Wings of Death

A New Hope

Alex and Joshua were looking at the old family photos on their phones. They were missing their mom immensely. Alex was ready to sacrifice everything just to be with his mom again. Joshua remembered how they used to go to the beach on the weekends and mom would buy them their favorite ice creams. Everything had changed in an instant. He would give anything to turn back the clock.

Joshua was almost on the verge of breaking down when they heard a knock on the door. He wiped his eyes with his handkerchief and was about to get up when Alex stopped him.

“Hey, sit down. I’ll get the door”, he said.

“May we come in?” Margaret was standing outside and Nathan was walking up the stairs.

“Yeah sure, come on in”

Both of them took off their shoes and entered the room. Alex requested them to sit down and told Joshua to wash his face and come back.

“Is something wrong with your brother?” inquired Margaret in a concerned tone.

“Oh, it’s nothing. He was just feeling a bit sleepy. So, did you learn anything else about that huge ass Bloodwing?”

“Dr. Erica thinks it might be a new subspecies of Bloodwings”.

“You would not believe what she named them. The Blood Demons”, said Nathan in a dramatic voice.

“Wow that sounds scary. As if the Bloodwings weren’t enough, now we have to deal with their psycho cousins too”

“Well, Nathan came up with a plan during the meeting. Even Major Morris was impressed by it!”

“That’s awesome. Gamers always have a plan”. Alex and Nathan both started laughing at this. It was hard to believe that these boys had just narrowly escaped death a few hours ago.

“Okay, now tell me about this idea of yours”

“We are going to use Rain Blasters.”

“What exactly is a Rain Blaster?”

“It is a gun which sprays rain water at the targets”, replied Nathan.

“You mean like those toy guns that kids use?”

“No, Klaus Varchovsky is going to build a new type of weapon. They are basically going to be mini water cannons which shoot rain water. We know the Bloodwings are vulnerable to rain water so this should work against the Blood Demons too”.

“Dr. Erica is pretty confident that it will work on the Blood Demons because of their cellular composition”, added Margaret.

“That means we can finally go outside again”, Alex smiled.

“I want to look for mom next time we head outside”, piped Joshua from a corner of the room.

Margaret understood now that Joshua had probably been crying for his mom before they entered. She got up from the couch and walked up to him. “We will find your mom. I will talk to Captain Elijah myself”, she said cupping her palms around his cheeks. Joshua smiled at her and hugged her tightly.

Nathan realized once more just how lucky he was to have his family with him. There were many survivors at Fort Barton who did not have a family anymore. The four of them decided to spend the night together.

As the sun’s first rays peeped through the curtains, Nathan roused himself from slumber. Margaret was already awake and talking to someone on the phone. When she had finished speaking she turned to Nathan.

“You are up early today. Did you sleep well last night?” she inquired.

“Yeah, I did. I thought I’d give you some company. Who was it on the phone?”

“It was Captain Elijah. He wants us to meet him outside the Research and Development department”.

“Alright, I will wake Alex up. You go get dressed”.

“Okay. Don’t be late. Bye”.  Margaret unlocked the door and headed towards her own room on the ground floor.

“Hey Alex, wake up! The Captain wants us to meet him right now”, Nathan shook him gently by his shoulder.

“Just 5 more minutes, mom”, Alex mumbled in his sleep.

Nathan decided to let him sleep for a few more minutes while he took a quick shower and brushed his teeth. By the time Nathan was done bathing Alex and Joshua had already woken up and were sitting on the sofa.

“Great. You guys are awake. Captain Elijah wants us to meet him. Get dressed. I am going to my own room now. We will meet up outside the arms depot”, said Nathan stepping out of the bathroom.

It was a bright sunny day, the clouds had all disappeared. Luckily, the soldiers had managed to collect a few buckets of rain water before it had stopped raining. The collected rain water had been sent to Dr. Erica’s lab for a preliminary analysis. She tested it for that special Xenon compound and then sent it to Klaus when the results came out as positive. Meanwhile Klaus had already finished designing a prototype of the Rain Blaster and was eager to show it to the others.

Half an hour later, Nathan and his friends met up outside the ammunition depot and then proceeded to the second floor where the Research and Development Department was located. Captain Elijah was waiting for them just outside the office door along with Major Morris.

“Good morning. Hope you all slept well last night. Mr. Varchovsky wants to show us something. Let’s go”, said the Captain.

Klaus Varchovsky opened the door and requested them to come in.

“Pardon me for my appearance. I didn’t sleep last night. I was busy working on the new weapon. Here is what I have come up with”, said Klaus pointing towards the steel table behind him. “This is a prototype of the Rain Blaster”. He picked up a peculiar looking gun from the table whose barrel looked like a modified hose pipe. “This weapon has a metal valve at the mouth of the barrel and a piston at the other end. When the trigger is pulled, the valve opens and the piston lunges forward pushing the water outside with tremendous force.” He placed a large potato on the table and said, “Here, let me demonstrate how it works”. Everyone gathered around him and he aimed the gun at the potato. As soon as he pulled the trigger, a jet of water gushed out from the gun and knocked the potato off the table. Captain Elijah was impressed.

“When will the actual weapon be ready?” he asked.

“As soon as I figure out how to fix a small problem. You see, this weapon can only store half a litre of water at a time which is just enough to shoot one jet of rain water at the enemy. I can’t use a conventional magazine with this weapon because it doesn’t use bullets”, replied Klaus.

Joshua had been quietly listening to the gun’s description and had observed the demonstration with keen interest. “I have a solution!” he exclaimed. “We can use the empty oxygen cylinders and fill them with rain water. After that you just need to connect the cylinder to the gun’s loading chamber using a pipe.”

“That’s a brilliant idea! The cylinders can be harnessed to the soldier’s back and then they will have a steady supply of rain water.” remarked Klaus. Turning to the Captain he said, “The actual gun will be ready by tonight”.

Alex patted Joshua on the shoulder. He had managed to solve a problem which had baffled the mad genius himself. Even Captain Elijah realized this was no small feat and shook hands with him.

The terror of that fateful night had now become a mere memory for them. They were confident that with Klaus’ new weapon they would once more be able to gain the upper hand in the coming battles. There was however another major problem which they needed to resolve before heading out again. They needed better vehicles, ones which would not be easily corroded by the acid pellets.