Fallen Heroes

Life.

Funny how we cling to it so much then some may even won't bat an eyelid for it. For as long as theirs are unfazed, they wouldn't care-less of another. I guess that's just another disadvantage of diversity. Supply had beaten demand. Humans overpopulated themselves long ago that they started treating their kind dispensable.

Luckily, there are a few who considers this unnaceptable. Those who still see the value of a smile,

of a life,

of a beating heart,

Those who believe in the possibility of a better world where kindness and concern for others are not surprising traits. Those who go out their way and try to make a difference. Those whom the majority calls naive and stupid to even trade themselves for the sake of the common good.

Yes. The world's lucky to still have these people in times of need.

"Kid! Close the hatch!" Simon yelled at the radio.

It was the 29th day of November 2023. We were on our third test when we realized that the waters above us weren't just flood waters. They're part of actual sea and ocean waters that invaded low-lying cities as an effect of the melting of the glaciers on the poles. They're about twenty feet deep and rising.

Simon launched the test rocket as soon as he reaches the surface and we monitor its height back in the bunker. We needed to reach about 600+ kilometers high for a higher chance of reaching the charged layer of the atmosphere that was then gradually diminishing.

An explosion echoed from the radio. A sign that the third test rocket had already left the surface. Our eyes were eagerly staring at the screen as the height of the flight increased.

100, 200, 300, 400, 500...

510, 511, 516, 520, 525...

530...

"YES! YES!" Our happiness could go over the moon upon seeing those numbers.

"Hey! We did it??" Simon heard our cries.

"Yeah! Finally, Simon. Finally!" Dr. Dave confirmed our success via radio transmission. The remaining altitude shall be covered by the plane's maximum altitude so it reached the 600+ kilometers.

Simon quickly went down from the surface. Went through the draining room and Dr. Dave welcomed him with a hug.

"Finally! Finally, Simon."

All of our eyes were red of tears of joy. For a while we said nothing but just stared at each other and laughed. Our hardest work was about to pay off.

Suddenly...

The ground started to shake again. This time it's way stronger than the previous earthquakes. The shaking was on an upward motion. We heard crackling noises everywhere. Glasses, beakers, petri dishes, and some small equipment fell broken on the ground. It was so strong that it blurred our visions. We knew things would be bad so...

"Simon! Ready the jet, quick!" Dr. Dave commanded.

The shaking weakened. Simon rushed towards the launchpad on the upper floor. I grabbed the stone and carried the ML1, the nanomites, and the rockets to be used to the jet. Simon started it while Dr. Dave was still in the lab preparing the launchpad sequence. The launchpad was on the upper deck of the bunker and the labs were on the second level and ground levels. The jet was amphibious but the bunker isn't. Once we open the launchpad's hatch, the sea waters will swarm the rest of the bunker. In other words, it's a point of no return from there.

Then the shaking resumed.

Fiercer and stronger.

We barely could even stand.

"Dr. Dave! Hurry, let's go!" I cried.

"Just a second!" He replied.

Preparing the launchpad should be easy so I wondered what took him so long. The shaking intensified but I went out of the jet anyway. I knew something was wrong.

"Kid! Stay put. It's dangerous!" Simon warned me.

"Hey! Dr. Dave! Is there a problem?" I yelled since I can't stand back on my feet after falling from the jet's stairs.

"The door just closed! The launch sequence is done! But I can't get this door to open!" He replied.

He was referring to the pneumatic door that's connecting the top and the second level of the bunker. I crawled to the door and pulled it sideways. Dr. Dave was on the other side pulling it to the opposite direction but it really won't budge. Simon then appeared out of nowhere and we tried pulling it to open but it won't.

"Mr. Madrid!" Dr. Dave shouted from the other side of the door. The door had a transparent fiber glass window. Later on, lab's ground cracked and water started sprouting everywhere.

"Listen!" He gazed on us through the glass.

"Stop pulling, you two. It's no use. Anytime now, this place will collapse. I have already started the sequence. You only have a minute left until the launchpad hatch opens! Go!"

"𝒏𝒐" I can't move a muscle.

"𝒏𝒐𝒕 𝒂𝒈𝒂𝒊𝒏" My mind froze as I saw Dr. Dave waving his hand goodbye.

"Send my regards to Dr. Chan! And save the world!" He smiled with content.

That peaceful smile was our final glimpse of him. The water broke the second level and swallowed everything else including Dr. Dave.

"Let's go, kid." Simon pulled me as he wiped his tears too.

We knew the job was not done. With heavy hearts, we moved. Got back in the jet and put our regulator suits on. It broke us both seeing Dr. Dave's regulator suit left folded on one of the jet's seats.

The hatch opened. Sea waters entered the upper level and violently harassed everything on its way including our jet.

"Hold on!" Simon cried.

A few seconds later, the gushing stopped. Chaotic bubbles slowly disappeared. The picture slowly began to clear up on the jet's windshield. The upper deck and the whole underground lab of WCE, swallowed by nature's wrath. Broken debris, glasses, metal chunks, and other stuff floated out of the bunker and into the sea. Just how ironically and awfully quiet that moment was.

"You can now disengage the lock, Simon." The jet's locked on the metal ground for safety purposes. Thanks to that, the jet suffered minimal damage after the opening of the hatch. But we lost far greater than what we had foreseen.

The locks disengaged. We took one final glance at that door.

and a deep breath.

"Thank you, Dr. Dave."

The jet propelled up towards the surface and out. Cars, carcasses both human and animals, debris of some sort, all were visibly afloat as we rose to a thousand feet high.

Everywhere I set my eyes on, all I could see was the anger of nature. Gigantic and dark cloud formed within seconds a few kilometers away from us.

There were surfaces struck by high temperatures that even ignited the very soil. Chaos. If Hell exists, that would be a suitable picture of it.

Simon steered away from the incoming storm as much as possible but it caught up on us so quick.

"I'm scared." I told Simon as I stared blankly at the dark clouds we just entered.

"Me too. I'm afraid of heights." He replied jokingly.

"That's not what I--" I turned to him and I figured he was just kidding. He already saw me as I stared into the total chaos the world had become.

"You're scared that this may not work, right?"

I nodded.

"We've come this far, kid. I too am honestly scared but a person told me just a few days ago that this is better than waiting for the end. Does it ring a bell?" He quoted me.

It kind of calmed me thinking this was the best option we got.

Finally, we're about a thousand meters away from the target altitude when a series of lightning starts to randomly strike anything that's inside the gigantic cloud.

"This is bad. I'll do what I can." Simon maneuvered away from the lightning storm inside.

I quickly loaded the nanomites inside ML1 and opened the hatch above the jet and prepared to launch it.

"It's no use! The storms gonna get us if we go higher!" Simon said.

"Oh no. If I fire prematurely, it possibly won't reach."

"I've got an idea. Fire it now!" Simon seemed confident.

"No! we can't!" I thought it was totally insane.

"Back off, kid." He pushed me and fired the rockets.

"Are you out of your mind?!!"

"Maybe" He opened the side door and held me against it. He sticked something on my back and...

Kicked me off the jet.

"Whaaaaatt the f*****ck!!!" I yelled at him on the radio.

Surging winds blew me off balance. I didn't not know what to do. My heart was racing. My sweat turned so cold. I was doing my best not to pass out when...

"Relax. You have a chute, kid. I suppose you know how to use one. Right?" He replied to me on the radio.

Everything made sense afrer what he said.

"NO! Simon! Don't!"

"Kid, you told me you need someone to fly the goddamn plane, right?"

"NO! You didn't--" I got all my emotions mixed up. I couldn't even talk straight.

"Shut up now and listen, I only have a few seconds left.

As a soldier, I swore to be ready to die for my country. Thank you, kid. I'd never thought I'd end up doing it for the whole world. So shut up and don't feel bad for me. This is my purpose. This is my damn spotlight. So don't freaking pass out without witnessing the fireworks I'm about to make that'll save humanity. Until then, Mr. Madri--"

A loud explosion blew me far and fast towards the ground. I noticed it and pulled the chute. The cloud formation scattered and the explosion should help in propelling the ML1 further up.

I didn't know what to feel but tears won't stop rushing off my eyes. My heart won't stop hurting. As I stayed afloat on the air. Witnessing the aftermath of every horrible tragedy that claimed too much lives.

Especially those lives who saw the value of a smile,

of a life,

of a beating heart,

the lives of the fallen heroes of our time...

[𝚝𝚘 𝚋𝚎 𝚌𝚘𝚗𝚝𝚒𝚗𝚞𝚎𝚍]