Valhalla Virus

by Nick Harrow

  “You’re really going after those monsters at the pyramid, huh?” Deke asked. “What weapons were you thinking? We’ve got a fifty cal. Set up across the Strip and you could kill a bunch of them before you ran out of ammo.”

  “I could do that,” Mimi offered. “Just call me Dead-Eye Jane.”

  “But then you’d miss all the fun,” Erin teased. “You gotta be up close and personal to make sure they stay down.”

  “We do need to get closer,” Gunnar said. “The plan is to sneak in from the parking garage, grab something that belongs to me, kill a whole bunch of those fu—

  “Language,” Deke admonished. “There are ladies present.”

  “—and then hightail it out of there,” Gunnar finished.

  Deke scratched the stubble on the side of his chin and stared up at the ceiling for a few moments as he considered Gunnar’s requirements. He snapped his fingers and said, “I’ve got an AA-12 in the back. Picked it up for a song, but it never caught on with tourists because it kicks ’em halfway out the door. Fully auto twelve gauge with a twenty-round drum magazine. Doesn’t get much better than that for close-in fighting. Big guy like you won’t have any trouble with the recoil, either.”

  “We’ve got a bunch of G2 R.I.P. slugs for it, too,” Erin said, clearly excited. “You even graze someone with one of those, six trocars break off from the main slug and shred any organ they meet. The main slug will go fifteen inches into flesh and bone, maybe a little less against some of those blue freaks. Still, if the monster doesn’t go down with the first shot, just hold the trigger until it stops breathing.”

  Gunnar liked the sound of that. Twenty rounds weren’t enough for an extended firefight, but those slugs could take down a handful of jötnar in record time. “I’ll take it, and as many drums as you can load up. I’ll need something these three can handle, too.”

  Deke’s eyes went wide. “You can’t be serious. Why would you take those three in there? We’ll keep an eye on them, make sure nothing bad—”

  “It’s not his decision, and it’s not yours,” Rayleigh said, her voice smooth but firm. “We’re going in. We don’t plan to do any shooting. But if we have to, we need weapons to defend ourselves.”

  “Well,” Deke said, snatching his cigar out of the ashtray on his desk and plucking the lighter from his shirt pocket, “let’s head on back to the range and see what we’ve got for you ladies.”

  The four of them followed the older man out of the office, and his kids brought up the rear, assault rifles slung over their shoulders. They made their way down a narrow hallway to a heavy door. Deke fished a key chain out of his pocket and fiddled with the keys for a few seconds before he found the right one. The hinges squealed in protest as he manhandled the heavy door open, and the smell of oil, grease, and the memory of smoke wafted out. “Welcome to the armory,” Deke said.

  They spent the next hour working out which weapons would be best for the völva. They settled on MP5s. The submachine gun was small and light enough for them to easily carry the weapon and a couple of extra loaded magazines. Deke showed them all how to fire the weapons and explained how to load and unload the magazines, then walked them out to the range for some live fire practice. Ray picked up the basics quickly enough and Mimi already had experience, and they both tore up the center mass of their targets without too many strays. Bridget, on the other hand, hated the gun and went through the drills begrudgingly. Not even Erin, who was as cute as a bug and the most charming person Gunnar had ever seen, could convince Bridget to pull the trigger more than a few times.

  “What’s the problem?” Gunnar asked once he’d run his new toy through a few drum magazines to get a feel for the weapon.

  “I can’t do it,” Bridget said with a shrug. “It hurts every time I pull the trigger. Right here.”

  The völva pressed her fingertip to the hole in her forehead. She winced, then reached out to Gunnar’s hand. The look in her eyes told him she was sorry, that she wanted to do this, but she just couldn’t. It brought to mind what she’d denied both of them in the shower, and Gunnar’s eye twitched. “Does it have to do with your abilities?”

  “I think so,” Bridget said, biting her lip. “I’m not trying to be a pain in the ass.”

  “I know,” Gunnar said with a sigh. He glanced toward the end of the range where Mimi and Ray were laughing and exchanging high fives. They’d just blown the head off a zombie paper target and were feeling good about themselves. “We’ll keep this between the two of us. I want you to carry a weapon, even if you don’t plan to use it, in case one of the others gets a jam or runs out of ammo. All right?”

  “That’s a deal,” Bridget said. “When are we going?”

  “As soon as it gets dark,” Gunnar said. “No point in sticking our noses out while the sun’s still up. We’ll need every edge we can get, and I’d rather they not see us coming.”

  Chapter 18

  DEKE SHOOK GUNNAR’S hand. “You run into any trouble, get back here right quick. Old quadzilla will shred any of those blue meanies tries to follow you through the door.”

  Gunnar clapped the man on the shoulder and nodded to each of his children. “Thank you for everything you’ve done today. You didn’t have to help us.”

  The old man laughed at that and shook his head. He drew a cross over his heart with his right index finger, kissed his knuckles, and looked to the sky. “Maggie—that’s my old lady, God rest her soul—would come right down from heaven and tear my balls off if I turned you away. You’re a scary-looking dude, Gunnar, but I could tell you were fighting for a good cause the moment I laid eyes on you. I hope you and your friends rip those ugly critters to ribbons.”

  Gunnar nodded and squeezed the man’s shoulder, then hesitated. He heard his father’s voice in his ear, telling him what he was about to do was the stupidest damned thing in the world. Deke had helped Gunnar and the völva, but that didn’t mean he was trustworthy. He and his kids had a veritable army’s worth of weaponry in their shop. If they got it in their heads to do wrong, they’d make a terrible mess of things. For a moment, Gunnar almost let that voice win. Then he shook his head.

  “Listen,” he said. “There’s a safer place for you and your family. But it’s not a free ride. Bring as many guns and as much ammo as you can carry if you go. You’ll have to help protect the place if the jötnar come knocking.”

  An offended glare passed over Deke’s features for a moment, but he brushed it off with a dismissive wave of his hand. “Me and the kids have been holed up in here since it all went down. You think we don’t know how to hold down the fort?”

  “Gunnar,” Mimi cautioned him. Her eyes shot daggers in his direction. “How will they get inside?”

  The jarl took Mimi’s hand and led her off to the side. “Give Deke the keys to the place,” he whispered.

  “That’s our place,” she whispered right back, her lips drawn into thin lines.

  Gunnar glanced over at Deke, a man more than twice his age. His son was a healthy enough guy, but he was into his late twenties and looked like he’d much rather be reading a book than going to war with Gunnar. And Erin...

  “You think that old dude and his kids will take over our turf?” Gunnar put a hand on Mimi’s shoulders. “Listen. We need allies. They can hold down the fort for us while we’re out playing shoot the balls off the jötnar.”

  Ray and Bridget had joined the party, and both of them watched Gunnar and Mimi with interest. Bridget was about to offer her opinion when they were interrupted.

  Erin cautiously approached them, her hands cupped around something. “So, um, a couple of nights ago, I had a dream. A blond lady told me where to find this necklace. Said I should give it to Bridget. She’d know what to do with it.”

  Bridget, who seemed taller every time Gunnar looked at her, knelt down in front of Erin and held out her hands. The kid dumped a fine silver chain into her hands. The charm attached to it was small, but the chill that ran down Gunnar’s back told him wha
t it was.

  A valknut.

  “Thank you,” Bridget said. “This really means a lot to me.”

  Erin grinned, a wide, guileless smile that sparkled like fresh snow under the sun. “She said—” The young woman hesitated, then ran her fingers through her brown hair. “She said I could come with you. If you’d let me.”

  Bridget looked back down at the necklace in her hands and shook her head sadly. A single tear leaked out of the corner of her right eye as she spoke. “That’s not a great idea,” she said. “We’ll need you at the lodge, okay? To keep your dad and brother in line until we get back.”

  “Yeah,” Erin said, a little of the light leaking out of her smile. “Dad said you probably wouldn’t want me along. I get it. I’m a skinny girl, who—”

  “Hey,” Ray said. “Don’t say that. This isn’t anything about being a girl. This is a war, Erin. We’re sending you to the lodge today because we might need you to pick up the spear if something goes wrong. If we all go into the Luxor, and something happens, who’ll avenge us?”

  That little speech lit a fire in Erin’s eyes. She raised her chin and nodded briskly. For a second, Gunnar thought she was about to salute Ray. Instead, she stuck out her hand and shook with each of the völva. She looked so small it was hard to believe she was only a few years younger than Bridget.

  When she got to Gunnar, she lowered her eyes and extended her hand like she was afraid he might bite it. He considered kneeling down but decided to treat her like a young lady, not a kid. She’d been willing to stick her neck out to go to war with the jötnar even though she was a skinny little twig hardly taller than Ray.

  “Thanks for delivering the message to Bridget,” he said, carefully taking her hand and giving it a gentle shake. “It means a lot to us.”

  Erin’s cheeks flushed, and she lifted her eyes to meet Gunnar’s gaze. “I’ll help any way I can. I’ll go to the lodge. I’ll keep it safe. And if you need me to do anything, anything, you just tell me.”

  “Here’s the key,” Mimi said. She fished a heavy key and a keycard out of her furs and handed it to Erin. “The key will unlock the front door. Then you’ll...”

  Gunnar let Mimi explain the details to Erin. The kid was sharp. She didn’t need him watching over her shoulder while the völva explained her duties. Instead, he went over to Deke and thanked him again.

  “Erin’s a hell of a girl,” Gunnar said quietly. “I’m glad I found you guys. You’ll all be safer in the lodge than here.”

  “Not much of a girl,” Deke laughed. “She’s dang near twenty. But you’re right. It’ll be nice to have other folks around. Staying holed up with these two was about to drive me nuts.”

  They all laughed at that, and Gunnar nodded. He told Deke how to find the underground house and warned him to listen to Erin, as she had the only way inside. The range’s owner drew a tattered notebook and a stub of pencil from his back pocket and scribbled down the information Gunnar had given him. He read it back to the bodyguard, who nodded, and they shook once again.

  “We’ll be seeing you,” Deke said. “Count on it.”

  Gunnar and the völva left the range. The setting sun threw their shadows out ahead of them like long, black fingers. Gunnar kept his pace slow enough for Ray to keep up without jogging. He wanted his allies fresh when they arrived at their target, and he needed time to lay his plan out in his head, step by step. They’d only get one shot at this, and if he screwed it up, they were all dead. Fortunately, he still had an ace in the hole if things spun out.

  As long as he got his hands on gungnir, they’d win.

  If he didn’t get that chance, though, they were fucked in all kinds of unpleasant ways.

  That reminded him of something he’d meant to ask Mimi after their time together at the Grand. He caught her hand midstride and gave it a squeeze. “Did you get any, uh, power-ups after our little rendezvous?” he asked.

  “I feel stronger,” Mimi said. “Closer to all of you too, if that makes sense. And I think—”

  She squinted her eyes in concentration for a moment. Waves of distortion pulsed around the völva, like the heat haze rising off a sunbaked desert highway, and the world swam out of focus for Gunnar. A moment later, he caught a glimpse of Deke and Mark wrestling quadzilla into the back of a battered old pickup truck.

  The vision vanished almost as quickly as it had appeared, and Gunnar felt his legs wobble a bit. He caught himself against the side of an abandoned car, and Bridget steadied Mimi with a firm hand.

  “Be careful with that,” Bridget cautioned Mimi as they moved down a narrow street lined with the shells of dead houses. “It can take a lot out of you. You don’t want to end up on your back in the middle of a fight.”

  Gunnar couldn’t help himself. With a wicked grin, he scooped Mimi off her feet and slung her over his shoulder. He slapped her ass and said, “I’d like to put this one on her back just about anywhere.”

  “You wish,” she snorted, shaking her hips.

  Gunnar threw his arms around Ray and Bridget. “That’s all right, these two are enough to keep me plenty busy.”

  “We’d never leave Mimi out in the cold,” Ray said. “We need her to keep you in line.”

  They all chuckled at that, despite the dangerous hours that loomed ahead of them. Gunnar knew they were all walking into the lion’s den, but he couldn’t help but feel confident that they’d succeed. He and the völva were bound by purpose, tied to each other in ways no one else would ever understand.

  They were unstoppable.

  THEIR CAREFUL APPROACH to the Luxor took longer than Gunnar would’ve liked, and it was long past sundown when they arrived. The jötnar were celebrating something in front of the casino; the smell of their fires and roasting meat filled the air. Gunnar couldn’t see the monsters, but their loud whoops and animalistic cries of pain or pleasure carried on the wind for blocks. Those barbaric sounds put the völva on edge, and Gunnar felt the tension that flowed through them. He didn’t have any words of comfort to give them. It was good they were nervous. Fear would keep them on their toes.

  “Stick tight to me,” he said as they crouched behind the casino’s dark parking garage. “I’m headed for the stairs leading up to the casino. If you lose the group, meet us there. And if something grabs you, start screaming and shooting. Don’t be a hero to save the rest of us. I need all of you with me to win this thing, okay?”

  The völva looked into his eyes with solemn expressions. One by one, they reached out and caressed his cheek with their fingertips, then kissed him on the lips.

  “We’re with you,” they said in an eerie unison, their voices blending together so it was impossible to tell where one began and the others ended. “You are the jarl. Now and forever.”

  The team moved across the garage, careful to dodge oil slicks that had leaked from wrecked cars. They maneuvered through the maze of tangled metal and broken glass. Finally, they reached the casino’s entrance. Gunnar ducked down and stepped through the empty metal frame, careful not to scrape his head on the wide bar that ran across the center of the ruined door, then started up the steps with the völva right behind him.

  As they ascended the stairwell, the sounds of celebration from the jötnar in front of the Luxor were replaced by Gunnar’s breathing and the pounding of his heart. His pulse raced when they reached the casino’s ground-floor landing. He held the shotgun tight to his hip, finger alongside the trigger, ready to unleash a blazing salvo of deadly slugs into anything that crossed his path.

  The bodyguard checked to make sure the other drum magazines were still attached to the hooks on the back of the tactical vest Deke had loaned him. If the shooting started, he’d need every shell he could get his hands on.

  They’d reached the entrance to the Luxor’s atrium. The jötnar inside stomped and danced, their voices a dull roar beyond the metal door. Gunnar doubted there were enough slugs in Vegas to kill them all.

  He’d give it his best shot, though.

>   “Safeties off,” he whispered to the völva. “We’ll try sneaky first, but if you have to shoot, do it. I’d rather retreat with all of us alive than hesitate and lose someone.”

  Ray and Mimi nodded back to Gunnar, their jaws set as they readied their weapons. Bridget made a show of checking the magazine and adjusting the strap on her MP5, but Gunnar noticed she didn’t move the safety selector to fire mode. He considered chastising her, then thought better of it. Her ability to see the future was more valuable than her skill with a gun. If she wouldn’t shoot, it was because she saw a more important task in her future.

  “Here we go,” he whispered, then eased through the door, his weapon at the ready in case the bad guys had posted guards near this exit.

  The jarl and his völva left the stairwell and stepped out into the long hallway that led to the atrium. The passage itself was empty, but the space beyond was crowded with monstrous freaks.

  The monsters had transformed the Luxor. The jötnar had gutted the ground floor to create a wide, open space beneath the pinnacle of the pyramid. The jötnar had torn down walls, cast down the Egyptian-themed statues, and even shattered huge sections of the tiles that covered the floor to reveal the bare concrete beneath. Dozens of the creatures had gathered in that space. The sight of them filled Gunnar with an instinctive loathing.

  The bodyguard’s feelings for the creatures ran deep. The vision Odin had shared with him showed him that these beasts didn’t belong here. They were aliens, agents of chaos who only wanted to tear the world down around the last surviving humans.

  They were the enemy.

  And he was going to kill them.

  “There’s Gungnir,” Mimi whispered, her voice tinged with awe. “The big one has it.”

  Gunnar didn’t need a more detailed description than that. The biggest jötunn in the place was at the center of the mob. The massive creature stood fifteen feet tall, its muscular torso rising from a deformed horse’s body. All six of its legs stomped in time to its followers’ chanting. It bellowed along with their roars, shaking the sacred spear at the ceiling. The other jötnar pressed up against their leader, hands on any part of it they could reach. Some of the women had clambered onto its bestial back like it was a petting zoo pony ready to give them a ride.