by Nathan Ward
“Sorry! Didn’t mean to wake you… Well, yes I did because we’ve made a major discovery. Now, don’t get ahead of yourselves…I’m going to need the big guy, anyone know where he is?” Murdock rambled, knowing the creatures couldn’t process or understand a word he was saying as he walked through the jumbled mass of them trying his damnedest not to step on any of the sleepers – which wouldn’t end well for his toes, Murdock thought to himself, making his way towards the large giant beast whose breath could be smelt a mile away as it snored against the ground, snarling at the UNA soldiers invading his dream.
Murdock instinctively wanted to keep his distance, but as he knelt beside the creature he found himself inching closer and closer, wanting to take a look at the device, making sure it was still firmly in place and showing all the correct signs of life. Then Murdock raised his arm so he could navigate his way inside the computer system on his wrist, activating the inhibitor protocol that suddenly expanded across the screen, bringing forth an array of further options to be toyed with.
“Let’s give you a little wake up call, my friend,” Murdock murmured to himself as he dialed up the brain function gauge which begun to send a current of energy to all the surrounding howler minds, waking them from their slumber. However the beast beside Murdock needed further temptation as it barely fluttered an eyelid, so instead Murdock pulled the bullet from his pocket and slowly begun to dial up the sensory gauge, sparking the creatures’ senses in to overdrive.
The beast rapidly begun to edge its face towards the bullet, placing its nostrils over the golden shell and sniffing every dimension of its travels, every essence of where it had been until finally, it felt the sudden urge to rise on to its monstrous feet.
“Oh boy, here we go…” Murdock said to himself as he watched the pack of mutations burst in to life, followed by a thunderous spine shattering roar from the pack master as he slowly made his way in the direction that the scent was leading him.
Joy, Enrique and Murdock couldn’t believe their eyes as they dashed back towards the war bird, glancing swiftly over their shoulders to keep a fixed eye on the horde as they begun their advance, embarking on what could be the last of their journeys.
Chapter 32: They came knocking
Murdock could feel death looming, almost leaning over him and his crew to cast its tall shadow as he begun to strap himself into the black winged craft with Joy and Enrique in tow, planting their asses firmly into their chairs and reaching for the safety strapping.
Even though that shadowy figure of impending doom could be felt so prominently brushing against the hairs on his neck, Murdock also had a sudden flurry of adrenaline and determination shoot through his body as he caught another passing glimpse of the giant with its entourage of monstrosities launching their expedition towards the UNA.
It was a sight that empowered the group, knowing they wouldn’t be fighting alone if it was going to come down to it, which most of them expected it would as retaliation was the only methodical and logical solution to be programmed in to their cybernetic minds.
“We’ve got some ground to cover, and then we’ll have time to cruise until we know where we’ll be heading. I’m going to need all of your input on this, so lets work as a team!” Murdock commanded, preparing the ship for take off.
“As always, Captain,” Joy and Enrique replied as their control panels ejected from the side of their chairs and sprung in to life, displaying the functions that they would have control over. Joy was designated ground tracker while Enrique had been assigned to the ships artillery, he had a great eye for that kind of role and he knew it, grasping on to his joy stick and giving it a thorough examination.
“Guidance systems working, no problems my end.” Enrique claimed, making himself heard to Murdock as he begun to turn and issue one final truth.
“Whatever happens, I love you both, you’ve made this hellish time worth living and I never thought I’d admit to something like that...once again, it’s been an honour,” he stated, looking both his friends directly in the eye – holding back a tide of tears while Joy had just let hers tumble down her face with no embarrassment or shame to hold them back as she felt sadness overwhelm her, knowing this could finally be the end of the road.
“This second life of mine became something to remember in the end, you’re to thank for that so don’t you think you’re ever alone,” she added, wiping away the smallest tear that had formed in the corner of Murdock’s eye.
“Together we are strong; together we have a fighting chance of surviving this. Don’t give up hope of continuing this life just yet, Joy,” Enrique added to the conversation.
“Let’s helmet up,” Murdock commanded, activating his helmet for what felt like the final time. Joy and Enrique immediately joined him, becoming faceless and opposed by no apparent fear; Murdock’s leadership had wiped away any trace of it which made them a solid threat as the ships jet engines roared in to life and slowly begun to push the hull from the sand in which it had rested.
The pressure of the engines soared in to the ground with a thunderous crash, launching the War bird further into the night sky which Murdock immediately begun to counter, readjusting the flight path and tuning the acceleration so they could pursue the Howlers that had now begun to pick up their pace, disappearing over the looming mountain up ahead which sat gracefully outlined by the moonlight glow glinting down from the brisk skies.
Murdock punched forward the acceleration lever and the ship projected itself towards and over the mountain top, rejoining with the pack down below.
“Now easing on the accelerator, pulling her down in to cruise mode,” he stated, pressing his finger against the controls – he couldn’t make it any more obvious how comfortable he was flying such an advanced piece of engineering, Joy thought, as she discreetly watched over Murdock’s shoulder in admiration.
“Next stop, well, we’ll be right on top of them…” he added, slumping back in his chair, preparing himself for what could be a long, slow cruise.
“Perhaps we should discuss the plan of action for when we arrive, what if… what do we do when they fire at us?” Joy asked.
“We take evasive action and fire back,” Enrique added before Murdock concluded, “We do nothing, actually. I have it all worked out, there’s a few surprises I didn’t tell you about but we’ll leave that till later.”
Joy smirked and turned to Enrique who remained with a blank expression.
“I like the sound of that!” she added, leaning back and cocking her legs up on to the control panel.
The craft monitored the Howlers every move and remained a safe distance overhead, travelling at a pace equal to the horde. They travelled for a solid couple of hours with only the moon to light their path, it shone harsh against the slimy scalps of the ravaging beasts as they ran and scrambled their way through the urban jungles and forgotten mine fields. And as they neared, the skies had begun to glow a soft blue which snapped Murdock from his slumber, waking to see the piercing blue light sparkling in the distance. He quickly turned, shook Joy and Enrique.
“We’re nearing the city!” he said, his voice edged with a tone of slight nervousness as he thought on the scale of the opposition they were about to encounter. Joy and Enrique quickly leaned forward and brushed the dust from their eyes simultaneously, then both fixated on the blueness of the skies ahead.
“What is that, the colours…?” Joy asked, wide eyed as she pushed her rapidly rising nerves to one side.
“That would be high command, I never actually got to see it in person, it was always so far in the distance and even then it wasn’t activated…”
“Activated?”
“Alive…” Murdock added, turning to face the front of the cockpit and deactivating his helmet, bathing his bare flesh in the subtle grasp of the neon blue sky that seemed to dance against his skin and reflect its sparkle in his eyes.
“Here she comes…” he warned as the horde and war bird passed the final mountain standing in their w
ay, revealing the city that sat in all its glory with the tower of light bursting with brightness, illuminating the night sky and miles upon miles of land surrounding it. Joy couldn’t get any closer to the console as she leant across it and locked her gaze on the tower, feeling almost paralyzed by its unnatural beauty.
“I’ve never seen anything like it, there’s no words that can describe what I’m looking at…” she said in wonder.
Murdock and Enrique remained speechless, leaning forward like Joy and capturing the moment, almost forgetting entirely why they had come here. The city shone bright and shimmered as the war bird approached, still at a slow speed in synch with the Howlers down below that had now begun to head for the bridge that connected the land to the city.
“Plan of action, we’re going to let the Howlers cross the bridge and draw some attention which should be enough for us to safely make it across to the tower,” Murdock claimed, mapping away at his field of vision.
“What about their other defenses?” Enrique asked, pointing towards the city perimeter.
“As I said, I have a plan,” he concluded, throwing the ship into a drifting motion away from the city and accelerating to lightning speed.
Ahead of the main gates the giant pack master stomped its way on to the steel bridge which remained solid and sturdy with the mass of bodies quickly piling on and advancing towards the other side, spitting and hissing, leaving a trail of bile in their wake. The giant made one thunderous roar before finally throwing its body against the tall steel gates which didn’t leave even the smallest of dents, the gates still stood tall and thick, opposing the assault attempt. The smaller units slowly begun to pack against the closure and violently attack it, leaving long, sharp markings etched into its surface.
The exertion from the howlers immediately drew the attention of the city defense and UNA soldiers hastily converged on the gates in their hundreds, not taking any chances with the thousands of Howlers standing off against them. The bodies slowly begun to mount up, pressing and compacting against the gates, making it easy for the rest of the horde to climb up and over the gate, but the soldiers weren’t going to make it easy as they unloaded their lead in to the tallest standing howlers, shattering bone and exploding brain matter into the skies.
The city spotlights were rapidly turning their attention to the bridge, illuminating the targets in bright white light, but the horde continued to attack with no sign of falling to defeat, they remained pushed against the metal, climbing and falling as they found bullets in their skulls. But this made no difference to their set purpose as the giant thundered its fist into the gates which had now started to ripple and buckle. But the soldiers also stood their ground and continued to remove more and more howlers from the equation, they were dropping like flies - and so were the defenses ammunition – this was quickly pointed out as the guardsmen watched the unfolding sight of the endless river of the beasts advancing towards them. “Reservation of ammunition would seem logical, should we fall back?” One of the androids asked, as a strange, fearful sensation tingled inside its robotic mind.
“Affirmative, fall back to inner city defense and alert the tower. The masters must be aware of the unexpected,” The lieutenant confirmed, waving on the retreat notice to hundreds of flanking androids, a solid army in navy blue leathers.
The moment the guardsmen begun to turn their backs and desert their posts, howlers also begun to fall from the top of the gate and make a vicious pursuit down the streets of the city, leaping on to the backs of the retreating soldiers and felling them heavily, clawing out their internal wiring as easily as they would have ripped out flesh and guts to pour from a human body. The attackers moved along in the road, leaving the ripped apart androids behind them as the rest of the horde soon followed.
By now the giant had managed to bulldoze his way through the thick steel gates and make his pursuit course towards the enemy and as he did, Murdock spotted the perfect opportunity to make his move, soaring through the sky, allowing for the powerful city alarm to defuse the sound of the war birds screaming engines as it begun to accelerate towards the city once more.
As the craft neared the perimeter of the city, with speeds raising rapidly, the hull suddenly begun to shift and manipulate like feathers on a bird, blowing against the winds of the oncoming storm overhead. The panels reconnected, interlocking with each other, bridging an alternate source of power that had started to race around and through the now chromed exterior of the war bird, transforming its visual appearance transparent, like a chameleon taken to the skies and allowing for a safe and easy journey towards the tower which stood brightly at the centre of the city. That tower seemed to stand vigilant as it cast its deathly fluorescent hue inside the war birds cockpit like an eye, which churned the stomachs of the crew forcing Murdock to take an alternate route, throwing the ship in to a tight left maneuver and countering with a tight right to drift beyond a tall looming structure.
“One K meter flight path, the tower’s dead ahead. Are we still undetected?” Murdock asked, violently piloting the ship around the oncoming buildings.
“I think they can hear us, even over the sound of the alarm. We’re turning heads,” Enrique analysed while scanning the ground units.
“Hold tight, it might get a bit bumpy!” Murdock added, narrowly avoiding an ion conductor suspended over the remains of Big Ben. He eased off on the velocity and plunged the bird in to a short lived nose dive before accelerating down a long avenue of structures that were now towering over them either side of the street.
Murdock applied even further pressure to the lever, pushing the ship into an even quicker speed that had now caused Joy to cover her eyes as she become unhinged by the sheer rush of adrenaline.
“I can’t watch!” she cried while being forced against her chair and locking up stiff like a doll.
“We’re nearly there!” Murdock shouted, knowing a single break in concentration would have a devastating effect on the ship - which could claim their lives in the process.
“A bit late but, helmets back on!” Murdock ordered, almost forgetting they were all in the flesh as he rapidly activated the switch and returned his hand back to the steering joystick. His field of vision had reverted to a blur but his sights remained on the tower at the end of the stretch that strangely still appeared rather clear and defined.
The ship hurtled past the buildings and finally reached the final third of the run when suddenly a bolt of energy screamed past the windscreen, throwing Murdock's concentration and jolting him against the controls, which caused the craft to drift and stray and collide against the side of the buildings, ripping through them with its wing and propelling lumps of concrete in to the air which rained heavily, crushing a squad of UNA soldiers on the ground.
Murdock swiftly regained his composure, pulling himself together and steering the ship away from the buildings that had begun to collapse as the wing continued to slice through them. As he pulled away the chameleon hull also begun to deactivate as an effect of the damage it had sustained from the collision, but it still managed to stay on course and remain in the sky, heading directly towards the tower.
“You fuck mother!” Murdock cursed, as sweat dripped from his forehead inside his facial casing.
Joy and Enrique just turned to each other while grasping on to their chairs with desperation.
“I did warn you about possible bumps,” Murdock added, trying to break the tension inside the cockpit as the heavy droning of the hull and creaking of the wings seemed to welcome the further churning inside of Joys stomach.
The ship had become visible and stuck out like a sore thumb as it swept up and out of the avenue, continuing its flight path towards the tower - but as it approached, a rooftop defense turret made one final attempt at wiping them out, launching a needle sharp projectile towards the craft.
“Missile inbound!” Enrique yelled, pointing across in the direction of the turret. Murdock yanked the left lever back which flung the ship into a hard left tu
rn, allowing just enough space for the missile to thunder past without making contact. But the projectile had immediately begun to change its course, turning back on itself and heading directly for the war bird once again.
“It’s coming around!” Enrique informed Murdock, but he was already one step ahead, accelerating the ship away from the tower and straight towards the turret. “Missile gaining…”
“Turret reloading,” Joy added, observing the rooftop just meters ahead, but the ship continued to hurtle towards it with the missile tailing behind them, gaining with every passing second until suddenly Murdock pulled ferociously on the ascension lever, increasing the ships velocity, sending it hurtling up and over the top of the turret, tricking the missile into colliding straight in to it. The collision erupted in to flames, exploding the entire top half of the building, leaving only a pile of rubble and dust as the flames eventually settled.
The War bird comfortably altered its course and made its way back towards the tower with its crew relieved to be in one piece, they sunk into their chairs and watched on towards the growing mass that towered over them, they had never felt so tiny and inefficient. But that didn’t stop Murdock as he opened up the landing gear and cast his eye towards a platform sprouting from the side of the tower that seemed attainable for the bird to land on. So he drifted the hull of the bird around the back of the tower and entered his final approach, carefully lowering the craft and easing on the accelerator until finally it came to a sudden halt, crunching against the platform surface. They had done it, they had arrived and that was the first and only thought that came to mind as Murdock relieved his tension by loosening his safety straps and inhaling a deep breath of fresh air.
He had finally made it back to where it all started, to a place that he once called home - and nothing about it felt good at all...
