The Last Mission of the Living (The Last Bastion #2)(105)

“Including Dr. Curran. The Gaia Cult will probably need her to handle the virus.” Lindsey pressed the heels of her hands to her eyes and let out a growl. “Shit... shit... shit...”

“The food shortages worsened because of failures in storage.” Torran’s voice was very thoughtful.

“Infrastructure breakdowns. The mechanical failures.”

“The gate being opened.” Torran slumped down in his chair. “Gaia Cult. All of it, or most of it.”

“Probably the only reason they didn’t release the ISPV inside The Bastion is because they didn’t have access to it. Everyone always made fun of the wall patrols, but that’s probably what kept them from doing something like hooking a Scrag and dragging it over the wall.”

“Or maybe there weren’t that many Cultists for a while. Maybe Gaia Cult is resurging.” Torran shrugged. “Hard to say with radicals.”

“I should have put it together about Franklin. Remember what she said about humans outliving their extinction event, or something like that?”

“She slipped. Just a wee bit, eh?”

“Yeah...” Lindsey didn’t want to think about Franklin, or Hobbes. At least Giacomi was still alive in The Bastion, but what if she couldn’t be trusted either? What if Hobbes was the other Gaia Cultist, but had unexpectedly died in the crash? The thought made her heart hurt.

“We need to get the hell out of here,” Torran declared. “We’re right where they want us.”

“Torran, we can’t survive in this city for long,” Lindsey said, the thought making her heart beat so much harder.

“We’ll find another Rescue Hub.”

“You don’t think they’ll search each one until they find us?”

“Fuck.”

“This isn’t just about us anymore, you know.” Lindsey pressed the knuckles of one hand against her lips. The weight of responsibility crushed down on her. It made her feel like she was suffocating. How had Maria dealt with it during the special ops mission?

“Yeah, I know. It’s about The Bastion and everyone living in it.”

“If the Gaia Cult manages to get a hold of the virus that’s in Maria, they’ll infect their own people and then what? Leave everyone else to rot in The Bastion?” Lindsey blinked the tears forming in her eyes.

Folding his arms over his chest, Torran wagged his head somberly. “No, they’ll find a way to kill them. Finish what they started when they opened the gate and let the Scrags into the valley.”

“We’re so screwed.”

Torran took hold of her hand and dragged it away from her face. Bending over their entwined fingers, he kissed the back of her hand. “I don’t want to lose you, but we can’t ignore what’s happening. We can’t just save ourselves.”

Enfolding him in her arms, she kissed the top of his head and rubbed her fingers over the muscles in his back. “We have to try to reach The Bastion. If we can’t do it physically, we have to try to communicate with them. We have to reach Commandant Pierce.”

“And if that doesn’t work?”

“Maybe I will have to call Maria to come rescue us. Maybe she can get us closer to the city.”

“We shouldn’t risk it,” Torran raised his head as she leaned back in her chair.

“I know, but that’s our fallback plan only.”

“So you have a different plan?”

“Yeah.” Lindsey pulled away from him and reached for the console. “I have an idea. There is a communication tower on the west side of this platform. It’s on top of the newscast building. Now, according to the reports I gleaned off this computer, this platform was one of the first to be evacuated. So that might be a good thing. Less Scrags. Also, there is a monorail track that goes right up to a station next to the building with the tower. It’s a long-range tower. We might be able to reach The Bastion if it still has an operational emergency generator.”

“But how do we get there with a crowd of rabid Scrags waiting for us below? Because I don’t think they’ll be calming down anytime soon. They saw us come in here.”

Pursing her lips, Lindsey’s mind sifted through all the possibilities. Gradually, a wide smile slid onto her face.

“That’s a truly frightening smile,” Torran decided.

“Well, first I have to get nice and cozy with the aerial drone once I hack and rewrite this program, but I definitely think I have an idea.”

“Is this the point where I go make you a pot of coffee?”

“Yes.” She leaned toward him for a kiss.

“I’m on it,” he replied, and left her to her work.





Chapter 30


The aerial drone dropped through the hatch into the hub. Its long legs extended toward Lindsey as it adjusted the rotors like bizarre antenna to keep it aloft. Torran was unnerved by the aerial drones. He considered them to be intrusive buggers even though they were helpful on the squad’s excursions. The Bastion government had grown far too dependent on the insect-like robots of late.

“Hey, Baby,” Lindsey said in greeting.

Torran raised one eyebrow.

“Hello Mother,” the drone answered.

“You programmed it to answer you?” Torran shook his head with amusement. He’d left Lindsey to her own devices while he’d done maintenance on their armor and filled two backpacks with supplies. Obviously, Lindsey had done more than just gain control over the aerial drone.