Kingdom Gone

NOTHING LEFT TO LIVE FOR

2 Days Until Rapture

I woke up with a massive headache, for the umpteeth time.

I groggily look around, and realize I'm in the back seat of a car. The sky outside the window is light grey, and my heart stops for a few moments. How long was I out?

"You're finally awake." Detective Q says from the front seat. Somehow, I'm still on edge.

"What happened?"

"A group of Jakkar's men attacked our camp. They had machine guns and explosives, we were no match. I saw you unconscious and I scooped you up, drove us away as fast as possible. This was a few hours ago."

I blinked. "Where's everyone else?"

Something left Q's mouth, but it came out as a distorted, muffled beat.

"What?"

There it was again. But this time I knew it was my brain. I close my eyes and clear my mind, focusing on the hum of the engine, and the subtle bumps in the road.

"One more time."

"They're dead. Jason."

My mind purges all thoughts, all emotions. My stomach aches, causing my entire body to fold over itself. I grip the edge of Q's seat. "Did you see them?"

He nods. "They were all taken down by a single RPG. The mercenaries moved in and shot them all dead, one by one."

I stare at his face in the rearview mirror. I read his facial features, his blinks, his swallows. No signs of lying, but just one emotion was visible in the corners of his mouth and the flinching in his cheeks. Guilt. From abandoning them.

So it's true.

Sam. Nijah. Circe. . . Dead. And I wasn't able to fucking save them. I shutdown my mind, I don't want to think about anything. So I submit to my raw instincts.

I sit up straight in my seat.

"Take me to Jakkar."

* * *

"I count over 50 in the compound."

Q looks up from the scope on his sniper, which he got from the trunk of his hummer. "What's the plan, kid?"

I look up from the log we were hiding behind and get the lay of the land.

The military compound is nestled at the very bottom of a grassy valley, covered with thousands of pink flowers. Barbed wire fence surrounds the perimeter, but most of the soldiers seem to be situated near the center, around a giant HoloJet like plane. That must be where the nuke is.

"I found Jakkar." Q says, looking down his sights. "He just entered the large tent on the western side."

"I see it." I say, standing.

Detective Q looks up at me. "So what's the-"

"Plan? You want a plan? Fine. Here it is: cover me." With that I take off at a jog down the valley.

* * *

Five minutes later, I reach the eastern side of the compound.

I climb the fence with easy, using my leather jacket so get over the barbed wire, and drop down on the grass. I walk towards the first building, which must've been an old barracks, and press my back against the wall. I edge towards the corner and take a peek around it, looking deeper into the compound.

Soldiers and more soldiers. Great.

I feel a slight drizzle begin to come on, and notice that morning fog from the valley is slowly creeping across the compound. That'll work.