Codes (Book 2)

Chapter 29: Claire

After about thirty minutes of marching across the desolate plain that was once a city, we finally broke the ice. Joe and his group of survivors really weren't that bad after, and I quickly dismissed my initial apprehension of them. The woman who had convinced Joe that we weren't aliens- Jane- was actually really talkative!

I listened intently to the tales of the Third Galactic War she told us. They were the same stories that Tara and Uncle Airel had secretly whispered to me back on Lessaenes when my mother wasn't around, except, Jane told them from the human point of view.

"...and then, President Anderson and her family had to go down into a secret bunker when the aliens bombed New Washington," Jane said. Kelly, Vince, and Iveya gasped simultaneously, even more enthralled than I was. All of this was completely new to them.

"The entire city was destroyed, and Congress made an emergency decision to move the capital to New York," Jane continued. "Then, they noticed that the Lessaenite ships were coming back. They weren't done yet. All of us were practically glued to our couches, staring at our TV's when they attacked again. However, this time, the Human Union was ready. We sent a fleet of jets to stop the bombing, and the Lessaenite Queen just about crushed 'em all. But, lucky for us, her younger daughter, Princess Vevena or Vivienne- something like that- accidentally crawled out of the ship."

"It's Viviana," I said bluntly.

"What?"

"M-The youngest Princess's name is Viviana."

"Oh yeah, that's right," Jane laughed. "It was on the tip of my tongue! Anyway, she had to go find Princess Viviana, so she forgot to give the order to begin the bombing. Our jets destroyed two of their largest ships that day."

"Wow," Kelly grinned. "It almost sounds like we had a chance!"

"That was our last victory," Jane sighed. "Things started to go downhill from there. Soon after that, Anderson surrendered, and to our surprise, the aliens proposed a rather lenient treaty. Of course, we celebrated. We didn't realize it wasn't our planet they wanted."

"Then...what did they want?" Megan asked fearfully, as if she was afraid to hear the answer.

"Our lives," Jane whispered. "Every single one."

A chill ran down my spine as her words began to sink in. Earth wasn't destroyed in the war. The Icehearts intentionally wiped out an entire planet.

"Welcome to Scorchtown, the last city on Earth!" Joe bellowed, gesturing to the narrow strip of buildings before us. They were still far from being in good condition, but at least they weren't quite as dilapidated as the rest of southern Mississippi.

The majority of Scorchtown's inhabitants seemed to have accompanied Joe and Jane, as the streets of the tiny city were fairly empty. However, as we walked across the somewhat tidied sidewalk, more people began to emerge from buildings, curious.

My heart fluttered with excitement as I looked over the crowd. There had to be at least two hundred survivors here! If this had escaped the Icehearts' notice, their "human extermination plan" couldn't have been nearly as thorough as we had thought. Who knew how many more little pockets of people were sprinkled throughout the Human Union? Queen Saralee hadn't wiped out the human race after all!

"Don't get yer hopes up, kid," Joe grunted. "We're the only ones left. We do radar scans every morning; if there was any others, we would've found 'em by now."

"How did you know I was-"

"It's what all the newbies think. They see Scorchtown and start dreaming of an alliance of survivor camps all around the world. The dumber ones even say it could be powerful enough to challenge the Lessaenite Empire!"

"Hope isn't dumb," I frowned.

"Hope got my family killed," Joe snarled. "Sorry, kid," he smiled weakly a couple of seconds later. "Didn't mean to sound harsh, but hope don't get you nowhere on a dead planet."

"We've all lost something to the war, Joe," Jane said softly. "Maybe hope is her way of coping."

"Something? We've lost everything," Joe heaved, sitting down on a cracked curb. "Everything."

I reached out to him, but Jane clamped her hand over mine. "He needs to be left alone. Trust me, you don't want to see Joe in a bad mood. Why don't you go inside with the rest of them?" She pointed to one of the less rundown houses on the street, into which the former Glitches eagerly walked.

"I'm going to fix all of this," I gestured to the sky, which was filled with a disgusting mixture of browns, yellows, and greens, a testament to the planet's ruined atmosphere.

"You're right," Joe lifted his head and let out a guttural laugh. "Hope isn't dumb at all, it sure makes great comedy."

He thought I was joking.

Sighing, I jogged across the street to join my friends.

"They've assigned us to this house," Kelly pointed to an average looking two story house in front of us.

"Wait...house? They want us to stay here permanently? What about the ship, and the Lessa-"

"They're usually really nice, but when I started talking about leaving Scorchtown, they gave me a weird look. I don't think they'd be very happy if we tried to leave, and they have us outnumbered at least ten to one..."

"But we have to get out!"

"We have to not die," Kelly sighed as we entered the house, sitting down on a ratty couch.

I pursed my lips, I wasn't going to let any of these people stop me.

I was going to get to the Empire, and I was going to fix my family's mistakes. I was going to make this right.