Kill Zombies (Leopard King Saga)

by T. A. Uner

  “They’re fucking robots,” Holbourne cried. Reptilius’s Slicer was working overtime, but even it struggled to stem the mechanical intruders’ advance. They pushed against the bubble, feeling it out for weaknesses. One got through and Giselle hurled her rifle at it. It struck the android Zombie in the head, but the creature (or machine) grabbed it and twisted it into the shape of a ribbon before tossing it back at Giselle. She dodged it and went to face the zombie head on outside the bubble, grappling with it like a determined wrestler desperate to score points in a match. The zombie’s strength was impressive, but Giselle had more in reserve: she grabbed its mechanical arm and spun it around once before flinging it like a discus. It smashed against the sphere’s screen before landing atop a fresh wave of its mechanical peers.

  Giselle’s speed enabled her to fight multiple Zombies at once, but after getting knocked down by one of her opponents, and nearly getting stampeded over, she made a strategic withdrawal inside the sphere. Holes started forming like acid marks across its surface and Reptilius worked as fast as he could, loading each arrow bolt with Cobalt warheads. The Slicer would have its work cut out for it tonight.

  “Hurry the fuck up, Malcolm.” Holbourne was ramming the butt of his rifle against the metallic skull of a zombie who’d penetrated the sphere before the thing decided to attack another section of the weakening sphere.

  “Doctor, handling Cobalt is not like playing pocket pool, it requires careful handling.”

  “Bloody fucking yay, Malcolm…bloody fucking yay.”

  One android zombie broke through. The ones behind it followed like eager children. Holbourne fired his rifle and vaporized the lead one. Giselle stepped in and knocked one down with a left look. As it fell it knocked down two of its comrades, to Reptilius it resembled a row of dominos. Then, out of nowhere, a larger version of robotic, with crab-like metallic claws, broke through another section of the sphere and headed toward Giselle’s right blind spot. Holbourne fired his rifle and it sliced through the creature’s left knee. It fell but its claws extended toward Giselle’s throat. Holbourne fired again. A hit. Seconds later another crab-claw Zombie crept behind Holbourne, who was busy finishing off the zombie that would’ve surely crippled Giselle.

  Reptilius looked up. “Doctor, behind you!”

  Holbourne dropped to his knees but the crab-claw zombie took a chunk out of his shoulder. Holbourne grunted in pain as his labcoat was flushed red with blood. The crab-claw still had a chunk of Holbourne’s shoulder cartilage dangling from its left claw. Reptilius drew both his ballista and pummeled the crab-claw’s head. It exploded like a dropped watermelon, bits of circuits, pus- colored blood and undead organs dancing in mid-air before it collapsed atop another one of its own.

  “Nooooo!” Giselle picked up her rifle and started spraying the invading crab-claws, who’d quickly replaced the previous mechanical version of Zombies.

  Now the Blues arrived. Reptilius was too busy trying to save the fallen Englishman to notice their onslaught. This time close to fifty Blues made it to the bloodbath. They ran down a flank of crab-claws that Sawtooth was spraying with his Repulser. Reptilius ran toward the fallen Holbourne who was breathing hoarsely, like a man who’d just run a marathon, except the field around him was drenched in blood. Reptilius reached for a mold of Cobalt but realized he’d used it to arm the arrows. He needed to seal Holbourne’s wound. “Forget about me mate.” Holbourne spat blood. It bubbled across his lips. Giselle arrived and stripped off her shirt, revealing a sweat-stained tank top. She pressed the shirt against Holbourne’s wound; it soaked up fountains of blood, but could not stem the flow.

  The crab-claws were in retreat now; the Blues were decimating their ranks, but also taking casualties as well. Two crab-claws overpowered one of the Blues and decapitated it. Reptilius watched as metallic fangs appeared in the crab-claws’ jaws, siphoning the Blue’s blood into its mouth.

  “I have to treat the wound doctor.” Holbourne grabbed Reptilius’ arm; the Englishman’s strength surprised the man formerly known as Malcolm Hendricks.

  “For the love of Christ, man, close the anomaly, Malcolm!”

  More crab-claws were appearing to compensate for the previous wave.

  “Stay with him, Giz.” She nodded, tears in her eyes, trying her best to halt the blood’s flow, while Holbourne’s eyes fluttered.

  With Holbourne down and Giselle indisposed. Only Sawtooth and the Raptors buzzing outside, around the sphere, remained to keep the next wave of crab-claws at bay. Reptilius armed the Cobalt-warheads with a thought, aimed the Slicer straight into anomaly, and fired. The bolts flew toward it before disappearing inside the anomaly. A second later a shockwave broke through it before the anomaly retracted, closing in on itself until it faded from existence, leaving the Blues to pick off the remaining crab-claws stranded in this reality. When the last of the Zombies were vanquished, Reptilius and Sawtooth mopped up the surviving Blues, who, to their credit, knew retreat was in order, and stomped through the pond, kicking up water behind their clawed heels, disappearing into the bog.

  With the battle won – at least Reptilius hoped it was won; he and Giselle did their best to comfort the dying Holbourne. Reptilius had used some of the Cobalt he’d stockpiled in his home to seal part of the wound, but, Holbourne’s injuries were extensive, and he’d lost too much blood.

  “Why’d you have to be a dumbass and try and save me like that?” Giselle was choking back tears, her palms stained with slick blood.

  “You’re welcome, missy,” he replied. “Malcolm…Giselle…I wanted you both to know I have no regrets about coming here and meeting you two.” Sawtooth sauntered toward Holbourne before offering himself as a pillow. Reptilius and Giselle gently cradled Holbourne’s head until it rested upon the scaly creature’s snout. “I got to see the future, kill some Zombies, see a bunch of fucking dinosaurs…all in a day’s work….and, the best thing of all…I got to drink crocodile piss.”

  Giselle looked at him, as if she was expecting some words of comfort to come from his mouth. Reptilius wanted to say something, but what? Instead, Reptilius removed his black leather gloves and offered his artificial hands, holding Holbourne’s frigid wrist and Giselle’s trembling fingers.

  After Holbourne closed his eyes for the last time, Sawtooth exhaled a riffled moan, which to Reptilius sounded like a balloon releasing short bursts of air.

  The Twins

  The next day they buried Holbourne. His body was cleansed of dried blood and wrapped in a clean, white bed sheet that Reptilius felt was an appropriate color for a distinguished man of science.

  Reptilius understood the pain Holbourne carried after his drunken driving experience. Perhaps a part of the Englishman was grateful for death, even if he was an unwilling pawn for The Sect.

  Arrow sped toward the trading post. Reptilius put the motor on stealth mode and activated his screens. That way they could catch the twins off guard. His curiosity burned as to why the two simple boys would get involved with a ruthless outfit like The Sect.

  “Stay here with Sawtooth,” he told Giselle. She grabbed his wrist. “I want a piece of whoever is responsible for this,” she told him. “Holbourne was my buddy.”

  “You’ll get your chance, Giz, I swear.” He stomped off down the pier. Sawtooth grunted unhappily.

  He drew his ballista. Rex was behind the bar. The skinny man looked up at Reptilius while he polished a beer glass. “Can I get you something, Rept?”

  “Not today, Rex, say…where’s Max?”

  “He’s around…what’s with the crossbows Rept? You huntin’ Raptors again?”

  He holstered his ballista, Walked up to Rex and slammed the bartender’s head against his chestplate. Rex ricocheted off of it before falling backwards. When Reptilius stepped behind the bar he could see red imprints of his armor’s replica croc skin branded across the right side of Rex’s face.

  “What are you doin,’ Rept? Did I upset you? If I did I’m sorry buddy!”

 
“What? No cursing? I find it strange you’re suddenly polite, and your brother, Max, is suddenly quite introverted. You two are a pair of profane loudmouths. So, where is Max?”

  “I dunno…he…” Reptilius hurled Rex into an inline display of beef jerky. The contents spilled over Rex’s head.

  “One…last…time,” Reptilius said. “Where’s Max?”

  “I’m here….here.”

  Reptilius spun around, ballista in hand. “I figured out who you bastards are.”

  Max laughed. His imaged shifted into a pale-skinned figure wearing black suit, red shirt,

  and sunglasses. It was the Black Arm operative Holbourne called ‘Serious.’ “Get him…get him.”

  Reptilius felt a pair of arms squeeze him from behind. He hurled Rex over his back. But Rex had changed too. Now he resembled a pale skin, long faced man with sunglasses dressed like Serious. Serious pulled a tiny cube-shaped device from his pocket and Reptilius’ muscles locked. He tried firing his ballista but couldn’t. “Where are the real twins? What have you done to me?”

  “Those two simpletons are quite dead. We monitored them from afar before replacing them earlier today. As for you, it doesn’t matter, now, we’ll ask the questions,” Longface said. “Where is the Hybrid?”

  “Who?”

  “The girl, Malcolm.”

  Girl…girl,” Serious said.

  “What do you want with her?”

  “For study; she has developed skills after her transference: mind reading, day-walking, and impervious to silver; The Sect wants to study her.”

  “Study…study,” Serious parroted.

  “You can both go to the devil.”

  Longface laughed. “We’ve both met the devil Malcolm; he’s not such a bad guy. “Malcolm,” Longface pressed, “Hybrid…now!” He extracted another object, this one resembled a scanner. “I guess I’ll have to pry it from your bio-brain. Yes, that may also be worth studying.” Sawtooth emerged from behind the bar and bit into Longface’s ankle, severing it. The Vampire dropped his scanner and dropped to his knees, minus one foot. His sunglasses slipped off his pasty face, revealing two vacant eye sockets. Serious pointed the cube at Sawtooth, who spat out Longface’s foot and snarled. Giselle appeared behind a cooler and tackled Serious, who despite being a Vampire, was no match for her mutated clone strength. She pressed a button on the cube and Reptilius could move again.

  “I told you, you should’ve brought me, Rept.” She spun and then froze Longface and Serious. “The reason these two parasites are here Rept, is because they were sent to secure this reality. This time was perfect for The Sect to set up shop, humanity’s in a vulnerable state, America’s divided. First they were going to use the Zombies to secure the Southeastern Quadrant, it’s the least defended and would be easy to overrun, then work their way up the eastern seaboard before heading west…right boys?” The Black Arm operatives were silent.

  Reptilius nodded. “You can read their minds?”

  She smiled. “As soon as we pulled up to the pier I started pulling their thoughts.”

  “Pulling? And you didn’t warn me…?”

  “Well, Rept, some people gotta learn the hard way. But there’s one more thing we need to do.”Reptilius laughed. “This is going to be good.”

  Razor

  After they’d been stripped of all their devices, Longface and Serious led Reptilius, Giselle and Sawtooth to a hidden cave where their secret was kept. Using the black cubic remote, which he learned had various uses, Reptilius changed their forms back to Max and Rex’s. He had learned that while in human form they couldn’t use any of their Vampire abilities.

  Thanks to Giselle’s “Pulling” abilities they located the array responsible for opening the anomaly in their reality. To Giselle it resembled a free-standing needle with two curved rectangular panels attached to its sides. Its sheen reminded Giselle of a gold statue she had once seen in the Natural History museum in Washington, D.C. “It looks like gold,” she said. A low humming noise was coming from a panel that had strange runes inscribed on it.

  Reptilius scanned it. “It is gold, Giz.”

  “If you let us go, I promise The Sect will give you a quick death,” Longface said, disguised as Rex.

  “You want Sawtooth bite off both your legs this time, asshole?” Rex/Longface looked at the Croc who scowled back through jagged teeth. It had taken the Black Arm operative a painful two hours to regenerate his new foot, and even then it wasn’t fully operational.

  “Deactivate it, bloodsucker,” Giselle ordered. “I’m tired of sifting through your filthy minds.” Rex/Longface ran his hand over the runes and mumbled some words. The gold sheen dimmed and the humming stopped.

  “Now step back while I destroy this thing,” Reptilius said.

  “I would not advise that, Malcolm.”

  Everyone turned away from the array. A white haired man with a long beard stood before them. He carried a staff with a compass carved into its head. Giselle’s eyes widened.

  “Archie…I mean Archon.”

  “Hello, child, I see you’ve been busy; you’ve done well.”

  “So this is Archon?” Reptilius stepped toward the alien.

  “You’ve also done well Malcolm.” Archon turned toward Sawtooth. “So has your

  reptilian.” Sawtooth opened his mouth and gurgled, revealing his pink innards. “Your journey is just beginning, Malcolm.”

  Reptilius raised his visor. “What journey are you talking about?”

  “Your time in this reality is completed; there is other work for you, and Sawtooth.” He turned toward Giselle. “It’s time to return to Atlas, child.”

  “But I want to stay with Rept.”

  “I know, but run along, now.” Giselle fought back tears before stroking Sawtooth’s back.

  She hugged Reptilius.

  Malcolm hugged her back. “I’m gonna miss you,” she said.

  “I know, we’ll see each other again. Someday” She looked up at him; he wiped her tears with his gloved hand. “There are so many realities.”

  “Giselle,” Archon chided.

  She reluctantly stepped away from Reptilius and faded into another reality. Reptilius faced Archon. “You could’ve let her stay here with us a little longer, she longs for family.”

  “She has what she needs on Atlas; but she requires more training.” Archon smiled. “And like I said earlier, Malcolm, you’re needed elsewhere as well.”

  “This world needs me.”

  “You’ve done your part, and whether you believe me, this reality is now on track for recovery, thanks to your efforts against The Sect.”

  “What about these two?”

  Archon looked at Rex/Longface and Serious/Max. “Ohh, you still have one more array to destroy in another reality: they will lead you to it.”

  “I see.”

  Archon nodded. “The place I am sending you needs you too. You have a meeting to fulfill, with someone named Tullus.”

  “Who is he?”

  “An adversary whose abilities would prove challenge even to you. But you can’t go looking like that, you’d attract unwanted attention.” The compass on Archon’s staff began glowing. Reptilius felt the metallic components of his artificial body molding with skin and bone. Moments later a mirror formed before him. He took off his helm. Malcolm Hendricks stared back at him.

  “I’m…me…again.”

  “Not completely, your artificial eyes and bio-brain remain intact, but they will provide tremendous advantage where you and Sawtooth are going. You’ll need it against Tullus.”

  “And what about food and shelter? How will I survive in this world?”

  Archon pointed at the array. “That array is made of solid gold, where you and Sawtooth are going it’s a small fortune. You’ll be able to support yourselves, indefinitely. And your advanced brain will allow you to easily learn the various languages and dialects there; while Sawtooth’s mutant abilities will make him a formidable Reptilian. Are you ready to go
now, Malcolm?” He nodded. He was happy to be himself again. But there was something he had to do in this reality.

  “We’re ready Archon…but I have one favor to ask of you.”

  ***

  The heat was formidable, but Malcolm Hendricks was used to it.

  On the deck of his new attack sloop, Razor, he stood on the forecastle, Sawtooth next to him, while his crew tended to their chores as they glided down the Nile River.

  The sun stood proud in a sky filled with swelling clouds. It was strange to look upon a world devoid of the technologies he’d grown accustomed to. But first Century Earth held its own appeal, and he would have the chance to experience Ancient Roman culture in person, not from the pages of a digital tablet.

  Archon had allowed him to visit his family, one last time. They’d been overjoyed to see him, and he them. Papa and Mama were surprised to see Sawtooth (wearing a spiked gold collar Malcolm had made for him from the array’s components.) but Gruss had warmed to him quickly enough.

  He missed them, dearly. But who’s to say they weren’t together now, in another reality? He hoped Holbourne had been reunited with his family as well, somewhere, somehow.

  Razor continued its voyage down the Nile, new realties unfolding before it, filled with endless possibilities.

  Croctus Reptilius and Sawtooth will return in The Leopard Stratagem, now available in your reality.

  Message To The Reader

  If you enjoyed this story, may I ask that you write a review on amazon.com, so that I may continue to provide more novels for a growing audience. It would mean a lot.

  Thank You,

  T.A. Uner

  Final Thoughts