by Chris Fox
Chapter 27- Salvage Operation
The Mother surveyed the wreckage in the central chamber, a fresh spike of despair piercing her breast. So many centuries of labor to modify this place to suit her needs. It had required the full might of her empire for the entirety of that time. Now it lay in ruins around her, perhaps damaged beyond repair.
A wet nose pressed into her leg. She looked down to find Yukon staring up at her adoringly. The strength of his loyalty pulsed from him. He was a simple creature, accepting that she was master and he just a companion. What surprised her was how content he found himself in such a role. It was something no self-respecting wolf would have accepted.
Wolves could acknowledge another as alpha, but that was just first among equals. Yukon accepted that she was superior in all things and that she would take care of him, in the same way a child viewed a parent. It baffled her.
“We’re going to embark on a journey,” she said, stroking his golden fur. He leaned into her leg, closing his eyes as she pet him. “We must head west to the ocean.”
She must repair the Ark, not just to secure her power base but also to lend strength to Blair’s cause. The closer Irakesh came to the Ark of the Redwood the stronger he would become. If Blair were to have a chance he’d need to pull strength from her Ark, but to do that it must be repaired.
In her own time she could have simply ordered her vassals to mine the necessary stone, then have it brought to another Ark or a place of power for imbuing. That was no longer possible. She’d have to mine the stone herself, and it must be done at a place of power. There were only two such places that might contain a charge this early in the cycle. One lay half a world away, but through luck or happenstance the other could be found in the ocean a few days west.
All she need do is secure one of these mighty ships she’d plucked from Blair’s memory. This could be found in the city men had named Lima, somewhere to the southwest.
The Mother turned from the chamber, extending her aura to encompass Yukon. They blurred through corridors until they reached the surface, bursting into bright sunlight in a swirl of dust.
So fast. Yukon sent, giddy like a small child. Far more playful than any wolf would allow. I am strong near you.
“Your strength will grow as we bond, little Yukon,” she said, smiling in spite of herself. She hated what had been done to the noble wolves, yet Yukon had proven brave and loyal. Perhaps there was more to these dogs than she’d been willing to admit.
What was that? She shaded her eyes, studying a cloud of dust along the south ridge. A vehicle rumbled down the trail, approaching the valley. Who dared violate the sanctity of her Ark? She shifted, baring her fangs as she and Yukon blurred towards the interlopers.
She charged up the trail, covering two miles in mere heartbeats. She landed on top of the hood of the jeep, which slammed on its brakes. There were four passengers, all wearing uniforms similar to the Mohn soldiers she’d so recently slaughtered.
“Peace,” the man in the driver’s seat cried. He had scraggly black hair badly in need of a comb. “We’ve come in peace. We were sent by your, uh, Ka-Dun. He said we might find sanctuary here.”
“Blair offered sanctuary?” she growled, flexing her claws.
“Yes,” the man replied, nodding vigorously. “He said that the werewolves are champions. Please, we have little food and no place to go. The zombies are everywhere. We are willing to work to earn our keep, but we need help. Do not turn us away.”
She considered. These men came as supplicants sent by her servant. If Blair had promised safety, then she was honor-bound to grant it. Was he wrong to do so? Very few had likely survived the deathless. They did need protection. He had done well, she decided.
“Very well, but you will serve as I bid. How many are you?” she demanded, dropping to the ground next to the jeep. She shifted back to her human form. The man’s eyes widened as he stared at her through the jeep’s driver side window.
“There are about thirty of us. The rest of the vehicles are up the ridge, a mile or so back. I am Rodrigo,” he said, pale underneath his tan.
“You may address me as Mother. Gather your people, Rodrigo. We journey west, first to Cajamarca and then on to Lima. You will aid me in my task,” she said, allowing a smile.
Blair had done very well indeed.
Chapter 28- Medellin 12km
Medellin 12km. Blair heaved a sigh of relief as they whizzed past the green sign. After days of slogging through jungles and backroads, they’d finally reached recognizable civilization. They were dirty, sweaty, tired and more than a little irritable. Maybe they’d travel more quickly now that they’d reached real freeways.
Then again maybe not. He peered out the rear passenger window at the cracked asphalt stretching before them. It was clogged with a sea of cars, more familiar Toyotas and Fords replacing the generic motocars he’d seen back in Peru. Figures shuffled between those vehicles, zombies in various stages of decay. Most looked up as they approached, shambling towards them with hungry eyes and low moans.
Jordan guided the jeep smoothly around them, his reflection in the rear view mirror impassive. One of the zombies got a bit too close, a dark-haired woman in a white dress. Her face was bathed in blood, her eyes hollow and vacant as she lunged for the front of the jeep. Blair braced himself as Jordan romped on the gas. The vehicle jerked, bones snapping as they rolled over the woman. He focused on the horizon trying to ignore the stench of rotting flesh.
The road wound towards one of the largest skylines he’d ever seen, massive buildings clustered together in the center of a city that sprawled across the high valley and the hillsides surrounding it. It reminded him a little of Los Angeles, though many of the structures had a definite Spanish feel. He got the impression that some of the smaller churches were centuries old. They contrasted oddly with the more modern skyscrapers, a sea of steel and glass looming over their sleepy companions.
“This place was voted the most innovative city in the world just a few months ago,” Liz said. Her voice seemed too loud in the oppressive silence.
No one wanted to speak or even look at each other. How could they? This had been a city with nearly four million people and now it was a tomb, a brutal reminder of the extent of their failure as the guardians of mankind.
“Maybe some of them survived,” Bridget offered into the silence lingering after Liz’s statement.
“I’m betting there are hundreds of survivors. Possibly thousands,” Blair replied, facing Bridget across the mountain of gear littering the backseat. “The smart ones will hunker down, but that will only last until food becomes an issue. I’d expect more than a few are holed up in grocery stores of more defensible buildings around them. Just like Cajamarca.”
“Cut the chatter,” Jordan growled as the vehicle decelerated to a near crawl.
Blair leaned out the jeep’s rear window into the hot wind to look for whatever Jordan must have seen. They’d entered a relatively clear part of the freeway, with only a few cars towards the edges. The center lanes were all empty, both of vehicles and zombies. It wasn’t hard figuring out why. The corpses were all occupied.
A horde of zombies surrounded a pair of battered land rovers. They reminded Blair of Trevor’s vehicle, though both were white instead of the deep green Trevor had favored. Each vehicle had a sort of crow’s nest built on top, surrounded by sheets of metal that had been welded together. Each nest had three figures who held long chrome poles with machetes duct-taped to the end. They were dressed all in black with umpire’s masks obscuring their features. It must have been murder in the heat.
All except one of them anyway. A white-furred werewolf towered over her companions. She was far too large to be male, corded muscles bunched under her fur. She wielded a spear much like the others, which she used on the gathering horde with impressive ferocity.
She scythed through them, slicing spinal cords and severing heads. Her companions jabbed at any zombie who made it onto the vehicle, but lef
t the rest of the work to her. Evidently she’d been at it for a while, because a large pile of bodies now surrounded each vehicle. Not that it stemmed the tide of zombies. At least thirty still attempted to overwhelm the defenders, with more drifting towards them with each passing moment.
“They’ve seen us,” Jordan announced, slamming on the brakes. He used his left foot to push the e-brake into place. “How are we handling this? We need to decide now.”
One of the men on top of the rovers pointed in their direction. Another on the rover without the werewolf ducked out of sight, returning a moment later with an assault rifle of some kind. An M-16 maybe? Jordan probably knew.
“Blair, you’re with me. I want to try talking but if they get hostile, immobilize the humans. I’ll deal with the female,” Liz announced, opening her door and dropping to the asphalt.
Blair opened his own door, back straight and shoulders square as he approached the rovers. A few zombies noticed them, but before they could pull away from the pack the man with the M-16 began picking them off with precise head shots.
“Stay where you are,” the white-furred female roared. She leapt from the rover, landing behind the milling mass. She danced between them, claws sending up sprays of blood as she cut down most of the remaining horde.
A pair of corpses moved towards Blair. He waited for them to approach, then blurred for a fraction of an instant. Just long enough to snap both necks. They collapsed to the asphalt, clearing the path for Liz.
She waited patiently while the werewolf completed her grisly work. The white turned to face them, licking blood from her muzzle as she approached. She stopped just a few feet away, baring her teeth as she flexed her claws. “Who are you and why have you come to Medellin?”
“My name is Liz,” she replied, stepping forward until she stood next to the towering werewolf. Her heart rate was steady, though Blair noted a sheen of sweat from the sweltering sun. “We’re just passing through on our way to Panama. I’m willing to exchange news if you’re interested, but then we’re moving on.”
“I’m afraid that’s not possible,” the werewolf rumbled. An apologetic rumble. She pointed back towards the city. “We have a gathering there and our leader meets all travelers. Medico Roberto will decide what to do with you.”
“I wasn’t asking,” Liz growled, beginning to shift. The camo shirt tore from her shoulders, while the cargo pants all but exploded. In the blink of an eye, she went from two inches shorter than Blair to two inches taller than the strange werewolf. “My pack has been trained by the Mother and we outnumber you. Maybe you should rethink the whole detaining us thing.”
Blair was already moving. He needed to do something to impress these people, to cow them before the guy with the assault rifle did something stupid. He extended his hand, concentrating on the dozen or so zombies moving towards the rover. Blair split his will into a dozen spikes, like the heads of some giant imaginary hydra. It came easily now.
He thrust at the zombies, pulling the milling mass away from the rovers. He forced them to gather into a tight knot about fifty feet away, making the gesture he used to control them as theatrical as possible. It seemed to work. The man with the rifle and his companions all gaped openly.
"The Mother?" the White asked.
“The one who created us. She's taught us to use our abilities. Abilities that you can't even begin to imagine,” Liz-wolf growled, looming over the white werewolf.
The report of the assault rifle rang out every few seconds, each shot downing a zombie who was closing in on them.
“I don’t want to fight. I am Diana,” she replied, giving a shallow bow. “Even if we could win, some of us would die and that benefits no one. Please, return with me to our compound. Meet Medico Roberto. If you seek to travel through our city he can help you. Surely it would be better to have us as allies. That is better than we few survivors fighting amongst each other.”
What do you want to do? Blair thought at Liz.
We’ll head back with them. She’s right about us not fighting. It’s foolish to fight amongst ourselves. Liz sent back. The subtext wasn’t lost on him.
Stand down. He thought to the entire team. He could feel Jordan and Bridget relaxing from inside the jeep.
“All right we’ll go back with you, but if you betray us get ready for a lot of blood,” Liz-wolf growled. She gestured at their jeep. “My team will follow your rovers if you want to lead the way.”
“There will be no betrayal,” Diana assured them. She walked back to her people, who’d already slid into their rovers and started the engines.
Chapter 29- Medico Roberto
Jordan ignored his jagged thoughts, instead focusing on the two rovers they were following. They wove down a narrow corridor just wide enough for one car. It had been created along the main freeway by lining it with a row of SUVs and busses on either side, and must have taken hundreds of man-hours to move into place. A shrewd choice. It controlled the flow of zombies, channeling them into easily managed kill zones at the few intersections left open for people to enter the corridor.
Metal screeched as one of the rovers mashed a stray zombie into the door of a yellow Pathfinder. The move sent a shower of gore onto the jeep’s windshield, cutting Jordan’s visibility to shit. He flicked the windshield wipers, but only succeeded in coating the glass with a thick pink film.
“Fucking lovely,” he growled, leaning out the window to see. The wind provided no relief from the stench, only adding exhaust to the mix. None of it kept his mind from the dilemma.
He’d been worrying at the same problem for days, ever since the sat-link had come online back in the Ark. Mohn Corp was still out there. Despite the catastrophic damage that had crippled the world’s electronics they still had satellites. Somehow that wasn’t surprising.
It meant they’d been far more prepared than they’d indicated. They probably had a sizable military presence in Syracuse and were obviously still gathering intel. What sort of resources did they have? If it included aircraft, they’d almost certainly make a play for Panama. They might even be there already. Did he still have a place with Mohn? Would he want it if there was?
“There it is,” Liz-wolf called over the wind. She was right. They were coming up on a stadium parking lot. The inside of the chain link fence was lined with SUVs, just like the corridor they were driving through. Whoever was in charge knew what they were doing, at least when constructing defenses with limited resources.
The two rover’s paused in front of a bus blocking their path. A figure appeared in the driver’s window, aiming the business end of a .308 in their direction. Not the best choice of weapon. He might kill his first target, but he’d never have time to acquire another before they returned fire. Even if he could, the weapon was terrible at close range. He should be using a shotgun or even a heavier caliber pistol.
The man lowered the rifle, resting a hand on the wheel of the bus. It shuddered for a moment, then slid smoothly backwards with almost no sound. Was it powered by natural gas? There should have been more noise if it was diesel like most busses back in the states.
The first rover maneuvered through the gap, quickly followed by the second. Jordan depressed the gas, allowing the jeep to follow at an unthreatening pace. They were allowed into a stretch of asphalt bordered by a tent city. The part near the center looked like a market, while those tents closer to the edge were residential. He’d guess there were perhaps three hundred people here.
They looked ragged. Worn out. Most were dirty and avoided eye contact with each other. Children flinched when adults got too close. The unnatural quiet was painful. It was as if people were afraid of speaking, as if it might attract the same angry god that had visited the zombies and werewolves upon them.
They are in need of protection, Ka-Dun. A voice rumbled in the back of his mind. It didn’t speak often, maybe because he almost always ignored it.
The brakes squealed as Jordan pulled into a spot next to one of the rovers. So odd that they
still had those brightly painted lines for parking when the rest of the city had gone to shit. He threw the jeep in park, setting the e-brake with his left foot. Then he turned to Liz, spearing her with his gaze despite how intimidating he found her wolf form. “Listen, I know you don’t trust me. I don’t blame you. But we’re about to walk into a potentially hostile situation and I need to know that we can count on each other. Can you and Blair shelve your squabble long enough for us to figure out what our play here is? We don’t have the luxury of infighting.”
“We’re going to go see this Medico. If he’s a doctor, hopefully he’ll be reasonable. I’m sure he’ll send us on our way,” Liz rumbled, seemingly unimpressed by his gaze. She did dart a guilty glance at Blair.
“And if he doesn’t?” Blair asked, throwing his door open and hopping out. Liz followed, unfolding from where the jeep’s passenger seat used to be. That poor seat was never going to be the same.
Neither picked up a weapon and he was tired of trying to convince them they needed to carry guns. He rolled his eyes behind his sunglasses and exited the jeep.
“Then we deal with the situation if it arises,” Liz said. Blair didn’t look happy with the answer, but gave a tight nod of agreement. It was more than he’d seemed capable of only a few days before. Whatever had gone down between them had left a scar. They were good fighters, but he missed the professionalism of Mohn’s elite.
Jordan moved to the back of the jeep, swinging open the rear door and hefting the black duffle with the weapons. Bridget followed, so he handed her his holstered .460. “This is the most powerful handgun I’ve ever fired. Men have broken their nose from the recoil, but I’m betting you can handle it. You won’t find a better compact weapon.”
