Killer Edge: Navigator Book Three

by SD Tanner

  No risk was better than even a small one, and before he called the first of the engines, he would find the risk and eliminate it. In the interests of completing his task perfectly, he would do what was needed. Continuing to scan, he finally found what he was looking for. A metal man was standing by an open hole in the ground. Two vehicles with several more metal men sitting on top of them approached him.

  He called his weapons to the area.

  CHAPTER EIGHTEEN: False dawn (Leon)

  Their trucks stopped next to the open hatch that led into Stax’s shelter and he climbed down from the top of the truck. Jonesy, who was now known as the Knight, waved an armored hand at him.

  Flicking his lower visor up, he called, “Hey!”

  A head appeared at the top of the shelter’s hatch and Stax heaved himself out. Walking towards him, he thrust out his weathered and tanned hand, giving him a warm smile. “Leon.”

  Holding both hands in the air, he grinned back at him. “It’s kinda hard to shake hands wearing these oven mitts.”

  Looking past him at the Navigators continuing to climb out of the two trucks, Stax said, “Looks like you’ve brought the whole squad.”

  “Ark says he’s not sure what’s at Fields Landing, but he knows they’ll be heavily armed and it’s better to be safe than sorry.”

  “Yeah, nowadays it’s every man for himself out here.”

  Looking across at the house about thirty feet from the shelter, he noticed there was washing hanging on the line and a vegetable garden was flourishing under the warm sun. Next to the house was a large coop and chickens were contentedly pecking at the dusty ground. People were moving inside of the house and a woman walked out of the backdoor carrying a laundry basket. While she began to unpeg clothes and sloppily fold them before tossing them into the basket, several children ran out of the backdoor squealing loudly.

  While the noisy children pretended to shoot at one another, he turned to face Stax again. “I thought you were living inside of the shelter.” Waving his hand towards the house, he asked, “Who are all of these people?”

  “Nowhere is safe anymore and there’s a lotta people who have got no place to live.” Stax swung his AK-47 from his shoulder. “At least we’re armed. CaliTech has supplied us with some of them uranium-tipped hollow points and we’ve shared ‘em around.”

  “Maybe so, but how many people can you defend?”

  “Bella says it takes the same number of bullets to defend fifty people as it does four, so we capped each shelter at fifty. We all sleep underground at night, but the ventilation and privies ain’t designed for that many.”

  He hadn’t realized the preppers were taking people into their shelters, and although he respected the sentiment, Bill was right when he said people needed to live in small groups. If anyone turned inside of a shelter, it would become a massacre that no one could leave.

  “It’s risky.”

  Laughing loudly, Stax replied, “Jus’ bein’ alive is risky. You can always die.”

  By now, his Navigator squad were standing around the trucks surveying the area. All had their lower visors flipped up and he noticed Ally was talking to Jonesy. She’d helped him free the people from Searchlight in Nevada and Ark had told him she’d done well. Unlike Lexie, she at least had some experience with guns. She wasn’t combat ready, but she seemed to know how to handle herself. With so few trained Navigators, Ark was reluctant to let even one of them leave CaliTech, and he still wanted Jonesy to return to the fold. He’d asked him to meet with Jonesy and persuade him to join their mission to Fields Landing. Ark hoped that if Jonesy traveled with them then he might change his mind about running renegade.

  People were emerging from the house and shelter, forming a small crowd around his squad. They were asking questions and touching their armor, fascinated by this new type of soldier. He noticed there were at least seven children under the age of ten and he worried even more about the shelter. Stax and his prepper army couldn’t really protect anyone. If the critters attacked or even only a few of them turned inside of the shelter, then they wouldn’t win the fight no matter how many shooters they had. It bothered him that all the prepper shelters were now home to at least fifty people.

  “When are ya plannin’ to head out?” Stax asked.

  Ark was keen for them to reach Fields Landing as soon as they could get there, and he’d only planned to swing by to speak with Jonesy before heading out again. Although sleeping in their gear inside of a moving vehicle wasn’t comfortable, they could drive all night to make up for the lost time.

  “Pretty much straight away.”

  “Aww, Bella won’t like that. I told her you were comin’ and she’s planned a whole thing. They’ve been makin’ a nice dinner for ya’ll.”

  “That’s generous of her, but I’m surprised she can afford to waste your supplies.”

  Stax snorted. “With so many people bein’ held prisoner, food ain’t an issue. I wish it was, but it ain’t.”

  Lexie was listening to their conversation and she said, “I could do with a real meal. That shit you guys eat is beyond disgusting.”

  She was referring to the MREs they ate when they were outside of the wire. Although the names of each dish were familiar, it was false advertising and the contents of the packs didn’t resemble their fancy names. He could add as much cayenne pepper as he liked, but the meal was still a lukewarm, slimy mess that couldn’t be less appetizing.

  Just thinking about opening his prepackaged meal ruined his appetite and he nodded. “Okay, we can spend a few hours here. We’ll make up the time once we’re on road again.”

  With so many people now living in the house, they’d set up a decent sized barbeque pit, and Bella had managed to make a meal largely made of fresh food. With lights strung across the scrubby looking backyard, the garden took on the atmosphere of a party as night began to fall. Sitting with Jonesy, watching the children darting in and out of the crowd, he soaked in the feeling of normalcy. No matter what happened in life, people remained irrepressible and loud laughter was ringing across the garden.

  Just in case the critters caught wind of them, he had Tuck and Trigger take watch. With her orbs and advanced vision, Lexie would have made a better sentry. She could see further and was more experienced at interpreting the computerized view of the world, but Ark had asked him not to push her too hard. He said she was getting tired and he needed to cut her some slack.

  Stax walked across the garden with Bella and they joined them sitting on the steps of the porch. “So, whatdaya think of our little group?”

  The smell of the fire from the open barbeque still lingered in the air and music was blasting from speakers on a boom box. The muted glow from the colored lights cast people’s faces in shadow, hiding the signs of wear and fatigue from the past few months. Some people were singing and others were talking, but everyone seemed surprisingly comfortable with their new lives. Casting his eyes into the darkness that was deepened even further by the lights, he wondered why they felt so safe. Critters were tunneling underground, and although he couldn’t see any now, it would only be a matter of time before they would be here too. These people were enjoying a brief respite, but soon the critters would arrive on their doorstep, making it clear that nowhere was safe.

  “I think you’re making a mistake.”

  Bella’s eyes widened slightly in surprise. “Why do you say that?”

  Sighing deeply, he waved his hand at the people enjoying the night. “Because they think everything is okay and it’s not. You haven’t been to the cities. You haven’t seen the prisons and the nuclear wasteland in Seattle. You’re living out here isolated and insulated and you’re missing the point.”

  With a slight nod, Jonesy added, “He’s right. The critters are tunneling and they’ll be here sooner than you think.”

  Stax’s eyes seemed to sink deeper into the hollowed sockets on his weatherworn face. “It’s true, Bell. Me and the boys saw the footage they’ve got in CaliTech. We
’re not seein’ the worst of it out here. None of these people were taken prisoner.”

  Although he’d agreed to ask Jonesy to join their mission, looking at the fifty civilians in front of him, he decided they needed him more than CaliTech did. Turning to Jonesy, he said, “Maybe you should stay here with them.”

  Patting his gloved hand with his own, Jonesy asked, “What about Ark?”

  Neither he nor Ark had known there were so many people living inside of each shelter and he replied, “Don’t worry about Ark. He’s a good guy and he’ll understand.”

  Giving him a concerned look, Bella asked, “Are you really that worried about us?”

  Looking back at Bella, he didn’t want to tell her that he was terrified for them. The preppers might have been told what was happening in the cities, but they hadn’t witnessed it for themselves so they were living with a false sense of security. Having taken people into her shelter, Bella had encouraged the others to do the same. She clearly had a good and generous heart, but she should have taken her family into their shelter, slammed the door and never opened it again.

  Stax replied for him. “It’s bad out there, Bell.”

  “Then why did you tell us it was okay to bring so many people into our shelters?”

  “This ain’t just about our survival. What’s the point of livin’ in a world on your own?” Stax gave a dismissive wave of his calloused hand. “There’s safety in numbers and I don’t just mean ‘cos there’s more people with you in a fight. When the shit goes down we gotta pull together, or there won’t be anythin’ left worth havin’.”

  Bella gave her husband a warm smile. “That’s why I married you, honey. You get it.”

  CHAPTER NINETEEN: Death by critter (Jonesy/Knight)

  Leon and his squad had left hours earlier and now he was sitting inside of the shelter with fifty other survivors. Usually he would be outside monitoring the area, but he hadn’t slept during the day and he was tired. Stax assured him they’d survived many nights without him and that he should rest. Being a small space designed for no more than eight people it was well over its capacity. The ventilation system couldn’t cope, so they would open the hatch throughout the night to allow the air to circulate. Although Stax believed they were safe, he was still wearing his armor and it was only adding to his discomfort in the cramped conditions.

  Until Leon had arrived, he’d been too focused on his own situation to wonder where everything was leading. He guessed Leon was right and the critters would eventually have a network of tunnels across the entire country. People could still turn, which meant living in large groups was risky, but many were choosing to live together anyway. He’d noticed that night people had been quick to set aside their fears to enjoy a warm evening and a hot meal. It said something about the resiliency of the human spirit, but until the critters were defeated, it was unwise to think so optimistically.

  The walls of the shelter interfered with his visor and he held the unit loosely in his hand. Someone sat on the floor next to him, and although he could only see a grey outline, the tone of Bella’s voice sounded worried. “Are you okay?”

  “I’m just thinking about what Leon said about it not being safe here.”

  “What can we do? Where can we go? Should we all go and camp outside of CaliTech?”

  Without an army, CaliTech didn’t offer much more defense than a shelter. Doubting they’d be any safer, he replied, “I don’t think that’ll help until they find more people to train as navs.”

  “But should we move when they do?”

  Each shelter had taken in people looking for sanctuary and hundreds were now part of Stax’s prepper network. To move them all to the Sequoia National Forest would be hard enough, but keeping them supplied would be nearly impossible. He didn’t really have an answer and never got a chance to offer her one.

  Something banged dully against the wall behind him and he pulled away in surprise. The thudding noise was followed by the sound of desperate scrabbling. Around him, the walls began to shudder in time to the banging noises. Pushing his visor over his eyes, he waited for the onboard computer to fire up. When it did, he couldn’t see anything beyond the rooms inside of the shelter. The banging was coming from all directions, including the ceiling and floor, and people were pulling away from the thick metal walls, packing themselves tightly into the center of room.

  “What the hell is going on?” Stax shouted above the panicked cries and loud thuds. Pushing his way towards him, he batted his helmet and repeated his question. “What’s going on?”

  He didn’t know. It sounded like thousands of clawed feet were tearing at the corrugated iron walls of the shelter. In theory, the critters couldn’t penetrate their walls, but with such a concentrated attack, there was a risk that they might.

  “Get on the radio,” he shouted. “Tell Ark we need help.”

  Without bothering to reply, Stax pushed his way through the crowded room towards the radio. Being unable to see anything outside of the shelter through his visor, he was reliant on his hearing and roared, “Quiet!”

  The room fell silent and the sound of scratching intensified. His headset crackled to life and he heard Ark’s steady voice. “Okay, I’m running through the spectrums to see what’s going on there.”

  “I think we know,” he replied dourly. “Can you send help?”

  “I’ve already told Leon to head back to you. He’s forty miles away, so it’s gonna take him an hour.”

  “If they breakthrough the walls then we’re fucked.” As soon as he spoke, cries of panic filled the room again and he raised his hands to quieten them. His skills with the visor were still limited and he hoped Ark could gain better insight into the problem. Pulling his lower visor over his mouth so the people couldn’t hear him, he asked, “What do you see?”

  “Not a lot. They’ve tunneled and you’re surrounded, but I can’t see much else.”

  “What’s on the ground?”

  “There’s less of them above you, but the ones underground aren’t buried very deeply, so it would be dangerous to leave the shelter. You need to stay put. If they breach any part of the shelter then cover that area.”

  Leaving his visor on, he removed his helmet so he could listen to the scratching and digging sounds outside of the shelter. The sound was reverberating around the small room and there didn’t seem to be a single area that was louder. He began slowly walking along the walls, trying to hear if there were more critters in one spot. Underneath the harsh scratching sounds was another noise he couldn’t identify.

  Stax was speaking steadily to the people clinging to one another in the middle of the rooms. “Stay calm and don’t move. We’re tryin’ to understand what’s goin’ on here.”

  They were hiding inside of a tin can and the walls of the shelter suddenly groaned. The creaking noise was followed by a sharp cracking sound, and the floor beneath his boots fell away, tilting him towards the hatch. The movement was followed by a loud groaning and the other half of the shelter also dropped. The lights went out and people screamed in shock. Now pitch black, the shelter continued to slide and soft bodies collided into him. Over the screaming, the walls moaned and he felt another sharp movement under his feet.

  Carefully pushing past the bodies surrounding him, he called, “Ark. Ark!”

  His headset remained silent so he assumed they were now too deep underground to receive a signal. Fighting his way across the room, he struggled against the lurching floor and bodies still stumbling against him. “Stax! Radio!”

  Using the infrared spectrum on his visor, he could see the shadowy bodies of the people now crushed at the hatch end of the tipped shelter. A fuzzy face appeared in front of his. “It’s Stax. Radio’s down. Power’s down. Ventilation’s failed. Emergency hatch is gone.”

  With a loud crack, the shelter moved again, correcting its sharp tilt and throwing him against Stax. “I’ve lost comms to Ark.”

  “What’s goin’ on?”

  He didn’t really
know, but he could guess. “I think the critters have tunneled under us.”

  “Shiiit.”

  “Last word from Ark was above ground isn’t safe either. He got word out to Leon to turn around, but he’s an hour away.”

  “We can’t stay down here. We’ll suffocate.”

  “You can’t leave either. You’ll be eaten alive.”

  For the second time, Stax drawled, “Shiiit.”

  If the critters continued to bury the shelter any deeper, they’d have no chance of escape even if Leon could clear the area above ground. To stop the critters he needed to get outside of the shelter.

  Grabbing Stax by the arm, he said steadily, “Keep them calm. The more they panic the faster you’ll lose oxygen.”

  “What are you gonna do?”

  “I need to stop them from tunneling.”

  “How?”

  “I don’t know yet.”

  Leaving Stax to deal with the terrified survivors, he made his way along the short corridor to the main bedroom with the emergency hatch. Ordinarily the hatch would need a keycard to open it, only now it was broken. When he forcefully pulled it open, soft dirt fell onto the floor. The visor wasn’t helping him much, but he could see vague green outlines around the outside of the shelter. Pushing through the door, he found himself surrounded by loose dirt and crumbling tunnels. They’d clearly been hastily built and the disturbed earth tumbled from the walls. A green blob was directly in front of him and he reached out an arm, wrapping a hand around what he assumed was a limb. Yanking it sharply, the limb pulled away from the body of the critter. The aggressive movement caused the earth beneath him to shift, making him sink into another tunnel that had appeared beneath his feet.

  Crawling, he made his way along the tunnel, finding more green blobs in his way. Above his head was the underbelly of the shelter and they were clearly forming craters of space beneath it. Their plan was a simple and effective one. If they continued to take away the earth supporting the shelter, it would eventually bury the occupants alive. Realizing he couldn’t stop them, he decided he could at least slow them down long enough to give Leon a chance to get his squad back to the shelter.