New Elysium: Weapons of War (Book 2)

Waste Of Time Part 17

"Contradiction of compassion, Coexisting within apathy, Time to face that life's becoming, None of what I wanted it to be" - "Waste of Time" Circle Of Dust  

Pain wracked Red's body as the muddy water raged around him. It carried with it sharp stones and rocks that battered his body as he tried to find his bearing amidst the turbulent motion of the slurry flood. He could feel that he was moving, the landslide was pushing him along toward the edge of the plateau. He knew once he was over the cliff, his chances of survival would be slim.

He reached out, desperate to find something, anything to hold on to. Finally feeling something solid under his hands, he grabbed tight and clung to it with all the strength he could muster. Against the pull of the muddy surge, he pushed himself up on a rocky outcrop which reached far enough out of the waves to allow him to pull himself out of the mud. He was glad Ember wasn't here because any healing he'd done over the past few days had probably just been ripped to shreds. He groaned and lifted his face to the rain-soaked sky and let it wash the dirt from his mask. It had cracked on one side, lacing his field of view with a spiderweb-like pattern, but it still provided better vision than without. Not that this was much better with the torrential downpour. The ground was still moving around him, he could feel the vibrations. Any moment now the rocky outcrop he was standing on could come tumbling down the mountain with him.

The sodden was aptly named, he decided. His augments flared as he reached out to Amy.

Null? Lars? Where are you?

The dense rain clouds and the downpour had cast his surroundings in darkness and he could hardly see his hand in front of his face, let alone his surroundings. His scanners flared to life as he used them to see his surroundings. Nothing but moving mud and water moved past him.

He felt a brief flash of panic at the sudden recollection of the moment when he thought Ember hadn't made it when they'd first escaped from Helion 7.

No, no, no, he turned wildly around, feeling more alone than any other time in his existence.

Lars?

He turned up the frequency pushing out as far as he could go. There were still things he wanted to say... Thank you for starters... But the only thing moving out beyond him was the ground.

Amy was an augment, so even injured her chances of survival were higher than the kid they'd brought with them.

Stupid, stupid, he thought, adding it to the list of things he could have done better. He should never have been here, period.

He felt bad for Nico, if he wasn't dead, he would be soon. Even Red for all of his augments could tell that his own body had hit far harder than it should have. He'd lost the shovel, some of his gear, though his breathing mask by some miracle was still attached to his face. He peered through it to no avail. His eyes were useless, the rain was too heavy. He had to rely entirely on his sensors.

His scanners blipped once and Red put his full energy into pinpointing the location.

Red? Lars came back at him full force. Relief flooded Red and he squatted for a moment.

Where are you? Can you see me? I've found some solid ground, more or less.

We're close... I'm... I'm in charge right now, Null... Null is unconscious.

Is she ok?

She appears to be...humans just take longer to restart...

Red laughed in spite of the circumstances. Restart, maybe that's exactly what he needed. He could sense them now, about 20 meters away. They'd gone further down the slight slope towards the edge of the plateau than he had.