Me,Willy,Xerxes,Driscoll,Laius,The Seer and 5 guards all left heading to the command center. Jay, Merlin and all the other guards would not be fighting and instead be looking after Monica and heading to the secret room with the train Seer talked about and securing it for when we made our escape. It was a silent trek down but once we got their the site infront of us… It was pure chaos. The streets were engulfed in panicked anarchy with Order soldiers going house to house looking for who 'betrayed, them and even pulling some people out to beat them looking for any information. Laius had decided the best course of action in this situation would try to enter alleyways and stay hidden, and with me and the majority of everyone agreeing we went heading into the darkness. The first couple of alleys we went down gave us no trouble with them mostly being on the outskirts and such that was until we had to start going inward. The command center was dead center it the Compound so getting to it was not going to be easy, thinking for a few seconds Driscoll who was looking out speaks franticly.
“Wun nao!”
Without hesitation Driscoll and several others started to run and with me shocked and confused I joining them after a few seconds. Seeing the road I now understood why Driscoll decided to run the place was completely ransacked with no life in sight. One we got to the other side we kept going but now a little more cautious with us being a lot more closer to the mayhem. Also I could now start to see the command center, with it being a tall dark metal building with the lower portion having a strange symbol that had a blue square with dozens of white dot’s and several red and white stripes, and the upper portion having a glass window that was to high for me to see anything. We continued to make progress and to be honest with our speed I was a little astonished like were the Order really this unprepared for a situation like this? Finally we approached the entrance of the command center, there we only saw two Order members guarding it and with a little seeing nobody around I was left in surprise as Willy decided to charge at them. The first guard couldn’t even lift his weapon before Willy punched him so hard his head was almost decapitated and the second guard had no chance as the rest of us charged at him killing him in seconds. And now with both guards dead we entered the command center, and as we did I had a strange feeling… This was to easy, we just entered a trap didn’t we…
As we started climbing the stairs, I was on the lookout making sure nobody was going to ambush us. It felt like a long climb before we finally made it up and once we did, we entered a dark room that was filled with dozens of consoles. All were covered in a thick coat of dust and after walking a few short steps the Seer spoke.
“Somebody puww dah webew, it’s next to dah doow!”
Looking over at the door we enter through I saw the lever and a makeshift staircase leading to it, climbing I got to the lever and at first I had some trouble pulling it with the lever feeling heavy but once I finally pulled it the lights in the room sprung to life and the once inactive consoles turned on displaying strange images and numbers, the Seer speaks.
“c’mon wet’s head to dah main consowe an’ entah dah codes an’ insewt dah key, do that an’ it’s mission accompwished!”
We all headed over to the largest console in the room with it being a giant screen and what looked liked hundreds of buttons and switches. The Seer was the first climb and touch to touch the console with him feeling random buttons before eventually landing on a large green one and pressing it causing the console to speak.
“Please insert verification codes”
There was now a a pop up with 8 spaces and Laius who also had the codes climbed up and spoke.
“Dah Seeh how wiww these bombs wowk exactwy?”
The Seer speaks his face illuminated by the console.
“Fwom what Seeh weawned fwom obah dah yeaws these bombs wewe supposed to go high up in dah sky befowe hittin’ theiw tawget. Buh dey been hewe su wong Seeh bet’s dah fwyin’ mechanism doesn’t eben wowk anymowe su dey’ww just expwode hewe.”
Mobile bombs… Damn Laius looks at the paper and presses buttons that correspond with the number on the papers 09012004 once Laius enters the last number the pop up disappears and the console speaks.
“Good morning General Hutchinson. From my last log update from the year 2026 it’s been 73 years since you’ve last updated what’s you’re orders?”
The Seer who had been listening speaks.
“Boff Wussian an’ Chinese wawheads hab been detected tawgetin’ Amewican popuwation centews, Pwesident Stebenson has owdewed dis base to waunch a wetawiatowy stwike on Wussia!”
I had 0 idea what any of the gibberish meant Russia, President Stevenson? The console was quiet for a few seconds before speaking
“Orders authorized and confirmed, the followings targets have already been set. Murmansk, Saint Petersburg, Moscow, Volgograd, Novosibirsk, Vladivostok. needed now is the launch key and pressing the launch button for warhead activation.”
I now start to climb up as The Seer and Laius take a deep breath with Laius entering the Launch key into a slot causing a glowing red button to pop out. The Seer turns to everyone and speaks.
“Once I pwess dis button we nee’ to wun wike heww 'ou hewe me! Dah twain am wocated at dah bw-”
There is a moment of complete silence as a red stain starts to grow from the Seer’s robe caused by an arrow. And he falls to the ground as I speak.
“SEEH NU! GWAB HIM IT’S AN AMBUSH!”
The Seer has a shocked but silent look of his face as he put’s his hooves over the wound, and turning in the direction of where the arrow was shot I start to see several Order members coming out from the walls forming a box formation. And Master Horse and The grandmaster are with them in the center. Both groups looks at each other in defensive positions for a few seconds before the GrandMaster looks at me and speaks.
“I wiww be takin’ back my pwopewty! do 'ou know how much chaos 'ou’be caused!”
Even though I didn’t noticed it before but looking at the Grandmaster’s left hood I saw a launching device and I knew he was the one who did it I speak.
“'Ou awweady wost it’s obew!”
The GrandMaster speaks now with a more angry tone.
“'Ou know dawkwing am hewe? Am suwe fwuffy wouwd wike to meet 'ou!”
The GrandMaster turns to and Order member and speaks again.
“Whewe am he, I towd him to be up hewe!”
I speak giving a blunt answer.
“my uncwe Mewwin kiwwed him! We fought befowe hand an’ duwin’ ouw fite my… My sweetheawt Monica fwew hewsewf infwont of me to stahp his bwade. Nao she am fightin’ fo’ hew wife!”
Just saying the last part was enough to throw me into a rage. Master Horse after hearing that spoke confused.
“what… What dah fuck am Souw tawkin’ about!”
Master Horse started breathing heavily as The GrandMaster spoke.
“Damnit DawkWing that idiot! KIWW THEM AWW, NU WET THEM TOUCH THAT BUTTON!”
With allies by my side, we raise our weapons ready to attack.
Our main objective was to defend the console and the Seer. When they first started to approach us we were the first to strike we several blows taking place and the room devolving to pure chaos. The person who tried to attack me was in for a rude awaking, with me feel so much rage I lashed out striking with so much force their dodge was useless as I shattered there weapon and cut right through their shoulder killing them instantly. Going over I went to go help Willy who was taking on two Order members, I stabbed an unprepared one right through the back than slicing to the right as their guts spilled over the floor. Joining Willy we fought the other Order member with us eventually getting the upper hand with Willy grabbing the Order member lifting him up and throwing him out the window breaking the glass. The battle continued with Order forces becoming more and more outnumbered, a strange thing I noticed during the fight was Master Horse he wasn’t fighting just standing by and watching and the GrandMaster I had now idea where he was. Looking for him I eventually turned around to see him trying to open the console to break it. Running over I grabbed him throwing him across the room making him hit a pillar. The last of the Order forces started being killed with us losing 3 guards and only The GrandMaster and Master Horse remaining, walking over to the GrandMaster I speak looking down at him.
“It’s obah 'ou wost!”
The GrandMaster looks at me breathing heavily and speaks.
“Gwandmastah has faiwed my owdah… Ou am about to destwoy decades of cowwected histowy… May futuwe genewations cuwse am name…”
The GrandMaster starts to chuckle as he continues speaking looking right into my eyes.
“see 'ou in heww…”
Without hesitation The GrandMaster pulls out a small knife slicing his throat open falling to the ground unresponsive. Looking at the dead body out of pure curiosity I thought about unmasking him but snapped out of it realizing that there was a job to do. Running over to The Seer he lied on his back in a pool of his blood still alive I speak to him.
“Seeh dah Gwandmastah am dead we hab to finish dis!”
He slowly starts to turn his head with a surprisingly calm expression as he speaks.
“go do it den, nu wowwy about me Souw.”
I am shocked looking at him he speaks again.
“Dah twain am wocated at dah wawge bwue doow ,an at dah wite of it dewe am a hidden doow. Once ‘ou entewed pwess dah gwowin’ yewwow button an’ 'ou’ww be off.”
The Seer’s breathing starts to slow as he speaks again.
“Go Souw… Go”
The Seer after saying that relaxes and closes his eyes, falling into an eternal slumber.
Getting up I look and see a large blue door through the glass window also seeing Master Horse being apprehended by Laius and a guard, he didn’t have a single scratch on him, as Laius looked over to me and spoke.
“What do 'ou think we shouwd do wiff him?”
Once of the guards holding Master Horse begins to take off his mask revealing his face underneath. Master Horse had a earthie with a graying Neutral green coat and graying black mane that was cut short. he looks up to me his eyes filled with sadness and despair and speaks.
“My daughtew nu pwease it nu can be twue!”
For a second I thought about what to do with him thinking for a bit I remembered Monica’s words saying not to hurt him and after taking a deep breath I speak.
“Take him as a pwisonah. We nee’ to get goin’ dah bwue doow by am weft am ouw destination fo’ escape.” Laius speaks showing a some concern on his face.
“Am ‘ou suwe about takin’ him?”
I nod and Master Horse just quietly looks down tears falling from his eyes. I start heading towards the console once and once climbing it I see the red button still glowing and with a deep breath, I press it.
immediately sirens begin blaring across the entire Compound with a voice speaking from the ceiling.
“Warhead launch procedure activated t-minus 10 minutes before launch.”
I get down from the console and we all leave running down the stairs as fast as we can, and we are going down the stairs as the voice from the ceiling speaks again.
“President Stevenson nuclear retaliation prerecord message, dated 11/28/2025 activated.”
We left the command center just as a different voice speaks.
“My fellow Americans if you are receiving this message the war has deteriorated to the point of full scale nuclear armed conflict.”
We start running through the streets, that were now in complete panic as even Order soldiers didn’t even care anymore and just ran pass us looking for an exit.
“For our entire history as a species our greatest strength has always been our resilience, since the times when the earth was covered in ice, to the bronze age collapse, to the pandemic less than a decade ago we have always been a species of survivors. Now we are about to face the greatest trial of survivorship in history.”
We continue running getting closer to the blue door.
“I had tried to strive for peace and justice in the world and I only hope our descendants decades or even centuries from now will look back at our pointless fighting and chaos in the future and say they are better than that and learn from history.”
We kept getting closer to the blue wall with it only being less than 30 seconds away.
“I tell you all to start heading into the fallout shelters in our base and stay there for until recontact, as for a final statement I only have this to say. May Almighty God show us mercy and forgiveness, so God bless The United States Of America and the People of Earth. This is you’re President out…”
We now approached the blue wall looking for the door at first we couldn’t find it but after some more frantic searching eventually Xerxes started moving some scrap out of the way showing a hole in the wall that was probably set up by the others. Heading into it we were now in a large dim room looking for the train the voice from the ceiling spoke.
“T-minus 6 minutes.”
Continuing down a hallway we saw it… The train and everyone there! running over to it the others saw us and even though we were still pretty far I could see their faces having a mix of relief and happiness. Getting on board the first person I saw was Merlin who had had tears in his eyes and spoke.
“Souw Mewwin stawted gettin’ su wowwied, c’mon wet’s get out of hewe!”
Hugging Merlin I went over to Monica to see the her breathing had gotten back to normal but she was still unconscious. And I wasn’t the only once as Master Horse once getting on, was actually able to become free for a few moments to go over to his daughter before being reapprehended again he speaks.
“my Daughtew nu!”
Merlin speaks as everyone is now on board.
“why did ‘ou bwin’ him!”
I speak as I start looking for the yellow button.
“I’ww teww 'ou when we get out of hewe. Hab 'ou seen a yewwow button?”
I continue ti look around dust getting everywhere as Jay speaks.
“You mean this one Soul?”
I speak quickly
“yes pwess it!”
The yellow button is next to the door we entered through, and Jay after hearing the climbs one of the seats and jumps to press it. All the doors shut as the train makes a noise and starts moving.
We were now engulfed in almost total darkness as all we can hear is the train moving. With it being quiet Merlin speaks with a concerned slightly confused tone.
“Seeh whewe am 'ou?”
Laius speaks almost instantly after Merlin finishes.
“He gabe dah uwtimate sacwifice Mewwin.”
Merlin is silent for a few seconds before speaking
“Oh.”
The train kept moving with us being quiet and it sometimes bumping or rocking but then the almost total darkness became light as we now entered the outside. The feeling of the sun on my face after being underground for so long was so amazing. Looking I saw some celebrating our victory while others just being quiet. Looking out a window I could see we were in a large field and looking at the direction we came from my amazement turned to horror as I saw a single long tubed bomb flying up into the sky I speak.
“How wong has dah twain been mobin?”
Jay speaks casually.
“Around 4 to 5 minutes I think.”
I speak in a panic.
“GET DOWN DAH EXPWOSION AM COMING!”
We all started getting on the ground with me heading over to Monica to protect her and as my prediction started becoming true, the ground started to violently shake. Than we heard something that I could describe as the loudest thing I have ever heard.
KABOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOM!!!
I put my hooves over my ears as I used my body to cover hers, debris started flying everywhere hitting the train and even causing some big dents in the ceiling. That wasn’t the only thing though as a few seconds after the explosion I could feel a wave of pure force fly over us as all the glass windows shattered but by some divine miracle the train didn’t crash and kept going. After that I finally got my head up and could see the sight infront of me a mushroomed shaped cloud started rising with what surrounded us being decimated and on fire. Mindful of the broken glass I go to the others and speak.
“‘ou otay’!”
Merlin, Laius, Driscoll, Xerxes and most of the guard raise their hooves with Jay looking dizzy and throwing up from the force of the explosion and Willy in tears holding his hooves over his ears. I head to go console Willy as I see Master Horse sneakily going over to Monica and starting to cry. As the train kept going I saw the mushroom cloud getting smaller and smaller and as we began clearing out the glass I spoke to Laius
“How am we goin’ to get back to Motow?”
Laius sighs as he speaks.
“Dah Seeh pwobabwy knew how to get back buh wiff him dead… Ugh.”
Jay hearing this chimes in.
“Laius Motors old name was Detroit there are still old signs with that name follow them and we’ll be back. It will take some time though.”
Looking at Laius’s face he looked a little less stressed as he sat down for a much needed rest. I to wanted some rest so sitting down next to Monica I start to closing my eyes but just as I was about to go asleep, I heard her vocie.
“Souw?” Opening them almost instantly I look at her to see she had just starting to open her eyes. I give her a hug immediately with her speaking again.
“did we win? ow am dis some sowt of stwange aftewwife?”
I look at her sobbing and speak.
“We won it’s obew!”
Monica starts to hug me than flinches as she feels the pain caused by her wounds and speaks.
“Damn Monica hope’s my scaws wook just a badass as 'ou 'wes Sweetie.”
We both start to chuckle as we hug and kiss. And as we finish Monica turns her head looking seeing everyone starting to come over there faces filled with relief and also seeing her Dad looking right at us, she is silent for a few seconds her expression turning into a mix of emotions than speaks with tears starting to roll down her eyes.
“Monica shouwd gib kiww tu ou wite nao! Buh kiwwin’ a pathetic owd stawwion won’t take back anything!”
Master Horse looks at her as he speaks.
“Am su happy am awibe.”
Monica is about speak again but Merlin who had entered a different train car comes back speaking with panic
"Ebewyone we awen’t awone on dis twain!" Fin
Epilogue Two treasure hunters thousands of miles away
Our journey had led us to the desolate ruins of Novosibirsk, walking down the abandoned road I am starting to reach my boiling point with Daniil! It has been months since we left Muscovy and we still haven’t made it to Prester John’s Kingdom! I speak to him
Translated from Russian
“Daniiw ‘ou said we wewe goin’ to be dewe by nao! iban nu think dis guy am weaw!” Damiil approaches me and speaks
“Iban dis fowtune tewwah am wegit. If dey wewen’t we wouwdn’t hab twabewed outside of Muscoby an’ cwossed dah Uwaw! do ‘ou wan’ to go back an’ face those Giant Spidews an’ WaGhouw! C’mon just one mowe week Pwestah John wiww make us wich!”
I sigh and as we finished talking I saw something… Strange what looked liked a bright light starting to approach us getting bigger and bigger than sirens started blaring with a old speaker giving an announcment.
“Seek shelter! Seek shelter! Nuclear strike imminent!”
Daniil speaks bluntly.
“We shouwd hab just stayed in Muscoby shouwd’be we… Fuck”
KABOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOM!
Thank you for reading my story! This part was so much fun to write! And was a lot longer than I thought… I hope to have the next part done in a week, and constructive criticism is appreciated!