“Yes,” agreed Peter, “I can feel the guard, too.” He slapped Ehsan on the shoulder. “Look at the bright side, partner,” he said in a thick Texan accent, “the rodeo hasn’t started without us.”
There was a great explosion, and the approaching Janet burst into a bright orange ball of flames. Ehsan and Peter saw a small flying object dart across the sky away from the falling pieces of the plane.
“That’s an aerial drone,” said Ehsan.
“He’s here,” said Peter.
Kojic was bouncing around the back of the jeep as it receded further into the compound. He focused on the two soldiers’ vitals as he took in the barren grounds around him.
They looked completely deserted, but Kojic felt that someone was there, hidden. More guards, well camouflaged.
Suddenly, there was an explosion in the sky, and he felt the soldiers’ heart rates flutter as they commented on the plane that exploded in midair.
Then something changed.
The soldier’s vitals ended and were replaced with…something else. As Kojic craned his neck to get a glimpse of his captors, the jeep veered sharply to the left at top speed, throwing Kojic on his side. The soldier in the passenger seat reached out for him, eyes white and glassy, snapping his jaws.
Kojic rolled off of the back of the careening jeep before the soldier grabbed him, and tumbled in the dirt until he came to a stop.
He looked around him and saw that the jeep kept on its random trajectory away from him. He rolled over into a sitting position in the dirt as the hot sun beat down on his face and neck.
He struggled with his bindings behind his back, but his hands were well secured. All he could do was sit and wait for Ehsan and the American to find him. Surely, they sensed that Kafka was here. He reached out with his mind in an attempt to reach them…
…when he found something else.
Kojic heard footsteps all around him. He frantically scanned the area with his eyes, but saw no one. His senses picked up something…peculiar, like what he felt when the two soldiers in the jeep were turned.
The footsteps and the odd sensations were growing closer. He squinted in the sunlight as he saw distortions, patches of bent light, closing in around him. He heard wheezing and snarling as they drew closer.
There was another explosion in the distance as the aerial drone soared overhead.
Kojic didn’t know what was happening, but something in his reptilian brain screamed for him to get the hell out of there.
He struggled to his feet and began to run away when he bumped into something solid and was knocked off his feet. He felt fingers finding purchase on his legs as he saw nothing but a bending of the horizon in front of him.
He rolled out of the ghostly grip and into more probing fingers as he felt putrid breath on his face and neck. He squirmed as something bit him on the shoulder, sending a shockwave of pain through his body like a bolt of lightning.
He squirmed on the ground like an exposed earthworm writhing desperately to find refuge. More fingers clamped down on various parts of his body as disembodied teeth and jaws became exposed, sinking into various parts of his anatomy.
Kojic let out a scream, as he lay there powerless to defend himself when a shot rang out. Blood sprayed directly above him and painted the invisible assailants around him, and Kojic saw his attackers.
He kicked one in the face and then rolled to the side. He kicked another, and then another, as they scrambled to grab him and have a bite.
There were more gunshots, each successive one growing closer, and heads exploded above him. He wriggled free of the throng that was descending upon him, rolled away, and struggled to his knees and then his feet. He saw Ehsan and the American shooting at the invisible guard all around him.
He ran towards them, his bites stinging, and away from the wheezing and growling and disembodied snapping jaws.
He crossed the distance between the zombies and his saviors and practically collided with Ehsan. “What took you so long?”
“We hit traffic,” quipped Peter, taking down the invisible guard using his senses.
“Turn around,” said Ehsan, shouldering his rifle. Kojic turned and he felt his plastic ties being cut. When he turned back around, the firing had stopped.
“What happened?” asked Kojic. “Are they gone?”
Peter nodded. “We got ‘em.”
“What were they?” asked Ehsan.
“Soldiers clad in a new, experimental camouflage. It’s a material that bends light around it. I’d say it worked pretty darn well.”
Kojic gave Peter a sardonic look. “You think?”
“Kafka’s here,” said Peter. “We have to get to the compound quickly. An aerial drone took out our ride, so we go on foot.”
“That second explosion was you,” said Kojic, remembering the second explosion and what he saw in the sky.
Ehsan nodded.
“Thank you for helping me.”
“Well, let’s not break out the champagne just yet,” said Peter. “There’ll be more of them, and if we’re lucky enough to make it to the compound, we have Kafka to contend with.” He looked at Kojic, who was bleeding through his clothes on his legs and shoulder. “Can you make it?”
Kojic nodded. “I can make it. Let’s get moving. Give me a gun.”
Ehsan unslung an extra rifle off his shoulder and handed it to Kojic. Peter took a rifle off one of the dead camouflaged soldiers as a spare. Kojic and Ehsan followed suit. The rifles were covered in the light-bending material as well, but they were covered in blood spatter, making them somewhat visible.
Peter sized up his ragtag team. They weren’t his first choice, but they were all he had at the moment and each possessed the power of several men. It was do or die time.
He smiled. “Oh, hell yeah.”
***
They made it across the open grounds with very little incident, quickly dispatching any zombie guards roaming around. Peter experimented with a few of them, reaching out, trying to control them like Carl did, but to no avail.
He thought he got one to look at him for a moment, but it could’ve just been a coincidence. Who knew what those damned things were really seeing anyway with those milky, lifeless eyes?
Peter figured it was the serum that prevented him from being able to connect with them. He wondered if Kojic and Ehsan sensed the serum pumping through his veins, making him weaker than them.
He hoped not.
Peter cleared his head and prepared for the endgame. His main objective was to stop Carl from turning the whole damned planet into zombies. If he succeeded in stopping his brother…and that was a big if…and these two terrorists killed him, so be it.
At least the world would be safe.
“Look,” said Ehsan, pointing at a medium-sized building.
It was a rectangular building with a rounded roof, just like most of the others. It had two large bay doors in front, which were closed at the moment, nothing unremarkable for a building on a base with an airfield. It was a very nondescript building…
Except for the mass of zombified Groom Lake employees, patrolling the perimeter like a moat of drunk people staggering around.
Peter sighed. “He’s in there all right.”
“That must be where the master RGT console is,” said Kojic gravely. “I only hope we aren’t too late.”
“I don’t think so. Those guards who took you into custody were just turned, so he had to have just arrived,” Peter reasoned.
“So what’s the plan?” asked Kojic.
Peter hesitated for a moment. The time for playing his cards close to his vest had passed. “I have this trick I can do. It’ll make them think I’m flanking them on both sides. Hopefully, I can lead them away in either direction.”
“How? That’s impossible,” demanded Ehsan.
Peter smiled sardonically. “Does any of this seem possible to you?” Kojic shot Ehsan a reproachful look. “Trust me,” continued Peter, “I can do this.”
> He wanted to say that he used it on OIL operatives, like the man with the van outside of Frisky’s, but he didn’t want to instigate problems with his new, tenuous alliance.
There’d be plenty of time for that later.
“Okay, so you lead them away from the building,” said Kojic. “Then what?”
“We reach in with our senses and get a sense of what is going on in there, how many Kafka has with him. That will determine our plan of entry.”
Kojic nodded his agreement. Ehsan was staring at the zombies milling around the front of the building. He was sulking like a recalcitrant teenager, avoiding eye contact with Peter.
Peter walked towards the building, a full frontal approach, strolling casually as Kojic looked on in fascination. Even Ehsan was curious.
“What is he doing? He’s crazy.”
“Watch,” said Kojic expectantly.
And watch they did. They watched Peter close the distance between him and the building. They watched the zombies outside look to the left and the right as if they saw something. None of them appeared to see the American.
The zombies began to part like the Red Sea, each side following someone or something that wasn’t there. Peter walked right down the Middle like Moses himself, unseen and unmolested.
When both groups had wandered off, Peter gestured for Kojic and Ehsan to come. They looked back and forth, hesitant, and then they began to walk over.
Nice trick, but they’ll be back. It was Peter’s doppelgänger. Great. His little voice inside his mind always had the best timing.
‘You’re trying to distract me. I’m not listening to you,’ thought Peter.
You have no choice, Peter. I don’t come with a mute button.
‘You must be getting nervous. We’re close to getting Kafka and here you are, on queue.’
Nervous about what? Kafka is going to rend you limb from limb and I will be free.
Peter reached inside the building with his senses. He detected Carl. He was alone…no, wait. There was someone else. The other’s signature was a little different from a regular person. On a continuum it was somewhere between Kafka and a regular human, but much closer to a regular human.
It was someone recently infected.
I wouldn’t go in there if I was you, but since I’m not you I hope you do go in there.
‘Oh, I plan on it, only I think you’ll be disappointed with the end result.’
Kojic and Ehsan slowed as they approached Peter, looking tentative.
“What? What’s wrong?” asked Peter.
Kojic blinked as he saw Peter’s doppelgänger standing next to him, whispering in his ear. He looked at Ehsan, who apparently saw it too.
“What is this?” asked Kojic, gesturing to Peter’s left.
“What the hell are you talking about?” Peter snapped, irritated by the voice in his head.
“Nothing,” said Kojic, exchanging another glance with Ehsan. Peter felt their vitals flutter.
“How did you get the zombies to go away?” asked Ehsan. He sounded afraid. Peter felt it.
“Never mind that now. Kafka is inside with a recently infected human, but the other is weak.”
“How do we know you aren’t secretly with him and you’re not leading us into a trap?” asked Ehsan.
“There’s no time for this,” Peter insisted. “The zombies will be back.”
“It’s a fair question,” insisted Kojic.
Peter narrowed his eyes. “Why? What did you see?”
Kojic looked at Ehsan, weighing whether or not he should tell the American what he saw. “We saw your double standing next to you, whispering in your ear.”
Peter felt a chill creep down his spine, as if someone had walked over his grave. “You saw it?”
Kojic and Ehsan both nodded.
“What was it whispering to you?” asked Ehsan suspiciously.
“I’ve been hearing it from time to time in my head. It’s getting nervous because we’re close. It wants us to fail.”
“What about you?”
“What about me?”
“Do you want us to fail?”
“Of course not.”
“How come we don’t hear voices?” asked Ehsan, smelling blood in the water.
Because you don’t have the serum in your veins, asshole. “Is this really the time for this?” asked Peter, growing antsy. Was this all going to fall apart right now when they’ve come so far?
Kojic put his hand on Ehsan’s shoulder. “I heard my double.”
Ehsan regarded him incredulously. “When?”
“When we rescued him,” he said, pointing to Peter. “I told me what to do, like an idea in my mind.”
“Really, Luka?”
“Yes.”
“Great, now that we established that we’re all hearing voices, can we get back to our mission?” demanded Peter.
Kojic nodded for both he and Ehsan, who was still flummoxed.
Peter pointed in the distance to the undead Groom Lake employees, who were beginning to circle back around. “Let’s go around the side. I’m sure there’s a side door where we can slip in.”
“What’s the plan? We can’t just go in there,” argued Ehsan.
“Kafka already knows we’re here,” said Peter.
“How?”
“We sensed him, didn’t we?”
“Yes.”
“So what makes you think he didn’t sense us?”
“He’s right,” said Kojic. “There’s nothing left to do but go inside.”
Inside, in the center of the room surrounded by all kinds of control panels, monitors, and computer equipment, was a small vessel about the size of an automobile. It was a shiny metal craft in the shape of an elongated skull. It emitted an eerie, low-pitched hum.
Kafka was standing over it wearing his portable RGT headset. Elicia was on the floor next to him. She looked pale and weak.
“Gentlemen, I thought you’d never come,” said Kafka without looking at them.
Peter, Kojic, and Ehsan all looked at each other.
“Who are you kidding? You knew we were here.”
Kafka turned around and regarded his brother with four dark eyes. “Oh, there’s no slipping anything past you, Pete. I see you have an entourage. I have to warn you, they’re not very reliable.”
“Maybe they didn’t like their boss,” said Peter.
“Peter, I’m sorry,” said Elicia, her eyes wide with terror. “He got to me before…” her voice trailed off.
“It’s not your fault, Elicia,” said Peter. “He bit you?”
She nodded.
“Aww, such a sweet reunion,” said Kafka, pretending to dab his eyes.
“Why did you do it?” asked Peter.
“Pete, she’s my gift to you. I want you to have companionship when the world turns. I don’t want you to be alone. Not like you wanted me to be alone.”
“Carl, Yvette was trying to kill me. I had to defend myself. Elicia wasn’t trying to kill you.”
“She was trying to stop my transmissions. A firmware virus, very clever.”
“He used the portable RGT to read my memories,” blurted Elicia. “He knew you were coming with help.”
“It doesn’t matter,” said Peter. “There’s three of us and one of him. So that’s your mother ship? A little small, isn’t it?”
Kafka sighed in mock exasperation. “Didn’t you listen to that voice inside your head? It only needs to transmit the activation code for the virus. Sleek, efficient, elegant, environmentally friendly, great on gas. Oversized vehicles are so New Millennium. This is the future.”
Kafka grinned, flashing his fangs. “Kojic, Ehsan, siding with an American soldier to save the world. That’s got to burn your ass, even just a little.”
“What burns my ass,” snapped Kojic, “is what you did to Marina. Now you are going to pay.”
“What about you, Ehsan?” asked Kafka. “These two have a dog in this fight. I’ve done nothing to you. In fact, by inf
ecting you, I’ve spared you the fate of becoming a mindless zombie. You were to be one of my hand-picked lieutenants. Yet here you are, fighting on the losing side.”
Kafka felt Ehsan’s vitals flutter. He smiled at the confirmation that he struck a nerve. Ehsan was ambivalent. Somewhere, deep down and now rising to the surface was the poison of doubt.
“Your jihad is not mine,” replied Ehsan. “You betray the Order and its Cause.”
“Really?” mocked Kafka. “You don’t sound certain yourself. Pete, a chain is only as strong as its weakest link, and I think I’ve found yours.”
Kojic shot Ehsan a reprimanding look.
“Where’s Adnon?” asked Kafka, pouring salt on the wound, exploiting the lapse in conviction of this small team. “Let me guess, he cut and run the first chance he got. Quite the group you have here, Pete. Do you think they have what it takes to stop me?”
“You underestimate their hatred for you,” said Peter. “That might be the only motivation they need.”
“So it’s three against one, is that it?” asked Kafka, obviously unafraid. His cavalier attitude made Peter nervous. He reached out once more with his senses, scanning the building and the outside. All he detected were the zombies staggering around outside the structure.
“It would appear so,” said Peter.
Kafka clapped his clawed hands together. “Well, this has been such a wonderful reunion. Why stop here?” He began to click in excitement like an oversized cicada. “Peter Birdsall, Luka Kojic, this-is-your-life.” He sounded like a game show host from the 1970’s. “We have two mystery guests here who would be dying to meet you if they weren’t already dead.”
“Oh, hell,” said Peter.
“Mystery guest number one, please step out.”
There were the sounds of gears turning and motors whirring as a hulking mech stepped out from behind a large control panel. The ground shook as it stomped over, taking its place next to Kafka. It was a mess of rods, pistons, and wires with a monitor for a head.
Kojic gasped when he saw the face on the monitor. “Marina.”
She swiveled her limbs, brandishing blades, buzz saws, and all kinds of sharp appendages.
“Jesus,” said Peter in awestruck terror.
I am Automaton 3: Shadow of the Automaton Page 33
