Hologram: A YA Dystopian Novel by Walker Larson

Author:Walker Larson [Larson, Walker]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Swallow Hill Press
Published: 2023-12-15T00:00:00+00:00

19

Fifteen miles from the blackened, broken edge of Grosyryl, the rubble of buildings looking like a mere jumble of coals from the air, some still aglow, the ARCU touched down. These were the front lines—the front lines that Aaron himself had designated. These the last bitter trenches and sand-laden fortifications, bunkers, tunnels—like the dwellings of rats or ants—that Aaron himself had imposed upon the Voturan divisions.

Precision weapons of massive destructive force made surface positions largely untenable. Most of the troops had to recede underground or into bunkers to survive, a few keeping aim on the plain through portal holes in the rock, but leaving only the drones and mechs on the surface as the first line of defense. At all hours, exhausted soldiers woke in their tunnels with the tang of blood in their mouths and noses, the sound of buzzing drones or the combustive clanking of the trudging mechs or the roar of a missile strike breaking in on their ears. Here, through the endless inky hours of night-turned-to-day and day-turned-to-night, the fire rained down from the sky upon the men and their war machines like Heaven’s vengeance. Hidden in the womb of the earth, in the darkness or the flickering light, the soldiers moved through a chaotic labyrinth of coughing, hacking men, bundles of supplies and weapons, the glow of monitors, and the rumble of explosions, subdued colors and sounds from some unwanted dream on the fringes of consciousness.

Another labyrinth filled Aaron’s brain during the long flight aboard the ARCU before they descended into this hellscape. It was the labyrinth of his own thoughts as he sped ever closer to his lost brother. It had been simple enough to justify the flight to the front lines to Druxa and Corinth on the grounds that he needed to observe and identify any new holographic forces. Kyla, Clay, and Antonia, who had come with him, knew the real purpose of the mission. The information below Cole’s photograph in the slave database made it clear that he had been drafted into a slave division currently deployed to the front lines against Taurus.

Aaron commanded the slaves and the general’s daughter to stay behind, to not enter the warzone with him. But they rebelled in unison against his command and insisted on their right to join him. With even the dutiful Clay on their side, Aaron knew it was hopeless, and he gave in, though he neglected to tell the general that Antonia was with him. Having come to trust Formos with his very life, Aaron told him also that they were flying in to rescue Aaron’s brother—a mission to which Formos happily agreed.

Once airborne, Aaron turned in on himself, grappling with all that this meant. He would see Cole again in a matter of hours—at least, he hoped. Just a few hours. After almost two years apart. But suppose they arrived too late? Suppose Cole was already killed in action? And it would be Aaron’s fault. Entirely his fault. He was the one who ordered Cole’s division to the front lines.

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