The End of the Beginning

Hernandez regained his sprint after watching his pursuing vehicle swerve and skid away. He spotted his escape at a landing pad dead ahead, Phoenix 15. It was a CH-53K King Stallion, one of the largest cargo helicopters in the world. Hernandez only knew the basics of flying but he knew enough to set the autopilot and in a Phoenix that was all one needed.

In the distance to his right Hernandez saw flashing lights and heard a multitude of sirens. He tucked Hammond’s flash drive into one of his vest pockets and then checked his ammo count. He still had over half a clips worth. In the back of the helicopter through its open cargo bay door Hernandez saw a large rescuer transport vehicle being stowed.

He ran up the slippery ramp, squeezed past the bulky white vehicle, and into the empty cockpit. Throwing down his helmet, Hernandez switched on the helicopters massive rotors via the cockpits touchscreen displays overhead and in front of him. Phoenix 15 came to life. Controls lit up. As they did, Hernandez input coordinates into the autopilot. He disengaged the link to the bases supercomputer that could be used to remotely stop the aircraft.

“Attention Phoenix 15-4, power down immediately. Repeat, power down - ”

Hernandez switched off the radio. He readied to hit enter on the control panel to engage the autopilot when in the corner of his left eye he caught sight of movement. He looked over his shoulder just in time to see William’s patrol car careen into the helicopters front landing gear, tearing off the cars right front paneling and headlight. The landing gear was torn off, pitching the helicopter down while leaning left. Airflow through the whirring rotor blades allowed them to gain lift, pitching the Phoenix further left, throwing it off balance. The tips of the blades made contact with the tarmac with dramatic releases of orange sparks. The blades broke apart into hundreds of pieces. Fragmenting shards became projectiles across the apron.

Losing the imbalanced lift from its disintegrated blades Phoenix 15 righted itself, its airframe pounding back down to rest on the ground. William skidded to a stop facing the damage Phoenix. He couldn’t see anybody inside the cockpit. Barely in view from his position, William noticed a large eight-wheel truck dart out the back of the chopper and veer right, heading due south out towards the airports two runways.

William threw his car back into drive and drove around the mangled helicopter after the truck. The transport lumbered ahead. It had a flat nose protected by a cage that was covered in LED lights. Over its square cab were more lights and antennas. The windows surrounding its cab were small, as were the windows built around the rescuer holding area in the back. Each side had a ladder to reach the roof and compartments for holding supplies behind roll up doors.

Hernandez needed a new means of escape. He spotted the grass-roofed hangers across the runways bordering the bases southern perimeter. Surely one had to have a plane to commandeer. In the drivers side mirror he saw William gaining on him. He knew he could not out run his patrol car.

William wasn’t sure if he could but he was going to try and do a pit maneuver on the truck. He caught up to its rear. Hernandez saw him in his driver side mirror again.

“Tenacious fool,” he muttered to himself.

Hernandez turned the truck hard into William’s car, forcing William to turn away momentarily. William retaliated by swerving back into the trucks far back left wheel but it had little effect. The airless design of the wheel made it extremely durable and almost unbreakable. Hernandez turned his truck hard to the left, forcing William to turn with him onto the taxiway that led aircraft onto the airports north runway. They were now moving due east. William tried to ram the rear of Hernandez’s truck again but it was no use, it was just too heavy.

William eased off on the accelerator. Across the runways over by the sections southern hangars he saw something that gave him an idea. He called DJ over his radio.

“Pate, you copy?”

“I copy, Captain!”

“I need your help and your probably going to need a copilot so bring someone along.”

“Copilot, sir?”

“I know you like to fly so I’m giving you the chance to… sort of. But you need to act fast. Hernandez is all over the place and what I’m about to tell you may be the only sure way of stopping him.”

Ahead Hernandez saw Phoenix 27 making its way west towards them on the taxiway. The plane was a modified A380 that carried hydrogen fuel for other UNIRO aircraft for long duration missions over rescue zones. But, as it was today, it could also carry traditional jet fuel. Originally built to be manned, it had been modified to be completely autonomous so it had no windows, just a polished smooth white fuselage all the way around.

Hernandez lined his truck up with the approaching plane so that he could drive under the planes right wing between its engine and fuselage. He was going to finish William here. Hernandez slowed so that he matched William’s patrol cars speed. Once he did, he rammed hard into it. Metal screeched and grinded. Sparks burst through the rain.

William tried to pull away but he couldn’t, his car became hooked onto the truck. He realized Hernandez’s intention. Hernandez was going to smash his car into the approaching planes engine. He slammed on the brakes. The tires screeched and smoked. Nothing happened. William was being dragged.

Hernandez floored the trucks accelerator. They were 800 feet away from the plane. William looked up at the truck and saw its side ladder. He grabbed his P90 and unbuckled his seatbelt. William climbed up and out of the car through its broken windshield. He balanced himself against the car and the truck. They were moving at least fifty miles per hour. William grabbed onto the trucks side ladder and lifted himself completely off his patrol car. He didn’t know if Hernandez even saw him get out through the trucks small driver side window. He climbed up the ladder but slipped. Hanging on with one hand, he looked left. Phoenix 27 dawned just ahead; it’s four huge engines sucking in misty air. William regained his footing and doubled stepped up the ladder and tossed himself onto the roof of the truck. Hernandez heard his clunk.

“No…” Hernandez mumbled.

The sound of the engines sucking in air became deafening. William felt the raindrops on his skin stop. The massive wing of the plane swept over top of him, as he lay flat on his back on the roof with his feet towards the cab. His patrol car broke free from Hernandez’s truck as it was crushed into the Phoenix’s engine. The roof of the patrol car was sheered off and sucked up into the engine, destroying its intake fan and sending shrapnel deep inside the turbine.

Hernandez cleared the planes tail as the engine exploded. William rolled onto his belly to see. The explosion spread into the wing above, igniting the fully fueled wing tanks. The entire wing blasted apart in fire. Debris pierced the main fuselage of the tanker and its interior fuel bladders. These exploded all at once, releasing an enormous detonation that formed an instantaneous condensation dome around its shockwave. It reverberated out across the airport, hitting William like a wall, nearly pushing him off the roof of the truck. Every window in the truck shattered.

With his ears still ringing, William composed himself. He swung around and crawled over the cab looking for his P90. It was gone.

“Get ready Pate, here we come!” he shouted over his radio.

William grabbed the top lip of the windshield and looked down. He saw the glass was gone. He threw his legs out over the front of the cab and swung them back in, pounding his boots into Hernandez’s chest. It caught Hernandez by surprise who gasped for breath from the hit. William kicked the chief down over into the middle seat. William quickly took his place at the wheel and turned the truck south into the adjacent runway. They sped across it only to come to the bases second runway.

Hernandez drew his handgun but William grabbed his arm and knocked it down against the dashboard, dislodging the gun from his hand, sending it flying out the broken windshield. Hernandez drew his knife instead. He plunged it towards William’s right arm, striking through his uniform and into his skin. William didn’t even feel it though he was on so much adrenaline. He took his left hand off the steering wheel and grabbed Hernandez’s knife, driving it up into the ceiling of the cab. Hernandez picked his right leg up and kicked William in the face so hard a tooth came out. William fell against the driver side door, giving Hernandez the chance to get back up and try and take control of the truck.

He took his knife out of the ceiling and held it at William’s throat, slowly pressing it against his skin.

“Did she tell you to kill me?” he asked bluntly. “Did she?!”

“I don’t need Hammond to tell me to do that,” William scowled.

“Ha,” Hernandez laughed. “I would think she’d do it herself.”

“I trusted you as a friend. You used me. You used our friendship to distance me from Hammond, and even John! You tried to turn me against everyone!”

“Hammond doesn’t care about you! All she cares about is finishing her mission of individualistic retribution,” Hernandez said through his teeth. “She is just a selfish old woman, who does not care for this world or for the many in it. All she seeks is for someway to have her own failures be forgiven while hiding the true reason for those failures.” “W-What, what are you talking about?” William choked. “What is she hiding?”

Hernandez smiled. “History, in more ways then you know, belongs to Terra Nova. She knows this history, this secret; a secret about what this place really is…”

“What s-secret?” stuttered William.

“A secret that, should the world discover, would bring UNIRO down, and with it, her last chance for retribution.”

“You’re lying,” said William, beginning to feel the knife slice into his skin.

“Hm. I wouldn’t expect a feeble mind such as yours to understand the bigger picture here. You are weak, Will. Your search for stability blinds you, just as it blinds this world. Civilization will trust anyone who comes along and promises greatness, even if they are monsters.” “No one w-will trust Terra Nova!”

“Who said anything about the world trusting Terra Nova?” Hernandez grinned. “You see, I don’t serve the monsters blindly, you do!”

Hernandez began moving his arm back to cut William’s throat but William kneed him in the stomach. Hernandez dropped the knife. He viciously grabbed Hernandez’s scalp and started repeatedly smashing his head against the dashboard. Blow after blow cracked the dashboard’s various monitors, cutting Hernandez’s head. William grabbed the wheel again with his left hand and took the truck out of the second runway and began heading over to the airports southern hangars.

“We’re in position, Captain!” DJ called over the radio.

William tried to answer but Hernandez, now bleeding profusely from his head, tackled him, pushing him out through the driver side door. William held on to the doorframe with his right hand and the inner door handle with his left. His boots were dragging across the tarmac.

Hernandez kicked William’s left elbow, breaking it. William screamed in pain despite the adrenaline.

“How appropriate! Your grandparents were in the exact same position as you, with death so clearly ahead of them!” Hernandez shouted, looking down at William, retaking control of the vehicle.

“Maybe you should look and see what’s clearly ahead of you!” William shouted back.

Hernandez looked up to see the horizontal stabilizer of a Phoenix aircraft. He swerved hard to the left. The stabilizer tore through the roof of the cab, just missing Hernandez. It continued back through the length of the truck, decapitating the trucks entire roof. The roof pillars of the cab, now twisted, held up nothing, letting the driving rain pour in.

With his good arm William lifted himself up and bit Hernandez’s left thigh, breaking deep into his skin. Hernandez shouted in agony. As this was happening, the truck found its way in between two grass-roofed hangars. Through his pain, Hernandez looked around for his knife. William crawled his way back into the cab to where he could rest his feet on the runningboard. He punched Hernandez as hard as he could in the left temple with his right arm. William reached out of the truck with his good arm and grabbed a fire extinguisher just behind the doorframe. He pulled the pin and sprayed Hernandez with the extinguishers fine white powder, clogging his eyes, nose, and mouth. William then hit him over the head with it, knocking him to the seat. Hernandez was not unconscious but he was severely dazed.

William shoved his groaning body over and took the wheel. He turned the vehicle right, running along the back of a hangar. William put his foot on the brake to slow down but nothing happened.

“Crap,” he mumbled. He pressed the pedal again. The truck stayed at the same speed. “Pate,” panted William, “you copy?”

“Copy, sir. You coming?”

“I’m coming to you. There’s no going back now. My brakes are out.”

“Copy, Captain. Are you sure about this, sir? Have you thought about how you’re going to get out?”

“No, but, hopefully very carefully.”

Hernandez coughed some powder out of his throat. His daze cleared. On the floorboard Hernandez saw his knife protruding out of some debris. He silently grabbed it, squeezed it, then shot up in a cloud of powder and tried to savagely stab William. A bump in the pavement made Hernandez miss his mark of William’s abdomen though, instead making him stab William’s right shoulder just over his collarbone. Blood squirted out. Hernandez left the knife in and then punched William, kicking his head back to the corner of the cab.

Hernandez moved back over the soaked seats to the wheel. William opened his eyes to see the unbuckled seatbelt fluttering in the breeze of the open door. With an animal like groan William ripped the knife out of his shoulder, cut the seatbelt just above the clip, and threw the knife out the door. He elbowed Hernandez in the head with his right arm, giving him the quick opportunity he needed to extend and thread the belt through a series of zip tie handcuffs on Hernandez’s vest. William pulled the belt further and looped it through the steering wheel. He wrapped it around the wheel several times and tied it off.

William felt around Hernandez’s vest. He opened one of the pockets and found the flash drive Hammond desired. The truck passed hangar number seven. William was waiting for them to pass in between hangars eight and nine. They were a hundred feet from this location.

“Pate,” William radioed. “We’re almost there. Just a few more seconds!”

Hernandez grabbed the hand William was holding the flash drive with. Blood was dripping from his mouth, soaking into the fire extinguisher powder on his face.

“Change is now destined. No matter what happens after today, Terra Nova will win. It’s only a matter of time,” Hernandez warned. “We’ve made our first cut to societies few… just the first of many. It’s their turn to bleed, their turn to be afraid…” “No one is going to be afraid after today,” William said ardently, “least of all, me.”

The end of hangar eight was just feet away. They were moving at forty miles per hour. William removed his foot from the accelerator, and his hand from Hernandez’s grasps.

“Now, Pate! Now!”

William jumped from the moving vehicle and rolled across the pavement, landing on his broken arm.

Hernandez lunged after him but was held back by the seatbelt wrapped around the wheel and through the zip ties on his vest. The zip ties tightened with the strain. It was to late by the time Hernandez realized his entrapment. He heard the thundering of jet engines. He looked over the dashboard to his right as the truck came out from behind hangar eight into the day’s first true sunlight. Phoenix 17, an Antonov An-124-102 four engine cargo aircraft, second largest by volume in UNIRO’s fleet, stood waiting, its tail pointing due south.

...

“He’s behind us, man!” cried Simba, in the copilots seat.

“Have a nice flight, bitch,” smiled DJ, throwing the planes four 51,000 pound thrust capable engines to full throttle.

...

Hernandez shielded his face with his arms. The truck entered through the first engines jet blast, exposing it to a hot stream of air moving at well over a hundred miles per hour, even at fifty feet behind the plane. The truck shuddered violently. Its antennas were ripped off. Loose debris was stripped away. Rushing hot air got under the large truck and lifted it clear off the ground, flipping it in midair at a height of twenty feet.

William managed to watch the truck crash back into the ground cab first, crushing it. The jet blast continued to push what was left of the vehicle for another thirty feet or so until it came to rest against another planes fuselage.

As adrenaline faded, the pain across William’s body increased. He couldn’t move his broken arm. He tasted blood in his mouth so he spit. More than enough came out. He put pressure on his stab wound. Sirens and flashing lights approached from the east. William turned on his back to see dozens of ISAF vehicles speeding towards him. He raised his right arm to show his position. The rain had finally stopped.

An ambulance drove up next to William. Heather appeared over him, as did Hammond with additional medics. Overhead, an ISAF helicopter flew by with that sound, the sound that had followed William throughout his life. Thump, thump, thump, thump.

“John…” William murmured. “How’s John… Where…”

“Easy, Captain,” calmed Heather. “Your in a bad way. Just stay still. John is still alive. He’s still alive,” she smiled.

Hammond leaned down into William’s ear and whispered, “Do you have it?”

William glared up at her. “Destroyed,” he groaned, subtly hiding the drive in one of his pants pockets. “Destroyed.”

Hammond stood up, looking over at the mangled truck. At least twenty guardsmen were already circling it, their guns aimed at the cab. She sighed.

William felt himself being moved onto a stretcher. The world lost its sounds. His eyelids grew heavier and heavier with the tugging of exhaustion. Medics were checking his vitals. One was taking blood pressure. Another was holding his stab wound, putting gauze over it. Heather was wiping his face with disinfecting wipes and water. He felt someone grab his hand and gently squeeze it. William looked down his body to see who it was. He saw his grandfather, then, with a smile on his face, he passed out.