by Aline Riva
“Can I swap your spray gun for my launcher? I'd do better with a spray gun -”
“No,” Toby replied, and the two men looked at each other and laughed.
“Take mine,” said the Captain, and she and Vince exchanged weaponry.
Tara was cautiously handling the spray gun, once she had a grip of it and it finally felt as easy in her hands as a regular gun, she looked to David.
“Can we be sure this gas is safe for humans?”
The Captain heard her and spoke up to silence her doubts.
“It's all been extensively tested,” she replied, “It's harmless to human life and mutant-human and mutant-animal life. It does, however, leave behind a heavy lingering smoke but we don't know how long that will take to disperse or what the outcome will be on the environment in the long term if its use becomes global. But all that matters today is tracking Justin Frazer and his army. Let's find that bastard and give his horde of corpses the best of British chemical warfare, shall we?”
“I'm up for that,” Marie said, practising as she held the weapon eye level, training her sights on the horizon.
Then the now increased group of soldiers along with the civilian fighters prepared to move off, now walking the rest of the journey across a field of ice and snow, where on either side great walls of ice rose in rippling layers, catching glistening sunlight, alternating between gold, white and deathly blue as above, skies deepest turquoise streaked with white cloud ran in slashes overhead.
David looked about, saw Flossie way behind them, diving into snow, then coming up again.
“Flossie!” he called, “This way, we need your help!”
She scampered through the snow, sending it flurrying left and right in her wake as she ran, a big smile on her face as she headed towards David and the departing group. Then she stopped again, dropped to her knees and started to bite at the snow.
“No!” David called sharply, “Don't eat that...not yellow snow!”
She jumped up from the snow and ran again, this time catching up with him. David placed a hand on her shoulder as he had often seen Rick do, it seemed to steady her a little and hold her concentration.
“We have to move on now and you have to stay with us, okay? I have to keep you safe, I made a promise and I'm going to keep it.”
Flossie looked up at him, her grey skin and black eyes looking so starkly odd against the white of the landscape.
“I want you to walk with me, no messing around,” he told her.
The mutant child shot him a look of reluctance, then obeyed him as she walked obediently at his side. As Tara caught up with them, she shifted position, walking between them, then as she looked up and saw David and Tara, she thought of Rick and Lois and clutched her icky stick harder as a frown came to her little grey face and she missed them sharply.
But something was on the wind, and as she caught it, she thought of the day she had led the animals to the horde. That horde had been delicious...
As she broke into a run towards a nearby slope that looked perilously narrow and slippery and far too near icy water, she heard David call to her but she kept on running through the snow, panting as her breath came in icy clouds and the snow kicked up and flew about behind her. She took to the slope and slipped, hitting the ice as the deep water below rushed towards her.
“FLOSSIE!” David yelled, and broke into a run as he dashed across the snow, followed by the others, as Flossie slipped over the other side of the ice – she was gone from view and only freezing water was on the other side...
The group ran for the narrow slope, all set on saving the mutant child from the ice cold water.
“Maybe she's immune to the cold, we were told mutant children don't feel it like we do!” Tara said anxiously, taking to the slippery path behind David as he raced towards the top.
“But she can still drown!” he exclaimed fearfully.
Then he reached the top and sank to his knees in the snow, looking over the edge to see Flossie looking up at him, she was kicking her legs inches from the water, her face an expression of pure delight as she clung to the icky stick embedded in the snowy slope.
“Flossie,” he said carefully, “Give me your hand...”
She let out a low growl and then it turned into a half giggle as he reached down and grabbed both her arms. As he tugged, her upturned face turned to a snarl as she clutched tightly to the icky stick still embedded in the slope.
“You have to leave it behind!” he said urgently, tugging again as she growled like a dog refusing to leave a bone.
“I've got you,” he heard Tara say as she grabbed hold of him, stopping him from slipping over the edge as he struggled with the mutant child who refused to be parted from her stick.
“Let go!” he yelled, tugging on her again.
As Flossie shot upwards so did the stick, coming free of the slope as Tara pulled on the back of David's jacket, tugging him free from the edge. Suddenly she was pushed aside as David tumbled backwards, losing his grip on Flossie as he rolled down the hillside and she flew through the air, landing with a soft thump in the snow at the bottom as he rolled down and did the same.
Tara half skidded on the icy slope as she hurried down calling his name. David sat up and brushed snow from his clothing as he looked around to see the others heading over his way, in front of him was a sea of white and no Flossie...
He called her name, his voice echoed about the wasteland, then with an explosion of snow she popped up right in front of him from deep in the pile, icky stick in hand and laughing, as he looked up at Tara and the others his expression was one of relief, but then as he saw the stunned expressions on their faces, he realised what they were staring at: Flossie was laughing. Not the giggle growl that sounded between animal and human, she was actually laughing...
He pointed to the slope.
“Don't you ever be so silly again!” he said sharply as he got up, “I'm supposed to look after you!”
She got up, gave another laugh, then a low growl as her eyes sparkled.
”No,” David said, shaking his head, “It wasn't fun!”
Flossie turned towards the slope, ready to run for it and take another dive, but he caught her by the back of her coat.
“Stop!” he said angrily, “No, Flossie!”
In that moment she looked up at him reluctantly, like he had just killed the most fun she had ever had, but she turned away from the slope, knowing the game was over. It was then David looked in surprise to the others.
“She laughed. She actually laughed!”
“And she can understand us,” Tara added, “Not such a mindless mutant after all – I can't wait to tell Rick about this!”
David's eyes widened in alarm
“Don't tell him about the slope or the water...that goes for all of you!”
As she stood at a distance, Captain Swan looked on with an amused expression.
“All of us? I guess you'll owe us all a few beers for that when this war is over, David!”
“Anything not have Rick on my case!” he exclaimed, then he started to laugh.
And that smell was back on the wind. Flossie stood up straight, clutching her stick tightly as she sniffed the breeze, then she gave a low growl as she looked to the others, an urgency about her expression that said the hunt was on. Her dark eyes blazed, she gave a feral growl then turned away, bounding past the slope and away from the waters edge, across a snowy terrain that led deeper into the icy wasteland, where the hills and valleys of ice dipped and rolled.
“We have a lead!” the Captain said, then she took out her radio, relaying the information back to the communication post as she and the others followed Flossie's path. The light mood that had taken over the group was gone as one by one they made their way deeper through the snowy landscape, knowing they were getting closer to the battle that could decide the fate of humanity: The trail had been picked up, this was it, the hunt had begun...
Justin Frazer stood on the hilltop, looking down as
he stretched out his arms and felt the power of command flow through him. They all heard him, his starving dead, those who hungered for the taste of human flesh – something rare to find out here in the wastelands...
The link between him and those who arose from where they rested hungry beneath the snow was so strong he could feel them bursting up from their resting places, each one making the strength of his army increase as one by one they rose up on hearing his silent call. Although they were far from here, they would soon be pouring into the heart of this vast and frozen land, coming from all corners, all making the journey to join with their leader. And when they did, his command would be simple: Kill the humans, kill them all but one...David Harley is mine...
Now satisfied his army of undead were on the way, Justin smiled beneath his balaclava and went back down the hillside, then disappeared into the mouth of the ice cave.
“I can feel them, Samantha!” he said, looking to the woman who carried his child, who looked to him with hatred in her eyes as she stood with her back to the frozen wall of the cave, deep in blue glow that made her look so unearthly, still so beautiful in her failed half mutated state. As he walked over to her, his boots sounded heavy on the floor of the cave.
She stood tight against the wall, never growing used to the notion that despite having little clothing and not a hair left on her smooth body, this blue-white skin of hers never seemed to feel the cold at at all.
“Your army of rotting corpses?” she hissed, glaring at him accusingly, her lips blue and her eyes dark, yet still as he looked at her, he saw no trace of her transforming as he had... As he regarded her, he tilted his head thoughtfully.
“You are still not yet New.”
“There is no New!” she said bitterly, “Only the diseased and the insane – you are both!”
“You feasted on the human blood. You ate of their flesh when I provided it.”
The thought of it ought to have sickened her, but as hard as she tried to feel revolted, the memory of it made hunger rise in her, a deep hunger that seemed to come from somewhere wild and dangerous.
“I detest you!” she said sharply.
He stepped closer still, trapping her against the wall as she stiffened, looking away as his hand rested on her belly.
“That's mine,” he whispered, his peeling lips a fraction from her ear as she kept her face turned away, closing her eyes to block out the sight of him. Even with the balaclava, she could still see he was decaying, his mutations had become worse in the passing months, making him look more corpse than human.
“Don't touch me again!” she said sharply, turning her head to meet his blackened gaze as she gave him a shove.
Justin stepped back and laughed.
“Oh my dear Samantha,” he said in a dry, cracked voice, “You are a real disappointment...”
Two steps forward and he was there again, right in front of her, enjoying the power he wielded over her as she stood there trapped by the wall.
He leant in close, as she turned her head away he kissed her cheek.
“You sicken me!” she whispered as she gave a shiver that had nothing to do with the cold she could not feel.
“He's coming back,” Justin said softly, his cracked lips brushing her ear as he told her everything, “David Harley is back in the Arctic...he's brought Tara with him and some friends to feed my hungry army.”
Hearing his name after so long gave Samantha a shred of hope, she struggled frantically as she screamed for help and yelled for David.
“Mr Harley!” she screamed, “Please, help me, he's insane!”
But Justin shut off her words, clamping a powerful grip about her throat with his gloved hand, slamming her hard against the ice wall of the cave as he kept slowly squeezing, watching her eyes bulge, watching her fight for breath, seeing panic on her snow-blue face...
“David Harley?” he raged as his voice echoed about the cave, “You still want him? You always wanted him!”
She tried to protest but the hand about her throat was too tight. She gave a strangled cry and then her body slumped limp. He let go of her throat and watched her slide to the floor of the ice cave, where she lay, eyes closed, unmoving...
“Samantha?” he said curiously, standing over her, studying her stillness.
Then he scooped her into his arms and carried her over to the table of ice, laying her neatly on it, pausing to smooth down her clothing, then he leant closer, his cracked and peeling lips connecting with her bald, frozen-tinted head as he spoke softly to her.
“Now you will become New... I shall wait for you to change...it will be soon...” And then he stood there watching the woman he had just strangled, waiting for signs that her corpse would revive once more...
When the message had come through from the Captain, Lauren had taken the call. After relaying the information of mission progress to the UK, she had called to Rick and Lois, who had emerged from their room and looked down the stairway, surprised she had left the post briefly.
“What's happened?” Rick said in alarm as he stood there with his shirt open showing off a slender but firm physique as he swayed slightly and Lois quickly offered him an arm around his waist - which he was thankful for as dizziness always got him badly since the surgery, especially on waking if he got up sharply. He quickly regained his balance, giving his metallic hand a quick squeeze at the wrist to secure it, then taking hold of the top of the stair rail.
“Have they used the gas? Did it work? And is Flossie okay?”
Rick's eyes were as wide as Lois, who shared his worries as they looked down at Lauren.
“Flossie's fine,” she replied, “Captain Swan called through to let us know they've picked up a scent. The armed forces are moving in to converge and they're going on together – no sign of Justin yet, and Flossie is fine.”
Rick and Los exchanged a glance, a sigh and a mutual look of relief. Rick buttoned up his shirt over his dark jeans and then ran his human hand over his painfully short hair as he gave his aching scar a rub.
“You get some rest, Lauren, me and Lois will take over for a while.”
“Are you sure?” she asked in surprise, “It's only been a few hours.”
“Yes, very sure,” Rick replied as he went down the stairway and Lois followed, “You grab some rest, Lauren – we can take care of the radio for a while.”
He waited for Lauren to pass them on the way up, then he grabbed Lois by the hand and led her down the stairway and through to the communications room, where he closed the door and put a finger to his lips as Lois looked at him in confusion.
“What's going on?”
“We're not supposed to make outgoing calls unless its about the mission or David calls in to us,” he reminded her, “But I'm calling out there anyway – I need to speak to David, I need to know Flossie is okay.”
“But Lauren said -”
“I know what she said, but I won't be happy until I hear it from David myself,” he replied, and then Lois sat beside him as Rick took the controls, looking about the sea of sticky notes.
“I have a piece of paper -” Lois began, but he gently pushed aside the offer of help with a soft touch of his metallic hand as he smiled.
“Lois, I may have a slightly damaged memory and I'm aware I'm still healing but I think I can manage to use a simple communications system!”
Lois smiled nervously, then she watched, hoping he wouldn't cause some kind of major disaster as he started to mess with channels, getting no response on each frequency.
“I think you just need to -”
“I can do it,” he said calmly, silencing her with his air of confidence, then he pushed a button and lights flashed red.
“Shit!” he exclaimed, pushing it again as the lights went off once more, “I wonder what I just did...I hope I didn't arm a nuclear device!”
Lois started to giggle.
“What's so funny?” he demanded.
Lois was still laughing.
“It's a radio system,
just a radio!” she said as she laughed.
He turned the dial and a voice spoke up:
“Arctic One, this UK HQ...”
“Sorry UK...my mistake!” he said quickly, shutting off the channel.
Then he started grabbing the sticky notes.
“It's one of these....”
“Don't take them off!” Lois said, thrusting the paper into his hand, “Just follow these instructions...slowly.”
“Okay,” Rick replied, as he started to read through and then looked back to the controls, “I hope this works, I really need to speak to David, I have to know for sure that Flossie's okay...”
“Me too,” she agreed, “Let's just do this carefully, we need to understand this system – Lauren picked it up in a flash but I didn't and I know you struggled. We need to understand how this thing works, now we're in here we should get in touch with Flossie – and stay in touch.”
“Good idea,” Rick replied as he set to work on the confusing task of understanding the communications set up – something that needed to be mastered if they were to stay in touch with Flossie while she was out there on the ice...
Flossie had scampered on ahead, leading the others into the heart of the frozen wasteland. Tall hillsides of ice and snow towered either side, their slopes strangely swirled as if crafted by some alien hand rather than by nature itself. As she stopped, just ahead of the others and on a slope, she heard the rumble of tanks on a distant road, then looked east and west and saw troops making their way through the snow. Then she turned back to David and the others and tipped her head back and sniffed the breeze again. Something was calling to her...many were calling...she turned her head again, looking to the sight the others had now seen looming in the distance: Powerful snow machines were ploughing their way through the icy landscape, bringing in tow cages filled with mutant lions and tigers, their dark eyes were glaring towards the same direction that Flossie caught the scent on the wind, they snarled and swiped at the bars, then as she looked intently at them, the animals instantly calmed, as they and the rest of the soldiers drew closer.
