by Jake Bible
***
Harlow barreled down on the Archbishop’s transport. She was surprised he hadn’t altered his course away from the dead mech, but then, if he was smart, he’d turn away at the last second, letting the deader get as close to her as possible, knowing the thing would change it’s focus and come at her.
A few more yards and Harlow was proven correct as the transport swerved, leaving nothing but open space between the two behemoths.
Harlow tried to launch her plasma charges, but nothing happened. Her console told her the grenade blasts had shorted all weapons.
“Shit,” she cursed.
***
“Jethro? Jethro!” the Doctor screamed, rushing to the collapsed mechanic’s side. “Oh, dear God.”
She carefully lifted his head off the control console and gasped. Blood was dripping from his nose and both ears. “Jethro? Can you hear me?”
“I don’t feel too good,” he whispered. “I smell fruit. Is that good?”
“No, Jethro, that’s not good,” she answered.
Themopolous helped Jethro out of his wheelchair and onto the floor of the transport. She checked his pulse and pupil dilation, happy with neither result. A shudder made her fall back and she quickly realized no one was driving the transport.
***
“Looks like you and I are gonna have to duke this out,” Harlow said aloud, watching the dead mech charge. She stopped and planted her feet, arms up and ready.
The dead mech roared and Harlow shivered at the inhuman sound coming from the deader’s loudspeaker.
Ten steps, six, four and Harlow spun, letting the dead mech fly by. She planted a roundhouse kick directly into the deader’s back, sending the machine sprawling. The impact shook her mech, but she didn’t hesitate, springing into action.
She brought her fist down, but only hit dirt as the dead mech rolled away.
***
Themopolous took the drivers seat and stared helplessly at the transport’s controls. “Jethro, I don’t know what to do,” she cried.
“Eat the butterflies. They taste like rocks and axle grease. Rich in healthy vitamins,” Jethro said, deliriously.
She tapped the com. “Hello? Commander? Rachel? Anyone? Help! Jethro’s down and I don’t know how to drive this fucking thing!”
“Doctor? This is Capreze. What’s your situation?”
Themopolous glanced out the windshield and nearly pissed herself. “Oh, God! I think I’m heading straight for a canyon! Please help!”
“Okay! Stay calm! Do you see the control stick?”
“Yes!”
“Good! Grab it!”
***
Capreze watched Rachel take on the last Rancher transport. “You got this, Baby Girl?!?”
“Yeah, Papa Bear! You help them!”
“Okay. Doctor? You with me?”
“Yes, Commander,” Themopolous responded over the com.
“Okay, I want you to yank back on the control stick. This will slow you down.”
“Okay. We’re slowing, but not much.”
“Now you are going to need to hit the emergency braking system. Whatever you do, do not turn the transport once you hit the brakes or you’ll flip the thing.”
“Gotcha! Where are the brakes?”
“E brake is the large black and yellow button. Hit it.”
***
Themopolous slammed her palm on the emergency brake button and the transport groaned and protested as all wheels locked up at once. She watched in horror as the edge of the canyon got closer and closer with every passing second. She closed her eyes and screamed.
She felt a bump and a lurch then stillness.
“Doctor? Doc! Answer me!” Capreze yelled over the com.
Calming herself down, she opened one then both eyes. All she could see was empty space leading to the other side of the canyon. She checked her vid feeds and then she really did pee herself.
***
The deader kicked out, connecting with Harlow’s left knee, knocking her mech to the ground. Warnings blared and she saw her already weakened hydraulics system red line.
“Fuck!” she swore, but had no time for anything else as the dead mech lashed out with its other leg, slamming its giant foot into Harlow’s mid-section. Her mech toppled back and nearly every alarm the mech had went off.
“Oh no…” Her face turned white. The plasma charges she had tried to launch earlier were now armed and ready. But, the deployment hatches were not opening. She pounded at the controls desperately.
***
“Doctor! You’re on my scope and I’m heading your way,” Capreze called.
“That’s a very good thing, Commander, because while the transport did stop, I don’t think all of it is on the ground,” Themopolous responded. “Please hurry.”
“I’m just a few minutes off. Hold tight.”
Themopolous chuckled nervously. “Not a problem.” She gripped her seat with all her strength, her knuckles cracking from the strain. The transport wobbled up and down slightly as an updraft from the canyon caught the front end hanging over the edge.
“I hate the wasteland,” Themopolous whispered.
“I like cheese,” Jethro whispered in return.
***
Harlow brought her arm up and blocked the dead mech’s attack. She could see the zombie pilot inside its cockpit and the thing looked well fed. “Fucking great, it’s a natural killer.”
Harlow rolled to the side, and kept rolling, trying to put as much space between her and the deader. More alarms added to the cacophony. “Fucking now what?!?” she shouted. Her scanner warned her of a sheer drop off, fifty yards away. She stopped her roll and pushed her mech to its unsteady feet. “That information I can actually use.”
She backed towards the drop, setting her trap.
***
“Okay, okay, I can do this,” Themoplous said over and over as she slowly got up and carefully kneeled next to Jethro, very aware that any extra movement could send the transport plummeting to the canyon floor.
“Hey there Teddy Bear,” Jethro said, reaching up to stroke Themopolous’ face. “Can I have some candy now?”
The doctor took Jethro’s hand in hers and held it tight. “No candy right now, mechanic. Just rest.”
Jethro narrowed his eyes menacingly. “No candy? Who ate all the candy? Was it Bisby? Oh, that overgrown monkey!”
“Shhhh, Jethro. Quiet. Save your strength,” Themopolous soothed.
***
The deader came straight for Harlow. She knew she would need to time her move perfectly or the dead mech would catch on and stop before going over the edge. All alarms ceased except for one: the detonation warning. Her systems were so messed up that the armed plasma charges were about to explode on their own.
“That throws a fucking wrinkle in things,” she grunted grabbing her pack, long blades and carbine. Harlow strapped everything on and popped the cockpit, ever aware of the deader only yards away. She tossed a safety line out of the cockpit and repelled.
***
Capreze dove for the transport, its front end finally tipping the balance. His mech’s metal fingers gripped the transport’s shell, crushing the frame slightly. He dug his feet in and leaned back, bringing the vehicle back from the edge. Slowly, mindful he had wounded personnel inside, the Commander backed away from the canyon, bringing all of the transport’s wheels on to solid ground.
“You okay in there, Doc?” he asked.
“Yes, Commander, thank you,” Themopolous responded. “But, Jethro is in pretty bad shape. I need time to do a full work up on him.”
“I can’t guarantee that time, Doctor.”
***
Harlow let go of the safety line, dropping the remaining twenty feet to the ground. Her knees protested and a sharp pain shot up her leg. She got to her feet shakily and knew from experience nothing was broken or sprained and she could walk off the injury. Or run off the injury as the ground shuddered with the dead mech’s a
pproach.
She turned to escape, but was tripped up by the slack of safety line pooled upon the ground. “Nonononononononononononono!” she yelled, trying desperately to free her tangled feet as the deader hit her mech at a full run.
***
“Rachel, I want you on me. We need to stay together,” Capreze ordered over the com.
“Hold on! I think I have a reading on Harlow’s mech,” Rachel responded. “What the fuck?”
“What? What did you find?” Capreze asked.
“She’s gone. One second there, now she’s not. It almost looked like a second mech was with her, but I didn’t have time to assess the readings fully.”
Capreze thought for a moment. “Go find her, Baby Girl.”
“I’m on it, Papa Bear.”
Rachel turned her mech and ran towards the coordinates of the last reading hoping she’d find Harlow alive.
***
Harlow reached for her knife, but it was too late as the slack line became taught and she was dragged unbelievably fast towards the cliff edge. She clawed at the dirt, trying to find purchase, but her fingers only came away with loose bits of rock and several bent finger nails. She screamed aloud as her right leg popped loose from its hip socket and a new agony overtook her.
Within seconds, though, the pain left her mind and she found herself in empty space, falling towards the two mechs that had just impacted on the ground far below her.
***
“What are we looking at, Doc? Is Jethro going to make it?” Capreze asked, keeping watch in his mech.
“I think he’ll live, but his brain is deteriorating fast. It has to be damage from the reaper chip attack. I can keep him stable, but unless I get him hooked up to some real medical equipment, I’m afraid he’s going to quickly become a vegetable,” Themopolous responded.
“How long?” Capeze asked.
“My best guess? And it’s just that, a guess. Maybe a day.”
Capreze sighed. “Do what you can to make him comfortable.”
“I’m already ahead of you on that.”
***
Harlow’s body shook uncontrollably, racked with pain. She hung, upside down, her dislocated leg still tangled in the safety line, which was in turn caught on a rock outcropping above her. Below her, maybe 100 feet, she could see smoke and fire billowing from the wreckage of the mechs.
She gritted her teeth and tried to focus, to scan her surroundings, but the pain from her leg and the blood rushing to her head made it hard to think.
To her right, she could see a shadow on the cliff wall: a cave.
“This is gonna fucking hurt,” she croaked.
***
Shrieking, fiery pain pounding at her leg, Harlow swung herself back and forth. It took all of her strength to stay conscious, but she kept on until her body was swinging past the small cave opening. She unsheathed one of her long blades and hoped she had built up enough momentum to get her into the cave.
She counted three then slashed at the safety line. For a moment she felt the relief of freedom as she was airborne. But, the relief vanished as only half her body fell into the cave, the other half dangling 100 feet above ground.
***
Harlow tried to center her breathing as she kicked her left leg up over the lip of the cave mouth. Her right leg, useless and hanging like dead weight, bumped the cliff wall and she gasped.
Harlow focused on the pain, turning it about, using it to drive her on. “I’m no fucking waster piece of shit! I’m a Goddamn mech pilot! I eat pain, I shit pain, I fuck pain!”
She gripped the cave lip with her left thigh and pushed, lifting her enough to reach out and grasp a handhold on the cave wall, and pulled herself inside.
***
“Holy God,” Rachel muttered, as her mech stood at the edge of the drop, looking at the two demolished mechs below. “Harlow! Harlow! Can you hear me?” she bellowed over her loudspeaker.
No sooner had the words left her mouth than the plasma charges detonated, sending a flaming ball of metal and debris hundreds of feet in the air.
Rachel leapt her mech back as fiery bits of shrapnel roared up the cliff face right at her. She stood there, stunned, not wanting to believe what she had just witnessed.
“Hey Papa Bear? I found Harlow’s mech. It’s not good.”
Part Two- Sorrow & Harlow
“Holy shit! Will you look at the carnage!” Masters said, surveying the scorched and smoldering battlefield as the giant mech walked away from the Railer train towards the other mechs and the transport. “You doing okay, Rache?”
“Yeah, Mitch, I’m fine,” she answered quietly.
“What’s up? Where’s my hottie?”
“Let’s talk, Pilot Masters,” the Commander interrupted.
“Pilot Masters? What’d I do now? I thought bringing the cavalry would keep me out of hot water,” Masters said, gesturing towards Jay’s mech and the train a half mile back, sitting idle on the tracks. “Are you still mad about that insubordination thing?”
***
Capreze opened his cockpit, unstrapped and began to descend. “I need you out of your mech, Masters.”
“Will someone tell me what the fuck is going on?” Masters said irritated. “Where the fuck is Harlow?”
“We’ll talk about that on the ground, Pilot,” Capreze insisted. “Exit your cockpit now. That’s an order.”
Masters took a closer look at the destruction about him. He didn’t see signs of Harlow’s mech.
“There is smoke coming out of a canyon on our left,” Stomper observed.
Without a word, Masters/Stomper turned and clomped towards it.
“Pilot Masters! I gave you an order!” Capreze yelled.
***
“I’m sorry, Mitch,” Rachel said, walking her mech towards Masters as he loomed over the canyon, staring at the still burning wreckage below. “We lost communications with her. None of us even knew she was in trouble.”
“What do the scanners say?” he asked calmly.
“Too much interference,” Rachel answered. “I’m so sorry, Mitch.”
“She is correct,” Stomper said. “I have tried also.”
“So she’s dead because her com went down, huh?” Masters inquired menacingly, turning his back on the canyon and stomping back towards the mech transport. “Where the fuck is Jethro?”
“It’s not his fault, Mitch,” Rachel called.
***
“JETHRO!” Masters boomed over his loudspeaker. “GET YOUR WORTHLESS ASS OUT HERE!”
“Hello Masters, I’m glad you are in one piece,” Themopolous said over the com. “If you’ll check your vid feed you’ll see that Jethro is in no condition to go anywhere.”
“Fuck my vid feed! Get that piece of shit out here so I can stomp him to death!”
“Masters,” Stomper interrupted. “The mechanic is bleeding from orifices a human should not bleed from.”
Masters angrily looked at the screen. He stared for a moment then sighed. “What’s wrong with him, Doc?”
“His brain’s deteriorating,” Themopolous answered gravely.
***
“It was the Outsider, wasn’t it?” Masters asked, barely containing his rage.
“It was the broadcast signal to the Reaper chips that started it,” Themopolous asked. “So if this Outsider is in control of-“
Masters/Stomper didn’t wait for an answer. The giant mech burst into a run and was nearly a mile away before Capreze could protest. “Pilot Masters get you goddamn ass back here! Pilot Masters!” Only silence.
“He switched his com off,” Jay interrupted. “I’ve been monitoring. And don’t bother trying to catch him. That thing can cover some ground.” Jay cleared his throat. “Is Jethro really dying?”
***
“Yes, Jay. Jethro’s dying,” Themopolous said.
“Yeah, well, we didn’t sign up for this gig because of the generous vacation pay,” Jay joked weakly. “Let’s get you guys on the train
so we can get out of here.”
“I think we should slow down and think first,” Capreze said. “With the base gone we need to regroup.”
“Yeah, well, you can think while we move,” Jay responded. “‘Cause there’s a deader army heading this way.”
“How many?” the Commander asked.
“More than 100,000 easy,” Jay answered. “Hey, by the way Commander, where’s Biz? And why were you in his mech?”
***
“You’re sure the Outsider can’t detect us?” Mathew asked Shiner as they stood on a low ridge over looking the road leading up to the UDC stronghold. Three layers of fencing separated the road from an enormous mech sized steel door.
“We are invisible to its sensors,” Shiner responded. “However, we are not invisible to its vid.”
Mathew looked at the 200 yards or so of open ground between them and the stronghold entrance. “No way to really sneak up on them, huh?” he asked.
“Not that I can calculate,” Shiner said.
“What are the defenses?”
“Powerful, armed and ready.”
***
“What is it, Lieutenant?” Specialist Sol asked, creeping up next to the unit leader.
Lieutenant Nancy L. Murphy, UDC Special Ops Commander, lowered her binocs and turned to her 2nd in command. “Not sure. I couldn’t get a good look at the pilot. Looks like a deader, but it’s not acting like one.”
“It’s not on my scans,” Specialist Ngyuen added, joining the other two. “Whatever tech it’s using, its custom.”
Lieutenant Murphy thought for a moment. “If it’s a deader, we can take it. But, if its not, I don’t know. We’ve never taken on a live one before.”
***
“We are not alone,” Shiner stated. “The movement is faint, but there are others around us.”
“Live or dead?” Mathew asked assessing the sensors. “Those are weird readings.”
“I would say alive. Their movements are erratic, but I believe this is because they are utilizing some type of tech that is designed to confuse our sensors.”
“Kinda like our stealth tech?”
“No, not quite. We are invisible to scanners, they are visible, but only if you are looking for anomalies, which I am.”
