by Jake Bible
***
The Rookie ignored the deafening shotgun blasts and focused on the newly freed zombie Kilroy.
“Okay, big boy, let’s see what you-” but before he could finish Kilroy charged.
The Rookie rolled to the side, grabbing the cage for leverage and kicked out hard with his left leg, connecting with Kilroy’s right calf, knocking the enraged zombie to the mat. The Rookie pulled himself upright and continued to climb the cage wall, trying to get out of reach of the already recovered zombie as it rushed him again.
“FUCK ME!” he yelled, barley swinging his legs away from Kilroy’s grasp.
***
Jay caught the A1-59 auto pistol Masters tossed him just as his own clicked empty. Opening fire he dropped three more zombies as he tried to sidestep over to the bar.
Legit lifted a chair, smashing it down atop two zombies, crushing but not killing them. He grabbed another chair and swung it out in an arc, clearing away the zombies rushing him.
“A little help!” Legit screamed.
Jay hesitated briefly, but quickly opened fire, making a path for Legit to get to the bar.
“Clear! Move your ass!” Jay called out, slapping the fresh magazine home Masters handed him.
***
“FUCK OFF!” the Rookie screamed, kicking the Kilroy zombie squarely in the face. The reanimated brawler stumbled back and roared.
The Rookie reached up and grabbed the top of the cage, swinging himself to the other side, careful to keep his legs out of Kilroy’s grasp.
Kilroy leapt several times, its one arm reaching and swinging for the Rookie, becoming more and more enraged with each miss.
The Rookie knew he couldn’t hang from the cage indefinitely and couldn’t expect assistance anytime soon. He swore he’d never die in the fight cage and he planned on keeping it that way.
***
“We may need to burn this place!” Masters yelled as Legit joined him and Jay behind the bar. “Is there a back exit?”
“No!” Legit answered.
“WHAT?!?” Jay yelled dropping nine more zombies, but dozens remained. “How the fuck’d you expect to get out if you were raided?”
“I don’t get raided!” Legit answered.
“Are you FUCKING KIDDING ME?!?”
“Doesn’t matter!” Masters hollered. “Keep firing!”
Legit pulled down a minigun and ammo. He clicked on the motor drive and began strafing the zombies with over a thousand rounds per minute. Those stupid enough to stay standing were vaporized. “How’s that?!?”
***
The Rookie dropped with his back against the cage wall. Kilroy charged. At the very last second, the Rookie dodged, rolled then leapt, kicking Kilroy’s head into the steel bars of the cage, wedging it tightly. The zombie roared and clawed at its neck, trying to free itself.
Not losing a moment, the Rookie leapt again, using the cage wall to launch himself back to the top. He took two swings then dropped his entire weight onto Kilroy’s shoulders. The zombie’s wedged head ripped from its body and stayed stuck between the bars. The body twitched, fell and was still.
***
The minigun jammed and Legit tossed it to the ground, replacing it with a dual-mag sub-machine gun. Masters and Jay continued to fire, desperately trying to whittle down the undead’s numbers.
“Hey! Over here you deader fucks!” the Rookie yelled, rattling the fight cage, trying to divert the zombies away from Masters and Jay. Legit could fuck off and die as far as he was concerned.
About 150 zombie patrons were left and more than half turned towards the cage. “Yeah! That’s right! Meat in a box! Come and get it!”
The zombies swarmed and the cage began to groan.
***
Legit ducked underneath the arsenal and pulled open a concealed drawer. He pulled out five small, flat boxes and set them upright on the bar.
“You are gonna want to get down Razor!” Legit yelled. Masters and Jay glanced at Legit, puzzled. “These go boom and shred. You’ll want to get down too.” Neither needed to be told twice and they ducked behind the bar.
Legit tapped five times on a small touch he grabbed with the boxes then winked at Jay and Masters.
“3…2…1!”
The Rookie flattened himself on the mat as the room exploded in fire.
***
“Holy fucking shit! I’ve wanted to shoot those fuckers off since I got them!” Legit whooped.
“Glad we could share the experience,” Jay said sarcastically. “How about we skip the encore and get the fuck out of here?”
Masters peered over the bar. “Clear.”
The three stood and surveyed the scene. Shredded, smoldering bodies were everywhere. Some still moved, but none seemed capable of any attack.
“I’ve got the stragglers,” Masters said as he vaulted the bar and immediately set to work putting down the zombies that hadn’t been destroyed by the blast.
“OPEN THE FUCKING CAGE!” the Rookie bellowed.
***
The cage door clicked open and the Rookie shoved against it, exited and immediately stepped up to Legit, grabbed him by the back of the head and brought Legit’s face to his rising knee, shattering his nose.
Legit stumbled back, tripped over the zombie corpses and fell hard. “What the FUCK?!?”
“You call me Razor again and I’ll feed you your balls,” the Rookie growled, walking to the only door in or out. “What’s the fucking code?”
Before Legit could answer, a loud pounding from the other side of the door echoed through the room.
“UDC Security! Open up immediately!”
***
“That sounds like your friend Rodriguez,” Legit said, winking at Masters.
“Stop winking at me asshole,” Masters replied, moving to the other side of the room as he loaded shells into a pump-action shotgun. The Rookie and Jay armed themselves also and joined Masters, putting distance between themselves and the door.
“Y’all need to relax,” Legit laughed and keyed in the code. The door clicked open. “Rodriguez, my man, glad to-!” was all Legit was able to say before the back of his head exploded and Rodriguez kicked the door all the way open, his matte black 9mm still smoking.
***
Six more UDC security officers, weapons drawn, followed Rodriguez into the room and surveyed the scene. The pilots didn’t move a muscle, their own weapons raised.
One of the security officers caught sight of the three and his head cocked to an unnatural angle. “Masters, Mitchell, Mech Pilot. Rind, Jay, Chief Mechanic. Both listed for termination. Third human does not exist. Termination order authorized.” The seven officers raised their weapons in unison.
“What the fuck…?” Masters muttered.
The Rookie didn’t wait to find out and started firing first, racing to the cover of the bar. Masters and Jay followed suit.
Chapter Five
Part One- Death & Undeath
“How are they doing?” Capreze asked Themopolous while she checked monitor readings from the UDC troops.
“We have maybe an hour, possibly two before they are conscious,” Themopolous answered. “What are you going to do when they do wake up?”
“Reason with them, or specifically the Sergeant Major,” Capreze answered, brow furrowed.
“Will he listen?”
“No, but I have to try.”
“Commander?” Jethro called over the com.
“Go ahead, Jethro.”
“We just had a spike in the communication system. Something is trying to crack my jamming and get through. I’m fighting it, but it’s fighting back.”
“I’ll be right there.”
***
Well, this just sucks, Mathew thought as he dealt with the isolation of being cut off from base communications.
He also grew frustrated with the slow progress he was making, having to stay close to the mesas and hills in order to keep a low profile.
Not that a 50-ton war
machine could ever keep a low profile, but at least he wasn’t an open target.
An open target for what also bothered him. Just a few days ago life, while not safe and secure, was at least routine.
Patrol time, base time, Rachel time. It all ran like clockwork.
***
June wanted to die.
The Boss had appetites, beyond just cannibalism, and June’s body had paid the price.
The pain was so bad that she truly believed her soul was bleeding.
When he came back and undid the straps and restraints, June stayed very still, waiting for the down side.
“Go clean up,” he muttered, sounding drunk. “You stink.”
She heard him shuffle away, but didn’t hear the door close. June attempted to push her self up, but the pain was too much and she cried out.
“Let me help,” the Boss’s mother said as she hobbled through the door.
***
“What you got for me, Jethro?” Capreze asked, entering the control room.
“I honestly don’t know. I’ve never seen anything like this before,” Jethro responded, tapping away at three separate tablets while monitoring two vid screens. “This is not normal UDC programming, nor is it modified. This is brand new shit.”
“What’s it trying to do?”
“If I’m reading this right, and I may not be, it’s trying to get a command through our jam.”
“What kind of command?”
“Not a clue, but considering how malicious this program is, I don’t think we want to know.”
“Well, keep at it.”
***
“There’re only six of them. We can take ‘em!” Masters cried. Bottles exploded above his, Jay’s and the Rookie’s head as they used the bar for cover.
“Not with that combat armor they have!” Jay yelled back.
“Screw this!” the Rookie said, seeing a box of grenades amongst Legit’s other armaments. The Rookie grabbed three grenades and handed one each to Masters and Jay. They each pulled the pin and hurled them over the bar into the fight room.
Within five seconds all three detonated and bits of debris, zombie parts and UDC security personnel uniforms, showered down on them.
***
June, with help, stepped into the night air. “Thank you.”
“Of course, dear,” the old woman said.
“I’m Ju- Um, Rachel.”
“I’m Olivia.”
The two stayed silent as they walked over to a water trough. June shivered as she removed the blanket Olivia had wrapped about her. Olivia pulled a stool close to the trough and motioned for June to do the same.
“It’s hard for me to stand for long,” Olivia said, pulling up her long, dingy skirt to show June the prosthetic feet attached to her lower legs. “They get me around, but aren’t exactly built for comfort.”
***
“This is not good, this is not good, this is not good,” Jethro muttered while frantically trying to defend against the jamming breach. “Shit shit shit shit SHIT!”
Jethro typed so hard on the three tablets before him that blisters began to form on his fingertips. He stared at the two vid screens, watching line upon line of foreign code stream by. With every programming defense he put in place, the intruding software created a counter offense.
“No! You will not fucking-!” The last words were choked from him as searing pain engulfed the back of his head.
Jethro collapsed.
***
Harlow stared in horror as each UDC trooper, Steve and Dr. Themopolous began to convulse.
“Doctor!” Harlow yelled, running to Themopolous’ side.
“My… head! Reaper…chip…” Themopolous croaked, trying to fight the agony. “Cut it out!”
Harlow lifted Themopolous onto a bed and flipped her onto her stomach. Grabbing a pair of scissors she cut Themopolous’ clothes down the back and tore them away, exposing the doctor’s neck and back.
Harlow splashed antiseptic across the base of Themopolous’ skull, grabbed a scalpel and probed for the right spot with her fingers.
Finding it, she said a silent prayer and cut.
***
Masters wiped gore from his uniform, flicking bits of flesh off his hands while the Rookie and Jay surveyed the room.
A UDC officer twitched, tried sitting up, but was hindered by the lack of a lower half. Viscera spilled onto the floor from its ripped open torso. The officer bared its bloody teeth as the Rookie approached, pistol trained on the thing’s head.
“Masters! Looks like your buddy is still kicking,” the Rookie called out, staring down at the ravaged form of Rodriguez. “He’s full on deader.”
“Put him down,” Masters called back.
The Rookie took aim and fired.
***
June winced as Olivia carefully wiped at her skin with a wet cloth.
“Sorry. I’ll try to be little more gentle,” Olivia apologized.
“Don’t worry about me. I’ve been through worse,” June responded.
Olivia eyed June carefully, taking in her battered face and throat; the lacerations and cuts across her breasts and stomach; the bruising on her exposed pelvis and thighs. “Really, dear?”
June fought back the tears, her breath catching in her chest. “No,” she whispered.
Olivia kept wiping, dipping and wringing out the rag after it became too soiled. “I wish I could say it won’t get worse.”
***
Jethro fought through the debilitating pain, reached up from the floor and slammed his hand down on his console. Instantly the torture stopped and Jethro collapsed back to the floor, his chest heaving and blood trickling from his ears and nose.
He could hear foot falls outside the control room, but didn’t have the strength to focus.
“Jethro! Jeezus fuck!” Rachel yelled, kneeling next to the stricken mechanic. “Doc! Jethro has collapsed and is bleeding badly! I need assistance immediately!” Rachel’s com crackled with static, but there was no response. “Doc!”
“Don’t bother,” Jethro whispered. “I shut it all down.”
***
Only a few feet from where June and Olivia sat stood the pen the deformed children were kept in. June tried to ignore the sleeping forms, but her eyes were drawn back again and again. Olivia followed June’s gaze as she applied some potent and pungent salve to the worst of June’s wounds.
“You don’t want to know,” Olivia sighed. “But, if the Boss doesn’t kill you, I guess you’ll find out anyway.”
June waited for Olivia to continue, but spoke up when she didn’t. “Find out what?”
“What’s in the stew,” Olivia whispered.
June’s eyes went wide with shock.
***
Themopolous went still just as Harlow pulled the Reaper chip from the back of her skull. Blood poured from the wound, soaking the table and Harlow quickly packed the wound with gauze and antiseptic.
“Doc? Doc, can you hear me?” Harlow asked, tossing the Reaper chip onto a nearby tray.
Themopolous groaned slightly and Harlow took that as a good sign. She patted the doctor on the back. “I have to check the others. Just stay still.” Themopolous groaned again.
As Harlow approached the UDC troops she could easily see that half of them weren’t breathing anymore.
“Shit,” Harlow exclaimed.
***
“You cook…children?” June exclaimed.
“Only the inbred and deformed,” Olivia answered. “It’s how we survive.”
June shook her head in disbelief. “But they’re children!”
“Most don’t survive past three or four years anyway. We’ve figured out which afflictions are the worst and plan accordingly.” Olivia lifted her eyes and looked June square in the face. “We have to eat. Out here in the waste, our options are limited.”
“What do you mean by ‘plan accordingly’?”
Olivia set the salve aside. “We keep careful records. We cro
ss-breed to keep our numbers up and we inbreed to keep our…stocks up.”
***
Jethro tried to sit, but Rachel pushed him gently back. “Don’t try to move.”
“I don’t have a choice,” Jethro grunted, slapping Rachel’s hands away. “Get me up. We don’t have much time.”
“I thought you shut it off.”
“Shutting off the com system only delays the signal. It can’t piggyback on our system. But that signal was strong. All it will need is a power boost and it will get here on its own. I have to repair the jam before whoever is sending dials it up a notch.”
Rachel helped Jethro to his chair. “I’ll get the Doc.”
***
“Don’t you dare judge!” Olivia hissed. “Unless you’ve lived your life on the brink of starvation out in the middle of Hell itself then you have no place telling folks how to live their lives!”
June’s eyes misted over and she fought another wave of tears. “But, they’re just children.”
“Tasty, too,” Chunks grunted from behind the two women. He raised a blackened limb to his mouth and tore a piece of the flesh away, smacking his lips greedily. “Tender. Not full of those gamey hormones.”
June’s stomach rebelled and she vomited what little food she had eaten.
Chunks laughed.
***
“Okay, tech man, tell me how a room full of people, all with Reaper chips, fry and then still come back as zombies?” Masters asked Jay while he loaded a duffel with weapons and ammo. “And why a group of UDC officers, who I assume were dead when they came in here, were talking, walking and shooting?”
“Not a fucking clue,” Jay said poking one of the UDC officers with his foot. The thing’s eyes opened and Jay instantly put a bullet in its head. “Whatever caused this has changed the entire game.”
“You guys hear that?” the Rookie asked.
***
Rachel rounded the corner to the infirmary and nearly collided with her father.
“The com’s down,” Capreze said.
“Yeah, Jethro cut the power. Whatever signal is trying to get in almost succeeded and nearly cooked Jethro’s brain.”
Capreze stepped aside and gestured for Rachel to continue to the infirmary. Both were just feet from the door when gunfire erupted. The Caprezes burst into the infirmary, side arms drawn.
