The Chronicles of Silverwolf: The Dawning of a Hero (18 page)

“What would you know about being a hero?” I quietly said so he wouldn't hear me.

Silverwolf knew he had to act quickly before Shadowgate found him. By making as little noise as possible, he slowly got up from where he was lying, but it was too late. He spotted Silverwolf and began to fire his bolts of electricity at him. He ran down the steps of the ride that seemed to spiral downward as objects behind him exploded.

Luckily, his night vision prevented him from tripping over something that was hidden in the dark.

Silverwolf failed again, trying to catch him by surprise. Heading down to the bottom was the only way out of the structure now.

“Come back here coward!” he yelled.

“Not until I can play fairly,” Silverwolf said to himself before reaching the bottom, where people, who got in line to get on the ride.

He had to think of a place on the coast line where he would have an equal opportunity to fight back as well as getting him wet. Then it dawned on him. His heads-up display brought up Fort Sumter in Charleston, South Carolina. It was right on the water and the perfect area for cover.

He finally made his way outside to find the park in ruins. Much of it, like Spaceship Earth, was decaying. It broke his heart to see it like this. The dark clouds gave it that extra gloominess it didn't deserve.

Then Shadowgate appeared and Silverwolf took flight once more with him right on his tail. He headed straight for Charleston as fast as he could. Down below he could see the fort in his sight before he began his descent.

The fort, which was a five sided brick structure, sat on a small island that looked out over the Atlantic Ocean. The walls were five feet thick standing 50 feet over the low tide mark. In the middle sat a long building that was used for housing soldiers and supplies before it was turned into a museum. Now it was empty and decaying like the rest of Charleston.

When Silverwolf landed, he quickly took shelter inside the old museum, before Shadowgate arrived, and contacted Peter who was busy fighting the war in Houston still.

“Peter, can you hear me?” he asked.

“Where the hell have you been?” Peter asked me.

Silverwolf could hear the sounds of battle in the background.

“Trying not to get killed by lightning,” he replied.

“Where are you?”

“Fort Sumter in Charleston, South Carolina,” he answered. “How are things over there?”

“The battle is intense but we’re making progress.”

“And Sarah?”

“She's good. She misses you,” he said.

“Listen I need to ask you something. What are the limitations on this suit?”

“Why?”

“Shadowgate is too fast for me. I need to be faster to beat him. Can the suit make me run faster?”

“How fast are we talking about?”

“Enough to even the odds,” he said knowing Justin’s father was out there looking for him.

“It can, but your body probably couldn't take the strain,” he said.

“What if I keep my muscles relaxed and let the suit do all the work?”

“Yeah, that might work,” he said.

“Good. I'll call you later. He's here,” he said and terminated the link.

“You know you've become just like my son. He was too much of coward to face his old man the last time we fought,” Silverwolf heard Shadowgate say from outside. He walked over to the door and peeked around the corner to see him standing just a few yards away.

“Where are you, Silverwolf?” he yelled.

He obviously had no intention of coming inside. This was his chance to test out the limits of the suit. He then closed my eyes, relaxed his muscles letting the suit do the rest. Before he knew it, he was sprinting towards Shadowgate at three times the speed he could normally run.

When he approached him, he slashed his chest with his claws then found a large boulder to hide behind as Silverwolf watched him cry out before dropping to his knees in pain.

It was working. All Silverwolf had to do was think of the action and the suit did the rest. He got back to his feet making another run at him. This time he slashed him from behind making more cuts on his upper back, ripping away some of his cape.

“How does it feel, Robert?” Silverwolf asked after he stopped and walked over to him. “How does it feel to be on the loosing side for once?”

Silverwolf raised his hand again. All of his anger was about to be unleashed, but he paused, realizing that killing was not always the answer, except when it came to Draconans. Then, suddenly, he saw a streak of fire approach him that picked up Shadowgate and carried him over the edge of the wall that protected the fort.

“Justin?” he said, surprised to see his friend after he refused to fight his father.

He ran over to the wall to see them both fall into the water making a huge splash. Then he witnessed a brief streak of lightning radiate out from the center, where they fell.

“Justin!?” he cried out, when he didn't see him surface.

For a few moments there was nothing but silence. Then a body emerged from the water. It was Justin carrying his father who didn't seem to be moving.

A sense of relief came over him when he saw that his friend was still alive.

“Are you okay?” Silverwolf called down to him.

“Yeah, I'll be fine,” he waved.

“I didn't expect you to show up,” he said.

“Neither did I,” said Justin.

“Thanks for stepping in at the last moment and helping,” he said.

“You’re welcome,” he replied.

Silverwolf flew down to the water to meet him. He then helped him carry his father back onto dry land. It was apparent to both of them that he was out cold; hardly breathing. When Silverwolf checked his pulse he could barely feel anything but he was definitely still alive.

“What made you change your mind about facing your father?” he asked him.

“I finally realized that he was too powerful to leave alone. Plus, I needed closure on facing him. Regardless of how I feel, he is my father nonetheless,” he told his friend after they sat on the shore line for awhile watching the ripples on the water.

“Well I'm glad you came but I had it under control,” Jonathan joked.

“In your dreams,” he joked back when a call came in over the suits commlink.

“Yeah?” Jonathan asked.

“Jonathan,” Peter said. “You need get back here as soon as possible. You're going to want to see this.”

“Go. I'll stay and watch over my father,” Justin said.

“I'm on my way, Peter,” he said and took off into the sky, heading for Houston.

Chapter
33
 

They were victorious.

Even though there were many casualties, the resistance had defeated the enemy on their turf. Down below, people everywhere were cheering with their guns held up high in the air looking up at Silverwolf. It was clear that he had given them hope for winning their freedom back.

When he spotted Peter, Sarah and the rest of the team, close to the freeway, he landed to meet them. They were all standing in front of one of those large barricades. Sarah was the first to run up and hug him. It felt good to feel her arms around me once more.

“You're okay,” she said, relieved to see her boyfriend again.

“Other than being exhausted, with a few aches and pains, I'm fine. I'm glad to see you made it through this war in one piece,” he told her.

“Where's Justin?” she asked.

“Watching over his father,” he replied.

“It's done then.”

“So what's going on?” he asked.

Sarah turned to look at Peter who said, “My hand held digital scanner picked up a large tunnel system underground earlier when we were flying over. This barricade will take us there.”

“Do you know what's down there?”

Everyone looked at each other as if they were hesitant to tell him. Then Caldwell said, “I think you're going to want to see this for yourself.”

He l
ed Jonathan over to a large manhole cover that was already opened. The others must have gone down already. A metal ladder led them down into a huge underground complex filled with individual cylinder shaped pods that went on for miles. Each pod contained the body of a human being.

“Oh my god,” Jonathan gasped, as the others joined him. “There must be thousands of them.”

“Four thousand eight hundred and fifty to be exact,” said Peter, as they began to walk by each one taking a brief look inside.

“They all seem to be frozen in suspended animation,” Jonathan noticed.

“And they're alive,” Summeris said, as she touched each pod with her bare hands. She had sixth sense about this kind of thing when she was near someone.

“We need to free them as soon as possible,” Jonathan recommended.

Peter began looking at the digital interface on one of the pods before linking it up with his device. He frowned when he recognized the language.

“Jonathan. You're not going to like this,” he warned.

“What is it?” Jonathan asked him.

“Guess whose technology this belongs to?”

“Don't tell me,” Jonathan feared.

“Yep. It's Draconan,” he said.

His worst fears had been realized. “I told you not to tell me,” he told his friend.

“Oh, no! Dad!?” Jonathan heard Sarah call out. He turned to see her standing in front of pod several yards away. They ran over to her to finding her father naked like all of the others. “Get him out of there,” she ordered Peter.

“Okay, give me a minute here,” said Peter, who began to hack into the pod's security system.

When Jonathan took a quick look around, he saw another familiar face across from General Langston's pod. It was Colonel Dickens, the man who interrogated Jonathan back at Edwards Air Force base three years ago. It was becoming quite clear that humans were ultimately to become the slaves for the Draconan Empire, whether they served them willingly or not. But where were the Draconans?

Then it hit Jonathan.

The Draconans were shape shifters who took human form behind the armor suits that we've been fighting this whole time. They couldn't breathe our atmosphere, which is why they wore a breathing apparatus around their mouths. Taking human form made them weaker then they actually were. Jonathan had known about their physiology for a long time.

“I hacked it,” Peter finally said.

Jonathan turned around to see the pod make a hissing sound. Liquid that had filled the tank began to drain out. Finally, it opened for the first time. The general, who had a clear plastic tube inserted into his mouth, began to lean forward. Jonathan grabbed him and gently placed him on the ground.

Sarah, who was by his side the whole time, looked down at him with tears in her eyes. 

Suddenly, his eyes and mouth began to move. Then he started to cough.

“Dad?” Sarah said with a smile on her face.

It took a moment for the General to say something. When he finally did the first word out of his mouth was, “Sarah?”

His voice sounded hoarse and weak.

“Yeah, dad. It's me,” she answered, stroking his cheek with her thumb.

“It's so... good to see your... beautiful face once again,” he tried to say between coughs.

“You're okay now. Whatever they did to you it's all over,” she said.

“That's good. Did I ever tell you... you look so much like your mother,” he said, trying to smile.

She nodded her head saying, “You did when I was younger.”

“Oh sweetheart. I am... so sorry for all of this. I love you. Please... forgive me,” he said.

Then in one final breath he closed his eyes, never to open them again.

“Dad!? No! Don't go. I love you too,” Sarah said and began to cry. Jonathan wrapped my arms around her for awhile. It was unfortunate that a high ranking military official became a victim just like everyone else had.

“I wonder if we should hold freeing the rest of these people,” Summeris wondered.

“If we do and they don't make it we need to give them a proper burial. They don't deserve to live like this,” Jonathan said.

“I agree. I'll get working on freeing them,” Peter said.

“Tell Caldwell to send some people down here to help. This is going to take awhile,” Jonathan told Summeris.

“Of course,” she said and returned to the surface.

Chapter 34

Only a few who were freed from the pods in Houston actually survived. The rest were buried.

It took several days and a lot of man power to free everyone and return them to the surface, where they belonged. No one should have to live underground, away from the fresh air and sunlight that gave them what they needed to live. For those who didn't make it, at least Mother Nature would take care of them the way she intended to.

The resistance only found three other cities on the planet with an underground structure similar to that in Houston; Paris, Beijing and Rome. They freed everyone and buried those who didn't make it. It was a gut wrenching time for everyone. It would take a long time for the world to heal.