The Migration

 

 

 

             I was roused in the early morning by Mary, the lady with her hair tied in a bun.

 

Soft red light entered my room through the window from the rising sun outside. I could feel the coolness of the morning air as it passed through a small crack in the window frame in the form of a small breeze.

I rubbed my eyes and made a slow effort to rise from the soft bed. The first thing I noticed was that my goggles were firmly stuck to my right cheek. I pulled them off and groaned at the impending half circle of red that would be on my cheek. Then I noticed Mary.

“Did anybody make it back?” I asked her.

As she started to answer,  I stood up and stretched my arms wide. “Two pilots made it back, along with one copilot.”

I held myself against the bedpost as I got momentarily light headed, then said “I suppose Merle was among them?”

“Yes, she was,” Mary paused “but she was shot in right arm and shoulder from stray fire . . . she’s lost a lot of blood.”

“Where is she?” I said slowly, still waiting for my mind to wake up.

“She’s over in the main building, they wanted to bring her to the medical building, but in the condition she was in, she wouldn’t have made it in time.”

“I see . . . Any news from Central?”

She paused, and I could tell bad news was coming.

“Warren, I’m sorry I’m the one who has to tell you this . . .” she began, “Central was completely destroyed in the bombings, there’s nothing left but a pile of rubble.”

“Damn it!” I yelled. I put my hands over my head and began to pace around the room.

The red sky outside was slowly beginning to brighten. And the white lace curtains began to flutter slightly as the breeze strengthened. The air smelled like springtime, and any other time, I would’ve taken a moment to enjoy it.

But something serious was happening.

“Warren, that’s not the worst part.” Mary said, now on the verge of tears.

“Warren . . . oh Warren, the company surrendered to the Western Militia, their coming to all the bases to repossess all of the pilots, including aces. . . Warren, their coming to take you away and decommission you.”

Mary was now crying, her face buried in her hands.

I fell back on the bed and tried to take in what she was telling me. There was nothing I could do. I was a dead man . . . we all were.

“Mary, what about you?”

Mary looked up from her hands, “I’m not a manufactured pilot, they’ll probably just send me to work for the Western Militia.” She said between sobs.

“Well, at least you’ll be safe.” I said.

I stood up finally, and walked out of the room, putting a comforting hand on Mary’s shoulder and telling her everything would be okay.

It was a lie.

 

Outside, I looked around the red sky for any sign of a ship from the company, but there was nothing out there. The morning stillness was perfect.

At the main building, I looked in to see a bunch of people in white coats, rushing around a beautiful blond haired girl. Her name was Merle.

I asked one of the men in a white coat how she was doing.

 

“Well, she’s stable for right now.” He was about to go into further detail when a woman in a similar white coat called him over. Her voice wasn’t urgent, but it worried me a little.

“Excuse me.” He said politely, then hurried off to where the woman was who had called him.

I walked upstairs to the major’s office.

The major was a dutiful man who would follow his orders even if they said to kill his best friend.

I knocked on the door to his office, but there was no reply. I knocked on the door a few more times and called his name with my mouth against the wood.

Still no answer.

I turned the door knob, noticing the door was open.

I walked in and saw the silhouette of a large man sitting in a chair behind a desk on the far side of the room. Behind him, red light flooded in from the sky outside.

I walked in.

“Major?” I said, inching closer. There was a large black spot on the ceiling above the majors head, I thought it might be a leak in the roof.

Finally, I noticed a gun on the desk next to a letter.

“Major!” I ran over, in shock, not ready to except what I thought had happened, but as I approached, I knew what I was looking at.

The hole in the top of the major’s head was covered in blood, chunks of bone, and other things. Another hole, in the bottom of his jaw still dripped blood.

This explained the dark spot on the ceiling, and the letter . . . and the gun.

I held in the urge to vomit and walked out. There was no need to tell anybody. This place was done, everyone here was done . . . I was done.

I left the main building in a strange sort of daze and wandered over to the hanger where my plane was being kept.

If this were any other day, my plane would’ve been surrounded by mechanics and such, repairing the broken hull. However, today the hanger was deserted, my plane sat alone in the large space, still full of holes.

I guess everybody got the memo that the base was shutting down, so nobody was bothering to get anything done.

I sat down on the ground in front of the hangar, crossed my arms behind my head, laid back, and stared at the sky.

I sat there for a long time. Every once in a while someone would walk by, but nobody bothered me.

 

By the time anything changed at all, the sun had come up and the sky was clear blue. It was a heavy change from last night’s storm. I felt something wet slap at my face. I looked up and stared at Rudy, the big basset hound that acted as sort of the base’s mascot.

I reached up and rubbed his snout. He whined and laid down next to me.

“I know buddy, I know.” I said as I scratched behind his ears.

Suddenly, his head perked up and his ears started turning every which way. I watched him, curious.

Then I heard it; the low droning sound of a large plane.  

I sat up immediately, looking around for the origin of the sound.

Then I saw the large black dot in the sky. It was miles away, but it would be here soon.

So this was it. The company finally came to pick up their merchandise. I guess I shouldn’t have been surprised, they’ve always been quick with repos. First, they’ll take Ken, or at least his body. Then they’ll take Merle, and the other pilots, and finally . . . they’d come for me.

I was ready to accept my fate, I could already picture myself suspended in a tube hooked up to wires and tubes and god only knows what, headed towards the Western Militia, where my memory would be wiped, and I’d turn into a mindless killer again.

However, as I watched, the large plane from the corporation began to smoke, then it caught fire, then it started to lose altitude. Finally, it began to plummet towards the earth.

I was standing up now, watching the scene with wide eyes.

“What the hell?” I murmured to myself.

A few other people who had seen the event started to come out of the assorted buildings, all of them had the same look of awe and confusion on their faces.

Then something else happened.

Thousands of black dots of all shapes and sizes broke over the horizon. I couldn’t make out how many of them there were, at first it looked like a swarm of bees, but then I could make out the sound of countless airplanes as they approached the base.

A large group of spectators formed around me.

“What the hell is that?” I heard. I looked over to see Riley, another pilot watching with a stupid look on his face.

 

The massive fleet hovered over the base like a swarm. Bombers, fighters, carriers, command ships, nearly every type of plane in the Eastern Militia was above me.

As we watched, one of the planes broke off and came in for a landing. It casually went down the runway and came to a stop in the open area in the center of the base. It was a fighter, just like mine, except mine was a single engine with the motor in the back, this one was a dual-engine with twin motors on the wings.

I walked toward it and motioned for everyone else to stay back.

 

The cockpit opened up and the pilot stepped out. It was a woman, I could tell by the slim body and small breasts. As she took her helmet off, dark hair fell past her shoulders in a great sweeping motion.

“Are you Warren Aldrich?” she asked. She had a sexy voice too.

I stood there dazed for a moment at this girl who just blew up a company repo ship, landed in our base, and for some insane reason she knew my name. Then I noticed something else about her, besides her looks, she had three red stripes on the left arm of her suit which were identical to mine, marked her, an ace pilot.

            “Who are you?” I asked her.

            “My name is Julia Veros,” She said, “I’m an ace pilot like yourself . . . there are some things I would like to discuss with you.

            “Like what?”

            “I’d rather discuss it in private.”

 

            We were in the Old House now, the hangar was filled with people, and the Major’s office had a dead body festering in it, so I brought her here.

            I cracked open a beer and offered her one. Surprisingly, she accepted. She gulped it down faster than anyone I’ve ever seen. I watched her drink it with a look of amazement on my face, then I looked down at my own beer. While she chugged hers, I tossed half of mine into the sink, then brought it to my lips and pretended to be drinking as she finished hers.

            “Not bad, but I prefer Le Roux, it’s much more flavorful.” She said.

            “I’ve never had it, so I wouldn’t know.” I said.

            “Right, well, right to business.” She started, “I’m sure you know about Centrals destruction and the company’s intents to decommission every pilot and ace out there?”

            “Yeah, I’ve heard about it.”

            “Well, do you intend on sitting around waiting for them to ship you god knows where?”

            “I suppose not.”

            “Not very talkative are you?”

            “I suppose not.”

            “Well, anyways, we decided that we weren’t going to go without a fight, so we grabbed every plane, pilot and ace we could get our hands on and started gathering everybody else we could find, hence the reason we’re here . . . You are our last stop. We’re calling everyone to the Nestar region so we could organize our own little rebellion, how does that sound?”

            “I don’t know,” I said, “Seems kind of like a hassle. If it were up to me I’d just head off somewhere on my own.”

             Julia looked like she wanted to slap me.

            “Don’t you care at all if your pilots live?”

            “No, I don’t, I-”

            Now she really did slap me. Her hand came across my face like a whip and hit me on the right cheek.

            “What the Hell was that for!?”

            “I wanted you to come with us, but now I can see you’re a complete idiot, goodbye.”

            With that, she moved to storm out, but I grabbed her arm. She turned to look at me ready to slap me again, but stopped when she saw the look on my face.

            “I care about them, I really do. It’s just that life here . . . well, its unbearable. I would wish all of my friends dead simply because it would save them from this life of misery.”

            “She took my hand and removed it from her arm, but she held it with her other.

            “I’m sorry, I didn’t know how you felt. Albeit, it’s an insane theory, but I respect it. Now let’s go. We have a few planes to refuel, and a few mild repairs to make, but all in all, we should be able to get out of here by tomorrow.”

            I looked at her and said, “Who can I bring?”

            “Any pilots or mechanics . . . I’m afraid that’s it.” She replied.

            “I see.” I was thinking about Mary, who was the second officer. She had a big hand in running the place, but she wasn’t a pilot, or a mechanic, so I guess she wouldn’t be coming.

I figured there was limited placement on the aircraft, so only those who could be of use would be allowed.

            Sorry Mary.

           

            I asked Mary to supervise repairs on my plane, as well as keep an eye out for the thousands of pilots who were landing in and around our base well into the night. Every once in a while, a few planes would go up and scout around for a while. Others were piloted into the hanger in order to get refueled, the rest just lied around in the grass for miles in every direction. I tell ya, it was a sight.

            I got some sleep, but mostly I just sat in my bed, staring at the bunk above me. There weren’t nearly enough rooms for all the pilots, so most of them had to camp out in their cockpits.

Only the aces were put up in rooms. I guess rank survives even when its meaningless.

            Julia got Ken’s old bunk above me. I could hear her fidgeting all night.

 

            In the morning, the sound of thousands of engines starting and propellers rotating shook the early air. The sunrise was a murky blue today.

            “You ready to go handsome?” Said a voice behind me.

            I turned to see Julia with her suit on and her helmet at her hip.

            “Since when am I handsome?” I asked her.

            “Well, for one thing, you clean up pretty nice,” she started, “I almost didn’t recognize you showered and shaved.”

            I looked down at my clean suit as she brushed past me toward her airplane. I watched her go and realized I was forgetting someone.

            “Hey! Wait up.” I called to her.

            She stopped and waited for me to jog over to her, her hair fluttering in the breeze. I almost slapped myself for noticing that.

            “Look, there’s someone I want to bring.” I said “She’s a pilot but she got hurt in the storm a few nights ago. She’s a real good navigator and she’ll be useful no matter what condition she’s in.”

            “Oh . . . I see,” she winked at me, “You’ve got yourself a girlfriend don’t you?”

            “No, actually-”

            “Say no more! You can put your girlfriend over on the Xiphon there.” She pointed to a large carrier.

            I thanked her and started to head off, but she stopped me.

            “I consider myself disappointed Warren Aldrich, I was hoping you’d be a single man.” With that she jumped onto the wing of her plane, then into the cockpit, sliding the windshield shut over her head.

            Remarkably confused, I headed towards the main house to get Merle.

 

            A few of the men from the crew of the Xiphon helped Merle into the cargo hold which had been modified into something that resembled a makeshift barracks. She was barely conscious but the doctors all said she would be fine as long as she didn’t move too much.

            We set her done on the bed and she moved into a comfortable position on her own.

            When the men left, I wiped the small bit of sweat off her forehead and whispered “I’ll be right behind you.”

            She opened her eyes for only a moment and smiled, then fell back to sleep.

 

            “Is she done?” Mary looked up from a clipboard to look at me as I walked into the hanger.

            “Yes, Willis was working on it all night. The holes were patched up with the sealant, so it should hold for a normal flight, but if you get into a battle, its iffy whether or not the sealant will hold.

            “Right, good to know.” I said sarcastically. “My life is in the hands of glue. . . Fantastic.”

            She frowned at me, then pointed me to my plane.

            “Hey Willis!” I called. A blonde haired guy sitting on the wing of my plane yelped and fell off.

            “Hey, you okay?” I said, jogging over to him.

            “Yeah, I’m fine.” He smiled as I approached.

            “Oh, a . . . hey Warren, did you realize you never named your plane?”

            “Yes Willis, I know that. We’ve been over why that is.”

            “Well, yeah but . . .”

            “You want it so bad, you name it.”

            I hopped into the cockpit and placed my goggles over my eyes. The engine started without a fuss and the propeller ran smoothly. Looks like Willis did alright.

            I yelled over the propeller for Willis to get into the copilots seat.

            “Why?”

            “Because you’re a mechanic that’s why, you’re coming with us.”

            “Cool! I finally get to fly in an airplane instead of just fixing them!”

            “Alright, just get in . . . Jeezes.”

            Willis hopped into the seat behind me looking like a little kid on Christmas. He put on the spare helmet that was already in the seat and strapped himself in.

            I said goodbye to Mary, I tried to make it quick and promised her that I would be back someday, though I think we both knew I was lying.

            I hit the runway a few minutes later, trying not to laugh at the look on Willis’s face. Apparently there was a reason he never went up flying. I pulled up the landing gear and pushed down on the throttle. The nose of the plane went up and soon we were ascending rapidly through the air.

            We circled the base a few times as we waited for everybody to lift off and keeping a close eye on the Xephon.  

            Once they were all in the air, and Willis had finally calmed down a bit, Julia’s plane took the lead and headed south east. The thousands of ships followed suit. Together, we looked like a black cloud that would sweep over the land.

            I thought about the future, where we would go, who we would meet, and above all . . . what we would do.

            Julia’s voice came over the radio and told us we were headed toward the Nestar region, an uninhabited area in the southern continent where we would apparently be staying for a while.

            I’d never been there, and I’ve only heard about it at ace’s conventions. Apparently it was a strange place where people have disappeared, monsters had been spotted, the whole deal.

It was a place neither the Western, nor the Eastern militia would go. I just hoped that their reasons were merely paranoia.

            I thought about Merle and the Xephon, Julia, Mary, hell, even Willis crossed my mind. I hoped I wasn’t putting anybody in danger. Well, the future will tell whether or not I’ve made the right choice.

            For now, all I can do is push down on the throttle, keep heading straight, and hope that everything will turn out alright.

Reviews

[WriterSki7]

Might I suggest you use the book application if you are writing a chapter book?

Good job. Better than the first, and with rising action. And the dynamics have changed; I've gone from thinking of this as a "Japanese WWII zero novel" to a "WWIII steampunk style novel with a few twists". Definitely worth reading (in my opinion)

[Abhinav]

deep and amazing storytellin'..hats off!

[Brandy Alexander]

Very good second chapter. A little polishing here and there would help with the readability. Also, you make Mary seem like a familiar charactor in the second chapter, whereas in the first she felt like a new person in Warren's life. Maybe, I'm reading it wrong.