by Mark Clodi
“No, just the fuel car.” Draper said, breaking away from his radio for a moment.
“Still, a vest might come in handy, I say wear it. I'll even wear the helmet they gave me.”
“Maybe.” Stewart answered, still thinking it over to herself.
The train rolled on through the grassy hills of western Illinois, the sun rose in a smoky, humid haze to cast its fiery light upon early August corn and bean fields that would never be harvested.
Chapter 34
“How is our empire building going today?” asked Aubrey to Harry.
“About as planned, Ramey has the group out west under control, another couple of days and we can attack.”
The two of them were alone in a windowless conference room, which was lined in ornate wood paneling made from Honduran Mahogany. Aubrey had left a guard outside to make sure they were not disturbed.
“Father would be pleased.” she said.
Harry snorted and looked away, “What can we do about Sentry?”
“Careful.” Aubrey warned.
He waved his hands dismissively, “I don't think even his mind can be everywhere at once. He has the whole world to attend to, this is a limited risk.”
Aubrey nodded, but looked wary, “Nothing. We can't do anything. He is like an old Aztec god, bloodthirsty and powerful, only this deity actually gains more power as humans are sacrificed to him.”
Harry nodded and sat down along one side of the table, “It makes you wonder if this is the first time, doesn't it?”
“I've thought about that. I think Sentry must have modified an already existing mutation, one that wasn't so virulent, it would explain half of our myths and quite a few of the old gods. He did something...but what?”
Shrugging his shoulders Harry said, “With him, we will probably never know. He's got us good doesn't he? It makes me wonder if he planned it this way or just got lucky.” Harry was talking about the hierarchy of blood, earlier made zombies could control zombies they made and zombies their own zombies made, but Sentry had not made just one 'child' he had made many, so the various branches of children had less control over their nieces and nephews than their own child.
Aubrey moved around to the head of the table and sat herself down. “Like you said, we will probably never know. How are the troops in Chicago doing?”
“Well we've mopped up most of the sniper teams that were inserted yesterday, there may still be a couple around, but I bet by mid morning we will have them taken care of. There haven't been any more missile or artillery attacks in the last twelve hours, so my bet is that we got them all.”
“No more fly byes either. I guess they learned that we have the anti aircraft batteries well manned. That was a good move, by the way, raising the dead soldiers up to man the battery. “
Harry nodded his head slightly.
“Do we have a count on how many of our people are still in Chicago?”
“Oh, there are a hundred thousand or so left wandering around here for security. The place is empty compared to how many people used to be here. I sent all the zombies towards Iowa. You know, this shows that Sentry is not infallible, he missed the whole state.”
“There aren't that many people there. He missed Wyoming too.”
“That was planned.”
“So was this. They've reacted faster than we expected, but we will get there. What about Emma?”
“Ella.” Harry corrected, “She is....well, in the vernacular, 'super'.”
Aubrey's head came around to stare at Harry intently. “I can't sense her anymore.”
“Me either, she only stays here from loyalty now.”
“After she killed that guy, took his soul, essence, whatever you want to call it, she seemed very different.”
“She still is. Faster, stronger, tougher. I think she can even move our lesser children around now. I caught her doing it when I went to have breakfast with her this morning.”
Aubrey raised one eyebrow questioningly.
Harry nodded, “Yeah another soldier we caught alive, I ate, she....absorbed. Then she had eggs and bacon and we had sex for forty five minutes.”
“My, my, aren't you quite the stud.”
“It doesn't work the same anymore, I don't cum like a school boy seeing his first real tit. In fact the whole experience is rather boring. Her excitement is more compelling than the act itself. Have you tried it?”
“Ew, no. I don't plan to.”
“See? What makes you think it is better for me?”
“But Ella got off?”
“Multiple times.” Harry said, nodding, “Like a beast, she about took my head off during our 'energetic' coupling. I am not sure what to make of her.”
“We watch her close and if we need too, she dies.”
Again Harry nodded his head, “Like we planned, I have no real attachment to her. What is our point to doing this to her?”
“Concern? Compassion for the living? Is that what I am hearing?”
“No. Just curiosity.”
“Well we can't get rid of Sentry ourselves can we? But we can't see Ella anymore can we? And she is faster and stronger and has more endurance than a mere human, correct?”
“Yes.”
“So connect the dots. If she is loyal to us, that is fine, we use her, if she threatens us we find a new human to use. Anything else?”
“No, nothing I can think of.” Harry said, getting up to leave.
“Have a good day, let me know if you find any more soldiers lurking about.”
As he left Aubrey thought back on their conversation, thinking first about using Ella as a weapon to take out Sentry, deciding if one subordinate could come up with that plan, so could another, all the supers left in Chicago would have to be watched more closely. She concentrated and could sense the location of all of the zombies in Chicago, there were too many to get a handle on, a hundred thousand slow sluggish minds to sort through and a few hundred super zombies with more rational thoughts as well. Sighing she let them go and thought about the first part of the conversation, if Sentry could miss things, so could they.
Chapter 35
Katie and Randy spent a fairly comfortable night in the office. The place was not too cold and nothing tried to break in and kill them. Randy was awakened several times by operators asking him to check in, but they both slept far more than they had thought they would. They eventually awoke and cautiously headed to the showers, which were just as empty as they were the night before.
Randy went first and Katie inspected his wound as he was drying himself off. It was oozing blood and there were red streaks running in all directions from the wound. He looked at her as she examined it, when she was done Randy said, “Infected. Fuck.”
“I wish I could say otherwise.” she whispered, her eyes getting moist.
“Ah fuck it, it don't mean anything, I'll get medivaced today anyway, after this next little job. Get done cleaning up so we can go back and I can check in.”
Katie undressed thinking of how different things had been the last time she was here. This morning there was absolutely no charge of electricity between the two of them, like something was missing. It was probably the adrenaline high they had been on at the time. This morning was all about surviving again, carrying out whatever mission the powers that be threw their way. She finished and got dressed in the same clothing that smelled of sweat and gunpowder from the day before. Like Randy, she didn't put on her camo suit, the material was thin and didn't weigh much, but it was not gas permeable, it trapped sweat and tended to heat up the wearer rather quickly.
They made it back to the office without seeing anyone and Randy called in to headquarters. The people on the other line were surprised to hear him. They immediately called for him to switch channels and use a different encryption key for the broadcast. The unusual part about this was they called for Randy to use a key that was not as secure as the ones the mission had went out with, the key was a personal key given to each member of the team in ca
se the general communications network was compromised.
When he re-established communication the first thing the woman on the other line did was feed him a new encryption string on a different channel. She told him to check back on a third band if he could not establish a secured link within five minutes. Inputting the key in the field was not difficult, just time consuming, the key consisted of sixty four random characters used to safeguard communications, one wrong entry and no link would be possible. Randy entered the string into his radio and had Katie double check it for him before attempting to use it. Within moments they had a line to headquarters that was as secure as they could make it.
Randy's side of the conversation consisted of monosyllable responses, along with much head nodding, plus a few questions, one of which was “So check in every hour until then?”
He didn't mention that he was wounded and needed to be flown out. When he finished his conversation he leaned back in the office chair and said, “Don't.”
Katie had started to ask why he hadn't asked for getting medically evacuated, instead she asked, “Why?”
“Right now there is no way for us to get out. The zombies still have the anti-air and Patriot battery. The ships could probably destroy it, but command wants it intact. They are getting a team together to take it by force. The ships are out on lake Michigan waiting for something to change.”
“You're going to die.”
Randy nodded, then shrugged his shoulders, “It looks that way. HQ said there are some people coming into town on the train, running it up from Iowa and he transferred their radio codes to me to contact them when they arrive. We are supposed to go back with them.”
Katie looked at him for a few minutes, he returned her stare, then they both broke out laughing, finally Katie said, “So we're basically fucked then?”
“Well and truly.”
“What are the guys on the train supposed to do?”
“Find the zombie boss and kill him.”
“There is a zombie boss?”
“Yeah, I know. Someone thinks there is. And they sent someone else who is supposed to be able to find him.”
“Find him? How?”
“Don't laugh.”
“Do I look like I will laugh?” Katie asked.
“Yeah.” Randy paused, “The guy they are sending can detect zombies.”
Katie laughed, she laughed so hard she had to sit down. Randy joined her after a moment, then said, “It is funny, but not that funny.”
“Well I just keep thinking that I can detect zombies too. In fact I can do better than that; if I go out in the street I attract zombies.”
“This is different, he is supposed to be able to sense the powerful ones, see where they are from up to three or four miles away.”
“So he is a nutjob. Our lives will be thrown away on a hair brained scheme? Fuck this, we can't do any good here, let's just bug out. Get a car, or a truck, and drive away.”
“They are serious, he demonstrated his ability.”
“So what good does that do?”
“They didn't say, exactly. I think the general idea is that they point him out to you and you shoot boss zombie in the head.”
“Same question, what good does that do?”
“The zombies have been massing on the border with Iowa. Massing but not attacking, they are just accumulating there and doing nothing but waiting. They think the zombie here is making them wait until there is enough of them to push across the Mississippi and take them all out quickly. So if we kill the leader the mob will disperse, or so the logic goes.”
“Great. When does this psychic arrive?”
“Today, in a few hours at most.”
“Good. I would hate to wait long, God knows I've lived long enough. We could still get out.”
“Nah.” Randy said, pointing towards his leg wound, “I think I will see this one through.”
Katie nodded her head slowly, “If you're in. I'm in.”
Chapter 36
“Three minutes.” Draper voice said into the relative quiet of the train cab.
Max looked outside at the buildings passing by. He and Stewart had taken turns cat napping the morning away, he still didn't feel up to running around Chicago. It was too late for that though, they were already well within city limits and rapidly approaching the train station.
“Anything Max?” Draper asked holding onto a radio and looking at Max intently.
“Yeah, ahead of us there are bunch at the edge of where I can see. A whole crowd of them.” The train was moving slowly along the city track, no more than twenty five miles an hour, fast enough to out run the few zombies they saw around.
“Are you sure, straight ahead of us? The place is a ghost town, there are a lot less zombies here than I thought.”
“There is a crowd ahead of us, I can see more of them now, maybe a mile or so ahead.”
“Can you see anything else around? Any landmarks?”
“It doesn't work like that. They are up ahead on the right hand side. Are we near the lake?”
“Yes.”
“I thought so, because I can see a place where there is nothing, which has to be the shoreline. I see a bunch of the smart zombies, a mass of them, but I can't tell you where they are.”
“Ahead and to the left or to the right?”
“Ahead and to the right.”
Draper spoke into his radio for a moment. “The sniper team wants to know if you can see any land jutting out into the water. There is a naval pier not too far ahead. Are there any zombies on the pier?”
“I... Yes! Yes there are, but most of them, the horde is more towards us, not at the pier.”
Draper spoke into his radio, then looked up at Max, “Yeah, good job. That gives them a location to move towards.” Draper switched channels on his radio and spoke loudly into it, “Prepare to disembark.”
Chapter 37
“Harry, there is a train coming into Union Station.” Aubrey said, entering the main foyer of the Art Institute from the hall leading from the conference rooms.
“No shit? A real train?”
“Yeah, and from what I can gather it is full of real soldiers too. With real guns and a real tank.”
“Well we better send something out that way to deal with this problem then. Are they coming here?”
“Union Station is nine blocks west of here. Close.”
“They couldn't know where we are could they?”
“They might just head for the mob of zombies and hope they get lucky.”
“Hm, good point, I will spread them out a little and send a group towards the station. How long until they get here?”
“No more than five minutes.”
“Five minutes? What do you mean five minutes? No one thought to report a goddamn train full of soldiers plowing through the city until they are five minutes away from us?” Harry was visibly upset and Ella moved to his side and gently touched his arm to calm him down, drawing a small smile from Aubrey.
“We knew they were coming, but they have started to slow down. We think they are stopping at Union Station.”
“You should have told us.” Ella said.
Aubrey didn't bother to respond.
“I should have been told.”
Nodding her head slightly Aubrey said, “We had hoped they would pass through, maybe on their way north. I had some of the troops up there pull semis and a bull dozer over the tracks to block it. I was hoping they would not stop here.”
“You did this on your own?” Ella asked, turning to Harry she said, “You should let her know who is in charge here, make sure she understands the order of things. A good leader doesn't let his underlings make important decisions like this. You could have stopped them before they got this far.”
“Ella...” Harry warned.
“No, I agree with her a hundred percent. Ironic isn't it? What will we do now sire? Send the troops to mob the train?”
“It might be a ruse.”
Aubr
ey nodded, “I thought of that too. I am not sure how to deal with a tank. Maybe we should wait and see where they go first?”
“I can't see them heading for us. No one knows where we are. Nine blocks is a little close for comfort. Set up the troops in buildings on this side of the station and let's see what they are going to do. Call the zombies who blocked the tracks up north to come down here on some of the semis, just in case. We'll watch and see what they do. Those zombies up north are the former military men, if we have to we will buy time with the ones here until the others arrive. They should know how to deal with a tank.”
“Good enough, I will see to it personally.”
“Aubrey?”
“Sire?” she said with only a slight mocking tone in her voice.
“Keep our zombies a street or two away, so they can't be seen.”
“As you wish.”
Ten minutes went by with nothing more apparent than Aubrey quietly concentrating on moving her troops around. Ella was silently pacing during the first part of the exercise, familiar with what it took for the super zombies to give orders to their subordinates. Finally she leaned over and said, “I am going outside for a walk.”
Ella left and Harry got down off of the throne and approached Aubrey, who was leaning with her eyes closed against one wall. As soon as the door closed Aubrey said, “I thought she would never leave.”
“You done already.”
“Yes. It turned out to be for nothing, they unloaded the tank and other vehicles and took off to the west, they left a group to protect the train, nothing more. We should kill them.”
“If you think so. It might alert them that we know something.”
“Or they will think it is just another zombie attack.”
“Then I vote to wipe the ones at the train out.”
Aubrey nodded, “Whatever you want Harry.”
“This wasn't my idea.”
“I know, but it is still funny.”
Chapter 38
Max was livid. Stewart was not doing much better, Bill was standing with them and most of his squad watching the last of the special forces soldiers drive away on their vehicles. Unloading them from the flat bed car had been as easy as moving a loading ramp from one side of the dock and driving the armored car off, followed by the motorcycles and humvees. Draper had stopped them as they had come forward to load up.
