Nano Z (Book 3): Oblivion

by Brad Knight

  Nano Z: Oblivion

  by Brad Knight

  This is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places and incidents either are products of the author’s imagination or are used fictitiously. Any resemblance to actual events or locales or persons, living or dead, is entirely coincidental.

  Copyright © 2015.

  No part of this book may be reproduced in any form or by any electronic or mechanical means, including information storage and retrieval systems, without written permission from the author, except for the use of brief quotations in book reviews.

  Table of Contents

  Chapter 1: Bull Harbor

  Chapter 2: Road to Haven

  Chapter 3: Ark

  Chapter 4: The Fall of Shanghai

  Chapter 5: Church

  Chapter 6: Landfall

  Chapter 7: Galatea Air

  Chapter 8: Borroloola

  Chapter 9: Maluku

  Chapter 10: Crash and Burn

  Chapter 11: Deja Vu

  Chapter 12: Book of Revelation

  Chapter 13: Escalation

  Chapter 14: Fate

  Chapter 15: Extinguished

  Chapter 16: The Wasteland

  Chapter 17: Wild Things

  Chapter 18: Lazarus

  Chapter 19: Perfection

  Chapter 1

  : Bull Harbor

  Getting to the island of Bull Harbor, British Columbia, was tough. The short summer came to an end, and cold rain and even colder winds pelted Mack, Amber and Stephanie as they utilized a metal canoe to cross the Queen Charlotte Sound.

  Why did they go to an obscure island in British Columbia, Canada? After their fight with Galatea in Oregon, none of them really knew what to do. They headed north, careful to avoid towns and cities. Basically anywhere that could have played host to large numbers of meat puppets were circumvented.

  When they got to Washington state, the trio of survivors started seeing pieces of maps stapled or nailed to telephone poles and trees. They were all of Western Canada, and each of them had the island of Bull Harbor circled in red marker. Below those was the single word: “Haven”.

  Obviously, given their past experiences with places meant to be safe sanctuaries, they weren't all that interested in the claims of refuge. In the new post infection world, if something seemed too good to be true, it was. Instead of following the maps, they kept wandering northward.

  After a month in the wilderness of North America's Pacific Northwest, the trio of survivors faced an uncomfortable truth. There was no life to be had out on their own. If they were to have a decent and comfortable existence they needed help, they needed a community. And they needed to do so fast, because Galatea hadn't forgotten about them.

  On three separate occasions, small hit squads bearing Galatea uniforms found and tried to kill them. They all failed. Most of that was due to a new found viciousness in Mack.

  Ever since recovering from his fight with the late CEO of Galatea Systems, Ted Gorman, Mack changed. He was still the protective and caring man who did whatever it took to keep Amber and Stephanie safe, but what changed was the way he dealt with those interpreted as a threat. The level of violence he used scared his two fellow companions.

  Stephanie was the one to suggest that they should check out the supposed Haven. She hoped that being around people again would temper the rage fueled fire inside him. Perhaps if he got some semblance of a normal life, he'd turn back into the man she met back in the rodeo arena in Oklahoma.

  At first, Mack resisted the idea of trying to find Haven. He'd been burned too many times before. In his mind, the uninfected were even more dangerous than the meat puppets. The latter at least made it pretty clear they wanted to kill you from the get go.

  It took some convincing but eventually Stephanie managed to convince the big man that he needed Haven. Or at least he needed the hope of finding it. Hope was sorely missing in their lives.

  Instead of passing by the pieces of map, the trio started gathering them. After a little work they were able to get a rough idea where the island and Haven was. Their problem was that they had no idea where they themselves were.

  Mack had made a point to avoid any of the last vestiges of civilization. Doing so made it hard to really pinpoint their exact location. They had no landmarks or signs to inform them, so they did what a person should do when lost in the jungle. First, find a body of water and follow its shores to a village or city. It didn't take long before they reached an inlet.

  After following the inlet for a couple of hours, they reached a settlement. Margaret Bay, British Columbia was a small town that as luck would have it wasn't far from Bull Harbor. There were a few dozen meat puppets to take care of, but the trio got rid of them with ease. Once they knew it was safe they began to look for a way across the Queen Charlotte Sound.

  The citizens of Margaret Bay must've had the same idea as the trio and escaped by sea. Problem was, they took their boats with them. That left Mack, Amber and Stephanie between a rock and a hard place.

  Outside the lighthouse, Amber found an aluminum canoe. It took an afternoon of work to patch up any leaks and make it sea worthy. While Mack fixed the small vessel, the other two scavenged for food, water and weapons.

  Before setting out for Bull Harbor, they got a good night's sleep in the lighthouse. Or at least Amber and Stephanie did. The big guy was up all night looking over the litany of maps and almanacs in the lighthouse keeper's office.

  Although Mack knew that Bull Harbor and Haven wasn't far, he was no sailor. The man didn't really know how to navigate on the water. Floating aimlessly in the Pacific wasn't an appealing prospect, especially not in a damn canoe.

  ***

  What I wouldn't have given to live here once. It's both gorgeous and depressing at the same time. Time has a funny way of slowing down when you're waiting for something. Mack stood at the top of the Margaret Bay lighthouse looking out over the dark water. He waited for the sun to come up. When it did, he planned on waking up the rest of his adoptive family. The thick fog and storm clouds made it difficult to spot the rise of Earth's life giving star.

  The gray and dark blue sky turned into a color closer to white. It was Mack's cue. He headed for the spiral staircase that led down to the ground floor of the lighthouse where Amber and Stephanie slept. Halfway down he smelled coffee.

  “Did you get any sleep?” asked Stephanie as she poured Mack a cup.

  “Him? He doesn't need any sleep. Just plug him into the wall for a couple of hours and he's good to go,” remarked Amber.

  “If only it were that easy,” he laughed.

  Stephanie handed him his coffee. “You should have tried to get some rest.” There was concern in her voice.

  “That's one of the benefits of being infected. I don't need much. Those little machines in my blood take care of all that.”

  “If you say so.” She poured out the left over coffee in the pot she found in the lighthouse keeper's office.

  Mack savored every last drop of the hot beverage. He was a convenience store coffee kind of guy, so he thoroughly enjoyed it.

  Once their breakfast of coffee and snack cakes was over, they packed up and left the lighthouse. They headed for the canoe which they stashed close by in some bushes. True, there wasn't anyone around to steal it, but old habits die hard.

  Stephanie was the first to climb into the canoe that was half in the water, half in the sand. She helped Amber in, and as they settled into the small vessel, Mack brought over the oars. They were a bit rotted but seemed sturdy enough.

  Mack used one of the oars to push off the shore. His back was to the direction in which the canoe headed, and Stephanie navigated from the other end. In the middle, Amber was just along for
the ride.

  After being on the water for less than five minutes, it started to rain. Frigid winds carried the icy drops. At first it was cold. Quickly the precipitation started to sting at the trio's exposed faces. All of them quietly wished for the shelter of the lighthouse.

  Rowing a canoe from Margaret Bay to Bull Harbor wasn't an easy feat. They weren't quite as close as the maps made them think. Roughly thirty three miles stood between the two locations. And canoes don't move all that fast.

  It wasn't until the six hour mark that they got a glimpse of Bull Harbor. Through the fog they could see a thick coniferous forest. The closer they got, the more wild and untamed the island looked.

  Not only did Stephanie not see anything that could have been the Haven they were seeking, she didn't see any signs of human habitation at all. That didn't necessarily disappoint her. A community with other human beings would do them all good, especially Mack. But no humans meant no undead people.

  For hours, Mack's arms and back burned. It was caused by a build up of lactic acid in his muscles. Non stop rowing like he did wouldn't have been possible for most men. An unnatural stamina was one of the gifts provided by the nanites in his blood, but even with those enhancements he was close to his limit.

  “I see it. It's just up ahead,” said Stephanie. Instead of pointing, she nodded her head in the direction of the island.

  “You know what would be really great?” asked Amber.

  “What's that?” Mack managed to answer despite being so out of breath, so exhausted.

  “If we don't crash the boat this time.”

  “I'd be happy if we make it there. Crash or not.”

  “You need me to take over?” Stephanie very carefully rose off the plank that served as a canoe seat.

  “I'll be fi-” Mack felt something tear in his shoulder. He didn't scream out in pain or even grunt, though his face did scrunch up into a grimace. Stephanie noticed.

  “You've been rowing for hours. Even with your abilities, there are limits.” She stepped around Amber. The canoe seemed like it was going to overturn a couple of times on her way to him.

  Mack didn't put up a fight. He let go of the oars and got up. Both his knees ached from sitting in the same position too long. After a brief moment trying to figure how to switch places, he and Stephanie did so.

  It's almost haunting. Mack stared at Bull Harbor. The settlement, located on the coast of New Hope Island, didn't look to be populated by many people. There were only a few buildings to be seen. A couple of small boats floated on a small dock.

  This is where we'll find Haven? From the looks of things we won't find anything here. Mack was less than enthusiastic about the prospects of Bull Harbor before they set off from Margaret Bay. Seeing it just confirmed the reservations he had about Stephanie's plan.

  “Are those walruses?” Amber pointed at some brown blobs laid out on some rocks near the shore. A noise that sounded like a mix of a roar and moan could be heard over the breaking waves from the direction of those blobs.

  With his enhanced vision, Mack could see what she pointed at. They were sea lions. He'd never seen one outside of a zoo. What really mattered wasn't what they were but the fact that they didn't look to be infected. That meant the chances were good that the island was nanite virus free. But it wasn't a guarantee.

  “They're sea lions,” he said, informing Amber.

  “Sea lions, huh? Don't think I've ever seen a sea lion.”

  “They look a lot like walruses.”

  Amber didn't reply. She kept her gaze on the mammals, eager for a closer look. Before the outbreak, she was a fan of animals. So much so that when she was a bit younger she wanted nothing more than to work at a zoo. That of course was before the onset of puberty and death of her prepubescence life.

  “Slow it down,” instructed Mack. He could feel that the canoe was being carried by the water towards the harbor. Any more rowing would just be a pointless losing fight against nature.

  There were two options for the trio for where to come ashore. They could either go for the docks which they were already heading straight for, or they could aim for the boat ramp and simply get out. The obvious choice was the latter. Mack told Stephanie to put the oars back in the water and change their course just enough so that they were on target.

  He felt the vibrations as the bottom of the canoe ground against the concrete boat ramp. The vessel came to a stop pretty quickly. All three gingerly got out.

  Stephanie was the only one who manged to avoid getting wet. She stayed dry as the other two got there shoes and pants soaked by the chilly north Pacific. They didn't really care. All that mattered was that they didn't drown.

  It's like a Middletown island. Mack looked out over the tiny ghost town that was Bull Harbor. There were a handful of buildings that were boarded up and weather worn. Food wrappers, bottles, and cans remained as some signs of past human habitation. Other than that, it might as well have been ruins.

  “Hey guys! Over here!” Amber was the one to find another piece of map.

  Stephanie and Mack went over to her, standing in front of a brick building. Nailed into the mortar was a piece of a map of New Hope Island. The other end of the island was circled with red marker. They were near.

  “Well... what are we waiting for?” Amber tore down the piece of map and started following it. Stephanie was close behind. Mack took up the rear, still wary about the prospects of a safe sanctuary.

  Chapter 2

  : Road to Haven

  New Hope Island was much bigger then what Mack anticipated. To make things worse, none of them really knew where they were going. All they had to go on was the red circle on the map they found back in Bull Harbor.

  According to this piece of paper, Haven was on the opposite side of the island. Mack decided to follow the coast as best they could instead of crossing the middle of the island. New Hope was a rough place. Weather aside, the terrain was less than friendly. Rocks and dense trees/vegetation would have made progress laborious.

  Unfortunately, they couldn't just follow the coast. They still had to contend with the harshness of of the island while keeping the water in view. Progress was slow.

  What was that? Mack stopped trudging through bushes and other forest floor vegetation. He heard a sound he became familiar with since the outbreak. It was helicopter rotors.

  Through the trees Mack barely got a couple of glimpses of a half a dozen helicopters. All but two flew past. Instinctively, he knew his little group of survivors were in trouble.

  Before Mack could warn or reach Amber and Stephanie, the forest around him exploded into splinters and sharp wooden shards. One of the helicopters had opened fire with it's mini-gun, which always struck him as an odd name for a really big machine gun.

  The bullets fired at them at such a fevered pace were tracer rounds. Intended to benefit the person firing, the projectiles contained bright burning phosphorous that were easy to see. They helped Mack sort of dodge them and reach Amber and Stephanie who were completely taken off guard and confused.

  “What in the…?” Stephanie had no idea what was happening. Before she could finish her question, Mack grabbed her by the arm. With Amber in his other hand, they went deeper into the woods.

  “Run, just run! Don't look back!” Mack was faster than both of them. If he was on his own, the bullets wouldn't have had any chance of catching up to him, but he had to worry about his two ladies.

  He barely felt the shrapnel from the shredding trees. Splinters dug into and cut any exposed flesh. He was aware enough to know that those fast little pieces of flying wood could do serious damage to Amber and Stephanie, and they didn't have the ability to heal themselves.

  The trio ran for a couple of minutes swerving back and forth in a serpentine motion to try and avoid the hail of gunfire from above. Problem was, it was catching up. Mack spotted what looked to be an overhang of rock. He pulled Amber and Stephanie underneath it.

  “Who the hell is it!? And why are t
hey shooting at us!?” asked Amber, loud enough to be heard over the sound of the mini-gun. Pieces of rock rained down in front of the group.

  “I'm not sure but if I had to guess...” answered Mack.

  “Galatea. It has to be.” Stephanie knew that the company hadn't given up trying to take them out. It must have been a result of killing their CEO.

  “The real question is whether they followed us or if they were after Haven?” Mack asked the question that Stephanie and Amber were thinking.

  “Does it matter?” Amber winced as she pulled little pieces of pine tree out of the skin on her arms.

  After half an hour of no gunfire, Mack peered out from under the overhang to see if it was safe to exit. There wasn't a helicopter in sight. Even though he wasn't completely sure that that meant the coast was clear, they couldn't stay under the overhang forever. Not if they wanted to get to Haven.

  Like ninjas creeping in the night, they moved as silently as possible through the conifer forest. They were mindful of every fallen branch and leaf. Just because the helicopters weren't flying overhead didn't mean they were out of danger.

  In the distance they could hear gunfire and explosions. There was a fight occurring. None of them doubted that it was between Galatea and whoever lived in Haven.

  Fucking... not now. Mack hear the unmistakable screech of meat puppets. It was unquestionably closer than the gunfire. The monsters were likely there to hunt him, Amber and Stephanie.

  Let's see. We got two pistols with less than a full clip each. We have knives. I've got a trench shovel. That's about it. I guess we could pick up some rocks. Mack made a quick mental inventory of his group's weapons. It didn't look good.

  Five minutes after hearing the meat puppets, he saw one. He thought after all the creatures he'd seen since the outbreak, he'd seen them all. He was wrong. To make matters more shitty, they had uniformed Galatea keepers; four of them.

  The skin on the heads of the three meat puppets was half rotted off. Underneath there was muscle and other tissue that was almost black and metallic. Their eyes glowed an intense blue. Sets of sharp metal teeth that resembled bear traps looked like they were implanted, not a result of nanite virus evolution.