Revelation (12 page)

Everyone stood quietly, absorbing that thought. Rey appeared troubled. Troubled, because finally someone more powerful than himself was coming along – and that changed everything.

“All this is the main reason I’m here,” Makara continued. “Not because
I
need protection. You all do. We need to save this city from the Great Blight, because there are lots of fighting people I can use to strike back at this thing. Carin Black is strong, and if Augustus gets here in two months, as he has already said he would, their alliance will make them unstoppable.”

“How are we supposed to stop that?” Grudge asked.

“The answer is simple,” Makara said. “We have to cross the Wasteland and attack Los Angeles head-on, and conquer Black’s stronghold before Augustus can join up with him. We need to find settlements along the way, tell them what we know, and get their help. We have two months to do this.”

Silence reigned once more – silence, save for the out-of-place snicker from Jade. Cain shot the Weasel a murderous look, which at once silenced him.

“Forty thousand...” Rey said.

“We cannot fight that,” Cain said, blue eyes blazing. “Even with every fighting man, woman, and child in the Wasteland...we cannot fight that. Even if we kill the Reapers, it is hopeless. At best, we can produce ten thousand men. Maybe twenty.”

“We do have several advantages,” Makara said. “Because of
Odin
, our spaceship, we have time on our side. Augustus had not thought that we could return in time to prepare, because he did not know about
Odin
. The speed of the ship means we can communicate easily, and transport groups of men to where they need to be, quickly. The New Angels also have another spaceship, the
Gilgamesh.”

As she spoke, Rey’s eyes glazed over with greed. He wanted those spaceships.

“We have plans to liberate two more, housed in Bunker Six,” Makara said. “Four spaceships will allow us to crush a large part of Augustus’s army, or set up flanks he cannot possibly defend against. His army does not have the same level of technology as we do. They have guns, but not enough to equip all of their soldiers. If you go down to Nova Roma, it’s almost like stepping back in time hundreds of years. That’s part of the reason Augustus wants to conquer the Wasteland. The Bunkers have tons of weapons and supplies that simply cannot be found anywhere else. If we get to the Bunkers first, then Augustus’s army will be all the weaker for it.”

The gang leaders looked at one another.

“You know their locations?” Rey asked.

“We know the locations of several,” Makara said. “And it would be easy to find the locations of the rest, once we access any of their servers. We know of two Bunkers to the north which might actually still be online. With their help, we could bolster our numbers even more.” Makara looked at each of the gang lords in turn. “We have time. If we make all the right steps to prepare, we can set ourselves up in such a way that Augustus can be crushed before he even begins. It’s all about preparation. We have all the resources. But do we have the drive? The unity?” Makara paused, letting that sink in. “Those are the only two things working against us.”

“Even if we did do all that,” Jade said, now serious, “what makes you think we will win? Nothing ever goes the way you want it to. If all those things line up perfectly, sure...maybe we can win. Maybe not. I’m just going to say it, right now, because I’m sure you all have already thought about it.” He paused, flaunting a smile. “We need to join up with Augustus.”

Several of the men grumbled. We had assumed these Vegas gangs would want to be free of Augustus as much as we did. It turned out that they were more mercenary than that.

“I don’t want any foreign king telling me how to run my gang,” Rey said. “I’ll take the Empire’s batts, but that is as far as I will go. The Wasteland is
ours.”

“Augustus is powerful,” Jade said, almost soothingly. “How can we stand up to that when it comes? We can’t. It’s best to join up with him, while we still have a chance.”

“He is over two thousand miles away,” Grudge said, face reddening. It looked like he had a mind to use his gun. “If we have time to prepare for his attack, why would we join him?”

“I agree,” Cain said. “But I won’t follow this girl. Cain and the Sworn go their own way.”

Then, all the gangsters were arguing over what to do next. Our chief fear had been quashed – they were actually taking Makara seriously. It was funny how they took the threat of Augustus and Carin Black more to heart than the Great Blight. To them, crawlers and dragons were unruly critters that only needed to be slapped a few times so that they could get back to business. To the Vegas gangs, other people were the more tangible threat.

“And who will lead this expedition to Los Angeles?” Grudge asked. “I don’t trust
any
of you enough to walk three miles, much more three hundred.”

“That is why Makara leads!” Char shouted.

Everyone stopped short in their arguing, looking at Char. Now that he had everyone’s attention, he hurried to speak before anyone else could get in another word.

“The Raiders and the Exiles have already sworn their loyalty to the New Angels. You do not have to do the same. You can march with us, as allies, to Los Angeles. We will take Carin Black out before he even has a chance to prepare. Once there, the wealth of the city will be open to us all – batts, slaves, whatever you want.”

“No.”
Makara stepped up. “I will not allow slavery. This is the rebirth of the Lost Angels, and neither Raine nor I would stand for it.”

“Well,” Jade said, “tough luck, lady. Slaves are part of the deal. We want the whole city...don’t we, boys?”

Rey nodded. “The whole city. If you are going to take Vegas from us, we want to own Los Angeles. It is a fair trade. For all our risk...for our gamble...we need to have a reward that’s worth it.”

“Apparently, your survival isn’t rewarding enough?” Makara asked.

Rey shrugged. “It’s not about our survival. It’s about
you
needing
us
. You need our help to fight Black, and Augustus. You only get it if you give us what we want.”

“Augustus is just the first step,” Makara said.

Rey arched an eyebrow. “Really. Well, what other services do you require?”

“The Great Blight is going to destroy Vegas soon. It won’t stop at Vegas. It won’t stop until the whole world is swallowed and everyone is dead. If anyone wants to survive this, we have to attack the Voice. We have to attack Ragnarok Crater.”

No one said anything. This was bad news, and they didn’t want to accept it. I could see them now, looking for flaws in Makara’s argument, wanting it not to be true.

“We can show you the Black Files, if you want,” Samuel said. “We can give them to you to read for yourself. They were authored by the Chief Scientist of Bunker One, Cornelius Ashton, and are the most advanced study ever done on the xenovirus. Read them, if you do not believe me.”

“I don’t need to read that to know this world is going to hell,” Cain said. “More hell than usual, anyway. We can talk about that when we get there. Right now, let’s just focus on the Los Angeles expedition.”

Rey scowled, not liking where this was going. He had still not accepted.

“I probably don’t need to point this out,” Makara said. “But I will, anyway. The Great Blight will ruin your food and water supply, even if the Blighters don’t attack first. You’ll be forced to leave the city behind, with or without me. You can either do it with my help, with my resources, or without them. But if you come with me, you have to do it on
my
terms. No slaves. You can take all the batts you want from Los Angeles. Just leave the innocents alone.”

Rey was used to getting his way. He had long since cast aside his cigar. He reached a hand out, and a crony handed him a new one, lighting it for him. After taking a few puffs, Rey turned back to Makara.

“This can be negotiated,” he said. “If I am going to leave my home behind, I want a better deal than I have right now. You understand this, don’t you? L.A. is rich. I am game for trying to take it down. Hell, it could even be fun. It’d be nice to turn our guns on someone else besides our Vegas brethren.”

The other gang members smiled at that.

“But unless you give us a reason to go, besides survival...we won’t go. Surviving isn’t a reason for survival. You need something else. I want batts. Power. Slaves. They make the world go round.”

Makara eyed Rey hard. The rest of the gangsters were behind him, now. If she said no, then the gangs would not follow her to L.A. It didn’t matter how logical she was being about their survival depending on her. Even though they knew that, they wanted more.

“Fine,” Makara said. “We will parcel out the city once it’s ours. We’ll each get territory inside that corresponds to our respective size and power.”

Rey nodded his assent. “That sounds fair.”

The other gang lords’ eyes glistened with greed. They saw Los Angeles as a fat sheep ripe for the slaughter. It wasn’t the best motivation, but it was the best we could expect of men like these. They would only be loyal as long as they believed they stood anything to gain from conquering Los Angeles. It also created a whole new problem. After Black had been taken out, the gangs would turn on each other, once more, fighting over the best territory. Even now, I was sure they were all planning for that eventuality. It was all a game to them. It was a game they all had to survive, first.

“I want to remind you that it doesn’t end with the conquering of Los Angeles,” Makara said. “You will have to defend what is yours when Augustus comes. By that time, we should be strong enough to resist him. And the Great Blight grows. Its menace will never end until we destroy the Voice. After Augustus has been defeated, or has agreed to help us, we can attack the Great Blight and bring down the Voice. Only then will the xenovirus be rendered moot. Only then will the invasion be stopped.”

“What is it, anyway?” Grudge asked. “This xenovirus. Where did it come from?”

Of all the gang leaders, Grudge was the one I liked the most, despite Michael’s warning. He actually seemed interested in our mission against the xenovirus, and how to stop it.

“The Black Files, which we found in Bunker One, confirm that the xenovirus is of alien origin,” Samuel said, answering for Makara. “It’s their way of killing us all off before they get here to take control of the planet.”

Grudge nodded. Then, he smiled. “We might do their job for them before the end, huh?”

“I hope not, Grudge,” Makara said. “That’s something to think about. Fight all the wars you want when this all said and done. I don’t care. Until then, we work together. Agreed?”

One by one, the gang leaders nodded their agreement – Jade, Cain, Grudge, and Boss Dragon, who had been quiet all afternoon – and finally, Rey. Though Rey nodded like the rest, his eyes said he was going his own way. There was nothing we could do about that for now. It was done. As done as done could be, anyway.

“So,” Char said. “When do we start?”

“It will take time, to prepare for our departure,” Rey said. “We’ll need to gather food, vehicles, slaves, supplies. We won’t find much on the way, so we’ll need to empty the storehouses.”

“Should we combine our supplies, or each go separately?” Cain asked.

“I’m not sharing,” Jade said, with a nasty look. “I don’t trust any of you.”

“We share supplies,” Makara said. “Essential things like food, water, even bullets and guns. For one, it’s easier, and second, I want to get it into your heads that we’re working together now.”

“This can be discussed later,” Rey said. “I have things to take care of right now.”

He turned back for his Recon, along with his cronies. After they started up the hydrogen-powered vehicles, the tires squealed on the tarmac, leaving us in a cloud of dust.

“We will be in touch, Makara,” Cain said, with a nod. Where the blue eyes once mocked, now they held some measure of respect.

Makara nodded, and Cain turned away. He and his associates piled into their SUVs, and after starting their engines, headed back to the Strip.

Jade flashed a toothy, slimy smile before sliding into his limousine and riding away. It left only Grudge and his bikers. Grudge took a step forward, causing both Char and Samuel to reach for their guns.

Grudge held his hands up. He turned his eyes on Makara. “You did better than I would have guessed. Maybe they’re all out for themselves...and I’m not saying that I’m not, either. But you have me convinced about this xenovirus thing. Those buggers have always made my blood run cold. I just want you to know...I’ve got your back, is all.”

Grudge looked aside, embarrassed.

Makara nodded. “I appreciate that, Grudge.”

Grudge’s face was blank for a moment. Talk of loyalty or not, he was still dangerous. If he wanted to be in good with us, he had to prove it first.

“You’ll see, Makara,” he said, mounting his bike.

He held up a fist, causing all the other Suns to climb onto their own bikes. Then, in a swirl of dust, they sped off down the runway in the direction of the airport.

Boss Dragon came forward. “That was well done.”

“Well, they’ve agreed to go, so at least that much is done. I didn’t get everything I wanted, but...”

“Hey.” Boss Dragon stared at Makara hard. “Nobody does, kid.”

Char eyed Boss Dragon. “You have to prove yourself too, buddy.”

Boss Dragon turned his eyes on Char with disgust. “I made this gathering happen and gave Makara my protection. What more proof do you need?”

“I’m a skeptic,” Char said. “It’ll take more than a few favors to impress me...or Makara, for that matter.

“Alright,” Boss Dragon said. “I feel you.” The Boss looked at Michael. “You sure about joining up with these New Angels then, huh?”

“Well, nothing’s official yet, but I would like nothing more.”

“You’re one of us,” Makara said. “Who says you can’t be both a Dragon and an Angel?”

Boss Dragon gave a crooked smile. “You’re right. You’ve been a huge help to me. But the Angels need you. This stuff about the xenovirus...me and my gang will do what we can to help. You have me convinced. Let me know what I can do. The Dragons will go with you, all the way to Ragnarok.”