The Other Side

Max was alone now.  He could feel it.  There was no one else.  Not from his side anyway. 

His side.  Sides.  What did that mean anyway?  Everyone was an individual, so different; what made them all band together into a side so united and so opposed to another that they could fight a war? 

He looked over to his left.  Jenkins – or what was left of Jenkins – was in that direction.  Jenkins had known what to do.  He had been so certain about everything.  Jenkins had convinced him to sign up.  It had been Jenkins’ idea to volunteer to defend Headquarters.  That was when they’d found out about The Device. 

Did the enemy know about The Device?  If so, why were they even fighting?  If Max had known about The Device, it would definitely have put him off wanting to fight.  On either side. 

He wished that he could go back to not knowing about it. 

There was movement somewhere outside the bunker.  It had to come from outside as there was no one else left inside now. The intercom for the main door was still on. There was no other way he could have heard through the three-foot thick hardened walls.  But if it was outside, did that mean some of the other side had escaped the airstrikes? 

Some people must have survived out there. But then why wasn’t anyone else still alive inside? There had been a traitor in the control room, but Max had been able to duck out of the way – why hadn’t anyone else?  How was it that he, a basic trooper, was the only one left? 

He had always been a survivor.  In one sense, no one can really say they’re not a survivor if they’re still alive – but he’d been dealt bad cards and still made it.  Growing up in the alkali wastes had been tough enough, even without the solar flares.  But he’d made it.  He’d had to crawl over corpses to get what he needed and this was no different. 

But it was different.  It had been different ever since he’d had a family.  Everything had seemed different since then. He hoped they were still out there, wondering if he was still alive. 

If he hadn’t joined up, he wouldn’t have been doing his part to protect them, but at least he would have been with them.  Headquarters would have fallen, the other side would have won, but at least he would have been with his family at the end. 

He hoped they had kept outside of the fighting.  Could they have?  The war had led to fighting across the country, so nowhere had been safe. He’d lost contact with them a week ago when they’d abandoned their home, so it was hard to be sure. Communications had been so erratic, so it was possible they just hadn’t been able to get through to him. He didn’t really want to think about the alternative. 

If the other side won, would they stop once they had stamped out Headquarters?  If so, should he just give up now? 

But would they stop there? 

Could they? 

If the other side didn’t know about The Device, as soon as they found out, they would want to have that power.  It would be hard to resist. But would they really use it? 

There were more sounds from outside.  It had to be the other side.  They were coming closer.  He set down his energy rifle as quietly as he could.  It was still warm from the firefight with the traitor. He had been able to get off a lucky shot before, but he couldn’t see how he could win against several well-trained soldiers.  There was still an alternative. 

He made his way over to where the top brass had been before gunfire had filled the air.  The emergency lighting didn’t make it easy to find his way around, but he could still visualise where everyone had been standing. Looking down through the gloom he worked out who was who. The general’s ribbons were still proudly displayed across his chest, though several were singed where energy discharges had caught them. 

He reached down to a briefcase laying open beside the general, gingerly moving the general’s hand away.  There was a small contraption, not much bigger than an egg box inside. There were some switches and toggles on the sides and a red button in the centre.  Was that The Device? 

There were instructions on the inside of the briefcase.  “Set toggle A before flicking switch K...” he said to himself, following the instructions. 

Fizzing noises from the main door told him that the other side were breaking in.  Probably something on the hinges, he realised; he continued to follow the instructions.  Thermite, plasma cutters, acid, it didn’t really matter – the other side were in. 

He reviewed the instructions that he’d followed so far, but it seemed like he’d done everything he needed to.  It wasn’t as if the general had resisted lending his thumb print to a sensor pad on the reverse.  Which just left the final part of the sequence to activate The Device. 

Pressing the button. 

He hesitated. 

Doing it would be so devastating, he couldn’t even comprehend it.  But that was entirely what he’d sworn to do. He had stood and made an oath alongside the others, just before they’d died.  Keeping it would ensure it wasn’t just an empty threat. 

Was this what Jenkins really thought would happen when they signed up? 

Even if it was, was this what Max wanted?  He was a survivor.  He’d got through some real scrapes, even when he’d had to make great sacrifices. 

Footsteps in the corridor outside the control room.  They were here.  They couldn’t risk just throwing in a grenade, they would have to come in. 

And so they did.  The door opened slowly.  The hinges barely made a sound, which was impressive given how heavy the door was. 

He looked up at the interloper.  It was just a man, much like he was.  It wasn’t an alien, just someone who had come here with a different point of view. 

Behind the man came another and another.  They moved slowly, entering the room cautiously.  When they finally spotted him on the floor, cradling The Device, the one in the lead held up his hand in a fist and the others stopped suddenly. 

“I think it’d be best if you gave that up, don’t you?” the man asked. 

“I’m sure you’d like that very much.” 

He could see at least three guns pointed at him, including from the soldier talking to him.  “I think we all would.  That thing could end our lives really quickly.” 

Max grimaced, thinking of all of the people he had known who had died, worrying about friends and family whose fate he did not know.  “Then why fight?  Why did you attack?” 

“The war only started because we heard about The Device.  You can’t make that sort of thing and expect peace.  Just having it in your possession is like saying everyone has to do as you say or else.  But saying it every single day.  For every single thing you want.  Really, your side started the war.” 

“I’ll do it,” Max said.  He stared into the eyes of the man opposite.  Did the man believe him?  Did he believe himself?  He thought of his family, who he hoped were still out there. How could he do it?  He thought of the control room before, when they had all sworn to use The Device if it came to it. How could he not? 

The soldier still had his gun levelled at him.  “You wouldn’t.  You can’t.” 

“I will.  So stop.” 

The gun stayed where it was. “If you do, it’ll mean we’re nothing.  We’ll all be words on a page.” 

Max swallowed.  “Yep.  So if you don’t want to become just another war story, you’d better step back.” 

“What if he’s not bluffing?” another soldier asked. 

“He is bluffing,” the first soldier said. He adjusted his stance.  “He has to be.  He’d be turned into fiction as well.  Intel said it didn’t discriminate between us or them.  We’ll all be affected.” 

Max fingered the button, careful not to put any pressure on it, but knowing also that if his finger moved even a tiny fraction away, they would take him out.  “Why would I care?  You’ve destroyed everything else.” 

“Look around you.” The soldier waved his hands around the devastated control room. “The war’s over.” His voice was softer than before, clearly trying a different tack.  “You’ll be spared if you surrender.  If you press it, we all die.  All of those people you were with before are gone already.  It’s only you left.  Don’t you want to live?  You can come over to our side.” 

“Sometimes you have to pick a side.” 

Max pressed the button and closed his eyes. 

He waited for a few moments, then opened them again. The soldiers had ducked instinctively or braced for impact. But apart from that, everything appeared the same. 

The lead soldier finally broke the silence. “Did it... did it work... are we fiction now?” 

Max scratched the back of his head. “I don’t know.  I don’t feel any different.” 

The lead soldier walked slowly over and took The Device from Max’s unresisting hands. He threw it to the floor and smashed it repeatedly with the butt of his rifle. “We had orders to disable and destroy it.” The relief in the room was palpable. 

“No hard feelings for trying to kill us all,” said one of the other soldiers. “If this whole thing was all for nothing... I mean I’m just so glad it’s over.” 

Max smiled weakly. There wasn’t much left to do. “I surrender, in case that wasn’t obvious.” Even if he was held as a prisoner of war, word would get through to his family if they were still out there somewhere. The idea of seeing them again overtook so many other thoughts and his vision blurred. He blinked and tears fell down his cheeks. 

The other soldier nodded. He offered his hand to Max. “A good idea.” 

Max couldn’t quite take it in. Maybe The Device just didn’t work. He thought back to those confused moments in the firefight before the general had been killed.  Had The Device been damaged? Or maybe, there was another explanation. The general had opened the briefcase some time before the gunfire had started. Had he already completed the sequence of instructions without Max being aware of it? Then the question was, just before the general had been shot, just before Max had been left as the last man standing, had the general managed to press the button?  

Max supposed he’d never know now. 

He would never know if he was still real or just an idea, just a story. 

If the war was all about The Device, then it was over. There was no reason for any more fighting. He sighed in relief. 

The war had come to an end. 

It was time for the beginning of a new story. 

THE END