Dragoon turned and pointed along the street to our right. It was the path with more wrecked vehicles and corpses.
I sighed. “Let’s go.”
We avoided every corpse we could. The others, Dragoon dispatched. Many cars still contained the rotting undead, but we had nothing to fear. Before long we discovered a wrecked bus which blocked an empty street.
I peeked around the bus. “There aren’t cars on this road.”
Dragoon stared at the street for a few moments. “This was a high-speed bus transit route.”
“Sounds like you’ve been here.”
“No, I don’t think I have.”
“Your cloud-based memories?”
She frowned. “A presence still blocks out my full databanks.”
I smacked her shoulder. “Don’t worry. As we face the enemy, I’m sure we’ll figure things out.”
The android nodded. “I would like that.”
Given its angle, we’d have to go through the wrecked bus.
Dragoon walked to the front door. “Allow me.”
“Be my guest.” I stepped back.
Dragoon lifted her leg and kicked the hell out of the door; right off its hinges.
I stared at her without blinking. “How strong are you?”
“To put my statistics in context, I have a grip of two tons.”
My eyes widened. She had to be one hundred times stronger than a normal human; if not more. She motioned toward the open bus. I stepped onboard and scanned the aisle. Blood covered many of the seats, the floor, and even the ceiling.
I scrunched my face. “No bodies.”
Dragoon stared with a blank face. “Perhaps the infected animals came and consumed them.”
“Even the bones?” Glass crunched under my boots and broke the silence of the bus as we walked. As we were halfway, a clacking came from the roof. I froze. “Do you recognize the sound?”
She shook her head. “It is not human.”
I swallowed hard and continued making my way forward. The skittering shot back across the roof. Panic swelled in my belly. I didn’t want to fight while inside a narrow bus.
There was a body outside the back. A man in a ripped t-shirt and jeans sat slumped against a building. We could’ve passed him by, but he was a walking tank. He wore a rifle over one shoulder, held a shotgun in his hands, and had a pistol on each hip.
I pointed at the weapons. “We need those guns.”
“That will increase our chance of survival by ten percent.”
“You’re great with encouragement.”
Dragoon smiled. “It is part of my programming.”
I lowered my voice. “You have a bug in your system...”
I lifted my hand as I heard a voice coming closer. Dragoon and I both ducked as a trio of tough-looking bald guys walked around the corner of the building way up the road. When they spotted the dead guy, they laughed.
One guy kicked the body. “Oh hell, son! Buck is dead!”
“Eh, who gives a damn?” Another shrugged. “Prick got what was coming to him. I claim his bike!”
Whatever had skittered atop the bus dove to the ground, drawing my heart into my throat. A huge black scorpion landed. It stood as tall as a Great Dane and had three raised tails, each equipped with glowing red stingers.
The trio turned to see the scorpion. It ran and snapped one guy into its pincers. Three stingers stabbed into his chest and jerked back, pulling out his entire ribcage. The two other men fired pistols at the zombeast, but each bullet bounced off its exoskeleton, ricocheting back. A bullet ripped through one man’s leg, and he fell to his knees.
“Hell, yeah!” The third guy took off running. “Only gotta run faster than you, now!”
The scorpion struck each tail into the injured man’s head and ripped it off his shoulders. The overgrown arachnid wasn’t done. It burst into action again. Its legs powered after the man, with his friend’s head still attached to a stinger.
The man ran from where he’d come, and the zombeast joined him. A moment later came the brief scream of death.
“How are we getting past that?” I peeked over the seats. “We can go around the other streets?”
“Negative.” Dragoon ducked next to me. “This is the route to the Metro. From there we take the train tunnels and system to Union Station. Then we can follow the tracks south.”
“To where?”
She looked into the distance, and I could see the data crossing her robotic eyes. “They took a jet and landed in San Diego. Their movements have ceased for the moment.”
“How far is that?” I watched for the zombeast.
“One hundred thirty-two miles.”
“You sound like you took that off an old search engine.”
“Affirmative. I have access to the world wide web.”
I furrowed my brows. “Wait, you can still access the internet? How is that still a thing?”
“It seems someone still wants it up and running.” Dragoon nodded.
“Something to remember. I have videos I’d like to check out again.”
“What kind?”
I hesitated and shook my head. “None of your business! I don’t need an android girl judging me over my choice of viewing material.”
She did her screech laugh. “You enjoyed pornography?”
My face burned red. “Let’s drop it!”
“According to my databanks, females also enjoyed such—”
“Drop it!” I peeked outside one more time; the zombeast hadn’t come back. “I think it left.”
In a low crouch, I motioned for Dragoon to follow. We made our way to the body and the stockpile of weapons.
“Here.” I handed the shotgun to Dragoon. I took the scoped rifle and both handguns.
Dragoon shoved me. “Tiffany, retreat!”
The scorpion crawled across the wall above us as I fell back. The tails whipped out, missing my head by inches. I scrambled and the next stinger struck between my legs, and the third came right for my stomach.
A lightning bolt shot from behind me and hit the scorpion. The zombeast shuddered and collapsed, convulsing.
Dragoon held the L.A.B., which must’ve fallen out of my pocket.
“That was close!” I exhaled.
“There is a high probability of more; we should keep moving.” She handed me the cube.
We bolted, and as we came to the corner, we found a sleek black motorcycle. It had to be the one the guys mentioned.
The bike still had its keys in the ignition, and the body of the coward lay beside it. I lifted the cycle and turned the key. After searching, I found the start button. The engine thundered to life.
Dragoon examined me. “Do you know how to drive? Given your age I do not think you have prepared for such a vehicle.”
I scowled. “I had a driver’s license for a car... and I can ride a bicycle. It’s in the middle, right?”
“Our survival rate has dropped to one percent.” She climbed onto the back, and with me in the front.
A series of clacks sounded behind us. Another scorpion raced in our direction.
I panicked. “How do you make this thing go?”
“Allow me to drive.” Dragoon hopped off the bike.
As we tried to switch places, I fell and landed on the asphalt. The scorpion’s tail struck the mirror right past where I’d been sitting. I pulled out the cube, and blasted the scorpion, sending it spiraling.
Dragoon took the bike’s handles, and I jumped on behind her. “Fine, you can drive.”
She revved the engine, and we shot forward, tires squealing. It was hard to hold on as we sped the transit road. I was glad to see we weren’t being chased by more scorpions, and that they were too slow to catch us.
Twenty minutes later, we passed the last bus station. She dodged a fence and shot between two ticketing stations.
She swerved around the front of the stairs and stopped. “This is the Metro subway station.”
Before us stood a large multicolored ar
chway leading deep into the shadows. When we looked inside the station, my jaw fell. She spun the bike, and we were off again.
I watched in the mirror as dozens of zombeast scorpions skittered out, doing their best to give chase. I thanked the gaming gods we were quicker than the damned things.
“Is there another way?” I leaned forward.
“We’ll take the highway.” I thought I heard her declare over the wind. “It is not far from here.”
“Wonderful. I’m sure it won’t have corpses and zombeasts.”
LEVEL 33:
HARDLINE
My android companion and I traveled the Interstate 5 highway via motorcycle. Her driving kept us only inches from striking cars and wandering corpses. Still, I was glad to let her drive.
With my arms around Dragoon, I squeezed to get her attention. “Are they still in San Diego?”
The wind diluted her voice. “Affirmative, they linger in the same one-mile radius!”
“Good!”
Even with the road so congested, we still hit speeds over eighty miles per hour. We needed to reach San Diego before the evil siblings took off again. Unless they planned to stay. They’d believed Mog was enough to kill us, so they left. Big mistake; they’d underestimated Dragoon.
We flew past an exit that caught my eye. Danteland. I’d always wanted to go there. I thought of it as a romantic date Zach and I could’ve done; a fantasy of mine. We’d ride the rides, holding hands, even kissing under the fireworks. Now, that’d never happen.
Dragoon glanced back. “Your heart rate has increased!”
She caught me by surprise, but I was honest. “We passed the most joyous place on Earth.”
“Should we stop? It sounds beneficial.”
I chuckled. “Not anymore. It was just a fantasy.”
Dragoon swerved around a group of corpses. “It was enjoyable?”
I sighed. “Going to an amusement park was my dream. My love and I at Danteland... I never got to go with him. Even if it were still open, I’d stay clear. Not with the name Dante, and the SOB who unleashed the Garrettaur on us.”
“Do not think of him. We can visit a most joyous amusement park after our mission.”
I knew it could never be, but I humored her. “When it’s all said and done, we’ll get everyone together, and we’ll go. If you can get the power back.”
“Affirmative.” She nodded, her hair flapping. “This plan sounds pleasant.”
After making it so far, we came to an impassable sea of wreckage. Dragoon brought us to a stop, and we climbed from the bike.
I covered my face and shook my head. “Dammit. I don’t think we’re going any farther by bike!”
Dragoon looked over the scene, examining every corner. She walked past the first few cars, climbed on top of one, and then looked off into the distance. A moment later, she grabbed the hood of a sedan, pulling it to the side.
“What’re you doing?” I watched her.
“Is it not obvious? I am making a path.”
I walked to an adjacent car and hopped onto the hood. There were at least ten more vehicles blocking our path. Even with Dragoon’s strength, it’d take forever to open the road.
“Let’s cross and take the next working vehicle!” I stepped to the road.
“No need.” Dragoon shifted yet another vehicle. “I will have a path across in ten seconds.”
I tilted my head. That bug in her programming again. “There’s no way—”
Dragoon grabbed an overturned car and picked it up with one hand. She swung it over her head and slammed it in front of the pileup.
“What are you planning?” I cocked a brow.
“Come.” She returned to our bike.
With a shrug, I climbed onto the motorcycle behind Dragoon. She revved the engine, spun the bike around and sped in the opposite direction.
“Where are we going? San Diego is the other way!”
“Yes, you are correct.” Dragoon skidded to a halt, a hundred feet from the pileup. With another roar of the engine, we spun back and shot toward the cars.
“Dragoon? What are you doing?” My eyes widened.
“Dragoon.” The wrecked cars were up fast.
“Dragoon!”
I sealed my eyes tight and hugged the android with everything I had in me, but the crash never came. My stomach stayed with the ground as I opened my eyes and found we were soaring. I screamed until we landed on the other side.
Adrenaline pumped through my veins. “You crazy bitch!”
“I have solved our problem. Did you not say you like things like roller coasters?”
“I said no such thing! I’ve never been on one!”
On a roller coaster, there were safety restraints. On a makeshift ramp across an expanse of wrecked cars, we had no seatbelts and no guarantee of safety. I sighed, feeling faint. My eyelids were heavy, and they refused to open every few seconds. “Dragoon...”
“Yes?”
I yawned. “I have no energy.”
“When was the last time you refueled?”
I laid my head against her shoulder and tried to remember. Sister gave me slop in Bellaire, but I hadn’t eaten it. Before that, who knows how long I’d been unconscious. The further back I thought, the more I realized it must’ve been since before the penitentiary.
The adrenaline caused me to forget my stomach was empty. “I need food.”
“We will stop somewhere. What food would you prefer?”
Nostalgia claimed me. I remembered the days of ordering food. I wanted a juicy triple cheeseburger from Macendy Queen’s... but in reality, I needed something.
“Anything. Otherwise, I’ll never have the strength to fight Brother and Sister.”
“Affirmative.”
We drove along for another ten minutes or before she pulled onto an exit. We drove through the streets, with corpses here, and zombeasts there, but we outpaced them.
A loud explosion went off nearby. We slowed as another boom came, followed by shattering glass and the rat-a-tat of gunfire. It came from a few blocks away.
Dragoon scanned the street. “Should we discover what is happening?”
There came a panicked shriek. Someone needed help, and we couldn’t leave them to die!
I patted Dragoon’s side. “Let’s hurry!”
We sped along the road and turned a corner. Dragoon stopped the cycle, and up ahead there were figures leaping into the air. They attacked a barrier made of wood and scraps. People were firing guns out the windows.
“You get up close!” I hopped off the bike, whipped the rifle off my shoulder and looked through the scope.
At first, I thought they might be Lonely Ones, but they made rigid, jerky movements. They were Corpses! I aimed one into the crosshair. I stared, incredulous, as it stretched its arm and reached in a window, seizing a boy and reeling him in for dinner.
“No, you don’t!” I pulled the trigger.
The gun kicked harder than I expected and in my weak condition, it knocked me on my ass.
I scrambled to lift the gun again and found I’d hit home; one dead corpse. The boy, no older than six struggled to get back to the diner, but another corpse leaped, trying to pounce on him.
A woman dove out of the diner window and covered the boy. The corpse landed on her, and I cringed as it sank its teeth into her throat.
I brought up my rifle and fired. The corpse dropped, and the woman fell, unmoving.
“Dragoon, where are you?”
I spotted the android. Three more of the crazy jumping corpses leaped in, and the boy’s mother still shielded him in death. Dragoon rushed forward, leaping and firing the shotgun in mid-air. Two of the evolved corpses fell dead, but the third survived. I kept my aim and fired just as it landed. It flailed on the ground having lost its kneecap. Dragoon walked up and stomped on its head, splattering brains on the street.
There were no more corpses, I thought. A rumbling came from nearby and I spun on my heel to find the most massive
corpse I’d ever seen. As big as a gorilla on steroids, it barreled in my direction.
“Level two!” I ran, putting as much strength into my legs as I could muster, but my energy was at zero. “Dragoon, help!”
She turned around, and I rushed past her, spinning back. I snapped up the rifle and aimed at the big corpse. My vision blurred and I couldn’t get a lock.
Dragoon raised her shotgun and fired. A blast of spread shot pelted the corpse, but it didn’t flinch.
The big bastard swung at my companion, but she threw a punch of her own, and a sonic shock wave burst out as their fists connected. Nearby car windows shattered.
“Damn leveled up assholes!” I aimed for its head and fired straight into the monster’s skull. A spray of dark green blood showered Dragoon. It stumbled back, collapsing.
My companion leaped atop the evolved corpse and dismembered it with her bare hands, throwing its parts in different directions.
“Overkill much?” I lowered my gun and staggered.
“Level two corpses do not stay dead unless in pieces, and if the pieces are close enough, it will regenerate together.”
“Say what?”
Before I could get further explanation, there came the crying of a child, along with shouting from inside the diner. The woman who’d protected the child, lay there twitching.
“Adam, come inside this instant!” An old voice carried from the diner.
The child clutched the dead woman. “I’m not leaving Mommy!”
My heart broke for him. The boy didn’t understand.
“Mommy! Wake up Mommy! We have to hurry; more zombies might come.”
The mother rose; eyes corpse green. She lunged for Adam, but Dragoon appeared, kicking out so hard, the woman’s head detached and soared.
Adam cried and cried, throwing his fists at Dragoon. She looked at him, with a blank expression. “You killed Mommy! I won’t forgive you!”
I rushed over, grabbing up the child. He flailed in my arms, but I held tight and brought him to the window. There were a dozen plus people hiding. I handed Adam to a man.
“Thank you—” His eyes shot past us. “Look out!”
I glanced back, and another level two corpse swung at an unsuspecting Dragoon. The huge fist cracked right into her back, and she disappeared, flying across the street, and crashing through the window of another building.
Omega Virus (Book 2): Gamma Hour Page 22
