King turned and sauntered after his companions, but just as he reached the apartment door, there was an enormous, thunderous boom, which shook the building to its very foundations.
The captain steadied himself against the doorframe. "Earthquake?"
"No, an explosion," I said.
The Custodians rushed onto the walkway and looked about to check if my observation was correct, but they couldn't see anything from there.
All of their radios suddenly sputtered to life. "Code 906. All Custodians report to North End in full battle gear immediately, repeat, Code 906." The message was repeated every few seconds.
"You've got to be kidding!" King exclaimed.
"What's 'code 906?'" I called out as I dressed quickly into trousers, t-shirt and hoody.
"Let's go!" the captain ordered, completely ignoring me.
"Captain Smithson, wait!" I shouted as I darted onto the walkway after them. Again he ignored me, so I reached out and grabbed his sleeve.
"What, Jones?" he practically shouted in my face.
"What's 'code 906,' Captain?"
"Skel have broken into North End," he snapped back.
"What could the Skel possibly gain by doing that?" I asked, trying to prompt him to think things through rather than rush off impetuously. I was working on the assumption that the Skel were much more organised than we had previously thought, and that besieging Newhome was the first stage of some insidious plan. This was obviously stage two. But what was its goal – to cripple the town perhaps? And to such an extent that the population would be forced to leave? If that was the case, then I could think of only two possible scenarios in which the Skel could achieve that end. One was to destroy our electricity supply, and the other was to cut off our water.
Snatches of frantic dispatches bled through the Custodian radios:
"...used a captured Bushmaster to break down the gates..."
"...Skel everywhere..."
"Sir, we've got to go." King pressed.
The captain waved him back and answered me, "Supplies, livestock, slaves, the usual, how would I know?"
"They can get those from any Victorian country town without having to go head-to-head with a few hundred well armed Custodians," I pointed out.
"...taking casualties..."
"...medic!"
"If there's something you want to say, Jones, out with it!"
We could hear the staccato sounds of guns firing in the distance. Custodians were fighting back.
"...building's on fire..."
"...fleeing civilians are blocking my line of fire..."
"Call the security detail guarding the sub and I'll wager my bottom dollar they don’t answer," I said quickly, deciding to put my hunch to the test. The Skel were going after the electricity, they had to be.
While the captain made a call to Custodian Headquarters on his radio, Nanako joined us on the walkway. She was dressed in black over-knee socks, shorts and top, and looking a lot warmer.
The captain rejoined us, and was clearly not pleased with what he had heard over the radio. "HQ says they're not responding," he said darkly. "Okay men, we've got a sub to save. Virtually everyone else is already in or on the way to North End, so HQ is sending a couple of squads back to meet us at the western gates. Then we go in and go in hard."
"...bravo company unable to enter North End, gates – the road is clogged by civilians..."
"...get these blasted civilians out of the way..."
"You rush out through the main gates to save the sub and you're all dead." I raised my voice to make myself heard.
The captain was not pleased at my constant interruptions. "And why would that be, Jones?"
"Because they'll have set an ambush outside the gates, expecting you to do exactly that, Sir. May I be so bold as to suggest a strategy?"
"Jones, this is Custodian business!"
"How many times have you fought the Skel, Sir?" I asked, risking a verbal slap down.
"...requesting permission to retreat..."
"...Skel have guns, repeat, Skel have guns..."
The captain glared at me, confirming my suspicion – the answer was never. "Well then, what strategy do you propose?" he finally asked.
"I presume the city has a secret entrance on the west wall?"
"How do you know about the secret doors?" he demanded, shocked.
"I saw a squad of Custodians using one once."
"Well, you're right, there is one on the west wall. It's opposite the bridge, a hundred metres south of the western gates and sub."
"In that case I recommend you send your force out the secret entrance, advance to the river bank and then follow it to the sub. That way you'll come up behind the Skel who are waiting near the gates. When you find them, fire a flare so that you can see them and take them out."
"Sounds good in theory, Jones, but how are we supposed to find Skel hiding in the dark?” he demanded.
I wanted to keep my mouth shut and let the Custodians deal with the situation to the best of their ability, but with such small numbers they'd fail and I knew it. And although my conscience wouldn't be pricked if these particular Custodians met their end out there, what if the city lost power? That would be disastrous for ten-thousand civilians, since we had no alternative power supply. All of the power stations had been destroyed during the war. Without electricity to provide lighting in the green houses, the town would only be able to generate a fraction of the food it needed.
"...we're pinned down here..."
"...fall back, fall back..."
"Put me with the lead squad and I'll take point," I offered.
"You think you can find Skel in the dark, do you, Jones?" the captain asked.
"...walked right into an ambush..."
"... my squad’s wiped out!..."
"Yes Sir, no question about it. I know how they operate."
"Sir, I believe he can. He had no problem locating David Chen when the Skel abducted him," King said, surprising me by confirming my abilities. Apparently, he didn't like the idea of fighting Skel in the dark without me.
Nanako pulled me away from the Custodians. “Why do you want to help them, Ethan, after what they just did to us? And you haven't recovered from your wound," she whispered fiercely as she clung to my arm.
I cupped her face in my hand and whispered back. “It's not for them. If I don't do this we may not have a town by morning.”
"Then I'm coming with you so I can watch your back."
"There's no way I'm gonna risk you out there," I declared, alarmed by the very thought of her trying to fight Skel ambushers in the dark.
"You don’t need to worry about me, Ethan. When we were in Hamamachi you taught me how to fight Skel. I have experience fighting them too. So I'm coming with you whether you like it or not. I just got you back and there's no way I'm letting you go out there against those things without my support."
I saw that arguing would get me nowhere so I nodded my consent, reminding myself that she was in the Hamamachi Militia – which was such a foreign concept to me.
The captain seemed to be weighing up his options, and finally said, "Okay Ethan, let's go. We'll kit you up with a vest and gun when we get to the barracks."
"I'm coming too," Nanako informed him as we hurried down the walkway towards the elevator.
Captain Smithson didn't even bat an eyelid with his speedy response. "Absolutely out of the question."
"Why, because I'm a woman?" she asked as she hurried to keep up with our longer strides.
"Fighting is men's business," he snapped back.
"Not in Hamamachi, Sir. All of our women serve in the Militia one month each year. I am experienced with Austeyr assault-rifles and have fought Skel and raiders both," she said as she stepped into the elevator with us and stared up into his face. "Besides, you need all the experienced fighters you can get."
“As much as it irks me to say this,” King butted in, “She’s right, Sir.”
The captain looked at
King, and then back at Nanako. "Fine, you can kit up too then."
I glanced at King, expecting to see gratitude or relief in his countenance, but instead saw cunning anticipation. No doubt he was hoping the Skel would kill Nanako and rid him of a thorn in his side.
Chapter Twenty-Five
Ten minutes later, Nanako and I, along with four teams of Custodians, drove to the secret entrance that was a hundred metres south of the western gates. We had been given Custodian helmets and bulletproof vests, an Austeyr automatic-rifle for Nanako, and a pistol and flare gun for me.
"Right, time is of the essence," the captain announced once we disembarked from the G-Wagons. He pulled open the concealed concrete door and said, "Okay, Ethan, you've got point. Show us what you can do."
"Thank you, Sir. Radios off everyone, and follow me," I responded. Without further ado, I ran straight through the doorway and into the night, with Nanako on my heels. I held the pistol in my right hand, and kept my left hand in my pocket. The flare gun was hanging from my belt.
As I ran towards the riverbank, I let rip with ultrasonic flash sonar, hoping the Custodians didn't have ultrasonic sensors in the walls.
The returning echoes effectively lit up the night, allowing me to see as clearly as in daylight. As I suspected, the Skel had set up an ambush in between the gates and the wharf. There were around two dozen of them, which was far more than I expected. To make matters worse, some had guns, though single shot rifles, not semi-automatics like the Custodians. All the same, twenty-four Skel against sixteen Custodians was gonna be ugly.
We reached the riverbank without incident and crouched down. Spotlights illuminated the town walls but it was so dark out here that without flash sonar I could only just make out the faces of those clustered around me, and silhouettes of those further away. Steel weapons glinted in the starlight.
I could almost smell the fear emanating from the Custodians. They were afraid of encountering Skel in the daylight, so they would be absolutely petrified right now.
"Captain," I whispered, "Give us a sixty second head start, then spread out and follow us as quietly as you can. When you see the flare go up, come on in shooting. Nanako and I will hit the Skel the moment they turn to engage you. Just don't shoot us by accident, okay?"
"Understood. Now go!" he ordered.
Touching Nanako's hand to make sure she was ready, I moved off silently beside the gently sloping riverbank towards the Skel, who were about a hundred metres ahead.
"I'm scared, Ethan," Nanako whispered as she advanced quietly beside me.
"Me too," I whispered back. I'd never been this close to so many Skel before.
"Are the Skel really there, outside the gates? I can’t see anything, but you're using your echolocation, aren't you?" she asked.
I almost tripped at that question, and slowed my pace to talk to her. "You know about that?"
"Of course I do, silly."
I must admit it was a stupid question – she was my wife. "There's about two dozen of them, some with rifles, and, oh no!" I whispered in alarm, "They've got an oxy-acetylene torch! They’re cutting into a hatch at the stern of the sub. And they've got a whole satchel of explosives. We'd better hurry!"
The submarine and wharf were normally lit up as bright as day but were lost in darkness tonight, so the Skel must have shot out all the lights.
With the sixteen Custodians advancing twenty metres behind us, Nanako and I drew close to the Skel hiding in ambush. The closest were ten metres to our right, with their backs to us. They hunkered down behind trenches hidden behind bushes that faced the town gates, armed with crossbows, old rifles, and the usual assortment of homemade clubs.
I pulled out the flare gun and was about to fire when a Custodian spotted the oxy-acetylene torch flame and shouted, "Captain, they're cutting into the sub!"
And with that, the plan fell to pieces.
Alerted to the Custodians presence, the Skel ambushers spun about and opened fire with crossbows and rifles, dropping a couple of Custodians and wounding others. After that, they grabbed their hideous hand-to-hand weapons and screamed obscenities as they ran towards the now thoroughly frightened Custodians.
I tried to fire the flare so that the Custodians could see their assailants more clearly, but nothing happened when I pulled the trigger. Two further attempts got the same result – the gun was so old it wouldn't fire. Typical Newhome efficiency. Things were not maintained unless they were regularly used, and still not even then.
This was a disaster; the Skel would cut the Custodians to ribbons in the dark.
"It's a dud, it won't fire," I whispered to Nanako as I discarded the flare gun and grabbed my pistol. "I have to save them. Cover me."
Nanako seized my arm, "You can't go running into the middle of that melee! You could be killed!"
"I can see clearly and the Skel can't, that'll give me an edge."
"Ethan..."
"I have to do this."
"Fine. I'll cover you."
So with Nanako at my back, I ran after the Skel as they collided with the Custodians, swinging their lethal weapons left and right like farmers scything through tall grass. Some Custodians screamed in agony and fell while others fired frantic and ill placed shots at the nightmarish skeleton-armoured brutes who hacked away at them in the dark.
Into the midst of this insane swirling melee I ran, the only combatant who could 'see' what was happening as long as I kept shouting ultrasonically. Nanako ran as closely behind me as she could so she wouldn't mistake me for a Skel or Custodian. I fired my pistol, seven, eight, nine times as I ran through the Skel, aiming at their necks and throats. I was careful to avoid the wild shots sprayed about by the Custodians. Seven of the monstrous apparitions went down – seven shots hit their mark while two struck hardened-bone armour and ricocheted off into the night. That immediately changed the odds of the battle, but more Skel were running towards us.
I ejected the empty clip from the pistol, withdrew my left hand from my pocket and grabbed another clip. Before I could slam it home, a Skel smashed a metal-studded wooden club into my stomach. The bulletproof vest took the brunt of the impact and saved my life, but it was still like getting hit with a sledgehammer. I was smashed off my feet and landed on my back, almost passing out from the pain that exploded through my chest from my previous wound. Winded, I rolled onto my side and gasped for breath while I waited for the pain to subside.
The Skel who hit me was a massive brute – taller than Michal and with goat’s horns adorning his human-skull helmet. He stepped forward and was about to finish me off when Nanako, wearing a bulletproof vest several sizes too big, darted forward and fired her assault-rifle at him on full auto. She was looking out for me just as she promised. Riddled with bullet holes, the Skel collapsed towards me, but Nanako threw herself against him, knocking him off balance so he fell away from me.
That particular Skel would not be getting up again. I rolled onto my stomach and crawled towards the ammo clip I dropped earlier. I noticed that at least half the Custodians were down, but those still standing were fighting back with almost fanatical fervour, using their guns like clubs and firing whenever they found an opportunity.
Nanako shot down another Skel who charged us, but then her gun made an ominous click as it ran out of ammo. At that moment, a smaller, quick-footed Skel knocked Nanako's weapon out of her hands with a sweep of a converted pickaxe. The Skel bellowed a string of extremely offensive insults in a high-pitched voice, revealing herself to be female. I crawled as fast as I could manage to retrieve the ammo clip so I could come to Nanako's aid.
I saw her duck and dodge two great sweeps of her opponent's weapon, after which she jumped forward and delivered a knife-hand strike to the side of the Skel's unarmoured neck. She followed this with an elbow to the throat, sending her opponent staggering backwards. Although choking and gagging, the Skel shook her skull-adorned head, readied her pickaxe adorned with rusty metal spikes and charged Nanako again.
&nbs
p; I retrieved my ammo-clip, slammed it home and put a bullet through the Skel's throat, sending her tumbling to the ground and out of the fight for good.
Nanako retrieved her gun, slapped in a fresh ammo clip, and rushed over to me as I slowly regained my feet. "Thanks, that was too close! Are you hurt?"
"The vest saved me," I assured her. I didn’t tell her that the fall had reopened the wound and it was bleeding again. My stomach was going to be black and blue as well.
"We've got to get to the sub, they must be almost through by now," I said as I stood.
"Lead the way, I've got your back." She couched the assault-rifle to her shoulder.
I jogged as fast as I was able for the wharf, firing my pistol at three Skel who tried to stop me. The two I failed to bring down were finished off by Nanako as she followed close behind.
The skirmish behind us had fallen silent. The Custodians had overcome the surviving Skel, although at great cost – only five of them were still standing, and that didn’t include Captain Smithson. With King in the lead, the Custodians advanced cautiously behind us. I tried to blot out the disturbing sounds of the wounded and dying who littered the ground like broken, discarded dolls.
I ran onto the concrete wharf to which the submarine was moored, and past the corpses of four Custodians – the security detail that had been guarding it.
As I hurried over the metal decking that lead from the wharf to the sub, I heard Nanako trip and fall, her gun clattering from her hands to the concrete.
"Nanako?" I called out anxiously, terrified she'd been shot.
"I'm okay – go, get those Skel!" she called back.
Holding my pistol before me, I stepped onto the sub and carefully navigated the narrow decking that surrounded the conning tower. I moved quickly between two large missile launch tubes, and then straight for the two Skel at the sub's stern. One was crouching down with the oxy-acetylene torch, which lit up the surrounding area and the two bone-armoured Skel with an eerie glow.
Forager - the Complete Trilogy (A Post Apocalyptic/Dystopian Trilogy) Page 18
