It was a violation of their permit to remain in the city after sunset, not something normally a problem for obvious reasons. Andy regularly checked on the facility, reaching it typically by a car ferry boat during the day since the building’s property was right up against the water.
Andy wished he had a boat now, but anyone trying to operate on this part of the port was likely to be intercepted by the Harbor Patrol or Coast Guard out in the channel before they ever got close. That is if you even could pay someone enough to make the crossing to come get you. DEVO’s were known to jump onto boats to go after humans as well as throw Molotov cocktails, which were a far greater danger to a slow-moving wood or fiberglass boat than a fast-moving steel truck.
To discourage unauthorized water navigation into the zone, the authorities had set up a line of buoys. Thick cables just above the surface, as well as below, were connected to alarms. The few crossing points were always guarded.
Andy took a deep breath. The only way out was by VTAL, if Mia would agree and if he could even contact her. Andy believed the building to be secure against the DEVO’s. The Outfits were another story. The facility could not be held against a dedicated assault with heavy equipment and vehicles they could use to ram their way in. Before tonight, that was of little concern. The Outfits would not go up against the team’s heavy weapons nor expend resources to get to them for little reward. Now with all the gold in the back of the JLTV, the Outfits had plenty of incentive.
Andy tapped on the MFD screen to bring up the menu to send a signal to the receiver that would activate the steel garage door, commanding it to roll open. Seeing the red icon, he tried to transmit anyway. Andy hoped the base of the exterior antenna on the JLTV, sheared off from the near miss blast, would at this close range still make a connection. No dice.
“Logan, Keith and I are going to dismount, I’m transferring the rig to your voice command. Keep the JLTV close but run the perimeter in dark mode. Don’t open up until the DEVO’s are massed, unless you get one of the Outfit rigs in your sights, then you are weapons free, man.”
“Copy, don’t be too long dude, you know how lonely I get.”
“No worries, bro. I need to unlock the door, then get to the control room and then power up. I won’t raise the door until you’re back and it’s clear.”
“It’ll be clear, trust me!”
“Riggy, transfer vehicle control to Logan.”
“Riggy, good copy, transferring control to Logan per Andy.”
The three club members listening to the calm female voice only wished they could be as cool and collected.
The Screeching of the creatures in the distance coming for them filled the interior of the JLTV as Andy and Keith opened their doors. Andy donned his helmet and the three-point sling of the CAR-50. Both free of mud now from Keith who cleaned both of their weapons and helmets while riding shotgun and hoping he would not be thrown out of the rig and eager to prove his worth to Andy and Logan.
Both men closed the doors, which locked and sealed behind them. Donning his helmet, Andy saw the HUD come to life in his face mask. The night vision automatically came on as it filled his field of view from the light of the partial moon to that of bright daylight. On the right side of the HUD, his rifle and handgun symbols turned from red to green, indicating they were now synced. The gunsight reticle for either would pop up into view when the weapon was raised. The system was “point of aim, point of fire.” Meaning that wherever the reticle was placed, that was where the rounds would hit.
Andy pushed the sounds of the creatures out of his mind. He had heard them often enough, and much closer on too many occasions. A wince went through him as he thought back to another mission where he and the crew he was a part of suffered a vicious attack.
An Outfit had run them off the road with a large dump truck as they crossed a roadway, sending their rig careening into a building. The attackers came up over the team radio net and told them if they hurried they could make it out on foot. That is if they could run fast enough, like thirty miles-per-hour to snickers before driving off.
At that time, they were not so ruthless to rob them and then leave them as they do now, figuring they could come back later and collect whatever the squad could not carry. The various groups that comprised the Outfits wanted to keep the teams out. They found it sporting to watch them trying to outrun the DEVO’s, then try to shoot their way out, then when they were out of ammo, get eaten.
They still found it sporting, but now liked to leave them nearly naked and without any weapons. It was better to shoot it out with the Outfits than to surrender or negotiate. That tactic and the up-armored vehicles with heavy weapons now tended to discourage attacks from the inferiorly equipped groups, until tonight that is.
Andy moved down the rest of the ramp with Keith in tow, walking backward protecting their six. Watching the JLTV roll quietly away gave Keith butterflies. Stopping behind Andy, he grew more nervous. He didn’t like to go into large dark spaces during the day, let alone at night. Andy told him the building was secure; if it had been breached an alarm would have alerted him.
Not that Keith had not been in plenty of darkened spaces, such as earlier when he and David found their way to the elegant downtown penthouse with the built-in vault access. But there they could pick their way through, using the staircases that were against the windows and stringing UV lights in front of them if needed. They always had a short egress route to areas of daylight and safety. Now, at least for the next ten plus hours, they would have no such haven.
Keith looked up at the concrete, windowless walls and hoped that was enough to protect them.
***
Haus pushed the throttle several notches forward to reduce the engine RPM’s. Although he had gone no more than a half mile, the train engine accelerated rapidly in that short distance. The bright light lit up the curve ahead that spliced off to the left meant to divert rail cars to the pier. The track he was on was one of a dozen that merged, or “switched” in that direction. The tracks on which his engine rode were the third ones in from the pier; two tracks were to his left and still would be once he made the track switch. Another half dozen or so were to his right, they also curved to the left or continued straight depending on what position the switch was on for that track.
Haus had no idea if the switch was closed, in which case he would continue straight. Or open, in which case the engine would veer to the left towards the pier where he wanted to go. The locomotive and track had been primarily used to move groups of cars to and from the pier, and he hoped that the default was to the position that would take him in that direction. If it did not, he would need to stop and back up then get out and manually make the switch, if he could.
Failing that he would soak himself in fuel then send the engine on its way, hoping the DEVO’s would follow. Staying aboard the engine, as comforting a thought as that was, was a no-go. Up ahead would be rail cars blocking his path, or some other obstacle. If he had to get out and run he would be too far from the water and the safety it would provide. Staying with the engine and keeping it running would only work so long. Eventually, they would burn it with him inside. Or so crazed with the sight of a feast so close at hand would endure the agony of the vibrations of the machine as others in mass would push the ones in front onto and eventually inside the locomotive.
The mile light illuminated the tracks ahead and the switch as it approached, Haus let out a sigh of relief as he saw the yellow box indicator with the black arrow angled to the left. If the switch were in the other position, the sign would have been green with a straight arrow. He still would not completely relax until the engine made the turn, the signal could have been damaged or malfunctioned.
Moving his left hand to an area behind the throttle Haus grasped the “Independent Brake” handle, which operated the locomotive’s brakes rather than the braking system for a chain of cars. The engine slowed rapidly as the engine hit the switch.
The locomotive rattling across t
hree strings of track that continued straight made the bright light wobble. Haus felt both relief and the centrifugal force pulling him to the right, as the engine turned to the left switching tracks at a speed far above what was safe. Pulling the throttle toward him a few notches, which increased the RPMs. Haus was glad he reduced the speed earlier; much more speed and the engine might not have stayed on the track.
The massive cranes that lined the pier adjacent to a line of huge container ships grew larger in the window. Beyond them were the ships partially sunk, their keels resting on the bottom blocking the pier and the port. He intended to swim to the closest of those ships, hoping they were low enough in the water to climb onto the deck.
There was movement on the tracks ahead. DEVO’s! The creatures scattered out of the light, jumping back into the freight cars with the shipping containers mounted on top of them on the right side of the tracks, the rails to his left were empty so far but no such luck on this track. A line of flatbed rail cars lay directly ahead. His stop was rapidly approaching.
Haus had no intention of just slowing the engine then casually climbing down as he moved the throttle forward to the last notch, idling the motor.
As the engine slowed, Haus went to the left door behind the seats and opened it. The salt air was more palpable and cooler here so close to the water. Studying the rushing railroad ties passing by underneath him he thought about going back inside the cab and applying the independent brake. He switched his gaze from the railroad ties passing in a blur to the track ahead. The back end of the railcar rapidly approaching meant he was out of options.
Haus swung himself over the rail and took a half second to line his body up so that it was parallel to the direction of the engine; the ground racing by underneath him. Glancing up at the back of the rail car less than fifty meters ahead he had little time to further debate alternatives.
Haus leaped and tried to run as his boots hit the ground to match the speed of the locomotive. Unable to, he instead tumbled head over heels. He hugged his shotgun tightly knowing he would need to employ it soon as he rolled over several more times.
The thunderous crash of the engine with the rail cars was louder than he expected as the sounds of steel and iron bent and crumpled maybe twenty-five meters away. Haus’s face dug into the dirt as his body slid forward to a stop. The dirt in his eyes and then the brilliant flash temporarily blinded him as the fuel tanks of the locomotive ruptured, and the contents ignited. The heat of the explosion washed over him. He remained flat against the ground as pieces of the rail car, locomotive and track flew apart, some of it over head before landing not far from where he lay as he spat out dirt and gravel from his mouth and brought his hands up to wipe his face.
Chapter Ten
The screams of the DEVO’s either crushed or on fire or just pissed soon eclipsed the noise of the inferno. Haus wasn’t going to wait around to find out which. There was no doubt in his mind that a great deal of it had to do with him, more specifically finding him. He rolled over onto his back checking his six, in the light of the fire he could see the creatures, hundreds of them walking in their stiff gait along the tracks from the direction he drove the locomotive. Snapping his head to the right, he eyed the pier with the hundreds of shipping containers stacked underneath the cranes.
Spying a separation in the stacks of containers Haus leaped to his feet. The creatures that had been following him up the tracks saw him. Their screeching joined the chorus of the ones trapped in the flaming wreckage. As if on command all the things turned toward the fresh meat, focused on him now as they slightly increased their strides. He was glad they didn’t run. That, however, was little comfort. They would pursue him while their calls alerted others who soon would cut off his escape route.
Haus brought his shotgun up and turned on the bright tactical light mounted under the barrel, setting the selector to the “stay on” position, there was no point in trying to remain stealthy. The creatures were nearly on him and more lay between him and the pier. Hoping he had enough ammo to get him the 100 meters or so to the water he did a quick calculation; about one destroyed creature per meter was his ammo budget, the math as always was on the side of the pale monstrosities. He had to make every round count, something in which the second in command of the Crewmen excelled. Learned from his nomad days when he was a singleton; banished from his former Outfit, the Day Breakers before being taken in by his current Outfit.
Haus bolted. It was not a good tactic to move through the containers, a creature might be around every nook and cranny. If he closed the gap too fast before he could shoot it he might get bit in which case he was as good as dead. Still, Haus gave into both fear and the calculation that getting to the water as fast as possible would be his only chance, moving fast was his best option before the things blocked his route.
After moving past the tracks and twenty-five meters into the container stacks, he forced himself to slow to a walk as he flooded the cavernous area between the stacked containers with his light. Haus steered clear of the containers with the open doors as much as he could but soon found himself in an area where he had to pass containers that had open doors on both sides, facing one another.
Hugging the right-side of the aisle Haus kicked the door in front of him closed as he swung the shotgun to the left into the interior across the aisle. Stacks of boxes lay toppled over but nothing inside moved. A loud shriek came from his right, and the container door he just closed.
A white bony claw, once a human hand gripped the edge of the door pushing it outward. Haus ran his body into the door and used his weight to push it closed again. A thud accompanied peripheral movement on the extreme left of his vision. Swinging the shotgun around Haus came face to face with a pale human like thing standing no more than two meters away that had just dropped from the top of the stacked containers. The light mounted on his shotgun pushed it back. The hideous thing clanked its teeth in a rapid biting fashion. Haus fired, and the creature was driven back against the container behind it from the initial impact that struck it just above the waist. A millisecond after it entered, the ten-gauge shell detonated just as it passed into the abdominal cavity blowing the mutant into two nearly equal portions.
Haus spun to his right and broke into a sprint passing two containers before his boots skidded to a stop. At least a dozen more of the pale hideous things appeared from both sides of the next opening between the container stacks. The creatures were twenty meters away, and closing, their steps didn’t seem so slow now to the big man. If they closed to within a couple of meters, they would leap. Haus lifted the gun, so the light was directly in the eyes of the first four walking abreast and completely blocking his path. The screams from behind him reminded him that the only way to the water was the path ahead—through the dozen plus humanoid figures clacking their teeth at him, drooling at what they desired to be their next human meal.
The half living things screamed as they brought their claw-like hands up to shield their faces. The first line stopped but was pushed forward by at least two more rows equally longing to sink their teeth into fresh human flesh. The hesitation of the front group to move toward the light gave the Outfitter the time he needed.
Haus squeezed the laser sight activator on the fore end of the street sweeper setup. In quick succession, he centered the dot on the chest cavity of the one to the furthest right before squeezing the trigger a fraction of a second later. Before that one even exploded Haus was already advancing the semiauto shotgun to the left. As the laser dot found its target, he squeezed the trigger and moved to the next screaming creature. It clanked its teeth and cowered from the light even as the DEVO’s behind it pushed forward. An instant later it was blown apart. Another quarter second and the last of the four in the front row met a similar fate.
Two more creatures broke through from the second row and Haus dispatched them quickly before moving onto the remaining eight. The last one leaping over the heaped bodies still twitching and kicking grabbing for Haus causing h
im to step back even as the explosive round detonated in its skull sending its kicking body into the pile of torsos and other body parts.
Haus pivoted to his right and moved through a relatively clear area of body parts stepping on a still squirming limb or corpse as he angled the light down to make sure that no heads were near enough to bite. Haus had never seen one so damaged still bite, but that didn’t mean one couldn’t.
Several of the hideous things jumped down in front of him, and Haus shot them without slowing from his sprint as he raced through the maze trying to find a path to the water. Coming to another break in the containers Haus turned to his right but stopped when he saw trains ahead. In his haste, he had run back towards the tracks not toward the water, wasting precious steps, time and rounds.
Cursing, Haus spun around and stopped. The opening in the other direction went straight to the water but was blocked by DEVO’s, dozens of them. The noises coming from behind Haus and from his right told him all he needed to know. Every avenue of escape was blocked or would quickly be. Even in their mindless pursuit of him they had the presence of mind to continue to fill in the areas between the rows and rows of stacked containers. It was simply a matter of numbers and time, both of which they had and he did not.
Haus looked down at the street-sweeper. The blue LED ammo counter told him he had eighty-three rounds left. There were probably that many of them between him and the pier and equally as many in the row behind him not to mention the ones to the left and right rows of containers. All of them shuffling forward and screeching. The noise was unbearable, but at least it drowned out the clacking of their teeth, or at least mostly did.
He thought about shooting himself, he would have to do it in the mouth and hope that the gases of the gun blew his head apart. The DEVO’s would feast on his remains to be sure, but at least there would be no functioning brain to succumb to the virus and control what would become a ghastly creature.
METAVERSE GAMES: OMNIBUS Page 8
