China

by Scott M. Baker

  After briefing the others on what Toshii expected, Nori led his team toward the chain link fence. Each held their weapon in the high-ready position, on the lookout for any potential danger. When ten feet from the perimeter fence, Nori used the overgrown grass as cover as he led his team to a collapsed segment of fence they used to gain access to the plant. He paused. The concrete approaches to the facility allowed a clear view of the compound. Several thousand of the damned staggered mindlessly around the grounds. With their dried, leathery skin and various stages of disrobement, they reminded Nori of zombies from horror movies, only these nightmares were real. Most of the damned lingered near the front of the facility and jammed the causeway to the mainland. Several strays sauntered around the rear of the compound, too few to pose any danger, and no other Hell Demons were visible. Nori hoped they would find the same inside the plant. He snapped his fingers to get the other’s attention and signaled for them to proceed. They dashed across the approaches. A few of the damned spotted them and stumbled in their direction, too far away to be of any concern. Reaching Reactor Building Four, Nori led the way along the exterior wall toward the rear façade and to the emergency exit they had left unlocked on a previous visit. Isoruku switched on his head-mounted flashlight, pulled open the metal door, and rushed inside. A tense few seconds passed before he yelled, “Clear!”

  The others rushed in, each switching on their own flashlight before entering. Reactor Four had been in the earliest stages of development, so they stood in an enclosed construction site that encompassed the foundation of the future plant. The beams from their flashlights barely illuminated beyond one hundred feet, leaving the area beyond a total mystery. Nori half expected Hell Demons to charge from the shadows. He tapped down that image before it overwhelmed him. The crackling of the Geiger counter brought him back to their more immediate fear.

  “The readings here are higher than outside,” said Haruka.

  “How much?”

  “Still less than one Sievert per hour. We’ll need readings near the portal.”

  “Is that necessary?” Isoruku asked.

  “It is.” Nori cursed under his breath. “Follow me.”

  Nori crossed the construction site to a tunnel twenty feet square and proceeded down it. Haruka kept the Geiger counter on to take readings as they moved. Nori concentrated on its crackling, hoping it would distract him from thinking about what might be lurking in the shadows, especially the dākukurōrā, the dark crawlers that roamed the plant’s interior. Two other teams had encountered them; one had never been heard from again and the other had one survivor who made it out and radioed back, rambling insanely about what he had witnessed before the damned overran him.

  As they proceeded deeper into the complex, the counter registered only slight increases. It took several minutes to reach a steel radiation door twenty feet square, beyond which sat the quadrangle at the center of the facility where the access tunnels to the four reactors converged.

  Isoruku stepped up and pressed the green OPEN button. Nothing happened. “We’re not going any further.”

  “Yes, we are.” Nori shined his flashlight around until the beam fell open a wall-mounted steel box near the door. He unlatched and lowered the lid, revealing two hand cranks. Swinging his battle rifle over his shoulder, Nori removed them and handed one to Isoruku. He inserted the geared end into a slotted opening on the right side of the door and motioned for Isoruku to do the same on the left. The two men turned the cranks counterclockwise. At first, the door did not budge. Both men leaned into the cranks, pushing their weight against them. After a few seconds, the door groaned and rose ten inches. Akiko stepped back and aimed her Howa at the widening gap, ready to shoot anything that came through. When the door reached the halfway point, she bowed and scanned her light into the quadrangle. Once certain nothing lurked inside, she waved on the others.

  On the opposite wall of the quadrangle was the radiation door to the tunnel complex beneath completed Reactor Building Three, the second completed reactor as well as the one that had partially collapsed. Off to the left, two more tunnels led to Reactor Buildings One and Two, which were still under construction; the door to Reactor Building Two was rolled up, exposing the tunnel.

  Still holding the hand crank, Nori stepped up to the radiation door for Reactor Building Three and inserted the geared end into the slotted opening on the right. Isoruku did the same on the left. With a nod from Nori, the two raised the door two feet.

  The crackling on Haruka’s Geiger counter spiked.

  Nori stopped. “How dangerous is it?”

  “Hang on.” Haruka squinted to read the lighted display. “I’m trying to get an accurate reading.”

  Nori detected another sound accompanying the crackling, a noise faint yet distinct. He tapped Haruka on the shoulder. “Shut that off.”

  “I don’t have the—”

  “Do it!”

  The crackling died out, only to be replaced by a clicking, like claws scraping against metal. It multiplied and grew louder.

  “Lower the door.” Isoruku turned the crank in the opposite direction.

  “There’s no time. Fall ba—”

  Haruka screamed. Nori spun his head-mounted flashlight around in time to see the woman being dragged under the door, frantically scratching at the floor, leaving behind three torn-off fingernails and accompanying trails of blood. A moment later, Haruka screamed in such agony that Nori’s blood turned cold. Dropping to one knee, he aimed his Howa through the gap and fired off the entire twenty-five-round magazine. High-pitched shrieks emanated from the other side and the clicking intensified.

  Akiko had retreated down Reactor Four’s access tunnel, pausing at the threshold. She raised her Howa and aimed at the gap. “Come on!”

  Isoruku dropped prone in the quadrangle, firing three-round bursts at the dark crawlers. Before Nori could order his friend to fall back, Isoruku cried out as a line formed on his left arm below the shoulder and cut its way through flesh, tissue, and bone. He grabbed the stump with his good hand. Crying from pain and fear, he struggled to his feet. Something emerged from the shadows under the door and grabbed Isoruku by the leg. In a movement so rapid it appeared as a blur, the creature dragged Isoruku through the gap. His screams echoed down the access tunnel until they could no longer be heard over the din of the clicking.

  “We have to move now!” yelled Akiko.

  Nori saw a shadow rush out from under the door, climb the wall, and race across the ceiling above Akiko. It dropped on her, extinguishing the head-mounted flashlight. A grotesque slurping emanated from the creature, followed by cracking as it applied pressure to Akiko’s skull. In the limited glare from his own flashlight, Nori watched as she howled and thrashed about, rushing down the tunnel and slamming her head against the wall to dislodge the dark crawler. When that did not work, Akiko raised her Howa and fired on the creature, killing herself in the process.

  Something brushed by Nori’s leg, slashing through his pants and tearing a four-inch gash in his left calf. He did not see what caused the wound. Limping across the quadrangle, he crouched to get under the partially-opened door and hobbled down the access tunnel. Behind him, the clicking grew louder. Nori made the mistake of glancing over his shoulder to see how close the creatures were, and in doing so tripped over Akiko’s body. He hit the floor with a thud, knocking the wind out of him. The Howa flew out of his hands, clattering down the tunnel into the dark. His flashlight slipped off his head, spinning across the floor until it came to rest against the wall, its beam aimed into the quadrangle. A swarm of dark crawlers rushed toward him.

  Nori’s last thought was, this is what Hell must be like.

  A Thank You to My Readers

  I’ve been working on the Shattered World saga for five years. This project has been a labor of love; I’m very pleased with where the story has taken me so far and am excited about where it’s going. Hopefully you’ve also enjoyed the journey. I consider myself a storyteller and, like any
good bard, want to keep my readers entertained so they’ll come back for more. That’s why every novel in the series has more demons, more unique characters, and more action than the previous ones. My goal is to keep you up way past your bedtime because you cannot put down the book. It’s my way of saying thank you for standing by me all these years.

  If you liked Shattered World III: China, please tell your friends about the book, give me a shout out on your social media, and/or and review it on Amazon and Goodreads. The review does not have to be long—just a rating and a sentence or two about why you enjoyed it. The more reviews Shattered World III: China receives, the more opportunity others have of discovering the book. If you haven’t read yet Shattered World I: Paris or Shattered World II: Russia, the first two novels in the series, they’re available on Amazon, Kindle, and Kindle Unlimited.

  The Shattered World saga will continue. The next novel takes place in Japan and has one of the most evil and bone-chilling demons I’ve conceived of yet—dark crawlers. And, as always, if you like a particular character(s), the chances are he/she won’t survive.

  Acknowledgments

  I want to thank Michele Thompson for her excellent editorial skills and for catching the things I missed in the final draft; this is the third book she has edited for me and she has helped make each one a success. Uwe Jarling and Julie Nicholls created the cover art and, as with the first and second books, their work is phenomenal. Uwe takes my visions of the characters and demons and brings them to life. Many thanks also to Petar Dekic for providing the maps so my readers can follow the adventures of the Demon Hunters.

  I would be remiss if I didn’t thank my Beta readers, the unsung heroes of writers. After you review and revise the original draft half a dozen times, you become blind to some of the errors in it. Lloyd Kerns and Brian Marek-Murray read the manuscript and pointed out grammatical/spelling errors, plot inconsistencies, and things that did not work. Their efforts to carefully pick through the story made the novel much better. I also owe a huge debt of gratitude to Lisa Holland Mastandrea who reviewed the final draft before publication and caught those damnable spelling/grammar errors that always remain so well hidden during the editing and revision stages.

  Although he did not play an active role in helping me write Shattered World III: China, I need to thank my dear friend (who sadly is no longer with us) and colleague, Paul Simon. Paul and I met when we were stationed in Seoul, South Korea in the early 1990s and, as kindred spirits, became best friends. I visited him in 1999 while he was stationed at the Shenyang Consulate. We spent a week touring Manchukuo, the territory that once belonged to the puppet government of Pu Yi, who collaborated with the Imperial Japanese occupation forces in World War II, which today is Manchuria. We toured Shenyang, Harbin, Changchun, Unit 731, and drove or took trains all over the countryside. It was one of the most fascinating trips I’ve ever taken, and I became very familiar with the people and the region. When I decided to locate the portal in China, there was no question I would pick Manchuria. Thanks, Paul.

  Finally, the biggest thanks go to my family, human and furry. My wife Alison, who is also a writer, understands and shares my passion, and never complains when I abandon her to write (I think it’s partly because she gets to control the TV remote). My Boxers Walther and Bella are the inspirations for Lucifer and Lilith, although neither of them fight Demon Spawn (although Bella has lost four battles with a porcupine and a skunk). My cats Archer and Michonne stay with me in my basement study and allow me to work after I’m done playing with, petting, and giving them treats (note to other writers: don’t get a touch-screen computer when you have a cat with a swishing tail who shares your desk). Although they all want to be with me, my family gives me the time I need to write and never holds my self-imposed isolation against me. I couldn’t do this without their love and support.

  Author’s Bio

  Scott M. Baker was born and raised in Everett, Massachusetts and spent twenty-three years in northern Virginia working for the Central Intelligence Agency. Scott is now retired and lives outside of Concord, New Hampshire along with his wife and stepdaughter. He has written Nurse Alissa vs the Zombies and Nurse Alissa vs. the Zombies II: Escape, the first in a multi-book series focusing on a young woman learning how to survive in a world overrun by the living dead; Shattered World I: Paris and Shattered World II: Russia, the first two books in his five-book young adult fantasy series; The Vampire Hunters trilogy, about humans fighting the undead in Washington D.C.; Rotter World, Rotter Nation, and Rotter Apocalypse, his post-apocalyptic zombie saga; Yeitso, his homage to the giant monster movies of the 1950s that he loved watching as a kid; as well as a several zombie-themed novellas and anthologies.

  Please check out Scott’s social media accounts for the latest information on future books, upcoming events, and other fun stuff.

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