The fracturing Si Heran government finally shattered in the middle of the hottest summer on record. Factions raced to recruit armies they could throw at each other in the middle of the desert wastelands. It didn’t take long for people to call them the Waste Wars.
One of the early battles took place mere miles from Blink. June and Mylo sat on the roof of the restaurant and watched the distant flashes of light. The ground trembled with the brightest ones.
“I’m going to join Dune’s army,” Mylo said.
June didn’t grasp what he meant at first. “Who?”
“Dune. The guy who ran for Si Heran governor last winter. He had the campaign to get Ryvon out of office. Maybe if he’d succeeded, this wouldn’t have happened.” Mylo picked up a pebble and tossed it off the roof. “I think he’s got the best shot at fixing the planet.”
June shook her head. She didn’t want to get involved. She had little understanding of Si Hera’s government, but with so many people vying for power, there was no way this was going to end well for anyone. “We should leave Si Hera.”
“And go where? This is my home.”
June looked to the apartment complex across the street. She was supposed to break in that night to kill one of Scales’s enemies.
She didn’t really feel up to it.
“Fine,” June said. “But I’m coming with you to make sure you don’t get killed.”
Mylo laughed. “Funny.”
“I’m serious.”
Despite his “okay, if you say so,” Mylo didn’t seem to really believe June was joining him until they were marching to their first battle, which turned into a series of battles south of Sagev.
They built a shack to get out of the dirty, cramped barracks. It housed them for months. The army around them dwindled. Their enemies increased in numbers, surrounding them on all sides, closing in.
Between fights, they sat outside the shack and talked.
“When the war is over,” Mylo said one night. “We can burn this shack to the ground together.”
“I was thinking more along the line of explosions,” June replied. “With fireworks. Take the thing out with a bang.”
Mylo laughed. “I like that idea.”
In the middle of winter, they were sent to ambush an enemy camp. The sandstorm took everyone by surprise. Carefully aimed gunfire and bombs rapidly devolved into a chaotic free-for-all.
Screw this. All of it. June switched to heat vision and grabbed Mylo. “Follow me!” she screamed.
She dragged him through the fray. They were going to make it. They would find the edge and keep running. They would leave Si Hera.
No matter how much he protested, she was going to get him out of here.
A bomb landed nearby and unleashed a violent explosion of light and energy. The blast didn’t reach them, but the ground shook and the heat overwhelmed June’s vision. She tried to make out something, anything in the white.
Another blast sent them flying into the sand. Mylo’s hand slipped from June’s. She coughed, trying to expel dust from her lungs, as she reached for him.
Her hand found something. An arm. A body. The blinding light cleared from her vision, showing her the heat signature of the young man lying in the sand.
“Mylo?” June pulled herself closer. “Can you hear me?”
She switched to X-ray vision. Her hand flew to her mouth. Her stomach turned. So many things broken, and that was only what she could see between the bursts of sand obscuring her vision.
“Mylo!” The wind stole the words from the air in front of her, whipping it away before even she could hear it. June placed a shaking hand on the side of Mylo’s face. A terrible feeling had crawled into her chest to squeeze her heart.
She returned to her normal vision and forced herself to study Mylo. Eyes closed. Blood covering his face, though June doubted it was all his own. Shaking fingers touched his neck as she checked for a pulse.
Sobs ripped through her throat. She pressed her face into his chest and struggled for air. Every gasp felt as if it would crack her ribs or burst her heart.
Maybe the gunfire would take her. Maybe a bomb would land too close. She could drag herself away from the fight. She could escape. But where would she go?
She couldn’t hear her own screams and useless apologies over the violence. And by the time the battle dwindled to a close, her throat was too raw to let anything out. If there were any other survivors, they were long gone by the time June opened her eyes and crawled out from under the sand piled on top of her. The world was red, a mix of blood and setting sun.
Her eyes burned the entire walk to the shack. She collapsed more than once, and each time it took her anywhere from a few seconds to a few hours to push herself back up. Carrying Mylo’s body was excruciating, but she refused to set him down or drag him.
She buried him behind the shack.