Nano Z (Book 2): Salvation

by Brad Knight

  Ha! Life is truly funny. With a dozen or so downed skeletal meat puppets at his feet, Ted took a moment to observe the scene unfolding around him. It was pure brutal chaos. Isaac fought hard and he managed to avoid being killed or infected. Most of his team was dead or in the process of dying. His own employees didn’t interest him though. His enhanced eyes found and locked onto the two on the bait shop roof. He recognized one of them. He saw Amber.

  Tear her to pieces. Ted gave his orders to his meat puppet bear. He was confident the animal would get the job done. That freed up his attention to his main objectives, which were to find Dr. Bawja and Mack.

  If that little brat is here, then my buddy Mack can’t be far. Where oh where did you go, bud? Why would you hide from your best friend?

  There were still skeletal meat puppets between Ted and his quarry. That was no matter. He would tear through them and get his revenge. As far as he was concerned, nothing and no one would or could stop him. What happened to Isaac and whatever men the security team leader had left was inconsequential.

  Amber heard footsteps on the roof behind her. While still holding a sobbing Stephanie, she craned her neck to take a look. Even in the dark of the night she could see the intimidating figure of an approaching bear. The sight that made her let go of Stephanie was the two glowing eyes that sat like burning coal in its skull.

  “Jesus. We’re going to die.” In a matter of minutes all the survival skills and instincts that Stephanie learned over the past year went out the window. She just witnessed her twin brother, the only family she had, get stabbed to death. There was an infected bear slowly coming to eat her. If it didn’t, the spiked beast or the impossibly large monster below most certainly would do her in.

  The spiked meat puppet did more than kill Stephanie’s brother. She killed the woman’s spirit, her hope. Death no longer scared her. Survival was no longer a priority. All she wanted was revenge.

  “Stephanie? Stephanie!?” yelled Amber as Stephanie stood up and walked towards the meat puppet bear, unarmed.

  Stephanie stopped within about eight feet of Ted’s infected bear. She slowly unsheathed her knife. With her free hand she wiped away the tears and snot from her face. In that moment, that second, she was ready to die. Hell, she welcomed it.

  The meat puppet bear stood up on its hind legs. Instead of the traditional screech it let out a thunderous roar that made Stephanie’s constitution waver. When the beast landed back on all fours, she could feel the vibration under her feet.

  Amber didn’t hesitate. She ran full speed at Stephanie. Throwing caution to the wind, she tackled Stephanie off the roof before the infected bear took a swipe at her.

  They both landed with a thud on the hard dirt next to the bait shop. The two of them got up and tried to catch their breaths. They needed to hurry because the spiked and brutish meat puppet came for them. Undeterred, the infected bear also climbed down from the roof and stalked them. Those three beasts didn’t care if the two ladies were ready for them.

  Amber didn’t know what to do. Behind her and Stephanie was a battlefield consisting of what she assumed to be Galatea men and skeletal meat puppets. In front of them were three highly dangerous mutated puppets. They were cornered. Then she spotted headlights coming straight towards them.

  The sound of a bus horn sent Amber and Stephanie diving back into the dirt. A school bus slammed into the meat puppet brute. It sent the beast tumbling into the dirt not far from the duo. On its way, all fourteen tons of the school bus rolled over the spiked puppet, eliminating it instantly.

  Amber didn’t have time to wonder where the bus came from, or who was behind the wheel. She needed to move. The meat puppet brute was within arm’s reach and recovering from its collision with the bus.

  With her attention on the meat puppet brute, Amber didn’t notice the bear who wasn’t anywhere near the bus. It came up from behind and lunged at the teen. At the last minute, some hidden primal sixth sense made her move out the way. The infected bear was quick to recover and was ready and eager for another try.

  “It’s eyes! Shoot it in its eyes!” Amber looked to see where the shouting came from. Through the open door of the school bus, she saw Mack behind the wheel. Other than some cut up and bloody clothes, he looked as good as new.

  Amber took his advice. She shot at the meat puppet bear and in doing so, expended the last of her pistol ammunition. But it was worth it. One of her bullets passed through the creature’s right eye and went into its brain. Nanites or not, everything needs an intact brain to continue living. The bear fell dead for the second time.

  “Grab Stephanie and get in!” hollered Mack. He stood at the open door and fired on the meat puppet brute.

  There you are. Nice of you to show your face, bud. Ted saw Mack in the doorway of the school bus. He grinned and nearly tore the head off of a skeletal puppet.

  Ah shit. How the hell did that maniac find us? Mack locked eyes with Ted. Seeing the mad CEO of Galatea Systems only hastened Mack’s desire to get far away from the bait shop.

  Amber helped Stephanie into the school bus, and once they were inside, Mack hopped into the driver’s seat and closed the door. He proceeded to put the large vehicle into reverse. Then he lined the front up with the meat puppet brute who was up on its feet.

  Mack stepped on the gas. The meat puppet brute attempted to side swipe the school bus with its tendrils. They banged against the thin metal, and cut through a little, but didn’t budge the heavy vehicle. There wasn’t enough time for it to move.

  The school bus knocked over the brute. Amber and Stephanie almost fell as the vehicle rolled over the massive creature. As soon as he finished running over the monster, Mack put the bus in reverse and ran over it again.

  Mack watched the meat puppet brute to make sure it didn’t move. It did. So Mack put the school bus back into drive and sped towards the creature to run over it a third time.

  It turned out that the third time wasn’t the charm. The beast managed to wrap it’s tendrils around the middle of the vehicle as it rolled over it. When it squeezed, the power and sharpness of the squid like appendages started to slice through the relatively thin metal of the bus.

  Mack pushed down on the gas as hard as he could. Only the two back wheels were still on the ground and kicked up a cloud of dirt. The beast wouldn’t let go.

  Isaac and Ted were the only two still standing amongst the corpses of the security team and dispatched skeletal meat puppets. “Where are you going?” asked Isaac.

  There’s no way I’m letting that thing take my kill. Ted ran with abnormal speed towards the school bus.

  Amber saw Ted running at them. “Is that…? Give me a gun!”

  “On the seat behind me!” Mack kept trying to pry the bus out of the brute’s tendrils.

  Amber got Mack’s rifle. She checked to make sure it was loaded, then found a good window to shoot from. After finding one, she broke it out with the butt of the gun and aimed at Ted. But she didn’t shoot when she saw what he was doing.

  Ted started clawing and tearing pieces off of the meat puppet brute’s neck. He tried to behead the beast with a neck as thick as a tree trunk. And he surprisingly succeeded.

  Covered in oil like black blood, Ted looked up and smiled at Amber, who was in too much shock to shoot, and simply stared back. The insane CEO picked up the meat puppet brute’s head and threw it onto the hood of the bus.

  Mack saw and felt the tendrils that held the bus in place, loosen. He accelerated straight towards the smiling Ted. The bus managed to clear the monster underneath. But it missed Ted, who jumped out of the way.

  “What now?” asked Amber.

  “I don’t know, but whatever happens next will be far away from here. Far away from hi…”

  Stephanie cut Mack off. “He’s coming!”

  Mack looked in the mirrors of the school bus. He saw Ted chasing the vehicle on foot. The psycho was actually close to catching up. It would’ve been impressive if it wasn’t so crazy.


  “Shoot him!”

  Amber went to the window she previously knocked out. She stuck the top half of her body out and started shooting at Ted. He nimbly avoided most of them. Those shots he couldn’t dodge didn’t slow him down at all. The loon kept smiling and kept coming.

  Ted saw his dead father in the back window of the school bus he pursued. The bastard was smoking, pointing and laughing at him. That only encouraged him like a spurred horse. A part of him thought that once he took out Mack, Amber and the other random woman with them, his dad’s ghost might disappear with them. It was an unrealistic hope. Still, it was one he clung to for inspiration.

  What I wouldn’t give for some highway right now. Mack tried his best to drive fast in the school bus. Not only was the vehicle not made for speed, but the road he was on was claustrophobic. Trees boarded the asphalt, which was only wide enough to fit one car going both ways. Despite those handicaps, Mack floored it.

  “Where’s Simon?” asked Mack as he drove.

  “He’s dead,” answered Stephanie in a somber, sullen tone. She sat in the seat behind Mack with her head leaning up against the padding of the driver’s seat. He could hear her sniffling.

  Mack didn’t know how to respond. He was never very good at reassuring or comforting people. He never knew what to say. How do you console someone who just watched their brother die in front of their eyes?

  Ted was getting closer to the school bus. He was too close for Amber to keep on shooting at him from the window. She quickly withdrew her top half into the bus and hurried towards the back emergency door.

  With claw-like nails extended, Ted grabbed onto the back of the bus. He lifted himself up off the road and stood on the bumper. It would only take one hand for him to rip off the emergency door. That was what he planned to do.

  “Is he on the bus?!” yelled Mack after he heard the sound of Ted’s claws embedding themselves into the metal bus body. The noise made him completely give up on trying to think of something to say to Stephanie. That could wait.

  “I think so,” answered Amber. She put her face up to the glass of the back emergency door in an attempt to see if Ted was indeed there.

  The back emergency door of the school bus was suddenly ripped off. Amber almost fell forward, out of the gaping opening. Her feet teetered on the brink. A clawed hand reached through the opening, grabbed her by the arm, nails dug into her skin and she was thrown out onto the road.

  Amber’s body went limp like a rag doll as she tumbled on the street. It hurt, a lot. By the time she stopped rolling around on the asphalt, she was rendered unconscious.

  “Amber!” Mack slammed on the brakes after he saw Amber get forcefully ejected from the bus in his mirrors.

  The school bus skidded. As hard as he tried, Mack couldn’t keep the big vehicle under control. There wasn’t anything he could do as the wheel turned sharply on his own and the bus went perpendicular to the road. It kept spinning and came to a violent stop.

  When the bus started to skid and spin, Ted jumped off. As a result, he was barely scratched. Those healed up quickly and he was free to finish what he started.

  The side of the school bus hit the trees that bordered the road. Stephanie was thrown out of her seat and knocked out when her head hit the nearby window, cracking it. Mack was ejected out of his window and flew into the woods.

  Let’s see. What do we have in here? Ted walked over to the bus and climbed up the side so he could look in what windows were left intact. He saw Stephanie unconscious on the floor.

  “Tempting, but no.” Ted jumped off the bus and headed towards Amber who still lay in the street. That little brat needs to be taken care of first. Lest she sneak up on me and stab me in the back.

  Amber was down for the count. She was nowhere near ready to get up, let alone defend herself. Instead she lay motionless on the street. Easy prey.

  Fuck. That really hurt. Mack slowly rose up out of the dirt and pine needles. It took him a few seconds to survey the damage done to his body. One of his arms were broken, the bone stuck out of his skin at the elbow. He was bleeding from the head. But those injuries didn’t worry him. He knew he’d heal. Amber wouldn’t.

  Amber! Mack almost fell a couple of times as he hurried through the woods, back out into the street. He needed to get to her before Ted did. Otherwise she was as good as dead.

  “Hey!” Ted heard a woman’s voice behind him. He stopped and turned to see Stephanie standing next to the wrecked school bus. Blood streamed down her face from the cut on her forehead. Her legs looked weak and barely able to hold her upright. In her hands she held a piece of metal from the bus.

  Hmmm? What’s this? What a pleasant surprise. Looks like she wants to play. Time to be a gentleman. Ted changed his target and walked towards Stephanie at the pace of a killer from a slasher movie. As far as he was concerned, he had all the time in the world to tear her, Amber and whatever was left of Mack to pieces.

  “Yeah, I’m talking to you! Ya sick fuck! Come pick on an adult, see how that goes!” called Stephanie. She slowly backed up as she talked.

  Ted just smiled and kept walking. He reached the bus and had no intention of stopping till he reached Stephanie, who was only a few feet away.

  “Now!” shouted Stephanie.

  Damn, I think I’ve been bamboozled. Ted looked to his left. The school bus was leaning towards him. There was no chance for him get out of the way.

  On the other side of the bus was Mack. He leaned against it and pushed as hard as he could with his legs. Under his skin he felt muscles and tendons tear as he forced them past their limits. The pain was worth it.

  The school bus tipped over and fell on Ted. He tried to move but the whole bottom half of his body was pinned under the multi-ton vehicle. His pain laden scream when his bones were crushed was music to Mack’s ears.

  “Look at you now, boy. Pathetic.” Ted’s dead father stood over him. He blew smoke in his face. “To think, I actually thought you were going to pull this off.”

  “It isn’t over,” responded Ted through gritted teeth.

  “You smell that?” asked Mack. He limped over to the trapped Ted.

  “It’s diesel fuel.” Stephanie pointed at the rapidly growing puddle forming around and underneath Ted.

  “It is over,” said Mack. Stephanie handed him her piece of metal. He scraped it against the street a couple of times right next to the pool of diesel. It took a few tries but it finally sparked.

  Ted and the school bus went up in flames. Like any human being he screamed, cursed, writhed and cried in agony as his body burned. With a callousness born from being hunted, Mack stood and watched for a little bit. He enjoyed it.

  When Ted stopped moving, Mack and Stephanie walked away. They went to go check on Amber, who was just waking up down the street. Not wanting to upset the teen, Mack forced the bone protruding from his arm back under his skin. It was excruciating, but it was worth not worrying her.

  “That’s it. Give it up, boy. Just lay here and burn while they get away. Let your, no our, legacy end here, stuck under a damned school bus.” Even through the fire and burned ears, Ted heard his dead father mocking him. He wasn’t going to let the ghost win.

  Ted slowly sat up. The pain involved in even trying to move while burning to death was beyond anything any person alive could relate to. It was only exceeded by the sensation of him clawing away at his own legs in an attempt to sever them and free himself.

  “Are you okay?” asked Mack. He knelt down next to Amber who was sitting on the road checking out her scratches and bruises.

  “I’ll live.” Amber looked up at him. “You look like shit, big guy.”

  “You’re not looking so great yourself, girlie girl.”

  Mack and Amber smiled at each other, and then hugged. The teen closed her eyes to try and stop herself from crying. It didn’t work. Tears forced their way out, ran down her cheeks and landed on his shoulder.

  “Is he dead?” asked Amber. She didn’t let go of
Mack.

  “He’s toast. Literally,” answered Mack.

  Stephanie looked up at the stars and sighed. She was thankful that it was finally over. At least for the moment, they could rest and mourn those they lost.

  Amber opened her eyes. When she saw what was crawling at them they widened into saucers. “Mack, look out!”

  Ted crawled, still on fire and with no legs, reaching towards Mack. There was a wild look in his eyes. She could see the white of his teeth that stood out against his blackened skin. But he wasn’t smiling. He looked very angry.

  One of Ted’s clawed hands stabbed into Mack’s back, making him yell out in pain. Stephanie realized what was happening and tried to help but got a slash to her calf for her troubles. Amber didn’t know what to do. It was a nightmare.

  Ted hugged Mack from behind. Spikes formed from the nanites still left in his body, jutted out of his chest and impaled Mack. Then with the last bit of energy and life left in him, he started cutting away at the big Viking’s neck with his claws.

  Mack was helpless. He was impaled. The fire from Ted’s body jumped to his. If he didn't do something, he was as good as dead. But he found himself unable to move.

  The only noise Ted made was an animalistic growl that turned into a meat puppet screech. There was very little left of the man he was in him.

  “No!” Amber scrambled over then jumped on Ted. The flames burnt her arms and caught her clothes on fire but she didn’t care. She was saving her dad. A little pain would have been an easy price to pay.

  Ted and Amber tumbled on the street, separating Ted from Mack. Amber took out her knife and wildly stabbed at the mad CEO of Galatea’s Systems. She stabbed so fast and violently that the blade slipped and cut her hand. That was the only reason she stopped.

  The last thing Ted saw before finally dying was Thomas Gorman looking down at him. His dead dad clapped and laughed. Then his ghost/hallucination dissipated. With that Ted finally died.