I watched as they approached the intersection. They slowed down and began looking around the area. Then they turned and headed directly at the pawn shop.
“What the fuck?” snapped Snake. “How did they know where we were?”
“I don’t know,” I said, stepping back from the window. “It doesn’t matter, now. Here they come!”
I headed down the stairs as fast as I could safely go, with the others right on my heels. I rounded the corner at the bottom and headed into the main room of the pawn shop. I knew that the front door was steel and not easily breeched, but I doubted that it would stop the Hrimthurssar. They were strong enough to force their way inside. I wasn’t planning on waiting for them to do that, though. If we were going to have to fight them, I wanted room to move. We were going to have to meet them outside.
When I reached the front door, I could hear movement outside. I knew that if they had tracked us directly to this building, then there had to be more going on than I was aware of. They had to be using some type of tracking device. Since they approached from a different direction than we had, I knew that they couldn’t be tracking by scent. Somehow, they knew exactly where to find us. I was just about to yank open the door and charge out when Spec-4 put her hand on my arm.
“Listen,” she whispered.
Straining to hear whatever she had heard, I could distinguish voices filtering in through the door. At first I couldn’t make out what they were saying, but the more I listened I could begin to pick out the conversation.
“…this the place?” one voice seemed to ask.
“This is it,” replied another voice. “This is the direction they were heading.”
“Do you think that they know we’re following them?” asked a third voice.
“If they did,” said the second voice, “then they would have attacked us, by now.”
“What if they ambush us?” asked the first voice.
“We fall back and call in the others,” answered the second voice. “Thrym wants to know where they are. We aren’t supposed to fight them.”
“Why not?” whined the third voice. “I say let’s take them out and be done with it.”
“That might work with the others,” cautioned the second voice, “but Grant is tougher than you realize. He fought and killed three of the Eldjötnar.”
“I find that story hard to believe,” said the first voice.
“Believe it,” snapped the second voice. “Gnissa saw it with her own eyes.”
“Gnissa,” spat the first voice, contemptuously. “She is soft on the humans. I think she would like nothing more than for us to make peace with them.”
“Well, at least one in particular,” muttered the third voice, lecherously.
“So do quite of few of our people,” said the second voice. “We must be cautious. If the humans knew how many of our people want to follow Bergelmir, then they might be able to turn this against us. Thrym wants us to make certain that the humans and Bergelmir fall when they fight the Eldjötnar.”
“Surtr will finish them all,” said the first voice, confidently. “He cannot be beaten by the likes of them. Only Thrym and Loki can defeat Surtr.”
“The humans do not know this,” cautioned the second voice. “We want them to go confidently into battle with Surtr. The fire-lord will end the threat of the Einherjar, once and for all.”
Despite the fact that I wanted to leap out the door and kick the crap out of all three of these idiots, Spec-4 had a good point. If they didn't know we knew, it gave us a certain advantage. The news about Surtr was a bit disturbing, though. I didn't like to believe that we didn't have a chance of defeating him. I mean, they have severely underestimated us before. In fact, that had been one of our greatest advantages thus far.
Resisting the urge, I slowly moved my hand off of the door handle. I didn't want to make any sound that might giveaway our position. I could see Bergelmir was just as eager to go confront them as I was, maybe even more. After all, he was the one that they had labeled a traitor. If there were others that wished to follow him, then he wasn't wrong. In fact, if anything, Thrym and the others had betrayed him and the rest of their people. Suddenly, picking out the good guys from the bad had become a whole lot more important.
“We should circle around to the south,” said the first voice. “I want to be certain that we have not lost their trail.”
I listened to the heavy paws of the Vargr as they moved off. I waited until the sound was completely faded before I risked speaking to the others. I doubted that the Hrimthurssar could hear me, but I had little doubt that the Vargr had no such problems. If they were anything like wolves, then they had excellent hearing and smell.
“I believe that they are gone,” said Bergelmir, still staring at the door with a dark expression on his face.
I couldn't blame him. I still wanted to go out there and knock the smugness out of their tones. However, I knew that if I did that, then I was going to force Thrym's hand. They would have to act swiftly and I wasn't ready to fight everyone at once. No, I was going to have to let the shocked look on their faces be enough when I beat Surtr and turned to go after them.
“Do no heed their words,” cautioned Bergelmir. “If you were not a threat to Surtr, then Thrym would have had no need for you. They would have attacked us as soon as they discovered our location.”
“Cold comfort,” I replied.
“What now?” asked Spec-4.
“We move,” I replied. “It won't take long before they circle back this way and the Vargr find our scent.”
“I think I found something to mask it,” said Snake, holding up a bottle. “There's a couple of cases of this stuff back in the other room.”
I glanced at the label and smiled. It was deer scent. For those of you who didn't grow up hunting, I'll explain. Deer scent is an extract, usually from doe urine. More importantly, from does that are in rut. When a doe is in rut, it will attract bucks for miles. Using it for hunting was an old trick to draw in big bucks. What it would do for us would be just the opposite. The scent was so strong that it would overpower our scents, making it almost impossible for the Vargr to track us.
They would be able to follow the doe scent, but if we spread it around it would be overwhelming. If we could tag a few zombies with it, then so much the better. They would lose the trail and we could ditch them. That would give us enough breathing room to attempt to locate the engine sounds that we'd heard before, without leading them to whatever it was.
A few minutes later, after we had applied it to our trail and doused a few of the surrounding buildings, we headed off to the west. We were in search of the engine sound that we had heard, but whatever it had been had already gone silent. I had a good bearing and figured that I would be able to at least get us close to the area. It might take a bit of hunting, but we were going to find who or whatever it was.
We did manage to tag a few of the dead with the scent by tossing a couple of the bottles grenade-style into a group of them as they wandered past us. A few of them tried to figure out where the bottle had come from, but we managed to stay hidden well enough to avoid detection. Between tagging the dead and the amount we just spread around, it was unlikely that even the Vargr would be able to follow us.
We stuck to the ditches and hid behind buildings, moving west at a decent pace. We weren’t going to be winning any competitions for speed, but stealth was more important anyway. In fact, if we could make it to our destination without having to fire a shot then so much the better. We approached the spot where we had used the concertina wire to break the pursuit when a mob of zombies had been chasing us. Looking around, I noticed that it had been moved. In fact, there were the corpses of former zombies lying around the area, but the concertina wire was gone. The road had also been cleared. Someone had cleared the road and taken the wire, but why would they bother?
We slowed down as we approached the intersection of Division and National. There, still lying on its roof, was the Humvee that
I had been driving when the Freemen rammed us and took us captive. Spec-4 had been badly hurt and Matthews had died. I spent the next nine days being tortured by the Freemen. I felt Spec-4’s hand on my shoulder as I stood and stared at the wreckage.
“Let me guess,” said Snake, gesturing at the crashed Humvee. “You again?”
Instead of answering, I just made my way to the badly decayed body lying near the wreckage. Although the facial features were unrecognizable, it was still clear that he was wearing a Nathaniel County uniform. Tears began to well up into my eyes as I knelt down beside the body of my friend, Roger Matthews. When he fell, I never got the chance to say goodbye. The Freemen had seen to that. Now, despite everything that had happened, it almost seemed like he had been waiting here for me to come back.
Behind me, I could hear Spec-4 whispering to Snake, “That was our friend.”
Reaching over, I gently removed his badge. Although tarnished from the elements, it was still there. The rest of his gear had been scavenged, but I didn’t care about that. The badge was the most important thing to me. Roger had died for that badge, not for any gun or belt or radio. He believed in the oath he took and put his life on the line to protect those who couldn’t protect themselves.
“I’m sorry we left you here, man,” I whispered. “We didn’t have a choice.”
Holding his badge in my hand, I wiped away the grime and dried blood. Beneath the dirt, the metal gleamed again. I almost cried at the symbolism. The images it brought to mind were both painful and hopeful. I had to believe that after everything that we had suffered, we could come back from it; that we could be safe and happy and free from the dead. I had to believe that I could come back from the person I had become. Deep in my heart, I knew it was already too late for me. I was different now and nothing could change that.
“Let’s get him on top of the Humvee,” I said softly, as I stood up.
“Won’t that let them know we’re here?” asked Spec-4.
“They already know we’re here,” I said, shaking my head. “Besides that, we’ll rig it to ignite when we’re well away from here.”
“He’s right,” said Snake, his deep voice resonating. “We can’t leave him like this. He deserves a warrior’s send off.”
“I hope he found a place in Valhalla,” I said. “I hope I will see him again.”
“He did,” Spec-4 assured me. “I’m sure he has a place of honor.”
We slid Roger’s body gently onto a piece of tarp that we found lying nearby. We moved him as gently as we could, more out of respect than anything else. Then we placed him onto the exposed undercarriage of the Humvee. We sat him in the middle of the vehicle and arraigned him as best as we could. We had extra weapons that we had taken from the Hrimthurssar, so I made sure to give him a proper send off. He wouldn’t go unarmed into the next world.
We quickly scavenged the area for anything that would burn. Shockingly, there was quite a bit of it lying around. Gathering it up, we stuffed it into the Humvee. There was enough fuel remaining in the tank to ensure that it burned intensely. We just needed to keep it from catching too fast. By setting a smaller fire outside of the vehicle and connecting it with enough flammable items, we knew that the fire would spread inside. I just hoped that we had timed it correctly and the big fire didn’t begin until we were well clear of the area.
Twenty minutes had passed and we had used the time to good advantage. I was beginning to think that the fire had gone out completely when the boom shattered the stillness of the otherwise silent city. As the sound of the explosion rolled off into the distance, the calling of hundreds of carrion birds began to echo all around us. The cacophony of so many scavengers was almost maddening. It should have occurred to me that a city full of the dead would attract every carrion eater for a hundred miles in every direction. It was almost like something out of an Alfred Hitchcock movie, hearing all of the birds calling out all around us. Frankly, it was damned unnerving.
In the wake of the explosion and the massive shrieking of the birds, another sound began to grow. It was the unmistakable sound of heavy hoof beats. To make matters worse, it was clearly numerous heavy horses and they were coming our direction.
“Get behind cover!” I snapped, leading the group into the backyard of a small house.
We all dove down behind the fence and did our best to stay quiet. I peered through a gap in the fence and watched the road in front of the house. I didn't have to wait for very long. In just under a minute, six of the massive Eldjötnar thundered by on their enormous horses. They didn't notice us or even slow down. They were undoubtedly heading for the source of the explosion.
As they headed past us, I could see the sparks that occasionally struck from the thick iron shoes of the warhorses. The one thing that was clear about these riders was that they were wearing heavier armor and bigger weapons than the group I had fought near Bennett Springs. That meant that the group we fought were scouts. Undoubtedly, these warriors would be much more difficult to kill.
“Those three fuckers on the Vargr better hope they can outrun them,” muttered Snake gesturing at the rapidly departing Eldjötnar.
“Indeed,” agreed Bergelmir. “Speed will be their only advantage.”
“We did just learn one thing,” I said, slowly getting back to my feet.
“What's that?” asked Spec-4.
“We're going the right direction,” I replied. “They couldn't have been very far away when that explosion went off.”
“Judging by the size of them,” said Snake, “I'm not sure that finding them is such a good idea.”
“We'd better stick to the shadows from here on out,” I said. “We can't afford to get caught out in the open.”
The mental map in my head was beginning to take shape. Combining the loud engine noise we heard earlier with the course that the riders would have had to have taken to get here so quickly left me with very little doubt as to our destination. We were heading for the old rail-yards just west of here. It was a large cleared area with several massive buildings. It was also a transportation hub for railed transport. I could see why the Eldjötnar would want to use it. I just had no idea what they would use it for, unless they were planning on moving something very heavy. Whatever it was, I had little doubt that it wasn't good.
We began moving through the backyards of the houses. I wanted to stay off of the streets, just in case the Eldjötnar returned without warning. The worst part was having to cross over all of the fences. No matter how hard you tried, you couldn't get over a fence in heavy armor without making quite a bit of noise. Bridgett and Spec-4 were fairly quiet, but Bergelmir, Snake and I were far from subtle.
As we crossed over into a large yard near what had once been a fairly rough neighborhood, I caught a glimpse of something big moving through the trees. I motioned for everyone to get down and brought my M-4 to my shoulder. Initially, I didn't see anything moving. After a moment, I began to pan around the area where I had seen the movement and the ACOG zeroed in on something that made my blood run cold. I was staring right into the face of one of the undead gorillas from Ft. Leonard Wood.
“Oh shit,” I whispered. “It fucking can't be.”
“What?” hissed Spec-4. “What do you see?”
At first glance, it looked to be only one of the simian nightmares. Then I saw more movement behind it. Emerging into my line of sight were three more of the hellish beasts. If that many of them had escaped the destruction of the base, how many more might have made it with them? Would they all be here? If the Hrimthurssar really couldn't control them, then could the Eldjötnar? All I knew for certain was that those abominations were bad enough on their own without anyone pulling their strings and giving them direction.
“I see four of the gorillas,” I said, keeping my voice a tight whisper.
“I thought you said they all bought it in the explosion at the base?” said Spec-4.
“I thought they did,” I replied, softly. “I guess I was wrong.”
“How do you figure, dude?” asked Snake.
“For one, we are not hindered by the darkness in the underground base,” explained Bergelmir. “And for another, we are more prepared to deal with them this time.”
“I doubt that my M-4 will have much effect,” I said. “I know Beowulf would do the trick, but it would also announce our position like ringing a gong.”
“Maybe if you hit them just right,” said Bridgett, “the M-4 would be enough.”
“I'd have to be damned lucky,” I replied, shaking my head. “If we had McDonald here, then maybe. I'm not that good of a shot.”
“Can't we just use the swords?” asked Spec-4. “How tough are they?”
“Very,” I explained. “The swords might not be enough. They're ten times as strong as we are and damned fast.”
“Worse,” said Snake. “When they roar, they'll call every undead bastard in the city down on us. Those fucking things are like Sprinters, Shriekers, Trackers and Stalkers, all rolled into one.”
“So what do we do?” asked Bridgett.
“As soon as we move, they'll see us,” I said, frowning. “Unless they move off, we don't really have a choice. We engage and take them out as fast as possible.”
“That might be easier said than done,” said Bergelmir. “If I remember correctly, they did not go down easily.”
“Fuck 'em,” snarled Snake. “I'm not gonna hide from some goddamned monkeys.”
Before we could say anything to stop him, Snake was up and vaulting over the fence. As soon as he had hit the ground, I heard the first of the gorillas snarl. Snake just squared his feet and brought Brjótanir up in a defensive stance. In the span of a few heartbeats, all four of the simian abominations were speeding towards Snake with foam flying from their exposed teeth.
“Son of a bitch!” I snapped and leapt over the fence to stand beside him.
“Nice of you to join me,” said Snake, smiling wickedly.
“Fuck you, too,” I replied, matching the smile.
Ragnarok Rising: Desolation: Book Five of the Ragnarok Rising Saga Page 24
