Return to Atlantis

Chapter 22 - Expendable

Ava Kinski adjusted her blurry eyes until the closed doors of the elevator shaft and the flickering lights became evident in her sight. She felt something cold running down one side of her face and she flinched slightly as she became aware of the sharp pain on her head. Her eyes fell low and saw the trail of red on her shoulder and chest. She pulled her head up slowly, hissing at the pain.

The last thing she could remember was being thrown off her feet and then scurrying on the floor with the rush of adrenaline to the lift she knew existed at the back of the stage before collapsing into unconsciousness.

"The airship is in a state of catastrophe. Please calmly proceed to the escape pods at the base level..."

That recorded instruction occupied the sound space. She could hear it from the close confines of the elevator shaft. She jolted up, remembering what had transpired in the auditorium. The battleship that crashed in wasn't the WDF's...

"Please proceed to the escape pods at the base level..."

Ava slowly got up on her feet. The ground beneath her tremored. 

She stood still for a moment realising that she was now suddenly free of the odd sensations. However, she now has to deal with the pain radiating in her head, back and neck due to injury.

The elevator panel indicated that she is still at the second level. Ava pushed the base level button but it won't budge. She tried the first level but it won't either. She will have to get off from this floor.

When the elevator doors slid open, she staggered for a bit as strong winds with perceptible gaseous and burning smell greeted her, blowing against her face and whipping her hair around. She shook her head slightly as she gradually took in the scene in front of her and saw the devastation that had occurred whilst she was dead to the world: Broken glass littered everywhere they glinted against the unfiltered daylight that streamed in from the now glass-less bay windows. There was debris and smoke everywhere. The airship groaned in pain and shuddered from under her feet.

The recreational floor of the airship was completely trashed.

The shopfronts mostly charred and the green expanse of the artificial park was a complete wreck it was barely recognisable saved for the crumbled towering water fountain that flooded everywhere.

Outside was the ongoing, raging battle in sky space.

It's the WDF versus...there's no mistaking it...it's none other than the invaders of the past...right here on Earth.

Her heart skipped a beat.

It's like watching the skies of Atlantis on that fateful day all over again...

"All personnel and passengers, abandon ship immediately..." the recorded voice over came repeatedly.

Ava started to plough through the battered surroundings, her mind reeling. She imagined the possibility that everyone has already escaped the ship, if not dead. For how long she was unconscious she didn't know, but she was certain it was long enough for all of this destruction to transpire.

As she moved about, she suddenly felt a thud against her foot.

She looked down to see a woman bathe in her own blood; her arm extended out to where Ava was trudging. A glass shrapnel was buried in her stomach.

Ava let out a small unguarded gasp. For a moment there, she stared with trepidation, her heart thumping hard in her chest. She stood immobile for a few seconds, then her countenance fell into smooth lines...and it became blank as paper...

"He is dead because of you."

The young girl's father said to her. It wasn't a taunt or anything. It was a statement of fact.