by Jake Bible
Harlow moved with practiced efficiency, her blades leaving dismembered corpses in her wake.
She ducked easily under and around the knives flying at her and laughed. “You keep throwing away your weapons. Not really the smartest tactic.”
One Skinner had managed to get to the carbines and reassemble one. He brought the gun to his shoulder, but the long blade that pierced his brain prevented him from taking aim. Harlow ran and rolled to the corpse, retrieving her weapon. “See! I took mine back.”
The Skinners now gave her a wide berth.
***
“We’re just going to leave them out there?” Themopolous cried.
“Yes!” Jethro answered. “They’re big kids and can take care of themselves. I need to focus on the base. You need to focus on Two.”
“What?!? I don’t know how to operate a mini-mech!”
Jethro grabbed the Doctor’s hands and placed one on the joystick, the other on the weapons console. “Left, right, forward, back. RPGs, 50mm, flame. Don’t hit the capped red button.”
“Why?”
“It makes everything go boom at once. We don’t want to do that yet.”
“Yet?!?” she exclaimed.
“Yeah, yet,” Jethro responded. “Now, here’s the mic.”
***
“Um, ahem, attention mech base. Please put down all weapons and surrender immediately,” Themopolous’s voice boomed from Two’s loudspeaker. “This is your only warning.”
The Boss, about to deliver the killing blow to June, stopped and looked around. “What the fuck, Archie? Your people playing some joke?”
The Archbishop stood, enraged. “Who dares interrupt? I will have your guts on a spit and force feed them to you!”
The Boss laughed. “Now you’re talkin’!”
Two took a step forward and all eyes fell on the mini-mech. Through swollen eyes, June watched Two raise its guns and she covered her head.
***
The Boss looked from June to the mini-mech and back again. He didn’t waste a second and dropped to the floor just as Themopolous let loose with Two’s 50mms. The gunfire was deafening and the screams of the Ranchers could barely be heard over the percussions, as there bodies were ripped to shreds.
The Archbishop dove behind his chair, but the gaudy piece of furniture was no match for the large caliber slugs. His body shook and writhed as round after round pierced him. He lay twitching as his blood pooled with the other Ranchers’ blood upon the hangar floor.
***
The sound of gunfire echoed down the mech base’s halls and into the control room.
“Get me a visual on the hangar now!” Reverend Heath yelled.
“I can’t, sir,” a Rancher tech responded. “I’m locked out!”
“What?!?” the Reverend exclaimed, shoving the tech out of the way. “Move!”
Heath typed at the tablet, cursing. “By the True Disciple! I won’t let this system be hijacked!”
“Should I check the hangar, sir?” the tech asked.
“If you want to be filled with lead, then be my guest. Those gunshots aren’t from our Believers.”
“But, the Archbishop?”
“He’s in God’s hands now.”
***
“Someone’s got fast fingers,” Jethro said, fighting to keep control of the mech base’s systems. “Mine are faster. How’s our girl doing?”
Jethro kept typing, but when Themopolous didn’t respond he risked a glance her way. The doctor sat stunned, her eyes dazed and brimming with tears.
“Doc? You with me?” Jethro asked concerned.
Themopolous turned her head slowly to look at Jethro. “I killed them, Jethro. I killed them all.”
“Good job, Doc. Now pull it together. Can you see June?”
Themopolous returned to her attention to Two’s vid feed. “She’s moving.”
“Good. Kill anything that comes at her.”
***
The Boss listened for movement in the silence, but only heard the low moans of the Rancher wounded. Satisfied, he sat up glancing around at the destruction. “Whoowee! Now that was something!” He whistled appreciatively, but the whistle was quickly turned into a cry of pain. Agony erupted from his crotch as June’s hand clamped down.
“My turn,” June croaked, squeezing as hard as she could.
The Boss screamed shrilly and, despite his tolerance, passed out from the pain as one of his testicles burst in his scrotum.
June got to her feet and spit on the now unconscious Boiler.
***
“You’re very talented.” Reverend Heath heard Jethro’s voice boom over the loudspeaker in the control room. “But, you’re in my house, bitch.”
“Go to Hell,” the Reverend cried out.
“Hey, that’s my line,” Jethro laughed. “Bye bye now.”
Reverend Heath watched in horror as all vid screens went blank and the room’s door started to shut. He leapt to his feet, but was a second too late as he heard the door latch securely.
Air started to pump from the vents. Hot air.
“It’s about to get very uncomfortable, especially when the temp in there hits over 200,” Jethro taunted.
***
Ranchers across the base watched, confused as they were systematically sealed into whatever room they were unlucky enough to be in at the moment. Jethro remotely cranked the heat in each room, sending the Ranchers to a slow, painful demise.
He brought up the hangar’s vid feed. “Hey there Juney girl.”
He watched June turn about. “Jethro?”
“Yep,” Jethro answered. “Listen, I’m setting the base’s self-destruct. The barracks are clear. Get yourself geared up and get outside. There’s a Railer train heading your way in minutes. Jay, Masters and the Rookie are with it. Get the Hell out of there.”
***
Capreze hadn’t been in combat in years and he was thankful for regular training and workouts as his muscle memory took over. He had his pistol out before he came out of the roll and had dropped two Skinners by the time he was on his feet and running for cover. He wasn’t Bisby or Harlow, dodging and catching knives wasn’t really an option at his age.
He flipped a camp table over in time to hear the thunk-thunk of two knives embedding themselves in the plastic.
“Get out of here!” Capreze yelled into his com.
“No doin’!” Jethro responded.
***
June slammed the stray Rancher into the wall, crushing his nose instantly. She snapped his neck before he had time to cry out.
“How many more are out and about?” she yelled, knowing Jethro was listening.
“Three more, but other side of the base,” Jethro responded isolating the loudspeaker in the barracks as she burst through the door.
She kicked open her locker and grabbed a uniform, yanking it on over her battered body. Dashing to Bisby’s bunk she tossed the pillow aside, grabbing up the 9mm he had stashed underneath. She checked that the clip was full and left.
***
“Jethro, you need to check the vid feeds and find the boy!” she yelled running down the hall.
“Boy? Did you not hear me when I said the train would be there in minutes? Screw the boy! Get the fuck out of there!” Jethro responded.
June came to a halt in the middle of the hall and turned angrily to the nearest vid camera. “Jethro, so help me God, if you don’t find him I will personally make sure you shit in a bag the rest of your life!”
There was silence for a moment. “Capreze’s quarters,” Jethro said finally.
***
“We’ve got to get to the mechs!” Rachel yelled, joining her father behind the camp table, pumping shells into the shotgun. “If more show up we’re fucked!”
“I know!” Capreze said, firing six shots around the side of the table. Four found their mark and more Skinners fell. “But those assholes know that also and are blocking our way.”
Rachel stood suddenly, blasting
away with the shotgun until it was empty then dove over the table. She came up swinging the shotgun like a club and beat Skinner after Skinner as she dashed to her mech.
Capreze grinned with pride.
***
“MOTHER FUCKERS!!!” Bisby shouted, taking his rage out on the nearest Skinner, nearly sending his fist completely through the man’s skull. He shoved the corpse to the ground and whirled in time to block a kick aimed for his face. He grabbed the attacker by the leg and brought his elbow down on the man’s knee, shattering it.
He felt the first blade nick his side and another embed in his thigh. Then a pain greater than anything filled his head and he realized his left arm was no longer there.
Clutching at his stump of a shoulder, Bisby fell.
***
Harlow and Rachel saw Bisby fall at the same time.
“I’ve got him!” Harlow yelled. “Get in your mech!”
Rachel nodded, ducking under a knife swipe, coming up, burying the empty shotgun into the soft underside of the Skinner’s chin, jamming the barrel up through the roof of the man’s mouth and into his brain. She shouldered him aside and leapt onto her mech’s leg, clawing hand over hand until she was in her cockpit.
She didn’t bother to strap in, immediately setting to work powering up the machine and readying weapons.
“You’re all going to die!” she cried out.
***
Capreze’s office was like a bake oven as June rushed inside and lifted the boy into her arms. He was burning up and limp, but still breathing.
“How much time do I have?” June yelled.
“None! You need to be on the platform now! One of the mechs will grab you up!” Jethro responded. He happened to glance at the hangar vid feed and blanched. “Oh, fuck…”
“What?” June asked, running down the hall. “Jethro? What’s wrong?”
Jethro watched the undead UDC troops rise and the Rancher corpses become what they worshipped in life: zombies.
“Control tower! Now!” Jethro ordered.
***
“Well ain’t that a sight for sore eyes,” Jay exclaimed as the mech base came into sight.
“No shit, my man,” Masters agreed. “I wish we could stop for a shower and a shave, but duty calls! Smashing duty!”
“Hey Masters!” Jethro interrupted. “Can your mech reach the top of the control tower?”
“My fucking mech can see into the fucking control tower. Why?”
“Change of plans. June’s coming out that way.”
“Huh? Why not out the… front… door…” Masters trailed off as UDC troops emerged from the smashed front of the hangar and began to load into transports. “Oh.”
***
One, two, three, four, five.
The Skinners fell under Harlow’s blades, the steel slicing through flesh and bone like soft butter.
To the casual observer, Harlow’s face would have looked blank, almost calm, but inside a homicidal fire burned brighter and brighter as she fought her way to Bisby, seeing her friend’s life pulsing from what used to be his left arm.
Six, seven, eight, nine, ten.
They continued to fall. Without realizing it, Harlow began hacking the left arms off of everyone in her way, her subconscious finding an outlet to keep her centered, to keep her from breaking.
***
June felt her legs beginning to give as she took the control tower steps two at a time. She was amazed her body hadn’t given out yet, after the days of abuse it had suffered.
The sound of boots hitting the steps below echoed up the stairwell.
“Jethro! Talk to me!” she called out.
“About a dozen fully armed UDC troops are on your ass!” the mechanic responded.
“Troops? Didn’t their Reaper chips fry their brains when they went down in the hangar?!?”
“Right, you’ve been outta the loop. Yeah, their brains regenerate now. Sorry.”
“Are you fucking shitting me?!?”
***
Harlow heard Rachel’s mech open fire as she gutted and decapitated the last two Skinners in her way.
Dropping her long blades, she knelt and ripped the sleeves from her uniform, using the material to apply pressure to Bisby’s wound.
“Hey there, pretty lady,” Bisby whispered through ashen lips. “I think I cut myself shaving.”
Harlow grinned despite the tears streaming down her face. “Shut up, idiot. Save your strength.”
“You know, I’m sorry,” Bisby continued weakly.
“For what?”
“For busting your balls all these years. I was just jealous you’re a better warrior.”
“Shhhh,” she said choking back sobs.
***
“Great time to try the new sonic disc!” Jay hollered over the com.
The Rookie watched the UDC transports swing about and head straight for the mechs and Railer train. “Yeah, kinda agree with you there.” The Rookie turned to Marin. “Is it powered up?”
“Ready to go, but it takes a minute or two between pulses so make the first one count.”
As the transports rolled into range, the Rookie held his breath and engaged the disc.
A high pitched whine sounded then everyone in the train felt a pressure behind their eyes and like that, it was over.
***
The Boss felt hands grab him and he came to immediately, wasteland instinct overriding the sickening pain in his crotch.
Without looking or thinking he lashed out, knocking the hands away. The resulting hiss and growl told his foggy brain what he was up against.
He pushed himself to his feet and came face to face with the Archbishop. The fourteen year old boy snarled and bared fangs hungry for the Boss’s flesh.
The Boss kicked out, knocking the robed zombie away, but he instantly wished he hadn’t as the pain from his crushed testicle brought him to his knees.
***
June made it to the top of the old control tower and set the boy down. She grabbed up a chair and threw it with all of her strength against the windows. It bounced harmlessly off, clattering to the floor.
“Shit!” June yelled. “Jethro! The windows are blast proof! We’re fucking stuck!”
“Umm, okay, I didn’t think of that,” Jethro responded. “Sorry.”
“Sorry? I will skull fuck you with your goddamn sorry!”
“Whoa, whoa, whoa! Calm down! There’s roof access in the utility closet behind you,” Jethro said.
June picked the boy up again, straining considerably under the child’s weight.
***
The Boss watched helplessly, incapacitated by pain, as the last UDC troops streamed from the hangar and he was left alone with the undead Ranchers.
“Bring it, fuckers,” he grunted.
The Archbishop and the others began to lunge, but froze almost immediately as a high pitched whining filled the air. The Boss felt the beginnings of a headache and then it was gone and each of the Rancher zombies fell to their knees. The Boss barely had time to cover his head with his arms as the zombies’ heads exploded, spraying the hangar with grey-red goo and bits of bone.
***
“Fuck!” Jay shouted. “It didn’t work on the UDC troops!”
“What the hell are you talking about, Rind?” Marin asked. “The transports have stopped and the ground troopers are down.”
“But their heads should have exploded,” Jay insisted. “The nanotech must have altered their brains just enough so the frequency incapacitates them, but doesn’t make ‘em go pop.”
“So fucking what?” Masters joined in. “Down is fucking down.”
Masters/Stomper began to crush the transports under their feet then stepped past, grinding the exposed troops into the dirt. “See?”
“Yeah, I guess,” Jay sulked. “But I wanted the heads to pop.”
***
June collapsed upon the control tower roof, the boy draped across her, clinging to her. “Holy fucking shit,�
� she gasped. “I can’t move another muscle.”
“Well, you better, ‘cause her comes the cavalry!” Master shouted. The tower shook with each massive footstep Stomper took.
June’s eyes went wide at the site of the Hill Stomper reaching a giant fist up to the roof. The boy shook with fear and June held him close. “Don’t worry, baby, the good guys are here.”
It took all her strength but she managed to carry the boy over and climb aboard the offered hand.
***
Jay kept his eyes on the UDC deaders that Masters hadn’t crushed. Some were already beginning to stir.
“Fuck,” Jay swore. “Minutes. It only gives us minutes.”
“It’s fucking better than nothing,” the Rookie said. “If we can slow them down long enough to blast them to Hell then I call it a win.”
Jay shook his head, eyeing the now upright troops. He aimed his plasma cannon and fired, obliterating the deaders in a blast of fiery red. “Yeah, I guess.”
“Oh, come on Rind, you old grouch!” Marin scolded. “Stop being such a perfectionist. The fucking disc works!”
***
“Jethro! Open the ramp now goddamit!” Themopolous shouted. “Bisby’s down!”
“What?!?” Jethro turned his attention from the mech base feeds and slammed his hand on the ramp controls.
Grabbing her med kit, the Doctor sprinted from the transport and was at Bisby’s side immediately.
“Hey Doc,” Bisby whispered. “I think I cut myself shaving.”
“You already used that one, Biz,” Harlow soothed, her pleading eyes meeting Themopolous’.
“Yeah, but… it’s pretty… fucking funny,” Bisby stuttered weakly.
“It is, Biz. It is,” Themopolous played along, pulling the make shift bandages away. Blood squirted from the open wound, making the Doctor wince.
***
Rachel systematically went from Skinner to Skinner and stomped them into pulp. The corpses she couldn’t get to, the ones too close to the transport or the mech personnel, were finished off by the Commander as he put two bullets in each of their skulls.
“I think we got them all, Baby Girl,” Capreze said over the com. “Stay up there though in case there’s another wave. Don’t forget we have thousands of these fuckers below us.”
“You think they’ll attack?’ Rachel asked concerned.
