Final Dawn: Season 3 (The Thrilling Post-Apocalyptic Series)

by Mike Kraus

  “Command deck, this is Krylov.”

  “Commander? Is that you? This is Nancy.”

  Krylov raised an eyebrow in mild surprise and spoke in English next. “Ms. Sims, please pass this message along to anyone on the command deck and have them contact the rest of the crew. We just encountered another creature inside one of the flooded and sealed compartments. Anyone who is working below deck must be with at least one other person, and all crew members must be armed at all times. That goes for yourself as well, Ms. Sims. Do you understand?”

  “Absolutely.”

  “Very good. Pass this message along and ensure that you have adequate ammunition for yourself and Mr. McComb. We’ll be finished draining these compartments in the next few hours and then we should be able to get underway at full speed.”

  Nancy’s reply went unheard by Krylov as he focused his attention back on the remaining compartments. Each of the rooms that they cleared led them closer to the missile and weapons room, which had fortunately been untouched thanks to the crew’s quick response. The potential proximity of the mutated creatures to the delicate and lethal devices in the missile room made Krylov nervous, and he wanted to get the area cleared as quickly as possible. He looked at the two men standing nearby who were working with the pump hose, though still casting worried glances at the dead creature.

  “I’m moving forward. Follow behind as quickly as you can.”

  Rachel Walsh | Marcus Warden | David Landry

  4:12 PM, April 27, 2038

  “Is it ready?” Rachel leaned over to look at David, who was on his back, fiddling with wires under the radio panel inside the lead locomotive. He nodded instinctively, then groaned in pain as his head smacked against a metal support in the tight space.

  “As ready as it’ll get.”

  Rachel took a deep breath and leaned in to the microphone on the panel. She hesitated for a moment before finally depressing the transmit button, speaking slowly and clearly. “This is Rachel Walsh attempting to contact the Russian submarine carrying Leonard McComb and Nancy Sims. Please respond.”

  Rachel stared at the speaker above the console as the sound of static echoed forth from it. Three more times she repeated the message, until Marcus’s demeanor changed from casually looking out the windows of the locomotive to one of tension.

  “Rachel, David, get over here. Hurry!” Marcus kept his voice low, though the panic was audible even at a whisper. David pushed himself out from underneath the radio console and hurried over next to Marcus, joining him and Rachel at one of the side windows. In the distance, coming around from one of the corners of the base of the tower was a group of creatures, numbering at least a dozen, though it was hard to make out individual forms at such a long distance.

  “Shit!” Rachel turned and hurried to gather up her things, dumping them in her bag before double-checking that the magazine in her rifle was loaded. “This is going to get messy very quickly.”

  Marcus put his hand on the rifle, pushing it downward as he shook his head. “There’s too many of them for that right now. But I think we can use this to our advantage.” He pointed at the closest section of the tower base. “There’s an opening there, where one of the tracks goes. If we can keep the muties distracted and away from there, we can probably get inside.”

  “Inside.” David’s expression was one of shock. “You want to go inside that thing? You are mental! We just need to get the Russians on the horn and get a missile in the air to take it down while we run like hell!”

  Marcus gestured around. “And what happens if it’s electromagnetically shielded? By the time a second missile’s in the air, that thing’ll have plenty of time to defend itself. We have one shot at this. Assuming the Russians can actually get a missile in the air, we have to know how to take those little bastards down. Now, unless you’ve got blueprints for the thing stashed away somewhere, the only way we’re going to be able to find any of this out is to inspect it directly, up close and personal. I’m not taking any chances with this shit, and neither should you, not when we’re this close to winning.”

  The moment of silence from Rachel and David was enough to tell Marcus that he was right, and that both Rachel and David knew it.

  Rachel shook her head. “We’ll be screwed, though. We need to keep trying to contact the sub. If we leave the train, we won’t have any radio capabilities.”

  David shook his head as he gathered a few tools from under the radio console and put them in his bag. “If I had known you’d be getting me into this, I would have never let you in the lab.” David sighed. “I’ll stay here while you two get in there and see what’s going on inside the tower. The other locomotives should have radio transmitters as well, so I’ll set up some kind of signal loop to keep rebroadcasting, then disconnect each of the locomotives and send them down the track ahead of us. That’ll keep those things distracted while you two get in and out, then we’ll retreat in the last engine back the way we came. Okay?”

  Marcus shook his head, moving to block David from moving to the next train car. “Sounds good, but we’re not splitting up again.”

  “Marcus…” Rachel placed her hand on his shoulder, but he pushed it away, stepping backwards defensively.

  “Don’t start with me. We are not splitting up.”

  Rachel’s voice was soft, and Marcus could see the pain behind her eyes as she spoke. “We’re running out of time, we need to contact the sub, and we need David’s distraction to get in and out. We won’t make it ten feet if we don’t lure the creatures away.”

  Marcus’s lip twitched and he closed his eyes as he rubbed the bridge of his nose with his thumb and forefinger. “Shit.” He mumbled as he re-checked his backpack straps, stepping out of David’s way and toward the back door of the locomotive. David nodded to him and walked past, heading for the back door before stopping, turning and addressing Rachel and Marcus together.

  “I’ll keep Sam here with me. Get out to the side of the second engine; you should be able to jog fast enough to keep up with it and stay out of sight from them. I’ll set up a repeat broadcast in here, then push the throttle to the max and disconnect the coupler. That, plus sticking the horn in the on position should be enough to draw their attention for long enough for you to make a run for it.

  “I’ll keep releasing the engines one at a time to keep those things distracted. It looks like the tracks go on for quite a distance, so that should keep them away from the last one, which I’ll hunker down in with Sam.”

  David unzipped his bag and pulled out two small devices, which he handed to Rachel and David. “Here, take these portable radios. I’ve been saving them for an emergency. They’ve got limited range and probably won’t even penetrate through the tower, but…”

  Rachel tucked the radio in her pocket and gave David a quick smile followed by an embrace. “Thanks, David. We’ll be fine.” Marcus followed Rachel’s hug with a pat of David’s shoulder and a grim smile, then stood by her near the door of the locomotive. David watched them with a sad smile on his face as he patted Sam’s head.

  David took in a deep breath and nodded at Rachel and Marcus. “Let’s do it.” The pair turned around and looked through the front window of the train, watching the creatures in the distance grow steadily closer. Behind them, David manipulated the train’s controls for a few moments before calling Rachel to the radio. “Repeat your message; it’ll be recorded and stored in the system for rebroadcasting.” Rachel did as he instructed, and David waved her away to finish his work.

  “Okay, it’s set. In two minutes, this locomotive will go to full power and start broadcasting your message on an endless loop… I think. Honestly I have no idea if the rebroadcast will work, but we’ll find out soon enough. You two need to get out and be ready to run.”

  Rachel nodded at David and pulled the door of the train open. It was traveling at a slow enough pace that she felt safe stepping out onto the bars mounted to locomotive, shimmying around to the side before jumping to the ground
and rolling to a stop. Marcus followed her a few seconds later, then they heard the sound of David closing the door behind them. The two of them waited until the second locomotive passed them before they began to jog forward, keeping pace with the train.

  Once Marcus and Rachel were out, David led Sam out the back door of the locomotive. He paused as he realized that there wasn’t a way for Sam to walk easily into the next engine. Jogging along just a few feet away, Marcus noticed David’s dilemma and ran up to the back of the engine, holding his hands out as he whispered at David. “Here, hurry!”

  Before Rachel realized what was happening, David had picked up the large animal and tossed him to Marcus, who caught Sam and deposited him gently on the ground. David pointed toward the back of the train and shouted as quietly as he could at Marcus, trying to be heard over the sound of the train while avoiding being heard by the creatures.

  “Get him to the last engine and I’ll get him inside!”

  Marcus patted his leg to get Sam to follow him and ran toward the back of the train while David moved towards it as well, arriving just as the lead locomotive’s engine kicked into high gear and the horn started blowing incessantly. With the coupling between the first and second engines disengaged, the lead locomotive accelerated quickly, moving away from the rest of the train at a high rate of speed. As it approached the creatures, they reacted defensively, backing away from it before giving chase, running down the track in hot pursuit and ignoring the rest of the train left behind.

  With the distraction in place, Marcus and Rachel had a limited amount of time to get into the tower, so Marcus scooped Sam up in his arms again, whispering softly into the dog’s ear to calm him down. On his knees inside the door of the last locomotive, David took Sam in his arms as Rachel watched, relieved to see both Sam and David disappear safely inside the compartment before the door slammed shut. With David and Sam secured and the creatures momentarily distracted, Rachel and Marcus waited for the last boxcar on the train to pass by before breaking into a run, heading for the base of the tower and the entrance leading inside.

  Leonard McComb | Nancy Sims

  4:14 PM, April 27, 2038

  “This is ***** attempting to contact ***** marine ***** rying ***** and ***** Sims. *****ease respond.”

  Nancy froze at the sound of a voice coming through an overhead speaker on the other side of the command deck. The voice was distorted and the message was nearly unintelligible, but upon hearing her name, Nancy raced to the radio station and grabbed Andrey’s shoulder, pulling him excitedly as she spoke. “Turn it up! Quick!” Andrey manipulated the controls in front of him and the broadcast increased in volume as it repeated again.

  “***** Rachel ***** contact the Rus ***** McComb and Nancy ***** respond.”

  Nancy turned to Andrey and spoke breathlessly. “Get Krylov on the radio!”

  Working his way through the last of the flooded compartments, Krylov flinched as his radio crackled, followed by Nancy’s voice once again. “Commander, this is Nancy again.”

  “Ms. Sims, I’m currently occupied. Please speak to—”

  “Commander.” The tension in Nancy’s voice as she interrupted Krylov caused him to stop in his tracks as he waited for her to continue. “There’s a very faint radio transmission coming through from Rachel. It’s repeating, and Andrey and I are trying to figure out what they’re saying, but it’s definitely them.”

  Krylov’s eyes flicked back and forth as he considered what the broadcast meant. The fact that they were nearly within radio transmission range of the group on the ground meant that the time of attack, should they be forced into the situation, was growing uncomfortably close. He looked down the hall at the last three compartments that had yet to be searched and drained, then back the way he came, toward the direction of the command deck.

  “Ms. Sims, I’ll be on the command deck momentarily. Krylov out.” With one last look at the remaining compartments, the commander turned and jogged back to where the two crewmen were still dragging the pump hose from room to room, draining the seawater out of the Arkhangelsk. He passed his rifle to the man closest to him and gave a quick explanation of what was going on, followed by a stern order. “Do not engage any creatures you see unless you’re in danger of being attacked. Radio me immediately if you encounter anything unusual. Continue draining the rooms I’ve searched and opened, then search and finish draining the last three once you’re done here. Above all, stay safe.”

  The two men nodded and gave Krylov quick salutes as he ran off, heading for the command deck. Once he arrived, he greeted Nancy and Andrey hastily, then stood next to Nancy over Andrey’s shoulder, listening to the repeating transmission for several seconds. Behind them, the soft tapping of Leonard’s crutch made Nancy turn and smile, and she ran to his side, whispering to him as she walked with him to the radio control station.

  “We just started getting a transmission from Rachel. They’re trying to contact us about something; hopefully it’s good news!”

  Leonard nodded, then addressed Krylov. “Commander, I’m not spending another second in that bed. How can I be of assistance?”

  Commander Krylov looked Leonard over from top to bottom before replying. “You look better, Mr. McComb. Are you well enough to operate a radio? Mr. Lipov is needed elsewhere if you can manage it.”

  Leonard stepped up to Andrey’s seat and waited for him to get up before plopping down in his chair with a grunt. His crutch clattered to the floor next to him and he looked up at the two Russians next to him. “Just tell me what’s what here; I can’t exactly read Russian very well.”

  Andrey gave Leonard a quick summary of the radio controls, then turned the volume on the main speaker back up so that Leonard could listen to the message a few times. Leonard turned the sound off and swiveled in his chair to address Krylov, who was standing with his arms crossed and a worried expression on his face. “Sounds like we’re about to hit the shit, Krylov. Are you going to be ready with the missiles?”

  “I believe so, though our current situation is less than optimal given our lack of crew. Do you have any idea when, or even if, you’ll need a launch?”

  Leonard tapped the controls in front of him. “That’s what I aim to find out. In the meantime, though—and I don’t mean to tell you how to run your boat, Commander—I strongly suggest you have those missiles ready, just in case we have to launch them.”

  “Stay by the radio, Mr. McComb, and alert me the moment you’re able to reach whomever is sending that transmission. Mr. Lipov, you’re with me. We’re going to manually check the missile bay and start the pre-launch checks.”

  Command Krylov, followed by Andrey, headed out of the room, but stopped when Nancy called out after him. “Excuse me, Commander, but I’m coming with you.”

  “Sorry, Ms. Sims, but no, you’d just be—”

  “You’re running thin on men as it is. I’ll stay out of your way and be able to help if anything comes up. And I won’t take ‘no’ for an answer.”

  Despite the tension that was quickly mounting, Krylov found himself giving Nancy a small smile, impressed yet again at the tenacity of the strange woman and her comrade who had found their way onto his sub. “You have your weapon?” Nancy grabbed one of the rifles that had been passed around at Krylov’s order, holding it as though she had been born with it in her hands.

  “Very well. This way.”

  Commander Krylov led Andrey and Nancy down the same way from which he had just come, heading toward the two crewmen he had left in charge of clearing out the remaining compartments. His total time away from them had been under half an hour, but as he entered the compartment they had last been in, they were nowhere to be found. The room, like the others that were flooded, was dark save for the emergency lights, and the pump hose was still lying in the center of the compartment. The two men, though, had seemingly vanished, abandoning their task in the middle of performing it.

  “Where the hell…” Krylov mumbled to himself as he searched t
he room with his flashlight, peering into every corner in search of the men. Behind him, Nancy and Andrey grasped their weapons firmly, waiting to see what Krylov would do next. As they trailed slowly behind Krylov, Nancy nearly stumbled in the ankle-deep water as something solid impeded her step. Looking down at the water, Nancy squinted in the darkness, trying to make out the shape of the object that was blocking her path. As the red emergency light glowed on, Nancy recognized the object and stumbled backward, falling into the water in shock.