philtucker

Chapter 99

(Thanks for your patience and kind messages, everyone. Three nights in a row of 103+ degree fever convinced me to go get a Covid test, and I've managed to stop by the office on the way home to post this. Fingers crossed it's just a nasty bug! With a little luck I'll be feeling better and able to post Chapter 100 tomorrow. Thanks again for your understanding.)

The Nem3 queen was huge. It must have been lying down when James arrived, because now it reared to its true height, towering over...

Chapter 98: Hive

Crimson Hydra’s battle up Canal Street was brutal.

For all that James was an unstoppable force within the Hound, he was but one speck of resistance in a sea of slaughter. People thronged, pushed, screamed, and were killed. Nem3’s were everywhere. Leaping off buildings, charging into where the crowds were thickest, flipping cars, shrieking their delight.

James worked his way up the broad street steadily, his Vault Cannon on limited fire, spilling endless rounds across the block...

Chapter 97: Dikastís

Virtue: Justice

Understanding flooded into James and his mind blanked before the enormity of what was revealed. The four virtues were conduits, means to connect with beings that were exemplars of each concept.

A way to summon an avatar of Justice and embody it.

James felt vertigo as he attempted to trace the channel that linked him to that being, Dikastís. His mind couldn’t wrap itself around the sensation. Not just distance, nothing as simplisti...

Chapter 96: BRRRRRR

“Here we go,” called Serenity. “Got the official countdown. One minute.”

The crowd was eating out of Kimmie’s palm. She kept hitting them with Inspire every fifteen or so minutes, boosting them up, reinforcing their will, getting them focused and ready for war. Now with the moment at hand the atmosphere was electric. Thousands were ready, roaring their eagerness for what was to come.

It was almost frightening.

“Thirty seconds,” yelled Serenity.

“Circle ...

Chapter 95: Inspiration

Everybody was crowded around. Crimson Hydra. Star Boy, Hackworth, officers, operators, Fabricators.

Gawping. Gaping. Unable to process what had just happened.

James understood where they were coming from, but impatience was building up within him.

It was time to roll out.

“Colonel Hackworth. How does this change Crimson Hydra’s deployment?” His voice boomed out through the parking garage, reverbed and thunderous.

Hackworth blinked. “Your team is no longer...

Chapter 94: Apparatus Bellicus Prime

James stepped back as the War Engineers got to work. This involved moving into a circle around the War Hound and raising their Mechanicus tools, each of which was distinct yet formed in the shape of a complex metallic wand. Eight Engineers got into position, and then Jessica completed the circle and raised her own.

Almost James expected her to begin an incantation, for a wind to pick up and blow her hair, but instead her Mechanicus began to glow with a fierce, blinding light. The silenc...

Chapter 93: Canis

James awoke to the sound of his phone buzzing. Serenity was gone. He rolled over, grimaced, then sat up. Cindy.

“Hello?”

“Good morning!” She sounded insanely chipper. “It’s your 5 a.m. rise and shine call. Are you ready for the apocalypse?”

“Cindy?”

“Sorry, sorry, too much caffeine, too much death, too much despair. I think I’m starting to become bipolar. Can that happen? Or is it a brain chemistry thing independent of what happens in your life? D...

Chapter 92: The System

What followed was a bunch of meetings. Hackworth and his command folks, meetings where other generals were pulled in, folks from the NSA, the local leadership, Emergency Management.

James sat through them all, steeped in thought.

Barely heard what was said. Answered monosyllabically when addressed. Ignored the angry stares, the expectation that he pull an answer for this crisis out of his Blue Light hat.

But something was stirring within him. A realization. It came in flashe...

Chapter 91: Crisis

They loaded Joanna’s body onto the Chinook and flew back to Fort Hamilton. People were giving commands, there was plenty of activity, but James felt like the hollow center of the storm, the quiet eye of the hurricane that spun up around them as they were returned back to New York.

An overwhelming urge to grab a bottle of whiskey and drain it dry had him by the throat. To just stop thinking, planning, and being responsible for people and cities and this whole fucking apocalypse. To che...

Chapter 90: Inside

James stepped inside the veil of fire. He moved slowly, warily, watching the horde of Nem3’s before him.

They’d been milling about, turning their heads blindly from side to side as if questing for an elusive scent, and with James’s arrival they finally found it.

And so a hundred or so Nem3’s turned as one to orient on him.

The rest of Crimson Hydra emerged behind him. Olaf’s circle of white fire burned brightly around them all, mystical patterns filtering through t...

Chapter 89: Bronze

The Anima found them a trio of Nem3’s stalking down the center of an avenue as if they owned it, dragging their sword-arms behind them and tearing up the asphalt.

James observed them from sixty yards up, the others arranged just behind him. “I think I’ll take these solo.”

“We’ll be on overwatch,” said Serenity. “Everybody with Deadeye and ready to rain down death if they prove too much.”

“Something tells me that won’t be the case,” said Jason wryly. �...

Chapter 88: 100

How do you process that much carnage? How do you understand, in your bones, that millions have died? To wrap your mind around that number. To visualize it.

Ten dead, sure. A hundred dead, yeah, you can picture an intersection full of bodies. A thousand? That’s an entire subway train. A hundred thousand? That’s the Rose Bowl stadium, and already a sea of humanity, no faces, no individuals, just a smear of flesh tones.

A million?

Two million?

James just sat there, st...

Chapter 87: Third Wave

They cruised out to their intersection, the same one as the day before. Kimmie kept looping around on her Wing then apologizing, while Kerim had a stunned smile that just wouldn’t go away.

Funny. James was already taking the Wings for granted. Amazing how quickly a body could grow used to something.

The crowd below was large. Easily three times the size of yesterday’s, people on their phones, people talking in earnest groups, but when they caught sight of the eight Wings flyin...

Chapter 86: Gearing Up

68 Days till Pits Open

Might as well have been a lifetime. James dismissed the countdown as the elevator doors opened and he led Crimson Hydra out into the parking lot. Jessica had worked through the night to set up a new system, and each squad was to pass through in order to gather equipment before heading out to their intersections.

The parking lot was barely recognizable at this point. Foot traffic was intense, and overhead speakers announced messages and reque...

Chapter 85: #dontlookdontdie

69 Days till Pits Open

James dismissed the count-down as the elevator doors opened on the Marriott’s Presidential Suite. Emerging into the entrance hall, the Anima hovering just behind his shoulder and Kimmie and Kerim in tow, James realized that the whole top floor of the Marriott was this suite, a gorgeous series of rooms with honey-red hardwood flooring, cream walls with accents, and fancy looking furniture.

The sound of a TV being played from the large room ...

Chapter 84: Interviews

“I’ve really fallen down the rabbit hole here,” said Cindy, smiling up at James from where she sat at her computer. “But in many ways this is still simpler than running fantasy conventions. No prima donna Hollywood guests, no switching schedule, and dealing with a few thousand people instead of a hundred. Still.” She typed into the command window and brought up the search function. “Despite all the moving pieces, Star Boy’s created this lovely database that does most the work. W...

Interlude

South Beach, Miami, USA, 3:17 PM EST

“Yo dude, pump it, pump it!”

Chris spun the wheel as they came tearing off the intercoastal causeway, sliding down the McArthur at over 120 mph into the Alton Road intersection. His boss’s prized BMW M5 G-Power Hurricane RRs’s tires screeched as they fought for traction, then they caught and the supercharger kicked in.

The $800,000 car blew down Alton, heading parallel to the intercostal’s waters, tearing up the...

Chapter 83: Someday. Not today.

“You did what?”

James stood straight in the small conference room. His heart was pounding, and in his mind he saw Bjørn widen his eyes just as James aimed the gun at his face.

Recounting what had happened felt like letting off a depth charge deep within his soul.

“I killed Bjørn.” And as clinically as he could, he began recounting what had transpired at Bjørn’s apartment.

“No, I know all that,” said Hackworth, cutting him off. “Jessica told ...

Chapter 82

Becca tore her gaze from Bjørn to glare at James with such horror and shock and outrage that her voice shook from the intensity of her emotions. “You murdered him.”

James swung his leg over the Wing’s saddle and sat. “I did.”

The rest of the crew was staring at him in similar shock. All of them but Serenity. She spat on the floor and walked over to James. “He had it coming.”

“I gave Bjørn one chance.” James pitched his voice to carry. His heart w...

Chapter 81

“Bless Green,” James said as he eased the Wing around. The blessings boosted his stats even as he scanned the intersection. The triangular median. The subway station building.

The crowd shifted, uneasy, like deer that have caught the scent of wolf.

A Nem3 appeared inside a sandwich shop. Its hulking thirteen-foot-tall frame was hunched, the glass distorting its bulk.

The first screams sounded. The crowd surged away from the sandwich shop. People tripped and were stepped ...

Chapter 80: Count Down

James descended to the Marriott lobby, his Animus hovering just above and behind his left shoulder, and when the elevator doors opened he emerged, already painfully aware of how unusual a figure he now cut.

The lobby was full of folks. Staff, assistants, operators, military folk from Hamilton, all getting ready for the day’s activities.

Those closest glanced at James, saw the Animus, and just… stopped. Their eyes widened, their expressions turned to confusion, wonder, and surp...

Chapter 79: Imbuing

James awoke at the crack of dawn, his alarm beeping mildly by the side of the hotel bed. It felt weird to wake up; he’d grown used to burning Aeviternum over the past couple of weeks to keep going at all hours.

A luxury they could no longer afford.

For a moment he just lay there, arm resting over his brow, not looking at the empty half of the bed. His thoughts then strayed to Esme. Where was her body? Where were all the bodies going, for that matter? Were morgues still a thing? ...

Chapter 78: Sola Anima

“There’s only one thing we need to determine, and determine tonight,” said Major Duffy. “How are we handling the Second Wave?”

Everybody was gathered in what had come to be called the war chamber, the conference room just large enough for twenty. Hackworth and his command, along with Star Boy, James, and Serenity. The four Lieutenant Colonels in charge of each Battalion were on wall-mounted monitors, while Lt. Colonel Bell who commanded 1st Battalion sat down the table, his fa...

Chapter 77: Old Crow, Yukon

Instinct caused people to look up as he descended upon the crowd, and a ripple effect took place, upturned faces spreading as more noticed and looked up in turn. The crowd parted before him, allowing him to dip down enough to pass into the garage without having to skim beneath the top of the entrance.

“Hey, it’s James Kelly!”

“James! Right on!”

“Yo, he’s hurt!”

James left the clamor behind and floated up and close to the huge cement rafters that girded ...

Chapter 76: Harsh Lessons

(To see Trigger Warning, scroll to the bottom of the chapter.)

James flew out over the ocean, his speed slow, his thoughts in turmoil. She was fucking with him. This was a test, a trap. There was no way she’d come through with any promise. But then again, she’d sworn to give him proof he’d find convincing. He’d no idea what that could be, but say she came through, convinced him.

Would it be the right move? To sacrifice Crimson Hydra for the seven or so million she’d pred...

Chapter 75: Temptation

James brought the Wing around to face the approaching Monitor, because what else could it be? He was out of Aeviternum, perilously low on divine power, alone and a hundred and fifty yards up in the sky.

Maybe he should have bolted.

But he knew that was never in the cards.

The Monitor emerged from the demonic symbol in a cloud of roiling darkness that quickly bled away to reveal Jessica Miles once more, her blonde hair streaming about her face, her office-wear mutated and len...

Chapter 74: New Haven

The command center was tense, filled with admin making calls, connecting different units, coordinating forces, overseeing their two Groups and working on bringing them home.

James crossed the ballroom to where the ASOCC was located. It had been mightily augmented these past few weeks. Monitors on walls, triple the workstations, all manner of new gear. Over thirty-five people were at work, and Hackworth stood in the center of it all, hands on hips, frowning at what he saw.

James sc...

Chapter 73: Elmsford

It took five minutes to cover the ten miles north. It was a beautiful drive. The suburbs north of the city were swank. It’s where the rich folk who got tired of living in Manhattan but couldn’t quit the day jobs on Wall Street went to live. Treelined highway most of the way, with the occasional golf course vista opening up to one side or another.

James flew in silence, ignoring the chatter on the radio, and Serenity knew to leave him alone. His team followed hard on their heels. The...

Checking In

How you guys doing? Happy Sunday. I hope you've got your coffee brewing and nothing but good things planned for your day.

So look, I've been writing like a madman these past two months. Since August 1st I've written 194,323 words for Dawn of the Void, and sometimes it feels like I'm sprinting down the street with a burst open suitcase while being pursued by a bunch of thugs who want to bend my kneecaps the wrong way.

No revisions. No take backsies. Live and die by each day's decis...

Chapter 72: Get there fast

It took ten more minutes of bloody work but they cleared the last of the Nem3’s. Having four Black Hawks in the sky helped like crazy, though they almost lost one when a Nem3 wheeled and loosed a harpoon straight up at is undercarriage. The bird wheeled away at the last second, the harpoon missing by a yard.

When finally the last Nem3 collapsed to their massed gunfire, James set the Wing down and staggered off it. Took a moment to take stock, looking up and down the line of buses.