"Well, it isn't quite that simple young man," an oddly familiar voice said calmly from the rafters. The immediate response from everyone was to draw their weapons as they turned to face the stranger.
"Who are you?" Miles asked holding his hatchet up.
"I am General James Marrow, I was the person overseeing the mission you just watched," He said, solemnly.
"You...You let them all die?" Beck asked, horrified.
"I had no choice, it was either them or the rest of the world as we know it. I made a decision and I stand by it," He said, continuing down the stairs. He approached Miles standing inches from his blade and staring into his eyes.
"Son, your friends are right. The radiation consuming those vines has created a monster that seeks to consume the land you stand upon," He said, calmly.
"I don't understand, everyone else is dead. How did you survive?" Amanda asked, gripping her knife firmly.
"I have done many things that I regret, one of them was condemning the men, women, and children of this base to death while I searched for a way to divert the blast. I assumed I could do it, but I failed. Everyone who has died has done so because of my actions and for that, I apologize," He said, disappointedly.
"You didn't answer the question," Scott said, gritting his teeth.
"Once I saw the imminent doom I sent out the evacuation letters and locked myself in the bomb shelter below the floor," He said, pointing up toward the stairs where he had emerged from. He turned back to Miles, this time with tears in his eyes, and dropped to his knees.
"Please son, get your friends away from here, run as fast and as far as you can," He pleaded, gripping Miles' free hand in his. Miles looked into his eyes, seeing the pain and fear he held within them. He opened his mouth to speak but he couldn't form the words he wanted to say to this man. He despised the actions he took, he was disgusted at the monster that knelt before him. Most of all he was sickened by the deaths he created and still lived to tell the tale.
"You...deserve every inch of pain you feel. You deserve to feel the thousand-degree heat those men suffered as you sat here and watched. You are scum and I am not your son," He replied ripping his hand from the man's.
"Oh dear boy, I will feel but a pinch as I die. I was going to perish before you so rudely interrupted, and I still plan to do so, but I could not allow you to wander these streets any longer. You must leave, now," He said, pulling something from his pocket. Miles looked down at the old general's hand where he held a live grenade.
He smiled up at him as he removed the pin.
"Don't," Miles said, reaching down for the hunk of metal. Then he released his hand, releasing the safety lever.
"Run!" Miles yelled, sprinting for the open door. They all flooded out of the room running as fast as they could to get away from the building. Then the loud explosion followed by a large ball of fire pulsed behind them throwing them to the ground. They looked around ensuring everyone was still alive.
"What the fuck was that?" Ace asked, standing behind them with Art and Ari. Before anyone could answer the ground began to shake violently. Followed by a loud creaking sound like the sound of a tin can being crushed slowly. They all turned their attention to the command center where a large hole began to suck it into the ground as the vines constricted it.
"We need to go, now!" Miles shouted, rising to his feet and running from the now expanding sinkhole. Everyone followed closely looking over their shoulders as the hole behind them grew larger. The buildings around them began to form more sinkholes before being swallowed whole. The group sprinted each of them fearful that they wouldn't make it out. In the distance, Hyde and Thicket stood anxiously waiting for their riders to mount them.
"Almost there, keep moving!" Miles shouted, pushing his lungs past their limit as he increased his speed. Hyde and Thicket grew closer, but so did the sinkhole the thought of making it to the edge of the fence seemed nearly impossible. Miles made it to Thicket first, grabbing his bag and hurtling himself up onto his back. Abel lept onto Hyde's back and extended his arm to help his friends. They all climbed their way up one by one as the hole closed in.
"Hiyah!" Miles and Abel shouted pulling on Thicket's antlers and Hyde's scruff. Both animals lept over the large fence landing roughly on the other side and swiftly racing through the grasslands surrounding the outskirts of the city. The passengers watched behind them as the base now ceased to exist. The hole wasn't stopping though, it continued its growth expanding past the fence and swallowing everything in its path.
"Hurry up!" Scott yelled, from Thicket's rear.
"You wanna drive?" Miles replied, pushing Thicket as hard as he could. As they approached the city their worst fear had become a reality. It was now beginning to crumple as the ground below continued to shake. Suddenly the path in front of them began to open up, thinking quickly Miles twisted Thicket's antlers making him turn just shy of the hole. One of his hooves slipped on the edge of the giant pit sending a shock of panic across the group riding him before he was able to regain his footing.
After taking the sharp turn and running around the opening Miles thought of paths they could take to get away from the sinking city. His mind raced and his body filled with adrenaline as he hoped he'd make the right choice.
"Continue around the hole, we'll keep to the edge of the city until we reach the forest, from there we have a straight shot north!" He shouted, using his hands to signal to his brother. Abel nodded in agreement as the two of them maneuvered the beasts around the expanding hole. Beck looked down into the pit seeing nothing but never-ending darkness below as large bits of rubble hurdled to the bottom. Her fear increased before she turned her head away shivering with fear gripping Miles from behind.
The fear of falling sent shivers rushing down the spines of every passenger, who all gripped and grabbed onto anything they could to secure themselves to the back of the beast they rode. In the distance, ahead Miles could see the large forest coming into view. Beneath him, he could feel the earth shaking more than it had before. When he glanced down, he saw something that almost certainly sealed their fate.
The ground began to split apart as they ran across it. The stoic look he bore quickly vanished and was replaced by terror. He drove his heels into Thicket in an attempt to make him run faster but it was no use, with the combined weight of everyone and the bags they managed to salvage he had already been running at max speed. His pace wasn't letting up and he didn't seem tired in the slightest, but Miles feared he would before they reached the edge of the city.
"Go ahead, the ground is splitting I'm right behind you!" He shouted, urging Abel to lead the way.
"I'm not leaving you!" He replied, sternly.
"You don't have a choice!" Miles yelled, smacking Hyde's tail end with the flat side of his long blade. Abel watched with disapproval as Hyde pushed to his full speed and raced Abel and his passengers to the tree line. Miles moved Thicket to the left as the ground crumbled into the deep dark pit below and continued racing to the woods ahead. Abel gripped Hyde's fur tighter in his hands and ducked his head as they approached closer to the forest. Then he noticed the hole began to expand in front of them blocking the path to the woods.