Chapter Ten
Act of Desperation
It had been a long journey and one fraught with peril, but now the old man’s suitcase was once more in my possession. Okani reached for it and I let him take it from me as Tolak, myself, and several other warriors headed for the shelter of the jungle.
It was a complete miracle that the case had not washed away in a high tide, but thanks to trees felled by laser fire the case had gotten snared and held up from floating back out to sea. Reaching a sheltered alcove we stopped and silently Okani passed the suitcase to me.
Even now the sounds of trees falling in the distance sounded far too close for comfort as the invaders from above went about the process of setting up a base from which they would establish a foothold in these lands of Undersea. I only hoped that the journey to reclaim the old man’s case had been worth it.
Logic dictated that if Tolak’s people were to even have a chance at escape then they needed a diversion through which to buy some time in order to do so and I was hoping that whatever the case held that it would be the key to accomplishing that. Like a remembered phone number of a beloved relative I dialed in the lock code for the case that the old man had given me.
The case popped open with a hiss of expressed air. The first thing I saw was a synthetic looking handgun, which I took out and set aside. It was very light feeling for a handgun.
The rest of the contents of the case were literally foreign to me. That it was an elaborately contrived suitcase bomb I had no doubt of, but how to make it tick? How had the old man even got this past the scanners for that matter?
The answer to that came a moment later as I realized that all the working parts of the bomb were made of either plastic or some other synthetic material. The old man had been quite the terrorist it would seem, but strangely down here this bomb of his fabrication seemed almost patriotic.
I saw a lever and given the tubes of what I surmised were liquid chemical triggers set to react with each other and form an electrical discharge I now felt confident of how to set the bomb off and I indicated as much to the others gathered around. Closing the lid I glanced around my silent audience and whispered with grim reality, “We have to get this within their camp before we pull the lever. One of the armies down here has female warriors. One of you has to get me her clothes, while the rest of you take out those they will have watching for attackers. Do not let them point their weapons at you, because metal will shoot out at high speed and kill you. Understand?”
They all nodded solemnly, but I wondered how well they comprehended what they were up against.
*****
A perimeter fence of razor wire and what appeared to be the disturbed dirt of landmine placement greeted us at the jungle’s disrupted edge that ran parallel to the one side of the impressively sized outpost that had gone up virtually overnight. Climbing a tree with Tolak accompanying me, I looked out over the encampment only to discover a grim reality.
There was no gateway through the erected fortifications. How then to get through?
I heard a high pitched whistling noise pass by and in the next moment my world exploded. Flames shot up past me from the ground and I would’ve been shook free from the tree altogether if Tolak hadn’t gripped a hold of me.
Trees were falling and with a crack of groaning protest the tree we clung to began to fall as well. I screamed in fright as we were plunged downward to smack into the charred Earth below.
The desperation of the moment had me on my feet almost instantly, but any cognitive ability to reason had been knocked from me. Looking around in a daze I saw the warriors that had come with us all lying around torn apart and dead upon the ground.
Dimly within my brain I realized what I hadn’t accounted for, proximity sensors. I was such a fool to think I could’ve thrown a wrench into the cogs of such a technologically superior foe!
I didn’t see Tolak and in alarm I wheeled about in search of him only to see him reaching down to pull the suitcase, which though charred still seemed intact, from his dead brother’s grasp. Oh God!
There was no time to lament though and this Tolak knew full well. Charging towards me he grabbed my hand and tugged me along after him at high speed through the jungle even as more incendiary devices began to fall in a spread out grid pattern all around us letting off earsplitting blasts of flame that charred the lush vegetation of the jungle into ash.
How we made it past the rain of fire I don’t know, but we did, only we didn’t stop. I did my best to keep up, but after an hour’s run I collapsed into the jungle trail face first.
Everything seemed to hit at once. Not only had I not succeeded in buying time for my husband’s people, but I’d misjudged the enemy and gotten his brother killed!
Paradise had somehow suddenly turned into my private hell!
Why had God even brought me here? To torment me?”
I hit the ground with my fist on a cry of impotent rage and looking up I abruptly stilled. Tolak was beside me asking if I was okay, but all I continued to do was stare into the distance for a moment longer.
Breaking my concentration I gripped a hold of Tolak and pointing I said, “I need you to get me over there!”
Tolak looked past me and beheld the island’s solitary volcano. He glanced back to me and I repeated, “Get me there with this suitcase if you hope to see any of your people have a chance.”
“I go.” He said definitively.
“No, I’m going with you!” I protested.
Tolak took my face into his hands and forcefully said, “You my woman! You listen now and go back to the village! I flip the lever and come for you. Now you listen and go!!!”
Before I could protest further Tolak pulled the suitcase from my hands and tore off through the jungle headed for the distant volcano.
“Tolak!!!”
He didn’t stop, in fact he was already out of view. Feeling like my heart had been ripped from my chest I got to my feet and screamed his name again, but he wasn’t coming back.
Crying I turned in the direction of the village and obeyed his final wish. I don’t know how I made it there, but when I did I made it clear to everyone that the boats needed to go into the water.
As usual they were resistant to any cause of action, but then the ground quaked beneath their feet even as the top of the volcano that had steamed away tranquilly for years on end tore away to let off a solid column of black ash that streaked up to slam against the cloudy dome like ceiling of this inner world.
When that collision of ash with the orange glowing clouds occurred everything went bad. The clouds crackled electrically and began to dissipate until I actually saw overlying rock layers, but worst of all the sky turned dark as the constant orange glow of the clouds diminished until all that lit up the surrounding landscape was the distant glow of the horizon.
What had I done? I’d killed everyone!
The villagers took to the boats in a screaming mass of panicked anxiety and pushed off into the troubled waters of the sheltered harbor, while I alone just stood there on the beach beholding the work of my own hands. I had thought it was the right thing to do. How could I have been so wrong?
I heard a whining sound and then the sputter of an engine. I heard the engine conk off for good at the same moment I saw the aircraft.
With a gasp my eyes took in the freefalling unmanned drone. It streaked overhead to then seconds later pulverize itself against the one side of the stony protecting border of the village.
It exploded terrifically, as all the ordinance it had been carrying with it went up in the blast of its crash into the rocks. If I hadn’t ordered for the volcano to be blown that predator drone even now would be blowing the villagers apart within the walled confines of their own village.
What did it matter now though how my adopted people were to meet their fate? At least this way I was managing to take out our would-be killers and spoil the plans of the world elite, who had intended to occupy and build beachside condominiums, while the world on the surface fell apart.
That was at least something. I found that small solace though right now, as ash began to fall all around me, in the gathering darkness as the orange glow of the horizon receded farther and farther away.
Something else terrible and yet awesome to behold was transpiring now. Rolling cracks and groans of rock under pressure began to sound out loudly, only it wasn’t the ground beneath my feet. It was the ceiling of this inner world.
Oh God it was all going to collapse!
Just then to make everything even more terrible a little hand slipped into mine. Looking down in startlement I beheld Sheatera standing there.
I didn’t yell at her for not going with the others as what point would there have been to even doing that, but it was heartrending to know this bright little life was about to be extinguished before it had the opportunity to bloom and produce seed of its own. Kneeling down as the groaning cracks and grumbles of overlying rock sounded louder and louder I took the scarf off that had encased my chest and afforded me some modesty while there had been a time for such things and wrapped it about Sheatera’s face.
The ash was falling heavy now. The little girl was trying to be brave, but death is a hard thing to accept. I pulled her to me as chunks of rock the size of cars and buses began to fall and shake the ground so hard as to nearly topple us over onto the sand.
A familiarly large handed grip seized my arm and not being fully able to believe it, but with little else choice but to, I found myself being drug into the surf that was washing farther and farther ashore as the rocks above fell into the harbor. It was getting very dark and hard to see anything at all.
I connected with something wooden and then I heard Sheatera’s breath umph out of her as water splashed about suddenly. Then it was my turn to be lifted up and dumped into the dugout canoe fitted with an outrigger.
Scrambling around I helped pull Tolak onboard. The water had done little to wash the ash off him and his face was mostly obscured by a cloth that he’d wrapped about it, but he was here and alive!
Somehow everything just felt better somehow. Even if we died right now it would be better because I would die with him.
I could tell despite the mask that he wore that he was as emotional as I was, but the situation demanded more of him than to be expressive right now. Seated at the back of the canoe he picked up a paddle and plunged it into the troubled waters and the canoe shot forward.
Climbing over Sheatera as splashed up surf spilled into the canoe I reach the forward prow. I searched for and found a paddle and glancing back to squint in the darkness I did my best to match my paddle strokes with those of my husband even as Sheatera bailed water out of the canoe as best as she could.
It was a mad fight for survival, which I wasn’t really sure why we were attempting, other than it felt good. Well almost good.
Hacking and spitting on kicked up water spray I couldn’t even make out the way forward, but I kept paddling. The water abruptly became less perturbed and I stopped paddling in order to wipe at my eyes.
We were past the breakers and for the first time I actually gave us a chance of coming clear of the chaos erupting behind us. A red glow helped illuminate the darkness and looking back I took in the majestic sight of the volcano spewing lava globs across the breadth of the island as rivers of the stuff coursed down the volcano’s ruptured sides.
The old man’s foresightfulness had certainly made a big impact. My gaze switched to Tolak at the back of the canoe who was still powerfully paddling away. His face was clear of the cloth now and he was grinning. Far from being enamored with the rosy glow of molten heat behind us he was instead enraptured by the sight of my chest bared to the breeze.
Smiling reprovingly I reclaimed my chest rap from our child and turned forward in the canoe. I didn’t really care about any exposure of myself to either my husband or even Sheatera, but the dotted outlines of the native boats ahead and the men they held I did care about.
I would only ever be one man’s prize catch and I was proud to be so, beyond grateful to God actually.
You truly never knew how far you had to go in life before you found the right one, but when you did it simply couldn’t be any better. I went back to paddling and steadily the distant boats drew closer and closer.
Thankfully it was also getting lighter, but as a whole darkness was spreading out from the island and its still ash showering volcano. Drawing within shouting distance of the native fleet I then witnessed yet one more strange phenomena of this underworld paradise.
I’d thought I’d seen it all, but that apparently was not the case. Coming up fast on the seaward side were ships. Not just any ships. They were warships. Old warships.
Turning to Tolak in shock I was even more surprised to see joy on his face. He knew these people sailing World War II era ships about?
What made the scene even more incongruous was that one of the three ships was American and the other two were Japanese. Apparently one war was over at least.
The natives up ahead were forsaking their crafts and climbing up rope ladders that had been thrown down over the sides of the navy vessels. Snapping myself out of my daze I busied myself with trying to be a tad bit more presentable than I currently was.”