Kingdom Gone

REVELATION

Rapture

"Jason."

I opened my eyes, awaking from a dreamless slumber.

"Is it time?" I ask Sam.

She nods. "Nijah gave me a read of the place when she woke up, and we found the exit. We should get a move on though, it's almost midnight."

I stand and gesture at the marks on her arm. "I'm sorry you had to do that."

She gives me a halfhearted smile. "I've been meaning to get a new paint job anyway, Come on."

We make our way through the empty steel walls of the facility, the lights still on from some external power source. Sam guides me around as I glance into each room as we pass.

A medical bay. A mess hall. A motor pool.

Eventually we make our way to the Lift. It's an exact replica of it's counterpart down below, except for a long diagonal line that must open when the actual thing rises. Nijah is sitting in the passenger seat of some kind of tank-like car, engine running with Circe laying across in the backseat.

The sight of Nijah up and awake brings a smile to my face. "Had enough beauty sleep?" She says, nonchalantly.

I lean into her window. "I should say the same to you. You missed some pretty intense stuff when you decided to clock out."

She scoffs. "So I heard. Lightning Boy and Thunder Gal, hm? You and Circe really are made for each other."

I laugh, walking around the front of the vehicle and hop into the driver seat, Sam filing into the back beside Circe. After a minute to figure out the controls, I manage to start up the engine and get us going across the Lift.

"Where we going?"

Nijah points out the small front window. "Southeast corner. There's a port that leads to a small chamber. It's got to be out ticket out."

I nod, revving the engine and tear towards the corner.

"How's Circe?"

Sam sticks her head between the seats. "Nijah and I found some supplies in the med bay that's keeping her alive. But antibiotics and anesthetic isn't going to save her. She needs medical attention."

"She'll get it." I say.

A minute later we reach the port Nijah described. A blue button on the dash blinks as we approach, so I press it and the door slides open, letting us through. I drive inside to the yellow markings on the floor, and wait.

The lights in this small space went out, except for two red ones on the wall in front of us. A loud siren blares for a few seconds, then second door opens.

Our vehicle immediately creaked on its wheels as the wind hit us. It was dark outside, pitch black. I looked at Nijah and Sam, then hit the headlights and drove outside.

Sand pelted us from all sides. It feels like we were driving through a tornado, the wind seeming to have a mind of it's own, delivering blow after blow on every angle of our car. Something large pelts us from the right, rocking the vehicle onto its left wheels before slamming down again. I ignore it and get driving.

"Do you see anything yet?" I ask, having to raise my voice a bit to be heard over the sandstorm.

Nijah closes her eyes, hands against her temples. "No. . . wait! Yeah, something's approaching from the east."

I turn the car in that direction. "Let's hope it's not some mutant sand monster."

After a few minutes, the radio on the dash squawks to life.

"Small landcraft, this is the pilot of the S.S. Revelation. We have mission orders to pick up two individuals from Utopia 7. If you are our cargo, relay the confirmation key within the next 20 seconds. Over."

We all blink.

"Key? What key?" Nijah asks.

"Did Circe know about this, Jason?"

I shake my head, closing my eyes. "I don't think so. I mean, the only thing she had was the device with the message from her father, and even that. . . wait."

I hold down the big red button beside the radio receiver and lean into the mouth piece.

"Rapture."

Silence. And then. . .

"Copy that, cargo confirmed. Stay where you are, the Revelation is inbound. ETA 30 seconds."

We all let out a sigh of relief at the exact same time.

"We did it." Sam says, pressing her forehead against the armrest.

"Fuck yeah, we did! New Utopia, here we. . . Um."

I look at her, confused, then my eyes widen when I see the massive ship heading right for us through her window. All I could see were the lights piercing through the sandstorm, but as it neared, the sheer scale of it was overwhelming, the hum from the engines could be felt from inside our tank. 50 yards away a small square of light cuts through the darkness, and quick engulfs up, tossing the vehicle up three feet in the air, then slamming us down again.

But when we landed, we were inside a small hangar.

We sat in silence for a full minute before we heard a light tap on our windshield.

"I guess that's our cue." I say, getting out of the car. Niijah and Sam follow suit, and I pull Circe out, holding her in my arms. We I join Nijah and Sam, they're standing before a trio of burly men in white jumpsuits. The one wearing a blue cap points at Circe when he sees her, and orders the men to "get the Admiral's daughter to the med bay." I don't put up a fight. I let them take her, and watch as they carry her up a flight of metal steps and deeper into the ship.

"Where's her mother?" The man in the blue cap asks.

I step forward. "She died a few months ago."

He crosses his arms. "So who are you?"

Nijah's flustered. "Just the fuckin' heroes who delivered her, that's who." I grip her shoulder, silently telling her to calm it.

"Well," The man says. "Our orders were to retrieve the Admiral's daughter and wife, not a bunch of punks. Besides, we don't have the resources to accommodate extra passengers. It'll take over a week to return to our Utopia." The man turns and waves his hand at a couple of orderlies who I didn't notice before. They step forward, unholstering their sidearms.

Un. . . freaking. . .believable.

I unsheathe my sword.

Shink, shink, shink.

The man with the blue cap turns around at the top of the stairs to see his men in pieces on the floor.

I smile, wiping the blood on my hands off on pants. "Bet you have the resources to accommodate us now, you son of a bitch."

He yells in horror, sprinting up the stairs.

"Wise move, jackass." Nijah says, shrugging off her bow.

"Like you would've done much different." I pull out my pistol, ejecting the magazine. A siren blares throughout the ship.

Sam groans, tapping a small display on her arm. "They're going to try to kill us, you know."

I laugh wholeheartedly, clacking a new mag into place and chambering the first round in my gun.

"What else is new?"