Chapter 11 - 11

["He's going to a safe zone with my personal guards. How did he die?"] He just didn't want to let that go did he? At least I knew Kian would be safe, or at the very minimum, someone would have to go through a lot of effort to get him. Small victories are better than none.

["Why didn't you see that coming?"] He growled. I felt my anger boiling in response. As much as the man never saw my little brother, he was quite an unreasonable asshole when it came to his safety.

["How would-!"] He cut me off.

["Don't give me your f.u.c.k.i.n.g excuses. You should have at the very least, expected that they would do something like that. He shouldn't have had to go through that! What if he had been injured!? Worse, killed!?"] He fumed. I kept my eyes straight on the marine in front of me, who in turn, kept his newfound interest in his hands. I could feel my dad's eyes burning holes into the side of my head and I wasn't going to fight it this time. Because it was true. I was too focused on getting Kian out that I should have expected something to be placed on an intersection.

We could have crossed somewhere else, but I had decided to go for the easiest route because Kian was not a soldier. Easy routes normally mean the deadliest in my profession.

That still didn't stop the anger from boiling over. ["You don't have to care about my well being, nor that of my men. But I'll tell you, I did not intend for him to die and he didn't. We got him out. We got him here. I lost men to do that, and if I had to, I would have given myself too. Even if you don't hold me in high regard, I hold my brother higher than my life."] I snarled back but kept myself from looking back at him. A staredown wasn't what I needed.

Silence fell over the comms for a few minutes and I felt odd about that. I finally gave in to my curiosity and found my dad just smiling at me. It was a warm smile, not one of those pleasant ones he gave when he knew he was right. He turned away and rested his head against the cabin wall.

["I hold you in high regard."] He confessed. ["And... I was just scared I was about to lose Kian."]

My eyes went wide at that.

I wanted to say something to that, but the warm feeling of knowing he did care was the most foreign feeling I had ever experienced. It was like a dog that chases cars. He wanted it, and he'd run and run until he got it, but the dog wouldn't know what to do with the f.u.c.k.i.n.g thing if he got it. That was how I could best describe it.

And just like everything else today, the universe deemed it not to last.

The cabin brightened as if someone had installed flood lights inside. The color fell away, replaced with blinding white light and inky black shadows. The light died away half a second later, replaced with the most deafening explosion I had ever heard. Even with my state of the art headset that helmet had, it rattled my very being. My head swiveled around just in time to see the largest mushroom cloud I had ever seen, followed with a rippling shock wave that ripped across the land like a tidal wave.

I felt the searing heat before I felt the concussive wave. I felt my skin prick and fizzle on contact, then I felt the heavyweight of the concussive wave hit us. There was no warning sounds or flashing lights like in the movies. Half of me hoped there would have been, but not even the sound of the rotors reached me. The only sound I heard was that of the atomic wind blowing.

As if the sudden explosion of a nuke wasn't enough, more mushroom clouds appeared in the distance. My mind stalled, as did everything else on the bird as we saw the fallout as the bright blue sky replaced it. And we all felt the shift in the G-forces.

"Mayday! Mayday! We lost all power!" I could hear the pilots now without the assistance of radio, though those were gone too. I didn't feel afraid. Not like when Kian had been in danger. I felt calm, composed. The whole situation was serene as none of the troops spoke. We only held onto our rifles and watched the sky grow larger through the open bay door.

Black tendrils danced across the hull and I heard something like lightning. Then everything went black.

Then light reappeared, but in the form of moonlight. We could see the glistening waves through the doorway and... that was it. We were so far up that the scene that we saw through it could have been some angelic painting.

"What the-" I heard one of the pilots. I felt the serene atmosphere pop by their panicked voices. I'm sure the rest of the men felt the same as we all looked to the c.o.c.kpit entrance. "Doesn't matter! Try and get the controls online!" The other screamed.

Then I heard a soft humming in my ear. Not like static or when you get shell-shocked. Literal humming. A girl's humming. Angelic and sweet. It followed a simple melody. It went on and it was oddly calming. "You guys hearing this?" I turned and asked Preacher.

"Yeah." He nodded without breaking his glare on the pilots. "F.u.c.k.i.n.g fly boys can't even keep calm." That answered that question.

Then after a few more seconds, I recognized the melody. It was oddly like "Will the Circle Remain Unbroken." There weren't any words so I couldn't tell which version. I began to hum along to the tune, because why not? It was most likely that I had finally cracked and the humming was just a figment of my imagination.

And it was alright.

{"Ah, so you know that song?"} The voice asked sweetly and unrushed. I nodded my head and I was rewarded with a beautiful chorus of laughter.

{"Since you can hear me, how are you?"} She asked.

"Fine, despite the fact that me and the rest of us are falling to our deaths." I huffed out loud and everyone looked at me like I had gone crazy. To be honest, I was sure I had.

{"Ah. That is true. I guess they're finally messing with the world now..."} The girl sighed tiredly. {"I'll fix that, no strings attached."}