest speed, the hover cycle was soundless. The red eyes sweeping around above him did not center on him and for that, he was grateful.

A sardonic voice in his head whispered that this spell of good luck he was enjoying would not last. What happened next made him think the voice was psychic.

A large fist about the size of a small house slammed down in front of him. The front of the hover cycle slammed into it coming to an abrupt halt.

Rattled, he looked up. Red light coming from two humungous sized eyes beamed down on him. His heart started to race as he realized that he had been spotted.

“
Move
___”

Eleyon’s voice was almost a roar in his head. He moved fast, leaping sideways and turning three somersaults. He slammed into the ground hard rolling away as fast as he could.

The loud crunch behind which was immediately followed by a massive explosion told him that the hover cycle was crushed; bang went all his food and supplies.

He ripped the minigun off his shoulder as he leaped to his feet spraying the flaming white bursts in a wide arc. He got about half a dozen shots off before he felt something slam into his abdomen and he was flying backwards at breakneck speeds covering miles in milliseconds before slamming into the ground. He rolled over two dozen times and became still.

Many loud roars rang out ahead and the ground started to shake violently as a dozen Higuan giants sprinted his way. He leapt to his feet groaning loudly as he pulled out one of his fusion grenades. Pressing the button marked flash burn he lobbed it at the approaching giants.

It barely left his hand when it exploded. The explosion was massive; the force of it flung him several miles back.

The minigun he still clutched was a twisted hunk of metal, useless to him now. He hit the ground hard what felt like hours later, fighting to stay conscious as the fallout swept past him searing over the surrounding landscape for a three hundred mile radius.

The loud thumps continued. His eyes widened in fright. The Higuan giants were still coming. The fusion grenade had done nothing.

Rolling on his stomach, he crawled to his left as fast as he could. After a couple of feet, he leaped forward going in a roll and started to crawl again. The thuds were now to his right.

The fire burning on the sand shielded him from view. He crouched low stiffening as a huge foot swept barely three feet above his head and thumped down six miles away.

“Go forward.”

He took off in a fast sprint. He ran for a hundred and fifty meters and gasped as something hard slammed into his right side flinging almost twenty feet into the air. Sailing sideways, he hit the ground hard digging a deep furrow into the loose sand.

He staggered to his feet groaning as something heavy slammed down on him, driving him deep into the earth. For several seconds he found he was unable to breathe and then the pressure instantly eased. He looked up as a massive foot rose off his sore body. The foot descended again with great speed. He just managed to roll out of the way.

The slam of the foot into the sand flung him up depositing him some distance away. The red eyes beamed on his position and the foot descended once again.

Anger surged through him and he came up swinging his right fist. A pulse of energy surrounded his fist before it slammed into the Higuan giant’s foot.

There was a great concussion, followed by what felt like an explosion of air that threw sand in all directions. The Higuan giant roared and then the unthinkable happened. The giant tittered on one foot and fell backwards screaming in shock and outrage.

Its crash into the earth was bone shattering. He was barely able to stay on his feet as the earth rumbled beneath him. To his right, three other Higuan giants were sprinting his way.

“Raise up both fists as high as you can and smash them into the earth.”

He was tempted to ask why but decided to obey. The giants were just two steps away.

Raising both fists as high as he could he brought it crashing down onto the undulating desert sand. Before his fists hit, the same strange pulse surrounded it. This time however, the pulse was covered by large bursts of flame.

His fists hit the ground hard and everything went mad. Sanity and peace were two terms that discontinued as if someone turned a light bulb off.

The ground seemed to explode and implode at the same time. A force with the power of three dozen earthquakes erupted from the earth lifting the Higuan giants off their feet and flinging them so far back that they quickly became dots on the horizon. A high wave of rock, sand and dirt followed them. Two minutes later the earth around him was peaceful and quiet.

“Look behind you.”

He turned surprised to see a giant fissure in the ground. Bending down to take a closer look, he discovered that it went very far down. So far down that he could not see the bottom.

“Jump in__”

He gave his ragged hazmat suit one quick glance before he leaped down into the fissure disappearing from view.