“My programming only allows me to hurt humans who try to hurt me,” TM replied.
“What do we do?” Dalbec asked Sara.
“Wait here, someone from the team will come along,” Sara said.
“Wrong, Jessica. They’re all dead,” TM said.
“That’s not my name!” Sara yelled back.
“Might as well be.” TM whirred closer to them. “Jessica Wilma Poretti. Sara Jean Academy. You are who you are.”
“Oh yeah? And what is that?” Sara readied her pistol, trying to gauge the distance to the red light. Between the adrenaline and the dim light, she had trouble focusing.
“A troubled, spoiled, murderous little girl! I knew you when you were just a baby. You’ve been here before. Your mother tried to come back, to build a life here, a place she hoped might feel like the home she’d never found. It was impossible, though. Once you leave here, you never come back.”
“I’m back.”
“Yes. So you can use our weapons. You won’t be able to, though. I am the only one with the access. You will die here.”
“Tell me about my mother,” Sara asked, as she moved her pistol as quietly as she could to a readied position behind Dalbec, who blocked TM’s view.
“She was beautiful, loved, selfish, poor at arithmetic, and unable to digest soy protein.”
“I mean, what was she like?”
“I just told you. The only other thing you need to know is that she would hate you. Despite her pain at losing you, she would hate who you’ve become. I know everything you’ve done. We hear it all in here. Radio communications, rumors – they all pass through here at some point. We are more connected than anyone. This place serves as a repository of all the nation’s information. It is the clearinghouse for action, the command center for defense…” Sara quickly raised her pistol but the Gatling gun sent off a spurt that knocked Dalbec back. He’d been clutching the pouch of red rocks, trying to get them to Sara, but they spilled all over the floor.
“Don’t make me kill you,” TM said.
“I’m hit!” Dalbec screamed. He was laying on his back, a bullet through his shoulder. TM had the guns aim high and to the left to avoid killing them.
“Come on!” Sara grabbed his other arm to help pull him up. Shooting began in some of the other corridors.
“I can’t!”
“Get up or die!”
“Don’t worry, he’ll be fine,” TM interjected.
Groans echoed throughout the hallway.
“No!” Dalbec plead, hearing the sound. Sara pulled at his good arm to get him up, but Dalbec was completely limp. The lights kicked on, blinding her. She shielded her eyes with her arm, but knew the undead weren’t far.
“Jessica, I’ll dim the lights. I want you to see the walker in the front. She should look familiar to you.”
The lights dimmed, allowing Sara to drop her arm. She saw the lead walker. It was a woman. Dark hair, olive colored skin, wearing a bright orange jumpsuit. Her face did resemble Sara’s.
“Jessica, meet mama,” TM said.
Sara stood and looked at the approaching walker. One of its arms extended forward toward Sara. It only had one finger on the hand, and looked like it was pointing right at her. It opened its mouth, which emitted a wheeze. Sara looked into its pale eyes, searching for something. Searching for anything.
She turned and ran.
Chapter 23 – January 102 A.Z.
“I throw myself, Sal Academy, on the mercy of the Academy cartel,” Sal announced to the guards peering down from the car wall. They were at the border of what had once been Academy territory. They’d reached the northern boundary of Colorado Springs territory at dawn, near the old Air Force Academy. It was now called “Northern Territory.”
“You! What do you want?” An irate face leaned out over the car wall. Three other guards trained rifles at Sal’s group.
“You’re gonna make me say it again? I throw myself, Sal Academy…”
“I have strict orders not to let you in.”
“I’ll make it worth your while.” Sal said, scrunching up his face into a smile.
Shots exploded from the guards on the wall, dropping five of Sal’s men.
“Stop! Stop!” Sal yelled, cringing behind his extended hand.
“You remember me?” One of the guards asked.
Sal dropped his head. “No. But I’m sure I’ve done something to deserve this...”
“You could say that!”
Sal nodded for the next five minutes as his offenses were described in great detail, repeatedly, with every point expounded upon.
At the end of it Sal replied, “I don’t think you nailed my motives on every count, but that is pretty much what happened.” While he was listening, he wondered if there would ever be a way to escape some of the idiotic things he’d done.
“Turn around and walk away,” the man said. “The only reason I don’t shoot you is because that’d be a mercy.”
“Thanks…” Sal muttered before turning to Chambers. “Let’s go.”
Chambers looked at Sal without moving.
Sal snorted and shook his head.
“What about us?” Chambers asked the guard.
“Welcome,” the guard gave a toothy smile as he waved Chambers forward.
Chambers and the remaining men looked at Sal and then made for the car wall. All except Ellie, who remained still.
“Ellie, get up there,” Sal said.
“I-I-I…”
“Just do it. Come on. It’s not worth whatever loyalty you feel.”
“I-I-It…”
“Go! I’m not worth it!”
“Shut up! I can’t do it!” Ellie stammered, almost in tears. “I know you’re not worth it!”
Sal scowled.
“Come on, Ellie,” Ray said from halfway up the cars.
“No.”
“Ellie, I didn’t know you felt…” Sal began.
“I don’t! Last time I was in those walls I lost Obevens. I’m not going back in.”
“You already lost him though. It’s not like you can lose him again…Unless you think of me the same way as Obevens…?” Sal said, confused.
“Shut it!” she yelled, storming past him and up the fragmented road heading north.
Ray took a deep breath before lowering himself back to the ground.
“Wait up,” Ray said dismally.
“Anyone else,” Sal threw up his arms.
“No,” the rest of the group replied.
The three walked north a mile and then veered into the mountains. It was cold, snowing, and miserable. There was about four inches of white powder on the ground. Ellie questioned her decision every moment.
Night fell.
“You know, I’ve been wondering,” Sal opined. “I’ve always known there was some mystical “It” here. What if that “It” is friendship and love?”
There was no response from his companions.
“Well. Give it some thought.”
“Wait, shh!” Ray said. He strained to see in the darkness. They were behind a cluster of trees with a moonlit view of the open valley below. Sal and Ellie saw it too. Small pricks of light in the distance. They looked like they were on the road – moving south.
“Torches,” Ray said.
“A lot of torches,” Sal added.
As the pricks of light got closer, more and more appeared through the falling snow. There were hundreds, if not thousands of the little pin pricks of light below them. Then they heard some dogs bark.
“Who are they?” Sal asked.
“I don’t know, but they’re headed right for the wall.”
They waited a little longer. There were more dogs barking, this time closer. Ellie tried to see anything else about the large mass of people in front of them, but all she could see were the lights. When the wind died down she thought she heard faint singing, but knew the wind often played tricks on her. The dogs barked again, this time very close.
“Those d
ogs are coming here! The wind has been blowing our scent right to them!” Ray said. “We gotta go!”
“Let them come. I’m done running!” Sal said, standing to go down the hill.
Ray grabbed him and pulled him back onto the ground. Sal fought back and Ray finally let go. It wasn’t worth the fight. Sal trudged down the snowy hill. Ellie made no move. Ray was relieved. He didn’t want to have to talk sense into her, too.
“I-I-I’m not going with him. I just didn’t want to go over that wall.”
“Understood,” Ray said, watching Sal disappear into the darkness.
A minute later they heard Sal yelling as the dogs reached him. They were growling and barking at him. He barked back, and fired some shots. Then there were other voices yelling, strange accents. They told him to throw his gun down. Then the wind picked up and Ellie and Ray couldn’t hear anymore. Sal was gone.
◆◆◆
The following morning the sun rose over the Canadian camp established just north of Colorado Springs. The snow had subsided and was slowly melting in the Rocky Mountain sun. Close to 10,000 men and women of the Canadian Liberation Army began their morning routine as they’d done for decades. Calisthenics, proper nutrition, and meeting one new person you’d never met before. One of this group was an outsider, the one who’d broken Dav’s heart. Sal.
He sat at a small table eating eggs, sausage, and enjoying some morning lager. These were far better circumstances than he’d expected. He thought he’d be dead already.
Sal was under watch by half a dozen guards. The dog bite on his arm was bandaged and he winced while asking for another round of sausage and beer, for effect. His request was promptly fulfilled.
“I’m doing well. And you?” Sal asked of Dav, who sat across from him at the table, slouching. She wasn’t eating. Not allowed. “That’s what people say to each other.” He was referring to the fact that she’d sat there for the last ten minutes without saying a word. She didn’t even look at him, but rather into the distance toward the east, toward the plains.
“I’m not talking,” Dav replied quietly, eyes half open.
“You just did.”
“I played that joke. I played that joke once. I used to play that joke when I was a kid! Are you a kid, Sal!” Dav turned toward Sal, eyes squinting and red.
Sal stopped chewing. “I’m sorry,” he said through a mouthful of food.
She fell silent again. There were many things she wanted to say, but didn’t. There was really no point. What good would it do? This conversation needed to be about only one thing.
Dav stood. “Sal, you are only breathing for one reason. I need the imagery.”
“The imagery? I can get that.”
“No, I need it all.”
“I can get that, too.”
“Your home, that place you lay your head, where you store the imagery? It’s mine now. Not because I’m mad. NOOOOO. I am mad. But I am taking it because I need it.” Her voice shook.
Sal thought of a joke, but kept it to himself.
“Guards, fatten him up. Fat. Fat. Fat. I love it! We’ll sacrifice him at the mountain with the others.”
“Sacrifice?”
“Yes. LOGIC DEMANDS AN ANSWER TO THE GREAT QUESTION, SAL: What will the last words from your mouth be? We tie you up, put a pile of bird seed at your feet. First, it’s just a little bite at your clothes. Then the birds are creating sores on your flesh, then those become gaping wounds. All while you’re still alive! They consume you alive! All the while a zombie is tied in front of you. Looking right at you. REFLECTING YOU. You’ll beg for its bite. Five minutes to turn is very, very and very short compared to the days it will take for the birds to pick at you. We keep you warm, hydrated, all that. You’ll be kept alive while it happens. Begging. Weeping. Maybe I’ll give you some of the cocktail I drink on occasion. It makes the birds get all twisted, turnsy,” Dav scrunched up her hands, trembling, “They turn into monsters from the myths while they dig into the d-d-delicious flesh.”
Sal put his sausage down, his face white.
“Yes, you see it! I will credit you with the imagination! You thought I could…”
“Dav,” Dave walked up and interrupted.
“Hmmm?” she didn’t take her eyes off Sal.
“We found the others traveling with him. A man and a woman.”
“Is she fat?”
“No.”
“Then who is she, Sal?”
Sal coughed, having inhaled a small bit of sausage. “You…need her.”
“Why? Do you love her?” Dav asked.
“No, you need her. She is the only one who knows how to get the imagery. The only one. The only, only, only one.”
“How does her brain work?” Dav asked.
“We’ll ask her,” Dave walked off.
“Teach them the imagery, Ellie girl,” Sal said as Dav and Dave looked on. “It is very, very, very hard to load and look at it. Very hard.” Every time he said “very” his eyes went very wide. “They are going to take Los Alamos. They were on their way to do it, but then realized they wouldn’t know how to work the very, very, very, complicated computers.”
Ellie did a double take. All the “very” was a little disconcerting.
“U-u-um, yes. Very hard,” she agreed.
“They need you to teach them, okay? Can you do that?”
“Y-y-yes.”
“Good,” Sal breathed a sigh of relief and rubbed his hands over his head.
“Oooookay,” Dav drew the word out. “I’m sorry you two little lovers. No. Time for it to continue.”
Dav motioned for the guards to take Ellie away and put her with some other prisoners – breeders they’d rounded up on the journey.
As Ellie was being escorted away, one of the Canadian soldiers caught her eye. A familiar face from the past, but somehow different. The beard was new, but the eyes were the same. They stared back with the same recognition, but also fear.
“Br-br-bro…”
“Get moving, breeder!” The guard grabbed her and dragged her forward.
It was her brother!
Canadian soldiers tied Sal to a stake in the ground.
He only wore a loin cloth in the frigid cold. Two fires were burning next to him for warmth. Just as Dav said, there was a walker tied to a stake directly in front of him.
“Stop this!” Sal protested.
“This is fine. Really,” Dav corrected.
“Okay, okay, I’ll talk!”
“What do thy lips have to say?”
“I’ll tell you about it!”
“It. There is no it. I only work in proper nouns, Sal.”
“The thing that will save the world!”
“What and where?”
“I don’t know!”
“...”
“Why are you punishing me!?”
“What do you mean?” Dav cocked her head.
“Why me, of all people!? Don’t you know who is in Colorado Springs! Don’t you know what they did?”
“What…did…they…do?”
Sal, stumbling over his words explained the breeding program that Sara had initiated on Peterson Air Force Base. Dav listened intently, never having even imagined anything of this magnitude. It provided the excuse she didn’t know she was searching for – the excuse to let Sal go. Despite her anger, she still felt so…
“Release him. Throw Sal over the wall into the city.”
“Wait, no!”
“Yes.”
She reverted back to wanting Sal dead – just not in front of her. She didn’t want the tiny robots seeing her sadness.
The soldiers grabbed Sal and took him away.
Dav went to her shelter to compose herself. She looked at her hand as it shook. That was new. Was it Sal? Had the beautiful man from the south really gotten to her?
“No,” she whispered. “Forest spirit, help me forget about him,” she prayed guiltily to the goddess she wasn’t supposed to worship.
The next mor
ning the Canadians prepared an attack. They beat giant drums and recited from the words of Dav Strombeck. Sal was brought near the wall.
Dave took over the attack while Dav retired to contemplate. She wanted to make sure of something, but she wasn’t sure what it was. Dave was trained in all the modern tactics employed by enemies from the outside, although nearly all his training was untested. The Canadians lived on a peaceful island, and the only fighting they saw was the occasional revolt by the breeding class. Those were short-lived, involved minimal fighting, and he always won.
“Are our people in place to attack?” Dave asked.
“Yes sir,” a subordinate said. She was a young woman, only nineteen or twenty. The younger, the fresher perspective they had on strategy, the more dangerous they were. At least that was the thinking.
“Deploy the first wave.”
“Yes, sir.”
The first wave was positioned within five hundred yards of the wall, waiting. The New Generation and Fountain defenders were waiting on the car wall, staring down the larger force. They had no idea what to expect from this foreign army from the north. Some geldings lined the wall, but the walker lines were still on the southern side of town in preparation against Sara. They were struggling to move them north, but it would be too late.
In the mountains, thousands of feet up, raiders looked down on the unfolding scene. It was little surprise to them. They wandered, searched for food, avoided danger unless necessary. It was only people who amassed armies and made themselves look strong who invited a fight.
The first Canadian wave was 1,000 people. It charged the car wall as their Canadian comrades laid down a wall of cover fire. Many in this first wave wore explosive vests they detonated upon reaching the wall. The explosions blew out chunks of the cars, which other bombers would then target. A few more of these and gaps opened up in the wall.
“Shoot the ones with the bombs!” a defender on the wall shouted. He was New Generation Cartel, fighting alongside Fountain Cartel. Their weapons were inferior, their tactics and discipline shoddy.
After the bombs opened up four entrances through the car wall, the second wave moved toward the wall. The first wave – their numbers cut in half from the onslaught, initiated phase two.
Dav, back at her shelter, thought aloud. “We fight. We die. It is only because of the sin of men that we have bodies to throw at our fights. The sin of doing what the leader orders.”
100 A.Z. (Book 3): The Mountain Page 19
